indispensable, and at the same time of givREGENCY ACT. ing any sensible relief to foreign trade, and BEFORE the bills, founded on the above to the weight of the public debt. He thought proceedings and resolutions of the commons, it equitable that those parts of the empire could go through all the necessary stages, which had benefited most by the expenses another matter of great national concern enof the war, should contribute something to gaged the attention of the public at large, the expenses of the peace; and he had no as well as of parliament. Towards the doubt of the constitutional right vested in spring of the year, his majesty was attacked parliament to raise the contribution. But with an illness, which excited the greater unfortunately for this country, Pitt and lord alarm, as nothing could be gathered from Camden were to be the patrons of America, the newspapers, but that the state of his because they were in opposition. Their health was precarious. The first day that declaration gave spirit and argument to the his health would permit him to appear colonies; and while perhaps they meant no abroad, which was on the twenty-fourth of more than the ruin of a minister, they in effect divided one half of the empire from the other.

MEASURES FOR PREVENTING SMUG-
GLING, &c.

April, he repaired to parliament, where, after giving his assent to the bills that were ready, he made a speech to both houses, in which he told them, that the tender concern he felt for his faithful subjects, made him anxious GRENVILLE's plans, for the increase of the to provide for every possible event, which revenue at home, and for the prevention of might affect their happiness, and security: smuggling on the British coasts, were at that his late indisposition, though not attendtended with much greater facility and suc- ed with danger, had led him to consider the cess. The Isle of Man, which was not sub- situation in which his kingdoms and his ject to the custom-house laws, as not only family might be left, if it should please God the property but the sovereignty of it be- to put a period to his life whilst his successor longed to the duke of Athol, lay so con- was of tender years: and as his health, by veniently for the purpose of smuggling, that the blessing of God, was now restored, he it defeated the utmost vigilance of govern- took the earliest opportunity of meeting ment. Grenville presented to the house of them, and of recommending to their most commons, "a bill for more effectually pre- serious deliberation the making such proventing the mischiefs arising to the revenue vision as would be necessary, in case any of and commerce of Great Britain and Ireland, his children should succeed to his throne befrom the illicit and clandestine trade to and fore they should respectively attain the age from the Isle of Man." It was obvious that of eighteen years. To this end his majesty no effectual remedy could be applied, but by proposed to their consideration, whether, unvesting the sovereignty of the island in the der the present circumstances, it would not crown of Great Britain. Before the second be expedient to vest in him the power of reading of the bill, the duke and dutchess appointing, from time to time, by instrument of Athol presented a petition for liberty to in writing, under his sign-manual, either the be heard by counsel against it. The object queen, or any other person of his royal was to obtain a proper compensation or family usually residing in Great Britain, to equivalent for the surrender of their heredi-be the guardian of the person of such suctary rights and title. An abstract of the cessor, and the regent of these kingdoms, clear revenue of the island for the last ten until such successor should attain the age years, and the proposals of the duke and of eighteen years, subject to the like restricdutchess in their correspondence with the tions and regulations, as were specified in commissioners of the treasury on the subject, the act made on occasion of his father's were also laid before the house; and the re- death; the regent so appointed to be assisted sult of all was, that on the sixth of March, by a council, composed of the several pertwo resolutions were agreed to, and after-sons, who, by reason of their dignities and wards passed into a law, for vesting in the offices, were constituted members of the crown all rights, jurisdictions, and interests, council established by that act, together with. in and over the said island and its depen- those whom they might think proper to leave dencies, excepting what related to the landed to his nomination.

property; and for allowing the proprietors This affecting and gracious speech having seventy thousand pounds as a full compen- been answered, as soon as forms would adsation for those rights. The liberality of mit, by a joint address from both houses, government went still farther, and in addi- well adapted to express those sentiments tion to the former sum, granted a pension of which it deserved, and those emotions which two thousand pounds a-year to the late duke, the occasion of it had so justly excited, the and to the dutchess his wife, during their lords ordered a bill to be brought in, conlives, by way of douceur for their relin- formable to his majesty's recommendation; quishment of titular royalty. and when passed their house, sent it to the

was prorogued with the usual acknowledgments from the throne.

