The

1
The Age of Reform 1828-1857

• Commerce Conquest/ Imperial Expansion in
  British India

2

• 1828 has traditionally been regarded as
  demarcating the beginning of a new era in the
  history of British India.
• Up to this time attitudes concerning the
  governance of an alien society varied and were
  mostly discordant.
• But the dominant ethos was ' reformist' and it
  grew in strength and stridency.
• Initially held at bay, it captured the mind of
  Parliament first, indoctrinated the bureaucratic
  class that was trained at Haileybury to run the
  new empire, and overwhelmed the objections of
  orientalists and pragmatists

Stacking opium ballsFrom The Graphic 1882
3

• By 1828 liberals like Macauley and Utilitarians
  like Mill, Bentinck and Trevelyan had the field
  to themselves and immediately instituted
  reformist programmes.
• Lets examine those programmes, evaluate the
  impulses and motives that informed them, and
  measure their impact on Indian society.
• Whether the changes foreshadowed or legislated
  for between 1828-56 deserve to entitle this 30
  year period as 'The Age of Reform', however,
  remains a moot point

4

• Up to 1828 we have the development of a reforming
  ethos
• After 1828 we reputedly have application of a
  reforming program.
• This reforming program had at its heart the
  Doctrine of Improvement.
• India seen as a 'laboratory of experiment' in
  social and political engineering.

5
But improvement of what kind?

• Improvement could take different forms and
  reflect different inputs.
• To liberals improvement Western education
• To utilitarian improvement good laws
• To evangelicals improvement Christianity and
  conversion

6

• In historiography the period 1828-1856 has been
  labelled 'The Age of Reform'
• Is this merited? If not, why not?
• Possible explanation Age of Reform is a concept
  needed to explain the Mutiny which followed it?
  Thus British meddling/interference provides an
  ideal backdrop for Indian reaction and resistance
  in 1856-8.

7
Opposing historical explanations

• But J. Nehru disputes the point that the British
  were reforming zealots, who went too far too
  quickly, in a 'cultural blitzkrieg'. Instead, he
  argues, the British remained, from first to last,
  lily-hearted bureaucrats - who contemplated
  change only if it were safe.
• V.G Kiernan 'The Lords of Human Kind' draws our
  attention not to what the British actually did,
  but to how they did it. That is, it was not
  British reforms that were the problem so much as
  British methods.

8
The Coming of Bentinck

• Gov.-General 1828-1835
• What sort of man was he?
• Relied on advice from strong-willed advisers.
• Therefore susceptibility to instigate change in
  line with current reformist views.
• His "Reforms" fall into 3 categories
• 1. Social Do they amount to much? Negative in
  character
• 2. Legal Macaulay's New Legal Code 1834 (Mill's
  influence) Western, uniform, far-reaching.
• 3. Educative Macaulay's Reform Minute of 1835
  considered the Key Measure of this period.

9
Educative measures

• 1835 Education Minute Features 'Filtration'
  theory Education filters down from elite to
  masses Brown Englishmen created
• - Motivations
• - Racial - administrative - commercial
• Results - (1) An unexpected Growth of
  nationalist sentiment
• - - (2) An unexpected development of
  Hindu/Muslim rivalry

10
Dalhousie 1852-1856

• Dalhousie and Economic 'Improvement'
• - Infrastructure of modern state put in place
• (a) railways (b) telegraph (c) universities
• - Emphasis on both shovel and pen
• Dalhousie Gov.General 1852-56 an
  interventionist
• Able to execute utilitarian policy not simply
  make policy statements.
• Conclusion Do the above 'Reforms' constitute a
  full-scale-assault on Indian Custom? If not, how
  do we explain the Mutiny?

11
Blog Questions

• 1. What did Utilitarianism, as outlined by James
  Mill and applied by its apologists for
  generations, consist of in the Indian context?
• 2. T. B. Macauley's Minute of Education (1838) is
  always depicted as the centrepiece of British
  'reformism'. Why was it important?
• 3. In what ways was Dalhousie's approach to the
  improvement of Indian society different from
  either Mill's or Macauley's?

12
Articles

• K.A. Ballhatchet, 'The Home Government and
  British Educational Policy', Cambridge Historical
  Journal, 10, 1951
• Special Issue of Indo-British Review 'The East
  India Company Raj', Vol. XXI, no. 2 (1996)
• G.D. Bearce, 'Lord William Bentinck The
  Application of Liberalism to India', Journal of
  Modern History. 28, 1956
• S. Gopal, 'Dalhousie', History Today, 9, 1959
• G N Sirkin, 'Battle of Indian Education
  Macaulay's Opening Salvo Newly Discovered',
  Victorian Studies, 14, 1971
• E. Stokes, 'Macaulay the Indian Years 1834-38',
  Review of English Literature, 1, 1960