BILL FOR THE FORTIFICATION OF THE DOCK-YARDS AT PORTSMOUTH AND PLYMOUTH.

On the 27th of February, Pitt called the attention of the house to a plan, which originated with the Duke of Richmond, for the fortification of the dock-yards at Portsmouth and Plymouth. In the preceding session, the commons had expressed their unwillingness to vote any money for these objects, until they were made acquainted with the merits of the plan by some competent persons; and in consequence of this intimation, his majesty had appointed a committee of military and naval officers, with the Duke of Richmond at then head, to investigate the plan, and to send in a report upon it, with an estimate of the cost. Pitt had laid this estimate, which amounted to L760,000 before the house on the 10th of February, with the ordinary ordnance estimates, thinking that the house would be disposed to consider it as a mere collateral question. The report was kept out of sight, but General Burgoyne, who had been one of the board of officers to investigate the plan, called for it; alleging that it did not wholly sanction the measure. On a subsequent day, Sheridan, in addition to the demand made by Burgoyne, moved "for a copy of the appointment of the board of naval officers, and of such parts of their instructions, and of their report, as his majesty's discretion might deem proper to be made public with perfect consistency to the safety of the state." In consequence of these demands, Pitt found himself compelled to produce the papers, and in laying them upon the table, he introduced the Duke of Richmond's measure in the form of a general resolution. He moved, that "it appeared to the house, that to provide for securing the dockyards at Portsmouth and Plymouth, by a system of fortification, founded on the most economical principles, was an essential object for the safety of the state; intimately connected with the general defence of the kingdom; and necessary for enabling the fleet to act with full vigour and effect for the protection of commerce, the support of our distant possessions, and the prosecution of offensive operations in any future war." In his speech Pitt attempted to prove that the fortification of Portsmouth and Plymouth was a measure of absolute necessity; that the duke's plan was the best that could be devised; and that these fortifications would give a greater scope to the operations of our fleets, and have a direct tendency to diminish the standing army. The arguments were powerfully controverted by members in opposition, among the most distinguished of which was Sheridan, who argued, that the plan was, in itself and its consequences, both dangerous and unconstitutional, and that the report itself did not authorise or favour the plan. Sheridan remarked:—"These strongholds maintained by numerous and disciplined garrisons, will afford tenfold means of curbing and subduing the country more than would arise from doubling the present army establishment. Can any one imagine that the system now recommended will end with Portsmouth and Plymouth? May we not figure to ourselves the same board of officers, acting under the same instructions, and deliberating with the same data, while they take a circuit round the coasts. The reasons which justify this measure in the present instance, will apply to every port in the kingdom, which is sufficiently important to require defence. But the whole plan proceeds on two suppositions extremely improbable; first, that we shall be so inferior on our own seas, as to permit an enemy to land; secondly, that if they do land, they will choose to attack the only places which we have fortified. If such be our defence, there must be a circle of fortresses round our shores; but the safety of England rests on the courage and enterprise of its people, not on ramparts and fortifications. And after all the plan is unauthorised by the report of the board; the opinion of naval officers has been withheld; and the opinion of military officers is founded on hypothetical or conditional suggestions, and on such data as were proposed to them, for the truth or probability of which they refuse to make themselves responsible." In the debates, both Sheridan and all the orators on his side, treated the Duke of Richmond as a renegade, and made the whole matter a mere party question, and from this cause Pitt was doomed to suffer a defeat. Upon a division there was an equal number of ayes and noes, and when the speaker was called upon to give his vote, he gave it on the side of opposition; the project therefore fell to the ground.



PITT'S FINANCIAL MEASURES.

On the 7th of March, Pitt moved for the appointment of a select committee of nine persons, for the purpose of reporting on the state of the public revenue and expenditure. The report of this committee was highly satisfactory. The amount of the revenue for the current year was estimated at L15,397,000, while the permanent expenditure and the expences of the peace establishment would only require L14,478,000, thereby leaving a surplus of more than L900,000. In consequence of this, Pitt, on the 29th of March, brought under consideration the national debt and his new sinking-fund. He thought that the surplus might be increased to one million, without burthening the people, and he moved that such a sum should be annually granted to commissioners, to be by them applied to the purchase of stock towards discharging the public debt of the country. The new taxes which he proposed, in order to raise the surplus to one million, were an additional duty on ardent spirits, and new duties on certain kinds of timber and perfumery. In making this proposition Pitt showed that he was full of hope for the future. He calculated that the accumulated compound interest of the one million so appropriated, added to the annuities which would fall into the fund, would, in the course of twenty-eight years, leave a surplus of four millions per annum, to be applied, if necessary, to the exigencies of the state. His entire conviction was, indeed, that this new sinking-fund would rapidly reduce and eventually discharge the whole of our enormous national debt! The commissioners he proposed under this act, were the speaker of the house of commons, the chancellor of the exchequer, the master of the rolls, the governor and deputy-governor of the bank of England, and the accountant-general in chancery. The speech which Pitt uttered upon this occasion was so convincing to the house, that all but a few members ventured to enter the fairy car with him, and those who dissented from his views were looked upon as little better than madmen. Among those who dissented were Burke, Fox, Sheridan, and Sir Grey Cooper, who endeavoured to show that the premier's hopes were visionary. Sheridan, indeed, asserted that there neither was nor could be any surplus, and he said, that the only means which suggested themselves to him were a loan of a million every year. "The right honourable gentleman," he wittily remarked, "might say with the person in the comedy, 'If you wont lend me the money, how can I pay you?'" In conclusion, Sheridan moved a long string of objections, which were all negatived without a division; but on the day for reconsidering the report of the committee on the bill, an amendment, as moved by Fox, was adopted, to the effect, "that whenever a new loan should hereafter be made, the commissioners should be empowered to accept the loan, or such proportion of it as should be equal to the cash in their hands; the interest and douceur annexed to which should be applied to the purposes of the sinking-fund." Pitt declared this amendment to be an auspicious omen of the ultimate success of the plan; and that its propriety and necessity were so obvious as to overcome the spirit, and prejudice of party, and to create an unanimity in persons, who, more from accident than inclination, were so frequently of different-opinions. With Fox's amendment the bill passed both houses without a dissentient voice, and on the 26th of May his majesty gave his assent to it in person.

In pursuit of his great plan of financial reform, Pitt next turned his attention to the frauds committed on the revenue, in the article of wine. At this time large quantities of wine were smuggled into the country, and a spurious liquor was made and sold at home under that name. To prevent these evils, on the 22nd of May, Pitt presented a bill for transferring certain duties on wines from the customs to the excise. This transfer was made, after several divisions, despite the exertions of Fox to render the measure unpopular, and the obstruction given to it by those in the trade, as well as by others, who urged the difficulty of applying the excise laws to wine, and the impolicy of extending those laws beyond their existing limits. It is probable that there were some who conceived that this measure would tend to render the minister very unpopular; and it must be confessed that the step was a very hazardous one for him to take. Englishmen had never looked with complacency upon the intrusions and interference of excisemen, and there was still a strong national feeling against any extension of the excise laws. When Sir Robert Walpole, indeed, brought in a bill which had a tendency to extend these laws, although he was at the time he introduced it at the very height of his power, it nearly cost him his place. But the principles of commerce and taxation were now better understood, than they were in the days of Walpole, and the well-disposed among the people felt convinced that the state of the revenue required the adoption of every measure tending to its improvement, whence Pitt triumphed. The bill was followed by another, which had reference to frauds committed on the customs, by false accounts of imported goods, and the re-landing clandestinely such as had received drawbacks at their exportation. To prevent such practices, Pitt brought in, and carried through parliament, M'hat was called "The Manifest Act," which enacted that no article should be imported into Great Britain before the master of the vessel had delivered to the custom-house officer a manifest, or declaration, stating the place where they were laden, with a full description of them, verified on oath; that no vessel should sail from any British port, till the owner of the vessel had given a bond for two hundred pounds, that he would not re-land any part of its cargo illegally; and that no goods, entitled to drawback, should be put on board for exportation, except by duly licensed persons.

At a subsequent date Pitt endeavoured to ascertain whether the crown-lands could not be rendered more productive. To this end, and in consequence of a message from the king, he moved, in the house of commons, for the appointment of commissioners to inquire into the state of woods, forests, and land revenues belonging to the crown, as well as to sell or alienate fee-farm and other unimprovable rents. This bill passed the commons, netn. con., after the adoption of certain amendments, moved by Mr. Jollife, to protect title-deeds, and to bind the commissioners to report their proceedings in parliament. In the house of lords, however, it met with the stern opposition of Lord Loughborough, who objected to the bill because it did not agree with the king's message; because it repealed two old acts, and created a new power for the sale of those lands, without any exception of the rents reserved in the former acts, for divers persons, and for other purposes mentioned in those acts; and because the powers granted to the commissioners were dangerous to the people and derogatory to the honour of the crown. Notwithstanding this opposition, the bill was ultimately carried and received the royal assent.

