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Home Great Britain and India, 1763-1823 1763-1823; Part 3 |
1763-1823; Part 3The first governor-general was Warren Hastings (He was a Westminster boy, and had been sent to India at an early age, to the great grief of his headmaster, who thought his classical attainments would be wasted in that arid and commercial atmosphere)? Thwarted now by the council, now by the incompetent governments of Bombay or Madras, with a temper, as he said, " almost fermented into vinegar by the weight of affairs and by everlasting teasing", he yet managed to do a vast amount. He divided Bengal into districts for purposes of government, arranged its land revenue, and organized its civil service.Above all, Warren Hastings by his resourcefulness and courage saved our position in India at a critical time. The disaster at Saratoga and the consequent alliance of the French with the colonists had its effect upon affairs in the East no less than in the West. French agents intrigued with the Mahrattas, and Warren Hastings found himself involved in a war with fighting tribes who were almost a match for our arms. Moreover, in Southern India the French secured in Suffren an admiral, and in Hyder AH an ally who brought our Indian Empire to the verge of ruin. Hyder AH, who had usurped the throne of Mysore, was, though ignorant of the alphabet, a very remarkable man. In alliance with the French, he suddenly invaded the plains of the Carnatic, and in three weeks had wellnigh extinguished our power (1780) (There is a celebrated description of this invasion, and of the havoc it wrought, in Burke’s speech on the Debts of the Nabob of Arcot). But Hastings was equal to the occasion. Within twenty-four hours of hearing the news at Calcutta he had made his plan of campaign. Every available man and munition of war was hurried south, and the veteran Eyre Coote - the victor of Wandewash - was appointed to direct the operations. After arduous campaigns, Coote, in 1781, won at Porto Novo, though outnumbered by ten to one, a decisive battle, and in the following year Hyder Ali died. At sea, meanwhile, Suffren had found in Hughes as tough a fighter as himself, though a weaker tactician, and, whilst his own captains were jealous and insubordinate, those of Hughes were unselfish and devoted. Five sea-battles were fought in little more than a year, but Suffren was unable to claim a decided advantage (After the war was over, the French and part of the British fleet met at the Cape of Good Hope, and the captains of the British ships at once hastened in a body to pay their respects to the great French commander). Our position in India was saved, and treaties were finally made both with the Mahrattas and with Tippoo Sahib, Hyder Ali's successor, the one shortly before and the other shortly after the Treaty of Versailles of 1783. |
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