ABSTRACT
On September 12, 1786, Lord Cornwallis had arrived in India with definite instructions to conclude a permanent settlement of Bengal and Behar. John Shore, who was appointed a member of the Supreme Council on January 21, 1787, and remained as Cornwallis’s chief adviser until the end of December, 1789, had been a member of the Bengal administration since the year 1769. Cornwallis criticized Shore’s arguments on three main grounds; firstly on the policy of the Court of Directors; secondly on the utility of a settlement for ten years only; and thirdly, on the question of experience. It is commonly supposed that Cornwallis was the champion of the old zemindar families, and that the permanent settlement aimed at placing them on the same footing as the English landlord. Cornwallis’s final minute does not constitute a convincing reply to Shore’s arguments. From the commencement of the controversy, Shore had appealed for the necessity of further experience.
