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and attendants upon his perfon, and that thefe might be eafily, and perhaps imperceptibly increased, in a feafon of unfufpecting confidence, it would be well if any watch or ftrictness of difcipline could guard against a surprise in fuch a fituation. His friends have given the thing another turn; and alledge his refidence there, as well as the army he keeps generally officered with English, as decifive proofs of an attachment, without defign on his part, and without danger

on ours.

Whatever foundation there may be for the charge or fuppofition of this prince's poffeffing an undue influence at Madrafs, it is certain, that a joint enterprise which was undertaken by the company's forces in that presidency with the Nabob's, afforded too much colour to fuch an opinion, and unhappily contributed its full fhare, along with other Eaftern exorbitancies, deeply to affect our national character both in Europe and Afia. This was the famous expedition to Tanjour; an enterprise which has been heard of in every part of the world, and which had been, on the firit narratives, condemned for its cruelty and injuftice where-ever it was heard.

The Rajah or King of Tanjour, is one of those Gentoo princes whofe ance. ftors had been long in poffeffion of the country, and who had never been entirely fubdued by the Mogul Tartars; but were rendered tributary to their empire, the government being otherwife retained in the original hands. This prince had been for many years, and was till in alliance both with the company and Nabob, and had been engaged with them in the joint perils and fortune of former wars. On the fettlement of the affairs of the Faft Indies at the the treaty of is 95. 137.], it was thought neceffar, to put an end to the difpute between France and England, who fupport the interets of different pretendowrie that part of the world. was accordingly obliged to admisalaba Jing as lawful Soubah of the Decan, and Mahommed Ali Cawn as lawful Nabob of the Carnatic. The Mogul, who was much at the difcretion of the English, readily granted, on his part, from time to time, fuch powers as were neceffary to confirm thefe arrangements. To complete this fettlement, accounts were liquidated, and a convention made, under the authority and guarantee of the

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company between their own allies. Mahommed Ali was to be paid the arrears of, and to receive in future the tribute due to the Mogul, for which he was to be accountable to their common fuperior, and to have a confiderable fum for himfelf. The King of Tanjour was to remain in all other refpects as before in poffeffion of his dominions, to which his right was fully confirmed. Subfequent to this agreement, a variety of tranfactions happened between him and the Nabob; and new accounts were opened'; the King of Tanjour alledging that he ought to be allowed for his expences in certain military services rendered to the Nabob; the Nabob infifting on receiving immediate payment of the fums ftipulated under the late convention without any abatement.

Thefe difputes, whether carried on upon their proper bottom, or raised as a pretence of more ferious quarrel, continued for fome time. The Nabob, however, prevailed with the powers at Madrafs, and with the royal commiffioners, to fall in with his views, without any hearing or decifion on the merits of the controverfy; and a war, on pretence of a delay in payment, broke out.

The King of Tanjour was little able to withstand the united force of the Company and Nabob. He, however, defended his capital bravely; but being fubdued, after a tharp fiege, the unhappy prince was ftripped, without remorfe or pity, of every thing but life. His kingdom was feized by the Nabob, his treafures applied to the expences of the war, and to other prefent purpofes; whilft his fubjects, who were among the moft induftrious people in India, experienced [34.240.573.;—36.158.;-39.175.436.] all the cruelty and rapacity of a Mahometan conqueft and government.

The account of this tranfaction, with all the circumftances of the conqueft, fpoil, and ruin of a friend and ally, in fo unexampled a manner, excited the greateft indignation in the Company when it arrived in England. Nor were they without apprehenfions for the fecurity of their fettlements on the coaft, when they confidered the boldness of defign, promptnefs of execution, and apparent indifference as to their liking or resentment, which diftinguished this enterprise. That vifible afcendency over the counfels and actions of their fervants, of which the Nabob had now given fo dangerous a

proof

proof, was ftill more alarming than any other circumftance.

Nor was his conduct in other refpects, both then and after, wholly without fufpicions. Among other inftances which did not carry the moft pleafing appearance, he removed his eldeft fon, a prince of a moderate temper, from all power, and from the command of his army, and placed it in the hands of his fecond fon, a young man who is reprefented as volent in his temper, and poffeffed of ability, with a strong fpirit of enterprise. This violent depofition of the King of Tajour, with all its circumftances, was lo contrary to the, policy of the compaty, and to the fpicit of its orders, that it was immediately determined to restore him to his dominions. But the manner of carrying this defign into execution required fome confideration. It was not to be committed into the hands of thofe fervants who had already fet their feals upon the outrage and wrong; and who, if other motives did not even prevail, could fcarcely now retract from that decided part which they had already taken, and in which it was thought they had fo vat a pledge of intereft. The company, was far from withing to fall out with the Nabob, if it could be avoided; nor were they difpofed to urge matters to any extemity with their fervants for what was pat. The reftoration was determined, as an act equally neceffary from the motives of justice, public opinion, and good policy; but they wished, that all previous matters relative to it should reft in oblivion, without further cenfure or inquiry.

