The history of British India v 5

Contents

BOOK VI.

FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION FoR THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, IN 1784, TO THE TERMINATION OF THE WAR ‘WITH THE MAHRATTAS, IN 1805.

CHAPTER I. Page

Administration of Mr. Macpherson—State of the Government in India, internal and external — Board. of Control pays, without Inquiry, the Debts of the Nabob of Arcot— Orders the Assign= ment of the Carnatic Revenues to be given up— Absorbs the Power of the Directors— Lord Cornwallis appointed Governor General— Commencement of the Proceedings in Parliament relative to the Impeachment of Mr. Hastings — The best Mode of Proceeding rejected by the House of Commons — Articles of Charge against Mr.Hastings—Three Bills to amend the East India Act — Proceedings in Parliament relative to the Impeachment of Mr, Hastings — Impeachment yoted— Proceedings in Parliament tending to the Impeachment of Sir Elijah Impey —Motion for Impeachment negatived — Mr. Pitt's declaratory

Act...

‘The Trial of Mr. Hastings...

CONTENTS.

Chapter II. Chapter Iti

Arrangement about Troops and Money with the Nabob of Oude —

‘The Guntoor Circar obtained from the Nizam, and a new Arrangement made with that Prince — Aspect which that Arrangement bore to Tippoo Saib—Dispute of Tippoo with the Raja of ‘Travancore — Tippoo attacks the Lines of Travancore — The English prepare for War — Form an Alliance with the Nizam and with the Mahrattas — Plan of the Campaign— General Medows takes Possession of Coimbetore, and establishes a Chain of Depéts to the Bottom of the Gujelhutty Pass — Tippoo descends by the Gujelhutty Pass — And compels the English General to return for the Defence of the Carnatic— End of the Campaign, and Arrival of Lord Cornwallis at Madras — Operations in ‘Malabar —.A new Arrangement with Mohammed Alli, respecting the Revennes of the Carnatic .

CHAPTER Iv

Cornwallis takes the Commaud — Second Campaign begins — Siege of Bangalore—March to Seringapatam— Operations of the Bombay Army —Baitle at Arikera between Cornwallis and Tippoo —Army in Distress for Bullocks and Provisions— Obliged to Return— Operations of the Mahratta Contingent — Negotiations with Tippoo— Debate in the House of Commons on the War with Tippoo— Preparations for a third Campaign — Reduction of the Fortresses which commanded the Passes into the Carnatic, and threatened the Communications — Operations of the Nizam’s Army, and of the Mabratta Contingent, in the Interval between the first and second March upon Seringapatam

CONTENTS. vii

Page —Operations of the Bombay Army — Operations of Tippoo— March to Seringapatam —Intrenched Camp of the Enemy stortaed before Seringapatam — Preparations for the Siege— Negotiations — Peace — Subsequent and Judicial Arrangements. 265

Chapter V

Lord Cornwallis’ Financial and Judicial Reforms .....0...00-....0..... 381

CHAPTER VI. Result of Lord Cornwallis’ Financial and Judicial Reforms

Google ance ne a ral rom sees Google PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

HISTORY oF

BRITISH INDIA.

BOOK VI.

FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, IN 1784, T0 THE TERMINA- TION OF THE WAR WITH THE MAHRATTAS, IN 1805.

Chapter I

Administration of Mr. Macpherson.—State of the Govern~

ment in India, internal, and external.—Board of Control

pays, without Inquiry, the Debts of the Nabob of Arcot—

Orders the Assignment of the Carnatic Revenues io begiven

up—Absorbs the Power of the Directors—Lord Cornwallis

appointed Governor-General. Commencement of the

Proceedings in Parliament relative to the Impeachment

of Mr. Hastings— The best mode of Proceeding rejected

by the House of Commons.—Articles of Charge against

Mr. Hastings— Three Bills to amend the Hast India

Act.—Proceedings in Parliament relative to the Impeach-

ment of Mr. Hastings — Impeachment voted.— Proceed-

ings in Parliament tending to the Impeachment of Sir

Elijah Impey—Motion for Impeachment negatived —

Mr. Pitt’s Declaratory Act.

