CHAPTER LXIX.

INDIA.

IN the last two chapters we have traced the progress of our Eastern empire when not assailed, nor even threatened, by any European enemy. The scene is now about to change. That war which, commencing in North America, troubled not England only but also France and Spain, cast its baleful shadows to the Mexican seas on the one side, and to the shores of Coromandel on the other. Then it was that the experience, the energy, the high statesmanship of Hastings were signally displayed. Then it was, that the value of his services was felt even by his adversaries in Downing Street or Leadenhall. Lord North, to his honour, laid aside all party resentment. As he afterwards stated in the House of Commons, he knew the abilities of Mr. Hastings, and felt that this was not the time for any change in the government of India. Thus, when the period of Five Years fixed by the Regulating Act had expired, the Governor-General was quietly and without a struggle re-appointed.

At the beginning of 1778, the tidings were already rife among the native races, that YENGHI DUNIA, or New World, as they called America, had broken loose from the country of the coоMPANY SAHIB. ** Already might they hear the rising sounds of exultation from the rival settlements of Chandernagore and Pondicherry. But the first sign or symptom that reached Hastings of French cabals in India came from the Mahratta States. These had grown to greatness in the decline of the Mogul empire and risen on its ruins, but had since been weakened by dissensions of their own. Among *Speech, June 1. 1786. Parl. Hist. vol. xxvi. p. 46. ** Seer Mutakhareen, vol. iii. p. 332.

INDIA.]

PROGRESS OF THE MAHRATTA STATES.

283

themselves, as in the venerable monarchy from the ruins of which they had sprung, there was a wide line between the real and the rightful exercise of power. The lineal heir of Sivajee, the true Sovereign in name, had become a mere state-prisoner in the palace of Sattara. The actual authority was vested in a great magistrate, or chief of the Council, who was called the Peshwah, and who held court with regal state at Poonah. Through a strange anomaly that Ministerial office descended by hereditary right, and sometimes therefore devolved upon a minor. The Peshwah, besides his own or the Rajah of Sattara's dominions, always claimed, and occasionally exercised, a kind of feudal supremacy over the other Mahratta principalities that lay scattered in the wide expanse between the hill-forts of Mysore and the waters of the Ganges. First among them were the houses of Scindiah and of Holkar; the Guicowar, who ruled in Guzerat; and the Bonslah, or Rajah of Berar, a scion of the line of Sivajee. All these Mahratta chiefs, in common with their subjects, held the Brahmin faith; in that respect, as in some others, forming a remarkable contrast to the race of the Mahometan conquerors beside them, as the Nizam and the Visier. The mean origin of the first Mahratta freebooters is denoted even in the hereditary titles of their princes; the Guicowar, for example, signifies only the cow-herd. It is denoted also by the simple and abstemious habits which they long preserved. A Mussulman historian, the contemporary of Warren Hastings, describes the most powerful Mahratta ruler of his time, as living only on the food of the poorest peasant — on black bread made of Badjrah, unripe mangoes, and raw red pepper. "Let the reader," says the more refined Mahometan, 'guess the taste of the whole "nation by this sample of its chiefs. And although," he adds, "they have come to command kingdoms and to rule "over empires, they are still the beggars they have been. "Go to any of them, from the lowest clerk to the Minister "of State, and the first words which you shall hear from "them are always these: 'What have you brought for

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Have you brought anything for me?' and should "any man go empty-handed to them, they would strip him "of his turban and coat, and then recommend him devoutly "to Almighty God!"*

Between the chiefs at Poonah and the Presidency of Bombay there had been in former years some intricate negotiations and some desultory wars. The English had obtained possession of the island of Salsette, which, so lately as 1750, the Mahrattas had wrested from the Portuguese. They had also given shelter to a deposed and exiled Peshwah named Ragoba, or Ragonaut Row, who still carried on a cabal, and kept up a party, at home. Such was the posture of affairs when the Governor-General was startled by the tidings that a French ship had anchored in one of the Mahratta `ports, and that a French agent had set out for Poonah. This Frenchman proved to be the Chevalier de St. Lubin, an adventurer who had formerly taken some part in the intrigues of the Presidency of Madras, and who had now obtained from his own government a clandestine commission to treat with the Mahrattas. It was reported to Hastings, that already they had agreed to his terms, and consented to yield to the French the port of Choul, on the coast of Malabar. "War is now inevitable," said Hastings to his Council; "let 66 us then be the first to strike a blow!" In this suggestion he was, as usual, supported by Barwell, and, as usual, opposed by Francis and Wheler, but, as usual also, his casting-vote prevailed. It was resolved, that a division of the Bengal army should be sent across the Jumna, and march through Bundelcund upon the Peshwah's country. Orders were sent to the Council of Bombay to enter into a concert of measures with Ragoba, and strive by all means to forward his pretensions. At the same time the Governor-General commenced an active negotiation, and sought to form a close

