In the decade after Warren Hastings’ departure (1785–98), his idea of conciliation encountered new and formidable opposition. He relied on the idea in his defense against impeachment in parliament, but his principal accuser, Edmund Burke, identified it with corruption. Conciliation also acquired a bad name in India, where Hastings’ acting replacement, John Macpherson, made it the watchword of his scandalous administration. Hence, it fell to Lord Cornwallis to rid the idea of its unsavoriness, as part of his attempt to restore metropolitan faith in the Company state. The governor-general’s alliance with Sir William Jones helped in this regard. In the 1790s, pressure on the Company state and on the idea of conciliation abated. Yet this was to be a temporary reprieve. Soon, both would be challenged afresh by the governor-generalship of Lord Wellesley.

In the 1770s, the rapid expansion of the Company’s territorial empire sparked social and political unease in Britain, fueling efforts to reform and to rein in the corporation. For many commentators, few reforms seemed more important than dissolving the Company’s independent army. For years, disagreements about the relative authority of Company and royal forces had complicated British military operations in India, and “consolidating” the two bodies into a unified British Army seemed the clear solution. This chapter explores how the Company’s white officers pushed back against this campaign, establishing a coherent political community in India and an influential lobbying group in Britain. In a flurry of petitions and pamphlets, officers maintained that “consolidation” was both unjust and imprudent: Royal officers would not know how to lead sepoys or to negotiate a war in India. When this written campaign failed to halt the planned reform, white officers across India staged a mutiny, which Company and Crown officials proved unable or unwilling to rebuff. Plans for consolidation were abandoned, while the officers’ collective influence over imperial policies was further solidified.