victory of pitt—the king's delight—pitt's finance—the india bill—pitt's budget—the westminster election—the scrutiny—fox is returned—the volunteers in ireland—flood's reform bill—riots in ireland—pitt's commercial policy for ireland—opposition of the english merchants—abandonment of the measure—pitt's reform bill—his administrative reforms—bill for fortifying portsmouth and plymouth—pitt's sinking fund—favourable reception of the bill—pitt's excise bill—commercial treaty with france—impeachment of warren hastings—retrospect of indian affairs: deposition of meer jaffier—resistance of meer cossim—massacre of patna—battle of buxar and capture of allahabad—clive's return to india—settlement of bengal and oude—domestic reforms—rise of hyder ali—his treaty with the english—he is defeated by the mahrattas—deposition of the rajah of tanjore—failure of lord pigot to reinstate him—lord north's regulating bill—death of clive—warren hastings becomes governor-general—his dealings with the famine—treatment of reza khan and the nabob of bengal—resumption of allahabad and corah—massacre of the rohillas—arrival of the new members of council—struggle for supremacy—robbery of cheyte sing—nuncomar's charges—his trial and execution—hastings' constitutional resignation—his final victory—wars against the mahrattas—hyder ali's advance—defeat of baillie—energy of hastings—victories of sir eyre coote—capture of dutch settlements—naval engagements between the british and french—death of hyder ali—tippoo continues the war—he invokes peace—hastings' extortions from cheyte sing—hastings' visit to benares—rising of the people—rescue of hastings and deposition of cheyte sing—extortion from the begums of oude—parliamentary inquiries—hastings' reception in england—burke's motion of impeachment—pitt's change of front—the prince of wales and the whigs—inquiry into his debts—alderman newnham's motion—denial of the marriage with mrs. fitzherbert—sheridan's begum speech—impeachment of hastings—growth of the opposition to the slave trade—the question brought before parliament—evidence produced—sir w. dolben's bill—trial of warren hastings—speeches of burke, fox, and sheridan—illness of the king—debates on the regency bill—the king's recovery—address of the irish parliament to the prince of wales.

the general election of 1784 secured for pitt a prolonged tenure of power. the king, in opening the session, could not repress the air of triumph, and congratulated the houses on the declared sense of his people, not forgetting to designate fox's india bill as a most unconstitutional measure. in fact, no one was so delighted as the king. he had contemplated the victory of fox and his friends over pitt with actual horror. he had never liked fox, and the violent and overbearing manner in which he had endeavoured to compel the king to dismiss his ministers had increased his aversion into dread and repugnance. in his letters to pitt he had said, "if these desperate and factious men succeed, my line is a clear one, to which i have fortitude to submit." again: "should not the lords stand boldly forth, this constitution must soon be changed; for if the two remaining privileges of the crown are infringed, that of negativing the bills which have passed both houses of parliament, and that of naming the ministers to be employed, i cannot but feel, as far as regards my person, that i can be no longer of utility to this country, nor can with honour, remain in the island." in fact, george was menacing, a second time, a retreat to hanover; a step, however, which he was not very likely to adopt. the sentiment which the words really express is his horror of the heavy yoke of the great whig houses. the addresses from both houses of parliament expressed equal satisfaction in the change, pitt's triumphant majority having now rejected the amendments of the opposition.

on the 21st of june pitt introduced and carried several resolutions, which formed the basis of his commutation act. these went to check smuggling, by reducing the duty on tea from fifty to twelve and a half per cent., and to raise the house and window tax so as to supply the deficiency. a bill was then passed to make good another deficiency in the civil list, to the amount of sixty thousand pounds. early in august mr. pitt brought in his india bill, which differed chiefly from his former one in introducing a government board of commissioners, with power to examine and revise the proceedings of the court of directors. this, which afterwards acquired the name of the board of control, was opposed by fox, but passed both houses with little trouble.

before this great measure had passed, pitt had introduced his budget. on the 30th of june he made his financial statement. he said that the resources of the country were in a very burthened and disordered state; but that was not his work, but the work of his predecessors. the outstanding arrears, owing to the late war, were already ascertained to amount at least to fourteen million pounds. these operated very injuriously on the public credit, being at a discount of from fifteen to twenty per cent.; and that without greatly[308] affecting the public securities, he should not be able to find more than six million six hundred thousand six hundred pounds of them at once. to meet the interest, he proposed to raise taxes to the amount of nine hundred thousand pounds a year. the imposts—some entirely new, and some augmented—were on hats, ribbons, gauzes, coals, saddle and pleasure horses, printed linens and calicoes, candles, paper, and hackney coaches; licences to deal in excisable commodities, bricks, and tiles; licences for shooting game.

general election of 1784: master billy's procession to grocers' hall—pitt presented with the freedom of the city of london. (reduced facsimile of the caricature by t. rowlandson.)

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the duties on bricks and tiles were opposed, as affecting brick-makers rather than the public, because stones and slates were not included. these duties were, however, carried, and the bill passed; but great discontent arising regarding the duties on coals and on licences to deal in excisable commodities, the chancellor of the exchequer was obliged to produce a supplementary budget, and, after withdrawing these, to lay others on the sale of ale, gold and silver plate, the exportation of lead, and postage of letters, at the same time limiting the privilege of franking. it was high time that the latter practice were put under regulation, for the privilege was enormously abused. till this time, a simple signature of a member of parliament, without name of the post town whence it was sent, or date, freed a letter all over the kingdom. many persons had whole quires of these signatures, and letters were also addressed to numbers of places where they did not reside, so that, by an arrangement easily understood, the persons they were really meant for received them post-free. the loss to government by this dishonest system was calculated at one hundred and seventy thousand pounds a year. by the present plan, no member was to permit any letter to be addressed to him except at the place where he actually was; and he was required, in writing a frank, to give the name of the post town where he wrote it, with the dates of day and year, and to himself write the whole address.

on the 20th of august the appropriation bill and other measures of routine having been carried through with great triumph by the ministry, the king prorogued the parliament, which did not meet again till the 25th of january following. fox came into the new parliament in a very remarkable and anomalous position. in the election for westminster, the candidates had been, besides himself, admiral lord hood and sir cecil wray. the election was of the most violent kind, distinguished by drunkenness, riot, and gross abuses. it continued from april the 1st to[309] the 16th of may, and the numbers on the poll-books, at its termination, stood as follows:—for lord hood, 6,694; for fox, 6,233; for sir cecil wray, 5,598. the prince of wales had shown himself one of the most ardent partisans of fox, all the more, no doubt, because fox was detested by the king. the prince had displayed from his carriage the "fox favour and laurel," and, at the conclusion of the poll, had given a grand fête at carlton house to more than six hundred foxites, all wearing "blue and buff." the duchess of devonshire and other lady politicians also gave fox substantial help. but fox was not allowed to triumph so easily. the tory candidate, sir cecil wray, as was well understood, instigated and supported by the government, demanded a scrutiny; and corbett, the high bailiff, in the circumstances, could make no return of representatives for westminster. as a scrutiny in so populous a district, and with the impediments which government and its secret service money could throw in the way, might drag on for a long period, and thus, as government intended, keep fox out of parliament, he got himself, for the time, returned for a small scottish borough, to the no small amusement of his enemies.

sir cecil wray. sam house (publican on the side of fox). charles james fox.

general election of 1784: the hustings, covent garden: the westminster deserter drummed out of the regiment—defeat of sir cecil wray. (reduced facsimile of the caricature by t. rowlandson.)

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almost immediately on the meeting of the house of commons, welbore ellis demanded whether a return had been made for westminster, and being answered in the negative, moved that mr. corbett, the high bailiff, with his assessor, should attend the house; and the next day, february 2nd, colonel fitzpatrick presented a petition from the electors of westminster, complaining that they were not legally and duly represented. in fact, the scrutiny had now been going on for eight months, and as not even two of the seven parishes of westminster were yet scrutinised, it was calculated that, at this rate, the whole process would require three years, and the city would, therefore, remain as long unrepresented. the high bailiff stated that the examinations, cross-examinations, and arguments of counsel were so long, that he saw no prospect of a speedy conclusion; and mr. murphy, his assessor, gave evidence that each vote was tried with as much[310] form and prolixity as any cause in westminster hall; that counsel—and this applied to both sides—claimed a right to make five speeches on one vote; and that propositions had been put in on the part of sir cecil wray to shorten the proceedings, but objected to on the part of mr. fox.

on the 18th of february, colonel fitzpatrick, fox's most intimate friend, presented another petition from the electors of westminster, praying to be heard by counsel, in consequence of new facts having come to light, but lord frederick campbell, on the part of government, moved that such counsel should not argue against the legality of the scrutiny. the counsel, on being admitted, refused to plead under such restrictions. the house then called in the high bailiff, and demanded what the new facts were on which the petition was based, and he admitted that they were, that the party of mr. fox had offered to take the scrutiny in the parishes of st. margaret's and st. john's alone, where mr. fox's interest was the weakest, in order to bring the scrutiny to an end, and that sir cecil wray had declined the offer. colonel fitzpatrick then moved that the high bailiff should be directed to make a return, according to the lists on the close of the poll on the 17th of may last. this motion was lost, but only by a majority of nine, showing that the opinion of the house was fast running against the new minister, and on the 3rd of march alderman sawbridge put the same question again, when it was carried by a majority of thirty-eight. it was clear that the government pressure could be carried no further. sawbridge moved that the original motion should be put, and it was carried without a division. the next day the return was made, and fox and lord hood were seated as the members for westminster. fox immediately moved that the proceedings on this case should be expunged from the journals, but without success. he also commenced an action against the high bailiff for not returning him at the proper time, when duly elected by a majority of votes. he laid his damages at two hundred thousand pounds, and the trial came on before lord loughborough, formerly mr. wedderburn, in june of the following year, 1786, when the jury gave him immediately a verdict, but only for two thousand pounds, which he said should be distributed amongst the charities of westminster.

the king's speech, at the opening of this session, recommended a consideration of the trade and general condition of ireland; and indeed it was time, for the concessions which had been made by the rockingham ministry had only created a momentary tranquillity. the volunteers retaining their arms in their hands after the close of the american war, were evidently bent on imitating the proceedings of the americans, and the direction of the movement passed from grattan to flood. in september, 1785, delegates from all the volunteer corps in ireland met at dungannon, representing one hundred thousand men, who passed resolutions declaring their independence of the legislature of great britain. the delegates at dungannon claimed the right to reform the national parliament, and appointed a convention to meet in dublin in the month of november, consisting of delegates from the whole volunteer army in ireland. accordingly, on the 10th of november, the great convention met in dublin, and held their meetings in the royal exchange. they demanded a thorough remodelling of the irish constitution. they declared that as matters stood the irish house of commons was wholly independent of the people; that its term of duration was equally unconstitutional; and they passed zealous votes of thanks to their friends in england. these friends were the ultra-reformers of england, who had freely tendered the irish reformers their advice and sympathy. the irish people were ready to hail the delegates as their true parliament, and the regular parliament as pretenders. within parliament house itself the most violent contentions were exhibited between the partisans of the volunteer parliament and the more orthodox reformers. henry flood was the prominent advocate of the extreme movement, and grattan, who regarded this agitation as certain to end only in fresh coercion, instead of augmented liberty for ireland, vehemently opposed it.

on the 29th of november flood moved for leave to bring in a bill for the more equal representation of the people. this was the scheme of the volunteer parliament, and all the delegates to the convention who were members of the house, or had procured admittance as spectators, appeared in uniform. the tempest that arose is described as something terrific. the orders of the house, the rules of debate, the very rules of ordinary conduct amongst gentlemen, were utterly disregarded. the fury on both sides was uncontrollable. the motion was indignantly rejected by one hundred and fifty-seven votes against seventy-seven; and the house immediately voted a cordial address to his majesty, declaring their perfect satisfaction with the blessings enjoyed[311] under his auspicious reign, and the present happy constitution, and their determination to support him with their lives and fortunes. on the 13th of march mr. flood introduced his bill once more, for equalising the representation of the people in parliament. it proposed to abolish the right of boroughs altogether to send members, and to place the franchise in the people at large. sir john fitzgibbon, the attorney-general, stoutly opposed it; grattan dissented from it, and it was thrown out on the motion to commit it.

exasperated at the failure of this measure, a furious mob broke into the irish house of commons on the 15th of april, but they were soon quelled, and two of the ringleaders seized. the magistrates of dublin were censured for observing the gathering of the mob and taking no measures to prevent its outbreak. the printer and supposed publisher of the volunteers' journal were called before the house and reprimanded, and a bill was brought in and passed, to render publishers more amenable to the law. the spirit of violence still raged through the country. tumultuous associations were formed under the name of aggregate bodies.

commercial and manufacturing distress was severe in the country, and the unemployed workmen flocked into dublin and the other large towns, demanding relief and menacing the police, and directing their fury against all goods imported from england. on the 2nd of january, 1785, a congress sat in dublin, consisting of delegates from twenty-seven counties, and amounting to about two hundred individuals. they held adjourned meetings, and established corresponding committees in imitation of their great models, the americans. in truth, many of the leaders of these present movements drew their inspiration now from american republican correspondents, as they did afterwards from those of france, by whom they were eventually excited to rebellion.

the government of england saw the necessity of coming to some conclusion on the subject of irish commerce, which should remove the distress, and, as a consequence, the disorder. the irish government, at the instigation of the english administration, sent over commissioners to consult with the board of trade in london, and certain terms being agreed upon, these were introduced by mr. orde, the secretary to the lord-lieutenant, to the irish house of commons, on the 7th of february. these were, that all articles not of the growth of great britain or ireland should be imported into each country from the other, under the same regulations and duties as were imposed on direct importation, and with the same drawbacks; that all prohibitions in either country against the importation of articles grown, produced, or manufactured in the other should be rescinded, and the duties equalised. there were some other resolutions relating to internal taxation, to facilitate the corn trade, and some details in foreign and international commerce. these, after some debate, were passed on the 11th, and, being agreed to by the lords, were transmitted to england.

on the 22nd of february the english house of commons resolved itself into a committee, on the motion of pitt, to consider these resolutions. pitt spoke with much freedom of the old restrictive jealousy towards ireland. he declared that it was a system abominable and impolitic; that to study the benefit of one portion of the empire at the expense of another was not promoting the prosperity of the empire as a whole. he contended that there was nothing in the present proposals to alarm the british manufacturer or trader. goods, the produce of europe, might now be imported through ireland into britain by authority of the navigation act. the present proposition went to allow ireland to import and then to export the produce of our colonies in africa and america into great britain. beyond the cape of good hope, or the straits of magellan, they could not go, on account of the monopoly granted to the east india company.

delay was demanded, to hear what was the feeling of merchants and manufacturers in england, and these soon poured in petitions against these concessions, from liverpool, manchester, and other places; one of them, from the lancashire manufacturers, being signed by eighty thousand persons. after two months had been spent in receiving these petitions, hearing evidence and counsel, mr. pitt introduced his propositions on the 12th of may. it was then found that british interests, as usual, had triumphed over the ministerial intentions of benefiting ireland. not only was ireland to be bound to furnish, in return for these concessions, a fixed contribution out of the surplus of the hereditary revenue towards defraying the expenses of protecting the general commerce, but to adopt whatever navigation laws the british parliament might hereafter enact. lord north and fox opposed these propositions, on the ground that the cheapness of labour in ireland would give that country an advantage over the manufacturers in this. the[312] resolutions were at length carried both in the committee and in the house at large on the 25th of july.

