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Crown 8vo. 6s. each. London; W. H. ALLEN & Co,, Limited, 13, Waterloo Place. STATESMEN SERIES. EDITED BY LLOYD C. SANDEES. THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY, K.GL (All Rights reserved.') MARQUESS WELLESLEY, K.G. STATESMEN SEEIES. LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY, E.G. COLONEL G. B. MALLESOX, C.SI. LONDON : W. H. ALLEN & CO., LIMITED. 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. WYMAN AND SONS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, LONDON AND REDHILL. PREFACE TO NEW EDITION. NEARLY five years have elapsed since I endeavoured, in a volume of the Statesmen Series, to present to my countrymen a sketch of the varied and brilliant career of Marquess Wellesley. I endeavoured, in that sketch, to prove that it was the great Marquess who had welded into one whole the scattered portions of the British territories in India; who had given to those united portions the imperial form they have since retained ; who, finding, on his arrival, that British India was only one amongst three powers, the nominal equal of each of the other two, had realised the dream of Warren Hastings by giving it absolute predomin- ance. I showed, or at least endeavoured to show, that Wellesley alone had done it; that it was his genius which had conceived the great scheme ; his knowledge of men which had selected the proper instruments to carry it into effect. I farther pointed out that whilst his great qualities were recognised in India ; are re- membered in the southern parts of the peninsula even to the present day ; his merits were admitted much more slowly in England. I endeavoured to explain this failure, on the part of his countrymen to render full justice to his deserj^ b^cplling attention to the n I ft I A-S. can be no doubt that that vote truly represented the feeling of the majority of the nation. On the reassembling of Parliament in January of the following year, another Important debate took place, during the discussion of the Address, on the policy and progress of the war. In this debate there was assigned to Lord Mornington a leading- part. Speaking early, he argued that, if the original necessity for the war had ceased, he would be the first to Tecommend a return " to the secure and uninterrupted ^enjoyment of a flourishing commerce, of tranquil liberty at home, and of respect and honour abroad," but that, in fact, the necessity not having ceased, there was no alter- native before Parliament. The choice lay between the vigorous prosecution of hostilities, and an ambiguous state >neither of open hostility nor of real repose a state in which the nation would suffer most of the incon- veniences of war, and enjoy none of the solid advantages of peace. He pointed out that the aggressive action of the French Republic had roused not England only, but -all Europe ; that, in the decree of November 19th, 1792, SUPPORTS THE WAE WITH FEANCE. 7 she had made to the subjects of the several sovereigns of the European States offers of universal fraternity and assistance, and had ordered her generals everywhere to aid and abet those citizens of foreign countries who had suffered, or might hereafter suffer, in the cause of what she called liberty. " Her sense of liberty," continued the speaker, " as applied to England, was shown by the reception of seditious and treasonable addresses, and by the speeches of the President of the National Convention, expressing his wish for the auspicious institution of a British Convention." After quoting several instances of the infraction by France of international law in the case of Belgium, of the United States, and of Constantinople the declaration of Brissot that his object in freeing and arming the negroes of the French West India Islands was to accomplish the destruction of the British colonies in that part of the globe Lord Mornington urged that at the time when war was declared the men who governed France had hatched an extensive conspiracy against the order of society and the peace of mankind. Invoking in support of this charge the words and acts of the accused, proving that the plan was not peculiar to one faction, but had been accepted by all, the speaker proceeded to show how such language had been understood in Europe : the dangers which were threatening the British Empire, and which could only be averted by timely recourse to defen- sive measures; and the absolute necessity of a policy which should be open and undisguised. It is very remarkable, looking at his subsequent career, that he should have illustrated this part of his argument by a reference to India and to the Sultan of Maisur. He said : " In India the Frencli have been expelled from all their possessions except Pondichery, the capture of which could not (according to the latest advices) be long delayed. The acqu'sition of the port of 8 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. Mahe, on the coast of Malabar, is of the greatest advantage to our new territories on that coast, both with a view to the commerce and gooj government of those countries ; in a political view it is obviously of considerable importance that the French should not continue to hold a possession which afforded them the means of so direct and easy an intercourse with Tipu Sultan." Lord Mornington then entered into a long enumeration of the acts of the French Government, both at home and abroad, and concluded with the following appeal, a speech which for more than two hours had captivated the attention of a full House : * " All the circumstances of the case are now before you. You are now to make your option. You are now to decide whether it best becomes the dignity, the wisdom, and the spirit of a great nation to rely for existence on the arbitrary will of a restless and implacable enemy, or on her own sword. You are now to decide whether you will entrust to the valour and skill of British fleets and British armies, to the approved faith and united strength of your powerful and numerous allies, the defence of the limited Monarchy of these realms, of the constitution of Parliament, of all the established ranks and orders of society among us, of the sacred rights of property, and of the whole frame of our laws, our liberty, and our religion ; or whether you will deliver over the guardianship of all these blessings to the justice of Cambon, the plunderer of the Netherlands, who, to sustain the baseless fabric of his depreciated assignats, defrauds whole nations of their rights of property, and mortgages the aggregated wealth of Europe ; to the moderation of Danton, who first promulgated that unknown law of nature which ordains that the Alps, the Pyrenees, the ocean, and the Khine should be the only boundaries of the French dominion ; to the religion of Kobespierre, whose practice of piety is to murder his own Sovereign, who exhorts all mankind to embrace the sam 5 faith, and to assassinate their Kings for the honour of God ; to the friendship of Barrere, who avows, in the face 'of all Europe, that the fundamental article of the Kevolutionary Government of France is the ruin and -annihilation of the British Empire ; or, finally, to whatever may be the accidental caprice of any new band of malefactors, who, in the last convulsions of their exhausted country, msy be destined to drag the present tyrants to their own scaffolds, to seize their lawless power, to emulate the depravity of their example, and to rival tho enormity of their crimes." REPRESENTS THE NATIONAL FEELING. 9 The House was attracted not so much by the graceful elo- cution, the sonorous yet manly voice, the high-bred manner, and the self-reliant attitude of the speaker, as by the strength and cogency of his arguments. It is almost supererogation to say that those arguments would not, in the presence of accomplished facts, influence the existing generation. To understand their effect in the past, we must carry our minds back to the state of affairs when they were spoken. The French Revolution was just beginning its career of aggression. It was certain that the nearest neighbours of France, the most ancient and most reliable allies of Great Britain in her wars with the princes of the House of Bourbon, would be the first victims of the new crusade. Danton, then a ruling power in France, and supposed by many to be the man of the future, had openly claimed for France boundaries, which England had refused, which Germany and Holland had refused, to Louis XIV., in the days of his greatest power. Brissot, the mouthpiece of a more thoughtful school of Frenchmen, had placed the annihilation of England as the first article of his pro- gramme. The fever was not confined to individuals ; it had roused to superhuman action the whole nation. That the speech of Lord Mornington only interpreted in elegant language the thoughts which were burning in the minds of the great majority of the members of the House, was proved by the fact that although the Opposition put up their most eloquent orator, the brilliant Sheridan, to reply, he failed to make an impression on the House. Even Mr. Fox, who spoke later, could only say that, if the principle of the speech were accepted, it would mean that " while the present or any other Jacobin Government exists in France, no propositions for peace can be made or received by us." The division was decisive. Two hundred and seventeen members voted for the vigorous 10 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. prosecution of the war ; only fifty-seven for the amendment, moved by Mr. Fox. On November the 29th following, Lord Mornington was married, at St. George's, Hanover Square, to Made- moiselle Hyacinthe Gabrielle Roland, a native of France, only daughter of Pierre Roland and of Hyacinthe Gabrielle Daris, of the city of Paris, who had for nine years lived with him and borne him children. Notwithstanding the beauty of the lady, her wit, her wonderful fascination, the marriage was not a happy one. I may state, in antici- pation, that when Lord Mornington proceeded to India, he felt that under the circumstances he could not take her. Nor did she live long with him after his return. For reasons which have never been given to the public they agreed to live separately. The lady died in 1816. It is not necessary to quote from other speeches which Lord Mornington delivered in the course of this session, or of the sessions that followed. His reputation as an orator was made, and he was in a fair way of adding to it that of an excellent man of business. To this end he attended with industry to his duties at the India Board ; thoroughly mastered the peculiar details which distinguish the affairs of our Indian Empire ; and gave evidence on more than one public occasion of the interest with which he watched the dangers threatening it from the ambition of France. The public were not surprised, then, when the announcement was made that Lord Mornington had been selected by Mr. Pitt to succeed Sir John Shore as Governor-General of India. The selection was not made without some uncertainty on the part of the Prime Minister. The retiring Governor- General had succeeded Lord Cornwall is in 1792. The selection of a civil servant of the Company to fill so lofty a post had been a bitter disappointment to Lord Hobart, APPOINTED GOVERNOR-GENERAL. 11 Governor of Madras, who had given proofs of capacity, and who, it was understood, had accepted the lesser appointment on the understanding that he was to have the reversion of the greater. Upon the retirement of Sir John Shore, Lord Hobart had then regarded his suc- cession as certain. But Mr. Pitt, as soon as he heard of the vacancy, recommended to his sovereign the reappoint- inent of Lord Cornwallis to the joint posts of Governor- General and Commander-in-Chief. Lord Cornwallis actually accepted the two posts, and then, after a brief interval, that is, the interval of two or three weeks, resigned them. The announcement of Lord Cornwallis's resignation was accompanied by the statement that, " under the circumstances and for reasons of a peculiar nature," the Earl of Mornington had been appointed Governor-General. Naturally the public were mystified, and the mystification was not at the time cleared up. But the author of the Wellesley Memoirs, Mr. E. B. Pearce, gives the following explanation of the transaction : " The truth," he writes, " appears to be this. Lord Teignmouth [Sir John Shore] was desirous of enjoying his newly-acquired honours at home ; Lord Hobart, who had been involved in some unpleasant altercations with the Supreme Government and the Court of Directors, was not an acceptable person to the Company ; and Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas clearly saw that the exigencies of the tknes required greater energies than Lord Cornwallis was then capable of bringing to bear on the Government of India." This explanation affords honourable testimony to the reputation which Lord Mornington had acquired. He was then in his thirty-eighth year, the period of life to which the late Lord Beaconsfield referred " as the prime, if not the perfection, of manhood ;" had served upwards of thirteen years, during a troubled period, in the House of 12 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. Commons ; had acquired, at the Board of Control, a thorough knowledge of all the details of Indian Govern- ment, of the policy pursued by his predecessor, and of the dangers which might threaten the stability of British interests from the independent action of native princes in the very centre of the peninsula, at a time when Great Britain was engaged in a war conducted with more than ordinary bitterness with a revolutionary power He had many qualities which peculiarly fitted him for the post. He was gifted with a strong will ; possessed the faculty of quick decision ; an intelligence which enabled him to arrive, almost by intuition, at the point of a question, however involved, or however hidden by oriental phrases ; a capacity, unmarred by the faintest tint of jealousy, which enabled him to distinguish merit in others, and to select for particular employments the men who were most capable of bringing the allotted task to a successful issue. When I add that Lord Mornington had a gracious presence, and was gifted with a charm of manner capable of impressing, I might indeed add, of almost always winning, those with whom he came in contact, I shall have said enough to prove the deep insight into character displayed by Mr. Pitt in selecting such a man, at such a crisis, to proceed to India as virtual representative of the Crown. The appointment bore date October the 4th, 1797. CHAPTER II. GENERAL VIEW OF THE STATE OF INDIA ON THE ARRIVAL THERE OF THE EARL OF MORNINGTON. 1784-1796. ireaty m Mangaior Defeat of Tipu Sultan Negotiations with the French Ripaud's intrigues The assistance of Malartic State of aifairs at Haidarabad The Nizam's dealings with the French War with the Mardthas Increase of the French contingent The Maiatnas Condition of the North Character and policy of Sir John Shore. LORD MORNINGTON quitted England November the 7th, 1797. He landed at Madras April the 26th, 1798. It is well, whilst he is making that long sea voyage, that the reader should examine the state of affairs in the country, which would demand the earnest attention of the new Governor- General on his landing. I propose to take him in the first instance to India south of the Vindhya range, generally known as Southern India. There, not very many years had elapsed since Haidar Ali, the Muhammadan Ruler of Maisur, had dictated terms of peace to the English shut up in Madras ; and, although during the struggle which followed at a some- what later period, the fortune of England had prevailed, yet tc the last hour of his life Haidar, a man of innate genius, had been a very formidable enemy. His son and successor, known as Tipu Sultan, not only did not possess 14 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. a particle of his father's genius, but was saturated with prejudices from which his father had been free. The war, which was still waging on his accession, languished with varying fortunes for fifteen months ; and it is a proof of the extremity to which our countrymen were reduced, that at the end of that period they were glad to conclude a treaty the Treaty of Mangalor (March llth, 1784) by which the contracting parties agreed to restore all places, and all prisoners, taken during the war. The interval of peace which followed gave abundant and repeated evidence that genius no longer directed the affairs of the only State in India which had waged war not unequally with the English. Haidar would have husbanded his resources/ and have paved the way for new alliances against the Foreign Power, which he had felt during his lifetime would otherwise swallow the estates of the native princes in detail. Tipu, swayed by prejudice and bigotry, listened only to his passions. Instead of conciliating, he molested his neighbours. At last, he was rash enough and foolish enough to attack a protected ally of the English, the Eajah of Travankur. War followed. In that war Tipu was worsted. Bangalor fell into the hands of the English. Seringapatam was invested ; and within two years Tipu was glad to obtain peace by the sacrifice of one-half of his dominions, and the payment of an indemnity of upwards of three millions sterling. Only six years had elapsed between the signature of this peace (March 19th, 1792) and the landing of Lord Mornington at Madras (April 26th, 1798), and six years do not count for long in the memory of a prince, the main aim of whose life was to recover all that he had lost. Such was the aim, the constant, unwavering aim, of Tipu Sultan. Scarcely was the ink dry with which the peace of 1792 had been signed than he began to strengthen the TIPU INTRIGUES WITH FEANCti. 15 fortifications of Seringapatam. He provided for the accruing to his soldiers of advantages in the shape of pension, or in the bestowal upon them of grants of land. Then, in 1793, he opened negotiations for a general alliance of the native princes against the English with Madhaji Sindhia, the ablest of all the Marathas, whose death, the year following, was a fatal blow to their cause. To aid in bringing about the same result, he found means to correspond with Zaman Shah, ruler of Kabul ; and a little later he played the card which brought matters between himself and the English to extremities he reopened negotiations with France. As one consequence of these negotiations was exactly con- temporaneous with the arrival of Lord Mornington at Madras, I propose to deal with it somewhat in detail. Previous to the war, which terminated so disastrously for the Maisur ruler in 1792, Tipu had, in 1788, de- spatched by the hands of a Frenchman, whose name is entered in the Maisur Manuscripts as Monsieur Macna- mara, a letter to Louis XVI., in which he stated his apprehensions of immediate war with the English, and his confidence that in that event the French King would assist him. To this letter he received in due course a reply to the effect, that whilst the King wished him well, and was desirous in every legitimate way to promote his views, should opportunity offer, there were reasons, which the letter set forth, why it was impossible that France should, at the moment, declare war against England. After the French Revolution had broken out, and the French armies had begun that career of victory which it required the combination of all the Powers of Europe to stop, Tipu was persuaded to renew his offers to form a league for the expulsion of the English. It would seem that the first overtures direct to Paris were made through 16 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. the intervention of a Frenchman named Pierre Moneron, an adventurer long resident in Maisur, in 1795 or 1796 ; but it is certain that indirect communications were opened at an earlier period, for the same purpose, with General Cossigny, Governor of the Isle of France, and by him transmitted to Paris. The fact that England and France were in 1795 actually at war, had imparted to the Sultan a confident belief that the alliance, so long hoped for, might at last be consummated. His mind was in this buoyant condition when, early in 1797, a French privateer from the Isle of France put in, dismasted, into the port of Mangalor, and solicited the means of repair. It happened that the Lord of the Admiralty at that port was one Ghulam All, one of the men who had accompanied Macnamara to France in 1788, and had acquired some facility in the speaking of the French language. He at once ^ave the required permission to repair damages. Then after much con- versation with the master of the vessel, a man named Ripaud, he reported to his sovereign that the arrival was most opportune, for that Ripaud represented himself to be the officer second in authority at the Isle of France, and that he had been specially instructed to touch at Mangalor, for the purpose of ascertaining the Sultan's wishes regarding the co-operation of a French force with the troops of His Highness for the expulsion from India of their common enemy. Ghulam All was promptly instructed to bring Ripaud to Seringapatam. It can easily be conceived that Ripaud was nothing more than a common impostor, and as such he was recognised by the officers of Tipu's Court. They even proceeded so far as to write a memorandum on the subject to their master, and to represent it as quite possible that Ripaud might be an English spy. But it RASCALITY OF EIPAUD. 17 was one of the weaknesses of Tipu to believe that to be true which he wished to be true, and he answered his councillors with the platitude, of which he was in the habit of making daily use : " Whatever is the will of God, that will be accomplished." Ripaud's vessel was pur- chased, and the purchase-money was made over to one of his companions, to be taken to the Isle of France. Ripaud himself was directed to stay at Tipu's Court in the quality of ambassador, and four envoys from the Sultan, posing as merchants, were directed to proceed to the island, to solicit from its Governor the despatch to Mangalor of a fleet and army. With that fleet and army one of them was to return, whilst the other three were to continue their journey to Paris, there to execute the functions of ambassadors. An event ^ of a ludicrous character disconcerted these proceedings. The four native ambassadors were on the eve of starting from Mangalor, accompanied by the Frenchman who had been deputed by Ripaud to convey to the Isle of France the purchase-money of the disabled privateer, when the Frenchman and three of his compatriots absconded in a boat, taking with them the money. Nothing more was heard of them, and it was supposed that they had been captured by the English. Of this, however, there is no record, and the probabilities are that they perished with their ill-gotten gains. Such an occurrence ought to have opened the eyes of Tipu to the true character of the class of foreigners with whom he was dealing, and it is only due to him to state that at the moment he felt heartily ashamed of himself and of Ripaud. Charging the latter with collusion with his absconding countrymen, with the view to obtain double payment, he placed him under restraint. But reflecting, a little later, that if the vessel should arrive in the Isle of 18 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. France without the purchase-money he had paid for hei she was liable to be confiscated by her owners, he deter- mined to release Ripaud, and to send him to the island with the ambassadors, now reduced to two, taking from him a bond for the money he had received, and for which the vessel was declared to be a collateral security. These questions and considerations caused delay, and the pri- vateer, which was to have sailed in April, did not quit Mangalor until October. She had scarcely lost sight of the coast when the two ambassadors of the Maisur Sultan had a fresh experience of the style of Frenchman whom their sovereign had delighted to honour. No sooner was he sure that he was beyond the control of Maisur than Eipaud collected his European crew, Cumbering five or six, and, addressing the ambassadors, reproached them for the treatment he had received from their master, and insisted that they should place in his hands the letters they were carrying to the island, threatening that unless they should comply he would proceed on a privateering cruise. After much demur and protestations the ambassadors complied. Ripaud at once opened the letters, read their contents, and finding that these did not confirm the apprehensions he had formed, continued his course for the island, and cast anchor in Port Louis, January 19th, 1798. The Governor of the Isle of France was General Malartic, a very distinguished officer of ancient lineage and high reputation. His power in the two islands was absolute ; for, when the Directory, jealous of his popu- larity, had despatched two commissaries from France to watch him, and restrict his authority, it was only with difficulty that Malartic saved them from the fury of the populace. His Council refused to recognise them, and they were sent back to France as soon as possible. Never MAISUE ENVOYS AT THE ISLE OF FRANCE. W again was the authority of Malartic interfered \vith or controlled from France. His power remained absolute till his death, in July, 1800. Learning from Ripaud the real quality of the two- Maisurians who had arrived, Malartic sent some gentlemen of his suite to wait upon them, and to arrange the time of their landing. When they did land they were received with full honours, conducted to Government House through a double line of troops, received there with ceremonious dis- tinction, and assigned a public dwelling. Malartic found that the despatches contained the project of a treaty between the Sultan of Maisur and the Isle of France, the main poinj; of which was the co-operation on Indian soil of a corps of from five to ten thousand French troops., backed by from twenty to thirty thousand Africans. The Sultan engaged that these, on landing, should be joined by sixty thousand Maisurians; the object of the /joint operation being, according to the proposal of Tipu, to take Goa from the Portuguese, and Bombay from the English, on the western coast ; to reduce and raze Madras- on the eastern ; then to subdue the Marathas and the- Nizam ; and, finally, to expel the English from Bengal. Malartic could not object that the scheme was not com- prehensive. But he was without the necessary means of complying even in part with the requisition. He could spare no troops from the already too small garrison of the islands. The best he could do was to forward the pro- posals of the Sultan to France. This he did promptly,, despatching the Sultan's letters in duplicate in two- frigates, and meanwhile comforting the ambassadors with the assurance that the Mother Country would most cer- tainly comply with the requisition. Meanwhile, despite the protests of the ambassadors, who told him that they required an army, and not a few recruits only, he issued c 2 20 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. a proclamation in which he invited the people of the islands to enlist to serve under the banners of Tipu. Ultimately, the ambassadors re-embarked for Mangalor, on March 7th, 1798, on board the Preneuse frigate, taking with them ninety-nine men, including civil and military officers, for the service of the Sultan. The capture of two English Indiamen, in the Tellicheri Roads, detained them a few days, and they reached Mangalor on April 26th, 1798, the very day that Lord Mornington landed at Madras. I have been somewhat minute in recording the pro- ceedings of Tipu and his allies, in order to show that the things which he did do were not done in a corner : that not only was he contemplating the waging of war with the English in India, but the waging of it on a scale which should place the result beyond a doubt, in concert with, and largely aided by, the hereditary enemy of England, then at war with England, and whose troops at the moment, though Tipu knew it not, were preparing to embark to make a raid on Egypt, as the first step to India. It is true that he would have been glad had his negotiations been conducted with greater secrecy and discretion. But, secret or published, they were still negotiations ; and, in point of fact, the proclamations of General Malartic, the language openly held by him in the presence of the ambassadors, and repeated and con- firmed by them, were sufficient to publish to the world the hopes, the designs, the hostile manoeuvres of the Sultan of Maisur. He gave a further proof of his inten- tions by according to the ninety-nine volunteers a brilliant reception, and by giving them quarters in his fortress of Seringapatam. Whilst, thus, the condition of the still powerful kingdom f Maisur was of a nature to demand the earnest attention of a Governor-General fresh from Europe, the state of THE NIZAM 21 the dominions of the Nizam, the second great native power in Southern India, was but little more assuring. Up to the year 1759, the country known under the term Haidarabad, comprising then an area of 95,337 square miles, had been for many years completely under French influence. But when, in that year, Colonel Forde, acting under the inspiration of Clive, expelled the French from the country known as the Northern Sirkars, he forced upon the Nizam of the day, then called the Subahdar, who had marched to the assistance of the French, a treaty whereby he renounced the French alliance, agreed never to allow a French contingent within his dominions, and ceded a large territory to the English. Had the conditions of that treaty been always insisted upon the Haidarabad difficulty would never have arisen, or, at least, it would never have assumed an aggravated form. But, in course of time, the position of the English in Southern India became often very precarious. It is true that occasionally they were able to make their authority felt. Thus, in 1768, they made a new treaty with the Nizam, whereby, in return for certain important considerations, they agreed to furnish him, upon requisition, with two battalions of sipahis and guns, on condition of his paying their expenses. Eleven years later, in 1779, the brother of the Nizam, Basalat Jang by name, who, despite the Treaty of 1759, had taken French levies into his service, pressed by Haidar All, had implored the aid of the English, and to obtain it had agreed to substitute for his French levies a detachment of English troops, and to yield to the English the district of Guntur. In spite of the protests of the Nizarn, the Governor of Madras had itcbented to this arrangement. Bat the Home Govern- ment had disapproved the act, avid had recalled the Governor. The Nizam, however, had been so outraged, 22 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. that in the interval he had negotiated with Sindhia and IHaidar All for a common alliance against the English ; -and, what is more germane to the present subject, he had taken into his employment French officers to drill his troops. This was in direct contravention of the Treaty of 1759. But the English were then threatened by Haidar, and they had not the power at the moment to notice the infraction ; and it remained unnoticed. It is a proof of their waning influence at this period, that although, on .the death of Basalat Jang, in 1782, the district of Guntur Sapped by treaty to the British, they allowed the Nizam jto seize it, and to hold it for six years. When, in 17S9, the first war broke out between the \Engiish and Tipu Sultan, the Nizam was forced to take a .^side. He distrusted Tipu, and the English promised vmuch. He declared, therefore, for the English; and, when victory crowned their efforts, he received as a reward territories bearing, then, an annual revenue of 52,64,000 Rs., besides a third of the amount in cash, amounting to three millions sterling, levied from Tipu. "To that war the Marathas had likewise been a consenting rparty, and they, too, had had their share of the plunder. ""With the division of the spoil with them came danger to -.4he Nizam, and in spite of the proffered mediation of the &then Governor-General, Sir John Shore, which the Peshwa vrefused, war ensued between the rival claimants. The ^campaign was short but decisive. Rejecting the bold advice of the Commander of his French contingent, Monsieur Raymond, the ablest of the adventurers in the service of the native princes, the Nizam, after fighting not unequally a pitched battle, retreated during the night Chat follov, ed, was pursued, and forced to accept a treaty which cost him three millions sterling in money, and -territories yielding an annual revenue of 350 5 000. THE NIZAM. 23 During that short war, the Governor-General, at peace with both parties, had, whilst refusing active aid to the Nizam, carried his compliance beyond the bounds of true propriety, by allowing British sipahis to guard the Nizam's dominions, whilst that prince should take the field with his own troops. Notwithstanding this com- pliance, the refusal of the Governor-General to lend him active assistance rankled in the mind of the Nizam, and his first step, after he had signed peace with the Marathas, was to dismiss the British battalions at the same time that he increased the number of French sipahis and of their officers. Suddenly, however, there occurred one of those outbreaks to which the native States of India were prone in those days. The British battalions had actually started on their return journey when the eldest son of the Nizam, All Jah, broke out in rebellion. The French contingent was despatched against him, and succeeded in bringing him back a prisoner. But, meanwhile, the British bat- talions, hearing of the crisis, had returned, and the Nizam, terrified and unnerved, determined then to retain them. Still the French force was there, and what is more, its numbers had been increased to 14,000 men. The sipahis composing it were well drilled and efficient, and they were commanded in chief by a man of great ability, animated by a national hatred to the English. Raymond was born at Serignac, in Gascony, in 1755, and at the age of twenty had .engaged as a sub-lieutenant in a French corps, commanded by the Chevalier de Lasse, in the service of Haidar All. His distinguished conduct on several occasions had attracted the notice of the com- manders of the army, and he obtained the rank of captain in the regular service of France. When Bussy came out to India in 1783 to co-operate with Haidai' against the English, he made Raymond his aide-de- 24 LIFE OF TEE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. camp. On Bussy's death, the then Governor of Pon- dichery recommended Raymond to the Nizam as an officer upon whom he could entirely rely. Raymond soon justified the recommendation. Commissioned to form one regiment, he soon produced a body of men, the equal of whom, in efficiency and drill, the Nizam had never seen. Gradually the number was increased to fourteen, and it had just arrived at that strength, when, on March the 6th, 1798, he died, not without suspicion of having been poisoned. Seven weeks later, April the 26th a day of many striking coincidences Lord Mornington arrived at Madras. But if, on that date, there was an accumulation of evidence that Maisur was conspiring with an European Power with which Great Britain was at war; that the Nizam, secretly unfriendly, was acting in contravention of the terms of a treaty which still existed ; there was little in Northern, North-Western, Central, or Western India to reassure the mind of the incoming Proconsul. In those parts the Maratha influence was everywhere prepon- derant. The chief cities of the west and of the north- west, cities and centres such as Puna, Barodah, Asirgarh, Nagptir, Burhanpur, Indur, Ujjen, Gwaliar, Agra, Dehli, and Aligarh were firmly held by one member or another of the powerful confederacy. The armies of Sindhia and Holkar were to a large extent trained and com- manded by Frenchmen. Daolat Rao Sindhia, the most powerful of the Maratha chiefs, was known to entertain ;.iO friendly feeling towards the British. He was still very young, and it was still possible &&!; he xiigiit yet take up the threads of that secret negotiation for union against the foreigner, which had been the dream of his immediate predecessor. The chance that he would not take up that thread con- WESTERN AND NOETH-WESTEBN INDIA. 26 stituted, at this period, the one hope for the English. Madajhi Sindhia had died but four years earlier, just as he had succeeded in the difficult, the almost impossible, task of giving one direction to the foreign policy of the five Powers who formed the Maratha Confederacy, the Peshwa, the Bhonsla, the Gaikwar, Holkar, and Sindhia. His adopted son and successor, Daolat Rao, had, up to the moment of which I am writing, displayed neither the ability nor the will to follow in his track ; whilst Jeswant Rao Holkar, who had but just succeeded the wise and prudent Tukaji, seemed animated chiefly by a desire to wreak his vengeance for past insults on his powerful neighbour, Sindhia. Nor, if a glance were directed at the provinces outside the range of Maratha influence, was the prospect of a nature to reassure. The recognition by Sir John Shore of the claims of Saadat Ali to the vacated masnad of Oudh, though strictly in accordance with justice, had left a strong party in that province which viewed with great disfavour the interference of the British ; whilst in the adjoining province of Rohilkhand, inhabited by a brave and war-like race, who had suffered from that same in- terference, there prevailed a strong hope that the ruler of Kabul, Zaman Shah, would repeat, and even surpass, the achievements of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah. Such was the condition of India, and such were the feelings of the princes, and, to a great extent, of the peoples, of India, when, on April the 26th, Lord Morn- ington laiiwcd at Madras to assume the office of Governor- General of India. The reader would, however, fail to grasp the nature of his position in its fullest extent, unless he had some knowledge of the character of his prede- cessor; some distinct idea of the kind of policy which that predecessor had attempted to pursue. 26 LIFE OF THE MABQUESS WELLESLEY. Sir John Shore, created on his retirement Lord Teign- mouth, was a man possessing great amiability of character, and was actuated in all his dealings by a determination to pursue the course which to him was the right course. But he was an idealist, a philosopher, who shaped his policy, not from the standpoint of things as they were, but from the standpoint of things as, in his opinion, they ought to be. Believing that the British dominion in India had reached its limit, no hostile combination of native princes would have induced him to extend it. He wished that all the native States of India should be maintained in their integrity. Consequently, throughout his tenure of office, he had not only proclaimed, but had maintained, a policy of non-interference. The more ambitious Princes of India, Tipu, Madajhi Sindhia, and, to a certain extent, the Nizam, had derived from this policy enormous conso- lation, for they had found it only necessary to protest to be believed. Indeed, it is a very curious fact that the very day Lord Mornington landed at Madras, a letter from Tipu, who had openly allied himself with the French Republic for the expulsion of the English from India, reached the Governor-General, containing the Sultan's assurance of his desire to strengthen the " foundations of harmony and concord established between the two States." Sir John Shore never realised the fact that although, throughout his incumbency of office, he had maintained peace, yet that that very peace had been largely instru- mental in bringing about a revolution of thought in the minds of the native princes ; that very generally they had substituted, for jealousy of one another, a desire to com- bine against the foreigner. This policy had, it is true, been temporarily interrupted by the death of Madhaji Sindhia (February the 12th, 1794) just as it was about to mature, and by the character of the Madhaji's successor. I3DIA IN APRIL, 1798. 27 But it was certain to revive. It had become a principle never to be forgotten, though, in consequence of the im- petuous passions incident to youth, often to be neglected. Such was the state of India at the time of the arrival of the new Governor-General. Such were the subjects which forced themselves upon his attention. I propose to consider in a separate chapter the spirit in which he met them. CHAPTER III. TfPU SULTAN, THE NIZAM, AND THE PESHWl. FEB.-DEC. 1798. Lord Mornington's policy towards the Nizam and Tipu defined Necessity of readjusting the balance of power Lord Mornington at Madras Governor Malartic's proclamation Negotiations with the Nizam Signature of the new treaty Dismissal of the Nizam's French contingent Subjection of the Nizam to English influence Lord Mornington's negotiations with the Peshwa. IN the course of his voyage from England, Lord Mornington touched at the Cape (February, 1798). There he not only received despatches, giving him the latest Indian news, and dealing especially with Tipu Sultan and the Nizam, but he met Major Kirkpatrick, an officer who had filled the office of British Resident at Haidarabad, and who was well acquainted with the political position of the several native princes of India. Assisted by this com- petent adviser, Lord Mornington set diligently to work to master the situation, and it is a proof of the clearness, the comprehensiveness, the quickness of his intellect, that in his despatches from the Cape to the President of the Board of Control he laid down the policy for dealing with the Nizam and with Tipu on the precise lines on which he subsequently carried it out. Thus, writing OP February 23rd, he enclosed a copy of the questions he had put to Major Kirkpatrick, and the written answers he had received from that officer, on the position at LOED MOBNING TON'S VIEWS. 29 Haidarabad ; and, drawing his own conclusions, stated that as the existence and the augmentation of the French contingent might easily be made the basis for establishing a French party in the very heart of Southern India, means ought to be taken to check its influence. Glancing rapidly at the result of the last war between the Nizam and the Marathas, and the consequent decline of the prestige of the former, Lord Mornington, believing that a loyal Nizam would constitute a powerful mainstay of British power in Southern India, expressed his conviction that it would be a wise policy to check by timely aid the rapid declension of the Nizam's weight among the Powers of Hindustan. This, he thought, could be done in no manner so effectual or unobjectionable as by furnishing him with a large increase of the British force then in his pay ; the pay of the augmented force to be secured in the manner best calculated to prevent future discussion and embarrassment. " In granting this force to the Nizam, we ought/' he said, " not only to stipulate for the dis- banding of Raymond's corps, but we ought to take care that the officers should be immediately sent out of India." One other point is mentioned by Lord Mornington in the same letter, as a point of much difficulty and danger connected with the Nizam. He referred to the desire expressed by that Prince to obtain a British guarantee of his possessions against the Marathas and against Tfpu. That it should be necessary to consider such a point, and to regard it as one of great difficulty and danger, indi- cates most clearly the vital difference between India of the present day and the India which Lord Mornington went to govern. In that India, Great Britain was only one Power amongst many others, all equally jealous of their independence. Far from being supreme, she was not admitted even to be preponderant. Haidar Ali had >0 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. within twenty years waged with her a not unequal war, and the son of Haidar All was an independent prince, allying himself with the enemies of England. Equally independent, and possessing a predominating influence in Western, North-Western, and Central India, were the five Maratha Princes already enumerated, one out of the five, at least, considering himself predestined to be the successor to the Mughul, and already occupying both his capitals. The Nizam was not so independent, for his treaty obligations fettered his action ; but, as had been shown in that very decade, he was free to wage war with the other native princes. In fact, he was but just emerging from that disastrous war with the Marathas which had followed the defeat of Tipu in 1792. And now he, as a condition of dismissing his French sipahis, that is, as a condition of placing himself and his territory more absolutely under British control, was demanding a guarantee of his possessions against the independent native princes of India, and, in addition, the right pre- viously denied to him, of employing against those native princes the sipahis, drilled by British officers, furnished to him by the British Government. No wonder that Lord Mornington, writing from the Cape of Good Hope, should regard this proposal as involving much delicacy and danger. Yet even then he grasped the position, and he grasped it in the same decided and statesmanlike manner which at a later period characterised all his dealings with native princes on the spot. A one-sided guarantee he at once rejected as impracticable, unless Great Britain were to have absolute control over the foreign relations of the Nizam., Tipu's hostility had even then been too clearly manifested to permit Lord Mornington to entertain the idea of any engagement with him. But, writing from the Cape, before he had set foot LOED MOBNINGTON'S VIEWS. 