with Asuf-ud-Dowlah, the nabob-vizier, to extort lacs from the princesses.

The vizier, upon reflection, regretted the step he had taken; and it was only under pressure that he could be brought to execute his part of the "treaty of Chunar" as it was called. The lands of the Begums were, however, seized; and, as the private treasure could not be obtained without force, the princesses were held in durance in their stately prison at Fyzabad. They and their attendants were treated with great severity-more especially two eunuchs who had held high place under the late vizier Sujah Dowlah, and who, after his death superintended the affairs of the household of his widow. These poor creatures were imprisoned, placed in irons, starved, and cruelly tortured, till the hearts of the Begums were melted to pity by the tales of their afflictions, and they were at length induced to purchase a mitigation of their sufferings, and by-and-bye their liberty, by the surrender of one and a quarter millions sterling, or nearly half their reputed wealth. Such transactions as these furnished fresh themes for the animadversions of his enemies both at home and in India.

The outcry against him had, indeed, become so general that he at length gave way to the pressure and resigned. His successor, Mr. Macpherson, having arrived, he embarked for England, where he was received with a spirit that seemed to be a protest against the action of his foes. He was, however, impeached (Feb. 1788) at the bar of the House of Lords on various charges of injustice, cruelty, and oppression towards the natives of India. The trial began in 1788. The case for the Commons was sustained by the most brilliant orators of the timeBurke, Fox, Sheridan, and others; while the accused was defended by Mr. Law--afterwards the famous Lord Ellenborough. The case which, at the outset, was the principal feature of the times, dragged on a weary length of nine years. The public had long grown tired of it; and the accused-whether rightly or wrongly, had come to be regarded as the martyr of a factious coterie. Other

events, too, had transpired to engross the public attention; and it was considered a manifest relief to all parties when, on the 23rd April 1795, the trial terminated with a verdict of acquittal.

In taking leave of this illustrious man, we cannot refrain from quoting the eloquent panegyric with which his great essayist closes the chapter of his history:-" "With all his faults-and they were neither few nor small-only one cemetery was worthy to contain his remains. In that temple of silence and reconciliation where the enmities of twenty generations lie buried, in the great abbey which has during many ages afforded a quiet resting-place to those whose minds and bodies have been shattered by the contentions of the great hall, the dust of the illustrious accused should have mingled with the dust of the illustrious accusers. This was not to be. Yet the place of interment was not ill chosen. Behind the chancel of the parish church of Baylesford, in earth which already held the bones of many chiefs of the house of Hastings, was laid the coffin of the greatest man who has ever borne that ancient and widely-extended name. On that very spot probably, fourscore years before, the little Warren, meanly clad and scantily fed, had played with the children of ploughmen. Even then his young mind had resolved plans which might be called romantic. Yet, however romantic, it is not likely that they had been so strange as the truth. Not only had the poor orphan retrieved the fallen fortunes of his line. Not only had he repurchased the old lands, and rebuilt the old dwelling. He had preserved and extended an empire. He had founded a polity. He had administered government and war with more than the capacity of Richelieu. He had patronised learning with the judicious liberality of Cosmo. He had been attacked by the most formidable combination of enemies that ever sought the destruction of a victim; and over that combination, after a struggle of ten years, he had triumphed. He had at length gone down to his grave in the fulness of age, in peace, after so many troubles; in honour, after so much obloquy."

CHAPTER XV.

ADMINISTRATION OF LORD CORNWALLIS.

Changes in the Company's Government-Mr. Fox's ProposalPitt's India Bill-The Marquis Cornwallis the First Governorgeneral-His Reforms-Hostility of Tippoo-Campaign of General Medows-Cornwallis' Campaign-Battle of Arikera -Treaty with Tippoo-Reform of the Land-tenure-The Revenue.

