x'.^- 

 
 A VINDICATION 
 
 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD, 
 
 BAET., GOVERNOR OF MADRAS IN 1778-1780, 
 
 FROM THE MISREPRESENTATIONS OF COLONEL WILKS, MR. MILL, 
 AND OTHER HISTORIANS OF BRITISH INDIA : 
 
 INCLUDING AN 
 
 EXAMINATION OF Mil. HASTINGS' RELATIONS WITH SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD. 
 
 BY HIS DAUGHTER, THE LATE 
 
 ELIZABETH ANNE EUMBOLD. 
 
 LONDON : 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER. 
 
 1868.
 
 " EXORLA.RE aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor." j 
 
 " HE that goes about to persuade multitudes that they are not so 
 well informed as they ought to be, in things generally received and 
 deeply rooted, shall never want impatient hearers. Because men's 
 natural inclinations are more prone to rest upon what they h;ivo 
 already embraced, and what for a long time hath had no opposition, 
 than to be curious in the search after the truth thereof; though it be 
 the truth." HOOKER.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 EDITOR'S PEEFACE vii 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE OF SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD xv 
 
 APPENDIX TO VOL. I. OF MARSHMAN'S " HISTORY OF BRITISH 
 
 INDIA" xxv 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 PREJUDICES LONG CURRENT AGAINST SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD. 
 
 THE OCCASION AND ORIGIN OF THESE 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT AGAINST SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD. 
 
 THE BILL OF PAINS AND PENALTIES 15 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CHARGES AGAINST SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD 83 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE THIRD CHARGE : RELATING TO THE SUSPENSION OF THE 
 COMMITTEE OF CIRCUIT, THE SUMMONING OF THE ZE- 
 MINDARS TO MADRAS, AND, IN PARTICULAR, THE TREAT- 
 MENT OF THE VlZIANAGRUM FAMILY 50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD'S RELATIONS WITH MR. REDHEAD 58 
 
 a 2 
 
 " i 
 
 .
 
 iy CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 THE EXTENDED LEASE OF THE JAOHIRE LANDS 68 
 
 CHAPTER VI I. 
 
 THE FOUKTH CHARGE. SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD'S RELATIONS 
 
 WITH MB. SADLEIB '^ 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE GCNTOOB CIRCAB, BAZALET JCNO, AND THE NIZAM. THK 
 ORIGINAL POLICY AND INSTRUCTIONS OF THE GoVERNOR- 
 GKNERAL, 1776-1777 80 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE GCNTOOB CIBCAR, BAZALET JCNO, AND THE NI/VM. 
 PROCEEDINGS AFTER THK Auuiv.u. OF Mis. (Siu THOMAS) 
 
 RUMBOLD AT MADRAS, IN 1778 100 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM OF THE DECCAN 1-.M 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE EVIDENCE OF MB. FRANCIS AS TO THE CAUSES OF TIII: 
 
 WAU IN THE CARNATIC 1(51 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE FIRST CAUSES OF HYDER'S HOSTILE PROJECTS, 17?*- 
 
 1780 171 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE FIRST CAUSES OF II -mi PROJECTS, 177*- 
 
 1780. THE MISREPRESENTATIONS OF Coio\u. WII.KS... 1v;
 
 CONTENTS. V 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE CAUSES OF HYDER ALI'S HOSTILE PROJECTS, 1778-1780, 
 (CONTINUED). THE REV. MR. SCHWARTZ AND COLONEL 
 WILKS 194 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE DIFFICULTIES AND DISABILITIES IMPOSED UPON THE 
 
 COUNCIL OF MADRAS BY THE POLICY OF MR. HASTINGS .. 222 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD'S DEPARTURE FROM MADRAS. His 
 
 REPRESENTATIONS AS TO THE STATE OF AFFAIRS 236 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE CONCLUDING CHAPTER OF MR. HARDINGE'S 
 
 DEFENCE OF SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD 250 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 ON MR. HASTINGS' POLICY IN REGARD TO THE WAR WITH 
 HYDER, AND ON HIS RELATIONS WITH SIR THOMAS 
 RUMBOLD'S SUCCESSORS AT MADRAS, MR. WHITEHILL 
 AND LORD MACARTNEY, AS ILLUSTRATING HIS TREATMENT 
 OF SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD 292 
 
 APPENDIX OF STATEMENTS AND DOCUMENTS 813
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Omit Note 1," in the Foot-Note on p. 9. 
 
 Throughout Chapter VIL, (pp. 74-79.) and at p. 266, read Sadlcir for 
 
 Sadlier. 
 
 On p. 130, for Caillaud read Caillaud. 
 On p. 167, for Nizam at Mulck read Nizam id Mulck. 
 On page 284, for Qantam read Ganjam.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE Vindication contained in this volume has a 
 remarkable and pathetic history. 
 
 The late Sir Thomas Kumbold, who died in 1791, 
 was the father of a large family. His youngest 
 daughter, the author of this vindication, died, a 
 year ago last January, at an advanced age, leaving 
 behind her the substance of the following pages. 
 What was needed was, that they should be 
 arranged and edited ; and circumstances left the 
 editor no option but to undertake the work, 
 although he did so with the greatest reluctance, 
 because of the severe pressure upon him of other 
 duties, and because he was destitute of the preliminary 
 knowledge as to the details of the history of British 
 India in the last century, which the task of editing 
 Miss Rumbold's papers demanded. 
 
 It was not many years before her death that Miss 
 Rutnbold became aware of the extent to which her 
 father's reputation had been darkened by the imputa- 
 tions of successive historians of Indian affairs, from the 
 date of Colonel Wilks's " Historical Sketches of the 
 South of India," * downwards to the present time. 
 Miss Eumbold was at this time a resident in France, 
 and had been for niauy years in a very frail condition 
 
 * Vol. ii., 1817.
 
 Vlil EDITOR S PREFACE. 
 
 of health. As she became more and more acquainted, 
 however, with the subject, her feelings became propor- 
 tionately interested in it. She was determined at least 
 to understand the actual merits of the case, and to 
 know whether her father deserved the obloquy which 
 had been heaped upon him. If he was indeed, con- 
 trary to all her own family traditions, a corrupt and 
 tyrannical man, if he had been a mercenary and 
 flagitious ruler, she would know the worst. If, on the 
 contrary, he had been maligned, notwithstanding her 
 physical feebleness and her advanced age, she would 
 see what might be accomplished, in order to vindi- 
 cate the character of her father. By the diligent 
 researches, accordingly, of her nephew, Mr. C. 
 J. A. Rumbold, she obtained, in addition to such 
 authorities as were generally known to Indian 
 students, an immense mass of original evidence in 
 relation to Sir Thomas Rumbold's administration of 
 Madras in 1778-1780, and to Indian affairs in general 
 during the latter half of the last century. In particular 
 she obtained, what not one of the standard historians 
 of Indian affairs, who have pronounced condemnation 
 on Sir Thomas Rumbold, seems to have been at the 
 pains to study, and what, of the critics or commentators 
 on the histories, Professor Wilson alone appears to have 
 consulted, the " Minutes of the Evidence taken at the 
 Bar of the House of Commons, on the Hearing of 
 Counsel on the Second Reading of the Bill for inflicting 
 certain Pains and Penalties on Sir Thomas Rumbold," 
 &c. These Minutes afford conclusive evidence ;i-ain>l
 
 EDITOR'S PREFACE. ix 
 
 the chief and staple charges which have been handed 
 down from historian to historian ; and leave no room to 
 wonder that Mr. Dundas found it convenient to let the 
 Bill drop after the second reading, when Sir Thomas 
 Eumbold' s defence was completed. With this volume 
 not beyond reach, it is very remarkable that such 
 a historian as Mr. Mill should, without any refer- 
 ence to its contents, that is, to the real evidence on the 
 case, have taken his representation of Sir Thomas 
 Eumbold from the accusations of the Bill of Pains and 
 Penalties, that is, from the indictment, which was con- 
 fessedly one-sided, and partook also of the nature of a 
 partisan attack, and should even have repeated and 
 given permanency to charges which were so contrary to 
 evidence, that the prosecutors of Sir Thomas Eumbold 
 found themselves compelled to abandon them at an 
 early stage of the prosecution. 
 
 Miss Eumbold also obtained possession of a copy in 
 manuscript of the speech of Mr. Bearcroft before the 
 House, on opening the case on the part of the prosecu- 
 tion against Sir Thomas Eumbold. 
 
 She was fortunate enough to obtain, in two large and 
 closely written folio volumes, the Briefs prepared for 
 the Counsel to oppose the Bill on behalf of Sir Thomas 
 Eumbold; besides which, Mr. Hardinge's speech in 
 defence of his client, Sir Thomas,* and the manly and 
 dignified defence published by the accused himself, for 
 private circulation, were secured by Miss Eumbold. 
 To complete her knowledge of the whole period, she 
 
 * Published by R-jbiuson, Payne, and Son, &c. London, 1783.
 
 x EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 procured and mastered the very voluminous and valu- 
 able Reports of the Committee of Secrecy of the House 
 of Commons on the Causes of the War in the Carnatic. 
 From the British Museum and elsewhere she obtained 
 copies of correspondence between Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 and Sir Philip Francis, (then Mr. Francis,) and between 
 Sir Thomas and Sir Eyre Coote. Mr. Francis' Diary 
 was also studied. Many scarce tracts on Indian affairs 
 were laid under contribution. All the histories of 
 India, the Lives of Hastings and Burke, Hansard's 
 Parliamentary History, and, in a word, whatever could 
 have any bearing, one way or the other, on the merits 
 of Sir Thomas Ruinbold's administration, were closely 
 investigated : until Miss Rumbold knew that she had 
 all the evidence before her which could relate to the 
 matters she had so much at heart. Six years of assidu- 
 ous labour were thus given by the daughter to the 
 work of laying open the truth respecting her father's 
 Indian government. 
 
 The result is to be found in the pages following. 
 Miss Rumbold became convinced of her father's inno- 
 cence of the grave offences which had been laid to his 
 charge. How the charges originated, and how and 
 why her father was devoted as a victim and a scape- 
 goat, to avert from others the storm of popular indigna- 
 tion, she believed herself able to show. But she was 
 alone. She had outlived her early acquaintances ; she 
 had been long resident in a foreign land; and she 
 had no connexion with the literary world. She 
 left France and came to this country Jive jreari
 
 EDITOR S PREFACE. XI 
 
 ago, bent upon the prosecution of the task of 
 duty she . had assigned herself, but unable to dis- 
 cover how her work could be accomplished. In the 
 latter part of 1866, she had completed her collections ; 
 she had got her argument into something like form ; 
 but she was without a literary adviser, and she felt the 
 great disadvantage under which she laboured from her 
 want of training as an author. She craved the judg- 
 ment of some competent person as to the conclusive- 
 ness and effect of what she had prepared, and 
 also instruction and aid in putting her materials 
 into the best form for publication. By the advice of 
 the present writer, she took her manuscript to Mr. 
 Marshman, the Indian publicist and historian, who 
 kindly consented to examine what she had collected 
 and written. It so happened that Mr. Marshman had 
 just completed, and was bringing through the press, 
 the first volume of his History of India, in which he 
 had followed the general stream of authorities in con- 
 demnation of Sir Thomas Rumbold. Miss Rumbold's 
 work, however, changed his views. As it was too 
 late to alter his text, he added an Appendix, in 
 which he did not hesitate to confess himself convinced 
 by the evidence which Miss Rumbold had adduced ; in 
 which he said that the chapter of Indian history relating 
 to Sir Thomas Eumbold would have to be re-written ; 
 and expressed his judgment that the valuable matter 
 contained in Miss Rumbold's papers ought to be given 
 to the world. Mr. Marshman's Appendix is printed in 
 this volume as a sequel to the Introductory Notice of
 
 Xll EDITOR S PREFACE. 
 
 Sir Thomas Kuinbold's history, which follows this 
 Preface, and immediately before the Vindication itself. 
 
 Such a testimony from perhaps the highest living 
 authority as to Indian history was decisive ; and could 
 not but be a reward to Miss Rumbold for all the labour 
 she had undergone in her work of filial duty. But, 
 when she read Mr. Marshinan's Appendix, fresh 
 from the first issue of the volume in which it is con- 
 tained, she was already under the hand of death. The 
 severe cold of January, 1867, had taken hold of her. 
 On the last day but one of January, she read for herself, 
 ill as she was, Mr. Marshman's Appendix. The day 
 following she died. She felt as if she had done her 
 work. Some of her last directions related to corrections 
 in her manuscript. 
 
 In conformity with her own desire, and at the urgent 
 request of her family and friends, the Editor felt con- 
 strained to accept the task of preparing her papers 
 for the press. They were not fit to put into the 
 hands of any professional reader or corrector. There 
 was necessity for much revision, sometimes for omis- 
 sion, sometimes for re-arrangement, sometimes for the 
 addition of a word or a clause to make the sense clear 
 and complete. And the whole had to be divided into 
 chanters. A merely professional man and an entire 
 stranger could not well be entrusted with all this 
 responsibility. There were, besides, many pages of 
 matter toward the end of her collections, relating to 
 the question of Sir Thomas and the Zemindars, and to 
 Mr. Wliitt-hill's relations with Mr. Hastings, and a
 
 EDITOR S PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 good deal also of Mr. Hardinge's Defence, about the 
 publication of which, whether in whole or in part, she 
 was doubtful, although she had put them in writing. 
 It was felt that a friend only ought to be entrusted 
 with the editorial responsibility, in a case which in- 
 cluded so wide and serious a discretion. 
 
 The Editor has done his best. Perpetual interrup- 
 tions from a multiplicity of other engagements, and 
 an entire want of previous familiarity with the matters 
 of history involved, have made it difficult for him to 
 bring his work to a satisfactory conclusion. 
 
 Moreover, he felt that the Vindication was to be Miss 
 Kumbold's, not his own. Hence, he has considered 
 himself as bound to alter only where alteration was 
 necessary. He was to leave Miss Rumbold's style and 
 matter to make their own impression. Much more 
 might have been made, by a practised writer, of many 
 points, than has been done by Sir Thomas Eumbold's 
 daughter. Miss Rumbold made no attempt at 
 elaboration or at rhetoric ; she desired only to 
 set down a plain unvarnished statement of facts. 
 She felt too deeply, and was too inexperienced a 
 writer, to attempt to put her feelings into words, 
 or to deal with her father's case as an advocate, or 
 an orator, or even as a trained writer of history, would 
 have done. 
 
 Notwithstanding, there are the facts, there is the 
 history, to speak for itself. If Miss Eumbold lacked 
 literary experience, she did not lack mental power. Her 
 mastery of the whole subject, and, indeed, of the whole
 
 XIV EDITOR S PREFACE. 
 
 web of Indian history, with its special subtleties and 
 mysterious intricacies, during the period with which her 
 father's history and administration stood in relation, 
 was quite wonderful, as well as the acuteness of her 
 investigations. This volume will be found to throw 
 new light on the character and tactics of Mr. Hastings. 
 The history of the origin of the war in the Oarnatic 
 must now be revised.* 
 
 The Editor must add, that the special authorities on 
 which Miss Rumbold relied will be deposited in the 
 British Museum, for use by future historians. 
 
 * Miss Rumbold belonged, on her mother's side, to a family distin- 
 guished for learning and mental ability. Her maternal grandfather was 
 Dr. Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle. Two of her mother's brothers 
 were Bishops respectively of the sees of Elphin and of Bath and Wells. 
 She was a niece of the first Lord Ellcnborough, and was, of course, a 
 cousin of the present Earl.
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE 
 
 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD. 
 
 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD was horn in January, 1736, at 
 Leytonstone, in Essex. He was the youngest son 
 of Mr. W. Rumhold, of the East India Company's 
 Naval Service, whose father, of the same name, had 
 also been in the service of the East India Company. 
 The Rumbolds traced their descent from a family 
 anciently of Essex, but in later times settled at Fulham. 
 
 From the year 1709, it appears from the records of 
 the India House, that several of the family were in the 
 civil service of the Company. Sir Thomas' elder brother, 
 Lieutenant William Rumbold, is distinguished by Mr. 
 Orme, in his " History of India," as having, on more 
 than one occasion during his short career, rendered 
 military and political service to the Company. 
 
 At the age of sixteen, Thomas Rumbold was 
 appointed a writer to Fort St. George. There are now 
 in the India House the regular certificates of studies 
 qualifying him for the post. He soon changed the 
 civil for the military line, and was allowed to retain 
 his rank in the former service. He was present at the 
 siege of Trichinopoly, and at the retaking of Calcutta, 
 in 1756, where an act of remarkable intrepidity caused 
 him to be promoted to a captaincy by Lord Clive, to 
 whom he acted as aide-de-camp at Plassey. Seriously 
 wounded in that battle, he was unable any longer to 
 bear the fatigues of military service, and resumed his
 
 XVI INTRODUCTORY NOTICE OF 
 
 position in the civil department. By Lord Clive he 
 was called from Madras, to take his seat in the Council 
 of Bengal, where he remained for five years. He also 
 held the lucrative and important post of chief of Patna. 
 
 Having made a handsome, although by no means a 
 colossal or extraordinary, fortune, and having at the 
 same time suffered such exhaustion of health as 
 commonly attends a residence of many years in 
 such climates as those of Madras and Bengal, Mr. 
 Eumbold returned to England about the year 1769.* 
 In 1770 he entered Parliament, as Member for Shore- 
 ham. At this time his character and services were 
 highly esteemed at the India House ; and he was 
 named as the successor of Hastings, when the Directors 
 were determined upon his recall in 1773. This is a 
 fact not to be lost sight of in investigating the causes 
 of that jealousy of Sir Thomas Rumbold on the part of 
 Mr. Hastings, the existence of which is proved iucon- 
 testably by the Diary of Mr. (Sir Philip) Francis, and was 
 very manifest in the conduct of the Governor-General 
 towards Sir Thomas during his Presidency at Madras. 
 
 In 1777-8, Mr. Eumbold was sent out to succeed Lord 
 Pigot at Madras. During his administration, Pondi- 
 cherry and Mahe were taken from the French by Sir 
 Hector Munro. For the taking of Pondicherry Mr. 
 Rumbold received the special thanks of the Directors, 
 and was created a Baronet. During his administration 
 he differed frequently from Mr. Hastings as to ques- 
 
 * He had visited England for his health once in the interval, in tin- 
 years 1762-3.
 
 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD. 
 
 tions of Indian policy ; and in particular lie repeatedly 
 and pointedly condemned the policy of the Mahratta 
 war, which, in his view, as in that of Mr. Francis, led 
 immediately to the war in the Carnatic. 
 
 In 1780, Sir Thomas Rumbold was obliged to resign 
 his office, and leave Madras, because of his broken 
 health, which threatened speedily fatal consequences, 
 unless relieved by an immediate return to Europe. He 
 set sail from Madras on the 6th of April ; and, on his 
 arrival in England, found the Directors incensed against 
 him. He had not only offended Mr. Hastings, but 
 some of the civil servants of the Company who had 
 returned to England, or who had friends in this 
 country. Especially had he given umbrage, both at 
 home and abroad, by some salutary reforms which he 
 had carried out, which struck at the emolument and 
 consequence of the local boards, or " subordinates," as 
 they were sometimes called, and which also, by redu- 
 cing the value of patronage, sensibly affected the inter- 
 ests of the patrons at home. 
 
 At this time, moreover, general indignation had 
 risen high against the profligacy, real or imagined, of 
 our Indian Government, against the whole class of 
 Indian nabobs, as monsters of corruption or oppression, 
 who had gained enormous fortunes by the foulest mis- 
 deeds. Only a few years before this the great Olive had 
 had to suffer the deepest humiliation as the representa- 
 tive of Indian policy and of Indian profligacy. Five and 
 twenty years later, by a not unrighteous retribution, 
 
 b
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE OF 
 
 Mr. Hastings was to drink of the same cup of bitter- 
 ness to its dregs, in an agony of mortification and 
 abasement, protracted through years. Lord Macaulay's 
 words set forth, with a vividness and power which 
 another writer could not hope to rival, the condition of 
 the public mind as to the rulers of India. 
 
 " The unfortunate nabob seemed to be made up of 
 those foibles against which comedy has pointed the 
 most merciless ridicule, and of those crimes which have 
 thrown the deepest gloom over tragedy, of Turcaret 
 and Nero, of Monsieur Jourdain and Richard the 
 Third. A tempest of execration and derision, such as 
 can be compared only to that outbreak of public feel- 
 ing against the Puritans at the time of the Restoration, 
 burst on the servants of the Company. The humane 
 man was horrorstruck at the way in which they had 
 got their money ; the thrifty man at the way in which 
 they had spent it. The Dilettanti sneered at their 
 want of taste. The Macaroni blackballed them as 
 vulgar fellows. Writers, the most unlike in sentiment 
 and style, Methodists and libertines, philosophers and 
 buffoons, were for once on the same side. It is hardly 
 too much to say, that during a space of about thirty 
 years, the whole lighter literature of England was 
 coloured by the feelings Avhich we have described. 
 Foote brought on the stage an Anglo-Indian chief, dis- 
 solute, ungenerous, tyrannical, ashamed of the humble 
 friends of his youth ; hating the fcristooracy, yet child- 
 i>hly caijer to be numbered aiuoinr them ; squandering 
 his wealth on panders and flatterers, tricking out his
 
 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD. XIX 
 
 chairman with the most costly hothouse flowers, and 
 astounding the ignorant with his jargon about rupees, 
 lacs, and jaghires. Mackenzie, with more delicate 
 humour, depicted a plain country family raised by the 
 Indian acquisitions of one of its members to sudden 
 opulence, and exciting derision by an awkward mimicry 
 of the manners of the great. Cowper, in that lofty 
 expostulation which glows with the very spirit of the 
 Hebrew poets, placed the oppression of India foremost 
 in the list of those national crimes for which God had 
 punished England with years of disastrous war, with 
 discomfiture in her own seas, and with the loss of her 
 Transatlantic empire. If any of our readers will take 
 the trouble to search in the dusty recesses of circulat- 
 ing libraries for some novel published sixty years ago, 
 the chance is that the villain or sub- villain of the story 
 will prove to be a savage old nabob, with an immense 
 fortune, a tawny complexion, a bad liver, and a worse 
 heart." * 
 
 Moreover, in 1780, within a few months after Sir 
 Thomas Eumbold returned to England, the nation 
 broke into wrath about Indian Affairs, upon a very 
 special provocation which had just come to light, and 
 wanted, before all else, " some one to hang." The 
 Mahratta war had been full of mismanagement ; the 
 war in the Carnatic had just broken out. The Directors 
 had committed themselves to the former war, and in 
 general to the policy of Mr. Hastings. While the 
 
 * Essay on Lord Clive. 
 
 b 2
 
 XX INTRODUCTORY NOTICE OF 
 
 nation demanded a victim and a sacrifice, the Company 
 needed a scape-goat. Sir Thomas Ruinbold was 
 made the victim, and on him the indignation of 
 the nation was directed. He was sacrificed for 
 the misdoings of the Directors. He was held up to 
 popular odium, as one who had not rendered needful 
 help in the Mahratta war, and whose high-handed 
 and impolitic administration at Madras had precipitated 
 the war in the Carnatic. How far these imputations 
 were well-founded, will appear in the course of this 
 volume. His friends maintained that the Mahratta war 
 was altogether ill-advised and calamitous; that that 
 war was in effect the main cause of the war in the 
 Carnatic ; and that Sir Thomas Ruuibold was absolutely 
 prevented by Mr. Hastings' neglect at one time, and 
 interference and coercion at another, from taking the 
 steps which he desired to take, in preparation for the 
 contingency of a war with Hyder Ali, which he had 
 throughout clearly seen, and against which he A\as 
 continually warning Mr. Hastings to prepare. 
 
 The history of the prosecution to which Sir Tin 
 Kumhold, like Lord Clive before him, and Mr. Hastings 
 afterwards, was subjected on his return to England, 
 is given by Miss Kuinbold in some of the opening 
 chapters of this volume. It is sufficient here to note 
 that, haying sent in his resignation previous to his 
 leaving Madras in April, 1780, and having reached 
 Knufland towards the autumn of the saint- rea 
 Thomas RuinboM uas formally ivnsurcd and dis- 
 missed by the East India Company in January, 1781 ;
 
 SIR THOMAS 11TJMBOLD. XXI 
 
 that, in April of that year, the calamitous war in the 
 Carnatic became the subject of discussion in the House 
 of Commons, with a view to a full inquiry, in which dis- 
 cussion (April 27th) Sir Thomas Eumbold, who had taken 
 his seat as Member for Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, having 
 been made the object of certain insinuations by Mr. 
 T. Townshend, spoke at some length, giving his views 
 as to the extent of ground which a thorough inquiry 
 should cover, and courting the fullest investigation ; that 
 on the 9th of April in the following year, (1782,) Mr. 
 Dundas opened the case against the Indian authorities, 
 and in particular against Sir Thomas Eumbold, by a 
 speech, in which he moved for a Committee of the 
 whole House on Indian Affairs ; that after this, in due 
 course, certain Resolutions upon Indian Affairs, and 
 especially a series relating to the administration of 
 Madras, passed the House, (April 29th.) upon which a 
 Bill, of Pains and Penalties against Sir Thomas 
 Eumbold, and other members of the Madras Council, 
 was founded ; that a Bill to restrain Sir Thomas 
 Eumbold and Mr. Perring from leaving the kingdom 
 was also brought in, and passed the Committee, 
 after its Second Eeading, on the 3rd of May of the same 
 year ; that after an interval of nine months, that is to say, 
 in February, 1783, the prosecution was opened, and the 
 defence closed on the last day of May following ; and that 
 theBillwas abandoned on June 2ndof thesame year,after 
 but one debate; at which it was evident that the feeling of 
 the House in the matter was very materially changed. 
 
 Sir Thomas retained his seat in Parliament; took 
 part in discussions relating to Indian Affairs, was
 
 XXli INTRODUCTORY NOTICE OF 
 
 listened to with respect, and, as is shown in this 
 volume, was publicly spoken of by Mr. Burke in such 
 a way as proved that his character and position in the 
 House were restored. In his owu circle, and during 
 his lifetime, the voice of calumny seems to have been 
 silenced. Nor was it until more than a quarter of a 
 century after his death, when Colonel Wilks, writing 
 under the inspiration of Mr. Hastings, published his 
 History of Affairs in the South of India, that the accu- 
 sations of the Directors and of Mr. Dundas's Com- 
 mittee were revived. 
 
 The following letter from Sir Thomas Eumbold to 
 Lord North accompanied a copy of the Baronet's 
 Defence, as published (in part) by himself. 
 
 " MY LORD, 
 
 "AFTER the very polite reception I received from 
 your Lordship, on my first arrival, it may appear 
 extraordinary that I have for some time deferred 
 paying my compliments to you ; it has, my Lord, arose 
 from a point of delicacy, for I find it absolutely 
 necessary in the first instance to vindicate the 
 measures of my administration abroad, against the 
 violent attack that has been made upon them. The 
 slow progress of inquiry has unavoidably held me in 
 a veiy disagreeable situation, and not only prevented 
 me from offering my sentiments on the state of India 
 in general, and the regulations that were necessary to 
 be adopted, but has obliged me to act with great 
 reserve till my conduct has undergone a thorough 
 investigation, and I am either condemned or set at
 
 SIR THOMAS IUJMBOLD. XX111 
 
 liberty to act with independence and freedom. I take 
 the liberty of enclosing to your Lordship the first 
 attempt I have made to enter into a justification of 
 myself; if it should merit your Lordship's perusal, 
 I doubt not but you will find it is founded on facts ; 
 and I will venture to assert that the subsequent 
 chapters will afford as strong a vindication on the 
 several points on which they break as the one now 
 offered on a measure that has been reprobated not 
 because it was in itself bad, but because it was likely 
 to impress the public with an idea of peculations, and 
 to raise a prejudice in order to answer particular 
 purposes. I have the honour to be with great respect, 
 
 "My Lord, 
 
 " Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, 
 
 "THOMAS EUMBOLD. 
 
 "New Cavendish Street, March llth, 1782." 
 
 i 
 
 All Sir Thomas Eumbold's addresses in the House, 
 the tone of the Defence itself, his silence in the House 
 during the time his conduct was under investigation, 
 and whatever else is known of him, are in agreement 
 with the delicacy and dignity of feeling expressed in 
 this letter. If, from 1784 onwards, he felt himself at 
 liberty to take his full share in the discussions on 
 Indian Affairs in the House of Commons, and if, when 
 he had spoken, his words were marked by the com- 
 mendation of such a man as Burke, the reason was 
 that his moral influence was restored. In the extracts 
 from Mr. Burke's speech on the Debts of the Nabob of 
 Arcot, given on pp. 29-31, and in a supplementary note
 
 XXIV INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 on p. 351, it will be seen how vastly more severe is Mr. 
 Burke's condemnation of Mr. Dundasthan any censure to 
 which he had thought Sir Thomas Eumbold at any time 
 liable, and how highly he praises the Baronet's conduct 
 during the course of the Parliamentary investigation. 
 
 It may here be added that Sir Thomas Eumbold was 
 elected M.P. for Weymouth, in 1784, and sat for that 
 borough till his death in 1791. He left issue by both 
 his first and second wife. Sir Arthur Rumbold, 
 Governor of Tortola, descended from the first wife, is his 
 great-grandson, and inherits the title. Miss Rumbold, 
 the author of the following pages, was the youngest 
 of three daughters by the second marriage, and sister 
 to the late Charles Edmund Ruinbold, for many years 
 M.P. for Great Yarmouth. 
 
 Posterity has often modified, has sometimes reversed, 
 the judgment pronounced on character by contempo- 
 raries ; later history has very often set aside the less 
 thoroughly informed conclusions of history written too 
 near the time of the actors to escape from the bias of 
 partiality or the cast of prejudice. In the present 
 case, although it is not to be supposed that Sir 
 Thomas Eumbold's administration will be proved 
 to have been altogether free from errors of judgment, 
 it cannot be doubted that he will have to be instated 
 among the ranks, of not only able, but also honourable, 
 administrators in our Indian Empire. He was not 
 unworthy to be the friend of Cliv>, and to havobeen put 
 in nomination for the Governor-Generalship of India.
 
 APPENDIX TO VOL. I. OF MAESHMAN'S 
 'HISTOKY OF BRITISH INDIA." 
 
 (LONGMANS. 1867.) 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF SIR THOMAS KUMBOLD, GOVERNOR OF 
 MADRAS, IN 1778, 1779, AND 1780. 
 
 SINCE this volume was sent to press, the author has been 
 favoured with a large and valuable collection of papers, compiled 
 from original correspondence, and from printed records long 
 since forgotten, relative to the administration of Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, at Madras, and intended to relieve his memory from 
 the obloquy which has rested on it for nearly half a century. 
 A careful perusal of this compilation forces the conclusion that 
 the charges brought against him by Colonel Wilks and Mr. 
 Mill were based on erroneous information, and partial investiga- 
 tion. The statements regarding his proceedings, which are 
 now received as historical facts, and the authenticity of which 
 the author of this volume never suspected, are not, as it would 
 appear, to be relied on, and this chapter of Indian history re- 
 quires to be written afresh. The interests of historical truth 
 demand this candid admission, and render it necessary to place 
 before the reader the clear explanations which these documents 
 afford, of various points on which his conduct has been 
 impeached. 
 
 The large sums remitted to England by Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold, soon after his arrival at Madras, have been considered a 
 decisive proof of the corrupt character of his proceedings. But 
 these papers explain that he was for twelve years a civilian on 
 the Bengal establishment, and chief of the factory of Patna,
 
 XXVI APPENDIX TO VOL. I. OF 
 
 and moreover engaged, like all the civilians of the time, in mer- 
 cantile transactions ; that the remittances consisted of the pro- 
 perty he had left in Bengal in the public securities, as proved 
 by the clearest evidence, and which, combined with his salary 
 as Governor, fully accounted for the fortune he had accumulated, 
 of which he was obliged on his return to deliver a schedule on 
 oath, under the penalty of the confiscation of his entire pro- 
 perty, if he erred to the extent of 500. 
 
 The Court of Directors had directed five of the members of 
 Council at Madras to proceed to the northern Circars, to com- 
 plete a settlement with the Zemindars, and Sir Thomas Kumbold 
 has been censured for cancelling the Commission, and directing 
 the Zemindars to repair to Madras, where they were required to 
 transact business with him alone. But it is now shown that, 
 for this procedure, he submitted his reasons to the Court of 
 Directors, the chief of which was that these landholders were 
 endeavouring to baffle the Commissioners, and that the Court 
 declared themselves perfectly satisfied with the course he had 
 adopted. When the matter came under Parliamentary inve>ti- 
 gation, it was attested by four witnesses that, at the Madras 
 Presidency, transactions of this nature had always been con- 
 ducted by the President himself, and subsequently communicated 
 to the Board. 
 
 Regarding the bribe of a lac of rupees to his Secretary, Mr. 
 Redhead, by Seetaram Raj, it is shown that Mr. Redhead never 
 enjoyed the confidence of Sir Thomas, and was dismissed within 
 a few months of his arrival at Madras, and died poon after. A 
 paper was discovered among his effects, which purported to be a 
 translation from the original, in the Gentoo language, contain- 
 ing a promise on the part of Sect ara: n R;,j to pay him a lac of 
 rupees, on the performance of pertain services. It was not at- 
 ram, or by Mr. Redhead. His executors, how- 
 ever, sui d the native for the amount in the Mayor's Court, and 
 obtained a Decree, which was reverse' 1 on appeal by the President 
 in Council. An attempt w a-* ma le to implicate Sir Thomas in 
 the odium of this tnauactioo, bat the Counsel for the Bill found 
 that it could not be sur-tained, and abandoned the charge.
 
 MARSHMAN'S " HISTORY OF INDIA.' xxvii 
 
 It is stated in the histories of India, that when Sir Thomas 
 summoned the Zemindars of the Northern Circars to Madras, 
 Viziram Raj, the Zemindar of Vizagapatam, declined to obey 
 the injunction, pleading the injury which his estates would 
 suffer from his absence, but that his brother Seetaram Raj 
 hastened thither, and succeeded in obtaining from Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold the entire command of the Zemindary, in spite of his 
 brother's remonstrances. The version of this affair given in 
 these papers, and substantiated by documentary evidence, pre- 
 sents it in a totally different aspect. Seetaram was the eldest 
 son, and the lawful heir of the Principality, but, under the 
 pressure of palace intrigues, was induced to relinquish his right 
 to his brother, and to consent to act as his Dewan, or Steward ; 
 in which capacity he managed the estates with such fidelity and 
 benefit, as in a few years to double the rent-roll. A competitor 
 at length succeeded in poisoning the mind of Viziram Raj 
 against his brother, and supplanted him in his office. Seetaram 
 was at Madras, seeking the intervention of the public author- 
 ities before the arrival of Sir Thomas, who determined, if possi- 
 ble, to reconcile the brothers. The new Dewan, who was a 
 defaulter to the extent of 90,000, was directed to proceed to 
 the Zemindary, and bring up his accounts. Sir Thomas 
 embraced the opportunity of his absence, which relieved Vizi- 
 ram from the spell of his influence, to make up the family 
 quarrel. Seetaram was re-appointed Dewan, and continued to 
 live in harmony with his brother, and secured the punctual 
 pa} r ment of the public revenue, and promoted the improvement 
 of the family property. 
 
 The most important series of events elucidated by these docu- 
 ments, is that which refers to the transfer of the Guntoor Cir- 
 car ; which has been assumed, without question, as the cause of 
 the confederacy formed to exterminate the Company, and of the 
 war with Hyder Ali, which spread desolation through the Car- 
 natic. The statement, which has hitherto been deemed 
 authentic, runs thus : By the Treaty made with the Nizam, in 
 17G8, a tribute of seven lacs of rupees a year was to be paid to 
 him for the four Circars, and he was bound to consider the ene-
 
 XXV111 APPENDIX TO VOL. I. OF 
 
 rnies of the Company his enemies. The Guntooj- Circar, how- 
 ever, was to remain in the possession of his brother, Basal ut 
 Jung, during his life, and then to revert to the Company ; but 
 if he gave protection or assistance to their enemies, they were at 
 liberty to take possession of the province, and retain it. 
 Basalut Jung employed Monsieur Lally to organize an army, 
 commanded by French officer*, which was gradually increased 
 to five hundred Europeans and three thousand Sepoys, and was 
 constantly supplied with recruits and stores through the port of 
 Motapilly. In 1779, Basalut Jung, alarmed by the encroach- 
 ment of Hyder, voluntarily proposed to Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 to lease his territory for its full value to the Company, to dis- 
 miss the French force, and to receive a British contingent in its 
 stead. A British force was accordingly sent to take possession 
 of the province, and Mr. Hollond was deputed to Hyderabad to 
 explain this transaction to the Nizam, and to demand the re- 
 mission of the tribute, which had been withheld for some time. 
 The Nizam was exasperated at a proceeding which he considered 
 a breach of the Treaty, and immediately formed a confederacy 
 with the Mahrattas and Hyder for the extermination of English 
 power in the Deccan. These measures were concealed from Mr. 
 Hastings, who, on becoming cognizant of them, superseded the 
 authority of the Madras Government at the Court of the Nizam, 
 ordered the province to be restored, and engaged to make good 
 the tribute ; and, by this prompt and conciliatory proccdure 
 detached him from the great Confederacy. 
 . The documents now collected give a totally different aspect 
 to these transactions. The collection of a French forre in Guu- 
 toor had been an object of alarm equally at Calcutta and ;it 
 Madras for years before the Confederacy was formed. In July, 
 177-3, the Governor-General stated that no time should be lost 
 in removing it, and authorized the Government of Madras to 
 march a body of troops to the frontier, to demand the imme- 
 diate di.-!;ii.-s;il of the French force; and, if it was not complied 
 with, to take possession of the country and retain it. Tbe 
 :ament of Madras, instead of adopting this extreme 
 measure, sent a remonstrance to the Nizam, as Soobadar of tho
 
 MARSIIMAN S " HISTORY OF INDIA. XXIX 
 
 Deccan, and urged the removal of the French corps. He pro- 
 mised to respect the Treaty " to a hair's breadth," but con- 
 stantly evaded compliance with the demand, which was often 
 repeated. The capture of Pondicherry, in 1778, gave a new 
 turn to affairs in the Deccan ; and, combined with the recent 
 encroachments of Hyder, who threatened to absorb the Guntoor 
 Circar likewise, induced Basalut Jung to send a Vakeel to 
 Madras, and offer to make over the province to the Company 
 on the payment of the same sum which he had hitherto derived 
 from it, to dismiss the French, and receive an English force. A 
 Treaty, embodying these arrangements, was accordingly drawn 
 up by Sir Thomas Rumbold, with the full concurrence of Sir 
 Eyre Coote, then a member of the Madras Council, and submit- 
 ted to Mr. Hastings, who made divers alterations, and then 
 returned it to be carried into effect, with his full concurrence. 
 A detachment of British troops was then sent to occupy the 
 province, who were obliged to cross a corner of a district which 
 Hydc-r had recently added to his dominions. The Court of 
 Directors likewise commended the meritorious conduct of Sir 
 Thomas in concluding the Treaty. 
 
 The Nizam and Hyder resented this proceeding, but their 
 indignation only served to demonstrate the wisdom and policy 
 of it. The Nizam reproached his brother for having rented the 
 Circar to the English, when he should have made it over to 
 Hyder Ali. Hyder had resolved to oust Basalut Jung, and 
 take possession of the province, which would give him a position 
 on the flank of the Carnatic, and a port on the Coromandel 
 coast. He was irritated by the promptness with which this 
 design was frustrated, and vowed that he would not allow the 
 Circar to pass into the hands of " his old and' bitter enemies." 
 By a singular error, accidental or otherwise, the word" enemy " 
 was substituted for " enemies," and the declaration was thus 
 made to apply to Mahomed Ali, the Nabob of the Carnatic, and 
 not to the Company, whom Hyder always regarded with a feel- 
 ing of rancorous hatred. 
 
 With regard to the tribute of seven lacs of rupees a year, the 
 papers state that it had fallen into arrears before the arrival of
 
 XXX APPENDIX TO VOL. I. OF 
 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold. The Nizam was pressing for payment, 
 and the Madras Government had earnestly entreated the 
 Governor-General to assist them with funds to discharge it. 
 The Madras Presidency was reduced to such a state of poverty, 
 that when the troops had heen paid for one month, they knew 
 not where to look for the next supply. Mr. Hollond was sent 
 to' Hyderabad, not to make a positive demand of remission, to 
 be eventually supported by violence, but to solicit a reduction 
 of the sum, on the plea of poverty ; and, if the Ni/.am appeared 
 to be propitious, to propose the entire relinquishment of it, 
 coupled with certain propositions which it was thought would 
 appear an equivalent for the sacrifice. If they were rejected, he 
 was instructed to assure the Nizam that the current tribute, as 
 well as the arrears, would be paid " as soon as they were in 
 cash." Mr. Hollond found, on his arrival, that the Nizam h.id 
 taken the French force dismissed by Basalut Jung into his own 
 service ; which, considering that the English were then at war 
 with the French, was a gross breach of the Treaty, and the 
 Governor of Madras strenuously remonstrated with the Ni/.am 
 fqr openly protecting and encouraging the enemies of the Com- 
 pany. Mr. Hollond therefore informed him that the payment 
 of the tribute would be made, on his giving full satisfaction re- 
 garding the French troops. 
 
 The hostile confederacy formed by the Nizam is attributed, 
 by the historians, to the irritation produced in the mind of the 
 Ni/.am by the Guntoor transactions and the tribute negotia- 
 tions. But the documents show that it was formed before they 
 had occurred, and that this fact was admitted by the Governor- 
 General himself. The animosity of the Nizam, which led to the 
 Confederacy, was created by the support given by the British 
 Government to Raghoba, whom he considered his most invete- 
 rate enemy, lie had earnestly remonstrated with the Bengal 
 Government on this subject, and announced his determination to 
 attack the Company's dominions if the alliance was not relin- 
 quished. Another cause of annoyance was the integration of a 
 letter addressed by the Governor-General to Mr. Klliott, the 
 sent to Nagpore, authorizing him to conclude an alliance
 
 MAKSHMAN'S " HISTORY or INDIA." xxxi 
 
 with the li.tjah, and to assist him in recovering certain territo- 
 ries from the Nizam. It is shown in the papers that it was 
 these two transactions alone which induced the Nizam to form 
 a combination against the Company. It has likewise been be- 
 lieved that the Nizam was detached from the Confederacy by 
 the assurance of the Bengal Government that the tribute should 
 be paid, and the Guntoor Circar restored ; but a far more pro- 
 bable cause of this change of policy is to be found, so the papers 
 say, in the fact that, while the Nizam was inciting Hyder to 
 attack the English, he discovered that Hyder had sent a Vakeel 
 to Delhi, to obtain from the puppet of an E oaperor an imperial 
 grant of the whole of the Nizam's dominions ! 
 
 These documents deal also with the assertion that the Madras 
 Government, after having given every provocation to Hyder, 
 were taken by surprise when he burst on the Carnatic. But it 
 is stated that every effort was made to conciliate him. The 
 expedition to Mahe was undertaken by orders from home, but 
 when it was found to be obnoxious to Hyder, Sir Thomas pro- 
 posed that it should be suspended, but was overruled by Sir 
 Eyre Coote. Hyder declared that he would be revenged for 
 Mahe in the Carnatic. The Madras Council were fully aware 
 of his hostility, and repeatedly pointed out the danger to which 
 the Carnatic would be exposed from his assaults, and their in- 
 ability to defend it. They recommended a union of all the Pre- 
 sidencies to reduce his power. In announcing Hyder's prepara- 
 tions to Calcutta, in November, 1779, Sir Thomas Rutnbold 
 stated that if he should enter the Carnatic, it was beyond their 
 power to prevent the ravages of his horse ; but, so late as Janu- 
 ary, 1780, Mr. Hastings wrote : " I am convinced from Hyder's 
 conduct and disposition, that he will never molest us while we 
 preserve a good understanding with him." 
 
 In reference to the desertion of his post on the eve of the 
 war, and the resentment ot the Court of Directors, the papers 
 show that the measures of Sir Thomas Kumbold had been uni- 
 formly commended by them ; and that the first censure of his 
 conduct, which was also accompanied by a sentence of deposi- 
 tion, was written three months after they had received his
 
 XXX11 MARSHMAN S " BRITISH INDIA. 
 
 5 5 
 
 resignation, and appointed his successor ; and that his retire- 
 ment from India was rendered imperative by the advice of the 
 first physicians in Madras. After his return, Mr. Duiidas in- 
 troduced a Bill of pains and penalties, charging him with high 
 crimes and misdemeanours, and more particularly stigmatizing 
 the transaction regarding the Guntoor Circar as having been 
 done in a clandestine, treacherous, irregular, and unjustifiable 
 manner. The law officers of the Crown condemned these pro- 
 ceedings as uujust. Some of the more important allegations in 
 the Bill were abandoned, and others broke down when brought 
 to the test of evidence; and the Bill itself was withdrawn 
 twenty months after it had been presented, by a motion that it 
 be read that day six months. 
 
 It is to be hoped that this valuable collection of documents 
 will, at no distant period, be given to the public, for the 
 information of those who take an interest in the history of 
 British India, and the guidance of those who may hereafter 
 treat of this subject.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PREJUDICES LONG CURRENT AGAINST SIR THOMAS 
 RUMBOLD. THE OCCASION AND ORIGIN OF THESE. 
 
 EIGHTY years have passed since Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold was arraigned before the House of 
 
 O 
 
 Commons, on the charge of grievous misconduct 
 during the period of his administration in India. 
 The circumstances of the case are little under- 
 stood, if not altogether forgotten ; and can there- 
 fore inspire little general interest. There may 
 be some, however, to whom it has been matter 
 of surprise, that, when all who have been placed 
 in situations somewhat similar, have found in 
 aftertimes warm friends and advocates to defend 
 their cause, not one voice should have been 
 raised to stem the torrent of abuse that is con- 
 tinually directed against the government and ' 
 character of Sir Thomas Rumbold. 
 
 It is needless here to offer any explanation of 
 this past neglect, but since, as things now are, 
 it would seem that so long as a very eventful 
 period of Indian history is remembered and
 
 2 CHAPTER I. 
 
 described, the name of Sir Thomas E/umbold 
 will be held up to reprobation, and vilified by 
 every succeeding writer, it is hoped that some 
 attention will be granted to these pages. 
 
 They have been compiled from the only authen- 
 tic records now existing, and with the object 
 of giving a better understanding of this parti- 
 cular case. It will also be found that, in some 
 respects, a new and truer light is thrown upon 
 the portion of history in which he was an actor. 
 
 The authorities specially referred to, from 
 which subsequent writers have borrowed the 
 representations they give of these transactions, 
 are the histories of Colonel "VVilks and of Mr. 
 Mill. 
 
 In the former, it is only the subjects of general 
 historic interest, in which Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 was concerned, that are dwelt upon, and in these 
 he has been made subservient to a special 
 purpose of the author. It will be shown that 
 the circumstances under which Colonel Wilks 
 has given his account of the transactions in 
 question render it unworthy of credit. 
 
 It is more difficult to assign the motives that 
 may have led Mr. Mill, who is, according to 
 general opinion, a most respectable and faithful 
 historian, to deal so unfairly with the circum-
 
 ^PREJUDICES. 3 
 
 stances of this case. In the manner of recount- 
 ing the historical facts, as well as in his enumera- 
 tion of the charges originally made, the same 
 spirit of enmity towards Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 prevails. Whether it is attributable to the same 
 cause as that which so much incensed the Court 
 of Directors, admits only of conjecture ; but 
 throughout it is rather they who are speaking, 
 than an historian gathering the truth from inde- 
 pendent and from all available sources. 
 
 In a late edition of this History by Professor 
 Wilson, all the accusations set forth in the 
 fourth chapter, vol. iv., with the concluding 
 paragraph, are followed by this observation of 
 the editor : " The author does not appear to 
 have been in possession of the Minutes of the 
 Evidence, which was produced in justification of 
 the Bill of Pains and Penalties introduced by 
 Mr. Dundas : " and, from his own study of the 
 evidence, Professor Wilson has made some im- 
 portant corrections of Mr. Mill's statements. 
 Had he examined a little further he might have 
 seen, not only that all these accusations were 
 either placed in a very different light, or utterly 
 disproved at the Bar of the House of Commons, 
 but that some of the charges made very promi- 
 nent in Mr. Mill's History had been abau- 
 
 B 2
 
 4 CHAPTER I. 
 
 cloned as untenable articles of the Bill of Pains 
 a nd Penalties , before any evidence in support 
 of them had been attempted on the part of the 
 accusers.* But since Mr. Mill was ignorant 
 or regardless of the evidence by which all 
 the accusations were met, it is important to 
 ask attention to a brief examination of the 
 authorities to which he does himself refer. 
 First, then, with regard to the judgment 
 of the Court of Directors, cited by Mr. Mill, 
 it may be observed, that the first censure 
 ever addressed by them to Sir Thomas Rumbold, 
 and which was accompanied by a sentence of 
 banishment from the service, was dated three 
 months after they had received his formal resig- 
 nation, under circumstances explained by him- 
 self, which precluded his ever seeking further 
 employment in the climate of India. This resig- 
 nation had been formally acknowledged by the 
 Directors, and two Courts were held, when Lord 
 Macartney was appointed " successor to a resigna- 
 tion," yet the Proprietors were not informed 
 that there existed any cause of displeasure against 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold. This could not be deemed 
 
 * Mr. Mill has, in fact, reproduced the accusations against Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold without, so far as appears, having even read any 
 of the statements aud evidence in reply. KimuK.
 
 PREJUDICES. 5 
 
 an accidental omission. The Directors knew 
 that he had friends among the Proprietors who 
 would have insisted upon canvassing the merits 
 of any measure they might contemplate against 
 him, and might have engaged a General Court 
 to give it a fair consideration. The letter of 
 resignation was dated the 15th of January, 1780, 
 and was received on the 15th of September 
 following.* When on the 20th of December, a 
 few days before Sir Thomas Rumbold was ex- 
 pected to arrive in London, the Directors went 
 through the mockery of dismissing him from a 
 service which he had already relinquished, it was 
 ostensibly for measures carried out at Madras, 
 with every detail of which they had been ac- 
 quainted for much above a twelvemonth, and at 
 which they had testified no dissatisfaction ; in- 
 deed that interval had been marked by the 
 general thanks of the Company. Should it be 
 objected that those thanks were for distinct 
 services, reference may be made to the " Minutes 
 
 * " Minutes of the Evidence," p. 21 1. See also Barrow's " Life 
 of Lord Macartney," vol. i., p.- 71. "At a Court of Proprietors 
 held on the 23rd of November, 1780, a letter from Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold was read, wherein he declared his intention to resign his 
 government ; and notice was then given that on the 14th of 
 December it was intended to proceed to nominate a successor."
 
 6 CHAPTER I. 
 
 of the Evidence," * and to the Appendix to the 
 Second Report of the Committee of Secrecy,! 
 where it will he seen that the very measures 
 relating to what was called the suspension of the 
 Committee of Circuit, and to the treatment of 
 the Zemindars, which were subsequently described 
 as so obnoxious, and held up to the censure of 
 Parliament, are commented upon approvingly in 
 letters from the Directors ; and the President 
 and Council are recommended to persevere in 
 the plans suggested for their relief from very 
 long established grievances, which had involved 
 them in almost hopeless debt. The Government, 
 however, adopted the views of the Directors, a 
 parliamentary inquiry was instituted to report 
 upon Sir Thomas llumbold's conduct, and a re- 
 straining Bill was enacted to make his property 
 amenable to justice in Parliament. 
 
 How far it concurred with the political mea- 
 sures then in contemplation, to impress the 
 House strongly with a sense of the misconduct 
 of the servants of the Company, and to direct 
 against Sir Thomas Rumbold, in particular, the 
 indignation that had long been gathering in the 
 public mind against the Company in general, is 
 
 * " Minutes of the Evidence," p. 245. 
 | Second Bcport, Appendix, Xo. 152.
 
 PREJUDICES. 7 
 
 a question that requires much insight into the 
 politics of the times wholly to solve; hut the 
 result is ohvious. There was a general deter- 
 mination to devote Sir Thomas Rumhold, and to 
 this ohject truth and justice were alike sacrificed.* 
 Apart from any interest that may he felt for 
 the vindication of a character that has heen 
 falsely aspersed, it is curious to observe the 
 latitude which, in the years 1782 and 1783, 
 persons who filled the most distinguished offices 
 in the state allowed to themselves, in order to 
 serve the purposes they had in view. 
 
 * Some clue to the causes of this proceeding IE ay be found in 
 these considerations. A renewal of the Charter was impending. 
 The prosecution of Sir Thomas Eximbold appears to have been in 
 furtherance of the object Mr. Fox's Bill had in view. The 
 Government of Sir Thomas Eumbold was temporary, it being 
 intended that Lord Pigot should resume his post ; and he had a 
 special mission to examine into the celebrated subject of the debts 
 of the Nabob of Arcot. In these many interests were concerned. 
 Seme of the debts Sir Thomas Eumbold, in the view he took of 
 the case, repudiated ; and, on his first arrival at Madras, he inter- 
 fered to refuse the sanction of Government to the ratification of a 
 new loan of forty lacs that was in train of negotiation. See 
 Fourth Eeport, p. 686. 
 
 A great Ja\\ of jealousy on this subject was excited by 
 anticipation ; since hostile pamphlets were circulated before any 
 accounts of Sir Thomas Eumbold's conduct could have reached 
 England.
 
 8 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A very slight observation will make this so 
 apparent, that Sir Thomas Rumbold needs 
 scarcely any other acquittal beyond what is to 
 be found in that portion of the Parliamentary 
 Reports of the Committee of Secrecy which 
 relates to him. The series of Resolutions laid 
 before the House by Mr. Dundas professed to be 
 founded upon the authentic documents supplied to 
 the Committee by the Court of Directors ; and al- 
 though in this collection of documents much was 
 suppressed essential to forming a right judgment 
 in many cases on which the Committee was to 
 pronounce, a comparison of the Reports with 
 these documents (which were published as Ap- 
 pendices) will show, that in every instance they 
 have either been garbled, or absolutely falsified, 
 in passing through the hands of the Committee 
 which drew up the Report, and on behalf of 
 which Mr. Dundas presented his Resolutions. 
 
 It would exceed the necessary limits that must 
 here be prescribed to point this out in every 
 case ; but in treating of the most prominent 
 charges, sufficient examples will appear to prove 
 the truth of what has been asserted. It will be 
 found most obvious in those details which 
 relate to the early accusations respecting the 
 Zemindars, and therefore attention is entreated
 
 PREJUDICES. 9 
 
 to that subject, though it is one of little general 
 interest.* 
 
 Of the sudden and hostile revolution of feeling, 
 on the part of the Court of Directors, which has 
 been described above, some explanation is given 
 in the forcible language of Judge Hardinge, in 
 the opening address of his " Defence of Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold," where he also alludes to the 
 manner of the proceedings in Parliament. 
 
 The address commences with this strong appeal 
 against the commitment of the Bill : " That it 
 was neither just, nor wise, nor safe in the legis- 
 lature to shut the courts of law against the party 
 accused, and force him to that bar for his trial. 
 
 Attainders are acts of real and urgent 
 
 necessity : they never should be desecrated by 
 the ruling power to the mischievous gratification 
 of political resentment. Bills like these are end- 
 less inquisitions. The old acquittal of the law 
 had words of comfort in it ; ' Eat inde quietus 
 
 * See note 1, Appendix to this volume, consisting of extracts 
 from the " Answer to the Charges of the Directors, and the 
 Eeports of the Secret Committee, by Sir Thomas Rumbold him- 
 self." Of this only one part was printed and circulated, while the 
 Eeports were in progress, in consequence of a denial in every 
 quarter to afford him any opportunity of explanation. It may be 
 seen in some public libraries, and in the British Museum.
 
 10 CHAPTER I. 
 
 sine die : ' But here ordeal after ordeal perse- 
 cutes the victim of suspicion : they are Bills of 
 discovery, as well as of penalties ; tlic calumny of 
 the mob is inflamed, the character devoted, and 
 a cold acquittal from guilt, or exemption from 
 punishment, is no mercy to a good name dis- 
 honoured. 
 
 " Why substitute a Bill of pains and penalties 
 in place of an impeachment or any other legal 
 proceeding ? Was this court preferred because 
 no legal evidence could be found ? I am bold 
 enough to affirm that I believe it was ; because 
 I observe that illegal evidence forms many alle- 
 gations of the Bill ; and we are told that every 
 allegation criminates, and must be verified, be it 
 ever so inapplicable by the rule of law to the 
 terms of charge.* By such a doctrine, all the 
 calumnies which malevolence can form, all the 
 suspicions of an inquisitor, may be ingredients 
 of this poisonous chalice, and Sir Thomas Bum- 
 bold must vindicate every passage of his life 
 against them as well as he can. 
 
 " Yet, Sir, it is in the memory of those who 
 
 * How true a picture Mr. Ilanlinge has here drawn of the f;itr 
 of Sir Thomas llimibohl under thb Bill ! It is these allegations, 
 as they came fresh from the hands of his accusers, that still 
 pursue his character.
 
 PREJUDICES. 11 
 
 hear me, that I have, on the part of the accused, 
 waived my protest against many articles of illegal 
 evidence, illegal upon the first blush of them ; I 
 admit, however, that I embraced this line of 
 conduct with pleasure : because if tendered but 
 refused, he never could have disproved by evi- 
 dence the imputations conveyed. It is his 
 misfortune to fight against lurking suspicions, 
 not against evidence ; it must be for his advan- 
 tage that everything that can breathe upon his 
 
 character may be adduced and explored 
 
 I must now address the House upon the topic of 
 the unexampled severities that have oppressed 
 
 the culprit of this Bill Apprised, in 
 
 March, 1779, of all the political enormities 
 spread before you in this Bill, the Company 
 thanked him at a General Court for his active 
 and able services. Prom the period of those 
 thanks, (a year and a half,) I ask why the 
 resentment which is now so inexorable slept ? . . . 
 " A sentence before he has been heard, in 
 direct breach of those very covenants which the 
 Directors tell him he has violated ! A sentence 
 which ends with partialities I challenge any 
 man to vindicate or excuse. One of the Council 
 is only reprimanded, though deep in all the 
 supposed guilt of Sir Thomas Rumbold. Two
 
 12 CHAPTER I. 
 
 others included, but restored in less than a 
 month. Orders have been sent to the East ; 
 orders which I call by no other name than 
 subornation of evidence. They bribe the in- 
 former by assuring to him a part of any corrupt 
 acquisition to the culprit's fortune, which he can 
 bring forward ; and they mark the corruption as 
 believed by themselves, although not proved in 
 form.* 
 
 " I will now tell the House why the censure 
 was reserved for 1781. Between March, 1779, 
 and January, 1781, in that critical period, Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold writes to the Company, and 
 enters a firm and able protest against the 
 Mahratta war, the war of the Directors, duped 
 
 * Extract from the concluding part of Mr. Hardinge's " De- 
 fence :" " I have now dissected all the corruption of Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, which the industry and vigilance of those who drew this 
 Bill could insinuate. Not a shilling has been traced into his 
 pocket by the keen eyes of the subordinates, men whose corruption 
 he reformed, whose resentment he provoked. The Zemindars, 
 courted and bribed by the Directors to betray the extortions 
 practised upon them, are unaccountably mute, though he is at a 
 distance from them, no longer in the service, and his character 
 branded by the Inquisition itself thus erected over him. From 
 the total disappointment and failure of these various engines and 
 complicated exertions, I surely may infer more than strict It -al 
 innocence."
 
