BOOK V. the following spring to resume the command. It has CHAP. 5. been historically stated, and without contradiction, 1784. That nothing but an accident prevented the two Pre

sidents, even at that trying moment, from plunging their countrymen in India into something of the nature of a civil war: That Coote was dispatched with powers to resume the military command, exempt from dependance upon the Madras government : And that to this illegal subversion of the authority of the subordinate Presidency Lord Macartney was determined not to submit.' The death of the General happily prevented the chance of a struggle. The ship, in which he was proceeding from the Ganges to the coast, was chased several days by some of the French cruizers, and at times in imminent danger; the extreme anxiety of this situation operating upon the irritable and enfeebled frame of the General, accelerated a third fit of apoplexy, and terminated his life on the 26th of April, only three days after landing at Madras. To such an extreme the distrust of the supreme government was now carried, that a sum of ten lacs of rupees from Bengal, which arrived a few days after, could not be received, because the person who brought it had orders to deliver it not to the civil government, but into the hands of Sir Eyre Coote. From this time the Governor-General and Council withheld from Macartney, not only the powers which were necessary for effecting by negotiation a division among the enemies of the English, but all instruction with respect to their views of peace and war; and, instead of those supplies which they had hitherto afforded in considerable quantity, they forbid the Carnatic Presidency to draw on the government of Bengal for a single rupee. Repeated applications were sent, before any answer was re

Memoirs of the late War in Asia, i. 429.

Misconduct of Hastings.

255

CHAP. 5.

ceived, for instructions in regard to the treaty which BOOK V. Tippoo had declared his willingness to form. It was not till after the commissioners had departed that 1784. any were received; and when they came, they were so equivocally worded, that whatever course the Carnatic Presidency might pursue, their conduct would equally stand open to blame.'

The treaty of peace with Tippoo was transmitted for ratification to Bengal. In the absence of Mr. Hastings, who was then at Lucknow, it was acknowledged and signed by the Supreme Council, who were vested with all the powers of government. It was returned in due form. It was, then, with the requisite solemnity, transmitted to Tippoo. The receipt of it was acknowledged. And this great transaction was closed.

After a number of months had elapsed, a fresh copy of the treaty was received from Bengal, having the signature as before of the Members of the Council at Calcutta, and the additional signature of the GovernorGeneral at Lucknow. To this instrument was annexed a declaration, that the Nabob Walaw Jaw had a right to be included in the treaty; and a command to the President and Council of Madras, "at their peril," to transmit the ratification of the treaty in its second form to Tippoo.

For understanding this transaction, it is necessary to recollect, that the Nabob, and along with him, his mischievous agents, expressed their uneasiness at the unhappy state of his affairs, by imputing blame to the Governor, and obstructing the government. The Supreme Council had taken part with the complaints, not only of the General, but also of the Nabob. To

1 Papers presented to the House of Commons, ut supra ; Life of the Earl of Macartney, i. 180 and 233.

Barrow's

BOOK V. all practicable arrangements for peace, that depen СНАР. 5. dant, ambitious, and insatiate chief, had shown aver1784. sion, and in particular a poignant abhorrence of

Hyder Ali and his son. Important as the blessings of peace had now become to the exhausted resources of him and the Company, he treated with unreserved disapprobation the terms of any treaty which, to the Presidency, it seemed practicable to obtain; and neither gave his consent, nor appeared to desire to become a party, to the arrangement which they endeavoured to effect. The treaty of 1769, in which the Nabob was not included as a party, nor his name mentioned, appeared to furnish a precedent to justify a treaty in which, though his participation was not expressed, his interests were secured. And as it was absolutely necessary, on behalf of the Company, that the Nabob should not have the power of breaking a treaty, essential to their interests, though by him violently condemned, it was held a great advantage to place it on a foundation independent of his will. Besides, previously to the negotiation, the Supreme Council were so far from holding up the Nabob, as a necessary and a principal party, that they did not even direct the communication to him of their instructions, or hint the propriety of taking his advice. The complaint, however, which on this account the Nabob had been instigated to raise, the Supreme Council treated now as a matter of infinite importance; and to Lord Macartney they appeared to be actuated by a wish to multiply the embarrassments of his administration. Considering the jealous temper of Tippoo, his distrust of the English, and his perpetual apprehension of treachery and deceit, Lord Macartney was convinced, that to present to him a second ratification of a treaty, after the first had been received as final and complete, could only serve to

Macartney disobeys Hastings.

257

persuade him that either on the first or second of BOOK V. these occasions imposition was practised; and that hostility should anticipate hostile designs. The 1784. danger of such a result determined the President to brave the resentment of the superior government, and exonerating his council from responsibility, he declared his readiness to submit to suspension, as the consequence of his refusal to obey the orders of the governing Board. The situation of Mr. Hastings himself became about this time too alarming, however, to leave him inclination for a stretch of his authority, and the disobedience of Lord Macartney was followed by no unpleasant result.'

Barrow's Life of Macartney, i. 232-238; Papers presented to the House of Commons, ut supra.

CHAP. VI.

Financial Difficulties-Campaign of General Goddard on the Bombay side of the Mahratta Country-Attack on the Bengal side-Peace with Scindia-Supreme Court of Judicature— Efforts of the Supreme Court to extend its Jurisdiction-Their Effects upon IndividualsUpon the Collection of the Revenue-Upon the Administration of Justice-Interference of Parliament claimed-Granted-The Chief Justice placed at the Head of the Sudder Duannee Adaulut-Chief Justice recalled—Judicatorial and Police Regulations-Provincial Councils abolished, and a new Board of Revenue set up.

BOOK V. WE return to the events which, during these great transactions, had taken place in Bengal, and other 1780. parts of the British dominions in India.

Before the commencement of the war with Hyder, the finances of the Company in every part of India had become a source of distress. The scanty resources of Bombay, which seldom equalled the expenditure of a peace establishment, had not, even with the supplies which had been sent from Bengal, sufficed to save that Presidency from the necessity of draining the channels of loan, and from sinking in arrear so deeply, even with the pay of the army, that the General, in the month of August, 1780, declared it was no longer fit to be depended upon. Even Bengal

See Goddard's Letter to the Select Committee of Bombay, dated 24th August, 1780, Sixth Report of the Committee of Secrecy, ut supra,