766 
ENGLAND. 
council, October 5, 17S3, to affift the Mogul with a mili¬ 
tary force : and at a fubfequent meeting of the board, 
he laid before them a letter from major Browne, dated 
Dehli, December 30, 178-3, containing, amidft much mif. 
cellaneous matter, the following extraordinary paffagesr 
“ 1 he bufinefs of aflifting the (hah can and mud now go 
on, it we wifli to be fecure in India, and regarded as a 
nation. We have offered; the (hah has accepted the 
offer of affiftance. We have annexed conditions ;. the 
fhah lias approved of them.” The projeift thus unex¬ 
pectedly obtruded on the board by Mr. Haftings, was 
very ill received by his colleagues, Mr. Wheeler and 
Mr. Stables, who (trongly remonftrated againft involving 
the company in new wars and dangerous foreign connec¬ 
tions. But Mr. Haftings was not to be difcouraged by 
trivial obftacles. 
Early in the following year, 1784, Mr. Haftings made a 
progrefs to the city of Lucknow, and there had an inter¬ 
view with the prince Mizra Jehander Sha, eldeft fon of 
the Mogul emperor, and who, as the governor-general in 
his public letter fays, “ had long held the principal part 
in the adminiftration of the king his father.” From Mr. 
Maftings’s account of this interview, which he reprefents 
as wholly unexpected and fortuitous, the prince having 
left the court of Dehli without even the knowledge of 
the emperor, it appears that urgent folicitations were 
made by the heir of the Mogul empire to the Englifh 
governor, for aid and alliftance to raii'e the king, his fa¬ 
ther, from that ftate of degradation and infignificance into 
which he had fallen: intimating his readinefs even to go 
in perfon to England, to reprefent the diftrefles of the 
emperor of Hindooftan, in the hope of obtaining relief. 
Mr. Haftings in reply informed the prince, “ that the 
Englifh nation, juft emerged from a ftate of univerfal 
warfare, required repofe, and would be alarmed at any 
movement of which it could not immediately fee the 
ifftie or the progrefs, but which might eventually create 
new hoftilities ; that as to himfelf, he could not engage, 
if he chole it, in a bufinefs of this nature, without the 
concurrence of his colleagues in office, who, he believed, 
would be averfe to it ; that he would, however, repre¬ 
fent his fituation to the joint members of his own go¬ 
vernment, and wait their determination. In the mean 
time he advifed him to make advances to Madajee Scin- 
dia, as the effective head of the Mahratta (fate, and who 
was in intimate union, and fvvorn connection, with the 
Englifh.” 
On the departure of the young prince from Dehli, Mr. 
Haftings wrote to the Mahratta chief, Madajee Scindia, 
to apprize him of this event, and, profeffing himfelf un¬ 
prepared, to afk his advice how to aCt in this emergency ; 
and certain confidential agents from the Mahratta chief 
repairing to Lucknow, held fiequentand fecret confer¬ 
ences with the governor, the purport of which was 
never communicated to the board at Calcutta. This 
tiifue of intrigues terminated, however, very unexpect¬ 
edly, in the hidden invafion of the emperor^s territories 
by the Mahrattas, who made themfelves mailers of 
Dehli; and the emperor, being a fecond time prifoner in 
their hands, was obliged to declare the head of the 
Mahratta ftate to be vicegerent of the Mogul empire ; 
in which capacity great and indefinite claims of fupe- 
riority were advanced on the part of the peiffiwa, and a 
fpecific claim fet up to the tribute due to the emperor 
from the Englifh at Bengal. Far from being alarmed at 
this addition to the Mahratta power, Mr. Haftings de¬ 
clared, “that fuch was the attachment of Scindia to the 
Englilh, that, while he lives, every acceffion of territory 
obtained by him will be an advantage to this govern¬ 
ment.” The council, however, unable to explore the 
dark and unfathomable abyf's of the governor’s politics, 
at length came to a.refolution to oppofe them; and the 
governor, perceiving his influence in the council loft, 
knowing his reputation at home to be in the wane, 
and feating mod probably a difgraceful difmiflion, now 
thought it expedient to njlgn the government. On his- 
arrival in England, he was impeached at the bar of the 
houfe of lords, by the commons of Great Britain, of 
high crimes and mifdemeanors in the execution of his 
office. 
