THE

HE appointment of marquis Cornwallis to be governor general of Bengal, had given universal satisfaction in England, and was calculated to produce the most beneficial consequences in India. Much was expected from his judgment and experience, and more from his integrity and moderation. In his former administration of our Indian empire, he had added to the glory of our arms and increased the security of our power, without alarming the jealousy of the native princes, or provoking them to combine in alliances for our destruction. With his military and political successes he had united the higher glory of consulting the happiness and promoting the welfare of the people committed to his care, by the wisdom and benevolence of his political institutions, and by the equity and mildness of his govern. ment. He was now deputed to India in different and more critical circumstances. After a long

and unaccountable acquiescence in a system diametrically the reverse of his, the government of India had recourse to him to repair the mischiefs of inordinate ambition, and boundless prodigality; to consolidate conquests pursue:1 in defi. ance of solemn and repeated declarations of the legislature; to introduce order and regularity into finances exhausted and dilapidated by every species of waste and profusion; to restore peace to nations harassed and worn out by a succession of destructive and sanguinary wars; and to inspire confidence in those, who had been taught by a sad experience, to view every act of the British government in India, as part of a scheme to destroy their liberties and independence, under the in、 sulting mask of friendship, protec

tion and alliance.

Such were the objects, for which at so advanced a period of life, and with a constitution broken by in

firmities

firmities, this excellent and respectable nobleman was induced to undertake a voyage to India, with little prospect of ever revisiting again his native country. When he arrived at Calcut:a,* he found the finances of the company in a most deplorable condition, and, without some great reduction of expenditure, quite unable to meet the contingencies of the war. Vast sums, he discovered, were lavished on irregular troops, Who, if dismissed, would be less formidable to us in the field, than by remaining as they were, a distressing drain on our finances; while the regular troops were little short of five months, and many of the public departments, on which the movements of the army depended, were still more in arrear."+ Favourable terms of peace had been granted to the Rajah of Bhurtpore, after the loss of 4000 men in fruitless attempts to reduce him to unconditional submission. But Holkar, though repcatedly defeated, was still in arms; and Scindia, dissatisfied with our conduct and jealous of our designs, had imprisoned our resident, and waited only for a favourable opportunity to recommence hostilities against

* July 28th, 1805.

accompanied by a small escort, to take the command of the army, and had reached Gazypour in Benares, when his deaths deprived his country, at this critical juneture, of his services. He had previously, however, communicated, in conversation, his views of government to sir George Barlow,second in the council, and by letter, to lord Lake, commander in chief of the forces, and had also opened a correspondence with Scindia. We have, therefore, reason to believe, that, though prevented by death from accomplishing the great work, for which he had quitted England, his journey was not in vain ; but that it contributed materially to restore in India that system of justice, moderation, and forbearance, which he had so earnestly at heart, and was so eminently qualified to practise.

Sir George Barlow, though he had been formerly the ready instrument of other men's ambition, and had even incurred on that account the censure of his superiors, being now fully instructed in their wishes, applied himself in good earnest to the restoration of peace, and succeeded in that work with a facility, which shewed plainly to what causes the long continuance of the war was to be attributed. Peace was signed with Scindia on the 22d of November, and with Holkar on the 24th of December, and complete tranquillity thus restored to India, within five months after the arrival of marquis Cornwallis at Cal. cutta. By the treaty with Scin

$ Oct.5th.

dia, the fort of Gualior and territories of Gohud were restored to that chief, and the river Chumbul declared to be the boundary on the north between his states and the dominions of the company. Considerable pensions were also settled upon him and upon his wife aud daughter for their respective lives; and the company engaged not to enter into any treaties with his tributaries, nor to interfere in any shape in his internal arrangements, with them or with the family of Holkar. By the treaty with Holkart, that chief was acknowledged as the friend of the company, and permitted to return with his forces to Hindostan, by a route prescribed to, him. His possessions to the North of the Boundee hills, then occupied by the British forces, were ceded to the company, but part of them were afterwards restored to him. He also renounced his claim to the district of Koonch in the province of Bundlecund, but the company engaged to settle it, in jagghire, upon his daughter, provided his conduct at the end of two years continued to merit their approbation.

on

The company their side engaged to have no concern with the ancient possessions of the Holkar family, situated to the south of the river Chumbul, and agreed to restore all their conquests from that family in the Dekhan, except the fort of Chandore and some other districts, which, however, they engaged to give back at the end of eighteen months, provided the conduct of Holkar were in the mean time satisfactory. Holkar also, like Scindia, became bound to entertain no Europeans in his service,

State papers, p. 702.

without the consent of the British government; and both chiefs engaged never to admit into their councils or service, Serjee Rao Ghautka, that person having been proclaimed an enemy to the British govern ment.