31 on Indian soil, he thought it might be expedient to induce the Maratha powers to enter into such a joint guarantee ; that he might prove to them that it was to their interest to agree to respect the actual dominions of the Nizam, provided the British should guarantee them against any attack from that prince. Even then he discerned that Tipu was the first enemy he would have to encounter. In fact, in this conception regarding a mutual guarantee, we can discern the earnest desire, that in the contest which seemed to loom in a very near future, Tipu should stand alone, unaided by either of the two powers, the Nizam and the Marathas, his rivals then, but possibly under other circumstances his allies. Details, such as he could gather from Major Kirk- patrick, regarding the Maratha princes, followed in this remarkable letter. It was followed by another, of an equally statesmanlike character, giving a comprehensive review of the occurrences in India during that decade ; showing how the policy of abstention from all interference with native powers, adopted by his immediate predecessor, had changed the relative positions of England and the independent native states, and had made it all but impos- sible to assure such a combination against Tipu as had been conducted with such marked success in 1788. He pointed out, further, how the declension of the influence of the Peshvva among the Marathas, and the consequent rise of that of Sindhia, had not tended to improve the relations between that people and the English. Arguing* then, the possible effects of an invasion of India by Zaman Shah, and an alliance of that prince with Tipu, he arrived at the following conclusion a conclusion thoroughly warranted by the circumstances of the period " that the balance of power in India no longer exists upon the same footing on which it was placed by the 32 LIFE OF TEE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. peace of Seringapatam. The question, therefore, must arise, how it may best be brought back again to that state, in which you have directed me to maintain it." He then proceeded to discuss that question. I have dwelt at some length upon these interesting letters, because they go far to prove how thoroughly Lord Mornington had examined the position of affairs in India, in their various and varying details, before he set foot in the country ; how he had mastered the principles of action which had animated Tipu on the one side, and the Nizam on the other; and how he had arrived at the conclusion that at the present time, in the face of new difficulties arising in consequence of the war with France, it would no longer be possible to pursue the non-inter- vention policy of his predecessor. With respect to the Marathas, he could only write vaguely ; but even with respect to these his acute mind had arrived at a right conclusion. He had already recognised that the death of Madhaji Sindhia had weakened that formidable branch of the Confederacy, and had deprived the five powers of a man who could have bent their united strength in one direction. He had not heard of the death of Tukaji Holkar, which occurred only in that year, nor could he presage the advent to power of so formidable a successor as Jeswant Rao. He saw, however, that with the Marathas there would be, in all probability, no immediate difficulty, and that he would be at liberty, on landing, to concentrate all his attention on the Nizam and Tipu Sultan. The information, then, which reached Lord Mornington when, on April 26th, he landed at Madras, was not of a nature to surprise hi. He arrived fully armed, and fully resolved to solve the difficulties in accordance with the principles he had laid down in his letters to Mr, LORD MOENING TON LANDS A T MADE AS. 33 Dundas from the Cape, viz., to restore to England the relative position she had occupied in 1792. For the moment he did not go further. The reader will watch with interest the circumstances which compelled him to assure to his country a position, not of equality merely, not even of preponderance, but of predominance. April 26th, 1798, was, I have already intimated, a day of coincidences. On that day, Lord Mornington arrived at Madras ; the ninety-nine French auxiliaries for the service of Tipu landed at Mangalor ; and the Calcutta Govern- ment received from that potentate a letter full of professions of friendship for the East India Company. At Madras Lord Mornington stayed but a few days. He had been requested by the Court of Directors to endeavour, whilst there, to prevail on the Nawab of Ark at to agree to a modification of the Treaty of 1792. The result of the negotiation proved how greatly the non-interference system of the preceding six years had lessened the influence of England. The Nawab of Arkat owed all he possessed in the world to English influence. The efforts of Lawrence and Clive had made valid the somewhat shadowy claims of his father against the pretensions of the candidate supported by the French. He and his family had since been regarded as the special proteges of the English, ard though they had paid somewhat extravagantly for the protection, it had saved them alike from the raids of the Marathas and the hatred of Haidar All and his son. Under the circumstances of ten years previously the modification required by Lord Mornington would have been granted at once ; but, although that nobleman con- ducted the negotiation in a manner such as to inspire General Harris, the Commander-in -Chief of the Madras army and Acting-Governor of Madras, who was present, with the greatest respect for his abilities, the Nawab 34 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. refused to give way ; nay, more, when Lord Mornington drew attention to the fact that his debt to the Company, of long standing, still remained unliquidated, the Nawab declined to make any provision for its repayment. It became evident to the new Governor-General that if a petty prince could thus refuse to attend to the wishes of the power which had made him, the prestige of England must have fallen very considerably indeed. Lord Mornington stayed at Madras but thirteen days. On May 9th, he continued his journey to Calcutta, and arrived there the 17th of the same month. There he found, or rather he brought with him for settlement from Madras, one or two matters of some importance which required immediate settlement. The first of these related to the succession to Tanjiir, a province in Southern India, the capital of which, also called Tanjiir, was situated some forty miles from Trichinapalli. Fourteen days after his arrival he had settled this question by the nomination of the candidate whose claim was, really, beyond question, though interested parties had chosen to question it. He was then on the point of turning his attention to the position of the Nizam, when, on June 8th, he was startled by reading, in a Calcutta newspaper, copies of the proclamation issued by Governor Malartic, in the Isle of France, relative to the envoys of Tipu, promising material aid from France, and inviting enlistment for that purpose. At first, Lord Mornington was disposed to think that the extracts might be forgeries, but further reflection, leading to the belief that they might be true, he wrote to General Harris the day following, requesting him to adopt the precautionary measure of turning his " attention to the means of collecting a force, if necessity should unfortu- nately require it, but it is not my desire that you should THE SITUATION THREATENING. 35 proceed to take any public steps towards the assembling of the army before you receive some further intimation from me." Ten clays later, Lord Mornington received proof of the authenticity of Governor Malartic's proclamation. It was established, further, to the satisfaction of the Governor- General, that Tipu had despatched two envoys to the Isle of France ; that the proclamation had been issued subsequently to their arrival, and during their residence in the island. He also learned that succours, small in number indeed, but composed of Frenchmen or French subjects, had actually landed in Maiour territory ; and that Tipu Sultan, aided by Malartic, had made offers of alliance to the Directory at Paris, and that he was hoping that his request might be responded to by a further and a larger despatch of troops. It was even quite possible that such a force might have been already despatched. To Lord Mornington, to his Commander-in-Chief, Sir Alured Clarke, and to all the other members of his Council, the situation seemed threatening, requiring prompt and energetic action. There was no electric- telegraph in those days to bring instant information. The communication between the Malabar coast and Calcutta was even long and difficult. It had been only by extraordinary efforts that, on June the 18th, Lord Mornington had heard of the arrival of the levies from the Isle of France on April the 26th. For aught he- knew further levies might have landed, and an army might be on its way from France. Lord Morningtorj then, backed by all his Councillors, resolved to take pre- cautionary measures measures which would not precipi- tate a catastrophe, but would meet it when it should arise. Bookworms-have blamed him for taking even such D 2 36 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. a precaution. Had he not taken it, he would have im- perilled the Empire. Accordingly, on June the 20th, two days after he and his Council had satisfied themselves that the proclamation was authentic, Lord Mornington wrote thus to General Harris : " I now take the earliest opportunity of acquainting you with my final determination. I mean to call upon the allies without delay, and to assemble the army upon the coast with all possible expedition. You will receive my public instructions in the course of a few days. Until you have received them, it will not be proper to take any public steps for the assembly of an army ; but whatever can be done without a disclosure of the ultimate object, I authorise you to do immediately, intending to apprise you by this letter that it is my positive resolution to assemble the army upon the coast. I wish to receive from you, by express, a statement of the force you can put in motion immediately, and within what time you can make large additions to it.*' It may be added, that the allies referred to in this letter were the Nizam and the Marathas. As, in all probability, some weeks or even months must elapse before General Harris could complete the prepara- tions necessary for a long campaign, Lord Mornington resolved to lose no time in dealing with the Nizam. The information of the action of Tipu had, indeed, brought his case into the greater prominence, because madness itself could only have excused the entering upon a war with Tipu, supported by French troops, and leaving to the disposal of the Nizam 14,000 sipahis, drilled and partly officered by Frenchmen. In a preceding page I have shown how the Nizam, angry with the English on account of their refusal to render him active support in the war which he waged in 1794 with the Marathas, had actually dismissed the two battalions of English sipahis, stipulated by the Treaty of 1790, when the rebellion of his son, Ali Jah, had induced LOED MOENINGTON AND THE NIZAM, 87 the English commander of those battalions to stay hi& march; and how the Nizam, suspicious of everybody, but less suspicious of the English than of others, had retained them. The French contingent, counting 14,000 men, besides a numerous artillery, also remained, strong in its numbers, and especially strong in the affection of the French party at the Court of the Nizam. Desirous to render the Nizam relatively stronger, to assure to him a force upon .which he could rely under all circumstances, and which yet should be exclusively an English force ? equally resolved to remove from the flank of a British army, on the eve of engaging with an enemy who might be backed by French troops, a powerful corps of trained sipahis commanded by Frenchmen ; Lord Mornington, in July, directed the Resident at Haidarabad to negotiate with the Nizam a new Treaty, the main provision of which should be the augmentation of the English subsidiary force to six battalions of infantry with a powerful artillery, and the dismissal of the corps commanded by French officers in His Highness's service. It is probable that if; such a demand had been made seven months before^ whilst Raymond was yet alive, it would have been treated by the Nizam in a manner not dissimilar to that in which the Nawab of Arkat had replied to Lord Mornington in the preceding April. But the experience of three months of the firm and resolute government of the new Proconsul had convinced the native princes that the supine methods of Sir John Shore had been departed from ; that there was a man at the helm who saw for himself, who judged for himself, and who was as resolute in action as he wag clear and decided in the expression of his views. The sound of an approaching contest with the ruler of Maisur had gone over Southern India. Under the circumstances* the Nizam felt that he had but one alternative. He must 38 LIFE OF THE MABQUESS WELLESLEY. absolutely refuse, or he must absolutely accept. Absolute refusal meant alliance with Tipu, whom he dete3ted, and the certainty of having to sustain the first attack of the English possibly, even, to be abandoned by his ally. He could not hesitate. The Treaty which the Nizam signed on September the 1st, and which was ratified at Calcutta on the 18th of the ;same month, declared in its preamble that the augmenta- tion of the British force to the extent above indicated was conceded at the express desire of the Nizam himself; that it was a necessary complement to the Treaty of 1790, which required the allies to take immediate measures for the defence of their respective dominions. It contained, likewise, a stipulation for a Treaty of a triple guarantee of the said possessions between the English, the Nizam, and the Peshwa. Should the latter refuse his assent, then authority was conceded to the English to mediate between the Nizam and the Peshwa such mediation to be, in its terms, binding on the Nizam. Finally, the Treaty con- firmed all existing Treaties between the English, the Peshwa, and the Nizam, and declared the free assent of the latter to similar subsidiary engagements between the English and the Peshwa, in case the latter should express a desire for such an arrangement. The reader will observe that this Treaty was drawn up on the lines of the recommendations made by Lord Mornington in his letters from the Cape to Mr. Dandas. The first question which presented itself to the Governor-General, after he had ratified the Treaty (September the 18th), was how to carry out its main provision, the disbanding of the French contingent, with promptitude and success. Here there was no hesitation. In anticipation of the agreement of the Nizam to the proffered conditions. Lord Mornington had directed the TEE FEENCH CONTINGENT DISARMED. 39 march of the four additional battalions and the artillery to a point on the border of the territories of the Nizam, whence, at a given signal, they might march on Haidarabad. The commander of those battalions, Lieu- tenant-Colonel Roberts, received the order to march the moment the information should reach him that the Treaty had been ratified. He obeyed those orders to the letter, marched instantly on Haidarabad, and joined the two battalions stationed there on October the 10th. Then began the hesitations of the Nizam. He was a timid man, and, on the eve of a possible contest between the numerically inferior force of British sipahis, whom he had brought in, and the superior number of the French con- tingent, he began to reckon how he might fare in the event of the victory of the latter. But Captain Kirk- patrick, still Resident at his Court, insisted upon the immediate execution of the Article of the Treaty relating to the French contingent, and a movement made by Colonel Roberts having convinced the Nizam that the disbandmentwould under any circumstances be attempted, he gave the necessary orders. On the evening of October the 21st, a proclamation was issued and distributed in the lines of the French contingent, informing the sipahis that the Nizam had dismissed the French officers from his service ; that they were relieved from obedience to thorin, submitted to your wisdom. And may you at length receive the ambassador who will bs empowered to conclude the definite arrange- ment of all differences between you and the allies, and to secure the tranquillity of India against the disturbers of the world." REASONS ACTING ON LORD MORNINGTON. 57 Still, Tipu could not bring his mind to the point of coming to a decision. All January, Lord Mornington's letters remained unanswered. And when, early in February, the necessity of acknowledging the receipt of the letter from the Sublime Porte could no longer be postponed, the ruler of Maisur attempted to evade a direct reply to Lord Mornington's earnest appeal by the announcement under the circumstances, the insolent announcement that he was about to start on a shooting expedition. The announcement ran thus : " Being fre- quently disposed to make excursions and hunt, I am accordingly proceeding on a shooting expedition ; you will be pleased to despatch Major Doveton (about whose coming your friendly pen has repeatedly written), slightly attended (or unattended)." But, before that letter reached its destination, Lord Mornington had been fo~rced by Tipu's long silence to make a new departure. The Governor-General had come to Madras that he might be near at hand to confer with Tipu. His letter earnestly requesting an immediate reply had been despatched on January 9th, from Madras. The distance thence to Seringapatam is but three hundred miles, a distance which might be traversed by the means at the Governor-General^ disposal in six days. Yet January had passed, and no reply had been received to that letter, or to that despatched a week later, covering the missive from the Ottoman Porte. It was evident to Lord Mornington that he was being played with. Be- lieving that Tipu's object was to cause delay till the rainy season should set in, and learning that the Maisur sovereign had despatched another envoy to the French, he determined to be fooled no longer. Accordingly, on February 3rd, he issued instructions to the Commander- in-Chief of the Madras army, General Harris, to enter 58 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. the Maisur territory with the army assembled at Vellur ; and to General Stuart, commanding in Bombay, to operate from Malabar. General Harris had actually begun his forward movement (February llth), when, on the 13th, Lord Mornington received from Tipu the reply which I have quoted. With his natural shrewdness he detected at once the motive which had prompted it. " The design," he wrote, " is evidently to gain time until a change of circumstance and of season shall enable him to avail himself of the assistance of France. I shall endeavour to frustrate this design ; and although I shall not decline even this tardy and insiduous acceptance of my repeated propositions for opening a negotiation, I shall ac- company the negotiation by the movement of the army, for the purpose of enforcing such terms of peace as shall give eifectual security to the Company's possessions against any hostile consequences of the Sultan's alliance with thu French." Acting upon this principle, Lord Mornington, in his reply to Tipu, dated February 22nd, expressed his sincere regret that his urgent representation of the danger of delay had produced no effect, and that the Sultan had postponed all notice of his admonitions until the lateness of the season rendered the advance of the army necessary for the safety of the allies ; that the mission of Major Doveton was therefore no longer expedient ; but that General Harris would receive any embassy the Sultan might despatch. He was further informed that General Harris had been directed to despatch this letter to him on the day that the British army should cross the Maisur border ; and to issue on the same day the Governor- General's proclamation, a copy of which was sent to Tipu by the same opportunity. The proclamation of Lord Mornington, dated February 22nd, bears the impress of the strong, decisive, and vigorous intellect which conceived it. Beginning by PROCLAMATION OF LORD KOENNGTON. 59 enumerating the various proofs he had given of his earnest desire to cultivate friendly relations with Tipu Sultan, of the decisions in his favour on the question of boundary disputes, and of the absence of all complaints on the part of the Maisur ruler, Lord Mornington pro- ceeded to express " the astonishment and indignation " which he and his allies had experienced, when, at the very moment the British Government had confirmed his claim to the lands in the Wainad, they had learned of the engagements he had contracted with the French nation, " in direct violation of the Treaty of Seringapatam, as well as of his own most solemn and recent protestations of friendship towards the allies." Enumerating, then, in full detail all the efforts the Government of British India had made to induce the Sultan to enter into the paths of loyal friendship, Lord Mornington came to the famous reply to his earnest warnings and remonstrances of January 9th and 14th, the reply in which the Sultan announced his intention of proceeding on a shooting expedition : " The allies," continued the proclamation, *' will not dwell on the peculiar phrases of this letter : but it must be evident to all the States of India that the answer of the Sultan has been deferred to this late period of the season with no other view than to preclude the allies, by insidious delays, from the benefit of those advantages which their combined military operations would enable them to secure.'* An- nouncing, then, that " the allies cannot suffer Tipu Sultan to profit by his own studied and systematic delay ; " recounting how, during three months, he had " obstinately rejected every pacific overture in the hourly expectation of receiving the succour which he has eagerly solicited for the prosecution of his favourite purposes of ambition and revenge ; " Lord Mornington concluded by declaring that the allies, equally prepared to repel the violence and to counteract the artifices and delays of the Sultan, " are therefore resolved to place their army in such a position as shall afford adequate protection against any artifice or insincerity, and shall preclude the return of that danger which has lately so menaced their possessions." 60 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLVSLEY. He added, however, that as they were animated by an anxious desire to effect an adjustment with Tipu Sultan, the Commander of the British Army, General Harris, " is authorised to receive any embassy which Tipu. Sultan may despatch to the head-quarters of the British army, and to concert a treaty on such conditions as may appear to the allies to be indispensably necessary j for the esta- blishment of a secure arid durable peace." Tipu was thus afforded the time and the Opportunity to save himself. Had he obeyed the first pron heart when he received Lord Morningt< January 9th, and, confessing his misdeeds, reform, he would still undoubtedly have had being shorn of that part of his dominions ptings of his n's letter of md promised to consent to vhich secured to him a seaport on the Malabar coast, but fee would have been allowed to retain the still considerable remainder, A.S it was, he completely outwitted himself. When he Despatched the insolent reply to Lord Mofnington, inti- mating that he was about to proceed on a shooting expedition, he actually started to see how best he could surprise the English troops commandec by General Stuart before they should be ready. He did actually attack a portion of that general's army en March 6th, the very day after General Harris had cros ed the frontier at another point. War thus became inevitable. Into the details of that war it is no part iof this book to enter. Begun, in the manner related, eta March 6th, admirably conducted by General Harris, who personally directed all the details of the movements of the army he commanded, it was brought to a close op May 4th, by the storming of Seringa pa tarn and the 'death of Tipu Sultan. Then it was that it devolved upon tke Governor- General to determine in what manner! the territories which Haidar All had robbed from the Hindu dynasty, of SETTLEMENT OF MAISUR. 61 which he had been originally the servant, should be treated. The task wa& one which called forth the display of the qualities of a statesman. Lord Mornington had not only to satisfy the just claims which his own Government might pre- fer claims which, even before the war had begun, pointed to the scission of the Maisur principality from the sea but he had to think of those who, under the name of allies, had contributed more or less to the success of the cam- paign. Those allies were the Nizam and the Peshwa. The former, become, by Lord Mornington's own bold policy, a protected ally ; the latter still as "independent as were the English. But, whereas the Marathas had borne no part whatever in the war, whilst the Nizam had contributed to it all the resources of his territories, it seemed to the Governor-General to be highly unfair that 1 they should benefit equally from the success which had been achieved And yet it was necessary to take care so to act as to avoid giving just umbrage to a power which was prepon derant in Western and predominant in Central and North-Western India. How Lord Mornington felt on this delicate point was expressed by him in his despatch on the subject to the Court of Directors : " To have divided the whole territory," he wrote, " between the Company and the Nizam, to the exclusion of any other State, would have afforded strong ground of jealousy to the Marathas, and aggrandized the Nizam's power beyond all bounds of discretion. Under whatever form such a partition could have been made, it must have placed in the hands of the Nizam many strong fortresses in the northern frontier of Maisur, and exposed our frontier in that quarter to every predatory incursion. Such a partition would have laid the foundation of perpetual differences, not only between the Marathad and the Nizam, but between the Company and both those Powers. " To have divided the country into three equal portions, allowing the Marathas (who had borne no part in the expense or hazard of the war) an equal share with the other two branches ot the triple alliance, 62 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. in the advantages of the peace, would have been unjust towards the Nizam and the Company ; impolitic as furnishing an evil example to other allies in India, and dangerous as effecting a considerable aggrandizement of the Maratha Empire at the expense of the Com- pany and the Nizam. This mode of partition, also, must have placed Chitaldrug and some of the most important northern fortresses in the hands of the Maratha"s, while the remainder of the fortresses in the same line would, have been occupied by the Nizam, and our unfortified and open frontier in Maisur would have been exposed to the excesses of the undisciplined troops of both Powers." Proceeding, then, to state that the Marathas had no claim to any portion of the conquered territory, Lord Mornington added : . " It was, however, desirable to conciliate their goodwill, and to offer them such a portion of territory as might give them an interest in the new settlement without offence or injury to the Nizam, and without danger to the frontier of the Company's possessions. On^the other hand, it was prudent to limit the territory retained in the hands of the Company and of the Nizam within such bounds of moderation as should bear a due proportion to their respective expenses in the contest, and to the necessary means of securing the public safety of their respective dominions." Lord Mornington then proceeded to declare how, acting on the lines thus laid down, he would deal with the territories which lay, without a recognised sovereign, prostrate at the feet of General Harris. To the repre- sentative of the ancient Hindu dynasty, then a boy five years old, he would reserve a portion of the country, including the capital, the plateau of Bangalor, and other districts towards the sea coast, but the nearest severed from the sea by a distance of fifteen miles, the whole yielding then (though it has since more than doubled) an annual revenue of about 500,000. During the minority of the Rajah the resources of the country should be controlled and husbanded by a British Resident, and, on attaining his majority, the Rajah should be under the SETTLEMENT OF MAISUE. 63 Suzerainty of the British. To the British and the Nizam, portions of territory of equal value, yielding revenues to the amount of about 250,000 annually, would be assigned ; whilst the Marathas were to obtain a tract somewhat more than half the value of that assigned to the Nizam. But it was not the amount of revenue which constituted the main value of the territories obtained by the British. In coming into possession of the districts of Kanara, Koimbatur, Darapuram, and Mujnad, with all the territory lying below the ghats, between their possessions in the Karnatik and those in Malabar, they acquired valuable districts assuring uninterrupted, communication between the eastern and western coasts of the Peninsula, the entire sea-coast of the kingdom of Maisur, and territories constituting the base of all the eastern, western, and southern ghats. To these were added the forts and posts forming the heads of all the passes above the ghats on the table land, with the fortress, city, and island of Seringapatam. The occupation for a term of about twelve years the period of the minority of the young Rajah would, moreover, assure to the English the time, which more than any other nation they have known how to employ, of pro- curing to the inhabitants, by the development of industrial enterprises, alleviation from the miseries they had suffered from years of misrule. So far as related to the British and the Nizam, there was a complete understanding regarding the terms of the Treaty. But the condition on which the Peshwa should be invited to become a party to it differed, as I have already snown, in almost every particular from that which concerned the Nizam. Lord Mornir.gtori thought, then, that high policy forbade him to offer to the Maratha Prince, without something in the shape of an equivalent, territory as a reward for merely nominal 61 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. service. The Peshwa had not put a man in the field, nor had he spent a rupee in preparations. He had been absolutely passive. In return for this, the action of the British and the Nizam had secured for him a peaceful neighbour on his south-western frontier in exchange for a neighbour who had been one of the great enemies of his race. If the Peshwa, then, were to obtain anything in the shape of territory, in addition to that sense of security, Lord Mornington thought that, he should be asked to give something in exchange. Tjhat something might be shadowy, but it must possess thje appearance at least of value, sufficient to constitute the basis of a contract. Carrying out this view, Lord IVfornington proposed that in return for the territory which !he was prepared to cede from the conquered kingdom !of Maisur the Peshwa should guarantee the inviolability of the new kingdom ; that he should constitute the East India Company arbiter of his disputes with the Nizam ; that he should not admit Europeans into his service ; and that he should enter into a defensive treaty against the French in case they should invade India. It seemed to Lord Mornington that as he was offering a solid substantiality in the shape of territory producing an annual revenue of about 12,00,000 Rs., in return for which he demanded only a few words, which, his Indian experience of little more than a year must have proved to him would only be binding so long as no strong temptation to break them should arise, the Peshwa would hasten to agree ; that at the most he would only require a modification on the subject of the admission of Europeans into his service. But he was deceived. The Peshwa peremptorily demanded equal partition of the conquered territory with the Company and the Nizam, and declined to render any counter-gift of promises. As for the smaller portion with the conditions annexed to THE HINDU DYNASTY OF MAlSUK. 65 it, he indignantly refused it. That portion was, therefore, divided between the Nizam and the British.* One word must be said as to the reasons which prompted Lord Mornington's policy to restore the Hindu dynasty of Maisur, instead of permitting the succession of a son of the deceased Sultan. It might have been argued that as the Governor-General had recognised Tipu, had even been prepared to treat with him regarding the rearrangement of his frontier, and would most certainly have recognised a member of his family as his successor had Tipu died before hostilities had broken out, it was reasonable that he should now pursue a similar course. But in Lord Mornington's opinion the schemes perpetrated by the deceased Sultan -schemes aiming at the expulsion by any means of the British from India were so ingrained in his family that it would be in the highest degree impolitic to recognise a successor, born and brought up in those ideas, who sooner or later would * The fate of the portion of the Maisur territory assigned to the Nizam is curious. In the first division he received districts yielding annually about 24,00,000 Rs. To these were subsequently added two-thirds of the territory offered to b.,t rejected by the Peshwii, amounting to about 8,00,000 Es. more. But all the territories thus acquired, as well as those acquired by the Treaty of 1792, and yielding altogether an annual revenue of about 100,00,000 Rs., were, in 1800, ceded to the British in perpetuity to defray the expenses of the sub- sidiary force, then augmented to 8,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, and a proportion of artillery. It was stipulated in this Treaty that, in the event of war, 6,000 infantry of this force with the cavalry and artillery, joined by 6,000 foot and 9,000 horse of the Nizam's own troops, should be under orders to march against the common enemy. ( Vide Aitchison's Treaties, Vol. V.) The practical result, then, of the covenant made by Lord Mornington with the Nizam was that the spoils obtained by the latter from Tipu Sultan in the wars of 1789-92, and of 1799, purchased a British guarantee for the Nizam's dominions, as they had been in 1789 ; and placed him absolutely in the position of a protected prince, oound to follow the fortunes of the British. d6 LIFE OF THE MABQUfiSS WELLELSEY. develope similar idiosyncracies. It was true that the parcelling 1 out of a considerable portion of the dominions of the Sultan would deprive his successor of much of the power for mischief which Tipu had enjoyed. But if that successor were a son of Tipu there would be a perpetual brooding over past losses ; a continuous searching for an opportunity to retrieve the disasters of 1799 ; the necessity would consequently be imposed upon the British Govern- ment to remain in a perpetual state of watchfulness, perhaps even, should war occur with the Marathas, of alarm. To place upon the vacant throne, on the other hand, the representative of the dynasty which Haidar had removed, would be to secure a ruler who would be bound to the British by ties of gratitude ; who would be acceptable to the Hindu races who constituted the vast majority of the population of Maisur ; a*nd who represented the ancient Royal line, endeared to them the more from the miseries they had suffered at the hands of the tyrants who had expelled it. Influenced by these considerations, which he set forth at great length in a despatch to the Court of Directors, dated August 3rd, 1799, Lord Mornington appointed. Commissioners to instal the young Rajah on the masnad.* This ceremony was performed with great pomp on June the 30th of the same year. The reader will not fail to notice the wisdom of the policy which dictated this action. Not only was an in- veterate enemy of the British race removed for ever from the control of territories which had been used before, and might be used again, to the detriment of the Company ; not only was that hostile family replaced by another family bound to be as hostile to it as it must be dependent on the British ; but to guard against possibilities that new family was not intrusted with the power of peace or war. * Masnad,. a, throne, a royal cushion. WISDOM OF THE MAISUE POLICY. 67 It was forbidden to maintain an army. For an annual subsidy of 280,000, the British Government undertook to secure the defence and protection of the restored territories. The British likewise expressly reserved to themselves the right, which was exercised in 1831-2, of interfering in the management of the internal affairs of the country whenever high policy should demand such Interference ; and, further, of increasing when it might be necessary, the amount of the subsidy to be paid by the Rajah. Meanwhile, until that prince should obtain his majority, one of the ablest political officers of the day, Sir Barry Close, was appointed to reside in his capital as Resident, whilst the troops necessary to keep in the country for the maintenance of order were placed under the command of Colonel Arthur Wellesley. Thus, within thirteen months of his arrival in India, the successor of a doctrinaire, Lord Mornington had settled two important, I might say indeed with truth, two vital questions, which he had found awaiting him, and which the policy of " masterly inactivity " of his predecessor had caused to assume enormous proportions. He had found Southern India smouldering; its independent princes ready to pour forth their hordes upon the English ; the English unprepared even for a slight attack ; Anglo- Indian statesmen unwilling to make preparations lest thereby they should provoke a contest. The danger was vast, imminent, pressing, the more so as the greatest military power of Europe, in alliance with a native prince whose hostility to the English was inveterate, was occu- pying at the moment the country which was the halfway house to India. By a policy patient yet farseeing, manly, direct, and statesmanlike, Lord Mornington averted both those dangers. He had scarcely landed in India when he recognised that his hands were tied. The danger was F 2 08 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. in Southern India, and the army in Southern India was not in a condition to fight. He had to meet two dangers, the danger from the contingent of the Nizam, commanded by Frenchmen ; the danger from Tipu Sultan. Till he was strong enough to meet the lesser of these he tem- porised and made preparations. In five months he had made himself strong enough to meet the Nizam's case. Acting then with that directness of purpose which was his great characteristic, he disposed for ever of that danger. He treated the Nizam as in 1871 Prussia treated the German princes ; he deprived him, whilst guaranteeing his dominions, of all power of treating with foreign nations. He was not then quite ready for the inveterate enemy of England. He had ample proofs of his treachery and hostile intentions : and he knew that any sudden action on the part of the French, then always possible for France had still a navy might add enor- mously to the difficulties of the situation. Still he waited again patiently, exercising a forbearance which, under the knowledge he possessed, must have chafed him sorely. He did more. He strove with all his might to effect a peaceful solution of the question. When his preparations were sufficiently advanced to enable him to speak without any fear of the consequences of speaking plainly, he acquainted the doomed prince with his knowledge of his plots and his intrigues, set before him his danger, and offered still to treat on terms which would have left him by far the greater part of his territories. It was not till his offers, first received with silence, had been finally responded to with insuU, that he showed his whole hand to his enemy. Showing it, he still offered terms. But the enemy was bent on war. Tipu precipitated by twenty-four hours the hostilities which were about to break out, and, rushing upon his fate, lost alike his throne MASTEELY CONCEPTIONS OF MOENINGTON. 09 and his life. Lord Mornington had, by his statesmanlike action, not only averted the second danger, but made a second settlement, which, like the first, has lasted till our own day a settlement which secured the permanent pre- dominance of the British in South-Eastern and in South- Western India. In the hands of such a man, from what- ever quarter danger or difficulty might arise, British interests, it was clear, were safe. CHAPTER Y. TANJtiR, SURAT, HAIDAR^BAD, THE KARN^TIK, OUDH, PERSIA, KABUL, EGYPT. 1799-1801. Lord Wellesley's rewards and his disappointment State of affairs in Tangiir Removal of Amir Singh, and conclusion of a treaty with the Rajah Settlement of the Surat difficulty Rejection of Lord Wellesley's proposals by the Nawab of the Karnatik Discovery of his intrigues with Tipu Death of the Nawab and conditions of the treaty with his successor Regulation of our relations with the Nizam Disordered condition of Oudh Missions of Colonel Scott and Mr. Henry Wellesley Surrender of the Nawab-Wazir The Governor- General at Kalmpiir Persia and Afghanistan The French excluded from Persia Danger from the Isle of France and Bourbon Difficulties in the way of their capture Summary of Lord Wellesley's foreign policy. HENCEFORTH we must think and write of the famous Governor-General as the Marquess Wellesley. For the services he had rendered in Southern India the Houses of Parliament unanimously passed a vote of thanks to him, as well as to Lord Clive, Mr. Duncan (Governor of Bombay), and the army engaged in the war. The East India Com- pany passed resolutions expressive of their admiration of the important services rendered to them by their servants in the East. King George III. testified his sense of the Governor-General's conduct by raising him to the dignity of Marquess in the peerage of Ireland. Pitt wrote to him: "At. this moment, rny dear Lord, you are fa$ DISAPPOINTMENT OF WELLESLEY. 71 admiration of all Europe. May you long enjoy the glorious laurels you have gained, in health, happiness, and every domestic blessing I hear Lord Cornwallis talks with rapture and surprise of your noble administra- tion in India, and he is a good judge." He received letters of similar import from all his friends. Still, it cannot be concealed that Lord Wellesley was disappointed at the nature of the reward bestowed upon him by his Sovereign. Knowing, better than any one in Europe, the greatness of his success, he felt that the recompense fell far short of his deserving. In a letter, dated April 28th, 1800, to the address of Mr. Pitt, he wrote that he could not describe his anguish of mind in feeling himself bound by every sense of duty and honour to declare his bitter disappointment at the reception which the King had given to his services, and at the ostensible mark of favour which he had conferred upon him. In England, as in India, he went on to say, the disproportion between the service and the reward would be imputed to some opinion existing in the King's mind of his being disqualified by some personal incapacity to receive the reward of his conduct. He left him (Mr. Pitt) to judge what the effect of such an impression was likely to be on the minds of those whom he was appointed to govern and more to the purport. To a private friend he wrote that he would never have health or happiness till this outrage was repaired. There can be no doubt that he did regard this Irish Marquisate as an outrage, and he felt it so to the end of his life. Writing, many years later, to Lord Harris, when the Government tardily recognised the services of that excellent officer by bestowing upon him a peerage (1816), Lord Wellesley said that none of the subsequent triumphs of his life could drive from his jnemory the recollection of the scurvy manner in which 72 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. he had been treated in 1800. He had, I think, ample reason for his dissatisfaction. His services had been immense; his reward was, to use his own expression, " pinchbeck." It deserves to be recorded that in the distribution of the plunder of Seringapatam, Marquess Wellesley had displayed the greatest self-abnegation. The army, sensible that to his foresight, his preparations, his energy, the triumph that had been achieved was mainly due, had expressed a desire to present to him a star and badge of the order of St. Patrick, composed of Tipu's jewels, but Lord Wellesley from motives of delicacy had declined the present : nor was it till the Court of Directors begged him to accept the star and badge, " as a testimony of the very high sense which they entertain of the distinguished services to the Company of the Most Noble the Marquess Wellesley, by the superior wisdom and energy of whose counsels the late war in Maisur was brought to so speedy and glorious a termination," that he was prevailed upon to take them. He declined, however, the donation of 100,000, offered by the Court, " from the spoils taken at Seringapatam." "I am satisfied," he wrote to the President of the Board of Control, " upon reflection, you will perceive that the accepting such a grant would place rne in a very humiliating situation with respect to the army ; and, independent of any question of character, or of the dignity or vigour of government, I should be miserable if 1 could ever feel that I had been enriched at the expense of those who must ever be the objects of my affection, admiration, and gratitude, and who are justly entitled to the exclusive possession of all that a munificent King and an admiring country can bestow." Subse- quently, the Court of Directors voted him a pension of 5,000 a year for twenty years. With that, and the AFFAIES OF TANJUE. 73 " double-gilt potato," as he styled it in a letter to Pitt, the Irish Marquisate, he had to be content. But, deeply though in this respect the iron had entered into his soul, the mortification in no degree affected the zeal and energy which the Marquess brought to bear on the administration of Indian affairs. Prominent amongst those which demanded his attention had been the State of Tanjur. The affairs of that State had for some years past caused anxiety to the Madras Government. In 1786, the ruling Rajah, Tuljaji, had died, leaving an adopted son, Sarboji, then in tender years, to succeed him. The succession of Sarboji was, however, disputed by the half- brother of the deceased prince, Amir Singh, and the question was referred to the Madras Government for decision. The conduct of that Government was charac- terised by a childish unwisdom which did not augur favourably of the ability of its members to deal generally with affairs. They appointed Amir Singh to act as regent during the minority of his rival. Meanwhile they nomi- nated a council of pandits to decide the question of succession according to Hindu law. The natural con- sequences followed. Although, according to the law which had been invoked, the claims of Sarboji were beyond question, the pandits, influenced by the man who held in his hands the power of the State, decided in favour of Amir Singh. Amir Singh was, in the worst sense of the word, a tyrant. No sooner had his claim been recognised than he began a career of oppression, which very soon compelled the Madras Government to interfere. The party of Sarboji was still strong in the State. Sarboji, the widows of the late Rajah, and their prominent partisans, had therefore been especially made to feel the jealous dislike of the tyrant. The first step of the Madras Government. 74 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. after its attention had been repeatedly called to their complaints, was to remove the boy and the ladies to the Presidency. There the question of the boy's right to the throne was again brought forward, and, after some delay, was referred by the Madras Government to the then Governor-General, Sir John Shore. Sir John, in his turn, consulted the pandits in different parts of India ; finally, those of the holy city of Banaras. These gave an unre- served opinion in favour of the rights of Sarboji. The ipapers on the question were then transmitted to England, ;and the Court of Directors ordered that Sarboji should be ]placed on the throne of Tanjiir, though they left the time ;and mode of carrying their decision into effect to be idetermined by the Governor-Gefieral. Such was the position of the Tanjiir question when 'Marquess Wellesley had arrived in India. He had well considered it on the voyage out, and he had decided not to deal with it until the more pressing affairs of the Nizam -and of Tipu Sultan should be settled. In the autumn of 1799 that conjuncture had arrived, and Lord Wellesley at once took up the dropped thread of Tanjiir. That country bad been reduced by the misgovernment of Amir Singh to the worst throes of misery. The wretchedness of its distressed and despoiled people, ground down by the minions of the ruling prince, can scarcely be exaggerated. To transfer these unfortunates, like so many cattle, from a prince, who had reduced them to their miserable con- dition, to a young man, who, however amiable he might appear, possessed neither talents nor experience of governing, and who was almost certain, therefore, to drift into the worst ways of his predecessor, was a course against which the generous mind of Lord Wellesley revolted. Indian governors have very often been placed i& the rjiej position of having to perpetrate acts, ap- WISE SETTLEMENT OF TANJUE. 75 parently demanded by strict legality, but really fraught with misery to thousands of human beings, lest by refusal they should bring upon their heads the vials of wrath of inexperienced sentimentalists. In such circumstances a weak man will succumb ; a strong man will act according to his conviction of right. Lord Wellesley was a strong man, and he acted accordingly. He removed Amir Singh ; but unable to find it in his heart to place the people of Tan jur under the irresponsible sway of a zenana- bred boy, absolutely without experience of the world, he made with him a Treaty, whereby the civil and military administration of the country should be vested in the British G-overnment ; an allowance of the equivalent of 10,000 per annum reserved for Amir Singh, and one of 40,000 for the Rajah, who likewise was to receive all the honours attaching to his position. This arrangement, Mr. Thornton justly remarks, was undoubtedly beneficial to the interests of Great Britain. No one who knows aught of India can fail to agree with that historian when he adds : " but it is no exaggeration to say that it was far more beneficial to the people of Tanjiir. It delivered them from the effects of native oppression and European cupidity. It gave them what they had never before possessed the security derived from the administration of justice." The Treaty, embodying the provisions stated, was concluded October the 25th, 1799, and ratified by the Governor-General in Council November the 29th following. Another case of deadlock, the case of Siirat, had like- wise been awaiting the settlement of claims more pressing. The town of Siirat on the Tapti had been one of the first which had attracted the commerce of Great Britain. Her merchants had built a factory there in 1612. Subse- quently, the factors and writers of the Company had aided the native inhabitants to defend the town against the 76 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. great Maiatha, the renowned Sivaji a service which procured for them the thanks of the Mughul Governor. A century later, upon the invitation of the most powerful party in the country, they took possession of the castle and of the native fleet, as the de facto administrators of the town and its immediate surroundings, and this act was shortly afterwards confirmed by the Imperial Court of Dehli. I should add that, to this transfer of authority, the ruling Nawab, whose power was thereby curtailed, had been a consenting party. Had the Mughul authority at Delhi continued to exist in all its pristine vigour, it is probable that the Nawab would have continued to acquiesce in an arrangement which not only relieved him from great responsibilities, but secured the safety and prosperity of the town. But the fall of the Mughul Empire seemed to open out a new career to every petty princelet throughout India, and the Nawab of Siirat was unable to resist the impetus which had carried away so many others. Step by step he began to assert his independence of his western coadjutors. At length he proceeded to decline to furnish the funds abso- lutely necessary for maintaining, in a state of efficiency, the military and naval forces required for the protection of the place. Entreaty and remonstrance met alike with refusal. As the Company was dependent on the Nawab for the requisite funds, his refusal to contribute naturally produced a deadlock. Matters were in this unsatisfactory condition when, in 1799, the Nawab died. Death is a great leveller of difficulties, especially when the material force is in the hands of a disputant who survives. The continuance of the status quo had become impossible, because, of the two parties whose co-operation was necessary to propel the State vehicle, one had refused his assistance. Lord Welle^ley had long seen that " a dual SETTLEMENT OF THE SUE AT QUESTION. 