Historian Niall Ferguson, in the preface to his book Civilization: The West And The Rest quotes playwright Alan Bennet who in his History Boys wondered whether history should be taught as “...a mode of contrarian argumentation, a communion with past Truth and Beauty or just ‘one fucking thing after another’”.
For most of us, the last option was what was on
offer in long gone school days. The inevitable result was an abiding impression
that history was an exercise in mind numbing boredom to be abandoned at the
very first opportunity.
Nicholas Dirks, however, makes the study of history
not only educative but remarkably interesting -- fascinating even. Dirks
writes, as is his wont, clearly, forcefully and with a wealth of detail to back
up his, often rather aggressive, assertions. The Scandal Of Empire is a
delightful read -- both informative and spicy.
Dirks uses the biggest public scandal of 18th
century England-the impeachment and subsequent trial of Warren Hastings, former
Governor General of The East India Company’s empire in India, to examine the
‘ignominious origins of empire’ mired in greed and exploitation.
The process, driven by Edmund Burke, lasted about
nine years between 1786 and 1795. Although it resulted in the acquittal of
Hastings, the whole drama served many other purposes that Dirks excavates and
brings to light. As he points out, the whole exercise was a critique of the
activities of the Company’s servants in India, not of Empire itself. That a
trading company under the protective umbrella of the British Crown and
Parliament had mutated into a rogue state that made war, dispensed justice,
coined money and levied taxes was not being questioned. The legitimacy of Empire
was not in question, merely the conduct of its servants. The need of the hour
was a cleansing and establishing of appropriate State control on the greedy and
often unjust minions of the Company. After a thorough catharsis -- a
sanitization -- the focus would shift to the scandal that was India – a
derelict and degraded civilization in urgent need of the civilizing influence
of a kind but firm paternal overlord.
Dirks informs us, rather tongue-in-cheek, that
Edmund Burke himself had lost much of his fortune in speculation in East India
Company shares and that the established aristocracy in England was increasingly
disturbed by the return of hugely rich Nabobs -- Company officials with
massive, ill-gotten gains -- who bought their way into positions of power and
status, threatening the existing structures of privilege and power.
The author also establishes an interesting link
between the rise of empire and Capitalism. The English stock market and the
Company grew in parallel with EIC shares being the most significant market
drivers in the early years; and incidentally both were accompanied by huge
public scandals of bribery and corruption.
The chapter on corruption where he details the
extractive process whereby huge fortunes were acquired by grasping and ruthless
Company officials is downright delicious, verging on the gossipy.
The story of the British in India is both
fascinating as story and significant as a primary means of understanding the
structures of state and society that characterize modern India. Nicholas Dirks
gives us glimpses of a portion of that history and does so in a skillful and
hugely entertaining manner.
To entice you, dear reader, to read this book I
shall end with a revealing quote from Robert Clive who was also accused of
corruption, was also acquitted of the charge and had, among other things,
replied as under:
“A great prince was dependent on my pleasure; an
opulent city lay at my mercy... I walked through vaults which were thrown open
to me alone, piled on either hand with gold and jewels. Mr Chairman, at this
moment, I stand astonished at my own moderation.”
Happy reading.
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