Lord Lansdowne (1888-1894)

Introduction

From 1888 to 1894, Lord Lansdowne served as Viceroy of India. He held the positions of governor general of Canada, foreign secretary of the UK, and deputy leader of the Conservative Party before being appointed governor-general of India. In India, Lansdowne’s rule was characterised by tranquillity, advancement, and a few construction undertakings. 

Significant Events During His Tenure

1892: Indian Councils Act

The Indian parliamentary system was established by the Indian Councils Act of 1892. 

• Additional members for the national and provincial legislative councils were made possible by this statute. 
• With the previous approval of the Governor General, the members were permitted to raise inquiries about domestic issues. 
• To choose the council members, an indirect election procedure was implemented. 

1893: Opium Commission

A royal commission was established in 1893 to investigate the effects of opium use in India and the viability of outlawing it. 

• This commission questioned numerous witnesses before issuing a final report in 1895 that supported the usage of opium. 
• It was claimed that the effects of opium consumption in India were significantly less dangerous than thought. 
• As a result, the Government gladly accepted the commission’s suggestion and abandoned its plan to outlaw opium.

Re-Imposition Of Income Tax

By this point, Lord Ripon’s administration’s financial reforms and tax cuts had begun to have an adverse effect on revenue. 

• The Burma War cost Rs. 40 lakh, the North West military operations Rs. 20 lahks, and the expanded army required an annual expenditure of Rs. 15 lahks. 
• In order to address the issue, income tax was reinstated in 1886, and the salt charge was increased in 1888. 1894 saw the introduction of a 5% customs levy on imported cotton products.

Evaluation Of His Tenure

Lord Dufferin, his predecessor, had left him with an empty treasury, a limited plan for political change, and a more assertive stance on India’s northwest frontier that had enraged the amir of Afghanistan and strained relations with the inhabitants of that borderland.

• A number of new issues soon arose for him, including a bloody uprising in Manipur (1890–1891) and an attempt by Parliament to restrict the growth of indigenous Indian industry (1891), which he mostly ascribed to the Indian Civil Service’s “lack of sympathy for those they ruled.”
• Lansdowne, who believed that the growth of Indian nationalism was an unavoidable outcome of British rule (1890), legitimised the activity of the Indian National Congress in an official circular.
• His wider and more liberal revision of Dufferin’s Provincial Councils proposal, which became the Indian Councils Act of 1892, overcame strong opposition from the Indian Civil Service.

Conclusion

When Lansdowne was the Leader of the House of Lords in 1909, he silenced Curzon and other Tories who opposed the Morley-Minto Reforms, an enlargement of the law passed in 1892. Additionally, he got their consent to select an Indian for the Viceroy’s Supreme Council as well as the Council of India. Lansdowne was extremely sorry for the price these “little wars” for the empire had put on India. 

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