commons. But when the bill came down to them for their concurrence, it gave rise to very long debates, the clauses of it being so The ministry did not long enjoy those worded as to exclude the princess dowager gratifications. Offers were made to the of Wales from any share in the guardian- principal members of the opposition, and ship or regency, though, next to the queen, though declined by Mr. Pitt and lord Temit was most natural for his majesty to wish ple, were accepted by the duke of Newcas his own mother invested with such trusts. tle, the marquis of Rockingham, and their An amendment was therefore moved, and friends. General Conway, who at the close carried by a majority of a hundred and sixty- of the last session had been deprived of all seven against thirty-seven, for inserting the his employments, and the duke of Grafton, name of the princess dowager of Wales, were made secretaries of state. Lord Weynext after that of the queen, as one of the mouth's late appointment to the lord-lieutenpersons whom his majesty might appoint to ancy of Ireland was superseded by that of the guardianship of his successors under age, the earl of Hertford, general Conway's broand to the regency of his realms. The bill, ther. The president's chair, lately filled by so amended, was returned to the house of the duke of Bedford, was given to the earl lords; and, that amendment being approved of Winchelsea; and the places, which Grenby their lordships, received the royal assent on the fifteenth of May.

NEW ADMINISTRATION.

ville had united in his own person, were now divided, the marquis of Rockingham becoming first lord of the treasury, and Mr. Dowdeswell chancellor of the exchequer. Most SINCE the earl of Bute's retirement from of the other great offices of state were also public business, the agents of faction had filled with new men, except that lord Egbeen indefatigable in their endeavors to mont was continued at the head of the admake the multitude believe, that no import- miralty, and the duke of Newcastle chose ant measure was determined upon by gov- to be lord privy-seal, a place of ease well ernment without his private advice; and suited to his years, and yet of honor and conthat his successors in office were but nomi- fidence, the things of which his grace had nal substitutes, or rather mere puppets ex-ever appeared most ambitious. It was upon hibited on the stage, while he stood behind the same occasion that the very popular the curtain managing the wires that regu- chief justice of the common pleas obtained lated all their motions. The great popular a peerage.

speakers in both houses of parliament took This arrangement, or alteration of the care to countenance, and as far as they were ministry, was entirely the work of the duke able, to strengthen those reports, by frequent of Cumberland, who continued for some time insinuations of a secret influence. Such re- to assist them with his advice, but did not proaches, however groundless and absurd, live long enough to see the consequences of could not be very agreeable to any of the the most important of their deliberations. ministers; but they were particularly sting- On the evening of the thirty-first of Octoing to the duke of Bedford, a man almost as ber, as his royal highness was preparing to proud, as irritable, and as jealous of his in- assist at a council on affairs of state, which dependency as Mr. Pitt himself. From too was to be held at his own house in Upper violent a desire to wipe off the aspersion, Grosvenor-street, he was seized with a disand to afford the most unquestionable proofs order, of which he had some symptoms the of disregard for the earl of Bute, his grace night before, and in a fit of shivering, sunk contrived to have that nobleman's brother senseless, almost instantaneously, in the turned out of a very honorable and lucrative arms of the earl of Albemarle. In less than employment, enjoyed by him in his own two months after, the royal family sustained country, and in the discharge of which he another loss in the death of prince Fredehad not given the least room for complaint. rick William, his majesty's youngest brother. It was impossible this step should not be con- This event, following the former at so short sidered by the king as an affront put upon an interval, thickened the glooms of melanhimself. But the duke and his colleagues choly round the court, and damped the joy went still farther; and dismissed lord Hol- which had been lately felt there, as well as land and the earl of Northumberland, for no throughout the kingdom, in consequence of other reason but because they were supposed the queen's happy delivery of a third son, to be the earl of Bute's friends. About the prince William Henry, since created duke time these changes took place, parliament of Clarence.