 PREJUDICES. 13 
 
 by the Council of Bombay. lie urges unan- 
 swerable arguments upon this topic, with ill- 
 timed energy and zeal, a little time before the 
 Philippic of 1781 appeared, a natural conse- 
 quence of them. If that is not the key of 
 
 the Philippic in 1781, I call upon the advocates 
 for the accuser to put any other into my hand. 
 It is agreed that with full notice of all his 
 crimes, those who are now his persecutors, and 
 state those crimes against him with such acri- 
 mony, at least approved of his conduct ; wrote 
 a series of letters to their delinquent minister ; 
 to that minister, whom, if you give them credit 
 for their present account of him, they should not 
 have left at Madras for an hour in his office ; in 
 which they expressed no material disapprobation 
 of a single item in his conduct, but spoke of him 
 with regard and confidence. Nor is it less 
 agreed, that after the arrival of this letter, which 
 protested against the Mahratta war, the tables 
 were turned, the accuser of that war became in 
 a moment the culprit of those whom he accused, 
 and was held forth to the public, in a libel cir- 
 culated by the Directors, before his defence was 
 heard, or any charge put into form, as a pecu- 
 lator, a tyrant, and a coward. The Directors, 
 having published and circulated this anathema,
 
 14 CHAPTER I. 
 
 form a powerful body of prejudice against their 
 
 victim 
 
 " Effects are cruel and false arguments of 
 guilt in the measures which produced them. 
 But here no injurious consequences have been 
 marked by the accuser, except Hyder's invasion 
 of the Carnatic, the cause of which is at least a 
 political problem admitting of many solutions. 
 I shall have occasion to demonstrate hereafter, 
 that Sir Thomas Rumbold was not the cause of 
 that war, was an enemy to what he believed the 
 cause of it, and pointed that enmity like a man 
 of honour, though it provoked a nest of hornets, 
 who would now sting him to death if they could. 
 The Council of Madras quarrelled with Bengal : 
 which of them was right ?"
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT AGAINST SIR THOMAS 
 RUMBOLD. THE BILL OF PAINS AND PENALTIES. 
 
 THE extracts given in the last chapter have 
 indicated the origin of the persecution Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold encountered. Some brief 
 account of the manner in which the proceedings 
 were carried on in the House of Commons is 
 now given from the Parliamentary Register.* 
 
 When the "Bill of Pains and Penalties" 
 against Sir Thomas Rumbold was brought into 
 the House of Commons by Mr. Dundas, it was 
 argued by several members of the House that 
 the measures pursued were " cruel and uncon- 
 stitutional ;" that they were " strongly opposed 
 to the tribunal that was to try Sir Thomas 
 llumbold, the House being the grand jury that 
 had found the Bill, the petty jury that were to 
 try the accused, and, above all, the accusers." 
 And it was asked, " How could an equitable 
 decision be found in such a place ? 
 
 * Hansard's " Parliamentary Register," vol. xxii., pp. 114-138, 
 1275, 1332, 1407.
 
 10 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " A tribunal where the judges were not upon 
 oath, it was urged, was unprecedented in every 
 part of this country. The Attorney-General 
 protested against the manner of the proceedings. 
 The Solicitor- General declared the proceedings 
 to be an extraordinary departure from the estab- 
 lished laws and constitution." He argued 
 
 that, " although the preamble of the Bill only 
 stated there were suspicions against Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, upon these suspicions that gentle- 
 man's whole property was to be locked up ; " 
 
 that " the clause to compel him to give an ac- 
 count of his property upon oath, on pain of 
 death, was an inquisition of a most tyrannic 
 nature, that would establish a dangerous prece- 
 dent, and this against a man who, in the present 
 stage of the business, must be presumed inno- 
 cent ; that these proceedings, which A\ cut 
 
 to extort proofs from a man against himself, 
 were repugnant to reason, justice, law, equity, 
 and nature." 
 
 To these arguments Mr. Eox replied, that " this 
 was an extraordinary case, and would justify 
 a departure from, as it was out of the reach of, 
 any existing law. He" (Mr. Fox) "could not 
 think of sending out to India to discover what 
 specific injuries had brcn done to individuals
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 17 
 
 there; he feared such a measure would end 
 
 in the death of such individuals who would dare 
 to give evidence against any of the ruling powers 
 of the country." * 
 
 On the 3rd of May, 1782, " Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold urged his claim to be heard by his counsel 
 
 against the Bill When he should give in 
 
 upon oath a statement of his property, the whole 
 of which lay within the dominions of Great 
 Britain," he said, " it would be found it had 
 been greatly exaggerated." 
 
 Mr. Fox persisted in assuming that Sir 
 Thomas Uurnbold had immense wealth some- 
 where, which " they " (the House of Commons) 
 " were to prove had been amassed by peculation : 
 this he desired should be forthcoming for the 
 
 purposes of restitution He then painted 
 
 the happy consequences to our future Govern- 
 ment in India, from restitution thus made." 
 
 Mr. Burke spoke in strong terms to the same 
 effect. " Sir Thomas Rumbold desired the 
 honourable Member to lay his finger upon any 
 part of the Bill that directly charged him with 
 peculation. There was a kind of implied charge 
 of that nature ; but there was not a direct one. 
 
 * Mr. Fox explained that be alluded to a case that had occurred 
 not long before in Bengal. 
 
 C
 
 18 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Did the Bill state from whom money had been 
 extorted ? To whom, then, could it be restored ? 
 It had been represented in a former debate that 
 the House was acting as a grand jury finding a 
 Bill : he would then call upon any forty gentle- 
 men in the House to declare, if they had 
 examined even the ex parte evidence, on which 
 the Resolutions of the Secret Committee against 
 him were founded: if they had read the Ap- 
 pendices (or evidence) to which these Resolu- 
 tions referred, and if they could as grand jurors 
 lay their hands upon their hearts, and declare as 
 gentlemen, and as honest men, that the evidence 
 bore out the charges : if they could not answer 
 this question in the affirmative, he did not see 
 how they could vote for the restraining Bill in 
 
 any stage 
 
 " Sir Thomas Kumbold desired it misrht be 
 
 O 
 
 noted, that he claimed to be heard by his counsel 
 against the Bill." " The Lord Advocate opposed 
 the claim of the honourable Member to be heard 
 in his defence. If he had a right to be heard in 
 the present stage of the proceedings, all the 
 preceding steps had been wrong, and contrary to 
 the precedent in the South Sea case, which had 
 been strictly copied." 
 
 " Sir Thomas llumbold maintained that his
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 19 
 
 case was by no means parallel to that of the 
 persons there concerned, since in their petition 
 to the House of Lords they acknowledged their 
 guilt ; he, on the contrary, stood on his defence, 
 and maintained his innocence." 
 
 These debates took place early in the Session 
 of 1782. 
 
 After the interval of a twelvemonth, during 
 which much delay and many postponements had 
 been occasioned by the non-attendance of mem- 
 bers, witnesses, &c., on the Committee appointed 
 to inquire into the case; the prosecution was 
 opened in February, 1783, and the defence was 
 closed on the last day of May following. 
 
 When at the Bar of the House of Commons 
 it was proved what was the amount of the 
 property, from the restitution of which Mr. Pox 
 had anticipated such happy effects to the people 
 of India, and to the English Government, a hue 
 of ridicule seemed to invest the whole affair ; but 
 the first impressions had been given, extravagant 
 notions with regard to the wealth of Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold had been set in circulation, all this 
 had been afloat for many months, and these first 
 impressions have pursued the character of Sir 
 Thomas Rurnbold until this time.* 
 
 * In a voluminous biography of Lord Cornvvallis, published 
 
 c 2
 
 20 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In the ninth chapter of his fourth volume, 
 Mr. Mill has given a summary account of the 
 proceedings in Parliament, and the manner in 
 which the prosecution was ahandoned. The 
 animosity which unfortunately has influenced 
 him throughout, as relates to Sir Thomas 
 Rumhold, has led him to depart here from the 
 usual clearness of his style. The account is at 
 least anihiguous, and tends to give a false im- 
 pression. As the view set forth hy Mr. Mill has 
 heen very generally borrowed by succeeding his- 
 torians, the passage is repeated here, and it will 
 afterwards be shown how the same transactions 
 appear in the Parliamentary Register of the time. 
 
 " On the 9th of April, 1782," (Mr. MiU says,) 
 " Mr. Dundas moved, that the Reports which he 
 had presented as chairman of the Secret Commit- 
 tee should be referred to a Committee of the 
 
 whole House Articles of charge against 
 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold were adopted ; and a Bill 
 
 within ten years, it is mentioned, among many false statements, as 
 a credible and probable fact, that Hyder Ali. was bribed by Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold to delay the invasion of the Carnatic. In the 
 same publication the Sepretary, Mr Redhead, is turned into Mr. 
 AVhitchill, and represented as becoming Governor of Madras, and 
 is made to terminate his career, as Mr. Paul Benficld, in a garret 
 at Paris. Other writers tell us, not only that Sir Thomas Rumbuld 
 bribed Mr. Dundas, but the whole House of Commons.
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 21 
 
 of pains and penalties for breaches of public 
 trust, and high crimes and misdemeanours, 
 committed by him, was introduced by Mr. 
 Dundas. The Bill was read a first time. Before 
 the second reading, Sir Thomas Rumbold was 
 heard in his defence. The Session drew to a 
 close before a great progress was made. In the 
 beginning of 1783, the state of the ministry was 
 unsettled, and as if when ministry is unsettled, 
 Parliament were unequal to their functions, the 
 Bill was neglected till the middle of the Session. 
 After the middle of the Session the members soon 
 began to be remiss in their attendance. And on 
 the 19th of December, immediately after Mr. 
 Fox's coalition ministry, a motion was made and 
 carried for adjourning the further consideration 
 of the Bill till the 24th of June next, by which 
 the prosecution was finally dropped. Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold consented to accept impunity without 
 acquittal ; his judges refused to proceed in his 
 trial after they had solemnly affirmed the exist- 
 ence of guilt ; and a black stain was attached to 
 the character of them both." * 
 
 In this sweeping denunciation of both judges 
 and accused, which has passed current with siib- 
 
 * For this see Parliamentary History, vol. xxii., p. 1291 ; also, 
 vol. xxiii., p. 75.
 
 22 CHAPTER II. 
 
 sequent historians, Mr. Mill contradicts the ex- 
 press declarations of the judges to whom he 
 refers, as having " affirmed the existence of 
 guilt." Those judges were extremely cautious 
 in the expressions they allowed themselves to use 
 with regard to a " man untried, and hefore any 
 evidence had heen heard." * When it was repre- 
 sented to Mr. Dundas, that the Second Report was 
 a mere personal charge, he spoke in these terms : 
 " In their inquisitorial capacity it was not 
 their province to ascertain criminality or inflict 
 
 censure The whole remained to he proved 
 
 and established, before it assumed the weight of a 
 criminal charge." And it was said by Mr. Pox, 
 that " it would not be inconsistent for the House 
 to agree to the resolutions against Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, in their inquisitorial capacity, and 
 afterwards, when he came to throw fresh light on 
 the evidence by his defence, for them, in a judicial 
 capacity, to alter their opinion." It is still 
 more important to notice that in the passage 
 quoted above, Mr. Mill has affirmed that, before 
 the close of the Session of 1782, the Bill was read 
 a second time, Sir Thomas Rumbold having heen 
 previously heard in his defence. But the case 
 was not so. The counsel for the prosecution 
 
 * Parliamentary History, vol. xxii., p. 1282.
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 23 
 
 and for the defence were not heard until the 
 Session of 1783, and upon what is called the 
 second reading of the Bill. The defence 
 followed the second reading : and, as it will 
 piesently be shown, the proceedings, after the 
 evidence was heard, were immediately arrested. 
 Mr. Mill subjoins, in a note, quotations from the 
 speeches of Mr. Dundas and Mr. Fox, of the 
 2nd of May, 1783, in which the former com- 
 plained of the thin attendance of members. " If 
 it was the intention of the House to drop the 
 business, he wished to be made acquainted with 
 that circumstance," &c. " Mr. Fox declared 
 that to drop the Bill would be productive of the 
 most fatal consequences; and therefore he re- 
 quested gentlemen would, for the credit, honour, 
 and interest of their country, attend to the 
 evidence for and against the Bill. If the Bill 
 should be lost for want of attendance, it would 
 not clear the character of Sir Thomas Humbold ; 
 on the other hand, it would hold out this idea 
 to the people of India, that it was vain for them 
 to expect redress of their grievances in England." 
 It is quite true that Mr. Fox said, " If the Bill 
 were lost from want of attendance, it would not 
 clear the character of Sir Thomas Rumbold ; " 
 and the import of those words was perfectly
 
 24 CHAPTER II. 
 
 just; but their bearing upon the case would 
 have been totally different if, as Mr. Mill's 
 quotation would lead us to suppose, in that stage 
 of the proceedings the Bill had been suddenly 
 and unaccountably dropped; there would then 
 have been ground for much surmise to account 
 for this circumstance. It was on the 2nd Df 
 May that these words were spoken, and at thiit 
 time the evidence against the Bill had scarcely 
 been gone into. On the 30th of May the evi- 
 dence was closed ; the subject which engaged the 
 House on that day was the proofs from, whence 
 the money remitted to England by Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold had been drawn. Until that time, 
 although there had been much delay, the zeal of 
 the prosecutors had not relaxed, as Mr. Mill's 
 quotations plainly show. On the 2nd of June 
 the subject was resumed, when a great change is 
 apparent in the tone of every member who 
 spoke. 
 
 However there may still have existed political 
 animosity, it may fairly be asserted that of 
 the charge of corruption Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 was absolved in the mind of that portion of the 
 House who had listened to the evidence. Several 
 members spoke of the hardship and cruelty of 
 prolonging the business for another year, and
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 25 
 
 the absurdity of binding five hundred and fifty- 
 eight men, in case a dissolution should intervene, 
 to decide upon evidence they had not heard. 
 Mr. Pox said, "In his opinion, it was necessary 
 to have the evidence printed, not only for those 
 to read who did not attend, but for those who 
 did attend; for, it being so voluminous, and 
 given at so many different times, many parts of 
 it, he did not doubt, had escaped the memory of 
 the most close attendant to the business ; there- 
 fore, if there was not time to print and decide 
 upon it this Session, it was good reason for 
 
 putting it off. He declared he had never 
 
 acted upon the subject of the Honourable Baron- 
 et's cause as a Minister, nor would he ever 
 attempt it.* The cause was that of all others 
 upon which every sort of influence ought to be 
 avoided, and upon which gentlemen ought to act 
 with the purest freedom and independency, 
 
 * In this rather misgiving speech, it is impossible not to remark 
 the inconsistency of the declaration, that " he had never acted in 
 this cause as a Minister," with a private letter given in Mr. Fox's 
 published correspondence, in which he complains of the little 
 parliamentary influence he had been able to exert upon the Bill for 
 securing Sir Thomas Eumbold's property. " ^Ye were only," he 
 says, " 36 to 33. The Attorney-general and Solicitor-general 
 were both against me ; and I had the mortification to depend for 
 support upon the Lord Advocate, Jenkinson, and Mansfield."
 
 26 CHAPTER II. 
 
 taking nothing for their guides hut reason, 
 candour, B20&. justice"* 
 
 " The Solicitor-general said, he had always 
 considered the proceedings against Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold as illegal ; and he was pretty sure he 
 should not have to change his opinion. He was 
 confident that when the day of trial should 
 come, Sir Thomas Rumhold would be honourably 
 acquitted ; and therefore he could not, for one, 
 consent that a man, of whose innocence he was 
 thoroughly persuaded, from the defence he had 
 heard, should be any longer kept under the 
 terrors of a restraining Act." 
 
 Other members " thought, as the whole of the 
 evidence had been heard, and it was now seen 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold had not been guilty of 
 such enormous crimes but that his visible property 
 would be able to answer, he ought not to be 
 restrained by a Bill of pains and penalties, but 
 only held to bail." 
 
 There is one incident in that debate which 
 speaks strongly to the fact, that Sir Thomas 
 llumbold felt himself reinstated in the opinion 
 of those who had not, for their own purposes, 
 conspired to make him a culprit. He knew ih;it 
 
 * This debate extends from pngc 983 to 988, vol. xxiii. of the 
 Parliamentary History.
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 27 
 
 when Mr. Burke pursued him so fiercely, it was 
 under a sincere impression that he was guilty 
 of the charges made against him ; and to Mr. 
 Burke only he now particularly addresses him- 
 self. After describing in general terms the 
 delay of justice to which he had heen subjected, 
 and the cruelty of putting the business off for 
 another year, " he very affectingly alluded to the 
 manner in which Mr. Burke had treated him in 
 that House, comparing it with the humanity he 
 had of late so powerfully extended to others, 
 standing as he stood in the light of persons 
 accused only, but not proved criminal." * 
 
 And Mr. Burke responded to the appeal. 
 
 " He felt extremely for the honourable Baronet, 
 who had show r n uncommon fortitude throughout 
 the progress of the business, and thrown himself 
 as fairly upon the candour of the House as any 
 man could have done." If any meaning is to be 
 attached to these words, Mr. Burke, hitherto the 
 most strenuous supporter of the prosecution, if 
 he does not here pronounce his sentence of 
 acquittal, at least admits that his former opinions 
 were much shaken. Sir Thomas Rumbold had 
 not pleaded the difficulties of his position, or any 
 extenuating circumstances ; but he absolutely 
 * Messrs Powell and Bembridee,
 
 28 CHAPTER II. 
 
 denied the whole charge, laid everything open to 
 the inspection of the public, and maintained his 
 innocence. On the following day, the 3rd of 
 June, the excessive hail was taken off, and Mr. 
 Dundas declared in the House Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold was free to leave the kingdom. 
 
 The accounts from this time are very slender. 
 It is mentioned that there were two or more 
 adjournments of the subject, before the Bill was 
 finally dropped, on the 19th of December, 1783, 
 by a vote of the House. On each of these occa- 
 sions, it may be inferred, that there was a full 
 attendance, since subjects of importance engaged 
 the House before, and immediately after, the 
 adjournments.* On one more occasion the cir- 
 cumstances of this affair were alluded to. In 
 the year 1785, a discussion concerning the same 
 part of India took place, w r hen Mr. Burke and 
 Mr. Dundas were present. The latter referred 
 
 * Here there seems to be a slight mistake. At the sitting of 
 December 19th, 1783, the change of Ministry was announced. 
 This was the first matter brought before the House. When this 
 was over, and in a very thin House, Mr. Lee, the ex-Attorney - 
 general, moved that "the further consideration of Sir Thomas 
 Kumbold's Bill of Pains and Penalties be deferred to the 21th of 
 June next." This was carried by twenty-seven to eight. The 
 effect of this vote was to drop the Bill, the adjournment being for 
 more than " six months." EDITOB.
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 29 
 
 to Sir Thomas Rumbold on the question, which 
 was connected with his administration. It is 
 recorded that, " on the 28th of February, Mr. 
 Pox brought the subject before the House in a 
 call for papers, supported by a powerful speech. 
 Mr. Dundas replied at great length, and was 
 followed by Sir Thomas Rumbold, formerly 
 President of Madras, who condemned the decision 
 of the Board in brief but energetic terms." 
 
 Mr. Burke commented upon the remarkable 
 spectacle before them. " The right honourable 
 gentleman," Mr. Burke said, " whose conduct is 
 now in question, (Mr. Dundas,) formerly stood 
 forth in this House the prosecutor of the worthy 
 Baronet who spoke last. He charged him with 
 several grievous acts of malversation in office ; 
 with abuses of a public trust of a great and 
 heinous nature. In less than two years we see 
 the situation of parties reversed, and a singular 
 revolution puts the worthy Baronet in a fair way 
 of returning the prosecution in a recriminatory 
 Bill of Pains and Penalties, grounded on a 
 breach of public trust, relative to the very same 
 part of India. If he should undertake a Bill of 
 that kind, he will find no difficulty in conducting 
 it with a degree of skill and vigour fully equal 
 to all that, have been exerted against him."
 
 30 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In this, and in the following paragraphs of 
 this celebrated speech, the object of the speaker 
 is rather to contrast " the difference of deport- 
 ment between these two gentlemen, under the 
 same unhappy circumstances," than to eulogize 
 Sir Thomas llumbold, further than by a passing 
 tribute to his abilities ; but these observations of 
 Mr. Burke entirely repel the idea which has been 
 inculcated, that the former proceedings in that 
 House against Sir Thomas Rumbold, although 
 abandoned, had left him with a tarnished repu- 
 tation, since Mr. Burke could not in such a case, 
 even by way of hypothesis, have ventured to 
 place him in the position which Mr. Dundas 
 then held. 
 
 But in this speech of Mr. Burke there is also 
 testimony to the fact, that Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 had courted the fullest inquiry then, as on every 
 occasion from first to last. It may be seen by 
 reference to the Parliamentary Debates,* that he 
 did, when the subject of Indian affairs was under 
 discussion, and before any accusations were 
 framed against him, urge a thorough investiga- 
 tion and inquiry, which he wished should date 
 from the year 1772, and embrace, of course, the 
 period of his administration ; and that, on this 
 
 * Parliamentary History, vol. xxii., p. 122.
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 31 
 
 last occasion, in 1785, he advocated the produc- 
 tion of papers relating to the transactions then 
 under consideration, in which he had been inti- 
 mately concerned.* 
 
 It is not, however, what Mr. Eox may have 
 said, or what Mr. Burke may have said, or a 
 verdict of either House of Parliament, that 
 can prevail in after-times to efface the stain 
 thrown upon the character of Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold, since all this might still be ascribed 
 to party influence, or other causes. There are 
 sufficient instances to show that the question in 
 such cases remains an open one. 
 
 It is to the evidence produced at the Bar of the 
 House of Commons that appeal is now made. 
 
 In the last debate upon Sir Thomas Hum- 
 bold' s restraining Bill, the question being 
 whether this Bill, of which the time had ex- 
 pired, should be renewed and prolonged through 
 another Session, or in the event of a dissolution 
 of Parliament, the difficulty was urged of binding 
 an assembly of five hundred men by proceedings 
 to which they had been no party, or to vote upon 
 
 * A further extract is given in a Supplementary Note to this 
 volume from the terrible and magnificent speech of Burke, to 
 which reference is made in the text. From this it will be seen 
 how well the argument in the text is sustained by the scope of the 
 speech.
 
 32 CHAPTER II. 
 
 evidence they had not heard. Mr. Burke replied, 
 " That the evidence being on record, any person 
 who read it would be as competent to pronounce 
 judgment upon it as those who heard it." 
 
 This evidence is still open to all, and must 
 bring conviction to the mind of any person who 
 will investigate it, that it was neither owing to 
 " the influence of party," nor to " the insufficient 
 attendance of members," nor was it that " Mr. 
 Dundas was bribed," or that any of the different 
 surmises to which the malice of disappointed 
 enemies had recourse was true, but simply be- 
 cause the charges were completely disproved, 
 that the prosecution was abandoned. 
 
 If the manner of the Bill being dropped had 
 been unsatisfactory at the time, or, it should 
 rather be said, had the political party who 
 wished to devote him seen a pretext left to 
 enable them to persevere, why was the matter 
 suffered to rest there ? Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 continued in Parliament until his death. During 
 that interval the House did not lose sistfit of 
 
 O 
 
 Indian affairs, and Mr. Fox's Bill succeeded to 
 that of Mr. Dundas.* 
 
 * It appears, in the Journals of the House, that a vote was 
 
 ! to pay the costs of the Bill. The names of Mr. Dundas, 
 
 Mr. Dempster, and Mr. Burke are among those on the Committee.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CHARGES AGAINST SIB THOMAS RUMBOLD. 
 
 THE object of this vindication is to make a 
 reply to the historians in general, and to the 
 " Parliamentary Reports of the Committee of 
 Secrecy," from which some of these historians 
 have drawn, and others may in future draw, 
 their information. 
 
 It will, however, be well to enumerate the 
 charges that were made in "the Bill of Pains 
 and Penalties," which did not adopt all that are 
 to be found in the " Reports." 
 
 The order of the charges is here altered, 
 chiefly in this respect, that the last urged in 
 the Bill, and replied to in the defence, is here 
 placed at the head of the list. They may be 
 stated as follows : 
 
 1st. The remittances made by Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold to England were considered as proofs 
 of a corrupt acquisition of his fortune. 
 
 2nd. Charges were brought against him re- 
 lative to his supposed influence over his Council, 
 or to the effect that he acted independently of 
 them. 
 
 3rd. Charges were founded on the facts, that 
 D
 
 34 CHAPTER III. 
 
 the Committee of Circuit was suspended by the 
 Council of Madras, and the Zemindars called to 
 the Presidency to settle their tribute there ; and 
 also relating to the treatment of the Vizianagrum 
 family at Madras. 
 
 4th. The extension of the lease of the Jaghire 
 lands to the Nabob of Arcot was an article in 
 the Bill. 
 
 5th. The suppression of Mr. Sadlier's letter to 
 Sir Thomas llumbold, accusing the subordinates 
 of corrupt practices, was another count of the 
 indictment. 
 
 6th. It was alleged that the Council of Madras 
 treated with Bazalet Jung, for the cession of the 
 Guntoor Circar to the Company, without the 
 consent of the Nizam, and that Sir Thomas 
 llumbold meant to conceal this affair from the 
 Nizam. 
 
 7th. That offence was given to Hyder Ali by the 
 march of the troops over part of his dominions. 
 
 8th. It was made a charge against Sir Thomas 
 llumbold that he solicited, through his ambas- 
 sador, a remission or abatement of the tribute 
 which the Company had bound themselves to 
 pay for the Northern Circars. 
 
 9th. The recal of Mr. Hollond from his em- 
 bassy was a matter of complaint.
 
 THE CHARGES. 35 
 
 10th. The unprepared state of the Carnatic, 
 at the time when Hyder Ali began the war, was 
 made a charge against Sir Thomas Rumbold. 
 
 These may stand as the definite heads of accu- 
 sation, after stripping away the invective which 
 swells the charges to a great length. There are 
 perpetual insinuations of concealment ascribed 
 to Sir Thomas Rumbold, but they will be found 
 frivolous and self-contradictory ; the principal 
 of these will be noticed when treating the cases 
 to which they were applied. The last charge, 
 "The unprepared state of the Carnatic," was 
 abandoned by the Counsel for the Bill ; and also 
 a charge of "breach of covenant," for having 
 not declared the property he possessed in Bengal, 
 was withdrawn. 
 
 I. THE CHARGE OF CORRUPTION. 
 We proceed now to the charge of corruption 
 grounded upon the fact that Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold remitted large sums to England.* 
 
 * From the year 1760 until 1772, Sir Thomas Rumbold had 
 large commercial dealings with Bengal. 
 
 In the Resolutions laid before the House of Commons, the sum 
 stated to have been remitted is 160,000. Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 declared to the Directors that he had remitted 167,000, of which 
 sum 38,000 was on account of other people. It may be observed, 
 in the Second Report of the Committee of Secrecy, App., No. 66, 
 
 D 2
 
 36 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Although there was not one direct charge on 
 that score, a suspicion of corrupt motives was 
 attached to every act of his administration. It 
 is proposed to refute this general suspicion, first, 
 by a statement of the proofs adduced at the bar 
 of the House of Commons, to the effect that at 
 the time Sir Thomas llumbold left England he 
 was possessed of property in Bengal to a larger 
 amount than the sums he remitted during the 
 time he was Governor of Madras, and that these 
 sums were actually drawn from Bengal ; and, 
 secondly, by showing that the measures to which 
 a suspicion of corrupt influence was particularly 
 attached, were in themselves equitable; that 
 they were demanded by the circumstances of the 
 case ; and, moreover, that they were followed by 
 beneficial results to the Company and to the 
 country. 
 
 The early remittances,* upon which much 
 
 also Evidences, p. 370, that the accounts show four sums, spe- 
 cified as sent from other persons, which, when Sir Hector Munro's 
 portion is added, amount to J635,000. 
 
 * Of these early remittances, 10,572 (so paid in England) 
 belonged to Sir Hector Munro. Evidences, p. 529. In the 
 Report of the Committee, and in the Bill, -this sum is stated as 
 proved to have been JE466. Supplemental App., Second Report, 
 No. 2.
 
 THE CHARGES. 37 
 
 stress was laid, were in specie, and sent by ships 
 of the Company. It was of these only that the 
 Directors had cognizance ; the remaining sums 
 were sent by hills, and were declared to them by 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold himself. Immediately on 
 his return, in 1781, when he found the money 
 he had remitted was made a ground of suspicion 
 against him, he hastened to deliver to the Court 
 of Directors, and to the Committee, a duplicate 
 account, which had been left in England, and 
 which showed him to have been possessed of this 
 property in Bengal, in the securities of the Com 
 pany, and that it was bearing interest at the 
 time of his departure to assume the government 
 of Madras.* 
 
 The papers, also, which he delivered to the 
 Committee, showed that his desire having been 
 to remit this money to England, an engagement 
 had been concluded before his arrival in India, 
 which obliged him to send, by way of China, a 
 large sum before a specified time, or a consider- 
 able forfeiture of per-centage would have been 
 incurred. 
 
 It is impossible not to remark how surely it 
 would have been in the power of the Directors, 
 when thus challenged by Sir Thomas Rumbold, 
 
 * Second Report, Committee of Secrecy, No. 66.
 
 38 CHAPTER III. 
 
 before he was accused in form, had truth been 
 their object, to have verified, or disproved, this 
 statement ; it would appear, however, that they 
 did admit the facts, since they grounded upon 
 them the charge of a breach of the covenant 
 which required the servants of the Company to 
 declare, upon their arrival in India, to the Board, 
 "any stock-in-trade, or loans, in which they 
 might be concerned with the country powers." 
 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold had not any property 
 which could accord with that description; but 
 the terms oi the covenant were altered in pass- 
 ing through the Committee, with a view to 
 criminate him. A comparison with the original 
 covenant shows clearly the difference between 
 the real obligation and the view of it held out to 
 the public in the Report of the Committee, 
 where the limitation of the kind of loans he was 
 bound to declare is omitted.* 
 
 It was also an averment in the Bill, " that the 
 failure of Sir Thomas Rumbold to declare the 
 debts that were owing to him was aggravated by 
 the circumstance that no penalty was attached 
 to the covenant ; " whereas it was, in fact, 
 guarded by a penalty of 50,000. t 
 
 * Second Report, Committee of Secrecy, p. 232. 
 
 f Mr. Hardinge's Defence of Sir Thomas Rumbold, p. 21.
 
 THE CHARGES. 39 
 
 This charge of breach of covenant is not re- 
 butted in the evidence for the defence, since it 
 was among many articles of the Bill which it 
 was found necessary for the prosecution to 
 abandon; but it remains in the Parliamentary 
 Report of the Committee, and is accordingly 
 brought prominently forward in Mr. Mill's 
 History. 
 
 Another charge was made in the Eeport. 
 The remittances, it was alleged, were effected 
 secretly ; " for they were not inserted in the 
 boatswain's books." This was also an aban- 
 doned article, no evidence being attempted to 
 prove that articles of private remittance were 
 inserted in the boatswain's books, though this 
 was boldly asserted in the Report. It may be 
 remarked, that where the examination of the 
 Captain of the ship is given in the Report, the 
 only material part of his evidence not cited there, 
 but which is to be found in the Appendix, was, 
 that " such omissions were so very frequent, that 
 he did not even inquire why this was not en- 
 tered."* And, further, that "those entries were 
 the business of the officer in command at the 
 time, and the person to whom the property be- 
 longed could not know anything about it. If no 
 
 * Second Report, App., No. 63.
 
 40 CHAPTER III. 
 
 entry were made, the Captain bad the whole 
 profit of the freight. In public cases the obliga- 
 tion of entry was enforced." * 
 
 If we turn to the Minutes of Evidence, pages 
 518-532, it will be seen that there was this 
 corroborative testimony in favour of Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold : the existence of the property in 
 Bengal was known to his agents in England ; 
 and also, previously to his departure, he had 
 instructed his agent in Bengal to collect his 
 property in that province, and remit it to him 
 at Madras. The reason that this property had 
 remained in Bengal was also explained by this 
 circumstance, that the channel for remittance 
 by Company's cash had been closed, and the 
 agents had been enjoined to employ no other 
 mode. But the absolute proofs rest upon the 
 bankers' accounts of the sums remitted by them 
 to Madras, or direct to England ; and also upon 
 the agreement of the statement given by Sir 
 Thomas Kumbold of the whole amount of his 
 property, at that hour, (including pictures, 
 plato, and every article of value, in any part of 
 the world,) with what it was proved to liavr 
 been, by his agents, in the years 177o and 
 1777, upon his last departure from England. 
 * See Evidences, p. 529.
 
 THE CHARGES. 41 
 
 This statement Sir Thomas Rumbold had been 
 required to give upon oath ; and if he should 
 be found in error 500, he was perjured, and 
 his whole property confiscated at the mercy of 
 an informer, or, it was said in the House, " on 
 pain of death." 
 
 The proofs were in order as follows : * 
 
 " The counsel for Sir Thomas Rumbold stated, 
 that they should next proceed to the allegations 
 of the Bill with respect to the remittances made 
 by Sir Thomas Rumbold to England ; and that 
 they should on his part admit that, during the 
 time of his being last in India, he had remitted, 
 on his own account, the sum of 130,000 ; but 
 that, in fact, he had more property than to that 
 amount before he went out." 
 
 " The Counsel then proposed to call the clerk, 
 &c., who had the management of Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold's accounts from the year 1769. This 
 was objected to by the Counsel for the Bill, and 
 then all the Counsel were directed to withdraw, 
 and they were again called in, and the Counsel 
 for Sir Thomas Rumbold directed to proceed." 
 
 After the evidence had been given by the 
 agents in Bengal, and in England, of the amount 
 of property since the year 1769 to that hour, 
 
 * Evidences, p. 513.
 
 42 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " the Counsel stated they would show what had 
 been remitted on Sir Thomas Rumbold's account 
 from Bengal in the years 1778, 1779, and 1780." 
 These several accounts current being brought 
 up and verified as the handwriting of the agent 
 in Bengal, were read. (See Evidences, pp. 
 518-532.) The Public Treasurer of Madras was 
 then called to reckon these accounts, and turn 
 them into English money. It will be found that 
 these several sums, with the addition of two 
 bills, amounting together to 15,570, proved to 
 have been paid, one in Bengal, and remitted to 
 ^1 a dras ; the other, which had borne interest since 
 the year 17G9, sent direct from Bengal to Eng- 
 land; make up (exclusively of the share belonging 
 to Sir Hector Munro, and the sums specified as 
 sent for other people) 98,133. 
 
 It was admitted that 49,000 had been paid to 
 the Governor for salary, commission, &c., and 
 also that he had received 2,283 for the use of 
 his town and country house, and for plate, and 
 Hint his carriages and wines had been sent to 
 hi in from England. 
 
 Mr. Mill has made some observations upon 
 UK- money that had remained in Bengal, as stated 
 in the Appendix to the Second Report of the 
 Commission of Secrecy, (No. GO,) which he
 
 THE CHARGES. 43 
 
 describes as very near the amount afterwards 
 proved at the Bar of the House of Commons.* 
 
 Professor Wilson has here inserted a note, in 
 which he declares " these particulars to he 
 loosely and inaccurately stated," and has made a 
 calculation of his own of these accounts, in the 
 place of that declared at the Bar of the House of 
 Commons, and turned into English money before 
 vigilant lookers on. In this calculation Professor 
 Wilson has made a mistake, hut his remarks 
 are useful, as they serve to bring this portion of 
 the defence into a small compass. He admits it 
 to be " proved that Sir Thomas Rumbold had 
 property in Bengal, in the beginning of the year 
 1773, to the amount of 121,000." He admits 
 it to be proved that no addition to his property 
 in England, between that time and 1779, had 
 been made. But he questions the inference 
 that no remittances could have been effected. 
 Professor Wilson throws a doubt upon the as- 
 sumption that this property to the same amount 
 still existed in Bengal, because, he says, " in 1773 
 it had been delivered over to other agents, and 
 because it may be observed, that Sir Thomas 
 
 * It may be observed, the interest of these different sums 
 varied from five to six and eight per cent., and was never higher 
 than ten.
 
 44 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Rumbold's account current with his banker, dated 
 March, 1778, opens with but a small sum, which 
 added to moneys paid on account of sums lent, 
 amounts to something more than 40,000. It 
 is also in evidence that he received 49,000 
 salary. There remains a considerable sum to be 
 accounted for, to explain the large amount of his 
 remittances to England." 
 
 What this amount was proved to be, and what 
 sum the Bill, in consequence, required Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold to justify, Professor Wilson does not 
 seem to have informed himself ; but in his calcu- 
 lation he has overlooked one ai'ticle, which shows 
 an earlier date than he has assigned, and proves 
 also that it belongs not to the openh/y, but the 
 continuation, of an account. This article is the 
 agent's commission upon sums remitted from 
 Bengal to Madras, dated from November, 1777, 
 which shows an amount of 48,000. This 
 article proves also that there were bonds still 
 bearing interest, and of which the interest only 
 had then passed into the agent's hands. 
 
 That thisaccount was fragmentary was explained 
 by the circumstance that the ship (the " General 
 Barker") in which SirThomas Rmnboldreturned, 
 was wrecked upon the coast, and many of hisbooks 
 and papers were lost. Happily some accounts 
 WCTP saved, and these did enable the Counsel to
 
 THE CHARGES. 45 
 
 justify with accuracy the sums remitted. Pro- 
 fessor Wilson's doubts are unsupported. Against 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold's statements not a tittle of 
 evidence can be brought ; while they are abun- 
 dantly corroborated by all the evidence of which 
 the case admitted. 
 
 The fore2roin2r statements have been made as 
 
 o o 
 
 briefly as possible. It remains to show, under 
 the charge of corruption, that Sir Thomas 
 Humbold's administration of the public funds 
 can be vindicated by proofs which place it 
 beyond the reach of all suspicion. 
 
 An increase of revenue was paid into the 
 treasury from the Northern Circars, during Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold's government, of 228,900 ; * 
 and an average increase of 111,500 for each 
 year, for lands rented by the Nabob of Arcot. 
 Also, accounts were produced at the Bar of the 
 House by the Public Treasurer, showing the 
 amount in the treasury, at different epochs, at 
 Madras and at the subordinate stations, and the 
 expenditure respectively, before and after the 
 military expeditions set on foot. 
 
 It was soon after the siege of Pondicherry that 
 Sir Eyre Coote arrived at Madras, and took his 
 seat at the Board for some months before he 
 
 * Evidences, p. 245. Ibid., p. 329.
 
 46 CHAPTER III. 
 
 proceeded to Calcutta. The President profited 
 by this occasion to request his particular atten- 
 tion to the state of the treasury, and the extreme 
 difficulties with which they had to contend, in 
 obtaining supplies from the Nabob of Arcot and 
 the Rajah of Tanjore ; and he strongly urged, 
 at that early period, the adoption of the plan 
 which was afterwards carried out by Lord Ma- 
 cartney, that the Nabob should assign some 
 portion of the revenues of the Carnatic towards 
 the support of the military force, which he, the 
 President, declared to be on a larger scale than 
 the resources of the presidency could maintain, 
 " in order that Sir Eyre Coote might, when he 
 should take his place at the Council General of 
 Bengal, make such representations as should 
 obtain the support and assistance of that Board, 
 in the measures necessary to be adopted for the 
 preservation of the Carnatic." Letters to this 
 effect were also addressed to the Governor-Gene- 
 ral and to the Directors. Some extracts of 
 these are given, and also of Sir Eyre Coote's 
 letters and minutes at the end of the volume. 
 In consequence of Sir Eyre Coote's representa- 
 tions at Bengal, the Governor- General and 
 Council granted to Madras a supply of lift ecu 
 lacs of rupees, of which ten were sent, and live
 
 THE CHARGES. 47 
 
 promised, but subsequently withheld. On this 
 occasion of granting the supply the Governor- 
 General had required of the Presidency a strict 
 account of their past receipts and disbursements, 
 and their liabilities for the ensuing year. This 
 requirement had been as strictly complied with, 
 and also the claims they would have to meet 
 were stated, among which, it may be observed, 
 mention is made of the tribute due to the Nizam 
 of the Deccan for the Northern Circars, which 
 had fallen into arrears before Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold took charge of the Presidency.* 
 
 2. INFLUENCE OVER THE BOARD. 
 
 The unanimity of the Board in passing those 
 measures which the Directors sought to repre- 
 sent as corruptly obtained by the President, 
 threw some difficulty in the way of Sir Thomas 
 Ptumbold's accusers. This it appears they 
 obviated by putting forth a false and groundless 
 accusation, which was imposed upon the Com- 
 mittee, who were ignorant of the rules of the 
 Company's service. The slightest observation 
 is sufficient to refute this accusation. 
 
 It is borrowed by Mr. Mill, and introduces 
 the subject of the dealings with the Zemindars. 
 
 * [Evidences, pp. 208, (No. 164,) 370, (No. 420,) 371,415, (No. 
 4C4.) 4 18, (No. 405,) 419, (No. 406,) 464, (No. 446 ) ED.] See 
 also Appendix B, at the end of the Volume.
 
 48 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " In every case the Governor alone negociated 
 with the Zemindars, and regulated their pay- 
 ments ; in no case did he lay the grounds of his 
 treaty before the Council ; in every case the 
 Council without inquiry acquiesced in his 
 decrees." 
 
 On this charge very full testimony was given, 
 by four persons high in the service of the Com- 
 pany, at Madras and Bengal, to the fact, that 
 " all business w r ith the country powers, was in 
 the first instance done by the Governor. It uas 
 with him alone that they had personal communi- 
 cation. He reported to the Board the progress 
 of the treaty, or matter of business under con- 
 sideration, giving such explanation as the Board 
 might think proper to call for."* But, if we 
 open the Appendices to the Reports, it will 
 plainly appear that "the Governor," here spoken 
 of, did not adhere to this regulation of the 
 service, but acted in most cases in conjunction 
 with the Board ; and in the case of the Zemindars, 
 upon which Mr. Mill immediately dwells, lie 
 himself quotes the words of "the President," 
 addressed to the Kajali, where he speaks of " the 
 instances of the Board repeatedly made, con- 
 junctively, as well as separately." And furl her, 
 
 * See Evidences, pp. 237, 2'j:>, S'J.
 
 THE CHARGES. 49 
 
 when the reconciliation between the Rajahs had 
 taken place, the President referred them, on the 
 question of an increase of tribute, to the Board 
 independently, declaring himself not wholly 
 satisfied with the terms he had been able to 
 obtain.* 
 
 * Second Report, Appendix, No. 51, p. 385.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE THIRD CHARGE: RELATING TO THE SUSPENSION OF 
 THE COMMITTEE OF CIRCUIT, THE SUMMONING OF THE 
 ZEMINDARS TO MADRAS, AND, IN . PARTICULAR, THE 
 TREATMENT OF THE VIZIANAGRUM FAMILY. 
 
 STILL further to refute the suspicions of 
 corrupt motives, thrown upon the conduct of 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold, it shall now he shown 
 that the measures to which those suspicions 
 were attached were equitahle, and beneficial 
 in their results. Of these, the chief, and 
 those chiefly in question, were the suspension 
 of the Committee of Circuit, and calling the 
 Zemindars to the presidency, to treat with them 
 there. 
 
 This subject, which is classed under Charge 
 No. 3, comprises the treatment of the Viziana- 
 grum family, and also necessarily the suspicion 
 that it was sought to cast upon Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, of being concerned in the intrigues of 
 his Secretary, Mr. Uedhead. 
 
 The measure now in question was successful in 
 conciliating the Zemindars, who were combining 
 to resist the Committee of Circuit, to an innova- 
 * Evidences, p. 318.
 
 THE THIRD CHARGE. 51 
 
 tion that alarmed and was altogether obnoxious 
 to them ; their allegiance was secured during the 
 very critical period that followed, and where the 
 revenue had totally failed from the Northern 
 Circars, it was obtained, and was found a fruitful 
 resource, during the war. 
 
 When Sir Thomas B/umbold arrived at 
 Madras, he was met by accounts of the dis- 
 tressed condition of the Zemindaries. He then 
 asked for three weeks in which to possess him- 
 self of the subject. On the 24th of March, 
 when he declared his views to the Council, the 
 situation in general of the Northern Circars was 
 this : Abuses had been committed by the Chief 
 and Council of the subordinate governments ; a 
 total failure of revenue had been incurred ; the 
 Zemindars were embarrassed with debts, and 
 almost insolvent ; they had many dissensions 
 among themselves ; they were become jealous 
 of the Government, and the innovation of the 
 Committee of Circuit had inflamed that jealousy 
 to a state bordering upon disaffection.* 
 
 The President reasoned thus: "Were the 
 subordinates, or the Council of Madras, fitte-% at 
 
 * The Zemindars of Masulipatam alone owed upwaras of 
 438,000, including debts to their bankers, for which they paid 
 interest of two and a half per cent, a month. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 this period of distress and approaching war, to 
 make the new arrangement of tribute ? "What 
 pledge have we that the subordinates, who have 
 given birth to these difficulties, will extricate 
 the Company from them ? "NVe must guard 
 against these enormous balances ; but first let 
 us ascertain them. Let us hear the Zemindar, 
 and redress the injuries he has received. The 
 plan we adopt will give them confidence to 
 appeal, in case of grievances and oppression, to 
 the tribunal the most adequate to redress them." 
 The attendance of the Zemindars at Madras, 
 in some respects ineligible in itself, was the 
 necessary part of a system ; but it also turned 
 out in the event of peculiar advantage. Their 
 inevitable stay at Madras, until after the fall of 
 Pondicherry, made them hostages for the allegi- 
 ance of their own Governments ; and they not 
 only continued in peace, but were found a liberal 
 resource of military supply, of active service, and 
 revenue.* 
 
 * In the few observations Professor Wilson has made upon the 
 Minutes of the Evidence, he makes this mention of the circum- 
 stances attending the reconciliation of the two Northern Zemindars : 
 " As Vizieram was childless, his adoption of his nephew was in 
 strict conformity to the Hindu law ; the Council of Madras could 
 not choose but concur in it. 
 
 " That the reconciliation of the brothers, however ei.tuixvd, was
 
 THE THIRD CHARGE. 53 
 
 The distances from which the Zemindars came 
 are unfairly stated in the " Report." Gangam 
 and Vizagapatam alone are mentioned. From 
 the former, the poorest and the most remote of 
 the Zemindars, none were required to attend; 
 from Vizagapatam, five hundred miles distant, 
 Vizieram Raz only came, and with his free 
 assent. The average distance was three hundred 
 miles. 
 
 At the time of these transactions, Vizieram 
 
 permanent and productive of good effects, was satisfactorily shown 
 by the results. It was effected in July, 1778. The Chief of 
 Vizagapatam, Mr. Casamajor, from June, 1780, to March, 1782, 
 deposes that during that period, the brothers lived in harmony, 
 Sitteram being Duan ; that the revenues were improved and regu- 
 larly paid ; and that they could not have been received at all, if 
 the brothers had been at variance. Whatever, therefore, the 
 inducements may have been," (Professor Wilson adds,) "this 
 transaction did not deserve the censure which has been cast 
 upon it." 
 
 It is further in evidence, that at a meeting of the Board, Sep- 
 tember, 1781, (Lord Macartney, President,) it was determined, 
 that no change should be made in that Circar, and that perfect 
 harmony subsisted between the Rajahs. Letters to Lord Macartney 
 are given from the Chief and Council wherein it is mentioned, 
 that all endeavours to obtain loans from the bankers or indi- 
 viduals had failed, and their only dependence was the ample 
 supplies they were enabled to send from the Vizianagrum family. 
 Minutes of Evidence, pp. 291, 275.
 
 51 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Raz had not very long been of age. He was 
 indolent and easily governed. By intrigues in 
 the family he had hecome Rajah of this powerful 
 district, in prejudice to Sitteram, his eldest 
 brother by some years, (contrary to what has 
 been asserted,) who resisted for a time, but 
 submitted upon terms. A solemn agreement 
 was made that Sitteram should be the Duan, or 
 first minister of his brother, while to Vizieram 
 should be reserved the name and parade of the 
 superior. 
 
 For sixteen years Sitteram had acted as the 
 faithful steward of his brother. Shortly before 
 the period of which we have now to speak, a 
 competitor, originally in the confidence of both 
 brothers, had usurped the office, and succeeded 
 in poisoning the mind of the weak younger 
 brother against him, though never, it appears, 
 destroying the mutual affection that had sub- 
 sisted between them. The consequences of their 
 dissensions had called the troops of the Com- 
 pany into the field, and occasioned a total stop- 
 page of the revenue. The means adopted by the 
 President, when all persuasion had failed, to 
 reconcile Vizieram to his brother, were very 
 simple. He found that the favoured Duan (or 
 Steward) had been a defaulter to his master and
 
 THE THIRD CHARGE. 55 
 
 the Company to the amount of 94,000.* In 
 a meeting of the Board, the President proposed 
 that he should he sent to Vizagapatam, to hring 
 his accounts for inspection at Madras. When 
 the influence of this man was removed, the 
 reconciliation of the hrothers quickly followed. 
 They had engaged for his deht to the Company, 
 but did not receive from him a rupee. In 
 solvency and flight terminated his career, f 
 
 * Evidences, pp. 56-60. 
 
 f This is the story, stated as briefly as possible, which Mr. 
 Mill has recorded for all posterity, quoting the words of the 
 Directors, that " their surprise and concern were great at the 
 unwarrantable manner in which the Presidency appointed the 
 intriguing and ambitious Sitteram Duan of the Circar, and thus 
 put him in possession of the revenues of his elder brother," &c ; 
 and, further, that " it was selected as one of the Resolutions 
 moved in the House of Commons by Mr. Dundas, on the 25th of 
 April, 1782, where it was declared, 'That the Governor did, by 
 menaces and harsh treatment, compel the Rajah Vizieram to employ 
 Sitteram Raz as the manager of the Zemindary, in the room of a 
 man of probity and good character ; and that the gross ill-treat- 
 ment he received at the Presidency was humiliating, unjust, and 
 cruel, and highly derogatory to the interests of the East India 
 Company, and to the honour of the British nation." MILL'S 
 History, chap, iv., p. 104. 
 
 The words of Vizieram Raz, before the Board of Madras, when 
 he was resisting the endeavours of the President that he should be 
 reconciled to his brother, are repeated in the Report of the Com-
 
 56 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 mittee of Secrecy, and cited by Mr. Mill and other historians ; but 
 no notice has been taken of the remonstrance of the elder brother. 
 
 " Sitteram Raz requested to be allowed to represent some cir- 
 cumstances relative to his own situation, and proceeded as 
 follows : 
 
 " For a considerable length of time I transacted entirely the 
 affairs of my brother's Government ; and so much were we at that 
 time upon a footing of equality and brotherly affection, that it was 
 never a question with me whether I acted upon his account or my 
 own. I took all the care I could in the management of his 
 country, and contributed to his welfare and happiness to the best 
 of my ability. I desire to be informed in what light I was to be 
 considered, whether as the brother or servant of the Rajah. 
 
 " PRESIDENT. The Board look upon you as his brother acting 
 under him. 
 
 " SITTEBAM RAZ. I desire that the same question may be put 
 
 
 
 to my brother. 
 
 " VIZIEBAM RAZ. It is true he is my brother ; but he only 
 held the management of my affairs during my pleasure. 
 
 " QUESTION FROM THE BOARD. Has Sitteram Raz ever done 
 anything injurious or offensive to you ? 
 
 " VIZIERAM RAZ. He has taken away the Braminies maniams. 
 
 " SITTERAM. If I have taken away the maniams, who has 
 enjoyed the benefit arising from them? 
 
 " VIZIERAM RAZ. They were received into my treasury. 
 
 " SITTERAM RAZ. I am sensible that Jaggernaut Raz has 
 contrived and worked up many falsehoods to set me at variance 
 with my brother ; but I desire only that Vizierara Raz may declare 
 what I have ever done to injure him." Addressing his brother : 
 " Your annual revenues, at the time I took the management of 
 them, amounted to about seven lacs of rupees ; and when I gave 
 up the management, I left you possessed of a revenue amounting to
 
 THE THIRD CHARGE. 57 
 
 upwards of twenty-two lacs. It generally happens that persons 
 acting in so high a trust, receive some benefit to themselves ; but I 
 never received any such advantage. 
 " Vizieram Raz made no reply." 
 
 PRESIDENT'S MINUTE, AUGUST 18ra, 1778. 
 
 " I am happy to acquaint the Board that a reconciliation has 
 taken place between the two northern Rajahs, which I believe to 
 
 be sincere If I wanted any circumstance to confirm me in the 
 
 opinion I had formed of the necessity of sending Jaggernaut Raz 
 
 to Vizagapatam, the last letters received from that factory will 
 
 sufficiently evince the propriety of the measure." Evidences, pp. 
 56-60. 
 
 This account is taken from the case for the prosecution.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD'S RELATIONS WITH MR. REDHEAD. 
 
 THE matters explained in the last chapter, 
 which ended happily for the brothers, and 
 favourably for the interests of the Company, 
 were attended by an unfortunate circumstance, 
 of which the Directors afterwards availed them- 
 selves, when desirous to wreak their anger upon 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold. " We are in possession 
 of one fact," they say, "which, as far as it 
 extends, seems to convey an idea that the 
 Zemindars were abused, and their money misap- 
 plied at the presidency." 
 
 The fact referred to was, that Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold had an intriguing Secretary. That 
 corruption extensively prevailed in India was 
 well known to the Directors; but it served their 
 purpose in the present instance to infer the 
 corruption of the master from that of the 
 servant. An examination into the imputations 
 which have been raised against Sir Thomas 
 Km nl mid, because of his official connexion witli 
 Mr. Uedhead, follows naturally upon the refu-
 
 MR. REDHEAD. 59 
 
 tation of the third charge, and will prepare the 
 way for dealing with the fourth. 
 
 The intrigues of Mr. Redhead were not com- 
 
 \^/ 
 
 pleted, but the intention was sufficiently clear. 
 He had been for a short time the private Secre- 
 tary of Sir Thomas Rumbold, but was retained 
 in that employment but a few months after he 
 arrived at Madras. The death of Mr. Redhead 
 took place shortly afterwards. A paper was 
 found among his effects to this purport, that the 
 Rajah (or Zemindar) Sitteram Raz promised to 
 pay Mr. Redhead a considerable sum, on con- 
 dition of his assistance in obtaining several 
 
 C* 
 
 points, of which five were specified : " 1. The 
 appointment of Sitteram Raz to be in effect the 
 Company's Duan, but the nominal one of his 
 brother Yizieram. 2. The reconciliation of the 
 two brothers, Vizieram and Sitteram. 3. The 
 confirmation of the son of Sitteram as the 
 adopted Rajah by a grant from the Board. 4. 
 The annexation of Ancapilly and Sitteram (two 
 Zemindaries) to Vizianagrum. 5. The restitu- 
 tion of the fort at Yizianagrum to Vizieram Raz, 
 who had been dispossessed of it by the former 
 Government." 
 
 This paper was described as a translation of 
 an original in the Gentoo language. The paper
 
 60 CHAPTER V. 
 
 was unattested, and not signed by Mr. Bedhead. 
 It might have been only offered by Sitteram and 
 not accepted ; but the executors of Mr. Bedhead 
 deemed it sufficiently valid for them to make 
 application for the payment. The claim was 
 denied. A suit was then instituted in the 
 Mayor's court at Madras, and a decision given 
 in favour of the executors, but under circum- 
 stances which led to an appeal to the President 
 and Council, who reversed the decision. 
 
 Of the five points specified, the merits of the 
 first have been discussed ; the two following 
 were involved in that. As to the fourth the 
 annexation of the lands * the fact is, that 
 Vizieram had a mortgage upon them. It was a 
 debt of justice to him to pay the mortgage debt, 
 or give him the real pledge. The lease was only 
 to him, and his passion for the land relieved the 
 Company from his demand as mortgage, and 
 gave to them an increase of revenue. It WMS. 
 in fact, a losing bargain to Vizieram, except 
 that he obtained the use of the land in per- 
 petuity. 
 
 Of the fifth point, the restitution of the fort, 
 it was at a later period, and when harmony 
 
 * Evidences, p. 280.
 
 Mil. BEDHEAD. 61 
 
 had been restored between the brothers, that 
 Vizieram R/az, as it is expressed in the " Report 
 of the Committee of Secrecy," "was got into 
 good humonr to petition for his fort." The 
 justice and policy of granting this petition are 
 discussed in Sir Thomas Rumbold's Answer to 
 the Committee and Directors, in the Appendix 
 to this volume. 
 
 The coincidence of these points with the deter- 
 minations of the Council might have warranted 
 suspicion, had the measures been new, or unjust, 
 or only brought forward through the corrupt 
 agreement ; but Sitteram Raz was found at 
 Madras, negotiating with the Board, when Sir 
 Thomas Rurnbold arrived there; and three of 
 the points were recorded by them as approved, 
 and desirable to be obtained.* 
 
 The Committee of Secrecy had something fur- 
 ther to add on this case, which was adopted by 
 the Bill, and is repeated by Mr. Mill :f 
 
 " Your Committee find that the Chief and 
 Council of Vizagapatam represented, that the 
 practice had always been to receive reports of 
 
 * Second Keport, p. 277. 
 
 f Sitteram Eaz's Account Current with the Company. Appendix, 
 Second Beport, No. 54 ; and President's Keport to the Board, 
 No. 34.
 
 62 CHAPTER V. 
 
 the character and ability of those who proposed 
 for leases from them ; and that they had been 
 much mortified in being overlooked in this in- 
 stance ;" and also that, "on the 10th of 
 
 April, about a month after Sir Thomas Rurn- 
 bold's arrival, the gentlemen of Vizagapatam 
 acquainted the Presidency that they had unde- 
 niable proof that a large sum, in money and 
 grain, had been sent to Sitteram Ilaz at Madras. 
 
 They represented the tenants as cruelly 
 
 oppressed to make up this sum ; and stated the 
 reason of their making this representation to be, 
 that some of his arrears might be secured for 
 the Company." 
 
 In the first "representation" cited, the Secret 
 Committee have furnished the solution of the 
 hostility Sir Thomas llumbold met in his reform 
 of this old "practice." The second representa- 
 tion was shown to rest on no proof whatever. 
 Of the land in question Sitteram had been in 
 possession only two months ; the proportions of 
 specie and grain were not specified ; Madras was 
 the market for grain from the Northern Circars, 
 and March the time for remitting it. It must 
 have been dispatched, if at all, before Sir Thomas 
 Ilumbold's arrival ; but, upon receiving this com- 
 munication, he, by the desire of the Board, made
 
 MR. REDHEAD. 63 
 
 application to Sitteram Raz, who denied the 
 allegations, hut promised to provide immediately 
 for his instalment ; and this promise, made on 
 the 24th of April, was fulfilled on the 1st of 
 May ensuing.* 
 
 This circumstance must have been overlooked 
 by " the Committee of Secrecy ; " they would 
 not otherwise have been led to affirm, that " the 
 same kind of promise was accepted by the Presi- 
 dent in July, lohich had been made, but not ob- 
 served, in April preceding " 
 
 This second promise was observed as punctually 
 as the first ; and, before the end of October follow- 
 ing, the Rajah had paid what was due to the 
 Company.. 
 
 There was, moreover, found in the will of Mr. 
 E/edhead an assertion that he had received from 
 the Nabob of Arcot a promise of a lac of rupees, f 
 No written order from the Nabob to that effect 
 appeared, and it was not stated that any such 
 existed; neither was any date assigned to the 
 promise, or any condition named. 
 
 * Appendix, Second Eeport, No. 54, Sitteram Eaz, Account 
 Current with the Company ; and President's Keport to the Board, 
 No. 34. See also Evidences, p. 270. 
 
 f The executors were Mr. Petrie, an old servant of the East 
 India Company, and Mr. Alexander Brodie, then at Madras. He 
 was the father of the late Duchess of Gordon.
 
 64 CHAPTEU V. 
 
 This verbal bargain was made to apply to the 
 lease of the Jaghire, which, according to the 
 date of that lease, was granted unanimously by 
 the Council to the Nabob above a month after 
 Mr. Redhead had been finally discarded, and IKK I 
 quitted the employment of Sir Thomas Rumbold. 
 
 Although the executors did not consider the 
 money to be due, since, by memoranda in the 
 handwriting of Mr. Redhead, they were ac- 
 quainted with the conditions annexed to the 
 promise, and knew that they had not been ful- 
 filled ; yet, as a matter of form, advised by their 
 lawyer, one of the executors, Mr. Brodie, stated 
 the claim made in the will to the Nabob of Arcot. 
 He owned the promise, but added, " It was on a 
 condition unperformed." 
 