In the midst of his exertions for financial reform, and before the Sinking-fund Bill passed into a law, a message was delivered to the house from the king, by the minister, stating, that it gave him great concern to inform the commons that it had not been possible to confine the expenses of the civil list within the annual sum of L850,000, now applicable to that purpose. This message was the more remarkable as, in 1782, when Pitt was chancellor of the exchequer, the king, in his speech from the throne, had stated that he had so regulated his establishments, that his expenses should not in future exceed his income. The sum now required to free his majesty from debt, contracted partly before and partly since that period, was L210,000; which sum, after considerable opposition, in the course of which the necessity of economy was strongly enforced, was ultimately voted.



DEBATES ON INDIA, ETC.

In consequence of the commutation tax, and the preventive measures taken against smuggling, the sale of tea at the East India-house had by this time increased nearly threefold. This enlarged trade, connected with other circumstances, induced the company to apply to parliament for an act, empowering them to make an addition to their funds. A petition to this effect was presented on the 25th of May, and Pitt proposed and carried a bill, which enabled the company to add L800,000 to their stock, and also to sell a surplus of L36,000 a year, received from the exchequer, over and above the annuities which they paid to their creditors, which would produce a sum equal to that which they were empowered to add to their stock. Previous to this, in consequence of intelligence from India, Pitt felt called upon to adopt some plan for amending the act of 1784. A bill was brought in for this purpose by Mr. Dundas, which bill conferred on the governor-general a privilege of acting in cases of importance, without the consent of the other members of the council; enabled the directors to unite the offices of commander-in-chief and governor-general in the same person; rendered not only the present, but the farmer servants of the company, whether resident in India or not, capable of being appointed to seats in the respective councils; empowered the governors of presidencies to nominate temporary successors to members of council who might die or vacate their office; altered a clause in the former bill, which compelled the company's servants to rise by gradation; repealed another, which required from them a disclosure of their property, on oath; and made several changes in the court of judicature and mode of trial for crimes and misdemeanors in India. This bill was strongly opposed by Fox and Burke, with other members of opposition; but, after several debates and divisions, it passed both houses, and received the royal assent.

The only other business of importance brought under notice during this session, was the impeachment of Warren Hastings. This will be noticed in the following section, where we propose to take a retrospective view of the progress of the English arms, and our policy in that part of the world. After much discussion on this subject which was left undecided, on the 11th of July parliament was prorogued.

{GEORGE III. 1786-1787}



A RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.

Hitherto, to avoid embarrassing the narrative of the American war, no notice has been taken in this "Continuation" of the progress of the British arms in India. The last event recorded in the history, was the capture of Pondicherry by Colonel Coote, by which event the French power in India was destroyed. An attempt, however, was made to revive this power in the province of Bengal, About the middle of the year 1760, the year in which Pondicherry was captured, an adventurer, named Law, nephew of the celebrated projector, at the head of some French fugitives, persuaded the Mogul, Shah Zada, who had lately sealed himself on his father's throne, to invade this province. Law had previously rendered some important services to the mogul against some native princes who had opposed his elevation; and it was thought that nothing could resist the progress of his arms. With his French fugitives and 80,000 natives, Law made incursions into the province of Bahar, which province suffered so severely that Major Carnac was sent by the council of the East India Company to assist the rajah Ramnarrain in restraining his ravages. It was in January, 1761, when Carnac advanced with 20,000 Asiatic allies on this service, and in three days he arrived at Gyah Maunpore, where the enemy was encamped. An engagement took place soon after his arrival, and both the mogul and his rash adviser, Law, were taken prisoners. Law was treated by his captors in a manner which his bravery on the field of battle demanded, and which greatly exalted them in the estimation of the Asiatics.

The fate of Count Lally, who had bravely defended Pondicherry against Colonel Coote, was very different from that of Law. Though he had been the most active partisan that ever attached himself to the French cause in India, yet he was doomed, on his arrival in France, to suffer both indignities and death. His sufferings are thus described by Mr. Mill:— "By the feeble measures of a weak and defective government, a series of disasters, during some preceding years, had fallen on France; and a strong sentiment of disapprobation prevailed in the nation against the hands by which the machine of government was conducted. When the loss of the boasted acquisitions of the nation in India was reported, the public discontent was fanned into a flame, and the ministry were far from easy with regard to the shock which it might give to the structure of their power. Anything, therefore, was to be done which might have the effect of averting their danger; and, fortunately for them, many persons arrived from India, boiling with resentment against Lally, and pouring out the most bitter accusations. Fortunately for them, likewise, the public, swayed as usual by first appearances, and attaching the blame to the man who had the more immediate guidance of the affairs on which ruin had come, appeared abundantly disposed to overlook the ministry in their condemnation of Lally. The popular indignation was carefully cultivated; and by one of those acts of imposture and villany, of which the history of ministers in all the countries of Europe affords no lack of examples, it was resolved to raise a screen between the ministry and popular hatred by the cruel and disgraceful destruction of Lally. On his arrival in France he was thrown into the Bastille, and this place being deemed too honourable for him, he was subsequently thrown into a common prison. An accusation, consisting of vague or frivolous imputations, was preferred against him; and nothing whatever was proved, except that his conduct did not come up to the very perfection of prudence and wisdom, and that he had displayed the greatest ardour in the service, the greatest disinterestedness, fidelity, and perseverance, with no common share of military talent and of mental resources. The grand tribunal of the nation, the parliament of Paris, found no difficulty in seconding the wishes of the ministry, and the artificial cry of the day, by condemning him to an ignominious death. Lally, confident in his innocence, had never once anticipated the possibility of any other sentence than that of an honourable acquittal; and when it was read to him in his dungeon, he was thrown into an agony of surprise and indignation, and taking up a pair of compasses with which he had been sketching a chart of the Coromandel coast, he struck at his proud, indignant heart; but his arm was held by one of the functionaries in attendance. With indecent precipitation he was executed on that very day. He was dragged through the streets of Paris in a dung-cart, and, lest he should address the people, a gag was stuffed into his mouth, so large as to project beyond his lips. Voltaire, who had already signalized his pen by some memorable interpositions in favour of justice and the oppressed, exerted himself to expose, in a clear light, the real circumstances of this fearful transaction, which Mr. Orme scruples not to call 'a murder committed by the sword of justice.'"

In the meantime Colonel Clive, who had deposed the Surajah Dowla, Nabob of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and had raised Meer Jaffier Ali Khan to that dignity, as recorded in a previous page in Smollet's division of this history, and who had rendered other important services to the British cause in India, had arrived in England, where he was received with all honour. He was raised to the Irish peerage by the title of Baron Clive of Plaissey—the name of the place where he had defeated the nabob—and was flattered by the prospect of a speedy elevation to the English peerage, which would give him a seat in the British house of peers. While in England he was involved in a dispute with the company on the Jaghire rents, which had been conferred on him by Meer Jaffier, whom he had raised to the throne of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. His most active opponent was Mr. Sulivan, but Clive eventually gained his point; and not only were the Jaghire rents confirmed to him for ten years, if he should live that period, but he was nominated governor and commander-in-chief of the British possessions in Bengal, with the express understanding that no other officer, of whatever rank, should have the power of interfering with his command.

Clive returned to India, where he arrived in May, 1705. On his return he found everything in a complete state of confusion and disorganization. Before his departure for Calcutta, the seat of his government, it was rumoured that the Shah Zada had collected an army, and was advancing against Patna, which was under the jurisdiction of the Hindu governor, Itamnarrain. The Shah Zada pretended to take up arms against Ghazee-u-Deen, the vizier and master at Delhi, and Ghazee-u-Deen, enraged thereat, in a fit of desperation murdered the Great Mogul. After this tragical event the Shah Zada took the state and title of emperor, and conferred the office of vizier upon Soujah-Dowla, the powerful ruler of Oude. The new emperor assumed the name of Shah-Alum, or "King of the World," and he had no sooner ascended the throne than he advanced against Patna. Ramnarrain was defeated, but Colonel Calliaud soon after arrived on the scene of action, with about three hundred English and one thousand sepoys, and Shah-Alum was routed, and compelled to take refuge in flight. The young emperor, however, being joined by Mr. Law, with his small body of French, and by the sub-governor of Purneah, soon returned to Patna; and the town being almost wholly destitute of troops, he would have captured it, had not Captain Knox appeared to its relief. The besiegers were driven, by the gallantry of Knox, from their works, and a few days after he completely defeated the sub-governor of Purneah, who fled northwards for his life. He was followed by Colonel Calliaud, with his English soldiers and sepoys; the latter of whom were commanded by Meeran Calliaud, under the belief that he was carrying all the treasures of Purneah with him, pursued the sub-governor hotly; but on the fourth day of the pursuit a tremendous storm occurred, in which Meeran was struck dead with lightning, and the sepoys, from this cause, becoming unmanageable, he was obliged to return to Patna. Meeran's people hastened to Moorshedabad, where, in order to obtain payment of their arrears, they surrounded the palace, and threatened the life of the nabob Meer Jaffier. Other bodies of men, also, about the same time, took up arms against Meer Jaffier: and to complete his misfortunes, as Mr. Vansittart, the new governor at Calcutta, found the treasury empty, and the English troops and sepoys almost mutinous for want of pay, he concluded a treaty with Meer Cassim Ali, son-in-law to Meer Jaffier and general of his army, engaging that he should be invested with full power as Nabob of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, on condition that he made over the fruitful provinces of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong to the company. Meer Jaffier was compelled to resign, with permission to retire to Calcutta, and Meer Cossim Ali was forthwith proclaimed nabob. Meer Cossim procured six or seven lacs of rupees, which he sent to Calcutta, and made professions of dependence on the council; but he soon exhibited signs of a refractory spirit; and Mr. Vansittart, with the other members of the council, found that they had made a mistake, when they imagined that he would suit their purpose better than Meer Jaffier.

