no aids to his own malevolence and ignorance for accelerating the ruin of this country."

Happily for the existence of the British Empire in India, Clavering never presided over the Council of Calcutta ; and Francis's vindictive power passed away, leaving nothing behind but the shadow of a hideous and troubled dream. While the directors and proprietors at home were squabbling about Hastings, and the way by which they could rid themselves of the only man in their service fit to rule India, a great change had taken place in Bengal. Colonel Monson died the day before Hastings' letter was written, with the character of General Clavering given above. Thus only four members of the Supreme Council were left; Clavering and Francis on the one side, Hastings and Barwell on the other; and by the Regulating Act of Parliament the GovernorGeneral had the casting vote. Thus Hastings, who had been during the last two years destitute of all power and patronage, became all at once master of the situation. He instantly proceeded to undo all the evils which Francis and the majority had attempted. Their measures were reversed; reversed; their creatures were displaced. A new valuation of the lands of Bengal, for the purpose of taxation, was ordered, and it was provided that the whole inquiry should be conducted by the Governor-General, and that all letters relating to it should run in his name.

Hastings, at the time when he had recovered the proper power which should always belong to the Governor-General, began to revolve in his mind some of those vast plans for the consolidation of the British Empire in India—plans which, though he was not

Warren Hastings Recovers his Power. 181

permitted to carry into effect himself, he lived to see realized before his death in 1818. He saw that our empire had already become the pivot round which all the states of Hindostan were revolving. He cast his eyes over the map of India, and beheld three detached countries, each of them greatly superior in population to European kingdoms of the first class in the middle of the eighteenth century; viz., the Mahrattas, a powerful confederation of principalities; Hyder Aly, now king of Mysore; and Mohammed Ali, sovereign of the Deccan; with many smaller states, all of them intent on watching the growth of the British Empire, which already consisted of so large a portion of the north of India, ruled by a handful of Englishmen, and all eager to overwhelm it on the very first opportunity. Nevertheless the directors at home desired the Governor-General to hold entirely aloof from these states, and to have no communication with them, friendly or otherwise. It was easy to issue such orders, but impossible for Hastings to obey them, because the same authority required him to exercise the most rigid economy in their military establishments, on the efficiency of which the existence of their power depended. Hastings knew that all the resources of the three presidencies would not suffice to keep together such an army as would enable him, single-handed, to maintain the British Empire in India, were it seriously attacked. If the French should only send an adequate force to India, round which the native powers could rally, our empire might be as speedily overthrown as it had been created. How did Hastings act in this supreme hour of trial and danger? With

that far-sightedness which is never found except among statesmen of the highest order, he conceived the idea of that system of subsidizing the native princes, out of which the greatness of the British Empire in India may be said to have arisen. He resolved to contract such intimate alliances with the minor states contiguous to the English territories in Bengal, and to maintain at their expense such a force as should at once protect them from both foreign and domestic violence, and place him in a position to cope with any or all of the greater powers, in the event of their making war against the rising British Empire in India.

CHAPTER XIX.

WARREN HASTINGS GOVERNOR-GENERAL DE FACTO AND DE JURE. THE MARCH ACROSS INDIA.

A.D. 1776-1779.

HILE Hastings was meditating his vast designs for the consolidation of the British Empire in India, the Ripon, which arrived at Calcutta in June, 1777, brought the intelligence that he had ceased to be Governor-General; that his resignation had been accepted; that Wheeler, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, had been appointed in his place, and that until Wheeler arrived the chair was to be filled by General Clavering.

Had Hastings still been in a minority, as he had been during the two previous years, he would probably have retired without any further struggle; but happily for England, by the death of Col. Monson, which gave him the casting vote, he was now the master of British India. He declared that he never had given such positive instructions to his agent, Colonel MacLeane, which could warrant the steps taken at home. He had repeatedly told the directors he would not resign, and with that declaration he could not see how they could have received his resignation. He subsequently stated that though

Col. MacLeane had not acted in accordance with his instructions, he would nevertheless have considered himself bound by that act of resignation, had not General Clavering attempted to seize the supreme power by violence. The General sent for the keys of the fort and treasury, took possession of the records, and held a council with Francis as his sole companion; while Hastings took the chair in another apartment, and Barwell sat with him.

Thus there were two parties, each claiming supremacy, and each possessing some plausible show of right. There was no authority entitled to their obedience within fifteen thousand miles. It seemed as if there was no way of settling the dispute but by an appeal to arms; and from such an appeal, conscious of his integrity, and of his deservedly great influence over the English in India, Hastings was not inclined to shrink. He directed the officers of the garrison at Fort William, and of all the neighbouring stations, to obey no orders but his. At the same time, with admirable judgment, he offered to submit the case to the Supreme Court, and to abide by its decision. Nobody could be treated as a criminal for obeying what the judges should solemnly pronounce to be the lawful government. The boldest man would shrink from taking arms in defence of what the judges should pronounce to be usurpation. Francis and Clavering, after much quibbling and trying to shirk the challenge, at length agreed, though most unwillingly, to abide by the award of the Supreme Court. The court pronounced that the resignation was invalid, and that Hastings was still Governor-General under the Regulating Act of 1773;