IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 1^ UilM 12,5 US U2 12.2 ^ I4& 12.0 L25 III 1.4 m Sk ^ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STMET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SS0 (716) S72-4S03 Si CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. ■if'-i Canadian institute for Historical IMicroreproductions / institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notas tachniquaa at bibliographiquaa T Tha Inatituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. 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Maps, piatas, charts, etc., may ba fllmad at diffarant reduction ratios. Thosa too larga to ba entirely included In one exposure ara filmed beginning in the ies, en prenent le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Let diagrammes suivants illustrenti: la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 f^ ^ ^w % m INDIA k AND ■m^- LORD ELLENB0R0U6H. ♦ ^^ f«t 'b: :.-■■>- LONDON: PUBUSHBD BY W. H. DALTQN. COCKSPUR 8TRB»r. ,..t-- f.B^ -' ■ I 1844 Price Two Shitting* and Sixpence, «; •l,-» A. ■ , I 1 :J^ '' .* "*#■ A •# • t I 4 r r^ *;■'■ / 1^ Printed by R. Dbah, St John'i Squut, ClnkenwalL # ( / ' •^) .•)» * INDIA AND LORD BLLBNBOROUGH. *' India is no longer ine land of enchantment and romance )f exaggeration and wonder. It has been transferred from the realms of fancy to that of fact. For nearly a cen- tury its interests, real or supposed, have afforded topics for discussion to parliamentary orators and ephemeral writers. During that period, the readers of political journals have been at intervals excited by startling intelligence from the East; often of successes the most astonishing and unex- pected, occasionally of reverses equally unlooked for. At one time our isle has been " frighted from its propriety" by denunciations of delinquency in the high places of India ; at another, the tax-bearing people of Great Britain have been encouraged to look for relief to a country which the imagination pictured as the seat of riches, which no ex- travagance could exhaust, though exercised through as many millions of years as Hindoo chronology claims for the age of the earth. Gridually, however, the public mind settled down to more sober views, and at present there B m \v seems more danger of the value and importance of India being underrated, than of their being estimated at an undue height. As to the extent of country properly comprehended under the name of India, opinions may differ. In con- formity with popular acceptation, its boundaries may be assumed as follows : — On the north, the mountains which form for a part of the line the southern boundary of Nepaul, and for the remainder, that of Chinese Tartary ; on the south, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal ; on the cast, the territories constituting the Burman em- pire ; and on the west, the river Indus for the more northern part, and the ocean for the southern. The country thus bounded extends into twenty-four degrees of latitude, and as many of longitude, and is estimated to contain a million and a quarter of square miles. Much of the land within this vast area is to be classed among the most fertile in the world, and it is overspread by an active and industrious population, the number of which cannot be reckoned at less than a hundred and fifty millions. The soil and climate are peculiarly suited to the production of various commo- dities, some of which are of high price, and some in uni- versal demand. Among the latter may be mentioned cotton and sugar. Cotton might be produced in India to any extent that even the devouring appetite of the manu- facturing districts of England and Scotland is likely to claim, and sugar to meet the demands of the whole world. The larger portion of this great and rich country renders homage to the Queen of Great Britain, and much of the remainder, though under princes nominally independent, is practically subject to the British Government. For three centuries England has been endeavouring to extend its colonial dependencies. Myriads of Englishmen ,' «•■ I i have quitted their native shores for the desolate wastes of distant climes, there to extend the foundations of their country^s greatness, and raise new out-posts for its mainte- nance. The reign of George III. witnessed the violent severance of the better portion of these offshoots from the parent stock. The North American colonies dissolved their connection with the land whence they had sprung; and the country which had previously constituted a main arm of the strength of Great Britain was thenceforward to become permanently a commercial rival, sometimes a politi- cal enemy. But the loss which was sustained in the West was compensated in the East. About the time when indi- cations of the approaching conflict with America began to appear, the English in India exchanged the character of tenants of circumscribed factories for that of lords of ex- tensive provinces. At the time when, after an inglorious war, the reluctant consent of the British sovereign was extorted to the acknowledgment of American independence, some additions had been made to the first acquisition, and before the close of his reign the British were paramount in India, exercising positive rule over the better part of the country, holding military possession of a portion of the rest, an 1 overawing, by their predominant power and influence, the whole. It would be idle to discuss whether India is a colony or not. If not a colony, it is something better. If it be desirable to occupy distant lands in the name of England ; slowly and laboriously, and at vast expense, to establish civilized communities in dependence upon the country which sends them forth, how much more desirable must it be to receive the transfer of a country, not only of immense extent, but of almost unbounded capacity of pro- duction, the natural fertility of which has been increased by the sedulous culture of ages, and where nothing is B 2 r wanting but that reformation in the " spirit of man,"" and that security to life, property, and industry, which Euro- pean rule and that alone is able to give. ** Ships, colonies, and commerce,^' were the objects declared to be specially sought by the man to whose genius and good fortune Europe, with one exception, succumbed. That exception was found in the country which, small in its Extent, and limited in its natural resources, was mighty in the spirit of its sons, by whose courage and enterprise it had spread its limbs into every clime and covered every sea with its ships, richly freighted to meet the wants of every people. Napo- leon, at least, understood the value of India ; and happy would he have been to have wrested this precious possession from the " nation of shop-keepers,**^ whom he at once de- spised, envied, hated, and feared. V' . India gives to Great Britain a vast accession of political power in reference to the other nations of Europe. If it were lost, the amount of loss would be incalculable and ir- retrievable. There is no empire on the opposite side of the world to be gained to compensate the privation, as was the case when the American colonies of Great Britain renounced their allegiance. If the British possessions of India were again over-run by native powers, the loss of them would be deeply felt ; if transferred, in whole or in part, to any European rival, it would be felt still more deeply, inas- much as that rival, whoever it might be, would gain to the extent of our loss. The loss in reputation would be greater even than that of dominion, and Great Britain would sink in the scale of European nations from a first to a third or fourth rate power. In this humble position, moreover, we must not expect to pursue our trade with India as now. The restoration of native governments would restore all the uncertainty, the vexation, the tyranny, and extortion which they were wont to exercise towards merchants, and which they still exercise wherever they are not controlled or overawed by British influence. Tf the territory lost to England passed into European hands, our prospects would scarcely be better, seeing the almost universal jealousy of our trade which pervades Europe, and the wide-spreading confederacies which are formed against it. India now re- ceives annually upwards of ^5,000,000 in value of our manufactures. How much would be taken if our political connection were severed ? India now affords employment to upwards of 200,000 tons of our shipping. What amount of tonnage would be thus occupied were the power of Great Britain not paramount in that country? The civil and military services of India open honourable sources of em- ployment to many thousand Englishmen, all of them finding therein respectable means of subsistence, and some of them returning to their native land with decent compe- tency for future years. Besides this, India remits annually a tribute of aC'3,200,000, to meet charges of various kinds defrayed at home. Among these charges are the dividends on East-India Stock, and the interest on East-India Bonds. Were India lost, what would be the fate of these dividends and this interest? Either the claimants must lose their property, or the nation must take the charge upon itself. Would the creditors of India be satisfied with the former branch of the alternative ? Would the people of England, already complaining heavily of the pressure of taxation, and recently extricated from heavy financial embarrass- ment only by the re-establishment of an impost peculiarly offensive, and on that account always understood to be a special reserve for periods of war — would the people of England, thus taxed, thus relieved, be likely to submit to the latter? Would the millions who are not creditors .^■, of India, but who would share in the common evili re- sulting from its loss, if lost unhappily it should be, be willing to take upon themselves the additional loss of the hundreds who are creditors? This is a question which, when the good government of India is concerned, should,, in common prudence, never be absent from the minds of those who have a direct pecuniary interest in maintaining the existing relations between that country and England. Besides the holders of East-India Stock and the bond creditors of the East-India Company, there is another class of persons interested in like manner in maintaining the peace and security of India in dependance upon Great Britain — the creditors under the various loans raised by the Indian Government at various times for various public objects. Part of these creditors are natives of India, or residents in that country, but part also are European bom, and resident here. The interest upon their capital invested in India is remitted through private sources, and its amount is not readily ascertainable ; it is, however, large. To the head of private remittances, must also be added the savings of individuals in India sent or brought home for invest- ment, and the whole must be combined with the sums remitted for public purposes, before we can know the total amount of the wealth which India annually renders to her European protector in return for the advantages bestowed on her by the connection. Politically, commercially, and financially, then, the safety of India is an object of para- mount importance to Great Britain. Territory, power, and wealth are the adjuncts of the connection, and unless infatuation, like that which lost America, prevail, every effort will be made to preserve it. Territory equal in extent to Europe, if the dominions of Russia, Sweden, and Denmark be excluded ; power rivalling that of Rome in its fe' brightest days, and surpassing that of any other country whose history is on record ; wealth in all the abundance that can flow from natural advantages improved by active commerce ; these are the gifts of India to Great Britain, and the full measure of their value is not yet enjoyed. Under British protection, India will become every year more settled, more peaceful, more industrious, and more prosperous. Its territory will receive the advantages of better cultivation, its revenue will increase, its facilities for commercial intercourse will be multiplied and extended ; it will become more free from internal commotion and less readily assailable by external force ; all British institutions there will acquire that stability which time only can bestow, and while the possession of this noble appanage of Great Britain may still excite, as it has before excited, the envy of other powers— though such feeling may increase with the advance of that whereon it feeds, it will but become more impotent as India shall become more valuable and more closely bound to the country which is destined, as we trust, to be the instrument of promoting-^gradually and safely, but not less surely — its progress in all that can conduce to its permanent happiness. Most extraordinary is the subjection of India to Great Britain. It is extraordinary in its origin and progress, for the dominion was not sought, but almost forced on the pos- sessor. It is the result, not of any deeply laid plan of po- licy, but of circumstances which no one could or did fore- see. It is extraordinary, again, in regard to the means by which the dependant country has been brought into obedience to its superior, and by which the authority of the latter is maintained. The instrument by which these objects have been effected is an army, commanded, indeed, by British officers, but composed of native troops \-'r —of men differing from those whom they serve in de- scent, in language, in creed, in modes of thought, in habits of life — ^in every thing, in short, in which man can differ from man ;— some of them fierce and fanatical in the extreme, all of them intensely imbued with prejudice, cal- culated to shock the feelings of their rulers on the one hand, and on the other, to render those rulers objects of contempt to the masses below them — yet all rendering prompt and cheerful obedience, patient under privation, brave in action, in all situations dutiful, and even affectionate, where not irritated by ill-treatment. Such is the army of India — such is the composition of that force which ijr«' been the chief instrument of winning for Great Britain its gorgeous eastern empire. Before the experiment was made, such an army would have been judged to be but a rope of sand ; yet it is by an agency which, while untried, must have been deemed so unsuitable to the purpose, that Divine Provi- dence has transferred the sceptre of India, from Mahomme- tan and Hindoo rulers, born in the land in which they held sway, to the Christian sovereign of a small kingdom, dis- tant thousands of miles. The extraordinary circumstances which mark this con- nection do not end here. Not only is it, in ordinary lan- guage, accidental, but it is anomalous. Great empires have arisen from small beginnings. The sword of the conqueror has sometimes been rapid as well as widely sweeping in its achievements. But India has been added to the dominions of the British crown, not by the wisdom or the good for- tune of the servants of that Crown — of its acknowledged and accredited ministers — but by the labours of a small and, for a long period, an obscure body of British subjects, who, seeking for themselves the profits of mercantile adven- ture, have given to their country the most magnificent boon ever bestowed. At the very close of the sixteenth century, a period when the commercial spirit was superseding that passion for mili- tary adventure which formed the distinguishing feature of the middle ages, hut when commerce itself, as Coleridge has observed, partook of the character of romance, a small association of merchants, stimulated by the successes of the Portuguese and the Dutch, obtained a charter froni the Crown for carrying on an exclusive trade with India. At this time, when the authority of the Crown, though theo- retically subjected to constitutional checks, was in practice little controlled by them ; when the chief, if not the prin- cipal, business of the House of Commons was understood to be that of granting money to supply the necessities of the sovereign, and when they were not safe from reproof if they presumed to interfere with matters which were re- garded at court as beyond their sphere and above their capacity, the association gave an early and notable proof of independence. It is of small importance in regard to their commercial history, but as illustrating the spirit which they displayed when humble petitioners for favour at the hands of a sovereign all but absolute, it is not altogether irrelevant to a part of the inquiry to which the attention of the reader will shortly be called. The petitioners had been encouraged to make preparations for a voyage while their patent of incorporation was under consideration. But the kindness of the Government extended further than this. Whether with a view to benefit the Company, or to promote the interests of an individual, the Queen''s advisers recommended Sir Edward Mitchelbourne for em- ployment in the proposed expedition ; the committee who managed the affairs of the subscribers — the germ of the present Court of Directors — ^refused their consent, at the very moment when they were applicants for an exercise of 10 royal indulgence; when they hung on the breath of the sovereign for corporate existence, they repelled the at- tempted dictation of the Queen's servants as to the agents whom they should employ in the conduct of their affairs. They put in peril the grant which they sought rather than compromise their independence. The example thus fur- nished by the authorities of the East-India Company when feebly struggling into existence, should never be absent from the minds of their successors. While this manifestation of independence was honourable to the Company, it was scarcely less honourable to the Queen''s ministers that they abstained from resenting it as an offence. The charter applied for was granted, and the Company commenced its operations. But it was no safe or easy path which the petitioners had obtained the royal sanction to pursue. They went forth as traders, but as warriors also. They had formidable enemies in those nations who had preceded England in the enjoyment of the commerce of the East, and with the Portuguese their conflicts were frequent and s.inguinary. In the Dutch they encountered not only comme; cial rivalry and open hostility, but cruelty and perfidy ; and the murder of several Bri- tish subjects (servants of the Company) by the Dutch Government of Amboyna, perpetrated as the result of a pretended judicial inquiry, attests but too well the malig- nity with which the new adventurers were regarded and the fearful extent to wh^ch it was carried. Nor was it abroad only that the Company had to con- tend with dangers and difficulties. At home, though addressed less powerfully to the feeling of physical fear, they were neither few nor trifling. The rights secured, or thought to be secured, by royal charter, were repeatedly invaded under royal authority. New associations were 11 empowered to compete for & share in the trade which had been given to the Company by a solemn act of the Crown, and, in addition to these breaches of faith, the funds of the Company were sometimes put in requisition to meet the exigencies of the state.