No. II. Monik) WENTY-ONE days after date pay to A. B. of-{Place!— der, the sum of-[Sum]- value received, as advised by To E. F. of [Place] Witness G. H, Witness, L. M. And the INDORSEMENT, toties quoties. or Short account of the Proceedings at Madras, and of the Controversy respecting Tanjour. WHE HEN the Musselmen had over-run Hindostan, and had established the vast empire of the Mogul, it became necessary for the carrying on so extensive a government, to subdivide it; and large districts and provinces were allotted to temporary governors appointed during pleasure, to overawe the natural princes of the country, and collect from them the stipulated tribute for the Mogul. It often happened, that these temporary governors revolted and appropriated to their own use the tributes which were to have passed through their hands. In vain were others sent to relieve them unless such persons were rich enough themselves to raise armies, or were supplied from court with force sufficient to displace their predecessors. Thus it was that Ancover de Cawn (father to the present Mahommed Alli Cawn) was appointed Nabob of Arcot; but Chauda Sail being in possession, and supported by M. Dupleix, Governor 1. D. of Pondicherry, several battles were fought, in which Ancover de Cawn was worsted. He implored the aid of the then Governor of Madras, and received seme ineffectual assistance; but was at length killed in battle. Matters were in this state when the war between England and France broke out; the French were triumphant in the beginning, and carried every thing before them: they took Fort St. David's, and besieged the English in their last hold, Madras. There Alli Cawn, who then claimed the nabobship, had taken shelter, but dreading the worst, had sent his wife and children in an English ship to the Dutch settlement of Nego-. patnam; Lord Pigot gallantly defended the place, and raised the siege. This revived the Nabob's almost extinguished hopes.Reinforcements were sent from England, and General Coote took the field, joined by the Nabob with a body of Maratta cavalry, and another from the Rajah of Tanjour. Gen. Coote was every where victorious; the Nabob's interest grew strong in the country; and, by an article article of the treaty of Paris, he was confirmed in his dominions. The alliance between the English and the Nabob was equally useful to both parties; it secured to him his dominions, and gave to them the balance of power, able to turn the scale either way; they were equally respected by the Gentoos and Moors. To this happy state Lord Pigot, by his wise management, had brought the company's affairs on the coast, when he returned to Europe, where he was rewarded with those honours he so justly merited. The Nabob having thus overcome his difficulties, and feeling himself firmly established in his dominions, began to change his style; and having formed a large well-regulated army, and train of artillery, under the direction of European officers, raised an alarm in England, especially as he began to manifest the design of setting aside his eldest son, who is particularly attached to the English, appointing his second son captain-general and paymaster of all his forces, and allotting him the government of Tanjour; a situation of the utmost importance, in case of a war with France, or any division of interest in the Carnatic. To prevent the consequence of these proceedings, Lord Pigot, as having raised the Nabob to what he is, was sent out to check his views, and restore the Rajah of Tanjour. His lordship's orders were rumoured in India, long before his arrival; and the Nabob publicly declared, that what he paid for, could not with any justice be taken from him. But, to ward against the worst, he sent over agents and money, to purchase a revocation of such crders, if any such were sent, Hence it is that the London papers have been filled with complaints against Lord Pigot and the company's servants. We are told that the Nabob has always been our ally, firm in our cause, and that we have extorted vast sums of money from him. The fact is, that we have proved a constant support to him, and have, through his artifices and bribes, given so entirely into his measures, that we have provoked the Gentoos, lessened our own consequence, and almost rendered him independent. He has tempted the company's servants beyond a possibility of withstanding, in order to extend his dominion over the natural princes of the country; but he has so artfully and frugally bestowed his gifts, that he has acquired a princely and increasing revenue, exclusive of the sovereignty of the country, at less than two years purchase. These notorious attempts upon the integrity of its servants, the flagrant injustice done to the Rajah of Tanjour, the artful and