garding the apprehended invasion of Sicily, which ends with the following laconic letter from Wellington to Bentinck: Huarte, 1 July 1813: My lord,-In answer to your lordship's despatch, I have to observe that I conceive that the island of Sicily is at present in no danger whatever' (History of the Peninsular War, v. 435, edition of 1860). In 1814 Bentinck commanded a successful expedition against Genoa, where he issued two proclamations, which, anticipating by nearly half a century the establishment of Italian unity, caused some embarrassment to his government. He afterwards returned to Palermo, and finally quitted Sicily on 14 July of that year. At the close of the war he remained for some time at Rome, and during the following thirteen years was unemployed. arrival of Mr. Frere he joined Sir John Moore, and having commanded a brigade at the battle of Corunna he was favourably noticed in the despatch of Sir John Hope, who had succeeded to the command on the death of Moore. Bentinck was next appointed, with the rank of lieutenant-general, to command a division in Sir Arthur Wellesley's army; but he appears shortly afterwards to have been sent to Germany to make arrangements for raising a German contingent, which was subsequently employed under his command in Sicily and on the east coast of Spain. In 1811 he went as envoy to the court of Sicily and as commander-in-chief of the British forces in that island. During the greater part of the three following years he remained in Sicily, nominally as envoy, but practically as governor of the island, into which he in- In July 1827 Bentinck was appointed gotroduced constitutional government, based vernor-general of Bengal, but did not take in some measure upon the pattern of the his seat till July 1828. Although India at British constitution. A German writer (HEL- that time was at peace, its finances were FERT, Queen Caroline), describing Bentinck's embarrassed by the prolonged war in Burma government of Sicily, characterises him as a and by the siege of Bhartpur, both of which man of a violent and haughty nature, im- had taken place during Lord Amherst's gobued with English prejudices, and regarding vernment. There had been a series of heavy the English constitution as the salvation of financial deficits, extending to the year in the human race. Bentinck's great difficulty which Bentinck took charge of the governduring this period was the hostility of the ment, when the expenditure still exceeded queen, who resented his influence and disliked the income by more than a million. Benhis policy. In 1813 Bentinck proceeded to tinck's first duty was to devise means of the east coast of Spain in command of a reducing the expenses in every branch of the mixed force of British, German, and Cala- administration which was susceptible of rebrian troops. Bentinck's diversion had the duction, and although in carrying out this effect of detaining the French marshal, Suchet, duty he was merely obeying the repeated in Catalonia, but the campaign does not ap-orders of the court of directors, the result for pear to have added to Bentinck's military reputation. On 12 Sept., at the pass of Ordal, he was defeated by the French marshal and forced to retreat. His strategy on this occasion was much called in question; but Napier, while attributing to him some errors, including a delay in reinforcing his brigadier-general, Adam [see ADAM, SIR FREDERICK], pronounces the position which Bentinck took up to have been very good, and lays the greater share of the responsibility for the defeat upon Adam's faulty arrangements. On 22 Sept. Bentinck, with the sanction of Lord Wellington, re-embarked with the troops under his command for Sicily, influenced, it would seem, partly by apprehensions of an invasion of that island by Murat, and partly by some expectation of concluding a treaty with the latter, who at that time was coquetting with the allies, but whom Bentinck to the last regarded with distrust. It is tolerably clear that Wellington did not entertain a high opinion of Bentinck's judgment. In Napier's history there is a short correspondence re a time was much personal unpopularity. He appointed commissions to investigate the expenditure, both civil and military. He threw open to natives posts hitherto filled by Englishmen at a larger cost, and he gave effect to orders of the court, which had been twice reiterated, for the reduction of an allowance which, under the name of 'battá,' had for many years been given to the European officers of the army in addition to their pay. The result of Bentinck's financial measures was that the deficit which he found on his arrival was converted into a surplus, amounting at the time of his retirement from the government to two millions a year. Financial reductions were not, however, the most important reforms which distinguished Bentinck's administration as governor-general. In the north-western provinces the settlement of the land revenue still remained upon a very unsatisfactory footing. Bentinck, after carefully investigating the question in consultation with the principal officers of the provinces concerned, set on foot a settlement which, carried on under the direction of Mr. Robert Merttins