of individuals, as to be incapable of giving, or capable of withholding to give, for CHAP. IV. nearly a whole twelvemonth, an opinion on one of the most important transactions to which their authority and power could be applied. 1775. There was no little division, at that time, in the councils of the East India House. Early in the year 1775, the question was agitated of a successor to the Governor of Fort St. George. The Court of Directors, by a small majority, declared for Mr. Rumbold. A Court of Proprietors, called soon after to deliberate Lord Pigot upon the subject, reversed their decision, by a small majority, and made choice of Governor of Lord Pigot. This ancient Governor had returned to England about the end of the year 1763; and had been successively raised to the dignities of a baronet, and of an Irish peer. By the weight of his fortune, by his connexion with individuals, and the reputation of his services, he enjoyed a great influence in the Company; and after a residence of twelve years in England, discovered an inclination, or a wish, to resume the burthen of the Presidentship at Madras, and to rival the glory of Clive, by introducing the same reforms under the Presidency of Madras, as that illustrious Governor had introduced in Bengal. The decision in the Court of Proprietors gave the ascendancy to his party in the Court of Directors, and the gratification of his ambition was no longer delayed. chosen to be Madras. ment of the Pigot, con East India On the revolution in Tanjore there was no indecision in the mind of Pigot; The dethroneand no sooner was the ascendancy of his party determined than it also disap- TanjoreRajah, peared in the East India House. The treaty of 1762, which gave the Rajah odious to security for his throne, was the act, and a favourite act, of Governor Pigot. The demned by subversion of it became the subject of severe condemnation in the Company's House. Courts. There was in the transaction, it is not to be doubted, enough to interest the feelings of any man who looked upon it with partial, or even impartial eyes; and to account for the zeal of Lord Pigot upon the most honourable motives. That his favourite dubash Moodoo Kistna, with whom he maintained a correspondence in England, had rented lands to a great extent from the Tanjore Rajah; that he was offended with the Nabob, who after appointing him his agent in England, had failed in those remittances which made the place of agent desirable; and that an auction between two princes for the favour of the powerful servants of the Company promised a golden harvest to the relatives and connexions of the Directors, were allegations thrown out by the enemies of the new resolutions; allegations which, if they had general surmise, and * * Hist, and Management of the E. I. C. ch. viii. 1775. The Directors order the Rajah to be restored. even general presumptions in their favour, were unsupported by particular facts. On the 12th of April, the very day on which the Court of Proprietors met to choose new Directors, the Court of Directors proceeded at last to declare their decision on the business of Tanjore, and to prescribe the rules of future operation. Notwithstanding their ambiguous language, and still more ambiguous conduct, they declare that they had been perfectly uniform in two things; in commanding that no addition should be made to the possessions either of themselves or the Nabob; and in condemning the policy of placing Tanjore under the dominion of that ruler;" more especially, they add, "as they on the spot were of opinion, that, on account of oppressions exercised by the Nabob in his own dominions, and of his inveterate hatred to the King of Tanjore, the Tanjoreans would submit to any power whatever rather than to the Nabob." First they condemn, though after solemn thanks formerly given to the Governor who had carried it on, the war of 1771; declaring that though it would have been right to call the Rajah to account for arrears of tribute, and to interpose between him and the Marawars, it was wholly unjustifiable to make war upon him, when he offered to submit to the arbitration of the company; and still more" on any account or pretence, or under any circumstances, to put the Nabob in possession of that kingdom.” * They complain, upon this subject, of their servants sending them disingenuously incomplete information, and then taking their measures without authority.† With regard to the second expedition, that in 1773, intended for the complete destruction of the Rajah, they declare that it was founded upon pretences which were totally false; 1. as the Rajah was not proved to have committed any offence; and, 2. as the destruction of him, instead of adding to the security of the Company, had only increased its dangers. They decree, therefore, that Mr. Wynch, their President, shall be removed from his office; that the members of their council shall be severely reprimanded; and "unless their zeal for the interests of their employers shall manifest a proper sense of their lenity, that they shall certainly experience more rigorous marks of their resentment." + After this retrospect of the past, the Directors immediately pen their regulations for the guidance of the future. They regarded two subjects; 1st, the restoration of the Rajah of Tanjore; and 2dly, the management of the Company's own possessions, on the coast of Coromandel; that is, the Northern * General Letter to Fort St. George, 12th April 1775; Papers, ut supra, p. 145. 1775. Circars, and the jaghire lands in the neighbourhood of Madras. "We are con- CHAP. IV. vinced," say the Directors, addressing the Council of Madras, "that success must, in a great measure, depend upon the wisdom of your councils, the integrity and firmness of your conduct, and, in no small degree, upon the seasonable exertion of those peculiar abilities for which your Right Honourable President is so justly and eminently distinguished." With regard to the King of Tanjore, they were first to provide security, by a proper guard, for the persons of him and his family; and next, but under certain conditions, to restore him to his dominions, as they existed in 1762. The conditions were, that he should receive a garrison of the Company's troops into the fort of Tanjore; assign lands for their maintenance; pay to the Nabob the peshcush of 1762; assist him with such troops alone as the Presidency shall join in requiring; form no treaty with foreign powers, except in concurrence with the English rulers; and neither directly nor indirectly furnish any assistance to their enemies. mittee of Cir dras. For the better management of the Company's possessions, the Council were And a Comdirected, "when affairs respecting Tanjore shall have been accommodated and cuit to be finally adjusted," to form a committee, consisting of five members of the Coun- formed for ascertaining cil, who should make the circuit of the Northern Circars, and collect informa- by inquiry the state of the tion of all those circumstances in the state of the country which government is country subject to the Prechiefly interested in knowing; and, after this information should be gained, to sidency of Matake the proper steps for letting the lands during a term of years, on principles similar to those on which the lands had been let in Bengal. Respecting the jaghire, which the Nabob hitherto had rented, under the allegation that the appearance, presented to the people of the country, of the exemption of any part of his dominions from his immediate jurisdiction, would be injurious to his authority; the Directors declared their dissatisfaction with the present arrangement, their determination to take the lands under their own control, unless the Nabob submitted to their conditions, and directed their servants in the mean time to let them to him, only from year to year.