IT

T might perhaps be fufficient, if my addrefs to you this day were confined to fome fhort remarks on those offences, of which the prifoners named in the calendar are accufed; but fuch is the particularity of my own fituation, that I cannot help feeling an inclination to take a wider range. Six years have relapsed fince the feat, which I have now the honour to fill, became vacant; and, in that interval, fo many important events have happened in India, and fo many interefting debates have been held in the parliament of Britain on the powers and objects of this judicature, that I may naturally be expected to touch at least, tho' not to enlarge, on thofe events, all of which I have attentively confidered; and on the refult of those debates, at most of which I was prefent. Such expectations, if fuch have been formed, I fhould be very loth to difappoint; and, as I fhall exprefs my fentiments without referve, you will hear them, I am confident, with perfect candour.

None of you, I hope, will fufpe&t me of political zeal for any fet of minifters in England, with which vice my mind has never been infected-nor of political attachments here, which in my station it will ever behove me to difclaim-if, in the character of a magiftrate appointed to preferve the public tranquillity, I congratulate you, who are affembled to enquire into all violations of it, on the happy profpect of a general peace in every part of the world with which our country is connected. The certain fruits of this pacification will be the revival and extenfion of commerce in all the dependen cies of Britain, the improvement of agricul

ture and manufactures, the encouragement of industry and civil virtue; by which her revenues will be restored, and her navy ftrengthened, her subjects enriched, and herfelf exalted. But it is to India that the looks for the moit fplendid, as well as moit fubftantial of thofe advantages: nor can the be difappointed, as long as the fupreme executive and judicial powers fhall concur in promoting the public good, without danger

of collifion, or diminution of each other's dignity; without impediment, on the one fide, to the operations of government; or, on the other, to the due adminiftration of juftice.

The inftitution, Gentlemen, of this court appears to have been misapprehended: it cenfure on any individual who exift, or have was not, I firmly believe, intended as a exifted. Legislative provifions have not the individual for their object, but the fpecies; and are not made for the convenience of the

day, but for the regulation of ages, What

ever were the reafons for its first establishment, of which I may not be so perfectly apprized, I will venture to affure you that it has been continued for one obvious reafon : That an extenfive dominion, without a complete and independent judicature, would be a phenomenon, of which the hiftory of the world affords no example. Juftice must be administered with effect, or fociety cannot long fubiit. It is a truth coéval with hu man nature, and not peculiar to any age or country, That power, in the hands of men, will fometimes be abufed; and ought always, if poll, to be reftrained: but the restrictions of general laws imply ng parti cular Diane How many phoneurals have from time to time been ufid to render judges impartial, and to place them above dependence! Yet none of us conceive ourselves difgraced by fuch precautions.-The object then of the court thus continued with ample powers, though wifely circumfcribed in its jurisdiction, is plainly this: That in every age the British fubjects refdent in India be protected, yet governed, by British laws; and that the natives of thefe important provinces be indulged in their own prejudices, civil and religious, and foffered to enjoy their own cuftoms unmolefted: and why thofe great ends may not now be attained, confiftently with the regular collection of the revenues, and the fupremacy of the executive government, I confefs myself unable to discover.

Another thing has been, if not greatly mifconceived, at left very imperfectly understood; and no wonder, fince it requires fome profeffional habits to con prehend it fully: I mean the true character and office of judges appointed to adminifter thofe aws. The ufe of law, as a science, is to prevent

The political History of Europe, for the Year 1782.

CHAP. III.

(Continued from Feb. Mag. p. 96.) N the mean

I bylyder's time, an attack made Aug. 1oth. Lages and gardens about the Mount, brought the alarm immediately home to Madras; and cafioned consultations for the throwing up of fome works to cover the black town. The army had been ordered to affemble at Conjeve ram, but on the day preceding the middle of the month, the general informed the select committee, that this design could not be effected, through the want of bullocks to convey a fuff cient quantity of provifions; the country people, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, having conveyed them to dittant places of refuge. He therefore advised, that the Mount should now be made the place of general rendezvous, where the troops fhould remain, until eight days provifions could be collected, and the means of conveyance procured; when the army fhould immediately proceed on its march. This being agreed to, another application was made to the Nabob, to urge his exertion in procuring a speedy fapply of bullocks and provifions; and farther requiring, that he fhould appoint fome perton of diftinction and confe

quence to reside with, and attend to the wants of the army, in order that their future supplies might be regular and constant.