 In three long examinations, evidence was given 
 to the effect of what has been last stated ; and, 
 also, that Mr. Redhead had been recommended 
 to Sir Thomas Rumbold by General Joseph 
 Smith, to whom he had acted as Persian tran- 
 slator ; that he had since been in the service of 
 the Nabob of Arcot ; that he had quitted him to 
 proceed to England, in order to further some of 
 the Nabob's projects with regard to Tanjore ; 
 that he returned to India in the ship with Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold and the witness, Mr. Petrie ;
 
 MR. REDHEAD. 65 
 
 that it was apparent to the latter, and confessed 
 then to him by Mr. Redhead, as well as admitted 
 in Mr. Bedhead's subsequent correspondence, 
 that " he had not Sir Thomas Bumbold's confi- 
 dence ; " and that this " breach " terminated in 
 his being finally discarded from his office, early 
 in August following.* 
 
 Before this evidence had been heard, the 
 Counsel for the Bill had disowned the inferred 
 suspicion, by declaring, before the House, that 
 no imputation of complicity with the Secretary 
 could be cast upon Sir Thomas Bumbold. This 
 is noticed by Mr. Hardinge in " The Defence." 
 
 More than once Mr. Hardinge had insinuated 
 that, "without prejudice to their zeal as advo- 
 cates, they had sometimes deserted their promp- 
 ter." On this occasion, Mr. Hardinge cited the 
 words of Mr. Cowper : " One of the Counsel, 
 with a manly concession, much to his honour, 
 has told us that Mr. Bedhead's guilt was not Sir 
 Thomas Bumbold's guilt ; and that no evidence 
 had connected them. He, too, was the Counsel 
 
 * Private letters now existing in the possession of Sir Thomas 
 RumbokPs family, written by him on his first landing at Madras, 
 explain the cause of this displeasure ; and mention that Mr. Red- 
 head was only retained nominally in his employment, and on his 
 urging that it would be detrimental to him to be discharged 
 abruptly. 
 
 F
 
 66 CHAPTER V. 
 
 who closed the evidence, and who told us that it 
 was his peculiar province to mark which of the 
 charges were proved, and in what manner, and 
 to what extent they were sustained." * 
 
 Mr. Cowper's precise words before the House, 
 as recorded in his speech, were addressed to Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold as follows : " The honourable 
 Baronet will understand me as not saying that 
 Mr. Redhead's guilt is his guilt, or that Mr. 
 Redhead's guilt is brought home to him; but if 
 it appeared upon the records of the Court that 
 he was his Secretary, it behoved him, to extin- 
 guish every spark of suspicion that might fall 
 upon himself, to disclose this to the East India 
 Company ; but, till this inquiry took place, no 
 notice whatever was taken by Sir Thomas Hum- 
 bold of his reversal of the judgment of the 
 Court." 
 
 It was established, however, by evidence, that 
 the Company's knowledge of this transaction was, 
 in the first place, derived from the communication 
 of it to them by the President, sent in the usual 
 course of the service ; and that the proceedings 
 of the " Appellant Jurisdiction " at Madras had 
 been transmitted in the first ship that sailed for 
 
 England. 
 
 Judge Ilardinge's Defence, p. 14.
 
 MR. REDHEAD. 67 
 
 The witness who gave this testimony was 
 asked by a member of the House, " Where is the 
 record of it ? " 
 
 His answer was : " In the India House." * 
 Thus the last shadow of suspicion against Sir 
 Thomas in respect of Mr. Redhead is dissipated. 
 
 * Minutes of Evidence, p. 518.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE EXTENDED LEASE OF THE JAGHIRE LANDS. 
 
 BY the extension to the Nabob of Arcot of 
 the lease of the Jaghire lands from one year 
 to three, the advantages obtained were, that 
 the arrears of rent, amounting to 90,000, 
 which would probably have been lost to the 
 Company if the lands had been taken out of 
 the Nabob's hands, were insisted upon, and 
 actually paid into the treasury. Also that new 
 and very advantageous conditions were imposed. 
 
 The Nabob agreed to repair the tanks and 
 water-courses, which had fallen into decay, and 
 were greatly injured by late floods, so that now 
 there were serious apprehensions of famine. 
 These expensive works the state of the Madras 
 treasury did not permit to be undertaken. Very 
 particular stipulations were made in favour of 
 the weavers, who principally dwelt there; they 
 were to be exempt from taxes, with other 
 immunities. Any native, being oppressed, had 
 liberty of appeal to the President and Council 
 of Madras, who reserved to themselves the power
 
 THE JAGHIRE LANDS. 69 
 
 of displacing the Nabob's agents. The rent 
 was to be paid monthly ; and, on failure of 
 one month, the Board would be at liberty to 
 resume the Jaghire, and to let it to whom they 
 pleased. 
 
 The strict observance of these conditions was 
 secured by the last article of the lease, which 
 provided that the Council should, at any time, 
 send one or more of the Company's servants to 
 survey the lands, and to see that all the conditions 
 were strictly complied with. 
 
 Hitherto there had been no regular covenants 
 between the Nabob and the Company for lands 
 leased to him, but simply agreements by letter. 
 Lord Pigot had attempted a similar proceeding 
 to that now adopted, but was opposed by his 
 Council, who prevailed against him. The Nabob 
 had been willing to continue the lease upon the 
 old terms ; but, a delay having occurred in the 
 usual application, the President and Council took 
 advantage of it to ascertain more precisely what 
 value might be set upon the lands, and to impose 
 new conditions. At these the Nabob revolted, 
 especially at the reparation of the tanks, the 
 expense of which, he said, could not be repaid 
 to him under five years. 
 
 The Council refused to lease for five years,
 
 70 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 as the Nabob desired ; but they consented to an 
 extension of the lease from one to three years.* 
 After demurring nearly three months, during 
 which three letters were written to ask his 
 decision, his desire to possess the land prevailed, 
 and the Nabob accepted the conditions. 
 
 In arraigning Sir Thomas Rumbold for this 
 lease, the Directors endeavoured to represent 
 that his fault was aggravated by their having 
 declared the intention of taking the lands into 
 their own hands. Although the policy of letting 
 them to the Nabob at all had been a question 
 much agitated, and different opinions had been 
 expressed, the Directors, while willing to admit 
 that more might be obtained from the land if 
 farmed by the Company, had relinquished that 
 contingent benefit, assigning expressly as their 
 reason, that they were apprehensive " such a 
 measure would alienate the Nabob ; " and also 
 that it could not be carried into effect "until 
 a plan should be settled for taking them into 
 their own hands." No plan of this kind had 
 hi TII formed; and, at this time, very espmnl 
 injunctions had been given to the Council of 
 Madras to conciliate the Nabob on account of 
 the displeasure recently occasioned to him by 
 
 Evidences, pp. 314, 322, 323.
 
 THE JAGHIKE LANDS. 71 
 
 the affair of Tanjore.* The Directors had 
 written to this eifect : " As we wish by every 
 possible means to conciliate the mind of the 
 Nabob, our friend and ally, apparently disturbed 
 by the late transactions, we have herewith en- 
 closed a letter to his Highness ; f and we strictly 
 enjoin upon our President and Council to exert 
 their utmost endeavours to conciliate the affec- 
 tions of his Highness and family ; and to be par- 
 ticularly careful on no account or pretence to 
 infringe any of his rights, privileges, or immu- 
 nities We rely with the utmost confidence 
 
 on your affording him every assistance in your 
 power towards obviating any difficulties, or re- 
 moving any embarrassments, in which his affairs 
 may unhappily have been involved." $ 
 
 These injunctions would have been entirely 
 disregarded had this time been chosen to dis- 
 possess the Nabob of the land ; but the best 
 comment upon the affair is, that the Directors 
 confirmed, and afterwards renewed, the lease, 
 having profited by the terms, which the exten- 
 
 * Evidences, pp. 307, 308. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 311. 
 
 $ The Counsel for Sir Thomas Rurnbold desired to produce the 
 letter from the Directors to the Nabob. This was objected to by 
 the Counsel for the Bill.
 
 72 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 sion of the lease could alone have obtained for 
 them.* 
 
 In the account of this transaction in the 
 Report of the Committee of Secrecy, the arrears 
 of payment due from the Nabob are inserted 
 immediately after the statement of the lease 
 granted to him by the Council of Madras, al- 
 though it was known to the framers of the 
 Reports that all arrears, with the current rent 
 for all lands leased to him, had been obtained.! 
 
 But, further than this, they produce a long 
 extract from a Minute formerly given, in order 
 " to show " (they say) " that a difference had 
 
 * Evidences, p. 309. 
 
 f Throughout the statement made of this transaction in the 
 Report of the Committee, the usual dishonesty prevails. The 
 rent the Nabob engaged to pay is there rated at 324,000 pagodas ; 
 but this was exclusive of Poonamalee, which formed part of the 
 Jaghire lands, and, with this addition, the rent paid amounted to 
 364,000 pagodas. 
 
 But, further, there were other offers to rent the land. One of 
 these only proposed for the whole, and at a higher rent than was 
 offered by the Nabob. The Board, on giving consideration to this 
 offer, found that no security was given but the previous mortgage 
 of the lands in question, and that the repairs were to fall upon the 
 Company. 
 
 In the Report of the Committee the difference of the rent offered 
 is set forth, but the essential circumstances that attended it are 
 suppressed.
 
 THE JAGHIRE LANDS. 73 
 
 taken place in the sentiments of the President 
 on this later occasion." * Here they have merely 
 left out the word "not," so as to change the 
 whole meaning of the sentence. They make the 
 President say, " The Nahoh has attended to the 
 repair of the tanks." If we turn to the Appendix, 
 it will he seen his words were, " The Nahoh has 
 not attended to the repair of the tanks." f 
 
 * Second Keport, Appendix, No. 148. f Ibid., No. 153.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FOURTH CHARGE. SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD'S RELATIONS 
 WITH MR. SADLIER. 
 
 AT the period of which we have to speak, Mr. 
 Sadlier was at Madras under rather humiliating 
 disabilities, having been partially restored by the 
 influence of Lord Pigot, after a suspension from 
 the Company's service, for his conduct in a dis- 
 tant settlement. It was a special object in Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold's instructions to restore the 
 harmony that had been so seriously interrupted. 
 This object he considered would be promoted by 
 employing the talents and activity of Mr. Sadlier 
 as chief of Masulipatam, the situation being 
 temporarily vacant, rather than at Madras ; 
 while, at the same time, he might be a useful 
 instrument of his policy, in the check which ho 
 aimed at the subordinate intrigues. Mr. Sadlier 
 was all gratitude for "this protection of liiiu 
 from the grossest calumny," and he sent much 
 useful information concerning the Zemindars of
 
 THE FOURTH CHARGE. 75 
 
 the district ; but he gave the President also very 
 prudential advice, in order to deter him from his 
 object. " Leave the subordinates to themselves, 
 else they will make you answer for them ; this 
 very measure of calling the Zemindars to Madras 
 will give them a handle for such a turn in their 
 favour. Will not the effect of former mismanage- 
 ment be laid to your door ? If the settlement is 
 on the decline, would it not be prudent to leave 
 the Government, hitherto charged with respon- 
 sibility, to justify its measures, to work out its 
 own misfortunes, and bear the censure it de- 
 serves ?" In yielding to these suggestions, Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold would doubtless have con- 
 sulted his personal ease, and escaped much of 
 the persecution to which he was afterwards 
 exposed ; but he would have betrayed his trust, 
 and justly have incurred the censure of having 
 paid no attention to another letter from Mr. 
 Sadlier, of the same date, professedly " written 
 in confidence." " It may be destroyed." In 
 this letter, without any evidence produced, or 
 hint from what quarter the accusation came, 
 Mr. Sadlier states the corrupt conduct of four 
 servants of the Company by name : three were 
 his predecessors at Masulipatam ; the fourth was 
 the Governor of Madras for the time being, who
 
 76 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 was accused of sharing the profits (on the occa- 
 sion of the renewal of the tribute of tl^e Zemin- 
 dars) with these subordinates. 
 
 It was not pretended that these offences had 
 been committed during the government of Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold ; the persons no longer filled 
 those stations, and some were in England. It 
 must also be observed that one of the persons 
 accused, (Mr. AVhit chill,) if not others, had been 
 concerned in the former suspension of Mr. 
 Sadlier from the Company's service. This con- 
 fidential letter, which in the Report of the Com- 
 mittee is represented as " official intelligence," 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold did not conceive himself 
 at liberty to disclose. It w r as not, however, 
 neglected ; he ventured with greater determina- 
 tion upon the hazardous task of reforming 
 abuses, without feeling himself justified in 
 prudence or in honour to direct his attack 
 against persons. He stated, however, fairly and 
 distinctly, the nature and consequences of the 
 abuses to the Court of Directors, whose imme- 
 diato duty it was to institute an inquiry. The 
 honourable Court, however, never expressed the 
 slightest curiosity with respect to the persons by 
 whom the abuses had been committed. 
 
 The covenant which Sir Thomas Rumbold
 
 THE FOURTH CHARGE. 77 
 
 entered into with the Company, bound him to 
 disclose " offences of this nature that should take 
 place." If he were guilty in not disclosing such 
 as were past that came to his knowledge, how 
 did Mr. Sadlier escape, who was bound by the 
 same covenants, and had the opportunity of 
 investigating the evidence ? Yet, after two years 
 and a half, when the secret was grown obsolete 
 in his keeping, and Sir Thomas Rumbold, with 
 whom he was no longer on terms of amity, had 
 left Madras, and Mr. TThitehill had been dis- 
 missed in disgrace by the Council of Bengal, Mr. 
 Sadlier delivers up the letter. It was not, how- 
 ever, unmutilated. In the form of an affidavit 
 before the Mayor, he declared this to be an exact 
 copy of what he had sent to Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold ; but it was found, when compared with the 
 original, to vary in some material points, and 
 such as it was important to his reputation to 
 suppress. 
 
 AVheii Mr. Sadlier was removed by a vote of 
 the Board from the seat to which he had suc- 
 ceeded at Sir Thomas Rumbold' s departure, this 
 gentleman, distinguished in the Report of the 
 Committee of Secrecy as the " high-spirited and 
 virtuous Mr. Sadlier," made an offer to sell his 
 integrity and public spirit. He told the Presi-
 
 78 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 dent that, if he could but be reinstated at the 
 Board, he would bury the letter in oblivion. 
 This offer was disregarded, and he forwarded 
 the paper to the Secretary of the East India 
 Company.* 
 
 A few words must be added on the subject of 
 the Zemindars. Mr. Sadlier endeavoured by 
 every means to deter them from accepting the 
 summons to Madras, by apprizing them of the 
 hard terms that would be imposed upon them 
 there ; and that the journey would be .annual, 
 which was never contemplated by any of the 
 Board. Those objections, which it is stated in 
 the Report were made by them, were found to 
 be the very words suggested to them by Mr. 
 Sadlier. f 
 
 The circumstances of this case have been so 
 far entered into on this account. It was one 
 very strongly insisted upon in the Bill of Pains 
 and Penalties. The exaggerated statements of 
 the sums remitted to England, and adopted by 
 the Committee, were made by Mr. Sadlier; 
 although it may be observed, that he never 
 attempted to shape one charge on that score 
 
 * See the Minute of the President, C. Smith. Evidences, 
 pp. 298, 299. 
 f Ibid., p. 232.
 
 THE FOURTH CHARGE. 79 
 
 against Sir Thomas Rumbold; and to Mr. 
 Sadlier was principally due the disunion of the 
 Council of Madras, that had so fatal an influence 
 on the early conduct of the war.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE GUNTOOR CIRCAR, BAZALET JUNG, AND THE NIZAM. 
 THE ORIGINAL POLICY AND INSTRUCTIONS OF THE 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL, 1775-1777. 
 
 WE may now proceed to consider those public 
 measures which have been represented as bearing 
 upon the general affairs of India, and to which 
 it was originally sought to attribute, in great 
 part, if not entirely, what was called the great 
 confederacy, which resulted in the invasion of 
 the Carnatic. 
 
 Before entering upon these charges of the 
 Bill, it is important to notice, that in later times 
 it has been still further sought to criminate Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold by laying to his charge the 
 reduction of the French fortress Mahe. This it 
 appears afforded Hyder AH a subject of com- 
 plaint, of which he availed himself in order to 
 justify the execution of projects which many cir- 
 cumstances concur in proving had been deter- 
 mined on long before. Ascribing this measure, 
 however, especially to Sir Thomas Rumbold is a 
 late notion. Nobody at the time laid the responsi- 
 bility upon him. When the war with France 
 was declared, the news was communicated to
 
 THE SIEGE OF MAHE. 81 
 
 Madras through Bombay, and thence to Bengal. 
 It is a fact well authenticated, that it was deter- 
 mined in England that all the French settle- 
 ments should be reduced, and instructions arrived 
 immediately at Madras to begin with the capture 
 of Pondicherry, if it was considered they had 
 force sufficient to accomplish it. 
 
 That the expedition against Mahe was not in- 
 considerately resolved upon, will appear from 
 some extracts which are here given from the 
 Minutes of the President and of Sir Eyre 
 Coote : 
 
 November, 1778. " The President recommends 
 to the serious consideration of the Board several 
 points before any expedition should be set on 
 foot for the reduction of Mahe." Among others, 
 " Whether it will not be prudent to wait until 
 we hear from Hydec Ali, and until we have 
 more certain accounts of the disposition of the 
 Rajahs whose countries border upon Mahe, and 
 through which our troops must march ? Whe- 
 ther, if the French from the islands, on hearing 
 of the reduction of Pondicherry, should have 
 landed a body of troops at Mahe, before the ar- 
 rival of our squadron and land forces there, our 
 detachment may not run a risk of being defeated 
 by a superior European force," &c. 
 
 G
 
 82 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Again, on the 4th of January, " The situation 
 of affairs, the distress we are in for money, and 
 the uncertainty of what steps may be taken by 
 the French or the country powers, or, in parti- 
 cular, by Hyder Ali, who does not seem to be well 
 pleased with our conquest of Pondicherry, makes 
 it appear to me imprudent to move from the 
 seat of Government at this juncture." 
 
 And on the 14th of January, " Our corre- 
 spondence with Hyder Ali has not been attended 
 with that readiness on his part which we 
 expected from him ; but I am 'persuaded we 
 should not lose sight of the object, and nothing 
 will so effectually bring it about as sending a 
 suitable person to him. A proper pretence may 
 be made use of, and we shall be able to judge of 
 his intentions. It is better to know him for an 
 enemy than a doubtful friend ; and I confess I 
 shall be under some apprehensions for our 
 detachment now proceeding to Mahe, unless we 
 are assured what line of conduct he means to 
 observe." When, after a renewed solicitation 
 from the President that Hyder would allow an 
 interview to take place, the reply was decidedly 
 hostile, it was a subject of serious deliberation 
 whether the expedition should be recalled. 
 
 The President set before the Committee all
 
 MAHE AND 1IYDER ALL 83 
 
 the most important reasons for and against the 
 recal. He concludes by saying, " I have ever 
 considered the alliance with Hyder Ali as our 
 first and principal object ; in that case Mahe 
 would fall into our hands, of course, and every 
 view of the French be entirely frustrated. One 
 circumstance I must add, which is, if we desist 
 from prosecuting the expedition, it is probable 
 the factory of Tellicherry will fall into the hands 
 of the French." 
 
 Sir Eyre Coote gave his opinion at length, and 
 concluded by saying, " Upon the whole, as 
 things are at present situated, I am against re- 
 calling the expedition," &c. 
 
 All the circumstances relating to this 
 affair, with the deliberations of the Council 
 of Fort St. George, are fully and fairly 
 given in the first Report of the Committee of 
 Secrecy. 
 
 In the second E/eport of the Committee, truth 
 and fairness are sacrificed, and the Report be- 
 comes a personal censure of Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold. 
 
 In the transactions relating to the Gun- 
 toor Circar, and the Nizam of the Deccan, 
 in regard to which charges were alleged 
 against Sir Thomas Rumbold in the Bill, and 
 
 G 2
 
 84 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 which remain to be more fully described, 
 Sir Thomas Runibold was nearly concerned with 
 Mr. Hastings. It is a task which of necessity 
 devolves upon one who would give a true ac- 
 count of this portion of the history, to show, 
 that, among the darker shades which belong to 
 the character of that celebrated man, must be 
 reckoned the conduct he pursued throughout the 
 course of those events. 
 
 When the calamity of the Carnatic war took 
 place, the cause of which is a problem in his- 
 tory never entirely solved, if the measures of 
 Mr. Hastings were to be exempted from all re- 
 proach, on another the blame must fall. 
 
 The policy Mr. Hastings had pursued, whe- 
 ther skilfully devised or not, had been unsuccess- 
 ful, and, it was early known to him, threatened 
 very disastrous results; it had especially com- 
 promised him with the Nizam of the Deccan. In 
 the embarrassments in which he was involved, 
 Mr. Hastings allowed himself to disavow, on the 
 most shallow pretext, the part he had originally 
 taken in the affair of the Guntoor Circar, when 
 it was first contemplated in 1775 ; and also the 
 formal sanction he gave to the Treaty for the 
 cession of it to the Company, as submitted to 
 him by the presidency of Madras in 1770, when
 
 MR. HASTINGS. 85 
 
 he revised each article, and added to them others 
 of his own. Mr. Hastings thus prepared the 
 way for representing this affair as a principal 
 cause of the confederacy against the English, 
 which resulted in the invasion of the Carnatic. 
 
 It is also certain that all the accounts of those 
 times that have been transmitted to us, are to 
 be traced to the representations made by Mr. 
 Hastings to the Court of Directors, and sub- 
 sequently adopted by the Committee of Secrecy, 
 although they were contradicted by facts and 
 dates that had passed through their hands, and 
 are still to be seen in the Appendices to the 
 Reports. 
 
 It is much to be deplored that Sir Eyre Coote, 
 who formed one of the Board of Madras, and co- 
 operated in the affair of the Guntoor Circar, 
 should have been, after the invasion of the Car- 
 natic, so influenced by Mr. Hastings, as to follow 
 and support him in his assertions, and to de- 
 nounce this measure for a reason that sounds 
 strangely from Sir Eyre Coote, " that it 
 thwarted Hyder, who had views upon the Gun- 
 toor for himself." * 
 
 * Supplementary Appendix to the Second Eeport, and repeated 
 elsewhere. In private correspondence of the time there is much 
 proof that Sir Eyre Coote was a man of most honourable and
 
 86 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Leave then the whole responsibility of this 
 affair upon Sir Thomas Rumbold, and admit that 
 it thwarted Hyder, can any further vindication 
 be needed for the policy of securing to the Com- 
 pany this important district, considered the key 
 of the Carnatic, and which was in fact their own, 
 by arming it against him ? It is known that 
 Hyder had it in view to extirpate the Nizam, 
 and make a partition of his territories : since 
 Hyder had no claim upon the Guntoor, the pos- 
 session of it by the English thwarted him, inas- 
 much as it stood in the way of these projects, and 
 of his immediate design upon the Carnatic. 
 
 But Sir Eyre Coote proceeded to a still more 
 extraordinary assertion. In the same letter to 
 the Directors, we find him say, that " it was 
 known as a thing certain that at the time the 
 Treaty was carrying on with Bazalet Jung, 
 Hyder would have entered into an alliance 
 
 generous, although sometimes hasty, impulses. It is apparent, in- 
 deed, from his angry and reiterated demand, that the refusal of the 
 President of Madras to send a body-guard to Calcutta from the newly- 
 arrived regiment, gave him great umbrage. With all allowance for 
 this, and for the pressure of difficulties opening upon him in that 
 disastrous war, it is still hard to-believe that Sir Eyre Coote really 
 dictated the representations we find given in the Reports of the 
 Committee, and which were sent to the Directors, &c.
 
 SIR "EYRE COOTE. 87 
 
 offensive and defensive with us." * Was it for- 
 gotten by Sir Eyre Coote, and did the Secret 
 Committee, in adopting this declaration, over- 
 look, that at this very time, and before this time, 
 the letters from the President to Hyder men- 
 tioned above, requesting an interview, &c., had 
 been communicated to the Board, together with 
 Hyder 's evasive replies ? 
 
 A history of these transactions, substantiated 
 by the original documents or by full references, 
 is subjoined. 
 
 As far as relates to the affair of the Guntoor 
 Circar, the words are, for the most part, those of 
 Sir Thomas Uumbold, and are a part of his 
 "Answer to the Directors f and to the Committee 
 of Secrecy," of which "Answer" mention has been 
 made. The statement commences by citing those 
 Articles of the Treaty between the Nizam and 
 the Company in 1768, which bear upon the case. 
 
 Upon the construction of these Articles, Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold proceeds to say, it is clear 
 
 * Supplemental Appendix to Second Keport, No. 9, and 
 repeated elsewhere. 
 
 f It will be observed throughout the statement given from Sir 
 Thomas Eumbold's narrative, the references made by him are to 
 the Reports of the Committee of Secrecy. The references to the 
 Minutes of Evidence are added by the compiler.
 
 88 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 that if Bazalet Jung should raise disturbances, 
 or give protection, or assistance, to any enemies 
 of the Company, the Company were at liberty 
 immediately to take possession of the Guntoor 
 Circar, without any reference or application to 
 the Nizam. 
 
 No one Article of the Treaty with the Nizcm 
 was so impolitic as leaving the Guntoor Circar 
 in the possession of Bazalet Jung. "We had it 
 in our power to make whatever terms we pleased. 
 We had attained a decisive advantage in the 
 war, and, by marching a detachment of troops 
 towards the Nizam's capital, we had in a manner 
 compelled him to sue for peace. 
 
 The Guntoor Circar nearly joins to the Cudda- 
 pah country. A small portion of the Carnatic 
 runs between them, and, stretching eastward to 
 the sea, contains one of the most commodious 
 ports on the coast, called Mootapillee ; it was 
 there the French always landed their troops and 
 stores. This Circar divides the Carnatic from all 
 our northern possessions, which would otherwise 
 run in one continual chain from Cape Coinorin 
 to Cuttach ; we, therefore, by this concession 
 made to the Soubah, left it in the power of a 
 very doubtful friend to obstruct our communica- 
 tion. The Guntoor Circar contains many strong
 
 THE GUNTOOR CIRCAR. 89 
 
 posts and small forts in the hands of Govern- 
 ment, whereas in all the other Circars the forts are 
 in the hands of the Zemindars ; besides which the 
 river Kistna bounds it to the northwards, a river 
 at particular times of the year broad and rapid. 
 
 In the year 1775 the Board of Madras, at that 
 time under the Presidency of Mr. Wynch, were 
 justly alarmed by frequent letters from the Coun- 
 cil of Masulipatam respecting the French force 
 stationed in the Guntoor, which was receiving con- 
 tinual increase, and was, they represented, becom- 
 ing dangerous to the settlement. A reference to 
 the numbers 67-78, in the Appendix to the 
 Second E/eport of the Committee of Secrecy, 
 will show the whole correspondence, and what 
 passed in the year 1775 relative to the French 
 troops and the necessity of obtaining the Guntoor 
 Circar for the Company. 
 
 The Committee of Secrecy observe (Second 
 lleport, page 284) that, " In the whole course 
 of this correspondence, it appears that the 
 Government of Madras, as well as the Governor- 
 General and Council, never lost sight of the 
 Treaty of 1768 ; but, on the contrary, that they 
 made the Nizam the principal party in the 
 negotiation." If, however, we examine the cor- 
 respondence that took place between the two
 
 90 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 presidencies, it will appear that the Governor- 
 General and Council are uniform in stating the 
 forfeiture of Bazalet Jung, and our right, in 
 consequence, to take possession of the Circar. 
 
 In June, 1775, in consequence of the advices 
 they had received, the Board of Madras first 
 took the matter into consideration, and they 
 agree (vide 68, Appendix, Second lleport) "to 
 endeavour at obtaining from Bazalet Jung 
 Mootapillee and the other villages, or, if practi- 
 cable, the whole Circar, at a certain reserved 
 rent to him, which shall be mutually agreed 
 upon for that purpose." And they agree to 
 write to the Governor- General and Council, 
 fully stating every circumstance. In this letter 
 they particularly say, " That the only mode 
 which occurs to us for obviating the damage to 
 be apprehended, is to prevail upon Bazalet Jung, 
 if possible, to give up the port of Mootapillee for 
 an adequate acknowledgment ; or, if practicable, 
 the whole Circar upon the same terms ; or that 
 he will admit of its being protected for him by 
 the Company, he being at the expense of the 
 force employed on that service. "We much 
 doubt that he will be brought to consent to 
 either of the above propositions ; but the 
 consequences to be feared, should he continue as
 
 LETTER FROM MR. HASTINGS. 91 
 
 heretofore to increase his force, and hy such 
 means give the French a permanent footing in 
 the Circar, are too evident to he pointed out." 
 On the 5th of July, the Governor-General and 
 Council wrote an answer to the Madras Presi- 
 dent, in which they recommend the most 
 spirited measures to he taken, and that the 
 Nizam was to he considered, let it he ohserved, 
 only in the second instance. 
 
 " PORT WILLIAM, July Wi, 1775. 
 " AFTER weighing maturely the subject of the 
 advices, we have come to the resolution that no 
 time is to he lost in endeavouring to remove the 
 French from the Guntoor Circar. It is manifest 
 to us that the numher of foreigners entertained 
 there by Bazalet Jung, and the considerable 
 supply of troops, cannon, and ammunition, lately 
 sent there, are in consequence of a concerted 
 scheme with the French to secure to them the 
 possession of that province, and to put them in 
 a condition to attack our possessions in those 
 parts with advantage on the first favourable op- 
 portunity. At all events, we deem it highly 
 impolitic to leave the French in possession of 
 the port of Mootapillee, which affords them so 
 free and easy a communication with those coun-
 
 92 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 try powers who may be supposed to entertain 
 the greatest jealousy of the growing influence of 
 the British nation. We mean Nizam al Mulck, 
 Hyder Ali, and the Mahrattas. 
 
 " For these reasons, and seeing that we have 
 the sanction of a reversionary right for interfer- 
 ing to secure the independency of that district ; 
 we authorise you immediately to take such steps 
 as may be necessary for that effect, and recom- 
 mend that you form a body of troops, if possible 
 in conjunction with the Nabob of Arcot, and 
 march them immediately to the frontiers of the 
 territory of Bazalet Jung. You will then ac- 
 quaint him that, seeing he has applied for the 
 assistance of foreign troops, those of the Com- 
 pany are come to him for that purpose, as well 
 as to secure the reversion of that Circar to their:; 
 that you insist upon the immediate discharge of 
 all foreigners from his service ; in failure of 
 which, you will signify to him that your troops 
 will take possession of his country, and that you 
 will endeavour by a negociation with the Nizam, 
 either by the offer of the whole revenues or 
 otherwise, to obtain the immediate cession of it 
 to the Company. This is the measure which 
 suggests itself to us at present as the most ex- 
 pedient in this affair. AVe do not mean ex-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE NIZAM. 93 
 
 pressly to direct it, but only to give our sanction 
 to your undertaking it, supposing you should 
 think it advisable, c onsidering the general pos- 
 ture of affairs in the Carnatic. 
 
 " W. HASTINGS, 
 R. BARWELL, 
 J. CLAVERING, 
 P. FRANCIS, 
 G. MONSON."* 
 
 Unfortunately, the recommendation of the 
 Council of Bengal was not immediately followed. 
 Time was suffered to pass away in consultations 
 with the Nabob of Arcot and unnecessary 
 debate. From the 4th of April, 1775, when the 
 subject first engaged the attention of the Presi- 
 dency, no reference had been made to the Ni- 
 zam. The Board had considered themselves at 
 liberty to treat directly with Bazalet Jung, in 
 the way of amicable negociation. On the 14th 
 of August, General Smith was desired to make a 
 return of the forces in hand ; and stated it equal 
 to the object, in case Bazalet Jung should not 
 accept the terms. Yet they hesitated to carry 
 into execution these hostile measures. Some of 
 the Board are of opinion that the Nizam should 
 
 * Second Raport, Appendix, 71.
 
 94 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 be applied to in the first instance, and his influ- 
 ence with his brother (Bazalet Jung) desired, to 
 induce him to dismiss the French troops. They 
 consider, moreover, that an application to Bazalet 
 Jung would be ineffectual to secure their object, 
 as it might lead him to seek the further aid of 
 mercenaries to resist their demand. 
 
 On the 13th of September it was resolved to 
 address the Nizam, and a letter was accordingly 
 written to him by the President, in which com- 
 plaint was made of the conduct of Bazalet Jung, 
 as an infraction of the treaty of 1768. The letter 
 concluded by saying, " When your highness 
 shall have considered the reversionary right 
 which the English have to the Murlayanagur 
 (or Guntoor) Circar, and that they might, con- 
 formably to the terms of the Treaty, take posses- 
 sion of that right, you will acquiesce in my 
 insisting upon Bazalet Jung agreeing to one or 
 other of these two propositions : First, to let to 
 the English the whole of the Circar at an annual 
 rent ; or, secondly, to dismiss the Europeans 
 from your service, and trust to the Company for 
 the protection of the country." * 
 
 On the 13th of September, the Presidency of 
 Madras also acquaint the Governor-General and 
 
 * Minutes of Evidence, p. 344.
 
 MOTION OF SIR ROBERT FLETCHER. 95 
 
 Council of Bengal with, their having written to 
 the Nizam, with a full statement of their rea- 
 sons for having done so.* The Governor- General 
 and Council made reply as follows : 
 
 "As we observe you have addressed Nizam 
 Ali Cawn in the terms we had suggested for 
 removing the Europeans out of the Guntoor 
 Circar, and securing the reversion of that district 
 to the Company, we shall wait to hear the result 
 of that letter before we send you any further 
 instructions on this head." f 
 
 During a long interval that intervened before 
 the arrival of the Nizam's answer to the appli- 
 cation of the Board, the subject was again 
 brought forward by a motion of Sir Robert 
 Fletcher, then Cornmander-in- Chief, to this 
 effect : 
 
 "That the letter last received from the 
 Governor- General and Council of Bengal, under 
 date of October 23rd, ought not to have pre- 
 vented our adopting immediately the measure 
 recommended in their letter of the 5th of July, 
 because it appears to me nothing more than an 
 unavoidable acquiescence in the letter this Board 
 had written to the Soubah, (i. e., the Nizam,) 
 without containing anything that can be con- 
 
 * Second Report, Appendix, No. 74. f Ibid., No. 75.
 
 9G CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 strued as an approbation of this Board having 
 declined to follow the idea recommended by the 
 Governor- General and Council. Bazalet Jung's 
 present preparations for war, and his correspond- 
 ence with the French, give me apprehensions that 
 every delay may add to the evil. I consider the 
 Nizam in his heart as wishing his brother's 
 removal from the Circar ; but we should not have 
 put the question to him 
 
 " Frequent information has been received of 
 the prejudice we have sustained from the encou- 
 ragement given by Bazalet Jung to the desertion 
 of our Europeans." * 
 
 Other members of the Board take a similar 
 view : 
 
 " "We should have sent an immediate force. 
 Bazalet Jung has broken his Treaty. Mootapillce 
 is of essential advantage to us. "We must resume 
 
 it upon the law of self-defence Let us 
 
 adopt the recommendation of Bengal, take the 
 country first, and make it up to Bazalet after- 
 wards with a rent or pecuniary equivalent." f 
 
 This motion was negatived, as is observed in 
 the lleport of the Committee of Secrecy, but the 
 
 * Minutes of Evidence, p. 353. 
 
 f Messrs. Johnson, Mackay, Jourdan, and Brook. Second 
 Report, Appendix, No. 75.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE NIZAM. 97 
 
 reason is not there assigned; namely, "that, 
 having written again to Bengal, it was deemed 
 expedient to wait the Governor- General and 
 Council's reply." But on the same day a second 
 motion was made for immediate action, when, 
 the Council " finding it difficult to frame a letter 
 agreeably to the different opinions which had 
 appeared in that day's debates, it was agreed 
 that a copy of their proceedings be transmitted 
 to the Governor-General and Council for their 
 opinion." 
 
 On the 20th of November, 1775, arrived the 
 first answer from the Nizam; evasive, as had 
 been predicted by Sir Robert Fletcher. Of 
 Mootapillee, not a word ; but he has desired his 
 brother to send away the troops, and he will 
 impound the revenue of the villages allotted for 
 their pay. He tacitly admits that what the 
 letter of Madras had imputed to him, and he 
 now offers to redress, was a violation of treaty ; 
 for he says, " Our treaty shall be kept to a hair's 
 breadth." 
 
 The Board of Madras transmit this letter, 
 which they represent as indirect and evasive, to 
 the Governor- General and Council, and wait 
 their reply. On the 2nd of January, 1776, Lord 
 Pigot having arrived, and taken charge of the 
 
 H
 
 98 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 government of Madras, an answer was received 
 from the Governor-General and Council, and was 
 read at the Board. It was very full and con- 
 elusive, and is here given at length. 
 
 " FORT WILLIAM, December ~LWi, 1775. 
 
 " As you have resolved to suspend taking any 
 measures for the removal of the foreigners in 
 Bazalet Jung's service until you receive further 
 instructions from us, we take the earliest oppor- 
 tunity of conveying to you our sentiments, to 
 enable you to proceed without loss of time in 
 this necessary business. In our letter of the 
 5th of July last, we left it open to you to take 
 possession of the Guntoor Circar, unless Bazalet 
 Jung should immediately consent to dismiss all 
 the foreigners in his service. Without positively 
 directing the measure, we authorized you to 
 carry it into execution, if you should think it 
 advisable, considering the general posture of 
 affairs in the Carnatic. 
 
 " By the answer of the Nabob Nizam Ali Cawn 
 to the letter which your President wrote to him 
 on that occasion, we perceive he engages that his 
 brother shall remove his foreign troops from the 
 sea-coast to Adoni, and to stop the revenues of 
 the villages allotted for their pay. If this en-
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FROM CALCUTTA. 99 
 
 gagement be fulfilled, and if we are put in pos- 
 session of Mootapillee, the object of our first 
 instructions will be obtained ; if not, we still 
 continue to allow you tbe same latitude to take 
 possession of the Circar, which we gave you in 
 our letter of the 5th of July. In the first case, 
 we think it proper to assign the revenues of 
 Mootapillee to Bazalet Jung, after defraying the 
 extraordinary expenses which may be incurred 
 by that service ; and, in the second case, to grant 
 the revenues of the Circar to the Soubah, [that 
 is, the Nizam, or Nabob, Ali Cawn, now written 
 Ali Khan,] with the like reserve for defraying 
 the expenses : but in either, our yielding up the 
 revenues is founded on the supposition that 
 Bazalet Jung, or Nizam Ali Cawn, respectively, 
 do not oppose you in these operations." * 
 
 In the disturbed state of the Presidency of 
 Madras that followed the arrival of Lord 
 the matter was suffered to rest here. 
 
 * Second Report, Appendix, No. 78. 
 
 H 2
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE GUNTOOR CIRCAR, BAZALET JUNG, AND THE NIZAM. 
 PROCEEDINGS AFTER THE ARRIVAL OF MR. (SIR THOMAS) 
 RUMBOLD AT MADRAS, IN 1778. 
 
 ON the arrival of Mr. (not yet Sir Thomas) 
 Rumbold in Madras, on the 8th of February, 
 1778, not one step had been taken in this im- 
 portant affair. The Nizam had paid no regard 
 to his promises : although he had engaged (as 
 is observed by the Committee of Secrecy, Second 
 Report, p. 23) that his brother (Bazalet Jung) 
 should remove the French troops, and stop 
 the revenues of the villages allotted for their 
 pay, the engagement was not fulfilled. The 
 possession of Mootapillee, the first object of the 
 Governor-General and Council's instructions, 
 was not obtained ; consequently the same lati- 
 tude from the Governor-General and Council to 
 take possession of the Circar still remained ; and 
 the giving any part of the revenues, either to 
 the Nizam or Bazalet Jung, was to depend on 
 " neither of them, respectively, opposing our 
 operations." 
 
 From the time of the arrival of Lord Pigot,
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 101 
 
 the Government of Madras, almost wholly 
 engaged in attending to the contentions of the 
 Nabob of Arcot and the Rajah of Tanjore, had 
 ceased to regard the growing influence of the 
 French to the northwards. It cannot but ap- 
 pear extraordinary that the Governor- General 
 and Council, who saw the affair in so serious a 
 light, whose duty it was to watch over the power 
 of our national enemies, and to preserve the 
 peace of India, should have suffered above two 
 years to elapse without inquiring what had been 
 done with respect to the instructions they had 
 sent. But the ruinous scheme of subjecting the 
 Mahratta State to their views, and the conten- 
 tions of their own Board, in consequence of the 
 many expedients resorted to, distracted their 
 attention from dangers, which, although at some 
 distance, were always to be apprehended. 
 
 If the removal of the French force in the 
 employ of Bazalet Jung, and the attainment of 
 the Guntoor Circar, had been thought objects of 
 so great importance by the Presidencies of Bengal 
 and Madras, in time of profound peace, of how 
 much more importance must the affair have 
 appeared to Mr. Rumbold, with advice of a 
 certain war, and under all the circumstances of 
 the case !
 
 102 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Hyder All was known to be in alliance with 
 the Erench, and the Sonbah Nizam Ali was 
 more in their interest than ours. Hyder had 
 taken advantage of our troubles with the Mah- 
 rattas to stretch his conquests to the northward, 
 and wanted only the Guntoor to open to the 
 French the prospect of becoming formidable in 
 that part of India, where their influence before 
 the peace was very great, and where they still 
 had many attached to them. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 10th of July, 1778, the 
 President entered a Minute on the subject 
 in the Military Department. So far was Mr. 
 Rumbold from entirely setting aside or passing 
 by the Nizam, notwithstanding that he had 
 failed in every engagement, and that the 
 Governor-General and Council's letter of the 
 llth of December, 1775, would have authorized 
 the Presidency, in consequence of that failure, to 
 have possessed themselves immediately of the 
 Guntoor Circar, that he particularly recom- 
 mended that, in the first instance, a letter should 
 be written to him on the subject. 
 
 The Committee of Secrecy, indeed, observe at 
 page 24 of their Second Report that, on the 10th 
 of January, 1778, (a month before Mr. Ilum- 
 bold's arrival out in Madras,) " The President
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 103 
 
 and Select Committee expressed their conviction 
 of the evil tendency of the influence of the 
 French with Ba.zalet Jung." This, however, is 
 a mistake, as there was then no Select Com- 
 mittee. It was, as has heen said, on the 
 10th of July, 1778, that Mr. Rumbold 
 entered a Minute to that effect, fully stating 
 every circumstance that had come to his know- 
 ledge relative to the French troops, and the 
 necessity of putting an immediate check to their 
 growing power. The Board concurred unani- 
 mously in this opinion ; and it was resolved that 
 a letter should be written immediately to the 
 Soubah Nizam Ali Cawn on the subject, which 
 was done accordingly. 
 
 The whole of the Governor's Minute is given 
 in the Appendix, No. 79, in the Second Report 
 of the Committee of Secrecy ; but no notice is 
 taken in the Report of the letter written to the 
 Nizam in consequence * 
 
 It was resolved also that Captain Barclay, the 
 Commander at Ongole, be directed to stop all 
 Europeans going into the Guntoor Circar, and 
 send them to the Presidency. 
 
 The Nizam never answered this letter. 
 
 * This letter to the Nizam is in the Minutes of Evidence, 
 p. 365.
 
 104 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The siege of Pondicherry took place soon after 
 it was written ; and he waited to see the 
 event. 
 
 In less than a week after this resolution had 
 been taken hy the President and Board of 
 Madras, orders arrived from England for form- 
 ing a Select Committee, with extensive powers 
 for transacting all political affairs on the coast 
 of Coromandel, and for commencing hostilities 
 against the French ; and, if the Select Com- 
 mittee found, upon a review of the naval and 
 military force on the coast, that they were 
 equal to the attempt, they were to begin with 
 the reduction of Pondicherry. Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold states, that Sir Eyre Coote, being 
 called upon before he left England, gave it as 
 his opinion that the force upon the coast would 
 not be sufficient for the purpose. 
 
 Upon receipt of the Company's orders, mea- 
 sures were taken to accomplish an object of so 
 great importance. Troops were called from 
 every part to form a sufficient army ; and now 
 the mistaken policy of suffering the French 
 troops in the Guntoor Circar to remain 
 and strengthen themselves, as they had done, 
 was very manifest. Instead of following the 
 spirited and proper directions of the Governor-
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 105 
 
 General and Council, the Government of Madras 
 had contented themselves with trifling debates 
 and unnecessary letters, to which they received 
 trifling answers and professions meaning nothing. 
 Without calling the chief part of the forces from 
 the Circars, we had not sufficient to attempt the 
 siege of Pondicherry; and, consequently, our 
 northern possessions were subjected to some risk, 
 especially from the French troops under Mons. 
 Lally, who were ready to take any advantage of 
 our defenceless situation in those parts. 
 
 They were now evidently supported by the 
 Government of Pondicherry; and Mons. de 
 Bellecombe furnished all the officers under 
 Mons. Lally with commissions from the French 
 king. It was thought necessary to form a de- 
 tachment of all the remaining troops at the dis- 
 posal of the Company that could be spared from 
 the different garrisons to the northward, leaving 
 in them a scanty number of raw recruits, scarcely 
 enough, indeed, for the common duty. The 
 command was given to Major Mathews, an ap- 
 proved officer, and he was ordered to watch the 
 motions of Mons. Lally' s party, and to prevent 
 his making any irruption into our northern ter- 
 ritories. Notwithstanding this detachment, Mr. 
 I&mbold was not free from apprehensions of
 
 106 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Mons. Lally's party * proving too strong for 
 the force at his disposal, and requested of the 
 Governor- General a reinforcement, to insure the 
 safety of our northern possessions. 
 
 It was Sir Thomas Rumbold's impression and 
 belief, to the best of his recollection, that the 
 Select Committee of Madras wrote to the same 
 effect. Mons. Lally, however, did not think 
 proper to risk his force against the detachment 
 under Major Mathews. Pondi cherry fell before 
 the Company's troops ; and after the surrender 
 of Pondicherry, the French factory at Make, and 
 tke French force to the northward, formed the 
 only interest of that nation remaining in India, 
 and both became objects for the attention of the 
 Madras Government. 
 
 Successful measures were taken for the reduc- 
 tion of Mahe ; and the removal of the French 
 from the borders of the Circars, by depriving 
 our national enemies of the prospect of estab- 
 lishing a footing in that quarter, was undoubt- 
 edly a point of greater consequence than even 
 the reduction of Mahe. Having possession of 
 
 * The numbers of the party under Mons. Lally are underrated, 
 as described by Mr. Mill; they consisted of three thousand t\\o 
 hundred and fifty, of which above five hundred were Europeans. 
 Evidences, p. 361.
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 107 
 
 the Guntoor Circar gave a certainty of excluding 
 the French from any communication either with 
 Bazalet Jung, the Soubah, or any of the Rajahs 
 or tributaries to the northward. It was impos- 
 sible to divine that the Bengal Government 
 would persist in the ruinous war with the 
 Mahrattas, at the hazard of our own security in 
 every part, and under such circumstances of 
 hostility with the different powers of Europe as 
 rendered it probable the French would endeavour 
 to recover their footing in India. 
 
 After the surrender of Pondicherry, Bazalet 
 Jung sent a Vakeel to Madras, and, of his own 
 accord, proposed the delivering up of the Circar, 
 and dismissing the French troops from his serv- 
 ice. This was a point the two Presidencies had 
 been long labouring to obtain ; and nothing but 
 insanity could have led the Presidency of Madras 
 to decline the offer. Mr. Humbold acquainted 
 the Board, on the 30th of November, with the 
 proposal made by Bazalet Jung, (vide No. 80, 
 Appendix, Second Report,) and at the same 
 time gave his sentiments on such articles as he 
 judged might form the foundation of an agree- 
 ment to be made with him. These articles were 
 transmitted to Bazalet Jung, the 22nd of De- 
 cember, for his consideration. A letter was
 
 108 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 agreed at the same time to be written to the 
 Governor- General and Council, advising them 
 of Bazalct Jung's proposal for a Treaty with the 
 Company, and of the answer we had sent to 
 him, and desiring their opinion on the subject. 
 
 The part of the letter relative to the Treaty 
 with Bazalet Jung was as follows : 
 
 Extract of a letter from the Madras Presi- 
 dency to the Governor-General and Council, 
 dated December 31st, 1778. 
 
 " ON referring to our records we observe that 
 in the year 1775 several letters were written to 
 you from this Presidency on the subject of the 
 French troops in the service of Bazalet Jung, 
 stationed in the Guntoor Circar, and supplied 
 with warlike stores through the port of Moota- 
 pillee. It appears, however, that this business 
 was not prosecuted by this Government further 
 than by a correspondence with Nizam Ali Cawn, 
 which ended in nothing. As we are thoroughly 
 convinced of the necessity of removing these 
 troops from the service of Bazalet Jung, we have 
 lately taken up the subject again, and having 
 received certain proposals from him relative to 
 the Guntoor Circar, we returned such an answer 
 to them as we thought necessary for the occa-
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 109 
 
 sion. We now enclose copies of those papers 
 for your information. By letters from your 
 Presidency, dated July 5th, and December llth, 
 1775, we find ample authority from you to the 
 former Government to proceed in effecting the 
 dismission of the French troops hy Treaty, or in 
 any other manner they might think proper. As 
 so much time has elapsed since, we have thought 
 it necessary to apply to you again on the sub- 
 ject, and request you will be pleased to favour 
 us with your sentiments upon the articles we 
 have proposed to Bazalet Jung, and your sanc- 
 tion, if you approve them, to enter into a Treaty 
 or agreement with him. 
 
 " THOMAS HUMBOLD, 
 EYRE COOTE, 
 HECTOR MUNRO, 
 J. WHITEHILL, 
 C. SMITH."* 
 
 The Nizam had taken no notice of Mr. 
 Rumbold's letter to him of the 10th of July ; 
 but after the reduction of Pondicherry, he was 
 written to again to acquaint him with that 
 event, and to express the President's surprise 
 that he had not answered his former letter. 
 
 * Appendix, Second Report, No. 81, 82 ; Evidences, p. 369.
 
 110 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 This produced a reply, which, however, was not 
 received until the 4th of February, 1779 ; and 
 this letter was still more evasive than those 
 preceding.* 
 
 " I persuade myself," says Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold, " I have now fully shown that it was 
 not possible to effect the removal of the French 
 through the means of the Nizam, who was him- 
 self a favourer of them, and that nothing was 
 hastily or wantonly undertaken by the Presi- 
 dency of Madras; but that they acted on the 
 most mature consideration, with the view 
 entirely to remove the influence of the French 
 from Hindostan." 
 
 The Governor-General and Council's answer 
 to Mr. Rumbold's letter of the 31st of Decem- 
 ber, is dated the 25th of January. They per- 
 fectly understood at that time the full extent 
 of President R/umbold's letter to them. They 
 make no mention themselves of the Nizam. 
 Bazalet Jung alone is the person to be treated 
 with. They comment particularly on each 
 article separately. Some they correct. The 
 letter is as follows : 
 
 " In regard to the alliance proposed to be 
 formed with Bazalet Jung, we highly approve of 
 
 * See Minutes of Evidence, pp. 366, 365.
 
 PKOCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. Ill 
 
 the measures in general, and leave it to you to 
 negotiate and finally conclude a Treaty with 
 him. That you may be acquainted with our 
 sentiments, as far as the materials supplied by 
 you will enable us to form them,* we shall make 
 such remarks upon the different articles which 
 you have proposed to Bazalet Jung as occur to 
 us on the perusal of them. 
 
 " Firstly. Quota of troops of every denomina- 
 tion to be maintained by the Company for the 
 service of the chief, should be mentioned. And 
 these are recommended to be restricted as much 
 as possible to natives, that your European force 
 may not be weakened by this alliance. 
 
 " Secondly. The subsidy for them should be 
 fixed at the utmost expense that will probably 
 be incurred, and the surplus or deficiency ought 
 to be on the part of the Company. 
 
 " Thirdly. That the troops should be confined 
 
 * Of these cautious expressions the Governor- General after- 
 wards availed himself when he denied his participation in this 
 transaction ; but was there any deficiency of information ? It has 
 been shown that the Board had in 1775 forced every circumstance 
 upon his attention, and all their difficulties with regard to the 
 Nizam, and he had cut the knot and repeated the recommendation 
 before given. By a reference to dates.it will appear that Mr. 
 Hastings's measures had already brought him into difficulty with 
 the Nizam ; did he so early provide for future contingencies ?
 
 112 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 to the defence of Bazalet Jung's country is 
 proper. 
 
 " Fourthly, &c., &c., &c. proper, proper, 
 &c." * 
 
 It might have been thought incredible that a 
 public body, like the Council of Bengal, liable 
 thus to be detected from their own records, 
 should pretend that when they " gave their 
 assent to this Treaty being concluded with 
 Bazalet Jung, they had no more of the pro- 
 ceedings of the Madras Presidency before them 
 than what was contained in the letter of the 
 31st of December, 1778." Yet this is what 
 actually happened. 
 
 " Before I proceed to state what follows," says 
 Sir Thomas, " I shall beg leave to introduce an 
 extract from the Governor- General and Council's 
 letter, dated October 10th, 1780, when they 
 began to be alarmed for the consequences of 
 their ill-judged Mahratta war, and the distress 
 they had brought upon the Company by ex- 
 hausting their treasure and resources, and 
 dividing their forces, in the most wanton and 
 inconsiderate manner, and which induced them 
 
 * All the articles arc thus revised and approved in detail by 
 the Governor-General and Council. See Appendix, Second Eeport, 
 No. 82.
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 113 
 
 to the mean attempt to deny their own acts, in 
 hopes of deceiving the public, and turning off 
 their attention from the real cause that threat- 
 ened. the loss of Asia to the British Empire." * 
 
 " It is true," says the Governor-General, 
 " that in our reply to your letter of the 31st 
 of December, 1778, wherein you first men- 
 tioned the Treaty with Bazalet Jung, we 
 gave our assent to it generally, which by no 
 means implied that extent of latitude which you 
 have taken, but required to be used with reference 
 to the condition on which it had our original 
 sanction, and which, without any declaration on 
 your part, or any authority expressed on ours, 
 ought always to be understood as the superior, 
 indispensable, and permanent condition, in all 
 negotiations, and in all acts of Government, the 
 faith of Treaties actually existing. 
 
 " The following extract of a letter from this 
 Presidency, dated October 23rd, 1775, is intro- 
 duced here, as proof what our sentiments then 
 were on this subject, and is a part of the corre- 
 spondence quoted by you, as conveying ' ample 
 authority to the then Government to proceed in 
 effecting the dismission of the French troops 
 from the service of Bazalet Jung,' by Treaty, or 
 
 * Sir Thomas Rnmbold's Manuscript Defenra. 
 I
 
 114 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 in any other manner they might think 
 proper : 
 
 " * As we observe you have addressed the 
 Nabob Nizam Ali Cawn through your Presi- 
 dent, in the terms we had suggested, for the 
 removal of the Europeans out of the Guntoor 
 Circar, and for the purpose of obtaining his 
 consent for the reversion of that district to the 
 Company, we shall wait to hear the result of 
 that letter before we send you any further 
 instructions on that head.' ' 
 
 "When, therefore, we gave our assent gene- 
 rally to the terms of the Treaty marked out in 
 your letter of December 31st, 1778, we had no 
 more of your procedings before us than what you 
 had chosen to make known to us in that letter, 
 and those formed, of course, the limits of our 
 approbation. 
 
 " We knew not that you had wholly omitted 
 the Nabob Nizam Ali Cawn in the negotiation ; 
 we could not, therefore, authorise what you had 
 concealed from our knowledge. 
 
 " You have made orders for commencing 
 hostilities, and you have negotiated and con- 
 cluded a Treaty of peace, without the consent and 
 approbation of the Governor-General and Council 
 first obtained. But as soon as we were ac-
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 
 
 quainted with it, and were enabled to give it 
 our attention, we declared our disapprobation of 
 it, and then first interposed our authority, to 
 prevent it from taking effect, by requiring the 
 instant surrender of the Circar of Guntoor." * 
 
 So writes Mr. Hastings towards the close of 
 1780. Nevertheless, the evidence and extracts 
 we have already given prove incontestably that 
 the Governor- General and Council had distinctly 
 authorised the Madras Presidency to take posses- 
 sion of the Guntoor Circar by force, if Bazalet 
 Jung did not comply with the demands made on 
 him. Bazalet Jung had not complied with those 
 demands; and the Government of Madras was 
 empowered, after taking possession of the Circar, 
 to withhold all the revenues of it, both from the 
 Nizam and Bazalet Jung, "if either of them, 
 respectively, gave opposition to the measure." 
 
 Nothing can show more clearly the light in 
 which the Nizam was held by the Governor- 
 General and Council, than the instructions given 
 to Mr. Elliot, when he was sent to treat with the 
 Hajah of Berar, dated July 18th, 1778, wherein 
 it is said : " The Nizam Ali Cawn has always 
 
 * No. 100, Appendix to Second Report of Committee of 
 Soorecy. The date of this Letter is October 23rd, 1780. 
 
 i 2
 
 116 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 been connected with the French, and is now in 
 close union with the Ministers at Poona." 
 And so little attention did the Governor- General ' 
 and Council pay to existing Treaties, that in these 
 instructions to Mr. Elliot, one of the conditions 
 by which was to be purchased the friendship of 
 the Rajah of Berar, was the recovery of the 
 conquests which had been made from his country 
 by the Soubah Nizam Ali. " Eor the whole of 
 this proceeding," says Sir Thomas Runibold, " I 
 refer to the Bengal Records, now in the India 
 House." 
 
 Mr. Hollond, when deputed to the Nizam 
 from the Madras Presidency, was particularly 
 directed to state fully to him what had passed 
 relative to the Guntoor Circar with his brother, 
 and to endeavour to obtain his good offices for 
 the completion of the arrangements proposed 
 with respect to it. This Mr. Hollond neglected 
 to do. 
 
 By these instructions Mr. Hollond had an 
 explicit authority and direction to communicate 
 the Treaty to the Nizam, and to procure his 
 concurrence.! 
 
 * Sixth Report, Appendix, No. 70. 
 
 f Instructions to Mr. Hollond, (Appendix, No. 85,) and also a 
 letter from the President to the Nizam, in which he refers him to Mr.
 
 PllOCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 117 
 
 It is said in the Second Report, page 24, that 
 " on the 22nd of April, much about the time of 
 concluding the Treaty with Bazalet Jung, in- 
 structions were given to Mr. Hollond," &c., &c. 
 
 Here is a double misrepresentation. The 
 Treaty was not signed until on or after the 12th 
 of May, 1779. (See Appendix, No. 95 ; also No. 
 105.) Mr. Hollond had left Madras in February 
 or March ; his instructions were completed the 
 25th of February . As to Mr. Hollond' s vague 
 assertion, " that he was informed that it would 
 be useless for him to mention the agreement with 
 Bazalet Jung," (which forms an allegation in the 
 Report,) not saying by 1 whom he was told, or 
 where, Mr. Hollond was never so told by the 
 President or the Committee, and his statement is 
 in absolute contradiction to his instructions.* 
 
 Hollond for full explanation respecting the Guntoor. Evidences, 
 p. 373. 
 
 In a letter from Bazalet Jung to the President, given in the 
 First Report, Appendix, No. 36, he complains, that "the person 
 sent by the Company to His Highness did not endeavour to recon- 
 cile this business to him, which might have set aside all his 
 doubts." For further and fuller explanation as to Mr. Hollond's 
 instructions on this and other points, the reader is referred to the 
 next chapter, p. 130. 
 
 * Appendix, No. 95 ; also No. 100. Also Consultations, 
 Appendix, No. 112.
 
