CHAPTER XI

Summary

SECTION I

LORD AMHERST—BURMESE WAR—BHURTPORE—BARRACKPORE MUTINY

On the receipt of Lord Hastings's resignation, the post of Governor-General was accepted by Mr. Canning, the late President of the Board of Control, but, on the eve of embarkation, the death of Lord Londonderry led to his appointment as foreign Secretary of State. Two candidates then appeared for this splendid office; Lord William Bentinck, who bad been unjustly removed from Madras by the Court of Directors in the height of the Vellore panic, and who was pre-eminently qualified for it; and Lord Amherst, whose claim rested on his embassy to Pekin, and the exemplary fortitude with which he had borne the arrogance of the Court. The preference was given to him, and he landed at Calcutta on the 1st August. During the interregnum, the government devolved on Mr. John Adam, the senior member of Council, a meritorious Officier of considerable ability and experience, but totally disqualified for the highest post in the empire by the strength of his local partialities and prejudices. His brief administration of seven months is now remembered only by his persecution of the press. Mr. Buckingham had come out to Calcutta in 1818, and established the “Calcutta Journal,” the ablest newspaper which had till then appeared in India. He availed himself of the freedom granted to the press by Lord Hastings, and commented on public measures with a degree of freedom which was considered politically dangerous.