We are now ter revert from this long but necefiary di- 
greflion, to the regular narrative of events in England. 
On the i 3 th of July, 1781, the fellion was clofed by a 
fpeech, in which his majefty obferved, “ that the great 
efforts made by the nation to furmount the difficulties of 
the prefent arduous and complicated war, muft convince 
the world that the ancient fpirit of the Britifh nation was 
not abated or diminifhed; and he was refolved to accept 
of no terms or conditions of peace, than fuch as might 
eo lift ft with the honour and dignity of his crown, and the 
permanent interefts and fecurity of his people.” 
The military hiftory of the prefent year was marked, in 
its commencement, by a fpirited attempt on the part of 
the French, to capture the ifland of Jerfey by a coup-de- 
main. Early on the 16th of January, 1781, a landing was 
effected by the baron de Rullecourt, at the head of about 
eight hundred men, at the Bank dtt Violet ; and, to the 
aftonifhment of the inhabitants, when the day began to 
dawn, the market-place of St. Helier was found occupied 
by French troops. The governor’s houfe being entirely 
furrounded, he was compelled to furrender himfelf pri¬ 
foner, and was fo far intimidated as even to fign articles 
of capitulation. But when Elizabeth-caftle was fum- 
moned, captain Aylward, the commander, far from pay¬ 
ing the leaft regard to the a£ts of the governor in his pre¬ 
fent ftate of durance, fired upon the French, and obliged 
them to retreat ; and major Pierfon, a young and gallant 
officer, fecond in command, having affembled the regular 
troops and militia of the ifland on the heights near the 
town, attacked the enemy with the greateft refolution 
and vigour. Baron Rullecourt being at the commence¬ 
ment of the aflion mortally wounded, the French troops 
in lefs than half an hour laid down their arms, and fur- 
rendered prifoners of war. Unfortunately almoft the lafc 
(hot fired, proved fatal to major Pierfon, in whole con- 
dud, during the whole of this tranfadlion, diferetion and 
valour had been equally confpicuous. 
Early intelligence of the rupture with KoHand having 
been tranfmitted to the Weft Indies, admiral Rodney and 
general Vaughan appeared, February, 1781, with a very 
conftderable naval and military force before the ifland of 
Sf. Euftatia, that famous depolit of wealth and mart of 
traffic. So little apprehenftve were the inhabitants of 
this event, that it was with difficulty they were brought 
to give credit to the fummons. Being totally deftitute 
of the means of reftftance, they were compelled to fur- 
render at diferetion. The (lores and merchandize, efti- 
mated at three millions fterling, were publicly fold for 
the benefit of the captors. A prodigious number of 
trading veffels lying in the harbour alfo became the pro¬ 
perty of the vidiors, with two men of war, one of which 
was a flag-fhip, commanded by admiral count Byland_ 
Nearly at the fame time, the Dutch fettlements of De- 
merara, Berbicia, and HTequibo, on the fouthern main,, 
alfo fubmitted without refiftance to the arms of his Bri¬ 
tannic majefty. 
The French fleet under count de Grade, after a partial 
engagement with admiral Hood, who in the abfence of fir 
George Rodney commanded the Englifh fleet, fleered its 
eourfe to the ifland of Tobago, on which M. de Bouille, 
with a conftderable land force, made an immediate de- 
feent. Admiral Rodney, on receiving intelligence of this 
attack, detached a fquadron for the relief of the ifland, 
which finding the French in great force was obliged to re¬ 
turn ; and the admiral, accompanied by general Vaughan, 
now failed in perfon with the whole fleet for Tobago, 
off the coaft of which he arrived the fourth of June, but 
had the mortification to learn that the ifland had f'urren- 
dered on the fecond. And at the latter end of the year, 
the ifland of Euftatia was re-captured. M. de Bouille, 
receiving 
