of the Maharajah. He had possessed it de facto for twenty years; and the English bad never objected to his possession of it. This we think was tantamount in all fair reason to their acknowledgment of his right to possess it. There can be no doubt that Scindia signed the treaty with the understanding that it secured to him the possession of Gwalior; and if this were not the understanding of General Wellesley also, it seems almost incredible that nothing should have transpired in the course of the negotiation to rectify the apprehension of his astute. plenipotentiary. This point then we consider settled. How then did the treaties with the feudatory chiefs affect the settlement of the question? Two of these treaties touched upon it; that with Ambajee Inglia, and that with the Rana of Gohud. The account of these treaties we extract from Thornton's history, because it is fuller than that given by our author: *** Ambajee Inglia was a powerful servant of Scindia. Part of the territories which Ambajee had been authorized [by Scindia] to administer, formed the ancient possession of the house of Gohud, which had been conquered by Scindia some years before.* Ambajee made overtures to the British Government, offering to detach himself from the service of Scindia, and become tributary to them. It was desirable to afford him encouragement, and the difficulty of reconciling his claims with those of the Rana of Gohud, was got over by dividing the country, and assigning the independent possession of part to Ambajee, in consideration of his surrendering the right of administering the whole; a negotiation with this view was opened, and, after much evasion, a treaty was concluded, by which Ambajee agreed to surrender all the territory north of Gwalior, together with the fortress of that name, the British Government guaranteeing to Ambajee the remainder of the territory which had been under his management. A force was despatched to take possession of the fortress, and Ambajee readily gave an order for its delivery. The commandant, however, refused to obey the instructions of his master,† and measures were taken for the reduction of the place by force. When a breach had been effected, the garrison offered to surrender in consideration of the sum of Rs. 50,000. This being refused, they demanded the value of certain stores as the price of submission, which being granted, possession of the fort was obtained by the English. By the treaty with the Rana of Gohud, Gwalior was ceded to * In 1784 as stated above.-ED. C. R. + Mr. Kaye says that this was by secret orders from Ambajee himself, whom he therefore designates "a double-dyed traitor." This is very likely; but it does not bear on the settlement of the question in hand. --ED. C. R. the Company, by whom the territories restored to her* (him) under the arrangement with Ambajee were guaranteed." It appears then that both Ambajee and the Gohud Rana had given up all rights which they might have possessed, or might have been supposed to possess, to Gwalior, and that it had been, so far as they were concerned, ceded to the East India Company. Now surely the meaning of the treaty with General Wellesley was, not that we should keep territory which Scindia claimed, on the ground of its being given up to us by his vassals, but only that we should be saved from the obligation to fulfil any portion of the treaty with him, whose fulfilment should put it out of our power to keep faith with those who had concluded treaties with General Lake. The article that we quoted above, would have justified the Company in withholding Gwalior from the Maharajah, if it had been by Lord Lake given over either to Ambajee or to the Gohud Rana; but not at all as the case really was. Malcolm's Lord On this point three distinct views were taken. was that it was both our duty, in terms of the treaty, and our interest politically, to allow Scindia's claim. General Wellesley's was that the duty was doubtful; but that in a case of doubt it was infinitely better to yield the point than to incur even the semblance of bad faith; and that, moreover, no harm could ensue from putting the Maharajah in possession of Gwalior. Wellesley's was that good faith did not require our cession of Gwalior, and that policy imperatively demanded its retention. We give our vote unhesitatingly on the side of Malcolm, and cordially endorse Mr. Kaye's commendation of the firmness with which he sacrificed, what was to him a paramount object of desire, the friendship and favor of the Governor-General. We know well what a "glorious little man" Lord Wellesley was; there never was a man whose friendship was more honorable or more delightful to those who enjoyed it. But his wrath was terrible. He would not have been a Wellesley else. And against Malcolm his wrath was fairly kindled. And then at this time especially he was peculiarly irritable. He was in bad health, and we all know that biliousness does not generally improve the temper. The Court of Directors were openly opposing the policy that he had so nobly and so conscientiously pursued. The ministry, from whom he had good reason to expect support, had abandoned him. He was about to leave the country, to save * Mr. Thornton makes a lady of this potentate, evidently confounding the word Rana with Rani; a mistake which we should scarcely have expected on the part of one so conversant with Indian affairs.-ED. C. R. himself from the ignominy of a recall; and he did not know but that he might be met on his return with an impeachment, and a second edition of Warren Hastings's trial. It was therefore peculiarly displeasing to him to have that very line of policy which was condemned by the Court, and not defended by the Crown, disputed and thwarted by one in whom he had placed such unbounded confidence as he had reposed in Malcolm. The controversy was only stopped by the arrival of Mr. Webbe, who relieved Malcolm of the office that had now become extremely distasteful to him. The Marquis afterwards wrote him a very long letter, which he intended to be conciliatory; but of which the plain English is simply this: "I have always encouraged you 'to give me advice, and have always had the highest possible 'opinion of you. But you must not give me advice which is distasteful to me." We dismiss this subject with the declaration that we do most thoroughly disapprove of Lord Wellesley's conduct in this matter, but that it was an exceptional case; indeed the only case we know in which he acted in a manner unworthy of himself. We were anxious to place this matter in a clear light, and have therefore presented it in a single view, passing over events that occurred contemporaneously with its progress. Malcolm's health continued to be very indifferent, and it seemed impossible that he should get rid of his complaint without a change of climate. He was