BOOK circumstance of Mr. Pitt's acceptance of, a peerXIV. age, in consequence of which he was supposed 1766 to be gained over by the court. He had been so Rockingham connexion, acceding with improvident eagerness to the overtures of the court, after the positive rejection of the lords Chatham and Temple, quickly found their administration rested on a basis much too weak to be permanent. Lord Chatham, subsequently invested with full powers, instigated by ambition and resentment, fell into that fatal error which he afterwards so deeply and bitterly lamented. On the total failure of his high and sanguine expectations, he saw how greatly he had deviated from the path of true wisdom, in not adopting a plan of generous and liberal comprehension. In the celebrated pamphlet already quoted, are to be found many memorable observations relative to the system of court policy introduced at the accession of the present sovereign. "To secure to the court," says this then patriotic writer, "the unlimited and uncontrolled use of its own vast influence, under the sole direction of its own private favor, has for some years past been the great object of policy. For the future, court and administration were to be considered as things totally different. By this operation, two systems of administration were to be formed: one which should be in the real secret and confidence; the other merely ostensible, to perform the official and executory offices of the state. This COURT FACTION proceeded gradually, but not slowly, to destroy every thing of strength which did not derive its principal nourishment from the immediate pleasure of the court. Mettre le roi hors de page became a sort of watchword; as a foundation of their scheme, the CABAL have established a sort of rota in the court. All sorts of parties by this means have been brought into administration, from whence few have had the good fortune to escape without disgrace. In the beginning of i 1 XIV. long distinguished by the title of THE GREAT BOOK COMMONER, and had on so many occasions professed himself the champion of the PEOPLE, that 1766. they had flattered themselves no other title could have for him equal attraction. He had now voluntarily dissolved that connexion which was formerly his pride and his boast. He was no longer one of the people; and the people, con each arrangement, no professions of confidence and support are wanting to induce the leading men to engage. But while the ministers of the day appear in all the pomp and pride of power, while they have all their canvas spread out to the wind, and every sail filled with the fair and prosperous gale of royal favor, they find, they know not how, a current which sets directly against them, which prevents all progress, which even drives them backwards. That the CABAL may be enabled to compass all the ends of its institution, its members are scarcely ever to aim at the high and responsible offices of the state. They are distributed with art and judgment through all the secondary but efficient departments of office, and through the households of all the branches of the royal family. If an attack be made upon one of this corps, immediately he flies to sanctuary, and pretends to the most inviolable of all promises. Conscious of their independence, they bear themselves with a lofty air to the exterior ministers. Like JANISSARIES, they derive a kind of freedom from the very condition of their servitude. They may act just as they please, provided they are true to the ruling principle of their institution. The name by which they chose to distinguish themselves, is that of the KING'S FRIENDS. The whole system, comprising the exterior and interior administrations, is commonly called, in the technical language of the court, double cabinet-in French or English, as you choose to pronounce it." BOOK ceiving their peculiar interests henceforth neXIV. glected, perhaps abandoned, no longer reposed 1766. their trust and confidence in him. Thus, what Review of Indian transactions. he gained in dignity he lost in popularity and power: and even impartial and dispassionate persons were of opinion, that though there was nothing in his acceptance of a peerage which necessarily implied a dereliction of principle, yet, in his peculiar circumstances, it afforded such a presumption of vanity and versatility as might easily excite, and in some degree excuse, the anger and prejudice now prevailing against him. But before we enter upon the interesting events which took place under the new administration, events so nearly affecting the welfare, and even the existence of the British empire in the West, it will be expedient to advert to those transactions in the East, which, in consequence of the astonishing successes of the English arms in India, must now be regarded as forming an essential part of the general history of the British nation. The WAR on the continent of HINDOSTAN terminated, as we have seen, in the entire subversion of the Gallic empire in the East. By the peace of Fontainebleau, Pondicherry, Chandernagore, and other settlements of France, had indeed been restored; but the ascendancy acquired by England was so great, that a political XIV. competition could scarcely be said, in the present BOOK situation of things, to exist. The events succeeding the memorable revolution of 1757 in Bengal, 1766. and which it will now be proper, in a clear and summary manner, to recount, seemed, in splendor and magnitude, to surpass all former exploits, and to make the wonders recorded by ancient historians of Alexander and Lucullus credible. No sooner was Meer Jaffier Ally Khan invested with the sovereign authority as subah of Bengal, and its dependencies, than he appeared, as might well be expected, filled with all those apprehensions and jealousies of the English power by which his predecessor Su-Rajah Dowla had been actuated. He augmented his army by numerous levies, at the same time pleading inability to discharge the arrears due by treaty to the company. Being, however, compelled to take the field against Ramnarain, the nabob of Patna, who refused to acknowledge his authority, he found it necessary to solicit aid of the governor and council at Calcutta; and colonel Clive, by their order, accordingly joined him with his troops, first conditioning, that the revenues of the districts of Burdwan, Nuddea, and Houghly, should be assigned over in perpetuity to the company. On the approach of the subah and the English general, Ramnarain submitted, and was confirmed in his government most reluctantly by Meer Jaffier, BOOK through the mediation of colonel Clive, who saw XIV. that he might prove an useful check on the too 1766. great power of the subah. The phirmaund of the emperor now arrived, by which Meer Jaffier was declared lawful possessor of the subahdary, and colonel Clive was created an omrah of the empire; receiving also from the bounty of the emperor the titles of Zubdut-Ulmulk, NusseeraDowla, Sabut-Jung-Bahader; i. e. the Perfection of the Empire, the Sword of Victory, the Experienced Warrior. On the 23d of June, 1758, the anniversary of the victory of Plassey, colonel Clive was nominated to the government of Bengal, and the subah paid him on this occasion a visit in person at Calcutta, where he was magnificently entertained, and returned, apparently well satisfied, to his capital of Moorshedabad. New causes of discord however, soon arose, to the elucidation of which a slight retrospective view of the affairs of the empire of Hindostan may be in some degree conducive, and even necessary. It is very remarkable that a throne so despotic as that of Dehli, and consequently so much and so perpetually exposed to the vicissitudes of fortune, should have been filled by four emperors only from the accession of Akber, A. D. 1555, to the death of Aurengzebe, 1707, an interval of 152 years; after which it became at once the sport and prey of the most |