Bird, one of the ablest officers in the Indian service, and brought to a completion in nine years, was an enormous improvement on the previous state of things. It limited the public demand upon the land to a fixed sum for a period of thirty years, and provided a complete record of individual rights. Bentinck also established a separate board of revenue for the north-western provinces at Allahabad. In the judicial department the provincial courts of appeal and circuit, which had become proverbial for the dilatoriness and uncertainty of their decisions, were abolished, and there was substituted for them a civil and sessions judge in each district, the whole of the original civil business being transferred to native judicial officers. The north-western provinces were at the same time provided with a separate sudder, or chief court of appeal. An inquiry into the working of the inland transit duties, instituted under Bentinck's orders, resulted in the abolition of those duties after his departure from India. The education of the natives also engaged Bentinck's attention. Here, acting upon the advice of Macaulay, who joined his council in the last year of his government, he issued a resolution which may be regarded as the first decisive step taken by the government of India towards raising up a class of natives educated in western literature and science. It prescribed that, without peremptorily abolishing the institutions for promoting oriental learning, all other available funds should be employed in imparting a knowledge of English literature and science through the medium of the English language. A closely allied question was that of the employment of natives of India in the public service. Bentinck was the first governorgeneral who seriously dealt with this question. He treated it in a liberal and comprehensive spirit, and by his measures for the employment of natives upon duties and in positions not previously entrusted to them, he greatly raised the status of the native official hierarchy throughout Bengal. Nor was he less zealous in promoting the settlement of unofficial Europeans in India, and the application of European capital to the development of the resources of the country. The employment of steam communication between England and India, and also on the Ganges and other Indian rivers, was another object which received his cordial support. Bentinck's views in regard to the Indian press would seem either to have been misunderstood, or to have varied at different periods. The common impression is that, although he left it to his successor, Sir Charles Metcalfe, to pass the law which formally conferred freedom upon the Indian press, he, fully shared the opinions upon which that measure was founded, and it is certainly true that during Bentinck's government there was no sort of interference in Bengal with the liberty of the press; but it is nevertheless the fact that in one of his latest minutes, written on 13 March 1835, when he was on the point of leaving India, he described the spread of knowledge and the operations of the press as among the dangers which threatened British rule in India. In the same minute, he put on record for (apparently) the first time the opinion that the advance of Russia in the direction of India was the greatest danger to which India was exposed, and he advocated various changes in the military organisation, some of which ran very much upon the lines of those introduced after the mutiny of 1857. The measure most constantly associated with Bentinck's tenure of the governor-generalship is the abolition of suttee, or widow-burning, which by a regulation passed on 4 Dec. 1829 was declared to be punishable as culpable homicide. In arriving at this decision Bentinck was supported by a strong body of official opinion; but after what had passed in his own case at Madras, it was by no means a light responsibility that he incurred in resolving upon a measure of this nature which none of his predecessors had ventured to carry into effect The suppression of the Thugs, an alteration of the law of inheritance securing to converts from Hinduism and Muhammadanism their rights of property, and the admission of native christians to employment in the public service, were all measures of Bentinck's administration. The political management of the native feudatory states under Bentinck's government was not satisfactory; but for this he can hardly be held responsible, inasmuch as a policy of strict non-intervention in the internal affairs of those states was strongly inculcated by the home authorities. He, however, assumed the administration of Mysore, which, owing to the misrule and oppres sion of the rájá, was verging on a condition of anarchy; and in the case of Oudh he intimated that unless matters considerably improved, the administration of the country would be taken over by the company's government. The only diplomatic measures in which he was engaged in relation to foreign states, were a treaty of alliance with Ranjit Singh, the ruler of the Panjáb, and a treaty of commerce with the Amirs of Sindh. The negotiation with Ranjit Singh was the occasion of an imposing ceremonial, when the maha raja and the governor-general met at Rupar