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granted to them by Meer Jaffier after the battle of Plassy. This order produced a mutiny. Nearly 200 officers, and among them Sir Robert Fletcher, the second in command, conspired to throw up their commissions on the same day. Clive immediately repaired to the camp at Monghir, and having assembled the officers, pointed out to them the guilt of their conduct, declared his resolution to suppress the mutiny, and to supply the place of the mutineers by other officers from Madras, or even by the clerks and civil servants of the Company. He then cashiered Sir R. Fletcher, and caused the ringleaders to be arrested and sent to Calcutta for trial. The rest now entreated to be allowed to recall their resignations—a request which was in most instances granted, but only as an act of grace and favor, while the vacancies were supplied by a judicious promotion of subalterns. Clive also placed the jurisdiction of the Company on a satisfactory footing, and procured from Shah Alum, Emperor of Delhi, a deed conferring on them the sole administration of the provinces of Bengal, Orissa, and Bahar. Clive returned to England in January, 1767.

In his absence affairs again went wrong. In the Madras presidency Hyder Ali, founder of the kingdom of Mysore, the most daring and skillful enemy the English had ever encountered in India, finding his advances neglected by the company, joined the Mahratta chieftains, threatened the capital itself, and extorted an advantageous peace. The Company's trade suffered to such an extent that in the spring of 1769 India stock fell sixty per cent. In 1770 Bengal was afflicted by a famine which is computed to have carried off one third of the inhabitants. The disasters and misrule in India, and the declining state of the Company's affairs, at length attracted the attention of government, and committees of inquiry were appointed in 1772. In the spring of the following year, Lord North, by the act called the Regulating Act, made several reforms in the constitution of the Company, both with regard to the court at home and the management of affairs in India. The most remarkable feature of this act was that the Governor of Bengal was invested with authority over the other presidencies, and with the title of Governor General of India, but he was himself subject to the control of his council. Warren Hastings, who had been appointed to the government of Bengal in the previous year, was the first Governor General of India.

In the same year General (then Colonel) Burgoyne, who afterward contributed to the loss of our empire in the West, moved a vote of censure on the man who had established our empire in the East. Clive's wealth, and his magnificent seat at Claremont, had attracted envy, and there were circumstances in his extraordinary career which might afford a handle to malignity. Such especially

A.D. 1786.

ADMINISTRATION OF WARREN HASTINGS.

667

was his sanctioning the forgery of Admiral Watson's signature in order to deceive the traitor Omichund, who had threatened to reveal the conspiracy to dethrone Surajah Dowlah, though Clive does not appear to have derived any private advantage from the act. This and other matters were objected to him, while all his eminent services seemed to be forgotten or overlooked. Burgoyne carried the first part of his resolutions, affirming certain matters of fact that had been proved against him; the second part, censuring him for having abused his powers, was negatived; and, on the motion of Wedderburn, it was unanimously added to the resolutions carried, "that Robert, Lord Clive, did at the same time render great and meritorious services to his country." But the taunts to which he had been subjected had sunk deep into his mind; he was accustomed to complain that he had been examined like a sheep-stealer; and his melancholy temperament, which even in early youth had displayed itself in an attempt at suicide, now farther aggravated by ill health, and perhaps also by a life of inaction, led him to lay violent hands on himself (Nov., 1774) before he had attained his 50th year.

The

§ 3. The administration of Warren Hastings was also able and beneficial. He reformed and improved the revenues of India; he transferred the government of Bengal to the Company, leaving only a phantom of power at Moorshedabad; he resumed the possession of Allahabad and Corah, and discontinued the tribute to Shah Alum. But his measures for replenishing the Company's treasury were not always marked by scrupulous honor. Vizier of Oude being desirous of subjugating the neighboring country of Rohilcund, Hastings did not hesitate to lend him some British bayonets for that purpose, in consideration of a payment of 40 lacs of rupees when the conquest should have been accomplished. But the measures of Hastings were impeded and disconcerted by his council. In October, 1774, General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Philip Francis arrived in India, having been appointed members of the governor general's council. These men were utterly ignorant of Indian affairs, yet they united together in opposing every measure of Hastings. Francis was their leader, and he and his confederates formed the majority of the council, which consisted, besides them, only of Hastings himself and Mr. Barwell. Thus they were able to control all the steps of the governor, and to wrest from him his patronage; nay, they even took steps to bring him to trial on a charge of corruption; but Hastings refused to submit to their jurisdiction. He afterward prosecuted in the Supreme Court some of the natives who had been incited to accuse him; and in August, 1775, one of them, the Rajah Nuncomar, was hanged. By this decisive step Hastings re

covered the respect of the natives, of which the conduct of the council had deprived him.

After the death of Colonel Monson in September, 1776, Hastings recovered his authority in the council by virtue of his casting vote. Attempts were made both in India and at home to deprive him of the government, but without success; and when the war with France broke out in 1778, it was felt, even by his enemies, that his great abilities could not be spared. It was under his auspices, and with the assistance of Sir Hector Munro, that Chandernagore, Pondicherry, and the other French settlements in India were captured. An expedition against the Mahratta chiefs proved not so fortunate. The British force, hemmed in at Wargaum, was obliged to capitulate, on condition of restoring all the conquests made from the Mahrattas since 1756. All India seemed now combining against us. Hyder Ali availed himself of our entanglement in the Mahrattas to overrun the Madras presidency; a body of 3000 of our troops, under Colonel Baillie, was surprised and cut to pieces. Munro, at the head of 5000 more, only saved himself by a precipitate flight; all the open country lay at Hyder's mercy; and the smoke of the burning villages around struck alarm into the capital itself. At this juncture Hastings signally displayed his genius and presence of mind. He immediately abandoned his favorite scheme of the Mahratta war, and, conceding to the chiefs the main points at issue, tendered offers not only of peace, but even of alliance. He then dispatched every available soldier in Bengal, under the command of Sir Eyre Coote, by whose military genius he was ably seconded, to the rescue of Madras. Coote defeated Hyder Ali in a great battle at Porto Novo, July 1, 1781, and again in August at Pollilore. These victories led to the recovery of the open country, and saved the Carnatic. After again defeating Hyder Ali at Arnee in 1782, Coote retired a while to Calcutta. In December of that year Hyder died, and Coote, anxious to measure swords with his son and successor Tippoo, proceeded in 1783 to the Carnatic. The vessel in which he sailed was chased two days and nights by some French men-ofwar. Coote's anxiety kept him constantly on deck; his feeble health received a fatal blow, and two days after landing at Madras he expired.