* Amidst all these discouragements and embarrassments the Company kept on, sometimes on the verge of destruc- tion and never enjoying any long immunity from difficulty. They established settlements, some of which were lost ; while others. Fort St. George and Fort William, remained to become the seats of powerful governments. From the British Crown they received the Island of Bombay, which had been part of the marriage portion of Catherine of Portugal, wife of Charles II., and this was the only terri- torial acquisition which the Company ever acquired through the English Government. All besides was gained by their own exertions, and the courage and military talent of their servants. Rarely did any long interval elapse without some occasion calling those qualities into exercise. The Company were engaged in hostilities, sometimes with the Mahrattas, sometimes with the Moguls, and with various fortune. Triumph now attended their arms, and now their factories were plundered and burned, and their servants * On one occasion the sovereign engaged in a transaction with the Company of very questionable character. Charles I., in want of money to carry on the disputes with the Parliament, adopted the extra- ordinary expedient of supplying his necessities by resorting to a practice, not unfrequent with bankrupt or swindling traders, but which, it is to be hoped, is almost or entirely without parallel in the annals of public finance. He bought the Company's stock of pepper on credit, and sold it immediately for ready money, at a loss of about thirteen thousand pounds A small part of this debt was subse- quently allowed to the Company as a set-off against a claim for cus- toms duties, but the greater part appears to have been lost. X,Mt»^ It slain or made prisoners. At home their difHculties did not abate. A new company was raised and incorporated, and the old one was compelled to save itself from dissolu- tion by consenting to a union of the two. Thus arose (1709), " The United Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies,*" which in the course of years became the most powerful corporation which the world had ever seen. For more than a quarter of a century after the junction, the Company was silently acquiring power and importance and stability. Their credit was found useful in minister- ing to the necessities of the state by loans granted in con- sideration of their exclusive privileges ; but excepting with regard to the aid which the Company were thus enabled to furnish, those who were intrusted with the administration of public affairs in England seem to have bestowed little thought upon India. A striking illustration of this occurred in the year 1746, when Fort St. George was suffered to fall into the hands of the French. Some petty additions had been made to the British naval force in the Indian seas, but they were inadequate. From advices received by the Court of Directors, that body became convinced of the necessity of further reinforcements. The subject was urgently pressed upon the attention of the Admiralty, but the answer was, that the fears entertained by the Court were groundless, and that no French ships had sailed for the East Indies. Slowly and reluctantly, some preparation was after a time commenced, but it was too late. News arrived that the celebrated La Bourdonnais had sailed with a fleet from the Mauritius, and the next intelligence was, that he had taken Fort St. George, which was only reco- vered by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. .j./ The Company had, however, by this time, with little -: \ IS assistance from the state to which they belonged, established a high confidence in the British name; and even at this early period, though it would be ridiculous to dignify their small possessions by the name of territory, they were re- garded as having a political existence, and their alliance and support were on more than one occasion invoked by native princes. This result was undoubtedly favoured by the peculiar state of society in India, where almost any one who could collect a body of armed followers might aspire to something of a princely character, and where both landed and monied capitalists frequently found it necessary to resort to such means for their safety. But the tact with which the Company and their servants conformed to this and other native habits was remarkable, while, by engraft- ing on an eastern stock the spirit, energy, and discipline of Europe, they were silently, but deeply, laying the founda- tions of the Anglo-Indian empire, as it now exists. The rivalry of the French kept them constantly on the alert ; the memorable contests for the Soubahdarship of the Deccan and the Nabobship of Arcot gave strength and coherence to their military establishments; and the dis- astrous capture of Calcutta by Sooraj-oo-Dowlah, with the murderous horrors of the Black Hole, did but afford occasion for the British power, exercised and maintained by the British East-India Company, to spring into a degree of vigour and security greater than had previously been known. The military genius of the young writer, Robert Clive, unexpectedly developed by the circum- stances among which he had been thrown with far dif- ferent views, shed lustre on the Company's service, while it upheld their power and influence. The Great Mogul Empire was now breaking up, and the address of Clive procured for those whom he served the gift of u the Dewanny* of three of its richest provinces. The territory kno^p as the Northern Circars was also added to the dominions of the Company. In looking back from this period at the history of the Company, it is impossible not to be impressed by its singu- larity. For more than a hundred years their career had been an almost unbroken series of difficulties and misfortunes. For upwards of thirty years afterwards they enjoyed compa- rative ease, but little distinction. The calm was broken by calamity — the loss of one of their most important settle- ments. The misfortune was overcome; the Company ad- vanced from the position of an Association of Foreign Traders to that of one of the |X)litical powers of India, and in about fifteen years to that of a leading power. This rank was gained, after a series of contentions with an European rival, powerful, ambitious, and of military habits, by men whose chief business in India was not the acquisition of ter- ritory, and who belonged to a nation less influenced by the love of conquest than any of its neighbours. Power and dominion of equal extent were never in any other instance acquired with so little of aggression. Circumstances fa- voured the aggrandizement of the Company, and those cir- cumstances were prudently watched and carefully improved. '■ 'The Dewanny was acquired in 1765. The news of the acquisition, as might be expected, had a powerful effect on the members of the Company at home. But the elation was not confined to them, it extended to the nation at large, and wherever a newspaper found its way, the most extra- vagant visions of wealth to be derived from England's new possessions were raised and entertained. The enormous for- * The Dewanny was the right of collecting the revenues ; and as he who enjoys the profits of the land is virtually its master, the gift was, in fact, the transfer of the provinces themselves, Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. ^f^"<'., u tunes acquired by a few individuals in India, within periods which seemed inadequate to their accumulation, unless rupees were to be picked up on the highway, tended to feed these imaginings, which did not, as might have been sup* posed, prevail exclusively among the more ignorant part of the community ; the Cabinet and the Parliament shared in them, and bent an anxious eye towards the mine of inex- haustible treasure, which it was believed the East-India Company had found. The proprietors of India Stock called loudly for increased dividends. The Court of Directors prudently discouraged the desire, and in this they were supported by the ministry ; the latter body, however, intending, when time and opportunity should suit, to pounce upon the acquisitions, which it was soon murmured were unfit to be retained by a Commercial Company, and which, indeed, it was asserted, the Company, As subjects of the King of Great Britain, could not legally possess. Had a strong ministry at that time existed, it is probable that a desperate attempt would have been made to transfer India from the care of the East-India Company to that of the immediate servants of the Crown, the revenue expected therefrom being much wanted to supply the Home Exchequer, and the patronage being, in ministerial eyes, still more desirable even than the revenue. But the ministries which for some successive years went into office and came out again— for so brief was their tenure of employment and so insecure at all times their position, that it is more accurate thus to advert to them than to speak of their having held office — these evanescent administrations, which appeared and vanished like figures in a phantasma- goria, were all so weak, that it was with some difficulty that they could be held together till the next succeeding change was ripe, and they were, consequently, not in a condition to ¥1 ))eril the utter wreck of their misembleoraftyhy bearing dowB; directly on the East-India Company. Further, there wat< at that time a spirit abroad among the public out of Parlifr* ment, so utterly hostile to any thing that i^ould tend to> increase the power or influence of the Crown, that an attaclc* upon the revenues of India, if accompanied by any con*' siderable extension of ministerial patronage, would proba- bly have raised a storm, more violent than any—- and theyi» were neither few nor light — which the advisers of the Crowrt had to encounter. There was, however, a great show of doing something. Papers were called for, inquiries insti- tuted, resolutions moved, and Acts for limiting the amount of the dividends of the East-India Company passedi*^^ Hints of something further were thrown out, and Alderman^' Beckford, a man whose wealth exceeded his knowledge as***^ far as his popularity transcended his modesty, was choeeitMl^ as the mouth-piece of one of the sections of political pwt}^^'' to claim for himself and his ** brother landholders** th#'^ revenues of India as lawful spoil. Behind the curtain l^bjljlo n^ei^^ ^d even the fi^igust personage; jvl^om ,^|^ey lerv^, |0r wished to serve; aiid that th^ appoipt(i|]^n^,,to India was the price of his silence. This, howeveiTii 19 l^ut conjecture ; but the fact is indisputable, that in rf-modelling ,^he Government of India, under the Regulating Act, one prominent object, if not the most prominent, w^as to, open fpr the ipii|is^er an entry to the patronage of that f^iintry ^ ,-Yt|hat pa^roQage which he and his predecessor^ h^d^ff^^ppg (i^(^ so,^ard(ently coveted. The nominatipi^ of t^,(j:)9^ncil fff Ber^ga|jjwhivh the ministers enjoyed, updey, ffpypr ,9^ a uParfji^^ientf^ry majprity, was not all they gaine4.,,,Ainew Boupce^ ^^1* D^trpn^l^ was devised in the erection pf a Supi^me nffW^.^Sfi^H*^**'.^"';?,*,* Calcutta, where English la\|f TO, to ^1 j^ a||ministered by English judges, nominated by the. Cro^n , and rewarded by ll^rge salaries. Into the consequ^pce;? tihat plol^we^),^ this is not the place to inquire; th^ jiju^j^jt is noticed pi^ly in reference to patronage. But ^/^pug^, ,^is ^ famous^ Regulating Act bore on its face tl^^, ui^equjy^cal ^^^|amp^of^^ob.bing, it is not to be inferred frpm(t^is,ffipt jljno ,,>-f^J.^?^f:^?"*rfy ^y tM interference oo tl^fi part,p,f,^|JS,!^„F?p4l?flW?^- . The acquisition pf th^ jUewanny. and of other, territpdal ^ jCI^Iks l|ad, c^iaqged t|ie character and circuIQl|tf^^•plef ,p^, ,^e vi^i^l}??^: '^*?^ 9^?^", W*^„**»^ ^'^""f^ ^^^JTO'^i!?ff ^ rially interested, and it was quite right that provision '*^'1dioutld be made for securing the honour liiid iiitebst of ^^ , * Sir Philip FraQcia» believed by many to have been the avtboff of (V ^1 19 "fxA'h. "T^rihiBpi^U Wiiii required, that all the Com- "JjanyV oorrtspondence relating to civil or military afPairs, ''tYie"g6vernment of the country, or the administration of ^' thi Wvenues, iliould be laid before the Treasury by one of '^the secretaries of state. This was certainly not more than '"mi^ht ieaMnably have been expected. The East-India "Company was not to become an independent sovereign, nor *^'Was the Dewanny to be looked upon as its private estate, "which it might manage, alienate, or retain at its pleasure. " The territory gained in India was to be regarded as an in- ' tegral part of the British empire. The Company were not to ^'establish an imperivm in imperio; they had a right to " 'e)cpect to continue stewards of the domain, and it was for '^ the benefit of both countries that they should ; but, like " all other stewards, they must account. The great evil ^"of the Act of 1773 was, that it interfered injuriously, as '^well as offensively, with the exercise of the functions of the ' 'Company, by giving to India a parliamentary council ; but ''tfkere was this source of consolation, that the arrangement "" Wias temporary. It was renewed by an Act passed in 1779, ""and again by another in 1780, on each occasion for one year. The ministry were too insecure and too much embarrassed ^'by their iUauccess in America, and the torrent of public indignafibn which followed, to think of tightening their grasp upon the patronage of India. They had reason for congratu- lation in being able to keep things as they were. This much ^they were able to effect. In 1781 another Act was passed "for temporarily regulating the government of India and the ' affairs of the East-India Company, and two* parliamentary 111 ^^ * It seems to have been the prevailing opinion of the day, that India committees most necessarily hunt in couples. A few years before a similar nomination of two committees, carrying on their inquiries simultaneously, was rid'uuled by Burke, who compared them C S h ' » '1 .1. u\ commit ^eei) one set <«nd oneoptii, wh9 appointed 10 InvM^ tigate the Company's affairs. Theie coiitf niii*'^ to {iK|Ml>« ahd reporr while rapid changfMi passed over the political kyuViiaU IBkiL ix^unifuld blunders and iailures of (he' AmeHckn w«r'Ml length p'-'xjipitated Lord North from ^he iMt of poWei^r The Marquis . Rockingham succeeded, but 9iis dcafthlims* attended by the death of his administration. The Eai^l'Of Shelburne tlien took the reins of power, but was'sOM^' obliged to drop them; when they were caught tip by an' administration strong (as far as a combination of powerAltl faosilie* could confer strength) beyond any which hact >pre^'' ended St)! and perhaps any which has followed. l'Wgl«a(< Whig party Under Mr. Fox, and the party which had> for long pcriUd acted under Lord North, had coalesced, and tM>se < who hadi for years denounced each other as enemies of thie" country, now entered the cabinet arm-in-ami. Thc'dite*^' man, whose policy had dismembered the empire, and hiwl eloquent rivals who had declared that for that poUby h^l deservied/tO' loto his head, divided between tiwm thie Iseoreui tanal duties of the state. A Whig noMeman^^ potent: ihfi MicaUb, > took ' his seat at the Treasury as the ostensible' head.iof' this motley cabinet; the remaiilikig->oflioc8> witrct' allotted i; among the. adherents of the two .griaat diielfsj" Wbo,jilik)e the two ladies in Canning's: burlcequb lof thlQjiQictoiTlan driama, had suckdenly made up fhdir mindil'* to>B#ear-an. eternal friendship^ This ministryy prdudiy^^ conatioufi of ils strength^' lek no hesitation in aovew>4i, iiig' its toiiis^ to the point of grappling with th^t to'tvt^ parts of A smoke-jack— the one committee, whose pr6c«^n|(i|'^' itiseems, were slow, to the weight-^tbe otber, who were mere vivano df^ysg^qd, i^Mie l^r.jnuge »£ the grest statesman, Yrf^nt V,||ke hijy,},( g<)m^,;j to,jt^«flyef^» i,be concluded that by the cembined ope-, ^ ration the Company tvftrM bt roa**!^!]. ,> , ^ . , , • The Duke of PortiMid. £«ia>*IndM Cutupany v A"d one ^f th« buUiNt and niott extraordinary plans ever di*vir«d for lai^grandtzing « political aaaociation at the exp«.u!ie of chartered rights, public liberty, and royal prerogative, was the result of their councils. Ik proposed to take away fi'om the Company all their political power, and to vest it in (he hands v\' <*o nmissioners, to be named in the first instance by Pnii^iiuv.Dt. But, furtlier, the Company were not even to ret/iin the management of their commercial concerns. Tnesc were to be committed to another set of commis- sioners also to be named in the first instance by Parlia- ment, and who were to act in subordination to the political commissioners. The entire patronage of India was thus to be transferred to the nominees of the Coalition Ministry, who already commanded the votes of about two-thirds of' the House of Commons, and, thus fortified, might soon* have increased their majority to nine-tenths of that assem- ' bly. But the very step meant to render them unassailable ^ proved the cause of their overthrow. Beyond the walls of > Parliament they had no party ; public opinion was uni« < versal and clamorous against the Coalition Ministry and' its favourite child, the India Bill. At court they were in* no better odour than in the country ; the King hated them^ *. attd thip monster biU afforded him the means of gettihg nA> of 'them. I Itipasped the CominOOs triuropbantly^ andi tbotigh! t waHB^y^ < opposed in thid Lof ds, would have - passed there ' al&o4iiit for the sudden announcement of the King's Ima^'y tility. ' ' This- induced the Peers to pause ; the King availed) r hJD^self of :^he pause to dismiss his ministry, and call f| neyvoi oncto his councils, and thus was turned aside this fearful" blow, tdmed not at the East-India Company only, but At* th6 independence of Parliament, the liberties of the [xjoplej^ and the dignity of the Crown. The iif^w ministers were of •<.\ r ■ \ n I i! course in a minority in itho 'House i of Conimon^i and a,, bill, introduced by them ifov the government of Ifidia.ii^oe88arily failed. But a new Parliament was called, and the, result of the elections gave them a triumphant majority^.by-the loid; of which an Act was passed (1784) which was the foundtti tion of the system under which, with some slight occasional modifications, India has been governed down to the present time. Under this Act the Court of Directors were to conr tinue to conduct the government of India, as well as their own commercial concerns; but in exercising the former duty, their Acts were to be subject to the approbation of a Board, composed of persons nominated by the Crown. There were certain exceptions to the exercise of the authority botb^ of the Court and the Board. Affairs requiring secrecy were to be withdrawn from the cognizance of the Court at large^ and transacted by the Board, through a secret committer chosen by the Court of Directors from their own boc^. , Tbo discretion of the Board was, however, limited by defining the subjects on which secret orders were to be giveBH-»-they were declared to be **the levying of war or making ii<]C peace, or treating or negotiating with any native princes or states of India.*"* Further — the Board were to have nothing to do with the general patronage of India. The right of making nominations, whether to the civil or military ser- yip^, was reserved exclusively to the Court of Directors.*!' '• Extehded by 3 & 4 Will. IV., cap. 85, by adding the words «• or with any other princes or states touching the policy to be observc'd with respect to such princes or states." i This was in accordance with the judgment of the greatest and wisest statesmen who have thought on the subject. In a speech of Burke, made in July, 1773, and reprinted from an old magazine, in thie 'Portfolio' for November, 1844, that distingdslied man thus (ii^preMes hitnsdlf : — " God knows, that the places, tind pensions, and expeetances furnished by the British establishment, >i;re too powerful m or li Afil^a^ k» beefli«h«^'ptabtiM^Ulid^Oourtrt(»intevfetfe-*with> l^trt^iO'^teati^theif klVancdttvetie «««' tlve 'ktablish^ Irul^ k)f > {iH)mo>^k>nf^and'>tfh0'''di^retidtiMof< the Ideal governmicntiSl TH«t«' isr'iih >e)(c(^pdon to lihi^ in the case ol membeiii' df itifie* emiiicll» of the chief and subordinate presidencies.' Td^'-thfse' offices the Court have invariabljr appdirited' in'* 'Conformity itrith the provisions of the law bn thfe' SUbjlbct^-' ^^''' '■'■ :'■>'' ' ' '■.■'■'• .■ '■ ■ '•■ "iiov !ij niiul ^ 'A^i^o'ite^efilil piirpose wdtltd b^ andWBr^ by^ttfinut%' l^abing'ih^- slight variations made in the law previoifsly-t^ t4if6'jr^ar'18d3, it will be most convenient to proceed at MU^ ff^ifHat iMpdrtant era in the history of the ConvpaHy when tb«j¥ trader thrown open as to India it> 1819, i^>l)eilP (i|i«ly^ liuspended. But when this great oommleiidiatl v^&i Iut)6W took place, the government of India wais uooHVihiiMl in' khe fiast-India Company, on conditions lidk' 'Varying ^m 'those previously imposed. The Board, the'Cdttri^ amd'-the' Secret Committee, with their respective rights and ^t 'lo ,'-)0.«'jq for(tfW'AiQ»U remaiBs of patriotism and public spirit i^t^ i^tnaJA;}!! |^r^^^^..,,;Vy^hat tb^n will become of us, if Bengal, jif|^|^e^^Gs|^g^| pour in a new tide of corruption P Should the evil genius of British liberty so or^ai^n it, I fear this House will be so far from removing tne corruption ot tte East, tliat it will be corrupted by Ih^mi'^'ia^^&S more Drom the infection of that place, than I hope froiiiiyipvi/ virtue. Wm .it not the sudden plunder of the East that gave the !^r;ai\, JAqWi i^ the freedom of Rome? What reason have \ye to expect a l|Qt;jte^.,ff|t93 I,qoi^4ure you by every thing a man ought to hold sacred I I, conjure j;ouby tl^e spirits of your forefathers, who so nobly foughit apd bled fojiT the oauiae for which I now plead, I conjure you by what inolKdiCS OX?'? thing-T-by your country — not to yield to the temptations whi^sh t)^ East, in the hands of the Crown, holds outr— not to plunge into ii^hiit/bave,b««niCon8idflrtbly exn l;ie|in^e|l^,^|[) the parties compr^aiog, ifliavo t.^mned/ tfe«j CrO*) ^fil^rir^Qne^l of India in Couml dTbe Gpj^firilor-QeiWrt r^r^9f]{t;^> governors of the subordinate {»iesidenci«9i imden tJ^ f^n^hjfinaxer Acts, are appointed' by tbdCourt K^f . iDi« I'ifiti^Stfnflubject to the approbation of therCrQVlt.1r>tXbe' app9intfflfnt of Commander-in-Chief of the forces $cf( Indian aifctfofipfipyincial ooramanders-in-chief, also rests ^'wilhi. the* C?p»r(>>auibjeet to the like approbation. The members! %|ntmenA by the Court is made subject to the aippno- balyonvVfth^ ^^^II* u-um,. ,- 1 lo H*i»,n(l \J(^ yvjJJi;)^ evident, from the above sketch, that tbie policy; a^Qpte4^]by aujccessive Parliaments, from the year 1784dowsn4 w^rdsyh^B.been to secure to the Court of Directors of the' ]^^sj;^Il^)|f|,, Qpmpany a large and responsible share in the. ggy^lj^fpt of that country, and that to that end very exfi t^H^iy^lpc^Wi^s have been reserved to the Court. Among , tI^{n)9^,iipportant of these is the power of recall. This pp^fi iii^4eed, is inherent in the Company. It is a poirtion < o|.its original authority, the exercise of which it has always ei^^jfc^^, with the exception pf a few years after the passing of^jth|^,|tcgulating Act, when it was temporarily suspended wji^|)^]^^g^rd to the Governor-General and his Council, in o|:j[^ei^.t)^tJ:h^. nominees of the ministry might retain thein appointments. But during the same period, the power of appointing members of Council was also suspended, except with the approbation of the Crown ; and even in those evil tiroy ' when corrupition was rampant, and legislation was directed ratjher to, private than public objects, th^ renewal of ^)^.^:ig||it, bptb.frf npnnpatipn and removal was expressly US /■r provided *fdn'^''I>«cc«^cy-^^vM'iM!bQfrdi^^^ standard ofdbcentytheii'jireTailitigiifr political circles— required this nuiohr « Ekoeplf in *the ciiarteb'to winch the Compttny tmbes' its ori^nal'oonstitution, this right' of redall'in no^ wlUretpr*te«d^*^ be giv^n or created ; if is, throughout the startiitory enactments afl^ting the Company, recognized as sonletftihg previously existing, an undoubted and unque»- tionabk Tight. It is thus referred zo in the 83 Geo. III. (I1793>, chap. 62, where % section (36) giving to the Crown the power of recall is succeeded by another (36) which runs thus :-i--<* Provided always, and be it further enacted, that . nothing'in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed,to extend, to preclude or taice away the power of the Court of Directors of the said Company from removing or recalling any >of thei ofBcers or servants of the said Company, but that the smd Court shall and may at all times have full liberty to remove, recall, or dismiss any of such officers or setVatJts alt their will and pleasure, in the like manner as if this A^ct'had not been made, any Governor-General^ Gove^ niidl';'iM<^Conitnander-in-Chief, appointed by his Mkjeity; hi^' h^ii'^ or succeissors, through the default of appointment '' b^ ' the ttfid Court of Directors always excepted ;t atty tliittafl hiBlSeiiri'' contained to the contrary notwithstanding.*" 'a" similar* prdvito is found in the Act 63 Geo. III., chap: 188; * sk. 90, wherein, after the right of the Court toappiiint'ltci" the offices of Governor-General, Governor, and Cofflmfclrr-'' dbriih-Chicf, has been re-assured to the Court j feulgectTd'* tr^.^And from and after the expiration of the said term of iiiri^i; years, the power of nominatiag and removiog; the successors. qf Qorj, vemai;- General and Council shall be vested with the Directors of thft. rtfra tJiilted tJorapany."