BATTLE OP SOBRAC Front ^/^A^ E iH,|ll rr m CHARLES MAC FARIkNE LONDON : GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & CO. FARRINGDON STREET. A HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA, FROM THE EARLIEST ENGLISH INTERCOURSE THE PRESENT TIME. CHARLES MACFARLANE, AUTHOR OF .JAPAN, ETC." "LIFE OF THE DUKE OF WKLLINCTON," ETC. ETC. SECOND EDITION. Kllustrateti ujitl) a2aooli=uts. LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & CO., FARRINGDON STREET. 1853. 6 '^ C^vf Um V Vo^ TO SIR JAMES WEIR HOGG, BART., Depidy- Chairman of the Tlonov.rahle East-India Compamj, Sfc. S(c. IN ADMIRATION OF HIS PUBLIC CONDUCT, ESPECIALLY OP THE EFFORTS BY HIM MADE TO PROMOTE EDUCATION IN THE INDIAN SERVICE : IN GRATITUDE FOR PRIVATK ACTS OF KINnVKSS, THIS VOLUME IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY ITS AUTHOR. PREFACE. In this volume it has been my endeavour to give a clear and concise sketch of the great events of our Indian history, without embarrassing the reader with episodes or minor facts, and without entering into political discussion or any other species of controversy. I am assured that such a book, if properly executed, is much wanted, not only by the students at Haileybury and Addiscombe, and by young officers and civil servants of the Company in India, but also by the generality of readers, who may not find time for the perusal of voluminous works. Those who wish to pursue the subject, or any part of it, into more detail, wiU find an index to the best books in my numerous foot-notes, and in the notes at the ends of the chapters. Our Anglo-Indian literature is so very ex- tensive that I could not attempt anything like a complete index ; but the young student will find the notes useful in this way, and to the more experienced reader they will show my sources of information, and serve to test the accuracy or general fidelity with which I have followed my authorities. In order that the volume might be compact, and fit for the portmanteau of the traveller, or the bullock-trunk of the young Indian officer (who always finds it difficult to carry large books about with him), I have tried to avoid the use of a single superfluous word. It is for others to decide whether I have succeeded in this endeavour. In treating of recent events and certain very recent bat- tles, which have been made the subjects of controversy and Vlll PllErACE. violent excitement, I have studiously avoided going into any details. The time is not yet come for such discussions, nor are all the facts cleared up. India still offers and long may it offer ! the best, the widest, the noblest field for British exertion ; and in no other service than in that of the Honourable Company has a youth or young man so fair a chance of promotion. " In India," said Sir James Hogg, " every possible encourage- ment is held out to public servants to render themselves fully competent to the discharge of their duties. There the fittest man is always selected for the performance of any duty, irrespective of all other considerations. In India, no interest is required for advancement ; no political feeling can interfere with the progress of merit ; and thence the high character of our civil and military servants, which I refer to with the highest pride." * As a necessary part of his education, and as one of the means of making himself competent to this full discharge of his duties, every young civilian or cadet, before going to the East, ought to make himself thoroughly acquainted with at least the main facts of Anglo-Indian History. He ought to know what has been done before him by men like Clive, Warren Hastings, Mountstuart Elphinstone, Hardinge, and the long array of distinguished men who have gained, or have added to, their illustration and glory in India. If this little book contribute to that desirable end, if it excite a glow of admiration and enthusiasm by the recital of past deeds and heroic actions, and encourage young men to go and aspire to do likewise, its chief purpose will have been gained. C. M. E. London, October, 1851. * Address to the Gentlemen Cadets at Addiseombe, 184G. HISTORY OF INDIA. CHAPTER I. Ikdia is bounded by the lofty Hemalaya, tbe river Indus, and tbe sea. Its length from Cashmir to Cape Comorin is about 1,900 English miles ; and its breadth from the mouth of the Indus to the mountains eastward oftheBaramputra river is considerably more than 1,500 English miles. It is tra- versed from east to west by a chain of mountains the Yindya which extends from the 23rd to the 25th parallel of latitude, or nearly from the desert jST.W. of Guzerat to the river Granges. The country to the north of the Vindya chain is now called Hindustan, and that to the south of it, the Deckan. Gruzerat and Bengal are regarded by the natives as being included neither in Hindustan nor the Deckan ; they differ greatly from each other, but each resembles the part of Hindustan which is nearest to it. The superficial extent of all India is estimated at 1,287,483 square miles. Its population may be taken in round numbers at 140,500,000, but it is believed to have been at one period of the old un- conquered Hindu empire much greater. If we leave Eussia, Sweden and jN^orway, out of the account, India is in square miles nearly a third greater than Europe.* Although some of its rich productions had found their way into the regions of the west, and some vague and half- fabulous reports of the vast extent, great wealth and popu- lousness of the country had reached Europe at much earlier periods, very little was known about India, until Alexander the Grreat led his conquering army across the Punjaub to * * The History of India, the Himlu and Mahometan Periods.' By the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone. Major Rennell, Memoir of Map of Hindostan. 2 GREEi 'ACCOUNTS tlie banks of the Hydaspes and the Hyphasis. I^o country the Macedonian* had hitherto visited was so populous and well cultivated, or so abounding in valuable productions of nature and art, as that edge of India through which they marched.* AVhen compelled by the impatient clamour of his troops to commence his return towards Persia, Alexander built or collected a numerous fleet, with which he descended the rivers to the mouth of the Indus and the ocean, seeing in this progress far more of the country than he had seen on his preceding line of march. He had with him a few Grreek scholars admirably qualified to observe and describe the country. At the mouth of the Indus the army and the fleet parted company : Alexander proceeded with the troops by land, and Nearchus took charge of the ships, which made for the Persian Grulf and the Euphrates. After these bril- liant expeditions a flood of light was throTVTi on the great countries of the East. It is true that the accounts of the Macedonians are occasionally contradictory and inaccurate ; but full credit may be given to the Grreek writers when they describe manners and institutions which are still found to exist in India, or which are recorded in ancient Hindu books. " If," says Mr. Elphinstone, " we discard the fables derived from the Grecian mythology, and those which are contrary to the course of nature, we shall find more reason to admire the accuracy of these early authors, than to won- der at the mistakes into which they fell, in a country so new and so diflferent from their own, and where they had every- thing to learn by means of interpreters, generally through the medium of more languages than one. Their accounts, as far as they go, of the manners and habits of the people, do in fact agree with our own accurate knowledge almost as well as those of most modem travellers prior to the institu- tion of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta." t These early authors noticed the strict and remarkable division of the people into castes, the peculiar life led by the Bramins, the almost incredible feats of those religious ascetics now called fakirs, the volimtary self-immolation of widows by fire with the bodies of their husbands, the magni- ficence of the Indian festivals, together with many other particulars, which have not been changed by numerous foreign conquests, or infusion of alien blood, or the wearing * Dr. Robertson, * Historical Disquisition concerning Ancient India/ |- History of India. OF AIS'CIEXT INDIA. 3 effects of twenty-two centuries. Most of the arts of life are at present as they were at the time of those Grreeks. The two annual harvests, and the kinds of grain reaped at each of them, are now as they then w^ere : sugar, cotton, apices, and perfumes, were abundantly produced as they now are ; and the mode of forming the fields into small beds to retain the irrigation has undergone no change. The bril- liancy of the Indian dyes, as well as the skill of the people in manufactures and in imitation of foreign objects, struck the ancients even as they have done the moderns. The use of copper vessels for aU purposes was as general as it is now. The dress of the Indians as described by the Greeks is pre- cisely that composed of two sheets of cotton cloth, which is still worn by the people of Bengal, and, by strict Bramins, all over India. Ear-rings and ornamented slippers were also used, according to the fashion of our own day. Theirtclothes were usually white cotton, though often mixed with bright colours and flowered patterns. Frugal in most other things, they were very expensive in their personal attire, the higher classes wearing gold and jewels in profusion. The great, when they went abroad, had umbrellas carried over them, as now. They dyed their beards with henna and indigo, a fashion as prevalent as ever. They took their meals sepa- rately, according to their present unsociable practice ; they drank little fermented liquor. The method of catching and training elephants, with all its ingenious contrivances, was related by the Grreeks, almost as exactly as it is in the account of the modem practice in the ' Asiatic Besearches.' During the splendid periods of the Commonwealth, and until the last decline of the Empire, Borne, and her more pros- perous and civilized provinces, were very familiar with the silks, brocades, fine muslins, gems, spices, and many more of the ma- nufactures and natural productions of the remote East; but, judging from the works that remain to us, it cannot be said that the Bomans added very much to our knowledge of India. During the dark ages which followed the subversion of their empire of the "West, the India trade was greatly diminished, but it was never entirely stopped all over Europe. People are tenacious of articles and luxuries to which they have once been accustomed, and some of the productions of India had been consecrated to the services of religion, and con- tinued in request with Christian churches. Even in our remote island of Great Britain, and in the poor semi-barba- B 2 4 EAELT INTEECOUESE. [1498. rous Saxon period, the venerable Bede liad collected in liis bleak northern monastery at Jarrow, some of the spices and scented woods of the East. At the dawn of our civilization, under Alfred the Grreat, English missionaries are said to have found their way to the coast of Malabar. But the great emporium of Eastern trade was Constan- tinople, until the eleventh century, when Amalfi, Venice, and other enterprising Italian republics, struck in for their share, and commenced a system, which, in the course of a century or two, gave them nearly the whole of that com- merce in Europe. Some of the goods were conveyed over- land by caravans from India to Persia and Asia Minor ; others were brought by Arab navigators across the Indian Ocean, and up the Persian Grulf, or the Eed Sea. The ad- venturous Italians purchased them mostly in the seaports of Eg>'pt*or Syria, and conveying them thence, in their ships, across the Mediterranean, they distributed them over the continent of Europe. But in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a few Italian traders found their way to India. It is to a Venetian trader the great traveller Marco Polo that the nations of the West were indebted for much addi- tional information concerning the regions which lie between the Hemalaya mountains, the Indus, and the Indian Ocean, and for the first information, of any substance, that we ever obtained about China, and many regions and islands neigh- bouring on the Celestial empire, or on India.* The discovery by A^asco de Grama, in the year 1498, of the way to India by the Cape of Good Hope, was almost immediately the cause of a great commercial revolution. It turned the trade of Hindustan and the Deckan into a new channel, depriving the Venetians, the Grenoese, and other states or peoples, of the advantages they had derived from it, so long as it had been carried on by the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, across Persia and Asia Minor, or across Eg}^t and the Isthmus of Suez, and thence by the Mediterranean to the European shores. It placed all the valuable part of that great commerce in the hands of the Portuguese discoverers * It is not consistent with the limits and plan of this work to do more than glance at India in her ancient or remote times. Those who would pursue this part of the subject (and it is very interesting) may be referred to Arrian and the other Greek writers, to Mr. Elphinstone's History of India, Major Rennell's learned works, Dr. Robertson's ingenious Dis- quisition, Dean Vincent's Periplus, and to the volumes of the Asiatic Researches, and the journals of the Royal Asiatic Society. 1591.] Om FIRST EXPEDITION. 5 and conquerors, ayIio, by their possession of Malacca, secured tlie trade of the Indian Archipelago, and by their settlements at Groa, Diu, and other ports of Malabar, monopolized the commerce with Europe during the sixteenth century.* Trom the day the Portuguese established this monopoly, the Italians began to decline rapidly in wealth and prosperity ; and as it was with the Portuguese and Italians, so will it be with every people that gains or loses the control over the trade of the golden East. At the close of the sixteenth and in the early part of the seventeenth century, the English, Dutch, and Erench, going round by the Cape of Grood Hope, began to appear upon the Indian field, and the Portuguese lost their influence almost as rapidly as they had acquired it. Thomas Cavendish one of the boldest circumnavigators of Queen Elizabeth's days returned, in 1588, from a two years' voyage, during which he had explored and visited the isles of Molucca. He had been well treated by the people, and affirmed that they would trade as freely with the English as with the Portuguese. Cavendish and " divers merchants'* applied for permission to send a small squadron to India, but it appears that government did not attend to the appli- cation. The first English expedition destined for India was rather warlike and buccaneering, than commercial, for it was des- tined to cruise against the Portuguese : it was fitted out in 1591, under the command of a Captain Raymond ; but sick- ness, shipwreck, and other disasters, attended the three ships. Baymond was lost without seeing India, and Lancaster, his second in command, returned home a ruined man. The capture, by Sir Erancis Drake, of five Portuguese car- racks laden with the products of India the enterprise of some members of the Turkey or Levant Company, who con- veyed their European merchandise to Aleppo and Bagdad, and thence by the Persian Grulf to Goa, and afterwards visited Agra, Lahore, Bengal, Pegu, and Malacca the account given by one Stevens, who had been in India with the Portuguese, and accumulating intelligence through other channels, all contributed to keep alive the excitement, and to increase the desire for a more intimate acquaintance with, * For details, read Faria y Sousa, * Portuguese Asia, History of the Conquest of India; translated by Captain J. Stevens.' 3 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1695. 6 OUR FIEST EAST-I>^DIA COMPANY. [1599. and a more immediate participation in, the riches of the East. But it was not until the Dutch, in 1595, had despatched four ships to trade with India, that the jealousy and ambition of the English were effectually roused. At length, in 1599, a company was formed in London ; a fund was raised by subscriptions of individuals, amounting to 30,133. 6s. 8d., and a committee of fifteen was deputed to manage it. Such was the humble origin of our great East- India Company. To further the wishes of the com- mittee. Sir John Mildenhall was sent by Constantinople overland, on an embassy to the Grreat Mogul ; but this mission was rendered of no effect by the intrigues of the Portuguese. On the 31st of December, 1600, a Eoyal Charter of Privileges was given to the infant Company, con- ditionally, for fifteen years. On the 2nd of May, 1601, a squadron sailed from Torbay ; it consisted of five ships, placed under the command of James Lancaster, the survivor of the unfortunate expedition of 1591. Lancaster was fur- nished with letters from Queen Elizabeth to various eastern sovereigns, who could scarcely have known of her majesty's existence. The first place in India that Lancaster and his crews visited was Acheen, in the island of Sumatra, where they met with a favourable reception. In the Straits of Malacca they captured a large Portuguese vessel, having on board calicoes and spices enough to lade all their ships. Thus suddenly and easily enriched, they bore away for Bantam, in the island of Java, and left some agents there the very first rudiments of the Company's factories ; and from Ban- tam they made for England, which they reached in safety, in September, 1603. Between this date and 1612, the Company made eight voyages to the islands of the Indian Ocean, realizing immense profits thereby. Attempts were made in England to infringe the Company's rights, but they were not successful. On the 11th of January, 1612, a firman or decree of the Mogul emperor was received, confirming certain privileges of the English in the islands, and authorizing their first establish- ment on the continent of India.* Few great things have had a smaller beginning than that stupendous anomaly, the British Empire in India. It was in the course of the year 1612, in the reign of James I., that * Mill, 'Hist, of British India.' Harris, 1612.] MAHOMETAN CONQUESTS. 7 the agents of the Company timidly established their first little factory at Surat. By degrees" other petty settlements were formed along the western side of the peninsula, Surat continuing to have the control over them all, till the cession of Bombay to the Company, by Charles II., in 1668. At this period the nominal sovereigns and masters of the whole of India, and the real masters and tyrants of a good part of it, were the Mahometanized Mogul Tartars, a people widely different in origin, manners, laws, and religion, from the Hindus, the aboriginal or very ancient inhabitants of the country. At the beginning of the tenth century of our sera, or about seventy years before the conquest of England by the N"ormans, Sultan Mahmoud of Ghuzni, who is universally regarded as the first Mahometan conqueror of Hindustan, acquired by the sword, and by many battles and massacres, nearly the whole of the country from the Indus to the Ganges. The dynasty of Ghuzni was subverted, in less than two hundred years, by new Mahometan conquerors from Gaur, in Khorasan, who, though at first defeated by some of the Hindu rajahs then striving to restore the inde- pendence and ancient religion of their race, conquered the greater part of the provinces, took Delhi, and made it the seat and centre of the government. In 1206, assassination put an end to this new dynasty, and the dominions were split into fractions. Here a Hindu rajah raised his head, there an unknown adventurer established a precarious sway, and there a Gaurian or a Mussulman, of some other tribe, gave the law and collected the taxes. In 1289, the partial dominion of India passed into the hands of the fierce Afghans, who subdued the Eajpoots, a portion of the imfor- tunate Hindu race who had hitherto preserved their inde- pendence. But in India, no dynasty (constantly resident in the country) long preserved the qualities which had made them conquerors ; the Afghan princes became weak and degenerate ; many of the Hindu rajahs in the Deckan, and in Bengal recovered their independence ; and then, in the last years of the fourteenth century, Timour the Mogul Tartar, commonly called by our writers Tamerlane, over- turned the Afghan dynasty altogether. As Timour did not remain in the scene of liis victories and dreadful devasta- tions, the countr)^ became divided into a number of small independent states, some Mahometan and some Hindu. 8 SIR T. eoe's embassy. [1612. But in 1526, Baber, a descendant of Timour, and a truly great prince, swept away by a new invasion these petty principalities and powers, and extended one compact do- minion as far as the Granges, and quietly re-erected the Mogul throne in Delhi. The second prince in succession from Baber, the great Akbar, who began to reign in 1556, set the Mogul dominions upon a firm basis, chiefly by con- sulting the interests and feelings of the Hindiis, who, count- ing the whole of the extensive country, were a hundred-fold more numerous than their conquerors. Under this reign India enjoyed more internal tranquillity, more prosperity and civilization, than she had ever known before. The great Akbar had been dead only seven years, when the English timidly made their first settlement atSurat. After his decease, his dynasty was weakened by feuds, insurrections, disputed successions, and frequent civil wars. Sons plotted against their fathers, brothers against brothers, cousins against cousins, and viziers and great khans against their sovereigns ; and all these plots, insurrections, and wars, were attended by foul assassinations, wholesale massacres, and an amount of treachery and crime, revolting to the imagination. As the Portuguese continued to intrigue against the English, and very often succeeded in thwarting them, the English seem to have made no scruple of attacking their ships wherever they could find them ; and thus, even when there was peace between the two mother countries in Europe, there was seldom peace or truce between these rivals in India. As the English were generally victorious in these naval actions, their reputation was raised in the country, and native princes, who had wars or quarrels on hand, began to court their friendship and alliance. At the earnest solicitation of the infant Company, King James, in 1614, sent an embassy to Delhi, to settle their commerce and cul- tivate a friendly connection. Sir Thomas Boe, the ambassa- dor selected, was an observing and clever man. In Septem- ber, 1615, he arrived at Surat, and landed there with no small pomp, having in his train eighty men-at-arms. Travelling across the country, he reached Ajmere, where the court was re- siding, on the 23rd of December. The Mogul emperor received him with unusual honours ; but Sir Thomas soon found that his diplomacy was thwarted by the intrigues of Portuguese missionaries, and by the suspicion, or the excessive caution, of the emperor's favourite son and ministers. Some former 1622.] MASSACRE AT AMBOyis'A. 9 territorial grants, and a few new privileges, worth very little, were, however, confirmed or granted to him. Jehanghire, who then occupied the Delhi mnsnud, had dethroned his father in 1605 ; he was grandson to the great Akbar, but he had few of the eminent qualities of that prince, and although there remained an outward show of magnificence and power, the empire was much distracted, and was evi- dently declining under his sway. The country of the Raj- poots, the greater part of the Deckan, Bengal, and many other parts, were either independent, or in almost constant insurrection. Matters grew rapidly worse under the rule of his grandson and successor, Shah Jehan, who reigned from 1627 to 1658. The Dutch, who were more on a par with us at sea, were quite as jealous as the Portuguese ; and when the English attempted to secure a share of the lucrative trade carried on mth the Spice Islands, the detestable massacre of Amboyna was the immediate consequence. In that island, the largest in the Molucca group, and the richest in cloves, the Dutch had a strong castle, garrisoned by 200 men, while the English, only eighteen in number, occupied a defenceless house in the town, being secured, as they con- ceived, by agreements and treaties with the Dutch. Yet the Dutch chose to suspect that these few Englishmen intended to dispossess them of their castle ; and thereupon, inviting- them, in a friendly manner, to pay a visit to their governor in the castle, they there seized them, put them to rack and torture, and in the end cut off" the heads of ten of the num- ber. One Portuguese and nine natives of Japan were put to death at the same time, as accomplices with the English, solemnly protesting in dying that they knew nothing of the imputed plot. Erom the date of the Amboyna tragedy (in 1622), the English abandoned the trade of the Spice Islands to their Dutch rivals, and for some time their trade on the Indian continent seemed to languish ; the Company becoming em- barrassed and in great distress. Yet, through the good offices of Mr. Boughton, a surgeon, in great favour with Shah Jehan, they were authorized to make a new settlement at Hooghly ; and the ground on which Madras, or Port St, George, now stands, had been obtained from a native prince. On that ground, Mr. Prancis Day at once erected a fortress, which was gradually surrounded by a thriving and still in- 10 OTJE riEST roETS. [166S. creasing town, to which the natives flocked as to the best place for pursuing trade, and putting in security the wealth they derived from it wealth which had few safeguards in the territories of their own princes and chiefs. During the great civil war between Charles I. and the ParUament, nearly all foreign trade was suspended, and the East-India Company sank into comparative insignificance ; but at the close of that disastrous period, OHver Cromwell re-confirmed the privileges of the Company, and gave encouragement to its trade. Shortly after the restoration of monarchy, Charles II. granted the Company a new charter, dated April, 1661, in which not only were all the old privi- leges confirmed, but new and important ones added to them. The Company were vested with a right of exercising full civil jurisdiction and military authority, and with the power of making war and of concluding peace with the " Infidels of India." In 1668, Charles II. made over to the Company the island of Bombay, which he had received from Portugal as part dower of his queen, Catherine of Braganza ; and soon after he made a similar grant of that convenient mid- way resting-place, the island of St. Helena. In 1687, the Company, enticed by the defensible nature of the island, and its magnificent and convenient ports, transferred from Surat to Bombay the presidency over all their settlements ; and from that moment the town began to spread and increase very rapidly.* Our trade was now carried on with a great part of the Indian empire, through establishments both on the eastern and western coasts ; but it was liable to interruptions, and our forts and factories were not unfrequently menaced by native powers, urged on, in most cases, by the Portuguese, or by the Dutch. The mad wars of the natives among themselves, the daily increasing weakness of the empire which was an empire in dissolution encouraged the English to abandon the merely defensive and act on the ofiensive. In 1686, a Captain Nicholson, with ten armed vessels and six companies of soldiers, was sent to the Granges to levy war against the Grreat Mogul, the descendant of Tamerlane, and the nabob of Bengal. This force, the first employed in the intent of establishing political and military power, was di- minutive indeed ; but the unwarlike habits and undisciplined * Bruce, * Annals of the East-India Company.' 1686.] WAB WITH THE MOGUL. 11 condition of the natives were taken into account.* The object of the expedition was to seize upon Chittagong; butNichol- Bon, who ought to have taken that place by a cowp de main, managed matters so lamely, that he was beaten oiFby its guns. The nabob of Bengal then fell upon and plundered the English factories at Patna and Cossimbuzar. The Company then sent out a very large ship and a frigate, under the com- mand of a Captain Heath, who was neither more skilful nor more fortunate than Nicholson had been. Instead of taking Chittagong, the EngHsh were obliged to fly from their set- tlement at Hooghly, and to abandon all they had in Bengal, losses too great to be compensated by their having re- duced one or two forts, and burned forty ships and barges belonging to the Grreat Mogul. That irritated sovereign now vowed that he would expel them from his dominions. Owe factory at Surat was seized, and the island of Bombay was surrounded by a hostile fleet. The factory at Masuli- patam was taken possession of, as w^as also the factory at Yisigapatam, where the Company's agent and several of their servants were barbarously put to death. But the Mogul treasury soon felt the want of the copious streams which flowed into it through the English factories ; and that prince and his ministers, flattered by their recent failure, into the belief that the Company would never be strong enough to be very dangerous, soon made a return to their old friendly feeling, and listened to negotiations which were proposed in a most humble tone.f In a very short time the English obtained orders for the restoration of Surat, and nearly all that had been taken from them. But during these premature contests with the natives, the most able and powerful of our European enemies had got a footing in India ; the Erench had formed an establish- ment at Pondicherr}'-, and were now employing themselves in fortifying that place, and in establishing a close connection with- such of the native princes as were most unfriendly to the English. These proceedings of the Erench quickened the desire of obtaining an extension of territory and a real dominion, by treaty, by purchase, or by force of arms, but to be, at all events, independent of Grreat Mogul, rajahs, and aU. other powers. " The truth is," says one of the greatest authorities in Indian aflairs, " that, from the day on which * Sir John Malcolm, * Sketch of the Political History of India.' t C. Mac Farlane, ' Our Indian Empire.' Mill, ' Hist. Brit. Ind.' 12 EISE or CALCUTTA. [1707. the Companj^'s troops marclied one mile from their factories, the increase of their territories and their armies became a principle of self-preservation ; and at the end of every one of these numerous contests in which they were involved by the jealousy, avarice, or ambition of their neighbours, or the rapacity or ambition of their own servants, they were forced to adopt measures for improving their strength, which soon appeared to be the only mode by which they could avert the occurrence of similar danger." * As early as 1689, the Court of Directors in London broadly laid down the principle that independence was to be established, and dominion acquired " that we must make us a nation in India." And just at this time Tegnapatam, a town and port a little to the south of Pondicherry, was obtained by purchase. The servants of the Company forthwith erected walls and bulwarks, and changed the name of the place to Eort St. David. About nine years after the purchase of Tegnapatam, they made much more important acquisitions. Aurengzebe, the reigning Mogul, had appointed his son, Azim Ooshaun, to be viceroy of Bengal, and this Azim aspired to dethrone his father, as Aurengzebe had dethroned his. To carry out his schemes, the prince needed money ; and for a large sum he sold to the Company the zemindarships of Chutanutty, GrO\ind- pore, and Calcutta. In 1707, about nine years after this purchase, when Fort "William was finished, and a town had risen under its protection, the Company made Calcutta the seat of a presidency, and the place gradually began to rise to the dignity of a capital to the British empire in the East. In the mean while, many merchants and traders at home had become jealous of the strict monopoly of the chartered Company, and various attempts were made by men, called " interlopers," to carry on a private trade with India. The Court of Directors ordered their oificers in India to seize these interlopers, and, in certain cases, to try them as pirates. The House of Commons, in 1693, adopted the resolution that JParliamenf should interfere, and determine whatever regulations might be deemed necessary for the Indian trade. JSTevertheless, a new charter was that year granted by Queen Mary, in the absence of her husband, William III., and the interlopers were subjected to the * Sir John Malcolm, ' Sketch of the Political History of India.' 1698-1708.] cnA:s'aEs iif the coiiPA^T, 13 same treatment as formerly. The House of Commons then resolved " That it was the right of all Englishmen to trade to the East Indies, or any part of the world, unless pro- hibited by Act of JParliamenty William III. deferred to this decision, which had been brought about by a temporary union of opposite factions. The old Company had bribed the king's ministers and various members of the House of Commons. The interlopers now resorted to the same prac- tices, not aiming at a free trade, but at a strict monopoly of it to their own sole advantage : and in 1698, they were enabled to bring the Company's royal charter under the cognizance of parliament, and to get it set aside for one in their own favour. The charter was in fact knocked down to the highest bidder ; and, in consideration of an advance to the state of ^62,000,000 sterling, at eight per cent., these interlopers obtained, not by royal charter, but by parliamentary bill, the exclusive right of trade with the East Indies, in spite of the protests of the other Company. The old or London Company, however, obtained a confirmation of their charter in the following session, and the nation had thus two East- India Companies instead of one the old by charter and royal prerogative, the new by bill and authority of parlia- ment. " ISTothing," says Sir John Malcolm, " could be more violent than the contests of the Companies during the short period that they continued separate. The great efforts of both were directed to the object of gaining power in the House of Commons ; and at the general election of the year 1700, each was detected in bribery and corruption. The old Company corrupted members and purchased votes ; the new Company purchased seats. Thus the one bribed the representatives, the other the constituents. But, tired out at length vrith a struggle which threatened ruin to both, they united their stock under the charter granted to the old Company, and bearing date the 5th September, 1698, and assumed that name under which they have ever since been incorporafed " The United East-India Company." It however required some time to remove their rooted ani- mosities, and establish a feeling of common interest. But at length, in the year 1708, a new and more favourable bill was obtained from parliament, and their privileges were both extended and consolidated, in return for a fresh loan to government. Had the two Companies been allowed to remain separate and hostile, the most ruinous consequences M CHATiTGES ITf THE COMPANY. [1698-1708. would have ensued : by their union, wliile commerce was improved in England, the substructures of an empire in India began to be slowly but surely laid.* * Auber, 'Rise and Progress of British Power in India.' Bruce, * Annals of the East-India Company.' Sir John Malcolm, * Sketch of the Political ^Hist. of India.' Mill, ' Hist, of British India.' Faria y Sousa, ' Portuguese Asia.' Some curious information about the early European settlements will also be found in Maffei, * Istoria Indica,' folio. Florence, A.D. 1588, and in Macpherson, * Hist, of the European Commerce with India.' THE TTlN'ITED EAST-INDIA COMPAIfT. 15 CHAPTER II. The G-reat Mogul Aurengzebe died the year before tHe Consolidating Bill. His empire had been impoverished and weakened by frequent wars with the Mahrattas, in the Deckan, in Grolconda, in Bijapur, and other parts of India. In attempting to reform the system of finances, he had thrown the revenues of the empire in confusion, and at the same time increased the oppression of his people. He had completely alienated the affections of the Hindus, who had been faithful, able, and devoted servants and administrators to the great Abkar and to others of his predecessors. He was a bigoted Mussulman, treating the Hindus as conquered injidels, and reviving against them the invidious Zezia, or poll-tax, which had been abolished. Besides degrading them by this special tax, he wholly excluded the Hindus from office ; he suppressed their fairs and festivals, and allowed their temples to be insulted, and at times destroyed, hj the fanatics of his own creed. All this had raised up an obsti- nate spirit of resistance and an implacable hatred on the part of the Hindus.* His death was followed, as usual, by fierce wars among his family for the succession. His son Prince Azim was proclaimed in Hindustan ; his son Bahadur Shah assumed the crown of Cabul. Bahadur marched down to Agra, defeated his rival in a bloody battle, in which Azim and his two grown-up sons were killed, and his youngest son, an infant, was taken prisoner. This was scarcely done when Prince Cambakhsh raised the standard of revolt in the Deckan but only to be defeated and slain in a battle near Hyderabad. Though thus victorious, the Mogul Bahddur Shah was so weakened, that he was compelled to make a dishonourable truce with the marauding Mahrattas, and to enter into a compromise with the Eajpoots. While looking * Mountstuart Elphinstone, ' Hist, of India.' 16 KADIB SHAII'S INYASION. [1739. at least for tranquillity within liis diminislied states, the Grreat Mogul found himself suddenly invaded by the fierce, fanatical Seiks, who ravaged the country as far as the neigh- bourhood of Lahore on the one side, and of Delhi itself on the other.* Bahadur Shah marched against these new enemies, and succeeded in driving them beyond the Sutlej ; but he could not repair the damage they had done, and he died shortly after (in February, 1712). Tour sons con- tended for his throne. Zehandar Shah, who triumphed over his brothers, was dethroned at the end of a few months (after he had put to death all the princes of the blood he could get into his power) by his nephew Farokhsir, who did not occupy the throne quite seven years, and who witnessed the renewal of the Seik devastations and the encroachments of the Mahrattas. He was violently deposed, and succeeded by a very young prince of the blood, who died in three months, and was in his turn succeeded by another youth, who died in a still shorter period. Mohammed Shah was then set up, and under him the empire of the Moguls was wasted to a shadow. Serious conflicts had taken place between the Hindus and Mahometans, and in the very capital between the two rival Mussulman sects, the Shias and Sunnis. The Deckan was entirely alienated under the rule of the Nizam-ul-Mulk ; the Eohillas, a fierce, predatory people, of Afghan race, seized on the northern provinces, and (in 1739) the Persians, under the great Nadir Shah, penetrated to Delhi, defeated the Mogul, and massacred alike Mahome- tans and Hindus. Nadir's sole object in invading India, was to enrich himself by its plunder. He first took possession of the imperial treasures and the jewels of the celebrated peacock-throne one mass of inestimable gems. He then plundered the great nobles, the inferior officers, and the common inhabitants, employing every species of cruelty to extort contributions. Many died of the usage they received ; many destroyed themselves to avoid the disgrace and torture. After a residence there of only fifty-eight days, he marched off from Delhi with a treasure in coined money worth eight or nine million sterling ; with several million sterling in gold and silver plate, furniture, and rich stuffs of every descrip- tion, and with gems and jewels too numerous to be counted.f * See, for details, ' Hist, of the Punjab, and of the Sect and Nation of the Sikhs,' 2 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1846. t Elphinstone, ' Hist, of India.* Jonas Han way's Travels. 1715.] DECLINE OP THE MOGULS. 17 The Mogul Mohammed Shah had escaped with life and preserved his liberty, but for a long time he was stupified by his calamities, and remained as if in a lethargy. The empire was as full of ruin and desolation as the capital ; the army was destroyed, the treasury empty, the source of revenue all but annihilated ; the Mahrattas still threatened on the south, and the Afghans on the north-west. It was in this period of rapid dismemberment and disso- lution that the English laid the foundations of their empire. The union of the clashing interests of the two Companies, the tranquillity and commercial prosperity which the peace of Utrecht brought to England and the greater part of Europe continued to raise the value of the British settle- ments in the East, and to encourage the Company in seeking an extension of dominion. The circumstances of the times in India were all in their favour. Every year some branch was lopped off the Mogul tree ; some adventurer succeeded in making an independent sovereign state out of a smaller or larger portion of that empire : there was a constant destruction and a constant re-construction, or attempts at it. The mass of the population had now a much stronger aversion to the Mussulmans than to the European Christians ; they showed a marked preference for our rule and protec- tion, and at Surat, Bombay, Eort St. David, Calcutta, and every establishment where we could protect them, they flocked to trade with us and to live with us. Even many of the Mussidmans, when oppressed at home, took refuge in our settlements. The Company were signally indebted, in various stages of their progress, to humble practitioners in medicine. It was in consequence of a cure effected on the favourite daughter of one Mogul emperor that they had first been allowed a footing in Bengal ; and in the year 1715, a medical man, named Hamilton, as a reward for curing, at Delhi, the reign- ing emperor, of a dangerous and painful disease, obtained for the Company a grant of three villages near Madras, a permission to purchase thirty-seven townships in Bengal, and the privilege of introducing and conveying their merchandise from Calcutta through Bengal without duty or search. But the Erench East-India Company, who had made Pondicherry their strongliold, now began to excite the jealousy of the English by their increasing trade and extend- ing influence. In 1744, the pacific English minister, Sir c 18 rRLNClI IN INDIA. [1744. Eobert AValpole, was driven from the helm, and the -war which broke out rapidly spread to Hindustan. A few of the best officers in the French service repaired to that country, in the hope of attacking the English settlements before they should be prepared for defence. Labourdonnais, who had risen from a low rank in the French navy to be governor of Mauritius and Bourbon, suddenly appeared oif Madras with a squadron, and with 3,(300 men. The English at Madras did not exceed 300 men, of whom about 200 were soldiers. After sustaining a bombardment for five days, Eort St. Greorge capitulated, Labourdonnais pledging himself upon his honour to restore Madras to the English Company on payment of a fixed ransom. On entering the place he pro- tected the persons, houses, and property of the inhabitants ; but he took possession of the magazines and warehouses of the Company. JNI. Dupleix, who had previously formed in his own mind a system of universal conquest, and who had wished for the sole conduct of the war, considered Labour- donnais as an intruder and rival. Xow, however, he insisted that Labourdonnais should break the conditions of the treaty of capitulation, and keep possession of Madras. The brave sailor was averse to a proceeding which would have been a breach of faith and honour. Having lost two of his ships in a storm, he repaired to Pondicherry to remonstrate Avith the governor. After many quarrels, he took his depar- ture from Pondicherry to France, to answer accusations brought against him by Dupleix and his party, and to seek some patronage in the French cabinet and East-India Company that should enable him to return with credit and power to India. On his voyage he was taken prisoner by a British ship of war, which brought him to England. As he had behaved like a man of honour and humanity, he was received with favoui' and distinction by all ranks, and a director of our East-India Company offered to become security for him with his person and property. But the British Q-overnment desired no security beyond the word of Labourdonnais, and permitted his return to France. It would have been better for him if they had kept him in England, for, upon the representations ofiiie insidious Dupleix, he was arrested without process, and thrown into the Bastile, where he pined for three long years.* The nabob of Arcot, our ally, sent an army to driA^e the French out of Madras ; but his army ran away from the * Labourdonnais died shortly after his liberation from the Bastile. 1749.] WAE IX TAyJOHE. 19 quick fire of tlie French guns. Dupleix annulled Labour- donnais's treaty, and ordered liis officers at Madras to seize every article of property, private or public, native or Eng- lish, except clothes, furniture, and the jewels and trinkets of the women. These orders were executed without compunc- tion ; and the English governor and some of the principal inhabitants were carried prisoners to Pondicherry, and exhibited there in a kind of triumph. Dupleix next turned his attention to Fort St. David, and induced the nabob of Arcot to change sides and join him; but three attempts against that place failed completely ; and in March, 1747, the arrival of an English squadron, under Admiral Griffin, made Dupleix tremble for Pondicherry. In the month of January, 1748, Major Laurence, an officer of great merit, arrived at Eort St. David, with a commission to command the whole of the Company's forces in India; and in the month of August following, Admiral Boscawen reached the same port with nine ships of war, and joined Admiral Grriffin. CountiDg some ships of the Company, we had now the largest European naval force that any one power had as yet possessed in India. The land troops brought from England amounted to 1,400 men, Pondicherry was now besieged, but after thirty-one days of open trenches, the siege was given up. The anarchy prevailing among the native rulers soon opened a way to easier conquests. Sahujee, a Hindii, who in the rapid revolutions of the times had gained and lost the throne of Tanjore, repaired to Port St. David, and bargained for the assistance of the Euglish in a war against his brother, Pretaupa Sing, who had dethroned him. The price, as fixed, was the fort and country of Devi Cottah. In April, 1749, an English and sepoy force marched from Port St. David into Tanjore, and made an unsuccessful attack on the fortress of Devi Cottah. A new expedition was soon fitted out, and, after some hard fighting in the breach, a truce was concluded, the reigning king of Tanjore, Pretaupa Sing, agreeing to yield to the English the to^n, fort, and harbour, together with the territory adjoining ; and the English on their part agreeing not merely to renounce the alliance and support of Sahujee, for whom, and with whom, they entered on this war, but also to secure his person, in order to prevent his giving any further molestation to his brother.* * Orme, ' History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in India.' 20 CLITE A^'D DUPLEIX. [1749. At the siege of Devi Cottah, Eobert Clive, the real founder of our Indian empire, greatly distinguished him- self. He ]iad attracted some attention at the siege of Pon- dieherry in the preceding year. He had entered the Com- pany's service in a civil capacity, but at the first sound of war, he had thrown down the "WTiter's pen to take up an ensign's sword. By this time he was a lieutenant, and esteemed by the whole army as tlie most enterprising and daring of their officers. He was in the twenty-fourth year of his age, poor, and comparatively friendless, and illiterate : his chances of patronage, advancement, fame, and fortune, all lay in his sword. * However questionable the means by which it was ob- tained, the possession of Devi Cottah was of vast importance to the Company : it was advantageously situated by the bank of the Coleroon, on the Coromandel coast ; the channel of the Coleroon, under the town, was capable of receiving ships of the largest burthen, and this was the more im- portant, as aU along that coast from Masulipatam to Cape Comorin there was no port that could receive a vessel of 300 tons : moreover, the neighbouring country was pleasant, rich, and fertile, f But ]M. Dupleix did not give up the race for territory or dominion. He was engaging in transactions of the highest moment in the Carnatic, where other rival princes were con- tending with each other. Taking part (for good considera- tions) with Chunda Saheb, and sending 400 French and 2,000 sepoys to the field, he gained a great victory. Chunda Saheb' s rival was killed by a Kafre soldier in the service of Erance. Mohammed Ali, son of the fallen nabob, fled to Trichinopoly, and the French conquerors marched to the capital city of Arcot, which surrendered on the fii'st sum- mons. Mohammed Ali threw himself on the protection of the English, and offered high prices for their military aid. But peace between France and England had been con- cluded, and the English were occupied at the time in taking repossession of Madras, which had been given up by France in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Dupleix sent some of his people with Chunda Saheb to plunder the rajah of * Sir John Malcolm, ' Life of Robert Lord Clive ; collected from the family papers, communicated by the Earl of Powis.' f There was a sand-bank or bar near the mouth of the river; but it was calculated that this could be easily removed. 1750.] WAE IN TUE DECKAN. 21 Tanjore, who had given up Deri Cottah to the English, and that prince was compelled to give to the French two lacs of rupees, and eighty-one villages.* In the Deckto, the succession, on the death of the Nizam- ul-Mulk, was disputed between his son Kazir Jung and his grandson Muzufter Jung ; but the senior prince prevailed over the junior, took MuzufFer Jung prisoner, and now kept him in irons, carrying him in his train wherever he went. ISTazir Jung and Anwar-ud-Dien, who claimed the sovereignty of the Carnatic, having united their forces, and drawn into their ser\'ice nearlyall the troops the Grreat Mogul had on foot, advanced to the Carnatic frontier with an immense army, including 30,000 Mahrattas engaged to act as light cavalry. At the approach of this host, Chunda Saheb and his French allies retreated hastily to Pondicherry. Dupleix, by extra- ordinary exertions, increased the French contingent to 2,000 men, and added a large body of well-disciplined sepoys, together mth a well-served train of artillery. In the mean time, the English had managed to send some very small detachments to Trichinopoly to sustain Mohammed Ali, and had thrown a few companies into the army of the rajah of Tanjore. Major Laurence advanced from Fort St. David, with reinforcements, and collecting the companies in Tanjore, he was enabled to join the army of IS^azir Jung with about 600 Englishmen. But Laurence had with difficulty obtained the consent of his civil superiors to this active co-operation, and he was for some time disturbed by a doubt whether he should be justified in fighting the French without orders from the British government. He, however, determined to imitate the French in representing the English as mere auxiliaries, and not principals in the war. As Laurence advanced with Nazir Jung's host, the French and their allies strongly intrenched themselves, and waited the attack with full con- fidence of success. Their position was so excellent, that Laurence advised JN'azir Jung against an attack ; but the Indian said it did not become the son of the Nizam-ul-Mulk to retreat before such an enemy. A cannonade was there- fore begun, and the troops were put in motion for a closer attack. At this crisis, the French corps was completely disorganized by the sudden resignation of thirtoLMi commis- * Sir John Malcolm, ' Life of Lord Clive.' Col. MarkWilks, * Histo- rical Sketches of the South of India,' &c. Orme, ' Military Transactions of the British Nation in Hindostan,' and his * Historical Fragments.' 22 SUCCESSES OF ^. BL'SSr. [1750. sioned officers, who were enraged at not having shared in the booty and spoils made in Tanjore. As the defection seemed growing general, M. d'Auteuil, who commanded for Dupleix, deemed it expedient to quit the field and hasten back to Pondicherry. Chunda Saheb, whose own troops began to desert, saw nothing better to do than to march after D'Auteuil. The whole excellent position was soon abandoned without a blow, or a shot fired from it ; and for a moment the triumph of the allies of the English seemed to be fully secured. JNTazir Jung, the real head of this confederacy, had little ability, and still less energy, and, by refusing to grant to his English allies a territory near Madras, which had been promised as the reward of their co-operation, he provoked Major Laurence to return to Eort St. David with his 600 men. Nor had Dupleix lost heart by his most unexpected misfortunes : by various arts he pacified the mutinous French officers, and put a new spirit into their little army, and he opened a secret corre- spondence with some disafiected chiefs, the leaders of the Patau troops, in the army of his enemy, Nazir Jung. These Patans were unprincipled and ferocious mercenaries. Ee- sponding to the overtures of Dupleix, the Patau chiefs engaged to perform various important services, and, if neces- sary, to murder their present employer, JSTazir Jung. D'Auteuil again took the field, and one of his officers, with only 300 men, was allowed to penetrate by night into the very heart of the enemies' camp, and to kill upwards of 1,000 without losing more than two or three of his own people. Moreover, another small body of Erench troops sailed for Masulipatam, attacked it by surprise in the night, and carried it with a trifling loss ; and another detachment seized the pagoda of Travadi, only fifteen miles to the west of Eort St. David. Continuing this career, M. Bussy, the Clive of the Erench, captured by storm the hill fort of G-ingee, which had been deemed impregnable and inacces- sible. The event struck awe into the natives of India, and was viewed with astonishment even by Europeans.* Soon after the storming of Gingee, Nazir Jung opened a secret correspondence M'ith Dupleix. The Erenchman re- plied to his letters in a friendly manner, and drew up a treaty of pacification ; but at the same time he fully arranged * Orme, ' History of Military Transactions,' Sec. 1751.] CLiYE peo:moted. 23 a revolt in ISTazir Jung's camp, and collected 4,000 men under the hill of Giugee, to wait for the summons of the Patau traitors. That summons was soon received ; the French broke into the subahdar's camp, and when Nazir Jung mounted his war-elephant, and was hastening to the lines, two carbine-balls were fired at his heart, and he fell dead at the feet of the traitors, who forthwith cut off his head, stuck it upon a spear, and exhibited it to the army. This was quite enough to effect an instantaneous revolution ; Muzuffer Jung was released from his chains and installed as subahdar of the Deckan, and to reward the French, he gave tliem a great portion of Nazir Jung's treasures, and nominated Dupleix governor of all the Mogul dominions on the Coromandel coast from the river Kistna to Cape Comorin. At the same time he appointed Dupleix's aUy Chunda Saheb, his deputy in the government of Arcot. Early in 1751, the brave and adroit Bussy was sent to escort the new subahdar, Muzuffer Jung, to Hyderabad, his capital. Numerous insurrections had broken out, and in a mountain pass, Bussy found himself opposed by the fierce Patans, who considered that they had not been sufficiently rewarded for their treachery. The French fought their way through with artillery and grape-shot, but Muzuffer Jung was killed by a Patau Arab. Bussy instantly made a new subahdar in the person of one Salabut Jung, who happened to be in the camp, and continued his march upon Hyderabad. Our ally, Mohammed Ali, was now so alarmed, that he contemplated joining the French, and giving up Trichinopoly. To keep him in heart, the presidency of Fort St. David twice sent him considerable succours ; but our contingents were miserably commanded, and one of them sustained a disgraceful defeat at Volconda. Chunda Saheb, assisted by some French, pressed the siege of Trichinopoly. In a lucky hour, the English council promoted Clive to the rank of captain, adopted a plan, which his daring genius had formed, and intrusted him with the execution of his own project. This was nothing less than to relieve Trichinopoly by making a sudden attack upon Arcot, Chunda Saheb 's capital. AH the force that could be spared amounted to 200 Englishmen and 300 sepoys : his whole staff" of officers counted no more than eight, six of whom had never been in action, and four of these six being very young men, who had just quitted the mercantile service of the Company. The 24 CLIYE AT AKCOT. [1751. artillery atfcaclied to this force consisted of three light field- pieces. On the 26th of August, 1751, Clive started from ^ladras with a confidence of success. On the 31st, he lialted within ten miles of Arcot. The country people, or the scouts employed by the enemy, reported with conster- nation that they had seen the English marching without concern through a terrible storm of thunder, lightning, and rain. This was considered as a fearful omen by the native garrison, who instantly abandoned the fort, although they nearly trebled the number that Clive was bringing against them. A few hours after their flight, the English quietly entered, and took possession of the fort, where they found eight pieces of light artillery, a great heap of lead for shot, and abundance of gunpowder. The merchants of Arcot had for security deposited their goods in the fort : Clive scrupu- lously respected this property, and allowed some three or four thousand persons to remain in their houses or dwell- ings, which w^ere situated within the precincts of the fortifica- tions. This conduct procured him many friends among the natives, who cared little for Chunda Saheb, or for either of the parties contending for dominion over them; and it enabled him to obtain provisions and such materials as might be wanted for the defence of the place. On the 4th Sep- tember, he marched out with the greater part of his men to scatter the ex-garrison of the fort who lingered in the neigh- bourhood. These fellows fled for the hills in their rear as soon as the English got within musket-shot, and Clive, who had no cavalry to pursue them, returned leisurely to the fort of Arcot. On the 6th, he made another promenade into the country, found the enemy in greater force and strongly posted, defeated them with great loss, and returned to Arcot, where he employed his people in repairing the crazy fortress. In about a month, 3,000 fighting men, collected from various parts of the Carnatic, encamped within three miles of the city. On the night of the 14th of September, when they were buried in sleep, Clive burst into their camps, com- mitted a great slaughter, put the rest to flight, and then returned to Arcot without losing a single man. At this time, two eighteen-pounders, which he had demanded, were on their way from Madras, escorted by a few sepoys. Anxious for these guns, Clive sent out, at first, thirty of his Englishmen, and fifty of his sepoys, with a field-piece ; and then, on learning that the enemy were in great force and strongly posted on 1751.] SIEGE OF AECOT. 25 the road to cut oif tlie eigliteen-pounders, he sent out all his people except thirty English and fifty sepoys, with whom he remained in the fortress. The enemy hereupon changed their design, and quitting all their positions on the road, they returned hastily to Arcot, not doubting that they should carry the fort by assault. Two fruitless attempts convinced them of their mistake ; and when dive's main force with the two precious battering-cannons from Madras appeared on the skirts of the town, they packed up and fled. As Clive had calculated, Chunda Saheb withdrew the greater part of his forces from the siege of Trichinopoly. That chief did not march himself, but sent his son Bajah Saheb, who entered the town of Arcot with 4,000 native horse and foot, and 150 French, from Pondicherry, and fixed his head-quarters in the palace. Being joined by the forces previously collected in the neighbourhood, and by other bands, Eajah Saheb found himself at the head of 10,000 men, and with these, he prosecuted a siege against a contemptible fort, defended by Olive's handful of troops. On the 24th, Clive made a sally with the view of driving Rajah Saheb from the palace and the town ; or, if he failed in that, of striking terror into the native bands by the excess of his audacity. But, after a fight in the streets, he was compelled by the artillery- of the Trench to fall back into the fort. Had there been none but native troops to meet him, both palace and town would have been cleared. In this day's sortie, Clive lost fifteen of his English soldiers and one of his best officers, who sacrificed his own life in protecting that of his commander. Moreover, Lieutenant E/Cvel, his only artillery officer, was disabled. He was now cooped up within the walls of the fortress, which were, in many places, falling into ruin. Grood French marksmen picked ofi" several of the garrison. In making a night sortie, Clive was deprived of the services of another of his officers, remaining \Nith only four officers fit for duty. To husband the provisions within the fort, he now sent away all the natives except a few artificers. For fourteen days the enemy prosecuted the siege with musketry from houses which over- looked the ramparts, and with a bombardment from four mortars. Several of the English were killed, more were wounded, and Clive himself had several hair-breadth escapes, three Serjeants, who at difierent times singly attended him in visiting the works, being killed at his side. On the 24th of 26 SIEGE OF AECOT. [1751. October, the French received from Pondicherry two eighteen- pounders and some pieces of smaller calibre. A weU- served battery was then opened, and at the very first shot the Erench dismounted one of Olive's eighteen-pounders, and at the next, entirely disabled it. In six more days the French beat down all the wall between two of the towers, and made a practicable breach fifty feet wide. But while they were making this breach, Clive was making a deep trench, and erecting palisades, and a strong parapet behind it ; and he planted one of his field-pieces on one of the towers which flanked the breach, and two small pieces of cannon on the flat roof of a house within the fort, and just opposite to the wide entrance which the French guns had made. The besiegers, aware of these skilful preparations, would not venture into the breach until another could be efi*ected on the opposite side of the fort. Within that precinct, Clive had found one of those enor- mous cannons which Turks, Persians, and other Orientals, have always so much admired. According to the local tra- dition, this monster gun had been sent from Delhi, by the Emperor Aurengzebe, and had been drawn by 1,000 yoke of oxen. Clive raised a mound of earth to such a height as commanded the nabob's palace ; he hoisted the great gun on this mound, and loaded and fired. The ponderous ball went right through the palace, to the terror of Eajah Saheb and his principal ofllcers there assembled. But, as every charge took thirty pounds of powder, Clive fired the gun only once a day. On the fourth day, the monster burst. The Company's agents at Madras and Fort St. David de- spatched 100 English soldiers and 200 sepoys to dive's assistance ; but this small force was met on the road by 2,000 native troops and some French artillery, and was driven back with loss upon Madras. Clive and his weakened garrison thus seemed left alone to their fate ; but the gallant defence they made had already produced a deep impression among the Indians. At the distance of about thirty miles from Arcot, there lay encamped a body of 6,000 Mahrattas, under the com- mand of Morari Eao. Clive found means to send a message to this chief, who instantly replied, that he would not fiiil to send a detachment to the assistance of such brave men as the defenders of Arcot, Avhose behaviour had now, for the first time, convinced him that the English knew how to fight. 1751.] BATTLE OF AENEE. 27 Yet all that these Mahrattas did Tvhen they came was to plunder and set fire to some houses in the outskirts of the town, and then ride off. In the meanwhile, the Prench guns had made a second breach, and Clive had counter-worked it as he had done the first. On the 14th of November, the great festival in commemoration of the murder of the holy brothers Hassan and Hussein, when the Mahometans of India quicken their fanaticism with opium and wdth bang, E-ajah Saheb and his French allies resolved to storm the fort through its two opposite breaches. Furious with their wild devotion and the drugs they had swallowed, the troops rushed to the assault ; but they were repulsed at both breaches, and lost 400 in killed and wounded. At two o'clock in the afternoon, they requested leave to carry off and bury their dead. The English granted them two hours. At four o'clock they once more opened their fire from the town, nor did they again cease until two hours after mid- night, when of a sudden a dead silence ensued. "When day broke, Clive learned that the whole army had abandoned Arcot in haste and confusion, leaving behind them some ordnance and much ammunition. Thus ended the siege of the fort of Arcot, which had lasted fifty days. On the evening of the day on which the enemy fled, a detachment from Madras, under the command of Captain Kilpatrick, arrived safely at Arcot. Leaving a small garrison in the fort, Clive set out, on the 19th of November, to pursue the enemy. Being joined by a small body of Mahratta horse sent to him by Morari Rao, he gained a splendid victory at Amee. Six hundred sepoys, who had been serving the French, immediately deserted with their arms and accoutrements, and joined the conqueror. Clive then drove the French from the strong pagoda of Conjeveram, strengthened the garrison he had left at Arcot, and returned to Fort St. David.* Mohammed Ali, instead of being besieged in Trichinopoly, saw the country open to him, and a great part of the Car- natic submissive to his will. But the enemy soon reassembled, and 4,500 natives, horse and foot, 400 French, and a train of artillery, began to ravage the Company's territory. Early in February (1752), Clive * Sir John Malcolm, ' Life of Lord Clive.' Orme, ' History of Mili- tary Transactions,' &c. Captain Williams, ' Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Bengal Native Infantry,' &c. (an admirable little book). 8vo. London, 1817. 28 SIEGES OF TRICIIINOPOLT. [1752. went out to meet them vdth. 380 English, 1,300 sepoys, and six field-pieces. Such was the terror of his name, that they retreated before him, abandoning one strong position after another. He however overtook them at Covrepauk, defeated them after a hard-fought battle, and took nine guns and sixty Frenchmen. Fifty Frenchmen and 300 sepoys were found dead upon the field. Chunda Saheb's troops dispersed and fled to their homes, and the French made a rush for their protecting walls of Pondicherry. The presidency of Fort St. David determined to despatch Clive to Trichinopoly ; but just at this juncture. Major Laurence arrived from England and took the command as superior ofiicer. Laurence, however, being wholly devoid of professional jealousy, and having the warmest admiration for the daring self-taught soldier, took Clive with him when he set out for Trichinopoly, with 400 English, 1,100 sepoys, and eight field-pieces. As 20,000 men from the kingdom of Mysore and 6,000 Mahrattas Avere ready to co-operate with the English, the troops of Chunda Saheb and the French, who had again gathered round Trichinopoly, broke up in dis- may, the French retreating to a strong pagoda in Seringham, an island formed by the rivers Coleroon and Cauvery.* M. Dupleix sent M. d'Auteuil to supply and reinforce the French on the island ; but D'Auteuil was driven back into an old fort on the road, and there compelled to surrender. The French at Seringham, being nearly starved (for Clive had cut off all their supplies), capitulated and became prisoners of war. Chunda Saheb, finding himself deserted by the last of his troops, fled to the camp of his enemies and surrendered to the general of the Tanjore forces, who had promised him protection, and who put him in irons. Forthwith a violent dis- pute arose between Mohammed Ali and the Mahratta chiefs, the rajah of Mysore and the Tanjorines, who each and all claimed the person of the 'prisoner. To cut the argument short, the Tanjorines cut ofl" the head of Chunda Saheb, and * The sieges or blockades of Trichinopoly had lasted more than twelve months, and had given rise to the most picturesque situations, and most romantic adventures. These cannot be read or written in short. They are beautifully narrated by the eloquent and accurate Orme, as are also the full details of Clive's glorious defence of Arcot. I know few things more likely to captivate a young mind than these early chapters of Onne's history. But the young reader must not be afraid of thick quarto volumes. 1746.] OUE riRST sepoys. 29 sent it to liis now fortunate riyal, Mobammed Ali, who ex- hibited it as a trophy to his army. The Mysorean troops and some of the Mahrattas remained in the fort oi* Trichinopoly ; the troOps of Tanjore and other auxiliaries went away to their homes, and the EngHsh, with only their sepoys, marched against Gingee, where they were repulsed by the Trench with loss. In a very short time, Major Laurence was recalled to the neighbourhood of Eort St. David, by intelligence that Dupleix had another considerable army on foot. Laurence encountered this force near Bahoor, only two miles from Fort St. David, and gained another victory. Clive was now detached to Covelong, an important fort about twenty miles south of Madras, which mounted thirty pieces of cannon, and was garrisoned by fifty Trench and 300 sepoys. The force which Clive took with him consisted of four 24-pound- ers, 500 newly-raised sepoys, and 200 recruits, who had just been landed at Madras, and who are represented as being the very refuse of the gaols of London. But as Clive had become a general as if by inspiration, so had he the faculty of making soldiers in a week out of vagabonds and cut-purses. At first, the gaol-birds showed some trepidation, but Clive shamed them out of their fears by exposing himself to the hottest of the fire, and by the time the fort surrendered, they w^ere heroes. Cutting up or taldng prisoners some detachments that were marching from Chingliput (a day too late) to relieve Covelong, the conqueror, rapidly marching forty miles, compelled the French commandant of Chingli- put to surrender that strong place. Clive now returned to Madras, and, finding his health, which had never been very robust, greatly impaired by the incessant fatigues he had undergone, he proceeded to Eng- land by the first ship. His departure was deplored by the army, and his absence was soon felt in every part of the Coromandel coast.* The reader mil have observed, how important a part the disciplined native troops performed in these campaigns. The French had raised corps of sepoys some time before we began the practice. It appears that our first sepoys were trained in 1746, during Labourdonnais's siege of Madras. Some English officers were then attached to some irregular * Sir John Malcolm, * Life of Lord Clive.' Orme, * Historical Frag- ments, and Military Transactions.' Major Laurence, * Narrative.' 30 Iv'ATITE Ils-rAIvTET. [1757. native infantrj^, which they began to drill and discipline. The system was first introduced into the Madras service by Mr. Halibnrton, who, like Clive, had quitted the civil for the military service. In the ensuing year, this gentleman was employed in training another small corps of natives in the European manner. In 1748, Lieutenant Haliburton was shot by a sulky or frantic recruit, who was instantly cut to pieces by his comrades. The name of Haliburton was long cherished by the Madras sepoys. One of the first ser- vices on which these sepoys were employed was with Clive at the defence at Arcot. At first they appear to have been either Mahometans, or Hindus of very high caste chiefly Hajpoots. They soon became remarkable for their attach- ment to their leaders, their entire devotion to the English flag, their good orderly conduct on marches, and their steadi- ness in action. In 1748, a little before the death of Haliburton, sepoys were first disciplined at Eort St. George. At that period, they were chiefly under the command of native officers. One of these subah'dars Mahomed Esof ^was a hero whose name constantly occurs in the animated pages of Orme. The Bengal Native Infantry was not properly formed until the year 1757.* * Captain Williams, ' Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Bengal Native Infantry,' &c. London, 1817. Quarterly Review, vol. xviii. 1752.1 ACHIEYEMEXTS OF M. BUSSY. 31 CHAPTEE III. M. DuPLEix's wonderful talent for diplomacy and in- trigue soon obtained signal triumphs. His emissaries were everywhere ; and the native princes were all as fickle as faith- less. In his intrigues with them, he is said to have derived wonderful assistance from his wife, who was bom in India, and perfectly understood not only the languages, but also the character of the natives. In his union with this lady, who is described as being even more ambitious than himself, we may probably trace the cause of the essentially Oriental spirit of many of his proceedings.* The ruler of Mysore abruptly broke his alliance with us, and joined the Erench, and his example was followed by Morari Eao, the Mahratta, and by the Mahometan governor of Vellore. Joined by the troops of these recent allies of the English, the French once more laid siege to Trichinopoly. Major Laurence threw himself into that place on the 6th of May, 1753, and by long-persevering and heroic efforts he cut up the French and utterly dispersed the besiegers. But in the mean time, M. Bussy, who took his departure for Hyderabad in 1752, to establish Salabut Jung in the sovereignty of the Deckan, had gone through a series of romantic adventures. He had penetrated farther into the country than any European army had hitherto gone, and had, to all appearance, consolidated the authority of his ally. Ud-Dien a prince of the Mogul's choice, advanced against Salabut Jung with 100,000 horse, but was carried off by poison, or by his own excesses, as he was entering the pro- vince of Golconda. Upon his decease, many of his great host returned to their homes ; but the Mahrattas, eager for the spoil of a rich province, continued their advance. * ' Memoires de M. Dupleix.' 32 END or M. DrPLEix. [1753. Bussy defeated tliern repeatedly, and once or twice with so much slaughter, that they became anxious for peace. Salabut Jung then purchased their retreat, by ceding some remote districts to them ; and they gladly withdrew from the mur- derous execution of Bussy's quick musketry and artillery. The brave and able Frenchman had, however, soon to expe- rience how slightly the ties of gratitude attached Indian princes. Salabut Jung would hardly pay the Erench troops who had saved him from ruin, and he endeavoured to send them to their own destruction by detaching them in small parties to distant quarters. Ko sooner did the Mahratta tribes know this disper- sion of the only force they feared, than they got ready for a new war in the Deckan. Salabut Jung thereupon implored M. Bussy to save him once more, and to name his own conditions. The Erenchman did save him, but at an enormous price. At the end of the year 1753, he obtained the cession of the five important provinces of Ellore, E/ajamundry, Cicacole, Condapilly, and Gruntoor, called the Northern Circars, which made the French masters of the sea-coast of Coromandel and Orissa, for an uninter- rupted line of 600 miles ; and w^hich not only afforded a vast revenue, but also furnished the most convenient means of receiving reinforcements of men, and military stores from Pondicherry and Mauritius. But neither the court of Versailles, nor the French India Company at home, had embraced the grand projects of Bussy and Dupleix. Against the latter, intrigues were set on foot, and his recall to France was procured. A M. Grodheu was sent out to supersede him, and to negotiate an imme- diate peace with the English and their allies in India. "With the departure of Dupleix, the grand schemes of French empire and dominion in the East seemed to vanish into thin air. On his arrival in Europe, this ambitious and able man found himself obliged to dispute the miserable rematas of his once splendid fortune with the French East-India Com- pany, to dance humble attendance on ministers and their satellites, and to solicit audiences in the ante-chambers of his judges. He suffered as much as Labourdonnais had suffered through his means ; and he was soon dead, and soon forgotten in France though not in India. On the 11th of October, 1754, a suspension of arms was agreed to, and on the 26th of December, a provisional treaty 1756.] THE A?s-GEIA PIRATES. 33 was signed by Mr. Sanders, the president of Madras, and M. Grodlieu. The French stipulated to withdraw their troops from the Camatic, and to interfere no more in the affairs of the native princes there, thus leaving Mohammed Ali, the ally or creature of the English, undisputed nabob of the Car- natic. They also agreed that the territorial possessions of the French and English should be settled and defined on the principle of equality, thus virtually resigning nearly all that Bussy and Dupleix had acquired by their wars and policy. M. Bussy, however, was left undisturbed at Grolconda, where he lived with all the pomp and splendour of a vizier or a sultan, and continued his control over the Deckan. As there was no employment for an English squadron which had arrived under the command of Admiral Watson, it was resolved to send some of the ships to destroy the nests of some powerful pirates who for fifty years had been committing depredations on the Malabar coast. The chiefs of these corsairs, a family of the Mahratta race, bearing the name of Angria, had established on the coast a power closely resembling that of the Algerines. They nominally acknow- ledged the Peishwa, or supreme head of the Mahrattas, as the Algerines nominally professed allegiance to the Otto- man Porte.* But the Angrias had recently given such offence to the Peishwa, that he was eager for their destruc- tion, and joined his fleet to the English squadron. In 1755, the English ships drove the pirates from two of their strong- holds, and took possession of them, the Peishwa's fleet never coming within reach of cannon-shot till the fighting was all over. But the chief nest of the pirates the fort and port of Gheriah was not attacked until the following year, when Clive had returned from England, with improved health. Clive accompanied Admiral "Watson on this expedition. The Peishwa's Mahrattas also joined, not to fight but to plunder. On the 11th of Eebruary,'l756, eight English ships, a grab, and five bomb-ketches, having on board 800 Europeans and 1,000 sepoys, arrived off Grheriah ; while a Mahratta army approached on the land side. The pirates* nest stood on a rocky promontory, nearly surrounded by the sea, and crowned by a fort of extraordinary strength. In a brief space of time, the English sailors burned the fleet, though under the guns of * * Our Indian Empire.' D 34 ALIVERDY KHAIf. [1756. the fort ; and Clive then landed his troops and interposed them between the walls of the town and the Mahratta army, who, if they had entered, would have left little but bare walls to the English. The pirates, in whom ferocity had been mistaken for courage, made but a feeble and fool- ish resistance : Angria, their chief, fled for refuge to the Mahrattas' camp ; and on the 13th, the fort fell. Booty to the value of about ten lacs of rupees was divided between the Eoyal Navy and the Company's land troops.* The adventurous Clive had come back to India as governor of Port St. David, with a provisional commission to succeed to the government of Madras. George II., who loved a brave soldier, had given him the grade of Heutenant-colonel in the British army, which it was hoped would obviate the quarrels about rank which so frequently had occurred between the King's and the Company's officers. Clive assumed the government of Port St. David on the 20th of June, 1756, the very day on which the nabob of Bengal took Calcutta from the English, f The society settled at Calcutta had risen rapidly under the pacific rule of Aliverdy Khan, a wise, humane, and liberal prince. The English factors and their numerous agents travelled through every part of his dominions, finding every- where protection for their property, and safety and respect for their persons. Aliverdy Khan died in the month of April, 1756, and his grandson and successor, Suraj-u-Dowlah, was a luxurious, effeminate, rapacious, and cruel youth. He was known to entertain very hostile feelings towards the English, so that everybody at Calcutta ought to have been prepared for his attacks. He had seen the coffers of his father filled, directly or indirectly, by the trade of the Eng- lish ; he had been led to believe that the wealth and treasures these foreign merchants had accumulated within the walls of Calcutta were enormous in amount, and always ready and tangible ; and, like the fool in the fable, he resolved to kiU the goose that laid these golden eggs. Pretexts for quarrel were easily found. After various disputes, Suraj-u-Dowlah ordered the English to destroy their fortifications at Cal- cutta, and upon their refusing so to do, he gave way to a paroxysm of rage, and threatened to behead or impale Mr. "Watts, the resident at his court of Moorshedabad. * Sir John Malcolm, ' Life of Clive.' f Id. 1756.] SUEAJ-U-DOWLAH. 35 Collecting his whole army at jMoorshedabad, tlie new nabob sent a detachment of 3,000 men to invest the factory and small weak fort of Cossimbuzar, which was defended by only twenty-two Europeans and twenty Topasses. In four days the crumbling old gates of the fprt were thrown open to the besiegers, who insulted and triumphed over the little garrison, as if, instead of forty-three men, they had conquered an army of thousands. Their conduct was so brutal, that, to escape from it, the English commanding officer. Ensign Elliot, put a pistol to his head and blew out his brains. Suraj-u-Dowlah now struck his tents and began his march upon Calcutta, which was defended by a regular garrison of 264 men, by a militia raised among the in- habitants of 250 men, and by 1,500 bucksaries, or native Indian matchlock-men, whose arms and discipline were alike contemptible. Of the regular garrison and the militia, only 170 were English, the rest being Portuguese, Topasses, and Armenians, on whose valour and faith there was little dependence : and, to make the case stiU more hopeless, not ten of the English had ever seen any other service than that of the parade.* The fort, afterwards called Port St. Wil" Ham, was of the meanest description : it was situated near the river, and consisted of four weak bastions, mounting ten guns each, with curtains of brick, only four feet in thickness. On the morning of the 16th of June, the nabob, with nearly his whole force, was close to Calcutta ; the Indian inhabitants of the town were flying in all directions, with their rice on their heads ; and the English women, the Armenians, the Portuguese, and all who claimed to be Christians, were abandoning their houses in the city to take refuge within the weak fort, which was crowded and embar- rassed in every part by women and children, and men as help- less or as timid. At the hour of noon, the van of the nabob's army was on the Company's bounds, and shortly after a firing commenced. That night a young English ensign, who had served in Clive's war in the Camatic, made a bril- liant sortie, and with only a handful of men, he drove the enemy before him and spiked four pieces of cannon. On the following day, the attack from the north was abandoned, and some thousands of the besiegers were led into the town on the east side, where no defences existed. Kow, with pre- * Orme. d2 36 ATTACK ON CALCL^TTA. [1756 cipitation and confusion, the Englisli threw up three bat- teries, each mounting two 18-pounders and two field-pieces. These batteries were at the distance of 300 or more yards from the gates of the fort. Moreover, some trenches were dug, and some breastworks raised to bar the progress of the enemy. On the 19th of June, these feeble outposts were assailed by a countless host. They were defended with courage, but very little skill, and they were carried in a few hours. A general consternation ensued : the Indian match- lock-men, who had been engaged by the English, all disap- peared ; the Lascars, who had been helping to serve our guns, all deserted ; and the unwarlike Armenians and the Portu- guese half-castes, who formed a considerable part of the militia, gave themselves up to grief and despair. A ship and seven smaller vessels were now lying before the fort, and shoals of native boats were in readiness to carry off persons and property. As it grew dark, the European women were conveyed out of the fort and safely embarked. About midnight the enemy approached to escalade the walls, but they were scared away by the mere roll of the English drums. On the morrow the fatal 20th of June the nabob's people again swarmed to the fort, bringing artillery with them. The resolution was taken to abandon that worth- less place: there now arose a loud and earnest cry for boats, but the greater part of the native boatmen, tired of waiting, had gone off, and the general embarkation, which would have been easy a few hours before, became exceed- ingly difficult. This difficulty was made the greater by the madness of fear and the total want of order or arrangement. Men, women, and children, rushed to the water's edge; pressing every one to be first embarked; the boats were crowded with more than they could carry, and several of them were overset or swamped. Among those who thus precipitated themselves out of the fort were Mr. Drake, the governor; Mr.Minchin, the captain-commandant; and Captain Gi-rant : overcome by their personal fears, they threw them- selves into two of the last boats, and left Mr. Holwell, one English woman, and 190 men, to shift for themselves. After making every effort to bring back one vessel for their re- moval after hoisting flags by day and thromng up blue lights by night, the reduced garrison saw themselves attacked on all sides by the nabob's troops. IVIr. Holwell attempted to capitulate ; but while the Indian general pretended to be 1756.] THE BLACK HOLE. 37 willing to grant tenns, he sent a very large party to escalade the walls. This attacking party T^-as hurled back and totally repulsed with great loss ; but in this conflict, twenty-five of the garrison were killed or desperately wounded, and more than twice that number received slighter wounds. In tliis state, when the place was filled with moans and groans and shrieks of anguish, some of the remaining English soldiery broke open the arrack magazine, swallowed that ardent spirit as if it had been water, and became mad or stupid. The un- guarded ramparts were carried, an entrance was made by the Indians through the water-gate, and the fort was lost. About twenty of the garrison threw themselves headlong from the bastions, to be cut down by the enemy's horse, which scoured the open country ; a few escaped by creeping along the slime of the river ; all the rest piled their arms, and surrendered wdth prayers for mercy. Suraj-u-Dowlah, who had kept at a distance so long as there was the slightest chance of personal danger, now entered the fort in triumph, and summoned Mr. Hblwell before him. The nabob complained bitterly of tlie small sum of money which had been found in the treasury a sum which fell short of 50,000 rupees. He dismissed Mr. Hol- well ; recalled him to ask if there really was no more money, and then dismissed him again. The horrible tragedy which followed is familiar to every English reader. One hundred and forty-six individuals were thrust into the common dun- geon of the garrison, called the Black Hole. This was a room twenty feet square, with only two small windows, and those obstructed and deprived of air by a projecting verandah. It was the very hottest season of the year, and the night was unusually sultry even for that season, for the Indians had set fire to the houses of the town, and the atmosphere was heated by the conflagration and the air charged with the smoke that proceeded from it. Attempts were made to burst open the door, but the door was strong, and opened inward. Mr. Holwell, who had succeeded in placing himself near one of the windows, addressed himself to an old Indian ofiicer who commanded the guard, and promised him a thousand rupees in the morning if he would only separate his prisoners into two chambers. The old man went to try, but, returning in a few minutes, said it was impossible. Mr. Holwell then oflered him a larger sum, on which he with- drew once more, but only to return with the fatal sentence, 38 THE BLACK HOLE. [1756. that no relief could be expected, because the nabob was asleep, and no one dared to wake him. Then the captives went raving mad with despair and a hell-like heat and thirst; they shrieked for water! water! and they fought with each other with maniac hands, feet, and teeth for pos- session of the ground nearest the windows. At the prayer of Mr. Holwell, the old Hindu officer brought some skins of water to the gratings, but the sufferers were too far gone in madness to wait their several turns to drink ; they battled with one another for the first draughts, and they spilt more than they drank. But not the contents of the largest and coolest water-tank in India could have quenched the inward fire that consumed them, or have cooled or sweetened the infernal air of their dungeon. At two hours after midnight not more than fifty remained alive ; at eight o'clock in the morning, when the tyrant rose from his perfumed couch and called for his prisoners, the dungeon-door was found blocked up with the dead, and out of the one hundred and forty-six, only twenty-three ghastly figures were brought alive out of that truly Black Hole. The tyrant could talk of nothing but the treasures which, he was sure, the English had buried ; and he threatened further severities if the concealed money were not instantly given up. Mr. Holwell, who knew of no hidden treasures, was consigned over to some officers of the nabob, who put his emaciated frame into irons and fetters. Meanwhile the nabob's army were plundering the warehouses and dwelling- houses in the town, making no distinction as to persons, faiths, or nations, but robbing alike Hindus, Mussulmans, Armenians, Portuguese, and English, and frequently resort- ing to torture, in the %dew of making their victims confess where they had concealed their treasures. Having ordered the name of Calcutta to be changed into that of Alinagore, or the Port of God, the nabob col- lected his army, and, on the 2nd of July, proceeded up the river to fall upon a defenceless neighbour a native prince. His boats were decorated with flags and streamers, and the air was filled with triumphant military music. He left behind him, in Port St. William and in the town, about three thousand undisciplined men.* * Orme, * Military Transactions of the British Nation in Hindostan.' Holwell, ' Indian Tracts,' 4to. A,D. 1754 ; and ' Historical Events re- pecting Bengal and Hindostan,' 2 vols. 8vo. 1766-1777. 1757.] CALCUTTA EECOTEEED. 39 CHAPTER IV. Clite the avenger, CliYe " the Daring in War,"* was coming. At Madras and I'ort St. David and Bombay, and at every place in India in which there was an Englishman, exertions were made in order to recover Calcutta, and take vengeance upon Suraj-u-Dowlah for the atrocities he had committed ; but the mighty monsoons, which had prevented the sending of relief, would not yield nor change to suit the impatience of man ; materials had to be collected from various parts of the coast, and ships to be waited for that were traversing the Indian Ocean from Europe. Thus it was not until the 16th of October that Clive and Admiral "Watson could set sail from Madras. The force consisted of five of his Majesty's ships and five of the Company's, of nine hundred European infantry and fifteen hundred sepoys. On the 22nd of December they reached Eulta, a \allage on the Hooghly, twenty miles below Calcutta. Capturing on his way the fort of Budge-Budge, Clive came before Calcutta at the end of the month, and on the 2nd of January, 1757, Admiral Watson brought his ships to anchor close off the fort. Monichund, the nabob's general, had fled already, and a very few shots sufiiced to send the garrison scampering off after their general. Without the loss of a single life, apparently without a wound or a scratch, the English regained possession of the fort and to'wn. Eapid in all his enterprises, Clive, within a week and a day, was before the important fortress and town of Hooghly, which bristled with batteries mounting heavy guns, and was garrisoned by three thousand men, who all fled after a very * This was one of the epithets which the astonished natives had con- ferred upon Clive. 40 WAR IN BENGAL. [1757. short cannonade, leaving the place, with everything in it, to the English. Suraj-u-Dowlah had by this time collected an enormous army in Moorshedabad, and, believing Clive's force to be even smaller than it was, he began to march down to Calcutta with terrible menaces. Clive took post in a camp he had hastily fortified, about a mile to the north of the town, and quietly waited for his foe. On the 3rd of Tebruary, the country to the north-east was in a blaze, and the van of the nabob's army came in full view. In the course of that night and the following morning (the 4th of February) the rest of the army came up. Having obtained from Admiral "Watson a reinforcement of sailors, armed with firelocks, Clive, at three o'clock of the morning of the 5th, in the midst of a tliick fog, penetrated into the nabob's camp, marched right through with part of his force, and, attacking in front and rear, gained a rapid and brilliant victory. In this conflict Clive lost altogether one hundred and twenty Eiu-opeans and one hundred sepoys a considerable portion of his small force. But the carnage committed by the English, w^ho were thirsting for revenge on the perpetrators of the Elaclt-Hole murders, was terrible ; the panic in the Indian army was universal, and Clive was not disappointed as to the effects likely to be produced by the battle on the feeble mind of the nabob. Suraj-u-Dowlah sent him a most humble letter, imploring for peace with the English ; and, on the 9th of February, a treaty was concluded on Clive's ovm terms ; and three days after this, an additional treaty, with an alliance, offensive and defensive, was signed. As war had broken out in Europe between France and England, and as there could be no permanent security for Calcutta so long as the French were left in posses- sion of Chandemagore, Clive and Admiral AVatson pro- ceeded forthwith to attack that place. Chandemagore was strong, and the French, as usual, made a brave resist- ance ; but they were compelled to surrender on the morn- ing of the 25th March, after a siege or bombardment of fourteen days. Instead of assisting these operations, Suraj-u-Dowlah did aU that he could to thwart them, and was already endeavouring to form new leagues against the English. Clive resolved that he should cease to reign. Many circumstances favoured the views of the conqueror. The 1757.] OMICHTJND. 41 tyrannical and dissolute nabob had alienated the affec- tions of his people, and given mortal offence to some of his grandees and courtiers. While he was again collecting an immense army to fall upon Clive, a conspiracy Avas formed against him in his own court, capital, and camp. The real chief of this conspiracy was Meer Jaffier Khan, a Mahometan soldier of fortune, who had been raised to the highest digni- ties by the late nabob, Aliverdy Khan, whose daughter he had married. Meer Jaffier was at this moment com- mander-in-chief of the army assembling at Plassey, and it was calculated that half of that force would implicitly obey his orders. The khan, after swearing on the Khoran, and by Grodandthe prophet of Grod, to keep his secret engagementa with the English, gave great uneasiness by his timidity and vacillation. But the man who most disquieted Clive and Admiral "Watson and their agents was Omichund, a Hindu merchant or banker of great wealth, who had been admitted into all the secrets of the plot, and who threatened to divulge them to Suraj-u-Dowlah unless he were gratified with a bond, or thirty lacs of rupees. It was therefore suggested to Clive, and approved of by the members of the Council, and most, if not all, the English officers, who thought tliat treachery ought to be met and defeated by treachery ; that Omichund ought to be deceived by a fictitious agreement to pay him the money. Accordingly, two bonds were drawn up, one real, upon white paper, and the other false, upon red. In the former there was no mention of Omichund ; in the latter, there was an article stipulating that he should receive twenty lacs of rupees as soon as the revolution was completed. The red paper was sho^\Ti to the grasping, gasping Hindu ; the white one was kept in reserve. Omichund was universally detested in Calcutta for many former acts of treachery and rapacity, and on account of the weU-grounded suspicion that he had contributed to lead the nabob to the capture and plunder of that place, and to the dismal tragedy of the Black Hole. On the 13th of June, Clive, with his Kttle army, movedfrom Chandemagore towards Plassey, dispatching before him a letter to reproach Suraj-u-Dowlah with numerous breaches of faith and of treaties, and to call upon him to choose between submission to the demands of the English and instant war. On the 16th he halted at Patlee, and sent Major Coote to take Cutwah, a mud fort. Coote, an officer worthy to serve 42 CLIVE AT PLASSET. [1757. a Clive, took the place, and found in it rice enougli to supply a native army of ten thousand men for a whole year. On the 17th Clive received a letter from Meer Jaffier, which was far from being satisfactory. Doubting whether that man would have steadiness and courage enough to keep his engagements, he determined not to cross the river of Cossim- buzar, the holiest branch of the G-anges, until he should obtain some further securities or assurances that Jaffier reaUy intended to act with him. On the 20th, the anniver- sary of the Black Hole, he received an unsatisfactory letter ; but on the evening after the arrival of this messenger, another secret emissary appeared with letters from Meer Jaffier, stating that he would be on the right or left wing of the nabob's army, and that he would come over as soon as the English should appear on the field at Plassey. The mind of the English commander was still disquieted by doubts and suspicions ; with the assistance of Jaffier's three thousand horse he made sure of victory, but without this accession of strength he despaired of it, as he was wholly destitute of cavalry. The greatness of the stake for which he was playing with so small an army, the heavy responsibility that lay upon him, rendered him irresolute and nervous, and he had recourse, for the first and last time in his life, to a council of war. Having on the morning of the 21st assembled his officers, to the number of fifteen,* he proposed the following questions : " Whether the army should immediately cross into the island of Cossimbuzar, and at all risks attack the nabob ? or whether, availing them- selves of the great quantity of rice which they had taken at Cutwah, they should maintain themselves there during the rainy season, and in the mean time invite the Mahrattas to enter the province and join them ?" Contrary to the esta- blished practice, Clive gave his opinion first, and it was, that they should remain where they were. Majors Kilpatricfc and G-rant, with six other officers, agreed with Clive ; but Captain Coote differed with him, and his opposite opinion was supported by six other officers. Coote's notion was that the common soldiers were at present confident of success ; that a stop so near the enemy would naturally quell this ardour; that the arrival of the French troops with * Orrae says twenty, but Sir John Malcolm gives the names of all the officers from a list found in Clive's papers, and there, the total number, including Clive, is sixteen. 1757.] BATTLE OF PLASSET. 43 M. Law would add strength to the nabob's force and vigour to his councils ; that they would surround the English army and cut oif its communication with Calcutta, when distresses not yet foreseen might ruin it as effectually as the loss of a battle. He therefore advised that they should either advance and decide the contest immediately, or immediately return to Calcutta. But soon Clive himself felt dissatisfied at the decision, and his mind recovered its vigour. To collect his thoughts, he retired alone to a grove of mango-trees, a little beyond the town of Cutwah ; he remained there for an hour in deep meditation, but then he returned with the word "For- ward " on his lips ; and, without consulting or caring for the council of war, he gave his orders that the army should cross the river on the following morning. At the hour appointed, at sunrise, the troops were put in motion; they had all crossed the river by four in the afternoon, and after a rapid march they encamped, long after sunset, in a mango-grove near Plassey, and within a mile of the enemy. Clive, kept awake by his anxious thoughts, heard during the whole night the drums, trumpets, and C3rmbals of the nabob's host, who had been warned of his approach, and were making their barbaric music to dispel drowsiness. At last the day broke which was to decide the fate of Bengal, The extensive ground occupied by the nabob's army had good defences, both natural and artificial; but, relying on their numerical superiority, the Indians, instead of wait- ing to be attacked, marched out *to attack the English. Soon after sunrise they poured through all their openings and advanced to the mango-grove where Clive lay. They were forty thousand foot and sixteen thousand horse ; they had fifty heavy cannon, each drawn by a long train of white oxen, and pushed on from behind by an elephant ; and, besides this ordnance, there were some field-pieces, managed by about forty Frenchmen. To oppose this vast host Clive had but three thousand foot (of which number one thousand were Europeans) and eight field-pieces. He expected every moment to receive an encouraging message from Meer Jafiier, but none came. The battle began with a cannonade at about eight in the morning. About noon there fell a heavy shower of rain, which damaged the ammunition of the incautious Indians. Nearly at the same time one of Clive' s cannon-balls mortally wounded Meer Murdeen,one of the highest and best officers of the enemy, and the event 44 BATTLE or PLASSEY. [1757. greatly terrified the nabob, who was remaining in his tent at a safe distance. To increase his panic, one of his grandees, who was deep in the conspiracy against him, magnified the danger, and then advised him to retreat immediately npon his capital. At about two o'clock in the afternoon the white oxen were put to the heavy guns to drag them off" ; in a short time all that host, horse and foot, were seen retreating through the camp. Clive then moved forwardfrom the mango- grove. As he was advancing, a great body of the cavalry appeared on his flank. These were the three thousand or more horse of Meer Jaffier, but they were not recognized as such by the English, for a promised white flag was not held out, nor was any other signal given or message sent. Sus- pecting that they were manoeuvring to fall upon his baggage and rear, which, no doubt, they would have done if he had been beaten or checked, Clive detached some troops of the line to stop them. On receiving the fire of this detach- ment, Jaffier, still making no sign, halted and fell back. After a short retreat, the French artillery-men stood firm, some of the nabob's troops rallied, some of his heavy guns were again loaded, and a few feeble charges of cavalry were made. At last, that great body of horse, which had recently been on the flank of the English, began to move altogether off the field, without joining the rest of the nabob's army ; and this convinced Clive that they were the troops of Meer Jaffier, and that that conspirator was now, in reality, doing something, in his timid wa}^, to decide the affair. Advancing, Clive fell upon the Erenchmen, who, finding themselves again abandoned by the natives, fled and left their field-pieces behind them. There was no more fighting ; the nabob's tens of thousands were flying towards Moorshedabad ; the whole camp, with tents, baggage, artillery, carriages, and white oxen, was left in the undisputed possession of the victors, whose booty upon that spot alone was of immense value. Clive stated his loss at twenty-two killed and fifty wounded, and these chiefly blacks ; and the loss of the enemy at about 500 killed and wounded. All of his little army had behaved admirably, but praise was more particularly given to the 39th British regiment, which still bears on its banners the name of " Plassey," and the motto, Frimus in Indis. The English pursued the fugitives for about six miles, and then halted for the night at Daudpore, where Clive 1V57.] CLIVE AT MOOESIIEDABAD. 45 received a congratulatory letter from Meer Jaffier, who came and encamped in his neighbourhood that night. At midnight, the fallen nabob, Suraj-u-Dowlah, who had fled from the field on a swift dromedary (an animal now rarely used or seen in Bengal), arrived at his palace in Moorshe- dabad, and assembled aU the officers that had escaped with him. Bold resolutions were taken, but he had not the heart to stay and act upon them. Dismissing his council and returning to the apartments of his women, his fears over- came him, and he made up his mind to fly from his capital. He took with him, grasped in his own hand, or hid under his o^^-n vest, a rich casket of jewels ; his chosen companions were his favourite concubine and his confidential eunuch; with no other attendants, and disguised in a mean dress, he descended in the darkness of the night from a window of the palace. On the morning after the battle, Meer Jaffier waited upon Clive, who, embracing him, hailed him as nabob of Bengal, Orissa, and Bahar. The nabob-maker then hurried him on with all his cavalry to Moorshedabad, in order to secure the palace and the treasury of Suraj-u-Dowlah. It is said that a new conspiracy was got up, not only to Tvithhold all the treasure from the English, but likewise to assassinate the conqueror of Plassey. Clive, though so near, certainly deemed it expedient to postpone his entrance into Moorshedabad until the 29th of June, and when he entered, he was sur- rounded and closely guarded by 200 Europeans and 300 faithful sepoys. Moreover, he took up his quarters in a strong palace, and kept his 500 men with him. Meer Jaffier now protested that there was not money enough left in Suraj-u-Dowlah'a treasury to pay what the English demanded, and what had been stipulated for in the treaty between Jaffier and CHve. The conqueror proposed that they should repair together to the residence of the eeits, or great Hindu bankers, who had nearly all been con- cerned in the conspiracy against Suraj-u-Dowlah. Meer Jaffier consenting, they went forthwith to the seits, Clive being followed by Omichund, who fancied that the moment was now at hand when he should receive some of his lacs of rupees. ' But on arriving at the seits, Omichund was not invited to a seat on the carpet with the other Hindu capi- talists, and, somewhat disconcerted and dismayed by this slight, he sat himself down among his servants near the 46 END OF OMICHTJKD. [1757 outer part of the hall. The white or real treaty, contain- ing all the stipulations, and the sums and proportions agreed upon, was now produced ; and Clive, turning to Mr. Scrafton, who was in attendance with Mr. Watts, said, "It is now time to undeceive Omichund." Scrafton, who spoke the language of the country weU, went up to the Hindu, who rose at his approach, and said, " Omichund, the red paper is a trick; you are to have nothing!" The old man stag- gered as if struck by a thunderbolt, and, fainting, would have fallen to the earth, if his attendants had not caught him ia their arms. He was conveyed to his palanquin and carried to his house in the city, where he lay for several hours speechless and insensible. His intellect, once so keen, never made more than a partial return ; Clive recom- mended, what was a common cure for grief and sickness among the Hindus, a pilgrimage to some famed pagoda or temple ; the old man went to one of the most celebrated of all these shrines, but he returned uncured ; he fell into a state of idiocy, and died about a year and a half after receiving the mortal shock. His death-like swoon and departure from the haU of the seits occasioned no emotion there ; and the contracting parties to the white treaty calmly settled their money affairs. The treaty, as written in Persian and Eng- lish, was read, and, after much conversation, it was settled, that one-half of the sum promised the English should be paid immediately in coia, plate, and jewels taken out of the treasury ; and that the other half should be discharged in three years by equal instalments. Two days after this conference, Meer Jaffier received tidings that Suraj-u-Dowlah had been taken at Eajahmahal, through the iaformation of a poor fakir or dervish, who had recognized him in his disguise. The holy man had good reason to remember the person of the tyrant, for Suraj-u- Dowlah had cut off his ears about thirteen months before. At the hour of midnight, the fallen nabob was brought like a felon into the presence of Meer Jaffier, in the palace which had so recently been his own. He crawled in the dust at the new nabob's feet, weeping and praying for mercy. It is said that Meer Jaffier, moved both by contempt and pity, intended to spare his life, but that Meeran, his son, as vile and ferocious a wretch as Suraj-u-Dowlah, insisted that he ought to be put to death, to render the musnud, and his own succession to it, the more secure. The victim was 1757.] DEATH OP SURAJ-TJ-DOWLAn. 47 carried off to a distant chamber, tlie vilest in the palace, and was there secretly murdered by one of Meeran's servants and some soldiers. In the course of the following day, his mangled remains were exposed on an elephant in the streets of Moorshedabad, and then deposited in the tomb of his predecessor, Aliverdy Khan. He was only twenty years old when he died ; Meeran, his murderer, was still younger^ being only in his seventeenth year. Clive and the English committee, on the 6th of July, ob- tained payment, in coined silver, of 7,271,666 rupees, amounting ^in English money to 800,000/. ; in addition to which, Clive had taken or accepted from Meer Jaffier, as his private reward, about 200,000/. sterling, or, according to his own statement, about 160,000/.* The money filled 700 chests, embarked in 100 boats, which proceeded under the care of soldiers to Nudea, whence they were escorted to Eort WilHam by all the boats of the English squadron, with banners flying and music sounding a scene of triumph and joy, and a remarkable contrast to the scene of the pre- ceding year, when Suraj-u-Dowlah had ascended the same stream triumphant from the conquest and plunder of Cal- cutta. In the course of the month of August, the Company received in gold, jewels, and cash, 3,255,095 rupees. The other advantages which the new nabob granted the English were, a right to establish a mint of their own at Calcutta ; the entire expulsion of the French for ever, and the delivery to the Company of their factories and effects ; the entire pro- perty of all lands within the Mahratta ditch at Calcutta ; also 600 yards aU round beyond the said ditch ; the cession of aU the land in the neighbourhood of Calcutta that lay between the river, the lake, and Culpee, the Company paying the usual rent to the nabob ; and full freedom of trade throughout the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, except the old prohibition against their trading in salt, betel, and a few other commodities. The Company's mint at Calcutta began to coin rupees by the 19th of August. Three days before this date, Admiral Watson, who had very materially contributed to the success of the war, died of a jungle-fever. M. Law was in the field at the head of a small Erench * One of the first uses Clive made of his wealth was to bestow an annuity of 300 on his old commander, Laurence, who had grown old in the service without growing rich. 48 COOTE IX BAIIAR. [1757. force wMcli liad escaped from Chandernagore, and had been in correspondence with Suraj-u-Dowlah. Upon learning the capture and death of that wretched man, Law, who had been advancing to aid him, retreated \\dth all speed into Bahar, intending to offer his services to Bamnarrain, the vice-nabob of the province. To dislodge these dangerous Erenchmen, Clive detached Coote with a flying column, con- sisting of 230 Europeans, 300 sepoys, 50 lascars, and two field-pieces. Coote, in spite of the excessive heat of the wea- ther, and of numerous obstacles raised in^ his way, by Meer Jaffier's brother, and by other men who were bound to aid and assist him, made a wonderful and rapid march. On the 10th of July, he was at Eajahmahai, on the 21st at Monghir, on the 23rd at Burhai, on the 25th he entered Eutwah, only seven miles from Patna. On the 1st of August, he reached a small town at the confluence of the Sona and Granges, and on the 5th he halted at Chuprah, on the frontier of the powerful ruler of Oude. He could not overtake the nimble Law, but he struck terror into Eamnar- rain, and other native princes, and received their oaths to be true and obedient to Meer Jaffier, the new nabob. Eeturning to Moorshedabad, Coote' s detachment was quartered at Cossimbuzar ; and the rest of the troops who had fought at Plassey, and conquered a country more exten- sive and more populous than the whole of Oreat Britain, were sent down the river and stationed at Chandernagore, a place then considered more healthy than Calcutta. At the latter city, Chve was received with acclamations and all possible honours ; and he already witnessed the effects of his achievements in the restoration of commerce, confidence, and prosperity.* * Orme, ' Military Transactions.' Sir John Malcolm, ' Life of Lord Clive, with Extracts from his Lordship's own Letters and Memoranda.' 1757.] WAR I^' THE CARXATIC. 49 CHAPTER V. AVhile Clive was changing princes and nabobs and rooting out the Ereuch in Bengal, his countrymen on the Coroman- del coast were not altogether idle. Though weakened by having sent ships and' troops to co-operate on the Granges, the presidency of Madras despatched Captain Calliaud to make an attempt upon Madura. "While Calliaud was before that place, the Erench made a rush at Trichinopoly, which was very weakly garrisoned, and laid siege to it. Leaving tents, baggage, and artillery behind him, Calliaud flew from Ma- dura to Trichinopoly, out-manoeuvred M. d'Auteuil, got between the besiegers and the besieged, and finally entered Trichinopoly in triumph; but so exhausted by the in- cessant fatigues he had undergone, that he could no longer walk or stand without support. D'Auteuil raised the siege the same day, and retreated towards Pondicherry, disap- pointed, mortified, and humiliated. After his retreat the war languished in the Carnatic, until the Erench, by an unexpected movement, took the important English factory of Vizagapatam. Wliile the presidency of Madras were demanding money from their ally or dependant Mohammed Ali, by letters and by messengers, Bajee-Kao's Mahrattas burst into the country to exact, at the sword's point, clioult, or tribute, or black mail, from the same poor, extravagant potentate. " The English," says Orme, " had no alternative but to pay or fight." Eor fighting they had not men enough, and for paying they had not money enough ; but the credit of the Company was Imown even in the camp of the wild Mahrattas, and when the English consented to pay for the nabob, they agreed to take part of the amount in rupees, and part in bills. In the month of September, a squadron of twelve ships appeared off Port St. David. These Erench ships were commanded by M. Bouvet, an officer of high reputation ; 50 M. LALLY. [1758. and they had on board twenty pieces of battering camion, some mortars, and a great number of bombs and balls, the regiment of Lorraine, nearly 1,000 strong, fifty artillerymen, and sixty volunteers, the troops being under the command of the Marquis de Soupires. The English, from Fort St. David, saw these ships repair to Pondicherry, where they landed the troops. This was on the 9th of September ; and a day or two after, the whole squadron disappeared, leaving the English much perplexed as to its next destination and object. An intercepted English letter, in which it was stated that Admiral Watson was expected "with his fleet on that coast by the middle of September, had done wonders. As Bouvet apprehended that the English admiral would collect a force superior to his own, he determined to fly while there was yet time ; and in so great a hurry was he, that he would not even wait to land the heavy artillery and the heavy ammunition which he had brought. Crowding all his eanvas, he bore away for the Mauritius flying from Watson, who had been nearly a month in his winding-sheet, and whose fleet, under the command of Ear- Admiral Pococke, was still in the Hooghly. On the very day on which Bouvet took his precipitate departure, Captain Calliaud took Madura by making a fresh expedition from Trichinopoly, and by carrying a well-fiUed military chest with him. One hundred and seventy thou- sand rupees was the price paid to the native chief and garrison for the surrender of this place, the possession of which was of great importance to the English on the Coro- mandel coast. On the 28th of April, 1758, another Erench squadron, consisting of twelve ships, reached that coast. It was com- manded by Count d'Ache, and had on board a regiment of infantry nearly 1,100 strong, a corps of artillerymen, and a number of oJficers of distinction, aU under the command of Count Lally, a veteran of Irish extradition, who had been all his life in tlie service of Erance, and who had fought against the English at Eontenoi. So high did Lally' s reputation stand at this time, that he had been appointed governor- general, with the most extraordinary powers, over all the Erench possessions and establishments in India. He was to commence operations by the reduction of Eort St. David. He dropped into Pondicherry with two of the ships, and with the other two D'Achc repaired at once to Eort St. 1758,] LOSS OF CUDDALOEE. 51 Dayici, where two English frigates, the only ships on the station, were run ashore and wrecked to prevent their being captured. But on the very next day, Admiral Pococke stood into the road and brought M. d'Ache to action. The JEngKsh squadron was inferior in number, and some of the ships were scarcely fit for service ; nevertheless Pococke inflicted a severe blow on the French, the result of a drawn battle being the loss of 500 in killed and wounded on their side ; while the English counted only twenty-nine killed and eighty-nine wounded. One of D' Ache's ships was stranded after the battle in consequence of damage done by our shot to her cables. Pococke' s ships, however, had suffered greatly in their spars and rigging, and, in the various manoeuvres which followed the battle, they drifted to lee- ward, and the Erencli were enabled to come to anchor in the night in the road of Alamparoa. Before the sea-fight began, some of the French troops from Pondicherry, hurried on across the country by the impetuous Lally, without baggage, and even without provisions, got to the rear of Port St. David, and drove in some of the English outposts. The troops on board the French ships were now landed with all speed, the Marquis de Soupires came up with more troops, some heavy guns found in Pondicherry, and convoy of pro- \'isions. On the next day, the 1st of May, Lally himself came up and detached Count d'Estaing to take up a position near Cuddalore, which was no stronger now than when attacked twelve years before by M. Dupleix. It was gar- risoned by four companies of sepoys and a few artillerymen, and, to add to the precariousness of its situation, it con- tained within its walls 150 French prisoners. In the even- ing, this very weak garrison was reinforced from Fort St. David by thirty Europeans and a few lascars. But Cudda- lore could not have been held for any length of time by a much stronger garrison ; and Major PoHer, the commandant of Fort St. David, agreed to evacuate it in four days, the troops being allowed to retire with the honours of war. M. LaUy, at the very beginning of his career, spoiled the chances of success in India, by setting the feelings and prejudices of the people at defiance. He knew nothing of India, or of the strange, graduated, complex structure of Indian society, and he was too self-willed, hot-headed, and presiunptuous, to be guided by those who had more knowledge : in this siege he created the greatest disgust, by e2 52 SUREE>'DEE Or FOET ST. DATID. [1758. forcibly employing together different castes of the natives in labours to which they had never been accustomed, and which they considered derogatory to their condition and dishonourable to the castes to which they belonged. The more rigour he exercised, the greater became the difficulty of getting any Avork done. The sepoys, and all others who did not belong to the very lowest castes, would neither dig in the trenches nor drive the trains, and when Lally threatened or punished them, they deserted. Port St. David was at this time garrisoned by 619 Europeans and about 1,600 natives : in sj^ite of some radical defects in the works, they might certainly have been maintained for a long time against an enemy who committed so many blunders as Lally did ; but Major Polier matched him in this respect, and after he had burned nearly all his gunpowder in an absurd, ineffectual firing, the English commandant capitulated on the 2nd of June. In consequence of instructions from France, Lally immediately ordered all the fortifications to be razed to the ground. He then detached M. d'Estaing with a considerable force to obtain possession of Devi Cottah. That garrison, being very weak, abandoned the place at the approach of the Erench, and marched away for Trichinopoly. Lally returned to Pondicherry, entered that city in a triumphant proces- sion, and celebrated a Te Deiim for his successes. But this was scarcely over ere he entered upon a furious quarrel with the gentlemen of the Erench council on account of the emptiness of the treasury. He thus early prepared a strife and a hatred which, in the end, brought him to a lamentable death. He accused powerful and resentful men of having appropriated the public money to their own use. Eor lack of rupees, his operations were impeded. In rummaging the exhausted treasury of Pondicherry, he discovered a bond for 5,600,000 rupees, which had been given by the rajah of Tanjore to Chunda Saheb, and by Chunda Saheb to the Erench, in satisfaction for some of the various claims which they had upon him. Lally resolved to enforce payment of this bond, and taking the field, he advanced towards Tan- jore, with one Gratiea, a native prince, in his camp, who had some pretensions to the sovereignty of the country. The march was long, and the disposition of the country people everywhere unfavourable. No bullock-men or bazar- people would follow him except by compulsion, and every act of compulsion tended to spread and increase the preva- 1758.] lallt's deyastations. 53 lent ill-will. His want of money, and almost total want of provisions, even at the beginning of the march, forced him to rob and plunder ; and the Trench soldiery, when once they got accustomed to these operations, considered as their own everything that they could seize or extort by violence. A regiment of hussars was constantly employed in cattle-lifting, and the unfortunate natives saw their cows and their oxen driven into the French camp, where no price was ever paid, or even promised. Still more to excite the native passions of hatred and revenge, the French committed outrages on their women and their priests. From Carical, Lally pro- ceeded to what had recently been the rich and thriving town of Nagore, in the hope of getting a great booty and contribution in money. But the native merchants, warned in time, had carried oif their money and jewels, and they offered little for the redemption of their houses. Lally therefore let loose his hussars on the defenceless town, with, a regular bargain that he was to have a large share of what- ever they might find. The Hiberno-Frenchman then applied, in a peremptory manner, to the Dutch at JS'egapatam for money, ammunition, and provisions, and the Dutch, awed by his power, sent him 20,000 pounds of gunpowder. Acting under the same fears, the Danes, who had a small settlement on the coast, sent him 10,000 pounds of gunpowder and six field-pieces. On his line of march stood the ]3agoda of Kivalore, which Lally believed to contain inestimable riches. He ransacked the place and the houses of the Brahmins, dug into the earth for concealed treasures, dragged the tanks and brought up a number of uncouth idols ; but, to his bitter disappointment, these graven images, instead of being of gold, were of brass ; and as no treasures could be found above ground, or under ground, or in the water, he incurred a horrible odium without any profit. On the following day he reached another pagoda, from which the priests had all fled ; but discovering in the evening that some of the Brah- mins had come back, and were looking about them and asking questions, he savagely put them to death by blowing them oft" from the mouths of his field-pieces. At Trivatore, where he remained some days, he drove a grand trade in cattle-lifting. Part of the beeves were consumed in the camp, and part sent down to the coast, to be there sold for the benefit of the army. On the 18th of July, Lally halted near the walls of the city of Tanjore, and sent in a Jesuit 54 SIEGE OE TaNJOEE. [1758. and one of his captains to demand the full amount of the bond. The terrified rajah oifered 300,000 rupees, money down; Lally then asked for 1,000,000 in money, 600 bullocks (he had become a wholesale carcase-butcher), and 10,000 pounds of gunpowder ; and upon finding that these terms were not accepted, he began to throw shot and shell at the temples and pagodas. He also continued the work of cattle- lifting in the open country, sending droves upon droves down to Carical and Pondicherry. At length a treaty was commenced, in which the Hindu prince endeavoured to dupe the French, and they him. After an infinitude of manoeuvres on both sides, Lally broke off the negotiation, and on the 2nd of August, having erected two batteries, he began to ply the walls of Tanjore where they were weakest. After five days' firing, a breach was made ; but by this time the Trench had burned nearly all their powder, and, notwithstanding all their cattle-lifting, they had not provisions for more than two days. On the 8th of August, Lally' s uneasiness was increased by intelligence that another engagement had taken place between the French and English squadrons, and that the English ships were menacing Carical, where the Erench had not been heard of since the battle. Quite crest-fallen, he summoned a council of war ; ten of his officers recommended an imme- diate retreat, and only two an immediate assault and storm, Forthwith, the sick and wounded were sent away under a strong escort, and preparations were made for a general de- campment on the morrow. But in the course of that night, 600 Euglish sepoys, sent by Major Calliaud from Trichinopoly, threw themselves within the walls of Tanjore. Lally had cause to wish he had gone off a little earlier. The next morning the sepoys joined the Tanjoreans in a sortie and general attack on his camp, while bodies of Tanjore horse, and swarms of country people, and wild coolies from the hills, threw themselves on the Erench rear. Lally himself had several hair-breadth escapes, and he was actually knocked over and trampled upon by some of the rajah's cavalry. Three of his cannon were captured, and a considerable num- ber of his men were killed in the first surprise. But when the Erench recovered their presence of mind, and formed in good compact order, they were too much for the undisciplined Tanjoreans ; and the English sepoys, left without proper support, were obliged to abandon the three guns they had 1758.] KATAL E^^GAGEME:STS. 55 taken, and to retreat into the town with no other prizes than one elephant and two lean camels. But the French now spiked their heavy guns, threw the shot into wells, and destroyed a considerable part of their baggage, and then, under cover of night, they marched rapidly away from Tan- jore, pestered in their retreat by the vindictive peasantry and the rajah's cavalry, and half-famished, and half-crazed with thirst. The retreat was most disastrous till they reached Trivatore. Between that place and Carical, Lally learned that the French squadron had returned to Pondi- cherry, but that M. d'Ache was determined to sail for the Mauritius without hazarding any further action withPococke. Lally, in a fury, sent the Count d'Esfcaing to remonstrate, to persuade, to threaten, to do everything he could to make the French admiral stay where he was. On the 18th of August, the retreating French army arrived at Carical, and saw the English squadron at anchor not far from that town. In the two naval engagements which had taken place, Admiral Pococke's force had been inferior, and D'Ache, after the experience he had had, felt no desire to wait till rein- forcements, which he believed were expected, should give the EnglSh a superiority, or replace two of their very bad ships by two good ones ; and he turned a deaf ear to D'Estaing. Having left Carical and crossed the Coleroon, Lally quitted the army, and with an escort rode with loose bridle to Pon- dicherry, where he arrived on the 28th of August. He instantly summoned a council, with the view of stopping the anxious admiral. But D'Ache declared that his ships were greatly disabled, and his crews much reduced by the combats and by sickness ; and on the 2nd of September he hove an- chor, and went away under a press of sail for the Mauritius. To procure the nerves of war, Lally now resolved, before proceeding on his grand object the siege of Madras to make a predatoiy excursion to Arcot, which was defended by only a few English sepoys and some detachments of Mohammed All's cavalry. He made a bargain beforehand with the commander of the native troops, who agreed to deliver up the place for 13,000 rupees and employment with the French army. Lally reached Arcot on the 4th of October, and, finding that capital of the Carnatic open to him, he entered with his accustomed pomp and parade, in the midsb of long salvos of artillery. But fresh disap- pointments awaited the gold-seeker : all the merchants and 56 SIEGE OF 3IADEAS. [1758. wealthier inhabitants had departed before his arrival, and even the poorer sort had concealed their money and most valuable effects. Distributing his troops into cantonments, Lally himself retiuned to Pondicherry, to blame everybody and everything, except his 0'v\^l foUy and presumption. On his first arrival in the country, he had made up his own mind to be sole ruler in India ; and as soon as he had re- duced Fort St. David, he recalled M. Bussy from the Deckan, speaking contemptuously of the character and ex- ploits of that truly remarkable man. When the colonels of several regiments men of rank and ancient lineage paid a high compliment to the hero of the Deckan, he grossly imputed it to the influence of M. Bussy' s money, instead of his reputation. Lally was a bold and loud talker ; he made no secret of his sentiments, and Bussy would have been no Frenchman if he had not resented vtith vivacity these various attacks on his fame. "With rancorous feelings on both sides, they were to proceed together to capture Madras, and to root out the English power on the Coromandel coast. By contributing 60,000 rupees of his own, and opening a sub- scription at Pondicherry, Lally raised 94,000 rupees ; and with this insignificant treasure, and an army of 2,700 Euro- peans and 4,000 natives, he made for Madras, where he arrived on the 12th of December, without money, without credit, and almost without food for the troops. Major Laurence, Olive's old superior, and Mr. Pigot, held command within the waUs of Madras, where the total of the force collected was 1,758 Europeans, 2,220 sepoys, and 200 of Mohammed All's cavalry, these last being scarcely worth their rations. On the 14th of December, the French took possession of the Black Town, which was open and de- fenceless ; and there the soldiers, breaking open some arrack stores, got drunk and mad, andcommitted great disorders. As their condition was reported in the fort, a sortie was resolved upon ; and 600 chosen men, under the command of Lieute- nant-Colonel Draper (afterwards Sir "WiHiam), and Major Brereton, with two field-pieces, rushed into the streets of the BlackToAvn. Unluckily, the drummers, who were allhttle black boys, struck up the Grrenadiers' March too soon, and this gave warning to the French,who, running to their arms, drew up at a point where the streets were very narrow, and crossed each other at riglit angles. Those who were drunk were joined by others who were sober, and soon they far exceeded in 1759.] FAILURE or M. LALLT. 57 number the English detachment. If Bussy, who was close at hand, had made one of the bold, dashing movements familiar to him, when acting on his own responsibility and for his own glory, the English, blocked up in the narrow streets, must either have surrendered, or have been destroyed. But Bussy remained motionless, and afterwards excused his conduct by saying that Lally, his superior, had sent him no orders to move. Our detachment retreated to the fort, leaving their two field-pieces behind them ; they had lost, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, about 200 men, and had inflicted about an equal injury on the foe. Six of their ofiicers were killed or mortally wounded, and among these, was Major Poller, who, unable to bear the reflections which had been cast upon him for his weak defence of Eort St. David, threw away his life here to prove that he was no coward. Count d'Estaing was taken prisoner at the begraning of the aflEray, and conveyed into the fort of Madras. Some money came from Erance, and by begging, borrow- ing (sword in hand), and extorting, Lally got a little more in the Black Town, and began to dig trenches and erect bat- teries. But all his warlike means were as deficient as those of tlfe English garrison were perfect ; and dissensions and ill-will against him increased among his officers. His con- dition was rendered quite desperate by the return of Admiral Pococke to the coast, and by the entrance into the harbour of two frigates and six of the Company's ships, having on board 600 king's troops, fresh from England. This was on the 16th of Eebruary (1759), when Lally had been two months and four days under the walls of Madras. His money and his provisions were alike exhausted ; he had thrown away his last bomb three weeks before, and he had blazed away nearly all his gunpowder. Cursing Admiral d'Ache for not having stayed to meet Pococke, and again blaming everybody but himself, he decamped as silently and expeditiously as he could ia the night of the 17th, with his army in a mutinous state, and his marauding hussars threatening to go over to the English. Nowhere could this violent man find a friend ; the natives removed or concealed their provisions ; and not unfrequently his troops had to feel the sharp execution of flying colmims of native horse, and the deadly animosity of the coolies and coUeries, and other wild people of the hills, who glided round his camp like ghosts, and stabbed in the dark. 58 CAPTUEE OF COXJETEEAM. [1759. On the 6tli of March, Major Laurence, with 1,156 Euro- peans, 1,570 sepoys, 1,120 coolies, 1,956 horse, and ten field- pieces, commenced his march upon Conjeveram, where Lally had concentrated his forces. For twenty-two days the French and English armies lay encamped in sight of each other. Then the English struck off for Wandewash, en- tered that town, and began to besiege the fort. The French hurried to defend the place, and the English, giving them the slip, hastened back and took the far more important fort of Conjeveram. On the 28th of May, both Laurence and Lally put their armies into cantonments for the rainy season.* * Orme, 'Military Transactions.' Schomberg, * Naval Chronology.' Sir John Malcolm, ' Life of Clive.' * Parliamentary Reports.' French, ' Memoires of M. Lally.' 1769.] OPEEATio:s's at sea. 59 CHAPTER VI. Admieal Pococke cruised between Bombay and Pondi- cberry to intercept a fresh squadron which Lally expected from the Mauritius. Towards the end of June, three of the Company's ships reached Madras with 100 recruits, and intelHgence that the enterprising Coote might be shortly expected on the coast with 1,000 of king's troops. The first division of these troops arrived at the end of July. On the 20th of August, looking into Trincomalee, in Ceylon, Pococke there discovered his old adversary, M. d'Ache, with eleven ships of the line and three frigates. The English squadron consisted of nine ships of the line, one frigate, two of the Company's ships, and a fire-ship; their entire number of guns being 174 less than that of the Erench. Owing to adverse currents and wind and weather, the English could not close upon the enemy till the 10th of September, when, after a sharp action of two horn's' duration, the careful Erenchman once more retired before the flag of Pococke. Having all his topmasts standing, D'Ache got safe to Pondicherry, which was his object, several days before Pococke could reach Negapatam. The arrival of the squadron saved the Erench council from absolute despair ; it brought to them only 180 soldiers, but it brought some money ; it poured iuto the empty coffers specie to the amount of 16,000 sterling, and a quantity of diamonds valued at 17,000,' which had been taken in an English East-Indiaman. But D'Ache had scarcely landed this treasure, when he again intimated that he must leave the coast and return to the Mauritius ; his orders being peremptory to take great care of his ships. No entreaties, no vehement protests, could shake his resolution. He was, however, induced to land and leave behmd him 400 Cafiiers, who had been serving in his fleet, and 500 Euro- peans, partly marines and partly sailors. 60 COLONEL rORDE's CONQUESTS. [1759. The Englisli army in tlie field, who had surprised and captured the fort of Covrepauk in July, were encouraged by the disorganized condition of Lally's forces to make an attempt upon Wandewash, and on the 26th of September they all marched from Conjeveram for that purpose, under the command of Colonel Brereton. Their assault was, however, repelled, with a loss of 200 men. But in other directions the Trench lost ground almost daily. They were in rags and half-starved. The English took advantage of the absence of that able and prevailing man, M, Bussy, to open negotiations with several native chiefs in the Deckan, and even with Salibufc Jung himself, who had owed the musnud to Bussy; and Clive, from Bengal, had detached Colonel Forde to the ISTorthem. Circars, those valuable provinces which had been ceded to M. Bussy. Forde, with 500 British troops, 2,100 native troops, and a respectable train of artillery, proceeded by sea to Vizagapatam. There he landed and joined the native army of Anunderauze, who had engaged to co- operate against the French, in the hope that the English would eventually make him sovereign of the Deckan. This rajah agreed to supply 56,000 rupees per month for the expenses of Forde's army. They then advanced to Peddapore, and there encountered M. Conflans, who had been left by Bussy in command of the French forces. In preparing for battle, Forde's first care was to get his precious allies, the troops of the rajah, out of the way, for he knew that they would not fight, and could produce only confasion. In' numbers, Conflans' s French troops were equal to Forde's English ones, and the defen- sive position they occupied was a good one : their artillery was abundant, and to oppose to the 2,100 English sepoys they had 6,000 sepoys of their own, and 500 native horse. But Conflans rashly quitted his strong ground, the French infan- try got into disorder in pursuing a portion of Forde's sepoys, and then the British troops, who had been concealed by a stand- ing crop of Indian corn, fell upon the French, routed them with a terrible loss, and took the best of their field-pieces. Further discouraged by the resolute behaviour of some of the English sepoys under Captain Knox, Conflans retreated to his camp ; but notwithstanding the advantages of the ground, and the fire of some heavy artillery which he had kept there, he was soon driven from the height by Colonel Forde. Some 1759.] TOTAL DEFEAT OE M. CONFLATES. 61 of the Prench threw down their arms and cried for quarter ; but the greater number made a sauve-qui-'peiit flight. The spoils of the field were considerable, including thirty pieces of cannon, fifty tumbrils, and other carriages, laden with ammunition, seven mortars with a large provision of shells, 1,000 draught bullocks, and all the tents of the French. M. Conflans galloped from the field on a good horse ; and it is said, that he never stopped until he reached, at night, the town of Eajahmundry, nearly forty miles from the field of battle. Unfortunately, the Eajah Anunderauze would no more pay than fight. Thus Forde, who had spent all the money he had brought with him, was reduced for se^^eral weeks to a stand-still ; the French, however, continued to give ground : Eajahmundry was abandoned, and Conflans sought refuge in Masulipatam, urging Salibut Jung to send him some assistance, and representing to that ruler that the English, if left unopposed, would assuredly make themselves masters of the whole of the Deckan. Salibut Jung pu.t an army in motion and collected other troops at Grolconda and Hyderabad. Obtaining at length some money from his rajah, and marching through Ellore, where several native chiefs joined him, Forde arrived, on the 6th of March, 1759, in front of Masulipatam, the strongest place the French held on that coast. The besieged were more numerous than the besiegers ; yet Colonel Forde, by making an impetuous assault on three points at the same moment, induced Con- flans to surrender ; and, after a siege of only twelve days, Masulipatam surrendered to the English. "Within a week after the surrender, two French ships, with a reinforcement of 300 men, appeared in the offing. They went back ; but the army of the subahdar, which had been marching to the relief of Conflans, halted where it was, and soon received in its camp the victorious English commander, not as a foe, but as a friend and ally. Salibut Jung readily entered into a new treaty, by which he ceded a considerable territory about Masulipatam to the English, bound himself not to permit for the future any French settlement in his dominions, and to oblige the French army of observation, collected at Eajahmundry, to evacuate the country and cross the Kistna within fiLfteen days ; the English, on their part, agreeing to support him against his enemies in general, and his rebellious brother, Nizam Ali, in particular. It was also 62 AIsNEXATIOKS OP TEREITORY. [1759. stipulated that tlie subalidar should never more have recourse to rreneb assistance, or call in any troops of that nation ; that Anunderauze should not be called to account for what- soever he had collected out of the governments of the Erench, nor for the tributes of his own country for the pre- sent year. In addition to Masulipatam, eight districts, as well as the jurisdiction over the territory of Nizampatam, with the districts of Codover and Wacahnannar, were granted to the English without the reserve of fine or miHtary service. The whole territory thus ceded extended eighty miles along the coast and twenty inland ; the revenue was estimated at 400,000 rupees a year. The subahdar next offered to Colonel Forde, for his own private account and profit, another considerable district, if he would march with him against his rebellious younger brother, Mzam Ali. But Eorde, at the same time, pressed the subahbar to join the English in an immediate expedition against the Erench, who were once more making head at Eajahmundry. Einding Eorde immovable, the subahdar sullenly quitted him, and marched away into the interior. As the English prepared to march by themselves, the Erench broke up from Eajahmundry, crossed the Kistna, and marched to the westward, the subahdar' s elder brother, Bassaulet Jung, having promised that he would take them into his pay in a short time. Colonel Eorde remained on the coast and assisted in re-establishing all the English fac- tories which had been swept away by M. Bussy.* * Schomberg, ' Nav. Cbron.' Or me, ' Mil. Trans.' Mill, 'British India.' Sir John MaJcoltn, ' Life of Lord Clive.' 1759.] MEEE JArriEE. 63 CHAPTER VIL 1^ Bengal, Meer Jaffier,A^ery soon required the armed assistance of those who had made him nabob. Many native chiefs rebelled against him, and far and near he was sur- rounded by enemies, all eager for his throne, or for a slice out of his rich territories. Mohammed Kooly Khan, the lord of Allahabad, the r^'ahs Sunder Sing and Bulwunt Sing, and, most powerful of all, his neighbour Sujah Dowlah, the nabob of Oude, were united, as far as such beings could unite in one- object, against Meer Jafiier, and their cause received the high sanction of the name, and afterwards the assistance, of the Mogul of Delhi's elder son, the Shah Zada, who had established himself in Eohilcund, and had, at the time, a considerable army of Eohillas, half-soldiers and half- robbers by profession, but a hardier and braver race than any in the lower parts of Hindustan. In a short time the Shah 2iada ^descended from Eohilcund with an army of 40,000 men, Eohillas, Mahrattas, Jauts, and Afghans, and other forces were expected to join him on his advance. Meer Jaffier showered letters and messages upon Clive, and constantly besieged with entreaties and prayers the new English resident atMoorshedabad Me. Waeken Hastings. This gentleman, who was rapidly rising in reputation, had a near view of the imbecility and confusion of the nabob's court and government, and of the intrigues, plots, and vices of the nabob's son, Meeran, and he wrote nearly every day to his patron, Clive, that all classes confided in him, and him alone ; that without his intervention the whole fabric of government would fall to pieces by intestine broils, and Orissa and Bahar be severed from Bengal even before the arrival of the invaders from Eohilcund. Weakened by the force detached under Colonel Forde, and by other troops sent to Madras, Clive, at this moment, could 64 THE SlIAH ZADA. [1759. only count in Bengal about 300 British infantry, 100 artil- lery, and 2,500 disciplined sej)oys ; yet with this force he not only resolved to meet the confederacy which threatened Meer Jaffier, but he also sent orders to Forde to continue his conquests, and then to proceed, not to Bengal, to join and assist him, but to Madras, there to finish the Indian adven- tures of Count Lally. On the 12th of February he wrote to Eamnarrain, the Hindu governor of Patna, whose fidelity to the nabob was much doubted : " I have this day pitched my tent, and, with the blessing of Grod, I will come to your assistance, if it be necessary." But the strangest part of the very active correspondence carried on at this juncture was a letter addressed by the Mogul's son, the Shah Zada, in imperial and oriental style, to " The Most High and Mighty Protector of the Grreat," i, e. Clive. " In this happy time," said the epistle, " with a view of making the tour of Patna and Bengal, I have erected my standard of glory at this place. It is my pure intention to bestow favour upon you, the high and mighty, and all faithful servants, agreeable to their conduct. This world is like a garden of flowers interspersed with weeds and thorns ; I shall therefore root out the bad, that the faithful and good ryots (God willing) may rest in peace and quietness. Know you, who are great, that it is proper you should pay a due obedience to this my firman, and make it your business to pay your respects to me like a faithful servant, which will be great and happy for you. It is proper you should be earnest in doing this, when, by the blessing of God, you stand high in my favour. Know this must be done." Clive wrote an answer to the prince in respectful terms, expressing a still higher reverence for his father, the Great Mogul, who had neither ordered the expe- dition of his son nor had had power to prevent it, being, in fact, little more than a state prisoner in the hands of his minis- ters and nobles. "I have had the honour," said Clive, "to receive your highness's firman. It gives me great concern to find that this country must become a scene of troubles. I beg leave to inform you that I have been favoured with a sunnud (patent) from the emperor, appointing me to a munsubdar of the rank of 6,000 foot and 5,000 horse, which constitutes me a servant of his ; and as I have not received any orders, either from the emperor or vizier, acquainting me of your coming down here, I cannot pay that due regard to your highness's orders, which I should other- 1759.] CLIVE AT PAT2fA. 65 wise wish to do. I must furtlier beg leave to inform you, tliat I am under the strictest engagements with the present subahdar of these provinces to assist him at all times, and it is not the custom of the English nation to be guilty of insincerity." The Shah Zada's ministers sent to offer him provinces upon provinces if he would only make common cause Vidth their master ; but Clive, unmoved, continued his preparations, and on the 25th Pebruary he began his march upon Moorshedabad. In a few days he arrived at that capi- tal, where, to prove that there was no interruption to their friendship, he rode abroad on the same elephant with the nabob. On the 13th of March he left Moorshedabad to advance upon Patna, taking Meeran, the nabob's son, with him, and writing to the secret committee that he would soon give a good accoiuit of the Shah Zada, although his army was estimated to be 50,000 strong. Encouraged by the rapid advance of the English, the Ilindii governor of Patna, instead of opening his gates to the enemy (which he had almost determined to do), proved true and steady to the nabob ; and the next news Clive received of him was that he had repelled two assaults made upon the place. Yet, not placing much confidence in Hindu valour, Clive hurried forward a detachment of his sepoys, under the command of Ensign Mathews, to assist in the defence of the capital of Bahar. But the dread of Clive' s name alone was sufficient to disperse the invading army, and on the 5th of April, the day before Mathews could reach Patna, the Shah Zada, though he had possessed himself of some of the bas- tions, raised the siege and retreated in the greatest disorder. M. Law, with his small party of Prench, joined the prince on the day when this retreat began, but could not prevail upon him to halt and make another attack. Tlie " Daring in War," the " Protector of the Great,'* entered Patna without any parade of triumph, but there were few that saw him but felt that he was in reality the lord and master of all that part of India. Meanwhile the Shah Zada had crossed the river Caramnassa into Oude. The ruler of Oude, who had prepared to join him in the event of his success, now declared himself the enemy of the fugitive prince, who, daily deserted by the troops and abandoned by his friends, knew not whom to trust or whither to fly. Knowing that Clive had more generosity as well as more power than any one else, he sent him many F G(j MEEE JAFFIEE. [1759. letters and messages, imploring to be taken into his protec- tion. Clive sent him about 1,000 sterling to enable him to escape to some safer country. " I have received repeated orders from the vizier, and even from your father the em- peror," wrote Clive, "not only to oppose your highness, but even to lay hold of your person. Were I to assist your highness in any respect, it would be attended with the ruin of this country. It is better that one should suffer, however great, than that so many thousands should be rendered unhapp}'. I am now on my march to the Caramnassa, and earnestly recommend you to withdraw before I arrive." The Shah Zada took this hint, continued his flight, and was reported to be going to take refuge in the Grazipore country. Clive then directed his arms against some Eajpoot and hill chiefs of Bahar, who liad invited and assisted the Shah Zada, and, having reduced them to submission rather by policy than by fighting, having tranquilHzed the whole country with almost magical rapidity, he returned quietly to Calcutta. The vizier, who ruled instead of that poor phantom the G-reat Mogul, as one mark of favour and gratitude, informed Clive that the English might establish a factory at Delhi, the royal city, and he assured the "Daring in War" that the Mogul would heap the highest favours upon him, and that his honours shoidd be increased. The nabob, Meer Jaffier, who owed everything to Clive, gave more substantial personal proofs of his gratitude, conferring on him for life, as a jagheer, or estate, the quit-rent which the Company was bound to pay to the nabob for the extensive lands held by them to the south of Calcutta, which quit-rent was worth thirty lacs of rupees, or about 30,000 sterling per annum. Mr. Warren Hastings had the satisfaction of drawing up, at the nabob's request, the letter to be written to the council at Calcutta, to acquaint them with this splendid donation to his liberal patron. But never was the gratitude of an Indian prince enduring or steady. Meer Jaffier felt, ^ith bitterness of soul, that the power and consideration of the Englishman were far greater than his own, and that he who had put him on a throne and defended him upon it, could at any time overthrow him, or abandon him to the tender mercies of his many enemies. He looked round for some other support, and for some alliance, with strength enough to curb the potency of Clive, and impose obedience on his own discontented chiefs. 1759.] IXTEIGUES WITH THE DUTCH. 67 No native prince could furnish a force that would look the little English army in the face. The French power was utterly annihilated in Bengal, was broken by Forde in the Circars and the Deckan, and was fast breaking in the Car- natic, through the folly or madness of Lally. The old might of the Portuguese was now only a tradition ; and the Dutch, though strong in the islands of the Indian Ocean, were scarcely more powerful than the Portuguese on the Indian continent. Yet, in his impatience of the English supre- macy, and in his total ignorance of the decline of the Dutch government in Europe, Meer Jaifier looked to this people for assistance ; and although they had been slow and reluctant in acknowledging his authority, and had frequently insulted him since the conqueror of Plassey had placed him on the musnud, he opened secret negotiations with the Dutch factory at Chinsura, which had witnessed, with jealousy and dread, the British conquest at Chandernagore. The two places were only two miles distant from each other. The near sight of the English flag was too much even for Dutch phlegm. The factory wrote the most urgent letters to the governor of Batavia, exhorting him to fit out an expedition for the Hooghly.* There was at the moment no war, in Europe, between Holland and England ; but this was a con- sideration which seldom had much weight with the various European governors and factors settled in India. The * Clive's own account is this: " About the month of November, 1758, a prevailing party at the Nabob Jaffier Ali Khan's durbar [court], headed by Meeran, his son, had prejudiced him to look with an evil and jealous eye on the power and influence of the English in the provinces, and taught him to think and look upon himself as a cipher, bearing the name of Subah only. From subsequent concurring circumstances, it must have been at that period, and from this cause, that we imagine a private negotiation was set on foot between the nabob and the Dutch, that the latter should bring a military force into the provinces to join the former, and balance our power and sway. The Dutch, stimulated by envy at our very advantageous situation, and a sense of their own very small importance, readily embraced the overture, and hoped another Plassey affair to themselves." MS., entitled, " A narrative of the Dis- putes with the Dutch in Bengal," found by Sir John Malcolm among Clive's papers. The nabob had entered into these intrigues with the Dutch before the invasion of the Shah Zada ; and after Clive's conduct at that crisis he would willingly have broken them off. But when he saw the Dutch arrive in the Hooghly in such great force, he fancied that they must triumph over the English, and that in assisting them he should be pur- suing the wise policy of siding with the strongest. F 2 68 THE DUTCH ARMAMEXT. [1759. Diitcli authorities in Batavia were as eager to send an ex- pedition, as was the factory at Chinsura to request it, and in a sliort time, intelligence was received in Calcutta, that a strong armament was coming. Quick and sagacious as they were, both Clive and "Warren Hastings were for a time deceived by the cunning Meer Jaffier, who pretended that the Dutch were in league with the powerful ruler of Oude, and that lie and his court at Moorshedabad Avere in an agony of alarm. Early in the month of August, a Dutch ship arrived in the Hooghly with European troops on board. The factory at Chinsura gravely protested that this ship had been driven in by stress of weather, and that she and the troops on board would depart in peace as soon as they had obtained water and provisions. The vessel, however, continued to lie where she was, and attempts were made to send soldiers from her up to Chin- sura, by concealing them in the bottom of native boats. Clive issued his mandate, that every Dutch or native boat should be stopped and searched. The gentlemen at Chinsura protested against such proceedings on the part of a friendly power ; but Clive continued to stop their soldiers and send them back to their ship, telling the gentlemen of their fac- tory, that he was in Bengal in a double capacity ; that as an English officer, while England was at war witli Erance, he was justified by the laws of nations, in searching all vessels whatever, not knowing but that they might introduce French troops into the country ; and that, as an auxiliary to the Great Mogul, he was under the necessity, by solemn treaty, to oppose the introduction of any European or foreign troops whatsoever into Bengal. The Dutch, in their own way, quoted the laws of nations on their own side, and kept pressing their warlike preparations all the time. Early in October, Meer Jaffier arrived in person at Cal- cutta, as if merely intending to pay a visit of honour. A day or two after, advices came from below of the arrival of six more Dutch ships of a large size, and crammed with troops, partly Europeans, and partly Malays from Batavia and other Dutch settlements in the islands. " Now," says Clive, " the Dutch mask fell off, and the nabob (conscious of his having given his assent to their coming) was greatly confused and disconcerted. He, however, seemed to make light of it ; told the governor he was going to reside three or four days at his fort of Hooghly, where he would chas- 1759.] clive's decision-. 69 tise the insolence of the Dutch, and drive them soon out of the river again. On the 19th of October, he left Calcutta ; and, in place of his going to his fort at Hooghly, he took up his residence at Cojah Wazeed's garden, about half-way between that and Chinsura ; a plain indication that he had no apprehensions from the Dutch, whom he received there in the most gracious manner he could, more like friends and allies than as enemies to him and his country." In three or four days the nabob, by letter, informed Clive that he had thought proper to grant some indulgence to the Dutch in their trade, and that the Dutch, on their part, had engaged to leave the river with their ships and troops, so soon as the season would permit. This reference to the season was unfortunate, inasmuch as, at the time of his writing, the season was propitious to their departure. From the tenor of the letter, and the whole course of the nabob's conduct, Clive was sure that the Dutch had no in- tention to quit the river, and that Meer Jafiier had given his permission to them to bring up their troops if they could. This the " Daringin War" was determined they should not do ; and the council at Calcutta heartily seconded him. In a very few days the Dutch armament was actually moving up the river towards Calcutta, and intelligence was received that Dutch agents were enlisting troops at Chinsura, Cos- simbuzar, and even as far up the country as Patna ; and this evidently with the connivance of Meer Jaffier, and the more open assistance of his son Meeran. Clive's force, in Euro- peans, was, at the moment, inferior to that of the Dutch on board the seven ships, without counting those in garrison at Chinsura; for the force from Batavia consisted of 700 Europeans and 800 Malays. There was no time to be lost this was no season for indulging in subtleties, or for turn- ing over the pages of Grrotius and Puffendorf and Clive resolved to proceed at once against the Dutch. At the moment of crisis, some of the members of the council at Calcutta demurred. Clive said that " a public man must sometimes be called upon to act with a halter round his neck." His private interest must have been in conflict with his public duty, for he had recently remitted a great part of his fortune to Europe, through the Dutch East-India Company, who might have kept the money in the banks of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, both in revenge and in compensation of damages. 70 MOYEMEXTS ON THE HOOGnLY. [1759. It was not knoAiiii ^Ylletller the Dutch would ascend the river and pass the English batteries with their troops on board, or whether they would land the troops below the bat- teries and march them thence by land ; but Clive made the necessary dispositions against both these plans of operation, as far as comported with the smallness of his disposable force, which consisted only of about 320 English, 1,200 sepoys, and three of the Company's ships. Just at this juncture, brave Colonel Eorde returned to Calcutta, having quitted his separate command on account of ill-health, and iQl-humour against the Court of Directors ; but at the invi- tation of his friend and patron Clive, he readily consented to take the command of part of the forces. On the 19th of November, Eorde moved from Calcutta, took the Dutch settlement at Bamagore, crossed the river Hooghly the next day with his scanty troops and four pieces of artillery, and marched upon Chandernagore, to strike terror into the factory at Chinsura, and to be ready to inter- cept the Dutch troops in case they should land. The rest of the troops, with many volunteers draughted from the Mauritius, and part of an independent company, mounted as cavahy, Clive sent down to the forts on the river, under the command of Captain Knox. Mr. Holwell, who had survived the Black Hole and the subsequent barbarities of Suraj-u-Dowlah, took charge of Eort William with the militia, Avho counted about 250 Eng- lish, and a few Portuguese. Clive remained at Calcutta, but went and came, dividing his attention between the two divisions of his army under Eorde and Knox. The three English East-Indiamen, which had arrived after the Dutch, were lying in the lower part of the river, between that squadron and the sea ; but as the Dutch ships began to ascend the river, these Indiamen were ordered to pass them (if they could), and station themselves above the English batteries, at Charnoc and Tanna, where Clive prepared fire- boats to assist. Our Indiamen did not pass the Dutch, who, on the 23rd of November, landed on the Chinsura side of the river their 1,500 men ; and then dropped down with their ships to a place called " Melancholy Point,"* where the three English vessels lay ready for action. The moment the Dutch troops were landed, Clive sent Captain Knox across the river to reinforce Colonel Eorde, and ordered Commodore AVilson to demand immediate res- 1759.] DETEAT OF THE DUTCH. 71 titution of some vessels, property and subjects, that had been seized, and, on their refusal, to fight, sink, burn, and destroy the Dutch squadron. The very next day the de- mand Vas made and refused. The Dutch had seven ships, four of them being called "capital ships ;" the English had but three, and these appear to have derived no assistance either from the land batteries, which were too far off, or from the fire-boats, which were manned by natives. Nevertheless, Commodore "Wilson, who began the attack, ended it with the total defeat of the enemy. The Dutch commodore struck, and the rest followed the example, all except his second, who cut and ran down the river as far as Culpee, where he was stopped short, intercepted, and captured by the Orford and Royal George, which had just arrived from England, and were ascending the Hooghly. Alarmed by the loss of their squadron, and apparently stupified, the Dutch and their Malays halted and wavered on their march to Ghinsura, and on the 25th, the day after the river-fight, they blundered upon a position, from which retreat was difiicult, and a further advance impracticable. Forde, with the quick eye of a soldier, saw their blunder ; but there came over him a doubt and a misgiving ; and hesitating to attack the troops of a European nation not in a state of declared M^ar with England, he sent a messenger and a note to Clive, saying, " that if he had the order of council, he could attack the Dutch, with a fair prospect of destroying them." Clive, who was playing a quiet game at cards when the note reached him, took out his pencil, and without quitting the card-table, wrote on the back of the note, " Dear Eorde, Eight them immediately. I will send you the order of council to-morrow." Accordingly, Eorde fought the Dutch : and the engagement was short, bloody, and decisive. The fugitives left on the field 120 Europeans and 200 Malays in killed, and 150 in wounded ; about 350 Dutch and 200 Malays were taken prisoners. From the field of his easy victory Eorde marched to Chin- sura, only four miles off*. The Dutch factory implored for a cessation of hostilities, entirely disavowing the proceedings of their squadron, humbly acknowledging themselves to be the aggressors, and agreeing to pay costs and damages. Upon these conditions, an amicable arrangement was set- tled, and their captured ships were all restored to them. Three days after this land-battle of Bedarra, the nabob's son, 72 CLIVE EETUENS TO ENGLAND. [1760. INIeeran, whom Clive seldom names without the affix of " scoundrel," encamped within two miles of Chinsura, with G,000 or 7,000 horse. If the Dutch had proved victorious, he would have joined them in plundering and destroying the English ; but now that the English had triumphed, he hoped to be allowed to share with them in the spoils of the Dutch. The Dutch factory was again in an agony of alarm, and applied to the English governor for protection. Clive, losing no time, crossed the river and sent Meeran packing in the direction of Moorshedabad. The few remaining months of Olive's present stay in In- dia were devoted to various arrangements and wise precau- tions for securing the tranquillity of the country. Having called that most able officer Major Calliaud from the Car- natic to Bengal, Clive sailed from India on the 25th day of Eebruary, 1760.* * Sir John Malcolm, ' Life of Clive.' Orme. 1759.] BATTLE OF WATfDEWASH. 73 CHAPTER VIII. Cliye had left brave and experienced men, trained by himself, and inspired by his own daring genius. Foremost among these was Colonel Coote. While the French army lay in cantonments in the coun- try round about Wandewash, and while Lally and Bussy were engaged in violent quarrels, Coote, on the 21st of November, 1759, proceeded with some British reinforce- ments to Conjeveram, where the rest of our army of the Carnatic was stationed. He then suddenly fell upon the fort of Wandewash, carried it by storm on the 29th, marched to Carongoly, and took that place also from the French by the 10th of December. Having obtained the services of some Mahratta horse, Lally surprised and took Conje- veram, but he was disappointed in his expectation of finding there magazines and provisions for his haLf-famished people. He next attempted to recover the fortress of Wandewash, where the breaches they had made w^ere still open, and where the English had hardly any artillery. But while he or his engineer officers were formalizing as to the proper construction of the battery of assault, Coote reached the spot and compelled the French to retire. Lally' s pride, however, forbade his retreating far, and he drew up in order of battle at a short distance from the walls of AVandewash. He had with him 2,250 Europeans and 1,300 sepoys ; but as his Mahratta allies, they kept aloof. Coote had only 1,900 for Europeans, but he had 2,100 sepoys, 1,250 black cavalry, and twenty-six field-pieces. The black cavalry, however, did no more for him than Lally' s Mahrattas did for the French, as they kept out of the reach of shot. Lally, however, had about 300 European cavalry, while Coote had none. But a,t the very commencement of the battle, the French horse, which LaUy conducted in person, were thrown into dis- order by a few cannon-balls. Lally hastened to the in- 74 coote's conquests [1760. fantry, and led them on with great gallantry, for, how- ever deficient in cool judgment, he had courage in abun- dance. His regiment of Lorraine, which charged in column, broke through the battalion opposed to it; but that battalion wrapped round the flanks of the bold Lor- rainers, and almost destroyed their mass by a few dis- charges. In a short time the French were more thoroughly defeated than ever they had been up to this period. Bussy, who gallantly put himself at the head of a battalion to try a bayonet-charge, was abandoned by his men and taken prisoner. Lally escaped, protected by some of his French cavalry. He had lost in this battle of Wandewash more than 600 men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, twenty-four pieces of cannon, eleven tumbrils of ammunition, with tents, stores, and baggage. He collected his shattered army at Chittapet, but he could make no stand there, and, without reinforcing the garrison in the place, he retreated to the strong hill-fortress of Gingee. Instead of following him, Coote resolved to strike across the country and recover Arcot ; and the very day after the battle of Wandewash, which was fought on the 22nd of December, he hurried forward a detachment in that direction. On the 1st of February, 1760, Coote himself arrived before Arcot, and on the 5th he began a cannonade. On the 6th, he commenced making approaches, and by the morning of the 9th the sap was carried to the foot of the glacis, and by the hour of noon on the same day, two small breaches were made. Not three men in the garrison had been killed, the breaches were impracticable, and yet a flag of truce was held out, and Arcot was surrendered. Lally found it impossible to remain on the barren hill of Gingee, and he retreated with what remained of his army, to the vicinity of Pondicherry. In that city he renewed his quarrels with the council and all the French authorities, blaming them for the destitute state of his troops, and calling them embezzlers and peculators ; and they, retort- ing, accused him of folly, imbecility, treachery, and even cowardice. During these disgraceful scenes, the French flag was struck down from nearly every place Avhere it had yet floated ; Timery surrendered, Devi Cottah was evacuated, Trinomalee surrendered, Permacoil and Alamparva were taken by storm, and the whole country between Alampaiwa and Pondicherry was laid waste by fire and sword. Carical, 1760.] TS THE CAENATIC. 75 the most important place on the coast next to Pondicherry, was soon invested by an armament sent from Madras, and by a detachment which descended from Trichinopoly ; the garrison made a miserable defence, and surrendered on the 6th of April, before a relief despatched by Lally could reach. The fall of Vellore, Chillambaram, and Cuddalore followed in rapid succession. By the 1st of May, the English, who had been considerably reinforced, encamped within four miles of Pondicherry ; and the French, who had received no succour from their mother-country, were cooped up in that strong town. Our fleet, now under Admirals Cornish and Stevens, had also been strengthened, and was collected on the Coromandel coast. In his extremity Lally turned his eyes towards the country of Mysore, where Hyder Ali, who was soon to fill a wider scene, had established his authority by force of arms, intrigue, and treachery. A bargain was concluded, Hyder Ali agreeing to send droves of bullocks to feed thePrench, and troops to fight for them. A detach- ment sent by Coote to stop the march of Hyder' s people was too weak for the purpose, and sustained a reverse ; but when the Mysoreans obtained a nearer view of the English army, and a correcter notion of the condition of the Prench, they broke their compact and marched back to their own country, troops and bullocks. Some companies of the royal artillery had arrived before, and about the time of the My- sorean advance, a further reinforcement of 600 men landed on the coast. Tliose and more forces continued to pour in to Coote, and still not a ship, not a man, not a barrel of beef or biscuit, arrived to sustain the Prench. On the night of the 4th of September, Lally made a sortie, in the hope of surprising the English camp ; but his troops no longer acted with concert or spirit ; one of his columns of attack lagged behind, and the whole project failed. Unfor- tunately, the Court of Directors had sent out by the last ships from England their orders that Colonel Coote should return to Bengal, and that Major Monson, the officer next under him, should take the command on the Coromandel coast. Although on the very point of completing his bril- liant campaign by the reduction of the Prench capital in India, Coote, without murmur, submitted to the instruc- tions of his employers. He even consented that his own British regiment one of the best in the country should remain at the siege of Pondicherry to gain laiu-els for 76 THE END OP M. LALLT. [1761. another. But the chances of war overset or postponed the execution of the Directors' orders : Major Monson was dan- gerously wounded in making an attack, and, being for the time incapable of duty, joined the council in entreating Colonel Coote, who had not yet sailed for Bengal, to resume the command. Coote stayed where he w^as ; and the siege of Pondicherry, after the cessation of the rains, at the end of JSTovember, was pressed with vigour. Having consumed such provisions as (by some inexplicable means) he had pro- cured, nothing was left to the fiery, proud man, who had arrived in India, with the confident hope of extirpating the English, but to yield ; and, on the 4th of January, a com- missioner from Lally, and a deputation from the council of Pondicherry, repaired to the English camp, and made an unconditional surrender to Colonel Coote. By order of the council of Madras (who acted in conformity with orders received from the Court of Directors), immediate prepara- tions were made for levelling the town and fortifications of Pondicherry with the ground. The white flag of the Bourbons still floated over the hill- forts of Thiagur and Gringee ; but the garrisons, isolated and without any hope of relief, surrendered ; and by the beginning of April, the Erench had not so much as a single military post in all India. M. Bussy, taken prisoner at the battle of "Wandewash, had been instantly liberated upon parole by Coote, who respected his abilities as a soldier and his character as a man ; and when this hero of the Golconda returned to Erance, he was received, at least by the public, with the honours due to a brave, adventurous, and able commander. He had remitted, from the Deckan and the Circars, a very considerable fortune ; and shortly after his return to Erance, he married a niece of the minister, the Due de Choiseul, which gained him the support of government, and raised him in favour at court. "With Lally it fared otherwise : he was regarded with aversion and contempt by his conquerors, he left Pondicherry reproached and insulted by his own coun- trymen, and upon his arrival in Erance, he was hooted by the people and thrown into the Bastille by the government. Erom the Bastille he was afterwards removed to a common gaol. The Erench ministers of the day being borne down by a long succession of failures and defeats, were glad to avert the popular indignation from themselves. Therefore, 1761.] HONOUES COKFERRED OK" CLITE. 77 tliey made a scape-goat of the Hiberno-Prenchman. Their East-India Company concurred ^A-ith them, as did the party or friends of the members of the Pondicherry council. The unhappy man was brought to a public trial and to a public execution. He was dragged through the streets of Paris in a dung -cart to the Place de Grreve, and was there beheaded. In the mean while, Clive had been received with all honours in England, .and had been raised to the Irish peerage by the title of Baron Clive, of Plassey. But great changes took place in the Englisli government, owing to the death of Greorge II., the accession of Greorge III., and the formation of the cabinet of Lord Bute, to replace that of Clive' s friend and patron, Chatham. A peace with Prance was determined upon ; and in the preliminary negotiations, Clive had the mortification to find that he was not consulted by the new ministry as to Indian aftairs. Grreatly was he irritated at seeing the treaty of peace restore Pondicherry and other places to the Prench ; and he predicted that such measures would be productive of another hard struggle in India when- ever war broke out again between England and Prance. Unable to gain Clive, the Bute administration leagued themselves with some directors of the East-India Company, who hated the hero of Plassey, and opened legal proceedings to deprive him of his wealth. But while " The Daring in "War " was thus being involved in the mazes of the law, and the Company were battling with the man who had re-established their declining power in India, and gained for them provinces equal to kingdoms, news arrived in England that the garrison and all the Eng- lish residents at Patna had been massacred ; that revolutions, undertaken and made by the council at Calcutta, had proved wretched failures ; and that everything in Bengal was falling' into confusion and ruin. This being ofiicially announced, it was instantly felt, even by the most violent of his enemies, that Clive alone could remedy these evils ; and overtures were made to him for his instant return to India.* * Orme, ' Military Transactions.' Major M. Wilks, ' Historical Sketches of the South of India; an Attempt to trace the History of Mysore,' &c. French Account of the Trial of M. Lally. Sir John Malcolm, ' Life of Lord Clive.' 78 EETURIf OF LORD CLIVE. [1765. CHAPTER IX. Sailing for the third and last time for India, Clive reached Calcutta on the 3rd of May, 1765, and there found all things in confusion and disorganization. He told the council that he had come out to ejSect a thorough reform in their selfish bad conduct, the source of most of the mischief which had hap- pened ; that it was his resolution to effect a thorough reform, and for that end, to make use of the whole of the ample authority, civil and military, which had been intrusted to him. During Clive' s five years' absence from India, the gentle- men of the council and the governor, Mr. Vansittart, had proceeded without any fixed plan, without consistency, and without courage. They had mixed with some native revolu- tions without any political aim, and they had interfered with others without generosity, and Avithout justice. They had sunk and were fast sinking the moral influence of England. At the period when CHve had taken his departure from the country, in Eebruary, 1760, it was rumoured that the Shah Zada had collected another army, and was again ad- vancing upon Patna and Moorshedabad. The vizier and master at Delhi, against whom the Shah Zada pretended in the first instance to have taken up arms, murdered the im- becile G-reat Mogul in a fit of desperation. After this event, the Shah Zada took the state and title of emperor, and con- ferred the ofiice of vizier upon Sujah Dowlah, the powerful ruler of Oude, who had shown no great devotion to his per- son or fortunes the year before, when the prince was flying before Clive. Shah Alum "King of the World," was the name which the new impotent Mogul chose for himself. With the assistance of the nabob of Oude, he collected a numerous army, advanced to Patna, and defeated the go- vernor, Eamnarrain, who had been left by the Calcutta government with only seventy Europeans and one weak 1760-5.] KETEOSPECT. 79 battalion of Englisli sepoys. But Colonel Calliaud coming up with 300 English, 1,000 sepoys, and a native force, com- manded by Meeran, the son of Meer Jaffier, completely- routed Shah Alum, and compelled him once more to retire from before Patna. As, however, Meeran would not pursue with his cavalry, and as a strong body of Mahratta horse joined the other side, the young Mogul, instead of retiring towards Benares, took the route of Moorshedabad, being also joined, at this time, by the erratic M. Law, and his small body of French.* But, being followed up by our sepoys. Shah Alum set fire to his camp and fled towards Oude. Yet, encouraged by the jimction of the naib of Purneah, who, after many intrigues threw off the mask, and repaired to the imperial standard with a considerable force, Shah Alum, doubling upon those who were pursuing him, got back to Patna, which had been left almost void of troops. Mr. PuUerton, a Scotch surgeon, was the chief manager of the defence, and M. Law of the attack. Two assaults were gallantly repulsed by the English factory; but at length, the weak rampart was scaled by the Erench, and hope was nearly abandoned by the bold little garrison, when Captain Knox, who had rapidly marched from Moorshedabad, in the hottest season of the Bengal year, broke through the camp of the besiegers, and drove them from their works. A few days after, Knox, with 200 English, one battalion of sepoys, five field-pieces, and about 300 native horse, crossed the river opposite to Patna, and completely defeated the naib of Purneah with his 12,000 men. The naib was hotly pursued by Colonel CalHaud and Meeran. But on the 2nd of July, the fourth day of the chase, a tremendous storm necessitated a halt, and on that night, the tent of Meeran was struck with lightning, which killed him and some of his attendants. After this evil omen, Meeran' s troops became unmanageable, and Calliaud was obliged to retrace his steps to Patna. He quartered his troops in and round that important place. But Meeran' s people went to Moorshe- dabad, where they threatened the life of their ruler Meer Jaffier, in order to obtain payment of arrears. Other bodies * This will-o'-tbe-whisp, M. Law, is said to have been a son or nephew of the celebrated Scotch financier Law, who had driven all France mad with the famous Mississippi scheme, the parent of the South Sea scheme, which had produced an equal madness in England. He had previously been serving in the Carnaiic against Clive and Laurence. 