Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/209

Rh and to introduce measures which were calculated to bring about the prosperity and the happiness of the people committed to his charge.

It should be premised that domestic policy, including judicial and fiscal administration, differed in the three Presidencies, and that these matters were independently controlled by the governments which had been established there. It should further be observed that British rule having prevailed in the provinces of Bengal for a longer time than had been the case elsewhere, a certain policy had been already adopted, which rendered any sweeping reform more difficult of execution than in the territories which had only lately come under the Company's government. Hence when changes were found to be necessary they could only be gradually introduced, and extreme caution had to be taken to ensure the people against the evils that invariably follow a hasty or ill-considered amendment in the established laws and customs. In Madras and Bombay, government had a freer hand, and the experience already gained in Bengal enabled the authorities in these two Presidencies to respond with greater promptitude to the necessities of the position, as well as to the suggestions which were made in England.

The first point we shall mention is the business in the courts of Civil Judicature, where by reason of the paucity of the judges, of the increasing number and prosperity of the inhabitants, and of the popularity of the tribunals under British control, work was much