77 control," to be exercised by two parties, whose interests pulled them in opposite directions, must terminate in failure. He determined, then, to put an end to it. Fortune singularly favoured him. A very short time after the death of the Nawab his only son followed him to the grave. The next heir was the uncle of the deceased, and the uncle could not inherit without the permission of the British. Lord Wellesley had, then, the game in his own hands. He used the opportunity wisely and well. The lines upon which he acted were the lines of Tanjiir. He made a Treaty with the incoming Nawab,. by which " the management and collection of the revenues of the city of Siirat, and of the territories, places, and other dependencies thereof, the administration of civil and military justice, and generally the whole civil and military government of the said city and its dependencies should be vested for ever, entirely and exclusively, in the^ Honourable East India Company." A lakh of rupees was set aside annually for the maintenance of the Nawab, who was to retain his honours and dignities. These arrangements were embodied in a Treaty which was signed by the consenting parties on May the 13th, 1800. There remained still the Nawab of the Karnatik. For many years the relations between the Madras Govern- ment and the ruler of the territories so denominated had^ been of a very unsatisfactory character. The Nawab,. utterly careless of the engagements entered into by his father and himself for the maintenance of a subsidiary force, was becoming every year more and more involved in debts, which he took not the smallest pains to discharge. Europeans, unprincipled but shrewd, carried on the- vilest intrigues at his Court and with his connivance. The revenue was badly managed, the people were- oppressed, and ruin was fast overtaking the country/ 78 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. which he professed to administer. Unfortunately, the- last Treaty made by the British with the Nawab, the Treaty of 1792, had contained a clause which secured to the Nawab absolute control over the territories thereby secured to him. Not only, then, did he meet the pro- posals made to him by Lord Wellesley after the conclu- sion of the war with Tipu, and which had for their object the cession of a portion of his territories as a set-off against i his debts, by a reference to the Treaty of 1792 and a 1 question as to whether the terms of that Treaty were still binding; but he added thereto a demand to participate in the distribution of the territories just then severed from Maisur. Though Lord Wellesley was able to treat this demand with the indifference it merited, he was puzzled .how to deal with the " non possumus" with which the Nawab replied to every request to give valid security for reform. That he recognised the course which ought to be pursued and yet felt most strongly the difficulty in the way of pursuing it, is proved by his correspondence at this period with the Court of Directors. In a despatch to that august body, dated March the 5th, 1800, he wrote : "The double government of the Karnatik is a difficulty which continues to present the most serious and alarming obstacles to every attempt at reform I am tho- roughly convinced that no effectual remedy can ever be applied to the evils which afflict that country, without obtaining from the Nawab powers at least as extensive as those vested in the Company by the late Treaty of Tanjiir." But from the ruling Nawab, who had succeeded his father, the notorious Muhammad All, in 1795, there was no hope that he would ever obtain the smallest con- cession. He was, however, comparatively old, given to debauchery, and his life was precarious. Lord Wellesley could only hope, then, that on his death he mi^ht be able SETTLEMENT OF THE KAENAT1K. r& to make conditions with his successor which would enable the paramount *power to remedy the crying- evils which characterised the administration of territories so closely adjacent to the possessions of the Company. The Nawab having repulsed, in the manner already described, the attempts made by Lord Wellesley tc reform his administration, that lord, precluded by the* Treaty of 1792 from attempting forcible entry, had almost abandoned the task in despair, when there arrived,, at Madras, boxes containing the correspondence found in: the archives of Tipu Sultan, at Seringapatam. The 1 perusal of this correspondence, which was officially ex- amined by two officers of the highest honour, Colonel Barry Close and Mr. Webbe, made it abundantly clear that for many years past the Nawab and his father had been carrying on a treasonable correspondence with the Sultan of Maisur ; that they had communicated to Tipu such secrets regarding the British preparations and the British objects as had been entrusted to them ; that they had, in fact, acted as secret friends and true allies of the prince, who, they knew (as the correspondence revealed), was endeavouring to form a league with the princes of India and the French for the expulsion of the English from India. The revelation of this correspondence cleared the way for the action which Lord Wellesley had already hoped to put in force when a just opportunity should offer. But, in such a matter, it was above all necessary to show no indecent haste. Lord Wellesley waited, then, until due investigations had been made regarding the correspon- dence ; he then considered it in council ; then referred it, with his own comments, to the Board of Control. The Board of Control and the Court of Directors coincided in the views he had set forth. Then, and then only, did 1 80 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. Lord Wellesley act on those views. In a despatch to the Madras Government, dated May 28, 1801, he recounted the perfidy alike of the Nawab and of his father ; showed from the correspondence that the actual Nawab had been confederate with his father in the machinations secretly carried on against the British ; that as a party, likewise, to the Treaty of 1792, with the British, which he had negotiated, he was subject to the same conditions which his father had accepted. He concluded by directing the Governor of Madras, Lord Olive, to propose a new Treaty to the Nawab, requiring him to cede the civil and military government of the Karnatik to the East India Company. Lord Wellesley wrote at the same time to the Nawab him- self, informing him of the discoveries which had been made, and referring him to the Governor of Madras for information as to the footing upon which his position would be placed in the future. That letter was never read by the Nawab. When it reached his palace at Arkat, that prince was dying, nor, had he been physically sound, would the state of his mind have permitted him to understand its contents. Those contents were, therefore, mercifully withheld. But when, on July 15th following, he died, and his reputed son declined to accept the succession on the new terms offered by the Governor of Madras, Lord Olive made the arrangement, directed by Lord Wellesley, with another relative of the deceased, Azimu'd daulah. With him a Treaty was concluded, whereby the territories known as the Karnatik should be administered by the Company; whilst the title of Nawab, with a suitable income for the maintenance of its dignity, should be secured to the holder of that title, and to his successors. Order thus replaced disorder ; good government, bad government ; justice, oppression. Yet, naturally enough, this transaction, which redounds to the honour of the Marquess Wellesley, has been PROTECTION TO THE NIZAM. Si used by doctrinaires and sentimentalists to hold him up to reprobation. One of the ablest of this impractical body has gone so far as to insinuate that he caused the in- criminating letters to be forged. The charge has only to be made to be repelled with indignation and disgust. If, it has been well observed, the documents were forged, not only must the Governor-General have been the grand mover of the forgery, but General Harris, General Baird, Colonel Arthur Wellesley, Colonel Close, the Hon. Henry Wellesley, Captain Macaulay, Mr. Edmonstone the interpreter, and Mr. Webbe the secretary to the Government, must have been "the vile instruments" of this " unmanly fraud." In the third chapter, I have related how, by the prompt method of dealing with the Nizam's French contingent in October, 1798, Lord Wellesley had con- verted that prince from the position of a possible enemy to that of a dependent ally. I have also told how the Nizam had been rewarded for the aid he had rendered to the British in the war of 1799, against Tipu Sultan, by receiving, first, districts yielding an annual revenue of 6,07,332 pagodas ; subsequently, two-thirds of the terri- tories which had been offered to, and refused by, the Peshwa. The Maratha chiefs had noticed with the greatest dissatisfaction the conduct of the British on the morrow of the short and glorious campaign they had made against a prince whose father had forced the haughty islanders to sue for peace. The feeling displayed at Puna formed one reason why, in the opinion of the Marquess Wellesley, the bonds which united the Nizam to the British should be drawn still closer. He according o J ' with the concurrence of the Nizam, resolved to increase t^e British contingent in the service of that prince by *,. The expressions used by Mr. Mill. 82 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. adding to it two battalions of infantry and one regiment! of cavalry. Then came up for consideration the mode in which the subsidiary force should be paid. Experience had proved that engagements with the native princes, for the payment of a fixed annual sum to defray expenses incurred on their behalf, generally terminated by the default of the native prince, and, eventually by the cession to the debtor of the whole of his dominions. Two cases of this kind, the case of Siirat and the case of the Karnatik, have been recorded in this very chapter. It was then in the interest of the Nizam that Lord Wellesley proposed that there should be no open account between the contracting parties ; that, in lieu thereof, the Nizam should cede to the British the territories he had acquired by their aid in the two last wars with Tipu, whilst opportunity should at the same time be taken to make some exchanges of territory to secure a well-defined boundary. These proposals were accepted by the Nizam, and embodied in a Treaty, dated October 12th, 1800. This treaty regulated, likewise, the duties on which the subsidiary force was to be employed; secured the Nizam in the sovereignty of his dominions ; prohibited his entering into political negotiations with other states ; and made the British Government the arbiter of his disputes with other powers. In a word, it made more binding still the obligations on the contracting parties which had been shadowed forth in the Treaty of September 1st, 1798. Having thus, by the union of an intellectual power, wide enough to grasp all the points of a difficult and com- plicated situation, with a strength of will sufficient to execute his conclusions, restored peace, order, and pros- perity to Southern India ; having, by the exercise of the same qualities, satisfactorily settled the Siirat difficulty ; Lord Wellesley had leisure to take in hand the affairs of LOED WELLESLEY AND OUDH. 83 a province, the treatment of which had constituted the ' one great problem which had exercised his predecessor, and which threatened again to give trouble. In the second chapter, I have related how Sir John Shore had settled for the moment the difficulties which had occurred regarding the succession to the vacant " masnad " of / Oudh, by recognising the claims of Saadat AH. I added, that this recognition, though based upon legality, had left in the province a strong party which viewed with great disfavour the interference of the British. It is possible that, notwithstanding this feeling, Saadat Ali, had he been a man of capacity and character, would have succeeded in obtaining the affection of his subjects and the respect of the paramount power. But, like all the representatives of the family, which the break-up of the Mughul empire left in possession of one of the fairest provinces of India, Saadat Ali lived merely for the gratifi- cation of his own passions. With him the ruling passion was avarice ; his mental failings were cowardice and irresolution. He trusted no one neither his ministers, nor his troops, nor his courtiers. A veritable miser, a hoarder of wealth, he may be said to have hated those to whom it was absolutely necessary upon occasions to pay money. Such a man can never possess friends; and Saadat Ali had not one. The disordered state of the country, the consequence ot the government of such a man, had attracted the notice of the G-overnor-G-eneral when his mind was occupied by the more pressing dangers threatening Southern India, and he had addressed to the Nawab- Wazir of Oudh more than one serious remonstrance. Lord "Wellesley had to bear in mind that an invasion on the part of Zarnan Shah was always possible. Sometimes even it appeared imminent, and, although the Marathas might be expected to bear G 2 8* LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. . the first brunt of it, their state of un preparedness seemed to indicate that their resistance would be comparatively feeble, and that the reported richness of Lakhnao might invite the conquerors of Dehlf. Saadat All had so neglected his army that against the hardy warriors of Kabul he could put in the field only an ill-armed and dis- orderly rabble, whose drilling had been utterly neglected, and whom the withholding of their pay had rendered disaffected. So much had Lord Wellesley been impressed by the danger of having such a body of men on the flank of his northernmost position, that, in 1799, he addressed a letter to the Nawab-Wazir, recommending him to disband his rabble, and to allow it to be replaced by a British subsidiary force. To enforce his views in this respect, and to point out the extreme danger of his position to the Wazir, Lord Wellesley despatched the Adjutant- General, Colonel Scott, an officer in whom he had great confidence, to Lakhnao. Saadat All did not like the proposition. It is true that the cost of the subsidiary force would not have exceeded in nominal value the cost of his own rabble, had he paid them. But he did not pay his rabble, and he knew he would have to pay the British contingent. Hence he hesitated long ; he gave no decided answer ; he always replied that he was preparing a counter-pro- position. W hen, after many delays, he at length presented this proposition, it was found to be merely the expression " of an earnest desire to relinquish a government which he could not manage with satisfaction to himself or advantage to his subjects." Colonel Scott, believing that this renunciation would be agreeable to the Governor- General, transmitted it to him with all haste. But Lord Wellesley had a clearer grasp of the true bearings of the situation than was displayed at a later period by his LOED WELLESLEY AND OUDH. 85 successors. He had no desire to annex Oudh. He pre- ferred that that province, stripped of the additions made to it in the north-west, should be well administered, under the nominal rule of a native sovereign. He proposed, then, an arrangement similar to that which he had inaugurated at Tanjiir, viz., a native ruler with a fixed income and all the paraphernalia of sovereignty ; the administration to be in the hands of British officers. This proposal the Nawab- Wazir at once rejected. It would seem, too, that in a conversation with Colonel Scott he endeavoured to explain away his former offer. He did not intend, rior had he intended, to abdicate in favour of the British, but merely to shift the burden of sovereignty on to another member of his family, so that he might enjoy, in a private situation, the wealth he had amassed. Rightly did Lord Wellesley regard such an explanation as the veriest trifling, " as intended to defeat, by artificial delays, the proposed reform of his Excellency's military establishments." With characteristic resolution, he pressed with all the more vehemence the necessity of arriving at a conclusion which should ensure the end he had in view the formation of a disciplined force for the defence of a province, the safety of which against an invader was necessary for the security of the British dominions. If he could not obtain that result by introducing the Tanjur system, he was ready to accept that which had been inaugurated in the territories of the Nizam. Still, Saadat All refused. He hoped by pleading the eternal non possumus to ward off for ever an interference which seemed to threaten his ability to indulge in his favourite passion. Little did he know the character of the man with whom he was dealing. When the Marquess had exhausted every other mode, when his patience was tired out by continued pleas for delay, then, nad then only, did he take a decided step to bring the 86 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. negotiations to a conclusion. He despatched his brother, Mr. Henry Wellesley,* to Lakhnao, with instructions which should leave no doubt on the mind of the Nawab-Wazir as to his determination. Mr. Henry Wellesley was equal to the occasion. Saadat All recognised that the day of delay was passed. He accepted then an arrangement analogous to that concluded with the Nizam. On November 10th, 1801, he signed a Treaty by which he ceded to the British Government lands in the Duab,f yielding an annual revenue of one crore and thirty-five lakhs of rupees (1,350,000), including expenses of col- lections. In consideration of this cession, the British Government agreed to commute the subsidy till then paid, to pay the pensions accruing to Banaras and Farrukhabad, and to maintain a force for the defence against external enemies of the territories of the Nawab-Wazir. The Treaty provided likewise that the Nawab-Wazir should reduce his troops to four battalions of infantry and one of Najibs (police), 2,000 cavalry, and 300 gunners ; further, that he should introduce a system of good government into his remaining territories. This Treaty having been concluded, the Governor- General proceeded to Kanhpiir. There he was met, on January 10th, 1802, by Saadat Ali, who accompanied him to Lakhnao. In that city, after some discussion, various matters arising out of the Treaty were arranged. Amongst these was an agreement by which the Nawab of Far- rukhabad transferred to the British the civil and military administration of his territories, receiving in return an ample provision for the maintenance of his honorary * Afterwards Lord Cowley. f The " Mahalls " (districts) included in this cession were those of Korah, Karrah, Itawah, Kehr, Farrukhabad, Khairagarh, Azamgarh, Gorakhpur, the Subah of Allahabad, Bareli, Nawabganj, Mohul, and others of less importance. LOED WELLESLEY AND KABUL. 8? dignities. The Nawab submitted with an ill grace to this arrangement, but he did submit. The rumours which had prevailed regarding a possible invasion of India, by the ruler of Kabul, had not yet died away. Indeed they assumed, from time to time, a con- sistency which lent force to the belief that at any moment such an invasion might occur. It was, I repeat, in view of such a possibility that the Marquess Wellesley had en- deavoured, by his action in Oudh and at Farrukhabad, to put his frontier house in order. But such a preparation, however well designed it might be, to meet an invasion, would have no effect in averting one. Dehli, Agra, Aligarh, were held by the troops of Sindhia, and, judging the present by the past, Lord Wellesley might well believe that these would be quite insufficient to stem an invasion made in the fashion of that conducted by the father of Zaman Shah. To avert such a calamity he must have recourse to other means. Turning over the matter in his prolific brain, the Governor-General arrived at the con- clusion that the best mode of preventing an Afghan invasion was to provide occupation for the ruler of the Afghans at home. With this view, early in 1800, he despatched Captain Malcolm,* of whose sterling worth he had had experience at Haidarabad, to Persia, to nego- tiate a treaty with the Shah. Malcolm acquitted himself of his task with an ability and a success which left nothing to be desired. Persia had always coveted that portion of Khorasan which had formed, alternately her boundary in the north-east, or, as it does in the present day, the frontier of Afghanistan to the north-west. Malcolm experienced but little difficulty in persuading the Shah to renew his attack upon that debatable land. To enfeeble still further the ruler of Kabul, the Shah stirred up his * Afikrwaids Sir John Malcolm. 88 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. brother, Mahrnud, to make war against him. These tactics succeeded almost beyond expectation. Mahmud defeated, made prisoner of, and deposed his brother. But he had laid up a store of domestic trouble for himself. Thenceforth, there was no occasion to dread an invasion from Kabul. But there was yet another danger recognised by the far-reaching mind of the Governor-General, The Czar of Russia, Paul Petrovitch, had made no secret of hia desire to invade India from the north. His plans were ready ; and he was but awaiting the opportunity to put them in execution. At this conjuncture the young con- queror of Italy, just become virtual master of France, had known how to captivate the soul of Paul. How dangerous to the tranquillity of India would be an alliance of these ambitious and powerful potentates, Lord Wellesley at once recognised. He endeavoured to provide as far as he could against the danger by enlisting the Shah of Persia on his side. Malcolm, under his instructions, succeeded then in adding a clause to the treaty he made with that prince, by which the 'French were forbidden to establish themselves in any portion of the Persian territories. Those who know only the British India of the present day naturally experience some difficulty in imagining a British India held under conditions varying in almost every respect from the India of their experience. Not only, I repeat, was the India of Lord Wellesley's day not the predominant power ; but the traditions immediately preceding told of war waged, not always successfully, with native princes, and of native princes largely assisted by troops sent from France. Only fifteen years beforv) the arrival in India of the Marquess Wellesley, that is, in 1783, a French fleet under the famous Suffren had captured Trinkamali. and a French force, three thousand THE SEA-ROUTE TO INDIA. 89 strong, led by the once renowned Bussy, had joined Haidar All. The animosities between the two nations, England and France, were pale at that period compared with what they became during the war of the Revolution. Between 1793 and 1800 there always existed the pos- sibility of an invasion on a scale larger than any which had been previously attempted. The reason for this, as a reason which considerably exercised the minds of the Marquess, deserves a paragraph to itself. During the time the Marquess Wellesley ruled in India the route to India was the sea-route by way of the Cape of Good Hope. Capetown had been a Dutch Colony. The English had captured it in 1795, and they held it at the period of which I am writing. But there was a general impression that if a general peace should shortly ensue the colony would be restored to its original owners. That indeed happened when the peace of Amiens was signed. In 1800, then, the English held the Cape, recently conquered, by a precarious tenure. But, not very far from the east coast of Africa, in fact on the direct course between that coast and India, were two islands, held for many years by the French, the isles of France and Bourbon, which had ever constituted the base of the French operations against India. Those islands constituted likewise places of arms, whence French ships could rally to prey upon British commerce. The fleets and light squadrons of England, numerous and well appointed as they were, were still not numerous enough to command at the same moment every sea. They were wanted in the Mediterranean, in the West Indies, in the Channel ; they had to blockade the coasts of France ; often the coasts of Spain ; to protect our enormous commerce ; to ward off threatened invasion from our shores. Large, then, as was the British navy, -especially large in proportion to the navies of other 90 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. European nations, it was not large enough to dominate at the same moment all the waters of the world. In the Indian seas France possessed the enormous advantage over England, in that she possessed a base for naval operations in the mid ocean, far nearer to India than the temporary and precarious base which England had secured at the Cape, and which did not offer a safe anchorage in all seasons. The result of this difference is shown in the tables below,* compiled from the official record of the five years prior to the arrival in India of the great Marquess. With such figures before him ; with the knowledge of the negotiations of Tipu with the Governor of the islands ; and with a tolerably correct insight re- garding the actual ruler of France ; Lord Wellesley might well be alarmed, in 1800-1, at the fact that at a period when France had humbled all Europe, England alone excepted, she should possess a base of operations, so valuable to her, so dangerous to the com- merce of England, so dangerous even to the position of England in India, as that which the occupation of the isles of France and Bourbon afforded her. With characteristic decision ; with a directness of purpose which always struck at the end to be obtained ; Lord Wellesley resolved to despatch an expedition to secure that base for Merchant ships taken Merchant ships taken by the French from by the English from the English. the French. * In 1793 261 63 In 1794 . 527 8& In 1795 502 47 In 1796 414 63 In 1797 562 114 2266 375 being a proportion in five years of more than six to one. Capetown was taken by the English September 25, 1795. THE SEA-EOUTE TO INDIA. 91 England. Early in 1801, then, he directed the con- centration of an English force at Trinkamali, composed of three regiments of the line, and detachments from two other corps, a corps of Bengal native volunteers, and two companies of European and native artillery with lascars attached. The command of this force he gave to Major- General Baird,* commanding the Danapiir division. He instructed that very distinguished officer to proceed first to Java and capture that island ; to remain there as Lieutenant-Governor; whilst his second in command, Colonel Arthur Wellesley, should proceed with the bulk of the force to drive the French from the islands of Prance and Bourbon. All at once a difficulty arose. To ensure the success of the expedition, Lord Wellesley had requested the co- operation of the British admiral commanding in the eastern seas. He had not the smallest doubt but that such co-operation would be freely rendered. But it is not given to all British admirals to possess that disregard for punctiliousness which distinguished a Nelson. The Ad- miralty, not possessing the gift of prescience, had not specially instructed the admiral on the eastern station, Admiral Rainier, that he was to take part in an expe- dition against Java and the two French islands. Not possessing a specific order to aid in such an operation, Admiral Rainier then refused his co-operation. But already, while Lord Wellesley was digesting this refusal as best he might, plans had been formed for an even more important expedition against the French. General Baird had not left the Sagar Roads on his way to Trinkamali when the Governor - General received a despatch from Mr. Dundas, informing him that a British force had been directed to proceed to Alexandria for * Afterwards Sir David Baird. 92 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. the purpose of landing there and co-operating with the Turkish army assembling in Syria for the expulsion of the French from Egypt ; and that it had been thought expedient " that a force should also be sent from India to act in such a manner as might appear conducive to that essential object," from the side of the Eed Sea. The force which had been warned, then, to act against the islands, was now, with some changes in its compo- sition, diverted to Egypt. Consisting of about a thousand European and four thousand native troops, it was escorted to the shores of the Bed Sea by a squadron of the Com- pany's ships, commanded by Admiral Blankett. With the order for the despatch of the expedition the respon- sibility of the Governor-General in its action ceased, but the Marquess Wellesley did not fail to take the deepest interest in the progress of an expedition till then unique in the history of the world. Hitherto I have dealt only with the foreign policy of the Marquess Wellesley. I have endeavoured to set out in detail, as they occurred, the measures which, during a period of four years, he had prescribed and carried out to secure the safety of the territories entrusted to his care. It is not too much to say that in those four years he had effected a complete change in the situation he had found existing. He had found Southern India trembling before the native sovereign of Maisiir dreading, unprepared, an attack, and yet fearing to arm lest it should provoke one. He had found the Nizam halting between two opinions, hesitating whether to cast his lot with the French or with the British ; he had found Tanjiir, Siirat, the Karnatik, and Oudh in desperate need of a reminder that for them, at all events, the British power must be paramount ; and, lastly, he had found India threatened by an invasion from Afghanistan. In four years not only HIS FOEEIGN POLICY. 93 had he dispelled all those dangers, but he had derived from every one of them advantages of a decisive and permanent character for England. He had made of the Nizam's dominions a protected State, with no voice in the direction of its external policy, for he had allied its fate with the fate of the British. He had smitten Tipu to the earth, annexed a large portion of his territories, and so dealt with the remainder that danger from Maisur was eliminated for ever. He had placed in British hands the administration of Tanjiir, of Siirat, of the Karnatik. He had added to the British dominions two-thirds of the territory till then ruled by the Nawab-Wazir of Oudh, and he had located in the remaining third a contingent officered by British officers. Finally, he had rendered invasion from the north impossible ; and, changing his defensive attitude into an attitude of offence, had despatched a force to aid in driving the French from Egypt. In every instance the policy pursued was marked by clearness of vision, by directness of aim, by thoroughness in action. Scrutinise as strictly as one may all his measures, it is impossible to detect a single error. The general plan, the modes of execution, the management of the details stand out fault- less. Every one of the acts mentioned has stood the test of time. Haidarabad, Maisiir, Tanjiir, the Karnatik, Siirat still remain, with the differences only which his system was certain to evolve, just as Lord Wellesley made them. Oudh remained so, likewise, till 1856, when she, too, was brought, in a manner which Lord Wellesley would never have sanctioned, within the British family. His plan of securing the two islands in the Indian Ocean was carried out a few years after he had quitted India. Finally, the despatch of Indian troops to Egypt, unique, as 1 have said, in the history of the world, constituted a precedent of which the genius of Lord Beaconsfield 94 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. eagerly availed itself in 1878, and to which Lord Beaconsfield's successor, after denouncing it as unconsti- tutional, had recourse three years later. Lord Wellesley might well be proud of his foreign administration. He had done much for the security of British India. Much, however, remained still to be accomplished. Hitherto the Maratha Powers had been deterred, by mutual jealousies and internal strife, from making any effort to stop his progress. But it was certain that Sindhia, at least, would not notice unmoved the absorption of Farrukhabad and Rohilkhand within the British border, and Sindhia was far more formidable than had been the ruler of Maisiir. But before I notice the course of Maratha action, which gradually led to new complications and to a final settlement, I shall ask the reader to glance at those domestic measures which illus- trated the administration of the accomplished statesman whose splendid administration I am recording. C 95 ) CHAPTER VI DOMESTIC LEGISLATION. 1797-1803. Evil plight of the civil arl ministration Lord Wellesley's reforms Mr. Tucker's finance The establishment of Christian observances Censorship of the native press Lord Wellesley made Com- mander-in-Chief His educational scheme Differences with the India Honse Lord Wellesley's resignation The Treaty of Amiens Lord Wellesley refrains from carrying out its conditions- Opening of new Government House Renewed difficulties with the Directors Lord Wellesley again offers to resign. SIR JOHN SHORE had left the civil administration of the affairs of the East India Company in a plight almost, if not quite, as heartbreaking as the condition of their military forces. During his rule, notwithstanding his peace-at-any-price policy, there had been a steady annual declension of the revenue until, in 1797-8 it had fallen to 8,059,880, whilst the charges, lightened by cheese- parings in the military expenditure, reached 8,178,626. The debt, meanwhile, had gone on increasing till "the Company's credit was at its lowest ebb, and money could not be borrowed in Bengal under twelve per cent."* Nor were the civil and military services in the condition which a young, active, and resolute Governor-General could regard with satisfaction. The former seemed sunk * Memorandum by Sir Arthur Wellesley in 1806 ? on his brother government of India. 96 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. in a torpor from which it would require very strong measures to rouse them ; the latter, neglected and left in idleness, were in a state of semi-mutiny. The allowances for service at frontier stations not only differed from those sanctioned for inland stations, but they were ill-defined. The new system of officering native regiments, based on the system prevailing in the Eoyal Army, had but recently been introduced, and it had caused much intrigue and much heart-burning. Regimental committees, the existence of which was utterly subversive of discipline, had been formed in every battalion, to watch the rights of officers. The officers complained, and probably their complaints were founded on justice, that their services were unnoticed, and that even recommendations on their behalf forwarded to Leadenhall Street were disregarded. Lord Wellesley was the last man in the world to permit the continuance of such a state of things. One of his first acts, after he had mastered the situation, was to insist on the dissolution of the regimental committees. Possessing, as the reader will have seen, a true soldierly instinct, and foreseeing how much the India of the British would have to depend upon its officers, he, whilst firmly recalling them to the strict line of discipline and duty, allowed them to see that he sympathised to a great extent with their position, and that their future would be safe in his hands. In the army, then, the order to abolish the committees, far from exciting discontent, was hailed as the beginning of a new line of policy in which the claims of the soldier should meet with due attention. The other defects he had noticed in the actual condition of both services, Lord Wellesley met in a similar manner. In all that he did he could not help being " thorough." With that " thoroughness " there did not mingle a particle of meanness or parsimony. He recognised at the outset CIVIL EEFOEMS. 97 that services rendered should be well paid. But then he would see that the service was rendered. He grudged no recompense provided tlr.s condition were fulfilled. He wished to stimulate zeal amongst a body of men in whose minds a long period of unenterprising and unmethodical government had introduced a profound lethargy. Yet his position was one of extreme difficulty. He had, on the one hand, to reform the army ; to prepare it to meet the wars which he saw looming in a very near future ; to rouse from the torpor in which they were sunk the bulk of the members of the civil service ; on the other, to bring expenditure within the limits of the income, to restore credit, and to procure the money which would be necessary for the conduct of military operations on a large scale. He proposed, with a view to attain these aims, to apply himself in the first instance to a general revision of all public establishments in the three Presidencies. With the army he would deal in a different manner. There, no great reduction of numbers was to be thought of. One regiment of cavalry, taken over from the Chevalier de Boigne, would be transferred to the Nawab-Wazir of Oudh. Further economy would be consulted by the abolition of the extra allowances granted to the garrison of Allahabad. Finally, he would refer to specially appointed committees, under his own inspection, the revision of the several branches of the revenue and its collection. Lord Wellesley was planning and partially carrying out these reforms when the discovery of the correspondence of Tipu Sultan with the Isle of France forced him to provide funds for the military preparations which had become absolutely necessary. If he had had money, he would have solved the question without further delay ; but in the south, in the west, in the east, the treasuries were alike empty. H 98 LIFE OF THE MAPQUESS WELLESLEY. For the moment money was found, and the success of the war which followed augmented alike the credit of the Company and its means of permanent supply. But the improvement did not come all at once. In 1800, the Treasury notes, bearing 12 per cent., were selling in the bazaar at a discount of 3 or 4 per cent. Silver was scarce, and in the hands of the native capitalist ; and he would only seU it at a discount sometimes of as much as 7 per cent. One of the special qualities of Lord Wellesley was his power to detect worth in others. He had picked out young Malcolm from the crowd before even he had seen him, judging merely from some letters of the young soldier which had come under his eyes. To aid him in his financial difficulties, to restore order and credit, he now selected a Bengal civilian, Mr. Tucker, to fill the office of Accountant-General. He had known Mr. Tucker when that gentleman was on sick leave at Madras, prior to, and during, the Maisiir war, and he had formed a high opinion of his capacity as a financial administrator. There could not have been a better selection. Recognising that the financial embarrassment and its consequences were due to the lowness of the Company's credit, Mr. Tucker, as soon as he could spare time from the exigencies of the hour, pressing upon him from the three Presidencies, inaugurated a bold and soundly based system, which, in a short time brought about the desired result. Thence- forward the finances of India worked with a magical regularity. Amongst other subjects which had greatly exercised the mind of the Governor-General, was that regarding the observance of the Sunday in India. Up to his time there had been no intermission of trading or work on the seventh day. To the Hindu population and to the HIS EESPECT FOE EELIGION. 99 Muhammadan shopkeeper the day had no religious signi- ficance, and the European settler had fallen in with the ways of the people of the country. But few things had more struck the keen mind of Lord Wellesley than the observance of the ceremonies which formed part of their religions by the Hindus and the Muhammadans. He had noticed how such observances entitled those who strictly kept them to the respect of their fellow men; how, also, neglect in that particular on the part of the English had led to a very general impression that they had no religion none, certainly, that regulated their conduct and that they were regarded therefore by the native com- munity as little better than pariahs or outcasts. In Bengal and Bihar the English had from the time ol Clive been the paramount power. By the action of Lord Wellesley they had become so in Southern India. It was not fitting then, he thought, that they should continue to subject themselves to the reproach which till then had been freely cast on them in the matter of religion. Accordingly, shortly after his return from Madras, Lord Wellesley inaugurated the germ of his future policy by directing that the Government of India should make a public profession of its faith. He ordered that a day should be set apart for a public and general thanksgiving for the various successes which had attended the British arms. The day fixed was February 6th, 1800. On that date the Governor-General proceeded on foot from Government House to the Church of St. John, accompanied by the leading members of the Government and of the community. He followed up this action by directing, in an order in the Gazette, the observance of Sunday as a day of rest, and by prohibiting Sunday- newspapers. But, whilst he thus publicly announced that the English had a religion, and that he, as the Head of H 2 100 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. the State in India, desired to set an example in the observance of the authorised ceremonies of that religion, he did not depart a single hair's breadth from the practice of toleration. The Hindu and the Muhammadan were allowed the most complete liberty of action in the exercise of their religious observances. The one point upon which Lord Wellesley insisted was that the paramount power should not show itself ashamed of the faith which it professed. His dealings with the native press were characterised by the same combination of firmness and prudence which had marked his transactions with native princes. Naturally, he was in favour of unrestricted freedom of the press. But he felt that, although the influence of Great Britain might be paramount in Bengal, in Madras, and in Bombay, there was a large portion of India, comprehending the imperial cities of Dehli and Agra, and the important centres of Puna, Nagpiir, Indiir, Gwaliar, and Barodah, subject to k the unsubdued Marathas, who, more openly than the English, laid claim to the succession to the Mughul. The native press within the British territories was, even in those days, very licentious. It was repre- sented, then, to Lord Wellesley that in the independent native states the comments, the unrestricted comments, of newspapers published under the shadow of the English Government were liable to be mistaken for the comments of the Government itself. That such an impression should prevail at a time when Europe was in arms, when India was always liable to attack from without, when a jealous and susceptible rival was watching from Puna the tendency of the action of Calcutta, was dangerous to the maintenance of peace. Acted upon by these considerations consi- derations which even in our own time have not been without their weight Lord Wellesley established a mild IS APPOINTED CAPT^IN-^NE^iL, 101 censorship, which, without interfering with legitimate comment, prevented the ill consequences which absolute freedom of utterance might have caused. In February, 1801, the complete satisfaction of the Crown with the mode in which the Marquess was adminis- tering England's great dependency was manifested by the bestowal upon him of the rank of Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief of all the Forces in the East Indies. A year later, the Ottoman Porte, to testify its high appreciation of the manner in which the Marquess had co-operated for the expulsion of the French from Egypt, bestowed upon him the Order of the Crescent of the first rank. The first of these appointments caused the most unbounded satisfaction throughout British India. There was not an officer in the army who did not feel that the success which had been obtained in Southern India had been due in the first instance to the splendid initiative of the Marquess Wellesley ; that it had been he, who, against advice and remonstrance from the highest quarters, had insisted, amid great financial difficulties, in putting the army on a war footing ; that he, too, had planned the campaign which a contrast to the previous campaigns against the same enemy and his father had been brought to a successful issue within three months ; that he then had declined to diminish the spoil due to the army by refusing to accept the proffered donation of 100^000. He was their paladin, their hero. His nomination to that high, and till then unbestowed, office was hailed by all classes as an honour fitly conferred upon the most deserving. In consideration of this supreme command over the armies of India, the Marquess Wellesley took possession of the house in Barrackpiir Park, which had always been occupied by the Commander-in-Chief. Here he found 102 LIF-P Q& THE MAHQUESS WELLESLEY. the rest which was denied him in the crowded quarters of Fort William quarters at no time befitting the master of nearly one-third of India. That the Marquess had long felt the unfitness of the residence assigned to the G-overnor- General of India had been evidenced not very long after his return from Madras, by the designing and laying the foundations of a building which should be more worthy of England's representative. He had noticed, as a matter of no little significance, the importance which the natives attached to display, and it was a part of his policy to indulge them in it to their hearts' content. With them he was the " great lord," the living embodiment of the Company's power, " the perfect representative of the might of England." The outer manifestations of his grandeur, in the building of a new and magnificent palace, of a splendid barge, of a richly-attired entourage, seemed to them to be the fitting demonstration of the greatness which characterised all his acts of government, and they rejoiced at them accordingly. Never was pageantry employed to a more useful end. But, amidst the pomp and glittering circumstances of war and its concomitants, the Marquess neither forgot nor neglected the subject of education, of the education especi- ally for the English public servants, to whose hands would be intrusted the working of the measures of the Government. His views on this point are contained in an elaborate minute bearing the title, " Notes by the Governor-General in Council." In this State paper he pointed out that the civil servants of the Company could no longer be considered as the agents of a commercial concern ; that they were, in fact, the ministers and officers of a powerful sovereign ; and that they must be viewed in that capacity with reference to their real occupations. Proceeding to show that they were thus required to discharge the functions of rnagis- MEASURES EEGAEDING EDUCATION. 