vacant; and the conspicuous exertions of Lord Mornington in the late
debates had placed him in a high position before the ministerial eye. He
was now fixed on for the Governor-generalship. His connexion with Indian
affairs as a member of the Board of Control, had given him official
knowledge; his education had given him the accomplishment suited to
diplomatic distinction; and his abilities, his ardour, and his time of
life, rendered him the fittest man for the arduous government of India.
The period demanded all the qualities of government. France was
notoriously intriguing to enlist the native princes in a general attack
on the British power; a large French force was already organized in the
territories of the Nizam, and Tippoo Saib had drawn together an army
with seventy guns in the Mysore. The Indian princes, always jealous of
the British authority, which had checked their old savage depredations
on each other, and had presented in its own dominions a noble contrast
to the ravaged and wretched condition of their kingdoms were all
preparing to join the alliance of the French; and the first shock of a
war, now almost inevitable, would probably involve all India. At this
period Lord Mornington, who had been raised to an English barony, was
appointed governor-general in October 1797; and such was his promptitude
that he sailed on the 7th of the month following. In the April of 1798,
he arrived on the coast of Coromandel, and landed at Madras, accompanied
by his brother, the Hon. Henry Wellesley, as private secretary, (now
Lord Cowley.) On the 17th of May he arrived at Calcutta, where he found
his brother, since so memorable, Colonel Arthur Wellesley, and Sir
Alured Clarke, the commander-in-chief.
Lord Mornington had been sent to India in anticipation of French
attempts on the British dominions, and there could be no doubt of the
intentions of the French Directory. But the blow came sooner, and was
more openly struck than an European public man could have surmised. It
exhibited all that arrogant contempt of an enemy which once
characterised Eastern supremacy; and would have been worthy of Gengis,
proclaiming his sovereign will. It was a proclamation from the French
governor of the Mauritius, on the 30th of June; announcing, without any
attempt at disguise, that two ambassadors from Tippoo Sultaun had
arrived there with letters for the governor, and despatches for the
government of France; and that the object of the embassy was, to form an
alliance, offensive and defensive, with France, and to demand a
subsidiary force, for the purpose of expelling the English from India.
The proclamation further invited all Frenchmen, in the isles of France
and Bourbon, to volunteer for the sultaun's service, and promised to
secure them pay under the protection of the Republic.
The daring insolence of this proclamation, and the palpable rashness of
making the designs of Tippoo public, before any direct preparation for
attack, were so unlike the usual forms of diplomacy, that the
governor-general, in the first instance, was inclined to doubt its
authenticity. But it awoke his vigilance, and he wrote without delay to
General Harris, then commanding at Madras, and governor for the time, to
be on his guard. "If Tippoo," said his letter, "should choose to avow
the objects of his embassy to be such as are described in this
proclamation, the consequences may be very serious, and may ultimately
involve us in the calamity of war. I wish you to be apprised of my
apprehensions on the subject, and to prepare your mind for the possible
event. You will, therefore, turn your attention to the means of
collecting a force, if necessity should unfortunately require it. But it
is not my desire that you should proceed to take any public steps
towards the assembling of the army, before you receive some further
information from me."
The governor-general has been charged with precipitancy in making war on
Tippoo. But the charge is refuted by dates. The French proclamation was
dated 10th Pluviose, sixth year of the Republic, (30th January 1798.)
Its truth or falsehood was carefully enquired into, until the evidence
was completed by despatches from the British governors of the Cape and
Bombay, the admiral at the Cape, the testimony of prisoners, and finally
by the actual landing of a corps of French volunteers from the
Mauritius. It was not till six months after the date of the
proclamation, that the governor-general wrote thus (20th of June) to
General Harris:--"I now take the earliest opportunity of acquainting you
with my final determination. I mean to call upon the allies without
delay, and to assemble the army upon the coast with all possible
expedition. You will receive my public instructions in the course of a
few days. Until you have received them, it will not be proper to take
any public steps for the assembling of the army. But whatever can be
done without a disclosure of the ultimate object, I authorize you to do
immediately; intending to apprise you, by this letter, that it is my
positive resolution to assemble the army upon the coast."
