Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/549

HASTINGS 517 kirk Hill, which, when in command of only a small force, he gained by superior military skill and determination against an American corps d armee. In 1782 he was invalided. The vessel in which he returned to England was captured and carried into Brest. This occasioned the loss of his papers and personal records of the war which would doubtless have been interesting. He was speedily released, and on his arrival in England was much honoured by George III., who created him an English peer (Baron Rawdon) in March 1783. In 1793 Lord Rawdon succeeded his father as earl of Moira. In 1794 he was sent with 10,000 men from South ampton to Ostend to reinforce the duke of York and the allies in Flanders. The march by which he effected a junction was considered extraordinary. In 1803 he was appointed commander-in-chief in Scotland, and in 1804 he married Flora Muir Campbell, countess of London in her own right. He and Lady Loudon lived at Duddingston House near Edinburgh, where they were very popular. The opposition coming into power in 180G, Lord Moira, who had always voted with them, received the place of master general of the ordnance. He was now enabled to carry a philauthropic measure, of which from his first entry into the House of Lords he had been a great promoter, namely, the Debtor and Creditor Bill for relief of poor debtors. Ireland was another subject to which he had given parti cular attention : in 1797 there was published a /Speech by Lord Mnira OH the Dread/id and Alarming Slate of Ireland. Lord Moira s sound judgment on public affairs, combined with his military reputation and the honourable uprightness of his character, won for him a high position among the statesmen of the day, and he gained an additional prestige from his intimate relations with the prince of Wales. On two occasions, in 1809 and again in 1812 after the assassi nation of Percival, there were negotiations for placing him at the head of affairs. As a further mark of the regent s regard Lord Moira received the order of the Garter, and in the same year was appointed governor-general and commander-in-chief of India. He landed at Calcutta, and assumed office in succession to Lord Minto in October 1813. He was now fifty-nine years of age. One of the chief questions which awaited him was that of relations with the Goorkha state of Nepaul. The Goorkhas, a brave and warlike little nation, failing to extend their conquests in the direction of China, had begun to encroach on territories held or protected by the East India Company ; especially they had seized the districts of Bootwul and Seoraj, in the northern part of Oudh, and when called upon to relinquish these, they deliberately elected (April 1814) to go to war rather than do so. Lord Moira, having travelled through the northern provinces and fully studied the question, declared war against Nepaul (November 1814). The enemy s frontier was GOO miles long, and Lord Moira, who directed the plan of the campaign, resolved to act offen sively along the whole line. It was an anxious undertaking, because the native states of India were all watching the issue and waiting for any serious reverse to the English to join against them. At first all seemed to go badly, as the British officers too much despised the enemy, and the Sepoys were unaccustomed to mountain warfare, and thus alternate extremes of rashness and despondency were exhibited. But this rectified itself in time, especially through the achievements of General (afterwards Sir David) Ochterlony, who before the end of 1815 had taken all the Goorkha posts to the west, and early in 1816 was advancing victoriously within 50 miles of Katmandoo, the capital The Goorkhas now made peace ; they abandoned the dis puted districts, ceded some territory to the English, and agreed to receive a British resident. Ever since they have faithfully kept these terms ; the northern frontier of India has been securely fixed, and the Goorkhas have entirely kept aloof from the machinations of disaffected native states. For his masterly conduct of these affairs Lord Moira was created Marquis of Hastings in 1816. He had now to deal with internal dangers. A treacherous combination of Mahratta powers was constantly threatening the continuance of British rule, under the guise of plausible assurances severally given by the peshwah, Sindia, Holkar, and other princes. At the same time the existence of the Pindharee state was not only dangerous to the English, as being a warlike power always ready to turn against them, but it was a scourge to India itself. In 1816, however, the Pindharees entered British territoryin the Northern Circars, where they destroyed 339 villages. On this, permission was obtained to act for their suppression. Before the end of 1817 the preparations of Lord Hastings were completed, when the peshwah suddenly broke into war, and the British were opposed at once to the Mahratta and Pindharee powers, estimated at 200,000 men and 500 guns. " The whole was utterly shattered in a brief campaign 1 of four months (1817- 1818). The peshwah s dominion had been annexed, and those of Sindia, Holkar, and the rajah of Berar lay at the mercy of the governor-general, and were saved only by his exceeding and honourable moderation. There was at last, after sixty years from the battle of Plassy, no question ef the supremacy of British power in India, now more perfectly established and more effectively dominant than that of Aurungzebe." 2 The Pindharees had ceased to exist, and peace and security had beou substituted f jr misery and terror. " It is a proud phrase to use," said Lord Hastings, 3 " Imt it is a true one, that we have bestowed blessings upon millions. Nothing can be more delightful than the reports I receive of the sensibility manifested by the inhabitants to this change in their circumstances. The smallest detachment of our troops cannot pass through that district without meeting everywhere eager and exulting gratuln- tions, the tone of which proves them to come from glowing hearts. Multitudes of people have, even in this short interval, come froru the hills and fastnesses in which they had sought refuge for years, and have reoccupied thir ancient deserted villages. The plough - share is again in every quarter turning up a soil which had for many seasons never been stirred, except by the hoofs of predatory cavalry. " While the natives of India appreciated the results of Lord Hastings s achievements, the court of directors grumbled at his having extended the British territory. They also disliked and opposed his measures for introducing education among the natives and his encouraging the freedom of the press. Posterity has, however, vindicated the policy of Lord Hastings in all respects. In 1819 he obtained the cession by purchase of the island of Singapore. In finance his administration was very successful, as not withstanding the expenses of his wars he showed an annual surplus of two millions sterling. He laboured much at law reform, and he succeeded in greatly raising t 1 e status and character of the civil service of India. Lord and Lady Hastings by their stately and yet genial manners, and by their warm encouragement of literature and science, gave a high tone to the society of Calcutta. And he was the first governor-general to exhibit a personal interest in the exertions of the missionaries. Brilliant and beneficent as his career had been, Lord Hastings did not escape, any more than dive, Warren Hastings, or Lord Welles] ey, the assaults of unjust detraction. His last years of office were embittered by the discussions on a matter very notorious 1 For the interesting details of this campaign, as well as of the war in Nepaul, see Prinsep s History of the Political and Military Trans actions in India, during the administration of the Marquis of Hastings. 2 Meadows Taylor s Student s Manual of tit e History of India, p. 595. 3 Reply to Address of Inhabitants of Calcutta ; see Asiatic Journal,

February 1819.