103 trates, judges, ambassadors, and governors of provinces, in all their complicated and extensive relations of those sacred trusts and exalted stations, sometimes under cir- cumstances of great difficulty, he laid down the kind of education they were bound to acquire before starting on the race for distinction. " Their education,'' he wrote, " should be founded in a general knowledge of those branches of literature and science which form the basis of the education of persons destined to similar occupations in Europe. To this foundation should be added an intimate acquaintance with the history, languages, customs, and manners of the people of India, with the Muhammadan and Hindu codes of law and religion, and with the political and commercial interests and relations of Great Britain in Asia. They should be regularly instructed in the principles an ! system which constitute the foundation of that wise code of regulations and laws enacted by the Governor-General in Council, for the purpose of securing to the people of this Empire the benefit of the ancient and accustomed laws of the country, administered in the spirit of the British constitution. They should be well informed of the true and sound principles of the British constitution, and sufficiently grounded in the general principles of ethics, civil jurisprudence, the law of nations and general history, in order that they may be able to discriminate the characteristic differences of the several codes of law administered within the British empire in India, and practically to combine the spirit of ea,ch in the dispensation of justice, and in the maintenance of order and good government. Finally, their early habits should be so formed as to establish in their minds such solid foundations of industry, prudence, integrity and religion, as should effectually guard them against those temptations and corruptions with which the nature of this climate aod the peculiar depravity of the people of India will surround and assail them in every station, especially upon their first arrival in India." To carry into action these views, the Marquess issued orders (July 10th, 1800) for the foundation of a college, which should be called the College of Fort William. The regulations of this college required that the provost, that is, the immediate governor of the college, should receive the junior civil servants on their first arrival at Fort William ; should superintend and regulate their general 10 J: LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLET. morals and conduct ; should see that they duly attended the several courses of instruction, of which a list was given ; that the civil servants arriving after the date of its formation, as well as those who had not already served three years in India, should be attached to the college for three years ; that the junior military servants of the Company should be admissible to the college under such terms and regulations as might be deemed advisable. There were also further regulations for public examina- tions, bestowal of degrees, and the arrangement of other matters affecting its well-being. Well intended and loudly called for by the existing defects in the public service as was this scheme, it was not to be. Lord Wellesley had been gifted by nature with an order of mind far more capacious, a genius for ad- ministration far more brilliant, than were to be found amongst his masters in Leadenhall Street. Although these, not too openly to discredit him, professed to applaid the design of the college, and to sanction the princip e upon which the Governor-General had acted in consti- tuting it, they declared it to be too vast, too expensive, for the purpose. The vexation of the great Proconsul on receiving this unlooked-for disapproval is not to be de- scribed. He did not recognise at the moment the fact that the opposition of the India House was dictated mainly by a desire to check his autocratic tendencies ; to signify, without saying it, that they constituted a body which had the right to be consulted before action was taken, and not a Directorate merely to register his decrees; but, believing that in his original proposal he must have omitted some argument necessary to convey conviction, he sat down and penned a despatch containing a hundred and forty-two paragraphs, in which, in classic sentences, he unfolded the unanswerable reasons why his CHAFES UNDER DISAPPEOVAL. 105 original plan should be sanctioned. To support his argu- ments with the Court, he solicited the assistance of the Board of Control and of several members of the Ministry. In reply to Lord Wellesley's arguments, the India House continued to plead poverty. Finally, on the intervention of Lord Castlereagh, a compromise was arrived at, really acceptable to neither party, and for the moment the college was saved. It did not, however, in its original form, survive the departure of Lord Wellesley from India.* The disagreement about the college was not the only disagreement which the far-seeing but high-handed Pro- consul had at, this period with his uncongenial masters. The world's history gives examples without number of the difficulty with which genius works under mediocrity. Cromwell was forced to dissolve his Parliament ; Napoleon to upset the factious Directory ; Wellesley, unable to follow in their footsteps, experienced a repugnance amounting to disgust at finding his actions controlled and then annulled by men whose intellectual requirements were of the smallest, and for whose political knowledge and parsimony he had learned to feel only contempt. * " It is but justice to the Honourable East India Company," writes Mr. Penrce, " to say that, after the heat of these discussions had passed away, in a magnanimous spirit they took up the plan of Lord Wellesley, and put it into execution with so much success that many have doubted, and still doubt, whether 1he maintenance of Fort William College as originally designed would have been more useful to the servants of the Company than, the College of Haileybury." The scheme was strongly supported by some of the best men in England, amongst others by Wilberforce, who condemned the parsimony of the Company in withholding its sanction. The bitterness of Lord Wellesley's feelings may be gathered from a letter which he addressed to Lord Gastlereagli on the subject in 1804, in which he speaks of his "un- qualified contempt and abhorrence of the proceedings and propensities of the Court of Dm ctors." 106 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. Before the year 1802 had dawned, he had received in- structions from them, some of which, if he had literally carried them out, would have placed English interests in India in the greatest peril. For instance, whilst four of the Maratha Powers were still indignant at having been de- barred from their share of the plunder of Maisur, and the astutest among them were deliberating how best to deliver a counterblow to the foreigner whom they now recognised as their only possible rival for empire, the Court peremp- torily instructed the Governor-General to reduce his military strength. Again, the same controlling* authority rudely interfered with the staff salaries he had authorised for the new political appointments which it had been necessary to create on the close of the Maisiir campaign. Among these was the salary of the Governor-General's brother, Arthur Wellesley. Further, Lord Wellesley had nominated Colonel Kirkpatrick, the same with whom he had journeyed from the Cape on his voyage to India and who had rendered him then and subsequently the most valuable services, to be Secretary to the Government in the political department. The Court brusquely ordered him to rescind that appointment. He had nominated Colonel Scott, whose services in negotiating with the Nawab-Wazir of Oudh had been eminently useful, to be Resident at Lakhnao. The Court ordered him to revise the appointment " with a view to rescind it." The Court had further interfered with his patronage by directing him to bestow upon one of its proteges an appointment for which, in the judgment of the Governor-General, he was not qualified. This last order, following upon the implied disapproval of the nomination to high political office in Maisur of his brother, Arthur, was regarded as peculiarly offensive. By the confession even of his enemies, the principle upon which the Marquess Wellesley TEN DEES HIS EESIGNATION. 107 had acted in his selection for staff employment was one which ought to prove a standing rule for all governors. Solicited by many, he selected only those whom he be- lieved deserving, and to them he gave all his confidence. It is worthy to be rioted that ail his selections stood the test of time and trial.* These several annoyances, crowned, by the cavalier rejection of his scheme for the college, so irritated Lord Wellesley, that on January 1st, 1802, he intimated to the Court of Directors his desire that they would select some one to replace him the following October. The moment he had selected for making this request was singularly opportune. Tranquillity reigned throughout India. The revenues of the British provinces were showing signs of great improvement. Communications between their component parts had been opened out, and were being vigorously pushed forward. Information had reached India leading to the belief that the negotiations for peace in Europe, then pending, would prove successful. There was not, then, a cloud on the horizon. About ten weeks later, when at Banaras, he received from Lord Hobart a letter, dated Downing Street, October 12th, 1801,, informing him that Articles of Peace had been exchanged at Amiens between Lord Hawkes- bury and M. Otto, and that hostilities had ceased. Lord Wellesley, conceiving that this announcement added force to his previous request, wrote at once to the Court * Mill, who has done his best to disparage the great Proconsul, thus wrote regarding his selections for offices: "The Governor* General, amid the talents for command which he possessed in a very unusual degree, displayed two qualities of primary importance. He has seldom been surpassed in the skill with which he made choice of his instru- ments ; and, having made choice of his instruments, he communicated to them, with full and unsparing hands, the powers which were necessary for the end they were employed to accomplish.*' 1 )8 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. (March 13th, 1802), to reiterate it, merely deferring his time of leaving from October to December, or the month following. The reply of the Court was a request to the Marquess to defer his departure for a year, that is, to the beginning of 181)4. How Lord Wellesley would have acted had no complications arisen in India it may not be difficult to surmise. But, long before he received the reply, the struggle for Empire between the two rival powers in India, the British and the Marathas, had commenced. The definitive Treaty of Peace with France was not signed till March 27th, 1802. In compliance with one of its clauses instructions were transmitted to the Marquess Wellesley " to restore to the French and Batavian Re- publics respectively all the countries, territories, and factories, with the exception of the Dutch possessions in the island of Ceylon, which belonged to them, respectively, in India, and which had been occupied or conquered by His Majesty's forces, and," added Lord Hobart, "you will take the necessary measures for placing the subjects of the French and Batavian Republics in India upon the same footing on which they stood at the commencement of the war." These directions involved the retrocession of Chandranagar, Pondichery, Chinsurah, Mahe, and Goa. In the November following, circumstances having arisen in Europe which tended to show that the peace would not last, Lord Hobart enclosed to Lord Wellesley a cypher letter, from the Admiralty to himself, informing him that Commodore Linois, having on board one of the ships of his squadron the new French Captain-General for India, was about to sail from Brest, to be joined en route by another squadron, and instructing him to defer the reduc- tion of the force in India till he should receive further EETAINS THE FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 109 orders. Two days later, Lord Hobart wrote directing him still to execute the instructions he had received re^ardlno 1 the immediate restitution of the French pos- o o - 1 sessions to the commander of the troops of that nation. Well may Mr. Pearce write that " a man of less firmness than the Marquess Wellesley would perhaps have obeyed these commands." So precise were they that it required a very strong man indeed to disobey them. But, reading between the lines. Lord Wellesley clearly discerned that the Peace of Amiens was but an armed truce ; that it had recognised the French Republic as the virtual mistress of continental Europe, and would afford that Republic facilities for extending her power in Asia and in Africa He took upon himself, then, the responsibility of declining for the moment to direct the restitution of the French possessions. When, then, in due course, the squadron of Commodore Linois appeared before Pondichery, Lord Clive^ acting upon orders from the Marquess Wellesley, informed the French commander that he had not received instructions to surrender the } lace, and referred him to the Governor-General of India. Pondichery, then, was not restored to the French. A few months later, a despatch from Lord Hobart (March x9th) completely justified the prevision of the great Marquess. That despatch contained enclosures which made it abundantly Ciear that the armed truce was vir- tually at an end. On May 17th following, Lord Hobart announced the recall of the British ambassador from Paris, and the renewal of hostilities. The despatch containing this announcement urged upon Lord Wellesley the duty of recapturing " any forts or possessions which the French may have in India." Happily, the firmness and prescience of Lord Wellesley had rendered it unnecessary to tire a shot 110 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. to effect that object, for, thanks to him, the French had no forts and no possessions in the country. Before the war with France had been renewed, and whilst the British possessions in India were enjoying peace and the consequences of peace, Lord Wellesley publicly inaugurated the opening of the new Government House. Occasion was taken to make the fete, which was then celebrated, a fete of rejoicing- for the cessation of hostilities in Europe. It took place January 26th, 1803, and, like everything to which the Marquess Wellesley put his hand, was in all respects magnificent. It should be borne in mind that at that period the knowledge that peace had been signed in Europe was comparatively fresh news for the residents of Calcutta, the peace having been signed only at the very end of March. Other rejoicings followed, and these rejoicings gave place in turn to the consideration of remedial measures affecting the country. Amongst these was a measure by which might be prevented the practice prevalent among the Hindus of allowing the wife of a deceased nobleman to be burnt alive on the funeral pile of the husband. The din of war came, however, to interrupt the Governor-General in the midst of this work. I have already stated that twice in the year 1802 had the Governor-General, annoyed beyond measure at the parsimony and short-sighted policy of his masters in JLeadenhall Street, tendered the resignation of his high office. In reply to both these offers he had been requested to remain another year. But, meanwhile, the relations between himself and the Court of Directors did not improve. They seemed to take a special delight in the display of suspicion and distrust. In his dealings with the Nawab-Wazir of Oudh, Lord Wellesley had derived the most important assistance from his brother, Henry, afterwards Lord Covvley, placed by him in a high position PETTY CONDUCT OF THE INDIA OFFICE. Ill at the Court of that prince. The Court of Directors had objected to the appointment of a gentleman not in their covenanted service, as one outside the power of the Governor-General to bestow. This annoyed him greatly. There, however, the Court were, strictly speaking, within their rights. But, about the same time, there came from them a despatch, which, whilst revealing their petty suspicion of their representative in India, placed them completely in the wrong. When, at a critical period of the war just concluded, Lord Wellesley had despatched Indian troops to Egypt, he had sanctioned the chartering of three private ships, that is, ships not the property of the Company, to convey stores to the Red Sea. The Court of Directors, who jealously guarded as their most precious possession the monopoly of trade with India, seized the occasion to accuse him of abusing his discretionary power for the purpose of enriching private shipowners at the expense of the Company to the extent of 30,000 tons. It was not difficult for Lord Wellesley to prove that he had employed only three ships, the united tonnage of which did not exceed one-tenth of the amount stated by the Company. And he proceeded further to justify his action. That action, he stated, had been adopted " under an irresistible exigency of the public service at the most critical period of the war." In the letter to Lord Castlereagh, in which that expression is used, Lord Wellesley expatiated on the difficulty of defining the precise boundaries of the dis- cretionary authority vested in the Governor-General. " On the due and firm exercise of that discretion, how- ever," he added, " the stability of the empire must principally depend." In such a matter much must depend on the degree of sympathy between the employer and the employed. Between the genius of Lord Welleslev and 112 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. the halting and suspicious mediocrity of the Court of Directors there could be none. Lord Wellesley's letters abound with expressions of the loathing, the contempt, with which he regarded the inmates of Leadenhall Street.* Stung by the vexatious opposition to his best thought- out schemes, the Marquess Wellesley once again, in 1803, expressed to the Court his desire to be relieved of his office, so as to enable him to return to Europe some time in the following year. But when this despatch reached England there were signs that the discontent long seething in the minds of the Maratha princes was about to burst into action ; and the Court, in reply, requested the Marquess to remain at his post until the nascent excite- ment should be appeased. Lord Wellesley, bitterly as he felt and keenly as he resented the indignities which had been heaped upon him, could not bring himself to abandon the state vessel in the hour of danger, and he agreed to remain until that danger should be averted. That danger was upon him before his thoughts had expressed themselves in words. * For instance, to Lord Castlereagh, 1st March, 1804: "It is un- necessary to repeat to your Lordship my utter contempt of any opinions which may be entertained by Mr. and the Court of Directors, or to apprise you, that I expect every practicable degree of injustice and baseness from that faction." Again, on June 19, the same year, <; I am induced to hope that I shall be enabled to relinquish the service of my honourable employers in the month of January or February next. Your Lordship, however, may be assured, that no symptoms of tardy remorse, displayed by the honourable Court in con- sequence of my recent successes in India, will vary my present estima- tion of the faith and honour of my very worthy and approved good masters, or protract my continuance in India for one hour beyond the limits prescribed by the public interests, so no additional outrage, injury, or insult, which can issue from the most loathsome den of the India House, will accelerate my departure, while the public safety shall appear to require my aid in this arduous station." CHAPTER VII. THE MAKATHi WARS. 1802-1805. The Maratha Empire Its consolidation by Mddhaji Sindhia' His death and its consequences The treaty of Bassein Discontent of Daolat Rao Sindhia Lord Welles! ey's military preparations Restoration of the Peshwa by General Wellesley Evasions of Sindhia and the Bhonsla Lord Wellesley's plan of campaign Assaye, Argaum, and Laswari The Maiathas sue for peace Inaction of Holkar He now resolves on war Monson's retreat It is avenged by General Lake Holkar's surrender. THE Maratha Empire, if I may so term the five States ruled by Maratha chiefs, with the Peshwa as their nominal head, which, at the period of which I am writing, domi- nated Western, Central, and North- Western India, founded in the middle of the seventeenth century by Sivaji ; tending to decay under his son, Sarnbaji ; restored by the efforts of Mulharji Holkar and Ranoji Sindhia ; had been humbled to the dust by the complete defeat its armies sustained on the fatal field of Panipat, at the hands of the ruler of Kabul, Ahmad Shah Abdali, January the 6th, 1761. There fled, however, from that field, sorely wounded, a member of the house of Sindhia, Madhaji by name, who, recognised shortly afterwards as the head of that house, devoted all his intellectual power, which was extraordinary, and his energies, which were untiring, to restore to his race the influence and the position which it l 114 LIFE OF THE HAEQUESS WELLESLEY. liad lost. He succeeded. In 1771, he entered Dehli the titular Emperor, Shah Alam, in his train as a con- queror. In 1778, he had his first contest with the English, a contest in which not only had the Marathas all the advantage in the field, but they forced upon their enemy the shameful and humiliating Treaty of Wargatim (January 14th, 1779). Warren Hastings, however, who then guided the fortunes of British India, was not the man to allow such a disgrace to pass unavenged. Dis-- avowing the Treaty of Wargaum, he sent Goddard and afterwards Camac to Central and Western India, and these ^commanders soon retrieved the reputation which had been lost in the disastrous campaign. Madhaji, indeed, fought not unequally with Goddard, and baffled two successive attempts to force him to a general action (April 3rd and 19th, 1780). But, mean* while, Captain Popham had surprised and captured the strong fortress of Gwaliar. The following year, however, Madhaji came up with a small force under Colonel Camac at Sironj, and drove it for seventeen days before him. But on the eighteenth day Camac, suddenly turning, surprised the Maratha chieftain in his camp. His great superiority in cavalry saved Madhaji, however, from much damage, and during the rest of the year he compelled the English to remain inactive. Finally, perceiving he had everything to lose from carrying on a contest within his own territories, he concluded (October 13th, 1780) a treaty with Colonel Muir, who had joined Camac, by which he bound himself to neutrality, agreed to exercise his good offices to bring about a peace with the other Maratha Powers, recovered all his territories except the fortress of Gwaliar, and obtained from the English a promise that they would recross the Jamnah. Warren Hastings was conducting at this time the last MADHAJI SINDHIA. / and desperate war with Haidar All, and he wished by alt the means in his power to make peace on fair terms with* the Marathas. He succeeded, by the aid of Madhaji, in May, 1782, in inducing the Peshwa to agree, at Salbai, , to a treaty by which the contending parties were, with t respect to their territories, restored to the positions they respectively occupied before the war. This treaty was ratified June the 6th, and the ratifications were exchanged 'with the Peshwa on February the 24th following. The Marathas were thus left free to consolidate their fortunes-, in Western, Central, and North- Western India. In the attempts which they made to this end, Madhaji Sindhia took a very decided lead. First, by an arrange- ment with the native chief to whom the English had made over Grwaliar, he recovered that fortress. Then, having ascertained that the English would not interfere with any plans he might put in action for obtaining possession of - the imperial cities of Agra and Dehli, he joined the Im- perial Court, then a prey to contending factions, near the former city ; speedily obtained a complete ascendancy in the councils of the Mughul, and accompanied it to Dehli.. There he accepted for the Peshwa the title of " Vicegerent of the Empire;" for himself that of Deputy to the Peshwa. From this period to the occurrence of the events immediately preceding the action forced upon Lord Wellesley, and which I am about to describe, the Maratha power, as exercised by the house of Sindhia, was supreme in the two imperial cities, and in the district- immediately dependent upon them. To establish and maintain his power in North-Western India, and to prepare for the decisive struggle with the English, which he not only saw looming in the future, but which he was resolved to provoke at an opportune moment, Madhaji organised bodies of troops on the I 2 116 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. European model, under the immediate command of adventurers from all parts of Europe, but mostly from France. His policy was to destroy the power of the smaller princes who should prove irreconcilable, to con- ciliate those who would be conciliated ; then, when his power in North- West and Central India should be firmly consolidated, to proceed to Puna ; obtain the ascendancy he required in the councils of the Peshwa; to induce, then, the independent native chiefs of India to join the confederacy which he was forming against the foreigner ; and finally to enter upon a decisive struggle for empire with the English. Had he lived two years longer he would have had a great chance. He would have had to do with a Grovernor-G-eneral who would have moved neither hand nor foot until he were attacked, and it is impossible to say that he might not have succeeded. When the year 1794 dawned he had accomplished most of his objects. He had consolidated his power in North- Western and Central India ; he had obtained the ascen- dancy he required in the councils of the Peshwa; he was engaged in arranging for a general combination against the English. But, just as success seemed within his grasp, he was attacked by fever and died (February 12th, 1794). He was succeeded by his grandnephew, a boy of fifteen. This boy, Daolat Rao by name, was suddenly called upon, with a character unformed; to deal with problems which called for the wisdom of an experienced statesman. The first problem was caused by the death of the Peshwa. On October the 25th of the year following, Madhu Rao Peshwa, a young man of considerable promise, deliberately threw himself, in a fit of melancholy, from the lofty terrace of his palace to the ground. Two BAJI EAO PESHWA. 117 days later he died from the effects of the injuries he then received. The misfortune was not so much that a Peshwa had died, but that the nearest heir to the Peshwa was a young man so unscrupulous, so depraved, so intriguing, and so cowardly, that his succession could not fail to prove a misfortune to his family and race. After much manoeuvring, this young man, whose name was Baji Rao, did succeed to the vacated seat. His first aim was to rid himself of the powerful vassals who sur- rounded him. The first whose influence he neutralised, was his predecessor's minister, Nana Farnawis, the partisan of alliance with the English. Then he turned his at- tention to Daolat Rao Sindhia, the successor of Madhaji, and who still remained at Puna. He began by doing all in his power to lessen his popularity, to weaken his in- fluence, to exhaust his treasury. Then he encouraged Jeswant Eao Holkar to attack the dominions of Sindhia in Central India. Hostilities in consequence broke out between the two Maratha princes. After some pre- liminary successes Holkar was totally defeated by Daolat Rao, in a battle fought near Indiir, October 14th, 1801. Had Daolat Rao followed up this victory the career of Jeswant Rao had been finished for ever. But Daolat Rao delayed to amuse himself, whilst Jeswant Rao, hurrying off with fresh troops to Khandesh, turned suddenly upon the army which, led by one of Sindhia's generals, was leisurely following him, and inflicted on it a crushing and decisive defeat near Puna, October 25th, 1802. From this, defeat arose the conjuncture which brought the Peshwa in close contact with the British, and gave the Marquess Wellesley the opportunity, of which he availed himself with rare ability^ t<^ carry out the policy which he had fixed in his own mind as the only policy which could ensure absolutely the security of the British in India. 118 LIFE OF THE NAEQUESS WELLESLEY. Impatient of the yoke \vhich Sindhia had long imposed tipon him, the Peshwa, Eaji Rao, had for some time past been listening, not without indifference, to a proposal made to him by the British Resident at his Court, Colonel Barry Close, for the location, near to, but not within his /territories, of a British force which he might call to his i aid in case of need. No arrangements had been actually arrived at when the rival Maratha armies came into each other's presence, near Puna, on that morning of October 25th. The Peshwa, confident that Sindhia' s troops would gain the day, had actually set out from the city with his own following for the purpose of taking part in the action. But the battle had joined before he reached the ground, and, naturally a coward, he became frightened by the noise of the firing, and turned off to the south, there, at the distance of three or four miles, to await the result. As soon as he had ascertained that Holkar had gained the day, dreading that chieftain far more than he had vdreaded Sindhia, he fled with about seven thousand fol- lowers to the fort of Singarh, eleven miles from Puna, and despatched thence to Colonel Close a preliminary engagement, binding himself to subsidize six battalions of sipahis, and to cede twenty-five lakhs of rupees of annual revenue for their support. He stayed three days at Singarh; proceeded thence twenty-one miles further, to Raigarh ; thence to Mahar. From this place he despatched letters to the Bombay Government, requesting that ships : might be sent to convey himself and his followers to Bassein. Hearing, before he could receive a reply, that "Holkar's troops were approaching, he repaired to Severn- vdrug ; stayed there till a fresh alarm arose ; then crossed over to Rewadanda, and, embarking thence in an English ship, provided for his reception, proceeded to Bassein, where he arrived on December 6th. He was met there THE TREATY OF BASSEIN. 119 by Colonel Barry Close, armed with full instructions from the Marquess Wellesley ; and there, on December 31st, he signed the important Treaty, known as the Treaty of Bassein. By this treaty the Peshwa entered the list of protected princes. lie bartered his independence for security. The titular chief of the Maratha confederacy became virtually the vassal of the nation, which he had regarded till then as his rival for empire.* In May of the following year, the Peshwa accom- panied a British force, which, under the provisions of the treaty, was assembled, in a manner presently to be described, to reseat him in Puna. Holkar, who till that time had occupied that capital, fled on its approach, acquiescing for the moment in an arrangement which he did not feel himself strong enough to prevent. Daolat Rao Sindhia was not so easily reconciled to the position. He had now attained the age of twenty-three. During the seven or eight years which had followed the death of Madhaji, he had had some rough schooling. Some glimmering of the wisdom of the policy entertained by his prescient great uncle, had forced itself on his intelligence. He recollected that twice had the opportunity been offered him of preventing the catastrophe : once, when he had beaten Holkar at Indiir ; again, when after the defeat of his general, he might have marched with an * By the Treaty of Bassein, the Peshwa was to receive a subsidiary force of six battalions with guns, and was to cede for their payment territory of the value of 26,000,000 rupees. He was to refer to the British Government all his disputes with the Nizam, and his claims against the Gaikwar, and was to be re-established by the British Government in his full rights as the head of the Maratha confederacy. A portion of the territory thus ceded was afterwards exchanged for part of the Peshwa's possessions in Bundelkhand. These arrangements were embodied in supplementary Articles to the Treaty, on December 16, 1803. Vide Aitchison's Treaties, vol. iii. 120 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. overpowering force to the aid of the Peshwa. The Treat) of Bassein took him completely by surprise. He was not ready for the contest which he now foresaw would be waged under conditions far less advantageous for the Marathas than would have been possible before the signature of that treaty. Invited to acquiesce in its conditions, he at first hesitatingly agreed, then as ab- ruptly refused, and sent messengers to two other Maratha chiefs, Holkar and the Bhonsla,* to endeavour to per- suade them to enter into a confederacy against the foreigner. Jeswant Rao, influenced probably by jealousy ; believing that, in the event of victory, which he did not doubt, the main advantages would accrue to Sindhia ; received the messengers coldly. The Bhonsla, on the other hand, professed himself willing to discuss the matter at a personal interview. The action of the Peshwa in throwing himself on the generosity of the British Government, and in invoking its protection, corresponded entirely to the hopes which Lord Wellesley had long entertained as constituting the best solution of the Maratha question. "The most effectual arrangements for securing the British Government against any danger from the Maratha States," he had written, " appear to be an intimate alliance with the acknowledged sovereign power of the Maratha empire, founded upon principles which should render the British influence and military force the main support of that Power. Such an arrangement appeared to afford the best security for preserving a due balance between the several states con- stituting the confederacy of the Maratha empire, as well as for preventing any dangerous union or diversion of the resources of that empire." And now, without any prompt- * The Maratha prince who ruled at Nagpur : otherwise called the Rajah of Barar. WELLESLET SIGNS TEE TEE ATI. 121 ing on his part, "the acknowledged sovereign power of the Maratha empire " had solicited, with an earnest- ness which would not take refusal, permission to place himself and his territories in the very position which Lord Wellesley had declared to be " the most effectua- arrangement for securing the British Government against any danger from the Maratha states." The arrangement, it is true, was one which, through his agent at the court of the Peshwa, he had been constantly suggesting, and which, by that means, had become familiar to the mind of Baji Rao, oppressed by the superiority affected by Sindhia and Holkar. When the hour of trial came that prince had clutched at it, as his one hope of protection against men of his own race and kin, little caring that by his action he was signing the death-warrant of the Maratha empire. For the Marquess Wellesley, thorough in all his actions, had resolved, when he accepted the propositions of the Peshwa, and directed Colonel Close to sign the treaty of Bassein, to leave nothing in the carrying out of its pro- visions to chance. Jeswant Rao Holkar, flushed with victory, was still occupying Puna with his army. It wa? always possible that Sindhia, placing the interests of the Maratha race above personal feeling, might, at a con- juncture the like of which had never before occurred to blight his plans of empire, join his forces to those of Holkar, and that the fate of the two rival powers might be decided at Puna. The Marquess, then, had to take care that the army which should reconquer Puna for Baji Rao, should be an army strong enough to meet any possible opposition. Whilst, then, he communicated to the other Maratha princes the conditions of the Treaty of Bassein, and suggested their adherence to those of its provisions which secured the Peshwa against external 122 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. attack, he directed that his brother, Major-General Arthur Wellesley, should march upon Puna with 15,000 troops from the south. At the same time he urged upon the Nizam to send his contingent in the same direction, to be joined at a fixed place by his brother; and he intimated to the Commander-in-Chief in India, General Lake, that it was necessary he should be ready at any moment to commence hostilities. General Wellesley responded with alacrity to the orders he received. With a force consisting of one regiment of European and three regiments of native cavalry ; two regiments of European and six of native infantry ; a proportion of artillery ; and 2,500 Maisur horse, he set out from Harihar, on the frontier Maisur, on the Dth of March, and, pushing on with all possible haste, effected a junction with the Nizam's contingent on April 15th. As he advanced the detached troops of Holkar's army fell back, without engaging, before him. When he was still some seventy odd miles from Puna, Holkar quitted that city, and, leaving there a garrison of 1,500 men, retired to Chandaur, a town distant from it about a hundred and thirty miles. Information of this movement having been promptly brought to Wellesley, he detached General Stevenson, with about a third of his own force and -the Nizam's contingent, with instructions to post the latter at Gardur, within the Nizam's territories ; to join then his own troops to those of the Hai- darabad subsidiary force; arid to await further in- structions on the Bhima river, near its junction with the Mota Mola. Warned, at the same time, by the Peshwa, that the small garrison left in Puna would probably plunder the Peshwa's palace and then fire the city, Wellesley pushed on at the head of his cavalry, marched sixty miles in thirty-two hours, and appeared OCCUPATION OF PUNA. 123 before Puna on April 20th. The garrison evacuated the place as he approached it, and lie took possession of the Peshwa's capital without firing a shot. That prince, meanwhile, had remained at Bassein. But, on hearing of Wellesley's movements, he quitted that place, escorted by British troops, and accompanied by the British Resident (April 27th). On the 13th May following, he re-entered his palace, under a salute fired by British guns. So far, the success of Lord Wellesley's policy had been complete. There was, at the moment, no reason to despair of the acquiescence, sullen though it might be, of Sindhia. Holkar, it was clear, was not prepared to enter upon hostilities. The Bhonsla was believed to be indif- ferent and apathetic, and was far less formidable than either of the others. Lord Wellesley, then, had reason to hope that Daolat Rao Sindhia, feeling that he was isolated, would hesitate to imperil his own vast possessions by warring with the British, for an idea which their recent action had rendered impossible of realisation. But Daolat Rao was yet young. He had an army partially modelled on the European system, and officered to a certain extent by European officers. By degrees he had been realising how possible it had been for him, had he employed the preceding nine years more wisely, to realise the dream of his great-uncle. Acquiescence in the Treaty of Bassein would render that dream for ever impossible of realisation. It was worth fighting for. He was ready for war, and he would fight. He declined, therefore, as I have told in a previous page, with some asperity, to become a party to the Treaty of Bassein. To the remonstrances of the British Resident, Colonel Collins, he replied: "After my interview with the Bhonsla you will know whether it is to be peace or war." On June 4th, Sindhia met that prince at Mulkapur, on 124 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. the confines of the Nizam's dominions. On the 8th, he had with him a prolonged interview. At the close of the conference Colonel Collins again pressed him to declare his intentions, but received only the reply that it was necessary that he should have another interview with the Bhonsla before he could give a definite answer. It would seem as though the two chieftains had agreed to try once again to induce Holkar to embrace the common cause, and the evasive answers each in turn gave were intended to gain time. For some weeks Collins displayed the most exemplary patience. When, however, he could elicit no satisfactory reply, the Governor-General, anxious to know for certain whether the two chieftains were really determined on war, directed his brother, about the middle of July, to address a letter to Sindhia, requesting him to separate his army from that of the Bhonsla, and to retire across the Narbada ; in which case, he was informed, the British troops would return to their cantonments. To this request again an evasive answer was returned. Practically it was refused, for the armies of two chiefs remained united. It became, then, clear that the two chiefs were bent on war, though neither would declare it. In the actual state of affairs in India, the Marquess Wellesley could not afford to allow the continuance of a situation so fraught with danger. There must either be peace, or there must be war a middle course was impossible. With a patience which seemed to hope everything, the Governor-General had allowed the two Maratha chieftains more than two months' time to make up their minds as to which it should be. They had met on June 4th, Sindhia having previously declared that after the con- ference he would give a definite answer. Up to August 1st he had evaded a clear reply. His last had been so unsatisfactory, alike in its spirit and expression, that WAE WITH SINDHIA AND THE BHONSLA. 125 Colonel Collins informed him that, finding it useless to continue negotiations, he should leave his camp. He quitted it accordingly on August 3rd. His departure, which Sindhia took no means to prevent, was the signal for the commencement of hostilities. The Marquess Wellesley, mean while, as Captain-General of India, had made arrangements to meet the issue which had now practically occurred. On June the 28th, he had instructed General Lake, who was at the frontier station of Kanhpiir, to put the army under his command in a position to take the field at the shortest notice. To his brother, Arthur Wellesley, he transmitted at the same time instructions to advance on the territories of Sindhia to the south of the Godavari as soon as negotiations should be broken off. He would do all that was possible to maintain peace, but, should the conduct of the Maratha chiefs force war upon him, he was determined to prosecute it until such a settlement were effected "as would afford a reasonable prospect of continued peace and security to the British Government and its allies." With charac- teristic boldness and grasp of view, he thus expressed the objects which he was determined to accomplish in the two spheres in which he was about to operate, in the north- west and in the south-west. " The first of the military objects was to conquer the whole of that portion of Sindhia's dominions which lay between the Ganges and the Jamnah ; destroying completely the French force by which that frontier was protected ; extending the Com- pany's frontier to the Jamnah, and including the cities of Dehli and Agra, with a chain of posts, sufficient for pro- tecting the navigation of the river, on the right bank of the river." His second object was to acquire Bun- delkhand, or, at least, that portion of it which was necessary to secure his hold upon Agra. The political 126 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. objects he aimed at securing by a successful war were not less important. By the conquest and permanent occu- pation of Dehli he would obtain possession of the repre- sentative of the Mughul, the unfortunate Shah Alam, kept virtually as a State prisoner by Sindhia, and, with his person, of the authority attaching to his name. It would be easy, he conceived, to make such an arrange- ment with that prince as would secure his per- sonal comfort without awakening his ambition. Then, in the south, he would trust to his brother to secure the position of the protected allies of the British, the Nizam, the Peshwa, and the Gaikwar, by defeating the combined armies of Sindhia and the Bhonsla. When they had been sufficiently humbled, he would then take measures to secure the British position, by compelling the former to surrender the port of Baroch, with the adjoining district on the coast of Gujrat; the latter to cede the the province which connected Bengal with the south- eastern districts known as the Northern Sirkars, the province called Katak. Such were his aims, bold, practical, statesmanlike, necessary for the consolidation of the British power in India, the complement to the measures by which he had secured permanent predominance in the south, and re- duced the unwieldly proportions of Oudh. And a most important consideration in the matter he had not pro- voked the contest which promised to produce the magni- ficent results I have enumerated. He had, on the contrary, displayed a patience quite exemplary, a desire to avoid war so great as to have tried to the utmost a man who knew that war meant triumph, the increase, the consolidation, the permanent predominance and security of the British all over India, in the north as well as in the south. Promised on June the 4th a definite reply in four WAR WITH SINDHIA AND THE BHONSLA. 127 days to his very moderate proposals, he had waited more than eight weeks to receive it. Then only, when the demands of the allied princes rose with every day of delay, did he authorise his agent to declare to them, in the manner hest appreciated by Orientals, that the day of grace was past; that, thenceforth, they must try the arbi- trament of the court to which they had appealed. Nor, to refer for a moment to the antecedent incident, the incident which converted the titular head of the Maratha confederation into a protected prince, can the impartial historian find words too strong to express his admiration- It had been in the power of Sindhia to prevent an event so galling to his pride by occupying the same position himself. The opportunity for the English had become possible because of his supineness. Here, too, tlie part played by Lord Wellesley was a part forced upon him. It was his merit that he had recognised the danger planned by Madhaji ; that in quiet and calmness he had prepared the remedy ; and that when the occasion arose he applied it with a skill and a courage indicative of a real statesman. It is not necessary that I should describe the details of the campaign which followed the departure of Colonel Collins from the camp of Sindhia. It will suffice to say that Arthur. Wellesley, advancing with a force of about 9,000 men from Puna on June the dth, took up a position on the frontier of Sindhia's territories, which would permit of his acting whenever war should be declared. On August the 7th, the Governor-General issued a procla- mation declaring that on the day previous he had directed the levying of war against the two Maratha chieftains. On the 8th, his brother, who had been pre- viously instructed, advanced against Sindhia's fortress of Ahmadnagar, forced it to surrender the 12th, crossed the 128 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. Godavari the 24th, and reached Aurangabad the 29th. There he was but forty miles distant from the Maratha army, for their allied forces had the same day ascended the Ajanta Pass, and the day following were at Jalnah. Wellesley, then, despatching Stevenson against Jalnah, marched himself down the Godavari, and caught the Marathas on the banks of the river Kaitna, their cavalry resting on Bokardan, their infantry on Assay e, on the morning of September the 23rd. Without waiting for Stevenson, he crossed the Kaitna by a ford, attacked, and after a very hotly-contested battle, completely defeated the enemy. Pushing on after this, his first victory, Wellesley, having meanwhile, by his lieutenants, forced the surrender of the important places of Asirgarh and Burhanpur, caught the enemy once again (November 29th) on the plains of Argaum. That same afternoon he attacked them, and inflicted upon them a second defeat, more decisive even than that of Assaye. That victory decided the war in Southern India. Nor had Lake been less successful in North- Western and Central India. Marching from Kanhpiir with an army about 8,000 strong on August 5th, he had crossed the British frontier the 28th, defeated the enemy's cavalry before Aligarh, the 29th ; stormed the fortress of that name September 4th ; beat the Maratha on the Jehna nullah, six miles from Dehli, on the llth ; entered that city, and released from confinement the blind Em- peror, Shah Alam, the 14th ; defeated the enemy in front of Agra, October 10th ; compelled the surrender of that fortress on the 18th ; and on the 27th started for Central India in pursuit of the best army of Sindhia that # which had been entirely drilled by foreign officers. He caught it with his cavalry at the village of Laswari, after a series of forced marches, the morning of November 1st, and at CONCLUSION OF THE WAR. 129 once attacked it. The enemy's position was, however, too strong, and was too well defended to be forced by cavalry alone, and Lake drew off to wait for his infantry. On these coming up, he gave them their dinner, and then renewed the attack, this time with complete success, though at a heavy expenditure of life. Laswari was one of the most decisive battles ever fought. It finished the war in Northern and Central India. But it was the battle of Argaum, fought November 29th, and the events which immediately followed it which brought the two Maratha princes to ask for peace. Sixteen days after that battle Wellesley stormed the strong fortress of Gualgarh, believed by the enemy to be impregnable. It was the last blow. Two days later, the Bhonsla signed a treaty with the British by which he yielded the province of Katak and the port of Baleshwar ; renounced all his claims on the Nizam, including those to the territory in Barar to the west of the Wardah river ; and agreed to refer all disputes with that prince to British arbitration. Further, he promised to take no foreigners into his service without the consent of the British. Thirteen days later, Daolat Rao signed with the British the treaty which is known as the Treaty of Surji Arjangaon. By this treaty he ceded to the British all his rights of sovereignty over the country between the Jamnah and the Ganges, and as well as over the terri- tories belonging to the Eajahs of Jaipur, Jodhpiir, and Gohad, with each of whom separate treaties were con- cluded. He ceded Baroch and Ahmadnagar, with the territories pertaining to both : and the territory between the Ajanta Hills and the Godavari. Finally, he re- nounced all claims on the Emperor, Shah Alam ; upon the Nizam ; upon the Peshwa ; upon the Gaikwar ; and upon the British Government. On the other hand, certain K 130 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. lands which belonged to the family of Sindhia, in the districts he was ceding, were to remain in the occupancy of their actual tenants ; and in the same spirit, pensions assigned from similar lands, to the amount of seventeen lakhs a year, were to be paid as before. Of the territories thus gained from the two princes, Lord Wellesley apportioned to the Nizam the territory to the westward of the Wurdah, and that between the Ajanta Hills and the Godavari ; to the Peshwa, the town and territory of Ahmadnagar ; ihe rest he retained. With the further view to place Sindhia, thus weakened by the war, in a position in which he could defend himself against Holkar, Lord Wellesley entered, two months later, into a supplemental agreement with Daolat Rao, to furnish him, in case of need, with a force of 6,000 infantry and the usual proportion of artillery. The expense of this force was to be borne by the ceded districts, but the force itself was not to be stationed within the actual dominions of Sindhia. This treaty was signed at Bur- hanpiir on February 27th, 1804, but events moved too fast to allow of its conditions being acted upon. It has always been something of a mystery why Jeswant Rao Holkar had not joined Sindhia in his struggle with the British. Their interests were identical. Jeswant Rao had been, moreover, in a position peculiarly favourable for the commencement of a war in alliance with Sindhia. He had held Puna. He had also troops trained by foreigners. He was daring even to rashness, and he resented, as much as did his fellow-chieftain, the intrusion of the English into Maratha quarrels. When, from their encampment at Mulkapiir, Sindhia and the Bhonsla despatched messengers to Holkar to .endeavour to persuade that prince to become a party to the alliance, they had resolved te amuse the British agent until they could JESWANT EAO HOLKAR. 