The Mysore dynasty was one of the natural productions of Indian
sovereignty. They had each been founded by a successful soldier, had
made conquests of prodigious extent, had devastated the land with
frightful rapidity; and then, after a generation or two of opulent
possession, had seen their provinces divided by rebellious viceroys;
until some slave, bolder than the rest, sprang up, broke down the
tottering viceroyalties, and seized the supreme throne. Hyder Ali, the
father of Tippoo, had been a common trooper in the service of the Rajah
of Mysore--by his intrepidity he became the captain of one of those
bands, half soldier and half robber, which form the irregulars of an
Asiatic army. By his address as a courtier, he rose into favour with the
rajah, who gave him the command of his army. By the treachery which
always surrounds and subverts an Asiatic throne, he finally took the
sovereign power to himself. Disputes of the new rajah with the Company's
agents produced a war, and the cavalry of this daring adventurer rode
up to the gates of Madras. Peace was at length proclaimed, and Hyder
acquired a vast reputation among the natives as the champion of India.
In 1770, an invasion of the Mahrattas, a robber nation, but the most
renowned of Indian plunderers, determined to crush the new power, and
poured down upon Mysore. Hyder now applied for assistance to Madras; but
the settlement had no assistance to give, and Hyder was forced to make a
disadvantageous treaty. He now loudly protested against the failure of
the English contingent, which he declared to have been the subject of a
treaty, and resolved on revenge. The plunder of the merchants' stores at
Madras was the more probable motive to his next desperate attack. The
half military, half commercial government of the Company, at that
period, paralyzed all measures of effective resistance; and while the
garrison urged vigorous proceedings, and the inhabitants dreaded
mercantile loss, the plains surrounding Madras were deluged by an
invasion from the Mysore. Hyder ranged in line seventy thousand horse
and twenty thousand regular infantry! with all the marauders of India in
his train, and all the Indian sovereigns ready to rise. At Madras all
was confusion. Some detachments of Europeans and Sepoys, scattered
through the country, were surrounded, fought gallantly, and were cut to
pieces. Warren Hastings, the most indefatigable of Indian governors, now
came in person to the seat of war; but such was the feebleness of the
British means, that he could bring with him but five hundred Europeans
and five hundred Sepoys. But he brought the more effectual aid of an
officer of decision and sagacity, the celebrated Sir Eyre Coote. This
brave man, struggling with difficulties of every kind, was, in almost
all instances, victorious, and the last hours of Hyder's daring career
were embittered by defeat at Arriee. In a few months after, at the age
of eighty-two, this great chieftain, but barbarous and bloody warrior,
died; leaving his son Tippoo, who had commenced his warfare at eighteen,
and had followed him in all his battles, the possessor of his throne.
Tippoo was the heir of his father's bravery, but not of his
intelligence. Hyder had a mean opinion of his understanding, and
evidently regarded him as little better than a royal tiger. "That boy,"
said he, "will overthrow all that it has cost me a life to raise, and
will ruin himself."
The war continued, carried on by detachments on the part of the English,
and by marauding expeditions on the part of Tippoo; time, life, and
treasure were thus thrown away on both sides. But at length the news of
peace between England and France reached India, and peace was concluded
between the Company and the Mysore on the 11th of March 1784.
Some conception of the resources of India may be formed from the
military means which the single state of Mysore was able to accumulate,
under all the pressure of a long war. At the peace, the treasure of
Tippoo was calculated at eighty millions sterling; he had six hundred
thousand stand of arms, two thousand cannons, with a regular force of
artillery, cavalry, and infantry, of little less than one hundred
thousand men!