but the alterations were fatal to the measure in ireland. instead now of being the resolutions passed in the irish parliament, they embraced restrictive ones originating in the british parliament—a point on which the irish were most jealous, and determined not to give way. no sooner did mr. orde, the original introducer of the resolutions to the irish parliament, on the 2nd of august, announce his intention to introduce them as they now stood, than flood, grattan, and dennis browne declared the thing impossible; that ireland never would surrender her birthright of legislating for herself. mr. orde, however, persisted in demanding leave to introduce a bill founded on these resolutions, and this he did on the 12th of august. flood attacked the proposal with the utmost vehemence. grattan, curran, and others declared that the irish parliament could hear no resolutions but those which they themselves had sanctioned. accordingly, though mr. orde carried his permission to introduce his bill, it was only by a majority of nineteen, and under such opposition that, on the 15th, he moved to have it printed for the information of the country, but announced that he should proceed no further in it at present. this was considered as a total abandonment of the measure, and there was a general rejoicing as for a national deliverance, and dublin was illuminated. but in the country the spirit of agitation on the subject remained: the non-importation associations were renewed, in imitation of the proceedings in boston, and the most dreadful menaces were uttered against all who should dare to import manufactured goods from england. the consequences were the stoppage of trade—especially in the seaports—the increase of distress and of riots, and the soldiers were obliged to be kept under arms in dublin and other towns to prevent outbreaks.

before the irish affairs were done with, pitt moved for leave to bring in his promised reform bill. if pitt were still desirous of reforming parliament, it was the last occasion on which he showed it, and it may reasonably be believed that he introduced this measure more for the sake of consistency than for any other purpose. he had taken no steps to prepare a majority for the occasion; every one was left to do as he thought best, and his opening observations proved that he was by no means sanguine as to the measure passing the house. "the number of gentlemen," he said, "who are hostile to reform are a phalanx which ought to give alarm to any individual upon rising to suggest such a motion." his plan was to transfer the franchise from thirty-six rotten boroughs to the counties, giving the copyholders the right to vote. this plan would confer seventy-two additional members on the counties, and thus, in fact, strengthen the representation of the landed interest at the expense of the towns; and he proposed to compensate the boroughs so disfranchised by money, amounting to ￡1,000,000. wilberforce, dundas, and fox spoke in favour of the bill; burke spoke against it. many voted against it, on account of the compensation offered, mr. bankes remarking that pitt was paying for what he declared was, in any circumstances, unsaleable. the motion was lost by two hundred and forty-eight against one hundred and seventy-four.

but though pitt ceased to be a parliamentary reformer—and by degrees became the most determined opponent of all reform—he yet made an immediate movement for administrative reform. he took up the plans of burke, praying for a commission to inquire into the fees, gratuities, perquisites, and emoluments received in the public offices, with reference to existing abuses. he stated that, already—acting on the information of reports of the board of commissioners appointed in lord north's time—fixed salaries, instead of fees and poundages, had been introduced in the office of the land-tax, and the post office was so improved as to return weekly into the treasury three thousand pounds sterling, instead of seven hundred sterling. similar regulations he proposed to introduce into the pay office, the navy and ordnance office. he stated, also, that he had, when out of office, asserted that no less than forty-four millions sterling was unaccounted for by men who had been in different offices. he was ridiculed for that statement, and it was treated as a chimera; but already twenty-seven millions of such defalcations had been traced, and a balance of two hundred and fifty-seven thousand pounds sterling was on the point of being paid in. in fact, the state of the government offices was, at that time, as it had long been, such that it was next to impossible for any one to get any business transacted there without bribing heavily. as a matter of course, this motion was strongly opposed, but it was carried, and mr. francis baring and the two other comptrollers of army accounts were appointed the commissioners.

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view of london from the tower to london bridge in the latter part of the 18th century. (after the picture by maurer.)

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[314]

the great financial questions of 1786 were the duke of richmond's plan of fortifying portsmouth and plymouth, and pitt's proposal of a sinking fund to pay off the national debt, an excise duty on wines, and pitt's commercial treaty with france. during the previous session the duke of richmond, master-general of the ordnance, had proposed a plan of fortifying these large arsenals, so that, in the supposed absence of our fleet on some great occasion, they would be left under the protection of regiments of militia, for whom enormous barracks were to be erected. a board of officers had been appointed to inquire into the advantages of the plan, and their report was now brought up on the 27th of february, and introduced by mr. pitt, who moved that the plan be adopted. this scheme was strongly opposed by general burgoyne, colonel barré, and others. mr. bastard moved an amendment declaring the proposed fortifications inexpedient. he said the militia had been called the school of the army, but to shut them up in these strongholds, separate from their fellow-subjects, was the way to convert them into universities for pr?torian bands. he protested against taking the defence of the nation from our brave fleet and conferring it on military garrisons; tearing the ensign of british glory from the mast-head, and fixing a standard on the ramparts of a fort. the bill was rejected, fox, sheridan, windham, and all the leading oppositionists declaiming against it.

on the 21st of march a committee which had been appointed early in the session to inquire into the public income and expenditure, and to suggest what might in future be calculated on as the clear revenue, presented its report through mr. grenville, their chairman. on the 29th, pitt, in a committee of the whole house, entered upon the subject, and detailed the particulars of a plan to diminish progressively and steadily the further debt. it appeared from the report of the select committee that there was, at present, a clear surplus revenue of nine hundred thousand pounds sterling, and that this surplus could, without any great additional burthen to the public, be made a million per annum. this he declared to be an unexpected state of financial vigour after so long and unfortunate a war. the plan which he proposed was to pay two hundred and fifty thousand pounds quarterly into the hands of commissioners appointed for the purpose to purchase stock to that amount, which was under par, or to pay stock above par, and thus cancel so much debt. in addition to this, the annuities for lives, or for limited terms, would gradually cancel another portion. all dividends arising from such purchases were to be similarly applied. pitt calculated that by this process, and by the compound interest on the savings to the revenue by it, in twenty-eight years no less than four millions sterling per annum of surplus revenue would be similarly applied, or employed for the exigencies of the state. by this halcyon process he contemplated the eventual extinction of that enormous debt, to pay the mere interest of which every nerve had been stretched, and every resource nearly exhausted. in a delightful state of self-gratulation, pitt declared that he was happy to say that all this was readily accomplishable; that we had nothing to fear, except one thing—the possibility of any minister in need violating this fund. had the original sinking fund, he said, been kept sacred, we should have had now very little debt. to prevent the recurrence of this fatal facility of ministers laying their hands on this fund, he proposed to place it in the hands of commissioners, and he declared that "no minister could ever have the confidence to come down to that house and desire the repeal of so beneficial a law, which tended so directly to relieve the people from their burthens." he added that he felt that he had by this measure "raised a firm column, upon which he was proud to flatter himself that his name might be inscribed." he said not a word about the name of dr. price being inscribed there, to whom the whole merit of the scheme belonged; he never once mentioned his name at all. on his own part, dr. price complained not of this, but that he had submitted three schemes to pitt, and that he had chosen the worst.

the greater part of the house, as well as the public out of doors, were captivated with the scheme, which promised thus easily to relieve them of the monster debt; but sir grey cooper was the first to disturb these fairy fancies. he declared that the whole was based on a fallacious statement; that it was doubtful whether the actual surplus was as described; but even were it so, that it was but the surplus of a particular year, and that it was like the proprietor of a hop-ground endeavouring to borrow money on the guarantee of its proceeds in a particularly favourable year. fox, burke, and sheridan followed in the same strain. they argued that, supposing the assumed surplus actually to exist, which they doubted, it would immediately vanish in case of war, and a fresh mass of debt be laid on.[315] sheridan said, the only mode of paying off a million a year would be to make a loan of a million a year, for the minister reminded him of the person in the comedy who said, "if you won't lend me the money, how can i pay you?" on the 14th of may he moved a string of fourteen resolutions unfavourable to the report of the committee, which he said contained facts which could not be negatived; but the house did negative them all without a division, and on the 15th of may passed the bill. in the lords it met with some proposals from earl stanhope, which were to render the violation of the act equivalent to an act of bankruptcy, but these were negatived, and the bill was passed there on the 26th. it was not until 1828 that the fallacy on which the bill rested was finally exposed by lord grenville, who, curiously enough, had been chairman of the committee which recommended its adoption.

in order to enable the revenue to furnish the required million surplus for the sinking fund, pitt found it necessary to propose to extend the excise laws to foreign wine, which had hitherto been under the jurisdiction of the custom house. he contended that, on a moderate calculation, the sum lost to the revenue by the frauds in the trade in wine amounted to upwards of two hundred and eighty thousand pounds per annum. to remedy this, and to prevent at once smuggling and the adulteration of wine, the excise officers were to have free access to the cellars of all who sold wine, but not into private ones. to abate that repugnance to the law which excise laws awaken in the public mind, pitt stated that the change would not amount to more than thirteen thousand pounds a year, and that not more than one hundred and seventy additional officers would be required, who could add little to the influence of the crown, as they were by law incapable of voting at elections. he carried his bill with little difficulty through the commons; but in the lords, lord loughborough made a decided set against it, and pointed out one most shameful provision in it—namely, that in case of any suit against an exciseman for improper seizure, a jury was prohibited giving more damages than twopence, or any costs of suit, or inflicting a fine of more than one shilling if the exciseman could show a probable cause for such a seizure. lord loughborough declared justly that this was a total denial of justice to the complaint against illegal conduct on the part of excisemen, for nothing would be so easy as for the excise to plead false information as a probable cause. it was a disgraceful infringement of the powers of juries, and lord loughborough called on lord camden to defend the sacred right of juries as he had formerly done. camden was compelled to confess that the clause was objectionable; but that to attempt an alteration would destroy the bill for the present session, and so it was suffered to pass with this monstrous provision.

the commercial treaty with france, pitt's greatest achievement as a financier, was not signed until the recess—namely, in september. it was conceived entirely in the spirit of free trade, and was an honest attempt to establish a perpetual alliance between the two nations. its terms were:—that it was to continue in force for twelve years; with some few exceptions prohibitory duties between the two countries were repealed; the wines of france were admitted at the same rate as those of portugal; privateers belonging to any nation at war with one of the contracting parties might no longer equip themselves in the ports of the other; and complete religious and civil liberty was granted to the inhabitants of each country while residing in the other. one result of the treaty was the revival of the taste for light french wines which had prevailed before the wars of the revolution, and a decline in the sale of the fiery wines of the peninsula. but the treaty was bitterly attacked by the opposition. flood reproduced the absurd argument that wealth consists of money, and that trade can only be beneficial to the country which obtains the largest return in gold. fox and burke, with singular lack of foresight, declaimed against pitt for making a treaty with france, "the natural political enemy of great britain," and denounced the perfidy with which the french had fostered the american revolt. in spite of the illiberality of these arguments, pitt, with the acquiescence of the commercial classes, carried the treaty through parliament by majorities of more than two to one.

but, in spite of the importance of these measures, there was one question which engrossed the attention of both parliament and the public far more than any other. this was the demand by burke for the impeachment of warren hastings, late governor-general of bengal, for high crimes and misdemeanours there alleged to have been by him committed. it therefore becomes necessary at this point to resume our narrative of indian affairs from the year 1760, which our connected view of the events of the american war necessarily suspended.

at the point at which our former detail of[316] indian affairs ceased, lord clive had gone to england to recruit his health. he had found us possessing a footing in india, and had left us the masters of a great empire. he had conquered arcot and other regions of the carnatic; driven the french from pondicherry, chandernagore, and chinsura; and though we had left titular princes in the deccan and bengal, we were, in truth, masters there; for meer jaffier, though seated on the throne of bengal, was our mere instrument.

the english having deposed suraja dowlah, the nabob of bengal, and set up their tool, the traitor meer jaffier, who had actually sold his master, the nabob, to them, the unfortunate nabob was soon assassinated by the son of meer jaffier. but meer jaffier, freed thus from the fear of the restoration of the nabob, soon began to cabal against his patrons, the english. clive was absent, and the government conducted by mr. henry vansittart, a man of little ability in his course of policy. all discipline ceased to exist amongst the english; their only thought was of enriching themselves by any possible means. meer jaffier was not blind to this. he saw how hateful the english were making themselves in the country, and was becoming as traitorous to them as he had been to his own master. early, therefore, in the autumn of 1760, vansittart and colonel caillaud marched to cossimbazar, a suburb of moorshedabad, where meer jaffier lived, at the head of a few hundred troops, and offered certain terms to him. meer jaffier appeared to shuffle in his answer; and, without more ceremony, the english surrounded his palace at the dead of night, and compelled him to resign, but allowed him to retire to fort william, under the protection of the british flag; and they then set up in his stead meer cossim, his son-in-law.

meer cossim, for a time, served their purpose. they obtained, as the price of his elevation, a large sum of money and an accession of territory. but he was not a man of the obsequious temper of meer jaffier. he removed his court from moorshedabad to monghyr, two hundred miles farther from calcutta. he increased and disciplined his troops; he then made compulsory levies on the english traders, from which they had always claimed exemption. there was a loud outcry, and a determined resistance on the part of the english; but meer cossim not only continued to compel them to pay the same revenue dues as others, but imprisoned or disgraced every man of note in his dominions who had ever shown regard to the english. it was clear that he chafed under the impositions of his elevators, and meant to free himself from them and their obligations together. it was in vain that the english council in calcutta uttered warning and remonstrance; there was the most violent controversy between the english factory at patna and meer cossim. vansittart hastened to monghyr, to endeavour to arrange matters with cossim. he consented to the payment, by the english, of the inland revenue to the amount of nine per cent.; and on his part he accepted a present for himself from cossim of seven lacs of rupees, or upwards of seventy thousand pounds. but on this occasion, though vansittart had pocketed this large bribe from meer cossim, the council in calcutta, who got nothing, voted the terms most dishonourable, and sent a fresh deputation to cossim at monghyr. this deputation was headed by mr. amyott; but as it went to undo what vansittart had just done, cossim, who saw no end of exactions, and no security in treating with the english, caused his troops to fall on the unfortunate deputation as they passed through moorshedabad, and they were all cut to pieces. here was an end to all agreement with this impracticable man, so the council immediately decreed the deposition of meer cossim, and the restoration of the more pliant puppet, meer jaffier.

the english took the field in the summer of 1763 against meer cossim with six hundred europeans and one thousand two hundred sepoys. major adams, the commander of this force, was vigorously resisted by meer cossim, but drove him from moorshedabad, gained a decided victory over him on the plains of geriah, and, after a siege of nine days, reduced monghyr. driven to his last place of strength in patna, and feeling that he must yield that, meer cossim determined to give one parting example of his ferocity to his former patrons, as, under their protection, he had given many to his own subjects. he had taken prisoners the english belonging to the factory at patna, amounting to one hundred and fifty individuals. these he caused to be massacred by a renegade frenchman in his service, named sombre. on the 5th of october his soldiers massacred all of them except william fullarton, a surgeon known to the nabob. the mangled bodies of the victims were thrown into two wells, which were then filled up with stones. this done, the monster cossim fled into oude, and took refuge with its nabob, sujah dowlah. the english immediately entered patna, which was still reeking with the blood of their countrymen, and proclaimed the deposition of[317] meer cossim, and the restoration of meer jaffier as nabob of bengal.

deposition of meer jaffier. (see p. 316.)