131 receive a reply. The reply came, and it was favourable. Holkar sympathised with the views of the two allies, and agreed to join them. But the rapid movements of Wellesley and Lake probably disconcerted his plans. The English were too successful from the very outset ; arid his preparations had been made when it was too late to interfere with advantage. Added to this, there may have been a jealousy of Sindhia, a desire to see him humiliated, a superlative confidence in his own ability to repair any damage. One fact is certain, viz., that although he took no part in the war, yet, no sooner was it concluded, than he showed himself resolved to provoke hostilities with the victor. In December, 1803, Holkar had been quite ready. But by that time Laswari and Argaum had been fought, and Sindhia and the Bhonsla were suing for peace. Holkar then took up a position with his army on the frontier of Sindhia's dominions, with the intention of taking advantage of the weakness to which he had been reduced by the British to turn and plunder him. It was the view of such probable action on his part that induced Sindhia to conclude with the British that supplementary treaty of February 27th, 1804, of which I have spoken. Holkar, hearing of this treaty, changed his tactics. He endeavoured to persuade Sindhia to join him against the British, whilst he solicited from the latter permission to attack Sindhia. In both these attempts he overreached himself. Sindhia, smarting at having been left in the lurch in the late war, communicated to the British the overtures Holkar had made to him. The perusal of Holkar's letters, and the haughty, almost insolent tone assumed by that prince in his communications with the British officials, convinced Lord Wellesley that he was bent on war. He sent, then, to General Lake instructions K2 132 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. to oppose with force any attempt Holkar might make on the dominions of Sindhia, and on those of the protected allies of the British. General Lake, struck by the hostile attitude assumed by Holkar, had not, on the conclusion of the war with Sindhia, moved back at once, as he would have done under ordinary circumstances, into cantonments, but had remained encamped at Biana, fifty miles south-west from Agra. He was there when information reached him that Holkar had not only announced in his own camp his intention of making war on the British, but had barba- rously murdered three English adventurers attached to his army, who had largely contributed to his success in his last war with Sindhia, because they had declared that whilst ready to fight against any other people, they would not bear arms against their own countrymen. Lake, believing that a strong demonstration would suffice, detached a force of sipahis, under command of Colonel Monson, to protect the city of Jaipur, which, he was informed, Holkar was threatening. He then marched back slowly to Kanhpiir. Monson reached Jaipur just in time to prevent the city from being plundered by Holkar. That prince fell back in the direction of Kota, as if in dread of an attack. Monson followed him, first to Kota, thence through the Mokandara Pass to Sonara. Learning there that Holkar was encamped on the Chambal, some twenty-five miles dis- tant, Monson, though he had but three days provisions with him, started to drive him thence. On his way, however, he was persuaded by a traitor in his camp, one Bapuji Sindhia, to stay his hand, and to retreat. That retreat, known to this day as Monson's retreat, was one of the most disastrous, till then, experienced by any army. Begun on July 7th, some seven miles from Rampura on WAE WITH HOLKAE. 133 the Chambal, it terminated on August oOth and 31st, by the arrival at Agra " of wretched, footsore, half-starved, nnd dispirited fugitives," whose appearance " conveyed to the garrison some idea of the humiliation ever in store for the general who retreats before a barbarian enemy." * General Lake, however, speedily avenged this mis- fortune. Marching from Kanhpur, on September 3rd, he reached Mathura on October 1st. There he had hoped to find Holkar. But that wily chief, having succeeded in drawing Lake to Mathura, had himself made a dash on Dehli. Dehli, feebly garrisoned, but animated by the lofty spirit of David Ochterlony, held out till Lake, following close upon his enemy, compelled Holkar to raise the siege. Lake, then, finding that Holkar had made a dash into the Duab, followed him thither, leaving General Fraser to deal with the smaller force that remained. Whilst Fraser and Monson, who succeeded to the command on his being mortally wounded beat that force at Dig, Lake, pursuing his enemy by forced marches, caught him up, completely surprised and defeated him at Farrukhabad, and compelled him to flee with but a small retinue in the direction of Dig. Lake carried that place on Christmas Day ; then set down to besiege Bhartpiir. Here, after a long siege of fifty-three days, he was baffled. But he had not forgotten Holkar. Springing after him from the very walls of Bhartpiir, he drove him before him through the north-west provinces, through the Cis-Satlej States, across the river Satlaj, till he compelled him to surrender " his whole kingdom on his saddle's bow," t on December 24th, 1805. * The Decisive Battles of India (W. H. Allen & Co., London), con- tains in full detail an account of this famous retreat, in which a force of from four to five thousand sipahis, led by English officers, baffled a pursuing army of 75,000 men, of whom 60,000 were horsemen. f Holkar's very expression. ( 134 ) CHAPTER VIII. LAST DAYS IN INDIA. 1803-1805. /J&nic of the Board of Directors Lord Castlereagh's opinion Lord Wellesley is ordered to cancel the treaty of Bassein Further rebuff's Progress of the Maratha" war Lord Wellesley's letter to Lake Kesolutions of thanks to him Lord Wellesley's letter to the Directors Appointment of Lord Cornwallis The manner of its communication Mr. Thornton's testimony to Lord Wel- lesley's memory. BEFORE the campaign recorded in the last chapter had been finished, the great Marquess had quitted India. Whilst he had been engaged in employing all his energies to defeat the formidable Maratha confederacy which threatened the very existence of British authority in India, the Court of Directors, true to their petty traditions, had been worrying him in a mariner which would have induced any one less conscientious to resign his high office in disgust. The war with the Marathas, a war which we have seen was forced upon the Marquess by Sindhia, had touched to the quick the money-grubbing instincts of the members of that honourable Court. When the news reached England that the war had broken out, India stocks, which had been at 215, fell to 160. This fall was naturally attributed to the policy of Lord Wellesley. It was impossible for a Governor-General to commit a greater crime. There arose, then, against the man DIFFEEENCES WITH THE INDIA HOUSE. 135 who was securing permanent security for British in- terests in India an exceeding great and bitter cry. The proprietors of India stock urged on the directors, and these, nothing loth, used every endeavour to heap insult after insult on their energetic servant in India. He was rebuked for legislating when away from his Council. Oases, describing individual instances of the exercise of his patronage when so absent, and therefore unaided by the concurrent advice, and unsupported by the sanction, of all its members, were sent for the opinion of lawyers in Lincoln's Inn, and the opinion so obtained, always, from the manner in which the case was drawn, friendly to the Court, was at once converted into a condemnatory reso- lution, and sent out to the Grovernor-Greneral.* The clamour became so violent that even the Board of Control seemed to yield to it, and the action of Lord Wellesley in complying with the urgent request of the Peshwa to extend to him British protection an act which conduced as much, at least, as any act of his reign to the ensuring * It would be amusing, if it were not so provocative of contempt for the petty and puerile policy of the Court of Directors, to read tke reasons upon which they and the lawyers they consulted based their condemnation of the conduct of the Marquess Wellenley. When, in 1803, war with the Marathas seemed imminent, the Governor-General had delegated to Lieutenant-General Stuart, and Major-General Wellesley, the powers necessary for dealing with the enemy, without the necessity of making further reference to him ; that is, he authorised them to act as circumstances on the spot might require. The reader will recollect that the Governor-General was in Bengal, kept there by orders repeatedly insisted upon : the Generals were in Western India ; that there were no telegraphs ; no horse-posts ; and that communica- tions took at least a fortnight. Yet, the Directors and their sapient legal advisers recorded that, in so delegating his powers, the Governor- General had exceeded his authority, that to enable him to delegate his powers in the way he had done, even to act himself when absent from his council, the confirming authority of an Act of Parliament was required, 136 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. of the stability of British interests in India was gently but decidedly condemned. u The eagerness," wrote Lord Castlereagh, President of the Board, dealing with this question, ' 4 with which we appeared to press our connection upon all leading States in succession, might naturally lead them to apprehend that we meant more than we avowed, that our object was ultimately to be masters rather than allies, and that, having obtained either (possession] of or absolute^ influence over every State, except the Mara'tha's, with whom we had been in connection, our object was to obtain a similar influence over their councils. Under whatever estimate of our views it may have been formed, the fact is indisputable that a general repugnance to the British connection on the terms pro- posed, universally prevailed amongst the great Maratha powers. It was avoided by all as long as they haJ any choice. It was only embraced by the Peshwa when an exile from his dominions ; and the jealousy of it was such as to have since led Holkar and Sindhia to forget their animosities, and to league with the Rajah of Barar against the Company and the Peshwa. How long the Peshwa will continue faithful to engagements which were contracted from necessity and not from choice, in opposition to the other Maratha States, is yet to be seen. The practical question to be considered is, whether an alliance formed under such circumstances can rest upon any other foundation than mere force ; and if not, whether the means by which it was to be up- held are not destructive of its professed advantages. The Marat has have never in any instance commenced hostilities against us ; so far then as past experience goes, there seems to be no special ground to apprehend future danger from them. The French officers in Sindhia's army are just objects of jealousy, and their mixing themselves in the affairs of native powers must be watched, and be matter of alarm in proportion to the degree in which it takes place, and as those States are near to, or remote from, our possessions ; but this alone cannot render the alliance prudent, nor is this danger at present of a magnitude i to call for the adoption of a system otherwise of dubious policy. . As far as the Maratha interests are concerned, what motive can they have in acquiescing in the ostensible head of their empire being placed in our hands ? Whatever we may hold out to reconcile the Peshwa to the alliance, and however we may profess to respect his independence in the management of his own affairs, we cannot deny that in fact as well as in appearance, whilst a British army is at Puna, he can be considered in no other light than as politically dependent on us. The same motives which before opposed Sindhia and Holkar to each other now oppose them both to us, and the Rajah of Barar joins (he eqn- OBJECTIONS TO WELLESLEY' S POL ICY. 1 3 7 federacy. Nor is it to be expected that independent States, predatory and warlike, ean wish to make us the arbiter of their destiny. To aim at a permanent connection with the Maratha powers, must be, to say the least of it, extremely hazardous. It must be difficult and expensive to establish, not less difficult and expensive to retain. Such a result we disavow as our object, as in principle and policy against the laws of the land ; and we should avoid therefore a course of measures, the tendency of which leads naturally to that result. It may be said, if the treaty had not been pushed with the Peshvva while at Bassein, he might have refused it afterwards ; but it is doubtful whether a treaty so obtained is a benefit, or whether it might not have been better to let Holkar and Sindhia fight it out before proposing any permanent connection. The advantages of such a connection,. had always been overrated. By keeping an army of observation on the frontier, and not mixing with Maratlia politics, except upon sure grounds, if we gained no more than securing our own territory, as well as that of our ally, the Nizam, from insult, we escaped war, whilst the Maratha princes wasted their strength/' The historical student of the present day who shall read these platitudes, based upon half-truths and imperfect knowledge, will rejoice that it was to the Marquess Wellesley, and not to Lord Castlereagh, that the destines of the British empire in India were entrusted. Whilst the former reasoned as a doctrinaire, the latter acted as a wise and far-seeing statesman. Yet, the Home Govern- ment, uncertain of the issue, far from assuring him of their support, began to take into consideration whether, by his treaty with the Peshwa, the treaty thereafter proudly referred to as the Treaty of Basseiu, the Governor- General had not exceeded his powers, and what instruc- tions should be sent to him to curb his future action. The result of these considerations was that instructions were sent to Lord Wellesley to cancel the Treaty of Bassein, and forbidding him to make war with Sindhia or with Holkar. Fortunately, these instructions reached Lord Wellesley at a time when it had become impossible to .execute them. They rea.dbed him after he had waged 138 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. war with Sindhia and the Bhonsla, and had forced both to sue for peace ; at the very moment, in fact, when he had actually signed that treaty with Sindhia which brought him very nearly within the category of protected princes. The electric telegraph did not, happily, exist in those days, or the folly of the Home Government would have placed British interests in India in a situation of very great peril. The Governor-General was not the less subjected, how- ever, to annoyances which chafed his proud spirit. In the fourth chapter, reference has been made to the Secretary to the Madras Government, Mr. Webbe. as a gentleman who had at the outset opposed Lord Morn- ington's policy. But Mr. Webbe was a very able man, and, not wedded to his own opinions because they were his opinions, he had gradually recognised the wisdom of the policy which he had formerly opposod. When Lord Olive came to Madras as Governor he had found in the experience, the knowledge, and the ready resource of Mr. Webbe, a support upon which he could count in any emergency. The ability and rectitude of that gentleman had also won for him the esteem and good opinion of Lord Wellesley. Yet, notwithstanding that Mr. Webbe possessed the con- fidence of the Governor under whom he was immediately serving, and of the Governor-General of India, the Court of Directors, in the exercise of their power, directed that he should be removed from his office. In vain did Lord Clive remonstrate. Vainly did Lord Wellesley inform the Prime Minister that the removal of Mr. Webbe would be a severe blow to the Government. The Court of Directors wanted the appointment for one of their proteges, and persisted in their order. Rather than carry it out, Lord Clive resigned his office in disgust. Lord Wellesley could not repress his indignation at the PETTY POLICY OF THE INDIA OFFICE. 139 nefarious transaction. He informed Mr. Pitt, in the letter just referred to, that the direct appointment from home to the most confidential office under the Governor " comprised every degree of personal indignity that could be offered to Lord Clive and himself, and the result had been to drive that honest, diligent, prudent, and able public servant from India." Amongst other rebuffs that were administered to him was one connected with the proposed erection of a house or palace for the Governor-General in the park of Bar- rackpiir. Lord VVellesley had taken over, on his appointment as Captain-General, the residence thereto- fore allotted to the Commander-in-Chief. That residence was neither large enough nor commodious enough for the lodgment of the Governor-General of India and his suite. Yet it was desirable that one engaged in the arduous duty of governing India should possess a place in the country to which he could occasionally retire for rest and recreation. No locality appeared to the Mar- quess to be so well suited for such a purpose as the park at Barrackpiir. It is the only piece of enclosed ground in India that bears any resemblance to an English park. No sound from the outer world reaches the palatial resi- dence. The majestic Hiigli flows calmly on one side, its surface gay with craft of varied shapes. On the other were magnificent trees, undulating grounds, and a fine garden. Successive Governors-General have found there a place of real solace after the cares of Calcutta. The wife of one of the noblest of them, the courageous and high-minded Lady Canning, loved it so much that, when she died in India, her remains were transferred to the spot in the garden of the park on which, when living, she delighted to sit and gaze at the river flowing beneath her. In this park Lord Wellesley designed to build a 140 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. residence worthy of the representative of England's power in the east. He had the plans made and the estimates prepared. The builders were about to commence their work, when the Court of Directors, delighted to thwart him, forbade him to proceed. The work, in the style in which it was intended, was therefore abandoned. The reader can well imagine how the great Marquess had been cheered and delighted by the success of his generals in the war against Sindhia ; how he had followed their course of victory without a check with swelling heart and beaming eye. He was essentially a soldier, and the campaigns, both in the north-west and south-west, had been conducted on plans, the general ideas of which are to be found in his letters. In the victories which followed he saw not only the justification of his policy, but the impos- sibility of disturbing it ; and, in that impossibility, the consolidation of the British power in India. Before his time the great danger to that power had lain in an union between the Maratha powers. How real that danger had been any one who studies the life of Madhaji Sindhia will at once recognise. There was no guarantee that a second Madhaji a man with foresight as keen, with a will as resolute might not again come to the front. It was the iron will of the Marquess Wellesley which, as was proved after his departure from India, prevented the re- introduction into the Government policy of the principles of Sir John Shore. A Maratha empire united, pitted against a British India governed on those principles, would at least have had a great chance. But the Marquess Wellesley had rendered such a combination impossible. He had neutralised the Peshwa, smitten to the ground Sindhia and the Bhonsla, despite the factious orders of the Court of Directors, then fortunately on the bosom of the ocean, to leave them alone ; and he rejoiced, as only THE GREATNESS OF WELLESLEY. 141 a king of men can rejoice, that action so necessary to the safety of the great trust committed to him had been accomplished before it had been possible for mediocrity to prevent it. He felt that he had, in very deed, deserved well of his country. Nor, whilst rejoicing at the success of plans which were his very own, did he complain when misfortune followed the attempted execution of a project which failed mainly because his recommendations with respect to the carrying out of it had been neglected, although he knew that he alone would have to pay the penalty of such misfortune. When it became necessary for Lake to defend the allies of England against the assault of Holkar, and that general intimated his intention of detaching a force, under Colonel Monson, to Jaipur, Lord Wellesley urgently pressed upon him the advisability of sending with it a due proportion of European troops. But the hot weather had set in, Lake did not care to expose his Europeans, and he would not. Monson, I have always held, owed his mis- fortune to not continuing his advance on Holkar's position at Kampura (on the Chambal). He changed his advance into a retreat because he, a man who had had no experience of native troops, did not care to run the risk of a further advance with native troops only. The mis- fortune that followed was due, then, to the neglect by General Lake of Lord Wellesley' s advice. But, instead of whining at the disaster, of casting the blame on others,, Lord Wellesley met it in the way natural to his noble nature : "I received this morning," he wrote to Lake (Sept. llth, 1804),- "your letter of Sept. 2nd. Grievous and disastrous as the events are, the extent of the calamity does not exceed my expectation ; from the first hour of Colonel Monson's retreat, I have always augured the ruin of that detachment, and if any part of it be saved I count it so much gain. I trust that the greater part of it has arrived at Agra, but J 142 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. fear that my poor friend Monson is gone. Whatever may have been his fate, or whatever the result of his misfortunes to my own fame, I will endeavour to shield his character from obloquy, nor will I attempt the mean purpose of sacrificing his reputation to save mine. His former services and his zeal entitle him to indulgence ; and, however I may lament and suffer for his errors, I will not reproach his memory if he be lost, or his character if he survive. Your letter manifests your usual judgment and spirit. We must endeavour rather to retrieve than to blame what is past, and under your auspices I enter- tain no doubt of success. Time, however, is the main consideration. Every hour that shall be left to this plunderer will be marked by some calamity ; we must expect a great defection of the allies, and even confusion in our own territories, unless we can attack Holkar's main force immediately with decisive success. I trust that you will be enabled to assemble your army in sufficient time to prevent further mischief; I highly applaud your determination to leave nothing to fortune, and rather to risk the internal tranquillity of the provinces for a season, than to hazard any contest on unequal grounds with the enemy. Holkar defeated, all alarm and danger will instantly vanish. When I look at the date of this letter I cannot entertain a shadow of apprehension for the result of this war. This is the anniversary of the battle of Dehli, a victory gained under circumstances infinitely more unfavourable than the present. Your triumphs of last year proceeded chiefly from your vigorous system of attack. In every war the native States will always gain courage in proportion as we shall allow them to attack us; and I know that you will always bear this in mind, especially against such a power as Holkar. If we cannot re- duce him, we have lost our ascendancy in India. You will perceive that the only effect produced on my mind by this misfortune is an anxious solicitude to afford you every aid in remedying its consequences with, every degree of despatch." The men of the present generation who shall read this noble letter will at once understand how proud the good men and true of his day were to serve under such a chief. Recollect that Lord Wellesley knew that Monson's disaster would be his death-warrant with the Court of Directors. That disaster had happened mainly because his advice had been neglected. How truly royal, under such circumstances, is his demeanour. For Monson only consideration and sympathy ; for himself a determination THE GEEATNESS OF WELLESLEY. 143 to assume the entire responsibility, whilst urging Lake to lose no time in retrieving the disaster. Then, how delicate his advice to Lake. The earnest wish of his heart is that Lake shall advance with all the dash of the war against Holkar, and annihilate his enemy. He thinks, in his heart, that Lake has not done well to leave Monson so far without support. But he is careful not to say so. He does riot utter a word which can grate on the feelings of that gallant soldier. On the contrary, he invokes the glories he had gained in the last war by prompt action ; indicates the danger of allowing the enemy to gather head and to attack ; and thus insinuates rather than directs the course to be pursued. How Lake responded to this call, how he sprang upon Holkar and annihilated him, I have already told. He, at least, appreciated the generous nature of his large-minded Captain-General. Six weeks later a solace to the wound caused by Monson's disaster was vouchsafed to the Governor-General by the receipt of the manner in which his victorious campaign against the two Maratha chiefs had been received in Parliament. He had the satisfaction of reading that in the House of Lords the brilliant success which had been achieved was attributed to the vigorous and comprehensive system of measures pursued by the Marquess Wellesley for bringing the various armies with promptitude and effect into the field. In the Commons, Lord Castlereagh, without committing himself to the policy of the war, passed a glowing eulogium on the splendid conduct of all concerned in it, and the vote of thanks was unanimous. Even the Court of Directors, though they declined to pronounce an opinion on the political questions involved in the campaign, passed a resolution that : "Taking into consideration the despatches relative to the late 144 LIFE OP FtiE MAEQlfESS WflLLESLEY. brilliant successes in the war with the Muratha cl)iefs, their thanks be given to the Marquess Wellesley for the zeal, vigour, activity, and ability displayed in preparing the armies of the several Presidencies to take th". field, to which might be attributed, in a great measure, the rapid and brilliant successes which had crowned the British arms in the East Indies." The Court of Proprietors, hitherto so bitter against him, recorded their approval in identical terms. It can easily be understood, especially by those who have had experience of India, why votes of thanks, unaccompanied by expressions of approval of policy, gave no satisfaction to Lord Wellesley. The actual expression of thanks was, he knew well, his due, and could not be withheld without a public scandal. But there was one sentence in the preamble to the resolution which seemed to him to compromise his position in India. In that ;preamble the Court had declined to express an opinion as to the origin and justice of the war. L:>rd Weliesley felt that he could not publish in the Calcutta Gazette the vote of thanks without at the same time publishing the preamble. " The determination," he wrote to the Court, : some months later, when explaining why, when he pub- lished in the Gazette the resolution conveying the thanks of the Court to other officers therein named, he had ^withheld all mention of himself: "expressed to withhold all judgment upon the original justice, necessity, and policy of the war, could not have been published in India by a formal act of the Government without conveying an universal impression of doubt and ambiguity respecting the stability of every arrangement connected with the progress and success of our arms. The permanency of all treaties of peace, partition, subsidy and alliance mubt have been exposed to hazard by such a public declara- tion, proceeding from the high authority of your Honourable Court and the Court of Proprietors ; and announced by your Government in India to all your subjects, dependents, and allies. It could not be "supposed that either your Honourable Court or the Court of Pro- HIS LETTER TO THE INDIA OFFICE. 145 prietors would try the justice of our cause by the success of our arms ; the prosperous result of the war, therefore, could not have removed the doubts of its justice arising from the reservations expressed in your resolutions ; and the irresistible inference in the minds of all Native States would have been that your Honourable Court and the Court of Proprietors might ultimately censure the whole transaction ; while the general fame of your equity and magnanimity would have precluded any sup .osition that in condemning the justice of our cause, you would retain the fruits of your success, or enjoy the benefits of the peace, while you repudiated the necessity and policy of the war. If the origin and policy of the war shall ultimately be condemned, and the tieaties of peace, subsidy, and alliance, shall finally be abrogated by tliH commands of your Honourable Court, those commands will be issued in such terms, and accompanied by such arrangements, as shall render the execution of your orders an additional bulwark to the public safety, and a fresh security to the public faith. During what- ever interval of time your Honourable Court may be pleased to suspend your determination, it would neither be consistent with the welfare of the Honourable Company in India, nor with the respect due to your high authority, that one of your servants, for the gratifica- tion of personal ambition, by the ostentatious display of the honours which you had been pleased to confer upon him, should pursue a course which might embarrass the free and deliberate exercise of your wisdom and justice in a matter of the utmost importance to the national interests and honour ; or that, by a premature and unseason- able publication of your favourable acceptance of his services, the same servant should risk the main object of those services, and endanger the immediate security of a great political system of arrangement which it might possibly be your future pleasure to confirm." As a specimen of finished irony this letter is not to be surpassed. The writing of it relieved the mind of the injured and offended Proconsul. He showed plainly to the honourable masters who had been unable alike to appreciate him, or the real interests of the country they had invited him to administer, how little he was affected by their praise or their dispraise. His mind was wholly absorbed by a desire that the India which he had received from them weak, threatened, so terrified that it dared not make preparations for war lest it should L 146 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLET. provoke war, only one amongst three rivals for empire, should be transferred from his hands to those of his successor strong, compact, predominant, ready for any action arid for any emergency. He was proudly conscious that, despite the innumerable obstacles cast in his way by masters incapable of appreciating him or the condition of affairs in India, he had accomplished that end ; and he was, therefore, utterly indifferent as to whether such masters should dole out to him praise or blame. He, at least, had faith in the verdict of posterity. How Lake had avenged the retreat of Monson I have told in the previous chapter. But his repulse at Bhartpiir had again roused hopes in the breast of Sindhia, who, asked by Mr. Jenkins, the British Eesident at his Court, to explain his preparations, proceeded to the length of seizing the person of that minister and plundering his property. Although he apologised for this insult by casting the blame on others, he still continued his pre- parations, and, but for an opportune meeting with Holkar, and the disclosure at that meeting of the divergent views entertained by the two chieftains, would probably have proceeded to hostilities. Convinced at that meeting that Holkar was impossible as an ally, he made his submission, dismissed his warlike minister, and adopted a peaceful programme. But in the meanwhile, events were occurring in England which were to relieve him and tha native princes of India of the watchful glance which had noted and had baffled all their intrigues. The news of Monson's retreat, which reached England early in 1805, gave the Court of Directors the opportunity for which they had been longing. Up to that time, although they had hated Lord Wellesley they had bowed the knee to his success. Defeat, exaggerated as to its possible consequences, as all defeats are exaggerated, gave them the chance of ID- WELLESLEY'S SUCCESSOE APPOINTED. 147 dulging in their personal feelings. The second Ministry of Mr. Pitt was weak at home, and was too burdened with the responsibilities of the war with Napoleon, to be able to pay much attention to India. The opportunity y then, was not to be foregone. Lord Cornwallis, who had already held the high office of Govern or- General, and who, it was known, condemned the policy of the Maratha wars, was asked if he would go out to succeed Lord Wellesley. The old man, not so accustomed to victory as "Wellesley, at first declined. Much entreaty, however, procured in the end a reluctant consent, and he set out- He landed in Calcutta July 30th, 1805. The manner in which Lord Wellesley heard of the appointment of a successor was worthy of the Court he had served so well. They did not, in the first instance, . communicate personally with him. "In May, 1805," writes Mr. Torren-s, in his interesting biography of the Marquess Wellesley,* " two letters were received in Calcutta by the overland route, announcing the re-appointment of Lord Cornwallis to the Governor-Generalship of India. One of these letters was received by Mr. J. Alexander, the other by Mr. Tucker. Both gentlemen determined to keep their information to themselves ; but"* a rumour was soon in circulation to the effect that overland letters/ had been received in Calcutta, and Lord Wellesley sent for Mr. Tucker.. After some conversation, the Governor-General exclaimed: 'I hear you have received letters from England. 7 Mr. Tucker assented, and Lord Wellesley asked, 'Do they contain any news of importance?' * The appointment of Lord Cornwallis/ was the reply. The accom- plished actor was too much master of himself to indicate by look or gesture any opinion of the choice which had been made. But he had abundant information from confidential sources of the reasons which had led to it, and he well knew that it implied the reversal, in many essential particulars, if not the general renunciation, of his compre- hensive policy." Monson's retreat had injured British prestige in India * The Marquess Wellesley, Architect of Empire : an Historic For* trait. Chatto & Windus. 1880. L 2 148 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. only to an extent which the victories of Lord Lake, the following year, were able to repair. The effect of the same retreat in England was to cause the reversal of a policy which had been successful in all its bearings : which had ensured predominance to England and security to protected princes : which had, therefore, been merciful in its action, ensuring to the weak protection against the . strong. All this was now to be reversed. The protected .princes of Bajpiitana were to be delivered to the tender mercies of freebooters like Amir Khan, and robbers like -the Pindaris. The rule of murder and plunder was to succeed the era of peace and prosperity ; and another war, waged by a Governor-General approaching more nearly to the Wellesley type, was required to restore Central India, after an interregnum of twelve years, to the state in which he had left it. The great Marquess has been avenged. Even the India Office has paid a tribute to his memory, full of appreciative justice. The historian of that august body, Mr. Thornton, concludes the record of the events of the brilliant rule of the Marquess Wellesley, with the follow- ing eloquent summary, to which the posterity who have witnessed in India the effects of his administration, will, I ,am confident, enthusiastically subscribe. " The unrivalled brilliancy of the Marquess Wellesley's administra- tion has perhaps tended to obscure the rare qualities which led to its success. The first of those qualities was his extraordinary sagacity. He saw the true position of the British Goverument in India a vision withheld not only from his predecessors, but from his contemporaries. It is common to say of the great minds whose genius stands out in bold -relief amid universal tameness, that they are be}*ond their age ; and if ever this were true of living man, it is of the Marquess Wellesley. His mind was not led captive by words it was not to be trammelled by conventional opinions. He neither gave credence to the prevailing c,ant of his time on the subject of India, nor affected to give credence to it ; and this leads to the notice of another striking point in his THORNTON'S CHARACTER OF WELLESLEY. 149 character the manly boldness with which he avowed and maintained opinions not lightly formed, and which he therefore felt were not lightly to be abandoned. The vigour with which he carried into action the great plans which his genius suggested is scarcely less remarkable than his sagacity. When resolved to strike a blow at Maisur, he was met by difficulties which ordinary minds would have deemed insuperable. He determined that they should be overcome, and they were overcome. The same determination of purpose the same uu shrinking energy are manifested in his transactions with Arkat, with Oudh, with the Peshwa. and indeed in all the principal acts of his government. Like all truly great men, lie ^as not the slave of circumstances he made circumstances promote his purposes. " Eminent talents are a blessing or a curse alike to their possessor and to the world, according to the use made of them. Those of the Marquess Wellesley were invariably directed to the highest and best ends the promotion of peace, of the interests of the two countries with which he was connected, with one by birth, and with the other by office and to the happiness of mankind. He laid in India the foundations of peace and of increasing prosperity, and if the super- structure was not completed in accordance with the original design, the crime rests on the head of others. "In describing the characters of great men, the speck of human infirmity, which is to be found in all, should not be passed over. The Marquess Wellesley was ambitious ; but his ambition sought gratifica- tion not in mere personal aggrandisement, but in connecting his own fame with that of the land to which he belonged, and of the Govern- ment which he administered in the diffusion of sound and liberal knowledge, and the extension of the means of happiness among millions of men who knew not his person, and some of them scarcely his name. That name is, however, stamped for ever on their history. The British Government in India may pass away ; its duration, as far as human means are concerned, will depend on the degree in which the policy of the Marquess Wellesley is maintained or abandoned but whatever its fate, or the length of its existence, the name and memory of the greatest statesman by whom it was ever administered are imperishable." I make no apology for the length of this extract. It conveys, in terms as true as they are precise, the verdict of history regarding the Indian administration of the Mar- quess Wellesley. He who recorded that verdict was not a personal follower of the great Proconsul. He was, on the 150 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. contrary, an official in the service of that India Office, which had been the bitterest opponent of the Marquess Wellesley during the last four years of his administra- tion, commissioned by that office to write such a history of the British administration of India as they could place in the hands of their covenanted civil servants when they i started for that country. To each civil servant a copy of Thornton's History was invariably given on his appointment. The book may therefore be regarded as stamped with the approval of the India Office. It is for this reason that I have preferred that the estimate of Lord Wellesley's administration, an estimate in which I entirely concur, should be drawn from a source not unduly prejudiced in his favour, for it is the source whence proceeded the most persistent hostility to him during his tenure of the chief authority in India. ( 151 CHAPTER IX. YEAES OF DISAPPOINTMENT. 1806-1809. Lord Wellesley's return Meeting with his family Death of Mr. Pitt Paull's attack Other Parliamentary enquiries The dinner at Almaek's Prospects of office Speech in the House of Lords The mission to Seville Sir Arthur Wellesley's position Lord Wcllesley is appointed to the Foreign Office. THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY, who returned to England the beginning of 1806, was a different man to the Lord Mornington who had quitted England to govern India in 1797. His seven years' Proeonsulship had given a force to his will and a strength to his character, which tended to make him intolerant of the opinions of those who differed from him. He had fed on the obedience which had been freely rendered to every utterance, until he had come to stand in need of such condiment. The voyage home in the- stately Indiaman had not broken hini in to the new life that he felt awaiting him. He could not realise to himself how it would be in the world which he had in a great measure forgotten. His highly nervous nature became excited beyond measure as the hour for disembarkation arrived. Then the disillusion was com- plete. The master of millions found himself but one of the herd. The exact facts are so graphically told by Mr. Torrens that I willingly extract the passage : " Lady Wellesley and her children awaited him on landing, and several private friends pressed round him with kind welcomes. The 152 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. Port Admiral was also there, and certain military officials eager to see the little man of whom they had heard so much, and of being able to say that he had shaken them by the hand, a familiarity the thought of which had never occurred to Mm. There v\as, in short, no lack of fuss and even of affection; enough to content any ordinary general or envoy returning home. But he was neither. He had be. j n playing king until the rarefied atmosphere of kingship had become so habitual that the murk of commonplace in the best room of the be.-t inn in a half-lighted seaport town almost stifled him. Had the suc- cessor of Aurangzib come to this? There he was, with wife and children, and two or three friends from town, after all his impersona- tion of paramount power and impersonation of Oriental magnificence, made much of by vulgar waiters just like any other Irish Marquess on his travels. He did his best to look pleased and be gracious, but his mortification was unspeakable; and ere dinner time was half over lie broke out in expletives of impatience that made the circle stare. Hyacinthe (his wife) forgetting all that had changed their lot in Kfj since the time when as a youthful and hardly known official he had sut at her feet adoringly, said, with an unlucky laugh, * Ah ! you must not think you are in India still, where everybody ran to obey you. They mind nobody here.' The disenchantment was complete. He rose early from table and withdrew, saying he was ill, and must be left alone; nor could any subsequent explanation or expostulation mend the matter. It was the foretaste of a long course of disappoint- ment and vexation, wholly unanticipated, that was in store for him." I have the more readily made this extract from Mr. Torrens's book, because it furnishes the keynote to the subsequent career of the Marquess ; to the reason of his practical disappearance in 18 i 2 from the Parliamentary arena. Autocratic sway had made it impossible for his nature to bend. He must be first or nothing. The same, it is true, might be said of Mr. Pitt. But Mr. Pitt had so established himself by abilities displayed in Parliament, that not only was he admittedly first, but there was not a second. There was no other under whom he could serve. The Marquess Wellesley had yet to make a name on the field of English politics ; and although his old friends and associates were willing to give him an equal chance with themselves, not one of them was prepared to admit as PAULL' S CHARGES AGAINST WELLESLEY. 153 incontestable the predominance of ability which, in hi? heart, he claimed for himself. Wellesley returned to find his old friend and master, William Pitt, dying. The great minister was at Bath, trying to shake off the gout and stomach-ailments which tormented him. On his return thence to Putney, he wrote an affectionate letter to Wellesley begging him to come and see him. Wellesley saw him there, and pressed his emaciated hand a few days before he died. In him he felt he had lost his best and truest friend. No long time elapsed before another revelation filled to the brim the cup of bitterness of which the ex-Pro- consul was forced to drink. He knew that he deserved well of his country. Knowing this, he found it difficult to realise that, instead of being greeted as a conqueror, he was to be accused as a criminal. The persecuting mania which had helped to drive Clive to a premature grave, which had embittered the middle life of Warren Hastings, would not spare their brilliant successor. His first accuser was one Paull, originally a linendraper, who, having made a fortune in India, had obtained, in June, 1805, a seat in Parliament. It was the object of this man to obtain notoriety by the denunciation of some eminent personage, and, having been in Oudh whilst the Marquess Wellesley was Governor- General, he pitched upon him as his victim. To ensure support in his denun- ciations, he wrote to Lord Folkestone; addressing him u as the only man untainted by corruption," to inform him that he had taken measures to obtain a seat in Par- liament " in order to make the conduct of the late Viceroy the subject of legal investigation." Folkestone, a feather- brained extremist, fell into the trap, and agreed to support Paull. Meanwhile, Grenville and Fox had formed th Ministry known as the Ministry of " All the Talents." 