for speedy measures of reform respecting the trade of India, to which the scarcity of English shipping available here this season, seems now more particularly to invite.

"In addition to the immense advantages derived from your Lordship's government to the British nation, by securing and consolidating its dominion in India, it remains, by unfettering the trade of it to British subjects and affording to them the enjoyment of their natural privileges, so far as may be consistent with the rights of the Company, and thereby reducing foreigners within their just and natural bounds, to draw forth all the resources of these valuable possessions, and to accomplish the grand object, so long desired, of rendering Great Britain the emporium of the East. I have the honour to be, with great respect, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient and humble servant,

"G. UDNY."

The subjoined private letter to Lord Castlereagh will indicate the intensity of the opposition which Lord Wellesley's measures respecting the trade of India encountered in Leadenhall-street, and at the same time show how strongly the Governor-General felt upon this question :

TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH, &c. &c. (Private and Confidential.)

"MY DEAR LORD,

66 Barackpore, December 31st, 1803.

"The object of this letter is to solicit your Lordship's protection for Mr. Udny, a member of the Coun

cil at Fort William, and a gentleman of the most unblemished honour, integrity and public spirit, of respectable talents, great diligence and industry, and considerable knowledge in the commercial department.

"These qualifications recommended Mr. Udny to my attention, and accordingly I promoted him to a seat at the Board of Trade, and afterwards mentioned his name as a proper person for the Council.

"Since Mr. Udny has been a member of the Council, he has conducted himself with the most honourable and zealous spirit of coöperation, and has afforded very useful assistance in the conduct of commercial affairs. His attachment to me and the services which he has rendered to the public under my administration have attracted the animosity of my numerous enemies in the India House, and his liberal sentiments upon the question of the Private Trade have injured him in the opinion of the Court of Directors.

"An intimation has reached me of a design formed at the India House for the supercession of Mr. Udny in the Council at Fort William, either by the nomination of Mr. Duncan, of Bombay, or by some other management which shall sacrifice Mr. Udny to the vindictive hatred of my enemies.

"It is my earnest request that your Lordship will will not suffer this worthy and faithful public servant to be made the victim of passions excited by his public services. Mr. Udny is a very respectable and useful member of this Council, and I am convinced that he will coöperate with Sir George Barlow after my departure with the same cordiality and honour which he has manifested towards me. In this confidence I most

anxiously hope that your Lordship will maintain Mr. Udny in his seat in Council; and that at the expiration of the prescribed period of five years, your Lordship will cause his appointment to be renewed.

"This solicitation is principally founded on a just sense of Mr. Udny's merits; but it is also inseparably connected with the principles of justice, and with those of honourable attachment to faithful and virtuous friendship.

"I consider my personal character and the cause of my administration to be deeply involved in the protection of Mr. Udny against the enemies of both; and I shall feel any wound inflicted upon that meritorious public officer as sensibly as if it were directly pointed at my reputation. I have the honour to be, with great regard and esteem, my dear Lord, your Lordship's most faithful servant, WELLESLEY."

APPENDIX.

(1.)

Translation of the Latin Verses written by Lord Wellesley at Walmer Castle, September, 1797 (vide p. 131, vol. i.) by Viscount Morpeth, now Earl of Carlisle.*

"Parent of countless crimes, in headlong rage,
War with herself see frantic Gallia wage,

'Till worn and wasted by intestine strife,

She falls her languid pulse scarce quick with life.
But soon she feels, through every trembling vein,
New strength collected from convulsive pain:
Onward she moves, and sounds the dire alarm,
And bids insulted nations haste to arm;

Spreads wide the waste of War, and hurls the brand
Of Civil Discord o'er each troubled land;
While Desolation marks her furious course,
And thrones, subverted, bow beneath her force.
Behold! she pours her Monarch's guiltless blood,
And quaffs, with savage joy, the crimson flood;
Then, proud the deadly trophies to display
Of her foul crime, resistless bursts away,
Unaw'd by justice, unappall'd by fear,
And runs with giant strength her mad career.

"Where'er her banners float in barbarous pride,

Where'er her conquest rolls in sanguine tide,
There, the fair fabric of establish'd law,
There, social order, and religious awe,
Sink in the general wreck; indignant there
Honour and Virtue fly the tainted air;
Fly the mild duties of domestic life

That cheer the parent, that endear the wife,

* From the Anti-Jacobin, No. VII., December 25th, 1797.

The lingering pangs of kindred grief assuage,
Or soothe the sorrows of declining age.-

"Nor yet can Hope presage the auspicious hour,
When Peace shall check the rage of lawless Power;
Nor yet the insatiate thirst of blood is o'er,
Nor yet has Rapine ravaged every shore.
Exhaustless Passion feeds the augmented flame,
And wild Ambition mocks the voice of Shame :
Revenge, with haggard look and scowling eyes,
Surveys with horrid joy the expected prize;
Prowls round each remnant of monarchic sway,
And dooms to certain death his fancied prey.-
"For midst the ruins of each falling state,
One Favour'd Nation braves the general fate :
One favour'd nation, whose impartial laws
Of sober Freedom vindicate the cause;
Her simple manners, midst surrounding crimes,
Proclaim the genuine worth of ancient times:
True to herself, unconquerably bold,
The Rights her valour gain'd she dares uphold,
Still with pure faith her promise dares fulfil,
Still bows submission to the Almighty Will.-
"Just Heav'n! how Envy kindles at the sight!
How mad Ambition plans the desperate fight!
With what new fury Vengeance hastes to pour
Her tribes of rapine from yon crowded shore!
Just Heav'n! how fair a victim at the shrine
Of injured Freedom shall her life resign,
If e'er, propitious to the vows of hate,
Unsteady Conquest stamp our mournful fate,—
If e'er proud France usurp our ancient reign,
And ride triumphant o'er the insulted main !

Far hence the unmanly thought! The voice of Fame
Wafts o'er the applauding deep her Duncan's name.
What though the Conqueror of the Italian plains
Deem nothing gain'd, while this fair Isle remains,
Though his young breast with rash presumption glow,
He braves the vengeance of no vulgar foe :

Conqueror no more, full soon his laurel'd pride
Shall perish; whelm'd in Ocean's angry tide
His broken bands shall rue the fatal day,
And scatter'd navies own Britannia's sway!