80 EEVOLUTION AT MOORSIIEDABAD. [1760. of discontented men took up arms against the old nabob, whose coffers were quite empty. The weak old man's mis- fortunes seemed to be completed bv the predatory incursions of hordes of Mahrattas. On the other hand, Mr. Yansittart, the new governor at Calcutta, found his treasury empty, and the English troops and sepoys almost mutinous through want of pay. He was induced to acquiesce in a scheme for overthrowing Meer Jaffier and setting up a new nabob. On the 27th of Sep- tember, 1760, a treaty was concluded with Meer Cossim Ali, son-in-law to Meer Jaffier, and general of his army, engag- ing that he should be invested as nabob of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, upon condition of his making over to the Com- pany the fruitful provmces of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong. Grovernor Yansittart went in person to Moorshedabad, with a strong armed force, to jpersuade Meer Jaffier to re- sign his power into the hands of his son-in-law. The old nabob hesitated, but his palace was surrounded by our troops^ his own army declared against him, and thereupon he sent out the seals to Meer Cossim, and offered to resign if the English would only be security for his life. The old man, with his women and children, was conveyed to Calcutta, the only place where he could be safe ; and his son-in-law, Meer Cossim Ali, was proclaimed nabob. Having procured some money, the new ruler paj'-ed the arrears due to the English troops at Patna, and sent six or seven lacs of rupees to the treasury at Calcutta. In the month of January, 1761, Major Carnac, who had succeeded Colonel Calliau'd, advanced from Patna against the emperor Shah Alum, who was once more making head in the province of Bahar. Carnac gained an easy and complete victory over the Mogul. In this affair, M. Law, who had been so long flitting from place to place, so often heard of, yet never seen, seated himself cross-legged on one of his guns, and, in that curious attitude, surrendered to Major Carnac and Captain Knox. Shah Alum now retired towards Delhi, whence he soon sent Meer Cossim Ali his investiture as subahdar of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, Meer Cossim agreeing, in consideration of this recognition, to pay him an annual tribute of twenty-four lacs of rupees. Meer Cossim was incessantly called upon by Mr. Yansit- tart and the Calcutta council for more and more money ; 1763.] MEEE COSSIM. 81 but lie had given to tlie governor and council, for his ele- vation to the musnud, upwards of 200,000/.; in ceding to the Company Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong, he liad given away a third-part of his revenues ; and from these and other reasons, he Avas poorer than his predecessor, Meer Jaffier. To the disgrace of Mr. Vansittart and the majority of the council, Meer Cossim was allowed to fall upon the Hindu governor of Patna, Eamnarrain, who was reputed to be wealthy. Ramnarrain was thrown into prison, his house was broken open and plundered, his friends and ser- vants were tortured in order to make them confess where lay his hidden treasures for the money really found was of small amount. The disappointed tyrant, fearing the indig- nation of the English, did not put his prisoner to death immediately ; but two years later, when he had drawn the sword against those who had made him nabob, he murdered in cold blood Eamnarrain, together with several other chiefs, some Mussulmans and some Hindus. The immediate consequence of this base abandonment of Eamnarrain was the cessation of all friendly correspondence between the English and the native nobility. Thinking it wiser to conciliate the new nabob than trust to the Company, these chiefs made offers of their money and their services ; and ]Meer Cossim flattered himself that he might soon be strong enough to defy the English authority. Quarrels broke out about duties upon merchandise, and the nabob's right of searching English boats, and of examining English bales. The vacillation and infirmity of purpose displayed by Mr, A^ansittart and his council led the nabob to despise what he and all Bengal had so long feared. He seized two of the Company's boats that were proceeding to Patna with arms, and made preparations for getting Patna into his own hands, and destroying the English detachment there stationed. Ap- prised of this latter intention, the majority of the council, against the advice of Warren Hastings and others, resolved to anticipate the nabob's design, and sent orders to Mr. Ellis, the chief at Patna, to seize upon the citadel. Ellis, a violent man, no sooner got the orders than he acted upon them, by surprising and taking the citadel of Patna by night, on the 24th of June, 1763. Meer Cossim's rage was hke that of the tiger. Exclaiming against the treachery of the Company, he murdered Mr. Amyatt, who had formerly been chief at Patna ; he murdered two Hindu bankers, supposed 82 SFMEOO, OR SOMBEE. [1763. to be attaclied to the Englisli interests ; threw forward a great army to Patna, drove the English from the town to their factory outside of it, and from their factory to their boats. These English troops, who had behaved disgracefully, fled up the Granges to Chuprah, where they were surrounded, deprived of provisions, and reduced to lay do'vvn their arms. They were sent prisoners to Monghir, where they found for companions in misery their countrymen from Cossimbuzar, that factory having been attacked and plundered by the nabob. The astounded governor and council of Calcutta now saw nothing better to do than to let loose old Meer Jaffier upon his son-in-law, and set him again upon the musnud from which they had so recently pulled him do'wn. Having issued his mandates to the chiefs and to the cities of the three vast provinces, as rightful and indisputable nabob, the old man joined the English, who were now taking the field and advancing in force upon Moorshedabad. Meer Cossim sent three of his generals to meet them on their march, and an encounter took place on the 19th of July. The three native generals were routed; but they made head again near Greriah, whither Meer Cossim sent nearly all his remaining troops to join them. Among these large reinforcements was a regi- ment of sepoys, disciplined in the European manner, and commanded by a European adventurer, whose real name is lost in his Indian designation of Sumroo, and whose real country is unknown, though he is generally called a Grerman, and is known to have first gone to India as a serjeant in the Erench army. Sir John Malcolm, however, says that he was told by a well-informed person that he was not a Grerman, but a Frenchman or Swiss, of the name of Sombre, which, perhaps, had been only his nom de guerre when in the Erench service. His deeds were sombre enough ! On the 24th of July the English dispersed some detach- ments, and took posession of Moorshedabad without opposi- tion. On the 2nd of August Meer Cossim risked a battle in the open plain near Gheriah. Our force amounted to about 750 Europeans, 1,500 sepoys, and some squadrons of native horse. Meer Cossim' s army was as ten to one ; it was supported by an immense train of artillery ; the sepoys under Sumroo Avere perfectly well trained, and most of the other corps were better disciplined and appointed than any- native troops the English had yet encountered in Bengal. 1763.] MASSACEE AT PATJs'A. 83 Tims tlie battle was maintained for nearly four liours, with warm and close firing. Our 84tli regiment, attacked both in front and rear, was at one moment in great danger, and some daring and almost successful movements were made under the eye of Sumroo. But at last the nabob's army was thoroughly defeated and driven ofl:' the plain, with the loss of all their cannon, and of 150 boats that lay close by in the Ganges loaded with provisions. They fled to an intrenched camp, which had been formed on the banks of the Oodwah. Meer Cossim, after executing some more of his chiefs, and sending his family and treasure to a strong fort, left jMonghir with the avowed intention of throwing himself into the camp on the Oodwah ; but when he came near that scene of danger, his heart misgave him, and he turned back. Yet so strong was that position, that it detained the English for three whole weeks. At length, however, on the 5th of September, the intrenched camp was carried, after some hard fighting, and the nabob's army there was completely scattered. Murdering one or two more chiefs, Meer Cossim fled from Monghir towards Patna. The English advanced, and laid siege to Monghir, which had been strongly fortified, and which was defended by 2,000 sepoys. Early in October, after nine days of open trenches, the garrison surrendered. Meer Cossim, who had entertained the hope that it could repulse our army, was thrown into a paroxysm of rage by the news of the surrender, and his fury vented itself in ordering the execution of all the English who had been taken prisoners, together with Mr. Ellis, the chief of Patna. The European adventurer, Sumroo, or Sombre, undertook the execution, and personally directed the massacre, of 150 Englishmen every soldier, every ofiicer, and every servant of the Company being brutally murdered, with the single exception of Mr. Fullerton, the surgeon. After this bloody deed, Meer Cossim abandoned Patna to the care of one of his chiefs, and retreated towards the Caram- nassa. The British army took Patna by storm on the 6th of November, and were on the banks of the Caramnassa early in December. They were, however, too late to catch the flying nabob ; he had crossed the river some days before, and had gone with Sumroo to seek the protection of the nabob of Oude, who had previously concluded a treaty with him. G 2 84 VICTORY AXD MUTIKT. [1764?. Sujali Dowlali, the powerful ruler of Oude, and recently- appointed vizier to the young emperor, was at Allaliabad, and Shah Alum was with him. Forthwith he marched his army to Benares, and then came and encamped not many- miles from the English. He was still accompanied by the young Mogul, who had some troops under his orders, and, as a portion. of the troops trained by Sumroo had followed that adventurer, the entire force collected was imposing. At this critical moment an alarming mutiny broke out in the English camp : many of the sepoys deserted to the enemy, and whole companies of Europeans, chiefly Erench, and Germans, and Swiss, who had been formerly- in the Erench service, marched off for Benares with their arms and accou- trements. Major Carnac, who now arrived to take the com- mand, deemed it prudent to retreat from the frontier of Oude to the city of Patna, for provisions had grown scarce, and the mutinous spirit seemed to continue. After a short interval, Carnac was followed by the united armies of Sujah Dowlah, Meer Cossim, and Shah Alum. He encamped under the walls of Patna, and was there attaclced, on the 3rd of May, by what seemed an overwhelming force, foremost in which was the devil Sumroo, with the best of his disciplined infantry. But Carnac stood like a rock ; attack after attack was repulsed, and the battle, which began at noon, was ended at sunset by the defeat and rout of the assailants, whose loss had been immense. The two nabobs and the poor Mogul fled, rather than retreated, from Bahar into Oude. Shortly after the battle of Patna, Major Hector Monro came up with considerable reinforcements of British troops, and assumed the command of the whole army. To put a stop to the mutiny of the sepoys, whom he found clamouring for higher pay, Monro determined to blow twenty-four of their ringleaders from the mouths of his cannon. The victims were selected out of a whole battalion of sepoys, who, after threatening the lives of their English ofiicers, had been caught marching off by night to join the enemy. They had been tried by a field court-martial, composed of their own black officers, who had found them guilty of mutiny and desertion. "When four of them had suffered, and the fifth was being tied to the gun's mouth, the sepoys tumultu- ously declared that the executions should stop tliere. Monro ordered the artillery officers to load with grape, and turn their guns on the native regiments ; he drew up his 1764.] DEFEAT OF SUJAir DOWLAK. 85 Europeans in the intervals between the guns, and called upon the sepoys to ground their arms. The men obeyed, and the executions went on. This extreme measure was attended with complete success : there was no more mutiny from that day forward. At the close of the rainy season, on the 15th September, Major Monro led his reformed army against the enemy, carrying with him no more than provisions enough for eight days. On the 22nd of October, having crossed the Sona in the teeth of their cavalry, he reached the viciuity of their intrenched camp at Buxar, and on the following morning he gave them a defeat, which entirely broke the power of the nabob of Oude, the only Mogul prince we had to fear. Leaving 130 pieces of artillery on the field, Sujah Dowlah fled for Lucknow, cursing his allies who had hurried him into this war. Instead of following him, Shah Alam, the unsteady Mogul, came and pitched his tents close to the English army, sought an interview with our chief officers, vowed that Sujah Dowlah had treated him rather as a state prisoner than as an emperor, and proposed entering into a treaty of amity and close alliance with the Company. Monro, with the Mogul in his train, marched on through Oude. AVhen he reached the holy city of Benares, Sujah Dowlah sent to offer him twenty-five lacs of rupees for the Company, twenty-five lacs for his army, and eight lacs for himself, if he would consent to a peace and quit the country. Monro refused to treat unless the nabob previously delivered to the English Meer Cossim and Sumroo. Sujah Dowlah, ivho had quarrelled with the ex-nabob and seized all the treasure he had with him, urged that he could not be guilty of a breach of the sacred laws of hospitality, but that he would undertake to induc6 Meer Cossim to give up all thoughts of dominion and flee to a distant country. As for Sumroo, he was not so scrupulous, purposing to invite him to a feast, and there have him murdered in the presence of any English gentleman Major Monro might choose to send to witness the punishment. These proposals were not relished in the English camp, and the negotiation was broken off. The treaty with the emperor was then hurried to a close. Shah Alum, as Mogul and lord of the whole, granting to the English the country of Grazipore, with all the rest of the territory of Bulwunt Sing, the zemindar of Benares, and the English agreeing to put Shah Alum in possession of the 86 BATTLE OF CORAH. [1765. city of Allahabad and the remainder of the dominions of Sujah Dowlah, As a last desperate expedient, Sujah Dowlah called in a great army of Mahratta horse under the command of Mul- har Eao Holkar. AVith these allies, Sujah Dowlah once more tried his fortune against the English, who had pos- sessed themselves of Lucknow, the capital of Oude, and of Allahabad, the strongest fortress of the country. On the 3rd of May, 1765, a battle was fought near Corah, the English being again under the command of Major (now G-eneral) Carnac. The Mahrattas were quickly dispersed by our artillery, and the whole of the confederate army was broken and driven across the river Jumna. About four months before General Carnac' s great victory, the nabob Meer Jaffier died at Moorshedabad, thus render- ing necessary new political arrangements. Moreover, on the very day of that victory. Lord Clive had arrived at Calcutta with powers to set right all that had been done \ATong during his absence. A few days after his defeat at Corah, Sujah Dowlah, having announced his intention of throwing himself upon the mercy and magnanimity of the English, repaired to the camp of Greneral Carnac. He assured the general that Meer Cossim had fled into Eohilcund, and that Sumroo had escaped to the far-off" regions on the Indus. Carnac readily agreed with him that the Company could not safely or profitably occupy the extensive dominions of Oude ; that he (Sujah Dowlah) was more capable of defend- ing those territories than Shah Alum, to whom they had been promised ; and that in his hands they might be made a barrier against the Mahrattas and Afghans. Lord Clive set off" for Allahabad to take these negotia- tions into his own hands. Finding, however, important business to settle at Moorshedabad, where affairs had fallen into a chaos of confusion, it was not till the end of July that he reached our camp at Allahabad, which then contained the persons both of the Mogul of Delhi and the nabob of Oude. The new treaty was then taken up with earnestness, the old one with the Mogul (if we can call old that which had been made only three months before) being torn up as waste paper ; and it was agreed that Shah Alum must rest satis- fied with possession of Allahabad, Corah, and the Douab, and that all the rest of Oude should be restored to Sujah Dowlah, who was to continue vizier to the emperor. Sujah 1785.] NEW TEEATIES. 87 Dowlah engaged to oppose the Mahrattas and defend the frontiers of Bengal, and the English bound themselves to afford him assistance in case of invasion. Shah Alum, in right of the imperial authority, which would have been nothing without the presence of the armies of the Company, granted to the English the dewannee, or collection of the revenues, in Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa ; in return for which, he was to receive, in addition to the revenues of Allahabad, Corah, and the Douab, twenty-six lacs of rupees per annum. Along with this dewannee, which, in fact, constituted the Company masters and sovereigns of the vast and rich regions named in the grant, the young emperor confirmed the rights of the Company to all the territory which they possessed in any other part of India. The grant was presented by the young Mogul, in great state, to Lord Clive, about the middle of August, 1765.* * Scott, ' History of Bengal.' Orme, ' Vansittart's own Narrative.' * Life and Correspondence of Lord Teignmouth, by his Son.' Verelst, * View of the English Government in Bengal.' 88 CLIVE A EEFOEMEE. [1765. CHAPTER X. Theee were no more wars while Clive remained in India ; the terror of his name was sufficient to keep the natives in awe. His lordship directed all his attention to the reforma- tion of abuses in the civil and military departments of the Company's service. On the death of Meer Jaffier (some four months before Clive' s return to India), the council at Calcutta had con- ferred the nominal sovereignty of Bengal on that nabob's eldest surviving son, ]N[ujeem-ul-Dowlah,-^a spiritless, imbecile youth. The dictator in India, for such Lord Clive now was, strongly disapproved of the revolution effected by the Company in deposing Meer Jaffier, the nabob of his own making ; but he did not admire Meer Jaffier' s son, and soon compelled him to retire from all public business on a pen- sion of thirty-two lacs of rupees. During the great man's absence in England, the Company liad been defrauded and robbed, and the natives of Bengal, in many instances, defrauded and oppressed by Englishmen in the Company's service, who wanted to be rich of a sudden, iind who received no sufficient check from the weak govern- ment of Mr. Vansittart. Clive had come out, chiefly, to put .an end to this state of things. It has been well said that this was a battle harder than that of Plassey, the whole settlement rising against him and his proposed reforms. ;Several civil servants of the Company, relying on their powerful patronage at home, refused to act with or under him, Clive coolly sent to Madras for some other civil servants, and turned the refractory out of their offices, flattery, entreaty, arguments (including money ones), per- suasions, and prayers, were then employed. All in vain ; they could not turn Clive from his purpose. He put doTNT.1 innumerable abuses and vile money-getting practices ; 1766.] MUTINY. 89 but, at tlie same time, lie adopted measures wMch might give the civil servants of the Company, whose pay had hitherto been miserably low, a proper maintenance, and a fair chance of acquiring fortunes by ability, application, and perseverance. After settling with the men of the pen, the civil servants, Clive had to struggle with the bolder men who held the sword, and to encounter, what is always hard for an old soldier to bear, the ill-will and reproaches of old companions in arms. He proceeded to set limits to the practice of giving addi- tional pay, or, as it was called, " double batta," a practice first introduced after the battle of Plassey, when the nabob Meer Jaffier paid expenses. On the 1st of January, 1766, Clive issued an order, that " double batta " to the European officers, the only class that now claimed it, should cease, except at Allahabad, where the troops were considered as actually in the field; and, generally, that the army in Bengal should be put on the same footing as that on the Coromandel coast, by whom no "batta" was drawn, except when marching or serving in the field. After remonstrating, 200 English officers resigned in one day, apparently in full confidence that Clive would be intimidated. Stern and unmoved, his lordship wrote to the Calcutta council, " Such a spirit must, at all hazards, be suppressed at the birth ;" and he desired the council to write to Madras, in order that every officer, every cadet that could be spared from that presidency, should be held in readiness to embark for Bengal. He had still a few officers near his person on whom he could rely, and having in his own personal expe- rience some reason to know that a young writer or clerk might soon be turned into a good soldier, he gave commis- sions to several young gentlemen in the mercantile service. He was well backed by Greneral Carnac, Colonel Smith, and other superior officers ; he knew that the English sol- diery were steady, and that the sepoys would stand by him their idol in any extremity. Therefore, he quitted Moor- shedabad, where he had been arranging matters of trade and finance, and advanced with a small escort to Monghir, the head-quarters of the rebellious officers, declaring that he must see the soldier's bayonet levelled at his throat before he could give way an inch. Immediately on his arrival at Monghir, Clive addressed the soldiers, explained the crimes of their officers; mentioned his own recent donation of 90 MUTINY SUPPRESSED. [1766. 70,000 to the European portion of tlie army,* and ordered double pay to the sepoys for two months. To the devoted sepoys he committed the care of escorting a number of the mutinous officers to Fort William. In a short time, and with the greatest ease, all the ringleaders were arrested, tried by a court-martial, and cashiered. The younger offend- ers were treated with lenity, and, when his indignation was cooled, Clive scorned to take any vengeance for the many personal Avrongs and insults he had received. Upon being told that one of the mutinous officers had planned his assas- sination, he stopped the charge with a short sentence " No ! the officers are Englishmen, not assassins." He adopted several wise regulations to check that luxury and extrava- gance, that gambling and dissipation, which had demoral- ized the English officers. In the course of a very few weeks he could announce that discipline and subordination were restored, and that everything was as quiet and as well regulated as could be wished. Clive showed a disinterestedness which was rare and heroical. He aimed at a reform which, in the end, must prove beneficial to the oppressors and to the oppressed ; to the poor natives, to the servants of the Company, to the Company itself, and to the British nation. The servants of the Company would have enabled him to double or treble his fortune, if he had consented to connivance ; the neigh- bouring princes of India would have paid any price for his assistance in their several schemes of aggrandizement ; but he cast all these temptations behind him, making no merit of his refusals, which did not come to light till after his death. He always affirmed that this last visit to India diminished the fortune he had previously made.f Having, as he considered, done all that he came to do, Clive was anxious to retm-h home, for his health was again seriously affected. The nervous malady to which, from time to time, he had been a prey ever since his youth, Avas now accompanied by the bodily and mental horrors that arise * A legacy of ^70,000 was bequeathed by Meer Jaffier to Clive, who paid it into the Company's treasury at Fort William, to lie at interest for the support of European officers and soldiers who might be disabled in the Company's service in Bengal, and for the widows of officers and soldiers who might die on the service of that presidency. The Company afterwards extended this provision, but the fund still bears the name of "Clive." t Sir John Malcolm, * Life of Lord Clive.' 1767.] clive's taeewell to iis^dia. 91 from continuous bile and a diseased liver ; and lie was occa- sionally attacked by spasms, whicli endangered bis life, or Lis reason. On tbe 16tb of January, 1767, he attended a meeting of tbe select committee for tbe last time. In ending an address, be said, " I leave tbe country in peace ; I leave tbe civil and military departments under discipline and subordination : it is your duty to keep tbem so." At tbe end of January be took bis final farewell of India, embarking for England in tbe good sbip Britannia. Clive bad done bis duty, but in so doing be bad created as many enemies in England as M. Lally bad provoked in France.* * Sir John Malcolm, * Life of Lord Clive.' Id., ' Political History of India.' Scott, * History of Bengal.' 92 HTDEE ALL [1767. CHAPTER XI. A FEW montlis after Lord Clive's departure, the fierce Afghans created some alarm by marching again upon Delhi ; but they came only for plunder, and soon returned to their own mountains. In the course of the same year, the presidency of Bengal made a feeble attempt to restore a dispossessed rajah of ISTepaul to his dominions. The country of Nepaul, surrounded by mountains and forests, was found too difficult of access, and the officer in command of our weak detach- ment thought proper to return. In the Carnatic, the flames of war were rekindled by Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore, whom we have seen in brief alliance with M. Lally. Hyder, the son of a distinguished robber, began life as a free- booter. Making himself considerable by the number of his followers, he was received into the service and favour of the rajah of Mysore, a Hindu prince, who governed according to the ancient religion and laws of the country. Hyder was a Mussulman, but it does not appear that all his followers were of that faith. By degrees the bold adventurer acquired more horses, oxen, camels, and elephants, more money, and the command of more men, than his benefactor the rajah ; and he accordingly made war upon that prince, de- feated him, took him prisoner, pensioned him off with three lacs of rupees per annum, and kept possession of all his dominions. Hyder's army was originally formed out of the freebooting bands and erratic tribes that abounded in "Western India, and that looked for no other reward than the privilege of plunder. By the end of the year 1761, Hyder All's authority seemed firmly established in Mysore, a country enclosed by the Eastern and Western Grhauts, about 210 miles in length by 140 in average breadth, consisting of a high table-land nearly 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. From this 1767.] CONQUESTS OF HTDEE. 93 table-land rise many lofty hills, and clusters of hills, containing the sources of nearly all the rivers that intersect and ferti- lize the low countries of India. The climate, exempt from burning heats, may be called mild ; the soil is fertile, and no part of India produces such fine flocks and herds.*' The son of a robber might well have rested content with such an inheritance ; but his own disposition, and the habits of the marauders in his service, led him to look to an extension of dominion or to the plunder of the neighbouring states. The physical geography of Mysore was favourable to aggression and to defence. While Hyder had at least seven or eight passes by which he could descend into the Carnatic, there was only one good pass by which he could be attacked or approached by an enemy on that side. At first, however, Hyder limited his operation to the subjugation of several minor rajahs and polygars, whose territories lay within the limits of Mysore, but who had set the power of liis predecessor on the musnud at defiance. Gooty, Balapoor, Harponelly, Chitteldroog, Bednore, and other districts, were rapidly reduced. The booty he made in Bednore was immense ; for, situated among lofty mountains, that district had for a long time escaped the visitations of war. Its capital city (also called Bednore) is said to have contained at this time 20,000 houses. According to native authorities, the spoils of this city alone rendered to Hyder and his army about twelve millions sterling. He then over- ran the country to the north, and extended his dominions almost to the banks of the Kistna. But here his career was checked by the peishwa of the Mahrattas, who crossed the river with an immense army of horse, defeated him repeatedly, drove him back upon Mysore, and compelled him to pay thirty-two lacs of rupees. Hyder, however, was soon in the field again. "With rapidity and ease he conquered the rich Malabar provinces, and kept the country quiet by murdering nearly aU the nairs, or Hindu chiefs. He was meditating fresh conquests when he was recalled to Seringapatam, by intelligence that the English, the Mahrattas, and the ruler of the Deckan, had formed a league to check his encroachments. The Deckan was no longer in the hands of Salibut Jung. That prince had been made a prisoner by his brother, Nizam * Walter Hamilton, Esq., ' Geographical, Statistical, and Historical description of Hindiistan and the adjacent Countries.* 94 WAR WITH HYDEE, [1767. Ali, who occupied his throne, and respected his life, until the arrival of the treaty of Paris, which recognized Salibut Jung as laAvful sovereign, and which thus induced Nizam Ali to give orders for his immediate murder. At first, the nizam was unfavourable to the English, and he had invaded the Carnatic, and made war upon our dependant, Mohammed Ali. But he had fled before Colonel Campbell and a small British force, and since that campaign he had concluded a treaty with the Company, confirming to them Forde's con- quests in the Northern Circars, on condition of their paying a small quit-rent, and holding in readiness a body of their troops for hia service, whenever he might demand such aid. The peishwa soon covered the table-lands of Mysore with his cavalry. Colonel Smith followed with a small EngHsh corps, and the large but disorderly armies of the nabob of the Carnatic and the nizam of the Deckan. But before Smith could come up, the peishwa had consented to take from Hyder thirty-five lacs of rupees, to quit the country, and break all his engagements with the nizam and the English. The faithless Mahratta had his match in our other ally, the nizam, who next negotiated a treaty with the ruler of Mysore, the scope of which was the expulsion of the Com- pany from the Carnatic, and from every place they held on the Coromandel coast. Separating as quickly as might be from the nizam' s army, Colonel Smith hastened to defend the Carnatic by taking possession of the ghauts or passes leading from Mysore into that country. But his force was far too small to secure all those passes against three numerous armies ; Mahrattas, Mysoreans, and the best of the troops of the nizam, got down into the level country, and Smith's rear was soon threatened by the peishwa' s rapid cavalry, and he was compelled to retreat, by forced marches, upon Chan- gama, a town about sixty miles from Madras. But before the colonel could reach that place, he was attacked by three armies. His well-disciplined infantry- beat ofi" their count- less assailants ; but while they were fighting, the Mahrattas got at their rice-bags, and to avoid starving, Smith's forces were obliged to continue their retreat, and to march night and day until they reached Triuomalee. Plundering, burning, and destroying, the enemy followed closely upon the steps of the colonel, who, receiving some reinforce- 1767-8.] A>'D THE MAIIEATTAS. 95 ments at Trinomalee, issued from the town into the open country, which he endeavoured to save from these hre- brands. Having scarcely any cavalry, Smith's efforts were not very successful. Seizing a favourable moment, Hyder Ali detached his son Tippoo, a youth of seventeen, to beat up the neighbourhood of Madras with 5,000 Mysorean horse. Tippoo' s advance was so secret and so rapid, that he very nearly caught the members of the presidency and the wealthiest of the Eng- lish in their country houses. The fortress of Madras had little to fear from cavalry attacks ; but the town, the Black Town, the warehouses, villas, gardens, callages, all things in its vicinity, were carried off or destroyed, and the country, for miles, was made as bare as a desert. Tippoo retired as rapidly as he had advanced, and wdth great booty ; but his father and his allies loitered in the open country, until they were attacked and signally defeated, near Trinomalee, by Colonel Smith. The nizam, who had been the first to fly from the field, had already had quite enough of this war, and was very anxious to be restored to the friendship of the English, whom he had so recently betrayed and deserted ; and, after very little negotiation, he agreed to separate from the Mysoreans and Mahrattas. Hyder and the peishwa tried the fate of another battle, and were again beaten by Smith and more soundly than before near Amboor. Hyder and his ally then fled to Caverypatam, on the river Panaur. The presidency of Madras now resolved to carry the war into the very heart of Hyder All's dominions. Colonel Smith, who had displayed much bravery and skill, received orders to march into Mysore. To favour his operations, the presidency of Bombay sent a force to fall upon Hyder's recent conquests in Malabar and Canara. Most unfor- tunately, the ci\ilians who formed the presidency of Madras took it into their heads to direct the operations in the field, and sent to the army two members of council as field- deputies, who were to keep the campaign entirely under their own control. No war ever prospered under such a system. Hyder expelled our Bombay force in the west, and returned rapidly to the east to face Colonel Smith. He made overtures for a peace, but they were rejected by the two field-deputies. Because Colonel Smith treated these deputies, or their opinions on warlike matters, with little respect, the Madras presidency recalled that able officer, and 96 THE CAEXATIC DEVASTATED. [1769. intrusted tlie command to Colonel AA^ood, wlio, in a very short time, abandoned every place which had been taken, retreated before Hyder, and even allowed himself to be sur- prised, beaten, and deprived of all his baggage. The presi- dency then superseded AVood, by Major Fitzgerald, who came up just in time to save the flying army from annihilation. In the month of January, 1769, Hyder Ali rushed down once more into the Carnatic, and penetrated into the dis- trict of Pondicherry, where, by virtue of the treaty of Paris, the Prench flag was again displayed. As the most dangerous enemy of the English, Hyder was regarded by the Prench as their own best friend. Several adroit Prenchmen issued from Pondicherry to join and advise the Mysorean chief. By these men Hyder was con- firmed in the opinion he had previously formed that he ought to avoid pitched battles with the English, and make use of his advantage in light cavalry, in cutting oft' their detachments, and in plundering the country from which they derived their supplies. Several English posts were surprised, and a considerable number of prisoners were sent off to Seringapatam. The open country was again devastated. The presidency of Madras now restored Colonel Smith to the command, and recalled their two field-deputies. They could not, however, improvise regiments of cavalry, and for want of that arm. Smith's operations were for the most part impeded and frustrated. After paying two visits to Pondi- cherry, and conferring with the Prench there, Hyder Ali made a rush upon Madras with 6,000 horse. The fortress had lost none of its strength ; but the town, and the Black Town, the warehouses, the country-houses, and the villages, were as defenceless as at the time of Tippoo's foray. The pre- sidency eagerly proposed terms of peace, or eagerly listened to terms proposed by the Mysorean, who was anxious to be well on his road homeward, before Colonel Smith should double upon him and draw near to Madras. It was very soon agreed that Hyder Ali should restore whatever terri- tory he had taken from the English, and that the Eng- lish should restore all that they had taken from him ; that he should assist the English in their future defensive wars, and that they should do the same by him. The treaty of Madras, concluded on the 4th of April, 1769, was soon fol- lowed by the invasion of Mysore by the peishwa and his Malu'attas, who swept everything before them, burning Hpe; 1772.] WAK IX MYSORE. 97 towns and Tillages, and cutting off noses and ears. Hyder called upon tlie presidency of Madras for tlieir promised assistance ; but the presidency and apparently >Yith perfect truth affirmed that this was not a defensive war, that Hyder had brought the war upon himself by making preparations to invade the territory of the peishwa, and by conniving with certain disaffected Mahratta chiefs. Hyder then offered money, and endeavoured to work upon the fears of the English, by representing what turbulent neighbours the Mahrattas * would be to them, if allowed to conquer and occupy Mysore. Still the council of Madras declined sending a single gun or a single sepoy to his assistance. The peishwa of the Mahrattas now courted a new alliance with the English, but met with a refusal. Thus the Mahrattas and the Mysoreans were left to fight out their own battles, Hyder and his son Tippoo were defeated in several encounters, and reduced to sad straits. By the month of November, 1771, the Mahrattas were in possession of all Mysore, except Seringapatam, and some of the strongest forts, and were pressing upon and plundering the borders of the Carnatic. Then the presidency sent an army towards that frontier, before which the Mahrattas retreated. In July, 1772, a treaty of peace was concluded between Hyder and the peishwa ; the Mahrattas obtaining a considerable portion of Mysore, together with fifteen lacs of rupees in hand, and fifteen lacs more in promises. Eor a time, Hyder Ali remained humble and quiet. Mohammed Ali, the nominal lord of the Carnatic, had induced the English to lend him aid in an expedition against the rajah of Tanjore, who had given great provocation to the presidency. Our old aUy behaved in the most faithless manner, attempting to get aU the gain and profit to him- self, and to leave to us the expenses and the loss ; but the expedition and the subsequent diplomacy terminated in the cession to the presidency of large and fertile tracts of land round Madura, together with the fortress of Vellum. The rajah of Tanjore held a doubtful rule over the Mara- wars, the polygars of which district had formerly paid tribute and allegiance to the nabobs of the Carnatic. In the month of March, 1772, a force marched from Trichi- nopoly to reduce those chiefs. It consisted of 520 British infantry and artillery, three battalions of the Company's poys, six battering cannon, some of the nabob's horse, and II 100 HOME LEGISLATION. [1772. CHAPTER XII. Fob, many years Indian aiFairs attracted very little attention -either in tlie parliament or in the country. This ceased to be the case after the last return of Lord Clive. The territo- rial acquisitions, exaggerated even beyond their real extent and vast importance, were forced upon the serious consider- ation of the somewhat drowsy ministry of the day. In April, 1769, an act was passed confirming to the Company the revenues of the countries they had acquired for five years to come, upon consideration of their paying the British government 400,000 per annum, and exporting to India, annually, certain quantities of British manufac- tures, etc. At the same time, the Court of Directors resolved to send out three supervisors, to complete the work of reformation and put the revenues and finances under better manage- ment. Of the three gentlemen selected for this purpose, one had already given proofs, in Bengal, of his incapacity and unfitness ; but the other two were men of energy and of eminent ability. They were Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Scrafton, and Colonel Torde, the conqueror of the Circars. They never reached India, for the royal frigate which carried them foundered at sea. Without supervisors, the government of Bengal was left in the hands of Mr. Cartier ; but in less than two years, it was notified by the Court of Directors to Mr. Warren Hastings, who had continued to rise in estimation, that he was nominated to the place of second in council ; and that whenever Mr. Cartier should retire, it was their wish that he should take the government upon himself. In opening the session of parliament in January, 1772, the speech from the throne had, by implication, recommended to attention India, and our possessions there, as being among the dependencies of the British empire, of which it was said, 1772.] LOllD CLIYE.*ifc!C,IISBD. ! I " \' ' ; i '^ ; ; ; 40^,. that "some of them, as well from remoteness of place as from other circumstances, are so peculiarly liable to abuses and exposed to danger, that the interposition of the legisla- ture for their protection may become necessary." About two months after this royal speech, Mr. Sulivan, deputy-chairman of the Court of Directors (an old and bit- ter antagonist of Clive), moved, in his place in the House of Commons, for leave to bring in a" bill " for the better Regu- lation of the aifairs of the East-India Company, and of their servants in India, and for the due administration of justice in Bengal." Sulivan's principal object in the speech he delivered was to shift aU blame from the Court of Directors, and to throw it wholely and solely upon the servants of the Company abroad. He did not spare the great Clive himself ; but pointed at him as the fountain-head of mischief. The conqueror of Plassey, the real founder and father of our Indian empire, who had granted innumerable favours to dependants and chents without securing gratitude, had few steady friends, and innumerable and implacable enemies. The whole crew of robbers and oppressors, whom he had driven from Bengal during his last governorship, now fell upon him for revenge. They assailed him in parliament, they abused him in the East-India Court of Proprietors,, they calumniated him in pamphlets, and they set up lying newspapers for no other purpose than to abuse him. No- single man can reply with effect to a continuous multiplied fire like this ; and Clive was too proud to reply at all. He soon came to be considered a monster in human shape. It was in;.^^ ain that he was kind and liberal to his servants, bountiful to his friends, generous on all occasions, affec- tionate to his family, kind-hearted and hospitable ; men persisted in considering him as an incarnation of wickedness, laying to his charge all the bad acts of all the English in India, including many which had been committed in his absence, and others which he had manfully put down and severely punished. About a fortnight before the opening of the present session of parliament, the Court of Directors, by their secretary, had informed his lordship that they had lately received several papers containingcharges respecting his management of affairs in Bengal, and that copies of these papers were enclosed. The charges were signed by no one, and they were vague as well as anon}Tnous. Clive proudly replied to the directors, that 102: ; ,' ; ; _ qltte^s defence. [1772. upon the public records of the Company they might find a sufficient confutation of the papers they had transmitted to him, and that he could not but suppose, that if any part of his conduct had been injurious to the service, contradictory to his engagements, or even mysterious, four years and a half since his return to England would not have elapsed without his being called to account. Sulivan, however, in his vindictive, recriminatory speech in the Commons, alluded to these vague anonjTuous charges. Clive had been for some time a member of that house, but he had seldom spoken before, and on those few occasions in a brief and homely or negligent manner ; but now, in replying to Sulivan, he astonished and electrified the assembly, and convinced the most practised and applauded speakers of that eloquent epoch that he might easily have made himself a great orator. , " The house," said Clive, " will give me leave to remove evil impressions, and to endeavour to restore myself to its favourable opinion. IS'or do I wish to lay my conduct before this house only ; I speak likewise to my country in general, upon whom I put myself, not only without reluctance, but with alacrity." He rapidly sketched the history of his pro- ceedings during his last mission to Calcutta, which had been selected for these hostile charges. He told the house how he had cleansed that Augean stable, and how this process had raised him a host of enemies. " It is that conduct," he exclaimed, " which has occasioned the public papers to teem with scurrility and abuse against me. It is that conduct which has occasioned these charges. But it is that conduct which enables me now, when my day of judgment is come, to look my judges in the face. It is that conduct which enables me to lay my hand upon my heart and most solemnly declare to this house, to the gallery, and to the whole world at large, that I never, in a single instance, lost sight of what I thought the honour and true interest of my country and the Company, that I was never guilty of any acts of violence or oppression, unless the bringing offenders to justice can be deemed so. As to extortion or monopoly, such an idea never entered into my mind. So far from reaping any benefit from the last expedition, I returned to England many thousand pounds out of pocket." One of the insinuations was, that during that mission he had made money by monopolizing cotton. To this he replied in L772.] ri^fANCIAL DIFriCIJLTIES. 103 acorn and evident irritation, " Trade was not my profes- ision, my line lias been military and political. I owe all I have in the world to my having been at the head of an army. As to cotton, I know no more about it than the pope of Eome!" Prom a triumphant defence of his own conduct, Clive proceeded to attack that of others, and to throw back the blame on his accusers. " I attribute," he said, " the present bad situation of affairs to four causes : a relaxation of govern- ment in my successors ; great neglect on the pai't of admi- nistration ; notorious misconduct on the part of the directors ; and the violent and outrageous proceedings of general courts." He argued that all the e^als were aggravated by the system of annual elections at Leadenhall-street ; that the directors thus elected were too dependent on the pro- prietors of Indian stock, who returned them ; that one half of the year was employed by the directors in discharging obligations contracted by their last election, and the second half of the year spent in incurring new obligations for seciu-ing their election the next year by clandestine bargains with the stock-holders and others. Hence, he said, the directors had not proper time for the despatch of the Com- pany's business, and the orders sent out to India had been so fluctuating, and frequently so unintelligible, that the ser^^ants in the country had, in many instances, followed their own, opinions rather than their orders. The first Pitt, now earl of Chatham, was that night imder the gallery of the Commons, and he declared that Clive's speech was " one of the most finished pieces of eloquence he had ever lieard in that house." One eflfect of the speech was, that the assaiUng party changed their points of attack, and, leaving his last administration in India as invulnerable, turned their arms against the events and deeds of his earlier hfe. In April, 1772, a select committee of inquiry was appomted by the House of Commons. The members of this select committee, thirty-one in number, w^ere elected by ballot, yet it so chanced that many of them were personal enemies of the great man. The committee had made little progress wlien parliament rose. The parliament had hardly risen when the pecuniary em- barrassments of the Company became too great and pressing to be concealed. Bills were falling due, without money to meet them. It appeared that by the end of October tliere 104 ^ , riNANCirAL' DIFFICULTIES. [1772. woiiia be a deficit of 1,293,000. On the 15t]i of July the directors applied to the Bank of England for a loan of 400,000, and obtained it. On the 29th of July they asked for a further loan of 300,000, but only got 200,000, the bank directors being now somewhat alarmed. dive's system of economy, regularity, and vigilance, had been abandoned as soon as he had left India, and disastrous circumstances, which he could not foresee, had occm-red in that country. The presidency of Madras, with its new wars in the Carnatic, the Marawars and Tanjore, had acted as a continual drain on the treasury of Calcutta ; extensive forti- fications and cantonments, which Clive considered wholly useless, had been undertaken at Calcutta and other places in Bengal ; engineers, contractors, and all engaged in their construction, being allowed to make the wildest bargains and the most extravagant profits. Nefarious abuses, which Clive would have stopped with the strong hand, had crept into the commissariat and all other departments of the public service ; and, finally, the rich plains of India had been depopulated by a terrible famine. This will account for the greater part of the present em- barrassments in LeadenhaU-street; but the directors, in order to captivate the shareholders and the general courts, had increased the deficit by augmenting the dividends on Indian stock. On the 10th of August, Mr. Sulivan and the chair- man waited upon Lord North, the premier, to announce the insolvency and ruin of the East-India Company as inevi- table, if they were not allowed to borrow at least 1,000,000 more from the public. It happened to them, as to others, when reduced to the condition of borrowers : those from whom they asked money gave them advice and interfered in their affairs. They were at the mercy of ministers, and ministers soon determined to remodel their constitution, and make several important changes, notwithstanding the letter of their charters charters which had been granted, under totally different circumstances, to a body of traders and merchant adventurers, and not to merchant princes and lords and masters of provinces and kingdoms. For the present, however. Lord North received the chairman and deputy-chairman with coldness and reserve, referring them to parliament for the solution of their financial difficulties. At the re-opening of parliament in 1773, Lord North, who 1773.] SECEET COMMITTEE. 105 was dissatisfied vrith the select committee appointed in the preceding session, moved that a secret committee of only thirteen members should be appointed, with powers to inspect the books and accounts of the East-India Company, which, in spite of a violent opposition from the East-India directors and others, was appointed. Colonel Burgoyne, a leader of the party opposed to government, a loud and impetuous debater, and chairman of the select committee (at the same time a virulent foe of CHve), vindicated the proceedings of the select committee, declaring that its inquiries, if allowed to proceed, would disclose such a scene of iniquit)^ rapine, and cruelty as had never been discovered until then. Though Clive stood high in favour at court, and was duly esteemed as a brave and great man by George III., the timid government was not disposed to make any invidious exertion in his favour ; it was agreed that the select committee should be continued ; and thus there were two committees of inquiry proceeding with their investigations at the same time. In a very few days the committee of secrecy recommended measures which went to lower the political powers of the Company. The dissatisfied Court of Directors had still no resource but in parliament, and on the 9th of March, 1773, they humbly petitioned the Commons for a loan of one million and a half for four years, at four per cent, interest. Ministers offered to lend them 1,400,000, and to give up the claim of 400,000 a year, which the Company had been paying from their territorial revenues, till this debt should be discharged, but insisted upon binding them strictly not to raise their dividends above six per cent, until the liquidation of this debt.* By complying with these and some other conditions and restrictions, the Company were to remain in possession of all the territories they had acquired for six years to come, when their charter would expire. The Company petitioned against these terms as harsh, arbitrary, and illegal: but all was of no avail ; they could not do without the money ; the minister was determined to let them have it only on his o^vn conditions, and everything proposed was carried in the house by a large majority. * For some time the dividends had been at 12 per cent. In March, 1772, they had been raised to 12 J. Then came the great pressure ; and in February, 1773, the Court of Directors and Court of Proprietors themselves had redaced the dividends to 6 per cent. 106 EEGL'LATING ACT. [1773. Cliye and others had represented to Lord North, and also to the king, that the constitution of thel East-India House ought to be un-democratized ; that the Court of Proprietors was a bear-garden, ever full of noise, intrigue, confusion, and anarchy ; and that its direct influence and action on the Court of Directors was an obstacle to all good management and consistent government. On the 3rd of May, Lord North introduced a series of propositions, tending to a beneficial change in that constitution. The principal of these (after- wards embodied in a bill) were 1st. That the Court of Directors should in future, instead of being chosen annually, be elected for four years ; six members annually, but none to hold seats for longer than four years. 2nd. That the qualification stock should be 1,000, instead of 500 ; that 3,000 should give t^^o votes, and 6,000 three votes. 3rd. That, in lieu of the mayor's court at Calcutta, the jurisdic- tion of which was limited to small mercantile causes, a supreme court of judicature, consisting of a chief justice and three puisne judges, should be appointed by the crown, with great and extended powers of cognizance over the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the subjects of England, their ser- vants and dependants, residing ^vithin the Company's ter- ritories in Bengal. 4th. That a governor-general, with four councillors, should be appointed to Eort "William, and vested with full powers over the presidencies. This board was to transmit regular reports of its proceedings to the Court of Directors, who were, within fourteen days of the receipt of their despatches, to furnish copies of them to one of his majesty's secretaries of state, to whom they were also to send copies of any rules and ordinations they them- selves might make ; and these were, if disapproved by his majesty, to become null and void. The nomination of the first governor-general and members of council was vested in parliament, and was to continue five years, after which term those high oflices were to be filled up by the Court of Directors, but still subject to the approbation of the crown. Lastly, it was to be enacted, that no person in India, in the service either of the king or of the Company, should henceforth be allowed to receive any presents from the native nabobs, rajahs, ministers, agents, or others; and that the governor-general, members of council and judges, should be excluded from all commercial pursuits and profits. 1773.] SELECT COMMITTEE. 107 This "Eegulatiug Act," as they called it, was to come into operation, in England on the 1st of October, 1773, and in India on the 1st of August, 1774. In the mean while, both Indian committees of the House of Commons, the select and the secret, had continued their occupations. The first of the two, urged on by Colonel Bnr- gojiie, and others of its members, from whom candour and impartiality were not to be expected, had taken a most inqui- sitorial and personal turn. Lord Clive was subjected to inces- sant examinations and cross-examinations; mutilated eyidence was received as good evidence ; and no opportunity was lost of taunting the hero mth rapacity and avarice, or of adding insult to injury. It may be safely doubted, whether there was one of Clive' s accusers and tormeutors that would, at Moor- shedabad, have rested satisfied with the large sum he took for himself when it was so easy to make it ten or twenty times larger. On one occasion, when irritated in the extreme by Burgoyne's select committee, and when the scenes of the past were forced upon his mind and upon his vision as a present reality, he vividly described his entrance into Moor- shedabad, and into the rich treasury of the flying tyrant Suraj-u-Dowlah : there was the new nabob, Meer Jaffier, a creatTire of his making, and absolutely dependent on his will ; there was a populous and opulent city offering im- mense sums to be saved from a plunder which was never intended ; there were the Hindu seits, or bankers, bidding against each other for his favour ; there were vaults piled with gold, and crowned with rubies and diamonds, and he was at liberty to help himself; and then, bursting away from a picture as dazzling as Sinbad's valley of diamonds, he exclaimed, " By Grod, Mr. Chairman, at this moment I stand astonished at my ot^nti moderation! " On the 10th of May, 1773, BurgojTie brought up the report of the select committee, which was little else than an unmitigated anathema. It went over the whole of Clive's early Indian history. The Black-hole and its horrors were all forgotten; the cruelty, the perfidy of Suraj-u-Dowlah were consigned to the same charitable oblivion ; and it was represented by Colonel Burgoyne (who had no friend or brother in the horrible catastrophe at Calcutta), that the dethronement of that t}Tant was the greatest of crimes, and the real cause of all the revolutions and mischiefs which 108 CLIYE ACQUITTED. [1773. had ensued since then. Burgoyne proposed nothing less than that Chve should be stripped of his wealth, as it had been extorted by military force. The hero of Plassey made another most able speech, but a speech not calculated to conciliate any party in the House of Commons. He once more referred to the honours he had received, not merely from the Company, but also from the crown, in consequence of the very exploits and acts for which they were now arraigning him like a felon ; and he concluded by saying, " If the record of my services at the India House, if the defence I have twice made in this house, and if the approbation I have already met vdih, is not an answer to the attack that has been made upon me, I certainly can make none." On the 19th of May, Chve was ably defended by Mr. "Wedderburn, Mr. Eose Fuller, and others, and he again most ably defended himself. The termination of all these vexatious proceedings was a full acquittal, and a vote of the house that Robert Lord Clive had rendered great and meritorious services to his country. But "the be all and the end all" was not there, nor could depend on parHamentary motions and votes and resolutions. "The Daring in War" had received his dimittimus from orators' tongues, or, at the least, his mind and body had been so harassed for many months, and his cruel maladies so exacerbated thereby, that there no longer remained in him a gleam of health, or hope, or cheerfulness. He had been acquitted he had been applauded ; some of the highest in rank and character at home, and some of the most Hberal and intellectual abroad, testified their admiration, and ad- mired him the more for the ordeal he had gone through ; but he could not be comforted, he brooded over the indig- nity of having been accused, not only of horrible crimes, but of mean petty vices, of having been treated he the Baron of Plassey by the select committee, more like a sheep-stealer than a member of the house. He sought some alleviation to his acute sufferings in a Aisit to Bath, and then in a short excursion on the continent ; but he found none. His liver was entirely deranged, his attacks of bile were frequent and fearful; he suffered excruciating agonies from gall-stones. He had always been subject to dreadful fits of depression. It is said that, in one of these, when cooped up in Fort St. Q-eorge, as a poor clerk, he twice .1774.] DEATH OF CLIYE. 109 attempted to destroy himself, and twice the pistol missed fire ; upon which, it is added, he examined the pistol, saw that it was well loaded, and then threw it from him with an exclamation, that he must certainly he destined for some- thing great or extraordinary. In the month of November of the year which followed liis acquittal (1774), being at his town-mansion in Berkeley-square, he had a violent access of the most painful of his maladies. He had recourse to powerful doses of opium. The drug did not soothe, and a paroxysm of irritability was added to the paroxysm of the disease ; in the course of the 22nd of that dreary month, he died by his own hand. He had only just completed his forty-ninth year.* * ' Annual Register.' Sir John Malcolm, * Life of Clive.' * Par- liamentary History.' 110 WAEEEN HASTINGS. [1774. CHAPTER XIII. In proceeding to the choice of the first governor-general of Bengal, in pursuance of the " Regulating Act," there was scarcely any difference of opinion as to the person most fit for the post. Long experience in India, proved capacity, indefatigable industry, and other merits, all pointed to Mr. "Warren Hastings, who was accordingly named by the new parliamentary authority. Clive had considered him the best man that could be selected, and had hastened to congratulate him on the honour of being the first GtOVEE- NOK-GrENERAL. The four members of council appointed with Mr. Hastings, and, unhappily, each with powers nearly co-extensive with his own, were G-eneral Clavering, Colonel Monson, Mr. Barwell, and Mr. Philip Prancis. Warren Hastings began his administration at Calcutta under numerous disadvantages. The famine, to which allu- sion has been made, occurred in 1770, under the government of Cartier, and only a few months before Hastings took that gentleman's place. In the summer of 1769, the periodical rains had failed ; hence the earth was parched up, the tanks for the purposes of irrigation became empty, the rivers shrank within their beds, and the rice and other crops failed. As the Hindus, on religious grounds, make little or no use of animal food, they perished by thousands. It was calcu- lated that, in all, from one-fourth to one-third of the teeming population of Bengal was swept away. A short time before the breaking out of the famine, Syef- al-Dowla, the son and successor of Meer Jaffier, died of the small-pox, and his brother, Muharek-al-Dowla, a mere boy, was appointed to the musnud. By order of the Court of Directors, Warren Hastings, during the nonage of the nabob, reduced his annual stipend to sixteen lacs of rupees. To arrange this and other difficult matters, to settle the collection of the revenue, and the young nabob's household, 1774.] FIRST GOVEENOR-GENERAL. Ill Hastings made a tour in the provinces, and resided some time in Moorshedabad. The dewannee, or public treasury, was removed to Calcutta and placed under English manage- ment, and thither also were carried the superior courts of justice. Hastings clearly foresaw the high destinies of our city on the Hooghly. He now wrote to a friend : " By the translation of the treasury, by the exercise of the dewan- nee without an intermediate agent, by the present superin- tendency of the nabob's household, and by the establishment of the new courts of justice under the control of our own government, the authority of the Company is fixed in this country without any possibility of a competition, and beyond the power of any but themselves to shake it. The nabob is a mere name, and the seat of government most effectually and visibly transferred from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, which I do not despair of seeing the first city in Asia, if I live and am supported but a few years longer."* At the same period Hastings was occupied in devising means for placing both the internal trade of the^countiy and the external trade of the Company upon a better footing, and in making reforms or alterations among all classes of the Company's servants in India. As to these reforms, he complained that he had received a dangerous mark of dis- tinction in being alone intrusted with their execution, say- ing that the effect was, his hand was against every man, and every man's against his. Like Clive, he was sowing the seeds of hatred and vengeance the bitter fruit of which he was to taste hereafter. And to aU these laborious and trying occupations were superadded constant anxieties arising out of the Company's connections with the nabob of Oude and Shah Alum, and the encroachment of the Mah- rattas, who occupied or overrun for uncertain seasons the whole of the interior of India, from Delhi to the frontiers of Oude, from the ghauts of the Camatic to the ghauts behind Bombay. He appears to have had no respite from care and labour.. -4t soon became evident that twenty-six lacs of rupees per annum was too great a price to pay to Shah Alum for the merely ceremonial investiture of the Company in the dewannee of Bengal, over which neither he, the reigning jyiogul, nor bis immediate predecessors, had ever had the least * Letter to Mr. Sykes, in Gleig's ' Life of Hastings.' 112 B00TAK3 AND TAKEEES. [1774-5. control. Hastings also taxed Shah Alum with the basest treachery and ingratitude. " Of all the powers of Hindu- stan," said he, " the English alone have really acknow- ledged his authority : they invested him with the royalty he now possesses; they conquered for him and gave him a territory." * At this juncture he learned that the imbecile Mogul had ceded that territor}^ (Allahabad and Corah) to the Mahrattas, who were declaring their intention of taking immediate possession. The nabob of Oude, as the ally of the English, claimed their assistance in preventing the marauders from obtaining a settlement in provinces that lay in the heart of his own country, and that would bring them close upon the frontiers of the Company's territories. Anticipating their movements, Hastings threw a good gar- rison into the important city of Allahabad. This force was received with a welcome, the Mogul's deputy or governor declaring that his master was no longer a free agent, but a prisoner to the Mahratta chiefs, who were in the habit of subjecting him to the degradation of blows when he refused to sign such grants, firmans, or decrees as they required. The healthy and fertile province of Cooch Bahar had been overrun by the Bootans, a resolute and daring people, who cruelly oppressed the peasantry, and proved turbulent and dangerous neighbours. Hastings sent a detachment, under Captain Jones, to drive out these Bootans and annex the country to the English dominions. At the same time his attention was called to the inroads of the Senassie fakeers, an assemblage of men who united in themselves the several characters of saints, living mart\Ts, prophets, jug- glers, robbers, and cut-throats. Hordes of the same species had long been in the habit of wandering throughout India, almost stark-naked, pretending to live by alms, but stealing, plundering, murdering, and committing every act of violence and obscenity. A host of the kind, headed by an old woman who pretended to the gift of enchantment, had defeated an army of Aurungzebe, and caused that emperor to tremble on his throne at Delhi. They were one of the many scourges to which the country was periodically liable under the imbecile government of the native princes. The pre- sent swarm fell suddenly upon Bengal like a flight of locusts. Dividing themselves into bodies, each two or three * Letter to Sir George Colebrooke, as given by Mr. Gleig, * Memoirs of Warren Hastings.' 1773.] FEESH AEEANGEMENTS. 113 thousand strong, they rushed in search of their prey, and wherever they penetrated they burned the villages, destroyed the crops, and committed their unnameable abominations. Five battalions of sepoys were sent in pursuit of them ; but they moved at a speed that defied the pursuit of any regular infantry; and Hastings, to save the Company's money, had been obliged to discharge nearly all the native cavalry. They were favoured by the superstition and infatuation of a large portion of the population, who considered them saints while committing the greatest sins, and who stood in awe of the supernatural powers to which they laid claim. They indeed seemed gifted with ubiquity : while reported to be beyond the Bramapootra river, they reappeared in the inte- rior of the province. One of their parties fell in with a small detachment of newly-raised sepoys, defeated them, and killed Captain Edwards as he was attempting to rally his men. Another British officer, with an entire battalion, followed them closely, but could never come up with them. Hastings hurried on another detachment to assist in the pursuit, and another to cross the track which the fakeers usually took on their return. Yet, after every exertion by all these corps, no great execution could be done upon the marauders, who, crossing rivers and lofty mountains, got back with their plunder to the wild country that lies be- tween India, Tibet, and China. Their visit proved a serious blow to the revenues of the country, as well from pretended as from real losses. Soon after the departure of the fakeers, Hastings set out on a visit to Oude, the nabob having earnestly requested a personal conference with him at Benares. He arrived at that city on the 19th of August, 1773, and found the nabob waiting his arrival and eager for business. Their conside- rations, final resolutions, and agreements, were these : I. The chiefs of Eohilcund, when recently attacked by the Mahrattas, had made an oft'er of forty lacs of rupees to the nabob of Oude for his assistance, and the nabob of Oude had promised to give half of this money to the Company for the services of English troops and sepoys. The troops of Oude had been of little use, but the troops of the Company, under Sir Eobert Barker, had cleared the coun- try of the Mahrattas ; and yet the Eohilla chiefs refused to pay the forty lacs, or any part of them. The Eohillas had always been turbulent and dangerous neighbours to Oude, 114 THE ROniLLAS. [1773. and must keep our ally the nabob poor and in constant need of English assistance, unless the two allies, by one great effort, for which the nabob was willing to pay a liberal price (and he knew how much the Company stood in need of money), should conquer that Afghan race, who were themselves but conquerors of a recent date, without any right but that of the sword, and without any consideration or mercy for the original and peaceful occupants of the soil, who were tenfold more numerous than themselves. So far from being the industrious, gentle people that English parliamentary orators afterwards chose to fancy them, these Rohillas were about the most predatory, barbarous, and sanguinary of the Afghan tribes. " The Eohilla country," wrote Hastings, " is bounded on the west by the Granges, and on the north and east by the mountains of Tartary. It is to the province of Oude, in respect both to its geo- graphical and political relation, exactly what Scotland was to England before the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It is open on the south where it touches Oude. The reduction of this territory would complete the defensive line of the vizier's dominions, and of course leave us less to defend, as he subsists on our strength entirely. It would also add much to his income, in lohicJi loe should have our share. '^^^ Upon all these and other considerations, Hastings consented to employ an army against the Rohillas, and to unite the country to Oude, the vizier nabob engaging to pay the entire expenses of the war, and to pour into the empty treasury at Calcutta forty lacs of rupees. II. The ruler of Oude was anxious to recover possession of Corah and Allahabad, and the Douab, which stood within his frontiers, and which the poor Mogul could not maintain. Eor fifty lacs of rupees twenty paid on the spot, and thirty to be paid in two years Hastings transferred Corah and Allahabad to Sujah Dowlah. III. As the imauthorized residence of British subjects unconnected with the Company was frequently embarrassing to the Calcutta government, and gave rise to intrigues, it was agreed that no Europeans whatsoever should be per- mitted to reside in Oude without the knowledge and consent of the Company. ly. Cheyte Sing, the young rajah of Benares, was in- * Letter to Mr. Sulivan. 1774:.] INVASION or eohilcukd. 115 eluded in some of the arrangements between Hastings and the nabob of Oude; for Benares, the holy city, with its dependent district, was geographically included in the pro- vince of Allahabad, and JSujah Dowlah, the nabob, had long aimed at the destruction of the young rajah, whom the Eng- lish, by previous treaties, were bound to support. Hastings therefore insisted that all the territorial rights of Cheyte Sing should be confirmed to him, and that Sujah Dowlah should respect his young and weak neighbour. Owing to financial difiiculties, the vizier nabob of Oude requested that the invasion of Eohilcund might be post- poned ; and this was agreed to. Eeturning to Calcutta, Hastings applied himself to the internal administration of Bengal, to the establishment of something like an efiicient police, to the posting of detach- ments so as to prevent the incui'sions of the fakeers and other robbers, to the formation of local forts in the dis- tricts, to the protection of native trade and industry, to the removing impolitic taxes, and fees upon native marriages. Even men in India, unfriendly to this able and indefatigable administrator, confessed that since his return to Calcutta as governor of Bengal, in 1771, the whole country had assumed, or was rapidly assuming, a new aspect. The fearful gaps made in the population by famine and disease began to be filled up ; frequent immigrations of quiet, laborious people from other parts of India sought and found that protection and encouragement under the Company's government which they could find scarcely anywhere else on the vast surface of Hindustan in countries exposed to the ravages of the Mah- rattas, Afghans, Jauts, Decoits, Thugs, Bheels, and other monsters. Bajalis, nabobs, khans, and all grandees, might complain; but the native merchant, manufacturer, tiller of the soil, artisan, all that we call people, were brought to regard Hastings as a benefactor, and to revere his name. " I could have gone," said he, " from Calcutta to Moor- shedabad, and from Moorshedabad to Patna and Benares, without a guard, without a sepoy, without any protection but what was to be found in the good-will and afiection of the natives." Early in the year 1774, the vizier nabob, Sujah Dowlah, applied for the instant marching of the English brigade stationed at Allahabad, as he was now determined to invade Eohilcund. Accordingly, that brigade, under the command I 2 116 EOniLLA WAR. [1774. of Colonel Champion, received orders to move and join the nabob's forces. From the middle of February to the middle of April, Colonel Champion was kept waiting ; but at last the vizier nabob came up with his worthless army, and the open southern frontier of Eohilcund was crossed by the invaders. The Eohillas were found in a good position on the side of the Babul Xulla: nearly their entire force, which probably amounted to about 25,000 fighting men, was collected on that ground ; and they had cavalry, artillery, and rockets. But, on the 23rd of April, when they were attacked by the British brigade, superior discipline and tactics and better arms led to the usual result. They were thoroughly defeated and routed; but their valour and stamina were proved by their fighting, at unusually close quarters, for two hours and twenty minutes, and leaving 2,000 of their number on the field. Several of their sirdars were slain, and among them Hafez Eamet, the head of the confederacy. Tlie nabob behaved as nabobs always did in battle ; he kept at a greajt distance from the English, behind a river, surrounded by his cavalry and artiller}' ; he refused Champion the use of some of his guns and some of his cavahy, nor would he move from his lurking-place until he was well assured of the enemy's total defeat. Then he and his unwarlike rabble moved forward with alacrity, but it was only to plunder the Eohilla camp, which Champion considered as the fair booty of his brigade. " We have the honour of the day," said the colonel, " and these banditti the profit."* Many cruelties and horrors were committed in this Eohilla war not by the English and their disciplined sepoys, who had all the fighting, but by the nabob's rabble, who never fought at all not with the connivance of Hastings, but in spite of his loud and repeated remonstrances. The natural disposition, the habits, the policy, the cool calcula- tions of the English governor, all joined in making him averse to cruelty, bloodshed, and devastation. The quiet Hindii inhabitants, so far from making common cause with the Eohillas, their oppressors, were ready to render all the services against them that their weakness and timidity per- mitted ; yet the nabob's troops fell to plundering and burning their villages. The necessity of clearing the whole region * Letter to Mr. Hastings. 1774.] FTZOOLA KHAy. 117" of the Eoliilla chiefs and their bands, who neither tilled nor spun, who despised every occupation except that of war or plunder, was understood from the first ; but, if the nabob devastated the countn% and scared away its old and peace- ful inhabitants, whose industry paid the revenues, how would the nabob of Oude be able to make his large payments to- the Company ? Hastings enforced these considerations on the commander in the field, and on Mr. Middleton, the resi- dent at the nabob's court, constantly recommending them to protect the poor Hindus. ISi'or did he fail to insist upon a mild and proper treatment for such of the Rohilla chiefs as had fallen into the hands of the vizier nabob. " Tell the- vizier," continued he, " that the English manners are abhor- rent of every species of inhumanity and oppression, and. enjoin the gentlest treatment of a vanquished enemy."* The Bohillas had exhausted all their strength or spirit in- one sharp battle ; they never again made head in the interior of the country against the English, and the rest of the war consisted of skirmishes and pursuit. At Bissolulah, the principal city, in the very centre of Eohilcund, the English found an army of Shah Alum, who had escaped from his Mahratta bondage, and had entered into a secret agreement to assist the vizier nabob in this conquest, upon condition of sharing in the booty, and having part of the subdued ter- ritory. This force had done nothing, and had now nothing to do ; yet Nureef Khan, the commander of it, demanded from Colonel Champion both money and territory. Of course, the khan got nothing, being too weak and cowardly to help himself. Hastings and the council at Calcutta de- cided that the whole of the country should and must remain to Sujah Dowlah, according to their own treaty with him, in which the Mogul was certainly neither named nor thought of. The fugitive Rohillas, under Eyzoola Khan, took up a very strong post near the northern frontiers of the country, expecting to be joined by other tribes of the great Afghan family from the mountains in their rear. It was appre- hended by Sujah Dowlah, that the Mahrattas might come in also, and his fears induced him to open negotiations ^^dth Eyzoola Khan. The English brigade was worn out by long marches and short commons, and Champion and his officers * Letter to Middleton, as given in Mr. Gleig's * Memoirs of Warrea Hastings.' 118 WAREEN HASTINGS. [1774. were thorougUy disgusted with their ally, and all liis concerns. A treaty was therefore hurried to a conclusion, Pyzoola Khan surrendering one-half of his treasure, and one-half of all his effects, to the nabob of Oude, and that nabob granting him the small district of Eampore, in jagheer. Some few chiefs remained with Pyzoola Khan, but the majority went into other countries, to seek new settlements with sword and spear. The Afghan race might almost be said to be rooted out of Eohilcund. Their entire number had probably never exceeded 80,000, counting all classes, and men, women, and children. The Hindii population transferred to the nabob of Oude was estimated at 2,000,000. Just as the first Eohilla war came to this conclusion, the new constitution, as framed by parliament, came into opera- tion. Hitherto, Warren Hastings, as simple governor, had exercised an undivided authority ; but now that he became GrOVEEisroE-GrENERAL, his unity of power was to cease.* * Rev. G. R. Gleig, ' Memoirs ; with Mr. Hastings' own numerous Letters, Despatches, and Memoranda, published therein.' Mills, ' Hist, of British India.* Parliamentary Papers, Evidence against and for Warren Hastings, on the Commons' Charges of Impeachment,' 9 vols, folio, published between the years 1786 and 1794. 1774.] . THE SUrEEME COUNCIL. 119 CHAPTER XIV. The members of council G-eneral Clavering, Mr. Monson, and Mr. Philip Prancis arrived at Calcutta (Mr. Barwell, the fourth member, had been in India long before) on the 19th day of October, 1774. On the following day, the ex- isting government was dissolved by proclamation, and the new council, consisting of the four gentlemen named, and Hastings, with the rank of governor-general of Bengal, took possession of its powers. Of his four colleagues, only IVIr. Barwell, who from long residence had a perfect know- ledge of Indian affairs, was quite acceptable to Hastings. Three seemed to have come out with the predetermination of opposing him in all things, and one of the three Prancis hated him from the beginning with an intensity, of which Eng- lish natures are seldom capable. But the "Eegulating Act " had framed a Supreme Court of Justice as well as a council, and among the judges who had arrived with the members of this new council. Sir Elijah Impey, the senior in rank, was an old and dear friend of the governor-general. They had been school-fellows at "Westminster.* On account of this close friendship, and through incidents of no very moral kind, which brought Mr. Prancis before the Supreme Court to receive sentence of damages from the lips of Sir Elijah, that vindictive member of council soon hated the judge as much as the governor-general. The general letter of the Court of Directors, which was read at the first meeting of the new council, recommended, above all things, unanimity and concord among those to whom the powers of the govern- ment were delegated; and it required them to do their utmost in order to preserve peace in India. But unanimity and concord were incompatible with a body so constituted, and with notions, interests, and ^iews so diametrically * * Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey,* by his son, the late Elijah Barwell Impey, Esq., 1 vol. 8vo. London, 1816. 120 DIFFICULTIES OF nASTINGS. [1774- opposed. The temper of Prancis alone was enougli to intro- duce discord in a paradise. Besides, he, and Clavering, and Monson, who had never been in India before, and who knew marvellously little about the country, had come out to detect and reform abuses, which the long knowledge of Hastings and Barwell viewed in a different light, or with a better acquaintance as to the primary causes of them, and the difficulty of any sudden changes. Correctors of abuses usually find more abuses than really exist ; and no class of men are more intolerable than reformers. Hastings, too, conscious of his own superior knowledge of Indian affairs and the Indian character, and accustomed for some time to an almost undivided authority, was not likely to descend very willingly from a whole, to be only a fifth, or to enter- tain an implicit deference to the opinions of men who had passed their lives in such a different sphere. The natural love of power, and the intimate and unselfish conviction that such a system was the only one suited to the native princes, who had no idea of a divided rule, had led him to act upon advice given to him by Clive, and, at least in his political negotiations, to assume a high and almost single autho- rity. The members of the new council began their open quarrel upon the transactions in Oude and the Eohilla war. They asserted, by implication, that Hastings had embarked in that war for private and sordid motives, and tliat his entire connection with Sujah Dowlah had been directed by fraud and selfishness. As far as money was concerned, these aspersions were most unjust. Hastings was a poorer man now than when he quitted an inferior employment at INIadras. He had made savings, and gathered large contributions, and perhaps, in some cases, neither the economy nor the gain had proceeded upon the strictest principles of justice ; but he had made them solely for the Company's benefit, and mostly at the Company's express command. He was above the sordid motives imputed to him : he was, as many other men have been and are, constitutionally indifferent to money for himself. In 1772, when he assumed the simple governor- ship of Bengal, he found empty coffers, and a large and costly military force to maintain. The famine and its awful con- sequences choked up the sources of the revenue, while the Court of Directors at home were falling into debt, and exhorting him by every ship to remit them money. Long afterwards he said, "When I took charge of the govern- I 1774.] PHILIP FEAXCIS. 121 ment of Bengal, in April, 1772, I found it loaded with debt ; in less than two years I saw that debt completely- discharged, and a sum in ready cash to the same amount in the public treasuries."* It thus becomes easy to con- ceive to what uses he had applied the lacs of rupees obtained from Sujah Dowlah and other native princes. As Francis this name must be put first, for he was ever the most active, and by far the most able of the three - Clavering, and Monson, constituted the majority of the council, wherein, by the "Eegulatmg Act," the vote of the majority w as decisive, they assumed all the powers of govern- ment, and, for a time, reduced Hastings, with his adherent Barwell, to the condition of a cipher. They recalled Mr. Middleton from Oude ; they displaced other able servants who had been trained under Clive and his great successor ; they proceeded to undo nearly all that Hastings had done ; they turned the government into an anarchy, and spread amazement and consternation among the natives. They appeared to have frightened Sujah Dowlah to death. That prince died a few months after their arrival, dictating in his last moments a letter to Hastings, to implore liis pro- tection to his son. The son, who took the name of Asoft-ul- Dowlah, succeeded without opposition to Oude and its depend- encies, which now included Eohilcund. But the new council allowed him not a moment of tranquillity, calling upon him incessantly for money. Through their new resident, Mr. Bristow, they compelled the young nabob to accede to an iniquitous treaty. By this treaty, the Company guaranteed to Asoff-ul-Dowlah the possession of Corah and Allahabad ; but the nabob, in return, ceded to the Company the TEREITORY OfChETTE SiNG, THE RAJAH OF BeNARES, WHICH WAS NOT HIS TO CEDE, AND WHICH HAD BEEN SOLEMNLY GUARANTEED TO THE RA.TAH BY HASTINGS. The reveUUe of Cheyte Sing's territory, thus alienated, was estimated at 22,000,000 of rupees ; but, as this took nothing out of the pocket of the young nabob of Oude, he was bound in the same treaty to discharge all his father's debts and engage- ments whatsoever with the Company, and to raise greatly the allowance to the Company's brigade. Hastings indig- nantly refused to sanction this treaty, which, nevertheless, met the approbation of the Court of Directors. * Warren Hastings, * Memoirs relating to the State of India.' Lon- don, 1787. 122 CONQUEST OF SALSETTE. [1773. The supreme council of Calcutta, as provided by the " Eegulating Act," asserted their authority over the other presidencies, and required from each of them a full report of its actual condition, political, financial, and commercial. The political state of Bombay, which had long been quiet, and removed from the struggles of war, was at this moment sufficiently disturbed, for the council there had entered upon the stormy and puzzling sea of Mahratta politics. The first temptation had been the rich island of Salsette, that lay in their immediate neighbourhood. In 1778, after various other attempts had failed, advantage was taken of the confusion and civil war which ensued on the assas- sination of Narrain Rao, and the election of a new peishwa of the Mahrattas. A considerable force, sent against Sal- sette, stormed the principal fort, and then took quiet pos- session of the island ; to secure this conquest, and to obtain some territory in the neighbourhood of Surat, the Bombay presidency concluded a treaty with Eagoba, one of the aspirants to the musnud. Eagoba made the desired grants, and received his price in English troops and sepoys, with whom he made sure of beating all his competitors. The presidency sent Colonel Keating, with 500 European in- fantry, 80 European artillery, 1,400 sepoys, and 160 lascars, with a field-train, and some heavier pieces, to assist Eagoba, who had himself a large army of horse.* On the 18th of May, 1775, Keating, on the plain of Arras, repulsed the attack of one of the Mahratta confederacies ; but he lost a considerable number of men and officers, and found his movements impeded by a mutiny in Eagoba' s camp. That chief, however, got together some money, paid his troops, and bought over many of his enemies ; and in the month of July, the road to Poena, the Mahratta capital, seemed open to him and his English allies. At this point, the council at Calcutta struck in ; and they did so, without temper, honour, or decency. They ordered the Bombay presidency instantly to recall their troops, and they sent Colonel Upton to Poena. They censured all the negotiations and operations of the presidency, determining, at the same time, that Salsette, and the other territories which had been acquired by them, were to be kept for the Company. Upton's instructions were to treat with such of * Forbes, ' Oriental Memoirs.' Mr. Forbes was at this time private secretary to Colonel Keating, the commanding officer. 1775.] A >'AT1YE COALTTIOK. 123 the cKiefs of the Mahratta confederacy as the supreme coun- cil of Calcutta in their \^'isdom considered as likely to prevail ; but Upton was also furnished with a letter from the said council to Hagoba, in case he should prove the stronger. If the confederac}" succeeded, the letter might be burned ; if they should be defeated, it would serve as an introduction to negotiations Tvith Eagoba. The pertinacity of the Malu'atta chiefs, confederated against Eagoba, in demanding the imme- diate restoration of Salsette,Bassein, and every inch of terri- tory we had acquired, soon induced the supreme council to determine that the peishwa recognized by the presidency of Bombay, was to be recognized by them also, as the rightful sovereign of the Mahrattas, and that the cause of Eagoba was to be supported "with the utmost vigour, and with a general exertion of the whole power of the English arms in India." Upon this, the confederates, hostile to Eagoba, agreed to yield Salsette, and the small islands near to it, to the English, seeing that they would not be satisfied with less ; and no sooner was this settled, than the ruling majority of Calcutta agreed to abandon the cause of Eagoba, and give up their claims to Bassein, etc. A treaty to this effect was concluded by Colonel Upton ; and then Eagoba, knowing that his life was in danger, prayed for an as^'lum in Bombay. That presidency granted his prayer ; but the supreme council sent orders from Calcutta, that they were not to receive him, as such a measure might give umbrage to the confederacy with whom the treaty had been concluded; and Eagoba was therefore condemned to lead a vagabond life. Yerily, Fran- cis, Clavering, and Monson, were proper men to moralize on the political conduct of Clive and Hastings ! While these events were passing in Western India, other hosts of Mahrattas descended into the valley of the Granges, and plundered part of the dominions of the young nabob of Oude. Eumours also arose that there was a new coalition between the Mogul, the Mahrattas, the Sikhs, the Eohillas, and other Afghan tribes, for the conquest of the whole of Oude, and the invasion of Bengal. It was no wisdom or policy on the part of the supreme council that broke up this project ; coalition was dissolved by quarrels among its members and by want of money. If their united forces had advanced rapidly, our Indian empire might have tottered, for there was neither wisdom nor courage in the dominant majority in council ; the natives were bewildered, 124 THE RAJAH NUNCOMAR. [1775. and fast losing their reliance on us, and the army was dis- contented and dispirited. Francis, Clavering, and Monson could think of little else than of the means of ruining Hastings. They calumniated him, they raked up information against him out of the dirt of Calcutta, and they encouraged the greatest villains of the province to stand forward as his accusers.* They brought forward the arch-devil of Bengal, the notorious Rajah Nun- comar avowed by all parties to be the greatest villain in all India to charge the governor-general with having accepted bribes. But Nuncomar came under the grip of English law, which the "Begulating Act" had now established in the country ; he was tried by a most respectable jury, who found him guilty of an old forgery, and by English law he was con- demned to be hanged. The trio who had set him on made not the slightest attempt to save him ; on the contrary, they kept back a petition which the rajah had addressed to the Supreme Court and, as the law then stood, Nuncomar was justly executed.f If the trio in council deprecated war with the native powers, they did so not from any sense of its injustice, but from their calculations that the war would cost more than the prizes of victory would be worth. Without being at war, they tried to make all the subjected and allied parts of India pay war taxes. While the governor-general was spending in the public ser- vice the moderate private fortune he had accumulated, Philip Erancis, a man new to the country, who had never known either toil or danger, was hoarding and scraping, jobbing, speculating, trading, and resorting to all those means which enabled him to return to Europe with a very large fortune. But on the25th of September, 1776, the majority in council was reduced to an equality by the death of Colonel Monson, There thus remained only two on either side, but the cast- ing vote of the governor-general gave him the superiority. Dissensions and manceu\Tes in Calcutta, and misunderstand- ings in the Court of Directors in England, fiir too numerous * Letter to Sulivan, dated February 12th, 1775, as given by Mr. Gleig, in * Memoirs of Warren Hastings.' f I hold that this view of the Nuncomar case is fully made out by the documents quoted by Mr. Elijah Barwell Impey, in his memoirs of his father. But the question had been settled many years before the pub- lication of Mr. Impey's book, by Sir Elijah's own triumphant defence at the bar of the House of Commons. 1777.] TEENCH WITH THE MAnKATTAS. 125 to relate in an epitome of Indian history, then ensued. The disputes rose so high, that the sword of civil war was half unsheathed in the streets of Calcutta. But General Clavering, a man of the sword, and of an impetuous temper, was made to quail before the firm, unflinching civilian War- ren Hastings. At length Colonel Monson's place was filled by Mr. Wheler, who, though he came out expecting to be governor-general himself, consented to hold an inferior post. Wheler commonly voted with i'rancis ; but before that party could recover confidence, it was again reduced to a minority by the death of General Clavering. Hastings had now the preponderancy. This was fortu- nate, as the circumstances of the times Required all his energy and skill. Most of the Mahratta chiefs who had been parties to the treaty with Colonel Upton were weary of their bargain ; fresh intrigues and combinations were form- ing, a French ship had put into one of the Mahratta ports, and a French agent was living at Poena, and exercising great influence in that capital. The presidency of Bombay wrote alarming letters to Calcutta, and recommended a new alliance with Eagoba, in order to anticipate the designs of the French and the Mahratta chiefs. Hastings had long been convinced that our greatest danger in India would pro- ceed from a union of the French with the Mahrattas, and that any attempt of that kind ought to be met on the instant. Without hesitation, Hastings proposed in council, that every possible assistance in men and money should be given to Eagoba and his ally Baboo, and that an army should be sent from Calcutta to Bombay. Francis and Wheler pro- tested ; but in vain. Ten lacs of rupees were immediately forwarded to Bombay, by bills ; and on the 23rd of February, orders were issued for assembling the forces at Culpee. If the army went by sea, they would have to go round nearly the whole of the immense peninsula of India, and it was not the proper season for such a voyage, nor were there transports to carry the troops, or ships of Avar to give them convoy. " Let the army march by land," said Hastings. This was a bold idea, that had not yet presented itself to the mind of any Anglo-Indian soldier or statesman. Francis and Wheler, and many others, said the governor-general was mad. But Hastings had studied the capabilities of the native troops, and had a high reliance on their steadiness and powers of endurance ; and he had long wished for an i 126 A WOKDERPUL 3IARCH. [1778. opportunity to show the might of the Company to some of the princes and potentates of the interior, who, from the remoteness of their situation, had hitherto remained strangers to it. Some good British officers, whom he consulted, saw no impossibility in marching through hostile or unknown regions, from the banks of the Granges to the Grulf of Cam- bay. Taking all responsibility on himself, the governor- general gave the word ' advance.' The army was composed of six native battalions, a corps of native cavalry furnished by the nabob of Oude, and a com- pany of artillery ; altogether, amounting to 103 European officers, 6,234 native troops, with 31,000 followers, includ- ing the bazaar, carriers of baggage, servants of officers, and families of sepoys ; and this host had to march upwards of 1,000 miles through countries where nearly every kind of obstacle had to be overcome. The command was in- trusted to Colonel Leslie, who did not prove worthy of executing so bold and brilliant a conception. Except the officers, there were no British or Europeans of any other nation. The army commenced its march on the 12th of June, 1778. It had not proceeded far, when intelligence was received, that war had been declared between Erance and England. Prancis and AV^heler insisted that the army should he recalled ; but Hastings insisted that it should go on, and that the river Hooghly, Calcutta, and all Bengal, could be very well defended without it. Clive himself could not have shown more resoluteness or more rapidity than did Hastings on this trying occasion. He seized Chanderna- gore, and all the restored Erench factories in Bengal ; he sent orders to the presidency of Madras to occupy Pondi- cherry but, in infraction of the last treaty of peace, Pondi- cherry had been re-fortified, and could not be taken without a siege : he threw up strong works near Calcutta ; he col- lected ships and improvised a regular marine establishment ; he raised nine battalions of sepoys, and a niunerous corps of native artillery ; and, being thus at ease in this quarter, he directed his attention to the other parts of India. Colonel Leslie had been instructed to conciliate where he could, and to fight his way through where he could not. Hastings had previously sent letters and presents to the rajah of Berah and other princes, through whose territories the troops must march. The army met vtith a feeble resist- ance, in crossing the river Jumna, from a Mahratta chief 1779.] CONFLICTS ^YITII THE MAnEATTAS. 127 called Ballajee. This chief also engaged the rajah of Bon- dilcund to oppose it as it advanced up the country. But the rajah and the Mahrattas were beaten and routed, and by the middle of July, Leslie was at Chatterpoor, having been joined by a brother of the rajah, who claimed the musnud, and by several other Bondilcund chiefs. Gro where they woidd in India, the English found disputed successions and mad factions to tempt their ambition, and furnish means for its gratification. Contrary to the advice of Hastings, Leslie entangled himself in the contests of the two brothers. Having reached Eajaghur, a principal city of Bondilcund, the "Country of Diamonds," on the 17th of August, he halted there for a long time, and entered into various private negotiations. But the delay is in part attributable to the indecision of the presidency of Bombay, under whose orders he had been told to consider himself from the moment he had passed the Jumna. Leslie, therefore, remained where he was in Bondilcund, justifying his inacti\dty by showing that a force which was to advance from Bombay to meet him had not taken the field. When he had loitered away four months, busied in what Hastings called '" paltering work," the governor-general recalled him, and gave the command of the army to Colonel Goddard. It is possible that Leslie might have been brought to account at Calcutta for some of his acts and private bargains ; but he died on the 3rd of October, several days before the letter of recall could reach him. Goddard, a much more active and enterprising officer, was released from the authority of the presidency of Bombay, and in structed to judge and act for himself. He forthwith quitted Bondilcimd, and, taking the road through Malwa, he con-^ tinned his march a long Avhile in peace, ease, and plenty, without experiencing any of the many impediments which Leslie had anticipated. He soon crossed the jNTerbudda, and reached the city of Nagpoor. By the 1st of December, Goddard had established friendly relations with the Mah- rattas of Berar. Now he received despatches from the Bombay presidency, acquainting him that they had at last put an army in motion for Poona, and expected that he would meet it in the neighbourhood of that city. This Bombay force, 4,500 strong, under Colonel Egerton, advanced boldly through the ghauts, ai riv^ed at Condala, and by the 4th of January, 1779, were in full marcli for Poona. 128 EEYEESES AND DISOEACE. [1779. Loose bodies of Mahratta horse kept skirmishing and retreat- ing, but Colonel Egerton could nowhere see the friendly Mahratta army which Eagoba (once more in close alliance with us !) had assured him would repair to his standard. Ragoba, who was accompanying Egerton with a very small force, was taken to task ; but he represented that the wavering Mahratta chiefs were not likely to join until the English should have obtained some decisive advantage. Egerton, therefore, kept advancing till the 9th of January, when he was only sixteen miles from Poena, in which neighbourhood he was sure to meet Goddard in a very few days. But here a halt was suddenly ordered, for a large army of Mahratta horse was seen in front. Unfortunately for the credit of the expedition, the Bombay govennnent had sent two civil commissioners into the field with Egerton. The civilians allowed themselves to be overcome by unmanly fears, and, upon pretext that the subsistence of the troops would be very precarious if they advanced they had still in camp provisions for eighteen days! they ordered a retreat. The Mahratta army followed them, cut to pieces nearly 400 men, and carried off the greater part of their baggage and provisions. The two commissioners fell into a state of helplessness and despair ; and even Colonel Eger- ton declared it to be impossible to carry back the army to Bombay. The three deserved hanging, and two of them (the civil commissioners) were well nigh inciirring the risk of a worse fate in a Mahratta prison. A deputation was sent to the enemy to know upon what terms they would condescend to permit the quiet march of the English back to the coast. The Mahratta chiefs demanded that Eagoba should be delivered up to them. With this demand. Colonel Egerton and the commissioners complied, excusing the breach of honour and hospitality, by alleging that Eagoba had opened a correspondence with the enemy. When the Mah- rattas had got Eagoba into their hands, they asked another price for permitting the retreat, and this was nothing less than a new treaty, by which the English shoidd agree to give up all the acquisitions they had made in that part of India since the year 1756, and send orders to Colonel Goddard to return peaceably to Bengal. Egerton and the commissioners did as they were commanded, and signed a treaty to this effect. The Mahratta chiefs then demanded hostages, intimating that they must be men of importance. 1779-80.] COLONEL GODDAED. 129 The irritated army recommended that the two commis- sioners should be delivered over to the harbarians ; but it was finally arranged, that two other civilians should be sent to the Mahratta camp. The dishonoured army was then told it might pursue its march to Bombay, without fear of mo- lestation. In the mean while, Goddard was advancing upon Poona, in the full confidence that lie should meet Egerton and his forces near that city. But when he reached Boorhampoor, 980 miles from Calcutta, Goddard was brought to a halt by perplexing letters and advices. By one letter from the field-commissioners he was told that he must retrace his steps ; by another from the same commissioners he was told that he must pay no attention to what they had said ; but neither the commissioners nor Egerton gave him an account or any intelligible hint of what had befallen their Bombay army. In this state of doubt, Goddard remained at Boorhampoor till the 5th of [February, when he learned the real state of afiairs. Happily he was no Egerton, and had no commissioners with him. He resolved not to be bound by a treaty made by fools and cowards, who had no right to include him in their disgrace. He would bravely continue his march to the western coast, avoiding Poena, and making direct for Surat, where he would be in an English settlement, with the sea open to Bombay. But Surat was nearly 250 miles off", the disposition of the inter- vening country very doubtful, and a great and increasing army of Mahratta horse was hanging on his rear. His deci- sion and rapidity, the discipline and orderly conduct of his tive Bengal infantry, coidd alone save him from destruc- n or dishonour.* But he and his army were preceded by he sweet odour of a good name. In the course of their long and toilsome marches from Bondilcund, no plunder- ing, no excesses, no insults or wrongs of any kind had been permitted. Hence, the country people flocked to supply them with provisions, and to render such information and services as they could. From Boorhampoor to ^ the ast his route lay in tlie most fertile and best-cultivated Ids of Ayestem India, thickly dotted with open villages nd defenceless towns ; but the same morality was kept up, * For the formation and gradual improvement of these valuable troops, the reader is referred to Captain Williams's ' Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Bengal Native Infantry.' 8vo. London, 1817. K m 130 MAIIIIATTA WARFAEE. [1780. the ai'my touclied nothing without paying for it, and was consequently befriended and always well provided by the natives. Goddard and his sepoys performed the 250 miles' march in nineteen days, and entered Surat amidst acclama- tions. They had achieved a triumph more valuable than any victory ; they had left a moral impression which could not soon be effaced, and which was scarcely overrated by Hast- ings. "Be assured," wrote the governor-general to one of the directors, " that the successful and steady progress of a part, and that known to be but a small part, of the military force of Bengal from the Jumna to Surat, has contributed more than, perhaps, our more splendid achievements to aug- ment our military reputation, and to confirm the ascendant of our influence over aU the powers of Hindustan. To them, as to ourselves, the attempt appeared astonishing and imprac- ticable, because it had never before been made or suggested. It has shown what the British are capable of eflecting."* Colonel Groddard was promoted to the rank of general, and was ordered to take upon himself all future wars or negotiations with the Mahrattas. Eagoba, that man of many adventures, escaped from his confinement at Poona, and took refuge with the English in Surat. Groddard pro- posed an amicable treaty with the Poona confederacy, upon the basis that they should annul the dishonourable treaty extorted from Egerton and the commissioners, and renounce all connection with the Trench. The Mahratta chiefs required as a preliminary that Bagoba should be given up, and Salsette restored. Goddard would have been blown from the mouth of a cannon rather than consent to such condi- tions. He took the field at the beginning of January, 1780. In a few days he reduced the fortress of Dubhoy and carried by storm the important city of Ahmedabad, the ancient capital of Goozerat. He was recalled in the direction of Surat by intelligence that a Mahratta army, 40,000 strong, under the two great chiefs, Scindia and Holkar, was approaching that city. On the 4th of March he was close up with this army, and would have attacked it that very night if the Mahrattas had not liberated the two English hostages and sent them to his camp with a vakeel or agent to open new negotiations. Einding that the Mahrattas were only seeking to gain time until the setting in of the rains, * Letter to Mr. Sulivan, as given by Mr. Gleig. 1780.] STOllMING OF GWALIOE. 131 Groddard tore up their papers and put his troops in motion. As their army was all cavalry, Scindia and Holkar were enabled for many days to avoid an attack ; but, on the 3rd of April, between night and morning, he, with a select part of his army, surprised them in their camp and put them to the rout. Their flight left him undisputed master of all the country between the mountains and the sea. In the mean time Warren Hastings had formed an alliance with an Hindu prince, commonly called the raiuia of Gohud, who possessed an extensive hilly country between the territories of the great Mahratta chief Scindia and the kingdom of Oude ; and Captain Popham, with a small force, had been detached from Bengal to assist the ranna in expelling a Mahratta invasion. Popham, a brave, active officer, worthy of co-ope- rating with Groddard, had taken the field at the beginning of the year, had driven out the Mahrattas from the dominions of the ranna, had crossed Scinde, had followed the Mah- rattas into their own territory, and had taken by storm their- fortress of Lahar. Hastings would have greatly reinforced. Popham ; Francis protested ; but another detachment was sent to join Popham. Before it had time to arrive, Popham, with extraordinary daring, took by escalade the fortress of Grwalior, one of the very strongest in all India, built upon a lofty and almost perpendicular rock, and at that time defended by a numerous garrison. The brave young Bruce, who led the escalading and storming party, was one of a family insensible to danger ; he was brother of Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller. Upon the fall of Grwalior, the Mah- rattas abandoned all that part of the country. The opposition to this brilliant campaign of Captain Popham was about the last pubHc act in India of Mr. PhiHp Francis. A truce or concihation had been effected between the governor-general and this discordant member of council, Francis agreeing to cease or moderate his opposition, and Hastings agreeing to concede to Francis a larger share in the distribution of places of honour and profit. But no truce could be of long duration between such contracting parties. No sooner had Mr. Barwell, the supporter of the governor- general in the council, taken his departure for England, than Francis renewed his opposition, and again endeavoured to thwart the campaign of Popham, and every project that lay firest the heart of the governor-general. Irritated in the reme, Hastings, in answering a minute of council, wrote : k2 1'32 DUEL AVITH FRANCIS. [17S0. " I do not trust to Mr. Francis's promises of candour, con- vinced that he is incapable of it. I judge of his public con- duct by his private, which I have found to be void of truth and honour." Although Francis well merited the reproach, he could not do less than challenge the governor-general, who shot him through the body. The wound, thought to be dangerous, did not prove mortal. But Francis, wlio had **' feathered his nest," resigned his place and returned home a few months after the duel, to the incalculable advantage of our interests and honour in India.* * Rev, G. R. Gleig, 'Memoirs of Warren Hastings.' Major Wilks, * Sketches of the South of India.' ' Wars in Asia,' by an officer of Colonel Baiilie's detachment, London, 1780. 1780.] WAR WITH MYSORE. 133 CHAPTER XV. The pride and confidence of the Mahrattas had been lowered by Groddard and Popham, when the Mysoreans again took the field and threatened the entire subversion of the English power on the coast of Coromandel. Eor the space of seven years Hyder Ali had been con- certing schemes with the French at Pondicherry, improving and increasing his army, and preparing the nerves of war by squeezing his subjects and plundering his neighbours. The treasury of Mysore was certainly well filled, and all the ^veight which money could give was on the side of Hyder, when, in the summer of 1780, he quitted Seringapatam, and ])oiu*ed through the ghauts with 15,000 drilled infantry, iO,000 peons, 28,000 cavalry, 2,000 artillery and rocket- iiien, and 400 Erench and other European adventurers. There was a complete staflf of French ofiicers to guide the operations. The artillery exceeded 100 pieces of all calibres. To meet this immense force, the presidency of Madras had an empty exchequer, a divided council, an army of 6,000 men, mostly sepoys ; and these troops, wholly unpre- pared, were scattered over a wide tract of country. As for the forces of their ally, the nabob of the Carnatic, there was no reliance to be put in them : they ran away, or they deserted to Hyder so soon as his army defiled through the ghauts. The Mysoreans captured and plundered Porte Xovo on the coast, and Conjeveram, close to Trichinopoly, and kindled fires that were seen by night from the top of Mount St. Thomas, close to Madras. That presidency sent to Calcutta to implore the governor-general to forward Fthem help, and, above all, money. With money all would go roll, but without money the Coromandel coast would be lost, and a death-blow given to the British empire in India. Hastings knew these truths, and he filled a purse for Madras 131 DEFEAT OF COLONEL BAILLIE. [1780. as best he could. Before his money, a French armament arrived on the Coromandel coast. The presidency of Madras gave contradictory orders to the officers commanding their scattered army, and there appears to have been no concert or good understanding among the commanders of their forces. Colonel Baillie allowed himself to be surrounded near Conjeveram by Hyder's main body. His weak battalions defended them- selves most gallantly, and for many hours, and they would have fought on still, if Baillie had not gone forward, waving his white handkerchief, to ask for quarter, and had not ordered his men to lay down their arms. The termination of the affair was a cowardly butchery of one-half of the English who had survived the carnage of the battle, and a horrible captivity to the rest.* Just before this unequal battle began, Sir Hector Monro, with another division of the Madras army, was within a short march of Hyder's rear. Had Monro come up, the Mahrattas must have been defeated ; but it was pleaded in excuse of his reticence, that his rice-bags were empty, and his troops half starved. As the money which Hastings was collecting in Bengal had not yet arrived, the excuse may liave been founded on truth. Upon learning the dreadful <3atastrophe of Baillie, Sir Hector abandoned his tents and baggage, threw his heavier guns into a tank, and fled to Madras. A great part of the country was again laid waste, and within a few weeks, AYandewash, Chingliput, Vellore, and Arcot were either captured or closely besieged. But for Hastings, the game was up in the Carnatic and the Northern Circars. He soon sent fifteen lacs of rupees to Madras as a present supply for the army, with a promise that more money should be forthcoming. His missives and agents were sent flying through the country to procure it at Moorshedabad, at Patna, at Benares, at Lucknow, in every place where the governor-general had a claim, or could invent one for all considerations gave way in his mind to the paramount duty of preserving the British empire in the east. The inert governor of Madras was recalled, and Sir Eyre Coote was invited to take the command and the entire * Colonel Wilks, ' Historical Sketches of the South of India,' &c. * Wars in Asia,' by an officer of Col. Baillie's detachment, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1788. ' Tippoo Sultan, Memoirs of,' by an Officer in the E. I. Company's service, 8vo. Calcutta, 1819. 1781.] MAECH OF PEAESE. 135 management of the war. Peace was concluded with the Mahratta Scindia, and the brave and alert Popham was called down from the Jumna. The veteran Coote took with him from Calcutta 500 choice British troops, 600 lascars, and between 40 and 50 gentlemen volunteers ; for, seeing that further reinforce- ments would be required in the Carnatic, and well knowing, since Groddard's progress to Surat, that the native troops might be trusted on the longest marches, Hastings, early in the ensuing year, 1781, started Colonel Pearse from Cal- cutta with five small regiments of native infantry, some native cavalry, and a miniature train of artillery, to find or force his way through Cuttack, the Northern Circars, and half of the Carnatic, a distance of more than 1,100 miles, and through a country cut up by many rivers, which were all to be crossed where broadest and deepest, or nearest their mouths. Pearse and his gallant Bengal detachment behaved quite as well as Goddard and that little native army ; they overcame all obstacles, made friends on the route, reached Madras at a most critical juncture, and were eminently useful in that quarter, particularly in the attack on the French lines at Cuddalore, in 1783. " There are no difficulties," said Hastings, "which the true spirit of mili- tary enterprise is not capable of surmounting."* in the mean time. Sir Eyre Coote had taken the field against the Mysoreans, with 1,700 Europeans and about 5,000 native troops. He marched to recover "Wandewash, which had been the scene of his greatest exploit. Terrified at his name, Hyder Ali abandoned "Wandewash, raised several of his sieges, and seemed on the point of flying back through the ghauts. But at this moment, a Erench fleet came to anchor off" Pondicherry, and Coote was obliged to encamp on the hills behind that city. On taking Pondi- * These words were contained in one of the last General Orders Hast- ings issued to the army of Bengal. They were addressed to Goddard's corps, which had returned home after five years' absence, and most active service. When Colonel Pearse's detachment, which had been reduced by service from 5,000 to 2,000 men, returned to Bengal, after an absence of four years, Hastings treated them with all possible honour and distinction : he visited them, he talked to them, and his personal conduct towards both the European officers and the natives gave grace to his public measures. A lasting impression was made on the minds of all. Others were stimu- lated to future exertions by his present conduct. i 136 IITDER ALI IN THE CARNATIC. [1781. clierry (after a siege) at the breaking out of this war with France, Sir Hector Monro had partly destroyed the fortifi- cations, and had put a very small garrison in the town. Even this garrison had been withdrawn at the beginning of Hyder's present invasion. The French officers had given their parole, the inhabitants had been protected and allowed to continue their trade ; but the temptation was too great, and when it was seen that the English were losing ground, and known that a great armament was coming from France, they had clapped the English resident in prison, flown to arms, enlisted sepoys, and collected provisions for an army in Karangotty, at a convenient distance from Porto Xovo. Coote now disarmed the inhabitants of Pondicherrv, and marched away to destroy their depot. Hyder, emboldened by the presence of the French fleet seven ships of the line and three frigates had descended to the coast, and he now moved on the right flank of the English, with the evident intention of protecting the depot, and keeping open his communications with the fleet. At one time, the two armies were close to each other, and Coote told his men that the day of victory had arrived. But Hyder would not accept the challenge to battle; and very soon he moved rapidly back into the interior, despondent and terror-stricken at the sudden departure of the fleet from Pondicherry. With the old apprehension of the approach of a superior EngHsh force, the French set sail for the Mauritius, on the 15th of February, 1781. Coote could not follow the IMysorean army, for a sickness broke out in his camp, and the countiy had been so wasted that he could find no forage for his cattle. Penetrating into Tanjore, Hyder ravaged that beautiful district. His son Tippoo made a rush at Wandewash, and even laid siege to that place. Sir Edward Hughes, with an English squadron, destroyed Hyder's infant navy in his own ports of Calicut and Mangalore, and about the middle of June arrived at Madras with some reinforcements. On the 18th of June, Coote attacked the fortified pagoda of Chillambaram, near Trichinopoly, about thirty miles S.W. from Cuddalore, and was repulsed with very considerable loss. This affair gave Hyder such confidence, that he came again down to the coast, and encamped at Cuddalore. He took up good ground, and made lines and formidable re- doubts, after the plans drawn for him by French officers. 1782.] coote's campaign. 137 He had three whole days for these operations ; but, during that time, Sir Edward Hughes landed men and guns, pro- visions and ammunition, and early in the morning of the fourth day the 1st of July Coote, advancing from Porto Xovo, fell upon his host of 80,000 with 7,000 men, forced his lines, carried his batteries, and gave him a thorough defeat. Leaving more than 3,000 dead upon the field, and raving and tearing his clothes, Hyder fled on a fleet horse, and was soon out of sight with all his cavalry. Coote had no cavalry to pursue him. He was next heard of at Arcot, whither he had recalled Tippoo from Wandewash. He began to have a correcter notion of the spirit and resources of his enem}^ "The defeat of many Baillies," said he, " will not destroy these English. I can ruin their resources by land, but I cannot dry up the sea." He sore regretted having allowed himself to be drawn into the war by French councils ; and he bitterly complained of having been deluded by expectations of a great Erench force. He determined, however, to risk another battle, for the defence of Arcot. The ground he chose was the very spot where Baillie's detachment had been annihilated, and which he therefore considered a lucky spot. He was again defeated ; but this time Coote's army sustained a severe loss. This was on the 27th of August. On the 27th of September, another battle was fought in the pass of Sholinghur, near Yellore. Here Hyder was routed with terrible loss ; and our fortress of A^ellore, one of the keys of the Carnatic, almost reduced to extremities by famine, was relieved and saved. The rains, the monsoon floods, and the rising of the rivers, put an end to any further extensive operations ; but before Coote retired into cantonments, Chittore, Palipett, and other places we had lost, were recovered. During the campaign, on the 22nd of June, Lord Ma- cartney, an able and excellent man, had arrived at Madras as governor of that presidency. His lordship brought intelli- gence of the declaration of war between England and Hol- land ; and his first care was to gain possession of all the Dutch factories or settlements on that coast. This was done with admirable rapidity. Sadras and Pulicat surren- dered without fighting, and Xegapatam yielded to a bom- bardment. The prize at the last-named place, in arms, ^^varlike stones, and merchandise, was of great value, and 138 DEFEAT OF COL. BEATHWAITE. [1782. operations Lord Macartney had only some gentlemen volun- teers, some of the Madras militia, and sailors, and a few- marines taken out of our men-of-war. jN'othing more remained in that quarter to take from the Dutch; but on the other side of Polk's Strait was the island of Ceylon, all access to which the Dutch had most jealously guarded for more than a hundred years, and there they held the town and famed port of Trincomalee. Lord Macartney resolved to add these to the list of conquests. Admiral Hughes, taking on board only 500 land-troops, sailed from ]N"egapatam on the 2nd of January, 1782, and by the 11th of the same month the English were masters of the town and port one of the most important harbours in all India, the most secure place of refuge for ships surprised by storms, and so conveniently situated with reference to our settlements on the Coromandel coast, that a ship may reach it from Madras in two days. Colonel Brathwaite, after assisting Lord Macartney in the reduction of Negapatam, had returned into Tanjore with the view of recovering some of the fortresses of that country which had been taken by Hyder and his son Tippoo, rather by bribery than by force of arms. By the same arts, Brath- waite was now deceived and misled by his Tanjorean allies ; and w^iile encamped on the left bank of the Cavery, on the 18th of February, he was surprised, enveloped, and de- stroyed, by Tippoo and a Trench corps, after maintaining a most unequal struggle from sunrise to sunset. The circum- stances of Brathwaite' s defeat resembled those of Colonel Baillie's : he had only 100 English, 1,500 sepoys, and 300 native horse ; while Tippoo had 10,000 cavalry, 10,000 in- fantry, 20 pieces of artillery, and 400 Europeans, com- manded by Erench officers. The Erench decided the long and obstinate contest by charging our exhausted sepoys with the bayonet. The massacre of the prisoners was prevented by the humanity and courage of the Erench officers, who were seen risking their own lives, and cutting down Tippoo' s savages to save the wounded and defenceless English. The few survivors of this bloody field among whom was Colonel Brathwaite himself were soon immured in the horrible dungeons of Seringapatam. This disaster was scarcely counterbalanced by successes obtained on the yerj same day over Hyder Ali on the Malabar coast. The regular cavalry of Madras the first arm of the kind 1782.] MADEAS CAYALEY. 139 we had in India was originally raised by our ally Mohammed Ali, the nabob of the Carnatie. The first corps embodied into a regiment under the command of European officers had served in the campaign against the Mysoreans in 1768. From 1771 to 1776, this cavalry force was greatly aug- mented ; but then most unfortunately it had been allowed to decline both in numbers and in efficiency. It was through our weakness in this arm that Hyder and Tippoo had gained their advantages, and had so often escaped our pur- suit. Towards the close of this present war, these cavalry corps were strengthened and improved ; and in 1784, when the war was finished, they were formally transferred, with the English officers attached to them, from the nabob's to the Company's service. Erom that moment all the mutinies among them, caused by the intrigues of a venal court and irregular payments, ceased altogether, and for a period of more than sixty years their career has been one of faithful service and brilliant achievements. Among their brave subahdars, who live in the traditions of our native armies, and whose name and fame are preserved in the history of British India, Secunder Beg, Cawder Beg, and Sheik Ibra- him, were the most remarkable.* * * Quarterly Review,' vol. xviii. Sir John Barrow, ' Account of the Public Life of the Earl of Macartney.' Colonel Wilks, ' Historical Sketches of the South of India.' * Memoirs of the late Wars in India.' Captain Williams, * Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Bengal Native Infantry.' Rev. G. R. Gleig, * Memoirs of Warren Hastings.' M 110 WAE IX THE CABXATIC. [1782. CHAPTER XVL But the war of the Carnatic was now to rage by sea as well as by land ; and Bussy, the Clive of the Erench, was returning to take the command on the field of his early exploits and glory. The French government sent out Admiral SufFrein with ships and troops, SufFrein had an adventurous voyage. Among the Cape de Verd Islands, he encountered the sqnadron of Commodore Johnstone, who, after an indecisive battle, followed him as far as the Cape of Good Hope, and who probably might have spoiled his voy- age if he had not preferred capturing five rich Dutch East- Indiamen in Saldanha Bay. Johnstone returned home with his prizes ; but a part of his squadron, with transports having on board British troops for India, followed in the track of Admiral Suffrein. The Erench put into the Isle of Erance, where they were joined by more troops, and by several other ships. The English, whose crews were sickly, stopped at the Isle of Johanna some twenty-four days. Erom these two new starting-points Johanna and the Isle of Erance the Erench had a quicker and more fortunate passage than the English. Elaving captured on his way the Han- nihal, a fifty-gun ship, which had been separated from the rest of the English squadron, Suftrein reached the Coroman- del coast early in January, with his ships all safe, and with 3,000 land-troops on board, two-thirds being veteran E'rench soldiers, and the other third Caftres, and all under the com- mand of Bussy. Admiral Sir Edward Hughes was at this moment engaged in reducing [or settling Trincomalee. Our squadron from England was not long behind the Erench. Separating into two divisions, one division ran for Bombay under the impression that the Erench armament was destined for that neighbourhood, and the other went in quest of Admiral Hughes without knowing where he was stationed. The first K 17S2.] BATTLES AT SEA. 141 of these divisions readied Bombay on tlie 22nd of January, having part of the British troops on board under the com- mand of Colonel Humberstone Mackenzie. All was quiet in that neighbourhood ; but, after some hesitation, Mackenzie boldly resolved to attempt a diversion on the Malabar side of Hyder's dominions, and on the 18th of February he landed his troops at Calicut. He had with him scarcely 1,000 men; but there was already a detachment of Bombay sepoys on that part of the coast iinder Major Abingdon, who had compelled Cahcut to surrender on the 12th of February ; and when these forces were united, Mackenzie was quite strong enough to dri^^e before him a Mysorean army, to take several towns and fortresses, and to create a panic in the mind of Hyder, who was under the necessity of weakening his army in the Carnatic, in order to check the English in Malabar. Meanwhile, Sir Edward Hughes, leaving a small garri- son in Trincomalee, had returned to Madras on the 8th of Ecbruary, without encountering the very superior force of Suffrein, although he had passed very near it. With equal good fortune, the part of the squadron from England which had separated from the rest on the western coast, and which had on board 1,000 or 1,200 British troops, ran past the Erench and joined Hughes at Madras on the 9th. Sir Edward now counted nine sail of the line ; but six of these ships were foul and damaged from long service in the Indian seas. On the 15th Suffrein appeared off Madras, with twelve ships of the line and six frigates. The Erench admiral had expected to find Hughes with only six ships of the line. He Avas a brave man ; but the positive orders of his government were to act with extreme caution, s their finances could not bear the equipping of another eet for the East. Therefore, Suffrein, instead of coming o action, bore away to the southward. Hughes weighed and followed him. On the 16th, the English ships that were clean and coppered came up with and captured six il of Suffrein' s convoy, one of these sail being a large rench transport, loaded with shot, powder, and guns, and having on board many officers, and 300 soldiers. Suffrein, Hughes had anticipated, wore round to protect the rest _ f his convoy. During that night the hostile fleets came close together, and on the following morning they came into action. Inferior as was their force, the English severely 142 M. BrssT AND Tippoo. [1782-3. punished the French ships, and after a short but sharp action, Suftrein bore away for Porto IS'ovo, where the Myso- reans had a footing, and where the French were presently joined by Tippoo, fresh from the slaughter of Colonel Brathwaite's division in Tanjore. As Hughes had been obliged to make for Trincomalee, in order to repair his damaged masts and spars, Suifrein quietly landed at Porto Novo M. Bussy, with his Frenchmen and Caifres, artillery and stores. It was soon found that M. Bussy was not the man he had been twenty years before. He united his forces with the army of Tippoo ; but they performed no exploit till the beginning of April, when they captured Cuddalore a convenient station for the French fleet. On the 8th of April, Hughes, who had refitted and who had escorted to Madi'as a fleet of our Indiamen, found him- self almost within gun-shot of Suffrein ; he pursued his course to Ceylon, to execute his more immediate object, which was to strengthen the garrison at Trincomalee ; but he was closely followed by the French, who brought hitn to action on the morning of the 12th, when his ships were on a dangerous lee shore. The combat, beginning at noon and lasting till dark, was hot and bloody, each side losing from 500 to 600 men in killed and wounded ; but, after aU, it was a drawn battle, Hughes reaching his port of destina- tion, and Sufirein bearing up for the Dutch harbour of Bathcola. From Cuddalore, Bussy and Tippoo marched upon "Wan- dewash. Coote, though now worn out by age, and suiFer- ing from a recent apoplectic attack, advanced rapidly to the relief of that place, and on the 24th of April, en- camped on the very spot where he had defeated Lally and Bussy in the year 1760. He had been reinforced by some of the fresh British troops which had been landed by the division of our squadron in the month of February. Instead of accepting the battle he offered, Bussy and Tippoo re- treated before Coote. The English had then threatened the strong fort of Amee, where Hyder had deposited plun- der and provisions. The old Mysorean advanced in person for the defence of the place, and fought a loose battle, in which he sustained some loss ; but, while he was facing Coote, his son Tippoo succeeded in carrying off" the plunder and provisions from Amee. Bussy now retreated towards Pondicherry, Hyder put 1782-3.] DEFEAT OF M. SUFFEEI^f. 143 himself in quarters near the coast, and Tippoo and a strong French detachment hurried away in the direction of Calicut. On the Malabar coast the affairs of Hyder seemed going to ruin, for the Nairs or Hindu chiefs, who had been cruelly oppressed by the Mysoreans, were rising in arms and joining the English under Colonel Mackenzie. At this critical juncture, when experience had shown him that, even with the aid of his Trench allies, it was very doubt- ful whether he could maintain his ground in the Carng-tic, Hyder was thrown into utter dismay by learning the result of Hastings' successful policy, or the conclusion of a treaty between the English and the Mahrattas. He expected every moment to have the Mahratta confederacy upon him ; and on a former occasion the Mahrattas alone had been more than a match for his Mysoreans. At the same time, he suspected and dreaded the Erench, whom he was deter- mined, on no account, to admit in any force into Mysore. He was always fancying that the Mahrattas were falling upon his country ; he was haunted by visions of conspiracy and murder, and his health, which had been declining be- fore, was quite broken by his anxieties. He however per- mitted himself to be persuaded by M. Bussy that the war in the Camatic was not yet hopeless, and that means might be found to counteract Hastings, and win over the fickle Mahrattas ; and while the cunning old man had amused Sir Eyre Coote, and kept him in a state of inactivity, by intimating that, he might accede to the governor-general's treaty with the Mahrattas and become a party to it, he was prepared to co-operate with M. Bussy in an attack upon iS'egapatam. The success of the powers contending on shore mainly depended on the operations of the French and English fleets. On the 3rd of July, another drawn battle was fought between Suffrein and Hughes, after which the Erench went to anchor at Cuddalore, and the English at Madras. Suf- frein was the first to be ready for sea, and making again for Ceylon, and being joined on that coast by two more ships of the line, fresh from Europe, and with land-troops on board, he made a dash at Trincomalee. The weak garrison surrendered on the 31st of August, and on the 2nd of [September, Admiral Hughes had arrived. Preferring fighting with sea-room to being attacked in the bay, Suf- frein came out, and another battle, far more desperate than 141 PAMIXE IX THE CAENATIC. [1783. either of the preceding ones between him and Hughes, took place, the French having sixteen sail of the line, and the English t^Yelve. As night set in, the French ran back to Trincomalee, and in such confusion, that one of their best ships ran ashore and was lost, and two others missed the mouth of the bay, and fell down the coast. The slaughter on board the French ships had been unprecedented ; in his own ship, which was crowded wdth people, SufFrein counted 380 in killed and wounded : his total loss in killed and wounded exceeded 1,000. Admiral Hughes, annoyed at the loss of tlie town of Trincomalee, returned to Madras, where he found Sir Eyre Coote determined to make an attack upon the French lines at Cuddalore, though almost deprived of the use of his limbs by another paralytic seizure. Coote wanted the admiral to remain and co-operate, but the admiral said that he could not stay with aiiy safety to his ships during the monsoon. There w^ere some bickerings about his going (he sailed on the 15th of October, and got weU out to sea on that day) ; but it proved to be a most happy thing that he w'as gone. In the coiu-se of that night, the well-known roar of the coming monsoon was heard at Madras, and the surf began to shake the coast ; and by the next morning the strand was covered wdth wrecks or fragments of mer- chant ships that had stayed behind when Hughes took his departure. With these ships had perished all the rice and other provisions of Coote' s army. There had been scarcity before, but now there was famine. Thousands of the poor natives of the Carnatic, who had fled from Hyder to seek refuge in Madras, were the first to feel the horrors ; calling upon the English for help, which the English had not the means of giving, they died by hundreds ; and they soon had fellow-sufferers. The roads that led to the town, and the streets of the town itself, were strewed with the dead and dying. It is said that 10,000 poor souls perished before supplies of rice could be obtained from Bengal and other parts. Four or five days after the departure of Sir Edward Hughes, Sir Eichard Bickerton put into Madras Eoad with some ships of war and land-troops from England ; but, having no provisions to spare after his long voyage, and considering it to be at once his duty and the only mode of securing his ships menaced by the monsoon and by 1783.] BATTLE or PANiAxr. 145 Suffrein's vast superiority to join the admiral, lie put again to sea, and made for Bombay. Shortly after his departure. Sir Eyre Coote, more dead than alive, was embarked for Calcutta. The command now devolved on Greneral Stuart, who sent 500 men to reinforce our garrison at ]N[egapatam, 400 Euro- peans to co-operate with the Bombay and Bengal forces under Goddard (who was preparing to invade Mysore), and 300 Europeans to strengthen our forces in the Circars. But both Bussy and Suffrein became quite inactive. They did not attack JSTegapatam when the garrison was weak ; they did not attempt to intercept the small squadron of Bickerton ; they made no attempt against Madras when it was famine- stricken and in panic ; and they allowed the place to be revictualled from the Circars and from Bengal. The health of Hyder was now desperate, and Tippoo was at a distance on the Malabar coast with ample work in hand for his 20,000 Mysoreans and 400 Frenchmen. Colonel H. Mac- kenzie, who had made for Himself a strong party in Malabar, was pressing on IMysofe, and was preparing for the siege of Palagatcherry, not many marches from Seringapatam, when the approach of Tippoo constrained him to fall back upon the coast. The English drew up at Paniany, a sea-port town about thirty-five miles from Calicut. Here Tippoo attacked them on the 28th of jS'ovember, and sustained himself a terrible defeat. Just after this reverse, Tippoo received intelligence of his father's death ; and it be- hoved him to look after his inheritance, for he had brothers and cousins. He therefore left the Malabar army to secure the musnud and the treasury at Seringapatam. Having done this and seen his father interred, he hastened to join the main army in Mysore, scorning all overtures for a peace with the English. This was at the end of Decem- ber. On the 4th of January (1783), Greneral Stuart took the field against him. The immense Mysorean army, though joined by 900 French veterans, 2,000 disciplined sepoys, 250 Caffres, and twenty-two French field-pieces, retreated before Stuart, whose entire force consisted of about 14,000 men but of that number nearly 3,000 were first-rate British troops. Tippoo crossed the river Arnee in disorderly haste, and recalled his garrisons from Arcot and other places. It became evident that he was evacu- ating the whole of the Carnatic. He was not, however, L 146 GEN. MATHEWS AT BEDXOEE. [1783. flying so mucli from Stuart, as flying to defend his own dominions, now again seriously menaced by the English. Soon after the retiring of Tippoo from the Malabar coast. Colonel Humberstone Mackenzie carried his forces to the coast of Canara, to co-operate with a part of the army of Bengal, in reducing some of the richest provinces or dependencies of Mysore. He reached his point in the month of January, having displayed skill, precision, and courage. Unhappily, General Mathews, who had arrived at Bombay from England, with king's troops, came and took the command over him. The fort of Onore was taken by storm, the range of rocks which runs between the coast and Bednore were scaled, the steep ghauts, though defended at intervals by batteries, were cleared by the bayonet, and on the 26th of January, the rich capital of Bednore sur- rendered to the English. Most of the other forts in the country surrendered at or before a summons ; but Anan- pore and Man galore held out. Ananpore was carried by storm, and Mangalore, situated on the coast, surrendered as soon as a breach was made. This career of conquest was checked by the meanness and avarice of General Mathews, who wanted to keep all the spoil to himself, and to give nothing either to the British or to the native troops who, for several months, had received not a single rupee of pay. Colonel Macleod, Colonel H. Mackenzie, and Major Shaw, left the army and repaired to Bombay, to lay their complaints before the governor and council.* After their departure, Mathews behaved like a madman ; he scattered his army all over the country in contemptible mud forts ; he sent the brave 42nd Highlanders back to the coast ; and he fixed his head-quarters in the city of Bednore, without laying in a stock of ammuiution and provisions, or doing any- thing to strengthen the fort. He was in this state of stupid security when Tippoo, on the 9th of April, appeared in the * The council agreed that Mathews should be superseded, and Colonel Macleod, raised to the rank of brigadier-general, sent back to Bednore to take the command. Humberstone Mackenzie and Major Shaw accom- panied General Macleod ; but on their voyage along the coast they were attacked, in a weak, small vessel, by five Mahratta pirates, who killed or wounded nearly every Englishman on board. Major Shaw was despatched outright; Colonel H. Mackenzie died of his wounds, and General Mac- leod was carried into Gheriah. The general, however, was liberated from his captivity, and soon appeared with an am ament on the Malabar coast. 17S3.] BEENADOTTE AT CUDDALOEE. 147 neiglibourliood with tlie great army which he had with- drawn from the Carnatic. Mathews threw himself into the fort, and there capitulated to Tippoo, on the last day of April. He had been promised very honourable terms, but the Myso- rean, instead of allowing him and his troops to retire with the honours of war to the coast, bound them all with chains or ropes, and sent them to his dungeons in Mysore. Tippoo then went through the ghauts and down to Mangalore, in which the 42nd and a few other troops had thrown them- selves. This was an important place, the harbour being the best on the coast of Canara ; and about the middle of May, Tippoo and his French allies invested it. This siege detained them for months from more important services, and, after all, Mangalore was not taken. The departure of the Mysoreans from the Carnatic had left Greneral Stuart no enemies in that country except the French and their sepoys, who remained behind their fortified lines at Cuddalore. Sir Ejve Coote had returned to the coast, to re- sume the chief command and expel these French, but a third fit had proved fatal, and he had died on the 26th of April, three days after landing at Madras. Stuart lost time, and when, on the 13th of June, he attacked their lines, the French had made themselves so strong, that he was repulsed with loss. On the very next day. Sir Edward Hughes appeared in the ofiing to co-operate in the attack on the lines of Cuddalore, but he was closely followed by M. Suifrein. The two admi- rals tacked and manoeuvred during six or seven days ; but, on the 20th of June, they came into action. As it grew dark, the two old antagonists separated, each with a good number of killed and wounded on his decks ; and thus indecisively ended the fifth and last engagement between Hughes and Suffrein. On the 22nd, however, the French ships managed to get into the harbour of Cuddalore, ^vhere Suffrein landed every man he could spare to assist y\. Bussy in defending the lines against Stuart. Encou- raged by this accession of strength, Bussy attempted several sorties and surprises, which, however, were not very success- ul. In one of them, a good many Frenchmen were wounded d taken prisoners. Among them was a brave young rgeant, whose youth, gallantry, and superior manners attracted the attention of Colonel AVangenheim, who was serving under Stuart, with a corps of Hanoverians. The kind-hearted German officer caused the young man to be l2 lis PEACE WITH THE TEENCII. [1783. conveyed to liis own tent, where he was treated with every possible kindness. That wounded young sergeant was Charles John Bemadotte, afterwards general of the French Republic, prince and marshal of the empire, prince of Ponte- orvo, crown prince of Sweden, and, as his climax, Charles John XIV., king of Sweden and Norway, &c. * A few days after this sortie, when Stuart was expecting reinforcements, and preparing at last for a desperate assault on the Cuddalore lines, f news reached Madras that peace had been concluded between France and England. M. Bussy gladly agreed to a cessation of hostilities by sea and land, and sent to invite Tippoo to be a party to these pacific arrangements. The Mysorean was ruining himself in ineffectual attempts to take the town and half-ruined fort of Mangalore. He showed no anxiety for peace, as more than a month passed before M. Bussy received any answer to his letter. His tone even then was high ; the English must restore to him everything they had taken from him or his father. Lord Macartney sent three commissioners to treat. Tippoo con- tinued his siege of Mangalore. ]S^or were military opera- tions against him suspended by the English. Colonel Fullar- ton, an excellent officer, who had succeeded the unfortunate Brathwaite, and who had been moving in the country beyond Tanjore, had taken the important fortress of Daraporam, which opened one of the roads to Seringapatam ; and having destroyed its fortifications, he left a garrison in Dindigal, another important fortress which he had taken by storm, and. he made other arrangements to keep open his com- munications, and facilitate his return towards the heart of * More than twenty years after this incident, when Bernadotte took possession of Hanover as a conqueror, he met the kind-hearted veteran, then General Wangenheim, and showed to him his grateful recollection of what had passed in front of the lines of Cuddalore. t General Stuart's conduct had given universal dissatisfaction. As soon as the truce was concluded with M. Bussy, the governor and council of Madras unanimously resolved that he should be deprived of the com- mand. Stuart insisted that the council could dispose only of the com- mand of their sepoys, and that he, as an officer in his majesty's service, had a right to retain the command of the king's troops. He spoke loudly of using force against force. Decisive steps were necessary, and Lord Macartney took them. He despatched his private secretary (the late Sir John Barrow, we believe), and the town adjutant, with a party of sepoys, to capture the general in his villa near Madras. Stuart was carried to the fort, and in a day or two shipped off for England. 1783.] WAR WITH TIPPOO. 149 Mysore, when the time should come. For the present, Fullarton had another line of march to pursue. Hostilities being terminated between the French and the Enghsh, Lord Macartney reinforced him with about 1,000 Europeans, and four battalions of sepoys, and instructed him to resume the plan of a campaign which had been conceived by him- self, and interrupted by Greneral Stuart, who had called him back to assist in the attack on the French hues at Cud- dalore : he was to move against the southern coast-possessions of Tippoo, before trying the road to Seringapatam. After reducing the numerous Polygars of Tinivelly, who had thrown off" their allegiance to the Company at the com- mencement of Ilyder's invasion, and had been ravaging the country from Madura to Cape Comorin, and after chas- tising the hill Cooleries, who had been committing horrible excesses, Fullarton, with 16,000 fighting men, steadily kept his course. He was without money or any means of supply^ except such magazines of the enemy as he might be enabled to capture. He was, however, well provided with artillery, shot, and gunpowder, which had been collected from the southern garrisons ; and the rajah of Travancore, who had given a cordial support to Colonel Humberstone Mackenzie, engaged to furnish some stores and provisions in the event of his moving against the southern coast. A friendly cor- respondence was also opened with the Zamorin, or ancient Hindu sovereign of Calicut, and with the other Malabar rajahs, whom Hyder had dispossessed and cruelly treated- All these princes or chiefs, eager for repossession and re- venge, afforded what little aid they could. Other parties, less interested in the overthrow of Tippoo, occasionally furnished stores and provisions, and took bills upon the presidency of Madras, in payment. But Colonel Fullartoo adopted other measures, which contributed in a much greater degree to facilitate his progress, by gaining the good-will and esteem of all parties. He treated the people with the utmost gentleness and kindness, having always a compliment or good word to say to them, whether they were princes or peasants ; he gave up some paltr}'- duties which former commanders had been accustomed to le\y upon all articles sold in the bazaar or market of the army ; he completely checked plun- dering, by hanging two or three of the first offenders ; and most of all he paid the greatest respect to the deep-rooted religious prejudices of the Hindus, and he enforced that re- 150 ON THE MALABAR COAST. [1783. spect on the European soldiery, who were too apt to ridicule the worship, and laugh at the grotesque idols of the country. This toleration was extended even to the poor Pooleahs of Malabar, who worshipped monkeys, and pampered those creatures with sacrifices, and who were, themselves, treated as foul, obscene beasts, by the Hindiis. If a Nair met a Pooleah on the highway, he cut him down like a noxious animal. It was therefore the custom for a Pooleah, when travelling, to give a loud howl, and to run to a tree and climb up it, as he saw any Hindu approaching. The Eng- lish conciliated the poor savages, who could be very useful in the woods and forests they inhabited. Eullarton also made a material change in the mode of marching, which had hitherto been by files, so that a large army was often many miles in length, with little communication between the dis- tant parts of the line. At the same time he established, by means of the natives, an admirable system for getting intelli- gence, the want of which precaution had led to many dis- asters in this war ; and so complete and effective was his system, that statements were always procured, not only of the military force of the enemy, but also of the grain deposited anywhere within 200 miles of his front or flanks. Por a short time, Eullarton halted in the neighbourhood of Daraporam, waiting for intelligence from the three com- missioners, whom Lord Macartney had despatched to Tippoo ; but, on the 16th of October, when he was officially informed that the Mysorean, instead of listening to terms of peace, had recommenced active hostilities at Mangalore, he took immediate measures to resent the insult, and bring the tyrant to reason. Eullarton' s mind, and that of the council at Madras, had been divided between two plans 1. To march right across the peninsula, through an enemy's country, 500 miles in extent, to the relief of Mangalore. 2. Or, to advance upon Seringapatam, and either overthrow the dynasty of Hyder in their capital, or compel Tippoo to hurry from the coast, in order to save that capital. He determined upon the latter movement, though not by the direct road, which offered no intermediate place of strength in which to lodge stores and provisions for the prosecution of his undertaking, or in which to secure a retreat in case of a reverse. But there was a more circuitous route which presented this essential recommendation, and several other military advantages. 1783.] AN ADMIRABLE MAECK. 151 Palagatclierry, nearer to the coast, had been rebuilt by Hyder, and was considered one of the strongest fortresses in India : the mountains, bounding the pass which it com- manded, were covered by thick forests, through which there was no passage, and the plain below, a long and wide extent of rice-grounds, was crossed and intersected, like a chess- board, by the Paniany river, and might be defended by a small body of infantry against all Tippoo's cavalry. The fort further commanded the only practicable road between the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar : it opened the means of supply from Travancore, Cochin, Calicut, and other places ; its occupation by the English would afford con- fidence to the Zamorin and the other chiefs, who, from Cochin to Goa, were all struggling to shake off the My- sorean yoke, and it would leave Pullarton liberty to disguise his movements, and to march upon Seringapatam by the route of Coimbatoor and the pass of Gudjereddy, or by the sea-coast route to Calicut, and thence through the pass of Dalmacherry. The colonel therefore determined to cap- ture Palagatcherry ; and on the 18th of October he began his march one of the most remarkable in military history. Carrying several little forts on his way, he soon reached the high grounds of Palatchy, whence the streams run east and west to the Coromandel and Malabar seas. Beyond this point, his progress was slow and most difficult, for he had to force his way through a forest twenty miles in depth, with frequent torrent-courses and deep ravines within it. These ravines had to be filled up before it was possible to drag the heavy guns across them ; innumerable large trees which obstructed the passage, required to be cut dowTi and drawai out of the track, and then the whole road had to be formed before the carriages of the army could pass. Pourteen days were spent in these arduous labours, and in getting the materials of the army through that dense forest ; and, to increase the toil and discomforts, a tremendous rain began as our people first entered the woods, and never ceased till they had cleared their way through them. The ravines were filled mth water, the bullocks lost their footing, and the soldiers were obliged to drag the guns and the carriages nearly the whole distance. Difficulties and operations like these elevate the character of the Indian service ; and they were of frequent occurrence, Goddard and Pearse, for example, in their long marches from Bengal to the Carnatic, had often 152 SPLENDID CAMPAIGN [1783-4. to make tlie road by which they were to advance, and the sepoys to yoke themselves to their cannons, tumbrils, and baggage-waggons. On the 5th of IS'ovember, FuUarton crossed a branch of the Paniany river, occupied the open town of Palagatcherry, and commenced a fire on the fort. But it was the 9th before the hea^y battering-train was brought up " after a succession of toils," says the colonel, "that would appear incredible if related in detail."* On the night of the 15th, Tippoo's garrison called out for quarter, and delivered up a place capable of making a long resistance. The English fomid in the fort 50,000 pagodas in money, a very large supply of grain, much artillery, powder and shot, and other necessary stores. During all these operations, Fidlar- ton maintained his correspondence with Brigadier- G-eneral Macleod, now at Cannanore, and with Colonel Campbell, who commanded in Mangalore, telling them of his gradual approach to their coast, and calling upon them for a joint movement, and an advance in full force against Seringapa- tam. But Campbell was still cooped up by Tippoo, who madly persevered in his siege of Mangalore; Telicherry could spare no artillery or stores, and Macleod had no bullocks. Pullarton therefore gave up the notion of proceeding by the sea-coast to Calicut, and took the route that led by Coimbatoor to the pass of Grudjereddy. He was annoyed on his march by a large body of Tippoo's cavalry, who threw rockets ; but, on the 26th of November, he sat down before the fort of Coimbatoor, which surrendered before he could finish a battery. Here, too, he found a great quantity of grain, ammunition, and stores. Money there was none ; but the adjacent fields, productive of rich crops, promised abundant resources for the future. Coimbatoor, though a place of no military strength, was important from the reve- rence in which it was held by the Hindu population, as the ancient capital of a rajahship, where no Mussulman con- queror had ever penetrated, and where the old gods of India had not been disturbed. There, temples and pagodas were erect and undefiled ; the idol Ganesa, with human body and elephant's head, sat on his throne, and wreathed his litlie pro- boscis ; the goddess Saraswati bestrode her peacock, with tail * ' An Account of the Military Operations in the Southern Parts of the Indian Peninsula, during the Campaigns of 1782, 1783, and 1784.' by Willicm Fullarton, of Fullarton, M.P. 1783-4.] or col. fullaiitox. 153 glittering with gems ; the goddess Devi held her unbroken lotus ; and Brahma, with his four heads and two pair of hands, had not a limb injured, or a feature defaced. * Every ancient rajah now flew to arms, or made prepara- tions for war ; all the Hindus between the ghauts and the sea, encouraged by the failures and losses of Tippoo before Mangalore, were in open revolt, or ripe for it ; and in the country above the ghauts, in the very centre of Mysore, Fiillarton's friendly Brahmins had excited the HindQs, who were far more numerous even there than their Mussulman conquerors, and who engaged to render all the assistance they could to the English. The Coorga rajah, a powerful chief, under the mountains which separate the Malabar country' from Mysore, was actively asserting his indepen- dence ; and General Macleod, strong in Europeans and artillery, moved from point to point, generally by sea, to keep up this flame all along the coast. Nor were these all the enemies that were girding in Mysore ; for G-eneral Jones was at the same time advancing on the Cuddapah country, or northern and inland possessions of Tippoo, where his power was ill-established and his government abhorred. "The army under my own direction," says EuUarton, ' was, perhaps, the strongest force belonging to Europeans that had ever been employed in India. The countries we had reduced extended 200 miles in length, aftbrded provi- sions for 100,000 men, and yielded an annual revenue of 600,000, while every necessary arrangement had been made for the regular collection of these resources. The fort and pass of Palagatcherry secured our western flank, and the intermediate position of General Macleod' s army between Palagatcherr}'- and Tippoo' s main army at Mangalore, toge- ther with the singular combination of ravines, rivers, and embankments, that intersect the Malabar comitries, and the mountains that divide them from Mysore (the passes through which were occupied by our friends the disaflected rajahs), rendered it almost impracticable for Tippoo to move in that direction against our own acquisitions. To attack them by a movement through the passes of the ghauts, on the eastern flank towards Salem and Erode, supposed a circuit of 500 or 600 miles from the position of Tippoo' s army before Manga- r. BUs movements, therefore, against these acquisitions, * Edward Moor, * Hindu Pantheon.' 154 CONQUESTS or FULLAETON. [1783-4. could only be attempted by tbe central pass from Mysore at G-udjereddy, which is not fifty miles in front from Coimba- toor ; and the possession of that pass assured us an imme- diate access to the capital of Tippoo's kingdom, commanding a communication with our new acquisitions, and with the Company's southern provinces."* Tullartonwas on the point of pushing forward to Tippoo's capital with every assurance of success, when, on the 28th of November, he received the commands of the English com- missioners, who were treating of peace, not only to desist, but also to evacuate immediately all the forts and posts he had taken, and to retire within our own limits. Feeling himself at liberty neither to disregard this peremptory com- mand, nor to obey it to the extent of its literal signification, he stopped his marching order, and remained at Coimbatoor for further advices. No true soldier could abandon such a scheme as he had formed, at the very moment when the prospect of success was brightest, without a bitter pang. Ten days of march would have brought Fullarton under the walls of Seringapatam ; ten more days would, at that time, have sufiiced for the reduction of that capital ; the events of twenty-five years might have been anticipated, an ines- timable amount of money and of blood might have been saved, the power of the British in the whole of the south of India might have been established, and a quarter of a century won to the cause of order and tranquillity. But Pullarton had to feel the bitter pang. About the middle of December, he received another letter from the commissioners repeating their former instructions, and also the minutes of a consultation from the government of Madras, directing him to fulfil the order of unqualified restitution, as the preliminary of negotiations with Tippoo Sultaun. Upon this the army of the south began to retrace their steps to- wards Tanjore and Trichinopoly, to the dismay and grief of the poor fZamorin and the other Hindus who had openly committed themselves with the revengeful Tippoo. FuUar- ton had scarcely begun his backward march, when events occmred which must have made the council and commis- sioners regret the positive orders they had sent to him. Those commissioners were treated like wretched hostages, and kept in the camp of the Mysorean, while he prosecuted * * View of the English Interests in India,' etc. 1783-4.] SIEGE OF MANGALOEE. 155 the siege of Mangalore. At one time they were commanded to send Colonel Campbell orders to evacuate that place ; at another time they were personally threatened with the tjTant's vengeance ; and at all times their letters were inter- cepted, and they were debarred from everything like free- dom of communication. Mangalore was contemptible as a fortified place, and would have been scarcely defensible at all except by troops like the 42nd, and an unyielding commander like Colonel Campbell. When the siege commenced, the garrison con- sisted of about 700 British troops and 3,000 sepoys ; while Tippoo^s force was estimated at 50,000 horse of all kinds, 30,000 foot, 600 Erench infantry under the command of Colonel Cossigny, and a medley force of Frenchmen, Dutch- men, and Portuguese, under the command of an ofilcer of the king of France ; having, among them all, nearly 100 pieces of artillery. One broad breach was made after another the paltry fortifications on the northern side were almost levelled but every time the besiegers attempted to storm, they were driven back at the point of the bayonet. That weapon was also employed in frequent sorties made by the gamson, wherein batteries were taken, guns spiked, and great slaughters committed. By an unpardon- able negligence, sufficient supplies were not thrown into the place, and its gallant defenders were beginning to feel the approaches of famine, when news arrived of the conclusion of peace in Europe, and in the Carnatic. M. Cossigny, after vainly endeavouring to prevail upon the obstinate Tippoo to join in the treaty, withdrew with his regular French troops ; but several French officers, with all the less regular European forces, remained with the besiegers. After many other cannonades and some most fruitless attempts at storming, the Mysorean cCHsented to a cessation of hostilities. By the armistice Tippoo agreed to allow Colonel Campbell to purchase provisions in the country for his famishing troops. But the tyrant, who never kept an agree- ment, forbade the country people, under penalty of ears and noses, to sell anything to the English. Thus the garrison were reduced to the uncleanly diet of horse-flesh, rats, mice, frogs, snakes, and carrion birds. It is said, that they even shot and ate the jackals that descended by night in packs from the woods to devour the bodies of the dead. Affairs were in this state at Mangalore on the 22 nd of 15G SIEGE OF MANGALOEE. [1784. November, when an English squadron appeared oiF the town. The ships were hlled with the troops of General Macleod, who, in his anxiety to co-operate with the native chiefs along the Malabar coast, committed the monstrous absurdity of taking Tippoo's word, and making a fresh agreement about provisions with him ; after which he sailed away without landing any supplies. This new agreement was observed like the former one. Instead of permitting the English garrison to purchase wholesome food, Tippoo allowed them to procure nothing but some damaged stores, so fetid and foul that the very dogs would not eat them. General Macleod returned to Mangalore, but it was only to commit a fresh folly in again taking the word of Tippoo. This was on the 31st of December, or about a fortnight after Colonel EuUarton, on the renewed instances of the Madras council, had turned his back upon Seringapatam, and commenced his retrograde movement. Colonel Camp- bell had soon occasion to acquaint Macleod, that he and his ships were no sooner gone than the Mysorean again began to starve the garrison. The general then sent a letter accus- ing Tippoo of broken faith. The Mysorean replied in a letter written by one of his Erenchmen " It is one lie, or meu- songe." This fired the blood of the Highlander, and he wrote again " Permit me to inform you, prince, that this language is not good for you to give, or me to receive ; and that if I was alone with you in the desert, you would not dare to say these words to me." Campbell and his heroic garrison were now suffering the double calamities of disease and famine. Two-thirds of the men were sick and helpless, and those that remained on duty could scarcely drag themselves along under the weight of their muskets and cartouch-boxes. The number of deaths was great for so smail a force, and increasing daily. It must have naturally occurred to Colonel Campbell, that there was no use in keeping that single and by no means good position, when all the rest of the coast and country was to be given back to the enemy ; and at last, on the 23rd of January, 1784, after sustaining a siege and blockade of more than nine months, he agreed to quit Mangalore upon honourable conditions. Tippoo had lost before those rotten walls, by war, sickness, and desertion, nearly one-half of his army. But the tyrant considered the place as a charm, or talisman, on the possession of which the fortunes 1784.] PEACE ^t:tii tippoo. 157 of his lioiise depended, and he was made so happy by enter- ing into it, that for once he kept his engagements, and allowed Colonel Campbell, with his troops and baggage, sick and wounded, to march unmolested to Telicherry. At that place Campbell died soon after, worn out by the fa- tigues and sufterings he had undergone. Before this time General Mathews, who had capitulated at Bednore, had been deliberately murdered in prison, together with several of his officers. Mangalore was scarcely evacuated, and Eullarton had not reached the old boundaries, when he received orders from Madras, to prepare for a recommencement of hostilities against Tippoo, and to regain, if possible, possession of Palagatcherry, which had been left in the hands of the Za- morin. But before any succour could be sent to him, that Hindu prince was surrounded by Tippoo's troops, Avho scared him and his adherents out of the fort, by sacrificing a num- ber of much-venerated Brahmins, and exposing their bleed- ing heads upon tall poles. Palagatcherry was therefore to be regained only by a fresh siege. PuUarton began imme- diately to advance with the main body of his army ; and he was again flattering himself with the hope of being the conqueror of Seringapatam, when he received intelligence that preliminaries of a peace had been exchanged between the commissioners and Tippoo Sultaun, and along with this intelligence orders from the commissioners to evacuate the country. The commissioners, the governor and council of Madras, every man in India, knew that there was no confidence to be placed in the faith, humanity, or moderation of the 'tiger" for such, being translated, was the appropriate name of the tyrant and they must have foreseen the blood- shed and devastation which awaited the wretched Hindus of Coorg, Canara, and Mysore, whom we had drawn into our alliance calamities which soon proved to be tenfold more terrible than tlie expulsion of the Eohillas from Eohilcund, and befalling a people incomparably more gentle and interest- Rg than those robbers and soldiers of fortune ; but the jgotiations Avere held to be justified by the tenor of instruc- )ns and orders received from the British government, and om the Court of Directors, by the state of our political lations in Europe, and by the impoverished condition of the Company's territories. Yet, most assuredly. Franco 158 TIPPOO'S CRUELTIES. [1784. would not liave gone into a new war solely to defend Tippoo ; and, as for poverty, Fullarton had shown that an army might be well supported in the enemy's country without money or any further supplies from the Company. The retention of the districts which Pullarton had conquered would, by their revenues alone, have soon paid the expenses of another campaign ; and that campaign, if conducted by an officer like Pullarton, must have finished the bloody story of Tippoo Sultaun. It was, however, that tyrant's destiny to be left to scourge his kind, and to renew his contest with the Eng- lish, when again encouraged by the French. The treaty of peace was finally concluded on the 11th of March, upon the condition of a restitution by both parties, of all that they had gained in the war. The tales told by the English prisoners of war, whom Tippoo now liberated from his abominable dungeons, excited horror and a lasting indig- nation, with a desire of vengeance. The most dishonouring circumstance to us was the abandonment of our friends and allies, the Malabar Hindus. The cruelties exercised upon those helpless gentle people were continued through several years, and were sharpened and made more dreadful by a mixture of religious fanati- cism, which for ages had been rarely known among the Mahometans in India. In 1788, Tippoo paid a visit to Cali- cut, where he found the natives living peaceably in pleasant and picturesque habitations, scattered over the country, among palm-trees and groves of the tall-growing talipot. He compelled them to quit those habitations and reside in. villages of forty houses each. The very next year, he re- turned to the country vidth a great army, destroying idols, pagodas, and temples, and threatening to exterminate " the infidels of Malabar." The whole of [that unhappy coast, and all the regions which EuUarton had overrun and con quered, were over-taxed, tormented, and most barbarously oppressed, so long as we remained at peace with Tippoo. In other respects, and compared with the danger and de- spondency in the Carnatic at the beginning of the war, or with the result of the national contests in America, even this was a most honourable and advantageous peace. Many errors of judgment were committed in the conduct of the war, and the vices of jealousy, selfishness, and rapacity were too frequently visible both in council and in camp ; never- theless, taken as a whole, the campaigns were highly credit- 17S4.] HASTINGS SATES IlfDIA. 159 able to the abilities, perseverance, and valour of EngHshmen. The extent of their operations was something magnificent ; it embraced the two sides of the vast triangle of India, from the mouths of the Granges to the Grulf of Cambay, and in- land it nearly traversed the base of the triangle. Countries, hitherto known to us only by name, were penetrated and explored from end to end. Impressions were made that time and partial miscarriages would not obliterate. As Warren Hastings had all along desired, the Indians were convinced that no obstacles were insurmountable to the steady perseverance of the British ; and the British learned, for the first time, the entire dependence that might be placed in the constancy and courage of their sepoys. Thus the East was saved, when our empire in the "West was lost. AVhat efiect would have been produced in Europe, or what panic, degi'adation, or despair, would not have been felt in england, if the loss of our Indian empire had been added to that of our thirteen provinces of North America !* * Colonel Wilks, * Historical Sketches of the South of India.' Cap- tain Schomberg, 'Naval Chronology.' ' Annual Register,' for the years 1781, 1782, 1783, and 1784. Sir John Barrow, * Account of the Public Life of the Earl of Macartney.' Colonel FuUarton, * View of the English Interests in India,' and his ' Account of the Military Operations in the Southern Parts of the Peninsula,' etc. Forbes, ' Oriental Memoirs.' Dubois (I'Abbe), ' Moeurs, Institutions, et Ceremonies des Peupies de rinde.' 2 vols. 8vo. Pan*, 1825. Moor, * Hindii Pantheon.' For some valuable remarks on our Indian army, read Sir John Malcolm, Appendix to ' The Government of India.' London, 1833. IGO nXAIfCIAL DimCULTIES. [178-1. CHAPTER XVII. India was saved, and our dominion therein greatly extended. But the expense of the war had, at one time, been tremendous, and the Company being in embarrass- ments at home, the far greater part of the money could come only from Bengal. Warm as is my admiration for the character of Warren Hastings, with the evidence before me I cannot doubt tliat he occasionally put some burthen upon his conscience to procure the sinews of war. But, after a long consideration, and a mature reconsideration of this ponderous mass of evidence, and a more familiar acquaintance with some who were most familiar with the great governor-general, and in possession of many of liis private and confidential letters, I cannot believe that he was even once guilty of any serious state crime or any act of absolute cruelty. The Carnatic must be rescued, India must be saved, cost what it might. Eor these great ends, such were the intenseness of purpose and the enthusiasm of the man, Hastings would have coined his own body and soul into rupees, had such a process been practicable, at the moment of crisis, when the Mahrattas, Hyder Ali, and the French had their talons on the C?rnatic. He determined that money should be raised by whatever decent means lay in his power. Some of the neighbouring princes who owed their political existence to English arms, and who were entirely dependent upon the government of Calcutta, were known to possess hidden treasures of great amount. As they would not pay voluntarily, and as no time was to be lost, the governor- general and his council adopted the plan of squeezing them. The first to whom they applied the pressure was Cheyte Sing, the rajah of Benares, who owed his existence as a prince directly and entirely to Hastings. Erancis, Clavering, and Monson had transferred his dominions to the nabob of 1781.] ^ASTI^'GS at be>^akes. IGl Oude, but Hastings liad secured liim in possession, upon condition of his paying a fixed sum to the Company. At the breaking out of the war, the governor-general demanded more money as an "extraordinary contribution," for which, in due time, allowance was to be made to the rajah. Cheyte Sing (whose dominions and life were surely forfeited if the anti-English coalition succeeded) might have made a much greater advance, but he grudgingly and at intervals paid down only 60,000. The next demand made upon him was not for money, but for troops. The governor-general, lower- ing his first demand, said he would be satisfied with 1,000 men. Cheyte Sing collected 1,000 ragamuffins. Hastings did not want such fellows ; what he wanted was money. At the same critical moment, Cheyte Sing was detected in an insidious correspondence with the enemies of the English, and was observed to assume an air of insolence and inde- pendence. "I was resolved," says Hastings, "to draw from his guilt the means of relief to the Company's dis- tresses."* The governor-general set out for Benares, the capital and residence of Cheyte Sing, and so little did he anticipate danger, that he took with him little more than his usual body-guard, and conducted Mrs. Hastings, who accompanied him, as far as Monghir. Cheyte Sing came eastward as far as Buxar to meet the governor-general, and lay his turban upon his lap, a token of entire submission.f AViththe rajah in his train, the governor-general entered Benares on the 14th of August, 1781. Cheyte Sing was then taken seriously to account, and, as he replied evasively and somewhat im- pertinently, Hastings gave Mr. Markham, his resident at Benares, orders to arrest the rajah at an early hour on the morrow. Markham (a son of Dr. Markham, archbishop of York) performed this service with only two companies of sepoys, and without any opposition or outcry. But the arrest kindled a flame, which endangered Hastings, and, in his person, the fortunes of the English in India. Cheyte Sing had a strong party among his own subjects. Benares was the most holy city of Hindustan, being to the Hindus what Mecca is to the Mahometans, or what Jeru- salem was to the Jews ; it contained a great population, * Mr. Hastings's own * Narrative of the Transactions at Benares,' etc. + MS. Correspondence of Sir Elijah Impey, including confidential letters to Sir Elijah from Mr. Warren Hastings. 162 EEYOLT AT BENAEES. [1781. who pretended to a superior sanctity merely from tlie place of their residence ; it was thronged by santons, fakeers, pilgrims, and devotees from all parts of India. It was this continual concourse of devotees that tended to fill the rajah's treasury. These pilgrims, who had travelled far to wash off their sins in the Ganges where it was holiest, and to offer their prayers and oblations in Benares, resented the insult offered in that sacred city to the acknowledged ruler of it, himself an Hindu of ancient race, and a great frequenter of temples and pagodas. It appears that fakeers and fanatics led the van. Scarcely had Markham seized the rajah, when there arose from the narrow crowded streets of Benares the roar of tens of thousands of angry voices, and the noise produced by a rushing multitude. The devotees were all ai-med. The rajah had not been removed from his palace, but left there with only two companies of sepoys placed over him as a guard. Thither 'the living streams flowed and concentrated from all parts of the city. Such was the security of the English managers, that the sepoys had been left in the palace with their muskets and bayonets, but without any cartridges. "When Hastings saw the danger, two other com- panies were sent to carry ammunition and support them ; but this small force got lost and buried in the crowd, and, in attempting to open their way to the palace, they were massacred almost to a man. Tliis over, the furious multitude fell upon the two sepoy companies at the palace, and mas- sacred them likewise. The English officers died, with their swords in their hands ; a heap of their assailants were slain, and only a very few of those sepoys escaped. During the confusion Cheyte Sing ran out of the palace by a wicket- gate, which opened on the steep bank of the G-anges, and, letting himself down by a string formed of turbans tied together, he threw himself into a boat and escaped to the opposite side of the river. If, instead of running away, Rajah Cheyte Sing and his people had fallen upon Hastings, the consequences could scarcely have been doubtful, for at the moment the governor- general had only fifty sepoys at hand for the defence of his house. Hastings himself said afterwards "If Cheyte Sing's people, after they had effected his rescue, had proceeded to my quarters, instead of crowding after him in a tumultu- ous manner, as they did, in his passage over the river, it is 1781.] A MASSACEE. 