 118 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 It is made a ground of complaint that the Treaty 
 was concluded in April, yet that the Governor- 
 General and Council were not advised of it until 
 December. A letter from the President and 
 Council to the Governor- General, acquainting 
 him with troops being sent to Bazalet Jung, in 
 consequence of the late negotiations, which was 
 substantially a communication of the completion 
 of the Treaty, (this letter is dated April 23rd, 
 1779,) concludes with desiring the Governor- 
 General and Council to favour the Presidency 
 with their sentiments and determination upon 
 the matter contained in it as soon as possible. 
 Yet to this no answer was ever sent.* 
 
 The seventh charge of the Bill, that offence 
 was given to Hyder by the march of the troops 
 over part of his dominions, may here be noticed, 
 but need not detain us long. It is sufficient to 
 say that the pass through which the troops were 
 to go was an open pass, previously to the recent 
 possession obtained by Hyder; but yet the 
 passage through his country had been anxiously 
 guarded against, and was only resorted to as a 
 matter of absolute necessity ; t that there was 
 
 * Evidences, p. 385. 
 
 f " Every subaltern in the army mi-flit have known " (the 
 Directors say) "that by crossing the Kistna twice, Hyder's terri-
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 119 
 
 no expectation of opposition from him ; * and 
 furthermore, that, to avoid all cause of offence, 
 Colonel Harpur was directed, before his march, 
 to give notice to Hyder's managers of the dis- 
 trict, and acquaint them with his objects and 
 destination. The last order to Colonel Harpur, 
 directing him to proceed, unless he should meet 
 with great or insurmountable obstacles, was 
 countermanded . 
 
 In Sir Thomas Rumbold's defence, as given 
 substantially from his own manuscript in the 
 last chapter, he does little more than point to 
 the different articles of the evidence that had 
 passed through the hands of the Committee of 
 
 tories might have been avoided." But Bazalet Jung, in a letter to 
 Colonel Harpur, says, (Evidences, p. 392, dated June 26th, 1779,) 
 " I have received your arzee, in which you informed me that you 
 had received a letter from the Governor, ordering you not to 
 march by any road through Hyder Ali's country, or that of the 
 Nabob Nizam ud Dowlah, but to march by any other road, if 
 there is any. The rivers are swelled. It is proper you march by 
 the Gaut of Atcoor ; you would otherwise be obliged to cross two 
 or three rivers. The road of Atcoor is now clear and free, as I 
 wrote to you, since Hyder's people have left it. But as the 
 Governor has wrote in this manner to you, I have made inquiries for 
 another road. The head Hircarrahs of the Circar have been sent 
 to conduct you," &c., &c. 
 * Appendix, No. 36.
 
 120 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Secrecy. With this complete chain of evidence 
 before them, with a knowledge of the corre- 
 spondence between the Board of Madras and 
 Mr. Hastings in 1775, and again in 1779, could 
 that Committee honestly assert that, under the 
 directions of the Governor- General, " the Nizam 
 had been made throughout the principal party 
 in the negotiation ? " 
 
 Let it here be added, and be noted, that the 
 Court of Directors were constantly advised of 
 the measures of the Presidency with regard to 
 Bazalet Jung, as is fully set forth in the 
 Appendix, Second Report. 
 
 When apprized of the conclusion of the Treaty 
 of 1778, the Court of Directors commended the 
 conduct of the Presidency as " very meritori- 
 ous," and "the hints given by the Governor- 
 General as very judicious." 
 
 Nevertheless, one of the Resolutions brought 
 forward in the House of Commons, declared the 
 whole affair to have been " a gross breach of so- 
 lemn Treaties, which stained the national honour, 
 and that Sir Thomas Rumbold was thereby guilty 
 of a high crime and misdemeanour." And to this 
 was added in the allegation of the Bill, that " it 
 was done in a clandestine, treacherous, irregular, 
 and unjustifiable manner;" but, as the framers
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 121 
 
 of the Bill could not quite overlook that it had 
 been sanctioned by the Governor- General, they 
 ascribe to him some mental reservation. " But 
 it doth not appear," the Bill says, " that the said 
 Governor- General intended, by such approbation, 
 to authorize concluding the said Treaty without 
 iirst obtaining the consent of the Nizam." 
 
 In Mr. Hastings' s private correspondence, as 
 given by Mr. Gleig, he writes this version of the 
 story (vol. ii., p. 331) : " The Circar of Morta- 
 zanagur, (or Guntoor,) forcibly taken by the 
 Presidency of Eort St. George, in violation of the 
 Treaty of 1768, has been returned to its pro- 
 prietor, and other means taken to conciliate the 
 Nabob Nizam Ali Cawn, who was upon the point 
 of declaring war against us, and was the original 
 author and instigator of the conspiracy planned 
 for our extirpation." * 
 
 * We may open these pages and find much that is similar. An 
 account, written by Mr. Hastings to Lord Shelburne, is thus pre- 
 faced : " I will avail myself of the credit which I believe I possess 
 with your Lordship for veracity, and of the sure means which you 
 have of detecting me if I part from it, by affirming, without a long 
 train of argument to prove it, that I have never in a single instance 
 
 broken the faith of a Treaty I affirm, also, my Lord, that the 
 
 invasion of the Carnatic was not caused by the Mahratta war, but 
 by the known weakness of the Carnatic; the dissipation of its 
 forces, its poverty caused by private embezzlement, and by a
 
 122 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 How much truth there was in the first of 
 these assertions has been shown; nor is any 
 more credit due to the second, " that the Gun- 
 toor had been returned to its proprietor ; " or, 
 as it is expressed in the Bill, " And whereas, on 
 the 12th of June, 1780, the Government of 
 Bengal wrote a letter to the Select Committee of 
 Fort St. George, notifying their resolution to 
 reinstate Bazalet Jung in the Guntoor Circar, 
 and requiring their immediate compliance ; and 
 Bazalet Jung was accordingly reinstated," 
 &c., &c. 
 
 Bazalet Jung never was reinstated; he was 
 shuffled out of sight. We only hear that he died 
 two years afterwards. 
 
 The Governor-General, no longer so scrupu- 
 lous of Treaties, disregarded the faith pledged to 
 Bazalet Jung, which might, at all events, have 
 demanded some equivalent; and the Guntoor 
 Circar was suffered to remain in the hands of the 
 
 general confederacy formed against all the governments in India, a 
 confederacy which was the avowed act of the Nabob Nizam Ali 
 Cawn, and declared by him to have been prompted by a consideration 
 for hit own security against the menaced hostilities of the Presi- 
 dency of Fort St. George ; that his reliance on the faith and justice 
 of this government had induced him to withdraw his support from 
 this confederacy," &c.
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT MADRAS. 123 
 
 Nizam, even after Lord Macartney had formally 
 desired to address him, and claim the possession 
 of it for the Company. 
 
 With regard to the third assertion of Mr. 
 Hastings, that the Nizam was the author of the 
 confederacy for the extirpation of the British 
 from India, this part of the history is involved 
 in much obscurity. Possihly the truth was 
 better known to Mr. Hastings than to most 
 others, since it appears he had very early know- 
 ledge of the existence of this confederacy.* 
 
 * Letter from the Governor-General to the Directors, Appendix, 
 Sixth Keport, No. 309.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM OF THE DECCAN. 
 
 IT was made a charge against Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, that he solicited, through his ambas- 
 sador, a remission or abatement of the tribute 
 which the Company had bound themselves to 
 pay for the Northern Circars. 
 
 The often repeated story of the tribute to the 
 Nizam of the Deccan may be more fully under- 
 stood by tracing it directly from the Appendix 
 to the Second Report of the Secret Committee, 
 than in following the continuation of the manu- 
 script portion of Sir Thomas Rumbold's " Answer 
 to the Committee ; " or as it appears in the 
 Defence by Mr. Hardinge, which is based 
 upon it. 
 
 Before entering upon this subject, attention 
 should be drawn to the low state of the Madras 
 treasury, and the difficulty experienced by that 
 Presidency in meeting the daily exigencies of the 
 service. This will be found described, in some 
 degree, in the extracts from letters to Bengal, 
 and to the Court of Directors, which are placed 
 at the end of the volume.
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 125 
 
 From the manner in which this subject has 
 been treated, it might be supposed that the 
 demand made for succour from Bengal was from 
 the private resources of that Presidency ; whereas 
 it was a point admitted, that the other Presi- 
 dencies should, at their need, be supplied from 
 the richer treasury of Bengal.* At this time, 
 when war was impending, it had been enjoined 
 that especial assistance should be afforded to 
 Madras by Bengal. 
 
 There is one occasion on which Mr. Mill, in 
 his history, has leaned to the side of justice with 
 regard to the Presidency of Madras. It is where 
 he speaks of the exaggerated representations 
 made by Sir Eyre Coote, on his return to Madras, 
 after the invasion of the Carnatic. 
 
 " Not deficient, either in the virtues which 
 inspire affection or command respect, Sir Eyre 
 Coote, as he was somewhat disposed to enlarge 
 
 * Extract from Letter to Bengal. Evidences, p. 506. 
 
 " London, August 31st, 1778. 
 
 " As hostilities have actually commenced between Great Britain 
 and France, and as we think it probable that our servants on the 
 coast of Cororaandel may stand in need of assistance from you, we 
 direct that you fail not upon their application to send them such 
 assistance in money, or otherwise, as the exigence of the case may 
 require. 
 
 " G. WOMB WELL," &c.
 
 126 CHAPTER X. 
 
 in praise of himself, so was somewhat apt to 
 indulge in complaint of others. In the letter 
 which, after his arrival in the Carnatic, he ad- 
 dressed to the Directors and to the Ministers of 
 the King, he drew a picture, in the darkest 
 colours, not only of the weak and disastrous 
 condition into which the country was brought, 
 hut of the negligence and incapacity, if not the 
 corruption and guilt, of those servants of the 
 Company under whose management such mis- 
 fortunes had arrived. It was, however, much 
 more easy to point out what it was desirable 
 should have been performed, than, with the 
 defective revenue of the Presidency, to have 
 performed it. That Presidency had repeatedly 
 represented, both to the supreme Council and 
 to the Directors, their utter incapacity, through 
 want of money, to make any military exertion ; 
 and by both had been left to struggle with their 
 necessities. It was the poverty of the Carnatic, 
 and the unwillingness of all parties to act as if 
 they believed in that poverty, much more, it is 
 probable, than the negligence or corruption of 
 the government, which produced the danger by 
 which all were now alarmed." 
 
 But Professor Wilson, in his edition of Mr. 
 Mill, has not let this pass. To a cerium extent
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 127 
 
 he has been very candid ; and, from his observa- 
 tion of the evidences in defence of Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, has vindicated him from some of the 
 charges which Mr. Mill has brought forward, 
 fresh from the hands of the Directors ; but had 
 Professor Wilson followed up this course, he 
 would necessarily have inculpated Mr. Hastings, 
 between whom and Sir Thomas Kumbold there 
 must unfortunately be always an antagonism. 
 Prom this point, therefore, Professor Wilson 
 closes his eyes upon the Evidences, and with a 
 disregard of the acknowledged fact, which was 
 also proved and brought forward in one of Mr. 
 Dundas's Resolutions, before the House of Com- 
 mons, by a calculation based upon the last twelve 
 years,* " that the revenues of the Presidency of 
 Port St. George were barely sufficient to support 
 a peace establishment," Professor Wilson makes 
 this comment upon Mr. Mill's statement, (chap, 
 v., p. 143) :- 
 
 " If the poverty of the Madras Presidency was 
 the consequence of mismanagement and corrup- 
 tion, it only aggravated their culpability. The 
 resources of the Carnatic were sufficient, if pro- 
 tected against the prodigality of the Nabob, the 
 rapacity of his European adherents, and the 
 
 * See Parliamentary Records, vol. xxii., p. 1318.
 
 128 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ignorance and venality of the Company's ser- 
 vants, to have maintained the Presidency in a 
 posture respectable, if not formidable, to its 
 neighbours." 
 
 It was at this time of extreme embarrassment, 
 when, as was afterwards described by Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold in the House of Commons,* "the 
 troops having been paid for one month, he knew 
 not from whence the money would be supplied 
 for the month following;" that three applica- 
 tions were made by the Nizam for the discharge 
 of the tribute for the Northern Circar. This 
 tribute had fallen into arrears before Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold entered upon the government, and, 
 with the current tribute, amounted to a sum the 
 Presidency was unable to pay.f 
 
 "While some writers have sufficient acquaint- 
 ance with the earlier part of the history to agree, 
 that " the view taken by the Governor," when he 
 described this tribute as " unjust in its origin, 
 and a sacrifice of the rights of the Company, 
 was supported by reason," yet it is said, " The 
 application of it can only be characterized as 
 dishonest and disgraceful." 
 
 * "The army consisted of thirty thousand men. It required 
 sevenlacs a month to pay them." 
 f See Parli;mirnt;iry Hristrr, vol. xxii., p. 1285.
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 129 
 
 Had these writers explained wherein the con- 
 duct of the Governor was dishonest and dis- 
 graceful, and what method they would have 
 recommended in this case, it would have set 
 their own opinions in a clearer light ; but the 
 best way is now to tell the true story of the facts, 
 with the attendant circumstances : 
 
 The Nizam had demanded the payment, 
 and it has been shown that there were not the 
 means of satisfying his demand. From Bengal, 
 in answer to a statement of this very difficulty, 
 the Government of Madras were told that no 
 assistance could be afforded. Sir Thomas 
 B/umbold knew that his administration was 
 shortly drawing to a close. He might possibly 
 have evaded the payment a little longer, and left it 
 to his successor to battle with the difficulty. But 
 the time seemed favourable to throw off so heavy 
 a burden ; altogether, if possible ; or, at any 
 rate, to make an effort to reduce the amount. 
 The time appeared favourable, because, from bad 
 seasons, and other causes, the revenue of the 
 Circars had fallen so short, that this formed a 
 reasonable plea for urging the remission at this 
 juncture. The time appeared favourable, also, be- 
 cause the Nizam had, by his conduct, infringed 
 the Treaty which assured this tribute to him, and 
 
 K
 
 130 CHAPTER X. 
 
 the Presidency of Madras might have been 
 justified in withholding a payment which, they 
 had grounds for supposing, would furnish an 
 enemy with means to be used eventually against 
 themselves. 
 
 The method pursued was, in fact, what had 
 been drawn out by the original negotiator of the 
 Treaty (General Cailland). 
 
 In a letter, on record,* he stated " this con- 
 cession to the Nizam as purely nominal, calcu- 
 lated more for homage and flattery to his pride, 
 than recompense or payment ; and that he " 
 (General Cailland) " entertained no manner of 
 doubt, that when an opportunity may offer, to 
 make the giving it up an act of his own, he will 
 no longer persist in it." f 
 
 It had been deemed necessary, on several 
 accounts, to depute a person to the court of the 
 Nizam. The person selected for the mission was 
 Mr. Hollond, in whose good faith Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold appears to have placed entire reliance, 
 and also to have entertained a high opinion of 
 his abilities, since much discretionary power was 
 intrusted to him. 
 
 * " Extract of a letter from General Cailland, Fort St. George 
 .Military Department, December 8th, 1766." Evidences, p. 397. 
 f See also Mr. Hardinge's Defence of Sir Thomas Rumbold.
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. u 
 
 Mr. Hollond was instructed to " explain what 
 had taken place with Bazalet Jung, relating to 
 the Guntoor Circar ; " and he was the bearer of 
 a letter from the President to the Nizam, in 
 which he was especially referred to for a full 
 explanation on that point.* He was also to 
 endeavour to obviate any unfavourable impres- 
 sion that might have been caused by the march 
 of a large body of troops from Bengal, across the 
 country, to Surat. The conduct of the Nizam, in 
 having hitherto disregarded the repeated de- 
 mands made to him, to obtain the dismission of 
 the French troops from the service of his brother, 
 was so great an infringement of his engagements, 
 that the Presidency of Madras deemed it a suffi- 
 cient reason to allege for the payment of the 
 tribute having been delayed. Mr. Hollond was 
 desired to give this explanation, and, at the same 
 time, to assure the Nizam, " that, in full confi- 
 dence of every satisfaction being given withregardto 
 the French troops, the money should be duly paid." 
 
 Mr. Hollond was also directed " to convey 
 every necessary information to the Governor- 
 General and Council as well as to them." In a 
 subsequent letter, Mr. Hollond was desired " to 
 endeavour to engage the Soubah to take part in 
 
 * Evidences, p. 374. 
 K 2
 
 132 CHAPTER X. 
 
 defence of his brother, and to promote in him a 
 disposition favourable to their views." Great 
 stress has been laid upon the direction given to 
 Mr. Hollond to make this assurance of payment, 
 on his first arrival at Hydrabad; while "yet 
 the same Board, by subsequent credentials to 
 the same Ambassador, insisted upon the remis- 
 sion of the tribute." 
 
 There is much fallacy in this representation. 
 The Board never did insist upon the remission ; 
 and the conditional assurance of payment was 
 not inconsistent with a request that the creditor 
 would remit the debt. It must be remembered 
 that the assurance was expressly declared to be 
 upon condition " of full satisfaction being given 
 with regard to the troops in Bazalet Jung's ser- 
 vice ; " and that this was immediately followed 
 by a communication from Mr. Hollond, that the 
 French troops had only left their former position, 
 to be received by the Nizam himself. 
 
 "When apprized of this fact, a strong remon- 
 strance was addressed by the Council of Madras 
 to the Nizani. The President wrote to this 
 effect : "I observe what your Highness has said 
 relative -to the French troops lately dismissed 
 from the service of Bazalel .him;. Your High- 
 ness may \\ell .vmrmlxT that repeated apjiliea-
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 133 
 
 tions were made to you to obtain their dismis- 
 sion; but it is certain that point was not effected 
 until we engaged with Bazalet Jung to supply 
 him with a body of our own troops, on the 
 express condition of his discharging every 
 Frenchman in his service. Having taken so 
 much pains to remove the people of that nation, 
 with whom we are at war, from the territories 
 of Bazalet Jung, I cannot help expressing my 
 concern, that these same people should find pro- 
 tection and service from your Highness. Our 
 wish was, that they should have been dispersed, 
 and sent out of the country ; but if your High- 
 ness entertains them, they are very little, if any 
 thing, further removed from us, than they were 
 at Adoni ; and by being kept together in your 
 Highness' s country, they are nearly in the same 
 condition to do us mischief. I beg your High- 
 ness will understand me. I have the utmost 
 confidence in your attachment to the Company, 
 but I fear it is not in your power to prevent 
 these people corresponding and intriguing with 
 their countrymen, to our prejudice ; and as it is 
 not conformable to the Treaty, that your High- 
 ness, who is in alliance with the Company, 
 should openly encourage and protect their ene- 
 mies, I hope you will cause them to be sent
 
 134 CHAPTER X. 
 
 out of the country, which will be a strong mark 
 that your Highness desires to live on terms of 
 the strictest friendship with the Company." * 
 
 Mr. Hollond was also enjoined to urge, " that 
 as the French were then the avowed enemies of the 
 British nation, they should be directed to proceed 
 to the sea-coast, that we might send them, with 
 others of the same nation, now our prisoners, to 
 their native country." " "We desire you will use 
 your endeavours to effect their removal," says the 
 President to Mr. Hollond, " since we cannot but 
 consider them now in the same point of view 
 nearly as when they were employed in the service 
 of Bazalet Jung." t 
 
 It may be affirmed, that had the negotia- 
 tion not been wrested out of the hands of the 
 Presidency of Madras, and had Mr. Hollond been 
 guided by them, and pursued their instructions 
 
 * Evidences, p. 425. 
 
 f See a letter in Bengal Secret Correspondence. 
 
 Extract from a letter from the Nabob of Arcot. Evidences, 
 p. 432. 
 
 " The conduct of the Nabob Nizam Ali Cawn wears an unfriendly 
 appearance, since he has positively refused to dismiss i,ne French 
 from his services, a nd, on the contrary, has settled a lac of rupees 
 per month for the pay of that body, together with five thousand 
 country infantry attached to them ; and, placing the greatest 
 confidence in them, makes them the advanced body of his army."
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZ1.M. 135 
 
 with fidelity, at the worst, an immediate pay- 
 ment of the tribute would have been justly made 
 the price of Lally's banishment from the Gun- 
 toor : whereas, the result of the interference of 
 Bengal was, that the Nizam, pretending to guard 
 the enemy's force, connived at their escape into 
 Hyder's quarters, the most fatal event of the war 
 at that early period. 
 
 In every letter, even during the disagreement 
 that followed, Sir Thomas Rumbold did not cease 
 to urge, both to the Governor- General and to 
 Mr. Hollond, the importance of the removal of 
 the French troops, although he ceded all further 
 attempt with regard to the tribute. 
 
 Eor a right understanding of the case, the 
 President's Minute, and the instructions given 
 to Mr. Hollond, should be referred to. 
 
 They state that " the original grant of the tri- 
 bute to the Nizam, in 1766, was a most impro- 
 vident and lavish concession to him.* He had 
 
 * Of the Treaty here described, Colonel Wilks speaks as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 "It is difficult to contemplate, without indignation, the govern- 
 ment of Madras resuming their grovelling position of tributary 
 dependents for the Circars, upon Nizam A.H ; who, on the condi- 
 tion of receiving a further tribute of seven lacs of rupees, graciously 
 ceded his claim to a territory which he neither possessed, nor had 
 the most distant hope of ever possessing ; and Nizam AH re-
 
 136 CHAPTER X. 
 
 paid no value for it. In 1768 he treacherously 
 joined Hyder against us, having engaged us in a 
 war with him on his account. We had lawful 
 possession of the Circars, by virtue of a grant 
 from the Emperor ; a possession free and un- 
 fettered. The Nizam put shackles upon it, and 
 imposed the humiliating terms of this annual 
 tribute, as a return to him for his confirmation 
 of a right, which he had no pretence to dis- 
 pute." * 
 
 It was to this feature of the case alone, 
 that Sir Thomas Rumbold alluded, when he dis- 
 puted the title of the Nizam to the tribute; 
 whereas it is asserted in the Bill, " that he con- 
 troverted that right, as established by two suc- 
 cessive Treaties." 
 
 But the words of Sir Thomas E/umbold, when 
 proposing the subject in his Council, are these : 
 " My ground is, that he (the Nizam) would not 
 have been entitled, in 1768, to the tribute, if due 
 attention had been given to the firmaund which 
 had invested the Company with full possession 
 of the Circars, as an unconditional gift, inde- 
 
 turned to his capital, with abundant cause for self-gratulation, on 
 the address which had relieved his complicated embarrassments." 
 WILKS'S " South of India," chap, xv., p. 56. 
 
 * Instructions to Mr. Hollond. Evidences, p. 115.
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 137 
 
 pendent of the Nizam, or any other con- 
 trol." 
 
 " The same firmaund that gave the Circars to 
 the Company, gave the Carnatic to the Nabob of 
 Arcot, free from all tribute or demands what- 
 ever. In the Treaty with the Nizam of 1768, the 
 Nabob of Arcot received the Carnatic, exactly 
 conformably to the tenor of the firmaund ; but 
 the Company are burthened with an increasing 
 tribute, and one of the Circars is allowed to re- 
 main for life with the Nizam's brother." 
 
 Mr. Hollond was directed to state to the Ni- 
 zam that, " Till within the last two years, the 
 Presidency had been enabled, by means of long 
 uninterrupted peace and tranquillity, to pay His 
 Highness the amount of the tribute regularly ; 
 but since it had been increased from two lacs 
 to five, many circumstances had rendered it too 
 heavy for the Company to bear. Among these, 
 the great expenses of the war with the French, 
 the necessary provision, in consequence, for the 
 security of the Circars, and the failure of the 
 revenues, may be mentioned as the most con- 
 siderable." " If by these, and such other argu- 
 ments as shall occur to you," proceed the instruc- 
 tions, " the Soubah can be brought to a favourable 
 disposition with regard to the tribute, we wish
 
 138 CHAPTER X. 
 
 you to represent to him how great a mark of his 
 friendship it would be considered by the Com- 
 pany; and how ready they would be, on all 
 occasions, to come into the views of his Highness, 
 and to give him proofs of their friendship and 
 attachment." 
 
 " Although our wishes extend," the letter pro- 
 ceeds to say, " to the entire remission of the tri- 
 bute, we confess, without something of import- 
 ance to tempt him, we can hardly expect the 
 Nizam will be brought to so great a concession : 
 but we hope we may obtain that to which we 
 have a just claim, which is a considerable abate- 
 ment in the amount. We would have you try 
 to reduce it to its former standard ; and try to 
 learn if there are any points in which the 
 Soubah wishes a compliance on the part of the 
 Company that may be acceded to, in return for 
 his gimng t up his claim to the peishcush 
 [tribute]. 
 
 " If it should be thought necessary, from the 
 disposition of the Nizam, or by [reason of] cir- 
 cumstances unforeseen by us, you are to vary this 
 representation, and as we cannot natter ourselves 
 that the Nizam will be brought to remit tlio 
 tribute entirely, including the arrears that are 
 due, we would have you make trial of the
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 139 
 
 following propositions, as you may deem expe- 
 dient."* 
 
 Four propositions are then specified, giving 
 different modifications with regard to the re- 
 mission or reduction of the payment, so as at 
 any rate, if possible, to bring it down to the 
 more moderate standard of the first six years. 
 But the letter proceeds to say : " Should the 
 Soubah reject these propositions we have laid 
 down, you must in that event acquaint him, that 
 the Company will pay the balance with the current 
 tribute, as soon as they are in cash." On the 
 subject of the four propositions, and the final pro- 
 mise to pay all, if no "better terms could be made, 
 no discretion was left to Mr. Hollond ; the instruc- 
 tions were absolute, and they were disobeyed. 
 
 Mr. Hollond is said to have left Madras as 
 soon as his instructions were completed, on the 
 25th of Febuary ; but he did not arrive at Hy- 
 drabad until the 6th of May. This was never 
 explained. On the 9th of May, Mr. Hollond 
 wrote to both presidencies.! Besides other 
 things mentioned in his letter to Madras, he 
 represented the Soubah (or Nizam) to be much 
 averse to his remaining with him. To the Go- 
 vernor-General he wrote the same; adding, 
 * Evidences, p. 141. f Appendix, Second Keport, No. 86.
 
 140 CHAPTER X. 
 
 however, " If you should he of opinion that my 
 residing here can he attended with any advan- 
 tage to the Company, some steps that may be 
 conducive towards procuring the Soubah's 
 assent, will, no doubt, suggest themselves to you . 
 The Soubah conducts his business in his own 
 person; and as I am allowed free conference 
 with him, without the intervention of an inter- 
 preter, I can pledge myself for a faithful com- 
 munication of any representations you have to 
 make to him upon the public interests. " 
 
 From this, it appears that some previous 
 understanding had taken place between the 
 Governor- General and Mr. Hollond, and that 
 the latter expected he would have more work 
 upon his hands than that with which he was 
 entrusted by the Governor of Madras. Hence- 
 forth the communications between the Governor- 
 General and Mr. Ilollond were indeed strictly 
 private, of which, it will be seen, that Mr. Hast- 
 ings did not fail to take advantage. 
 
 It is remarkable throughout the whole of 
 this transaction that, while every expression 
 made use of by Sir Thomas Kumbold in 
 confidence to his agent and minister, Mr. 
 Ilollond, and in his Council, * was delivered 
 
 * The words of Sir Thomas Rumbold, which afforded so much
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 141 
 
 up to the Governor-General, and subsequently 
 paraded in the Report of the Secret Committee, 
 and formed into an allegation of the Bill ; not 
 
 advantage to his enemies, were not in the instructions given to 
 Mr. Hollond, who was then at Hydrabad, but were addressed to 
 the Board. On this occasion, he might have said, in measured 
 language, " This must be regarded as a matter of diplomacy. We 
 must court the present favour of the Nizam by stating the claim 
 it will give him to our favour in return. We must give him to 
 understand that he is now offending us by the support given to 
 our enemies ; that we are at present in alliance with him, and in 
 amity, but formidable if provoked to hostilities." This is what 
 was in effect said, but in a- briefer and more familiar manner, as 
 between confidential parties. " We must soothe and work upon 
 his apprehensions, as occasion may require." Neither could the 
 latter phrase be applied otherwise than in relation to the possible 
 persistence of the Nizam in retaining the French troops, since, in 
 reply to the representation made by Mr. Hollond of the Nizam's 
 displeasure, he was desired to explain that the request was urged 
 as " a matter of pure favour ; that there was no intention to infringe 
 his rights, or offer threats." The other expression quoted, "The 
 Nizam, with all his blustering, will much fear a rupture with the 
 English," was in answer and in echo to Mr. Hollond's own sug- 
 gestion, when he described the Nizam's language as " idle menaces, 
 which he should disregard." 
 
 After the affair of the Guntoor and the tribute had been made 
 to serve the purpose of damaging Sir Thomas Rumbold, it all at 
 once assumes a very quiet place in history. The tribute to the 
 Nizam was n".ver paid; the Governor-General being no more 
 able probably to pay it than the President of Madras had found 
 himself.
 
 142 CHAPTER X. 
 
 one syllable of Mr. Hastings' s communications 
 with this same agent was ever given to the 
 public. 
 
 "We hear much of the important services ren- 
 
 Mr. Mill gives an account of Ihe manner in which the restora- 
 tion of the Guntoor to the Company was subsequently effected. 
 Lord Cornwallis had orders to obtain the restitution of it ; but it 
 was supposed the Nizam would not relinquish it. " The resolu- 
 tion being taken," Mr. Mill says, " the execution was skilfully 
 planned. Captain Kennaway, a gentleman whose address was sup- 
 posed well calculated to soften what might appear offensive in his 
 commission, was sent to the Court of the Nizam, instructed to 
 employ conciliatory language, and to show the utmost liberality in 
 regard to every other point respecting which adjustment was 
 required. No intimation was to be given to the Nizam of the 
 proposed demand till after the arrival of Captain Keunaway at his 
 Court. At the same time instructions were sent to the Residents 
 at the several Durbars, of the Peshwa, Sindia, and the Rajah of 
 Berar, to give to these powers a full explanation of the proceedings 
 before intelligence of it could reach them from any other source. 
 The Government of Madras, under specious pretences, conveyed a 
 body of troops to the neighbourhood of the Circar, and held them- 
 selves in readiness to seize the territory before any other power 
 could interpose, either with arms or remonstrance." Mill's His- 
 tory, vol. v., p. 225. 
 
 % If, when this manoeuvre was so skilfully planned by Lord Corn- 
 wallis and his Council, every expression that was made use of on 
 that occasion had been recorded for the benefit of the public, we 
 might have had a chapter as long and quite as pithy as that 
 bestowed upon Sir Thomas Rmnbold.
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 143 
 
 dered by Mr. Hollond on that occasion, but not 
 when the negociation began, or what it was all 
 about ; just as much is told as suited the pur- 
 poses of Mr. Hastings, and that in the manner 
 he pleased. 
 
 The letters written to Madras by Mr, Hol- 
 lond/* giving an account of his mission, are so 
 full of inconsistencies and contradictions, par- 
 ticularly the two last, that they can scarcely fail 
 to give an impression that he was acting a false 
 and double part. Although he describes in 
 strong colours the displeasure with which the 
 proposition relative to the tribute had been 
 received by the Nizam, all Mr. Hollond' s argu- 
 ments addressed to Madras tend to induce the 
 maintenance of it in its fullest extent. Mr. 
 Hollond gives a very particular description of 
 the poverty of the Nizam's military resources, 
 and the general weakness of his government. 
 " There cannot be anything to fear from the 
 
 Soubah's resentment I am, therefore, more 
 
 inclined to keep my first ground, and disregard his 
 menaces. I have always remarked his not carry- 
 ing into execution those which related to my 
 
 dismission from his court In the visit I had 
 
 paid his Highness I had not made known to 
 
 * Appendix, Second Report, Nos. 118-120.
 
 144 CHAPTER X. 
 
 him your first proposition. I thought it better 
 to keep up thip concession,* in order to give a 
 check as much as possible to His Highness's 
 expectations ; neither did I think it necessary to 
 yield after receiving the message above stated, 
 believing it to be an artifice His Highness 
 employed to drive me to make such further pro- 
 positions as I might have to propose. The situa- 
 tion of our affairs with regard to the Mahrattas 
 gives him great alarm. His Highness is appre- 
 hensive that our establishing Ragonaut Row in 
 the possession of the Poona Government is but a 
 
 prelude to our attacking his own possessions 
 
 He has determined, I have been informed, to 
 join heartily with the Poona administration, and, 
 consequently, against us." 
 
 Mr. Hollond represents that " the credit the 
 Soubah derives by receiving tribute from the 
 Company, is by far a greater object with him 
 than the amount of the sum stipulated," and, 
 nevertheless, urges upon the Presidency to make 
 a proposition, still further calculated to irritate 
 the Nizam, and also little suitable to their pre- 
 sent exigencies, namely, that a considerable sum 
 
 * [The meauing seems to be, to kerj> silt-net' njion tin- confu- 
 sion ; or, perhaps, not to yu'ld, not to yo under, as to l/iix concession, 
 tu keep uj).]
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 145 
 
 should be paid down to him, but under a differ- 
 ent denomination. Finally, Mr. Hollond adds, 
 "that, as the Nizam would probably take the 
 line of uniting with the Poona Ministers, and 
 breaking with us, it will be necessary to be very 
 sure of his intentions before paying him any- 
 thing." 
 
 On the 3rd of September following, Mr. Hol- 
 lond enclosed to Bengal the whole correspond- 
 ence that had taken place between him and the 
 President of Madras, accompanied by a few lines 
 of apology for not having sent it before, and 
 which concluded by saying, " The Soubah talks 
 of taking the field as soon as the rains are 
 over." * 
 
 We are told by Mr. Hastings, and his state- 
 ment was adopted by the Committee of Secrecy, 
 and has been repeated ever since, that this was 
 
 * It is a curious anomaly that, while the communication of this 
 correspondence to Bengal by Mr. Hollond was justified on the 
 ground of the instructions, given to Mr. Hollond by the Presidency 
 of Madras, " to communicate with both presidencies," Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold should at the same time have been arraigned for his con- 
 cealment and clandestine conduct with regard to Bengal. Mr. 
 Hastings went farther than this ; he made it a subject of complaint 
 that he was not apprized of Mr. Hollond's appointment. A refu- 
 tation of this may be seen in the letter from Madras to Bengal of 
 the 7th of February, 1779. Second Report, Appendix, No. 121. ^ 
 
 L
 
 146 CHAPTER X. 
 
 the first communication between him and Mr. 
 Hollond since Mr. Hollond's letter of the 9th of 
 May, written when he first arrived at Hydrabad. 
 
 If it could be supposed that, with the import- 
 ant matter which it will appear there was to be 
 discussed with the Nizam, no communication 
 could have taken place between the Governor- 
 General and Mr. Hollond during this interval, 
 the supposition would be contradicted by the 
 fact that Mr. Hollond made mention in a letter 
 to Madras, dated the 31st of August, of some 
 intelligence the Governor- General had written 
 to him ; and also by the reason assigned by the 
 latter for desiring Mr. Hollond to remain at 
 Hydrabad, when recalled by the Presidency of 
 Madras, which was, " that he should remain for 
 the purpose of negotiating some affairs to be 
 adjusted between them." 
 
 But, further, if the delivering up of this cor- 
 respondence (at the very juncture when Mr. Hol- 
 lond, if he had conformed to his instructions, 
 would have ceased to urge the requisition which 
 led to the interference of Mr. Hastings) had not 
 been a concerted plan, it would be difficult on 
 any other supposition to account for Mr. IIol- 
 lond's entire departure from the line of conduct 
 I laid down for him by the Presidency of Madras,
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 147 
 
 with the reason he alleges for having done so, 
 especially when we find Mr. Hollond's reasoning 
 repeated almost in the same words by the 
 Governor-General in his Minute * to the Board, 
 and subsequent letters. The Governor- General 
 and Mr. Hollond agree in this extraordinary 
 assumption, that the request which had been 
 made, and which they are pleased, altogether with- 
 out warrant or reason, to convert into a " positive 
 demand, to be eventually supported by violence," 
 was one which could not be relinquished ; and, 
 therefore, the Governor- General professes to deem 
 it more consistent with the " credit " and " influ- 
 ence" of the Government of Madras, that he 
 should interpose his controlling authority, than 
 that the requisition should be withdrawn, in the 
 manner designedly left open by the instructions 
 given to Mr. Hollond. f 
 
 We are not, however, left under any uncer- 
 tainty with regard to the understanding which 
 had subsisted between the Governor-General and 
 Mr. Hollond. Prom some inadvertence, appa- 
 rently, a paragraph of a letter, written soon after 
 
 * Governor-General's Minutes, October 25th, 1779; Evidences, 
 p. 122; and Letter, p. 125. 
 
 t Appendix, Second Keport, No. 122 ; Governor-General's 
 Minute. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 CHAPTER X. 
 
 by Mr. Hollond, appears in the Appendix to the 
 Second Report of the Committee of Secrecy, No. 
 133, in which he actually reminds Mr. Hastings 
 that he has been unfaithful to his immediate 
 chief, and false to his instructions, and claims 
 Mr. Hastings' s protection on that account. The 
 words stand thus : " As I consider my charac- 
 ter to be in danger of suffering by the measure 
 adopted by the Madras Board, I hope I shall be 
 justified in recommending to your particular 
 attention my having kept up the negotiation in 
 a tone beyond the extent of my orders ; by 
 having adhered rigidly to my first proposition, 
 although I was fully authorised to offer others 
 
 more favourable The approbation of my 
 
 conduct, which you have been pleased to express 
 in your letter of the 30th of November, I shall 
 always consider as a very particular honour." 
 
 For all these services, the Governor- General 
 did not fail to requite Mr. Hollond by eulogies 
 and recommendations on all sides ; "by request- 
 ing his acceptance immediately of a gratuity of 
 ten thousand rupees, with extra allowances," &c.* 
 
 It is not necessary to inquire into all the 
 motives which actuated Mr. Hastings in his 
 dealings with Sir Thomas Rumbold. One is 
 
 * Sixth Report, p. 1055.
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 149 
 
 sufficiently obvious, and is proved by the advan- 
 tage he afterwards drew from it. The displea- 
 sure of the Nizam had been greatly excited by 
 the measures pursued by the Council of Bengal, 
 in supporting that party of the Mahrattas to 
 which the Nizam was strongly opposed. He 
 had complained of it as a breach of the Treaty 
 subsisting between the Company and him, and 
 declared that his engagements would oblige him 
 
 O O O 
 
 to take a hostile part against them.* " It 
 seems," he had written to the Governor- General, 
 " that you are not acquainted with the Treaty 
 which the Governor of Madras had contracted 
 with me. The Treaty to which I allude declares 
 that my enemies are the Company's, and the 
 Company's enemies mine; that the Company 
 shall not protect the enemies of my Government, 
 and in like manner I shall not protect the 
 enemies of theirs." To Madras he had written, 
 " It seems that the Nizam of Bengal [the Go- 
 vernor*General] is unacquainted with the Treaty, 
 as I have received repeated advices that the 
 design of establishing Ragonaut How, the in- 
 veterate enemy of my government, is again taken 
 
 up, and that he is levying armies, &c 
 
 " As I am inviolable in my engagements, and 
 
 * Evidences, p. 431.
 
 150 CHAPTER X. 
 
 am bound by a firm Treaty to Pundit Purdhanp, 
 it becomes my firm duty to give him my assist- 
 ance. It was necessary to intimate these parti- 
 culars to you ; and I have accordingly done so.'" 
 
 But the Nizam had still more serious cause of 
 displeasure. He was, at the time that Mr. 
 Hollond was at Hydrabad, acquainted with the 
 fact before mentioned. By means of a letter 
 addressed to Mr. Elliot from the Governor- 
 General, which was intercepted at Bundercund,t 
 it was discovered that the Council of Bengal had 
 sought the alliance of the Rajah of Berar, on 
 the condition of aiding him to recover the terri- 
 tories obtained by conquest from him by the 
 Nizam. The knowledge of these circumstances 
 might, naturally, have led Mr. Hastings to desire 
 that no additional cause of complaint should be 
 given to the Nizam, at this juncture, by the 
 Presidency of Madras. By a fair representation 
 to that Presidency, and by affording some relief 
 to their present embarrassments, all would, pro- 
 bably, have been adjusted. But Mr. Hastings 
 took another line : he saw all the advantages 
 the situation offered to himself; he knew (these 
 are his own words afterwards addressed by him 
 to Sir Thomas Rumbold) that, "in case of a 
 
 * Evidences, p. 431. f Sixth Report, Appendix, No. 154.
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 151 
 
 supposed breach, of treaty, the world seldom 
 listens to a long tale ; " * and he not only- 
 availed himself of the opportunity to conciliate 
 the Nizam, by the surrender of both the objects 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold had endeavoured to ob- 
 tain, but he also succeeded in making him the 
 ostensible cause of the Nizam's displeasure, and 
 thus averted from himself the reproach of all 
 the mischief that had already been the conse- 
 quence, and might still further ensue, from the 
 measures he was at this time pursuing. How 
 far, in addition to his disobedience to the in- 
 structions given him, Mr. Hollond, by his 
 dealings with the Nizam, drew from him those 
 expressions of resentment which so well served 
 the purpose of the Governor- General, or whe- 
 ther these were genuine, there are not means of 
 ascertaining ; but one feature in all this dupli- 
 city is sufficiently attested. In the Sixth Report 
 of the Committee of Secrecy, and in the Ap- 
 pendix to the Second Report, No. 139, in the 
 " Minute of Mr. Johnson," on the subject of 
 recalling Mr. Hollond, it is said that Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold made mention of " some things having 
 come to his knowledge with regard to Mr. 
 Hollond's conduct at Hydrabad," which are not 
 
 * Mr. Hastings's Letter to Madras. Evidences, p. 131.
 
 152 CHAPTER X. 
 
 further explained. Mr. Hardinge, in his " De- 
 fence of Sir Thomas Rumbold before the House 
 of Commons," when speaking on this part of 
 the subject, notices this affair in these terms : 
 " We have upon the records of this period a 
 letter to Bengal, written by the Nizam, and 
 altered by Mr. Hollond." This fact is explained 
 in the Briefs given by Sir Thomas Rumbold to 
 his Counsel, which Briefs still exist ; and are now 
 deposited, with the other documents belonging to 
 the case of Sir Thomas Rumbold, in the British 
 Museum ; and which state that he had in his pos- 
 session copies made by Mr. Halliburton, (who was 
 sworn Persian translator,) and attested by him 
 as translations of the letters originally written to 
 the Governor- General, and to the Governor of 
 Madras ; and also, as they were altered, and 
 then sent to their destination, Mr. Hollond 
 having taken out two or three passages from 
 each, and inserted others. Mr. Halliburton 
 also sent to Sir Thomas Rumbold a copy, trans- 
 lated by himself, of a letter from the Nizain to 
 Fazet Beg, his Minister, to whom he sent the 
 whole correspondence with Madras and Bengal, 
 telling him, at the same time, that " from these 
 letters Mr. Hollond had taken out two or three 
 paragraphs, and written what he thought would
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 153 
 
 be more proper ; and, in that manner, they had 
 been despatched." I think no person can read 
 the letters as they stand, so singularly apt for 
 the purposes of Mr. Hastings, without coming 
 to the conclusion that they had been tampered 
 with : but this public assertion of the fact by 
 Mr. Hardinge must be considered sufficient evi- 
 dence, since it was open to be challenged by 
 either of the parties concerned, by Mr. Hastings 
 and Mr. Hollond, or by Mr. Halliburton. This 
 did not properly enter into the Defence, but it is 
 important as a further confirmation of what has 
 been asserted with regard to the unworthy 
 means resorted to throughout this transaction. 
 
 The negotiation with Madras being at an end, 
 Mr. Hollond could no longer be retained as Resi- 
 dent at Hydrabad. The Nizam was written to 
 from Madras in terms of conciliation and " regret 
 that he should have attributed to hostile inten- 
 tions a request that had been urged on the plea 
 of friendship that subsisted between him and the 
 Company, and a fair representation of the fail- 
 ure of the revenue of the Circars." He was 
 assured that, as soon as their treasury would 
 admit, the payment should be made good. Also, 
 that since there seemed no further occasion Mr. 
 Hollond should remain at the Nizam's Court,
 
 154 CHAPTER X. 
 
 the " President had directed him to return ; but 
 that, should His Highness have the intention to 
 send any one of his own people to Madras, he 
 should be received with pleasure ; and every 
 attention paid to the representations he might 
 make in His Highness' s name, in order to pre- 
 serve inviolate the harmony subsisting between 
 him and the Company." * 
 
 In reply to this letter, the Nizam professed 
 himself " satisfied on the score of the peishcush, 
 and was willing that a person might be sent 
 back along with Mr. Hollond, or else that 
 gentleman should be sent back alone." f 
 
 The Governor- General had need that Mr. Hol- 
 lond should remain at Hydrabad. He therefore de- 
 clared to his Board, " that the suddenness of the 
 recall of Mr. Hollond had excited the suspicions 
 of the Nizam ; and also that he desired that his 
 place might be supplied by a similar appoint- 
 ment from their Government; which, the Go- 
 vernor-General considered, following instantly 
 Mr. Hollond' s recall, would have too visible an 
 appearance of disunion between the two Govern- 
 ments." J A letter was consequently addressed 
 to Madras, requesting that gentleman might be 
 
 * Evidences, p. 459. f Ibid., p. 436. 
 
 } Hid., pp. 149-151.
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 155 
 
 "permitted to remain in quality of their Minister" 
 [. ., Minister from Calcutta and the Governor- 
 General, not from Madras] " at the Court of the 
 Nizam, for the purpose of negotiating such points 
 as remained to be adjusted between them." 
 
 It appears that the Governor- General had 
 found it expedient to resort to much misrepre- 
 sentation of facts, in order to gain the concur- 
 rence of the Board for this interference. Mr. 
 Hastings hegins with this false assertion : * - 
 " That the payment of the tribute to the Nizam, 
 being the effect of solicitations and importunity 
 on our part, this consideration would render 
 doubly criminal the attempt to wrest it from 
 him." And, further, the desire said to be urged 
 in the letter of the Nizam, " that a person should 
 be sent from Bengal to reside at his Court," is 
 not to be found in the letter in question, f or any 
 other given to the public ; and may, therefore, 
 be considered as supplied by Mr. Hastings. On 
 the mode of interference, the Governor- General 
 had said he " would forbear to offer any opinion, 
 but leave it to the judgment of the Board ; " it 
 was, nevertheless, accomplished by himself, and 
 in the most offensive manner. 
 
 * Evidences, p. 130 ; Governor- General's Minute, p. 124. 
 
 f This letter is given in full in the Appendix to the Second 
 Report, No. 128.
 
 156 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Mr. Hastings then affects some scruples about 
 retaining the servant of another Presidency ; 
 but, in the mean time, sends Mr. Hollond his 
 credentials, and gives him his reasons for appoint- 
 ing him to be Resident from Bengal at the court 
 of the Nizam. These reasons are of a piece with 
 the rest of this transaction, and are thus pre- 
 faced : 
 
 " We enjoin you to remain at Hydrabad, in 
 the quality of our Resident ; as you shall an- 
 swer for the consequences of your departure to 
 the Court of Directors. We are thus pointed in 
 our injunctions, because the order for your recall 
 may be repeated before the President and Select 
 Committee are in possession of our letter to 
 them, requesting that you may be allowed to 
 continue. Several additional motives weigh with 
 us in conferring this appointment upon you. 
 
 " 1st. Our desire to manifest to Nizam Ali, and 
 to the other powers of the country, that a strict 
 ii)i ion of principles and measures subsist between 
 the Company's Presidencies ; which ice think will 
 be apparent from the mutual selection of the sco/ie 
 agent to negotiate the affairs of Bengal and 
 Madras. 
 
 " 2nd. Because, the President and Select Com- 
 mittee of Fort St. George having made choice of
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM. 15? 
 
 you, and furnished you with particular instruc- 
 tions suited to their own situation and circum- 
 stances, you will be better acquainted with the 
 relation in which they stand to the Nabob Nizam 
 Ali ; and, of course, more likely to attend to the 
 general and combined interests of both Presi- 
 dencies, since theirs is the more immediately 
 concerned, than a person immediately deputed 
 from Bengal," &c., &c. 
 
 " Inclosed you will find proper credentials you 
 may produce to the Nabob." 
 
 " To Mr. John Hollond. 
 
 " Whereas it has been judged proper to appoint 
 a Minister on the part of this Government to the 
 Court of the Nabob Nizam Ali Khan, to treat 
 with his Highness : we, the Governor- General 
 and Council," &c., &c. 
 
 The recall of Mr. Hollond was repeated during 
 the interval by the Presidency of Madras, but 
 the Governor- General had provided for this emer- 
 gency. Of course Mr. Hollond did not obey it. 
 
 Sir Thomas Eumbold was then on the point 
 of leaving India. He gave his opinion at the 
 Board that, if Mr. Hollond persisted in disre- 
 garding the orders of the Presidency, whose
 
 158 CHAPTER X. 
 
 servant he was, he ought to be suspended from 
 their employment.* 
 
 Whether this was an intemperate act on the 
 part of Sir Thomas Rumbold, or whether it was 
 justified by the circumstances of the case, is 
 open to the judgment that may be passed 
 upon it. 
 
 Although the appointment from Bengal of a 
 resident Minister within the jurisdiction of Ma- 
 dras, was equally a breach of the regulations of 
 the service, as to have retained him there con- 
 trary to the directions of that Presidency, this 
 suspension of Mr. Hollond, it is stated, relieved 
 the Governor-General from all his scruples, and 
 gained for the public the benefit of Mr. Hollond's 
 services ; and it formed a paragraph in the Bill 
 of Pains and Penalties that, " Whereas, in con- 
 sequence of such peremptory orders, Mr. Hollond 
 must have left the Nizam at a time when a 
 llesident at his court was of the utmost import- 
 ance to the Company's affairs ; if, in conformity 
 to Sir Thomas Rumbold's recommendation, a few 
 days before embarking for England, the members 
 of the Select Committee, except Mr. Johnson, 
 had not suspended Mr. Hollond from the Com- 
 pany's service, and so left him at liberty to con- 
 
 * Evidences, p. 152.
 
 THE TRIBUTE TO THE NIZAM.. 159 
 
 tinue with the Nizam as Resident from the 
 Government of Bengal," &c. 
 
 It was thus this juggling work was devised at 
 Calcutta, and finally carried out in the Com- 
 mittee-room of the House of Commons. 
 
 After the invasion of the Carnatic by Hyder Ali, 
 Mr. Hastings found the ground prepared ; it was 
 then he coined the phrase so often repeated and 
 adopted in the Reports of the Secret Committee. 
 
 " If the extorted and palliated confession of 
 the Nabob Nizam Ali Cawn may be credited, 
 and we have the evidence of the utmost notoriety 
 to confirm it, it was the sole effect of a con- 
 federacy formed at his instigation, and dictated 
 by his resentment of the infringements made by 
 the Select Committee of Port St. George on his 
 rights, obtained by the Treaty subsisting between 
 him and the Company, and his natural appre- 
 hension of hostilities intended by that Govern- 
 ment against him." * 
 
 By whom was this confession extorted, and 
 who gave it notoriety ? The whole affair was 
 conducted between the Governor- General and 
 Mr. Hollond ; and it rests alone upon the verbal 
 assertion of Mr. Hastings. He has not even 
 produced a line in confirmation of it from 
 
 * [The letter from which this is taken is given at length on p. 161.]
 
 160 CHAPTER X. 
 
 his supposed informant and witness, Mr. Hol- 
 lond.* 
 
 * Memoirs of Warren Hastings, Rev. G. E. Gleig, vol. iii., p. 12. 
 A letter is inserted in the correspondence of Mr. Hastings, as pub- 
 lished by Mr. Gleig, in order, it is said, to show the " open frank- 
 ness of his style, and his personal regard for Mr. Hollond ; " in 
 which the Governor-General refers to a letter he had had the 
 pleasure of receiving from Mr. Hollond, giving the detail of a 
 conversation he had with the " Nabob Nizam Ul Moolk, upon the 
 subject of the confederacy which had been formed against our 
 nation, and of which he acknowledged himself to have been the 
 author, and charging Sir Thomas Rurabold with having com- 
 pelled him to it by his threats and actual infringements of the 
 Treaty subsisting between him and the Company." " Your letter," 
 proceeds Mr. Hastings, " was laid before the Board ; but, by some 
 accident, has been mislaid, as neither the original nor duplicate, 
 after a long search, can be found in the office. I shall esteem myself 
 greatly obliged if you will send me an attested copy of it in dupli. 
 cate, as it is of the utmost consequence to the defence of my public 
 character against the attempts made in England to charge me with 
 having been the occasion of the present war in the Caraatic. What 
 I recollect of the Nizam's declarations is so full and absolute a con- 
 futation of this aspersion, that I believe it will require no other. 
 " I am, with great esteem, yours, &c." 
 
 " Fort miliam t March GtA, 1782." 
 
 It appears, however, that Mr. Hollond did not supply Mr. Hast- 
 ings with what he required. The original and the duplicate, 
 strange to say, were both missing, and Mr. Hastings was iicur 
 afterwards able to obtain anything like a copy of the " extorted 
 and palliated confession of the Nabob Nizam Ul Moolk."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE EVIDENCE OF MR. FRANCIS AS TO THE CAUSES 
 OF THE WAR IN THE CARNATIC. 
 
 [OF the ten charges specified in the third 
 chapter, as having heen advanced against Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold in the Parliamentary " Bill of 
 Pains and Penalties," nine have now heen 
 answered, the ninth having relation to the recal 
 of Mr. Hollond from his embassy to the Nizam. 
 The tenth charge laid the hlame of the unpre- 
 pared state of the Carnatic, at the time when 
 Hyder Ali began his war against the English, to 
 the door of Sir Thomas B/umbold. Miss Ilum- 
 bold's answer to this is contained in the follow- 
 ing important chapters, which relate to the 
 causes and to the commencement of the war in 
 question.^ 
 
 Although confronted by his own previous 
 communication, made to the Directors on the 
 19th of November, 1779, that he knew of the 
 completion of the confederacy against the Eng- 
 lish in June, 1779, Mr. Hastings wrote on the 
 2nd of December, 1780, the letter from which 
 a paragraph was quoted on the last page but 
 one: "All the fair hopes which I had built 
 
 M
 
 162 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 upon the prosecution of the Mahratta war 
 to its termination in a speedy, honourable, and 
 advantageous peace, have been blasted by the 
 dreadful calamities which have befallen your 
 arms in the dependencies of your Presidency of 
 Port St. George, and have changed the object of 
 our pursuit, from the aggrandizement of your 
 power to its preservation. If the extorted and 
 palliated confession of the Nabob Nizam Ali Cawn 
 may be credited, (and we have the evidence of 
 the most public notoriety to confirm it,) it was 
 the sole effect of a confederacy formed at his 
 instigation, and dictated by his resentment of 
 the infringements made by the Select Committee 
 of Fort St. George on his rights, obtained by the 
 Treaty subsisting between him and the Company, 
 and his natural apprehensions of hostilities in- 
 tended by that Goverment against him." * 
 
 Notwithstanding their disregard of dates, the 
 Committee of Secrecy appear to have been under 
 some difficulty in adapting this representation, 
 that the Presidency of Madras was the cause of 
 all the calamity, to the circumstances of the case. 
 The account in the E/eport is, in consequc'iuv, 
 rather contradictory.! 
 
 * Sixth Report, Appendix, No. 323. 
 f Ibid., pp. 336-338.
 
 MR. FRANCIS ON THE CARNATIC WAR. 163 
 
 "The resentment of the Nizam," the Report 
 says, " appears during this year to have been 
 more inflamed by the proceedings of the Madras 
 Presidency than by any immediate allusion to 
 the Mahratta war, except in his letter received 
 the 24th of February, which states the cause of 
 his displeasure on account of Ragonaut Row. 
 The Governor-General and Council thought it 
 necessary to endeavour to appease him ; yet were 
 apprehensive to appear to form any confidential 
 connexion with him, lest it might tend to alien- 
 ate from them the Court of Berar. It was, 
 however, afterwards found expedient to appoint 
 Mr. Hollond to be Resident there; and they 
 thereupon declared that he had been the means 
 of preventing the breach of the alliance between 
 the Company and the Nizam : and it has appeared, 
 by a letter from Mr. Hollond, under date the 
 18th of August,* that, although he avowed his 
 connexions with the Courts of Poona and Berar, 
 and declared his having formed the intention, in 
 conjunction with them, of making an attack 
 upon the Company's possessions, yet Mr. Hol- 
 lond nevertheless believed him, upon the whole, 
 
 * We do not assert that no letter of this date is in the Reports 
 of the Committee ; but a very careful search has not been effectual 
 in finding such a one. 
 
 M 2
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 inclined to remain on pacific terms with the 
 Company, provided that some satisfaction was 
 given him with regard to the Guntoor Circar 
 
 and the peishcush Your Committee have 
 
 found that, at the close of this year, the 
 Governor-General took occasion to express his 
 sentiments to the Secret Committee of the East 
 India Company, that the occasion of the Mah- 
 ratta war was planned and executed without the 
 knowledge or previous concurrence of the Bengal 
 Government, who had no further participation 
 in it than by providing, by an extraordinary 
 exertion, for the support of Bombay, if it suc- 
 ceeded, and for its preservation, if it failed. 
 
 " For the occasion of the war in the Caraatic 
 he accounted by the following explanation : 
 ' If the extorted and palliated confession of the 
 Nizam All Cawn,' " &c., &c. 
 
 If we turn to the Supplemental Appendix, 
 Second Report, No. 9, it will be seen that the 
 " Governor-General's sentiments " are there 
 again embodied in a letter to the Directors, still 
 on " the authority of Mr. Hollond's communica- 
 tions," and also Hyder's invasion ascribed to his 
 views being thwarted of possessing himself of 
 the Guntoor, and the fears he tuilnrnlbj enter- 
 tained for the safety of his own country I
 
 MR. FRANCIS ON THE CARNATIC WAR. 165 
 
 This is followed by a still more extraordinary 
 assertion made by the writer, that, to his 
 certain knowledge, at the time the Treaty was 
 carrying on with Bazalet Jung, Hyder would 
 have entered into a Treaty offensive and de- 
 fensive with us. Was it forgotten that at this 
 very time, and before this time, letters were laid 
 by the President before the Board, in which he 
 solicited further communication with Hyder, and 
 his evasive replies ? 
 
 Anaid the confusion of statements that has 
 arisen, in great part, from the desire of charging 
 Sir Thomas Runibold with being the occasion of 
 all the mischief, it is desirable to trace what real 
 indications are to be found regarding the hostile 
 projects of Hyder All, and the period when they 
 were formed. 
 
 In the evidence given by Mr. Francis in the 
 House of Commons there is a confirmation of 
 that part of the story, which represents the Nizam 
 to have been the author of the confederacy, 
 although Mr. Francis assigns an earlier date and 
 different motives from those alleged by the 
 Governor-General.* 
 
 When, as it will be seen, Mr. Francis said, "that 
 
 * Evidences, p. 449.
 
 166 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 the Mahratta war was the cause of the invasion 
 of the Carnatic, without which it would not have 
 happened," he gave this merely as his opinion, 
 which, from his known hostility to Mr. ifastings,* 
 and disapproval of his measures, may he ques- 
 tioned hy those who are so inclined ; 'hut when 
 Mr. Francis declared the fact, that Mr. Hastings 
 apprised the Directors of the alliance formed 
 against the English, with the date of that 
 
 O O ' 
 
 alliance, which was anterior to any offence given 
 by the affair of the Guntoor, or the tribute to 
 the Nizam; when Mr. Erancis declared this 
 before the House of Commons, before the 
 Directors, and in the lifetime of Mr. Hastings, 
 this evidence as to matter of fact must be 
 admitted as conclusive. 
 
 Question to Mr. Francis. " Do you know of 
 
 * On the subject of this acknowledged hostility, a comparison is 
 sometimes drawn between " the nobler indignation of Burke and 
 the personal antipathy of Francis." If the zeal of Burke was 
 " purer, and proceeding from an elevation of mind few men can 
 understand," the antipathy of Francis need not be resolved solely 
 into the extreme malignancy of his disposition. To be in contact 
 for years, and a witness of the trickery and double-dealing of this 
 extraordinary genius ; to be <c forced to acknowledge with sullen 
 and resentful candour that there was no contending against the 
 pen of Hastings ;" would powerfully draw forth the evil passions 
 of a man's nature.
 