CHAPTER VIII.

ir Cossim's Endeavors to shake off the India Company's yoke-Military operations which effected the entire Conquest of Bengal-Appointment and Departure of a select Committee for Bengal-Treaty concluded by Lord Clive with the Nabob of Oude -Violent Proceedings against the Stamp-Act in North America-Debates and Proceedings in England as to the Right of taxing the Colonies-Causes of a sudden Change in the Ministry.

success.

MIR COSSIM'S ATTEMPT AGAINST THE

EAST INDIA COMPANY.

DURING the painful suspense which the he could. Here he began to form his army people of England must have felt with re- on a new model. He drew together all the gard to the effects of the stamp-act in Ame- Persians, Tartars, Armenians, and other rica, and while the most enlightened pa- soldiers of fortune, whose military spirit he triots saw with concern some heavy clouds wished to infuse into his Indian forces, and collecting over the western hemisphere, whose example might, he hoped, teach them a brighter prospect presented itself in the to overcome their natural timidity. Sensible east, where the affairs of the India company of the superiority of European discipline, were said to go on in a brilliant career of he neglected nothing to acquire it. Every wandering Frenchman, every Seapoy who had been dismissed from the English service, he carefully picked up, and distributed In some former remarks on the occur- amongst his troops, in order to train them rences of the year 1761, it was observed to the most perfect exercise. He changed that Mir Cossim, the subah of Bengal, who the fashion of the Indian muskets from had been enabled by the assistance of the matchlocks to firelocks; and because his English to check Sha Zaddah's progress, cannon was nearly as defective as his smallwas influenced by private motives to treat arms, he procured from the English a patthe conquered prince with extraordinary tern of one, on which he formed an excelrespect. Mir Cossim, though indebted to lent train of artillery. Attentive to his the English for the acquisition of the subah- army, he was not forgetful of his court, the ship in the first instance (1), and for the treachery and factious dissensions of which secure possession of it afterwards, conceived had hitherto been more fatal to the Indian the design of freeing himself from what he princes than the feebleness of their arms. thought the chains of ruinous and dishonora- He, therefore, cut off without remorse, or ble dependence. Instead, therefore, of im- threw into prison, every considerable person posing hard terms on the Mogul prince, he in his dominions, who had shown any attachstrove to secure his friendship, of which he ment to the English. Thus strengthenforesaw the value as soon as he should be ed by every measure, which a subtle and prepared to avow his intentions. But these enterprising man, unchecked by conscience, he artfully concealed for some time, and could take, he began to exert that authority, even continued to avail himself of the pow- which he thought so firmly and so justly er of the English, whilst he found it ser- established. His revenue, though on a much viceable to him. By their means he cleared better footing than that of his predecessor, his government of invaders, and strengthen- still fell very short of its ancient limits. ed his frontiers: he reduced the rajahs or The free trade, which his own and his faindependent Indian chiefs, who had rebelled ther-in-law's necessities had extorted in faduring the feeble administration of his pre-vor of the company's servants, threatened to decessor; and by compelling them to pay annihilate his customs, as it diverted all the the usual tribute, repaired his exhausted domestic and foreign commerce of Bengal finances, and thus secured the discipline and into a channel from which he could derive fidelity of his troops. Peace and order be- no benefit. To remedy this evil, he subing restored to his province, his next step jected all the English private traders to the was to remove his court from Murshudabad, regular and equal payment of duties throughthe vicinity of which to Calcutta gave the out his dominions; and issued an order, factory an opportunity of watching his con- that their disputes, if they happened in his duct too narrowly, and of crushing all his territories, should be decided by his magisefforts on the first suspicion. He moved trates. two hundred miles higher up the Ganges, The English factory took the alarm. Mr. and fixed his residence at Mongheer, which Vansittart, the governor, went, in the latter he fortified as strongly and expeditiously as end of the year 1762, to Mongheer, in or

