THE EXPANSION OF BRITISH DOMINION 299

that was supposed to have marred the administration of the Company. Nevertheless, it is historically cer- tain that a period of unprecedented war and conquest began when the Crown superseded the Company in the supreme direction of Indian affairs. The beginning of our Indian wars on a large scale dates from 1789; and the period between 1786 and 1805, during which British India was ruled (with a brief interval) by the first two Parliamentary Governors- General, Cornwallis and Wellesley by Governors-Gen- eral, that is, who were appointed by ministers respon- sible to Parliament, and for party reasons comprises some of the longest wars and largest acquisitions by conquest or cession. It stands on record that the great- est development of British dominion in India (up to the time of Lord Dalhousie) coincides precisely with these two Governor-Generalships. The foundations of the Indian empire were marked out in haphazard piece- work fashion by merchants, the corner-stone was laid by Clive in Bengal, and the earlier stages were consoli- dated by Hastings; but the lofty superstructure was raised entirely by a distinguished line of Parliamentary proconsuls and generals. For the last hundred years every important annexation in India has been made under the sanction and the deliberate orders of the national government in England. The closer connection of India with England, and the importance of the English stake in the country, had now brought our Asiatic dependency so much more within the current of European politics that the rising