Indian Antiquary Vol 19

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 52

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1890.
M. Senart next deals with the orthography of these two variants of the XIIth Edict. Two of the most interesting points dwelt on by him may be noticed. One is the co-ordination of pashanda with parshada through a form pdsharda, which, by the way, gives another proof that the spelling ut Shahbaz-Gasht is not phonetic, but is full of graphic tatsamas, in which the old spelling was preserved, although the pronunciation was changed. The other point is the firing of the character as representing mu and not ma as hitherto supposed by M. Senart.
The article concludes with a fresh collation of the first eleven Edicts at Shahbâz-Gashi, and the Edicts at Girnar, and transcriptions, so far as is possible, of the first eleven Edicts at Mansord. These collations and transcriptions are specially valuable as coming from a scholar, an expert on the subject, who has now had an opportunity of examining the original documenta, instead of the copies and rubbings which had hitherto been available to him. Geo. A. GRIERSON.
BENGAL, ITS CHIEVE, AGENTS AND GOVERNORS, by
F. C. DANVERS. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen. It has long been well known that Mr. Danvers has been using his official position to collect and arrange in a usefuland intelligent manner the older Records of the India Omce, which have ever since their acquirement been allowed to remain in such a state of confusion, as to render them almost useless to anyone engaged in inquiring into the history of our rule in the East, unless he has unlimited time at his disposal. The present pamphlet is an outcome of a part of his valuable labours.
By the Governors of Bengal Mr. Danvers means those who have actually held that title at various periods, - fitfully it is true, from 24th November 1681, to 1st May 1854, when the present Lieutenant-Governorship was established.
Hitherto, the only list available was the Government of India official list, which began with Messrs. Freeke and Crattenden, 1733.1738. But Mr. Danvers has discovered that neither of these gentlemon had ever been Governor at all, and that the title commenced long before that with Sir William Hedges in 1681
The history of the Governorship is a curious one, and shows, among other remarkable facts, tbat the Directors of the East India Companies at home were as often as not at violent loggerheads with their chief representatives in Caloutta, whom they frequently "dismissed" and " deposed." Some, like Lord Clive, resigned in consequence of
despatches from the Court of Directors, of which, in Lord Clive's words, "almost every paragraph abounded with unbecoming language." Very unpleasant gentlemen the Board of Directors appear to have been in the early days.
The Governorship of Bengal arose out of a Chief of the Factories of Balasor and Haghll in 1650, who became an Agent and Governor in the Bay of Bengal in 1681, and President and Governor in 1683. In the same year the title was reduced to Agent and Chief in the Bay of Bengal, but the title of President and Governor of Fort William was revived in 1690. The title of Commander-in-Chief was added in 1709, and the full title of President in the Bay, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Fort William, was continued down to 1774, when Warren Hastings was appointed Governor-General of Fort William. The title and office of GovernorGeneral of India in Council, was created in 1833, when the Governor General was appointed also Governor of Fort William. This arrangement continued till 1854, when the GovernorGeneral ceased to be Governor of Fort William, and the office of Lieutenant-Governor of Bongal was created, - in the person of Sir Frederick Halliday.
Bengal was off and on under the control of and independent of Fort St. George until 1699; the famous Agent Job Charnock being, for instance, entrusted for life with the "uncontronlable power" involved in the independence of Madras. And during the transition period, while the affairs of during the transition narind while the English and London East India Companies were being amalgamated into those of the afterwards celebrated United East India Comparily, the Governorships on both sides were for a time, 1702-1709, in commission, each member of the Council presiding in turn. The same plan was tried again after the "Black Hole" tragedy in 1756, but was evidently unworkable and ceased of its own accord in 1758.
The above and other valuable and interesting information is to be found in Mr. Danvers' pamphlet, the accuracy of which is beyond impeachment, as it is all taken from the original documents at first hand. We look forward to other productions of the same kind, which cannot fail to be valuable in the first place because the information given will be of the highest authority; in the second place because the whereabouts of the original documents will be ascertained ; and in the third, because those interested in research will know that the documents have been so filed that they can be consulted without any unreason. able expenditure of time.