countries, and rioted in the fpoils of the most industrious people upon the face of the earth. The King of Tanjour, they faid. was an ufeful and faithful ally, His prefervation was entwined with our own fecurity, as he was the only check which the country afforded, upon the rifing power and daring ambition of the Nabob. Our fidelity, juftice, and kindness to him, would have gained the confidence and affections of all the natural princes of the country; and we should thereby have established on the spot, and independent of any exertion on our fide, a counterpoife to the reftlefs ambition, and infatiate rapacity of the Moguls. But by the injuftice of not only betraying our ally into the hands of his enemy, but becoming principal actors in his deftruction, and harers in his spoil, we have totally changed the profpect; and inftead of friendship, a general confederacy of the Marattoes, and other warlike Gentoo tribes, against us, is what we have every reafon to expect; nor would it be a matter of wonder, if, forgetting for the time all other refentments, they fhould, one day, even join the Nabob to punish our injuftice and perfidy. In thefe circumftances, they faid, the only right and wife policy for the company to purfue, was to act juftly; to fhew the world that her faith and integrity were inviolate; and to convince the eastern nations, by her conduct to the king of Tanjour, that however venality and corruption might have laid hold on fome of her fervants, he was in herfelf pure, and incapable of receiving any taint of that nature. 1777. Thefe tranfactions having been laid before the pro- March 26, prietors at their quarterly general court, a refolution was agreed upon, and afterwards confirmed on a ballot, by a majority of 382, to 140 proprietors, recommending to the court of directors, to take the most effectual measures for reftoring Lord Pigot to the full exercise of the powers vefted in him by the company, as Governor and Prefident of the fettlement of Madrafs; and for enquiring into the conduct of the principal actors in his imprisonment, and in dif. poffeffing him of the exercise of the legal powers wherewith he was invested. In confequence of this refolution, feveral others were foon after paffed in the April 11. court of directors, by which Lord Pigot was reftored to the full exercife of the office and powers from which he had been degraded ; his four friends, who had been ejected from the council, were reinstated; a refolution was paffed, that feven members of the council, including the commander in chief of the forces, had violently fubverted the government by a military force; these seven members were accordingly fufpended from the Company's fervice, and cut off from any other means of restoration, than the immediate act of the directors. A new council was appointed, in which Mr. Rumbold, who was to fucceed Lord Pigot, was to hold the fecond place, during the remainder of his adminiftration, and a new commander of the forces, the third place. The four ejected and restored members members of the former council, were admitted to feats in the prefent. The court of directors alfo paffed a vote of cenfure upon Lord Pigot's conduct, which, they de clared, appeared in feveral inftances to be reprehenfible. Madrafs, made In this co upon amic verr. Notwithstanding the cenfure upon Lord Pigot in thefe refolutions, and that they were only carried by a cafting vote in the Court of Directors, the friends of that nobleman, as well as the oppugners in general of the prefiding party, and late proceedings in Madrafs, were now fatisfied, that they had gained a decifive, if not complete, victory. The vast majority of proprietors which had appeared on their fide in the late ballot, notwithfanding the apparent efforts of adminiftration, in conjunction with the his parties who were immediately concerned against them, feemed, not only to afford a moral certainty, 1 that the prefent refolutions would be carried into effect, but a reasonable degree of probability, that the bufinels would no longer be controverted.. They, however, found themfelves mistaken. All poffible impediments were thrown in the war, to retard, clog, or embarrass t bufinefs in the Court of Dire&t The inftructions which were tended to accompany the refo tions to India, were fo oper. perplexed, and voluminous, afforded fo much room for alt tion and difcuffion, that the fubject feemed in fome deg be loft or forgotten, durin toil and vexation of clearl: rabbish in which it was i Nor were the oppofite part The friends of the Nabob, as thole of the ruli g i acti int ... every thing of courfe. He ed upon the imay of adopting the nature, from the imer to which in our pretion we were expofed to e of Bourbon. A few », he faid, might decide our as a nation. A treaty between ance and the Americans would e that final decifion. We fhould not only lose the immenfe advantages which we had derived from the vaft and increasing commerce to of our colonies, but that comof merce, and all thofe advantages, ient would be thrown into the hands of es and our natural and hereditary enemies. rigours He faid that our acts of naviga errors of tion were already virtually revid ferved pealed in confequence of this untments and happy contest; and that however , if conti- grievous it was to repeat, and fatal nd in diffolving in the fact, the trade of England Great Britain and was now carried on in French and other foreign bottoms. He ftated the impracticability of conquering America, and the ruinous confequences of the conqueft if it had been practicable. And he declared, in that ftrong and emphatic language, by which this great ftatesman and orator was fo peculiarly diftinguished, that America was contending with Great Britain under a masked battery of France, which would open upon this coun try, as foon as the perceived that we were fufficiently weakened for lanation of the e of his motion, jaid, that under the ed grievances, he