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 CHAPTER III

Condition of India in 1813

As the genius of Clive and the administrative reforms of his immediate successors consolidated the British possessions in Bengal, so did the rare intellectual power of Lord Wellesley create a system of imperial rule which, intimately connected with the events about to be recorded, became the basis of British supremacy in India. The causes which rendered the adoption of this system necessary cannot be described in this volume, for they belong to the period in which they arose; suffice it to say that the Marquess of Hastings (as we shall now call Lord Moira), though he resisted the views entertained by Wellesley when in England, recognised his mistake when he reached India, and became converted to the principles which he had previously denounced. His administration, in short, is the sequel to that of his illustrious predecessor; and hence in order to understand the questions which presented themselves to him when he landed at Calcutta in October, 1813, it is requisite to take a brief retrospective glance at Indian affairs, commencing some years before that date. It should however be stated at once, that the