The history of the Mysore dynasty would form a brilliant poem; and, if
India shall ever have a poet again, he could not choose a more varied,
animating, and splendid theme. Tippoo, in peace, turned saint, and,
following the example of his prophet, forced one hundred thousand
Hindoos, at the sword's point, to swear by the Koran. We pass over the
remaining features of his fierce history. Restless with ambition, and
plethoric with power, in 1790 he invaded Travancore. The rajah called
upon his English allies for protection. The war began by the appearance
of Tippoo in the field at the head of another deluge of cavalry. But the
genius of Hyder was in the tomb; and the English army, under Cornwallis,
forced its way to the ramparts of Seringapatam. A peace stripped the
Mysore of half its territory, of three millions and a half for the
expenses of the war, and of the two sons of Tippoo as hostages. But the
rajah constantly looked for revenge; and the successes of the French
Republic urged him to a contest, in which every thing was to be lost to
him but his daring name.
The first step of the governor-general exhibited singular decision, and
was attended with singular success. The Nizam had raised a regular corps
of eleven thousand men, disciplined by French officers. It was
ascertained that those officers held a correspondence with Tippoo, and
there was every probability of their either forcing the Nizam into his
alliance, or of their marching to join him. A British force was now
ordered to move towards the capital of the Nizam, without any intimation
of its object or its approach. On its arrival, a distinct demand was
made for the dismissal of the French. The Nizam hesitated; but the
officer commanding the British declared, that if there was any further
delay, he would attack the battalions in their camp. The Nizam then gave
his consent, and the battalions were informed that hesitation would
expose them to the penalties of treason. A negotiation then began, in
the presence of the British troops and the Nizam's horse. The French
officers were promised protection, the possession of their personal
property, their arrears, and a passage to France; the battalions were
promised pay and future employment. The terms were accepted, and the
British officer had the satisfaction to see the eleven thousand lay down
their arms! This event struck all India with surprise. The measure had
been conducted so noiselessly, that the result was wholly unexpected. It
gave a prodigious _prestige_ to the character of the governor-general
throughout the "golden peninsula."
The war began. The seizure of Egypt by Bonaparte had inflamed Tippoo
with the hope of conquest; and, on the 13th of February 1799, he crossed
his own frontier at the head of 12,000 horse, and attacked the Bombay
force, of six thousand men, under General Stuart. He was repulsed after
some charges, and recrossed his frontier. This battle occurred _five
days_ before General Harris's invasion of Mysore. But another eminent
soldier was here to acquire his first distinction. Tippoo, manoeuvring
to prevent the junction of Generals Harris and Stuart, fell upon the
British at the lines of Malavelly. "Colonel Arthur Wellesley" there
commanded the 33d regiment, and the Nizam's force. A strong body of
horse charged the 33d. The soldiers were ordered to reserve their fire
till within pistol-shot; they then fired, and charged with the bayonet.
A general charge of the British dragoons took place, and the Mysore
troops were routed, with the loss of two thousand men.
On the 30th of April the breaching battery opened against Seringapatam.
Terms had been offered to Tippoo, by which he was to cede half his
territories, to pay two millions sterling, to renounce the French
alliance, and to give up four of his sons, and four of his generals, as
hostages. Those terms were merciful, for he was now reduced to his last
extremity, and it was palpable that there could be no hope of peace
while he retained the power of making war. His conduct, at this period,
seems to have been the work of infatuation. It was said that he had some
superstitious belief, that as the English had before retired from the
walls, the city was destined never to be taken. It had provisions for a
long defence, and a garrison of twenty-two thousand regular troops. But,
by shutting himself up in the fortress, he transgressed one of the first
rules of national war--that the monarch should never be compelled to
stand a siege. Tippoo, in the field, might have escaped, to wait a
change of fortune; but within walls he must conquer, or be undone.