— 13th Geo. III., cap. 62, sec. 10. , t'Ifthb Court neglect to appoint to these dffices within a limitea period, the right of appointment (for that turn) lapses to thft-Ckt)^'. *" \ \. tbdJip|Ulabi'ti«l^iff«faeOnDwii(itlie Act oontimhe^ <«>Ph>VidlkI * ooMtlrittdnlate^cteikl, t()-Yak0«waytor afiR^t Hid pKyWk df t1ii«' 8«kiHS9UiftIo£'J>lt«dtor«rl^»«einove or 'recall any >siich Gk)ui VH{Bor!)G«iiend| Oevemkr^ or GomnMuicler-in4>hiG/f^ ' > b»^ * tbe^saidf €Qutt shall and miay at dl times hwve fall liberty: t0irtioov«) 'TeoaU, and dismiss any such Go\emov*Q^6nbi>9kp 6*' 8(^«yin tfae^like manner as if this Act had not been made/*^ A|^yaii>thed&4 William IV., chap. 85, an Act efiReoting> greatfikt changes in regard to the Company thaaanytotliev- p^teed'from' the commencement of its existence, the rightJdf? mttalLis) not less distinctly recognized. The T^tfasQiSftioni sftnTeilre«k BMbve or dismiss any of the officers or servants of the said' GtiBapany^ but that the said Court shall and raayiat aU' timcSs bare full liberty to remove or dismiss any of aocb ofticchietfsaervants, at their will and pleasure.^ The re*> BifdBdev uf^ the section exempts from recall by the Court, as beforsi 'aay servant of the Company appointed- by the €}h>w!D,viii consequence of the default of the Court to a^pdinti oiii -;'.;._.•.-: .n i>. ,., /^ v^-jTbe (lower of the Court to recall is indeed so olear^ thati to argue in defence of it may seem like an ostenta^ tdoUs limiting of lamps amid the blaze of a noon-day sun. An array of authority, on a point so indisputable^ may appear entiidy superfluous, and it would be so^ butforitlie exthiDrdinary. statements which are reported tohavebeeii made on the subject. It is said to have been stated that the retention of a free exercise of the power of recall by the Mj^ m * t (ich Gtiu> effecting' •Stb ir»l he said! I at aU' f sQcb ?he re* urt, at y the irt ' to olear^ tenta'> '^ sun. may >rthdi Imr u{K)n.t^i» poinA^^^wasunicwedmthouttconsidd^aitipn^^ cm;, f f M aUr/ev^nta without diacuMkuoL^f Nov^ it inknttilaiiv) hgfn A . fiery I )f!Xtr8ordinaiy oversight whiob tcduldiittadlioH tlM^tcoQitinuanoe < powenlbr sixty years i-aAer>iili«/ gpivjerntniant o£ Jndia became the subject of pehbaneni^ regulation^ and could not only so continue the powerv^liMi reeogpiae it over and over again in solemn actsoof'thc) Legislature^ ; These recognitions, indeed, are fnereremg**'' nition»*r>they convey no new power : they only bcnr-'tiasti^ mony to the existence of one previously possessed.' MBtit'tG^ talk of " oversigtit "" in the face of these recognition* i si fte»iy} trying the possible effect of bold assertion, far beyonditho limits of common prudence. A clause, like this^sokannl}^ recogiMsing a power so great and important, slippit^linto^^asi Act of Parliament'— aye, into several Acts of ParlianwfatM«B no one knows how, is a fact, if fact it be, somewhai staitM ling. Such a fact is surely without parallel, except* in 4^ ckse tof Dibdin'^s Jew, who, on his return fvotn 'a< h'bceBn that this clause lound its way into Act after Act, and no (in 1833), << without consideration,^ or ** at all events withqqti discussion.^ The proof offered of this tsj that upon veGsti "'''^ ''^'"^'' ^ See Hansard's Debates, yl\, 74,^'^/*'^'' "" ^^«"' "" "' '•' "t Ibid, vol.74, p. 345. '■"''' '^ ''"''1 *■ 1'-' tmnnm-nh I S8 ettMltdflhe Minweii^i^riiafnent for that year, it does not . i^4)f«BillMi6(tli«M^«M«i(siigl9 word said about it in either . lioij^.e true, but it only proves that tb[^.<«fa^i|^upadteid ji*(ithout>^j}arliamentary discussion. It diKiitKitiiprofie that thbee who framed the Act or those Titiior^iwacd it wereig^rant' of what they were doing — that tbcfi^fstenli.of the power in question, and the possibility ofisfits (bdng- <«aUed into exercise, were altogether over- l«o}ied,;!iaTo prove this, the eminent person whose hostility tosthetcilause/indueed him thus to account for its introduc- tipDrdiB reported to have said, "I have looked into the paya^ of itbe correspondence between the Directors and the Board iofiContrQlt«nd there is not one single word said of ibtirij.difisa on neither side; and I have looked into the debatts-tcif 1784^ when Mr. Pitt first brought in the bill cmktunii^ this iill-omened clause, for it was in that origi* noWytrandiliifind not one single word said on either side in^ eitiiBriHoii8«U''f^' Now the papers of correspondence between tbtriEHrectoi^ and the Board here referred to are undoubtedly (liDsdoontieoted with the renewal of the Company ''s govern-' ipfnl^anditli^'su^nsion of their trade, effected by the Act oil ISSS^i^hich papers were printed by order of the Court ctfixDipHjtors for the information of the Proprietors, and codicbtediin !li volume, the title-page cf which bears the' datefotfttUat'year. These pi^rs, it is alleged, have been' *^riobk»i into," and found to afford no trace of the subject of irecalii >by;the Court having undergone any consideration ;< *''tlwprdiisiH3t sideJ'^ Hie look bestowed on these papers must certainSj^ ^ iMvrei been vo^ transient and cursory, for it doe6 happens trh<4t' insteadof containing ''not one single word ^^ on the fiubject^« ~ino / ->di • SeeHansara, vol.74,p.345. > ' '^'-'^^^ '^''^ -^ """'^ b'ijubo-iiuf f Hansard, v6K 74j p. 34^.' < ilxn; «<-^'i^;.-oq won yiusq S9 I / they contain several words, which^f^bMs'^occtUf^inilitJleMl? three different places. At page 4^4i» Atf^'iiA&dbimiiiM^^ paper of hints,"" transmitted to th«i>OHainn*iici^rth# 'SmIJ pdny by the Pi'esident of the Boards i the 'foUd^ingipiiasai^ presents itself: ** Appointment of goir4ltion[>-ipl]^tr«){> now, to the approbation of the King,' hat iihe?.SfxMt to have a veto on the recall. The same witiv'*w^atdl to commanders of the forces.^ It seems:: tbcb »thiAp the subject was not overlooked by the miniaiersfi^tiovi' was it by the members of the Court. At !ptige^1l27i of the volume, the following passage oeotivs :4iinQ|j dissent recorded by Henry St. George Tucker;' Bsqpq " The retention of the power to recall govcrnors^iiid iccniU manders-in-chief appears to me to be highly essoildahrtdi the respectability and efficiency of the Court 6f Odreetflrfsb This power has been rarely exercised, and thei^ibaai)lK> no temptation to abuse it ; but if it be withdnaiim,\^\9io^ public functionaries abroad may set at nought the laulborilDrv* of the Court, and may hold us in conteihpt. A goTtfiivMitt may be lavish in the public expenditure, may think onlyofi providing for his own dependents or those of the minislnryijii may be indolent and inactive, or arbitrary mid capri^iotti ilo the exercise of his powers, and notwithstanding theiffi other defects of character and cotiduct, he will retain; :fii'taat> possession of his station, as long as he can succeedi riicptel) pitiating the ministry of the day, who may beinterest^jftr'' his continuance of office, and even derive influtinicte .and* advantage from his mal-administration.'" Again j at p^^' 187, it will be found that the President* of the ]l6ard,'ina replying to a letter from the Chairman and Deputy»ChafiMi man of the Company, thus expresses himself : " I "daiteti know if the words < exercising the same powers as the Com- pany now possess under their charter" ar« hsfe introduced lO 80 mtf If^fk wferanoe. To" th« ' gMMMl 'pttitpMiida§ t'ii^liiblriAdyiNrpvtMR, his' MaJMiy't' Mittisten liaT«^> t^MHlgh •in^rtffxtetoily dedared thefrAdheretee, ttidthey' W«"tiot awar# tHal it i^ ^ the slightest degriewitt^ 1 doubt not, be made without detriment to' the rnib«tantiai< authority of the Company. It is possible that Hiiliei'wocda' in question have been inserted in consequence bf tctfae Iriitl tlumwn out in the memorandum, that th^^Btilikrd '|'ili^uid^hav«e^a veto on the recall of govierteonr tthd f^laiiiitiMy 'dMnmanders ih India. In order td obviate t^s- ticonitrudtioB, I avail myself of this opportunity t^ \tif6tm "^(ytio^^that it % not the intention of his Maje«tly*lB m]M»- ^t^rsr ttt'iiMiBt on the suggestion just mentioned." ui it > >nii ^H'Ata^WttS! the insertion then of the provi^dn ^ te(iti!gu "^taifidiliiti the WiVf Act an '^oversight P""— was the^-^tietttiiMiof 3\m wn^HiMied pbwer of recidl by the Court allowed '*« Wltfi- ^(toai^^mddeMtion f* Above we have an official sixg{i$kiibn ''<#r0ifli if h^* 'ministry for the modification of thep6#^r^lm -^fit^ftietit' tt^Hst its modification by a meoiber bf the ^>Gbu^ol Bireetors, and finally a formal withdteWtf x)fin\*)Who toitiie'Iletnifli^itihwpicUveaii)Bwaav>C'>itiborn .(tbftfe^iwnoincar, of the Act of 178i 6p«k a iBliliuMfw«at{Mim- ffffffitim^sl^uae^ it is called, which tbe AMidcfctttimKciuin- tf^tiMPrTn^lsuch Jt oertidDly neTer did cootain, iUoloK/itaiiMu i,4jl^pped 01^ by some chance not less wondeifiik ihiAdAnt bi^y ^Ui^th»,aavae ** illromened clause'^ dn)pttfl/ol)ik;liiler .^{^pt^tiwTAie^power.of vecaU by the GMirtiiiiovt ad^wnUdrto „^;t^aAtAp^ai,the'r«a80D probably being /lh|it,(Mrjtheii€ourt .^l^fi^y/pof^i^Med'lfae power, and BO:inte»tij0nj«itist«d>vof interfering ^ith ;}t, there was no abaoiul^ iixwosttty < iy>r j^f^pfftfig 4jtripj;ward. It was disUpetly r re09glH«e4fill the t,^WWw4i9g Act of 1798i and at this distance "J* „Kb»((paftfcof ni^Jfii^wrtj tbat their right might, by UpWroCfUiDM^itw ,^vvJo9l^^> ^4#»f» which is 49ot in the Act o9 I^Sf^di^d orfTh^hrW (wh^h^by overttght or otherwise) Jnf theroAf^t ,„flf , iiaS^rh-caW M a* ill-omened dause?" l^b#t»lW}iV^w jfl^fV/^^f i'*^^ of.;thBj question'-'^whether oR; aott the{<]>#i»rt of Directors should possess the power o^,,l)$¥^ti! the t*ffl«i«fl%*A* fttvery bawlessji^iBiB. li^e iright^ tfeei jOourt ;.^(>ef(j[ji$]^d^^pfl^,iipon*it.. The sumofitajiosableeireetfis, ,Mim^?!H1i^f^fP,mWmg'' -Appose ^hecjause had been g3^,^M»^.fif^lH4wt Aetv^y wb^i the ad»uw8tratio»4f »«flll hav^vthw tb#en 9i«l%tli&/4pp»M5 JWfe,:j^iid,^q^,4J;seli;i 6rofi«h» €biii|iM»f* li WMfifldt mid it happeiii to< oontain the l«'iA iB«y bepreauined, by- 1^ owrslglit''*) r **J^MtfiM ^if9Jiote^Vii ^ifiiifis, iBatters and things whatsoever, gratited' to^< 'ori-eonJ^ liniNid 104 the said United Company by the' said lAet bfvlfl iiftyttbird year of King George the Third, ibr And duvitlgf tb« tenn limited by the said Act, and all odwr'tlf^t^itttt*-' VltfpU, tpiwdsiaoB, matters and things contained'in'>th«^ritfkl 4^ .on. in any other Act or Acts whattoevfer,ih^ jngpealed by, oir repugnant to, the enactments >herdHaf(«^ ffCftf/tingd; and all powers of alienation and disj^MMiikuij 7Jyg^|lt«» franchises, and immunities which the saod VditMl Cpnip^y now have, shall continue and be ini faree^iaMi ;;i^ayj^ exercised and enjoyed, as against all persons «tkaia< 89f^^« fi^^jeot to the superintendence, daraotioa^ laTidiMMo t|p|fi,)Hiceinbefore mentioned, until the thirtieth tday.'-itl 4(pr))» ofiie; thousand eight hundred andfifity4buh**ti( AUi at ^^ ^T'hfii'igHt of the Court of Direct(N» to necalb j^jj^^^peocie to any other authority, then, iscleaff';- jtisiu ^^9^ Ivy th« Act under which the Company's terkUxof gQ^lfriypept wa« last renewed ; and if that Act wateaiisB^ gjp^^ t])i|j particular point it would be iramaterial, ^fdr tthb ^^(^^rf^ioiD preceding chartcarg.and acts,.lhfii«alidit9F»ai(K If]^^^ is, tli^p, splemiily a^rmed^ Indeed ithe^ right) v^wtt a subject for questimi^ though, in some quarters, it is mat^^ 88 tnmnr tartly fpimt wondntnent how it ever cametoesdsH •"(] it €9010 {to bt continued 1o this good year 1844^ 'thtflt'^o'll^ «Mfviied, to the afitonishment of at least one -^'llktm UmMigh whose "oversight" it had been permitted id 'b^ leUiacd. The learned individual thus amaised tf'Wriiy believes,*' according to Hansard, ** it was lk>ft ill one I^dkl bill after another, from a perfect persuasion thttl^t' wklM never be acted upon/^ — a different thing by" 1 i wy jiiri«diotien.'^* Now what sort of emergency },'^vAiaV'iork^6i wiiia isi here, contemplated ? And who is io^ j\Mlgl^ 4MHm4 the emergency be sufficiently great, or th^ cddisiMlflhiieAliy cUn^BVdUs to render ^ necessary " the exerbinfeibfitti^t^W^f Wihd .can judge but the Court, who are intrust^ fti tMk OMiei with tinoontroUed authority ? In their jud^ti^^ 'iKi^ VaeAH'of Lord Ellenborough was neceseary-^in' ^ht^j^tfg^ tMnt df tbeir karned critic it was not. The w>hdWI)uifcitei icaolvea itself into a matter of opinion, and to Mk^OflfflHt- inifiillie SHereifW of a strictly legal right, by rtift rfflcfe^^ft 0MMidenti«MM!of which no phrlologer can fix (hetkxhtM^ii^ iBg,«ibd which t no casuist can reduce to logical ditrffitictnlM^ is idle in the Extreme. The qualification, therefori^; dTlKife position first laid down, by reference to an emer^ntf^W a ccnis^ is worth nothing^n the language of the law^,''^it' fs %oidifbr uncertainty,* and we are thrown back upon im i^M pBiikdple^'the principle evidently entcrtdned by ilHe^p^\i^ thiit this itoportantpower ofregall, slc4nn acts of the legislative, oU^i Awer to be> exercised dt alK In the language above quoted OijMeJ '■. -^ «'*»*«.'• Debates, vot. 74, page 346. D I tnt'J JVJ>i«{t*> « 84 fhntt tM ptrlwtneMtry debates His tb be^** nd^ letter."* Atid can it be that the legnlatiite, jMSsing danae upon dauia iicognxilng the power, has been only adding freih acta to a aolemn farce — that the intention was to give the semblance 6f power and withhold the reality ? If such were the case, tnost chimsily has the intention been fulfilled, for the power lias actually been conceded ; and not until it is used in a man- ner which does not meet the approval of one noble peer do we hear that the law on the subject was never designed tb have any effect — that its framers meant nothing— or wovse fhan nothing, for if this interpretation of their intentions bt correct, they must have meant to deceive. In whaA a dig*- nified position does this place both the Legislature and the East-India Company ! The latter, it seems, were trusted Vith the power of recall, upon much the same condition ak the Vicar of Wakefield's daughters enjoyed the privilego of pocket-money; each of the young ladies received a guinea^ ^ith a strict injunction never to change it. This w& h"lh^^ other hand, the Governbr-General may hbld'nifllo* ikMg&he shiill p1ea8(? (at lelAstias fisr asthe Odil!H<*|it« •^ MOD of fomo 0r«*t ^'«inergpw^,T«oine„fwrful t,*)q^pi|Wi;'lfl9( definodnnor defiAable-^one , of tba«9 «xtr^ln4iof^'y i^Xf9)t;i| wliidi;>«et «t d«fiau( all oirdinary rulev an4n9f ,9f?H>rf>||| among (Hh«rA, tihe rule that tba Court of JDim^tprfif^pu^ •ot..ivo«|l A Govemor«General unless it is hispl^Mpiff,,^^ ooont back. Thus, for instance, if a Govemor-Qenejr^ should throw, off his allegiance to the British Croyrnt ^\}p^]^ declare himself sovereign of India, and raise an army tp support bis pretensions, why, such a case perhaps mjght, jt|f rogarded as an "emergency,** a great " crisis." and. tbf <^rt o£ Directors might resort to a recall. True it, f^ that the case is not very likely to occur, and if it didi S^ fexeivise of an independent power of recall would ^i;cely be indispensable, for no authority in this country , iivo^l^ oppose the views of the Court ; and if the Court are tp ^^p iMii their own sole responsibility only when no human M)?^ can differ from their judgment, it must be granted th^t tb^ responsibility is not very onerous. ^, ,, |,|,,^ ■')iBut it is not so. The right to recall is not 9 \nf;i|^ name ;> it is not a piece of solemn, but hollow ponip^ an appendage of state harmless as the sword that l^^ l^les iby the! skirts of a court-dress, for show and.inp^,;1^9)r semric4,l oras the mace of the Lord Mayor, which] r^i^ never .been I raised as a weapon of offence since >)ni.el4^4,.^ Sit* iWiUiam Walworth, in Smithfield. It is a su^ta^^i^ power, and it is a power necessary to enable the Coi:^;|^ ,9^ Directors ; to discharge their functions with efficie;n9X/ Without it a contumacious servant might altogether ^^)f them. >He may be disobedient now, but it is at bis p^^j}} For the exercise of the power of recall the Court,,, like, ^U p«!?!^nB{jn Jtbe pountcy who, are intrustpd, wit|) ,poljifi9j^ authoifityi aBe.r^spQi}isibl«w 3^'hey.fWf mhp ^9r\^?^m li -A V iMprtdo^Aly^or'withdut just itfauie.<>f lidcbd^lit ihodldinever Ue exertised but with i|he hi|g^eitld^pe^ offgcanritrf »(fqii deliberation. So great is the punishments Itherebyiinllictdd upon the offending party->j-6o deep is the wound' in^cte^ upon his reputation — so fearful the effect upon his prospedtB •<-«that those at whose bidding the punishment desoetids majr well pause before they strike. A meritorious minister may 'be excluded from the cabinet by jealousies and diasensicn^ among his colleagues, or he may be removed by tli^iil- fluence of parliamentary faction. Neither of these cauEles can operate in the Court of Directors. They may >ai|t erroneously in dismissing one of their servants, but the (Hw^ sumption must always be that they act honestlyJ ' u<''"yyja The Court have certainly shewn no undue appetite«ft)r the exercise of this great power of recall. Thfe first ita- stance of their recalling a Governor-General does notioocbr till sixty years after the Government of India waft plau^ on its present footing, and during that period the powleii of recall has been exercised only once with regard to thciigo* vernor of a subordinate presidency. The novelty of the event which has deprived Lord Ellenborough of office^rhas more than any other cause drawn attention to iits removal, and the habitual moderation of the Court in tVte exercise of its power, has thus given to the act a degree lof 'public interest which but for this circumstance it could sclwofly have commanded. If the recall of a GovernoTwQenetel were of frequent occurrence, it would pass with little ob- servation; but therarityof such an event, together withithe circumstances under which it is understood that the app(|mit- roent of Lord Ellenborough was made, and those i ider which it was annulled, give an impulse not only to popujer curiosity, but to the inquiries of those who desire to fiavm a rational judgment on the merits of the case. The circuMi- dn tianoes here alludfld (to are these. It is believed, that in bpponitTng his Lordship to the office of Govemor-Generali ithei Court of Directors were nearly unanimous; it is ipretty generally known that on the question of his removal hanges in the Court, which taice place under legislative (provision. But when all but unanimity of opinion in selecting him, is succeeded by perfect unanimity as to the necessity for his removal, it is quite impossible to attribute 1 the later act to any such causes as those adverted to. (Again, if his Lordship's tenure of offic^had been ofextraor- idinary length, circumstances might readily be imagined to bhavie arisen gradually to cool the affection of his friends, t<«nd- give confidence to his enemies. But his Lordship re- (tftined his honourable appointment for only about two lA^eafs, and the accomplishment, within so brief a period, of ^•irevolution of opinion, so great and general, in the body Jtowhom he owed both his appointment and his recall, is '^(Certainly a startling fact ; and the more so when the cha- -^fdcter of that body is taken into consideration. If any one yi^uality^were to be selected as peculiarly characteristic of lithe Cknirt of Directors of the Eastrfcuniary stake in India, and the Court collectively arethe t representatives of the great body of claimants upon its 1 lerritory. Among the Directors are men personally ac- •ntJ^uaiMed with India, and with the sources from which » danger in that country is likely to arise; men trained by dong experience in civil, political, legal, military and mari- time affairs ; merchants of great eminence and bankers of "^e {Ml^ckl'dpinibn^ of th^ ni^drity ttre thote of th^^^ftjr witli which t^ord Ellehborbugb haii g^nierally acted. If Indeed a bocfy eminently conservative in its Views artd habits, and cautious beyond the ordinary measure of catitionF, were sought for, it would be found in the Court of Direc- tors of the East-India Company ; — ^if they be found to dct rasKly, there is no faith to be placed in human discretion. By that body Lord EUenborough was elevated ■ to the office of Governor-General — by that body he has beendie^ missed, under circumstances of striking singularity; ''tt reinains to inquire into the reasons for this last step;'atld there is no satisfactory mode of ascertaining them but" by 'Hamming his Lordship^s policy and conduct during 'th^ ^feriiB^terin of his government. ^ "' ' ' ""'^^ ''' ^^' -"^n *<«rf in ordinary candour, it must be admitted, that &ti' the amval of Lord EUenborough in India, his sitt^atitiii' . 167. f > .Ht 4)] [)'^\W' 1(VW SIJHUiiO!.! (If .'M'': i. U'' nun '\tht;,!r>-tTvf lii'iii.' ■> .■>(lt^l-' >.iTi^l>•> liT/'itrn If * 40 imui|'editaIiid^e)ilttdlpois8i]UffprfeBe«r» ikf keiv al >Eab6oV^ asidii rabject **)decf ly< iftter^cliii^tui ')BOHit)o6llbditig ttndofhonour;^ and lBUggests^iwitii'«iyie«r'PolkNAt t I'njbimdj^. 8bw ,id:l^hitsimach was well, but how did his iLi)t-d<^pttft:^ :theiexiie(Statioi^ which he had thus exeitedf i' l||e fednd Jth^ ieoniftlerable preparations had been' made' fb)' f^tlt- iineiicing operations in Affghariistan, and he ' ^p^^eeed^'^fb opmpiete land to add to them. He left Galocft««^ Mhd(l!bi>ndilnin> order that he might be nearer to the si^iitoV'Wtfr ^rndgsre the weight of his personal iniluence cind'fht^'lHi- ^vlai^ti^ 6f his personal superintendence to tfa«>'ttffy^a'% fDfogress on the frontier. Thisseemed to itididdtelthot^^d^ ^greatl energy, but great determination of 'pdrpW; W^ ^th^aei Who' observed the conduct of the Goveyili^^(^fibt<^, who knew the character of the officers and men at>WJs''dft- ^^posaly amd who thought, moreover, of tiie gr^aitiolK^dtibe- fisre him-Uthe mil itary reputation of Gl^eat' BritdW > ib %e .^orih-estdblished-^the terror of its namfe to boimmid-^^- chery to be punished— and its surviTin^ 'vi^tSiS4si*''fc«W- >|Ariaingj women and children as well iis ih6ri^ to>be-htiu^ ii)^>'^e ardour of the military commaildersv that tihy 'dlktaJde wouldiba interposedibetween thdr desire for ttctkA»^{iHi aritbttt hei wftA^'-haidi tifaoughlii tb«j pramr'^. ciitiaoiof ilie vaii>a >nuittep labourat «f himildf-an6 bis predecessor as that of merely getting' tlie .trqopS'inAfTgbanistan back again to India. Yet thus (it ;(«aii ScoQe. ill success befel the British cause^^GhiTznee was surrendered to the enemy. General England' failed^ fii At^Att^npipt to join General Nott at Kandahar, and fut^liher, toiibttd sf^irit was understood to prevail in a part of tfaeAQ eoQounter difficulties or persevere unden<<0n {(^ lQtb{ April, General Nott was ordered to destvo^ J^^A<^^Gbil2ie, to evacuate Kandahar, and to fall baek ito jQyeUti.^. :■-■■■- ■ '-' - '-'i" .'jil Iniaidlvisgyng the Commander-in-Chief of the t^^msntianqn '{^(ih^tse lOrders, the Governor-General says, " ThetseT^e i^]|e|ck|)9xperiienaed by Brigadier England's dmall -oovps .l9)lithQx^th ultimo^-an event disastrous as it was un^x- iipeQted-*TTand of which we have not yet information toenada^e uUS/tOioalculate all the results, has a tendency so to cripple •(bhei^lDefove limited means of movement and of action which r^ere possessed by OVfajor-General Nott, as to render it ek- M|>edien|;> tOi'^ke immediate measures for the ultimate safc|;y j|9|; rthat jofficer''s corps, by withdrawing it, at the earliest >|>r4Qtic«ibiW peiiod, from its advanced position, into nearer .