on the banks of the Satlej. Bentinck was still governor-general when the East India Company's Charter Act of 1833 was passed, whereby he became the first 'governor-general of India;' he and his predecessors having been 'governors-general of Bengal,' although vested with control in certain matters over the minor presidencies of Madras and Bombay. During the latter part of his government Bentinck's health became seriously impaired, and he was spending the hot season on the Nilgiris, the mountain sanatorium of the Madras presidency, when the change in the constitution of the supreme government took effect in India. He was there joined by Macaulay, the new law member of council, with whom he speedily contracted a warm friendship. He resigned the government and embarked for England on 20 March 1835, much regretted both by Europeans and natives, with the former of whom his early unpopularity had yielded to a sense of his singleness of purpose, and of his earnestness and capacity as an administrator. After his departure a statue in his honour was erected at Calcutta bearing this inscription from the pen of Macaulay: "To William Cavendish Bentinck, who during seven years ruled India with eminent prudence, integrity, and benevolence; who, placed at the head of a great empire, never laid aside the simplicity and moderation of a private citizen; who infused into oriental despotism the spirit of British freedom; who never forgot that the end of government is the happiness of the governed; who abolished cruel rites; who effaced humiliating distinctions; who gave liberty to the expression of public opinion; whose constant study it was to elevate the intellectual and moral character of the nations committed to his charge, this monument was erected by men who, differing in race, in manners, in language, and in religion, cherish, with equal veneration and gratitude, the memory of his wise, upright, and paternal administration.' Whatever may be thought of the foregoing eulogium, there can be no question that Bentinck's Indian administration must be regarded as a marked era in the history of Indian progress. He was the first British statesman entrusted with the government of India who declared and acted upon the policy of governing India in the interests of the people of that country. Of his numerous reforms some have been improved upon by his successors, but none have been abandoned. Two great qualities, perfect indifference to popular applause and high moral courage, he possessed in an eminent degree. Singularly simple and unostentatious in his habits, irreproachable in his private life, he and Lady William Bentinck set an example which, coming from persons placed in the high station which they filled in India, could not fail to inspire respect. It has been said that Bentinck too often exhibited mistrust of those who served under him, and that at times, in pressing forward his measures, he was unduly regardless of the interests of individuals. Of the first of these failings there are some indications in the letters of Lord Metcalfe, written when the two men first came into official relations; but it is evident that in this case the mistrust on the part of Bentinck, to whatever extent it may have existed, speedily disappeared, for nothing could have been more cordial than his subsequent friendship for Metcalfe, with reference to whom he used the memorable expression that he never cavilled upon a trifle, and never yielded to me on a point of importance' (Life of Lord Metcalfe, ii. 233, edition of 1858). By the three most eminent historians of British India Bentinck's government is characterised in terms of high praise. James Mill, writing to a friend shortly after Bentinck's return from India, describes him as 'a man worth making much of, I assure you. When I consider what he is, and what he has done in a most important and difficult situation, I know not where to look for his like.' Horace Hayman Wilson, who had been Bentinck's most formidable opponent in India on the question of the abolition of suttee, in his continuation of Mill's history, after reciting Bentinck's principal measures, affirms that a dispassionate retrospect of the results of his government will assign to Lord William Bentinck an honourable place among the statesmen who have been entrusted with the delegated sovereignty over the British empire in the east.' And Marshman says of Bentinck's administration that 'it marks the most memorable period of improvement between the days of Lord Cornwallis and Lord Dalhousie, and forms a salient point in the history of Indian reform.' Bentinck survived his retirement from the government of India little more than four years, dying at Paris on 17 June 1839. He was elected member for Glasgow in the liberal interest at the general election of 1837, and retained the seat until a few days before his death. He had previously been offered, but had declined, a peerage. He was married in 1803 to Lady Mary Acheson, second daughter of Arthur, first earl of Gosford, who survived him. He had no issue. [Annual Register, 1839; Conolly's Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Men of Fife, Edin burgh, 1866; London Gazettes Extraordinary of 10 and 27 July, 9 