IN the departure of Mr. Hastings from Bengal, Mr. BOOK VI. Macpherson succeeded, as senior in council, to the cnar.1.

power and dignity of Chief Governor of the British estab- —— lishments in India. Certain peculiarities marked the 1783.

VOL. ¥. B

/8

HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA.

BOOK VI. history of this gentleman in the service of the Company.

CHAR. 1.

He sailed to Madras in 1766, purser of an India ship ; and having obtained the means of an introduction to the Nabob of Arcot, insinuated himself quickly into his inmost confidence. As the Nabob, since the first moment of his deliverance from the terror of the French, had been ina state of perpetual struggle with the servants of the Company for a larger share of power, Mr. Macpherson appears to have flattered him with the hopes of advantage from an application to the British minister ; and to have prevailed upon the Nabob to make use of himself as the organ of the attempt. The project was, to persuade the minister, that the Nabob was suffering under a load of oppression by the Company's servants. Mr. Macpherson arrived in England, in execution of this commission, towards the end of the year 1768. Upon his return to Madras, he was, during the administration of Governor Dupré, admitted into the civil service of the Company, and employed by that Governor in the most confidential transactions ; particularly, in writing his despatches, to which the superior skill of Mr. Macpherson in the art of composition afforded a recommendation. In the year 1776, Lord Pigot was Governor of Madras, Mr. Macpherson had ascended to the rank of a factor in the Company’s service; when a paper, purporting to be a, memorial to the Nabob of Arcot, was presented to the Council by their President, It had no signature : but it recapitulated various services, w a the writer had rendered to the Nabob in England ; and the concurrence of circumstances rendered it but little possible that he should be any other person than Mr. Macpherson. Mr. Macpherson was called before the Board ; and asked whether, or not, he acknowledged the production. Mr, Macpherson replied, “ That he could not give a preciso answer ; that it was not written in his hand, nor signed by him; and that it referred to transactions before he was in the Company's service.” Lord Pigot regarded this answer as not only evasive, but asatisfactory proof thst Mr. Macpherson was the author; and as the transactions appeared to him to be those of a man unfit for the service of the Company, he therefore moved that he should be dismissed. The following is a passage of the memorial : “ The object of this commission was to procure

MR. MACPHERSON GOVERNOR-GENERAL. 3 relief from the oppressions under which the Nabob was BOOK VI. labouring : to procure this wished-for relief, the means to cHap.1.

be employed were, if possible, to raise in the breast of the Prime Minister a favourable respect for the Nabob ; then to lay before him the distress of the Prince ; likewise to show the advantage which would arise to the state, from granting him the proper protection.” In describing his first interview with the Minister, the Duke of Grafton, the memorialist said, “I expatiated upon the superior merits of the Nabob ; showed that he was the person to whom Britain owed the rise of her power in India; that his attachment and unsullicd honour to the English were unparalleled. I then dwelt upon his personal merits, asa statesman and a gentleman; and showed, that though he had assurances of protection, under the sovereign hand, he was treated with indignity, and even tyranny.” “ Having represented,” continues the author, “the Nabob's distress, and the oppressions under which he laboured, in the most cautious manner to his Grace, I availed myself of the disputes which subsisted, or were rather commencing, between his Grace, as First Lord of the Treasury, and the India Directors, to enforce the propriety of supporting the Nabob.” Another of the topics which he] says he always laboured was, “ that the firm support of his Highness was the best restraint which government had upon the usurpations of the servants of acertain Company.” The memorialist also desires the Nabob to recollect, whether he was not the inventor of the plea, by which the Nabcb claimed to be a party to the treaty of Paris; that is, to rank himself with the princes of Furope, as a member of their general system; and to make the King of France an arbiter between him and the English. Beside the general project of relieving the Nabob from oppression, that is, from the necessity of paying his debts, and of yielding anything from the revenues of the country towards its defence, the memorialist claims the merit of having exerted himself in favour of two other favourite designs of the “‘Nabob; that of usurping the seat of the Subsh of the Decean, and that of disinheriting his elder in favour of his second son, Beside the arguments which the memorialist employed upon the minister, and the publications by which he boasts of having influenced the public mind, he