It was therefore neceffary to fend fome perfon out as governor and prefident of Madrafs, who fhould carry full powers for the execution of this difficult and delicate commiffion; and it was equally neceffary, that the perfon fo fent fhould, befides the most unincorruptible integrity, poffefs a degree of weight and perfonal confequence, fufficient to imprefs a due fenfe of refpect on the Nabob, and to awe any factions that prevailed among their own fervants. A full knowledge of the company's affairs at home and abroad, with fuch a stock of refolution and judgement as would be fufficient to reftore energy to their government on the coaft of Coromandel, were matters fo effential in their nature, that no deficiency in any part could be difpented with

It could fcarcely be imagined, that the Late Lord Pigot would not be looked to, as anfwering thefe ideas more fully than any other perfon that could be thought of, and as calculated in an extraordinary degree to give effect to all the purposes of the company. His brave defence of Madrafs had given the firft effectual check to the views of the French in the Eaft, and the firft turn to fortune in our favour. To him the company were, perhaps, indebted for their now holding a fingle poffeffion in India; and to him the Nabob of Arcot was undoubtedly indebted for his prefent exalted fortune. His civil government had been as celebrated as his military exploits; and his private character had procured him a very extenfive fhare of efteem. It was, not unreasonably, fuppofed, that the appearance of fuch a man, upon that ground which had been the fcene of his former power and glory, where his name and actions were ftill fresh and alive, and where the principal, and most dangerous party, was little more than the creature of his own making, would have been attended with diftinguished advantages; and that he might have performed thofe acts without envy or jealousy, which would have been oppofed or refented in other hands.

In the mean time, the Nabob, with great forelight and art, was providing for every poffible, as well as expected, confequence of the Tanjour bufinefs. The long interval that neceffarily elapfed before the arrival of Lord Pigot in his government, afforded a full fcope for the exercite of his ability in intrigue. Although the part which they had already taken, would neceffarily influence the conduct of the English prefidency, in wifhing or endeavouring to support or confirm their own former act, he thought it, however, prudent to intereft them ftill more deeply, in the meature of fecuring to him in perpetuity the poffeffion of the kingdom of Tanjour. He accordingly borrowed vaft fums of money from feveral members of the council, and fome others, whofe weight and influence he thought might be neceffary towards the completion of his scheme, and is faid, directly or indirectly, to have mortgaged the revenues of Tanjour to them, as a fecurity both for the principal, and for a prodigious interest arifing on it, which amounted annually to near one third of the original debt. To provide against

the

the worst that might happen, befides the pillage of the Rajah's treafures and perfonal effects, and the feizure of his revenues, the country was stripped as bare as it could poffibly admit, without the total ruin of the people, and the immediate deftruction of their agriculture and com

merce.

Lord Pigot arrived in his government about the latter end of the year 1775. As we fhall avoid entering into the difputes between him and the majority of his council, any farther than is immediately neceffary for conducting our narrative, much lefs fhall we inquire into the merits of those questions which were fo violently agitated between them, and which produced the extraordinary confequences that followed.

It will be fufficient to observe, that, notwithstanding the previous meafures which had been taken, and the violent oppofition he experienced, Lord Pigot fucceeded fo far in the execution of his commiffion, as to restore the King of Tanjour to the poffeffion of his ancient and hereditary dominions. This meafure, however, feems to have procured him the mortal enmity of the Nabob and his fon, and the most determined oppofition within his government. In confequence of this oppofition, he was thwarted and over-ruled in every meafure by the majority of the council, who were supported and ftrengthened by the dangerous power lodged in the hands of the commander in chief of the forces. The difputes grew hotter from day to day, and the cabals with the Nabob grew -clofer and clofer. It was of the greateft moment to fend a proper officer to Tanjour. The oppofition-part of the council firft agreed with the governor on the measure, and the defignation of the perfon. They foon changed their mind about the latter. They infifted, that being the majority of the council, they had a right to do all things, notwithstanding the diffent of the governor. He contended, that the governor was a neceffary part in every legal and orderly act of government. Lord Pigot, finding that he could not bind them to any plan, and that, as he affirmed, they were actuated by no other principle than that of traverfing all his endeavours for carrying the orders of the company into execution, he took a ftrong and bold meafure, and having put the queftion, carried the fufpenfion of two of the council by his

own cafting vote. We call it a ftron measure; for whether it be ftrictly lega is not yet determined. By his fuprem authority in the fortrefs, he alfo, for f milar disobedience, put under an arre Sir Robert Fletcher, the commander i chief of the forces.