It has been seen, that in the month of January, 1761, Major Carnac, who had succeeded Colonel Calliaud in the command of the company's troops in Bahar, defeated the emperor Shah Alum, and took Law, on whom he placed his chief hopes, prisoner. The young emperor retreated towards Delhi, whence he sent Meer Cossim Ali his investiture as Nabob of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa; and likewise offers to the English of the dewannee, or receivership of these provinces, if they would send an army into central India to secure him in possession of Delhi, and of a throne that had been tottering for generations. Want of money prevented the council from accepting these offers, and Meer Cossim had no more to give them. Meer Cossim had, indeed, become as poor as Meer Jaffier had been when he was deposed, and he cast his eyes on the wealth of Ramnarrain, the celebrated Governor of Patna, At first, Mr. Vansittart instructed Major Carnac to protect Ramnarrain, but he soon after listened to the suggestions and promises of Meer Cossim; and in order to aid his rapacious designs, Colonel Coote, the conqueror of Pondicherry, was sent to supersede Major Carnac, at Patna; he being averse to the desertion of a governor who had received so many pledges from, and had rendered many services to, the English. Colonel Coote, however, had as high a sense of honour as Major Carnac, and Mr. Vansittart, discovering this, recalled him, and thus left Ramnarrain to the mercy of Meer Cossim. Ramnarrain was in consequence thrown into prison, and his house was broken open and plundered, while his servants were put to the torture, in order to make them confess where his treasures, which chiefly existed in the imagination of his enemies, were deposited. This base act on the part of the council of the company met with its reward. All friendly correspondence between the English and native nobility now ceased, and Meer Cossim had offers of services and money made him on every hand, if he would consent to resist the foreigners. Encouraged by this circumstance, and conceiving that he would soon be able to defy the English authority, Meer Cossim complained of the abuses of the dustucks, or permits, by which he had been recently impoverished; and when no notice was taken of his complaints, he ventured to stop and search the company's boats, as they sailed up the Ganges. Nothing was done to prevent his conduct; and growing more bold by impunity, Meer Cossim at length seized two boats that were proceeding to Patna with arms, and made preparation for getting that place into his own hands. Apprised of this, the council gave directions to Mr. Ellis, the chief at Patna, to anticipate Meer Cossim's designs by seizing upon the citadel. This was done, and Meer Cossim, enraged thereat, murdered Mr. Amyatt, who had formerly been chief at Patna, with two Hindu bankers attached to the English interests, and then marched upon the town with a great army, of which he took possession. The English troops at Patna fled by boats up the Ganges to Chuprah, where they were surrounded, and taken prisoners. About the same time, also, the troops of Meer Cossim attacked and plundered the factory of Cossimbuzar, where likewise he captured many English.

While these events were transpiring, the council at Calcutta entered into new arrangements with Meer Jaffier, in order to restore him to the musuud or throne of Bengal. Meer Jaffier not only confirmed the grants of territory made by Meer Cossim, but also granted an exemption to the company's servants from all search, and from all duties, except upon salt, and engaged to pay to the company thirty lacs of rupees for the expenses of the war, and to maintain an army of 24,000 men at his own charge. Having done this Meer Jaffier issued his mandates to the chiefs, and to the cities of the three provinces, and then joined the English, who were advancing upon Moorshedabad. In their route they were met by three of Meer Cossim's generals, whom they defeated, and arriving at Moorshedabad they took possession of it without opposition. Another battle was soon after fought with the troops of Meer Cossim, on the plain of Geriah, when Meer Jaffier and his English allies were again victorious. Those of Meer Cossim's troops, who escaped the slaughter, fled to an intrenched camp at Odowa, which, after three weeks, was carried, and then the whole army of the nabob was scattered. Meer Cossim fled with a few troops towards Patna, and the English laid siege to and captured Monghir, recently made his capital in preference to Moorshedabad, the old residence of the nabobs of Bengal. On hearing of the capture of Monghir, Meer Cossim ordered the execution of all the English who had been taken at Patna, and one hundred and fifty, with Mr. Ellis their chief, were massacred in cold blood. Patna was soon after taken by the English, and in the meantime Meer Cossim had taken refuge at Allahabad, with Soujah Dowla, the powerful ruler of Oude. On his arrival at Allahabad, Shah Alum was with his vizier, and the three Indian rulers marched with a large army to Benares, and encamped not many miles from the English. Major Carnac, who had by this time arrived to take the command, thought it prudent to retreat to Patna; the more so, because a mutiny had broken out in his own camp. The major was attacked under the walls of Patna by the confederated Indians; but after a severe contest, he defeated his assailants with great loss. Soujah Dowla now opened a correspondence with Meer Jaffier, and offered to support him in Bengal and Orissa, if he would cede the country of Bahar to Oude; and about the same time Shah Alum offered to abandon both Soujah Dowla and Meer Cossim, for English protection and alliance. These negociations, however, were broken off; and in the month of October, 1764, Major Munro, who had recently assumed the command of the army at Patna, led his forces against the enemy, which entirely broke the power of Soujah Dowla, the only Indian ruler that the English had to fear. Major Munro was now empowered to treat with Shah Alum; and a treaty was concluded with him, by which it was agreed that the English should be put into the possession of the country of Gazzipore, with all the rest of the territory of Bui want Sing, and that Shah Alum should be put into possession of the city of Allahabad, and the whole of the dominions of Soujah Dowla. Thus deserted by the emperor, Soujah Dowla applied to Ghazee-u-Deen, vizier and murderer of Shah Alum's father, and this chief descended into Oude with a great army of Mahratta horse. A battle was fought in the month of May, 1765, near Corah, when Major, now General Carnac, who again commanded the English forces, gained a great victory over the confederate army, and chased them across the river Jumna.

On the very day that General Carnac gained this victory, Clive arrived at Calcutta, with full powers to settle all disputes. Meer Jaffier had recently died, and one difficulty in the way was thereby removed. Clive set about his work in right good earnest. A few days after Soujah Dowla's defeat at Corah, that nabob having announced his intention of throwing himself upon the mercy of the English, repaired to the camp of General Carnac, by whom he was received with much distinction. On hearing of these events, Clive set off for Allahabad, to settle all disputes; and when he arrived, he decided that Shah Alum should rest satisfied with the possession of Allahabad and Corah, and that all the rest of Oude should be restored to Soujah Dowla, on conditions that he should oppose the Mahrattas and defend the frontiers of Bengal. On his part, Shah Alum, for the possession of Allahabad and Corah, granted the collection of the revenues in Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa to the English, in return for which he was to receive twenty-six lacs of rupees per annum, in addition to the revenues of Allahabad and Corah. The young emperor, moreover, confirmed the right of the company to all the territory which they possessed in any other part of India.

On the death of Meer Jaffier, the supreme council at Calcutta conferred the sovereignty on his youthful son, Nujeem-ul-Dowlah; at the same time appointing Mohammed Reza Khan, a naib subah, or sub-nabob, to manage the revenues and all other matters of government. On his arrival, however, Clive decided that Nujeem was not fit to rule, and he was soon compelled to retire on a pension of thirty-two lacs of rupees per annum. Having restored peace, Clive turned his attention to the correction of abuses; and for which he had full powers given him by the court of directors before he left England. But this was no easy task. Most of the members of the council at Calcutta had been partakers in the spoils and profits of the nefarious system which had been adopted in India; many of those servants who had been most oppressive and rapacious, were strong in their patronage in Leadenhall-street; and nearly every European in the country looked to India as prey, which they were to make the most of for themselves, without regarding the interests of those who should come after them, or of the company by whom they were employed. On commencing his reforms, many of the company's agents threatened and protested; and several, confident in their patronage at home, refused to act with or under him. But none of these things daunted Clive. He declared that if he could not find support at Calcutta, he would procure it elsewhere; and he actually sent for some civil servants from Madras, and turned the refractory out of their offices. Seeing his resolution, recourse was next had to flattery, entreaty, persuasion, and arguments, but all this failed to turn him aside from his purpose. By one fell stroke he put down the private trade and dangerous privileges of the company's servants, and he prohibited the extorting or receiving presents from the natives. At the same time Clive adopted measures, which might give the servants of the company a proper maintenance, and also an opportunity of acquiring fortunes by application and perseverance. The pay of the company's servants being miserably low, and altogether insufficient for their proper maintenance—a circumstance which doubtless had the effect of increasing their rapacity—as the monopoly of salt was now, by the pensioning off the young nabob, in the hands of the company, he appropriated it to the proper pay and support of the servants of all kinds, carefully dividing the proceeds according to a scale; and thus gave every British functionary employed in the East the means of slowly but surely acquiring a competence. Having disposed of the affairs of the civil servants, Clive turned his attention to those of the military, his old companions in arms. And here he had greater difficulties than ever to contend with, for they were men who held the power of the sword in their hands.