therefore desirous to be sent to England with despatches, announcing the termination of the Mahratta war. In this desire he was warmly supported by General Wellesley, who had urged it upon his brother; and it would most likely have been gratified, but for the unfortunate collision that ensued. But before this an event had occurred at home which deepened the gloom that had been induced by wearing indisposition, and the harassment of contending from day to day with chicanery and falsehood. "A letter from his uncle, John Pasley, announced the death of his venerable father. The sad tidings came upon him with painful suddenness. A few weeks before he had received a letter from his younger sailor-brother, Charles, announcing that all were well at Burnfoot ;-and now he learned that the head of the family had been gathered to his rest. Mr. George Malcolm died peaceably in his own home, surrounded by his own people. He died as the Christian dieth, with an assured belief in the efficacy of his Redeemer's merits. To John Malcolm this thought-confirmed as it was by some beautiful letters from his sisters-brought great consolation. But still how deep was the sorrow which these tidings struck . SEPT., X 1857. *The late Sir Charles Malcolm. A A into his heart, may be gathered from "--a letter which his Biographer quotes at length, but which we need not quote, seeing that both we and the majority of our readers are exiles as he was, and know, without being told, the effect of such tidings from our distant home. It is a solemn thing under any circumstances to lose a father, recalling as it does all the instances,-long forgotten, it may be, by the son, and heartily forgiven by the father, in which the thoughtlessness, or indiscretion, or sins, of the son may have. grieved the heart of the father. He must have been a better son than probably any of us have been, who has not many such instances to recall; he must be a worse son than, we hope, any of us have been, who does not on the occasion of his father's death, recall them. But if it is a solemnizing and a saddening thing to stand by the death-bed of a parent, it is ten-fold more so to hear long after that a parent has died in our absence. How we reproach ourselves with every laugh and jest that we have uttered, every gaiety in which we have indulged, even the eagerness with which we have engaged in our ordinary studies or business, as if it were an insult to the memory of those for whom we ought to have been mourning. All this, it will be said, is unreasonable. It may be so; but it is not of reasoning, but of feeling, that we are speaking. Very glad was Malcolm, we may be sure, according to the measure of gladness that is competent to a man suffering under chronic dysentery, and mourning the death of a revered and beloved father, and lying under the severe displeasure of a master whom he has served with intensest zeal, when Mr. Webbe's arrival allowed him to quit the camp of Scindia. Immediately he took leave on sick-certificate, and went to pay a visit to his brother Robert at Vizagapatam. It was a great thing for Malcolm to be able at this time to hold quiet conference with his elder brother. A sister or a more excitable brother might have unmanned him; but Robert was grave and sensible, perhaps rather common-place; but kind and warm-hearted, and equally with John venerating and loving the father whom they had lost. In his society, and with nothing to do, Malcolm recovered his health and spirits insensibly. But it is proverbial, how difficult it is to get out of "mournings;" and although we do not in India indulge much in "the trappings and the suits of woe," the mere millinery and tailory of grief, yet it would seem as if there were truth in the proverb. We suppose that it is with this as with many matters of the same kind. People note the cases in which such coincidences occur, and disregard the cases in which they do not occur. Be this as it may, the two brothers learned at Vizagapatam of the death of another brother, William, a London merchant. Meantime public events were running their course. There and had been more change in the names than in the position of the pieces on our board. General Lake had become Lord Lake General Wellesley was now Sir Arthur Wellesley, K. C. B., Major Malcolm had become Lieut.-Colonel Malcolm. The only substantial change was that Lord Clive had left Madras, and had been succeeded in the Government of that Presidency by Lord William Bentinck. Holkar, who had unaccountably and most accommodatingly kept quiet while we had Scindia and the Boonsla on our hands, threw down the gauntlet when we had nothing to interfere with our "polishing him off." Lord Lake was, as before, kept in the north and Sir Arthur Wellesley, as before, was sent to the south. Being in Calcutta, he wrote to Malcolm that he wished to take him with him into the Deccan, and that he would pick him up on his way down the Bay. Accordingly, early in November, Malcolm joined his friend on board the Bombay frigate off Ganjam. Thence they proceeded to Madras, and after a few days' stay there, to Mysore. Malcolm found that things were getting on swimmingly under the able superintendence of his Assistant Major Wilks, and that there was nothing requiring his presence at the Residency. But it became more and more evident that there was to be no fighting in that part of India. Although the opening of the campaign was inauspicious for us, Lord Lake was now pressing Holkar so hard, as to require him to concentrate his forces towards the north. So Sir Arthur resolved to go to England, and Colonel Malcolm resolved to settle down in his Residency, and to occupy himself with the composition of the History of Persia. But this was not to be,— at least not yet. At the close of the year he took formal charge of the Residency, intimating the fact to Lord William Bentinck on the 23rd of December; but Lord Wellesley required his services elsewhere, "so in the month of March, Malcolm quitted Mysore, and in the course of April (1803) again found himself deep in the councils of Government House in Calcutta." The matters under discussion are brought clearly into view in the following passage: "To what extent and in what manner it was desirable to interfere with the concerns of the Holkar family ;-whether it were expedient to apply to the state of things which had arisen in consequence of the growing power of Jeswunt Rao (Holkar) the principle of counterpoise, and to depress Holkar by elevating Scindia;-whether it were advisable to interfere in the internal relations of the former family, and by supporting another member of it to the injury of Jeswunt Rao, secure the allegiance of the former ;-or whether it behoved us to regard Holkar as any other prince, and deal with him for good or for evil, for peace or for war, as the circumstances of his |