163 probable that my blood, aud that of about thiriy English gentlemen of my party, would have been added to the recent carnage."* But even when the first fury of the populace was spent, and the rajah had proved by his flight that he was afraid of extreme measures against Hastings, the situation of that small party of English in Benares remained very critical. They were blockaded on all sides, they had scarcely any money with them, and they had not provisions even for a single day. But Hastings's courage, decision, and promp- titude never forsook him. The rajah, though still collecting forces on the other side of the Ganges, sent to offer apolo- gies for the slaughter which had occurred. The governor- general did not deign to answer him. In the morning he was joined by a few faithful sepoys, and he called up another small body that were cantoned at Mirzapoor, on the other side of the Granges, sending them orders to march against the palace of Hamnaghur (just opposite to Benares), in which Cheyte Sing had taken up his temporary abode. In order that his fleet messengers might get through the blockading rabble without losing their despatches, he wrote in the smallest hand on small slips of paper, which were rolled up and put into quills. AVhen these Indians travelled, they were accustomed to lay aside their enormous gold ear-rings, and put quills into the orifices of the ears to prevent their closing up ; thus no notice would be taken of the pieces of quills containing the governor-general's earnest caUs for imme- diate succour : for, so little had this storm been apprehended, that Mrs. Hastings, Sir Elijah Impey, the chief justice, and Lady Impey, were travelling up the country to join the governor-general at Benares. It was most fortunate for Hastings that Sir Elijah was on this day at only a short distance from the city ; for his life-long friend, besides being an eminent lawyer, was a man of decision and courage, and in possession of great influence with all classes of the natives. Upon receiving his quill,t Impey made every possible or imaginar}" exertion to send sepoys and friends to the rescue. Hastings always acknowledged that he owed his escape chiefly to the prompt measures taken by Sir Elijah ; * * Narrative.' t Mjr friend, the late Miss Marion Impey, a daughter of the judge, preserved this quill, and the tiny despatch that was in it, among her Indian relics and mementos. m2 161 FLIGHT OF HASTINGS [1781. and Sir Elijah, alluding to these occurrences, was in the habit of quoting, " Quod Thebse cecidere, meum est."* In the course of the day about 400 sepoys were collected round the governor-general's quarters ; but in the after- noon, the officer in command of the sepoys that had rapidly advanced from Mirzapoor, upon receiving their quill, im- prudently attempting to carry the palace of Eamnaghur, which was fortified, without having any artillery with him, got engaged in the narrow streets leading to it, was repulsed with considerable loss, and was himself killed. This incident gave fresh courage to the fanatical multitude, and induced Hastings to have recourse to a hurried retreat from Benares. The rabble of tlie town reviled the governor-general in these doggrel rhymes : " Hathi par houda ! ghora par zeen, Jaldi jao, jaldi jao, Warren Hasteen ! " "Which may be translated Horse, elephant, houda, set off at full swing. Run away, ride away, Warren Hasting.f But "Warren Hastings did not run far. It was under cover of night that he fled from Benares, and, with that usual good fortune which is attendant on courage and pre- sence of mind, " Virtutis Fortuna comes," ;J: before day, he reached in safety the strong fortress of Chunar, built on a rock, which rises several hundred feet above the Granges, and is situated about seventeen miles below Benares. His flight, of course, gave still further encouragement to the insurgents ; the enthusiastic fakeers spread themselves over the country, the preaching Brahmins harangued in the temples, the sacred monkeys, swinging in their golden cages, made signs and grimaces prophetic of the triumph of the x)ld religion ; the whole of the district rose in arms, people began to flock in from the adjoining territories of Oude and Bahar, vowing that they would protect the rajah and the holy city. The numbers and the momentary spirit of the Hindus, who thus surrounded him, animated for a moment the * ' Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey,' by the late Elijah Barwell Impey, and information given by Mr. Impey in ' Our Indian Empire.' t * Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey,' p. 234. Ij: The appropriate motto of the Duke of Wellington. 1781.] TO CHUIfAE. 165 weak and timid soul of Cheyte Sing ; lie put himself at the head of the insurgents, appealed by a sort of manifesto to the neighbouring princes, and, it is said, even spoke of driving the English out of all that part of India. An immense native force was by this time collected between Benares and the rock of Chunar. Notwithstanding his ingenious precaution, several of Hastings's letters miscarried; but most of them reached their destinations, and were obeyed with that rapidity which the exigencies of the case required. Money was sent to him from Lucknow, the capital of Oude, and troops, quitting their various cantonments, concentrated under the rock of Chunar. At this crisis everything depended on the fidelity of the sepoys, for there were hardly any troops in the country but these ; and the sepoys were, for the most part, men of the same race and country as those against whom they were to act, were, many of them, natives of Benares or the surrounding district, and, as such, had been wont to consider Cheyte Sing as their legitimate prince. It is per- haps only in India that the natural sympathies and passions of men have ever been so subjugated by discipline and other artificial means. But the event proved that Hastings was right in relying on their unalterable fidelity to their standard or their salt, and on their attachment to the military point of honour as greater than any they bore for their country or kindred, their native prince, or even their religion. Xot a corps showed any reluctance to engage the rajah and tlie people of Benares, not a single case of desertion occurred ; and the insurrection, which might speedily have become a far-reaching revolution, was put down by these sepoys. On the 29th of August, a considerable body of Cheyte Sing's people, who had advanced to a small fort not far from Chunar, were routed and compelled to leave all their rice and baggage behind them ; and, on the 3rd of Septem- ber, a stiU larger body were defeated with the loss of their artillery ; on the 15th other corps were put to flight ; and on the 20th the pass of Sukroot and the large and fortified town of Pateeta were forced, cleared, and taken by the sepoys commanded by Major Popham. It has been said that the insurgents fought bravely in some of these affairs ; but this was not the case either at Sukroot or Pateeta, in both of which places they were favoured by situation. I have in my possession a note to Mr. Hasthigs, wTitten iu 166 DEPOSITIOlf OF CIIEYTE SING. [1781. pencil by Major Popliam, on the 20th of September, imme- diately after the fighting. The major tells the governor- general that two or three rounds fired from a single cannon put them all to flight ; that very few of his sepoys had been killed, and not an officer hurt ; that the enemy sustained great loss in their flight, &c. In a very short time nothing could be seen of the force, which had been estimated at 30,000 men; " and in a few hours," adds the governor-general, speaking as the servant of kings, " the allegiance of the country was restored as completely, from a state of uni- versal revolt to its proper channel, as if it had never departed from it."* The rajah Avith his family and a few attendants fled pre- cipitately to Bidjeeghur, the principal stronghold of the Benares princes, and about fifty miles from the capital. To that capital the governor-general returned triumphantly, issuing a proclamation and an amnesty for all except Cheyte Sing and his brother. No time was lost in sending troops to Bidjeeghur. The poor rajah had not courage to await their arrival : he fled in the night to find refuge, and an exile from which he never returned, among the rajahs of Bondilcund. In his haste, in his anxiety for his own safety, by means of a flight too rough and rapid for ladies, he left behind him his wives, his mother, and all the females of his family, w^ho were taken prisoners on the 9th of JN'ovember, when the fort of Bidjeeghur surrendered by capitulation. According to Hastings, the rajah had carried ofl' wdth him an immense sum of money, besides jewels of great price ; but current rupees to the amount of about 250,000 "were found in the old castle. This money w^as appro- priated by the troops, who for some five months had received little or no pay. In the meanwhile the governor-general, considering a puppet rajah necessary at Benares, had selected a young nephew of Cheyte Sing to fill that part. The tribute to the Company was raised to forty lacs of rupees, the governor- general took the entire jurisdiction and management of the city and country into his own hands ; even the mint, the last vestige of sovereignty, was taken from this boy-rajah and put under the control of the Company's resident at Benares. * Rev. G. R. Gleig, ' Memoir of Warren Hastings.' Mr. Hastings's own letters, memoranda, and other papers given in these volumes, are of great value and interest. 1781.] THE BEGFMS OP OUDE. 16'?' By this revolutiou an addition of about 200,000 per annum was made to the revenues of the Company ; but of ready money there was none, and money must be procured somewhere, or the French would triumph in the Carnatic, and all India would be lost. Asoph-ul-Dowla, nabob of Oude, stood indebted, on the Company's books, in nearly one million and a half sterling. Like Cheyte Sing, the rajah of Benares, he was entirely dependent on the Company, and on the protection of their troops, against the plundering Mahrattas and Eohillas. Xay, without our sepoys he could not have resisted his own disaffected turbulent subjects, nor have collected a rupee of revenue. Instead of paying his debts, he spent his money in luxury and extravagance, and in the erection of gorgeous edifices". The nabob had been repeatedly warned that money must be forthcoming, that without money to sustain the war there would be no safety either for him or for the English. He was journeying between Lucknow and Benares, to meet the governor-general, when he received the startling intelligence that Benares was in a state of insurrection, and that Cheyte Sing was in the field with an army. He did not retrace his steps to Lucknow, as might have been expected, but continued his journey to Chunar, haying learned that Hastings was in that fortress, and that the British sepoys had been called thither from all points. It was the cowardice, not the fidelity of the nabob that was suspected ; many of his subjects, and even some mem- bers of his own family, were assisting Cheyte Sing; but Asoph-ul-Dowla clearly foresaw that, however numerous they might be, the undisciplined insurgents could never make a stand against our faithful and highly-disciplined sepoys. On the rock of Chunar, before his troops came up, and while the furious insurgents were gathering round him, the governor- general calmly negotiated with the nabob. Asoph-ul-Dowla protested that he had no treasure to bestow, but that two great ladies in his dominions had far more money than they ought in justice to be possessed of These two begums, whose names afterwards so resounded in St. Stephen's Chapel and in "Westminster Hall, were, one the mother of the late Nabob Sujah Dowla, the other his wife, and the parent of the reigning nabob. It was said that great doubts might be entertained as to the validity of Sujah Dowla's testamentary bequests ; that the will under which the 168 THE BEGTJMS. [1781-2. begums claimed had never been produced ; and that the deceased nabob could not lawfully alienate the treasure and territory or jaghires of the state, which of right belonged to his successor on the musnud. It was proved that the two begums had promoted insurrection in Oude, and had encouraged the partisans of Cheyte Sing immediately after the massacre of our sepoys and officers in Benares. Weak detachments of the Company's troops had been attacked bj the retainers of the begums. These last facts were sworn to, as well by British officers and other Englishmen as by natives. The facts w^ere indeed, at the time, notorious, although years after they were denied in the British parlia- ment by men who were seeking to ruin Hastings, for the means he had employed to save our Indian empire.* It was agreed between Asoph-ul-Dowla and Hastings that the two begums should be dispossessed of a portion of their immense estates, and that the nabob should have and hold the jaghires taken from them ; that the begums' hidden treasures should be seized, and the money paid over to the Company in partial or entire discharge of the debt which he owed it. The treaty of Chunar was signed on the 19th of September. The nabob charged himself with the execution of the processes for getting the lands for himself, and the rupees for the Company. He returned to Luck- now, his capital, and from that city he presently went to Pyzabad, the residence of the begums. Those two ladies were very tenacious of their money ; their servants were uncommunicative were rigidly secret the hidden treasure w\as not to be foimd ! neither promises nor threats had any effect upon the two eunuchs who were in all the begums' secrets, and who were making money by employing their great capital. Severe and unjustifiable measures were resorted to, not hy Hastings, hut hy Asoph-ul-Dowla, to extract a confession; and, by slow degi-ees, money was extorted from the two eunuchs of the household to the amount of about 500,000. As this fell far short of the estimated amount of the treasure, other acts of severity were practised. Although the two begums and their two agents had few virtues and very little claim on the sym- * 'History of the Trial of "Warren Hastings,' 8vo. London, 1796. * Evidence against and for Warren Hastings on the Commons' Charges of Impeachment,' 9 vols, folio. London, 1786-94. See also ' Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey,' by his son. ^ 1782-4.] EXPENSES or the war. 169 pathies of the people of the country, these acts are not to be justified ; but it was proved that the reports of them drawn up by the prosecutors of Hastings were monstrously exaggerated. Nearly a quarter of a century after the imprisonments and alleged tortures, in the year 1803, Lord Valentia found, at Lucknow, well, fat, and enormously rich, Almas Ali Khan, on whose sufferings Mr. Burke had been so indignant and so pathetic. After all the cruel plunderings he was said to have undergone, this eunuch was supposed to be worth half a million sterling. He was upwards of eighty years of age, six feet high, and stout in proportion ; he had been an active and intriguing courtier, and a rigorous tax-collector; he was now almost in his dotage, and the nabob was eagerly looking for his inheritance. The younger of the two begums, over whom so many tears had been shed in England, was also alive and hearty and very rich ! * Whatever sums were procuring at Fyzabad were remitted by the nabob to Hastings, and were by him immediately applied to the support of the ruinous wars in the Carnatic ; to the operations on the side of Bombay, and to subsidies for keeping the Mahrattas quiet. But for the money thus obtained and thus applied, no man in his senses will now doubt that India must have been lost. The two last years of his administration in India formed by far the happiest period [of the public life of Warren Hastings. The peace with Prance, which paralyzed the most powerful of the native princes, enabled him to get the whole country into a state of tranquillit}^, which had not been known for some ages. It also enabled him to extend the British influence in several new directions, and to confirm it in others. Notwithstanding some great exploits, like Rodney's victory and EUiot's defence of Gibraltar, the war had been more dishonourable to England than any in which she had been engaged in modem times ; America was lost, -disasters had attended her flag almost everywhere, except in India, where her power and reputation were far greater at the end than they had been at the beginning of hostilities. ~or was it a vain boast in Hastings to say^ " This is my work ! Whatever else I have done, I have done this I have rescued the Carnatic when at the last gasp ; I have * See Lord Valentia's ' Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea,' etc. ; and ' Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey.' 170 IIASTITfGS EESIG^'S. [1784. presen-ed and extended the British empire in the East ! " No one in India, either native or British, doubted the fact. In tlie supreme council all opposition ceased or became of the mildest kind, and the records and protests of Clavering, Monson, and Francis, were read with astonishment and in- dignation, and with the intimate conviction that, if their schemes had been followed, India would have been lost like America. Yet, at this very time, the vindictive, venomous Francis was preparing, in England, the means of impeach- ing and ruining the governor-general. In the month of March, 1784, Hastings went through Benares to Lucknow, and there spent five months in great tranquillity, but busied all the time with the ministers of the nabob, and the agents of other native princes. He recom- mended measures of government which would increase revenue without oppressing the people, and which would promote agriculture, trade, and general tranquillity. This, he knew, would be his last journey up the country. He did not return to Calcutta until November, having spent a considerable time at Benares, where the restoration of tran- quillity and order was perfect. He now prepared to quit India. As far back as the month of March of the preceding year (1783), which was not only previous to the passing of Mr. Pitt's bill, to which his resignation has sometimes been very erroneously attributed, but even previous to the bringing in of Mr. Eox's biU, the governor-general had requested the Court of Directors to name his successor. Before under- taking his late journey to Lucknow, which was also many months before the news of Pitt's India bill could reach India, he had sent home Mrs. Hastings, whose health was declining ; and no one who knew his devote dness to his wife could doubt, that in parting from her, he liad fully made up his mind to resign the government, and foUow her as soon as possible. He now UTote to inform the directors, that he was coming to England, and that, as a successor had not been appointed by them, his duties would be discharged pro tempore by Mr. Macpherson, senior member of council. So soon as it was publicly known that he was about to quit the government, which he had held for thirteen years, nu- merous addresses were got up, and presented by all classes ; by military officers, by the civil servants of the Company, by factors and traders, and by natives of all ranks, as well 1784.] HIS CHAEACTEE. 171 as by Europeans. He had been a benefactor to the people of Bengal, who always regarded him with warm good-will, and who had conceived a romantic or superstitious admira- tion of his prestige, or fortune, of his commanding yet conciliating manners, and of the splendour and pomp with which, for state purposes, he always surrounded himself. The natives, indeed, regarded him in no other light than in that of their sovereign ; and not a few shed tears at the thought of losing him. As to the civil ser\'ants of the Com- pany, many of them owed to him their appointments or promotions, and all, having been brought frequently into close contact with him, had been impressed by his com- manding] ability and marvellous rapidity in the despatch of business ; but the enthusiastic admiration and aifection of the army for a mere civilian was more extraordinary. They had been won by Hastings's original and bold military concep- tions at the commencement of the war, by the flattering con- fidence he always reposed in the troops, and by the honours and distinctions with which he treated them on all proper occasions. Thus, about this time, when the corps of Colonel Pearse, which performed the memorable march from Calcutta to Madras, and which now returned, after an absence of five years, reduced from 5,000 to 2,000 sepoys, he heaped every distinction npon them ; he visited them in their camp ; he conversed with men and ofiicers ; he told them that they had done wonders ; he examined their accoutrements and arms, which had been proved in many battles, as well with veteran French as with native Indian troops ; and he passed the corps in re^dew. Dressed in a plain blue coat, and with his head uncovered, he rode along the lines, producing as much excitement and enthusiasm as the most successful of generals could have done, though attended by all that dazzles and delights the eyes of soldiers, or all the " pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war." One of his last pubhc acts was the issuing of a general order to the Bengal army, expressing in forcible language his sense of its past services, and affirming (what I have already quoted) that there are no difficulties which the true spirit of military enterprise is not capable of surmounting. It was this conduct that endeared Hastings as much to the army as to the other branches of the service. The dark faces of the sepoys looked darker at his departure. Veterans scarred with wounds were seen weeping, and voices which meant to shout broke down into 172 HASTINGS IN ENGLAND. [1785. a flebile note and a wailing. When, on the 8th of February, 1785, he delivered up the keys of office, and walked down a private man to the place of embarkation, his friends and admirers formed a complete avenue from the palace to the water side, standing on either side of his path ; many- barges escorted him far down the Hooghly, and some reluctant friends did not leave him until the pilot left the ship, far out at sea. During his voyage, which was unusually short for those times, he amused himself with reading and with wTiting verses. He translated that well- known ode, wherein the Roman poet expresses his philoso- phic indifference to wealth and worldly grandeur, and his love of an humble retirement, with an ease not to be pur- chased by jewels nor by gold. And of gold Hastings had com- paratively but little. It has been calculated that he might, with ease to himself, have brought home from two to three millions sterling ; what he did bring was less than 130,000Z. ^was less than the fortunes which had been made by Mr. Barwell and other members of the council less than the gleanings of many an inferior servant of the Company far less than what the patriotic Philip Francis had made in six years ; and Hastings, who had been thirteen years governor-general, had been altogether more than thirty years in India ; nor would he have had even this moderate fortune, if it had not been for the forethought and manage- ment of his wife, who accepted presents which he refused, and saved money in private corners, w^hich he would have spent in the public service, or in embellishing the city of Calcutta, or in paying for scientific expeditions to the unknown countries bordering on India, or in supporting the almost regal splendour of his establishments. He landed at Plymouth in the month of June, and posted up to London and to court, confident of a good reception. He was not disappointed ; the king and queen received him and Mrs. Hastings most graciously ; the Court of Di- rectors received him in a solemn sitting, and the chairman read a vote of thanks for his great achievements, which had been passed without one dissenting voice. He knew that Francis had been for years plotting, writing, and publishiug against him ; and he also knew that in the session of parlia- ment which had recently been prorogued, Mr. Burke, who had been completely won over by Francis, had given notice of a motion very hostile to him. But when Lord North, after 1785.] SIR PHILIP PRANCIS. 173 a thousand menaces, and at least a hundred set speeches from Burke and Pox, had not been impeached for losing America, was it possible to anticipate that they would impeach him for saving India ? He believed that his country would reproach him as little as he was reproached by his own conscience. In a letter two or three months alter his arrival in England, he said, " I find myself every- where and universally treated with evidences, apparent even to my own observation, that I possess the good opinion of my country."* Yet in the coiu*se of the next session of parliament the Commons resolved to impeach both Mr. AYarren Hastings and his friend Sir EHjah Impey, the chief justice, who had returned to England as far back as the month of June, 1784, and who had not hitherto been molested. Erancis had complete possession of Burke's ear; and Erancis, ever >since his return from the East, in 1781, had devoted bis uncommon energy and cunning, the whole of his extra- ordinary abilities, his whole life and soul, to the blackening of the Indian administration. I assume, as a proven and now altogether indisputable fact, that Su' Philip Erancis, and none other, was the author of the notorious " Letters of Junius." The venom which had been spread in those noisome letters, in former days, when Erancis was only a poor clerk in the AVar Office, over the duke of G-rafton, the duke of Bedford, Sir AVilliam Draper, the good king, and others, was now all concentrated upon Hastings and Impey. The ex-member of council at Calcutta was impelled, by ambition and revenge, two of the strongest of human passions, and both of them more violent and intense in the heart of Erancis than they are often found to be in English human nature. Erancis' s ambition was to become governor- general of India, and to add to the great wealth which he had already accumulated there. How his demoniacal pas- sion of revenge was excited against Hastings, who, be it remembered, had almost killed him in a duel, has been suffi- ciently shown ; and how that evil passion was roused against Impey, may be explained in a very few words. Sir Elijah, as chief judge, had several times rebuked the fiery spirit of the leader of the factious council, and had, by legal measures, upset some of his daring projects ; that Impey had I Rev. G. R. Gleig, ' Memoir. 174 HASTINGS IMPEACHED. [1786. been the school-fellow, and early friend of Hastings, was by itself enough to make him odious in the eyes of Francis ; but, in addition to all these grounds of hostility, there was this memorable circumstance Fhilip Francis, wlio dearly loved his money, had, during his residence in Calcutta, made himself amenable to a civil prosecution, and it had heen the duty of Sir Elijah Impey to pronounce upon him a sentence inflicting heavy damages ! ! * Being heard in his own defence at the bar of the House of Commons, on the 4th of February, 1788, Sir Elijah Impey so completely and triumphantly exculpated himself from the first of the six charges brought against him the trial and execution of the rajah Nuncomar that that charge was let drop, and he never heard anything more of the other five charges. Sir Elijah published the speech he had de- livered at the bar, in an octavo volume, mth a copious appendix of documents and vouchers ; and the speech and the publication (which have been scandalously overlooked by various recent ^Titers on Indian history) ought to have given an eternal quietus to at least that section of Francis's malice, and Burke's misapprehension ; yet, in spite of both, and in spite of Sir Elijah's acquittal, the Nuncomar charge continued to be pressed against Hastings, who could not be guilty singly, and whose innocence was as completely proved by the triumphant defence at the bar of the house, and by the book, as was the innocence of Sir Elijah himself. The parliamentary votes for the impeachment of Hastings, the impeachment itself, the examination of witnesses, and of documentary evidence, and the grand trial in West- minster Hall, were dragged out to the wearisome length of nine years ; and then, on the l7th of April, 1795, the great governor-general was declared Not Gtuilty upon every charge. He was acquitted : but, if his honour and character were cleared, his purse, in a worse sense, was cleared also ; and for some time there seemed a chance of his con- cluding his eventful career on the debtors' side of some English prison. Besides the enormous expenses of the trial, the sums paid to Law, Plumer, Dallas, and his other lawyers, he had thought himself obliged to incur heavy charges in printing and publishing, and in retaining pam- * * Our Indian Empire.' i 1795.] ACQUITTED. 175 plileteers and newspaper writers, in order to liead the torrent that Francis and his part}^ directed upon him. Several men who had been indebted to Hastings for the means of acquiring the large fortunes they had made in India, basely took money from him for their services in England ; and some of them, who lent him money in his hour of need and distress, became importunate, hard-hearted creditors. He, himself, always maintained that his expenses ought to be repaid by the nation ; and Mr. Pitt had spoken in the House of Commons about a proper indemnification, if the charges should not be made good. But certain friends, having no confidence in parliamentary generosity in a case like his, applied to the East-India Company; and on the 7th of March, 1796, it was announced at a general court in the East-India House, that the Board of Control, and the Court of Directors, had agreed to grant to Mr. Hastings an annuity of 4,000 for twenty-eight years and a half. Nothing was determined respecting the -reimbursement of his law expenses: but, in order to relieve him from his embarrassments, a sum of 50,000 was lent to him by the Company, for eighteen years, and without interest. He survived his acquittal twenty-four years ; and, in his last years, honours and distinctions were showered upon him. The University of Oxford conferred the honorary degree of doctor of laws; the prince regent added his name to the list of privy councillors, and in that same year (1814), the allied sovereigns being in England, the prince presented Mr. Hastings to the emperor of Eussia, and to the king of Prussia, as one of the greatest men of this country. In his 82nd year, however, he was again in pecuniary difficulties, for he had outlived the period for which his annuity had ' een fixed. Is there no undeciduous boon in store T'immortalize the patriot of fourscore ? Say from her duty shall the realm recede ? Reap her son's labours, and withhold the meed ? Ah ! whence, Britannia, whence that grudging hand ? * But the grudging hand of the nation would not be opened, and he who saved and enlarged our Indian empire was obliged to appear before the directors as a * Elijah Barwell Impey, A.M., student of Christ Church, a ' Gratu- latory Poem, suggested by the Commemoration at Oxford,' June 30, 1813. 176 DEATH OF lIASTIIfaS. [1818. suitor ; and tliey, after some delay, agreed to continue the annuity for the term of his natural life. He died on the 22nd of August, 1818, in the 86th year of his age. Among the numerous merits and the great deeds that will preserve his name in the history of British India, and in the history of his own country, must be mentioned the noble encouragement he afforded to liberal studies and scien- tific researches. As well by his example as by his munificence, he gave an impulse to learning in the indolent atmosphere of Bengal. Every young ofiicer or vn-iter of the Company who successfally applied himself to the studies of the native languages and literatures, or to the geography, or to the natural history of India, found in him a friend and gene- rous patron. He acquired a deep knowledge of Persian and Arabic literature ; and though he did not learn that mysterious and jealously-guarded language himself, he was the first that succeeded in gaining the confidence of the pundits, or hereditary priests of India, whereby he obtained, for other English scholars and students, the key to Sanscrit, and to the secrets of the ancient Brahminical theology and jurisprudence. It was under his protection that the Asiatic Society of Bengal commenced its career ; and it was during his administration that Englishmen really began to acquire that knowledge of India, and the character, habits, and institutions of the people, without which our anomalous empire could not have been maintained for any length of time.* * Rev. G. R. Gleig, 'Memoirs.' James Mills, ' History of British India,' as edited by Professor Horace Hayman Wilson. London, 1840. Professor Wilson's notes, and his numerous corrections of Mr. Mills's text, are particularly recommended to the attention of the student. 1783-4.] HOME LEGISLATION^. 177 CHAPTER XVIII. Peetiously to the return of "VYarren Hastings from India, very material changes had been made in the Company's charter, and in the rules and regulations for governing our Eastern dominions. In 1783, Mr. Fox brought in his famous, but unfortunate East-India bill, which would have placed nearly all the patronage of the Company in the hands of the ministers of the cro^vTi; that is, in the hands of any government that could command parliamentary majorities ; and such vast patronage would have given the means of swelling majorities. Had Mr. Eox's bill been passed, the coalition ministry of that day, unpopular as it was, and unpalatable to the king, might long have retained power ; but the bin was lost, and led immediately to the breaking up of that ministry, and to the introduction of Mr. Pitt as premier of a new cabinet. On the I4th of January, 1784, Mr. Pitt moved for leave to bring in a bill " Eor the better Government and Management of the Affairs of the East- India Company." At its second reading, this bill was also lost. But, on the 25th of March, Pitt, thoroughly sup- ported by the king, dissolved parliament. The general election went greatly in favour of the young prime minis- ter ; and, the new parliament, which assembled on the 18th of May, passed Pitt's Indian biU into a law on the 13th of August. This bill instituted the Board of Control, by which, ever since, the government of India may be said to have been directed. This board of commissioners was invested " with a superintendence and control over all the Britisli territo- rial possessions in India, and over the aftairs of the Com- pany in England." The bill did not, like Mr. Pox's bill, claim the nomina- tion of the members of this controlling power for the House of Commons, but left it solely to the crown, it did not n 178 THE BOAKD OF COXTEOL. [1784. abolish the two existing Courts of Directors and Proprietors, as Eox had proposed to do, but it created a secret com- mittee, which was to absorb nearly the whole of the diminished power that was left to the directors, and it greatly curtailed the powers of the Court of Proprietors. It enacted that every individual who had held any office of trust in India should, on his return home, disclose the amount of the fortune he brought with him, and it provided a new tribunal for the trial and punishment of offences liable to be committed in India, or " for the prose- cuting and bringing to speedy and condign punishment British subjects guilty of extortion, and other misde- meanors, while holding offices in the service of the king or Company, in India."* The Board of Control was to be composed of six commissioners, all members of the privy council, chosen by the king, of whom the chancellor of the Exchequer, and one of the principal secretaries of state, were to be two ; and, in absence of the chancellor of the Exchequer, and the principal secretary, the senior of the remaining four was to preside. As neither of the two great functionaries named were ever likely to find time for a constant attendance, the whole business soon rested with that senior, known by the name of the president of the Board of Control, who is, essentially, a secretary of state for the Indian department. In the act, however, the authority was vested in the plural number in commissioners. These commissioners were not to interfere in commercial matters, but in all other matters their power was most extensive. They were vested with a control and superintendence over all civil, military, and revenue officers of the Company, and the directors were obliged to lay before them all papers relative to the manage- ment of their possessions, and to obey all orders which they received from them on points connected with their civil or mihtary government, or the revenues of their territories. The commissioners were obliged to return the copies of papers which they received from the directors, in fourteen days, with their approbation, or to state at large their reasons for disapproving of them ; and their despatches, so approved or amended, w^ere to be sent to India, unless the * This clause, though remodelled and softened, soon became a dead letter. The British subjects in India took the alarm as well they might and poured in petitions against it. 1784.] ME. Pitt's bill. 179 commissioners should attend to any representations of the Court of Directors, respecting further alterations in them. T^e Court of Directors had no power to send any orders regarding their civil or military government, without the sanction of the commissioners ; but these might (if the di- rectors neglected to send true copies of their intended despatches, upon any subject, within fourteen days) send by themselves orders and instructions relative to the civil or military concerns of the Company, to any of the presi- dencies of India ; and these instructions the Court of Directors were, in such case, bound to forward. If the commissioners forwarded any orders to the Court of Directors on points not relating to the civil or military government, or to the revenues of the territorial possessions of the Com- pany, the directors might appeal to the king in council. In all cases of secrecy, and particularly such as related to war or peace with the native powers of India, the commis- sioners had the power of sending their orders to the local government of India, through a secret committee of the Court of Directors, which committee, by the act, coidd in this case only be considered as the vehicle of the instruc- tions to the local authorities of India. The chief govern- ment in India was to consist of a governor-general, and a council of three, of whom the commander-in-chief of the forces, for the time being, was to be one, and to have a voice and precedence next after the governor-general ; but, the said commander-in-chief was not to succeed as governor-general, in the event of a death or vacancy, unless by a special appointment of the Court of Directors. The constitution of the government of the subordinate pre- sidencies of Madras and Bombay was the same as at Bengal, and at both the governor had, like the governor-general, a casting vote in council. But these two minor presidencies were placed completely under the rule of the governor- general in council, on all points connected with their rela- tions or negotiations with the country powers, peace or war, and the application of their revenues and military forces. These subordinate presidencies were strictly prohibited from making war or peace without orders from the governor- general at Calcutta, or from the Court of Directors, or the secret committee at home, except only in cases of sudden emergency or imminent danger, when it would be ruinous If 2 180 MR. Pitt's bill. [1784. or unsafe to postpone suet hostilities or treaties. The supreme government at Calcutta was to be intrusted with the power of suspending the governors of Madras and Bombay, in case of any disobedience of orders ; but the power of M'ar and peace was now to be restrained at Cal- cutta, it being declared by this act that, as the pursuit of schemes of conquest was repugnant to the wish, to the honour, and the policy of the British nation, it was not lawful for the governor-general in council, without the express authority of the Court of Directors, or of the secret committee, to commence hostilities, or to enter into any treaty for making war against any of the native princes or states in India, or into any treaty guaranteeing the dominions of such princes or states, except when hostilities had been commenced, or preparations actually made for the attack of the British nation in India, or of some of the states and princes, whose dominions the British nation was engaged by subsisting treaties to protect and defend. The right of recall was vested in the crown * the king was to have power to recall the governor-general, or any other officer of the Company ; and, if the Court of Directors did not within two months nominate to vacancies which might occur in any of the principal charges or employments, such as governor-general, governor, commander-in-chief, * The directors were soon made to feel that this right of recall was pretty nearly tantamount to the right of nomination. In the month of October, 1784, before Pitt's bill was two months old, the directors appointed Mr. Holland, an old servant, who had long been at Madras, and was reputed to have ability, integrity, and an extensive knowledge of the country, to succeed Lord Macartney in the government of that part of India, in case of his lordship's resignation, death, or removal. The Board of Control objected to the choice. Tlie Court of Directors per- sisted in their appointment, and intimated that the Board of Control were meddling in a matter that did not belong to them, inasmuch as by the late act the power of appointing to such places rested with the directors. Hereupon the Board of Control said: *'Ifthe reasons which we have adduced do not satisfy the Court of Directors, we have certainly no right to control their opinion." But at the same time they informed Mr. Holland that if he accepted the appointment, and went to India, he would be recalled the moment he got there. This settled the dispute ; and Mr. Dundas was allowed to nominate Sir Archibald Campbell, who, whatever were his other qualifications, had the merit of being Dundas's friend. It was at a period subsequent to this that the power of recall was given also to the Company. How this power was exercised by the board without the consent of ministers, in the case of the earl of EUenborough, is a recent event, and fresh in public recollection. 1784.] ME. Pitt's bill. 181 or member of coimcil, then the crown became possessed of the right to make such nomination. The patronage of India, by this bill, was left in the directors, but with material deductions : for the king was to name the commander-in-chief, who was always to be second in co^ ncil ; and the governor-general, governors of Madras and Bombay, and members of all the three councils, were subject to the approbation of the king, who was to have the power of recalling any or all of them. The secret com- mittee was to be chosen by the directors, and not to exceed the number of three. By the clause in which the Board of Control was authorized in all cases requiring secrecy to transmit their orders through this secret committee of three, without communicating them to the Court of Directors, and to receive answers under the same conceal- ment, the Board of Control and the said committee of secrecy could interrupt and suspend, as often as they thought proper, the power of the Court of Directors. In fact, as far as related to all the higher functions of government in India, the Court of Directors was reduced to three, and these three, in conjunction with the president of the Board of Control, formed the executive.* * Act of Parliament. P. Auber, * Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.* Sir John Malcolm, ' Sketch of the Political History ofi' India.' Mills, ' History of British India,* Professor Wilson's edition^, with notes and corrections. 182 THE SEIKS. [1785. CHAPTER XIX. On the departure of Mr. Hastings, in 1785, Mr. Mac- pherson, senior member of council, acted as governor- general until the arrival of Lord Cornwallis. In Che interval the Mahrattas, under their great chieftain, Madajee Scindiah, captured the city of Agra. At this time the fanatical Seiks made overtures for the friendship of the Company. A person, in the cha- racter of a merchant, waited upon Mr. Anderson, who was in the Mahratta camp, and after offering to sell him some cloths, represented that he had some jewels to show him in private. On their retiring, the sham merchant discovered himself to be a confidential servant of Dooljah Sing, a great Seik chief, who had lately arrived in the camp. He stated that his master was desirous of forming a friend- ship and connection with the English, as he entertained great apprehensions of the Mahrattas, and that an armed body of 30,000 Seiks had crossed the Sutlej, and taken up a position between Panniput and Delhi. But Scindiah Bwore by his sword that he had no intention of war, and the Seik negotiation with the English came to nothing.* Shortly after this, the Seiks entered into a treaty with Scindiah, and undertook to supply him with 5,000 of their cavalry, to serve in the war which he was determined to wage against Tippoo Sultaun. The Seiks received the promise of a rich jaghire ; but, as the war was very unsuc- cessful, they never got it. Our knowledge of the vast peninsula over which we were gradually extending our sway, was at first acquired piece- meal, and by slow degrees. During Mr. Macpherson's brief government, two contributions were made to this in- formation. * Peter Auber, M.R.A.S., ' Rige and Progress of the British Power ia India.' 1785.] SIR cnAELES malet's JOL'EKEY. 183 Mr. Malet, afterwards Sir Charles Malet, bart., of the Bombay civil service, was selected by the supreme govermnent for the" office of resident at Poonah. He received instruc- tions to repair to Calcutta, in order to confer on the general state of Mahratta politics. " Influenced by a desire to extend the geographical knowledge of Hindustan already possessed by the Company, he proceeded by the route of Oojeen, a tract then unkno\Mi to European travellers, where he arrived on the 10th of April, having left Bombay on the 27th of January preceding, without encountering any difficulty, or meeting with the slightest impediment; a progress, how- ever, which, would be considered somewhat tedious at the present day, for a distance of 479 miles. He described Oojeen as erroneously laid down by Eennell. After giving an account of the fort of Bheroodghur, about two miles distant from Oojeen, he proceeded a mile and a half further, where he discovered a very large gloomy edifice of peculiar strength, and still in very good repair, erected on an artificial island, fonned for the purpose by a division of the stream of the Sessera, and connected with the western bank by a bridge of sixteen arches. In the western stream, which he con- sidered to be an artificial one, were a surprising multitude of various apartments, constructed on a level with the water, and in the midst of it, the water being conveyed round them in various channels into reservoirs contrived for its reception, whence fit was conveyed by proper inlets from the bed of the river, into which it was again discharged by little artificial cascades. It was stated to have been built by Sultan ISTasic- ul-deen-Gighee, who ascended the throne of Malwa in the year of the Hijrah 905, and reigned eleven years. He was represented as cruel and oppressive ; he had contracted an intolerable heat in his habit by eating fixed quicksilver, and found so much relief within these watery abodes, from their coolness, that he spent the whole of his time there, where he also carried on the business of his government. The works were stated to be three hundred years old."* Mr. Anderson, vsTiting to the council at Calcutta, from Allahabad, described the Company's armies as ha\-ing for a series of years crossed and re-crossed a canal cut from the Jumna, which includes the town and fortress of Allahabad, without its being known that such a communication existed. *' During the last few days I was at that quarter," said he, * P. Auber. 184 PEINCE OF wales' ISLAND. [1785. " I casTiallv lit, to my utter astonishment, upon this canal, wliieli Shiijah Dowla caused to be excavated in 1764, either to obstruct the enterprises of the approaching English, or to impede the invasion of the Abdallees, of both of which he was then apprehensive. Of all the strongholds I liave met witli in India, Allahabad appears to be the best calculated for a provisionarv magazine, for a military station for our frontier troops, and for their retreat in case of any untoward event. Possessing this, our forces would become little hable to check or repulse."* Of late, there had been a great number of duels fought in India between officers and civil servants of the Company. These duels were not confined to young men, or to the inferior ranks of the two services ; IVIr. Hastings had fought Philip Prancis, and wounded him ; Lord Macartney, gover-- nor of Madras, had fought with Mr. Sadlier, a member of council, and had been wounded by him ;t and Mr. Macpher- son, now acting as governor-general, had been challenged by Major Brown, on the Bengal estabUshment, for some oifence taken at Mi'.Macpherson's proceedings in his station as governor-general. The frequency of these events induced the Court of Directors to pass a unanimous resolution, reprobating the practice, and determining to dismiss from the Company's service every party who should presume to c-hallenge a member of the government, or any other officer, on accoimt of matters arising out of the discharge of official duties. Prince of Wales' Island, in the Straits of Malacca, was taken into our possession during Mr. Macpherson's adminis- tration. The necessity of having a port where British ships might meet the Eastern merchants, and the necessity of a windward station for refreshment and the repair of the king's ships, as well as those of the Company, were the principal reasons with the government in obtaining that settlement, through Captain Light. Some reductions Avere made in the civil ser\dce, which had become somewhat over- * Peter Auber, * Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' t On his return to England, Lord Macartney Lad to fight another duel. This was witli General Stuart, whose conduct in the Carnatic, and espe- cially at Cuddalore, had been very severely, and, it should appear, very justly criticised. His lordship was again wounded. But this wound, inflicted in a field near Kingston, in Surrey, did not prove that Stuart had done his duty as a soldier and commanding officer at Cuddalore, in the East Indies. 1786.] NATIVE TROOPS. 185 crowded with writers and young men, wlio liad little to do, and who in many cases were ill qualilied to do that little. Measures were taken for the discharge of all arrears to the army ; and it was declared to be a leading principle of the Company's goyernment, that the pay of the soldier ought never to be in arrear; while there was a rupee in the treasury, the soldier was to be paid, every other article of expenditure being postponed to that consideration, Regula- tions were also made for the relief or better maintenance of invalided native officers and sepoys, by allotting to them lands to cultivate, in proportion to their respective ranks, within the districts under Boglepoor. Thus population would be increased, and a considerable portion of those extensive districts brought "under cultivation. Other means, well adapted to secure the continuance of the attachment of our native troops to their British officers and to the service, were adopted from time to time. It will not be necessary for me to detail all these. I prefer quoting, for the benefit of our young officers, the following passage, which was written thirty- two years ago, and the truth and value of which have been many times proved during that long interval. " It is by treating the sepoys with kindness and consider- ation, by stimulating their pride, and by attending, in the most minute manner, to their feelings and prejudices, that we can command, as has been well observed, ' their lives through the medium of their affi^ctions ;' and so long as we can, by these means, preserve the fidelity and attachment of that portion of the population of our immense possessions in the East, which we arm to defend the remainder, our empire may be considered as secure."* Much good had been done during this short administra- tion, and on resigning his functions, at the arrival of the newly appointed governor-general, the unanimous thanks of the Court of Directors were voted to John Macpherson, esq., for his meritorious conduct during the time he had presided in the supreme government, and to the other members of the council at Calcutta.f * ' Quarterly Review,' vol. xviii. t Acts of Parliament. Mills, ' History of British India,' Professor Wilson's edition. Sir John Malcolm, ' Sketch of the Political History of India.' Peter Auber, Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' 186 ADMINISTEATIOy OF [1786. CHAPTER XX. LoED CoEKWALLis, the second governor - general of India, and the first who united to his office that of com- mander-in-chief of the forces, landed at Calcutta on the 12th of September, 1786, and, after taking the usual oaths, assumed charge of the government. Notwithstanding the unfortunate way in which he had ended the American war, his lordship was still considered as an able general; and there seemed to be great advantages to be derived from intrusting the government of India to a tried soldier, and from uniting the highest civil with the highest military power. Lord Cornwallis was high-minded, disinterested in money matters, mild and equitable in temper, anxious to do good and prevent e\i\, steady and persevering in his application to business, and particularly distinguished by his sincere desire to maintain peace and promote the welfare of our Indian subjects. Both the parliament and the Company had recommended that no more wars should be undertaken for extension of territory, and that leagues and alliances with the restless native powers should be avoided. His lordship himself certainly went to the Granges with the intention and the hope of avoiding wars of con- quest, and of keeping the whole of British India, and the states dependent upon it, in a happy condition of undis- turbed peace. It was a pleasant vision ; but it soon vanished. His lordship found himself constraiaed to act, in politics and war, and with reference to the native princes, in much the same manner as Mr. Hastings had acted. There were, however, several material differences between the present situation of Cornwallis and the late situation of Hastings. Pitt's India bill of 1784 was now in full opera- tion, and it was improved and strengthened by three amend- ing acts passed in 1786, and by the declaratory bill of 1788. These acts did much to set aside the vacillating, 1786.] LOED COEFWALLIS. 187 and frequently rash and contradictory policy of the Court of Directors, and to vest the government of British India substantially in the home British government. Pitt's bill gave to the Board of Control the powers of war and peace, and relieved the governor-general from many of those heavy responsibilities under which Hastings had laboured. In some matters, there was still a want of unity of power and intention ; but, under the Board of Control, or with the direction of one of the secretaries of state, the corres- pondence with the governor-general and council, and other authorities in India, became very different from what it had been when directed solely by a few trading directors sitting in Leadenhall-street, as a secret council or committee : it became more clear, more consistent, more honourable, and elevated. In AYarren Hastings's time it had often been a dark and disgraceful riddle, difficult to be understood, and easy to be misinterpreted. Moreover, the general situation of affairs in India was infinitely less difficult and perplexing now than it had been, and Hastings, by breaking the only European power capable of contending with us, and by con- solidating the empire which the great Clive had foimded, had rendered comparatively easy the task of all his suc- cessors. The power and prestige of the French in India were annihilated; and although they made some feeble efforts to re-erect the system of M. Bussy, by renewing the struggle in Hindustan, they never again became formidable in that part of the world, their efforts being checked by their great devolution, and their energy and ambition being employed in other channels by the republican and Bonapartean wars. By the three bills passed in 1786, several parts of that of 1784 were explained and amended, and the powers of the governor-general were at once enlarged, and better defined, than they were in Hastings's time. The governor-general was vested with a discretionary right of acting, in extraor- dinary cases, Vkdthout the concurrence of the supreme coun- cil at Calcutta, being held solely and personally responsible for any consequences which might ensue from the measures adopted under such circumstances. This went to do away with that divided authority, and that almost constant colli- sion between the governor-general and the council, which had tormented and tortured Hastings, and which, more than once, had placed in jeopardy our dominion in Hindustan. 188 Tippoo suLTArN. [1789. Under Cornwallis there could be no sucli men or, no member of council could do such deeds as Francis, Claver- ing, and IMonson. The success which attended the new governor-general in India was also promoted by the high consideration he eujoyed in England. "His rank and character, while it placed him above the influence of the ministers of the crown, or the fear of the Court of Di- rectors, commanded a respect from the civil and military servants of the Company, which, added to the increased powers with which he was vested, freed him from every shadow of opposition. He was enabled, from the same causes, to stimulate to exertion, by the distinction which his personal favour bestowed, the first talents in India, and to combine the eiforts of every ambitious and honourable mind in the support of the measures of his administra- tion." Lord Cornwallis was strengthened in almost every way during three years of tranquillity, and his government in India had acquired consistency and regularity before any serious conflict commenced. The principal event which occurred during his administration, was the war with Tippoo Sultaun. On tlie 29th of December, 1789, Tippoo stormed the lines of the rajah of Travancore, a prince who was acknowledged to be under the protection of the English government, by the stipulations of the treaty which Tippoo had concluded in 1784. This unprovoked aggression was the origin of the war. Our opposition party did not hesitate to blame Lord Cornwallis, as they had previously censured Warren Hastings, and they took it upon themselves to honour and applaud, and afterwards to commiserate, Tippoo Sultaun, as an inoffensive ruler, sacrificed to our ambition and thirst for conquest. Yet Tippoo, a cruel, faithless, ambitious prince, brought the war upon himself, when Lord ComwaUis was most earnest for peace, and very badly provided with the means of carrying on extensive hos- tilities. Anticipating and providing for a grand struggle, Tippoo, assisted by European engineers, chiefly Erench and Italian, was everywhere strengthening the country of Mysore. Several of the towns besides Seringapatam, the capital, were strongly fortified ; and the region abounds in places of great natural strength, affording admirable advantages for a defensive war. Besides European engineers and artillery 1789.] HIS WABLIKE STEENGTH. 189 officers, he had a considerable number of Europeans to train and discipline his native troops ; but these fellows were chiefly common soldiers that had deserted from the Com- pany's service to escape punishment for crimes committed ; and, p as Tippoo was a bigoted Mussulman, and fond of religious conversion, forced or spontaneous, they had all become renegadoes. He had clothed part of his regulars in uniform resembling that of the sepoys in the English ser- vice, and had armed them with French muskets. Their discipline, however, was very far from perfect, and their whole number inconsiderable, not exceeding three or four thousand. The rest of his infantry was a mere rabble, armed with old muskets, matchlocks, pikes, and scimitars. But his principal force was his cavahy, that Mysorean cavalry which had repeatedly rushed through the ghauts like mountain-torrents, and swept the whole of the low country of the Carnatic. Yet the elite of this force, the circar or stable horse, who were uniformly clothed and equipped, did not exceed 6,000 ; all the rest being irregu- lars, v.'ho found their own horses and arms, and who did no military duty, except when called into the field on some emergency, or to make some plundering incursion into the territories of their neighbours. These fellows, however, were bold and clever riders ; and the rapidity of their movements often made up for their deficiency in other points. His artillery was more than respectable, the French baving furnished him with guns of all calibres, many of which, being larger and longer than any of the guns of Lord ComwaUis, gave him a considerable advantage over the English in this war. He boasted that, in artillery prac- tice, he had left his masters, the Nazarenes, far behind him ; " although, like the salamander, they passed their lives in fire." His heavier pieces were all drawn by elephants; and besides 400 trained elephants, the best that coidd be procured in India, he had an immense train of the finest bullocks. According to a British officer engaged, 100 pieces of ordnance were frequently moved during these cam- paigns, with a rapidity not easily to be conceived, and far superior to the best speed the English artillery could make ; and the velocity with which his large bodies of cavalry changed their situations, and the general rapidity with which his whole movements were executed, gave him another great advantage. When the war w^as carried into his own 190 TIPPOO SULTAUIT. [1789. dominions, his irregulars, who had been accustomed to rely only upon plunder for their support and reward, were engaged by what Tippoo called regular pay ; but he only engaged them by the month or moon ; and Tippoo length- ened months or moons beyond their natural duration, to save his pocket. "Thirty, forty, and even fifty days," says Major Taylor, " constitute their duration ; and the state of his treasury, or his own whim, regulates the calendar." But in matters where the advantage is less evident, Tippoo indulged his whims to excess. He was a reformer or inno- vator of the most persevering kind, changing all old things, and hking nothing but what was new and of his own creation. It seemed as if the soul of a Trench democrat had been trans- fused into this Indian despot. He changed the dates of the ancient Mahometan festivals ; he changed the name of everything in government, law, and military tactics ; he gave new names to the days and months, to weights, mea- sures, coins, forts, towns, offices civil and military ; in short, to all things and persons, exhibiting " a singular coincidence at nearly one and the same time, and in distant and uncon- nected quarters of the globe, between the extremes of unbridled democracy and luicontrolled despotism."* He created a fleet which never existed except upon paper, and made admirals who had never seen the sea. He drew up a commercial code, and considered himself the chief and best merchant in his dominions. He drew up a civil and criminal code, which is said to have been the maddest and worst ever devised by man. And whatever the Tiger once did, he would never allow to be altered. He had a rigid method in all his madness, and he made laws and regula- tions for almost everything, however trifling. Besides keeping in pay a corps of authors to record his wonderful exploits, he was an author himself, and so busy a one, that when not campaigning or sleeping, the pen was for ever in his hand. His father, Hyder Ali, was accustomed to do v^Tong among his neighbours without attempting to prove to the world that he was doing right ; but Tippoo never executed or meditated an evil deed without writing himself, or caus- ing to be written, some pedantic proclamation, or treatise, or book, to extol his project, and to prove tliat it was dictated by religion and morality. So long as the Hindiis he had * Colonel Wilks, ' Historical Sketches of the South of India.* 1789.] Tippoo suLTArK. 191 conquered paid their tribute to him, Hyder cared little about their religion, but Tippoo resolved to convert by force all his subjects to the Mahometan faith. In the year 1787, before marching with an army into the country of Calicut, " to improve the morals of the people and to realize the revenue," he issued a proclamation, stating that unless the poor Malabars renounced their ancient practices, he would keep a vow which he had made and often repeated, and exter- minate them or force them to acknowledge his prophet. He described his joiu'ney to the Malabar coast as the progress of an angel of light, or envoy of the Almighty ; and the butcheries he committed during his residence there as acts of grace and heavenly inspiration. He was " The Shadow of G-od" his blood-stained steps were "propitious steps" he claimed the gratitude of the Hindus for having slaugh- tered them or driven them from their country, for having destroyed their temples and burned their gods. On one occasion he surprised 2,000 Nairs with their families, and gave them the alternative of a voluntary profession of his faith with permission to stay in Malabar, or a forcible con- version with deportation from their native land. The unhappy captives chose the latter ; the rite of circumcision was instantly performed on all the males, and the individuals of both sexes were compelled to close the ceremony of con- version by eating beef the very climax of sacrilege and of horror in the eyes of those poor Hindus. His capricious but fierce persecutions made him for ever odious to that people, who saw no chance of happiness or security except in the Company and the presence of an English force. He sent an embassy to France to ask Louis XVI. for a body of 6,000 Frenchmen, with whose assistance he had engaged to drive the English out of India ; and he sent another embassy to Constantinople to request the sultan, as the chief of Mussulman princes, to make common cause with him. This was done while Tippoo was professing friendship to the Company. When, by overt acts, he threatened the rajah of Travancore and other native princes, whom the Company was bound by treaty to protect, Lord Cornwallis made sun- dry attempts to negotiate with him ; but, upon the failure of these attempts, his lordship declared that no policy would prove so fatal in India as a tame submission to insult or injury at the hands of Tippoo Sidtaun, No sooner had the Mysorean recovered from the losses he 192 THE EAJAH OF TEATAlfCORE. [1789. had sustained during the last four years' war with the English, than he began to look round for fresh objects that might increase his'revenue, extend his dominions, and aggran- dize his fame. The wealthy kingdom of Travancore, bor- dering on his Malabar possessions, had long excited the cupidity of Tippoo and of his father Hyder. Into that country the destructive inundations of Tamerlane, Aurung- zebe, and Nadir Shah never penetrated. Indeed, as the whole kingdom, with a mere trifle of exception, is separated from the adjacent districts, either by deep morasses or by lofty mountains, covered with impenetrable jungle, it seems protected by a peculiar indulgence of nature from such disasters. Happy, too, under a succession of princes mildly reigning in uninterrupted peace, time immemorial ; and rendered opulent by the great variety of spice and timber with which their country abounded ; that peaceful people did not interfere in the politics of neighbouring princes, much less did they provoke the impending storm. Mussulman fanaticism contributed also, in a considerable degree, to bring about the rupture. Thence had arisen the incessant persecution of the rajahs, the original, genuine, and true princes of Hindustan, by Hyder and his successor ; thence the annihilation of their undisputed chief, on the Malabar coast, the late Zamorin ; and thence the present importance of the prince of Travancore, who, from the antiquity of his family, from the wealth that he possessed, and from his close connection with the British nation, was now regarded with great reverence by all the Hindus of the south.* The rajah of Travancore, in 1789, was drawn into a nego- tiation by the Dutch, who offered to sell his highness the two ports of Cranganore and Jaycottah, in the provinces of Malabar and Cochin. The Portuguese were possessed of a fort at Cochin at the commencement of the sixteenth cen- tury, and in 1663 the Dutch became possessed of it by right of conquest. When Hyder had overrun the Malabar coast, in 1766, in writing to the government of Bombay, he thanks Ood he had subdued all the coast, from the Cape Eamus to Ponany. Cochin, in which Cranganore is situated, lies much to the southward of Cape Ponany, and although Tippoo, in his immediate ravages, may have exacted tribute * Roderick Mackenzie, of the 52nd reginoent, ' Sketch of the War with Tippoo Sultaun,' 2 vols. 4to. Calcutta, 1799. 17S9.] TIPPOO INYADES TRAYANCOllE. 193 from the province, there is nothing to establish that either Cranganore or Jaycottah were subject to him, or that the Dutch had not the power of parting with possessions they had acquired for upwards of a century before even Hyder, Tippoo's father, had become known as a separate and power- ful chief. It was good policy of the Dutch to sell that which they apprehended would be taken from them by Tippoo ; but as a matter of discretion on the part of the rajah of Travancore, it might have been prudent to have abstained from any proceeding likely to involve hostilities with Mysore. The error, if it be one, was committed ; it could not be repaired but by an humiliating concession to Tippoo, which, after what had passed, would have involved the character of the British government.* Tippoo, determined to prevent if possible the offer of the Dutch being accepted by the ra,jah of Travancore, and regard- less of the treaty of 1784, and of the remonstrances of Lord Cornwallis, put his army in motion. Towards the end of the year 1789, the Mysorean army pitched their tents within two miles of the barrier that originally bounded the conquest of Hyder on the western coast. After a tedious march through a narrow, circuitous, and unfrequented pathway among the jungles, the sultaun, at the head of 10,000 men, on the morning of the 29th Decem- ber, obtained SharapootamaUy, a steep and rugged hill that terminated that barrier to the eastward. From thence his encampment was distant about twelve miles, and as the space that intervened had always been reckoned impene- trable to any body of troops, the few Nairs that were sta- tioned at SharapootamaUy were lulled into a security that proved fatal to themselves. Unencumbered by their cannon, the Mysoreans clambered over the brow of the mountain ; they doubled the extreme end of the lines, and advancing from within with rapidity towards the centre, they bayoneted whomsoever oftered to oppose. Some feeble resistance served only to enrage the Mahometans, and to increase the carnage during a pursuit of several miles. At length, how- ever, a resolute party of Nairs, about 800 in number, formed across an avenue, along which the assailants had to pass, and, with the assistance of a six-poujider that was well * Peter Auber, ' Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' O 194 TIPPOO DEFEATED. [1789. served with grape, tliey staggered the troops in advance, and completely checked the pursuit. A Chela battalion that led the enemy, exhausted by fatigue and want of water, could not be prevailed upon to charge this resolute phalanx. Another battalion, and another was still ordered to advance, but the Nairs, by this time, reinforced from Eemiseram, stood firm as a rock. The sultaun pressed onward to the front with his best troops, whilst the Gentoos, attracted by the noise of the action, hastened to the support of their friends. The conflict was dreadful. The high-caste Nairs, inflamed by patriotism, Hindu fanaticism, and revenge, fought with rare courage. Tor some time the beam of success stood horizontal. At length the Mysoreans gave way. A general panic ensued, which, in proportion as it gave rise to confusion amongst the fugitives, increased the courage of the now victorious IN'airs. Exasperated by the cruel and unremitting persecution of Hyder and his successors, these warriors continued the pursuit and slaughter for a consider- able distance, making dreadful execution with their destruc- tive hatchets. The sultaun, mounted on a white horse, witnessing the discomfiture and disgrace of his troops, exerted every nerve for the recovery of the day. But all was to no purpose, for the Nairs pressed so closely on his rear, that, his horse being shot, he had a narrow escape for his life. The rout was now general and complete.* Two passages, about twenty feet in width, that had been cut througli the ramparts on the advance of the assailants, on purpose to admit their guns, now served essentially in favouring their retreat ; still, however, they had another enemy to encounter. The cotton with which the ditch had been fiUed by themselves, and over which they must of necessity fall back, by some unaccountable accident took fire. This circumstance rendered their situation truly deplorable, and, contributing to the reluctance with which they quitted the lines, they desperately disputed the ground they gave up inch by inch. Their obstinacy availed them nothing. It greatly increased their loss. The carnage con- tinued without intermission until noon. It is diflicult to ascertain the exact number slain when an action is fought over such an extent of ground. Of the enemy not less than 1,500 are said to have fallen, whilst forty only were taken * Roderick Mackenzie, of the 52nd regiment, * Sketch of the War with Tippoo Sultaun,' etc. Calcutta, 1799. 1790.] ATTEMPTED NEGOTIATION. 195 prisoners. Amongst the dead there were three men of high rank. Tippoo Sultaun did not escape nnhurt. He had been obHged to leap from the ramparts of the lines, across the ditch in which the bales of cotton were, and, falling, he was much bruised and otherwise injured. His palanquin was found at the brink of the ditch, and turned out a good prize, for it contained several valuable diamond rings and other jewels in a silver box, his large seal, his fusee and pistols, and like- wise his diamond-hilted sword.* During these fierce combats a force of EngHsh sepoys remained under arms, but did nothing, as Captain Knox, their commander, had received no orders to act. Sir Thomas Monro, in a letter written from Amboor, in January, alluded to the transactions, and said, " A second attack is daily expected, and if the rajah is left alone, all liis exertions against a force so superior can delay but for a very short time his ruin. The English battahons were behind the Hues, but not at the place attacked : and it is said they have orders not to act, even on the defensive. If such be the case, the rajah ought to dismiss them with scorn. The distinction made between recent acquisi- tions and ancient territory appears to be a subterfuge of government to cloak their dread of war under a pretended love of peace, for Cranganore was a fair purchase of the Dutch from the rajah of Cochin, subject to an annual tribute of thirty -five rupees. Before we can assemble an army to face the enemy, Tippoo may be in possession of Travancore. We have derived but little benefit from experience and mis- fortune. The year 1790 sees us as little prepared as that of 1780, and before that war. AVe shall commence the war under the disadvantage of a want of magazines. The dis- tresses and difiicidties which we then encountered from them, has not cured us of the narrow policy of preferring a small present saving to a certain though future great and essential advantage." t Every word of this letter was almost prophetic. Bound by his pacific instructions from home, Lord Comwallis, through the Madras government, still attempted to negotiate with Tippoo. The Mysorean was told that if his claim to the ports of Cranganore and Jaycottah, which * Roderick Mackenzie, 52nd regiment, ' Sketch of the War with Tippoo Sultaun.' Calcutta, 1793-9. t Peter Auber, ' Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' O 2 19G ALLIA>'CE YriTK THE MAHRATTAS. [1790. the rajah of Travancore had purchased, could be proved to be a just one, those places should be given up to him, but that he must not attempt to seize them by force, or to inflict any injury on the rajah, who was the aUy of the Eng- lish, and Avho had given him no provocation. Even a flag of truce was sent to him from Madras, and an offer was made to appoint a joint commission of Mysoreans and English to settle amicably the points in contest.* The Tiger set down aU these peaceful attempts as a proof that the English were not prepared for war, and were afraid of renewing the con- test with him. " To assign the causes that produced an unproclaimed truce, for upwards of two months, between inveterate enemies not five miles asunder, would be to put truth too much to the hazard. It is probable that the wounds or bruises which the sultaun had received, his want of cannon, together with the inequality of the force now under his command to the task that he had undertaken, contributed to his apparent inactivity. During that period, however, he obtained from Mysore and Seringapatam troops, battering-guns, and stores, without molestation ; whilst the rajah, on the other hand, making the like use of this interval, through the influence of religion encouraged by a temporary success, assembled about 100,000 Hindiis, all of whom were carefully distributed on the lines. "f This force consisted of the not very warlike militia of the country, of poly gars, or tributary landlords, who held their estates by a military tenure, and of about 8,000 men, clothed and accoutred like our sepoys, but under little or no discipline. The natural strength of the country was very considerable, but the people of Travancore were totally unaccustomed to war. J It was therefore clear that the rajah would be crushed and his fair country ruined, if English aid were not sent to him. Like Hastings, Lord Cornwallis found himself obliged to set up one native power against another, and to court the aid and alliance of the Mahrattas, themselves the most restless and unprincipled of men. A treaty of offensive and defensive alliance against Tippoo Sultaun was concluded between the English and the peishwa of the Mahrattas, the * See correspondence with Tippoo Sultaun, quoted by R. Mackenzie in ' Sketch of the War,' etc. + Roderick Mackenzie. X ' Official Correspondence,' quoted by Roderick Mackenzie. Colonel Wilks, ' Sketches of the South of India.' 1790.] WAR WITH TIPPOO. 197 peisliwa engaging to furnish cavalry to sei-ve witli our army. But, unhappily, before our forces could reach the field of action, Tippoo beat the rajah of Travancore, and did incal- culable mischief to the countr}\ On the 12th of April, after a tremendous cannonade, the Mysorean got possession of the lines of defence. The rajah's host fled in a wild panic, but were protected in their retreat by two battalions of Madras sepoys, under the command of Captain Knox. On the 7th of May, Cranganore, one of the disputed ports, was reduced, Jaycottah, the other disputed port, fell a few days later ; and Paroor, Curiapilly, and various other forts, surrendered in rapid succession to the sultaun. The total demolition of the lines was completed by repeated explosions that laid Cranganore in ruins ; and a general devastation, as well by fire as by the sword, spread over the whole face of the land. The J^airs betook themselves to their strong- holds in the mountains ; the Travancorean troops retired to the southern extremity of their kingdom. All cultivation ceased. The country people exchanged their pleasant homes for the innermost recesses of the jungle, preferring the attack of the wolf and the tiger, to the certain and merciless persecution of the Mahometan conqueror.* These were some of the fruits of our peace policy, and of our most un- Avise economy. Lord Cornwallis felt them at the heart's core. " This ill-judged saving," said he, " may cost to the Company a crore of rupees : besides which, I still more sincerely lament the disgraceful sacrifice made of the honour of our country, by tamely suffering an insolent and cruel enemy to overwhelm the dominions of the rajah of Travancore, which we were bound by the most sacred ties of friendship and good faith to defend." t It was the end of May before General Medows could take the field. With 16,000 men, that general marched from Tranquebar, to carry the war into Tippoo's own territories. Tlie Tiger would now have consented to negotiate, and affected to believe that there was no war between him and the English. In reply to his letter, Greneral jNIedows said " The English, equally incapable of offering an insult as to submitting to one, have always looked upon war as declared from the moment you attacked their ally the king of Travancore. God does not always give the battle I* R. Mackenzie, ' Sketch of the War,' etc. t Letter to Mr. E. J. Holland, acting governor of Fort St. George, as quoted by Sir John Malcolm, ' Political History of India.' i 198 CAMPAIOK OF GENERAL MEDOWS. [1790. to the strong, nor the race to the swdft, but, generally, success to those whose cause is just upon that we depend." The sultaun no sooner received this letter than he set out for Seringapatam with the utmost expedition. He directed that all his regular troops should assemble in that neighbour- hood, l^or a time, he abandoned his eastern low countries to their fate ; and, regardless of the stores with which his numerous garrisons on the plains were provided, he com- mitted their protection mainly to looties and peons.* G-eneral Medows soon captured Caroor, Coimbatoor, Dindigul, Daraporam, and other places. In some of these there was no resistance at all, and in others the resistance Avas but a sham. Thus at Aravacourchy, the killedar, with ridiculous pomp, fired two cannons at the advance guard of our army before he received a summons for the delivery of the fort ; and upon getting the summons, after some further gasconade, he requested permission to discharge more guns, protesting at the same time, that no damage should be done to our troops, and urging that the sultaun would be much ofiended at the surrender of his garrison without an adequate defence. Upon being told that he must bum no more gunpowder, the killedar threw open his gates. These captured forts were nearly all put in possession of some friendly polygars of the country. Tippoo surprised and attacked an expedition under Colonel Floyd, but was repulsed at Shoroor, after an obstinate engagement, in which the sultaun' s brother-in-law was slain. At the first moment of the surprise, our troops, outnumbered more than as ten to one, suffered rather severely. Many of the sepoys were cut down. Colonel Tloyd, in passing along the line, ex- pressed his regret to the native ofiicers. These brave and faithful fellows all replied in nearly the same words. " We have eaten the Company's salt ; our lives are at their dis- posal, and Grod forbid that we should mind a few casualties." f Avoiding a general action, Tippoo now returned from the ghauts, drawing off the English forces from his own posses- sions. Though closely followed up by some of our corps, which made extraordinary marches, the Mysorean got into the Carnatic, which he and his father had so often ravaged before, and darting through a part of that country Uke a * R. Mackenzie, ' Sketch of the War with Tippoo Sultan,' etc. t Colonel Wilks, ' Sketches of the South of India.' 1790.] SANGUINAEY EETALIATIOX. 199 meteor, he left it in flames and smoke, committing an amount of mischief and of cruelty, which could not be repaid by lacs of rupees. A signal victory was obtained on the Malabar coast, near Calicut, by Colonel Hartley. Cannanore and other places were captured, and the whole of that coast was cleared of the Mysoreans. And now the Polygars and Nairs, and all the Hindus of that coast, began to make bloody reprisals for the horrible wrongs they had suffered at the hands of Tippoo's Mussulmans. The profanation of their temples, and the destruction of their idols, had driven these naturally mild and gentle people into the most savage fury. Even women of rank made themselves the instruments of revenge. The widowed mother of a chief destroyed by Tippoo, who had also murdered her son, herself told this horrible tale to a British officer. " Tippoo's aumil, who polluted the mansion of my lost husband and son, wanted iron, and determined to supply himself from the Kut.* It was too much trouble to take it to pieces, and the wretch burned it in the square of the great temple, for the sake of the iron. On hearing of this abomi- nation, I secretly collected my men, I entered the town by night, I seized him and tied him to a stake, and (here the narrator burst into tears and an agony of exultation) I burned the monster on the spot where he had wantonly insulted and consumed the sacred emblems of my religion."t In the month of December, Lord Cornwallis, and some Bengal sepoys, reached Madras from Calcutta. A strong religious prejudice against voyages by sea existed in most of our native troops ; in 1780, a mutiny had occurred in a battalion when ordered to embark for Bombay. Hindus of high caste are subject to great privations and hardships on a long voyage, duriug which some of them, from prejudices of caste, will cat nothing but parched grain. The firm and temperate conduct of Lord Cornwallis, with the kindness und encouragement which he extended to the native soldiers, surmounted tlieir scruples : subsequent commanders wrought the same effect by the same means ; and the sepoys, who * A rut is a temple of carved wood fixed on wheels, drawn in proces- sions, and at times so heavy as to require thousands of persons to effect its movement. t Colonel Wilks, ' Sketches of the South of India.' 200 TKAVANCORE EECOVEEED. [1791. have made many long sea voyages since the end of the last century, now show no reluctance to them."* Not only the cruelly oppressed people of Travancore and the Malabar coast, but also the people dwelling on the frontiers of Tippoo's Mysorean dominions, rejoiced at the prospect of the overthrow of that tyrant, and welcomed the British troops and our docile sepoys. On the advance of a force under Colonel Maxwell into the Barahmahal valley, the fields, covered with plentiful crops, were nowhere aban- doned by the peaceful cultivators : the herdsman attended his numerous flocks : the weaver continued at his web ; and the avaricious bazar-man exposed his whole stores to the soldiery without apprehension of injustice or violence. " If,'* says a British ofiicer, " the principles and conduct of Chris- tian governors are less calculated for the happiness of the natives than those of Mahometan or Hindu rulers ; if the oppressions and extortions perpetually charged on the ser- vants of the East-India Company have any foundation in truth, it is somewhat remarkable that, on the entrance of our armies into the dominions of an enemy, the inhabit- ants of the borders should in general seem to discover but little apprehension for the safety of their persons or for the security of their property, and still less concern at a change of masters." f The discipline maintained in these campaigns reflects the highest credit on the commanding and regimental officers, without whose strenuous and constant exertions it never could have existed in such perfection. The flower of our native army was collected under Cornwallis. The detach- ments brought round from Bengal were composed chiefly of grenadiers, and, for the number, exceeded in appearance any body of sepoys that had ever taken the field. jS'or did their conduct in action discredit that appearance. The Madras sepoys had also some remarkably fine corps, and the whole army was animated by the best spirit and the warmest affection for the noble governor-general and commander- in-chief ;}: By the end of 1790, or early in 1791, our ally, the rajah of Travancore, was re-established in all his dominions, and * Captain Williams, ' Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Bengal Native Infantry,' etc. t Roderick Mackenzie, ' Sketch of the War.' 1 Ibid. 1791.] lOED COEirWALLIS BEATS TIPPOO. 201 Tippoo was dispossessed of nearly all that lie and his father before him had acquired on the Malabar coast. In the month of February, 1791, Lord Cornwallis, who had taken the field himself/ laid siege to Bangalore, and took that important place by storm. His lordship then resolved to penetrate into the heart of Mysore, and to dictate his own terms of peaee at Seringapatam, the capital of his country and the strongest place which Tippoo held. His lordship commenced his movements in the first days of May. Our native troops, as well as the English soldiers, burned with impatience to take their revenge for the atrocious and brutal degradation to which Tippoo had subjected their brothers in arms during the last war, and even after the conclusion of it. The news of the fall of Bangalore filled the mind of the t^Tant with alarm, and induced him to make arrangements for removing from his capital his women and his treasure, and for doing away with sundry evidences in the city of Seringapatam of the brutality w^hich he had exercised against, and of the insupportable insidts he had put upon, our nation. As a part of these operations, a number of English prisoners (chiefly youths), who had been detained in violation of the treaty of 1784, were murdered by Abys- sinian slaves, in order that they might not reveal the horrible secrets of their prison-house.* Tippoo, however, took up a strong position, some miles in advance of his capital, behind the deep river Cavery. The march of Cornwallis and of General Abercromby, the second in command, who moved on a different line, was excessively laborious. They had to make the roads by which they were to advance ; and for fifty miles and more Abercromby's route was across steep mountains, where the battering-trains, provisions, and stores were moved with the .greatest difficulty. They also suffered severely through a want of forage, Tippoo having destroyed all. Moreover, in the latter part of their march, the periodical rains, and bad food, and long fatigue, brought on sickness and disease. ~ ur Mahratta alHes, who had solemnly engaged to co-ope- ;te wdth a great army of horse, did not keep their appoint- ment. Lord Cornwallis, however, reached x^Lrikera on the I Cavery, and about nine miles from Seringapatam, on the I3th of May ; and, crossing the river, he attacked Tippoo, I * ColonelWilks. 202 OUIl EETEEAT TEOM SEEINGAPATAM. [1791. on the loth, before G-eneral Abercrombj could join him. In spite of their advantageous position and formidable artil- lery, the Mjsoreans could not stand the charge of the British bayonets ; they were driven from mountain to moun- tain, and were at last obliged to seek shelter under the guns of their capital. The road thither was open to us, the prize seemed within our reach ; but in the very hour of victory the English found it necessary to retreat.* The force with Cornwallis, though strong enough to beat Tippoo's army in the field, was not strong enough to invest a well-fortified place like Seringapatam ; and they had with them neither provisions nor military stores enough for a long siege. Add to this, the draught-bullocks were dying fast, the camp was half-filled with sick, and the pitdess rains contiuued. There was nothing for it but a retreat. Abercromby, who was within three marches of Seringapatam, was ordered to retire to the coast ; Cornwallis burst the greater part of his battering-guns, having no cattle to drag them off", and he began his mortifying retreat on the 26th of May. Towards the end of his first day's march, some of our Mahratta allies came up to his lordship's aid ; but it was now too late. Few retreats have ever been more disastrous : men and cattle perished, tumbrils and provision-waggons were abandoned in the deluged country ; and the victory gained by the sea- son was claimed by Tippoo as his own achievement.f The scrupulous Lord Cornwallis had now recourse to measures almost as summary and bold as some of the most censured acts of Warren Hastings. Finding that the Mahrattas would not keep the field unless they got an immediate and a large subsidy, and having no money in hand that he could spare, his lordship ordered the governor in council of Madras to take the treasure out of our China ships, coin it into rupees, and send it to him without delay. During the following autumn proper preparations were made for renewing the war in the centre of Mysore. Had we failed to do this, Tippoo would again have recovered the Malabar coast, and have poured his rapid cavalry into the heart of the Camatic. A fresh battering-train, 100 ele- phants from Bengal, an immense number of bullocks, a copious supply of stores and provisions of every kind, were * ' Oar Indian Empire,' vol. ii. t Major Dirom, ' Narrative.' The major was deputy-adjutant- general to the forces. 1792.] SECOND ADTANCE UPON SEEIKGAPATAM. 203 collected on the Malabar coast. The Company had sent out 500,000 in specie ; and the English government had sent out reinforcements to the king's regiments in India, together with some fresh detachments of the royal artillery. The Mahrattas, getting some of the money, were tolerably steady and active in their co-operation, and rendered impor- tant senices with their light rapid cavalry. The passes which lead from Mysore into the Camatic were now cleared, and several strong forts which Tippoo had erected in them were taken by storm. Thus the direct road from Madras was opened to an immense convoy, headed by elephants, loaded with treasure, marching two abreast with the British standard displayed. Tippoo's advanced forces threw them- selves into a thick forest, faced and flanked by the river Toom and some deep ravines* Soon, however, they were attacked, defeated, and driven out of the forest, by Captain Little, with only 750 men and two guns. General Aber- cromby, who, since the retreat from the upper countr}'^, in the month of May, had occupied cantonments at and round about Tellicherr}^ began to move again towards Seringapa- tam early in December ; but he was kept waiting by some of the Mahrattas who had gone plundering instead of join- ing him. Early in January, 1792, Lord Cornwallis united his main army under Ootradroog, where he was kept waiting more than a fortnight by our tardy ally, the nizam of the Deckan, who was to join him with his army at Hyderabad. At last the nizam arrived ; and, at the end of January, aU the combined forces pressed forward for Seringapatam. On the 5th of Eebruary, Cornwallis once more got sight of Tippoo's capital, and saw that the Mysorean army was encamped under its walls. In the night of the 6th of ^ F ebruary, Cornwallis led his troops in three columns, right I^Bnto Tippoo's camp, took several of his redoubts, shattered ^^Kie tyrant, and committed havoc upon his troops. When ^Hkoming dawned, Tippoo, advised and assisted by some ^^renchmen, made some skilful manoeuvres, with the view of ^Bciveloping and bearing down, by weight of artillery and ^^K)rce of numbers, one of our three columns ; but he failed in the attempt, and lost many of his people. He then fled across the Cadavery river, and threw himself into the great fortress of Seringapatam ; and thereupon more than 10,000 of his men deserted him, and fled in a body towards their native woods. Other attempts were, however, made to recover the 204 SIEGE OF SEEINGAPATAM. [1792. redoubts whicli we had taken ; but tbey were all repulsed with terrible loss. One of these redoubts, called the " Sul- taun's redoubt," was held by only 100 Europeans and fifty sepoys, who repulsed thousands after thousands. Our loss during the whole day of this hard fighting amounted to 535, in killed, wounded, and missing ; the loss of Tippoo was estimated at more than 4,000, By the morning of the 8th, Lord Cornwallis had shut up, within the walls of the fortress, the whole of Tippoo' s army, with the exception of the 'cavalry which had crossed the river. Immediate preparations were made for the siege ; and three European regiments, seven battalions of sepoys, and some artillery, at once girded the place, preventing ingress or egress. By the 21st, the close investment of the fortress was well advanced. In a few days more the walls must have been breached by the fire of fifty heavy guns, and the place must have been made untenable by our red- hot shot, that would have set in flames the wooden edifices with which the interior of the fort was then crowded. Grene- ral Medows had undertaken to head the assault, and the men were eager for that close conflict. But, on the 24th, Tippoo yielded to his fate. The treaty of peace which the Tiger of Mysore was thus forced to accept, contained the following articles : 1. That he should cede one-half of his territories to the English and their allies ; 2. That he should pay three crores and thirty lacs of rupees* to cover the expenses of the war, &c. ; 3. That he should unequivocally restore aU the prisoners who had been taken by the Mysoreans from the time of Hyder; 4. That he should deliver up, as hostages for the due performance of the treaty, two of his eldest sons. In conformity with these terms, Tippoo began to send the treasure out of the fort to the camp of the besiegers ; and on the 26th, the young princes, one of whom was about ten and the other eight years old, were conducted to the camp with great pomp and ceremony. Lord Cornwallis received tlie children with the greatest kindness, and continued to treat them Avith all tenderness. Sir John Kennaway, who was appointed to conclude the definitive treaty, encountered much slowness and many difficulties on the part of Tippoo' s vakeels. The sultaun * Nearly 3,500,000 sterling. 1792.] CONDITIONS lilPOSED UPON TIPPOO. 205 particularly objected to restoring to the rajah of Coorg the dominions which he had taken from him. But as the rajah had risen in arms at our invitation, and had very materially assisted the English and their allies, Lord Cornwallis was determined not to abandon him. There had been but too much of this bad, base work in 1784, at the time of the peace of Mangalore ; and frightful had been the sufferings of those we then abandoned! Tippoo now repaired his damaged walls, and intimated that he would break the treaty. Lord Cornwallis issued orders' orders most wel- come to the troops to recommence the cannonade, and sent off the two children for Bangalore. This brought Tippoo to his senses ; his vakeels assured Sir John Kenna- way tliat he Avould agree to all that had been demanded. Cornwallis agreed to suspend operations for one day, and recalled Tippoo's sons, who, on the 19th of March, pre- sented to his lordship the definitive treaty signed by their father, and brought into camp by his vakeels. By this treaty the English obtained all the dominions of Tippoo on the coast of Malabar, a district surrounding Dindigul, and some territory on the western frontier of the Carnatic, including the Barahmahal and the lower ghauts ; the Mahrattas (for all three allies shared, and about equally, in the dismemberment of the sultaun's dominions) recovered possession of the country as far as the river Toombudra, which had been their frontier line ; and the nizam got all the country from the river Kistna to the Pennar, including the forts of Grungecottah and Cuddapa. The territory thus acquired by the English did not yield much more than half a million sterling of annual revenue; but it was highly valuable as strengthening the Carnatic against invasion, as aflbrding excellent land communications, and as containing ports on the Malabar coast highly favourable to commerce, and to the extension of that influence at which we aimed. The Nairs, and other Hindu people that occupied the coast of Malabar, were made happy by the change of masters, and by the full freedom now allowed them in the exercise of their rehgion, and in the enjoyment of their old customs. To soothe the troops for the disappointment of their expectations of booty in the storming of Seringapatam, and f reward them for their excellent conduct and rare exer- ns during the whole of the war, the commander-in-chief, 206 niENClt EACTOEIES SEIZED. [1793. months' batta, out of the money paid by Tippoo ; and both he himself and Greneral Medows, his second in command, resigned their large shares, that the soldiers might have the more. The army returned to the Company's territories, good care being taken to place respectable garrisons in the districts ceded, and particiilarly in the towns on the Malabar coast, where hitherto we had scarcely had a footing.* Eagojee Bonslah, a powerful Mahratta chief, who held the important province of Cuttach and other territories, was conciliated by the diplomacy of the governor-general, who deputed an English resident to his court. But other Mahratta leaders continued to give uneasiness and trouble, and convinced his lordship that a general Mahratta war was not a remote contingency. The nabob of the Carnatic, whose dominions were held by our troops, was very irregular in the payment of his sub- sidies. Acting as Hastings would have done. Lord Corn- waUis, during the war with Tippoo, seized upon the nabob's revenues, and appointed his own officers to coUect them and pay them into the Company' s treasury. But for this measure the war could not have been conducted to a successful termination. The accounts which had arrived in India a short time previously to the conclusion of the treaty, left little doubt that England would soon be involved in another war with France ; and this was certainly a strong induce- ment for Cornwallis to bring the war with Tippoo to a termination, so that he might be prepared to repel any attack of the Erencli, and direct the efforts of our arms against the settlements in India which had been restored to Erance by the peace of 1782. When the account of war between Erance and England reached him at Calcutta, Lord ComwaUis hastened to Madras to take the command of the army ; but before he could reach that coast, Pondicherry, the Erench metropolis in India, was attacked and taken by that army from Eort St. George, under the command of Major- General Brathwaite. All the Erench factories were seized without any difficulty ; but it was not found possible to * Colonel Wilks, * Sketches of the South of India.' Roderick Macken- zie, ' Sketch of the War with Tippoo Sultaun.' Peter Auber, * Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' Sir John Malcolm, ' Sketch of the Political History of India.' Major Taylor, ' Travels overland to India,' * Our Indian Empire.' Moor, ' Narrative of Operations against Tippoo Sultaun,' etc. London, 1794. 1793.] MERITS OF LORD COENWALLIS. 207 shut out all the adventurers of that bold and adventurous nation. The course of events, and absolute necessity, had forced the pacifically-disposed Lord Cornwallis into the vrar with Tippoo Sultaun, and into a series of measures very contrary to the wishes, the policy, and the system of non-interference and non-aggrandizement of the British legislature and government. But it had been well remarked that this self- evident necessity was not followed by the conclusion that the same causes might again produce the same eifects; and that a general impression was made in; England, that his lordship had placed the affairs of the Company on the true footing of seciu-ity and strength, which had been so long desired that, for the future, nothing would be requisite but mild, moderate, and conciliatory councils in the governor-general and the local authorities, to secure the last- ing tranquillity and prosperity of the British empire in India. This capital mistake must indeed appear the most extraor- dinary, if we reflect upon the actual condition and increas- ing power of the always restless Mahratta princes, the weakness of the rulers of Oude and the Carnatic, and all the allies of the English, not one of whom could be left exposed to invasion and conquest without exposing either the trade or the dominions of the Company to serious loss, if not to absolute ruin. Nor could one of those allies be abandoned without loss of credit, influence, and honour to the Company. Our territories were greatly increased, and our political relations much extended during Lord Corn- wallis' s administration. His great efforts had all been attended with extraordinary success. * If in minor matters some of his attempted reforms were failures, he yet left behind him, among the natives, a good name, and the enviable! reputation of having always entertained the best intentions. Some great reforms and changes he certainly effected both in the mihtary and in the civil establishments of India, being aided therein by the new acts of parliament and by the possession of that miity of power, and that _absolute control over the presidencies of Madras and Bom- j^y, which Hastings had never possessed ; and it is asserted, a very competent authority, that the system of internal * Sir John Malcolm, 'Sketch.' Peter Auber, ' Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' Two unpublished letters of Mr. Warren Hastings in my possession. i 20S CORK^WALLIS EETUENS TO ENGLAND. [1793- rule wliich he introduced into the provinces of Bengal and Bahar will ever reflect the highest honour on his name.* That opposition party in parliament which had extolled the virtues and deplored the misfortunes of the Tiger of Mysore, were not sparing of their criticism and censures : but when his lordship returned to England at the end of 1793, they did not venture to try to impeach him. The king, in acknowledgment of his important services, raised him to the rank of marquis, and he was appointed master- general of the ordnance, t * Sir John Malcolm, * Sketch of the Political History of India.' f ' Our Indian Empire.' Interesting information about Lord Cornwallis's war with Tippoo will be found in Major Dirom's * Narrative,' and in E. Moor's ' Narrative of the Operations of Captain Little's Detachment and of the Mahratta army against the Nawab Tippoo Sultaun Bahadur.' 1793.] siE JOHN shoee's administeation. 209 CHAPTER XXL Sir John" Shoee (afterwards Lord Teignmoutli), tlie friend of Warren Hastings, the bosom friend and afterwards biographer of Sir "William Jones, and a most respectable ei^ol servant of the Company, who had resided long in India, and had rendered important services there, was ap- pointed to succeed Lord Cornwallis as governor-general. Sir John had abundant local knowledge and industry. He was particularly skilled in the revenue system of India, and -was of very pacific habits ; and it appears to have been expected that all those great advantages which Lord Cornwallis had obtained would be confirmed and improved, without any risk of war, or extension of political connec- tions by a governor possessed of these qualities. It was laid down to him as a rule, that the dictates of justice, no less than the dictates of economy, prescribed to the Company a system of non-interference with the internal afiairs or mutual differences of the native states ; unless when inter- ference should be required by the paramount duty of pre- serving the tranquillity and mtegrity of the Company's own dominions. About the same time that Shore became the real ruler of Bengal, the nominal sovereign of that country, the nabob Muharek-ul-Dowla, died, in the thirty-seventh year of his age, leaving behind him twelve sons and thirteen daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Uzeer-ul-Dowla, who was solemnly proclaimed at Calcutta, on the 28th of Sep- tember, 1793. Sir John Shore entered upon the duties of government on the 28th of October, 1793, on which day Major-Greneral Sir Eobert Abercromby assumed the ojEce of commander- in-chief, under the court's appointment of September, 1792. As Sir John was no soldier, the separation of the two offices was a matter of necessity. p 210 PACIFIC POLICY. [1793. To Mr. Burke, who liad urged the Company to postpone the appointment, the chairman and deputy-chairman had replied that Sir John Shore had been selected for his high honour and probity, and his peculiar fitness ; the court had appointed him, on these grounds, to the arduous and respon- sible office ; and to that appointment they adhered. Notwithstanding the disturbed state of alFairs in Europe, there was every appearance of peace in India, where the sovereignty was exercised by the Mahrattas, Tippoo Sultaun, the nizam, and the English. The Mahratta powers "comprehended the peishwa, Scin- diah, Holkar, and the rajah of Berar. The latter chief had less interest and concern in their general politics ; he carried on his administration independently, although he had received the confirmation of his succession, with the insignia of his investitiu-e, from the peishwa. But the Mahrattas, to whom a Erench force of two brigades, under Greneral de Boigne, was attached, were deemed sufficiently formidable without the rajah of Berar. The nature of the Mahratta government was avaricious, grasping, and ambitious, never neglecting any opportunity of extending its power or aggrandizing its wealth, indifferent as to the means by which it attained those objects. It was justly felt with regard to all the powers in India, that our great security was in our strength.* The situation of affairs did not promise, to those who were acquainted with the temper of the Mahrattas, any very long exemption from hostilities ; but, on the other hand, the Company was, in every respect, free from any immediate danger. The English government had at no period been so strong in actual military force and resources. Its principal enemy, Tippoo, was much reduced ; its principal ally, the nizam or subahdar of the Deckan, seemed firm to his engagements. But those jealousies which had broken out between the nizam and the Mahrattas before Lord Cornwallis quitted the country, were now threatening wars and convulsions. Being justified in so doing by his treaty of alliance, the nizam, threatened with invasion, applied to the new governor-general for assistance. This assistance was refused by the pacific Sir John Shore, whose wishes accorded with the neutrality-system instructions he received * P. Auber, ' Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.* 1793.] ABAlsDONMENT OF OUR ALLIES. 211 from home, and who was lotli to incur any hazard of giving offence to the Mahrattas. When this refusal was made, it was notorious that the nizam entertained the most friendly dispositions towards the British government, and rejoiced at the recent successes of Cornwallis, which had established our great ascendancy in the political scale of India ; while the Mahrattas viewed the success of the English with alarm, and contemplated their power with a degree of jealousy, which almost amounted to hostility. The wily Mahrattas very soon concluded that Sir John Shore, in his anxiety to remain neutral, would not aid the nizam by any other means than those of diplomacy and mediatory negotiation, and as soon as they made this discovery, they despised the diplomacy, they resolved to reject the media- tion, and began to beat their kettle-drums, collect .their war- horses, and sharpen their spear-heads. At this critical moment, Madhajee Scindiah, who had given such growth and increase to the Mahratta power, died, and left his vast resources and territories to his nephew Doulut Rao Sciiidiah, a much younger and much more active and daring chief; who hastened to assemble Ms army from the remotest quarters of Hindustan, with the double view of strengthen- ing his personal authority, and of acquiring an ascendancy in the confederacy forming against the nizam. It was rumoured that Tippoo Sultaun was again pre- paring for war, and that he would attack the nizam con- jointly with the Mahrattas. The Mysorean, however, remamed quiet for the present. The people of the Deckan, who had recently seen how Lord ComwaUis had behaved when an ally of the Company had been attacked, could not believe that so important and so faithful an ally as the nizam could possibly be abandoned by the English. And, indeed, we could not leave the nizam to his fate without weakening that force of opinion which, more than arms, had made us what we were in India. By resenting the attack of Tippoo upon our ally, the rajah of Travancore, Lord Cornwallis had gained the confidence and affection of other allies, and had established the British reputation for good faith, justice, and firmness. Could so recent an example be overruled ? Could our reputation for good faith towards our allies be sacrificed at the moment when it was highest i" Looking at his pacific instructions, and consulting his own feehngs. Sir John Shore thought that p2 212 THE MAHEATTAS ATTACK THE NIZAM. [1795. it might. It is, however, doubted whether a more spirited course of policy would not have intimidated the Mahrattas and prevented all war whatever. Sir John Malcolm was decidedly of opinion, that while the impressions which had been made on all the native powers, by the wise councils and military success of CornwaUis, were yet in fuU force, any spirited interference of the British government would have deterred the Mahrattas from an attack on the Deckan.* In the month of February, 1795, the advanced corps of the Mahratta army, under Doulut Rao Scindiah, marched against the nizam ; and on the 11th of March, a battle was fought near the to^n of Beeder, the capital of a province of that name in the Deckan. Both armies fell into con- fusion, neither of them obtaining any considerable advantage, both indeed, appeared upon the point of running away at one and the same moment ; but the nizam ran first, for he had brought his women with him to the field, and these inmates of the zenana, being sadly frightened by the noise of the guns, imparted their fears to their never courageous lord, and he and they quitted the field and fled by night to the small fort of Kurdlah. Here he was presently sur- rounded by the Mahrattas, who starved him into a disgraceful capitulation. After remaining some weeks in the fort, the nizam agreed to give to his enemies an extensive tract of country, rendering thirty-five lacs of annual revenue, and including the celebrated fortress of Dowletabad, or Deoghir, the strongest place in his dominions ; to pay three crores of rupees, one-third immediately, the remainder by instalments ; and to give up, as a hostage, his prime minister Azeem-ul- Omrah, the zealous friend of the English, and the decided opponent of the Mahrattas. This delivering up of an able iand honest minister was almost as dishonourable to the English as it was injurious to their abandoned ally the nizam, whose throne had been supported by the abilities and rare virtues of Azeem-ul-Omrah. At the time there were two battalions of British troops in the Deckan: if these had been present at the battle of Beeder, the total defeat of the Mahrattas would have been certain ; if they had marched to the relief of Kurdlah, the nizam might have been extricated without signing the disgraceful treaty; but the EngHsh ofiicer in command, obedient to the orders of * Malcolm, * Political History of India.' 1795.] MAHEATTA EEYOLUTIONS. 213 the governor-general, refused to stir a step. After the convention of Kurdlah was settled, the nizam returned to Hyderabad, and strongly intimated his desire that the Com- pany would recall their two battalions, as the pay and maintenance of troops that would do nothing for him was very unprofitable and burdensome. The two battalions were soon recalled. The Mahrattas had scarcely returned from the Deckan to their own country, when two unexpected events occurred the sudden death of the young peishwa, Madhoo Eao, and the rebellion of Ali Jah, the eldest son of the nizam. The death of Madhoo Rao introduced fierce dissensions among the Mahratta chiefs, who had been so recently leagued together. Nanah Furnavese was determined to place upon the vacant throne an infant prince, in whose name he him- self might rule and reign. His great rival, Doulut Rao tScindiah, supported the claims of the son of Eagoba, who Avould have been the undoubted heir of the throne if the Mahrattas had recognized the European law of succession and primogeniture. J^J'anah Purnavese, chancing to be at Poonah, the capital or aulic city of the Mahratta con- federacy, had ^at first several advantages. He liberated the nizam' s minister, Azeem-ul-Omrah, and agreed to purchase the nizam' s alliance by rescinding the convention of Kurd- lah, and by giving up all claims to the territory and the money which the nizam had agreed to yield and pay. A treaty was concluded upon these conditions ; but before i*t could take effect, Scindiah marched upon Pooiiah, with au army which his rival was unable to oppose ; jSTanah Furna- vese was driven out of the city, and Bajee Rao, the son of Ragoba, was placed upon the musnud. In order to prevent the nizam from aidiiig Nanah Furnavese, Scindiah now con- cluded a treaty with that prince, promising to rest satisfied with one-fourth of the territory and money which had been stipulated in the convention of Kurdlah. As Sir John Shore would not allow him the aid of the Company's troops, the ruler of the Deckan very naturally endeavoured to raise and discipline troops of his own for the protection of his country. Since the time of the gallant M. Bussy, the Deckan had never been without some French officers. The nizam had at present a considerable number of these officers, the chief of them being one M. Raymond, who had commenced his military career in India at an early 214 EEEELLION IN THE DECKA]Sr. [1795. age, under the rasli and unfortunate Lallj. These French- men had disciplined various corps of sepoys. After the departure of our two battalions, the nizam ordered new levies for these corps, and assigned an extensive territory for their regular payment and support. No sooner was this done than the jealousy, misgiving, and fears of the governor- general were awakened. Sir John Shore would neither protect the nizam nor allow him to protect himself. He threatened the ruler of the Deckan with an instant invasion of his territories unless he removed his Frenchmen and disciplined sepoys a long way from the Company's frontiers. Besenting his abandonment by the English in the late Mahratta invasion, and complaining that they had broken their treaty mth him, the nizam persisted in keeping his troops where they were ; being encouraged in this course by M. ^Raymond and his comrades, who assured him that the omnipotent French republic, which was giving liberty to all the nations in Europe, would soon overthrow the tyranny of the English, and release the princes of India from their thraldom. At this moment it was seriously apprehended that the French would make some attempt upon the northern Circars, and that, if they came in any force, the nizam would co-operate with them.* One thing w^as quite certain, the influence which Lord Cornwallis had established in the court of Hyderabad was completely lost, when two unexpected events contributed to restore that influence. Just at this moment, on the 28th of June, 1795, the nizam' s son, Ali Jah, fled from Hyderabad and openly raised the standard of rebellion against his father. Filled with alarm, the nizam pressed the instant return of the English subsidiary force to his country, and humbly and earnestly supplicated for the renewal of that friendship and alliance which he had so recently, and not without reason, slighted. Sir John Shore saw the advantages which fortune had thrown in his way. He directed the two English bat- talions to march back to the nizam 's territory with aU possible expedition. But before our troops could arrive, M. Raymond's battalions defeated and captured the young rebel. Our battalions, however, remained in the countrj^, and assisted in restoring tranquillity. * See letters of the governor-general (who became Lord Teign mouth), in * Life of Lord Teignmouth,' by his son. ' Memoir of Lord Teign- mouth,' by the Rev. Samuel Charles Wilks. 1795.] M. EATMOND. 215 Ali Jah died, or was murdered, soon after he was made prisoner, but in tbe'course of a few months another rebellion broke out, headed by a nephew of the nizam, one Darah Jah, who succeeded*^ in collecting great bodies of troops. This time the English subsidiary force did all the fighting for the nizam. Under their able commander, Captain James Dalrjmple, the two battalions gained a splendid victory, and reduced the strong fort of Eachore, of which the rebels had gained possession. The nizam acknowledged his great obligations, and professed much gratitude, but he still feared that Sir John Shore would not send him sufiicient aid in case of his being again attacked by the Mahrattas, and he still entertained an affection for M. Eaymond, and a reliance upon his brilliant promises. Under these influences he increased the numbers and appointments of his disciplined sepoys, and gave M. Eaymond additional lands to insure their regular payment. Thus favoured and honoured, that French officer improved the discipline of his battalions, and strengthened himself by forming connections with the chief men of the court, and by intriguing against all such as leaned towards the English interest. He took no care to conceal his hostility or the hopes he entertained of the future ; he intended to play over again, and on a wider stage, the part of M. Bussy, and to revive the projects of M. Dupleix. The English, to a man, were to be expelled from the great peninsula of India, and the dominion of that country was to be wholly transferred to the French republic. His battalions carried the tri-coloured flag, and the cap of liberty was engraved on the buttons of their clothing. His officers sang the (Ja Ira and danced the Carmagnole in the gilded halls of Hyderabad. He encouraged desertions from the sepoys in the English service, and, through the intrigues of his officers, who commanded the detachment of his corps which was stationed near the British frontier, a partial mutiny was excited in a battalion of sepoys on the Madras establishment, and two native commissioned officers, and a number of privates, deserted their colours and went over to the French party. To rival the French tacticians and drill-masters. Sir John Shore encouraged a set of English adventurers to go to Hyderabad to offer their services to the nizam. These adventurers were received at that court, and were counte- nanced by the English resident, but none of them possessed 216 TROUBLES IN OTJDB AND EOHILCUND. [1795. either the professional skill or the political address of M. Raymond, and the corps they attempted to discipline remained but as an awkward squad compared with the batta- lions the Frenchmen had trained. But these battalions were now becoming so formidable, that the nizam began to fear that all the actual power and resoiu-ces of his government might pass rapidly into the hands of the Frencli faction. He solicited the British government to enter into sucli engagements Avith him as would prevent the necessity of his having recourse to such dangerous means of defence against the Mahrattas. He even offered to dismiss all the French corps as soon as the British detachment in the Deckan should be increased. But Sir John Shore, though jealous of the French, was still more jealous of giving any offence to Scindiah and the great Mahratta confederacy ; he con- ceived that to accede to the conditions proposed by the nizam, and to send an army into the Deckan, would be to provoke a Mahratta war, and to depart from that neutraUty system which his employers were still constantly recommend- ing to his attention ; and therefore he took no decisive steps. The tranquillity of Oude w^as greatly disturbed during Sir John Shore's administration. In 1794, upon the death of Fyzoola Khan, the great EohiUa chief, that tm'bulent tribe of Afghans, whose character and habits had been so grossly misrepresented by the English persecutors of Warren Hastings, began a bloody war among themselves to settle which of the sons of Fyzoola Khan should be his successor. The eldest son, Ali Khan, was killed by his brother, Grholam Khan, who, after other butcheries, got possession of the jaghire, and endeavoured to obtain the sanction of his suze- rain, the nabob-vizier of Oude. The nabob-vizier would have recognized the murderer, but the English government, who had guaranteed that corner of Rohilcund to the Afghan family of Fyzoola, by whom it had been held under the nabob- vizier, resolved to punish the rebels and expel the family of Fyzoola Khan altogether. But before Sii* John Shore's instructions to this effect could reach Sir Robert Abercromby in Oude, that general, after chastising the EohiUa insolence in a general battle, and reducing them to complete submission, had agreed to restore the inheritance of the family, under the guarantee of the Company, to Achmed Ali Khan, the infant son of Ali Khan, who had been slain by his brother Gholam. This settlement restored complete tranquillity 1797-8.] DISPUTED SUCCESSION IN OUDE. 217 to Eohilcimd and Oude, and the supreme government was subsequently induced to acquiesce in the arrangement which Sir Robert Abercromby had made. In 1797, the nabob- vizier, Asoph-ul-Dowla, with whom Hastings had had so many dealings, departed this life, and was succeeded by his presumptive heir, Vizier Ali, who had been acknowledged as his son by the deceased prince. Though generally kno\sTi to have been of spurious birth, though there were other claimants who pleaded their legitimacy. Vizier Ali was sup- ported by a strong party at Lucknow^, and his right was for- mally acknowledged by the British government at Calcutta, to whom Saadut Ali, the eldest surviving brother of Asoph- ul-Dowla, had made an appeal. Sir John Shore, however, soon stated that he had decided against the claim of Saadut Ali, not without great hesitation ; that he found it impossible to divest himself of the impression, excited by universal be- lief and assertion of the spurious origin of Vizier Ali, or of the apprehension that the justice and reputation of the Company might suffer an imputation for the decision he had given in favour of that doubtful personage. It would have been better not to decide at all, than so speedily to revoke a decision. With these impressions upon his mind. Sir John Shore determined to travel to Lucknow. On approaching that capital, Sir John was met by the prime minister, who assured him that Vizier Ali, as well as the other reputed sons of Asoph-ul-Dowla, were all spurious, that the right of succession indubitably belonged to Saadut Ali, and that the people were astonished and disappointed at seeing Vizier Ali raised to the musnud by the governor-general. At Lucknow, Sir John found him- self involved in a scene of intrigue, perplexity, and pro- fligacy. The old begum, from whom "Warren Hastings had extorted some of her treasures, was now in the city, recom- mending another claimant to the inheritance. After many delays and many changes of purpose. Sir John Shore resolved to dethrone Vizier Ali, and set up Saadut Ali ; but only upon condition of Saadut' a signing a treaty very advan- eous to the Company. Accordingly, on the 21st of anuary, 1798, Saadut Ali was proclaimed sovereign of ude ; and Vizier Ali, whose title Sir John had recognized, was sent down to Benares, there to be kept under surveil- lance. The treaty with Saadut Ali was now somewhat modified. It was finally settled that the annual subsidy to ^Ag 218 AFGHAN 1NTASI0:S^. [1796. the Company should be raised from fifty-six lacs to seventy- six lacs of rupees ; that the fortress of Allahabad, and the ghauts immediately dependent on the fort, should be made over in perpetuity to the English ; that the Company's forces stationed in Oude, should never be less than 10,000 men, including infantry, cavalry, artillen^^, &c. ; that if at any time the amount should exceed 13,000 men, the expense of all the supernumerary troops should be defrayed by the nabob. The nabob-vizier further agreed to pay the sum of twelve lacs of rupees to the Company, as a reimbursement for the trouble and expense incurred in placing him upon the throne. He also pledged himself never to hold communication with any foreign state, to employ no French or other Europeans in his service, and to permit no Europeans to settle in his dominions, without the consent, in each and every case, of the Company. Einally, he agreed to allow a lac and a half of rupees per annum as a pension to the deposed Yizier Ali, who was removed to Benares ; and to afford a suitable maintenance to the rest of the reputed children of his brother, the deceased nabob. The pecuniary gain to the Company was very considerable. Sir John Shore received the thanks of the Court of Directors and of the Board of Control. In the year 1796, while the governor-general was cherish- ing the neutrality system, and, apparently, the belief that the peace of all India might be preserved without putting British armies into the field, those fierce and warlike Afghan tribes, who had so often devastated the peninsula, descended once more from Cabul and Candahar. IJnder Zemaun Shah, king of Cabul, they advanced to Lahore, and threatened to visit Delhi. On the frontiers of Oude, the fierce Rohillas themselves an Afghan tribe who had been left in pos- session of Eampore, were ready to enlist for plunder or to join the king of Cabul on his advance. On another side, the Patans were on tiptoe for booty and revenge. Whether the Mahrattas who occupied Delhi would be able to defend that city, and prevent these destructive Afghans from descending into the valley of the Granges, was exceedingly problema- tical. Sir John Shore therefore found himself under the necessity of ordering the British troops in Oude to go into camp and hold themselves in readiness to meet the invaders. If the Afghans had advanced, our forces might have been found insufficient to drive them back. But, while Zemaun Shah was moving from Lahore towards Delhi, a 1796-7.] FAMn^E IN THE CAENATTC. 219 rebellion, headed by his own brother, broke out in his own dominions, and compelled him to retrace his steps to Cabiil. In the year 1787, and again in 1788, there were loud rumours of a fresh invasion ; and, indeed, down to the end of his administration. Sir John Shore continued to be dis- quieted by the Afghans. At the same time he professed himself averse from any extensive measures of military preparations. Most happily for us, and for the people of India, Zemaun Shah, and the other Afghan chiefs, continued to find occupation at home, or in other quarters still farther from the frontiers of Hindustan. During this peaceful administration, the people of the Car- natic suffered as much from tax-gatherers, publicans, and sinners, as they might have done from war and an invasion. The old nabob, Mohammed Ali Khan commonly called in England the nabob of Arcot died in October, 1795, and was succeeded by his son Omdut-ul-Omrah. The enormous debts which the father had left behind him were rapidly increased by the son, who found himself completely in the hands of usurers and mortgagees. In these circumstances the ryots, or cultivators of the soil, were over-taxed and cruelly oppressed, population was fearfully decreased, and, more than once, there was famine in the land. To some sweeping administrative changes in the Carnatic, proposed by Lord Hobart, governor of Madras, Sir John Shore raised unqualified objections. Nothing was done to improve the condition of the suffering people, until the arrival of a more energetic governor-general. Had that arrival been delayed a few years longer, the Carnatic must have been converted into an unpeopled waste. Though no conquests or annexations were attempted in Hindustan during this pacific administration, several im- portant conquests were effected over the eastern settlements of the European enemies of Grreat Britain, by expeditions that were all fitted out from Madras under the immediate direction of Lord Hobart. All the old Dutch settlements in Ceylon and Malacca were reduced, and the valuable Dutch islands of Banda and Amboyna were captured. A more formidable armament was fully prepared for the reduction of the Spanish colony of Manilla, when the sus- picious attitude of Tippoo Sultaun caused the abandonment of that easy enterprise. In 1794, the two young hostages, Tippoo' s sons, were 220 SIE JOHJf SHORE RESIGNS. [1798. restored to their father. The Indian government, in an- nouncing this event to the authorities at home, expressed their belief that Tippoo would embrace the first opportunity to recover the dominions which Lord Cornwallis had taken from him, and thereby retrieve his reputation in the eyes of the native states.* Yet, during the four following years that Sir John Shore remained in India, no valid efforts, of any kind, were made to repress the aspirations of the My- sorean ; and the tyrant, during that period, was allowed, in many instances, to gratify his passion for revenge upon poor people who had aided Lord Cornwallis in humiliating and reducing his too great power. During this administration, great encouragement was given to Protestant missionaries, and to the societies and individuals engaged in translating and propagating the gospel. In the month of March, 1798, Sir John Shore,' who had been previously raised to the Irish peerage, by the title of Lord Teignmouth, resigned the government of India, and sailed for England. He was a man possessed of many merits, if not of any high quality or genius, and he had been a patient [and obedient servant of the Company ; but it seemed strange in the eyes of the old Anglo-Indians that he, who had done so little, should receive titles, honours, and eulogiums, from a government which had suffered the great Hastings to be vilipended, impeached, and beggared. The period at which Lord Teignmouth left India, though a season of peace for the country, is said to have been regarded by no person in India, who had the slightest know- ledge of the subject, as a season of security. Though the British strength was not diminished, the power and re- sources of the other states of India had increased. The confidence and attachment of our allies were much shaken, and their feelings, and the presumption and hostile disposi- tion of the principal native powers, clearly showed what might have been clearly foreseen that they attributed the neutral course which had been pursued by the British, not to moderation and the desire of general good, but to weak- ness or to selfish policy. A power like that of our Indian empire can be preserved only by the means with which it was first acquired : it cannot be strictly stationary ; it must * Peter Auber, ' Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' Sir John Malcolm, * Sketch of the Political History of India.' 1798.] STATE OF OUR POWEE. 221 advance or recede ; and the moment it attempts to come to a dead stop, it must fall back, or fall prostrate. It was proved that no ground of advantage could be abandoned, mthout being instantly occupied by an enemy; that to cease to interfere, was to cease to exercise influence ; and that to resign influence was not merely to resign power, but to allow that power to pass into hands naturally hostile to the English interests.* There were some who alleged that Lord Teignmouth's conduct in Oude, with his setting up and then pulling down Vizier Ali, was as bad as any that had been attributed to "Warren Hastings, and was, at the same time, very vacil- lating, and very unwise, as policy. His lordship was threatened with a parliamentary impeachment ; but he was supported by the government, by Mr. Wilberforce, who had arrayed himseltf against Hastings, and by the whole strength of what was called the religious world, and no proceedings were ever commenced against him. It had taken all the energy and genius of two wonderful men Lord Clive and Warren Hastings to make our Indian empire, which would have been unmade by two such governors- general as Lord Teignmouth, coming one in succession to the other. But the successor, who was now on his way to Calcutta, was a man of another stamp.f * Sir John Malcolm, * Sketch of the Political History of India.' t Our Indian Empire,' vol. ii. Sir John Malcolm, * Sketch.' Mills, * History of British India,' as edited and corrected by Professor Wilson. 222 ADMH^ISTRATION OF [1798. CHAPTER XXII. At the request of the Court of Directors, Lord, now Marquis Cornwallis, had consented to return to India, and for some time it was expected that he would be Lord Teign- mouth's successor as governor-general. But the nobleman ultimately fixed upon to fill the high and arduous post was the elder brother of the illustrious duke of Wellington, the earl of Mornington, afterwards Marquis Wellesley. His lordship's education at Eton was superintended by Archbishop Cornwallis, with whom he constantly passed the holidays at Lambeth Palace, from 1771 to 1779, and there he became intimately acquainted with Earl Cornwallis, and the several members of his lordship's family. "When Lord Cornwallis proceeded to India as governor- general, in 1786, Lord Wellesley evinced a decided taste for the study of Indian history, and zealously applied himself to the acquisition of an intimate knowledge of its early government, and of the various matters that had of late occupied so much of the attention of parliament and of the country.* After Lord Cornwallis's departure, he con- tinued to apply his briUiant abilities to the study of Indian afiairs. He publicly displayed the extent of his informa- tion on these matters in a great speech delivered in par- liament in defence of Mr. Hastings. In 1796, he was appointed lord of the treasury and a member of the Board of Control, and thus had excellent opportunities for adding to his amount of practical knowledge. His lordship was in the very prime of life, his manners were captivating, he had energy, wonderful activity, and a faculty of imparting his energy to other men. With the exception of some few of the old Anglo-Indians, who thought him too young, nearly every Englishman in the country, or interested in its con- cerns, hailed his appointment with joy and hope. Lord Mornington arrived in Madras Eoads oji the 22nd * P. Auber, ' Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' 1798.]. THE MAEQUIS WELLESLEY. 223 of May, 1798, " a day ever to be remembered in the annals of British India, because we date from it a new and splendid era in our bistory."* His lordship remained some time at Madras, in order to acquaint himself with the real condition of that presidency and of the Carnatic, and to concert mea- sures for defending these countries against any irruption of the Mahrattas, or of the Mysoreans under Tippoo, who, under the late governor-general, had prepared for hostili- ties. Our forces on the Madras establishment had been much reduced in number by the expeditions to Ceylon, Malacca, Banda, and Amboyna ; they were scattered in dif- ferent cantonments ; no bullocks had been provided for conveying their baggage and materiel of war ; no stores had been collected, no magazines had been formed; in short, there was danger, and no adequate preparation to meet it. His lordship consulted with G-eneral Harris, who was now governor and commander-in-chief at Madras, and in- stantly took measures for strengthening that army and putting it into a condition to take the field at the shortest notice. Beginning at the right end. Lord Mornington negotiated with some of the native powers, in order to re-establish by peaceful means our political influence, and to brace up the ties of alliance, which had been so seriously relaxed under the government of Sir John Shore. By this time, M. Ray- mond's discipUned force in the Deckan rather exceeded than fell short of 14,000 sepoys ; and he, his French officers, and their party disposed of nearly all the resources of the coun- try. Luckily their power, being accompanied by insolence, wholly estranged the nizam and his minister, Azeem-ul- Omrah, who confessed that the French prepotency was no longer to be borne, and immediately assented to a negotia- tion for disbanding the French corps and increasing the English subsidiary forces in his dominions. Whde the negotiations were pending, M. Eaymond died, and was suc- ceeded by a very inferior person, named Piron, who had little influence over the troops, and no influence at all at court or among the great men of the Deckan. The nizam soon I ,'^reed to admit four more of our battalions, and to pay for our itire force of sepoys in the country 2,417,100 rupees per iimum ; to disband all the French corps, and to deliver over '^ ' Life and Services of General Lord Harris, during his Campaigns in India,' &c., by the Right Hon. Stephen Rumbold Lushington, private secretary to Lord Harris, and late governor of Madras. 224 OUR INFLUENCE EECOYEBED. [1798, all the Frencli officers to the British government ; and the British government agreed to defend the nizam against the Mahrattas, and to render him other services. But, as the nizam had not strength or courage enough to proceed by him- self, our battalions marched into the country, and threatened the French camp. Hereupon a proclamation was issued by the nabob to inform the troops under the French officers that their la"w^ul sovereign had dismissed those officers from his service ; that they were released from their obedience to them, and that if they attempted to support them they would be punished as traitors. The force collected in that camp was greatly superior in number to the English who were threat- ening them, and was well provided with artillery, while our sepoys, who had advanced both secretly and rapidly, had hardly a gun with them. But it would appear that these French adventurers had not conciliated the affections of the native troops, as M. Bussy and his companions had formerly done in this same country, and that they were under serious apprehensions of being massacred by their own people ; for they promptly signified to the English resident at Hydera- bad that they were ready to comply with the orders of the nizam, and that they much wished to be received under the protection of the English nation.* After their French officers had quitted them and taken shelter in our camp, the nizam' s sepoys mutinied about arrears of pay, but the mutiny was put down, and the sepoys were all disarmed by our battalions and some of the nizam' s cavalry, commanded by Captain (afterwards Sir John) Mal- colm and Colonel Eoberts, without shedding one drop of blood. The -wisdom with which this great political measure was planned, and the promptness and vigour displayed in the execution, carried alarm to the enemies of the British government, and diffused joy and confidence among the sub- jects and allies of the English ; and these impressions greatly promoted our future success. But there yet remained another nucleus of French power in India. M. Perron was at the head of a disciplmed force in the Mahratta territories, and the peishwa, or Scindiah, who acted for him, would neither disband this force nor allow the English to mediate between the Mahrattas and the nizam of the Deckan. More ; at this critical moment * Sir John Malcolm. 1798.1 TEESH EUPTTJEE WITH TIPPOO. 225 the peisliwa received ambassadors from Tippoo Sultaim. The British government had therefore to proceed against the sultaun without any satisfactory settlement with the Mah- rattas ; and there was good ground for suspecting that Scindiah inclined to take an active part with our enemy, and tliat M. Perron, with his French officers and disciplined corps, would endeavour to join the Frenchmen in Tippoo's service, and more especially if a Frencli armament from Europe, from the Maiuitius, or by way of Egypt and the Eed Sea, should effect a landing on the coast. The dangers to be apprehended from Tippoo's position, temper, and views, were apparent to every European in the country, and were deeply felt by the government at home, when it was ascertained that Bonaparte had sailed for Egypt with a large army. Ever since the treaty of Seringapatam, Tippoo had shown a sullen vindictive temper, an irreconcilable enmity, an impa- tience to grasp at every chance of renewing the war with some prospect of success. His envoys made their appear- ance wherever there existed enemies to the British power. Their voices were heard and the effects of their intrigues were felt at Cabul, in Persia, at Constantinople, at Paris, in the Isle of Erance. Much, of this was known to Lord Mornington on his first arrival, and more became kno-y^vn ere his lordship had been a month in the country. Early in June, 1798, his lordship received the copy of a proclama- tion which had been issued by the Erencli governor of the Mauritius or Isle of Erance, together with information of enhstments making in that island for the service of the Mysorean sultaun. This proclamation stated that Tippoo Sultaun, the great monarch of Mysore, had, through twa ambassadors despatched for the purpose, addressed letters to the colonial assembly of the Isle of Erance, to all the gene- rals employed there, and to the Erench Directory at Paris ; and that the said letters contained the following clauses : I. That he, Tippoo Sultaun, desired to form an alliance offensive and defensive witfi Erance ; and offered to main- tain at his own expense, during the continuance of the war in India, whatever troops should be furnished by the Erench ; and to supply (with the exception of certain stores) every necessary for carrying on the war. 11. That he had given assurances that all his preparations were already completed ; and that the generals and officers would find everything Q 226 BOIs'APAETE IIS- EGYPT. [1798. necessary for carryiiig on a species of warfare to which Europeans had not been accustomed in their contests with the native powers in India. III. That he only waited for the succour of France to declare war against the English ; and that it was his ardent desire to expel the English from India.* Upon the ground of these facts, the French procla- mation recommended a levy of men for the service of Tippoo Sultaun. On the 18th of June, or nearly at the very moment in which Lord Mornington received the copy of the proclama- tion and other intelligence from the Isle of France, the secret committee of the Court of Directors, vrrote from London, to inform him that a large French armament had sailed from Toulon, on the 13th of May; and that it was con- ceived to be not impossible that India might be the object of attack by way of the E-ed Sea, after the conquest of Egypt. The secret committee further told his lordship, that ministers had informed them that immediate measures would be taken for a considerable augmentation of the European troops in India. But long before this despatch of the secret com- mittee could reach the governor-general, he received through the overland channel, positive information of the landing of Bonaparte and the French army in Egypt. Moreover, as soon as Bonaparte arrived in the valley of the JN'ile, he de- spatched a letter to Tippoo, requesting him io send a confi- dential person to Suez or Cairo, to confer with him and concert measures for the liberation of India ; and this letter was intercepted by the English, and sent to Lord Morn- ington. In the meanwhile as early as the 20th of June some people from the Isle of France had joined Tippoo in his camp. As M. Malartie, the governor of the Isle of France, could spare no troops, he forwarded Tippoo's letters to Paris, and aided and assisted his two ambassadors in raising men in that island. These men turned out to be " the refuse of the lowest class of the democratic rabble," some of whom were taken from the prisons and forcibly embarked. When the moment of sailing arrived, nearly one-half of the volun- teers refused to go to conquer India. Some 150 of them, however, amved at Mangalore, and thence proceeded to * Marquis Wellesley's Despatches. 1798-9.] TEEKCHMEN JOIN TIPPOO. 227 camp, and to Tippoo's capital, where one of their first opera- tions ^as to set up a tree of liberty, surmounted bj the red nightcap of liberty and equality. They next organized a Jacobin club in Seringapatam. The club Avas distinguished hj this peculiarity, the members were required to swear hatred to tyranny, love of liberty, and destruction to all kings and sovereigns, except the good and faithful ally of the French ItepubHc, Citizen Sultaun Tippoo. At the end of October, Lord Momington received intelli- gence of the destruction of Bonaparte's fleet by Nelson, at the mouth of the Nile. But it was not upon that fleet in the Mediterranean that the French could have depended for their passage down the Red Sea, and across the Indian Ocean ; and, notwithstanding the great naval event, his lordship did not relax any part of the naval or military pre- parations which had been commenced under his orders. He was still uncertain as to the fate of the French army in Eg}^Dt, and ignorant whether an additional force might not have been intended to co-operate with it in India, by embark- ing in another fleet, and taking the ordinary passage round the Cape of Grood Hope. That French army, it must be remem- bered, kept its ground in Egypt for three whole years, in spite of the loss of their fleet, and in spite of all the eflbrts made by the English, the Turks, and the Mamelukes to dispossess them. Even though the French should not proceed from Egj'pt to India, or come to India round the Cape, they would still derive immense advantages from fomenting a war in that country against the power of Grreat Britain. Nor could it be yet known what additional forces might get to Seringapatam from the Isle of France. The things which were perfectly well known at the moment were these the Mahrattas were faithless, and eager for conquest or plunder. M. Perron, with his numerous disciplined troops, was every day gaining strength in the Mahratta country, and was looking forward for chances and combinations which might enable him to re-establish the French supremacy in India. Every one felt that mth or without the arrival of a French armament on the coast, the implacable Mysorean had ample means of making himself dangerous, and would never cease caballing and agitating the country against the English. He had on foot an army of 76,600 men, of whom nearly 40,000 were disciphned. Our forces in the Camatic were not all concentrated q2 228 THE LAST WAR WITH TIPPOO. [1799. until the beginning of iS'ovember ; and until tliat army was ready for the field, it would have been an imbecile act to threaten or remonstrate with Tippoo. AYhen that army was quite ready, explanations were demanded, which Tippoo would not give. In order to be near the scene of negotia- tion or military operations, and to give to the public senice his own quick spirit, and the advantages of a prompt decision upon every question, the governor-general quitted the ease and splendour of Calcutta, and returned to Madras. Tippoo now declared that he was anxious for peace, and had never entertained intentions hostile to the English ; but he eva- sively refused to receive Major Doveton as an envoy from his lordship. The governor-general hereupon wrote another letter, recapitulating all the proceedings of the embassy to the Isle of Trance, and the other causes of olfence and jealousy, which the sultaun had given to the English ; de- claring that he had by his conduct compelled the English and their allies to seek relief from the ambiguous and anxi- ous state in which they had been kept for years past ; and that the English and their allies could no longer suffer those constant preparations for war, and those intrigues and hostile negotiations with their enemies, which exposed them, during a period of supposed peace, to all the solicitude and hazard, and to much of the expense of actual war. His lordship again entreated the sultaun to receive Major Doveton. This letter was despatched on the 9th of January, 1799, and it reached Tippoo about the 24th of that month. ]N'o reply was, however, received until about a month after it had been handed to Tippoo ; and then on the 13th of Eebruary the answer came in the shape of a short and insolent note, in which the sultaun said that he was going upon a hunting excursion, and that Major Doveton might be sent after him slightly attended. But ten days before this tardy note reached him, Lord Mornington had put his armies in motion. The delay of Tippoo had been considered as part of his design to procras- tinate till the favourable season for the attack of his capital should be passed ; and, in the interval, it had been ascer- tained, that he had despatched another embassy to the Erench, repeating that he was quite ready for the war, and calling upon them to hasten the equipment and sailing of an armament. On tlie 3rd of February, the governor-general had 1799.] GENERAL HAREIS ADYAl^CES. 229 directed tlie Britisli army under General Harris, and the nizam's army under Meer Alum, to advance against Mysore. His lordship addressed a letter to the sultaun oiFering moderate terms of accommodation and peace ; but he instructed G-eneral Harris to raise the terms in pro- portion to the sultaun's obstinacy and the progress of our armies. The presence at Madras of Colonel Arthur AVel- lesley, a younger brother of the governor-general, and now the time-honoured Dtjke of Wellington, had contributed very materially to change the feelings and opinions of the leading men in that presidency, where the majority had, at first, deprecated the war, not because they thought it unjust or minecessary, but because they dreaded the expense and doubted its success. Colonel Wellesle}^, who had arrived in India more than a year before his brother the governor- general, had also studied the country and the means of carrying on war in it, and had paid great attention to the native troops, and to the means of improving the discipline of the whole army. He was at the head of his own regiment, the brave 33rd. That regiment was now attached to the nizam's force, and the general command of that force was given to Colonel "Wellesley. As early as the end of February, Greneral Harris joined his army, which was then nearly aU assembled in the vicinity of Vellore. A finer army, and one more perfect in all points, had never taken the field in India. It consisted of 4,608 British infantry; 11,061 native infantry ; 912 Euro- pean cavalry; 1,766 native cavalry; 576 European artillery; 2,726 gun-lascars and pioneers ; forming altogether a force of 21,649 men, with sixty field-pieces, and forty heavy guns for battering. The nizam's contingent, under Colonel "Wellesley, who was to advance with Greneral Harris, amounted to 20,000 men, including the 33rd regiment, 6,500 of our thoroughly disciplined sepoys, and a large body of well-mounted cavalry from the Deckan. In addition to these forces, General 8tuart was advancing from the Malabar coast, with a Bombay army of 6,100 fighting men, whereof 1,600 were Europeans: and another and smaller force under Colonels Eead and T. Brown, was gathering in the produc- tive country' of the Barahmahal, in order to co-operate on the enemy's flank, and to secure the bringing up of supplies to General Harris's grand army through the Caverypooram pass. i 230 BATTLE OF MALLATELLY. [1799. Greneral Harris began liis march from Yellore on the 11th of February; and on the 18th he was joined by Colonel "Wellesley with the nizam's army. The movements were impeded by want of good bullocks ; but on the 5th of March, Greneral Harris crossed Tippoo's frontiers, and commenced hostilities by reducing several hill forts. Instead of advancing towards the Coromandel coast to meet the grand army under Harris' and "Wellesley, Tippoo and his "tigers of war," marched towards the Malabar coast to encounter the small army of Bombay, before they should get clear of the jungles of Coorg ; and, on the 6th of March, a battle took place in that wooded country, between the van of the Bombay army and Tippoo's forces. Three of our bat- talions of Bombay sepoys, under Colonel Montresor, though taken by surprise and at a distance from their main body, sufficed to keep the Mysoreans at bay from an early hour in the morning until half-past two in the afternoon. Then Greneral Stuart came up with the main body of the Bombay army, and completely defeated Tippoo, who fled to Peri- apatam, whence he marched, not without confusion, to Seringapatam. It was not until the 26th of March, that Tippoo descended towards the Coromandel coast, and showed his whole army in Greneral Harris's front. A battle was now expected, but the Mysorean glided off in the direction of Mallavelly. But Tippoo endeavoured to stop the high-road ; and on the 27th of March, a battle was fought on ground of his own choosing between Sultaunpet and Mallavelly. The British army under Greneral Harris formed our right wing ; the nizam's army, with the 33rd regiment, under Colonel "Wellesley, formed the left. The affair began with a hot fire of artillery from the Mysorean' s numerous and well-served parks, and ended with a bayonet charge by the 33rd. The loss of Tippoo, in killed and wounded, was estimated at nearly 2,000 ; but this battle of Mallavelly cost us no more than sixty-six men, in killed, wounded, and missing. The efficient state of the Mysore gun-cattle, and the miserable condition of our CarnaticbuUocks, precluded all idea of a successful pursuit. Though sadly daunted, Tippoo prepared to obstruct the advance of the invading army, which was now little more than thirty miles from Seringapatam ; but he committed the serious mistake of believing that Greneral Harris would take the same road which Lord Cornwallis had taken in 1792. k: 1799.] SIEGE or SEEINGAPATAM. 231 But Harris chose a very different and a mueb better route, and moving with great secrecy, he got across the Cavery river and on another road, while Tippoo, completely at fault, was looking for him on the direct road to Seringapatam. After committing some other mistakes, the Mysorean threw him- self into his capital, and manned the lines in front of it. By the 5th of April, General Harris was encamped on the ground which had been occupied by Abercromby, in 1792, and the fine fortress, the white walls, the domes and minarets of Seringapatam, were once more in full view of our troops. Many alterations and additions had been made to the works since the English last lay linder them; for 6,000 men had been constantly at work on the fortifications during six years. There was some hard fighting in the lines and at the out- ward defences in a night attack. Colonel AVellesley had a very narrow escape from death but the Mysoreans were driven in, our approaches were pushed with vigour, and by the 20th of April, our last parallel was completed by Greneral Harris, who, by this time, had been joined by the Bombay anny, under Greneral Stuart. A close breaching-battery was opened upon the fortress on the morning of the 30th. On the 2nd of May, a second breaching-battery began its work of demolition. At seven o'clock on the morning of the 3rd of May, Colonel AVellesley, who was commanding in the trenches, reported that the breach was practicable. On the following morning the troops destined for the assault were got into the trenches ; and at the hour of noon they rushed into the breach, and took Seringapatam by storm, in an incredibly short space of time.* Tippoo Sultaun, pierced with four wounds, was found dead under a dark gateway of the fortress, where his flight had been stopped by a part of our 12th regiment. During the whole of the siege and assault, from the 4th of April to the 4th of May inclusive, twenty-two officers were killed, and forty-five wounded ; 181 British soldiers were killed, and 622 wounded ; while the loss of our native troops was 119 killed, and 420 Avounded. On the 4th of May, when the storm was made, Tippoo' s forces consisted of * When the assault commenced, Tippoo was closeted with his priests, conjurers, and astrologers. " I will go," said Seyed Ghoffar, "and drag him to the breach, and make him see by what a set of wretches he is surrounded. I will compel him to exert himself at this last moment ! " He was going to the gultaun, when a cabnon-ball killed him. 232 DEATH or Tippoo. [1799. 48,000 men, of whom about 22,000 were either in the fort or in the dependent intrenchments of Seringapatam. Count- ing natives and all classes of troops, General Harris had never more than 20,000 men actually occupied in the siege ; and the two divisions which carried the place did not count many more than 4,000 men. Greneral Baird, who had led the storming party, sent Major Beatson to request that he and his people might be relieved that night, as they were much fatigued "vsdth the exertions of the day. It is usual to relieve storming parties as soon as possible after a place has been taken ; and among several important reasons lor this usage is the consideration that fresh troops who have not been exposed to the horrors of assault, and whose blood has not been inflamed by seeing their comrades fall by their sides, are less likely to commit excesses in the town than the men who have been so ex- posed. "When Major Beatson repaired to head-quarters, General Harris directed the deputy adjutant-general, who was sitting in his tent, to put the officer next for duty under orders to relieve Major-General Baird. Colonel AYellesley being next on the roster, was accordingly ordered on the same night to take the command within the fort and town. The troops, however, were not relieved until the evening of the 5th or the morning of tlie 6th of May ; and the storm- ing party, in possession, committed many excesses, plunder- ing some of the houses of the rich natives, and setting fire to others. The body of Tippoo Sultaan was buried, with military honours, on the 5th of May, the day after his death, in the superb mausoleum of Lall Bang, which he had erected to his father, Hyder Ali. A violent storm of thunder and lightning, which killed several Eiu'opeans and natives, gave an awful interest to these last and solemn rites,* A cauzee, or ulema, chanted some verses from the Koran, which were repeated by the attendants. The British grenadiers formed a street, and presented arms. The burial service ha\ang been performed, a keeraut, or charitable gift of 5,000 rupees, was distributed by the cauzee to the fakeers and the poor who attended tlie funeral.f Tliis was all strictly conform- able to the Mahometan religion ; and, monster though he had been, Tippoo had ever professed himself a devout Mus- * Lushington. Coloirel Beatson. f Beatson. 1799.] TIPPOO'S CRUELTIES. 233 sulmau, and had ever been most scrupulous in outward observances. No doubt was left as to his having inhumanly- murdered some English prisoners taken on the night of the unfortimate affair in which Colonel Wellesley was so near perishing. A peon having undertaken to show where these poor fellows were buried, Colonel Wellesley sent some of the officers of his regiment to the spot ; and, upon the ex- humation of one of the bodies, it was identified by these officers as that of one of the grenadiers of the 33rd. It appears that these unfortunate captives had been murdered at night in parties of two or three ; and that the mode of killing them had been by twisting their heads round their shoulders, and thus breaking their necks. Black as was the deed, it was merciful in comparison with some which he had committed on the English fifteen years ago. Everywhere within and about the palace, evidence met the eye or ear of his depraved and sanguinary tastes. His name meant tiger ; he caUed his soldiers his tigers of war ; and the tigers of the Indian jungles were his pets, and often his executioners for the attendant that offended him, or the prisoner that w'as brought into his presence, was not uiifrequently turned into a barred room, or large cage, where the savage animals were let loose upon him. Xear the door of his treasury an enormous tiger had been foimd chained. There were other tigers in the edifice, and so numerous as to give some trouble to Colonel Wellesley.* The history and character of the son of Hyder were, in a manner, told by the bar- barous big toy which w:as invented for his amusement, which was found in his palace, and which may now be seen in the librar}^ of the East-India House, Leadenhall-street. This rude automaton is a tiger killing and about to devour a European, who lies prostrate under the savage beast. In the interior of the tiger there is a rude kmd of organ, played upon by turning a handle, like our street hand-organs ; and the notes produced are intended to represent the growls of the tiger and the moans of the dying man.f Other toys, indica- ' They became the subject of a postscript to the first letter written by Colonel Wellesley to his commander-in-chief after succeeding Baird in the command within the town and fort. *' There are some tigers here," says the colonel, " which I wish Meer Alum would send for ; or else I must give orders to have them shot, as there is no food for them, and nobody to attend them, and they are getting violent." * Wellington Despatches.' t By the frequent grinding of the curious, this Mysorean instrument 234 EXERTIONS OF COL. WELLESLEY. [1799. tive of the same tastes, were found in Tippoo's dwelling; and, in nearly every ornament the figure of the tiger was represented. Upon his harem being told off, it was found to contain no fewer than 600 women.* The treasure discovered amounted, in specie and jewels, to about one million sterling, the whole of which was, by order of the governor-general and council, distributed to the army. All the members of the sultaun's family were very soon in the hands of the conquerors, although several of them were not within the walls of Seringapatam at the time of the storm. On the day after the capture of the place, Abdul Khalif, one of the two princes who had for- merly been hostages with Lord Cornwallis, surrendered at our outposts, imploring protection. A passport was sent out for Eutteh Ali, another of the princes, who was invited to join his brothers. Kereen Saheb, a brother of Tippoo's, sought present refuge with our ally the nizam. Most of the sultaun's principal officers came in voluntarily in the course of a few days, and submitted to the English, without any other condition than that they should be preserved in their lives, titles, and estates. Most of Tippoo's Frenchmen were made prisoners.f In the meanwhile, Colonel "Wellesley had exerted himself to the utmost to put an end to those excesses which almost invariably and unavoidably attend the capture of a place by storm. Four marauders were brought to a drum-head trial, and handed over to the provost-marshal. These examples, and the personal activity and incessant care of "Wellesley, who went to the houses of the principal inhabitants and himself placed guards at their doors, soon inspired a general confidence. People returned to their habitations and ordinary occupations : the bazars, stored with all sorts of provisions and merchandize, were re-opened ; and the native traders found a ready and profitable sale, as the conquering army was in want of almost everything, and paid for all they took. Three days after the capture of the fortress, has been sadly deranged, and almost worn out. The tiger no longer growls as it used to do, and the man moans but very feebly, as the paw of the beast is alternately placed on his mouth and removed from it, by the internal mechanism put in motion by turning the handle. * * Our Indian Empire.' t Letters, memorandums, &c. of General Harris, in Life, by the Right Hon. S. R. Lushington. Marquis Wellesley, * Indian Despatches.' 1799.] DISME:yiBERMENT OF MTSOEE. 235 thanks to the exertions and personal influence of the noble commandant, the main streets of Seringapatam were so crowded, as to be almost impassable, and exhibited rather the appearance of a fair, than that of a town just taken by- assault. Greneral Harris could not do less than appoint Colonel Wellesley permanent commandant of a regular per- manent garrison for the place. The sudden and complete dissolution of Tippoo's government, and the dispersion of all the public functionaries, required that the governor of Seringapatam should be a good administrator, and as much a statesman as soldier. There were men much older and higher in military rank than he, but there was not a man. in the army so qualified for the double capacity as was Arthur Wellesley. Even before the reduction of Tippoo's capital, the greater part of his inferior fortresses were taken by Grenerals Harris and Stuart, or by the corps under Colonels Eead and Brown. In every part of Mysore, or of the countries which had been imited into one kingdom by Hyder AU, the Hindu population was very numerous, and exceedingly well affected to the English, well knowing that, under our rule, they would be allowed the free exercise of their religion. Even the Mahometan portion of the inhabitants submitted tran- quilly to their destiny, and to the conquerors. The empire which Hyder Ali had erected was now thrown to the ground ; but, restricted by parliamentary declarations and orders from home, which forbade wars of conquest, the governor-general could not, as he ought to have done, take immediate sovereignty over the whole of this empire. He therefore determined to dismember the dominions ; to re- tain in his own hands those districts which lay along the sea- shore, or which interrupted in any way the communication between different proAdnces already subject to the Company; to make over a second portion to the nizam of the Deckan ; to oft'er, upon certain conditions, a third portion to the peishwa ; and to raise to the government of the fourth and smallest portion a descendant of that ancient line of Hindu rajahs which Hyder Ali had set aside by right of force or conquest. In pursuance of this plan, the district of Canara, including the whole line of coast contiguous to the Com- pany's possessions in Malabar and the Carnatic, the for- tresses and posts at the head of the different ghauts or passes which lead into Mysore, as well as the fortress of 236 TIPPOO'S SOXS SE?fT TO TELLORE. [1799. Seringapatam, were all committed to tlie English; the tracts of country bordering upon his ovm. dominions, became the property of the nizam of the Deckan ; and Harponelly and various other provinces and districts were to be made over to the Mahrattas. But, regarding the last clause, see- ing that the Mahrattas did not comply with the stipulated conditions, the governor-general determined that it should form the basis of some new treaty with the Mahrattas, and that, in the mean time, occupation should remain with the Company.* Maharajah Krishna Oudawer, a child of six years old, the lineal representative of the ancient Hindu dynasty or family of Mysore, whom Tippoo's father, Hyder Ali, had forcibly dispossessed, was raised to the throne of a principality neither less extensive nor less powerful, in spite of recent events, than that over which his forefathers had reigned. The entire superintendence of his affairs was, at the same time, committed to Purneah, a Brahmin of great ability and reputation, who, entering into treaties with the English, confirmed the arrangement made in favour of the confederates, agreed to settle a pension on the children of Tippoo, and accepted a modified subsidiary alliance, which, while it secured to the rajah the benefit of English protec- tion, placed the whole strength of his country at the disposal of the Company. By this latter arrangement it was agreed that the English should maintain a force expressly for the defence of the new sovereignty, and place garrisons in such strongholds as they might desire to occupy, while the rajah paid an annual tribute in liquidation of the expenses ^thereby incurred. Einally, the sons of Tippoo, on whom a liberal pension was settled, set out under a military escort * to Vellore, where, though kept under surveillance, they lived in luxury and splendour, and were treated with great kind- ness. Strong considerations of policy forbade even a partial re-elevation of the family of Hyder Ali. They had all been brought up in hereditary hatred of the English, and they could not, under any arrangement, be expected to forget th^ high power and independence from which they had fallen. "jSTor does it seem unreasonable to suppose," wrote the governor-general, " that the heir of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sultaun, animated by the imj)lacable spirit of his parents, and accustomed to the splendoiu' of military glory, might * Rev. G. R. Gleig, * History of the British Empire in India.' 1799.] POLITICAL aeea:s"Geme]S'ts. 237 deliberately hazard the remnant of his hereditary possessions in pursuit of so proud an object as the recovery of that vast and powerfid empire, which, for many years, had rendered his ancestors the scourge of the Carnatic, and the terror of tliis quarter of India."* On the other hand, the indignities which the family of the ancient Hindu rajahs of the country had suffered, espe- cially during the cruel and tyrannical reign of Tippoo, and the state of degradation and misery to which they had been reduced, might naturally be expected to excite a sentiment of gratitude and attachment in their minds towards that power which should not only deliver them from oppression, but also raise them to a state of considerable affluence and distinction. Between the British government and this family an intercourse of friendship and kindness had once subsisted ; and in the most desperate crisis of their fortune they had formed no connection with the French or witli any of our enemies. Under the pacific, the friendly, and de- pendent representative of the old Hindu line of princes, the interest and resources of the country might be absolutely identified with our own ; and the kingdom of Mysore, so long the source of calamity or alarm to the Carnatic, might become a new barrier for our defence, and might supply fresh means of wealth and strength to the Company, their subjects and allies. The territory ceded to Maharajah Krishna yielded thirteen lacs of pagodas, a revenue greater than that of the ancient rajahship of Mysore. It was com- pletely surrounded by the districts and fortresses which the English took to themselves, and which were garrisoned by British troops, and by sepoys in the pay of the Company. One strong line of forts protected the rajahship from tlie Mahrattas, whose incursions were most to be apprehended. But in matter of fact the sovereignty of the rajahship, equally with its defence, was vested in the Company. It was provided by treaty that the whole of the military force in the country should be English ; that the rajah should pay annually seven lacs of pagodas ; that in case of war, any larger sum might be exacted which sliould be deemed pro- portionate to the resources of the rajah or of the country ; and that, in case of any misgovermnent by the rajah, the British government might interfere. The city of Mysore, * Marquis Wellesley, ' India Despatches.' 238 TEAXQIJTLLITT RESTOEED. [1800. the ancient capital of the country, which Tippoo had dis- mantled in order to give strength, extension, and magnifi- cence to Seringapatam, was fixed upon for the residence of the infant rajah and his court. A curious example was given of vicissitude in human aftairs. Tippoo, in 1784, had levelled mth the ground an ancient fort at Mysore, and had carried away the materials to build a new fort, which he named " Nezerbar," or " the place visited by the eye of the Almighty :" now this fort was destroyed in its turn, and the materials were carried back to the town of Mysore, to rebuild the old fort.* The territory conquered from Tippoo, and annexed, co- vertly or openly, to the Company, exceeded in dimension 20,000 square miles. The revenue immediately obtained by the Company was very large, and was chiefly drawn from countries which wanted nothing but tranquillity and security to be enabled to pay, with perfect ease, taxes far more con- siderable than those they now paid.f The annexation gave an entirely new form and consistency to our empire in the south of India, with a degree of secu- rity which we had not previously possessed. There were sixty ghauts or passes through the mountains, several of which were practicable for armies, and two-thirds of which were sufficiently open to aUow the incursions of cavalry. J By occupying these passes, aU the Camatic was secured against those ruinous irruptions from which it had so often suffered in the days of Hyder and his son, and the low country on the Malabar coast was rendered equally safe. Instead of being our most dangerous enemies, the Myso- reans soon became our best friends, and recruited our sepoy battalions with some of their bravest men. As soon as a band of robbers, headed by the famous Dhoondiah "Waugh, and joined by some of Tippoo' s disbanded cavalry, had been cut up or driven out of the country, a most perfect tranquillity was established everywhere. On leaving the command of all the troops in Mysore and its dependencies, and on hastening back to Madras to meet the governor- general, who had remained at that presidency to be near at hand as long as the war lasted, General Harris wrote to a friend : " In seven months' absence from Madras, we not only took * Colonel Wilks. f Marquis Wellesley, 'Despatches,' Sec. 1 Colonel Beatson. 1800.] NEW TBEATT WITH THE NIZAM. 239 the capital of that enemy, who, as you observe, should never have been left the power of being troublesome, but marched to the northern extent of his empire, and left it in so settled a state that I journeyed from the banks of the Toombudra, 300 miles across, in my palanquin, without a single soldier as escort, except, indeed, at many places, the polygars and peons of the country, who insisted on being my guard through their respective districts. This was a kind of triumphal journey I did not dream of when setting off. A conquest so complete in all its effects has seldom been known."* Having thus satisfactorily arranged the affairs of Mysore, Lord Mornington directed his attention to those of the Deckan, where the well-known imbecility of the nizam rendered him liable, at any time, to be made the tool of the Mahrattas or of any persons more subtle and enterpri- sing than himself. Hitherto,' our subsidiary force in the Deckan had been maintained by a monthly ^stipend from the nizam, of which the payment was very irregular, and always liable to interruption by treachery or by the impro- vidence of the Hyderabad government. It was the object of his lordship to obtain a commutation of the stipend in the shape of estates and districts a system which had been adopted by the nizam, and other native princes, in regard to the French officers who raised and disciplined troops for them ; and without this system (seeing the con- stant irregularity of all money payments from these eastern princes), neither M. Perron, nor M. Bussy, would have remained in their service, or have been in a condition to keep up a disciplined army for them. The governor-general also wished, by a general revision of the terms of our alliance, to render the Deckan more dependent than it was upon the Company, and to check that rapacity and misrule which kept the people poor when they ought to be prosperous. By firmness and address, his lordship brought his scheme to a satisfactory conclusion. By the treaty of October the 12th, 1800, the nizam of the Deckan ceded to the English all the territory which he had acquired by Lord Cornwallis's pacification in 1792, and by the arrangements after the capture of Seringapatam in 1799. He received in exchange, a discharge from the payment of his monthly subsidies, a * Right Hon. Stephen Rumbold Lushington, ' Life of Gen. Lord Harris.' 240 MAHEATTAS EEFUSE TO NEGOTIATE. [ISOO. great [increase, both in infantry and cavalry, to the troops previously lent to him, and assurance of protection against every external enemy, and a'guarantee for the tranquil enjoy- ment of all the rights, privileges, and ^territories ^Yhich tie treaty left in his possession. The Mahrattas, though duly invited, refused to negotiate with the governor-general. Some of them would have gladly embraced his lordship's amicable propositions, which were accompanied byj an offer of such considerable territories ; but the great Scindiah, all powerful at the peishwa's cornet, partly guided by his own prejudices, partly swayed by the counsels of his French officers, steadily resisted all approacli to intimacy with the English ; and, hereupon, the governor- general divided that portion of Tippoo's late dominions which had been intended for the Mahrattas, between the English and the nizam of the Deckan. Other treaties were effected with the rajah of Tanjore and various native princes, all having for their object the removal of political power from the hands of those who could not wield it wisely or well, into the hands of the Com- pany. In these states the entu'e administration of govern- ment and revenue was now vested in the Company, with- out causing any dissatisfaction to the native populations. "As for the wishes of the people in this country," said Colonel Wellesley, " I put them out of the question. They are the only philosophers about' their governors that ever I met with if indifference constitutes that character."* But the great soldier and administrator might have added as he subsequently did that in every instance the people were great gainers by the change, being no longer oppressed by irregular taxation the ivorst taxation of all, no longer harassed by internal feuds and civil wars, and bemg seldom- exposed even to the chance of foreign invasion. In many of these districts a few English civilians, unsupported by any military force, and often at great distances from any post or garrison-to^ii, ruled the tranquil natives, and were held in reverence by them. * Letter to Major Monro, dated 20th Aug., 1800, in ' Wellington Despatches.' ISOO.] KIXG OF THE TWO WOELDS. 24:1 CHAPTER XXIII. "While Colonel "Wellesley, wlio had been left at Seringa- patam as governor of Mysore, was displaying administrative talents of tlie most valuable kind, and getting that country into perfect order, he was called into the field by the return of the robber Dhoondiah "Waugh, who had collected an enormous force. This freebooter, a Mahratta or Patau by lineage, though born within the territory of Mysore, had served in the armies of Hyder and Tippoo. He had deserted the Mysoreans during their war with Lord Cornwallis, and had placed himself at the head of a fierce and numerous body of banditti in the wild countr}^ near the Toombudra river. By stratagem Tippoo had caught him, and he was immured in one of the dungeons of Seringapatam, and strongly chained to the wall like a wild beast, when we stormed and took the citadel. Pitying all the tyrant's prisoners, and knowing nothing of the fellow's history, some of our soldiers instantly set him free. He was soon at the head of such a force, and Avas so rapid in his movements, that it had taken Colonel Stevenson no small trouble to drive him out of the country in the preceding month of August. Early in this year, Dhoondiali threatened the frontier of Mysore with 5,000 horse, and took to himself the title of the " King of the ^Two Worlds." With a weak enemy to contend with, Dhoondiah, like Hyder, might have founded a royal dynasty. His destruction was absolutely necessary for our tranquillity.