- . * Papers, pages 223, 4. ♦ »K m pplBflijHWcatiQn vith lh^SL,V* .Qn Obi^ very ^y\mk which t^«s^ orders to General Ncttt Afid the letter, tp-lheCom* nmnder-in-Chief bear date» the Gpveroor«GeiieraL published a notification of the successful advance of the troop9i und«r GreQ9ral Pollock into the Khyber Pass, and of the evacuatiDn by the enemy of the fort of All Musjid.f On the same day the Governor-General addressed to Sir Jaspor Nieolls a second letter, the subject being the position of GenerM Pollock,^ to whom he desired the Commander-4n*Qhie^ tq transmit instructions; and this was followed > byi4 third, in which the nature of these desired instructiona ^s unequivocally anticipated. His Lordship says : — " Whdt ulterior destination may be given to those corps^ when tiaat of Major-General Nott, having drawn off the garrison loC Khelat-i-Ghilzie, shall be concentrated ultimately in the yjcinity of Sukkur, and that of Major-General Poihck having drawn off" the garrison of Jelalahad shall he again on this side of the Khyber Pass, is a matter for the/tnost serious consideration, and one upon which I am most anxidus to have the opportunity of conferring personally with ^ovte Excellency, or with some officer in your confidence, yfhom you may depute to me for that purpose." § His Lordship then alludes to the possibility of selecting a new line of i^dvance should the war be renewed after the retreats of the imp Generals as above assumed, but immediately addst^-^ |t(It will, however, likewise be for consideration, whether oiir troops, having been redeemed from the state of peril in which they have been placed in Affghanistan, and, it may still be hoped, not without the infliction of some severe blow upon the Affghan army, it would be justifiable again to push them for no other object than that of revenging our bmt/ * Papers* page 224*^ it ft -. i-i .. f Papers, page 261. -^ ui) X Papers, page 224, ... § Papers, page 225. m ( n our AiiHp{riion,^' hib- lordship adds, ** is formed upon a general v\id^ bf oui^ mililai^y, political, and financial situation, and is not liable tto be lightly changed.*' The same general vicfwis atd expreteed in nearly the same words in a letter dated thte^Slth 'AprilVto Mr. Gkorgfe Clerk, the Governor-Geuerars agfent %ith the Sikh Government — " To regain concentrated posi- tions for our armies, having easy and secure communica- tions with India, is the present object of the Government, and one not Kghtly to be changed ;" and again — " All thit the Governor-General regards"-— all, be it observed—^* is the sedoHty t>f our communication with the troops beyond -1 '^r ; Papers, page 223; \\ Wibi^d&bl^^Hbd,-fWito 'their ti^viiticed {itikidon^, itf « «tet« BrAn M^tfhaiigeintoefik;t ; and a third, the crowning Mtev of |eH, ^!^o^ndng that the aspect of affairs in Upper Affghairiib- J'ftfh af^)eared to be such, that his lordship cOUld uoribut '^Contemplate "the possibility^^—a possibility indeed -Jbf "^GrettiiWl Pollock having been led to <^advahce lipotti'ttAd ^'li cupy the City of KabooL^'f Certainly ' His l6rdihi]f»'s * Papers, page 232. -■ ! • i ' t Papers, page 235. ffmi diftiotfJil military ,ap«ratipi^-»#n opewtioa aq^ij^t ^, 4«Hc)iffiaiAi|t, that, the ,!(ffQV€|f»QrnQeneKa awnaa^ J^qtJi^,(]ij^f<(«qp «n4M«R tHia QomiQuiaicatiov, to hftve regw4^ it^st^^^ J^o|ielfiB^,f3<;highly characteristic. The consistency ,p^,^ ^(^rdfthipiJ/i npt less remarkable. At one time tp ftdy^Mi^ ^fi>Mrefl^ed,Blinoqit as much beyond rational ooi^templa!(i|(;>fC^,f^ 4r()pi|n)(!jy tp^the moon. At another the marpb pf , ^n ffl^jr cffpmtJelalabad to Eabcol is spoken of as lightly as,A;;t|';^)c from London to Highgate. But, let justice.be, 49n^|i|j* ^lioughi the Govemor-General actually indulged i)^ ^ y^ion /pf ihe possibility of an army situated like that of, G^e^^^l rtPpUock^ without preparation and without arraogi^ienjt f^r mn^eratanding with General Nott, pushing on. iK^n^abypl 7 0l)44}CQiipying it as easily as a party of 8choolbpyS(Wi9H)4 iitun.pivfr Blackheath, he still harps on his oltjl string, ice- itirovoent. General Pollock is assured that thi?; GpV]en9^- oGsneraVs views are unchanged, and that if be e^pul^ jlijfs^^t tcKabopl, he must leave it as quickly as possible* \ ^*.. Ij^t^^t «v^,^»(he< imaginary march to Kabool, " shoyldj ,)u||Ye)|f^ tOMi'redir you ( will tmilerstand, that it will in oo^rfsp^qfj^f^j i^f lyifw^^whiobi the Governor-General prevjowsly < itpql^ ,pf ^j^betipolicyiiQpw) tp be pursuedt The Gov^npr>Geii^i:jfJ jtfi^l oadheoe!' I (tiWs,! wn-ii is very characteristic fdap^.ti'^ta-j^e iopinion, that the only safe, ^^ourse i?, that pf,, withdrawing 4bf>,ar|Dy un^^riypur command, at the earliest prACitip^e ttp^riod, into positions within the Ehyber|?f|8fy,,\^)^e hit may possess easy and obtain conimunicatipnS)i,ii^A^h f ) I liOtfu'^f^ 3ut K the hallucination about mqrqb^ng ^ilto ilfiahMl afforded, but^ a tempo^^y? interfuptipn ,.fp,>he < »4 j-h,, -,..q. I • Papers, pagfe 236,' '';:ii.fj .^ v*n<.'\ unifoimiity of the Gwfernnm^eixml'v/litriijii.n ,[Ooly,,f»Ktfl days before it commenctd^rrihatuiit oui the 19th ^nl,rrT7 he had called on the Connnander-inrX^hief to .furniiBh .^dd^f tional instructions to General Pollock » and it has hees^ seepQ^ what sort of instructions were expected. Sir Jasperil^icpl)^ seems to have doubted as to the propriety of thus ^mhf^rrt rassing the general ; whereupon Lord Ellenboroughy UPn able to brook delay, himself undertook the duty of leadiffi^ a lecture on war,->not to Hannibal, but to a very aJl>le in full march thither. On the 4th May, he indulges^ >^IPA? giniugs as to what the general is about, as be 4iid.ii^9((^l^ SSjtb April, but their complexion is not quite the WW9n XP^ the date first named above, but last in the order Qf( ti^^fr^ viitt on the 4th May: ** The most recent accQUPtfi vhi^j^ have been received of the difficulty experienced bynj^ftUM obtaining supplies at Jelalabad, and in bringing ,forwiE^r4 supplies from Peshawur; and the very deficient meciQfi of iaovement, as well as of provision, which yQu .po^jsa^ induce the Governor-General to expect" — now mark . thf) expectation ; within a week after, he thought it possiji^V^ that General Pollock had gone to EaboolrrT^that yi^^ir n^ill have already decided upon withdirawjpg iy^^im • Papera-^-ii* *«|>ra— 'pagfe -240. m tttMps Mrithin thd ' Shybw ?flw 'into • a position whvrrin you nifty have easy ahd certain communication wj(h India, if consideratiAns, having regard to the health of the army, should not ' hate induced you to defet that -hiovement."* And while the reader notes the marvellous consistency of these expectations, between the indulgence of which six days only intervened, let him not omit to^ notice the testimony given by the Governor^Getieml (o the means possessed by General Pollock for making the mareh to Kabool, which it was thought possible he might httvie undertaken — " the very deficient means of movement il*t well as of provision which you possess" — these are the GoveruoivGenerars words, and yet he dreamed that in such eitreamstances an officer of so much ability ai^ so much Experience as General Pollock should commit the^ folly of midrcbihg ibr K.^bool; this too, in the teeth of hi« o#n ftvuwed' opinion thus declared: "His Lordship is too sti^dngly impressed with confidence in your judgment to apprehend that you will ever place the army under ybur cCmmand in a situation in which, without adequate^ means 6f movement and supply, it could derive no benefit froni Ha superior valour and discipline, and might be again sub- jected to a disaster which, if repeated, might be fMal toouk* pioi#fef in' India."* Most just was this his Lordship^s iw- p^eSdion'; l>Ut how ife it to be reconciled with his fbrmeif jmpfedsion or supposition, something less than a week old'R' ' 'Before the letter of the 4th May was written, the Com- Hianderwin-Chief had come to the rescue, and had issued instructions in general accordance with the Governoi^ C'eiitrnl's vrishes ; so much so, indeed, that his Lordship tendered iii return, not only his approbation, but his thanks ;^ dnd^n (>i^der^*<«t^the instructions might have all the weight Pepert, p*g« 241. j- y>t • 48 y which his own miliUry knowledge and experience could give them, Lord EUenborough lost no time in anuring General Pollock, by another despatch, that his judgment confirmed that of the Commander-in-Chief.* The orders thus embodying the views of the Governor- General and the Commander-in-Chief were very distinct. After adverting to the instructions given to General Nott to evacuate Kanda- har, and retire first upon Quetta, and ultimately upon Sukkur, it is added, " You are required to make a similar movement in Upper AfTghanistan, and to withdbaw Kvcar British soldier from Jblalabao to Pcsh- AWUR.^'f I a From these orders no deviation was to take place, except in three possible cases. First, that certain negotiations in progress for the release of the pnsoners lately confined at Ruddeabad should have been brought to such a point that its accomplishment might be endangered by withdrawing ; secondly, that before the receipt of these orders, Genmral Pollock should have despatched a lightly-equipped force (o endeavour to rescue those prisoners ; thirdly, that the enemy at Kabool should be moving a force to attack that of the English general. In this ** improbable case,*' as it was most justly termed, it was held to be advisable to inflict a blow on the enemy, but provided only that ** any respectable number of troops^ should "have descended into the plain below Jugdulluk*" with the intent of making such an attack as that referred to. If the number were not " req)ectable,'' or, though "respectable," should not have advanced beyond Jugdulluk, but were only on their way thither, the British army was to run before thera. With regard to the prisoners, the qualification introduced was as fdlows : " I allude entirely to the officers and ladies now or • Papers, psgres 242, 243. t Papers, page 242. rt*0 ■ . vi ■ j^Muot^ I< think; be'saVW llj»«oy'tV«illyiibafil.^ 'S^ ifheifr^- «Minvy>#il8 giV^^^.'i SM«te WMMr tli«'$ti^rut)tlitn^ t0f<#h1«4i 'idle>>GbWnion'GvfMrat •titiirdy approved, •» ' M' >aMUtM MiiMv)O0inmdi^der-lrHOhi6f and General Pollobk; ">»Lekt tikiKiillak>Nott should lie incohveniently hiAaetlccd liy'^a iprpfesnbAal I pasHion for maintaining his country's hontniK ik^ifeoj oh' the 7th May, wm once more addressed ; be wis mppfiMd of the nature of the instructions which had foe^ ibr^Arded to General Pollocic, and reminded of thte tenor 6f those previously transmitted to himself. The 18th Mily iproduced' onotlier letter to General Nult, adVeHin^ to th<»r'fii]txMi^ 4(|(ib«^itlii^ the orders of the 19th April wek^e' issued ; (HiBnt)9 it 'Was added, *< this improvement of yUur' (klftitioh 41 iioii>kiieh(4S to induce his Lordship to vary thbie Instrti^ 'tilbn^'4A adijfiir as they direo' our retiring upon SukkUr. fMht'>inMVemient you will make at such period, and with tiuoh pMtiftutiOns, as may Wst cxmduce to the presertatioii df hMth 'of y6ur troops and the efficiency of your army. 'Ph^'Oo^rnkn'-General understands that, consistently w^h ilbbrneee^Basy regard to these objects of primary important, ^nulnBanifiot retire below the passes till October.^* This ^nctensien <^ time is attributed by Lord Ellenborough to thtt4dvicd of the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Jasper Nicolls.* 4k Msimiliar extension was conceded to General Pollock, in liiibciidaaee, as it Would appear, with the views of the '€lencval himself, acting under the discretion intrusted to Mm by the €ommander^n*Ghief, when, in compliance with .tt-t 'i^*m,oT>^iJ,rm See Papers, page 251. "j*^ .'^^'^'* * E .« the pressing desire of the Governor-General, he issued his further instructions. This is to be inferred from a letter of Mr. Clerk to Sir Jasper NicoUs, dated 6th May, in which he says : *' Adverting to the opinions expressed by General Pollock, in his letter written after the arrival of Captain Mackenzie in his camp, I conclude that, with the discretion vested in him under your Excellency's orders, he will not abandon either the British captives, or the posi- tion he holds at Jelalabad."* Referring to this letter from Mr. Clerk, Lord Ellen- borough, writing to the Commander-in-Chief on the 14th May, says : " The advance of the season, however, which really renders the retirement of Major-General Pollock at the present moment a measure of some hazard to the health of his troops — the improved facilities which the major-general finds of obtaining supplies of provisions — but, more than all, the influence which those now about him, anxious to vindicate the army by some signal blow against the Affghans, and to effect the restoration of the prisoners to liberty by negotiation supported by force, must necessarily have upon his mind, — all these things induce me to apprehend that it will hardly be until October that the major-general will commence his home- ward march.''t Notwithstanding all the reasons here enumerated in favour i8tf"delaying the retirement of General Pollock, the measure was obviously not in favour with the Governor- General. This might be presumed from the somewhat ungracious reference to the " influence of those about " the general, and the presumption is strengthened by a letter to General Pollock, dated the 29th of May, written, as it * Further Papers, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 17th February, 1843. f Papers, page 252. 51 force, things : until home- appears, under a deep apprehension that the General might have mistaken his instructions, and have given to the discretion left him wider limits than those by which it was intended to be circumscribed. The date of this letter,!' however, affords some food for reflection. The ostensible occasion of its being written is a passage in a letter from Mr. Clerk to General Pollock, dated the 18th of May, a copy of which was forwarded to the Governor-General on the 21st. In this letter, Mr. Clerk had expressed his belief that, with the negotiations pending in front. General Pollock would not withdraw. There is no evidence as to the time when this letter was received by Lord Ellen- borough, but it is certain that on the 14th of May he was in possession of a letter addressed by Mr. Clerk, on the 5th of that month, to Sir Jasper NicoUs (already quoted), in which he says (speaking of General Pollock), "I conclude that with the discretion vested in him under your Excellency's orders, HE WILL NOT ABANDON EITHEll THE BRITISH CAPTIVES, OR THE POSITION HE HOLDS AT JeLALABAD." The Go- vernor-General, on the 14th of May, if not before, knew that such was Mr. Clerk's belief, and that it was formed upon opinions expressed ')y General Pollock; but he takes no notice, beyond a brief reference to it in addressing the Commander-in-Chief on the subject of General Pollock's remaining, until October, beyond the Khyber Pass, in which measure, though with some reluctance, he seems to ac- quiesce. But on the sight of another letter, shewing that Mr. Clerk continued to hold the opinion which he had de- clared in the previous letter, namely, that General Pollock would not withdraw, the Go\ ernor-General is suddenly thrown into an agony of apprehension and anxiety. He has good reason, on the 14th May, for believing that General Pollock intends to follow a certain course, which he E 2 V\ disapproves, yet he does nothing, but waits the result with as much calmness as a Swiss herdsman expects the avalanche which is to crush his cottage to atoms, or a good Mussulman the fire which is raging three houses ofiT, and must soon reach his own. But Mr. Clerk's letter of the 18th May rouses him. Why ? Thus is the question "answered by the letter to General Pollock of the 29th May: *< As Mr. Clerk was, on the 18th instant, in possession of the orders addressed to you by the Com- mander-in-Chief, on the 29th ultimo, the Governor- Gene- ral infers that in so expressing his belief that you would not withdraw, with the negotiati 3ns pending in your front, he had in view the paragraphs in those orders which relate to negotiations for the release of the prisoners.'** " The Governor-General infers I"^ Did he only infer ? Had not Mr. Clerk, in his letter to Sir Jasper Nicolls, dated the 5th May (a copy of which letter was in Lord Ellenborougb's possession on the 14th), used these memorable words ? — " I conclude that with the discretion vested in him (Ganeral Pol- lock), under your Excellency's orders, he will not aban- don EITHER THE BRITISH CAPTIVES OR THE POSITION HE HOLDS AT jelalabad;" and after this the Governor-Gene- ral — cautious man^-can only " infer " allusion to the said discretionary power. But the ground of this inference is worth looking at : " As Mr. Clerk was, on the 18th instant, in possession of the orders addressed to you by the Com- mander-in-Chief on the 29th ultimo, the Governor-General infers," &c. Indeed Mr. Clerk was in possession of the Commander-in-Chiefs orders on the 18th of May, for he was in possession of them on the 5th, when he wrote the former letter. That letter commences : " I do myself the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's letter of the 30th ultimo, enclosing a copy of your Excel- • Papers, page 294. lency's orders to Major-General Pollock, of the ^th ultimo " This letter was before Lord EUenborough on the 14th ; from it he knew that Mr. Clerk had the Comman- der-in-Chiefs orders on the 5th, and that he was of opinionl that General Pollock would exercise the discretion thereby allowed, and remain at Jelalabad. Yet the Governor- General, on 'the S9th, speaks of Mr. Clerk''s being in pos- session of those orders on the 18th as though he was igno- rant of his possessing them on the 5th, and he "infers**^ that Mr. Clerk's belief as to General PoUock^s courte has some reference to the discretion vested in that officer, a point distinctly noticed in the letter of the 5th, which Lord EUenborough had lying before him fifteen days before he drew thi*; x ''e inference.* However, having drawn it— and the tar :. ' '.i dred no extraordinary measure of sagacity- he caused General Pollock to be enlightened as to the pre* cise limits of his discretion with regard to the prisoners. The general was informed that the instructions could only apply to negotiations, almost brought to a close at the time of receiving the Commander-in-Chiers letter — not to any then pending, the event of which might be doubtful, still less to any which might be subsequently commenced. The letter thus closes: — "The Governor-General does not suppose that you can have misunderstood those in- structions" — the instructions of the Commander-in-Chief— " but if the observation in Mr. Clerk's letter of the 18th instant had been suffered to pass in silence, that silence might have appeared to be acquiescence in a wrong inter- pretation, and you might possibly have been so misled into adopting it."f Yet Mr. Clerk's letter of the 5th, referring to what he believed to be the General's opinion as to * Mr. Clerk's letter of the 5th May does not appear in the Blue Book, hut is printed es a supplementary paper, t Papers, page 295. 64 withdrawal, was "suffered to pass in silence;^ and on the 14th Lord EUenborough had made up his mind to General Pol- lock's protracted stay at Jalalabad. On the 29th he becomes frightened, and directs a letter to be written to General Pol- lock, warning him r:ut to be too zealous in his endeavours to obtain the release of the prisoners. Is this the conduct of a great statesman ? Is it that of a man even of plain common sense ? No ; it is that of a man so vacillating as to shift with every breeze, and even without any external cause for change, or so incompetent to the duties of his high charge, that all his faculties were overwhelmed, and he forgot by the end of the month what he had written at the middle of it ; or, what is far worse, that of a trickster, anxious only so to play his cards as under all circumstances to exonerate him- self from blame, and whatever might befal the arniy at Jelala- bad, be able to secure his own reputation from wreck. But if this letter of the 29th May spoke the honest judgment of the Governor-General — and if it did not, let his friends find an excuse for his duplicity — it is clear that he was then anxious for the return of the army. Unless the negotiations for the release of a part — only a part— of the prisoners were com- plete, or nearly so, at the time of General Pollock's receiving the instructions of the Commander-in-Chief, he was to come back. This is the purport of the letter, and happily it is so decisive, that there is no possibility of explaining away its obvious meaning; and, let it be remembered, that when these explanatory instructions were given. Lord EUenborough knew that General Pollock was deficient in the means of moving his troops, but had excel- lent means of providing for their comfort where they were. The next letter addressed to General Pollock is dated the 1st June. It treats of the continued stay of the general at Jelalabad as then a settled point ; and what is 55 its tone ? ^.hat of disappointment, chagrin, and fear. " The retirement of your army,''"' it is observed, '* immediately after the victory gained by Sir Robert Sale, the forcing of the Ehyber Pass, and the relief of Jelalabad, would have had the appearance of a military operation successfully accom- plished, and even triumphantly achieved. Its retirement, after six months of inaction, before a following army of Jffghana, will have an appearance of a different and less advantageous character/'* Here, again, it is plain that it was the wish of Lord EUenborough that General Pollock should retire immediately after effecting a junction with Sir Robert Sale. He not only directed this at the time, but more than six weeks after the junction had been effected, we find him lamenting that his directions had not been followed, and predicting evil from their having been neglected. In this letter a melancholy acquiescence- is accorded, not to the arguments in favour of the army remaining, but to the force of circumstances, which rendered it impracticable for it to move. " Since circum- stances seem to compel you to remain there till October,"— this is the language used under the instructions of the Governor-General. We have now to consider a letter to General Pollock, dated June 6th. This, like the letter of the 29th May, is explanatory of previous orders, the Governor-General having a great horror of General Pol- lock's misunderstanding his instructions. Some thoughts had been entertained of making over the fort of Jela- labad to the Sikhs, and General Pollock had been in- structed to give them possession if required by Mr. Clerk to do so. This had been adverted to in a letter from General Pollock to the secretary to the Governor- * Papers, page 297. Generai, and forthwith a letter is despatched, '*at headlong speed," to prevent any thing so calamitous as Greneral Pollock's concluding that he was to stay at Jelalabad till it should be decided whether the fort should be given up to the Sikhs or not. It was known that General Pollock would not move till October. The delay had been coldly and sullenly assented to, but yet on the 6th June it is deemed requisite to warn General Poilock not to delay, with reference to any arrangement with the Sikhs, his movement from Jelalabad, which was not expected to take place for four months. This is not very intelligible, but it marks very distinctly the eagerness of the Governor- General for the return of the army — an eagernesss so extreme, as apparently to involve his faculties in oblivion with regard to every thing else. The answer of General Pollock, though framed in perfect accordance with the relative situations of the Governor-General and himself, yet conveys to the former a very severe though dignified reproof by a mere calm statement of facts. The general says, " Had it been in my power to retire on Peshawur, I should not have delayed doing so for the purpose of making over Jelalabad to the Sikh troops, unless the transfer could have been effected immediately. It will be observed that in ray letter. No. 64 (to which yours, No. 313, is a reply), I have stated ihat, owing to the want of carriage-cattle, it was not in my power to withdraw this army."