4 HISTORY OF BRITISIL INDIA.

BOOK VI recurred to other instruments of persuasion. He offered presents to the minister, but they were rejected; and then to the minister's secretary, but they were rejected again. His next offer, but under the necessary portion of disguise, was that of a present to the nation: a sum of seventy laos, or even more, to be given to the minister, on loan for the public service, at an interest of two per cent.

‘As the memorialist in these transactions appeared distinctly to have lent or sold himself to the Nabob, to act in hostility to the Company, it was decided in the Council, by a majority of nine to two, that Mr, Macpherson should be dismissed from the service, Four of the members, not satisfied with a silent acquiescence in the reasons of the President, add, that “ a man of the intriguing disposition which that paper shows Mr. Macpherson to be, is, we think, very unfit to be employed as a servant of the Company ; more especially as we believe Mr. Macpherson has been concerned in the intrigues, which the greater part of the Board must be sensible have lately been carried on at the Nabob’s Durbar, to the detriment of the Company's service, and which may have impeded the execution of their late orders.”

As the Board regarded the evidence against Mr. Macpherson as conclusive, they held it unnecessary to call upon him for a defence. To the Directors, the offence, when it came before them, must have appeared of a very trivial nature, About the restoration of Mr, Macpherson they seem not to have hesitated. Their only anxiety was to restore him, without submission to the condition (the yotes of three-fourths of the Directors and three-fourths of the Proprietors) prescribed by the act. ‘The opinion obtained from the Company’s council was, that though his dismission, pronounced without receiving his defence, was informal, he could not, without submission to the clause of the act, be restored. The council added, “ And it is worth considering, if Mr. Macpherson should be restored, whether he is a proper person to be continued in the Company’s service: he has, in my opinion, too much connexion with the Nabob of Arcot; and when the Company’s interest and Nabob’s are opposite (as they will often happen), they will greatly disturb a man of honour and integrity.” As this opinion appears not to have accorded with the

MR. MACPHERSON GOVERNOR-GENERAL, 5 wishes of the leading portion of the Directors, they made BOOK VI. an experiment whether a more favourable opinion could cuar.1.

not be obtained from another quarter. They consulted the Solicitor-General, Wedderburne, who had sufficient power over technical language to satisfy them completely. He pronounced the dismission of Mr. Macpherson not a dismission ; and by consequence, the clause of the act, which regarded dismission, had in this case no application, Mr. Macpherson was immediately restored. In announcing, however, this decree to the Governor and Council of Madras, the letter of the Court of Directors has the following words : “ But,as his behaviour was disrespectful to the Board, and, in other particulars, very reprehensible, we direct that you give him a severe reprimand, and acquaint him that a like conduct will meet with a severer punishment.” From the humiliation, however, of such a reprimand, and such a menace, the Court of Directors, who prescribed them, afforded him effectual protection, ‘Though restored to his rank and emoluments in the service, he was allowed to remain in England, till January, 1781, when he was chosen to fill the high office, vacant by the resignation of Mr, Barwell, in the Supreme Council of Bengal. This appointment excited the attention of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, who took it under examination, and deemed it of sufficient importance to make it the subject of their third report, The conduct of Mr. Macpherson, who undertook the office of a secret enemy of the Company, and became the willing and mercenary instrument of designs levelled against his country ; the conduct of the Court of Directors in shielding such a man from the punishment awarded for his offence, nay distinguishing him, as if he had been a model of excellence, by a most unusual reward ; lifting him up from a low rank in the service, and placing him all at once in nearly the highest and most important office which they had to bestow, the Select Committee condemned in language of the greatest severity. The design of the Nabob to exempt himself from all dependence upon the Company, the Committee represented as carly formed, systematically pursued, and pregnant with danger. He endeavoured to negotiate a treaty of neutrality with the French, which would have secured that nation at Pondicherry. He

Google ; ts

HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA.

