Cornwallis took out with him in 1787 instructions to introduce a Permanent Settlement of the land-tax of Bengal.
The Permanent Settlement, 1793.—The process of assessment began in 1789, and terminated in 1791. No attempt was made to measure the fields or calculate the out-turn, as had been done by Akbar, and as is now done whenever settlements are made in the British Provinces. The amount to be paid in the future was fixed by reference to what had been paid in the past. At first the settlement was decennial, or 'for ten years,' but in 1793 it was declared permanent. The total assessment amounted to Sikka Rs. 26,800,989, or about three millions sterling for Bengal. Lord Cornwallis carried the scheme into execution; but the praise or blame, so far as details are concerned, belongs to Sir John Shore, afterwards Lord Teignmouth, a civil servant, whose knowledge of the country was unsurpassed in his time. Shore would have proceeded more cautiously than Cornwallis' preconceived idea of a proprietary body, and the Court of Directors' haste after fixity, permitted.
Second Mysore War, 1790-1792.—The second Mysore war of 1790-1792 i? noteworthy on two accounts. Lord Cornwallis, the Governor-General, led the British army in person, with a pomp and a magnificence of supply which recalled the campaigns of Aurangzeb. The two great southern powers, the Nizám of the Deccan and the Maráthá Confederacy, co-operated as allies of the British. In the end, Tipú Sultán submitted when Lord Cornwallis had commenced to beleaguer his capital. He agreed to yield one-half of his dominions to be divided among the allies, and to pay three millions sterling towards the cost of the war. These conditions he fulfilled, but ever afterwards he burned to be revenged upon his English conquerors. Lord Cornwallis retired in 1793, and was succeeded by Sir John Shore, afterwards Lord Teignmouth.
Marquess Wellesley, 1798-1805.—The period of Sir John Shore's rule as Governor-General, from 1793 to 1798, was uneventful. In 1798, Lord Mornington, better known as the Marquess Wellesley, arrived in India, already inspired with imperial projects which were destined to change the map of the country. Lord Mornington was the friend and favourite of Pitt,
