THE

CALCUTTA REVIEW.

SEPTEMBER, 1860.

ART. I.-1. India Tracts. BY JOHN ZEPHANIAH HOLWELL, Esq., F. R. S., and FRIENDS. 1774.

2. Unpublished Family Papers, MSS.

THE comparative tranquillity of Bengal under the British Rule during the few years following Lord Clive's retirement to England, has served to disrobe the period of any very deep interest whereby it would have remained familiar to the AngloIndian reader.

Lord Clive's administration had terminated with his suppression of the conspiracy which he found ready to break out among his European officers. Double batta which had made a captain's pay amount to little less than one thousand pounds per annum was to be abolished, and the unwilling sufferers, forgetful of their allegiance, resolved to resist the measure. Frequent consultations were held amongst the officers, and a voluminous correspondence established between the three brigades into which the whole army had been divided, and the usual vows of unanimity and mutual confidence made, and sworn to. And if any individual member of their secret compact should chance to betray himself, or be betrayed, and whom the inevitable court martial would rigorously condemn, his coconspirators were to preserve his life by force. Nor was this all. Each officer entered into a bond to resign his commission under a penalty of five hundred pounds, and to prevent the movement wearing a forlorn aspect, the sum of eighteen thousand pounds was subscribed for the unfortunates who should not be restored, each officer contributing according to his respective rank.

But the measures Lord Clive resorted to were potent enough to quell the impending disturbances without much remonstrance and without any bloodshed. Several of the ringleaders were subjected to the anticipated court martial, and as a natural consequence dismissed the service. Amongst them was General Fletcher, but his dismissal appears to have been a mere farce, for in a short time afterwards his rank was restored, SEPTEMBER, 1860.

A

and his numerous influential friends at home, and his " political intrigue," obtained for him the command of the forces in the Presidency of Madras.

Succeeding this last public act of Lord Clive's came the peremptory orders from the Court of Directors that the Trading Company which Clive had organized for the monopoly of salt, betel nut, and tobacco, should be dissolved. These orders were but the repetitions of former ones which the Governor had received with silence and disregard, much to the annoyance of the Directors; but Clive was intent upon his scheme of reform, the prohibition of presents, and the better remuneration of the civil servants, and he looked to the trade monopoly to affect it. He was overruled however, and on the 20th of January 1767 the curtain fell which had been held up for so many years while the Shropshire school boy worked out his ambitious purpose through countless oppositions, but neglecting no opportunities until he realized the golden dreams of his youth, and found them like the fabled shadow in the stream.

He was succeeded by whom? It is because we have been astonished at the ignorance displayed of this period that we write this article. There is a void ranging from the date of Clive's resignation on January 20th 1767 to April 1772 when Warren Hastings became Governor General, which the majority of Anglo-Indian residents and readers do not account for. The Council on the first mentioned date consisted of Messrs. H. Verelst, Cartier, R. Becher, and A. Campbell, and Mr. Harry Verelst was elected Lord Clive's successor.

This gentleman was a grandson of Simon Verelst the eminent Flower painter, many of whose works are still to be seen at Hampton Court.*

And as the artist from a long and successful life amassed a considerable fortune, he was enabled to place his sons in a position which suited his singularly inordinate ambition. Harry

Simon was a man of considerable eccentricity, great independence of spirit and an unbounded pride of his art. One day the Duke of Marlborough paid a visit to the artist's studio, for Simon was as famous in his flowers as his brother foreigner Vandyke was in his portraits. The Duke was exceedingly offended to find the artist receive him on apparent terms of equality, and remain with his head covered by his scull cap, so after one or two significant glances, which had no effect, the illustrious soldier who had won Blenheim and Woodstock, the one from the Franco-Bavarians, the other from his grateful Queen Anne-broke out in a burst of passion, demanding from the artist immediate amends-" who are you that you stand in the presence of a Duke uncovered?"

The artist removed the offending cap, and, lifting his eyes heavenward, exclaimed

"The King makes the Duke, but God makes the painter ""

Ver elst, the future Governor of Bengal, inherited to a great extent the ambitious sentiments of his father, but chose India in preference to his native land as the arena in which he would exercise his talents and gifts, and at a comparatively early age set sail for Calcutta.

Upon his arrival here he found the jealousy of the French East India Company swollen into such an ungovernable state that they had already made preparations for war with the English and chosen the gallant Admiral Labourdonnais as their commander.

There was nothing in the external state of things to endorse the bright and sanguine expectations of young Verelst, and he thought seriously of abandoning the country which he had so hastily adopted, but with a true British character the failure of his own countrymen only served as an inducement for him to adhere unswervingly to the post to which the Company had appointed him. The charms of the appointment itself were nil, and but for his private property he would have been unable to live even respectably. The time had not come when Clive could or did, from the profits of the monopolized salt trade-draw as his Colonel's portion £7,000 per annum, and when the members of Council, Field officers, chiefs of Factories and Chaplains, &c., obtained proportionately exorbitant amounts. The Pactolian days of reform were in the womb of the future.

