That, I think, is likely to be the opinion of any man on the Government
of India. There is another authority to which I will refer, Mr. Kaye,
who has also written a very good book. It was actually distributed by
the Court of Directors; I have therefore a right to consider it a fair
representation of their views of what was done, especially as the
Chairman of the Court has given me a copy of the book. Mr. Kaye, in
referring to the double Government which existed in Bengal in 1772,
makes use of these expressions. When I first read them, I thought they
were a quotation from my own speeches:--

'But enlightened as were the instructions thus issued to the
supervisors, the supervision was wholly inadequate to the
requirements of the case. The double Government, as I have shown,
did not work well. It was altogether a sham and an imposture. It
was soon to be demolished at a blow.... The double Government
had, by this time, fulfilled its mission. It had introduced an
incredible amount of disorder and corruption into the State, and
of poverty and wretchedness among the people; it had embarrassed
our finances, and soiled our character, and was now to be openly
recognised as a failure.'

This is only as to Bengal. The following are the words he uses in
respect to the double Government at home:--

'In respect of all transactions with foreign Powers--all matters
bearing upon questions of peace and war--the President of the
Board of Control has authority to originate such measures as he
and his colleagues in the Ministry may consider expedient. In
such cases he acts presumedly in concert with the Secret
Committee of the Court of Directors--a body composed of the