Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/121

Rh It was not indeed till the time of Lord Auckland that all Englishmen in the interior were made amenable to the ordinary Civil Courts of the country. What Cornwallis could then do was to warn the indebted officers that he might take steps to bring them within or near the jurisdiction of the only Court that could take cognizance of such claims. At the same time officers of the army in general were further warned against opposing sheriffs' officers in the execution of their duty 'at any of the Stations, but even in the most remote districts of the Province.' It may, however, be doubted whether such functionaries were likely to be found serving processes and executing warrants in Upper India or anywhere except in the immediate neighbourhood of Calcutta. Then we have notices of more dinners, balls, suppers, and entertainments, and an instinctive commentary on the inefficiency of the police while in native hands, in the occurrence of a dakáití in the very heart of Calcutta, when the robbers carried off some 4000 rupees.

A Proclamation against slavery by the Governor-General in Council shows that the practice of kidnapping children and sending them into the interior, or carrying them off to foreign parts, must have been not uncommon. Another order prohibited the sale and transport of guns, cannon, and warlike stores to any part of India without a pass. A third establishes a Government Stud in the district of Tirhút, and invites owners of mares to send their animals to the