A violent outcry was 'immediately ra fed by the fecluded members against thi act, as tending to give the governor a arbitrary power by the annihilation the council appointed to aflift or to con troul him. But they were refolved no to rely on argument or debate, or t wait the decifion of the company on th controverted point. They formed, wit great fecrecy, a plot for fecuring the per fon of the prefident, and for effecting revolution in the settlement which should put the power entirely into their ow hands. In confequence of the arreft lai upon Sir Robert Fletcher, Col. Stuart o courfe fucceeded to the immediate com mand of the forces. Though this gen tleman was in the highest state of inti macy and apparent friendship with the governor, he notwithstanding entered deeply into the views of the fufpended members and their powerful adherents who had all together formed the above mentioned scheme, under the inftigation and direction, as it is faid, of the Na bob and his fon, for violently feizing Lord Pigot's perfon, and depofing hin with equal violence from his govern ment.

The throwing of the whole British military weight into the same scale with the Nabob, his fon, army, and a majo rity of the civil power, rendered the fate of the governor inevitable. To carry the plot into execution, it was neceffary to induce him to go out of the garrifon, as any military violence offered to his person within the precincts of the for trefs, would involve the actors in the fevere penalties of the mutiny-laws. The Colonel, well aware of this circumftance, with a degree of addrefs, which, howe ver it may do credit to his ability in point of ftratagem on other accounts, can hardly admit of praise, or even of excuse, inveigled him to quit that fituation which could alone afford him protection and fecurity. Having paffed the fore part of the day with Lord Pigot on the moft friendly terms, the exceffive heat of the weather afforded an opportunity in the evening, for perfuading him to go for the night to a villa, appropriated

to the use of the governors, whither, as an inducement, the Colonel invited him felf to accompany him. In the way, they were furrounded, Aug. 24. 1776, as had been concerted, by an officer and party of feapoys, both in the company's fervice, when under the aufpices, and the immediate hands, of his late companion and gueft: he was thruft out of his chaife, with circumftances of not lefs rudeness than violence, and carried prifoner to a place called the Mount; where he was placed under a strong military guard, and confined in the ftricteft man

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In this fituation, his life feems for fome time to have been in fuch imminent danger, that the only object of surprise at this diftance is, how he could poffibly have efcaped it. Public orders in writing, figned by the principal leaders of the confpiracy, were immediately iffued to the guard at the Mount, by which inftant death was to be the confequence of any attempt towards a refcue of his perfon. The Nabob's fon, who was not expected to be capable of hefitating at aBy act ufual in fuch cases among Eastern politicians, had a powerful army fpread all over the country: it was even faid by Lord Pigot's friends, that he had before made attempts to procure his affaffination and evidence has been given, by the party on whom the attempt was fuppofed to be made, that he had offered great rewards to a British officer in his fervice for the accomplishment of that purpose.

However this may be, an extraordinary act of refolution, and very strong exertion of great natural fortitude in a moft trying and perilous fituation, feems too evidently, in one inftance, to have been the means of preferving his life. He was awaked in the dead of night, by the arrival of an officer with a party of bore, who brought a peremptory order for his immediate removal from the Mount, without any specification how he was to be difpofed of, or whither he was to be carried. In this dreadful fituation, Lord Pigot absolutely refused to quit the place, in that time and manner. He told them, with an undaunted voice and countenance, that they might murder him, or tear him to pieces, if they chofe it; these were acts which he could not prevent; but they must be done upon the fpot; for he declared, with the utmoft vehemence, that they should

not take him alive from the place. He then appealed to the feelings of the foldiers; reminded them of his rank, of his former acts, and his present condition; and called upon them, whether as men, as foldiers, as Britons, or as Chriftians, they could bear to see him dragged away to be murdered, in fo base, fo cowardly, and fo inhuman a manner. It is faid, that the countenance, and appearances of fympathy fhewn by the foldiers, prevented the further profecution of this defign.

In the mean time, the confpirators and their friends had poffeffed themfelves, under a courfe of legal forms, of all the powers of government. They declared, that the Governor had by a breach of fome by-laws, and by fome failures in not exactly complying with all the claufes of the regulating act, forfeited all legal right and authority to act in his ftation; and they accordingly appointed their principal leader to be his fucceffor in the government. Notwithftanding their former complaints of Lord Pigot, for fufpending certain members of the council, they proceeded to copy the act which they had affigned as a reafon for his being violently deprived of his government, and removed his friends from the council. Both parties fent confidential perfons as expreffes to England, the one to arraign, and the other to fupport and juftify the late proceedings.