Notwithstanding, the reduction of military expenses, which were rapidly absorbing the whole revenue of the country, required his attention, and he gave it without fear of the consequences. As long as the troops were employed by Meer Jaffier and Meer Cossim, these potentates, in order to cherish the goodwill of the officers, allowed them "double batta," or double pay. The court of directors had long ago issued that "double batta" should be abolished, but Vansittart and his council had listened to the remonstrances of the army, and the order was left unregarded. But Clive was a bolder man than Vansittart, and he resolved that "double batta" should cease forthwith, except at Allahabad, where the troops were considered as being actually in the field. An order was issued to this effect, and the troops in Bengal were put upon the same footing as the troops on the Coromandel Coast, by whom no batta was drawn, except when actually marching or serving on the field of battle. The officers remonstrated, but it was to no purpose: the order was given, and it must be obeyed. On the appointed day the reduction took place, and, enraged thereby, two hundred English officers engaged in a conspiracy, binding themselves by an oath to secrecy, and to preserve, at the hazard of their lives, the life of any comrade that might be condemned by a court-martial. These officers, indeed, each bound themselves in a bond of L500 to throw up their commissions, unless "double batta" were restored; and finding that Clive was inexorable, they resigned. To increase the danger this conspiracy was formed at a time when the country was threatened with a new invasion by a Mahratta army. The officers, doubtless, supposed that Clive would be frightened out of his resolution, but they soon found that they had mistaken the force of his character. On hearing of the conspiracy, he exclaimed, "Such a spirit must, at all hazards, be suppressed at the birth," and he wrote to the council, desiring them to write to Madras, in order that every officer and cadet that could be spared from that presidency should be held in readiness to embark for Bengal; and directing them to acquaint the presidency of Fort St. George with the mutiny, and with the approach of the Mahrattas. In his letter to the council he stated that the committee at Calcutta must adopt a resolution, that no officer now resigning should ever again hold a commission in the company's service. At the same time, Clive sent directions to the commanding officers of all the divisions to find, if possible, the leaders; to arrest those who appeared most dangerous; and above all to secure the obedience of the sepoys and native commanders. He also gave commissions to several young men in the mercantile service; and when informed that a large sum of money was subscribed for the mutinous officers by gentlemen at Calcutta, in the civil service, he requested the council to take immediate steps for discovering and punishing those gentlemen. Having taken these preliminary steps, Clive quitted Moorshedabad, where he had been arranging matters of trade and finance, and fearlessly advanced with a small escort to Monghir, the scene of the mutiny. Before his arrival, the council had resolved that all resignations tendered should be accepted, and the officers tendering them immediately sent down to Calcutta. Clive was the more incensed against them because he had recently given up L70,000 to form a fund for their invalids and widows; a gift which showed him to be their friend. He arrived at Monghir full of wrath against them, and having secured the attachment of the sepoys, by ordering them double pay for two months, in a short time the ringleaders were all arrested, tried, and cashiered. In the first heat of his passion he had threatened to have them all shot, but as legal doubts were entertained as to the powers granted by the Mutiny Act for the company's service, not one was sentenced to death. After they had been cashiered, nearly all who had joined in the conspiracy, begged with tears in their eyes, to be permitted to re-enter the service, and some were restored on condition of signing a contract to serve the company on its own terms for three years, and to give a year's notice of any intention to quit the service. The young officers were treated with great lenity, and when his indignation was cooled and the danger over, he scorned to take any revenge for personal wrongs and insults. The main cause of the mutiny was the gambling and dissipation which prevailed among the English officers, and Clive adopted several wise regulations to check these evils, and to restore the strictest discipline and subordination.

Lord Clive having completed his work of reformation, and restored peace to India, in January, 1767, left Calcutta for England. On accepting his commission he had declared that he wanted no more money, and that all he wished for was a thorough reform; which in the end would prove equally beneficial to the oppressed and the oppressor. And, notwithstanding the temptations to enrich himself, by which he was surrounded, Clive adhered to this resolution of self-abnegation. The servants of the company would have enabled him to treble his wealth, if he would have consented to connive at their misdoings; and the princes of India offered him money, and jewels, and diamonds in abundance, as the price of his assistance on their behalf; but, steady to his purpose, he refused the tempting offers. He returned a poorer man than when he went to India. And yet, notwithstanding his integrity of purpose, and although on his arrival he was hailed with acclamations by the court of directors, and was received with unusual regard by George III. and his consort Queen Charlotte, at a subsequent date, he was charged in the house of commons with mal-administration; and when this failed, his enemies brought him to trial before that tribunal for the events and deeds of his early life. So persecuted was he, and so maligned, that, though finally acquitted by the commons, his spirits sunk under it, and he died by his own hand in the forty-ninth year of his age.

The court of directors had left the abolition or confirmation of the select committee to Lord Clive's discretion, and before he returned to England he declared for its continuance; naming as members, Mr. Verelst, Mr. Cartier, Colonel Smyth, Mr. Sykes, and Mr. Beecher. Shortly after his return the court of directors resolved to send out to Calcutta three supervisors, to complete the work of reformation, and to put the revenues of Bengal under better management. These supervisors were Messrs. Vansittart, and Scrafton, and Colonel Forde, who took their departure in the Aurora, which is supposed to have foundered at sea with every soul on board, for it was never heard of after leaving the Cape of Good Hope. Subsequently the government of Bengal was left in the hands of Mr. Cartier; but in less than two years it was notified, by the court of directors, to Mr. Warren Hastings, who had long been rising in their estimation, that he was nominated to the second council at Calcutta, and that as soon as Mr. Cartier retired, it was their wish that he should take upon himself the charge of the government of that presidency.

In the meantime the flames of war had been rekindled in the Carnatic by Hyder Ali, who became one of the most formidable opponents of the English in all India. Since his expedition to the neighbourhood of Pondicherry, as the ally of Mr. Lally, Hyder Ali had greatly increased his army. He had, in fact, deposed his benefactor and nominal master, the Rajah of Mysore, and had established himself on his throne. Moreover, Hyder Ali had conquered the rajahs and polygars of Sera, Balapoor, Gooty, Harponelly, Chitteldroog, Bednore, and Soonda, with other districts, and had extended his dominion almost to the banks of Kistna. At this point of his conquests Hyder Ali was checked by Madhoo Row, the Peishwa of the Mahrattas, who crossed the Kistna with an immense body of cavalry, and not only deprived him of some of his recent acquisitions, but compelled him to pay thirty two lacs of rupees. But Ilyder Ali, though checked, was not destroyed. At a subsequent date he undertook and achieved the conquest of Malabar; and he kept that country quiet by cutting off all the Hindoo chiefs. His conquests induced the English, the Mahrattas, and Nizam Ali, the ruler of Deccan, to form a league against him. The Peishwa of the Mahrattas was the first to take the field against him; and he was subsequently followed by Colonel Smith at the head of a small English corps, and a large army of the Nabob of the Carnatic, and by another large army under the Nizam of the Deccan. Before Colonel Smith and the nizam, however, could join their forces to those of the peishwa, he had consented, on the payment of thirty-five lacs of rupees, to retire from the confederacy, and to quit Mysore. The nizam himself was soon after discovered to be negociating a treaty with Hyder Ali, the chief end of which was to expel the company from the Carnatic; and Colonel Smith separated from him, and hastened to take possession of the passes which led into that country. He was joined by some reinforcements from Mohammed Ali, the Nabob of the Carnatic; but he was soon compelled to retreat for Changama, a town about sixty miles from Madras. In his route he was attacked by the three armies of Hyder Ali, the peishwa, and the nizam, whom he bravely repulsed; but want of provisions compelled him to continue his retreat till he reached Trinomalee. He was still followed by the enemy, who plundered, burned, and destroyed all the open country through which they passed. While at Trinomalee, Colonel Smith made an unsuccessful attempt to stop the ravages of the enemy; an attempt which chiefly failed from want of cavalry. In the meantime, Hyder Ali sent his son Tippoo, with five thousand horse, to Madras; and the fortress only escaped his ravages. Grown bold by success, the allies resolved upon a pitched battle with Colonel Smith; and a conflict took place near Trinomalee, in which they were routed. The nizam now again changed sides, and came over to the English; and in the month of December, Colonel Smith once more defeated Hyder Ali and the Peishwa, who fled to Caverypatum, on the river Panaur. On hearing of his successes, the presidency at Madras resolved to carry the war into the very heart of Hyder Ali's dominions; and Colonel Smith received orders to march upon Bangalore, while Colonel Wood, who was detached from Smith's force, was directed to operate on the frontiers. As the territory around Bangalore was barren, Colonel Smith represented to the presidency that his army could not subsist in that country; but his representation was unheeded, and he was compelled to set forward on his march. This proved a fatal step. Colonel Smith arrived in the neighbourhood of Bangalore, and Colonel Wood overran the fruitful country on the frontiers; but Hyder Ali, flushed with a recent victory which he had gained over some English troops, which the presidency of Bombay had sent into Malabar and Canara, returned to Mysore, and by the end of the year 1768 recovered every inch of territory he had lost. Early in the year following Hyder Ali again poured down into the Carnatic; and so irresistible were his movements that the presidency of Madras proposed terms of peace. Hyder Ali could not hope to conquer the English, and he readily listened to the proposal; and a treaty was concluded, by which it was agreed that a mutual restitution of territory should take place, and that there should be a mutual co-operation against all enemies. But this treaty was not kept in good faith by the English; for soon after, when Hyder Ali applied to the presidency of Madras for assistance against the Peishwa of the Mahrattas, who again invaded Mysore, and swept everything before him, it was refused, on the plea that Hyder had brought the war upon himself, by leaguing with some Mahratta chiefs.

