"far from being qualified to be directors of the great "movement of empire, are not fit to turn a wheel in But to men truly initiated and

"the machine. “rightly taught, these ruling and master principles 'which, in the opinion of such men as I have men"tioned, have no substantial existence, are in truth

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everything, and all in all. Magnanimity in politics "is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. If we are "conscious of our situation, and glow with zeal to "fill our places as becomes our station and ourselves,

we ought to auspicate all our public proceedings on "America with the old warning of the Church, "Sursum corda! We ought to elevate our minds to "the greatness of that trust to which the order of "Providence has called us. By adverting to the

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dignity of this high calling our ancestors have "turned a savage wilderness into a glorious empire; "and have made the most extensive and the only "honourable conquests; not by destroying, but by

promoting, the wealth, the number, the happiness "of the human race. Let us get an American

revenue as we have got an American empire.

English privileges have made it all that it is;

English privileges alone will make it all it can be. "In full confidence of this unalterable truth, I now

(quod felix faustumque sit) lay the first stone of the "temple of peace."

7

CHAPTER III.

INDIAN AFFAIRS

THE struggle in which Burke had been engaged since 1765 was ended by the recognition of the Independence of the United States of America by the Mother Country on November 30th, 1782. He was now able to devote his whole attention to Indian affairs, in which he had long taken a special interest. Strange tales of rapacity and tyranny occasionally filtered through to England from the East, and the deportment of the "Nabobs" who returned home after

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shaking the pagoda tree" was not calculated to make them popular. Their ill-gotten wealth was frequently employed in borough-mongering and in supporting the "Court Party" in Parliament, and Burke had, therefore, been carefully watching their proceedings for many years past. The American War had, however, pushed Indian affairs into the background, and it was not until February 28th, 1785, that he opened his campaign against the

despoilers of the Indian peoples in a brilliant speech in the House of Commons on the Nabob of Arcot's debts. The subject does not sound very attractive, but Burke invested it with all the glamour of his incomparable oratory. The Nabob of Arcot was a potentate in the southern part of India, who had fallen into the clutches of a gang of unscrupulous harpies in the East India Company's service. He owed his position to the intervention of the Company, who, by force of arms, had seated him on the throne against the claims of his brother and other competitors. About the year 1765 he began (as he alleged), at the instigation of the servants of the Company, to form designs for the extension of his territory. His ambition could only be achieved by the Company's assistance, and in order to secure this he entered into a secret and corrupt understanding with some of its servants to use its power for his aggrandisement, without openly committing it to his cause. The result was that the Englishmen in the plot amassed enormous fortunes, and the Nabob incurred a correspondingly gigantic debt. A good deal of this debt was of a purely fictitious character; a paper liability, representing no actual cash received,

but deliberately manufactured for the benefit of the corrupt gang of Europeans. The scandal leaked out, and assumed such proportions that an inquiry was demanded into the facts. This was conceded by Pitt, but the investigation was relegated to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, who found the debt to amount, with compound interest, to an enormous sum, and they ordered the President and Council of Madras to examine fully into its origin and nature. But the Ministry reversed their former decision, and, without further inquiry, the whole of the alleged liability was recognised, and its discharge was settled on the revenues of the Carnatic. This decision the Board of Directors was required to acknowledge as their own.

The whole proceedings were so mysterious and discreditable that Fox, on February 28th, 1785, moved for papers on the subject, his resolution being, of course, in the then state of parties, rejected by a very large majority.

In his speech Burke thus describes one method adopted for the manufacture of the Nabob's bogus liabilities:

"The manner in which this transaction was carried