Part 6 (1/2)
From Eastern climes, lo, Hastings! late return'd, His struggles ended, and his fame well earn'd, Ill.u.s.trious Stateman! [13] to a distant age Thy name shall live and grace th'historic page; There licens'd falsehoods [14] shall no more prevail, Nor Dodsley publish [15] Edmund's annual tale.
When France, exulting, deem'd our ruin near, And Hyder's progress struck each Chief with fear; When hostile nations press'd in league combin'd, Collected, firm, and dauntless was thy mind; Inspir'd by Hastings, Coote [16]: the seasons brav'd, Embark'd his succours, and a kingdom sav'd.
G.o.ddard [17] at his command our standard bore Through lands to England's sons unknown before; While Popham's victories rais'd our country's fame And fix'd in realms remote the British name.
The sued-for peace [18] to Gualior's fall is due.
And Gualior's capture long was Hastings' view.
History shall tell how clos'd the scene of blood, When to a world oppos'd Britannia stood; No conquest Gallia claims on India's coast, No splendid triumphs can the Belgian boast, For millions wasted, [19] and a navy lost.
The keen Maratta and the fierce Mysore Their league dissolve, and give the contest o'er; And peace restor'd, e'en party owns, tho' late, [20]
That Hastings' firmness has preserv'd the State.
Succeeding ages this great truth shall know, A truth recorded by a generous foe, [21]
That England's genius, in a luckless hour For Gallic schemes, gave Hastings Sov'reign pow'r.
[Footnote 13: Pitt, who moved the address upon the peace in Lord Shelburne's administration, declared, in the course of his speech, that he had no fears for India while so ill.u.s.trious a stateman as Mr.
Hastings directed our councils, and so great a general as Sir Eyre Coote commanded our armies. This declaration was the more honourable for Mr. Hastings because at that time the absurd prejudices of the Rockingham party had misled half the Nation.]
[Footnote 14: It can be remembered with what diligence copies of the reports of the Select Committee were circulated under the sanction of the Ministry, and how many false and abusive libels were given away through the kingdom, tending to depreciate the character of Mr.
Hastings, previous to Mr. Fox's bringing in his India Bill.]
[Footnote 15: Mr. Burke published a speech almost every year after he came into notice.]
[Footnote 16: The preservation of the British empire in India depended upon Sir Eyre Coote's safe arrival at Madras with money and troops at the most dangerous season of the year, when merchant s.h.i.+ps seldom venture upon the coast.]
[Footnote 17: General G.o.ddard marched from Corah to Surat, across the continent of Indostan, and after the conclusion of the peace the same army returned to Bengal under the command of Colonel Charles Morgan, through countries which we had formerly little knowledge of. Colonel Pearce marched at the head of five regiments of Bengal Sepoys from Calcutta to reinforce Sir Eyre Coote's army at Madras. This brave detachment was distinguished in every action; on the attack of the French lines at Cuddalore, one of the regiments was opposed to a French European regiment, and much of the success of that day is attributed to the spirited exertions of the Bengal detachment. Colonel Pearce, on the conclusion of the peace with Tippoo, marched this detachment back to Calcutta, where it was disbanded in the month of January.]
[Footnote 18: The separate peace with Madagee Scindia was entirely owing to the capture of Gwalior and to the subsequent operations of a detachment formed by Hastings for the express purpose of drawing Scindia from Guzzerat to the defence of his own dominions, and as a certain means of effecting a general peace.]
[Footnote 19: The war in India cost France at least seven millions sterling, and at the close of it we were in possession of all the French and Dutch settlements on the continent of India, and were besieging their forces in Cuddalore when intelligence of the peace in Europe was received at Madras.]
[Footnote 20: The Directors were divided at one period in their opinion of Hastings; and Fox and Burke invariably laid great stress upon the circ.u.mstance that thirteen directors were of opinion he ought to be recalled in 1783, though ten of the same body, and 428 proprietors, most strenuously supported him. Many of the thirteen who voted his recall in 1783 were in the Direction when he received a unanimous vote of thanks for his long, faithful, and important services.]
[Footnote 21: Monsieur Law, governor of Pondicherry, in a memoir addressed to the French Minister, says, ”In an evil hour for France the English East India Company appointed Mr. Hastings governor of Bengal.” And Monsieur Suffrien, in a letter to Hastings, relative to his treatment of English prisoners, says that he wishes to explain the motives of his conduct to one ”of whom all the world speaks well,”-and surely a compliment of this kind was never paid with more justice to any individual than to Warren Hastings. Throughout India and Europe, the character of no man was more generally known or more universally respected.]
AN IMITATION OF HORACE
BOOK II., ODE 16.
WRITTEN BY WARREN HASTINGS ON HIS Pa.s.sAGE FROM BENGAL TO ENGLAND IN 1785.
ADDRESSED TO JOHN Sh.o.r.e, ESQ.
For ease the hara.s.s'd seaman prays, When Equinoctial tempests raise The Cape's surrounding wave; When hanging o'er the reef, he hears The cracking mast, and sees or fears, Beneath, his wat'ry grave.
For ease the slow _Maratta_ spoils, And hardier _Sic_ erratic toils, While both their ease forego; For ease, which neither gold can buy, Nor robes, nor gems, which oft belie, The cover'd heart bestow;