PREVIOUS to the retirement of Hastings from the head of affairs at Calcutta, certain important changes had taken place in the machinery of the Company's government. The concerns of India had begun to assume such collossal proportions, and had become so mixed up with the honour and welfare of the nation, that the prosperity of their administration by a single company, although controlled in a measure by the operation of the Act of 1772, was a subject of grave consideration. The corruption and greed of the officials had long been matter for criticism; and from a consideration of the subordinate, the public mind had been naturally drawn to a contemplation of the principals; so that the status of the Company was now pretty freely discussed. It was the opinion of many, that for a private institution, the Company was becoming too powerful.

It is true that, owing to peculation, extravagance, mismanagement, and the opposition of powerful princes, their finances were not in a satisfactory condition; but a vast field was, nevertheless, open to them; and they were in a fair way of becoming possessed of a dominion, which, in its extent and resources, found no equal in the foreign possessions of their own or any other sovereign. The Court of Directors had certainly taken steps, from time to time, to limit the area of their dominion, and had issued orders to the councils forbidding an extension of

the territory; but this was too often interpreted to signify nothing more than a desire that no further burdens should be added to an exhausted exchequer; and that no new undertaking should be set on foot that did not promise immediate profit; and so the process of territorial enlargement went forward.

On the renewal of the Company's charter in 1781, they were required to pay an annual sum of £400,000 to the nation, and to be content with a dividend of eight per cent. This alteration in the Company's tenure was followed up by a course of vigorous legislation. Down to this time, the affairs of India had been conducted by a Court of Directors, who were responsible to a Court of Proprietors of India stock alone. The imperial government had no hand in their concerns, except such as the Act of 1772 had secured them. The first to undertake a reform was Mr. Fox, who, in 1783, proposed that the government of India should be administered by the Company. The courts above mentioned were to be abolished, and in their stead a board of seven commissioners formed, who were to have the appointment of the Company's servants, they themselves being removable only by the sovereign in an address from either house. The scheme was considered revolutionary, and was rejected by the Lords.

Mr. Pitt now brought in the famous bill which bears his name. This measure, though differing materially in form from that of his rival, closely resembled it in essence. The present courts, with some modifications of their machinery, were to be retained with nearly their ancient authority; but, in addition to these, a third was established, consisting of a chief commissioner appointed by the crown, the chancellor of the exchequer, and others. This was known as the Board of Control. The duty of the board was to supervise and sanction the entire Company's proceedings. Its establishment is the chief feature of Pitt's measure.

The first governor-general appointed under the new system was the Marquis Cornwallis, a name celebrated in the annals of the western world as one of the chief com

manders in the American War of Independence (1786). He may be regarded as the successor to Warren Hastings, as Mr. Macpherson's administration was merely a temporary arrangement. His administration, which altogether lasted six years, embraces one of the most eventful periods of the history.

The policy of Lord Cornwallis was decidedly pacific; indeed, he had gone out with strict injunctions from his employers to avoid further contests. This policy he was able to follow for three years of his administration only; for, unfortunately for the maintenance of peace, he had fallen upon stirring times; and the ever restless Tippoo, a man of war from his youth, ambitious beyond measure, owning a vast and well-disciplined army, and flushed with recent triumphs, had every incentive to disturb the peace of the peninsula.

During the era of quiet above referred to, the energies of the new governor had been seriously directed towards the correction of abuses-in the course of which he displayed a generous anxiety to do justice to the natives, and to defend the weak against the tyranny of the strong. His political wisdom, however, though of a high order, was not faultless; and he committed one grave error which rendered the latter portion of his administration a turbulent contrast to its earlier years. In settling the affairs of the nizam, he managed to give offence to Tippoo; and this restless prince, burning, as his father had done, to humble the English, and so clear the way for the furtherance of his schemes of conquest and aggrandisement, was not slow in exhibiting his resentment. He found a pretext for hostilities in the action of the Rajah of Travancore. This prince had lately purchased the coast towns of Cranganore and Ayacotta from the Dutch. Tippoo, however, claimed them as the property of his ally, the Rajah of Cochin, and demanded their surrender. Travancore was at this time under the protection of the English; and the Madras government was bound to oppose his demand. As, however, it hesitated to act, Lord Cornwallis, seeing the danger of delay, resolved to take the matter up him