standing the statesman-like views and arguments of the Earl of Mornington, backed by the opinions of Lord Macartney, and every person informed on the subject, Englishmen, and responsible advisers of the Crown, consented at the peace of Amiens, to surrender up this noble bulwark of our Eastern trade and empire! The establishment of steam on the Red Sea, and the opening of an overland route for the mail and for passengers via Egypt, have of late, in some degree, tended to cast our colony at the Cape of Good Hope into the shade; but it should never be forgotten that its intrinsic value to England is the same now that it ever was, and that it is the duty of our rulers to sustain and protect it by every legitimate means,-for every consideration urged by Lord Mornington respecting the Cape still remains in full force.

CHAPTER VII.

Lord Mornington, accompanied by Mr. Henry Wellesley (Lord Cowley), arrives at Madras-Received by General Harris. - Letter of King George III., introducing Lord Mornington to the Nabob of Arcot.— Letter of the Prince Regent.-Interviews and Negotiation with the Nabob.-Lord Mornington's Habit of Observation.-Estimate which he formed of the various Servants of the Company at the Presidency. -Sails from Madras.-Arrival at Calcutta.-Reflections on that Event. Magnitude of the Empire committed to his Charge.-The Career of the East India Company.-Beautiful Scenery of Calcutta.—Poetical Description of an Evening in Bengal.-Sir Alured Clarke received Lord Mornington at Fort William.-His Lordship at once enters upon the Duties of his Office.

*

On the 26th of April, 1798, Lord Mornington first beheld the "coral strand" of the coast of Coromandel. On that day he anchored in the roads of Madras; and after the excitement of a passage through the surf which perpetually rages on these romantic shores, placed his foot upon the soil of India, and was saluted by the guns of Fort St. George. His Lordship was accompanied by his younger brother, the Hon. Henry Wellesley,t in the capacity of confidential secretary,-a gentleman

* Mr. Lushington, in his interesting Memoir of Lord Harris, gives the 22nd of May as the date; but though he was an eye-witness of Lord Mornington's arrival at Madras, the dates of Lord Mornington's letters evidently prove that the above was the time of his Lordship's arrival-a day, as Mr. Lushington observes, "ever to be remembered in the annals of British India."

+ The present Lord Cowley, now ambassador at the court of France.

who had already exhibited his talents as secretary to the British Embassy at Stockholm, and afterwards as secretary to Lord Malmesbury during the delicate but fruitless negotiations of that nobleman with the French Directory for peace, in the year 1796. The Governor-General was welcomed by General Harris, the Commander-in-chief of the Presidency, then provisionally charged with the Government of Madras. On the very day after his arrival, Lord Mornington proceeded to open communications with the wily Nabob of Arcot, the sovereign of the Carnatic, a strip of fertile country about seventy-five miles in width, east of the kingdom of Mysore,* between the Ghauts and the sea ;-whose capital was situated seventy-three miles from Madras, and in one of whose houses in the city of Madras, General Harris had placed the Governor-General. On the 28th of April, Lord Mornington had a personal interview with the Nabob; and then presented to him the annexed letters from the King and the Prince of Wales, which afford at once honourable testimony of the high estimation in which Lord Mornington was then held by his Sovereign, as well as of the anxious desire of the English Government to avoid the extreme step which the Nabob's own folly and treachery subsequently rendered necessary :

GEORGE III. TO THE NABOB OF ARCOT.

"George the Third, by the Grace of God King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the

* This country lies to the south of the Deccan; it was conquered from the Hindoos by Hyder Ali.

Christian Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburgh, Arch-Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, &c.-To his Highness the Nawaub Omdal-ul Omrah Mayeen ul Mulk, Assad-ud Dowlah, Hussein Ally Cawn Bahawdar Zulfatter Tung Sepah Surdan, Sovereign of the Carnatic, Payenghaut, and Ballanghaut.

"Your Highness's letter of the 19th of March, 1796, has been safely delivered to us by our faithful servant Admiral Sir George Keith Elphinstone, and we are convinced your Highness will learn with pleasure that, in order to give this excellent officer a proof of our entire satisfaction with the services he had rendered to our Crown, to your Highness, and to the East India Company, during his command in India, we have conferred upon him a mark of our Royal favour by raising him to the dignity of the peerage in our kingdom of Ireland. "The happiness we at all times' derive from your Highness's friendly correspondence, has been on this occasion deeply affected on observing the differences which appear to exist between your Highness and our faithful servant Lord Hobart, who, whatever momentary inconvenience your Highness may have experienced from his conduct, we are confident could be actuated by no other motive than an anxious desire to ensure the permanent welfare and honour of your Highness, and the happiness and prosperity of your people.

These important considerations we well know to be also the grounds of your Highness's conduct, and we earnestly recommend to you to be assured, that the counsels of our Ministers at home, and the wishes of

VOL. I.

M

the East India Company and its servants, are ever directed to these objects.

"The East India Company has appointed our right trusty and right well-beloved cousin and councillor, Richard, Earl of Mornington, in our kingdom of Ireland, Baron Wellesley in our Kingdom of Great Britain, and Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick, to be Governor-General in India.

"Our experience of his conciliatory temper, and many eminent virtues and abilities in various offices he has held for many years under our Crown, induced us to recommend him to this high and important station. These distinguished qualities are so many pledges to us, that the exercise of the power vested in him will be such as to conciliate your Highness's entire confidence and esteem, and that your Highness will endeavour on all occasions to cultivate his friendship and good will, by co-operating with him in all his salutary views for the happiness of your Highness, and of your subjects, and for strengthening and confirming the engagements of amity and union subsisting between your Highness and the East India Company.

"From our experience of the felicity derived from our constant paternal love and care of all our subjects, we are persuaded your Highness will best promote your individual happiness and tranquillity, by showing yourself on all occasions just, benevolent, and merciful to all those whom the Almighty has placed under your protection, by calling to His presence your august father, His former servant.

This line of conduct, an inviolable fidelity in all