* Dhoondiah had an asylum in the Mahratta country. Colonel Wellesley recommended that the English should go through witli the business until that man was killed, captured, or given up, even though it should be found necessary to cross the Mahratta frontier in pursuit of him, which could scarcely be done without risking a quarrel with the Mah- rattas. His brother, the governor-general, authorized him * Wellington Despatches,' vol. i. E 242 COL. wellesley's pursuit [1800. to enter the Mahratta territory, it being evident that the peishwa was either unable or unwilling to put down the great depredator. Part of our army at Mysore had been already collected on the Toombudra. Towards the end of June, Wellesley joined these troops, crossed the river, and proceeded in person against the army of robbers, who were nearly all well mounted. Some of the Mahratta chiefs, instead of resenting the infringement of their frontiers, took the field to co-operate with the English ; and one of them, being too eager in the pursuit, got defeated and killed by Dhoondiah, a few days after. Though a campaign, in regard to the forces employed and the object to be obtained, the operations of "Wellesley were like a hunting-match, or a long- continued chase, and as such they are described in his own despatches, and not without humour and hilarity. He fol- lowed up the robbers across the river "Werdah, across other streams, through woods and over mountains ; he chased them to all the cardinal points of the compass, he drove them up the Malpoorba, and doTvn that river, and he gave them a famous run between the Malpoorba and the G-ut- poorba. He surprised some of their encampments, and took some fortified towns in which they had deposited their plunder ; but weeks, months elapsed before he could come up vrith the main body of these nimble thieves. At last, on the .9th of September, Dhoondiah "Waugh got into an awkward position by coming too near to Colonel AYellesley, who had left his infantry far behind, and was pursuing only vrith cavalry. As the colonel's horses were much fatigued and the night was a bad one, the attack was not made until the following morning. The chief huntsman has himself described the end of the chase, in a letter dated from camp, at Yepulpurry. " After a most anxious 'night, I marched in the morning and met the ' King of the World' with his army, about 5,000 horse, at a village called Conahgull, about six miles from hence. He had not known of my being so near him in the night, and had thought that I was at Chinnoor. He was marching to the westward, with the intention of pass- ing between the Mahratta and Mogul cavalry and me. He drew up, however, in a very strong position, as soon as he perceived me ; and the ' victorious army' stood for some time with apparent firmness, I charged them with the 19th and 25th dragoons, and the 1st and 2nd regiments of 1800.] OF DHOONDIAH WAUGH. 24$ cavalry, and drove them before me till they dispersed, and were scattered over the face of the country. I then returned and attacked the royal camp, and got possession of elephants, camels, baggage, etc., etc., which were still upon the gTOund. The Mogul and Mahratta cavalry came up about eleven o'clock; and they have been employed ever since in the pursuit and destruction of the scattered frag- ments of the rebellious army. " Thus has ended this warfare ; and I shall commence my march in a day or two towards my own country. An honest killadar of Chinnoor had written to the ' King of the World,' by a regular tappal, established for the purpose of giving him intelligence, that I was to be at Nowly on the 8th, and at Chinnoor on the 9th. His majesty was misled by this, information, and was nearer to me than he expected. The honest killadar did all he could to detain me at Chinnoor, but I was not to be prevailed upon to stop ; and even went so far as to threaten to hang a great man sent to show me the road, who manifested an inclination to show me a good road to a different place." * Many of the marauders and Dhoondiah himself were killed.f The remnants of their formidable bands were entirely cut up by Colonel Stevenson, as they were attempt- ing to pass the Kistna river. Tranquillity was soon restored to Mysore and the whole of the Malabar country, and no more robberies and murders were heard of, except such, as were occasionally committed by the inscrutable thugs.. It was the flourishing state of Mysore, and the facility with which its supplies and resources were brought forward for the use of the British armies, that soon afterwards enabled Lake and Wellesley to carry on the war against Scindiah, with so much spirit and success. The province of BuUiun had never been effectually conquered ; the authority of Hyder Ali and of Tippoo had there been precarious, and the presence of an army had always been necessary to enforce the payment of the revenue. But in the course of 1801, militar}^ roads were opened through the forest towns by Wellesley, and from that time no part of Mysore has been more tranquil than Bullum. Soon after the annihilation of the "King of the Two * ' Wellington Despatches,' vol. i. t Dhoondiah's body was found and recognized, and was brought to our camp on one of the guns attached to tlie I'Jth dragoons. e2 244 ANGLO-INDIAIf EXPEDITION [1801. "Worlds," which happened in September, 1800, Colonel AYeUesley was removed from Mysore, and sent with an expedition to the island of Ceylon. The object of this ex- pedition was wholly diflerent, and its destination was strictly confined by his superiors in command, when the duplicate of a despatch from London reached him at Trincomalee, announcing the novel and bold plan of the British ministry to send an expedition from India, by the Eed Sea, to support the expedition sent out from England, under Sir Ealph Abercromby, against the French in Egypt. Upon reading this despatch, Wellesley instantly made up his mind, and knowing that his was the only disposable force in India, without orders or instructions, he proceeded to act on his own responsibility, and to remove the troops under his command at once from Ceylon to Bombay, where they would be some thousand miles nearer to the Bed Sea and Egypt. It appears that he fully expected to have the com- mand of this Anglo-Indian expedition to the land of the Pharaohs ; but upon arriving at Bombay, he found it was confided to his senior, Major-Greneral Sir David Baird. He did not accompany Baird, but he gave him a copy of memo- randa, which he had drawn up on the operations to be pursued on the coast of the Eed Sea and in Egypt a truly remarkable paper, proving the minute attention he had paid to those subjects, and showing beyond the reach of a doubt, that he had already within him the foresight, sagacity, and every other quality of a great general.* It was honourable to the administration of the governor- general, that he should be enabled, so soon after an expen- sive war, and with the almost immediate prospect of another war in India, to send such an armament to the Red Sea. Major-General Baird took with him 2,800 British troops, 2,000 sepoys, 450 of the Company's best artillery-men ; and this force was well supplied from the Company's arsenals and magazines. Sir David reached Jeddah, on the Red Sea, on the 17th of May, 1801, and was there joined by an English expedition from the Cape of Good Hope, consist- ing of the 61st regiment, some squadrons of light horse, and a strong detachment of artillery. On the 8th of June, he reached Cossier, and began landing his troops ; but it was the month of July before his van division began to cross the * See 'Wellington Despatches/ vol. i. 1801.] TO EGYPT. 245 burning deserts which lie between the Eed Sea and Egypt ; and before he could unite his forces at Cairo. Menou, who had been left in command of the French, capitulated to Greneral Lord Hutchinson.* But these joint expeditions from Europe, from Africa, and from India, and the way in which highly-disciplined native troops were moved from Bombay, and put in the field in Egypt, contributed greatly to raise our reputation, and to impress the nations of Europe with a sense of the military power and energy of England. In looking at the sculptures of ancient Egypt, our sepoys could not but be struck with the many traits of resemblance those elBgies bore to themselves. After an interval of three thousand years, oiu* sepoys were, in many respects, like what the Egyptians had been. jlSTot with standing his exertions and outlay for the Bed Sea expedition, the governor-general found the means of sending other troops to Ceylon, where they were very soon wanted; as the Cingalese who dwelt in the interior, and w^ho were in fact masters of aU the island, except some strips along the coast, proved desperate, and for a time dangerous, enemies to the British. The settlements which had been torn from the Portuguese by the Dutch, w^ere taken from the Dutch by the English, during the time that Lord Hobart was governor of Madras. Eor a time they were allowed to form , an appendage to the Madras presidency, and the Company considered that they were to enjoy the same sovereignty in Ceylon as they enjoyed in India ; but Mr. Pitt's government very soon placed the Ceylon settle- ments under the direct administration of the crown, and appointed a governor who was to be altogether independent of the authority of the Company. As Ceylon is divided from the Coromandel coast only by a narrow strait ; as the Company's troops and money had been employed in making the conquests in the island ; and as a close intercourse and * Sir Robert Wilson, ' History of the British Expedition to Egypt/ &c. yEneas Anderson, lieut. 40th regiment, ' Journal of the Forces, &c. , and of the Transactions of the Army under the command of General Sir Ralph Abercromby.' I^e Comte de Noe, ' Memoires relatifs a 1' Expe- dition Anglaise partie du Bengale en 1800,' &c. The Comte de Noe, then a royalist emigrant and an officer in the British 10th regiment of the line, went with Sir David Baird on this expedition, his account of which contains some interesting details not to be found elsewhere. 24G CEYLOX. [180L connection must exist between the island and tlie presidency of Madras ; great discontent was felt and expressed by the Anglo-Indians, or by nearly all of them that were in the Company's service. It was felt also by others, that the annexation of Ceylon to the crown, while the government of the continent was left to the Company, rendered our Indian system more and more confused ; dividing and confounding powers which were already too much divided and con- founded. Lord Mornington himself best expressed the evils of this system, and best explained how it ought to be super- seded. " AVhatever," said he, "may be the nature of the government, which the wisdom of parliament may perma- nently establish for India, I hold two principles to be indispensable for its permanent efficiency and vigour : First, that every part of the empire in India, insular as well as continental, shall be subject to the general control of one undivided authority, which shall possess energy, in peace, to maintain order, connection and harmony between aU the dispersed branches of our dominions, and to extend equal benefits of good government to every class of our numerous and various subjects ; and, in war, to direct every spring of action to similar and corresponding movements, to concen- trate every resource in a united effort, and by systematic subordination to diffuse such a spirit of alacrity and promp- titude to the remotest extremities of the empire as shaU -secure the co-operation of every part in any exigency which may demand the collective strength of the whole. Secondly, that the constitution of every branch of the empire should be similar and uniform, and, above all, that no subordinate part should be so constituted as in any respect to hold a rivalry of dignity, even in form, with the supreme power."* His lordship afterwards urged that as the legislature had vested in the governor-general in council, subject to the Board of Control in England, the sole power of making war against any native state on the continent of India, the same principle required that the governor-general in council should possess similar powers with regard to war in Ceylon, which could scarcely be considered in any other light than as a dependency on our continental empire : that the wis- , * Marquis Wellesley, ' Indian Despatches,' Letter to the Right Hon. Henry Dundas, dated May 10th, 1801. 1801.] CETLO?^'. 24i7 dom of the legislature had certainly contemplated a unity of executive power as the most effectual security for the British empire on the continent of India ; and had determined that the authority which held the sole power of disposing of the resources necessary for the prosecution of war should also possess the sole power of making war ; and that no pro- vincial, local, or subordinate authority should be enabled to involve the general interests of the empire in the expense and hazard of hostilities : that under the constitution or regulation which had been made for the island of Ceylon, the order and system established for the general government of India were absolutely reversed ; the king's governor of Ceylon exercising the authority of concluding treaties, of making wars, and of conducting military operations in the island, without having the power of furnishing supplies either of men or money beyond the fixed establishment of the island ; while the Grovernor-Greneral in council was required to furnish supplies of men and money for the pro- secution of war in Ceylon, without possessing any power of controlling the origin, conduct, or progress of the war, which war might, however, deeply affect the security, interests, and honour of the general government of India. His lord- ship also showed that Ceylon had been properly termed the outwork and bulwark of our empire in India ; that it was an essential part of our strength, and that the proper ma- nagement of its civil and military government was of the utmost importance to the defence of our continental domi- nions. "Nor," said he, "can an argument be adduced to prove the importance of Ceylon which will not also demon- strate that its interests are inseparably blended with those of the empire on the continent, and that its government cannot be separated from the general control without hazard to the safety both of that empire and the island of Ceylon. The entire military establishment of India ought to be applicable to the general defence of the whole empire. The subdivision of that establishment, and the separation of our general strength into detachments, subjected to inde- pendent commands, and appropriated to exclusive provincial and local services, must impair the general efficiency of our army by destroying the unity of our military power . . . The independence of the government and military command of Ceylon would considerably embarrass the government- general in the prosecution of operations against the remain- 248 GREAT POPULARITY [1802. ing possessions of tlie French and Dutcli to tlie eastward of the Cape of Grood Hope, or against Egypt, or against various places in these seas, or even in any transfer of troops from the several maritime garrisons in India. Your lordship is intimately acquainted with the advantages which the ports of Ceylon offer for assembling troops and ships, and for completing every necessary depot in the preparation of such services. The government-general repeatedly derived important advantages from the full command of those ports during the last war. In the present state of the island, it would not be possible to use its ports and resources with similar effect. A considerable portion of the value of Ceylon, in time of war, is therefore actually suspended by the exist- ing constitution of the government of that island."* His lordship's opinions varied upon this particular point; but at last he declared himself to be perfectly convinced, that the most effectual mode of rendering Ceylon a valuable addition to British India, and an efficient augmentation of our military and political power, would be to annex it as a province to the supreme government of Bengal. His representations, however, were overlooked by the home- government, and that beautiful island continued to be separate, and also to be in too many instances woefully misgoverned. It may be doubted, indeed, whether the natives of Ceylon have ever been treated so gently and kindly by king's officers, and by governors appointed by the Colonial office, as the natives of the neighboiu'ing continent have been and are treated by the officers and civil servants of the Company. Nor can it be said that the service in Ceylon has been distinguished by the production of eminent men ; while in this respect, the service of the Company has unde- niably been exceedingly productive. For the present, the wars against the Cingalese were miserably conducted, grave errors were committed by the king's governor, and the king's officers commanding in the island, and some shameful reverses were sustained by the English troops in Ceylon, during the war against the jMahrattas and their [allies, which was carried on with such brilliant success on the con- tinent by the governor-general, and his Indian-trained officers. * ' Wellesley, * Indian Despatches/ &c. Letter to Lord Hobart, then president of the Board of Control, dated Nov. 30, 1803. 1803.] OF COL. WELLESLEY. 249 Soon after giving up the command of his troops to Sir David Baird, Colonel Wellesley returned into Mysore, and during a command of two years, he carried out the immense improvements which he had formerly begun, and endeared himself in a wonderful measure to the people of the country. 250 THE APGHANS. [1800-1. CHAPTER XXIV. The settlement which Sir John Shore had made in Oude had given satisfaction to no party, and in reality had settled nothing. His recognizing the title of Vizier Ali in one month and dethroning him in the next had produced a very injurious effect. The people believed it all to have been a jobbery and a trick'; the prince, expelled from Lucknow, was incensed to the utmost degree of fury ; and Saadut Ali, who had been placed upon the musnud, complained of the terms and conditions, and was not very grateful to those to whom he was indebted for his elevation. Saadut had allowed his payments to the Company to fall into arrears, and he was owing more than eighteen lacs of rupees, when Lord Mornington first assumed the government of India. The Court of Directors became clamorous for payment. At the same time, Zemaun Shah, the terrible king of Cabul, was pre- paring for another invasion of Upper India. It was expected that the Afghans would be soon on the frontiers of Oude. It was known that Tippoo Sultaun was corresponding with Ze- maun Shah, and that the Mahometan army of the Mysoreans would unite with their co-religionists the Afghans, if the latter could make good their descent. The governor-general reinforced our troops in Oude to the very highest point allowed by the treaty between Sir John Shore and Saadut Ali ; two regiments of native infantry were added to that army ; five companies of native invalids were sent to station themselves on the famous rock of Chunar, five other compa- nies of native invalids were sent to Allahabad, a considerable force was collected to cover the holy and wealthy city of Benares ; and troops were cantoned in the upper provinces to oppose the Afghans. Those daring tribes advanced as far as Lahore, while Lord Mornington was at Madras busied in those preparations which ended in the total overthrow of Tippoo. But again was the sovereign of Cabul recalled to 1801-2.] VIZIEE ALT. 251 his own states by rebellion and civil war. But as the visit of the Afghans might be repeated in the following year, the governor-general endeavoured to find them occupation which woidd keep them at home and diminish their capa- bility of being mischievous in India.* The Persians and the Afghans were old foes. Baba Khan, the present king of Persia, had espoused the cause of Zemaun Shah's rebellious brother Mahmood, and had made an inroad into the province of Khorassan, on the western frontier of Afghanistan. Bring the Persians back to that quarter, and Zemaun Shah and his Afghans would be kept very far from the frontiers of Oude, and far from Lahore and the Sutlej. At first an intercourse was opened with the Persian court by means of one or two Persian merchants who -traded with India. But, on the 29th of September, 1799, Captain Sir John Malcolm was despatched from Bombay on an embassy to the Persian court. The embassy was " in a style of splendour corresponding to the character of the monarch and the manners of the nation to whom it was sent, and to the wealth and power of that state from which it proceeded." t It was completely successful in all its objects. Baba Khan not only agreed to renew his attack upon Kho- rassan, but also entered into treaties of political and com- mercial alliance with the British government. The engaging manners and the conspicuous abihty of Malcolm, the nego- tiator, were seconded by Nelson's grand battle of the Nile, the news of which produced a wondrous effect all through Asia Minor and Persia. The shah contumeliously expelled from his dominions an embassy which the Prench had sent to win him over to their nation and their views upon India. Threatened by the Persians in his own territories, Zemaun Shah could not repeat his visit to Lahore ; and in the year 1801 he was defeated in battle, and made prisoner by his rebellious brother Mahmood, who found it so difficult to retain his seat on the slippery throne of Cabul, that he had not time to bestow a thought upon plans of conquest or invasion in India. When Zemaun Shah was last at Lahore, Vizier Ali, the nabob of Oude, whom Sir John Shore had deposed, increased the number of his armed retainers, and engaged some of * Marquis Wellesley, * Indian Despatches.' Sir John Malcolm, * Poli- tical History of India.' t Sir John Malcolm, ' Political History of India.* 252 BBATEET OF [1799. the principal people of Benares to join him in an insurrec- tion so soon as the Afghans should approach the frontiers of Oude. AVhen it was ascertained by Lord Mornington that Vizier Ali had sent an agent to Zemaun Shah and was giving countenance to all those -who sighed for the arrival of the Afghans, and thirsted for the blood of the English, instructions were sent to Mr. Cherry, our resident, to remove the dangerous dethroned man from Benares to Calcutta. This order ought to have been kept secret, but it was not. As soon as it reached the ear of Vizier Ali, he went as mad as a Malay running a muck. Pretending a complimentary visit, he gained entrance into the house of oui' resident, with some of his followers, and treacherously and barbarously murdered Mr. Cherry, his private secretary, and Captain Conway. The assassins, now swelled into a numerous gang, went next to the house of Mr. Davis, the judge of the dis- trict, and were prevented from murdering him and his family only by his presence of mind and a narrow winding staircase, which he defended with wonderful skill and cou- rage. "With no other weapon than an Indian pike or spear, which happened to be upstairs, and with not a soul to help him, this brave civilian defended himself and family, like a vahant soldier, for the space of an hour and a half, and made good the narrow staircase until troops from camp came to his rescue.* Vizier Ali and his desperadoes went to plunder and murder at other English houses ; but General Erskine soon came up with a respectable force of cavalry. After wounding some of our troopers and suffering some wounds themselves, the rabble rout took to flight. Vizier Ali with his immediate adherents retired towards his fortified palace, and strongly-walled garden, where, it was thought, a desperate resistance might be attempted. In marching * A most interesting sketch of this episode will be found in ' Vizier Ali Khan ; or, the Massacre of Benares, a Chapter in British Indian His- tory.' This little volume is the production of Sir J. F. Davis, son of Mr. Davis, the brave judge, and author of the best book in any language upon China. He has recently been governor of Hong-Kong. At the time of the murders at Benares, and the attack on his father's house, Mr. Davis was a child ; but for his narrative he obtained, besides papers, the personal information and assistance of a senior who was on the spot of the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, the author of the best book upon Cabul and the Afghan tribes, late governor of Bombay, and one of the very best of the many distinguished men who have acquired reputation in India. Few narratives can have higher claims to implicit credit. '/; s 1799.] ME. DAVIS. 253 through one of the suburbs of Benares, our troopers suffered considerably by a fire of matchlocks, opened upon them from the houses. Both of General Erskine's orderlies were shot at his side. On reaching the nabob's strong palace, some field-pieces which had come up with our cavalry were directed against it, and the gate was presently blown open and an entrance made. But it was vain to seek withinthe palace for the dastardly assassin ; Vizier Ali had fled north- wards towards Betaul, accompanied by all his well-mounted horsemen. Most happily the bu.siness was finished before the sun set. If the contest had lasted until dark, a frightful massacre would have been committed, and the holy city of Benares would have been pillaged by the Santons, fakeers, dervishes, fanatics, adventurers, bankas, and banditti, assem- bled within its precincts. The English inhabitants of the to\^'n and neighbourhood gratefully acknowledged that the hour and a half, during which that stout-hearted judge, Mr. Davis, had kept the assassins at bay, had been the means of their salvation, by enabling some of them to con- ceal themselves, and others to escape to our camp.* As he fled up the country, Vizier Ali must have received the news of the retreat of the Afghans from Lahore, but early in his flight he halted to address a letter to the rajah of Benares, urging him to rise against the English. Instead of being con- veyed to the rajah, this epistle was delivered to Mr. Davis. Our main army of Oude, under the command of Sir James Craig, was far away to the westward ; but, on the retreat of the Afghans from Lahore, it left the frontiers and moved towards the capital of Oude, whither an English bat- talion from Cawnpore had been brought up immediately after the unexpected outbreak. Saadut Ali is described, by on^ who knew him well in the early part of his reign, as a man of sense, who kept up a degree of dignity and decorum in his court, to which it had * Besides the soldiers and the three gentlemen who had perished at the residency, Mr. Robert Graham, a young civilian, and Mr. Hill, a trader in the city, were butchered by the insurgents. " Some of the English made the best of their way to the camp ; and others, especially those with families, concealed themselves as they could, and must probably have been discovered and massacred, if the attention '>f the insurgents had not been occupied by Mr. Davis's defence. One large party retired into a tall field of maize, or Indian corn, and were completely hidden for the time, though but a short distance from the residence of one of their number." Sir J. F. Davis. 254 ABEEST OF [1799. long been a stranger, and who, in his regular habits and appli- cation to business, was more like an English gentleman than, most natives. His vice was hard drinking, but he indulged only at night. " He had good reason to be apprehensive of revolt, for his reign was new, and his natural parsimony, with the strict order and economy which he endeavoured to introduce into his provinces, were unfavourably contrasted with the profusion of his predecessors." * It appears that he was timid as well as parsimonious ; for when called upon to join the British forces with his own troops, in the pur- suit of Vizier Ali and his partisans, he earnestly implored to be excused, upon the ground that he could not trust his 0V5T1 soldiers ; and all that he did was to issue orders that Vizier Ali should be seized if he attempted to enter the territory of Oude. In the course of the inquiries, instituted by Mr. Davis and other servants of the Company, it was xevy clearly proved that not only a good number of Mahometan chiefs, but also a considerable number of Hindu baboos or nobles had promised assistance to the frantic Vizier Ali. " It is well known," wrote Mr. Davis to Greneral Erskine, " that this city abounds with armed adventurers, who are ever ready to enter into any service at a moment's notice. There are in the district persons of rank who live and maintain their own guards without any limitation from government." The worst of the guards were composed of a set of bravos, called bankas, who were leagued together as a sect. These bankas are men of all castes ; they affect a peculiar way of dressing, half buUy and half dandy, strut and swagger about the streets, and are always ready to pick a quarrel or engage in any crime. . . The term banka, by which this sect is distin- guished, is derived from the peculiar movement of their swords, in the exercise of which they are proficients. This class of people formerly abounded in Benares, and were the terror of the wealthy and timid, on whose contributions, to avert enmity or secure regard, they were supposed chiefly to subsist.t It was now [resolved by the supreme government of Calcutta that an end should be put to this system ; and instructions were sent to Mr. Davis to seciu-e the persons of some of the nobles known to have been concerned in the * The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, as quoted by Sir J. F. Davis. t Sir J. F. Davis. 1799.] THE BABOOS. 255 late insurrection. It was not yqij easy to execute this las order, without making a fracas, which it was desirable to avoid. The baboos occupied great houses that were forti- fied like castles, and three of them resided together in the fortress of Pinderah, about fourteen miles from Benares. But excellent measures were adopted by General Erskine and Judge Davis, and the execution of them was intrusted to able men, who did their business with rapidity and the least possible noise. The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, who has since risen to such high distinction in the Indian service, but who was then a very young man, and assistant to the judge of Benares, was furnished with four companies of infantry and twenty-four troopers to assist him in capturing the baboos in the fort of Pinderah. At the dawn of day Elphinstone reached the fort, and surrounded it so as to prevent any escape. The fort was then entered, and every part of it searched except the zenana, or women's apartments. The retainers declared that the baboos went out hunting frw'o days before, and had not yet returned. A guard was placed over the zenana, but it ultimately proved that the baboos were not there. They had fled the country. Only baboo Sheonath, who occupied a strong house in the city of Benares, made any resistance. Though deprived of food and water, he held out a whole day and night, during which time he received repeated assurances, both verbal and written, that no personal violence or disgrace would be nflicted if he quietly surrendered. He at length rushed )ut and attacked the soldiers with fury, apparently hoping to take them by surprise and cut his way through. In the fierce conflict the baboo and one of his bankas were slain, l)ut not before his party had killed or wounded several of the soldiers and native police. Some more of the baboos con- cealed themselves or fled to other lands. Only two of them ^^'ere brought to trial and condemned to death, and of these only one Bowannee Sunker was executed. The sentence of his companion, Juggut Sing, was commuted to transpor- tation. He was sent down the Ganges to be embarked, but len he approached the sea he took poison and died, and thus escaped the loss of caste and the other degradations tvhich he had expected to suffer.* * " Juggut Sing," says Mr. Davis, " was a man of some talent, but of nordinate vanity. He possessed an excellent Persian library, and was 256 CAPTUEE or viziee all [1800. Subsequently other measures were taken to break up the feudal-like bands of retainers, and to scatter those desperate bravos, the bankas, who had so long disturbed the tran- quillity of Benares. In the meanwhile Vizier Ali had sought refuge among the forests on the first range of the Hemalaya mountains. There he was joined by freebooters and adven- turers of all kinds. "With lawless bands, amounting to some thousands of men, he soon descended into the eastern dis- trict of Oude, and threw the reigning nabob-vizier and the whole of that kingdom into alarm. But, before he could do much mischief, a British force was upon him, and he was driven back with loss towards the mountain forests. Aban- doned by most of his people, he fled into Eajpootana, and took refuge with the rajah of Jypoor, who, after many scru- ples, the laws of hospitality being held as sacred among the rajpoots, delivered him up to the English, upon condition that they should neither put him to death nor put him in irons or fetters. Yizier Ali was carried through the city of Benares as a prisoner, on the first anniversary of his insur- rection and murders. Being conveyed down to Calcutta, he was lodged in Fort "William, in a bomb-proof chamber, divided by strong iron gratings into three parts. The largest part, in the centre, was occupied by the nabob, and the other two parts were occupied night and day by sentinels, one English and one native. After a long captivity, in this dull cage, he was transferred to a more comfortable prison in the palace built forTippoo Sultaun's family in the fort of Vellore. There the females of his family joined him, and there he died not many years ago.* The occurrences at Benares and in Oude, Saadut Ali's con- fession of entire want of confidence in his troops, the invasion of his territory by Vizier Ali, and the constant dread enter- tained of the Afghans, all concurred in fixing the resolution of the governor-general to reduce the mutinous and useless proud of his poetical compositions in that language, which Mussulmans only could appreciate. This was not unlikely to have influenced him ir relying on a chief of that religion for his aggrandizement. His deligh' was to repeat a compliment that had been paid him by a former nab' who called him * the nightingale of India.' " * ' Vizier Ali Khan, or the Massacre of Benares.' Sir J. F. Davis, u publishing this little volume, has discharged a duty of filial piety, an> has done honour to his father's memory. We wish that other sons woul follow his example, instead of destroying, or altogether neglecting, famil papers and documents. 1801.] AEEANGEMENTS 12^ OUDE. 257 military establishment of the nabob-vizier, and at the same t;ime to increase still further the efficient force which the Company maintained for the defence of that prince's domi- nions. Saadut Ali, fiiUy sensible of the dangers to which he ivas exposed from internal insurrection and from foreign attack, would gladly have received the additional troops of the Company, but, being as fond of money as of wine, the addi- rional pay which was demanded greatly distressed him, and i>e shuffled and equivocated, like an Indian prince. Hereupon Lord Momington ordered the additional force to march into the country, and sent his brother, the Hon. Henry Wellesley,* to Lucknow, to conclude a treaty by vhich a territorial cession should be made to the Company, (;qual to tlie payment of the increased subsidiary Ibrce. Unable an}^ longer to evade compliance, Saadut Ali signed the treaty, allotted some fertile districts, welcomed the new ])attalions, and disbanded the rabble rout which had been ailed his army. By this cession, the territories of the (^om.pany were interposed as a barrier between the dominions of the vizier and his foreign enemies ; and, although the ompany ma}^ by an improved system of management and better secured tranquillity, have raised the value of the tlistricts ceded, the actual net receipts of that prince's treasury from these districts was not more than the amount rhich he had before paid to the Company as a fixed subsidy, end mucli less than he had become liable to pay under the treaty concluded with Sir John Shore. In the present treaty, negotiated by the governor-general's brother, and elated in Xovember, 1801, Saadut Ali agreed to introduce, ^^ by means of his own officers, into the extensive territories jj which remained to him, such a system of administration as J should be conducive to the prosperity of his subjects, and to jj the security of the lives and property of all the inhabitants. jg l^his treaty was final as an arrangement, and productive of ^reat good to both contracting parties. It closed all irri- ns :ating questions between them ; and it fully provided, under in jvery contingency, for the defence of the territories ofOude, !j' br, with fourteen or fifteen thousand disciplined troops, ^ Acre was little to fear from any enemy that could approach If jhc frontiers, and nothing to apprehend from internal & 3lots or tumults. The country advanced rapidly in prospe- The late Lord Cowley, 258 ABLE IKDIAK [1801-3. ritj, and, gratified in liia love of money by an increase of revenue, the nabob-vizier became contented and grateful, proving by actions, as well as by professions, his attachment to the British government. When the war with the Mah- rattas commenced, the governor-general had the satisfaction of receiving the voluntary aid of this prince. Saadut Ali sent as a present a number of fine horses from his stud, sufficient to mount a regiment of dragoons, and contributed, by large loans from his treasury, to the general success of that expen- sive and extensive war. The Hon. Henry "VYellesley, after concluding this treaty of Lucknow, proceeded to take charge of the provinces yielded to us, as lieutenant-governor, hi order to eftect a settlement of their boundaries and revenues ; an arduous labour, which he performed in a manner as honourable to his own character as it was advantageous to the public interest and to the prosperity of the native populations. The gross revenue derivable from the territories ceded to us, estimated at one crore and thirty-five lacs of rupees in the treaty of Lucknow, was soon raised considerably, and by means which relieved rather than distressed the people.* In India the sword of the warrior and the skill of the diplomatist did only half the work. When the sword was sheathed and the treaties concluded, there remained the more laborious, and, in many instances, the much more difficult task of getting our conquest or diplomatic acquisi- tions into such order as to render them profitable to the Company, popular with the natives, and endurable and strong as possessions. Here great caution and circumspec- tion, an unwearying assiduity, a thorough acquaintance with the languages and dialects, the habits, feelings, prejudices, and capabilities of the natives, a constant intercourse with the people, and administrative abilities of the highest order, vrere required. Most happily for the Company at this moment, and later, such administrators were always found among its civil servants at the moment they were needed ; and, most fortunately for Marquis Wellesley and for his brother, who had to put his annexations in order, he had at his command such men as Sir George Barlow, and others who are long since dead, and Thomas Twining, Esq., * Sir John Malcolm, ' Sketch of the Political History of India.' Mar- quis Wellesley, ' India Despatches.' ' Auber, * Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' L801-3.] ADMINISTEATOES. 259 wlio yet survives, and retains at a very advanced age tlie faculties of a man of business and of a thorough Indian administrator and statesman * May such men not fail us in the days we live in, or in the times that are to come ! Without them diplomacy will be a waste of paper, time, and ingenuity, and conquest an empty triumph. In the Carnatic, as in Oude, affairs could not remain on the footing on which they had been left by Sir John Shore. The nabob, Omdut-ul-Omrah, to obtain money for his own lavish expenses, and his rapacious creditors and mortgagees, to obtain their enormous interests upon the loans they had made to him, were still oppressing and depopulating the Carnatic. Moreover, the most satisfactory evidence was produced to show that Omdut-ul-Omrah, whose conduct during our siege of Seringapatam was very equivocal, had long maintained a secret correspondence in cipherf with Tippoo Sultaun, with objects most hostile to the English ; Lord Cli^e, J the son of the real founder of our Indian em- pire, was now governor of Madras, and he was authorized by Lord Mornington to institute a searching inquiry. The result of this was a decided conviction in Lord Olive's mind that Omdut-ul-Omrah, who owed his tlu-one entirely to us, ought to be deposed. His lordship wrote to the governor- general : " With this strong evidence of internal treachery, and of open opposition to our interests in the Carnatic, established by treaty, it is my deliberate opinion, that a further adherence to the letter of the treaty of 1792, while the nabob Omdut-ul-Omrah has been, and now is, perfidiously betraying the spirit and substance of the alliance between him and the Company, would be as inconsistent with the true principles of public faith, as it would be obviously in- compatible with the preservation of our just rights and interests. " On these grounds, I have no hesitation in recommending * It will give some notion of the extent of the labours of the civil ser- vants employed in organizing the territories annexed by the Marquis Wel- lesley, to state that Mr. Twining had at one time under his charge 11,000 native towns and villages. t It was discovered by the key to the cipher that the English were designated by the name of" taza wareeds," or new-comers; the nizam by that of " fleech," or, nothing ; and the Mahrattas by that of " pooch," or, contemptible. The late Earl Powis. S2 260 KEW SETTLEMENT [1801-2. to your lordship the immediate assumption of the civil and military government of the Camatic, under such provisions as your lordship may be pleased to authorize for his high- ness the nabob, his highness's family, and the principal officers of his government." These also were the decided opinions of the Board of Control and the Court of Directors in England ; and, not long after the perusal of Lord Clive's letter, the governor- general was in possession of instructions from home, autho- rizing the proceedings he and Lord Clive had contemplated. Some delays took place through the attention required by Oude, the affairs of which were not yet settled ; and during this delay the condition of the Camatic became worse and worse, the nabob's creditors and officials grinding the faces of the poor inhabitants. On the 28th of May, how- ever, decisive instructions were sent to Lord Clive, who shortly afterwards ordered a detachment of the Company's troops to occupy the chief entrance into the nabob's palace, to preserve order and tranquillity, and to guard against the seizure of any treasure or property for Omdut-ul-Omrah was now sick and believed to be dying, and various members of his family were anticipating a scramble for his property, if not for his musnud as well. The old nabob expressed his satisfaction at the presence of the Company's troops, wdthout which his dying moments would have been disturbed by scenes of violence and bloodshed. He expired on the 15th of July, 1801, and thus escaped deposition. Upon certain condi- tions the musnud was offered to his reputed son Hoosseim Ali, who absolutely refused it. It was then offered, under the same conditions, to Azeem-ul-Dowlah. But that prince Avas kept in a most rigorous confinement by the great khans; and these noblemen, evincing a contempt of the Company's authority, privately placed Hoosseim Ali on the musnud (of course without our conditions), and prepared to proclaim him publicly. Upon this contumacy, Lord Clive' gave im- mediate orders to the Company's troops to take instant possession of the palace, and remove all the khans and the guards of the late nabob. The valour of the khans evapo- rated in a moment. IVo resistance was offered ; every part of the palace was occupied; the nabob's guards quietly withdrew ; Azeem-ul-Dowlah was liberated from his confine- ment, and conducted with a guard of honour to Ameer Bayh, another of the nabob's palaces. The liberated prince 1801-2.] IN THE CAENATIC. 261 was grateful and submissive ; and on the 25tli of July, he agreed to all the conditions demanded by the Company, and concluded a treaty with Colonel Close and Mr. Webb, who acted for Lord Clive and the governor-general. By this treaty all the powers of government were de- livered over in perpetuity to the Honourable East-India Company, and were totally and for ever renounced by the nabob. Including all his allowances, nearly one-fifth of the revenues of the Carnatic was made over to the nabob ; and he was relieved from the crushing weight of debt which had been created by his predecessors, which had encumbered the revenues of the country, and which was rapidly destroy- ing aU classes of the inhabitants. The Company engaged to liquidate, by degrees, all such portions of this great debt as should be proved to be just.* An end was thus put to that divided rule which, in the Carnatic, as elsewhere, had proved so great a curse ; and the nabob was limited to that sort of life for which alone nabobs were fit a life of form, ceremony, and silver maces ; of indo- lence, show, and parade. Ever since the conquests of the first and great Lord Clive, the rulers of the Carnatic, like those of Bengal and other countries, were virtually nothing but vassals and dependants on the English, without whose aid not one of them could have kept his seat on the musnud, or could have defended his country either from intestine troubles or from foreign invasion. In this light, and in none other, were they considered by their own subjects, and by all their neighbours, their territories were substantially territories conquered by the sword and by policy, although the English chose to exercise the rights of conquest with gentleness and forbearance, and to cover over the real condition of the nabobs with strange metaphysical distinctions and refine- ments. Out of these quibbles sprang innumerable difficul- ties and embarrassments to our governors-general, to our judges of the Supreme Court at Calcutta, and to other func- tionaries ; as well as many woes and long-sufferings to the oppressed and distracted natives, who were often driven to despair by their mock rulers or nabobs, while the real sovereign power, the Company, merely looked on. If the rights of sovereignty had been frankly assumed at the beginning if the Company or British nation had openly * Treaties published by the East- India Company. ' Marquis Wel- lesley's Despatches.' Sir John Malcolm, * Political History of India.' 262 SETTLEMENT OF TAIiJOEE. [1801-2. proclaimed themselves dejure, what they were de facto, the lords and rulers of Bengal, Oude, the Carnatic, etc., many evils might have been avoided ; if when, by arms or by policy, the English first obtained dominion over these prin- cipalities and powers, they had assumed their proper style and title, instead of calling themselves protectors, allies, auxiliaries, and the like (with a false moderation of language w'hich deceived no one, either in Europe or in Asia), the great Lord Clive, Warren Hastings, and the Marquis Wel- lesley himself, would have been relieved from many false positions, and political actions, not always warranted by their nominal relations with the native princes, would have been reconcilable to the law of nations.* It was not the fault of these illustrious men that a bad system was not altered ; the blame lay at home with the Company, the Court of Directors, and, in the later stages, still more with the Board of Control, the king's government, and most of all, with orators, and mistaken philanthropists in parliament, who were perpetually decrying as tyrannical and inhuman the very measures which were best calculated to give peace and hap- piness to the people of India. Tanjore has been mentioned as one of the regions which Lord Momington improved by taking the administration out of the hands of a nabob. In another and distant quarter, a dependent and almost fictitious government was broken up. The nabob of Surat had long owed his political existence to the presidency of Bombay, who had garrisoned the castle of Surat, and had, by money and by other means, sustained and defended him. His arrears of debt were so great, that before Lord Mornington assumed the supreme government in India, the Court of Directors had impatiently called for a settlement, and demanded that the nabob should disband his own undisciplined and mutinous soldiery, and assign to the Company, funds sufficient to maintain three battalions of sepoys. Before any settlement could be made, this nabob died, leaving only an infant son, who followed him to the grave in a few weeks. Then there arose a dis- puted succession, and but for the presence of our troops, the different claimants would have made a civil war. Under the mixed rule, which I have condemned, the district had been kept in a hapless condition ; and the people of Surat * * Our Indian Empire.' 1800.] SUEAT ANNEXED. 263 lad repeatedly applied to the Bombay government for pro- tection against their native rulers, and for security to their property and trade. This was not a place to be left to the misrule and confusion which inseparably accompany a double or divided rule. Though declined from its ancient magnificence, Surat, the capital of Gruzerat, was still one of the most populous cities in all India. It was inhabited by Mussulmans, Hindvis, Parsees, . Jews, Armenians, and Boras, and was frequented, for trade, by people of other religions ; and to preserve tranquillity by checking the fanatical ebidlitions of the followers of so many hostile creeds was a task which had far exceeded the power and faculties of the nabobs. Surat had been for many years the head-quarters of a multiform fanaticism, of anarchy, and of assassination. In 1795, the Mahometan and Hindu inha- bitants waged a bloody war upon one another in the streets, and committed atrocities which scared away many of the more pacific denizens and foreign visitors, upon whose industry and trade tlie prosperity of the city mainly depended. There was no police, no law, no regularity in the collection of the taxes and port duties, no redress for any grievances, except, occasionally, by appeal to tlie British resident or to the presidency of Bombay. In fact, as the governor- general said, the nabobs had proved themselves as incom- petent to conduct the internal affairs of the city as to pro\^de for its external defence. On the 10th of March, 1800, the best of the claimants was set aside, with a liberal allowance, and the government and revenues of Surat were assumed by the Company. The change was iiniversally felt by the people as a blessing. And if the ancient prosperity of Surat has not been re- stored under the rule of the Company, it has been owing to geogi*aphical situation, to vast changes in manufactures and the lines of trade, and to other accidents, which frequently and in other countries besides India depress one city and district to raise up another. But by the Company's assumption, the reign of law and a good police were established; and now the Hindu performs his religious rites and kneels in his pagoda, the Mussulman calls to prayers from the minaret and prays in his mosque, and the Parsee, the disciple of Zoroaster, worships the Almighty power in the rising and the setting sun, without shedding each other's blood. The Boras, a mysterious sect, believed 264 HELIGIOUS TOLEEATION. [1802- by some to be a remnant of the old sect of Assassins, of whom and its chief, the Old ]\f an of the Mountain, so mueli was heard in Europe during the crusades, and the Parsee^?, who had been most obnoxious to all other sects, and mos-t frequently persecuted, are now the most thri\'ing people in the country, and possess between them the proprietorship of most of the houses in Surat. The Boras have at present nothing of the sanguinary temper which, in the middle ages, distinguished the followers of the "old man of the moun- tain." They are in general, like the Parsees, very peaceable and orderly merchants and tradesmen, and have considerable influence and pri\dleges in most of the cities of Central India. At a subsequent period, Surat was greatly indebted to Mr. Mountstuart Elphiiistone.* * Bishop Heber, * Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Pro- vinces of India,' &c. For curious information about the Assassins, the student is referred to O. C. Wood, ' History of the Assassins, translated from the German of Von Hammer,' 12mo. Lond. 1835 ; and, ' The Dabistan, or School of Manners, translated from the Persian, by David Shea, of the Oriental Department in the Hon. East- India Company's College.'' Published by the Oriental Translation Fund. 1803.] MAHRATTA WAE. 265 CHAPTER XXV. The imminency of a Mahratta war had been apparent ever since tlie arrival of the Marquis Wellesley in India and, indeed, long before that period. With the aid of the French, they had attained to a height of military power which was altogether incompatible with the existence of security and tranquillity in the neighbouring states, and which would have been eminently perilous to our Eastern empire if Bonaparte could at any time have sent a strong armament to India. The fleets of Erance and Spain had not yet been destroyed at Trafalgar ; Bonaparte could as yet dis- pose of great naval means and resources, and as he had what has been called "an Oriental twist in the imagination," and always an eye to the East, it was to be apprehended, any time between the years 1799 and 1805, that he might make a daring attempt in that direction an attempt which would be greatly favoured by his continued possession of the Isle of Erance. It has been seen that the great Mahratta chief Scindiah rejected all overtures of friendship with the English, and kept his own sovereign, the peishwa, in a state of miserable subjection, through the great military force he possessed in M. Perron's disciplined troops. Not satisfied with the sub- missiveness of his sovereign, and with the vast power he himself possessed, Scindiah made war upon the poor peishwa, and, with the help of M. Perron and his battahons and formidable artillerj', he drove him out of Poonah, his capital. The dispossessed peishwa applied for assistance to the English, and, escaping to the coast, he put himself under our protection. The moment had now come for breaking up that too great power of the Mahratta confederacy. The governor-general had three great objects in view to restore the comparatively pacific and friendly peishwa to destroy or dissipate the disciplined forces which Perron had 266 MAHEATTA WAE. [1803. raised as a match for our oaytl sepoys and to defeat Scindiali's vast plans of encroachment and aggrandizement, which were threatening to convulse the whole of India. Hordes of banditti had been for some time daily pouring in from Malwa and Hindustan, to enrol themselves at Poonah, under the banners of Scindiah, who promised them plunder as well as pay. It was impossible that these devouring armies should limit their operations to the Mahratta states or to the contest for the sovereignty of those countries : they must be early forced by want, if not invited by policy, to invade the richer territories of the British government, or the territories of our allies, which were defended only by British arms. Moreover, the powerful rajah of Berar united his forces to those of Scindiah, and other Hindu chiefs engaged to make common cause with him. The scene, too, was now becoming open to French intrigue, and the artful influences of Bonaparte. The governor-general had received intelligence of the peace of Amiens, which would allow the French to revisit India as friends, and then to renew their correspondence and connections with all the enemies of the English. As a statesman, Lord "Wellesley knew that that hollow peace could not be lasting ; but he also knew that it might give time to the French to mature plans for the renewal of the war on the soil of India. If Scindiah were allowed to establish a complete ascendancy over the Mahratta empire, from the banks of the Ganges to the Sea of Malabar and this he would have done had he been left unmolested there could be little doubt in the mind of any man acquainted with the constitution of the army of that chief, and the influence and authority of the French officers by whom it was commanded, that the French nation might in a very few years aid him to the consolidation of a military power which would have struck at the very existence of the British government in India. Scindiah, and his father before him, had owed their power to French officers, to French arms, and to French counsels. The present ruler was so familiarized to their systems, manners, and feelings, as to be almost half a Frenchman himself The peishwa, in imploring for English assistance, had engaged to receive a subsidiary English force, and to cede, for its subsistence and pay, territories rendering an annual revenue of twenty-six lacs of rupees. The peishwa at the same time engaged to identify his interests with those of 1803.] TEEATT OF BASSEIN. 267 the Company, and to conclude a defensiye alliance on the basis of the treatj^ of Hyderabad, which Lord "Wellesley had concluded with the nizam of the Deckan. In the treaty of Bassein, as finally concluded on the 31st of December, 1802, these conditions were inserted. More- over the peishwa renounced all claims to Surat and to the other districts in Gruzerat which had recently been assumed by the Company ; he agreed to abide by the arbitration of the Company in all its unsettled disputes with the nizam ; and he also engaged to discharge from his service any Euro- peans that belonged to nations hostile to the English, or that were discovered meditating injury or carrying on intrigues injurious to the interests of the English. In return, the English government bound itself to furnish to the peishwa a subsidiary force of six battalions of native infantry, with a complement of field-pieces and European artillerymen. The treaty of Bassein was confirmed by the governor-general on the 11th of February, 1803. By the treaty of Amiens, Pondicherry and their other factories had been restored to the French. In taking repossession of Pondicherry, the officers of that nation acted with consummate imprudence, betraying the intentions of their master to make that city the centre of political intrigue, to sap the power of the Company while the peace lasted, and on the renewal of war to contend once more with the English for dominion over the East.* * The views of the French government in resuming these Indian pos- sessions under the treaty of Amiens, were fully developed in a memoir drawn up by Monsieur Lefebvre, an officer attached to the staff that was formed for Pondicherry. It pointed out the possibility of a French army reaching India by way of Egypt and the Red Sea. While the English would be directing all their attention to defeat the advance of this arma- ment from the west, one secret expedition could be prepared to proceed from Spain by way of Mexico to Manilla ; and another secret expedition, to be provided by the Dutch, could proceed by the Cape of Good Hope to the Spanish islands in the Indian Ocean, and from thence to Trinco- malee, in Ceylon, a port of the greatest importance to the English navy. It was calculated that these three joint expeditions, aided by the Mah- rattas and other native powers inimical to the English, must inflict an irreparable blow on the interests of Great Britain in India ; and that, if those interests were once destroyed, the invasion and conquest of England would be easy achievements. According to M. Lefebvre's j^rojet, the French and their auxiliaries, on arriving in Hindustan, were to declare that they came to give liberty and independence to the native princes, to liberate the Great Mogul from thraldom, and to reconstruct the once magnificent empire of Timour. 268 GEN. AVELLESLET AT POONAII. [1803. Immediatelj after the ratification of tlie treaty of Bassein, the Madras army, under G-eneral Stuart, was ordered to advance into the Mahratta territory for the purpose of re-in- stating the peishwa, and the governor-general's brother, who had been advanced to the rank of major-general, was appointed to command a select corps in advance, with which he was to make a dash upon Poonah. Having received, on the road, information that it was intended to burn Poonah on the approach of the English, Greneral AVeUesley, leaving his infantry behind, pushed on with his cavalry, and, perform- ing a march of sixty miles in thirty hours, reached that town on the 20th of April, and saved it from destruction. The Prench disciplined battalions were at a distance, the Mahrattas hostile to their prince retired without fighting, those well-disposed towards him welcomed the English, and, in the following month of May, our ally the peishwa re- entered his capital. It was in this beginning of the Mahratta campaigns, and tlirough means which will afterwards be explained, that G-eneral Wellesley, by his astonishingly rapid movements, made a new era in our Indian warfare. To use his own words " We marched to Poonah from Seringapatam, the distance being nearly 600 miles, in the worst season of the year, through a country which had been destroyed by Holkar's army, with heavy guns, at the rate upon an average, of thirteen and a half miles a day ; and if the twelve days which we halted on the Toomdura for orders be excluded, we arrived at Poonah in two months from the time we marched. On this march we lost no draught-cattle. I remained in the neighbourhood of Poonah, in a country which deserves the name of a desert, for six weeks ; and then marched again with the train in the same state as to numbers as when it left Seringapatam, and the troops and cattle were in the field during the monsoon."* After some Yerj fruitless negotiations with Scindiah, Greneral Wellesley marched from Poonah to the north, and took by escalade the strong town of Ahmednughur. Nearly at the same time G-eneral Lake, in command of a part of the Bengal army, marched towards Delhi, and other forces were advancing from different points against the Mahrattas. As in the days of Warren Hastings, immense tracts of country * * Wellington Despatches.' 1803.] BATTLE OF ASSATE. 269 were traversed by our different columns, and combined movements were executed with far more precision and rapidity. Witb great wisdom the governor-general had given to Lake in Hindustan, and to G-eneral Wellesley in the Deckan, most ample political, as well as military power. They could fight or negotiate as they chose. On the 21st of August, General Wellesley crossed the Godavery river, and entered Aurungabad on the 29th. The enemy manifested an intention to cross the river to the eastward, and steal a march upon Hyderabad, the capital of our ally the nizam, which had been left rather bare of troops ; but they were prevented by AVellesley rapidly marching along the left bank of the river, and placing him- self between them and that city. Scindiah, who had an immense mass of irregular cavalry, and whose infantry were very lightly equipped while both horse and foot lived only on plunder, and carried no maga- zines with them was enabled, for more than a month, to avoid a general engagement. He dreaded the name of Wellesley and the discipline of oiu' troops ; and he only thought of carrying on a predatory warfare, supporting his men at the expense of the subjects of the nizam and other allies of the English, and wearing out our troops by conti- nual marches and partial affrays. About the middle of September General Wellesley learned that the Mahratta leader had been reinforced by sixteen battalions of regular infantry, commanded by French offi- cers, and a large train of artillery, and that the whole of his force was assembled near the banks of the Kaitna river. On the 21 st of September, Wellesley had a conference with Colonel Stevenson, who had come up with the nizam' s auxiliary force, now (thanks to the governor-general's arrangements) almost entirely composed of our disciplined, faithful, and brave sepoys. A combined attack on the enemy was at once concerted. On the 22nd Colonel Stevenson took the western route, and Wellesley the eastern, round the hiUs between Budna- poor and Jaulna. They expected to join forces and attack the enemy early on the morning of the 24th. But on the 23rd the general received a report that Scindiah and the rajah of Berar had moved off that morning with their myriads of horse, and that their infantry were about to follow, but were as yet in camp, at the distance of about six 270 BATTLE or ASSAYE. [1803. miles from liim. General Wellesley therefore determined to march upon the infantry and engage it at once. He sent a messenger to Colonel Stevenson, who was at the moment about eight miles off on his left, to acquaint him with his intention and to direct his advance with all possible rapidity ; he then moved forward with the 19th light dragoons and three regiments of native cavalry to reconnoitre. His infantry, consisting of only two British and five sepoy battalions, followed with all their speed. After he had ridden about four miles, "VYellesley, from an elevated plain, saw not only the infantry, but the whole Mahratta force, consisting of about 50,000 men, encamped on the north side of the Kaitna, where the banks of that river were very steep and rocky. Their right, consisting of cavalry, extended to Bokerdon ; their left, consisting of infantry, with ninety pieces of artil- lery, lay near the fortified village of Assaye, which has given its name to the memorable battle. jS'o thought of retreat was entertained. "VYellesley resolved to attack the infantry on its left and rear, and for that purpose he moved his little army to a ford a little beyond the enemy's left, leaving the Mysore and other irregular cavalry to watch the Mahratta cavalry, and crossing the river only with his regular horse and infantry. He passed the ford, ascended the steep bank, and formed his men in three lines, two of infantry and the third of horse. This was effected under a brisk cannonade from the enemy's artillery. Scindiah, or the European officer who directed his movements, promptly made a correspond- ing change in his line, giving a new front to his infantry, which was now made to rest its right on the river and its left upon the village of Assaye and the Juah stream, which flowed in a parallel direction Avith the Kaitna. Scindiah' s numerous and well-served cannon did terrible execution among "VYellesley' s advancing lines, killing men and bul- locks, and drowning the weak sound of his scanty artiller\ At one moment such a gap was made by a cannon-ball in tlu English right that some of the Mahratta cavalry attempted to charge through it ; but the British cavalry in the third line came up and drove the Mahrattas back with great slaughter, Einding his artillery of little or no use (the guns could not be brought up for lack of bullocks), General "Wellesley gave orders to leave it in the rear, and bade the infantry charge with the bayonet. His steady, resolute advance in the teeth of their guns had already awed the 1803.] GREAT YICTOEY. 27l Mahrattas, wlio would not stand to meet the collision of the bright English steel : their infantry gave way and abandoned their terrible guns. One body of them formed again, and presented a bold front; but Lieutenant- Colonel Maxwell charged them with the British cavalry, broke and dispersed them, and was killed in the moment of victory. Wellesley's sepoys having proceeded too far in pursuit, many of Scin- diah's artillerymen, who had thrown themselves down among the carriages of their gims as though they were dead, got to their feet again and turned their pieces against the rear of the advancing sepoys ; and at the same time the Mahratta cavalry, which had been hovering round throughout the battle, were still near. But Maxwell's exploit speedily led to the silencing of this straggling artillery fire, and to the headlong flight of Scindiah's disciplined infantry, who went off, and left ninety pieces of cannon, nearly all brass and of the proper calibres, in the hands of the conqueror. G-eneral "Wellesley led the 78th British infantry in person against the village of Assaye, which was not cleared without a desperate combat. It was near dark night when the firing- ceased. The splendid victory cost G-eneral "Wellesley twenty-two officers and 386 men killed, and fifty-seven officers and 1,526 men wounded : excluding the irregular cavalry which re- mained on the other side of the river, and had not been engaged, the total number of killed and wounded amounted to nearly one-third of his force. The general himself had two horses killed under him, one shot and the other piked ; every one of his staff-officers had one or two horses killed, and his orderly's head was knocked oft' by a cannon-ball as he rode close by his side. The enemy, who fled towards the Adjun- tee ghaut, through which they had passed into the Deckan, left 1,200 dead, and a great number badly wounded, on the field of battle.* Great was the increase of fame to the Company's troops. The native cavalry of Fort St. George emulated the bra- very and stamina of that splendid regiment the 19th light dragoons. At the most critical moment of the battle, which still ranks amongst the hardest fought of those that have been gained by the illustrious Wellington, the British dragoons, when making their extremest efforts, saw their * * Wellington Despatches.' 272 lake's victory keae delhi. [1803. Asiatic fellow-soldiers " keep pace for pace and blow for every blow."* Colonel Stevenson, who had encountered some unexpected obstacles on his route, arrived at Assaye early on the 24th, and was immediately despatched after the flying enemy. While these things were doing in the south, Gleneral Lake continued both his advance upon Delhi and a corre- spondence, which had been commenced with M. Perron, who was now finding that his troops were dispirited and disaf- fected. Yet the garrison of Alighur, the ordinary residence of Perron, and his principal military depot, made a desperate resistance, and did not yield the fort to Lake (on the 4th of September) until 2,000 of them had perished. On the very same day five companies of Lake's sepoys, who had been left with only one gun to occupy a distant position, were surrounded by a cloud of cavalry, commanded by a French- man of the name of Pleury,and were compelled, after consum- ing their ammunition, to surrender to the said Pleury, who instantly disappeared with them in the wild country behind the Jumna. On the fall of Alighur, M. Perron made good terms with General Lake, quitted the service of Scindiah, and retired with his family and effects to Lucknow, decla- ring that the treachery of the Mahrattas and the ingratitude of his European officers had convinced him that further resistance to the British arms was useless. The governor- general attached great importance to the withdrawing of this very able French adventurer. On the 11th of September Oeneral Lake, who had resumed his march upon Delhi, was informed that the army, which had belonged to Perron, and which was now commanded by another Frenchman, had crossed the Jumna from Delhi, under cover of night, with the intention of fighting a battle for the defence of the ancient capital of the Great Moguls, but which was now the prison of Shah Alum, the feeble representative of those Mussuluman monarch s and conquerors. Lake's troops were fatigued with a long march, and oppressed by the exces- sive heat of the weather, when they reached their ground of encampment, about six miles from Delhi ; and they had scarcely pitched their tents before they were attacked by some of the Frenchman's powerful squadron. This officer, named Louis Bourquieu, had 19,000 men under his com- * ' Quarterly Review,' vol. xviii. 1803.] EXPLLSTON OF THE FEENCH. 273 mand ; and he liad posted his main body on a rising ground, with swamps on either flank, so that it was only his front which could be attacked, and that front was defended by a line of intrenchments and almost as many guns as were turned against "Wellesley at Assaye. Lake had only 4,500 men. By some ingenious movements he tempted the enemy from their heights and intrenchments down to the plain ; and, when they thought he was about to fly from the field, he turned short upon them with one volley, and then with the bayonet. They could not stand the charge : they ran towards their guns, which they had brought down to the plain, and which opened a tremendous &e of round, grape, and chain shot. But another volley and another bayonet-charge drove them from their now exposed pieces ; a charge of Lake's cavalry, and some rounds from his flying artillery, completed the debacle ; and the enemy fled beyond the Jumna, lea\ing behind them 3,000 or 4,000 killed, wounded, or prisoners, sixty-eight cannon, a great quantity of ammunition, and their military chest. While it lasted, the affair was very hot : G-eneral Lake had his horse shot under him, and nearly 400 of his people were laid low by the grape and chain shot. On the next morning Lake encamped opposite the city of Delhi, which, together with the fortress, was evacuated by those who held the Mogul in thraldom. On the 14th of September, Louis Bourquieu and four other French officers surrendered as prisoners of war in the British camp. On the 16th Greneral Lake paid a visit to Shah Alum, who had first come upon the stage in the time of the great Lord Clive. The Mogul, who was now old, and blind, and miserably poor, received Lake as a deliverer, and gave him, which was about aU he could give, a series of sounding oriental titles ; as, "The Sword of the State," "Tlie Hero of the Land," " The Lord of the Age," and "The Victorious in War." The descendant of the great Timour had some reason to rejoice at being received into British protection ; Scindiah had tyrannized over him in the most barbarous manner, and before Scindiah had gotten possession of his person and dominions, a chief named Grholaum Khadur had struck out one of his eyes with his own dagger. Another of the French adventurers surrendered, and now no man of any military note or ability, of that nation, re- mained in this part of India. T 274 GREAT BATTLE [1803. I^rom Delhi Greneral Lake marclied on to Agra, where he arrived on the 4th of October. On the 17th the fortress of Agra was surrendered to hini. So vast were the resources of Scindiah that he had been enabled to send seventeen disciplined battalions and more than 4,000 horse to endeavour to regain possession of Delhi, while he was engaged in besieging the fortress of Agra. On the 27th of October, when we had garrisoned and se- cured that fortress, Lake started in quest of this new enemy. The rains were falling heavily, the roads were in a wretched state, and at some points they were inundated by the Mahrattas, who had cut the embankments of great reser- voirs ; but speed was necessary, and both British and native troops exerted themselves to the utmost, and, having the rest of his forces behind him, Lake, on getting near the Mahrattas, pushed forward with his cavahy alone, and marched from midnight on the 31st of October, till seven o'clock the next morning. Then he found the enemy well posted, with their right upon a stream, their left on the village of Laswaree, and with their front garnished with seventy-two pieces of artillerj". Lake's foremost brigade came in contact with the enemy's left, and drove it in and penetrated into the village of Laswaree, which has given its name to the battle.* But in the village they were exposed to a terrible fire of artillery and musketry ; Colonel Vande- leur fell, and Lake thought it prudent to draw off the brigade. Other brigades, who had attacked at other points, were also obhged to faU back, but they carried away with them several of the Mahratta guns. Our infantry and artillery, which Lake had left behind, had started on his track three hours after midnight, and had continued to march with such spirit, that they made twenty-five miles in less than eight hours, and joined him and his cavalry a little before eleven o'clock in the day. At their appearance the enemy offered, upon certain conditions, to surrender their guns and retire. Lake, anxious to stop the eff'usion of blood, granted the conditions, but, seeing that the Mahrattas hesitated, he gave them one hour to decide whether they would accept the terms or fight. The hour expired, and then the real battle began. On the side of the British the brunt was borne by the * At first this aflfair was called the battle of Cassowly. See ' Welling- ton Despatches.' 1803.] OF liASWAEEE. 275 king's 76th regiment and a battalion and five companies of sepoys, who had to sustain a tremendous fire of canister shot, and a massive charge of cavaby. " This handful of heroes," as Lake called them, though thinned by the enemy's artillery, stood firm, and repulsed the Mahratta horse. Then Major Griffiths v^as sent at the head of the 29tli dragoons to sweep away that numerous cavalry, a duty which he performed thoroughly, but not without losing his own life, being struck by a cannon-ball. Then followed the terrible bayonet-charge of the British infantry, the right wing of which was led by Major-Greneral Waare, until his head was carried ofi' by another cannon-shot. For a time the enemy disputed every point foot by foot, only giving way when the bayonets were at their breast, and their own captured guns were turned against them. The Mahratta infantry fought really like disciplined soldiers, and did honour to M. Perron, who had the training of them. Even when borne down, they attempted to make a retreat in good order ; but this attempt was frustrated by a brilliant charge made by the 27th dragoons and one of our regiments of native cavalry. This charge finished the affair. The mass of the enemy either fled from the field or cried for quarter and surrendered; and all the artillery, all the baggage, and nearly everything belonging to them, fell into the hands of the victors. With the exception of 2,000, who surrendered, their seventeen disciplined battalions were destroyed. So perished the Mahratta "Invincibles of the Deckan." * It was calculated that the dead alone on the field did not fall short of 7,000. Except a portion of their cavalry and some broken infantry, who concealed themselves among the bazar people, none of Scindiah's Mahrattas escaped. The English loss amounted to 172 killed, 652 wounded. General Lake, who had personally led the charge of cavalr}'' in the morning before the infantry came up, who had afterwards led on the * ** The seventeen battalions annihilated at Laswaree were called the * Dectan Invincibles,' and were considered as the flower of Scindiah's army, which altogether had made immense and rapid strides towards the point of perfection of the best of European troops. Throughout this eventful Mahratta war every conflict gave evidence of this improvement, which was attributable to the connection of the natives with the French, whose energies, address, and abilities were exerted to the utmost in exasperating the chiefs against the English, and in forming their subjects into hardy and discipUned soldiers, with the view of thereby overthrowing our dominion in the East." Major Thorn, ' Memoir of the War,' &g. t2 276 BATTLE OF ARGATJM. [1803. 76th, and who had conducted nearly every operation of the day, had two horses shot under him, and saw his son, acting as his aide-de-camp, badly wounded by his side.* But Lake had now defeated, routed, and annihilated that army of Perron which had caused the governor-general such great and reasonable alarm ; he had placed in the hands of the English nearly all the extensive territories watered by the Jumna; and between his exertions and those of Greneral Wellesley, the power of Scindiah was utterly shattered before the end of the year. Shortly after his splendid victory at Assaye, Wellesley re-opened his campaign with vigour, and Scindiah's tovois, castles, and fortified posts fell, one by one, into his hands, in the course of October and November. Towards the end of November Scindiah prayed for and obtained a truce ; but his ally, the rajah of Berar, still kept the field in great force, and it was suspected, or rather it was known, that Scindiah was negotiating only to gain time for bringing up more troops. Under these circumstances. General Wellesley determined to bring on, if possible, a second decisive battle. Effecting a junction with Colonel Stevenson, who was close to the heels of the Berar army, on the 28th of November, he advanced in full force against the enemy, who retreated before him, covering their rear with their innumerable irregular cavalry. These movements were continued on the 29th, Wellesley' s Mysore cavalry driving the Mahrattas before them ; but having arrived within a short distance of Argaum (a small village in the province of Berar), our troops were ordered to halt, and they were beginning to encamp, when a report came in that the enemy's cavalry was vastly increased, and that our Mysoreans in front were giving ground. A support was at once ordered out, and, proceeding at its head, Greneral Wellesley soon beheld, not the army of Berar alone, but the united armies of Scindiah and the Berar rajah. Although the day was far spent, our general determined to attack on the instant. The British line advanced in the best order. A large body of Persian mercenaries in the service of the rajah attacked our * Major William Thorn, captain 25th light dragoons, ' Memoir of the War in India, conducted by General Lord Lake, Commander-in-Chief, and Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington), from its commencement in 1803, to its Termination in 1806, on the Banks of the Hyphasis,' &c. 1803.] SIEGE OF GAWIL-GHUH. 277 74tli and 78tli regiments, and, by so doing, were entirely destroyed; Scindiali's cavalry charged one of our sepoy regiments, and was repulsed ; and then the whole Mahratta line retired in disorder, leaving thirty-eight pieces of cannon and aU their ammunition on the field. The British cavalry pursued the enemy for several miles, taking many elephants, camels, and much baggage. In this victory of Argaum, gained on the 29th of November, our loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, was about 400. On this day Greneral Wellesley was on horseback from six in the morning till nearly twelve at night.* That indefatigable commander now determined to lose no time in commencing the siege of Gawil-Grhur, one of the strongest fortresses in India, situated on a lofty rock, in a range of mountains between the sources of the rivers Poorna and Taptee. The chief management of the siege was intrusted to Colonel Stevenson, the general covermg the operations with his own division and all the cavalry. It took Stevenson from the 7th of December to the 12th to reach the ground ; and during those j&ve days the troops went through a series of laborious services, such as nobody with the army had ever vritnessed before. The heavy ordnance and stores were dragged by hand over mountains and through ra\ines for nearly the whole distance, by roads or tracks, which it had been previously necessary for the soldiers to cut and make for themselves. Yet our people displayed the utmost cheerfulness as well as perseverance. I have endeavoured to do justice to the like exertions when made by Colonel Fullerton's army in the Malabar country, and here, in the same spirit, I call attention to the following tribute of praise : " We have been accustomed to read with wonder the surprising efforts made by IN'apoleon and his troops in their campaigns when advancing towards Italy ; but, whilst the astonishment caused by contemplating such persevering exertions is by no means lessened, feelings of equal, if not of increased surprise, are created, when we * 'Wellington Despatches.' Major Thorn, 'Memoir of the War in India,' &c. In a private letter to his brother, the Hon. Henry Wellesley, the general said : " From unavoidable circumstances we did not begin the action till late in the day, and not more than twenty minutes' sun re- mained, when I led on the British cavalry to the charge. But they made up for it by continuing the pursuit by moonlight; and all the troops were under arms till a very late hour in the night." 278 MAHBATTAS EEDTTCED. [1803. reflect that the efforts of which we are now speaking were made by Europeans in an eastern climate, and bj natives whose bodily strength and moral courage were far inferior ; in the face, too, of an enemy sometimes strongly intrenched, and during heat so excessive as to render the fatigue of such laboiu" almost insupportable. These are some of the unheeded toils and exertions by which our empire has been acquired, and from whence such wealth has been derived."* After all these toils, there was that of breaking ground before the formidable fortress. But by the 12th December, at night, ground was broken and two batteries were erected in front of the north face of the fort of Gawil-G-hur. The enemy's garrison was numerous : it consisted of Eajpoots, and of a great body of regular infantry, who had escaped from the battle of AJ^gaum, and who were all well armed with English muskets and bayonets ; but on the 15th, some breaches being made, and the outer walls carried by storm, the light infantry of the 94th regiment, headed by Captain Campbell, fixed their ladders against the inner fort, in which no breach whatever had been made, gallantly escaladed the high wall, and opened the gate for the storming party, who, in a trice, were entire masters of every part of the fortress. Vast numbers of the garrison were killed, particularly at the different gateways : their general or commander, Beny Sing, and his killadar, were found buried, like Tippoo at Seringapatam, amidst a heap of slain near a gateway ; and some of the Rajpoot chiefs, according to the custom of their country, had put their wives and daughters to death before going out to meet their own.f On the 17th of December, or two days after the fall of Gawil-Grhur, the rajah of Berar signed the conditions of peace which Wel- lesley dictated, ceding to the Company the important pro- vince of Cuttack, with the district of Balasore, and dismiss- ing all the Erench or other European officers in his service. Before the rajah ratified the treaty. General Wellesley had made three marches towards Nagpoor, " in order to keep alive the impression under which it was evident that the treaty had been concluded." As soon as Scindiah found that the rajah had made peace, he began to be alarmed, and to implore to be allowed to negotiate ; and, on the 30th * P. Auber, 'Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' t 'Wellington Despatches,' and Journal of Major- General Sir Jasper Nicholls, as quoted by Colonel Gurwood. .] WOllSiDEIlI'trij MARCHES. 279 of December, he signed a treaty of peace, by wliicli lie yielded to the Company all the country between the JumHa and the Ganges, besides numerous forts, territories, rights, and interests ; engaging to conform to the treaties which the Company had made with the peishwa, to recognize the right of the peishwa to the territories which the Company had put him in possession of, and, in case of any difference afterwards between him and the peishwa, to admit the mediation, arbitration, and final decision of the Company. Sciudiah also agreed to dismiss such European officers as he yet had, and (as the rajah of Berar had also done) " never to take or retain in his service any Prenchman, or the subject of any other European or American power, the government of which may be at war with the British govern- ment ; or any British subject, whether European or native of India, without the consent of the British government." * In the course of these widely-extending campaigns, our separate co-operating corps had been moved with a rare regularity and intelligence ; the staff officers had surveyed the country with a much improved skill ; the armies made no blunders through that want of proper information which had so often been felt elsewhere ; the marches had been more rapid as well as more certain ; and, altogether, there was visible an immense improvement, which few or none will dispute was mainly due to the military genius of Arthur Wellesley. In a private letter to one of his brothers, the great and accomplished soldier said at the time " The operations of this war have afforded numerous instances of improvement in our means of communication, of obtaining intelligence, and, above all, of movement. Marches such as I have made in this war were never known or thought of before. In the last eight days of the month of Octol3er, I marched above 120 miles, and passed through two ghauts with heavy guns, and all the equipments of the troops, and this without injury to the efficiency of the army ; and in the few days previous to this battle (Argaum), when I had determined to go into Berar, I never moved less than between seventeen and twenty miles, and I marched twenty-six miles on the day on which it was fought." t The Mahrattas and their allies were rapid foes. Nearly * ' Treaties of the East-India Company with Native Powers,' &c. t 'Wellington Despatches.* 280 GEEAT IMPEOYEMENT [1803. everything had depended upon our being quick enough to keep pace with them. The great danger in Indian warfare is that of not being able to bring the enemy to action. Hyder Ali well knew the advantages of this Parthian mode. When an English commander, wear}' of pm*suing him, reproached him for flying before so small a force, Hyder replied, " You will understand my mode of war in time. Shall I risk my cavalry, which cost 1,000 rupees a horse, against your cannon-balls that cost two pice ? JS'o ; I will march your troops till their legs shall become the size of their bodies. Ton shall not have a blade of grass or a drop of water. I shall hear you ever}" time your drum beats, but you shall not know where I am once a month. I will give your army battle ; but it must be when I please, and not when you desire it."* Hyder Ali kept his word ; and Scindiah's army, abounduig in cavalry and in transport cattle, seemed disposed to act upon this system. But the active mind of the English general had long been intent on the means of improving the cattle of his army, without which there could be no rapid movements. Fastidious and inferior intellects had despised such subjects ; but his talk and his thoughts had long been about oxen. Like his then commander-in-chief, Greneral Harris, he had grieved over the miserable slow marches of the army in the last cam- paign against Tippoo. This slow progress was entirely owing to the bad system then in force for the draught and carriage departments. This defect in the organization of our Indian army had been seriously felt and complained of by ever}^ succeeding commander-in-chief, from the time of Sir Eyre Coote to that of Lord Comwallis ; but nothing had been done to remedy it. Sir Eyre Coote had said, after the battle of Cuddalore, " If Hyder Ali, buoyed up with former success, had not come to seek us, I could not have moved the army to follow him; and this is a situation so tr}'ing to the responsible military commander, that an officer of character shudders at the idea of being placed in such a predicament." "With every new Avar the wild and small cattle of the Carnatic were to be purchased, at whatever price, and attached to the guns without previous training or experienced drivers ; and it was chiefly owing to this wretched system, and to the great superiority of the Mysore * Southey, in ' Quarterly Review,' No. xxv. 1803.] IX OUE DEAUaHT CATTLE. 281 cattle, that Hyder and his son had defeated every attempt made by our commanders to OA^ertake them in the field. This most serious defect was effectually removed after the capture of Seringapatam, for Greneral Harris immediately recommended the use and protection of Tippoo's admirable establishment of cattle, which was unequalled in India ; and General Wellesley joined in sending urgent representations to his brother the governor-general, and in making every possible effort to keep up and increase the breed, and to give the animals proper training and proper drivers. " It was this establishment which enabled Hyder Ali to march 100 miles in two days and a half, to the relief of Chillum- brum, and, after every defeat, to draw off his guns in face of his enemies ; which enabled Tippoo Sultaun to cross the peninsula in one month for the recovery of Bednore, and to march sixty-three miles in two days before G-eneral Medows. It was also this establishment which enabled G-eneral Wellesley to effect those movements of unexampled rapidity which are the admiration of every military man." * When the war -^'as over, and when General Wellesley was about to return to England, he most earnestly recommended the breeding establishment in Mysore to the commander-in- chief, Lieutenant- General Stuart ; and from this time the breed of cattle began to be not only prodigiously increased, but greatly improved. " The cattle of this estabhshment are as different from all other Indian cattle, as the Arab is from the country horse ; and as superior to them not merely in their blood and con- figuration, but their strength and energy, their quick step, power of endurance, and of keeping their condition under great privation. Heavier and larger cattle may be found, perhaps, better calculated for the slow movement of heavy ordnance, but none that can be compared to them in spirit and activity, that, like them, would make forced marches with troops, withstand all changes of weather, or be so fresh at the end of a campaign. This breed is peculiar to Mysore, and takes its name from the village of Hagglewaddy. Its origin is beyond tradition, but it has ever been in the hands of the ruling power, on account of its superior qualities. * ' Memorandum on the Establishment of Draught Bullocks, and the Breeding Establishment in the Mysore,' by Col. M. Cubbon, in * Ap- pendix to Life and Services of General Lord Harris,' by the Right Hon. S. R. Lushington. 282 GENEKAL WELLESLEY [1803. These cattle, by the regulations of the Indian government, are at the disposal of the commander-in-chief for the time being, and their distribution rests with him. The advantage of possessing such an establishment, in time of war, is beyond all calculation, and has often been felt at critical moments. It was owing to the superb bullocks fur- nished by it, that Major-Greneral Pritzler was in a condition to march 346 miles in twenty-live days, in pursuit of the Mahrattas, in the war of 1817 ; and that Major-Greneral Sir Archibald Campbell was enabled, after the failure of his Bengal equipments, to advance upon Ava in 1825, and bring that very trying war to a favourable termination."* Equal care was bestowed by General "Wellesley on the commissariat departments, and these had been managed better than they had ever been before in an English army, whether in Europe, Asia, or America, since the days of the great Marlborough, whose letters and despatches, like those of his great successor, abound in minute details on these important particulars. In India a very peculiar system of famishing bread for the army in the field had to be studied and also amended. The agreeable picture drawn by Bishop Heber of thebrinjarrees, or corn-carriers, seems to be correct only with reference to that class of men as improved by the kind and considerate treatment they received in the course of these Mahratta campaigns, and by the wise measures adopted by Wellesley and Lake. On his first acquaintance with them, General Wellesley found them shy of approaching his army, apt to quarrel with his sepoys, much given to plimder, and still more to trickery and cheating, and often very slow in bringing up their bad com and rice. One of the most serious annoyances he suffered in his advance from Poonah to the field of Assaye arose out of the great disinclination of the Poonah brin- jarrees to come forward at all in the service of the British army. On that march his brinjarrees "played tricks, as usual," and left him with only one-third of the rice which he ought to have had. They deserted Colonel Murray's corps altogether, leaving the soldiers for some days to the chance of starvation. They were found unmanageable unless their profits were enormous ; and, unless they attended the camps as dealers on their owti account, their dishonesty and * Col. Cubbon, * Memorandum.' 180S.] AND THE BRINJAEBEES. 283 rascalitywereprodigioTis. Toeffect a change in their character and habits, General Wellesley had recourse to those excel- lent means which have since been adopted as a system. One of his officers, who shared in the difficulty, danger, and glory of this campaign, says, " G-eneral Wellesley has always made it a point to encourage these people, by promises, kindnesses, presents, indeed, by every kind of liberality of which he possesses the means, to attend our camp, and collect grain for the army. He advances them money; takes their grain when not immediately wanted ; gets the duties on its transport remitted ; promises permits to collect it in our allies' territories ; gives or orders escorts ; provides guards in camp, or wherever required : whenever they meet extraordinary losses, he balances them by the price ; and not seldom has he ordered two or three rupees a head, as a reward for each bullock brought."* Exports of these liberal proceedings were soon spread over the country, and they gradually produced the desired effect, A few days after the battle of Assaye, when pro- visions were much wanted, from 2,000 to 3,000 bullocks loaded with grain approached our camp. They belonged to a brinjarree tribe, who had collected the grain and were looking out for one of the armies, where they would be sure of a market. This was their own account ; but it was more likely that they had not taken us iato their account, and were going to the Mahrattas. The cutwhal, or head native civil magistrate in our camp, heard of theii* approach, when, at some distance, and very ingeniously induced them to go to the British army, a step which it might not have been convenient or politic to har^e forced them to take. G-eneral Wellesley was very generous to these brinjarrees, and to the cutwhal, who had induced them to carry their grain to his market, instead of taking it to his enemies. To the cutwhal he gave a heavy pair of gold bangles, enhancing the value of the gift by putting them on the man's ankles with his own hands. " Marks of favour are highly esteemed by inferiors in aU countries, but in none more than in India ; this simple attention of General Wellesley no doubt raised the ffutwhal very much in his little city, the camp bazaar." t On * Journal of Major- General Sir Jasper NichoUs, written in the field, 5th of October, 1803, as quoted by Col. Gurwood, in * Wellington. Despatches,* t General Sir Jasper Nicholls, * Memorandam.' 284 CONQUEST OF BUNDELCUND AND [1803. other occasions the general gave handsome dresses and turbans to the brinjarree chiefs. By this conduct the brin- jarrees were induced to flock to the camp, and to follow the army without the necessity of any solicitation. Even their old habits of trickery and cheating were changed when they found they could make surer profits by being honest. * In the course of this same year the enterprising governor- general had set in motion a third and a fourth army against the Mahratta confederacy. Colonel Powell, starting from Allahabad with troops belonging to the Bengal establish- ment, overran the often-disputed province of Bundelcund, reducing the forts, and establishing the authority of the Company. Powell fought one pitched battle nearCapsah, routing the enemy with great loss. Fort Calpee, on the south-western side of the Jumna, and Grwalior, were the most important of the fortresses he took. Grwalior, which had once been in our possession (having been gallantly stormed in 1780 by Major Popham), but which had been given up by treaty to a faithless ally, had been ever considered a mili- tary post of the greatest strength and value. As soon as Powell had secured possession of Bundelcund, he detached Colonel Broughton to the eastern provinces of Berar, to block up some ghauts through which the Mahrattas might make inroads to seize the fortress of Sumbulpoor, to expel * ' Wellington Despatches.' It should appear, too, that some changes were introduced into the old system, in order to render the brinjarrees more extensively useful to armies in the field. After this Scindiah war, in November, 1804, we find General Wellesley thus describing these indispensable attendants on an Indian army : " Brinjarrees. These are a class of carriers who gain a livelihood by transporting grain or other commodities from one part of the country to another. They attend armies, and trade nearly in the same manner as they do in common times of peace. They either purchase grain them- selves in the country with their own money, or with money advanced to them by the Company, and sell it in the bazaar, at the rates of the day, on their own account ; or they take grain at the Company's stores at cer- tain reduced rates, and sell it on their own account in the bazaars ; or they take up grain in the Company's stores, and carry it with the army, and receive a sum of money for every march they make, and the grain is sold in the bazaars on account of the Company ; or they hire their cattle by the month to the Company, and take up grain from the public stores, and carry it with the army, where it is sold in the bazaars on the account of the Company. " It is the business of the superintendent of supplies to settle all these various accounts, and to see that the brinjarrees get fresh loads as fast as they empty them ; and to know always, as nearly as possible, the quan- tity of graia which this description of people have got." 1803-4.] OF cuTTACK. 285 some freebooting bands, and to destroy or scatter the only- force of the enemy which was left anywhere in the country between Bundelcund, Berar, and Cuttack. Cutting a road for his artillery through an immense forest, and overcoming every obstacle, Broughton executed the whole of the task confided to him. Colonel Harcourt, with a division of the Madras army, marched from Ganjam on the Stli of September, to drive the Mahratta chiefs out of Cuttack, a province which was nearly in our entire possession before the rajah of Berar formally ceded it by treaty. The Mahrattas on the frontier fled, the Brahmins of Juggernaut placed their pagoda and their idol and their monster car under British protection, which in itself was a very important advantage, and, after some delays, occasioned by the rains, Harcourt entered the city of Cuttack and laid siege to the fortress. This was a place of considerable strength, having only one entrance by a narrow bridge over a wet ditch of enormous dimensions ; and it might have detained Harcourt for a considerable time. But a co-operating force, detached from the Bengal army, and which might be called a sixth corps d'armee, had landed at Balasore, and, after getting possession of all the coast, it sent forward reinforcements to Cuttack to assist in the siege. That fortress was stormed and taken on the 14th of October. The British troops in Cuttack appear to have suffered more from wild beasts than from the spear of the Mahrattas. The country abounded with forests, the forests swarmed with leopards and other beasts of prey, and these devoured a good many of our drowsy or negligent sentinels. Being now undisputed master of the whole of that pro- vince, Harcourt detached Major Porbes to occupy the pass of Bermuth, which formed the only entrance into the pro- vince of Cuttack through the chain of mountains which separated it from the dominions of the rajah of Berar. Forbes performed his duty admirably ; several of the neigh- bouring rajahs fled from the tyranny of the great rajah of Berar, and threw themselves under the protection of the Company ; the pass of Bermuth was fully secured, and in a few weeks Colonel Harcourt and the troops that had con- quered Cuttack defiled through it, and co-operated with General Wellesley, distracting the attention of the enemy while he advance(i and captured Gawil-Ghur. 286 A FLEET OE INDIAMEN [1804. The seat of war liad extended over a vast portion of'thr Indian continent, and had exhibited in the short space ot four months, four general and well-contested battles, and eight regular sieges and storinings of fortresses. British valour and militar)^ combination and genius had triumphed over accumulated obstacles, the confederation of truly for- midable powers, and over every advantage arising to the enemy from local position, military means (especially in their immense trains of artillery), and numerical strength, which had been so improved by Perron's French training and discipline. It is calculated that, in the whole course of the campaign, the Mahrattas brought into the field 250,0(X) men, and that corps organized by the French amounted at least to 40,000 men. In all, upwards of 1,000 pieces of cannon had been captured by Lake, Wellesley, and the subordinate officers co-operating with them, together vdth carriages, ammunition, stores, and treasure in proportion.* Our conquests went far to secure the navigation of all those immense lines of coast from the mouths of the Granges to the mouths of the Indus, and to cut off the turbulent Mahrattas from any direct communication with the sea, or with the French and other transmarine enemies of the British government. But before this result was obtained the French had despatched an armament to encourage and assist Scindiah and the rajah of Berar. The peace of Amiens had not lasted longer than had been expected. War was renewed between France and England in May, 1803. The French admiral Linois, who had reached Pondicherry before the renewal of hostilities, and who had been enabled to escape from that roadstead before our naval commanders were aware that the peace was ended, finding he could do no good in the Mahratta war, hoped to do some mischief to the English and some good to himself, by picking up a few of our stray Indiamen before flying back to France. Many brilliant achievements at sea have of necessity been omitted ; but the following exploit was attended with important results ; and the honour of it belongs too exclusively to the officers of the East-India Company, to be passed over in silence. Linois had captured several ships, and plundered the * Major Thorn, * Memoir of the War in India, &c., from its Com- mencement in 1803, to its Termination in 180G.' ' Wellington Des- patches.' 1804,] DEFEAT THE ERENCH ADMIBAL LINOIS. 287 small English factory at Bencoolen, when, on the 14th of February, 1804, he fell in with a rich fleet of East Indiamen and country ships that were coming from China, and on the point of entering the Straits of Malacca. As the French admiral had with him a ship of the line, three frigates, and a brig, and as our merchant vessels had no men-of-war to convoy them, he made quite sure of an easy swoop and of an immense prize. But, by this time, the Company's ships were generally armed and well officered ; and Captain Dance, who was acting as commodore to the fleet of traders, waa both an able and a brave sailor. At sunset, Linois was close up with the English, who expected an instant attack ; but the French hauled to windward, and the battle was not begun until one p.m. on the following day. Our Indiamen behaved most gallantly, and after fighting for an hour, and before half of our ships could come into action, the French hauled their wind, and stood away to the eastward, under aU the sail they could set. At two p.m. Dance made the signal for a general chase, and pursued Linois till four p.m. ; when, considering the immense property at stake, the gallant commodore of this well-conducted merchant fleet made the signal to tack. " The promptitude and firmness of Com- modore Dance and his brave associates," says our naval Mstorian, " undoubtedly saved from capture a rich and valuable fleet : the shghtest indecision in him or them woiild have encouraged the French admiral to persevere in his attack ; and, had he done so, no efforts, however gallant and judicious, could have prevented a part of the fleet, at least, from falling into his hands." * In this case merit was properly and promptly rewarded, and thereby a great incentive was given to other seamen not in the national service. The commanders, officers, and crews were HberaUy recompensed by the Company ; Dance received the honour of knighthood from the king ; and among the sums of money voted to him were 5,000 by the Bombay Insurance Com- pany. Other sums were given to him and to the officers and crews by the committee of the " Patriotic Fund." After the war with Scindiah was over, fragments of his armies, and gangs of banditti from nearly all parts of India, gathered behind the Godavery, and began plundering and devastating the whole of the western Deckan. Early in the * James's ' Naval History of Great Britain.' 288 GEN. WELLESLET AND THE BANDITTI. [1804. spring of the year 1804, General Wellesley crossed the G-odavery to put them down. As they refused the lenient terms he offered, he endeavoured to cut them oif by making forced marches over eighty miles of the roughest countiy. His secret was betrayed by some of the natives following his own army, or he would have taken them by surprise in their camp. As they fled he followed them with the British cavalry, in one column, acting upon the right of their rear, while the Mysore cavalry and the cavalry of the re-esta- blished peishwa pursued the centre and left. The marauders, for the most part mounted, were greatly superior to their pursuers, and were weU fiunished with field-pieces. At one spot they made a stand, but were soon defeated by the British and Mysore cavalry. "Wellesley then followed them with astonishing rapidity from hill to hill, nor did he cease his pursuit until he had entirely destroyed or dispersed them, and captured all their artillery, ammunition, baggage, and bazars.* The fatigue was excessive ; not a few of his men and horses died of it : he himself described the marches made as being " terrible," and after the lapse of many years, and many other arduous services, he still spoke of this as the most laborious service in which he had ever been engaged. This flying campaign beyond the G-odavery concluded General Wellesley' s important military service in India. But his civil services had been equally important and equally honourable to himself. Under his master mind and vigilant superintendence, the whole of the Mysore had been well administered; numerous abuses, on the part of the civil as well as the military servants of the Company, had been checked, and agriculture and trade had flourished, while the storm of war was raging in other parts of India. Deserted villages, of which the tigers, the jackals, and the wild dogs of the ghauts had taken possession, were again occupied by industrious and thriving people ; and, while there was a security for the great and the wealthy, such as had never been known under Hyder Ali or his son Tippoo, there was also protection and safety for the poorest. During the five years of General Wellesley' s government, the whole country had, in fact, attained to a higher degree of prosperity than could possibly have been anticipated in * 'Wellington Despatches.' Andre Vieusseux, ' Military Life of the Duke.' Major Thorn, ' Memoir of the War.' , 1803-5.] ADDEESSES TO GE>f. WELLESLET. 28^ SO short a time ; and tlirough this prosperity it had been enabled in some degree to repay to the Company, during the late [Mahratta war, the benefits which it had derived from British influence, protection, government, and power. And yet, diD-ing all this time, large sums had been annually ap- propriated to the construction or repair of tanks, aqueducts, watercourses, roads, bridges, and other public works, wliich tended to the further improvement of agriculture, trade, and all the resources of Mysore. Great numbers of indus- trious people from other parts of Hindustan came and settled in the country, one of the best of all proofs that the government and administration were good. An excel- lent police was organized, and the T^dldest, the most moun- tainous and wooded districts became, for the first time, amenable to law, and tranquil and orderly. The natives, of all religions and of all castes, well knew to whom they were indebted for these great boons, and were eloquent in the expression of their gratitude. On General Wellesley's return, from the Mahratta war, the following address was presented to him : " We, the inhabitants of Seringapatam, have reposed for five auspicious years under the shadow of your protection. " AVe have felt, even during your absence, in the midst of battle and of victory, that your care for our prosperity had been extended to us in as ample a manner as if no other object had occupied your mind. " We are preparing to perform, in our several castes, the duties of thanksgiving and of sacrifice to the preservmg God, who has brought you back in safety ; and we present ourselves in person to express our joy. " As your labours have been crowned wdth victory, so may your repose be graced with honours. May you long con- tinue personally to dispense to us that ftill stream of security and happiness, which we first received with wonder, and continue to enjoy with gratitude ; and, when greater affairs shall call you from us, may the God of all castes and all nations deign to hear with favour our humble and constant prayers for your health, your glory, and your happiness." In March, 1805, when the general was preparing to leave the East for ever, these grateful natives again expressed, in the fonn of an address, their exceeding thankfubiess for the tranquillit}-, security, and happiness they had enjoyed under 290 wellesley's eetue2^ eeom ikdia. [1805. Ms auspicious protection, concluding with a prayer to Grod to grant him health and a safe and pleasant voyage to Europe, but mth the expression of an earnest hope for his speedy return to India, once more to extend and uphold that protection over them, which his ample local knowledge of their customs and manners was so capable of affording.* These touching native addresses confer as much honour on our illustrious duke as all the royal and imperial orders with which he is decorated. * * Wellington Despatches.' See also Marquis Wellesley's * Indian Despatches,' for evidence of the good government of Mysore, and the gratitude of the people to his illustrious brother. 1804.] WAE WITH HOLKAR. 291 CHAPTER XXVI. The Mahratta snake was scotched, not killed. Notwithstanding the decisive victories of "Wellesley and Lake, in 1802-3, a fresh war broke out in 1804. The con- duct pursued by Jeswunt Eao Holkar, during the late war between the British government, Scindiah, and the rajah of Berar, was in conformity with the most characteristic features of the policy of a Mahratta chieftain. He had not only promised to join the confederacy against the British, but had actually concluded, through the medium of the rajah of Berar, a tieaty with Scindiah, who made great cessions of territory, etc., to induce him to enter the league and to be true to his engagements. But truth never abided in the palace or under the tent of a Mahratta chief. Although Holkar promised everything, he showed no inclination, after hostilities were commenced, to assist the confederates. There was, indeed, ground to believe that he rejoiced in the first reverses which his great rival Scindiah sustained ; and that, if this sentiment underwent u change when he saw the unprecedented rapidity and success of the two English generals, who, in the short space of five months, had annihilated two immense armies, and captured a number of fortresses hitherto deemed impregnable, the course of action was too rapid and decisive to give him time for interference ; although, before the treaties of peace were concluded he had put his forces in motion, and advanced as far as the frontiers of the rajah of Jypoor, who was then under the protection of the British government.* Having thus remained inactive during the progress of the war against Scindiah and the rajah of Berar, and having greatly strengthened himself while they had been rushing to their ruin, Holkar suddenly assumed an attitude which excited alarm or suspicion. He continued to declare that * Sir John Malcolm, ' Political History of India.' u 2 292 WAE WITH noLKAE. [1804. he wislied to remain at peace, he even professed a great friendship for the British government, but his conduct indi- cated other designs, and he kept his marauding army- close on the frontiers to which he had brought it. The governor-general instructed Gleneral Lake to enter into any negotiation that might lead to an early explanation of his views, and relieve the Company from the expense and alarm to which its provinces must be subjected, while such a horde of freebooters as the army of Holkar continued to be assembled on its borders or on tlie frontiers of its allies. On the 29th of January, 1804, Lake addressed a letter to the formidable chieftain, stating generally the terms on which the British government was disposed to conclude a friendly treaty with him ; but requiring as a proof of the sincerity of his amicable professions, that he should with- draw his army from the threatening position it then occupied, retire quietly within his own territories, and abstain from exacting choult (tribute or blackmail) from the allies of the British. Listead of replying iuunediately to this letter, Holkar allowed some time to pass, and during this time more flying and marauding troops of horse joined his standard. At last he sent his vakeels to the British commander-in-chief to make extravagant demands, and to claim the very right of levying choiilt, which he had been called upon to renounce. The very first proposition advanced by his vakeels was that he should be permitted to collect the choult " agreeably to the custom of his ancestors," which ancestorial custom closely resembled that of the most predatory of our Highland clans in the olden time. The second modest proposition was that twelve of the finest districts in the Duab, a district in Bundelkund, and tlie country of Hurriana, should be given up to Holkar. And the vakeels finally demanded in his name that all his territo- ries should be guaranteed to him by the English, and that a treaty should be concluded with him on the same terms as that recently concluded by the Company with Scindiah, who had purchased it by making so many sacrifices to tlie Company. These extravagant demands were, of course, rejected. Holkar then sent letters to the tributaries and dependants of our government, in order to excite them to revolt against the English, whose territories, he informed the rajahs, it was his intentioji to ravage and destroy. He also wrote a most arrogant and insulting letter to General 1804.] holkae's mxjrdees. 293 "VVellesley, demanding tlie immediate cession of wliole pro- vinces in the Deckan, of some of the best of the possessions of our ally the nizam, upon the plea that, at some distant period of time, they had been the property of the Holkar family. The letter to AVellesley concluded with this boast " Coun- tries of many hundred coss shall be overrun and plundered. General Lake shall not have leisure to breathe for a mo- ment ; and calamities will fall on lacs of human beings, in continual war, by the attacks of my army, which overwhelms like the waves of the sea." * If numbers alone could have constituted strength, Holkar had some reason to be confident : he had, at this moment, in the field, from 40,000 to 50,000 cavab-y, 20,000 infantry, and upwards of 100 pieces of cannon. His fortresses also were numerous, and Chandore andGraulnah,the ancient strongholds of his family, ranked among the strongest places in all India. The Mahratta's menaces were soon followed by deeds. He sent a vakeel to the camp of Scindiah, to urge that humbled chief to tear up his recent treaty and join him in an attack upon the British possessions ; and, at the same time, he began to plunder the territories of our ally the rajah of J}^oor. G-eneral Lake (by virtue of his achieve- ments in the late war, now Lord Lake) and General Eraser were presently sent against him. Holkar retreated from the advanced position he had occupied, and was pursued to some distance by a part of our forces. His first savage act was the miu*der of three British officers, A^ickers, Todd, and Ryan, who had entered his service when he was in amity with the English, and who bore the rank of captains in his army. These unfortunate men, having signified their intention of retiring, in obedience to a proclamation of the governor-general, were placed under confinement ; and after- wards, on the pretext that Captain Todd had carried on a secret correspondence with Lord Lake, they were brought out and publicly decapitated. Their heads were exposed on pikes, their bodies were denied the ordinary rites of sepulture. The savage Mahratta retired up the valley of the Jumna. For some time the most serious difficulty encountered by the advancing British troops was from the stealthy attacks and depredations of the Mewattees, a tribe inhabiting the * Sir John Malcolm, * Political History of India.' 294 THE MEWATTEES. [1804. liills, wlio were all robbers by profession, as their fathers had been before them, and who lived chiefly by cattle-lifting ; they carried off many camels, elephants, and horses from the English pickets, in spite of the vigilance and precaution that were adopted to guard against their crafty, sudden, and des- perate attacks. Many of these sons of the mist and moun- tain were exceedingly well mounted, and all were armed with matchlocks, spears, or tolwars. They often attacked our foraging parties, and were constantly hovering about our camp in numerous bands. "Whenever they could sur- prise an officer or a soldier, they murdered him first, and robbed him afterwards.* Nearly the whole of the hilly territory from Agra to Delhi long in a state of intestine war between Mahrattas, Rajpoots, Seiks, Mewattees, and other tribes was the nursery of thieves and robbers, and as dangerous for travellers as the interior of Arabia is at this moment. The country exhibited little or no cultivation, though very suceptible of it, owing to the savageness of its inhabitants, and the insecurity of all property.f By the 20th of February, 1804, the main body of our army, under Lord Lake, was advanced as far as the neigh- bourhood of Hindone, in the province of Agra, which had formerly been a large city, though now sadly reduced by the depredations of the Mahrattas and the other plunderers. Hindone, however, contained some extensive buildings, and might still be called a populous village. It was situated in a very fertile and highly cultivated tract of country. The greatest care was taken, by Lord Lake and his officers, for the preservation of the standing crops ; and, although forage had been for some time scarce, no com was allowed to be cut down, or to be in any way injured. The strict discipline, under which our troops and camp-followers were kept, pre- sented an advantageous contrast to the visitations of a Mahratta army, and excited the astonishment and secured the gratitude of the inhabitants. * Major Thorn, * Memoir of the War in India,' &c. t For the vast improvements which had taken place in these regions, in the course of the few years they had then been under our control, see Bishop Heber's ' Indian Journal,* vol. ii. pp. 323-4, and pp. 347-8. At the period of the visit of the amiable and accomplished prelate (in 1825), the Mahrattas had been subdued and driven out of the country, the Mewattees were in agreat measure reclaimed, the Seiks were fully employed at home, and the Rajpoots were kept in awe by British residents and British garrisons. 1804.] HOLKAR EETEEATS. 295 In contemplation of these hostilities with Holkar, Gene- ral "WeUesley had drawn up some invaluable memoranda upon the manner in which the war ought to be conducted. In one of his notes he had said, " Tou have now a great game in your hands ; but aU will depend upon your manage- ment of the natives with whom you will have to co-operate. I have only to recommend you to conciliate them as much as possible to treat them with the greatest kindness and attention." During his encampment at Hindone, Lord Lake received letters jfrom Holkar, who again pretended to be pacifically disposed. " While the flame of contention can be extinguished by the water of reconciliation," said the wily Mahratta, " it is unfit to bring matters to the extremity of war." He pro- tested that before receiving Lord Lake's last letter he had resolved to march quietly homewards, which design he had now begun to accompKsh. Yet, at this very moment, a powerful khan, in the service of Holkar, was hovering with a large body of horse on the frontiers of Bundelkund, evidently with the design of invading that province and the countries belonging to the allies of the English to the north of the Betwa. This khan actually entered the territories of Janset ; but he fled beyond the mountains at the approach of the detachment of Colonel Powell, and left that officer to complete the conquest of the interior of Bundelkund by the reduction of those for- tified places which had not yet submitted to the British government, though boimd so to do by the recent treaty con- cluded with Scindiah. While Lord Lake was advancing from Hindustan towards the very heart of Holkar' s dominions, instructions were sent to Colonel John Murray, command- ing the troops in Gruzerat, to enter the province of Malwa, and to advance in the direction of Indore, the residence of Holkar' s family, while part of the troops, stationed above the ghauts, directed their operations against his possessions on the side of the Deckan, and especially agaiQst his strong fortress of Chandore. Holkar kept retreating before the main army of Lord Lake, and none of his allies, or detached troops, or forts, made anything like a bold resistance. The chief difficulty of the English now lay in the great length of the marches they were obliged to make, and in the excessive heat of the weather. 296 A HOHEIBLE MAECE. [1804. Bj the "beginning of May, however, Lord Lake had tra- versed the central parts of Eajpootana, had captured Tonk Eampoora, a strongly fortified town, and had driven Holkar from the only footing he had in Hindustan north of the Chumbul. That Mahratta hastily fled across that river; but he continued to be followed, on one side, by a detach- ment under Colonel Monson, while, on the other side. Colonel Murray with the troops from Guzerat Avas moving against him. Considering that these tvro detachments would give full employment to Holkar until the cooler season should set in, Lord Lake, in an unlucky moment, thought it advis- able to march the main army back into quarters at Cawn- pore and places in that neighbourhood, as the men were suffering dreadfully in their health, and the cattle were perishing fast through want of forage, the ground being parched up like an Arabian desert. But to go back was as bad as to go forward. The sufferings of the retiring troops continued to be excessive. The roads were exceedingly bad, and the countr}' was everywhere swept by a burning wind, called by the natives the "Devil's breath," which, after passing over the great sandy desert, imparts to the atmo- sphere of these regions an intensity of heat which astonished even those who had long been seasoned to the fury of a ver- tical sun. AVestward of the Jumna, this pestiferous current, this fiery blast, finds no rivers and lakes to temper its seve- rity. One of the officers, who was scorched and withered by it, compares it to the extreme glow of an iron foundry in the height of summer ; " though even that is but a feeble comparison, since no idea can be formed of the causticity of the sandy particles which were borne along with the wind, like hot embers, peeling off the skin, and raising blisters "wherever they chanced to fall."* The European soldiers died fast. Young men, who set out in the morning full of spirits and in all the vigour of health, dropped down dead immediately on reaching the encampment-ground, and many were smitten on the road by the noonday sun, whose rays darted downwards like a torrent of fire. Many brave and athletic veterans fell witliout the possibility of receiving any relief. It was the worst of all coups-de-soleil, except that deatii was almost instantaneous. They, who were thus struck, sud- denly turned giddy, foamed at the mouth, dropped on the * Major Thorn, * Memoir of the War/ &c. 1804.] A TEMPEST. 297 road, and instantly became lifeless. Even wlien encamped, the suiFerings of the poor soldiers were excruciating ; for the tents, in general, were but ill adapted to such a climate, and the thermometer, in the shade, frequently exceeded 130 of Eahrenheit. The misery was further increased bj the scarcity of water, owing to the debility and mortality that prevailed among the camp-followers employed in pro- curing that inestimable beverage. Numbers of these water- carriers perished through the fatigue which they under- went in this fiery climate, where the natives suiFered more than even Europeans, when called to make any extraordi- nary exertion. On one day as many as nineteen Euro- peans were bui'ied : " melancholy indeed it was to see the route of the army traced b}^ heaps of earth giving cover to the remains of so many gallant soldiers, who, after escaping the dangers incident to the fire and steel of war, fell pitiable victims to the climate." On the 3rd of June, as the troops were encamping near Karowley, the wind suddenly shifted, impetuous whirlwinds passed over the sandy plains in vast columns of sand and dust, increasing in magnitude, and ascending into the air to a height beyond the reach of the eye. These objects were only the precursors of a still more tremendous demon of the storm the typhoon, which came like chaos on the wings of the tempest, rolling before it immense torrents of burning sand, and giving such a density to the atmosphere that the sun, whicli had hitherto appeared as red as blood, became totally eclipsed. Night in the midst of day night with tenfold terror ^darkened all the scene, and the awfiilness was heightened by the bowl- ings of the tempest. Tliis lasted about half an hour, during which the army and all the affrighted multitude in its train lay prostrate and silent on the ground, as if antici- pating the day of doom. The trees were torn up by the roots ; the tents were carried away and scattered about in every direction ; the bullocks threw off* their burdens and ran wild among the bazar people ; and galloped about the camp in a frenzy of fear. Pro\ddentially, however, the fearful phenomenon was succeeded by a little rain, which cooled the air, and rendered it so very refreshing that the mortality ceased. On the 4th of June, the army rested all day in honour of Greorge the Third's birthday. On the 5th they passed the Jumna, at a ford near the city of Agra, the guns and baggage being conveyed in beautiful style across ^ 298 CAPTAIN smith's disastee. [1804. the river in boats. On the 20th, or just after the com- mencement of the monsoon or rainy season, they reached their comfortable quarters at Cawnpore. They had marched above 1,000 miles. In the meanwhile there had been some hard fighting in other quarters. Colonel Powell, charged with the reduction of the fortresses in Bundelkund, fell sick and died. He was succeeded by Lieutenant- Colonel Faucett, who sent a detach- ment of seven companies of sepoys, with some artillery, to take a fort near Kooch. Captain Smith, the officer in com- mand of this detachment, was not sufficiently aware of the craft of the natives, and of the danger of relying upon their faith. Whilst preparations were carrying on in the trenches, the killadar, or commandant, sent out an offer to surrender the place the next morning, provided Captain Smith would suspend his firing. This proposition was agreed to ; but, in the interval the treacherous killadar applied to Meer Khan, who had retreated before Colonel Powell, but who had by this time returned to the neighbourhood -^dth a large body of horse. And on the following morning, the 22nd of May, the khan, with 7,000 or 8,000 of his cavalry, fell most imexpectedly on two companies of sepoys and about fifty of our artillerymen in the trenches. With savages like these it was vain to mention the truce with the killadar, or to plead for mercy ; every man in the trenches, whether officer or private, was cruelly murdered. Meer Khan seized and carried ofi" the little all of the artillery employed for the siege. Captain Smith, however, succeeded in making good his retreat with the remaining five companies of sepoys, protected by a troop of the 5th regiment of native cavalry and a galloper six-pounder, which single gun kept off" the enemy. Embold- oned by their success, Meer Khan and his predatory horde ifti^de an attack upon Calpee, and attempted to force the passage of the Jumna. They w^ere repulsed by Captain Jones at the head of only two companies of sepoys ; and shortly afterwards they were completely defeated and scat- tered by a small force under Colonel Shepherd. Captain Gardiner, an officer attached to the service of the rajah of Jypoor, and Lieutenant Lucan, of his majesty's 74th regiment, who had both been detached by Lord Lake to watch the motions of Holkar with two divisions of irregu- lars, very soon took vengeance for Captain Smith's disaster, and, at the same time, gave a lesson of good faith and honour. 1804.] TTAGA BANDITTI. 299 Another khan, in the interests of Holkar, was surprised in his camp, and offered to surrender upon condition that his party should be escorted in safety to the chief camp of the Mahrattas, the khan pledging himself that they would not serve any more against the English. These terms were assented to and punctually performed, the khan's people, amounting to more than 2,000 men, being conducted, as agreed upon, by our irregular cavalry, and leaving in our possession aU their ordnance and stores. During this first campaign of 1804, our troops captured 450 pieces of the finest cannon, 182 waU-pieces, 5,000 stand of arms, 180 tumbrils and ammunition-carriages, and a vast quantity of military stores of all descriptions. Our possession of Bundelkund was troubled by a san- guinary and really formidable congeries of banditti of the Naga race, one of the many scourges of the country. This singular race of hill people abounds in India east of the Ganges. Their rapacity and sanguinary habits had depopu- lated the hills inhabited by less martial tribes. In person the Nagas somewhat resembled the Chinese, but little was or is known of their origin, history, or religion. Their villages were perched like eagles' nests on the most inacces- sible peaks of the mountains. In Bundelkund a commu- nity of them occupied a strong position near Mohobah, sur- rounded by ranges of high rocks, which, on occasion, they lined with matchlock-men and rocket-boys. They inter- rupted communications, and made predatory incursions far and near. Towards the end of June Lieutenant- Colonel MartindeU marched against them in their stronghold with the Bundelkund division, beat them from their rocks, drove them from that range of mountains, captured nearly all their baggage, plunder, camels, horses, and stores, and took the religious standard of the tribe. But disaster and defeat, and even disgrace, attended the operations of another corps. Lieutenant- Colonel Monson, after reducing some for- tresses, had encamped near Kotta, on the banks of the Chumbul, to guard the frontier, and then advanced his posi- tion about fifty miles to a place where he had been led to expect supplies and the means of communicating with Colonel Murray, who was on his march from Guzerat towards Tndore. The corps under Monson consisted of five batta- lions of sepoys, a proportion of artillery, and two bodies of 300 SAD DISxVSTERS OF [1S04- irregular horse, in all about 3,000 men. On the 7th of July, Monson received intelligence that Hoikar had swept through Malwa, and had recrossed the Chumbul \^dth the whole of his army. The colonel expressed contempt for the superiority of the enemy's numbers, and an eagerness for coming to action with him. He made a movement for that purpose, but soon relinquished his design, in consequence of the deficiency of grain in his camp, the absence of one detachment employed to bring up a supply, and of another that was on its march to join him from one of the forts he had captured. Colonel Monson was also expecting the arrival of an escort with money for his troops, and it is said that what most influenced his conduct was the reception of intelligence that Colonel Murray, instead of pressing forwards towards Indore, had an intention to fall back. Although it was dangerous to retreat in the presence of Hoikar' s numerous cavalry, Monson determined to retire to the Mokundra pass. Accordingly the baggage and stores were sent off at four in the morning of the 8th of July, while the troops, in order of battle, remained on the ground of encampment till half-past nine. As no enemy came up, the troops were then put in motion after the baggage and stores, with the exception of their regular cavalry under Lieutenant Lucan and a Mahratta. chief named Baboojee, who belonged to the family of Scindiah ; both these officers being ordered to follow in half an hour, and to apprise Colonel Monson of any movement on the part of Hoikar. The detachment had marched about twelve miles towards the Mokundra pass, when Monson received intelligence that Lucan had been attacked by the whole of Holkar's cavalry. Orders were now given to. our sepoys to halt and form, with the view of supporting the party in the rear. At this moment Baboojee galloped up- and declared that our irregular cavalry was entirely defeated, and that Lucan was wounded and a prisoner. The Mahratta was a liar and a traitor (he joined the enemy soon after), but this time he spoke the words of truth. Lieutenant Lucan, who had greatly distinguished himself both in this campaign and in the preceding war against Scindiah, was indeed in the hands of a mercdess enemy, and he died shortly afterwards of his wounds, or of poison administered to him at Kotta. As it was now useless to return, Monson continued his march, and on the noon of the folloA\-iiig day he got near the Mokundra pass without any molestation.. 1804.] COLONEL MONSOIS". 301 But on the mornmg of the 10th the enemy showed a large body of cavalry in front of the pass. Instead of attacking this force at once, Monson remained quiet till noon the next day, when the Mahratta cavalry was greatly increased in numbers, and when Holkar sent a letter to camp demand- ing the surrender of our guns and small arms. This demand being indignantly refused, Holkar made a vigorous attack on Monson's front and flanks. The Mahrattas, however, could make no impression upon oiu' steady native infantry, and after repeated attacks and some loss, Holkar drew oft" his cavalry to the distance of four miles, where he was joined by his infantry and artiller^^ Thereupon Monson con- tinued his retreat upon the town of Kotta, where he expected to find supplies. After two forced and most fatiguing marches, through torrents of rain and across a country com- pletely inundated, our columns reached that town. But the rajah of Kotta, believing that Holkar must be victorious, refused to admit Monson into his town, upon the plea that he could not furnish the troops with provisions. The retreat now became truly disastrous, the rivers and rivulets were swollen by the monsoon rains, and the troops were almost reduced to starvation. The guns could not be dragged on ; the colonel was obliged to leave them be- hind him, after rendering them unserviceable and destroying the ammunition. A little farther on he was under the necessity of abandoning his baggage. The Mahratta cavalry hung close on his rear, and made many fierce attacks. On the night of the 2oth of August, after defeating several charges of the Mahratta horse, our sepoys reached Khooshal- ghur, a mud fort with double walls, round bastions, and a ditch, in the province of Agra. Here Monson found Captain Nicholl, with a detachment of sepoys and a company of the 12th regiment. Before Monson's arrival, Nicholl had been attacked in the town by one of our faithless allies, of the Scindiah party ; but the captain had succeeded in repulsing the assailants. On the morning after his arrival at Khoo- shalghur, Monson found himself surrounded by the whole of Holkar' s cavalry, and detected a correspondence between Holkar and some of the native officers belonging to his own corps. And now was witnessed the sad and most rare spectacle of desertion, two entire companies from one sepoy regiment, and a large proportion of oiu* Hindustanee cavalry, going over to the enemy. In the evening of that day 302 DISASTKOUS EETEEAT. [1804. Monson resumed liis retreat, his troops marching in a com- pact oblong square, and defeating every attempt made by the Mahrattas, mth cavak-y and artillery, to break them. On clearing the ravines near Hindone, where Lord Lake had been encamped, Monson had to sustain a desperate charge of the enemy's horse in three divisions ; but the sepoys reserved their fire till the Mahrattas came within reach of the bayonet, and then compelled them to retreat in every direction. After this affair the Mahrattas charged no more. Monson reached the city of Agra at the end of August, with his detachment fearfully thinned, disordered, and demoralized. His loss in officers had been very great.* A few more such failures would have destroyed our prestige and the discipline and fidelity of our native troops. Monson' s conduct has been very severely censured ; but it depended upon the movements of others, and there were some capital defects, if not in the plan itself, in the whole execution of the plan of this campaign. Even Lord Lake had not yet learned with what ease and rapidity the Mahrattas could recruit their armies, increase their horses, change retreat and actual flight into an advance, and repeat their blows. f If Lake had continued in pursuit of * Major Thorn, ' Memoir of the War,' &c. Colonel Monson's own letters in ' Wellington and Wellesley Despatches.' Papers printed by the East- India Company in 1806. General Wellesley 's minute account of the retreat will be found in vol. iii. of his own * Despatches,' p. 458 to 463. t " The Mahratta cavalry is increased as if by magic. In his arrange- ments with the state, the silladar, or head of a troop, has allotted to him a certain proportion of jungle, where he pastures his cattle. In this jungle he and his family reside ; and his sole occupation, when not on actual service, is increasing his pagah, or troop, by breeding out of his mares, of which the Mahratta cavalry almost entirely consists. There are no people in the world who understand the method of rearing and multiplying the breed of cattle equal to the Mahrattas. It is by no means uncommon for a silla- dar to enter the service with one mare, and in a few years be able to muster a very respectable pagah. They have many methods of rendering these animals prolific ; they back their colts much earlier than we do, and are consequently more valuable, as they come sooner on the effective strength. I do not know, however, whether they attempt to improve the breed of their horses by crossing the strain, as we practise in Europe. It is this persevering industry and consummate knowledge which is the true cause of the immense bodies of cavalry that the Mahratta state can bring into the field ; a circumstance that has occasioned surprise in many, who have been at a loss to conjecture from whence such hosts could proceed. Independent, however, of this, there are great numbers of horses brought from Caadahar and Thibet, and sold at the annual fairs in many parts of 1804.] GEK. WELLESLET's EULES in INDIAN WAE. 303 Holkar, instead of retiring to Cawnpore with the main body of the army, the campaign would have been a short one, and the disasters which befel Monson in his retreat would not have happened. This was foreseen by General WeUesley as early as the month of April. " If," said he, " G-eneral Lake would make a good dash at Holkar, the war could not last a fortnight ; but if he should stand upon the defensive in Hindustan, it will last for a length of time." But Holkar' s rapid retreat had deceived Lake into the belief that he was far weaker than he really was, and that the corps of Colonels Murray and Monson would be more than enough to drive him beyond Indore, if not into the Punjaub ; and sufficient preparations had not been made for the continued advance of the main body of the army serving with Lake. No one doubted Colonel Monson' s courage ; Lake, even in mourning over his retreat, described him as being as brave as a lion. If Monson had stopped at first, instead of retiring, his infantry would have been unable to bring the fleet Mahratta cavalry to action ; and every day's delay would have increased the famine in his camp. Eetreats had always been disastrous in India. G-eneral "WeUesley thought that some important lessons were to be learned from this campaign " First, We should never employ a corps on a service to which it is not fully equal. " Secondly, We should take care to be sure of plenty of provisions. " Thirdly, Experience has shown that British troops can never depend upon rajahs or any others for their sup- plies. Our own officers must purchase them; and if we should employ a native in such an important service, we ought to see the suppHes before we expose our troops in the situation in which we may want them. " Fourthly, When we have a fort which can support oui' operations, we should immediately adopt effectual means to fill it with provisions and stores in case of need. " Fifthly, When we cross a river likely to be full in the Hindustan ; but these make a very small proportion in the gross strength of the Mahratta armies." ' A Letter to an Officer on the Madras Esta- blishment : being an Attempt to illustrate some Particular Institutions of the Mahratta People ; principally relative to their System of War and Finance,' &c. By William Henry Tone, commanding a regiment of infantry in the service of the peishwa. Bombay, ] 799. 804 ADVAlsCE OF LORD LAKE. [1804. rains, we ought to have a post and boats upon it ; as I have upon all the rivers south of Poonah, " In respect to the operations of a corps in the situation of Monson's, they must he decided and quick ; and in all retreats it must be recollected that tliey are safe and easy in 'proportion to the number of attacks made hy the retreating corps. But attention to the foregoing observations will, I hope, prevent the necessity of a British corps retreating." These are lessons to be borne in mind by every one putting an army in motion in India, and by every officer command- ing, or even serving with, such army. Instead of retreating, as Monson had expected he would do. Colonel Murray, with the division from Guzerat, ad- vanced into the heart of Holkar's dominions ; and on the 24th of August, the day on which Monson abandoned his baggage he took possession of Indore with hardly any opposition. But the turn of affairs produced by Monson's own disas- trous retreat compelled the commander-in-chief to take the field without delay, in order to check Holkar, who was now strengthened by the warlike tribe of the Jauts and their mjah styled the rajali of Bhurtpoor, who had broken the treaty of alliance he had concluded with G-eneral Lake, in the preceding year. Accordingly, the several corps of Lord Lake's army received orders to repair immediately to the general rendezvous at Agra, in order to commence a second campaign this year. By the beginning of September, all the corps were in motion, although the country was under water and the rain still poured down in torrents. The straggling sepoys of Colonel Monson's unfortunate division hailed Lord Lake's arrival ^^^th transport. They soon recovered their discipline and gallantry ; and the barbarity of the enemy helped to root out the partial dis- affection which had existed among them. Numbers came daily into camp shockingly mutilated, with their noses and right hands cut off, in consequence of their having refused to enter Holkar's service. Those who had enrolled with tlie jVIahratta sent word to the English officers that they would escape at the first opportunity. The barbarians had reached the banks of the Jumna, had taken possession of Mutra, and had spread consternation over the country. A detachment of tliem had even crossed tlie Jumna, but they all fled precipitately as Lake advanced. By the 3rd of October, 1804.] SIEGE OF DELHI. 305 Miitra was recovered, and was occupied by our reserve under Lieutenant- Colonel Don. Before daybreak on the 7th, an attempt was made to surprise Hol'kar ; but the Mahrattas were already mounted, and they galloped off with such rapidity as to render it impossible to effect a charge upon them ; a few were, how- ever, brought down in their flight by our galloper guns. Other attempts to surprise them in their encampments and to bring them to action were not more successful, for they were exceedingly vigilant, throwing out posts in all direc- tions, who, by firing signals and burning blue lights, gave the alarm. Xow and then some of these outposts were caught. The men expected vengeance and retaliation, but Lord Lake gave them a rupee each, and then dismissed them with a message to their chief, that none but cowards treated their prisoners with cruelty. Our army continued steadily to advance, the cavalry leading, followed by the infantry, and the baggage and bazars moving along be- tween the inner flank and the river Jumna. The road they were following was the high road to Delhi, which capital was besieged by Holkar's regular brigade of infimtry and a large train of artillery. The siege was pressed with all possible vigour, it being a vital object with Holkar to get possession of the person of the poor Mogul before Lord Lake could come up to his rescue. But his lordship reached Delhi on the 17th of October, and the besiegers fled at his approach. Colonel Ochterlony, the British resident at the Mogul's court, and Colonel Burn, the commandant of the garrison, had successfully defended the wide and crumbling walls during several weeks. It was easy for the Mahrattas to make breaches, for they had some heavy guns, and the works were rotten ; but they could not storm through the breaches when they had made them, and all their endeavours to take the place by surprise and escalade were abortive. As there were very few regular troops in the place, and as the garrison was principally composed of a motley rabble, collected in haste from various quarters, and armed only with matchlocks, Ochterlony and Bum must have made extraordinary^ eflbrts, and have given proof of very extra- ordinary ability. In some respects their defence of Delhi might be compared with Clive's heroic defence of Arcot. Lake found the Great Mogul's capital little better than a den of thieves. Every night alarms were created by the 306 A l^IGHT MAECH. [1804. numerous robbers that infested the bills and the ruins round the city, and that made their way into the bazars of the army. Moving secretly and rapidly to the northward, Holkar now crossed the Jumna, near Paniput, threatening to lay waste our territories in the Duab. But Lake and Eraser were soon after him, crossing the Jumna at a ford at about three miles from Delhi. Orders were issued to our troops to march as light as possible. As they advanced, they found some fierce bands of Seiks, who occupied nearly the whole northern quarter of th^ Delhi province ; but Colonel Burn, who led the van, easily cleared the road with grape-shot, and entered the small mud fort of Shumlee. Here he was surrounded by an immense host ; but it fled on seeing the clouds of dust raised by the march of our main body. On the 6th of IS'ovember, Lake's army marched about twenty-four miles on the road to Soldana, or Sird- hana, a pleasant, highly-cultivated, rich district. On the next day, our foremost column got sight of a body of Mahratta horse, who took instantly to flight. Closely pur- sued by the English, they fled past the town of Meerut, without stopping to plunder it. Having left at Meerut Colonel Bum, with three battalions of infantry and some irregular cavalry, for the protection of the northern parts of the Duab, Lake marched after the marauders, who ravaged and burned the defenceless villages as they swept along, making no attempts upon towns surrounded with any kind of walls. On the 16th of November, his lordship reached AHigunge, which \dllage was still burning when the English entered it. But Holkar was encamped good thirty-six miles ahead, near Emruckabad. Lake, however, resolved to make another attempt to surprise him by a forced night march. The distance was great, but it was likely to add to the Mahratta security or confidence. At nine o'clock in the evening, his lordship mth the British cavalry, moved on without tents or baggage of any kind. Just as they were mounting their horses, they received the welcome news of the victory gained over Holkar' s brigade at Deeg. This made them doubly eager to come up with the chief himself, in order to give the finishing stroke. The moon was up, and the night mild and pleasant. As they spurred along the road, they were cheered by the intelligence, that their foe was motionless in his encampment, and wholly unsus- picious of their approach. 1804.] A MAHEATTA CAMP SUEPEISED. 307 The day was just begmning to dawn on the 17th, when the head of their column reached the skirts of the Mahratta camp. Still no movement, no suspicion: the Mahratta horses were at picket, and by the side of them the men lay sleeping. Some rounds of grape, fired from our gallopers into the thickest of their camp, was the first intimation they received of Lake's arrival. The fire awakened them, but made the sleep of many a long sleep. The king's 8th light dragoons got first in among them, charging and cutting them down ; our othfer regiments did the same as fast as they came up, so that in a short time the whole camp was covered with the bodies of the killed and wounded. Holkar himself escaped, being the first to fly. He was accompanied or followed by a small party of his cavalry, the only men that could mount and escape and keep together ; and he never drew rein until he had re-crossed the Calini river, at a ford eighteen miles distant. By this one blow the cavalry of Holkar was ruined or dispersed, as his infantry and artillery had been at Deeg. On first crossing the Jumna he hjjd 60,000 horse ; after recrossing the Calini he could not collect 10,000. More than 3,000 had fallen in the surprised camp; the rest deserted, and never joined him again. Lake continued the pursuit for upwards of ten miles ; and as his march during the preceding day and night was fifty-eight miles, the distance to which the enemy was followed and the space passed over before he took up a new encampment-ground exceeded seventy miles in the space of twenty-four hours ; an effort scarcely paralleled in military history, for it was made after a long and harassing march of 350 miles in the space of a fortnight. The fatigue was great, but not so the loss : he had only two British dragoons killed and about twenty men wounded ; and of the seventy-five horses that perished or became useless, the far greater part seem to have been foundered on the forced night march. The Mahrattas left plenty of good horses behind them, and these were cap- tured. "With his infantry^ following him almost at the charging pace, Lake pushed on to the city of Furruckabad, whose flourishing condition had enticed Holkar thither, the Mahratta expecting to make a rich prize before the English could come up with. him. His lordship arrived just at the nick of time, for the unruly Patans of the town and neigh- bourhood had not only engaged to co-operate with the X 2 308 VICTOKT OF DEEG. [1804. Mahrattas, but had risen upon the English residents, and had driven the Company's weak detachment of sepoys into the fort of Futtyghur. The Patans had already set fire to our cavalry stables and officers' bungalows, and were besieg- ing the fort. Having first knocked a good many of these Patans on the head, Lake's army fired three royal salutes; one in honour of the victory obtained by Maior-G-eneral Eraser at Deeg, another for the capture of Chandore by Colonel Wallace, and another for his own action in the Mahratta camp. * While Lord Lake had been preparing to fall upon Hol- kar's cavalry, part of the British infantry and artillery under Eraser had' been sent to look after Holkar's disciplined brigades and his guns, which were knoTVTi to be somewhere Avithin the Bhurtpoor rajah's territories. On the morning of the 13th of November, Eraser came up with the enemy, who were encamped between a large deep tank and an extensive morass, their right being covered by a fortified village, and their left resting on the fort of Deeg. They were twenty-four well-disciplined battalions with a tremen- dous artillery ; and their position was truly formidable. jN'evertheless, at three o'clock, two European regiments and four battalions of sepoys marched gaily and confidently to the attack. This gallant little column had to make a long detour to avoid the morass, so that it was daybreak ere it reached the fortified village on a hill which covered the enemy's right. Here the troops immediately wheeled into line ; the 76th regiment and two battalions forming the first, and the remaining troops the second line. The 76th, with charged bayonets, drove the Mahrattas out of the village ; and then, ruiming down the hill, charged the first range of their guns, under a terrific storm of round, grape, and chain shot. The enemy abandoned their guns as our men came up to them, and retired to fresh batteries. When our second line passed through the fortified village, which had been carried by the first line, the Company's European regi- ment, seeing the brave 76th so far ahead in the thickest of the multitudinous enemy, ran to its support, and was fol- lowed by some of the sepoys, who again kept pace w^ith the British. Erom their second range the Mahrattas opened a stm more destructive fire. Here a cannon-ball took off Gene- ral Eraser's leg. The general was carried from the field, and the command devolved upon Colonel Monson, who had been 1804.] EEDUCTIOK OF CHA^n'DOEE. 309 very unfortunate, but who had never failed in soldierly bear- ing. The British and sepoy bayonets soon drove the Mah- rattas from their second range ; one battery was charged and carried after another, over the distance of two miles, till coming close under the walls of the fort of Deeg, olu' troops were compelled to fall back. In the mean time a body of the enemy's horse, coming suddenly round, retook their first range of guns, and turned them against our troops ; but Captain Henry Xorford, of the 76th, with only twenty-eight men, charged them with tlie bayonet, drove them off, and took those guns again. Captain Xorford was killed in perform- ing this brilliant exploit. At the lower edge of the morass was a dense body of Holkar's infantry, with a number of heavy guns. AVith only two battalions of sepoys and three six-pounders, Major Hammond had kept this corps in check during the whole of the action. IN'ow Colonel Monson placed a few more six-pounders in Major Hammond's front, and under cover of their fire and smoke moved round upon the enemy's flank. These Mahrattas made a precipitate retreat into the morass, where great numbers perished, and amongst them two of the principal officers of their army. The field was fairly and gloriously won, though not without a very henYj loss for so small a "force. The number of our killed and wounded amounted to 643, among whom were twenty-two British officers. Major-General Eraser died of liis wounds a few days after the battle. But, without count- ing those who had "been swallowed up in the morass, from 2,000 to 3,000 of the enemy lay dead on the field ; eighty- seven fine pieces of artillery, of European fabric, were captured; and the flower of Holkar's army, twenty-four well-trained battalions, was broken up and dispersed.* The reduction of Chandore, the strongest place Holkar held on the side of the Deckan, had been planned by G-ene- ral AVellesley. The troops appomted to the service consisted of detachments from the Company's subsidiary force serving with the nizam and the peishwa, and of some contingents furnished by those two princes. They were commanded by Colonels AV^allace and Haliburton ; and, through the great care of General Wellesley, they were well supplied with money and provisions. Early in October, Colonel AV^allace, after a long march, succeeded in capturing the dependent fort * Major Thorn, 'Memoir of the War,' &c. Colonel Monson's ' Despatch to the Governor-General.' 310 SIEGE OF DEEG. [1804. of Lassengong, about twelve miles from Chandore. An easy march then brought him in front of the famed stronghold. The place merited its reputation for strength, and a vigor- ous resistance was expected ; but as soon as "Wallace had established a battery, Holkar's commandant held out the white flag, and surrendered upon condition that private property should be respected, and that the garrison should be allowed to carry off their baggage, &c. The fall of Chandore induced the surrender of a number of small forts, and deprived Holkar of all his possessions south of the Taptee river. The war would have been finished by the great battle of Deeg and by his other reverses, if it had not been for the alliance which Holkar had contracted with the warlike Jauts and their ruler, E-unjeet Sing, the rajah of Bhurtpoor. This chief had sent his cavalry to fight with the troops of Holkar at Deeg ; with the artillery of his fortress of Deeg he had caused us much loss ; and when the battle was over he had received into that fortress as many of the Mahrattas as could escape to it. It was therefore resolved to carry the war into the heart of E.unjeet Sing's territories, to reduce all his forts, and even Bhurtpoor, his capital. Accordingly Lord Lake, with the cavalry and flying artil- lery with him, marched back from Furruckabad to Delhi, to cross the Jumna near that city, leaving the reserve to follow in a few days. His lordship expected to be attacked on the way by another chief of the Jaut race, who was named Rajah Dyaram Thakoor, and was related to Eunjeet Sing, the rajah of Bhurtpoor ; but he passed through his country without molestation. On the 1st of December, Lord Lake came up with his cavalry and artiller}^, and joined the infan- try which Greneral Eraser had brought into the country, and which were now commanded by Colonel Monson. Thus, after a month's separation, during which the cavalry had marched upwards of 500 miles, the two branches of the army reunited with mutual congratulations, for the cavalry, acting by itself, had gained the great advantage over the Mahratta cavalry in the camp near Furruckabad, and the infantry, acting by itself, had won the victory at Deeg. Having been joined by his reserve under Colonel Don, "with a battering train from Agra, Lord Lake marched on the 11th of December, in two columns parallel to each other, to break ground before the fortress of Deeg. As the 1805.] SIEGE OF BHrRTPOOR. ^11; army and its accessories moved leisurely across the country, the spectacle was imposing; for the native bazar people and other camp-followers were not fewer than 60,000, and there were 200 elephants, 2,000 camels, and 100,000 bul- locks for carrjing grain, equipage, baggage, &c. The British were in possession of the town of Deeg and all its outworks by the morning of the 24th of December, and on the morn- ing of Christmas day, the Mahrattas evacuated the citadel, flying in a panic, and lea^dng an immense artillery and everything else behind them. On the 1st of January, 1805, Lord Lake moved from Deeg to Bhurtpoor, the well-defended capital of the rajah, which stood amidst jungles and water, at the distance of about thirty English miles from Agra. On the 3rd the British took up their encampment-ground for the prosecution of a siege which has scarcely a parallel in the history- of modem India. Bhurtpoor, a maiden fortress, was amazingly strong, both naturally and artificially, and its garrison was a nume- rous and resolute army. When breaches were made, several assaults were most successfully repelled by the besieged. In one of these affairs we lost nearly 300 Europeans and 200 sepoys. The enemy butchered in cold blood all the wounded who fell in the ditch or beyond the outer wall, and several of Lake's best officers were thus slain. With great alacrity strong stockades were formed behind the breaches which our guns had made. On the 18th of Januaiy Major-G-eneral Smith arrived in camp with three battalions of sepoys belonging to the garrison of Agra, and 100 convalescent Europeans, who, by a circuitous route, had performed a march of fifty miles in twenty-four hours. At the same time Ismael Beg deserted from Holkar and joined the English with 500 native horse. Better advances were then made, and the batteries of the besiegers renewed their fire with greater \-igour. Lured by the present of six lacs of rupees, and by the tempting prospect of plunder, Meer Khan, an adventurer of Afghan descent, who was then pillaging in Bundelkund, marched with all his forces towards Bhurtpoor to assist the rajah. On the 2l8t of January Lake tried another storm. This was met by the enemy with considerable skill and ingenuity, as well as by great bravery, and Colonel Macrae, in com- mand of the attacking column, was beaten back with the loss 312 DEFEAT OF MEER KHAI^. [1805. of eighteen officers and nearly 600 men in killed or wounded. And, as this catastrophe closed, Meer Khan, from Bundel- kund, appeared in the rear of our encampment with crowds of cavalry. The British horse, however, held these forces in check, and towards night the English artillery dispersed them, and killed some fifty of their number with the galloper guns. Lake had commenced the siege with gigantic onate- riel, but he was already in want of provisions and stores, and a convoy of 12,000 loaded bullocks was anxiously ex- pected. As this convoy was guarded only by a small body of matchlock-men, a regiment of native cavalry and a battalion of a European regiment were detached, under the command of Captain AValsh, to meet it on its way and escort it from Mutra to the camp. Walsh joined the convoy without any difficulty, but on the morning of the 23r'd of January, wheii only a few miles from the camp, he was beset and attacked by Meer Khan, at the head of 8,000 horse. Captain Walsh retreated into a large open village with the greater part of the convoy intact, but some of the bullocks were of necessity abandoned. Though assailed on all sides, his musketry and field-pieces repeatedly beat off" the assailants, but two of his guns getting disabled, the enemy made a des- perate push on that point, and gained possession of part of the village. Walsh's guns were heard in the English camp, and forthwith Colonel IS'eed sounded boot and saddle, and, with an English regiment of dragoons and a regiment of native cavalry, galloped towards the spot. The sepoys in the village, on perceiving the clouds of dust which marked the advance of our cavalry, set up a loud and joyous shout, fell upon Meer Khan's guns, and carried them at the point of the bayonet just as Colonel Xeed was arriving. With his two regiments of horse Xeed then dashed among the Mahrattas and put them to flight. Six hundred of Meer Khan's people were left dead on the field, and he himself, in the disguise of a common soldier, escaped with the utmost difficulty, leaving behind him forty flags, all his artillery and tumbrils, his own palanquin, arms, armour, and splendid attire. On the 24th another detaclmient was sent from the camp for the protec- tion of another and much greater convoy coming from Agra. On the 29th Holkar, the rajah of Bhurtpoor, and Mccv Khan, having united for the purpose all the forces they could collect, threatened an attack on this rich convoy ; but Lake had sent out a second detachment to meet the other 1805.] A CHASE. 313 on the road, aud, although the couvoy was repeatedly sur- rounded, it was brought into camp without the loss of a single bullock. As the number of the enemy within the walls of Bhurt- poor was undiminished, and as the two attempted assaults had cost us so great a sacrifice of life. Lord Lake resolved to proceed with more caution. But while he was preparing the means of crossing the broad deep moat of Bhurtpoor^ filled up with water, Meer Khan, wheeling round with his flying horse, made a rush into the Duab, and invaded the Company's own territories, being followed b}" clouds of Pindarrees, the freebooters and moss-troopers of India, who had scorned all political connections, and sought nothing but plunder. The rajah of Bhiu:tpoor had calculated that this unexpected invasion of the Duab would induce Lake to raise the siege ; but his lordship merely detached Major- G-eneral Smitli with a part of his cavalry, and with the horse artillery, and continued his own operations at Bhurtpoor. Smith executed the duty intrusted to him in a very masterly manner, and with complete success, crossing and re-crossing the Jumna and the Granges, plimging through other streams which intersected the country, climbing lofty mountains, threading woods and jungles, and making marches which were never surpassed by any army. The burning villages and the wasted coimtr\' showed him the route Meer Khan was taking. He came up with that chieftain on the 1st of March, near the toAm of Afzulghur, and routed him with great loss. The khan's principal officers were killed or wounded or captured, and a band of stout brave Patans, the pride of his army, were literally cut to pieces on the field, as they would neither fly nor surrender, Meer Khan went oft' like the wind, evacuating the Company's territories, and re-crossing the Granges with a very diminutive force. Greneral Smith, after restoring order to the country, returned to Bhurtpoor, the point from which he had started. His chase had lasted him a month, during which he had ridden over 700 miles of the roughest country.* * Major Thorn, ' Memoir of the War,' &c. The major, who had accompanied Gen. Smith, says, " Our detachment, after this expedition, was somewhat the worse for wear ; but, though many of the horses were completely knocked up, the state of the whole was far better than what might have been reasonably expected. It merits remark, that the Bengal 314 SIEGE OF BnUETPOOR. [1805. During the absence of G-eneral Smitli, Lord Lake had been joined by a division of the Bombay army, under Major- General Jones. This division, consisting only of four battalions of sepoys, one entire British regiment, eight com- panies of another British regiment, a troop of Bombay cavalry, 500 native irregular horse, and a few field-pieces, had made another extraordinary march, having traversed the whole of Malwa in central India, and having penetrated through the very heart of the Mahratta empire, including the hereditary dominions of Holkar and Scindiah. 'Not- withstanding this reinforcement, Lord Lake found that to take Bhurtpoor by siege and storm was no easy work. When wider breaches were made and another assault was in contemplation, the rajah's people sallied out in great force, and slew a heap of the besiegers with their long pikes and tolwars. And when that assault was made, it cost Lord Lake nearly 1,000 men in killed and wounded. On the very next day his lordsliip ordered another assault. This time he threw nearly the whole of his European force and several battalions of native infantry against those fatal walls, under the immediate command of Colonel Monson. Our men performed prodigies of valour. Lieutenant Temple- ton, who headed a party, was killed just as he had planted our colours near the summit of the lofty walls, and Major Menzies, who followed him, was slain as he was cheering on his men. And all the while the enemy, who appear to have been aided by some Erench artillerymen, and by people who had studied the art of war under M. Perron, kept up an incessant fire of grape-shot, and the people on the walls continually threw down upon the heads of their as- sailants, great stones, heavy pieces of timber, flaming bales cavalry throughout the campaign endured trials and hardships almost sur- passing conception. Independent of their previous long marches up to Delhi, they had pursued Holkar closely for above 500 miles, till they overtook him and completed his overthrow at the battle of Furruckabad ; shortly after which they were called off unexpectedly to the chase of Meer Khan, whom they followed through all his doublings and windings, over rivers of great magnitude, and to the mountains of Kemaon, from whence he was forced back, discomfited, and abandoned by the hardiest of his followers. In this fatiguing course the most harassing part which we had to undergo consisted in our nocturnal marches, which, continuing night after night through the whole month, proved exceedingly distressing to man and beast, in depriving them of that natural rest which they sought in vain during the heat of the day." 1805.] SIEGE OP BHTJETPOOE. 315 of cotton, previously soaked with oil, and pots filled with gunpowder and other combustibles. At last Colonel Mon- son gave up the attempt as hopeless, recalling the storming parties, and returned to the trenches. This time our loss in killed and woiuided seems to have exceeded 1,000 ; of English officers alone five were killed and twelve woimded. In aU 3,100 men and a very great number of officers were put hors de comhat in the several attempts to carry Bhurtpoor by storm. His lordship now converted his siege into a blockade. There appears to have been a want of artillery, skill, and of engineering science, and many errors had avowedly been committed. Our guns, which were nearly all blown at the touchhole, were now withdrawn, detachments were sent off for fresh guns and for supplies, and portions of the army were moved to other positions to block up the roads leading into the town, a difficult undertaking, for the cavalry of the enemy was still very numerous, and our cavalry was absent with G-eneral Smith, who had not yet returned from pur- suing Meer Khan. But when the rajah of Bhurtpoor, upon being informed that convoys, with supplies of all kinds from different parts, and battering guns and ammunition from Euttyghur and Alighur, were arriving daily in camp, that he had little or no assistance to expect from his allies, and that nothing seemed likely to interrupt the perseverance of Lord Lake, lost all faith in his lucky star, and sent vakeels to negotiate for a peace. But these iiegotiations were suspended by the reappear- ance of Holkar in great force about eight miles to the west- ward of Bhurtpoor. Fortunately the British cavalry which had been pursuing Meer Khan, was by this time in camp, and after resting a few days, it marched silently out by night, headed by Lord Lake himself, who intended to beat up the quarters of Holkar, as he had done at Furruckabad. The Mahratta, having received a hint, was in full flight before his lordship could reach the spot ; but some of the fiigitives were overtaken and slain, their camp was destroyed, and many of their horses, camels, and elephants, were captured. Still, however, Holkar lingered in the neighbourhood, and he was joined by Meer Khan, with the fragment of his own force and some of the Pindarrees, who had suffered no loss from General Smith's chase, because they never stopped to fight 31G SUBMISSION OF THE BIIUETPOOR EAJAH. [1805 wlien they could gallop away. This accession of force seem!< to have made Holkar less ^dgilant, for, on the 2nd of April, he was overtaken, charged in front and on both his flanks by Lake's cavalry, and put to the route with a terrible loss. He fled across the Chumbul river with about 8,000 horse, 5,000 foot, and twenty or thirty guns, the miserable remains of the vast army with which he had opened these campaigns. Several of his chiefs now came over with their followers to the English camp. Some troops that were advancing to his succour were beaten and scattered by a British detachment which marched out of Agra. Holkar fled to join Scindiah, who, notwithstanding the dreadful chastisement he had received at the hands of General AVellesley, and the treaty he had concluded in December, 1803, was contemplating a renewal of the war with the English. But the rajah of Bhurtpoorwas in no condition to wait the eifects of a new confederacy, his coimtry was half-ruined by the war, his besieged capital was now useless to him, and on the lOtli of April he repaired in person to the EngUsh camp and implored for peace. This was granted by Lord Lake upon the following conditions : 1. The fortress of Deeg was to re- main in the hands of the English till they should be assured of the rajah's fidelity, who pledged himself never to have any connection with the enemies of Great Britain, and never to entertain, without the sanction of the Company, any Europeans in his ser\dce. 2. He was to pay the Com- pany by instahnents twenty lacs of Eurruckabad rupees, and to give up some territories which the Company had formerly annexed to his dominions. 3. As a security for the due execution of these terms, he was to deliver up one of his sons as a hostage, to reside with the British officers at Delhi or Agra. Having received the first instalment of the money and the required hostage, our forces broke up from before Bhurtpoor, where they had been lying three months and twenty days. They began their march on the 21st of April, Lake going at once in search of Scindiah, who had expected that his lord- ship's army would be utterly ruined by the long siege and its other operations. "With JHolkar with him, or not far from him, Scindiah fled towards Ajmeer. Several of his chiefs came over and joined Lord Lake, who found more trust- worthy reinforcements in some divisions of British troops, and sepoys that now came up the country. 1805.] AERIYAL OF MAEQl'lS COEXWALLIS. 317 As the rainy monsoon approaclied, it was necessary to look for shelter. One part of Lake's army found it in the splendid but decayed palace of the great Akbar, at Puttypoor Sicree ; another part quartered itself in the remains of the palaces of the ancient Mogul chiefs, in and about Agra and Mutra; and two regiments of British dragoons found comfortable lodgings in the immense mau- soleum of the emperor Akbar, about seven miles from Agra, sheltering their horses in the once magnificent garden, and eating and sleeping and pursuing their trooper sports among the white marble tombs of the potentate and his family, and of the Mogul omrahs. The men were rough dragooners, without any of those pretensions to taste and reverence for works of art and antiquity, which Avere at this time set up by or for the armies of Bonaparte ; but they had the English feeling of respect for the dead, and they offered no violence to the sanctity of the tombs, though they were rumoured to contain gold and jewels, and they left the marble slabs and the ornamented Saracenic arches, the cupolas and minarets, the sculpture and carving, and the mosaic pavements, in as good order as they found them. To the honour of our troops, let this conduct be contrasted with that of the French in the sepulchral abbey of Batalha, in Portugal, and in numerous other edifices devoted to the ashes of the illustrious dead and to the services of the Christian religion. It is scarcely necessary to interrupt the narrative of the interesting war, or to make a separate chapter for the second and very short administration of the Marquis Corn- wallis. But aib this juncture that nobleman arrived to succeed the Marquis AVellesley, and being a military man to couple the office of commander-in-chief with that of governor-general. He commenced by pronouncing sentence of condemnation on the policy of his energetic predecessor. But Comwallis, however good, high-minded, and excellent, was now falling into the second childhood, and his atten- tion had been too exclusively occupied by those who mur- mured at the expenses of a necessary war. Moreover, he had come out shackled by ministerial injunctions and pacific orders. As commander-in-chief, Comwallis could control Lake, but he left him the chief command in the regions where he was. As soon, however, as the weather permitted, the marquis quitted Calcutta to travel to the upper pro- 318 DEATH OF COENWALLIS. [1805. yinces and there to confer with Lord Lake and others on the best means of terminating the war. At his advanced age he could ill bear the fatigues of such a journey ; he fell sick on the road, and died, and was baried at Gazipore, near Benares, within three months after his return to India. The government then devolved provisionally upon Sir G-eorge Barlow, senior member of the supreme council, an excellent administrator, a civilian, and one desirous of peace. But Barlow differed from Cornwallis as to the best means of obtaining a general pacification in India. Lord Lake was decidedly of opinion that the British possessions, and those of their allies, would never be secured until both Scindiah and Holkar were driven beyond the Indus and the Mah- ratta powers annihilated. His lordship maintained, that it would be an act of insanity, or of the very utmost impru- dence, to treat with Holkar. Such also had been the opinion of G-eneral AVellesley, who, in a letter dated the 29th of January of this year, had said : " We have had glorious successes in the contest with Holkar ; but his power of annoying us, or rather our allies, is by no means destroyed. I consider Holkar to be the chief of all the freebooters and vagrants scattered about all parts of India, every man of whom is the declared enemy of the British government. So long as Holkar exists and is in any strength, we cannot consider the territories of our allies in security, and we must protect them with our troops, as they have no troops of their own to protect themselves."* Lord Lake well knew that treaties with Mahrattas were of no avail, and that either Holkar or Scindiah singly, or both of them combined, would renew the war, were peace granted to them now, before many years were over. Had his lord- ship's advice been followed, both of these great Mahrattas would have been crushed at one and the same time. But what was termed the pacific spirit was again dominant in our councils, and large and impolitic concessions to one of those faithless chiefs were contemplated, including the im- portant fortress of Grwalior, which was oiu's by a second storm and capture, and a part of the country of Gohud, the Hindoo ruler of which had been true to his treaty with the Company, and had rendered important assistance to Lord Lake, during his campaign in Bhurtpoor. We never were pacific in India without being unjust to our allies. Nor, at * ' Wellington Despatches.' 1805.] LAKE PURSUES HOLKAR. 