* 66 sumes the Lord Pigot resumed the office of Governor of Fort St. George on the 11th of Lord Pigot asDecember, 1775. Upon my arrival," says his Lordship, "I found a general reins of goreform was necessary in the settlement, to preserve the Company from ruin." vernment.. t A "general reform" has many enemies; and those, for the most part, very * Ibid. p. 153-159. + Lord Pigot's Narrative, &c.; Defence of Lord Pigot, p. 83. 1776. BOOK V. powerful ones. The injunctions of the Directors were to proceed immediately to the restoration of the Rajah of Tanjore. It was, however, agreed that the communication should be made with all delicacy to the Nabob, to whom it was known that it would be unpleasing in the highest possible degree. There was no expedient to which Oriental artifice could have recourse which the Nabob left untried to ward off the blow. He endeavoured to make it He endeavoured to make it appear that he had undoubted rights to the possession of Tanjore; he magnified the merit of his services and attachment to the Company; he enlarged upon the disaffection of the Rajah; he claimed the support which the letter of the King of England, brought by Sir John Lindsay, had promised him; he deprecated the policy adopted by the Company, of doing one thing by their servants in India, and the very reverse by their Directors in England, and declared that he was unable to understand them in this double capacity. He tried the tone of humility, he tried that of audacity. He sought to affect their sympathy by reminding them of the many Englishmen to whom he was indebted, and whom, if stripped of Tanjore, he would be less able to pay; and of that confidence in their honour with which he had placed his residence, and that of his family, under the guns of Fort St. George. He offered to place an English garrison in the fort of Tanjore; and only entreated that the country might not be taken out of his hands, till the Company, who had proceeded upon partial information, should decide upon what he had to suggest. Proceeds to restore the Rajah. The Council availed themselves of his offer to admit an English garrison into the fort of Tanjore; because it enabled them at once to set the Rajah at liberty and guard his person. But they showed the Nabob that the commands of the Directors were peremptory in regard to the time of the restoration, and left them no liberty to grant the delay for which he applied. It seems to have been the expectation of the principal military officer belonging to the Presidency, Sir Robert Fletcher, that he should be the person by whom the immediate business of restoring the Rajah should be performed. But when the President signified his intention of proceeding for that purpose to Tanjore in person, the Council voted unanimously that the business should be placed in his hands; and as the crop was on the ground, and the harvest approaching, that no time should be lost in giving possession of the country to the Rajah. Sir Robert Fletcher, however, though he had joined in the vote for sending the President, proposed another for sending along with him two other members, under express and particular instructions of the Board; declaring that without this condition he would not have assented to the vote in favour of the President; 1776. that the Board was not justified in the delegation of undefined and unlimited CHAP. IV. powers, except in a case of extreme necessity; and that if this measure were drawn into a precedent, the effect would be to serve the corrupt interests of individuals at the expense of the public. The proposal was rejected by a majority of the Council; but the President took with him by choice two Members of the Council, and one of them a person who had voted for the deputation. Lord Pigot set out on the 30th of March, and arrived at Tanjore on the 8th of April. On the 11th the restoration of the Rajah was proclaimed. Instead of employing the troops of the Company to do nothing more than garrison the fort of Tanjore, the President got the Rajah to request that they might be employed for the protection of the whole country. And instead of assigning revenue barely to defray their expenses, leaving all the trouble and disputation which accounts are apt to produce, he offered to give a neat sum, to cover all expenses, namely, four lacs of pagodas a-year. On the 5th of May Lord Pigot returned to Madras, and having laid before the Council a copious diary of his proceedings, with all the documents which belonged to them, received a vote of approbation, which, with regard to the general measures, was unani mous. Mr. Paul Benfield was a servant of the Company in the civil department, and as yet in one of the lowest situations. He had betaken himself to more lucrative functions, than the duties of his office; and had become not only a favourite of the Nabob, but the principal agent in what was at that time one of the first concerns in the settlement, the lending of money. It appears that Mr. Benfield gave to Lord Pigot a general intimation of interests which he held in Tanjore, before the departure of that Lord for the restoration of the Rajah, and received from him a general disavowal of any intention to injure his rights. Immediately after the restoration of the Rajah was proclaimed, a letter from Mr. Benfield was delivered to Lord Pigot at Tanjore, in which he stated, that for money lent to the Nabob he had assignments upon the revenues of Tanjore, to the amount of 405,000 pagodas, equal to 162,0001. ; and for money lent to individuals in Tanjore, assignments upon the present crop to the amount of 180,000 pagodas, equal to 72,000l.; making together, the immense sum of 234,000l., lent by a junior servant of the Company, with a salary of a few hundred pounds a-year, and who was conspicuous among other things for keeping the finest carriages and horses at Madras. Lord Pigot replied that in a case like this he could do nothing more than lay the circumstances before the Board. Mr. Benfield expressed dissatisfaction that the powers of government were not immediately exerted to procure him all that 1 |