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the nabob of oude zealously embraced the cause of meer cossim. he possessed not only great resources in his own province, but he possessed additional authority with the natives from having received also at his court the titular emperor of delhi, shah allum, who, though driven from his throne and territory by the mahrattas, was still in the eyes of the people the great mogul. with the great mogul in his camp, and appointed vizier by him, sujah dowlah advanced at the head of fifty thousand men against major adams and his little army, now numbering about one thousand two hundred europeans and eight thousand sepoys. before the two armies came in sight of each other adams died, and the command was assumed by major, afterwards sir hector munro. munro led his army to buxar, more than a hundred miles higher up the ganges. there, in the month of october, 1764, he came into conflict with the army of oude, and put it thoroughly to the rout, killing four thousand men and taking one hundred and thirty pieces of cannon and much spoil.

the next day the great mogul went over to the stronger party. he had no further hope of assistance from sujah dowlah, and so he rode, with a few followers, to the british camp. he was received most willingly, for, though the british had shown no disposition to recognise his authority, now he was in their hands they acknowledged him as the rightful sovereign of hindostan, and lost no time in concluding a treaty with him; and, on condition of his yielding certain territories to them, they agreed to put him in possession of allahabad and the other states of the nabob of oude. after this, munro continuing the war against sujah dowlah, endeavoured to take the hill fort of chunar, in which all the treasures of cossim were said to be deposited, but failed. on his part, sujah dowlah had obtained the assistance of holkar, a powerful mahratta chief, and, with this advantage, endeavoured to make a better peace with munro; but that officer declined treating, unless cossim and the assassin, sombre, were first given up to[318] him. dowlah proposed, instead of this surrender of those who had sought his protection, the usually triumphant argument with the english, a large sum of money. but munro replied that all the lacs of rupees in dowlah's treasury would not satisfy him without the surrender of the murderers of his countrymen at patna. dowlah, though he would not surrender the fugitives, had no objection to give a secret order for the assassination of sombre; but munro equally spurned this base proposal, and the war went on. munro was victorious, and early in 1765, having reduced the fort of chunar and scattered dowlah's army, he entered allahabad in triumph, and put the mogul in possession of it.

in 1765 clive embarked for india for the third and last time. he went out with the firm determination to curb and crush the monster abuses that everywhere prevailed in our indian territories. he had made a fortune of forty thousand pounds a year, and he was, therefore, prepared to quash the system by which thousands of others were endeavouring to do the same. no man was sharper than clive in perceiving, where his own interest was not concerned, the evils which were consuming the very vitals of our power, and making our name odious in hindostan. the first and most glaring abuse of power which arrested his attention was as regarded his old puppet, meer jaffier. he had lately died, and his own court had proposed to set up his legitimate grandson; but the council preferred his natural son, nujeem-ul-dowlah, a poor spiritless youth, who agreed that the english should take the military defence of the country, and also appoint a prime minister to manage the revenue and other matters of government. the council agreed to this, and received a present from the nabob of their creation of one hundred and forty thousand pounds, which they divided amongst themselves. this was directly in opposition to the recent order of the court of directors, not to accept any presents from the native princes; but, as clive states, he found them totally disregarding everything but their own avarice.

nujeem-ul-dowlah, their new puppet, proposed to have one nuncomar as his prime minister, but nuncomar was too great a rogue even for them. he had alternately served and betrayed the english, and his master, meer jaffier, and the council set him aside, and appointed to that office mohammed reza khan, a mussulman of far better character. clive confirmed the appointment of mohammed, but compelled nujeem-ul-dowlah to retire from the nominal office of nabob, on a pension of thirty-two lacs of rupees.

the very name of clive brought the war with oude to a close. sujah dowlah was encamped on the borders of bahar, strongly reinforced by bands of mahrattas and afghans, and anxious for another battle. but no sooner did he learn that clive was returned, than he informed cossim and sombre that as he could no longer protect them, they had better shift for themselves. he then dismissed his followers, rode to the english camp, and announced that he was ready to accept such terms of peace as they thought reasonable. clive proceeded to benares to settle these terms. the council of calcutta had determined to strip sujah dowlah of all his possessions, but clive knew that it was far more politic to make friends of powerful princes. he therefore allowed sujah dowlah to retain the rank and title of vizier, and gave him back all the rest of oude, except the districts of allahabad and corah, which had been promised to shah allum as an imperial domain. on shah allum, as great mogul, he also settled, on behalf of the company, an annual payment of twenty-six lacs of rupees. thus the heir of the great aurungzebe became the tributary of the east india company.

in return for this favour, clive obtained one of infinitely more importance. it was the transfer of the sole right of dominion throughout the provinces of bengal, orissa, and bahar. all that vast territory was thus made the legal and valid property of the east india company. the conveyance was ratified by public deed, which was delivered by the great mogul to clive in presence of his court, the throne on which he was elevated during this most important ceremony being an english dining-table, covered with a showy cloth. and of this prince—who was entirely their own puppet—the british still continued to style themselves the vassals, to strike his coins at their mint, and to bear his titles on their public seal! clive saw the immense importance of maintaining the aspect of subjects to the highest native authority, and of avoiding alarming the minds of the native forces by an open assumption of proprietorship. by this single treaty, at the same time that he had freed the company from all dependence on the heirs of meer jaffier, he derived the company's title to those states from the supreme native power in india; and he could boast of having secured to his countrymen an annual revenue of two millions of money. thus began a system which has played a leading part in our indian history.

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having thus arranged with the natives, clive came to the far more arduous business of compelling the europeans to conform to the orders of the company, that no more presents should be received. in his letters home he recommended that to put an end to the examples of corruption in high places, it was necessary that the governor of bengal should have a larger salary; that he and others of the higher officers should be prohibited from being concerned in trade; that the chief seat of government should be at calcutta; and the governor-general should have the authority, in cases of emergency, to decide independently of the council. these were all sound views, but to carry them out required the highest exercise of his authority. he exacted a written pledge from the civil servants of the company that they would receive no more presents from the native princes. to this there was considerable objection, and some resigned; but he carried this through, nominally at least. to sweeten the prohibition of civil servants engaging in trade, he gave them a share in the enormous emoluments of the salt monopoly—two hundred per cent. being laid on the introduction of salt, one of the requisites of life to the natives, from the adjoining state of madras into that of bengal.

with the military he had a far more violent contest. after the battle of plassey, meer jaffier had conferred on the officers of the army what was called double batta, meaning an additional allowance of pay. clive had always told the officers that it was not likely that the company would continue this; and, now that the territories of jaffier were become virtually their own, he announced that this must be discontinued. the governor and council issued the orders for this abolition of the double batta; he received in reply nothing but remonstrances. the officers, according to burke's phrase, in his speech of december 1st, 1783, "could not behold, without a virtuous emulation, the moderate gains of the civil service." clive was peremptory, and found his orders openly set at defiance by nearly two hundred officers, headed by no less a person than his second in command, sir robert fletcher. these gentlemen had privately entered into a bond of five hundred pounds to resign on the enforcement of the order, and not to resume their commissions unless the double batta was restored. to support such as might be cashiered, a subscription was entered into, to which the angry civilians of calcutta are said to have added sixteen thousand pounds. the conspirators flattered themselves that, in a country like india, held wholly by the sword, clive could not dispense with their services for a single day. they were mistaken. on receiving the news of this military strike, clive immediately set off for the camp at monghyr. he was informed that two of the officers vowed that if he came to enforce the order, they would shoot or stab him. undaunted by any such threats, although in failing health, and amid drenching rains, he pursued his journey, and, on arriving, summoned the officers of the army, and, treating the threats of assassination as those of murderers, and not of englishmen, he reasoned with them on the unpatriotic nature of their conduct. his words produced the desired effect on many; the privates showed no disposition to support their officers in their demand, and the sepoys all shouted with enthusiasm for sabut jung, their ideal of a hero. the younger officers, who had been menaced with death if they did not support the conspiracy, now begged to recall their resignation, and clive allowed it. he ordered sir robert fletcher and all who stood out into arrest, and sent them down the ganges to take their trial at calcutta. many are said to have departed with tears in their eyes. by this spirited conduct clive crushed this formidable resistance, and averted the shame which he avowed not all the waters of the ganges could wash out—that of a successful mutiny.

whilst showing this firmness towards others, clive found it necessary to maintain it in himself. in face of the orders of the company which he had been enforcing, that the british officials should receive no more presents, the rajah of benares offered him two diamonds of large size, and the nabob-vizier, sujah dowlah, on the conclusion of his treaty, a rich casket of jewels, and a large sum of money. clive declared that he could thus have added half a million to his fortune; and our historians have been loud in his praises for his abstinence on this occasion. lord mahon observes:—"all this time the conduct of clive was giving a lofty example of disregard of lucre. he did not spare his personal resources, and was able, some years after, to boast in the house of commons that this his second indian command had left him poorer than it found him." ill-health compelled him to return to england in january, 1767.

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the great mogul entering the english camp. (see p. 317.)

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whilst clive had been reducing our enemies in bengal and oude, a more powerful antagonist than any whom we had yet encountered in india was every day growing more formidable in mysore, and combining several of the petty chiefs of the different states of madras as his allies against us. he was now far more considerable than when he had appeared against us as the ally of the french general, lally, in the neighbourhood of pondicherry. hyder ali was a self-made man. he was originally the grandson of a wandering fakir; then the captain of banditti; then at the head of an army composed of freebooters; continually growing in the number of his followers, and in the wealth procured by plunder, he at length became commander-in-chief of the rajah of mysore. soon rising in his ambition, he seized the rajah, his master, pensioned him off with three lacs of rupees, and declared himself the real rajah. in 1761 he was become firmly established on the throne of mysore, but this distinction did not satisfy him. he determined to be the founder of mysore as a great kingdom, and extended his power to near the banks of the kistnah. there he was met and repulsed by the peishwa of the mahrattas, who crossed the kistnah, defeated him repeatedly, seized some of his newly-acquired territory, and levied on him thirty-two lacs of rupees. hyder returned to seringapatam, which he had made his capital, and had strongly fortified, and he thence conducted an expedition against malabar, which he conquered, and put the chiefs to death to make his hold of it the more secure. it is unnecessary to go minutely into the history of the next few years. hyder organised an army of 100,000 men, officered by frenchmen, and sometimes in confederation with the nizam of the deccan, sometimes in conjunction with the mahrattas of the western ghauts, waged perpetual war on the english. in 1769 indian stock fell sixty per cent. the resources of the company were fast becoming exhausted, when hyder ali, by an artful feint, drew the english army, in the spring of 1769, a hundred and forty miles to the south of madras. then, by a rapid march, he suddenly appeared, with a body of five thousand horse, on the heights of st. thomas, overlooking madras. the whole of the city and vicinity, except the port of st. george itself, lay at his mercy. the terrified council, in all haste, offered most advantageous terms of peace, which it was the very object of hyder to accept, and that, too, before the english commander,[321] colonel smith, could arrive and intercept his retreat. hyder gladly consented to the terms, which were those of mutual restitution, and of alliance and mutual defence: the last, a condition which, with hyder's disposition to aggrandisement, was sure to bring the english into fresh trouble.

warren hastings.

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this was immediately made evident. the treaty was concluded on the 4th of april, 1769, and the first news was that hyder had quarrelled with the mahrattas, and called on the presidency of madras to furnish the stipulated aid. but the presidency replied that he had himself sought this war, and therefore it was not a defensive but an offensive war. the peishwa of the mahrattas invaded mysore, and drove hyder to the very walls of seringapatam, dreadfully laying waste his territory. hyder then sent piteous appeals to his allies, the british, offering large sums of money; but they still remained deaf. at another time, they were solicited by the mahratta chief to make an alliance with him, but they determined to remain neutral, and left hyder and the peishwa to fight out their quarrels. in 1771 the mahrattas invaded the carnatic, but were soon driven out; and in 1772 the mahrattas and hyder made peace through the mediation of the nabob of the carnatic, or of arcot, as he was more frequently called. hyder had lost a considerable portion of mysore, and besides had to pay fifteen lacs of rupees, with the promise of fifteen more. the refusal of the english to assist him did not fail to render him more deeply hostile than ever to them.

during this period—from 1769 to 1772—warren hastings had been second in the council[322] at madras; but in the latter year he was promoted to the head of the council in bengal. during this period, too, the british had been brought into hostilities with the rajah of tanjore. the history of these proceedings is amongst the very blackest of the innumerable black proceedings of the east india company. the rajah of tanjore was in alliance with the company. in 1762 they had guaranteed to him the security of his throne; but now their great ally, mohammed ali, the nabob of the carnatic, called to the english for help against the rajah. the conduct of honourable men would have been to offer themselves as mediators, and so settle the business; but not by such means was the whole of india to be won from the native princes. the rajah of the carnatic offered to purchase the territory of tanjore from the british for a large sum. the latter, however, had guaranteed the defence of these territories to the rajah of tanjore by express treaty. no matter, they closed the bargain with the rajah of the carnatic; they agreed to seize tanjore, and make it over to mohammed ali. an army assembled at trichinopoly on the 12th of september, 1771, invaded tanjore, seized the rajah and his family, and invested the whole of tanjore in the name of the nabob of the carnatic.

when these infamous doings were known in england, a feeling of horror and indignation ran through the country. the east india company was compelled to send out lord pigot to madras to do what clive had so vigorously done in bengal—control and reverse the acts of the council. pigot most honourably acquitted himself; liberated the outraged nabob of tanjore and his family, and restored them. but pigot had not the same overawing name as clive. the council of madras seized him and imprisoned him, expelling every member of the council that had supported him. this most daring proceeding once more astonished and aroused the public feeling of england. an order was sent out to reinstate lord pigot, but, before it arrived, his grief and mortification had killed him. sir thomas rumbold, a most avaricious man, was appointed to succeed him, and arrived in madras in february, 1778, major-general hector munro being commander-in-chief, and the army of hyder, one hundred thousand in number, already again menacing the frontiers.

but we have far overshot the contemporary history of bengal. the presidency thought it had greatly benefited by the reforms of clive; yet it had since been called upon to furnish large supplies of men and money to support the unprincipled transactions at madras, which we have briefly detailed, and the india house, instead of paying the usual dividends, was compelled to reduce them. further, a terrible famine devastated bengal, and more than half the population are said to have been swept away. this state of things compelled parliament to turn its attention to india. general burgoyne, now active in the opposition, moved and carried, on the 13th of april, 1772, a resolution for the appointment of a select committee of thirteen members to inquire into indian affairs; and burgoyne, who was extremely hostile to clive, was appointed chairman. the committee went actively to work, and presented two reports during the session. after parliament met again in november, lord north, who had conversed with clive during the recess, called for and carried a resolution for another and this time a secret committee. as the company was in still deeper difficulties, and came to lord north to borrow a million and a half, he lent them one million four hundred thousand pounds, on condition that they should keep their dividends at six per cent. until this debt was repaid, and afterwards at eight per cent. he at the same time relieved them from the payment of the four hundred thousand pounds per annum, imposed by lord chatham, for the same period. this was done in february, 1773, and in april he brought in a bill at the suggestion of clive, who represented the court of proprietors at the india house as a regular bear-garden, on account of men of small capital and smaller intelligence being enabled to vote. by north's bill it was provided that the court of directors should, in future, instead of being annually elected, remain in office four years; instead of five hundred pounds stock qualifying for a vote in the court of proprietors, one thousand pounds should alone give a vote; three thousand pounds, two votes; and six thousand pounds, three votes. the mayor's court in calcutta was restricted to petty cases of trade; and a supreme court was established, to consist of a chief justice and three puisne judges, appointed by the crown. the governor-general of bengal was made governor-general of india. these nominations were to continue for five years, and then to return to the directors, but subject to the approval of the crown. whilst the bill was in progress, the members of the new council were named. warren hastings was appointed the first governor-general; and in his council were richard barwell, who was already out there, general clavering, the honourable colonel monson, and philip francis.[323] another clause of lord north's bill remitted the drawback on the company's teas for export to america, an act little thought of at the time, but pregnant with the loss of the transatlantic colonies. by these "regulating acts," too, as they were called, the governor-general, members of council, and judges, were prohibited from trading, and no person in the service of the king or company was to be allowed to receive presents from native princes, nabobs, or their ministers or agents. violent and rude, even, was the opposition raised by the india house and all its partisans to these two bills.

