deration which belonged to their former character? And how are we to reconcile this unqualified assertion of prosperity with his frequent intimations of dangers, which " every moment" threaten the destruction of our empire ? Much of this confusion may be inseparable from the cause which he has undertaken to support, but part of it must be attributed to a conflict in his mind, between his former and his present opinions on the subject of the Company. The association of the idea of insanity with the functions assigned to the Court of Directors could only have occurred to one who had been keenly struck with the incongruities, and intensely convinced of the evils flowing from such preposterous arrangements. Of a system really calculated to produce "success and prosperity," the founder would either be held in time-honoured remembrance; or its excellencies would be found, like those of the British Constitution, greatly to transcend whatever had entered into the design and contemplation of its earliest artificers, and to be the offspring rather of a providential combination of circumstances, than of human wisdom and foresight.

I proceed to show that, in the first edition of his Political History of India, published in 1811, Sir John Malcolm was so far from thinking it

expedient to give the Court of Directors greater means of acting as a check on the Board of Control, that he was anxious to deprive them of what they then possessed, without inquiring or seeming to care what became of the Company in their commercial capacity. It is worth observing, that though the historical part of the second edition is a republication of the first five chapters of the first edition, with the addition of two chapters containing the administrations of Lords Minto and Hastings, in which negotiations and events are related with exactly the same degree. of succinctness which is used in the preceding chapters, yet the first edition is entitled a "Sketch of the Political History of India," while the second is designated "The Political History of India." The following passages retained, or slightly modified, in the second edition, further show that the original title ought also to have been retained. "It is foreign to the object of this SKETCH to detail the military operations between the British Government and the Mahrratta Chiefs Dowlut Row Scindiah, and the Rajah of Berar." (I. 264.) "The political administration of the Marquess Wellesley was marked by a number of minor measures, undertaken and executed on the same principles, and with the same spirit and success, as those which

have been described: but however deserving of notice, it is impossible to dwell upon every one without swelling this WORK to a size beyond what is intended. We shall therefore confine ourselves to a statement of changes which he effected in the connexion between the British Government, and the dependent States of Oude and the Carnatic."Second Edition, vol. i. p. 273.

SKETCH to a size beyond what is intended. I shall therefore proceed to give as concise a statement, as the subject will permit, of those radical changes which he effected in the connexion between the British Government, and the dependent States of Oude and the Carnatic." -First Edition. p. 319.

In order to perceive the full import of the following passages from the first edition, the reader will do well to guard against the effect of the diffuse and periphrastic (or, perhaps, diplomatic) style which is habitual to Sir John Malcolm. "From what has been stated regarding the cha"racter of the Board of Control and the Court "of Directors, and from all experience, since "the first introduction of this form of govern"ment, it appears unlikely that these public "bodies should ever cordially agree regarding "the political administration of India; and as

"their frequent disagreement must produce the "worst of consequences, some means will, pro

bably, be devised of making the authority "which is actually to direct and control the poli"tical affairs of India more efficient to its large functions, and of avoiding a collision at the very source of authority, which must, while it "continues, spread weakness and distraction among all who are subject to it; and the "effect of which will be always more dangerous "from the character of party-spirit in England " and the distance and nature of the Indian

"It is a principle of the British Constitution "to leave the executive administration of the

country free and unembarrassed in the employ"ment of its principal officers, and the execu"tion of those measures which it may deem "wise and advantageous to the state; for which, "however, the administration of the day be

comes strictly responsible to the public. Its "applause or condemnation determines their "title to fame and the period of their power; "and this forms, perhaps, as great a check as "it is possible to have upon human actions. "This check has been found sufficient to the

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management of the affairs of the empire of "Great Britain, and would appear equal to the

"conduct of the political government of the pos"sessions of that power in India. It may be "questioned, therefore, how far it is either wise

or consistent with the constitutional principle "here stated to fetter and embarrass the admi"nistration in the execution of every measure "which they adopt respecting that country. It "will be said that, under the Act of Parliament, "the Board of Control have the power, and "that they must ultimately prevail in any con"tests which they have with the Court of Di"rectors of a political nature: but the very "privilege of an official expression of contrary "opinion, which the form of the Act warrants, "has the effect of throwing these questions into "discussion; and that effect produces delays, "destroys confidence in the local government of "India, and renders the whole system of our "rule in that quarter weak, wavering, and dis"tracted.

"The Court of Directors cannot claim, under "the Act, political power in the administration "of British India as a matter of right, but they "should be debarred from seeking it through the

means of their influence or patronage; and "that can never be done unless by some modifi"cation of the present system, which, by a