154 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. It has been said that on this occasion office was offered to Lord Wellesley, but that he declined to accept it until Paull's threatened charges should have been disposed of. It would seem, however, that though his name was men- tioned, no office was actually offered him. The fact that Paull was a follower of Fox, and had been encouraged by that statesman and by Sheridan to persevere in his charges, whilst yet Fox was in opposition, rendered it impossible that any such offer should be made. Fox, however, expressed to Paull his hope before Parliament met that, as Sheridan and Francis had dropped their intended interpellations regarding Lord Wellesley's con- duct towards the Nawab of the Karnatik and the Marathas, Paull would do the same regarding Oudh. Paull refused. On January 27th, 1806. Paull moved for the papers which were necessary to substantiate his charges against Lord Wellesley. Those charges were printed on May the 28th following. The gist of them was that, whilst the Nawab- Wazir of Oudh had fulfilled all his obligations to the British Government, Lord Wellesley, as the agent of that Government, had excited his subjects to rebel against him ; had then occupied Oudh ; and, by threats made by his brother, Henry, compelled the Nawab to yield a large portion of his dominions. Before these charges could be debated, Fox had died (September loth), Parliament had been dissolved, and the Duke of Portland had become Prime Minister. In the new Parliament no place was found for Mr. Paull. Lord Folkestone then took up the fallen mantle, and formulated his charges. In the debate upon them he had, however, but scant support, and on a division (March 8th, 1808), only thirty-one votes were re- corded in his favour, whilst a hundred and eighty-two con- curred in negativing the motion. A subsequent resolution, DINNER TO THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. 155 approving of the Marquess AYellesley's conduct in the matters referred to, was moved by Sir John Anstruther, and carried triumphantly. Undeterred by this expression of opinion, another youthful grievance-monger, Sir Thomas Turton, brought forward, in May following, a motion for the impeachment of the Marquess on the ground of his conduct towards the Nawab of the Kar- natik. But his speech, in the course of which he charged Lord Clive and the Marquess with having connived at the murder of the heir to the masnad, was listened to with indignation, and his motion was negatived without a division. Thereupon, Mr. Wallace moved a vote expres- sive of the approval of the House of Lord Wellesley's conduct in the circumstances referred to. This motion was carried with but nineteen dissentients. This was the last occasion on which the charges against Lord Wellesley were brought under the notice of Parliament. To dispose of the charges against Lord Wellesley in Parliament, I have outstripped the regular course of his life. It deserves to be stated that the persecution, of which he was the object, only confirmed his friends in their attachment. On March 22nd, 1806, a public dinner was given to him at Almack's. His old friend General Harris (of Seringapatam renown) was in the chair, sup- ported by some of the most illustrious men in England. The Prime Minister, Lord Grenville, was unable, through illness, to attend, but he wrote to say that it would have given him no ordinary pleasure to bear his testimony, not only of affectionate regard for the guest of the evening, but of respect for the splendid services he had rendered to his country. When, in 1807, George III. dismissed Lord Greuville's Ministry for refusing to give a pledge, in writing, never again to reopen the question of the removal of the disa- 156 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. bilities on Roman Catholics, there was again question of offering a seat in the Cabinet to Lord Wellesley. Mr. Pearce, in the Memoirs already referred to, plainly states that the King actually made the offer. I do not find that it went quite so far as that. The views of Lord Wellesley regarding the emancipation of the Catholics were those of the fallen Administration. It is highly improbable, there- fore, that the King should have desired to have his services. There was much talk, undoubtedly, about his admission, and a desire was expressed in many quarters that he should be included in the new arrangements. It is clear that if, as Mr. Torrens states, "Canning was offered the Foreign Department, but told the Duke that he would give way if Wellesley or Malmesbury would accept it," he might have had office had he chosen. The Foreign Office, moreover, was the office which, of all, he would have preferred. As he did not take office, I am con- strained to believe that the fact that PamTs and Folke- stone's charges were still hanging over him proved the stumbling block on both sides, and that there was a mutual understanding that no serious offer should be made until those charges should have been disposed of. On February 8th, 1808, the Marquess spoke for the first time in the House of Lords. The occasion was historic. The Government, moved to energetic action by the disclosure of the secret arrangements made between Napoleon and Alexander at Tilsit, had despatched a fleet to Copenhagen, to prevent, by a prompt seizure of the Danish fleet, the transfer of that fleet to the French Emperor. On the date above mentioned, the Duke of Norfolk moved, in a hostile sense, for the production of papers bearing on the subject. The Ministers refused them, and the Marquess supported the Ministers. Again I quote from Mr. Torrens : FIEST SPEECH AFTER HIS RETURN. 157 " As soon as the mover of the amendment sat down, he (the Marquess Welle sley) rose, and though intensely nervous and anxious, with the imperturbable calm and consummate air of ease he knew so well how to assume, he entered at length upon the antecedents and strategic circumstances of the situation. In the words of Lord Hawkesbury (afterwards Premier), the cause, not so much of ministers as of the country, was successfully maintained by his eloquent and argumentative speech Next to the great oratorical success of Canning, whose matchless eloquence Erskine said had far exceeded anything he had heard in Parliament, the honours of the debate were accorded to Wellesley." The Ministry obtained a large majority. Soon after the charges brought in the House of Com- mons by Paull and his confederates had been triumphantly disposed of, the Ministry had an opportunity of offering to Lord AYellesley employment, which, not uncongenial in itself, might prove the stepping-stone to the Cabinet. Sir John Moore, sent to command the British army in Portugal, which was to lend its aid to the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula in their struggle against Napoleon, had been repeatedly urged by the British minister to the Supreme Junta, Mr. Hookham Frere, to march on Madrid, and thus finish the war. The representations of Mr. Frere were so strongly worded, and professed to be based upon such accurate knowledge, that Moore, against his better judgment, quitted Lisbon in October, and crossed the frontiers of Spain. There he discovered ;that all the Spanish armies had been beaten by Napoleon, and that he himself was in danger of being cut off. He had to choose between a retreat into Portugal, and a march of great danger, but which would enable him to unite all his troops, on Corunna. With characteristic chivalry, he chose the latter course, and conducting an arduous retreat " with sagacity, firmness, and fortitude," saved the honour of the British army, and his own at the cost of his valuable life. The Ministry, rightly appreciating the 158 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. circumstances, resolved to send the Marquess Wellesley as Ambassador Extraordinary to Seville, to arrange a common mode of action with the Spanish Junta, and to entrust the command of the army in Portugal to his brother, Arthur. The combination had worked well in India. It was anticipated it would produce equally satisfactory results in the Peninsula. The appointment of the Marquess, gazetted April 30th, 1809, was well received by the nation.* The student of the history of the period will recollect that at the time when this appointment was made, Austria was just engaging in that war of 1809, which she had planned with so much ability, and which, at its outset seemed to promise so much success. Her early victories suggested to a section of the Cabinet, and, as it proved, a too powerful section, to attempt a diversion in Holland whilst Napoleon should be entangled on the Danube. They planned, therefore, the fatal expedition to Walcheren. The keen mind of the Marquess Wellesley recognised at once that an expedition to the coasts of Holland, whilst it would almost certainly prove abortive, could be attempted only at the expense of the efficiency of the army which his brother was to command in Portugal, and the efforts of which he was to facilitate by his diplomacy. He represented his views on this subject with great force to the Ministry, and, when he found that his arguments availed nothing, feeling that any words he might speak to * The Times wrote of it : " We consider the appointment as an unequivocal pledge given to the nation by Ministers that they are resolved to adopt no half measures, to pursue no system of cold or timid precaution, to leave no outlets for irresolution or vacillation. Lord Wellesley cannot be an instrument for such purposes ; he pos- sesses one of the cardinal virtues, fortitude, which we would at the present moment place above the others, because it is that which the necessities of the hour render indispensable." WELLESLEY AT CADIZ. 159 the Junta would be thrown away unless he had an army to support them, he resigned his office. His intimate friend, Canning, who was then Foreign Secretary, induced him, towards the end of June, to recall his resignation, on the condition that his brother, notwithstanding Walcheren, should have an adequate number of troops under his command. He went, then, and arrived at Cadiz just as the bells of the cathedral were ringing a joyful peal for the victory of Talavera. He was received there with every demonstration of honour. A flag, one of the many captured by the Spaniards when Dupont's army surrendered, was placed on the ground, so that on landing he might tread upon one of the emblems of Napoleon's power ; and representatives of every class thronged to bid him welcome. A similar reception awaited him a few days later at Seville. The Marquess had not, however, been many days at his post before he discovered the striking contrast between the promises of the Spanish Government and their per- formances. His brother had, it is true, won the battle of Talavera, but he could not disguise from himself that he was in an eminently false position; that he was greatly indebted for his victory to the jealousies of each other of the French marshals ; and that his army was in want of food, of clothing, of shelter. So deplorable was its con- dition that Arthur Wellesley dared not leave it to visit his brother : " A starving army,'* he wrote (August 8th), " is worse than none. The soldiers lose their discipline and their spirit. They plunder even in the presence of their officers. The officers are discontented, and almost as bad as the men ; and with the army which a fortnight ago beat double their numbers, I should now hesitate to meet a French corps of half their strength." Just at this time came news of the battle of Wagram, fought a month earlier, and which was the prelude to the 160 LIFE OF THE NAEQUESS WELLESLEY. cessation of hostilities between Napoleon and Austria. The intelligence, unwelcome as it was, only incited the Marquess to renewed efforts to strengthen his brother before Napoleon should be able to pour his legions into Spain. But he found the work heartbreaking. He could have borne far better a positive refusal to send the supplies of which the army stood in need. But when, in the most cordial manner, the Spanish Minister assured him that the supplies had been sent, and gave him the dates of their despatch, and a list of their nature, and when, sub- sequently, he discovered that the statement was absolutely untrue, that no supplies had even been collected, then he realised the intrinsic weakness of his position. Between two contracting parties there must be an element of trust, or business becomes a farce. In dealing with the Spanish Government that basis was wanting. Wellesley speedily realised that their most solemn assurances were not to be believed. The threat that the British army would retire into Portugal produced some amelioration in the position ; not, however, until the retrograde movement had actually begun. Further observation convinced the Marquess that the task upon which he and his brother were engaged presented extraordinary difficulties of another character. Of the Spaniards he wrote thus to Canning : " Many officers, even in the highest command, are notoriously diaflected to the cause/' He persevered, however, not the less, in his efforts to rouse the patriot Spaniards to a sense of the gravity of the situation ; to induce them to take a practical view, and, instead of running wild after theories of popular government, to concentrate all their energies to provide those necessaries without which a British army could not move, and British assistance must prove useless. JS APPOINTED FOEEIGN SECRETARY. 161 He was still working in this direction when he received from England the information that the dissensions in the Cabinet had culminated in a duel between Canning and Castlereagh (September 21st), and in the resignation of both. Perceval, after a vain attempt to secure the co- operation of the Whigs, offered the seals of the Foreign Office to the Marquess Wellesley. The Marquess accepted, received a flying visit from his brother, quitted Cadiz on November 10th, and landed at Portsmouth on the 26th. On the 6th of the following month he kissed the King's hand as Secretary of State. On March 3rd following he received from his Sovereign, at a special chapel, the **- fi'nia of the Garter. ( 162 ) CHAPTER X. FOEEIGN SECRETARY. DEC. 1809 JAX. 1812. V/oonnness of the situation The Continental blockade and the right of search Lord Wellesl y's qualifications Talavera Lord Wellesley's reassuring despatch Dissensions in the Ministry Reconciliation with Canning Attempts to strengthen the Ministry Reply to Lord Lansdowne Masse'na's repulse and its conse- quences Canning refuses to join the Ministry Negotiations with the United States The Regency Question and Lord Wellesley's silence His partial withdrawal from the Cabinet Success of foreign affairs Lord Wellesley's resignation Pie refuses to join the Liverpool Ministry Attempts to form a fusion of parties Restoration of the Liverpool Cabinet Lord Wellesley's account of the transactions Salamanca and its consequences. RARELY had Great Britain been in a position of greater difficulty than she was at the period when the Marquess Wellesley assumed the seals of the Foreign Office. Europe, that is, continental Europe, lay, apparently, at the feet of Napoleon. Of the old allies of England, Holland had been absorbed ; Prussia had been crushed and parcelled out ; the minor princes of Germany had become the satellites of the conqueror ; the Czar of Russia was his confidential ally : Austria, still bleeding at every pore, was negotiating for his marriage with a daughter of her Imperial House ; Sweden was about to ask him for a sovereign ; Spain and Portugal, though still resisting, were, apparently, at the mercy of the armies which the DIFFICULTIES OF THE SITUATION. 163 peace with Austria had left disposable. From no quarter did it snem possible to invoke assistance. Great Britain was pitted against Europe, all the resources of which were, practically, at the disposal of her enemy. Never had the outlook appeared so dark. It seemed as though " the silver streak," and the command of the seas which rendered that streak impassable, alone preserved these islands from the fate which had befallen Germany. Nor, at that period, was a glance at the kinsmen of England across the Atlantic calculated to afford en- couragement. In his famous decree, issued at Berlin (November, 1806), followed up, a year later, by one yet more stringent, from Milan, Napoleon had endeavoured to "boycott" the British Islands. Haughtily replying to those decrees, Great Britain had blockaded the ports of France, and, to ensure the efficiency of that blockade,, had carried to its extreme limit that law of nations which, gave her the right to search the cruisers of neutral powers,, and to confiscate all vessels engaged in carrying articles- contraband of war. She did not stop there. The com- mon origin of the two nations, the identity of language, . had brought it about that the ships of the mercantile marine of the United States were largely manned with sailors, British by birth, who found, under the Stars and Stripes, immunity from the press-gang, and high wages. It was naturally galling to the statesmen of Great Britain that at a time when she was called upon to put forth her - utmost strength, when she was fighting for very existence,, a considerable number of efficient seamen should be able- to withdraw themselves from her service. To prevent it as far as possible, she determined to stretch the maritime- law of nations so as to make it apply to men as well as to cargo. She resolved, that is, to insist upon her right to search neutral ships for deserters from the British service, M2 164 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. and to impress English seamen engaged in navigating American merchant vessels. The United States had resented this action. To arrive at a satisfactory agree- ment between the two nations, a conference had taken place in 1806 at London. At this conference, conducted by Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinckney on the part of the States, and by Lords Auckland and Holland on the part of England, no agreement of a practical nature was arrived at. A milk-and-water resolution, settling nothing, was, indeed, presented by the English Commissioners and sent to Washington. There the States Government, dis- playing that resolution regarding foreign affairs which has given it so high a place in the councils of the world, refused to accept it ; and their Courts of Justice having about the same time declared that deserters from British ships ought not to be surrendered, the feeling between the two countries became extremely bitter. That feeling was accentuated in 1808, when Napoleon having by decrees issued from Hamburgh, endeavoured to enforce more rigidly his continental system the British Govern- ment replied by an Order in Council, which gave to neutrals the power to trade with the enemy under certain restrictions, on condition that they should touch at a British port and pay the British Custom Duties. The United States replied by passing (December 23rd, 1808) an Act, called a "Non-Intercourse Act/ 5 to prevent French and English ships from entering their ports to lay an embargo on vessels belonging to the States, and commanding all foreign ships in their harbours instantly to quit, with or without cargoes. To this Act Napoleon responded by a decree published at Paris, May the 14th, 1810, declaring that "All vessels under the flog of the United States, or owned, either in wLole or in part, by an American subject, which, since the 20th of THE POSITION 165 May, 1808, had entered, or should thereafter enter, any of the ports, either of the Empire or Colonies of France, or of the countries occupied by French armies, should be confiscated, and the produco deposited in the Caisse d' Amortissement, or Sinking Fund." Great Britain had taken no such high-handed step ; but the relations between the two countries had been strained to the point of breaking. The fierce struggle for independence still lived in the memory of the Americans, and they were prepared to deal more gently with the France which had helped them than with the- English with whom they had fought. One consequence- of the ill-feeling had been the suspension, in 1809, of; intercourse between the British Envoy in America and the Government of the States. Affairs were in that position when at the close of that year the seals of the Foreign Office were confided to the Marquess Wellesley. Surely it was a task full of difficulty, this task of encountering Europe under the sway of a despot who hated, with a bitter hatred, the island which had defied him, and America irritated against England almost ta the point of declaring war : he who had to encounter it, moreover, being a statesman comparatively young, holding- Cabinet office for the first time, and whose great merit in, consolidating the British empire in India had not, even, then, been fully recognised. It was, nevertheless, a task which no other man was so fit to accomplish as the man who had found the British power in India so weak and had left it so strong. There was a certain similarity between the two situations. In India, Wellesley had found a large party among his countrymen unwilling to do anything which might precipitate a contest with the native prince who claimed to be the equal of the English. In 1810, he found large bodies of his countrymen bent on the recall of the British Army from the peninsula. " "What chance/' 166 LIFE OF TEE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. they exclaimed, "can the handful of men led by Lord Wellington have against the legions of Napoleon ? " If the country had been polled at the beginning of 1810 from one end to the other, but very few would have been found who believed that Lord Wellington was effecting that thin-end-of-the-wedge entrance which would ulti- mately cause the overgrown imperial tree to split to pieces. One man, however, saw it ; saw it with a distinctness of vision which the immediate prospect never for one mo- ment clouded. The conviction of it breathes in every line of his writings in which the subject is referred to. It speaks in his every act. It inspired and directed his -every thought. This man was the great Marquess, never greater than he was in 1810-11. The details of the battle of Talavera, which came to be understood about this time, had made it tolerably clear that Sir Arthur Wellesley had been induced to advance to a position in which, but for the jealousy entertained by Victor lest Soult should monopolise the credit of beating him, he must have fared badly, for he was hemmed in by two armies. As it was, the victory had enabled him to escape by abandoning his wounded. These facts had made a deep impression on the public mind, and it is not too much to say that had the basis of Parliamentary election been as broad as it is at the present day, it would have become necessary to withdraw the army from the Peninsula. But, under the old aristocratic constitution, education and matured ability exercised more influence than passion and self-seeking ; and, despite the murmurs of the multi- tude, the Marquess Wellesley was enabled to impress his strong and sagacious will on the foreign policy of the country. His brother, still ignorant of the course which Ministers would adopt, had written a letter expressing EESOLVE TO ACT VIGOEOUSLY. 167 his opinion that they were as much frightened as the public, for Lord Liverpool had asked him whether or not it would be prudent to bring home his army. The action of the Marquess speedily reassured him. So early as January, 1810, the new Foreign Secretary thus wrote to the Minister in Portugal the views which he had laid before his sovereign, and which his sovereign had sanctioned.* *' The condition of Spain and Portugal has engaged His Majesty's most anxious attention, and I am to signify to you his determination to maintain the cause of his allies in the Peninsula by continuing to supply to them every assistance, compatible with the resources and security of his own dominions, as long as the contest shall appear to afford any reasonable prospect of advantage against the common enemy. It is intended to employ in Portugal a force of 30,000 men, and an annual sum of 980,000. This great and generous effort cannot fail to inspire confidence and additional regard in the Por- tuguese Government and nation. You will offer, and even urge, advice as to rendering available the resources of Portugal, obtaining monthly accounts of the expenditure and the state of the corps receiving British pay; and, generally, of the financial condition of the country. No jealousy or suspicion must be harboured under such a pressure of common danger. The great sacrifices which we have made for our ally must not be frustrated by any considerations inferior to the main purpose of our mutual security; nor can we now hesitate to take the lead in any measure evidently necessary to enable Por- tugal to contribute a just share of efforts and resources for the accom- plishment of her own safety." The despatch proceeded to urge upon the Minister the desirability of evoking a spirit amongst the Portu- guese akin to that which the Spaniards had so lavishly displayed. Nor was the steadiness of purpose indicated in this despatch belied by the Speech from the Throne. The * The Marquess "VVellesley to Mr. Villiers at Lisbon, January 6th, 1810. I have taken this letter from the excellent work of Mr. Tori ens who stages that the MS. is in the Foreign Office. 168 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. sovereign was made to say that " he relied on the aid of Parliament in his anxious endeavours to frustrate the attempts of France against the independence of Spain and Portugal, and against the happiness and freedom of those loyal and resolute nations." Lord Wellesley's task, however, was the more difficult, because perfect unanimity of opinion did not exist in the Cabinet itself. The criticisms levelled at the campaign of Talavera produced an effect within as well as without the walls of Parliament. Lord Wellesley, however, never ceased to urge the continuance of the war ; and it is probable that his insistence on this point laid the founda- tion of those differences with the Prime Minister which caused the severance of political connection between them in 1812. A curious episode threatened early in its life to break up the Ministry, and to leave the forming of a new one in the hands of the Foreign Secretary. This episode was a motion brought forward in the Commons for a vote of censure on all those concerned in the ill-starred Walcheren expedition, and compelling their retirement from the Government. The only Ministers who would have been exempt from this proscription, had the motion been car- ried, were the Marquess Wellesley and Lord Harrowby. So general was the indignation on the subject of Walcheren, that the success of the mover, Lord Porchester, was deemed certain, and speculations were rife as to the colleagues whom Lord Wellesley, who was indicated as the future master of the situation, would select. He had to choose between Castlereagh and Canning as his hench- man in the Commons. He made, however, the, for him, strange mistake of not positively deciding before the debate came on. There had been some estrangement between Canning and himself, in consequence of his VINDICATES HIS POLICY. 169 having accepted office in a Ministry in which the former had no place, and he therefore leaned somewhat, without openly declaring himself, towards Castlereagh. He re- garded the success of the incriminating motion as certain. But matters took a turn which no one had anticipated. Canning and Castlereagh, each taking upon himself the responsibility naturally devolving upon him as a Minister of the Cabinet which had sanctioned the expedition, fought so eloquently and forcibly against the motion that it was defeated, and the crisis passed. Almost immediately after, a complete reconciliation was effected between the Marquess and Canning. On March the 30th following, Wellesley triumphantly answered a motion brought forward by Lord Grenville for the reference to a secret committee of papers relative to the campaign in Spain and Portugal. The object of the motion was to rehabilitate the reputation of the Spanish Government and the Spanish generals at the expense of Lord Wellesley and his brother, Arthur. Lord Wellesley, after having replied, point by point, to the actual charges brought forward by Lord Grenville, urged the House to reject the motion " which would deprive them of that full information respecting the affairs of Spain which alone could guide their futare determination with regard to the interests of that country." He added that the papers already on the table, as well as those to be produced would amply supply all information, " and would disclose the truth in full and open day. Your Lordships will then see that the weakness, the dissensions, and the corruptions of the Spanish officers and Government were the real sources and springs of many disasters and calamities which had befallen the Spanish nation." His arguments prevailed, and the motion was rejected without a division. The weakness of the Ministry in debating power in the Commons rendered its tenure of office insecure. Men 170 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLET. m who sympathised with its general policy, such as Castle- reagh and Canning,' were not prepared to suffer ar exclusion which might be lasting. The former, especially, commanded a band of adherents so powerful that he was almost in a position to dictate the terms of his support. It is not my intention to enter into a history of the intrigues of that period, except so far as they affected the actual action of Lord Wellesley. He felt their influence, and the weakness of the Ministry in their presence, so strongly, that in June he and Lord Liverpool offered to resign their offices in favour of Canning and Castlereagh, in the event of their being willing to accept them. The Cabinet, however, would not accept the sacrifice, and the Prime Minister endeavoured to attract the two distin- guished statesmen by other means ; but the negotiations led to nothing. It was at this period that Lord Lansdowne, the great supporter in later years of the Whig Cabinets of Russell and Palmerston, but who was then a young man, gave Lord Wellesley the opportunity of declaring, in terms which could not be mistaken, his policy with respect to the war in Spain. Lord Lansdowne inaugurated his entrance into the House of Lords by a speech condemning the carrying on of war without an object, and questioning the policy of continuing it unless we were certain of success. Lord Wellesley replied in the following glowing periods : " The struggle in which Spain is now engaged is not merely a Spanish struggle. No, my Lords, in that struggle are committed the best, the very vital interests of England. With the fate of Spain, the fate of England is now inseparably blended. Should we not, therefore, stand by her to the last? For my part, my Lords, as an adviser to the Crown, I shall not cease to recommend to my Sovereign to continue to assist Spain to the latest moment of her existence. It should not dishearten us that Spain appears to be in the very crisis THE PRINCIPLE OF HIS POLICY. 171 of her fate. "We should, on the contrary, extend a more anxious care over her at a moment so critical. For in nations, and above all in Spain, how often have the apparent symptoms of dissolution been the presages of new life, and of renovated vigour? Therefore I would cling to Spain in her last struggle ; therefore I would watch her in her last agonies, I would wash and heal her wounds, I would receive her parting breath, I would catch and cherish the last vital spark of her expiring patriotism. Nor let this be deemed, a mere office of pious charity, nor an exaggerated representation of my feelings, nor an overcharged picture of the circumstances that call them forth. In the cause of Spain, the cause of honour and interest is equally in- volved and inseparably allied. It is a cause in favour of which the finest feelings of the heart unite with the soundest dictate of the understanding," The motion was rejected by a large majority. Whilst the Marquess Wellesley was thus supporting by all the means in his power the foreign policy which he believed to be absolutely necessary for the safety of the Empire, and for success in the life struggle with Napoleon, that mighty conqueror, resting himself in the Capua of his Austrian marriage, had poured his legions into Spain, and had committed to the ablest of his marshals, the man who had destroyed the army of Souvaroff in 1799, and whose splendid leading had con- tributed much to save the French Army at Essling, the man of whose unvarying success he had given testimony in bestowing upon him the soubriquet of " V enfant cheri de la victoire" the task of "driving the leopards into the sea." Towards the middle of May, Massena had arrived at Valladolid, and had taken command of the army of Portugal, consisting of the second corps under Reynier, of the sixth under Ney, of the eighth under Junot, of a reserve of cavalry under Montbrun, constitute altogether an army of 70,000 men, of whom 60,000 were in the ranks. This is not the place to indicate the many obstacles which rendered the task of Massena one of 172 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. extraordinary difficulty. His worst enemies were the superior officers of his own army. The greatest offender was Ney, who chafed at having to serve under an officer of a rank equal to his own. But in spite of these difficulties, Massena did all that it was possible to do. Capturing Ciudad Rodrigo in July, Almeida in August, he marched then upon Coimbra by the valley of the Mondego. On September the 26th, he arrived in front of the hill of Busaco, which covered Coimbra, and which was occupied by the English Army. On the 27th, he* attacked the English position, but was repulsed. The day following, however, he made a turning movement, which compelled Lord Wellington to fall back. He followed the English to the lines of Torres Vedras, there to find himself at the head of an army reduced to 50,000 men, in front of defences of a most formidable character, defended by an army of English, Portuguese, and Spaniards, numbering 60,000.* The news of the repulse of Massena at Busaco, exag- gerated into a great victory, came, just at the proper time to strengthen the position of the Marquess Wellesley in England. His own friends became jubilant ; his oppo- nents, disconcerted by the failure of all their prophecies, ceased for a short time to croak, whilst that vast body, who judge only by results, and who may justly be styled " waiters upon Providence," rallied to his standard. For a brief moment it seemed as though there would be a reaction, especially in the first days of the retreat from Coimbra. But when it became known that Torres Vedras had baffled Massena ; that " the dear son of victory " was falling back pursued by the British army an event which occurred in March, 181 l,f the enthusiasm became * The entire force within the lines numbered 130,000. t Massena began his retreat the 5th March. TOEEES VEDEAS INFLUENCES OPINION. 173 unbounded. The perseverance and resolution of the two brothers, the one at the Foreign. Office, the other at the head of the army, had, it was becoming every day more apparent to the clearer-sighted, effected the marvel whicb had been pronounced impossible ; they had succeeded in inserting into the Imperial tree the wedge which was to lay it low. In after-years, making a rapid retrospective glance at the causes which led to his overthrow, Napoleon himself exclaimed: "It was the great Spanish ulcer that ruined me." But for the Wellesleys the ulcer might have been healed. Before the feeling in favour of the continuance of the war had become so pronounced as I have indicated above ; that is, before the result of Massena's march on Torres Vedras had been realised ; the Marquess never ceased to make every effort to strengthen the Cabinet of which he was a member. The safety of Great Britain depended, in his view, on the continuance of the operations in Spain ; the continuance of those operations depended on the maintenance in office of a Ministry pledged to a war policy ; and the maintenance in office of such a Ministry depended on the support of the House of Commons, in which they were weak in debating power. Lord Wellesley was especially anxious to obtain the accession of his old friend, Canning, and he repeatedly declared that unless Canning were admitted he was unwilling to continue to hold office. For the moment, however, the old quarrel between Canning and Castlereagh stopped the way. Mr. Perceval was unwilling to admit the one without the other, but Castlereagh declared that the spectacle of the two men re-entering the Cabinet together who had quitted it but a year before to take one another's lives, was one which the public would not endure. When Ministers separated for the autumn, then, there was a 174. LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLET. general agreement that no change would take place in the composition of the Cabinet. That autumn was spent by the Foreign Secretary in doing all in his power to strengthen the position of his brother in the Peninsula, and to smooth over the difficulties with the United States. As long as Massena was able to maintain himself before Torres Vedras, so long- was it ' c5 possible that a flank movement made by Soult would bring him triumph ; and the lines held by the British and their allies once forced the whole structure of resistance would fall to the ground. It was upon this that Napoleon had counted, omitting only one calculation in his mighty scheme, viz., that the obedience which his marshals would have willingly rendered to himself, they would not give to each other. With the States there had been no perceptible progress towards a pacific termination of the dispute. The American Minister at Paris had, indeed, persuaded the Foreign Minister, M. de Champagny, to offer a sus- pension of the imperial decrees to England and America, if the former would acknowledge herself in the wrong and revoke her orders in council ; or to the latter alone, if she would withdraw from the embargo and break the blockade. The proposal was considered in England, but Lord Wellesley had no means of judging how far the French were sincere, and a doubt which he expressed on that subject served to add fuel to the fire, and rather facilitated a good understanding between France and the States. Further correspon- dence only tended to increase the bitterness already existing, and, on February 23rd, 1811, a letter from the Foreign Secretary, announcing that it was not the intention of the British Government to relinquish any of the principles on which Great Britain had acted, THE BEGENCT. 175 caused a suspension of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Before this had happened there had occurred an event which, it seemed probable, would greatly affect the fortunes of the Ministry. Towards the close of 1810, the mental malady from which the King had suffered assumed a permanent character, and it became necessary to define the conditions on which the Prince of Wales should administer the regency. This was a subject, the reader will re- member, which had occupied the attention of the Foreign Secretary when, as Lord Mornington, he had sat, in his early days, in the House of Commons. Then, as the supporter of the policy insisted upon by Mr. Pitt, he had won his first laurels. At the Cabinet Council, which pre- ceded the debate on the question in the House of Lords, Wellesley had repeated his old arguments ; had cited again and again the words of Mr. Pitt ; and had made preparations for a great speech. Yet, when the debate came on, he sat, to the surprise and discomfiture of his friends, absolutely silent The scene is thus graphically described by Mr. Torrens : " The day came, and a crowded House waited with unusual interest ihe renewal of the contention in which all the greatest men of their time had been formerly engaged. Grey was absent, and the amend- ment on the resolution was moved by Holland and supported by the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Erskine, the Duke of York, Lord Lansdowne, and Lord Grenville, who expressed his astonishment at the dead silence which some of the most responsible individuals in the Com- mittee observed on the occasion. The Chancellor accepted the challenge, and in his ponderous way summed up the legal arguments for limitation ; but for the rest the defence of the Government was left to secondary men ; and although, on a division, they prevailed by 100 to 74, one who watched the scene with searching eye thought 'he never saw a set of men look so crestfallen and beaten to the ground.' * For the signal opportunity had come and gone, and Wellesley had * Journal of Bennett. 176 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. failed to grasp it. There he sat from hour to hour, conscious that men's gaze was fixed upon him as one who was qualified, nay, called upun, to speak with authority, and whose silence would be inexplicable. Canning, who waited restlessly to hear him with that solicitude and sympathy which a great actor alone can feel in a comrade whose success is linked with his own, could not contain his vexation as he came out : ' You entt red the House the most expected man in Kngland ; you leave it self-undone.' " Mr. Torrens thus accounts for this sudden failure to use a great opportunity : " When he should have risen to answer Holland or Erskine some unaccountable irre- solution came upon him, and he let fall the occasion without uttering a word." Mr. Pearce simply states : "The Marquess Wellesley fully concurred in the pro- ceedings of his colleagues, and voted in favour of the resolutions of the Cabinet ; but his Lordship did not address the House on the question." There can be little doubt but that his silence injured him greatly in public esteem. It was so unlike the daring proconsul who had made his will law in India. It was so capable of being interpreted as a disinclination to speak against the coming dispenser of power ; of hedging to save his place. " Nothing," writes Mr. Torrens, " could have exceeded the mortifica- tion of his friends, except his own. Ill-nature quickly ascribed the cause to be a visit he had paid a few hours previously to Carlton House ; and the whisper everywhere went round that he had 'ratted* at the last moment for the sake of power. Even his warm admirers shrank from defending his unpardonable silence ; they began to speak of his being gone by as a public man, wanting the moral courage that alone can sustain character for consistency. The crowd talked of him next day as a deserter, and his own chagrin was such that he himself confessed in private, should the King recover, his conduct must seem wholly inexcusable." The strictures against his moral character were wholly without foundation. His silence may be attributed to a nervousness amounting to a declension of power. It was true he had paid a visit to the Prince, but the visit was THE TURNING POINT OF HIS CAREER. Ill unofficial, and it was marked by harshness and ill-humour on both sides. A 'great speech would have given him an influence which must have weighed greatly in the nego- tiations for a new Ministry which would follow the passing of the Bill. His silence, if it did not lose him that influence, weakened it considerably, whilst, it certainly did not conciliate the opposite party, for he voted against them. It was not the less, however, the turning point in his career. It was impossible to say how the assumption of the regency by the Prince of Wales would affect the ministry. It was, however, reasonable to suppose that the Prince would take an early opportunity of conferring power upon the followers of Mr. Fox, still, as at the period when he regarded himself as one of them, in opposition. They were at this time in daily communication with him, and, but for their mutual jealousies, he would probably have been ruled by them. To the surprise of everyone, however, the Prii;ce informed Mr. Perceval, on February 12th, that he had no intention of making any change in the administration. The Marquess Wellesley thus remained at the head of the Foreign Office. When narrating the occurrences which marked the arrival in England of the great proconsul from his task of ruling India, I stated how his seven years of autocratic sway had rendered him intolerant of those who differed from him to an extent which severely handicapped him in a constitutional government. Never did he make this failing so manifest as in the year upon which we are now entering. More than twelve months of constant associa- tion with Mr. Perceval had imbued his mind with a supreme contempt for the abilities and capacity for affairs of that minister ; nor did he find, to atone for the short- comings of the Prime Minister, compensating qualities in N 178 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY.. any of his colleagues. He took a strange way, during the year 1811, to show them all the small regard he entertained for their opinions and their persons. After describing in his graphic manner how the administration of foreign affairs, whilst the country was engaged in a life and death struggle with Napoleon, was " to a man of egotistic temperament daily stimulative of the sense of personal ascendancy," Mr. Torrens adds : " So keen indeed was his " (Lord Wellesley's) " zest for the exercise of far-seeing and far-reaching control in great affairs, that he could not brook the idea of consulting or conferring with those he deemed ineffably his inferiors, though bound up with them in the bundle of official life. For weeks together he abstained from attending the Cabinet, leaving to the head of the Treasury and the Secretary for War the duty of explaining the details of the measures he had concerted with them." That Mr. Perceval and his col- leagues should have chafed under such treatment can well be imagined. Nor can it be doubted that the practice should have stimulated the desire to separate from a man, who, whilst actually a colleague, regarded himself in all that related to the conduct of foreign affairs as sole minister. Wellesley had, however, the satisfaction of noting how well those affairs sped under his auspices. Barossa, Fuentes d'Onoro, Almeida, and Albuera testified, during 181 1, to the triumph of the British arms in the Peninsula. He obtained without difficulty, from Parliament, a vote of two millions for the maintenance of the Portuguese army. He complained, nevertheless, that the support he obtained from his colleagues was inadequate, and that in all matters relating to foreign affairs he could not defer . to the opinion of the Prime Minister without injury to the public service. He, therefore, as I have just stated, HIS AUTOCRACY. 179> managed matters pretty much as he liked; never, of hi$ own motion, suggesting the calling a Cabinet Council to consult with him, and generally leaving London when a Cabinet Council was called. He had become, by degrees, once more an autocrat, and he watched with the keenest interest the result of the working of his well-directed ancli persistent foreign policy. He was much cheered, towards- the close of the year, by noticing symptoms on the part of the Northern powers of a desire to shake off the pre- ponderating influence of the French Emperor. They were symptoms which he had foreseen, and for which he took to himself the credit. It was whilst he was holding the seals- of the Foreign Office that Spain and Portugal had gathered confidence ; Russia and Sweden were shaking themselves free. The awakening of the others would, he was con- vinced, surely follow. In one quarter of the globe indeed; he seemed inclined to trust to chance. It was of great; importance to bring to an end the struggle that was- being waged between Turkey and Russia, and to prevent the Sultan from embracing in despair the French alli- ance. No instructions, however, reached Constantinople from the Foreign Office, and it was purely on his own, responsibility that young Stratford Canning negotiated? the important treaty of Bucharest, which set free the- forces of Russia, and ultimately enabled the Czar to ruin* the grand army of Napoleon.