Ideology and Empire in Eighteenth-Century India: The British Bengal

 

Robert Travers' analysis of British conquests in late eighteenth-century India shows how new ideas were formulated about the construction of empire. After the British East India Company conquered the vast province of Bengal, Britons confronted the apparent anomaly of a European trading company acting as an Indian ruler. Responding to a prolonged crisis of imperial legitimacy, British officials in Bengal tried to build their authority on the basis of an 'ancient constitution', supposedly discovered among the remnants of the declining Mughal Empire. In the search for an indigenous constitution, British political concepts were redeployed and redefined on the Indian frontier of empire, while stereotypes about 'oriental despotism' were challenged by the encounter with sophisticated Indian state forms. This highly original book uncovers a forgotten style of imperial state-building based on constitutional restoration, and in the process opens up new points of connection between British, imperial and South Asian history.

Table of contents :  Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 4 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Preface and acknowledgements......Page 9 Abbreviations and note on currency......Page 13 Note on currency......Page 14 Glossary of Indian terms......Page 15 Introduction......Page 21 1 Imperium in imperio: the East India Company, the British empire and the revolutions in Bengal, 1757-1772......Page 51 The connected worlds of the East India Company......Page 52 The terms of negotiation......Page 63 This happy revolution?......Page 75 2 Colonial encounters and the crisis in Bengal, 1765-1772......Page 87 Contesting power in Murshidabad......Page 93 Power in the districts......Page 105 Conclusions: crisis and nostalgia......Page 118 3 Warren Hastings and 'the legal forms of Mogul government', 1772-1774......Page 120 Governor Hastings in context......Page 121 A revolution in sovereignty......Page 127 Standing forth......Page 130 The ancient constitution of law......Page 135 Questions to the natives and the custom of the country......Page 146 The reinvention of Mughal government: courts, criminals and the police......Page 152 Conclusion......Page 158 4 Philip Francis and the 'country government'......Page 161 'To act generally for the nation'......Page 163 Gathering materials......Page 170 Competing visions......Page 183 Conclusion: the shifting ground of British Indian politics......Page 197 5 Sovereignty, custom and natural law: the Calcutta Supreme Court, 1774-1781......Page 201 A new court for Bengal......Page 202 The Supreme Court and British sovereign authority......Page 205 The 'Patna cause': natural justice for India......Page 211 From Patna to parliament: confusing outcomes......Page 220 Conclusion......Page 225 6 Reconstituting empire, c. 1780-1793......Page 227 The crisis of war and the Pittite resolution......Page 228 The Mughal constitution on trial......Page 234 The decline of the country government......Page 243 Towards a new constitution for Bengal......Page 253 The selective memory of colonial enlightenment......Page 264 7 Epilogue......Page 270 Northumberland county record office, melton park, gosforth......Page 274 Published sources before c. 1850......Page 275 Printed primary sources......Page 276 Secondary sources......Page 277 Unpublished doctoral dissertations......Page 288 Index......Page 289 Other titles in the series......Page 295