Charles Grant and British Rule in India

George Allen & Unwin, 1962

This study of the career of Charles Grant, private merchant and servant of the East India Company in Bengal from 1768 to 1790 and for the next 30 years one of the most influential figures in the Home Administration of Indian Affairs, provides an insight into the policies and events that created the complex relationship between India and Great Britain. Defending the Company's monopoly, he argued for government control of commerce to protect the Indian economy and to ensure British political control. Through his advocacy of missionary enterprises, he elaborated the need for the British rulers to find sanctions that could justify their rule over an alien people. In his opposition to territorial expansion, which led to a memorable conflict with Lord Wellesley, he expressed a distaste for conquest that was often as characteristic of British thinking in the 19th century as was the more familiar support of Imperialism. His interpretation of British policy in India during an eventful period offers therefore, many suggestive ideas for the inner meaning of the expansion of the European people in the 19th century...