* Meanwhile, Wellesley was not content. There were signs in the air that the Catholic question was once more- coming to the fore, and on this he disagreed with his col-- leagues. When Lord Fitzwilliam had given notice of a- motion to remove Catholic disabilities, and Lord Liverpool, on the part of the Ministry, had accepted the challenge,, * Mr. S. Lane-Poole, Life of Lord Stratford de Eedcliffe. N 2 180 LIFE OF THE NAEQUESS WELLESLET. Wellesley felt he could no longer hesitate. On January 16th, 18] 2, then, he submitted his resignation to the Princ Regent. The Prince pressed the Marquess to retain his post, and though Mr. Perceval rejoiced at his departure, he told him, at a Cabinet Council, that in the former Cabinet they had all differed from Mr. Canning on the Catholic question, and had yet managed to get on with him. But Wellesley had made up his mind to serve under Perceval no longer. In a paper confidentially circulated to his friends he thus stated the reasons why he considered he could no longer work advantageously to the interests &f the country with that statesman as his chief: " For a long time past," he wrote, " his general opinions on various important questions had not sufficient weight to justify him towards the public, or towards his own character, in continuing in office; anl because he had no Lope in obtaining from the Cabinet, as then con- stituted, a greater portion of the attention than he had already experienced. His objections arose in a great degree from the narrow and imperfect scale on which the efforts in the Peninsula were con- ducted: it was always stated to him that it was impossible to enlarge that system. The Cabinet followed Mr. Perceval implicitly ; while he thought it perfectly practicable, and that it was neither safe nor .honest towards the country or the allies to continue the present con- tracted scheme. No hope existed of converting Mr. Perceval or any of his colleagues ; no alternative therefore remained but to resign ; or to submit to be the instrument of a system which he never advised, and which he could never approve. He had frequently with great reluctance yielded his opinions to the Cabinet on many other impor- tant points, and in doing so was convinced that Le Jiad submitted to opinions more incorrect than his own ; and had sacrificed to tem- porary harmony more than he could justify in point of strict public duty. He was convinced by experience that the Cabinet neither possessed ability or knowledge to devise a good plan, nor temper or discernment to adopt what he thought necessary. To Mr. Perceval's judgment or attainments he could not pay any deference without injury to the public service. With these views and sentiments he had desired permission to withdraw from the Cabinet, not requiring any change in his own situation, and imploring no other favour than the facility of resignation." * * Torrens's The Marquess Wellesley, page 476. CABINET NEGOTIATIONS. 181 The office which Wellesley had thus resigned was offered to Castlereagh, but that nobleman haughtily declined, saying that he would not be made a stopgap for anyone ; but that should the Regent subsequently call upon him to take office, as part of a permanent arrangement, he should be willing to serve. Wellesley, then, continued to hold the seals of the office, and was holding them when, on February 13th, the Regent wrote a letter to his brother, the Duke of York, authorising him to endeavour to procure the co-operation of some of those persons with whom the early habits of his public life were formed: " With such support," the letter concluded, " and aided by a, vigorous and united Administration, formed on the most liberal basis, I shall look with additional confidence to a prosperous issue of' the most arduous contest in which Great Britain was ever engaged. , You are authorised to communicate these sentiments to Lord Grey, who, I have no doubt, will make them known to Lord Gronville." The two lords referred to by the Prince declined, however, to coalesce with Perceval or Wellesley, or to agree to any combination which was not prepared to settle at once the Catholic question. Wellesley still con- tinued to press that his resignation should be accepted. The Regent, anxious to keep him, offered him, on February 18th, the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland. But his proud heart revolted against the idea of serving under Perceval in any capacity, and, the following day, he- finally resigned the seals. " The Prince, as usual, was full of emotion, and trusted their separation would not be for long. The retiring Minister adjured him 'not to make a Government upon the principle of religious exclusion.' " * Notwithstanding his previous indignant protest, Castlereagh succeeded Wellesley. The Ministry, thus * Torrens. 182 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. constituted, continued in power with some prospect of permanence, when, on May llth, Perceval was assassi- mated as he was entering the House of Commons. This nevent naturally caused a ministerial crisis. The remaining ^members of the Ministry recorded their convictions, with one dissentient only, that without help from outside, it ^would be difficult, if not desperate or impossible, to .maintain their position, and Lord Liverpool was commis- sioned to make overtures to Wellesley and Canning. Mr. Pearce gives at length the minute written by the Marquess Wellesley regarding the interview he had 'with Lord Liverpool (May 17th). It proves that Lord 'Wellesley speedily realised that the main difference "between the proposed Ministry and that which he had "quitted was to be one of personalities only ; that Lord Liverpool was to be Prime Minister, and Castlereagh to lead in the Commons ; that, likewise, as regarded the Catholics, exclusion was to be the main principle of the ^Cabinet. He and Canning, then, alike, declined the offers made them. Lord Wellesley stated his reasons for declining with his usual clearness, in a letter he .addressed to Lord Liverpool, to be submitted to the Prince Regent. After recording the propositions made iiim, and the supposition expressed by Lord Liverpool that Lord Wellesley entertained no such difference of public sentiment as would preclude him from acting with the then existing administration, Wellesley thus assigns Jhis reasons why it was impossible * : " But it appears from Lord Liverpool's candid and explicit state- smen!, that upon the important question which regards the laws affecting the Roman Catholics, Lord Liverpool's opinions remain ^unchanged; nor is he aware that the sentiments of his colleagues on ithat subject have undergone any change. I must therefore conclude * Pearce's Memoirs and Correspondence, vol. iii., page 222. CABINET NEGOTIATIONS. 183 (hat the policy which has been pursued respecting the Roman Catholics during the present session of Parliament is to be continued without abatement ; the general constituent parts of the present Cabinet are to remain unchanged; the highest and most efficient offices in the State therefore are to be filled by persons who still conceive themselves to be bound by duty, honour and conscience, not only to resist any mitigation of the present condition of the Roman Catholics, but even to prevent the consideration of the laws which aifect that large portion of the population of the empire. I cannot concur in the principle on which the present Administration has conducted this important branch of public affairs; on this point I have recently expressed the strongest difference of opinion with the present Administration. The declaration of Lord Liverpool precludes the hope of any such change in the policy of the present Administra- tion towards the Koman Catholics as would satisfy my judgment. This difference is of the utmost importance : without any other obstacle, therefore, this alone compels me to decline the proposition which Lord Liverpool has conveyed to me." Detailing, then, the differences of opinion which had impelled him to withdraw from Mr. Perceval's Cabinet, Wellesley thus concluded : " After such a dispassionate consideration, my opinion is that a Cabinet might be formed on an intermediary principle respecting the Koman Catholic claims, equally exempt from the dangers of instant, unqualified concession, and from those of inconsiderate, peremptory exclusion : the entire resources of the Empire might be applied to the great objects of the war with general consent, upon a full understand- ing of the real exigency of the present crisis ; and concord and union at home might secure ultimate and permanent success abroad/' This letter, a feeble and pointless reply from Lord Liverpool, and a crushing rejoinder from the Marquess, dated May 19th, were published in the journals of the day. Three days after the date of the last letter the Ministers were beaten in the House of Commons by a majority of four.* The following day, May 22nd, * Mr. Stuart Wortley's motion, imploring the Regent to take imme- diate steps, in the perilous condition of the country, for the formation of a strong and efficient Government. 184 LIFE OF THE MAEQVESS WELLESLEY. Wellesley was sent for by the Prince Regent, and com- missioned to inquire from the heads of the two great parties whether any obstacles existed to such a fusion as would meet the wishes of the House. Wellesley asked and obtained permission to state to both sides the principles upon which alone he would undertake the duty. These were, the relief of the Catholics from civil disability, and the vigorous prosecution of the war. It seemed as though, at last, the hour of his triumph had arrived. But it was not so. From Canning, indeed, he received the most cordial assurances of co-operation. But when Canning, at his suggestion, wrote to Lord Liverpool to inquire whether he or any of his colleagues were pre- pared to take part in a new administration from which there should be no exclusion on account of past dif- ferences, and which Lords Grey and Grenville should be invited to join, he received a curt reply to the effect that all the members of the late Cabinet felt bound, especially after what had recently passed, " to decline the proposal of becoming members of an administration to be founded by Lord Wellesley." Nor did the two friends meet with greater success in their negotiations with the chiefs of the Opposition. Lord Wellesley's task was rendered the more difficult by the aversion which the Regent had expressed with regard to two of its members. " He could forgive Grenville," he had said to Wellesley, " but he would rather abdicate the Regency than see Lord Grey or Tierney in his service." Wellesley, however, entered upon it with his usual ardour. In a communication, dated May 23rd, he told Lords Grey and Grenville that he had received the commands of the Regent " to lay before Lis Royal Highness the plan of such an adminis- tration as he (Lord Wellesley) might deem adapted to the present crisis of affairs . . . that he considered him- CABINET NEGOTIATIONS. 185 self merely as the instrument of executing his Eoyal Highness's commands on the occasion, and that he neither claimed nor desired for himself any station in the administration, which it was his Royal Highness's con- templation to form." He concluded by formulating the two principles upon which the new administration would be formed, viz., the adjustment of the claims of the Catholics, and the vigorous prosecution of the war. The reply of Lords Grey and Grenville was dated the 24th. After stating that they felt it to be the duty of all public men, in such a moment as that then passing, to facilitate, as much as might lie in their power, the means of giving effect to the recent vote of the House of Com- mons, and of averting the imminent and unparalleled dangers of the country, they referred to the fact " that Lord Wellesley had selected two among the many im- jprtant subjects which must engage the attention of any man, who could, in such circumstances, be called upon to consider of the acceptance of stations in public trust." They then proceeded to state their views on those points. With respect to the removal of Catholic disabilities they were in entire accord with Lord Wellesley. They assured him that they would " warmly support any pro- posal made by any ministers for the immediate considera- tion of those claims, with a view to their conciliatory adjustment." On the second point, however, the vigorous prosecution of the war, their dissent from the Marquess Wellesley's views, though disguised by spurious phrases, was decided. " As to the second point/' they wrote, " no person feels more strongly than we do the advantages which would result from a successful ter- mination of the present contest in Spain. But we are of opinion that the direction of military operations in an extensive war, and the more and less vigorous prosecution of these operations, are questions, not of principle, but of policy; to be regulated by circumstances in their 186 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. nature temporary and fluctuating, and in many esses known only to persons in official stations by the engagements of the country, the prospect of ultimate success, the extent of the exertions necessary for its attainment, and the means of supporting those efforts without too great a pressure on the finances and internal prosperity of the country. " On such questions, therefore," they concluded, " no public men, either in or out of office, can undertake for more than a deliberate and dispassionate consideration, according to the circumstances of the case as it may appear, and to such means of information as may be within their reach. But we cannot in sincerity conceal from Lord Wellesley, that in the present state of the finances, we entertain the strongest doubt of the practicability of an increase in any branch of the public expenditure." Lords Lansdowne and Holland wrote likewise to Wellesley, expressing their concurrence in the views of Lords Grey and Grenville. On the other hand, he re- ceived the qualified adhesion of Lord Moira, afterwards Marquess of Hastings, and, as Governor-General of India, the next successor to his views on Indian administration.; and of Lord Melville. Wellesley did not regard the letter from Lords Grey and Grenville as putting a stop to the negotiation, and it was consequently continued. It would seem that those two noble lords doubted whether the Regent had been sincere when he gave Lord Wellesley authority to form a united administration. But as day succeeded day, and no such administration was formed, or apparently forming, the discontent throughout the country became marked. Mr. Martin, a member of the r House, expressed this feeling, by giving notice of a motion calling for the redemption of the pledge already given, that a strong Government should be formed. To avert the crisis, the Regent then gave (June 1st), full powers to Lord Wellesley, and on the same day that lord addressed a communica- tion to Lords Grey and Grenville, of which the following is the recorded minute : CABINET NEGOTIATIONS. 187 " Lord Wellesley stated that he had, on that morning, received full authority from the Prince Recent to form an Administration under his Royal Highnesses commands ; and that he was specially authorized to communicate with Lords Grey and Grenville on the subject. " That his Royal Highness entertained no wish to exclude from the proposed Administration any person, or description of persons, who could unite in the principles on which the Administration was to be founded. That the two propositions stated in Lord Wellesley's minute of May 23rd, and subsequently explained in the letters which had passed between Lords Wellesley and Grey, of the dates of the 27th, 28th, and 29th of May, 1812, were intended by his Royal Highness to constitute the foundation of his Administration. " That his Royal Highness had signified his pleasure that Lord Wellesley should conduct the formation of the Administration in all its branches, and should be First Commissioner of the Treasury; and that Lord Moira, Lord Erskine, and Mr. Canning should be members of the Cabinet. " That it was possible that a Cabinet formed on an enlarged basis must be extended to the number of twelve or thirteen members ; that the Prince Regent wished Lords Grey and Grenville, on the part of their friends, to recommend for his Royal Highness's approbation the names of four persons if the Cabinet should consist of twelve, and of five if the Cabinet should consist of thirteen, to be appointed by his Royal Highness to fill such stations in his councils as might be here- after arranged. " That his Royal Highness left the selection of the names to Lords Grey and Grenville, without any exception or personal exclusion. That in completing the new arrangement the Prince Regent has granted to Lord Wellesley entire liberty to propose, for his Royal Highness's approbation, the names of any persons now occupying stations in his Royal Highness's councils, or of any other persons. " That if the propositions made to Lords Grey and Grenville should be accepted as the outline of an arrangement, all other matters would be discussed with the most anxious solicitude to promote harmony and general accommodation." That night Canning announced in the House of Commons that Lord Wellesley had been commissioned to form a Ministry, and the names of those who had con- sented to join it were freely discussed. The hopes formed were, however, soon dissipated. On June the 3rd, Lords Grey and Grenville addressed a joint letter to Lord 188 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. Wellesley, in which, after discussing the proposition, they stated that, whilst the times imperiously required " an Administration united in principle and strong in mutual reliance, possessing also the confidence of the Crown, and assured of its support in those healing measures which the public safety requires, and which are necessary to secure to the Government the opinion and affection of the people," they added that no such hope was presented to them by Lord Wellesley's project, which appeared to them equally new in practice and objectionable in principle. They, therefore, declined " all participation in a Govern- ment constituted upon such principles/' The Prince Regent eagerly clutched at the opportunity afforded him by this letter to withdraw from Wellesley the commission he had given him ; and although negotia- tions were continued for a few days longer, the Prince's commission being transferred to Lord Moira, there was never any valid hope that they would succeed. The result was that the Cabinet of Lord Liverpool, described by the late Lord Beaconsfield as the " Arch-Mediocrity," was formed. It held office for the fifteen years that followed. Lord Wellesley's mission was concluded on June the 3rd. That night, in the House of Lords, he stated that he had that day tendered his resignation of the authority confided to him; that he had failed in consequence of " the most dreadful personal animosities, and the most terrible difficulties arising out of complicated questions; " that he had solicited and obtained permission to tell the House all the circumstances connected with his negotia- tions ; but that he would advise the peers not to call for any such disclosure, being convinced that it would be harmful t6 the public interests. Lord Grenville concurred in the advice. Lord Moira, whilst urging that he had 1NTEEPELLA T10NS. 189 been an humble instrument of conciliation, expressed a hope that Wellesley would admit that he had not been actuated by personal animosities. To this Wellesley bowed assent, and the evening terminated. Moira, how^- ever, renewed the discussion on the 5th, by stating that the term " dreadful personal animosities ^ was capable of being applied to the highest quarter ; that he was able to contradict any insinuation of that sort ; that the noble Marquess had been entirely unshackled, no individual having been named by the Prince, or any seat reserved. Lords Grey and Grrenville disputed this last assertion, and appealed to the memorandum of June 1st to bear out their view. Moira replied to the effect that there had been misapprehensions on both sides. Wellesley was not present when Moira had made this interpellation, but the following Monday, after Lord Liverpool had announced his appointment as First Loid of the Treasury, he rose to state that he had authority to explain every part of the course he had pursued. Assuring the House that he had attempted to form a Government on three great principles, viz. the adjustment of the Catholic claims, the vigorous prosecution of the war, and the union to that end of the best men of all parties, he added that the term he had used on June the 3rd, " dreadful personal animosities," had been used advisedly, and was meant to apply to Lord Liverpool and his colleagues in the Administration just formed, for it was their conduct that had rendered all his efforts impossible. Called upon by Lord Harrow by to explain fully all he meant by the charge, Wellesley replied in his most telling style. Referring to the insinuation that after the death of Perceval he had circulated reasons for his ante- cedent resignation, which had made further acting with him impossible, he added : 190 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. " The facts are simply these. When I resigned my office, his Royal Highness, with a benignity peculiar to him, requested me to retain it until the expiration of the restrictions upon the Regency. I obeyed his commands, but finding that, previous to the expiration of the restrictions, Mr. Perceval had recommended two or three times my immediate supersession, I did, in conversation with the Lord Chancellor, say that it was unmannerly to have done so. There were many other reasons for my wishing to resign. The vilest calumnies were circulated on the subject. I was charged with extravagant ambition, and with bargaining for power. This was all calumny. I simply asked leave to resign. There are many expressions in the statement " the statement which had been circulated as to his reasons for resigning " manifestly not mine. Some of my friends who were anxious about the cause of my retirement took down in writing expres- sions dropped in private conversation, some of which I would now recall, but which I would not substantially retract. A publication was uniformly refused. I was horror-struck at seeing it published at the time; and I would have given any sum to have it recalled. The paper was not mine. It may be a trifling thing to talk of language, but it was not couched in language which I should have used in a document intended for the public eye at a moment when the country had lost a man of the most irreproachable character, of the most perfect integrity, and full of every private virtue. But all this does not make it necessary that I should acknowledge him to be possessed of that power and frame of mind which marks out a man for the conduct of great public concerns. It can be no insult to any man to say that he is not qualified for the highest office in the State. I highly respect and esteem my noble friend opposite for so I must still call him but it does not follow from that that I am bound to consider him as a fit man to be placed at the head of the Government. In the Cabinet I endeavoured to act as far as I could with cordiality ; but I did imagine until now that I had shown sufficient ill-humour to con- vince my coadjutors of the different opinions I entertained. I may perhaps be thought blamable in allowing the publication of the Corre- spondence regarding the late ministerial negotiation. If I have erred, I have erred from habit, for it is a very ordinary practice with me to satisfy the public by authentic information upon subjects they regard with painful anxiety. But I am not aware that in the letters on either side there is one word which ought to be withheld/' It was the common opinion that the patched-up Cabinet presided over by Lord Liverpool would have but a brief existence. Lord Castlereagh was untried at the Foreign SALAMANCA SAVES THE MINISTRY. 191 Office, and he was still handicapped in public opinion by the failure of Walcheren. To add to his difficulties, the House of Representatives at Washington passed, June the ISth, a secret resolution declaring the two countries to be at war. This did not, indeed, become known in England until after the prorogation ; but, whilst .Parlia- ment was still sitting, one or two defeats, or victories equal to defeats, seemed to presage the downfall of the Ministry. In June, Canning carried against the Govern- ment a motion pledging the House to take the subject of the relief of the Catholics into consideration early in the following session. The numbers were 235 to 106. On July 1st, Wellesley proposed, in the Lords, an identical resolution. He made, on this occasion, perhaps the most brilliant speech he ever made, and was defeated only by one vote, the numbers being 125 to 126. At this crisis, his brother stepped in to save the Ministry. The victory of Salamanca, gained over Marmont (July 22nd) just at the moment when Wellington's retreat before that general had filled England with dismal presages as to the result of the war, whilst reflecting a momentary gleam upon him as the most strenuous supporter of the policy which was so well succeeding, turned the thoughts of the nation into a different channel. " The importance of the event," writes Mr. Torrens, " at the moment Napoleon was about to open his long-meditated campaign against Russia, could hardly be exaggerated; and for Wellesley the sense of pride, satisfaction, and delight was ineffable. For days he was overwhelmed with inquiries and congratulations. He could afford to forgive all his enemies and forget all his disappointments now. Liverpool wrote to acquaint him that an early Gazette would notify his brother's advancement to a Marquisate, a fact which he at once communicated to Lady Mornington, then in her seventieth year. London vied with Madrid in ebullitions of popular joy: for three nights the town was illuminated. Curious to observe the character- istics of the scene, upon the second night Wellesley, accompanied by 192 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. his son and his private secretary, drove in an open carriage to White- hall, where he was recognised and cheered vociferously. In the excitement of the moment he addressed a few words of cordial thanks to the crowd. The horses were taken, in spite of his remonstrances, from the carriage, and he was drawo in vicarious triumph, to St. Paul's, on to the Mansion House, and then back to his own residence in Piccadilly : the populace insisting more than once on his addressing them." It is quite possible, as Mr. Torrens states, that as he watched the glare of the illuminations die out, the fear may have crept over him " that the part of pre-eminence in great affairs he had aspired to play had come to an end." His splendid achievements in India, never thoroughly appreciated by his contemporaries, had been cast into the shade by the nearer and more recent triumphs of his younger brother, who, now too, would take precedence of him as a peer. Of the three great aspirations of his life, one had been accomplished ; he had consolidated the British Empire in India. The second, the vigorous prosecution of the war in Spain and Portugal, thanks to the genius of the general whose great merit he had been the first to discern, and to his own in- defatigable efforts in Parliament, was marching to assured triumph. The third, on which he had risked his political fortunes in England, the perfection of the Union consum- mated by his great political master, William Pitt, by the passing of the great measure of reconciliation which that master had made part of his original scheme, was to be accomplished only at the close of his political lifetime. He had struck a great blow for it in 1812, and had failed. His brother's victories had, as I have said, diverted the thoughts of the nation into a different channel, and the Liverpool Ministry, pursuing the foreign policy which Wellesley had inaugurated, became daily stronger from the results which that policy procured for the country. THE STAB OF WfitLESLEY PALES. i'j:: Simultaneously, the position of the most influential and earnest supporter of that policy, opposed, as he was, on the question which he considered the most vital of the day, that of Catholic Emancipation, first by the Ministry, afterwards by the brother whose early fortunes he had pushed, diminished equally in importance. In a word, the question with which Wellesley had associated himself became dwarfed in the presence of the triumphs which his brother achieved and of their consequences. Thus it happened that, as th^ tar of Wellington rose high in the horizon, the star of Wellesley paled. ( 194 ) CHAPTER XL NINE YEAKS OF EXCLUSION. 1813-1822. The "Peace Commercial difficulties Lord Wellesley's Protest in favour of cheap food He opposes the continuation of war He advocates the reduction of popular burdens The Catholic Eman- cipation question "Wellesley becomes Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. A GENERAL election at the close of 1812 confirmed the choice of the Prince Regent. The Liverpool Ministry was safe for seven years. The hopes of the Catholics were dashed to the ground, and their cause was indefinitely shelved. But Wellesley did not lose heart. Associated with Canning on the one side, and the leading Whig magnates on the other, he laboured at the advancement of the cause with an energy which belongs to men with whom the conviction of the justice of the work on which they are engaged is absolute. Meanwhile, his brother's triumphs in Spain, and the terrible retreat from Russia which annihilated the army of Napoleon, were bringing about the results which Wellesley and Canning were almost alone in foreseeing in 1809-10, as the sure con- sequences of a vigorous prosecution of the war. The first, and at the time, the most important of these results PEACE BRINGS EMBARRASSMENT. 195 was the Peace of Paris (April, 1814). Then followed the Treaty of Ghent, which restored peace between Great Britain and the United States (December, 1814) : and then the Hundred Days (March 20th to June 29th, 1815). The last period afforded to Arthur Wellesley the oppor- tunity of greatly increasing his fame and his influence. Waterloo secured the peace of Europe for nearly thirty- three years. But with the peace which Waterloo had secured (November, 1815) began the embarrassment of the Ministers. And it is due to them to admit that never were men so little prepared and so slenderly qualified to grapple with the industrial crisis which was inevitable on the conclusion of a long war. "The peace of Paris," wrote a great statesman of our own time,* " found the government of this country in the hands of a body of men of whom it is no exaggeration to say that they were ignorant of every principle of every branch of political science. So lung as our domestic administration was confined merely to the raising of a revenue, they levied taxes with gross facility from the industry of a country too busv to criticize or complain. But when the excitement and distraction of war had ceased, and they were forced to survey the social elements that surrounded them, they seemed, for the first time, to have become conscious of their own incapacity. These men, indeed, were the mere children of routine. They prided themselves on being practical men. In the language of this defunct school of statesmen, a practical man is a man who practises the blunders of his predecessors." The caustic severity of this description is equalled only by its truth. The first difficulty which the Ministry had to encounter was that connected with the regulation of trade. On the termination of hostilities, the blockades which had disarranged the commercial system of the world were removed, and it was hoped that, without any interference on the part of the Government, trade and Lord Beaconsfield. o 2 196 LIFE OF THE IftAEQUESS WELLESLEY. commerce would naturally return to their old channels. But under the restrictions imposed by the war there had grown up an artificial system which had greatly benefited the landed interest, and which the landed interest there- fore resolved, if they could, to perpetuate. The price of wheat, for instance, had averaged, during the ten years between 1804 and 1814, 90s. per quarter. Under the influence of the conviction that the newly-made peace would cause the market to be glutted with corn from foreign countries, tempted by the high prices ruling in England, the representatives of the landed interest in Parliament, prominent amongst whom were the Ministers and their supporters, made preparations to regulate the corn trade by law. In July, 1814, a Committee of the House of Lords recommended that so long as the average price of wheat should be under 80s. per quarter, the ports should be completely closed against supplies from other countries ; that until the price should reach 80s. per quarter, if it were below it, foreign corn should be abso- lutely prohibited. A resolution arrived at by one of the Houses of Legislature, though it had not actually become law, in the interests of one class of the community, and that the class whose influence was predominant in that assembly, was sure to be unpopular. It is not then surprising that the news that the Committee of the House of Lords had made recommendations which would materially enhance the price of food in a country just emerging from a life- and-death struggle, should have caused great dissatis- faction, even tumults, in the metropolis ; in the centres of manufacturing industry ; and in the large towns generally. The distress in the north and in the midlands was great already. The proposals of the House of Lords promised to increase it. Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham THE CORN LAWS. 197 warmly remonstrated against the consideration of the proposal. But those great towns were unrepresented in Parliament, and their remonstrances were unheeded by the Government. In the following session a Bill was introduced in the Commons to give effect to the Lords' recommendations. It was indeed warmly opposed ; but the House, by large majorities, rejected every amendment which would have mitigated the harshness of its action. The Government, well aware of the unpopularity of the measure, displayed their anxiety by calling out the military, and even by closing the Strangers' gallery, during the time it was debated. At length, on March 10th, the Bill was passed by a large majority. In the House of Lords the same men who had warmly taken up the cause of religious freedom appeared as the ad- vocates of cheap food. Prominent amongst them was the Marquess Wellesley. During the term of his proconsulship in India, that lord had noticed the evil effects of the trade- monopoly which the Company then enjoyed ; and he had imbibed a strong leaning in favour of the principle of unrestricted competition. He regarded, then, with a feeling bordering upon horror, the proposals of the Government to restrict, even to prevent, the importation of fcod at a time when such importation was more than ever necessary ; he opposed it with all his force ; and, when, he and his friends were beaten, as they were by a large majority, he drew up, in conjunction with Lord Grenville, a protest embodying the objections which he entertained. This protest, signed by two Royal Dukes (Sussex an< Gloucester), by the Marquess of Buckingham, by Lords Grenville, Wellesley, Essex, Torrington, Douglas, Mont- fort, King, and Carlisle, may be read with profit, even at the present .day. It proclaimed the principle that : 198 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. " Public prosperity is best promoted by leaving uncontrolled the free current of national industry: " that " the great practical rule of leaving all commerce unfettered applies more peculiarly, and on still stronger- grounds of justice as well as of policy, to the corn trade than of any oiher;" that "monopoly is the parent of scarcity, dearness, and uncertainty," and t: at " to confine the consumer of corn to the [produce of his own country is to refuse to ourselves the benefit of that provision which Providence itself has made for equalizing to man the variations of season and of climate." The expression of dissent thus concluded : " But whatever may be the future consequences of this law, at some distant and uncertain period, we see with pain that those hopes must be purchased at the expense of great and present evils. To compel the consumer to purchase corn dearer at home than it might be imported from abroad, is the immediate practical effect of this law. In this way alone can it operate. Its present protection, its promised extension of agriculture, must result (if at all) from the profits which it creates by keeping up the price of corn to an artificial level. These future benefits are the consequences expected, but, as we confidently believe, erroneously expected, from giving a bounty to the grower of corn by a tax levied on the consumer." It was impossible to put the case more tersely. Lord Wellesley had strongly opposed that clause in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, which guaranteed to Napoleon the sovereignty of Elba. He foresaw that it would be impossible to chain the eagle within sight of the scene of his triumphs. With equal wisdom, in my humble .judgment, he opposed the renewal of the war after the escape of Napoleon from his island prison. The recogni- tion of Napoleon as a constitutional sovereign on the throne of France was the one chance for the consolidation of the benefits for the revolution ; for the extinction of its errors. The campaign of 1815 did indeed, as I have said, give to Europe thirty-three years of peace ; but they were years of oppression for the peoples of the Continent. The consequences to France were, not, as it was pre- tended, to close, but to keep open, the door of Revolution. That door is open still : and that it is so is due t'> the GENEEOUS IDEAS OF WELLESLEY. 199 fact that in 1815 Europe intervened to impose upon France a dynasty which the nation had deliberately rejected. That Lord Wellesley fully apprehended the evil of the course which the Government pursued on this occasion is clear from the speech which he delivered on the discussion of the Regent's message, announcing the renewal of the war (April 7th, 1815). As, in 1814, he had foreseen the evils which would result from the Treaty of Fontaine- bleau, so, the following year, did his prescient brain gauge the unfortunate results for France which the unjust policy of Europe would produce. After the conclusion of the war, Wellesley acted with the party which displayed an anxiety to relieve the burthens pressing on the people, arid which had been greatly increased by the policy pursued with respect to the importation of food from abroad. In 1816, he urged the diminution of the military charges. In 1817, again, he made an urgent appeal to Parliament for the reduction of the burthens which weighed most severely on the manufacturing classes in particular, and on the people generally : " When he saw," he said, " the condition of all ranks of his Majesty's people, and looked back to their exertions, their patience, their loyalty, their confidence in Parliament, ard their present misery, he was utterly at a loss to conceive by what criminal forgetfulness of their duty Ministers could have withheld the most solemn assurances of an immediate and strict inquiry into the causes of such tremendous mitefortunes, and a pledge of every possible relief." Again, urging the absolute neoessity for retrenchment, he said: "The scandalous profusion could not go on. Parliament must do its duty. There was no longer a refuge to b-j found from the cries of the hungry the famished population. The army must be reduced. He had no hesi- tation in saying that, with every regard to the dignity of the Crown, to the maintenance of our rank and security of our Empire, it might be greatly reduced." To this task he adhered : the lightening of the burthen 200 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. which pressed on the people. It was a theme which he never wearied of urging. It was because he had this aim so much at heart that he opposed the Bill, introduced and passed in 1817, for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, cautioning the Ministers u not to fortify the per- suasion vainly felt, he hoped that all these propositions, all these rumours of peril, were merely meant to divert the attention of Parliament from the duty of retrenchment and economy which it had to perform." That year was not, however, absolutely barren to him. He enjoyed the satisfaction of witnessing the passing of a Bill opening all ranks of the army and navy to Catholics and Dissenters. The House of Lords would not go further. His minority of one, of 1812, was increased, in 1817, to a minority of 52 ; whilst the majority of 129 in the Commons was changed into a minority of 24. A new Parliament, summoned in 1818, displayed, indeed, sentiments somewhat more liberal. The year following the majority against the Catholic claims in the Commons was reduced to two ; whilst in the Lords it fell to 41. In that year the misgovernment of the Cabinet culminated in the event known in history as the "Manchester Massacre." The country seemed really in danger ; and 'though Wellesley recognised that that danger was due to the mischievous character of the legislation, he felt that in the crisis which had been provoked he could not with- hold his support from the Crown. He made, then, at this period, a powerful speech in favour of the measures essential, in his opinion, for the maintenance of public order proposed by the Government. On January 29th of the year following, George III. died. In 1821 the Catholic Relief Bill passed the Commons by a majority of 11, whilst in the Lords the majority against it was decreased by two. In December LOPiD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND. 201 of that year the Grenville party * joined the Government, and Lord Wellesley was nominated Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. It should be mentioned, before quitting this period of exclusion, that the Marchioness had died on November 5th, 1816. Her death did not greatly affect her husband, for, for some time, the husband and wife had agreed to disagree. Probably, like his colleagues in the Perceval administration, she had found his autocracy unbearable. * The most important members of the Grenville party constated of the Marquess of Buckingham, Lord Grenville, Thomas Grenville, Charles Wynne, Dr. Phillimore, Sir GeJge Nugent, Sir Watkin Wynne, William Freemantle, with occasional a&sistunce from Plunkett. The Marquess Wellesley had acted generally with this party since the conclusion of the war. ( 202 ) CHAPTER XII. THE VICEROYALTY OF IRELAND. 1822-1827. Conditions of the Union The state of Ireland Lord Wellesley's reception His appointments Coercive measures and measures of relief Secret societies Riot in Dublin " The bottle plot " Improvement of Wellesley's position His second marriage Resignation of the Lord Lieutenancy. IT is quite possible that if the bigotry of George III. had not interfered, in 1800-1, with the great measure of Union designed by Mr. Pitt if, that is to say, the King had not forbidden the passing of the great measure of emancipation, the bestowal of which would for ever have identified in the minds of the vast majority of the people of Ireland the act of Union with an act of grace there might have been no Irish question at the present moment. The cry for the repeal of the Union in the third decade of the present century owed almost all its force to the fact that in the minds of Catholic Irishmen the Union was identified with breach of contract. In his secret negotia- tions to ensure the passing of that measure, Mr. Pitt had pledged himself and his sovereign to the abolition of religious disabilities as its first consequence. The refusal of George III. to allow Mr. Pitt to redeem that pledge was the " original sin " which tainted the hearts of the Irish Catholics. The concession, which would have been welcomed as an act of grace in 1800-1, was regarded as THE STATE OF IRELAND. 203 wrung from the fears of England in 1829. It was the refusal to make it when it was due as part of a contract, one half of which had been carried through, that sowed the seeds of distrust of England which has ever since marked the feelings of the Irishmen towards the Govern- ment of the United Islands. Mr. Pearce thus describes the state of Ireland at the period when the Marquess Wellesley was sent there as Lord Lieutenant:* " During the year 1821, the population of a great portion of Ireland was in a state of open insurrection. Neither Jife nor property were safe ; formidable bodies of armed men, bound together by secret oaths, spread terror and desolation through the country; they committed their depredations by night, robbing houses of money and arms, taking away horses, and, night after night, firing the residence of parties who had become objects of vengeance. The mail coaches were intercepted and plundered on the King's high road; and the royal troops were upon several occasions, under cover of night, encountered in the open country. Neither the terrors of a numerous army nor the threatening^ of the law were of any avail. Even the zealous efforts of the Roman Catholic clergy to restore tranquillity, had no effect upon ' Captain Bock' and his * Whiteboy' following." That this picture was not overdrawn is proved by record of the ' Annual Register," dealing with the state of the island at the beginning of 1822. In that trust- worthy periodical Ireland is described as : "a tempestuous scene of violence, iniquity, and disorder In vain had the military force been augmented in the disturbed dis- tricts; in vain had the judges and ministers of the law performed their function with stern severity ; in vain had many of the deluded wretches atoned on the scaffold for tiieir crimes ; the country was still in the same insecure and unquiet state ; the outrages instead of ceasing were multiplied in number, and became more audacious in character. Nearly the whole of Munster was in a situation into which it is difficult to conceive how a civilized country could fall, that was not afflicted by foreigu invasion, or had not been the seat of pro- tracted civil war." * Memoirs of Richard, Marquess Wellesley, vol. iii., page 314. 204 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY. This description might in many respects apply to the Ireland of 1880-6. There is, however, one striking difference. If, on the one side, the Irish had, in 1822, a real grievance ; if they could complain with justice that the English had not kept the compact made by Mr. Pitt on their behalf in 1800; it was a remarkable fact, on the other, that the Catholic clergy, still under the ban of disability, having before their eyes the favoured Protestant establishment, used all their endeavours to restore and maintain law and order. In 1880-6, when the real grievance had become " ancient history," when there was no rival establishment to disturb their equanimity, the Catholic clergy threw all their energies to support the cause which was equally maintained by violence, by bloodshed, and by disorder. It was not open, in 1822, to the Marquess Wellesley to apply to Ireland the principle which the Government of the present day is attempting to enforce. "Twenty years of resolute administration of the law" is an effica- cious remedy only when grievances based on injustice have been removed. Such grievances exist no longer in Ireland. In 1822, they were undisguised, open, palpable ; and, what was worse, there seemed but a small chance that any of them would be redressed. 'Under such cir- cumstances no one can wonder that a wild, untutored race should have recognised its only remedy in violence. The Catholic question had been apparently advancing so much in public opinion in England that when Lord Wellesley accepted the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland he did so with the hope that the disabilities against which he had so long struggled would be shortly removed. His nomination seemed to encourage that belief. It did not seem logical that a nobleman who had combated so earnestly for the complete carrying out of CONCILIA TOE Y, POLICY. 205 the whole contract of 1800, would accept office unless he felt assured that he would shortly be able to announce the assent of the King's Government to the measure necessary to its completion. He was received, then, at Dublin with the greatest enthusiasm : by the Catholics, because he was known to sympathise with their just aspi- rations ; by the Protestants, because of the services which he and his brother had rendered to the country ; by the masses, because he was an Irishman, the brilliancy of whose career reflected on Ireland. Almost the first act of the new Lord Lieutenant was an act of conciliation. The appointment of Attorney- General had become vacant. The late holder of the office, Mr. Saurin, had made himself obnoxious by his violent antipathy to the Catholics. The appointment of his successor was practically in the gift of Lord Wellesley, and he bestowed the office on Mr. Plunkett (afterwards Lord Plunkett), a member of the House of Commons, who had exerted all his powers of splendid eloquence to promote the cause of Catholic Emancipation. The Soli- citor-General, Mr. C. K. Bushe, held similar views on that question ; but Lord Wellesley was hampered by the fact that the Chief Secretary, Mr. Goulburn, and the Lord Chancellor, Lord Manners, upheld the cause of exclusion. The hopes which had been kindled by the appointment of Mr. Plunkett were strengthened a few months later by the nomination of Mr. Bushe to be Chief Justice, in place of Chief Justice Downes retired. " The appointment," writes Mr. Pearee, " was well calculated to inspire confidence in the administration of justice. It marked a new era when the King's Government announced that violent partisanship and indecent political zeal were no longor to be quulilications for the judicial office." The description I have given of the condition of Ireland 206 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLET. in the early pages of this chapter have disclosed the vastness of the task which Wellesley had undertaken. Handicapped, as he was, by the continued refusal of the Parliament of Great Britain to pass the one measure which would have rendered other legislation easy, he bent all his energies to devise such plans as would ensure the restoration of public order. Beginning by openly discouraging Orange Societies on the ground that all societies, organised for political purposes, employing secret oaths and signs, were hostile to the spirit of the British Constitution, and that associations based on the principle of religious exclusion acted as deadly poison to the public happiness, he showed his impartiality by applying the same rule to the rival society of Ribbonmen. Examining, then, with all the thoroughness of his nature, the actual state of the country, he came to the conclusion that the existing law was insufficient to meet the evil. In his despatch to the Home Government he stated, as the conclusion he had arrived at from an examination of the cases, papers regarding which he forwarded, that "no additional military force, no improvement or aug- mentation of the police, would now be effectual without the aid of the Insurrection Act ; with that aid it appears to me to be rational to expect that tranquillity may be maintained, confirmed, and extended throughout Ireland." This Act and an Act suspending the operation of the Habeas Corpus Act were passed with but little opposition by Parliament, and, armed with these, Wellesley was enabled to take measures so prompt and decisive that, before Parliament rose for the recess, he was able to report that the insurrection had been effectually crushed. There remained still the alleviation of the sufferings of the large number of peasants who had been reduced to the very verge of starvation by the disorders of the ALLEVIATION OF SUFFERING. 