der to expostulate with the subah, who an- withstanding its fortifications had been newly swered his remonstrances with a command repaired, and that it was defended by a strong of temper equal to the force of his reason- garrison. The Indian governor and his ing. "If," said he, "the servants of the troops fled at the first assault into the councompany were permitted, as they now de- try; but being reinforced, he returned in a sire, to trade custom-free in all ports, and few hours to Patna, and surprised the Engin all commodities, they must of course lish, who had neglected every precaution, draw all trade into their own hands; and and were widely dispersed on every side, my customs would be of so little value, wasting and plundering that opulent and that it would be more for my interest to lay feeble city. Many of them were cut to trade entirely open, and to collect no duties pieces, the rest took refuge in the fort. But upon any kind of merchandise. This would even this they soon abandoned, so spiritless invite numbers of merchants into the coun- did they become in consequence of the untry, and increase my revenues by encour- expected turn of their affairs. Crossing the aging the cultivation and manufacture of Ganges, they marched for three days withgoods for sale, at the same time that it out interruption; but were at length overwould cut off the principal source of our taken by a superior force. In the first quarrels, an object, which I have more than engagement fortune proved favorable; in any other at heart." The truth of these the second they were entirely routed, and emarks could not be controverted; but Mir shared that fate which might naturally be Cossim's conduct was still a direct violation expected from so rash and precipitate a of the treaty or bargain he made with the resolution. At a distance from all succor, company's servants on his obtaining the su- and in the heart of the enemy's country, bahship, by which they were entitled to the they had no safety to hope for, but from the privileges in question. The matter, how-defence of their factory, where they might ever, was evidently in his power, unless a have maintained themselves for a long time, war prevented him. The governor, though the Indians being very inexpert in the art long accustomed to dictate on such occa- of reducing fortified places. sions, submitted to certain regulations, which, Though the deputies, sent to Mongheer, if not unreasonable, were very unpleasing. had the nabob's pass, and ought to have been These were instantly put in execution; and by the law of nations sacred, they were atthe Indian magistrates began to exercise tacked in their return, and miserably slaughtheir power with a proper spirit, as they said, tered with their attendants. This act of but, as the English traders complained, with barbarity hastened the march of the army partiality and rigor. under major Adams, who, at first, had only

As soon as the effect of the negotiation one royal regiment, a few of the company's was made known at Calcutta, it threw the forces, two troops of European cavalry, ten factory into a flame. They were filled with companies of Seapoys, and twelve pieces of indignation and astonishment, at finding, cannon. With these he proved victorious that an Asiatic prince, created by them- in several brisk skirmishes, and cleared the selves, had dared to assert his independency. country as far as the Cossimbuzar, a branch They began to repent of their late change, of the Ganges, which it was necessary to and to wish that they had left the timid and pass, before any attempt could be made on indolent Mir Jaffier to slumber quietly on Murshudabad, the capital of the province. his throne. The council disavowed the pro- The enemy did not oppose his passage; but ceedings of the governor; sent orders to all had drawn out their army, consisting of ten the factories, forbidding them to submit to thousand men, in an advantageous post at a any of the proposed restrictions; and solicited place called Ballasara, between the river Cossim to enter into a new agreement. and the city. By a judicious movement, he But now grown confident of his strength, obliged them to begin the action, which they he charged them with inconstancy and inso- did with great spirit, and bore the cannonlence, and refused to negotiate with their ade very firmly; but, at the distance of fifty deputies. The English factory, yielding in yards, they received such a storm of musketnothing to his spirit, prepared to draw their ry, as made them retreat in the utmost conarmy into the field, and once more proclaim- fusion and precipitancy. Adams, with that ed Mir Jaffier subah of Bengal. rapidity which is always useful in war, but In this war, the first blow was struck by was here indispensable, as the periodical the English. At Patna, a great commercial rains began to fall, marched forward; but city, three hundred miles up the Ganges, found the enemy again in his way, defended they had a fortified factory, and some Euro- by an intrenchment fifteen feet high, and by pean as well as Indian soldiers. These a numerous artillery. It would have been suddenly attacked the town on the twenty- an unjustifiable boldness to think of forcing fifth of June 1763, and made themselves so strong a post; he had recourse to a stratmasters of it without much difficulty, not-lagem, which succeeded. He made a feint

of attacking them where their principal | with wonderful art and perseverance, bafstrength lay, while the body of his army fling every operation against them, from the marched in the night to the opposite quarter twenty-first of August till the fourth of of their line, and mastered it at daybreak, September, when, being overpowered by with little difficulty. Astonished at this one of major Adams's well-concerted stratastroke, the Indians fled, and abandoned the gems, they suffered an incredible slaughter.. camp, and the city which it covered, to the The carrying of this strong-hold laid open the whole country to the victorious arms of

conqueror.