BOOK VI. carried on, to the perpetual disturbance of the Company’s cuar.1, government, a perpetual system of intrigue, in pursuance

5, of his plan. Of Mr. Macpherson’s construction of the article of the treaty of Paris respecting the guarantee of his independence by France, he was eager to take advantage, and to interpose that nation between himself and the English. “By means of such flattering delusions,” say the Committee, “the ambition of the Nabob Mohammed Ali had been, before this invention, as well as ever since, stimulated to desperate designs and enterprises; which have disturbed the peace of India, shaken the lawful government of the Company at Madras, wasted his own revenues, and at length brought the power of Great Britain in that part of the world to the verge of ruin.”

‘A copy of this report was sent out by the Directors to Bengal, where Mr. Macpherson was then performing so important‘a part in the government of India, It was a call upon him for a defence of his own conduct and of theirs. The apology was written, under date the 30th of March, 1783. It consisted of tho following particulars : First, an assertion that the transactions, in which he had been engaged for the Nabob of Arcot, were made fully known to the Company's Governor at Madras, at the time when he entered into the Company's service, and that he had never presented any memorial of those transactions to the Nabob, but what had that Governor's approbation : secondly, of a display of the meritorious proceedings of the Supreme Government in Bengal, from the time when he became a member of it.

Upon the first part of this apology, it is obvious to remark, that it consisted entirely of his own affirmation of what passed between himself and a man that was dead. Besides, if it was true, it only proved that a certain governor sanctioned a certain conduct; not that such conduct was innocent, The secret concurrence of a goyernor, if in anything wrong, was a collusion between two individuals, not the sanction of government, Upon the second part, an observation equally conclusive was, that

1 For these facte, see the ‘Third Report of the Select Committee, formed in 1781 ; and Mr. Macpherson’s Letter to the Court of Directors, dated Caleutta, 30th of March, 1783, printed by order of the House of Commons, among the papers laid before them in 1787,

Google Precorris

MACPHERSON’S ACCOUNT OF THE GOVERNMENT.

the plea was foreign to the charge; for surely the acts of the Supreme Council, whether excellent or the reverse, during the time in which Mr. Macpherson had possessed a seat at the Board, were no proof that nearly twenty years before he had not committed an act, which ought to have excluded him from the service.

‘As Mr. Hastings remained in India, till the passing of ‘Mr. Pitt's bill left no longer any doubt of his recall, Mr. ‘Macpherson had time to rise to seniority in the Council ; and, by virtue of his station, occupied, when left vacant, the Governor-General’s chair,"

3 ‘Thus far, relates not to Mr. Maepherson’s adininistration, which alone is the Togitimate subject of the History of India, but to matters of’ a private and personal nature, which have little or no historical importance. ‘The notice is Lorrowed, both in language and spirit, from the Third Report of the Select Committee, the whole of which is most unworthily taken up with similar topies. Admitting that str, Macpherson had, twenty years before, and when he owed no feaity to the Compxny, adlvocated the claims of the Nabob of Arcot — admitting that hie had, whilst yet young in the Company's employment, memorialised the Nabob on the subject of the services he had rendered him, a fact not substantiated —admitting that he had been precipitately dismissed and informally restored — these were circuinstances that could have been swelled into such meznitule, as to have been deemed worthy of special parliamentary investigation, only by secret motives, with which we are imperfectly acqitainted, but whitch we may suspect had their origin in some party Virulence, provoked by the share which Mr. Macpherson was known to have ‘taken, both in 1769 and 1777, whilst in England, as a writer on the side of the Government. ‘There is no doubt that the Court of Directors and the public, duly appreciated the character of the Report, as it led to no ulterior measures, ‘As, however, the personalities of the Committee have been repeated in the text, it is advisuble to offer some corrections of them by a statement of the facts, Mr.