207 country. The retiring Commander-in-Chief, Sir David Baird, reporting the progress made by the wise measures of Lord Wellesley towards the pacification of the country, had added that his reports from Gal way indicated the presence of great suffering caused principally by the want of means of the sufferers to purchase food. "Hundreds of half-famished wretches," he had added, " arrive almost daily from a distance of fifty miles, many of them so exhausted by want of food that the means taken to restore them fail of effect from the weakness of the digestive organs, occasioned by long fasting." Before Sir David penned that report, the Government, warned of the evil, had taken measures to meet it. The Parliament of the United Kingdom had, on the representations of Lord Wellesley, granted 300,000 to alleviate the distress; subscriptions in England, headed by the City of London, had yielded 350,000 ; the local subscriptions reached 150,000; and Lord Wellesley subscribed 500 from his private purse. Open insurrection had been put down ; food had been found for the starving ; there still remained the more difficult task of combating the secret societies. It was a task from which Lord Wellesley did not flinch. In November, 1822, he forwarded to the Home Government a letter from Mr. Plunkett giving details of the working of a secret society, based on the principle of religious exclusion, which was working great mischief, and for association with which the law did not sufficiently pro- vide. " I fear," wrote Mr. Plunkett, " that in five or six counties, great , numbers of the lower classes have been involved in it ; some of them from a love of enterprise and ready disposition for mischief ; some on a principle of counteraction to exclusive associations of an opposite character; but most of them, I should hope, from terror on the one hand, and the expectation of impunity on the other." 208 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. He recommended, then, the application to Ireland of the 39th Act of George III., giving power to transport for seven years all who might be proved to be members of the association, without the necessity of establishing the fact of administering or taking the oath. In a despatch dated the following January, addressed to Mr. Secretary Peel, who had become Home Secretary in January of the same year, Lord Wellesley, whilst indicating the measures he was pushing for the reform of the police, the revision of the magistracy, and the improvement which had been effected in the administra- tion of the law whilst reporting the progress which had been made in Limerick and in Clare, and the amount of amendment still required in Tipperary, in King's County, and in Roscomrnon ; how Ulster was happily exempt from disorder urged special attention to the suggestions he had made " for the more effectual restraint of this system of mysterious engagements, formed under the solemnity of secret oaths, binding His Majesty's liege subjects to act .under authorities not known to the law, nor derived from the State, for purposes undefined, not disclosed in the first process of initiation, nor until the infatuated novice has been sworn to the vow of unlimited and lawless obedience." He urged, further, the renewal of the In- surrection Act for another year. The energetic mind which had consolidated British India, had thus, diverted to a new channel, accomplished much with means not always sufficient. Whilst economising expenditure, he had reformed the magistracy ; established the Irish constabulary on a basis which made them effi- cient supporters of the law ; relieved the starving population ; and discountenanced by all the means in his power the religious animosities which had contributed so largely to the disturbed condition of the island. Had he BIGOTEY OF THE PROTESTANTS. 209 been empowered to announce, as a spontaneous gift from the Crown, the grant of that one measure of conciliation for which he had so long combated, he might have given to his work in Ireland the same solidity as that which had characterised his work in British India. But here he was powerless. Canning, indeed, still fought with vary- ing success for the old principles. But in the breasts of the majority of the Cabinet, and in the Eoyal Palace, bigotry still reigned rampant. Nor was it the least of the great Marquess's annoyances to feel that one of the most prominent of the opponents of toleration was the brother who had gained so much glory on the field of battle. Bigotry, especially Irish bigotry, is always in extremes. Not content with excluding the Roman Catholics from all share in the Government of a country of which, then, they constituted nearly four-fifths of the population, the Protestant party was always anxious to display visible signs of its ascendancy. When, then, July 12th, the anniversary of the battle of Aughrim was approaching, the leaders of that party announced their intention of decorating the statue of King William III., the symbol of their triumph in 1691-2. To prevent a ceremony which, made in the manner in which it was proposed to make it, would have been offensive to many, CKConnell addressed a letter in the public papers to Lord Wellesley, calling upon him to prohibit the display. It would appear that Lord Wellesley hoped that his own well-known opinions against such action, and the advice tendered by the King to the leaders of the dominant party to the same effect, would have produced the result desired by O'Connell. He abstained, then, from issuing a manifesto which might have been construed as identifying himself with a party, and was content, for this time, to watch the course affairs would 210 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. take. The usual disturbances ensued. The decorations put on by one party, were torn off by the other. Rendered wiser by experience he took occasion, when another anniversary of a similar character was approaching, to issue a proclamation, in which, recapitulating the events of July 12th, he forbade, by the mouth of the Lord Mayor, the decoration of the statue, or the affixing thereto of any emblem, ornament, or device. Not only, however, did the partisans of bigotry disobey this order, they treated it as though it had been an infringement of the Constitution. The Common Council called a meeting and passed a censure on the Lord Mayor for having issued the proclamation, and the majority pledged them- selves to disobey its provisions. When the morning of the anniversary, November 4th, dawned, and the partisans of bigotry proceeded to redeem their pledge, they found a body of police drawn round the statue, supported by a patrol of horse. They made the attempt, nevertheless, and for two days Dublin was traversed by angry mobs committing disorder of every kind. Still, the statue remained undecorated ; and, when, on the third day, the Orange mob made a final attempt to effect their purpose, the soldiers were called out and order was restored. The action of Lord Wellesley in this matter affected to a considerable extent his popularity with the party which theoretically called itself the party of order, but which was, in fact, the party of intolerance. When he visited the theatre the following month he was received with mingled cheers, groans, and hisses. When, on the band playing " God save the King," he rose to his feet, several missiles were thrown into the Vice-regal box, and a large quart bottle was flung from the gallery at his head. It only just missed him. Had it struck him, it would pro- bably have killed him on the spot. Legal steps were POPULARITY OF WELLESLET. 211 taken to bring the rioters to justice, but the Grand Jury ignored the Bill of indictment preferred against them. Lord Wellesley, badly advised, had them prosecuted for conspiracy to murder, instead of on the less serious charge of aggravated riot ; a mistake which Canning lost no opportunity of ridiculing in conversation. Notwithstanding this unfortunate business, which was followed by a quarrel with the Irish Chancellor, Lord Manners, Lord Wellesley steadily advanced in the esteem of the moderate men on both sides. Public meetings were held in Dublin to congratulate him on his escape : and his friends in England, even those in the Ministry, ap- proved of his conduct. It is pleasing to find in a letter addressed to him from England such expressions as these:* " I dined with Lord Sidmouth a few days before I left town. He was in high spirits on the subject of your administration in Ireland, and upon the present state of that country." . . . . " Your ad ministration has risen a step higher every time a despatch is received from you with any proposed arrangement or improvement of system, and there is no complaint of silence on your part." . . . . " I think I perceive that the tone of the Opposition will be particularly civil towards your Excellency personally, and that they will admit that you have done as much as could be expected from you under the circumstances; but they are preparing a very sharp attack upon Ministers for not satisfying the Catholics." . . . . " Meanwhile, it is satisfactory to observe that all parties beem to feel that Ireland is doing well in your hands. The Duke of Grafton, having served in Ireland, often talks about it, and he said he admired your management of the affair of the statue extremely." Alluding to Lord Wellesley's suppression of the secret associations, the same writer, in a letter dated the 3rd of February following, thus expressed himself: "I am happy to say that all classes in Ireland and in this country begin within the last ten days to understand rightly the nature of the contest in which your Excel- lency is engaged. I now consider the battle as fought and won, and I heartily congratulate your Excellency and Ireland upon the result. .... The question was, were the natives to be excluded from (even) * From Colonel M. Shawe, dated December 14th, 1822. P 2 212 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. eligibility to any place of emolument and trust, and were they to bo monopolized by a privileged class, who al^o claim the privilege of insulting periodically the proscribed order of the community. I hope tli ere is an end 1o this state of things, at least as far as the useless insults go ; and if your Excellency were to effect no more in Ireland, it would be a glorious work, and lay the foundation of all future im- provement." The weakness of Lord Wellesley's position, it cannot be too often repeated, arose from the fact that the superstructure which he raised with so much care and so much skill, had no foundation. Religious intolerance continued to deprive four-fifths of the population pf their rights. Until those rights should be conceded, work, however beneficent, could only produce a temporary effect. Lord Wellesley's sentiments were tolerant and liberal ; but he had to administer a country, the constitution of which was intolerant and illiberal : nor was there any guarantee that his successor would not be JL reactionist. The Tithe Bill of 1823, however, was for a time a marked success, though the birth of the Association in the fol- lowing year inaugurated a new era in Irish agitation. In October, 1825, Lord Wellesley married for a second time. Mr. Pearce thus describes the event : " In the month of October, 1825, his Excellency was married to Mary Anne, daughter of Richard Caton, of Baltimore, in the United States of America, and widow of Robert Patterson, Esq., a lady dis- tinguished for her beauty, elevation of rnind, and dignity of manners. . . . She was the granddaughter of the celebrated American patriot, Carrol of Carrolstown, who signed the declaration of independence but though of republican parentage, she had a patent of nobility from nature, which the illustrious bridegroom, however proud of his lineage and ancestral honours, esteemed far above the tinsel of hereditary distinctions. Her title lent her no grace she did not pay back again." The Marchioness was a Catholic. The same year Lord Francis Leveson Gower brought ATTEMPT TO " LEVEL UP." 213 forward in Parliament a measure for the endowment of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. Men in those days had not conceived the idea of the disendowrnent of the Church of the minority, and there can be little doubt that the measure of Lord Francis, as tending to " level up " the Catholics, would, at that conjuncture, have been attended with the happiest results. The House of Commons would not listen to it. The wisdom of bigotry again prevailed, and an opportunity was thrown away of conciliating the most influential body of men in Ireland. I maybe permitted to add that a similar opportunity was again lost in 1869, when the time for dealing with the establishment of the minority could no longer be postponed. Had the principle of "levelling up " been then substituted for the system of " levelling down " it is certain that the state of Ireland would never have become so dangerous as it has been since the priesthood became irrevocably dependent on the people. Amongst other reforms which had distinguished the administration of Lord Wellesley, besides those already referred to, may be mentioned, the removal of various obnoxious and oppressive imposts the remission of the Union duties, a great boon to the commerce of Ireland an inquiry into the state of education the establishment of petty sessions the appointment of assistant barristers the extension of public works and the diffusion of sentiments of moderation and toleration amongst all with whom he came in contact. But, such is human nature, his very tolerance, his very virtues, made him unpopular with both sides. The Orangemen distrusted him for his efforts on behalf of the Catholics : the Catholics could forgive neither his suppression of secret societies, nor his inability to concede to them their rights. When, on the resignation of Lord Liverpool, in January, 1827, Cannino 214 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. became Prime Minister (April), the hopes of the Marquess that something might be done for the Catholics revived. But the one thing essential to the well-being of Ireland had not been done when Canning died the following August. Even before that much to t}e lamented event Lord Wellesley had found the prolongation of the situation intolerable. The condition of Tipperary and Munster was becoming worse arid worse. In the former " the system of combination and terrors " was " more com- pletely established and organised than ever before." The attempts to grapple with the Association failed signally, the Bill for its suppression being met by the simple device of founding a new association on the ruins of the old. His term of office expired during 1827, and he was anxious to be relieved. " Lord Wellesley," wrote his Chief Secretary, William Lamb, on December 15th of that year, " waxed more and more impatient to be relieved of his office. His successor had been some time announced, and men's eyes were turning to the new Viceroy, Lord Ariglesea, whose influence was already discernible in the horizon. The position of superseded satrap did not suit the conqueror of Tipu Sahib." * Towards the end of December, then, he resigned his office in the hands of a Commission of Lords Justices, and returned to England. * Torrens's Memoirs of Viscount Melbourne. Vol. i. p. 290-1. ( 215 ) CHAPTER XIII. LORD STEWARD OF THE HOUSEHOLD, AND AGAIN LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND. 1830-1831. Return to England Fresh disappointments Speed) on Catholic Emancipation Passing of the Bill and full of the Tory Govern- men Lord Stewardship of the Household Again Lord Lieu- tenant of Ireland Renewal of the Coercion Act and its consequences Lord Welleslty becomes Lord Chamberlain His retirement from public life. THE Marquess Wellesley returned to England to fight once more the battle of Catholic Emancipation. But, before he could buckle on his harness, he was subjected to two bitter disappointments. In an audience which the Prime Minister, Lord Groderich, had had with the King, on December 18th, he had recommended the addition of Lords Wellesley and Holland to his Cabinet.* The King made no reply. " A few days later the same proposal was submitted by the Premier in a letter, which was seen by Mr. Huskisson and Lord Lansdownc, but to which a postscript, which they did not see, was added, to the effect that domestic circumstances affecting the health of one most dear to the writer rendered him sometimes incapable of continuing to perform the duties of his station." The King naturally regarded the postscript as * Memoirs of Lord Melbourne. Vol. i. pp. 29D-300. iltf LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. the kernel of the letter, and, by the advice of Lord Lyndhurst, sent for the Duke of Wellington. This was disappointment the first. The second may or may not be conjectural. It was said that Lord VVellesley believed that his brother would name him to the King as the most fitting statesman to become Prime Minister, and that the Duke's acceptance by himself caused an estrangement which was never subsequently healed.* Be that as it may, the undaunted Marquess did riot the less strive to promote the object which had now become the main object of his life. That year (1828) the House of Commons, on the motion of Sir Francis Burdett, had carried by 272 votes to 266 a motion for a committee on the claims of the Catholics. When the motion reached the Upper House its chief opponents were the Lord Chancellor and the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington. Wellesley did not decline the combar. Replying to the Lord Chancellor, he said that he sup- ported the claims of the Catholics from solemn conviction founded on long and studious attention to the operation in Ireland of " the laws enacted for their exclusion. The result of his experience was a thorough impression that those laws did not tend to the security 'of the Church arid State, as was fondly imagined, but only produced danger to what they had been designed as a safeguard He would ask any pers ,11 acquainted with the condition of Ireland, whether it was in a state likely to lead to a conciliatory termination, or calculated to effect the desired stability to the Church, or to secure the re-establishment of harmony and peace ! " He concluded by declaring that whilst he regarded the continuation of the disabilities as a positive danger, he was ready to consent to the provision of such securities * Torre ns's Melbourne, p. 300. Bulwer's Life of Lord Palmerston, p. 213. WELLINGTON REPLIES TO WtiLLESLtiY. 217 against the misuse of emancipation as would satisfy the Government and the people. His brother rose to reply. After expressing the pain he felt at having to differ in opinion from one " whom he so dearly loved, and for whose opinions he entertained so much respect and deference," he thus stated the reason why he could not agree with him : " My noble relative says that our security will be found in the removal of the securities which now exist. I say that the securities which we now enjoy, and which for a length of time we have enjoyed, are indispensable to the safety of Church and State." The *reply, in fact, was an assertion of the non pos- sumus: the security of the realm will be shaken if we accord to Catholics the same rights as are enjoyed by their Protestant brethren. When the Duke of Wellington spoke those words, the cause he was upholding was tottering to its fall. He possessed many great qualities, but he wanted prescience. The principle which he asserted in so uncompromising a manner, in June, 1828, he himself proposed to abandon in February, 1829. In that month he inserted, in the speech from the Throne a paragraph, in which Parliament was recommended to consider whether the disabilities of the Catholics miffht o not be removed. In the March following the Catholic Relief Bill passed the Commons ; in April it passed the Lords. The cause which the Marquess Wellesley had so long and so persistently advocated had triumphed at last. A year later George IV. died. In the September following, the Duke of Wellington, as confident an opponent of reform as he had been of the^atholic claims, made a public declaration to the effect that the House of Commons needed no reform. The House elected in consequence of the demise of the King did not share 218 LIFE OF THE MARQUESS WELLES LEY. that opinion, and promptly placed the Government in a minority.* The Duke then resigned, and Lord Grey formed a Ministry from the old Whigs, the followers of Canning and Grenville, and an ultra-Tory or two. To Lord Wellesley was assigned, for the moment, the post of Lord Steward of the Household. He had for some time been convinced of the necessity of reform, and although he took but little part in the discussion, he voted for the great measure which transferred to the middle class a share in the Government of the country. The question was not finally settled till June, 1832, when the Bill was passed in the Lords by 106 to 22. Early in the fol- lowing year Wellesley was again sent to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant.! The circumstances under which the measure of justice had been granted to the Catholics had robbed it of more than half its value. That which would have been accepted with gratitude as a free gift was scorned when it was given grudgingly and under compulsion. Lord Wellesley, then, did not find the condition of Ireland improved. Again were secret societies rampant; again in many districts was disaffection paramount. The law was insufficient to punish the criminals. To meet this state of things the Home Government had introduced and carried an Act, called a Coercion Act, but which was really an Act to put down outrage. This Act was about to expire. The terms of its renewal were being arranged by the Chief Secretary to the Lord- Lieutenant, the Right. Hon. Edward Littleton, and the Marquess Wellesley. But their hands were in a great measure tied by the orders of the Government in England, * The occasion was a motion on the Civil List, which was carried against the Government by 233 to 204. + Pearce's Life and Correspondence of the Marques* Welletley. LEGISLATION FOE IRELAND. 219 ind the growing apprehensions of William IV. respecting their Irish policy. "Could Lord Wellesley," wrote Littleton,* " have exercised an unfettered judgment, his enlarged and vigorous mind would soon have remodelled institutions, and have put each party and interest in its right place in Ireland, and have given contentment, order, arid strength to that part of His Majesty's dominions." The Act, as at the time in existence, contained not only what were called Curfew Clauses, and the granting of power to the Lord Lieutenant to proclaim districts, but likewise a power to prohibit county meetings for the purpose of petitioning, and clauses which, from their nature, were called Court-Martial Clauses. Regarding these clauses, and the power to prohibit meetings, there was a difference of opinion in the Cabinet. At first, Lord Wellesley himself had considered these clauses indispensable, but he modified his opinion, and made his change of view so strongly felt that ultimately the Bill was passed without them. This change of front, however, was the indirect cause of the downfall of the Grey Administration, though Lord Wellesley, who had acted under the belief that the Cabinet was finally unani- mous, was, of course, not to blame for the intrigues of Lord Brougham and the want of tact of Mr. Littleton. Armed with these limited powers, Lord Wellesley used them with great leniency, though with firmness and discre- tion. But he had many difficulties to contend with. In his first administration he had been baffled, as I have pointed out, by the fact that he was working compulsorily on a vicious basis. In his second administration the basis was sound, but the mode in which it had been rendered so had given encouragement to the agitator, and had afforded him * Lord Hatherton's Memoir and Correspondence relating to Political Occurrences in June and July, 1831. 220 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. room to hope that the energy which had carried the repeal of Catholic disabilities in the teeth of a powerful Govern- ment, might procure the repeal of the Union. Very patiently, however, Wellesley used all the means at his disposal to combat this agitation, and he so far succeeded that he effected an enormous improvement in the con- dition of the country. The dismissal of the Whig Ministry by the King, in November of 1834, interrupted Wellesley's plans for the pacification of Ireland. He at once resigned the office, carrying with him the respect of friends and political opponents. Lord Melbourne, who had succeeded Lord Grey as Prime Minister in July of 1834, had written to him to say that he knew no man alive more equal to the work of solving the problem of Irish government, or more capable of effecting the solution, whilst Lord Grey and Sir Eobert Peel had alike rendered testimony to his decision, his energy, and his efficiency. When, in April, 1835, Lord Melbourne became for the second time Prime Minister, Wellesley, \\ho, in conjunction with Lord Holland, had been most active in representing to him the necessity of an active campaign against Sir Eobert Peel, wrote to him to offer to resume 'his old post in Ireland. It had been well for that country had Lord Melbourne acceded, but political ties had compelled him to offer the Viceroyalty to Lord Mulgrave, and he therefore wrote to Wellesley to propose that he should accept the office of Lord Cham- berlain. Lord Wellesley accepted it for the moment, but within a few days he threw it up in disgust. The reasons for his resignation have never been exactly explained, but there can hardly be a doubt that the preference shown towards an absolutely untried man was very prominent among them, and that disgust at O'Connell's ascendancy EETIEES FEOM PUBLIC LIFE. 221 was another. Greville significantly noticed that, " when Lord Harrowby said that if he had been Mulgrave he would rather have been torn in pieces than have marched under the banners displayed at the Viceregal entrance," Lord Wellesley loudly cheered him. He was in his seventy-fifth year. He retired, then, "full of honours and y^ais, to spend tlio evening of his '1n,\s in the < njoyment of the society of a numerous circle of Mends, and in those cla>sical studies and elegant pursuits which, at all periods of his life, had been his solace and delight conscious that his actions would live in the page of history, and that when he was laid beneath the clods of the valley, his name would be gratefully remembered by his country." It does not, however, appear that he deliberat ly aban- doned public life. Otherwise there would not he much point in the story told, by Greville, that Lord Wellesley was accustomed to deliver to a solitary listener elaborate dress rehearsals of the speeches which he had no longer the nerve to deliver in the House of Lords. But, in addition to his extreme self-consciousness, there was another reason for silence. His dislike of the policy of Lord Melbourne's Government became rapidly developed, and before his death he had placed his proxy in the hands of Sir Robert Peel. Now, there was no lack of oratory on the Tory side of the House, and Lord Wellesley may have felt himself abundantly justified in resting on his laurels. ( 222 ) CHAPTER XIV. THE SUNSET OF LIFE, CHARACTER. Literature arid conversation Recognition of his services by the Court of Directors His last public utterance His death Character Estimates of his oratory His real greatness. THE great Marquess survived his retirement from office a little over seven years. The sunset of his life was happy and peaceful. The energetic mind which had taken a leading part in trying to solve the political questions of the preceding fifty years found congenial employment in literature and conversation. In both he excelled. His odes and poems, published in a small volume when he was in his eighty-first year, exhibit a wonderful freshness and strength. They were dedicated to Lord Brougham, 66 amico suo dilectissimo"* in words which displayed all the regard and admiration he felt for the versatile talents of the man who became to him, in his declining years, that which Canning had been in his middle life. Very felicitous were the lines he wrote in reply to a * The dedication ran : " Viro Eximio Henrico Brougham, &c., &c., Qui nostrse setatis Decus ac Lumen, non linguam modo acuit exer- citatione dicendi, sed et ipsarn eloquentiam locupletavit graviorum artium instrumento ; ornatus uberrimis artibus, omni laude cumulatus Orator ; omnium rerum magnarum atque artium scientiam consecutus ; cujus ex rerurn cognitione effiorescit et redundat oratio; Qui et humilia subtiliter, at magna graviter, et mediocria temperate pot a st dicere; Qui Docet, Dilectat, Movet. Amico Suo Dilectissim p Has Primitias Juvenis, et Reliquiae Senis D. D. D. Wellesley." ODES AND POEMS. 223 beautiful Latin ode, sent him by the Provost of Eton, on the occasion of the placing of his bust in the hall of that famous college ; they ran : Affulsit mihi supremse meta ultima Famse: Jam mihi cum Lauro juncta Cupressus erit : Mater amata, meam quse fovit Etona juventam, Ipsa recedentem signat honore Senem. He himself thus rendered these into English : On my last steps Fame sheds her purest rays, And wreaths with Bays the Cypress and the Yew; Eton, blest guardian of my youthful days, Greets my retiring age with honours new. Not less happy were his lines on the occasion of the erection, in 1841, of a civic statue of his brother by the citizens of London ; the same which occupies a place in front of the Royal Exchange : Conservata tuis Asia atque Europa triumphis Invictum bello Te coluere Ducem, Nunc umbrata geris Civili tempera Quercft, Ut desit famse gloria nulla Tuse. which he thus translated : Europe and Asia, saved by thee proclaim, Invincible in war thy deathless name; Now round the brows the Civic Oak we twine, That every earthly glory may be thine. Lord Wellesley shone specially in conversation. His good things were repeated, often, indeed, appropriated. In a charming volume,* published whilst I was writing this sketch, there is recorded an instance in which the appropriator without acknowledgment was his intimate friend, Lord Brougham. The passage runs thus : * Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington. By Philip Henry, Earl Stanhope. 224 LIFE OF THE MAEQUESS WELLESLEY. " As a proof how brilliant is still Lord Welletiley's wit, Lady Bur- ghersh told me that he had remarked on the evidence before Lord Roden's Committee and Lord Normanby's reckless opening of the Irish J8,ils: 'It is only because Lord Normanby is so much used to theatricals he has exchanged the customary attitudes of Mercy and Justice on Ms stage he has made Mercy blind and Justice weeping.' I was much surprised, and Lady Burghersh was not less so, when I told her that this was precisely the most brilliant and beautiful point in Lord Brougham's speech on Lord Normanby, and that he had used it without any acknowledgment. Lady Burghersh was riot aware of this before. She said she remembered mentioning Lord Wellesley's bon mot to Brougham, and that Brougham had answered, < Ay, Lord Wellesley told me that himself/ " A very happy incident of the declining years of the STarquess Wellesley was the generous and practical recognition of his splendid services by his old masters, the Court of Directors and the Court of Proprietors. Lord Wellesley had always been a poor man. The pension which he had received from the Company did not suffice to meet an expenditure which, like the nature of the man, was always lavish. How he had declined to increase his means at the expense of the army, on the occasion of the capture of Seringapatam, has been recorded in an earlier chapter of this book. Towards the end of his life his means had become more and more straitened, the greater part, if not the whole, of his pension having become " annexed" by his creditors. Under these circumstances the Court of Proprietors, recollecting the great things the Marquess had accom- plished for the splendid Empire of which, in a sense, they were the owners, passed a resolution, November 27th, 1 837, to place in the hands of the Chairman, the Deputy- Chairman, and two other persons, as trustees, the sum of 20,000, to be applied for the use and benefit of the Marquess. A little later, the Court of Directors gave another proof of the estimation in which they held his ^RECOGNITION BY THE INDIA OFFICE. 225 services, by directing the distribution to their servants in -the three Presidencies of copies of the despatches of their famous Proconsul. A little later still, the year before he died, they expressed to him their desire to place a marble -statue to his honour in the India Office, as " a public, conspicuous, and permanent mark of the admiration and gratitude of the East India Company." At the meeting who consolidated it, who gave it the imperial form which it has since retained. It was Wellesley who, finding it but the equal of each of two independent Native Powers, made it predominant and paramount. It was Wellesley who, finding British prestige at its lowest point y raised it to its highest. He alone did it. He chose his- instruments, trusted them, and gave them the fullest credit for the actions which he had inspired. His far-sightedness, his directness of purpose, his unflinching resolution astonished men's minds. Those qualities overbore all opposition. In him the natives of India, princes, traders, and peasants, recognised the typical "Aval; 'AvScopv, the king of men, whose word no one dared to dispute. Throughout the vast peninsula of which he made a British dependency his name is still remembered and reverenced. Tradition speaks to this day of his gene- rosity, his splendour, his king-like qualities. For the natives of India there had not been his equal before, and certainly the palace which he built in Calcutta has never since been tenanted by a superior. That palace gives PRIMUS INTER PARES. 233 shelter to his statue alone. Those of his successors are, with but one exception, exposed to the dust, the rain, the heat, of the Calcutta Maiddn* Its right to occupy, singly, that place is incontestable. No one can look at it unmoved. The features, clearly cut in the purest white marble, give unmistakable evidence of the great thoughts which, put in action by an inflexible will, worked out the predominance and the consolidation of the British Empire in India. * Maiddn, literally a plain, the open space between Obauringhi and the river, constituting tlie lungs of Calcutta. INDEX. A. AMERICA, causes which led to war with, 163-4, 174. Arkat, Nawab of, position of, 33; refuses to agree to Lord Morniim- t n's terms, 34; settlement made by tlie Marquess Wellesley with the, 77-81. B. BA jf BAO PESHWA, succeeds Madhu Kao, 117; balances Sindhia against Holkar and Kolkar against Sindhia, 117 ; is forced, by the failure of his intrigues, to admit the suzerainty of tho British, 118; is restored to Puna by the English, 123. Bassein, Treaty of, how brought about, 118-121. Bhonsla, The, known as the Kajah of Baiar, meets Sindhia, 123; joins him in his designs against the English, 124; is beaten at Assaye and Argaum, 128; signs peace with the English, 129. Burhanpur, Treaty of, 130. o. CANNING, Mr., relations of, to Wel- lesley, 156, 159, 161, 168, 182, 184, 187, 191, 208. Canning, Stratford, successful di- plomacy of, 179. Castlereagh, Lord, arranges a com- promise between Lord Wellesley and the Court of Directors re- garding the College of Fort William, 1 05 ; letter received by, from the Marquess Wellesley, 112, note; proves that he has not the grasp of the Marquess Wellesley, 136 ; becomes Foreign Minister, 190-1. Clive, Lord, Governor of Madras, declines, under the Marquess Wel- lesley's instructions, to restore Pondicherry to the French, 109 ; resigns in consequence of the in- justice of the Court of Directors, 138. College of Fort William, vicissi- tudes in the life of the, 102-5, and note. Contingent, the French, at Haida- rabad, 23; disbandment of, 39- 40. Contingent, the English, at Haida- rabad, leaves Haidarabad and returns, 23; permanent increase of, 81-2. Cornwallis, Lord, nominated to India in 1797, but nomination withdrawn, 11; appointed to suc- ceed Wellesley, 147. D. DAOLAT KAO SINDHIA, succeeds his great-uncle, Madhaji, 116 ; INDEX. 235 * an promising commencement of rule of, 117; discontent of, with the treaty of Bassein, 123; tries to form an alliance with Holkar and the Bhonsla against the English, 124: ; provokes war, 124-5; is b(3 : i ten at Assaye and Argaum, 128 ; at Dehli and Las- wari, 128-9; signs the treaty of Surji Arjangaon, 129; and of Burhanpiir, 180; inclines again to war, but draws back, 146. B. EAST INDIA COMPANY, the Court of Directors of the, cause of dis- satisfaction of, with the Marquess Wellesley, 134; put many an- noyances upon him and upon Lord Clive, 135-40; put a sting into their vote of thanks to the Marquess Wellesley, 144. Europe, state of, when the Mar- quess Wellesley became Foreign Minister, 162. F. FOLKESTONE, Lord, is persuaded by Paull to attack Lord Wellesley in Parliament, 153-5. G. 1 GODERICH, Lord, strange conduct of, with respect to his resignation of office, 215-16. Grenville, Lord, kindly feeling towards the Marquess Wellesley, 155 ; negotiations with, to form a Ministry, 181-8. Grey, Lord, negotiations with, to form a Ministry, 181-8. H. HATDAR ALI, dictated terms to the English in Madras, 13. Harris, General (afterwards Lord), is acting Governor of Madras on Lord Mornington's arrival, 33; dissents from Lord Morniugton's views regarding preparing for war, but expresses his readiness to carry them out, 45. I. INDIA OFFICE, objections of the, to Lord Wellesley's policy, 110-140 ; reaction of the, in favour of Lord Wellesley, 224-8. Id-land, state of, when the Mar- quess Wellesley became Viceroy, 203. J. by JENKINS, Mr., is imprisoned Sindhia, but released, 146. Jeswant Rao Holkar, fights with Sindhia, out- manoeuvres him, 117 ; but is ultimately out-manoeuvred by the English, 119; meditates designs against Sindhia and the English, 130-1; pursuit by, of Monson, 132; surrenders to the English, 133. K. KARNATIK, NAWAB of the, Arkat. Kirkpatri^k, Major, , coaches Lord Mornington at the Cape as to the position in India, 28; directs the disbanding of the French contingent at Haidarabad, 39. L. LAKE, General, beats , Sindhia at Aligarh, at Dehli, at Agra, at Las- waii, 128; sends Monson to defend Jaipur, 132; avenges Monson's retreat, 133; letter of the Mar- quess Wellesley to, 141. 236 INDEX. M. MADH.AJI SINDHIA, short sketch of career of, 113. Madhu Rao Peshwa, throws himself from his balcony and is killed, 116. Maisur, p-irtition of, and restoration of the Hindu dynasty to, by Lord Morningtori, 61-7. Malurtic, General, makes himself dictator in the Isle of France, 18 ; accords a magnificent recep- tion to Tipu's envoys, 19 ; raises levies for him and despatches them to Maisur, 19-20. Malcolm (afterwards Sir John), is present at the disbanding of the French contingent at Haidarabad, 40 ; is sent to Persia, and settles the Afghan and Persian qties- - tions, 87-8. Marathas, the, defeat and despoil the Nizam, 22; paramount in- fluence of, in north-western, cen- tral, and western India, 24 ; pos- sibilities before, at the time of Lord Mornington's arrival, 25. Maratha Empire, the, short sketch of the rise and progress of, 113. Massena's campaign of 1810-1, 171-4. Moira, Lord, is concerned in nego- tiations to form a Ministry, 183-9. Monson, Colonel, advance and re- treat of, 132-3. Morningtnn, Earl of, vide the Mar- quess Wellesley. N. NIZAM, The, early connection of, with the English, 20-1; quasi- independent position of, 21-2 ; joins the English against Tipu, then, fights the Marathas and loses all he had gained, 22 ; dis- misses, and tli en recalls, his English contingent, 23 ; the French contingent of, and its commander, 23-4 ; perplexity of, on receiving Lord Mornington's orders to disband his French con- tingent, 36-7; signs tho treaty, 38 : concludes a fresh treaty, re- nouncing all his gains for an in- creased contingent, 81-2. o. OUDH, position of, when Lord Mor- ningtori landed in India, 25 ; the dealings of Lord Wellesley with, 83; character of the Nawab- Wazir of, 83 ; large cession made by the Nawab-Wazir of, to the British, 88, and note. P. PATJLL, Mr., attacks Lord Wellesley in Parliament, 153-5. Perceval, Mr., want of sympathy between, and Lord Wellesley, 177-8, 180; is assassinated, 182. Peshwa, The, feels the influence of Lord Mornington, 41 ; refuses the proffered share in the parti- tion of Maisur as insufficient, 64; vide Madhu Rao and Bail Rao. Pitt, Mr., appoints Lord Morningtorj Governor-General of India, 10; letter of, to Lord Morninion r 70-1 ; death of, 153. K. RAYMOND, M. (commander of the' French contingent at Haidera- bad), sketch of previous career of, 23 ; death of, 24. Ripaud, M., lands at Mangalor, 16 ; imposes upon Tipu Sultan, and escorts his envoys to the Isle of France, 17-20. INDEX. 237 S. SEA-ROUTE TO INDIA, The, 89-91. Shore, Sir John (Lord Teignmouth;, de-sires to < njoy his new honours in England, 11 ; how the charac- ter of, affected British India, 26. Sindhia Daolat Rao, position of, at the Peshwa's court, 41 ; vide Daolat Rao. Sunday, the Marquess Wellesley directs the observance of, in India, 98-100. Surat, early sketch of, 75; settlr- ment of, bv the Marquess Wel- lesley, 76-7. Surja Arjangaon, treaty of, 129. T. TANJUR, temporarily dealt with by Lord Mornington, 34 ; perma- nently settled by the same, when Marquess Wellesley, 73-5. Teignmouth, Viscount, vide Sir John Shore. Thornton, Mr., tribute of, to file Marquess Wellesley, 148. Tipu Sultan, concludes the tr aty of Mangalor with the English, 14 ; fights them again, and loses half his dominions, 14; his in- veterate hatred of the English, 15 ; intrigues of, with France and the French islands in the Indian Ocean, 15-20; publicity given to the proceedings of the envoys of, 20 ; is informed by the Governor- General of the destruction of the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, 53 ; is hardened, 54 ; is some- what impressed by the commun - cation of the Governor-ore., eral's knowledge of his dealings with Malartic, 55; replies in a dis- courteous manner to the earnest appeals made to him, 57; medi- tates a sudden attack on the English, 60 ; is killed, GO. Tucker, Mr., is selected by the Marquess Wellesley to regulate the finances of British India, 98 ; informs the Marquess Wellesley that his successor is appointed, 147. Turton, Sir Thomas, attacks Lord Wellesley in Parliament, 155. w. WEBBE, Mr., Secretary to the Government of Madras, terror of, on receiving Lord Morning- ton's orders to prepare for \var, 43; reasons telling against the views of, 46-7 ; is removed by the Court of Directors, 138. Wellesley, Mr. Henry, is employed by his brother to settle the Oudh. question, 86. Wellesley, Arthur, appointed to command troops at Maisur, 67 ; marches on and occupies Puna, 122; marches against Sindhia and the Bhonsla, 127 ; wins Assaye and Argaum, 128; be- comes Prime Minister, 215-16; replies to his brother's advocacy of the Catholic claims, 216-17*; strange political conduct of, 216-17. Wellesley, the Marquess of, origin of the family of, 2; education and start in 1 i e of, 3 ; speech of, in the Irish Parliament, 4 ; is elected for the Parliament of England, 5; speech of, on the French Revolution, 7 ; marriage ofj 10; is appointed Governor- General of India, 11 ; sets out lor his post, 13 ; meets Kirkpatrick at the Cape, and masters the position in India, 28 ; letters of, from the Gipe, to the President of the Board of Control, 29-32 ; coincidences on the day of his landing at Madras, 33 ; fails to influence the Nawab of the Kar- natik, 33-4; fringes the T,,ujiir question, proceeds to Calcutta, 34 ; 238 INDEX. is startled th^re by hearing of Tfpu's proceedings, 3 ; sends orders to Madr.ts to prepare, 34 ; learns the full extent of Tipu's proceedings and reiterates his orders, 35-6 ; resolves to deal with the Nizam, 36 ; has the French contingent disbanded, 38-40 ; influences the Peshwa, 40-1 ; restores the prestige of the British name, 41 ; effect of the orders of, at Madras, 42 ; reasons telling in favour of the orders of, 45-7 ; reiterates his orders, 48 ; position of, as stated in the despatches o p , 48-50 ; prescience of, 51 ; learns of the landing of Bonaparte in Egypt, and of the battle of Aboukir 52; in- forms Tipu thereof, and proposes to send him an ambassador of peace, 53; communicates to Tipu his knowledge of his proceedings at the Isle of France, 55; appeals to Tipu's better nature, 56 ; re- ceives a discourteous answer, 57 ; orders General Harris to act, 57-8; proclamation of, 58-60; arranges the partition of Maisnr, 61 ; divides the portion original ly assigned to the Marathas between the Nizam and the English, 64-5; reason of, for selection of the Hindu dynasty for Maisur, 65-6; great revolution effected by, 67-9; disappointment of, at the honours conferred upon him, 71; disinterestedness of, 72; deals with Tanjiir, 73 : settles Siirat, 75-7; and the Karnatik, 77-81 ; increases the British con- tingent in Haidarabad, 81-2; deals with Ouclh, 83-5 ; and ob- tains large cessions, 86; de- spatches Malcolm to Persia, 87 ; designs to capture the Isles of France and Bourbon, but the expedition is diverted to Egypt, 89-92 ; summary of foreign policy of, 92-4; civil and mili- tary reforms effected by, 95-8 ; directs the proper obsercfrnpe .of the seventh day, 98-100; h\ nominated Captn in-General afid Commander-in-Chief, 101; rea- sons of, for building Government House, 102 ; educational policy of, 102-5 ; disgust of, at the par- simony of the Court of Director^,, 105-7 ; tenners his resign a tw*^ 107; hears of the Peatf^ if Anvens, 107 ; dec ines to trans- fer the nucient French posses- sions in India, li 8-9 ; inaugu- rates the opening or Government, House, 110; quarrels of, withi the Court, 110-12 ; determines .-. to see India through the war- with the Miirathas, 112 ; prepares for, and concludes, the treaty of' Bass< in with the Prshwa, 118- 121 ; orders the occupation o Puna, 122 ; proceedings of, with reference to Sindhia and the Bhonsla, 124 ; policy of, 125 ; de- clares war, 127 ; signs peace, 129-30 ; instructs Lake to defend Sindhia against Holkar, 131 ; incurs the displeasure of the gourt of Directors, ^ 134-140; keenness of political insight of, 140 ; generosity with respect to Lake and Monson, 141-2 ; re- ceives the thanks of Parliament, 143 ; valid reasons for declining to publish the thanks of the Court of Directors, 144 ; learns that his successor is appointed, 147 ; tri- bute to, paid by Mr. Thornton, 148; returns to England, 151; first disappointment of, 152 ; is attacked in Parliament, 153; speaks in the House of Lords, 1.57 ; is sent as ambassador to Spain, 158-60; is appointed Foreign Secretary, 161 ; pursues the war with energy, 166-7 ; de- clares his policy, 170 ; strange silence of, on the Kegency debate, 175; dislike of Mr. Perceval, 177 ; the scanty toleration of, of his colleagues, 178 ; justification of the p licy of, 179; views of, pn the Catholic cjnestion, 179-80 : INDEX. 239 resigns office, 180; negotiations or, to form a Ministry, 181-8 ; explanation of, 189 : the star of, begins to pale, 192-3 ; views of, regarding Napoleon 194-6 ; op- poses the commercial policy of. the Government, 196-200; loses his wife, 201 ; becomes Viceroy of Ireland, 202 ; conciliatory and fair conduct of, 204-11 ; marries, 212 ; assists the commerce of Ire- land, 213 ; is relieved of his office, 214; disappointments awaiting, on. return to England, 215-16; advocates Catholic claims against his brother, 216; becomes again Viceroy of Ireland, 218 ; second Irish administration of, 218-19; reason why he refused office in 183o, 220 ; last years of. 222-4 ; reaction of the Court of Directors in his favour, 224-8 ; death of, 228 ; character of, 229-33. z. 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