319 this period, could it be otherwise. The object of our pacific and diplomatic partiality was Scindiah, whose treachery deserved a signal punishment, and whose forces, whether acting separately or with Holkar, would have been despised by Lord Lake and his army. Upon receiving intimation of the favourable dispositions manifested towards him at Cal- cutta, Scindiah parted company with Holkar, and entered into negotiations with Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Malcolm, and thereupon Holkar spiu^red away to the banks of the Indus, giving out that he expected to be joined by the hardy tribes of Afghanistan and by the king of Cabul himself. He had stiU vrith him a few pieces of light artillery and some rabble ; and in the country to the north-west of Delhi, he picked up thousands of adventurers with horses and spears. He eluded Major-G-eneral Jones and Colonel Ball, who marched from different points to intercept him. This induced Lord Lake to follow Holkar himself; and fortunately his lordship was not restrained by orders from Calcutta, and he was again commander-in-chief in India; therefore, what was at once a romantic and a most useful campaign was opened, and it did not terminate until it had extended to the "fabulous streams" of Horace and Milton. The force Lake took with him on this extraordinary march consisted of his majesty's 24th and 25th dragoons, and the 6th native cavalry, under Brigadier- General Keed ; of his majesty's 8th dragoons, and 3rd native cavalry, commanded by Brigadier- &eneral Wood ; of his majesty's 22nd foot, a European regiment of the Company, and two battalions of sepoys, under Brigadier- General Mercer ; and of a park of horse-artiUery, commanded by Captains Pen- nington and Brown. With these corps Lake advanced towards the country of the Seiks, driving Holkar before him, and obhging that Mahratta to cross the Sutledj. The ameers or chiefs of the Seiks assured his lordship that their intentions were pacific : and so they were ; but so they would not have been if Lake had allowed Holkar any rest or time. Our little army halted for a day at Paniput, which was famous for the number of terrible battles which had been fought in its neighbourhood. The last of these terrible battles was fought in the year 1761, between the Afghans, under Achmed Shah, the sovereign of Cabul, and the com- bined Mahrattas. It ended, after a most obstinate conflict, 320 AN IRISH EAJAH. [1805. in the total defeat of the Mahrattas, 'who lost their whole army, Avith 200 pieces of artillery and everything else they had brought into the field. It is said, that of 500,000 soids, including women and children and camp-followers of aU descriptions, who were in the field with the Mahrattas, very few escaped alive. The bigoted Afghans murdered their helpless prisoners in cold blood ; alleging that, on leaving their own country, their dear mothers, sisters, and wives begged them, whenever they should defeat the unbe- lievers, to kill a few of them on their account, that they also might obtain merit in the sight of Grod and his prophet Mahomet. As the Afghans cut oif the heads of the Mah- rattas, they piled them up before the doors of their tents. The son of the peishwa of that day fell in the battle. His body was found and carried to the tent of the king of Cabul. The Afghans cried out, " This is the body of the king of the Unbelievers! We will have it dried and stuffed, that it may be carried home with us to Cabul!" His Afghan majesty was, however, induced to prevent this barbarity, and to order the body to be burned. Paniput was also remarkable as having been quite recently the capital of an Irish rajah, the famous Greorge Thomas, an adventurer from Tipperary and a deserter from our fleet, who had made himself master and sovereign of the whole of the Hurriannah, or "The G-reen Country," a beautiful district, extendmg to the verge of the sandy desert of Ajmeer.* From Paniput Lord Lake proceeded to Carnaul, and from Carnaul to Ameerghur, on the skirts of the great sandy desert. On his left there now appeared sandhills in endless suc- cession, like the waves of the ocean, desolate and dreary to an immense extent ; while to the front and right of these wastes, the eye was deceived by all the illusions of the mirage. t "These optical deceptions," says the his- torian of the march, who himself suftered what he described, * For this amusing episode in our Indian history for the marvellous adventures of the Irish rajah and the Begum Sumroo the reader is referred to ' Military Memoirs of Mr. George Thomas,' by Capt, W. Francklin, Calcutta, 1803. To Major Thorn, ' Memoir of the War,' &c. To Bishop Heber's ' Indian Journal ; ' and to ' Life of Lieutenant- Colonel -Skinner, recently edited and published by Baillie Tytler Fraser.' t Major Thorn. 1805.] LORD LAKE ON THE HYPHASIS. 321 " exhibited to us the representations of spacious lakes and rivers, with trees and other objects, in such a lively mamier as almost to cheat the senses of persons familiarly acquainted witli the phenomenon ; while they w^ho were oppressed by excessive heat and parched with thirst cheered themselves with the hope of being soon refreshed with water from the friendly tank or cooling stream, of which they thought they had so clear a prospect. Often were we thus agitated between expectancy and disappointment, flattering our imaginations with a speedy indulgence ; when, just as the delightful vision appeared on the point of being realized, like the cup of Tantalus, the whole vanished, and left us nothing to rest upon but arid plains of glittering and burn- ing sands."* Still pressing forward in what had once been the track of the greatest general of the gigantic conqueror Timour, or Tamerlane, Lake crossed the Sutledj, and, skirting the great sandy desert, which stretches from the left bank of the Indus to within 100 miles of Delhi, he plunged into the Punjaub, or the country of the five rivers. On his way he was joined by Colonel Burn, who had brought up a detachment from Paniput by an entirely new route, and by one of those admirable marches which so often challenge admiration in these far-extended campaigns. And then, still pressing onwards, and pointing the heads of his columns towards the spot where the Macedonian conqueror stayed his advance and turned back from the inauspicious gods of India, Lake reached the banks of the Hyphasis now the Beali or Beas the boundary of Alexander the G-reat's conquest, where his Greeks liad erected twelve massive altars as a memorial. The British standard waved majestically over those waters, and the British troops eyed themselves in the same clear mir- ror which had reflected the Macedonian phalanges more than tw^o thousand one hundred years ago. The scenery around was as sublime as the recollections. In the extreme dis- tance, from north to east, towered the snowy ridge of old Imaus a part of the Hemalaya whose loftiest peak exceeds the highest of the Andes by thousands of feet. The fleecy softness of this most faint and irregular outline * The Persians call this phenomenon "serab," or " sir-ab" (miracu- lous water). In these western deserts of India it is known by the name of " tchittram" (picture). It is a pity that we English should continue to employ a not very good French word. S22 TREATIES OF PEACE [1806. rested upon immense masses of nearer mountains : still nearer were rugged eminences and pine-clad liills sloping down to a fine undulating country of hill and dale, covered with luxuriant vegetation, enlivened by niunerous callages, dotted with tem- ples, pagodas, tombs, and ruins, and bounded by the noble river which flowed immediately before the English army on its way to join the Indus and the ocean. Many thousands of the native inhabitants collected on the opposite bank of the Hyphasis to gaze upon our troops; but as here, as during the whole march, the strictest discipline had been observed, and no wrongs offered to the people, these asto- nished spectators soon drew nearer, and, mixing with the bazar of the army, agreed to bring in suppHes of fruits, vegetables, and other commodities.* Holkar at this time lay encamped at a place about mid- way between Lord Lake's camp on the Hyphasis and Lahore, the capital of the Seiks, on the Eavee or Hydraotes another of Alexander's rivers. In two days and nights of his rapid forced marches, his lordship could have reached the spot, and have annihilated him if he had stayed to fight ; and if Holkar had continued his flight, which it is almost certain he would have done, in four days he would have been driven beyond the Hydraotes towards the Hydaspes, there to be finished by the Afghan tribes. But, before this, Sir Greorge Barlow had concluded a peace with Scindiah, and had sent Lord Lake instructions not only to treat with Holkar, but also to grant him very favourable terms ; and the chief of Lahore and of the whole Seik confederacy (having called a great council, which unanimously agreed to withhold aU aid from Holkar, and to interpose as media- tors, as the best means of getting rid both of the Mahrattas and of the English), sent, on the 19th of December, a vakeel to the British camp. The negotiations were neither long nor difficult, though they must have been exceedingly painful to * Major Thorn, ' Memoir of the War,' &c. " During our march," adds the major, " the most scrupulous regard was paid to the property of the inhabitants, as well that which was exposed as that which they had in their dwellings ; and when any injury happened unavoidably to be com- mitted, a liberal compensation in money soon prevented complaint or restored confidence. Thus our route through this remote part of India, and amongst a people naturally fierce and jealous, was pursued, not only without opposition, but with cordiality on both sides. As all supplies were punctually paid for, we wanted nothing that the country could produce." 1806.] WITH SCINDIAH AlfD HOLKAE. 323 Ids lordship. He was bound by bis instructions to behave with all courtesy towards the savage murderer the brutal assassin of three brave British officers to reinstate Holkar, not only in his own dominions, from which he had been driven, and which he had deserved to forfeit, but also to put him in possession of territory to which he never had any right. In conformity with the new system of policy which had been adopted, of abandoning all connection with the native states westward of the Jumna, and of making that river (a river everywhere passable except during the rains I) a boundary of the British dominions,* Lord Lake was instructed to dissolve the defensive alliances which we had contracted with the rajah of Jypoor and other inferior powers, who had rendered essential services to his lordship during the war, and who looked upon their ruin at the hand of the Mahrattas as an inevitable consequence of their being abandoned by the Enghsh at the peace. A man so brave and honourable as Lake could not contemplate this act of national treachery for to such the abandonment of our weak allies amounted without feelings of disgust and anguish. Although Holkar sent his own vakeel to the British camp, and although that negotiator agreed to the conditions, which were immeasurably more favourable than he had any right or reason to expect, that chief withheld the ratification of the treaty, and had recourse to many objections and evasions. But when some days had been thus lost. Lord Lake told the Mahratta's vakeel that if the papers were not presented didy signed, within eight-and-forty hours, he would cross the Hyphasis and continue his march against Holkar. And, to give more effect to this menace, his lordship marched his army down the left bank of the river to a ford or passage. This was on the 5th of January-, 1806, and in the afternoon of the 7th, the treaty, duly rati- fied, was presented to Lord Lake, with great ceremony. Having gratified and in part terrified the Seiks (they are said at the sight to have blessed their stars that they had not joined Holkar and gone to war against the English) with a brilliant review on the left bank of the Hyphasit?, and with showing them some of the effects to be pro- * Everywhere and always a river is a bad frontier. The particular bad- ness of the Jumna as a frontier line was strongly exposed by Lord Lake ; but those who now governed India for us would not listen to his lordship. y2 324 TEEATIES OF PEACE. [1806. duced by our horse-artillery, Lake struck his tents, and retraced his steps towards Delhi.* By the treaty with Scindiah, which had been concluded on the preceding 23rd of November, the treaty of peace concluded through General "Wellesley at Surjee Ajijeu- gaum was considerably modified and modified in favour of the faithless Mahratta. Gwalior and the greatest part of Gohud were ceded, "from considerations of friendship." For some jagheers which Scindiah yielded he was to receive an annual pension of four lacs of rupees ; and his wife and daughter were to be put in possession of other jagheers in the British territories in Hindustan, worth three more lacs of rupees per annum. The Company engaged to enter into no treaties with the rajahs of Oudepoor, Jodepoor, Kotah, or with any other chiefs, the tributaries of Scindiah, in Malwa, Mewar, or Merwar ; and to interfere in no respect vrith the conquests made by Scindiah between the rivers Taptee and Chumbul. Again was a river taken for a fron- tier line, the Chumbul, as afibrding a distinct line of demar- cation, being declared to be the boundary between states which were sure not to live long in friendship. The treaty promised Scindiah further restitutions and other advantages, provided his conduct should be such as to satisfy the Eng- lish of his amicable intentions towards them and their allies. By the treaty mth Holkar, which, as we have seen, was not ratified until the 7th of January, 1806, that chief renounced all claims upon any territories lying on the northern or English side of the Chiunbul, as also upon Poonah and Bundelkund, and all claims whatsoever upon the British government and its allies. He bound himself never to molest the territories of the Company or of its allies or dependants. But the Company agreed to restore, eighteen months after the conclusion of this treaty, Chandore, Graul- nah, and other forts and districts south of the Taptee and * Major Thorn, * Memoir of the War,' &c. Lord Lake quitted his command in India in February, 1807, leaving behind him a high and well-merited reputation. He appears to have possessed nearly every one of the good qualities of a British officer and gentleman. He died on the 21st of February, 1808, in the G4th year of his age, and just six months previously to the death of his beloved and affectionate son and brave companion in arms. Col. George Lake, who, after sharing in the toils and dangers of his father's brilliant Indian cam- paigns, fell in Portugal at the battle of Roli^a. 1806.] A TEANSITORY CALM. 325 G-odavery, provided the cliief fulfilled liis engagement and remained in a friendly attitude. He was to be allowed to return immediately from the Punjaub into Hindustan, but by a route prescribed to him, by which he would avoid injuring the territory of the Company and its allies.* As General Wellesley, Lord Lake, Sir John Malcohn, and every other enlightened man in India whose eyes were not distracted by the prospect of a present saving in money had clearly foreseen and predicted, such treaties as these could give only a transitory calm to the country. And this calm was purchased by a sacrifice of that moral force which must always be our greatest force in India. * Sir John Malcolm, ' Sketch of the Political History of India.' Sir John was himself the negotiator and agent in all these transactions. But grieved would he have been to have taken upon himself the responsibility of a diplomacy which had been imposed upon him. I knew him well, and shall never forget the warm, eloquent language in which he was accustomed to denounce the base abandonment of our allies. 326 THE MAEQTJIS WELLESLET. [1805. CHAPTEE XXVII. The MarquisWellesleyquitted India on the20tli of August, 1805, stortly after the arrival of the Marquis Comwallis at Calcutta. He was not left to accompHsh his own great plans, and some portions of his great scheme were impeded or spoiled by his immediate successors, or by the policy dictated to them by the home government. During the latter years of his administration, when his difficulties were greatest, he was not cordially supported in England by any party whatever ; and his schemes were severely criticised by men who did not comprehend them, and who could not see that present expenditure would be attended by immense future savings. The British legislature had but slowly followed the progress of the power of the Company in India. It had legislated for factories, when the Com- pany was in possession of provinces ; and by the time the laws were completed to govern provinces, the Company had acquired kingdoms. At no time was there a system formed fully calculated to the greatness of the empire.* Too frequently both the king's government and the direc- torial government were disposed to apply the old tiny factory scale to the vast empire, or to pretend that the laws laid down for merchants and traders ought to regulate the conduct of statesmen, soldiers, and conquerors. Cam- paigns were examined like debtor and creditor ;^account. Yet war was a necessity inherent in our position. Greneral "Wellesley, as well as his illustrious brother, knew that there could be no permanent peace in India, untU the Mahrattas were deprived of the means of invading and plunderiug their neighbours. "If," said he, writing to Malcolm, in January, 1804, "a Mahratta could sit down quietly, and * Sir John Malcolm, 'Political History of India.' I have followed the second and enlarged edition of this valuable work, which was pub- lished in 1826. 1805.] POWEE OF THE MAHEATTAS. 327 establish a regular government, with a view to future pros- perity^, I should not despair of peace : but unless Scindiah changes his nature, and that of a great proportion of his subjects, and dismisses a very large part of his army of horse (who must eat up more revenue than he can afford to pay them), and obliges the men to adopt habits of industry, which are entirely foreign to their nature, I do not see how a peace is to last."* As was Scindiah, so were all the great Mahratta chiefs ; and there was no difference between ^ their several subjects and followers. It was next to useless to destroy one of the two great chiefs without destroying the other at the same time. As Scindiah was humbled, Holkar rose and took his place, being enabled so to do by the old practice of the Mahratta horsemen, who were ever ready to desert from an unfortunate leader to join a fortimate one, even though it were the rival and foe of the master they had last served. These eastern Dugald Dalgetties looked merely to the best pay, or the best chances of provende and booty. The chiefs were at once capricious and faithless, cunning and passionate, so that it was very possible to gratify them in their real interests, without securing their fidelity to a treaty ; for, in a moment of caprice or rage, their spears were in their hands, and their fleet hordes of horsemen were in motion. ^o army, however great, could, by acting merely on the defensive, protect and effectually secure the far-extending frontiers of Oude, the Deckan, Mysore, Malabar, etc., frontiers which measured, altogether, many thousands of miles and to have made the attempt would have been to incur a ruinous expense together with most of the disadvantages of actual war, without any of its excitement, or glory, or profit. When as at Lord Wellesley's first arrival in India this INIahratta confederacy contained within it the nucleus of a European system of military organization and discipline, which might, in a few years, have rivalled the sepoy system estabHshed by the Company ; when M. Per- ron and other French officers could bring into the field 20,000 well-trained native infantry, and an immense and well-served artillery, to back the Mahratta horse the dan- ger which threatened the British power was assuredly so * * Wellington Despatches.' 328 COLLEGE OF [1805. great as to justify tlie policy aud the bold measures which the governor-general adopted. This was allowed by all the able men in the country- and England has not had abler men than those who were at this moment advancing her fame and her interests in India and all these statesmen and soldiers were convinced that the 1 rench must be driven out, that the Mahrattas must be broken up, and that the British must either be the first power in India, or cease to be a power at all. The happiness of the native populations was as much at stake as our fame and profit. More than a hundred millions of people were beginning to enjoy peace and prosperity under our dominion, or were entertaining the hope of escaping the evils of imasion, ci^il war, and anarchy, by being included in our system, or taken imder our pro- tection. During the whole of his Indian administration, Marquis "WeUesley laudably exerted himself to promote the welfare of the natives. Like Warren Hastings, he was the patron of every project which seemed likely to improve the condi- tion and civilization of the people, or to be useful in giving the European servants of the Company the means of becoming better acquainted with their languages, their manners and modes of thinking, their ancient laws and institutions. As soon as he reached Calcutta, he con- templated the foundation of a college in that city for the proper education of civil servants. Like all his conceptions, this plan was on a large and liberal scale. In the college of Eort William he was supposed to have projected a magni- ficent repository of European learning and principles and Asiatic erudition a vast moral magazine or treasury, ia which the stores of learning and wisdom might indefinitely accumulate, and in which the sages of the East might find studious solitudes more attractive even than the sacred shades of Benares.* But his first great object was cer- tainly one of a nature more practical, more immediate, and more pressing. It was, as his lordship expressed it in his own minute, " to supply the actual deficiencies of the civU service." Many of the servants of the Company had edu- cated themselves, and had acquired most extensive knowledge under very difficult and often discouraging circumstances ; but no proper provision had been made, either in England * ' Quarterly Review,' No. xxxiii. 1805.] PORT ST. WILLIAM. 329- or ill India, for a general and systematic education of such civil servants. These sen-ants of the Company had now offices to fill very different from those allotted to them in the days when young Clive sat in a warehouse, making out invoices. Lord Wellesley said : " The denominations of writer, factor, and merchant, by which the several classes of the civil service are still distinguished, are now utterly in- applicable to the nature and extent of the duties discharged and of the occupations pursued by the civil servants of the Company. To dispense justice to millions of people of various languages, manners, usages, and religions ; to ad- minister a vast and complicated system of revenue through districts equal in extent to some of the most considerable kingdoms in Europe ; to maintain civil order in one of the most populous and litigious regions in the world ; these are now the duties of the larger portion of the ci\dl servants of the Company. The senior merchants, composing the Courts of Circuits and Appeal under the presidency of Bengal, exercise in each of these courts a jurisdiction of greater local extent, applicable to a larger popidation, and occupied in the determination of causes infinitely more intricate and numerous, than that of any regularly constituted court of justice in any part of Europe. The senior or junior merchant employed in the several magistracies and ziilah courts, the writers or factors filling the stations of regis- trars and assistants to the several courts and magistrates, exercise, in different degrees, functions of a nature either purely judicial, or intimately connected with the admi- nistration of tlie police, and with the maintenance of the peace and good order of their respective districts Those civil servants who are invested with the powers of magistracy, or attached to the judicial department in any ministerial capacity, although bearing the denomination of merchants, factors, or writers, are bound by law, and by the solemn obligation of an oath, to abstain from every commer- cial and mercantile pursuit ; the mercantile title which they bear not only affords no description of their duty, but is Entirely at variance with it The civil servants of the East-India Company, therefore, can no longer be consi- dered as the agents of a commercial concern ; they are, in fact, the ministers and officers of a powerful sovereign .... They are required to discharge the functions of magistrates, judges, ambassadors, and governors of provinces ..... 330 THE COLLEGE. [1805. Their duties are those of statesmen in every other part of the world, with no other characteristic diiferences than the obstacles opposed by an unfavourable climate, a foreign language, the peculiar usages and laws of India, and the manners of its inhabitants." * He proposed that the institution should contain professors of ethics, jurisprudence, law of nations, English law, classi- cal literature, the modern languages of Europe, history, geography, and the physical sciences. He made a good begin nin g., and appointed some able teachers of the Oriental languages, laws, and the like ; but his plan was considered as too expensive, and was objected to upon other grounds. The college of Port William was reduced to little more than a seminary for the instruction of the Bengal civil servants in the languages used in that presidency. But, at home, the East-India college of Haileybury arose soon after. Lord "Wellesley's strenuous eiforts were also directed to the extension of the commerce and commercial intercourse of India, and to the commencement and formation of those important financial reforms which in the course of a few years doubled the revenues of the Company, with advan- tage to British commerce and without injustice or oppression to the natives. He saw that the employment of cheap India- built ships in the trade with Europe would be of equal advantage to England and to India ; and therefore he pre- pared so to employ them, and gave encouragement to those who extended the building of country ships. Warren Hastings himself was not more indifferent to money for his own use and profit : though, for his rank and station. Lord Wellesley was a poor man when he embarked for the East, he returned to England, after seven years' residence in India, little or not at all richer. On the fall of Seringapatam, the sum of 100,000 was set apart for his share of the spoil ; but he wished to encourage the army, and to reward it well for the labours of the campaign, and he gave up every farthing of that money to the troops. Where there was so much that was high and noble, petty faults ought never to be looked for, or ought to be forgotten if discovered. His administration in India was not only * Rev. T. R. Malthus, ' Statement respecting the East-India College,' &c. Marquis Wellesley, ' Minute relative to the College of Fort William. ' Thomas Roebuck, captain in the Madras N.I. ' Annals of the College of Fort William,' &c. Calcutta, 1819. )5.] THE COMPAKl'S SERVICE. 331 brilliant, but also productive of lasting good ; and though his great political system, for making the power of England supreme, was interrupted for the time, it has been found absolutely necessary to carry it out under his successors. The same rules which justified his conduct with respect to Tippoo Sultaun and the Mahrattas, must be applied to sub- sequent and recent proceedings against the Mahrattas, the Burmese, the Afghans, the Seiks, and others, or those pro- ceedings must be given up, as incapable of justification. "The great success," says Sir John Malcolm, "which attended Lord Wellesley's administration of British India is, on a general view, calculated to excite astonishment : nor wiU that be diminished by a nearer contemplation of the manner in which he ruled the large empire committed to his charge. His great mind pervaded the whole ; and a portion of his spirit was infused into every agent whom he employed ; his authority was as fully recognized in the remotest parts of British India as in Fort WiUiam ; all sought his praise ; all dreaded his censiu-e : his confidence in those he employed was imh'mited ; and they were urged to exertion by every motive that can stimulate a good or proud mind to action. He was as eager to applaud as he was reluctant to condemn those whom he believed conscientious in the discharge of their public duty. It was the habit of his mind to be slow in council, but rapid in action ; and he expected the greatest efforts from those he employed in the execution of his measures, whom he always relieved from every species of vexatious counteraction and delay which could arise from the untimely intrusion of official forms, or the unreasonable pretensions of lesser authorities. It was, indeed, with him, a principle to clothe them with all the power they coidd require to effect those objects which they were instructed to attain ; and, though there can be no doubt of the great and extraordinary merit of the distinguished officers who com- manded the British armies during his administration, it is to that liberal confidence, which gave them all the impression of the fullest power, and the most complete scope for the exercise of their judgment, that their unparalleled success is chiefly to be ascribed." * ^^The habit of contemplating objects of magnitude and in ^Hp vast field of India nearly everything was large of act- 332 ATTEMPTED IMPEACHMENT [1806. ing on a great scale, and of depending on their own abilities and resources, which, on account of distance from head- quarters and other causes, they were frequently obhged to do ; together with the necessity of finding intellectual occu- pation and amusement in remote up-country stations, had qualified many officers of the Company, both civil and military, to perform whatever duty might, on an emergency, be allotted to them. It was from among a class of men like these that the marquis selected his officers and agents, and they found their reward in his patronage, with inducements to farther improvement. These men, again, became objects of emulation to younger officers and civil servants; and thus both branches of the service were improved and elevated. During the administration of Lord Wellesley, the esta- blishments of the Anglican Church in India were enlarged and improved ; without any offence being offered to the reli- gious prejudices of the natives, missionaries were encouraged in their arduous efforts at conversion, and countenance and protection, and a most hberal hospitality, were bestowed on the learned and scientific men of all nations that visited or dwelt in India. The dark superstitions and revolting rites of the Hindus could not be suppressed at one blow, or in a short series of years ; any premature or rash attempt would have ruined our empire, and have deluged the coimtry with European and native blood ; but a commencement was made, and the horrible annual sacrifices of human victims at the island of Sagor, near one of the mouths of the Ganges, were suppressed.* The marquis was not recalled; he voluntarily resigned. It is said that he had only been prevailed upon to retain the governor-generalship so long, at a most critical period of Indian history, by the earnest intercession of Mr. Pitt's govemment.f This, indeed, may be discerned in his lord- ship's despatches, and in those of his brother the duke. * Sagor Island, on the east side of the Hooghly river, was a celebrated place of pilgrimage among the Hindus, on account of the great sanctity arising from its situation at the junction of the holiest branch of the Ganges with the ocean. Many human sacrifices were in consequence annually performed of aged persons of both sexes, which were voluntary, and of children, which were forced. The periods fixed for the celebra- tion of these sacrifices were, the full of the moon in November, and the fall of the moon in January. t Lord Brougham, ' Statesmen of the Time of George III.' third series. )7.] OF THE ilAEQUIS WELLE SLET. 333 On reaching England the marquis was well received by the government of the day ; but that government was fast approaching its dissolution, for Mr. Pitt was dying when he gave the hand of welcome to his noble friend, and he died a few days after the interview. The financial repinings of the Court of Directors seem to have died away on his return, though many years were allowed to pass before his merits were fally recognized, or before he received substantial marks of the gratitude of that body. "When, in his old age, the marquis published his Indian despatches, the libraries of Calcutta, and of other presidencies, were, at the expense of the Court, liberally supplied with copies, and in an address which was unanimously voted to his lordship in the year 1837, the Directors said : " To the eventful period of your lordship's government, the Court look back with feelings common to their countrymen ; and, anxious that the minds of their servants should be enlarged by the instruction to be derived from the accumulated experience of eminent statesmen, they felt it a duty to diffuse widely the means of consiilting a work unfolding the principles upon which the supremacy of Britain in India was successfully manifested and enlarged, under a combination of circumstances in the highest degree critical and difficult." These Indian despatches, together with the first three volumes of the duke of "Wellington's despatches which relate, entirely to India, ought, indeed, to be consulted as oracles by all the servants of the Company, whether military or civil. We did not, like the French, bastille, or gag and decapi- tate our great rulers in the East; but it had become a fashion with a certain portion of the British parliament to denounce the conduct of every active governor-general while in. India, and to endeavour to get up an impeachment against him on his return to England. A very crack-brained person, named Paull, originally a tailor in Perth, who had lived some years in India as a trader, and who had there received sundry important favours from the governor-general, who had, in fact, saved the man from utter ruin at Lucknow,* stepped forward as chief accuser in the present instance, * For tlie extent of Mr. Paull's obligations to the Marquis Wellesley, and for the warmth of the gratitude and the profound respect he had expressed for his lordship, see Mr. Paull's own letter to Major John Malcolm, dated Lucknow, 9th February, 1803, as printed by P. Auber, Esq., in the second volume of his work. 334 THE MAEQUIS WELLESLEi" TRIUMPHS. [1809. and did his little best to demonstrate that his lordship and his brother, the general, had committed deeds in India which ought to exclude them for ever from the honour of serving their country in any capacity. The ultra-oppositionists took Paull by the hand (to leave him, when his fortune was ruined, by political contests, to despair and suicide), and Sir Philip Francis did his usual spiriting. But the articles of impeachment against the noble marquis, presented by PauJl, and supported by Francis and his party, and after- wards reproduced by Lord Folkestone, were thrown out by a large majority of the House of Commons, and were repro- bated by the general sense of the nation. But these vexatious proceedings ran over a period of three years, during which Wellesley was exposed to obloquy and kept out of state service, for he would not accept the office of secretary for foreign affairs, which was offered to him, until the parliamen- tary proceedings were all over.* * * Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' By Peter Auber, M.R.A.S., late secretary to the Honourable the Court of Direc- tors of the East-India Company. Sir John Malcolm, ' Sketch of the Political History of India.' Parliamentary Papers. The Marquis Wel- lesley's Ind. Despatches. For further information regarding Haileybury College, the reader is referred to, ' View of the System and Merits of the East-India College at Haileybury,' &c. &c. by Robert Grant. ' A Letter to the Chairman, Deputy-Chairman, and Court of Directors of the East-India Company on the subject of their College at Haileybury.' By a Civilian. ' Statutes and Regulations for the Government of the East- India College. Printed by Order of the Honourable Court of Directors.' 1823. For information regarding the Company's Military School at Addis- combe, see 'Memoir of the East-India Company's Military Seminary.' 1805.] THE BAELOW ADMIIS'ISTEATION. 335 CHAPTER XXVIII. Sir GrEOEGE Baelow had filled various subordinate offices in an able and honourable manner, and had deservedly acquired great reputation as a civil administrator. He had been a member of the supreme council during the last four years of the Wellesley administration, and was senior member when Lord Cornwallis died. By act and charter, the powers of government fell provisionally into Sir G-eorge's hands by this death. But the Court of Directors deemed Barlow a fit person to be confirmed in the office of governor- general, and the Board of Control approved of the measure, though only as a temporary arrangement. The death of Mr. Pitt had brought Mr. Pox and his friends into office, and these Whigs were desirous of nominating a governor- general out of their own party. The Court of Directors were anxious to retain Sir George Barlow, and pleaded their right to nominate the governor-general. Hence arose an angry collision at home between the king's government and the Court of Directors, and not a little confusion and obstruction to public business in India. Sir Greorge expressed his resolution to follow the peace policy which Lord Cornwallis, on his second appointment, had come out to promote. He urged that the British interests woidd be best promoted by throwing off a number of our allies, and by narrowing our connections. Indeed, he appears to have been animated by the wish which Lord Cornwallis had at one time expressed, that the English would never think of extending their frontier line beyond Benares. It was in this spirit that the recent treaties with the Mahrattas had been concluded. But Sir Greorge, like others who had followed what was called the pacific system, thought it would be very advantageous to revive the contests and commotions which formerly prevailed among the states of Hindustan, and which kept all those states poor and weak, 536 PEACE POLICY. [1805. except the Mahrattas. The war policy of Lord Wellesley was not a tenth part so destructive of human happiness as this base peace policy : then a few great battles decided the contest, but now an interminable series of hostilities was to be kept up among the natives ; then war had been deprived of half its horrors by the discipline of the British troops and the Company's sepoys ; but now all the atrocities of the Mahratta mode of warfare were to be let loose, in order to save the Company the sin and the eo'pense of waging war or maintaining troops in Upper Hindustan . Lord Wellesley had exposed, in spirited language, the dishonour the abomi- nation of this policy. " In the termination of hostilities," said h^, " my solicitude has been directed to the important purpose of effecting a general pacification of India, on prin- ciples of reciprocal justice and moderation. The power, reputation, and dignity of the British empire in India will derive additional security and lustre from the establishment of peace and good order among the native states. In the decline of intrinsic strength, inferior states may, perhaps, have gained a temporary safety by fomenting the discord of contiguous powers ; but in any extremity such a policy is unwarrantable and disgraceful, nor can permanent repose be secured upon such precarious foundations."* Upon finding themselves abandoned to the mercy of the Mahrattas, the rajah of Jypoor, the rajah of Boondee, and others of our allies, exclaimed against the bad faith of the English, and materially injured the reputation of the Com- pany. Other small states, threatened by Scindiah or by Holkar, called for a protection which Sir George Barlow would not afibrd, lest he should involve himself in hostilities with the Mahrattas. Scindiah, far from resting satisfied with the very advantageous treaty which he had obtained when his fortunes were desperate, lost no time in advancing claims to more and more territory. The province of Berar suffered severely from inroads made by thePindarree robbers, who were encouraged by Scindiah ; and it was in vain that the people applied for the protection of the British. Yet Greneral Wellesley had made a treaty with the rajah of Berar, in which the Company was bound to afford protection. Terrible dissensions arose among the Rajpoot chiefs, wliich threatened to plunge the whole of Rajpootana into anarchy * 'Wellesley Despatches,' &c. Reply to the address of the British inhabitants of Calcutta, on the 29th of February, 1804. 1805-(>.] CHANGES IN" THE ARMY. 337 and misery ; but Sir Greorge declined interfering, even as a mediator. Other commotions began to rage in various and distant parts of the country ; and, if this peace policy had been pursued much longer, every part of India not occupied by our troops, would have been in a blaze. But the event which rendered memorable the brief admi- nistration of Sir Greorge Barlow was the mutiny and mas- sacre at Vellore. LordAYilliam Bentinck had succeeded Lord Clive as gover- nor of Madras, at the end of August, 1803, and had imme- diately set on foot various reforms, or changes which were called reforms by his lordship's friends, and dangerous inno- vations by those who did not agree with him. So long as the Marquis AVellesley and his brother, the general, were in India, this reforming spirit was kept in check; but after their departure, it took its own course. When it had failed, it was lU'ged by his friends, that, in the particular reform which caused the terrible disaster, Lord William Bentinck liad very little to do, and that it originated with Sir John Cradock, after- wards Lord Howden, who became, in 1805, commander-in- chief of the forces in the Madras presidency ; but it should appear that Lord William, who showed himself, at a later period, and in other countries besides India, a very impatient reformer, was rather zealous in enforcing Cradock' s plan. His lordship fully approved of a code of military regulations drawn up by Major Pearce, the deputy adjutant-general, mider the directions of Greneral Sir John "Cradock, and which contained regulations of a nature highly offensive to the prejudices of the native troops. Among these offensive regulations were tlie following ^the sepoys were required to clip their moustaches, to appear on the parade with their chins clean-shaved, and never to wear the distinguishijig marks of caste on their forehead, or their ear-rings when in uniform. A turban of a new fashion, and of one unvarying cut, was also ordered for the sepoys. Very soon these Madras sepoys were found to be as angry as the Russian Strelitz had been when Peter the Great first took them by the beard. A battalion of their 4th regi- ment, which then composed part of the garrison of Vellore, in the fortress of which the family of the late Tippoo Sul- taun still resided, upon being called upon (on the 6th and 7th of May, 1806) to wear the new regulation turban, became disorderly, and vowed they would wear no such z 338 MtjTiNY^ [1806. abomination.* Sir John Cradock held a court of inqnir^-, broke the native non-commissioned officers, and left two men to receive 900 lashes each. The' governor in council regretted that the turban order had ever been adopted, but agreed with Sir John Cradock that to revoke the order would be to commit the authority and respect due to those who had issued it. The governor in council, however, drew up a general order to the native troops, containing the most positive assurances, that " no intention existed to introduce any change incompatible with the laws or usages of their religion." But Sir John Cradock thought it unnecessary to publish this general order, and, in an unhappy moment, the governor in council adopted his opinion, and the order was not published at all. A very few days after Sir John had assured Sir George Barlow that the reports received about the discontents of the sepoys had been greatly exag- gerated, the massacre of Vellore was perpetrated. It appears, beyond a doubt, that there were other elements of discord besides the beards and turbans. The lesson taught by the wild outbreak of Yizier Ali at Benares had been thrown away upon our Indian governments, for the family of Tippoo and their numerous adherents had not only been allowed to remain at so short a distance from the fron- * I have before me a description of the turban, and an account of the troubks to which it gave rise, written by an English officer on the staff of the naval commander-in-chief, who was at Madras at the time of the insurrection : " The turban was made of English broadcloth, covering a slight iron frame ; the only other material employed was a small cockade of leather, to which some objected, suspecting it to be the skin of a hog, which is an impure animal, though the chief disUke arose from a fancy that the whole resembled a hat, which particularly marks a European. '* The author was at that period at Madras, and well remembers that the sentries at his own door mounted guard for some days with a shawl or handkerchief bound about the head, rather than wear this hateful turban. In no other respect did the troops at the presidency show any disposition to resist the authority of their officers, though considerable pains were taken by the malcontents to instigate them to mutiny." * Massacre of Vellore,' in the ' Plain Englishman,' vol. ii., London and Windsor, 1821. The excellent officer and man who furnished this article Edward Hawke Locker, esq., late commissioner of Greenwich Hospital was joint editor with Mr. Charles Knight, of the ' Plain Englishman.' The article contains a most interesting narrative of the insurrection, drawn up by the widow of the murdered Colonel Fancourt, who, with her children, narrowly escaped sharing the fate of her husband. 1806.] MASSACEE AT YELLOEE.' 339 tier of their own country, but had also been indulged with a liberty of intercourse and correspondence which might easily be abused. The splendour which the sons of Tippoo were enabled, by the liberality of the Company, to keep up, attracted a continual influx of visitors, including all that came to Vellore from the countries which had once belonged to their father. Among these men were very many who had lost by the change which had taken place in. Mysore, who hated the tranquillity which we had introduced into their country, and who longed for the old days of rapine and violence. It is believed that these desperadoes contri- buted to get up a regular conspiracy, and to facilitate the execution of the daring design. It is said that the con- federates intended that all who were brought to join in the insurrection should act upon a preconcerted plan, which had been digested and privately circulated by some of the tur- bulent Marawa chiefs ; and that in connection with these desperadoes were some few Frenchmen, disguised as fakeers or dervishes, who went about the country inveighing every- where against the English as robbers and t}Tants.* It is also stated that placards were fixed up within the mosques and Hindu temples, where Europeans never entered, to excite a general spirit of revolt among the whole native popu- lation of Madras .f Colonel Eancourt, an experienced and brave soldier, who commanded the garrison of Vellore, was taken completely by surprise- He was in bed and asleep at two o'clock in the morning of the 10th of July, when the conspirators began the massacre by attacking the European part of the garrison, which consisted of only four companies of his majesty's 69th regiment. The mutinous sepoys being joined by colleries, or professional robbers, from Marawa, by the rabble of Vellore, a large and populous town, and by other desperadoes, were as ten to one to the British soldiers of the 69th, who, moreover, were taken as completely by sur- prise as was Colonel Eancourt. Several warnings had been * Biographical Memoir of the late Major-General Sir R. R. Gillespie, as cited in the ' East-India Military Calendar ; containing the Services of General and Field Officers of the Indian Army.' f Massacre of Vellore, in the * Plain Englishman.' The police must have been carelessly managed, for many hundreds of vagrants, fakeers, dervishes, jugglers, and the like, had been allowed to settle in the town, and to live upon the bounty of the Mysorean princes. z 2 340 MASSACRE AT VELLORE. [1806. given, but none had been heeded. Except the ordinary- weak night-guards, men and officers were in their beds. Just as the moon had risen above the horizon, the Euro- pean barracks were silently surrounded ; and then a most destructive fire was poured in at every door and window, from musketry and a six-pounder, upon the poor defenceless soldiers. At the same moment the European soldiers doing duty with some of the sepoys on the main guard, and even the sick in the hospital, were assaulted and inhumanly- butchered. This being done, the assassins hastened to the houses of the British officers, where they put to death all who fell into their hands. Colonel Fancourt, Colonel MacKerras, jNIajor Armstrong, Major Harriot, and eleven other officers, and about 100 British soldiers were massacred, and some officers and a good many more men were wounded. At about seven o'clock in the morning, two English officers and a siu-geon, whose quarters were near to the European barracks, contrived to get into that building, and there they took the command of the remains of the four companies of the 69th regiment. These few men soon made a sally from the barracks, gained possession of a six-pounder, which the mutineers had been using, fought their way through their assailants, and reached the ramparts and a gateway, on the top of which Serjeant Brodie, with a small European guard, had made a long and most gallant stand. This Brodie was the hero of the night, for he had fought on and maintained his post several hours after aU his officers had been killed. Such was the state of things a handful of English sol- diers keeping possession of the top of the gateway and a comer of the ramparts, and the mutineers and the rabble committing havoc in the town when Colonel Gillespie, who commanded at Arcot, received the dismal intelligence of what was doing at Vellore. Colonel Eancourt and Grillespie were old friends and fellow- soldiers, having served together in the "West Indies, and they had been made happy by being stationed near to each other in the Carnatic. Grillespie had appointed to dine with his friend and family on the preced- ing day, and to sleep in their quarters at Vellore ; but just as he mounted his horse to ride over, some letters had arrived from the government, and these requiring immediate answers, compelled him to send an excuse and postpone his visit till the morrow. 1S06.] MUTIJTY SUPPRESSED. 341 Had it not been for the imperative circumstance of duty which detained him at Arcot, Colonel Grillespie would almost inevitably have shared the catastrophe of his brave friend. On the morning of the 10th he mounted his horse at six o'clock, with the intention of riding over to Yellore in time for breakfast. It was at this instant that he received tlie news of the tragic fate of Colonel Eancourt, and of the horrors that were still prevailing. ISTot a moment was to be lost ; and, therefore, collecting instantly a troop of the 19th dragoons, whose horses were already saddled, and ordering the gaUoper-guns to follow with aU possible speed, he applied the spur and went off at the racing pace. The distance from Arcot to Yellore is about sixteen Enghsh miles. It was seldom performed in so short a time. So eager was Colonel Grillespie to reach the place, that he was considerably in advance of his troop of dragoons, when Serjeant Brodie, who had biu-ned almost his last cartridge, descried him from the top of the gateway. Brodie, who had served with him in St. Do- mingo, turned to his drooping comrades and said, " If Colonel Gillespie be alive, here he is at the head of the 19th dragoons, and God Almighty has sent him from the "West Indies, to save our lives in the East !" Regardless of his own safety, and in the face of a furious fire, poured upon him from the wails and close round towers, the colonel pushed towards the bastion and the gateway. There, a chain, formed of the soldiers' belts, being let down by Serjeant Brodie, the colonel grasped it, and was pulled up the face of the work. The poor survivors of the 69th welcomed him as a deliverer ; and, at his word of command they promptly formed, charged with the bayonet, and drove the mutineers from that part of the works. Gillespie then waited till his dragoons and galloper-guns came up. Upon their arrival, orders were given to blow open the gate, and, this being done, the dragoons dashed through the gateway into the fortress, and were soon followed by some native cavalry of Port St. George, who were quartered at Arcot. The mutineers and insurgents were numerous, and they were desperate : they seemed determined to maintain the battle in the inte- rior of the fortress ; but the sudden charge of our cavalry, and then the fire of our gallopers, broke them and dis- persed them. From 300 to 400 were cut to pieces on the spot; some hundreds threw down their arms and cried for quarter, while the rest fled in all directions. A 342 MILITABT EXECUTIONS. [1806. considerable number escaped through the sally-port ; but some hundreds were taken in hiding-places and imprisoned. The disaffection had not reached the native cavalry, for they charged as fiercely as our own horse, and their sabres were as deeply stained as those of the English dragoons with the blood of their misguided mutinous countrymen.* The standard of Tippoo Sultaun had been hoisted on the palace within the fortress almost as soon as the insur- rection broke out, and no doubt was entertained that the sons of Tippoo, who inhabited that palace, were par- takers in the plot. Colonel Gillespie felt so well assured of this fact, that in the first emotions of indignation and horror occasioned by the death of his dear friend Fancourt, and the shocking spectacle which presented itself on all sides, he would have consented to the demands of our enraged soldiers, who were bent upon entering the palace. But he yielded to the entreaties of some of the persons who had the care of the Tippoo &mily ; and though he could not be persuaded of their innocence, he condescended to take the Mysorean princes under his protection ; and he sent them shortly after with a good guard down to Madras. It was reported and believed in the army, that, if Colonel Grillespie had not acted with such promptness and spirit, the insur- gents, in the course of a few days, would have been joined by 50,000 men from Marawa, Mysore, and other parts.f Two of the princes were clearly convicted of having tam- pered with the garrison previously to the mutiny. They were all treated as prisoners, and, in a very short time, shipped off for Calcutta. Hundreds had been cut to pieces in the fight by the 19th dragoons and the Madras native cavalry ; but the punishment of the mutineers who were captured was not cruel or excessive. A general court- martial sentenced a few to death, as having been the most culpable in the massacres. The executions took place under circumstances of peculiar solemnity. On the firing of a signal gun, a certain number were hanged, and others shot by their comrades or blown from the mouths of * "We state this fact," says a writer in the ' Quarterly Review,' * * upon the high authority of a respectable officer, who belonged to the 19th dragoons, and was with them on this memorable occasion." No. xxxvi. t Biographical memoirs of the late Major-General Su" R. R. Gillespie, as quoted in the ' East-India Military Calendar.' 1806-7.1 PACIFIC ADMINISTEATION. 343 cannon, at the same instant, in presence of all the troops. The spectacle struck horror along the whole line. But the abandonment of the objectionable regulations proved the most effectual means of re-establishing discipline and the public tranquillity.* Lord William Bentinck and Gi-eneral Sir John Cradock were recalled by the Court of Directors as soon as the tragedy at Vellore was kno-^n in England. By too strictly and suddenly enforcing orders of retrench- ment and economy, Sir George Barlow spread discontent through the whole army, Europeans and natives, officers and men. Perhaps our empire in the East was never in more real danger than during this short "pacific " adminis- tration, some of the evils of which were severely felt by Sir Gleorge's successor. t * Account, in the ' Plain Englishman.' t Professor H. H. Wilson, ' Continuation of Mill's History of British India.' 344 LOED MINTO, GOYEKNOE-GENEBAL. [1806-T. CHAPTER XXIX. A DISPUTE at home as to the appointment of governor- general ended in a curious compromise. Ministers gave up Lord Lauderdale, whom they had wished to force upon the Company, the Court of Directors gave, up Sir Greorge Barlow, whom they had wished to retain, and, by mutual consent, Lord Minto, president of the Board of Control, was named governor-general. Though nominated in July, 1806, Lord Minto did not reach India until July, 1807. Having touched at Madras, his lordship reached Calcutta and entered upon the business of his high office at the beginning of August, Sir Greorge Barlow condescending to accept the inferior appointment of governor of Madras. Lord Minto, when Sir Grilbert Elliott, had been one of the bitterest enemies of AVarren Hastings, and had taken a most active part on the impeachment and trial of that great man. Like some of his predecessors, he had come out to India impressed with the notions that our true poHcy was non-interference, that no attempt ought to be made to extend the limits of our possessions or to increase the number of our connections with the native princes. No man had inveighed more bitterly than he against the ambi- tious, encroaching, aggrandizing spirit of Mr. Hastings, or had dwelt more pathetically on the wrongs done to the native princes. Yet his lordship had not been many days on the banks of the Hooghly ere he confessed that the security of our empire depended upon the actual superiority of our power, upon the sense which the natives entertained of that power, and upon the submissiveness of our neigh- bours, and before he had been many months in India, he found himself under the necessity of interfering in the internal affairs of our neighbour and ally, the nizam of the Deckan, whom he soon reduced to be a mere cipher in his 1807.] MEEE KUA^. 345 own capital. The nizam's minister, Meer Alum, died. The nizam wished to appoint Moonir-ul-Miilk his successor ; but the government of Bengal preferred Eajah Chundu Loll, as being more favom-ably disposed towards the English interests, and by virtue of their military' force at Hyderabad the rajah was appointed, and from this moment the nizam ceased to take any active part in public aftairs. In another direction Lord Minto saw the necessity of departing from the non-interference system ; and, though he declined more extensive engagements, he assisted the peishwa in reducing to submission some of his refractory tributaries. His lordship also was made to feel that our ally, the rajah of Berar, had been unfairly and impoliticly abandoned by Sir G-eorge Barlow's treaties with Scindiah and Holkar, and at the call of the rajah, or at the alarming prospect of fresh inva- sions and convulsions on or near to the Company's frontiers, he prepared to establish a permanent force on the Nerbuddali river, far in advance of the frontier line which Sir George Barlow had fixed as our ne plus ultra. And this advance was indeed absolutely necessary to oiu* preservation and to the tranquillity of our dominions. The Patau chief, Meer Khan, who had joined Holkar, and had given so much trouble to Lord Lake and our pursuing cavalry during the siege of Bhurtpoor, after committing many wholesale murders, and making various invasions, was threatening, with a mixed army of Patans, Mahrattas, Jauts, and Pindarrees, to overrun the whole of Berar, and to press upon the Company's territories.* He was advancing towards Najpoor, a large to^ii in the Gundwana province, when a British force, under the com- mand of Colonel Barry Close, met him and drove him back. Had he not been impeded by orders from the governor- general. Close would have followed up the savage and have destroyed him, a measure as necessary as the destruc- tion of Dhoondiah Waugh by General Wellesley. As matters stood, Meer Khan was allowed to withdraw into Malwa, in order to desolate that interesting country, to collect there more Pindarree robbers, and to re-appear at a more opportune moment. Active warfare was also waged in Baroda and Guzerat, in reducing some turbulent chieftains, and in preventing the * For an account of the atrocities of this Meer Khan, and of his treacherous massacre of the Rajpoot chief Sevaee Sing, and 500 of his followers, see Sir John Malcolm, * Memoir of Central India.' 346 AFGHANS AST) SEIKS. [1808-9. crime of infanticide, which was very prevalent in that part of India. The troops under Colonel Walker planted the Com- pany's flag in several places where it had never floated before, captured the fort of Kindador, stormed that of Mallia, and extended our real dominion on the side of the Gruico- war's territory, and over one of the most flourishing tracts in Hindustan. The renewed alarm about the designs of Bonaparte upon our Eastern empire forced Lord Minto into many embas- sies, and into a great extension of diplomatic relations, and it was now that the Indian government for the first time courted a close connection with the Afghans and the ameers of Scinde. At the close of the year 1807, it was confidently reported that the French, who had for a time destroyed our influence at Petersburgh, Constantinople, and Teheran, en- tertained the design of invading India with the co-operation of Russia, Turkey, and Persia. This was a fantastical hydra, a mere chimera; nevertheless the apprehensions which it excited were real and rather lasting. Two hardy, fierce, and warlike nations, the Afghans and the Seiks of Scinde, occupied the countries which lie between Persia and Upper India, and through which the invaders must advance. These two nations had been mortal enemies to each other ; but Lord Minto courted the alliance and friendship of both. The Honourable Mountstuart Elphin- stone, who had risen rapidly in the Company's service, and had given proofs of eminent abilities as resident at the Mahratta court of Poonah, was despatched as ambassador extraordinary to the Afghan court of Cabul. Zemaun Shah, who had twice invaded Upper India, and against whom our diplomacy and the mission of Sir John Malcolm had anned the Persians, had long ceased to reign, having been betrayed by his own family, and dethroned and then blinded by Prince Mahmood. Shujah-ul-Mulk, the full brother of Zemaun Shah, made war upon Mahmood, drove him from Cabul, and placed himself upon the throne. His success was owing to his being in possession of almost all the jewels and other property of the croTVTi, which had been committed to his charge by his brother Zemaun. Between the years 1800 and 1809 some half-dozen more revolutions or civil wars had taken place, but when Mr. Elphinstone and his splendid embassy reached the court, Shujah-ul-Mulk was in possession of the throne. He was a 1809.] ME. elphijj'stone's embassy. 347 handsome man, about thirty years of age, of an olive com- plexion, with a thick black beard. " The expression of his countenance," adds our distinguished elchee, "was dignified and pleasing, liis voice clear, and his address princely. We thought at first that he had on armour of jewels ; but, on close inspection, we found this to be a mistake, and his real dress to consist of a green tunic, with large flowers in gold and preci- ous stones, over which were a large breastplate of diamonds shaped like two flattened fleurs-de-lis, an ornament of the same kind on each thigh, large emerald bracelets on the arms (above the elbow), and many other jewels in different places. In one of the bracelets was the Koh-i-noor, known to be one of the largest diamonds in the world. * But in the midst of all this barbaric show, oiu* quick- sighted elchee saw that many things fell far short of his ex- pectations, that " all bore less the appearance of a state in prosperity than of a splendid monarchy in decay;" and that " nothing could exceed the meanness and rapacity of his majesty of Cabul's officers." t At this moment, though seated on the throne. Shah Shujah-ul-Mulk was not in posses- sion of his o\\ii capital, and the embassy was received, not at the city of Cabul, but at Peshawer ; and civil war, or a war of clans, was raging in all the countries between the cities of Cabul and Candahar. Nevertheless Mr. Elphinstone ably did what he was sent to do ; and in June, 1809, he concluded a treaty with Shujah-ul-Mulk, in which the co-operation of the Afghans was promised against the designs of the Trench, who were declared in the treaty to have entered into a confederacy against the kingdom of Cabul with ulterior views on Lidia. The English, of course, bound themselves * The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, ' Account of the Kingdom of Caubul and its Dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India ; comprising a View of the Afghaun Nation, and a History of the Dooraunee Mo- narchy. ' t " Lord Minto had sent many splendid presents to the king. The Afghan officers who received charge of these presents kept the camels on which some of them were sent, and even seized four riding camels which had entered the palace by mistake. They stripped Mr. Elphinstone's elephant-drivers of their livery ; and gravely insisted that two English footmen, who were sent to put up the chandeliers, were part of the governor-general's present to their shah. " His Afghan majesty himself seems to have been rather craving ; for having admired the EngHsh silk stockings worn by Mr. Elphinstone and the gentlemen of his suite, he sent a message desiring that some might be given to him."' Account of the Kingdom of Caubul,' &c. 3 IS ME. elphinstone's embassy. [1809. to pay for this co-operation, or to provide for the expense this new ally might incur in preventing the French and other enemies of the English from traversing his dominions and entering upon India. The state of affairs was much too critical to allow the English embassy to prolong their stay. The king was about to take the field with a nvmierous but disorderly army ; and on the 14th of June Mr. Elphinstone and his retinue com- menced their return towards the Indus. They had not tra- velled four miles from Peshawer ere they were plundered by a band of robbers, of a mule loaded with fine shawls, and with rupees to the amount of about 1,000 sterling. On the 20th of June they crossed the broad Indus at Attock.* In three marches from the southern bank of the Indus, they reached the valley of Hussein Abdaul, famous in all ages for its beauty, and which had been a favoured resting-place of the Great Moguls on their annual migrations to Cashmere, that garden in perpetual spring, that land of lakes, cool streams and cascades, of the violet, tlie rose, and the Idy, where the song of the nightingale is sweetest, where the women are fair-complexioned and beautiful. Here, in the famed valley of Hussein Abdaid, they were to await the decision of the fate of the kingdom of Cabul ; but here Mr. Elphinstone received orders to return immediately to the British provinces. It was, however, necessary to wait for a letter from Shah Shujah-ul-Mulk, now in the field, and also 1 to settle with the Seiks about a passage through their Mihratfsi^^' which at first the ameers positively refused. extraordinary"i^4 ^ !^f ^^ *^^ ^f/^. "1 *^^ beauUful valley. Zemaun Shah,^^.^^* ^^ 7^^.^ ^.^^^^ .l^^^i^^^^' ^^'^*\*J^^P^^'- against whom our cixf^e fugitive harem of Shujah-ul-Mulkar- Malcohn had armed th^^' This boded no good to our new ally, having been betrayed bf 1^?.^ ^f .^^Y^^^^ a letter from the un- andthen blinded by Prince J^fed that he had been defeated. tJie full brother of Zemann Shah, i^^be king s army had been drove him from Cabul, and placed hin-^ad, and too deep and rapid His success was owing to his being in d in boats ; and, notwitb- aU the iewels and other property of thVsed qyicker here tban at l,een committed to tis charge by his <>: ^IZtLltt Between the years 1800 and 1809 some bodies in the water, revolutions or civil wars had taken place.nd it brought to Mr. Elphinstone and his splendid embassy rea of these regions in Shujah-ul-MuIk was in possession of the thro?"* 1809.] AFGHAN ANAKCHT. 349 suddenly attacked, as it was straggling or mixed with the baggage, in a mountain pass; that it had been defeated before the king could get from the rear to the front, and that his majest}' had fled to the mountains. Prince Mahmood, who had dethroned and put out the eyes of Zemaun Shah, liad at one time been the captive of Shujah-ul-Mulk, who had sluit him up in the Balla Hissar, or citadel of Cabul, but had spared his eyes, a piece of clemency which he had afterwards reason to deplore, and which, as Mr. Elphinstone observes, was probably the first example of the sort in Afghanistan. It was a partisan of this Mahmood who had beaten the shah's army in the mountain defile. Another battle, in which Mahmood himself appears to have been present, was fought soon after, and, being again defeated, Shujah-ul-Mulk was compelled to fly with only thirty horsemen. Mahmood re- established his throne in Cabul, but the people of the city of Peshawer, and several powerful clans of mountaineers living in that neighbourhood, adhered to the cause of Shujah-ul-Mulk, who assembled a fresh army, and being aided by the subahdar of Cashmere, advanced once more against Shah Mahmood. Being again defeated, our unlucky ally fled to the south of the Indus, and took refuge in the fortress of Attock. Shah Mahmood, however, was foiled and beaten in his attempts against some of the mountain clans of Afghanistan, and quitted Attock. Shujah-ul-Midk returned to Peshawer, and re-established his authority over the western part of those immense regions which are occu- pied by the Afghan race. But no authority among this wild people could be either strong or durable ; other princes and chiefs revolted at the head of their tribes and partisans ; and while some made war upon Shah Mahmood, who lived at Cabul, others made war upon Shujah-ul-Mulk, who lived at Peshawer. The monarchy, which had been so powerful under Zemaun Shah, was completely broken up. Nearly ever}^ mountain chief, and every great khan, became a sort of king on his o\\-n account. It was indeed idle to think of forming a treaty of a binding character with a state subject to such vicissitudes. Yet the trouble and expense of Mr. Elphinstone' s embassy were not thrown away ; they procured to u5 an extension of knowledge, a most admirable book, and such an acquaintance with the rugged country, and the more rugged clans and tribes that inhabited it, as ought to have left no fear of French, Russians, or Persians pene- 350 THE AMEEES OP SCINDE. [1809. trating through it, even if they could traverse the deserts lying between the Euxine and the Caspian seas, and the wilds of Bokhara. And if the information which Mr. Elphin- stone collected and gave to the world about the country and the people had been properly attended to, and had not been set aside by the confident dicta of a later and much less able observer, the lamentable catastrophe which befel our Afghanistan campaigns in 1841-2 woLild never have hap- pened. As Mr. Elphinstone was travelling through the Seik country, he was overtaken by Shujah-ul-Mulk's Hying harem, and in the train of these women was the dethroned, blind, and helpless Zemaun Shah. Our truly honourable elchee, whose heart is as good as his head, waited upon the unhappy prince on the 10th of July, and treated him with the respect due to a monarch, whose reputation had, at one time, been widely spread both in Persia and in India. His valuable book contains an interesting account of the interview. Zemaun Shah spoke of reverses and great calamities as the common portion of kings, and alluded to the astonishing revolutions in the fortunes of princes. " Had he gone over all the history of Asia," says Mr. Elphinstone, "he could scarcely have discovered a more remarkable instance of the mutability of fortune than he himself presented, blind, dethroned, and exiled, in a country which he had twice subdued."* Mr. Hankey Smith was Lord Minto's ambas- sador to the ameers of Scinde, whose country was in as turbulent and lawless a state as Afghanistan. A treaty, or amicable arrangement, was, however, concluded on the 9th of August, 1809, the ameers pledging themselves to permit no enemy of the English to cross their territories, and to exclude the tribe of the Erench from settling in their country. Grholam Ah, then one of the most powerful of the ameers, wished the British to engage to assist him ii conquering the neighbouring country of Cutch ; but he w:; told that the British government had no desire to exten<: its dominions in any direction, or to aid their powers ii * * Account of the Kingdom of Caubul,' &c. I recommend this admirable work as containing a vast fund of variou"- and correct information, and as presenting a model for all young writer who may have to describe a new or little-known country. I have paid tribute to the excellence of the writer's heart ; this, and the kindline^ and generosity of his nature, are visible in every chapter. 1809.] Malcolm's embassy to peesia. 351 projects of conquest. As soon as the ameers found tliat no warlike assistance was to be expected from the English, they scorned the treaty and made plans for conquering Gutch A\ithout their aid. The Eajah Eunjeet Sing, now the ruler of Lahore, whose dominions included thePunjaub,and reached from the borders of Cashmere almost to the southern frontier of the province of Dellii, and whose subjects consisted of Seiks, Sings, Jauts, Eajpoots,and other Hindus of lower castes, and Mahometans, was making advances towards the confines of the Company's north-west frontier. Lord Minto opened some communica- tions with him at the beginning of 1808 ; but it was found necessary to march a British force in that direction. The presence of Colonel Ochterlony and his disciplined troops had more eifect than the governor-general's representations, in making Eunjeet Sing express a warm desire to live in friendship with the English. Mr. Metcalfe was despatched to Lahore, and in August, 1809, a treaty was concluded with Eunjeet Sing, who agreed not to attempt conquest or occupy territory to the south of the Sutledj ; and to sus- pend immediately the siege of Multan, and certain other operations which he had commenced. The whole countrj'- of Lahore could, at this moment, have put 100,000 armed men on horseback. Eunjeet Sing was much pleased with an English carriage and pair of horses which were presented to him, " to cement harmony ;" but he was evidently chagrined at the governor-general's refusing to enter into his schemes of territorial aggrandizement. But, in the groundless panic about invasion. Lord Minto's diplomacy extended far beyond India and Afghanistan. He sent into the dominions of the Shah of Persia, Colonel J. Malcolm, who had gained a high reputation by his conduct and success, in his previous embassy to that country. Malcolm was invested \iv-ith plenipotentiary powers in Persia, the Persian Gulf, and Turkish Arabia, the separate political powers possessed by the Company's residents at Bagdad, Bussorah, and Bushire being for the time suspended. He was furnished with credentials as envoy, or ambassador of the governor-general to the coast of Persia, and to the divan of the pasha of Bagdad, in the event of his finding it practicable to proceed to either of those courts. This event seemed very hypotlietical, for, after Admiral Sir Thomas Duckworth had forced the passage of the Dardanelles, and 352 Malcolm's embassy. [1809, had threatened Constantinople with bombardment, the Turks had thrown themselves entirely into the arms of the French ; and, ever since the arrival, at the court of Teheran, of an embassy, and numerous French officers, from Bonaparte, the Persians had become even more Frenchified than were the Turks. Lord Minto could not have found a better iigent than Malcolm for overcoming these difficulties.* But Greneral G-ardanne and his Frenchmen had gained such ground in the Persian court, that the Scottish elchee saw no chance of succeeding ; and being wisely of opinion that it woidd do mischief, rather than good, to remain at Bushire, or to proceed to the capital in an humiliating condition, or without the certainty of being honoiu\ably received, Malcolm hastened back to Calcutta, and proposed to the governor- general a bold plan for overawing the impotent Persian court, and for procuring the speedy dismissal of Gardanne. This plan was to take possession oi* the island of Kismis, in the Persian Gulf, and to make it at once an emporium of commerce, a depot of military stores, and the seat of poli- tical negotiation. Lord Minto readily adopted the project, and Malcolm, by the month of January, 1809, was ready to start from Bombay for the Persian Gulf, with a force amounting to 2,000 men. Events, however, had occiu'red which rendered the sailing of this armament unnecessary. The embassy of Gardanne and the prevalency it was ob- taining, had determined the British government to send an * After being rooted out of Egypt, Bonaparte seemed to think that he could injure our Eastern empire through the medium of Persia. On the 10th of September, 1807, the French mission for Teheran left Constanti- nople. It consisted of General Gardanne, the ambassador, his brother, who was homme de lettres, six engineer officers, two officers of artillery, and about a dozen other Frenchmen, mostly of the military species. Bonaparte constantly employed military men as his diplomatic agents. Gardanne and his subalterns went to work in the usual manner, by repre- senting the English as the tyrants of the world, and the French as the friends of liberty and peace, and by prognosticating that the friendship and alliance between Napoleon the Great and the Persian shah would be everlasting, and attended with incalculable advantage to both of the high contracting parties. Gardanne seemed to be carrying everything before him, when Lord Minto hurried off Colonel Malcolm to the Persian Gulf. The French had been received at the court of Teheran with marked atten- tion, and some of them had been employed to train a corps of Pei-sians in disciphne and tactics. The officers of the French mission were employed in every quarter, surveying the country and examining its resources. Some of them were casting cannon for the king. The Persians, at this time, were waging an unsuccessful war with the Russians. 1809.] DIPLOiTACT IX PEESIA. 353 envoy extraordinary from his majesty George III. to the Persian shah. Sir Harford Jones, who was selected for this service, reached Bombay on his way to the Persian Grulf. Here, for a time, he doubted what course he should pursue, as Malcolm intimated that an embassy, not backed by an armed force, might be subjected to Persian and to Prench insolence. But soon news arrived that the Persians were irritated against Gardanne for the non-performance of tlie promises about Pussian restitution and evacuation. Sir Harford Jones therefore proceeded to the Persian Gulf, and landed in the shah's dominions. He carried presents from the king of Great Britain worth many thousand pounds ; and he paraded these things, and made such a display of riches on the road, that the pauperized Persians took him for a second Aladdin, and the fame of his mag- nificence reached Teheran before he himself had got to Shiraz. The venal government of Persia hailed his ap- proach with joy. " Mashallah," said the khans, " the English are not ruined; but the French are the grandfathers of lies, and liave made us eat dirt !" Gardanne, with all his suite, was unceremoniously dismissed before the English mission had arrived at the capital. Sir Harford offered English money, as something more solid than Bonaparte's promises ; the shah cheerfully accepted the subsidy, and concluded a treaty, by which he bound himself to have nothing more to do with the Prench. The king's ambassador was soon followed by the Company's ambassador. Colonel Malcolm but mthout his armament arrived at Bushire in Pe- bruary, 1810, and assumed the functions of envoy and pleni- potentiary to the Persian court. He also met with a very gracious reception ; but his residence was not of long dura- tion, as another mission, with Sir Gore Ouseley at its head, was on the point of starting from England. The three missions of Malcolm, Jones, and Ouseley did much temporary good, and produced some benefits of an enduring nature, in the shape of various excellent and amusing books descriptive of Persia and its inhabitants. If we sum up the amount of our literary and scientific obligations to the servants of the East-India Company, and the many able men employed in traversing the countries of the East, in connection with the affairs of our Indian empire, the total amount will be found to be exceedingly large. Lord Minto, in addition to all the embassies we have mentioned, 2a 354! ixcrESioxs or the goekiias, [lSlO-11. negotiated with ^STepaul and Ava, and hj these means more acquisitions of knowledge were obtained. The rajah of Nepaul had long been a merciless despot in his own do- minions, and a most troublesome neighbour to those of the Company. In 1806, some 1,600 of the rajah's oppressed subjects fled from J^s^epaul into the British provinces ; and, in 1808, a border-quarrel, or dispute about boundaries, took place between the rajah and the English. The governor- general, being prevented from making war by his instruc- tions from home, and being led into the belief that it would be, at any time, an easy matter to bring the Nepaulese to reason, by giving him a sound beating, did nothing for the present. But in 1810, when the rajah, growing bolder in the impunity he enjoyed, seized upon some territories belonging to the zemindar of Bimnughur, a subject of the Company, the rajah was warned that force would be resorted to, unless he made immediate restitution. Force, however, was not employed the?i. At nearly the same time the dominant tribe or family of the Gorkhas, who were making conquests in some parts of Nepaul, which they had not yet subdued, and waging a war of destruction upon the hill chiefs towards the Jumna and Sutledj, prepared to en- croach upon some Seik chieftains south of the Sutledj, who were living under British protection. And in 1811, these fierce and warlike Gorkhas, who as they advanced erected forts and stockades, and strong lines of posts to secure what they had gained, overran the district of Kyndee 5)r Kyndeenuggur, in the province of Behar, contiguous to the great Benares road, and erected a fort in the Com- pany's territories. To such encroachments it was impos- sible to submit ; and the governor-general apprised the Court of Directors that there was no hope of obtaining restitution and satisfaction from the Xepaulese and Gor- khas, except by force of arms. At the end of the year, some troops were sent to expel the encroachers ; and in May, 1813, Major Bradshaw was deputed by the Company to settle the disputes about boundaries. But none but a precarious settlement could be made; and the confidence and insolence of the Gorkhas convinced Lord Mintothat a little sooner or a little later, our pacific system must give way to an energetic war. Even while Major Bradshaw was at Bootwul, negotiating with theJS'epaulese commissioners, fresh encroach- Vients were attempted by that active and daring people. ISll.] AND OF THE BURMESE. 355 Ava and the Burmese empire either held a direct sove- reignty or exercised control over nearly one-half of the vas^ regions described in maps as India beyond the Ganges. The Burmese, the real masters of the soil, resembled the Chinese rather than the natives of Hindustan ; but with the superior physical strength and activity of the Chinese, they had a much more warlike spirit than the subjects of the Celestial Empire. In civilization they were far beyond the Chinese, the people of Hindustan, or even the Siamese and Cochin-Chinese. By a series of conquests they had over- thrown all the adjacent nations, and had advanced their frontier to the shores of the Bay of Bengal, and close to the limits of the Company's territories. They proved but troublesome and encroaching neighbours. During Lord "Wellesley's administration, in 1799, when the mass of the Anglo-Indian army was engaged in the last war against Tippoo Sultaun, the Burmese made frequent attacks, and were very troublesome on our then weak eastern frontier.* As exclusive and anti-social as the Chinese, and quite as proud and insolent in their bearing towards foreign envoys and foreigners of all classes, it was difficult to establish any intercourse with them, or to obtain, by pacific representa- tions, any redress of grievances. Their government, too, was subject to frequent and sanguinary revolutions, insurrec- tions, and rebellions, one tyrant being murdered and suc- ceeded by another. In 1795, during the pacific administration of Sir John Shore, Colonel Symes was despatched on an embassy to the Golden Foot, or the Lord of the AYhite Elephant ; but little came of the mission, except a very interesting book of travels.f In the year 1809 a French * Marquis Wellesley, * Indian Despatches,' &c. + Syme's ' Embassy to Ava,' &c. It was owing to certain transactions daring Sir John Shore's spiritless administration, that the Burmese inso- lence increased. In 1795 a Burmese army of 5,000 men pursued three rebellious chiefs, or, as they termed them (and as they might be) robbers, right into the English district of Chittagong. A strong detachment was sent from Calcutta to oppose these Burmese ; but the officer in command had orders to negotiate not to fight. After some tedious negotiations, which ought not to have been allowed to occupy a single hour, the vio- lators of our frontiers condescended to agree to retire ; and they retired, accordingly, into their own country. Is'or was this all. The three men who had taken refuge in our territories were subsetjuently given up to the Burmese, and two out of the three were put to death with atrocious tor- tures. '* This acquiescence on the part of the English government had a very prejudicial effect on the subsequent conduct of the Burmese, for it 2 a2 356 seetoijS disturbances in [1S08-9. ship attacked a small island belonging to the Burmese, aud Ithe Groldeii Foot, not understanding the difference between Erench and English, sent a sort of mission to Calcutta to expostulate against the proceeding, and to demand satisfac- tion. As this seemed to open the door _ of the jealously- guarded court of Ava to some diplomatic intercourse. Lord Slinto despatched Lieutenant Canning on an embassy. This officer reached Rangoon ; and the Iving of Ava, from the midst of his white elephants, decreed that the Englishman should be allowed to proceed to the capital in all safety and honour; but the incursions into the Company's territories at Chittagong of a predatory tribe of Burmese, called the Mughs, and other untoward events, broke off an intercourse which could never have promised any very satisfactory result. Both our embassies to Ava appear to have been capital mistakes, for they exhibited to a semi-barbarous and vain-glorious people a number of Englishmen in a very humiliating condition, and in the attitude of supplicants. Lieutenant Canning returned to Calcutta, and disputes continued to occur on the frontiers of Chittagong and Tip- pera. As they were not met by bayonets, the Burmese grew more and more audacious ; and, at the time when Lord Minto gave up his authority in India to the earl of Moira, the King of tlie World and the Lord of the "White Elephant was threatening to march with 40,000 soldier-pilgrims from Ava to Benares. During this peace-seeking administration violent disturb- ances, and even an open mutiny, broke out in the Madras establishment. Sir George Barlow, as governor-general, had carried his economy too far with regard to the army, and Sir Greorge was now governor of Madras, and equally intent upon reductions and savmgs. Pactions also displayed them- selves among the civil servants at Madras, and, for a long time, that council appears to have been as divided and violent as the supreme council at Calcutta in the days when AVarren Hastings was opposed by Erancis, Clavering, and Monson. One party at Madras took part with the discontented army. I cannot, in this epitome, afford room for the discussion of these alarming transactions. They had a tendency to destroy, in brief time, the splendid empire which had been was impossible to convince this most self-important people that the men were given up from any other motive than that of fear." Walter Hamil- ton, ' East- Indian Gazetteer.' 1808-9.] THE MADEAS PEESIDElfCY. 357 raised, in many years, by so mucli wisdom and valour, and at the cost of the lives of so many brave men : I believe I am justified, by all that I have read upon the subject, in believ- ing that some portion of blame attaches to every party to his majesty's government and Court of Directors at home, to Lord Minto at Calcutta, to Sir George Barlow at Madras, and the party there which opposed Sir Greorge to nearly all classes of the civilians as well as to the military on that establishment. But, with my notions of military discipline and subordination, I can find no excuse for British officers who rose in arms against the civil power and to this extre- mity our officers on the Madras establishment did certainly proceed. Lieutenant- General Hay Macdowall, of the king's service, who had been named commander-in-chief of the coast army in lieu of Sir John Cradock (who had certainly contributed to the mutiny at Yellore), claimed a seat in the Madras council, and had his claim sternly refused by Sir George Barlow. The general very soon complained that military arrangements were made in the council without any military knowledge, and without consulting him, the commander-in- chief. He even accused the governor of usurping his mili- tary authority. Colonel Munro, the quartermaster- general, had been charged, during Lord William Bentinck's government, to draw up a report upon the eligibility of abolishing a certain, monthly allowance, which it had been the practice to grant to the commanders of native corps for the provision of camp equipage, and which was thence commonly called " the Tent Contract." Munro prepared a detailed report on the subj ect, in which he expressed an opinion very adverse to the conti- nuance of the practice, which he described as a system which " placed the interest and the duty of officers in direct oppo- sition to each other." Lord AVilliam Bentinck and General Sir John Cradock had both approved the report, which had been transmitted to the supreme government in Bengal, with a strong recommendation that " the Tent Contract " should be universally abolished. The report received the sanction of the supreme government, and directions were sent to Madras to carry it into eft'ect. It was by virtue of these instructions of the supreme government at Calcutta that Sir George Barlow, wlio had succeeded to the post of gover- nor of Madras, abolished " the Tent Contract," by a general 35S CO'FLICT BETWEEN THE [ISOD. order, dated May, 1808. The Britisli officers commanding native corps took great offence. They afterwards took pains to prove that the seat of the quarrel was not in the purse that the abolition of the old monthly allowance for camp equipage was, in a pecimiary light, no sensible evil to them, and that their dissatisfaction and mutiny did not originate in motives of so sordid a nature, but proceeded from the sense of other injuries, and of many insults offered either to themselves or to their commander-in-chief, Greneral Mac- dowall. They said, for example, that Colonel Munro's. report conveyed an insinuation unfavourable and outrageous- to the honour of their whole body. Macdowall might be a hot-headed, but he certainly was not a low-minded or mer-^ cenary man. Though smarting under other injuries, or under things which he considered as injuries, he cared not a straw about the emoluments of " the Tent Contract."" Numerous letters of complaint were addressed to him by his officers ; but he always replied that the question had been settled before he came to the command, and that the matter ought to be considered as now at rest. The officers, how- ever, prepared charges against the quartermaster-general. Colonel Munro, for having made (in his report) use of false and infamous insinuations, injurious to their reputation; and demanded that he should be brought to a court-martial. For more than two months the commander-in-chief did nothing in the matter ; but, when his own quarrel with the Madras government about his exclusion from the council, etc. reached its climax, he very unexpectedly put Colonel Munro under arrest. But for Macdowall' s exclusion from the council-board, and the other wrongs of which he com- plained, the discontents of the officers under his command would, in aU probability, have died out in a few murmurs. The army now fully took up the quarrel of the comman- der-in-chief, and Sir George Barlow espoused the cause of the arrested quartennaster-general. Sir George and his colleagues peremptorily ordered the release of that officer. General Macdowall answered that he could not comply ; that the question was strictly military, and that he could not evade bringing it to issue before a court-martial without committing the honour of the whole Madras army. Here- upon the civil government liberated the military prisoner by its own authority. Upon this on the 28th of January, 1809 Macdowail 1809.] CITIL AND MILITARY AL'TIIOEITIES. 359 embarked for England, having previously forwarded to the governor in council an address to the Court of Directors from sundry officers of the Madras army, who complained of several grievances, and amongst them of the exclusion of their commander-in-chief from a seat in council. Mac- dowall also left behind him a general order, in which the conduct of the quartermaster-general was strongly con- demned. The deputy adjutant-general, Major Boles, in the absence of his senior, complied with the injunction or the wish of the departed commander-in-chief, who had gone away without leaving his formal resignation, and issued the general order. The governor in council then suspended the deputy adjutant-general, and issued a general order of their own, declaring that Greneral Macdowall was removed from the offi.ce of commander-in-chief. Colonel Capper, the adju- tant-general, informed the governor that he, and not Major Boles, was the responsible person ; as the paper would have been issued luider his signature if he had not been engaged in accompanying the commander-in-chief on board ship. Sir George Barlow then, without removing the suspension from Major Boles, suspended Colonel Capper also. A consider- able portion of the officers of the Madras army drew up, and circulated for signatures, a memorial to Lord Minto, as governor-general, repeating their grievances and condemn- ing the treatment which their commander-in-chief had received from the civil power. The same officers also drew up a flattering address to the deputy adjutant-general, whom Sir Greorge BarloAV had suspended. This was looked upon by the Madras government as downright mutiny ; and on the 1st of May, 1809, another general order was issued, severely censuring the officers who had circulated the two offensive papers, removing some of them from their par- ticular commands and suspending others altogether. This spread the flames, instead of extinguishing them. In Tra- vancore, at Masulipatam,Seringapatam, Hyderabad, and other stations, they burst into open mutiny. Blood was shed and in no small quantity in Mysore ; for, as a mutinous battalion was marching from Chitteldroog to join the muti- neers at Seringapatam, they encountered resistance from a body of dutiful troops, and fired upon and received the fire of their own countrymen or friends and fellow-soldiers. From 200 to 300 sepoys were killed or wounded. This was a most dangerous spectacle to exhibit to the native army and 3G0 SFPPEESSioN or the [1809. inliabitants ! It was the inevitable comaction of this clanger that brought the Eiiglisli officers rapidly to their senses. First, those at Hyderabad submitted to the voice of the civil authority, and 'their example was soon followed at all the other stations. Colonel Barry Close, who was at the time political resident at the Mahratta court of Poonah, behaved with admirable skill, firmness, and courage. At the voice of the supreme government, he flew from Poonah to Hyderabad ; and, although he did not succeed in the first instance, the sepoys obeying their mutinous English officers, and pointing their muskets and bayonets against him and his escort, his heroic bearing, his prudent advice, and his evident and great eagerness to prevent the effusion of blood, soon produced a great and healing effect. Other superior officers and servants of the Company behaved most admirably at this moment of crisis. In Mysore, Lieutenant- Colonel Davis, the commanding officer, and the Honour- able Arthur Cole, resident at the court of the rajah (though Davis was enfeebled by sickness, and Cole but a very young man), conducted themselves Avitli rare prudence, wisdom, and fearlessness, and contributed very essentially to the restoration of order and the prevention of sanguinary extre- mities. Colonel Gribbs and Colonel Montresor also distin- guished themselves greatly under circumstances more difficult than any that English officers had been placed under in India. Lord Minto, very laudably, went to Madras, whence all the mischief had sprung, but before he reached that presidency (on the 11th of September) all signs of the mutiny were over, except the feelings of contrition of those who had been engaged in it. His lordship applauded "the inflexible firmness of Sir G-eorge Barlow, which had preserved the authority of legal government unbroken and unimpaired ;'* and reprobated the recent revolt, of which the object had been to overawe and control the civil government. Many of the mutinous officers were very young men, who had believed that they were doing right in support- ing their commander-in-chief, who held the king's commis- sion. Only a few were pimished in any way. Macdowall, who had been so long living in a fire, perished in water, the ship in which he took his passage being lost at sea. If he had reached England alive, he would probably have been subjected to some severe punishment or ruinous prose- 1809.] MADEAS MUTINY. 361 cution. Yet the Court of Directors seemed to acknow- ledge that they had been in the wrong in opposing the wish of the Board of Control and refusing Macdowall a seat in the council, for they lost no time in giving a seat in the council to their new Madras commander-in- chief, Sir Samuel Auchmuty. Mr. Petrie, who led the oppo- sition in council, was recalled, and a minority of the Court of Directors would have recalled Sir George Barlow likewise, but he was warmly supported by Mr. Perceval's cabinet, and by the majority of the court, who declared that he had come out manfully from a desperate contest with the mili- tary, who had long been disorderly at Madras, and who had aimed at nothing short of erecting their own power as supreme over the civil power.* * A detail of these unhappy proceedings, which were terminated much sooner than might have been expected, would fill a large volume. Many hundreds of pages were written and printed at the time in England. Among these volumes and pamphlets was a paper by Mr. Petrie, who attributed a vast deal of blame to Sir George Barlow. In an article in the ' Quarterly Review ' (No. ix.), which fills sixty-five closely-printed pages, the whole story is told in a very clear and interesting manner. The facts are carefully, and, on the whole, candidly sifted, making allowance for a shght bias on the side of Sir George Barlow. , The account of the ' Rise, Progress, and Termination of the Disturb- ances at Madras,' in the ' Edinburgh Annual Register' for 1810, which evidently proceeded from the pen of Southey, who then wrote the histo- rical part of this periodical work, is clear and good, and considerably shorter than the account given in the ' Quarterly Review.' In some points it severely censures the conduct of Sir George Barlow. It says " The ablest and wisest governor might have found his situation difficult ; and whether a system of conciliation, uniting generosity with firmness, could have allayed the general agitation, is doubtful; but it certainly was not attempted. Sir G. Barlow seems to have thought that firmness alone was sufficient, and that the way to make the authority of govern- ment respected, was to punish any person ivho displeased the governor. Upon this angry and vindictive system some persons were displaced from their official situations, others degraded, others, by distant and unwelcome appointments, banished from Madras. Some of these examples may have been expedient, but, most assuredly, some of them were arbitrary, oppres- sive, and cruel ; and the general ferment and general disgust which such measures created encouraged the discontented officers, who found the civil servants of the Company ready to sympathize with them, because they were exasperated by their own grievances. Things were in this state when General Macdowall embarked for England, and from this time it is diffi- cult to say whether the conduct of the army or of the government was most censurable, till, by the imprudence and intemperance of both, a crisis was brought on, which decided the guilt of one party, without ex- culpating the other." * Edin. Ann. Register.' General Sir Thomas Muitland, at this time governor of Ceylon, and 3G2 CAPTURE OF AMBOTXA. [ISIO. If conquests and annexations were not made in Hin- dustan, there was no laclt of them in other directions. In fact, during the peaceful administration of Lord Minto, our conquests and operations in the Eastern Archipelago, or Insular India, wei-e widely extended so widely, indeed, that the forces and resoiu-ces employed in this direction would have made it difficult to prosecute any important war on the Indian continent. Our fleets commanded in every sea, so that the Dutch and French colonies could receive only a scanty and preca- rious support from the mother countries. All the IVIalacca or Spice Islands, which had been colonized by the Dutch, but which now in reality belonged to the French, Bonaparte having annexed Holland to his empire, were reduced with very little difficulty by Anglo-Indian expeditions. The first attack was made upon Amboyna, which had been taken by the English during the first revolutionary war, but which had been restored at the peace of Amiens. A small flotilla of Company's armed vessels, commanded by Captain Tucker, and a small military force, consisting of a part of the Com- pany's Madras European regiment and a few artillerymen (about 400 landsmen in all), under the command of Captain Court, stormed the princijml batteries on the 16th of February, 1810 ; and, on the following day, the whole of the island was surrendered to the British, although it was defended by 1,300 men and a great quantity of artiUer}^ The five dependent islands quietly submitted to the con- querors. Being reinforced by Captain Cole, the Amboyna expedition drove the Dutch from their very strong works on Banda J^eira, and in the course of the month of August, 1810, reduced the whole of the group called the Banda Isles^ so productive in nutmegs. Xothing now remained to the Dutch subjects of jSTapoleon afterwards the *' King Tom" of Malta and the Ionian Islands, was, as all the world knows, no very great admirer of weakness or laxity of govern- ment, yet he censured the conduct of Sir George Barlow as being too rigid. In 1810, Sir James Mackintosh, who was then visiting Colombo, was told that he (Sir T. M.) thought that Lord Minto had slackened the cords of government as dangerously as Sir George Barlow tightened them. ' Diary, in the Life of the Right Hon. Sir James Mackintosh, edited by his Son.' But the shortest and best of all the comments made oa these disturb- ances proceeded from the pea of our great duke, and will be found in the ' Wellington Despatches.' 1811.] CO>'QUEST OF JAVA. 363 in those seas except the rich island of Java and some settle- ments on the coast of the richer and far larger island of Sumatra. The reduction of these settlements was first sug- gested to the governor-general by Mr. Stamford Raffles, one of the many men of rare talent that had been trained under the East-India Company. Eaffles, during only a short residence on the coast of Malacca, had contrived to obtain a vast mass of information concerning the Indian Archi- pelago ; and he not only suggested the expeditions, but accompanied and materially aided those who were intrusted with the commands. Though bred to the law, and never in any degree a military man. Lord JMinto himself determined to go with the troops. His lordship left Calcutta on the 9th of March, 1811, for Madras, which establishment was to furnish part of the forces. The Bengal troops were embarked in the middle of April, and, about the middle of May, the whole of the expedition arrived at Malacca, the place ^f rendezvous, as the best starting-point for the conquests pro- posed. Great was the difficulty of making a voyage with a large fleet through an archipelago where the wind blows strongly from one point of the compass for several months together, where the passage between the islands is often so narrow that only one ship can pass at a time, and then so close to the land that the sides of the vessel are shadowed by the luxuriant vegetation which extends to the water's edge.* The accounts of this navigation were contradictory and obscure. Few or none of the British naval officers engaged in the expedition had ever threaded that perplexing maze, and their opinions were divided as to which was the best course to pursue in order to reach Java expeditiously. There was no time to waste in disputations, for the favour- able monsoon was near terminating when all our forces were collected at Malacca. Many insisted that the only practical course for a fleet was the northern route round Borneo ; * ' Memoir of the Life and Public Services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, F.R.S., &c. &c., particularly in the Government of Java, 1811- 16 ; Bencoolen and its Dependencies, 1817-24 ; with Details of the Com- merce and Resources of the Eastern Archipelago, and Selections from his Correspondence. By his Widow.' This is another admirable book, and full of useful lessons and high encouragements to young men entering into the Honourable Company's service, a service in which Raffles, by his own merits, self-education, and great industry, rose from a very poor and obscure condition, to emi- nence, fortune, and fame. 361 SIR STAMFOED BAPFLES. [1811. but Raffles, tlie real planner of the whole expedition, recom- mended the south-west passage, between Carimata and Borneo, " and staked his reputation on the success which would attend it." Eaffles had previously ascertained the practicability of this passage by an experiment in a small vessel called the Minto. The governor-general ordered that that passage should be taken ; and, in less than six weeks after quitting Malacca, the fleet, counting more than ninety sail, was in sight ofBatavia, without accident to a single vessel.* Our land troops were under the command of Greneral Sir S. Auchmuty : they were divided into four brigades, and amounted to nearly 12,000 men, of which about one half were British. The climate on that coast, however, proved so noxious, that the hospitals were soon crowded with our native Indian sepoys and with our British soldiers. It is said that at one time there were 5,000 men on the sick- list and incapable of duty. But neither these disastrous circumstances nor the strength of the works prevented the easy conquest of the island. Batavia, the capital, to which the Dutch had given the proud title of " Queen of the East," was surrendered on the 8th of August, by the burghers, the garrison having retreated to "Weltevreeden. On the morning of the 10th of August, Colonel Grillespie, with part of our troops, marched to Weltevreeden. The Dutch had abandoned their cantonment there, and had taken post about two miles farther up the country, at Cor- nells. Their position was strong, and defended by an abattis, occupied by 3,000 of their best troops and four guns of horse-artillery; and behind them were the fort of Cornells and other very strong works. Thus posted, the Dutch, for a time, defended themselves stoutly ; but at length their four guns were captured, and they were driven from the abattis, at the point of the bayonet. They left on the field about 500 in killed and wounded, including a brigadier-general, who was wounded dangerously. The loss of the British was but trifling. * * The whole fleet," says the governor-general, " had assembled on the coast of Java by the 30th of July. l:\i& Modeste, if alone, would have done it in a fortnight sooner. I have been the more particular in detailing these circumstances, because this expedition must have been abandoned for the present year (an earlier departure than actually took place from India having been found totally impracticable) if I had yielded to the predicted difficulties of the passage." * Memoir of the Life and Public Services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, by his Widow.' 1811.] STOEMING OF BATTEEIES. 365 The enemy now took slielter close under their batteries. Their main body was strongly intrenched in a position between the great river of Jacotra and a deep canal dug by the Dutch, and called the Sloken: this position was shut up in front by a deep trench, strongly palisadoed ; neither the river nor the canal was fordable : seven redoubts and many batte- ries, moimting heavy guns, occupied the most commanding points of ground within the lines, the key-fort of Cornelis being in the centre. The heat was too violent, the malaria of the spot too destructive, and the number of our forces too smaU, to admit of regular approaches. The Dutch works must be taken by battery and assault, or not at all. Sir S. Auchmuty came up with more troops, Eear- Admiral Stop* ford spared 500 of his seamen to assist at our batteries ; and these were worked so well, that, one by one, the nearest Dutch batteries were silenced. At last, on the 26th of August, the assault was made, under the immediate direction and gallant leading of Colonel Grillespie, Colonel Gibbs, Lieutenant- Colonel Macleod, and Major Tule ; and the works were all carried, and the whole of the enemy's army was killed, taken, or dispersed. The combat had been most obstinate. A tremendous explosion of the magazine of one of the Dutch redoubts (whether by accident or by design was not ascertained) took place at the instant of its capture, and destroyed a number of our officers and men, who were crowded on the ramparts, which the enemy had abandoned. Colonel Macleod, who attacked another of the redoubts, fell in the moment of victory. In all, twenty-seven sepoys, and 114 British were slain, 123 sepoys, and 610 British were wounded, and thirteen were missing. But 5,000 Dutch were taken prisoners, about 1,000 were buried in the works, multitudes were cut down in the retreat, some of the rivers were choked up with the dead, and the huts and neighbour- ing thickets were filled with the wounded. Among the prisoners were three general officers, thirty-four field officers, ninety captains, and 150 subaltern officers. Greneral Jansens, the Dutch commander-in-chief, who had thrice rallied his retreating troops, escaped with difficulty, followed by a weak cavalry escort, the sole remains of an army of 10,000 men.* * Sir Samuel Auchmuty's ' Despatch to Lord Minto.* On the 27th of August, the day after the bloody battle of Cornelis, the warm-hearted, the good, the learned, the poetical Doctor John Leyden, SGG IMPORTANCE OF JATA. [1811. The final capitulation of the vast island, or of all of it that had been occupied by the Dutch, was not signed, at Sama- rang, bv General Jansens and Sir S. Auchmutj, till the 18th of September. Such of the natives or Asiatic settlers as had been subjects to the Dutch rejoiced in the change ; and many of the independent chiefs, who occupied the principal *part of the country, came in and courted the alliance of the new conquerors. Lord Minto did not over- rate the importance of Java in his despatches to the autho- rities in England. "An empire," said his lordship, "which for two centuries has contributed greatly to the power, prosperity, and grandeur of one of the principal and most respected states in Europe, the associate and friend of Walter Scott, the bosom friend of Stamford Raffles, the admired of all who knew him, died of the country fever at Weltevreeden. He expired in the arms of Raffles, who deeply mourned his loss : " Where sleep the brave on Java's strand, Thy ardent spirit, Leyden, fled ; And fame, with cypress shades the land Where genius tell and valour bled. When triumph's tale is westward borne, On Border hills no joy shall gleam ; And thy loved Teviot long shall mourn The youthful Poet of her stream." From ' Verses,' by Sir John Malcolm. Many congenial spirits at home mourned his premature fate. Southey, in giving an account of the conquest of Java, paid a merited compliment to the learned Dutch writers of an earlier age, who had visited and described the island, and then concluded with this beautiful tribute to Leyden: " But the writings of Nieuhoff", and Baldseus, and Valentyn, and Rum- phius remain ; and time, which destroys the work of the conqueror and of the statesman, will but increase their value. Unhappily our conquest cost us the life of one who, had his days been prolonged, would probably have added more to our knowledge of Eastern literature and antiquities than all his predecessors: I speak of Dr. John Leyden, who, for the sake of increasing his stores of knowledge, accompanied Lord Minto upon this expedition, and fell a victim to the climate ; and whose early death may be considered as a loss so great, so irreparable (for generations may pass away before another be found, who with the same industry, the same power of mind, and the same disinterested spirit, shall possess the same opportunities), that I will not refrain from expressing a wish that Java had remained in the hands of the enemy, so Leyden were alive." ' Edin- burgh Annual Register.' Walter Scott drew up and published, in this same miscellany, a very touching biographical memoir of his dear friend Leyden, whom he never afterwards mentioned but with feelings of the greatest affection. 1810.] EEDL'CTIOX OF SOURIDOy AND ISLE OE TEANCE. 367 lias been thus ^Tested from the short iisurpation of the French government, has been added to the dominion of the British crown, and converted, from a seat of hostile machi- nation and commercial competition, into an augmentation of British power and prosperity." Eaffles, who could not foresee how soon the British government would be induced to restore to the emancipated Dutch these splendid con- quests in the Eastern Archipelago, was even warmer than the governor-general in describing the value of Java. " It is, in fact," said he, ^^the other India f' Baffles himself, under the title of lieutenant-governor of Java and its de- pendencies, was appointed to preside over this new empire, " as an acknowledgment of the service he had rendered, and in consideration of his peculiar fitness for the office." Mr. Hare was appointed resident at Banger-Masiug, with the view of checking the war, which was almost constantly raging among the native chiefs, and of putting down the practice of piracy, which was nowhere carried on in a more ferocious manner or on a larger scale. It was also during Lord Minto's administration that Bourbon and the Isle of France were reduced. In the month of July, 1810, a small Anglo-Indian force under Colonel Keating, and a small squadron of his majesty's ships under Commodore Bowley, subdued the French in the first of these two islands, with no other loss than eighteen killed, seventy-nine wounded, and four drowned in landing. In the month of November, in the same year, ships and troops from Madras, from Bombay, and from Bengal, formed their junction at an appointed rendezvous near to the Isle of France. They were to be joined by a division of king's troops from the Cape of Grood Hope ; but as these royal forces did not arrive in time, the attack was made without them. The army was commanded by Major-G-eneral J. Abercromby, the fleet by Vice- Admiral Bertie. The island was surrounded by dangerous reefs ; but the whole of the leeward side was carefully examined and sounded, and a passage for vessels was found where none was supposed to exist. On the 29th of November, at 10 o'clock in the morning, the whole fleet, consisting of nearly seventy sail, got safely to anchor at the point of debarkation in Grande Baie, about twelve miles to the windward of Port Louis ; and the army, with their artillery, stores, and ammunition, several detachments of 368 BOUBBON BESTOEED TO FRAJfCE. [181-1'. marines, and a large body of seamen, were landed in the course of the day, Adthoiit a single loss or accident. The Prench had considered such a landing, or any landing except opposite to Port Louis, as an impracticability ; and, in con- sequence of this old and confirmed persuasion, while the seaward fortifications of their capital were very formidable, their works on the land side where they never expected to be attacked were contemptible. The island, in fact, was gained the moment that the passage through the reefs was discovered; or, at latest, the moment that the landing of the troops was so successfully efiected. ^Numerically, the Prench were too weak to offer any great resistance in the country which lay between the point of debarkation and the capital of the island. They slvirmished a little in a wood, they attempted to defend a narrow defile, and they made a short stand in some lines behind the town of Port Louis ; but, on the morning of the 2nd of December, as Greneral Aber- cromby was preparing to make a general attack, De Caen, the Prench governor and commander-in-chief, sent out a white flag, and proposed to capitulate. The attack was suspended, and the capitulation was hastily concluded. Considering the relative situations of the two forces, it was thought by many persons that the British commanders allowed the Prench conditions much too favourable. De Caen and his garrison were sent to Prance, without being bound not to serve against England or her allies during the war a very idle and useless condition, as the Prench of the revolutionary school had long ceased to respect any such engagement. But the rich colony and its dependencies, the forts, well-stored magazines, etc., were given up ; the con- querors obtained possession of 209 pieces of ordnance in excellent condition, of four large Prench frigates, one Prench sloop, and one brig ; of two small English frigates which had been captured by the Prench, and of a number of mer- chant ships, many of the later being prizes picked up by the privateers of the island, and some of them being of great value. And, what was most important of all, the Prench were dispossessed of a stronghold, from which, during the whole of this war, they had sorely annoyed our East-India trade. Both these neighbouring islands ought always to remain in the hands of the power which holds the empire of India ; but, at the peace of Paris, in 1814, the British govern- ment, keeping the Isle of Prance, very unwisely gave back 1808.] EXPEDITION TO CHI25-A. 369 Bourbon. In making these two important conquests, the troops had but few opportunities of displaying their valour. Counting Europeans and natives, our loss in the Isle of France amounted only to twenty-nine killed, ninety-nine wounded, and forty-eight missing.* But the facility with which large detachments from the three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay were wafted to distant islands and peninsulas, seas and gulfs, and then formed into strong and compact armies, was every way calculated to raise our military reputation ; and if much of the merit was due to our national navy, still the East-India Company, its governors, officers, troops, and servants, may fairly claim a large share in the honours. The pirates in the Persian Gulf, forgetful of several severe chastisements they had previously received, attacked and plundered an English trading vessel, and treated the crew and passengers with, great barbarity. Forthwith a small expedition was despatched from Bombay to chastise these ruffians and destroy their shipping. Through the good diplomacy of Colonel J. Malcolm, the imaum of Muscat was induced to co-operate, and, in quick succession, the pirates were driven out of Mallia, Shenass, and all their other nests, and their vessels were destroyed. Another of Lord Minto's expeditions was not so fortunate or so honourable. At the very beginning of his govern- ment (in 1808), when Bonaparte seemed on the point of subduing both Spain and Portugal, and when fears were entertained that the Erench might obtain possession of the Spanish colony of Manilla, and thence make an attack upon the Portuguese possession at Macao, a small armament was sent to the Canton river. It was found now, as it had been found in the year 1802, under the administration of Marquis AYcllesley, that the Chinese considered Macao as a portion of their empire, and the Portuguese as mere tenants at will ; that the Chinese wxre furious at the landing of any British force, and that the Portuguese, or men of mixed race, that dwelt at Macao, were far from being disposed to give our troops a hearty welcome. Our troops, not quite a thousand men, were, however, landed, and with the consent of tlie local Portuguese authorities. A general feeling of enmity * Unfortunately, however, Lieut. -Col. Campbell and Major O'Keefe, two excellent officers, were killed in clearing the defile, which the French attempted to defend. 2b 370 nUMILTATTNG CONVENTION. [1808. on the part of the Chinese inhabitants manifested itself in repeated affrays and in assaults, particularly on our sepoys. An order soon came do^Yn from Canton for our troops to depart, our trade at Canton was stopped, and provisions were denied both to our Indiamen and to the squadron of his majesty's ships. And shortly after this, some of the pasteboard warriors of the celestial empire began to march towards Macao, and a line of war junks, with pateraro guns, was drawn across the river to intersect all communi- cation with Canton. Admiral Drury made a demonstration of breaking through this line. The boats of all our men-of- war, and of all our Indiamen, were manned and armed. They could have cut through with very little difficulty or loss, but the admiral, instead of fighting, pulled up to parley. Upon this the Celestials in the junk began to fire into the English boats. One man was wounded in the admiral's own boat, and hereupon the admiral ordered the signal to be made for the attack. But "the signal was not observed, and ordered not to be repeated. The admiral then declared his intention not to force the Chinese line, and returned with the boats to the fleet. Though a man of undisputed courage, Admiral Drury seems not to have possessed that cool and deliberate judgment which was essential to the suc- cess of the business he had been engaged in . . . The attempt to proceed to Canton in the boats ought never to have been made, or it should have been carried through. A pagoda was built by the Chinese near the spot, to commemorate their victory over the English."* Our humiliation was com- pleted by a convention, entered into at Macao in December (1808), in conformity with which our troops were re-embark- ed, and Admiral Drury sailed away for Bengal. The trade, which had been stopped for more than three months, was then renewed. The pecuniary loss incurred by the English through this squabble about Macao was very heavy ; and it was soon discovered that no trifling addition was made to the usual arrogance of the Chinese.f * Sir John Francis Davis, late chief superintendent in China, governor of Hong-Kong, &c. Parliamentary Evidence, as quoted by, in * The Chinese ; a General Description of the Empire of China and its Inhabitants.' f It isbutjusticetostate that the conduct of Lieutenant-Col. Weguelin, the officer in command of the forces that were landed at Macao, was pru- dent, discreet, vigilant, active, and spirited. This was liberally acknow- ledged by the governor-general himself. See services of Lieutenant-Col. Thomas M. Weguelin, In * East-India Military Calendar.' 1813.] EESIGNATION OF LORD MINTO. 371 Lord Miiito resigned his office, and took liis passage for England towards the close of the year 1813. It is said that when he returned from India he frankly confessed that his notions about the first and greatest of our governors- general were very different from what they had been a quarter of a century before, when he harangued in the House of Commons or sat with the managers of Hastings's impeachment in Westminster Hall. More than tliis, his lordship recommended carrying out the system of aggran- dizement, connection, and supremacy which Hastings had been the first to adopt ; and lie confessed that without this supremacy, by conquest or by connection, our empire in the East could not stand ; and that the timid, neutrality, non- interference system, which had now been so long cherished by the British legislature and government, and by the Court of Directors, was altogether inapplicable to our situation in India. If his government had lasted six months longer, he must have found himself involved in extensive wars in Hindustan. B 2 372 ALTEBATIOyS IN TKE CHABTEK. [1813. CHAPTER XXX. The commercial monopoly of the East-India Company had long been a subject ofjealousy and complaint with some of the mercantile interests of the United Kingdom ; and at every renewal of the Company's charter, efforts had been made to throw open some portions of the India or China trade. Many merchants, of London, Liverpool, and other ports (not sufficiently reflecting that the trade in India had been acquired by the Company through conquest and dominion, and that this conquest and dominion could not have been acquired if the Company had not been allowed the profits derivable from the trade of the country), had, for a very long time, contended that they, and Great Britain at large, had a just right to participate in the India and China trade. The first great inroad on the Company's exclusive privi- leges did not, however, take place until the year 1813. On the 22nd of Eebruary, the Company, well aware of the many and strenuous efforts that were making to break up their monopoly, represented, by petition to parliament, that, without their commercial privileges, they could not maintain their political privileges or territorial possessions ; the com- mercial monopoly being but an instrument for political pur- poses, &c. A modification of the system had, however, been previously resolved upon by ministers; and before the session closed, a bill (act of the 55 Greo. III.) was carried through both houses. The trade with India (but not with China) was thrown open in ships of a given tonnage, under license from the Court of Directors, on whose refusal to grant such license, an appeal lay to the Board of Control. The resort of individuals to India for commercial or for other purposes was put under similar regulations. Thus there was intro- duced a divided authority in matters of commerce, as there had previously been in politics. Henceforward it was 1813.] EDUCATION IN INDIA. 373 enacted that tlie Company's accounts should be kept under the two separate heads oi* " territory" and " commerce." A general authority was given to government, through the Board of Control, over the appropriation of the territorial revenues and the surplus conmiercial profits which might remain, after a strict observance of the appropriation clauses and the claims of the Company's creditors. Prom this time forward no governor-general, governor, or commander- in-chief was to be appointed by the Company without the approval of the crown ; and no suspended or dismissed ser- vant of the Company was to be restored without the consent of the Board of Control. The bounty of the Court of Directors was also restricted, it being laid down that in the bestowal of any sum exceeding 600, the concurrence of the Board of Control was indispensable. Moreover the Board of Control was to hold and exercise authority over the Company's college and seminar}^ in England.* At a very early period the Company had paid considerable attention to the establishing of schools and chapels in their factories, and to the means of diffusing the doctrines of the Christian faitli among their native servants, and among other natives living in the neighbourhood of their settle- ments. By the charter of 1698, the Company were bound to maintain a minister and schoolmaster in every garrison and superior factory, and to set apart a decent place for the performance of divine worship. They were also required to have a chaplain to every ship of 500 tons or upwards, whose salary was to commence from the ship sailing outwards. Such ministers were to be approved by the archbishop of Canterbury, or the bishop of London, and were to be at all times entertained with proper respect. Eesident ministers in India were to learn the " Portuguese and Hindu lan- guages, to enable them to instruct the Gentoos and others in the Christian religion." On the union of the two Com- panies in 1708, it was declared by the charter, that the chaplain should have precedence next after the fifth member of council at his factory. Even at earlier periods, we find the Company employing missionaries, sending out bibles and catechisms, and bestow- ing attention on the education of the native children. In 1677, they sent out a new schoolmaster Mr. Kalph Orde, * The establishments at Haileybury and Addiscombe. 371 EELIGIOrS IKSTEUCTIOir. [1813. with a liberal salary and appointments, telling their agents that " He is to teach all the children to read English, and to write and cipher, gratis ; and if any of the other nations, as Portuguese, Grentoos, or others, will send their children to school, we require that they be also taught gratis, and you are to appoint some convenient place for this use ; and he is likewise to instruct them in the principles of the Pro- testant religion; and lie is to diet at our table. '^^ In the same missive, which has a savour of the naivete of the olden times, the agents were told that they might give two rupees apiece to such as should be able to repeat the catechism by heart, " for their encouragement." The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, founded at the beginning of the last century, soon directed its attention towards India, and sent thither missionaries as well as books. In the year 1744, and again in 1752, we find the Company giving hearty assistance to this religious society. They ordered that the missionaries sent out by the society should have the use of a church at Cuddalore, and of a church at Madras. "And," wrote the Company to their agents, "as a further encouragement to the said missionaries to exert themselves in propagating the Protestant religion, we do hereby empower you to give them, at such times as you shall think proper, in our name, any sum of money, not exceeding 500 pagodas, to be laid out in such manner, and appropriated to such uses, as you shall approve of; and you are hereby directed to give us, from time to time, an account of the progress made by them in educating children and increasing the Protestant religion, together with your opinion upon their conduct in general, and what further encourage- Mient they deserve." In the same year in which this was written to Madras (1752), the Court wrote to Bombay : "As it will be greatly for the interest of the Company to have as many of the soldiery, and others our dependants in the presidency of Bombay, instructed in the principles of the Protestant religion, Ave have thought proper to add two more chaplains to your' establishment, who are to reside at TeUi- cherry and Anjengo, or wherever else you shall think proper to station them, so as will best answer our intentions ; and that we may have the advantage of a rising generation instructed in the same principles, we recommend it to you, * Correspondence, quoted by P. Auber, ' Rise and Progress.' 1S13.] ITATIVE CONVEllTS. 375 to form a plan for the setting up and establisliing charity- schools, wherein the children of onr soldiers, mariners, topasses, and others, may be educated as well at the subor- dinates as at Bombay. When you can reduce your plan to practice, you may depend upon our giving an assistance becoming the Company ; and we most earnestly recommend it to every one of our servants and others, who are in good circumstances, to contribute freely to an undertaking of such utility to the presidency in general. " AVhen schools are erected in consequence of this recom- mendation, our chaplains are frequently to visit them, to see what improvement the children make, and to give their utmost assistance in instructing and confirming them in the principles and profession of the Protestant religion." * Although not in sufficient numbers considering the vast extent of the country and its teeming population India had not been left Avithout chaplains or without mis- sionaries ; but the labours of the latter had not been attended with any great success, and the more cautious Anglo-Indians had shrunk from the risks attendant on a too energetic spirit of proselytizing. The Hindus, submissive in all but that, had always seemed ready to rush into insurrection at the slightest interference with their religious rites and ancient customs customs and rites not more ancient than (in many cases) re\'olting and degrading to humanity. Partly through their own lault in attempting to translate the whole of the Scriptures into most difiicult languages, with which they were most imperfectly acquainted, and partly through the sense-striking, attractive, and splendid ritual of the lioman Catholic church, the success of the English missionaries, wke- ther of tlie Established Church or Baptists, had been very inferior, at least in numerical amount, to that of the papist missionaries. And yet the most able and best member of the great Koman Propaganda had been fain to confess, after residing forty years in India, that only the very worst of the natives he had converted remained steadv to their new faith. The best result of the efforts of our missionaries was to be seen in Tinnevelly ; and it was such as to encourage the hope that what had been done there might be found practicable elsewhere. In the very centre of the south of * Correspondence, quoted by P. Auber. 376 APPOINTMENT OF [1813. Tiunevellv there vrere two villages, one of 500 and the other of 400 native Christians, with regular churches, native priests, catechists, and boys' and girls' schools. They were living as Christians, in harmony, without a vestige of idola- try to be seen in either village, nor an idol to be found. Begular service in the church was held daily. Groups of women were to be seen assembled together under the shade of the palmyra-tree, spinning cotton and singing their Lutheran hymns to the motion of their wheels, while the men were at' the same time labouring in the field. " It was like an oasis in the moral desert of the immense country.'* The Hindu tehsildar * bore the strongest testimony to their conduct, as being an inoficnsive, quiet people ; and said that he should rejoice if all the inhabitants around Avere like them. The name of the one village was Mothelloor, the name of the other was iS'azareth. They were a part of the labours of the Christian Knowledge Society in Tinnevelly. They had been without an}'- missionary for many years, but they had retained the faith and doctrines which had been taught them, and they performed all the ofiices of religion among themselves.f In the debates in parliament, on the new charter, much was said respecting the propagation of Christianity, and the appointment of missionaries, to be salaried by the state. Nearly every man who lived in India opposed this last measure. Nevertheless, it was now hoped that a regular and well- appointed hierarchy, headed by prelates of the Anglican church, of learning and virtue, might contribute to diffuse the Protestant religion among the natives ; w^hile the vast and constantly increasing numbers of Englishmen settled or serving in India seemed to demand more spiritual care than had hitherto been bestowed upon them. A bishop of Cal- cutta, with diocesan authority over the whole of British India, and three archdeacons to superintend the chaplains of the presidencies and of all the settlements, were appointed. But it was not deemed prudent to enter fully into the wishes expressed in petitions presented to parliament from various parts of the kingdom, praying that provision might be made for the resort of missionaries, &c. to India. A few indiscreet * A native collector of taxes. + Letter of one of the Company's chaplains, as quoted by P. Auler, in Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.* 1813.] anglica:n- bishops. 877 missionaries spread over Hindustan miglit have jeopardized our empire, without doing any spiritual good to the natives. In the debate a Scotch member stated that the majority of the British residents in India were Scotchmen and Presby- terians, and therefore would have no provision for their public worship, and he proposed a clause for the appoint- ment of three superior Scotch clergymen, one at each presidency, with a salary of 1,000 each. The proposition was rejected ; but at a subsequent discussion, it was made known that the Company had given an assurance for the maintenance of ministers of the Scotch kirk at its own expense.* The first appointments to the Calcutta bishopric were admirable, for the lawn has not often been worn by better men than Bishop Middleton and Eeginald Heber. AVe do not know that the diffusion of our religion among Hindus, Mahometans, or Parsees has been very materially accele- rated ; but we believe there is no doubt that the discipline of our church, and the general morals and devotion of the British subjects in India, have been improved by the eccle- siastical institutions provided for by the legislature in 1813. The obscene and bloody superstitions which disgrace Hin- dustan (speaking of merely mortal means) can be removed only by time, and slow and cautious measures : but it is consoling to reflect that some of the worst abominations have been at the least dwarfed and checked. As isolated beings, unconnected with government, the few Protestant missionaries in the country caused little or no alarm to the guardians of the Hindu religion, or to the professors of Mahometanism ; but if the legislature had complied with the wishes of some well-meaning and pious persons at home, and had suddenly thrown into India a great number of " Act-of- Parliament missionaries," to be protected by and connected with our Indian government, there can be no doubt but that a great alarm would have been immediately excited. But a respectable church esta- blishment, with a suffragan bishop at the head of it, and with the clergy intrusted with the care and zealous in the superintendence of the public schools in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, might, without exciting any jealousy or alarm, silently and gradually effect a favourable change, not only * ' Annual Register,' for 1813. 87S Bisuor's college. [1813-24. in the religion and morality of the British subjects, but in those of the natives also. The establishment of the " Bishop's College " at Calciitta, by Dr. Middleton, the first Protestant bishop in India, was calculated to do infinite good ; and since its improvement and enlargement by the accomplished Eeginald Heber, our second bishop, great good, we beheve, has been done by it. It has been well said that much may be expected from the institution of schools on a liberal plan for the benefit of the rising generation of the Hindus ; and that to convey instruction through the medium of the English language, in every branch of useful know- ledge, and in the principles of religion and moral rectitude, will do more to open their minds to conversion, and to con- vince them of the monstrous absurdity of their own poly- theism, than all the translations of the Scriptures and rehgious tracts which have been circulated among them. " A general knowledge of history or geography will at once disperse that cloud of more than Egyptian darkness, which for so many ages has confined their view. . . . When they cease to consider Mount Meru as 20,000 miles high, and the world as a flower, of which India is the cup, and other countries the leaves, their minds may become more open to rational views on the subject of religion." * * * Quarterly Review,' No. Lxv. Read also Ainslie (Whitelaw), ' Historical Sketch of Christianity in India, and other Eastern Countries,' 8vo., Edinburgh, 1835. ' Bengal^ Historical and Ecclesiastical Sketches of, from the Earliest Settlement until the Conquest of the Country by the English, in 1757.' Calcutta, 1831. Whitehead (Edward), ' Sketch of the Established Church in India,' 12mo., London, 1848. Lushington (Charles), 'History, Design, and Present State of the Religious and Charitable Institutions founded by the British in Calcutta and its Vicinity.' Calcutta, 1824. 1813.] MAEQUIS OF n^STINGS GOYEKKOE-GEXERAL. 379 CHAPTER XXXI. The earl of Moira, soon afterwards marquis of Hastings, succeeded LordMinto as governor-general. As LordEawdon, lie had greatly distinguislied himself in the war of American independence, more than thirty years before his Indian appointment. He had the well-earned reputation of being a brave soldier, and, if not throughout a consistent politi- cian, he was a nobleman of the most honest intentions, sincerely attached to his sovereign, high-minded beyond most of his contemporaries, and liberal and generous in the extreme. He had also a grace and dignity in his manners, which will not be forgotten by tliose who ever saw him, and which could not be without their eftect in a country like India. His lordship was nominated on the 18th of November, 1812, and, arriving in India, Lord Minto resigned the government to him, on the 4th of October, 1813. He was obliged to attend almost immediately to matters of war, for the Birmans, or Burmese, continued to trouble one of our frontiers, while the Nepaulese made encroachments on another, both being encouraged by the pacific system of Lord Minto. The Birmans were brought to reason for the pre- sent ; but the Nepaulese spurned negotiations. The Gor- khas, who domineered in Nepaul, retained that passion for war and conquest to which they owed their recently-esta- blished dominion, and except in the neighbourhood of our military stations on that frontier, it Avas found impossible to check their border forays, or their constant quarrels with our subjects. In the month of May, 1814, while some negotiations were opening, the Nepaulese treacherously attacked and murdered all our pohce officers stationed in Bootwul. The earl of Moira determined to send armies to deal with these troublesome neighbours. He had been named commander-in-chief of the forces as well as governor- 3S0 NEPAULESE WAE. [1814-15. general. Age had not chilled his military ardour ; his lord- ship still was every inch a soldier. He quitted Calcutta in June, to make a tour of inspection, to concert measures for the campaign, and to make defensive arrangements against the marauding Pindarrees, who were threatening our north- ern frontiers. The Nepaulese frontier was about 600 miles in length, and for the most part very rugged ; and the enemy had the command of all the passes of the forests and hills.* Very few parts of the country had ever been examined by Euro- peans. The Nepaulese were as jealous and vigilant as the Chinese, from whom most of their tribes originally descended. Lord Moira, however, resolved that his forces should act offensively along the whole line of the frontier, and break into the country from different points. For the whole plan of the campaign which was clearly defective through want of local information his lordship seems to be answerable. Major-Greneral Marley, with the principal force, consisting of about 8,000 men, was to march upon Catmandoo, the capital ; Major-Greneral "Wood was to overrun all Bootwul, and to menace Pulpa ; Major-Greneral Grillespie was to seize the passes of the rivers Jumna and Granges, in order to cut off the retreat of the enemy to the eastward ; and Major- General Ochterlony, with the 4th corps, was to invade the western provinces of the Grorkhas. The Grorkhas alone had at this time about 12,000 fighting men, dressed, armed, and disciplined in imitation of the Company's sepoys ; and if this imitation was not very perfect, the men were robust, active, and courageous. The strength of the country was great, being skirted and intersected by lofty mountains, and abounding in excellent defensive posi'tions.'t As our forces advanced towards the frontiers, the Grorkha officers ordered that all the wells should be poisoned ; but this is a threat which has often been used, and has never been carried extensively into practice. The Nepaulese mode of making stockades in excellent positions, and the stubbornness with which they defended them, proved more mischievous to the * ' History of the Political and Military Transactions in India, during the Administration of the Marquis of Hastings, 1813-23.' By Henry T. Prinsep, Esq. t Walter Hamilton, ' Account of the Kinsdom of Nepaul, and of the Territories annexed to this Dominion by the House of Gorkha.' 1816.] SECO^'D CAMPAIGiN". 381 invaders. General Gillespie, who had had so narrow an escape at the massacre of Yellore, fought his way well into the country, but was killed on the 30th of October, 1814, in a too hasty assault on the fort of Kalunga. General AVood failed completely in his operations, and General Marley failed so miserably as to be taxed by the commander-in- chief with gross neglect and imbecility. The mistake com- mon to all these commanders in the first Nepaul campaign appears to have been a too great contempt for these new and untried enemies. But the whole campaign must be considered as a war of experiment as a war in a novel field, where almost everything was yet to learn. General Ochterlony, however, with his single division, gained bril- liant successes in the western provinces of the Gorkhas, defeated the enemy in several battles, drove them into the fort of Maloun, and there forced them to capitulate. By these victories the countries between the Jumna and Sut- ledj were eflectually cleared, to the great satisfaction of the Seiks, and of the hill chieftains who were allied with the Company. But the war was not yet terminated, though it had already lasted more than a year. Those who held authority at Catmandoo, the capital of jN'epaul, consented to a treaty, and then refused to ratify it, and then defied the English to another campaign in the heart of their own country.* The entire management of this second campaign in Nepaul, which commenced in February, 1816, was left to Major- General Ochterlony, who had so ably conducted all his part of the first campaign. Ochterlony had nearly 20,000 effective men, including three European regiments, his ma- jesty's 24th, 66th, and 87th. The British soldiers were better suited to a war among lofty and bleak mountains than were the sepoys from the hot plains of Hindustan. He divided his forces into four brigades, which were respectively com- manded by Colonel Kelly, Lieutenant- Colonel JS'icol, Lieute- nant-Colonel Miller, and Colonel Dick. Colonel Kelly was detached to the right, Lieutenant-Colonel JS'icol to the left ; the other two brigades, guided by Ochterlony, moved straight through the forests to the foot of a pass, above which the Nepaulese were strongly posted behind their troublesome stockades. These works were altogether unassailable in * Henry T. Prinsep. 382 BATTLE OF [181G. front ; but, after four days' diligent search, Captain Pickers- gill, of the quartermaster-general's department, found a route which turned tlie pass. In the darkness of night, General Ochterlony, in person, led Miller's brigade through a deep and narrow chasm, and over the brow of a formidable barrier of hills. By seven o'clock on the following morning the heights on the jilank of the enemy's position were occu- pied without resistance. Nearly at the same time Colonel Dick's brigade, which had been left at the foot of the pass, moved up in front close to the outer stockade ; and in the course of the morning they found the triple fortification evacuated, in consequence of the success of Ochterlony's operation for turning the position. Our troops were obliged to bivouac on the bleak mountain-tops for four days, waiting the arrival of their supplies and tents, as no laden animal had been able to accompany them, or to climb the hill which they had climbed. During the first two days the men suffered extreme privations. But their gallant leader shared in their hardships, having no baggage, and sleeping under cover of a hut, hastily constructed for him by the men of the 87th, of boughs cut from the green trees.* By the 20th of February the supplies and tents were brought up, and the roads were prepared for a further advance. The enemy, vexed and disheartened at Ochterlony's unexpected dis- covery of the route across the first barrier of mountains, continued to retreat from stockade to stockade, until they came to the town of Mukwanpoor, which stands on a hill, and which had both a fort and a stockade. On the 27th, Ochterlony occupied a hill in front of Mukwanpoor, and within two miles of that town. The Grorkhas endeavoured to recover this hill. In their first attack they drove in a weak outpost, and killed the commanding officer. Lieute- nant Tirrell. A small village on the hill was, however, gal- lantly maintained, after the fall of Tirrell, by Lieutenant Kerr and Ensign Impey (a grandson of Sir Elijah Impey), who were both publicly thanked in general orders for this sendee. Ochterlony threw forward the flank companies of the 87th and the 2'5th regiments of native infantry. On the^ other side, the Grorkhas poured forth 2,000 men from their stockade in front of Mukwanpoor, and showed a deter- mination to gain the village and recover all the ridge of the * Henry T. Prinsep. Memoir of Ochterlony, in ' East-India Military Calendar.' 1816.] MUKWANPOOE. 383 hill. The English general then threw forward four more companies of the 87th and the second battalion of the 12th native infantry Again, on the other hand, the Gorkhas reinforced their columns of attack. Ochterlony brought his guns to play along the ridge ; and thereupon the Gror- khas brought up some of their guns, and fired hotly on our camp and line, where the general and his staff were con- spicuous objects. After a stern contest, the enemy yielded to our superiority of artillery, and to a bayonet-charge made by some of the British soldiers ; and they fled beyond a deep hollow which separated the ridge from Mukwanpoor. There, however, and in a jungle, they maintained themselves for some hours, keeping up, across the hollow, a hot fire of artillery, which did little mischief, and an incessant fire of musketry from the jungle, which did a good deal. But towards sunset, Ochterlony brought up a fresh sepoy bat- talion, and Major Xation, putting himself at the head of it, dashed across the hollow, charged with the bayonet, and captured the nearest of the guns. After this the Grorkhas retired behind their stockades or into their fort, leaving their dead and wounded behind them. Hitherto they had always sho'VNTi the greatest devotion in carrying off their wounded. Their loss was very severe ; they acknowledged themselves that it exceeded 800 men. Our loss in killed and wounded rather exceeded 200. The day after the battle of Mukwanpoor, Colonel Nicol, who had been detached with his brigade to the left, joined Ochterlony, having succeeded in penetrating into the country by a pass near Eamnuggur, and by the winding valley of a river. Colonel Kelly, who had been detached with his brigade to the right, had also succeeded in finding a route which led him across the mountains to the important fortress of Hureehurpoor, As usual, this fort had a strong stockade in its front. But the Gorkhas committed the same mistake here which they had committed at Mukwan- poor, by abandoning an eminence at about 800 yards' distance from their stockade. This ridge was instantly seized by a detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel O'Halloran. The enemy sallied in full force to recover the ridge, and O'Hal- loran had to sustain an unequal fight from six in the morning until near the hour of noon. But when a strong reinforce- ment came to the ridge of the hill with two six-pounders and two howitzers mounted on elephants, the enemy fell back to 38^! PEACE WITH >^EPArL. [1816. their stockade. They left a considerable number of killed and wounded on the hill, and they made no further attempt to regain possession of it. On the side of the victors, only four Europeans and four natives were killed, and five English officers, twenty-three English soldiers, and twenty- five natives were wounded. Both the stockade and the fort of Hureehurpoor were evacuated in the course of the ensuing night. Colonel Kelly converted the fort into a depot, and was preparing for a further advance when he received intelligence that the war was over. The defeat at Mukwanpoor had carried consternation into the court of Catmandoo. The Kepaul rajah put the red seal to the previous treaty which he had refused to ratify, and sent an envoy to Greneral Ochterlony's camp. The earl of Moira had very wisely instructed the general not to conclude a treaty until the enemy should be sufiiciently humbled to make it safe to rely on their sincerity. To humble the pride of these warlike tribes and destroy their prestige in the eyes of the peoples and rulers of India, was more important than to make acquisitions of territory. General Ochterlony, however, determined to do both, lie told the envoy that the Company must now retain all the territory in Xepaul which their troops occupied, including the valley of the Eaptee, Hureehurpoor, etc. ; that the rajah must write a submissive letter to the governor- general ; and, finally, that he, the Gorkha negotiator, must present the ratified treaty on his knees at his (General Ochterlony's) durbar, in the presence of all the vakeels in camp. To all these conditions the court of Catmandoo was obliged to submit. The country was now becoming very unhealthy ; but our army did not quit the hills and forests of iSTepaul until two important forts were surrendered, in con- formity with the treaty, to our ally, the rajah of Sikkim.* All the articles of the treaty were executed with rare punctuality. The rajah of Nepaul bound himself never to disturb the Company's frontiers or the territories of any of its allies ; never to advance any claim to the territories which had formerly been disputed, or which were now ceded ; never to retain in his service any British subject, or the subject of any European or American state, without the consent of the British government ; to allow the permanent * Henry T. Prinsep. 1816.] Sm DATID OCHTEELONT. 385 residence of an English minister at the court of Catmandoo, and to send accredited ministers of his own to reside at Calcutta. The governor-general, as a politic act of concilia- tion, restored some of the territory which had been con- quered, after a straight and even frontier for the Company's dominions had been draAvn and marked at certain distances with pillars of masonry, to prevent any future disputes. One of the many curious circumstances attending this war in Nepaul was the chance of an English army coming in -contact with an army of the celestial empire. The Chinese, whose real dominions extended to the feet of the Himalaya, claimed a fictitious dominion over the whole of Nepaul; and their claim was so far admitted, that the JS'epaulese sent, every three years, some trifling tribute to Pekin. During our first campaign of 1814-15, the Nepaulese called upon the emperor of China for assistance, declaring that the quarrel with the English had arisen in consequence of their having demanded to be put in possession of the passes through the mountains, in order that they might invade Cliina. At first the Chinese gave no credit to this false- hood ; but when they heard from their own officers com- manding on the Himalaya frontier, that the red coats were really advancing through Xepaul, they believed the story. It Avas accordingly determined by the court of Pekin that an army shoidd be sent into JS'epaul. But the first cam- paign and the second were ended, the war was over, and the rajah beaten and humbled, before the army of the celestials was heard of at Catmandoo. The governor-general sent ex- planations, which were deemed satisfactory by the Chinese. The Gorkhas, who were now afraid of the assistance they had invited, asked the English resident at Catmandoo whether, in case the Chinese should invade their territories, they miglit depend upon the co-operation of a British army in resisting them ! The celestials, after lying some time on the reverse of the Himalaya, marched back to Pekin.* The lesson which theNepaulese received from Ochterlony made a lasting impression ; they have never since given us any trouble ; and, instead of fighting against us, some of their best and bravest men have long been fighting for us. * For further particulars relating to these very curious transactions we refer the reader to Mr. Prinsep's very interesting and accurate work. From the situation this gentleman held under the marquis of Hastings's administration, he bad ample means of obtaining the best information. 2 C 386 riNAIfCIAL DIFFICULTIES. [18,16. The G-orkhas in our ])av have been faithful to the Company and valorous on the field of battle. The able officer who had so well managed the second and last campaign was properly honoured and rewarded.* He was a man of genius, and not above learning what was useful even from a semi-barbarous enemy. If he had been a man of routine, or a formalist and pedant, attached exclu- sively to one art of war, either he would never have threaded the passes and labyrinths of i^epaid, or he would have been sacrificed with his whole army long before reaching Mukwanpoor. But Ochterlony saw that the resource of stockades would be equally available to an invader ; that it might be made to cover and secure every advance of the British, and be thus turned against the invaded ; and that it placed the issue of the war in the power of continuance. He therefore adopted the ISTepaulese system of stockading both in his first and second campaign ; and to this he was principally indebted for his success. By this means the operations of our divisions which penetrated the hills were converted into a war of posts, and depots and weak detach- ments were put in a position of security when the main divisions were far away.f He also attended sedulously to his commissariat, establishing and stockading good maga- zines of provisions as he advanced. If, at any time, he had been compelled to retreat, his troops would have food and shelter provided for them in these fortified depots. The governor-general had found it extremely difficult to procure the funds necessary for this unusually long war in JS'epaul. Tlie treasury had been drained by the great expenses attending Lord Minto's armaments in the Archi- * He received the order of the Bath, and was afterwards created a baronet. The East-India Company voted a pension of 4^1,000 per annum to Major-General Sir David Ochterlony, Bart., and K.C.B., in acknowledgment of his splendid services in the Nepaulese war. t Little advance was made in Nepaul until we adopted the plan of stockading posts, which the nature of the campaign frequently rendered it necessary to place beyond the limits of prompt succour. Had this plan been adopted at the beginning, several serious disasters would not have happened. "It was, however," adds Mr. Prinsep, " altogether a new thing to the Bengal army ; for, from the earliest days, there had never been works thrown up for the defence of an outpost, . . . Sir David Ochterlony has the merit of having first resorted to this plan, and of having adopted it, too, as a resource of prudence which occurred to his own mind, not taught to him by the experience of disaster, as was the case with others."' History of Political and Military Transactions,' &c. 1816.] WAE Ilf CUTCH. 387 pelago. The increasing value of gold bullion in England had also made itself felt in India. Specie seemed to be dis- appearing in Bengal, and credit was sadly deranged. But the war in Nepaul must be prosecuted, remittances must be made to England, or disgrace or ruin must ensue. The crisis was far from being so bad now as then, yet the earl of Moira acted much upon the same plan which Warren Hastings had pursued, in the first instance, in 1780, when the Erench and the Mysoreans were threatening the over- throw of our empire. He cast his eyes upon the nabob vizier of Oude, and determined to make his coffers contribute to the support of the Nepaul war and to the fast-sinking credit of the Company. Saadut AH was known to be fond of hoard- ing, and was believed to be very rich. It was represented to him that his territories had suffered as much as our own from the aggression of the jN'epaulese, and that therefore it was but just that he should pay part of the expenses of the war. But just at this financial crisis the avaricious nabob vizier departed this life, dying at Lucknow on the 11th of July, 1814, as the governor-general was on his way from Calcutta to that city. Two of his sons claimed the musnud. Ghazee-ud-Deen, who paid down two crores of rupees, was preferred by the noble marquis, and put in possession by the Company. But for this money, rather more than 2,000,000 sterling, the pride and power of the I^epaulese could not have been broken, and the disastrous issue of a war in the mountains would have been instantly followed by insurrec- tions and wars in the plains of Hindustan. The marquis was much more fortunate than his great predecessor in opportune deaths. In the course of the year 1816, when money was again wanted to put the frontiers of the Company in a good state of defence against the Pindarrees, and to provide for the contingency of a fresh war with the Mahrattas, the old Eyzabad Begum, whom Warren Hastings had squeezed, was carried to the tomb. She died worth fifty-six lacs of rupees ; and, as she could not take her beloved money with her, she bequeathed it to the Honourable Company, on the condition of its providing annuities for her friends and dependants, equivalent to the interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum then, for India, a very moderate rate. During our war in Nepaul the people of Cutch had com- mitted depredations in the territories of our allies the 2c2 388 TEIMBUKJEE. [1816. peishwa and the Gruicowar families. A small force under Colonel East took the field, and captured the fortress of Anjai*, in Cutch. The ruler of that lawless country- agreed to give compensation for the damages to our allies, and to yield to the English the permanent possession of Anjar, on condition of their assisting him to reduce some of his rebellious subjects. The Eao also engaged to prevent his subjects in future from crossing the gulf or runn for hostile objects, and from carrying on the practice of pirac}^, in which they were great adepts. All those lawless regions were to be thoroughly reformed ; but the British at Anjar were solemnly bound not to outrage the religious feelings of those robbers by killing bullocks and eating beef. The inevitable course of events, or the natural course of expan- sion, was gradually yet quickly advancing the Company's frontier towards the mouths of the Indus. In the year 1800, when Surat was assumed, it was stated and believed that the Taptee river on the Gulf of Cambay would be our ne 2)lus ultra in this direction ; but now, in 1816, we got beyond the Gulf of Cutch, and close upon the E,unn of Cutch, by possessing ourselves of Anjar, which place was not much more than two geographical degrees from the Koree, or most southern mouth of the Indus. The court of Poonah had been guilty of various infrac- tions of the treaty of Bassein. The peishwa had given his friendship and entire confidence to a menial servant named Trimbukjee, and had almost ceased to consult his own prime minister Munkaseir. Trimbukjee was a man of a violent character, and very hostile to the English, who had laboured hard to introduce order and law into the peishwa's country. He committed sundry outrages on our ally the Guicowar, who despatched an ambassador or vakeel, named Gungadhur the Shastri, to Poonah, to remonstrate with the peishwa. The peishwa referred the Shastri to Trimbukjee ; and this ruffian most barbarously and treacherously murdered him in a Hindu temple. The Shastri' s people had to searcii for " the bits of his body." He was a Brahmin of the very highest caste, and of great reputation for sanctity and learning.* Bad as they were, the Mahrattas had a detestation of assassination ; and the crime in the present case was the more horrible in their eyes, * He was called the Shastri, on account of his familiarity with the Shastras, or eacred Scinscrit books. 1816.] TEIMBUKJEE. 389 from tlie character of tlie victim and the holiness of the place. The Mahrattas and all the Hindus predicted that the ven- geance of their gods would fall upon Trimbukjee, and that the peishwa would date his ruin from this atrocious deed. As soon as the horrible circumstance came to the knowledge of the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, our resident at Poonah, he insisted that Trimbukjee should be given up ; and as the general voice of the Mahratta people backed the demand, the peishwa, Bajee Eao, found himself under the necessity of yielding. Trimbukjee was arrested and thrown into the strong fortress of Thanna, on the island of Salsette, not far from Bombay. But his imprisonment was not of long duration. A common-looking Mahratta groom, with a good character in his hand, came to offer his services to the English commandant of the fort. He was ac- cepted. The stable, where he had to attend his horse, was close under the window of Trimbukjee's prison. He was observed to pay more than usual attention to his steed, and to have a habit, while currpng and cleaning him, of singing snatches of Mahratta songs. At length, in December, 1816, Trimbukjee disappeared from his dungeon, and both horse and groom from the stable. It was believed that Trimbukjee fled straight to his in- fatuated master the peishwa, who concealed him, and solemnly declared to the English resident that he knew nothing about him. The murderer's love for the English had not been increased by the capti^dty he had suftered ; and, wherever he might be, it appeared very certain that he urged the peishwa to throw the whole treaty of Bassein to the winds, to form a new Mahratta league, and to make war upon the Company. In the mean while our Indian armies were drawn into the field by a more contemptible enemy. 390 THE PINDAEEEES. [1816 CHAPTER XXXIL The Pindarrees were not a distinctive race, but a numerous class of men, of different races, religions, and habits, gra- dually associating and assimilated bj a common pursuit. They were all horsemen and all robbers. They were some- thing like the first Mahrattas in their habits of life and warfare, but unhke them in not being united by nationality and one religious faith. Their name first occurs in Indian history about the end of the seventeenth century. Erom obscure freebooters, they rose into sufficient consequence to be deemed useful auxiliaries by the different Mahratta powers, whose desultory mode of warfare was suited to their own habits. From their preceding or accompanjdng Mahratta armies, the Pindarrees became occasionally con- founded with the Mahrattas, though they were always considered by the latter as essentially distinct, and so im- measurably inferior as not to be allowed to eat with them, or even to be seated in their presence. Occasionally the Mahratta rulers purchased their aid by grants of land, or by a tacit admission of their right to possess tracts which they had already usurped. But the more usual price paid for their assistance was the privilege of plundering, even beyond the ordinary license given to a Mahratta army.* What their numbers were could at no time be correctly estimated. They varied with circumstances, being thinned by failure and sweUed by success. "It is also to be observed," adds Sir John Malcolm, " that the Pindarrees were fed and nourished by the very miseries that they created ; for, as their predatory invasion extended, property became inse- cure, and those that were ruined by their depredations were afterwards compelled to have recourse to a Hfe of violence, as the only means of subsistence left them. They joined * Sir John Malcolm, * Memoir of Central India.' 1816.] THE pi:jtdaerees. 391 the stream which they could not withstand, and endeavoured to redeem their own losses by the plunder of others." The strategy of these overgrown bodies of banditti will show at once how difficult it was either to suppress them or inter- cept them. " "When they set out on an expedition, they placed them- selves under the guidance of one or more chosen leaders, called Lubburiahs, who were selected on account of their knowledge of the coimtry that it was meant to plunder. The Pindarrees were encumbered neither with tents nor baggage; each horseman carried a few cakes of bread for his own subsistence, and some feeds of grain for his horse. The party, wliich usually consisted of two or three thousand good horse, with a proportion of mounted followers, advanced at the rapid rate of forty or fifty miles a day, turning neither to the right nor left till they arrived at their place of destination. They then divided and made a sweep of all the cattle and property they could find, committing at the same time the most horrid atrocities, and destroying what they could not carry away. They trusted to the secrecy and suddenness of the irruption for avoiding those who guarded the frontiers of the countries they invaded ; and before a force could be brought against them they were on their return. Their chief strength lay in their being intan- gible. If pursued, they made marches of extraordinary length (sometimes upwards of sixty miles), by roads almost imprac- ticable for regular troops. If overtaken, they dispersed, and re-assembled at an appointed rendezvous ; if followed to the country from which they issued, they broke into small parties."* " Their wealth, their booty, and their families were scat- tered over a wide region, in which they foimd protection amid the mountains and in the fastnesses belonging to themselves, or to those with whom they were either openly or secretly connected ; but nowhere did they present any point of attack ; and the defeat of a party, the destruction of one of their cantonments, or the temporary occupation of one of their strongholds, produced no effect beyond the ruin of an individual freebooter, whose place was instantly supplied by another, generally of more desperate fortune, and therefore more eager for enterprise." f * Sir John Malcolm, * Memoir of Central India.' f Ibid. 392 THE PINDAEEEE WAE. [1815-16. ' They never fought wlien they could run away ; they con- sidered it wisdom to plunder and fly, but folly to stay and fight. Even when acting with the Mahrattas as auxiliaries, their object was plunder, not war. They went before, indeed, but it was only by surprise, or in defenceless provinces. They were, from their very origin, the scavengers of the Mahrattas ; and, though in the van, they had little more pretension to martial conduct or valour than had the birds' and beasts of prey that followed in the rear. Some of their chiefs, however, united to the qualities so essential to their profession activity, cunning, ready enterprise, presence of mind, and promptitude of resources a wonderful strength of mind (or it might be apathy) in bearing the reverses of fortune and the privations of their lot. Foremost among these chiefs was Cheetoo. This man first attracted the attention of the English towards the end of 1806, when raising himself on the temporary ruin of Kureem, another Pindarree chief, who had incurred the displeasure of one of the Mahratta potentates, and had been inveigled and made prisoner, he united the durras or bands of many other leaders under his own standard, and prepared to commit depredations on an unprecedentedly grand scale. IS'umerous and profitable to himself, and altogether ruinous to the inhabitants of many \nde districts of Hindustan, were the expeditions undertaken by Cheetoo. As soon as the earl of Moira assumed the government of India, he turned his attention to this subject. His lordship thought it better, even on the score of humanity, to risk a- long and sanguinary war than to leave the people of the country exposed to these terrible irruptions, which came as regularly, year after year, as the tempests of the monsoon. He endeavoured, as Lord Minto had done, to establish a subsidiary alliance with the rajah Bhoonsla of Berar, whereby our most exposed frontier, or the line from Bundel- kund to Cuttack, might be covered and defended. But the- rajah Eaghoojee Bhoonsla persisted in rejecting the English alliance, although the Pindarrees had threatened to plunder ]S"agpoor, his capital, and annually devastated some portions of his dominions. Other attempts made to establish a friendly connection with the states of Bhopaul and Sacur were not more successful ; the truth being, that the felon and murderer, Trimbukjee, had more influence than the governor-general in these native courts. 1815-16.] CHEETOO THE EOBBEE. 393 In October, 1815, when our main army was fully occupied in forcing the stockades of the Gorkhas, Cheetoo crossed the Nerbudda with nearly 8,000 of his Pindarrees. On the southern side of the river they broke into two parties and took opposite routes. Major Traser, with 300 sepoys and 100 irregular native horse, surprised one of the parties in a bivouac, and made them suffer some loss before they could mount, gallop off, and disperse. But this did not deter them from continuing their depredations as far as the Black Eiver, the Krishna or Kistna. The other party, which had met with no such molestation, traversed the whole of the territory of our ally the nizam of the Deckan, from north to south, and also appeared on the banks of the Kistna. The territories of our Madras presidency lay on the other side of the river, and were saved from devastation only by the for- tuitous circumstance of the river's continuing not fordable so unusually late in the season as the 20th of JN'ovember. " Finding the Kistna impassable, the freebooters took a turn eastward, plundering the country for several miles along its populous and fertile banks, and committing every land of enormity. On approaching the frontier of Masuli- patam, they shaped their course northward, and returned along the line of the Godavouree (Grodavery) and "Wurda, passing to the east of all Colonel Doveton's positions, and making good their route to Nemawur (Cheetoo's head-quar- ters) ^^^th an immense booty collected in the nizam' s dominions, and wdth utter impunity."* Elated by his success, Cheetoo planned and proclaimed a second lubbur immediately upon the retimi of the first. The Pindarrees again flocked in from every side to join in it ; and by the 5th of February, 1816, 10,000 horsemen had again crossed the jN'erbudda from jN'emawur. This time the Company's territories did not escape. On the 10th of March, leaving plundered and burning \illages in their rear, the Pindarrees appeared on the western frontier of the dis- trict of Masulipatam, under the Madras presidency. From * Henry T. Prinsep, Esq., * History of the Political and Military Transactions in India during the Administration of the Marquis of Hast- ings.' Every unmentionable horror was perpetrated by the savages in the incursions. A committee appointed to examine the amount of mischief, presented a report which cannot be read without shuddering. An abstract will be found in Mr. Prinsep's valuable work. 394 THE PI5a)AEREE WAE. [1816. this point they pressed southward. On the 11th they made a march of thirty-three miles, plundered seventy-two villages, aud committed the most horrid cruelties upon the inoftensive and helpless villagers. On the next day they destroyed fifty-four villages, marched thirty-eight miles, and arrived at the civil station of Guntoor. Here they plundered a consi- derable part of the town, and the houses of all the civil officers ; but, steady to their system of never risking life or Hmb in battle, they shrunk from the collector's office, where the government treasure and the persons of the British resi- dents were protected by a handful of sepoys and invahds. The robbers went off as they came, suddenly and noiselessly. That night there was not one of them to be seen in the neighboiu-hood, and before the next day closed they were more than fifty miles from Guntoor. They swept through the Kirpah or Cuddapah district, and, after being tw elve days within the Company's frontier, they re-crossed the Kistna. Many were spurring after them, but none could catch them. Shortly after ^re-crossing the Kistna the ma- rauders broke up into separate bodies. The greater part moved along the north bank of the Kistna, passing south of Hyderabad, until they approached the peishwa's dominions. Then, turning short to^the north, they retraced their steps to the Nerbudda. Colonel Doveton came close up with one of the divisions as it was passing a ghaut, but still the robbers escaped untouched. Another and a larger division was equally fortunate in escaping from the colonel. Lord Moira, who saw the Nepaul war brought to an advantageous conclusion, at the very moment when both the Mahrattas and the Pindarrees were confidently calculating on its duration, was most eager to employ i;he unreduced strength of his armies in the accomplishment of the impor- tant object of securing the peace of Central India by the extirpation of the robbers. A large part of the Bengal army was kept in advanced cantonments, ready to take the field at any moment. His lordship obtained certain information that the peishwa, Scindiah, and other Mahratta potentates, were in close correspondence with the Pindar- rees. But at this juncture the interests of the Company were greatly served by the death of two of our enemies. The nabob of Bhopaul andEaghoojee Bhoonsla, the rajah of Nagpoor, both died in the month of March, 1816. The succession to these two musnuds was disputed, as usual, and 1816.] THE EAJAH OF JTPOOE. 395 the successful claimants, feeling their seats insecure, werei glad to purchase English assistance hj concluding treaties favourable to our interests. Apa Saheb, who was installed at Nagpoor, accepted a subsidiary force of six battalions of our sepoys and a regiment of native cavalry ; for this force he was to pay seven and a half lacs of rupees per annum, engaging at the same time to keep on foot a contingent force of his own of 5,000 men, and to allow this force to co-operate with the English in putting down the Pindar- rees. And simultaneously with these negotiations, others were carried on with the rajah of Jypoor, whose alliance had been so unwisely (and not without dishonour) thrown up by Sir George Barlow, in 1806. Since then, Jypoor had been deso- lated by the constant attacks of the Mahrattas and Patans, and oiu" reputation had been tarnished by the suiFerings of an old and faithful ally. At the end of 1815, the Jypoor rajah, in an extremity of misery and woe, called upon the governor-general, imploring to be received imder the wing of protection. Contrary to the decided opinion of some of the members of the supreme council, the governor-general resolved to carry into immediate execution the suspended orders, and to extend the protection of British arms to Jypoor. His lord- ship thought that this would aid his great plan for suppress- ing the Pindarrees, and that the measure, apart from any general plan of operations, was good in itself, as it would cripple the resources of one of the predatory powers (the Patans), and save a fine territory from ruin and devastation.* No doubt his lordship also conceived that it was high time to remove the foul blot which had fallen upon our national reputation. Accordingly, a subsidiary treaty was offered to the rajah of Jypoor, whose capital was actually besieged by Meer Khan and the Patans. As long as the siege lasted, the rajah seemed eager to comply with every article of the proposed treaty, and with every requisition made by Mr. Metcalfe, the resident at Delhi, to whom the negotiation was principally confided ; but when the siege was raised, when the Patans were bought off by a large sum of money, the rajah listened to the counsels of some of his proud Eajpoot chiefs, who were opposed to the English connection, * H. T. Prinsep. 396 V TJIE PIXDAEEEE WAE. [1816. as destructive of the independence of their country and of their own feudal-like power (a power in virtue of which they often made war upon one another, or engaged in hostilities with their neighbours), and his vakeels at Delhi raised so- many doubts and difficulties about the treaty, that Mr. Met- calfe dismissed them, and broke off the negotiation. But a loud murmur was raised by the suffering people of J>^oor, and by some of the nobles, who preferred peace and security under" British protection to a tumultuary and uncertain inde- pendence, and the rajah's ministers and advisers found themselves under the necessity of sending their vakeels back to Delhi to soHcit a renewal of negotiations. The vakeels, however, advanced several propositions which could not be acceded to : they asked for large pensions for themselves, and for English assistance to enable the rajah to make con- quests over some of his neighbours. Mr. Metcalfe dismissed the vakeels with some indigna- tion ; and the troops which had been collected to march to Nagpoor for the support of their rajah were sent to the Nerbudda in order to be employed in the campaign against the Pindarrees. The plan of this campaign was now completed, the governor- general having received the sanction of the home authori- ties to his scheme for breaking up the confederacy and power of the banditti. To overawe the Mahrattas, and to- cover the frontiers of our allies, nearly 40,000 foot, and 12,000 horse, besides artillery and the contingents of the native powers, were collected in positions near the territories of Scindiah and Holkar. By the end of October, 1816, Lieutenant-Colonel "Walker- took up a defensive line on the southern bank of the J^er- budda, with the main body of the subsidiary force which the Company had sent into Nagpoor. This defensive line, being nearly one hundred and fifty miles in length, was loose and weak ; but the first appearance of a British army in the valley of the Nerbudda spread consternation amongst the robbers, and induced Cheetoo to prepare to quit the northern bank of that river and cross the mountains into Malwa. Perceiving, however, that the red coats did not cross the Nerbudda, the Pindarrees recovered confidence ; and on the 4th of November they resolved to push^small parties between Colonel "Walker's posts, and round his flanks ; and a party crossed the river, and then dividing into 1816.] RAPID MAECHES. 