Macpherson went out to India, nominally, as Purser of the Mansfield Chinaman, commanded by his mele, Captain Macleod. He was the son Of the Rev. Dr. Macpherson, of Steat, in the Isle of Skye, and received a classical education, first at Aberdeen, and afterwards at Edinburgh, where he ‘wus the favourite pupil of Professor’ Fergusson, and became the. tutor of the sons of the Earl of Warwick. He left England in March, 1767. ‘The ship ‘touched at Madras; and Mr. Maepherson, having been introduce to the Nabob ‘of Arcot, apeedily kequired so much consideration with him, tat he engaxed the young man to retum to England as his agent, with letters addressed to the Minister. With these he arrived in November, in. 1768, and presented his despatches to the Duke of Grafton. Whatever may be the truth of the assertions In the memorial, that bribes were offered to the Minister and his Secretary, it is very certain that nothing in Mr. Macpherson’s conduct was offensive to either, as it was solely by the Duke's interest, that a writership was obtained for him. Mr. Macpherson reniained in England till the beginning of 1770; be then sailed to Madras, with an appointment in the service, to which therefore, he was not “ admitted by Mr. Dupré.” In 1774, he was paymaster to the army: in 1776, he was dismissed. We have seen ‘the violence of the disputes which enlisted the whole of the Madras community as. partisans, either of the Governor or the Nabob. Mr. Macpherson had no donbt been flattered by the notice and confidence of the latter; he felt gratefal to him as indirectly the cause of his success in life, and he entertained to the last a strong impression af the validity of the Nabob’s pretensions to regal independence and power, and of his being treated with indignity and injustice, His expression of these sentiments was no doubt the real cause of Lord Pigot’s animosity, and of his removal from the service. Mr. Macpherson returned to England in 1777, and was again the bearer of communications from the Nabod

7 BOOK VI.

CHAP...

1785,

Hi

BOOK VI.

onar.t,

HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA.

The state of the revenues ; the affairs of Oude; and the proceedings of Sindia, the great Mahratta chief, occupied first the attention of the new administration.

‘The state in which Mr. Macpherson received the government, he represents as far from happy and prosperous. In a statement, bearing date the 4th of March, 1785, “The public distress,” he says, “was never so pressing as in this moment, The season of the heavy collections is over; the demands of Madras and Bombay are most pressing ; and our arrears to the army are upwards of fifty lacs.” * To the Court of Directors, when rendering an account of his government, upon the intimation of his recall, ho represents himself as having been called upon “to act as their Govemor-General, at a season of peculiar difficulty, when the close of a ruinous war, and the relaxed habits of their service, had left all their armies in arrear, and their presidencies in disorder.”* The loose language, in which of Arcot, including his “Will,” in which the King was nominated his executor and the guardian of his family, trusts which were accepted by His Majesty. He was also charged with sn account of seeret overtures made by France to the Nabob, soliciting his alliance and co-operation, and. promising to assist him inrecovering Tanjore; information which enabled the English authorities in India to prepare for the war with France thatensued ; and under secret orders from the Chairman and Deputy, and President of the Lowrd of Control, which the Secretary of State would not sign, to effect the capture of Pondicherry. The readiness with which the Naboli imparted the temptations offered lim, displayed none of that disposition to engage in desperate designs against the British power, with which he is charged by the Keport, as a con= sequence of Mr, Macpherson’s flattering delusions. ‘These communications, and, the support he gave to Lord North's administration, both by his yen and in Parliament, in which he represented Crick lade, no doubt reconmended hime to the friendship of the Minister, andl led to his nomination to a seat in Couneal at Bengal. ‘The Directors, in concurring in his appointment, must have felt secure that they had little reason to apprehend his giving countenance to the Nabob, in opposition to the interests of the Company ; and more probably an= Biofpated, from his personal influence, the confirmaton of the Nabob's purpose in & contiuucs ejection of any intercourse with France, ‘These particulars are derived from private correpondence, and various printed docunients, viz. —" Letter tu Sir J. Macpherson, from J. Robinson, Esq., Secretary to Lord North, dated May, 1800.” Letter’ from sir J. M. tothe Hon. W. Liphinstone, Chairman of the Court of Directors, August, 1804.” “ Letter from the same to Whitshead Keene, Esq., M-P., May, 18062” and irom a quarto volunie, printed, byhis friends in 180s, entitled, Case of Sir John Macpherson, &c.,” the stat ments of which are verified by extracts from the Currespondeitee between the Governments of India and the Court of Directors. Sce also a notice of Sir ‘John Macpherson in Wraxall's Posthumous Memoirs, vol. i—W.

