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eath of the whole amount of his property, and declared, that, from his arrival on the 22d of January, 1781, to that hour, June 1, 1785,

"I have never by myself, or by any other person for me, directly, or indirectly, accepted or received for my own benefit, from any person or persons whomsoever, a present or presents of any kind, except two pipes of Madeira wine from two particular friends (one of whom never was in India, the other is at Bengal), a few bottles of champaign and burgundy, and some fruit and provisions of very trifling value; and I further swear and declare that I have confined myself solely to the honourable Company's allowances, which are 40,000 pagodas per annum, &c.; that I have never embezzled or misappropriated to my own use any part of the Company's monies or effects; that I have not been engaged in any trade, traffic, or dealing, &c.; but strictly and bona fide observed all my covenants, &c."

A statement of his whole property was also drawn out by him, and entered in the books of the presidency as a public record, by which it appeared that, notwithstanding his temperance and economy, after twenty-one years of public employment, he had added nothing to his "family inheritance." His lordship's only recompense indeed was the proud consciousness of having honestly and honourably fulfilled the important duties of his station. The following observations too fully prove that talents and integrity are not so advantageous to their possessor as to the state.

"For some years after this [his lordship's return from India], notwithstanding the most honourable public testimony of the minister to his conduct and character, notwithstanding the many great and eminent services in arduous and trying situations, and a steady and uniform attachment to his majesty's person and government, Lord Macartney had the mortification of experiencing the inattention and neglect of government; being suffered to remain almost a singular instance of all those employed in high stations in India, in not having received any kind of favour from his employers, whilst many others, whose services were scarcely ever heard of, were particularly distinguished. Yet surely it will not be considered as presuming too much to say, that the preservation of the northern Circars of the annual value of half a million sterling, the obtaining an assignment which saved the Carnatic, a rigid economy which saved millions to the public, an inflexible integrity which gave an eminent example where an example was so much wanted, an honourable and advantageous peace which restored the tranquillity, the commerce, and the prosperity of India, exhausted and incapable of further resistance, a steady perseverance of duty, regardless of all personal consequences, and an invariable preference of public to private interest-it cannot surely be thought too much to say, that such important benefits,

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joined to many other eminent services in former employments, did not render Lord Macartney less worthy of distinction than many others on whom it had been bestowed: but diis aliter visum est. There were however many gentlemen in the direction of the affairs of the East-India Company, who thought so highly of Lord Macartney's services as to declare, that not to notice them by some distinguished mark of approbation, would be a severe reflection on the justice as well as gratitude of the Company." - P. 332.

The reason assigned for not granting him a pension was, that, as a precedent, it would strengthen the ill-founded claims of Mr. Hastings to a like remuneration. A better reason was offered by Lord Melville for not granting him an English peerage, when he was appointed to the governor-generalship of Bengal, because, said that minister, it was asked as a "sine qua non preliminary," and that at a time when the Company had resolved to place men of rank at the head of their affairs, and when the minister wished to make it an office to which the first men in the country might aspire as an honour. In consequence of this, Lord Macartney declined the governor-generalship, and afterwards a place in the Board of Control, being determined to have nothing more to do with India affairs. Of the personal character, of such a man, we cannot forbear to make a few more extracts, especially as they convey very important information. His reflexions and observations are likewise equally profound and interesting: and he used to say, that "a man who has not been in India knows mankind but by halves; and that he who has been there, knows mankind, alas! too much."

"Lord Macartney, on his return from his travels on the continent, was considered among the handsomest and most accomplished young men of the day. His features were regular and well proportioned, his complexion wore the glow of health, and his countenance was open, placid, and agreeable. His person was somewhat above the middle size, and rather corpulent: in the early part of his life it must have been powerful and athletic; his manners were engaging, and his carriage easy but dignified; in conversation he was extremely affable, cheerful, and entertaining; at the same time he was no admirer of that confident assurance, that easy familiarity and careless neglect of personal appearance, which are assumed by many young men of fashion in the present day. He possessed all the dignity of the old school without its stiffness; and he retained it in his dress, the fashion of which for the last forty years of his life could scarcely be said to have undergone any change; in his person he was always remarkably peat." P. 370.

It has been observed, maliciously enough, that every man

has his price; but if this satire on human nature were strictly true, taken in its greatest latitude, it must however be allowed that a few public men do now and then appear on the stage, whose price, at least, has never been ascertained. One of those few was Lord Macartney. The whole revenues of the Carnatic, which were, in fact, at his command, with the fee simple of Bengal added to them, could not have bribed him to swerve one inch from his public duty. That wealth which is able to purchase power, and influence, and honors, and without which they are rarely attainable, had no temptation for him. In fact, the system of corruption is so well established in India, that those who are disposed to avail themselves of that source of wealth run very little risk of detection *. No blame was ever thrown by the nabub of Arcot on any of Lord Macartney's predecessors for taking his money; but torrents of abuse were poured out against his lord. ship, because he would not take it. It was a maxim with him that plain dealing and clean hands will always in the end be an overmatch for artifice and dishonesty; the truth of which he had very frequent occasions to put to the test. Nothing indeed could have supported him in the line of conduct he pursued in India, against. the intrigues, the duplicity, and the universal corruption which surrounded him, but an unsullied integrity, and an inflexible firmness. Never perhaps was the mens conscia recti (the motto on his lordship's arms) more eminently displayed than in the arduous struggles he was called upon to make in his government of Madras. But conscious of standing upon high and solid ground, perhaps on such as few, if any, ever stood before in that part of the world, he maintained his elevated position with the most perfect calmness in himself though surrounded by turbulence and agitation. Like the proud rock dashed by the waves of the ocean, he remained unsullied and unshaken in the midst of a sea of corruption. For the purity of his conduct he pretended to little merit. it not be supposed,' says he, that the spirit of disinterestedness and integrity which governs my actions arises from any heroic virtue or better motives than those which actuate the generality

