Preface
Very serious gaps exist in Oriental research. In many fields there has been no critical examination of the original sources. For this reason, the interpretation of Oriental history, perhaps more than any other history', has been marred by false generalizations and by conclusions based on insufficient data or on inaccurate translations of the Oriental tests. General histories of India there are in plenty, some of which embody the results of the scientific researches of the last twenty years. The time has now come for another twenty years of scientific research by a band of trained Orientalists and historians who will produce a series of monographs and fill in the existing gaps. To any student of history with the necessary equipment who wishes to be certain that untapped sources will be at his disposal the history of British rule in India affords a unique opportunity, for the historian of British India cannot complain of a paucity of records. On the contrary, he is apt to be overwhelmed by their superabundance. This is especially the case with the records of the East India Company which form very valuable historical material. The distance of the Court of Directors in London from the Company's settlements in India, combined with a trading concern's natural desire to make its ventures a financial success, necessitated a close and constant supervision of its servants' activities in the East Indies. Political entanglements with the 'country powers', together with the intrigues of hostile European trading bodies, alarmed the Directors and led to a still more jealous supervision of the actions of their subordinates. Finally, the fact that the three chief settlements were administered by councils has provided the student with excellent historical records in the form of minutes and dissenting minutes. In this country interest in India is spasmodic. Nothing short of a frontier war or a revision of the Constitution is able to awaken the average Englishman from his apathy. Public opinion on Indian affairs has only been deeply disturbed over imperial problems which have tended to become party questions. For this reason, the student must be on his guard against published selections of the original sources which have often been deliberately garbled in order to suppress undesirable evidence. The same is true of many of the secondary works relating to India and especially the vast pamphlet literature. It is difficult to take up any history of India which does not exhibit in some form or another either unconscious or deliberate bias. Thus we have the bias of the Political Department in Lee-Warner's work on the Indian States; the British official bias in the writings of retired administrators; the Hindu or Muslim point of view, and, finally, the modern nationalist cult which has a tendency to hark back to the days of Asoka or the glories of the Guptas and to underestimate the real benefits of British rule. So much is known about the career of Warren Hastings and so many books have been written about him that it would be an insult to the reading public to produce any general work based merely on the printed excerpts from the manuscript sources which were used at the Impeachment.
About The Book
In 1774, Hastings assumed control of the East India Company's opium monopoly. The same year, he sent Company troops to support the wazir of Oudh, Shuja-ud-Daula, in a campaign against the Rohillas, a people of Afghan origin. The Company troops were paid by the wazir for their assistance.
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