Nor was the Nabob idle, unprepared, or liable to furprife. He had already provided, with his ufual forefight, for thofe contingencies, which various combinations of time, circumftance, and fituation might produce. He early faw, that his conqueft of Tanjour, and his afcendency at Madrafs, could be productive of no lafting advantages, unless he could eftablish fuch a powerful intereft in England, as would stamp upon them a permanency and real value. His mind was comprehentive enough to form the idea, or facile enough to receive the impreffion from others, of turning the tables, for once, upon Europe, and of introducing for the first time, Eastern intrigues, into the councils and politics of the Weftern world. The example of public agency and negotiation had already been fet on the one fide, and there feemed no reason why it fhould not be adopted on the other, whenever particular circumstances rendered it neceffary. He had accordingly, fome confiderable time before,

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appointed an agent or minister to manage those who fupported that fide of th and conduct his affairs in England; with queftion, as they condemned in the artful and politic caution, of not ma- ftrongeft terms Lord Pigot's condu&t king a public difplay or avowal of his which they charged with violence and powers, until fuch circumftances fhould irregularity in many inftances, but parti occur as rendered it neceffary to bring cularly in the fufpenfion of two member them into action. This agent was likely of the council, and the arreft of the com to have the more weight, as being a sub- mander in chief, contended from thence ject of Great Britain, and employed alfo That the fubfequent measures adopted on business of importance on the part of by the majority of the council, be the governor-general of Bengal. [39.219.] came in part, if not in the whole, in It cannot but appear extraordinary at difpenfably neceffary for the prefervathis distance, to whoever confiders the tion of the fettlement; that by his ill nature and violence of the revolution at treatment of the Nabob, he had greatly Madrafs, which in all royal governments endangered the company's affairs on the could have been conftrued into nothing coaft; that all matters of form, and lefs than treafon and rebellion, that it leffer confiderations, muft give way to fhould notwithstanding have received the the common fafety in cafes of extreme fanction and approbation of the governor danger; that the restoration of the and council of Bengal. [39. 221.]. Such King of Tanjour was in itself an impruhowever is the fact; and this circum- dent and unwife measure; that if it had ftance has afforded a colourable ground been even otherwise at the time of the of argument to the friends of the gentle- determination in England, the distance men at Madrass, in the defence or excul- of time and place, and the changes pation of the conduct of the prevailing which affairs neceffarily underwent in the faction. On the other hand, the mayor interval, rendered the majority of the and his court at the latter place, toge- council at Madrafs much better judges ther with the greater part of the British of the propriety or impropriety of carryinhabitants, including even thofe who ing the measure into execution, than the exercised various offices in the feveral company at home could poffibly be fupdepartments of government or juftice, pofed. They concluded, by defcending declared loudly and openly against the to throw the fouleft afperfions on Lord violence and injury offered to their go- Pigot's character, and by attributing vernor, and, with a spirit and refolution his conduct relative to the Rajah, to which must ever reflect honour, when thofe unworthy motives, which, though founded upon principle, afcribed, with- not in the leaft fupported as against out referve, their obedience to, or act- him, it must be confeffed have had, uping under, the present fyftem of power, on many occafions, too great an influence merely to their defire of preferving order upon public tranfactions in India. But and peace in the fettlement, and not by it was obvious, that the conduct of his any means as admitting or acknowledging adverfaries might at least as naturally be its justice or legality. attributed to the fame cause; especially as Lord Pigot had acted in obedience to his direct orders.

The account of this revolution, excited great furprife and indignation in the company in general; whilft almost all perfons, whether included in that body or not, felt the utmost commiferation for the deplorable fituation of Lord Pigot, whofe fate people in general were apt to confider as fixed and irrevocable. The friends of the prefiding faction at Ma drafs, and of the Nabob, were, however, numerous and active. What appeared to many more furprising, the weight of government leaned to that fide.

In the court of directors, the numbers were in the beginning pretty equal on each fide. It is, to be obferved, that few went fo far as entirely to juftify the Jate tranfactions in all their parts; but

On the other fide, they infifted upon the juftice, the policy, and the wifdom of the restoration of the King of Tanjour. It was the deliberate, and, in a greater degree than ufual, unanimous act of the company. The refolution for that meafure had been carried by the votes of feventeen directors; it was confirmed and ratified by the company at large. There would be at once an end to their jurifdiction, authority, and government, if their fervants were admitted to examine the propriety of their public acts, to reject or obey them as they thought proper, and to degrade, confine, or affaflinate, thofe perfons whom they appoint

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