In the year 1770 the English ministry sent out Sir John Lindsay, with some frigates, to protect the company's settlements and affairs. Soon after his arrival., the Peishwa of the Mahrattas, who had long boldly defied the English, courted a new alliance with them, and intimated to the Nabob of the Carnatic, that his country should be swept by his cavalry from end to end if a treaty was not agreed upon. The nabob and Sir John Lindsay were of opinion that the peishwa's wishes should be gratified; but the presidency of Madras refused the alliance, and left the Mahrattas and the Mysoreans to fight their own battles. Hyder Ali was defeated in several encounters, and Seringapatam, his capital, was besieged. Such was his situation when Sir Robert Hariand arrived to supersede Sir John Lindsay in the command; he being removed on the complaints of the presidency of Madras and the directors in Leadenhall-street. Sir Robert followed the plans and notions of his predecessor, strongly insisting that the presidency ought to conclude the alliance which the peishwa demanded. The presidency of Madras, however, supported by the other presidencies, refused to take part in the war, either for or against Hyder Ali; and at the same time sent some forces to protect the Carnatic from the Mahrattas. The peishwa at length became fearful that if he entered the Carnatic he should bring the English upon him; and being distressed for want of provisions in the country of the Mysore, which he had overrun, he listened to the voice of Mohammed Ali, accepted some money from him, and agreed to make peace with Ilyder Ali. A treaty was concluded in 1772, by which the Mahratta chief obtained a large portion of the more northern and inland provinces of Mysore, together with thirty lacs of rupees.

During this war between Hyder Ali and the Mahrattas, the Rajah of Tanjore attempted to seize upon some territory belonging to the Nabob of the Carnatic. Mohammed Ali called upon his English allies for assistance, but after inducing them to make some hostile demonstrations near the Tanjore frontier, he became apprehensive that they might conquer it for themselves, and not for him. To avoid this he had recourse to intrigue, and finally signed a peace with the Rajah of Tanjore, who engaged to surrender all the disputed districts to the nabob, pay him a large sum of money, defray all the expenses of the expedition, and to aid the nabob with his troops in all future wars. Enraged thereat, the presidency of Madras sent orders to the troops not to evacuate the fortress of Vellum, which they had captured, or withdraw their batteries from Tanjore, which they had invested, until the rajah should have made good one of his promised payments. This money was not forthcoming, and to prevent further hostilities, the rajah consented to give up the fort of Vellum to the English, and to cede to them two districts in the neighbourhood of Mandura. But this did not prevent the ravages of the English. In the year 1772 another army was sent to reduce the poly-gars of the Mara wars, who paid the Rajah of Tanjore a doubtful alliance, and the whole of the Marawars were put into the possession of the Nabob of the Carnatic. Nor did this satisfy the rapacity of Mohammed Ali and the English. Before this war was finished, the Nabob of the Carnatic complained to the presidency of Madras that the Rajah of Tanjore had violated the recent treaty, by delaying payment of money, and by seeking the aid of the Mahrattas and Hyder Ali, and although the company, by a treaty in 1762, had given the rajah security for his throne, he was hunted down by the English, taken prisoner with all his family, and his territories were annexed to the dominions of the Nabob of the Carnatic.

In this foul act the presidency of Madras had acted upon their own responsibility, without any reference to the court of directors in Leadenhall-street. Their act seemed, however, to meet with the approval of these directors; but in the year 1775 Lord Pigot was nominated Governor of Madras, and had full powers given him to reform the presidency of Madras, and to restore the rajah to his throne. Lord Pigot arrived at Madras, at the close of the year, and he immediately repaired to Tanjore, when the rajah was re-proclaimed in his capital. Fierce quarrels now arose among the civil authorities at Madras, and the council went so far as to arrest Lord Pigot, and place him in confinement. These proceedings excited great indignation in England, and though some of the directors in Leadenhall-street approved of them, or at least disapproved of Lord Pigot's policy, he was restored to his office, and the members of the council were recalled. At the same time Lord Pigot was ordered to return home, and his old opponent, a Mr. Rumbold, was nominated his successor. Mr. Rumbold arrived at Madras early in the year 1773, when he found that Lord Pigot had been brought to his grave by the violence offered to his person. At that time Hyder Ali, who had formed an alliance with the French, again threatened the Carnatic, but before narrating his operations it is necessary to notice some important proceedings in other parts of India.

{GEORGE III. 1786-1787}

It has been seen that the government of Bengal was left in the hands of Mr. Cartier, and that it was notified by the court of directors to Mr. Warren Hastings, that it was their wish he should take upon himself the charge of the government on Mr. Cartier's retirement. During Cartier's administration, in the year 1770, a dreadful famine occurred in the province of Bengal; a famine which swept away the Hindu population by thousands. About the same time Syef-al-Dowla, the son and successor of Meer Jaffier, died of the smallpox, and his brother, Muharek-al-Dowla, was appointed musnud. Muharek-al-Dowla was a mere boy, and as soon as the court of directors heard of his appointment, they issued orders that the annual stipend of the young nabob should be reduced to sixteen lacs of rupees. When these orders arrived in India, Warren Hastings, who had now succeeded Mr. Cartier, immediately put them into execution: an act for which he was afterwards condemned, as though it had originated with himself. The reduction was made in order to effect a saving in the government, but it had no visible effect on the treasury at Calcutta. The exchequer was empty, debt was daily increasing, and every ship brought orders from the court of directors for money. In the midst of this dilemma, the Hindu Nuncomar, the rival of Mohammed Reza Khan, who had been appointed by English influence to administer both the civil list of the nabob and the revenues of Bengal, industriously propagated stories of the minister's corruptibility. Mohammed Reza Khan was accused of acquiring enormous wealth; of having increased the calamities of the famine, by monoply of rice and other necessaries of life; and of entertaining an idea of turning his power against the English. These rumours, first spread in India, were at length carried to the ears of the magnates in Leadenhall-street, by the agency of one of Nuncomar's creatures, and inflamed with cupidity, they resolved upon the minister's ruin. A letter was sent to Hastings, directing him to take measures, and to issue his "private orders" for securing the person of Mohammed Reza Khan, together with his whole family, partizans, and adherents. Hastings had no choice left him, but implicit obedience to these commands, or dismissal from office; and unfortunately for his honour—for he was aware of the innocence of Mohammed Reza Khan—he chose to obey them. Mohammed Reza Khan was brought without delay to Calcutta, where he was placed in confinement, and the Rajah Shitab Roy, who had exercised in Bahar the same authority as Mohammed Reza Khan had exercised in Bengal, shared the same fate. Before giving directions for these arrests, the company had come to the determination, that, whether innocent or guilty, there should be no more in their offices, and that the departments of revenue and finance, together with the department of law and justice, should be placed in the hands of their own English servants. Accordingly, Hastings swept the treasury, and the courts of law clean of their old occupants, and the secondary direction of affairs was placed in the hands of men who were enemies to Mohammed Reza Khan, and creatures attached to his rival, Nuncomar. The clearance extended to the young nabob's household, which was completely revolutionised and changed. Ahteram-ul-Dowlah, his uncle, and the eldest existing male of the family, petitioned to become his naib, or guardian, but this office was conferred on the nabob's mother, Minnee Begum, who was originally a dancing-girl, and who had been Meer Jaffier's concubine. At the same time, Rajah Goordass, son of Nuncomar, was appointed dewan to the nabob, whose duties were strictly to be confined to the household, and who was to have nothing to do with the public business or public revenues of Bengal. All these changes were effected without tumult, and the board of directors expressed their entire approbation of all the appointments which Hastings had made. After he had completed his reformation, Mohammed Reza Khan and the Rajah Shitab Roy were brought to trial in Calcutta, and although the court was of Hastings' own forming, and extraordinary means had been adopted to prove their guilt, they were both honourably acquitted: a proof that the motives of the board of directors in ordering the arrest of Mohammed Reza Khan, and sanctioning that of the Rajah Shitab Roy, were to get the whole power and the government of the province into their own hands. From this time, indeed, the public treasury and the superior courts of justice were placed under English management, and the Nabob of Bengal was no longer nabob, except in name. He resided at Moorshedabad, where he lived upon his annual stipend, but the government of Bengal was conducted at Calcutta, which Hastings considered now to be the capital of the province.