After the conclusion of peace with Holkar, nothing occurred during the present year, to disturb the tranquillity of the British empire in the east, except the alarming spirit of mutiny and revolt, which broke out among the native troops in the pay of the company, in different parts of the peninsula of India. The first and most fatal evidence of this spirit of disaffection appeared in the massacre at Vellore, the circumstances of which were as follows. On the 10th of July, about two o'clock in the morning, the European barracks at Vellore, containing four complete companies of the 69th regiment, were surrounded by two battalions of Sepoys in the Company's service, who poured in a heavy fire of musketry, at every door and window, upon the soldiers at the same time the European sentries, the soldiers at the main guard, and the sick in the hospital, were put to death; the officers houses were ransacked, and every person found in them murdered. Upon the arrival of the 19th light dragoons, under colonel Gillespie, the Sepoys were immediately attacked; 600 cut down upon the spot, and 200 taken from their hiding places and shot. There perished, of the four European companies, about 164, besides officers; and many British officers of the native troops were murdered by the insurgents. Sub

+ State papers, 706.

sequent

sequent to this explosion there was a mutiny at Nundydroog; and, in one day, 450 Mahometan Sepoys were disarmed and turned out of the fort, on the ground of an intended massacre. It appears also from the information of the commanding officer at Trichinopoly, that a spirit of disaffection manifested itself about the same period at Bangalore, and seemed to gain, ground in every direc. tion.

As the sons of the late Tippoo Sultan and other Mahometans of high rank, who had been attached to the fortunes of that prince, resided in the palace of Vellore when the mutiny broke out, they were suspected of being coucerned in it; and if it be true, that soon after the firing commenced, the standard of Tippoo was hoisted on the palace; and that some of the native officers, engaged in the mutiny, confessed, after the affair was over, that had they succeeded in getting possession of the fort, they expected to have been assisted from the Mysore country, their share in it is manifest. But the demonstrations of a similar spirit, which broke out in other parts of the peninsula about the same time,or soon after the massacre of Vellore, shew plainly, that there were predisposing causes of a more general nature for this alarming commotion. One of these is said to have been an attempt of the military meu at Madras, to change the shape of the Sepoy turban into something resembling the helmet of European light infantry, and to prevent the native troops from wearing, on their foreheads, the marks characteristic of their various casts. But the

cause, to which the government of Madras appears to have been disposed chiefly to attribute this alarming spirit of disaffection among the native troops, was a report industriously spread, and credulously believed among them, that it was "the wish of the British government to convert them by forcible means to Christianity."* That such a wicked and absurd project was never entertained by our Indian government, we trust it is unnecessary to assure our readers. So far from imposing our religion by force upon our Indian subjects, our govern. ment has, in general, wisely abstained from giving any countenance or support to those fanatical associations, which from this, or other countries of Europe, have essayed, with small success, to introduce their religious opinions into India. It must be confessed, however, that of late the restless spirit of fanaticism has insinuated itself into our Indian councils, and though it has not yet ventured to solicit more than indulgence and assistance in spreading its flames over India, such is the jealousy of the natives both Mussulmen and Gentoos, and the subject of religion, that it requires little spirit of prophecy to foresee, that unless checked in time, it will lead to the subversion of our Indian empire, and the massacre of our countrymen dispersed over that distant land. But the attention of the public has been drawn to this subject, and we trust, that the massacre of Vellore, as it was the first, will be the last fruit of this meddling and mistaken piety.

When intelligence of the death of marquis Cornwallis reached

England,

England, those who knew the critical situation of our India empire, were alarmed at the consequences of the chief command devolving on sir George Barlow, who as second in the supreme council of Bengal, succeeded on that event to the office of governor general. + The ministers, however, who were themselves going out of place in a few days, did not think they were justified in these circumstances, to propose any permanent arrangement for India; but before retiring from office, they could not deny themselves the gratification of being the movers of an address to his majessy, for the erection of a public monument, in St. Paul's Cathedral, to the memory of lord Cornwallis. It is worthy of remark, that in pronouncing a panegyric on that noble lord, the topic Chiefly insisted on both by the mover and seconder of the address, ås bringing into view the most useful and meritorious of his public services in India, was his settlement of the land revenues of Bengal on a permanent footing, by which a fixed and certain property in the soil was given to the zemindars, to be held by them and their poste

rity for ever on unalterable condi tions, secure from the exactions, and independent of the favour or caprice of their rulers. For it is not a little singular, that while the execution of this measure was represented as the most brilliant act of lord Cornwallis's administration, for which orations were pronounced in his praise, and monuments voted to his memory, the original author and proposer of the plan, though the ablest and most upright statesman ever employed in the management of our eastern empire, was not only suffered by the company to pass unrequited for his share in that transaction, but was defrauded by the silence of these encomiasts, of the praise he so justly deserved, for having been the first to discern and proclaim the advantages of a system, "the good effects of which would amply justify any encomium that could be passed upon them." That our readers may not accuse us of dealing in rash assertions we have subjoined in a note some extracts from a work of Mr. Francis**, which will satisfy them, that it is to the benevolence and wisdom of that gentleman, that our Indian subjects are indebted for the first sugges.