On the 4th of May, at one in the afternoon, the stormers, commanded by
Baird, advanced. He, with some other officers of the 71st, had once been
a prisoner, and been cruelly treated in the fortress. The column
consisted of two thousand five hundred English, and one thousand eight
hundred Sepoys. They crossed the Cavery, the river of Seringapatam; and
in ten minutes the British flag was on the top of the rampart! The
column now cleared the ramparts to the right and left, and after a
gallant but confused resistance by the garrison, this famous fortress
was taken. Tippoo, after having his horse killed under him, and
receiving two wounds, attempted to make his escape on foot. A soldier,
attracted by his jewels, rushed to seize him; Tippoo gave him a cimeter
wound in the knee, the soldier then fired, and Tippoo fell dead. The
fortress was strongly provided. Its works mounted two hundred and eighty
guns. In its arsenal were found four hundred and fifty-one brass guns,
and four hundred and seventy-eight iron guns. Stores of every kind were
found in abundance. The storm scarcely exceeded an hour. Thus fell the
dynasty of the great Hyder Ali; and thus was extinguished a dream of
conquest, which once embraced the Empire of Hindostan.
Thus, by promptitude of action and sagacity of council, this formidable
war was extinguished in little more than eight weeks; a territory
producing a million sterling a-year was added to the Company's
dominions; and the whole fabric of a power which it had cost the genius
of Hyder a life to raise, and which once threatened to overthrow the
empire of the English in India, was broken down and dismantled for ever.
But Mysore was given to the family of its former Hindoo Rajah, and
simply reduced to the limits of its original territory; the conquests of
Hyder having been alone lopped away.
In England, the thanks of Parliament were given to the governor-general
and the army, and the former was made a marquess. The treasure taken in
Seringapatam, with the various arms and stores, was subsequently valued
at forty-five millions of star pagodas, (the pagoda being about eight
shillings sterling;) General Harris, as commander-in-chief, receiving an
eighth of the whole, or three hundred and twenty-four thousand nine
hundred and seven pagodas. His right to this sum was afterwards disputed
at law, but the claim was ultimately allowed. One hundred thousand
pounds was offered by the army to the Marquess, but honourably declined
by him as encroaching on the general prize-money. But the Court of
Directors, in recompense, voted him five thousand pounds a-year for
twenty years.
We now come to another important period in the career of this
distinguished servant of the crown. The French expedition to Egypt had
been expressly aimed at the British power in India. The Marquess
Wellesley instantly conceived the bold project of attacking the French
in the rear, by the march of an Indian army to Egypt, to co-operate with
an army from home.
The question of occupying Aden, at the mouth of the Red Sea, was then
discussed; and objected to by the marquess, on the several grounds of
its unfitness for a naval station, for a commercial station, and for
maintaining an influence on the coast. The admiral's opinion was
strongly against it, and the design was abandoned. It has been since
adopted; but the difference of circumstances must be remembered. We had
then no regular overland communication, no steamers on the Red Sea, and
thus no necessity for either a harbour or a depot of coals. Aden as a
garrison may be of little comparative value, but as a rendezvous for the
steam navy, it is of obvious importance, and not less as a means of
guarding the overland communication for the general benefit of Europe.
The advantages of this station may be the more appreciated, from the
following letter of the governor-general to the chairman of the Court of
Directors, (October 6, 1800,)--"In the present year I was nearly _seven
months_ without receiving one line of authentic intelligence from
England. My distress and anxiety of mind were scarcely supportable.
Speedy, authentic, and _regular_ intelligence from Europe, is
_essential_ to the trade and government of this empire. If the sources
of information be obstructed, no conscientious man can undertake this
weighty charge."
In 1800, the army under Abercromby landed in Egypt, and defeated the
French under Menou. General Baird, at the head of six thousand of the
Indian army, reached Egypt. General Belliard surrendered in Cairo with
thirteen thousand men. The Indian army then joined the British, and the
siege of Alexandria was begun. Menou immediately capitulated, and thus
the whole French expedition was undone--the fleet having been destroyed
by Nelson, and the army having been captured by Hutchinson--the French
army, amounting in the whole to twenty-four thousand men, and their
captors only to nineteen thousand British; the Indian army making up
the general number to twenty-five thousand six hundred and eighteen.