397 two, took different directions. Colonel Walker, in a;:'i.cix.pt- ing to intercept one of the divisions, unexpectedly fell upon the other as it was bivouacking in a jungle : he inflicted some loss ; but the nimble robbers were soon in the saddle, and before long they had re-crossed the river. On the 13th of November, all the durras were in motion. Cheetoo had discovered that Walker's cavalry was all on his left flank, and he therefore threw forward more than five thousand of his well-mounted thieves to turn Walker's right flank. This band, whicli appears to have been followed by others, crossed the river in sight of the infantry post, on the extreme right of our line, and then dashed on with a rapidity which left our infantry no chance of stopping or harassing their march. When collected on the southern side of the Nerbudda, the Pindarrees separated into two great bodies. One swept due east, through forests and over mountains, and fell unexpectedly upon the Company's district of Gan- jam, the northernmost frontier of the five Circars, with the evident intention of proceeding to Cuttack and Juggernaut, to plunder the rich stronghold of Hindu superstition, to carry off' the idols and the votive offerings and rich dona- tions of the pilgrims and devotees. But this lubbur was met by a small body of the Compan5^'s troops, almost as soon as it entered G-anjam, and was driven back with considerable loss. The other lubbur, which had gone off* to the south- ward, rushed into the nizam's territory before Colonel Doveton could come up with it. It then marched leisurely along, plundering and destroying, until it came near to the town of Beeder, the capital of a province of the Deckan, and about seventy-three miles north-west from Hyderabad. Here it came to a halt, and its chiefs to a disagreement as to the further course which ought to be pursued. While the leaders were in this state of indecision, Major Mac- dowall, who had been detached from Hyderabad, fell upon the lubbur by night with the van party of his light troops, ,and cut it up completely, although it was six thousand strong, and the first attack made by a mere handful of light cavalry. The robbers abandoned most of their horses, and the greater part of their booty, dispersed themselves over the country, and thought of nothing but their personal safety, and of the means of returning to the northern side of the Nerbudda. But one leader, named Sheikli Dulloo, had abandoned this lubbur altogether a few days before Macdowall's exploit, 308 6:'.r.Livi. ulLLOO. [1816-17. and had gone off with from three to five hundred Pindarrees to act for himself. He dashed across the peishwa's terri- tory, descended into the Konkan, and thence shaped his course due north, plundering the western shores of India, from the 17th to the 21st degree of north latitude, and returniiig'by the valley of the Taptee, and the route of Boor- hanpoor, the capital of the Candeish province of the Deckan. This was the only lubbur that met with any success this season. The only loss it sustained from British troops was on its return to the Nerbudda, in the following March, Here Sheikh Dulloo and his people were within a few miles of home, or of Cheetoo's cantonment ; but they found the ford by which they had hoped to cross the river guarded by a redoubt, occupied by a small party of our sepoys. Several of the robbers were shot in attempting to dash across ; but the sheikh himself, with the main body and best- mounted followers, retiring from the ford, boldly swam the river lower down, though not without a further loss of men and horses. Those who had worse horses or less courage dispersed, and fled into the jungle on the English side of the Nerbudda, where the greater part of them were cut off by the wild inhabitants of the country. By the various accidents of flood and fire, more than one half of those who had followed Sheikh Dulloo perished ; but the rest reached Cheetoo's durra with a rich booty in their saddles.* Two or three smaller lubburs had contrived to cross the Nerbudda ; but they met with nothing but hard blows and disappointment. One of them was cut to pieces by the 4th Madras native cavalry, led on by Major Lushington. Another was almost annihilated on its return homeward. Hosts of them were cut off by the people whom they had plundered in their advance. They had been continually fleeing before a handful of men, and had been beaten every time they had been met with.f StiU, however, their depredations during this campaign, or season of 1816-17, had embraced a more ample expanse of territory than had * H. T. Prinsep. f However great their own number, and however small that of their pursuers, they were always beaten when our sepoys or native cavalry could get up with them. Many English officers were invalided in conse- quence of the terrible fatigues of the pursuit ; but hardly any of our people were killed. In Major Lushington's brilliant affair one English officer was, however, slain by a Pindarree spear. 1816-17.] APA SAHEB. ever before been attempted, extending from shore to shore of the peninsula of India, and including all the intermediate provinces they had omitted the preceding year. By this time it was yctj completely demonstrated that stationary posts of defence could not prevent the Pindarrees from crossing the Nerbudda and getting into our territories ; and that it would not be possible to deal properly with those plunderers and murderers, unless our troops advanced into the country north of the Nerbudda, to the " procreant cradle" of the infamous race. The marquis of Hastings (the patent conferring this new title was dated the 7th of December, 1816) resolved to defer no longer the full execution of his plan, but to throw his armies across the Kerbudda. But troubles, excited or encouraged by the Mahrattas, broke out in the Company's district of the Doab, in Rohilcund, and in other quarters, and before mo\ing onward it was necessary to put an end to them. In the pro\'ince of Agra, Dyaram Thakoor and Bulwunt Sing, having obtained possession of some strong forts and castles, had begun to levy contributions on the Company's subjects, and to interrupt the trade of the upper provinces ; robbers and cut-throats were repairing to their banners from aU the neighbouring districts, and the laws were openly set at defiance nearly everywhere between Agra and Delhi. The marquis detached a considerable force, under Greneral Mar- shall, to drive Dyaram Thakoor out of Hatras, his strong- hold, and one of the strongest forts in India, garnished at this moment with 500 pieces of ordnance of all sorts. Being Avell provided with heavy artillery, General Marshall fully succeeded in his object. On the evening of the 2nd of March, one of his shells struck a huge powder-maga- zine, which blew up within the place, destroying half the garrison and nearly all the works'; Dyaram, with a few horse, rushed out of the place and made his escape in the dark- ness of night, the rest of his people surrendering at dis- cretion. Bulwunt Smg, the ally of Dyaram, agreed, on the first summons, to dismantle the fortress he held, to restore the plunder he had made, and to live honestly and peaceably for the future. One whiff of grape-shot sufficed to put an end to the troubles in Eohilcund. Apa Saheb, whom we had installed at Nagpoor, was neither a grateful nor a creditable ally. He disgraced the 400 QTJABEELS "WITH THE PEISHWA. [^817. musnud with blood and crime, and then sent vakeels to the peishwa, to Scindiah, to Holkar, and to all the powerful Mahratta chiefs, to solicit their alliance and assistance in expelling the English, The Honourable Mountstuart Elphin- stone, our able, accomphshed, and energetic resident at Poonah, soon ascertained that, notwithstanding the peishwa' s solemn assurances to the contrary, that prince was still guided by the invisible Trimbukjee ; that troops were collect- ing in the liills to the south-east of Poonah ; that troops were levying in other directions ; that the peishwa' s officers were repairing his forts, and sending agents and money into Malwa, to recruit for his service. Mr. Elphinstone demanded that all these things should cease, that the felon and murderer Trimbukjee should be given up, and that the adherents and the members of Trimbukjee's family should be put imder restraint, instead of being continued in favour and office. The crafty Mahratta prince put part of Trim- bukjee's family under arrest, and declared to our resident that the troops in the hills were only a set of desperadoes, driven into insurrection and armed by Trimbukjee, whom he would put to death if he could catch him. But Mr. Elphinstone was not duped by this juggling. He called down the subsidiary force to Poonah, and told the peishwa, who was preparing to go and join Trimbukjee, that he must not leave his capital. As soon as the Com- pany's troops assembled in some force, a portion of them were detached to the Mahadeo hills, where they discovered and dispersed the pretended insurgent army, and the rest were drawn round Poonah, within which city the peishwa had 6,000 or 7,000 foot, a large bod}^ of cavalry, and a fortified palace. Mr. Elphinstone' s first intention was to dem^and hostages for the surrender of Trimbukjee, and for the punctual performance of the treaty of Bassein, and, in case of a refusal, to storm the palace and seize the person of the peishwa ; but he shrunk from the carnage and destruc- tion which might attend a war of streets, and a battle in the centre of a populous city, all the peaceful inhabitants of which continued to regard the English not as enemies, but as their best friends. Our resident therefore waited events, not without a hope that the peishwa would throw oft' the; unaccountable spell which that low ruffian Trimbukjee had cast upon him, and would listen to the advice of better counseUors and to the wishes of the majority of his subjects 1816-17.] ADMIRABLE CONDrCT OP ME. ELPHINSTONE. 401 for a continuance of peace with the Company. But while Mr. Elphinstone waited, the adherents of Trimbukjee took possession of several of the peishwa's forts, stopped the post in Cuttack and other places, and thus cut oif our resident from all communication with the governor-general and the council at Calcutta. At the most critical moment of this trjdng crisis Mr. Elphinstone was left without instructions, to act as his own judgment might prompt and on his own responsibility. But his sagacity and good judgment never failed him, and ^vith the training he had had, ne was not the man to be bewildered or intimidated by any amount of responsibility. We can only briefly sketch the particulars of his conduct; but they were such as obtained for him universal admiration. If the peishwa should escape to Bye- ghur, which is situated among the ghauts of the Konkan, it would be impracticable to follow him till after the monsoon torrents ; and, once in that strong position, he might make it his centre of operations, and unite behind its walls all the Mahratta chiefs that were bent upon a war with the English. Mr. Elphinstone, therefore, determined to wait no longer, and drawing his troops more closely round Poonah, he demanded that the peishwa should, within twenty-four hours, solemnly engage to deliver up Trimbukjee, the source of all the mischief, within a month, and put the English in possession of his forts of Ryeghur, Singhur, and Poorandur, as pledges. The peishwa hesitated, but the aspect of our troops was alarming, and the temper of the people of his capital scarcely less so, and, within the four-and-twenty hours, he accepted the conditions offered to him, and the forts were immediately placed in our possession. But true to no line of policy, steady to nothing except in his infatuation for Trimbukjee, the Mahratta potentate repented of the bargain he had made, and endeavoured to break it. Finding, however, that the attempt was for the present too hazardous, he offered a reward for the apprehension of Trimbukjee, dead or alive, and confiscated his property and that of twelve of his partisans. Yet, at the same moment, he took measures to provide for the safety and concealment of that foul robber, and secretly remitted him some money. A few days after this, on the 13th of June, the peishwa signed a treaty offered to him by Mr. Elphinstone, as the only mode of removing doubts and jealousies. J3y this 2 D 402 Is'EW TREATr WITH THE PEISHWA. [1817. treaty the peishwa, among other things, engaged to renounce all negotiations with powers hostile to the Company ; to renounce all right of supremacy over our ally the Guicowar ; to give up all rights and pretensions in (xuzarat, Bundel- kund, and every part of Hindustan Proper ; to surrender to the Company in perpetuity the fort of Ahmednuggur and certain other territories ; and to dissolve the great Mahratta confederacy by abandoning all connection with the other Mahratta powers, and consequently his station as their peishwa or head. He also agreed to an important alteration, in the treaty of Bassien. By that treaty he had bound himself to furnish to the Company in time of war a contin- gent of 5,000 horse and 3,000 foot, with ordnance propor- tionate ; but this was now exchanged for an engagement to furnish to the Company the means of paying and maintain- ing an equal force. Altogether the revenue ceded by the peishwa was estimated at thirty-four lacs of rupees. The treaty was ratified by the governor-general within a month, or on the 5th of July, 1817. The peishwa's perfidy, and his preparations for joining the worst of our enemies at the moment when we were about entering on a connected plan of operations for extirpating the Pindarrees, merited a more severe chastisement. But in the Konkan, whither he would have retired had he been able, some of his chiefs resisted the English. This resistance, however, was soon put down by Colonel Doveton and Colonel Scott. Doveton routed and expelled the partisans of Trimbukjee in Khandesh ; and Scott, making ladders of his tent-poles, gallantly escaladed and stormed the strong fort of Dorana. After the loss of this their chief stronghold, Trimbukjee' s adherents ceased to make head, and the murderer himself fled to the jungles in the valley of the Kerbudda, where he could communicate with Cheetoo and his Pindarrees. It should appear that Trimbukjee found means of communicating with the peishwa also ; for at the very moment that the English army was ready to cross the Nerbudda, in order to fall upon the robbers, the Mahratta potentate threw the treaty of June to the winds, and fell upon the English at Poonah. As soon as the imposing force which Mr. Elphinstone had assembled round that capital, had retired to its canton- ments, the peishwa's kettle-drum was beat in every direction for recruits and volunteers ; and by the beginning of 1817.] EENEWAL OF WAE. 403 October masses of cavalry, prodigious in their numbers, were collected at various stations. To the English resident, the peishwa represented that he was raising troops for no other object than that of complying with the request of the governor-general to co-operate against the Pindarrees. But Mr. Elphmstone's experience did not allow him to trust to any Mahratta protestations or oaths ; and he soon discovered that the peishwa' s agents were attempting to corrupt the Company's sepoys belonging to that portion of the subsidiary force which had been left at Poonah. Upon this discovery the sepoys were removed from the town to the village of Kirkee in the immediate neighbour- hood. There was only one brigade of sepoys in all, but the position was admirably strong, being protected by a river in the rear and on the left, and supported on the right by the village. Moreover, there were other battahons cantoned a few miles oif, to the west. The peishwa, however, took it into his dull head that the English confessed their fears by evacuating the city ; and this too in spite of the evident fact that Mr. Elphinstone remained behind at the residency. He pushed forward his confused hordes to Poonah, and drew up a plan for surrounding the English camp at Kirkee and pre- yenting the arrival of reinforcements. Some of these Mah- rattas were constantly riding round the camp, and abusing our men and officers. An English officer was attacked, plundered, and wounded, and narrowly escaped being killed. It was not until these unequivocal demonstrations had been made that Mr. Elphinstone called up from Seroor a light bat- talion and a corps of 1,000 auxiliary horse. These forces left Seroor on the 5th of November, and marched half-way to Poonah. As soon as the peishwa heard of its being in motion, he put his own unwieldy army in motion also, and threw a strong battalion between the residency on the skirts of the town and the camp at Kirkee, for the purpose of cutting off the communication between the two. Mr. Elphin- stone, who demanded the reason of this hostile proceeding, was told that the peishwa had only anticipated the hostile movements of the English, being determined to be no longer the \4ctim of his irresolution. And, as if to prove that he had screwed up his valour to the fighting-])oint, the peishwa mounted his horse immediately after, and joined the main body of his army on a hill a little to the south-west of Poonah. The host forthwith advanced on the residency. 2d2 404 BATTLE NEAR POONAH. [1817. Mr. Elphinstone and his suite had barely time to mount their liorses and cross the river towards the English camp, ere the Mahrattas took possession of the houses, from which there had not been time to remove an}i;hing. All were plundered in the twinkling of an eye, and were after- wards burned. Much valuable property was destroyed, but the most irreparable loss was that of Mr. Elphinstone' s manuscripts and library. ^Meanwhile Mr, Elphinstone and his party made good their retreat along the left bank of the river, skirmishing with some Mahratta horse that followed them, and passing under the fire of the battalion which had been thrust between the residency and the camp at Kirkee. G-eneraUy the civil ser- vants of the Company were ambi-dextrous, or capable of wielding with the same hand the sword as well as the pen. As soon as Mr. Elphinstone was safe in the camp, and had been greeted as he deserved, it was resolved not to stand there on the defensive, nor to wait the arrival of the troops that were marching from Seroor, but to recross the river and attack the Mahrattas immediately. The brigade, com- manded by Colonel Burr, was now about 2,800 strong, and the Bombay European regiment was in it ; the Mahrattas mustered at the least 25,000 men, and they had many guns ; but the peishwa was a rank coward, and the mass of his force a mere armed rabble. The combat did not commence until late in the afternoon, and before nightfall it was ended by the flight of the Mahrattas, who either threw themselves into Poonah or into a fortified camp near the town. They left about 500 on the field. Our loss was eighteen killed and fifty-seven woimded. During the battle Mr. Elphinstone remained on the field, in order to give Colonel Burr the advantage of his very perfect local knowledge. On the fol- lowing morning, the 6th of NoA'ember, the light battalion and irregular horse from Seroor joined Colonel Burr. The Mahrattas drew up in order of battle, but did nothing except mutilate some women and dependents of the Com- pany's brigade whom they had surprised and seized in the old cantonments.* As their numbers seemed to increase, * After the poor women had been brutally mutilated, they were let loose to find their way to the brigade. In other instances which occurred during the 5th and 6th of November, the Mahrattas too plainly showed with what a ferocious spirit they took the field. Two of our officers, Captain Vaughan and his brother, who were travelling with a small escort, 1817.] PURSTJIT OF THE PEISHWA. 405 and as the city and the old cantonments which the English had occupied afforded rather formidable means of defence, Colonel Burr and Mr. Elphinstone determined to wait the arrival of Brigadier- G-eneral Lionel Smith, who was advancing from the banks of the Grodavery. Smith, who had but very little cavalry with him, and no regular cavalry at all, was molested on his march by hordes of Mahratta horse, who succeeded in plundering some of his baggage ; but his division reached the English camp in front of Poonah on the 13th of November. Owing to some unex- pected difficulties, the British did not advance against the city and the cantonments (which were further fortified in the inter- val) until the 16th. A large Mahratta force, which attempted to dispute their advance, was discomfited, after a smart combat, which cost us sixty men and an officer. This decided the afiair ; in the course of the ensuing night the peishwa fled, and on the following morning, when our troops marched up to the intrenched camp, they found that the tents were left standing, but that there was not a single Mahratta there.* General Smith, posted his artillery and threatened the city of Poonah with a bombardment ; but the only ganison there consisted of a few hundred Arabs, and these, by the per- suasion or by the threats of the inhabitants, were induced to retire. The citizens opened the gates, and our troops took quiet possession of the city. In all this the far greater portion of the peishwa's subjects saw nothing but the direct vengeance of Heaven for the horrible and sacrilegious crime committed in murdering Grungadhur Shastri within the precincts of the holiest of their temples. On the 19th, G-eneral Smith, having been joined by a regiment of the Madras cavalry under Lieutenant-Colonel Colebrooke, started in pursuit of the peishwa. In the course of the day Captain Turner, of the light division, succeeded in capturing eighteen guns with their tumbrils and ammunition, and a great quantity of baggage. But the peishwa and the forces with him moved too rapidly to be caught : he threw himself into were induced to surrender by promise of quarter, and were both hanged. Ensign Ennis, of the Bombay engineers, who was taking a survey some fifty miles from Poonah, was shot ; and Lieutenants Morisson and Hunter, of the Madras cavalry, were attacked as they were marching towards Poonah, from the nizam's dominions, utterly unconscious of the rupture. * The peishwa had, however, succeeded in carrying off all his guns except one, which was of an enormous size, and too heavy to be removed with any speed. 406 WAB TVITH APA SAHEB. [1817. the wild and elevated country in which the river Krishna takes its rise ; and, continuing an erratic course, he eluded pursuit until the following year. Apa Saheb, at Nagpoor, like the peishwa at Poonah, reckoned with certainty on his ability to overwhelm the small English force stationed at his capital. Throwing off all disguise, he declared for the peishwa, not knowing that he was already beaten. Mr. Jenkins, the resident, called in a brigade from its cantonments, and posted it round the residency, which was situated a little to the west of the city of Nagpoor, and separated from it only by a small ridge. The brigade was scarcely posted ere infantry, cavalry, and artillery, natives and wild Arabs, began to gather round the residency. On the following day, the 26th of IN^ovember, some of the rajah's infantry and artillery commenced a fire upon the ridge, which was now occupied by our brigade. This continued from sunset tiU two hours after midnight. Our troops suffered severely : Captain Sadler, the first ia command, was killed ; and Captain Charlesworth, the next in command, was wounded. But several assaults made to carry the hill were repulsed with great loss to the enemy. When the firing was over, our troops laboured to strengthen their position ; they had but few intrenching tools where- with to make artificial defences ; but they placed along the exposed brow of the hill sacks of flour and wheat, and any thing else capable of affording some cover. At daybreak the enemy recommenced their fire with greater fury ; masses of their cavalry showed themselves all round our position, and the Arab infantry, in the ra;jah's service, displayed great resolution and confidence. An accident happening to one of our guns, these Arabs rushed up the hiU, seized it, and pointed it with murderous effect against our next post, having first put to the sword all the wounded that had fallen round the gun. Their first shot from that gun killed Dr. I^even, the surgeon, and Lieutenant Clarke ; the second, a round of grape, killed the resident's first assistant, Mr. George Sotheby, and totally disabled four men besides. The camp-followers and the women and children of our sepoys set up a wild shriek, and our position was entamee by the fierce Arabs : the day seemed lost and a horrible butchery inevitable, when Captain Pitzgerald made a brisk and most gallant charge with the cavalry of our brigade, which con- sisted of only three troops of the 6th Bengal regiment. 1817.] BATTLE OF NAGPOOE. 407 Heading the little column himself, and dashing across a nullah and over the bridge, Fitzgerald charged one mass of the enemy, drove them from their guns, turned them upon themselves, and then retired towards the residency, dragging the captured guns with him, and firing as he retired. Our people on the ridge setup a joyous shout, and a detachment of them advanced against the fierce Arabs, who kept their ground, though those who ought to have supported them were running away. These Arabs, however, could not stand bayonet-charge ; they were driven from the post, the guns they had captured were recovered, and two other guns, which the enemy had brought up, were taken. In heading this desperate charge. Captain Lloyd and Lieutenant G-rant particularly distinguished themselves. Grant was wounded three times, and his third wound proved mortal. The Arabs lay thick round the guns among the British and sepoys they had butchered. As soon as this charge was crowned with success, Apa Saheb's troops gave way on every side, and about the hour of noon they fled from the field in panic- disorder, leaving all their artillery to the conquerors. Thus ended a conflict more desperate than any that had taken place in India since the early days of CKve. Apa Saheb sent vakeels to the resident to express his grief, and to dis- avow having himself authorised the attack. He also employed the women of his family as intercessors for par- don. Anon, Company's troops poured into the country from every quarter. As early as the 29th, Lieutenant- Colonel Gahan arrived at the residency with two battalions and three troops of horse, two galloper-guns, supplies of ammu- nition, &c. But it was of the utmost consequence that Apa Saheb should be entirely crushed with the utmost rapidity, in order that the grand campaign should proceed against the Pindarrees and their supporters, and that other vacillating allies should be deterred from following his example by learn- ing the terrible example of English vengeance by hearing, in one breath, that the rajah of Nagpoor had risen in arms, that the rajah of Nagpoor had been beaten, and his power annihilated. Accordingly the marquis of Hastings, who was himself on the Nerbudda, sent still more troops to Nagpoor, under Major Pitman, Brigadier-general Doveton, and Brigadier- general Hardyman. These troops being up, our resident, on the morning of the 15th of December, informed the 408 STOEMI>'a OF NAGPOOB. [1817. raj all that if he did not immediately submit to terms, and disband all his Arabs, no conditions would be allowed him. Apa Saheb endeavoured to temporize. But in the evening General Doveton beat to arms, approached the town walls, and there bivouacked for the niglit. At six o'clock the next morning the rajah sent to say that liis Arabs would not allow him to go over to the English, and that he must beg for a respite of two or three days. All the respite General Doveton would give was for two hours: Apa Saheb must come in by 9 o'clock, or abide the consequences. As 9 o'clock came, and as the rajah came not, our army advanced in order of battle to a position close upon the enemy's camp ; and upon this, Apa Saheb, giving way to his fears, mounted his horse, galloped away from the camp to the residency, and delivered himself up as a hostage. He there gave a written order that the artillery in the arsenal and in the camp should be surrendered. General Doveton, suspecting mischief, if not from the treachery of the rajah^ from the desperation of the Arabs, instead of sending a party to take possession of the guns, advanced his whole line by open column of companies. The arsenal, containing thirty-six guns, was taken without resistance; but as Doveton proceeded, a heavy fire of artillery was opened upon his front and right flank. Through the general's prudence and foresight, he was not unprepared for this attack : his cavaliy and horse artillery were with him ; and, while his infantry charged iip in front, these made a detour, and got on the enemy's flank. In less than an hour all the batteries were carried, the Arabs were put to flight, and seventy-five more guns, mortars, and howitzers, forty-five elephants, the entire camp, and all Apa Saheb' s camp equipage were in our hands. But the fire of those fierce Arabs had cost us in killed and wounded thirty-nine British and 102 native soldiers. Part of the Arab infantry rallied in the city, occupied the fortress, within which were the rajah's palaces and other strong buildings, and there they maintained them- selves with such desperation, that it was not until the 30th of December that they coidd be driven out. Doveton's siege artillery had not yet had time to come up, and in an attempt to storm the fort through an insufficient breach, he lost ninety in killed and 179 in wounded. With the departure of these daring Arabs, resistance ceased ; the rajah, his city of 1816-17.] THE PINDAEEEE WAfi. 409 ^Nagpoor, and all his country were at our feet. The fate of Apa Saheb remained in suspense for a few months. In the meanwhile the Pindarree forces had been shattered and scattered, in spite of the extensive combinations made to support them as the great vanguard of the Mahrattas. The marquis of Hastings took the field in person, and directed the main operations of this campaign. His preparations were all on a gigantic scale. The army of the Bengal pre- sidency, commanded by the governor-general in person, and called the " Grand Army," counted 40,000 fighting men. The Madras troops, which took the field under the designa- tion of the "Army of the Deckan," numbered 70,400 fight- ing men. A part of the Bombay army was put in motion from the side of Guzarat, to co-operate in the general objects of the campaign. Counting the irregular cavalry supplied by the allies or dependents of the Company, the whole force brought into the field must have exceeded 130,000 men ; and of these forces above 13,000 were British soldiers. No such army had ever yet marched under our colours in India. It was not possible to estimate the vary- ing force of all our enemies ; but it may be roughly stated that the Mahratta confederacy had 130,000 horse, 80,000 foot, and 580 guns, while the difterent fragments that re- mained of their Pindarree allies would form a total of about 15,0'D OF THE PINDAREEE [1819. It had always been considered a place of the greatest im- portance, as it commands one of the great passes of the Deckan into Hindustan. The possession of Aseerghur enabled the Company's troops to restrain the excesses of the Bheel tribes, who inhabited the neighbouring range of hills. The place was also advantageously situated as a depot. It had been taken from the Mahrattas during the brilliant campaigns of AVeUesley and Lake, but had been very unwisely restored to Scindiah. On taking possession of the fortress, Sir John Malcolm confidently expected to find Apa Saheb in some part of it ; but that ex-rajah had eftected his escape either during the siege, or before the place was invested. Months passed before it could be known what he was doing, or whither he had gone. In the interim the Gonds were severely chas- tised : several of their chiefs were killed, and Chyn Shah himself was seized, deposed, and carried off prisoner to the Company's fortress at Chanda, where he died in 1820. Part of his territories were assumed by the Company, as the best means of protecting their country on the JN^erbudda. Some few forts and positions were permanently occupied, and the Company's sepoys levied the pilgrim tax at the Mahadeo temple, and in the passes which lead to it. This tax or toll had formerly been divided among many Grond chiefs, who raised it or lowered it. according to circum- stances, or according to their own strength or relative weak- ness of the pilgrims ; but a regular rate was now fixed, and the money collected was divided among the chiefs by the English collectors. Even in this poor, hungry, savage dis- trict, a rapid improvement followed the Company's occupa- tion : the Gronds left off thieving, and took to honest labour. After many false reports had been spread about his where- about, accurate intelligence was received of Apa Saheb's having fled to Lahore, to seek refuge with Eunjeet Sing. He had arrived in that country disguised as a fakir, or holy mendicant and stroller. The Sheikh chieftain would not receive him publicly at his durbar, lest such conduct should give offence to the English ; but he ordered that a place of concealment, with the bare means of subsistence, should be furnished to the once powerful, but now dispossessed rajah of !N^agpoor. In the meanwhile the governor-general had declared Apa Saheb dethroned, and had proclaimed, as his successor, the son of a daughter of the rajah Eagojee, who 1819.] AXD MAHEATTA WAR. 429 died ill 1816, and appointed tlie widow of Eajali Pursajee, whom Apa Saheb had murdered, to be regent for the minor. Every department of government was, however, placed under the direct control of British officers ; and the whole country of Nagpoor, with its resources, was virtually an- nexed to the Company's dominions. The capture of Aseerghur was the last operation of the Pindarree and Mahratta war ; a war which had witnessed an unprecedented number of sieges, an unprecedented number and complexity of movements, and some of the most remarkable forced marches that were ever made in any country. The reserved division alone performed three sieges those of Singhur, Belgaum, aud Sholapoor. Lieutenant- Colonel MacdowaU's detachment, and Lieute- nant-Colonel Adams's division, reduced the peishwa's numerous and strong fortresses in Candeish : the most famed of these places were Eadjeir, Trimbuli, MaUegaum, and Chanda. But thiety hill-fortresses, each of which might have defied the whole Anglo-Indian army, fell in the course of a few weeks. And all this was done with a very defec- tive engineering department, and without a proper supply of men trained to siege duty. So deficient was the number even of our artillery officers, that there never were enough of them employed in the same siege to afi'ord a relief. At the siege of Aseerghur, in particular, the officers of the Madras artillery actually lived in the batteries. This inces- sant service was so severe, that several of the officers died of sheer fatigue, or were worn out and invalided.* In the first year of this Pindarree-Mahratta war, the army was assailed by a new and terrible enemy. This was the Indian cholera morbus, the virulence of which appears to have been increased by the crowded state of our camps. The disease first broke out at Jessore, the capital of a dis- trict in the southern quarter of Bengal, a populous and unhealthy city in the centre of the Delta of the Granges, and near the pestiferous Sunderbunds. It began its ravages as the rainy season of 1817 set in, and cut off the majority of those whom it attacked. From Jessore it spread in all directions, showing, as it was thought, a pre- * Edward Lake, lieutenant of Madras engineers, * Journals of the Sieges of the jNIadras Army.' I refer the reader to this valuable work for a competent idea what was done with defective means. This ia another book which ought to be in the hands of every young officer in India. 430 THE CHOLERA. [1817. ference for the valleys of rivers.* Ascending the valley of the Granges, it reached the camp of Brigadier- Greneral Hardyman about the beginning of October ; but the troops, being* then encamped in a dry, healthy country, and being but few in number, suffered comparatively little. Con- tinuing its course westward, it fell with extraordinary violence upon the army commanded by Lord Hastings in person, just after his lordship had concluded the treaty with Scindiah. This army, when first seized, was encamped in a low and unhealthy part of Bundelkund, on the banks of the river Sinde, a confluent of the Jumna, which has its source in the mountains of Malwa. The year was one of scarcity, and grain had been collected for the troops, through the camp-followers, with extreme difficulty, and of course of inferior quality. The water of the country, except where it could be obtained from running streams, was indifferent. The time of the year too was that at which the heat of the day is most strongly contrasted with the cold of the night. To all these extraordinary circumstances was superadded the very crowded state of the camp of so large an army. Per about ten days that the disease raged with its greatest fury, the whole camp was an hospital. The mortality amounted to about a tenth of the whole number collected there.t Europeans and natives, soldiers and camp-followers, were alike affected; but the latter being generally worse ^clothed and fed than the fighting men, suffered in a greater * James Copland, M.D., ' On Pestilential Cholera,' S:c. According to other accounts, the first appearance of the disease was not at Jessore, but at Nuddea and Kishnaghur. In June it was discovered at Mymensing, and in several villages along the course of the Brahmaputra ; in July it appeared at Patna, and at Sunegong, a town on the banks of one of the branches of the Brahmaputra ; and on the 19th of August it raged with destructive violence at Jessore. On the 15th of September the disease, which had broken out at Cal- cutta, Pinapoor, Chittagong, &c. , reached from the mouths of the Ganges nearly as high as the confluence of the Jumna. Early in November it reached the Sinde, where it raged with greater violence than in any other part of India. Frederick Corbyn, Esq., M.R.C.S.L., surgeon on the Bengal esta- blishment, &c., 'Treatise on the Epidemic Cholera,' 1 vol. 8vo. Calcutta, 1832. James Jameson, assistant-surgeon, &c., * Report on the Epi- demic Cholera Morbus, Calcutta, 1820.' t H. T. Prinsep. This gentleman adds, " The narrator himself lost seven domestic servants and a moonshee in about four days, besides twelve others who were sick and unserviceable for a month, out of an establish- ment of fifty-three ; and others of the staff were equal sufferers." 1817.] 'TnE CIIOLEEA. 431 proportion. Of tlie Europeans fewer were seized, but those who took the disease more frequently died, and usually within a few hours. The camp was abandoned, and the army continued for some days to move to the eastward, in the hope of finding relief in a better climate ; but each day's march many dead and dying were abandoned, and many more fell down on the road, so many that it was not possible to furnish the means for carrying them on, although the utmost possible provision had been made by the pre- vious distribution of bullock-carts and elephants for the a^ccommodation of the sick. JS'othing was heard along the line of march but groans and shrieks and lamentations ; even the healthy were broken in spirit and incapable of exertion ; and, for the time, the efficiency of this fine army seemed to be entirely destroyed. Towards the end of jSTo- vember, when the army reached a healthy station at Erech, on the right bank of the Betwa river, the epidemic had visibly expended its violence. 432 BEAUTIFUL TEAXQUILLITT. [1820. CHAPTER XXXIV. ArTEE the siege of Aseerglaur, the armies of the tliree presidencies returned to their several stations and canton- ments in Bengal, Madras, and Bombay ; and the regions which had been crossed and recrossed, and traversed in all directions by immense hosts of combatants, by British and native troops, Peishvs^a Mahrattas, Holkar Mahrattas, jSTag- poor Mahrattas, Pindarrees, Patans, Arabs, Gronds, and ^ others, became quiet as a bay of the ocean after a storm ; quieter and happier than they had been for many ages. In the territories assumed by the Company, or taken under its immediate protection, able men -^ere left by the marquis of Hastings to improve this tranquillity, to establish perma- nently the reign of peace and law, and to better the condi- tion of aU the native inhabitants. For more than thirty preceding years, the province of Malwa, and the whole of Central India, had been oppressed, pillaged, and laid waste by the Pindarrees, by the Mahrattas of all tribes, by the Eajpoot princes, and by the Puars : these different powers acted sometimes in combination, but more frequently in opposition to one another : they were all equally cruel and rapacious in the moment of success and conquest, and about equally incapable of giving that stability to their conquests which would have afforded relief to the poor oppressed people, whose greatest calamity was the frequent change of masters. Tq Sir John Malcolm, who had assisted so potentially in subduing the sanguinary anarchists, and expelling the Pin- darrees, was assigned the equally difficult duty of restoring order and repairing the frightful mischiefs which had been committed in so long a series of years. He was appointed by the marquis of Hastings to the military and political com- mand of Malwa, which had perhaps suffered more than any other part of India. Hundreds upon hundreds of its villages were deserted and roofless; the ferocious tigers of the 181S.] sm JOH^N MALCOLir. 433 jungles literally usurped the country, and fouglit with the returning inhabitants for their fields. In the state of Hol- kar alone, of 3,701 villages, only 2,038 were inhabited ; 1,663 were " without lamp " were wholly deserted. Under the wise rule established by Malcolm, more than two-thirds of these deserted Tillages were restored and repeopled before the end of 1820 ; and in less than five years from the time our army fii'st occupied the country. Sir John could boast, with an honourable pride, and with perfect correctness, that Malwa and the rest of Central India were tranquil and con- tented, and rapidly advancing in population and prosperity. " It may be asserted that history affords few examples where a change in the political condition of a country has been attended with such an aggregate of increased happi- ness to its inhabitants, as that which was effected within four years in Central India ; and it is pleasing to think that, with the exception of suppressing a few Bheel rob- bers,* peace was restored, and has hitherto been maintained, without one musket being fired." . . . .f Accustomed to the extremities of miUtary violence, the inhabitants of the country, on the English first entering, betrayed feehngs of doubt and alarm. These were by some mistaken for dislike to our supremacy ; but they arose only out of fear of insult or outrage, and they were speedily removed by the strict discipline preserved by our troops, whether stationary or marching. In a very short time, wherever troops or indivi- duals moved, they were received with cordiality, as the friends and protectors of the people. To organize the country, honourable and intelligent British officers were sent into every part of it. " The result has been fortunate be- yond anticipation. These agents, within their respec- tive circles, have not only, by their direct intercourse with * The Bheels, inhabiting the hilly countries, had all been robbers and cattle-lifters time out of mind. We believe they had never been known as anything else, since the Rajpoots first conquered their country and drove them to the hills, as the Sassenach drove the Gael. " The first measure I took for the reform of the Bheels," says Sir John Malcolm, * was to raise a small corps commanded by their own chiefs ; and before they had been in the service one month, I placed them as a guard over treasure, which had a surprising effect, both in raising them in their own minds, and in those of the other parts of the community. I found an equally good impression was produced by my taking, for a period, as my constant attendants, some of the most desperate of the plundering chiefs west of the Chumbul." * Memoir of Central India.' t Id., id. 2p 434 BRITISH EULE AXD [1818. all classes, established great influence, but spread a know- ledge of our character and intentions, which has increased respect and confidence ; and they have in almost all cases succeeded, by the arbitration of differences, and the settle- ment of local disputes, in preserving the peace of the country without troops. The most exact observance of certain prin- ciples is required from these officers, and their line is very carefully and distinctly prescribed. The object has been to escape every interference with the internal administration of the country, beyond what the preservation of the public peace demanded." * In other parts of India the change was equally beneficial the blessmgs derived from the conquest of the Mahrattas and the extirpation of the Pindarrees were equally apparent. As Bishop Heber was travelling through the country in 1824, he overheard a conversation among some villagers, who were comparing the present peaceable times with those in which " Ameer Khan and Bappoo Scin- diah came up with their horsemen and spoiled all the land, and smote all the people, and biu-ned the cities through Mewar and Marwar, till thou comest unto the salt wilder- ness." He also heard them say that corn had been gradually getting cheaper, and, notwithstanding a late unfavourable season, was still not so dear as it used to be in the years of trouble. The kind and warm-hearted prelate adds : " When such have been the efiects of British supremacy, who will refuse to pray for the continuance of our empire ? " f " The war which had just terminated," says Malcolm, " was not an attack upon a state, or upon a body of men, but upon a system. It was order contending against anar- chy. . . . The victory gained was slight, comparatively speaking, over armies, to what it was over mind. The uni- versal distress, which a series of revolutions must ever generate, had gone its circle and reached all ranks and classes. The most barbarous of those who subsisted on plunder had found that a condition of continued uncer- tainty and alarm could not be one of enjoyment The desolated state of the country was favourable to the change, for it presented an ample field for the revival of industry in peaceful occupations ; but the paramount influ- ence which the results of the war gave to the British * * Memoir of Central India.' t ' Indian Journal.' See also Sir John INIalcolm's carefully drawn up Instructions to his Officers in Malwa.' 1818.] MAHRATTA MISEULE. 435 goYernment over several of tlie native states, was tlie prin- cipal cause of that peace and prosperity which ensued. Our officers were enabled to give shape and direction to the efforts of these states, which became an example to others ; and a tone of improvement was given to every province of Central India."* The inhabitants of the wild provinces subject to Scindiali started into prosperity as soon as his numerous, restless, and marauding army was broken up. All the districts which had been wrested from this chief by the Pindarrees were restored to him : the fortress of Aseerghur was nearly all he lost by the war. In the dominions of Holkar, where the anarchy and devastation had been greater, the change to good was the more striking. Our victory at Mahidpoor had scattered the overgrown army of this state ; those bat- talions were never re-embodied, and 200 men to guard the palace were all the infantry left in the service of this Mah- ratta dynasty. A small park of artiUery was retained, and 8,000 obedient cavalry sufficed for the police of the country. In less than four years the revenues of the state were nearly quadrupled ; and the expenses of collection were brought down from , forty to fifteen per cent. The increase of popu- lation was surprising. Within the short space of three years, Indore, in the province of Malwa, was changed from a desolate town into a populous and flourishing capital. New villages rose everywhere, and forests, long deemed impenetrable, were fast cleared, on account of tlie profits derivable from the timber required to rebuild villages, towns, and cities. The G-rassias, the Sondwarrees, as well as the Gronds and Bheels, and other hereditary robbers, were rapidly suppressed. When the British armies first entered Central India, and even in 1818, the country along the banks of the Nerbudda, and in the Vindhya mountains, which stretch from the province of Behar to Guzarat, was not safe for even troops to pass ; and till the end of the same year, when a British cantonment was established at Mhow, the banditti continued their depredations. From the territories of Bhopaul to those of Gruzarat, along the right bank of the Nerbudda, and from Hindia to the country of Burwannee, on the left bank of that river, law and order, and a spirit of industry and improvement, were introduced and established. * * Memoir of Central India.' 2 r2 436 MR. ELPHINSTOXE. [1819. At Pooiiali, and generally in tlie dominions of the ex- peisliwa, Bajee llao, changes and reforms equally salutary were introduced, principally through the management of the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, who had the genius of a true legislator, and all the generous sympathies of a philanthropist. By the conquest of the Poonah territory, the British dominion and possessions were extended along the western coast from the northern boundary of the small province of Groa to the mouths of the Taptee; and inland to the long-established western frontier of the nizam from the junction of the "Wurda and Toombudra to the junction of the Poorna and Taptee. Such places in Khandesh be- longing to the Holkar Mahrattas as fell within these bounds were ceded to the British by the treaty of Mundissoor, which Sir John Malcolm had concluded after the splendid victory at Mahidpoor. Some other territories south of the Saut- poora range of hills were also yielded. By exchanges with the Gruicowar, and by arrangements with some minor princes, a continuous, uninterrupted dominion was obtained from Bombay to Calcutta, and from Madras to Bombay. The former Mahratta war having been attended with the similar advantage of continuous dominion between Madras and Calcutta, the communication between the three presidencies might now be considered as complete.* Mr. Elphinstone continued as commissioner at Poonah until 1819, when he became governor of Bombay.t This elevation, however, did not deprive Poonah and the ceded districts in that direction of his valuable services, for those new possessions were wisely annexed to the Bombay presidency, to the territories of which they are adjacent. On quitting Poonah, Mr. El- phinstone addressed to the supreme government at Calcutta a comprehensive report on the affairs of that country, reciting what had been done, and what there remained to do ; con- trasting the present condition of the native inhabitants under the rule of the Company with their condition under * Colonel Valentine Blacker. t The office of governor of Bombay having become vacant by the re- signation of Sir Evan Nepean, Mr. Canning, as president of the Board of Control, intimated to the Court of Directors his readiness to confirm the selection of one of those eminent servants of the Company who had so highly distinguished themselves. The Directors appreciated this mark of confidence, and made choice of the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, who was nominated governor of Bombay, in October, 1818. Auber, 'Ris and Progress of the British Power in India.' / ii^j III 1 1 'lAi, w,.,^ 1819.] ME. ELPHINSTONE. 437 the peishwa, and in a most enliglitenecl and most generous spirit urging tlie supreme government to persevere in the good work which had been begun.* This report is one of the many admirable state papers which ought to be dili- gently perused by every European servant of the Company, whether military or civil. No servant of that Company, no governor or governor-general, that had yet visited the shores of India, was so well qualified as Mr. Elphinstone to govern the natives, or so full of tridy liberal and lofty prin- ciples of government. He went to India a stripling, and he never once quitted the country (except to go into Afghan- istan) for the long space of thirty years, during the whole of which time he had been constantly and successfully em- ployed, either in public business or in adding to his store of knowledge. Nor was there, we believe, in all that time a single individual that approached him, native or European, but was impressed with a sense of his ability, genius, humanity, generosity, and most manly honesty and urba- nity.t May his shining example be kept constantly in view * See * Report on the Territories conquered from the Peishwa, by the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone.' t In speaking of this distinguished and most amiable man, the warmth of my admiration and of my personal gratitude for benefits conferred upon myself and my eldest son (now an officer on the Bengal establishment) might possibly lead me too far. I again prefer repeating what was said of him by one very capable of estimating his merits and remarkable acquirements Bishop Heber. " I have enjoyed, in the unremitting kindness, the splendid hospitality, and agreeable conversation of Mr. Elphinstone, the greatest pleasure of the kind which I have ever enjoyed either in India or in Europe. " Mr. Elphinstone is, in every respect, an extraordinary man, possess- ing great activity of body and mind, remarkable talent for and application to public business, a love of literature, and a degree of almost universal information, such as I have met with in no other person similarly situated, and manners and conversation of the most amiable and interesting cha- racter. While he has seen more of India and the adjoining countries than any man now living, and has been engaged in active political, and some- times military, duties since the age of eighteen, he has found time not only to cultivate the languages of Hindustan and Persia, but to preserve and extend his acquaintance with the Greek and Latin classics, with the French and Italian, with all the elder and more distinguished English writers, and with the current and popular literature of the day, both in poetry, history, politics, and political economy. With these remarkable accomplishments, and notwithstanding a temperance amounting to rigid abstinence, he is fond of society ; and it is a common subject of surprise with his friends at what hours of the day or night he finds time for the acquisition of knowledge. His. policy, so far as India is concerned, ap- peared to me particularly wise and liberal ; and he is evidently attached 438 HONOURS CONTEREED [1818-19. by every intellectual Englisliman in India ! Then the dissi- pation of cantonments and quarters will be corrected, and officers will cease to complain of the tedium of remote or solitary stations. The marquis of Hastings no more made money in India than the Marquis Wellesley had done. The splendid ap- pointments of the offices of governor-general and com- mander-in-chief he had spent in supporting their dignity, in contributing to the public service, or to the welfare of the natives, and in rewarding merit, wherever he found merit in straitened circumstances. As some acknowledg- ment for the glorious issue of the Pindarree and Mahratta war, the East-India Company voted his lordship 60,000 for the purchase of an estate. Before that war came to an end, he was gratified by a measure adopted by the home governnment, which flattered the feehngs of the officers in our Indian army. Hitherto, officers holding the Company's commission had been excluded from most of the honours of the military profession. But the Prince Eegent, in giving extension to the Order of the Bath, was pleased to direct that fifteen of the most distinguished officers of the said service might be raised to the dignity of knights commanders of the Bath, and that certain other officers of the Company should be eligible to be knights companions. The marquis of Hastings had the pleasure of investing, with his own hands, the veteran general David Ochterlony with the insignia of Knight G-rand Cross of the Bath. The to, and thinks well of, the country and its inhabitants. His public mea- sures, in their general tendency, evince a steady wish to improve their present condition. No government in India pays so much attention to schools and public institutions for education. In none are the taxes lighter ; and in the administration of justice to the natives in their own languages, in the establishment of punchaets, in the degrees in which he employs the natives in official situations, and the countenance and fami- liarity which he extends to all the natives of rank who approach him, he seems to have reduced to practice almost all the reforms which had struck me as most required in the systems of government pursued in those pro- vinces of our eastern empire which I had previously visited. His popu- larity (though to such a feeling there may be individual exceptions) appears little less remarkable than his talents and acquirements ; and I was struck by the remark I once heard, that ' all other public men had their enemies and their friends, their admirers and their aspersers, but that of Mr. El- phinstone everybody spoke highly.' Of his munificence for his libe- rality amounts to this I had heard much and knew some instances my- self." Indian Journal, 1818-19.] o>' i^'DiAN orncEES. 439 ceremony took place in camp, at Terwali, on the 20th of March, 1818. "Sir David Ochterlonj," said the governor- general, " you have obhterated a distinction painful for the officers of the Honourable Company, and you have opened the doors for your brothers in arms to a reward, which their recent display of exalted spirit and invincible intre- pidity prove could not be more deservedly extended to the ofiicers of any army on earth."* His lordship did not despatch so many embassies as Lord Minto had done, yet he sent a mission to Siam and Cochin- China, under Mr. John Crawfurd, formerly an assistant- surgeon on the Bengal establishment. And, like the pre- ceding missions, if this one did no other good, it produced us some curious and good volumes of travels, and an addi- tion to our knowledge of Asia.f During this administration, other measures were carried into execution which were not so much to the taste of the governor-general. By our treaties of peace, concluded after the downfal of Bonaparte, our insular empire in India was nearly subverted. The magnificent island of Java was given back to the Dutch, and that power was put in possession of the keys both of the Straits of Malacca and the Straits of Sunda. But to remedy these eiils, Sir Stamford Eaffles im- provised the remarkable settlement and colony of Singapoor, on an island in the Straits of Malacca, in the direct route to Chma, within a week's sail of that country, close to Siam, and in the very seat of the Malayan empire. Under its able founder, in little more than three years, Singapoor grew from nothing into a large and populous town, containing 10,000 inhabitants, of nearly all nations, and nearly all actively engaged in commercial pursuits. And since that time the population has been quadrupled, and Singapoor * * Calcutta Government Gazette,' Ochterlony had merited the distinc- tion by his brilliant conduct in the Nepaul war, and by his very long and uninterrupted service in the country. He had at this time been consider- ably more than forty years in India, and had served under Colonel Pearce, Sir Eyre Coote, and the adventurous Popham. t ' The Mission to Siam and Hue, the Capital of Cochin China, in the years 1821-2, from the Journal of the late George Finlayson, Esq., Sur- geon and Naturalist to the Mission ; with a Memoir of the Author, by Sir Tliomas Stamford Raffles, Bart., F.R.S.' London, 1825. And Mr. Crawfurd's own account of the embassy, or, * Journal of an Embassy from the Governor- General of India to the Courts of Siam and Cochiu-China, exhibiting a View of the actual State of those Kingdoms,' London, 1828. 4-iO CO>'QUEST OF CEYLOK. [1800-19. has bocomo the London of southern Asia and the Indian Archipelago. All the nations tliat inhabit the siu-rounding countries resort to it with the produce of their agricultural and manufacturing industry, and take in exchange such goods as are not grown or produced in their own countries. A brighter nucleus of civilization was never formed in so brief a space of time. If during the administration of the marquis of Hastings, rich islands were given up in the east of the Indian Ocean, in the west the conquest of one great island the reduction of the whole of Ceylon was completed; and although the anomaly of which the Marquis Wellesley had complained con- tinued to exist, and although the king's governor of Ceylon was independent of the Company's governor-general of India, still the marquis of Hastings had contributed to the achievement by advice and by other assistance. Before the close of the preceding century, we had dispossessed theDutch of all their maritime settlements in Cordon. There was a part of the lowlands occupied by a perfectly savage race, called Yedas or Baddas, who lived by hunting, and there were other portions in which our occupancy was scarcely discernible ; but, roughly, it may be estimated that the English territories, in the year 1800, covered about 12,000 square miles, in a broad belt, and that the dominions of the king of Kandy, included within this belt, covered a like number of square miles. Consequently, the island was pretty equally divided between the British government and the king of Kandy. A kingdom within a kingdom, a terri- tory occupied by semi-barbarians, entirely surroimded by Europeans, and cut off from all external communication, could not possibly stand. The absorption of the Kandyan country into our dominion became an inevitable necessity, from the day we dispossessed the Dutch and occupied the coasts and the great belt between them and the hills. The word " Kandy" means a hill or mountain, and the term '^ Kandyan country," in a physical sense, means high- lands or a mountainous region. All the interior of the island is mountainous and very woody ; and it was in the inaccessible nature of their country, and in their ingenious mode of defending it by wickets and stockades, that the Kandyans had been enabled to maintain their independence during the nearly three hundred years that different Euro- pean nations had had a footing on the coasts. These 1800-19.] CErLO^r. 441 natural diificulties in tlie way of invasion were as great as ever ; and now, the people more fierce and courageous tlian the majority of the natives of continental India, had learned to make efiicient firelocks, and tolerably good gunpowder. On the borders, quarrels, usually accompanied with blood- shed, were constantly occurring between our people and the Kandyans. The death of the king of Kandy gave rise to a disputed succession. Some of the adigars, or chiefs, courted the assistance of the Enghsh. But early in the year 1802, a new king being firmly estabhshed on the throne, the Kandyans made great preparations for war; every man capable of bearing arms was ordered to hold himself in readiness to take the field, and a party of coast merchants, subjects of the British government, who had been up the country to purchase areca nuts, were assaulted and plundered. The Hon. Frederick North, then governor of Ceylon, sent 3,000 men to occupy the mountain capital, and to place a more friendly king upon the throne. Ma;jor- General Macdowal and Colonel Barbut, who commanded the troops, penetrated the jungles, entered the town of Kandy, which was totally deserted by its inhabitants, and crowned the pretender in the palace with all the forms and cere- monies in use among the Kandyans, save and except the recognition of the adigars. But it was soon found that the king we had made had no party whatever in the country, and that the Kandyans were most cunning enemies. Every night some of our people were brought down by the fire of concealed and covered marksmen, or were butchered by feUows that crept through the jungles and pounced upon them like tigers. Some of our detachments were led by pretended friends into ambuscades, and then decimated. It was felt by the officers in command, and by Grovemor North, that we had embarked in a difficult enterprise, with very insufficient means. This was certain; but unsteady and disgraceful were the means adopted to extricate ns from the difficulty ! It was agreed that we should take back to the coast the man whom we had just crowned in Kandy, and that another adigar, who had partisans, should be invested with the supreme authority ; that the new king should cede some territories to the Enghsh, and that a cessation of hostilities should immediately take place. On the faith of this treaty, made with a convicted and self- ^Yowed traitor, General Macdowal quitted Kandy for the 442 MAJOR DAYIE. [1800-19. coast, leaving beliind him a garrison of 700 Malays and 300 Europeans. A number of sick and wounded were also left in this barbarous little capital. Starvation stared them all in the face, for no proper measures had been adopted to secure magazines and depots of provisions. To complete the misfortunes of our soldiers at Kandy, the command devolved upon a Major Davie, an officer not only without military skill, but without common animal courage. In less than three months the new king starved our troops out of Kandy. Most of our Malays deserted to the enemy ; our sick and wounded, amounting to 120, or more, were tortured and butchered as they lay in the hospital incapable of resistance ; instead of fighting his way through, Davie capitulated in the jungles, and every officer and soldier with him, except a corporal, who made a miraculous escape, were tortured, butchered, or beaten to death wdth heavy clubs. Davie's own worthless life was preserved, and he spent the remainder of it at Kandy, adopting the dress and habits of the natives. Captain Madge, of the 19th regiment, who occupied a small fort, and who chose a different line of retreat, fought his way to Trincomalee with only a handful of men ; and Ensign G-rant, a very young officer, gallantly maintained a post, garrisoned by a few invalids, until he was relieved by a body of our troops from Colombo. Wherever care had been taken of the commissariat, and wherever common sense and common English courage were displayed, the Kandyans were foiled: whenever our officers were insane enough to trust to a treaty or a truce with them, torture and murder followed, and hardly a man escaped with life. Elated by their successes, the Kandyans now became the invaders. In the months of August and September they poured dovra from their mountains, captured some of our forts, advanced to within fifteen miles of Colombo, the seat of government, carrying terror and devastation wherever they went. Fortunately reinforcements arrived both from the Cape of Good Hope and from the Bay of Bengal ; and the Kandyans retreated to their mountains and almost imper- vious forests. But there seemed to be an evil spell upon the king-appointed governor of Ceylon and all the officers serving under him. Such measures were adopted as gave to conquests a disgrace as indelible as that of our recent defeats. It was absolutely necessary to clear our frontier, 1800-19.] SLiyDTAN WAE. 443 to follow the fugitives into their own territories, and to strike some blow which should restore our character and revive the awe due to our arms ; hut it was resolved to make the war a war of retribution and revenge a war of devasta- tion and this, though mentioned mth cold indifference, if not with approbation, by a divine of the Church of England, a courtly historian, who seems to think that no government could do ^Tong which patronized him, was unnecessary, unwarrantable, atrocious. It was not by such means as these that the Clives, and the Hastingses, and the "Wel- lesleys had built up our empire on the continent of India. The system was, however, carried out to a great extent. Detachments of British troops were sent into the Kandyan country for the avowed purpose of laying it waste wherever they penetrated. In the comparatively rich province of Saffragan one detachment of British soldiers was employed (we quote the words of a reverend historian) " in burning and destroying all the houses, stores, and gardens."* We have the same authority for the fact that many other parts of the country were exposed to similar horrors. This chap- lain and complaisant guest of the Honourable Mr. North really appears to be so insensible of the fundamental doctrine of his faith as to believe that the English were bound to retahate upon the savage Kandyans for the unspeakable cruelties of which they had been guilty ! In the year 1804 war was again carried into the interior, and a small corps, under Captain Johnston, a brave and able officer, found no great difficulty in getting to the town of Kandy. But the government had gone to war without any fixed plan, and not being supported by more troops, or in any way aided, Johnston was obliged to fight his way back again. The brave captain reached Trincomalee in safety, but his retreat had cost him two British officers, fourteen British soldiers, seven Malays, fifty-four Bengal sepoys, and a still greater number of coolies, who had perished in the wilderness. t A desultory warfare between the Kandyans and Eng- lish continued for many months, and was conducted on both sides with great barbarity. Numerous villages were * Cordiner. t * Narrative of the Operations of a Detachment, in an Expedition to Kandy, in the Island of Ceylon, in the year 1804. By Capt. Johnston. London, 1810.' 444 SIB THOMAS MAITLAND. [1800-19. burned, and large tracts of country reduced to desola- tion. Our soldiery, Avlietlier British or native, were in- furiated by the treacber}'- and cruelty which had been perpetrated at Kandy in 1803 ; and the government and the commanding officers, instead of exerting themselves, as they were bound to do, in restraining this fury, encou- raged it, and expressly ordered the continuance of acts of vengeance. In Eebruary, 1805, a general invasion of our territories by the Kandyans took place. Out of their own woods these people were but contemptible combatants. They were completely routed, and they retired from all the maritime provinces with great loss. In the month of July, 1805, a man more fitted for the post, the Honourable Sir Thomas Maitland, assumed the government of Ceylon. Before Maitland arrived, jea- lousies and intrigues among the adigars, or chiefs, and insurrections among the people, had broken out in the kingdom of Kandy; and these continued, "with little in- termission, for the space of seven years. During the long civil war in the interior. Sir Thomas Maitland diligently applied himself to improve the condition of our maritime possessions, and to undo the mischief which had been permitted to be done by his easy predecessor. Sir James Mackintosh, who visited Ceylon in 1810, says, " It is impossible for me to do justice to Greneral Maitland' s most excellent administration, which, I am convinced, never had an equal in India. By the cheerful decision of his character, and by his perfect knowledge of men, he has become universally popular amidst severe retrenchments. In an island where there was in one year a deficit of 700,000, he has reduced the expenses to the level of the revenue ; and with his small army of 5,000 men, he has twice, in the same year, given efiectual aid to the great government of Madras, which has an army of 70,000 men."* Instead of making premature attempts to conquer the whole of the island, Maitland left the Kandyans to their dissensions, and endeavoured to raise the value of the territories we possessed, and to constitute a system of govermnent and laws suitable to the character and habits of the native populations. In these great objects he, and still more the Cingalese, were * Diary in * Memoirs of the Life of the Right Hon. Sir James Mack- intosh, edited by his Son, Robert James Mackintosh, Esq.' &c. 1800-19.] EHEXLAPOLA. 445 indebted to the learning, the industry, the genius, and even the eccentricity of Mr, John D'Oyly, who was the only good Cingalese scholar in the Ceylon civil service, and who, with infinite labour, compiled a code of laws in the Cingalese language. The qualifications necessary to this arduous task had been acquired, by our otherwise accom- plished scholar, partly in a life of seclusion, toil, and absti- nence, and partly in a life spent among the natives of the country. And, in order to obtain a perfect familiarity with their language, laws, manners, and customs, D'Oyly had put on their dress, and had for years lived among them as one of themselves.* In 1812, General Sir Eobert Brownrigg succeeded Sir Thomas Maitland as governor. About the same period a horrible war in the interior was ended. It had broken out between the king of Kandy and his minister or lieutenant, the chief adigar. The minister, who had very nearly suc- ceeded in getting the king assassinated, was betrayed, brought a prisoner to Kandy, and sentenced to die : he and his nephew were beheaded, and six inferior chiefs were hanged and impaled. Yet very shortly after, Eheylapola, another nephew of the unlucky chief adigar, was established in that office the highest office in the state. For some time tranquillity was restored in the interior ; but at the beginning of 1814 the king suspected Eheylapola of designs against his life and throne, and, as he was in a distant province, he sent an army against him. Being defeated in battle, Eheylapola fled to a British post, whence he was conveyed to Colombo. All the members of his family, whom he had left in the town of Kandy, had been thown into prison, and now, from a mere spirit of vengeance, the king sentenced his wife and children, and his brother and his brother's wife, to death the brother land male children to be beheaded, and the females, according to Kandyan usage, to be drowned. In addition to these executions, 117 of Eheylapola' a partisans were impaled, or flogged, almost to death, and then despatched by the side of the quiet beautiful lake upon which the town of Kandy is situated.f The widowed and childless Eheylapola was provided with a house in the neighbourhood of the fort of Colombo, and * See letter from Sir James to Lady INIackintosh. t Dr. Davy, ' An Account of the Interior of Ceylon,' &c. London, 1821. 446 CETLON. [1800-19. was maintained at the expense of government. He was maddened by the thirst for vengeance he could promise partisans and co-operation he would agree to any terms that the English might propose, if they would only aid him in destroying the destroyers of his family. Tor some con- siderable time, however, G-eneral Brownrigg would not enter into his views, nor even admit him to an audience. While his excellency was expecting some hostile visitation from the troops of his Kandyan majesty for his having given shelter to a rebel chief, intelligence was received that ten native cloth-merchants, subjects of the British government, had been seized in the Kandyan country, had been sent up to the capital, and had there been frightfully mutilated, by having their noses and ears and their right arms cut oft*. This, the severest of the Kandyan secondary punishments, had been inflicted by order of the king. Seven of the poor cloth-merchants died on the spot ; the remaining tliree reached Colombo in the state above described. The dismal results of every former attempt to subjugate thejKandyan kingdom had rendered the invasion of the hilly country an unpopular service both with the army and with that class of the native labouring population who were usually pressed to accompany the troops as coolies. During the month of N'ovember, 1814, a detachment of troops was, however, organized at Colombo for service in the field, and placed under the immediate command of Major Hook. On the 11th of January, 1815, Major Hook crossed the boundary river, and began his march up the country. The Kandyans attempted to dispute the passage of the broad river Kalaneganga ; but four or five discharges of a six-pounder dislodged them from their strong position, and they fled in confusion as our troops dashed across the river. A proclamation in the Cingalese language was now issued, setting forth the causes of hostilities, and declaring the object of the war to be " for securing the permanent tranquillity of our settlements, and in vindication of the honour of the British name : for the deliverance of the Kandyan people from their oppressors ; in fine, for the subversion of that Malabar dominion, which during three generations has tyrannized over the country." Many of the adigars, really disgusted with the suspicious and sanguinary temper of their king, either assisted Major Hook or remained neutral. But what was of more importance was 1800-19.] CEYLON. 447 tliis seven other divisions were getting in motion from dif- ferent parts of the coast, in order to co-operate with Hook and to concentrate round Kandy. There was scarcely any fighting. From the amount of the force employed, and from the superior manner in which our operations were now conducted, it was clear that his Kandyan majesty had not a chance. Our divisions were gradually closing round him with impene- trable hedges of bayonets. On the 2nd of February our second Colombo di\dsion got well up the country and encamped on some heights, where it was joined by G-eneral Brownrigg, and where it stayed for a few days to allow time for the other divisions to approach. Intelligence being received that the king had left Kandy, our troops moved forward: on the 14th of February the second division, with General Brownrigg, took possession of the capital, which was found nearly deserted by the in- habitants. It was by this time ascertained that the fugitive king was still in the vicinity of the capital. No time was lost in adopting measures to secure his person, and in four or five days he was discovered in a lonely house, and made prisoner, with his aged mother, his four wives, his, children, and a few adherents. He -expected that he and all his party would be put to death, and would be treated as he had treated the family and adherents of Eheylapola ; and when assured by Mr. D'Oyly that not a hair of his head would be touched, and that his family and servants would be treated withthegreatesttendemess,hebecamea contented happyman. The royal prisoners and their attendants were forthwith sent down to Colombo, in charge of Major Hook, and under a strong escort, which was not needed, as not a hand was raised for their rescue. They arrived at our little capital on the 6th of March, and were there lodged in a spacious and handsomely-furnished house. They all seemed to be de- lighted with their new residence. "As I am no longer permitted to be a king," said the fallen tjTant, "I am thankful for all this kindness," Before he arrived at Colombo, his dethronement, or the unequivocal right of conquest, was acknowledged by all his great chiefs. On the 2nd of March the British flag was hoisted over the palace at Kandy, and a royal salute was fired to announce that his majesty George III. was undisputed sovereign of the whole island of Ceylon. The deposed king remained at Colombo until the 24th of 448 EOBEET KNOX. [1800-19. Jauuaiy, 1816. He declared that until he was made a prisoner by the English, he had never retired to rest without the dread of assassination. Fear produces cruelty, and cruelty excites fear. He never could trust any of his courtiers, and it is doubtful if any one of his chiefs deserved his confidence. He was passionate as well as supicious. " Your English governors," said he to Major Hook, " have an advantage over us in Kandy : they have counsellors about them, who never allow them to do anything in a passion, and that is the reason you have so few executions ; but, unfortunately for us, the oifender is dead before our resentment has subsided." Some of his most sanguinary measures were ordered when he was drunk, he having become very liable to paroxysms of intemperance.* On the 24th of January, 1816, he and all his relatives, dependants, and adherents, about one hundred individuals in all, were transported as state prisoners to the peninsula of India. At first they resided in Madras, but they were finally transferred to the fort of Vellore, where the family of Tippoo Sultaun had once resided. IS'early two years after their departure a most formidable insurrection broke out in various parts of the island. After a few encounters in the woods, it was completely suppressed by the governor, Lieutenant- Greneral Sir Robert Brownrigg, but not until excesses and cruelties had been committed disgraceful to our national character.t * From the great quantity of Hoffman's cherry-brandy bottles found in the palace of Kandy, it was inferred that he was very fond of that liquor. t For these transactions, see ' Ceylon : a general Description of the Island and its Inhabitants ; with an Historical Sketch of the Conquest of the Colony by the English.' By Henry Marshall, F.R.S.E. deputy- inspector general of army hospitals. Dr. Marshall was resident in Ceylon from 1808 till 1821. For the improvements which have taken place in the magnificent island since our entire subjugation of it, see Lieutenant De Butt's * Rambles in Ceylon.' The best account of the interior of the country and of the native inha- bitants, and one of the most interesting books that can be read, is * An Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon, in the East Indies,' by Robert Knox. The old editions are very scarce, but there is a cheap modern edition,' published by Constable. Knox, a mariner, was taken prisoner on the coast, and carried up the country in 1660. He escaped in a marvellous manner, after nineteen years of captivity among the Cinga- lese. He published his book the year after he arrived in England. It is an astonishing book, considering the poor captain's education and circum- stances. The information is accurate as well as full. The style is charm- ing : the adventures are quite as amusing as those of Robinson Crusoe. 1823.] GOYEEXMENT OF EAEL AMHEEST. 449 CHAPTER XXXV. Upot?- the resignation of the marquis of Hastings, Mr. Canning, who had presided some time over the Board of Control, was nominated by the Court of Directors to be governor-general of India. The resolution was unanimous, and was passed in the month of March, 1822. The melan- choly death of the marquis of Londonderry, on the 12th of August following, led to some important changes in the ministry, and rendered it indispensable that the governor- general elect should remain in England. On the 18th of Sep- tember, Mr. Canning was nominated secretary of state for foreign affairs ; and he consequently resigned into the hands of the Court of Directors the high appointment which they had conferred upon him in so flattering a maimer. Two can- didates now presented themselves : the one, Earl Amherst, who had been employed some few years before in an embassy from England to China ; the other. Lord AVilliam Bentinck, who had been governor of Madras. Earl Amherst was pre- ferred, and that nobleman, proceeding to Calcutta, assumed the office of governor-general on the 1st of August, 1823. The marquis of Hastings had quitted Bengal in January, 1822, and between his departure and the arrival of Lord Amherst, Mr. Adams, senior member of the supreme council, had presided over the government of India. The new governor-general had been but a very few months in his office ere he found himself under the necessity of entering into a new war with an entirely new enemy. The Burmese, elated by some recent conquests which they had made, and being brought in more immediate con- tact with the British frontiers, began, towards the end of the year 1823, to make sundry attacks upon us. Without notice given, and without any attempt at negotiation, they claimed possession of Shapuree, a small muddy island in the province of Bengal, but close to the coast of Arracan, 2 & 450 BuiniESE WAR. [1823. wliicli tlie Burmese tlien possessed. Making a sudden night attack, they drove away a small guard of British troops stationed on the island, killed several of them, and took forci- ble possession of the island. This, coming close upon other outrages, was not to be tolerated. Our government, how- ever, resolved to consider the forcible occupation of Shapuree as the act of the local authorities of Arracan, and addressed a gentle declaration to the Burmese central government, recapitulating the past occurrences, and calling upon the court of Ava to disavow their officers in Arracan. The court of Ava, as might have been anticipated, considered this gentle declaration as a pusillanimous attempt to depre- cate the resentment of the Burmese. They triumphantly appealed to the paper as a proof that the British govern- ment of India dreaded to enter upon a contest with them ; and they intimated that unless their right to the island of Shapuree was distinctly admitted, the victorious lord of the "White Elephant and the Grolden Foot would invade the Com- pany's dominions. In the meanwhile two companies of the 20th regiment landed on the disputed island, drove off the Burmese and stockaded themselves. And on the other side the commanding officer and some of the crew of the Com- pany's cruiser Sophia were seized on the mainland and carried up the country. Both sides now actively prepared for war, the Anglo- Indian troops on the frontier being, however, ordered to maintain a strict neutrality for the present. More and more confirmed in their idea that we were afraid of them, from 4,000 to 5,000 Burmese and Asamese advanced from Asam into the province of Cachar, and began to stockade themselves at a post within five miles of the town of Sylhet, and only 226 miles from Calcutta. Major Newton, the officer commanding on the Sylhet frontier, con- centrated his detachment and marched against the invaders. It was at daybreak on the 17th of January, 1824, that he came in sight of their stockade and of a village adjoining, of which they had taken possession. The Burmese in the vil- lage presently gave way, but those in the stockades made a resolute resistance, and were not driven out until they had lost about 100 men, and had killed six of our sepoys. They then fled to the hills. Shortly after this action, "Mr, Scott, our commissioner, arrived at Sylhet, and from that point he advanced to Bhadrapoor, in order to maintain a more ready 1823.] EUEMESE WAE. 451 comimmication -with tlie Burmese authorities. On tlie 31st of January, Mr. Scott received a message from the Burmese general, who justified his advance into Cachar, and declared that he had orders to follow and apprehend certain persons wherever they might take refuge. In reply, this Burmese general, who held the chief command in Asam, was told that he must not disturb the frontiers of the Company, nor interfere in the affairs of its allies, and that the Burmese invaders must evacuate Cachar, or the forces of the British government would be compelled to advance both into Cachar and Asam. To this communication no answer was received. It was clearly the object of the Burmese to procrastinate the negotiations until they had strengthened themselves in the advanced positions they had occupied. The rajah of Jynteea, who had been imperiously summoned to the Bur- mese camp, and commanded to prostrate himself before the -shadow of the Grolden Toot, threw himself upon the British government for protection ; and various native chiefs, whose territories lay between the frontiers of the Burmese empire and the frontiers of the British dominions, called loudly for English aid. Thus, the south-east frontier of Bengal, had in fact been kept in constant dread and danger of invasion for more than a year, while the adjoining and friendly territo- ries had been exposed to the destructive inroads and the overbearing insolence of the Burmese and Asamese for many years.* Major ISTewton did not follow the Burmese he had routed, but, after driving them from their stockade, he returned to Sylhet, and withdrew the whole of his force from Cachar. Almost as soon as the major was within his own frontier, the Burmese advanced again into the country from which he had driven them, and stockaded some stronger posi- tions. They were joined by another considerable force, while another detachment, 2,000 strong, collected in their rear, as a reserve or column of support. Still advancing, * Horace Hayman Wilson, Esq. (the distinguished Orientalist, pro- fessor of Sanscrit, Oxford, &c.), ' Documents illustrative of the Burmese '"War, with an Introductory Sketch of the Events of the War, and an Appendix. Calcutta, 1827.' Major Snodgrass, military secretary to the commander of the expedition to Ava, and assistant political agent in Ava, - * Narrative of the Burmese War, detailing the Operations of Major- General Sir Archibald Campbell's Army, from its landing at Rangoon, in. May, 1824, to the Conclusion of a Treaty of Peace at Yandaboo, in ^February, 1826. London,. 1827.' .- 2 g2 452 THE MAIIA 33A^'DOOLA. [1824. and stockading as tliey advanced, tlie main body of tlie Burmese pushed their stockades on the north bank of the river Surma, to within 1,000 yards of the British post at Bhadrapoor. Captain Johnstone, who commanded at that post, had but a very small force with him, yet he succeeded in dislodging the invaders from their unfinished works at the point of the bayonet, and in driving them beyond the Surma. This was on the 13th of February. On the fol- lowmg day Lieutenant- Colonel Bowen joined and took the command over Captain Johnstone, and instantly marched in pursuit of the retreating enemy. They were found stock- ading themselves in a strong position on the opposite bank of the Jelingha. As soon as our troops were over, and had fixed their bayonets, the Burmese cleared out of their stockade and fled to the hills. But there was another divi- sion of the army of the lord of the "White Elephant, which had stockaded a much stronger position at Doodpatlee, where their front was covered by the Surma river, and their rear rested on steep hills. The exposed face of this in- trenchment was defended by a deep ditch, about fourteen feet wide ; a strong fence of bamboo spikes ran along the outer edge of the ditch, and the approach on the land side was through jungle and high grass. Lieutenant- Colonel Bowen, however, marched agaiust this formidable stockade and attacked it. The Burmese remained passive till our troops advanced to the bamboo spikes, when they poured upon them a destructive and well-maintained fire, which completely checked their advance, although they kept their ground. AVhen Lieutenant Armstrong had been killed and four other officers wounded, and about 150 of our sepoys killed or wounded, Bowen called off the attacking party, and retired to Jatrapoor, at a short distance. On the 27th of February, Colonel Innes joined the force at Jatrapoor, with four guns and a battalion of fresh troops, and assumed the command. But in the meanwhile the Burmese had retreated from their formidable position and retired into their own country, evacuating the whole of Cachar. But before this time the great Burmese chief, the Maha Bandoola, then high in favour at the court of Ava, and the projector of a scheme for the conquest of Bengal, had col- lected a great army near the southern extremity of our frontier, and had marched into Arracan, provided with golden fetters, in which the governor-general of India was to 1824.] PLAIfOF OTTE CAMPAIGiS-. 453 be led captive to Ava.* The lord of the Grolden Poot laid claim to all the territories east of Moorshedabad, as having formerly belonged to the kingdom of Arracan, which he and his ancestors had conquered.f Exaggerated reports of the strength and ferocity of the Burmese troops carried alarm even to Calcutta ; the peasants on our frontier fled in dis- may from their villages, and every idle rumour was so indus- triously magnified by timid or designing people, that the native merchants of Calcutta were with difficulty persuaded to refrain from removing their families and property from under the very guns of Port AVilliam. As the two states might now be considered as actually at war. Lord Amherst declared war in form, and promulgated the grounds of our quarrel in a declaration addressed to the court of Ava and the different powers of India. Orders had been previously given for the equipment of a force of from 5,000 to 6,000 men at the presidencies of Calcutta and Madras. It had been wisely determined to act upon the oifensive, and not to commence operations either on the barren mountains of Arracan, or in the pestilential jungles of Chittagong ; but on the great river which leads through the heart of the Burmese empire (and is the highway of the trade of the country), where no attack was expected. The plan of the campaign, in short, was to ascend the Ira- waddi and to begin by capturing the city of Eangoon, the principal port and trading place of the Bimnese empire. The two divisions, from Calcutta and Madras, were directed to assemble at Port Cornwallis, in the Grreat Andaman Island an island occupied, as in the days of Marco Polo, by downright savages, if not cannibals from which the combined forces, under the command of Major- Greneral Sir Archibald Campbell, were to proceed to the Irawaddi. Between the 12th and 17th of April, the Bengal division, consisting of the king's 13th and 38th regiments, and two companies of artillery, were embarked at Calcutta. They were detained for some days at the Great Andaman, wait- ing the arrival of the division from Madras. But by the 4th of May the greater part of the troops from Madras, con- sisting of his majesty's 41st regiment, a Company's Euro- pean regiment, and seven battalions of native infantry, with Artillery, gun-lascars, &c., reached the place of rendezvous ; * Major Snodgrass. f Deposition of Henry Gouger, Esq, 454 CAPTURE or ea^'goon. [182-1. and on the following morning the united forces left the Anda- mans, under the protection of his majesty's ships Liffy and Lame, the former commanded by Commodore Grant, and the latter by Captain Marryat. The transports were also accompanied or followed by several of the Company's armed cruisers, and by the Diana steam-boat. In nearly all parts of the operations which were now about to begin, the land troops were greatly indebted to the co-operation of the navy, and to the services of the steam-vessel, the first which had ever floated in those waters. Our ships anchored within the bar of the Eangoon river on the 10th. On the very next morning the fleet proceeded up the river. A few harmless shots from the guardhouses on the banks were the only impediments offered to its progress. At twelve o'clock, the Liffiy anchored close to the principal battery in Eangoon, the transports anchoring in succession in her rear. Having furled sails and beat to quarters, a pause of some minutes ensued, during which not a shot was fired. On our side humanity forbade that we should fire into an almost defenceless town, crowded with an inoffensive people ; and the Burmese, on their part, were unwilling to begin the unequal contest. They stood for some time, inactive at their guns ; but at length, being urged by the threats of their chiefs, they opened their feeble battery on our shipping. The frigate's fire soon silenced the battery and every gun on shore : the enemy fled from their works, and our troops, being landed, took quiet possession of a deserted town. Proclamations had been previously issued promising British protection to the inhabitants, and prompt and liberal payment for whatever the troops might want of them : but the Burmese governor had given orders for driving the whole of the inhabitants into the neighbouring jungles, where the men were to be organized into corps, and the women and children to be strictly guarded as pledges for the good conduct of their fathers, husbands, and brothers. And, with the population, nearly everything which the town contained had been removed into the inmost recesses of the jungle, or carried far up the river Irawaddi. As the peoj^le of Eangoon were very aquatic, and as the river was known to Bwarm with boats, our commanders had calculated upon finding more than a sufficient number of boats to carry the troops up the river to Ava, the capital ; but not a boat was 1824.] STOCKADIIS^G POSITION'S. 455 to be found everytliing had been removed tbat was at all likely to be of use to an invading army oxen, horses, were no more to be found than boats there was nothing left in the neighboin-hood of Eangoon except a little paddy. In the too confident hope of finding all that they wanted in Eangoon, our troops had come unprovided with proper equipments for advancing either by land or by water ; their supplies of provisions were scanty, from the same miscalcu- lations ; and they now found themselves cut off from all supplies except such as, in course of time, came by sea from Calcutta. To increase their embarrassment, the rainy mon- soon was just setting in. Nothing remained but to take up a long residence in the miserable and filthy hovels of Ean- goon, situated in the midst of swamps and paddy-fields. Everything in and about the place was in ruins, except the lofty Golden Dagon pagoda. There was no passing the swamps and inundated paddy-fields, or the thick jungle beyond them, which was intersected only by a few narrow footpaths, like the jungles and forests of Ceylon; and behind this screen the unseen enemy plied their work, raising their levies and gradually collecting them so as to form a cordon round our cantonments. " Hid from our view," says the historian of this war, " on every side, in the darkness of a deep and, to regular bodies, an impenetrable forest, far beyond whicli the inhabitants and all the cattle of the Eangoon district had been driven, the Burmese chiefs car- ried on their operations and matured their future schemes with vigilance, secrecy, and activity. Neither rumour nor mtelligence of what was passing within their posts ever reached us. Beyond the invisible line which circumscribed our position all was mystery or vague conjecture." * A series, a perfect continuity of stockades was erected, and was pushed nearer and nearer to Eangoon. " Like the Nepaulese, the Birmans rarely met an enemy in the open field : their con- quests Iiad all been made through the system of stockades. Instructed and trained from their youth in the formation and defence of these works, they had attained to great skill and judgment in the use of them. By gradual approaches, and by carefully stockading all their positions as they advanced, their wars had for many years been an uninter- rupted series of conquests ; and at the time of our landing * Major Snodgrass. 456 BURMESE WAR-BOATS. [1824. at Rangoon tliey liad subdued and incorporated into tlieir em- pire nearly all the petty states by whicli it was surrounded." The long and gilded war-boats of the Burmese, and the skill and spirit of the Irawaddi boatmen, were not altogether unknown at Calcutta when our expedition was planned. Every town on the river, according to its size, was obliged to furnish a gilt or a common war-boat, and to man and keep it in constant readiness. These boats carried from forty to fifty men each, and the lord of the White Elephant and the Golden Eoot could muster from 200 to 300 war-boats. In actual war these boatmen were about the most respectable part of his majesty's force.* At the royal mandate the Irawaddi above Eangoon was speedily covered with warriors from the towns upon its banks. As their troops rapidly increased in numbers, the enemy that were making the cordon round Eangoon became more daring ; and gradually approaching nearer and nearer, they commenced stockading themselves in the jungle within hearing of our advanced posts. On the morning of the 28th of May, when they had stockaded an advanced corps within little more than musket-shot distance from our picquets, Sir Archibald thought that it was time to punisli their temerity. "With four companies of Europeans, two field-pieces, and 400 sepoys he moved against the foremost stockade. The works being incomplete, the Burmese quitted it, and retired through the wood after firing a few shots. Sir Archibald and his column continued to advance through the wood by a winding and very narrow pathway, at every turn of which there was some breastwork or stockade. These works, however, were all hastily abandoned, the Burmese not having had time sufficient to finish them. After an advance of five miles, our troops, emerging from the jungles, suddenly entered a wide open field, intersected by a morass and rivulet, across which there was a long narrow bridge. Here the retreating enemy faced about, and attempted a for- mation, for the purpose of defending the passage of the bridge ; but they soon gave way before the fire of our two field-pieces, and then continued their retreat towards other woods and jungles. At this juncture a terrible storm began ; the rain fell in torrents, and our two field-pieces could be dragged no farther. Sir Archibald Campbell, however, de- termined to proceed, hoping by a very rapid advance to be * Captain Cox's ' Journal,' as quoted by Major Snodgrass. 1824.] STOEMIIN'G STOCKADES. 45^ able to liberate tlieEangoon women and children, being well assured that their release would be followed by the speedy desertion of their male relations, for whom they were held in pledge. Therefore, leaving the 400 sepoys to guard the guns, Sir Archibald pushed on rapidly with the four companies of British troops. After traversing another jungle he reached the edge of the extensive plain of Joazoang. In the midst of this plain, and at a short distance from each other, stood two villages, closely flanked by jungle on either hand. On approaching the villages, they observed that they were defended in front by two stockades, filled with men, who seemed confident in the strength of their position, and who shouted and cried "Lagee! lagee!" (Come! come!) At the same time large bodies of the enemy were mo"vdng from the rear of the villages and form- ing by the side of the jungle. Leaving one company to keep this force in check. Sir Archibald, with the three other companies, made a dash at the stockades. The enemy within them commenced a heavy fire, to which, from the wet state of their muskets, our troops could at first make but little return. But the works were not above eight feet high, and our men, forcing their way over them, brought their bayonets to bear upon a crowded, dense, and confused living mass. The conflict was now short, but very sanguinary. The works had only very narrow ways of egress, and the foremost fugitives, getting wedged in them, blocked them up and prevented the flight of the rest. "When they could run away, they ran ; but the Burmese never gave and never expected quarter. Lowering their heads to a butting posi- tion, they blindly charged upon our soldiers' bayonets. They were killed in heaps, for our people had dried their muskets, and could now pour in volleys as well as use the bayonet. Few or none were spared, as from the barbarous and treacherous mode of warfare practised by the Burmese, death alone afforded safety.* During the attack upon * " The experiment," adds Major Snodgrass, ** was tried, but tried in vain. Humanity might prompt a British soldier to pass a fallen or van- quished foe ; but when he found his forbearance repaid on all occasions by a shot, the instant that his back was turned, self-preservation soon taught him the necessity of other measures ; and it consequently happened that our first encounters with the troops of Ava were sanguinary and re- volting, especially to soldiers whom feeling and the customs of war alike taught to treat with kindness and forbearance those whom they had subdued." 458 EUEMESE DIPLOMATISTS. [1821. tlie two stockades, the enemy in the plain, whose force was roughly estimated at from 4,000 to 5,000 men, made no movement in their defence ; but as soon as they saw that our troops were in possession of the works, they set up a horrid yell and began to move towards the stockades. The single company which Sir Archibald had left on the plain sufficed to keep them in check; and as our other three companies rapidly moved out of the works and formed, the Burmese host wavered and fell back. The British then col- lected their killed and wounded and carried them from the field ; and, as the day was drawing to its close, they marched back to quarters, slowly and without any molestation. The enemy left 300 dead in the stockades and adjacent fields, and many more were wounded. On our side Lieutenant Alexander Howard was killed, and Lieutenants Mitchell and O'Halloran were very severely wounded; two rank and file were killed, and about twenty were wounded. In going and returning, the enemy's advanced stockades were all destroyed.* The sharp lesson they had received shook the confidence of the Burmese commanders in their troops and stockades. Hitherto, every effort to open communications with them had failed, but they now sent two deputies to the British general. These native chiefs conducted themselves with much ease and boldness, and with still more cunning and address. The senior, a stout old man, in a long scarlet robe, and with a red handkerchief tied round his head, then opened the subject of their mission with the question, " Why are you come here with your ships and soldiers ?" The provo- cation they had given by invading our neighbours and dependants, by attacking our own territories, etc., were fully explained as being the causes of the war, and the nature and extent of the redress we demanded was plainly stated. In spite of all their address, their real object was discovered, and they indeed betrayed it themselves, when they refused to remove the barrier placed in the way of communication and reconciliation, and asked for a few days* delay. Sir Archibald Campbell gave them to |understand, that no delay would be granted that their post on the river would be attacked forthwith. The two chiefs stepped into their war-boats with an air of defiance ; and the boat- * Major Snodgrass. Sir Archibald Gampbell's ' Despatch, in H. H, Wilson's Documents illustrative of the Burmese War,' &c. 1824.] BATTLE OP KEMMENDINE. 459 men went off ^Yitll great speed, rising on their sliort oars, and singing in chorus, "Oh, what a happy king have we!" * The very next morning, the post on the river was attacked by our troops. It was at the village of Kemmen- dine, a war-boat station, only three miles above Eangoon. The enemy laboured incessantly, day and night, to strengthen, this position : the ground behind the village, elevated and commanding, was surrounded by a thick forest in the rear ; the heights had already been strongly stockaded and abba- tised in front ; and the approach on the land faces was rendered difficult by a thick jungle, while the swampy nature of the ground towards the Irawaddi strengthened the work on that side. But these defences were not tenable against two divisions of vessels which proceeded up the river to attack the stockade in that direction, and nearly 3,000 men, who marched to the attack by land, with four 18-pounders and four mortars. In a few minutes after the attack commenced, a great part of the extensive work was carried, and the enemy there stationed were driven into the jungle, leaving behind them 150 dead. At the rear gate of this stockade were found the gilt umbrella, sword, and spear of a Burmese commander of high rank ; the umbrella, which chiefly denotes the rank, being shattered by a shower of our grape. The body of the chief himself was found a few yards farther in the jungle, and was recognized to be that of the stout and cunning old deputy who had visited our quarters the preceding day. This night a night of storm and pitiless rain was spent by our troops, under arms, under the dripping trees of the jungle or in the inundated rice-fields ; but on the following morning, when they marched to storm the rest of the works, they found that they were entirely deserted, and that the Burmese had gone off in a panic to another stockaded post, a good many miles in the rear of Kemmendine. For a time there seemed to be a general pause and terror on the side of the Burmese, who had now evacuated every stockade in the neighbourhood of Eangoon. Their recent losses made them keep at a safer distance from our lines, and our troops ceased to be annoyed by their nightly visits to their posts ; but beyond these temporary advantages no favourable change took place, either in the present condi- * Major Snodgrass. The boatmen wore broad Chinese hats. Their features were harsh, bold, and strongly marked. 460 SICKNESS AT EATTGOOX. [1824. tion or iu the future prospects of our army. Xot an inhabitant returned to his home ; and so far from any desire of peace being manifested by the court of Ava, it was made evident that the war would be carried to the last extremity. Other operations had taken place in the mean time in other directions. Two small forces, detached by Sir Archi- bald Campbell, had captured the islands of Cheduba and Negrais, the first lying off the coast of Arracan, and the second near one of the mouths of the Irawaddi river. The Maha Bandoola, the royal favourite who had planned the conquest of Bengal, and collected the large army in Arracan, had commenced offensive operations, and had crossed our frontier, mth a number of gilt umbrellas, some days before Sir Archibald Campbell's armament reached Eangoon. "With a force of from 6,000 to 8,000 men he surrounded a small British post, which made an honourable, but ineffec- tual resistance. Some of the officers and sepoys effected their escape, but others fell into the hands of the Burmese, who barbarously put all the English officers and most of the sepoys to death, only reserving a few of the latter to send as prisoners and trophies to the Golden Foot. The arrival of these captives at Ava tended to confirm the arrogant confidence of that court. But the progress of Bandoola' s forces was very soon checked ; they were beaten out of all their advanced stockades by a few hundred sepoys, and by the end of July, they were driven back into Arracan. In this short and desultory, but difficult w^ar for it was carried on with mere handfuls of sepoys, and in the midst of the rainy season Colonel Shapland and Colonel Innes greatly distinguished themselves. "We return to Eangoon. Sir Archibald Campbell's forces were already much diminished by sickness and death, brought on by hard service during an inclement season, by defective provisions, and by the ordinary casualties of war.* But the opportune arrival of the 89th British regiment from * Between the months of June, 1824, and the end of March, 1825, out of an average strength of 2,716 British troops, 1,311 perished, or very nearly one-half of the whole force of king's troops. Matters were not much mended in the following year. Almost the only fresh meat that could be procured was pork. Major (now lieutenant-colonel) Alexander M. Tulloch, ' Statistical Reports on the Sickness, Mortality, and Inva- liding among Her Majesty's Troops, &c., prepared from the Records of the Army Medical Department and War-Office Returns. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her INIajesty.' 1824.] STKTA wo:iTGEE. 461 Madras, and of parts of the two detachments which had subdued the islands of Cheduba and Negrais, raised the effective strength just at the critical moment. By the end of Jime, the Burmese in this quarter appeared to have somewhat recovered from their dismay. Chiefs of the highest fame, who, until they came in contact with our troops, had always been victorious, were sent down the Irawaddi from Ava, and from Prome, with orders to slay or torture and mutilate every Biu'mese soldier that did not fight to the utmost, and one of the brightest of golden umbrellas, Sykya Wongee, minister of state, was appointed commander-in-chief, with positive commands from the Golden Foot to attack and drive the British at once into the sea. On the last day of June, all the woods in Sir Archibald's front again exhibited bustle and commotion ; 8,000 men had crossed to the Eangoon side of the river ; the jungles around all seemed animated ; clouds of rising smoke marked the encampments of the different corps of the Burmese army in the forest ; and their noisy preparations for attack formed a striking contrast to the still and quiet aspect of the British line.* The Shoodagon, or Golden Dagon pagoda, was the key of the British position. This splendid edifice ^in itself a fortress is about two miles, or two miles and a half, from the town of Rangoon ; in shape it resembles an inverted speaking-trumpet ; it is 338 feet high, and is surmounted by a cap made of brass forty-five feet high : the whole is richly gilded. The base of this pagoda is a conical hill, flat at the top, and rising about seventy-five feet above the road. Here Sir Archibald Campbell placed a whole battalion of British troops. The two roads running from the pagoda to the town were occupied by our forces, native and European, the minor pagodas, bonze houses, and pilgrims' houses along those two roads affording good shelter to the troops against the inclemency of the season, and some shelter from the attack of an enemy, whose artillery was but light. Two detached posts completed our position one at the village of Puzendown, about a mile below the town, where the Pegu and Rangoon rivers meet ; the other at Kemmendine, about three miles above the town ; this second post being chiefly intended to protect our shipping against the descent of the * Snodgrass. 462 MOEE TICTORIES. [1824. enemy's fire-rafts. On the morning of the 1st of July, tlie enemy issued in dense masses from the jungle to the right and front of the great pagoda. Detaching to their left a column, which succeeded in setting fire to part of the village of Puzendown, their main body came boldly up to within half a mile of Rangoon, and commenced a spirited attack upon part of our line. But two field-pieces, served with grape and shrapnel, presently checked their advance, and then a brilliant charge by the 43rd Madras native infantry put them all to flight. In a very few minutes not a man could be seen of the Burmese host, except the killed, nor could anything be heard of them except a wild screaming which proceeded from the depths of the forests and jungle. Sykya Wongee was recalled to court and degraded, and a still higher minister of state, named Soomba Wongee, who had arrived with reinforcements, took the command, and commenced stockading his army in the most difficult and intricate part of the forest, at Kummeroot, about five miles from the great pagoda, intending, chiefly under cover of night, to carry on such a system of desultory warfare as would harass, and ultimately destroy, our sickly, worn-out soldiers. He also fortified a commanding point on the river above Kemmendine, in communication with his stock- aded camp, hoping by this means not only to obstruct the navigation of the river, but also to construct and employ numerous fire-rafts. But this new commander-in-chief had scarcely finished his works ere he was driven from them with a terrible slaughter. On the 8th of July Sir Archibald Campbell embarked with one column for the attack of the position upon the river, and Brigadier- G-eneral MacBean, with a land column, marched upon the forest stockades at Kummeroot. The works on the river were found to be so formidable that it was judged necessary to employ breaching vessels ; and a brig and three Company's cruisers, manned by seamen of his majesty's and the Company's navy, under the superintendence of Captain Marryat, soon opened a heavy cannonade, and silenced the enemy's guns. Our troops then pushed across the river in boats, entered the practi- cable breach which the firing of our seamen had made, and carried all those works with comparatively trifling loss. The Burmese suffered severely in killed, and many of them were drowned in trying to escape across the river. The operations of the land column, under MacBean, were equally successful. 1824.] BTJEMESE I^'YULJs'EEABLES. 463 It was unprovided with artillery ; but tlie storming parties, who escaladed stockade after stockade, consisted entirely of British troops. Here again the slaughter was dreadful. Soomba "VVongee, and several chiefs of high rank, with 800 men, were killed within the stockades ; and the neighbouring jungles were filled with the unhappy creatures who were wounded, and left to die from want of food and care. Some of these poor Burmese were found by the English soldiers and brought into our hospitals ; but unfortunately none of them recovered. The monsoon rains were now at their height, the adjacent country was almost wholly under water, nothing was to be obtained from it, and the sickness of our troops increased to an alarming extent. An expedition, consisting of his majesty's 89th regiment and the 7th Madras native infantry, under the command of Colonel Miles, was detached from Rangoon, with a con- siderable naval force, to subdue the maritime possessions of his majesty to the eastward, in the hope that their loss might induce him to sue for peace. The success of the expedition was complete : Tavoy surrendered. Mergui was taken by storm ; and the people all along the coast of Tenas- serim gladly placed themselves under British protection. Towards the end of July Sir Archibald Campbell attempted to release such of the inhabitants of Eangoon as were desirous of returning to their houses ; and by means of the sudden, unexpected, and to the natives inexplicable, move- ment of our steam-boat, a few families, who had been driven to the villages at the heads of the numerous creeks which branch off from the Rangoon river, were released from their guard, and joyfully took the opportunity of returning to their city. It was to the report of these people of the kind treatment they met with, our army was afterwards indebted for the return of the great body of the people, whose services and exertions contributed to the final success of the war. By degrees our foraging parties were enabled to take a wider range, the enemy were obliged to draw their resources from a more distant part of the country, and more of the people of Rangoon and the neighbourhood escaped from their guards, and returned to their homes. The lord of the AVhite Elephant now sent his two brothers, the prince of Tonghoo and the prince of Sarrawaddy, with a whole host of astrologers, and a corps of " Invulnerables," to join the army, and to direct the future operations of 464 ASTEOLOGY IN WAE. [1824. the war. The astrologers were to fix the lucky moments for attacking: the Invulnerables had some points of re- semblance to the Tiu-kish Delhis ; they were the despera- does or madmen of the army, and their madness was kept up by enormous doses of opium. The corps of Invulnerables consisted of several thousand men, divided into classes ; the most select band of all being called the King's Invulnera- bles. The prince of Tonghoo established his head-quarters at Pegu, and the prince of Sarrawaddy took post at Donoo- pew, upon the great river, about sixty miles from Eangoon. In the beginning of August the prince of Sarrawaddy sent down a force to occupy a strong post at the mouth of the Pegu river, a few miles below Eangoon, giving his people strict orders to block the chainiel of the river in our rear, that not one of the " wild foreigners," or " captive strangers," might escape the punishment that was about to overtake them. Sir Archibald Campbell presently detached a small corps, under Brigadier Smelt, to dislodge Sarrawaddy's warriors. Our land troops were brought to a standstill, when within musket-shot of the place, by a deep and im- passable creek; but a party of sailors from his majesty's ship Lame, under Captain Marryat, threw a bridge over the creek ; and soon as the column of attack pushed for- ward, the enemy began to fly, leaving eight guns and a quantity of ammunition in their stockade. A strong pagoda, with a numerous garrison, and with cannons pointing down every approach, was next carried with equal faciUty. Other posts on the rivers and creeks were successively and successfully attacked. Such of the enemy as had had any experience of our way of fighting seldom stopped to fight in their stockades ; but a new set of people from the interior made a good stand in a succession of stockades on one of the rivers, and cost us the loss of a good many brave men. These affairs of posts were very numerous. At last the astrologers told the prince of Sarrawaddy that the stars had told them that the moment was come for a decisive action ; and on the night of the 30th of August a body of the king's Invulnerables promised to attack and carry the great or Golden Dagon pagoda, in order that the princes, and the sages and pious men in their train, might celebrate the usual annual festival in that sacred place ^a place now crowded, not with Bonzes, but with English grenadiers. And, true so far to their promise, the Invul- 1824.] THE MAHA BA2s^D00LA. 465 nerables, at the hour of midnight, rushed in a compact body from tlie juugle under the pagoda, armed with swords and muskets. A small piquet, thrown out in our front, retired in slow and steady order, skirmishing with the Invulnerables until they reached the flight of steps leading from the road up to the pagoda. The moon was gone down, and the night was so dark that the Biu^mese could be distinguished only by a few glimmering lanterns in their front ; but their noise and clamour, their threats and imprecations upon the impious strangers, if they did not immediately evacuate the sacred temple, proved jtheir number to be very great. In a dense column they rolled along the narrow pathway leading to the northern gate of the pagoda, wherein all seemed as silent as the grave. But hark ! the muskets crash, the cannons roar along the ramparts of the British post, drowning the tumult of the advancing column ; and see ! see by the flash of our guns, the column reels back, the Invulneral3les fall, mortally wounded, and the rest turn their backs on the holy place, and run with frantic speed for the covering of the jungle. Our grape-shot and our musketry broke the spell those Invulnerables ventured no more near any of our posts. But a far more terrible enemy had gotten within our lines the dysentery broke out among our troops, killing many of them, and reducing more to a most emaciated and feeble state. Scarcely tln'ee thousand duty soldiers were left to guard our lines. Floating hospitals were established at the mouth of the river ; bread was now furnished in sufficient quantities, but nothing except change of season or of climate could restore the suflerers to health. Mergui and Tavoy, portions of our recent conquests on the sea-coast, were represented by the medical officers who visited them as admirable convalescent stations; and thither a number of our people were sent, and with the most beneficial result.* As all kinds of gilt umbrellas had been rolled in the dust as fire-eating chiefs, ministers of state, princes royal, had all failed the Golden Foot determined to call down from the mountains of Arracan his prime favourite, the Maha Bandoola, who had promised to sack Calcutta, and to carry ofi'the governor-general in golden chains. Bandoola obeyed the call, and led his reinforced army from the mountains * Men who had for months continued in a most debilitated state at Rangoon rapidly recovered on arriving at Mergui, and were soon restored to their duty in full health and vigour. 2h 466 THE KIXG OF SIAM. [1824. of Arracan to the Irawaddi river. He began Lis march about the end of August, at a season of the year when none but Burmese could have kept the field for a week, much less have attempted to pass the unhealthy jungles and the pesti- lential marshes of the country. The distance, by the shortest route, was more than 200 English miles ; but Bandoola, gathering fresh forces in the latter part of his long march, reached Donoopew before Sir Archibald Campbell knew that he had left Arracan. Happily our troops, though wofuUy reduced in numbers, were now fast recovering their health and strength ; and two fresh British regiments, some battalions of native infantry, a regiment of cavalry, a troop of horse-artillery, and a troop of rockets, arrived from Calcutta and Madras, together with admirable draught cattle of the true Mysore breed. Five hundred native boatmen came round from Chittagong, and were busily employed in preparing boats for river service. Before relating the grand struggle and final catastrophe of the Maha Bandoola, we must turn to, the south-east, and relate some spirited proceedings which took place in Siam. An inveterate enmity and an almost constant state of war had existed for many years between the Siamese and the Burmese. Being by far the more warlike people, the Burmese had defeated their neighbours in many bloody conflicts, and had conquered wide tracts of their country. The landing of the British at E-angoon seemed to open to the Siamese a favourable opportunity for vengeance and recovery of dominion ; but that court regarded the vicinity of a British force with much jealousy and dread, and were indisposed to our alliance by our seizure of Mergui and Tavoy, which places, together with nearly the whole of the coast of Tenasserim, had once belonged to Siam. Moreover, the court of Ava set on foot negotiations with his Siamese majesty, making pro- mises of friendship and restitution, and endeavouring to show that the British were equally the enemies of Siamese and Burmese, and that the two neighbouring peoples ought to unite their forces against the common enemy. It was imagined, and it was afterwards proved by abundant testi- mony, that the king of Siam firmly believed that the English must fail in conquering Ava, or in bringing its government to sue for terms ; and it was thought that the situation of Bankok, his capital, open to an attack by our much-dreaded 1824.] CONQUEST or maetabait. 467 sliipping, alone prevented liim from making common cause against us, "What the king of Siam did, was to make friendly- declarations to both parties, and to intimate to each of them that he was anxious for its success, and would soon join it. "When, however, the Siamese began to collect a considerable army on his frontier, Sir Archibald Campbell thought it expedient to check-mate him. The city of Martaban, at the bottom of the gulf of that name, and about a hundred miles from Eangoon, was a frontier fortress of the Burmese, a depot of military stores, the place where the Burmese armies usually assembled in their wars with the Siamese, and from which they had made their annual irruptions into the territories of the king of Siam, to plunder the country, and to carry off the inhabitants as slaves. It was a place difficult of access, and of very considerable strength ; but the inhabitants of the town and of the neighbouring districts, which had not long been annexed to the Burmese empire, detested theii* conquerors. On the 13th of October part of his majesty'^ 41st regiment, and a regiment of Madras light infantr}', under Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin, sailed from Eangoon for Martaban. Owing to light and con- trary winds, the little expedition did not reach its destination so soon as was expected ; and thus, instead of taking the enemy by surprise, Colonel Grodwin found them fully aware of his approach, and prepared to give him a warm reception. The Burmese governor had fortified every commanding eminence about the town, and its distance from the coast (from fifteen to twenty miles) offered many serious obstacles. By land, difficult forests, marshes, and inundated rice-fields presented themselves ; by water, the intricate navigation of a shallow, winding, and little-knoTvn river presented almost equally serious impediments. It was, however, resolved to proceed by water, and after great toil and perseverance our lighter vessels were anchored nearly abreast of the town of Martaban. As the Burmese governor showed no disposi- tion to come to terms, our guns opened, and an assaidt took place. The Burmese were soon driven with severe loss from the town and aU their defences { and the inhabitants, being chiefly Taliens or Peguers, received the British troops with every appearance of satisfaction and joy. Having settled matters at Martaban, Colonel Grodwin detached a party against another frontier fortress of the Burmese, and Yeh, situated between Martaban and Tavoy, fell into 2 II 2 468 BATTLE OF [1824. our hands.* In all tliis part of tlie coiuitry the native population the descendants of the subjects of the once powerful dynasty which ruled the ancient kingdom of Pegu, were eager to be released from the iron sceptre of Ava, and to be included among the subjects of the British. By the end of October the rains had entirely ceased at Eangoon, and, reinforced as he was, Sir Archibald Campbell was com- pleting his preparations for the ascent of the Irawaddi, and for an attack upon Prome, when he learned that the Maha Bandoola had reached Donoopew with 60,000 fighting men, a considerable train of artillery, and a body of Cassay horse, the best cavalry of this part of Asia. Bandoola' s musketeers were estimated at 35,000 men. Other numerous bodies were armed with gingals, which carried an iron ball of from six to twelve ounces, and were mounted on light carriages easily dragged about by two men ; and great numbers were attached to the guns, which were transported on the backs of elephants. The rest of the host were armed with swords and spears, and all were well provided with implements for stockading and intrenching. Scattered through the army, there were also some more of the " Invuhierables " who had not yet tasted the sour grape of English guns, and who were amply provided with charms, spells, opium, bang, and betel-nut. As Bandoola proclaimed on all sides his intention of going at the head of his' invincible army, with horses and elephants, and all manner of warlike stores, to capture and destroy the English at Eangoon, it was deemed proper to wait for him there. This would save our troops much fatigue, and a great decisive battle might bring the court of Ava to reason. As a great part of the country was still under water, the Burmese, for the most part, came down to the neighbour- hood of Eangoon in boats. Our force was still but weak for the extensive line it was necessary to defend. But, to remedy this e^dl as far as possible, posts, consisting of redoubts and fortified pagodas, were speedily constructed, coimecting the G-reat Golden Dagon Pagoda, by two dis- tinct lines, with Eangoon and the river, and leaving a dis- posable force for moving to the support of any point that might require support. The post at Kemmendine was * Snodgrass. H. H. Wilson, * Documents illustrative of the Burmese War.' &c. 1824.] KEMMENDINE. 469 also strongly occupied, and was supported on the river bv his majesty's sloop Sophie, Captain Eyres, a Company's cruiser, and a strong division of gun-boats.* On the 30th of jN'ovember, Bandoola's gi-eat army assembled in and behind the dense forest which almost touches at one point the conical hill and the great pagoda ; and his line, extending from the river above Kemmendine in a semicircular direction towards Puzendown, might be distinguished by a curved line of smoke rising above the trees. " During the ensuing night, the low, continued murmur and hum of voices pro- ceeding from the enemy's encampment suddenly ceased, and were speedily succeeded by the distant but gradually ap- proaching sounds of a multitude in slow and silent move- ment through the woods ; and we soon became aware that the enemy's masses had approached to the very edge of the jungle, within musket-shot of the pagoda, apparently in readiness to rush from their cover to the assault at the break of day The day had scarcely dawned, on the 1st of December, when hostilities commenced with a heavy fire of musketry and cannon at Kemmendine, the reduction of that place being a preliminary to any general attack upon our line. The firing continued long and animated, and from our commanding situation at the great pagoda, though nearly two miles distant from the scene of action, we could distinctly hear the yells and shouts of the infuriated assailants, occasionally returned by the hearty cheer of the British seamen, as they poured in their heavy broadsides upon the resolute and persevering masses. The thick forest which separated us from the river, prevented our seeing distinctly what was going forward ; and when the firing ceased, we remained for a short time in some anxiety, though in little doubt as to the result of the long and spirited assault. At length, however, the thick canopy of smoke which lowered over the fierce and sanguinary conflict gradually dissolving, we had the pleasure of seeing the masts of our vessels lying at their old station off" the fort a comincing proof that all had ended well on that side. " In the course of the forenoon Burmese columns were observed on the west side of the river, marching across the * " This post at Kemmendine was of great importance in preventing tbe enemy from attacking Rangoon by water by means of their war- boats, or launching from a convenient distance the formidable fire-rafts they had prepared for Ihe destruction of our shipping." Snodgrass. 470 HAED FIGHTlNa [1824. plains of Dalla towards Eangoon. They were formed in five or six different divisions, and moved with great regu- larity, led by numerous chiefs on horseback their gilt umbrellas glittering in the rays of the sun, with a suffi- ciently formidable and imposing effect, at a distance that prevented our perceiving anything motley or mobbish, which might have been found in a closer inspection of these war- like legions."* Opposite Eangoon the leading column of five or six Burmese divisions commenced intrenching and throwing up batteries, while their main body were stockading in the jungle. In the course of the day several heavy columns issued from the forest, and successively took up their ground along a woody ridge, gently sloping towards Eangoon. Here they commenced operations with their intrenching tools, and with such activity and good will, that in the course of a couple of hours their whole line was covered, their flags and banners, which had been flying in profusion, all disappeared, and nothing was seen but a parapet of fresh-turned earth, gradually increasing in height. " The moving masses, which had so very lately attracted our anxi- ous attention, had sunk into the ground ; and by any one who had not witnessed the whole scene, the existence of these subterranean legions w^ould not have been credited. The occasional movement of a chief with his gilt umbrella, from place to place, superintending the progress of their labour, was the only thing that now attracted notice. By a distant observer, the hiUs, covered with mounds of earth, would have been taken for anything rather than the ap- proaches of an attacking army ; but to us, who had watched the whole strange proceeding, it seemed the work of magic or enchantment." t But, thus working like moles in the earth, the Burmese could no more see than they could be seen, and their men on watch must have been careless or fearftil of exposing their heads and shoulders by looking too often over the mounds. In the afternoon Major Sale, with his majesty's 13th regiment, and a regiment of Madras native infantry, moving rapidly forward upon the busily employed and two confident enemy, fell upon them before they were well aware of the visit, and drove the whole line from their earth-cover with considerable loss. Having * Snodgrass. f Ibid. 1824.] AT KEillSIENDINE. 471 destroyed as many of their arms and tools as they could find, our detachment retired unmolested before the numerous bodies which were now forming on every side. " These Burmese trenches were found to be a succession of holes, capable of containing two men each, and excavated so as to afford shelter both from the weather and the fire of an enemy ; even a shell lighting in the trench, could at most, kill but two men. As it is not the Burmese system to relieve their troops in making these approaches, each hole contained a sufiicient supply of rice, water, and even fuel for its inmates ; and under the excavated bank a bed of straw or brushwood was prepared, in which one man could sleep while his comrade watched. When one line of trench is completed, its occupiers, taking advantage of the night, push forward to where the second line is to be opened, their places being immediately taken up by fresh troops from the rear, and so on progressively." * During the same busy day (the 1st of December), repeated attacks were made on Kemmendine, and were all repulsed by our troops or by the' seamen of our Kttle flotilla. But it was not until night that the Burmese made their last desperate efibrt to open their way down the river, and so get possession of the port of Rangoon. Our wearied soldiers had lain down to rest, when suddenly the heavens and the whole surrounding country, became brilliantly illuminated. The enemy had launched their fire-rafts into the stream with the first of the ebb tide, and had now applied the match to those huge masses of combustible materials, in the hope of driving the Sophie and our other vessels from their stations off Kemmendine ; and as these fire-rafts came down, it was seen by the light of their flames, that they were followed by a vast fleet of war-boats, whose crews were ready to take advantage of the confusion which might ensue, if any of our vessels should be set on fire. And as the rafts floated rapidly do^ivn to Kemmendine with the ebbing tide, columns of attack moved once more by land against that well-defended post, with artillery, with gingals, and musketry. But the skill and intrepidity of British sea- men proved more than a match for the numbers and devices of the Burmese ; after gazing for a while at the red, and blue, and yellow, and green flames of the mighty fireworks, * Snodgrass. 472 FIHE-KAFTS. [1824. our sailors leaped into their boats, pushed oft' to meet the flaming rafts, grappled them with their grappling-irons, and conducted them past our shipping, or ran them ashore, to finish their short life of fire and flame upon the river- bank without injury to any one.* After this, it is hardly necessary to say that the attack on Kemmendine failed completely. If the fire-rafts could have reached the harbour of Ean- goon, which was now crowded with transports and country vessels of all kinds, the eflect might have been very tragical. Kemmendine, where the river makes a sudden angle, was the only point from which the rafts could have been launched with effect. Fully aware of this, Bandoola ordered attack upon attack to be made, and for seven days no rest by nig^t or by day was allowed to our troops or to our seamen there. But every effort of the enemy failed, nor were they more successful in any other part of their line of cir- cumvallation. On the 5th of December, when the materiel and warlike stores of the Burmese left wing were brought forward from the jungle to their foremost intrenchment in front of Rangoon, and were fairly within our reach, ,'Sir Archibald Campbell ordered a decisive attack to be made upon their army. Major Sale, with one column 800 strong, and a troop of British dragoons, who had only been landed the preceding day, was directed to fall upon their centre ; and Major Walker, with 500 men, was sent to make a vigorous attack on their left wing. The operations of these two columns of troops were greatly facilitated by Captain Chads, of the navy, who proceeded up the creek to within gun-shot of the rear of the enemy's line, with the man-of- w^ar boats and a part of the flotilla, and commenced a heavy * " Upon examination, the Burmese fire-rafts were found to be ingeni- ously contrived and strongly constructed. They were made almost en- tirely of strong bamboos, firmly wrought together. Between every two or three rows of bamboos there was a line of earthen jars filled with petroleum, or earth-oil, and cotton : gunpowder and other inflammable ingredients were distributed in different parts of the floating infernal machine ; and the almost inextinguishable fierceness of the flames pro- ceeding from it could scarcely be conceived. Many of the rafts were con- siderably more than 100 feet long, and were divided into many pieces, attached to each other by means of long and flexible hinges. It was expected by the Burmese that when they caught upon the cable or bow of a ship, the force of the current would carry the ends of the raft quite round her, and envelope her inflames from the deck to her mast-head." Major Snodgrass. 1824.] DEFEAT OF BAITDOOLA. 473 cannonade, wliicli distracted; the attention of tlie Burmese, and prevented their reinforcing in front. Our two columns broke through the intrenchments, and completely routed both the centre and the left with vigorous bayonet-charges ; but Major Walker and a good many of his gallant comrades fell. The loss of the Burmese was appaUiug ; they were driven from every part of their works into the jungle, leav- ing the ground behind them covered mth dead and wounded, with all their guns, intrenching-tools, and a great number of small-arms. On the 6th of December, Bandoola was employed in rallying his defeated troops. On the 7th the Burmese made their last and grand attack on the great pagoda. Here they were beaten, driven back to their in- trenchments, then driven into them, and forced back into the jungle by the British bayonet. Our troops at that post, worn out by seven days and nights of incessant fighting or watching, could not pursue the flying enemy, who left in the trenches a great number of dead nearly all stout, tall, athletic fellows, who might ahnost have mea- sured with English grenadiers. During these seven busy and fiery days, the Burmese, in addition to a pro- digious loss of lives, had lost every gun they had, and the entire materiel of their army. The survivors were flying towards Donoopew ; but they were stopped on their flight by some great and terrible chiefs, who had been sent down vath. numerous reinforcements, and they rallied at Kokeen, about four miles beyond the great pagoda. It is said that when Bandoola counted his forces, he found them reduced, from more than 60,000 fighting men, to less than 25,000. This favourite of the Golden Poot was allowed to retain the chief command ; he immediately began to intrench and stockade himself at Kokeen, and employed incendiaries to bum the invaders out of Eangoon, and destroy all their stores, powder-magazines, &c. The latter attempt ^which very nearly succeeded* brought down a rapid attack upon his new position, and disgrace and ruin upon himself. On * On the night of the 12th of December the cry of fire resounded through the town of Rangoon, and nearly the whole of that filthy wood and bam- boo-built place seemed to be immediately in a blaze. The incendiaries had placed their matches in various parts of the town, and had set fire to them at the same moment. One half of the town was burned ; but the flames were prevented from reaching our depot of stores and ammu- nition. 474 OUE ADVA]S"CE UPON AYA. [1825. the 15th of December three days after the midnight fire at Eangoon, 1,500 British troops and sepoys, unaided by artillery, under the command of Brigadier- Greneral Wil- loughby Cotton, drove Bandoola and his mighty host from all their intrenchments and stockades at Kokeen, and strewed the position with dead and dying. Here ended the operations in front of Rangoon ; the British troops returned in the evening to their cantonments, and the remnant of the Burmese army retreated upon Donoopew. Sir Archibald Campbell resolved to advance up the coun- try, at least as far as Prome, reducing Donoopew on his way, and to move in two separate columns, the one proceed- ing b}'- water, the other by land. The land column was to proceed in as direct a line as it could, and to strike the main stream of the Irawaddi at Sarrawah, or at some other place above Donoopew and below Prome. The water column, carrying supplies for the whole army, was to ascend the B/angoon branch of the Grreat Biver, to get into the main channel below Donoopew, to dislodge the enemy from all their positions there, to clear the Irawaddi, and to give the hand to the land column at Sarrawah, or some place in that neighbourhood. On the 11th of February, the British began to move. The land column, under the immediate command of Sir Archibald Campbell, consisted of 1,300 European infantry, 1,000 sepoys, two squadrons of dragoons, one troop of horse artillery, and one rocket troop ; the marine or river column^ under Brigadier- Greneral Willoughby Cotton, counted 600 European infantry, one small battalion of sepoys, and a powerful train of artillery ; and this column was embarked in a flotilla of sixty boats, commanded by Captain Alexander, of the navy, escorted by the boats of our men-of-war. The column marching by land, and the column proceeding by the river, were so to time their movements as to reach Sarrawah nearly at the same time. But Sir Archibald Campbell, for reasons which do not seem to be sufficiently explained, pushed on much faster than Brigadier- Greneral Willoughby Cotton ; and he continued to advance as if the river column, or the forces under Cotton, would be quite sufficient for the reduction of Donoopew, and could not possibly encounter either defeat or delay. A few wretched families of Ban- goon were found wandering in the woods and looking like spectres, from starvation and misery ; but, with the excep- 1825.] SEKTOTJS CHECK. 475 tion of these poor people, the country seemed to be left to the dominion of the tiger and wild hog. But Sir Archibald Campbell marched on his column until it reached Sarrawah, about thirty miles beyond Donoopew, on the main stream of the majestic Irawaddi, which is here from 700 to 800 yards broad. Here he halted for four days the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th of March expecting to cut off the enemy's retreat from Donoopew by water, and also to prevent their rallying higher up the river. Early on the morning of the 7th of March, Sir Archibald heard a heavy cannonade in the direc- tion of Donoopew ; he believed it to proceed from the marine division, and when the noise ceased, he felt con- vinced that the place had fallen. He halted, however, where he was, for the chance of hearing from Brigadier- General Willoughby Cotton, until the morning of the 9th, when, leaving a strong detachment at Sarrawah to pre- vent the enemy's retreat by water, he advanced twelve miles inland, through jungles and deserted and bare tracks of country. On the 10th, he advanced fourteen miles far- ther up the country, to a town of considerable extent upon the banks of the Grreat Eiver, He found that the town was wholly deserted, and that here, as well as everywhere else, every article had been removed that could be of use to his army. " This," says the historian of the campaign, " only made him the more eager to reach Prome by rapid marches, lest that city, the promised quarters for the rainy season, should be equally stripped." Early on the following morning, the 11th of March, as the land column were about to resume their march, official intelligence was received that the marine coliunn had failed in their attack upon Donoo- pew. The news is said to have been as unexpected as it was unpleasant; but it was not very astonishing that a column which did not much exceed 1,000 men should fail in reducing by a coup-de-main one of the strongest positions in the Burmese country, defended by at least 15,000 of the best Burmese troops. The whole mistake lay in Sir Archi- bald's dividing his forces, and attempting to reach Prome with one division, before making sure of the reduction of Donoopew, which the enemy had been strengthening for nearly a whole year. And yet it was made to appear that if Brigadier- Greneral Willoughby Cotton had begun his attack in the right direction, his single column might have sufficed to drive Bandoola out of that formidable place. The works 476 THE AEMY BEACHES [1825. at Donoopew consisted of three stockades, which rose one above the other, and the heavy batteries of which were all pointed to the river. Instead of passing the whole fortress and taking the enemy in flank, which would have rendered his guns almost useless, Cotton attacked the first part of the works he came to, or the extremity of the stockade that was lowest down the stream. After meeting with an obstinate resistance, he carried the first stockade ; but on proceeding to the second, he received by far the severest check that the European troops met vdth during the whole war. 'No fewer than 150 of our men were killed and wounded ; and the retreat was so precipitate that the wounded were not car- ried off, although it was well known they would all be put to a cruel death. The whole flotilla retreated ten miles down the river, being constantly assailed and tormented by the Burmese war-boats. The next day most of our killed and wounded men who had been left in the stockade were cruci- fied and put upon rafts, which were sent floating down the river towards the flotilla.* This barbarity was the most revolting, as the wounded among the Burmese, taken pri- soners in the first stockade, had been carefully dressed and attended to by our surgeons, and had been permitted to go whithersoever they pleased. Upon receiving intelligence of this disaster, Sir Archibald Campbell, who had certainly gone on too heedlessly, or in too entire a confidence, felt that there was nothing to do but to retrace his steps, and to join Cotton as soon as possible. His land column depended entirely upon the flotiUa for its supplies ; and the flotilla being stopped, the navigation of the Irawaddi was so completely commanded by the enemy that not a canoe could get up the river or pass the works at Donoopew. At the time the commissariat of the land column had not two days' rations left. In a word, starvation stared us in the face ; and the occupation * Article on the Burmese war, and review of Major Snodgrass's volume, in * Quarterly Review,' No. Ixx. The writer of this article appears either to have served in the Burmese war as an officer of his majesty's navy, or to have derived information from naval officers who were engaged in that war. The commanding officer's own account of the operations at Donoopew is, however, entitled to consideration. See Despatch of Brigadier- General Willoughby Cotton, dated March 9th, 1825, in * Documents illustrative of the Burmese War, &c. ; compiled and edited by Horace Hayman Wilson, Calcutta, 1827.' 1825.] DONOOPEW. 477 of Prome, however desirable, was not to be attempted under circumstances so eminently hazardous. On the other hand, it became every day more certain that Bandoola's army was the chief, if not the only force now left to oppose us ; and the natives evidently looked to that alone for checking our ad- vance.* By the 13th Sir Archibald and his land column got back to Sarrawah. Here an obstacle of a most serious nature presented itself. To reach Donoopew the broad and rapid Irawaddi must be crossed by an army with cavalry, artillery, and commissariat equipments, and unprovided with any means for such an undertaking, beyond a few small canoes which had been procured with much difficulty. Energy and perseverance, however, triumphed over every difficulty. In the course of the 13th the Madras infantry were carried over the river, and sent to occupy a position in advance. On the 14th rafts were constructed to carry over the artillery, stores, &c. ; and by labouring day and night, before the evening of the fifth day, every man, and every thing belonging to the division, had been safely landed on the right bank of the Irawaddi. It was, however, the 25th of March ere the land column arrived within gun-shot distance of Donoopew. In order to spare the lives and limbs of his soldiers, Sir Archibald gave order not to attempt to carry the truly formidable place by a coup-de-main. It was, however, found to be much too extensive to admit of its being surrounded even by a chain of posts, by so small a force ; and consequently a position was taken up from which their stockade might be cannonaded. "While our people were taking up this position, the enemy, wonderfully elated by his recent success, manned his works, and opened a fire from a great many guns. Numerous golden umbrellas glittered iti the morrdng sun, denoting how many great men were assembled within the works, which extended for nearly a mile along the sloping bank of the river, the breadth varying, according to the nature of the ground, from 500 to 800 yards. The stockading was made of solid teak beams, from fifteen to seventeen feet high, driven firmly into the earth ; and behind this wooden wall the old brick ramparts of the place rose to a considerable height, and afibrded a firm and elevated footing to the defendants. Upwards of 150 guns and swivels were mounted on these * Snodgrass. 478 OPEEATIOXS AT [1825. works, and tlie garrison was protected from tlie shells of tlie besiegers by numerous traverses and excavations. A ditch of considerable breadth and depth surrounded the defences; and the passage of it was rendered the more difficult by spikes, great nails, holes, and other contrivances. Beyond the ditch several rows of strong railing were inter- posed ; and in front of all, a formidable abbatis, thirty yards broad, extended round the works, except on the river face, where the Irawaddi presented a sufficient barrier. Regard- less of the enemy's long shots, Sir Archibald Campbell en- camped his division, and immediately commenced prepara- tions for breaking ground. The camp being pitched, t^e heavy fire of the Burmese entirely ceased. But the sudden calm, the disappearance of the defendants from their ramparts, the occasional patrolling of their cavalry, and the long-continued observation of our line by a party of native chiefs posted on a lofty watch-tower, foreboded a very early interruption of this tranquillity. The soldier3 regarded the momentary repose as seamen do the treacherous lull which precedes the increasing storm. The Burmese did not keep them long in suspense. The clock had struck ten, and the moon was fast approaching to the verge of the horizon, when sharp musketry, and the loud and wild war- cry of the enemy, roused the camp. In an instant every soldier's hand was on his musket, and in a minute every soldier was in his place. Our line was scarcely formed ere the enemy's intention became apparent : his columns were distinctly heard moving towards our right for the purpose of turning it ; and at the same time he kept up a distant fire upon our left and centre, to encourage a belief that these were the selected points of attack. They reached and out- flanked our extreme right, but our two regiments rapidly changed front, and kneeling, to insure a better aim, kept up a rapid running fire, which instantly checked the advancing columns, and laid a good many of the Burmese prostrate. Ha"sdng repeated their attempt two or three times more, they drew off and returned in silence to their irritated com- mander, Bandoola, who beat some of them soundly because they could not beat the British. The darkness of the night enabled them to carry ofi" their killed and wounded. On our side, only two or three were killed, and about twenty wounded. !N'o communication had as yet been opened with Cotton 1825.] DONOOPEW. 479 and his marine column ; but, early on tlie morning of tlie 26tli, a party of 100 European infantry and a few cavalry were sent to march round the enemy's works, in order to reach the flotilla at its station below Donoopew, and there request the naval commander to move up and form a junc- tion with Sir Archibald Campbell. Forcing their way through a thick jungle by the aid of three elephants, the detached party reached the flotilla without receiving or firing a shot. Before the evening of this day, his majesty's 47th regiment occupied an old pagoda which was about 300 yards from the outward defences of Donoopew, and which seemed the most eligible point for breaking ground an operation that commenced immediately. At nine o'clock in the morning of the 27th our flotilla came in fall sail up the river. This was no sooner observed by the Burmese than they sortied in great force, with in- fantry and cavalry, and with seventeen war elephants fully caparisoned. This attack was directed upon Sir Archibald Campbell's right. "While it was coming on, and while our flotilla was coming up under the fire of the fort. Sir Archi- bald's cavalry, covered by his horse artillery, charged the elephants who led the van. The war elephants stood the charge mth extraordinary steadiness ; but the men on their backs were mostly shot, and no sooner did they feel them- selves unrestrained by the hand of their drivers, than they turned their stunted tails to our dragoons, and walked back to the fort with the greatest composure. The flotilla, having passed the fort with trifling loss, anchored close on the left of Sir Archibald's column.* On the next day (the 28th) our working parties continued making approaches towards the place, and our steam-vessel (a source of amazement and superstitious alarm to the Biu-mese) and some light boats pushed up the river after the enemy's war-boats, and suc- ceeded in capturing four gilded and five plain ones. After these operations, three days were spent in con- structing batteries and landing heavy ordnance. On the evening of the 31st, a Burmese came out of the fort to the English camp with a piece of dirty canvas, containing this laconic epistle from Bandoola : " In war we find each other's force ; the two countries are at war for nothing, and * Major Snodgrass. Brigadier- General Sir Archibald Campbell's * Despatch to George Swinton, Esq., Secretary to Government, Secret and Political Department, dated Donoopew, April 2nd, 1825.' 480 DEATH OF BANDOOLA. [1825. we know not each other's minds!" The bearer being questioned, declared that he was only a common soldier, and knew nothing of the matter, but believed his chief wished to make peace. Early the next morning (the 1st of April) our mortar batteries and rockets began the work of destruction, and continued firing at intervals during the day and pai't of tlie succeeding night. The Burmese remained close under the protection of their works, making little, then less, and at last no return at all to our fire. This excited surprise, but on the next morning the mystery was ex- plained. At daylight on the 2nd of April, two lascars, who had been prisoners in the fort, came running out, and informed our people, that the great Bandoola had been killed the day before, by one of our shells or rockets ; that after his death was known, no entreaties of the other chiefs could prevail upon the Burmese to remain at their posts, and, in short, that the whole army had fled or dispersed during the dark hours of the night. The British line was in consequence put under arms, and the place was imme- diately taken possession of. Sufficient proof remained of the hurry and confusion of the flight ; not a gun was removed, and even the very large depot of grain which had been formed remained uninjured. Within the fort were found a number of wounded men. . One poor fellow, who had both his legs shot off, related circumstantiaUy his chiefs death. The grain found in Donoopew was sufficient for the con- sumption of our entire force for many months. Besides the ordnance mounted on the works, a considerable quantity was found concealed in a tank. Some more of the war- boats were taken, together with a vast number of other boats of an excellent description, and well'suited for convey- ing troops up the Irawaddi. That magnificent river was now entirely under our command from its broad mouths on the ocean to the valley of Ava and Amarapoora, where it shallows and contracts and becomes unnavigable.i The confidence of the Burmese court, which was at the very highest point when the war commenced, had been for some time rapidly declining ; but when the death of the great Bandoola and the flight of his army of Invincibles and Invulnerables became known in the city of Ava, almost the last spark of pride and presumption went out. It was con- fessed openly, and even before the Golden Face, that the 1825.] MAJOR SALE. 481 Burmese were inferior to our European troops, and could not withstand them ; and that to break the lines of the British, or to arrest their advance in action, was an impos- sibility.* "Wliere the great Bandoola had failed, none could hope for success. The chiefs, knowing their double liability, or the double risk to which they were exposed, of being killed by the English in battle, and of having their heads taken off by the king if they failed in their attempts to drive the English back to the sea, were far from being anxious for the honour of the chief command ; and the king knew not how to choose or whom to trust. A new chief was, however, invited to court, and forced to accept the chief command of the forces, and every nerve was strained to recruit the army and to restore its former self-confidence. At the same time, however, it was resolved to endeavour to amuse the English commanders, and delay their approach by pretending a readiness to treat with them.f In the meanwhile, other successes had been gained by our arms, and Sir Archibald Campbell had resumed his advance upon Prome. Major Sale entered the Irawaddi by another of its mouths, called the Bassein River, and with a small detachment he cleared and destroyed several stockades, without meeting with any resistance. On the 3rd of March, Sale arrived at the town of Bassein, and found it abandoned and on fire, the governor of the district having retreated to Lamina, a town about six days' journey up the river. * Deposition of Henry Gouger, Esq. They likened the British, troops in action to a particular class of demons called Balu. They compared the rapidity of their movements to a whirlwind, and were astonished beyond measure at their skill in the use of artillery, shells, rockets, &c. By this time they also admired the forbearance and moderation of British soldiers after victory. Our mode of attacking them in their stockades at the point of the bayonet, and with a mere handful of men, struck them with consternation. " They stated, that when one of the assailants was killed, another immediately took his place ; and that they were not to be dis- couraged from advancing even by wounds, so that it was in vain to con- tend with such an enemy. Their imaginations were so wrought upon that, to these particulars, they added many fabulous ones ; such as that the Europeans continued to advance after their hands had been chopped oflf in scrambling over the stockades ; that the arms and legs of the wounded were carefully picked up, and replaced by English surgeons, who were represented to be as skilful as the warriors were bold.'' Deposition of the Rev. Dr. A. Judson, American Baptist missionary, taken at Ran- goon by the English commissioners, after the close of the war. t MS. by Henry Gouger, Esq. 2 I 482 ADVANCE rPON PEOME. [1825. Having occupied Bassein, the town was soon restored to a comparatively flourishing state, and the population gradu- ally returned to it, A reconnaissance was made as far as Lamina, by 200 men of his majesty's 13th regiment, 100 native infantry, and seventy seamen, who proceeded up the river in boats, bivouacking at night on the banks. Sale with his party got close upon the heels of the retreating governor of Bassein, and was several times very near catching him. All the villages on the banks of the river were deserted, and most of them burned. Lamina, although a large town, was found " completely abandoned, the flying governor having driven all the population into the interior. Sale could obtain hardly anything beyond a golden state- boat, and two war-canoes, and with this little prize he returned to Bassein, after an absence of fourteen days. He was shortly afterwards recalled to Eangoon, to reinforce Sir Archibald Campbell's main army, which had passed the point at which a diversion in the direction of Bassein was likely to be useful ; but Sale left a small garrison in the town of Bassein, and that place continued to be occupied throughout the war. On the 4th of April, two days after taking possession of Donoopew, our main army recommenced its march for Prome. By the 12th it was again on the left bank of the Irawaddi at Sarrawah ; and on the 14th, it reached the spot from which it had retrograded just one month before. Passing over several abandoned camps and stockades, our troops, on the 19th reached Huddadoon, where the blue mountains of Arracan became for the first time distinctly visible. The landscape was beautiful, but the still smoking ashes of nu- merous villages cast a shade of sadness over the scene. In the evening a messenger came in from Prome, as the bearer of a pacific letter from the chiefs of the Burmese army, now collected at that city. The messenger seemed to be a silly old man, and probably he was not a Burmese, but some half-caste, who spoke some European language. He drank much too freely for a diplomatist, and when he rose to take his departure, he whispered in the general's ear, " They are frightened out of their senses ! you may do what you please with them ! " In reply to the letter which he had brought. Sir Archibald Campbell said that he would be very glad to conclude a proper peace, and that upon the arrival of the British army at Prome, every oppor- 1825.] COLOIs'EL GODWm'S MAECH. 483 tunitj and facility in opening negotiations would be afforded to the Burmese. And then, instead of gratifying his correspondents by halting and allowing them time to improve their stockades and receive their reinforcements from Ava, Sir Archibald moved on Prome, being preceded by the steamboat, and the rest of our flotilla. On the 24th of April, when he reached a point whence the heights of Prome were visible, he received another letter from the Burmese authorities at Prome, who demanded that the city should not be occupied by the British troops. Sir Archi- bald responded, that the military occupation of Prome could not be dispensed with, but that he would be happy to meet deputies at any time and place next day. Long before dayKght the next morning our column was again in mo- tion, for no reliance was placed in the pacific assurances of the Burmese. At daylight, our troops were under the ridge of hiUs which covers Prome to the southward. Every hill was fortified to the very summit, and a more formidable position had seldom been encountered in the East. The stockades, however, were unoccupied, the enemy having evacuated every post, and set fire to the town. Our column, pushing on, found Prome in a blaze ; but by great exertions, a considerable part of the town was saved from destruction. On the 25th of April, when Sir Archibald Campbell took possession of Prome, without firing a musket, the rainy season was not far off. There was, however, time before it set in to send a small corps to clear the inland districts of Prome of the armed bands which overran the country, plun- dering and oppressing the inhabitants, and driving them with , their cattle into the jungles. This lightly-equipped corps, nnder the command of Colonel Grodwin, left Prome on the 5th of May.* The first two days' march to the north-east- ward was over a rich and fertile country, abounding in rice- * Professor Horace Hayman Wilson. * Documents illustrative of the Burmese War.' We learn from this curious and valuable collection of materials that Colonel Godwin's force consisted of 800 infantry and a troop of the governor-general's body-guard, with two field-pieces. Lord Amherst had sent a good part of his body-guard to the Irawaddi early in the war ; and throughout these campaigns that brilliant corps attracted universal admiration by its activity and spirit. See also, ' Two Years in Ava,' by an officer on the staff of the quarter- master-general's department. 2i2 484 COUNTRY DEVASTATED. [1825. grounds. But the fertility, the industry, the population of the Burmese territories are almost entirely confined to the great valley of the Irawaddi, to the banks of its yarious branches, and the Delta which lies between its mouths on the sea and Donoopew ; as the column advanced into the interior, these signs of industry and population rapidly dimraished, the country gradually assuming the character of a luxuriant wilderness, overgrown with lofty forests and brushwood jungles, with a few miserable villages scattered about at great distances from each other. The inhabitants of these remote places appear to have scarcely known that there was any war in their country until they saw this little column. The armies of the Grolden Eoot had certainly not been near them ; for in almost every instance the villagers were found quietly occupying their huts, and gazing in wild amazement at the strange sight of white faces, red coats, field-artillery, etc. Although they seemed miserably poor and devoid of comforts, they were found to be a cheerful, a frank, and a kind-hearted people. They soon became fami- liar and even friendly with our soldiers, who paid them for whatever they furnished. The column continued to march to Tagoondine, at the foot of the Galadzet mountains. It had been intended to push the reconnaissance across those mountains as far as Tonghoo, a sequestered city, about which much had been said and very little known, except that it had once been the capital of an independent state, and that it was now the jagheer of one of his Burmese majesty's brothers. But the monsoon rains were now beginning to fall, and to swell the mountain-streams : the Graladzet chain was most steep and rugged, without roads, and with hideous-looking though pacific inhabitants; and beyond the mountains the country was for some distance said to be a desert and a dreary waste. Colonel Grodwin there- fore thought it expedient to turn his back upon Tonghoa, and to move to the north-eastward to the town of Meaday, about sixty miles above Prome, and, like Prome and all the other considerable towns, situated on the banks of the Irawaddi. On this march our column occasionally crossed the track by which corps of the Burmese army had retreated from Prome. " It was painful to witness the ruinous efiects of their system of warfare. Even Eussia, in her memora- able resistance to the armies of Napoleon, did not offer to the invading host such a continued scene of desolation. 1825.] OUR AEEITAL AT PROME. 485 Neitlier man nor beast escaped the retiring column ; and heaps of ashes, with groups of hungry, howling dogs, alone indicated where villages had been."* Meaday was found a blackened ruin, or a heap of ashes. Its old brick wall had been recently cleared and strengthened by breast-works and stockadmgs : but everything was burned, and every soul was gone, so that no intelligence could be obtained as to the enemy's movements. Trom Meaday our light column commenced its retrograde march upon Prome, following the road which runs close along the left bank of the Irawaddi. Colonel Graham and his men, with 500 head of cattle pur- chased from the villagers, arrived at Prome on the 24th of May, and almost immediately after their~retum, the perse- cuted and dislodged inhabitants of the town poured in from every quarter : some from the woods, bringing their families, their cattle, their waggons, and other property ; and some escaped from the military escorts and disjointed corps of the king's fugitive army. Eood and covering were given to the starving and naked ; and those who had houses and property were secured in the possession of them. Our British sol- diers assisted them in rebuilding their wooden houses, and their bamboo huts ; and in a very short time Prome had risen from its ashes, a greater town than it had been before the war. As the people were punctually paid for whatever they brought, plentiful bazaars were soon established, and our soldiers lived in comfort and abundance, and unmolested ease ; while the ill-conducted armies of the king of Ava, unpaid, unsupplied, and driven up the country, were left to the alternative of starvation or dispersion. The towns and districts in our rear followed the example of the provincial capital ; and the banks of the Irawaddi below Prome were soon enlivened by the presence of a contented people. An excellent depot was soon formed at Prome, with supplies sufficient, not only for the rainy season, but for the long campaign which possibly might follow. The plains which our soldiers had traversed on their advance up the country without seeing a single bullock, were again covered with numerous herds ; from every pathway of the deep and extensive forests, which cover far more than half of the country, droves of the finest oxen the oxen of Pegu now issued daily. The meuthagoes, or hereditary head-men of * Snodgrass. 48$ THE SHAN TEIBES. [1825. the districts and chief towns, tendered their allegiance, and were restored to their municipal functions by the British generals. A state of desolation and anarchy once more gave way to order and plenty ; and from Eangoon to Prome, from Bassein to Martaban, all classes of natives not only contributed their aid in collecting such supplies as the country afforded, but readily lent their services in facili- tating the equipment and movement of military detach- ments.* The only anxiety which the people seemed to feel was, that the English would leave them, and give them back to their old masters. During the season of rain and repose (it was no season of rest at Ava !) the king, encouraged by false reports, took vigorous measures for recruiting his armies, and for pro- viding them with powder and weapons. Men were leaded in all the upper parts of the country. Money, which had never been employed before for that purpose, was now freely spent in the enrolling of troops. Far away to the north and to the east, gold, and the orders of the Grolden Pace were sent. The tributary Shan tribes, whose country borders on China, were induced to put 15,000 men in march for Ava ; and by the end of September, the whole disposable force of his majesty was estimated at 60,000 or 70,000 men. By the beginning of October, the head-quarters of the Bur- mese army were again at Meaday ; and the breast- works and stockades, which Colonel Grodwin and his light column had seen in ruin and in ashes, began to raise their heads again. To oppose to these forces, Greneral Campbell had at Prome Bomething less than 3,000 effective men ; but he was to be joined by 2,000 more by the time the campaign opened. His instructions from the governor-general bound him to neglect no opportunity of entering upon pacific negotiations ; he wrote a letter to the chiefs in command of the army assembling at Meaday, to offer them lenient terms of peace. Some time after this letter had been received, the cliiefs sent a complimentary mission to Prome to speak many good words to the British general, and to state that the king and his ministers were equally desirous that a lasting peace should be concluded between the two great nations. Sir * la the month of August Sir Archibald Campbell went down to Ran- goon, and returned from that place to Prome in the steam-vessel the Diana, with as much ease and tranquillity as we go from London Bridge to Ramsgate and back again. 1825.] 2fEG0TIATI0NS TOE PEACE. 487 Archibald Campbell lost no time in sending two British officers to Meaday to ofler an armistice, and to propose a meeting of commissioners from the two armies. The Bur- mese prime minister tried hard to delay the meeting. It was found necessary to allow a delay of nearly two weeks, the wongees protesting that they must wait until full powers ai-rived from their court. The kee wongee, or prime minister, agreed to be one of the commissioners, and it was finally settled that the meeting should take place at a spot mid- way between the two armies, and that each party should be escorted by 600 men the rank of the kee wongee not permitting him to move with a smaller escort. On the appointed day the meeting took place. Sir Archi- bald Campbell being accompanied by Commander Sir James Brisbane, commander of his majesty's naval forces in the Indian seas, who had come up to Prome to take the direc- tion of the operations by water. The kee wongee was accompanied by another chief and minister, named Lamain "Woon, and sundry other chiefs, arrayed in splendid state dresses, and wearing the gold chaias which denote their rank. The first day was spent in an interchanging of ceremony and compliments. On the following day. Sir Archibald Campbell entered upon business by recapitulating the many unprovoked aggressions which had obliged the Indian government, after many vain endeavours to obtain redress by milder measures, to appeal to arms. The wongees confessed that many aggressions had been committed on our frontiers ; but they pretended that these deeds had not been authorized by the king or his govern- ment. They concluded by proposing that the armistice should be prolonged for twenty days beyond the l7th of October, the term fixed. Although our officers suspected that nothing was meant but to gain time in order to bring more troops down the valley of the Irawaddi, and erect more stockades, they agreed to this proposition.* Sir Archibald Campbell and Sir James Brisbane had scarcely reached Prome, on their return from these conferences, ere reports * " Among ourselves," says Major Snodgrass, " many believed that the war was at an end, while others could not forget that we were dealing with a government proverbially false, and so completely influenced and guided by signs and omens, that an unusual grunt from the white elephant was at all times sufficient to interrupt the most important affairs, and cause the most solemn engagements to be broken off." 488 THE KEE WONGEE. [1825. poured in from all quarters of tlie irruption of predatory- bands from the Burmese armj within our line, and into the districts under our protection. And these bands, continuing their inroads, burned and plundered the country almost to the gates of Prome, and cut off' some of the supplies for our army that were coming up the river from Eangoon. The armistice was on the point of expiring, when the kee wongee sent the following laconic epistle to Sir Archibald : " If you wish for peace, you may go away ; but if you ask either money or territory, no friendship can exist between us. This is Burmese custom." The ultimatum was accompanied by a general advance of the Burmese army upon Prome. They came on in three great divisions ; their total force was estimated at 60,000 men, besides which there was a reserve left at Melloone. Sir Archibald, after providing a garrison for Prome, could now bring into the field 5,000 men, of whom 3,000 were British. On the evening of the 15th of November the general sent Colonel McDowall with two brigades of Madras sepoys to dislodge the left division of the enemy, which was stockading itself at Wattygoon. McDowall got killed, four of his officers were wounded, and the sepoys commenced a rapid retreat, leaving nearly all their wounded behind them to the merciless fury of the Burmese. On the following day the enemy, with a great increase of confidence, began gradually to close round the English positions. In their left division 8,000 men were Shans from the country bordering upon China. These were expected to fight with more spirit than the men who had been previously engaged in the war. In addition to their chobwas and petty princes, the Shans were accompanied by three young and handsome women of high rank, who were believed to be endowed with the gift of prophecy and foreknowledge, and to possess the miraculous power of turning aside the death-dealing balls and bullets of the English. These Amazons, in strange warlike costume, were seen constantly riding among the Shan troops. Eor some days the enemy were allowed to gather and stockade ; but, on the 1st of December, all the three divisions were attacked simultaneously by Sir Archibald Campbell, Sir "Willoughby Cotton, and Commodore Sir James Brisbane, who carried the flotilla up the river, and cannonaded the stockades in flank, while the land troops attacked them in front. Every- where the Burmese and the Shans were defeated and dis- 1825.] WE ADTANCE. 489 lodged as soon as our troops got into the interior of their crowded works. The wongee who commanded the left division was slain; and a great many of the Shans, who did not understand the signs that were made to them to surrender and take quarter, were killed in a most desperate and most useless struggle within these stockades. One of the Shan Amazons received a fatal bullet in the breast. The moment her sex was recognized, our soldiers bore her from the scene of carnage to a cottage in the rear, where she soon expired. In the retreat, another of the Shan ladies was seen flpng on horseback across a little river with the remnant of her people. Before she could gain the opposite bank of the river, one of our shrapnels exploded over her head, and she fell from her horse into the water. Whether she was killed or only frightened could not be ascertained, as she was immediately borne off by her attendants. The mass of the retreating army rallied on the heights of Kapadee, in front of a deep jungle, a few miles higher up the Irawaddi. This new position, in which tliey were attacked the very next day, was uncommonly strong. The nature of the country admitted of no approach to the main defences upon the hills, except in front, and there only by a narrow pathway. JN'evertheless our storming column went on imder a heavy fire, and finally succeeded in expelling the enemy at the point of the bayonet, and in driving them from hill to hill, until the whole of the position, nearly three miles in extent, was entirely in our possession. Our loss diu'ing the two days' fighting, on the part of the regi- ments of the line, was twenty-five killed and 100 wounded. During the attack on the heights, our flotilla, pushing rapidly past the works, succeeded in capturing all the boats and stores that had been brought down for the use of the Burmese army. That army was now in fact utterly broken up and ruined. Both banks of the Irawaddi were com- pletely cleared, and nothing remained to check Sir Archibald Campbell's advance upon Melloone.* On the 9th of December our first division, accompanied by head-quarters, began its march across a melancholy, deserted country, and through jungles and swamps over- groYTD. with reeds and elephant-grass, fifteen feet high. The * Snodgrass. Professor H. H. Wilson. Col. Alex. M. Tulloch. 490 PEOCEASTINATION. [1825. King's 1st regiment, or "Eoyals," went by water, the other regiments of the line, in two divisions, by land. Two corps of sepoys were left to garrison Prome, in which a field hospital was established. On the 12th the cholera broke out among the troops on march, and ere it could be checked it carried off a great many of the Madras sepoys, and rendered two British regi- ments almost unfit for duty.* The roads continued to be execrably bad, and the advance to be very slow. It was the 19th before the 1st division reached Meaday, where a scene of misery and death surrounded them. Within and among the stockades the ground was strewed with dead and dying Burmese lying promiscuously together, the victims of wounds, of disease, or of want. Several large gibbets stood about the stockade, each bearing the mouldermg remains of three or four crucified Burmese, who had been thus barba- rously put to death for having wandered from their posts in search of food, or for having followed the example of their chiefs in flying from the enemy. Beyond Meaday similar horrors presented themselves. On the 26th of December, when the division had marched 140 miles from Prome, and was within ten miles of Mel- loone, a flag of truce was sent to Sir Archibald Campbell from the last-named place, with letters communicating the arrival of a high commissioner sent down from Ava with full powers to conclude a treaty of peace. On the 27th Sir Archibald encamped on the banks of the Irawaddi about four miles below Melloone, and was there joined by the flotilla. On the 28th he sent two officers to the Burmese chiefs, for the purpose of arranging an immediate meeting with the new negotiator. Our officers plainly saw that the Burmese chiefs wanted to procrastinate, and that the forces they had collected behind the stockades of Melloone were numerous, and were busily occupied in improving the defences of the place. On the 29th Sir Archibald took up a position at Patanagoh, directly opposite to Melloone, and the flotilla anchored abreast of that town, and pointed its guns against the stockades. Upon this a chief put off" in a war-boat to com- pliment the commander of the flotilla, and to assure him that the new and high delegate from Ava would gladly open negotiations on the 1st of January. * Lieutenant Colonel Tulloch, ' Statistical Reports,' &c. 1826.] BATTLE or MELLOONE. 