Hyder, after menacing Gingee, and fome other places with a fiege, as a blind only to his real defign, tuddenly marched, and fat down before Arcot, on the 21st of Auguft. This

circumstance forwarded the Nabob's anfwer to

the late application; in which, he reminded the Committee of the ftores of all kinds which he had laid up in feveral of his forts; and intreated, that they would order the army to march im mediately to the relief of his capital, where, he affared them, that the troops thould be plentifully fupplied with every neceffary they wanted. However Hyder endeavoured to cover his defign upon Arcot, it had been fo far penetrated, or fufpected, that a confiderable detachment of the company's troops had been previously fent from the important fortrefs of Vellore, which arrived in time for the reinforcement of that garrifon. It was in a few days after Hyder invefted Arcot, that it was found neceffary at Madras, that Sir Hector Monro should quit the committee for the camp, and he accordingly proceeded on the 25th to take the command of the army at the

Mount.

We have already feen, that Col. Baillie commanded the company's forces in the Guntoor Circar. The order which that officer had from time to time received fince the invafion took piace, were various and contradictory, and had occafioned no small clathing of opinions in the fele committee at Madras. His firft, and fome fubiequent inftructions, went to the direct attack of Hyder's dominions in that quarter, particularly to the reduction of the Cuddepah country; with, however, a difcretionary latitude to the exercife of his own judgment, in immediGent. Mag. March, 1785,

г

ately directing his operations to those particula parts, where it might appear at the time they were most likely to prove effective. These or ders were ftrongly oppofed and protested against by two members of the committee; who itated various reafons to fhew, that Baillie's detach

ment fhould be immediately directed to ach forward with the utmost expedition, and to join the army, at its then intended rendezvous near Conjeveram.

Advices being foon after received from Baillie, that the nearnefs of Hyder's cavalry to the fouthward, with the overflowing of the Kriftna on the northward, had, on both fides, fo contracted the fources, and interrupted the courie of his fupplies of provifion, that the providing fubfiftence for the forces became every day more alarming and precarious; and, what was no lefs alarming, that he was apprehenfive of not be ing able much longer to detain the bullocks ne ceffary for a march, and without which the Thele advices occafioned, on the last day of army could not in any circumstance at all move. July, fome enlargement of that commander's inftructions; he being authorized, by the difpatches then forwarded, to march towards the prefidency, if he should find it abfolutely impracticable to fubfift the forces, either in the enemy's country, or from fome other quarter.

But as the danger at home approached more near, and became every day more urgent, the committee, very foon after, thought it necesary to become converts to the original opinion of the two diffenting members, and to dispatch accordingly an exprefs to Col. Baillie, with orders to march towards the prefidency at all events fervice, advifed him to take fuch a route, as but with an avaricious eye ftill to more diftant might poffibly afford him an opportunity of cutting off fome of the enemy's Convoys. The delay occafioned by this indecifion with refpect

to Baillie detechinent, though Docatiouneng the fatal catastrophe that followed, the ettects of to very many days, was the means of producing which will be long remembered, and late, if

ever, recovered.

The only cavalry in the army at

Aug. 25th, St. Thoma's Mount, was a fingle regiment belonging to the Nabob. Upon the ar rival of the general,in the camp, this regiment totally refuted ferving any longer, unless their

arrears

The were immediately discharged. Ameer, a principal officer of the Nabob's, who was prefent, notwithstanding the greatness of the exigency, when the fate of his master's capital was depending, refused to comply with the demand. The troops continuing obftinate, the remedy adopted was to break the regiment, and to strip them of their hortes and arms. Seventeen black officers, and about fixty of the men, offered to ferve in a new corps, under the company, and were gladly accepted by the general; the rest of the broken troopers were ordered to be fent under a guard, as prisoners, to Madras; but the Ameer, on the following morning, took an opportunity of enlifting them all into his own body guard. Such was the difpofition and attention to that prince's fervice and interefts, which then appeared among his principal fer

vants.

T

Hi whole fur, lid not exceed tree or four battalions of Spo, and from one to two companie. of European artillery. The event fhewed the fuperior excellence of thofe troops.

The conqueror now experienced a new and ftrange fituation of things; being reduced to the 'most diftreffing circumftances in the arms of victory. The Engih camp was within a few miles; but Hyder's whole army lay full in his way; and, if any advantages were to be derived from his prefent poft, he could not retain them through the want of provifions. He accordingly difpatched an exprefs to the general with an account of his fituation; ftating the lofs he had fuftained in the late action, which rendered him incapable of advancing; and the impoffibility of continuing where he was. He accordingly urged the neceffity, holding out, at the same time, the fullest confidence, of his being speedily extricated, by the arrival of the army at Perimbancum.

