VIDE supra. POLAND. TURKEY. 1772 Ar this period, when a train of disastrous events had rendered the situation of the Turkish empire almost desperate, there were some circumstances favourable to the sultan's cause.-Among these was the benefit which he derived from the councils and the services of Mousson Oglow, whom he had appointed grand vizier, a man equally capable of giving success to his arms, and conducting with effect the negotiations for peace which were carried on through the whole of this year.-Another was the empress's desire of concluding a war the expences of which had exhausted her treasury, that she might devote her attention to the affairs of Poland.—Another signal advantage Mustapha derived from a revolution which took place this year in Egypt.-As soon as Aboudaab had rendered himself independent of his benefactor and brother-in-law, Ali Bey, by his career of success, he immediately prepared to execute the design which he had been some time meditating for undermining him in his power.-And in this act of treachery he was favoured by the perfidious character of the Egyptian princes.— Marching into upper Egypt at the head of a strong army, he found no difficulty in prevailing on the beys to join him with their forces against a prince whom they had recently acknowledged as their sovereign. Even Ishmael Bey, whom Ali had intrusted with 20,000 men to dispute the passage of the Nile, basely sacrificed his honour to his safety and interest, and went over to Aboudaab with his troops. The revolted general, then, might have contested the sovereignty with Ali Bey, having a great superiority of force and influence: but he, reflecting on the caprice of fortune, thought 1772 1772 thought it politic to make his peace with the Porte; and accepted a firman sent him from Constantinople, appointing him commander of the Turkish in Egypt. army On intelligence of Aboudaab's approach, Ali Bey, having no army which he could oppose to that with which his rival was preparing to besiege him in Cairo, escaped, with all the valuables which he could carry with him, to his friend the Sheik Daher, in Syria; where he was received with a kindness and hospitality becoming a prince whose character, amidst a world of perfidy and barbarism, was marked with an urbanity, benevolence, and fidelity which would have done honour to a christian hero. He not only afforded him every comfort that could alleviate his distress, but, disdaining to make his peace by deserting him, he took the field at the age of eighty years in his support. Had the Russian general acted with the same spirit and good faith, his affairs might possibly have been retrieved. On the contrary, Orlof, a base ruffian, who had been raised to this important command in consequence of his murderous services to Catharine, now dishonoured her by his duplicity.-Ali applied to him for some artillery and a body of Albanians who were then in the Russian service; saying that, with this reinforcement and the troops of Sheik Daher, he did not doubt but he should be able to re-enter Egypt. Orlof, in reply, made him promises of speedy assistance; but these were never performed. Ali Bey, and his old Syrian ally took the field, and invested Joppa; the siege of which employed their chief force during the remainder of this campaign. 1772 EAST INDIES. So alarming were the representations made of the mismanagement of the company's servants, the abuses committed by them, and the confused and embarrassed state of their affairs in the midst of the most flattering external appearance of prosperity, that the government deemed it necessary to Ann. Reg. 19. с See Russia. d Life of Ali Bey. 122. 31. to submit them to a public investigation; the result of which, with the subsequent measures adopted by the state, may be seen in the English history. In the mean-time, the company themselves, although they were not sufficiently generous to adopt an enlarged system of policy, to retrieve the honour of the British name, to regain the affections of the Indians, to revive the spirit of industry among them, and thus to provide a copious source of future wealth to the British merchants, by preventing oppression, by abolishing monopolies, and establishing an equal administration of justice, yet they were not inattentive to such measures as might lead to a better regulation of their own internal affairs. For this purpose Mr. Hastings was called from Madras to succeed Mr. Cartier in the president's chair at Calcutta.† And never did a state stand more in need of the hand of a wise and upright statesman to avert its ruin. "The treasury 66 was empty," says Mr. Hastings in his Review of the State of Bengal, "the company was involved in debt, its revenue was declining: every 66 66 region of Indostan," says he, groaned under different degrees of oppression, desolation, and insecurity. The famine which had wasted "the provinces of Bengal had raged with equal severity in other parts, "and in some with greater, and the remembrance of it yet dwelt on the "minds of the inhabitants, with every impression of horror and appre"hension!" a The plans devised by him, though, unfortunately, not executed, are yet well deserving our attention, because they prove the bad policy of that system of aggrandizement, monopoly, and oppression, which