In his treaty with the Emperor Shah Alum, Clive had guaranteed that potentate the quiet possession of Allahabad and Corah, with the annual stipend of twenty-six lacs of rupees. This sum from the first was not punctually paid, and for the last two years it had been withheld altogether. The ostensible reason for this was as follows: In the year 17713 Shah Alum, at the instigation it is said of Sujah Dowla, Vizier and Nabob of Oude, who wished to recover possession of Allahabad and Corah, threw himself into the arms of the Mahrattas. Towards the close of the year 1771 the Mahratta chief carried the poor Mogul in triumph to Delhi, and soon after he was hurried by them into the field of battle. Supported by them he invaded Rohilcund, a country which was equally coveted by the Nabob of Oude, to whom the Rohillas applied for assistance. Sujah Dowla not only promised to assist them himself, but likewise to gain for them the more potent co-operation of the company. Accordingly he intimated to Sir Robert Barker, the general who commanded the company's forces, and to the governor and council at Calcutta, that to allow Shah Alum any stipend would be only furnishing the means of war to the rapacious and turbulent Mahrattas. Previous to this the payment of the stipend had been suspended upon various pleas, but this afforded ground for stopping it altogether. Shah Alum and the English were therefore brought into direct collision. At this moment Major John Morrison, who had previously resigned his commission in the company's service, repaired to Allahabad to try his fortune with Shah Alum. Morrison was at once raised to the rank of general, and he soon persuaded the Great Mogul to appoint him his ambassador and plenipotentiary to his Britannic Majesty, George III., under the promise of obtaining him a larger sum from the King of England than that which the company had withheld from him. Morrison was furnished with proposals, the chief of which were these:—"The Great Mogul, Shah Alum, as undoubted lord and sovereign of Hindustan, &c, and as having full right so to do, would transfer to his Britannic majesty, Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, with all that the company possessed in those parts, and which was all forfeited by them, upon condition that his Britannic majesty would pay the pecuniary homage of thirty-two lacs, and aid the Great Mogul with troops and arms." At this time the British parliament were calling the territorial rights of the company in question, and was even meditating the taking those rights to itself, and the reduction of the company to a mere trading body. Had Morrison, indeed, arrived in England with these offers, it is probable that parliament would have taken such a step. Hastings seems to have been under this impression, for when the adventurous officer arrived at the Dutch settlement of Chinchura, on the Hooghly, and demanded a passage to England in one of the company's ships, he wrote in reply, that he would not allow him a passage in any ship sailing from the port of Calcutta. Nor did his opposition end here. Having heard that the major had engaged a passage in a Danish ship, he successfully exerted his influence to prevent it; and as no other ship sailed for Europe that season, Morrison's diplomatic career was brought to a premature close. Shortly after, indeed, Shah Alum ceded both Corah and Allahabad to the Mahrattas, which was considered as equivalent to a complete discharge from all the obligations of Clive's treaty. The Mahrattas signified their intention of taking immediate possession of Allahabad and Corah, and the Nabob of Oude claimed the assistance of the English against them, and a garrison was placed in Allahabad for its protection. This, for a brief season, checked the rapacious Mahrattas; and the attention of Hastings was next directed to the inroads which the Bootans had made in Cooch-Bahar, and the devastations of the Senassie fakeers in the country round Bengal. Both the Bootans and Senassies were checked, and soon after Hastings set out on a visit to the Nabob of Oude, who had solicited a personal conference at Benares, in order to arrange new bargains and treaties with the English. This conference had reference chiefly to the annexation of the Rohilla country, which was threatened by the Mahrattas, to the province of Oude, which was at first agreed upon, but subsequently postponed; the nabob fearing that the price he had agreed to pay for it was beyond his present ability, and Hastings conceiving that such an enterprise would be open to severe animadversion in England. During this conference, however, Hastings committed as glaring an act of injustice as the conquest of Rohilcund would have been. This was the sale of Allahabad and Corah, to Sujah Dowla, for fifty lacs of rupees—twenty of which were paid down on the spot, and the other of which were to be paid in two years. By this act Shah Alum was deprived of his rightful patrimony.

The negociations between Hastings and the Nabob of Oude occupied three weeks, and on his return to Calcutta, Hastings applied himself to the administration of the province of Bengal. His chief attention was directed to the establishment of a police; to the posting detachments so as to prevent the incursions of the Senassie fakeers, and other marauders; to the formation of local courts throughout the province; to the regulation of taxes and collection of the revenue; to the removal of impolitic taxes, duties, and fees upon native marriages; to the suppression of the peculation and rapacity of the company's servants; and to other important objects, too numerous for detail. Although some of the means employed by Hastings were not of the purest kind, and others were inconsistent with more modern notions of political economy and justice, yet it is certain that his measures were productive of much benefit to the country, and that all classes of the community of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa were satisfied with their results, and were led to look upon him in the light of a benefactor. It seems to have been to this period that he alluded, when, in after years, nearly all England was accusing him of cruelty and oppression, he remarked:—"I could have gone from Calcutta to Moorshedabad, and from Moorshedabad to Patna and Benares, without a guard, without a sepoy, without any protection but what was to be found in the goodwill and affection of the natives."

The Nabob of Oude was earnest in his desire to annex the Rohilcund country to his own, and early in the year 1774 he applied to Hastings for the troops with which he had engaged to furnish him for the enterprise. Hastings was somewhat disconcerted at his request, but as the nabob had on his part engaged to pay 210,000 rupees per month for their services, and he wanted money, a brigade, under the command of Colonel Champion, received orders to march into the country of Oude, with the declared purpose of invading Rohilcund. Operations commenced in April, and Colonel Champion gained a great victory over the Rohilla chiefs, on the side of Babul Nulla, which placed the whole country at the mercy of the conquerors. The Nabob of Oude made a cruel use of the victory, by plundering and burning towns and villages which belonged to the quiet Hindu inhabitants; and who, so far from making common cause with the Rohillas, were ready to render all the services they were capable of rendering against them. In this destruction, neither Colonel Champion nor Hastings participated, but as it was by their means that the conquest of the country was effected they shared in the odium of the enterprise. That Hastings did not concur in the nabob's cruelties is clear from the directions which he wrote to Colonel Champion with reference to the captive family of Hafez Ramet, one of the Rohilla chiefs. He remarked:—"Tell the vizier that the English manners are abhorrent of every species of inhumanity and oppression, and enjoin the gentlest treatment of a vanquished enemy. Require and entreat his observance of this principle towards the family of Hafez. Tell him my instructions to you generally; but urgently enforce the same maxims; and that no part of his conduct will operate so powerfully in winning the affections of the English as instances of benevolence and feeling for others. If these arguments do not prevail, you may inform him directly that you have my orders to insist upon a proper treatment of the family of Hafez Ramet; since in our alliance with him, our national character is involved in every act which subjects his own to reproach; that I shall publicly exculpate this government from the imputation of assenting to such a procedure, and shall reserve it as an objection to any future engagements with him when the present service shall have been accomplished." There can be no doubt that Colonel Champion complied with these directions, for during the war a strife was kindled between him and the nabob, partly on account of the nabob's non-assistance in the battle at Babul Nulla, and partly because he resolutely kept all the plunder to himself. Still nothing can justify this war with the Rohillas, and the annexation of the Rohilcund to the country of Oude. It is the more unjustifiable, because money was evidently the chief motive which induced Hastings to assist the rapacious nabob in his enterprise. By it the Afghan race was almost rooted out of the country, for while a few chiefs lingered on the frontiers, the majority, with their followers, sought new settlements in other countries. The Hindu population remained under the rule of the Nabob of Oude.

Soon after this Rohilla war was concluded, the new constitution, as framed by parliament, came into operation. The new council appointed at Calcutta were General Clavering, and Messrs. Monson, Francis, and Barwell; and Hastings was at their head with the rank of Governor-general of Bengal. At the first meeting of this new council a letter was read from the court of directors, which inculcated unanimity and concord among its members; required them to do all in their power to preserve peace in India; committed to Hastings the charge of carrying on all correspondence with the native powers, the council at the same time being privileged to peruse all letters; recommended a careful revision of all the company's affairs, alliances, connexions, &c, with the Indian states in the neighbourhood of the three presidencies; and exhorted them to be careful and cautious in the extreme in committing themselves by any alliances or compacts with either the Indians or the European settlers. This council was composed of such discordant materials that the injunction to preserve unanimity and concord had no weight on its members. From the first, indeed, Francis, Clavering, and Monson seem to have been resolved to gain all power in India for themselves. Their design was soon made manifest. In his political negociations, Hastings had assumed a high and almost single authority; and in conformity with this plan, at the close of the Rohilla war, he had appointed his friend Middleton to be resident and agent at the court of the Nabob of Oude, giving him instructions to confer with him alone on all matters of importance. This gave offence to Francis, Clavering, and Monson, who demanded that the correspondence of Middleton, from first to last, should be laid before the council. Hastings objected to this, on the ground that much of it related to merely private matters and opinions; upon which they hinted that his war with the Rohillas arose from sordid motives, and that his whole connexion with the Nabob of Oude had been a series of bad actions, fraud, and selfishness. This language was as unjustifiable as the Rohilla war, for Hastings had not profited in the least by his connexion with the nabob, and was at the time, in fact, a poorer man than when he quitted his inferior employment at Madras: he had sought money, it is true, but it was for the company, and not for himself. This charge was followed by action, equally unjust. As Francis, Clavering, and Monson constituted the majority in the council, they voted the immediate recall of Middleton; regardless of the remonstrance of Hastings, who declared that such a measure would be attended with pernicious consequences, inasmuch as the natives would be taught by such an act that the English authorities were disunited in sentiment, and that the government of Calcutta was falling into a state of revolution. The power of Hastings was, by the confederation of these three members against him, almost annihilated; and towards the close of the year he wrote to the board of directors, complaining of their precipitancy and violence, and to the English premier, vindicating his own conduct. Hastings, however, was subject to the control of this trio, until the 25th of September, 1776, when the majority was reduced to an equality by the death of Colonel Monson, By this event, indeed, Hastings by his casting-vote as governor-general, obtained the superiority, and he at once re-assumed his ancient authority, despite the protestations of Clavering and Francis. On the recall of Middleton the trio had sent Mr. Bristow to reside at Oude, but no sooner had Hastings regained power than he reinstated his friend Middleton in his office. The use which he made of his power seems to have given offence to the board of directors, for while they reprimanded him by letter, they supplied Colonel Monson's place by Mr. Wheler, who took the part of Francis and Clavering. Before this party, however, could act offensively, it was again reduced to a minority by the death of General Clavering, so that Hastings once more ruled dominant.