1 Letter to Major Palmer, printed among extracts from papers in No.2, vol. vil,, presented to the House of Commons on the 13th of March, 1756,

F'Copy of a Letter to the Court of Directors, daed 10th cf August, 178 rinted by order of the House of Cominuns. "She Selec: Committee of the louse of Commons, in 1810, in their ‘Third Report, p.370, say, "The effects of the war which ended in the year 1783, were particularly” picjudicial to the financial system of India, ‘The revenues had been absorbed, the pay and allowances of both the civil and military branches of the service were greatly

Google INCETON UNIVERSID

RELATIONS WITH OUDE AND THE MOGUL. 9 the Indian Governors indulge, makes it impossible to BOOK VI. know very exactly what Mr. Macpherson indicated, by the cHar. 1. term “relaxed habits” of the service ; undoubtedly, how- ———— ever, he meant bad government; since he described them 178 as among the causes of some of the worst effects, —armies all in arrear, and presidencies all in disorder.

The Governor-General and Council stood pledged to ‘Mr. Hastings for the maintenance of his new system for the management of Oude. To reduce, however, the drain upon the Nabob’s treasury, produced by allowances and gratuities to the Company's servants, a rule was introduced, that every thing of this nature should appear upon the face of his accounts, should be recorded by the Council, and transmitted for the inspection of the Court of Directors. A body of troops had been assigned by the Nabob to Mx, Hastings, as a body guard, during his residence in Oude; and to these troops had been appointed British officers at the Nabob's expense. This, too, was a burden upon the Nabob which the Governor-General deemed it improper any longer to impose. The expense, however, of Major Palmer, the private agent of Mr, Hastings, left at the seat of the Nabob when the ostensible resident was withdrawn, he was induced, “from motives (he says) of delicacy to the late Governor-General, and his arrangements in the upper provinces,” not immediately to remove; though the expense was enormous, and the agent employed for no other function, than to transmit to the Presidency the letters of the Vizir, and present those addressed to him by the Governor-General. The Futtygur detachment, from the changes which had taken place on the frontiers of Oude, it was also, for the present, deemed unsafe to withdraw. But the Governor-General declared his resolution of confining the military burden in urrear; the credit of the Company was extremely depressed ; and, added to all, the whole syste had fallen into stich irregularity aud confusion, that the redl state of affairs could not be asceréained till the conclusion of'the year 1745-6.” Suh is the state in which India was left by the administration of ‘Mr, Hastings.—M.

Such were the inevitable consquences of the ruinous wars engaged in by the Presidencies of Bombay and Madras. ‘Thatthe mischief was not incurable, was tag merit of Tastings adialnatration —W.

1 In all, 112,950/,, of which 22,800/, was in salary to Major Palmer alone. ‘The expense of the residency, under Mr. Bristow, which Mr, Hastings had represented as frightfully enormous, amounted ‘to 64,2022. See Burke's Chiarges, No. 16, sect. 89.