491 At the appointed day and liour the conferences were commenced, on board of a large boat moored in the middle of the Irawaddi between the two armies. After four meetings and long and wearisome discussions, the Burmese accepted the conditions which were offered, and a treaty of peace and amity was signed. Fifteen days were allowed for obtaining the ratification of the Grolden 'Foot and the execution of preliminaries, such as the delivery of Mr. Henry Grouger and all other prisoners taken up the country, and the pay- ment of the first instalment of the money indemnity. During the quiet interval which ensued, the Burmese visited our camp by day in the most friendly manner, and by night they worked at their stockades. On the 17th of January, the day preceding that upon which the ratified treaty was to be presented to Sir Archi- bald and his coadjutors, three officers of state visited the British camp, and declared that some unfortunate accident, of which they were entirely ignorant, must have delayed the arrival of the king's ratification, and the arrival of the pri- soners and money. They offered to pay on the spot small instalments, and to give hostages for the payment of the rest of the money and the due execution of the other articles of the treaty, if Sir Archibald would only reti^n to Prome. Having received a decided negative to this proposal and to another, they at last entreated for a delay of five or six days. This also was refused by Sir Archibald. On the next day, the 18th, three British officers proceeded to Melloone, to tell the wongees that they had broken their promises, and had rendered it impossible to trust them, and that after 12 o'clock that night hostilities would recommence. And at the mid- night hour the British camp was on the alert ; and by 10 o'clock the next morning twenty-eight pieces of artdlery were in battery, and ready to open upon the enemy's defences. Two hours of heavy firing opened the way for our storming column (formed of the 13th and the 38th British regiments), which was carried across the river in boats,ujider the superintendence of Captain Chads, now senior naval officer, and which was headed by Lieutenant- Colonel Erith, Lieutenant- Colonel Sale having been badly wounded in the boats. In a very brief space of time the column entered by escalade, and estabhshed itself in the interior of the works. This almost finished the affair. From 10,000 to 15,000 armed men were driven away in a confused and helpless mass from the strongest works they had ever 492 ME. GOUGER, A PRISONEE. [1826. erected. Our other brigades, cutting in upon the retreat, completed their discomfiture. The Burmese were driven with severe loss from all their stockades, and they left the whole of their artillery and military stores in our pos- session. Our 13th and 38th had only five men killed and twenty wounded. In the house of Prince Memiaboo, cash to the amount of 30,000 or 40,000 rupees was found ; all his stud was likewise taken ; and, what was considered of still more consequence, as affording undeniable proof of the perfidious conduct of the Burmese during the late negotia- tions, both the English and Burmese copies of the treaty were also found in the house, just in the same state as when signed and sealed at the meeting of the 3rd. Prince Memiaboo and his beaten army continued to retreat upon Ava with all possible speed. Sir Archibald Campbell prepared to follow them up without delay. On the 25th of January our people resumed their march over a barren country and bad roads. On the 31st head- quarters were at Zaynangheoun. Here Sir Archibald was met by Doctor Price, one of the captive American mis- sionaries (avIio had been seized at Ava with Mr. Grouger), and by Assistant-Surgeon Sandford, of the Eoyal regiment, who had been taken prisoner some months before. These gentlemen came on their parole of honour to return again to Ava. Doctor Price explained that they were despatched to express the sincere desire of his Burmese majesty for peace, and to bring back a statement of the terms that the English would grant him. By this time the Golden Pace was completely clouded with despair. Every hope and promise had failed ; every day fixed upon by his star-gazers as a lucky day had turned out an unlucky day ; and all his astrologers and soothsayers had proved themselves to be but cheats and liars. Sir Archibald assured the two envoys, that he was desirous of peace, and that his terms would vary very little from those which had been offered and accepted by the wongees at Melloone. He furnished them with a statement of his terms, and promised not to pass Pagahm-mew for twelve days. On the following morning, the 1st of Pebruary, 1826, the two delegates quitted the English camp to return to Ava, the American missionary being sanguine in his expectations of returning in a few days with cash, and a treaty of peace, duly signed by the king. Yet, in truth, his Burmese 1S26.] WE STILL ADYA^'CE. 493 majesty was still undecided, and in the course of two or three days, it became known in the British camp that he was displaying a determination to try the fortune of war once more ere he submitted. He was probably encouraged herein by a knowledge of the smallness of the force with which Sir Archibald Campbell was advancing upon his capital, and by intelligence received of the defeat of a weak British detachment before the strong stockade of Zitoung in Pegu, where the commanding officer. Colonel Conroy, and another officer were killed, and several wounded, and where the loss in men was very heavy for so small a force. Sir Archibald Campbell continued his advance. On approaching Pagahm-mew, a town about one hundred miles above Melloone, he obtained positive information that a levy of 40,000 men had been ordered ; that the Grolden Poot had bestowed upon this new army the flattering appel- lation of "Retrievers of the King's Glory;" and that this army had been placed under the command of a savage war- rior, styled Nee Woon-Breen, which has been variously translated as "Prince of Darkness," " King of Hell," and "Prince of the Setting Sun." Upon the 8th of Pebruary, when within a few days' march from Pagahm-mew, Sir Archibald ascertained that the Eetrievers of the King's Glory and the Prince of Darkness were [prepared to meet him under the walls of that city. On the 9th the British column moved forward in order of attack, being much reduced by the absence of two brigades, and considerably under 2,000 fighting men. The advanced- guard was met in the jungle by strong bodies of skirmishers ; and after maintaining a running fight for several miles, the column debouched into the open country, and there dis- covered the Burmese army, from 16,000 to 20,000 strong, drawn up in an inverted crescent, the wings of which threatened the little body of assailants on both their flanks. But Sir Archibald pushed boldly forward for their centre, threw the whole weight of his column upon that point, broke and shattered it in the twinkling of an eye, and left the unconnected wings severed from each other. The Eetrievers of the King's Glory did not fight so well as those who had been accused of forfeiting his majesty's glory : they all fled as fast as their legs could carry them to a second Hne of redoubts and stockades, close under the 494 BATTLE OF PAGAHM-MEW. [1826. walls of Pagahm-mew ; but the Britisli column followed tliem so closely that they had little time for rallying in those works ; and as soon as a few English bayonets got within the stockades, all the Burmese went off, screaming like a scared flock of wild-geese. Hundreds jumped into the river to escape their assailants, and perished in the water ; and, with the exception of 2,000 or 3,000 men, the whole army dispersed upon the spot. The unfortunate Prince of Darkness, or King of Hell, or Prince of the Set- ting Sun, fled to Ava ; and he had no sooner reached the court, when he was put to a cruel death by order of the king.* One immediate and very gratifying result of this victory was the liberation of the people of the country from the restraint under which they had been kept by the Burmese army. As soon as the action was over, they began to come into the British camp for protection, and many hundred boats, crowded vnth people, passed Pagahm- mew downwards, on their way to their native towns and villages. By this time Colonel Conroy's disaster in Pegu had been remedied and avenged by Colonel Pepper, who, with a stronger detachment, carried the strong stockade of Zitoung, scattered a force of 3,000 or 4,000, and killed 300 of them within the stockade alone.f In order to refresh his troops after their late fatigues, Sir Archibald Campbell halted for a few days at Pagahm- mew. On the evening of the 13th of February, Mr. Price, the American missionary, and Mr. Sandford, now liberated, arrived in camp. The missionary, who had been selected as mediator, announced that our terms had been accepted and agreed to. But he neither brought the rest of the prisoners, nor the first instalment of the money payment. Mr. Price, however, explained that everything demanded was in readiness to be delivered, but that the king demurred about letting the cash out' of his hands, from an idea that after its payment the English would still keep his country. His majesty was therefore anxious to know whether Sir Archibald could not be prevailed upon to accept of six lacs of rupees upon the spot, and to receive the other nine- teen lacs of the first instalment on the return of the army to Prome. On the following morning, Mr. Price returned * Snodgrass. t Horace Hayman Wilson, ' Documents illustrative of the Burmese War,' &c. 1826.] TREATY OF PEACE. 495 to Ava, to acquaint tlae king that all tlie prisoners must be liberated, that the twentj-five lacs must be paid down, and that Sir Archibald Campbell was resuming his march upon Ava. The army, continuing to advance, was met at Tandaboo, only forty-jGLve miles from Ava, by Mr. Price and two Burmese ministers of state, accompanied by Mr. Henry Grouger, Mr. Judson, the American missionary, and his wife, an adventurous Scotch sea-captain of the name of Laird, who had gone up the country before the war to make some contract about timber, and all the rest of the prisoners, whether Europeans or sepoys. A sadder spectacle has seldom been presented by living human beings than that which was offered to the English camp by these liberated captives. They were covered with filthy rags ; they were worn to skin and bone, and their haggard countenances, sunken, wandering eyes, told but too plainly the frightful story of their long suffering, their incessant alarms, and their apprehensions of a doom worse than death. The sight exasperated our troops, and made them more eager than ever to advance upon the capital and take yengeance upon the tyrant and his savage court. Mr. Price and the two wongees brought the stipulated sum of twenty-five lacs of rupees, and an authority under the sign manual to accept of and sign whatever terms the English might insist upon. On the 24th of Eebniary, the treaty of peace was for a second time settled and finally signed at Yandaboo, the Burmese government at the same time engaging to furnish boats for the conveyance of a great part of our force back to Rangoon. By this treaty it was agreed that there should be perpetual peace and friendship between the Honourable Company and his majesty the king of Ava that the king of Ava should renounce all claims and abstain from all future interference with the principality of Assam and its dependencies, and also with the contiguous petty states of Cachar, Jynteea, and Mun- nipoor that his majesty should cede to the Company in perpetuity the conquered provinces of Arracan, including the four great divisions of Arracan, Eamree, Cheduba, and Sandoway that the Arracan mountains should hence- forward form the boundary between the two great ''nations on that side that his majesty should also cede the con- quered provinces of Yeh, Tavoy, and Mergui, and Tenas- 496 co:n'ditions. [1826. serim, with tlie islands and dependencies thereunto apper- taining, taking the Saluen river as the line of demarcation on that frontier that his majesty, as part indemnification for the expenses of the war, should pay the sum of one crore of rupees* that henceforth accredited British minis- ters, with a body-guard of fifty men, should be allowed to reside at Ava, and that an accredited Burmese minister should be sent to reside at Calcutta ; and that free trade should be allowed to British subjects in all the dominions of his majesty, who should abolish all exactions upon British ships entering his ports, &c and that " the good and faithful ally of the British government, his majesty the king of Siam, having taken a part in the present war," should " to the fullest extent, as far as regards his ^majesty and his subjects, be included in the above treaty." The money demanded as part indemnification was far too moderate a sum. The king was rich and given to hoarding, and both gold and silver bullion abounded in Ava. The court could easily have paid three or four times the amount, and in all probability it woidd have paid it rather than evacuate the capital, and burn it or abandon it to the English. A crore of sicca rupees, at par, were barely equiva- lent to 1,000,000 sterling. The war had cost us from 7,000,000 to 8,000,000. In other respects, the treaty was such as it should be. The cession of Arracan gave us an admirable mountain frontier, and amply provided for the freedom from Burmese interference with our Indian terri- tories on that side. Our troublesome neighbours are now confined within their ancient boundaries by the lofty Arracan chain, and their court is not ignorant that we can now march a force across those mountains from our post at Aeng, appear on the Irawaddi in eight or ten days, and reach the city of Ava within a month. The possession of the Tenasserim provinces, and of the islands that lie ofi* that coast, and off" the coast of Arracan, gives increased security to our commercial navigation, opens the road to an inland commerce with the Siamese, Shans, and other * Twenty-five lacs, or one-fourth of the sum total, were paid down when the treaty was signed. Upon the further payment of a similar sum at Rangoon, within one hundred days from the date of the treaty, our army was to evacuate the dominions of the king of Ava, leaving the re- "kmoiety of the sum total to be paid, by equal annual instalments, f^ars. 1826.] EESULTS or the BURMESE WAE. 497 distant people, places at ' our disposal teak-forests of enormous extent, and productive of the very best timber. Moreover, a variety of valuable ravr produce is procurable, or may be raised from these new territories, to be replaced by the manufactures of India or Great Britain. The provinces of Cachar and Asam, though holding out less promising prospects to commerce, helped to form a well- defined and strong frontier, and in the approximation they afford to Thibet and China, our trade may possibly be extended, in process of time, in those directions. Nor was there wanting the consolation that the condition and prospects of some millions of natives were improved by the results of our Burmese war. " These countries, dis- tracted hitherto by incessant feuds, and overrun by hostile armies or by predatory bands, regions once animated by a happy and numerous population, had been converted into wide and unwholesome thickets, and had ceased, not only to be the haunts of man, but had become hostile to human life. Under their new masters, Asam, Cachar, Arracan, and the Tenasserim provinces will experience a tranquillity and security they have not known for ages, and must once more assume that character of plenty and prosperity which the latter wore when the Europeans first visited their coasts, and which tradition, and the remains of roads and towns still found in them, indicate were equally the enjoyment of all."* The sufferings of our troops, during nearly the whole of the war, were excessively great. The loss by the sword was as nothing cdbipared with the ravages of disease and the mor- tality caused by excessive fatigue. It was not often thatascore of men feU in escalading and carrying even the strongest stockades ; but they died by heaps on their marches through the pestilential jungles or in their unhealthy camp-stations. Throughout the campaigns, and all the way from Rangoon, every British soldier had to carry his knapsack, sixty rounds of ammunition, a blanket, and three days' provisions, toge- ther with his arms and accoutrements, under the scorching rays of a tropical sun. " Perhaps," adds an ofiicer who served in' the war, " there are few instances on record in the history of any nation, of a mere handful of men, with consti- tutions broken down by many months of previous disease and privation, forcing their way, in the face of such difficul- * Professor Horace Hayman Wilson, ' Documents illustrative of the Burmese War,' &c. 2k 498 GEN. moerison's expedition. [1825. ties, and tlirougli a wilderness hitherto untrodden by Euro- peans, to the distance of five hundred miles from the spot where they originally disembarked, and ultimately dictating a peace within three days' march of the enemy's capital."* In the month of January, 1825, while the army of Sir Archibald Campbell was cooped up at Eangoon, General Morrison, Avith his majesty's 44th and 54th regiments, about 200 European artillery, and several regiments of native in- fantry and pioneers, who had all been assembled at Chitta- gong, near the north-west frontier of the Burmese empire, be- gan his march from Chittagong with the view of taking posses- sion of the whole province of Arracan, and then reaching the upper part of the Irawaddi, in the vicinity of the Burmese capital. This line of march upon Ava was very short and direct, compared with the course that Sir Archibald Camp- bell had taken, as the reader will perceive by looking at the map ; and, with the exception of a few mountain-passes, which might have been cleared by proper manoeuvres and a liberal employment of shrapnels, the country between Chittagong and Ava was not of a very difficult nature. InTact there was a fine road the only good road in the Burmese empire which traversed the mountains of Arracan and ran nearly the whole way to the city of Ava. Although the road was annually frequented by native traders many of w^hom were the Company's own subjects who went and came between the Burmese capital and our frontiers, the existence of the route does not appear to have been known to those who planned the invasion. It wa^ afterwards proved, practically, that an army with baggage, artillery, and all its materiel^ might march from the upper part of the Ira- waddi to Aeng, on our frontier, in less than twenty days, the distance being not much more than 200 English miles. And it appears scarcely doubtful, that if General Morrison had pushed quickly through Arracan, vrithout halting to occupy the unhealthy part of the coimtry, he would have cleared the mountain-passes, and have reached the upper part of the Irawaddi and the denuded capital, while all the forces of the empire were engaged or were concentrating in the lowest part of the river near Rangoon. General Morrison encoun- tered none but the most contemptible opposition in his march from Chittagong to the town of Arracan, a distance * Lieutenant- Colonel Alexander M. Talloch, * Statistical Reports on the Sickness, Mortality, and Invaliding among her Majesty's Troops,* &c. 1826.] MAECH OF CAPTAIN EOSS. 499 of about 150 miles : but bis means of transport or sometbing else must bave been defective, as it was tbe 1st of April before be arrived at Arracan, and took possession of tbat town witb a very trifling loss. And bere, in one of tbe most unliealtby places anywbere between tbe tropics, be halted to complete tbe occupation of tbe country wbere tbere was bardJy anytbing left to subdue. And bere be put his troops in quarters for tbe season of rain. In tbe month of May, as the monsoon set in, fever began to appear, and it continued augmenting, both in prevalence and severity, tiU. scarcely a man was left fit for duty. Even to tbe animal creation tbe climate seemed inimical ; scarcely a single indi- genous quadruped of any description was met witb during tbe stay of our troops ; and tbe cattle, horses, and elephants which accompanied the force, deteriorated daily after their arrival, and idtiraately perished by hundreds. The mortality in tbe two British regiments, tbe unlucky 44th and 54th, was prodigious : together they did not average above 1,004 men, and 595, or three-fifths of tbe whole, perished at Arra- can in the course of eight months : his entire force was re- duced to a state of inefficiency, for the sepoys suffered quite as much as the British soldiers. Tbe practical proof about the road was given by Captain Ross, who, in March, 1826, when our army was returniag homeward, marched with the 18th regiment of Madras in- fantry, 50 pioneers, and aU the elephants of the army, from Yandaboo, on the Irawaddi, to Aeng, crossing tbe Arracan mountains by tbe excellent road, and finishing the march within nineteen days.* After tbe war was over, and aU our enormous expenses of movement bad been incurred, great pains were taken to procure an accurate knowledge of the Burmese country, and of tbe best approaches to Ava, its capital ; and a mass, of most valuable and correct information was obtaiued and published. t Better late than never. But, if some of these pains bad been taken antecedently to tbe commencement of * * Two Years in Ava,' by an officer on the staff, &c. The author of this interesting volume accompanied Captain David Ross on this march, and gives an excellent account of the roads of the country, and of a remarkable people called Kieaans, who inhabit the mountains, and are gentle and hospitable. t See ' Appendix of Topographical and Statistical Notices to Professor Wilson's Documents Illustrative of the Burmese War.' 2 k2 500 A MTJTIXY IN BENGAL. [1824. hostilities, some millions of pounds sterling and some thou- sands of human lives might possibly have been spared. However managed, the Burmese war was a necessity. If our government had yielded to the demands of territory ar- rogantly demanded by the court of Ava, the Burmese and their stockades would soon have been established on the very threshold of Calcutta, and universal insurrection would have been invited in our empire. " From the king to the beggar they were all hot for a war with the English."* Nothing but beating could have brought them to reason. In the autumn of 1824, when the arduous Burmese war was but beginning, an alarming mutiny broke out among some of our Bengal sepoys, who were under marching orders for Barrackpoor, whence thej^ were to proceed to the Irawaddi. Although other Hindus had gone willingly enough, and by sea, these sepoys, of the 47th native in- fantry, pretended that they should lose caste if they went by sea. It should appear that the men had, or thought they had, other grievances to complain of. In the month of October, when ordered to appear upon parade in march- ing order, they appeared without their knapsacks, and openly manifested their mutinous spirit. Their command- ing officer. Colonel Cartwright, ordered the men back to their quarters, and hurried to consult General Dalzell. General Dalzell hastened down to Calcutta to consult the commander-in-chief. On his return. General Dalzell ordered a parade for the next day. The men appeared, but were more mutinous than ever. In the ensuing night the muti>- neers slept upon their arms, appointing guards, piquets, patrols, &c. This brought Sir Edward Paget up from Calcutta. Finding that the two other native regiments at Barrackpoor were suspected of being infected, Sir Edward called up two British regiments of the king's service (the 1st Eoyals and the 47th), a battery of Hght artillery, and part of the governor-general's body-guard. The mu- tinous native 47th fell in on the parade-ground, but refused to obey orders, and turned a deaf ear to the explanations and the promises of pardon that were offered to them. This left Sir Edward Paget nothing to do but to order a round of grape-shot to be fired at them. Almost at the first discharge the fellows broke, and fled in all directions, * Deposition of John Laird, in Professor Wilson's * Documents Illus- trative of the War,' &c. 1825.] EEYOLrTIONS AT BHIJETPOOR. 501 throwing away tlieir arms and accoutrements. Only a few were killed, but a good many were taken prisoners, brought forthwith to trial by court-martial, and condemned to death. The number of executions was, however, but small, the far greater part of the mutineers having their sentence com- muted to imprisonment and hard labour in irons. The regi- ment was disbanded, and its name erased from the Kst of the army. The mutiny spread no further. In the early part of the year 1825, when but little pro- gress had been made in the Burmese war, and when much exaggerated reports were circulating all through India of the difficulties, the checks, and reverses that Sir Archibald Campbell was encountering, the attention of Lord Amherst was demanded by certain proceedings at Bhurtpoor, which did not terminate without causing great excitement and some alarm. On the 26th of February (1825), the rajah of Bhurtpoor, the ally of the Company, died, leaving his son, Bulwunt Sing, a boy of tender years, to succeed him. Knowing that the succession to the musnud could not fail of being disputed, the deceased rajah, our ally, had im- plored the protection of General Sir David Ochterlony for nis young son ; and Sir David had acknowledged the boy's right to the musnud, and had pledged his word to support him. The rajah was scarcely cold when Doorjun Sal, cousin to Bulwunt Sing, having gained over part of the Bhurt- poor troops, murdered the uncle and guardian of the young rajah, and seized the person of the helpless boy. Sir David Ochterlony, who was at Delhi as commander of the forces and political resident, forthwith assembled troops and a battering-train, and put them in motion for Bhurt- poor, issuing at the same time a proclamation to the Jaut people of the Bhurtpoor country, in which he called upon them to rise in defence of their lawful rajah, and told them that the British troops were advancing to rescue Bulwunt Sing. Lord Amherst and the supreme council disapproved of all that Sir David Ochterlony had done, and sent him peremptory orders to recall the troops that were marching upon Bhurtpoor. Sir David was also commanded to withdraw his proclamation to the Jauts, and to tell them that an inquiry would be instituted by the British government into the transactions which had taken place in Bhurtpoor. It was clearly manifested that Lord Amherst and the council wished to avoid any final arrangement of the Bhurtpoor 502 THE JAri WAE. [1824-5. question, and preferred putting up with temporary incon- venience to the rushing into a new campaign at an unpro- pitious season of the year, and at a time when so large a portion of the attention and resources of goyemment were demanded by the war on the Irawaddi. The veteran Ochterlony was too brave a soldier to be startled by the strength of Bhurtpoor or by any other obstacle, and much too high-minded a man to undo what he had conscien- tiously done, or willingly to abandon the boy after promising his dying father that he would protect him. Sir David tendered his resignation, declaring that he should be guilty of falsehood if he acknowledged any con- viction of having acted incorrectly or with impropriety. Lord Amherst accepted the tendered resignation. Sir David Ochterlony retired to Meerut, with a mortified and wounded spirit, and there he died very soon after. The conqueror of the Gorkhas, the man who remedied the blunders of others in the Nepaul war, the veteran who had served the Com- pany for half a century, was honoured by the high func- tionaries of Calcutta with minute-guns and a complimentary general order. Yet, after all, the Calcutta government were compelled to resort to the measures whicW Ochterlony had recom- mended, and to undertake the siege of Bhurtpoor before the war on the Irawaddi could be terminated. Doorjun Sal quarrelled with his own brother, who had hitherto acted in concert with him. This brother, after an unsuccessful attempt to make himself master of Bhurtpoor, raised an independent standard in the fortress of Deeg, subjected or plundered all the neighbouring country, and invited adventurers of all kinds to join and share his fortunes. Doorjun Sal's troops were defeated in a battle near Deeg; the Company's frontiers were thrown into a ferment. Many of the Company's subjects took up arms, some to join one, and some the other of the two contending bro- thers; anarchy was threatening to return to the regions from which she had been expelled by the marquis of Hastings' successful wars against the Mahrattas and the Pindarrees. And all the while the usurper was strengthen- ing the always formidable fortress of Bhurtpoor, and the native princes most inimical to the EngUsh were inculcating the belief that that place could never be taken, and that the Jauts were destined to be the rallying-point of India.* * Bhurtpoor was the only fortress and the Jauts the only people in 1825.] SIEGE OF BHUETPOOE. 503 At last, however, the govemor-general yielded to the arguments contained in an admirable state-paper drawn up by Sir Charles Metcalfe, and on the 18th of September, just two months and three days after the death of Sir David, determined to support the minor Bulwunt Sing. It was not, however, until the 10th of December, 1825, that the new commander-in-chief, Greneral Lord Combermere, who had gained such high distinction under the duke of "Wel- lington in the Peninsular war as Sir Stapleton Cotton, sat down before Bhurtpoor with an army of upwards of 20,000 men, and a field of more than a hundred pieces of artillery. The Jauts had cut the embankment of a lake, hoping to fill the broad and deep ditch, as they had done in 1805, at the time of Lord Lake's siege ; but our troops arrived before much water had flowed into the ditch, and instantly made themselves masters of the embankment, and repaired the breach. On the next day, the 23rd of December, the be- siegers, under a heavy fire of the garrison, completed their first parallel ; and on the morning of the 24th two heavy batteries opened upon the town. Other batteries opened in quick succession, and during the rest of the month of December a vast quantity of powder and ball were thrown away. Scarcely a roof in. the town was left uninjured, but neither cannon-shot nor shells could make any impression on a tough mud wall from fifty to sixty feet thick. On the evening of the 6th of January, our engineers began to do what they ought to have done a fortnight earlier they commenced a mine in the scarp of the ditch on the northern face of the work. This mine was sprung before it was sufficiently advanced to have any material eff'ect upon the waU. In making a second attempt, our miners were coun- termined by the garrison. The gallery of this mine was subsequently blown up, it being discovered that the enemy were keeping watch in it. A shot fired by the enemy set fire to one of our tumbrils, and 20,000 lbs. weight of gun- powder was blown up. On the 14ith, another mine, under one of the bastions of Bhurtpoor, was exploded too preci- pitately, and thus did little more than make a great smoke and a loud noise. Two more mmes were driven into the same work, and India that boasted they had never been subdued either by the Mogul emperors or the English. " The Jauts," adds Bishop Heber, "are the finest people in bodily advantages and apparent martial spirit whom I have seen in India." 504 SIEGE OF BHUETPOOE. [1825. these being sprung on the 16th, so far succeeded that, with the aid of another day's battering, the breach was reported to be practicable. On the 17th a mighty mine was dug and crammed with powder under another angle of the works ; and the following day was fixed for the storm. Early in the morning of the 18th our storming-parties esta- blished themselves in the advanced trenches. The left breach, or that which was already practicable, was to be mounted by the brigade of Greneral NicoUs, headed by his majesty's 59th regiment ; the breach on the right was to be mounted by General E-eynell's brigade, headed by his majes- ty's 14th regiment: the explosion of the mine under the north- east bastion was to be the signal for the attack. "With the single exception, we believe, of the tremendous explosion made, under the superintendence] of General Pasley, for clearing the obstructions to the line of the Dover railway and opening the road to the Shakspere Cliff, no mine can bear comparison with this mine under the north-east angle of Bhurtpoor. It is lamentable to add that the construction of this Bhurtpoor mine was far from being so perfect as the explosion it made was loud and sublime. At eight o'clock in the morning the match was applied to the train, and with terrific effect : the whole of the salient angle and part of the stone cavalier behind it were lifted into the air, which for some minutes, was as dark and black as the darkest night ; all the garrison there were blown to the winds or buried under the ruins. The breach was made, and more than breach enough, but, owing to the defective construc- tion of the mine, many of the ejected stones and masses of earth fell upon the head of our column of attack, killing a number of men and severely wounding three officers. The stones fell so thickly about Lord Combermere himself, that Brigadier- G-eneral Mac Combe was knocked down by his side, and two sepoys were killed on the spot, within a few feet of his lordship. The troops, however, rushed on to the assault with admirable spirit and in good order, ascended the breaches, and cleared them in the teeth of a very determined oppo- sition. On the left, where the ascent was steep and difficult, our grenadiers moved up slowly and resolutely, without stopping to draw a trigger in return for the volleys of round shot, grape, and musketry which were fired upon them. Within two hours all the ramparts and the command of the 1825.] EEDUCTION OF BHUETPOOE. 505 gates of the citadel were in the possession of the besiegers, and early in the afternoon the citadel surrendered. Briga- dier-Greneral Sleigh, who commanded the cavalry, had taken excellent measures, outside, to prevent the escape of Doorjun Sal ; and when that chief, with 160 chosen horse, attempted to force a passage, he was made prisoner by the 8th regi- ment of light horse. One of his wives and two of his sons were taken with him. They w^ere all sent prisoners to Allahabad, to be supported by the Company. Our entire loss, during the siege and storming, amounted to 61 Euro- peans and 42 natives killed, and 283 Europeans and 183 natives wounded. The loss of the garrison was estimated at 4,000 men, mostly killed, and for the most part killed by the awful explosion of the last mine. After the ammunition, arms, stores, &c. had been removed to places of safety, the principal bastions, curtains, and other important parts of the fortification, were blown into the air. It was left to the monsoon rains to complete the ruin of Bhurtpoor. Deeg, Biana, Kama, and all the other for- tresses within the Bhurtpoor rajah's dominions, surrendered immediately, and were occupied by British garrisons ; the inhabitants returned quietly to their homes, and the young rajah was reinstated under the protection of the British government. Lord Combermere broke up his camp on the 20th of Eebruary, and returned to Calcutta. Thanks were voted by parliament and by the Company ; and the prize- money granted to the Company by the king was ordered by the Court of Directors to be distributed among the army. The attention of all India was fixed on the siege of Bhurt- poor, on the issue of which, far more than on anything which might happen in the Burmese empire, the renown of the British arms and the permanency of the British empire in Asia were felt to depend. Our officers rejoiced at the opportunity ofiered for effacing the injurious impression which had been made by Lord Lake's failure ; yet they admitted that, should our army fail again, few events would go so near to fulfil the shout of a mob which had been heard in the streets of Delhi a few months before : " The rule of the Company is at an end!" All the surrounding principalities were in a ferment, and most of them would nave been up in arms, if Lord Combermere had not suc- ceeded or had not been rapid in his achievement. " Should he fail," wrote Bishop Heber, " it is unhappily but too 506 EESIGNATION OF LOED AMHEEST. [1827. true, that all northern and western India, every man who owns a sword and can buy or steal a horse, from the Sut- ledge to the Nerbudda, mil be up against us, less from disliking us than in the hope of booty. And, still more unfortunately, it is not easy to say where another army can be found to meet them, now that Bombay is fully occupied on the side of Scinde ;* and the strength of British India is in Ava." But Lord Combermere's rapid triumph com- pletely destroyed the prestige of the Jauts, overawed aU the native chiefs, checked the disposition to revolt, and com- pletely confirmed the supremacy of Britain over the whole of India. The fall of Bhiu-tpoor moreover carried dismay or discouragement to the court of Ava, and to many countries beyond the limits of India. In the course of the following year Lord Amherst pro- ceeded to the upper provinces. During his stay at Delhi, a final settlement took place of the relations in which the British government in India and the poor descendant of the Great Moguls stood towards each other. An end was now put to that prejudicial fiction highly prejudicial to the English, and of no benefit to the king of Delhi or to any other party that our governor-general was but the vassal of the Mogul Shah. Our sovereignty was now openly asserted, and an end was thus put to many causes of embar- rassment and of false or anomalous positions. There was no lustre to be gained from borrowing the name or autho- rity of so discredited a prince, and one so weak in intellect as the shah, who gladly resigned a shadowy suzerainty for the sake of a little more hard cash. Having returned to Calcutta, Lord Amherst resigned the provisional government into the hands of W. B. Bayley, Esq., and embarked for England at the close of the month of March, 1827. His lordship, as well as the directors at home, had been sufficiently anxious for peace, yet nearly the whole of his administration had been occupied by wars. During a good part of this administration the army of India was kept np to the stupendous amount of an efiective force of 274,000 men! * The ameers of Scinde were again becoming very troublesome. During the Burmese war, and just before the siege of Bhurtpoor, they invaded Cutch, throwing everything into confusion there, and menacing the ter- ritories of the Guicowar and even the Bombay presidency. 1828.] LOED W. BENTINCK aOYEEITOE-GENEEAL. 507 CHAPTER XXXVI. The new governor-general was Lord "William Bentinct, whose former Indian career, as governor of Madras, had not been a very fortunate one. His lordship landed at Calcutta on the 4th of July, 1828, when Mr. Bayley's provisional authority ceased. The Burmese and Bhurtpoor wars had added more than 13,000,000 sterling to the registered debt of India. Upon his lordship was, therefore, imposed the generally unpopular duty of carrying into effect measures of economy, retrench- ment, and reduction. A system of economy was introduced into various departments of the government. Murmurs were heard from all sides a dishke, which seemed to be almost universal, was expressed ; but his lordship pleaded his imperative instructions and orders from home, and con- soled himself with the conviction that he was doing his duty. Several governors-general had been instructed by the Court of Directors to abolish sundry allowances made ta the army under the name of batta, half-batta, etc. ; but for fourteen years and more they had all shrunk from the odium and perhaps the danger attendant on this abohtion. But Lord William resolved to obey his orders, and most of these allowances were abolished almost as soon as his lordship reached Bengal, much more to the dissatisfaction of the army than to the real benefit of the Company. The rupees saved were not worth the good spirit which was sacrificed, and which some men think has not yet been perfectly recovered. The conduct of his lordship was disapproved by two of the members of the supreme council, by Sir Charles T. Metcalfe and W. B. Bayley, Esq., both men of ability and of great experience in India, and both of opinion that the Company and the British empire in India were not to be served or saved by means of petty savings. To Lord Com- bermere, the commander-in-chief, this and other changes 508 THE SUTTEE. [1828. were so distasteful, that his lordship resigned and came home. The chief command of our Anglo-Indian forces afterwards devolved upon Major-Greneral Sir Edward Barnes, who had proved himself to be an admirable soldier in Spain, in the south of France, and on the field of Waterloo, and an en- lightened and excellent governor in the island of Ceylon ; but, in 1833, when Sir Edward resigned, and when the government of Earl Grrey seemed to be firmly established, Lord "William Bentinck, who had been an unlucky general on the eastern coast of Spain, added the functions of com- mander-in-chief to those of governor-general. His authority could not reach to the king's troops, but his lordship abolished flogging in the native part of the army, by a general order. This, however, he did not do unti the very eve of his departure for Europe. Doubts are entertained, even by those who are no advocates for corporal punishment, and who reprobate the excess to which these punishments were once carried, whether the entire mass^of the Indian army, European as well as native, has not been seriously injured by this regulation. The sepoy cares very little for confinement, or the other punishments which have been substituted for the lash ; and the British soldier feels himself doubly degraded by the lash, when he sees that, while he is exposed to it, the black soldier is not to be touched by it. The frequent acts of indiscipline which have broken out of late years among the sepoys, not without cre- ating a painful alarm in England, as well as in India, have been in good part attributed to this reform of Lord William Bentinck. Erom the time of Warren Hastings, every governor- general, in common with every man possessing an English heart in India, had deplored the revolting practices, the ob- scenity, and the cruelty inherent to the corrupted and cor- rupting religion of the Hindus ; and if our men in authority had somewhat overrated the difficulty of abolishing these prac- tices, and had approached them with a timid step, through the persuasion that any bolder attempt would lead to uni- versal rebellion and carnage, still, in the course of half a cen- tury, various experiments had been tried, and a good deal had been done, by slow degrees, towards a wholesome reforma- tion. Lord Teignmouth, who was deeply impressed with reli- gious feelings, had done much ; and the Marquis Wellesley 1828.] THE SUTTEE. 509 who came after him and because lie did come after him was enabled to do a good deal more. If very much had been attempted at once, the experiment woidd have failed. Lord "William Bentinck could do more than the Marquia "Wellesley had done, because he came a quarter of a century- after that illustrious man. The marquis had put down the horrible annual sacrifices of human life which had been cele- brated for many ages on Sagor Island; and he had laid dowB the principle that all such superstitious enormities were to be gradually and cautiously, yet resolutely checked.* The suttee {sati, from the Sanscrit sat, good) or the act of self-immolation by Hindu widows, is described by Grreek writers of the age of Alexander the Great, and it was in all probability an an- cient custom in their time. Diodorus relates an instance of a suttee which occurred in the army of Eumenes upwards of three hundred years before the Christian era ; and he ascribes the zeal for this kind of self-sacrifice, in most instances, to the infamy which attached to those widows who refused to conform to the custom, or to burn themselves with the bodies of their deceased husbands. This is also the view taken of the custom by our missionaries ; but Mr. Mountstuart Elphinstone has observed, in the first volume of his admirable " History of India," that if the motive were one of so general an influence, the practice would scarcely be 80 rare.f In modem times, at least, it has been exceedingly- rare. In Upper India, where the holiest of the cities of the Hindus abound, the practice is by no means common. Bishop Heber found it common nowhere except in Bengal and some parts of Bahar. In the year 1821, during the administration of the marquis of Hastings, a bold blow was aimed at the custom, by arresting a man who had assisted at a suttee, and by trying him for murder before an * Marquis Wellesley, * Indian Despatches,* &c. t On the curious subject of suttee, read Moor, * Hindii Pantheon ;' Bishop Heber, ' Indian Journal; * ' Penny Cyclopaedia,' article Suttee ; Arthur Steele, ' Summary of the Laws and Customs of Hindu Castes.' This last-named amiable and accomplished man returned from Bombay to Europe with his patron and friend Mr. Elphinstone in 1828. He was about returning to India when, in the summer of 1829, he paid a visit to some friends in Ireland, and got drowned while bathing in a little rive/, scarcely more than & brook. I knew him well, and still lament his loss. Young, active, enthusiastic in the pursuit of knowledge, and im- bued with the soundest and best principles, he bade fair to be one of the foremost men in the Indian service a service which requires eminent men as much as ever it did. 510 THE SUTTEE. [1829- English court of justice. In 1826, during the administra- tion of Lord Amherst, and nearly two years before Lord William Bentinck arrived at Calcutta, the evil practice was seriously circumscribed by legal enactments ; the govern- ment declared the burning of a widow without the body of the deceased husband to be illegal ; and all persons, whether relations or others, aiding or abetting in such an act, either before or after the death of the husband, were to be com- mitted for trial at the circuit courts, and be made liable to the pimishments inflicted for murder and homicide. Even before this time no woman was supposed to be burned with- out her own wish duly certified to a magistrate. And now the burning of a widow was declared to be illegal under various circumstances. In fact, only those suttees were to be considered lawful where the widow appeared in court and solicited permission in person from the magistrate. At the same time, all the property, real and personal, in actual possession of the deceased husband and widow who performed suttee (even though under the sanction of the proper authorities), was declared to be forfeited to go- vernment. Moreover, it was declared that no person should be eligible to any oifice or employment whatsoever under government, in whose family a suttee should take place from this time forward. All this legislation, which was quietly submitted to, and was productive of the desired efiect, really left Lord William Bentinck very little to do, and rendered the execution of that little a safe and easy task. It is absolute nonsense, and something worse, to over- look everything that was done by his predecessors, and to attribute to his lordship the sole merit of putting down the fiuttees. On the 14th of December, 1829, Lord William Bentinck, as governor-general, and Lord Combermere, W. B. Bayley, Esq., and Sir Charles T. Metcalfe, as members of the supreme council of Calcutta, passed a regulation declaring the practice of suttee, or burning or burying alive the widows of Hindus, with or without the bodies of their deceased husbands, to be abominable, illegal, and punishable by the criminal courts. We believe that between the year 1826, or the time when Lord Amherst's regulations were passed, and the end of 1829, hardly any suttees had been known to occur in Bengal. ^ Lord William Bentinck made the tour of the upper pro- vinces. Quitting Simla in the month of October, 1831, his 1831.] VISIONS OF A. BrEXES. 511 lordship proceeded to the territories of the protected Seikhs, and halted at Eoopur, a town situated on the banks of the Sutledge just where that river quits the mountains and enters the plains of Hindustan. Here he was met by that powerful Seikh ruler, Maharajah Eunjeet Sing, the lord and lion of Lahore, who made professions of the warm- est friendship, having then a fresh and lively recollection of the great English dray-horse and the other presents which Lieutenant Burnes had carried to him a short time before. The governor-general had seen this very adventurous and self-confident young of&cer (Burnes) during his recent stay at Simla, and this ill-omened meeting con- tributed not a little to those frightful catastrophes in Afghanistan with which the name of Burnes must be inse- parably connected. Burnes had ascended the Indus from its mouth, between Cutch and Scinde, as far as Lahore, and, though he had ascertained that, for the extent of a thousand miles, from the sea to Eunjeet Sing's capital, there might be an uninterrupted navigation, and that, by the agency of steam, that famed river might be made a valuable commercial highway if the fierce ameers of Scinde, who exercised do- minion or perpetuated an anarchy along its banks, could be reclaimed from their habits ; and if the countries to which the Indus afforded access could speedily become (what they certainly had not been for many ages) the homes of a numerous, industrious, agricultural population, with wants to be supplied by European industry and ingenuity. The high-road of trade lay across the Indus, and not up the river. Lieutenant Burnes, however, proud of the novel voyage he had made, seemed to think that, merely by sending a few steamboats, or framing a treaty or two with the beggarly barbarians dwelling on the banks, a great and profitable trade might be created forthwith, and that, rather than lose this chance, the Indian government ought to incur almost any expense or risk. And, far beyond the Indus and the Punjaub, or the regions watered by the five rivers, in the country of the pastoral and warlike Afghans, and farther still, in the wilds and deserts which lie between India and the Caspian Sea, Lieutenant Burnes had built up sundry little visions, besides the bright, innocent, and laud- able one of making large additions to our geographical knowledge. His design, he says, received the most liberal encouragement from the governor-general. Lord WiUiam 512 TREATY -VYITH THE AMEEES OF SCINDE. [1831. Bentinck.* Encouraged and aided in various ways by his lordship, Burnes, with a small party, descended the Sut- ledge, crossed the Hyphasis near to the spot where Lord Lake had encamped, and where Alexander the Great was supposed to have halted, and then went on by the town of Peshawer, and the pass of Luta-Bund, to the city of Cabul, where Dost Mohamed Khan then reigned almost vrithout a competitor. This Dost Mohamed, whom it was afterwards Burnes's destiny to assist in deposing, received him with much friendship and hospitality ; and it was during his stay at Cabul, and his travels through the rest of Afghanistan, that our countryman contracted his very unsound notions as to the facility of managing the Afghans, and establishing intimate connections in their country. Continuing his journey, and traversing mountains, rivers, and deserts, and going through Balkh, Kurshee, Bokhara, Shurukhs, and Astrabad, Burnes safely reached Teheran, the capital of Persia ; and as he and his small party had succeeded ^by means of the friendly assistance of the different rulers of the countries through which they passed, and by attaching themselves to different caravans in crossing the hungry deserts of Tartary, and in surmounting other obstacles, he concluded that a Russian, or Eusso-Persian army, strong enough to contend with the British for the dominion of India, and with all the materiel of artillery, stores, etc., might overcome those difficulties likewise ; and might, pos- sibly, by moving in the direction opposite to that which he took, reach and go through the mountain-passes of Afghanistan, cross the Punjaub and the Sutledge, and deploy in the plains of Hindustan ! In conformity with, the opinions expressed to him at Simla by Burnes, Lord "William Bentinck despatched Colonel Pottinger to effect a treaty with the ameers of Scinde another easily-to-be-managed set of men, accord- ing to our sanguine explorer of the Indus. These ameers, who were only a little less lawless and rapacious than the Pindarree chiefs of former days, gladly accepted the pre- sents and promises that were offered them, and concluded with Pottinger certain agreements for allowing the Indus to be opened and navigated by our trading vessels, whose trade was to be found hereafter. Thus were we brought * Lieutenant Alexander Burnes, F.R.S., &c. Preface to ' Travels in Bokhara,' &c., 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1834. 1835.] EETIEEMENT OF LOED W. BENTIXCK. 513 into correspondence and a sort of connection with the ameers of Scinde. The immediate consequence was a great jea- lousy and alarm on the part of that older ally, Runjeet Sing, the Lion of Lahore. The only military achievement during the administration of Lord William was of a very insignificant character. The rajah of Coorg, a son of that faithful ally who had rendered most valuable services to the British during the siege of Seringapatam, was a monster in cruelty, and faith- less to the last degree. He misgoverned his country, ground the faces of his subjects, established a complete reign of terror, and outrageously insulted the Company. After vain attempts at negotiation, a small armament was sent against him. On the 6th of April, 1834, the miserable little capital of Coorg surrendered to Brigadier Lindsay, and on the 10th the rajah delivered himself up. So ex- tensive had been his murders, that not a member of the family, save himself, was left alive. His dewan, or chief minister, who was reported to have urged him on in his mad career, was found in the jungle, hanging by the neck on a tree. All the Coorg territories were assumed by the Company, and placed under direct British rule, conformably with a minute drawn up by Lord "William at Bangalore. His lordship, whose health was failing, resigned the governor-generalship, and quitted Calcutta for England, in March, 1835. 2 I 614 HOME LEGISLATION. [1813-33. CHAPTER XXXVII. It was very generally foreseen, even at the time of passing it, that the act of 1813, which made the first great inroad on the Company' s'exclusive commercial privileges, would be but the introduction to far more extensive changes in the Com- pany's charter. From the year 1813 down to 1833, the advocates for free trade never rested, and there was a suc- cession of enactments and regulations all subversive of the old monopoly. In 1820, committees of parliament were nominated to inquire into the foreign trade of the nation, and to deliberate on the means of extending it. Among other branches of trade, that with India and China claimed a large portion of the attention of these committees. In both houses of parliament, and in the country at large, the notion had long prevailed that the monopoly the East- India Company had of the trade of China was injurious to the interest of commerce in general. But many who entertained this notion felt, at the same time, that it would be difficult for any body of men, less organized and expe- rienced than the Company, to carry on a trade with so strange a people as the Chinese, without being constantly involved in quarrels. In May, 1820, Mr. Canning, then president of the Board of Control, pressed on the attention of the Court of Directors the expediency of establishing an entrepot in the Eastern Archipelago, where British ships might take in tea for foreign Europe ; and he pointed out the expediency of the Company's allotting a portion of their tonnage to China, to the free use of the British public. The Court of Directors alleged that, without the monopoly of the China trade, they could neither preserve their territories in India, nor pay their dividends in England. They declined being parties to any change in the China trade, and expressed a hope, 1813-33.] ALTEEATIONS Or THE CHAETEE. 515 or rather a wish, that it might be left as regulated by the act of 1813. The committee of the Commons, in their report of July, 1821, stated that they could not concur in all the apprehensions entertained by the Com- pany of the consequences of even a partial relaxation of their monopoly ; but, at the same time, they acknowledged that the Chinese monopoly was of the utmost importance to the prosperity of the Company, and of all connected with it. It was, however, unavoidable that some concessions should be made to the loud demands of free trade and political economy ; and in the course of the year 1821, British ships were permitted to carry on trade between all parts within the limits of the charter, and all ports, whe- ther in Europe or elsewhere, belonging to countries in amity with Great Britain. The Company also consented to relin- quish the restriction as to the tonnage of ships engaging in the India trade. From this time down to 1827, no legis- lative alterations were made ; but the subjects of India and China trade were several times brought before parliament, and a warm discussion upon them was kept up by means of reviews, magazines, pamphlets, and newspapers. In May, 1827, shortly after Mr. Canning had been gazetted as first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, Mr. Whitmore moved, in the Commons, for the appointment of a select committee to inquire into the trade between Great Britain and the East. Mr. Whitmore did not hesitate to recommend the entire dissolution of the " China monopoly." Mr. Canning was to a great extent a free- trader ; a large section of his present supporters were declared antagonists to monopolies and restrictions of all kinds ; and Mr. Huskisson, his colonial secretary, was a leader and oracle of the free-traders and political economists ; nevertheless, Mr. "Whitmore's motion was opposed, on the ground that the proper time was approaching for recon- sidering the whole of the Company's charter and system of trade. Mr. Canning died in the month of August; the Goderich administration fell to pieces in a very few months ; Mr. Huskisson and his friends of the free-trade school resigned ; and in January, 1828, the duke of Wel- lington became prime minister. In May, 1829, Mr. Huskisson presented a strong petition from the merchants of Liverpool, praying for the removal of aU restrictions on 2l2 516 POLITICAL CHANGES. [1830. the trade witli India and China. In the month of February, 1830, Lord EUenboroiigh moved for the appointment of a select committee of the House of Lords to inquire into the present state of the affairs of the East-India Company, and the trade between Grreat Britain, the East Indies, and China. His lordship said, that the Company had afforded all the aid in their power to increase the facilities given to the external and internal trade of India ; that the most important questions for parliament now to decide were, 1st, "Whether it would be possible to conduct the government of India, directly or indirectly, without the assistance of the Company ? 2nd. Whether the assistance of the Com- pany should be afforded in the manner in which it had hitherto been afforded, or in some other way ? On the same day, Mr. Secretary Peel moved in the Commons for a committee for the same purpose, stating that he proposed its appointment with the plain and honest view of having a full and unreserved investigation of the affairs of the Com- pany, and not for the purpose of ratifying any charter or engagement previously existing between the government and the Company. Committees were appointed by both, houses. Their reports were unfavourable to the Company, whose evidence had been taken. The deatli of George lY., on the 26tli of June, 1830, led to the prorogation of parliament on the 23rd of July, and to its dissolution on the day following. The new parliament met on the 26th of October ; on the 15th of JSTovember the ministry was broken up, and on the 22nd Earl G-rey was gazetted as prime minister. The Right Honourable Charles Grant (now Lord Glenelg) succeeded Lord Ellenborough as head of the Board of Control. This gentleman and his family had been closely connected with the Company, and had owed much of their fortune and illustration to the Indian service ; but these considerations did not prevent the newly-appointed president of the Board of Control from going along with his official colleagues. Mr. Grant, as president of the Board of Control, moved, on the 4th of Eebruary, 1831, for the re-appointment of the committee on East-India affairs. This committee, however, was scarcely appointed ere parliament was dissolved. The new parlia- ment assembled on the 14th of June, and, losing no time, Mr. Grant, on the 28th, moved again for the renewal of the committee. This was readily voted. 1832.] INDIA COMMITTEE. 517 In the course of the debate, ministers complained that the Company had not petitioned for a renewal of their charter. The Court of Directors deemed it the most prudent course to abstain from petitioning parliament, and to leave it to the Company's adversaries to make out their case first. The chairs, in a conference with the president of the Board of Control, on the 7th of July, urged the necessity of being put in possession of the views of his majesty's government at the earliest possible period. In the mean time the table of the House of Commons had been loaded with petitions, from merchants and others, against the renewal of the Company's charter upon its former terms. Mr. Langton, a merchant of Liverpool, decidedly impugned the general integrity of the Company's accounts. " This," adds an official of the Court of Directors, " was, in fact, the only remaining point ; and had it been proved vulnerable, the public might have proposed their own terms, and have placed the Company at the entire mercy of parliament, without any apparent plea of justice to rest upon in support of the interests of the proprietors." * Mr. Langton failed in convincing the house that he had made out his case. The session terminated on the 20th of October. On the 27th of January, 1832, the president of the Board of Control, still the Eight Honourable Charles Grrant, moved for the re-appointment of the select committee. A general committee on the affairs of the East-India Company being appointed, it was divided into six sub- committees : 1. Public ; 2. Finance, accounts, and trade ; 3. Revenue ; 4. Judicial ; 5. Military ; 6. Political. Their labours terminated in August, 1832, when the several reports were all laid before the house, and ordered to be printed.! On the whole, the reports were highly honourable to the Company. It was admitted that the whole system, which had united commerce with government, and allowed of the trade monopoly, had not been unattended with advantages ; * Peter Auber, ' Rise and Progress of the British Power in India.' f These ' Reports ' filled more than 8,000 pages of close print. These, with the matter previously given to parliament, made an aggregate of about 14,000 closely-printed folio pages ! The public reports touched upon the important subjects of local govern- ment, law, police, patronage, education civil and military, education of natives, liberty of the press in India, settlement of Europeans in the country, &c. 518 INDIA COMMITTEE. [1832. that without that system our vast empire in the East could not have been created could never have been enlarged, as it had been, during seasons of depression and disgrace, and bad or weak government at home ; that the finances of India had derived advantage from their existing connections with the commerce of the Company, through the direct ap- plication of surplus commercial profits, and by the rates of exchange at which tlie Board of Control decided that the territorial advances from commerce in England should be repaid to commerce in India. But our empire in the East was formed, and semed to be so firmly established as to defy every attack ; and our free-traders and political economists, again forgetting that we must have the one to secure the other tliat without our sovereignty the wealth and resources of India would be absorbed in a maelstrom of anarchy were incessantly declaring that free trade with India and China was worth more than our empire. No longer able to stand aloof, or to decline entering into negotiation about the charter with his majesty's government, the Court of Directors sent their chairman and deputj^-chairman to confer w4th Earl Grey and Mr. Grrant. This interview was followed up by a long corre- spondence, and an interchange of propositions and counter- propositions, which must be read in full in order to be understood. The grand change proposed by government was simply this that the East-India Company should cease to trade, and devote its undivided attention to the arduous duties of governing, in conjunction with the Board of Control, our empire in the East. "With respect to the competency of India to answer all just demands on her exchequer, Mr. Grant said that no rational doubt could exist. A revenue which had been steadily progressing during the last twenty years, which had now reached the annual amount of 22,000,000 sterling, and which promised still to increase ; a territory almost unlimited in extent ; a soil rich and fertile, and suited to every kind of produce ; great resources not yet explored ; a people, generally speak- ing, patient, laborious, improving, and evincing both the desire and capacity of further improvement ; these, Mr. Grant thought, were sufficient pledges that our treasury in the East, under wdse management, would be more than adequate to meet the current expenditure. The Court of Directors, after sundry murmurs, contended for a guarantee, 1833.] COFET OF PEOPEIETOES. 519 or some collateral security, for tlie payment of i;lie divi- dends, and ultimately (if necessary) for the capital, to the holders of East-India shares. The duke of Wellington and Lord Ellenborough had told the chairman of the court, in 1830, that the proprietors had full security for their dividends and capital in the commercial assets, and in the fixed property in India, which might be deemed to appertain to the Company in its trading capacity. Now Mr. G-rant assured the court that his majesty's government was willing and anxious to fortify the interests of the proprietors by a collateral security, in the shape of a sinking fund, formed by the investment of a portion of the commercial assets in the national stocks, Mr. G-rant proposed, as a sufficient sum, 1,200,000. Nevertheless the court asked for further explanations, and demanded that the sinking fund, or guarantee fund, should be at least 2,000,000 sterling. The Court of Direc- tors could not give their assent to the plan of ministers without the sanction of the Court of Proprietors. Two or three years earlier such a sanction could scarcely have been hoped for, and the motion for it would have called together all the proprietors that were not bed-ridden or out of the country ; but now, on the 3rd of May, 1833, it was decided in a general court, by 477 votes, against a minority of 52, that, provided the' guarantee fund were raised to 2,000,000, and some other money conditions complied with, the plan of ministers should be accepted, and the Company cease to be a trading company.* On the 27th of May Mr. Grrant expressed the satisfaction with which his majesty's government had learned the ter- mination of the appeal to the ballot in Leadenhall- street. He stated it to be the anxious wish of ministers to accommo- date themselves, as far as possible, to the views and feelings of the Company, and he agreed to increase the guarantee fiind to 2,000,000. Other minor points were yielded, as requested by the Court of Directors, or by the general court. The Court of Directors had conceived that the government, through the Board of Control, intended to claim and exercise a veto on the recall of governors-general, * " The attendance in this general court was but thin, if we consider the magnitude of the question. 529 votes were scarcely a fourth part of the proprietor?, and a little beyond a third part of the number who have attended to vote in favour of a candidate for the direction." Auber. 520 THE COMPANY [1S33. &G., as exercised by tlie Court of Directors. On this point Mr. Grrant said, " If the words have been inserted, in conse- quence of the hint thrown out in the memorandum that the board should have a veto on the recall of governors and military commanders in India, I must state that it is not the intention of his majesty's ministers to insist on that suggestion." Thus the power of recall was left undisturbed in the hands of the directors. On the 13th of June Mr. Grrant, in a committee of the whole house, brought before parliament the subject of the Company's charter, and explained the changes which were about to be made in it. The whole of the transaction was to be entirely free from the finances of this country. It was proposed to establish a fourth government in the western provinces of India; to extend considerably the powers of the governor-general ; to appoint a supreme council of legis- lature, with power to make laws and draw up a code for India ; to define the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court ; ta render the presidencies of Madras and Bombay still more subordinate to the governor-general, and to reduce the councils of those two presidencies. On the 29th of June a printed copy of the bill was submitted to the Court of Directors. That court concurred generally, but ofiered some particular objections. They complained that the bill "placed the whole control in the supreme government^ thereby not only interfering with the control exercised by the home authorities, but investing the governor-general with a sway almost absolute, and rendering it scarcely pos- sible always to select a fit person to be intrusted with authority of such magnitude." The court thought that there was no necessity for incur- ring the charge of a fourth presidency ; that the councils of Madras and Bombay ought not to be reduced ; and that it would be very unwise to deprive the commanders-in- chief of the armies of those two presidencies of the seats in council which had been usually allotted to them. The court expressed their satisfaction that the bill reserved to them the necessary powers regarding the laws which the supreme council might enact affecting the natives, and likewise the provincial courts, which laws were also to be subject to the king's approbation. On the 12th August the Court of Directors came to the resolution that they could not do otherwise than recom- 1833.] GITES TIP TEADE. 521 mend tlie proprietors to defer to the pleasure expressed hy both houses of parliament, and to consent to place their right to trade for their own profit in abeyance, in order that they might continue to exercise the government of India for the further term of twenty years, upon the con ditions and under the arrangements embodied in the bill. On the 16th of August the proprietors assembled in a very thin general court, and resolved that the bill ought to be accepted. The bill was read a third time in the House of Lords on the evening of this same day, and on the 28th of August it became law, the royal assent being given to it by commission. The rapidity with which it was carried through parliament was thought as extraordinary as the change which it aflected in the character of the Company was extensive. The Court of Directors, whose number was continued at twenty-four, now ceased to be merchant-princes: giving up the trade of India and China to others, they retained only their governing faculties. The great mansion in Leaden- hall-street is no longer a mart or place for buying and selling; hence many of its ofiices are deserted and closed, and some- thing resembling the tranquillity of the cloisters prevails, throughout the edifice ; but it is still the spot where the stupendous machinery oifthe Indian government is regulated^ and where administrative details are considered ; it is- still the crown of the arch which supports a mighty system, and most, though not quite all, the keys are kept there which open one of the noblest and most extensive fields for the display of British energy, ability, and enter- prise. Nor can we avoid feeling that it was a blessed chance which kept the patronage of India from being absorbed and monopolized by the ministers of the crown, and thereby made dependent upon mere parliamentary in- fluences. During the parliamentary debates on the bill, many tributes of admiration were paid to the past conduct of the honourable court and of the men the Company had trained and employed. Lord Ellenborough, who had devoted much of his time to the study of Indian afiairs, applauded the achievements of the Company's servants both in peace and in war, and doubted whether there was anything in the new theory which would produce such men or such deeds. The duke of Wellington declared that, from what he saw 522 OPINIONS OF THE DITKE OF WELLINaTON. [1833. during his long residence in the country, and from what he had seen since in other countries, he believed that the govern- ment of India was one of the best and most purely admi- nistered governments that ever existed, and one which had provided most effectually for the happiness of the people over which it was placed. After saying that he would not follow the marquis of Lansdo\vne into the question whether a chartered company were or were not the best calculated to carry on the government or the trade of a great empire like India, the duke of Wellington added " But whenever I hear a discussion like this, I recall to my memory what I have seen in that country. I recall to my memory the history of British India for the last fifty or sixty years. I remember its days of misfortune and its days of glory, and call to my mind the proud situation in which it now stands ! I re- member that the Indian government has conducted the affairs of I will not pretend to say how many millions of people, for they have been variously calculated at seventy, eighty, ninety, and even a hundred millions, but certainly of an immense population a population returning an annual revenue of 22,000,000 sterling ; and that, notwith- standing all the wars in which that empire has been en- gaged, its debt at this moment amounts only to 40,000,000, being not more than two years' revenue. I do not say that such a debt is desirable, but I do contend that it is a delu- sion on the people of this country to tell them that it is a body unfit for government and unfit for trade which has administered the affairs of India with so much success for so many years!" After urging the necessity of support- ing the power and influence of the Company, the duke said " Depend upon it, my lords, that upon the basis of their authority rests the good government of India." 1835.1 LOUD AUCKLAND GOVEENOE-GENEEAL. 523 CHAPTER XXXVIII. LoED William Bentinck was succeeded by Lord Auck- land, a very amiable nobleman, but whose qualifications for the supreme post in the Indian government were not gene- rally considered as being very obvious. Accompanied by his sisters, Lord Auckland arrived at Calcutta towards the close of the year 1835. His lordship appears to have immediately admitted into his entire confidence Captain Alexander Burnes, and those other stirring officers of the Company who were impatient for opportunities of distinguishing themselves as soldiers or diplomatists, or as both, and who (principally, we be- lieve, through this anxiety) had been induced to believe that our Indian empire was threatened by Eussian intrigues and by Persian and Afghan arms. These stirring men suc- ceeded in impressing the too facile mind of the new gover- nor-general with a deep sense of their local knowledge and political talent and foresight, and eventually in making his lordship believe with them, that the whole of our Indian empire was in a perilous condition, and that the black eagle of Eussia, already perched on the Himalaya mountains, was looking down upon the Indus and upon all Hindustan with the confident hope of a carnage and confusion which would leave India her prey. For many years after the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone's mission the Afghans ceased to be an object of alarm to our Anglo-Indians. Since the days of Zemaun Shah that people had never been able to cross the Indus. Instead of descending towards the south, they had been driven back considerably towards the north. They had proved themselves incapable of contending with Runjeet Sing and liis allies ; the enmity between them and Runjeet Sing was fierce and irreconcilable, and, without traversing the regions held by the Lion, the Afghans could not ap- 524 EUIsJEET SING. [1835. proach oiir frontier. The same state of constant war and anarchy whicli Mr. Elphinstone saw in Afghanistan had con- tinued ever since, or rather, it had become much more than it was at the time of his visit. In fact, the Afghan monarchy had been dismembered and almost completely broken up. After the flight of the Shah Shujah, or Sujah, in 1809, the authority of the usurper Shah Mahmood was acknowledged in part of Afghanistan, the rest of the country submitting to the rule or misrule of divers chiefs or princes. After a brief alliance with Eunjeet Sing, who helped him to recover Cashmere, Mahmood quarrelled with that potentate, and was defeated by him near the right bank of the Indus. After this disaster Mahmood, by means of treachery, ob- tained possession of Herat, one of the principal towns of Khorassan, the extensive regions of which had long been disputed by, and were now partially divided between the Persians and different tribes of the Afghan race. Mahmood repulsed an attack made upon Herat by the Persians, and succeeded in maintaining himself in that city. Whatever success had attended his arms or his policy was owing to his able vizier, Putteh Khan. In 1818 this vizier fell a victim to the jealousy of another chief and the ingratitude of Mahmood. His murder was the signal for the breaking up of the monarchy. Mahmood' s brothers revolted against him, and his authority was soon confined to Herat and its dependencies. Cabul, Candahar, and Peshawer were held by different brothers of Mahmood, who soon fell out among themselves. During this decay of the Dooranee monarchy, Eunjeet Sing, Lion of Lahore, was rapidly improving the discipline of his army by means of European officers. The final downfall of Buonaparte in 1815 broke up the trade of war in Europe, and drove a considerable number of adven- turers, Prenchmen and Italians, to the East, to Persia, and even into India. Some of these men found their way to Lahore, and under their care the troops of Eunjeet Sing were trained. These circumstances would have made Eun- jeet Sing formidable to the Afghans, even if they had been united ; but divided as those people were, the Lion became irresistible. He took Cashmere, Mooltan, Leia, Upper Scinde, and the nearest part of the Hamaun, and reduced all the Afghan tribes south of Cashmere. After this, taking 1835.] THE AFGHANS. 525 advantage of a quarrel and war between the Dooranee prince of Cabul and liis brother at Peshawer, and of an expedition which he enabled the expelled Shah Sujah, who had long been his guest, to make against Candahar, Bun- jeet Sing succeeded in conquering Peshawer himself, with all the level country which the Afg:hans had occupied be- tAveen the mountains and the river Indus. The ameers of Scinde seized upon other territories which had belonged to the Dooranee monarchy ; Balkh threw off its nominal dependence, and in other territories of vast extent and thin population which lie between India and Persia, and which had all obeyed Zemaun Shah, various chiefs and princes asserted their independence. Dost Mohamed, however, maintained himself at Cabul, and his brother or half-bro- ther, after a sharp contest with the Shah Sujah, remained master of Candahar. Their brother Mahmood died, or was secretly murdered, at Herat, and was succeeded by his son Kamran, or Camraun, who appears to have made some fruitless attempts to recover from his uncle, Dost Mohamed, the dominion of Cabul. The unfortimate Shah Sujah, ha\ing failed in other expeditions and enterprises under- taken in concert with Runjeet Sing, was at one time per- fidiously seized and barbarously treated by the ungenerous Lion of Lahore, whose main object was to extort from him the famous Afghan diamond called the Koh-i-noor.* He was delivered from his cruel captivity by the spirit and ability of his queen. After all these adventures. Shah Sujah again found a safe asylum beyond the river Sutledge, in the British cantonment of Loodiana, where another ex-king of Cabul, his own brother, the once great Zemaun Shah, who had been dethroned and blinded by Mahmood, had long been residing as a pensioner of the British. A liberal pension was granted to Sujah, and the two exiles and ex- kings appear to have lived lovingly together in the same cantonments, making moral reflections on the insta- bility of Eastern thrones and the uncertainty of all human greatness. Dost Mohamed Khan appears to have confirmed and * Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, sketch of Afghanistan history, in appendix to ' Account of the Kingdom of Cabul/ &c. ; new and revised edition, 1839. Alexander Burnes, ' Travels.' Lieutenant Conolly, * Travels.' 626 THE ArGHANS. [1836. enlarged his authority at Cabul about the year 1824. In 1834 he roused the whole Mahometan population for an attack on the Seikhs, for the propagation of the true faith, and for the recovery of Peshawer and the other Afghan dominions which had been lost. Eunjeet Sing, who had then an army of 25,000 men, was determined not to let go his hold on the conquests he had made.* Until the month of April, 1835, nothing took place except some insignificant skirmishes ; but, at the end of that month, Dost Mohamed joined his army. Eunjeet Sing advanced to meet him, and drew up his Seikhs in battle array across the line of the advancing Afghans. Dost Mohamed, finding that several of his chiefs were in correspondence with the Lion of Lahore, and preparing to betray him, would not risk a battle. He retreated towards Cabul, and was followed for some distance up the Khyber Pass by Eunjeet Sing's Seikhs. Upon his retreat, the Afghan sirdars, whose territories lay exposed, tendered their unconditional allegiance to Eun- jeet.t But other Afghan chiefs repaired to Cabul with their armed clans, and urged Dost Mohamed to make another forward movement. Another Afghan army, 20,000 strong, assembled at Jellalabad. Descending the Khyber Pass with about half of this number, Dost Mohamed's eldest son, Afzul Bey, fell upon a Seikh army, about 5,000 strong, and completely defeated it, after an obstinate fight and a terrible slaughter. This was in the month of June, 1836. But the victory of the Afghans was thrown away through the feuds and jealousies of the chieftains, and Eunjeet Sing, instead of losing territory, soon began to make new conquests. Ever since he became master of Cabul, Dost Mohamed Khan had been constantly seeking for the friendship of the British government. But by the treaty made between Lord AVil- liam Bentinck and Eunjeet Sing at Eoopur, in 1831, Eunjeet was allowed to do what he pleased in the country beyond the Sutledge, and all notion of succouring the crazy and distracted Afghan monarchy was given up. On the 31st of May, 1836, Dost Mohamed addressed a letter of compli- * Letter from Captain Waite, political resident at Loodiana. + ' Outline of the Operations of the British Troops in Scinde and Af- ghanistan, betwixt November, 1838, and November, 1841 ; with Remarks on the Policy of the War;' by Geo>i-ge Buist, LL.D., editor of the 'Bombay Times.' 1837.] SIR A. BURNES. 527 ment to Lord Auckland, the newly-arrived governor-general. No answer was returned to this letter untn the month of October. His lordship's letter, however, when it arrived, gave great satisfaction, as it stated that he intended to depute some gentlemen to the court of Cabul to discuss certain commercial topics with a view to mutual advan- tages, &c. It was not, however, until the 20th of Septem- ber, 1837, that Captain A. Burnes reached Dost Mohamed's capital as envoy from the governor-general. In the mean- while several fierce conflicts had taken place between the Afghans and the Seikhs ; the success had been various, but the celebrated Seikh leader, Hurry Sing, had been defeated and slain in one of the battles. Dui'ing the same interval Dost Mohamed had applied, not only to the Persians and to the Tartars, but also to the Bussians, for aid and assistance. Burnes represented to the Cabul court that the object of his mission was purely commercial.* Dost Mohamed wanted arms and ammunition and artillery wherewith to fight the Seikhs, and not bales of manufactures. Never- theless he received our envoy in a very flattering manner, and impressed him with the notion that he was the best ruler that Cabul could possibly have, and the best ally the English could find anywhere beyond the Sutledge. The khan assured Burnes that our Indian government might rely on his cordial co-operation in any measures which tended to promote our trade in Cabul, and through Afghan- istan with Bokhara, Kurdistan, Khorassan, &c. coimtries of sounding names and of great extent, but far too bar- barous or thinly peopled, or anarchic, to promise any significant advantage to our commerce. Dost Mohamed complained that his hostilities with the Seikhs narrowed his resources, and compelled him to take up money from the merchants, and even to increase the duties on merchandize ; but, at the same time, he displayed a very lively anxiety to get possession of Peshawer, which had been taken from one of his brothers by Eunjeet Sing. The young shah of * In his account of the mission, this unfortunate man says, "The objects of government were to work out its policy of opening the river Indus to commerce, and establishing on its banks, and in the countries beyond it, such relations as should contribute to the desired end." ' Cabool : being a personal Narrative of a Journey to, and Residence in^ that City, in the Years 183G, 7, and 8,' by Lieut.-Col. Sir Alexander Burnes, C.B., &c. London, 1842. 528 PEESIAJf linrASION. [1837. Persia, who had succeeded his grandfather in October, 1834, had lost no time in responding to Dost Mohamed's desire for an alliance. The court of Teheran hoped that while E-unjeet Sing and the Seikhs were pressing upon Afghanistan on one side, a Persian army, favoured still further by the dissensions of the Afghan rulers and chiefs, might easily make conquests on the other, recover Herat, and establish the dominion of the young shah at least over the whole of Khorassan and Candahar. Kamran, the Afghan ruler of Herat, on the death of the old shah of Persia in 1834, had made a predatory incursion into the Persian territories, in concert with Turcomans, Hazarees, and other robbers, and had captured some thousands of Persian sub- jects, for the purpose of selling them as slaves in Central Asia. Although this wholesale kidnapping was a very ancient practice, it certainly seemed, of itself, to justify the young shah in marching an army against Herat and the Afghan ruler Kamran. At the same time he was invited ^nd pressed to the enterprise by most of the Afghan sirdars of Candahar, who had long been engaged in a blood- feud with Kamran, and who, for the gratification of their Tengeance, were willing to bring their old enemies the Persians even into the heart of Afghanistan Proper. But when it was found, or rather suspected, by our mission at Teheran, that the young shah of Persia had been encou- raged and promised pecuniary assistance by the Russians, great alarm was felt by our mission, and was by them com- municated from Teheran to Downing-street. In short, our ministers at home and our diplomatists in Persia were sud- denly excited by all that jealousy and dread of Eussia which had been diffused through the greater part of our -Indian government by Burnes and others. In spite of all the remonstrances of our ambassador, the young shah, in July, 1837, put himself and an army of 40,000 men, with seventy pieces of artillery, on their march from Teheran to Herat. Although the route of the Persian army lay almost entirely through their own country, they were unable to reach Herat before the end of November, 1837, or about two months after Burnes's arrival at Cabul. 'Owing to their empty treasury, defective commissariat, and want of discipline, this Persian army frequently threatened to melt away before they had seen an enemy; and when they approached Herat, they were but a miserable and hall- 1838.] THE CAlfDAHAE CHIEFS. 529 starved rabble. After some further delays they commenced what has been complimentarily termed " the Siege of Herat." This miserable operation occupied them for more than nine months. The ruler of Cabul at first considered the fall of Herat, and the advance of the Persians towards his own dominions, as inevitable ; and in this behef, he was eager to secure a previous treaty with the conquerors. When Dost Mohamed justified his negotiations with the Persians by pleading the necessity of making terms for himself beforehand, in case of the shah advancing to Can- dahar, Burnes told him that there was no fear of any move- ment, offered himself to serve with the troops of Canda- har, and to assist the sirdar with money ; and he suggested to our Indian government an advance of 30,000. But these proceedings were repudiated by Lord Auckland, who declared in a minute that he would not oppose the hostile advance of Persia either by arms or by money. His lord- ship must have known by this time that the Persians had no chance of making such advance, and that the operations contemplated by his government in the Persian Gridf, would make the young shah fly back towards his capital, even though he should have reduced Herat previously. Not being able to do more, Burnes despatched a member of his mission, Lieutenant Leech, to Candahar, to ascertain how matters stood in that quarter. The three brothers who ruled in that part of Afghanistan Kohun Dil Khan, Eehem Dil Khan, and Meer Dil Khan were at this time actually in treaty with the Persians, with a view to their assisting in the attack on Herat, and in the subjugation of Kamran and their own countrymen. Here English money was again offered ; but the three chiefs, jealous of Burnes's connection with the ruler of Cabul, declined the offer, and stated that the intent of their negotiations had been to keep off" Persia, to iniin Kamran, and make themselves masters of Herat. Like Dost Mohamed, these three khans had no settled line of policy : what they evidently wanted was to play off" England against Russia and Persia, and these two powers against England. From this moment our English officers, who were dabbling in diplomacy, ought to have felt that no Afghan treaty could be worth the piece of paper or parchment on which it might be written. Such must have been the fact, even if the Afghan chiefs had entered into a treaty vrith good faith, as the 2 M 530 BETUim or BUENES. [183S. wild anarchic state of the coimtry, with its blood-feuds and intrigues, rendered the power of every khan to the last degree precarious.* Ai'ter passing the winter of 1837-38 in Cabul, Captain Burnes, in the spring, prepared to depart. At this moment Dost Mohamed would very willingly have agreed to accept an English subsidy. But Burnes had no money to give him, and had been rather sharply censured for having offered any. Our envoy left Cabul on the 26th of April, 1838, carrying with him. abundant professions of personal friendship and regard from Dost Mohamed, in whose hos- pitality he had frequently shared. The Dost was at this moment doubly disappointed, and more than ever perplexed, as no money came to him from Russia and Persia, and none from the English, and Kamraii continued to be brilliantly successful in Herat. After visiting Eunjeet Sing, in the most friendly man- ner, and feasting with the French and Italian officers at Peshawer and Lahore, Captain Burnes, in the month of July, repaired to Simla to meet the governor-general, Lord Auckland, and to take a prominent part in a council of all our north-western frontier residents and diplomatists, whose previous differences of opinion as to the course to be pursued vrith regard to the Seikhs and Afghans had become noto- rious. At these conferences, held in the cool and pleasant 'recesses of the Himalaya, it was fully determined, in a fatal moment, by the governor-general,t that as Dost Mohamed could not be trusted, he ought to be dethroned ; that the exiled king of Cabul, Shah Sujah, should be called from his easy retirement at Loodiana, and be sent, with an English army, to recover a throne which he had repeatedly proved himself to be incapable of keeping ! Captain Bumes's * * Quarterly Review.' t " A most unwise provision in the Charter Act permits the governor- general to act alone, and on his own responsibility, when absent from Calcutta. The commander-in-chief (Sir H. Fane) is known to have been hostile to the war, and the Hon. Messrs. Prinsep and Bird {two other members of council) were universally believed to be the same : three out of five." Opinions as to the mode of restoring Shah Sujah, submitted by Burnes, as quoted by Doctor Buist ; ' Outline of the Operations of the British Troops in Scinde and Afghanistan.' But these opinions, which are dated in June, 1838, seem to differ in almost every particular from the opinions which this unfortunate man had offered to the governor-general only a few months before. 1838-9.] TRIPAETITE TREATY. 531 opinions seem to have varied according to times and circum- stances, and the opinions of other men higher in office than himself. At one period he represented Shah Siijah as an imbecile prince, without a party in his own country ; and at another period he represented his party as being so strong that the moving of a handful of our troops into Afghanistan would place him on the throne ; at one time he represented Dost Mohamed as the best ally the governor-general could find ; and, not long after, he describes Dost Mohamed as an irreconcilable enemy, whose factious spirit ought to be broken. He now declared that Shah Sujah had more friends in the country through which the Khyber Pass ru^s than in any other part of Afghanistan; that the distribution of a little money among the Khyberees would convert them all into warm friends of the English, and enable Shah Sujah to advance to Cabul in triumph and without bloodshed. Two months before Burnes met the governor-general at Simla, a mission, consisting of Mr. Mac jN^aghten, the Hon. Captain Osborne, and others, had been sent to Lahore, to cement our perpetual friendship with Eunjeet Sing and the Seikhs, to draw up with Eunjeet a new treaty, in which Shah Sujah should be included, and to pave the way for the easy advance of a British army through the Seikh country to Cabul. This mission in whose deliberations Burnes had shared had so far succeeded in its object, that a tripartite treaty had been settled and ratified, in which the dethroned, poor, and helpless shah of Cabul was included with the governor-general of British India and the powerful ruler of Lahore and of all the Punjaub. Our warlike preparations, or what Burnes calls " the ulterior measures," which " could only be matured at Simla," went on the while (the governor-general and his numerous party enjoying the interval among the cool hills and green woods, and refreshing waters) ; but it was not until the 1st of October that his lordship issued his famous Simla proclamation. At this moment, if the governor-general did not know that the siege of Herat the first alleged great cause of our inquietude had been raised, and the reduced Persian army forced into a disgraceful and ruinous retreat, he might at least have known that the young shah had no chance of success, and that the British expedition sent to tlie Persian Gulf could not fail in its proposed object. Persia had derived nothing but disaster and shame from her 2 m2 632 OCCUPATION OF KAEEACK. [183S-9. rashly-undertaken expedition, and pusillanimous and ill- conducted siege. Lieutenant Eldred Pottinger, who threw himself into the place, directed the defence. The ignorant besiegers could scarcely preserve so much as a blockade ; they knew nothing about regular approaches, and in all their attempts to storm they were beaten back. In one assault, the shah lost 1,800 men in killed and wounded, and altogether his casualties exceeded 3,000. He was as remote from his object in September, 1838, as in November, 1837, when he first came in sight of Herat. His army was short of provisions, and without clothing or pay ; and rather than have continued through another winter before a. fortress which had so repeatedly defeated them, the Persians would in all likelihood have dispersed of themselves, in spite of all their shah could do to retain them.* Our expedition from Bombay landed at Karrack, in the Persian Gulf, in the middle of June, when Mac Naghten and Burnes were preparing for the Afghanistan war by negotiating with Eunjeet Sing at Lahore. The possession of Karrack, an island belonging to Persia, and in the centre of the shah's dominions, showed him how completely those dominions were within our grasp, and must have proved to him that we could disembark any force we pleased at Bushire within a fortnight of its quitting Bombay, and possess our- selves of some of the chief towns of Persia before the people at large could be made aware that hostilities were intended. It had been pointed out by a foreign writer, that if all the powers of the Eussian empire were exerted in equip- ping an army for the invasion of India, and if their mighty army, overcoming obstacles that were scarcely to be overcome by any army of any size, reached the western bor- ders of Beloochistan in safety, with its complete materiel, a descent by the British on Bushire would put us in posses- sion of all the communications of that army, compel Persia at her peril to act against it, and place the rear of that army and the line of its advance and relief completely at our mercy.f The descent on Karrack gave practical proof of the soundness of this speculation. Moreover, it had been shown pretty clearly, that for Russia to send an army as * Buist, ' Outline of the Operations of the British Troops in Scinde and Afghanistan.' t The British Empire in the East,' by Count Bjornstjema, tr?nslated by H. Evans Lloyd. London, 1840. 1838-9.] SIEGE OE HEEAT EAISED. 533 far as the eastern border of Persia was impossible, and our own experience has now convinced the most sceptical that were the Eussians there, the mountain tribes, mthout our intervention, would cut off their supplies, destroy their cattle, and seize their baggage. "We could any day cut an expedition from the westward to pieces, by landing a force at Bushire, where the coast country, with our commanding fleets and uninterrupted supplies, would furnish a base of operations from wliich Europe and Asia united together could not drive us. Prom the moment that our troops landed on his island of Karrack, the eyes of the Persian shah were turned more anxiously in that direction than upon the siege of Herat ; and, at the end of September, when he gave up that siege altogether, and put his diminished and rabble army in motion for a retreat into the heart of his own country, he declared that he did so in consequence of the presence of our armament, and that if Karrack had not been seized by us, Herat would have been taken by hiiii. Well ! Herat was safe that key to the British dominions in India could not be given by Persia to Eussia, for Persia could not get it. All the dispositions for a grand campaign beyond the Indus and in the heart of Afghanistan were made (badly enough, no doubt !), and marching orders were given ; but it appears that when Lord Auckland received official intelligence of the retreat of the Persians from Herat, not a single regiment had yet begun to march. But this intelligence had no apparent effect on the counsels and con- duct of men who had made up their minds for war, and who could not rest until the British flag should be carried over the snowy mountains and through the deep defiles of Afghan- istan. In the month of October, 1838, when Lord Auckland issued his warlike proclamation at Simla, the army of India was raised to 203,000 men. Sir Henry Pane was at this time commander-in-chief of all India. He disapproved both of the principles of policy and of the arrangement of the details of the expedition ; and viewed with alarm the pros- pect of ha\dng our armies so far removed from our own frontier. Sir Henry was besides in indifferent health when the first campaign was announced.* As a foretaste of what * Colonel Fane, the son of Sir Henry Fane, said afterwards, " I am prepared to prove that the military head in India and second member of council of that country, did oppose, or perhaps rather, point out to the 534 COMMAND OF THE AKMY. [1838-9, miglit be expected from him, Hunjeet Sing, in despite of the recent treaty which had been drawn up at Lahore bj Mac Naghten and Burues, refused to allow our troops to cross the Punjaub. Our principal rendezvous was therefore appointed to be Shikarpoor, in Scinde ; and tlience our line of advance was to be by the Bolan Pass, Quettah, and Candahar. At the beginning of December, and not before, the force on the Bengal side was ready to proceed without delay to Scinde. It was 9,500 strong. A reserve division was sta- tioned at Perozepoor, under Major-General Duncan, which was 4,250 strong. Kunjeet Sing had engaged to maintain an army of observation of 15,000 men. The Seikh contingent, about 6,000 strong, was placed under the orders of Lieute- nant-Colonel Wade, and was to move on Cabul by the eastern passes. A Bombay column, 5,500 strong, under Sir John Keane, landed at Vikkur, on one of the mouths of the river Indus, and advanced into Scinde The ameers of Scinde had faithfully promised to provide supplies and the means of conveyance for our armies ; but, on arriving at Kurrachee, about fifty miles from A^ikkur, Sir John Keane found that they had provided nothing but jealousy, hatred, and enmity, and that the mass of the Scinde population were eager to attack his column. As soon as the Bengal column reached Perozepoor, an out-station on the banks of the Sutledge, about fifty miles from Lahore, Sir Henry Pane, whose health was growing worse, resigned the command. Thus at starting, and before the main body got beyond our frontier, our army was left without a commander-in-chief Lord Auckland had nominated Sir John Keane to the direction of the whole force, and instructed him to send his own orders to Sir Willoughby Cotton, who, as senior ofiicer, had succeeded to the command of the Bengal column, as a tem- porary measure, until its junction with the Bombay troops. This also gave the temporary command of a division to Major-G-eneral Nott, and of a brigade to Colonel Dennie. We can trace, even at this moment, some of the jealousies and heartburnings, which helped to destroy the discipline of the whole army. governor-general, the extreme danger of this wild and unmeasured expe- dition He insured Lord Auckland the success which did at first appear to attend us, but warned him that to maintain large bodies of troops in countries so distant, and which scarce produced food suflS- cient for the scanty population, was next to impossible." Letter pub- lished in the * Times' of 5th June, 1842. 183S-9.] MAECK THEOUGH SCINDE. 535 Sir John Keane and his Bombay column, after numerous difficulties and delays, advanced towards Tatta, on the 24th of December. Here the climate was very trying, both for the European and native troops ; the days were excessively hot, the nights very cold. The granaries had all been plun- dered by the Beloochees, and, as it was discovered, by the sanction of the ameers. When the Shah Sujah's contin- gent of 6,000 men (bad troops, and paid entirely by us) moved down parallel to the line of Sir John Keane' s advance, and occupied Larkhana, and the Bengal column moved upon their right, the Beloochees retreated and disbanded themselves, and then the ameers, seeing Hyderabad, their capital, open to attack, made a new agreement wdth Sir John Keane, and fulfilled some few of its conditions. Sir Alexander Burnes (he had been made Knight Commander of the Bath and lieutenant-colonel for his previous services on the Indus, in Afghanistan, etc., and, perhaps, in part for his ample contribution to the unlucky project novr in process of execution) had been employed to collect at Shikarpoor camels for the use of the whole army. The governor-general had calculated that 45,000 camels might be obtained ; and he had informed Sir John Keane that this number should be fairly and proportionately distributed among the Bengal troops, the Bombay troops, and Shah Sujah's contingent. But Burnes could never collect 20,000 camels at Shikarpoor, and the Bengal column, which had just arrived, took it for granted that all the camels were for them ; and thought it extremely hard that Sir John Keane should order any to be appropriated either by the Bombay troops or by the shah's contingent. There were clearly not camels enough for all, and Colonel Dennie and other officers of the Bengal army, who had always been accustomed to assert a superiority over the officers of the other presiden- cies, thought it hard that their troops should be left behind for want of the means of transport, and that camels should h^ given up for the raw levies of Shah Sujah, who were almost sure to run away from the first enemy they met. But the governor-general's instructions were very positive Shah Sujah's contingent must be sent on entire, if possible and accordingly camels were sent after them. This produced fresh murmurs and heartburnings. The cholera morbus broke out among the reserved force of 3,000 men at Kurrachee, and carried off a great many of 536 THE BOLAN PASS. [1839, tliem. Colonel Thomas Powell, of the 40th regiment, an old and experienced peninsular officer, died of this dreadful disease. Everywhere disasters and forebodings of cala- mity thickened, and ought to have warned men who seemed heedless of the warning to check their advance and retrace their steps. There was no dependence to be placed either upon the Scinde ameers or upon Eunjeet Sing there was little se- curity for our communications and supplies, and the means that were adopted for the obtaining of some such security were inadequate to the end, were slovenly, unsystematic, and unworthy of British officers at this time of day. The Bengal army, the Bombay army, Shah Sujah's rabble, and the other contingent forces went on, each in its own way, and with little or no attention to the progress of all the rest ; and nearly every division was accompanied by an amazing num- ber of camp-followers, who could not shift for themselves in the countries beyond the Indus. On the 20th of February, 1839, when Sir Willoughby Cotton commenced his march towards the Bolan Pass with the Bengal army, he was attended by about 80,000 camp-followers, who were all to be fed from the commissariat. Crossing a broad and dreary desert, this Bengal column reached Dadur, at the foot of the mountains of Western Afghanistan, on the 6th of March. Here supplies began to run short, so that the non-combatants of the column were put on half-rations before entering the mountain country. Yet they had scarcely left the territories of professing friends and allies, and had performed no more than one-half of the journey to Cabul. The Bombay column was at this time nine marches, or nearly 100 miles, behind. Close by Dadur is the mouth of the Bolan Pass a terrible chasm nearly seventy miles long, tortuous, deep, and flanked by lofty rocks. This portion of the country is inhabited by the poorest and wildest of the Afghan tribes. Fortunately they offered no opposition to the passage of our troops until they were on the point of quitting the defile, when some skirmishing took place and a few of our people were wounded. But the excessive barrenness and steepness of this line of march caused the destruction of a vast number of horses and camels. On the 26th of March, Sir "Willoughby Cot- ton reached Quettah, a town situated in a fertile valley, and containing a population of 5,000 or 6,000 souls. Here supplies and other good things were expected, but none were found. The place belonged to the khan of Khelat, or 1839.] THE KHAN OF KHELAT. 537 Meerab Khan, with whom Bumea had negotiated a sort of treaty before our columns were put in motion. Burnea was now sent again to Khelat, to endeavour to reason the khan into terms, or iuto the fulfilment of the treaty which he had concluded with him. The khan, like most of the Afghan chiefs, seemed to entertain a morbid dread of Shah Sujah, whom the EngHsh were restoring to his throne ; and Bumes could not induce him to make a short journey from Khelat to visit Shah Sujah. After a good deal of shuffing and evasion, which ought to have convinced Bumes that the treaty would be worth nothing, the khan of Khelat agreed to receive a subsidy of 15,000 a year during the continuance of our army in Afghanistan ; and to supply pro- visions, carriage, and escorts to the extent of his ability (but these were to be separately paid for). While they were dis- cussing this precious treaty, the khan of Khelat told Burnes that Dost Mohamed Khan, the ruler of Cabul, whom Lord Auckland had determined to dethrone, was a man of resource and ability, and that though we might put him down and thrust Shah Sujah in his place, we could never win over the Afghan nation.* The khan used these words: "You have brought an army into the country, but how do you propose to take it back again ?"t This was the very expression which fell from the duke of Wellington when the intimation of our advance into Afghanistan was made in parliament. Sir John Keane brought up the Bengal column, and esta- blished his head-quarters at Quettah, on the 4th of April. So scarce and dear had grain already become, that his camp- followers greedily devoured the fried skins of sheep, coagu- lated blood, roots, or whatever else they could procure. With a march of 150 miles before them to Candahar, they were obliged to push on, upon half-rations for the men, and without provision for the cattle. All communications be- tween the front and rear divisions, even now 100 miles apart from each other, were completely cut off by the fierce tribes in the pass. The camp-followers were brought down to quarter- rations, or " famine allowance," as one of our officers calls * Letter from Sir Alexander Bumes to government, as quoted by Buist. t Dr. Atkinson, superintending surgeon of the Bengal division, ' Ex- pedition into Afghanistan,* &c. Major Hough, ' March and Operations of the Army of the Indus.* 538 HA.EDSHIPS or THE MAECH. [1839. it. On the first marcli towards Candahar, sixty of our artillery horses were shot to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy no more food for them being procu- rable. In the course of the week 116 cavalry horses died, and between the Gth of April and the middle of June this arm of the service was nearly disabled for want of food ! Nine hundred camels had died since the column commenced their advance. The robbers of the pass were incessantly harassing our soldiers and pouncing down from their rocks and hills upon the baggage. Savage and unwise orders were carried into execution by our harassed and exasperated troops ; they pursued, and not unfrequently overtook the marauders ; and whenever these Afghans were captured, they were shot or hanged no quarter heing on any occasion given them. It was thus that our people prepared for their own destruction in the mountain passes for their bloody exodus from Afghanistan ! On the 26th of April the head-quarters of the army reached Candahar, the Bengal column having marched 1,000 miles since quitting Ferozepoor, The Bombay column had so far gained on the advance as to be in the Kojuk Pass, only sixty miles behind, when the head-quarters of the grand army arrived under the walls of Candahar. It had endured terrible fatigues and still more terrible privations, and was reduced to 3,600 men before it came to the desert. It had been intended that it should move by the Grundava Pass and Khelat ; but the road had not been previously examined, and when the column came to this pass, it was reported to be impracticable. Nothing, therefore, was to be done but to march the column through the Bolan Pass, in the already impoverished track of the leading division. The khan of Khelat proved his steady adherence to the treaty he had concluded with Burnes, by writing to the hill chiefs " What is the use of treaties and arrange- ments ? All child's play ! . There is no relief but in death ! No cure but in the destruction of the English. Their heads, bodies, and goods must be sacrificed. Strengthen the pass. Call on all the tribes to harass and destroy !" On the 12th of April, this Bombay column entered the Bolan Pass : the thermometer was at 110, but above the pass there had re- cently been a heavy snow-storm, and the cold on those heights (5,000 feet above the level of the plain) was excessive and destructive, if not to the life to the energy of our sepoys. In the pass the column was annoyed by the stench of dead 1839.] CANDAHAB. 539 camels and of multitudes of unburied bodies of the enemy, which marked in horrible characters the line of the advance of our first division. Numerous executions swelled the number of the Afghan dead, for the army of Bombay, like the army of Bengal, gave no quarter to the hill people ! Many of our camels loaded with grain were killed, and the greater part of the camel-drivers began to desert. Although Greneral JSTott had been left behind at Quettah to keep open the communications, all oiu* letter-bags were seized and rifled, so that from the end of March to the beginning of August, when our troops reached Cabul, the safe arrival of a single packet could never be depended on. As the Bom- bay column reached the height above the pass, the men were attacked by dysentery. Making rapid marches, they, how- ever, reached Candahar on the 4th of May, and there found the Bengal troops. Colonel Dennie, who had been left be- hind with the reserve stores and carriages, and with some of the shah's raw contingents, and the 31st and 42nd Bengal native infantry, by means of some extraordinary marches, released Captain Stockley, of the Bombay commissariat, who, on his way to Dadur with cattle, grain, and stores, had been surrounded and shut up in a small fort by the Beloo- chees ; saved Captain Anderson, who was commanding two newly-raised troops of the shah's horse-artillery, with tum- brils, and ammunition filling fifty carriages, etc. ; fought his way nobly through the Bolan Pass, and reached Candahar ; but many ofhis men had been killed and wounded, and many had died of apoplexy, or had gone mad from the excess of heat. The army now assembled at Candahar, exclusive of the shah's contingent, amounted to 10,400 fighting men. The camp-followers had dwindled away, through death and sick- ness, and the dread of the Bolan Pass, but they still amounted to nearly 29,000 men. The shah's contingent, which was entirely paid, and also ofiicered, by our Indian government, mustered about 13,000 men but we could not call them fighting men. Sir John Keane strongly condemned the uniting of such a force as this to the two well-appointed armies of Bengal and Bombay. It appears that this was done in the vain hope of giving plausibility to the fiction that Shah Sujah was entering his dominions surrounded by Ids own troops when, in fact, it was too notorious to escape exposure, that he had not a single subject or Afghan among 540 CAPTUEE or [1839. tliem ; his sham army being made up of camp-followers from the Company's military stations.* Candahar contained a population of from 60,000 to 100,000 inhabitants. On the approach of our imposing force, the three brother sirdars, who had held the city for about twelve years, fled wdth their families and some two hundred followers to Grhirisk, a small fortress, eighty miles distant. They were pursued by Brigadier Sale, in the month of June, and they then continued their flight without interruption to Meshid, in Persia. Hajji Khan and some other of the chiefs had deserted to us, but only to desert from us and betray us at the first opportunity. Populous as was the city of Candahar, neither money for bills upon India nor a sufficient supply of provisions could be procured for the army. By the 1st of July the whole army had quitted Candahar, and was in full march upon Grhuznee, the soldiers still continuing on half, and the camp-followers on quarter, rations. The distance from Candahar to Ghuznee is about 230 miles ; but on the 21st of July the army halted under the walls of Grhuznee, its wide-spread baggage covering an area of sixteen square miles. The works of Ghuznee were found to be far stronger than Sir John Keane had been led to expect. The four heavy guns of our battering-train had been left behind at Candahar, in the belief that they would not be wanted. The result of a reconnaisance was a report to the commander-in- chief, that, if he decided upon an immediate attack on Ghuznee, the only feasible mode of proceeding, and the only- one which held out a prospect of success, was to make a dash at the Cabul gateway (all the other gates had beea built up), and blow the gate open by powder-bags.f Sir John Keane resolved to take this advice, and the artillery- were ordered to make the necessary preparations. On the following day, the 22nd of July, some of the Afghan tribes collected in great force on some neighbouring hills ; but being encountered by Captain Outram, with only 150 infantry and matchlock-men, they were beaten and put to flight : thirty or forty of them were killed and wounded, and thirty-eight were made prisoners. According to Sir Alex- ander Bumes, who, as well as Mr. Mac Naghten, was con- * Letter of Colonel Dennie, addressed to Lieutenant-Colonel Mac Donald, military secretary to Sir John Keane, as quoted by Buist. t Report and Memoranda, by Captains Thomson and Peat, of the engineers. 1839.] GHUZ^'EE. 541 stantly with Shah Sujah, as soon as the thirty-eight prisoners were brought into his majesty's presence and questioned about their rebellion and treason, they said that they would glory in taking his majesty's life ; that he was an inhdel and had brought an army' of infidels into the country, and that they would take his life whenever they could ; and one of them, suiting the action to the word, plunged a dagger into the breast of one of the shah's attendants, upon which the king gave orders that they should all be beheaded. There is no doubt at all that thirty-six of these thirty-eight cap- tives were immediately put to death, and that, too, in the presence of at least one British officer.* Between this night of murders and the following morning the Cabul gate of Ghuznee was blown up by 300 lbs. of powder, in twelve sand-bags, with a hose seventy-two feet long. If this operation had failed (and it never could have succeeded if the Afghans had possessed any military science), Sir John Keane must have retreated to Candahar, and thence hj the terrible Bolan Pass towards our own frontiers. As soon as the gate was blown open, our storming party rushed in and commenced a fierce hand-to-hand conflict with * Letter from Sir William Mac Naghten to Sir Alexander Burnes, on the subject of the destruction of the thirty-six prisoners who were put to death at Ghuznee in the presence of Major Mac Sherry, on the evening of the 22nd of July, 1839, as quoted by Buist. Among other startling things, this historian of the Afghan war quotes the following passage from MacNaghten's letter, which was written about a year after the event. ** Towards evening, a report was brought to me that the king's people had taken several prisoners, and that his majesty had determined upon the execution of them all. On the impulse of the moment, I suggested that a selection should be made of the offenders for execution, and immediately consulted Lieutenant- General Sir John Keane, through Sir Alexander Burnes, who was in his excellency's camp ; and his opinion was that ' the most summary example should be made of such dastardly ruffians.' In the meanwhile, I had received several mes- sages from his majesty, expressing his determination to put the prisoners to death, as the only safe and proper course to be adopted in the exigency of our situation. 1 replied, that his majesty was supreme ; but that I would, at least, strongly recommend him, if he thought a severe example necessary, to liberate some of the prisoners, in order that the retribution which had overtaken their comrades might be made known to the whole of these fanatic offenders. My recommendation was not concurred in by his majesty, to the extent that I could have wished ; of thirty -eight prisoners, two only were released the one on the ground of his being a Syud {a Mussulman saint, or holyman, or Emir), and the other because te begged his life. The remainder, who obstinately persisted in exas- perating his majesty, were executed." Buist. 542 CAPTURE OF GHUZNEE. [1839. the Afghans. The fighting was long and desperate. Briga- dier Sale, who commanded the supporting column, received a severe wound on the face from a sabre ; when closing with his antagonist, both lost their footing, and rolled over toge- ther. In this extremity the brigadier recognized Captain Kershaw, of the 13th light infantry, who at that moment came up, and having made his situation known to him, he was speedily relieved by the captain passing his sword through the body of the frantic Afghan, who, however, would not let go his hold until Sale cleft his skull from the cro"Ti to the eyebrows. When the town was carried entirely, the strong fortress remained, and was expected to make a still more desperate resistance ; but about five o'clock, a.m., or little more than three hours after the gate had been blown open, the British colours waved from the battlements of the citadel. Hyder Khan (one of the sons of Dost Mohamed), the governor, surrendered himself in the course of the morning, and was placed under the care of Sir Alexander Burnes, who had so recently figured at Cabul as the friend and guest of his father. Meer Khan, the eldest, and commonly known as "the fighting son" of Dost Mohamed, had come close upon our camp early in the morning, with 5,000 cavalry. He heard the firing, and only waited for daylight to discover how mat- ters stood in the fortress. The dawn showed him the British flag on the ramparts ; and he forthwith fled towards Cabul, leaving aU his elephants and baggage behind him to be cap- tured by our troops, or by the shah's contingent, who were as quick in plundering as they were slow in fighting. In the assault, about 170 of our people were wounded, but only seventeen killed: about 1,000 Afghans were slain, about 1,600 were taken prisoners, and the number of the wounded was estimated as nearly equal to that of the cap- tives. To talk of the "genius and skill" with which the plan of the attack was conceived, is to be guilty of rhodomon- tade and nonsense ; but the conduct of our soldiers, during the storm, and, still more, after the storm had succeeded, was rare, and in the highest degree admirable. No city taken by assault ever suffered so little as Ghuznee, and no men ever conducted themselves, under similar circum- stances, so temperately and moderately as its captors. With the close of the fighting, all violence ceased, and 1839.] AKRIYAL AT CABUL. 543 not one female was exposed to insult or injury.*' The fall of Grhuznee opened the way to Cabul, and opened more roads than one. Colonel (now Sir Claude Martin) Wade had assembled near Peshawer 1,000 of the Seikh contingent, and more than 4,000 of the shah's levies. "With this force he was to move upon Cabul, by Jellalabad. "Wade forced his way through the Khyber Pass, the enemy flying from a fort which was considered as the key of that pass. Jellalabad was defended by Mohamed Akbar Khan, second son of Dost Mohamed, and afterwards famous for the vengeance he took upon the invaders. This chief had 2,500 men and fourteen guns ; but on the fall of Grhuznee he was hastily recalled for the defence of Cabul. This at once opened the way for Colonel Wade's forces through the rest of the passes, and placed Jellalabad in our hands. Wade was so close upon Akbar Khan that he compelled him to abandon all his artillery and camp equipage, which, together with horses, bullocks, and 7,000 rounds of ball-cartridges, fell into our hands. On the 30th of July Sir John Keane, with the main anny, marched from Grhuznee to Cabul. He crossed the ridge of a mountain, said to be 9,000 feet above the level of the sea, and went through another deep and narrow defile without encountering any resistance. As Sir John Keane drew nigh, Dost Mohamed quitted his throne and his capital, and fled mth 600 horsemen to seek a refuge in the wide country beyond the Oxus. But nearly at the same time that this news was received at our head-quarters, Sir John Keane learned the death of Eunjeet Sing, the Lion of Lahore, an event which materially and injuriously affected the triple alliance. Detaching a very inadequate party of cavalry in pursuit of the fugitive king, Sir John Keane and Shah Sujah marched leisurely on to Cabul, under the walls of which they encamped on the evening of the 6th of August. On the afternoon of the next day. Shah Sujah, Sir John Keane, the general officers ' of the army, Bumes, Mac Naghten, and other officers of the * Buist. This writer adds " It may not be superfluous to add, that long before this, the commissariat store of intoxicating liquor had been exhausted, and Sir J. Keane commanded a temperance army. To the want of liquor is ascribed by the medical men the unprecedented celerity with which the injuries of our wounded were healed." 544 EETITEK TO INDIA. [1840. mission, or of tlie staff, made a pompous and triumphant entrance into the capital. The people were respectful and orderly, but cold; the chiefs were absent; there was no enthusiasm. Some of these vainglorious Englishmen, not satisfied with riding in triumph, had put it into the restored shah's head to create an order of knighthood, and to confer the first badges upon themselves ! While this foolery was in progress at Cabul, the Afghans were murdering everj British officer or soldier that they could surprise outside of the camp.* Considering the work as done. Sir John Keane hurried back to India, and from thence to England, to be raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Keane of Ghuznee and Cappoquin (with a pension of 2,000 a year), and to receive the thanks of parliament. The shouts of triumph and ap- plause were, however, mingled with the expression of many doubts, and some severe criticism. Lord Ellenborough declared the war to have been a folly, and said it remained to be seen whether it might not prove a crime. Lord Auck- land, as governor-general, also received his meed of approval : he was raised in the peerage to the rank of an earl. The Bombay column quitted Cabul on the 18th of Sep- tember, the Bengal troops remained for nearly a month longer, but by the 20th of October, all the forces, returning for the present to India, had left Shah Sujah's capital. The cold was severe in the mountain-passes, thick ice was found upon the roads, the bodies of dead camels and horses lay frozen all around, and, mthout having to encounter any enemy, our retiring columns suffered very severely. Seldom have troops been left in a more uncertain or more hazardous predicament than the army which was left to secure Shah Sujah on his throne. In the month of January there was a fall of snow nearly five feet deep. The poor sepoys suffered cruelly, and even the British soldiers, who were only indifferently provided with clothes and blankets, shivered on those mountains and table-lands. The Afghans remained inactive until the return of spring ; but then the Ohilzies and other powerful tribes began to unite their cavalry, and to attack our outposts. At the same time the people dwelling on the hills and in the glens, not only re- * Dr. Kennedy, * Campaign of the Army of the Indus.' 1840.] SrEEEXDEK OF DOST MOHAMED. 54:0 fused to pay any taxes or tribute to Shall Sujah, but also refused to sell provisions to our commissariat. As the ice and snow melted, and left the roads and mountain-paths passable, a fierce war of posts commenced. This warfare alone would have worn out our army. As the summer advanced it assumed a bolder character. Dost Mohamed, after a narrow escape from being betrayed and murdered by the king, or ruler, of Bokhara, received assistance in his extremity from the khan of Kokan, on the Persian border ; and in company "with one of his sons, Afzul Khan, he pro- ceeded to Afghanistan, to stir up the country to undertake a holy war for the expulsion of the unbelieving English. Some native Afghan troops, which Shah Sujah had raised, began to desert to the Dost, who had collected a great number of Usbeg Tartars. As the expelled ruler advanced upon Cabul, several severe actions were fought, in which our fine artillery practice and our grape and shrapnel gave us the victory, and inflicted terrible losses on the enemy. At last, driven from post to post. Dost Mohamed made up his mind to surrender to Sir AYilliam Mac JSTaghten, or to Sir Alexander Burnes, who were both left at Cabul, the first as ambassador or envoy. On tlie evening of the 3rd of ISo- vember, 1840, as Mac JS'aghten was returning from his evening ride, and was within a few yards of his own resi- dence in the Balla Hissar, or citadel of Cabul, a solitary horseman galloped up to him, and told him that Dost Mohamed had arrived, and sought his protection. The words were scarcely said ere the chief himself appeared ; and, alighting from his horse, he presented his sword to the envoy. I'he Dost had quitted the field of battle* late the preceding evening, and had ridden straight into Cabul, a distance of sixty miles. On the 12th of jSTovember Dost Mohamed was sent oft' for India under a strong escort. He waited at Peshawer till joined by his family, which consisted of nearly 700 persons, of whom about one half were females. Pourteen of his sons surrendered, Akbar Khan alone holding out against us to the end. The Dost was allowed to visit Calcutta, where the governor-general received him with much respect and courtesy. Three lacs * The chief's last battle the battle of Purwan Durrah in which some of our sepoy regiments had behaved like downright cowards, and in which Dr. Lord, one of our numerous political agents in the country, Lieutenant Broadfoot, and Cornet Crispin were killed and cut to pieces. 2 2f 546 INSUEEECTIONS. [1841. of rupees, or about 30,000 a year, were allotted to him ; and lie took up his residence at Mussooree, on our north- west frontier, where he remained till 1843. The surrender of Dost Mohamed, and the activity of our moveable columns under General Sale, Colonel Deunie, and other active and intelligent ofEcers, brought the country all round Cabul to a tranquil state. But the calm was decep- tive ; it was but a lull in the storm ; and although this waa clearly seen and frankly stated by many of our officers, our infatuated envoy would not see it, and would not tak& warning. Before the Bombay column cleared out of the country the celebrated fortress of Khelat was stormed and taken, and Meerab Khan, who had paid so little respect to the treaty which Burnes had concluded with him, and several other Beloochee chiefs, were slain. This was a brilliant operation, which will bear comparison with any exploit our troops ever performed in India. "While comparative tranquillity reigned in and around Cabul, insurrections broke out among the fierce tribes that inhabit the country to the east of the Bolan Pass. At the same time some of the ameers of Scinde called their followers to the field, united their bands, and threatened all our com- munications between Afghanistan and our own provinces. Several serious disasters were sustained by our troops, and more and more enemies collected. In May, 1841, Major Pottinger prognosticated the coming storm, representing to the envoy the insufficiency of our military force in some quarters, and the badness of their can- tonments in nearly all places. The major was looked upon as an alarmist. About the end of September the roads near Cabul swarmed with predatory bands, and three Ghilzie chiefs of note quitted Cabul, after plundering a rich caravan, and took up a strong position in the defile of Khoord Cabul, only ten miles from the capital. At the same time intelli- gence was received that Dost Mohamed's ablest and fiercest son, Akbar Khan, was collecting troops in various parts of the country. General Sale cleared the pass of Khoord Cabul, but not without hard fighting and considerable loss.* * After restoring Shah Sujah to his throne, an agreement was entered into with the Ghilzie chiefs, that a certain sum of money should be paid, to them yearly out of the Cabul treasury, if they would keep the Khcord Cabul Pass open, and offer no molestation to our troops on their passag 1841.] MUEDER OF BUENES. 547 This was in the month of October, and all through this month our officers were insulted in their cantonments at Cabiil, and many attempts were made to assassinate them. On the 2nd of November, at an early hour, intelligence was brought to cantonments that a popular outbreak had taken place in the city, and that a general attack had been made on the houses of all British officers residing at Cabul. The envoy Mac Naghten was in the cantonments, but Burnes was in the city. At about 8 a.m., a hurried note was received from Burnes, who stated that the minds of the people had been excited by some evil reports, but expressing a hope that he should succeed in quelling the commotion. An hour after this, it was reported in the cantonment that Burnes had been murdered, and that Captain Johnson's treasury had been plundered. riames were now seen to issue from that part of the city where they dwelt, and an incessant report of fire-arms seemed to roll through the town from end to end. It was soon ascertained, that the rabble who first commenced the attack did not exoeed 300 men, and that with Sir Alexander were massacred his brother, Lieutenant Burnes, Lieutenant "W. Broadfoot, and every man, woman, and child found on the premises.* Our generals and superior officers, were all so thunderstruck as to be incapable of adopting more than the most puerile of defensive measures. Coward as he was, Shah Sujah sent out one of his own sons, with a number of his immediate Afghan retainers and two guns, to restore order ; but no support was rendered by our troops. between Cabul and Jellalabad. Little dependence could be placed on such a bargain ; but it is said that the bargain was first broken by us or by our ally, Shah Sujah, and that this provoking circumstance contributed in a great measure to the disasters which followed. * ' The Military Operations at Cabul, &c., with a Journal of Impri- sonment in Afghanistan,' by Lieutenant Vincent Eyre, of the Bengal artillery, late deputy-commissariat of ordnance at Cabul. Speaking charitably of his errors, and making no allusion to a very current report of gross and provoking misconduct, Lieutenant Eyre says " No man, surely, in a highly responsible public situation espe- cially in such a one as that held by the late Sir Alexander Burnes ought ever to indulge in a state of blind security, or to neglect salutary warnings, however small. It is indisputable that such warnings had been given to him, especially by a respectable Afghan named Taj Mahomed, who, on the very previous night, went in person to Sir A. Burnes to put him on his guard, but returned disgusted by the incredulity with which his asser- tions were received." 2n2 54S COMMAND or TKE AEMT AT CAEUL. [1S41, Sir AYilliam INIac Xagliten said that the storm \YOiild soon blow over of itself. Every minute that was lost in inaction raised tlie numbers and the audacity of the insurgents. The chief command of our astounded and bewildered army (bewildered much more by the inactivity and stupor of their leaders than by the proceedings of the Afghans) was at this time held by Major-Greneral Elphinstone, a most amiable and at one time a gallant officer, but who had been suffering a long and painful illness, which, aifecting his nerves, had worn out his mind as much as his body. He was utterly incapable of acting in this sudden emergency with the promptitude and vigour necessary for the preservation of bis troops, and the officers next in command under him seem to have been without the same physical and unavoid- able causes as incapable as himself, and to have shrunk from all responsibility. The cantonment occupied by the army for so many months was as bad as bad could be, and the magazine of provisions was placed in the most exposed and least defensible part of it, detached I'rom our works of strength. All the calamities which befel our ill-starred force might be traced more or less to the defects of our position ; and whether we look to its situation or to its con- struction, this cantonment at Cabul must ever be spoken of as a disgrace to our military skill and judgment.* On the 3rd of November, the day after the outbreak, 3,000 Ghilzies rushed through the Ivhoord Cabul Pass towards the capital, and other numerous bands began to collect on the liills. We cannot, and we need not, narrate what fol- lowed : the fearful story, with all its horrible and humiliating details, is fresh in the memory of every Englishman. Our commanding officers continued in their imbecility until our troops were infected with downright cowardice : not merely the shiveringhalf-starved sepoys, but our British-born soldiers cowered before a barbarous and stupid enemy whom they had so often beaten. Discipline disappeared; but ne-^-er had discipline been put to a severer test ! The brave soldier may be expected to bear everything except the self-evident imbecility and fatuity of his commanding officers. On the 4th of JN'ovember, our people ran away from the commissa- * Lieutenant Vincent Eyre. " The cantonment had a low rampart and a rarrow ditch ; its form was a parallelogram ; it had round flanking bastions at each corner, but every one of these bastions was commanded by some fort or hill." 1841.] APvRIYAL OF AEBAK KUAN. 519 riat fort, and left all our stores, clothing, and provisions to the eneni}^, except two days' supply of provisions in can- tonments. On the 5th an attack was made to recover pos- session of the commissariat fort ; but our officers again behaved like fools and our men like cowards, and the enemy remained in possession of the rich prize they had obtained. The object of the enemy was to starve the army out of its cantonment; and to this end the chiefs exerted all their influence to prevent our troops being supplied from any of the neighbouring forts. On the 9th, G-eneral Elphin- stone's weak state of health rendered the presence of a coadjutor absolutely necessary to relieve him from the com- mand of the garrison ; and Brigadier Shelton, tlie second in command, was, at the earnest request of Sir W. Mac ]S'aghten, summoned in from the Balla Hissar, in the hope that he would rouse the sinking confidence of the troops. Shelton was scarcely in the cantonment ere a quarrel or a wide difference of opinion arose between him and Mac Naghtcn. The brigadier had from the first despaired of being able to hold out the v;inter at Cabul, and strenuously advocated an immediate retreat to Jellalabad. On the 18th, Shelton made a tolerably spirited and suc- cessful sally upon some of the Afghan tribes, that were now occupying all the hills which surrounded and commanded our cantonment, tlie said cantonment being a piece of low swampy ground ; but the Afghans soon returned, and con- tinued to annoy our troops with their unceasing fire of musketry. Major Pottinger, badly wounded, his assistant, Mr. Haughton, who had lost a hand, and had been gashed on the neck, a sepoy of our Gorkha regiment, a moonshee, and another native, arrived on the 15th, from a position at Charikar ; and these were all that were left out of 100 men who had occupied the said post ; all tlie rest, men and officers, had been butchered by the Afghans. How provisions had been obtained we know not,* but our army was still motionless in its cantonment on the 22nd of jSTovember, when the terrible Alibar Khan arrived in Cabul, witli some hundreds of well-mounted warriors. His arrival was immediately followed by the defection of several chiefs, who had hitherto professed great friendship * It appears that for some time provisions were obtained from the contiguous village of Bsymaroo, the proprietor of which was largely bribed by our envoy. 550 IfEGOTIATIONS. [1841. to the English. On the 23rd, Shelton sallied again in force, in order to clear the way for our foraging parties, and was driven back with severe loss, after having committed in this one miserably disastrous affair, no fewer than sice capital military errors. By this time our troops had lost all con- fidence in their officers ; and they were starving with hunger as well as with cold. On the 26th, a letter was received by Mac Naghten from Osman Khan, who proposed that the British should quietly evacuate the country, and leave the Afghans to govern it according to their own rules, and with a king of their own choice. General Elphin- stone eagerly caught at this overture for retreating. On the 27th, two deputies from the Afghan chiefs came into our cantonment to propose the terms. These were, that we should deliver up Shah Sujah and all his family, lay down our arms, and make an unconditional surrender. Mac Naghten replied, " that the terms were too dishonour- able to be entertained for a moment." "AVell," said the deputies, "we shall meet again in battle!" " We shaU, at all events, meet at the day of judgment ! " replied our doomed envoy. On the 8th of December, Mac Naghten, in a public letter, requested the general to state whether the only alternative left was not to negotiate for our safe retreat out of the country, on the most favourable terms possible ? the desponding, dying Elphinstone, gave a fatal response in the affirmative. On the 11th of December, Mac Naghten, accompanied by Captains Lawrence, Mackenzie, and Trevor, went out to meet certain great khans and heads of tribes. Among these chiefs were some who had betrayed Dost Mohamed and who had now betrayed Shah Sujah. The terrible Akbar Khan, who had never submitted to the English, was there ; and he sternly negatived every pro- position that our envoy advanced, demanding little short of an unconditional surrender. During this conference in the open plain, a bullet whistled over the head of Sir A\^illiam Mac Naghten ; but his hour was not yet come. At last it was agreed, that the British should evacuate Afghanistan ; that they should be permitted to return unmolested to India, and supplies of every description be aflbrded them on their road thither ; that Dost Mohamed Khan and his family should be allowed to return to their country ; that Shah Sujah and his family should have the option of 1841.] MURDER OF MAC Is^AGHTE^s'. 551 remaining at Cabul, or proceeding ^Yith tlie Britisli troops, that means of transport for the conveyance of our baggage, stores, etc., should be furnished ; that no British force should ever again be sent into Afghanistan, unless called for bj the Afghan government; that perpetual friendship should be established between the two nations, on the sure foundation of mutual good ojfices, etc. On the 14th of December was commenced the most dis- astrous and appalling retreat that had ever been recorded in authentic history. Making allowance for the difference of numbers, the retreat of the French from Moscow was less dreadful than this. In both cases, snow and ice, and nakedness and famine, slew more than the sword. On the 20th of December, Sir "William Mac Naghten had an inter- view with the chiefs, who now demanded that a portion of our guns and ammunition should be given up, and that Briga- dier Shelton should be put into their hands as a hostage. Lieutenant Sturt, in whom the English spirit had not become extinct, proposed to the general to break off the treaty and march forthwith to Jellalabad, where Sale was stoutly maintaining himself. But the general called a council of war, and a council of war never fights. On the 22nd of December, as our troops were preparing to follow the van division, Akbar Khan sent to invite our envoy to another conference. On the following day Mac Naghten went to the place appointed, presented Akbar with a. beautiful Arab horse, and was barbarously murdered under the eyes of that khan and of other chiefs. It is even said that Akbar himself did the foul deed, shooting his \ictim through the body with a richly-mounted pistol which Mac I^aghten had sent him only a few hours before. The body was hacked to pieces by the armed fanatics, who car- ried the head into the city, and triumphantly exhibited it to Captain Conolly, one of the prisoners who had been taken. Not an arm was raised to avenge Mac Naghten's fate nothing could reanimate our troops, or the wretched men who commanded them. All went on as if, with one accord, to complete their disgrace and seal their doom all except a few English hearts, who murmured and remon- strated, but who had not moral courage sufficient to incur the heavy and awful responsibility of putting their com- manding officers under arrest, appealing to the troops, and assuming the command themselves. There were more 5o2 DESTIirCTIOX OF THE ARMY. [1842. councils of Trar called, to end in more vaeillatinp: and mad- ness ; it was agreed to leave behyid all oiu* guns except six ; to give up all our treasure ; to give up married men, witl^ their wives and families, as hostages ; to pay Osman Khan, and some other treacherous villains, five lacs of rupees, in bills drawn upon India, but negotiated on the spot by a merchant of Cashmere and some Hindu bankers ; the said Osman Khan engaging to escort the whole army in safety to Peshawer. In vain did Major Pottinger raise his manly voice against this useless debasement (and never were English soldiers so debased before as to buy a way out of an enemy's country!) the rest of the officers compos- ing the council declared, one and all, that the bargain must be struck. And, accordingly, the bills were given, and English ladies were delivered over as hostages, if not at this moment, a little later. On the 6th of January, 1842, our head-quarters and the rest of our army cleared out of the cantonments at Cabul, to march in the depth of winter through a country of per- haps unparalleled difficulty. The strength of our whole force was at this time estimated at about 4,500 fighting men ; the camp-followers, at a moderate computation, amounted to about 12,000 men, women, and children. At the moment the rear-guard cleared out of the cantonments, the Afghans began to plunder the baggage, and to follow and fire upon our soldiers ; and these operations can scarcely be said to have ceased until there was nothing left to plun- der or to kill. We will not follow this demoralized and degraded army through the horrors of the passes of Khoord Cabul, Tezeen, and Grundamuck. Greneral Elphinstone, almost at the point of death, gave himself up to one of the khans. The ladies and wounded were given up ; Dr. Brydon, who escaped by a miracle, was the only officer that reached the garrison of Jellalabad in safety, and a mere handful of sepoys and camp-followers entered the fortress, which Sale liad held, in spite of Greneral Elphinstone' s orders to liini to evacuate. Counting camp-followers, women, and children, more than 26,000 human beings had perished on the retreats A few hundreds mostly native Indians had been carried away captive, to be made slaves, or to be kept for the sake of ransoms. Omv protege Shah Sujah, though abandoned and left to his own resources, was not only able to maintain himself in 1842.] GE^EEALS KOTT AXD SALE. 553 tlie Balla Hissar, but also to acquire friends and allies. The Afghan chiefs, ever divided by jealousies, factions, and feuds, beo^an to intrigue against one another as soon as the English were gone, and some of these sent secret assistance, whilst others sent openly to the shah in the citadel. In the city of Candahar Gleneral Xott gallantly maintained himself; and, instead of waitmg for the enemy behind the mud wall and ditch of the place, he sallied, on the 12th of January, with five and a half regiments of infantry, 1,000 horse, and sixteen pieces of artillery, attacked the enemy, about 5,000 strong, who were in a formidable position, and completely defeated and routed them. Grhuznee, famed for its gate, and the powder-bags that had blown it open, was held by Colonel Palmer, with one native regiment and some artillery. The veteran Sale added to his well-earned repu- tation by his defence of Jellalabad, on the retention of which nearly everything now depended.* The Afghans were com- pletely balked in their plans by our refusal to vacate the place. Finding that Sale would not yield to threatening messages., Akbar Khan sent an army against him. By the 22nd of January the place was surrounded by about 8,000 or 9,000 men, including 2,500 good cavalry. It was commanded for some time by Akbar Khan himself.f Fortunately Sale had provisions enough for three or four months, and his foraging parties were so vfell conducted that they gathered grass for their horses and cattle in spite of the enemy, who neither knew how to blockade, nor how to besiege a place. The courage of the garrison was further kept up by intelligence that a force under Colonel Wild was about to attempt marching to the relief of Jellalabad, and that General Pollock, \vith. a fresh army from India, was crossing the Punjaub. Colonel Wild could not get through the terrible Khyber Pass, either by force of arms or by force of money ; but Pollock kept steadily advancing. J A long time must, how- * Soon after clearing the Khoord Cabul Pass, on the 12th of October, he had fought on, for eighteen days, as far as Gundamuck, and had reached Jellalabad on the 12th of November, when Generals Elphinsrone and Shelton, through their indecision, were sacrificing the army in the Cabul cantonments. f MS. of a young officer of the Bengal establishment. J All the hopes of our people at Jellalabad were fixed upon General Pollock ; and every one there seems to have believed that he would retrieve the disgraces he had suffered. *' The address of General Pollock to his troops," says one who was 554 JELLALAEAD. [1842. ever elapse before Pollock could complete a marcli of 500 or 600 miles, and in the interim Sale and his garrison must trust to their own resources, to their own artillery, mus- kets, and bayonets, and their own stout hearts. As the siege or blockade commenced, the old mud walls of Jellalabad Trere rent by a tremendous earthquake. All the parapets 'which Sale had built up with so much labour were shaken down, several of his bastions were injured, a considerable breach was made in the rampart of a curtain in the Peshawer face, the Cabul gate of the town was reduced to a shapeless mass of ruins, and about one-third of the town itself was demolished. Other shocks of the earthquake came in rapid succession. In the MS. journal of an intelligent young officer, which is now before us, we see, for some time, two or three earthquakes noted nearly every day or night. General Sale himself says, in one of his despatches, that the city was kept in constant alarm, and that in little more than one month there were 100 distinct shocks. Some of these were very violent. The Afghans, however, never had suffi- cient confidence to attempt a real assault on the crazy old place, and Sale frequently sent out small detachments, which marched through and through the ill-connected Afghan lines. Nott still held out in Candahar, and was ready, on receiv- ing some supplies and reinforcements, to co-operate with Pollock and Sale in an advance upon Cabul.* The brave with Sale, and was at the moment looking with eager eyes for the relief, "" has excited the praise and admiration of every one who has read it. Here we all hope to see better days and better doings than we have wit- nessed under our former commanding officers." MS. Journal of a Young Officer. The date of the entry is the 14th of April. * " It is on record," says Nott, " that I informed the Indian govern- ment that I could hold the country (Candahar and Lower Afghanistan) for any time ; it is on record that I informed Lord Auckland, as far back as December, 1841, that I could, with permission, re-occupy Cabul with the force under my command : there was nothing to prevent it but the unaccountable panic which prevailed at the seat of government." Letter from General Nott to General J. R, Lumley, adjutant-general of the army ; dated Lucknow, 4th April, 1843. The Indian government, however, continued to despond. In a letter from the governor-general in council to the secret committee at home, dated February the 19th, 1842 (nine days before the arrival of Lord Ellenborough at Calcutta), it is written : " On the 31st of January we expressly informed Major-General Pollock that Jellalabad was not a place which we desired to retain at all hazards, and that, after securiiig Sir R. Sale's brigade there, and giving every practicable relief to parties 1842.] EETIEEMENT OP LOED AUCKLAND. 555 men were all eager to retrieve the honour of our arms, and to rescue the English ladies and all the other prisoners from the hands of the barbarians. General Sale had a wife and daughter in captivity ; it may, therefore, be conceived with what feeling he heard that the Indian government he was bound to obey, intended to recall all our forces, to eva- cuate every part of Afghanistan, and to trust to negotiations and money for the liberation of the prisoners, leaving our disgrace unremedied our prestige destroyed. It is now no secret that an order to this effect was issued by Lord Auck- land, who had been dragged into the war by the vanity and presumption of rash men, and who was now listening to the counsels of desponding and timid men. In the mean time, the government which had prociu'ed the appointment of his lordship had been displaced, and succeeded (on the 30th of August, 1841), by the second administration of Sir Eobert Peel. It was impossible that Lord Auckland should long retain his place : Lord EUenborough, who had been pre- sident of the Board of Control, and who strongly denomiced the impohcy of the war, was appointed, on the 23rd of December, 1841, to succeed him. from Cabul, we would wish him, rather than run extreme risks at Jel- lalabad, to arrange for withdrawal from it, and the assemblage of all his force at or near Peshawer." This letter is signed ' Auckland W. W. Bird W. Casement.' H. T. Prinsep. 556 ADMINISTEATIOX OF LOUD ELLEXBOROUGII. riS42. CHAPTER XXXIX. LoED Elleis^borougii arrived in India on the 2Sth of February, 1842. His earliest attention was demanded by the state of affairs on the Indus, where the ameers of Scinde continued in a doubtful attitude, and by our troops and captives in Afghanistan. Those captives were putting up earnest, but at times almost hopeless, prayers for their liberation a liberation which even the women of the party seemed to have thought was not to be obtained by negotia- tion and ransom, but by hard fighting. In quitting India, Lord Auckland had left the country in confusion and dismay. Some new failure? and disasters contributed to depress the spirits of Lord Ellenborough and his council. Grhuznee was recaptured by the Afghans : the poor sepoys left there were all frost-bitten and rendered spiritless and unfit for service ; provisions were not to be obtained ; relief was despaired of ; and on the 6th of March Colonel Palmer evacuated the place, in pursuance of a capi- tulation with some of the Afghan chiefs. The diminished force had scarcely marched out of the citadel ere it was attacked by the savage, fanatic Ghazees. On one spot an English ofhcer, his wife, their servants, and thirty sepoys were massacred. JSTative women and children, and sepoys as helpless as they their powder being all consumed were butchered by the Grhazee knives, or were knocked down in heaps by discharges of artillery. Colonel Palmer was put to the torture ; and then he and his nine surviving British officers were thrown into a small and filthy dungeon. Xearly at the same time, G-eneral England, who was taking stores and reinforcements to Candahar, came upon the enemy in ^n unexpected position, and met with a reverse ; and this, though trifling in its consequences, and easy to be repaired^ contributed to renew the panic of the Indian government. 1842.] GENEEAL yOTT. 557 General Pollock was ordered to be ready to retreat, and JS'ott received orders to retreat simultaneously with liim. But for the courage and decision of Sale and that first- rate Indian officer, General Nott, there would have been a renewal of retreat long before this time. AVhen other men were absolutely craven-hearted, ]^ott was full of resolution and of hope. AYhen the whole extent of our disasters at Cabul and in the passes became known to him at Candahar, he ^^Tote to Lord Auckland beseeching him not to be dis- heartened for a moment, and cheerfully undertaking to march from Candahar to Cabul, as soon as the roads should be passable. During six months lie had reiterated his advice and his offers ; in spite of repeated orders to retreat, he still maintained that there was no honour, or even safety, in any course but the bold one. He was indignant at the panic which prevailed at Calcutta and almost everywhere else. He exclaimed : " Stupid blunders caused disasters at Cabul is that a reason for the despair of a mighty empire ? I do greatly wonder at such deep folly." At a later period the veteran wrote : " Had I not re- mained sternly determined, there would have been no advance on Ghuznee and Cabul, and we should have left Afghan- istan in disgrace, being laughed at by the whole world, and all India would have been up in arms. I was obliged more than once to save their honour and their lives in spite of themselves. My sepoys always acted nobly, and I could have done anything with them But w^hen among our own countrymen all was panic and infatuation, from Lord Auckland dovni to the drum-boy, what could have been expected but disaster and disgrace ? When I endeavoured to uphold the honour of my country, and to save it from disgrace, I was told mark this : it is on official record I was told : ' Yoiu* conduct has been injudicious, and shows that you are unfit for any command.' "* But very soon after his arrival in India, Lord EUenborough learned to appreciate Nott, and his lordship was the first in power that ever did so. In a happy moment the governor-general in council pro- nounced the word " Forward ; " and from that moment the future began to brighten our disgraces to be remedied. * Extracts from Sir W. Nott's papers, as published in the " Quarterly Review," No. clvi. October, 1846. 558 GEJfEEAL POLLOCK. [1842, We speak not of vengeance for the past : this was not a war of retaliation and revenge ; it was a war of retrieval a war of HberatioD. In the meanwhile Sale had continued to hold out manfully behind the shattered walls of Jellalabad. His sorties had been still more frequent and successful, costing Akbar Khan a great loss in killed and wounded. On the morning of the 7th of April, Sale defeated the khan in the open field, took two Afghan standards, four of the guns which had been lost by oui' Cabul army, and nearly all Akbar' s ordnance, stores, tents, &c. jSText to Sale himself the heroes of this day were Lieutenant-Colonel Dennie, Colonel Monteith, Captains Broadfoot, Eenwick, Pattison, Oldfield, and Havelock, and Lieutenant Mayne. Unhappily, the gallant Dennie was killed. But notwithstanding this victory, the situation of the brigade was still very precarious, for their provisions were almost all consumed. At last, on .the 16th of April, General Pollock and his force arrived at Jellalabad under a joyful salute of seventeen guns.* Pollock had soundly beaten the Afghans in the Khyber Pass, and above it ; and before he reached Jellalabad the beleaguering army of Akbar Khan was dissolved. As soon as it was known that Greneral Pollock intended to advance, the people of Cabul began to desert that city in great numbers. Many of the khans, either struck away for their own mountains, or agreed that some one or two of the English prisoners should be released in order to open friendly negotiations with the victorious general. Just at this crisis Major- General Elphinstone breathed his last, "a happy release for him," says a fellow-prisoner, "from suffering of mind and body."t But the forward movement upon Cabul had not yet been determined upon by Lord Ellenborough, and after that determination was come to, much time was required for col- lecting supplies of provisions and means of transport. Thus, after his junction with Sale, Pollock halted more than four months at Jellalabad, during which time the troops were much afflicted by dysentery and other sicknesses, arising * " General Pollock," says our young officer, '* is very much liked in camp, as being up to his work, and not caring how the men dress, so long as ihey Jiffht." MS. Journal. t Lieutenant Vincent Eyre, * Journal of Imprisonment in Afghanistan/ &c. 1842.] ASSASSINATION OF SHAH SUJAH. 559 chiefly from bad and scanty food, inadequate clothing, and the want of tents. By this time several of the Afghan chiefs were waging ferocious war upon one another in the neighbourhood of Cabul. The Shah Sujah was treacherously assassinated hy one Sujah Dowlah, " a liandsome, quiet-looking man," who- now endeavoured to persuade the English prisoners that the- shah had played us false, and that he had performed a praiseworthy act in slaying him. But, by degrees, many of these chiefs became wonderfuly anxious to prove that they had always been the friends of the English, and that it was the late shah who made the insurrection in Cabul, and called upon the mountain tribes to destroy our army on its retreat through the passes.* Shah Sujah's youngest son,. Putty Jung, was proclaimed king by one party ; while the Barukzies formed another party, and opposed him. The civil or clan warfare was now carried into the very heart of the city of Cabul ; and Eutty Jung, who hoped to retain the treasure, if not the throne of his father the murdered shah, was closely besieged in the Balla Hissar. On the 6th of June a mine was sprung under one of the towers of the Balla Hissar ; but the storming party was driven back with loss. On the following day, however, Eutty Jungy finding his people disinclined to support him any longer, made terms with Akbar Khan and the other chiefs ; giving up a tower in the Balla Hissar to each of them, and retain- ing for himself possession of the royal residence. By this strange compact the citadel of Cabid was now divided be- tween four rival tribes, the Dooranees, the Barukzies, the Ghilzies, and the Kuzzilbashes. * Strange as it may appear, it is positively asserted by various parties, that Shah Sujah promoted the insurrection in the city, from feelings of personal enmity to Burnes. " Captain ConoUy had obtained convincing proof that Shah Sujah originated the rebellion with a view to get rid of Burnes, whom he detested, and of several chiefs, whom he hoped to see fall a sacrifice to our vengeance ; little anticipating the ruinous result to himself and to us. Poor Burnes had made but few friends among the chiefs, who now never mention his name but in terms of the bitterest hatred and scorn. The- king considered him as a personal enemy, and dreaded his probable suc- cession to the post of envoy on the departure of Sir W. Mac Naghten."" Eyre. See also a despatch from Lord EUenborough to General Sir Jasper Nicholls. His lordship is, however, of opinion that Shah Sujah rather adopted than originated the insurrection against our troops. 5C0 ADYA>'CE TOWAEDS CABrL. [1842. Four days before the explosion of tlie mine, news was brouglit to Cabiil that General jSTott had gained a great victory under the walls of Candahar, and had killed 2,000 of the Afghans. About the middle of Jul}^, Generals Pollock and Nott received positive instructions to make the grand forward movement to advance on Cabul, as soon as they could get ready. On the 15th of August jSTott left Candahar, and put himself in motion for Ghuznee, mth the entire convic- tion that " one thousand sepoys, properly manar/ed, will always beat ten thousand Afghans." lie was at the head of about 7,000 men. Generals Pollock and Sale marched from Jellalabad on the 20th of August. Akbar Khan de- clared, with an expression of savage determination in his countenance, that so surely as our army advanced, he would take all his English prisoners into Toorkistan, and make presents of the ladies to diilerent chiefs of that wild country. iSultan Jan started to meet JN'ott before he should reach Ghuznee ; he fancied he was going to certain victory, but lie sustained a complete and bloody defeat. After an ^'illustrious march," Nott reached Ghuznee: he found that place deserted ; there was not a man, a Avoman, nor child in it. The Afghans had all fled from the town, after fighting among themselves, and unroofing and destroying the houses for the sake of the timber. " I ordered the fortifications and citadel of Ghuznee to be destroyed," said JSTott. " It had been the scene of treachery, mutilation, torture, starv^a- tion, and cruel murder to our unresisting countrymen."* General Pollock was equally successful in his advance, and both armies were satisfactorily convinced that our sol- tdiers, both native and European, only required competent eommauders to be invincible. There was some hard fighting at the JugduUuk Pass and at Tezeen ; but our loss w-as in- considerable, and our columns pressed forward until they reached the capital. The Afghans expected that JN'ott and Pollock would be at Cabul early in September. On the 25th of August Akbar Khan kept his threat by hurrying oft* his prisoners towards Toorkistan. Let us follow their steps. On the 3rd of September the unhappy party reached Bameean, every indignity having been heaped upon them by the way. * Letter to Major-General J. R. Luraley, adjutant- general of the array, dated Lucknow, April 4th, 1843. 1842.] THE ENGLISH PEISONEES. 561 There tlier 'were halted under an old fort, until fresh orders should be received from the terrible Akbar. On the 11th, the Ivhan who had charge of them, and who was " a man that would do anj'thing for money," signed an agreement with five English officers, who promised to give him 20,000 rupees, and to insure him 1,000 rupees per month. The khan then hoisted the flag of defiance on the walls of the fort, teUiug the prisoners that they had no longer anything to fear that they should not be carried into Toorkistan. Akbar' s orders to him had been to hurry them on their journey, and to butcher all the sick, and all those for whom there was no conveyance. Several neighbouring chiefs, knowing how matters were going on at Cabul, and hoping to obtain some English money, came over to the fort, and tendered their allegiance to Major Pottinger. Some two or three of them swore on the Koran to be faithful to the major and his companions ; who resolved, in case Akbar should send troops against them, to hold out until the arrival of assistance, even though they should be reduced to eat the rats and mice, of which they had a grand stock in the old fort.* On the 15th of September a letter was received at the fort, stating that all Cabul had rien against Akbar ; that our army was close at hand ; that Akbar had fled to the Toba mountains ; and that other chiefs, who dreaded alike the vengeance of the English soldiers and the fury of the people of Cabul, had gone off in various directions, with only a few followers. Upon this Major Pottinger, no longer a prisoner, but acting as a viceroy, and making grants of land and assigning revenues to the hill chiefs, to keep those bar- barians in good humour, determined to quit the old fort, and return with the whole party along the road to Cabul. Attended by a number of chiefs, they set out from the fort on the 16th, hoping to meet some English troops on the road, yet at the same time fearing that they might encounter some formidable band of Akbar's desperate and vindictive people. As they encamped for the first evening they re- ceived a letter, stating that Pollock's force, after fighting from midday to midnight, had eventually forced the Khoord Cabul Pass, and had charged the enemy as far as the hills on the north side of the city of Cabul; that JVott had attacked and pursued them in another direction ; that the * Lady Sale, ' Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan.' 2o 562 EECOYEET OF [1842. Kuzzilbashes and adherents of the late Shah Sujah had made themselves completely masters of the city ; and that Akbar Khan, Sultan Jan, Ahmed Khan, and other hostile khans, who had all been defeated, were nowhere to be heard of. This was pleasant news ; but at the same time our returning prisoners were alarmed by the report that 2,000 horse were following them up to recapture them, and ta carry them into the deserts beyond the Oxus. However their last fears were soon removed : at two o'clock in the morning of the 17th they were roused from their slumber by th& arrival of a horseman with a letter from Sir Eichmond Shakespear, who was coming with 600 Kuzzilbashes to meet them. The party set off early, and at midday reached some deserted forts at the foot of a mountain-pass. They were sitting under the walls of one of these forts, sheltering themselves from the sun, when, at three o'clock, Sir Rich- mond arrived, and was received with heartfelt pleasure. "jSTor," says one of the party, "could even the most thoughtless among us fail to recognize and acknowledge, in all that had befallen us, the distinguishing grace and pro- tecting providence of a forbearing and merciful Grod. We now, for the first time, learned that Gi-eneral Pollock had reached Cabul on the 15th, where one of his first acts had been to hasten the departure of the Kuzzilbashes to our aid, by a donation of 10,000 rupees."* But the party had still a long march and a difiicult country between them and Cabul, and were not M-ithout their apprehensions that Akbar might make some desperate effort to recover his lost prey. Sir R. Shakespear forwarded an earnest request to General Pollock that more troops might instantly be sent out ta their support, as the pass of Suffed Khak, through which they must march, was reported to be occupied by a band of marauders. At the same time it was determined that the party should move forward by forced marches, for which every facility was afforded by the Kuzzilbash chiefs, sup- plying them with fresh horses. On the 20th they met an English officer, who gave them the welcome intelligence that General Sale's brigade was only a few miles distant on the road to meet them.. " All doubt was now at an end ; we were once more under the safeguard of British troops. General Sale was there in person ; and his happiness at regaining his long- * Lieutenant Eyre, * Journal.' 1842.] THE PEISONERS. 563 lost wife and daughter may be imagined."* It was a glori- ous rescue ; but, alas ! that the number rescued should be so small. Major- General Shelton, of her majesty's 44th foot, stands at the head of the list. The total number of all who were released and recovered by Nott and Pollock's brilliant advance to Cabul, and by Sale's forward movement from that place, was only 122. Of this number nine were ladies, and three the wives of non-commissioned officers or privates ; there were twenty-two children and thirty-four officers, and the rest, with the exception of two or three regimental clerks, were British non-commissioned officers or privates. On the 21st the happy party marched with Sale's bri- gade to Killa-Kazee, a village close to Cabul. At 2 p.m. on the same day they started for Greneral Pollock's camp, on the plain east of Cabul. Near the tomb of the Emperor Baber they passed Greneral Nott's camp. Thence their road lay through the city: the streets were almost empty, and an awful silence prevailed. They went by the spot where Burnes's house had stood ; the house was now a heap of rubbish, and its pretty garden a desolate waste. The party entered General Pollock's camp at sunset. Again the artillery uttered its boisterous notes of welcome, and old friends crowded around with hearty congratulations. Por the present their cup of joy was full. But when the first rapture was over, rest and reflection, and the scenes which surrounded them, must have brought to their recol- lection the thousands that had perished, and the many friends whose bones lay bleaching on the mountain-tops or in the dreadful passes. Some of the first sad occupations of our troops on reach- ing Cabul had been to collect the bones of their slaughtered countrymen and fellow-soldiers, and to give them interment. In some places the skeletons lay in heaps. They were nearly all headless, the Afghans having carried off" most of the skulls as trophies. Horrible, agonizing efforts were made by some of our officers and men to recognize, in shattered bones and skulls, the mortal remains of some dear friend and comrade. On the spot where her majesty's 44th regi- ment had made their last stand, more than 200 skeletons were found lying close together, t Yictory now accompanied the British standard wherever * Ejre. t MS. * Journal of a Young Officer.' 2o2 5G4i EETTJEN TO INDIA. [18J:2. it Avas raised. One of the most confident predictions of those Avho had pleaded for the continuance of the Com- pany's commercial charter and monopoly of the China trade had been verified ; from the moment that that trade had been throwTi open, there had been nothing but dissen- sion and confusion at Canton, and the quarrel that ensued had led to war and to the invasion of the Celestial Empire by a British fleet and army. The victories obtained in the rivers and on the plains of China were rapidly rumoured throughout India, and produced a salutary impression among the mountains of Afghanistan. They warned all our enemies that our enterprise, our strength, and resources were undi- minished. On the 21st of September, Lord Ellenborough, being then at Simla, in the Himalaya mountains, issued an encouraging proclamation, in which he stated that lie had that very day received the reports of three victories : one, obtained on the 30th of August, by Major-Greneral Nott, over 12,000 Afghans, thirty-eight miles to the south-west of G-huznee ; one, on the 8th of September, by Major-G-eneral Pollock, over the troops of Mohamed Akbar Khan and the Ghilzie chiefs at Jugdulluk ; and one, on the 16th of June, by the expedition on the coast of China, within the mouth, of the river Yang-tse-Kiang. We had, however, had quite enough of Afghan connec- tions and interferences ; there was no longer a man that could be deluded by a vision like that of Burnes. On the 1st of October, Lord Ellenborough issued a proclamation from Simla, the spot where Lord Auckland had declared the war, stating that the disasters in Afghanistan having been avenged upon every scene of past misfortune, the British army would be withdrawn to the Sutledge. And, on the 12th of October, after destroying the fortifications, the Grrand Bazaar, two mosques, and other buildings at Cabul, the British troops evacuated it, and marched oif in three divi- sions for Jellalabad, where they arrived in the course of the 22nd and the two following days. Erom Jellalabad they continued their long march to Eerozepoor, where, as Lord Ellenborough expressed it, they were " within our native boundaries." The governor- general was at Eerozepoor to receive and welcome them. Eeviews, dinners, and balls ensued. In proposing the health of General Sale and the brave garrison of Jellalabad, Lord Ellenborough said, that it was they who had saved the name and fame of the British empire in India. At a grand 1842.] THE AMEEES OF SCIXDE. 565 review on the 31st of December, 24,000 soldiers and 102 guns ^vere mustered on this one spot.* The sAYord was now sheathed ; but not for a long season. The ameers of Scinde had behaved treacherously towards us while our troops were engaged and while suffering their im- speakable disasters in Afghanistan. After our second return from Cabul, being deluded as to the circumstances under which we had retired, these proud chiefs, instead of showing a disposition to abide by their treaty and court our friend- ship, assumed a defiant, hostile attitude. They conceived that we had been much weakened, if not beaten.f Our Indian government, under Lord Aucldand, discovered that the ameers had leagued themselves with the Seikh chief of Mooltan, and with other powerful leaders, and that they were gradually forming an extensive combination against us. Lord Ellenborough preferred breaking their strength now to waiting for a future collision, when they might choose their own time, and possibly take us by surprise. On his lordship's first arrival in the East, our Indian empire was indisputably in danger, and it was the new governor-general's mission to put it in a situation of secu- rity ; to rebuke the pride and insolence of the barbarians who had been victorious, and of the barbarians who hoped to be so. The obligation of security was a necessity, paramount to all other considerations. As this was not to be obtained by treaty as events had been allowed to come to that pass that our treaties were laughed at there remained nothing but the ultima ratio, a stern recourse to arms. " The Scindian war," says its historian, " was no isolated event. It vras the tail of the Afghan storm." It was not entered upon precipitately. The governor-general sent a warning letter to the ameers ; and it was not until four montlis after sending the letter that he gave the following instructions to Sir Charles Napier : " Should any ameer or cliief, with whom we have a treaty of alliance and friendship, have evinced hostile designs against us, during the late * MS. 'Journal of a Young Officer.* Lady Sale's and Lieutenant Eyre's Journals. Another work on this part of our Indian History, which may be read with advantage, is ' Diary of a March through Afghanistan and Scinde,' by the Rev. J. N. Allen. Some excellent notions of the scenery and architecture may be obtained from ' Views in Afghanistan, &c., from Sketches taken during the Campaign,' by Sir Keith A. Jackson, Bart. f Letters of Lord Ellenborough, in ' Correspondence relative to Scinde.' Presented to both houses of parliament by command of her maiesty, 1S43. 566 SIE CHARLES NAPIEE. [1843. events, which may have induced them to doubt the conti- nuance of our power, it is the present intention of the governor-general to inflict upon the treachery of such ally and friend so signal a punishment as shall effectually deter others from similar conduct ; but the governor-general would not proceed in this course without the most complete and convincing evidence of guilt in the person accused." "When aU were found guilty, the punishment must reach aU. The ameers, faithless abroad, were tyrannical at home ; they had not the affection of the people to rely upon. Theirs was indeed "a government hated by its subjects, despotic, hostile alike to the interests of the English and of its own people ; a government of low intrigue, and so con- stituted that it must in a few years have fallen to pieces by the vice of its construction."* The required proofs of the treachery and hostility of the ameers were soon obtained, though by a most rigid process. The evidence which convinced Sir Charles Napier would have convinced any jury of sensible men would have brought dow^l sentence of guilty, not only in any court in Europe, but in any oriental court. When war was immi- nent. Sir Charles, like an experienced soldier, applied him- self to the organization and discipline of his troops, who were for the most part inexperienced. He drew them out frequently and accustomed them to move in masses ; he introduced several improvements ; he exhorted them to a subordination of which too many of them had been allowed to lose sight, and recommended a quiet and considerate con- duct towards the people of Scinde. The fighting veteran was in no hurry to begin : " l^othing," he wrote to the governor-general, " is lost by delay. We cannot be too cautious in securing firm moral ground on which to rest the defence of whatever events may arise. The ameers grow weaker, delay exhausts their treasury, and then they cheat their soldiers, who, of course, leave them. This is also the season of fever on the banks of the Indus. Were hostilities to commence now, I should lose many men, and have a large hospital." He was most careful of the health of his people, feeling that this was one of the most important duties of every commander-in-chief. " To move on Hyderabad," he con- tinued, " I must go by the river or by the desert. To supply the sick by the "last would be difiicult, if not impos- * Parliamentary Paper. Letter to Lord Ellenborough. 1843.] BATTLE OF MEEANEE. 