1786-93. CHAP. with the forts of Gunjecotah and Cudapa; while the XXXV. English gained Malabar and Coorg, the province of Dindigul, and Baramahal, which formed an iron boundary' to Coromandel. In a military point of view, it was thought that Bangalore, and the districts which connect it with the Ghauts, would have been more valuable to us than Coorg; as they would have formed a complete defence against the sultan's future hostility; but lord Cornwallis was desirous of reconciling the vanquished prince, as far as possible, to his humbled condition; and was also anxious to protect the wretched inhabitants of Coorg, who had shown great zeal in the English cause, against that horrible vengeance which the tyrant had prepared for them as soon as they should come within his power. The whole course of his lordship's conduct on this memorable occasion,' as Sir John Malcolm justly observes, exhibited a union of good feeling, manly simplicity, and firmness, which added, as much as his victories in the field, to the fame of his country.' No specific change was made, after the termination of this war, in the relations between the company and the Nizam; though jealousies began to disturb the alliance of the English and Mahrattas, when the latter saw the shield of British power interposed between them and the Nizam, whom they had long destined for their prey: an additional cause of dissatisfaction was the refusal of lord Cornwallis to suffer the British detachment to remain permanently with the peishwah's army, who, under pretext of reducing his refractory dependents to obedience, was anxious to employ it against Madhajee Sindia. This chieftain had firmly established a dominion over the Mogul provinces, which the Poonah ministers beheld with great jealousy: he at this time possessed a large and formidable corps of regular infantry under French officers; he had erected founderies and arsenals; and made a larger accumulation of the materials of war than any native prince in India. Sensible, however, as lord Cornwallis was When, XXXV. 1786-93. of the formidable increase of his power, he regarded CHAP. all direct attempts to check it as contrary to the late act of parliament, and therefore unlikely to obtain the approbation of authorities at home. however, intelligence arrived in July from Delhi, that the emperor had signified a hope of obtaining, through the exertions of Sindia, some tribute from Bengal, the British resident at Sindia's court was instructed to make a spirited remonstrance against the manner in which he was using his imperial captive's name, and to caution him against forcing the British government to depart from its pacific system by any rash and unjust demands. Until the last year of lord Cornwallis's administration, peace subsisted between England and France; a circumstance of great importance in the war against Tippoo, as it enabled the government to call into operation the whole British force. In 1793, when accounts were received of the commencement of war with the French republic, Pondicherry was once more attacked by general Sir John Braithwaite ; when that and all the other French settlements were soon added to the English possessions. Lord Corn- Departure wallis, who had hastened from Bengal for the pur-Cornwallis pose of directing this service, found it already per- from India. formed he therefore set sail in August for England, where he was received in a manner corresponding to his great deserts: in the year previous he had been raised to the dignity of a marquis. of lord CHAP. XXXVI. 1792. State of the public mind in CHAPTER XXXVI. GEORGE III. (CONTINUED.)- 1792. State of the public mind in Great Britain during the recess of DURING the recess of parliament a very considerIn England. able feeling of disquietude existed in this country. In the early part of the year, both the navy and army had been reduced, in pursuance of a recom 1 mendation from the throne; and government had resisted the most urgent solicitations to join the confederacy against France: even after the deposition of Louis, on the tenth of August, our ambassador was ordered, before he left a capital where monarchy was virtually extinct, to renew his assurances of British neutrality; and the French minister, M. le Brun, declared that his government felt confident that the British cabinet would not, at this decisive moment, depart from the justice, moderation, and impartiality which it had hitherto manifested:' but when the national convention began to hold out the hand of fraternity to other countries, their proceedings naturally excited suspicion; and this feeling was heightened into aversion when they endeavored to draw England also into the revolutionary vortex." With regard to considerations more strictly political, the war with Austria might have been overlooked; although even that has been clearly proved to have been provoked by the French government, in order to favor the abolition of royalty: but when Savoy was incorporated with France, in contradiction to the formal renunciation of all plans of conquest; when Belgium was declared independent, under the protection of France; when the navigation of the Scheldt was opened, in disregard of all existing relations between European states; and a decree of the sixteenth of November ordered the French troops to pursue the fugitive Austrians into the Dutch territories; then it was that the British government thought it expedient to place the country in a state of defence: accordingly the militia were called out, I See State Papers in Annual Register, vol. xxxiv. p. 327. 2 The designs of the revolutionary party in this country were very powerfully counteracted by an 'association against republicans and levellers,' instituted by Mr. John Reeves in the beginning of November this year, which was very generally joined, and gave an important turn to public opinion. Similar associations for preserving the constitution were multiplied in all parts of the kingdom, which soon put a stop to the boast of the French convention, 'that our respectable islanders, once their masters in the social art, had now become their disciples.'-See Annual Register for 1793, p. 137. 3 See Marsh's Politics, vol. ii. p. 132, &c. + Annual Register for 1793, p. 165. CHAP. XXXVI. 1792. 1792. CHAP. the Tower was strengthened, and parliament sumXXXVI. moned to meet on the thirteenth of December. Never did more momentous objects demand its atMeeting of tention; never were interests more complicated or parliament. important than those which resulted from two subjects closely interwoven with each other;—the operation of jacobinical principles, and the advances of French power. In the king's speech, the dangerous principle of interference with other states, lately proclaimed and acted on by the rulers of France, was strongly pointed out. 'I have carefully observed,' said his majesty, 'a strict neutrality in the present war on the continent, and have uniformly abstained from interference in the internal affairs of France: but it is impossible to see, without serious uneasiness, the strong and increasing indications which have there appeared of an intention to excite disturbances in other countries, to disregard the rights of neutral nations, and to pursue views of conquest and aggrandisement; as well as to adopt toward my allies, the States-General, who have observed the same neutrality as myself, measures conformable neither to the law of nations, nor to the stipulations of existing treaties.' On moving the address, a memorable debate arose, in which Mr. Fox declared it to be his firm conviction, that there was not one fact stated in the speech which was not false, or one assertion which was not unfounded: while he acknowleged the calamities which had befallen a neighboring kingdom ought to deter men from forming experimental governments, he denied that there had been any insurrection in this kingdom to warrant the measure of calling out the national militia. Admitting that there had been riots in some places, he asserted, that those who were concerned in them had no design to subvert the constitution, which they knew to be a source of blessings to all classes of his majesty's subjects. He said, that a miserable pretext had been held out of imaginary dangers, for assembling parliament in an extraordinary way, in order that the country might be plunged into a foreign war: |