Google m

HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA.

BOOK VI. imposed upon the Vizir to the smallest amount consistent cnar.1. with the security of his dominions ; and for this he con-

1785, ceived that one complete brigade, in constant readiness, and punctually paid, would suffice?

The proceedings of Sindia were already an object of great jealousy, if not of dread. In 1781, Mr. Hastings,

? See the letter to Major Palmer, quoted in the preceding page—M. The portion of the text that follows, and which relates to Sindia, belong almost ‘entirely to the administration of Hastings, and not to that of his successor ; of whose ‘measures, therefore, scarcely any’ account is given. With rezurd to Sindia, the only important transaction that took place with him, was his demand on behalf of Shah Aulum, of the tribute due to the Mogul, to the amount of four millions sterling. ‘The demand was civilly, but peremptorily resisted by Sir John Macpherson’s government, Not, as might be supposed from the Joose manner in which it is aliuded to in the text, Uy that of Hastings. The leading feature of Sir John Macpherson’s administration, however, was the eminent success which attended his efforts to reduce public expenditure, and re-establish public credit. In a minute in the Secret Department, dated ‘15th December, 1785, itis stated that. a comparison of the receipts and disburse~ ments of ‘the year ending 30th April, 1786, exhibited a deffeit of about 1,300,007. The arrears due to the arinies of the three Presidencies, were about two millions. ‘The ascertained Hengal debt alone, was about four millions. ‘The troops at Madras and Bombay were in a state of utter destitution, and some of them in open mutiny, from the great amount of thelr arrears, In this situation, the government’ of Bengal declared Itself responsible for the debts of the three Presidencies. All remittances of cash from the Collectors’ Treasuries, were prohibited, until the arrears of troops within or near their districts, had been discharged.

All eivil servants, civil surgeons, and uncovenanted servants, drawing.more than 300 rupees per month, were to ‘be paid their salaries and ail their arrears, with certificates bearing interest at 8 per cent. per annum until cashed. All’ issues of paper, om account of the Company, except the Company's bonds, were orlered to be registered, the Tegistry was to be published, and the paper was to be paid off i the order of its issue. ‘The cash accumulating in the Treasuries was to form a fund, by which the certificates and other paper were disehargeable; and under these arrangements, the Governor-General and Council publicly expressed their ex- ‘Pectations, that “all the paper in currency at the end of 1789, would be paid off in the conrse of twelve months, through funds derivable from the emownt of the reductions made in the established charges of the government, aidod by the effects of these regulations, and the additional resources to be derived froth the Upper Provinces.” ‘These measures were made known to the public by advertisement in the Official Caleutta Gazette, 291 December, 1789, atid 15th January, 178, The orders were followed up by subsidiary’ arrangements, which completely altered the aspect of affairs. Every man in the settle ment,” observed 2 competent authority on the spot, * witnessed the magical effects of this measure. It operated like a charm in restoring public cont dence, which once secured, this moving fund nequired life and activity. At no remote period from the ‘commencement of the plan, ‘Treasury Certificates could raise cash in the market at a discount less than the lexul interest of the money. I shall ever bear grateful testimony of the salutary relief from ruin, which the measure afforded to me, and to every trader in the settlement.” Prinsep’s Proposal of a Substitute for Funding, 1797. In a letter to the Governor ‘of Madras, from the Governor-General, dated 20th May, 1786, he writes, “(In our reductions of expense, which have been very great (125 lacs), 1,250,000%,, Tshall have cold praise, anda thousand secret enemies.” He re~ ceived, however, in November, 1786, the unanimous thanks of the Court of Directors, for his able wdininistration of the affairs of India, and was raised by ‘His Majesty to the dignity of a baronet. It was during the government of Sir ‘John Macpherson, that, Dy an améeable arrangement with the King of Queda, the valuable settlement of Penang, or Prince of Wales’ Island, was added to the Company's Eastern possessions.—W.