Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/90

84 should be prescribed so clearly as to prevent, if possible, all grounds for misapprehension or dispute.'

The establishment of a revenue system, which if not entirely new, presented one or more novel features of paramount importance, was not calculated to ensure either the prosperity of the country or the contentment of the people, unless measures were taken to reform the Civil Service and to appoint as Collectors of districts men who could be relied on as proof against corruption. When Cornwallis landed in India, the whole service was more or less in a transition state. It was still occupied with commercial enterprise, and yet its members were called on to discharge administrative functions and to fill executive posts. They were often remunerated by gratuities and commission, and the acceptance by them of large gratuities and of perquisites was common. It was the survival of an even worse state of things when men in the high position of Members of Council had not scrupled to accept lacks of rupees for giving a preference to one Nawáb or pretender over another. There had been flagrant instances of corruption at Lucknow, Benares, and Madras, and it must be admitted that the Court of Directors had seen and almost approved a system under which their servants, placed in positions of high trust and of manifold temptations, drew small salaries and were allowed to make up for this deficiency by large extra lump sums. Even when the Governor-General represented in strong language the