XIX. BOOK other Indian state with jealousy and alarm, and the territory we acquire comes wasted and depopulated into our hands. The nation now perhaps looks to Bengal as its last and greatest external resource. But if this demand upon us from home were not so pressing, and so likely to increase as I think it is, it is time for us to consider whether there be in Great Britain a fundamental force equal to the tenure of unbounded acquisition at this distance from the seat of empire; or whether we are not arrived at a point at which common prudence dictates to us to fix once for all the limits of our dominion. If my judgment were to prevail, it should be our object to CONTRACT them." To the whole of this most judicious and weighty minute of Mr. Francis, the governor-general was pleased to declare, in very laconic terms, "that, from his anxiety to avoid controversy, he should decline any reply." A letter was then read by the governor, in answer to the dispatches from Bombay, which, though strongly objected to by Mr. Francis and Mr. Wheeler, received the sanction of Mr. Barwell, and of sir Eyre Coote, who had now taken his place at the board as commander in chief of the Company's forces. In this letter, which is written in a style cf such artful and studied confusion as to be in many parts really unintelligible, the governor, in name of himself and XIX. 1781. council, acquaints the presidency of Bombay, in BOOK terms which have at least the merit of being plain and explicit," that the government of Bengal refuses to ratify even the smallest tittle of the treaty or convention of Worgaum; that general Goddard was invested with full powers to conclude a pacification with the court of Poonah, on the terms prescribed in his instructions; and that, if the Mahratta ministers shall reject those proposals, and the Company be reduced to the necessity of defending its rights by an open war, a latitude of action is left to general Goddard to avail himself of the situation which fortune shall present to him. With respect to Moodajee Boosla, it is confessed that little hope is at this time entertained of his concurrence; but if, beyond expectation, the rajah shall discover a willingness to accept of the pro. posed alliance, instructions for that purpose are given to general Goddard. This negotiation is left," to adopt the strange and perplexed phraseology of this letter, "to the sole management of general Goddard, in the authority of those instructions, until the period of their suspension by the refusal or such hesitation of Moodajee Boosla as he shall deem sufficient to warrant his declaring the negotiation suspended. The future renewal of this negotiation we reserve to be determined by our express orders, but without revoking the cre BOOK dentials and instructions already granted to general XIX. 1781. Goddard respecting it." It would be hard indeed if the governor, in the event of any sinister catastrophe, could not, under the impenetrable veil of such mysterious ambiguity of direction, screen himself from any disagreeable responsibility. Mr. Hastings, in order to enforce the general system of policy contained in this letter, moreover declared to the council," that he never would suffer the object to be lost, for which the detachment now commanded by general Goddard was first appointed." This passed in the month of June 1779; and by a letter from general Goddard, dated October following, the governor and council are informed, as they had every reason to expect, that the peishwa's minister had, in plain and positive terms, declared to him that his master would not accede to the proposals made by general Goddard, or conclude peace with the English, unless Ragonaut Row, who had escaped, was delivered up to him, and Salsette surrendered to the Mahratta government; that, in consequence of this declaration, general Goddard had broken off the negoConfedera- tiation, and prepared for war." As was predicted powers of by Mr. Francis, the whole Mahratta race, including the RAJAH of BERAR, together with Hyder Ally English. Khan, and the nizam or subah of the Decan, in the highest degree exasperated and inflamed at the cy of the India XIX. 1781. treachery of the English government, now entered BOOK into an alliance, in conjunction with the French, to expel the English nation from India ;-a combination of powers truly formidable, and which eventually shook the British empire in the East to its centre. BOOK XX. BOOK XX. DISTRESS of the Government of Bengal. Ravages of Hyder Ally in the Carnatic. Naval Encounters in the East Indies. Parliamentary Proceedings against Sir Thomas Rumbold. Sir Elijah Impey recalled from India. Ineffectual Resolutions of the House of Commons, and of the Court of Directors, for the Recall of Mr. Hastings from India. Military Operations in India. Resignation of Mr. Hastings. His Character. Attempt on the Isle of Jersey. Capture of St. Eustatia. Tobago taken by the French. Eustatia re-taken by the French. Naval ond Military Operations in America. Colonel Tarleton defeated at the Cowpens. Victory of Lord Cornwallis at Guildford. General Green's masterly Conduct. Lord Cornwallis's Successes in Virginia. Reverse of Fortune. Lord Cornwallis and his Army made Prisoners of War. Triumph of the Americans on the Capture of a second Royal Army. Commodore Johnstone's Expedition to the Cape of Good Hope. Obstinate Engagement between the English and Dutch Fleets off the Dogger Bank. Spirited Proceedings of the Parliament and People of Ireland. IN the progress of the war, thus wantonly provoked, the government of Bengal soon found itself 1781. reduced to the extremest necessity for money to of the go- defray the enormous expence of its complex and Distress vernment of Bengal, extended operations. Rolling his baleful eyes |