So considerable an advantage, which the the English as far as the gates of Mongheer, English gained on the twenty-third of July which surrendered to them after only nine 1763, did not slacken, but increased their days' open trenches.

diligence and exertions. They penetrated Nothing now remained to complete the into the inmost recesses of the province, and reduction of the whole province, but the crossing the numerous and wide branches taking of Patna. This was the last hope of the Ganges, sought out the subah through of Mir Cossim, who had accordingly taken marshes and forests. He was not remiss in every possible precaution to strengthen and his own defence. Knowing the inferiority secure it. He placed in the city a garrison of his troops, and the slight attachment of of ten thousand men, and hovered at some Indian subjects to their prince, he never distance with several large bodies of horse ventured the final decision of the war on a to annoy the besiegers. But this barbarian single battle, nor hazarded his person in any merited by his cruelties the ill success which engagement. The faithlessness of his gran- constantly attended all his measures, howdees, who might by treason erect their own ever well chosen. Irritated at the progress fortune on his ruin, deterred him from the of Adams, and unable to avenge himself in latter; and the former could never be deem- the field, he issued orders for massacring ed advisable by a man, whom the experience about two hundred Englishmen, who had of others had taught that an immense mul- been made prisoners at Patna, in the begintitude of undisciplined troops only confounds ning of the troubles. One Someraw, a Gerveterans, and contributes to the greatness man, who had deserted from the company's of a defeat. In short, his whole conduct service, was chosen for the perpetration of was formed upon wise principles; but his this horrid villany. On the day intended troops had not time to be completed in their for butchering these unfortunate persons, he new exercise. The English were also in invited forty of the most considerable to supthe career of victory, and nothing could per at his house; and, in the midst of constand before them. Yet they found a sensi- vivial mirth, when they thought themselves ble difference in the opposition they now protected by the laws of hospitality as well met with, though it was not able fully to as of war, the ruffian ordered the Indians obstruct their progress. Ten days after under his command to cut their throats. their late victory, they found twenty thou- These barbarous soldiers revolted at the sand horse, and eight thousand foot, excel- savage order: they refused at first to obey, lently posted on the banks of the Nuncas desiring that arms might be given to the Nullas, well defended by a formidable train English, and that they would then engage of artillery, divided into regular brigades, them. Someraw, fixed in his purpose, comarmed and clothed like Europeans, and in pelled them by threats and blows to the acevery respect displaying the same order and complishment of that odious service. The spirit as themselves. What was never be- unfortunate victims, though suddenly attackfore observed in India, the enemy did not ed and wholly unarmed, made a long and discharge a cannon, till the English began brave defence, killing some of the assailants the attack. A constant fire was kept up on with their plates and bottles. In the end both sides for the space of four hours, during they were all murdered; and the rest of the which time the Indian cavalry charged the prisoners met with the same fate. European regulars, at the distance of twenty This enormous crime was not long unreyards, with uncommon resolution. But in venged. Adams soon laid siege to Patna; spite of all the efforts of their improved dis- and notwithstanding the strength of the garcipline and courage, they were at length rison, and the unusual intrepidity and succompelled to fly, with the loss of all their cess of some of their sallies, he took the artillery.

After this decisive proof of the superiority of the English forces, the Indians never attempted a regular engagement in the open field during the remainder of the campaign. But they showed neither want of spirit nor skill in defending their towns and fortresses. At Auda Nulla particularly, they held out

place by storm in eight days, and forced the perfidious Cossim to seek an asylum in the territories of Sujah Doula, a neighboring subah, who voted as vizir to the great Mogul.

No campaign had ever been conducted with more ability; no plan better laid, or more systematically followed; no operations more rapid. In less than four months major