* General Nott does not. appear to have been written to so frequently as General Pollock, but whenever iic was addressed the tone of communication was the same — i-etire, retire, retire. On the 1st June, he was apprized, by order of Lord Ellenborough, that General Pollock * Papers, page 325. 57 / could not move before October. On the 4th July,^ and the date is remarkable — he was informed of an intended movement of General Pollock on Pesh Bolak, and subse- quently in advance. This communication was accom- panied by a copy of the letter addressed to General Pollock on the 1st June; the letter lamenting that the latter officer had not retired immediately after his arrival at Jelalabad, and foretelling evil results from his stay ; and the following reason is assigned for the transmission of this copy to General Nott — in order " that you may not be misled into the belief that any change has taken place in the main object of the instructions heretofore furnished to the major-general,''* that o^^ject being to get the army away as quickly as possible. On the same day (July 4th) the same steadfastness of purpose is avowed in a letter to General Pollock — " No change has from the first taken place in the Govenior-General's views of the expediency of withdrawing your army at the earliest period consistent with the health and efficiency of the troops ; that is, as is now understood, at the beginning of October." -j* Thus it is seen, that from the close of the month of March, or at all events from the commencement of April to the beginning of July, the instructions of the Governor- General were directed to one object — that of facilitating the retirement of the armies in AfFghanistan — with little regard to national honour, and with none to the safety of the prisoners detained by the enemy. At length, the dawn of a change appears. How was it brought about ? Was it effected by any process of reason- ing within the mind of the Governor-General, ' _ '^he ope- ration of new and unlooked-for events, or by some other cause ? Certainly not by either of the two causes above re- * Papers, page 326. t Papers, page 327. 68 ferred to. His lordship, it may be presumed, meditated on the circumstances under which he had to act, but the result was only to wed him more closely to his favourite plan of bring- ing back the armies in AfTghanistan as early as possible. The current of events had been chequered ; evil had been succeeded by good, but the Governor- General was unaffected ; his views, on his own authority, were un- changed. True it is, that he continued to talk, at inter- vals, of " striking a blow at the enemy," and if the enemy could have been defeated by words, the Governor-General was not the man to spare them. But, at least until the Dionth of July, he contemplated nothing beyond desultory and unconnected attacks — mere "chuppaos;""* "you may make your strength severely felt by sallies of this descrip- tion, should they be practicable," it is observed in the letter to General Pollock, June 1st, " and create a strong desire on the part of the enemy" — for what ? " to induce you to leave the country." Oh most lame and impotent conclu- sion ! And is this the language of a British Governor- General of India ? Let not the shades of Clive and Corn- wallis and Wellesley and Hastings hear it! But to the reasons of the change. There were men who felt that, to abandon AfTghanistan without some manifestation of military power, without some effort to recover the British subjects, treacherously kidnapped into captivity, would be a national disgrace. Such men were General Pollock and General Nott. The latter officer, on first learning that an intention was entertained of retiring from Jelalabad as soon as the garrison were relieved, remonstrated. The int '»tion, it should in justice to Lord Ellenborough be ''* ?d. was entertained before his arrival, and therefore ' '- ..^,^:?^o :8 an attack generally made by night, and for plunder : a surprise ; a tbr;iy. 69 he is accountable only for adopting it. In this part of his conduct, as in those parts which present a fairer appear- ance, he has no pretensions to the blame or the praise due to originality of thought. General Nott remonstrated, re- presenting the evil effects likely to result from quitting Aff- ghanistan under circumstances which could not fail to leave behind us an impression that retirement was the consequence of weakness. The letter conveying this remonstrance was dated the 24th March. On the 18th April, General Nott again delivered his opinion on the question, and in a man- ner worthy of his character. Although he had then ground for concluding that the offer of advice hostile to retreat would not be very favourably received, he did not hesitate to avow his 'conviction that the difficulties of prosecuting the war to a more honourable conclusion had been greatly over- rated, and that ** unnecessary alarm had been created re- specting the position of "^ the troops in Affghanistan. In a passage in the former of these letters the question of irn* mediate retirement i? discussed in so just and forcible a manner, that it i^ due to the gallant officer to quote it. " If Government intend to recover, even temporarily and for the saving of our national honour, their lost position in this country, even if doubtful of the policy that it may be deemed expedient to pursue, I earnestly hope, that before any immediate retrograde step is made, in either direction, cur whole position in Affghanistan will be attentively viewed ; and that the effect which a hasty retirement would certainly and instantly have on the whole of Beloochistan, and even on the navigation of the Indus, will be taken into consideration. At the present time the impression of our military strength among the people of this country, though weakened by the occurrences at Eabool, is not destroyed ; but if we now retire, and it should again become necessary 60 to advance, we shall labour under many disadvantages, the most serious of which, in my opinion, will be, a distrust of their strength among our soldiers, which any admis- sion of weakness is so well calculated to induce ; and in what other light could a withdrawal from Jelalabad or Kandahar be viewed ? If retirement should become necessary, it should take place simultaneously and at a proper season. If Government should select Kandahar as the point whence future operations against Kabool are to be directed, still the retention of a position at Jela- labad, in considerable force, will be of the most essential service in all future contemplated operations. In the san- guine hope that some unforeseen circumstances may have occurred to postpone the execution of the Government order for the evacuation of Jelalabad, I have thought it incumbent on me to address this letter to you."* Now here it will be seen that General Nott looked to future operations against Kabool ; he deemed them necessary to the vindica- tion of his country^s honour, and the retention of a position at Jelalabad in considerable force he regarded as essential to success. He did not abandon all hope of again visiting Kabool and deem retirement the only course open, as did the Governor-General, nor did he propose to run headlong for Kabool without provisions or means of carriage, a step which the Governor-General thought General Pollock might possibly have hazarded. His advice was to stand fast, retaining all the advantages which were possessed, and look- ing forward to employ them usefully to aid in pressing forward to Kabool when the proper time arrived. In his letter of the 18th of April, General Nott says, " Perhaps it is ,iiot within my province to observe, that, in my humble opinion, an unnecessary alarm has been created regarding * Papers, pages 245, 246. ei the position of our troops in this country, and of the strength and power of the enemy we have to contend with. This enemy cannot face our troops in the field with any chance of success, however superior they may be in numbers, provided those precautions are strictly observed, which war, between a small body of disciplined soldiers and a vast crowd of imtrained, unorganized, and half-civilized people, constantly renders necessary. True, the British troops suffered a dreadful disaster at Kabool, and it is not for me to presume to point out why this happened, however evident I may conceive the reasons, and the long train of military and political events which led to the sad catastrophe."* After receiving the orders to retire at once from Kandahar, General Nott was obviously in expectation that a better spirit might come over the mind of the Governor-General, and that delay might be beneficial in affording time for the transmission of counter orders. Writing to General Pollock, on the 30th May, he says, " I have withdrawn the garrison of Kelat-i- Ghiljie ; the order left me no discretion ; the same order applies in the same positive manner to Kandahar ; however, it will take some time to arrange, and before I can possibly carry it into effect, there will be ample tin^e for the Govern- ment, should they deem it advisable, to send me other orders. I shall be prepared to advance or retire agreeably to the pleasure of Government.""!* : ^ Such was the language, such the views and hopes of General Nott. What were those of General Pollock ? To ascertain them it is requisite to refer to a letter from the general dated the 13th May, the fate of which was some- what extraordinary, it having, by a very remarkable acci- dent, strayed into a wrong bundle of papers, from which * Papers, page 247. t Papers, pages 313, 314. 1/ retirement it did not emerge till the pertinacious and troii- blesuniein()uirie8of some members of Parliament hod reached Hindostan. This letter was written after the receipt by Ge- neral Pollock of the Governor-Generars letter, adverting to the possibility of the general having advanced to Kabool, and also after the receipt of the letter of the Commander-in- Chief, enforcing the general views of Lord EUenborough as to the necessity for retreat. Referring to the former com- munication, General Pollock says, " I trust that I am not wrong in considering this letter as leaving to me discretionary powers ; and coming as it does from the supreme power in India, I venture to delay for some days acting up to the instructions communicated in his Excellency the Com- mander-in-Chief's letter, dated 29th ultimo." The general, it will be seen, thus eagerly caught at Lord Ellenborough's allusion to the possibility of his having advanced, and con* strued it into a permission to delay acting up to the in- structions of a later date which he had received from another quarter, and which directed him, except under certain spe- cified circumstances, to retire. General Pollock, after ad- verting to the reason of his not having advanced towards Kabool, thus goes on : '' With regard to our withdrawal at the present moment, I fear that it would have the very worst effect ; it would be construed into a defeat, and our character as a powerful nation would be entirely lost in this part of the world. It is true that the garrison at Jelalabad has been saved, which it would not have been had a force not been sent to its relief; but the relief of that garrison is only one object ; there still remain others which we cannot disregard. I allude to the release of the phi- soNEiis.'' General Pollock then alludes to the negotia- tions in progress respecting the prisoners, and remarks, "If while these communications were in progress. I 68 were to retire, it would be suppofied that panic had ieized us. I therefore think that our remaining in this vicinity (or |ierhap8 a few marches in advance) is essential to uphold the character of the British nation ; and in like manner General Nott might hold his post, at all events, till a more favourable season/' Lord Ellenborough had expressed much anxiety respecting the health of the troops ; and undoubtedly this was a most important consi- deration. General Pollock thus answers: **I have no rea- son yet to complain that the troops are more unhealthy than they were at Agra. If I am to march to Feshawur, the climate is certainly not preferable ; and here I can in one or two marches find a better climate, and I should he able to dictate better terms than I could at Peshawur." To the dread of being attacked and beaten, General Pollock was as insensible as to that of climate, but he felt deeply the necessity of the co-operation with General Nott. He says : " I cannot imagine any force being sent from Kabool which I could not successfully oppose, but the advance on Kabool would require that General Nott should act in concert, and advance also. I therefore cannot help regretting that he should be directed to retire, which, without some demon- stration of our power, he will find some difficulty in doing."* Thus thought General Pollock ; thus did he expres!> himself strictly in accordance with the views of General Nott, ti.;>ugh without concert; but with what a wide difference from those entertained and avowed by the Govemor-Gener; 1 ! It has been intimated that this letter of General Pollock met with some remarkable adventures. In the Blue Book laid before Parliament it was not to be found, but its ex- istence was ascertained from a reference made to it in another letter, which did appear. The Marquess of Lansdowne, * AfTghanistan supplementary paper, presented to Parliament 1843. \ »fewfer|ifrT*ttlwt they I^J ^m4 ^^fA\ ti9, )^ W%>?9'' \i^ ^n^mvenitm^ 'Xhi» appeared ^trs^g^ hvi^„tf?jj!De^,yi;^^^iy^ 5Qi^y.u Neither Court nor City pould %]!^,^|^, PrOj:;^,!?!? tfetji^U(?i;„vthpugh evidently an important opf. ^ftd^l?^ yjji^^\ in^s|fff^Jt,,^ad failed to reach the authoriti^^ ^|t hoi^e^^'w^^ ^l^fjijjtt^/or fruitless conjecture. At last jthe.^ecife^| C()m'^ glf^eft{r^i,y«»c| ft letter from the GoverDo?:-Q?r^^^£|Jj,^gi[^yj^ ^e^)yi/6»^ipg account of the matter — the spont^pj^oiii^pt^ifj^^ 9f,.jmf>J9i?dfhjip in consequence of reading the. *,' d^b^^^ js^ jp, J*ftr^J4^a[»ei;^trT,i "The original despatch pf thcf lf^,I? j^^^ ^^^vef,,i5^^e4 the office, and must have beenjqsf, JQ^tf|^^ l^jjj^ ^duplicate was received and acknowledged on^^,.!|.l,t|^ qf^t^xt^^r. iltii, the practice of the Secretary's oflBqe t9,H^ ^^jui^reported papers on all important subjects ./(^^ ^h Qi^aU^ together, and to forward copies of themtp i}^ ^f^^/^\^, ^^{[pmijttee by the monthly overland mail. T,he d^^pf^g^p ^^| q^e^tiipO. was inadvertently put up initsprppei; {)l{^((:e|ji;^-t]^,^ ]%3i^;j^MQdle of reported papers, instead of being Jffjt^fp^j,]^ ^^^ as it should h»ve been, amongst the, ^i;^rep9i;^^4' pftp^rsjpf. July. Hence when the July papM^^ .^pre^c^pi^^^ fpr .^f?9&@inissioQ to the Secret Conimittee, thjis,,4ffp^fs]}, ^{V? o«ait»ed.''f Such, according to the 9I4 rf^ymj^ j ^ ,,-^j^ jur 4feK -v;::" Is the history ,,^ ,,, ,, h-^jnif^up^f ,;on4.. ;v- Of this wonderful mystery," ,., ,,iifj,,i, ^^t Thif is the explanation given " oa tiuthorlty^'' „^,^,^^j Indian affitir^ arei ^tr^nge n^^t^rs. ^ "il^he PftP^;r,,|p> W?fiff^ft. ' » The tett^rof'tfhe^Gbt«^(M'G«tiei«t>l«iad th;at of 6ettM Bf^nW^ o»rt (lwh»l^/Qfr >L(flalMBUtob(Mt>u|gh by t|w tetter* tH P9Jl^tf)9ei;t(i,t)|)at,>Hkfi >.the army did no4f taki^> {4fl9e i^rai^d^tely af(er|,hei foiling of the Khyber Pafl8j^ ap4 fhp ^li^f ?f Jelalabad, when, in his lordship^S' ojyinibifr H'U'WP^I^ '^^"^^ had the appeairance of a military opi^iFii-' tig^.; ,q\i^^«sfully accomplished, and even triuiApbantl'^' a9|>i^ye^|,P*v , This view of the matter is remarkalH^iendu^hV^'' bii^,.jii^,,|fir,n(>t the most singular feature in this dAgulftt*' letj^^whi^h, to use the language of a learned lord, ttUfdV-d^ ifla|A^r/pr f much pondering.'*' The authority ^iciiel foi*' r^^lBiim^g,,,^e, army of Jelalabad is not formally iand'dis'<^' tinc^^y <{B^Y^n„ neither is it refused. His lordship imlf tst\k9i "^lijQi^l^ i^t and about it." It is assumed in the followtng^i p^9^^^(^lrea(jly ouoted), that the army will remaiiii)WBince- cifjcunji^tt^pce^, seem to compel you to remain th€T& [at J niiytde^tiy; nep^ss^yi fo^r the comfort of your troops and fori 'theirrr effiqi^pqy."* This hesitating, rambling mode dStreatlingJ) si^^,,^,^^|b)jeqt: is strange enough in a state p^jier. 1 >^uti tl}(^{;(f,^fe^,^bi^gs yet more strange. The GovemorvGi«Heral)'> coI][^]^s,j^^ to go back to the famous: letter 'fit)m:Oenei>al^ - P(^}|^oc]i^,^f the iL3th May, which emerged froiA idark4ieM)' 01^, ^^h^ qall of two potent magicians, yclept liansdowiMt- anfj,,]^^a^^stpn. His lordsbip acknowledges General Pd^u Io^I^l's Jitter , of the SOih May, but he says not one wiord bf> tht lettqi^, pf the 13th (the modest, retiring letter, that k^'ptt'" oi||,j jvf thp way). Perhaps he bad not received' it. ! Thi» -sap*' J pp^^l^ipn yi^iU, indeed) account for his not discussing^ts con^q te^ts, Jput will it accoupt for the absence of all ^di«i$ion<'> to it .' It was evident that it was a most important let^c. adt \ But! iperhapB Lord £U«nW>tbagh 9cri&Witidttiin<^ Atf(Mi«''9e' --,he was ignorant of 8u proval. Lord Ellenborough had always held out the^ retirement of the army as the chief object of his policy, ana had strenuously urged that such retirement should be as ef^Ay as possible. Does he continue to hold the same opinion still on this same 4tli of July ? He does — for he says so in the two brief and simple letters addressed on that day by his ordew to the two generals ; nay, more, he says the same in the second and more elaborate letter of that date to General Nptt, the Jesuitical letter just introduced to the notice of th^. i;?a4er. Listen to him : " Nothing has occurred to in^^ucje me to change my first opinion, that the measure, cq^il^anded by considerations of political and military f^^q^qe, is to bring back the armies now in AfFghanistan ajtjjl;^^.^l|p^]t period at which their retirement can be effected CQ^|^,t;e|^t]iy with the health and efficiency of the troops, in|p, positiQns wherein they may have easy and certain cpi^in^unication with India ; and to this extent the instruc- tij^p^S.ypi^^^ve received remain unaltered."* "To this e^te|a( !^-j;-"\yhat extent •* To bring back the armies to pirpicicpi^y i^l^h India as soon as possible. There is no li^^ta,tipn hpre< — it is, in the more expressive than elegjai^t phira^eplogy of our brother across the Atlantic, "goipg the wjhple hog.'' Get back the troops as soon as you can is tlie su]b)st;anQe,; albeit, dilated in t^'plomatic fashion, it occupies njpr^ space tbrr^iese sirriple words. " But,'Vhis Lord^' sj^ip ^^pn^mc' pas his next sentence— Touchstone proves that tjjpre, is gre^t virtue in an " if," and a ' jice from AllaW •■:, ysq / f' >' 7« t-m Klandabat* to India, and being laid down by isUch eminent MHdHty, it is not to be disputed that it is SDdh'ir'W, ^ 'ih'ough certainly not the nearest, nor the tiioSt diWttl" It "is'as iliough a man at Gloucester should say, " I'H'YeWfb to London, and I think the best line will be by' Bil^ctiit^^^am aM Manchester.'* Well, let us adrinit ihiit Geri^al'Nott, ■^*fe going from Kandahar to GhuSinee, iitid ^^lil CJhlHinee ^fo ^atx)ol, is to be considered as x-etiritig'upio^ Ihdiiii'^'It is nar^,' very hard, to receive, but it is nothliTg c^drtnpidfed "with ' WjiaVmu^t yet be submitted to. GetileralNott'slinei^'iiikAed ^^"'oliV;"i)ui what is to become of G'eh6!*il Polloclt? Hfe,'\oo, ' 'must' retire, and his presende has long been re*[tri]f^ in !i*es1jawur, with all convenient spie^ (perhaps the ^tl^f^ing *^5^ epithet might have been otaitted). Of coui*6^, noVthA he IS provided with the means of carriage, he is at'dnb^'tb4ake ' " the retrograde step, the necessity fbt which ha^ 'l^W un- f.ii ^ffOU cL 9fl a/r, ceayingly rung in hii^ uii willing ears. Yes, G^tt^r^l Tol- vitS ^tfh tQivary}lii» line qf iiiarQh^igh«Ay»-TAsy a^f?fiyil^^jW^^»)f^« lodir«pMon.crfrK«J*ooJi|, ,, P«ir,Unp8 ,1^ ,amy Ji|^^„fhfjt, jj^e, ,,,nM»¥»aUQt, jKriW the.|itrpcijje»,pfi V%J»Jt^j(ir^ftft|^^,i(|(;^ije, uljpeph^pu.he may «iQt reaoh q«Ue.^ fai:»,«| !the,|)^|;p99p^f|fy((li8 uMntivmg irjjthw dicwtipnJtj, represented^ bp^pg,t9,iu|:|j^rt , , r jQ?i)eiral Nott— bwt towards Kabpol is bis cputfe. R^l^^, ^9™ « JeUiJab(i4 towards India by Kabool I To qdflP^j^^^-.flp*?^^^©^ t,4^ustrati9nt.before resorted to, this is a^ tboMgb, ,ft.,?^f^fat rfijNiwtbanipKoR, should talk of retiring i(yXtqj^^^yay frpg^ j^^.j^ace odbi^ibe says he is going to, nor has he the pr^^f;^9j^,^|i;jed ji 1^ f^iwqyeiuent somewhat oblique to set bji^ pcjnstfjeri^^at .^(fr^iDVis ;tp readi, in a manner most di],'e<;t,,pa^^|i^jl,^||^^nd ,„(WI»di¥gVUsed, that can be conceived. He, dpe^,,,l^^ ^gast 3rf JWW> ai sidelong glance towards the avo^cid, j^^^^^f^hif^ ,on^6^tin?itwn 4. he 4;urna his back upou it, apd n?;U,st^^(i^i3ow jl wlj^t, J)|Ei is,(^bout. But there is a result, \yMi;h,jBvid^|^tly oj |!rtl)l9,w3, J from the mode of speaking f^dopte^;| ^^ T^iOrd mr. J5lMwW?rpu,gh pn this occasion, of which, ;perj|iap^^,,^ye^ he j}JoW^iWt,«ware. The marches of (xeneral ;N|^li^^nd of 9c,„(f^^l^4. PpUpck to Eiabool were marches rflade,,f,ni^r^j^ire- ej j|nen|iiTtTitM^.ii*f ^ettledr-rwell then, the march of £o^.nKeane d)rF9§)tln^(J«MPe^T^yfe are accustomed to speak of thi^^a^ an {3.,}[^^^fiD|C^y,!bjut it' is npw ;cJear that we have been,w^opj^» — jGen^ral FoUo^ and General Nott marched to ^a^o(^l^ and jtheseimarphes w^r^ steps in retirement. Lor^ J^eajie made ^(„^{Piin^\l^^:,iparch, and, therefore, his lordsj^iip, must i^liSOi^ave Of! Jli^?PP7riBtirin^,; though, so blindly infetuated have,w^^aJways Q^uJj^nrJth^^fWe have.irqgavdedhi^ march, ^.