1768.]

ARREST OF LORD PIGOT.

83

of cavalry, at the head of which he laid waste the environs of Madras, and carried off spoils of considerable value.

Turning round upon his pursuers, Colonel Smith defeated them in two actions, while an army from Bombay advanced against Hyder's acquisitions on the Malabar coast. But the foolish interference of the Madras Council with the details of the campaign, and their removal of Smith from the scene of action, proved fatal to the English, who were, at last, almost annihilated by the troops of Hyder.

The treaty of Paris had once more restored Pondicherry to the French, and Hyder, who had been in correspondence with Lally during the last war, resolved to avail himself of the mutual rivalry existing between the two European nations. His overtures were readily listened to at Pondicherry, and several French officers forthwith repaired to Mysore. By their advice, he planned and executed a foray into the suburban district around Madras, which so alarmed the council of that place, that they sued for peace, and allowed Hyder to dictate his own terms. Subsequently, however, the Sultan of Mysore sustained several defeats from the Mahrattas; but although both parties courted the alliance of the English, the Madras authorities were wise enough not to interfere. It would have been well if they had adhered throughout to a similar neutrality, but unfortunately they were prevailed upon, shortly afterwards, to assist Mohammed Ali, the Nabob of Trichinopoly in various petty expeditions against the rajahs of Marawar and Tanjore, in the course of which our allies, and even our own troops, inflicted various discreditable acts of barbarity upon the vanquished inhabitants of those districts. The members of the Madras Council, about the same time, rose against their governor, Lord Pigot, and imprisoned him, a step which excited considerable surprise and indignation at home. Being a man of weak

nerves, this indignity so preyed upon his spirits, that it caused his death, before Sir Thomas Rumbold, his intended liberator and successor, could reach Madras.

During the government of Clive in Bengal, a young official in that Presidency had been gradually laying the foundation of future greatness. Warren Hastings, for so was he called, boasted a descent from one of the most ancient families in England; since his pedigree could be traced, it is said, to one of the Danish Sea Kings, and included, among its collateral branches, the celebrated Chamberlain, who perished by the tyranny of Richard III. Educated at Westminster, he had for his schoolfellows Cowper the poet, Churchill, Colman, Lloyd, Cumberland, and Elijah Impey, afterwards Chief Justice of Calcutta, whose name was subsequently so closely associated with his own. The father of Warren Hastings, an unprincipled spendthrift, died in the West Indies, leaving his orphan boy to the care of a grandfather and uncle. After the decease of these relatives, a distant connexion of the family took charge of young Warren, and feeling anxious to rid himself speedily as well as decently of his burden, procured for him a writership in the Company's service, and sent him off to India. The Westminster boy felt the change at first severely, since he had distinguished himself at school, and was looking forward to a scholarship at Christ Church. But it is the characteristic of true genius always to suit itself to circumstances, and Hastings soon turned his whole attention from hexameters and pentameters, to account-books and ledgers. His diligence procured for him an appointment at Cossimbazaar, then merely a factory, but destined soon to become the theatre of several momentous political events. The fall of Calcutta took place, and Hastings found himself a captive in the hands of the sanguinary tyrant, Surajood-Dowlah. Released by the good offices of the Dutch, he remained at Moorshedabad, keeping up an inter

1764.]

HASTINGS APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF BENGAL.

85

course with his fugitive countrymen who had abandoned Calcutta, and were seeking a temporary asylum in the island of Fulda. The avenger Clive arrived, Meer Jaffier ascended the throne of Bengal, and Hastings, who had served as a volunteer in the ranks, found himself appointed by the commander-in-chief-whose quick eye had already detected his qualifications-resident at the new Nabob's court. During the government of Vansittart, the rising civilian kept tolerably free from the oppression and corruption that surrounded him, contriving, however, to amass a small fortune, with which he returned to England in 1764. While at home, he laboured to promote the extension of eastern literature among his countrymen ; and for the furtherance of these views, procured an introduction to the great moralist, Dr. Johnson, with whom he afterwards corresponded on several occasions. The loss of his fortune obliged him to return to India. His destination was Madras, where he effected some important reforms, and gained for himself so high. a character at home, that the Directors determined to appoint him Governor of Bengal. This measure drew forth from Clive a letter to his successor, replete with expressions bearing testimony to the lively satisfaction which the appointment had afforded him.