It was time that all the divisions in the council of Calcutta were brought to a close; for at this period, 1777, danger was gathering round the Anglo Indian government on various sides. During the period of the control of Francis, Monson, and Clavering in the council of Calcutta, the presidency of Bombay dispatched some troops, under Colonel Keating, to aid Ragoba—who set himself up for the Peishwa of the Mahrattas—against the confederated Mahratta chiefs, with whom he was at war. The presidency of Bombay were induced to take part in this war by the grant which Ragoba made them of Salsette, Bassein, and other places in the territory of the Mahrattas. At first, Colonel Keating was successful in his war with the Mahratta confederacy; but subsequently his movements were impeded by the discontents of the peishwa's troops, who refused to cross the Nerbuddah until they should be paid their arrears. Ragoba, however, found means not only to pay his troops, but to buy off some of the chiefs of the hostile confederacy; and then he and his English allies marched upon Poona, which was a kind of Mahratta capital. But the assistance which the presidency of Bombay had given displeased the supreme council of Calcutta; and at this point they issued orders for the recall of the troops from Poona. After this the council of Calcutta sent an agent of their own, Colonel Upton, to undertake treaties, and to pursue a different line of policy to that which the presidency of Bombay had adopted—he being instructed to treat, not with Ragoba, but with the chiefs of the Mahratta confederacy. A treaty was concluded, by which the Mahratta chiefs agreed to yield Salsette and the small islands near it to the supreme council at Calcutta, upon condition that aid should be afforded them against Ragoba. This treaty, for a time, put an end to war; for Ragoba, being deprived of English assistance, had no power to withstand his enemies; and therefore he was compelled to lay down his arms and flee for his life. By the year 1778, however, the Mahratta chiefs who had been parties to the treaty with Colonel Upton became weary of their bargain. Fresh intrigues were formed at Poona; intrigues which were supported by French influence, agents from that nation being at this period at work in India, as well as in America, to sap the foundation of the English power. As the presidency of Bombay were nearest to this scene of Mahratta intrigue, and were likely to be the most affected by it, they wrote letters to the supreme council at Calcutta, recommending a new alliance with Ragoba, in order to anticipate the designs of the French and the Mahratta chiefs. Soon after Hastings received this letter, he heard that a fresh quarrel had arisen among the Mahratta chiefs at Poona, and that Baboo, at the head of a powerful faction, had declared for Ragoba, and had applied to the presidency of Bombay for assistance. Hastings, conceiving that if the faction opposed to Baboo and Ragoba should prevail, the territories of Bombay would be in danger, proposed in council that every assistance should be given, and that an army should be forthwith sent from Calcutta and Bombay. He was the more induced to make this proposition because he always had disapproved of the treaty, and because he was of opinion that great danger would arise to the Anglo-Indian government from a union of the French with Mahrattas, if not checked on the instant. Hastings carried his proposition by means of his casting vote; and orders were issued for assembling an army at Culpee, on the east of the Hooghly river, and about thirty-three miles below Calcutta. The command of this army was given to Colonel Leslie, and it began its march in the month of June, almost simultaneously with the receipt of a letter, containing the information that war had been declared between England and France. This news quickened the operations of Hastings. It was represented by his opponents, Francis and Wheler, that the army should be recalled, as Bengal was as likely to be attacked as Bombay; but Hastings insisted that the army should proceed, as Bengal could be well defended without it. Hastings then commenced a series of measures of defence against French aggression. He seized Chandernagore and all the French factories in Bengal; sent orders to the presidency of Madras to occupy Pondicherry; threw up strong works near Calcutta; collected a vast number of vessels of all kinds, and improvised a regular marine establishment; and raised nine new battalions of sepoys, and a numerous corps of native artillery. In the meantime the army under Colonel Leslie was marching towards the acme of action. In his progress he was directed to conciliate and captivate the goodwill of the rulers and people in every district through which his line of inarch lay; but at the same time he was to fight his way where he could not win it by conciliation. Leslie had to engage with a Mahratta chief, called Ballajee, and with the young Rajah of Bondilcund; but these were overcome without great difficulty; and having reached Rajaghur, a principal city of Bondilcund, on the 17th of August, he halted there, for the purpose of entering into private negociations with the pretenders and chiefs of that country. Colonel Leslie remained so long at Rajaghur, that Hastings thought it necessary to recall him to Bengal, and to confide the command of the army to Lieutenant-Colonel Goddard; at the same time declaring by letters to the Rajah of Bondilcund and his competitors, that all Leslie's treaties and agreements were invalid. Goddard proved to be a much more active officer than his predecessor. On receiving his command he quitted Bondilcund, and crossing the Nerbudda came to the city of Nagpoor, where he established a friendly relation with the Mahrattas of Berar, and where he received dispatches from Bombay, acquainting him that the presidency had put an army in motion for Poona, under the command of Colonel Egerton, and that the two armies were to meet in the neighbourhood of that city. Egerton arrived at the destined point first; and disastrous consequences ensued to his army. In his camp were two civil commissioners, whom the Bombay government had sent to share the authority and direct the movements of Egerton. These civilians, seeing a large body of Mahratta horse before them, overcome by fear, ordered a retreat; and the Mahrattas following them, cut to pieces nearly four hundred men, and carried away the greater part of their baggage and provisions. Alarmed at their position, the civilians now sent a deputation to the Mahrattas, to know upon what terras they would permit them to march back to Bombay without molestation. The Mahrattas demanded that Ragoba should be delivered to them; and Ragoba was forthwith sent to their camp. But this weak compliance had the effect of emboldening the Mahratta chiefs. They demanded a second price for permitting the retreat; and this price was a treaty by which the English should agree to give up all the acquisitions they had made in that part of India since 1756, and send orders to Colonel Goddard to return to Bengal. A treaty was signed to this effect; and having delivered up two hostages as sureties for its fulfilment, the dishonoured army was permitted to march back to Bombay. When Colonel Goddard heard of these reverses he was at Boorhampoor, the ancient capital of Candeish, and nearly a thousand miles, by the route he had taken, from Calcutta. He had been detained in this city by perplexing letters and advices from the field-commissioners; and on receiving the intelligence, he resolved to march to Surat on the western coast, where he would be in an English settlement, with the sea open to Bombay, and ready to act as occasion might require or orders from Calcutta might direct. Favoured by the natives, whose goodwill he had gained by the strict discipline which he maintained among his troops during his march from Rajaghur to Boorhampoor, he reached Surat, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, in nineteen days. On his arrival Goddard was promoted to the rank of general; and shortly after he received the commands of the supreme council at Calcutta, to take upon himself all future wars or negociations with the Mahrattas. He proposed an amicable treaty with the Mahratta confederated chiefs, on condition that they would annul the recent treaty with Colonel Egerton, and give up all connexion with the French. At the time he proposed this treaty, Ragoba, who had escaped from Poona, was at Surat; and the chiefs replied that they would listen to no negociation until he was given up, and until Salsette was restored to them. Goddard now took the field; and in a few days the fortress of Dubhoy was reduced, and the city of Ahmedabad, the capital of Guzerat, carried by storm. His progress was arrested by the intelligence that a large Mahratta army, under the chiefs Scindia and Holkar, was marching upon Surat. Goddard resolved to attack that army, and he marched back for that purpose. At first he was prevented by a desire which the chiefs expressed for peace, and negociations were entered into; but it was soon found that they were not sincere, and that their chief motive was to delay the time until the setting in of the rains should interrupt the campaign. Negociations were broken off, and the chiefs hastily retreated; but Goddard followed them, surprised and defeated them in their very camp; and by that victory obtained possession of all the country between the mountains and the sea. The Mahrattas fled in all directions; and Goddard having taken possession of all the towns, put his army into cantonments.

During these events Hastings had formed an alliance with the Ranna of Gohud, who ruled over a hilly country between the territories of Scindia the Mahratta chief, and those of the Nabob of Oude. At the time this alliance was made the territories of the Ranna of Gohud were invaded by the Mahrattas, and Captain Popham was sent to assist him in repelling the invaders. Popham not only drove out the Mahrattas from the dominions of the Ranna, but followed them into their own territories, where he stormed the fortress of Labor, and took that of Gualior, winch the natives deemed impregnable, by escalade. Gualior was not more than fifty miles from Agra, which was Scindia's capital; and alarmed at his progress, the Mahrattas abandoned all the neighbouring country, and took refuge in that city. The Mahratta war, as conducted by Goddard and Popham, promised a complete triumph; but the victors were stopped at this point by another Mysorean war, which threatened to ruin the English power and possessions on the Coromandel coast.