Seer Mutakhareen, vol. iii. p. 228. The word Gai or Gao, which lies at the root of Guicowar, when combined with rus (the Latin ros), forms the poetical name which the Hindoos give to milk; gaorus, or cow-dew.

INDIA.]

PONDICHERRY TAKEN.

285

alliance with another claimant to a principal place among the Mahratta chiefs — with Bonslah, the ruler of Berar.

It has been questioned, how far in these dealings with the Mahrattas, Hastings acted strictly in good faith. Certainly, at least, he is entitled to the praise, at a most difficult crisis, of energy and skill. The news of the disaster at Saratoga, far from damping his spirit, only animated his endeavours. "If it be really true”—thus he spoke to his Council "that the British arms and influence have suffered "so severe a check in the Western world, it is the more in"cumbent on those who are charged with the interests of "Great Britain in the East to exert themselves for the re"trieval of the national loss." Only a few days after the Governor-General had thus spoken — only a few weeks after the British troops had marched — the further intelligence which the policy of Hastings had anticipated came. On the 7th of July, a letter from Mr. Baldwin, the Consul of England at Cairo, brought the news to Calcutta, that in the month of March preceding, war had been proclaimed both in London and in Paris. Not an hour did Hastings lose. "On the same "day," he says, "we wrote to the Governor of Fort St. George, to prepare for the immediate attack of Pondicher"ry; and we set them an example on the 10th, by the capture "of Chandernagore." **

Pondicherry was invested by Sir Hector Munro, at the head of the Madras army. It yielded, after a brave resistance, and an engagement off the coast between the French and English squadrons. Then the French retained nothing in India but Mahé, a small fort and settlement on the coast of Malabar; and this also was reduced by the English from Madras, in the course of the ensuing spring. Meanwhile, in Bengal, the zeal of Hastings had directed the most active measures of defence. Several further batteries were raised along the river. Several armed cruizers were equipped.

*Declaration in Council, June 22. 1778. Burke's Articles of Charge, xx. **To Laurence Sulivan, Esp., August 18. 1778. Memoirs by Gleig, vol. ii. p. 203.

Stores for three months, both of ammunition and of victuals, were laid up in Fort William. Nine new battalions of Sepoys were enrolled. A demand for three battalions more was made upon the Rajah of Benares, and was agreed to, the Rajah being regarded as a feudatory prince, and required to contribute his share to the burthens of the war. The artillery was reinforced by recruits from the native Lascars; while the Europeans at Calcutta, to the number of one thousand, were enrolled as Militia in case of need. "Mr. "Francis" thus writes the Governor-General to a private friend "affects to regard our means as insufficient, our "resources as already exhausted, a French invasion as im"pending, and the country incapable of resistance. I am, "for my own part, confirmed in my opinion, that the French, "if they ever attempt the invasion of Bengal, must make "their way to it by an alliance with one of the powers of the country; and the only power with which that can be at "present effected is the Mahratta."

To his Mahratta expedition, therefore, the eyes of Hastings were anxiously turned. At first it was far from prospering. The commanding officer, Colonel Leslie, instead of pursuing his march after he had crossed the Jumna, loitered during four months, without the least necessity, in the plains of Bundelcund. His recall was unanimously voted in the Council-chamber at Calcutta, and was only anticipated by tidings of his death. His successor, Colonel Goddard, was an excellent and enterprising officer. He advanced at once into Berar. But further delays ensued in consequence of successive revolutions at the Court of Poonah. To await the effects of these, orders to halt were sent to Colonel Goddard from the Council of Bombay. Perhaps, however, their real object was to clutch the expected credit for themselves, since before the close of the year they sent forth an expedition of their own. That body of troops exceeded 4000 in number; it was accompanied by Ragoba; and the principal officer who served in it was Colonel Egerton. But by a most infelicitous arrangement, the superintendence and control