The

When Hastings arrived in Bengal, the affairs of that country still nominally ruled by the Nabob, were in a great measure under the control of a native minister, deriving his office from the British Government. individual placed in this responsible position by Clive, was one Mohammed Reza Khan, who seems, upon the whole, not to have acted worse than the majority of his countrymen would have done in a similar post, and with similar opportunities of advancing their own interests. Power in the east, indeed, is rarely coveted from patriotic motives, it is seldom sought even for its own sake; the great aim of the oriental statesman, being simply the accumulation of wealth by a skilful use of those

opportunities which an elevated station places within his reach.

The known unwillingness of Clive to elevate a Mus+ sulman to the rank of chief minister to the Nabob, had encouraged another candidate to offer himself, the Maharajah Nuncomar. This man, whose subsequent history and dark fate justify some introductory notice, was a Bengalee Brahmin, and one of the most influential members of his priestly tribe. Scrupulously exact in performing the ceremonial rites prescribed by Hindoo tradition, he was nevertheless a villain of the blackest dye. Perjury, treason, and dishonesty of the grossest kind, had been frequently laid to his charge, and proved beyond a doubt. Being now extremely irritated that Mohammed Reza Khan was preferred before him, the crafty Hindoo endeavoured, in every possible manner, to sap the credit of his rival. In this he succeeded far better than might have been anticipated, considering his well known and thoroughly abandoned character; his intrigues, indeed, had reached Leadenhall-street itself, and among the first instructions received by Hastings, was an order to arrest the Mohammedan minister, and subject his late administration to a rigorous and searching ordeal. The Directors recommended the governor to use in this matter the assistance of Nuncomar; and that unprincipled intriguer now congratulated himself upon the successful accomplishment of his nefarious designs. Two obstacles, however, stood in his way, which he had not foreseen, and could not easily remove. One of these was the dislike entertained towards him by Hastings; the other, the determination of the new governor to abolish for ever the office which the wily Brahmin so intensely coveted. The reasons for this latter resolve were mainly founded upon the disadvantages resulting from the double form of government; then existing in the province, the Nabob's minister and the Company being both, in a certain sense,

1774.]

SUSPENSION OF THE MOGUL'S TRIBUTE.

$7

supreme, while their mutual jealousies and intrigues impeded political action, and might have led eventually, as in the case of Meer Cossim, to revolution, anarchy, and bloodshed. But, in addition to these more public and official motives, the new governor regarded Nuncomar with no friendly eye. While Hastings occupied a subordinate position at Moorshedabad, he had quarrelled with the ambitious Brahmin; and although the dispute was sullenly terminated, in consequence of the interposition or commands of superiors, a grudge remained behind in the breast of each, which rendered them ever afterwards distant and inimical. The enmity of Nuncomar underwent, as may be imagined, no diminution from his failure in obtaining the object of his treacherous intrigues. Henceforth, he loathed Hastings, with an intensity of hatred which can only exist in a cowardly and cringing mind, whose animosity, when repressed by fear and self-interest, continually multiplies itself, growing daily more venomous and malignant.

The great difficulty against which Hastings had to contend, at the commencement of his career, was the want of money. The Directors in Leadenhall-street, forwarded, from time to time, urgent requests for remittances, which it was not always easy to meet satisfactorily. Their letters indeed inculcated the necessity for humanity, justice, and moderation. They reprobated ambitious encroachments, or any undue pressure upon an impoverished people. But these commendable sentiments invariably prefaced a request, that their agent would use every effort to increase the dividends. Hastings, therefore, was perpetually tempted to desert the right for the expedient, and to employ questionable means for the purpose of augmenting the finances of the Company.

One obvious measure soon occurred to him. 300,0007. a year was paid to the Mogul, as tribute for Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. Hastings suspended this payment, and wrenching from Shah Alim the districts of Alla