 MR. FRANCIS ON THE CARNATIC WAR. 167 
 
 any transaction between the Government of 
 Bengal and Mr. Elliot, resident at Berar, con- 
 cerning the Nizam ? " 
 
 Answer. " His instructions contained an 
 article that had a very material relation to the 
 interests of the Nizam. It was to this effect : 
 As an object likely to excite the ambition of the 
 Rajah of Berar to take part with us, it was pro- 
 posed to join with, and assist him in attacking 
 the Nizam, for the purpose of recovering certain 
 districts and countries which before had been 
 conquered by the Nizam from the Government 
 of Berar. Mr. Elliot's business was remarkable, 
 and could not be concealed ; and undoubtedly it 
 attracted the attention of all India. But there 
 is a passage in a letter from one of the ministers 
 of Berar. It must have been written in Sep- 
 tember, 1778. It is printed in one of the 
 Heports of the Secret Committee. It is from 
 the minister of Berar to the Governor- General.* 
 * The fame of the strict connexion between you 
 and the Rajah of Berar has been everywhere 
 spread, and has convinced Pundit Purdhann 
 Peshwa and the Nabob Nizam at Mulck, that 
 in contracting such a friendship you have the 
 most extensive views, which apprehension has 
 
 * No. 152, Appendix, Sixth Report.
 
 168 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 filled them with dismay.'* I did on the 16th of 
 November, 1778, and at all times, declare in 
 Council, that the proposed alliance with Moodajee 
 Boosla (Rajah of Berar) would amount to a 
 declaration of war against the Nizam, whenever 
 it should be accomplished." 
 
 " Question. Whether, upon the whole, any bad 
 consequences arose from the application to 
 the Nizam for the remission of the peish- 
 cush ? 
 
 " Answer. It naturally gave him offence, and 
 furnished him with a pretext for complaining ; 
 but he had unquestionably taken his resolution* 
 before that, on other grounds ; and I don't 
 apprehend that the requisition for the remission 
 of the peishcush had any material effect on the 
 general affairs of India. 
 
 " Q. State to the House whom you consider 
 to be the author of the confederacy of the 
 Indian powers against the British authority in 
 India. 
 
 " A'. I consider and have no doubt but that 
 it was the Nizam of the Deccan. He formed the 
 confederacy, which has since appeared, between 
 the Governments of Berar, of Poona, Hyder Ali, 
 and himself ; but before that time each of those 
 
 * This letter appears to have been dated July llth, 1778.
 
 MR. FRANCIS ON THE CARNATIC WAR. 169 
 
 powers was in a state of enmity, if not hostility, 
 against the rest. 
 
 " Q. Whether you think the Nizam's conduct 
 proceeded from the demand of the remission 
 of the peishcush, from the protection given hy 
 the English to Ragonaut Row, from the jealousy 
 arising from the march of so large a hody of troops 
 from Bengal to Surat, or from what other cause ? 
 
 "A. The demand for the remission of the 
 peishcush was subsequent to the date of that 
 confederacy. The Nizam, I have already said, 
 must have been offended with the requisition; 
 but he had already taken his measures on other 
 grounds. He at all times remonstrated against 
 our connexion with Ragonaut Row, and declared 
 explicitly to the Government of Bengal, that if 
 we persisted in it, he should be obliged, in con- 
 sequence of his Treaties, to take part with the 
 Poona Government against us. The march of 
 the detachment might further excite his suspi- 
 cions ; but I principally impute his conduct to 
 our connexion with the Rajah of Berar, and from 
 the danger he apprehended from that connexion 
 to himself. 
 
 " The witness begs leave to state to the House 
 that he before omitted to mention an extract of 
 a letter from Bengal to the Court of Directors, of
 
 170 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 November 30th, 1778, which is in No. 154 of the 
 Appendix to the Sixtli Report of the Committee, 
 respecting the Nizam being acquainted with our 
 correspondence with the Rajah of Berar, which 
 extract is as follows : * A letter to the Rajah of 
 Berar from this Government, on the occasion of 
 Mr. Elliot's appointment x happened to be inter- 
 cepted in Boondelcund, and immediately trans- 
 mitted to Poona : that durbar and Nizam AH 
 being in this manner apprised of its contents, 
 wrote to demand the real intentions of Moodagee 
 respecting us.' 
 
 " Q. Do you mean that the Mahratta war was 
 the sole cause of the war in the Carnatic, and 
 that no conduct of the Government of Madras 
 could have prevented it ? 
 
 "A. I have given it as my opinion that it was 
 the cause, the sine qua non, without which it 
 would not have happened. 
 
 " Q. Whether the great number of forces sent 
 from the coast of Coromandel to the coast of 
 Malabar, to support that Mahratta war, may not 
 be described as one of the great reasons of the 
 invasion of Hyder Ali ? 
 
 "A. It certainly weakened the defence of the 
 Carnatic, and of course encouraged Hyder Ali to 
 attack it.
 
 MR. FRANCIS ON THE CARNATIC WAR. 171 
 
 " Q. What was the date of the confederacy 
 between the Nizam and the other Indian 
 princes ? 
 
 " A. It appears by a letter from the Governor- 
 General to the Court of Directors, that he was 
 informed, that that confederacy already existed, 
 and was completed in June, 1779. 
 
 " Q. What was the date of the message from 
 Poona to the Nizam ? 
 
 "A. It must have been between the date of 
 the letter I before alluded to, written to the 
 Directors, and the date of Mr. Elliot's appoint- 
 ment; that is, between July and November, 
 1778. 
 
 " Q. As the Government of Madras had orders 
 from the Directors to support the Government of 
 Bombay in their proceedings in the Mahratta 
 war, and the Governor- General and Council 
 made a strong requisition for the troops to be 
 sent to General Goddard, for the support of 
 his operations, whether the Government of 
 Madras would not have been liable to very 
 severe censure had anything fatal happened 
 to the troops under General Goddard, from 
 their refusal to obey such pointed requisi- 
 tions ? 
 
 "A. That detachment was ordered under a
 
 172 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 false pretence.* It was ordered under the pre- 
 tended and false purpose of defending Bombay 
 against a Erench invasion : the real object was 
 to increase the force under General Goddard at 
 Surat. If any sinister event had happened, 
 of course the blame would have laid on Ma- 
 dras. 
 
 " Q. Do you think that any effectual precau- 
 tion could have been taken by the Madras 
 Government against the invasion of the Car- 
 natic ? 
 
 "A. I have represented the Mahratta war as 
 the sine qua non of the invasion. Other causes 
 may have operated to influence Hyder Ali. I 
 doubt much whether any precaution which the 
 Presidency of Madras could have taken would 
 have prevented the invasion ; but of this I am 
 not a competent judge. To prevent an inva- 
 sion and to resist it are two different things. I 
 look upon Hyder's purpose to have been formed, 
 at all events, in consequence of his engagements 
 with the confederates, and upon a view of the 
 distress we had brought upon our affairs, and 
 
 * Letter from the Governor-General to the Presidency 
 of Madras, dated August 2nd, 1779. From the President of 
 Bombay to Madras, dated October 31st, 1779. From the Pre- 
 sident of Madras to the Governor-General, dated October 80th, 
 1779.
 
 MR. FRANCIS ON THE CARNATIC WAR. 173 
 
 which had very considerably operated already 
 from our contest with the Mahrattas. 
 
 " Q. Is it, then, your opinion, that the power 
 of the English at Madras was not sufficient to 
 intimidate Hyder Ali from making the invasion 
 of the Carnatic ? 
 
 " A. I think not, as it then stood reduced ; 
 but this is matter of opinion, in which I may be 
 mistaken."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE FIRST CAUSES OF RYDER'S HOSTILE PROJECTS 
 1778-1780. 
 
 BUT there is general testimony to the fact, 
 that Hyder 's projects were of earlier date than 
 the confederacy attributed to the Nizam. 
 
 Hyder was known to be in correspondence 
 with M . Bellecombe, the French Governor of 
 Pondicherry, before the siege in 1778. This is 
 confirmed by the following extract of a letter 
 from the Nabob of Arcot to the Governor- 
 General, received September 21st, 1779.* 
 
 " War breaking out in Europe between the 
 courts of Great Britain and Erance, we lost no 
 time in getting possession of Pondicherry, which 
 Hyder was prevented from succouring by several 
 reasons. At the time the siege was opened, he 
 was employed against the Eort of Chatuldwick, 
 the chief of which was his most considerable 
 opponent ; he was also so ill at that time as to 
 * Sixth Report, Appendix, p. 229,
 
 CAUSES or HYDER'S HOSTILE PROJECTS. 175 
 
 leave little hopes of his life ; the Mahratta army 
 was on that side of the river Kistna ; and, to 
 crown all, it was the season of the rains. By 
 these reasons alone he was prevented giving 
 assistance to the Erench. Afterwards, when the 
 English determined to reduce Mahe, he did 
 everything in his power to deter them from the 
 attempt, and absolutely forbade them to 
 attack it. 
 
 " All these particulars I have already written 
 you an account of ; and the Governor and Coun- 
 cil here,* and Sir Eyre Coote, are well acquainted 
 with. Hyder Ali was prepared to support the 
 French ; but for the English to begin hostilities 
 against Mahe, not doubting but the French 
 would be able to hold out until a reinforcement 
 should arrive from Mauritius, when he would 
 join them, and throw the blame of the breach on 
 the English. Being disappointed in this expec- 
 tation, he expressed himself in terms of the 
 highest displeasure to the Erench Vackeel and 
 to the Erench gentlemen who went to him from 
 Pondicherry and from Mahe, saying, ' Your 
 forces are not yet arrived. You have broken 
 your engagement with me. Had I confided in 
 you, and commenced hostilities, the whole 
 
 * [At Madras, whence the Nabob wrote. See p. 183.]
 
 176 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 burden of the war would have been left on my 
 shoulders.' 
 
 "It was at this time that he despatched a 
 French gentleman, in a ship of his own, to the 
 Mauritius, to require forces to be sent him from 
 thence, engaging to pay their expenses. This 
 intelligence is now confirmed by the relation of 
 Captain Fenwick, who saw Hyder Ali's ship at 
 the Mauritius. From this it is evident that the 
 French forces will be received into Hyder Ali's 
 dominions, and from thence, in concert with 
 him, will invade the Carnatic." 
 
 Colonel Wilks traces the progress of Hyder 
 Ali's hostility to the English from the time of 
 their non-performance of their engagements to 
 afford him their support and assistance, which 
 he had twice solicited from them, when he was 
 hard pressed in his wars with the Mahrattas. 
 " From the period of the infraction by the Eng- 
 lish," Colonel Wilks says, " of the Treaty of 
 17G9, by repeatedly declining to afford the stipu- 
 lated succour, Hyder had anxiously wished for a 
 suitable opportunity to retaliate the wrong. 
 
 " But in the year 1779, so far from having 
 meditated the invasion of the succeeding year, 
 his preparations were exclusively directed to
 
 CAUSES OF HYDER'S HOSTILE PROJECTS. 177 
 
 resist the formidable invasion, which the minis- 
 terial faction of Poona Mahrattas, after the con- 
 ventional surrender of the English army at 
 Worgaum, and the capture of their opponent 
 Bagoba, had openly announced to the English, 
 with whom they considered their differences 
 adjusted. In a letter to Bombay, they expressed 
 their earnest desire for an immediate accommo- 
 dation, and informed that Government of the 
 great preparations they were completing for 
 marching in full force against Hyder AH at the 
 opening of the ensuing season ; when the escape 
 of Bagoba, from the custody of Sindia, on the 
 12th of June, and his reception by General 
 Goddard at Surat, changed the whole plan of 
 their policy, and induced the ministerial party 
 at Poona to depute an embassy, without a mo- 
 ment's delay, to propose to Hyder an union 
 with him for an offensive and defensive alliance 
 against the English." 
 
 Colonel "Wilks describes the arrival of the 
 envoys "in the midst of the marriage festivities," 
 on the occasion of a double alliance in Hyder 's 
 family at Seringapatam, and " all the leading 
 features of a discussion, which terminated in an 
 agreement, by which Hyder engaged to put forth 
 his whole force to combine with the confederates, 
 
 H
 
 178 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 for the expulsion of the English nation from 
 India: Nizam Ali invading the Northern Cir- 
 cars ; the Mahrattas of Berar, Malwa, and the 
 more northern parts of flindostan, attacking the 
 territories of Bengal and Bahar ; those of Poona 
 and the south operating on the side of Bombay ; 
 while Hyder, accompanied hy two thousand 
 chosen Mahrattas, should direct his whole force 
 against Madras. The detail of these negotiations 
 was adjusted at Seringapatam. At their conclu- 
 sion, the envoys were accompanied to Poona by 
 the vakeels, or ambassadors, of Hyder, who com- 
 menced the most active preparations for the seri- 
 ous performance of his part of the compact."-* 
 
 After reading this very particular account, 
 given by Colonel Wilks, of the motives that led 
 Hyder to form this confederacy, and the date 
 when it was concluded, it is rather startling to 
 be told, a few pages further on, that " it was the 
 result of transactions between the Government 
 of Madras and Nizam Ali," which transactions 
 Colonel Wilks, so well acquainted with all the 
 circumstances, knew had not then taken place ; 
 and, moreover, that the Nizam professed himself, 
 on this account, the original adviser of the whole 
 plan. 
 
 * Chap, xx., p. 207 ; chap, xxi., pp. 223, 233-238.
 
 CAUSES OP HYDER'S HOSTILE PROJECTS. 179 
 
 Colonel Wilks further follows the lead of Mr. 
 Hastings, and tells us that " all these transac- 
 tions were veiled by an unlawf ill mystery from 
 the Governor- General and Council of Bengal, to 
 whom the Treaty, concluded in April, 1779, was 
 not communicated until the 8th of February, 
 1780, when it was disapproved, and the prompt 
 restitution of Guntoor ordered to be made. By 
 these, and other judicrous and conciliatory mea- 
 sures, the Supreme Government succeeded in 
 detaching from this powerful confederacy Nizam 
 Ali Khan, who professed himself to have been 
 its original adviser." 
 
 Colonel Wilks, rather inconsistently with the 
 foregoing assertions, accounts for the neutrality 
 observed by the Nizam in a manner which is also 
 to be found in the Reports of the Committee.* 
 " Intelligence had been recently received of a 
 grant from the Mogul, obtained by Hyder, con- 
 ferring on him the whole of the possessions then 
 held by the Nizam himself." 
 
 Colonel Wilks mentions also that " the Nizam 
 seduced the Erench corps under M. Lally into his 
 service; " and adds, "The Government of Ma- 
 dras, in their letter to the Directors, complained 
 of this as a direct violation of the Treaty of 
 
 * Sixth Report, p. 352, and elsewhere. 
 N 2
 
 180 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1768 : / cannot find the article which it vio- 
 lates" 
 
 Erom the description Colonel Wilks gives of 
 the situation of the Guntoor, and the importance 
 of the position occupied by the French force, 
 (perpetually augmented by officers from the 
 French islands,) it might be supposed that, in 
 his estimation, the measure adopted to effect 
 their removal, and at the lame time for securing 
 that country against Hyder's encroachments, was 
 one of the most obvious policy ; and, following 
 the account he gives of the war, we shall find 
 repeated mention of Mons. Lally and his corps 
 being mainly instrumental to Hyder's early 
 successes. Yet Colonel Wilks, overlooking the 
 unanimity of the Board, and also the approba- 
 tion of Bengal, resolves the whole conduct of the 
 affair into the corruption of the President alone. 
 
 If we read with attention this portion of 
 Colonel "Wilks's History, it will be apparent that 
 it has been revised and remodelled, in order to 
 give a different impression from that originally 
 intended, and that this has been done with 
 scarcely sufficient care to conceal the purpose. 
 
 In the preface to his second volume, Colonel 
 Wilks apologises for " a revision not su/ficiat//// 
 cartful of a certain portion of the contents" and
 
 CAUSES OF HYDER'S HOSTILE PROJECTS. 181 
 
 lie adds, that he has received a liberal " exten- 
 sion of aid in the researches connected with 
 these volumes, and some of which he is re- 
 strained from making a particular acknow- 
 ledgment." 
 
 Colonel Wilks then cites those to whom he 
 was indebted, but whom he is not restrained 
 from naming. 
 
 When we arrive at that portion of the History 
 in which Sir Thomas Rumbold is on the scene, 
 we find introduced, rather abruptly, an eulogy 
 of Mr. Hastings, of whom (as this History is, 
 professedly, of the South of India) not much men- 
 tion had hitherto been made, couched in terms his 
 best friends must deem rather injudicious. For 
 " this digression " Colonel Wilks " apologises," 
 on the plea of " recollections too strong and too 
 recent to be easily suppressed." 
 
 The story told by all this plainly is, that be- 
 tween the first writing of this second volume and 
 its publication, some intercourse took place be- 
 tween Mr. Hastings and the author, and the 
 " person not named," to whom Colonel Wilks 
 was indebted for aid in revising this portion of 
 his History, was no other than Mr. Hastings 
 himself. 
 
 With this clue it is not difficult to detect the
 
 182 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 passages that have been altered, and to account 
 for contradictory statements and confusion of 
 dates. 
 
 Attention has already been asked to the neces- 
 sary inference that, since Hyder had no claim, 
 real or pretended, to the Guntoor Circar, the 
 occupation of it by the English would only cause 
 him displeasure by interfering with his designs 
 upon the Carnatic; and as also it has been 
 shown, in the foregoing pages, that the passage 
 of the English troops through a small part of 
 Hyder's territory had been guarded against by 
 every possible precaution, and that Hyder was 
 made acquainted with their object and destina- 
 tion, we may proceed to show in what manner 
 the whole affair was converted into a plausible 
 pretext to suit the purposes of the Committee, 
 and still further wrested by Colonel Wilks to 
 the injury of Sir Thomas Rumbold.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE FIRST CAUSES OF HYDER'S HOSTILE PROJECTS, 1778- 
 1780. THE MISREPRESENTATIONS OF COLONEL WILKS. 
 
 ANOTHER ground is now taken, and the point 
 which Colonel Wilks endeavours to establish is, 
 that Hyder's displeasure was expressed in con- 
 sequence of the lease of the Guntoor to the 
 Nabob of Arcot, which did not take place until 
 some months afterwards. 
 
 It appears that the censurers of Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold's conduct in the whole affair would 
 have preferred that this important district had 
 been left in the hands of Bazalet Jung, and a 
 prey to Hyder ; or given up, as in the event, by 
 the Council of Bengal, to the Nizam; rather 
 than given temporarily on lease to the Nabob of 
 Arcot, who, whatever may have been the history 
 of his debts, or the odium attached to his cha- 
 racter, as the party interests of one or another 
 prevailed^ in England, was the only political 
 ally of the Company, with whom his fortunes 
 were bound up, as he lived under the guns of 
 Madras.
 
 184 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Although causing some interruption, it is ne- 
 cessary to dwell a little on this subject, and to 
 show on what terms the Guntoor was sub-rented 
 to the Nabob of Arcot. "Where every single act 
 of Sir Thomas Rumbold's administration has 
 been made a subject of reproach, this has fur- 
 nished the most plausible handle to his accusers, 
 because it has been judged in a light falsely 
 thrown upon it by subsequent events. That no 
 suspicion of a corrupt influence can be attached 
 to any of these acts is a point which the efforts 
 of his accusers have established, since Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold passed through an ordeal, to which it is 
 hardly recorded that any man was ever subjected. 
 But neither can this lease of the Guntoor be 
 supposed to have had any effect detrimental to 
 the general affairs of India, by causing additional 
 displeasure to Hyder Ali, since his projects were 
 formed, and in course of execution, several 
 months before the first proposition was made of 
 renting it to the Nabob. 
 
 The Guntoor was not definitively let for ten 
 years. It was expressly stipulated that it "was 
 not binding on the Company without their de- 
 clared consent, and until their pleasure be signified 
 to us." This was in answer to the application 
 of the Nabob to rent the Guntoor for ten years,
 
 MISREPRESENTATIONS OF COLONEL WILKS. 185 
 
 made to the Board on the 19th of September, 
 and reminding them, that on a former occasion 
 the Directors had given their sanction for this, 
 for reasons expressly assigned, and in distinction 
 to the other Circars. On the 19th of October, the 
 President and Council, with the proviso above 
 mentioned, acquiesced in the Nabob's proposal, 
 but with considerable restrictions. It was en- 
 tirely guarded by the troops of the Company. 
 The Nabob had not a soldier in the place ; but 
 he collected the revenue, and was responsible for 
 the full amount of rent engaged to be paid to 
 Bazalet Jung ; which, in the low state of the 
 Madras treasury, might, in case of unfavourable 
 seasons, have proved embarrassing, had the 
 revenue been collected by the Company. There 
 was no person of sufficient responsibility to 
 have been entrusted singly with so high a 
 rent. The terms were very advantageous to the 
 Company. The Nabob paid an increase of ten 
 thousand pounds actual revenue annually, with- 
 out expenses of collecting, and calculated from 
 the receipts of the last four years. The manner 
 of disposing of the Guntoor had been under 
 consideration for several months. This appears 
 from a letter written on the 19th of July to 
 Captain Douglas, who commanded in the Circar,
 
 186 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 wherein it is mentioned, " that it was not deter- 
 mined whether to collect the revenues by the 
 Company's servants, or to let the country to 
 renters." As in the case of the Jaghire lands, 
 there were very particular stipulations for the 
 protection of the inhabitants; and that the 
 several amounts to be paid to the Company 
 should not, in any shape, be blended with other 
 accounts, but received immediately from the 
 district. If the Nabob should " fail in one 
 month's payment, the Company would appoint 
 one of their servants to see the revenues were 
 applied to the discharge of His Highness' s 
 engagements." * 
 
 "When Lord Macartney enforced the assign- 
 ment of the Carnatic for the support of the war, 
 which occasioned the quarrel between him and 
 Mr. Hastings, a great partizanship took place in 
 England for the Nabob of Arcot : he was then 
 spoken of as " our faithful and oppressed ally." 
 
 Among the random pages of Mr. Gleig, he 
 speaks of this subject, and ushers in a series of 
 mis-statements by the often-repeated story of the 
 Guntoor and the tribute, which he follows, by 
 affirming that he has " shown that, to the indig- 
 nation excited in the mind of the Nizam, the 
 
 * Evidences, pp. 410-412.
 
 MISREPRESENTATIONS OF COLONEL WILKS. 187 
 
 Company were indebted for the league which 
 joined Hyder to the list of their enemies, and 
 would have brought upon them the force of the 
 Deccan, had not the Supreme Council, &c. But 
 the Madras Government, under Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold," Mr. Gleig continues, "had been 
 guilty of greater extravagances than this." . . . 
 . . .Sir Thomas Rumbold is then put into the place 
 of Lord Macartney, and a page is devoted to his 
 ill-treatment of the Nabob of Arcot. 
 
 On the same subject we are told by Colonel 
 Wilks, that " the Governor- General had strongly 
 impressed upon Lord Macartney the necessity of 
 assuming the direct management of what re- 
 mained of that misgoverned country ; and Mo- 
 hammed Ali skilfully anticipated the event aboiit 
 the close of the year by most graciously assign- 
 ing a country which, if assumed on undisguised 
 grounds, might not have been so easily restored 
 by the baneful influence so frequently deplored-." 
 
 As far as this sentence is intelligible, the 
 assertions contained in it are entirely false. 
 These are specimens of the manner in which this 
 History is told. With the facts concerning the 
 Guntoor Circar, Colonel Wilks deals in the fol- 
 lowing manner : 
 
 " The tardy arrangements of the Government
 
 188 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 of Madras had not prepared the detachment 
 until the month of August, when Hyder, after 
 the completion of his conquest, had returned to 
 Seringapatam, leaving his provincial command 
 to Meer Sahib.* By a political inadvertence 
 scarcely credible, Hyder 's permission was not re- 
 quested " (from Seringapatam !) " to pass through 
 these foreign territories ; the officer commanding 
 the detachment was merely furnished with a 
 letter to Hyder 's manager, as he is termed, a 
 proceeding undignified as regarded the Governor, 
 and insulting as it related to Hyder, subversive 
 of all intelligible relations, and only shoeing 
 that the Governor was aware of the necessity of 
 some sort of permission. Colonel Harpur was 
 allowed to proceed without molestation, &c., 
 until, made aware of the opposition intended, he 
 prudently determined on a retreat." 
 
 " A letter of remonstrance and explanation 
 from the Governor to Hyder," (Colonel Wilks 
 
 * These particulars are not correct. Meer Sahib was not the 
 name of Hyder's " manager." And the detachment had already 
 proceeded to the Guntoor, in June, where it was unfortunately 
 detained by the accidental failure of the precautions that had been 
 taken for the supply of bullocks, &c. Colonel Harpur's Letters. 
 and Bazalet Jung's Letter to Colonel Harpur, dated June 26th, 
 Evidences, pp. 392, 393.
 
 MISREPRESENTATIONS OP COLONEL WILKS. 189 
 
 says,) " was followed only by an announcement 
 to Bazalet Jung of his fixed determination not 
 to suffer an English force to pass to Adwani, nor 
 the district of Guntoor to pass into the hands of 
 his most inveterate enemy ; for the Government 
 had already unveiled the secret mover of the 
 scene by subrenting the district to Mohammed 
 Ali." 
 
 However such an "announcement," on the 
 part of Hyder, to Bazalet Jung, " that he would 
 not suffer an English force to pass to Adwani,' 
 might have suited the occasion, it is not to be 
 found in Hyder 's letters ; but Colonel "Wilks has 
 converted to his purpose a letter written by 
 Hyder some months earlier, and has added to 
 it expressions that could only suit a later period. 
 
 This letter, the only one on the subject that 
 appears, is addressed to Bazalet Jung's minister ; 
 and, by the date when it was communicated to 
 Madras, as also by the context, it could only 
 have been written immediately upon or before 
 the completion of the Treaty ; since Hyder desires 
 that Bazalet Jung should "not enter into an 
 alliance with the English, or let their troops be 
 stationed with him. His Excellency might settle 
 things in such a manner that he would keep
 
 190 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 possession of the Circar of Guntoor. This might 
 be done by allowing the Killidars of my country 
 to rent the Circar from him ; nobody would then 
 dare to attack that country : His Excellency 
 would find it more to his advantage to apply to 
 me for succour than to another. It is in no 
 shape prudent to call the English into that 
 country. It is not in my power to consent to 
 His Excellency's giving up the Circar to my old 
 and bitter enemies, for it joins my country. 
 Why should they be so much feared that their 
 protection should be solicited ? Experience 
 has shown what treatment they have met 
 with who have had connexion with that 
 nation," &c. 
 
 As this letter appears in the Appendix to the 
 Reports, Hyder speaks of his old and bitter 
 enemies, the English. By changing the word 
 enemies into the singular,* Colonel Wilks makes 
 it apply to the Nabob of Arcot, and the lease of 
 the Guntoor to him ; although that was not pro- 
 posed until the 4th of October, which was some 
 months later than the date of this letter, f The 
 same liberty of changing the word, as it stands 
 in the Appendix, has been taken in the Report 
 
 * Wilks's South of India, chap, xxi., p. 237. 
 f Evidences, p. 107.
 
 MISREPRESENTATIONS OF COLONEL WILKS. 191 
 
 of the Committee ; * and another instance may 
 be mentioned, in which the expressions of a letter 
 of Hyder have been converted into a meaning 
 that should suit their purpose of applying them 
 to Sir Thomas Rumbold. 
 
 The Governor-General had written to Hyder 
 in January, 1780, desiring to receive from him 
 an explanation of the reports circulated of his 
 hostile intentions towards the Company, and 
 declaring a desire to maintain the most amicable 
 relations on their part. 
 
 Hyder's reply,t received July 17th, 1780, as it 
 is given in the Appendix, makes no mention 
 either of Mahe or the Guntoor ; but specifies as 
 the ground of his complaint, breaches of Treaty 
 in former years, when the aid he sought had not 
 been afforded him.! In the Report given by 
 the Committee, the paragraph explaining what 
 were the breaches of Treaty to which Hyder 
 alluded is left out, and the letter is put forth to 
 the public, giving the impression that Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold was "the Governor" of whom Hyder 
 complained. 
 
 It forms a paragraph in the Bill of Pains and 
 
 * Second Report, p. 285 ; ibid., Appendix, No. 92 
 f Sixth Report, Appendix, No. 309. 
 Ibid., p. 336.
 
 192 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Penalties that, "Whereas, as early as October, 
 1779, Sir Thomas Rumbold informed the Select 
 Committee of Port St. George that Hyder Ali's 
 letters and messages had for some time been 
 couched in hostile terms ; that he had sent the 
 Rev. Mr. Schwartz to the Court of Hyder, with 
 private instructions to learn the real dispositions 
 of that Prince ; but that the issue of this secret 
 negotiation left Sir Thomas no reason to doubt 
 but Hyder's intentions were hostile both to the 
 Company and the Nabob" Another paragraph, 
 closely following this, imputes to Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, on the word of Mr. Smith and Mr. 
 Johnson, "the concealment of various letters 
 containing important intelligence of the prepara- 
 tions making by Hyder Ali for the invasion of 
 the Carnatic." 
 
 Mr. Smith being then in England, the Counsel 
 for Sir Thomas Rumbold challenged him publicly 
 in the House of Commons to give some support to 
 these assertions, but no more was heard of Mr. 
 Smith.* This story has been differently repeated, 
 according to the fancy of successive writers. 
 Sometimes it is Mr. Gray's information that had 
 been suppressed. Colonel Wilks has made choice 
 of Mr. Schwartz on whom to build the story. 
 
 * Mr. llardinge's Defence of Sir Thomas Rumbold, p. 105.
 
 MISREPRESENTATIONS OE COLONEL WILKS. 193 
 
 Notwithstanding that, according to the para- 
 graph just cited, the hostile intentions of Hyder, 
 communicated by Mr. Schwartz, were fully de- 
 clared in Council,* Colonel "Wilks describes the 
 whole as a very mysterious affair, " a point of se- 
 cret history ; " and his account has been followed 
 implicitly and probably in entire ignorance 
 that the iniquitous insinuations of Colonel 
 Wilks were unfounded, and even contradicted by 
 evidence in a Biography of the Rev. Mission- 
 ary Schwartz, comparatively recent. 
 
 * Colonel Wilks's History, vol. ii., chap, xxi., pp. 243-256.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE CAUSES OF HYDER ALl'S HOSTILE PROJECTS, 1778- 
 1780, (CONTINUED). THE REY. MR. SCHWARTZ AND 
 COLONEL WILKS. 
 
 THE reasons for sending Mr. Schwartz pri- 
 vately were fully explained in a Minute given by 
 the President on the 30th of October, where he 
 says, " The letters and messages had lately been 
 couched in such hostile terms that he could 
 scarcely believe them to be the genuine expres- 
 sions of Hyder. He thought it not impossible 
 that Hyder 's Vakeel at Madras might have been 
 tempted to exceed, or pervert, the intentions of 
 his master. The President therefore deemed it 
 expedient to elude the jealous watchfulness of 
 this man, and of the emissaries of the Nabob of 
 Arcot, by sending privately a letter from himself 
 to Hyder, desiring an explicit declaration of his 
 real intentions with regard to the Company and 
 the Carnatic." 
 
 The letter and message with which Mr. 
 Schwartz was charged were to declare the most 
 amicable desires on the part of the Company, 
 and to urge the often-repeated request of a
 
 MR. SCHWARTZ AND COLONEL WILKS. 195 
 
 
 
 meeting with Hyder, which might lead to a 
 better understanding. 
 
 On the return of Mr. Schwartz, everything 
 was freely communicated. He remained some 
 time at Madras, and no secrecy was enjoined 
 upon him. Colonel Wilks represents it as an 
 "unhappy coincidence," that Mr. Schwartz 
 should have arrived on this explanatory and 
 peaceful mission a " few days after Hyder had 
 received intelligence of Colonel Harpur's hostile 
 attempt, as it was there considered, to pass with- 
 out permission through the province of Kurpa." 
 This, Colonel Wilks says, " was not likely to com- 
 pose Hyder 's resentment on other accounts; but he 
 assured Mr. Schwartz, that if the English offered 
 the hand of peace and friendship, he would not 
 withdraw his, provided ; but of these mys- 
 terious provisos nothing can now be ascertained." 
 
 This sentence Colonel Wilks gives as an 
 extract from the correspondence of Mr. Schwartz, 
 and immediately following he is represented to 
 have said, " But the Nabob at Madras and others 
 frustrated all hopes of peace ; " it is also stated that 
 Mr. Schwartz assigned as one reason for having 
 accepted the commission, " that he, at that time, 
 really believed Sir Thomas Mumbold's intentions 
 to have been upright and peaceable" 
 
 o 2
 
 196 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 It is possible that Mr. Schwartz may have 
 been in after times imposed upon, and led to 
 make use of these expressions ; but if the insinu- 
 ations of Colonel Wilts had any meaning at all, 
 it could only be that Hyder held out some con- 
 ditional offer of peace, which the President 
 refused and concealed. 
 
 The impossibility of this is as manifest as the 
 supposition is absurd. Mr. Schwartz is de- 
 scribed as interposing this mysterious blank, 
 just where the condition would be explained; 
 therefore Mr. Schwartz must have been himself 
 a party to the concealment. But Mr. Schwartz 
 adds, in continuation of his narrative, " At last 
 he directed a letter to be wrote, had it read 
 unto me, and said, f What I have spoken unto 
 you, that I have shortly mentioned in the letter ; 
 you will explain the whole more at length.' ' 
 According to Colonel Wilks, the important part 
 was left out of the letter, and was only delivered 
 to Mr. Schwartz by word of mouth.* 
 
 Colonel Wilks represents that in this letter 
 Jlydcr enumerates every cause of complaint since 
 the year 1769, especially mentioning the non- 
 performance of the engagements the Presidency 
 of Madras had contracted with him on two 
 
 Second Ik-port, Appendix, No. 37.
 
 MR. SCHWARTZ AND COLONEL WILKS. 197 
 
 several occasions. As we have the letter, we 
 have the means of knowing what the grounds of 
 complaint were. " The Treaty alluded to," he 
 says, "you will have in your possession, and you 
 will please to peruse." Then follow various 
 complaints, among which he mentions the " ex- 
 pedition sent to the French factory Mahe ;" and 
 also he says, " You wrote me word you were 
 sending a body of your troops to Bazalet Jung, 
 and you did so accordingly ; and a skirmish took 
 place between my troops and yours." Colonel 
 Wilks has improved upon this last sentence by 
 adding, "that an attempt was made to march, 
 troops through his territories." Another letter 
 was written by Hyder in the month following, 
 after the departure of Mr. Schwartz. It was as 
 follows : " I have received your letter, the con- 
 tents of which I understand. Mr. Schwartz came 
 here some time ago, and brought me a letter 
 from you, to which I have wrote an answer 
 containing all the particulars, and sent it to you 
 by him. He will also acquaint you with several 
 matters that I have charged him with." * 
 
 Colonel Wilks also quotes from this letter, but 
 only the last sentence. He has taken care to 
 suppress that in which Hyder says his former 
 
 * Second Report, p. 27.
 
 198 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 letter "contained all the particulars." "Al- 
 though," Colonel Wilks proceeds to say, " I had 
 the pleasure of Mr. Schwartz's acquaintance 
 many years afterwards, and heard him narrate 
 many facts connected with the suhject of the 
 mission, he died before my attention was given 
 to historical pursuits." He then adds, in a note, 
 some vague and injurious insinuations, of which 
 he affects to withhold the explanation from 
 delicacy to the reputation of the dead ! 
 
 " The Naboh Mahomed Ali, at Madras, and 
 others, frustrated all hopes of peace," says Mr. 
 Schwartz. "This," proceeds Colonel Wilks, 
 " may afford a clue to conjecture which conver- 
 sations between Mr. Schwartz and his most 
 intimate friends would render sufficiently 
 explicit, if it were permitted, to found on the 
 recollections of such conversations after a 
 long interval, the narrative of an historical fact 
 of more than ordinary delicacy, involving the 
 .reputation of the dead." 
 
 Nothing has been too gross or too absurd to 
 be advanced or received respecting Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, or it would seem needless to remark, 
 that the mission of Mr. Gray, having so soon 
 followed that of Mr. Schwartz, would naturally 
 have led to the discovery of the secret between
 
 ME, SCHWARTZ AND COLONEL WILKS. 199 
 
 Hyder and the Governor of Madras, which must 
 have been so faithfully kept, at that time, by 
 Mr. Schwartz. 
 
 After several pages of continued abuse, among 
 which are some statements wholly false, Colonel 
 Wilks furnishes an explanation of this inveteracy. 
 " In their correspondence with Bengal, the Pre- 
 sidency of Madras stigmatized the Mahratta war 
 as the source of Hyder 's increased strength, and 
 proposed a Mahratta peace as the best security 
 against his designs. Instead of making provision 
 for the defence of places, or the formation of a 
 field force, they add to this puerile remark a 
 description of their total helplessness." 
 
 "The letters received from Hyder," Colonel 
 Wilks says, " spoke daggers to the most torpid 
 apprehension ; but the Government of Madras 
 had not chosen to believe the hostility so fre- 
 quently professed." It was probably better 
 known to this unfaithful historian than to 
 those who have borrowed their accounts from 
 him, that Hyder 's letters were duly transmitted 
 to Bengal by the Government of Madras, and 
 that they were accompanied by the declaration 
 that they did believe in the hostility that Hyder 
 professed, and an appeal to that Board for a 
 supply to enable them to take those measures of
 
 200 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 defence which the occasion called for, and 
 which, without such aid, were wholly beyond 
 their power; but that their representation of 
 danger was disbelieved, and the supply refused. 
 
 It is sufficiently obvious, on a little examina- 
 tion, that it was a consciousness of this fact that 
 led to the representations that may be traced 
 originally to Colonel Wilks, of Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold having either entertained himself, or 
 encouraged in others, any delusion with regard 
 to Hyder's projects, and the danger that threat- 
 ened the Carnatic. The best comment on this 
 universally favourite theme will be found in 
 some extracts that are subjoined, taken from Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold's letters during the last year, 
 and the last week, of his stay at Madras. These 
 will also supply an answer to the remarks made 
 upon this part of the history by Lord Macaulay, 
 as they appear in his review of the life of Mr. 
 Hastings. 
 
 In a late edition, (p. 618,) we find this sen- 
 tence : " Had Hastings been Governor of Madras, 
 Hyder would either have been made a friend, or 
 vigorously encountered as an enemy. Unhap- 
 pily the authorities of the South provoked their 
 powerful neighbour's hostility, without being 
 prepared to repel it."
 
 MISREPRESENTATIONS OF COLONEL WILKS. 201 
 
 How far Mr. Hastings was, in general, suc- 
 cessful in making the Indian princes his friends, 
 is not the point to be considered here. But to 
 meet either of these cases, Mr. Hastings had 
 resources that did not belong to the subordinate 
 Presidency. It is much to be lamented by those 
 to whom this portion of the history possesses 
 any merit, that Lord Macaulay did not refer to 
 more authentic records. A stroke of that pen 
 would have led the way to a more just apprecia- 
 tion of these occurrences. Lord Macaulay might 
 have seen, especially in the first Report of the 
 Committee of Secrecy, that the Governor of 
 Madras was constant in his endeavour to 
 cement an alliance with Hyder Ali, on the occa- 
 sion of the overtures made by him, soliciting a 
 personal interview, and afterwards repeatedly 
 desiring that a person of rank in the service 
 should reside at his court. "When Hyder 's 
 threatening messages were received with regard 
 to Mahe, it was proposed to the serious con- 
 sideration of Sir Eyre Coote and the rest of the 
 Council, whether they should conciliate Hyder 
 by recalling the expedition. Subsequently, when 
 thoroughly persuaded that his intentions were 
 hostile, Sir Thomas Rumbold urged upon the 
 Governor- General that the three Presidencies
 
 202 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 should unite to check the power of Hyder Ali, 
 which he described as the only source that seri- 
 ously threatened the British possessions in India. 
 As early as February, 1779, after a particular 
 statement of the resources of the Presidency, a 
 strong desire was expressed, that the Council of 
 Bengal would give their advice and support 
 towards placing the affairs of the Carnatic on a 
 
 better footing with regard to the Nabob and the 
 
 . 
 
 Rajah of Tanjore. The letter proceeds to say : 
 
 " Some alarming intelligence received from 
 Hyder, we lose not a moment in communicating 
 
 to you We have, moreover, actually received 
 
 accounts from the Nabob, of which we enclose a 
 copy, advising that some bodies of Hyder's horse 
 are arrived near the borders of the Carnatic. 
 The plain and explicit declarations of the Vakeel, 
 added to this intelligence, leaving little doubt 
 respecting Hyder's intentions, we have written 
 to Colonel Braithwaite, who commands the ex- 
 pedition to Malic, to be particularly on his guard, 
 attending to all the cautionary orders which we 
 gave him in our original instructions. 
 
 "We cannot say how far we may yet bo able 
 to avert Hyder's threatened invasion of the 
 Carnatic. It is certainly an alarming circum-
 
 SIR T. RTJMBOLD'S LETTERS TO CALCUTTA. 203 
 
 stance, when we consider our total inability to 
 prevent the ravages of horse, and that our 're- 
 sources for war will instantly be cut off by their 
 incursions. The conduct of Hyder is such as 
 calls loudly for resentment ; and could we enter- 
 tain a reasonable hope of support from the Car- 
 natic, and of funds sufficient to carry on an 
 active war against him, we should certainly 
 recommend the necessary preparations for it. 
 
 So it is we labour under discouragements 
 
 which will not permit us to act with vigour; 
 and although it seems highly probable, from our 
 situation, that we shall be obliged in the present 
 war to sustain the principal efforts of our ene- 
 mies, and that future success of the French on 
 this coast may determine their success in every 
 other part of India ; yet it is certain that we 
 are, in regard to resources, by no means in a 
 condition to oppose any powerful attempts either 
 of the French or of Hyder Ali. We shall, how- 
 ever, exert the utmost of our abilities, trusting 
 that the difficulties of our situation will plead 
 our excuse for any failures that may happen."* 
 
 To this letter, dated February 15th, 1779, no 
 
 * Minutes of Evidence, p. 470. See also letters of April 3rd, 
 1779 ; Bengal to Madras, August 17th.
 
 204 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 answer was sent from Bengal until August 2nd, 
 when a strongly enforced demand required that 
 one-third of the effective force of the Presidency 
 of Madras should be sent to reinforce General 
 Goddard at Surat.* 
 
 In April 23rd of the same year, a letter was 
 sent from Madras to Bengal, of which the fol- 
 lowing is an extract : 
 
 " In our despatch of the 12th of March, we 
 had the honour to enclose a copy of a letter we 
 had received from Hyder Ali, relative to our 
 expedition against Mahe ; and in a former de- 
 spatch we communicated to you a message deli- 
 vered to us by his Vakeel on the same subject. 
 "We transmit the copy of another letter, written 
 in the same style, and conveying the same hostile 
 
 intentions Also a copy of the answer we 
 
 have written to him on the occasion From 
 
 what has passed, we can entertain but little 
 doubt of Hyder' s determination to break with 
 the Company, and we are of opinion that no time 
 should be lost in concerting the necessary mea- 
 sures for acting in that event with such a degree 
 of vigour as may be likely to bring the war to a 
 speedy conclusion. We think this may be effected 
 
 * Miuutcs of Evidence, p. 385.
 
 MADHAS AND CALCUTTA. 205 
 
 without rendering the possessions of the Company 
 too defenceless to oppose any probable attempt 
 that may be made on them by the French. For 
 this purpose, it appears to us expedient, that the 
 three Presidencies should unite their force in 
 proportion to the ability of each, and that a 
 powerful attack should be made from the Mala- 
 bar coast upon Hyder's two fortresses of Seringa- 
 patam and Bangalore, the reduction of which 
 might probably put an end to the war. The 
 force under General Goddard, with a proportion 
 of the Bombay troops, and the heavy artillery 
 and stores, might penetrate to Hyder's capital 
 on the Malabar side, while a light army of our 
 troops might proceed from this coast through 
 the passes, and, if necessary, join them; or 
 amuse Hyder in such a manner as to leave them 
 at liberty to prosecute their operations against 
 
 his principal forts "We have received from 
 
 Colonel Braithwaite the Articles of Capitula- 
 tion for the surrender of Mahe, which we 
 
 enclose 
 
 " Since writing the foregoing, we have intelli- 
 gence from the Nabob that Hyder has made a 
 conquest of the Cuddapah country, and is pro- 
 ceeding to subdue Canoul, and that he means to 
 make a conquest of the territories of Bazalet
 
 206 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Jung, of which last measure the Vakeel of 
 Bazalet Jung has, in the name of his master, 
 expressed the strongest apprehensions ; that he 
 has also written threatening letters to the Ze- 
 mindars of , who are tributaries to the 
 
 Carnatic. In consequence of the late negotia- 
 tions with Bazalet Jung, we have resolved to 
 send immediately, for the protection of his 
 country, three battalions of Sepoys, a company 
 of Artillery, and six field-pieces. Hy dor's pro- 
 ceedings in that quarter have added greatly to 
 his power, and given him a much more easy 
 access into the Carnatic than he had before. 
 Considering all these circumstances, we are of 
 opinion that immediate measures should he 
 taken to compel Hyder to retreat back within 
 his former limits, or, if necessary, to reduce him 
 totally ; for we have every reason to conclude, 
 from the language that he holds, and from the 
 nature of his proceedings, that he will shortly 
 draw into hostilities, in which case it will be 
 highly expedient that we should be prepared to 
 act decisively; and we request that you will 
 favour us with your sentiments and deternii na- 
 tion as soon as possible." 
 
 The following is an extract from the letter to
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 207 
 
 which we have referred, dated more than five 
 months afterwards, namely, August 2nd, and 
 received on August 30th, which was written 
 from Bengal in reply to the Madras letter 
 of February 15th : " Prom the advices that 
 have been lately received of the strength of 
 the Prench at the Mauritius, we have reason to 
 apprehend that an invasion is intended against 
 the Government of Bombay. "We therefore deem 
 it of the utmost importance to provide for the 
 safety of that Government, by reinforcing the 
 army commanded by General Goddard, with a 
 
 respectable addition of troops The Com- 
 
 mander-in-Chief has informed us, that one bat- 
 talion of Europeans, three battalions of Sepoys, 
 and fifty artillery, may be spared from your 
 establishment, now the works of Pondicherry 
 are demolished, without any risk or inconveni- 
 ence to the service Besides which, as you 
 
 may daily expect a considerable addition of 
 strength from Europe, we earnestly recommend 
 it to you to issue immediate orders to the officer 
 in command of the force at Mahe, to detach 
 from thence as great a number of men as he can 
 spare at this time, to join General Goddard 
 without delay, and the remainder of his force 
 when Mahe shall be dismantled. We also re-
 
 208 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 quest that you will be pleased to complete the 
 reinforcement recommended by the Commander- 
 in-Chief to be sent to General Goddard, as soon 
 as possible, from the most convenient stations of 
 your army, allowing him to fix the place of 
 rendezvous." * 
 
 To which letter the following reply was sent 
 from Madras, dated October 30th, 1779 : 
 " We had the honour to receive your letter of 
 the 2nd of August, acquainting us with your 
 reasons for thinking the French at the islands 
 meditated an attack upon Bombay, and requesting 
 in consequence that we would detach [troops 
 from Mahe] in support of that Government. 
 We shall always be led by inclination, as well as 
 duty, to co-operate with you, to the utmost of 
 our power, in any plan you may adopt for the 
 security of the Company's possessions ; but in 
 the present case we hope there will be no neces- 
 sity for such great succour to assist the gentle- 
 men of Bombay, even should they be attacked : 
 since we understand their force is very equal to 
 their protection against any attempt that may 
 be made by the French in their present state, 
 and we are inclined to this opinion ; because, 
 having written to Bombay in the month of July, 
 * Evidences, p. 470.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH BENGAL. 209 
 
 to inform the President and Council of the 
 intelligence we had received relative to the 
 
 O 
 
 intentions of the "French, they do not in their 
 answer express the least apprehensions of the 
 insufficiency of their force ; and we suppose, 
 further, that, had they any doubt upon this head, 
 they would have detained the ' Asia ' man- 
 of-war, which was sent from England purposely 
 to assist in their defence, and which they allowed 
 to leave Bombay in the month of August, to 
 join the Admiral at this place. But we conceive 
 the French at the islands will not be in a con- 
 dition to fit out an armament against Bombay, 
 as far as we can learn from private intelligence : 
 their nation is too much pressed, both in Europe 
 and the West Indies, to spare any reinforcement 
 for this country. General Goddard, in a letter 
 dated August 15th, after mentioning that he is 
 authorized to make a requisition of the force at 
 Mahe, writes as follows : ' At present it is im- 
 possible for me to speak with any certainty of 
 the effect of my negotiation with the Mahratta 
 state, or whether I may have occasion for this 
 reinforcement or not ; but as I shall make it my 
 care to have everything prepared for the trans- 
 portation of the troops,' &c We have like- 
 wise a letter from our Commandant at Mahe, 
 
 p
 
 210 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 enclosing a copy of one from the Governor of 
 Bombay to him ; in which he writes, * General 
 Goddard has been advised from Bengal, that the 
 troops under your command at Mahe will be 
 instructed to join his army, should he not suc- 
 ceed in his negotiations with the Mahrattas.' 
 
 " From these letters we should conceive that 
 the object of the reinforcement was principally 
 to support General Goddard' s negotiations with 
 the Mahrattas ; and this is certainly a matter of 
 so much importance, that we are disposed 
 heartily to concur with you in promoting it. 
 We have sent directions to Colonel Braithwaite, 
 to obey any requisition that may be made for 
 the troops at Mahe, which consist of, &c. 
 
 "As to any further reinforcement than the 
 above, we are apprehensive our situation will not 
 for the present admit of it. The non-arrival of 
 the fleet leaves us at great uncertainty concern- 
 ing the King's troops; and the season being 
 now too late for the ships to come on the coast, 
 we are at a loss where or when to expect them. 
 We must observe, likewise, that the language 
 Hyder Ali holds in his correspondence, and the 
 great preparations he is making for war, mani- 
 fest a strong inclination of breaking with the 
 Company ; and we believe he only waits for a
 
 URGENT LETTERS TO BENGAL. 211 
 
 favourable conjuncture, which may soon happen, 
 to declare himself openly. A war with Hyder, 
 let the event be ever so successful on our part, 
 would distress the Carnatic beyond measure, and 
 prove a most expensive burden on the Company. 
 We sincerely hope, therefore, that General God- 
 dard may conclude a Treaty with the Mahrattas, 
 and thereby free the Company from the necessity 
 of engaging with the two most powerful 
 states of India at the same time, which will 
 probably be the case if he fail in his negotiation. 
 Should we be at peace with the Mahrattas, 
 Hyder will be afraid to disturb us ; for, exclusive 
 of our strength which he could then have no 
 hope of resisting, the determined enmity which 
 the Mahrattas bear him, would induce him 
 rather to court our friendship, than to provoke 
 us into hostilities ; and this is precisely the state 
 wherein only we can expect to preserve tran- 
 quillity in the Carnatic, which is so necessary at 
 this juncture. "We earnestly entreat you will be 
 pleased to send, by the first proper conveyance, 
 the five lacs of rupees which were promised us 
 in August last, and which are much wanted to 
 answer our extraordinary demands." * 
 
 Again, on the 10th of November, 1779, the 
 * Evidences, p. 473. Appendix, Sixth Report, No. 222. 
 p 2
 
 212 CHAPTEll XIV. 
 
 Madras Presidency wrote to Calcutta as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " Since we had the honour of writing to you 
 last, we have received letters from General 
 Goddard, and from the gentlemen at Bomhay, 
 intimating a great probability that hostilities 
 will take place with the Mahrattas ; and advising 
 that a requisition has been made to our Com- 
 mandant at Mahe, to proceed as soon as possible 
 with his force to Surat. In this state of affairs, 
 on the other coast, we deem it expedient to 
 mention to you again the critical situation we 
 are in with respect to Hyder Ali, whose conduct 
 of late has given us the strongest reason to 
 believe that his intentions are hostile towards 
 the Company and the Carnatic, and that he will 
 seize the first favourable occasion of breaking 
 with us. The cause of his resentment, as ap- 
 pears from his letters, is the attack made on the 
 French at Mahe, who he says were under his 
 protection ; and our alliance with Bazalet Jung, 
 which has given some check to his views of 
 conquest in that quarter. 
 
 "Hyder has long been making warlike pre- 
 parations, and his force now assembled at Serin- 
 gapatam consists, as we are informed, of thirty 
 thousand Sepoys and twenty thousand horse.
 
 SUGGESTIONS FROM MADRAS. 213 
 
 Should he enter the Carnatic, it will be totally 
 out of our power to prevent the ravages of his 
 horse ; and of course we must suffer materially 
 in our revenues, and in the means of supporting 
 our expenses of every kind. In this case, the 
 only dependence we shall have, will be on the 
 efforts you will be able to make in our favour ; 
 and we could wish to know in time what 
 assistance we may rely upon, that our measures 
 may be taken accordingly." * 
 
 "If we should be compelled to act against 
 Hyder, the best and only proper plan in our 
 opinion is to send a considerable force by sea to 
 Mangalore, to penetrate by that way to Seringa- 
 patam, and at once lay siege to the capital. 
 This would be the most effectual way of distress- 
 ing Hyder and putting an end to the war. The 
 communication between Mangalore and Seringa- 
 patam might be kept open ; and our troops sup- 
 plied from the sea with provisions and other 
 necessaries, with much less risk from Hyder 's 
 cavalry than by any other mode that could be 
 
 adopted We still natter ourselves that the 
 
 Mahrattas may be brought to terms of accom- 
 modation, since the proposals for a Treaty with 
 them, which you transmitted for our informa- 
 
 * Evidences, p. 475.
 
 214 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 tion, were so fair and equitable, (supposing no 
 other requisitions have been made,) that we 
 cannot be persuaded they will finally reject 
 them." * 
 
 It was at this time that Mr. Smith, one of the 
 Council, gave, during their deliberations, a 
 Minute, of which great advantage has been 
 taken by the traducers of Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold. Mr. Smith's proposition was to this 
 effect, that, " as the detachment now under 
 orders to proceed to Bazalet Jung will be of the 
 utmost importance, either for stopping Hyder's 
 progress in that quarter, or acting offensively 
 against him in case he should oblige us to do so, 
 I propose that it be strengthened by at least two 
 battalions, which may be drafted from the 
 Northern Circars." 
 
 Also, " I submit to the Committee the pro- 
 priety of collecting a strong body of troops 
 immediately to be cantoned at Conjeveram or 
 Vellore, and held in readiness to act as occasion 
 may require." 
 
 * Other conditions were imposed, to which the Mahrattas 
 would not assent. It was required that they should pay a con- 
 siderable sum towards defraying the expenses of the war. Thus 
 the negotiation was not carried through. Sixth Report, Appendix, 
 No. 207 ; also Sixth Report, Appendix, 325.
 
 MR. HASTINGS REFUSES HELP. 215 
 
 It was found, on deliberation, that these pro- 
 positions were more easy to make, than in the 
 reduced condition of the Presidency to be carried 
 into effect. Mr. Smith's Minute having been 
 taken into consideration, " the Committee were 
 of opinion,* that they had taken the only mea- 
 sures in their power by collecting their troops as 
 much together as possible, to defend the country 
 in case of invasion. Their future conduct must 
 depend on what the gentlemen of Bengal may 
 determine upon the present critical situation of 
 affairs ; and, until they know what part those 
 
 * In this opinion Mr. Smith undoubtedly concurred. This is 
 declared by Mr. Smith himself, (who had not then commenced a 
 systematic opposition to the other members of the Government,) 
 in a subsequent Minute given on the 17th of July, 1780. In this 
 Minute Mr. Smith says, referring to the former occasion, " The 
 exhausted state of the treasury was a sufficient argument against 
 incurring any additional expense, whilst the extremity of war could 
 possibly be avoided ; but in the present juncture of affairs, our 
 wishes in this respect must give place to considerations of a more 
 pressing and urgent nature. If the Nabob be unable to furnish 
 the necessary supp'ies of cash, a sum of money should be raised on 
 loan to answer the present exigency." 
 
 This Minute of Mr. Smith is not to be seen in the Appendix to 
 the Report. It is suppressed, for the obvious reason, that his 
 former one could not have been paraded with so good a grace in 
 the Letter of the Directors, and in the Bill of Pains and Penalties 
 after the avowal last made. See Evidences, p. 510.
 
 216 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 gentlemen mean to take, they can pursue no 
 active measures whatsoever, being entirely 
 without the resources necessary for putting a 
 
 considerable body of men into the field 
 
 November 18th, 1779." 
 
 On the 20th of December, the expected answer 
 from Bengal arrived. It was as follows : 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " We have received your letter dated the 
 10th ultimo. We observe with concern the appre- 
 hensions which you so repeatedly and pointedly 
 express in all your letters, of the supposed in- 
 tentions of the Nabob Hyder Ali to invade the 
 Carnatic. We cannot ourselves distinguish 
 anything in the immediate conduct or corre- 
 spondence of that chief, which indicates a design 
 hostile to the English; and we should judge, 
 from the uniform system of policy which he has 
 manifested in all his actions for a course of years 
 past, that he is not likely to forego the plans he 
 was pursuing of conquests from the Mahrattas, 
 and all the advantages held out to him by the 
 diversion which our troops will probably occa- 
 sion on the other side of India, in order to attack 
 the Carnatic, without the greatest provocation ; 
 much less can we, without the strongest evi-
 
 MR. HASTINGS MAKES LIGHT OF DANGER. 217 
 
 dence, impute to him such an apparent want of 
 judgment as to defer the execution of his sup- 
 posed intentions, until after we had reduced 
 Pondicherry and Mahe, and driven the Erench 
 out of India 
 
 " The heavy losses which we have lately sus- 
 tained, and the unusual calls upon us for money, 
 which are various, extensive, and indispensable, 
 compel us to withhold that supply which it was 
 our intention to have afforded you, for the com- 
 pletion of the fifteen lacs which you required from 
 us ; but you may still he assured of our exerting 
 every effort to yield you assistance, should your 
 necessities hereafter appear equally urgent with 
 our own, and your means insufficient to answer 
 them." * 
 
 [Up to this date, then, at any rate, that is, up 
 to the end of 1779, it is plain that the responsi- 
 bility of leaving the Madras Presidency unpre- 
 pared against a war with Hyder, rests, not upon 
 Sir Thomas Humbold and his Council, but upon 
 Mr. Hastings and the Council of Calcutta. Sir 
 Thomas Rumbold and his coadjutors were vigi- 
 lant and far-sighted, offered wise suggestions, 
 and prayed for the help they so greatly needed. 
 Mr. Hastings made light of their alarms, and 
 
 * Evidences, p. 487.
 
 218 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 withheld the needed aid, whether in money or 
 in men.] 
 
 We find the alarms of the Madras Govern- 
 ment somewhat mitigated at the beginning of 
 1780 ; not, however, by any change in their 
 views as to the disposition and designs of 
 Hyder, but by the long-expected arrival of the 
 fleet under Sir Edward Hughes. On the 18th 
 of February, 1780, a letter was addressed to 
 Bengal on the subject of the Treaty entered into 
 by Hyder and the Mahrattas, of which some 
 extracts are subjoined. 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " We have received your letter of the 30th 
 of December. It would afford us very sensible 
 satisfaction at this juncture, if we had sufficient 
 cause to assent to the arguments you have 
 brought against our suppositions relative to the 
 designs of Hyder Ali ; but the more we reflect 
 upon his late conduct, the more we are satisfied 
 that his intentions are really hostile, and that 
 he only waits for a favourable occasion of acting 
 from those intentions. We allow that his sys- 
 tem of policy, until lately, has been to guard 
 against the views of the Mahrattas, which have 
 extended to the entire conquest of his country. 
 It is owing to the constant wars carried on
 
 MADRAS WELL-INFORMED AND AWAKE. 219 
 
 between these two powers, that the Carnatic has 
 not for several years been disturbed ; but the 
 scene becomes entirely changed by the part the 
 English have taken in the divisions of the 
 Mahratta empire. Hyder Ali has already so far 
 profited by these divisions, as to reconquer 
 several countries from the Mahrattas, and to 
 make further acquisitions ; which, as we under- 
 stand, have been lately confirmed to him by an 
 express Treaty, with the view of engaging his 
 assistance in support of the ministerial party at 
 Poona. Hyder, therefore, has now no imme- 
 diate object to employ him on that side ; and, 
 being at full liberty to exercise his restless and 
 ambitious spirit, it is natural to suppose he will 
 exert it against those from whom he pretends to 
 have received injuries, and whom he has openly 
 ventured to threaten with his resentment. His 
 enmity to us, and his attachment to the French, 
 are equally strong. He was by no means pleased 
 with our success against Pondicherry, and he 
 loudly remonstrated by letter, and through his 
 vackeel, against the expedition to Mahe, declar- 
 ing that he would take vengeance for it on the 
 Carnatic. 
 