had been hitherto pursued, in the opinion of this intelligent statesman, and give us his sentiments respecting the possibility of restoring the country to a state of prosperity. "Had I been allowed the means which I required, I will inform my readers of the use to which I intended to apply them. I "should have sought no accession of territory: I should have rejected the "offer of any which would have enlarged our line of defence without a "more than proportionate augmentation of defensive strength and revenue. "I should have encouraged but not solicited new alliances; and should "have rendered that of our government an object of solicitation by the example 66 1772 1772 66 66 example of those which already existed. Towards these I should have observed, as my religion, every principle of good faith."-As to what concerned the welfare of the Indians in particular, "I would have afforded an asylum in Bengal," says he, " with lands and stock, to all the emigrants from other countries: I would have employed emissaries for their "first encouragement: and I would have provided a perpetual and pro"claimed incentive to them in the security of the community from foreign molestation, and of the individual members from mutual wrong; to "which purpose the regulations already established were sufficient with a power competent to enforce them."-Every humane person when he contemplates this scheme of reform will lament that any obstacle, originating either in the author himself or the circumstances under which he acted, should have interfered with the execution of it.—The merits of his conduct have been the subject of a parliamentary investigation; and the reader is referred to the result of it for the means of forming his opinion respecting it. In the mean-time it concerns us to attend to the expedients adopted by the governor for the accomplishment of the desired reform, and other measures of his administration. For his better information, a committee of circuit, consisting of himself and four members of the council, was appointed to make a tour of the several provinces. And in their progress they investigated the state of the revenue, reduced the expence of collecting it, and established provincial courts of justice for preventing those acts of oppression and arbitrary power which had proved so prejudicial both to the company and the country. For the more easy and effectual attainment of these most salutary ends, the general office where matters relative to finance were transacted was removed from Murshudabad to Calcutta, and all the branches of that complicated system were brought immediately before the council. Moreover, a board of inspection was instituted for the control of the public expenditure.b For the prosecution of these important regulations a period of tranquillity was requisite: and the governor's declaration that his principles and disposition were pacific afforded a propitious omen to the friends of peace. -He was, however, too soon induced to sacrifice his inclinations to political considerations b Transactions in India. 143. 5. considerations, and to engage in the Rohilla war.-This, as being the 1772 most memorable occurrence of his administration, deserves our especial regard. The Rohillas are of Afgan origin: they inhabit the country of Kuttaher or Rohilcund, on the east of the Ganges, bordering on the province of Oude. They are one of the small independent governments established during the convulsions in the Mogul empire, and may be considered as being formed from its wreck.-After various revolutions in that fallen, degraded empire, the Marattas had now gained a complete ascendency in it. An army of that warlike nation had, three years since, possessed themselves of Dehli: and the weak, ill-advised Shah Allum, having abandoned the protection of the English company, which we have seen him seeking in consequence of his vizier's defeat in 1764, had thrown himself under that of the conquerors of his country. d Although the power of the great Mogul was nothing more than the shadow of that which was enjoyed by Aurengzebe, yet, conveying a nominal paramount sovereignty over the states of Indostan, it was sufficient to answer the purpose of the Maratta chiefs; who availed themselves of it to procure such fermans and grants of provinces as were most desirable. Among these were Korah and Allehabad, bordering on the territories of Sujah al Doula, nabob of Oude.-By virtue of this formal conveyance by a monarch who was a mere pageant in their hands, the Marattas determined on an enterprise to possess themselves of those territories. In pursuance of it, they broke into the intervening Rohilla country at the close of the late year, and obliged the Rohillas, who were unprepared for the attack, to take refuge among their mountains. Moreover, that the war might not appear to be groundless, they demanded payment of fifty lacks of rupees, in performance of an engagement which the Rohillas had some years since made with the court of Dehli. And when the Rohillas, as was expected, refused to comply with the demand, they continued their ravages, without any effectual resistance, during the remainder of this year. f In • Hamilton. 171. 2. f Hamilton. 172. Hamilton. 30. d Idem. 167. 70. and Scott's Contin. of Feritsha. 2. 247. g |