Convey every thing jed in parliament reA nerica fince the year That the propofal was He meant by it the ref all the American griev. particularly including the t of difpofing of their own 7. He faid this would be her any future governor should venture to oppofe or controvert any of his defigns, he was at no lofs in knowing how to bribe a majority of his council; his treafures would always procure factions, and thofe factions the immediate recal of any perfon who was weak and hardy enough to undertake fuch a government, with the smallest intention of honetly discharging the duties of his office. The arguments brought for not reftoring Lord Pigot, from an apprehension of his revenge, were faid to be of the fame complexion. A governor was to be illegally, cruelly, and without any adequate caufe, depofed, imprisoned, his life threatened, and highly endangered, by a bribed, corrupted council, and he was not to be retored, left he fhould not then ufe his power with moderation. Was ever a more ridiculous fyftem broached? The principle of doing milchief is to be maintained, and its confequences endured, left by diarming the authors, and reftoring authority to its rightful poffeffors, they might chance to exert it too rigidly on the delinquents. They obferved with great acrimony, that mot of the mini.ters, with the law officers of the crown, were fo fenfible of the fhameful nature of this befinefs, that they did not chufe to appear in it, to which only they attributed their abience; and they expreted with equal aperity their apprehenfion, that thofe abfent fervants of the crown had a full pertuation, that a fufficiunt number, who were not troubled with thofe fcruples, would attend to do it for them. Uron the whole they concluded, administration had taken so open and decided a part in this bulines, and by the energy and over reliag influence of the crown, had fedoced a majority in the Company, not only to act contrary to their own interefts, and to every principle of juftice, honour, and equity, but directly to overturn and undo the Company's own acts at home, and all that had been done, in obedience to its inftructions, by its fervants abroad, the intervention of parliament, in order to rescue that body from the ruinous confequences of the undue influence uuder which it laboured, became not only right and proper, but indifpenfably neceffary for its prefervation. The question being at length put at one o'clock in the morning, the motion for the refolutions was rejected upon a clofer divifica than ufual, the majority being only go to 67. Leaving the confufions of the eat, we are now to turn to thofe of the weit. The great age, and greater bodily infirmities of the Earl of Chatham, were not fu cient to reftrain his ardour in what was fo great a national concern, and which he confidered as fo much mifconducted. As little were the disappointments that had attended his former efforts in endeavouring to bring about a reconciliation between the mother country and her colonies, any more than the fate of all fimiliar propofitions which had been made by others, capable of deterring him from the further pursuit of an object which he evidently held to much at heart. The Lords being May 30. Tummoned for the pur pofe, 1 pofe, this nobleman, moved for an address to the throne, reprefenting, that they were deeply penetrated with the view of impending nin to the kingdom, from the continuation of an unnatural war against the British colonies in America; and advising, that the most speedy and effectual meafures fhould be taken for patting a ftop to fuch focal hotilities, upon the only just and fclid foundation, namely, the removal of accumulated grievances; with an afurance, that the Houfe would eater upon that great and necely work with chearfulness and dipatch, in order to open to his Majesty the only means of regaiding the affections of the British colonies, and of fecuring to Great Britain the commercial advantages of thofe valuable poletions; fully perioaded, that to heal and to rere's would be more congenial to the goodness and magnanimity of By Majely, and more prevalent ever the hearts of generous and tree-born fubjects, than the rigours of chalement and the horrors of Collar, which hitherto had ierved only to harpen refentments and csolidate union, and, if contined, mutt finally end in diffolving all Les between Great Britain and ber colonies. the herald of peace; that it would open the way for treaty; that though much muft ftill be left to be fettled by treaty, this, by affording a proof of the fincerity and amicable difpofition of parliament, would remove the preient infurmountable impediments to an accommodation, when every thing elie would follow of courfe. He particularly infilled upon the immediate nece:lity of adopting the propofed meature, from the imminent danger to which in our prefeat fituation we were expod to the houfe of Bourbon. A few weeks, he faid, might decide our fate as a nation. A treaty between France and the Americans would be that final decifion. We fhould not only lefe the immense advantages which we had derived from the vaft and increafing commerce of our colonics, but that commerce, and all thofe advantages, would be thrown into the hands of our natural and acreditary enemies. He faid that our acis of navigation were already virtually repealed in confequence of tris vahappy contest; and that however grievous it was to repeat, and fatal in the fact, the trade of England was now carried on in French and other foreign bottoms. He stated the impracticability of corquer ing America, and the rainous confequences of the conquett if it had been practicable. And he declared, in that trong and emphatic language, by which this great statesman and crater was peculiarly distinguished, that America was contending with Great Britain under a maked battery of France, which would open upon this country, as fon as the perceived that we were fufcient y weakened for |