the passing of these acts was marked by attacks on lord clive. burgoyne brought up a strong report from his committee, and, on the 17th of may, moved a resolution charging clive with having, when in command of the army in bengal, received as presents two hundred and thirty-four thousand pounds. this was carried; but he then followed it by another, "that lord clive did, in so doing, abuse the power with which he was entrusted, to the evil example of the servants of the public." as it was well understood that burgoyne's resolutions altogether went to strip clive of the whole of his property, a great stand was here made. clive was not friendless. he had his vast wealth to win over to him some, as it inflamed the envy of others. he had taken care to spend a large sum in purchasing small boroughs, and had six or seven of his friends and kinsmen sitting for these places in parliament. he had need of all his friends. throughout the whole of this inquiry the most persistent and envenomed attacks were made upon him. he was repeatedly questioned and cross-questioned, till he exclaimed, "i, your humble servant, the baron of plassey, have been examined by the select committee more like a sheep-stealer than a member of parliament." then the house thought he had suffered enough, for nothing was clearer than that justice required the country which was in possession of the splendid empire he had won to acknowledge his services, whilst it noted the means of this acquisition. burgoyne's second resolution was rejected, and another proposed by wedderburn, the solicitor-general, adopted, "that robert, lord clive, did, at the same time, render great and meritorious services to this country." this terminated the attack on this gifted though faulty man. his enemies made him pay the full penalty of his wealth. they had struck him to the heart with their poisoned javelins. from a boy he had been subject to fits of hypochondriacal depression; as a boy, he had attempted his own life in one of these paroxysms. they now came upon him with tenfold force, and in a few months he died by his own hand (november 22, 1774).

from clive, events cause us to pass at once to one accused of much greater misdemeanours, and one whose administration terminated in a more formal and extraordinary trial than that of clive; a trial made ever famous by the shining abilities and eloquence of burke and sheridan, and the awful mysteries of iniquity, as practised by our authorities in india, which were brought to the public knowledge by them on this grand occasion. hastings commenced his rule in bengal under circumstances which demanded rather a man of pre-eminent humanity than of the character yet lying undeveloped in him. in 1770, under the management of mr. cartier, a famine, as we have mentioned, broke out in bengal, so terrible that it is said to have swept away one-third of the population of the state, and to have been attended by indescribable horrors. the most revolting circumstance was, that the british were charged with being the authors of it, by buying up all the rice in the country, and refusing to sell it, except at the most exorbitant prices. but the charge is baseless. macaulay says, "these charges we believe to have been utterly unfounded. that servants of the company had ventured, since clive's departure, to deal in rice, is probable. that, if they dealt in rice, they must have gained by the scarcity, is certain. but there is no reason for thinking that they either produced or aggravated the evil which physical causes sufficiently explain." hastings promptly introduced a change in the land-tax by means of which more revenue was obtained with less oppression, and he also freed the country from marauders.

besides succeeding to the government of a country whose chief province was thus exhausted, the finances of the company were equally drained, both in calcutta and at home, and the directors were continually crying to hastings for money, money, money! as one means of raising this money, they sent him a secret order to break one of their most solemn engagements with the native princes. when they bribed meer jaffier to depose his master, by offering to set him in his seat, and received in return the enormous sums mentioned for this elevation, they settled on meer jaffier and his descendants an annual income of thirty-two lacs of rupees, or three hundred and sixty thousand pounds. but meer jaffier was now dead, and his eldest son died during the[324] famine. the second son was made nabob, a weak youth in a weak government, and as the company saw that he could not help himself, they ordered hastings to reduce the income to one-half. this was easily done; but this was not enough, disgraceful as it was. mohammed reza khan, who had been appointed by the company the nabob's minister, on the ground that he was not only a very able but a very honest man, they ordered to be arrested on pretended pleas of maladministration. he and all his family and partisans must be secured, but not in an open and abrupt way, which might alarm the province; they were to be inveigled down from moorshedabad to calcutta, on pretence of affairs of government, and there detained. nuncomar, the hindoo, who had been displaced, in order to set up mohammed, who was a mussulman, and who had been removed on the ground of being one of the most consummate rogues in india, was to be employed as evidence against mohammed. hastings fully carried out the orders of the secret committee of the india house. he had mohammed seized in his bed, at midnight, by a battalion of sepoys; shitab roy, the minister of bahar, who acted under mohammed at patna, was also secured; and these two great officers and their chief agents were sent down to calcutta under guard, and there put into what hastings called "an easy confinement." in this confinement they lay many months, all which time nuncomar was in full activity preparing the charges against them. shitab roy, like mohammed, stood high in the estimation of his countrymen of both faiths; he had fought on the british side with signal bravery, and appears to have been a man of high honour and feeling. but these things weighed for nothing with hastings or his masters in leadenhall street. he hoped to draw large sums of money from these men; but he was disappointed. though he himself arranged the court that tried them, and brought up upwards of a hundred witnesses against them, no malpractice whatever could be proved against them, and they were acquitted. they were therefore honourably restored, the reader will think. by no means. such were not the intentions of the company or of hastings. whilst mohammed and shitab roy had been in prison, hastings had been up at moorshedabad, had abolished the office of minister in both patna and moorshedabad, removed all the government business to calcutta, cut down the income of the young nabob, muharek-al-dowla, to one half, according to his instructions, and reduced the nabob himself to a mere puppet. he had transferred the whole government to calcutta, with all the courts of justice, so that, writes hastings, "the authority of the company is fixed in this country without any possibility of competition, and beyond the power of any but themselves to shake it."

the manner in which hastings had executed the orders of the directors in this business showed that he was prepared to go all lengths in maintaining their interests in india. he immediately proceeded to give an equally striking proof of this. we have seen that when the mogul shah allum applied to the british to assist him in recovering his territories, they promised to conduct him in triumph to delhi, and place him firmly on the grand throne of all india; but when, in consequence of this engagement, he had made over to them by a public grant, bengal, bahar, and orissa, they found it inconvenient to fulfil their contract, and made over to him allahabad and corah instead, with an annual payment of twenty-six lacs of rupees—two hundred and sixty thousand pounds. the payment of this large sum, too, was regarded by the company, now in the deepest debt, as unnecessary, and hastings had orders to reduce it. it appears that the money was at no time duly paid, and had now been withheld altogether for more than two years. the mogul, thus disappointed in the promises of restoration by the english, and now again in the payment of this stipulated tribute, turned to the mahrattas, and offered to make over the little provinces of allahabad and corah, on condition that they restored him to the sovereignty of delhi. the mahrattas gladly caught at this offer, and by the end of the year 1771 they had borne the mogul in triumph into his ancient capital of delhi. this was precisely such a case as the directors were on the watch for. in their letter to bengal of the 11th of november, 1768, they had said: "if the emperor flings himself into the hands of the mahrattas, or any other power, we are disengaged from him, and it may open a fair opportunity of withholding the twenty-six lacs of rupees we now pay him." the opportunity had now come, and was immediately seized on by hastings to rescind the payment of the money altogether, and he prepared to annex the two provinces of allahabad and corah. these were sold to the nabob of oude for fifty lacs of rupees. this bargain was settled between the vizier and hastings at benares, in september, 1773.

[325]

benares. (from a photograph by frith and co.)

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but the nabob of oude held out new temptations of gain to hastings. the rohillas, a tribe of afghans, had, earlier in the century, descended from their mountains and conquered the territory lying between the ganges and the mountains to the west of oude. they had given it the name of rohilcund. these brave warriors would gladly have been allies of the british, and applied to sujah dowlah to bring about such an alliance. dowlah made fair promises, but he had other views. he hoped, by the assistance of the british, to conquer rohilcund and add it to oude. he had no hope that his rabble of the plains could stand against this brave mountain race, and he now artfully stated to hastings that the mahrattas were at war with the rohillas. if they conquered them, they would next attack oude, and, succeeding there, would descend the ganges and spread over all bahar and bengal. he therefore proposed that the british should assist him to conquer rohilcund for himself, and add it to oude. for this service he would pay all the expenses of the campaign, the british army would obtain a rich booty, and at the end he would pay the british government besides the sum of forty lacs of rupees. hastings had no cause of quarrel with the rohillas, but for the proffered reward he at once acceded to the proposal. in april, 1774, an english brigade, under colonel champion, invaded rohilcund, and in a hard-fought field defeated the rohillas. in the whole of this campaign nothing could be more disgraceful in every way than the conduct of the troops of oude. they took care to keep behind during the fighting, but to rush forward to the plunder. the nabob and his troops committed such horrors in plundering and massacreing not only the rohillas, but the native and peaceful hindoos, that the british officers and soldiers denounced the proceedings with horror. it was now, however, in vain that hastings called on the nabob to restrain his soldiers, for, if he did not plunder, how was he to pay the stipulated forty lacs of rupees? and if he ruined and burnt out the natives, how were they, hastings asked, to pay any taxes to him as his new subjects? all this was disgraceful enough, but this was not all. shah allum now appeared upon the scene, and produced a contract between[326] himself and the nabob, which had been made unknown to hastings, by which the nabob of oude stipulated that, on condition of the mogul advancing against the rohillas from the south of delhi, he should receive a large share of the conquered territory and the plunder. the nabob now refused to fulfil the agreement, on the plea that the mogul ought to have come and fought, and hastings sanctioned that view of the case, and returned to calcutta with his ill-gotten booty.

but hastings had scarcely terminated these proceedings, when the new members of council, appointed under the regulating act, arrived. on the 19th of october, 1774, landed the three councillors, clavering, monson, and francis; barwell had been some time in india. the presence of the three just arrived was eminently unwelcome to hastings. he knew that they came with no friendly disposition towards him, and that philip francis, in particular, was most hostile. the letter of the court of directors recommended unanimity of counsels, but nothing was further from the views of the new members from europe. as they were three, and hastings and barwell only two, they constituted a majority, and from the first moment commenced to undo almost everything that he had done, and carried their object. they denounced, and certainly with justice, the rohilla war; they demanded that the whole correspondence of middleton, the agent sent to the court of oude by hastings, should be laid before them. hastings refused to produce much of it, as entirely of a private and personal nature; and they asserted that this was because these letters would not bear the light, and that the whole of hastings' connection with sujah dowlah was the result of mercenary motives. in this they did the governor-general injustice, for, though he drew money sternly and by every means from the india chiefs and people, it was rather for the company than for himself. they ordered the recall of middleton from oude, deaf to the protests of hastings that this was stamping his conduct with public odium, and weakening the hands of government in the eyes of the natives. still, middleton was recalled, and mr. bristow sent in his place. hastings wrote home in the utmost alarm both to the directors and to lord north, prognosticating the greatest confusion and calamity from this state of anarchy; and sujah dowlah, regarding the proceedings of the new members of council as directed against himself, and seeing in astonishment the authority of hastings apparently at an end, was so greatly terrified that he sickened and died.

the council now recalled the english troops from rohilcund; and bristow demanded, in the name of the council, from asaph-ul-dowlah, the young nabob, a full payment of all arrears; and announced that, sujah dowlah being dead, the treaty with him was at an end. under pressure of these demands, bristow, by instructions from the new regnant members of the council, compelled the young nabob to enter into a fresh treaty with them; and in this treaty they introduced a clause to the full as infamous as anything which hastings had done. in return for renewing the possession of the provinces of corah and allahabad, they compelled him to cede to them the territory of cheyte sing, the rajah of benares, though this did not at all belong to the nabob of oude, and was, moreover, guaranteed to cheyte sing by hastings, in solemn treaty. the revenue of cheyte sing, thus lawlessly taken possession of, amounted to twenty-two millions of rupees; and the nabob of oude was also, on his own account, bound to discharge all his father's debts and engagements to the company, and to raise greatly the pay to the company's brigade. hastings utterly refused to sanction these proceedings; but the directors at home, who cared not how or whence money came, warmly approved of the transactions.

at calcutta, francis, clavering, and monson were deeply engaged in what appeared to them a certain plan for the ruin of hastings. the maharajah nuncomar, who styled himself the head of the brahmins, came forward and laid before them papers containing the most awful charges against hastings. these were that hastings had encouraged him, at the command of the secret committee, to produce charges against mohammed rheza khan and shitab roy, when they were in prison, in order to extort money from them; and that hastings had accepted a heavy bribe to allow mohammed to escape without punishment. hastings broke up the council, declaring that he would not sit to be judged by his own council. if they had charges to prefer against him, they might form themselves into a committee, and transmit such evidence as they received to the supreme court of justice at calcutta, or to the directors at home. but the three declared themselves a majority, voted their own competence to sit and try their own chief, and preferred another huge charge introduced by nuncomar—namely, that hastings had appropriated to[327] himself two-thirds of the salary of the governor of hooghly, a post formerly held by nuncomar himself. they determined to introduce nuncomar to confront hastings at his own council board. hastings declared the council not sitting; the three declared it sitting and valid, and called in nuncomar, who proceeded to detail his charges, and ended by producing a letter from the munny begum, now governor of oude, expressing the gratitude which she felt to the governor-general for her appointment as guardian of the nabob, and that in token of this gratitude she had presented him with two lacs of rupees. immediately on hearing that, hastings declared the letter a forgery, and that he would prove it so; and he was not long in procuring an absolute denial of the letter from the begum. things being driven to this pass, hastings commenced an action against nuncomar, mr. fowke, one of the most active agents of the trio, and others, as guilty of a conspiracy against him. this was supported by native witnesses, and the supreme court of justice, after a long and careful examination of the case, held nuncomar and fowke to bail, and bound the governor-general to prosecute.

but, on the 6th of may, a blow fell on nuncomar from an unexpected quarter. he was arrested and thrown into prison at the suit of a merchant named mohun persaud. the charge was, that he had forged a bond five years before. he had been brought to trial for this before the mayor's court at calcutta—the supreme court not then being in existence. on this occasion, being in favour with hastings, he had procured his release; but now, the merchant seeing that hastings' favour was withdrawn, and that, therefore, he might have a better chance against him, the charge was renewed. hastings, on the trial, declared before the supreme court that neither directly nor indirectly had he promoted the prosecution. the opposition members were highly incensed at this proceeding. three days after nuncomar's committal they realised their threat of dismissing the munny begum, and appointed goordas, the son of nuncomar, to her office. they sent encouraging messages to nuncomar in his prison, and made violent protests to the judges against the prosecution. their efforts were useless. the trial came on in due course. one of the judges, sir robert chambers, had endeavoured to have nuncomar tried on an earlier statute, which included no capital punishment, for forgery was no capital crime by the native laws. but sir elijah impey and the other judges replied that the new act compelled them to try him on the capital plea, and he had been, on this ground, refused bail. nuncomar knew nothing of our estimate of forgery, and he could not comprehend how a man of his rank, and a brahmin of high dignity, should be tried for his life on such a charge. but he was found guilty, and condemned to be hanged. strong efforts were then made to have him respited till the judgment of the court of directors could be taken on the question, but impey and the other judges declared that it could not be done unless they could assign some sufficient reasons, and they contended that there were no such reasons. yet the new acts expressly gave them this power, and, what made it more desirable, was that no native of any rank had been tried by the supreme court and the british law, and only one native had ever been capitally convicted for forgery in any of our indian courts. moreover, the indignity of hanging a high-caste brahmin was so outraging to the native feeling that it was deemed most impolitic to perpetrate such an act. all was pleaded in vain; on the 5th of august, 1775, nuncomar was brought out and publicly hanged, amid the terrified shrieks and yells of the native population, who fled at the sight, and many of them rushed into the sacred ganges to purify them from the pollution of ever witnessing such a scene. the death of nuncomar put an end to all hope of procuring any further native evidence against hastings. the natives were so terrified at this new kind of execution, that nothing could convince them but that, in spite of the opposition of his colleagues, hastings was all powerful.

when the news of this distractedly hopeless condition of the council in calcutta reached london, lord north called upon the court of directors to send up to the crown an address for the recall of hastings, without which, according to the new indian act, he could not be removed till the end of his five years. the directors put the matter to the vote, and the address was negatived by a single vote. the minority then appealed to the court of proprietors, at the general election in the spring of 1776, but there it was negatived by ballot by a majority of one hundred, notwithstanding that all the court party and parliamentary ministerialists who had votes attended to overthrow him. this defeat so enraged lord north that he resolved to pass a special bill for the removal of the governor-general. this alarmed colonel maclean, a friend of hastings, to whom he had written, on the 27th of march.[328] 1775, desiring him, in his disgust with the conduct of francis, clavering, and monson, and the support of them by the directors, to tender his resignation. thinking better of it, however, he had, on the 18th of the following may, written to him, recalling the proposal of resignation. but maclean, to save his friend from a parliamentary dismissal, which he apprehended, now handed the letter containing the resignation to the directors. delighted to be thus liberated from their embarrassment, the directors accepted the resignation at once, and elected mr. edward wheler to the vacant place in the council.