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«* The nabobs, and rajahs, and khans, with others of inferior rank, deem it so dishonourable to discover their private transactions, even with those whom they are dissatisfied with, that no motive of resentment ever leads to their developement, and those in subordinate stations, who must necessarily be entrusted with such secrets, have the additional inducement of considering their inviolable fidelity to their employers as the basis of their future fortunes. When the East-India Company sent out, in 1781, a gentleman in the law (Mr. Newman) for the express purpose of obtaining proof of the sums of money that were said to have been taken by some of their servants from the nabob of Arcot and other Indian powers, that gentleman, with all the assistance of the Madras presidency in the upright administration of Lord Macartney, embarked for England without having gained one single object for which he was sent out, or a single proof against the most notorious de linquents.

of mankind. I am free to confess I have a stronger passion than the love of wealth-to reinstate India in its former glory would give me more pride and satisfaction than I should be able to derive from ten times the fortune of Mr. Hastings. It is, in fact, a bad calculation in the accounts of the world to sacrifice reputation for any increase of fortune. Such,' continues he, is the opinion of one on this subject who has had it twenty times in his power to make a large fortune; and yet never has had it in his thoughts.' For the usual modes that are practised in India to obtain wealth, he entertained the most sovereign contempt. Notwithstanding the indignation I feel, I am really,' says he, sometimes diverted with some of these woodcocks, who thrust their bills into the ground, shut their eyes, and then think nobody sees them.' P. 371.

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After such remarks as the preceding, it is not extraordinary that the whole of the peculators were his most determined enemies; neither is it surprising that he found only few friends among those persons in this country who do not blush to profit by the sale of India appointments, which should be the rewards of merit. It is right that the public should be acquainted with the origin and nature of some of their charges against his lordship.

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"It is but too common a practice abroad to condemn what are called king's stores upon very slight grounds; the disposal of them, and particularly the purchase of others to supply their place, putting money into the pockets of the persons concerned in such transactions. A quantity of beef of this deseription was condemned to be sold at Madras, at a time too when they were threatened with a famine. Lord Macartney attended the sale in person, bought a considerable quantity of it, had it served on his own table, invited the parties who were principally concerned in the business, and made them acknowledge the beef to be excellent. This was considered as inspecting matters too narrowly, and unsuitable to the dignity of a governor of Madras. The public however would not be the sufferers if we had a few more such governors as Lord Macartney; and although their conduct, like his, would be sure of exciting the enmity of all those whose private views were disappointed or counteracted by such minute attention to the public interests, yet they would be sure to merit and obtain the applause of all those whose applause is worth having."

P. 377.

The character and conduct of Lord Macartney indeed are most exemplary. "He appears," says Mr. Barrow, "to have observed in every situation of life the most steady and loyal attachment to his sovereign. Whether in place or out of place, whether favoured with the smiles of the court, or apparently neglected, his sentiments in this respect were invariably the same. On all occasions

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he boldly stood forward in support of the king's prerogative." He would not place a fruitless crown "and "barren sceptre" in the gripe of the sovereign of Great Britain. How different is this conduct from that of those statesmen who lately thought to make him violate his conscience, and because they failed with "shameless perfidy, proclaimed the matter!" Yet his lordship was neither a weak nor a venal courtier; on the contrary, so striking were his talents and integrity, that no monarch, much less a minister, would have ventured to make any base proposal to him.

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Throughout a long and active life, and with a very extensive and intimate acquaintance among the leading characters of various administrations and oppositions, he had the resolution to keep himself totally unconnected with party in politics, the spirit of which, however gentle and good tempered the individuals who compose it might be, is always productive of violence and ill-humour, which were so contrary to his disposition. This party spirit he considered as tending only to impede the public service, by embarrassing government, to create dissensions among intimate friends, and to unite the bitterest enemies and the most jarring dispositions. But a respectable opposition in parliament he conceived to be among the most efficient and salutary checks on any abuse of power in those who are entrusted with the administration of the government.

"As a minister at a foreign court his qualifications were of the first rank. By his extensive knowledge of men and things, by address and management, he could make himself master of intrigues and projects while yet hatching, and exhibit them to his court in all their various bearings. It was the opinion of many of his friends, that the minister could not have employed the talents of Lord Macartney to a better purpose in the service of his country, than as a negociator at the different courts of Europe, few men being perhaps so well qualified in every respect for such situations as he was." P. 381.

"A staunch admirer of the British constitution, he was an enemy to despotism under whatever shape it might be exercised. Nothing could more strongly convey his sentiments on this subject than his remarks on the situation of the Wirtemberg troops in the service of the Dutch at Batavia. His most serene Highness of Wirtemberg, remarked Lord Macartney, is a perfect crimp* to the Dutch East India Company, to whom he hires out, at a stipulated rate, the youth, health, and strength of his children and his subjects, who are torn from their dearest and tenderest connections, and banished without redemption from their native soil. Instead of being employed at home like men, and as soldiers only should be, to defend their country, to redress its

* This prince just now performs the same honourable office to Buonaparte as he formerly did to the Dutch.-R.

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