210 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



Ins majesty's ministers, and of the 

 court of directors, his lordship con- 

 sented to postpone his departure 

 until the month of January, 1804.. 

 At that period of time, however, the 

 treaties of peace, which had been 

 recently concluded with the Mah- 

 rattahs, by sir Arthur Weilcsley, had 

 not reached Calcutta, and the set- 

 tlement of the conquered territories, 

 together with the consolidation of 

 our new alliances in various quar- 

 ters of India, required the supcrin- 

 tendancc of a vigorous and cbtab- 

 lished authorit}', combining all the 

 advantages of practical experience, 

 •with the confidence resulting from 

 the brilliant success of a long and 

 tried administration. At the same 

 time, the j;rinciples of public duty, 

 which, in compliance w ith the re- 

 quest of the government and the 

 court of directors, (conveyed to lord 

 Welleslcy, under date the 29th 

 September, 1802,) had induced his 

 lordship to prolong his continuance 

 in India, after his resignation in the 

 year 1802, appeared to lord Wel- 

 lesley to demand his further resi- 

 dence in that quarter, w'lile the state 

 of public afiairs was so unsettled as 

 at the commencement of the year 

 1804. 



Lord Wellesley, therefore, deter- 

 mined to rertiainf in India until the 

 year 1805; Btit the necessary pre- 

 parations were made for his depar- 

 ture, at an early period of that year; 

 and accordingly, in the month of 

 March, 1803, (which is a favourable 

 season for leaving Bengal,) the St. 

 Fiorenzo frigate was actually de. 

 tained in the river Hoogloy, for the 

 purpose of couveyinglord Weilcsley 

 to England. The event's, how ever, 

 «f the war in llindosfan, combined 

 vith the dispatches which it is stated, 

 ai;d «oiif>deDtly believed io England, 



his lordship received at that tim« 

 from his majesty's ministers, ren- 

 dered it necessary for the marq>ii» 

 Weilcsley again to postpone his de- 

 parture from India; and the St. 

 Fiorenzo frigate was accordingly 

 ordered upon a cruize. 



[t is not necessary, in this place, 

 to enter into a discussion of the 

 causes of the hostility which the 

 court of directors began, about this 

 period of time, openly to manifest 

 against the administration of hislord- 

 ship. The temper of the court, how- 

 ever, was such, that his majesty's 

 ministers did not, as we are inform- 

 ed by high authorities in England, 

 consider it to be consistent with the 

 known wishes of lord Weilcsley to 

 return to England, to solicit his 

 lordship's further continuance in 

 India, under circumstances, which 

 must have been extremely painful 

 to his lordship's mind, and which 

 could only have been supported un. 

 der a paramount sense of public duty 

 to the country, and of personal at- 

 tachment to his majesty's ministers. 

 Accordingly, in the month of May, 

 1805, intelligence was received of 

 these sentiments on the part of go- 

 vernmcnt, and a notification of 

 their intention to send out a succes- 

 sor to lord Wellesley, his lordship 

 was, at the same time, requested to 

 await the arrival of his successor, 

 who, he was informed, might be ex- 

 pected inthemonth of 0(51ober 1805. 

 In the month of June, of that year, 

 it was i)ubliclT known in India that 

 the mar((uis Cornwallis had been ap- 

 pointed governor-general, tosucceed 

 t!iemarc(uis Wellesley, and that the 

 former w as to depart from England 

 early in (he spring follow ing. Lord 

 Wellesley w'as, at the tame time, (ai 

 V. e have alreadj' statet'l,) requested 

 by his Biajciify's ministers to await 

 3 lord 



