the results of Sir Arthur's conduct during his residence in Mysore, Lord William Bentinck, then Governor of Madras, pronounced the following eulogium upon the great Captain of the age :—

"In viewing these happy consequences, I feel it to be an act of justice due to Sir Arthur Wellesley, to state, that there is no 'cause to which they can be so immediately traced as to the judgment and talents of that officer, which have been invariably directed to every measure connected with the public interest. He has left his command amidst the regret of all individuals, civil and military, European and native."

at

The Indian administration of the Marquis Wellesley was exposed to much obloquy after his return to England. His opponents blamed the subsidiary measures which had been adopted in Oude, and elsewhere, while they accused him of having occasioned the Mahratta war. Common decency, if not a sense of gratitude, should have restrained the tongue of one, at least, among these carping assailants. A Mr James Paull had been engaged for many years in commerce Lucknow, from which place he was banished for some unknown cause, by the Nabob Vizier. This arbitrary piece of tyranny would have involved his affairs in utter ruin, had not Lord Wellesley interfered, and procured the abrogation of the sentence. In a letter addressed soon afterwards to Major Malcolm, Mr Paull thus expresses his feelings towards the Marquis :-"Sensibly do I feel the obligation I am under to his Excellency, for whom I have only sentiments of gratitude and profound respect." Yet this grateful merchant, having subsequently returned to England, and obtained, by some means, a seat in parliament, announced his intention, the second day after he took his seat, of prosecuting to conviction, if possible, the Marquis Wellesley, to whom he imputed all the dangers that threatened our existence in India." Before, however, these malicious designs could be carried into effect, the unhappy mover committed suicide, having been

66

1807.]

OPPOSITION TO LORD WELLESLEY.

237

previously abandoned by the party who encouraged him to adopt this unworthy course.

Still the opposition did not cease. Sir Philip Francis, the persecutor of Hastings, came forward with characteristic virulence to assail another occupant of that post, which he himself had vainly aspired to fill. He was joined by Lord Folkstone, and some of the East India Directors, who belonged at that time to the House of Commons, but the various criminatory motions were always rejected by large majorities.

Now that the clamour of faction has long been hushed, and the party spirit which then engendered these unworthy censures no longer detracts from or obscures the merits of the departed statesman, no man of sound or extended views can withhold from Lord Wellesley's government the praise it so justly merits. The prompt and energetic measures of the great Governor-general, rescued from destruction or contempt the empire which Clive founded and Hastings maintained. During that administration, Tippoo Sahib and the Mahrattas, two powers who had plotted with unwearied assiduity and perseverance the downfall of the English, were vanquished and overthrown, while the native princes in alliance with the Company found themselves protected, and their subjects relieved from the insults and violence of disorderly and undisciplined armies, costly in peace, but utterly useless in war.

Nor had the exertions of Lord Wellesley embraced only the foreign relations of the Company. His attention was early directed to the wants, due classification, and proper training of the members of the civil service. For their benefit he contemplated the erection of a College at Fort William, to be devoted to the double object of encouraging Eastern literature, and preparing for their arduous and important duties the civil servants of the Company. Those servants still retained the ancient commercial nomenclature, being divided into senior merchants, junior merchants, writers, and factors.

But their present functions differed widely from the occupations of their predecessors; instead of writing out invoices, shipping bales of cotton, and crouching obsequiously to the lowest official of the Nabob Vizier, the merchant princes of Hindoostan, in the year 1805, were presiding over courts, administering provinces, and governing districts. Each of these functionaries was almost as little controlled, within his own sphere, as the contemporary Dey of Algiers, or the reigning Bashaw of Tripoli. The inhabitants of tracts of country larger than Yorkshire, the populations of cities more vast than Liverpool, obeyed with slavish awe, or grateful respect, the mandates of two or three men, distinguished by no high-sounding titles, manifesting little of the pomp of authority, and sprung generally, not from the aristocracy, but from the trading classes of their own country.