Sept., 19 Oct., 29 Nov., and 14 Dec. 1799, 1st Feb. 1800, and 29 Jan. 1809; Fifth Report of the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, London, 1812; Helfert's Königin Karolina von Neapel und Sicilien, 1878; Blaquiere's Letters from the Mediterranean, 1813; Alison's History of Europe, 7th edit. xvii. 285-6; Bain's Life of James Mill, 1882; Wilson's continuation of Mill's History of British India, vol. iii., edition of 1858; Marshman's History of India, vol. iii., 1867; Calcutta Review, vol. i. The India Office Records contain numerous minutes written by Bentinck, of which perhaps the most important are the minute proposing the abolition of suttee, dated 8 Nov. 1829, and that on the dangers to the Indian Empire, dated 13 March 1835, recorded only a week before Bentinck finally left India. It should be mentioned that a collection of Bentinck's papers is understood to have been arranged by Lady William Bentinck after her husband's death, with a view to the publication of a biography; but the intention has not been carried out, and the collection has apparently disappeared.] A. J. A. BENTINCK. WILLIAM GEORGE FREDERIC CAVENDISH, commonly called LORD GEORGE BENTINCK (1802-1848), fifth child and second surviving son of the fourth duke of Portland, by Henrietta, daughter of Major-general Scott, of Balcomie, co. Fife, was born at Welbeck Abbey on 27 Feb. Although it has been frequently asserted that he was sent to Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (Encycl. Brit. 8th and 9th editions), his name does not appear in the lists of either the college or the house. He seems to have been educated at home, and to have entered the 10th hussars as cornet as early as 1819. Although he was a younger son, the great wealth of the house of Bentinck, augmented as it was by the marriage of his father, made him a rich man. His mother's sister was the wife of Mr. Canning; and when, in 1822, that statesman accepted the office of governor-general of Bengal, Lord George Bentinck exchanged into the 41st regiment, intending to accompany him as his military secretary. The sudden death of Lord Londonderry, however, gave Mr. Canning the post of foreign secretary and leader of the House of Commons. For three years Lord George Bentinck was the private secretary of his uncle, and a strong attachment existed between them. During this period he seems to have been on half-pay. Tall and wellmade, both in face and figure a model of manly beauty, quick of eye and of action, he was distinguished by his skill in every kind of sport. It was said of him that 'he had the best of every game he played, and yet he played it fairly? A bold rider, and shooting in true sportsmanlike fashion with his dogs, he loved to hunt, and not merely to gallop, and to shoot for sport rather than for as an oarsman. a bag. He was also good as a cricketer and that he chiefly excelled. Inheriting a taste It was, however, on the turf for racing, he inherited with that taste a fine sense of honour which made his patronage of the sport a benefit to racing society. He rode his first public match at Goodwood in 1824, winning it on Mr. Pointz's Olive after two dead heats and a severe struggle in the deciding heat. After this he occasionally appeared in silk' up to 1845. After some three years' work for Mr. Canning he again joined the army. As he chanced, in 1825, to ride off Newmarket Heath with the Duke of York. the duke, who keenly loved racing, offered him an unattached majority which happened to be vacant. Lord George accepted the offer, and joined the 2nd life guards. In 1826 he was returned as M.P. for the borough of King's Lynn, and represented that constituency until his death. He soon withdrew from any active pursuit of his profession, though his name remained in the army list for some years. He now gave himself up to racing, and pursued the fortunes of the turf on a scale that perhaps has never been equalled' (DISRAELI). Ho was well fitted for the pursuit. 'I don't pretend to know much,' he once said, 'but I can judge of men and horses.' Beginning with a small and well-selected stud, he gradually increased the number of his 'string' until in 1844 he had no less than forty horses running in public, and about a hundred altogether. Although never fortunate enough to win the Derby, he is said to have made considerable profits on the turf. He betted heavily and with good judgment. His trainer was old John Day, and young John, his trainer's son, rode for him. He gained a great success when, in 1836, his nomination, Lord Lichfield's Elis, won the Leger. The next year he won the Thousand Guineas with Chapeau d'Espagne, and in 1838 the Two Thousand with Grey Momus. His most remarkable successes were gained for him by his famous mare Crucifix (by Priam), who, in 1840, won the Oaks, the Thousand, and the Two Thousand Guineas. In 1842 he again won the Thousand Guineas with Firebrand. More important than these successes are the reforms worked by Lord George Bentinck in the practices of the turf. Among other improvements in management he introduced the method of 'vanning' racers. He insisted that all stewards, trainers, and jockeys should be strictly punctual; he heralded by numbers the names of the 