ambitious spirit of the Nabob, called upon the company at home, to oppose to it some speedy and effectual restraints. They saw the policy as well as justice of supporting the Rajah of Tanjour, and of taking some pains to conciliate the minds of the Gentoos, at the head of whom are the Marattas, a powerful and warlike people. Should a French war take place, it was not thought improbable but that the enemy might address themselves to them, and take up the cause of the Gentoos in general. Therefore it seems clear, that upon this view of the case, the orders given to Lord Pigot were just and wise, Some Some weeks after his lordship's arrival at Madras, he communicated to the Nabob the orders of the company, for the restoration of Tanjour, which he had taken some time before, with the assistance of the company's forces, having deposed the old Rajah. The Nabob insisted upon what he called his right to Tanjour, by the laws of India, and by treaties with the company. His representations had no effect. His lordship considered himself as commissioned to restore the Rajah, and accordingly he went to Tanjour, the beginning of April, 1776. Upon his return to Fort Saint George, the majority of the council disapproved of his proceedings at Tanjour. They represented to his lordship, that such a measure would be entirely repugnant to the interest of the company; that the directors being at a great distance, could not be so able to judge as the council who were on the spot; that since the last dispatches to England, there had been many revolutions; and, from the then appearance of things, they did not suppose it would be for the benefit of the company to restore the king of Tanjour to the throne: but the plain truth was, seven of the council had lent large sums of money, on their own account, for which, it is said, Tanjour was pledged to them as a security; they knew, therefore, that if Tanjour was restored to its former king, they should lose that security; and they had reason to suppose, from the known cunning of the Nabob, that the money borrowed would be in the same predi cament. Lord Pigot finding how matters stood, and that seven to four of the members of the council were against him, had recourse to stratagem, to obtain a majority. At a meeting of the council, in the absence of Sir R. Fletcher, commander in chief of the company's forces, his lordship told Messrs. Stratton and Brooke, two of his most violent opponents, that having something to propose with respect to them, he thought that in decency they should withdraw. Upon quitting the council-chamber, he moved for suspending them, and carried the motion by his own casting vote: at the same time orders were issued for putting Sir Robert Fletcher under arrest. But the members in opposition having afterwards met the members under suspension, they privately combined together, and, with the assistance of the military, determined to remove his lordship from the government. Lord Pigot, apprehensive of a mutiny, slept in the fort that night; Colonel Steuart invited himself to breakfast with his lordship the next morning, then to dinner, and to sup with him at his country house in the evening, which his lordship agreed to; this was the point Colonel Steuart wanted to gain, as he could not, without being liable to be tried for mutiny, arrest him in the garrison, for which purpose he had an order all that day in his pocket.Col. Steuart went with his lordship, in his carriage, which had scarcely proceeded half a mile from Madras, before Col. Edington rode up, and waved his drawn sword over the horses heads, calling out, Seapoys! When Capt. Lysaught, with a party, advanced to the door of the chaise, with a pistol in his hand, and told Lord Pigot he was his pri soner; 6 soner; upon this, Colonel Steuart opened the door, took his lordship by the arm, and bid him get out.' He was then conveyed to a carriage, which stood by the road side, in which he was carried to the mount, and delivered into the custody of Major Horne, the commanding officer on duty there, with a declaration, that if a rescue was attempted, his lordship's life should answer it. Col. Steuart rode back to the fort that evening, and proclaimed Mr. Stratton, governor.