^n^dyance^ It is -n»i V^lefi*|tp, ^fay , th^t.^e t>yp, f^eijpfals,, jP(^l}^k^^ndJ^^|jott, io'Mifl ,np^r?nei»{- :e}^ay^,^|j^h^,they wei-^ pply^to^jperform ,0(.) nr 74 certain acts, and then to evacuate the country. Thii does not canvert an advance into a retreat ; and, moreover, this was precisely what was contemplated ^n the case of Lord Keane and his army. They woi.' u.f lu remain; they were to fix Shah Shoojah on I'le thiCiie) and then to with- draw. But stifling for a tin e — if we can — the laugh of derision which such perversion of language cannot fail to raise, let us ask, why was this contemptible jugglinc with words resorted to ? The answer is plain — to suve the inl'al- libility of Lord Ellenborough. He had been for months saying that there was no course but retreat, and he con- tinued to say so w\cn forced by a regard to his reputa^ tion to yield — not to the more mature dictates of his own judgment — ^but to the counsels of others, and to change his policy. He thought the change might be masked — so he goes on still preaching retr<;; it, but giving a new gloss to, the old text. Retreat was still the word — the deuree ^j^ it^, adoooDpUsbment had gone forth — but— the line of retirsat \fas opeo— oind what an extraordinary line it was has h^^, already shewn* But to forget for a moment—>if possiblemT' th0i astounding audacity of this proceeding, let us loQk/At,, (|»e consistency which marked it. A letter is written U^j Q&nerak Nott on the 4th July, telling him thpt the GiOr) v|^fi)Qr4jrenerars mind is unalte- edi, and that h must nott cnftclude Otherwise from any movement of General Pollock/ Another^ letter is written on the same day, giving the g^, m»rdiH permission either to act in accordance with the Go- vtihrodr-Gfeneral's views which remained unchanged, or to f((>Uow bis lio sly di99p. pifce of policy. Why was it net placed upon eeoffdfi Wat itii ito Vr »r) its contents entirely secret ? Secrecy ia *• go<)d!thing destruction of the army at Kabool ; and you must feel aa* 1 1 I do, that the loss of another army, from whatever cause^ - it might arise, might be fatal to our Government in India. . I do not undervalue the aid which our Government in India would receive from the successful execution by youri 1 army of a march through Gbuznee and Kabool, over theu . scenes of our late disasters. I know all the effect which it 7t of bat enemiei th Aiffit,' and of ouV couhtrynieh, and' of* all fot6\pt nations it) £i:i(fbpe. It Ift an object of Just ambition, wh\th no 6nia more than myself would reioice to see eflkied t but"! see that failure in the attempt is certain ana irftftti^able ruin ; and I would endeavour to inspire you wHh'th^ Vi^esaary caution, and malce you feel tfiat, jgreat at ai^ th^ objet^ts to be obtained by success, the risk is great alM>i^'geMr06)ty of this proceeding — suppose tnat General Nottf hkd' 'participated in the more than girlish timidity or Lovd>>£(1enborough, and had said — *' I can get' likclc in saiWty W sukkur, so I will run no risk by trying to reach Kabdol^'*' Ke th^ would have incurred alf tne odium,^ atWndatltiVlh ^^ inglorious an abandonment of AJniirhanistan. It) would' nav<^ been said — " you had permission to ,ff0 on, and*}V)Udid'irt6t. The Governor-General would thu^ hav6 •Vf 1 II llO'( beei|«ttinelrated ; and now that he has found men more cou- , rail'^tMM't'hah himself — men who dared to perform whal ne dia'nof i^tldh dare to r^ommend, shall he enjoy any portion ^ of^thfe JirW&y dU'^ tb theirnoble conduct ? Justice forliiSs it^'*^ Whift," giVtf tb^ jirlk^ to one who never entered tlie lists, or eveii'dividdit' between the gallant soldiers to wliose counsel , the^mbv^ment is't(y be' attributed, as is its success to t^'eir arm —divide 'it between these distinguished men and ** a certain . lord',>tt^t, trihlly drest," whose dislike ^* to those vile guns ^ . wa»' sd gr^at f hat lie thought it better to fly than to figiitT ^ Honour, ^neVer-dyin^ nonodr, rest on the heroes whpres> cued I th& Brtti^l'i liiirti^ in Alffg^anistan from {he contemi)T ti riarriw JOftt-. xii Aiifgh* P«ep 328. . iic ibt h. 78 i> into which it had fallen ! but let not another, presuming upon the accideut of his having at the time held the highest office in the government of British India, be allowed to step in, and rob them of any portion of the glory which is theirs, «nd theirs alone. Is there on record any parallel to the conduct of Lord Ellenborough ? Yes, one instance occurs. The 'readers of Roderick Random will remember, that while that erratic person is serving as a surgeon's mate on board a man-of- war, his superior, one Dr. Macshane, proposes to amputate a sailor's leg, in a case where Roderick and one of his co- mates do not think the operation necessary. The doctor, shocked at the contumacy of his assistants, at first talks big, and declares that he is not accountable to them for his prac- tice; but not feeling quite secure in his own judgment, and not liking to bear the responsibility of operating in opposition to theirs, he, after slight consideration, hits upon the expedient of turning the case over to his mates, and holding tiiem accountable for the result. Just so did Lord Ellenborough. He gives orders, against which remonstrance is made by those who are to execute them. K*? persists for a while, and then, in conformity with the precedent afforded by the case of Dr. Macshane, he lets his troublesome advisers do as thoy please, but saddles the concession with a complete transfer of all responsibility from himself. Jack Ratlin, the wounded sailor, recovered under the hands of the two mates — no thanks to Dr. Mac- shane. The honour of England was vindicated in Aff- ghanistan — but no thanks to Lord Ellenborough. He re- nounced all claim to praise by renouncing all responsibility. He would have nothing to do with the march to Kabool. Like the sceptical Philosopher Marphurius, in Le Marriage Force, he said, ♦* Je m'en lave les mains," though with far ■' f ^M m better luck ; Moli^re^s hero received a hearty thrashing for his indiflbrence ; — -'^ '•^' ' ' " But yet, as fortuise, by the self-same ways ' ,, She humbles many, some delights to raise," Lord Ellenborough, by a like manifestation, gains an Earl's coronet, and a Grand Cross of the Bath. Yet indifferent as was Lord Ellenborough to some things, which appealed powerfully to the feelings of men inferior in rank to the Governor- General of India, it must not be supposed that he was on all subjects equally philosophical. He was not such " a dish of skimmed-milk " but that there were matters capable of moving him, and the letter to General Nott affords an instance. Anticipating that the general would be so hot-headed as to advance upon Ghuznee and Kabool^ — to retreat by way of these places it should have been said — anticipating this movement, Lord Ellenborough thus instructs the gallant officer upon a very important point relating to his conduct at the former place. " You will bring away from the tomb of Mahmood of Ghuznee his club which hangs over it, and you will bring away the gates of his tomb, which are the gates of the temple of Somnauthc'"* Let the defamers of Lord Ellen- borough now stand forth and say, if they dare, that he is without enthusiasm. The charge is false. His enthu- siasm may be of extraordinary character — it may require extraordinary occasions to call it forth — ^but it is clear that it may be called forth. Though it may slumber long, it exists. True, that the reparation of the damaged honour of Great Britain did not provoke rt; true, that it was proof against the claims of the brave men, de- licate women, and innocent children who were in capti- vity among the Aff'ghans; but it is raised to boiling- heat by the thoughts of a mouldy old club and a pair of * Page3J8. ^ ■vs. 80 ration' gatefl. ' No, tt xfoxiia hb Wr6i^g t(^ VKai^'LdNI'£lM. borough with being < -eficient in' generous enthusik^lin'^ t)iii the feeling i» in him of a singular kind. I^he dub, ^la^1 eluded the grasp of the victors of Ghuznee ; but the j^tra —thrice happy chance! were taken; a fact a4 wdl lcn6w^ as John Gilpin's ride to Ware and back again. ' " i-'"' " 1 am a linen-draper bold, As all the world doth know." "'" ">' '^ '^'^rf* And Lord Ellen borough took good care that all the worttf should know the story of the gates of Somnauth.' TH^ Hindoo princes, he thought, would be delighted witH'it^ and he rushed to electrify them with the good new^''5(^ eagerly as ancient Pistol to communicate to Sir John FaK staff the news of the accession to the throne of his old booh* companion, Henry the Fifth. " Sir John, I am thy Pistol and thy friend, ' And helter-skelter have T rode to thee, '• ' '" And tidings do I brin|f, and lucky joy, ' < • .> And golden times, and happy news of price/' But ancient Pistol never uttered such fustian as is to bfe found in a certain Indian state paper. Who has forgotten the famous proclamation which threw Europe, Asiii, and' America, into apoplectic fits of laughter, except when the risible propensity was subdued by rising feelings of dis- gust or apprehension ? That a Christian nobleman should' have dictated such a proclamation and sent it forth, with' the stamp of his authority, is indeed calculated to excite impressions of deep regret, not less than of surprise. But' that any man, except the concoctor of a low American news- paper — one of the fraternity transatlantically denominated Slangwhangers — couM have written such a paper, would have exceeded belief were not the fact before us. If there> be in existence any state paper with which it may fitly be .11 (•» ^Ufif >i i(.>rt xt tinB 9MW^f ^' W^, have. (9?Rana^4 from »he cabinet of JKmg ^^l^ro^D^Cft^thqlpgos. B'.)t to this sounding prelude what succeeded? The p^^di^ of the gates was to delight Lord Ellenborough's " brothers and friends," — so he styled - ^ff^ — tj^lEs.HindQo princes and chiefs. Did it answer the purpose? F^r from it. His lordship's enthusiasm was shared by none. No man in India but himself cared for these gates, or deemed them worth a thought. To him they furnished a stand on which to hang the flowers of Bed- l^n eloquence, and there their importance ended. They glinnber in obscurity, no one knows where. Certainly they ^ve.npt been honoured with a triumphal progress into Qiizerajt, as Lord Ellenborough proposed, and it seems that if,,^ey had, there is no temple for them ! - > The folly of this unparalleled proclamation is ob- vious enough — the political danger attending its issue is not less apparent. His lordship had a keen scent for danger when British honour was to be vindicated and British prisoners rescued. How came his appre- hensions to be lulled into insensibility when he prepared t|:\i8, extraordinary paper ? Did his lordship think that in thi^ proclamation he should carry with him the feelings o£ the Mabomedan subjects of the British Crown? Did it never occur to him that the almost divine honours claimed fpf a trumpery piece of carpenter"'s work might be offen- sjjve, to those who, though aliens from the Christian fojd, have yet a deep horror of idolatry, aiid of all that ministers to it ? Did he overlook the fact, that the capture of these gates, if a triumph for the Hindoos, was a tnumph over the Mahonjedans, or did he think fhat there was no danger in irritating the latter ? Did i)e '*')rgct how prpud and excitable is the Mabomedan character — that those by. whom the gates of Somnauth were carried to Ghuznc^ ■"¥■ it I >jr,ere,foUQwer9of^ahome^«apnJ tlj^tth* original ,i:fiptyw^ ,the gatefi) tike their vccaptu^ei wasles^ a \)f^Monal th^n>a r^ljip giQUS cause of triumph ? Did he forget that thovuiaiidf^ipf Mahomedans were serving in the British armies, AQ(Jl that, jit was scarcely worth while to offend them for th^ sake ,pf trumpeting the march of the gates, of which the tomh p^ Mahutood the Destroyer had been despoiled, even though the tomb his lordship assured his *< brothers and friends * looked/ upon the ruins of Ghuznee,^' — an extraordinary proceeding on the part of the tomb. Did he forget his own declt^ra^' tion— surely he could not forget that whatever else might slip from his memory, that the war had " assumed a religious as well as national character?""* or did he disregard the possible consequences of disgusting a host of bold, reckleiss, uncalculating men, whose " brothers and friends " in AflP- ghanistan professed, Uke themselves, the creed of Mahomed? True, no harm has followed. The Mahomedan populatiori of India huve cast aside their ordinary gravity, and, lik^ all the world beside, laughed at the mad effusion which tlie Governor-General thought would please everybody, and found to please nobody. But because no mischief lias ensued, are we to acquit the man who provoked it? A burning braad may be thrown into a mass of combustibles^ and it may happen that the mass does not take fire, but we do not thereupon conclude that the application of the brand was a prudent or even an innocent act. Lord Ellenborough's prochmatiop has turned out only a good jest, but it might have l)pen no jest at all. There would have been nothing like a jest in a widely-spread Mahomedan revolt. We might have been satisfied, as we are now, that Lord Ellenborough did not intend to produce such an out- • Letter to Sir Jasper Nicolls, 15th March, 1842. Papers, pag"* 167. !.. »/l I ♦<|V i! 8S IjireAk^that hia !ofdshl|5; in fatt, me^iit nbthing by his ]l>W^laniation'^that it was a mfere flourish of words, as trtime^ning as a flourish of trumpets ; but had an insurrec- tioin ' followed, it would have consoled us little to recollect that it had no more dignified origin than the passion of a GdVernor-General for writing turgid nonsense. mj • ^'■'^ '"There v/as another proclamation issued a few mont!Hs Iwfore, something in the same strain with the Somnauth paper. One passage is very characteristic of the author. " Difealsters unparalleled in their extent, unless by the errors ih which they originated, and the treachery by which they wiere completed, have, in one short campaign, been avenged lipon every scene of past misfortune.'" Now did it become the Governor- General of India thus publicly to cast a stigma on his predecessor, whoever he might have been ? It is not necessary to defend the policy of Lord Auckland- many, and among them some of the highest authorities on Indian affairs, condemn that policy — but, whether it were right or wrong, Lord Ellenborough had no right to sit in judgment upon it — no official right ; he might hold his own opinion, he might express that opinion to his friends, or after he had quitted office, not before — he might have dif- fused it by means of the press; but as Governor- General of India, Lord Ellenborough had no right publicly to cri- ticise his predecessor. The bad taste of the proceeding is aggravated by the character of the party attacked. The administration of Lord Auckland terminated amid clouds; but who is there of any party who will deny to his lordship the character of an upright, conscientious, and intelligent functionary ? Moreover, Lord Auckland was eminently a modest and unpresuming statesman : Oh ! how unlike, in this respect, to his successor. I^owards the conclusion of this proclamation, the first in G 2 84 ttt&er'hf time, thotigh the AK^dnMiced, are two ititimfttiofis •^Jf very singular nnk;tion with' llwit which has followed. The first of them iis t6^ Che effect that ** fhe rivers of the Punjaub and the Indus ''' are to •* be |)lkded' between a British army and an enemy approaching froiii the West.*" The Indus, therefore, is to be one of the bdundaries of British territory and occupation. The sen- Wttcd immediately preceding the passage alxive quoted itimmeiicp!. th.is : — " Content with the limits nature appears to have assigned to its empire, the Government' of India '^ill devote all its eflPorts to the establishment and mainte- 'natic of j^neral peace.'" This last word brings os to the lii^c(>i. point, which is prominently put forward irt'the ' sentence w't Is "which the proclamation concludes :>^*^' Silii- Cerely attached to peace, for the sake of the benefitB iticoii- fers upon the people, the Governor- General is resolved' that PEACE shall be observed." Here are two things pronounded distinctly ; first, that Lord Ellenborough would regard the ' Indus as a natural boundary of the British Empire in the East, and secondly, that his policy should be pacific — »U '«« I'he lajy (jotj, proti'st too much, methinks, "' - hibkion of English merchants settling in the country. By -another treaty with Khyrpoor, the passage of the river was conceded upon the same terms as might be agreed upon ff with the Government of Hydrabad. A supplementary - treaty, having reference especially to the tolls to be levied, was concluded with the Hydrabad Go"ernment very soon CI after the former treaty ; and in 1834, a commercial treaty, in ' conformity with a provision in the supplementary one, was entered into with the same state, and extended to Khjrpoof) as previously agreediuponvM: In 1888, another treaty «ras formed, by which the British GoKernraQnt undertook to use its good offioea to adjust differencea eyjst- ing between the Ameers and Runjeet Singhi the Sikh rukr, who meditated the extension of his conquests in ihe direction of Sinde. By this treaty, also^ the ;Am#ecs agreed, for the first time, to receive permr:iently a British minister to reside at Hydrabad, or elsewhere wJ^hin their dominions, as he might deem expedient. .,'*> ,mv''\ ii'rxrfn ^ Sinde was formerly a dependency of the Mogul empire. Al)uut the middle of the hist century it became subje(vt. to Kabool, but from the weakness of the Government of 1]ha,t country, the dependency was little more than nominal When the Britisii Government resolved to support the claims of Shah Shoojah, and reinstate him in possession, lof his dominions, it was deemed necessary to settle the relation of Sinde with Kabool, and accordingly, by an article in the Tripartite treaty, to which the British Government, Ruor jeet Singh, and Shoojah-ool-Moolk were parties, it was pro- vided that, on the payment, by the Ameers, to Shoojah-ooL- Moolk of a sum to be fixed under the mediation of the British Government (part of which was to be paid by Shoojah to Runjeet Singh), all the claims of the ruler of Kabool upon Sinde, whether of supremacy or for tribute^ were to be relinquished, and the country was to continue to belong to the Ameers and their successors in perpetuity. The conclusion of this treaty, and the mode in which their interests were affected by it, were communicated to the Ameers by the British minister at Hydrabad, who was instructed, also, to announce the approach of the army intended to reseat Shah Shoojah on the throne of KabooL A long course of diplomatic proceedings, varied by sundry hoHtile acts en the part of the British Government, too I'r m tr«n'kV)o#ti'tbRll[luire>detaUfiiere followed. These leiuied Tft th6 concluslovi «if new trderti^, tht effisot of whic^ wm to lidd the Amc^i^ tcythe niimV' : of princes ov«r irhom the Bri^tishf'GoVernment held ' contirol by the tenure of a sub- didiai'y 'alli*nee. Thus matters stood in February, 184A, 'WlMtl Lord Ellenborough arrived to take the reins of '^V^rhmertt' in India. "It ii9 not offering his lordship any injustice to say Ihat almost from the period of his entering upon the duties of his bffic^, he lieems to have contemplated the reduction of Sinde to the condition of a British province, in name as Wfll las in fad. On the 6th May, 184?, \..i Hgient in Sifide, idubr.!) dj^9 \}j}^ 3<^,Mfty^f TMf iJriti^b, w is weli knpwD» had>i.i oIy^^y^^c^pg ypo^Afl^g^w^u^5^p, taken, ptwwts^iqn of o«fUi«/i to^^ ju^^ fcftresae'^. belonging to the Ameers of Sinde,// 'W)}pt):}f(V, t})is were justifiable or not, this is not the plaueitolt inq^j^ ;, , ,l{)^t this much is quite certain 'vith;>utu Anydt inq^^j^l^ .jthal; we had possessed ourselves of thvt«e placenvj av9Y(^,^lDr far military purposes, and that our ret^titinnofn th^i,\ya9, professedly only temporary. In the letter lasAut ref^jrrpc^ jt^o, the political agent in Sinde is thus instruoted c> i i " l^m^inyfjuture negotiation with the Ameers of Khyrpoorfib yoi^^^Wji^ therefore bear in mind that it is the wishi ofi.the)(| Governor-General to possess the island of Bukkun a^d< thei(( tovvij]^|of,Si^|;ki^r, with such an ample arrondissement as may giv^ pye^y^facility for the maintenance of a good policen) wit^ijr^l^l^^ town, and for the formation of commcircial " est^bjisl^ifnenta therein; regard ^eing had likew^'se tOithttil ch^ng^ng character of the Ijh! i>>, and the necessity of pn>-ni vidin^ fof jCvery variation iii the course of that river which «b the|^|ojt||jtjl|(;s make it possible to foresee. The islaMdofni Bi||c^|^yir,>vould be considered as a citadel and. arsenal ofilheol toY,p,:.Qf, Sukkur, and should be rendered easily i defensible m by^^, p,i;tjall force.""* If advantage should be takeni of laiD J ex|jr^ps|o|pi in a previous part of this letter, "his; lordship .-u feels, ^h^t, it will be necessary, at least until the affairs ofn\ '4ffilhO'fl'i9,tan ihfi-U assume a more settled and satis fact no-i ybm^j tp j'et^n a position on the Indus, and to have theot meai.s of acting upon both banks'" — if advantage be itakemot of i;]^^ f^bpve qualification to say that Lord EUenbomough me^p.t,^o Retain, possession of certain parts of Sinde only foe a yj[jni,t^|dpepod^, an answer is furnished by himself Id the following passage from thpj^ttpr part. of his letter. " The * Cnrrenpondence, page 350. fA // 89" 1/ G«>Vctfnor-Oenvral would boMider that it Would be si itibAt doninrble arrangement if, in Heu 6f all tribute pnyabl*^," under treaty or otherwiw, by the Ameers of Sinde and dt ' Khyrpoor, such cessions of territory as may be ne'6e^ iry were made to us at Kurrachee, the island of "Rukknr, and the' town of Sukkur, and all claims to tri^ut- '^nyabl'^ by the Ameers to us, or to any other power, weic, **"*' such cessions, to be cancelled, in consideration o^" tH Hsliii"' nitmt of the perjjetual freedom of trade uj. 'fiuus,'" and' of such other provisions for the freedom ari^lt ' thr<>ugh their respective territories as it might appear expe- dient to make."" Thus it is obvious that even at this early pepr»)d of his administration Lord Ellenborougb contem-" platetl pernuiiicnt territorial acquisition in Sindd." ' "'""*' On the 4th of June we have another letter to the' politi- cal «gent in Sinde, in which his lordship is represented as ~ " resolved to keep every thing within the Lower Indus in hi» bands.