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Unit 5: Reforms of William Bentinck

there hardened criminals who subordinates their conscience by their perverse reasoning. They believed Notes
that thugi was a preordained means of livelihood for them and their victims were ordained to die at
their hands. They had a very disciplined organisation. If some were expert stranglers, others were
adept-in quick disposal of the dead bodies, still others good spies and informants. They had their
own code of words and signs. For the beginners a course of apprenticeship was provided and initiation
as a master thug was done amidst religious ceremonies. So efficient was the organisation of the thugs
that not even a single case of failure ever came to the notice of the Government.
The strength of a thug gang varied from a single thug to as many as 400 thugs. Usually the victim was
a single individual, but sometimes a dozen men were murdered at the same time.
While there could be some difference of opinion about the abolition of sati, the public opinion solidly
supported the Government measures to suppress thugi in 1830. The operations against the thugs
were put in the charge of Colonel William Sleeman. The rulers of Indian states were invited to co-
operate in this task. Colonel Sleeman arrested as many as 1,500 thugs and sentenced them to death or
imprisonment for life. Thugi on an organised scale ceased to exist after 1837, although individual bad
characters continued their nefarious activities.
Removal of Humiliating Distinctions in Recruitment to Public Service: In matters of recruitment
to public services, William Bentinck sought to efface the humiliating distinctions between Europeans
and Indians introduced by Cornwallis and upheld by subsequent Governors-General. Fitness was
now laid down as the criterion for eligibility. Section 87 of the Charter Act of 1833 provided that no
Indian subject of the Company in India was to be debarred from holding any office under the Company
“by reason of his religion, place of birth, descent and colour”. It is believed that this Charter clause
was inserted at the instance of Bentinck. Though the immediate effect of this clause was very little, it
laid down a very important and healthy principle.
Liberal Policy towards the Press: Bentinck’s policy towards the press was characterised by a liberal
attitude. He believed the press to be a safety-value for discontent. The reduction of bhatta and other
financial measures were subjects of severe criticism and even abuse in the press. His minute embodying
the decision to impose some restrictions on the press contain his views. It runs thus: “The Adjutant
General of the Madras Army, who was at that time at Calcutta, described the angry feelings and
language so loudly expressed here, and all the signs of the times, to be precisely similar to those
which prevailed before the Madras mutiny, and he anticipated a similar explosion. The Mutiny did
take place at Madras though there was not a shadow of liberty belonging to the press there. My firm
belief is that more good than harm was produced by the open and public declaration of the sentiments
of the army. There was vent to public feeling and the mischief was open to public view; and the result
is so far confirmatory of the opinion here given that no overt act took place.” He, however, drew a
distinction between discussion of a proposal and clamour against and censure of a final decision
given by the Supreme Authority. Nor could he tolerate Government officials making use of official
information to criticise the act of Government. He therefore, favoured a prohibitory order banning all
further discussion on the question of bhatta. In reply to a joint petition of the Indian and European
journalists of Calcutta seeking the abolition of all restrictions on the press, Lord William Bentinck’s
Government assured the petitioners that “the unsatisfactory state of laws relating to the press had
already attracted the notice of His Lordship in Council and he trusts that in no long time a system will
be established which, while it gives security to every person engaged in the fair discussion of public
measures, will effectively secure the Government against sedition and individuals against calumny.”
In March 1835 William Bentinck was compelled to resign owing to ill health and its was left to his
devoted lieutenant and successor Charles Metcalfe to remove the restrictions from the Indian press.

5.2 Educational Reforms

Attempts to Elevate the Moral and Intellectual Character of Indians
perhaps the most significant and of far-reaching consequences were Bentinck’s decisions about
education in India. As early as 1825 Elphinstone had wirtten that the only effective path to social

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