— The next day the new government sent to Messrs. Russel, Dalrymple, and Stone, declaring, that as they were too much attached to Lord Pigot to be trusted, they were suspended, and a few days after, they sent a similiar message to Mr. Latham, who had only been present at one council. Col. Edington was shortly after sent at midnight, to remove Lord Pigot further up the country, but whither, it was kept a profound secret; on his being introduced, his Lordship declared he would not be removed alive, except to his fort, or on board one of his majesty's ships. -A report was circulated and supported by athidavit, of an attempt of the Nabob's second son to procure Lord Pigot's assassination; and from the character of the Nabob's son, and the declaration made at the time of his Lordship's commitment, this report gains universal credit. It appears, however, upon the whole, that his lordship's conduct has not been altogether unexceptionable. In a letter from Gen. Clavering at Calcutta, to Colonel, Steuart, at Madras, the General expresses his joy at the Colonel's success in placing the majority of the council in the government; considers the consequences of Lord 'Pigot's usurpation of the government, as leading inevitably to a war in the Carnatic; and ascribes the advantages arising to the company from the preservation of so faithful an ally as the Nabob of Arcot, chiefly to the colonel's spirit and magnanimity. The general, at the same time assures the council of Madras of the firm support of the board at Bengal. To the same effect, likewise, Mr. Hastings writes to Mr. Stratton from Fort St. George. He approves and applauds the measure of wresting from the hands of Lord Pigot the powers of government; assures him that the recovery of the constitution from an usurpation so confirmed, and from a spirit so determined as his Lordship's, must be ratified at home; and professes that his opinion is formed upon the most solid and impartial grounds; he likewise, in the warmest manner expresses his feelings on the determination of a contest of so delicate a nature, so much to the credit and advantag of his friends, without bloodshed; and concludes with owning, that he shall be easier in his mind when he hears that their late president is returned to England, as his presence must be productive of some distress, and check the operations of government. Mr. Blair's Letter, relating to the HE capture of the Morning nisrepresented, both in and out of parliament, I submit the following state of facts to the public, who may then judge for themselves, how far any of their servants have been culpable; and whether in my appeal to parliament, I have been guilty of that indecent hurry of which I am accused. Lord Halifax, when secretary of state, in a letter to the Governor of Jamaica, dated December 9, 1763, says, "The Musquito Shore is a British settlement, and as such is to be maintained and encouraged." Lord Dartmouth sent instructions to the Governor of Jamaica, in August 1775, for establishing a legislative council on the Musquito Shore, to be chosen by the inhabitants. Dr. Irving and myself, induced by the above arrangement, sailed from Gravesend on the 13th of Nov. 1775, with a design of setthing on the Musquito Shore, not entertaining the most distant suspicion, that our property would not be equally protected there as in any other part of the British dominions. On the 30th of April last, the Morning Star was lying at anchor, under British colours, in the road of Black-river, the principal settlement on the Musquito Shore, and in sight of the King's house, and was there forcibly seized by two armed sloops under Dutch colours; at the same time one of their boats chased the Nancy, a small sloop belonging to Black-river: John Cofil, master of the Nancy, and Richard Burrel, who was a passenger in her, both deposed, that the boat was at one time so near as to hook the Nancy's quarter-rail, and that the crew were Spaniards; every man who has ever seen a Spaniard, must know that they could not be mistaken. The inhabitants of Black-river, conscious that the Morning Star had never been employed in any illicit trade, were greatly alarmed; they considered the capture as a direct attack on the colony, and applied to the Superintendant to assemble the legislative council; that council, which (I am told) Lord -assured the House of Commons never existed, met, advised the Superintendant to send an express to Jamaica, with an account of this daring and unprecedented outrage, and laid a tax on the colony for defraying the expence. The depositions of John Coffil, Rich. Burrel, and some other persons, who saw the transaction, were sent to the governor of Jamaica (the colony being at present an appendage to that government;) but both the governor and admiral, for reasons best known to themselves, were of opinion that the Morning Star was taken by North-American Privateers; and no step was taken to reclaim the vessel and seamen, until Dr. Irving arrived in Jamaica on the 19th of September, and fortunately met with Frederick Sund, one of the seamen taken in the Morning Star, and who had escaped from Carthagena. This man made oath to ail the particulars of the capture before Thomas Fench, custos and chief justice of the court of common pleas of Kingston in Jamaica. The governer, unable to resist such |