but matters had greatly changed at calcutta before this. maclean did not present the letter of resignation till october, 1776; but, in september of that year, colonel monson had died, and, the members in the council being now equal, the governor-general's casting vote restored to him his lost majority. hastings was not the man to defer for a moment the exercise of his authority. he began instantly to overturn, in spite of their most violent efforts, the measures of francis and friends. he dismissed goordas from the chief authority in oude, and reinstated his "dear friend, nat middleton," as he familiarly termed him. he revived his land revenue system, and was planning new and powerful alliances with native princes, especially with the nabob of oude, and the nizam of the deccan, not omitting to cast a glance at the power of the sikhs, whose dangerous ascendency he already foresaw. in the midst of these and other grand plans for the augmentation of british power in india—plans afterwards carried out by others—he was suddenly astounded by the arrival of a packet in june, 1777, containing the news of his resignation, and of its acceptance by the directors. he at once protested that it was invalid, as he had countermanded the resignation before its presentation; but general clavering, as next in succession, at once claimed the office of governor-general, and francis, in council, administered the oath to him. clavering immediately demanded the keys of the fort and the treasury from hastings; but that gentleman refused to admit his own resignation, much less clavering's election to his post. here, then, were two would-be governor-generals, as europe had formerly seen two conflicting popes. to end the difficulty, hastings proposed that the decision of the question should be referred to the supreme court. it is wonderful that clavering and francis should have consented to this, seeing that impey, hastings' friend, and the judge of nuncomar, was at the head of that court; but it was done, and the court decided in hastings' favour. no sooner was hastings thus secured, than he charged clavering with having forfeited both his place in the council, and his post as commander-in-chief of the forces, by attempting to seize on the governor-generalship. clavering and francis were compelled to appeal once more to the supreme court, and this time, to his honour, impey decided in favour of clavering. clavering, who had been deeply mortified by his defeat, died a few days after this occurred, in august, 1777. by this event the authority of hastings in the government was sufficiently restored, notwithstanding that wheler generally sided with francis, for him to carry his own aims.

it was at this crisis, when hastings was just recovering his authority in the council, that the news arrived in india, and spread amongst the native chiefs, that in yenghi dunia, or the new world, the company sahib—for the east indians could never separate the ideas of the east india company and england itself—there had been a great revolution, and the english driven out. this, as might be expected, wonderfully elated the native chiefs, and especially those in the south. there the french of pondicherry and chandernagore boasted of the destruction of the british power, and that it was by their own hands. hastings, who was as able and far-seeing as he was unprincipled in carrying out his plans for the maintenance of the british dominion in india, immediately set himself to counteract the mischievous effects of these diligently-disseminated rumours, and of the cabals which the french excited. these were most to be feared amongst the vast and martial family of the mahrattas. the mahrattas had risen on the ruins of the great mogul empire. they now extended their tribes over a vast space of india from mysore to the ganges. the peishwa, as head of these nations, held his residence at poonah. besides his, there were the great houses of holkar and scindia; the guicowar, who ruled in guzerat; the bonslah, or rajah of berar, a descendant of sivaji. the mahrattas were, for the most part, a rude, warlike race, rapacious and ambitious, and living in the most primitive style. to destroy the confidence of these fierce warriors in the french, hastings gave immediate orders, on receiving the news of the proclamation of war in europe, for the seizure of the french settlements. this was on the 7th of july, 1778; on the 10th he had taken chandernagore, and ordered sir hector[329] munro to invest pondicherry. that was soon accomplished, and the only remaining possession of france, the small one of mahé, on the coast of malabar, was seized the next spring.

surrender of baillie to hyder ali. (see p. 330.)

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hastings then mustered fresh regiments of sepoys; demanded and received three battalions from cheyte sing, the rajah of benares; armed cruisers; laid up stores of ammunition and provisions for three months in fort william; enrolled a thousand european militia at calcutta, and stood ready for any french invasion from sea. he then despatched colonel leslie with a strong force into the very heart of the mahratta country. leslie appeared to have lost his energy, made four months' delay in the plains of bundelcund, and the next news was that he was dead. colonel goddard was sent to take his command, and advanced into berar; but there hearing that successive revolutions were taking place at poonah, he waited the result of them. meanwhile, the presidency of bombay, desirous of anticipating the expeditions from calcutta, now undertook to reinstate ragunath rao, a deposed peishwa, whom they had lately left to his fate, and taking him along with him, the british commander, colonel egerton, marched into the mahratta country with four thousand men. the army, when it had reached within sixteen miles of poonah, was surrounded by hosts of mahratta cavalry, and was compelled to surrender. the mahrattas, as conditions—which the british were in no position to decline—insisted on the restoration of all the territory won from them by the british since 1756, and the surrender to them of ragunath rao. but hastings refused to recognise this treaty. he ordered colonel goddard to advance. the title of general was conferred on him, and he well justified the promotion. in that and the succeeding campaign he won victory on victory; stormed ahmedabad; took the city of bassein; gained a splendid victory over forty thousand of the combined forces of holkar and scindia, and, in a great measure, retrieved all the losses, and restored the fame of the british arms. in another quarter the success against the mahrattas was equally decisive. captain popham with a small body of troops stormed and took the city of lahore, and the huge fortress of[330] gwalior, which the mahrattas deemed impregnable.

to assist the governor-general, the british government had sent out sir eyre coote in 1780 to the scene of his former fame, not only as commander of the forces in place of clavering, but also as member of council. coote usually supported hastings in the council, but he greatly embarrassed him by the insatiable spirit of avarice which had grown upon him with years; and in making arrangements with the nabob of oude and others to supply the means of accommodation to the old commander, hastings largely augmented the grounds of his future persecutions. the war with the mahrattas and the announcement of the speedy arrival of a french armament on the coast of coromandel induced the company's old enemy, hyder ali, to think it a good opportunity to recover some of his territory from the company. he saw that the present opportunity was most favourable for taking a signal revenge on the english. for years he had concerted with the french a grand plan for the destruction of the british power; and even whilst he remained quiet, he was preparing with all his energies for its accomplishment. he had squeezed his treasurers and collectors to the utmost for the accumulation of money, and mustered an army of nearly ninety thousand men, including twenty-eight thousand cavalry and two thousand artillery and rocketmen, besides four hundred engineers, chiefly french. hyder suddenly poured down from his hills with this host into the plains of madras. to the last moment the authorities there appear to have been wholly unconscious of their danger. besides this, the army in the presidency did not exceed six thousand men, and these were principally sepoys. this force, too, was spread over a vast region, part at pondicherry, part at arcot, part in madras, but everywhere scattered into cantonments widely distant from each other, and in forts capable of very little defence. as for the forces of their ally, the nabob of arcot, they ran at the first issue of hyder's army through the ghauts. on came the army of hyder like a wild hurricane. porto novo on the coast, and conjeveram near trichinopoli, were taken; and hyder advanced laying all waste with fire and sword, till he could be seen—a dreadful apparition—with his host from mount st. thomas, his progress marked by the flames and smoke of burning villages.

the inhabitants, men, women, and children, fled in terror from their splendid villas, around the city, into the fort of st. george. a fast-sailing vessel was dispatched to calcutta, to implore the governor-general to send them speedy aid of men and money. the forces were called together from different quarters, and sir hector munro at the head of one body, and colonel baillie at the head of another, were ordered to combine, and intercept hyder. first one place of rendezvous and then another was named, but, before the junction could take place, baillie had managed to allow himself to be surrounded by the whole host of hyder, and after a brave defence was compelled to surrender, one half of his troops being cut to pieces. the insults and cruelties of the troops of hyder to their captives were something demoniac. munro had sent to demand troops from the nabob of arcot, for whom the british were always fighting, and received a message of compliments, but no soldiers. on the defeat of baillie he made a hasty retreat to mount st. thomas. meanwhile, the call for aid had reached calcutta, and hastings instantly responded to it with all his indomitable energy. he called together the council, and demanded that peace should be made at once with the mahrattas; that every soldier should be shipped off at once to madras; that fifteen lacs of rupees should be sent without a moment's delay to the council there; that the incompetent governor, whitehill, should be removed; and sir eyre coote sent to perform this necessary office, and take the command of the troops. francis, who was just departing for england, raised as usual his voice in opposition. but hastings' proposals were all carried. the troops, under sir eyre coote, were hurried off, and messengers dispatched in flying haste to raise money at moorshedabad, patna, benares, lucknow—in short, wherever the authority of hastings could extort it. at the same time, other officers were sent to negotiate with the mahrattas for peace.

coote landed at madras at the beginning of november. a council was immediately called, whitehill was removed from the government of the presidency, and the member of council next in seniority appointed. coote had brought with him only five hundred british troops and six hundred lascars. the whole force with which he could encounter hyder amounted only to one thousand seven hundred europeans and five thousand native troops. coote, whose name as the conqueror of the french at wandewash and pondicherry struck terror into hyder, soon resumed his triumphs on his old ground, driving the enemy from[331] wandewash. hearing then of the arrival of the french armament off pondicherry, he marched thither, and posted himself on the red hills. the french fleet, consisting of seven ships of the line and four frigates, was anchored off the place. but the french squadron having sailed away for the isle of france, from apprehension of the approach of a british fleet, hyder retreated, and, entering the territory of tanjore, laid it waste, while his son, tippoo, laid siege again to wandewash. hyder was again encouraged to advance, and on the 6th of july, 1781, coote managed to bring him to action near porto novo, and completely routed him and his huge host, though he had himself only about eight thousand men. hyder retired quite crestfallen to arcot, and ordered tippoo to raise the siege of wandewash.

notwithstanding that hyder had established his camp soon after in a strong position near the village of pollilore, he was attacked on the 27th of august by eyre coote. on this occasion sir hector munro warned coote of the disadvantages of ground under which he was going to engage, and the inevitable sacrifice of life. coote replied angrily, "you talk to me, sir, when you should be doing your duty!" his warning, however, was just. coote did not succeed in driving hyder from his post without severe loss. but again, on the 27th of september, another battle was fought between them in the pass of sholinghur, near bellore, in which coote defeated hyder with terrible loss. this battle relieved the english garrison in bellore, and the rainy season put an end to operations, but the carnatic was saved.

on the 22nd of june, 1781, lord macartney arrived at madras to take the place of whitehill as governor. he brought the news of the war having broken out between the british and the dutch, and he determined to take advantage of it to seize the dutch settlements on the coast of coromandel and in ceylon. but sir eyre coote had lately had a stroke of palsy; his faculties were failing, and his temper had grown morose. finding he could obtain no assistance from the commander-in-chief, macartney called out the militia of madras, and at their head reduced the dutch settlements of sadras and pulicat. finding sir hector munro waiting at madras for a passage to england, in consequence of the insulting conduct of sir eyre coote, he induced him to take the command of an expedition against negapatam. admiral hughes landed the troops near negapatam on the 21st of october; they then united with a force under colonel braithwaite, and on the 12th of november negapatam was taken, with large quantities of arms and military stores. leaving braithwaite to make an expedition in tanjore, where, in february of the coming year, he was surrounded by tippoo and lally, the french general, and taken prisoner, admiral hughes sailed across to ceylon, a most desirable conquest, because of its secure harbour of trincomalee, as well as the richness and beauty of the island, and also on account of its position, for it lay only two days' sail from madras. on the 11th of january, 1782, trincomalee was won.

but in february the long-expected armament from france arrived on the coromandel coast. suffren, the admiral, was one of the ablest sea-commanders of france. on his way he had secured the cape of good hope against the english, and he now landed at porto novo two thousand french soldiers to join the army of hyder ali. tippoo, flushed with the recent capture of colonel braithwaite, invited the french to join him in an attack on cuddalore, an important town between porto novo and pondicherry. this was done, and cuddalore was wrested from the english in april. whilst these events were taking place on land, repeated engagements occurred with the british fleets on the coasts. that of admiral hughes was reinforced by fresh ships from england, and between february, 1782, and june, 1783, the british and french fleets fought five pitched battles with varied success. in none of these was any man-of-war captured by either side, nor any great number of men lost; but, eventually, suffren succeeded in retaking trincomalee, in ceylon, from the british.

from cuddalore, tippoo and bussy, the french general, turned their forces against wandewash; but they were met by coote, though he was now sinking and failing fast. they retreated, and he attempted to make himself master of the strong fort of arnee, where much of the booty of hyder was deposited; but hyder made show of fighting him whilst tippoo carried off all the property. tippoo was obliged to march thence towards calicut, where the hindoo chiefs, his tributaries, were joining the british under colonel mackenzie. hyder at this moment was confounded by the news of the peace made by hastings with the mahrattas, and expected that those marauders would speedily fall on mysore. his health was fast declining, and yet he dared not introduce his allies, the french, into his own territory, lest he should not so readily get them out again. besides[332] his suspicions of the french, he had constant fears of assassination. hyder died in december, 1782.

at the time that tippoo heard of the death of his father, he was, assisted by the french, eagerly pressing on the most inferior force of colonel mackenzie, not very far from seringapatam. mackenzie being obliged to retire, was suddenly set upon, before daylight, near paniany, about thirty-five miles from calicut, by the whole force; but he repulsed them with great slaughter. tippoo then fell back and made the best of his way to his capital to secure his throne and the treasures of hyder ali. he found himself at the age of thirty master of the throne, of an army of nearly one hundred thousand men, and of immense wealth. with these advantages, and the alliance of the french, tippoo did not doubt of being able to drive the british out of all the south of india. yet, with his vast army, accompanied by nine hundred french, two thousand sepoys, and nearly three hundred kafirs, tippoo retreated, or appeared to be retreating, before general stuart, with a force of only fourteen thousand men, of whom three thousand alone were british. he was, in fact, however, hastening to defend the north-west districts of mysore from another british force on the coast of canara. this force was that of colonel mackenzie, joined by another from bombay, under general matthews, who took the chief command in that quarter.

news now arrived of peace concluded between britain and france. the french, to whom their possessions were restored, at once ceased hostilities and went to occupy their reacquired settlements. but tippoo continued the war, bent on taking mangalore. nothing could now have prevented the english from completely conquering but the stupidity of the council of madras. they sent commissioners to treat with tippoo, who, once getting them into his camp, made them really prisoners, kept all information from them, and induced them to issue orders to the english officers to cease hostilities. by these orders a junction between stuart and colonel fullarton, and the immediate investment and seizure of seringapatam, tippoo's capital, were prevented. fullarton had overrun a great portion of the southern districts of mysore, and had entered into close alliance with the zamorin of calicut, the rajah of travancore, and other rajahs, tributary to tippoo, all the way from cochin to goa. with ample supplies of provisions and other aids from these chiefs, fullarton was in full march to join stuart, and laid siege to seringapatam, when he received peremptory orders to give up the enterprise, as the british were about concluding terms with tippoo. exceedingly disconcerted by these commands, which thus frustrated the results of this wonderful campaign, fullarton, however, had no alternative but to obey, and tippoo thus held on till he had starved out campbell, and gained the fort of mangalore. then he concluded peace on condition of mutual restitution of all conquests since the war. this peace was signed on the 11th of march, 1784.

warren hastings had saved madras and the carnatic, but only at the cost of extortion. to obtain the necessary money, he began a system of robbery and coercion on the different princes of bengal and oude. the first experiment was made on cheyte sing, the rajah of benares, who had been allowed to remain as a tributary prince when that province was made over to the british by the nabob of oude. the tribute had been paid with a regularity unexampled in the history of india; but when the war broke out with france, hastings suddenly demanded an extraordinary addition of fifty thousand pounds a year, and as it was not immediately paid, the rajah was heavily fined into the bargain. this was rendered still more stringent in 1780, when the difficulties in madras began. cheyte sing sent a confidential agent to calcutta, to assure hastings that it was not in his power to pay so heavy a sum, and he sent him two lacs of rupees (twenty thousand pounds), as a private present to conciliate him. hastings accepted the money, but no doubt feeling the absolute need of large sums for the public purse, he, after awhile, paid this into the treasury, and then said to cheyte sing that he must pay the contribution all the same. he compelled the rajah to pay the annual sum of fifty thousand pounds, and ten thousand pounds more as a fine, and then demanded two thousand cavalry. after some bargaining and protesting, cheyte sing sent five hundred horsemen and five hundred foot. hastings made no acknowledgment of these, but began to muster troops, threatening to take vengeance on the rajah. in terror, cheyte sing then sent, in one round sum, twenty lacs of rupees (two hundred thousand pounds) for the service of the state; but the only answer he obtained for the munificent offering was, that he must send thirty lacs more, that is, altogether, half a million.

