XXI.

1782.

sury should adhere to the principles on which the BOOK administration was originally formed, so long would he give him his cordial support. Whenever these principles were abandoned, he would be his most determined opponent."

The earl of Shelburne now rose to declare "his perfect satisfaction at being supported upon the terms stated by the noble duke." He said, "he lamented as much as any man the death of the late marquis of Rockingham, and the loss sustained by the cabinet in the retreat of two persons so remarkably distinguished, one by the splendor of his abilities, the other by the unimpeached integrity of his character. The office he now held, his lordship affirmed, was within his grasp when the first arrangements were forming, but he had then given way to the noble marquis, though he had now accepted the post, as that nobleman was no more; and this, he believed, was the only reason for which the late right honorable secretary had withdrawn himself. But if the monarch was divested of the power of appointing his own servants, he would be reduced to the condition of a king of the Mahrattas, who had nothing of sovereignty but the name. had been charged, his lordship said, with inconsistency relative to America: but his opinion still was, as it ever had been, that whenever the parliament of Great Britain acknowledged that point, the sun of England's glory was set for ever.

He

Other

BOOK

XXI

1792

"That the conduct of the Company and their servants in India to the King and Nud,if Khan, with respect to the tribute payable to the one, and the stipend to the other; and with respect to the transfer of the provinces of Corah and Illahabad to the vizier, was contrary to policy and good faith: and that such wise and practicable measures should be adopted in future as may tend to redeem the national honor, and recover the confidence and attachment of the princes of India,"

"That the Company's servants in their presi dency of Bombay were guilty of very notorious in stances of disobedience to the orders of their em ployers, as well in the proceedings against the na bob of Baroche, as in the commencement of the Mahratta war, by the seizure of the islands of Salsette and Coranja,"

"That in forming an offensive alliance with Ra goba, the government of Bombay violated the or ders of the Company against any connexions of that nature, and against any interference in the quar rels of the native powers,"

"That it is the opinion of this house, that the motives, as well as success, of the Nizam's instigations to form and animate a confederacy of the great country powers against the British possessions in India, and the calamitous events which ensued, may be properly attributed both to the unjustifiable proceedings against the Mahratta government, and

to the conduct of the Madras presidency, in regard BOOK to the Peshcush, and Guntoor Circar."

As the result of the whole connected series of resolutions, it was finally resolved:

"That Warren Hastings, esq. governor-general in Bengal, and William Hornby, esq. president of the council at Bombay, having in sundry instances, acted in a manner repugnant to the honor and po. licy of this nation, and thereby brought great calamities on India, and enormous expenses on the East India Company, it is the duty of the directors of the said Company to pursue all legal and effectual means for the removal of the said governor-general and president from their said offices, and to recall them to Great Britain."

But if all the preceding resolutions were founded, as they indubitably appeared to be, on the basis of truth and justice, the concluding one merits only contempt, as wholly inefficacious and inadequate to the object in view. The purport of it was indeed approved and confirmed by the Court of Directors, who, on the 28th of October of this year, passed the following analogous resolution:

"RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this court, that a steady perseverance in the system of conduct so frequently enjoined by the court of directors, cannot be expected from those servants whose ideas of extension of dominion, either by negotia

XXI.

1782

BOOK tion or conquest, have led them to depart from orders so often enforced; and THEREFORE that it is expedient to remove Warren Hastings, esq. from the office of governor-general of Bengal."

1782,

of Mucking

But this resolution it was necessary, according to the constitution of the Company, adapted merely to the transaction of mercantile affairs, to submit to the ultimate discussion of the court of proprietors; who refusing by a great majority to ratify the same, the whole proceeding passed gradually and silently into oblivion: and the decisions of the representa tives of the nation, in a political concern of the highest moment, were counteracted and finally superseded by the prejudiced, not to say factious, determination of a body of ignorant and interested

traders.

Hitherto the new ministry, although composed of dissonant and jarring materials, had conducted public affairs with at least the appearance of perfect and cordial unanimity the earl of Shelburne in the upper house bringing forward the same motions,

and supporting them by the same general arguDeath of ments, as Mr. Fox in the lower. But an event now them took place which was the subject of deep and uniham. versal regret, and the consequences of which cannot be sufficiently deplored, in the death of the mar quis of Rockingham, July 1st, 1782, in the meridian of his age, and at the very height of his poli

XXI.

His charac

tical reputation-the weight and influence attached to BOOK which, the result of a steady and uniform adherence to the principles of liberty under every vicissitude of 1782 fortune, combined with the excellence of his private ter. character, and the mild benignity of his manners, formed that power of attraction which held together the whole ministerial system; and when this ceased to operate, disorder, confusion, and mutual repulsion took place. The splendor of the new constellation faded, and "certain stars shot madly from their spheres."

ment of the

burne.

To drop all metaphorical and poetical allusion, it Advanceis necessary to state in plain language, that, on the earl of Shelvery day succeeding the decease of the marquis of Rockingham, the earl of Shelburne was declared first lord commissioner of the treasury. The acceptance of this high and pre-eminent office, without any previous communication with his colleagues in administration, was considered by the Rockingham party as equivalent to a declaration of political hostility on the part of lord Shelburne. It was in effect telling his allies that he conceived his influence in the cabinet to be sufficiently strong to enable him to stand without their assistance. It was evidently setting up a distinct and opposite interest, depending upon the secret assurances of royal favor and support. Precisely the same reasons which had induced the earl of Shelburne three months before to decline the offer then made still existed in full VOL. VII.

Y