Although nominally at peace with the English, Hyder Ali held them in utter abhorrence. During the last seven years, indeed, he had been concerting schemes with the French at Pondicherry, and improving and increasing his army, with a design of overturning the Anglo-Indian government at Madras, if not in all India. To enable him to raise forces, he had recourse to a system of extortion from his subjects, and plunder from his neighbours, by which means the treasury of Mysore was full even to overflowing. The Madras government was warned of its danger by Mohammed Ali, the Nabob of the Carnatic; but his voice was disregarded, and no preparations were made to ward off the blow. But the presidency of Madras were soon aroused from their slumbers. In the summer of 1780 Hyder Ali suddenly quitted Seringapatam, with one of the finest armies ever seen in Southern India. This army consisted of 30,000 cavalry, 15.,000 drilled infantry, 40,000 irregular troops, 2000 artillery and rocket men, and 400 Europeans, many of whom were Frenchmen. With this force Hyder poured through the ghauts or passes, and burst like a mountain-torrent into the Carnatic. His arms were irresistible. Porto Novo, on the coast, and Conjeveram, close to Trichinopoly, were captured and plundered; almost every fortress opened their gates at his approach; and the whole country north of the Coleroon submitted to his sway. At his approach the people fled in all directions from the fire and the sword towards the English presidency; and the flames kindled by him were seen at night from the top of Mount St. Thomas, which was only nine miles distant from Madras. Alarmed at his progress, the presidency was at first unnerved; but fear having subsided, orders were given to secure some of the strong places held by Mohammed Ali's troops, on whom no reliance could be placed. Two were thus preserved; but the rest fell into the hands of the victor. The next object of the presidency was to call in a strong force of 3000 men, under Colonel Baillie, from the Northern Circars; and Sir Hector Munro, the commander-in-chief, undertook to meet them at Conjeveram, about fifty miles from the capital. In his route Colonel Baillie was attacked by Hyder Ali's eldest son, Tippoo, with a large detachment; while Hyder himself interposed his main force between the two divisions of the English forces. Colonel Baillie defeated Tippoo; and soon after he was joined by a reinforcement under Colonel Fletcher and Captain Baird, which raised his corps to 3700 men. Against these Hyder now turned his chief attention; and he succeeded in surrounding them near Conjeveram with his whole host, and upwards of sixty cannon. A dreadful battle took place; and the English, and the sepoys who fought with them, struggled so manfully, that, after a contest of three hours, victory began to declare on their side. Hyder Ali was about to give orders for a retreat, and the French officers, who commanded the artillery, began to draw off their guns; but at that instant, by some accident, the tumbrils containing the ammunition blew up in the centre of the British, lines, and their artillery was rendered useless. This accident changed the fortune of the day; and the conquerors were left at the mercy of the vanquished. Still they long kept their ground; and it was not till all the sepoys were broken and cut to pieces that the British gave way. Even then they rallied for one more desperate effort; and under fire of the enemy's cannon they gained the ridge of a hill, in which position they formed a square, and defended themselves against thirteen successive attacks; the soldiers fighting with their bayonets, and the officers with their swords. The troops would still have resisted the enemy, had not Colonel Baillie directed them to lay down their arms, and stepping forward, asked for quarter. It is said that even then many would not lay down their arms, and continued to fight under the legs of the elephants and horses. But the struggle was now of no avail; one half of the survivors were cowardly butchered, and the rest were made prisoners, and reserved for a horrible captivity. In this conflict four thousand sepoys and six hundred Europeans were slain, among whom was Colonel Fletcher.

At the time when this battle took place, Sir Hector Munro, who commanded the other main division of the Madras army, was within a short distance of Hyder's rear, and on discovering the catastrophe, he abandoned his tents and baggage, threw his heavier guns into a tank, and fled to Madras. The country was now at the mercy of Hyder; and Wandewash, Chingleput, Vellore, and Arcot were in a short time either captured or closely besieged. Had it not been for Hastings, the power of the British would have been broken, not only in the Carnatic, but also in the northern Circars. On first discovering the irruption of Hyder Ali, the presidency of Madras despatched a fast-sailing ship to Calcutta, with letters and agents, urging him to send them aid in men and money. The treasury of Calcutta was empty, but Hastings procured fifteen lacs of rupees, which were sent off to Madras as a present supply for the army, and the governor-general immediately set to work to obtain more. Missives and agents were soon seen flying through the country to procure supplies; and Moorshedabad, Patna, Lucknow, and Benares, with all other places where Hastings could put in a claim, whether real or fictitious, were called upon for their contributions. But money would have been of little service in this war without active measures on the part of Hastings. This he saw, and he immediately concluded a peace with Scindia, recalled Popham from the Jumna, and adjusted amicable arrangements with the other Mahratta powers, under the guarantee of the Rajah of Berar He also recalled the inept Governor of Madras, and invited Sir Eyre Coote to take the command of Fort St. George, and the entire management cf the war with Hyder Ali. Sir Eyre Coote had recently returned to India, as commander-in-chief of the Bengal forces, and a member of the supreme council; and although he did not always agree with Hastings at the council-table, he readily fell hi with his plans, and undertook the command. Coote set sail with five hundred choice British troops, and six hundred Lascars, with between forty and fifty gentlemen volunteers; and soon after his arrival at Madras, he commenced operations, with 1700 Europeans, and about 5000 native troops, by marching to recover Wandewash, the scene of his great exploit in a previous year. Wandewash was recaptured, and Hyder Ali, terrified at his name, abandoned other sieges, and seemed inclined to fly from, or to treat with the conqueror. At this juncture, however, a French fleet appeared off the coast; and encouraged by it, and also by a repulse which Coote shortly after sustained at the fortified pagoda of Chillambram, he intrenched his army in a strong position, near Cuddalore, where he determined to risk a battle rather than permit the British commander to advance upon Trinchinopoly and Tanjore. His post was exceedingly strong; but Sir Eyre Coote, who had recently been reinforced by some sepoys, sent by Hastings, under the command of Colonel Pearse, advanced from Porto Novo, attacked him in his lines, and completely defeated him. It is said that Hyder Ali now bitterly regretted having allowed himself to be drawn into war by French counsels, and that he as bitterly complained of having been amused by the promises of the assistance of a great French force from Europe. Notwithstanding he risked another battle for the defence of Arcot, on the very spot where Colonel Baillie had suffered his defeat, but where he was this time defeated. Hyder retreated to, and took up his position at, Sholingur; and though Sir Eyre Coote had suffered severe loss in his recent battle, he resolved to seek the enemy, and he pushed forward with such vigour that he nearly sus-prised the Indians before they could form their ranks. Hyder was again routed, with terrible loss, and Coote was enabled by this victory to march on the fortress of Vellore, one of the keys of the Carnatic, which was besieged by Hyder's troops, and which he relieved and saved. After this, Coote recovered Chittore, Palipett, and other places, and then, as the rains, the monsoons, and the rising of the rivers put an end to further extensive operations, he went into cantonments.

{GEORGE III. 1786-1787}

In the meantime Lord Macartney arrived from England as Governor of Madras, His lordship brought intelligence of the declaration of war between England and Holland, and his first care was to make himself master of all the Dutch factories on that coast. Sadras surrendered upon summons; Poulicat submitted on his approach, at the head of some gentlemen volunteers and Madras militia-men; Negapatam was captured; all the other Dutch settlements on the same coast fell into the hands of the British; and Trin-comalee, their principal station in Ceylon, was taken by storm.

Colonel Braithwaite had assisted in the reduction of Negapatam, and when this was effected he marched into Tanjore, with the view of recovering some of the fortresses of that country, which had been captured by Hyder and his son Tippoo. Braithwaite was deceived and misled by the Tanjoreans, and while encamped on the left bank of the river Cavery, on the 18th of February, 1782, he was surprised by Tippoo and a French corps; and after maintaining an unequal contest from sunrise to sunset, his whole force were either killed or taken prisoners. This blow was almost immediately followed by the arrival off the coast of Admiral de Suffrein, with 2000 French and 1000 Caffres on board, to aid Hyder Ali in his struggle. De Suffrein had been encountered in his voyage by the squadron of Commodore Johnstone, and had been pursued by Admiral Hughes; but he had escaped all dangers, and he now succeeded in landing the forces which he brought with him at Porto Novo. These forces were under the command of M. Bussy, and they united with the army of Tippoo, and besieged and took Cuddalore, after which they advanced against Wandewash. Coote marched rapidly to the relief of that place, and on the 24th of April he encamped on the very spot where he had defeated Lally and Bussy twenty-two years before. Bussy and Tippoo retreated before Coote, and-he then threatened the strong fort of Arnee, where Hyder had deposited plunder and provisions. Hyder advanced in person for the defence of this place, and while he engaged in a loose, irregular battle, Tippoo succeeded in carrying off his stores from Arnee. Bussy now retreated towards Cuddalore and Pondicherry; Hyder put himself in quarters near the coast; and Tippoo, with some strong French detachments, hastened to Calicut, to quell a rebellion which had manifested itself among his father's oppressed subjects—the Nairs, or Hindu chiefs of the Malabar coast. At the same time Sir Eyre Coote threw supplies into Vellore, and undertook an expedition against Cuddalore, which failed for want of co-operation.