7

XV.

and inhabitants, of which they have been plun- BOOK dered? Far from it. The question is merely, whether the state or the company shall enjoy the 1773. advantages arising from these vast possessions ? Of this contest the result is known. The company, loaded with reproach and obloquy, are censured, condemned, and punished, without so much as being heard in their own defence; but restitution is made, not to the princes of India, but to the people of Great Britain: and almost at the same instant that we are passing bills for the purpose of transferring the riches of Hindostan from the treasury of the company to the royal exchequer, we are called upon to vote impeachments against the man by whose heroic efforts of valor, and plans of policy, those riches were acquired. Is there any trace of dignity, of consistency, or virtue, in this conduct ? If we are deliberately determined to keep possession of those dominions, which are universally allowed to have been unjustly acquired, we are parties in the injustice, and those who were the original actors of it are entitled from the justice of the nation (for there is a justice even in injustice) to indemnity at least, if not to gratitude and applause; and all that can with propriety be done, short of restitution and emancipation, is to secure, by wise and equitable regulations, the future happiness and welfare of those distant nations,

BOOK who are become, by an astonishing vicissitude of fortune, subject to our dominion *.

XV.

1773.

On putting the question, the last clause of the resolution was rejected, although the minister declared in favor of the words of censure, and divided in the minority. An amendment was then moved, "that lord Clive did at the same time render great and meritorious services to this country.;" which was carried by a considerable majority, and an END put to the INQUIRY. deep impression was nevertheless made upon the mind of this nobleman by this public accusation, and by the odium and obloquy which from this time attached itself to his character. His faculties, no longer roused to action by the necessity of great and vigorous exertion, languished

A

XV.

in retirement and solitude, and gradually preyed BOOK
upon themselves, till existence became insupport-
able. Originally educated in strict principles 1773.
of religion, it is probable that his early associa-
tions now recurred with redoubled force; and
though acquitted by the highest human juris-
diction, he could not acquit himself, or hope
for acquittal at that far more awful tribunal at
which he dreaded to appear. After a few years
passed in a state of wretchedness and despon-
dency, he at length put a voluntary period to
his life; by this melancholy catastrophe demon-
strating to mankind the vanity of human pur-
suits and wishes, and the infinite superiority of
conscious virtue to all the gifts of fame and
fortune *.

* Magne Pater Divûm! sævos punire tyrannos
Haud alia ratione velis, cum dira libido
Moverit ingenium ferventi tincta veneno;
Virtutem videant, intabescantque relicta.

PERSIUS.

Great Father of the Gods! when for our crimes

Thou send'st some heavy judgment on the times;
Some tyrant wretch, the terror of his age,

The type and true vicegerent of thy rage;

Thus punish him-set Virtue in his sight,

With all her charms adorn'd, with all her beauties bright;

But set her distant-make him pale to see

His gains immense outweigh'd by lost felicity.

DRYDEN, sat 10.

BOOK
XV.

}

The discussion of the different bills relative to India occupied the attention of parliament the 1773. far greater part of the session; but in the course of it an investigation took place, of far inferior importance indeed, yet not devoid of interest to those who think nothing foreign to themselves which bears any relation to humanity. The island of St. Vincent, one of the neutral islands ceded by France to Great Britain by the last treaty of peace, was in great part occupied by a race of yellow Caribbs, accounted the aboriginal possessors of the entire chain of the Great and Lesser Antilles; and it was calculated that, reduced as they were in number, they could still muster, within the narrow limits of St. Vincent's, more than a thousand fighting men.

The French settlers had long lived on terms of perfect peace and amity with this remnant of a once great and powerful nation, who are represented as a quiet and inoffensive people, subsisting chiefly by hunting and fishing, and little versed in the arts of pasturage or agriculture. The French government, agreeably to the generous policy of that nation respecting the savage tribes of America, had treated these Caribbs with uniform respect and distinction, as the original and rightful proprietors of the island, and still remaining a free and independent people.

Soon after the peace many of the French

XV.

~

settlers, choosing to remove to the French islands, BOOK disposed of their plantations at St. Vincent's to English adventurers, who soon became conside- 1773. rable in numbers and property. Though no stipulation had been made in favor of the Caribbs by the treaty of Paris, instructions were transmitted by the English court, that they should not be disturbed in the possession of their lands. But the new settlers, quickly perceiving that the most fertile districts of the island were in the hands of the Caribbs, made repeated representations to the government to divest these people of the lands which they actually occupied, and the fertility of which rendered them of no additional or peculiar value to the Caribbs, and to bestow upon them in exchange other lands, in the island or ELSEWHERE, as should be thought expedient. The advantage arising from the sale of these lands to the crown, and the danger resulting to the English settlers from the vicinity of a lawless banditti, strongly attached to the French nation, were urged as arguments highly meriting the attention of government. At length orders were issued early in the year 1768, by the board of treasury, for the survey and disposal of the lands possessed by the Caribbs, for the cultivated parts of which they were to receive a compensation in money, and to have other lands allotted for their

.