'field' about to start for each race, and introduced the custom of saddling and parading horses before the stands. The Goodwood meeting, at which, in 1825, the whole amount of public money was only 3001, was raised to its present importance chiefly by his exertions. He dealt sternly with every man whom he believed to be dishonest, and insisted on the rigid exclusion of every defaulter. One such man who owed him a bet of 4,000l. tried to tempt him to pass over his defalcations by offering him half the money. Lord George indignantly refused the offer, and declared the man excluded until he should pay all his debts in full. He was peremptory both in his words and actions. At one Newmarket Craven meeting the famous 'Squire' Osbaldest on claimed a bet from him. Lord George,' he said, 'I want 4007. I won of you at Heaton Park.' 'You want 4007. you swindled me of at Heaton Park,' Lord George answered. A duel followed. Lord George fired first and missed. Perfectly unmoved he called out, 'Now, Squire, it's two to one in your favour.' Why, then, the bet's off,' Osbaldeston answered, and fired in the air. In 1842 he sued one Connop for 150l. Both parties in this often-quoted case (Bentinck v. Connop, 5 Q.B. 693) were engaged in a race in which the stakes were made up by payments of 501. for each horse entered. Connop entered three horses, and, when Lord George as winner claimed the stakes, refused to pay under the plea that, by an act of 16 Car. II, it was provided that no stakes should exceed 1007. The case was heard by Lord Denman, C.J., who decided that it came within the meaning of the act. As the chief man on the turf, Lord George was much harassed by threats of legal proceedings, called qui tam actions, which, by an interpretation of 9 Anne, c. 14, were held to apply to bets on horse-races. As the informer received a large reward on conviction, these actions were looked on as an easy means of gaining money. By a return made by order of parliament it was found that no fewer than thirty-four writs had been issued against Lord George Bentinck between 1 July and 31 Dec. 1843, at the instance of one attorney named Russell. In order to put an end to this disgraceful trade, parliament, after some discussion in which Lord George Bentinck took part, passed the Gaming Acts Suspension Continuation Bill. As, however, this bill had no retrospective force, an action. Russell and others v. Lord G. Bentinck, came on for trial, and was heard at Guildford before Baron Parke and a jury. By this action 12,000l. was claimed of Lord George. Of this sum 3,000l. was a bet won by him of John Day, which formed the 1 ground of the action, the remainder being the penalty consisting of three times the amount betted. Baron Parke considered that the action could scarcely lie in the face of the recent act to stay proceedings. Lord George, however, waived that question, as he was anxious for the sake of others to have the case decided on its merits, and his success in this trial put an end to actions of a like nature. In 1844 he took an active part in detecting a daring attempt at imposition. On 22 May the Derby was won by a horse called Running Rein, which was said to be over age, and the stakes were accordingly claimed by General Peel, whose horse Orlando came in second. Lord George did good service to public morality by the skill and energy he devoted to discovering the truth in this difficult case. The trial took place on 1 July before Baron Alderson and a special jury, and, chiefly owing to the exertions of Lord George, the solicitor-general was able to prove that the horse was not Running Rein, but a four-year-old horse originally called Maccabeus (by Gladiator), and entered for certain stakes under that name. In recognition of the part Lord George had taken in this case, and of the good work he had done in raising the tone of the racing community, it was proposed on the night after the trial to present him with a testimonial, and 2,1007. was subscribed for that purpose. At his request this sum was made the nucleus of the Bentinck Benevolent and Provident Fund for trainers and jockeys. During these years Lord George was not a regular attendant of the house, though he might be counted on for a party division. He loved hunting, and sometimes came to the house straight from a run, with his scarlet coat not wholly hidden by a white overcoat, the last to appear in parliament in pink.' In his class feelings, his jealousy of court influence, his love of religious liberty, and his confidence in the people, he was, as became his birth, a whig of the Revolution era (DISRAELI, p. 40). His admiration for Canning exercised considerable influence on his political career. When, in 1828, Mr. Huskisson and the other Canningites left the administration of the Duke of Wellington, Lord George ceased to support the government. He voted for the Catholic Emancipation Bill, the cause for which Canning had manfully contended. On the accession of Lord Grey's ministry he refused to accept office, and gave the government an inde pendent support. Upholding the general principle of the Reform Bill, he nevertheless opposed some of its details. He voted against the metropolitan members' clause, and joined |