 "Why these hostile intentions have not yet 
 been put into execution, may be easily accounted 
 for ; the opportunity has not been favourable.
 
 220 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 He expected some succours from the French 
 Islands, which have not arrived ; and as yet he 
 is held in awe by the appearance of Sir Edward 
 Hughes' s fleet and the reinforcement of King's 
 troops ; but his disposition is not, we believe, in 
 any shape altered, and the moment we meet with 
 an unfavourable turn of fortune, or that he has 
 reason to think our enemies are superior to us, 
 that moment it is probable he will declare 
 against us." * 
 
 No reply appears to this letter, but Mr. Hast- 
 ings gave in Council the following Minute. 
 
 On the 17th of January, 1780 : " Governor- 
 General. That a peace may have taken place 
 between Hyder Ali and the Mahrattas I do not 
 doubt ; my own advices confirm it. But no alli- 
 ance between them can be of long duration, as it 
 is unnatural. I am convinced, from the whole 
 tenor of Hyder Ali's conduct and disposition, 
 that he will never molest us whilst we endea- 
 vour to preserve a good understanding with him. 
 And I therefore object to this information being 
 given to the Court of Directors in the general 
 letter, as only tending to alarm them without 
 sufficient cause for it." t 
 
 * Evidences, p. 475. 
 
 ) Evidences, p. 492. Sixth Report, Appendix, Xo. 2 17 .
 
 THE TABLES TURNED. 221 
 
 [The correspondence from which we have now 
 so largely quoted will serve as a luminous com- 
 mentary on the words of Colonel Wilks, given 
 above, (at p. 199,) and which have been sub- 
 stantially adopted by subsequent historians. 
 Hyder's letters did, indeed, " speak daggers to 
 the most torpid apprehension." Their meaning 
 was well understood and keenly felt at Madras. 
 Representations of the most urgent character, 
 founded upon these letters, together with other 
 evidence as to Hyder's designs, were again and 
 again and again sent from Madras to Calcutta. 
 But "the Government of" Bengal (not "of 
 Madras) had not chosen to believe the hostility 
 so frequently professed." By fact, the tables 
 are thus turned on fiction, fiction which, for 
 three generations, has passed current for fact. \
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 THE DIFFICULTIES AND DISABILITIES IMPOSED UPON THE 
 COUNCIL OF MADRAS BY THE POLICY OF MR. HASTINGS. 
 
 ON the 14th of February, 1780, the Presi- 
 dency of Madras wrote to Bengal on the subject 
 of the reinforcement they had been required by 
 the Governor General to send to General God- 
 dard. This letter proves that the forces of the 
 Presidency had been of necessity a good deal 
 dispersed in order to guard the possessions of the 
 Company. 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 "We yesterday received a letter from 
 Colonel Braithwaite, in consequence of our orders 
 to him for evacuating Mahe, and sending the de- 
 tachment to Surat You will perceive the dis- 
 agreeable situation of affairs at Tellicherry, and 
 the reasons which induced Colonel Braithwaite 
 to remain there with his whole detachment to 
 
 act in defence of that settlement The part 
 
 taken by Hyder Ali in fomenting these disturb-
 
 MADRAS DENUDED OF FORCES. 223 
 
 ances, and inarching a large body of his troops 
 to take possession of the ruins of Mahe, on 
 account of its proximity to Tellicherry, shows no 
 very favourable disposition towards us; and 
 might well warrant the conjecture formed by 
 Colonel Braithwaite, that he would probably 
 assist the Nairs in their attempt upon that fac- 
 tory We made it a part of our instructions 
 
 to Colonel Braithwaite to have no interference, 
 directly or indirectly, with any powers or chiefs, 
 beyond the limits of his authority; and he 
 appears to have so strictly conformed to our 
 orders in this respect, that we do not believe he 
 has had the smallest share in any of the trans- 
 actions which may have given rise to the present 
 troubles When we heard of these disturb- 
 ances, and the consequent detention of our troops 
 at Tellicherry, we came to the resolution of send- 
 ing, at all events, immediately a respectable re- 
 inforcement from hence to join General God- 
 
 dard's army at Surat, and ordered, &c This 
 
 exertion, we assure you, is the utmost we are 
 capable of making in the critical situation of our 
 affairs with Hyder ; and it is such, that should 
 a powerful invasion take place, we must act 
 entirely upon the defensive, and look chiefly to 
 the care of our garrisons. Nevertheless, in the
 
 224 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 present state of affairs on the other side of India 
 we conceive it to be our duty to sacrifice much 
 to promote the object of peace; and we trust 
 that the considerable reinforcement we are send- 
 ing to General Goddard may enable him to 
 accomplish it upon safe and honourable 
 terms."* 
 
 In the mean time, every precautionary mea- 
 sure that, with their total want of resources, lay 
 within their power, was adopted by the Pre- 
 sidency. 
 
 The Company's troops that had been dis- 
 tributed in the Tanjore country were recalled, 
 and new regiments formed to take their place, 
 according to the proposal in a Minute given by 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold, on the 4th of February, 
 1780, as follows :- 
 
 "The critical situation of the Company's 
 affairs at present having obliged this Govern- 
 ment to send a very considerable force to General 
 Goddard at Surat, and also to station a body of 
 troops to the northward, for the protection of 
 the Circars against any attempts from either the 
 Nizam or Hyder in that quarter, it appears 
 absolutely necessary that the remaining force on 
 the coast should be drawn as much together as 
 
 * Evidences, p. 478.
 
 MEASURES TAKEN AT MADRAS. 225 
 
 possible ; and for that purpose I would recom- 
 mend to the Committee the raising a body of 
 Sibbendy Sepoys in such districts where it may 
 be found necessary, and particularly at Tanjore 
 and Masulipatam. There are now five battalions 
 of Sepoys in the Tanjore country ; and, it appears 
 by the last returns, they are very much dispersed 
 in securing collections, which not only makes it 
 difficult on any emergency to collect them 
 together, but must occasion a relaxation of dis- 
 cipline,.... and render them unfit for field service, 
 ....and probably not equal to those trained in the 
 
 service of Hyder The Rajah is desirous that 
 
 the number raised should consist of two thou- 
 sand men. I would not recommend the appoint- 
 ing many officers to them, but sufficient to 
 answer the intent of keeping up some sort of dis- 
 cipline and regularity, to attend to the mustering 
 them, the inspection of their arms, &c., that 
 may give them the appearance of regular troops, 
 and render them of service in defence of the 
 country on any troubles, or in case of an inva- 
 sion 
 
 " Ordered, That as soon as a sufficient num- 
 ber of Sepoys be raised to answer the imme- 
 diate calls of the Hajah, Captain Davis' s and 
 Captain Mackenzie's battalions do march to the 
 
 Q
 
 226 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 cantonments at Pondicherry, and that the gar- 
 rison at Tanjore do consist only of three batta- 
 lions of Sepoys." * 
 
 [The course of circumstances by which the 
 Madras Council had, sorely against their will, 
 been driven to weaken their own resources, in 
 order to help General Goddard and the Bombay 
 Presidency, will be more fully shown by the fol- 
 lowing letters and extracts.] 
 
 On the 3rd of January a letter had been ad- 
 dressed to the Governor of Bombay, as follows : 
 "A few days ago we received a letter from Colonel 
 Braithwaite, acquainting us with the disturbances 
 created in the neighbourhood of Tellicherry by 
 the Nairs,....and [that] the dangerous though 
 concealed part taken by Hyder to foment these 
 troubles, had induced him to keep the Europeans 
 intended for General Goddard' s army, and to act 
 with his whole force in defence of Tellicherry. 
 By Colonel Braithwaite's letter it appears that 
 by affording protection to people who were ob- 
 noxious, offence had been given to Hyder Ali 
 and the Nuirs, and that this offence, whether 
 real or pretended, had probably occasioned the 
 present troubles. This, however, will form more 
 properly an object for your inquiry ; and we havr 
 
 * Evidences, p. 483.
 
 PRESSURE UPON MADRAS. 227 
 
 no doubt you will take effectual measures for 
 putting an end to the disputes, and enabling 
 Colonel Braithwaite to forward the Europeans, 
 if no material change of circumstances has hap- 
 pened, and return to the coast with the Madras 
 Sepoys now at Tellicherry. To make up for the 
 disappointment which might be felt by the de- 
 tention of our troops at Tellicherry, we have 
 resolved immediately to reinforce General God- 
 
 dard with, &c Viewing the present situation 
 
 of affairs, we cannot but be extremely anxious 
 for a peace with the Mahrattas ; and, though we 
 have thought it necessary to send such a large 
 force to the other side of India, it is chiefly in 
 the hope that General Goddard will be enabled 
 by such means to effectuate a safe and honour- 
 able peace, without which we see no end to the 
 danger and embarrassment that threaten us, 
 from a combination of the Mahrattas, Hyder 
 Ali, and the Nizam ; the two former of whom 
 have actually concluded an offensive Treaty 
 against us, and the latter is ready to join upon 
 the first signal." * 
 
 On the 4th of February another letter was 
 addressed to the Council of Bombay, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 * Evidences, p. 480. 
 Q 2
 
 228 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " WE have received your letter of the 2nd of 
 
 January You express your wishes that at 
 
 this time we may be full and unreserved in our 
 
 political correspondence Upon this principle 
 
 we deem it expedient to give it as our opinion 
 that a war at this time may unite against us all 
 the principal powers of India ; and when it is 
 considered that we have an actual war to sustain 
 with the greatest powers of Europe, we think a 
 peace with the Mahrattas is safer and more 
 
 desirable upon almost any terms and setting 
 
 aside the evils which present themselves from 
 war at this juncture, as we do not see from 
 whence are to be derived resources sufficient to 
 manage undertakings of such magnitude." * 
 
 The following letter had been addressed from 
 Madras to Brigadier- General Goddard at Surat, 
 dated October 30th, 1779. 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " WE have sent orders to Colonel Braithwaite, 
 who commands our troops at Mahe, to obey any 
 requisition you may find it necessary to make 
 for the assistance of those troops ; but we sin- 
 
 * Evidences, p. 484.
 
 THE DILEMMA AT MADRAS. 229 
 
 cerely hope the necessity will be avoided by the 
 conclusion of an honourable Treaty with the 
 Mahrattas. We think it proper to acquaint you, 
 that from the conduct of Hyder Ali, we have the 
 greatest reason to suppose his intentions are 
 hostile to the Company, and that he means to 
 take the first favourable occasion of breaking 
 with them. Thus circumstanced, a peace with 
 the Mahratta state is the most desirable thing 
 that can happen, as it will enable us effectually 
 to keep Hyder in awe, and to employ our arms 
 at the same time in such a manner as the great 
 national war in which we are engaged may 
 require." * 
 
 This letter from Sir Thomas Rumbold and his 
 Council was followed up on January 6th, 1780, 
 by the following, also addressed to General 
 Goddard : 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " Colonel Braithwaite having advised us that 
 the state of affairs at Tellicherry had obliged him 
 to detain his detachment for the defence of that 
 settlement, we have resolved to send you a 
 respectable force immediately from hence, con- 
 sisting of, &c 
 
 * Evidences., p. 473.
 
 230 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " "We hope this reinforcement will enable you 
 to make a speedy, honourable, and lasting peace 
 with the Mahrattas ; for the situation of affairs 
 at home, by the junction of the French and the 
 Spaniards, and abroad by the union of the 
 Mahrattas, Hyder, and the Nizam against us, 
 render such an accommodation most desirable. 
 
 As we have considerably weakened our 
 
 establishment by sending so many of our best 
 troops to such a distance from us, we request, 
 the moment an accommodation is effected with 
 the Mahrattas, you will take measures for re- 
 turning our troops to the coast with all possible 
 expedition." * 
 
 Meantime, to Colonel Braithwaite, command- 
 ing at Tellicherry, a letter had been sent on 
 December 30th, 1779, as follows : 
 
 " We are very sensible of the difficulties you 
 
 have had to encounter We are sorry, at a 
 
 time when we have so many calls for our troops, 
 that you should have been drawn by the appa- 
 rent imprudence of the gentlemen of Telli- 
 cherry into measures we so much wished to 
 
 avoid We are still anxious to reinforce 
 
 General Goddard with your Europeans ; and, if 
 
 * Evidences, p. 505.
 
 CAUTIONS AND COUNSELS. 231 
 
 circumstances have not materially changed since 
 the date of your last letter, we would have you 
 embrace the first opportunity of sending them 
 to Surat or Bombay. As we have so much 
 confidence in your care and circumspection, we 
 desire you to continue in the command of 
 Tellicherry with the Madras Sepoys until you 
 
 shall think the present danger removed We 
 
 desire you will, in our name, strongly recom- 
 mend it to the Chief and Council to establish 
 tranquillity by every means in their power ; 
 and, if any just cause of offence have been given 
 to the Nairs, or to Hyder Ali, we wish it were 
 instantly removed ; for, in the present situation 
 of affairs, it is highly necessary that we should 
 industriously avoid all occasions of adding to 
 our enemies." * 
 
 And, that nothing that could be done 
 might be left undone in the way of preparation 
 against Hyder Ali and his designs, instructions 
 were sent as follows to Mr. Cotsford and the 
 Council at Masulipatam, of which he was 
 Chief :- 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " As we are uncertain, in the present state 
 
 * Evidences, p. 476.
 
 232 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 of affairs, what movements may be made by the 
 Nizam, or by Hyder AH to the northward, we 
 think it expedient to be prepared against any 
 attempts that may be formed by them to our 
 prejudice ; and, though we hope and believe our 
 possessions will not be disturbed, we have given 
 orders to Lieu tenant -Colon el Baillie to be on his 
 guard, and to act in defence of the Circars, 
 should there be the least insult offered to any of 
 them. We have also directed him to apply to 
 you, if he finds it expedient, for a reinforcement 
 from Ellore ; and we desire in case of such an 
 application that you will assist him with as 
 many of the Sepoys from that garrison as can 
 possibly be spared." * 
 
 The exact situation of affairs at Madras i 
 well shown in the following summary of reasons 
 given to Sir Eyre Coote for not complying with 
 his desire, that a part of Lord M'Cleod's regi- 
 ment should be sent to him. 
 
 " First. Because we have sent from this coast 
 to join General Goddard at Surat. Secondly. 
 Because we have no doubt that the intentions of 
 Hyder Ali are hostile, and that nothing will 
 induce him so soon to declare himself openly 
 
 * Evidences, p. 480.
 
 DISPOSITIONS MADE. 233 
 
 against us as an appearance of weakness in our 
 force upon this coast ; being satisfied that he is 
 kept in awe at present merely by the strength 
 which we derive from Sir Edward Hughes's fleet 
 and the King's troops. Thirdly. If the French 
 or Spaniards have any designs upon our posses- 
 sions in India, the attempt will, in all probability, 
 be made on the coast, or on the Malabar side ; 
 in either of which cases the strength of this 
 Presidency will be called forth, and particularly 
 if Hyder should join to favour such an attempt. 
 
 " These reasons, we hope, will prove satisfac- 
 tory to you, Sir ; and induce you to acquiesce in 
 the troops remaining together until the situation 
 of affairs shall be more favourable, or until our 
 troops be returned from the service on the other 
 side of India." * 
 
 The effect of detaching Colonel Braithwaite, 
 as required by Mr. Hastings, to the aid of Gene- 
 ral Goddard, will be seen from a Minute adopted 
 at a Select Committee, April 1st, 1780, the day 
 when Sir Thomas Rumbold delivered his parting 
 Address to the Board, on leaving Madras for 
 Europe. 
 
 "As by reason of the large detachment sent 
 to Surat, and the detention of our troops at 
 
 * Evidences, p. 485.
 
 234 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Tellicherry, our military establishment is too 
 much weakened to admit of our sending any 
 body of men into the field ; and as the Nabob 
 has applied for a force on account of the re- 
 fractory polygars ; Mr. Church to send to 
 Anjengo the Madras Sepoys now at Telli- 
 cherry." * 
 
 On February 25th, 1780, the following in- 
 structions were sent by the Council of Madras : 
 
 "To Mr. Morgan Williams, resident at Ganzam.f 
 
 " In order that Captain Bruce' s battalion may 
 
 be kept together as much as possible we 
 
 desire that the three companies of Sibbendy may 
 be put under the centre, and that the regular 
 Sepoys be kept together in cantonment, and not 
 employed but in cases of emergency.". . . 
 
 Also to Lieutenant Douglas, commander in 
 Guntoor, instructions were sent as follows : 
 
 " As we are uncertain, in the present unset- 
 tled state of affairs, what movements may be 
 made by the Nizam or Hyder Ali to the north- 
 ward, we desire, in case Colonel Baillie should 
 make any requisition for your Sepoys, that you 
 will join his detachment with the whole, or such 
 part as may not absolutely be wanted for the 
 service of the revenue." J 
 
 * Evidences, p. 493. f Ibid. \ Ibid, p. 481.
 
 THE EFFECT OF MR. HASTINGS' POLICY. 235 
 
 [Erom these instructions, and from the whole 
 tenor of the correspondence, as given in this 
 chapter and the preceding, it is abundantly evi- 
 dent that, hy the policy and by the requirements 
 of Mr. Hastings, as well as by his refusal to send 
 help, either in men or money, it had been put 
 beyond the power of the Council of Madras to 
 make any effectual preparations against Hyder 
 Ali's projects, although they were perfectly 
 aware of all the dangers surrounding their 
 position.]
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD'S DEPARTURE FROM MADRAS. HIS 
 REPRESENTATIONS AS TO THE STATE OF AFFAIRS. 
 
 IT was in his parting address to the Board, 
 (with whom the subject had been so con- 
 stantly under consideration, that no informa- 
 tion or " authoritative " declaration could be 
 needed by them from him,) that those words 
 were used by Sir Thomas Rumbold, which have 
 found so many echoes. 
 
 The address was as follows : 
 
 " The very bad state of health I have laboured 
 under obliging me to quit this Government and 
 return to Europe, I deem it necessary to submit 
 some points to the consideration of the Select 
 Committee, &c It aifords me particular satis- 
 faction that the whole of the Carnatic, and the 
 Company's northern possessions, are at present 
 undisturbed and in perfect tranquillity. How- 
 ever well inclined Hyder Ali may be to give 
 disturbance, neither he nor the Nizam have as 
 yet thought proper to put any of their threats 
 into execution ; and, from the arrival of the 
 fleet with the King's troops, I think there is the
 
 PARTING ADDRESS OF SIR THOMAS. 237 
 
 greatest prospect that this part of India will 
 remain quiet, especially if the Government 
 cautiously avoid taking any measures that may 
 be likely to bring on troubles 
 
 " It is greatly to be wished the expenses, both 
 
 civil and military, could be reduced As we 
 
 have already experienced the benefit of establish- 
 ing an office under Mr. Procter for auditing all 
 accounts, I am in hopes, by degrees, all super- 
 fluous charges will be struck off, and the ex- 
 penses be greatly reduced Our resources are 
 
 in some measure diminished by an almost total 
 stop to the vend of imports ; which, from the 
 troubles in different parts of India, and the war 
 with Prance and Spain, are in no demand. This 
 circumstance, with the amount formerly allowed 
 by the Company to be drawn annually on Europe, 
 formed a considerable part of the supplies. 
 
 " Mr. Whitehill's length of service to the 
 Company cannot fail to have given him a 
 thorough knowledge of every branch of their 
 affairs ; and the Directors having selected him 
 to bring out those very important dispatches for 
 the new arrangement of the Government, in 
 which he was to have so considerable a share, 
 was a very convincing proof of their approbation 
 of his conduct It affords me particular satis-
 
 238 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 faction to know that I leave at the head of the 
 army a gentleman who has on different occasions 
 rendered such essential services to the Company 
 
 and the nation I most sincerely hope nothing 
 
 will induce Sir Hector Munro to quit his com- 
 mand during the present unsettled state of India. 
 I cannot conclude this Minute without returning 
 my thanks to the Select Committee and the 
 
 Board for the support I have received, and 
 
 without recommending to them that unanimity 
 which is always necessary for conducting the 
 Company's affairs." * 
 
 The date of this Address, as we have seen, (p. 
 233,) was April 1st, 1780. To the Directors, Sir 
 Thomas E/umbold could not say that Hyder was 
 already at the gates of Madras ; but, in his official 
 letters to them, he had laid every circumstance 
 before them, and explained what grounds there 
 were to hope that the immediate danger was 
 past ; and he had pointed out the only measure 
 which he considered could give a prospect of 
 security for the future. 
 
 The date of the letter of which the following 
 is an extract, is January 21st, 1780 : 
 
 " You have been advised of the arrival of the 
 squadron At present everything is quiet in 
 
 * Evidences, p. 500.
 
 RUMBOLD'S LETTER TO THE DIRECTORS. 239 
 
 the Carnatic, and nothing very material has 
 occurred since my last dispatch to you. Hyder 
 has hitherto contented himself with extending 
 his conquests to the northward, and has not yet 
 
 invaded the Nabob's possessions Erom the 
 
 advance of the season without any movement 
 having been made by Hyder towards the Car- 
 natic, I am induced to think we shall remain in 
 peace, especially as the very seasonable arrival 
 of the fleet with the troops will have a powerful 
 effect in preventing any design of an invasion, if 
 such have been seriously intended. By the last 
 accounts from General Goddard, he had not been 
 able to bring about a Treaty with the Mahrattas 
 on the terms he contended for ; and viewing the 
 situation of your affairs in that quarter, and how 
 evidently necessary it appeared that General 
 Goddard should be rendered as formidable as 
 possible, either to give him sufficient weight to 
 bring about peace, or to continue the war if 
 possible to advantage, your Select Committee 
 have determined, notwithstanding their appre- 
 hensions of the Nizam and Hyder, to send a 
 very considerable reinforcement to join General 
 Goddard at Surat. A day or two after your 
 Select Committee came to the resolution of rein- 
 forcing General Goddard, the intelligence arrived
 
 240 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 that Sir Edward Hughes with the fleet might be 
 expected in the course of a fortnight ; which 
 relieved us in some measure from the apprehen- 
 sions entertained in consequence of our parting 
 
 with so large a force It is with concern I 
 
 acquaint you that I shall be under the necessity 
 of returning to Europe in the ' General Barker.' 
 Such has been my state of health, that it has 
 been matter of surprise my constitution has held 
 out against the repeated severe attacks I have 
 laboured under. I am more particular in men- 
 tioning my situation, because, whilst I have the 
 honour of receiving your approbation of my 
 conduct, I quit the management of your concerns 
 with great reluctance and regret ; but were I to 
 attempt remaining, and escape with life through 
 the approaching hot season, I could not do 
 justice to your affairs, from my inability to give 
 the necessary application to them." * 
 
 On the 7th of Eebruary, the following com- 
 munication was forwarded by the same ship : 
 
 " I have the honour to forward to you enclosed 
 a duplicate of my letter of the 21st. It is with 
 infinite pleasure I inform you, that from the late 
 conduct of Hyder Ali in releasing some gentle- 
 men that were detained by his officers on the 
 
 * Evidences, p. 211.
 
 EUMBOLD'S LAST WORDS TO THE DIRECTORS. 241 
 
 Malabar coast, and from his remaining at 
 Seringapatam, and withdrawing some troops he 
 had to the northward, I can speak with confi- 
 dence that there is no likelihood at present of 
 any troubles on this side of India, and I flatter 
 myself, that during the course of the season 
 some effectual measures will be taken to bring 
 about a peace with the Mahrattas." * 
 
 On the 12th, Sir Thomas Rumbold says : 
 
 " As the season for invasion is now far ad- 
 vanced, we flatter ourselves we shall escape 
 troubles for the present year at least. The 
 arrival of the fleet, and the reinforcement of 
 troops, will add much to our security ; and we 
 hope to give it permanence in the event of an 
 accommodation with the Mahrattas." t 
 
 The last words of the last letter addressed by 
 Sir Thomas to the Directors, under date April 
 3rd, 1780, three days before he sailed for Eng- 
 land, were the following : 
 
 " If the country powers were capable of taking 
 all the advantage which a combination might 
 give them against us, we should severely feel the 
 weight of their united operations; but, for- 
 tunately for the Company, their jealousy of each 
 other is too strong to admit of any sincere and 
 
 * Evidences, p. 491. f Ibid., p. 490. 
 
 R
 
 242 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 permanent agreement ; and we think even now, 
 notwithstanding the provocation which the 
 Mahrattas have received by our measures in 
 support of Ragonaut Bow, were we to grant tit cm 
 any reasonable terms of accommodation, they would 
 instantly turn their arms against Ryder, and 
 leave its once more to the enjoyment of that tran- 
 quillity which we experienced from their former 
 contests with him." * 
 
 If, on the least favourable construction that 
 can be put upon these last expressions, it should 
 be considered that Sir Thomas Rumbold, then 
 on the eve of departure, augured too favourably 
 from the grounds he alleged, it is impossible, on 
 a review of the precautions taken, and of the 
 repeated letters of warning, in which the Board 
 concurred, that he should not be absolved of that 
 far more weighty imputation of having lulled 
 others into a false security, and thereby induced 
 that neglect and incredulity when the invasion 
 took place, which are so much expatiated upon. 
 
 In the imputations of apathy and negligence 
 against the Madras Government, after the 
 departure of Sir Thomas, which are always 
 made to reflect back upon Sir Thomas himself, 
 there was originally great exaggeration. An 
 
 * Evidences, pp. 504-5.
 
 RTJMBOLD OBLIGED TO LEAVE MADRAS. 243 
 
 examination of the Appendices to the Reports 
 of the Committee shows that they were derived 
 entirely from one-sided and interested state- 
 ments. Some part of the evidence on this head 
 will be given in the Supplementary Chapter. 
 
 It has been made a subject of reproach, and 
 with more plausibility, that when Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold returned to Europe, " he deserted his 
 post." According to the conduct we have seen 
 pursued by those placed under circumstances 
 somewhat similar, what had taken place between 
 Mr. Hastings and him might fairly have been 
 alleged as a reason for quitting Madras; but 
 this motive was not alleged. There is abundant 
 testimony in private correspondence, which might 
 be produced, to show that the return to the 
 climate of India, after an absence of some years, 
 took such effect immediately on the President's 
 health, as threatened serious and even fatal 
 consequences ; but there was evidence, fully 
 confirmatory of this statement, given publicly 
 by Colonel Capper, who was examined with 
 regard to the state of the army at Madras, 
 at the bar of the House of Commons. This 
 examination was of great length, and inter- 
 esting on many points.* Colonel Capper had 
 
 * Evidences, pp. 513-518. 
 R 2
 
 244 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 been twenty-one years in the service of the 
 Company, and had last served as Commissary 
 General. The account given by him with regard 
 to the disposition of the troops, and supplies of 
 stores, &c., in the garrisons, contrasts remark- 
 ably with the impressions that had been gene- 
 rallv received of the defenceless state of the 
 
 V 
 
 Carnatic. 
 
 Colonel Capper was asked, " Do you know the 
 reason of Sir Thomas Rumbold's quitting the 
 Government in 1780?" He replied, "Mr. 
 Paisley, the first physician at Madras, who is a 
 very intimate friend of mine, told me that he 
 thought it hardly possible for Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold to survive the next land winds, which would 
 blow for the next three or four ensuing months. 
 He had such frequent returns of illness, the phy- 
 sician told me further, that if he would not re- 
 frain from the fatigues of public business, it 
 would probably be fatal to him." 
 
 Colonel Capper was questioned much " whe- 
 ther in the beginning of April, 1780, the report 
 of Hyder's invasion was looked upon as so likely 
 to happen, as to make it necessary to bring a 
 body of troops immediately into the field ? " 
 
 Answer. " In that month I believe the Go- 
 vernor would not send an army into the field on
 
 MILITARY CONDITION OF THE PRESIDENCY. 245 
 
 common report, because it is a very unfavourable 
 season for the enemy to invade the Carnatic, with 
 a body of horse especially, there being very little 
 water in the rivers or tanks, and also very little 
 grass for feed." 
 
 " Do you, from your knowledge, think any of 
 the villages on the frontiers of the Carnatic would 
 have been proper to have cantoned our troops 
 in, previous to the invasion of Hyder Ali ? " 
 
 Answer. " It would have answered no purpose 
 to have carried them to the frontiers, as there 
 were several passes through which the enemy 
 could have come into the Carnatic, and sur- 
 rounded us ; and, as we had no cavalry, might 
 have prevented any supplies being sent to us." 
 
 "What situation is the most centrical for 
 assembling an army to cover the different 
 garrisons? " 
 
 Answer. " I believe near Conjeveram and 
 Wandewash." 
 
 " Erom your knowledge of the Nabob of Arcot, 
 do you think that he was not apprehensive of 
 such an invasion ? " 
 
 Answer. " The report varied at the Durbar in 
 the end of May and beginning of June, 1780, and 
 then I heard the Nabob say that Hyder had sent 
 a body of pioneers to clear the passes ; and that
 
 246 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 was the first time he seemed to think it certain 
 that the Carnatic would be invaded." 
 
 " Do you think that in April, 1780, the army 
 was in a proper situation to have taken the field 
 against the enemy ? " 
 
 Answer. " They were both in a proper state 
 and situation, if bullocks and other common pre- 
 parations had been provided." 
 
 Colonel Capper described the principal gar- 
 risons as amply supplied with stores, and " Arcot 
 a perfect magazine of stores and ammunition." * 
 
 * Evidences, pp. 49-54. It may be seen, page 161, of the 
 Minutes of Evidence, that the Counsel for the prosecution aban- 
 doned these two paragraphs of the Bill 127 and 128 which 
 charged Sir Thomas Kumbold with " culpable negligence in not 
 preparing for the defence of the Carnatic," &c. ; and also " the con- 
 cealment imputed to him by Messrs. Smith and Johnson, members 
 of the Select Committee of Fort St. George, of letters containing 
 important intelligence of the preparations making by Hyder for an 
 invasion of the Carnatic." 
 
 After Major Geils's evidence, which was given very early, as he 
 was under orders to return to India, the first charge was with- 
 drawn. 
 
 [Unfortunately, historians, writing under an unfriendly bias and 
 inspiration against Sir Thomas Rumbold, and following each other's 
 lead, instead of resorting to the original sources of evidence and 
 information, have retained and handed on charges which the per- 
 sonal enemies and official antagonists and prosecutors of Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, in his lifetime, were compelled to abandon.]
 
 COLONEL CAPPER AND MAJOR GEILS. 247 
 
 Very particular testimony was also given by 
 Major Geils, an artillery officer and field engineer. 
 He stated, that " the fortifications of Madras were 
 effected during the government of Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold ; that the artillery were complete with 
 stores and carriages, and in high discipline ; " 
 that " a body of Lascars was raised, and attached 
 to the artillery, which were found particularly 
 useful in the field, as well as new corps trained, 
 that the regular Sepoys might strengthen the 
 army." 
 
 Major Geils gave it as his decided opinion that, 
 "With any force they had to oppose Hyder Ali, 
 they could not have prevented him from making 
 himself master of the open country. He looked 
 upon Madras, Velour, Trichinopoli, and Tanj ore, 
 as their principal garrisons. None of these had 
 fallen, but with respect to the inferior garrisons, 
 they ought to have been erased. I think," Major 
 Geils repeated, " Hyder Ali might have entered 
 the Carnatic, in spite of any disposition we could 
 have made. Had Hyder entered by the northern 
 pass, there were no other troops for the protec- 
 tion of the Northern Circars than Colonel Bailly's 
 division." 
 
 In the small part of the evidence of these 
 officers that has been cited, they are found to
 
 248 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 agree in the opinion expressed by Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold, in his letters to the Council of Bengal, 
 that they could not protect the country from the 
 ravages of Hyder, or guard all the passes ; and 
 justiiy the proposition, which he twice urged 
 upon their consideration, that abandoning other 
 projects and views, excepting those of necessary 
 defence against the national enemy, " the three 
 Presidencies should unite to check his power," 
 and put an end to the war which was certainly 
 impending. 
 
 Although in the course of what has been 
 written, some passages from Mr. Hardinge's 
 Defence of Sir Thomas Rumbold have been occa- 
 sionally introduced, the compiler of these docu- 
 ments was not in possession of that Defence until 
 the principal part of what is here set forth had 
 been worked out from other sources. The De- 
 fence consists of three parts, and is to be met 
 with in the British Museum ; the first two parts 
 are complete, the third part is in an abbreviated 
 form. 
 
 It has been a question whether this Defence, 
 admirable in power, as well as for its eloquence 
 and wit, should be reprinted and circulated, in 
 the hope of calling attention to a subject where
 
 MR. HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF SIR THOMAS. 249 
 
 the truth has been too long suffered to remain dis- 
 guised : hut this plan was not carried out, for the 
 reason that the Defence enters into great detail ; 
 and to he thoroughly understood requires some 
 acquaintance with the very numerous charges of 
 the Bill, and also with the speeches of the Counsel 
 for the accusation, to whom a great part of it is 
 addressed. This objection does not apply in the 
 same degree to the concluding part, which is 
 more general, and a summary of the rest. 
 A great portion of this is subjoined.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE CONCLUDING CHAPTER OF MR. HAR- 
 DINGE'S DEFENCE OF SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD. 
 
 AFTER a recapitulation of what took place on 
 the subject of the Guntoor Circar in the year 
 1775, Mr. Hardinge continues : 
 
 " I recur to the duty of Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 and his Council in 1778, and I ask, if under the 
 sanction of the letters from Bengal, especially 
 the latest, compared with the subsequent events, 
 and the Nizam's violation of his promise, they 
 were not authorized at one immediate stroke, 
 (waiting for no further correspondence, either 
 with Bengal or the Nizam,) to repossess the 
 Guntoor. Every single step which the culprit 
 before us pursued relative to the Guntoor was 
 not only vindicated, but authorized, by the 
 Governor General, Mr. Hastings. Over some 
 parts of his conduct by Sir Thomas Rumbold, 
 I would throw a veil, if I could; but here I 
 affirm that I can fight in support of the ynill 
 imputed by this Bill under the shield of his
 
 ME. HARDINGE'S DEFENCE. 251 
 
 genius and spirit. No doubt of the Company's 
 
 right either to correspond or treat with Bazalet 
 
 Jung had been suggested by the Council of 
 
 Madras ; and the only doubt which they had 
 
 insinuated, was upon the single question of 
 
 acquiring the Guntoor by force. But at Bengal, 
 
 the right of treating with Bazalet, in a pacific 
 
 form, or sword in hand, (as the Board of Madras 
 
 might think most eligible,) is taken for granted ; 
 
 and the letter authorises an immediate force to 
 
 be levied, for the purpose of a march to the 
 
 borders of Guntoor. If this requisition should 
 
 fail, say the Council of Bengal, and he should 
 
 refuse instant obedience to it, act upon the other 
 
 alternative yourselves, and after possession thus 
 
 obtained, treaty for the cession, that is, for the 
 
 terms of retaining the Circar, already taken into 
 
 our hand, (by an act of justice to ourselves,) is 
 
 to be formed with Bazalet' s brother the Nizam." 
 
 " What is the conduct of Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 
 and his Council ? They had read the latest 
 
 instructions from Bengal; they had read and 
 
 seen how baffled those instructions had long been, 
 
 partly by the debates of men who should have 
 
 acted, and partly by the Nizam's breach of good 
 
 faith ; yet they could not but see, that Bengal 
 
 had also been inactive, and had not pressed the
 
 252 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 execution of his own plan, or censured the dis- 
 regard shown to it by the inferior Council. In 
 delicacy, therefore, to the superior Board, they 
 pause ; and before they direct those acts of 
 hostility against the Nizam, which the Govern- 
 ment of Bengal had even authorized, they write 
 a letter to him; in the genuine spirit of the 
 instructions before them. They tell him ' that if 
 he will not consent, they will take effectual 
 means with Bazalet Jung. They claim the Port 
 of Mootapillee, at all events; but unless the 
 enemy shall be dispossessed, they require the 
 cession of not Mootapillee alone, but the whole 
 Circar.' At the time of writing, an order was 
 issued for intercepting the first European rein- 
 forcements that should enter the Guntoor at 
 Mootapillee. The letter was never answered by 
 the Nizam." 
 
 " At a later period, the war preceding the 
 capture of Pondicherry took place. An abler 
 and more spirited enterprise was never planned ; 
 an able and spirited enterprise was never better 
 executed. The policy of it was, to rid us of the 
 European competition first, and then direct our 
 united force against the country powers, whom 
 the invader had seduced or encouraged in their 
 disaffection. For the support, however, of this
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUMBOLD. 253 
 
 measure, the Northern Circars were in a manner 
 evacuated, and almost at the mercy of Bazalet's 
 
 friends in the Guntoor After Pondicherry 
 
 was captured, no European enemy remained, 
 except the garrison of Mahe, and Lally's force in 
 the Guntoor. It could scarce be imagined that a 
 mad perseverance of the Government at Bengal 
 in the war against the Mahrattas, with whom 
 the Nizam and Hyder Ali were leagued, would 
 counteract the benefit of such critical services. 
 After this capture, Sir Thomas Rumbold again 
 wrote, with no better success, to the Nizam. He 
 desired an answer to the first letter, but no 
 answer came. In the mean time, Bazalet Jung, 
 unsolicited, made an offer of the Guntoor upon 
 terms." 
 
 " Upon the 22nd of December they apprise the 
 Government at Bengal of the offer and of their 
 Treaty, in the express terms of it. They state the 
 arrangement as made with Bazalet alone, and the 
 rent stipulated as a compensation to him. The 
 very name of the Nizam is put aside, and laid 
 upon the shelf, unless for the purpose of stating 
 that he has neglected his duty, violated his word, 
 and sent another shuffling letter, since Bazalet's 
 offer had been accepted. They state the right of 
 treating with Bazalet, or proceeding by force
 
 254 CHAPTElt XVII. 
 
 against him, as authorized by the result of the 
 correspondence between the Governments in 1775, 
 and by the events which followed it." 
 
 " What is the conduct of the Government 
 of Bengal, thus informed ? They approve 
 directly, and without reserve, the acceptance 
 of this overture, and ratify the Articles of 
 Treaty enclosed, except in two or three parti- 
 culars, which they correct. They return it, so 
 corrected, and in express terms authorize the 
 Council of Madras to conclude this Treaty with 
 Bazalet Jung. They speak of the * alliance pro- 
 posed as affecting him.' ' "We leave it,' says 
 the letter, ' to you to negotiate, and finally con- 
 clude with him.' Upon the Nizam, not a syl- 
 lable is to be found. Could that Government 
 have acted otherwise, at this later period of their 
 politics, addressed evidently to the same object, 
 and affected by the same principles ? Could they 
 have said, ' You should first have conciliated the 
 Nizam ? ' Could they have stated his consent as 
 the express or implied preliminary to the corre- 
 spondence and agreement with his brother ? 
 Their own words upon record must have confuted 
 them, and exposed the duplicity of their politics. 
 Yet, in the year 1780, they misrepresent, or at 
 least forget, the tenour of the letters written by
 
 HAKDINGE'S DEFENCE OP RUMBOLD. 255 
 
 themselves in 1775, and preserved upon the 
 Company's records." 
 
 " ' We took it for granted ' (they have in 1780 
 the confidence to affirm) ' that you would keep 
 your Treaties.' They quote a single passage, with- 
 out the context, as proving the intention of Madras 
 to consult the Nizam in 1775, which passage I have 
 also stated and explained. It imports that having 
 written to the Nizam the Council of Madras were to 
 wait for his answer. But why omit the subsequent 
 letter of the same Board upon the same topic, 
 since the answer of the Nizam, for which alone 
 they had waited, reached them ? In 1780 we are 
 told at Bengal, that 'when the Council there 
 approved of this Treaty with Bazalet, in 1778, 
 they had nothing before them but Sir Thomas 
 Bumbold's letter, and had no conception of the 
 disrespect shown to the Nizam by these mea- 
 sures.' Nothing ? Had they received no letters 
 in 1775 ? Had the objection of Treaties in the 
 way never been stated? Had it not been 
 pointedly alleged by the Council of Madras, and 
 superseded by them ? Were not these Treaties 
 themselves before them enclosed expressly for the 
 purpose of marking that Bazalet had violated 
 them ? Did they not look at these materials, and 
 examine them ? What advice have they given
 
 256 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 after this examination ? They do not say, * Go 
 to the Nizam first, with your Treaty in your 
 hand ; ' hut, ' Go to the Circar ; take it out of 
 dangerous hands : we must have it. When you 
 have made it our own, treat for an equivalent, if 
 the parties deserve that mark of attention to their 
 interest, hy opposing no force against this neces- 
 sary act of justice to ourselves.' ' 
 
 " Such then, after all, is the violation of those 
 Treaties by the Council of Madras, or their Pre- 
 sident, (who it seems at this bar must always 
 answer for them,) a violation ' gross and shame- 
 ful,' as the Bill calls it ; that Bill which points 
 only at the correspondence and agreement with 
 Bazalet Jung, for the purpose of ingrafting those 
 invectives upon it, and omits the authority given 
 to possess the Guntoor by force ; omits the terms 
 proposed by each of the Governments in the year 
 1775 ; omits Bazalet Jung's violation of the 
 subsisting Treaties; omits the approbation 
 given by the Directors themselves to the mea- 
 sure ; and omits the Nizam's perfidy, in suffering, 
 if not enabling, the European troops to form a 
 junction with Hyder AH ; for whom they were 
 destined from the first." 
 
 "By the way this injured ally, the Nizam, gave, 
 soon after his brother had ceded the Guntoor, a
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF EUMBOLD. 257 
 
 decisive and striking proof of his own perfidy, by 
 a letter to that brother, in which he laments 
 over the loss of the Guntoor, as a loss to their 
 common interest. ' You should not,' said he, 
 'have given it up to the English. Hyder AH 
 should have been preferred.' Not a hint there 
 of Treaties violated by our Government ! In the 
 very hand of Hyder himself, in. a letter to his 
 own Vakeel at the Court of Bazalet (a direct 
 violation of Treaty that such a Vakeel should 
 have been there) we discover indignation 
 against Bazalet for his preference of the English 
 to him. ' You have given it,' says the appel- 
 lant, the injured Hyder, ' to my bitter enemies, 
 and have preferred them to me.' ' 
 
 " The next article before us, is the conduct of 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold in attempting to obtain 
 from the Nizam a remission of that yearly sum 
 which is called the peishcush. The charge rela- 
 tive to this conduct has made an impression upon 
 the House, because the advocates who stated it, 
 as well as the Bill, which is always insidious, 
 
 have thrown a mist of prejudice over it It 
 
 has only to be understood, and the subtleties 
 which entangle it will be at an end." 
 
 " The Bill calls the offence by two names, for 
 two different purposes ; and one or other of 
 
 s
 
 258 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 them is, of necessity, false. But I shall prove 
 that neither of them are true. Eirst the appli- 
 cation to the Nizam, in the form of a request 
 that he would remit this tribute, is called by the 
 name of Treaty, for the purpose of making that 
 measure, so described, a positive disobedience of 
 an Act of Parliament. But who will seriously 
 affirm that, if I request an indulgence relative 
 to some particulars of a right upon the face of 
 an existing Treaty, I form a new Treaty by that 
 request ? In the next breath, however, it is no 
 Treaty, for it violates another ; whereas Treaty 
 assumes the arrangement of parties, without 
 prejudice to the rights of either, and subject, of 
 course, to their mutual assent or disapprobation 
 as it proceeds. But call it either Treaty or 
 application for an indulgence, it violated no 
 good faith, it offered no injury to the most 
 punctilious and irritable sense of honour : it 
 could have no view but that of advantage to the 
 Company, at a moment of the most critical 
 
 peril." 
 
 " That a remission of this tribute was desirable, 
 that it was just and wise to obtain it without 
 offence to the Nizam, is perfectly agreed. The 
 justice of it was obvious, and the letter of Treaty 
 could alone interfere. Where, then, was the
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE or RUMBOLD. 259 
 
 iniquity, the violence, and the wrong of nego- 
 tiating a dispensation with a law, if it may be 
 so termed in this particular ? The wisdom of 
 the attempt is proved by the fact, that we could 
 not pay the sum ; a fact stated in other words 
 by the accusing Counsel, as affording a reason 
 against the attempt, viewed in the light of an 
 injury to the Nizam. ' The House will remem- 
 ber,' said he, ' that at this period their want of 
 resources, military and political, was extreme.' 
 But was that a reason for sleeping over this 
 oppressive claim, which hung about our necks 
 and crushed every hope of exertion against the 
 
 embarrassment of our political fortune ? " 
 
 " A strange inaccuracy occurs in the sentiments 
 of Bengal disclosed by their letter. They, first, 
 in express terms admit that no attempt had 
 been made by the Council of Madras to obtain 
 the remission of the peishcush against the 
 Nizam's consent : yet, in the same letter, they 
 insinuate the charge of an oppressive and most 
 injurious violence to him, as marked in the very 
 assurance given to him, that if the remission 
 could not be obtained, the accrued and current 
 tribute would be paid. The subtle ingenuity of 
 their comment shall not be injured by me. I 
 will state it without exaggeration. ' It is true 
 
 s 2
 
 260 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 that you promise to pay ; but you add, that you 
 will pay when you can, and will resist violence : 
 from which it is no strained inference to collect 
 these two propositions. The first, that you will 
 not pay at all; and the second, that you will 
 resist any demand of payment by force.' A 
 more sophistical fallacy never tortured plain 
 words, and a context was never so mutilated. 
 The words are : * If all these four propositions 
 fail, we will pay the balance due, when in cash. 
 [We have no design to commence hostilities, or 
 infringe any of his rights ;] ' (that paragraph is 
 omitted by the commentator,) but, ' we are pre- 
 pared to revenge any insults which may be 
 offered.'" 
 
 " The only part of these instructions to Hollond 
 which point at the policy of addressing the 
 Nizam in a firmer tone, applies itself to the 
 support which he had given to Lally's force in 
 the Guntoor ; and with a view to that subject, it 
 was politic as well as just. But no passage in 
 the letter drops a hint that Hollond should 
 
 insist upon the remission proposed ' After 
 
 all, (says the letter,) if you cannot obtain the 
 remission of the entire peishcush, try to lower 
 it ; and learn if you can find an equivalent 
 which you may tempt the Nizam to accept.' '
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUMBOLD. 261 
 
 " I am now to lay before the House a very 
 important fact in the conduct of the Supreme 
 Government, and which I defy their advocates 
 to vindicate as either politic or just. Upon the 
 single credit of a letter from Mr. Hollond, the 
 Resident of Madras at the Court of the Nizam, 
 they write at once to that Prince, and suspend 
 all further proceedings between Madras and 
 him. Why could they not have corrected the 
 erroneous policy of the inferior Council through 
 that Council ? Why not seem to act in concert 
 with them, instead of disowning and affronting 
 them at the Court of a native Prince ? Their own 
 words, which they falsely apply to Madras in the 
 sequel, are with strict justice applicable here to 
 themselves. ' They proclaim to all India the 
 disunion of interest between the two Presi- 
 dencies.' ' 
 
 " The Directors of the Company had, in express 
 and emphatical terms, disapproved a similar 
 interference upon a recent occasion; but the 
 Council of Bengal have short memories. Upon 
 their own records, we find a letter from hence * 
 dated February 7th, 1777. Let the Counsel for 
 the Bill explain, why the same thing was wrong 
 
 * [That is, from the East India Directors to the Council of 
 Bengal. ED.]
 
 262 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 at Bombay, and right in 1779 at Madras. I 
 shall quote from it without an anachronism. 
 * We disapprove your embassy to Poonah, with- 
 out consulting first the Council of Bombay. 
 You state, by your Ambassador, that you deter- 
 mine to annul their Treaty. This will" degrade 
 them in the eyes of the natives, and it will be 
 impossible for them to conduct our affairs in 
 future, with honour to themselves, .or advantage 
 to us.' " 
 
 " The result of this abrupt and wanton inter- 
 ference was of course a disagreement between 
 
 o 
 
 the two Presidencies ; but Madras bowed impli- 
 citly to the measure, disputing indeed the policy, 
 the justice, and even the right of that control, 
 which the Government had assumed, but making 
 no opposition to it in fact. It is therefore clear 
 of doubt, that if that measure had been con- 
 veyed through the Board of Madras, without any 
 public offence to their honour, they would have 
 co-operated most cheerfully, and surrendered 
 their own opinions without reluctance." 
 
 " We are told that ' Madras used angry words 
 to Bengal,' upon the occasion of this disagree- 
 ment between them. It is childish to ar^uc 
 from angry words on either side in cases like 
 these. It is at least a measuring cast between
 
 AKDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUMBOLD. 263 
 
 the parties at variance ; and, as to Bengal, the 
 records of it contain such acrimony of dehate, 
 that you would suppose every day would pro- 
 duce one duel at least amongst the members 
 of that Board. But in this correspondence I 
 discover some facts and some arguments which 
 strike me as commanding respect by their weight 
 and importance. The Board of Madras first vindi- 
 cate the policy of their own conduct ; they lament 
 the interference of Bengal, and the manner of it 
 still more ; they add, that nothing but miscon- 
 struction at the Court of the Nizam can account 
 for his umbrage, if it was even genuine, at any of 
 their propositions ; they, however, much to their 
 honour, give the point up, and surrender their 
 own opinions to an act of power, though, in their 
 sense of it, assumed and usurped. What is the 
 answer from Bengal ? * You have yielded, and 
 we will give you no reason.' Was that concili- 
 atory language ? But a fact appears in the letter 
 of Madras which it imported the Council of 
 Bengal to explain. Shah Allurn had been dis- 
 possessed of his territories and his tribute by the 
 Council of Bengal, without any reason assigned ; 
 whereas the Nizam, as it was admitted, and 
 had been emphatically urged by the same 
 Council, was meditating a league with the Mah-
 
 264 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 rattas and French against the English Govern- 
 ment." 
 
 " The natural consequences of this imperious 
 and wanton control at Bengal over the Board of 
 Madras were soon marked by the event. It 
 baffled the recovery of the Guntoor, a measure 
 which the Council of Bengal had recently autho- 
 rized. It courted the Nizam to raise his de- 
 mands : he claimed the Guntoor for himself. 
 This was poetical justice to the Council of Ben- 
 gal, who had courted him in such nattering 
 terms, after they had betrayed him at the Court 
 
 of Berar Another inconvenience arose from 
 
 the suspension of those arrangements which the 
 Board of Madras were attempting at the Court 
 of the Nizam. If Mr. Hollond had pursued their 
 instructions with fidelity and good sense, an im- 
 mediate payment of the peishcush could have 
 been made the just price of Lally's banishment 
 from the Guntoor, whereas the result of this 
 abject homage to the Nizam by the supreme Go- 
 vernment, and of this blind confidence in his 
 honour, was, that pretending to guard the ene- 
 mies' force, he connived at their escape into 
 Hyder Ali's quarters." 
 
 " We are next accused of * recalling Mr. Hol- 
 lond.' A very singular and refined imputation it
 
 HAKDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUMBOLD. 265 
 
 is. "We recalled that Uesident, whose continu- 
 ance in . office had not been desired by either the 
 Council of Bengal, by the Nizam, or by himself ; 
 that Resident, who had been of no use to us, but 
 had merely acted as a partizan of the supreme 
 Government ; that Resident, who had abused our 
 confidence, and had paid the Council of Bengal 
 for their protection of him, by furnishing them 
 with a victim, in place of themselves ; who had 
 offended the public justice of the kingdom by en- 
 couraging the Mahratta war, and affording op- 
 portunity to a desolating invader's ambition. 
 We recalled a Resident, who had proved the 
 duplicity of his politics by writing to us a letter 
 of confidence, inconsistent with his letter to 
 Bengal. He was recalled without offence to the 
 Nizam or himself. The Nizam had marked a 
 very abrupt and sudden change of politics, from 
 the moment in which the Council of Bengal dis- 
 owned and affronted Madras. He saw with 
 pleasure the discord between the two Councils, 
 and encouraged the instrument of it. "We have 
 upon the records of this period a letter to 
 Bengal, written by the Nizam, and altered by Mr. 
 Hollond ; (a singular feature of his intrigue and 
 cabal, which of itself disabled him for his office;) 
 but the unaltered parts of that letter have
 
 266 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 shrewd sense in them, humiliating to the little 
 politics of Bengal, and a death blow to the influ- 
 ence of Madras But as if the affront put 
 
 already upon the Council of Madras, by suspend- 
 ing their instructions, was not signal enough to 
 degrade them for ever at the Court of the 
 Nizam, they direct the agent, Mr. Hollond, 
 whom that Council had recalled, (by the power 
 which had appointed him,) to be their own Resi- 
 dent at the same Court, for the purpose of 
 carrying into effect a new system irrecon- 
 cileable to the policy which his first cre- 
 dentials had authorized him to pursue. 
 Could any act be more injurious, more 
 oppressive, and more grating to the inferior 
 Board ? It annihilated the respect which had 
 hitherto been considered as due to the Govern- 
 ment of Madras ; it invited the servants of that 
 power to disobey their immediate master, and 
 look to Bengal for impunity. Fatal politics ! 
 which at an earlier period the same Government 
 had encouraged, by their sanction to the 
 calumnies of Mr. Sadlier." * 
 
 * This allusion is not explained. At a later period Mr. Sadlier 
 appears to have been chiefly instrumental to the disunion of the 
 Council of Madras, so disastrous in its effects ; and he was 
 encouraged to play the part of informant by Mr. Hastings.
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUMBOLD, 267 
 
 " We may now take our leave of the 
 peishcush. it is the accuser's fallacy upon 
 this charge to convert an equitable request 
 into a peremptory command, an opinion 
 imparted under the seal of confidence into 
 a public letter of credentials, which the 
 Nizam is to read. It is another of his fallacies 
 to convert the firmness of language appli- 
 cable only to the Nizam's threat of hostili- 
 ties to a firmness, if not a violence, applicable to 
 our demand of the peishcush. By the same 
 powers of magic, in the accuser's book Hollond's 
 disobedience of orders to conciliate becomes the 
 obstinate perseverance of those who employed 
 him in the most offensive mode of application. 
 The accuser can without embarrassment expa- 
 tiate upon the policy and justice of Bengal in 
 suspending the attempts for the remission of that 
 very peishcush, which they have themselves 
 compelled the Nizam to remit as long as the war 
 shall continue. He approves their control of an 
 important measure, set on foot by the subordi- 
 nate Government, a control at once imperious 
 and weak, but in the next breath he brands the 
 recall of their own Resident by the Madras 
 Board as the torch of discord and civil war be- 
 tween the two Presidencies, whose mutual inter-
 
 268 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 est it was to appear, in the eyes of the natives, 
 one united power." 
 
 " We are next carried from the Nizam to 
 Hyder Ali; and our hostilities to him in the 
 Cuddapah are stated as injurious provocations of 
 his power. The vindication of marching our 
 troops through a part of his territories, in their 
 way to Adoni, which is upon the western borders 
 of the Guntoor, is very short, obvious^ and com- 
 plete. The equity of declared hostilities against 
 him, at this period, was unquestionable ; but I 
 agree that it was an article of prudence to 
 abstain from any wanton or offensive challenge 
 to his abilities, resources, and high spirit. The 
 same prudence warranted the risk of his displea- 
 sure upon this critical occasion. He had his eye 
 fixed upon the Guntoor for himself: it was the 
 direct and chief purpose of sending those troops 
 at all to guard against him. We pass our troops 
 through a little edge of the Cuddapah, his recent 
 conquest, which intercepted our journey to Adoni; 
 but we direct that offence to him or his agents may 
 be averted by the most vigilant precautions. Yet 
 this measure it seems, qualified as it was, ' broke 
 the law of nations, and provoked Hyder 'to en- 
 mity against the English. As if he waited for 
 provocations, or the resentment of injuries
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUMBOLD. 269 
 
 before he would feel that enmity, and would act 
 upon it. Are we so ignorant of a fact, which 
 every child knew at Madras, that Hyder had, 
 long before this period, formed leagues with his 
 French ally, for our extirpation ? Is it forgot 
 that Lally waited only for the most favourable 
 season to improve Hyder 's army by the Euro- 
 pean troops under his command, by those 
 troops which it was the policy of Bengal and 
 Madras to banish from the Guntoor, as having 
 been stationed there with no other view ? Never, 
 Sir, in the name of common sense, let us hear of 
 Hyder's objections. What have they ever been, 
 from the earliest period, but pretences of the 
 minute (caught as he could find them, and 
 selected with little care) for acts of hostility, 
 operating upon a concerted and predetermined 
 war? He catches at any little twig of com- 
 plaint. We offended him by the measure of 
 sending troops at all to Bazalet Jung, which he 
 called a violation of our Treaties with him. We 
 offended him by the civil commotions of our 
 districts upon the border of his dominion; a 
 complaint which he never could prove. He was 
 offended by our capture of Mahe ; and there, too, 
 found a violation of our engagements to him. 
 At other times he shifted the charge to Bombay,
 
 270 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 and accused that Presidency. He complains that 
 we forbore to assist him against the Mahrattas. 
 But he adds to the heap an idle skirmish in his 
 territories, which accident alone produced, and 
 which it had been the most anxious policy of 
 the Madras Council to obviate." 
 
 " I have at length, by many a painful step, 
 reached the last article of charge in the accuser's 
 volume. It states that Sir Thomas Bumbold 
 neglected his military duties, and courted Hyder 
 Ali's invasion, by leaving the Carnatic a sure 
 
 conquest for him Prove but his guilt in this 
 
 part of his conduct, and I will agree that he 
 deserves, for that guilt alone, every censure in 
 the power of this House to inflict ; except a 
 Bill of pains and penalties; I say, except such 
 a Bill, because I, for one, am free to declare, 
 that if a Minister of this country were to lose a 
 third of the island by neglect and sleep, I could 
 still hope to see him rescued from the torture 
 and inquisition of Bills like these. But such 
 being the importance of the charge, and such the 
 effect of circulating it, before it assumed an 
 authentic form, what is now the end of it ? By 
 an accident, we have called a witness to this part 
 of the defence, before the accuser in his long
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUMBOLD. 271 
 
 journey had arrived at the charge, as it stood in 
 the Bill. That witness, the ablest engineer in 
 the service, having detailed the whole compass 
 of military defence> told you that everything in 
 specie, the work of Sir Thomas Humbold, was 
 feature of peculiar activity and care.* He has 
 also given his general testimony to the able and 
 vigilant exertions of that Governor. So much 
 for a defence against the charge thus antici- 
 pated : but what became of this charge in the 
 adversary's own treatment of it ? Not a shadow 
 of proof attempted in support of it : the aver- 
 ment alone remains upon the face of the Bill, 
 disowned by the evidence, abandoned by the 
 accuser himself." 
 
 " The Counsel who opened the charge, whose 
 doctrine it is that every allegation of such a Bill 
 must criminate, and who took it for granted 
 that evidence would justify that sting which he 
 supposed every syllable to contain, stated round- 
 
 * [The expressions in the text are correctly printed from Mr. 
 Hardinge's speech. It may be surmised that the meaning is, 
 " everything after its kind," or every individual thing. But 
 although Mr. Hardinge is close and powerful in argument, and 
 although his composition is laboured and rhetorical, his English 
 often reads like that of a Frenchman or (at least) a Welshman. 
 ED.]
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ly to us all, that Sir Thomas Rumbold, instead 
 of putting the Carnatic in a posture of defence, 
 had other things to mind, and prepared for his 
 own journey to Europe : but other advocates, 
 not professional, and long before the Bill was 
 framed, circulated the same assertion ; not 
 because they believed that it was true, but upon 
 other principles, and for other purposes. They 
 had an interest that it should be received as 
 true, and prejudge the victim, whom it was their 
 policy to devote. But what said the Counsel 
 who closed the evidence ? His candour 
 prompted him to admit, that he had neither 
 proved, nor attempted in proof,* this important 
 allegation ; adding, with a very singular turn of 
 argument, ( that Sir Thomas Rumbold may 
 prove the reverse.' In other words, ' the 
 accuser cannot stir his foot, unless we, the 
 Counsel for the accused, will be so good as to 
 make a case for him, by a weak defence of our 
 client against a deserted imputation.' ' 
 
 " Thus ends the neglect of the Carnatic. It is 
 a false assertion of the Bill, and perfectly 
 desperate, unless we should give a degree of 
 
 * [So the words stand in the carefully printed copy of the 
 speech from which Miss Rumbold quotes, which is an elaborate 
 specimen of typography. ED.]
 
 HAKDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUMBOLD. 273 
 
 sanction to it by our improvident support 
 of a character which calumny alone has 
 impeached. 
 
 " But, 'it is a negative.' I deny it : in ex- 
 pression it is, in argument it is not. Suppose 
 neglect the word : is that a negative term ? 
 Every fact proving the Carnatic defenceless, or 
 defensible, is an affirmative. If this doctrine of 
 negatives can prevail, it supplies a receipt for 
 dispensing with proofs on every charge. Here, 
 Sir, as before, evidence which no court of law 
 could require, not only vindicates the injured 
 character, but points out the danger of sporting 
 with principles of testimony, and reversing the 
 onus probandi. Three favourite articles of this 
 kind are first experiments of the Bill, and I 
 scarce know which is the most ungenerous. 
 Sir Thomas Uumbold is to shake off Redhead, if 
 he can : suspicion by a hair connects them in 
 guilt : it is for him to disunite them. His 
 remittances are accused of a corrupt origin : he 
 must account for every sixpence of them. The 
 Carnatic shall be defenceless in consequence of 
 his neglect, (says the accuser,) till he can prove 
 the reverse. I single out these topics : but I 
 could produce twenty more, out of the accuser's 
 volume, in which the rule of presuming inno- 
 
 T
 
 274 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 cence till crime is proved, has been trampled 
 under." 
 
 " So much for the singular candour of inviting 
 us to fill up the accuser's blank, and put our 
 own figure into the niche prepared for it. But 
 another first experiment of the Bill is, that we 
 are called upon to answer for our successor at 
 Madras : (and why not for the successor of that 
 successor ?) The offences of Mr. "Whitehill con- 
 stitute part of the Bill ; and, though not read 
 against us, they are so connected with allega- 
 tions which criminate our conduct, that 
 it is very difficult for the reader to disentangle 
 them." 
 
 " But I must not forget * that Mr. Smith, one 
 of the Council, imputes to Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 a suppression of letters, which gave him early 
 notice of Hyder Ali's designs.' Will it ever be 
 credited in after-times, that such an allegation, 
 even of a Legislative indictment, could have seen 
 the light, in so admired a period of justice and 
 liberty as the year 1782 ! Has the name of Mr. 
 Smith, to an imputation destitute of proof, more 
 weight, because he is a witness to it, than it 
 would have carried if he had been the accuser in 
 form, and had imputed by this Bill ? It should 
 have less : for he does not aver the fact ; stating
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUHBOLD. 275 
 
 only that he has reason to believe it, that he has 
 been informed of it. I answer him thus : ' It is 
 not the fact : prove it.' ' 
 
 " Here, too, it is the more ungenerous to 
 name it, because the imputation, weak as it is in 
 itself, deserved the less countenance upon 
 account of the time, place, and other circum- 
 stances which attended the original delivery of 
 it ; for, it will scarce be forgot, that it was first 
 thrown upon the party accused behind his back, 
 and out of his reach. But why not call Smith 
 himself to the bar ? He is in England : and, 
 sitting perhaps in your gallery, may have heard 
 his own evidence read. This is indeed a new 
 and most ingenious refinement of persecution ; 
 that a witness in support of it may accuse upon 
 paper, by affirming in that shape a fact, which 
 the accuser in form is afraid of attempting to 
 substantiate by that same witness at the bar." 
 
 " I could now close the topic. But here, too, 
 as in answer to half the Bill, I must fight 
 against every shadow of suspicion, and accept 
 every challenge with respect, if it calls in ques- 
 tion the jealous honour of a character which 
 calumny alone can ever depreciate. Here, too, 
 I can state, though in the form of a Defence, 
 not the pitiful ground of mere indemnity, or 
 
 T 2
 
 276 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 exemption from blame, but the ingenuous pride 
 of superior merit, and of exemplary services to 
 the public." 
 
 " The immediate cause of the Carnatic war is 
 a political and perhaps a very idle problem ; but 
 it is idler still to name the word provocation as 
 applicable to Hyder Ali; to represent liim as 
 wanting provocation to justify his accommodat- 
 ing argument the longer sword. But though I 
 state the immediate cause of his invasion as 
 problematical, I must yet lay stress upon the war 
 against the Mahrattas ; that war of Leadenhall 
 Street, which originated in the fatal politics of 
 Bombay, but was encouraged and fomented here. 
 The Mahrattas are close to Hyder ; they are his 
 natural enemies ; checks upon him if left alone ; 
 tools in his able hand if provoked by us to form 
 a league with him. Self-defence, in that event, 
 enslaves them to him ; and he makes use of 
 them, for his own general purposes of conquest, 
 first against their persecutor, then against the 
 suppliants themselves, persecuted by him in their 
 turn." 
 
 " It has been sagely argued, ' that we pro- 
 voked Hyder by arming the Guntoor against 
 him ; ' because he, it seems, ' had an eye upon it 
 for himself.' The fact is important, and the
 
 HAKDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUMBOLD. 277 
 
 reason may shift for itself: to me it appears a 
 little Irish. Of the fact we have proof. A letter 
 of Hyder himself to his Vakeel at Bazalet's 
 Court, has told us that he, for whose exclusion 
 from that Court the famous Treaty of Hydrabad, 
 in 1768, had stipulated with so anxious a fore- 
 sight, is offended with Bazalet for giving up the 
 Guntoor to his old and bitter enemies, the Eng- 
 lish. I ask no better panegyric of the measure 
 than such a fact. Suppose Hyder to have wrested 
 from us the Guntoor, while Madras and Bengal 
 were asleep, in 1776 or 1777 ; it would have been 
 a more important card for him than all his pre- 
 sent acquisitions." 
 
 " It has been also observed by another shrewd 
 politician, that Hyder himself throws no blame 
 upon the Mahratta war. To be sure he does not. 
 First, how could he blame it ? The Mahrattas 
 were his ancient and habitual enemies ; but, in 
 the next place, it would have been the obvious 
 finesse of a much weaker politician than he has 
 proved himself, to conceal their new confederacy 
 with him, and assign other pretences for his war 
 against us, upon the footing of his independent 
 claim to redress by the sword." 
 
 "It has been said that we drove, or might 
 have driven, the Nizam into the Mahratta war,
 
 278 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 upon the side of our enemies ; yet the fact is no- 
 torious, that Hyder Ali had it in view hy that 
 war to extirpate the Nizam, and make a partition 
 of his territories ! It will appear, too, that 
 whatever share the Nizam took in the confede- 
 racy against us, it was prior to the date of any 
 supposed offence on our part." 
 
 " Another cause of the Carnatic war may, with 
 some prohahility, be resolved into the connivance 
 of Madras and Bengal at Hyder 's known con- 
 nexion with his French ally, in the Guntoor 
 Circar, between 1775 and 1778. Lally's force, 
 during that interval, had so increased and accu- 
 mulated, that Bazalet could not have guarded us 
 against them, if the Nizam had left him to him- 
 self ; but he saved him from the risk of the 
 attempt by taking them into his care, till the 
 birds were flown." 
 
 "As to the general suspicion of Hyder 's pur- 
 poses, for some time before he entered the Car- 
 natic, it is a fact agreed. The Bill, which is 
 above attention to dates when the discovery of 
 them forms the whole difference in the argument, 
 remarks, that Sir Thomas Rumbold and his 
 Council had notice of Hyder 's intention from 
 the Nabob of Arcot. The fact is true ; but when 
 had he such a notice ? Fourteen months before
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE or RUMBOLD. 279 
 
 Hyder left his capital the Nabob advised the 
 Governor of Madras to assemble an army 
 against him in the field. The answer of the 
 Governor to this early notice from the Nabob is 
 forgot by the accuser ; (whose memory, as I 
 must often observe, has whimsical flights of 
 power and imperfection ;) the answer stated as 
 a fact that Hyder had retreated from the borders 
 of the Carnatic to his capital ; and the Nabob, 
 apprised of that fact, had no other information, 
 Which led him to repeat the alarm during the 
 whole remainder of Sir Thomas Rumbold's 
 government. It was the policy of that Govern- 
 ment partly to seem convinced of Hyder' s pacific 
 designs, and partly to conciliate him, without 
 stooping to him ; for he could not then be op- 
 posed with any chance of success. The invasion 
 was in fact unprovoked. Prom so early a period 
 as that of the first month in Sir Thomas Rum- 
 bold's government all the means in his power to 
 conciliate Hyder were put in practice. The an- 
 swers of that chief were insidious and false. 
 But one fact is necessary to be observed, because 
 it amounts to a most emphatical distinction be- 
 tween the policy of Madras and that of Bengal 
 respecting him. I have said that it was a part 
 of his finesse to hold himself out as the enemy
 
 280 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 of the Mahrattas : upon the artful plea of that 
 enmity he made propositions by his Vakeel at 
 Madras in favour of R/agonaut Row ; but the 
 Council of Bengal paid no attention to them ; 
 they were too deep in their new politics of de- 
 serting that fugitive Prince as their ally, and of 
 accepting the Rajah of Berar in exchange for 
 him." 
 
 " But let us examine a little more closely 
 Hyder's provocations. The first is, ' that in the 
 capture of Mahe we broke our Treaty with him.' 
 The second, 'that our agents or officers com- 
 mitted irregularities upon his borders ; ' but he 
 never attempts any evidence of the fact. As a 
 third he states, ' A dispute with Bombay upon the 
 subject of Tellicherry,' in which, to do that 
 Presidency justice, the accusation was unmerited. 
 As a fourth, ' Our help to Bazalet Jung ; ' and 
 that becomes a favourite article of complaint, 
 though coupled in general with our capture of 
 Mahe. He divides the remonstrance against our 
 help to Bazalet into two parts ; complaining first 
 of any assistance to him as a violation of Treaty ; 
 and tacking to it our little skirmish with his 
 military upon the borders of the Cuddapah in 
 the march of our troops to Adoni. But not 
 satisfied with all these attacks upon us, he tells
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RUMBOLD. 281 
 
 an old story of our perfidious conduct in declin- 
 ing to assist him against the Mahrattas. This 
 too it seems was a violation of Treaty with 
 him ; but the complaint of it is most artfully 
 urged in that moment, and confirms what I said 
 .of his finesse in aifecting enmity against the 
 Mahrattas, for the purpose of our delusion, while 
 he was forming a league with them, and pointing 
 it against us." 
 
 " Yet, Sir, any man of common discernment, 
 if he is not an absolute novice and a child in 
 Eastern politics, will tell you that none of these 
 alleged provocations gave, or could have given, 
 any real offence to him ; that his provocation 
 was the OPPORTUNITY of support from the Mah- 
 rattas and Erench, united in a firni league 
 against the English Government. So much for 
 notices, provocations, and causes of the Carnatic 
 war." 
 
 " Let us now dissect the unprepared state of 
 resistance, the inactivity and sleep of the 
 Governor. His first answer shall be at Pondi- 
 cherry, and the second at Mahe. Those eloquent 
 scenes of action shall plead for him, displaying 
 exertions no less able than spirited ; the policy, 
 that of extirpating the European competitor, 
 and victory the mode of executing it. Sir Eyre
 
 282 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Coote shall speak for him in February, 1779, a 
 testimony which does both of them honour. 
 He shall distinguish the Board of Madras from all 
 the other Presidencies, for their high spirit, zealj 
 and judicious conduct, in military as well as 
 political resource, under a heavy load of expense, 
 and encompassed with difficulties on every 
 side.* 
 
 " In that same year (1779) the Board of Ma- 
 dras, with Sir Eyre Coote's approbation, solicited 
 a march of the Bengal troops to their aid, but 
 solicited it in vain ; the casting vote was against 
 them. Resources from that quarter having been 
 thus refused or impotent ; what is the general 
 tenor of conduct observed at Madras ? An ap- 
 parent confidence in Hyder's professions, cold as 
 they were ; the most anxious attempts to avert 
 the impending blow by terms with him ; and, in 
 the mean time, every possible exertion against 
 possible impediment." 
 
 " An army could not be assembled in the 
 field a moment before it should be necessary to 
 be assembled for immediate action ; till that mo- 
 ment should call for it, the funds of the settle- 
 ment were not equal to the expense of such a 
 
 * See Letter from Sir Eyre Coote to the Chairman of the 
 Court of Directors. Appendix.
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RTJMBOLD. 283 
 
 measure ; and the necessity so described never 
 in fact arose while Sir Thomas Rumbold con- 
 tinued at Madras. But an army was at hand ; 
 and the ablest commander-in-chief could not 
 have arranged a defensive to that amount, in 
 the same period of time, with more consummate 
 skill. The evidence of Major Geils has given a 
 decisive and most honourable testimony of this 
 fact. Great cantonments were impracticable ; 
 the expense of them would have been enormous ; 
 and the Government had a sinking treasure 
 scarcely equal to a peace establishment ; words 
 often repeated because they cannot be too often 
 impressed." 
 
 " In January, 1780, a return was made of the 
 military complement, ready at a short notice for 
 the field. Let me ask the most accomplished 
 military experience in the East, if the canton- 
 ments of that return could have been improved ? 
 The difficulties arising from situation alone were 
 critical. They are obvious to those who are con- 
 versant in that scene ; but they are perhaps new 
 to many in this House." 
 
 " The dimensions and shape of the Carnatic 
 are material to be known : it is from eighty to 
 one hundred miles in breadth ; in length it forms 
 the compass of no less than five or six hundred*;
 
 284 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 its neighbourhood is no light feature in the 
 argument, in this view of it ; bordered by 
 active enemies to the west, by the sea to the east, 
 and by that Guntoor to the north, which cuts 
 off the Carnatic from the Northern Circars, and 
 which, though it might have been our own, we 
 have recently given to a perfidious ally. The 
 Circars are close to the Rajah of Berar, an ally of 
 the Mahrattas. It is true that Bengal would 
 have made him our ally if she could ; but how ? 
 By engaging to support him against the Nizam, 
 their later favourite." 
 
 " Trichinopoli, Palemcotta, Madurah, Cara- 
 coil, and Tanjore, the chief garrisons to the 
 south, could not be left without any defence at 
 all: they had only ten companies, and three 
 battalions of Sepoys." 
 
 " Had Baillie, upon the first notice of Hyder's 
 movements from his capital, after Sir Thomas 
 Rumbold's departure, joined the main army, in- 
 stead of marching into Cuddapah, the success 
 of Hyder would have been at least obstructed, 
 and the garrisons of the Carnatic would have 
 been safe." 
 
 " The Directors had ordered the Board of 
 
 Madras to reinforce the operations of the Mali- 
 
 
 
 ratta war ; that fatal measure which they obsti-
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RTJMBOLD. 285 
 
 nately pursued, and felt it their point of houour 
 to push ; that measure to which the culprit of 
 this Bill was uniformly averse, and marked his 
 aversion at the memorable period of 1780. The 
 Council of Madras during his government, 
 united in that opinion, were against all detach-, 
 ments from their force in support of those fatal 
 politics. Early in 1778 they refused a reinforce-, 
 ment asked of them hy that Council of Bomhay, 
 who first advised the war. But a letter from the 
 Directors, arriving soon after this refusal, com- 
 manded implicit ohedience to any such requisi- 
 tions in future," 
 
 " To Bengal, however, the Board of Madras 
 importunately urged their distress and their 
 fears; calling upon the deaf, again and again, 
 for an additional force and supply of treasure ; 
 yet, with full notice of those difficulties, that 
 feeling Board, whose charity they besought, had 
 the conscience to direct a large reinforcement of 
 their own troops from the military of Madras, 
 amounting to six or seven hundred, (Europeans 
 and artillery,) with a battalion of Sepoys. This, 
 too, was a cheat upon Madras into the bargain. 
 Stated as a force intended against the European 
 enemy alone, and as an olive branch upon the 
 sword, for the purpose of terminating the Man-
 
 286 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ratta hostilities, it pursued the most intemperate 
 measures and fed the war." 
 
 " One argument for the measure at Bengal was 
 this : ' Hyder Ali and the Mahrattas may 
 join.' Agreed. "What then ? "Will you there- 
 fore detach to the Coast of Malabar the force of 
 the Carnatic, known to be the object of this 
 impending blow, and the most vulnerable, till 
 you have dismantled all its garrisons, and left 
 them to the mercy of Hyder, at their elbow ? " 
 
 " But new difficulties arose. In the year 1780 
 a hundred men, formed of a company in Lord 
 Macleod's regiment, our chief strength, was de- 
 sired by Sir Eyre Coote, for his body guard. It 
 was refused by Sir Thomas Eumbold ; but the 
 successor was more accommodating. In the 
 mean time Bengal had sent a very inadequate 
 supply, after delay upon delay and reiterated 
 importunities." 
 
 " I have stated the necessity of paying some 
 attention to the southern garrisons. Let us now 
 look at the nearer cantonments. Conjeveram, or 
 Wandewash, is agreed as forming the centrical 
 position ; and the distance to it from those can- 
 tonmertts was between forty and fifty miles. An 
 army could have been brought into the field in 
 three weeks. Baillie's detachment, stationed in
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OP RUMBQLD, 287 
 
 the Guntoor, was the only one at a distance. 
 (' Why stationed in the Guntoor ? ' ask the timid, 
 and shuffling politics of Madras in the year 
 1775.) But leave him there, and recall the 
 detachment sent hy the orders of Bengal ; the 
 army will then be of this amount : forty-six 
 artillery, two thousand nine hundred and twenty-, 
 eight infantry, seven thousand seven hundred 
 and fifty-seven Sepoys : an army considered 
 equal to any Indian service. But if Baillie and 
 his force had been superadded in time, the whole 
 must have been so formidable that we may 
 doubt if Hyder would even have encountered 
 it." 
 
 " Our evidence will compare these canton- 
 ments to those of the period in which the 
 government of this inactive President began ; 
 that you may do justice to his improvements of 
 the system. As to the little out garrisons, it 
 was better policy to have left them undefended, 
 and even dismantled, the master of the field 
 being sure of them." 
 
 " Stores of every kind were ample, and well 
 supplied. When Arcot fell, the fact was proved, 
 there at least ; and that capture was the more 
 lamented upon this account. Indeed, no princi- 
 pal garrison of ours had been taken at so late a
 
 288 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 period as February, 1782. In January, 1780, 
 hopes were formed at Madras that Hyder would 
 not invade. But Sir Thomas Rumbold owns to 
 the Directors, without reserve, that he has no 
 security, and looks at the sword as hung by a 
 little thread over us, till the Mahratta war is 
 closed." 
 
 " Sir Thomas Rumbold had not left Madras, 
 when other assurances came that Hyder would 
 not enter the Carnatic. He was then at his 
 capital, and the season was far advanced. No 
 letter from the Nabob communicated any alarm- 
 ing intelligence ; and Baillie, who watched 
 Hyder' s motions, even after Sir Thomas Kum- 
 bold quitted Madras, had formed hopes that, for 
 that year at least, we should be safe. "VVe had 
 only a defensive, and it would have been perfect 
 madness to have drawn our force from Pondi- 
 cherry, or the south, till the last extremity. 
 Hyder did not move till June, or pass into the 
 Carnatic till July 23rd." 
 
 " The field artillery was complete, no one 
 principal garrison deficient ; and every loan from 
 each of them, for the sieges of Pondicherry or 
 Mahe, strictly paid." 
 
 " The fortifications of Madras were favourite 
 objects of Sir Thomas Rumbold, and formed the
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF RTJMBOLD. 289 
 
 most consummate works of the kind that India 
 ever saw. We shall prove their merit by the 
 ablest engineers in the service." 
 
 o 
 
 " In a system of defence thus complicated, 
 against enemies on every side, an exhausted 
 revenue, internal abuses, and the jealousy of the 
 native, it was not in human power to disarm 
 every cavil of political spleen. But who could, 
 in general, have shown more activity, penetra- 
 tion, judgment, and spirit, than we have proved 
 the features of his conduct, who, according to 
 the Bill, deserted Madras almost in the act of 
 opening its arms to the invader, and better pre- 
 pared for his conquest, than for our defence 
 against him ? " 
 
 " Preparations against Hyder and his Erench 
 ally ! What else are his crimes ? and what 
 other stamp is marked upon them by the seal of 
 truth ? He prepared against these enemies of 
 his Government the very day prior to the 24th of 
 March, which is the date of his first crime, 
 by directing the most accurate survey, and 
 return of the defensive complement. He pre- 
 pared against them, by extinguishing that flame 
 of jealousy, the circuit : by correcting the in- 
 trigues of the subordinate : by conciliating the 
 affections of the native at Madras : by improving 
 
 IT
 
 290 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 the revenue there : by assuring that improve- 
 ment for a term, and by reconciling native to 
 native, whose dissensions were always felt in the 
 Company's treasure : by appointing Sitteram to 
 be the Duan of a rich and extensive district ; 
 which, under his management, has proved the 
 most liberal fund of resource to us in the war : 
 by substituting a reform of system, in place of 
 an odious prosecution against a personal victim, 
 selected from his own Council, on a charge 
 unauthenticated, and imputing to him the vice 
 of general habit and custom : by earnest, though 
 fruitless and baffled attempts, to extirpate 
 Lally's troops from the Guntoor : by recovering 
 that Guntoor into the Company's hand : by 
 attempting the remission or diminution of a tax, 
 which was a voluntary boon of ours in better 
 times, accompanied by an assurance on the part 
 of the Nizam that it never would be enforced ; 
 a tax that then we could not pay, and would 
 have stripped ourselves to clothe our enemy : by 
 political attentions to the Nabob, our firm ally, 
 without prejudice to the revenue : by exclaiming, 
 at every personal hazard, against the Mahratta 
 war, now condemned on every side as the most 
 animating spur to Hyder's invasion : by 
 measures neither abject nor offensive, in his
 
 HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF EUMBOLD. 291 
 
 treatment of Hyder's person : by the most rigid 
 parsimony : by efforts almost incredible against 
 every embarrassment, actual or foreseen : and, 
 last of all, by the muster and arrangement of a 
 force, which the confederates would never have 
 looked in the face, if it had remained united, 
 when the Carnatic received the first impression 
 of Hyder's foot." 
 
 u 2
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 ON MB. HASTINGS' POLICY IN REGABD TO THE WAR WITH 
 HYDER, AND ON HIS RELATIONS WITH SIR THOMAS BUM- 
 BOLD'S SUCCESSORS AT MADRAS, MR. WHITEHILL AND 
 LORD MACARTNEY, AS ILLUSTRATING HIS TREATMENT OF 
 SIB THOMAS BUMBOLD.* 
 
 THE censure cast upon " the Authorities of 
 the South" by Lord Macaulay, which has been 
 noticed in some of the foregoing pages, is 
 followed by a short account, magnificently given, 
 of the calamity in the Carnatic, and the conduct 
 of Mr. Hastings, on that occasion, according to 
 the usually received opinions. 
 
 " Then it was, that the fertile genius and se- 
 rene courage of Hastings achieved their most 
 signal triumph. A swift ship, flying before the 
 south-west monsoon, brought the evil tidings in 
 
 a few days to Calcutta The struggle with 
 
 Hyder was a struggle for life or death It 
 
 was no time for trifling. Hastings resolved to 
 resort to an extreme exercise of power, to sus- 
 pend the incapable Governor of Fort St. George, 
 
 * First Report, Appendix, No. 43.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 293 
 
 to send Sir Eyre Coote to oppose Hyder, and to 
 entrust that distinguished General with the 
 whole administration of the war." 
 
 That it was in truth a struggle for life or 
 death was probahly now felt by Mr. Hastings, 
 and that he had trifled too long. The dangers 
 that were gathering round the Company had 
 been for some time known to him : he had 
 judged that the Nizam must be conciliated at 
 any sacrifice. The army of the Rajah of Berar 
 advanced to the confines of Bengal, in pursuance 
 of the engagement entered into with the con- 
 federates, must be kept in check. Still the 
 Governor- General persisted in his Mahratta pro- 
 jects, undertaken doubtless with some view, 
 present or ulterior, for the benefit of the Com- 
 pany and the nation, but which the various 
 explanations offered have never rendered very 
 comprehensible, and which in the event proved of 
 most unsound policy, since it led the different 
 chiefs to compose their own disputes, and re-unite 
 to direct their resentment against us. Yet Mr. 
 Hastings flattered himself he should redeem the 
 past by bringing all to a favourable issue. He 
 had disregarded the serious expostulations ad- 
 dressed to him for peace with the Mahrattas, 
 on any moderate terms; and even after the
 
 294 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 departure of Sir Thomas Rumbold, deaf to 
 the warnings of the Madras Board, that 
 Hyder's projects were ripening, and then, that 
 he had actually invaded the Carnatic, Mr. 
 Hastings still held on. It was only when the news 
 of Colonel Baillie's defeat reached Bengal that 
 it was resolved, " That all minor objects should 
 be sacrificed to the preservation of the Carnatic, 
 the disputes with the Mahrattas must be accom- 
 modated, a large military force and a supply of 
 money must be instantly sent to Madras."* 
 
 Even at this conjuncture Mr. Hastings had 
 private feelings to gratify. For the summary 
 measure of suspending Mr. Whitehill, Sir 
 Thomas B/umbold's successor at Madras, Lord 
 Macaulay and other writers have lent to Mr. 
 Hastings motives that he did not allege for him- 
 self. No person can read the correspondence that 
 passed on this occasion between the Governor- 
 General and Mr. Whitehill, without being 
 aware that it was not the "incapacity of the 
 Governor of Fort St. George " that was the 
 cause of his suspension. Neither had Mr. 
 Hastings any ground for supposing that all the 
 Board of Madras, including Mr. Whitehill, 
 would not have accepted the authority of Sir 
 
 * Macaulay 's Essay on Warren Hastings.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 295 
 
 Eyre Coote as implicitly as Sir Hector Munro 
 appears to have done. These are motives that 
 have been supplied to Mr. Hastings, in order to 
 extol his conduct on that occasion, and to justify 
 the insults offered to the Presidency of Madras. 
 
 It is time to state the facts as they may be 
 gathered from the Appendices to the Reports of 
 the Committee. Mr. Hastings had required the 
 surrender of the Guntoor,* as a bait to the 
 Nizam, rendered necessary, perhaps, by the re- 
 sults of his own crooked policy, and, it may be 
 added, from the unworthy motive of defeating 
 the work of Sir Thomas Rumbold. 
 
 The demand of Mr. Hastings was taken into con- 
 sideration by the Board at Madras, who demurred! 
 
 * Second Eeport, Appendix, No. 98. 
 
 t August 7th, 1780, Sir Hector Munro delivered the following 
 Minute at Madras : 
 
 " As the giving up the Guntoor Circar, after getting possession 
 of it, (and that with the approbation of the Supreme Council of 
 Bengal,) may be disapproved by our employers at home, I am > 
 opinion the Governor-General and Council's last letter ought to 
 be answered fully ; reasons given why the Guntoor Circar should 
 not be given up ; and if ultimately they insist upon it, they must 
 in every respect be made answerable for the consequences ; and 
 I am of opinion, if it is given up, that Bazalet Jung ought to 
 have it given to him, and not the Nizam, as we had it from 
 Bazalet Jung ; but I am for holding our possession until we have 
 an answer to our next letteron the subject from Bengal." Appendix 
 to First Report, No. 8.
 
 296 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 as to the justice and propriety of giving up the 
 Guntoor to the Nizam, instead of restoring it to 
 Bazalet Jung, by whom it had been ceded to 
 them, and also from the apprehension that it 
 would pass into the hands of Hyder; but the 
 distress of their condition led them to comply 
 strictly with the injunctions of the Governor- 
 General. The Nizam was written to, to that 
 effect ; and Mr. Whitehill wrote an assurance to 
 Mr. Hastings, that the affair should be concluded 
 according to his desire, and as speedily as the 
 nature of the circumstances would admit. This 
 letter apologized for past delay, on the score of 
 the great troubles that had intervened. Al- 
 though Mr. Whitehill' s letter was couched in 
 respectful terms ; yet, while yielding the Gun- 
 toor, he reminded the Governor-General that 
 the conduct of the Presidency had been fully 
 sanctioned by himself.* 
 
 Previously to this correspondence, every item 
 of intelligence received at Madras respecting 
 Hyder's motions was transmitted to Bengal, 
 and with renewed solicitations for assistance. 
 
 On the 28th of June a letter of intelligence, 
 dated from the Cape of Good Hope, was for- 
 
 * First Report, Appendix, No. 8.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 297 
 
 warded to Bengal, and with it Mr. Whitehill 
 wrote as follows : 
 
 " You will be able to judge from these papers 
 what credit is due to the report of a French 
 
 armament preparing for India Should 
 
 such an armament really come abroad, the 
 object of it must be, we conceive, to aid the 
 Mahrattas or Hyder Ali, and indeed the motions 
 of this chief strongly indicate an expectation of 
 
 powerful support from the French His army 
 
 is now assembled at Bangalore, and equipped in 
 every respect for immediate action. Part of it 
 is actually advanced towards the frontiers of the 
 Carnatic. Such is the appearance of things at 
 present. If an invasion takes place, we shall 
 act in the best manner we can for the defence 
 of the country ; but we fear our difficulties will 
 be great for want of money, as our ordinary 
 supplies depend upon the growing revenues, 
 which, in case of invasion, will fall very 
 short."* 
 
 Again, on the 25th of July : 
 
 " Our last letter gave you information of the 
 approach of Hyder Ali with a large army 
 towards our frontiers; we now transmit two 
 papers of intelligence just received, by which 
 
 * First Report, Appendix, No. 40.
 
 298 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 you will learn, that he has actually detached 
 part of his cavalry into the Carnatic, arid is 
 preparing to follow with his whole army. We 
 are taking measures to assemble our troops in a 
 proper situation to oppose this, and defend the 
 country in the best manner we are able ; but the 
 alarms already occasioned, have driven the 
 people from their habitations, and put an entire 
 stop to the tillage of the ground."* 
 
 And again on the 18th of August : 
 
 " Hyder has employed a considerable body of 
 horse in ravaging the Carnatic ; and he himself, 
 with the rest of his army, has advanced as far 
 as Arnee, and taken three or four small forts, 
 which were garrisoned by the Nabob's people. 
 
 As it will be impossible for us to carry on 
 
 this war without supplies from Bengal, we are 
 anxious to be informed when, and to what 
 extent, you may be able to supply us." t 
 
 Meanwhile an attempt was made to raise 
 money upon bonds, but with very inadequate 
 success. 
 
 No heed having been paid to these letters, 
 and others which are recorded in the Appendix 
 to the First Report ; on the 14th of September, 
 
 * First Report, Appendix, No. 1. 
 t Ibid., No. 8.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 299 
 
 Sir Edward Hughes addressed this serious re- 
 monstrance to the Council of Bengal : 
 
 " I think it my indispensable duty to warn 
 you, Sir, and gentlemen^ of the evident necessity 
 there now exists to guard not only the Company's 
 territories on this coast, but even Fort St. George 
 itself, from the arms of France and Hyder, at 
 this time when the whole national strength is 
 required to make head against the combined 
 force of France and Spain, and our rebellious 
 colonies ; and that this may be more easily and 
 eifectually done, I most earnestly wish and 
 recommend that, laying aside all other plans of 
 operation against the Mahrattas, or any other 
 country powers, the three Presidencies do 
 heartily concur by every means both of men, 
 and money, and treaties; to reduce this habitual 
 foe to the English nation within due bounds. 
 As far as my knowledge of land service assists 
 me, it appears to me, under the present circum- 
 stances, and with all the force this Presidency 
 can possibly bring into the field, they will be in 
 no condition to face the enemy, nor will troops 
 alone save this sinking settlement ; for I am as- 
 sured by the Governor they have no money in the 
 treasury, nor any evident means of raising it, in 
 any proportion adequate to their present exigen-
 
 300 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 cies In effecting every service for the 
 
 public good, you may be assured of my ready 
 concurrence and best assistance." * 
 
 The " swift-sailing ship," mentioned by Lord 
 Macaulay, as having " brought in a few days the 
 evil tidings to Calcutta," did not, as it has been 
 already shown, give the first intimation that 
 Hyder had actually invaded the Carnatic. In 
 the Appendix to the Sixth Report, No. 304, of 
 the Committee of Secrecy, it may be seen in 
 what manner that intelligence was first received 
 in Bengal. It is there stated that, " on the 4th 
 of September," Sir Eyre Coote eagerly proposed 
 that immediate succour should be dispatched to 
 Madras ; and pointed out the treasure deposited 
 in the new fort, as the source from which a 
 supply might be afforded : but the Governor- 
 General halted gravely ; he had another object 
 to work out ; and to gain the concurrence of his 
 Council in effecting this, Mr. Hastings conjures 
 up the alarming supposition, that " at Fort St. 
 George, the arms of the Company might possibly 
 be employed in an unnatural and desperate 
 opposition to their government." To the proposi- 
 tion of Sir Eyre Coote, that a " supply adequate 
 to the emergency should be sent to Madras," the 
 
 * First Ill-port, Appendix, No. 9.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 301 
 
 Governor- General replied, " As the terms of the 
 question do not admit of an immediate consi- 
 deration of it, and we have already provided two 
 modes of remittance, which, though not ample, 
 will prove a sufficient relief to the immediate 
 wants of Eort St. George, I hope the General 
 will consent to suspend the final determination 
 upon it, until the period in which his proposal, 
 if approved, must be carried into execution, In 
 the mean time we may hope to be informed of 
 the state of that Presidency with relation to its 
 resources, its dispositions for repelling the pre- 
 tended or actual invasion, whichever it may 
 prove, and the other distinct services to which 
 they may propose to apply the sums afforded by 
 this Government." 
 
 " These provinces, already very much exhausted, 
 will not bear greater drains ; nor can anything 
 short of extreme necessity justify it in repeating 
 them. It is therefore at least reasonable to 
 expect that they will furnish us with previous 
 information upon the points which I have 
 enumerated ; nay, it may so happen that by the 
 neglect of this precaution, we may furnish them 
 with the means of employing the Company's 
 arms in an unnatural and desperate opposition, 
 even to the authority of this Government,
 
 302 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 which was appointed for their control, and to 
 whose protection they must finally owe their 
 existence." 
 
 Sir Eyre Coote withdrew his proposition, thus 
 were twenty days lost.* 
 
 On the 25th of September, when the news of 
 Colonel Baillie's defeat had arrived, the Governor- 
 General's measures were taken. He then declared 
 that the condition of Fort St. George " demanded 
 the most instant, powerful, and even hazardous 
 exertions of this Government to avert the event 
 portended by so many concurrent difficulties." 
 
 The obvious course was then adopted of send- 
 ing the Commander-in-Chief to the scene of war- 
 fare and distress. A supply was also accorded ; 
 but this tardy supply the Governor- General 
 placed exclusively in the hands of Sir Eyre 
 Coote, by him to be applied to meet the exigen- 
 cies of the Presidency. 
 
 What reason had Mr. Hastings to cast this 
 stigma upon the Presidency of Fort St. George, 
 except to shelter himself, by this pretext, from 
 the reproach justly due to him, for his refusal 
 to grant them timely aid ? 
 
 It sounds strangely, too, that Sir Eyre Coote 
 should have been the minister of conveying this 
 
 * Sixth Keport, Appendix, No. 310.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 303 
 
 insult to Madras ; so lately had he, from, his own 
 observation, distinguished that Board from all 
 the other Presidencies, for their zeal and judi- 
 cious conduct, in military as well as political re- 
 source, under a heavy load of expense, and en- 
 compassed with difficulties on every side.* 
 
 In an eloquent address t Mr. Hastings urged 
 Sir Eyre Coote to repair immediately to Madras, 
 and take the whole conduct of that fatal war ; 
 but the Governor -General added, " he made no 
 scruple to avow that the danger impending on 
 our interests in the Carnatic might be easily re- 
 pelled even with the force which it already pos- 
 sesses for its defence ; yet he could not place any 
 reliance upon it, unless it were properly applied 
 and conducted, unless Sir Eyre Coote would at this 
 time stand forth and vindicate in his own person 
 
 the rights and honours of the British arms 
 
 The addition of numbers will not relieve their 
 apprehensions, and will but contribute to oppress 
 the hands which have been already proved too 
 weak to sustain the weight of an inferior charge." 
 
 It was with this salve to his conscience and his 
 
 * [The letter from Sir Eyre Coote to which Miss Eumbold here 
 refers, is of date January ISth, 1779, and is printed at pp. 464-5 
 of the " Minutes ot Evidence." ED.] 
 
 f Sixth Report, Appendix, No. 310.
 
 304 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 reputation, and amid compliments to Sir Eyre 
 Coote, which happily were not unaccompanied 
 with ample supplies of money and troops, that the 
 reproach of past neglect was disposed of, the blame 
 of the calamities that ensued entirely cast upon the 
 Presidency of Fort St. George, and Mr. Hastings 
 avenged of the affronts which he conceived had 
 been offered to his supremacy. 
 
 To Mr. WhitehilTs previous communications 
 and desire for aid no attention had been given, nor 
 any answer made. To the letter of the 2nd of 
 September Mr. Hastings now replies by the sus- 
 pension of Mr. Whitehill from his post,* accom- 
 panied by a letter which, for its insolence and 
 falsehood, is a curiosity. f 
 
 An account of all these transactions was 
 written in the following manner by Mr. Hastings 
 to the Court of Directors. 
 
 After informing them of " the extorted and 
 palliated confession of the Nizam," to the effect 
 
 * It appears that tbe Council of Bengal did not very readily 
 concur with the Governor-General in passing his sentence. It is 
 stated in a diary written on the spot by a member of that Council, 
 that he "objected," and that Sir Eyre Coote urged "that Mr. 
 Whitehill was an old friend of his ; but the Governor-General 
 pressed it forward," and he was supreme in those moments. 
 
 f Second Report, Appendix, No. 100.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 305 
 
 that it was in consequence of transactions with 
 Fort St. George that he had formed " the grand 
 confederacy," Mr. Hastings continues, " We have 
 exhausted our treasury ; we have deprived our- 
 selves of the flower of our army for their relief ; 
 we have abandoned our own measures in the crisis 
 
 of their success I hope it will not appear the 
 
 assumption of undue merit to observe that, 
 extensive as are the aids which we have already 
 afforded them, and at a season in which your 
 service has interdicted the navigation of those 
 seas, the ships arrived at Port St. George in less 
 time than two months from the date of the 
 calamity which furnished the occasion for 
 them." * 
 
 In representing the affair of Mr. Whitehill to 
 the Directors and the public there was a diffi- 
 culty to be got over. The letter from Mr. "White- 
 hill of the 2nd of September, which gave a full 
 assurance of compliance with Mr. Hastings' re- 
 quirements, and that the delivering up the Gun- 
 toor should be expedited, had been received 
 before the resolution to suspend Mr. Whitehill 
 on account of non-compliance was declared. 
 
 The letter of the 2nd of September was fol- 
 
 * Sixth Report, Appendix, No. 328. 
 X
 
 306 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 lowed by another, dated the 23rd, which an- 
 nounced that the affair was terminated. When 
 Mr. Hastings related this transaction to the 
 
 O 
 
 Directors, he spoke only of the last letter re- 
 ceived, by which he would make it appear that 
 this was the first notification he had of Mr. 
 Whitehill's compliance. 
 
 Mr. Hastings wrote as follows : 
 
 " We proceed now to inform you of an im- 
 portant resolution which we have lately found it 
 necessary to pass for the support of the honour 
 of our Government, to enforce a due obedience 
 to our orders, and to manifest to the native 
 powers of this country, that the controlling 
 power which they knew to be vested in us by 
 the laws, will, if occasion should require it, be 
 effectually exerted for the honour of the British 
 nation, and in support of their promises and 
 treaties. The alternative at our choice was, the 
 removal of Mr. Whitehill from the government 
 of Port St. George, or by our indolence and in- 
 attention to the support of your honour and our 
 own authority, to give license and permission to 
 the dependent Presidencies to disobey our orders, 
 and by acts, done at their pleasure, to annul our 
 treaties and engagements." 
 
 * First Keport, Appendix, No. J7.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTEE. 307 
 
 " You will observe by our consultations of the 
 13th ultimo, that we were then informed, by 
 letter from the President and Select Committee 
 of Eort St. George, dated 23rd September, of the 
 measures which they had at length been pleased 
 to adopt, for giving effect to our requisition of 
 the 12th of June, by immediate orders to their 
 officer commanding in the Guntoor Circar, to 
 deliver over that country to Bazalet Jung's 
 agent ; and by procuring an order also from the 
 Nabob to his Aumildars to relinquish all con- 
 cern in the management of the revenue." 
 
 With this equivocating statement, Mr. 
 Hastings wound up an affair, more disgraceful, 
 in truth, to himself, than to his victim. Erom 
 that time, however, " the creature," Mr. White- 
 hill, has been held forth as such a monster of 
 iniquity, that the page seems contaminated in 
 which his name occurs. What is known of Mr. 
 Whitehill ? Only that he told the truth to Mr. 
 Hastings; that he was included with three 
 others, who stood high in the favour of the Com- 
 pany before, and also, it appears, afterwards, in 
 the accusation made by Mr. Sadleir ; * that he 
 had been instrumental a short time previously 
 
 * Supplementary Appendix. Third Report, No. 4. Also, 
 Third Report, pp. 600, 601. 
 
 x 2
 
 308 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER, 
 
 in the suspension of the same Mr. Sadleir from 
 the service of the Company ; * and that he, with 
 the three others, was charged by Mr. Sadleir 
 with having been guilty of a fault so common, 
 and in those days esteemed so venial, that when 
 Mr. Cotsford, who held the same office at Masuli- 
 patam, was examined on the subject before the 
 Secret Committee,t he plainly declared that " he 
 should have thought it his first duty to enforce 
 the payment of the Company's tribute, without 
 suffering his own interest to interfere with it; 
 but that he did not mean to say, he should have 
 declined the customary advantages of his situa- 
 tion." It is also urged that the suspension of Mr. 
 Whitehill by Mr. Hastings only preceded the 
 sentence of the Directors by a few months : \ this 
 condemnation, however, was ostensibly for having 
 concurred in measures of which the Honourable 
 Court had long had a perfect knowledge, and of 
 which it had testified only approbation. 
 
 When Mr. Hastings acted so bold a part he 
 must have known well the ground upon which 
 he stood, and must also have prepared the way. 
 
 * Evidences, p. 298, and p. 11. Consultations of the Presi- 
 dency of Fort St. George, of the 17th of December, 17(JG, urn 
 referred to. 
 
 f Fourth Report, Appendix, No. 23. 
 
 \ Second Keport, Appendix, No. 153.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 309 
 
 A conduct very similar to that which he had 
 pursued towards Sir Thomas Rumbold, was re- 
 peated by Mr. Hastings in the case of Lord Mac- 
 artney, and with a result also successful in a great 
 degree, notwithstanding the powerful support 
 which Lord Macartney commanded at home. This 
 is described in Mr. Barrow's Life of Lord Macart- 
 ney, and very strongly by Mr. Mill. In these his- 
 tories we are told of " depositions received and sent 
 home, with other papers of complaint and accusa- 
 tion, against Lord Macartney, without even refer- 
 ring such papers to him for his justification against 
 the groundless charges they contained, or with- 
 out even acquainting him that such charges had 
 been preferred." 
 
 "By these means," (the Council of Fort St. 
 George said in a letter to Mr. Hastings,) " you 
 left them the benefit of a first and long im- 
 pression before any defence could follow on our 
 part, depriving us, until it may prove too late, 
 of the opportunity to deny, or refute, or explain, 
 the charges. ..It was a cause, it seems, only to be 
 heard on one side." Mr. Mill describes at 
 length "the machinations" of Mr. Hastings 
 against Lord Macartney, the inequitable means 
 he used to get up information, and the secret 
 manner in which it was transmitted to tho
 
 310 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 Directors, contrary to the usual rules of the ser- 
 vice. "We are told also of " assumed authority 
 and interference with another Presidency, which 
 had called forth a rebuke upon the Supreme 
 Council from their masters, for carrying their 
 pretensions beyond the intent of the Company ; " 
 also of " inveigling from their service and obedi- 
 ence the servants of the Madras Presidency ."* 
 
 An explanation of this determined hostility to 
 Lord Macartney is offered by Mr. Barrow, who 
 suggests it as " not improbable that the rivalship 
 of his known abilities might perhaps have been 
 as much dreaded as the weight of his supposed 
 interest, which some of the Council apprehended 
 could not fail to relieve Mr. Hastings from 
 his station sooner than either he or they 
 wished." 
 
 It is impossible not to trace the dealings of 
 Mr. Hastings with regard to Sir Thomas Rum- 
 
 O O 
 
 bold in some part to similar motives ; nor can 
 this supposition be considered groundless, whrii 
 it is remembered that Sir Thomas Rumbold had 
 been named on a recent occasion (1773) to suc- 
 ceed Mr. Hastings in the government of Bengal, 
 and that his early career at Madras had been 
 
 * Mill's History of British India, vol. iv., p. 161. Late 
 Edition, by Professor Wilson.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 311 
 
 successful, and had received marked approbation 
 at home. 
 
 Mr. Barrow also states that " Lord Macartney 
 had early information of the apprehension en- 
 tertained of him by the members of the Bengal 
 Government, and he omitted no occasion to 
 efface from their minds an impression so injuri- 
 ous to a cordial co-operation of the two Presi- 
 dencies. In vain, however, did he give Mr. 
 Hastings the most positive assurances that he 
 had never harboured a thought of succeeding to 
 Bengal ; that his views were very remote from 
 any thing in India," &c. 
 
 Still less, it may be affirmed, could Sir Thomas 
 Hurnbold have aspired to supplant Mr. Hastings : 
 his government of Madras had been understood 
 to be temporary, and occupied only until Lord 
 Pigot, who was recalled, should return and re- 
 sume his post. The failure of health, with other 
 circumstances, placed it out of the question. 
 
 But whatever consideration may be due to the 
 above suggestion, the conduct of Mr. Hastings 
 on this occasion was influenced by weightier 
 motives : he was successful to a great extent, in 
 his own time, in making Sir Thomas Rumbold 
 chargeable with the misfortunes that fell upon 
 the Carnatic. Every history has followed in his
 
 312 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 lead, and the spirit of Mr. Hastings has reigned 
 triumphantly until this day.* 
 
 It is this circumstance which has rendered it 
 needful to enter at so great length into a con- 
 sideration of the personal, relations hetw.een Mr. 
 Hastings and the Governors of Madras. He 
 quarrelled in succession with nearly all of them. 
 But Sir Thomas Rumbold appears to have been, 
 more than any of them, the object of his jealousy 
 and animosity. This vindication does tardy jus- 
 tice to Sir Thomas Rumbold. In so doing it 
 has been unhappily necessary to expose the 
 policy and conduct of Mr. Hastings. 
 
 * The following extracts from Francis' diary throw light upon 
 the subject of Mr. Hastings' relations with Sir Thomas Rumbold. 
 
 "June 6th, 1778. Panton leaves Calcutta dissatisfied with 
 H[astings] and B[arwell] for not paying him the freight on ten 
 lacs here. Being ashamed or afraid to do it themselves, they have 
 thrown that difficulty on Rumbold." 
 
 "Nov. 6th, 1778. A letter of Rumbold's, with advice of the 
 taking of Pondicherry." 
 
 "Nov. 17th. Capitulation of Pondicherry received. Hastings 
 
 expresses the highest dissatisfaction at the terms, &c He 
 
 means nothing but to throw a sneer at Rumbold and Munro." 
 
 "Oct. 25th, 1779. II seems to have an avowed anti- 
 pathy to Rumbold, &c."
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 STATEMENTS AND DOCUMENTS, 
 
 RELATING CHIEFLY TO THE ACCUSATIONS BROUGHT 
 
 AGAINST SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD IN 
 
 REGARD TO HIS TREATMENT 
 
 OF THE ZEMINDARS : 
 
 CONSISTING FOB THE MOST PART OF 
 
 EXTEACTS FEOM SIK THOMAS BUMBOLD'S "ANSWER TO THE 
 COMMITTEE OF SECRECY." 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY NOTES FROM MR. HARDINGE'S DEFENCE OF SIR THOMAS 
 
 RUMBOLD, AND ALSO BY NOTES MADE BY THE COMPILER, 
 
 MISS RUMBOLD.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 " IN the long interdict dispatched from the India House, 
 January 10th, 1781, the abolition of the Committee of Circuit 
 is ascribed to the most corrupt motives. It takes the lead of 
 all other offences, and is represented to have given birth to 
 them. It is at once the apology of the honourable Directors 
 for their own ignorance of the essential interests of the 
 Company, and the engine of their vengeance against a man 
 who, to speak temperately, was better informed. They treat it 
 as a violation of their most positive and unequivocal com- 
 mands, commands that could not be mistaken, and that gave 
 no latitude for the exercise of discretion." (Appendix, Second 
 Report.) 
 
 " I shall not here enter into the merits of the institution. Let 
 it be allowed to have been wise, politic, necessary : it had been 
 abjured in principle, and suspended in fact, by the -Directors 
 themselves. Abjured in principle, by their condemnation of 
 another Committee, the express model of this; suspended in 
 fact, by a recall of its genuine members then acting upon the 
 service, without substituting others in their place."* 
 
 * " The orders of 1775, for the Committee of Circuit, refer to the 
 model of Bengal a model which had not then been tried. It was tried 
 afterwards, found impracticable, (though not in time of war,) and a 
 source of oppression to the natives. Struck with it as ruinous, the 
 Directors observe to Bengal, in 1777, ' that it has lessened the confi- 
 dence of the Zemindars in our Government, and has occasioned great 
 alarm.' They even lay particular stress upon the substitution of junior 
 servants as ' making bad infinitely worse.' Sir Thomas Rumbold signed 
 this letter a little before he left England, signed it in co-operation with
 
 316 APPENDIX. 
 
 " The orders that were carried out by Lord Pigot, in April, 
 1775, for the appointment of a Committee of Circuit, demand 
 attention, as they were the only orders that have been issued 
 from the Direction with regard to this important business. 
 
 " ' We direct that a Committee of our Council, consisting of 
 five members, be appointed to make the circuit of the Northern 
 Circars.' It should be observed that the Council under Lord 
 Pigot consisted of nineteen members. The Council over 
 which I had the honour to preside, consisted of only six 
 members, including the Governor and Commander in Chief, 
 with strict injunctions to remain at, and not to be employed 
 out of, the Presidency." * 
 
 " The troubles that distracted the government of Lord Pigot 
 prevented, tinder his administration, the complete execution of 
 the orders his Lordship carried out. Under the Government 
 which immediately preceded mine, a Committee of Circuit was 
 
 the Directors. Though he had so lately left that Board, he had no 
 instructions on the subject ; but on other parts of his future conduct 
 very marked and special directions. The Directors know in March, 
 1779, that Sir Thomas Eumbold has discontinued the Committee of 
 Circuit. Do they disapprove of that measure ? Do they censure him in 
 general terms ? No, they give him their warmest thanks for his import- 
 ant services to the Government ; and they do not accompany this tribute 
 of approbation with any hint that he has done wrong, though we are 
 now told by the accuser, the measure of putting that Committee in force 
 admitted not a moment's delay. Why not press it upon him in 1771), 
 or in 1780? "Why did they not press it upon Lord Macartney, 
 the successor of Sir Thomas Kumbold ? A year has passed, and no 
 Committee has yet stirred. In fact, the orders presume a time of ]>i ace. 
 Would not a change of circumstances alone abrogate or suspend the 
 letter of the requisition ? " (Mr. Hardinge's Defence.) 
 
 * " The truth of this assertion will be brought to light whenever the 
 Court of Directors shall be compelled to produce documents to which 
 they have refused me access, and which they have probably withheld 
 from the Secret Committee, since the Report asserts, that ' this Cummis- 
 Bion was not accompanied by any collateral instructions.' " (Second 
 Beport, vol. vii., p. 271.) 
 
 " This change in the form of the Council is utterly unnoticed in the 
 Beport of the Committee, and the injunction to remain at the Presidency 
 is not to be discovered even in the Appendix."
 
 APPENDIX. 317 
 
 indeed appointed ; but, in direct contradiction both to the letter 
 and the spirit of the orders given in 1775, it was entirely- 
 composed of junior servants." 
 
 " In my peculiar situation, and in the midst of the distresses 
 that surrounded the Company's affairs, when I assumed the 
 Government, I was indeed compelled to have recourse to a con- 
 struction of the orders of the Honourable Court. The spirit 
 and intention of the original orders by which the Committee 
 of Circuit was appointed, was, in one essential point, evidently 
 to introduce a direct intercourse between the distant dependen- 
 cies, and the Presidency ; to destroy too close and intimate a 
 connexion between tbe renters and tributaries of the Company 
 and their junior servants ; to reform the abuses that had long 
 disgraced the subordinates, aud to restore control to the Fort 
 St. George. But in what manner was this object to be 
 effected ? The contradictory regulations of the Honourable 
 Court had rendered it impossible for the Council to move towards 
 the Zemindars. The only practicable measure that presented 
 itself was to treat with the Zemindars at the Presidency." 
 
 " I have nowhere represented the calling the Zemindars to 
 Madras as being free from objection, or unattended with diffi- 
 culties. Perhaps, in the conjuncture in which it was adopted, 
 it was the only politic measure that could have been devised. 
 It had the recommendation of being summary in its effect, at 
 the same time that it respected the ancient habits and preju- 
 dices of the country in the mode." 
 
 " That the first suggestion of such a measure should spread 
 an instant alarm, and excite a general conspiracy among the 
 subordinate Chiefs and Councils, was perhaps, the surest test of 
 utility. During twelve years, they had governed tbe affairs 
 of the Circars by their absolute authority. With what advan- 
 tage to the Company, is demonstrated by the amount of hope- 
 less balances, and by the general ruin of the Zemindaries ; with 
 what satisfaction to themselves, may be inferred from the 
 universal apprehension, so clamorously expressed, of the inter- 
 ference of Council. That the Zemindars should be disinclined 
 to concur in any investigations that should tend to enhance
 
 318 APPENDIX. 
 
 their tribute or to expedite the liquidation of accounts, which 
 had perhaps been purposely embroiled, was not unnatural." 
 
 " I appeal to the candour of the Secret Committee, whether 
 in common cases they would not regard such an uniformity of 
 wishes between the stewards and the farmers of a distant and 
 unproductive property as a suspicious circumstance, and by no 
 means favourable to the principals. The investigation of a 
 'Committee of Circuit had caused little anxiety to the subordi- 
 nate Councils, because the operations of such a Board were 
 necessarily slow ; it was also easy to create perpetual obstruc- 
 tions to its progress ; but principally, because, by an additional 
 construction of the Company's orders, they were deemed capa- 
 ble of occupying a place at that Board, and thus forming a part 
 of that very Committee intended for the control of their own in- 
 trigues. But the movement of calling the Zemindars to the 
 Presidency aroused them to an active centre of union against 
 the Presidency of Madras.* Let me now be allowed to call 
 attention to the consternation which overwhelmed the Zemin- 
 dars upon the appointment of this Committee, the very corrup- 
 tions of which were to be treated as sacred ; let me be allowed 
 to contrast this sense of terror and distrust with the ' reluc- 
 tance ' said to have been shown by the Zemindars to the 
 measure I am defending. The picture asks no colouring from 
 
 * " Second Eeport, p. 10. See the whole of that and the following 
 1 page, in which it is remarkable that no authority is cited for the objec- 
 tions of the Zemindars to attend at the Presidency, but that of the 
 subordinates. The attendance of all who gave plausible reasons was 
 dispensed with. Those from the most remote districts were i i 
 
 without exception. From Vizagapatam the Rajah Yizierain Bau-ze alone 
 attended. He had been prevented by the intrigues of the Council 
 coming at an earlier period. Upon the receipt of my letter, he set out 
 without the slightest hesitation. (Appendix, Second lifpurt, Nos. 16, 28, 
 45.) It wus indeed pretended that this measure would obstruct the 
 liquidation of accounts, and distress the subordinate Prc-iih ncics ; but 
 act v 1 11 known, that the {.Tenter part of the Zemindars did not set 
 out for the 1 'residency until the end of May, that all balances ought to 
 Have paid by the end of March, but that no payments whatsoever had 
 been made. The distresses of the subordinate \veiv relieved by tho 
 Presidency, but were not enhanced by the measure in question."
 
 APPENDIX. 319 
 
 my band ; it is given in all its strength by the Board of Circuit 
 itself." 
 
 " 4 The appointment of the Committee of Circuit may naturally 
 be supposed to have created very great alarms among the 
 Zemindars in general. Those who may have found meaus to 
 inform themselves of the Company's intentions, will endeavour 
 to engage the other Zemindars in a combination to oppose their 
 being carried into execution. No more dependence can be 
 placed on their attachment to our interest, now the alarm is 
 given, than if hostilities had actually commenced against 
 them.' ' (See Appendix, Second Keport, No. 18.) 
 
 " It will no longer create surprise that the measure I proposed 
 was adopted by the Council of Fort St. George unanimously, 
 although a majority of that Council having antecedently 
 concurred in the appointment of a spurious Committee of 
 Circuit, had prejudices of their own to overcome, before they 
 could embrace the new ideas I presented to them. They 
 embraced them, however, but not (as insinuated by the Secret 
 Committee, and insisted upon by the Court of Directors) 
 without all the knowledge of the subject that could be obtained 
 from long experience and careful investigation. Their convic* 
 tion arose from their perfect possession of the business before 
 them. They felt the general distress of the revenue, and were 
 sensible that the stoppage of all payment from the Circars, in 
 particular, was occasioned by abuses, which had long subsisted 
 at the inferior governments. They saw the absolute necessity 
 of controlling the power of those Councils ; and with a view 
 to that important object, some of them had thought themselves 
 justifiable in consenting to the appointment of a Committee 
 of Circuit, composed of members whose station in the service, by 
 the express orders of the Company, as well as the spirit of the 
 institution,* precluded them from belonging to that Board. But 
 
 * I quote here from Mr. Hardinge's Defence. 
 
 " If all the Zemindars had protested against the attendance, (than 
 which nothing can be more false ; in fact none .of those who came 
 expressed any reluctance whatever,) it would form a mutilated ground 
 of argument even upon the subject of their aversion to the measure. 
 They should be asked when they returned, asked at this hour, if it was
 
 320 APPENDIX, 
 
 the face of things was changed. The progress of a Com- 
 mittee of Circuit, at best a hazardous experiment, would now 
 have been fatal. Undoubted intelligence had been received of 
 
 injurious to them, or BO understood and felt. They had many dis- 
 sensions among themselves. The culprit of this Bill treated their 
 grievances, and executed justice amongst them, without giving 
 offence to any of them*" (Of the Zemindars who came, twelve 
 presented petitions for grievances the local Boards had been 
 inadequate to redress. Of these, some wrote letters joyfully 
 accepting the summons.) " This permanency of tribute was also 
 an acquisition of important advantage to us ; although it is true that 
 it tempted the Zemindars to engage for a larger payment than in 
 strict justice, or sound policy, could then be required of them. The 
 result has been, the most ingenuous wish and zeal on their part, that 
 no arrear should be left ; but a real incapacity has hung over them, aud 
 obstructed their efforts. Yet, I shall prove at the Bar, that in conse- 
 quence of the arrangements made with them at Madras, they have paid 
 into the Company's treasure a portion of revenue unexampled in the 
 same period of time. The Zemindars of Masulipatam owed for 
 tribute, 203,636. They owed in debts to the bankers, 232,732, for 
 which they paid interest at the common rate of two and a half per cent. 
 
 month We are told the subordinates of Masulipatam represented 
 
 the absence of the Zemindars as tending to impede the collection of 
 the revenues. How is it the Zemindars were become solvent, and even 
 desirous to pay, just at the moment they received notice of the journey 
 to Madras ? Sir Thomas Bumbold comments upon these evasire 
 accounts from the subordinates. We must guard against these 
 enormous balances, but let us first ascertain them : let us Lear the 
 Zemindar, and redress the injuries he has received.' As to the loans 
 from the bankers, Sir Thomas Kumbold proposed means for the 
 abolition of the pernicious customs that had obtained ; but his general plan 
 of conduct to the Zemindars would of itself produce the effect of lowering 
 the bankers' interest, because, in proportion as the term of the Zemindar 
 in his land is made secure, the interest or premium for the loan is 
 
 reduced I lay no inconsiderable stress upon the fact that every 
 
 Zemindar of Masulipatam owed the same portion of arrear; a fact 
 that admits of no solution but one ; neglect of all the arrears, from a 
 certain period, by system : for the personal situation of every Zemindar 
 could not be the same. Let me call the attention of the House to the 
 111:111111 T in which the Bill states the distance between the resi.i 
 the Zemindars and Madras; it names only Ganjam and Yi/kMiiatam, 
 the most distant by a proportion of more than half. Tin- nearer districts 
 are entirely overlooked, although ne fewer than seventeen came from
 
 APPENDIX. 321 
 
 approaching hostilities with France. A formidable body of 
 French, under Monsieur Lally, were actually stationed in the 
 Guntoor Circars, ready to avail themselves of the first appearance 
 
 thence. Very large payments in discharge of their tribute were made 
 by the Zemindars during their stay at Madras ; by the Vizianagrum 
 family upwards of 23,000, by the Masulipatam Zemindars upwards of 
 78,000. I agree, that some additional expense was incurred by these 
 journeys. Sir Thomas Rumbold lamented over it himself. He sent 
 circular letters to every Zemindar, which recommended that as little 
 expense of this kind as possible should be incurred. 
 