The spectacle was both flattering and instructive. It testified to the energy and perseverance of the AngloSaxon race, while it exhibited the triumph of a civilization derived from Christianity over the stagnant barbarism of a debased and idolatrous system. It is true indeed, and impartiality demands the avowal, that the proceedings of the conquerors in India were often lamentably at variance with the holy faith into which they had been baptized. Some, it is to be feared, according to an old proverbial saying, current during this period, "left on their outward voyage the little religion or morality which they possessed at the Cape of Good Hope." Yet it cannot be denied that public opinion at home exercised a gradual, imperceptible, but still an irresistible, influence over the conduct of the English authorities abroad. The tyrannical civilian, the worst Nabob who derived the funds for his vulgar ostentation from a plundered province, or an oppressed native ruler, soon found, by two or three signal examples, that even in distant India he must keep his avarice and rapacity within bounds. In proportion, too, as the popular mind in the mother country awoke

1805.] LORD WELLESLEY'S ADMINISTRATION.

239

to the importance of the Indian settlements, a better class of men than the co-officials of Clive, or even of Hastings, entered the Company's service, and occupied the principal posts of authority. Thus, at the worst of times, the oppressed were never deprived of the consolations of hope. The ryot who groaned under the rigour of Sujah Dowlah, or Tippoo Sahib, could only look forward to a succession of tyrants, each worse than his predecessor; the native who suffered from the temporary injustice of a harsh and severe collector, or from the arrogance and evil counsels of an imperious and ignorant resident, might obtain redress from betterminded superiors, or anticipate the time when his oppressor would be replaced by a more upright and conscientious magistrate.

During Lord Wellesley's administration, the eye of a master surveyed intently and minutely the whole machine of government. Commerce was encouraged, men of worth and ability were drawn from obscurity and placed in positions where they could exercise and develope their peculiar talents. The agents of the great Marquis had been taught by him the importance of selfdependence; since he invariably intrusted them with all the power which they might reasonably require for the performance of the various services expected at their hands. No official forms, no intrusion of subordinate authorities, were suffered to counteract or impede their plans; for the Governor-general never selected for an important duty any man in whom he could not fully confide; while he rarely placed confidence in those whose merits he had not previously scrutinised with a jealous and watchful eye.

CHAPTER XVII.

PACIFIC POLICY OF SIR GEORGE BARLOW-LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK APPOINTED TO MADRAS-FRAUDS AT TANJORE-MASSACRE OF VELLOREANIMOSITY TOWARDS MISSIONS-COMPLAINTS OF THE ALLIES-TROUBLES

AT HYDERABAD-AMEER KHAN-MISSIONS TO AFGHANISTAN, PERSIA,

AND THE SIKHS.

(1803-1809.)

THE intelligence of the death of Lord Cornwallis reached the Court of Directors in the month of February, 1806. On the 14th of the same month, Lord Minto, President of the Board of Control, addressed to the Directors a suggestion, that Sir George Barlow should be empowered to act as Governor-general for a limited period only. The Directors, however, appointed Sir George to fill this post for the usual term; and hence arose a discussion between the Company and the Crown, which was terminated on the 9th of July, by the nomination of Lord Minto himself to the office in question.

sor.

During the interim, the acting Governor-general exhibited a marked determination to follow out the peace policy so warmly advocated by his immediate predecesIn pursuance with this resolution, he endeavoured as much as possible to avoid new alliances, and to neglect those which had already been formed. The Cutch Rajah, being dispossessed of his authority by rebels, sought the assistance of the Company: it was amicably refused. The Rajpoot chieftains began a civil war among themselves, both parties looked to the English for aid, but the Supreme Government declined to interfere. In the mean time an insurrection broke out in Cabool, and the province of Berar was plundered twice by Scindiah and his Pindarries. Lord Wellesley's object had been, not only to compel the native states to refrain from disturbing the English, but to constrain them to keep the peace among themselves; Sir George