*" In this letter he inquires " whether the ter- ritories under Meer Roostum Khan be in such a position as to make it easy to annex a portion thereof to the domi- nianst of the Khan of Bhawulpore, whose dominions his lordsliif) is desirous of increasing, in reward for hid owh unifitrm ^delity and that of his ancestors.'*'* Here we find Loud Ellenborougb treating the dominions of the Ameers' as though they were his own — not only assigning as much as he thought fit to the Government of which he was the ' representative and head, but proposing to carve them out for the benefit of others, provided that they lay conveniently for the purpose. " ' Shortly after thisj the reader of the Sinde correspondence is tretited> with a specim«i of his lordship's usual vacillation. A ktter addressed to the political agent on the 10th of '!< I ., • Coricspondenci?', page 370. .;l »^" *JOi .ill ii'lt *'•- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) .^- ■ 5< •■''^■^- 1.0 1.1 iM ut l&i 12.2 :^ 1^ 12.0 111 IL25 111.4 1 ^ * // i^ 1 w •'I '/ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STREiT WEBSTM.N.Y. 14580 (716)«73-4303 ^<^\^' ^ ^•^. >::^^ '^ %! ^ 90 baBidevaHqDj;(Vefi>re-4heiik|4''inBtraetiDns >8haib)b« idsUMto 3i;ati)(1vhetHler imypvobablebMmf^ttbbe i^vcirt'derivM ft6m thai U^ty '^cxNAd > • bocnpcnsate* ibe the aniluid ^xpendltuil^ wdriilK would b6 farou^ht upontthe' Gbvei-hciMliitSof Iiidieaiby tteiBMintenantoe of a large force at'Sukkuraild Kwteb««.''^ Orntlit? 82nd; May, the Governot^Oeheral hifd^bM'fnMi ansSotiBi'to retain possession of Kuraehee^' fibkktir^'Iftfld Sukkutu^' Bat between that date and the 3^d J'ul^'y H- consideration like an angel came,'' and he bej^n^to^d^ubt WhethierUhese places were worth the expense of keeping." rvi ^^f'iA' new actor, and one destined to play a very itnportiiiit part^'i now 'appears on the stage. This is Sir' cdn> 4)kide>'thus: "It may be convenient that you tshoalel'^At dikre be informed that, if the Ameers, or any ond of*thtiin] ehoulti'lvct JKMstilely, or evince hostile designs against' odt ai^myv"itii» my fixed resolution never to forgive the breadi of 'fditby and to exact a penalty which shall be* a wamiD^ tbetvry chief in India. On the other handy it iia my liik^^ tentioncon8tant support which the British Government 'has received ^m him and his ancestors.'"*)* Here the old • spbil ag«in> breaks out. The Ameers had as yet tiot ^ne( the length' which would afford a decent pretence fon defiirivtn^ themiof theit* territory; butihe eye of Sir Charles ' Napier iras to'be kepton them in the hop6 that they 'would. ' Tite «»t »e«rr«8p«Dd wh^ ItfeeiDluctwilesiiled r ojlpoftkiiiitijiritMrrivcd of I istkippiDg Ihe ittiee»« (Or friendi Andutieiglibaiir was to betihougbtrof^i «ilcl ^(igiw)di IbbsketfifuU of the- produce hancted'ovleir>^o(llihiK %1i990' jbtuvgs )it< was ** ooiivenient*^--»that is the iwordM^tfadt ^r iCWles Napier should know. That SirCharl^i Nlttpil!^ mightibeikifbrmed of every thing that the Ameers had< done pflaikostiJie character, and even of every thing that mights a6 c6n$tmediM^A^ovO\xiTBim was, on 1st September, instructed to " explaioi to the major-general (Napier) the actual et^t^^iof things^ shewing him what had been done by the Ameers andiehiefs, 'in pursuance of the treaties, and places before hini>) wjith jtudioial accuracy ^ the several acts mrhereby ithe Arheers and chiefs may have seemed to depart from> the tetims otr, «j»m7 of their engagements, and to have evinced bostilitjyr (KT unfr)€i|id71ness towards the Government of lndiaJ^*>.Oii« might suppose that this was an extract from a lettert to >all alttottrtieyi^ directing him to lay before counsel a statement «f factfil,: f
the chiefs' who; might have evinced hostile designSi-f Indded) these 'deouiiciatioas of ** signal punishment **' < ocounnsd frequently I ;in<-hii6> lordship's < cbmmtmicatioas r^speoting Sidde^'AB to mark beyond the possibility c^ mistake tht fieri^ijagsi'and intentions which were cherished by hiim« i/['j'.>o'i 'j(of that date, to Sir Charles Napier, he says^t^ I am very anxious to be enabled, as the result of any nmw arrai^ement with the • Correspondence, page 385. t Ibid, page 386. i-„1k ■ Wi^i (h"i'ndia db'^rve^ s^' Wt^l Uf th^ Bk*iti^ Govermbent {as Ua^'khal^r tf^ {itid ht^ jfaibil^ have been fsnthM fdrtfareb ^bnerattoi^^ ^hd 1 know tio Measure which would bd soiicoif- micW^'to out reputation and influence (certdnly there* lis ^otie that^ouid be so gratifying to myself) as to beeiulbldd lo itiaKe this gift to him. The cession should be tb tis^ and ^hien we should give it over to the Khanjiand^iils ^iiei^ iifiky be some difficulty in the proposed arrangekhetit "witli the' Ameers, it would be better to say nothing 49 ii'-i n.i •^butiKjK'to Under the same date, the 23rd October, another Idtter-to ^oir Charles Napier occurs, in which his lordship, says, "♦* I am inclined to think that the Ameer Nusseer Khan will be so wrong-headed, or so ill-advised, as to persist in refus- ing to observe the conditions of the treaty, in which case * Correspondence, page 392. iUpon>! bitn is. that og id^frajyipg ,^1^9 $jf pen$!?,"* j j)(n fj ^^^^j- :&>ntoerly quote(J,. w« fiiwi th«^ his ^^s^ip wj^.«j\ia\f*ilnelin,ed to think,'*' an assertion whichit jqani^Qt be iddiihted'Was quite in accordance with fact. It jbeip^, settled (thabf Ameer Nusseer Khan would oblige the British •^dviernment to incur expense, and that he ought to defray Jit^ithfi I master passion of the Governor-Gener^ , suddenly tfide|» out again. *^ But,^ he continues, " I should p,rf ^er de- ^ptimingihiixi of territory/'' Territory again ! ^f S^^ haro- aiiig ton 4ny daughter;'" and his lordship proceeds,, ^hrough^ a -'portion of the remainder of his letter and a rather i^espect- 4iblttijjH«| . jii>'' ' J ^ :h always pitrfetsedd an nitefttion ' to diepart as'^ooU as^'lHe oitMtiHitati«es tirhkh led to your presenciie flh^tlhicv^ e^AtiiAi "Will you stay fbr ever, because ' ' the" eKA^t lA&iiieht fbr your departure has never been dfetferttliu^' P THia wduid be just what we should look for in a Mahrktttt visito^^iiElt to get a temporary footing, then t6ihakt^'$f p^rtnaAent ; but Anom the Government of British thdik Mi^ d^ptiet iftmKitlhing' better. If honour and good faithf find IMV plax^fcesi'dein India, let them at Itost irradiate the otMMiSeliV df 'British' st^iVesmen and British soldiers, whether they edifl^ nlrffie ifk-owCaUfcutta, from Siipla, or from Sukkni'."'¥tt"i!i» Mlii'^tvot ft*ce one party to observe the strict lett^' 6f^'k tt^y; knd claim for yourself the privilege of violatin;^'itil^ spirit, ' together with an understanding so distinct ^&^^i& have acquired almost the force of a formal treaty ! Ye*!^ eveii tj^is is what is recommended. The position that*1^^ tMe for the stay of the British army is not limitcfd, irlsHd' down^^ not as an idle display of dialectic sagacity, but ad'tt' basis on which to rest a most formidable scheme 6f^ aggrtft^' sionr ' Sir Charles Napier^s argument may be stat^, in an' abridged form, thus : — If we depart, we must soon cdBi6 back ; therefore we ought to stay. If we stay, our Campii' will grow into towns, and the inhabitants will engros^ all- the trade of the Indus. These towns wi^l flourish, whlli^ the territory of the Ameers will decay. The rival goverti-^ n^^nts will quarrel, and the stronger will swallow up the weaker. This is all very straightforward, and' 'having" brought his sorites to a conclusion. Sir Charles* abk4, "If this reasoning be correct, would it not be better to come to 9(i i|, ,^ teppeiifiQCf4 .ft. tuctieiajfti an^d tpo bi»vfl i}tmM)» ,1;^ dm ^ir^j, He>4>CQyeBijkq biS(OWQ,)«itiflfiicti<»i ihal.ithe| A^iwril d^fj^rvedifill th«itiiA< proposed to bring upon tl)wn«) ibeoMlM tjt^fiy ,w^^ charged with certain acts of apparent hoaUtitjTy somoiipf >|!hicb were very questionable in point Qiiit^h •^\\}\e. o^ei^ were of very trifling nature;, and) fuffther^ibe^ q^iu^^ijlihey.had'a passion for hunting, rivalling :itiiat^(flt«ii our iWiUiaw the First. The fact is, that both the.iQiQvw^ Qor-iGemral and the chief military and political fuo0tii»nf|i&y. ifl.3wdie hti sought lA vain. Sir Charles Napier, who, to . r?nder hino^ justice speaks out with most soldierly frankness^ say$, „ ,. /. aU t' /!' s?-*^.? irti :3till some degree of caution was to be observed ; greatly, as th^. Object was desired, there was danger of going toa fast. What instructions Lord EUenborough carried from jvjv^ -%^;t-«^,i ,• * Correspondence, page 395. yiutnwt:^^ ivtn f^irt?Scf''^^?*M-fS«Hffm Am w^ew^jgi of ^e J(^i!# fP«vMwe»^t,i W^i tAi«iiM».,w#p .ri^f^^j^ Jjo^<5j^ ^J^ftT?ff!.^»«fe R^e. Tbe Ameers^, too, rUf^r^ ^t f^MJ|i|(B (fl! '^'ilfi^hV.^ ^^e been. **/rhe, ^fflfMWrSiV, ^WjiSir *fthffife<|)'(W»e»;«!:vriting to the Gpv^irno«T^fm<;^%,t|pf^ip ^^Sym^^ ")^*^e n»t conarnitt^d ai^ HbBB*g lk# t^W TOWf)(j?jP#^y Effuse, to li^t^iy/o Be9g^erhH«))(rt)dr '^^^^^-.o^F^l.; « if they. ,p?r»i^, ii^j^AftTiKimrsfyfSY grounds, they must even have ^j^.yrffy^ ^^ ^ijy ^ ^%;|p rfjfl!¥'!)4rt.l¥RfBe"l» i^so they ftre.Tesftiv^^^fjBrfw JuB vsiAn^V»tMiyi,i*»^.«* >«^e voted obsplete lM)d|4l^)|f))iQ|^^]tQ^|]^ ,^j8Wfin^f,|go^,fp^^ jy^iwJ»€peii;iJbe,ss»ys/^v?'.|,j?wn(Dt bwti »pprpbq|»4|tf»Mrtby ift^W «t |§dfityJH*tvaQj^^^p^i€«rt6lf iteffffWi IW«^?t|?^fl*»vt^tp^l»se(|i^ei^q^/o^ti|hft Twi**H>q§orf 'iNT'ttl^^'tt^ ihtt' 'AMfccft'^'' If'itti'ii^UMf 'tt'rifdMt''<^ 'tbiyv'te ^mwle in which these intetititant dr'k^ii^s, 'dr '^Af 86ii1k t/d^^ther^Ade? Would he visit mere appearatit^ ^fi ii^^^tiiiihttient and call this «just atid ejc^tcM^T irm^ik H revival of «Lydford Law;* hang the Hcbbiiid tm^W^trf him afterwards. '^ "'/ • '«'^'" ^'^''^ ,Bi...uoi5i, But what sort of terms were those which Lord Elleh- tflM^bitgili t^pkiHed would bergected by the Amedrs? /fhey ^MW^s nearly as offensive as it was possible td ftkvimi. NMhKlg shdrt of the total deprivation of territory fttidi sbV^ HAgiAf cjbnki' exceed them in this respect. The Ame^ '^tlirt to be reUeved of all pecuniary payments, and^tfik itftieie; nituYidly enough considering who framed thdfr, )piMides' Obntpieoonsly in the very front of the dMrfts i6f ^lev^vhed treaties. This is the single sweetener thMwa 4M6'thl? bitter potion which the unfortunate Amein* weM eyilled' tipon to swallow. Tribute was to cease, but, in tdd-^ iSMiUity '%ith views long entertained and avowed, large d^ idoiitdf territory were required — a sacrifice known to be toooet hikteftil to the Ameer& With regard to the poitiod* tifiKtiiMey to be held by the English, the Ameers w^re fd bftathieiy at ^e mercy of those who demanded th^m, forthe limits were not defined in the draft of treaty, nor were they H M. «4speo|i«r«ly^MMer«f|teci»Mbut by tflfl.Hgonl oCi 9ll4iftfii4A^»it MJQghefirdof? The repeewntative,«lrtbe||ritWi;<^ yfromfntJv India, wolki into th« country o€ mi powerij^r)^ «()^9ii/hi« Govemmem ha«for aonie yean nmintaii^ fvvifk^ i^lat^HW) find which rdations are about to be revis«()H-of^|ii rfiyfWd-vbipb ypu are to sign without mutteringiaywordiftK d^ike/! .,. 7]M0 course of proceeding placed the^Ameoriktift WffK ^n la £tate of vassalage. The draft 4o J^^ been studiedly drawn with a vietr to giveilft ^liKiqf^^jIPI^ueh ipwn as possible— to give the deepest WieuiMil to.libeiirflPfslings of self-respect, and to add to their buoiili|H tiQQ|evifryi ingredient of bittoness of which it wassuso^^lei Xh|B|y,yrere to. relinquish the right of eoinin^ rooaeytjont) (^ tjtie m9^t yniuad appendages of soTereignty<*«nthe i&ritif^ QoTOPWDent were to coin it fear them, attd none; but itiM t!Mpee tbu8 specially coined and the Company V rupee jwevfi t^t^Mleibe in Sinde. The very coin /'wlMob, passed drcnPA Hund ta; hand among the subjects of i the, Ameens-w^stA testify to .their degradation. F urther,v they were !*P Mq^pl^ at, a„{pq«Qe tp be iixed» fireTW09d4DEir the pur{>flf3e,Qf.|tAA9i ^^MigaMcWbi ia whatever quantitiiep the ofllcers of the.^riiiMlh GfOf'ieppeiit might from time to ,timei requixe ;. «n4 .f^iUofl fft, tha^ (those officers werfrto be empowered ito cut dowR Wf^od ifrHhinAspeeified distance of the,river-^«niexecci«pf<^Y'|bi<^ |l9,wer;.woi»dd,haTe bad the e^isct of destroyii^g t^ shif^r l^iezars, or.h^nting prei^rvea, in which thetie prineest^fr lighlied, , S^Mch yfm i %he> mt^n .i» which Lwdi Eil/»»b?iWH!i proposed to treat a power wil>h which he was ostensibly u a>«p^ib<>n>of Mt friendship, wtiiit thuk li1«fMMiiti$»b«M^k k> itimh wMl«^t6'«ee ivf^at tfoedtiift tft« Obvtfndt^OMttMA g»f^'*of it^ Mai^r. 'Iti 'ft iMter t^'Sir Ohk^te«i Nttt^Xttl^ Ait«d>NM^iiib^r 4th, he sayii, •«Th« treaty profio^'tb' "b^ kUpmd 'tfpcM M«er Roosttim and Meer NuMe^r^^Mil^ f^tir,— Aw <^eoision, upon three things: — ^Ist. Is tlie lettl^ i6f Ml^e^ Kusseer Khan, of Hydrabad, to Beebrudk 'Bdogtie, ftii^ itiuth^tic letter or a forgery? Snd. I« thd ' leMett' Aiflllf^rfloostuMi Khan, of Khyrpoor, to th^ MtihafAj^hf 8he^e<' Sfngi ^ dathentic letter or a forgery ? ''3Hl. ^ic^ PjMtilh^ Mtthottaed' '6tM^; confidential ag^t'bf "^^ BdOitiim '^'htw^ of ffliyrpoor^ assist in the «idttp^ df liftthdibed' ShtiHiefrt-^Thb^ ate the threef pdititS^Md b^'do^ the general dispose of theni? The firM 1'ett^,^ ihj&t' idieged to be written by Meer Nusteer ^hcf^^'df ll^i^bad^ fe abmit as vagne its native letters geh^iiilly iMV iMit If'it •v^re genuine, it would seem to itidic&ffi t^^^WAttSiet' had fomented movemerits hostile W^i^ ibtmh'iatisei kd thiit he meditate lihatiing off his cbnVl^ • Correapond ence, page ^2. H S 10//O. { t Ibid, page 4d&' > ( !o-jq 100 ittniwMi BrtdiltitioinBMietitfcR .iluiiittt|{eiil|)oeM*i«lit» Mt^ asiit'secdift, beftravitd. ^.uinm smIk tkttgtolt «ArlclcMCf of iliitivMnentmtyl)i»pnmbiibt»Ai> bji oflrtaiiilwitiidNdiyito hi ftbabqf Meor i Nuneiir Khtii/» butt theii Siv Chorks. Nii|Nfeir Mfletdleli> iheiidetttla witli-«<>|>air nS coropaiMt^attdxi^^'if Mliid> that 'they cki liot< eerreipond with thoMiof Hm taell Mmmniiito ht/in tiec by the Anwer. ThU wouUI sMm tordi^ fiids^lhci letteiv for an inscription upon a 8Mlii»in»t>a •hiflinftthingy in which the letters are sanietiinca<»fiOM sine and sometimes of another, with variable disU^noe* flwtwtda themui-'iBiitaffdie half-starved apothecary^ J^amptdoiiblid a Mhndij^^vui though soul and body wevediiiroDMd^ tofiSit Gharibni^apier haaont for thi» awkward Aaw in.thoiievir deaca^agttinstiithe Ameers. It** ia Iwcounlcdfor. byithf'oio* tiMJutawro (said lo be notorimis), that the Amceifa. boivetwv seals.^*f* Now it uteems that the faol of their having twlOi aedis liOBSf poll |)Mi(ivdiy ^* notonous "-^it ^aa only ^ aaiditO'lie ^ i«i|{ryand thus, the rumour of a rumour is theiultimite>^i* danoe u|>onfwhioh this chai^ rests. Was this/a^uflkicnl: gtDilndVtfof such a proceeding as that which i iLOrd W^xt- liiMnughH(belihpr> tb^o AtAeeri was >pnvy> to^ it > lor mot)W biit ihMiitticevtainly wi»t,w j^d/he (S9Mliid«iH thvl^^Xord tof^6(|t|Comta|>oiBfMi8f as|«'( .'.jMoijnn'!- •no » •Vrf • m Oit w i ^ o ug iiiiyiiiihoM, timtj(MjamnBaUbkfM diwt nte M MndiicKng'thBttnich'' wbaldo'lie t)i»rd«onfonuiiftntkt €bMkiori>^k^ra^, buc)lllelpriiidt KsfX)riiiUe4br lhe«ct of hitminMtcr iiaffeUervil al>tlMnoM ttMtrkk^y'Chftt the mkiiitor it mponaibW for the aoti dfntU f tlnot.> "•m.! tno' hnn li tyilfaeilib^d) point relates to the eioape^f^iamAisurgeitt lMid«r ftom the custody of the British authorities, 4nldr|iM •tfvidenbfe, if h be worthy of belief (whiohl ivn^it'^^iiilisioiri ■tiiin)^lpfiuVes that the aforesaid confidential/ imianfe^waa^ii «otrespcitadence with him ; but, as in the kbvMt wm^ikmn fib'.iiothingto implicate his master. aryr^. tt wol/l +' mIr'v " ois'the evidence collected by Sir Chiu-Ie«(Nfl|p)sr« wteh •rvgattiitD'Wbidi he observes: "If I bars youtt tonhhipfa IttMwiir^ saying, that you consider the above sufflekpit toiadt ^upbh^ I'shiUl lose no time in propositi your drdff'af'tth^ ^i^tt^ftty to the Ameers.*** His lordship did «hihk IfiaiRI- icimti«nd Sir Charies was instructed to tuelk' ^o noiiRiaiosb He did act, and a strange and disgusting ic a a AA niktAdk ht ^l0(ilitri||ue dhd'vnjusCifiable violence markedMi Ui^'itrse. ^Meei BdAstunr,' theunhiippy>^hief of Kbyrpohr^ bad>q^#)d- liKeff ditiiicielr Me^r'AH MorlKK^who^ wm of^i^ait;{t £»|lvi6hi»Ies' Nkpiei< • Wt4 <#«i shall inot be nnsrepresented ; he shall speak for himefeUl ''^■I -^ Shalt therefore gladly see established the right of ipritfid^ nififrc in the direct line ; and this you ma}'; if ypu deem it advisable, cpmmunicate to Meer Ali Morad { ^pd J ^^ve Jlttl^ dpubti that once established in the possession! iof;,:l^he : turban»i i with our support, he will be able, with the > tdn- ^carrenoeof « majority of the family j to establiibh t^tnoire ^ttatUral^aHdireasonable line of succession to the tai%AM, kVid cldth^ ih^ measure with the forms of legality ; but reco^ nizing,' as I do, Meer Ali Morad as the successor to M^r Roostum, according to the present custom, wherebyrdie eldest Ban of Meer Roostum is sup^rsededj liwuldnttt at >once recognize the eldest son of Meet Ali Moirad adlris fn]- Sir the :>4w?l1^rith9tigW9rf|liio«U8i hirtirf))ite«ur!nMcieirihiraBilf tffitfie had nothing. t^dq w;th the t^r^nsfer of the turh^n* la a )^fpU>v*«d iitfilt, 4id Mrv Brown will reoollect my sending A)iMonidV!V«tM)el )back $fi| him with this message* I even recommenced him jto return ,||)^^^|f9n, and merely act as his brother's lieMtepaj^t^i' , ^gajqj^a letter .to the Qovernor>General io C:.a:icil (page 116). he savs.,*'! assuredly did not press the abdication of the turban by Meer Roos- ^{ttin, iioi'dld I ever advise it." Sir Charles Napier, however,' admits J(|l(a^ 1 M)tUeTand be guided by him, though hebttiMtsmytCMBp hW'^.y^^!'f^Jf ^■'"*elf under my protection." He say^fqif^h^ij,, '.^.ipy advice,, wjiicb, let the reader observe, was not given till i^|Wa^ ul^d, ^ secured to Meer Roostum the honourable ^nd powerful protection '%f tfab' British Government. This he did not choose to accept— lie ourfrtoiiK '*^i»b'Wibrotbeh»* 'nx-.i., >,!t .,) tp. iWitb; reference to these statements, nothing more li n^e«^iiltry .^apt t^H^oM Sir Charles Napier's words from the (firsi volume ^jjCa^, on wWh he observes, " I did not like this, as it would havb JViLUi.''!' I"' J'"'!'- ' ■iii)'iV\Hl\. EMBABRASSBD Ma VERY MUCH HOW TO ACT, BUT THE IDEA STRUCK TlW'Ji*'6W6fe *HAT HE MIGHT 00 TO Au MoRAD, wrifaWj^/tfT^'liii- jbUeiJi ttiA (as A fAMILY ARRANO^MBNT) TO Rlt6t«tt' ikl^^'VXitldkK KT*H»M»j*! ^Ai' .'?'. .If* ' ; "^ 1 therefore secredy Wrote- tojRoQs* >,tup|) a^^.^li llforad» and abo^t one o'clock this mqrqiog,,} |ia4:«n express from Ali Morad to say, that his brother is safe with hiQ>>'* Again, at page 515, Sir Charles Napier writing to the Governor* General, after adverting to a particular view which he entertained *i('fl to*pblicydf the Ameers, says, **This made me Venture to •#RoMist> Ali Morao your Lordship's 8(7^port m hav: ^.,, 104 C^tf l«9i J^^ii8Ri< ^^^I entir^jTi Ap^mve -of ! aU< ^f6\i i have ^dtte iiidTyie»fHMNiS7y(»ur intentumt of (doingl^^ nJBkitithcltdnme oil ^enii^td^itot run smto^k The degradatf eki I mhMekt JE^nvi^tuMH I According to Sir Charles Napieto^ FFiburBt^apbaJ lli%Tf^p(ipEuly)fi^ rfoUowera like a boDib-RhelLT^tniAlanneA i^swhaDtibcjr ivitnefised, and not knowii^ whatotpirdxpcctl nflKti}tfaej4bdtowal;d& Emaun-ghur, a fortress sitviatsidbaufi iKmiles within the great sandy desert ii:qpainutin^ Sinde tfOm J^ssulmair. What did the BritiBbrn^nilal(& iKe8flklf4ttiiiied to follow them with an armed rfordt,Iiib of4firc^il^im9t' BB he say?, " that neithev their dcsettftiloS thsil:)ntgi9tiation$,oan protect thera from tht British trobpe^^fifl ^•^fk^Uf jtemBmheredf we were at peace vrith tb^iS>hyrpo(ff> stf|^rfn^*!Y^ar has not been declared,"! observes SirlQhMlfitt Nbi^i;} Minar,'" he continues, "is it necessary t<>r cfeffdavfet ilbTar! aCho people of Sinde, it seems, were not entltlsA tcr> th^^^^ne^t of any of those principles which h»ve boen^Mab b^he4 jlpr !^ regulation c^ hostile p0oceedii^)ibetw«iiti^ iV^HHhr ^nd which serve to difitinguieh Qlva&$^ooaltecl^ "Jlfl[\f,i^f the unhappy Sindians were allowed QonetrrSilrl CJi^r^ Napier marcbied ; he arrived at £maun-g^tv ^mupL v oiw«Hriyjipg, im^ly j^tffrmmdM *^}f^ it down»H§ddiH©i to secure hiiq the exerciae of its power now, even durinK his ^ptherV lifS^ TtiiiY H^A^ so fortunate to succeeil in tv pbrsuadino Mekh /!(floRiet{iiM]Aett>e^ft(ige>ai^t|ilg<«J590i9i^^ ] Ibid. pa^§46^j.c sgysq . :>4nlbi4.ilPgS $28. lOI lbi^reiB>lb«tengedlto-j(kU>'M4Nlll, nAf^^ipo^nW^ t^I^lin^ teriictiAn. «iitis, bdweV^^^ lb3i r^ym$ai»f(MBit tMI it B«iOif|jN^ dth^ tot AH 'Moi:fad br Wtl^i inth>i»hoin%e hftii fl«tthciturillin ; ihe tenl dwiier'Metni mlm^^nMhm Mahbniied < fihahi But, • Waiving this pdiat, 'hc^' titm 4t tb> Mqngt^o All Monid, if belong to him it did? 'TM^'^tniii^ tloniilU unnecessary to answer here, for the k^chdefJM^ll^nciW^ ]]avQ;<£orgotleii; Twenty thousand pounds of poiiA^d^lwer^ fiiiraB;initfoe£}rtress. This was employed in it^dystnubtibo^t !^[rijui»AiU^<<^^ N^tbd rfobst dramatically in the Blu6 Boo)^,*^ tn'Whi^h)^ tlidiglk> thie commissioner maintained a bold ftodt, tH^j^ (Ol ilv^iaifmyitfaat was rapidly approaching, the An^i^ had!" delaJyitMe> advantage in regard to fact and afi^gtfffi^nfl^ Th^i^efMd^to the last treaty concluded wMi tlie^^iil^ whii)rthel>Bri!liish stottd pledged never to ooVM hny ptiHSiSi^ ott^^tMtor^^^ property of the Ameers^-^bi/t Itt^vW ' NaMider )Khan< denied the letters which formed 'tbi^i^iUK/i^ ferlmetc^ the (^hai^es^ and called fbr their prodUbddtt^V 6^^ tbfititootVM^'vain^hey' were with the GoveniftJi^Gebl^iiiUl^^ Hr referred t6 the ease whh which seals are'fbfged^ and't^' nlinded'dlie oommissioner that he had himself called fdi^ 'tl^ piMishlbent 6f a person who had fdrged his. Th^'lbttfai^^' 9i^r! of the letter, ^pd,dem^de4} «,Wby yras pot the, paper she\wBrto<^me ?'■< < Ay, why ? Doe& heiobtain a satisfiuitcNry ♦-Conrfefcpdtidence, pages 63«, !?>*%• ^"' • y, JiWlli^llO)f«i^^¥Pt^^t. „the,^ wwnching. Jfrpnat th», ^A^t^vs < ftf t|)Q^ei|«rvf} teKntpry. £i^en this nwgUt , p?rhap» > h«v9< i^wi?P .A^99Wp\iB}Mad at once» but fm a false move iqq tl^ f^>^)i9f f^jj(^havlfli l^apier which it was now too late tp ii^tf#pt. y4l'^sAK4IB,tli6 treatment which Meer Roostum ha4 J?aeiK^. ,4trM^y WW he deposed ?" demanded the Ambers, ai>4l1tbe r^sjijifer wpSy that he resigned of his own free will I, yV\\kitLi -WaS?(1ii^^ pow old fool"* to this? "By the generalfs giji^jyph/^VWtW I sought refuge with Ali Mpra4j;(l)pre MflPW^wwd the letter directing Meer Roostun^t ) /to l^ilMF)iJtoA9lf under Meer Ali Morad's ppoteqt^,) ^nd tlP^ A» f »«i4«d by his advice), who placed me u»di9r< l^ t^lCftj^f:) ,904 made use of my seel, and compelled me i(p4o ,B§,^ , thought proper. Would I resign my birfhi^^g^ ^ .