§ 4. The exertions for the relief of Madras had exhausted the resources of Bengal; yet the India proprietors at home expected large remittances. In order to raise them Hastings had recourse to the feudatory rajahs, and above-all to Cheyte Sing, Rajah of Benares, from whom he extorted an exorbitant fine of £500,000 for having delayed to pay £50,000. He is said also to have received from this rajah two lacs of rupees for his private use, which he

A.D. 1786, 1787. CHARGES AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS.

669

seems to have retained some time, and then to have placed to the credit of the Company. But the worst feature in his conduct was his treatment of the Begums of Oude. The government had large claims on Asaph ul Dowlah, nabob vizier of Oude, to satisfy which Hastings compelled him to extort large sums from the Begums, his mother and grandmother, the mother and widow of Sujah Dowlah; although Asaph ul Dowlah, after previously wringing large sums from them, had signed a treaty, sanctioned by the Council of Bengal, by which he pledged himself to make no farther demands upon them. This treaty, however, had been made contrary to the wish of Hastings, when his authority in the council was controlled, and he now disregarded it. In order to extort the money from the Begums, two aged eunuchs, their principal ministers, were thrown into prison and deprived of all food till they consented to reveal the place where the treasure of the princesses was concealed. Tortures and other severities were continued through the year 1782, till upward of a million sterling had been extorted.

Hastings concluded a peace with Tippoo in the autumn of 1783 on the basis of mutual restitution, and then proceeded to Lucknow to tranquilize that district. Toward the close of 1784 he announced his intention of retiring; and when he sailed for England in the spring of 1785, peace prevailed throughout India. Mr. M'Pherson, senior member of the council, succeeded to the vacant government, till in February, 1786, Lord Cornwallis was appointed governor general.

Such were the chief transactions which gave rise to the impeachment before alluded to of Warren Hastings by Burke, who brought forward 22 articles, comprehending a great variety of charges. The first, on the subject of the Rohilla war, was negatived by a considerable majority, and the whole impeachment seemed to be upset. But on May 13th Fox moved the charge respecting Cheyte Sing and the proceedings at Benares; when Pitt, after a speech which at first appeared quite to exculpate Hastings, concluded by observing that he had acted in an arbitrary and tyrannical manner in imposing a fine so shamefully exorbitant. This conclusion took the house by surprise, and in a division the impeachment was voted. Nothing farther was done in the matter till February, 1787, when Sheridan moved the Oude charge in a most brilliant speech. This motion was also supported by Pitt, and an impeachment voted. Other articles were subsequently carried, and Burke, accompanied by a great number of members, proceeded to the bar of the House of Lords, and impeached Hastings of high crimes and misdemeanors, whereupon he was committed to custody, but released on bail. We shall

here anticipate the result of this impeachment. The trial did not commence till the spring of 1788, and lasted seven years, when Hastings was acquitted by a large majority on all the charges. Whatever may be thought of the acts which he committed for the interest of the East India Company, his personal disinterestedness was proved by the fact that he was indebted to the bounty of the directors for the means of passing the remainder of his days in a manner becoming his high station.

§ 5. In 1788 the king was seized with a violent illness, which terminated in symptoms of lunacy, so that in October it became necessary to subject him to medical treatment, and he was put under the care of Dr. Willis, who was both a physician and a clergyman. In this seclusion of the crown Fox insisted on the exclusive right of the Prince of Wales to be appointed regent, a position which Pitt triumphantly refuted; not, however, that he opposed the nomination of the prince; he merely denied that he had any natural or legal right without the authority of ParliaCommittees were appointed in both houses to search for precedents; but, while the bill for a regency was in progress, the king's convalescence was announced, February, 1789.

ment.

An event was now impending which was to shake Europe to its foundations. To all outward appearance France was in a most prosperous condition. She was at peace with all Europe; she had achieved a triumph over England, her ancient rival, by helping to emancipate her rebellious colonies; yet she was herself on the brink of a terrible convulsion. To trace the causes or to detail the events of the French Revolution comes not within the scope of this book, and we shall here confine our view to those results which, from the vicinity of the two countries, and the constant intercourse between them, could not fail to produce a great effect in England. The French had been regarded in England as the slaves of an absolute monarch, and the first efforts of the Revolution were looked upon by a large number of persons in this country as the first steps toward a system of constitutional freedom. The storming of the Bastile was almost as much applauded in London as in Paris. But the burnings, the plundering, the murders which ensued, by which the politest nation in the world seemed to be degrading itself by acts which would disgrace a horde of savages, soon alienated most English hearts. The inoculation of the political virus embittered party feeling in England; the names of Democrat and Aristocrat bade fair to supplant those of Whig and Tory; and a stronger line of demarkation was drawn between political sections. Friends who had long acted together now parted forever; and, in particular, the separation of Burke from Fox and his party was conspicuous from the genius and em

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