Lord Cornwallis (1786-1793)

 Was offered Governor-Generalship in India after return from American War, he was a warrior-statesman. 

Cornwallis was prompted by a strong sense of public duty and enjoyed the respect as well as the confidence of his fellow countrymen. New tradition of choosing a person from an aristocratic family for the post of Governor-General was initiated with Cornwallis.

b. Third Mysore War - The Treaty of Mangalore (1784) exhibited the military strength of Mysore, exposed English weaknesses and increased Tipu’s strength. Like his father he wanted to eliminate the English from India. Causes:
i. Tipu was gaining strength on back of internal reforms, causing Nizam, Marathas and British to worry.
ii. Tipu sent envoys to French and Turkey to seek their help
iii. Expanded territories at the cost of Travancore, ally of British.
iv. In 1789, British concluded tripartite alliance with Nizam and Marathas against Tipu.
Conclusion - ended in Tipu's defeat with him giving up half his dominion, war indemnity of 3 crores and 2 sons as hostage. Treaty of Srirangapattinam signifies a shift in fortunes for British in South India where they secured large territory on Malabar Coast. Cornwallis could defeat Tipu with significant help from Marathas. 

 Reforms of Cornwallis -
i. Administrative - purification of civil service by employment of honest civil servants. Abolished the vicious system of paying small salaries and allowing enormous perquisites. Appointment on basis of merit, laying foundation of Indian Civil Service. Separation of the three branches of service, commercial, judicial and revenue. 

ii. Judicial - with help of William Jones. Top courts were Sadar Diwani Adalat and Sadar Nizamat Adalat, presided over Governor-General in Council. 4 provincial court at Calcutta, Dhaka, Murshidabad and Patna, each under 3 European judges. District courts under a European judge, who was not the Collector. Indian judges (munsiffs) appointed to bottom courts. All officials answerable to courts. In civil cases, Hindu and Muslim laws were followed according to the religion of the litigants. 

iii. Police - District judge controlled the police, each district divided into police circles headed by daroga.

iv. Permanent Settlement (Zamindari) - previous experiment of Izaredar system was based on annual assessment of revenue. To streamline the revenues of the company, Cornwallis changed the settlement schedule from annual to decennial (10 years). In the permanent settlement, the company recognized them as owners of soil. They were given permanent hereditary rights to collect revenue. Zamindars were allowed to keep force and maintain order in their districts. They were expected to improve the conditions of the tenants but the company would not interfere in their internal dealings with the tenants so long they paid the fixed land revenue.
d. He discharged his duties fearlessly, and his life was an embodiment of ‘duty and sacrifice’. He perceived the danger of Tipu’s growing power and curtailed it by boldly discarding the policy of nonintervention. As an administrator, he consolidated the Company’s position in India and started the tradition of efficient and pure administration. John Shore was his successor, uneventful as he adopted a policy of non-intervention.