It was clear from the Warren Hastings imbroglio that Lord North's Regulating Act of 1773 had made the British nation responsible for what happened in India, but not materially enabled the nation to construct and enforce policy. In 1782-84 debate polarized in London between the managers of Hastings's impeachment in Parliament (Lord North, Charles James Fox and Edmund Burke who favoured bringing Indian affairs under the control of the London Parliament) and a secret committee (Henry Dundas, William Pitt the younger and Lord Shelburne who favoured strengthening the role of the Crown in India). In modern terms this seems to be a simple case of democratic transparency versus secret autocratic dictat. The king naturally sided with …
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Citation: Clark, Robert. "East India Company, 1785-1858". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 January 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=4146, accessed 23 November 2024.]
