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war against

sanguine

The victory gained over the united forces of the allies, and their final separa- CHAP. VIII. tion by treaty, elevated the Madras government to a high tone of ambition. They 1768. resolved not to carry their arms into Mysore, but to make the conquest and ac- The Presidenquisition of the country. They pressed Mahomed Ali to join the army, that the cy push the war might as far as possible appear to be his. "They pompously" (as the Hyder with Directors afterwards reproached them) "appointed him Phousdar of Mysore," and hopes. afterwards accused him, for accepting that very title, " of an insatiable desire of extending his dominions."* To bring the conduct of the war still more under the control of the Presidency, they sent to the army two members of council, as field deputies, without whose concurrence no operations should be carried on. These members compelled the commander of the troops to renounce his own scheme of operations, that he might act offensively against Mysore. The English army, however, too feeble for the enterprise, acted without energy; and the summer of 1768 passed in unavailing movements and diminutive attempts. Hyder, the newness of whose government could not long dispense with his presence, was well inclined to postpone his struggle with the English, and made in September an overture towards peace. It was received, however, with great haughtiness by the Presidency, whose persuasion of the weakness of their enemy, and hopes of a speedy conquest of his realm, it only tended to increase and inflame. In the mean time Hyder was by no means inattentive to Superiority of the war. He took the considerable fort of Mulwaggle; and gained some adHyder. vantages over Colonel Wood, who attempted in vain to recover the place. The Presidency, dissatisfied with the progress of the war, under Colonel Smith, who was highly exasperated by the control of the field deputies, recalled that respectable officer; and Mahomed Ali, whom they had in some measure forced to 17th March, 1769, after telling the Madras Presidency, that they had paid no regard to the above injunctions, and to the whole tenor, which was to the same effect, of all the instructions of their employers, they say, "It is with the utmost anxiety and displeasure that we see the tenth article of the treaty with the Subah, by which he cedes to the Company the Duanny of the Carnatic Balaghaut; a measure so totally repugnant to our most positive and repeated orders, not to extend our possessions beyond the Carnatic..... Our displeasure hereat is aggravated, by the disingenuous manner in which these affairs are represented to us in your advices." They express a strong opinion on the passion of their servants for interfering extensively with the native powers. "We cannot take a view of your conduct, from the commencement of your ne gotiation for the Circars, without the strongest disapprobation; and when we see the opulent fortunes, suddenly acquired by our servants, who are returned since that period, it gives but too much weight to the public opinion, that the rage for negotiations, treaties, and alliances, has private advantage for its object more than the public good." Ibid. p. 520, 521.

* Letter from the Directors to Governor and Council of Madras, 17th March, 1769.

1769.

BOOK IV. join the army, but who was now unwilling to leave it, they commanded, under pain of deprivation, to return. The army became weak and despondent, through sickness and desertion. Hyder displayed increasing vigour. He attacked Colonel Wood, who was unable to save his baggage. Before the end of the year he had recovered all the conquered districts; and in January, 1769, carried his usual ravages into Carnatic. He penetrated into the district of Trichinopoly; and detached one of his Generals into the provinces of Madura and Tinivelly, which he plundered and laid waste. The English army were unprovided with horse, and could neither overtake the march of Hyder, nor interrupt his devastations. No part of the southern division of Carnatic escaped his destructive ravages, except the dominions of the Rajah of Tanjore, who saved himself by a timely accommodation, and whose alliance Hyder was solicitous to gain. Colonel Smith was again placed at the head of the English forces, and by judicious movements straitened the operations of Hyder. He even interposed with dexterity a detachment between Hyder and his own country, which was of the less importance, however, to that warrior, as he drew his resources from the country in which he fought.

Hyder surprises the Presidency by a sudden ap

pearance at

Madras, and compels them

to make a

Hyder now meditated a stroke which he executed with great felicity and address. Sending all his heavy baggage and collected plunder home, from Pondicherry, which during this incursion he had twice visited to confer with the French, he drew the English army, by a series of artful movements, to a considerable distance from Madras, when, putting himself at the head of 6000 cavalry, and hasty peace. performing a march of 120 miles in a space of three days, he appeared suddenly on the mount of San Thome, in the immediate vicinity of the English capital. From this he dispatched a message to the Governor, requiring that a negotiation for peace should immediately be opened; and that in the mean time the approach of the army in the field should be forbidden. The Presidency were struck with consternation. The fort might undoubtedly have held out till the arrival of Smith; but the open town, with its riches, the adjacent country, and the garden houses of the President and Council, would have been ravaged and destroyed. The Presidency were now seriously inclined to peace; and notwithstanding the unfavourableness of their situation, they agreed to negotiate upon Hyder's terms. A treaty was concluded on the 4th of April, 1769, consisting of two grand conditions; first, a mutual restitution of conquests, including the cession to Hyder of a small district, which had formerly been cut off from the Mysorean dominions; and secondly, mutual aid, and alliance in defensive wars.