It was impossible for young Verelst to foretell the issue of the French demonstration, for, in the moment of greatest need the English Squadron lost its commander Captain Barnet, and one of the few cowards England has ever produced was appointed in his place. Captain Peyton after several inexplicable manœuvres in the Southern Sea beat a shameful retreat to the Bay of Bengal, abandoning Madras which was then in a state of lamentable exposure and helplessness, the result of which was that Labourdonnais, whose bravery was as marked as Peyton's cowardice, made immediate preparations for an attack upon that Settlement. The paltry garrison did its best but in a few days the French Flag was waving in the Presidency. Then came a strong reinforcement, and Labourdonnais who had tasted victory thirsted for more. He put to sea with the full determination of driving the English out of India. Afflavit Deus et dissipantur, as Queen Elizabeth mottoed her medals. The French Admiral's Squadron met with conflicting elements similar to those which tore the invincible Armada in shreds off the lonely Orkneys.

It occurred to Verelst's mind at this juncture that the military sphere was the one most likely to produce for him the results

which he yearned for so unceasingly. His greed assumed no tangible form, power and wealth which had tickled the ears of "Gentlemen in England then abed"

were the sum and substance of his hopes, but whether to reach the Council and there stop contentedly, or to advance still further even into the good favors of the Great Mogul and become a first Omrah, with an immense title but "not worth sixpence," as Lord Clive termed it, was not resolved upon by the young aspirant. He had not shuffled off the love of romance which so seldom does any thing more than retard or wholly impede strong efforts, and the wonderful gallantry of Labourdonnais* being noised about, only served to increase his desire for distinguishment. Every Englishman spoke well of the French Admiral, and to brave such a foe was, in Verelst's mind, an incentive to battle.

Nevertheless he still adhered to his post, looking with amazement upon the unaccountable failures and blunders of his countrymen.

The overthrow of the French armament seemed to be a seasonable opportunity for the English retracing their steps, and if not regaining Madras, at least regaining their character, but it was not so; the strong reinforcement which arrived from England under the command of Admiral Boscawen, achieved no purpose, and the officer who had distinguished himself at Porto Bello and Carthagena, at Cape Finisterre and North America (against the French) who reduced Louisbourg and Cape Breton, who pursued the Toulon Fleet under De la Clue through the Straits of Gibraltar, and seized it in Lagos Bay, who received the thanks of Parliament and a grant of £3,000 a year-was opposed and repulsed at Pondicherry after a heavy loss of stores and men. The besiegers had cut their trenches out of reach of the enemy's line, and consequently the presence of Admiral Boscawen on the coast was utterly useless, and the ultimate end of the unfortunate expedition was, that several ships and about twelve hundred seamen perished in a storm on the coast of Coromandel.

It was no easy task for a young man of an ardent temperament to read the signs of those times. The English had cast off their acknowledgment of the parole under which Labourdonnais had placed them at Madras, on the plea that the exasperating conduct of Dupleix-Governor in the Indian Presidency -warranted their doing so. Labourdonnais, disgusted at his

*This admirable soldier being afterwards made a prisoner by the English was liberated merely on his parole, but he afterwards became an inmate of the Bastile and fell a prey to the mental and physical diseases which he there contracted.

countryman's conduct, looked on in silence, while Clive, then at Madras, made his escape in the disguise of a Mussulman, much to the future sorrow of the Nabob of Arcot and the subtle Dupleix. The fugitive took refuge, with others at Fort St. David, a few miles south of Pondicherry commencing his military life which was to become so conspicuous-as an ensign in a small force commanded by Major Lawrence, and at once. became famous for the soldier-like qualities which distinguished him through life. A friend of his in the civil service, of the name of Haliburton, who "had devoted himself to making good 'soldiers of the disorderly band of peons who were in Fort St. 'George when it was taken by the French, and became a lieute'nant for the object, was murdered on parade by a sepoy, and 'the murderer was instantly cut to pieces by his comrades," Clive seems to have been deeply affected by the event, for he declared in after years that his success in securing the fidelity of the sepoys was owing to his care" to entwine his laurels round the opinions and prejudices of the natives."

After Pondicherry came the peace of Aix la Chapelle, and although it had succeeded in quelling the war which had been carried on between Louis Quatorze and Philip IV. and settling the vexatious argument of jus devolutionis with the gentlemen of Brabant and Namur the first time, nor failed in Verelst's day in terminating the Austrian war of succession, or gaining the pragmatic sanction for the Hanoverian succession at home, it did little service in India, not even enough to quench the spirit of belligerence.

Following in quick succession came the Tanjore difficulties. The illegitimate Pertaup Sing had usurped the throne of Sahujee, and, what is unusual in such cases, maintained his power tranquilly for several years until the smouldering ashes in the heart of the dethroned monarch leapt once more into a flame, and he came forward again with a claim to his kingdom, and

The Fort St. George was a mere enclosure within a thin wall, with four bastions and four batteries for defence, and containing about fifty houses, with the warehouses and two churches. The other divisions of the town were almost undefended. There were only 300 Europeans, of whom two-thirds were the garrison, and the remaining 100 as yet by no means warlike. The place was bombarded; and during that time the besieged made offers of ransom; but Labourdonnais wanted to show all India the spectacle of French colours flying from the richest of the English settlements; and he proposed to be satisfied with a moderate ransom, and to restore the settlement to the English, if they would yield up the place for a time. He was received into the town without the loss of a man. Only four or five were killed on the English side, and two or three houses destroyed.-Harriet Martineau.