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arrest of the rajah of benares. (see p. 334.)

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[334]

following his words by acts, he set off himself, attended only by a few score sepoys, for benares. cheyte sing came out as far as buxar to meet the offended governor, and paid him the utmost homage. he continued his journey with the rajah in his train, and entered the rajah's capital, the great mecca of india, the famed city of benares, on the 14th of august, 1781. he then made more enormous demands than before; and the compliance of the rajah not being immediate, he ordered mr. markham, his own-appointed resident at benares, to arrest the rajah in his palace. cheyte sing was a timid man, yet the act of arresting him in the midst of his own subjects, and in a place so sacred, and crowded with pilgrims from every part of the east, was a most daring deed. the effect was instantaneous. the people rose in fury, and pouring headlong to the palace with arms in their hands, they cut to pieces markham and his sepoys. had cheyte sing had the spirit of his people in him, hastings and his little party would have been butchered in half an hour. but cheyte sing only thought of his own safety. he got across the ganges, and whole troops of his subjects flocked after him. thence he sent protestations of his innocence of the émeute, and of his readiness to make any conditions. hastings, though surrounded and besieged in his quarters by a furious mob, deigned no answer to the suppliant rajah, but busied himself in collecting all the sepoys in the place. but the situation of hastings was at every turn becoming more critical. the sepoys, sent to seize cheyte sing in the palace of ramnuggur, were repulsed, and many of them, with their commander, killed. the multitude were now more excited than ever, and that night would probably have seen the last of warren hastings, had he not contrived to escape from benares, and to reach the strong fortress of chunar, situated on a rock several hundred feet above the ganges, and about seventeen miles below benares. cheyte sing, for a moment, encouraged by the flight of hastings, put himself at the head of the enraged people, and, appealing to the neighbouring princes as to his treatment, declared he would drive the english out of the country. but troops and money were speedily sent to hastings from lucknow, others marched to chunar from their cantonments, and he found himself safe amid a sufficient force commanded by the brave major popham, the conqueror of gwalior, to defy the thirty thousand undisciplined followers of cheyte sing. from the 29th of august to the 20th of september there were different engagements between the british and the forces of cheyte sing; but on every occasion, though the indians fought bravely they were worsted, and on the last-named day, utterly routed at pateeta. cheyte sing did not wait for the arrival of the british troops; he fled into bundelcund, and never returned again to benares. hastings restored order, and set up another puppet rajah, a nephew of cheyte sing, but raised the annual tribute to forty lacs of rupees, or four hundred thousand pounds a year, and placed the mint and the entire jurisdiction of the province in the hands of his own officers.

hastings next determined to experiment on the nabob of oude. this nabob, asaph-ul-dowlah, was an infamously dissipated prince, spending his own money in licentious pleasures, and extorting what he could from the begums, his mother and grandmother. the old ladies lived at the palace of fyzabad, or the "beautiful residence," situated in a charming district, amid hills and streams, about eighty miles from lucknow. the nabob's father had left them large sums of money and extensive estates, so that they kept a handsome court, and yet had the reputation of having accumulated about three million pounds sterling. the nabob had compelled them, by coercive means, to let him have, at different times, about six hundred thousand pounds, and he thirsted exceedingly for more. hastings determined to anticipate him. he sent for the nabob of oude while he was still in the fortress of chunar, and there reminding him of his debts to the british government, which were considerable, coolly proposed to him the robbery of his mother and grandmother. the proposal was so barefaced that, when hastings came to make it to the nabob, he felt that he really required some pretended reason for thus arbitrarily laying hands on the property of these innocent women, and therefore unblushingly asserted that they had been concerned in stirring up the insurrection at benares—a matter, besides that it was so notoriously the result of hastings' own daring arrest of cheyte sing, the begums had neither motive for meddling in nor time for doing it. till now they had regarded the british as their only protectors. they were living quietly at fyzabad, one hundred and fifteen miles from benares, when the insurrection broke out from very obvious causes. this infamous bargain being concluded at chunar, hastings relying on his agent at lucknow, mr. middleton, compelling the nabob to carry it out, retreated to benares, and thence to calcutta. the nabob returned to lucknow to enforce the diabolical scheme; but he found his mother and grandmother determined to resist the iniquitous order, and so shameful was it that even the needy and debauched nabob felt[335] compunctions in proceeding with it. he left it to middleton to execute it, but middleton, in his turn, recoiled from the odious business. not so hastings; cold and resolute, he wrote to middleton, that if he could not rely upon his firmness he would free him from his charge, and himself proceed to lucknow and enforce his own orders. to induce middleton to abandon his scruples of conscience and honour, the ever-ready friend of hastings, the chief justice of bengal, sir elijah impey, it appears, wrote to middleton, and inculcated the necessity of obedience. middleton and the nabob, therefore, seized on the estates of the begums, and suddenly surrounded fyzabad and the palace with troops, and made themselves masters of both. but the old ladies had not been so inattentive to the approaches of the storm as to neglect the hiding of their treasures; they could not be found. thus cruelly disappointed of the expected hoard, and the begums remaining firm in their refusal to produce any part of it, middleton seized on their two chief ministers, the eunuchs, jewar ali khan and behar ali khan. they were now thrown into prison, put in irons, and orders were given to starve and torture them till they revealed the secret of the concealment of the treasure of their mistresses. at the same time, the two ladies were placed in rigorous confinement themselves. this system was continued till they had extorted upwards of a million sterling from the begums, and found that they might kill both them and their aged ministers, but could get no more. when the begums and the two old men were liberated, they were told by the resident—not now middleton, but bristow—that they owed this favour to the governor-general, who had determined to have them "restored to their dignity and honour." there was another name connected with these events, and with almost equal disadvantage, that of sir elijah impey, the chief justice. impey, who had no jurisdiction in oude, was found up there in the midst of these transactions, volunteering his assistance in getting up charges against the begums. these charges were supported by a host of venal witnesses, and affidavits of their evidence were made out, and sent down to calcutta, to justify the dark doings of hastings.

but the violent proceedings of hastings and his council, partly against each other, and still more against the natives, did not escape the authorities at home. two committees were appointed in the house of commons in 1781, to inquire into these matters. one of them was headed by general richard smith, and the other by dundas, the lord advocate of scotland. in both of these the conduct of hastings, especially in the war against the rohillas, was severely condemned, and the appointment of impey to the new judicial office was greatly disapproved. in may, 1782, general smith moved an address praying his majesty to recall sir elijah impey, which was carried unanimously, and he was recalled accordingly. dundas also moved and carried a resolution declaring it to be the duty of the court of directors to recall warren hastings, on the charge of his "having, in sundry instances, acted in a manner repugnant to the honour and policy of the nation." the court of directors complied with this suggestion; but lord rockingham dying, his ministry being dissolved, and burke, the great opponent of indian oppressions, being out of office, in october the court of directors, through the active exertions of the friends of hastings, rescinded his recall. the succeeding changes of administration, and their weakness, first that of the shelburne, and then that of the coalition ministry, enabled hastings to keep his post in india, and finish the war in madras. it was the india bill of pitt in 1784, which, by creating the board of control, and enabling the government to take immediate cognisance of the proceedings of the governors-general, and other chief officers in india, broke the power of hastings, and led him to resign, without, however, enabling him to escape the just scrutiny which his administration needed.

hastings embarked on the 8th of february, 1785, and arrived in england in june, 1786. he had sent home before him his wife, whose health had begun to suffer from the climate of india, and she had been most graciously received by king george and queen charlotte. he had been accompanied to his ship, on leaving calcutta, by all the authorities, and by all people of distinction; he had received the most enthusiastic addresses of regret and of admiration as the saviour of india. in london, not only at court, but in leadenhall street, he met with the same gratifying honour. he spent the autumn at cheltenham with his wife, where he was courted and fêted in a manner to warrant his writing to a friend, "i find myself everywhere and universally treated with evidences, apparent even to my own observation, that i possess the good opinion of my country." he was busy trying to purchase daylesford, the, old family estate, and anticipating a peerage.

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but this was only the lull before the storm. burke and francis were living, and the thunder-bolts were already forged which were to shatter his pleasing dream of approval. his agreeable delusion was, indeed, soon ended. on the 24th of january, 1787, parliament met, and major scott, an officious friend of hastings, unfortunately for the ex-governor-general, relying on the manifestation of approbation of hastings by the court and fashionable circles, got up and asked where now was that menace of impeachment which mr. burke had so long and often held out? burke, thus challenged, on the 17th of february rose and made a call for papers and correspondence deposited in the india house, relative to the proceedings of hastings in india. he also reminded pitt and dundas of the motion of the latter on the 29th of may, 1782, in censure of the conduct of hastings on the occasions in question. this was nailing the ministers to their opinions; but dundas, now at the head of the board of control, repeated that he still condemned the conduct of hastings, but taken with the services which he had rendered to the country in india, he did not conceive that this conduct demanded more than censure, certainly not impeachment. fox supported burke, and pitt defended hastings, and attacked fox without mercy. there was a feeling abroad that the king was determined to support hastings, and the proceedings of pitt confirmed this. burke's demand for papers was refused, but this did not deter burke. on the 4th of april he rose again and presented nine articles of impeachment against hastings, and in the course of the week twelve more articles. to these a twenty-second article was afterwards added.

the affair was now becoming serious, and hastings demanded to be heard at the bar, where he appeared on the 1st of may, and read a long and wearisome defence, which did not go to a denial of the charges, but a justification of them, from the need of money to save india, and from the approbation awarded to these actions both in india and at the india house. on the 1st of june burke brought forward his first charge—the rohilla war. the debate was not finished till seven o'clock on the morning of the 3rd. the motion was rejected by one hundred and nineteen against sixty-seven, and it was fondly hoped that the proceedings against hastings were altogether crushed. lord thurlow advised the king to carry out his intention to make hastings baron daylesford, and the talk in the clubs and west end assemblies was the triumph of hastings. but the rejoicing was premature. on the 13th of june fox took up the second charge—the treatment of cheyte sing and francis, with all the bitterness of his character, and of his hatred of hastings, supported it. so black were the facts now produced that pitt was compelled to give way. he defended the governor-general for calling on cheyte sing to contribute men and money for the war against mysore; he lauded the firmness, decision and ability of hastings, but he was forced to admit that he had been excessive in his demands, and must support the charge.

this was a thunderstroke to hastings and his friends. fifty of pitt's followers immediately wheeled round with him; dundas voted with pitt, and the motion was carried by an exact inversion of the numbers which had negatived the former article on the rohilla war, one hundred and nineteen against sixty-seven. the session closed on the 11th of july with the rest of the charges hanging over the ex-governor's head in ominous gloom.

in the interval, the character and conduct of the prince of wales came prominently before the public. the two great friends of the prince were fox and sheridan. if the intellectual qualities of these two remarkable men had been equalled by their moral ones, no fitter companions for a young prince could have been found. but, unfortunately, they were as distinguished for their drinking and dissipation, and fox for his reckless gambling, as for their talents. pitt and they were in violent opposition, and as pitt, with his cold, unimpulsive nature, stood firmly by the king, fox and sheridan were, as matters of party, warmly the advocates of the prince. hence the king and his son, sufficiently at strife on the ground of the prince's extravagance and debauchery, were rendered doubly so by the faction fire of their respective adherents. pitt, who might have softened greatly the hostile feeling between the royal father and son, by recommending less parsimony on the part of the king, and kindly endeavouring to induce the prince to exhibit more respect for his father, never displayed the slightest disposition to act so generous and truly politic a part. sheridan and some others of the whig party mentioned the prince's debts, and urged the propriety of something being done to save the honour of the heir apparent; but pitt turned a deaf ear, and the king informed the prince that he could not sanction the payment of his debts by parliament, nor was he disposed to[337] increase his allowance from the civil list. on this the prince determined to break up his household, which had been appointed by the king, and cost the prince twenty thousand pounds, to sell his horses and carriages, and to live in a few rooms like a private gentleman. this he did; his fine horses were paraded through the streets on their way to tattersall's to be sold, and he stopped the building of carlton house. all this would have been admirable had it proceeded from a real desire to economise on the part of the prince, in order to satisfy his clamorous creditors, and to commence a real reform of his habits; but the whole was only a mode of mortifying the king and court party by thus exhibiting the heir apparent as compelled, by the refusal of a proper allowance, to abandon the style befitting his rank, and sink himself into that of a mere lodger of scanty means. if this grand man?uvre did not accomplish its object at court, it, however, told on his own party, who resolved in the next session to make a grand effort for the liquidation of his debts.

richard brinsley sheridan. (after the portrait by sir joshua reynolds.)

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the great question of the prince of wales's debts was brought on by alderman newnham, who had been selected by the prince's set for that purpose, to give it more an air of independence. newnham, on the 20th of april, asked the chancellor of the exchequer whether his majesty's ministers proposed to make any arrangement for this purpose. he praised the prince for his generous conduct in breaking up his establishment to facilitate the payment of his debts; but declared it disgraceful to the nation that he should remain in that condition. not[338] receiving any satisfactory answer, the alderman gave notice of a motion on the subject for the 4th of may. pitt then endeavoured to deter the alderman from bringing in the motion, by saying that it was not his duty to do so except by command of the king. newnham, however, persisted in his motion, and in the course of the debate mr. rolle, the member for devonshire, pointedly alluded to the rumours that were afloat as to the marriage of the prince with mrs. fitzherbert, a roman catholic lady. as a matter of fact, these rumours were true: the prince had been secretly united to her by a protestant clergyman on december 21st, 1785, in the presence of several witnesses. the marriage placed the prince in this dilemma: by the act of settlement, marriage with a roman catholic invalidated all claims to the throne; but by the royal marriage act, any marriage contracted without the royal consent was null. he could therefore annul the action of the first act by pleading the second, but by so doing he would obviously take away the character of his wife. the prince saw a better way out of the difficulty—namely, a denial that the marriage had taken place at all. fox, completely duped by the mendacious assurances of his royal friend, was induced to get up and contradict the rumour, "by direct authority." the revulsion of feeling in the house was immediate. on the 23rd of may pitt laid before the members a schedule of the prince's debts, amounting to one hundred and ninety-four thousand pounds. of this sum a hundred and sixty-one thousand were voted, together with twenty thousand for the completion of carlton house, and the king was induced to add ten thousand a year from the civil list to the prince's income. he was thus placed for the time being in affluence, and only had to reckon with mrs. fitzherbert. this he did by disavowing fox, whom he declared to have spoken without authority. but the lady appears to have urged some public explanation. the prince naturally avoided fox, but sent for grey, who, however, declined to have anything to do with the dirty business. "then," said the prince, "sheridan must say something." accordingly, a few days later, sheridan got up and paid a few vapid compliments to mrs. fitzherbert, which assuaged her wrath, without exposing the royal liar.