The general's fituation, upon this occafion, was undoubtedly very difficult. He found himfelf in a dilemina, where the hazard and danger were fo balanced on both fides, that the determination which to take, feemed to be a matter rather of fortune, than of judgment. The question was, whether, for the purpofe of extricating Baillie's detachment, which was to be. confidered as a matter of abfolute neceffity, he fhould, with the very inferior force under his command, give Hyder every poffible advantage over him in a general action, by advancing with the army into a flat and open country, where the immente cavalry of the enemy could act upon them on every fide with the utmost effect? Or, whether he should endeavour to attain his object at lefs apparent hazard, by fending fuch a reinforcement to Ballie, as would enable him to push forward to the camp, in defpite of the enemy. In the former cafe, befides the difadvantage we have mentioned, the army muft have abandoned their only provifion, confitting in a pagoda full of paddy, which they had collected fince their arrival. This the enemy would immediately have feized, as well as the poft of Conjeveram, and the ftrong grounds which they had quitted. Thus the army would have been equally deftitute of fhelter, and expofed to the danger of starving, upon its return from Perimbancum. Nor was the other part of the alternative without its fuli fhare of difficulty, hazard, and danger.

This was, however, adopted; and Colonel Fletcher, an officer of diftinguished merit, appointed with a strong detachment, compofed of the flower and most active part of the army, to the relief of Baillie. The force upon this expedition, confifted of the grenadier and light in fantry companies of Lord Macleod's highland regiment, two other companies of European grenadiers, one company of Sepoy markimen, and ten companies of Sepoy grenadiers. As their fecurity depended upon the remoteness and difficulty of their way, as well as the Gilence and fecrecy of their march, Fletcher refused four fix-pounders which were offered, and fet out from the camp at nine o'clock at night. Though the men left their knapfacks behind, it was thought neceffary that they should carry two day's rice, with fome bifcuit and arrack, to provide against the penury at Perimbancum,

Hyder had fuch excellent intelligence in the English camp, that he had an early and exact knowledge, not only of the defign, but of the particular circumftances relative to Fletcher's detachment; the time, the route, the number and nature of his troops, and even their proceeding without artillery, were all faithfully communicated by his fpies. He accordingly fent a strong body of forces to intercept and cut off the detachment on their way; but Col. Fletcher, by a fingular fagacity, having conceived fome fufpicion of his guides, fuddenly changed his route, and by a wide circuitous fweep, through rice-fields and fwamps to the right, he by that means, and the coyer of the night, evaded the danger.

The late defeat of Meer and Tippoo Saib, by a force to totally inferior in point of number, had greatly damped the spirit of the Myfore army, but the account of Fletcher's junction with Baillie, fpread univerfal dismay through their camp. The foreign officers were particularly alarmed. They confidered the whole as a maiterly ftroke of generalfhip, by which the amy would be encloled, and being attacked on both fides at once, that nothing but ruin could enfue. Under this impreffion, Col. Lallie, with most of the native general officers, strongly remonftrated with Hyder, on the neceffity of immediately breaking up his camp, and repaffing the Palaar, to avoid the immediate danger, which they otherwife confidered as inevitable. Hyder himself was undetermined how to act, and feemed to be giving way to the general fentiment, when the arrival of two of his fpies from Conjeveram, fuddenly changed the state of things. The affurances given by thele, that the English army was perfectly quiet in camp, and that the fmalleft preparation was not making, nor in tact any defign of a movement entertained, at once determined Hyder's conduct. The Europeans ftill, to a man, held their formerepinion. They confidered the intelligence too extraordinary, and even too near an impoffbility, to be at all credited. They accordingly concluded, that the fpies had told Hyder; and that his facility in giving way to the deception had rendered his ruin inevitable. Lally, however, went once more to Hyder, to urge the neceffity of fending off, at any rate, the guns and infantry.

In the mean time the trap was preparing, and laid with no fmall degree of art, ability, and judgment, for the unfortunate corps that were under the command of Baillie and Fletcher. The moft covert and difficult ground on the road which they were to pafs, was occupied and enfiladed by feveral batteries of cannon; and as the time and circumftances of their march were known, large bodies of the beft foot in Hyder's army, lay in ambufcade on either fide; he himfelf, with almoft his whole force, being in readinefs to fupport the attack. While these real difpofitions were making, or taking effect, which, by degrees, occupied all the valuable part of Hyder's army, a cloud of irregular eavalry were employed in various motions on the fide of Conjeveram, in order to attract the attention of the English camp;

Juft at day light, Baillie's corps was perceived by the enemy, ad, T2

Sept. 10th.

vancing