^^ owpjifiw will?"f Thus much we learn from, >tjbie 'M^^'. ^ the British commissioner — much myorei w!9;iwigbt .VopWilwd we a report on the other side. Thisr Vippi^s IffQiO! ihipi ^wn statement — " Lest my memoiy shoip^dMy^ ,/|lHfdnie}(I read the above to Captain Bfowiv wbpiaq^i^- ipanj^ me.. He says it embraces every thing \ihttf ff/|tf a^^i^i .^Ifhmtffp^xtf btU that much which was said by the 4^^iBifs to. enter mwre in detail "X ' i* y.,,t>-ft)i timWihy should more than one side be heard — esp^dally.fs tbe«GiamiBsioner declined discussion, and told the Ameersrf- t^ ITiiiB question, ii w^l^r W eot yow^. «CQ«pi Afef Anew jj,.Qi;i the 9th Feb. they did accept the treaty, by allowing .* See Corre*pon4ence, page 103. X Ibid. page>536. f Ibid, page «35. § Ibid, page 535. ^m 'tb «if 'Gfcarld^ Nfepjer^uii*^ Th'tse^ fbolA' fere' ftt5 kh&^kiHtm 'ttbtk^lH'cOtfs^d^nd^ 6f tb<» ecMltfnued i]ir6gif >y6K«r %ddfM tbWahls Hydfabad, nofwithstandiiig thifflf iaiee^ ^^^f' the treaty, which they hoped would ht^t^okuMd j^dti WblidpJ If you come beyond Halla (if iofa!lf)%Uy 4ll^>%e ifflpelted by their fears to assemble thdr'^(^Ie, 'Wttd/ a vi^ to defend themselves and then- families; itk^^tlie ^li^'l^t i^k are determined to destroy them, notwithst»Akl- 4»^ith^'fti^mis9ion.''* The event shewed that th^ AiM^e^s '^kcT^^tidViiiich "fools" as Major Outram thonf^'th^. 'HBir GI^M^M Napier answered, " I shall march td'SyiidAHttI fbiAd^w and next day to Halla, and attaek eirerf hddf^f ^^ttted" ' "nieti I meet-^f Major Outram, hd^^r, jUid^ ^a^^f^^kk'io the probability of resistance biiin^ offered, ^^otild''th& British general continue to adtinio^; ' The ^ydtftidfi!6u« wrong done to Meer Roostum was woHciAg-like ^l^Vtiift rri'the mind of the Beloochees, and the Ameers i6it« ''Ifrir^i^^ t6 thfe British commissioner thdr appreHensicite -thM'th^ ishbuld not be able to control them. On'Ch«>ll(t^ ^h6 Bl^ti^'^R^ideney was attacked, and on the ISthy^^ir ^€hMt-!e8*^^d|>ier achieved the brilliant victory ^JfteiinM. ^ft%toM-bft unless to pursue the subject furthest' Che ^imtt^ii^ known; the Ameers became prisoners, «tnd thdir territory the prize of the English, if that can be eoiied ''{)rii^^icfa has hitherto been only a source of disease 't6' our HbrAl^iiBlteHa fi^flHj^ dfeeiimtHdni)'ttfj*dbik^^|Mr»<^«P > > > And hoK»%tti linty)!!!!!^]!!!!^ o^cKJ Jt &^ ^. eiqu-iua. inO#fi|he ijuadofr of the entiK proceeding iMlt)i(tf««inl nmH \iti siidir(4rW nilera of Sinde had always be«t| tusfMbuti 4i Wi>iihey'9ttem. to have had a presentiment' itl|«tii6uv alliance boded them no good. We forced our friehdt(upM» K» «i£ed^upoii them. We dragged from them ' oik > ^n- M^oni^Wfr> another.} We overran their eoun^ with ^oiH aMttitei^ttittd ^ally we took the greater patt of Uharittwi^ fiMet^ flntt[^ve the rest aWay. And then W>#jltfllk'ly!qt*po6aiig itr«U trllew^point of £ict^' ^atthen? ' Arewe'to'gd tibout » /-the i fipirit ! «if ' kntght-eirantry to redress the gri6?»ncl?f amAlAvkage the virrongis of aUt the oppk^sed people fh: the welAdi^Mfiand if ndt, wbyisSirtdeselected f W«9>tnight WheliiArak 4lky «iik> thus talk 'of deriding fm anriy to< Pdand^itoi^^rtedie^dt finmi thfoysdceiqf IJhe EtnpWor Nioho)a»f n Whit^wy t&e«^ * Sttpp}sa|e»tai7i<^rmpoikhpiK!e» fWfwIvB * ,.iy-ijyi.--i\& :-.-.■ ;i .*)...-'sj\:' m i«(Sin^»ith«3r bfeMiroaly hddthdjr!^^^ ^(tb« twrnrdicitn^ ^y.tbo sword Ibey have lost itT^ ^Why jii0feia(>ply tihiitiii Europe? Is it because its advooatesdmTitM!iM» lokiKmledgi^g the services (^ ^ Chsries/I^^Ae i^elfatt iniUtMty >«perations« and those, of the oiScieitk (Aopfooduadsi iicm0d(l>ffi«eP8, and privates, both Europeimilandsiill^aitutfl^ sacving^jjiiider him« The House of Commons'passed jstoolae iiesdiiftitenw The Court of Directorsand the> East-'Itidia Gcfnkpany ' sassembled in Greneral Court) foll0wedit(hb[«aL«* am^ji tiBut ndiile the stream of laudation wasithUftiBowti^ from every quarter upon the general and his 1 troops^ j(l|[u»li wiis'iit^ ithatvAot a single rill was directed^ itonilalia ithe GM>vteii0iMjrteera]f8 « buraiflgt thirst for fai^ei? . Bio rfamiQifT tp(dic(lyands,iand'pas8 might deserve the doaH pUmentf twas.tioi pafifiod. over: at: the aonckisioni of 1 thed wm kcitAffgh^nistan.. He .waa< thanked by Lords iSftdfCdnn^ inQti9t**!eol(Hy' enough indeed^ but -still he wra tbankdd*** *^ior the?tibiiUb)r/|indjttdgmmt with which the ie8Quro69fIiagqii>l. il6 Dlli^t^P "Why dd they hot challenge thKt, WhSdi ne*^WM' lifiVhfiildl^fdi^ OAder similar drcumstan''AMV)elm^!^ hfi^'iM^h\)^'6 re]:lutation ''dies,** and his frielhiilti^ihtfky nd' al)|ft«*''^'Bitt^, toost bitter, must have be^ ihe-^tfttty i«ftpot^ by Parliament upon his lordshi|i' tif tiMiv^i' iiiftO'-to'^tli^' army those thanks, in which' He Wlfs ^6i' |ili&Mltyfl^to hdVte even the smallest shai^. ^"^ "^ *^'"^' "Afl^hikUisttin imd Sinde furnish the fieia Vi^fl'H»H^H' Si«INi"ugh'8 reputation !s to b^ ^kbM^,' ir>ii^'hbt i-tiom to dwell, but his conduct in reg^M t^ifi^ ll!iriitatt)l'*stat^, Subject to the House of Scindia, iktbo'^'i^rki^ 6lf&iaAry ib be altogether passed over. In 18DS, the fix^Mif' <9tb^mitiiem concluded a treaty of p^ce' ^iVH'^ iSiMAU^ Iti 16041 this measure was followed up by th'^^ffi;1Vl[^Mn# ilti^^'bf alUance and mutual defence. ThirW^i'^^tli*^' d^^^f'^eiidministration of the Mftr4uf^''Wmil^^t|5f. ''^^' llf^ii^ Corhwallis, who sUcc^cfd' t6 th^'ddUiinWMi^li^ t# th^ ^(i^ft^^t, dis^ppirdVed oif ihe1^tt(^1(r^yi'4hi^f iride^^ bi^ i)^h virtually iktihitii^ by'4)^^ cm^^i'm ^Mikmcn^lfy who, after it was condlud^, had ^iir^d^'^i^ «bu*te ^iTliottility agahwi the! BMAi Gdv^HiMntJ 1i^ihid6red th^ir ca^, aiid' *nd to the treaty <|f,(4f#i9fH j^y^ffj^j.^^^ce—that of 1805; ^nd U,.w|deolafl«jl, tljjBff,^ iprqywiops of those two treati«iB, ,pp tte(|W. tj^cgr ^f^ .floti^iffeqted by the treaty qf 13^,7,,. tshi^j remain in full fofce. An engagen^ent (i^.jyi|^R»Pff^;^ft^fiP 1^?? palled a treaty) relali^g , tp :^f .!W«n. ^tftWrfriPf-^ My of auxiliary horse, and fhfiF,!pi|ynwWt« WiiWft^i>?^ Jl^^O, and thus matters rested ^pjl^^Jifiiy-WT. ^gj^,jY,bjW Juntqjee Rao Scii^dia died. Tlwt„fihi^,Wlj 1?.t19^<.)'?^^!*W P^*"*^* "™^* relative, a, boy aboMt.eJ^ yrf^f iff )W?^ (^^ adopted by the Banee (the widpw, pf,^ *^f^fitff?i PfW9^)» ^^ '"^ ^ ^l'® throne. Tl)«,yiW»rffl§ %nR?ffl^rt .^^^?^^'» ^^^ °®' greatly outnuinbfirt tjfeq^f pf %t^W*^//*9?^t { She was under thirteen, and thopg^v^% i^,|i,far ^jiqi^j^jPgf /ill Asia, th^n in Europe, it was pI>tw>i;i4f> '}fi?fi!?ftSl^nifPlyf?°Wi^. *b^ ^^vernment to some ope .l^flt *l}Wfift^/hy i^8^»'^ .?fpV^.«?*» ^^^*^ roanagew^t^^, 4, i^^gep^tj,;]^/^ a^i^HJPgljfiWPPJn^ied under the imjMi*t9,Wn ^u^pp,^^,9Jf f^|j,e ^iitis|3^ ppyprnnjent* but in the epi^iq^p^ iijt^^Sj ^ ';^)^^ prevailed • at. jGwalior, aa at all, , pa^j^ <^|jrt^l,^j^ejf^U, af^rjfet^ping bis po^ only abppt. t^p^ i?% \^M^^ihmi^^^^ ^y ^^ W^»« mtfri^ ^1^09.^ Ife .wm dcfMnnol fnforciogi |)m ;f»ncliMi«» of^y, nfir . tfi«l5, and in all prohabiUty bf niiglit.baf^ ^jnetf^ ^^t olijed without bloodibtd, ctmld be have. bMNi content to postpone crowing the ChumbuU a. vmm^ repeftedly presaed upon him by the Britiah Hinidefitii^ Clwajiiorf but to no purpose. His lordship resolvedlPv«nM^ tne liveir, and he did cross it. The result, as is. |(AOfri|» was, t^t the British army may almost be said ta buKe tmn, S|urprise4 by the enemy, and though the Gov»rnot^Q»|m»li>» objject ,^as attained, it was not without some ^rm^.^mSfrnk i^^ting. It seems as though Lord Ellenberaugh^fejifMil^ rami^ ^as always with him, and that whenever he dli^ — Jt- »mg npt wrong in itself, he was sure to make it yirmg%h^ fkae adventitious absurdity. Passing ov. r the niiiio»/aUiia of the Gwaliw expedition — the wooing ** golden opinitpa^h by the personal distribution of golden mohurs .ony^he Held of battle, after the fashion of the hero of a MlnewiA ■'■ ■ ' . press romance— passing over this and other pBittty^,MI!lflki mentalities of the like nature — ^let us look at tim.§gf0fffi(i tal^en for the proceedings in which these wexe i||teri»ti|0 episodes. The interference of the British Govemmfniiyrfig rested on the ** treaty of Boorhampoor^ — the tseaty^490A -^wUcb had never been acted upon, which in fae(bffWK« nullity from the beginning, and all reference to i^luMJihlHld been studiously excluded from the engagements adlMrt quently formed. Yet, upon this obsolete bPea^»vvWah for thirty years had been looked upon, and }tt8tly,^4iMi cuad letter — ^which was a waste sheep-skin, andnotbing,iwa>% apes liord Ellenborough grpund.his pflli b^'^^ilKi^ SeHMK' or, kho#ing thetn, he, train ta^te Wllfulnes^ re- editA Hfto afitfvfr existence and operation a treat v }oi^ MbUB'doMfgtffed to the nfortns, and by the revivat of whicQ nHHoDd efore them — to reconcile Lord t^ll^boJI^ufftf^f %y»'W(ntl and a teoif. We have seen him, when pr«Mriled -upon, with gneat dfffltultjr, to suffer the officers tiMMIinding'to ttHtke an effiirt to avert these fearful results, BMMily ibaking^all responiibility, and like an adept in HHNiieMB^ «# betth^, making up his book so as to have a «hMee of wiiudfig soBKthing, while he should be secure, as htflMpptiiil^^fJKWB the poi8tbiHf jf of Io«s— so sliullllitig Ihis W Bright hai^ft to turn up, he sliould be safe. W« Imve «^n, that fbr fhe ^nil triumph wbieh p^» i9^ue,ta,|ii|iJvr()8h|p,,#xqfpt/9o inuaor ; declared the Indus one of the natural boundaries* pfi Qlliti'^ India, and, as he had before done in Engtandf j>mn ripvinc^d peace to be the main object of his administrfttioi)»| y^f have observed how this limitation and this boast w^ it]|^strated by his lordship's conduct in regard to Sinde*' W^ have seen him there intent not on peace but on oann que^. We have followed him through che various HepspC his, aggressive policy, till we have found the reputation, xtf, thf! Bptish nation for honour and good faith tarnished )44'i dj^ply as would have been the military character of our < C9^ptry had the dictates of his lordship^ judgment been, a|^p^ed free scope in AiFghanistan. We have se^ Mf»A sQipl^tiines ordering, sometimes sanctioning and con^iiiing,, byJIiis after approbation, a series of measures utterly, unjust' ii^ ^h^mselves, and calculated to render the British Govevnr meift an ol»ject of hatred and susfMcion to every native; sta' th|;QUghout the East. Who shall trust to a British aln^ lifipc^, while the memory of Sindeand Lord EUenbovoughhSM poljpj th?re en» tgs? When that great man* whose g^aiiyi wi^|,^.t9,fut^re v. ^^ :h^ landmark of our tinier-wheij thiei , Duke of Welh:»i^:ti*» , *hi:u Sir Arthur Wellesley, during his distinguisHefli service in India, was remonstrating againjst * oof oa«q ,'>on'Jbnoq>"jiiu ) yifl)ft'ifir)l(jqu< '♦a? * a Hi iTf «f Htltir.'iM A »rotJLD sxcniFick GwALtoft, nn AtJtlftt PllOi9TI«A OF iNoiA, TEN TIMlis dVlii, ' 1* Otibfiik Td PftRSKBTE OUR CREDIT FOR 8CRt7P(7LO08 Q06i> fii th/*"' Shortly afterwards he asks : " What brought me nht>tt<]pt^ nany difficulties in the war and the negotiations f(jt peai'ftP Thr British good faith, and nothivo iCT-jE."** And where is that faith now P Wrecked oh the sands of Sinde, by the recklessness of the man to whote keeping it was intrusted. Lord Ellenborough seems, ihdeed^ V6 lay claim to some forbearance because he had no 'Very definite instructions for his guidance ;*!* but did he -want instructions to induce him to act with commoii justice vol. iii. page l68). t See Supplementary Correspondence, page 100. I 2 Lf I i ■^ frptn whiph the ungopj^i^tiic^ed mind of „ an,,, JlngUsh ^j^UJI^r ^yould recoil. Laetly, we , have seen that even in a very Qr(]inary, matter, that pC dealing with ! the Affairs of Sdndia, his lordship manifested so lamentable a degree, of incompetency as evinced him to be utterly unfitted for the high office which he so unworthily filled. Here, 99 in Sinde, he had recourse to violence, when every object vifhich he could lawfully seek might have been attained by skijiful negotiation. Incompetency to an extent almost inconceivable — despondency under difficulties — ^braggadocio swaggering when there are none— cowering feiur when 4wg^r seems to threaten — reckless disregard of justice and g9p4 faith when the feeble are to be coerced — indiscretion, <9^ treme and uncontrollable, with scarcely a lucid interval-^ indiscretion associated with, but not constrained byi a con- siderable, portion of that low and unstatesmanlike quality, cunning — indiscretion so monstrous, that men lift up their hands in astonishment at its manifestations, and won^^r whether he who has perpetrated such things can be in ^js right mind — these are the qualifications of Lord, ^)len- borough for the office of Governor-General of In^iai,;^ developed throughout the period during which he ahused that most important office, and they are crowned by apro- gance so unbounded that it would be ludicrous even in- a Caesar or a Napoleon. Lord Ellenborough was recalled ; shall we ask why ? The only question will be, how was it that this step was not taken earlier ? To this only a conjectural answer can be given. We may as- cribe something to the forbearance of the Court of Direc- tors, founded on a hope that their wild and wandering Governor- General might settle down into a state of mind better befitting his position— something to the fact that the more important political correspondence is known in the first instance to those Directors only who form the Secret m Corartiitt^ ana tMih^m'ViAm''ihe%%\\g\km orsA bath bf s^i^ey^sbtii^thfiig t - -y 111 ii ♦ Hansard's Debates, vol. xiii. page 700. t Hansard, vol. xiii. page 707. t Hansard, ut supra. § Hansard, vol. xiii. page 744. ' " mons .1 n i ojji; m pp|:^;pn of , tI;iiOS9 whp rMi^hed fprwui^d to. ccwidole .\yi.th>Lprd P[l(;nl;>qrpmgh are directly and imoiediately s^rva^ tof^tJI;^ CJIoiirjIlQf pir^tQrS) and all were acting under a Goymcpxof^pt '^^j^hderivesitsauthority from that Court. ),, >.,oiii{ti^/nLi'> j^ Qf t^ie conduct of I^ord EUenborough'*s hosts, hoy(ev^ i^,t,,In^^ary men judge; but what shall be said of that of }^\^^ lordship in accepting the invitation? Is his appetite for J^tt^ry so inordinate that he cannot restrain it even undcir C^^fun^stances where a regard for others, if not a regard for l^i|i|^^w^ dignity and consistency, might have been expected t^ induce him to forbear ? So it appears ; fqr, regardless pf t|)^ ,ein]barrassment which he might possibly occasion to tj^ose wh9se cheers he was begging, his lordship, still wr^^- iri^ under the punishment which had just descended, i^ppn himi spught, amidst blazing lights, and smoking disheS|,anfi flp\eing wines, and prolonged hurras, to assume apjini* potent air of defiance towards the authority whose, just displeasure he had incurred. And there his lordship par negyrized the army, as if the army of India needed any praise from him ; " I shall soon be far from you," said \^9 lordship — according to the Indian News^ 4th October, liAMi — ** I shall soon be far from you, but my heart remains, with the arniy, and wherever I may be and as long as I liye,!* shall be its friend " — as if it could be of the slightest cqnr sequence whether he were its friend or its enemy. He 4id not mention that he left part of the army in a state of mu- tiny — the crime having its origin in his measures. As his lordship is somewhat given to the sentimental, we must not criticise the declaration that his heart remained with the army — but why with the army alone ^ could he not spare one morsel of sentiment for the Indian millions whom he had been sent to govern, and who were now to lose him-r- 120 or did he think that they would benefit by the change ? Then his lordship talked, it seems, of " two years of victories without a single check,^ — so says the report, but surely it cannot be correct ; where would have been part of those victories, if his lordship had not for once given up his own judgment to that of others? " Two years of victories without a single check," he says. He forgets — not without a single check ; there was a check to the career of the armies in Affghanistan given at the outset, and by his lordship him- self — something like what Malthus calls " a preventive check;** it was happily removed, and then began the course of victory of which his lordship boasts, as if all were owing to him. But the exhibition made by his lordship is so truly lamentable, that pity takes place of indignation in contemplating it. He had lost one of the highest and most honourable posts to which a British subject can aspire, but he had the satisfaction of being for one evening again a lion, of walking up a flight of steps bedizened with lamps and laurels to partake of a dinner where he was the " ob- served of all observers,^ of seeing a transparency represent- ing a besieged town, and of reading the softly soothing sentence — " Ellenborough, farewell !" and let us hope that for three hours he was happy. Yet, even for the sake of such a dinner, and such a trans- parency, and such an inscription, and such cheers, it is not to be imagined that any future Governor-General will follow the example of Lord Ellenborough. His name will be a beacon suggestive of danger. Should any of his successors be likely to fall into errors like his, the recollection of his fate may give timely warning to eschew them. In this respect, though rarely exercised, the power of recall by the Court of Directors is a most valuable security for the good go- vernment of India. The Court are never likely to exercise i't" m it without very sufficient cause ; their discretion and mode« ration have been shewn by the infrequency with which they have resorted to it, as have their firmness and sound judg- ment, by not shrinking from its use when justly called for. As for the idle babble about depriving the Court of this power, it is not worth a moment's notice. The idea of committing a power of any kind to any person or number of persons, and then upon the first occasion of its being exercised turning round in great astonishment and great wrath, and depriving them of it, is too ludicrous for di&> cussion ; it can provoke nothing but laughter. To say that it is anomalous that the Court should possess this power, is nothing — the entire government of India is ano* malous according to the notions of scholastic legislators. No philosopher in his closet would ever have framed such a plan of government as that to which India is subject, and under which it prospers. It has grown up under the pressure of circumstances, like that of Great Britain, and though widely different in construction, is equally well adapted to answer its purpose. The value of a form of government is to be determined with reference not to symmetrica] proportion, but to practical utility. If the Court of Directors are fit to appoint a Governor-General, surely they are fit to decide upon his removal. The two powers seem in common sense to go together. The right of choosing an agent involves the right of dismissing him when he ceases to give satisfaction to his principal. But thgre is another consideration. Under the Act 3rd and 4th William IV., cap. 85, the members of the East- India Company gave up a vast amount of property, and suffered another portion to remain at interest, chargeable on the revenues of India, on certain conditions. One of these conditions is, that they shall retain, through their representatives, the Court of Directors, the administration ■ i 4- ■'■ 122 of the government of India. The mode in which the go- vernment is to be carried on is laid down in the Act by which the respective rights of the various parties interested are defined, and the limitations under which they are to be exercised prescribed. Among the rights expressly recog- nized as appertaining to the Court of Directors, is that of recalling any Governor-General, or other officer in India (except appointed by the Crown), and this right is to be exercised without control of any kind. Here is a most im- portant security for the proprietors of East-India stock. The safety of their dividends is involved in the prosperity of India, and the permanence of its connection with this country. They elect the persons through whom the go- vernment of India is carried on, and those elected are en- dowed with very large powers, among the most important of which is the right of removing any public servant in India, from the Governor-General downwards. This is the chief, the most efficient — the only efficient security which the Indian stockholder enjoys. So long as it is possessed, the instructions of his representatives, the Court of Directors, cannot be set at nought with impunity. And does any one talk of taking this power away? What, get possession of people's propeny under a solemn agreement that they shall have a certain security, and then tear the security from them ! Their dividends indeed may still be secured nominally upon the revenues of India, but their control over India through those who represent them is virtually at an end when you deprive the Court of Di- rectors of the power of putting a stop to misgovemment in that country, and substantially the security is void. " You take my house when you do take the prop That doth sustain my house." What would be said of a mortgagor who, after agreeing that the management of the mortgaged estate should be -,*f." 1S8 »■» vested in certain persons to be named by the mortgagee, should seek to get rid of the obligation, and at the same time to keep the money ? The legislature indeed may do this — that is, they have the physical power of doing it, as they have of doing many other things which no one in his wildest imaginings ever supposes they will do. They may deprive the great Captain of our country of the estate bestowed on him by a nation's gratitude, and consign his honoured age to penury. They may apply the sponge to the national debt — burn the books, and shut up that part of the Bank of England devoted to its manage- ment. They may — ^all the estates of the realm concurring — abolish the two Houses of Farliamenc, and convert the Government into a despotic monarchy ; or, the Crown consenting, they may establish a republic. Any of these things they may do — but no one expects that they will. Neither will they take away that power which is a security at once to the proprietors of East-India stock for their pro- perty, to the people of India for good government, and to those of England for the safety of England's noblest de- pendency. We are not inquiring what a repudiating legis- lature might do, but what the legislature of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland will do ; and of this much we may rest assured — that having deliberately made a solemn compact, they will keep it.