on the 1st of february the inquiry into the crimes of warren hastings was renewed. the third charge of the impeachment, the treatment of the begums, was undertaken by sheridan, as the first was by burke, and the second by fox. we have stated the facts of that great oppression, and they were brought out in a most powerful and dramatic light by sheridan in a speech of nearly six hours. sheridan had little knowledge of india; but he was well supplied with the facts from the records of the india house and the promptings of francis, who was familiar with the country and the events. the effect of sheridan's charge far exceeded all that had gone before it. when he sat down almost the whole house burst forth in a storm of clappings and hurrahs. fox declared it the most astounding speech that he had ever heard, and burke and pitt gave similar evidence. the wit and pathos of it were equally amazing; but it was so badly reported as to be practically lost. the following remark, however, seems to be reported fairly accurately:—"he remembered to have heard an honourable and learned gentleman [dundas] remark that there was something in the first frame and constitution of the company which extended the sordid principles of their origin over all their successive operations, connecting with their civil policy, and even with their boldest achievements, the meanness of a pedlar and the profligacy of pirates. alike in the political and the military line could be observed auctioneering ambassadors and trading generals; and thus we saw a revolution brought about by affidavits; an army employed in executing an arrest; a town besieged on a note of hand; a prince dethroned for the balance of an account. thus it was they exhibited a government which united the mock majesty of a bloody sceptre and the little traffic of a merchant's counting-house—wielding a truncheon with one hand, and picking a pocket with the other." the debate was adjourned to the next day, for the house could not be brought to listen to any other person after this most intoxicating speech. the motion was carried by one hundred and seventy-five votes against sixty-eight.

the other charges having been voted, on the 25th of april burke brought up the articles of impeachment. there was a long debate, in which wilkes, who had completely changed his politics, and had cultivated a friendship with warren hastings and his wife, made a very effective speech in his defence. he tried to shift the blame from hastings to the company. pitt again pointed out the fact that honourable members had not been showing the innocence of hastings, but raising all manner of set-offs for his crimes—a course which he had before said he had hoped would have been abandoned; that for his part,[339] without going to the length of all the charges brought forward, he saw sufficient grounds for an impeachment. he could conceive a state compelled by sudden invasion and an unprovided army, to lay violent hands on the property of its subjects, but then such a state must be infamous if it did not, on the first opportunity, make ample satisfaction. but was this the principle on which mr. hastings had acted? no; he neither avowed the necessity nor the exaction. he made criminal charges, and, under colour of them, levied immoderate penalties, which, if he had a right to take them at all, he would be highly criminal in taking in such a shape; but which, having no right to take, the mode of taking rendered much more heinous and culpable.

the report was agreed to, the impeachment was voted, and burke, attended by the majority of the house, on the 10th of may, carried it up to the lords. on the motion of burke, warren hastings was then taken into custody, and delivered over to the lords, who bound him to appear to take his trial, when called upon, in a bond of twenty thousand pounds himself, and messrs. sullivan and sumner as his sureties in ten thousand pounds each.

in this session the first step was taken in one of the greatest achievements of humanity which adorn the name of britain. it was the grand preliminary towards annihilating the slave trade. the spirit of revolt against this odious trade had been gaining rapidly in the british mind. one of the earliest stabs given to it was by the pathetic story of inkle and yarico, in the "history of barbadoes," by lygon, which was taken up and amplified in the spectator, and afterwards elaborated into an effective drama by colman. defoe, dr. johnson, warburton in his "divine legation of moses," and in his sermons so early as 1766, voltaire, and other writers, had diffused a strong and sound feeling on the subject. it had been early attempted to establish the legal maxim, that a slave becomes a freed man in england; but in 1729 this had been positively pronounced against by talbot and yorke, then the highest legal authorities. but a more successful essay was made by granville sharp in 1772, in the case of james somerset, and the principle was established, that the moment a slave set his foot on english ground he became free. in 1782 the friends presented a petition to parliament for the abolition of the slave trade. in 1785 thomas clarkson, then a student at the university of cambridge, competed for and won the first prize for an essay on "the slavery and commerce in the human species," and this, which was undertaken as an academical exercise, led him to devote himself to the great work of the utter extinction of this evil. mr. ramsay, a clergyman of kent, who had lived in st. kitts, published a pamphlet on the same subject. the friends of ramsay, lady middleton and mrs. bouverie, became zealous advocates of the cause, and finally wilberforce resolved to make it the great object of his life. a society was now established in london, consisting only originally of twelve individuals, including the benevolent mr. thornton, and having granville sharp for its chairman. the members, however, were opulent merchants and bankers, and they set agents to work to collect information on the subject. the feeling rapidly spread; committees were formed in manchester and other provincial towns for co-operation.

it was resolved to make the first attack only on the trade in slaves, not on the whole gigantic subject, with all its widely-ramified interests. nay, it was deemed prudent by the committees, seeing well that the abolition of the monstrous practice of slave-holding must be a work of many years, in the first place to limit their exertions to the ameliorating of the sufferings of the negroes, in their passage from africa to the scenes of their servitude. numerous petitions had now reached the houses of parliament on the subject of the trade in and the sufferings of slaves, and a committee of the privy council was procured to hear evidence on the subject. this commenced its sittings on the 11th of february, 1788. before this committee were first heard the statements of the slave merchants of liverpool. according to these gentlemen, all the horrors attributed to the slave trade were so many fables; so far from instigating african sovereigns to make war upon their neighbours and sell them for slaves, the oppressions of these despots were so horrible that it was a real blessing to bring away their unfortunate victims. but very different facts were advanced on the other side. on the part of the liverpool merchants was the most palpable self-interest to colour their statements; on the other, was disinterested humanity. amongst the gentlemen brought forward to unfold the real nature of the african traffic was dr. andrew sparrman, professor of natural philosophy at stockholm, who had, with mr. wadstr?m, been engaged in botanical researches in africa. this information put to flight the pleasant myths of the liverpool traders, and produced a profound impression.

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it was resolved to bring the matter before parliament. wilberforce gave notice of motion on the subject, but falling ill at bath, clarkson applied to pitt and mr. grenville, and was strongly supported by granville sharp and the london committee. pitt had not considered the subject till it was forced on his attention by the evidence before the privy council; but he had come to the conclusion that the trade was not only inhuman, but really injurious to the interests of the nation. he consented to introduce the question, and, on the 9th of may, gave notice that early in the next session parliament would take into consideration the allegations against the slave trade, made in upwards of a hundred petitions presented to it. he recommended this short delay in order that the inquiries before the privy council might be fully matured. but both fox and burke—the latter of whom had been thinking for eight years of taking up the question—declared that the delay would be as cruel as it was useless; that it did not become the house to wait to receive instructions from the privy council, as if it were dependent upon it, but that it ought to originate such inquiries itself. sir william dolben supported this view of immediate action, contending that at least a bill should be brought in to restrain the cruelties of the sea-passage, which would otherwise sacrifice ten thousand lives, as hundreds of thousands had been sacrificed before. this was acceded to. pitt's resolution was carried by a considerable majority; and sir william dolben, on the 21st of may, moved to bring in a bill to regulate the transport of slaves. sir william stated that there was no law to restrain the avarice and cruelty of the dealers, and that the mortality from the crowding of the slaves on board was frightful.

the slave merchants of liverpool and london demanded to be heard against even this degree of interference. on the 2nd of june counsel was heard on their behalf at the bar of the house of commons. these gentlemen endeavoured to prove that the interest of the merchants was the best guarantee of the good treatment of the slaves; and they called witnesses to prove that nothing could be more delightful and salubrious than the condition of slaves on the voyage; and that the negroes passed their time most charmingly in dancing and singing on the deck. but, on cross-examination, these very witnesses were compelled to disclose one of the most revolting pictures of inhuman atrocity ever brought to the light of day. it was found that no slave, whatever his size, had more room during the whole voyage than five feet six inches in length, and sixteen inches in breadth; that the floor of every deck was thus densely packed with human beings; between the floor and the deck above were other platforms or broad shelves packed in the same manner! the height from the floor to the ceiling seldom exceeded five feet eight inches, and in some cases not four feet. the men were chained together two and two by their hands and feet, and were fastened by ringbolts to the deck or floor. in this position they were kept all the time they remained on the coast—often from six weeks to six months. their allowance was a pint of water daily and two meals of yams and horse-beans. after eating they were ordered to jump in their irons to preserve their health, and were flogged if they refused. when the weather was wet they were often kept below for several days together. the horrors of what was called the "middle passage" were terrible and fatal beyond description. it was calculated that up to that time the europeans had consumed ten millions of slaves, and that the british alone were then carrying over forty-two thousand africans annually.

besides the truths drawn by cross-examination from the witnesses for the slave-dealing merchants, who contended that even sir william dolben's bill would nearly ruin liverpool, captain parry, who had been sent by pitt to liverpool to examine some of the slave-ships, brought the directest proofs that the representations of these witnesses were false, and the accommodation for the slaves was most inhuman; sir william dolben himself had examined a slave-ship then fitting out in the thames, and gave details which horrified the house. this bill went to prohibit any ship carrying more than one slave to a ton of its register; the only matter in which the house gave way was that none should carry more than five slaves to every three tons, and a very few years proved that this restriction had been the greatest boon to the dealers as well as the slaves in the preservation of the living cargoes. the bill met with some opposition in the lords, and there admiral rodney and lord heathfield, both naturally humane men, were amongst its strongest opponents. the measure, however, passed, and received the royal assent on the 11th of july. some well-meaning people thought that by legalising the freightage of slaves, england had acknowledged the lawfulness of the trade; but the advocates of the abolition made no secret of their determination to persevere, and this victory only quickened their exertions.

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the trial of warren hastings. (see p. 342.)

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on the day appointed for the trial of warren hastings there was a wonderful crowding into the great hall at westminster. the walls had been in preparation hung with scarlet, and galleries raised all round for the accommodation of spectators. the seats for the members of the house of commons were covered with green cloth, those for the lords and all the others with red. galleries were set apart for distinguished persons, and for the members of the foreign embassies. when the lords, nearly one hundred and seventy in number, entered in procession, the vast hall presented a striking scene, being crowded, with the exception of the space in the centre for the peers, with all who were noted in the land, from the throne downwards. the lords were all in their robes of gold and ermine, marshalled by the king-at-arms and the heralds. first entered lord heathfield, the brave old elliot of gibraltar, as the junior baron, and the splendid procession was closed by the earl marshal of england, the duke of norfolk, and by the brothers and sons of the king, the prince of wales last of all. the twelve judges attended to give their advice on difficult points of law, and the managers were attended also by their counsel, drs. scott and lawrence, and mr. mansfield, mr. pigot, mr. burke, and mr. douglas. the galleries blazed with the rich array of ladies and foreign costumes. there were seen the queen with her daughters, and the princesses elizabeth, augusta, and mary, the duchess of gloucester, mrs. fitzherbert, the beautiful duchess of devonshire, sheridan's handsome wife, and the great actress, mrs. siddons. gibbon the historian, dr. parr, mr., afterwards sir, james mackintosh, and numbers of distinguished artists, amongst them sir joshua reynolds and gainsborough, were also present.

warren hastings was summoned to the bar, and there kneeling, the lord chancellor, thurlow, intimated the charge against him, and assured him that, as a british subject, he would receive full justice from the highest british court. hastings replied, in a clear and firm voice, that he had the highest confidence in the justice and integrity of that august court. the clerks of the court then commenced reading the charges against him, and the answers to them, and this reading occupied the whole of that day and the following one; and on the third, burke rose to deliver his opening speech. this occupied the whole of four days, beginning on the 15th, and terminating on the 19th of february. the effect of that speech, notwithstanding its enormous length, was such as had scarcely ever been witnessed in a court of justice before. as he detailed the horrors practised by hastings on the princes and people of india, both the orator and his audience were convulsed with terror and agitation. ladies fainted away in the galleries; mrs. sheridan, amongst others, had to be carried out insensible: the faces of the strongest men, as well as of the more sensitive women, were flushed with emotion, or bathed in tears. in his peroration burke far exceeded even himself. he appeared raised, enlarged into something ethereal by his subject, and his voice seemed to shake the very walls and roof of that ancient court. finally, he exclaimed:—"i impeach warren hastings, esquire, of high crimes and misdemeanours. i impeach him in the name of all the commons of great britain in parliament assembled, whose parliamentary trust he has betrayed. i impeach him in the name of the people of india, whose laws, rights, and liberties he has subverted, whose properties he has destroyed, whose country he has laid waste and desolate. i impeach him in the name, and by virtue of those eternal laws of justice which he has violated. i impeach him in the name of human nature itself, which he has cruelly outraged, injured, and oppressed, in both sexes, in every age, rank, situation, and condition of life. and i conjure this high and sacred court to let not these proceedings be heard in vain." such was the effect of this wonderful torrent of eloquence that hastings himself said, "for half an hour i looked up at the orator in a reverie of wonder; and during that space i actually felt myself the most culpable man on earth; but i recurred to my own bosom, and there found a consciousness that consoled me under all i heard and all i suffered."

when the intense agitation had in some degree subsided, fox rose and proposed the mode in which the trial should be conducted, which was that the evidence on both sides should be gone through on each separate charge, and that charge immediately decided, whilst all the facts were fresh in the minds of the lords, who were the judges. but this was opposed by the counsel of hastings, who knew well the advantage of leaving the decision till the vivid impression of the events was worn off. they succeeded in carrying their object, and when the trial terminated eight years afterwards, the result was quite according to their hopes. the managers complained loudly, but there was no remedy. fox, therefore, proceeded to open the benares case, which occupied[343] five hours. grey took it up, and completed it the next day. several succeeding days were employed in reading papers and hearing witnesses, and then anstruther summed up and commented on the charge.

the court then adjourned to the 15th of april. the case of the begums was opened by mr. adams, and concluded the next day by mr. pelham. then sixteen days were occupied by the evidence, and at length, on the 3rd of june, sheridan began to sum up the evidence, and, in a speech which lasted three days, he kept the court in the highest state of excitement. the place was crowded to suffocation during the whole time, and as much as fifty guineas is said to have been paid for a single seat. greatly as this speech of sheridan's was admired, it was felt to be too ornate and dramatic: there was not the deep and genuine feeling of burke in it, and the effect was so evidently studied, that, on concluding, sheridan fell back into the arms of burke, as if overcome by his own sensations. the prorogation of parliament was now at hand, and only two out of the twenty charges had been gone through: neither of them had yet been replied to, and yet other causes of engrossing interest arising, the trial was entirely suspended till the 20th of april of the following year! then it was taken up languidly and at uncertain intervals, and rapidly became a mere exhibition of rhetoric. further, burke's unlawyer-like style and intemperance of language drew upon him the censure of the lord chancellor, and even of the house of commons. a revulsion of public feeling took place, and was seen in the acquittal of stockdale who was tried for libelling the promoters of the trial. three years afterwards burke himself renounced sixteen of his charges, and all popular interest in the trial gradually disappeared.

but the public attention was now freely withdrawn from warren hastings to much more exalted personages. on the 11th of july the king in person prorogued parliament. he then appeared in his usual health, but soon afterwards it was whispered about that he was far from well, and had gone to cheltenham by the advice of his physicians. when he returned in the autumn, the opinion of his derangement had gained ground, and, to remove this, a drawing-room was held at st. james's on the 24th of october. every means had been taken to secure the impression of his majesty's saneness, but they failed, and the contrary impression was confirmed. still, the king returned to windsor, and the endeavours were strenuously maintained by the queen to conceal the melancholy fact from the public; but this was too positive to be long suppressed. on the 5th of november he met his son, the duke of york, after he had been riding about windsor forest for five hours in a state of frenzy, and, bursting into tears, wished that he was dead, for that he felt he should go mad. no doubt he remembered his old sensations when he had a short but sharp fit of lunacy in 1764. the time was hurrying on which must reveal the whole truth; the prorogation of parliament terminated on the 20th of november; the house would meet, and the king would not be able to attend and open the session. pitt was in a state of indescribable anxiety, having no precedents to guide him.