which the war

condemned by

The disasters of the war in Carnatic, with the disorders which pervaded the CHAP. VIII. government of Bengal, excited the most violent apprehensions in the Company; 1769. and reduced sixty per cent. the price of East India Stock. The treaty with The terms on Hyder was the bed on which the resentments of the Directors sought to repose. was termiIt is very observable, however, that their letters on this subject abound much nated, severely more with terms of vague and general reproach, than with any clear designation the Directors. of mischief to which the conditions of the treaty were calculated to give birth. They accuse the Presidency of irresolution, and incapacity; and tell them that by the feebleness with which they had carried on the war, and the pusillanimity with which they had made peace at the dictation of an enemy, " they had laid a foundation for the natives of Hindustan to think they may insult the Company at pleasure with impunity." Yet they pretended not, that a mutual renunciation of conquests was not better than a continuation of the war; or that the vain boast of driving Hyder's light cavalry from the walls of Madras would not have been dearly purchased with the ravage of the city of Madras, and the surrounding country. The Presidency affirm that they were compelled to make peace for want of money to wage war." * And the only imprudent article of the treaty in which, however, there was nothing of humiliation, or inconsistency with the train of the Company's policy, was the reciprocation of military assistance; because of this the evident tendency (a circumstance however which seemed not ever to be greatly deprecated,) was to embroil them with other powers.†

66

* Letter to the Court of Directors, 23d March, 1770; Rous's App. p. 1415.

For these transactions, besides the printed official documents, the well-informed, but not impartial author, of the History and Management of the East India Company, has been, with caution, followed, together with Robson's Life of Hyder Ali, corrected from authentic MSS. by Mr. Grant.

1769.

vidend limited

liament.

CHAP. IX.

Public opinion in England, Proceedings in the India House, and in Parlia ·ment – Plan of Supervisors – Plan of a King's Commissioner-Increase of pecuniary Difficulties-Dividend raised-Company unable to meet their Obligations-Parliamentary Inquiry-Ministerial Relief - An Act, which changes the Constitution of the Company-Tendency of the Change-Financial and Commercial State.

BOOK IV. THE affairs of the Company excited various and conflicting passions in England; and gave rise to measures of more than ordinary importance. The act of parAmount of di- liament having expired which limited the amount of dividend in 1767, the by act of par- Directors exclaimed against a renewal of the restriction, as transferring the powers of the Company to parliament, subverting the privileges of their charter, and rendering insecure the property of every commercial and corporate body in the kingdom. They even presented to parliament a petition, in which these arguments were vehemently enforced; and so well by this time were they represented in that assembly, that a sufficiency of orators was not wanting, who in both Houses supported their claims. Opposite views, notwithstanding, prevailed; and an act was passed to prevent the increase of the dividend beyond ten per cent. till the 1st day of February, 1769.

New arrange

tory.

Before the expiration of this term, the Company, who were anxious to evade ing the terri- the question respecting the public claim to the sovereignty of the Indian territory, very assiduously negotiated with the minister a temporary arrangement. After a great deal of conference and correspondence, an act was passed in April, 1769, to the following effect : That the territorial revenues in India should be held by the Company for five years to come; that in consideration of this benefit they should pay into the exchequer 400,000. every year; that, if the revenues allowed, they might increase the dividend, by augmentations not exceeding one per cent in one year, to twelve and a half per cent. ; that if, on the other hand, the dividend should fall below ten per cent., the payment into the exchequer should obtain a proportional reduction, and entirely cease if the dividend should decline to six per cent.; that the Company should, during each year of the term, export British merchandise, exclusive of naval and military stores, to the

1769.

amount of 380,8371.; and that when they should have paid their simple con- CHAP. IX. tract debts bearing interest, and reduced their bonded debt to an equality with their loans to government, they should add to these loans the surplus of their receipts at an interest of two per cent.* This agreement between the public and the Company, was made, it is obvious, upon the same supposition, that of a great surplus revenue, upon which all its successors have been made, and with the same result.

ment in the receipt of trea

board of su

vised for the

evils.

In the mean time, the grievous failure in the annual treasures, which they Disappointhad been so confidently promised; and which, with all the credulity of violent wishes, they had so fondly and confidently promised themselves; excited, both sure; and a in the Company, and in the nation, the most vehement complaints against the pervisors demanagers in India, to whose misconduct was ascribed the disappointment of remedy of hopes which no conduct could have realized.† A grand investigation and reform were decreed. And for the performance, after great consultation, it was resolved; that three persons should be chosen, whose acquaintance with Indian affairs, and whose character for talents, diligence, and probity, should afford the best security for the right discharge of so important a trust; and that they should be sent out, in the name and with the character of Supervisors, with powers adapted to the exigence of the case. Mr. Vansittart, the late Governor of Bengal, Mr. Scrafton, and Colonel Ford, were recommended as the three comrmissioners; and it was proposed to invest them with almost all the powers which the Company themselves, if present in India, would possess; a power of superseding the operations and suspending the authority of the Presidents and Councils, of investigating every department of the service, and establishing such regulations as the interests of the Company might seem to require. The scheme was indeed opposed with great vehemence, by all those who favoured the persons now invested with the governing powers in India; by all those who had any pique against the individuals proposed; and by all those who disliked the accumulation of exorbitant authority in a small number of hands. But though they formed no inconsiderable party, the disappointment of the golden

Act 9 Geo. III. c. 24.

†The manner in which Clive, to enhance the merit of his own' services, had puffed the importance of the Indian territory, and inflamed the hopes of treasure which it was to produce, misled the Company. The perpetually recurring interest of their servants to delude them with these hopes, and their perpetual readiness to believe flattering accounts, has been a perennial fountain of misgovernment, still far from dried up.

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