 "The real objects of the Orders of 1775 were two: increase of 
 English revenue by an act of despotism, and a reduction of Eastern 
 power by force. As to the reduction of their military, it became, in 
 1778, a desperate attempt. Government was not equal to it ; and it 
 would have been madness at that period, if it could have been accom- 
 plished, because it must have impaired our defence, and shaken their 
 attachment. The Zemindars had not fewer than thirty thousand men 
 in arms, independent of the force necessary to the collections of revenue 
 and their internal defence. 
 
 " Let me ask the House : Are they fairly possessed of these Orders 
 in 1775 ? I believe they are not. Of this I am sure, that the Bill has 
 not stated them. It has, in stating what it represents them to be, 
 committed a falsehood of the worst kind ; a suppression of truth. 
 It has even omitted a hint of that object which forms two-thirds of 
 them ; alone occupied the Committee when they acted ; and so occupied 
 them, as to endanger the allegiance of the natives by the alarm of it. 
 Their letter has been read by the accuser ; but he has only read two or 
 three passages of it, which it strikes him criminate Sir Thomas 
 Eumbold. He omits the reception of the Orders, the general plan of 
 the Zemindars to resist them, and an express hint of the Committee, 
 ' that no faith can be reposed in the natives any more ; that alliances 
 will soon be formed between them and the Mahrattas,' &c. ; to say 
 nothing of the local impediments which the acting Committee announces 
 in detail in their letters. They soon want military for the survey 
 alone; and feeling themselves the instruments of tyranny, with a 
 power unequal to it, solicit a reinforcement. The Zemindars, it seems, 
 are afraid, that if a new and foreign military is once imposed upon 
 them, the increase of their tribute will only pave the way to a forcible 
 possession of their land ; a fear which the recent experience in Bengal, 
 and the Orders themselves, would rather encourage than refute. Look 
 at Bengal, the circle where these reforms have been attempted. 
 Farmers, and best bidders for the land, men of straw and adventurers, 
 have squeezed all they could from the heart of the country, ruined the 
 
 Y
 
 322 APPENDIX. 
 
 of disaffection in those parts. The march of a detachment against 
 the Mahrattas had spread general alarm. Hyder was in motion. 
 Monsieur de Bellecombe, who was arrived at Pondicherry with 
 extraordinary powers, had sent an Embassy to that chief, and 
 had demanded a conference with him. In these circumstances, 
 the appearance of a Committee of Circuit would have shaken 
 the dependency of the Circars. On the other hand, had the 
 intrigues and influence of the subordinate Councils been 
 suffered to continue, all hope of a revenue from these countries 
 
 cultivators, and fled. On the Other hand the dispossessed Zemindar 
 has often abandoned the district ; the natives and cultivators have 
 gone after him. What have the Company done ? Tempted them hack 
 almost on their own terms. 
 
 " It is stated in the Orders that the Zemindars are too formidable to 
 their neighbours, and even to the Government. They can be formidable, 
 I agree ; but injuries alone will make their power dangerous. Treat 
 them well. They are firm in their allegiance, and their power is useful 
 to us. It has been useful to us ; and their zeal in our service, ever 
 since the guilt of Sir Thomas Eumbold was incurred by his treatment 
 of them, has been uniform. The Zemindars of the north have great 
 influence, and Lord Macartney, who succeeded Sir Thomas Eumbold as 
 Governor of Madras, has told the Company what an important resource 
 he has found in their fidelity and zeal. 
 
 " Sir Thomas Bumbold's Government was temporary and under pecu- 
 liar circumstances. It was calculated for the purpose of conciliating 
 those tributaries who were in general habits of allegiance, though 
 lately offended, in order to act with all the united powers of the settle- 
 ment against the foreign invader, and those country powers who wer 
 likely to be seduced into arms by his intrigues, and their own ambition. 
 The Zemindars were now in disgust. Had we hurled at them this 
 execrated Committee of Circuit, it is not too much to say, we should lia\e 
 lost the Northern Circars. The fact is known that all our troops uliich 
 must have been employed in the odious service of disarming the 
 Zemindary force, if the Committee had proceeded, were employed at 
 Pondicherry. The Northern Circars would therefore have been defence- 
 less, and open to Lally, from the Guntoor, if their native military had 
 been reduced. Instead of expo sing ourselves to any such embarrassment, 
 we sheltered the Circars, though we hired a part of their troops in a 
 more active and profitable service ; their political zeal was animated in 
 our cause, and we found in their courage and fidelity an important 
 acquisition."
 
 APPENDIX. 323 
 
 must have been abandoned. The only measure which seemed 
 calculated to obviate the mischiefs that threatened on all sides 
 was to call the Zemindars to the presidency. It remains to 
 show that the manner of treating with those chiefs, and the 
 agreements concluded with them, were as little liable to objec- 
 tion as the measure itself. The first remark upon this subject 
 prefers against me a charge of having usurped the province of 
 the whole Council, by precluding all investigation, and taking 
 upon myself exclusively the settlement of all leases." 
 
 " ' The different Zemindars,' says the Report, ' were never 
 treated with, in regard to the leases of their land^, by the 
 Board collectively, nor in consequence of any investigation 
 before them, but merely by the Governor in person, whose 
 report was in every instance held to be sufficient.' (Second 
 Report, pp. 10,12.)" 
 
 " It cannot be expected that the Secret Committee should, 
 in an instant of time, have been able to unravel such a mass 
 of confusion, as the Rules of the Company's service ; nor is it 
 my business to enter into a defence of those Rules. To state 
 the Rule in the present case, a Rule which can be no secret to 
 the lowest clerk in the India House, will be sufficient for my 
 justification, and will fully counteract the effect of a suggestion 
 which recurs in every branch of the inquiry, relative to this 
 subject. It was not merely the custom of the service ; it was 
 the express duty of my office, to investigate, to treat, and to 
 suggest proposals to the Board. In all transactions similar to 
 that in question, the President is the immediate acting man. 
 It is a peculiar obligation arising from the nature of his com- 
 mission. It is a trust which is in an especial manner committed 
 to him ; and it would be a breach of that trust to surrender it 
 into other hands. I appeal for the truth of this position to 
 the experience of every man who has ever been employed in 
 the service of the Company. The Court of Directors, not con- 
 tented with holding so essential a circumstance from the 
 knowledge of the Secret Committee, have not scrupled them- 
 selves to found the charge of a black crime upon this 
 exercise of a known and indispensable duty. I have said 
 
 T 2
 
 324* APPENDIX. 
 
 that it was the peculiar province of the President to inquire, 
 to report, and to offer proposals to the Board ; but I will not 
 do the Council the injustice to insinuate that the state of the 
 Zemindaries was investigated by rne alone. The same sources 
 of information were open to every member of the B jard. The 
 Zemindars had free communication with all who were desirous 
 to confer with them ; and were personally known to all the 
 members of the Board. I submitted to Council the best lights 
 my industry could collect ; and if the Board acquiesced in the 
 results of my inquiries, it was, doubtless, because they were 
 confirmed by their own. 
 
 " ' The Report observes,' (Second Report, page 17,) ' that 
 the exhausted state of the Company's Treasury and unavoidable 
 increase of expenditure w-ere urged by the Governor as reasons 
 for taking low rents.' 
 
 " They were indeed urged as reasons for taking a real and 
 permanent revenue, instead of nominal increases, which no 
 industry could enable the Zemindars to make good ; they were 
 urged as reasons for avoiding, at that crisis of public danger, 
 all speculative projects, which might retard balances, stop the 
 revenue, and disturb the tranquillity of the country. It is ad- 
 mitted also that I urged that due care should be taken to 
 recover outstanding balances. It might have been added, had 
 such a confession been consistent with the views of the Court 
 of Directors, ' that those balances were actually in a course of 
 liquidation.' 
 
 " Let me here be allowed to observe, that the Zemindars 
 cannot with propriety be considered as renters of the Company. 
 From the language which the Court of Directors have lately 
 adopted, the public must be led to infer, that the Company 
 have not barely succeeded to certain rights of sovereignty in 
 this country, but that they are become exclusive proprietors of 
 the soil! and that these noble Zemindars, the real and the 
 sole owners of the lands, which they inherit from a line of 
 ancestry that would appear fabulous in Europe, had on a 
 sudden been converted into farmers, or rather peasants and 
 labourers in the Company's fields. The tribute, not rent, paid
 
 APPENDIX. 325 
 
 by these chiefs to the Mogul invaders, (who were never able 
 entirely to subjugate their country,) was a sort of ransom of 
 their ancient independence. It was the price of a quiet 
 possession of their property, their privileges, customs, and 
 habits. It was always assessed with moderation ; and with a 
 just regard to the immense establishments, which the opinion 
 of the country renders it necessary for persons of their conse- 
 quence to keep on foot. The Soubah settled with the Zemin- 
 dars, without attempting to interfere with the collection. It 
 would have been happy for all parties, if the same wise maxims 
 had been respected after the cession of the Circars to the 
 Company. The country would then have flourished, and the 
 Company's affairs would have prospered with the prosperity 
 of their tributaries : to found this prosperity on the basis of 
 reciprocal confidence and security, and to fix the proportion of 
 the tribute on principles of policy and justice, were the ends of 
 my inquiries, and the objects of my representations to the 
 Board on this subject : that the ruined condition of the 
 Zemindaries would not permit the tribute to be advanced in 
 the proportions I had expected and proposed, was to me a 
 source of inexpressible mortification. But I was compelled to 
 yield to circumstances. The exigency of the situation called 
 for some decisive remedy, delay was ruin, and the slow inquiry,* 
 formerly recommended by the Directors, equally useless and 
 impracticable. The single expedient which policy could suggest, 
 and the crisis of affairs would admit, was adopted by the 
 Presidency. A fixed tribute, for a fixed period, was the only 
 means of restoring industry, of removing from the minds of 
 men the terror of increasing exactions, of giving substance and 
 stability to the rights of the Company. The practice of 
 granting yearly leases was undoubtedly more favourable to the 
 views of interested individuals, but would soon have proved 
 equally destructive to the tribute and the tributaries. The 
 
 * Lord Pigot maintaiued that the business of the Committee of 
 Circuit would take years to execute. (See Appendix, Second Et- port, 
 No. 6.)
 
 326 APPENDIX. 
 
 under tenants, for whom the Court of Directors express so 
 much affectionate concern, will never engage with spirib in the 
 business of cultivation, until they know whether any part of 
 their crop is to remain to them. The agreement I entered into 
 for the fixed term of five years, may perhaps enable the country 
 to recover from its languishing condition. Such a measure 
 was at least calculated to restore some degree of credit to the 
 Company's Government. I knew that conciliation was of as 
 much consequence as tribute. I preferred a moderate, but 
 certain, increase of revenue, to more brilliant but treacherous 
 hopes, that led to hazardous experiments. I secured a revenue ; 
 I did more, I secured the country. 
 
 " The measures of my administration had more connexion 
 with the late transactions in the Carnatic than my friends 
 have been willing to admit ; a connexion equally honourable 
 to me and beneficial to the service. I established tranquillity 
 in the Circars ; where at the present period, more than at any 
 other, it is essential t>> the preservation of our influence, or 
 dominion over them, that no just cause of discontent, or 
 pretence for complaint, should be furnished by Government. 
 Ryder's plan and principles of government stand high in the 
 estimation of the inhabitants of those countries. If they had 
 been irritated at that crisis, by so offensive an innovation as 
 the progress of a Committee of Circuit, however constituted, or 
 if the uncertainty of their tenure, or the vexations of govern- 
 ment, had driven them to seek a change, they would have 
 found a protector in Hyder Ali, who, by making an effectual 
 use of the numerous advantages he would have derived from 
 the acquisition of the Circars, might at this time have been 
 master of the whole coast of Coromandel, and might have 
 accelerated the ruin of the English affairs in Hindostan.* 
 
 " It is remarked by the Secret Committee, on more than one 
 
 * I cannot resist observing here, that although the account of 
 transaction has been, I may fairly say, garbled in gassing through tlio 
 hands of the Secret Committee, somctiims by falsifying ti^i; 
 others, suppressing whole sentences ; this case is among tin 
 insidious, as it requires explanation to detect.
 
 APPENDIX. 327 
 
 occasion, and with some appearance of dissatisfaction, that the 
 agreement entered into for an increase of twelve and a half per 
 cent, to the revenue ' was an addition on the old Moorish 
 rental' (See Second Report, pp. 14, 17.) It will therefore be 
 necessary to observe, that in all additions to the revenue, 
 it has been the general, if not the constant, practice to fix the 
 proportion of the increase upon the ' Assant Jumma,' (or the 
 old bargain with the Moguls.) In a country where usages 
 as such become sacred, it is surely policy to conform to them. 
 I did so in the present instance. But it must not from hence 
 be inferred that this increase of twelve and a half per cent, 
 upon the old rental, is the only increase which has taken place 
 since the government of the Moguls. The unhappy natives 
 have been no gainers by this deference to their ancient forms. 
 The sum total of the additions made to the revenue, at differ- 
 ent times, since the accession of the Company to the Circars, 
 amounts to above fifty per cent, upon the old establishment. 
 An enormous exaction ; and far more oppressive to the Zemin- 
 dars than an equal augmentation would have proved, under 
 their Mohammedan masters ; inasmuch as the perquisites of 
 the Mogul officers are comprised in the estimate which is 
 improperly called the Moorish rental ; whereas, in the later 
 agreements, as existing when I came to the Government, those 
 perquisites were not taken into the account, nor were the extor- 
 tions of the Company's servants subject to any better control 
 than their own discretion. 
 
 " The real blame to which the proceedings of the Board on 
 the present occasion is exposed, consists in their having exacted 
 any increase of tribute from the Zemindars, at the period of 
 their distress ; a distress which surely cannot be unknown to 
 those who have so feelingly represented the extreme difficulty 
 with which most of those chiefs ' provided for a journey of 
 three hundred * miles,' and with which some of them were 
 enabled to maintain their families with common decency at 
 home. (See Second Report, p. 13.) The balances already due, 
 
 * The average distance. Some -were below that.
 
 328 APPENDIX. 
 
 were in truth too heavy to admit of an additional load. But 
 tribute is the constant cry of the Court of Directors, nor can 
 any measure engage their support that does not come recom* 
 mended by some new imposition upon the tributary." 
 
 " If the arrangement of a moderate increase of tribute for a 
 fixed term,* (an arrangement which has been demonstrated to 
 be equally beneficial to the Zemindar and the Company,) be 
 suffered to subsist, and if the peace of the Circars be main- 
 tained, every fresh dispatch from India must bring additional 
 confirmation of what I have advanced. And the Honourable 
 Court will act a more candid part, if, instead of persisting in 
 the ' impossible ' attempt ' to ascertain the amount of damage 
 to be sustained by the Company, in consequence of my engage- 
 ments,' (see Second Report, p. 17,) they will avail themselves 
 of the ample means they are probably possessed of already, to 
 ascertain the advantages secured to the Company, and tho 
 mischiefs averted, by the measures established in the course of 
 my administration." 
 
 Before closing this part of the subject it will be well to 
 
 * " But our agreement was ' dissatisfactory ' to the Directors, on 
 account of the term and the sum. A shameful allegation ! If it had 
 been satisfactory to them, would it be a competent plea in our favour if 
 the measure had been arraigned by the legislature ? Imputations of 
 crime, from whatever source they come, are neither proofs nor even 
 testimonies of it. If the Directors are to decide upon Sir Thonms 
 Rumbold, those Directors who in 1781 devoted him as the victim of 
 their calumny and resentment, what innocence coul . in ? I 
 
 would not insure his life an hour. The sum, indeed, and the term of 
 the assessment are not arraigned by the Bill. I may therefore assume 
 that they are unexceptionable. The accuser's Counsel has mid that 
 part of the Philippic in 1781, which enumerates in the lump all tho 
 iniquities of Sir Thomas Rumbold, but says nothing of the ver\ 
 for which it is read, namely, the reason which the Directors assigned for 
 their censure of the new tribute settled at Madras. The revenue v,;m 
 increased by a temperate but solid accession to it, amounting to thirty- 
 six thousand pounds a year; the payments, ever since the last 1> 
 the Zemindary lands at Madras, liuve been more jmnetual tliantvtr. 
 and the affection of the native has been engaged in our service." (From 
 Mr. Hardinge's Defence.)
 
 APPENDIX. 829 
 
 prove by a reference to the " Minutes of the Evidences," that 
 all these measures were fully communicated to the Court of 
 Directors by the President and Council of Madras. (See pp. 
 201, 208, 209, 219, &c.) After adverting to the original 
 orders for the Committee of Circuit, and the change of circum- 
 stances then existing, and " because the time allotted fur its 
 operation had been suffered to waste in fruitless disputes," 
 the President lays before the Directors the reasons that led to 
 the adoption of the present plan. " Hitherto," he says, "the 
 Zemindars have been taught to consider the local Councils 
 under which they were respectively placed, alone as the 
 Government to which they were to look up, and from which no 
 appeal was to be made. The plan we have adopted is a means 
 of striking at the root of this evil by giving them a confidence 
 in us, and teaching them to make their appeals in all cases of 
 grievance and oppression to that tribunal, which alone is fully 
 adequate to redress them." In May, 1778, he writes, "That 
 a shameful scene of abuse has been acted, that the mutual 
 interests and the intrigues of the subordinate Councils and that 
 Presidency, have weakened the confidence of the natives in our 
 dominion, and have kept the troops of the Company continu- 
 ally in the field, on various pretences, and wasted their 
 strength." " On these grounds," he says, " we resolved upon 
 the measure; some obstructions, as we foresaw, were artfully 
 thrown in the way of our scheme by those whom it affected, 
 either in consequence or emolument ; but, by a steady persever- 
 ance, we accomplished it almost as soon and as successfully as 
 we wished." In subsequent dispatches the President details 
 " the mischievous systems that had tended to involve the 
 Zemindars in almost hopeless debt," and the remedies he pro* 
 posed for relieving them from such practices in future. 
 "Another cause," he says, "which has operated in no small 
 degree to the distress of the Zemindars arises from the short 
 term of the settlement with them. When the leases are so 
 confined, it can never be expected that the cultivator will 
 
 attend to the improvement of his land This conduct is 
 
 natural enough, if we consider how unsettled the ideas of thtse
 
 330 APPENDIX. 
 
 people must be concerning the state of their property, after it 
 has passed through such various changes, and the sovereignty 
 transferred from the Soubah of the Deccan to the French, then 
 back to the Soubah again, and, lastly, to the English ; all in 
 the course of a few years. These reflections, we think, must 
 strike you forcibly with the necessity of falling upon a plan 
 better adapted to give the Zemindars a firm confidence in your 
 Government, and to convince them that you wish to obtain no 
 more than an equitable revenue from their estates, leaving the 
 remainder to be enjoyed by themselves in security, and free 
 
 from all other exactions For this purpose it is necessary to 
 
 extend the term of their leases We are convinced of the 
 
 peculiar propriety of it at this juncture, in a political point of 
 view. Without the confidence and attachment of the Zemin- 
 dars, we cannot depend upon the strength of your forces for 
 the security of the Circars, were they to be disturbed by any of 
 the country powers, or by the French, who have clearly the 
 design of gaining a footing there." And again he writes, in a 
 letter of later date, " In our former di.-patch you were made 
 acquainted with the particular settlements made with the 
 Zemindars. This, we are convinced, is as high as the country 
 will bear ; and it will require prudent management, with a care- 
 ful attntion to the redress of former grievances, to receive evtu 
 this with punctuality, adding to it the large arrears that are 
 due. We have also stated to you the infinite trouble it cost us 
 to lay down the necessary regulations for the Cicacole Circar, 
 and to effect a reconciliation between the two brothers. We 
 proceed now to submit to you such of our subsequent Resolu- 
 tions relative to the other Zemindars as we deem most worthy 
 of your attention It is our opinion that every good con- 
 sequence will result from the interposition of this Government 
 in the disputes of the Zemindars. At first we imagined that 
 it would be to them a more agreeable mode of decision if we 
 referred it to arbitration, and with that purpose we selected 
 such as from their characters we were led to suppose would not 
 be obnoxious to either side; but they declined to arbitrate. 
 The weight, therefore, of this heavy business fell upon us ; and
 
 APPENDIX. 331 
 
 we are happy at last to have brought it to a conclusion. They 
 are now returned to their country perfectly satisfied ; and, we 
 flatter ourselves, we may venture to look forward that the 
 balances of the Company will be regularly discharged, that the 
 Zemindars will maintain a good understanding among them- 
 selves, and that their complaints, if not absolutely removed, 
 will be less frequent than they have hitherto been." 
 
 That the Council of Madras had a thorough understanding 
 of the cause of the reluctance said to be manifested by the 
 Zemindars to attend the summons they had received, appears 
 plainly from the following Minute of the President. (See Evi- 
 dences, p. 232.) 
 
 " Having attentively perused the letter from Masulipatam, I 
 shall offer a few remarks upon the consultations The con- 
 duct of the chief, Mr. Sadleir, in inquiry into the state of the 
 factory, the balances due, the causes for the non-payment of the 
 Zumindars, &c., was certainly very proper and necessary. 
 Having gone thus far, nothing more was wanting than to direct 
 the Zemindars to repair to the Presidency, and to have endea- 
 voured to prevail upon them to pay some part of their balances 
 before their departure. The letter written by the chief, to ac- 
 company that written by me to the Zemindars, seems to enter 
 more into the business than there was any occasion for. He 
 says : ' In future you will know that it is the intention of the 
 Governor and Council to settle the annual rent of your several 
 districts at the Presidency.' This, in some degree, implies that 
 they were annually to repair here ; which might be a great dis- 
 couragement to them, and I believe is not the intention of any 
 membtr of this Board ; but to settle with them for some length 
 of time, and on such a footing as may prevent such heavy 
 balances in future as are now due from them, and to relieve 
 
 them from every oppression and undue influence There is 
 
 one part of the extracts of the consultations of the 20th of 
 April that demands our particular notice. They agree to 
 ' apprize the Zemindars of what will be expected from them, on 
 their arrival at Madras,' without our ever having made known 
 to them our expectations, or the plan we intended to pursue, as
 
 332 APPENDIX; 
 
 they particularly make use of the following expressions : ' To 
 find means during their absence to pay into the treasury here 
 such money as would otherwise have been received from them, 
 had not the business been transferred to the Presidency.' These 
 expressions are certainly ill-considered. They give the Zemin- 
 dars an opportunity of making use of the samejinessc, in excuse 
 for not paying what is due from them; and, accordingly, Rajah 
 Tripetty Kauze, in his answer to the chief's letter, dwtlls upon 
 that part, and adds to it, on mentioning his balance, * The Com- 
 pany would have received that money to this time.' At the 
 
 conclusion of their consultations on the 2nd of May, they gave 
 up all hopes of receiving any part of the balances due, previous 
 to the departure of the Zemindars for Madras, without any one 
 
 good reason offered lam persuaded, from the great balances 
 
 due, the Zemindars might, by good management, be induced to 
 pay amongst them such a sum, though not the whole of their 
 debts, as would supply the exigencies of the factory during 
 thtir absence, which at most will rot be above two months." 
 
 It remains to add that ia seventeen letters, written after the 
 Court of Directors had been made acquainted with the whole of 
 the details respecting the Zemindars, not the slightest disappro- 
 bation was manifested. On some of the measures proposed, for 
 correcting a system which had caused the Zemindars to be 
 almost hopelessly involved in debt, the Directors comment ap- 
 provingly. (See Evidences, pp 203, 235.) 
 
 Extract of letter from the Directors to Fort St. George : 
 
 " IT is with great concern we read your account of the dis- 
 tressed state of the Zemindars, and of the causes assigned for 
 
 such distress We much approve your idea of fixing the 
 
 future periods of payment at such times of the year as shall 
 enable the Zemindars to realize the produce of their lauds, with- 
 out being under the necessity of continuing the destructive 
 practice of borrowing money on the ttrms to which they have 
 hitherto been subject. We hope the mode of relief will be ade- 
 quate to the purposes intended. We have, therefore, only to 
 enjoin you to take care that our indulgence be not abused, but
 
 APPENDIX. 333 
 
 that the rents be duly paid, according to stipulations to be 
 made with the Zemindars, and not otherwise." 
 
 To prove that the collection of revenues, so far from being 
 impeded, was improved, the Counsel called Mr. Wright, Treasurer 
 of Madras, who proved an increase of revenue from the Cir- 
 cars of, first year, 100,000, second year, 128,900. (See Evi- 
 dences, p. 35.) 
 
 Sir Thomas Rumbold's summary of facts, in regard to one 
 part of his relations with the subordinate factories, is too 
 important to be omitted here. 
 
 "How far the honour of the Presidency may be concerned to 
 remove the other imputation thrown upon them in this part of 
 the Report, of having generally disregarded the information 
 afforded by the subordinate factories, (Second Report, p. 19,) 
 the public is in a situation to determine. In what degree the 
 Presidency may have merited the particular reprehension inflicted 
 on them, in the present instance, by the Secret Committee, for 
 neglecting ' the strong representations made by the gentlemen 
 of Granjam against the agreement with Ball Kistnah,' (ibid.,) 
 will appear from the following facts." 
 
 " In the year 1778, (the year immediately following the 
 boasted restoration of the revenue, during the chiefship of Mr. 
 Smith,) the whole collections, including a variety of old 
 balances, as well as what could be obtained of the current 
 tribute, fell short of the amount of the simple yearly revenue, 
 as stated in the Report, by a sum considerably exceeding one 
 third. In the following year (1779) the whole mass of these 
 mixed collections did not amount to one half of the expected 
 simple revenue of the year. So rapid a decline of the revenue 
 did not fail to excite in my mind a serious alarm, not unmixed 
 with suspicion. It is true the collections of the current year's 
 account bad only been continued to the end of February. (See 
 Ganjam cash accounts on the Company's records ; see also my 
 Minute, Appendix, Second Report, No. GO.) But the account
 
 334 APPENDIX. 
 
 finishes in April, and the collections of the two remaining 
 months could not possibly be considerable. In the mean time 
 the expenses of the establishment were absorbing the whole 
 produce of the collections. (See my Minutes, Appendix, 
 Second Eeport, Nos. 60, 61.) I determined to attempt an im- 
 mediate reform ; but upon the first rumour of this intention 
 to the astonishment of every member of the Council, without 
 exception the gentlemen of Ganjam remitted an account to 
 the Presidency of a pretended collection during the two least 
 productive months, equal to all the preceding produce of the 
 year. A daring imposition, destitute even of the degree of 
 plausibility which is required in fiction. So gross an artifice 
 could not deceive for an instant. But the Presidency proceeded 
 with caution ; and it was not until a direct confession was re- 
 ceived from the chief himself that the gentlemen of Ganjam 
 were removed from their stations. (See Ganjam accounts on the 
 records of the Company for that period.) " 
 
 " This is by no means the only instance of prevarication of 
 which the gentlemen of Ganjam stand convicted ; yet it is 
 ranked among the foremost of my offences, that I did not con- 
 sent to be governed by the ' representations of those gentle- 
 men.' Yet the evidence of those convicted gentlemen, and of 
 the gentlemen of the other subordinates, and of Mr. Smith and 
 Mr. Johnson, who had themselves been chiefs of subordinates, 
 all actuated by the same passions ; all, though in different 
 degrees, urged by the same spirit of resentment, and biassed by 
 the same sense of an immediate personal interest, in fixing a 
 general odium upon my conduct, and in discrediting the greater 
 part of the measures of my administration ; yet, I say, the 
 evidence such as I have stated it, the evidence of witnesses 
 who might fairly be challenged on the trial of a common issue 
 in Westminster Hall,* this evidence is the sole foundation not 
 
 * " It is by no means my intention to impeach generally the cha- 
 racters of gentlemen who have served in the subordinate Councils. I 
 only assert that interested parties would not be admitted as \\ itursses in 
 a court of ji: 
 
 "It may be necessary to make one additional remark before quitting
 
 APPENDIX. 335 
 
 only of all the calumny which has been so husily employed to 
 prejudice my character in the world ; but, what is more serious 
 and affecting, of all the charges and imputations which seem 
 to have received the sanction of the Secret Committee. 
 
 " Such are the grounds upon which ' it has been thought 
 proper to advert to my private transactions ; ' to explore and 
 to publish to the world the minutest circumstances of my 
 affairs; and to call upon my confidential agents and friends to 
 betray the secrets of their trust." 
 
 this subject. ' No balances were paid,' the Report says, ' but teeps (or 
 draughts) granted for pagodas.' The revenue is never paid but by 
 soucars' (or bankers') bills, called teeps. . I could not alter the established 
 mode, but I objected to it. See my Minute, Appendix, Second Report, No. 
 49. It will be sufficient to remark here that the revenue was raised, 
 under my administration, in two of the great divisions of the Circars, 
 and raised as high as the countries would bear. In the third district, 
 which was absolutely ruined, I laid the foundation of a real production."
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 (See Page 47.) 
 
 MINUTES AND OFFICIAL LETTERS BY SIR EYRE COOTE, 
 SIR THOMAS RUMBOLD, AND MR. HASTINGS. 
 
 AT A SELECT COMMITTEE, JANUARY, 1770. 
 MINUTE OF THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 "THE arrival of Sir Eyre Coote at this Presidency, on his 
 way to Bengal, at so critical a juncture, I esteem on many ac- 
 counts a fortunate circumstance : he will be able to form a 
 judgment, from his own observation, of your real situation, with 
 respect to resources, and the conduct both of the Nabob and 
 the Rajah of Tanjore. And I most earnestly recommend to 
 him to take a view of our proceedings, both before and since 
 the capture of Pondicherry, that he may be fully acquainted 
 with the difficulties we have had, and still have, to struggle 
 with ; that, when he takes his place at the Council General of 
 Bengal, he may, from his own knowledge, make such represen- 
 tations, that we may be supported and assisted by the opinion 
 of that Board, in an}' measure we may be obliged to adopt for 
 
 the public good, and the preservation of the Carnatic We 
 
 have now an empty treasury. It is true the Nabob has pro- 
 mised a considerable gum this month, and to be more regular 
 in hia payments in future, but we have no other security but
 
 APPENDIX. 337 
 
 his word ; should he fail us, as lie has seldom heen very punctual 
 in his engagements, I apprehend the most serious consequences. 
 It is absolutely necessary to act with spirit and vigour, to ob- 
 tain money from those channels from which it ought to flow, 
 and by a determined plan of economy, and reduction of all 
 expense, to endeavour to supply our treasury. To accomplish 
 this necessary point, I have no doubt of meeting with the con- 
 currence and steady support of the Committee : and I propose 
 that an auditor of accounts may be immediately appointed, that 
 he proceed to examine all accounts, civil and military, for the 
 last six months : or, if it should be thought too great a task for 
 one person, that two persons be appointed, one to audit the 
 civil, the other the military accounts, and that all unnecessary 
 charges be struck off ; and that they make a report to the Com- 
 mittee, or Council, every fortnight, of the progress they have 
 made ; and that their allowance, or emolument, depend, in a 
 great measure, on the reduction they have made in the monthly 
 expenses. It would appear extraordinary at the commencement 
 of a war to propose a reduction of our military force ; it would, 
 at this juncture, be undoubtedly highly improper and danger- 
 ous ; but I do not hesitate to give it as my opinion, that our 
 establishment is too great for our resources ; and either a fixed 
 or certain revenue from the Carnatic, or Tanjore country, must 
 be allotted for the payment of our troops, or a considerable re- 
 duction must take place at a more favourable period 
 
 " We have represented to Bengal our situation : we have ac- 
 quainted them in a former letter that, if we did not receive a 
 supply, we should be under the necessity of drawing upon 
 Europe. The Council General were, however, unable to supply 
 us ; I will not say unwilling, being convinced the co-opcr; 
 with the different Presidencies, for the mutual support of the 
 Company's possessions, is the first and most material object of 
 their political conduct 
 
 "The seas are covered with powerful fleets What if the 
 
 French grand fleet should oblige ours to retire for a season, 
 where then will be our hopes of a reinforcement ? Shall we 
 then, with empty treasury, be enabled to provide for the neces-
 
 338 APPENDIX. 
 
 sities of a commencing war ? or will the Nabob's generosity 
 
 then keep pace with our wants ? 
 
 " The next consideration to supplying our treasury is, to 
 form such alliances as may secure us from any attempts, if our 
 
 endeavours with respect to money should not succeed Our 
 
 correspondence with Hyder has not been attended with that 
 readiness on his part which we expected from him ; but I am 
 persuaded we should not lose sight of the object, and nothing 
 will so effectually bring it about as sending a person to him, 
 &c., &c." 
 
 Letter from Sir Eyre Coote to the Chairman of the East 
 India Company, dated Fort St. George, January 18th, 1779 : 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " THE intelligence I had from a Dutch ship determined me, 
 instead of going to Bombay, to proceed hither directly, where I 
 imagined my services might be more immediately necessary. 
 But I had the pleasure to find everything in a state of present 
 peace and security upon the coast, from the wise and spirited 
 exertions of the Governor and Council here, in support of the 
 
 army I wish I could give as favourable an opinion of the 
 
 proceedings of the Presidencies of Bengal and Bombay : but it 
 appears to me that they ought, at this critical time, to have 
 united against the national enemy, and given due assistance to 
 this settlement, which has hitherto borne the whole burden of 
 the war ; instead of which, a large army is sent from Bengal, at 
 an immense expense, into the heart of the country, where, if I 
 can judge from the information I have received, they can pro- 
 duce nothing but distress to the Company, not to say dishonour 
 to the nation, whether successful or otherwise ; and Bombay is 
 left defenceless, by sending their whole force upon a Mahratta 
 expedition ; which, besides the danger to which they are ex- 
 posed, brings upon us the inconvenience of transporting troops 
 from hence to Mahe, the attack upon which ought naturally to 
 have fallen upon the settlement, so nearly in itrf neighbourhood. 
 Indeed, I may say, the sending troops upon this expedition is
 
 APPENDIX. 339 
 
 rather calculated for the security of Bombay in its present weak 
 state, than any great prospect of success we have against Mahe, 
 as I am apt to suppose Hyder Ali will interfere in defending 
 that place against any attempts we may make upon it. How- 
 ever, it is determined no risks shall be run, as they are to wait 
 at Anjengo, in readiness either to pursue the plan against 
 Mahe, if advisable, or to embark for the defence of Bombay, if 
 necessary. 
 
 " I have reviewed several of your corps since my arrival 
 here, and can assure you with much pleasure that they are 
 brought to a perfection I could hardly have an idea of in this 
 country. Your artillery is equal to anything in Europe ; and 
 nothing is left for us to wish for but an addition of numbers to 
 both. The officers merit everything that can be said in their 
 praise, for the unwearied pains they have taken to bring the 
 
 troops to the state they are now in 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 "EYRE COOTE." 
 
 Extract from Sir Eyre Coote's Minute before leaving Madras 
 for Bengal, February 4th, 1779 : 
 
 " I AGBEE entirely with the Governor's proposition, in regard 
 to the necessity there is for representing to the Supreme 
 Council the state of our treasury, and the situation of the 
 Tanjore country, as well as to require their sentiments upon 
 the measures which the Board here ought to adopt, in case 
 the Nabob's engagements are not so punctually fulfilled as the 
 necessity of our affairs may demand ; and I imagine those 
 representations cannot fail of having the desired effect, in in- 
 ducing them to give such speedy and proper assistance, as may 
 enable the Governor and Council here to pursue the disinterested 
 and spirited plan which they have hitherto supported alone, so 
 much to the national benefit and to their own honour." 
 
 z 2
 
 340 AJPPENDIX. 
 
 Letter from Fort St. George to the Governor-General and 
 Council of Bengal, February 26th, 1779 : 
 
 " HoarOlTBABLE SlR AND SlBd, 
 
 " WE have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your- 
 letter of the 25th ultimo, to which we mean now particularly 
 to reply. We have not yet formally required of the Nabob an 
 account of his private debts, nor do we conceive (though wo 
 shall apply for it) that it will be possible to obtain from him 
 
 the particulars of all he owes to individuals He has, 
 
 indeed, acquired in his hands, by degrees, a very considerable 
 share of the property belonging to individuals in the settle-, 
 ment, Europeans and natives ; and from the plan he has invari- 
 ably pursued, of borrowing as much as he can, and paying as little 
 as he can, his debt continues to swell daily, and threatens by its 
 enormity to become a perpetual encumbrance upon the Carnatic. 
 With respect to any arrangement made by the Nabob for the 
 payment of his private debts. In, the month of December, 
 1777, he communicated to us a copy of an agreement which he 
 said he had made with his private creditors, and proposed carry- 
 ing into execution under the sanction of the Company's 
 government ; but not Laving, at the time he communicated his 
 arrangements to us, entered into anj specification of his debts, 
 and not having ourselves any means of ascertaining them, we 
 forbore giving our sanction to the liquidation, or taking any 
 other part than to insist on the Nabob's performance of his 
 engagements to the Company, prior to the adjustment of any 
 other claims. The Nabob, we believe, has so far taken advan- 
 tage of our firmness in that respect, as to make it a pretence for 
 neglecting his private creditors entirely, at the same time that 
 he has not paid that regard to the Company which might have 
 been expected from him. On the contrary, there are good 
 grounds to conclude that while the Company's demands are 
 made to stand between him and his private creditors, he will 
 be always glad of that pretence to keep the latter at a distance ; 
 and if he succeed in that object, there cannot be a stronger 
 motive with him for continuing in the Company's debt for
 
 APPENDIX. 341 
 
 ever We received a formal engagement from the Nabob in 
 
 the month of July last to pay a large sum of money before the 
 
 end of April following; he has fallen monthly in arrears, 
 
 and reduced us to the greatest distress We mention these 
 
 circumstances which have occurred, with many others of the 
 same nature, to show how extremely we are embarrassed in our 
 resources, without having the least power to extricate ourselves." 
 
 " We are charged with the defence of the Carnatic, and main- 
 tain a very large military establishment for that purpose, with- 
 out possessing in our hands the means of paying it, or having a 
 shadow of control over the resources of the country which we 
 
 are to defend We may use firm language to those who are 
 
 bound to assist us, and fail in doing so ; but representations, 
 remonstrances, and even threats, as we have already experienced, 
 may prove unsuccessful, and leave us without any resource 
 when our affairs are at the brink of ruin." 
 
 " We hope you will be pleased to take this subject again into 
 consideration ; and if it shall appear clearly to you, as it does 
 to us, that we have no power within ourselves to remedy the 
 evil which we complain of, we hope you will favour us with 
 your opinion, in express terms, and give us the sanction of your 
 authority, as far as it extends, to enable us to supply the 
 defects of our present system. The difficulties we experience, 
 with respect to the Nabob, may be comprised in a few words. 
 We sustain a very considerable expense monthly on his account; 
 we have nothing to trust to for reimbursements but monthly 
 promises, which may or may not be performed. If they be 
 performed, we are able to make the necessary advances for the 
 ensuing month ; if they be not performed, we instantly find 
 ourselves involved in the greatest distress. In such alarming 
 situations, what course can we take to procure relief? We 
 shall now beg leave to make some observation?, by way of 
 reply to your remarks upon the estimate of receipts and dis- 
 bursements for the present year, which we had the honour to 
 send you with our letter of the 7th of December. 
 
 " You remark, first, that it appears by the said estimate, that 
 we had, on the 1st of November last, a balance of one lac of
 
 342 APPENDIX. 
 
 pagodas in our treasury, and that we stated a surplus in the 
 course of the year of 189,887 pagodas, after deducting all the 
 probable charges of our Presidency, &c. You then go on to 
 observe, 'The amount at which you estimate the expedition 
 against Mahe is only three lacs of pagodas. It appears, 
 therefore, by the statement, that you will have a sufficiency to 
 answer this sum.' 
 
 " In judging of our demands and resources from the estimate 
 we furnished you with, we conceive that particular attention 
 must be had to the periods at which they are stated ; whereby 
 only a just opinion can be formed of our wants, and the means 
 of answering them as they occur. We stated the expense of the 
 expedition against Mahe, which was a service immediately to 
 be provided for, at three lacs of pagodas. To answer this sum 
 you bring the balance in our treasury on the 1st of November 
 of one lac of pagodas, without allotting any part for our other 
 necessary disbursements, and add to it the probable balance 
 of near two lacs of pagodas, which we stated as a surplus which 
 might arise in the course of this year, without taking notice at 
 the same time of the peishcush due, and to become due, in this 
 year to the Nizam, which is mentioned at the foot of the 
 account, and which will amount to more than that surplus. 
 Again, you observe that our estimate was formed from the 
 actual disbursements of last year, when we had a larger force 
 in the field than that which we proposed to send to Mahe. 
 Upon referring to the estimate, and to our letters on this 
 subject, we do not find it anywhere expressed that our estimate 
 was formed upon the actual disbursements of last year. On the 
 contrary, we have been studious to show that our calculations 
 were framed wholly on a peace establishment ; and we have 
 particularly noticed it in the estimate itself 
 
 " You acquaint us that, in case our resources should be affected 
 by internal hostilities, your aid might be granted in time to 
 prevent any embarrassment to the service ; and you repeat, 
 also, what you urged in a former letter, that, in the event of a 
 siege or any other sudden emergency, we should experience no 
 difficulty in raising money by bills on your Government.
 
 APPENDIX. 343 
 
 "While our situation is such that we depend on the monthly 
 receipts and collections to answer the monthly disbursements, 
 such a failure as that you mentioned might plunge us into 
 insurmountable difficulties. A certainty ol aid at the distance 
 of two months only would not relieve us. We are likewise 
 apprehensive that in case of any sudden emergency which 
 might oblige us again to put our army in the field, we should 
 find it extremely difficult, if not impracticable, from the scarcity 
 of specie, to raise a sufficient sum for bills on you 
 
 " The conduct of the Rajah of Tanjore has of late been very 
 blameable, and inconsistent with the great obligations he is 
 under to the Company. He attends to no kind of business 
 himself; and his government is administered by a man who 
 gives daily proofs of his want of integrity or want of capacity 
 for such a trust. The revenues are certainly embezzled or mis- 
 applied ; otherwise it could never be, that, with a country so 
 rich and so unencumbered as Tanjore, the Rajah should appa- 
 rently live in want, and still fall in arrear to the Company, 
 which he has of late done, even in the payment of his subsidy. 
 We have over and over again represented to him how grossly 
 he is deceived by the impositions of his minister ; and employed 
 every argument to persuade him to dismiss so incapab'e and 
 unfaithful a servant. We lately deputed General Munro to 
 Tanjore, chiefly with a view to effecting that point; but the 
 Rajah's blind attachment to the minister prevailed. We 
 therefore instructed General Munro to insist on the Rajah's 
 giving security for the present year's subsidy, with three lacs 
 remaining to be paid of the deposit money ; leaving it, how- 
 ever, to the General's discretion, if he thought these sums too 
 luavy for the revenue of this year, after providing for the 
 Rajah's expenses, to abate one lac of the deposit money, and 
 carry it to the account of the next year We intended clos- 
 ing our letter in this place ; but, having received some import- 
 ant news relative to the designs of Hyder Ali, we lose not a 
 moment in communicating it to you," &c.
 
 344 APPENDIX. 
 
 Extracts from letters to the Directors, from Fort St. 
 George : 
 
 March 13th, 1779. 
 
 " THE military operations against the French in India having 
 hitherto been confined to this Presidency, and there appearing 
 a great probability that the enemy will direct their future 
 efforts so as to make the coast of Coromandel the principal 
 seat of the present war, we have judged it expedient to repre- 
 sent fully and freely to the Council of Bengal how we are cir^ 
 cumstanced in regard to the means necessary to enable us to 
 act with that vigour which will naturally be expected from the 
 strength of our military establishment. We have shown that 
 the resources of money from the Carnatic are far from being 
 adequate to a state of war, and that, being entirely under the 
 control of the powers who hold possession of the country, we 
 can have no dependence upon them, and must continue to feel 
 every sort of embarrassment in providing for the common exiiren- 
 cies of the public service. From this view of our situation, we 
 inferred the necessity of our being timely supported by them 
 with such a fund from the Bengal treasury as might enable us, 
 in case of any sudden and extraordinary emergency, to answer 
 the heavy demands requisite for putting our army in motion... 
 The Governor General and Council of Bengal admit ' that the 
 public funds in their hands are intended as a resource to be 
 appropriated to the defence of all the Company's possessions, 
 in the degree that they may respectively require it ; ' but they 
 observe that the occasion should be obviously urgent to war- 
 rant such an appropriation ; and they observe that, in the 
 event of a siege, or any sudden and imminent necessity, we 
 should experience no difficulty in raising money by bills on 
 
 their Government We are of opinion that, if the surplus 
 
 revenue of Bengal be intended as a fund for the benefit of the 
 Company's possessions in general, each Presidency, and particu- 
 larly iu time of war, should have such a share of the fund as 
 may be proportioned to the extraordinary demand which may 
 come upon it ; and that share, whatever it may be, should be 
 held as a sacred deposit, and reserved only for pressing exigencies.
 
 APPENDIX; 345 
 
 ''We hope you will be pleased to take this subject fully 
 Under your consideration, and pursue such measures as shall 
 seem expedient to you in consequence." 
 
 October 14th, 1779. 
 
 " THE very heavy expenses occasioned by the siege of Pondi- 
 cherry, the maintenance of the French prisoners, the fitting 
 out an expedition to so distant a place as Mahe, the demoli- 
 tion of the fortifications of Pondicherry, and the providing 
 cartel ships to carry to France and the islands the French 
 military and civil officers, whom we were obliged to remove 
 from India, have drained your treasury so much, that we have 
 been reduced to the necessity of requiring supplies of money 
 from Bengal to carry on your affairs. In the month of April, 
 the Governor General and Council, upon our repeated applica- 
 tions, promised to assist us with fifteen lacs of rupees ; and in 
 consequence we received in June and July ten lacs of this 
 supply, which were of great service to us ; but the remaining 
 five lacs, which the gentlemen of Bengal promised to forward 
 to us in August, have not been sent, nor can we now receive 
 them at any rate before the month of January. This disap- 
 pointment is very distressing to us, because at this season of 
 the year little or nothing is collected from the country, and it 
 is difficult to obtain supplies from any quarter. There is but 
 very small vend for imports from Europe, which used to pro- 
 duce a considerable supply of money ; and we have no assist- 
 ance to expect from drafts on England, though we beg leave to 
 represent that these drafts usually formed an annual resource, 
 without which the expenses of this Presidency could not be 
 provided for. In the month of January, we flatter ourselves, if 
 no troubles arise, and we receive our promised supply of money 
 from Bengal, that we shall be able to provide for the necessary 
 disbursements of the Company, and we shall not fail to reduce 
 these within as small a compass as possible." 
 
 From Fort St. George to the Directors, January, 1779. 
 " WE have set on foot the proposed expedition against Main', 
 and shall prosecute it to the utmost of our ability.
 
 346 APPENDIX. 
 
 " The heavy expense incurred, and to be incurred, by our pre- 
 sent expedition, which is formed solely on our own strength, 
 bears much too heavily on the scanty resources of this Govern- 
 ment ; nor is it possible for us, without considerable foreign aid, 
 to carry on your affairs successfully in times of war. It has 
 often been represented, and we beg 1 ave here again to repeat, 
 that the system of connexion adopted, both with respect to the 
 Nabob and the King of Tanjore, appears to us extremely de- 
 fective and insecure. Your engagements with them extend to 
 the defence and protection of their whole dominions ; yet you 
 have stipulated only for what is sufficient to reimburse the ordi- 
 nary charges on this account in time of peace." 
 
 LETTERS AND EXTRACTS BEARING ESPECIALLY ON 
 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE MADRAS PRESI- 
 DENCY AND THE NABOB. 
 
 Letter from the Governor of Madras to the Nabob, December 
 10th, 1778 : 
 
 "MAT IT PLEASE Youa HIGHNESS, 
 
 "THE late agreement enclosed by you for discharging your 
 old balance, and the arrears into which you had fallen in the 
 payments of last year, together with the growing charges until 
 the 30th of April next, was formed with the view chiefly to 
 your own convenience ; and from the satisfaction which Your 
 Highness expressed, and the solemn promises pledged, I had 
 every reason to expect that no one payment could have been 
 left undischarged, after it became due. How these promises 
 
 have been observed is well known to Your Highness I am 
 
 sorry to be obliged to write so strongly upon this subject : the 
 necessity of the ca?e must plead my excuse. 
 
 " What 1 would now propose as the means of preventing, in
 
 APPENDIX. 347 
 
 some degree, the disappointments to which the Company are 
 daily exposed, is, that Your Highness should set apart the 
 revenues of particular districts to answer the amount of your 
 engagements to the Company, and allow one of the gentlemen in 
 the Company's service to reside on the spot, and receive the 
 collections from the hands of your manager, without interfering, 
 in any respect whatever, in the business of the country. I 
 hope this proposal will be agreeable to Your Highness ; and, if 
 it be properly carried into execution, I am convinced that it will 
 save you a great deal of trouble, and free me from the un- 
 easiness I now suffer, and the disagreeable necessity of applying 
 so frequently to Your Highness on the subject of money. 
 
 " Before I conclude this letter, I think it my duty to observe 
 that your payments have hitherto been made chiefly in Soucar 
 bills: this is, in fact, giving very little, if any, relief to the 
 Company, for the bills are not paid as they become due ; and 
 the Soucars allege in excuse, that they cannot discharge them 
 without first receiving the means from Your Highness. I had 
 occasion once before to mention this kind of bills : and I must 
 again declare, that I cannot in future take anything in payment 
 but ready money, or good bills, payable in two or three days, 
 and the amount of which I can be sure of receiving punctually. 
 
 At this moment our treasury is quite bare. We have one 
 
 resource, which is drawing bills upon England ; but if we 
 should be driven to the necessity of adopting a measure for 
 which we have no authority, the only reason we can give for it 
 is, the failure of Your Highness's engagements to the Com- 
 pany." 
 
 To show the good effect of these exertions, may be quoted 
 Fort St. George's letter to the Directors, March 13th, 1770. 
 (Extract.) 
 
 " WE have the pleasure to acquaint you that the Nabob, in 
 consequence of our several representations, has nearly com- 
 pleted his balance to the end of January, and promises to dis- 
 charge what is due for February in a few days."
 
 348 APPENDIX. 
 
 "With which may be compared the following Extract, dated 
 October 14th, 1779. 
 
 " WE have furnished the Nabob with a paragraph of your 
 letter, which makes provision for the payment of the sums ad- 
 vanced on his account. This is a subject which we have our- 
 selves often pressed upon him, but hitherto without success ; 
 and the reason is this : the only effectual provision which thf 
 Nabob can make for reimbursing your payments on his account 
 is, to assign districts of sufficient value, and to put them entire- 
 ly under our management. Now it is certaiu the Nabob ia 
 extremely averse to every proposal of this kind ; and we are 
 assured, from an apprehension, though he has never expressed 
 it to us, that some encroachments might be made on his rights, 
 and the Company by degrees acquire a sovereignty within his 
 own territories, of which he has always been extremely jealous. 
 If the exigencies of the service did not compel us to have re j 
 course to the Nabob monthly, there would be little occasion 
 for such a constant provision as we now require ; since the 
 Nabob, though not punctual to his monthly stipulations, has 
 generally been found to exert himself in discharging, within 
 the year, the full engagements for that term. lu the last year 
 we were frequently obliged to press him in very strong terms 
 for money, yet he paid more in that year than he had done in 
 the same period for some time before. With respect to his 
 engagements for the present year, he has been tolerably regular ; 
 and there is only due from him, Including the sums uilvunrccl 
 for the demolitions of Pondicherry, about fifty thousand 
 pagodas. In these engagements he has, besides providing for 
 the current charges, agreed to pay one hundred and sixty 
 thousand pagodas on account of his debt, and one lac on 
 account of the expedition to Pondicherry, which he took upon 
 himself." (Evidences, pp. 328, :*:>.) 
 
 On the first intimation of the danger of an invasion, Sir 
 Thomas Eumbold urged the Nabob to provide resources, and to
 
 APPENDIX. 349 
 
 give an account of the stores and provisions in his different 
 garrisons. 
 
 Letter to the Nabob from the Governor, dated February 
 25th, 1779 : 
 
 " MAT IT PLEASE YOUR HIGHNESS, 
 
 " I UAVE had the honour to receive Tour Highness' several 
 letters of intelligence, relative to the motions and designs of 
 Hyder Ali, and I beg leave to return you many thanks for your 
 early communication of it. Should Hyder make any attempt 
 to enter the' Carnatic, and disturb the tranquillity of the 
 country, we shall certainly take every precaution in our power 
 for its security. The first and most material thing to be con, 
 sidered is, a proper supply of money for the expenses of our 
 army, which may be obliged to take the field. I am no less 
 amazed than concerned to hear from Your Highness, before 
 even the approach of danger, and before you have lost a grain of 
 your revenues, that you are totally without resources for thy 
 protection of your own dominions, which have been ten years 
 in profound peace. This is a discouraging circumstance to the 
 Company, who entertain so large a force for the defence of the 
 Carnatic, trusting to your engagements, and to the natural 
 resources of the country for the necessary funds, both in peace 
 or war. I .am willing to suppose that Your Highness' declara- 
 tion of inability to supply money or troops to oppose the incur-! 
 sions of an enemy proceeded hastily from the first impressions, 
 caused by the report of Hyder's intentions, and not from a deli- 
 berate review of your situation. To believe the Carnatic in so 
 weak a state as Your Highness represents by that declaration, 
 would be to reflect severely on your government, and to judge 
 you incapable of that prudent foresight which prompts every 
 wise prince to be upon his guard againat the worst that can 
 
 happen What can be said in answer to Your Highness' plea 
 
 of poverty, and want of resources, when at the most fruitful 
 season of the year, and at the period when you seemed not 
 yourself to entertain a doubt of your being able to satisfy all the 
 Company's demands If we observed any money issued to
 
 350 APPENDIX. 
 
 your private creditors, or anything extraordinary to your troops, 
 we might in some measure account for the deficiency ; but 
 knowing as we do that your creditors, new and old, have re- 
 ceived nothing, or next to nothing, and that your troops are all 
 in arrears, we are totally at a loss to account for the expenditure 
 of your revenues. Your Highness will be so good as to excuse 
 the freedom of these remarks, which arise naturally out of the 
 subject of the Company's distress for money, and the causes to 
 which it may be attributed. 
 
 "Soon after my arrival here, I wrote repeatedly to Your 
 Highness for accounts of the provisions and stores laid up in 
 your different garrisons, but never could obtain them. If the 
 Carnatic be invaded, we shall, without these accounts, be totally 
 at a loss how to take our measures. With regard to your 
 troops, under proper regulations they might be of essential ser- 
 vice ; and I hope and request, therefore, that Your Highness 
 will see them regularly paid, and well appointed for service ; in 
 their present situation, there is great reason to appre"hend that 
 Hyder, were he to enter the Carnatic, might be able to draw 
 the whole, or the greatest part, to his standard. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c." 
 " Fort St. George, 
 " February 25th, 1779." 
 
 Letter to the Nabob from the Governor, May 21st, 1779 : 
 
 " I HATE received Your Highness' several letters, acquainting 
 me with the motions of Hyder AH, the particulars of his con- 
 quests in the Cuddapah country, his intentions against Kinnoul, 
 Adoni, and Raychoor, and lately, his determination to invade 
 the Circars and the Carnatic. I am obliged to Your Highness 
 for the intelligence you have sent me, and I am confident tLat 
 the means you recommended are suggested no less by your 
 mjard for the welfare of the Company than by your desire to 
 subdue a power which is become so formidable to the Carnatic. 
 Although, from the intelligence which has come in to us, we had 
 great reason to expect an immediate invasion from Hyder ; yet
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. 351 
 
 I have now the pleasure to acquaint Tour Highness that Hyder 
 has suddenly retired from the Cuddapah country, and is march- 
 ing towards Seringapatam. The cause of his departure, it is 
 said, proceeds from the approach of a large body of Mahrattas 
 towards his country ; though, possibly, it may have been occa- 
 sioned by the disturbances on the Malabar Coast, where the 
 Eajahs tributary to Hyder have taken up arms, and besieged the 
 fort of Callicut. Thus, for the present, the threatened danger 
 is removed, without having recourse to the alliances proposed 
 by Your Highness ; but as the late proceedings of Hyder, both 
 towards the Compan and Your Highness, may possibly lead to 
 a war with him, I think it highly necessary that we should 
 know beforehand what resources we can depend on for conduct- 
 ing it ; and here I can have no doubt, from the earnest manner 
 in which Your Highness has been pleased to recommend us to 
 unite with the Soubah and the Mahrattas, in a general attack 
 on Hyder, even before he has invaded us, that you have well 
 weighed the extent of such an undertaking, and considered the 
 vast sums that will be required to execute it. I may, therefore, 
 with confidence, request Your Highness will inform me what 
 provision you have made, and whether we can depend upon you 
 for the extraordinary supplies that will be required on this 
 occasion." (Evidences, p. 468.) 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. 
 
 (See page 31.) 
 
 " EOT the change of relation between these two gentlemen is 
 not so striking as the total difference of their deportment 
 under the same unhappy circumstances. Whatever the merits 
 of the worthy Baronet's defence might have been, he did not 
 shrink from the charge. He met it with manliness of spirit 
 and decency of behaviour. What would have been thought of
 
 352 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE. 
 
 him if he had held the present language of his old accuser ? 
 When articles were exhibited against him by that right honour- 
 able gentleman, he did not think proper to tell the House that 
 we ought to institute no inquiry, to inspect no paper, to 
 examine no witness. He did not tell us (what at that time he 
 might have told us with some show of reason) that our concerns 
 in India were matters of delicacy ; that to divulge anything rela- 
 tive to them would be mischievous to the State. He did not 
 tell us that those who would inquire into his proceedings were 
 disposed to dismember the empire. He had not the presump- 
 tion to say that, for his part, having obtained, in his Indian 
 Presidency, the ultimate object of his ambition, his honour was 
 concerned in executing with integrity the trust which had Ixvu 
 legally committed to his charge ; that others, not having been 
 so fortunate, could not be so disinterested, and therefore their 
 accusations could spring from no other source than faction, 
 and envy to his fortune." 
 
 " Had he been frontless enough to hold such vain, vapouring 
 language, in the face of a grave, a detailed, a specified matter of 
 accusation, while he violently resisted everything which could 
 bring the merits of his cause to the test; had he been wild 
 enough to anticipate the absurdities of this day ; that is, had 
 he inferred, as his late accuser has thought proper to do, that 
 he could not have been guilty of malversation in office, for this 
 sole and curious reason, that he had been in office ; had he 
 argued the impossibility ol his abusing his power on this sole 
 principle, that he had power to abuse; he would have left but 
 one impression on the mind of every man who heard him, and 
 who believed him in his senses that, in the utmost extent, he- 
 Was guilty of the charge." 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM NICHOLS. 
 46, HOXTON SQUARE.