the 20th of november arrived; the two houses met, and lord camden in the peers, and pitt in the commons, were obliged to announce the incapacity of the king to open the session, and to move for an adjournment till the 4th of december, in order that the necessary measures for transferring the royal authority, temporarily, might be taken. fox, at this important crisis, was abroad, and had to hurry home with headlong speed, in order to join his party in their anxious deliberations preparatory to the great question of the regency. in the meantime, the king's physicians had been examined before the privy council, and had given their opinion that the royal malady would prove only temporary. this in particular was the opinion of dr. willis, a specialist who had the chief management of the case, and whose mild treatment, in contrast to the violent means previously employed, had already produced a marked improvement. from this moment pitt appears to have taken his decision—namely, to carry matters with a high hand, and to admit the prince of wales as regent only under such restrictions as should prevent him from either exercising much power himself, or conferring much benefit on his adherents. when, therefore, parliament met, after the adjournment, and that in great strength—for men of all parties had hurried up to town,—lord camden moved in the lords, and pitt in the commons, that, in consequence of the king's malady, the minutes of the privy council containing the opinions of the royal physicians should be read, and that this being done, these opinions should be taken into consideration on the 8th of december.

this being done, mr. vyner suggested that the physicians should rather be examined by the house itself, a proposal supported by fox. pitt[344] replied that this was a matter requiring much delicacy, and that the opinions of the physicians before the council being on oath, he imagined that they had greater force than any given before parliament, where they would not be on oath. but, during the four days' adjournment, he had ascertained, to his satisfaction, that the majority of the physicians were of opinion that the king would pretty soon recover, and that especially dr. willis was of this opinion, under whose more immediate care he was; and no sooner did the commons meet, than pitt most judiciously acquiesced in the suggestions of vyner and fox; and the physicians were examined by a committee of twenty-one members, of which he himself was chairman. on the 16th of december pitt brought up the report of the committee, in which a majority of the physicians had expressed the opinion that the malady of the king would not be of long duration; and he then moved for another committee to search for precedents as to the power to be exercised by a regent. fox declared that pitt knew very well that there were no precedents to be found while there existed an heir apparent, at the time, of full age and capacity; that he was seeking only the means of delaying what ought to be done at once; that the failure of the mind of the sovereign was a case of natural demise, and that the heir apparent succeeded to the exercise of the royal authority from the period of that failure, as a matter of course; that the parliament had, indeed, the authority to decide that such failure had actually taken place, and to sanction the assumption of the powers of regency, as the other two estates of the realm, but nothing more. when fox made this astounding assertion, pitt slapped his thigh and exclaimed to a colleague sitting near him, "i'll unwhig the gentleman for the rest of his life."

he immediately made use of the opportunity with great skill. in his reply he urged that fox was announcing a doctrine destructive of the constitution; that he was denying the right by which parliament had placed the present family on the throne, and he asserted that the prince of wales had no more natural right to assume the regency than any other individual. this led to the severest censures of the premier by burke, who declared that pitt was making himself a dictator, and changing the succession to the regal power in england from hereditary to elective. the same doctrine was announced and combated in the lords; but there, though thurlow was silent, waiting to see how matters would go before he hazarded an opinion, loughborough boldly supported fox's doctrine, and declared that had the derangement of the king taken place during the non-existence of parliament, the prince undoubtedly would have been warranted in issuing writs and summoning one. on the 15th of december the duke of york and his uncle, the duke of gloucester, both spoke on the question, expressing their sense of the inexpediency of pressing the delicate question of right, and stating that parliament could proceed to invest the prince of wales with the powers of the regency without waiting, as they certainly could not appoint any one else. thurlow had by this time found that he had no chance with the whigs, and he now, with unblushing assurance, took the part of pitt, though every one knew why he had been hanging back till this moment. he declared that he could not see how parliament could avoid coming to some conclusion on the question of right, seeing that it had been raised. at the same time, he made a most pretendedly pious defence of the rights of the king against the prince and the whigs, exclaiming—"when i forget my king, may god forget me!" john wilkes, who was standing in a knot of spectators near the throne, and within a few feet of thurlow, expressed his disgust at this duplicity in his characteristically vigorous fashion.

pitt, in a series of motions and violent debates on them—which did not terminate till the 23rd of january, 1789—not only carried his point, that parliament should assert the whole right of appointing a regent, but he contrived to tie down the prince completely. on the 16th of december pitt moved three resolutions—the third and most material of which was, that it was necessary that both houses should, for the maintenance of the constitutional authority of the king, determine the means by which the royal assent might be given to an act of parliament for delegating the royal authority during the king's indisposition. after most determined opposition by the whigs, he carried the whole of these resolutions, and it was then moved that the proper mode of doing this was to employ the great seal just as if the king were in the full exercise of his faculties. to prepare the way for this doctrine, the lawyers in pitt's party had declared that there was a broad distinction between the political and the natural capacity of the king; that, as the king could do no wrong, so he could not go politically, though he might go naturally, mad; that therefore the king, in his political capacity, was now as fully in[345] power and entity as ever, and therefore the great seal could be used for him as validly as at any other time. in vain did burke exclaim that it was "a phantom," "a fiction of law," "a mere mummery, a piece of masquerade buffoonery, formed to burlesque every species of government." in the midst of the debate mr. rushworth, the young member for newport, in hampshire, standing on the floor of the house, exclaimed, in a loud and startling tone, "i desire that gentlemen of more age and experience than myself will refer to the glorious reign of george ii. let them recall to their memory the year 1745. suppose that great and good king had lain under a similar affliction of madness at that period, where are the men, much less a minister, that would have dared to come down to that house, and boldly, in the face of the world, say that the prince of wales had no more right to the regency than any other subject? the man or minister who could have dared to utter such language must henceforward shelter in some other place than in the house of commons, and in some other country than england!" the prince of wales, by letter, complained of the want of respect shown to him, but pitt carried the resolution regarding the great seal, that it should be appended to a commission for opening parliament, it now occupying the position of a convention, and that the commission should then affix the royal assent to the bill for the regency. this done, he consented to the demand for the appearance of the physicians again before proceeding with the bill, and the physicians having expressed hopes of the king's speedy recovery, on the 16th of january pitt moved the following resolutions:—that the prince of wales should be invested with the royal authority, subject, however, to these restrictions, namely, that he should create no peers; that he should grant no place or pension for life, or in reversion, except such place as in its nature must be held for life, or during good behaviour; that the prince should have no power over the personal property of the king, nor over the king's person or household; that these two latter powers should be entrusted to the queen, a council being appointed to assist her in these duties by their advice, but subject to her dismissal, and without any power of alienation of any part of the property. the bad character of the prince, combined with the rumours of his indecent jests at the expense of his unhappy parents, rendered the restrictions universally popular.

carlton house, london (1780).

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these resolutions being carried, it then became a question whether the prince would accept this restricted regency. burke had warned the house that perhaps, after all, the prince would not accept such a shadow of his own natural powers, and he warned them likewise that the british parliament might find itself electing the prince as regent, whilst the irish parliament was nominating him as by right. but it would appear that the whigs were so anxious to seize on office, even under such cramping restrictions, and to see pitt dethroned, that they advised the prince to accept. a joint committee of lords and commons waited on him on the 30th of january, the anniversary of the execution of charles i., and another joint-committee the same day waited on the queen, and the next day their answers, accepting their respective offices, were communicated to parliament. the prince, indeed, qualified his acceptance by declaring that he did it only as a temporary arrangement, and in the hope, notwithstanding the peculiar and unprecedented circumstances, of preserving the interests of the king, the crown, and the people.

a commission was then moved for, under the great seal, by lord camden, and in this commission were included the names of the prince of wales, the dukes of york, gloucester, and cumberland. these royal personages, however, declined to be named in it. with these remarkable omissions, camden's motion was passed, and the result was communicated to the commons, on which pitt, on the 2nd of february, moved for the concurrence of that house. this again brought up the question of the prince's right. lord north, who, though now blind, had mixed in these debates with his usual moderation, and with a great display of good sense, based on official experience, expressed his pleasure that the prince had condescended to accept the regency, notwithstanding its limitations. this prudence, he observed, had given the country an agreeable surprise, considering the temptations to stand upon his right, which must have produced inconceivable embarrassments. pitt could not resist the impulse to arise and again deny the right, and observe that he believed those who had advocated that right were now really ashamed of it. this immediately called up burke, for fox was ill, and away at bath, and he exclaimed, "i assert that the prince of wales's right is clear as the sun, and that it is the duty of the house to appoint him regent, with the full powers of sovereignty." he asserted with equal warmth, that ministers were about to purloin the great seal, and commit an act of forgery. a stormy debate followed, in which burke's violence was met with moderation and dignity.

on the 3rd of february the commons attended to hear the commission read at the bar of the lords, which was done by earl bathurst, in the absence of thurlow. on returning to their house now as an authorised parliament, the commons read the bill for the first time without a division, but on the second reading, on the 6th of february, burke attacked it with unabated ferocity. he wanted to know how they were to determine when the king was sane again. who was to inform them of it? who was to certify it? he asserted the utter impossibility of adducing proof whether a person who had been insane were perfectly recovered or not. if this doctrine had been established, the regency must have become permanent. but this mode of reasoning was too metaphysical for the house of commons; the debate passed on, and the bill was committed. the clause providing against the non-residence of the prince, and against his marrying a papist, again brought up mr. rolle. he said that he had given his assent to the appointment of the prince regent on the assurance of his friends, that he was not married to a certain lady, either in law or in fact; but that he had since read a famous pamphlet, which affirmed that the facts were in opposition to those avowals. this was a brochure of horne tooke's, in the shape of a letter to a friend, in which he declared his positive knowledge of the prince's marriage with "the late mrs. fitzherbert," who, he contended, in spite of the marriage act, was his lawful wife. rolle was answered by lord north, who declared that the object of the pamphleteer was simply to make mischief by throwing out assertions that he never meant to prove, and welbore ellis called for the reading of the royal marriage act, and showed that no royal marriage could be valid without the king's consent, and that, therefore, whatever was the case, all those objections were a mere waste of words. rolle did not press the question to a division. the other clauses of the bill raised much debate, but were all passed, and on the 10th of february the council was appointed to assist the queen in her charge, and pitt named as members of it[347] the four principal officers of the household, the lord chamberlain, the lord steward, the master of the horse, and the groom of the stole, with the addition of the archbishop of canterbury, lord chancellor thurlow, the archbishop of york, and lord kenyon. the names of the prince of wales, the duke of york, several of the other princes, the lord mayor of london, and the speaker of the house of commons, were all strongly urged upon parliament as persons who ought to be members of this council, but they were, to a man, rejected by a majority of about fifty.

pitt had not forgotten the difficulty started by burke, as to the recognition of the return to entire sanity of the king, and he now met it by proposing that when five out of the eight councillors appointed to assist the queen should declare the king's health restored, they should notify this to the political servants of the regent, and announce it in the london gazette, as well as communicate it to the lord mayor; that the king should then summon nine of his privy council, who, sitting in council with him should be able to observe whether he were perfectly restored or not; and if six of the nine agreed that he was so, these six should sign a proclamation to that effect, on which the regency should cease and determine. various amendments on this motion were made, but without effect, and it was carried. on the 12th of april the regency bill finally passed the commons, and was carried up to the lords, with the addition of a clause limiting the restriction on the making of peers to three years.

reports that the king was rapidly recovering now began to fly about court, daily gaining strength. the whigs, impatient to seize on office, were in a state of strange excitement; but to go in with the prospect of being immediately dismissed by the king, did not accord with the dignity of the leaders. on the other hand, there were so many good things to be given away—one or two bishoprics, the office of chief justice in eyre, sundry commissions of major-general, besides expectations of promotions to the rank of field-marshal—that the dependents of the party grew impatient. neither the whigs nor pitt knew well what to do. the lords did not commit the bill till the 17th, when they made two important additions to it, namely, to place all the palaces, parks, houses, and gardens of the king under the control of the queen, and to give her the care of all the royal children under the age of twenty-one. but, at that very crisis, the king was pronounced convalescent. on the 19th, lord thurlow announced this, on the certificate of the physicians; and it was declared by him that their lordships could not, in these circumstances, proceed with the bill, but had better adjourn till tuesday next. the duke of york observed that he should most gladly have corroborated the statement of the lord chancellor, but could not, having called the day before at kew, to desire that he might see his father, but had not been permitted. the house, however, adjourned, and on tuesday, the 24th, thurlow informed it that he had seen his majesty, had found him perfectly recovered, and therefore he moved another adjournment to the monday following, which was agreed to.

on the very next day took place what burke had foreseen. a deputation from the two irish houses of parliament arrived in london, with an address to his royal highness the prince of wales, requesting him to assume the regency as his right. though the english bill was now certain to be abandoned, this address was presented on the 26th of february, the day after the arrival, and was received by the prince in a manner likely to mark his sense of his treatment by pitt and his party. the deputies were entertained at a splendid banquet; the walls of the dining-room at carlton house were adorned with irish harps, the shamrock, and other irish emblems; the arms of ireland, encircled by a glory, blazed in the centre of the table, and the richest wines flowed in torrents. but these banquetings had not been confined to this more auspicious day. whilst the great contest had been going on in parliament, dinners had been given on the saturdays and sundays of every week at carlton house, to which about thirty of the members of both houses had been invited, and at which the prince and the duke of york had presided. besides these, the attractions and persuasive powers of the great ladies on both sides had been enthusiastically called into play. the fascinating duchess of devonshire, who, in 1784, had so successfully canvassed for charles james fox in westminster, had now thrown open her house, and employed all her amiabilities to win supporters to the prince's party. on the other hand, the more bold and vigorous duchess of gordon had feasted, entreated, and almost commanded adherence to pitt, through whom it was said her husband had obtained the great seal of scotland, and his brother, lord william gordon, the sinecure rangerships of st. james's and hyde parks. the rivalries of these parties had been carried on in the most public manner, by[348] caricatures, lampoons, ballads, and popular jests. westminster was pre-eminently whig; but london, which had formerly been so democratic, had become essentially loyal. the coalition had given the first shock to the popularity of the whigs in the city, and the sympathy for the calamity of the king, combined with disgust at the prince's levity and heartlessness, had produced a wonderful degree of loyalty there.

william pitt. (after the portrait by john hoppner, r.a.)

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both houses adjourned, by successive motions, to the 10th of march; they then met, and were informed by the lord chancellor that, by the blessing of providence, his majesty being recovered from his severe indisposition, and able to attend to the public affairs of his kingdom, had issued a commission authorising the holding and continuing of parliament; and the commission having been read, the chancellor declared himself commanded to convey to them his majesty's warmest acknowledgments for the additional proofs they had given of their attachment to his person. addresses were then moved, as at the commencement of a session, by both houses, and also addresses of congratulation to her majesty the queen; and the same evening the capital was illuminated, and the most sincere joy was evidenced in the happy event of the royal convalescence. on the 8th of april pitt informed the house that the king had appointed thursday, the 23rd of that month, as a day of public thanksgiving for his recovery, and that it was his majesty's intention to go in procession to st. paul's cathedral on that day, to return thanks to almighty god. the house voted thanks for his majesty's having taken measures for their accommodation on the occasion, and passed a resolution to attend.

on the appointed day the two houses of parliament, the officers of state, the judges, all in their robes of state, the queen, and princes and princesses, attended the king on this solemn occasion. the streets were crowded with the inhabitants; the lord bishop of london, and the dean and canons of st. paul's received him at the door. his entrance was announced by the sound of martial music from military bands on the outside, and the roar of the organs and the voices of five thousand children of the city charity schools inside, singing the hundredth psalm. on walking across the area, under the great dome, the king was deeply affected, and observed to the bishop of london and the dean of st. paul's, "i now feel that i have been ill." after the singing of the te deum, and the firing of the tower and park guns, the procession returned to st. james's as it had come. the popularity of the king was unbounded, and so was that of the great minister who had stood by him in the hour of his adversity. pitt was now at the zenith of his career.