Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Hinduism
- Abbreviations
- Map of India
- Introduction
- 1 A Christian Company?
- 2 The East India Company, Britain and India 1770–1790
- 3 The 1790s: A Time of Crisis
- 4 The Pillar of Fire Moves Forward: The Advent of British Missionaries 1793–1806
- 5 The Wisdom of the Serpent and the Innocence of the Dove: The Vellore Mutiny and the Pamphlet War 1806–1808
- 6 Troubled Years 1807–1812
- 7 Battle Lines Drawn: Missions, Dissent and the Establishment
- 8 The 1813 Renewal of the Company's Charter: The Religious Public Takes on the Company
- 9 A Turbulent Frontier: The Company and Religion 1814–1828
- 10 A New Dawn? The Era of Lord William Bentinck 1828–1835
- 11 Between Scylla and Charibdis 1836–1858
- Conclusion and Epilogue: Strangers in the Land
- Appendix 1 Presidents of the Board of Control
- Appendix 2 Governors-General and Governors of Madras and Bombay
- Appendix 3 Aide Memoire to Names
- Appendix 4 ‘The Pious Clause’
- Bibliography
- Index
- WORLDS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
10 - A New Dawn? The Era of Lord William Bentinck 1828–1835
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Hinduism
- Abbreviations
- Map of India
- Introduction
- 1 A Christian Company?
- 2 The East India Company, Britain and India 1770–1790
- 3 The 1790s: A Time of Crisis
- 4 The Pillar of Fire Moves Forward: The Advent of British Missionaries 1793–1806
- 5 The Wisdom of the Serpent and the Innocence of the Dove: The Vellore Mutiny and the Pamphlet War 1806–1808
- 6 Troubled Years 1807–1812
- 7 Battle Lines Drawn: Missions, Dissent and the Establishment
- 8 The 1813 Renewal of the Company's Charter: The Religious Public Takes on the Company
- 9 A Turbulent Frontier: The Company and Religion 1814–1828
- 10 A New Dawn? The Era of Lord William Bentinck 1828–1835
- 11 Between Scylla and Charibdis 1836–1858
- Conclusion and Epilogue: Strangers in the Land
- Appendix 1 Presidents of the Board of Control
- Appendix 2 Governors-General and Governors of Madras and Bombay
- Appendix 3 Aide Memoire to Names
- Appendix 4 ‘The Pious Clause’
- Bibliography
- Index
- WORLDS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
Summary
Christians and Legislators in their zeal are too often blind to their own intolerance.
(William Bentinck)BY THE END of the 1820s, a new imperial vision was gaining ground in which ‘young men in a hurry’ wanted to sweep away the old ways of doing things in order to bring a new, progressive order to India. The belief of Malcolm and Munro that India needed to be ruled as far as possible in an Indian idiom was anathema to the new breed of official, who argued that Indian society was so corrupt that only the introduction of Western institutions, morals and culture could remedy the situation. Evangelicals in Britain and India continued to press the Company and the Government to legislate for India on the basis of Christian morality. Evangelicalism and reform seemed to be united in the person of the new Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck, who was appointed in 1828. Bentinck arrived in India with little time for ‘old-India hands’ and intended to preside over the redemption of India via a series of reforms. He wanted India opened to more Europeans who, he believed, would build a ‘community of faith and language’, which would bind Britain and India together. Missionaries awaited Bentinck's arrival with the hope that at last they would be able not only to go about their work unhindered by Government but also with its positive support. Anglicans hoped he would improve the standing of the Church in India. The stage seemed set for the dawning of a new era.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The East India Company and Religion, 1698-1858 , pp. 183 - 205Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012