567 sible : to go by tlie river would augment the hospital. The Indus is falling, and when it is at the lowest, the fevers will cease. Meanwhile I have a sickly camp, and I should have regretted if the ameers had called me out before : now they are welome." He was too wise to trust to so uncer- tain and interrupted a navigation as that of the Indus he saw that the line of war, like that of commerce, was rather across the river, than up it or down it. " If I am forced to take the field," said he, " I will cross the Indus, and march upon Hyderabad by land; for there are objections to dropping down the river. The water is low ; boats go with difficulty when lightly laden ; I cannot float more than a thousand men with guns and stores, and the vessels would ven then be overladen, and ground perhaps for days on the mud within reach of matchlocks. I^othing can be gained by rapidity." But when a forward movement became im- mediately necessary. Sir Charles made it with the rapidity of lightning. This aged and often- wounded soldier moved with all the alacrity of youth. In February, 1843, he wrote to Major Outram, who was still negotiating : " This delay wiU not do. The governor- general's orders to disperse the armed bands belonging to the ameers of Upper Scinde are positive. I have now no time to lose ; my own troops must soon disperse, from the heat ; I will not lose the cold weather." The Indus was now crossed, and Sir Charles Napier threw himself between the northern and southern ameers. The forces of the Hyderabad ameers made a ferocious attack on the British residency outside their city. On moving away from the bank of the Indus, Sir Charles found that a great force of the enemy was gathering in his rear, while the rest kept their post at Meeanee, in his front. But he had read the duke of AVellington's observations on Colonel Monson's disastrous retreat before the Mahrattas, and he had drawn from it this conclusion never to give way before barbarians. He said, " Let there be sixty or a hundred thousand, I will fight." He therefore rapidly advanced; and on the 17th of February was fought the great battle of Meeanee. Our army was now reduced to 2,600 of all arms, including offi- cers, fit for duty in the field. The enemy's positions were formidable : they had a natural ravine in their front ; they had more than 30,000 infantry, with fifteen guns, supported by 5,000 cavalry. Their wings rested on large woods or hunting-grounds, which extended on each side of the 568 BATTLE OF MEEA^EE. [1843. plain in front for a considerable way, so as to flank the British lines on both sides when it should advance. These woods were very dense ; yet Sir Charles Napier and his little force fell impetuously upon the enemy by the front. The fighting was terrible, and as hard as fighting could be. The dead level of the plain was swept by the Beloochee cannon and matchlocks ; and when our troops got close up, after the ravine was crossed, our men had to ascend a high sloping bank. " The Beloochees, having their matchlocks laid ready in rest along the summit, waited until the assail- ants were within fifteen yards ere their volley was discharged ; the rapid pace of the British, and the steepness of the slope deceived their aim, and the result was not considerable ; the next moment the 22nd were on the top of the bank, thinkiug to bear do^vn all before them, but they staggered back in amazement at the forest of swords waving in their front. Thick as standing corn, and gorgeous as a field of flowers, stood the Beloochees in their many-coloured garments and turbans ; they filled the broad deep bed of the ravine, they clustered on both banks, and covered the plain beyond. Gruarding their heads with their large dark shields, they shook their sharp swords, beaming in the sun, their shouts rolling like a peal of thunder, as with frantic gestures they dashed forward, with demoniac strength and ferocity, full against the front of the 22nd. But with shouts as loud, and shrieks as wild and fierce as theirs, and hearts as big and arms as strong, the Irish soldiers met them with the queen of weapons the musket, and sent their foremost masses rolling back in blood Now the Beloochees closed their dense masses, and again the shouts of the rolling fire of musketry, and the dreadful rush of their swordsmen, were heard and seen along the whole line ; and such a fight ensued as has seldom been known or told of in the records of war. These wild warriors continually advanced, sword and shield in hand, striving in all the fierceness of their valour to break into the opposing ranks ; no fire of small-arms, no thrust of bayonets, no sweeping discharges of grape from the guns, which were planted in one fearful mass on the right, could drive the gallant soldiers back ; they gave their breasts to be shot, they leaped upon the guns by twenties at a time : their dead went down the steep slope by hundreds : but the gaps in their masses were continually fiUed up from the rear ; tho 1S43.] BATTLE OF MEEAliEE. 5G9 surrivors of the front rank still pressed forward with unabated fury, and the bayonet and the sword clashed in full and frequent conflict."* When nearly all the European officers had been killed or wounded, and when the sepoys, wanting leaders, had several times slowly receded, a charge made on the enemy's right by our entire, but small, body of horse, under the command of Colonel Pattle, gave to Sir Charles all the glory of victory. They had kept their ground for more than three hours, but now the Beloochees began to retreat in heavy masses, still keeping well together with their broad shields slung over their backs, and their heads half-turned towards their pursuers. "The victors followed closel}^ pouring in volley after volley, until tired of slaughtering ; yet those stern, impla- cable warriors preserved their habitual swinging stride, and would not quicken it to a vun, though death was at their heels." t Kever had more personal courage been displayed by our officers and men. The greater part of the battle was a hand-to-hand fight. "The noble soldier Pennefather," as Sir Charles i^apier called him, fell on the top of the bank, to appearance mortally wounded ; and his place was instantly taken by Major Pool. Major Teesdale, animating his sepoys, rode desperately over the ridge into the midst of the Beloochees, and was instantly killed by shot and sabre. Major Jackson followed the heroic example of Teesdale, and met the same fate. Two brave havildars kept close to them in advance of their regiment, and like^' their leaders, they were also killed, after they had slain several of the fiercest of the enemy. Lieutenant M'Murdogh, of the general's staff, rode, Uke Teesdale and Jackson, into the very heart of the Beloochee mass ; his horse was killed under him, yet he rose instantly, and meeting Jehan Mohabad, one of the most warlike of the chiefs, slew him in the midst of his elan. Then, while engaged with several in front, one came behind and struck at him, but a serjeant of the 22nd, killed this enemy so instantly, that his blow fell harmless. MOIur- dogh turned and did the same service for his preserver, cleaving the head of a Beloochee, who was aiming at his back. Captain Jacob and Lieutenant Pitzgerald performed similar exploits. * Major- General W. F. P. Napier, ' Conquest of Scinde,' ^cc. t Major-General W. F. P. Napier. 570 STJEEENDEE OF THE AMEEES. [1843. Six European officers and sixty Serjeants and privates were killed, and fourteen officers and about 200 men wounded. As the sepoy grenadiers had been but slightly engaged, this loss was nearly a sixth part of our fighting force. The loss of the Beloochees was enormous ; a careful compu- tation gave it as 6,000 ; 1,000 bodies were heaped in the ravine alone. On the following morning, at the break of day, Sir Charles Napier sent to tell the ameers that he would immediately storm Hyderabad, if they did not surrender. Six of these sovereign princes presently entered his camp on horseback, and offered themselves as prisoners. They yielded their fortress, and laid their rich swords and other arms at the British general's feet. " Their misfortunes," said 8ir Charles, "were of their own creation, but, as they were great, I gave them back their swords." The ameers were cowards, but the conqueror, both in his public despatches and in his private letters, gave full honour and praise to the brave Beloochees. A few words must be said of the merits of the ameers as rulers and sovereigns. They governed by the sword, and by no other law. The Beloochees were their troops; the poor Scindians and Hindus their subjects and victims. Any Beloochee might kill a Scindian or Hindu with impunity. There was no security of property to the industrious part of the community. Money was extorted from Hindu and other merchants by torture and mutilation, even as it was drawn from the poor Jews in England by King John. The ameers also restricted commerce, and hated the presence of strangers, who might draw unfavourable comparisons between their jule and that of neighbouring princes and powers. With a teeming soil, and a people willing to work, they had turned Scinde into the most wretched, poverty-stricken country in all Asia. In order to form their shikargahs or hunting-grounds, they had laid waste, in less than sixty years, a fourth part of the most fertile land of Scinde. The process of "William the Conqueror, in forming the New Eorest in Hampshire, was gentle and diminutive, compared vdth their proceedings along the banks of the Indus. The only trade they really encouraged was that trade in human beings which all Christendom has reprobated ; the ameers dealt largely in the slave-trade, and so did all their feudal chiefs, both as im- porters and exporters. Infanticide was systematized among 1843.] ANNEXATION" 03? SCINDE. 571 tliem ; tlie ameers and sirdars killed all their illegitimate children, and very commonly their female legitimate children, when they thought they had too many girls in their family. It took Sir Charles Napier another victory, that of Dubba, near Hyderabad, gained on the 24th of March, 1843, to annihilate the power of the ameers. That victory gained, he had to organize the country and clear it of the bands of robbers and murderers who infested it. But some of these bands, in the south of the Delta, were very numerous and very bold, and were not to be overtaken but hj the most rapid movements, nor subdued and scattered without more hard fighting. Deriah Khan, chief of the Jackranees, Toork Ali, and other robber chiefs, were severally as formidable as Doondiah Waugh, the King of the Two "Worlds, who had given Greneral Wellesley so much trouble after the fall of Seringapatam. Immediately after the battle of Meeanee, the governor- general, in a proclamation dated from the palace of Agra, on the 5th of March, 1843, announced that Scinde had become part of our eastern dominions ; and on the 13th of March, he appointed Major-General Sir Charles Napier, K.C.B., governor of the province he had conquered ; directing in this second proclamation that all the acts of parliament for the abolition of slavery, and for the suppression of the slave- trade, should have full force and effect in every part of Scinde ; that the navigation of the Indus should be free to all nations ; and that aU duties of transit in every part of Scinde should be immediately and totally abohshed. The Beloochees, whose occupation was gone, kept sullenly aloof; but their sword was broken, and it was not appre- hended that they could soon wield it again. The Scindian population everywhere expressed their satisfaction at the change of masters. It was the duke of "Wellington who moved in the House of Lords the vote of thanks to Lord EUenborough, and the officers and men who had finished with honour the Afghan war, which Lord x\uckland had left in a dishonoured and seemingly hopeless condition. His grace, in his own con- cise manner, showed the state of the country shortly before the outbreak of the insurrection in Cabul, and detailed the unfortunate operations subsequently to that outbreak the loss of the commissariat fort, the continued attacks on the cantonments, and the effects of harassing duty and insuffi- 572 STATE OF GWALIOE. [ISIS. cient food upon tlie spirits and health of the garrison. "It must always happen," said the Grreat Captain, "that soldiers badly fed become unhealthy, and lose their spirite and their energy. The natural result of such a condition of the army was the breaking up of general subordination and obedience to orders. In fact, the discipline of the army was gone ; the animals were famishing as well as the men ; the soldiers were in almost a state of mutiny, and the followers of the army were in a condition of complete disorder. Never were men in a worse state than those men were in, before, and for more than a month after, the attack upon Bumes's house." The duke highly commended the prompt decision of Lord Ellenborough, the wisdom of his instructions, and the gallant execution of them by G-eneral Nott and other officers. General J^ott had succeeded in rescuing many British subjects from captivity and slavery. Prom the period, said liis grace, at which the governor-general landed in India and gave his first orders, more was done to remedy the misfortunes which had taken place than the most san- guine minds could have anticipated. This eulogium, pronounced in our highest assembly by the greatest man of his age, ought to compensate tlie noble subject of it for the detraction which was for a brief space of time levelled against him. The conquest of Scinde did not terminate the warlike operations of Lord Ellenborough' s most active and brilliant administration. The Mahrattas of Grwalior had long been giving us great trouble, and required a vigilant and expensive attention on the part of the Indian government. On the decease of the late Maharajah Junkojee Eao Scindia, the British government acknowledged as his successor the Maharajah Tyajee Eao Scindia, who was nearest in blood to the late maharajah, and whose widow was approved by the chiefs. The widow was appointed regent during the minority of the new maharajah, but she very wisely trans- ferred the dignity to Mama Sahib, with the concurrence of the chiefs. The British government communicated to the durbar of Gwalior its entire approval of this arrangement ; and the British resident, in the presence of the assembled chiefs, explained to the regent that he was recognized as the responsible head of the state ; and as such would re- ceive the support of the British government. Yet, after 1S43.] STATE or GWALIOE. 5/3 a sliort time," the regent, Mama Sahib, was violentl}^ com- pelled to quit the G\Yaiior state, in despite of the remon- strances of the British resident. Men inimical to our government, and to the tranquillity of India, were thrust into office by the ^Yidow of the late maharajah. Our resi- dent was instructed to withdraw from Gwalior. The Dada Khan T\'alla, though opposed by many of the chiefs, vir- tually usurped the sovereign authority in the Grwalior state ; which the British government was bound to maintain in the house of Scindia. The British government demanded that this Dada should be expelled, and delivered up to their charge, as a necessary preliminary to the re-establishment of the customary relations with Gwalior. After a long delay, the widow and her faction yielded this point ; but, presently making a return to intrigue and cabal, the widow set up men who were still more turbulent. The country was rent to pieces by insurrections, plots, wide-spreading conspiracies, and assassinations. The British government could neither permit the existence of an nnfriendly govern- ment in Grwalior, nor that those territories should be without a government capable of coercing its own subjects, and of maintaining everywhere the relations of good neigh- bourhood with the subjects of the British government and its allies. By the 25th of December, the British army had entered the country, not as an enemy, but as a friend to the maha- rajah. The governor-general stated, by proclamation, that he had no object but that of restoring good government and tranquillity; and he warned the evil advisers of the perverse widow, that they would be held responsible for any resistance which might be offered to the measures deemed necessary for the maharajah's just authority, and for the secui'ity of his person and rights.* Lord Ellenborough had accompanied the troops, who were under the command of Sir Hugh Gough. These troops had moved from Agra early in December, and had crossed the Chumbul river on the 23rd of that month. At the same time another division, under Major- General Grey, advanced upon Gwalior from Bundelkund. On the 29th of Decem.ber the main division crossed the Kohuree river. Tliey found the Mahratta forces drawn up in * Lord Ellenborough's proclamation, dated Camp Hingona, Dec. 25th, 1843. 574 BATTLES OF MAHAEAJPOOR A^'D PUls^NIAE. [1843. front of the village of Maliarajpoor, in a very strong posi- tion, wliich they had carefully intrenched. The British and native troops were about 14,000 strong, with forty pieces of artillery ; the Mahrattas mustered 18,000 men, including 3,000 cavalry with 100 guns. The action com- menced by the gallant advance of Major-Greneral Littler' s column upon the enemy in front. The Mahrattas received the shock without flinching, their guns doing severe execu- tion as our attacking column advanced. But the British soldiers rushed on. Her majesty's 39th foot, well sup- ported by the 56th native infantry, soon drove the enemy from their guns, bayoneting the gunners at their posts. The Mahrattas rallied in the village; and here the most sanguinary conflict ensued ; the Grwalior troops, after dis- charging their matchlocks, fought sword in hand with the most determined courage. But General Valiant's brigade took Maharajpoor in reverse ; twenty-eight guns were cap- tured at once, and after they had fought with frantic desperation, the Mahrattas being beaten at all points, and having lost their guns, and from 3,000 to 4,000 men in kiUed and wounded, dispersed and fled. But the loss on our side was very severe : we had 106 killed, 684 wounded, and seven missing, seven ofiicers were either killed on the field, or subsequently died of their wounds. Her majesty's 40th regiment lost two successive commanding officers. Major Stopford and Captain Coddrington, who fell at the very muzzles of the Mahratta guns.* On the same day another brilliant victory was obtained. On the 28th of December, when Major-General Grrey and his column moved from Bundelkund, and reached Punniar, about twelve miles from Grwalior, they found that a sepa- rate force was in that vicinity to stop their progress upon the capital. On the morrow morning from 10,000 to 12,000 Mahrattas showed themselves in a formidable position on some heights near a fortified village. They were presently attacked, and driven from height to height by Major- General Grey's troops, who forgot the fatigues of their long march so soon as the fighting began. The consequence of these two victories was the prompt submission of the durbar to Lord Ellenborough's demands, and the unopposed entrance of the British into the capital. Colonel Stubbs was appointed governor of the fort of * Sir Hugh Gough's despatch. 1844.] EECALL or LOED ELLENBOEOUGH. 575 Grwalior, which commands the city ; the Mahratta troops were dishanded, and British troops several regiments of infantry and two of cavalry were to be maintained in the country at the cost of the Grwalior government. That go- vernment was also to pay forthwith the expenses of the campaign. On the 4th of January, 1844 so magically rapid were these operations the governor-general, writing in the Grwalior residency, announced that this war was finished. He deeply lamented the severe loss in killed and wounded ; but this loss had been sustained in a great and necessary service, and the victories of Maharajpoor and Punniar, while they shed new glory upon the British army, had restored the authority of the young prince, and had given new security to the British empire in India. In the same proclamation Lord Ellenborough cordially congratu- lated the commander-in-chief. Sir Hugh Gough, upon his able combinations, by which two victories had been ob- tained on the same day, and the two wings of the army^ proceeding from different points, had been united under the walls of Grwalior. These stormy events were followed by a perfect calm. Peace, internal and external, was favourable to the finances of the country, which had, of course, suffered a severe drain ever since the commencement of the Afghan war. There was everj^ prospect that the finances would soon improve. Lord Ellenborough' s popularity with the army was uni- versal and immense ; but he was regarded with very different feelings by many in the ci\il service, and particularly by that class of men whom General Nott designated as " busy politicals." Unfortunately, disagreements or misunder- standings arose between the governor-general and the Court of Directors at home, and that court, having by their charter the power so to do, recalled his lordship towards the end of April, 1844, without the consent and much against the wishes of her majesty's government. Lord Brougham observed in the House of Peers, that it was inconceivable how such an anomalous law should be allowed to continue in force ; that it was incomprehensible how the Board of Con- trol part and parcel of the imperial government should have the power of controlling every other act of the Court of Directors in their administration of Indian affairs, and yet that the most important of all acts that upon which the safety of our Indian empire might depend the con- 576 EECALL OF LORD ELLENBOEOTJGH. [1S44. tinuance or tlie removal of the governor-general, should be left solely to the Court of Directors. Yet, so stood the Company's charter, and the recall re- mamed as legal and good. The displeasure of the duke of AYelliugton, the discontentment of many at home, and of the entire army in India, were moderated by the immediate appointment of the excellent Sir Henry Hardinge, the most fitting person to fill the high station so suddenly vacated. At a farewell entertainment given to him by the military at Calcutta, Lord Ellenborough said, " The only regret 1 feel at leaving India is, that of being separated from the army. The most agreeable, the most interesting period of my life, has been that which I have passed here in cantonments and in camps."* * For some interesting information and sound judgment on Lord Ellen- borough's Indian Administration, see * Recollections of Four Years' Service in the East with Her Majesty's 40th Regiment,' by Captain J. Bladen Neill. 1j844.] sir h. haedi^'ge governoe-geneeal. 577 CHAPTER XL. Little need be said of tlie previous services, military and political, or of tlie character of a personage so universally known and esteemed as Sir Henry Hardinge. Like Sir Charles Napier, the conqueror of Scinde, Sir Henry had fought heroically at Coruiia and in many other memorable battles. He was at Sir John Moore's side when that brave but ill-fated officer received his death- wound : dismounting, he raised Moore from the ground, and tried in vain to stop the eifusion of blood with his sash, and with tears in his eyes he helped his beloved general to the rear. He was as gentle-hearted as he was brave ; he was a Christian hero. There was nowhere a better soldier nor a truer man. A candid political opponent had described his temper as warm but generous, kindling at the least imputation, but never " allowing the sun to go down upon his wrath." Other adversaries had represented him as " really a kindly and generous man, warm in friendship, placable and scru- pulous in hostility; plain, sincere, straightforward, just, and considerate;" and they gave him credit for "under- standing what he undertakes, and imdertaking nothing but what he understands." The estimate made by his political and his personal friends of his noble character and eminent abilities was of course much higher. In parliament and in office he had obtained many boons, and various improved, liberal regulations for the British soldier ; and he had justly earned the title of " The Soldier's Friend." In civil matters his reputation stood equally high : both in England and in Ireland he had proved himseli* an excellent man of busi- ness, an administrator, and a statesman.* It was summer, but the tremendous heat of the Eed * ' Lord Hardinge's Administration.' An able article in the * Calcutta Review,' written by a distinguished officer, who has been long in India, and is still serving in that country. ' 2p 578 CIVIL IMPBOVEMENTS, ETC. [1844. Sea, at tliat season, did not prevent Sir Henry from minutely inspecting the works in progress at Aden (where the Company had found it expedient to make a military settlement), and di'awing up a memorandum in correction of the errors of the Bombay engineers, and in proof of the uselessness of the extravagant expenditure then going on upon the rock. Subsequently, in India, full informa- tion was called for, and the governor-general recorded, in another very able paper, that works to an extent sufficient for 1,200 men in peace, and 1,500 in war, with propor- tionate artillery, would make good the post against all probable comers. It is in similar adaptations of ways and means that the officers in every department of the govern- ment of India have found Lord Hardinge's strength to lie ; his practical intellect sees and seizes at once upon the strong and weak points of a question ; and, above all, a military fallacy stands no chance with him. The Aden papers have generally transpired, and are justly considered as among the very ablest that have emanated from Lord Hardmge's pen.* Sir Henry reached Calcutta on the 23rd of July, 1844, and was received as he merited. He entered heart and soul into the pacific policy which had been strongly recom- mended to him by the Court of Directors ; and into every means of advancing the prosperity, education, and enlight- enment of the people of India. He attended the Hindu college and the Mahometan college in Calcutta; he dis- tributed the prizes, he encouraged the pupils, and honoured the professors. His unaffected but stirring language con- vinced every one of the ardent sincerity of the speaker. "Without falling into the somewhat common error of at- tempting to do too much at once and interfering too much, he paid all possible attention to the welfare of the natives,, and to the improvement of their physical as well as moral condition. He considerably reduced the price of foreign salt, which was a government monopoly. This measure was regarded by many as a bold one, since it was expected to reduce the revenue to the extent of twelve lacs of rupees ; and this, too, at a time of great pecuniary pressure, at the close of a five years' war, and the opening of a new adminis- tration. But the governor-general conceived that there was as much of wisdom as of mercy in all such reductions of * Calcutta Review. 1844.] EEFOEMS TS THE AEMY. o79 duties ; for that by them smuggling would be starved, and the revenue idtimately augmented. He at once recommended the construction of railroads in different parts of India, and showed that the valuable pro- ducts of natvu*e were, in a great measure, deprived of a profitable market by the want of cheap and expeditious means of transport. He called the attention of the natives who were best educated to the exciting and wondrous facts of steam, and the magic power conferred on man by the discovery of the electro-magnetic telegraph. He endeavoured as much as possible to put an end to the jealousy and rancour which had been so mischievously excited between the military in general and the civil ser- vants of the Company. "Well versed in military finance, the boons which he conferred, with the sanction of the Court of Directors, upon the European as well as the native portion of the army, were many and substantial. On his recommendation an increase to the establishment of Euro- pean ofiicers in the Company's army was sanctioned, and their eligibility for the honour of aide-de-camp to her ma- jesty had been granted whilst he was secretary at war. To promote the comfort of the European soldier in quarters, he, as head of the government, was ever ready. In the field he ordered that the soldier should be relieved from the expense of transporting his baggage. Eor the native soldier he granted an increase of pension for wounds ; he also gave him an allowance to defray the expense of building his hut on the change of quarters. He facilitated the pleas of native soldiers in courts of jus- tice, and placed the troops serving in Scinde and Arracan upon the same footing, and thereby removed the cause of much discontent, which had sho^Ti itself in regiments ordered to serve in Scinde. Although he was ever anxious to do justice to the claims of the native army, he did not neglect its discipline. He re- imposed the power of inflicting corporal punishment, which power, although it had never been legally abolished, had, by an order of Lord William Bentinck, been in abeyance since 1835, though the European soldier was still subject to this punishment. This act, perhaps, required more courage than any other in Lord Hardinge's long and arduous public career. Other governors-general had acknowledged the inexpediency of Lord Wilham Bentinck' s order, but had 2p2 580 TROUBLES AMONG [1839-44. slirunk from the responsibility of revoking it; and, al- though all military men lamented the increase of insub- ordination, and advocated, with very few exceptions, the repeal of Lord "William's order, the adjutant-general of Bengal was one of the few who were of opinion that the re-introduction of corporal punishment would not create a mutiny. It was under these circumstances that Sir H. Hardiinge cancelled Lord AVilliam Bentinck's order. The returns of the armies of the three presidencies prove, that the punishment is now so rarely enforced, as to be almost a dead letter ; while at the same time the discipline of the army is sustained, insubordination suppressed, and the number of soldiers sentenced to labour in irons, which had daring the ten years that Lord William's order was in force, amounted to 10,000, is materially diminished. Sir Henry Hardinge would have worn "peace" as his badge and motto ; yet he had been only a few months in the country when he found that he could no more be at peace than Lord EUenborough had been. The web which we have woven over Hindustan is so extensive, and reaches into so many angles and corners, that it is a work of the greatest difficulty to watch and protect every part of it ; yet no part can be touched without making the whole tremble in the breeze. The chances of hostilities are thus multitudinous. The chairman of the Court of Directors, in the act of recommending the most pacific policy, had told the governor-general that our dependants and allies must be protected ; that the native states which still retained independence must be covered by the shield of British protection; that the supremacy of our power must be maintained by force of arms. Sir Henry Hardinge was therefore under the solemn obligation of girding on the sword whenever it should become necessary. Shame, im- peachment, utter ruin, would fall upon any governor- general of India who failed so to do. But, in the present case, the hostile attack was threatened and soon made, not upon an ally, a protected state, or an independent state, but upon the territory of the Company itself not upon an angle or corner of the complicated, \\-ide-spreading web, but upon its heart and centre. Ever since the death of Eunjeet Singh, the Lion of La- hore, the Sikhs, the country, and people, had been going through a succession of political convulsions and paroxysms. 1839-44!.] THE SIKHS. 581 Tlie reign of order and law had altogether ceased, as at Grwalior. Crimes, assassinations, wholesale massacres, had been almost daily events in difierent parts of the Pnnjaub. These convulsions could not but affect all the neighbouring countries; and, however disorganized, the Sikhs were excessively powerful in the possession of a numerous, well- disciplined army, a tremendous artillery, excellent artillery- men, and skilful European officers. The Lion of Lahore died on the 30th of June, 1839. His immediate successor was his eldest son, Khurruk Singh, who possessed none of his father's qualifications for rule. His first act was very unpopular ; he removed the vizier or prime minister of his father, Dhyan Singh a man of expe* rience and moderation and raised a favourite of his own to that high appointment. The dismissed vizier lost his habitual moderation ; he entered the durbar, and slew the new primiC minister before his master's eyes. The treasurer and some others shared the same fate. After these trage- dies Khurruk Singh shut himself up among his women, rarely appearing in durbar. His intellect, never strong, became impaired, and the management of public affairs fell into the hands of his son Nounehal Singh, who had always shown an antipathy to the British. After the mere semblance of a reign which lasted little more than twelve months, Khur- ruk Singh was reported to have died of a broken heart. Nounehal Singh, the favourite of the Sikhs, and the darling grandson of the old lion, Eunjeet Singh, would have been called to the musnud for he resembled the Lion in features and disposition; he was popular with the army, being brave, and having been a soldier from his boyhood ; and he was believed, also, to possess the qualities of caution, dis- cretion, and forethought but, whether by accident or design we know not, Nounehal Singh, on returning from his father's funeral, was killed by a stone falling on his head from one of the gateways of Lahore. Dhyan Singh called up to Lahore Sheer Singh, who had been treated as a prince of the blood, although he had never been acknowledged by Eunjeet Singh as his real son. Sheer Singh was to succeed to the musnud ; and he, too, was extremely popular with the army. But the mother of the late Nounehal Singh was determined to frustrate the intention of the formidable vizier. And this woman, being aided by some of the most powerful sirdars in the Punjaub, soon expelled Sheer Singh ^82 IS^UMEROUS EEYOLUTIOXS [1839-44. from Lahore. Then Dhyan Singh, the ex-vizier, to whom she refused employment, set himself to overthrow her go- vernment, persuading the sirdai's and soldiers that it was shameful to submit to the rule of a female, and that they must have a man of energy and talent to govern them, and keep together the conquests which the Lion of Lahore had made. Sheer Singh was presently recalled from his retire- ment. The ranee, or mother of Nounehal Singh, ordered the gates of Lahore to be shut ; but the gatekeepers joined the standard of Sheer Singh ; and Greneral Ventura, one of the skilful Frenchmen who had disciplined the Punjaub army, acknowledged him as king. The widow was left helpless and nearly deserted ; and in 1841, Sheer Singh was seated on the throne of Lahore. He intrusted the management of affairs to Dhyan Singh, E-unjeet's favourite vizier ; and he gave himself up solely to hunting and drinking, and other pleasures and debaucheries. He became a complete drunkard. The vizier was speedily dissatisfied with the prince he had elevated to the musnud. Intriguers and plotters stepped in between the prince and the minister. In a fit of drunkenness. Sheer Singh, the maharajah, put his signature to an order for the execution of Dhyan Singh, the grand vizier ; and the vizier being duly warned of this pro- ceeding, signed a death-warrant for the maharajah. The sober man was quicker than the drunken one : Sheer Singh was shot in the heart by an English rifle, and had only time to exclaim, "What have you done, villain?" His head was ' separated from his body, and joyfully exhibited to the revolu- tionists. Pertaub Singh, the son of the murdered maharajah, "was despatched by another assassin while he was at his prayers. But the assassins could not agree with the vizier, Dhyan Singh, who had signed Sheer Singh's death-warrant, and so they shot him in the back, and he fell dead also. The report of the vizier's death quickly spread through the city of Lahore, and Misr Lai Singh, who afterwards made himself conspicuous in the war with the British, was despatched to bring into the fort Heera Singh, son of the murdered vizier. This young rajah knew that the death of Sheer Singh had been determined on, but he little suspected that his own father would so soon share the same fate. He had purposely absented himself from the palace that morning, and had gone to the house of General Avitabile, another of the European officers who had formed the Punjaub army and artd- 1839-44.] i2f LAHORE. 583 lery ; and he was there found haranguuag the troops, and telling them not to mind the death of the maharajah. Upon learning his father's death, Heera Singh ascended to the ter- race or flat roof of Avitabile's house, and was for a short time very disconsolate, and very much terrified. He then despatched a message to the several sirdars who were in Lahore, requesting their immediate attendance. The chiefs soon arrived, when the young rajah unbuckled his sword, laid it before them, and bared his neck. " The sword," said he, " has this day deprived my father of life. I am left alone and fatherless, and I now throw myself upon your pro- tection. Kill me, or give me your support ! " This appeal had the desired effect. Heera Sing next addressed the com- mon soldiers, promising every man of them an advance of three rupees a month if they would obey him. The soldiers received the"^ proposition with loud cheers. In the mean time Ajeet Singh, whose followers had assassinated the maharajah, and who had, with his own hand, shot the vizier Dhyan Singh, had caused Dhuleep Singh to be proclaimed maharajah, and himself vizier, by beat of drum. But the son of the slain vizier put himself rapidly in motion ; and both Ventura and Avitabile espoused his cause, and backed him with their well-served guns. During the night of this same bloody day, Heera Singh reached the Delhi gate of Lahore, followed by the sirdars and numerous troops. The gate, apparently, was blown open by the artillery, and then commenced a street fight in which heavy guns were used on both sides, and a great slaughter committed. But on the following morning victory declared for Heera Singh; Leena Singh, who had murdered at his prayers the son of the late maharajah, was mortally wounded ; Ajeet Singh, who had shot the late vizier, being driven out of the fort, was attempting to escape over a wall by means of a rope, when he was clutched by a soldier. He took off his golden bracelets and threw them at the man, imploring him to spare his life ; but the soldier cut off his head and hurried with it, as with the most acceptable of presents, to Heera Singh. The sight of the ghastly head of his father's murderer only quickened the rage of the young rajah. Every man that could not escape out of the fort and out of the city was butchered. The city was given up to plunder. The ranee's house was ransacked. The merchants in the city and the helpless shopkeepers fled, leaving everything to the infu- 584 CAUSES OF OUE AVAR [1844. riated Sikhs, wlio coiiiinitted all kinds of outrages, cutting off the noses of the poor women in the streets. Homble cruel- ties were perpetrated upon the connections and adherents of Ajeet Singh. Heera Singh set up no claim to the throne of Lahore ; so soon as the fighting was over, he went and kissed the young Maharajah Dhuleep Singh's feet, in token of submission ; but Heera Singh became vizier or prime minister, as his miu"dered father had been before him.* This settle- ment was effected in 1843, while the British were in the field against Grwalior. It is confidently asserted that the Sikhs at this period intended to invade the British territories, and were only warned therefrom by the signal overthrow of the Ma- rhattas on the fields of Maharajpoor and Punniar, whereby the British army serving in the Grwalior territory was set at liberty to resist aggression from the nortli-west. Heera Singh, as grand vizier, found ver}^ great difficulty in keeping the soldiers steady to his interests, for the treasuiy was exhausted, and the troops expected a continuance of the guerdons which he had promised in his extreme peril. To keep matters quiet, he murdered his own uncle, a powerful sirdar, and a favourite with the army. He was murdered himself shortly afterwards, together with his cunning Hindu pundit or tutor. The young Maharajah Dhuleep Singh was not much above four years old. He was chosen because there was no other lineal descendant of the great Eunjeet left alive, if we except the children of Sheer Singh, whose eldest son, Pertaub Singh, had been murdered on the same morning as his father. On the death of Heera Singh, the mother of the young maha- rajah appointed her brother Juwaheer Singh to the office of vizier. But the soldiers, not liking his rule, murdered Juwaheer before the eyes of the infant maharajah and his mother ! Grhoolab Singh, the brother of Dhyan Singh, old Runjeet's ex-vizier, refused to take upon himself the perilous ofiice of vizier, which now seemed sure to lead to a bloody grave, except upon conditions which were not acceded to. The country, therefore, remained -v^-ithout a vizier, without a government! The "Punches" of the army became, in reality, the masters and mis-rulers of the Punjaub, and everything was decided by their passions, caprices, or sup- * * History of the Sikhs, containing an Account of the War between the Sikhs and the British in 1845-6/ by \V. L. Macgregor, M.D., S'lr- geon to the Hon. Company's 1st European light infantry. 1844.] WITH THE SIKHS. 585 posed personal interests. These " Punches" were not such pleasant humorists as our street drolls, or as the London Charivari Punch, or as the great Neapolitan Policinella, the prince, if not the father, of all Punches. They had no drol- lery in them ; they were seldom seen to smile ; and of late they had been as rarely seen without the red hand. They had been accustomed, under Eunjeet Singh, to invasions and conquests, and to the profits derivable therefrom. They were elated by many years of success ; they formed an immense force numerically; they possessed what seemed inexhaustible military stores ; they knew themselves to be strong of arm and steady in battle ; and they had confi- dence in the military skill and science of their French and Italian commanders. They wanted emplo^nnent, and they fancied they could best seek it beyond the Sutledge, within the Company's territories. The maharajah was in the nursery ; his mother and guardian was helpless ; and even the more prudent and pacific of the sirdars were whirled along by the war torrent, for the will of the soldiery, the dic- tation of the Punches, was not to be resisted without the risk of being murdered. An army was therefore ordered to assemble by the verv individual the widowed mother of the maharajah whose vrishes were against the armament, and the sirdars were obliged to join it. The very cautious Ghoolab Singh, who had refused the post of \"izier, and who was surrounded by a very strong and devoted party of his own, did, indeed, venture to demand the reason of the Sikhs breaking treaty \s-ith the British. He asked them what cause of offence the British had given them ? To these questions no satisfactory reply could be given. Ghoolab Singh anticipated that the Sikhs must fail in their daring invasions, and retired from Lahore ; but instead of openly opposing their views, which would have drav^Ti an attack upon himself, he promised his support, agreed to send up supplies to Lahore, and even promised to join the Khalsa troops. Even could Ghoolab Singh have believed that the Sikhs would be successful, it was evidently his interest to await the result of the struggle, knowing well, as he did, that, whatever result might Ibllow, his position would be a safe one. " If, as he really thought, the Sikh army would be destroyed by their powerful opponent, then he could safely step in as a mediator between the British and the Sikhs, and while obtaining the credit of restoring peace, he 586 siE n. haedinge's [1845. would insure independence for liimself. The rajah had a difficult part to play, and the repeated demands of the Sikh army that lie would join it, obliged him to leave Jummoo, and proceed to Lahore ; but he had determined to keep clear of the struggle until the onset should show how he was to act. '' Had Ghoolab Singh succeeded Juwaheer Singh as prime minister, he would have used his best endeavours to prevent a collision between the Sikhs and the British ; but he did not forget that a brother and nephew who had held that responsible post had both fallen victims to the sword, and a similar fate might befall him. Trom every consideration, therefore, the rajah believed that a rupture with the British would most effectually accomplish his ambitious views ; and he was resolved to act with great caution, and avoid mixing himself up in the quarrel. Even when he reached Lahore, after the war had begun, and he was requested by the ranee and the Punches of the army to join the latter, he availed himself of the excuse of wishing to act independ- ently at the head of his own troops in any work she might assign to him."* All that was passing at Lahore could not be unknown to Sir Henry Hardinge ; but as his predecessor had been cen- sured for precipitancy, the present governor-general was determined not to bring out his array until the last moment, or until the moment when there could be no pos- sible mistake as to the intentions of the lawless soldiery, whose will was the only law in the country beyond the Sutledge. He, however, was by no means satisfied with the state of preparation, to meet and repel an invasion from the Sikhs, which he found on his arrival in India ; and before he had been three months in the country he had several large corps marching from the farthest confines of the Bengal presi- dency towards the north-west frontier, but so quietly was every post reinforced that even in our provinces the ope- rations passed unnoticed ; and when the war did break out, the governor-general was censured by the uninformed for being unprepared. The following table of the force on the frontier, as Sir H. Hardinge found it on his arrival in India, in July, 1844, * Dr. Macgregor's * History of the Sikhs.' At Loodiana At Umballa 1845.] PEEPAEATIONS. 587 and when the war broke out in December, 1845, is a com- plete refutation of the charge of want of preparation : Men. Guns. A^-p fJuly, 1844, 4,596 12 AtFerozpoor {December, 1845; 10,472 - 24 /July, 1844, 3,030 12 [December, 1845, 7,235 12 /July, 1844, 4,113 24 L December, 1845, 12,972 32 The force at the hill stations was the same at both periods, 1,800 men. Thus, in the first line from Umballa to the Sutledge, about 150 miles, there were, when Sir H. Hardinge landed in India, only 13,539 men and 48 guns. "When the war broke out, there were 32,479 men and 68 guns. Increase, 18,940 men and 20 guns ! The force at Meerut had also been augmented from 5,873 men and 18 guns, to 9,844 men and 26 guns ; which force, being 250 miles to the rear, was not considered available to repel invasion, but as a support to that in advance of UmbaUa. The force in the first line also comprised seven regiments of European infantry out of the eleven at that time serving within the Bengal presi- dency. The battle of Ferozshuhr took place eight days after the Sikhs crossed the Sutledge ; and if, out of the 32,479 at, and north of Umballa, in December, 1845, 17,727 rank and file only could be brought into action after a junction with the Loodiana and Perozpoor forces, what sort of an army could have been brought into the field had Sir H. Hardinge left the force on the frontier as he found it, consisting as it did of 13,538 men ? On the 2nd of December, 1845, Sir Henry arrived at Umballa. From this point we may take up his own words, as contained in a despatch to the Secret Committee at the India-House : " I had moved with my camp on the 6th of December from Umballa towards Loodiana, peaceably making my progress by the route I had announced, with the intention of visiting the Sikh protected states, according to the usual custom of my predecessors. In common with the most experienced officers of the Indian government, I was not of opinion that the Sikh army would cross the Sutledge with its infantry and artiUery. I considered it probable that some act of aggi'ession would be committed by parties of plun- derers, for the purpose ofcompelling the British government 588 SIR n. haedinge's despatch [1845. to interfere, to which course the Sikh chiefs knew I was most averse ; but I concurred with the commander-in- chief, and the chief secretary- to the government, as well as my political agent. Major Broadfoot, that offensive opera- tions, on a large scale, would not be resorted to. Exclusive of the political reasons which induced me to carry my for- bearance as far as it was possible, I was confident, from the opinions given by the commander-in-chief and Major- General Sir John Littler, in command of the forces at Ferozpoor, that that post would resist any attack from the Sikh army as long as its provisions lasted ; and that I could at any time relieve it, under the ordinary circumstances of an Asiatic army making an irruption into our territories, provided it had not the means of laying siege to the fort and the intrenched camp. Up to this period no act of aggression had been committed by the Sikh army. The Lahore government had as good a right to reinforce their bank of the river Sutledge, as we had to reinforce our posts on that river. The Sikh army had, in 1843 and 1844, moved down upon the river from Lahore, and after remain- ing there encamped a few weeks, had returned to the capital. These reasons, and, above all, my extreme anxiety to avoid hostilities, induced me not to make any hasty movement with our army, which, when the two armies came into each other's presence, might bring about a collision. The army had, however, been ordered to be in readiness to move at the shortest notice ; and on the 7th and 8th of December, when I heard from Lahore that preparations were making on a large scale for artillery, stores, and all the munitions of war, I wrote to the commander-in-chief, directing his excellency, on the 11th to move up the force from UmbaUa, from Meerut, and some other stations in the rear. Up to this time no infantry or artillery had been reported to have left Lahore, nor had a single Sikh soldier crossed the Sutledge. Nevertheless, I considered it prudent no longer to delay the forward movement of our troops, having given to the Lahore government the most ample time for a reply to our remon- strance. On the 9th, at night, Captain Nicholson, the assistant political agent at Ferozpoor, reported that a por- tion of the Sikh army had approached within three miles of the river. On the other hand, the information received by Major Broadfoot on that day from Lahore, was not of a character to make it probable that any Sikh movement on 1845.] TO THE SECRET COMMITTEE. 589 a large scale was meditated. On the lOth no intelligence was received from Lahore confirmatory of Captain Nichol- son's report, and the usual opinion continued to prevail that the Sikh army would not cross the Sutledge. The troops, however, moved on the 10th, 11th, and 12th, in pur- suance of the orders given on the 7th and 8th ; and the whole of the forces destined to move up to the Sutledge were in full march on the 12th. I did not consider the force moving up from Umballa to be sufficient to force its way to relieve Ferozpoor, if a large Sikh army, with a nume- rous and well-served park of artillery, should attempt to intercept it in its approach to Ferozpoor, as, in such case, it could with difficulty receive any aid from that garrison. Being some days' march in advance of the commander-in- chief, I rode over to Loodiana ; and having inspected the fort, the cantonments, and the troops, it appeared to me most advisable that the whole of this force should be moved up with the Umballa force, restricting the defence of Loo- diana to the fort, which could be securely garrisoned by the more infirm soldiers of the regiments at that post, unless attacked by heavy artillery, which was a very improbable contingency. The risk to be incurred of leaving the town and the cantonments liable to be plundered was maturely considered, and I had no hesitation in incurring that risk to insure the strength and sufficiency of the force which might separately be brought into action with the whole of the Sikh army. I therefore ordered Brigadier "Wheeler to be prepared to march at the shortest notice. The Umballa force, in march, was 7,500 men and thirty-six guns ; the Loodiana force amounted to 5,000 men and twelve guns. " The commander-in-chief concurred in these views ; and this fine body of men, by a rapid march on Busseean, an important point, where the roads leading from L^mballa and Kurnaul meet, formed the advanced column of the army, and secured the supplies which had been laid in at Busseean. Up to the morning of the 12th, the information from Lahore had not materially varied ; but by the reports received on that day, the general aspect of affairs appeared more warlike. Still no Sikh aggression had been committed, and no artil- lery had moved down to the river. " On the 13th, I first received precise information that the Sikh army had crossed the Sutledge, and was concentrating in great force on the left bank of the river." 590 SIB H. haedinoe's admieable [1845. On that same day, the 13th, Sir Henry issued the follow- ing proclamation : " The British government has ever been on terms of friendship with that of the Pimjaub. " In the year 1809, a treaty of amity and concord was con- cluded between the British government and the late Maha- rajahliunjeet Singh, the conditions of which have always been faithfully observed by the British government, and were scrupulously fulfilled by the late maharajah. " The same friendly relations have been maintained with the successors of Maharajah Eunjeet Singh by the British government iip to the present time. " Since the death of the late Maharajah Sheer Singh, the disorganized state of the Lahore government has made it incumbent on the governor-general in council to adopt pre- cautionary measures for the protection of the British fron- tier ; the nature of these measures, and the cause of their adoption, were at the time fully explained to the Lahore durbar. " Notwithstanding the disorganized state of the Lahore government during the last two years, and many most unfriendly proceedings on the part of the durbar, the gover- nor-general in council has continued to evince his desire to maintain the relations of amity and concord which had so long existed between the two states, for the mutual inte- rests and happiness of both. He has shown on every occasion the utmost forbearance, from consideration to the helpless state of the infant Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, whom the British government had recognized as the successor to the late Maharajah Sheer Singh. " The governor-general in council sincerely desired to see a strong Sikh government re-established in the Punjaub, able to control its army and to protect its subjects. He had not, up to the present moment, abandoned the hope of see- ing that important object effected by the patriotic efforts of the Sikhs and people of that country. " The Sikh army recently marched from Lahore towards the British frontier, as it was alleged by the orders of the durbar, for the purpose of invading the British territory, "The governor-general's agent, by the direction . of the governor-general, demanded an explanation of this move- ment, and no reply being returned within a reasonable time, the demand was repeated. The governor-general, unwilling 1845.] PEOCLAMATIOIf TO THE SIKHS. 591 to believe in the hostile intentions of the Sikh government, to which no provocation had been given, refrained from taking any measures which might have a tendency to embarrass the government of the maharajah, or to induce collision between the two states. " When no reply was given to the repeated demand for explanation, and while active military preparations were con- tinued at Lahore, the governor-general considered it neces- sary to order the advance of troops towards the frontier, to reinforce the frontier posts, " The Sikh army has now, without a shadow of provoca- tion, invaded the British territories. " The governor-general must therefore take measures for effectually protecting the British provinces, for vindicating the authority of the British government, and for punishing the violators of treaties and the disturbers of public peace. " The governor-general hereby declares the possessions of Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, on the left, or British banks of the Sutledge, confiscated and annexed to the British territories. " The governor-general will respect the existing rights of all jagheerdars, zemindars, and tenants in the said posses- sions, who, by the course they now pursue, e^dnce their fidelity to the British government. " The governor-generai hereby calls upon all the chiefs and sirdars in the protected territories to co-operate cor- dially with the British government for the punishment of the common enemy, and for the maintenance of order in these states. Those of the chiefs who show alacrity and fidelity in the discharge of this duty, which they owe to the protecting power, will find their interests promoted thereby ; and those who take a contrary course will be treated as enemies to the British government, and will be punished accordingly. " Tlie inhabitants of all the territories on the left bank of the Sutledge are hereby directed to abide peaceably in their respective villages, where they will receive efficient protec- tion by the British government. All parties of men found in armed bands, who can give no satisfactory account of their proceedings, will be treated as disturbers of the public peace. " All subjects of the British government, and those who possess estates on both sides of the river Sutledge, who, by their faithful adherence to the British govemment may be 592 THE SIKHS CEOSS THE SUTLEDGE. [1845. liable to sustain loss, shall be indemnified and secured in all their just rights and privileges. " On the other hand, all subjects of the British govern- ment who shall continue in the service of the Lahore state, and who disobey this proclamation by not immediately returning to their allegiance, will be liable to have their pro- perty on this side of the Sutlcdge confiscated, and declared to be aliens and enemies of the British government." The distance between the head-quarters of the British army at Umballa and Perozpoor, was three times as great as that between Ferozpoor and Lahore, the former being 150 miles, the latter only fifty miles. Sir Henry Hardinge in the despatch already quoted, has explained his reasons for not ordering the Umballa force to take the field, sooner than it did ; he, however, had ordered, so early as the 20th Novem- ber, that the force should be held in readiness to move, and it actually did march on the 11th of December, before the Sikh army had commenced crossing the Sutledge, which it did about six or seven fniles from Ferozpoor on the 12th December, but the passage of the artillery was not com- pleted till the 16th December. As the art of war consists in concentrating the greatest number of men at the right place at the right time, the crisis when the Sikhs did cross, demanded the utmost exertion on the part of the governor-general and commander-in-chief; and the celerity with which the troops moved towards Ferozpoor, was most admirable. The governor-general, as stated in his despatch, being between Umballa and Loodiana, on the 13th of December, when the news arrived of the Sikhs having crossed, he ordered Brigadier "Wheeler to march with 4,500 men, and twenty-one guns, early on the 14th from Loodiana to Busseean, which place had been filled with provisions, by arrangements made through Major Broadfoot with the native chiefs, and upon which provisions the British army depended in its advance to Ferozpoor. By the afternoon of the 14th, Brigadier "Wheeler was in front of Busseean. The main column under the commander-in-chief from Umballa, did not reach Busseean until the 16th. Had it not been for the force under Brigadier AVheeler, the cavahy of the Sikhs having crossed on the 12th, they might have marched the 13th and 14th, and have reached Busseean the evening of the 14th. Had the provisions in Busseean been destroyed, the 1845.] BATTLE OF MOODKEE. 593 advance of the main column on Perozpoor would have been delayed at least a week or ten days, during which time the 10,472 men at Ferozpoor would have to withstand the whole of the Sikh army, and the safety of that post might liave been compromised ; as it was, the Sikhs had not com- pleted the passage of their heavy guns until the 16th, and by the 17th the advance of the force under the commander-in- chief began to tell upon them, for on the 17th the main body, consisting according to the Sikh accounts of 25,000 regulars and eighty-eight guns, under Lai Singh, took possession of the wells around the village of Ferozshuhr, whilst Tej Singh with 23,000 men and sixty-seven guns remained opposite to Ferozpoor. The only road by which an army can march from Busseean to Ferozpoor (on account of the scarcity of water) passes through Moodkee, and is about twenty miles, Ferozshuhr being mid-way. The Sikhs commenced on the 17th December to throw up intrenchments around the wells at Ferozshuhr, in order to stop the advance of the column under the commander- in-chief, knowing that the commander-in-chief must carry these works before he could relieve Ferozpoor. By one o'clock on the 18th, the governor-general and commander-in-chief reached Moodkee, from which village a few Sikh cavalry retired, as the British column advanced ; the troops had just taken up their encamping-ground, and were commencing to cook, after a fatiguing march of twenty- two miles, when news was brought by one of the scouts, to Major Broadfoot, the political agent, that the enemy was only three miles distant. The Sikh account is, that not knowing the strength of the column under the commander- in-chief, and thinking it was only the advance-guard of the British army, 12,000 of them, chiefly cavalry, and twenty- two guns, under the command of Lai Singh, left the camp at Ferozshuhr early on the 18th, and had taken up their position before the arrival of the British army at Moodkee. This must have been the case, for when the British troops halted at Moodkee, there was no indication of any large body of men moving in the neighbourhood, and a force of 12,000 men, especially cavalry, could not move in that country without raising a column of dust, which would be seen at the distance of miles. The alarm being sounded, the British troops hastily got 2 Q 594 BATTLE OF MOODKEE. [1845. under arms and moved to their positions ; Sir Hugh Grough says : " I innnediateiy pushed forward the horse- artillery and caTahy, directing the infantry, accompanied by the field batteries, to move forward in support. "We had not proceeded beyond two miles when we found the enemy in position. "To resist their attack, and to cover the formation of the infantry, I advanced the cavalry, under Brigadiers White, Grough^ and Mactier, rapidly to the front, in columns of squadrons, and occupied the plain. They were speedily followed by the five troops of horse-artillery under Briga- dier Brooke, who took up a forward position, having the cavalry then on his flanks. " The country is a dead flat, covered at short intervals with a low, but in some places thick jhow jungle, and dotted with sandy hillocks. The enemy screened their infantry and artillerj^ behind this jungle and such undula- tions as the ground afibrded; and, whilst our twelve battalions formed from echellon of brigade into line, opened a very severe cannonade upon our advancing troops, which was vigorously replied to by the battery of horse-artillery under Brigadier Brooke, which was soon joined by the two light field batteries. The rapid and well-directed fire of our artillery appeared soon to paralyze that of the enemy ; and, as it was necessary to complete our infantry disposi- tions without advancing the artillery too near to the jungle, I directed the cavalry under Brigadiers White and Gough to make a flank movement on the enemy's left, with a view of threatening and turning that flank, if possible. With praiseworthy gallantry, the 3rd light dragoons, with the second brigade of cavalry, consisting of the body-guard and 5th light cavalry, with a portion of the 4th lancers, turned the left of the Sikh army, and, sw^eeping along the whole rear of its infantry and guns, silenced for a time the latter, and put their numerous cavalry to flight. Whilst this movement was taking place on the enemy's left, I directed the remainder of the 4th lancers, the 9 th irregular cavalr}^ under Brigadier Mactier, with a light field battery, to threaten their right. "This manoeuvre was also successful. Had not the infantry and guns of the enemy been screened by the jungle, these brilliant charges of the cavalry would have been productive of greater effect. 1845.] TLiaHT or the sikhs. 595 " When the infantry advanced to tlie attack, Brigadier Brooke rapidly pushed on his horse-artillery close to the jungle, and the cainionade was resinned on both sides. The infantry, under Major- Generals Sir Harry Smith, G-il- bert, and Sir John M'Caskill, attacked in echellon of lines the enemy's infantry, ahnost invisible amongst wood and the approaching darkness of night. The opposition of the enemy was such as might have been expected from troops who had everything at stake, and who had long vaunted of being irresistible. Their ample and extended line, from their great superiority of numbers, far outflanked ours ; but this was counteracted by the flank movements of our cavahy. The attack of the infantry now commenced, and the roll of fire from this powerful arm soon convinced the Sikh army that they had met with a foe they little expected ; and their whole force was driven from position after position with gi'eat slaughter, and the loss of seven- teen pieces of artillery, some of them of heavy calibre ; our infantry using that never-failing weapon, the bayonet, whenever the enemy stood. Night only saved them from worse disaster, for this stout conflict was maintained during an hour and a half of dim starlight, amidst a cloud of dust from the sandy plain, which yet more obscured every object." The British force engaged consisted of 3,850 Europeans and 8,500 natives, making a total of 12,350 rank and file, and forty-two gims. Sixteen ofiicers were killed and 200 men. Forty-eight oflacers wounded and 609 men, of whom 153 died subsequently of their wounds, or were disabled. Amongst tliose who fell was the hero of Jellalabad, Sir B-obert Sale ; he had his left thigh shattered by grape- shot, and the wound proved mortal. Had there been more daylight, the rout of the enemy would have been more complete ; as it Avas, seventeen of their guns out of twenty were captured, and their loss in killed and wounded was very severe. Lai Singh, the commander, was among the wounded, and narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. The Sikhs fled rapidly to their camp at Ferozshuhr, and the British troops returned to theirs at Moodkee about midnight. On the 19th of December, two heavy guns reached Moodkee, escorted by her majesty's 29th, the 1st European light infantry, and two regiments of native infantry.* * The 11th and 41st. 2 q2 596 ADVAKCE OF THE EEITISH. [1845. Every possible care had been taken of these troops in their rapid advance by the governor-general and commander-in- chief. Elephants were despatched to Churruk, seven-and- twenty miles from Moodkee, to carry those who might be unable to walk. When near Moodkee, and almost over- come by fatigue and the terrible desert thirst, water was distributed to them, which had been brought out on ele- phants from head-quarters. Being thus refreshed, the men marched vigorously into Moodkee, where the governor- general's band welcomed them with a joyous burst of music. This reinforcement did not reach camp till nine or ten o'clock at night, and it was determined, in order to give them rest, that the army should halt on the 20th. During this halt of two days the wounded and sick were eared for, and secured in the mud fort at Moodkee. It was now that Sir H. Hardinge magnanimously offered his services to Sir Hugh Grough. He was appointed second in command of the army, and all officers were directed to obey any orders emanating from him, which they were not bound to do so long as he (although the head of the government) exercised only a civil authority. Expresses were sent to Sir John Littler at Eerozpoor, apprising him of the victory at Moodkee, and directing him on the 21st to march with as large a force as he could, and effect a junction with the army under the commander- in-chief. Arrangements were also made for leaving the wounded and the baggage at Moodkee when the army marched, a regiment and a half being told off to protect them. This decision was a wise one. Had the British army on the night of the 21st been embarrassed with a column of baggage, great would have been the suffering of the wounded, and great would have been the plunder, by our own camp-followers, of the baggage. Whereas the fort at Moodkee, defended by a regiment and a half, was safe for a time against the enemy's cavalry and loose plun- derers, which alone could penetrate the rear of our army. Early on the morning of the 21st Sir John Littler, leaving 5,000 men to hold his position and watch Tej Singh, moved off quietly by his right, with 5,500 men and twenty-one guns, to join the commander-in-chief. The force from Moodkee marched at three o'clock in the morning in two open columns of companies, left in front ; the araiy had therefore only to wheel into line to be in position. The J845.] THE SIKHS INTEENCHED. 597 march for the head-quarter column was a distressing one, on account of the heat and dust and the scarcity of water, but was of no great length, certainly not more than twelve miles ; and the columns arrived opposite the Sikh camp at half-past eleven, a.m. The junction with the force from Ferozpoor was effected at a few minutes before one near the village of Misriwala. Skirmishers were then thrown forward, and some considerable time elapsed before the attack was made. The whole country is a dead flat, and studded with trees and jungle, except in the immediate neighbourhood of the "villages. What with dust and trees the movements of troops became very difficult to direct. The British force now concentrated comprised 5,674 Europeans and 12,053 natives, making a total of 17,727 rank and file, and sLxty-five guns. According to the Sikhs' account, their force at Terozshuhr consisted of 25,000 regular troops and eighty-eight guns, exclusive of the Jazedarees and irregular soldiers, making their force in camp upwards of 35,000. Besides this force Tej Singh, with 23,000 regulars and sixty-seven guns, was only ten miles distant. Had it been possible for the commander- in-chief to have delayed the attack on the Sikh camp till the next day, which it was not, on account of the want of water, it would not have been expedient to have done so ; the British force would not have been augmented by one man, whilst Tej Singh, who was opposite Perozpoor, only ten miles distant, would have been able to bring 23,000 additional regular troops and sixty-seven guns to the assist- ance of the enemy. The Sikh intrenchment was in the form of a paralle- logram, of about a mile in length, and half a mile in breadth, including within its area the strong village of Ferozshuhr, the shorter sides looking towards the Sutledge and Moodkee, and the long one towards Ferozpoor and the open country.* But the Sikhs were fuUy prepared to place their guns in position on whatever side the attack should be made. They were thoroughly acquainted with the country ; and knowing by what roads their enemy could advance, they readily prepared for their reception. Thus it mattered not much whether our approach was made on the * The Commander-in- Chiefs Despatch. 598 BATTLE OF rEEOZSIIUHK. [1845. longer or shorter side, though the preparations on the side fronting Ferozpoor showed that it was considered by the Sikhs as the proper front of their position. " The ground in front, like that at Moodkee, was jun- gly ; the three divisions of the British, under the command of Major- General Grilbert, Sir John Littler, and Brigadier "Wallace, were placed in line, with the whole of their artillery in their centre, except three troops of horse-artillery, one on either flank, and one in support. The reserve was under Sir Harry Smith, and with the cavalry formed the second line."* The artillery w^ere ordered to the front, and after a reasonable time had been allowed for the mortar practice, which it was speedily seen would never silence Lai Singh's guns, our artillery opened their fire to ascertain the posi- tion of the batteries, and the Sikhs then responded. Our artillery then made a nearer advance, protected by the w^hole of our infantry. AYhen several hundred yards nearer, our guns were unlimbered, and several rounds of shot fired ; this was repeated until they approached within tliree hundred yards of the batteries. Then, seeing that these Sikh guns could not be silenced, the infantry ad- vanced amidst a murderous shower of shot and grape, and captured them with matchless gallantry.f In the advance, Greneral Littler' s division, marching direct on the village, edged away to the left, and caused an open- ing in the line between its right and Brigadier Wallace's division. Littler' s division, led with the greatest valour by its general, when close up to the enemy's batteries, which fired volleys of grape, was compelled to retire ; the left brigade of the reserve, under Sir Harry Smith, was ordered forward to fill up the opening, and advanced on the village with great energy. Wallace's and Grilbert' s divisions forming the right and centre, were completely successful, but when all the batteries of the Sikhs seemed to be within our grasp, the night set in (and there is no twilight in India), the dry forage in the camp was on fire, the loose powder exploded in all directions, and it was impossible under these circumstances to retain the occupation of the enemy's batteries, which had been so gallantly won. All military order and discipline must have been lost, and the troops were directed to form about 150 yards from the enemy's * The Commander-in-Chiefs Despatch. f Ibid. 1845.] BATTLE OF FEEOZSIIUHE. 599 camp, lying down in contiguous columns at quarter-distance. Sir Harry Smith's di^^ision pushed on to the village and maintained itself there till about 10 o'clock at night, when, not knowing the position of the troops on his right, he retii'ed. Sir Jolm Littler's division having advanced against the strongest part of the work, suffered severely, especially her majesty's 62nd regiment, having seventeen officers killed and wounded, out of twenty-three. Having done everytliing that men could do, they were obliged to retii^e. Just before dark, the gallant 3rd dragoons, who were on the extreme right, were ordered to charge; never for a moment considering the propriety of such an order, which was given by a staft-officer, now no more, they dashed head- long into the Sikh camp, carrying terror into the Sikh ranks, but at the same time losing ten officers and 120 valuable men out of about 400. About twelve o'clock at night, the Sikhs, finding that Sir Harry Smith had been forced to retire from the village, and that their batteries were not occupied, brought some guns to bear upon our column, the fire from which was very destructive. The governor-general moimted his horse and called to the 80th regiment, which was at the head of the column, " My lads, we shall have no sleep until we take those guns." The regiment deployed immediately, advanced, supported by the 1st Bengal Europeans, and drove a large body of Sikhs from three guns, which they spiked. The regiment then retired and took up its position again at the head of the column as steadily as if on a parade, much to the admiration of the governor-general and commander- in-chief, the former of whom exclaimed, as they passed him, " Plucky dogs, plucky dogs, we cannot fail to win with such men as these." Tor the rest of the night our column was left comparatively unmolested, but it cannot be denied, that its position was one of danger great danger. Darkness had covered our ranks while the scarcely thinned foe, driven from his foremost intrenchments, had still a formidable artillery remaining intact ; and where were our battalions ? Both Sir John Littler and Sir Harry Smith had been com- pelled to retire, and in the darkness the direction was not known to the governor-general or commander-in-chief. They were left, with not more than 8,000 men, within 150 yards of an enemy's camp, whose strength they had no means of ascertaining. It could not be known whether 600 BATTLE OF rEEOZSlIUHK. [1845. Tej Singh, had during tlie action or during the night, marched up to reinforce Lai Singh. The noisy tramping of men, the fire of musketry and artillery, was continued by the Sikhs during the night, and in the morning the expectation most probable was, that the British army would have to encounter the svhole concentrated force of the enemy. In this state of things, the commander-in-chief and the governor-general determined to hold their ground, to wait patiently till the morning dawned, then to attack the enemy's batteries, if they still held them, by taking them in reverse, to make one united effort by a simultaneous attack, to beat them, or to die honourably in the field. The gallant commander-in-chief, kind-hearted, heroically brave, quite agreed with the governor-general. If ever confidence was inspired to troops by the conduct of their leaders, it was by Sir Henry Hardinge and Sir Hugh Gough on that occasion. They knew that the struggle would be severe, but cheered all around them with the certainty of success. The whole of Sir Henry Hardinge' s personal staff having been put liors ie combat, except his son Captain A. Hardinge, Avho, however, had had his horse killed under him, Captain West of the commander-in-chief's staff officiated as his aide-de-camp. By daylight the British troops had deployed into line, and all arrangements for renewing the attack being made, the commander-in-chief put himself in front of the right of the line ; Sir Henry Hardinge did the same on the left, and keeping thirty yards in front of the line to pre- vent the troops from firing, they advanced against the Sikh batteries ; the troops being told not to fire, of they would kill the governor-general. The commander-in-chief also led the right in front of his men, and the line advanced at a steady pace scarcely firing a shot. The opposition was slight, most of the guns being taken in reverse, and wheeling round past the village of Eerozshuhr, the British line swept down the whole left and rear of the enemy's position, halting when they had cleared the works at the opposite extremity. The two chiefs now rode down the line, and the regimental colours dropped, and saluted the governor-general, and the men cheered as they passed. The two chiefs must at that moment have felt a proud satisfaction and some recompense for the pre- vious hours of anxiety, but these feelings were of short duration, for we had scarcely secured the enemy's guns^. ^^845.] GLOEIOUS YICTORT. 601 seventy-four in number, before Tej Singh appeared in view^ showing the policy of making the attack at the earliest moment that returning light enabled the commander-in- chief to do so. Littler's and Smith's divisions had now rejoined the commander-in-chief and the enemy was daunted by his defeat, the beaten force retiring on their countrymen coming up, brought dismay into their ranlvs. "Within a mile and a half of their captured camp they halted, fired several hundred rounds from their zumbooruks, or camel- swivels, and after several demonstrations and a distant cannonade, withdrew about three o'clock. The first roll of the tide of invasion had now been resisted, and the beaten enemy scarcely halted until he had placed the Sutledge between him and his victorious opponent. The commander-in-chief was too weak in cavalry to follow up the enemy, having had at the commencement of the action only 2,600, and some by this time had gone into Ferozpoor, and those who remained on the field having been nearly forty-eight hours \^ithout food or water, were completely exhausted. The artillery also had consumed a very large proportion of their round shot, in the attack of the enemy, under these circumstances men and horses being completely worn out, it was most judicious to be satisfied with the great victory gained, and forcing Tej Singh to retire on the Sutledge. Such hard-contested fields cannot be gained with- out loss ; ours amongst the Europeans was severe, having 488 killed, and 1,103 wounded. The total loss was 694 killed and 1,721 wounded, of whom 595 died subsequently, or were disabled. Every exertion was now made to alleviate the sufferings of the wounded, and by noon on the 23rd, they were all in quarters at Eerozpoor, and quilts and cots were furnished in abundance. In fact, it was almost incredible how the commissariat and executive departments could supply so much comfort in such a short space of time. The woiuided owe much to the unwearied efforts of Captain "W. B. Thomson and Lieutenant Groodwyn (who responded to every call), for their comparatively snug con- dition on the 23rd and 24th, and it was a gratifying sight to the governor-general, when he visited them, to find so much comfort where he anticipated so little. He gene- rously gave strict orders, that everything required should be supplied, and without the usual formality of an indent. 602 SIR n. HAEDINGE AND THE WOUNDED. [1845. Sir Henry Hardinge visited all the wounded men and officers, and had a cheerful word for all. If a poor man had lost an arm, the governor-general consoled him by pointing to his own empty sleeve, and assuring him he would soon be all right. If a soldier had had a leg shot away or shattered, he reminded him that one of his sons, who was with him, and who went into battle at his side, had long had only one foot. The men were delighted at the urbanity and kindness shown towards them by the governor of India, and for a time forgot their own sufferings in the admira- tion which his kindness elicited.* Sir Henry visited the poor sufferers again and again, and watched over their wel- fare with a solicitude that could not have been surpassed if they had been his own children. During the terrible night he had spent in the Sikh camp, he had shared the privations of the soldiers, and had suffered pangs unknown to them, for the fate of his whole army, the fate perhaps of all India, was hanging on a thread. The commander-in- chief. Sir Hugh Grough, whose arduous military duties did not allow him to visit the wounded until some days later, did everything in his power to cheer the men, praising their undaunted bravery in one of the hardest battles ever fought in India. He spoke to aU and listened to all, and did his utmost to gratify their every wish. Major Somerset, military secretary to the governor- general, on the morning of the 22nd, was borne to the rear mortally wounded, " while conducting himself with the hereditary courage of his race." f Major Broadfoot, poli- tical agent, also fell ; "he was brave as he was able in every branch of the political and military service." J Major Broadfoot was the last of three brave brothers, who held appointments in the Company's army and fell in battle. Captain P. Nicholson, assistant political agent from Feroz- poor, was also killed in the action of the 21st. AVith the exception of Captain Mills, who took the command of a troop of horse- artillery, all the political agents were either killed or wounded in this fierce struggle. Among the other truly distinguished officers who perished were Colonel Wal- lace, Captain Thomas Box, " a soldier every inch of him," Captain D'Arcy Todd, Major Baldwin, a peninsular officer, and Lieutenants PoUard and Bernard. Pollard had been wounded at Moodkee ; but no persuasion could prevent his * Dr. Macgregor's ' History of the Sikhs,' &c. + Sir Henry Hardinge's Despatch. J Ibid. 1845.] THE 62nd justified. 603 again joining his gallant regiment, her majesty's 31st. Among those who shared the dangers of this battle were Prince Waldemar of Prussia, and his staff. Counts Grueben and Oriolo, and Dr. Hoffmeister ; the last officer was unfor- tunately killed by a grape-shot. Prince AValdemar left the field on the morning of the 22nd, at the request of the governor-general, who was unwilling that a foreign prince should be further subjected to the risk of losing his life. The issue of the battle was not then decided ; but fortu- nately the prince returned to Perozepoor, and had the satisfaction of knowing, that though the British had a fierce foe to contend with, victory had decided for them.* Pine phrases would be thrown away upon conduct and heroism such as were displayed at Perozpoor. The plain professional despatches of Sir Henry Hardinge and Sir Hugh Grough form the best eulogium. All behaved nobly. Un- fortuately, in the hurry of the moment. Sir John Littler, in his despatch, used the words " panic-struck" as applicable to her majesty's 62nd regiment, and attributed some irreso- lution on the part of the native regiments in his division to the example of the 62nd. The charges were groundless. Before the 62nd fell back, it had seven officers killed and ten wounded, seventy-six rank and file killed and 154 wounded. The regiment was numerically weak ; its loss was greater than that of any other European regiment present. Both the governor-general and commander-in-chief did all they could to remove the injurious impression ; and at home, in the House of Lords, the duke of AVellington stood manfully forward to vindicate the fame of the heroic band, and apply balm to their wounded pride. Great pains were taken by the Sikh army to con- ceal from the durbar the extent of their discomfiture ; but much anxiety and irresolution were believed to prevail at Lahore.f They believed that our army would follow up its advantages by crossing the river immediately and marching on the capital ; but this was a movement not to be thought of without a powerful battering train, more European troops, and especially more cavalry. It was now vrisely resolved to wait for the battering train, moving upwards with the 16th lancers, the 9th lancers, and her majesty's 10th and 53rd regiments of foot, which, with the 43rd and 59th regiments * Dr. Macgregor. t Note from the Governor-General to the Secret Committee of the East-India Company, dated January 1, 1846. 604- BATTLE OF ALIWAL. [1846. of native infantry, had composed the Meerut force under Sir John Grey. Upon this seeming indecision of the British, the Sikhs resolved to make another effort to maintain their position on the left bank of the Sutledge ; and for this purjDose, they began to construct a new bridge of boats, not very far from the spot where they crossed the river after ha-vong been driven from Perozshuhr. Our army of the Sutledge was sta- tioned somewhat from the river, and no opposition was oftered by them. The bridge of boats was soon constructed, and a tefe-de-pont thrown up in front of it with much mili- tary skill, in a position very favourable to defence. The opposite banks were high, and the river, where the bridge was laid, made a slight curve inwards ; so as to throw the oppo- site banks sufficiently forward to afford protection to both flanks of the advanced position from heavy artillery placed in battery. Above the bridge, and not far from it, was a good ford, which facilitated the communication with the forces on the opposite bank. Advantage had also been taken of the paucity of our troops at Loodiana, to effect a passage for a force of about 10,000 men of all arms, in the neighbourhood of that town. No attack was made either on the town or cantonment of Loodiana ; the object of this force appeared to be rather to intrench itself near the place at which it crossed, -in order to obstruct our progress and to cut off the passage of supplies en route to Ferozpoor, and to intercept the communication between the posts. As soon as the Meerut force joined the commander-in-chief's camp, imme- diate measures were taken to reinforce the Loodiana post and the station at Busseean ; some native infantry, some light cavalry, and some guns, were sent thither, and the sick, the women, and the children were removed thence to Umballa. Meanwhile, Sir Harry Smith had been detached to reduce Dhunnkote, and keep open the communication for supplies and ammunition from our rear. Sir Harry was now reinforced, and having soon with him 7,000 men and twenty-four guns, it was confidently believed that he could at one and the same time relieve Loodiana and protect the whole of our rear. Dhurmkote was evacuated at Sir Harry's approach. In marching from Jugraon to Loodiana, Sir Harry lost a good deal of his baggage, and sustained some heavy fusilades, which he did not wait to return. His troops were much harassed when l^e reached Loodiana. His pre- w 6!] BATTLE OF ALIWAL. 605 sence put an end to the consternation whicli was becoming general in that part of the country. The Sirdar Eunjoor Singh had strongly intrenched himself at Aliwal, about eight miles to the westward of Loodiana ; he had 15,000 men and fifty-six guns, and, on the evening of the 26th of January, he received a reinforcement of twelve guns and 4,000 regular troops. Sir Harry Smith most gallantly attacked the Sikhs on the 28th of January, with not more than 10,000 men in all. The right of the Sikh force rested on Bundree, and their left on Aliwal, they had advanced a short distance from their intrenched camp and cannonaded the British for half an hour, until our brave fellows stormed the village of Aliwal the key of their position. The whole of the British line then began to advance. Her majesty's 16th lancers charged in the most gallant style, but the Sikhs lay down on the ground, and the lancers could not well reach them, while they either fired their muskets at the 16th, or cut despe- rately at men and horses with their keen swords. This dis- tinguished cavalry regiment had upwards of 100 men killed and wounded. The great mass of Sikh infantry could be broken only by our artillery. One Sikh cannon after another was captured. So ably were the orders of attack conducted, each column and line arriving at its point of attack to the very moment, that the enemy were soon driven headlong back over the river ; and all the Sikh guns were captured or destroyed. Only one gun was carried by the Sikhs to the opposite bank, and there it was spiked by Lieutenant Holmes, of the irregular cavalry, and Grunner Scott, of the horse-artillery, who forded the river in pursuit. The victory was complete, and the confusion among the Sikhs great. Camp carriages, munitions of war, aU things that Eunjoor Singh had brought with him, were captured. These were indeed "glorious operations;" this was indeed a "com- plete and decisive victory." * It cost us in aU 151 killed and 413 wounded. There was now for a short time a perfect lull in the cam- paign. The Sikhs at Sobroan went on strengthening their position, and adding to their guns on their tete-de-jjont ; and Sir Hugh Grough waited for his artillery and reinforce- ments. Erom the 14th of January till the beginning of * Despatches of the Governor-General, Sir Harry Smith, and Sir Hugh Gough. Macgregor's ' History of the Sikhs.' 606 GREAT BATTLE [1846. Pebruaiy, the enemy were industriously employed in build- ing their defences, under the direction, it is said, of a Spanish engineer. The army under Sir Charles Napier, which had been assembled at Sukkur, by order of the gover- nor-general, consisting of 16,000 men, was moving up the left bank of the Sutledge, towards Ferozpoor, and would have proved, had the war lasted, a most valuable reinforcement to the army of the Sutledge. It had by this time reached Bha- wulpoor opposite Mooltan, and as the nawab of that place had intimated to the British government his intention of remaining neuter and of taking no part in the war, the governor-general feeling that the blow must be struck and the contest decided at Lahore, requested Sir Charles Napier to come on with his staff in advance of his army, and to join him without delay, being desirous of having the assistance of that distinguished officer in the pending struggle. Sir Charles Napier did not, unfortunately, arrive in time to participate in the glories of Sobraon, but came up with the army at Lahore. On the 9th of February, the heavy guns from Delhi reached the commander-in-chief's camp ; on the 8th, Sir Harry Smith had rejoined head-quarters from Aliwal. After the battle of Ferozshuhr, the governor-general had taken up his quarters at Eerozpoor, occasionally riding to the commander-in-chief's camp, which was now twenty- four miles distant from Ferozpoor, to confer with his excellency. In one of these rides, the governor-general's horse fell, and so severely contused the governor-general's thigh that he was obliged to be taken in his carriage to the field on the morning of the 10th. The enemy's works were very strong, and although on the first intelligence of the battle of Aliwal, and at sight of the numerous bodies which floated from the neighbourhood of that battle-field down to the bridge of boats at Sobraon, the Sikhs seemed much shaken and disheartened, they now appeared to be as confident as ever of being able to defy us in their intrenched position, and to prevent our passage of the river. The soldiers were chiefly those who had been trained by the Trench and Italian officers. They had strong walls, only to be surmounted by scaling-ladders, which afibrded a secure protection for triple lines of musketry. In all they were 34,000 men, with seventy pieces of artillery; their position was united by a good bridge to a reser\^e of 20,000 1846.] OF soBEAOis^ 607 on the opposite bank, on which was a considerable camp and some artillery commanding and flanking the field-works on the side of the British.* The force under Sir Hugh Gough consisted of 6,533 Euro- peans and 9,691 natives, making a total of 16,224 rank and file, and ninety-nine guns. Sir Hugh ordered this force tO' march at half-past three o'clock on the morning of Tuesday, the 10th of February, when his men would be fresh, and there would be a certainty of many hours of daylight. To- pass another night like that which had been spent within the enemy's camp at Ferozshuhr, was by all means to be avoided. The troops began to move out of camp at the very moment appointed, and they marched in silence to their destination. Sir Hugh was now much stronger in cavalry, and very strong in artillery. He at once put his battering and disposable artillery in position in an extended semicircle, embracing within its fire the works of the Sikhs. It had been intended that the cannonade should have com- menced at daybreak, but so heavy a mist hung over the plain and river, that it became necessary to wait. It was half- past six before the whole of our artillery fire was developed. " Nothing could be conceived grander than the effect of the batteries when they opened, as the cannonade passed along from the Sutledge to Little Sobraon, in one continued roar of guns and mortars ; while, ever and anon, the rocket, like a spirit of fire, winged its rapid flight high above the batteries in its progress towards the Sikh intrenchment. "Well might the commander-in-chief call the opening of the cannonade ' most spirited and well directed.' The Sikh guns responded with shot and shells, but neither appeared to do much execution ; the latter were seen bursting in mid-air ere they reached the British batteries ; while some of the shot passed over Rhodawala, and struck the ground in front of General Gilbert's division. It now became a grand artillery concert, and the infantry divisions and bri- gades looked on with a certain degree of interest, somewhat aUied, however, to vexation, lest the artillery should have the whole work to themselves ! The commander-in-chief, however, was determined to give full play to an arm which he did not possess to an efficient extent in other hard- fought battles. It was reported, that the guns were to play * Commander-in-Chief's Despatch. 608 BATTLE OF [1846. for four hours at least ; but there is some reason to believe, that the rapid firing had nearly exhausted the ammunition before half that time had elapsed ; and it was once more to be proved, that the British infantry were not to remain mute spectators of a battle. ' Notwithstanding,' wrote the commander-in-chief, ' the formidable calibre of our guns, mortars, and howitzers, and the admirable way in which they were served, and aided by a rocket battery, it would have been visionary to expect that they could have silenced the fire of seventy pieces, behind well-constructed batteries of earth, planks, and fascines, or dislodge troops, covered either by redoubt or epaulments, or within a treble line of trenches.' "* Compared with Ferozshuhr, the worka at Sobraon were regular fortifications, in the construction of whicli no labour had been spared. The utmost ingenuity of the Sikhs and their European advisers had been exerted to render this, their last stronghold, impregnable. A French ofiicer is said to have assured Tej Singh that it was utterly impossible for the British to make good their entrance. The British were now about to try with the musket and the bayonet. "At nine o'clock, Brigadier Stacey's brigade, supported on 'either flank by Captains Horford's and Fordyce's batteries, and Lieutenant- Colonel Lane's troop of horse- artillery, moved to the attack in admirable order. The infantry and guns aided each other correlatively. The former marched steadily on in line, which they halted only to correct when necessary; the latter took up successive positions at the gallop, until at length they were within three hundred yards of the heavy batteries of the Sikhs. But notwith- standing the regularity and coolness, and the scientific character of this assaiilt, which Brigadier "Wilkinson well supported, so hot was the fire of cannon, musketry, and zumbooruks,t kept up by the Khalsa troops, that it seemed for some moments impossible that the intrenchment could be won under it." X There was a temporary check or pause, " but soon persevering gallantry triumphed, and the whole army had the satisfaction to see the gallant Brigadier Stacey's soldiers driving the Sikhs in confusion before them within the area of their encampment." Every im- * Dr. Macgregor's * History of the Sikhs.' f Guns mounted on camels, and carrying a pound shot. J The Commander-in-Chief's Despatches. Ibid. k46 .] SOBRAO>". 609 pediment was cleared, the intrencliments were passed, and our matchless infantry stood erect and compact within the Sikh camp. " Her Majesty's 10th, 53rd, and 80th regi- ments, with the 3:3rd, 43rd,* 59th, and 63rd native infantry, moving at a firm and steady pace, never fired a shot till they had passed the barriers opposed to them a forbearance much to he commended, and most worthy of constant imitation, to whicli may he attrihuted tlie success of their first effort, and the small loss they sustained. This attack was crowned with all the success it deserved, and, led by its gallant commander, Major-G-eneral Sir Robert Dick, obtained the admiration of the army, which witnessed its disciplined valour. When checked by the formidable obstacles and superior numbers to which the attacking division was op- posed, the second division, under Major- Greneral Grilbert, afibrded the most opportune assistance by rapidly advan- cing to the attack of the enemy's batteries, entering their fortified position after a severe struggle, and sweeping through the interior of the camp. This division inflicted a very severe loss on the retreating enemy."* "We hap- pened to be with a portion of Gilbert's division," says Doctor M'Grregor, " when the order arrived from the governor-general, and the troops immediately advanced. Onward they went ; but, if intended to support Stacey on the right of the enemy's position, they missed the object, for they imfortunately came in front of the centre and strongest portion of the encampment,, unsupported either by artillery or cavalry. Her Majesty's 29th and the .1st European light infantry, with undaunted bravery rushed forward, crossed a dry nullah, and found themselves exposed to one of the hottest fires of musketry that can possibly be imagined ; and what rendered it still more galling was, that the Sikhs were themselves concealed behind high walls, over which the European soldiers could not climb. To remain under such a fire without the power of return- ing it with any effect would have been madness the men would have been annihilated. Thrice did her Majesty's 29th regiment charge the works, and thrice were they obliged to retire, each time followed by the Sikhs, who spared none, and cut to pieces the wounded. Similar v/as the fate of the 1st European light infantry, who, in retiring, * General order by the Governor- General of India, dated Camp, Kessoora, February 14th, 184G. 2ii 610 BATTLE or [1846. had their ranks thinned bj musketry, and their wounded men and officers cut up by the savage Sikhs. To the latter, the nullah presented an admirable defence, for the slope was towards them, while the Europeans on the high bank were completely exposed. At length the second divi- sion, which at Terozshuhr had driven the Sikhs before them, capturing their guns at the point of the bayonet, and entering their encampment, were led to the right of the intreuchment at Sobraon."* This second division was emulated by the first division under Sir Harry Smith, which dashed against the enemy's left. Yet was it not until some of the 3rd dragoons, under Major-G-eneral Sir Joseph Thackwell, had moved forward and ridden through the openings of the intrenchments in single file, and re- formed as they passed them ; and galloped over and cut down the obstinate defenders of batteries and field-works ; and the weight of three entire divisions of infantry, with every field artillery gun which could be sent to their aid ; it was not until all this had been cast into the scale, that victory finally declared for the British. The fire of the Sikhs slackened, then ceased nearly altogether; and the victors, pressing them on every side, swept them in masses aver the bridge of boats, and into the Sutledge, which a sud- den rise of seven inches had rendered scarcely fordable. In their efforts to reach the right bank through the deep- ened water, they suffered a terrible carnage from our horse- artillery. Hundreds fell imder this cannonade; hundreds upon hundreds were drowned in attempting the perilous passage. This awful slaughter would have excited compas- sion, had they not, in the earlier part of the action, sullied their bravery by slaughtering and mangling every wounded soldier whom the fortune of war left at their mercy. "The enemy's shattered forces," says the governor-general, " were driven into the river, with a loss which far exceeded that which the most experienced officers had ever witnessed. Thus terminated, in the brief space of two hours, this most remarkable conflict, in which the military combinations of the commander-in-chief were fully and ably carried into effect. The enemy's select regiments of regular infantry have been dispersed, and a large proportion destroyed, with the loss, since the campaign began, of 220 pieces of artil- lery taken in action." f * History of the Sikhs.' f General order. 1846.] SOBRAON. 611 "Within the intrencliments above sixtj-seven guns were captured, together with upwards of 200 camel-swivels and numerous standards. Before the hour of noon this great battle was over. It might, indeed, be well termed a glorious fight, and complete in its results. The battles of Moodkee, Ferozshuhi', and Aliwal, had weakened the power of the Sikhs, but the battle of Sobraon had completely- broken it. It was, of course, bought at a dear price. Her Majesty's 29th regiment alone exhibited a loss in killed and woimded of thirteen ofiicers, eight Serjeants, and 157 rank and file. The loss of the 1st European light infantry was still heavier. Her Majesty's 31st, which had fought most nobly at Moodkee, Ferozshuhr, and Aliwal, had seven officers and 147 rank and file killed and wounded at Sobraon. Her Majesty's 50th, or Queen's Own, had twelve officers and 227 rank and file killed and wounded. Her Majesty's 10th foot lost three officers, three Serjeants, and 127 rank and file. These regiments suffered the most ; but other regiments suffered severely. The total loss was 320 killed, 2,063 wounded. The brave Sir Eobert Dick, who led the attack on the intrenchments, received a mortal wound after he had entered them ; " thus fell, most gloriously, at the moment of victory, this veteran officer, displaying the same energy and intrepidity as when, thirty-five years ago in Spain, he was the distinguished leader of the 42nd Highlanders." Brigadier Charles Cyril Taylor, who commanded the third brigade of the second division, also fell. Brigadier MacLaren was borne off* the field mortally wounded, while leading the fourth brigade of the centre di\dsion against the strongest part of the intrench- ments. AVhen put into his bed, he said he must cross the Sutledge with the gallant European light infantry, even though he were carried in a dooly. Major- General Grilbert was slightly wounded; and the gallant veteran Colonel liyan, of the 50th, was severely wounded. Fearful had been the loss of the Sikhs. Five days after the action, and when the walls of the intrenchment had been nearly levelled with the ground, the sand-bank in the middle of the river was completely covered with their dead bodies, and the ground within their encampment thickly strewed with carcases of men and horses. With the per- mission of the commander-in-chief, Sir Hugh Gough, they returned to carry off" their dead ; but the task was found 2b 2 612 TEKMINATION OF [1846. too irksome, and many hundreds, not swept away by the river, were left as food for the jackal, the wild dog, and the vulture. Scarcely was the action over when the governor-general despatched his military secretary, Lieutenant-Colonel Wood, with the tidings of victory to Sir John Grey, who was stationed half-way between Ferozpoor and Sobraon with two regiments of cavalry, three of infantry, and a field battery. Having directed Sir .fohn Grey to move with his force immediately to the ghaut opposite Ferozpoor, the military secretary proceeded to Ferozpoor, which he reached in an hour and twenty minutes, the distance from the field of action being twenty-four miles. He carried orders to Sir John Littler (who had been warned the day before to be ready) to march with every available man to the ghaut, and before daylight the next morning six regi- ments of native infantry and six guns had, by means of six country boats, crossed the Sutledge, at a point nearer to the capital than where the debris of the Sikh army was stationed. On the following day the bridge of boats was nearly completed by the able and indefatigable Major Abbott, of the engineers. Had the British then followed up the Sikhs, they might have made their way without resistance to Lahore, and have there renewed the conflict ; but such was not the intention of our commanders, and the capital of the Punjaub was destined to be occupied by the British without any repetition of the life-consuming strug- gles which had occurred on the left bank of the Sutledge. H pressed, they would have fought hard in their despair ; but the vaunted power of the Sikhs was in reality de- stroyed. Sham Singh, Dhubal Singh, Hera Singh, Kishen Singh, Mobaruck Ali, Newaz Khan, all their bravest sirdars and leaders, had perished. The discomfited warriors who survived, being left to themselves, began to disperse. Our army quietly crossed the river, and took undisputed possession of Kussoor, which in former times had twice defied the power of Runjeet Singh. On the 14th of Feb- ruary the governor-general announced by proclamation, dated from Kussoor, that the British army had crossed the Sutledge, and entered the Punjaub, "in accordance with the intentions expressed in the proclamation of the 13th December last, as having been forced upon him for the purpose of 'efiectually protecting the British provinces 1846.] THE PUNJAUB WAR. 613 and vindicating the authority of the British government, and punishing the violators of treaties and the disturbers of the public peace.' " Military operations against the government and army of the Lahore state had not been undertaken by tlie government of India from any desire of territorial aggrandizement. The ranee, or mother of the maharajah, forthwith sent emissaries to the governor-general; and Grhoolab Singh, whose wily policy we have explained, and who was now determined to carry it through, at whatever sacrifice, on the part of the Sikhs, became the mediator between the fallen state of Lahore and our victorious army. He pro- ceeded with all expedition towards Kussoor, to endeavour, if possible, to arrest the progress of our troops ; but his intentions and hopes were frustrated, for the governor- general indignantly refused to enter into any separate compact with him, or to listen to any arrangement which would prevent him from sealing any treaty that might be made under the walls of Lahore. Having failed in pre- venting the advance of the British, Grhoolab Singh changed his tactics, and determined on bringing the young maha- rajah, Dhuleep Singh, into the governor-general's camp. The parties met at LuUeeana. Out of respect for the late !Runjeet Singh, and the tender years of his grandson. Sir Henry Hardinge, after Dhuleep Singh had made his sub- mission, treated him with high honours, and \^'ith the utmost kindness. He repeated to the prince his earnest wish that a wise and tranquil government should exist in the Punjaub under the descendants of the late Eunjeet, who had preserved a strict alliance with the British for a period of thirty years. The heads of a treaty were soon slvetched and agreed to. The government of Lahore was to pay, as an indemnity for tlie expense of the war, a crore and a half of rupees, or about one million five hundred thousand pounds sterling.* AU the guns we had taken were to be retained, and all those which the Sikhs had ever pointed against the British were to be given up. The troops and their turbulent leaders were to be disbanded for ever. Thus ended the first Punjaub war. The British army at Lahore amounted only to 24,115 men of all arms, of which * The Jullundur doab, the district between the Beas and Sutledge, was confiscated and proclaimed British territory. 614 SIB HENRY HARD Inge's [1847. 4,424 only were European inftmtry, and with, the exception of 1,466 in progress from Scinde, there was not another effective European infjintry soldier within 1,000 miles of Lahore. With such a force annexation of the Punjaub was impossible. The campaign had lasted sixty days. It cost, including the donation of a year's batta to the troops, about two millions sterling, the Lahore durbar and Grhoolab Singh paid an indemnity of a million and a half, and the revenue of the territory which the British government confiscated amounted, after all expenses, to about half a million annually. In a pecuniary point of view, therefore, this was the cheap- est war that was ever waged, as well as the shortest. The Sikh army was reduced from 100,000 men and 370 field guns, to about 30,000 and fifty field guns, 256 of their best guns having been captured by the British army. The most lucrative part of their territory, the JuUundur, had been con- fiscated to the British, and their hill states given to Grhoolab Singh, curtailing the Sikhs of more than one-third of their territory and nearly one-third of their resources. In this state, the treaty having been signed on the 8th of March, the governor-general would have left them ; but a few days before the British army was to march, the chief sirdars waited on the governor-general, and requested him to leave a garrison at Lahore, to protect them from their own law- less countrymen ; at the same time stating, that if he did not do so, they would retire with the British army. The governor-general, feeling that it was the duty of the para- mount power of India, as well as an act of humanity, to assist them in the reconstruction of a government, consented to garrison Lahore for one year, and Sir J. Littler was left with 10,000 men, not without many forebodings on the part of the military men of high rank, that a second Cabul dis- aster was sure to be the fate of this garrison. So convinced, however, the governor-general appears to have been that it was his duty to comply with the request of the sirdars, that, notwithstanding these forebodings, he consented. At the expiration of the year the' council of sirdars for the administration of the government again came forward and solicited the governor-general to allow the British gar- rison to continue the occupation of Lahore, which led to the treaty of Bhyrowal. Our army had advanced to Kanwa Kutchwa on the 19th of February, the governor-general having first issued (from 1847.] TEEATY OF PEACE. 615 Lulleeana on the' 18th) to the chiefs, merchants, traders, ryots, and other inhabitants of Lahore and TJmritsir, a pro- clamation, assuring them that the maharajah and durbar had acquiesced in all the terms proposed to them, as a means of re-establishing friendly relations ; that they, the chiefs, merchants, traders, peasants, &c., had nothing to fear from the British army ; and that they might, in all confidence, pursue their ordinary occupations. On the morning of the 20th, the whole army marched to Lahore a distance of fourteen miles and encamped on the parade-ground, about two and a half miles from the city gate ; and, in the after- noon of that same day, the young maharajah, Dhuleep Singh, was restored to the palace of the rulers of Lahore, in charge of the chief secretary of our government, escorted by British officers and troops in their best attire. On alighting from his elephant, a salute of twenty-one guns was fired by the horse-artillery. The secretary of government, and the officers, took leave of the maharajah at the palace gate, and then returned to the camp. On the 22nd, in fulfUraent of one of Sir Henry Hardinge's conditions. Sir Hugh Grough, with a brigade, took formal and peaceful possession of the Padshahee-Musjid and Huzooree-Bagh, which formed part f the citadel of Lahore. Supplies of all sorts were willingly rought to this brigade as well as to the camp ; and the observance of a strict discipline by all our troops entirely removed the apprehensions and doubts of the people.* On the 8th of March, the following treaty was signed in the state-tent of the governor-general : " Article I. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between the British government on the one part, and Maharajedi Dhuleep Singh, bis heirs and successors, on the other. " Article II. The maharajah of Lahore renounces for himself, his heirs and successors, all claim to, or connection with, the territories lying to the south of the river Sutledge, and engages never to have any concern with those territories or the inhabitants thereof. " Article III, The maharajah cedes to the Honourable Company, in perpetual sovereignty, all his forts, territories, and rights, in the Doab, or country, hill and plain, situated between the rivers Beas and Sutledge. " Article IV, The British government having demanded from the Lahore state, as indemnification for the expenses of the war, in addition to the cession of territory described in Article III,, payment of one and a half crore of rupees ; and the Lahore government, being unable to pay the whole of this sum at this time, ought to give security satisfactory to the British government for its eventual payment, the maharajah cedes to * Despatches of the Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief. 616 SIE HENRY haedinge's [1847. the Honourable Company, in perpetual sovereignty, as equivalent for one crore of rupees, all his forts, territories, rights, and interests, in the hill countries which are situated between the rivers Beas and Indus, in- cluding the provinces of Cashmere and Hazarah. " Article V. The maharajah will pay to the British government the sum of fifty lakhs of rupees on or before the ratification of this treaty. " Article VI. The maharajah engages to disband the mutinous troops of the Lahore army, taking from them their arms ; and his highness agrees to re-organize the regular or Aeen regiments of infantry, upon the system, and according to the regulations, as to pay and allowances, observed in the time of the late Maharajah Runjeet Singh. The maha- rajah further engages to pay up allowances to the soldiers that are dis- charged, under provision* of this article. " Article VII. The regular army of the Lahore state shall hence- forth be limited to twenty-five battalions of infantry , consisting of 800 bayonets each, with 12,000 cavalry ; this number at no time to be ex- ceeded, without the concurrence of the British government ; and should it be necessary at any time, for any special cause, that this force should be increased, the cause shall be fully explained to the British government; and when the especial necessity shall have passed, the regular troops shall be again reduced to the standard specified in the former clause of this article. *' Article VIII. The maharajah will surrender to the British go- vernment all the guns, thirty-six in number, which have been pointed against the British troops, and which, having been placed on the right bank of the river Sutledge, were not captured at the battle of Sobraon. ** Article IX. The control of the rivers Beas and Sutledge, with the continuations of the latter river, commonly called the Garrah and Pun- jnud, to the confluence of the Indus, at Mithunkote, and the control of the Indus from Mithunkote to the borders of Beloochistan, shall, in respect to tolls and ferries, rest with the British government. The provisions of this article shall not interfere with the passage of boats belonging to the Lahore government, on the said rivers, for the purposes of traffic, or the conveyance of passengers up and down their course. Regarding the ferries between the two countries respectively, at the several ghauts of the said river, it is agreed, that the British government, after defraying all the expenses of management and establishments, shall account to the Lahore government for one-half of the net profits of the ferry collections. The provisions of this article have no reference to the ferries on that part of the river Sutledge which forms the boundary of Buhawalpore and Lahore respectively. " Article X. If the British government should, at any time, desire to pass troops through the territories of his highness the maharajah for the protection of the British territories, or those of their allies, the British troops shall, on such special occasions, due notice being given, be allowed to pass through the Lahore territories. In such case the officers of the Lahore state will affc^rd facilities in providing supplies and boats for the passage of the rivers ; and the British government will pay the full price of all such provisions and boats, and will make fair compensation for all private property that may be endamaged. The British government will, moreover, observe all due consideration to the religious feelings of the inhabitants of those tracts through which the army may pass. 1847.] TEEATT OF PEACE. * 617 ** Article XI. The maharajah engages never to take or retain in his service any British subject, nor the subject of any European or American state, without the consent of the British government. " Article XII. In consideration of the services rendered by Rajah Gboolab Singh, of Jummoo, to the Lahore state, towards procuring the restoration of the relations of amity between the Lahore and British governments, tlie maharajah hereby agrees to recognize the independent sovereignty of Rajah Ghoolab Singh in such territories and districts in the hills as may be made over to the said Rajah Ghoolab Singh by separate agreement between himself and the British government, with the depen- dencies thereof which may have been in the rajah's possession since the time of the late Maharajah Khurruk Singh ; and the British government, in consideration of the good conduct of Rajah Ghoolab Singh, also agrees to recognize his independence in such territories, and to admit him to the privileges of a separate treaty with the British government. ' Article XIII. In the event of any dispute or difference arising between the Lahore state and Rajah Ghoolab Singh, the same shall be referred to the arbitration of the British government, and by its decision the maharajah engages to abide. " Article XIV. The limits of the Lahore territories shall not be at any time changed, without the concurrence of the British government. " Article XV. The British government will not exercise any inter- feren(;e in the internal administration of the Lahore states, but in all cases or questions which may be referred to the British government, the governor-general will give the aid of his advice and good offices for the furtherance of the interests of the Lahore government. " Article XVI. The subjects of either state shall, on visiting the territories of the other, be on the footing of the subjects of the most favoured nation." The terrible Akbar Kliau lias gone to his account, having been poisoned by some of his own people ; others of those murderous Afghan chiefs have fallen in battle, or under the dagger of the assassin. Pierce destructive wars still rage, both in Lower and in Upper Afghanistan, but scarcely a faint echo of them reaches the Indus. A^iscoimt Hardinge (his wise government and his noble exploits had gained him the peerage), while encouraging by his example the observance of the Christian religion, not only discountenanced interference with the rites of the natives, but also prohibited government officials from involv- ing themselves directly in schemes of conversion. By all legitimate means, and without interfering with the labour of the missionary, he encouraged general education and the enlightenment of the native mind : the rest he wisely left to God and 'to his appointed time. In October,! 1846, he issued a notification prohibiting Sunday labour among the Christians of India. This will be a salutary check to many who, having little to do during the week, from mere listless- 618 CAPTAIN S. C. MACPHEllSOIT [1847. ness and carelessness, were in tlie habit of desecrating the Sabbath, or permitting it to be desecrated by their subordi- nates. The Mussulman and the Hindu, who worship after their own fashion, and who scrupulously observe their own holy days, will have now some evidence that the Christian respects tlie faith he professes. No effort was left untried by his lordship to put down the crimes of infanticide, suttee, and man-stealing. Happily, in the territories of protected chiefs, in central or northern India, several native princes voluntarily came forward and expressed their earnest desire to put an end to these ancient and venerated atrocities. The writer, a distinguished officer, from whom I quote, here adds : " Attention thus excited towards suttee, infanti- cide, and child-stealing, very slight efforts on the part of the government and its officials will surely tend to eradicate the crimes throughout the limits of Hindustan. Some few Hindus may pervert or disregard their own Shasters ; but the more sacred and authoritative of these writings in no way sanction suttee. "We never heard a Hindii pretend to prove that they did, and not many months since a good Brahmin emphatically told the writer of these remarks, that in prohibiting infanticide, we had compensated for permit- ting the crime of cow-kiUing. Be it remerubered that the majority of Hindiis consider a cow's life more sacred than that of a man! " * Among the very many able, energetic, and humane officers and administrators, who aided his lordship in carrying out these noble measures, I believe not one was more distin- guished than my friend Captain Samuel Chartres Macpherson, of the Madras army, whose labours among the cruel Khonds of Goomsur and Boad pursued, at first, under every dis- couragement, at the expense of health, and well nigh to the extinction of life ought never to be overlooked by any writer on British India. In the regions which came under Captain Macpherson' s control, the most horrible of human sacrifices prevailed, and to an extent which appears scarcely credible, though thoroughly well attested by the best evidence, and the concurrent testimony of numerous witnesses. The victims were tortured, and subjected to long and excruciat- ing agonies before they were slain. Children or young people were preferred if they could be kidnapped, pur- * The article in * Calcutta Review,' previously quoted. 1847.] AKD THE KIIOlfDS. 619 chased, or obtained in any other way ; but, in many cases, full-grown men and women, and old people, were immolated after torture. As many as twenty-five full-grown persons have been sacrificed by the Khonds at a single religious festival. A caterer for these impious rites has been kno^vn to deliver up his own two daughters, for want of purchased offerings ; and in some of the Khond districts, those who could not procure other victims, have given up their old and helpless fathers and mothers to the excru- ciating torture and the most horrible of deaths. By the persevering efforts, the prudent, cautious, patient, and wise measures of Captain Macpherson, under Lord Hardinge and his immediate successor, these revolting rites, if not entirely abolished, were vastly diminished, both in G-oomsur and in Boad.* Under Lord Hardinge' s administration, innumerable checks and impediments were removed, and trade was rendered perfectly free throughout British India. Nay, more than this, in almost every native state the worst restrictions were taken off. The octroi or town-duties, not only of such places as Loodiana and Umballa, but of Surat where they yielded eleven lacs of rupees per annum were released, to the infinite benefit of trade and of town- dwelling people. During the forty-two months of the noble lord's most noble administration, it is difficult to say, whether he more shone as a warrior and military adminis- trator, or as a civil administrator and statesman. Possessed of a fine natural taste and a love of the arts, and having with him in his eldest son an accomplished and enthusiastic amateur artist,t his lordship encouraged the preservation and repair of the magnificent works of Oriental architecture, which too many of his predecessors had entirely neglected and had left to the destruction of time, or of barba- rous hands. Through his good taste and unsparing liberality, the exquisite Taj Mahal, and the fort and the palace at Agra, were judiciously repaired. He gave every possible encouragement to the Archaeological Society of Delhi, insti- tuted chiefly for the purpose of exploring the numerous ruins and antiquities of India. He sanctioned and pro- * Capt. Macpherson's account in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. London, 1842. The article on Lord Hardinge's administra- tion, and three other articles, in the * Calcutta Review.' t The Honourable Charles Hardinge. 620 EULOGIUM OF [1847. motcd the scheme of Mr. Thomason for forming a College of Instruction of Civil Engineers at Eurki. Much of India had been already accurately surveyed ; but, as sanctioned by this high-minded and large-hearted governor-general, the grand trigonometrical survey is now extending its operations- into Cashmere, and along the banks of the Indus. By nothing was his lordship more distinguished than by his equanimity, his amenity, his facility in soothing animo- sities (which are too apt to run high in the hot climate of India), and his tact in the management of men's minds. He may be said to have been on excellent terms with almost every individual with whom he had to transact business. Although he expected every man under him to do his duty, and to do it thoroughly, his disapprobation of neglect or slowness was always expressed in so kindly a manner, that it could seldom give offence. His friendship and patronage were bestowed upon none but men of high merit. Nothing but merit had influence with him. Littler, Currie, Elliot, the three Lawrences, Thoresby, Wheeler, Mackeson, Edwardes, MacGrregor, and a host of others, obtained his protection, and have proved how well they merited it.* The year 1847 was one of uninterrupted tranquillity in British India, with one insignificant exception in Scinde. In the Punjaub, in consequence of the intrigues of the ranee to overthrow the regency, it was found expedient to remove that princess, under a military escort, to the fort of Shaik- poor, distant about twenty-five miles from Lahore. Lordllardinge's resignation and departure for England were universally regarded as a calamity. But during his stay of forty-two months, he had conferred inestimable benefits on the country. It was one of his ablest ofiicers who said of him, " We bid adieu to his lordship with every hearty |Tood wish. He found India threatened by invasion, and almost bankrupt. He has, in all senses, righted the vessel, restored confidence to our ranks, to our allies, and our dependants ; replenished the public purse, tranquil- lized the frontier, and brought peace and securit}- to the long-distracted Punjaub. He has already been rewarded ; but a viscounty and a pension is a small portion of his recompense. His best reward is in the conviction of * * Calcutta Review,* and private information. 1847.] VISCOUNT HARBINGE. 621 has honestly and bravely behind him more than a his own noble heart that he done his duty ; that he leaves hundred millions whom he has largely blessed, by enlight- ened and just measures ; and that returning to his native land, he is regretted by those he leaves behind, and warmly welcomed by men of every shade of opinion, as the pacific warrior, the happy statesman ; the man, who, in reality, brought peace to Asia." * * ' Calcutta Review.' 622 EAEL OF DALHOrSIE, GOV.-GENEEAL. [1848. CHAPTER XLL The successor to tlie governor-generalship was the amiable, accomplished, and able earl of Dalhousie. At the parting dinner given to his lordship bj the Court of Direc- tors, the premier of England, addressing him, expressed his conviction " that he would show, as his immediate predecessor. Viscount Hardinge, had shown, that resolution in administering justice, that forbearance towards all neigh- bouring and foreign powers, that attention to the arts of peace, and that sedulous care for the improvement of the internal condition of India, which are compatible with the utmost spirit, the utmost courage, in repelling any aggression that may be made ; meeting and conquering those who choose to constitute themselves the foes of the British empire in India." The earl of Dalhousie took his departure for Calcutta in the month of November. His reception in India was most flattering, for the sweet odour of a good name and of an unblemished reputation had preceded him. He indeed possessed many qualities in com- mon with his immediate predecessor. He was as anxious (and he could not be more so) for the preservation of peace as was Lord Hardinge on his arrival in India ; yet he soon found himself involved in war. We were once more chal- lenged to the contest by a fierce and brave foe, whom we thought we had effectually subdued. At Mooltan, the capital of a district lying between the left bank of the Indus and the right bank of the Sutledge, it was found necessary or expedient to substitute Sirdar Khan Singh as governor for Moolraj, who was believed to have shown intentions hostile to the durbar of Lahore and to the British government. It was believed that Moolraj accepted the liberal conditions offered to him, and fuUy acquiesced in this arrangement ; but when Mr. Vans Agnew, a Bengal 1848.] EENEWAL or WAE. 623 cml servant and assistant to the resident at Lahore, and Lieutenant Anderson, of the Eombay fusiliers, proceeded to Mooltan to complete the arrangement (on the I7th of April), they found discontent and turbulence ; and on the following day both these gentlemen were attacked and desperately wounded. They retired with their weak escort to a small fort outside the town, being accompanied by Sirdar Khan Singh, A fire was opened upon this place of refuge from Mooltan, but owing to the distance, the guns did little mischief. Three days afterwards the Mool- tan troops came out and attacked the fort ; the Sikh garrison within immediately opened the gates, and let in the assailants, and both Mr. Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson were barbarously murdered. So soon as intelligence of these events reached Lahore, a body of 3,000 Sikhs, horse and foot, was ordered to march to Mooltan under the command of Eajah Sheer Singh. It fortunately happened that at this juncture Lieutenant Edwardes was engaged upon the Indus with a very small force, settling the country and collecting the land-tax. On learning the aifair at Mooltan, he re-crossed the river into the Deerajat, whence he wrote to the khan of Bhawul- poor to make a demonstration in order to prevent Moolraj from executing any design against him (Lieutenant Edwardes), or against Colonel Cortlandt, who commanded the exposed garrison of Dhera Ismael Khan. The friendly chief instantly prepared to act. A party of 300 horse had been left by Edwardes east of the Indus, to complete the collection of the revenue at the town of Leiah, where they were attacked on the 18th of May by a body of Mooltan horse with ten light field guns. Being completely defeated, the Mooltan cavalry fled, and left all their guns behind them. Meanwhile Colonel Cortlandt, with his force of about 4,000 men, quitted Dhera Ismael Khan, and proceeded to the southward by the base of the mountains. Being joined on his march by a Beloochee chief with a hundred of his clan, he reduced the fortress of Sunghur, a place to the west of the Indus, the garrison of which retreated upon Mooltan. Lieutenant Edwardes having effected a junction with Colonel Cortlandt, a second engagement took place on the 20th of May, when the enemy were defeated with great 624 EXPLOITS OF EDWABDES AND COETLANDT. [1848. slaughter and with loss of artillery. A considerable portion of the forces serving under Cortlandt and Edwardes were Sikhs ; yet none of them showed any disposition to fra- ternize with the rebels, and all behaved steadily and bravely in battle.* On the 10th and 11th of June Lieutenant Edwardes and Colonel Cortlandt re-crossed the Indus to effect a junction with our ally the khan of Bhawulpoor. To prevent this measure, Moolraj passed the Chenab on the 14th, leaving a strong detachment on the other bank, which marched to Khan-ghur, but crossed the following day, in consequence of the rapid advance of our force under Lieutenant Edwardes. On the 16th, Edwardes, who had only cavalry with him, was joined by the artillery and infantry under Colonel Cortlandt, and their camp was formed about a mile from the Chenab, the enemy being encamped on the opposite bank. In the mean time the Bhawulpoor troops had arrived within twelve miles of the Mooltanese, and Edwardes, being unable to procure boats wherewith to cross the river, retired to Gungawallah, opposite to which place the Bhawulpoor force was encamping. During the night about 3,000 of his new levies joined the khan's camp. Early on the 18th of June, Edwardes crossed the Chenab with his infantry, leaving the horse and guns to follow ; and he was attacked by the Mooltan troops before Cort- landt had time to join him with his guns. The action, which commenced shortly after sunrise, lasted full nine hours. At a very critical moment two of Cortlandt' s regi- ments came up with six guns. After an obstinate conflict, the enemy gave way and fled, leaving behind them six pieces of artillery, and all their baggage and stores. Moolraj now fell back upon Mooltan, and was closely followed by the British and their allies, who were import- antly reinforced on the 28th of June by a body of troops under the command of Sheikh Imaum-ood-deen. This brought up our number of fighting men to about 18,000, and put an end to the danger in which we had really been at the first surprisal and outbreak. On the 1st of July our columns fell upon Moolraj, who * Edwardes described our forces as " this brave, but heterogeneous army, composed of every race that peoples the Soolimanee range and Deerajat." See his letter to the resident at Lahore, in the Punjaub Blue- Book. 1848.] SIEGE OF M00LTA2f. 625 had intrenched his army behind a strong hreast-work at a village near the town of Mooltan ; and, after an engage- ment of six hours' duration, the insurgents were defeated and driven in disorder back into the town. Too weak in materiel to undertake the siege of such a fortress as Mooltan, Edwardes encamped his troops in the vicinity of the place, and kept a close watch upon the enemy, until, on the 18tli of August, Greneral Whish arrived from Lahore, with lier Majesty's 10th regiment, a troop of horse- artiUery, the 7th irregular horse, and the 8th and 52nd native infontry. He assumed the command of the besieging forces, and was on the following day joined by a column from Ferozpoor, consisting of her Majesty's 32nd foot, a battering train of thirty heavy guns, a troop of horse-artil- lery, the 11th regular and the 11th irregular cavalry, and the 49th, 51st, and 72nd native infantry. By means of this addition, the force assembled round the walls of Mooltan amounted to about 28,000 men, of whom 6,000 were British. But troubles now broke out in another quarter. Early in September the Sikh troops in the [Hazarah countr}^ mutinied, and made an attempt to seize the fortress of Attock. Major (now Sir Henry) Lawrence, the assistant at Peshawur, acting with great promptitude and energy, despatched Lieutenant Nicholson with a detachment to take possession of the fort, and this, by means of a forced march, Nicholson was enabled to do. But, in order . that this active officer might be in a condition to hold his ground at Attock, and that Captain Abbott, our political agent in the Hazarah district, might do the same there. Major Lawrence was obliged to weaken Peshawur, by sending out reinforce- ments. In the beginning of November, on the approach of Chuttur Singh, who had headed the revolt in the Hazarah country, Major Lawrence was under the necessity of flying from Peshawur. Accompanied by Mrs. Lawrence and Lieu- tenant Borrie, he retired to Kohat, and there sought the protection of Mohammed Khan. The party, however, were soon given up as prisoners to Chuttur Singh, who treated them with kindness. On the 13th of December, Lawrence was carried to the camp of our ally Slieer Singh, witli the view that, in case of necessity, he might be employed in negotiating a peace with the British. G-eneral AYhish fixed on the 12th of September as the day on which to make a general attack upon the outworks of 2 s 626 DISASTROUS AFFAIR [1848. the fortress of Mooltan, A party of the enemy had strongly intrenched themselves in a garden and village near the walls, and a body of our heterogeneous troops, under the command of Brigadier Harvey, marched at daybreak against this post, which, after a severe struggle and much loss on our side, was carried. On the following day the Mooltanese sallied, and made a desperate attack on Edwardes's camp ; but they were repulsed, and our troops carried another important outwork. But at this critical juncture a blow was given to our faith in the fidelity of the Sikhs, who had pretended to be most friendly to us ; Sheer Singh went over to the enemy with his 5,000 men ! In consequence of this defection, the siege was raised on the 15th of September, and the army was withdra^vn .to a position several miles distant from Mooltan. It now became tolerably evident that we had no true friends among the Sikhs, and that a new and general war must ensue with that fierce soldiery, who were, in reality, an armed democracy, electing and deposing their own cliiefs, and obeying none who did not give them promise and assurance of high pay, victory, or plunder. A large force was soon assembled at Ferozpoor, under the immediate orders of Lord Grough, the commander-in- chief. On the 9th of October, Sheer Singh quitted Mooltan to join Chuttur Singh, and on the 21st of October these two Sikh forces really effected their junction in the neighbour- hood of Wuzeerabad. Between them, the two chiefs had very soon 30,000 men in hand ; and they were evidently determined to try the issue of another great struggle for supremacy in the Punjaub. Eeinforcements were rapidly sent up to the British from the Bombay army. About the middle of November our army was assembled at Saharun, and Lord Grough joined there on the 21st of that month. Sheer Singh and the rest of our enemies had stationed themselves at Ramnuggur (in front of which flows the Chenab river, having in its mid-channel a small island), with some 4,000 men and a battery of six guns, and a pro- tecting grove of trees. At two o'clock in the morning of the 22nd, orders were issued for a strong force of cavalry and infantry to parade forthwith, silently and in marching order, in front of the camp. The troops moved forward in darkness to Bamnug- gur , and, passing that place, marched towards the left bank m 848.] AT EAMXUGGIIR. 627 of the river, wlien the strength and situation of the enemy were quite apparent. Our horse-artillery pushed on through deep sand, opening their fire upon the enemy ; but they soon found that their six-pounders were ill-matched against the hea\y metal of the Siklis ; and, finally, they were com- pelled to retire, leaving behind them one gun and two ammunition- waggons . The enemy now passed over a large body of cavalry, under cover of their guns. Orders were given to our 14tli dragoons, led by Colonel Havelock, and to our 5th light cavalry, to attack this formidable body of Sikh horse, and follow them up to their batteries. The men obeyed with alacrity, and the Sikhs retreated before their charge ; but tlie ground had not been well surveyed, and in descending the bank of a nullah, where they were exposed to a murderous fire, our people suffered great loss. Eeturning, however, they re-formed and charged a second time. The Sikh guns now played upon these brave horsemen with destructive effect, and Colonel Havelock fell during the second charge. Colonel King then again formed the men, and a third time they were led to tlie attack. At this juncture General Cureton rode up with orders from the commander-in-chief that they should retire ; but he had scarcely uttered the words before he was struck by two matchlock-balls, and fell dead by the nullah. Nearly at the same time Captain Fitz- gerald was mortally wounded. At length these two cavalry regiments were withdrawn. After a variety of manceuvres, in which Sheer Singh and his officers were thought to have displayed considerable ability as tacticians, the whole Sikh army abandoned their position at Eamnuggur, and marched upon the Jhelum. By the 21st of December Greneral Whish, who was renew- ing the siege of Mooltan, was joined by a strong body of Bombay troops. Our force before that place now amounted to 32,000 men, of whom 15,000 were British. We had also 150 pieces of artiller}-. By the 27th, the enemy were driven out of the suburbs, and we were enabled to take up a position within 400 yards of the walls. By the 29th, so close had the besiegers arrived to the city walls, that their lieaA y guns were breaching them at a distance of no more than eighty yards. On the morning of the 30th the princi- pal magazine in the fort blew up with a terrific explosion ; for in it was contained nearly all the ammunition which Moolraj 2s2 628 EEDUCTION OF MOOLTAIs'. [1849. had been five years in collecting. All his principal houses, temples, &c., as well as about 800 men, were blown up -w-itli it ; yet the walls and battlements of the fort were not much injured, and the chieftain did not appear to be dis- heartened by the catastrophe. An officer present says, " He kindly sent us word next day, that he had still enough powder and shot to hold out the siege for twelve months, and that we were to do our w^orst, as he would hold out as long as a stone of his fort would stand. "When we sent in to summon the fort to surrender, he very coolly rammed the letter down his longest gun, and fired it at us." * During the night of the 30th, a breach was made by the Delhi gate of the city, and next day another was effected at the Bohur gate. Our cannonade was sustained almost without intermission. On the 31st the Sikhs made a sortie, and fell upon the division under Edwardes and Lieutenant Lake, but they were driven back with great loss. On the 2nd of January the town was stormed and taken by a column of the Bombay army and a Bengal column, the first colours being planted in Mooltan by a serjeant-major of the Company's fusiliers. The citadel, however, still held out, and therein Moolraj had shut himself up with a very considerable force. Against this formidable work regular parallels of approach were made, and mines were sunk, while the walls were incessantly hammered by cannon-shot and shells. On the 18th the counterscarp was blown into the ditch by the explosion of three mines. On the 19th the sap had reached the crest of the glacis, and by the 21st two practicable breaches were made, and orders were issued to the troops to hold themselves in readiness for storming the fort on the mor- row morning. But when that morning came, and the British columns were formed for the assault, the chief sur- rendered at discretion. Moolraj came out mounted on a beautiful Arab steed magnificently caparisoned. He was taken to the general's tent, where he gave up his sword, which is said to have been returned to him. He was placed under a strong guard in a fine country residence, at some distance from the town of Mooltan, a favourite abode of his late father, who had built it. As his partisans in the country were very numerous and much devoted to him, * Annual Register, 1848-1849. 1849.] BATTLE or CHILLI AN WALL AH. 629 it was not considered safe to leave him there long ; and when our army marched up the line of the Chenab to turn off as they approached the road leading to Lahore for the camp of the governor-general, he was conducted with it.* At the commencement of the year 1849 the commander- in-chief, now Lord Grough, intrenched himself on the upper Chenab, near to some strong positions occupied by Sheer Singh and his Siklis, who had also intrenched themselves. On the 10th of January his lordship learned that the fortress of Attock, which had been long and gallantly de- fended by Major Herbert, had fallen ; and that the Sikhs in his front were receiving reinforcements. He therefore determined to lose no time in attempting the complete overthrow of the Sikh army; and at daylight on the morning of the 12th, he put his columns in motion for Dingee. Again the ground in his front had not been suffi- ciently reconnoitred, and apparently no feelers had been put out. Towards evening he found the enemy dra^n out in battle array ready to receive him. As the day was nearly spent, and as his troops were wearied with their march, his lordship contemplated deferring the combat until the morrow ; but the Sikhs advanced some horse-artillery, and opened a fire on his skirmishers in front ; and this fire being silenced by a few rounds from his heavy guns, these, in turn, were answered by nearly the whole of the enemy's artillery, which was clcso up and in position, although hitherto concealed by thick jungle. It sliould appear from his lordship's own despatch, that he was not at all aware of that proximity until the Sikh fire opened upon him. Except by acting as Lord Hardinge had done at Ferozshuhr, Gough could not now avoid the battle. I come now upon the debatable ground upon which I have (in my preface) declared that I would not tread. There has not yet been time nor a sufficient collection of materials to settle the heated controversy about the affair of Chillianwallah ; the principal actors on the scene are still living among us, and I shrink from giving offence to the feelings of brave men ; and, whatever may have been the errors committed (sup- posing there may have been some), tliere has seldom been a display of more heroical courage on the part of superior British officers. * * Annals of India for the Year 1848, by George Buist, LL.D., F.R.S., L. & E., F.G.S., &c.' Bombay, 1849. 630 BATTLE OF GOOJEEAT. [1849. The British troops remained masters of the field, but their loss was very heavy ; twenty-six European oificers and 731 men killed ; sixty-six officers and 1,446 men wounded. Five stand of colours and four of our guns fell into the hands of the enemy ; and, aided by the darkness of the night, the Sikhs recovered and were enabled to remove the greater part of the guns which we had taken from them during the sanguinary struggle. Moreover, many of our wounded were abandoned on the field, or in the jungle, and were massacred, together with most of our prisoners. The carnage of the battle of ChiUianwallah, which was even more terrible on their side than on ours, did not break the spirit of these hard-fighting Sikhs, who were now supported by a body of 1,500 Afghan horse, under Akram Khan, a son of Dost Mohamed Khan. " For the first time," says the noble governor-general, " Sikhs and Afghans were banded together against the British power. It was an occasion which demanded the putting forth of all the means at our disposal, and so conspicuous a mani- festation of the superiority of our armies, as should appal each enemy and dissolve at once their compact, by fatal proof of its futility." * This conspicuous manifestation was given on the 21st of February, near the town of Goojerat, where the enemy were posted with 60,000 men and fifty-nine guns. Lord Gough commenced the action with his artillery, and after a sus- tained cannonade of three hours, compelled the Sikhs and Afghans to retire from the positions they had maintained with resolute hardihood. The subsequent advance of the whole British line soon drove them back from every point ; and, retreat being converted into rout, they fled in the utmost disorder, " their ranks broken, their positions car- ried ; their guns, ammunition, camp-equipage, and baggage captured ; their flying masses driven before the victorious pursuers from mid-day to dusk, receiving most severe punishment in their flight." f Our loss in killed and wounded was comparatively very small. The noble governor-general said that this action of Goojerat " must ever be regarded as one of the most memo- * Letter from the Governor- General to the Secret Committee, in the Punjaub Blue Book, 1847-1849. t Despatch of Lord Gough, in Punjaub Blue Book. 1849.] THE PUNJAUB AI^NEXED. 631 rable in the annals of British warfare in India ; memorable alike from the greatness of the occasion, and from the bril- liant and decisive issue of the encounter." In a few days, Sheer Singh, Chuttur Singh, and the other chief sirdars, came into LordGough's camp and surrendered, and all the Sikh ofEicers and soldiers delivered up their arms. The Afghans fled for their own country, and were hotly pursued by Sir Walter Gilbert, who recovered Attock, crossed the Indus, and drove the enemy towards the Khyber Pass and Cabul. The immediate consequence of this war was the annexa- tion of the entire Punjaub to the British empire in India. Moolraj, the ex-ruler of Mooltan, was put upon his trial for the murder of Mr. Vans Agnew and Lieut. Anderson, and had sentence of death passed upon him. This, however, was afterwards commuted into imprisonment for life. With these recent and most important events I conclude this historical summary and my present narrative. The government of the earl now marquis of Dalhousie has been illustrated, like that of Viscount Hardinge, by- great attention to civil affairs, distinguished administrative ability, and an incessant care for the good of the native populations. Under it several reforms, commenced by his predecessor, have been completed ; and the efforts made to check the worst excesses of Hindii idolatry, and to suppress human sacrifices, have been pursued with a calm and noble perseverance. I shall have done some good if I draw attention, among general readers, to a vast and most important subject, which has been too much neglected, notwithstanding the unde- niable fact that nearly every Englishman has an immediate interest in our Indian empire. Too many readers have been deterred by the bulk and number of the books written about India, and by the too frequently prolix style of our Anglo-Indian writers. But, as materials, these very books, or many of them, are truly excellent, having been written by men who were themselves actors in the scenes and events they describe, or who passed their lives in the country. To the excellence and authenticity of these ma- terials is to be added the interest of a course of events full of the most startling, exciting, and romantic interest, and of the most varied character. One of the best interests of all, or that which arises out of our nationality, is assuredly" not 632 THE INDIAN SEEVICE. [1849. ^vanting : the way iii which our empire has been acquired, enlarged, and maintained, making allowance for every fault, blunder, or even crime, reflects the highest honour on the determination, the policy, and the valour of English- men ; and never, since the days of Clive, down to those af Hardinge, and Gough, and Napier, has a more brilliant valour been displayed in any part of the world by British troops, than in our Indian empire, and the countries which border upon it. Let it never be forgotten, that when our national greatness and our reputation seemed to be on the decline in Eiu-ope, and the glory of our arms was obscured in the West, that reputation and glory, through the genius of Warren Hastings, and the ability and courage of the officers he employed, shone forth, bright as the morning sun, in the East. And let it ever be re- membered, that India is the school which has produced some of our most eminent men, and which principally helped to form the great captain and statesman of the age, the thrice illustrious Wellington. INDEX, Abercromby, Gen. Sir Robert, his march on Seringapatam, 201. Is appointed com- mander-in-chief, 209. His settlement of Oude, 217. Ache, count d', his action with Admiral Pococke off Pondicherry, 51. And at Trincomalee, 59. Acts of Parliament, 100, IO6, 372, 515, et seq. Aden, 578. Afghanistan, its anarchic state, 524, et seq. Proclamation and proceedings of war, 533564. Afghans, their dominion in India over- turned by Tamerlane, 7. After invasions, 218, 250. Company's mission to them, 346. Their battles vrith the Sikhs or Seikhs, 5i6, 527. Agnew.Mr. and Lieutenant Anderson mur- dered at Mooltan, 623. Akhar Khan, Mogul prince, 8. Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mohamed, at Jellalabad, 543. His arrival in the capi- tal of Cabul with his warriors, 549. His conferences with the British, 550. His barbarous murder of MacNaghten, 551. Treatment of his English prisoners, 56o 063. Flies to the Toba mountains, 561. Poisoned, 607. Aliverdy Khan, 34, Aliwal, "battle of, 605. Amboyna, massacre of, 9- Is taken from the Dutch, 362. Ameers of Scinde, 512. Their treacherous conduct, 060. Character of their govern- ment, 570. Their subjugation, 565 571. Amherst, earl of, appointed governor-gene- ral, 449. Declares war against the Bur- mese, 453. His treaty at Delhi, 506. His resignation, 506. Angria pirates, 33. Apa Sahcb, rajah of Nagpoor, 399. De- Clares war. 406. Is defeated, 407. His capture and escape, 425. Arcot, city of, taken by the French, 20. Capture, and Clive's defence of, 27. Arcot, nabob of, J8 20. Argaum, battle of, 277- Arnee, battle of, 27. Arracan, provinces of, ceded to the Com- pany, 495. Aseerghur, siege of, 427. Ash tee, battle of, 419- Asiaye, battle of, 239. Auchmuty, Gen. Sir S., commander-in- chief at Madras, 361. Commands Java expedition, 364. Auckland, Lord, appointed governor-gene- ral, 523. Holds a council at Simla, 530. Proclaims the Afghanistan war, 531. Returns home and is created an earl, 544. Aurungzebe, 12. His death, 14. Auteuil, M. d', 22. Surrenders at Sering- ham, 28. Azim Ooshaun, son of Aurengzebe, 12. Succeeds to his father's power in India, 15. Is slain in battle, 15. Azoff-ul-Uowlah, nabob of Oude, 121. Baber, Emperor, 8. Bahadur Shah, his conquests, 15. His death, 16. Baillie, Col., his defeat, 134. Baird, Major-Gen. Sir D., heads storming party at Seringapatam, 232. Proceeds with an Anglo-Indian army to Egypt, 244. Banda, isles of, annexed, 362. Barlow, Sir G., administration of, 318, 335. Governor of Madras, 356. Barnes, SirE., commander-in-chief, 508. Barrackpoor, mutiny at, 500. Barwell, member of council, II9. Bassein, treaty of, 267. Reduction of the town, 481. Bayley, W.B., provisional governor, 506. Begums, the, I67 169. Benares, treaty at, 114. Ceded to the Com- pany, 121. insurrections, Idl. Massacre of. 252. Bengal, nabob of, wars against, 11, Bentinck, Lord William, governor at Ma- dras, 337. His recall, 343. Appointed governor-general, 507. His reforms, 508. His tour through the upper provinces, 510. His retirement, 513. Berar, rajah of, aids Scindiah, 266. Suc- cumbs to the English, 27s. Bernadotte, at Cuddalore, 147, Bhurtpoor, Lord Lake's siege of, 311 3l6. Revolutions, 501. Gen. Lord Comber- mere's siege, 503. f Bishop", appointment of, in India, 376. Bishop's College established, 378. Black-hole, at Calcutta, 37. Board of Control, formation of, 177, Bombay ceded to the Company, 10, Events in that presidency during the Mahratta war, 122, Bonaparte, 226, C34 INDEX. Boscawen, Admiral. Ip. Bourbon, isle of, reduced, 36/. Restored to France, 368. Bowen, Col., his exploits in the Burmese war, 452. Braithwaite, Col., his defeat, 138. Brin-jarries, or corn- carriers. 282. Broadfoot, Major, his death at Ferozshu- hur, 602. Brodie, Sergeant, gallantry of, at Vellore, 348. Brownrigg, Sir Robt., governor of Ceylon, 445. Bulwunt Singh, child rajah of Bhurtpoor, seized by his cousin Doorjun Sal, 501. Bundelkund, reduction of, 284. Burgoyne, Col., 105. Urges the select committee on Clive's conduct, 10^. Burmese, account of the, 355. Embassies to them, 356. War, 450 ttseq. Treaty of peace, 495. Burn, Col., his defence of Delhi, 305. Burnes, Sir A., sails up the Indus as far as Lahore his schemes, 511. Mission to Dost Mohammed, 52/. Thwarted in his negotiations, 529. Repairs to Simla, 530. His variable opinions, 631. Mur- dered in Cahul, 54/. Bussy, M., captures Gingee, 22. Marches to Hyderabad, 23. Successes against Mahrattas, 32. Recalled by Lally from the Deckan. 56. Taken prisoner at Wan- devvash, released on parole, returns to France, and is honourably received, 76. Returns to India, 140. Cabul, Sir A. Burnes's mission to, 527. City of, occupied by the British, 543. First evacuation, 651. Destruction of the for- tifications and second evacuation, 564. Calcutta, sold to the Company, 12. Town of, built, 12. Taken by Suraj-u-Dowlah, 37. Retaken by the English, 3g. Calliaud, Captain, relieves Trichinopoly, 49. Takes Madura, 50. Recalled to Bengal, 72. Campbell, Sir Archibald, expedition to the Irawaddi, 453. His exploits at Ran- goon, 456 et seq. Advance on Ava, 474. Occupies Prome, 483. His conduct of the Burmese war, 490 et seq. Campbell, Col., brave conduct of, at Man- galore, 156. Candahar, General Nott's defence of, 553. Canning, Mr., nominated Governor- Gene- ral, 449. Cape of Good Hope, discovery of the route to India round the, 4. Carnatic, wars in the, 20, Sufferings of the people from taxation, 219. Con- tinued ill-government, 259. Transfer- ence to the Company, 26I. Cavendish, Thomas, 5. Ceylon, taken by the English, 138. Dif- ferences abo 't its government, 24ti. Re- volutions and final conquest of, 440 et seq. Chandernagore, surrender of, 40. Chandore, reduction of, 309. Charters granted to E.I.C., 6, 10. 12. Cheetoo, the Pindarree, 392. His expe- dition, 393 et seq. His pursuit and death, 412, 413. Cherry, Mr., British resident at Benares, murder of, 252. Chevte Singh, insurrection of, 161. His flight, 166. Chillianwallah, battle of, 629. China, Chinese expedition in 1808, 369. Report of our victories there, 564. Chingliput, surrender of, to Clive, 29. Cholera Morbus, I817, 429 et seq. Chuttur Singh, makes Major Lawrence prisoner, 625. Surrenders, 631. Clavering, Gen., Member of Council, 119. Death of, 125. Clive, Robert, Lord, distinction of, at the siege of Devi Cottah, 20. Is promoted, 23. Takes Arcot, 24. Gallant defence of that place, 25, 26. Victory at Arnee, 27. Takes Covelong, 29. Proceeds to England, 29. Returns to India as- sumes government of Fort St. David, 34. Retakes Calcutta, 39. Captures fort and town of Hooghly, beats Suraj- u-Dowlah, takes Chandernagore, 40. Battle of Plassey, 43. Reception at Cal- cutta, 48. Detaches Col. Forde to the Deckan, 60. Marches upon Moorshe- dabad, 65. Quells conspiracy against Meer .Taffier, ^^ receives a present from the Nabob, 65, 66. Proceedings against the Dutch, 69. Tranquillizes the country and leaves for England, 72. His honour- able reception in England, raised to the peerage as Baron Clive of Plassey, 73. Assailed by the India- House, over- tures for his instant return to India, 73. At Allahabad, 86. Civil and military reforms, 88, 80. Final departure from India, 91. Assailed in Parliament, 101, 107. Defends himself, 102, 108. Par- liamentary proceedings, 108. His death, 109. Clive, Lord (Earl Powis), governor of Madras, inquiries relative to the Car- natic, 259. Combermere, Gen. Lord, besieges Bhurt- poor, 503. His successes, 505. Resigns his command, 508. Commerce, regulations, 372, 514, et seq. The Company's trading monopoly abolished, 521. Conflans, M., his defeat at Peddapore, 60. Surrenders at Masulipatam, 6I. Consolidating bill, 13. Coorg, its annexation, 513. Coote, Col. Sir Eyre, takes Cutwah, 42. Advises the advance on Plassey, 43. Sent in pursuit of Law, 48. At Cos- simbuzar, 48. Storms fort of Wande- Wdsh, 73. Battle with Lally, takes Arcot, 73, 7'^> Appointed to command in Madras, 135. Operations against Hyder Ali, 136, 137, 144. His death, 147. INDEX. 635 Cornwallis, Lord, appointed governor- general, 186. Preparations against Tippoo Saib, 196. His disapprobation of the peace policy, l(j". Retreats from Seringapatara, 202. Reinforced, returns, and compels Tippoo to sue for peace, 203, 204. Character of his adminis- tration, 207. Return to, and reception in, England, 208. Re-appointment to the governor-generalship, 31/. His death, 318. Coromandel Coast, possession of, by the French, 32. Invasion of, by Hyder Ali, 136. Corregaum, battle of, 41 6. Cortlandt, Col., operations against Moolraj, 623 et seq. Cotton, Sir Willoughby, his victory at Kokeen, 4/4 ; fails at Donoopew, 476. Covelong, fort of, taken by Clive, 29. Covrepauk, battle of, 28. Cureton, Gen., his death, 627. Dalhousie, earl of, appointed governor-ge- neral, 622. Spirit of his administration, 631. Dance, Captain, defeats the French fleet under Admiral Linois, 287. Davie, Major, his disgraceful defeat, 442. Day, Francis, erects Fort St. George at Madras, g. Deckan, disputed successions and wars, 21. Enelish treaty with the nizam of the, 212. Rebellion of the nizam's son, 214. French submission, 224. Deeg, battle of, 308. Siege of. 311. Delhi invaded by Seikhs and by the Per- sians, 16. Lake's march to, 273. Siege of, 305. Our sovereignty acknowledged by the shah, 506. Devi Cottah, sege of, 21. Dhoondiah Waugh, the Patan robber, 241. Dbuleep Singh makes submission, 6l3. Restored to Lahore, 6l5. Dick, Sir Robert, at Sobraon, 609. Falls mortally wounded, 61 1. Donoopew, skirmishes at, 478. Capture of, 480. Doorjun Sal seizes Bulwunt Singh, 501. Is made prisoner, 505. DostMohamed Khan, his fight with Run- jeet Singh, S26. Entreats English aid, 627. His flight from his capital, 543. Several battles with the English, sur- renders himself, 545. Doveton, General, attacks Nagpoor, 408. D'Oyly, Mr. John, his distinguished ser- vice in Ceylon, 445. Drury, Aimiral, at Macao, 370. Dupleix, M., at Madras, 18. In the Car- natic, 20. Intrigues against Nazir Jung, 22. Successes in the Deckan, 2/(. In- trigues with native poweis, 31, Recalled to France and dies, 32. Dutch settlement, 9. Dutch armament from Batavia, 68. East-India Company formed, 6. Charters j granted to, 6, 10, 12. Rival Company, 13. United East-India Company incor- porated, 13. Rapid rise of power, 17. Edwardes, Lieutenant, operations against Moolraj, 623 et seq. Reaches Mooltan, 625. Eheylapola, his insurrection at Kandy, 445. Ellenborough, Lord, moves for a select committee, 5l6. Is appointed governor- general, 555. Gives the word, ' For- ward," 557. His instructions to Sir Charles Napier, 565. Proclamation from the palace of Agra, 571. Accompanies Sir Hugh Gough's army, 573. Procla- mation at Gwalior, 575. Recalled, 575. His farewell to India, 576. Elphinstone, Honourable Mountstuart, expedition against the Baboos, 235. Embassy to Cabul, 346. Is resident at Poonah, 400 His politic behaviour, 401. Attacked by the peishwa, 403. Administration at Poonah, 437. Made governor of Bombay, 436. Elphinstone, IMajor-General, incapable of his command in Cabul, 548. gives him- self up to one of the khans, 552. His death, 558. Fakeers, 112. Fancourt, Colonel, and others massacred at Vellore, 340. Fane, Sir Henry, commander-in-chief, disapproves of Afghan war, i33. Resigns his command, 534. Ferozepoor, welcome of the army from Afghanistan at, 564. Ferozshuhur, battle of, 598. Night bivouac at, 599. Financial embarrassments, 104. Forde, Colonel, sent by Clive to the Dec- kan, Co. Proceeds to Vizagapatam, en- counters ]\I. Conflans at Peddapore, 60. Captures Masulipatam, 61. Returns to Calcutta, takes Barnagore, and marches upon Chandernagore, 70. Victorious over the Dutch, 71. Fort St. David built, 12. Attacked by the French, I9. Fort William built, 12. College of, 328. Fox's bill, 177. Francis, Sir Philip, his appointment as member of council, 119. His conten- tious spirit, 120. Quarrels with Hast- ings, 124. Duel with the governor- general, his return home, 132. His attacks and calumniations of Hastings, 173. Eraser, General, his gallantry at Deeg, 3r8. His death, 309- French form factories in India, 11. War against English settlements, 18, 19. Defeated by Clive, 27, 28. Besiege Trichinopoly, 31. Various losses of the, 74, 75, 76. Intrigues of the, with Tippoo Saib, 225, 226. French army in Egypt, 226, 227. Fullerton, Colonel, marches on Seringapa- 636 INDEX. tarn, 150. His success, is ordered to re- turn, 154. Ordered to evacuate, 157- Furruckabad, Holkar's camp surprised near, 30/. Gawil-Ghur, siege of, 27". Ghuznee, capture of, 541. Retaken by the Afghans, 556. Destruction of the fortifi- cations, 56o. Gilbert, Major-General, at Sobraon, 609. Recovers Attock, 631. Gillespie, General, puts down mutiny at Vellore, 341. Killed in the Nepaulese campaign, 381. Goddard, General, his march from the Jumna to Surat, 127, 129. Successes against the Mahrattas, 130, 131. Godwin, Colonel, expedition to IMartaban, 467. March up the Irrawaddi, 484. Gonds, a wild race, 425. Their subjection, 428. Goolab Singh, 6l3. Gorkhas, disputes with the, 354. Gough, Sir Hugh, his victory at Maharaj- poor, 573. And at Punniar, 574. At Ferozshuhur, 699 et secj. At Sobraen, 61)7. At Saharun, 626. At Chillianwal- lah, 629. Grant, Honourable Charles, appointed to the Board of Control, 5 17. Moves for a select committee on Indian affairs, 518. Griffin, Admiral, arrives at Fort St. David with an English squadron, 19. Gwalior taken by Popham, 131. Entered by Sir Hugh Gough's army, 574. Haliburton, Lieutenant, 30. Harcourt, Colonel, conquers Cuttack, 285. Hardinge, Sir Henry, governor- general, 576. His previous character, 577. Aden papers, civil and military reforms, 578, 579. Preparations on the frontiers, 586. At Umballa, his despatch to the India- house, 587- Oflxirs his services to Sir Hugh Gough, 596. His heroic conduct at Ferozshuhur, 599 et seg. His care of the wounded, 602. Treaty of peace with the Punjaub, 6l5 et seq. View of his administration, 61 7, Resigns, 620. Harris, General, marches against Tippoo Saib, battle at Mallavelly, 230. Takes Seringapatam, 231. Hastinge, Warren, resident at Moorsheda- bad, 63. Appointed governor- general, 110. His reforms, 111. Transactions with the Mogul, 112. Visits Oude, ar- rangements with the nabob, 1 1 3. Admi- nistration at Calcutta, 115. Contentions with members of council, 120. Fights a duel with Sir Philip Francis, 132. Proceedings to obtain money, 160. Flight from Benares, l64. Treaty with Asoph-ul-Dowlah, I68. Quits India, 170. Reception in England, 173. His trial, 174. Death and character, 175, 176. Hastings, marquis of, appointed governor- general, 379. Financial difficulties of the government, 387. Resolves on v?ar with tlie Pindarrees, 392. Takes the field in person, 409. Events of his adminis- tration, 439. Resigns, 449. Havelock, Colonel, death of, 627. Heber, Bishop, 377, 378. Herat, siege of, 529. Hindus, ancient, 2. Under Aurengzebe's rule, 15. Hislop's, Sir Thomas, attack on Talnere, 421. Holkar, the Mahratta chief, his threatening posture, 291. Strength of his army, 293. Cruelties to the English, 293. Pursues Colonel Monson, 301. Surprised bv Lord Lake, 306. Pursued, 319. Treaty with Lord Lake, 323, 324. His death, 411. Holwell, Mr., imprisoned in Black Hole, 37. Takes charge of Fort William with the militia, yn. Hook, Blajor, services in Ceylon, 446. Hughes, Sir Edward, operations of his fleet, 136, 138,141. Battles with Suffrein, 142, 144, 147. Hyder Ali, his rise and dominion, 92. Wars with the English, 94. Rushes on Madras, treaty with him sicned, 96. Invades Coromandel, 133. Wars and defeats, 136, 137. His death, 145. Hyphasis, Lord Lake on the, 321. Impey, Sir Elijah, II9. His assistance to Hastings at a critical period, l63. His triumphant defence, 174. India, ancient accounts of, 2, 3, 4. First English voyage to, 5. Isle of France, capture of the, 368. Jauts, war with the, 502. Java, capture of, 365. Restored to the Dutch, 439. Jehanghire, 9. Jehan Shah, 9. Jellalabad, defence of, by General Sale, 5C3, 554. Successful sallies, 558. Relief of, by General Pollock, 558. Jeswunt Rao Lar aids Apa Saheb, surren- ders, 427. Jypoor protected by the Company, 395. Kandy, kingdom of, 440. Wars and revo- lutions, 442, 445. Conquest of, 447. Karrack, island of, occupied by the British, 532. Keane, Sir John, in command of the Af- ghan expedition, 534. (Conducts army to Cabul, 543. Returns to England and is received with honour, 544. Kemmendine, battles at, 459, 469, et seq. Kokeen, defeat of the Burmese at, 474. Kussoor taken by the British, 6l2. Labourdonnais takes Madras, quarrels with Dupleix, 18. Lahore garrisoned, 6l4. Lake, Lord, his march upon Delhi, 2/2. Defeats Bourquien and the French, enters Delhi, 273. Battle of Laswarree, 275. Correspondence wich Holkar, 292. INDEX. 637 Operations against Holkar, 295. Dread- ful march to Cawnpore, 296. Re-advance against Holkar, 304. Surprises Holkar, 306. Besieges Deeg and Bhurtpoor, 311. Subdues Runjeet Singh, 3l6. Pursues Holkar, 31 9. Famous march to the Hy- phasis, 321. Treats with Holkar, 322. Returns to Delhi, 324. Lai Singh commands Sikhs at Moodkee, 593. At Ferozshuhur, 600. Ijally, Count, arrives as French governor- general, 50. Successes at Cuddalore and Fort St. David, 51. Ill-treatment of the natives, 53. Storms Tanjore, and is beaten back, 54, 55. Excursion to Arcot, 55. Besieges Madras, 56. Raises the siege, 57. Surprises and takes Conjeve- ram, attacks fort of Wandewash but is repulsed, retreats to hill fortress of Gingee, to Pondicherry, "3. Uncondi- tional surrender to Col. Coote, returns to France, is thrown into the Bastile, 76. Broustht to trial and beheaded, 77. Lancaster, expeditions to India, 5, 6. Laswarree, battle of, 2/5. Laurence, Major, joins Nazir Jung, 21. Is deceived and returns to Madras, 22. Marches to Trichinopoly, 28. Stands a siege there, 31. Defends Madras, 56. Takes fort of Conjeveram, 53. Law, M., aids Suraj-u-Uowlah at Plassey, 43. Chased from Bahar by Col. Coote, 48. Besieges Patna, 79. His curious surrender to Major Carnac and Captain Knox, 80. Lawrence, Major, made prisoner by Chut- tur Singh, 625. Legislation for government of India, 177. Leslie, Col., his indecision, 127. Linois, Admiral, defeated by a fleet of In- diamen, 287. Littler, Sir J., marchesto join commander- in-chief, 597. At Ferozshuhur, 598. Macao, expedition to, 369. Macartney, Lord, governor of Madras, 137. Macdowall, Major-Gen. Hay, commander- in-chief at Madras, 357. Disputes with the civil powers, 359. Perishes at sea, 360. Macedonian invasion, 2. Mac Naghten, Sir William, British envoy at Cabul, accepts surrender of Dost Mo- hammed Khan, 545. Ineffective nego- tiations with the Afghans, 550. His bar- barous murder, 551. Macpherson, Mr., acting governor-general, 182. Events during his administration, 183185. Macpherson. Captain S. C, among the Khonds, 6I8. Madras town and fort commenced, 9. Ca- pitulates to the French, 18. Besieged by Lally. 55. Improper condition of the presidency when Hyder Ali invades it, 133. Madras cavalry, I37. Disputes between civil and military authorities at, J57. I\Iaha Bandoola marches into Arracan, 452. His operations and defeat, 46o. Com- mands the Burmese, 468. Terrible de- feat of, 473479. His death, 480. Maharajpoor, battle of, 574. Mahomed Esof, 30. Mahomedan empires, 7. Mahidpoor, battle of, 411. Mahrattas assist Clive, 26. Defeated by Bussy, 32. Wars with the English, 94. Against Hyder Ali, 97. Wars in Bom- bay and Oude, 122. Treaty with Lord Cornwallis, 196. Invasion of the Dec- kan, 212. Renewed warfare, 267 e< /. 327, 400. Are subdued, 429. Their tur- bulence, 573. Maitland, Sir Thomas, governor of Ceylon, 444. Malcolm, Sir John, and the Persian em- bassy, 351. Pursues Cheetoo, 412. His meeting with Bajee.Rao, 422. : Treaty with Bajee Rao, 423. His wise rule in the state of Holkar, 433. ] Mallavelly, battle of, 230. i Malwa, settlement of, 432. Mangalore, siege of, 155. Martaban, conquest of, 467. Medows, Gen., marches against Tippoo, 197. His successes, 198. Meerab Khan, of Khelat, 537. His for- tress stormed and himself slain, 546. Meer Jaffier Khan plots with the English, 41. Is made nabob of Bengal, 45. His treaty with the English, 46. Native con- spiracy against him, 63. Gratitude to Clive, ^jealousy of the English, 66. In- trigues with the Dutch, 67. His death, 86. Meer Khan attacks Captain Smith, near Kooch, 298. Flies to Holkar's assist- ance, 311. Is pursued by Smith and defeated, 313. Ravages committed by him, 345. Melloone. battle of, 491. Menzies, Major, killed at Bhurtpoor, 314. Mewattee tribes, 294. Middleton, Dr., 377, 378. Minto, Lord, appointed governor-general, 344. His administration, 344 et seq. Proceeds to Madras to quell disturbances there, 36o. Returns to England, 371. Missionary enterprises, 373 et seq. IMogul emperors, 7,8. War against, 10, 11. Conflicts between them, 16. Decline of, 17. Mohammed Ali, of Arcot, 20. His fears of the French, 23. Mohammed Shah, 16. His distressed state, 17. Moluccas, 9. Monro, Major, defeats Sujah Dowlah, 85. Monson, Mr., member of council, II9. His death. 124. Monson, Col., his disastrous retreat, 300. Bravery at Deeg, 308. At Bhurtpoor, 314. Moodkee, battle of, 593 et seq. Moolraj, imputed treachery of, 623. Sur- 638 INDEX. renders, 628. His trial for the murder of Mr, Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson, 632. Mooltan, murder of Apnew and Anderson at, 623. Siege of, 625. Reduced, 628. Mornington, Earl of (Marquis Wellesley), his education, 222. Appointment as governor-general, 222. His arrival in Madras, negotiates with native powers, with the nizam of the Deckan, 223. Intakes war vith Tippoo Saib, 228. Pleads for the Companj''s government in Ceylon, 246 248. Returns to England, 326. Account of his administration, 328. Attempted impeachment and triumph, 334, Morrison, Gen., expedition to Arracan, 498. Mukwanpoor, battle of, 383, Munro, Col., his report on "the Tent Contract," 357. Placed under arrest, set at liberty, 358, Mysore, war with the English, 136, 159, Army of, J 89. Dismemberment of Tip- poo Saib's empire, 235, Revival of the ancient Hindu dynasty, 236. Nadir Shah invades India, l6, Nagas, a robber tribe, 299. Nagpoor, Apa Saheb, installed as rajah of, 395, Battle of, 407. Annexation of, 429. Napier, Gen, Sir Charles, his instructions from governor- general, 565. Organi- zation of his forces, 565. Crosses the Indus, advances to Meeanee, 567. Battle of Meeanee, 567570. Battle of Dubba, 571. On the Sutledge, 606. Nazir Jung, marches against the Carnatic, 21, Is murdered, 23. Nepaul in I8O6, 354. War, 380. Treaty ratified, 384. Nicholson, Captain, invading force under, 10. Nicholson, Captain P., with other officers, killed at Ferozshuhur, 602. Norford. Captain, death at Deeg, 309. North, Hon. Mr., governor of Ceylon, 440 et seq. Nott, Gen., his gallantry at Candahar, 653. His constancy, 557. Victorious march on and destruction of Ghuznee, 560, Victory over 12,000 Afghans, 564, Nuncomar's execution, 124. Ochterlony, Sir David, his defence of Delhi, 305. At Nepaul, 381, Is recom- pensed, 386, Remarkably distinguished, 438. Marches on Bhurtpoor, 501, His death, 502, Omdut-ul-Omrah, 219, His treachery towards the English, 259. His death, 260, Omichund, his bargain, 41, Is undeceived, 46, His death, 46, Oude, Hastings's arrangements with the nabob of, 1 13, Disturbances and revo- lutions in, 216, It' disaffected state, 250, Cession to the Company, 257. Pagahm-mew. battle of, 494. Paget, Sir Euvard, quells the mutinous sepoys at Barrackpoor, 500, Paniput, 320. Patans, betray Nazir Jung, 23, Treachery against the French, 23, Patna, English residents at, massacred, 77' Paull, Mr,, attempts to obtain impeachment of the Marquis Wellesley, 333. Peishwa of the Mahrattas, his treaty with the English, 266, His dissimu- lation, treats again, 400, 402, Renews war, 403, Flight from Poonah, 405 et seq. Treats with Sir J. Malcolm, 422, Surrenders, 423. Perron, M., assists the Mahrattas, 265. Returns to Lucknow, 272. Persia, invades Hindustan, 16. Embassy to the court of, 251. Sir J. Malcolm's embassy. 351 , Invasion of Herat by, 528, Pigot, Lord, account of his government at Madras, 99, Pindarrees, war against the, 390, Con- clusion of the war, 429, Pitt's bill, 179. Plassey, battle of, 43, Pococke, Admiral, off Pondicherry, action with Count d!Ache, 51 ; another action at Trincomalee, 59, Pollock, General, his advance on Jellala- bad, 553, Rebeves the town, 558. Pondicherry, French factory at, IJ. Be- sieged by the English, 19. Surrender of the town, 76. Restoration to the French, 77. Poonah and its peishwa, 388, Political troubles, 400 et seq. Popham, Captain, takes Gwalior, 131, At Chunar, l65. Portuguese settlements, 5. Intrigues against English, 8. Powell, Col,, subdues Bundelkund, 284. Prome, occupied, 483. Punjaub war, 625 et seq. Annexed, 631, Raffles, Sir Stamford, his plan for British supremacy in the Indian archipelago, 364, Appointed lieutenant-governor of Java, 367. At Singapore, 439. Ragoba, the Mahratta chief, 123. Assisted by Hastings, 125. Delivered up as host- age, 128. Escapes from prison, 130. Rajah Saheb, invests Arcot, 25. His sud- den flight, 27. Ramnuggur, disaster at, 627. Rangoon captured, 454. Sickness of troops there, 460. Raymond, M., in the Deckan, 215. Regulating Act, IO6. Rohilcund invaded, 116. Roe, Sir Thomas, embassy of, 8. Rumbold, Sir Thomas, governor of Ma- dras, fi9- Runjeet Singh, rajah of Bhurtpoor, attacked, 311. Capitulates, 31 6. Treaty with, 351 . INDEX. 639 lunjei't Singh, of Lahore, meets grovernor- general at Roiper, 511. His death, 643. lunjoor Singh, commands Sikhs atAliwal, 605. aadut Ali, his death, 38/. t. Htleua, 10. iaUbut Jung, 31. Is ungrateful to the Frenrh ; cedes provinces to Bussy, 32. ale, J^Iajor, success at Kemmendine, 4/0. Occupies Basse n, 482. Brigadier Sale at the stormin;,' of Ghuznee, 542. At Jellalabad, 553, His death, 595. alsette taken by the Company, 123. arawaddy, prince of, commands the Bur- mese, 464. attara. rajah instituted, 419. icinde. treaty with, 350. Ameers of Scinde, their treacherous behaviour, Scindian war proclaimed, 565. Character of the g-overnment of the ameers, 570. Sir Ch arles Napier appointed governor of the province, 671. eindi ah, the Mahratta chief, his prepara- tion^s for war, 266. Defeated at Assaye, 271. And at Delhi, 2/2. Signs treaty of peac 1, 279. Other treaties, 3! 9, 324. I His duplicity, 410. [iikhs o:* Scikhs, invade Delhi, 16. Embassy toth<,346. Their disordered state, 5S I. Murders and revolutions, 582, 583. The " Punches," 584. Their defeat at Mood- kee, 595. IJepoys, details relating to, 29, 30. Seringapatam threatened by Fullarton, 150. First siege by Cornwallis, 204. Second siege ly General Harris, 231. Shah J um, grant to, 87. His degraded cond ion as mogul, 112. In the Rohilla war, .LI7. Welcomes Lord Lake at Delhi, 273. Shapuree, island of, taken, 450. Shere Singh deserts our army, 626. Sur- renders to the British, 631. " Shore, Sir John, appointed governor-gene- ral, 209. His pacific policy, 211. De- poses Vizier Ali, and raises Saadut Ali to the throne of Oude, 2 17. Character of his administration, 219. His resigna- tion, 220. Shujah-ul-Mulk, king of Cabul, 346. Siam, embassy to, 439. King of, his con- duct during the Burmese war, 466. Simla, council at, 530. Lord Ellenborough, proclamation at, 564. Singapoor, rise of, 439. Smith, Gen., pursues Meer Khan, 313. Follows the peishwa, 418. Snv.th, Sir Henry, at battle of Moodkee, At Ferozshuhur, 598. March to .anah, 6U4. Leads at Aliwal, 6u5. 1, battle of, 606 et seq. t. Major, killed, 602. , battle of, 420. . Captain, his death, 426. .-)ca( . y, Brigadier, leads infantry at So- braon, 6O8. Staunton, Captain, and other oflBcers, their courage at Corregaum, 41 7. Stuart, General, commands at Madras, 145, Superseded, 148. Suffrein, admiral of the French fleet, 140. Fights with Hughes, 142, 144, I47. Sujah-Dowlah, nabob of Oude, conspires against Meer Jaffier, 63. Is made vizier to Shah Alum, '8. Defeated at Buxar, 85. And at Corah, 86. Treaty with the English, 86. His death, 121. Sujah, Shah, his triumphant entrance into Cabul, 543. Maintains himself in the Balla Hissar, 552. His death by as- sassination, 559. Suraj-u-Dowlah, succeeds his grandfather, Aliverdy Khan, 34. Threatens the En- glish at Calcutta, 34. Takes Cossimbu- zar, 35. Takes Calcutta, 37. Is beaten by Clive, and implores for peace, 40. Defeated at Plassey, 44. Flight from Bloorshedabad, 45. His capture and death, 46. Surat, factory at, 7. Seized by the Jfogul, 11. Blisgovernmentof the Nabob there, 263. The Company assumes the govern- ment, present condition of, 263. Sutledge, the, crossed by our troops, 61O. Suttee abolished, 510. Tanjore, war with, 19. Conquered, 98. The Company obtains sovereign rule there, 262. Tej Singh, reinforces Sikhs at Ferozshuhur, 600. Templeton, Lieutenant, killed at Bhurt- poor, 314. Tent contract, 357. Thackwell, Sir J., at Sobraon, 610. Thomas, Geo., the Irish rajah, 320. Timour's conquests, 7. Tinnevelly, spread of Christianity there, 375. Tippoo Saib attacks Madras, is defeated by Colonel Smith, 95. Actions on the Coromandel coast, 136, 142. Succeeds his father Hyder, 145. Siege of Man- galore, 155. Makes peace, 158. Renewal of war, 188. Description of his forces, 189. His character, 190. Invades Tra- vancore, 193. Besieged in Seringapatam, 204. Accepts conditions of tne Com- pany, 205. His sons restored to him, 220. His ill-will to the Englis-h, 220. His preparations for a new war, treaty with the French, 225. Defeated at Mal- lavelly, 230. Retreats, and is besieged in Seringapatam, 231. His death, 231. Burial, 232. Some details of his habits, 233, 234. Dismemberment of his empire, 236. His sons, 236. Happy results to the Company of Tippoo's last war, 238, 240. Todd, Captain, murdered by Holkar, 293. Travancore invaded by Tippoo, 193. Treaty at Moorshedabad, 45. Trichinopoly besieged by Chunda Saheb, G40 INDEX. 23. Relieved by Lawrence, 28. Besieged by the French, 31. Trimbukjee murders the Shastri, 388. His imprisonment and escape, 389- His cap- ture, 424. Umballa, 587. Upton, Colonel, at Poonah, 123. Vansittart, Governor, 78. Vellore, mutiny at, 337. Vizier Ali, 251. His flight, 253. Invades Oude, flies to the rajah of Jypoor, is delivered up, imprisoned at Vellore, there dies, 256. Waldemar, Prince, at Ferozshuhur, 603. Walker, Colonel, operations against the Pindarrees, 39/. Wallace, Colonel, takes Chandore, 310. Walsh, Captain, attacked by Meer Khan, 312. Watson, Admiral, attacks Angria pirates, 33. Sails to Calcutta, 39. Seizes Chan- dernagore with Clive, 40. His death, 47. Wellesley, Colonel Arthur, commands the nizam's force, joins Harris at Vellore, 230. At the siege of Seringapatam, 231. Is commandant of the town, establishes order and confidence, 234, 235. C. - paign against Dhoondiah VVaugh and hig marauders, 241, 243. Removed from Mysore to act in Ceylon, returns .^ Bombay, 244. To Mysore, 249. Mo to Seringapatam, 268. Battle of A^ 269. Argaum, 276. Besieges G Ghur, 277. His marches, 279. Hi^ of draught cattle, 281. And of brinj:. 282. Review of his operations in 1 288. The duke of Wellington m , vote of thanks .to Lord EUenborough iu the House of Lords, 571. Wellesley, Honourable Henry, concludec a treaty at Lucknow with the king < Oude, 257. Takes charge of the pr- j vinces ceded, 258. Wheeler, Mr., member of council, 125. Whish, General, at siege of Mooltan, ; ids, Wilson, Commodore, defeats Dutch l^q^a dron in the Hooghly, 71- Yandaboo, treaty of peace signed at, '^''' Zada Shah, his advance on Benga 1 His letter to Clive, 64. His retre a Assumes title of " King of the w 78. Zemaun Shah, 218, 250, 350. THE END. PRINTED BY COX (BROTHERS) AND WYMAN, GREAT QUEEN STREET. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. 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