In July 1801, the Addington cabinet was formed. Peace with France was
signed at Amiens, March 27, 1802. Orders were now sent out to India to
restore the French possessions. But the Marquess, by his personal
sagacity, anticipated another war; and delayed the measure until he
should receive further intelligence. The result was, that when Linois
arrived with a French squadron to take possession of Pondicherry, Lord
Clive answered, "that he had not received any orders from the
governor-general." A despatch from Downing Street, of the 18th of March
1803, communicated to him the King's message to parliament declaring
war!
It is beyond our limits to enter into the disputes with the directors,
which preceded the return of the governor-general to Europe. He was
charged with lavishness of living, with the affectation of being the
director of the directors, with extravagance in the erection of the
palace at Calcutta, and with equal extravagance in the establishment of
the Indian college. But these charges have long since been forgotten;
they speedily vanished; investigation did justice to the character of
the Marquess; and the only foundation for those vague and wandering
charges actually was, that he was a man of high conceptions, fond of the
sumptuousness belonging to his rank, adopting a large expenditure for
its effect on the native mind, and justly thinking that the noblest
ornament of an empire is accomplished by literature.
He returned to England in January 1806, and found the great minister
dying. On his arrival he wrote to Pitt, who replied by the following
letter, dated from Putney:--
"MY DEAR WELLESLEY,
"On my arrival here last night I received, with inexpressible
pleasure your most friendly and affectionate letter. If I was not
strongly advised to keep out of London till I have acquired a
little further strength, I would have come up immediately, for the
purpose of seeing you at the first possible moment. As it is, I am
afraid I must trust to your goodness to give me the satisfaction of
seeing you here, the first hour you can spare for the purpose. If
you can, without inconvenience, make it about the middle of the
day, (in English style between two and four,) it would suit me
rather better than any other time, but none can be inconvenient.
"I am recovering rather slowly from a series of stomach complaints,
followed by severe attacks of gout; but I believe I am in the way
of real amendment. Ever most truly and affectionately yours,
"W. PITT."
The great minister was unfortunately lost to his country and mankind
within a week!
Lord Brougham, in his _Memoirs of British Statesmen_, records the
testimony of the Marquess against the common report, that Pitt died of a
broken heart in consequence of the calamities of Austria and the
breaking up of the continental coalition. The Marquess declares, that
Pitt, though emaciated, retained his "gaiety and constitutionally
sanguine disposition" to the last, expressing also "confident hopes of
recovery."
The biographer gives a passing touch of disapproval to Pitt's
administration, though he imputes all his ministerial delinquencies "to
sordid and second-rate men round him." But this is wholly contrary to
the character of the man--never individual less acted on the suggestions
of others than Pitt. The simple fact is, the biographer knows nothing on
the subject, and would have much more wisely avoided giving us his
opinions altogether.
We shall notice but one charge more against the Marquess on his return.
It was made by a low fellow of the name of Paul, who had been a tailor,
but had by some means or other obtained an office in India. No man could
have held the highest power in India so long without making enemies
among the contemptible; and this Paul, determined to figure as a public
accuser, attacked the character of the Marquess with respect to his
compelling the Nabob of Oude to pay his debts to the Company. Every one
knows the degraded state of Indian morality, especially in pecuniary
transactions; and the measures necessary in this instance were charged
as the extreme of tyranny. But those charges were never substantiated;
they came before the House of Commons in the shape of resolutions, and
were negatived by a large majority, 182 to 31. Paul, in a struggle to
become a popular character, and as a candidate for Westminster, involved
himself in an unfortunate duel with Sir Francis Burdett, in which both
were wounded; but Paul's wound, suddenly turning to mortification, he
died.
After the vote on the resolutions, Sir John Anstruther, who had been
chief-justice in Bengal, moved "that the Marquess's conduct in Oude was
highly meritorious." The resolution was triumphantly carried.