vity, he became the soul of this decaying settlement, and in a few years raised it to prosperity. The Asiatic rivalship had now begun between England and France, and the value of a vigorous administrator was so fully felt by the government at home, that Dupleix was placed in charge of Pondicherry, the principal settlement of the French in India. The English fleets and armies were soon in motion; and Pondicherry was the first point of attack. But it was found to be no longer in the disordered state of former times. Dupleix by new connexions with the native powers, by the exertion of the natural resources of his province, and still more by the gallantry and vividness of a mind made for the conduct of great affairs; had put the fortress and territory in a condition of defence for which the assailants were altogether unprepared. The expedition failed, and the new governor received the honours due to his success, in a Marquisate from home, and the ribbon of one of the military orders. With his honours his political views expanded. He spread his connexions still more widely through Hindostan, and by acting at once upon the corruption, the fears, and the ambition of the native sovereigns, proceeded with signal skill and celerity to raise the fabric of French domination in India. The Nabobship of Arcot, the old prize of all competitorship, gave him the first opportunity. Two rivals were in the field. Dupleix instantly entered into a compact with one of them-Chunda Saheb. The French troops put him in possession of the throne; and their services were rewarded by a large territory.

A succession of wars and intrigues, conducted with equal promptitude, at length raised Dupleix to sovereign power in his own person; and all India saw, with astonishment, the clerk of the factory of Chandernagore proclaimed Nabob of the Carnatic, living in royal splendour, and assuming all the functions of sovereignty!

But he had reached the point from which all future steps were to be downwards. The English, who had carried on the war languidly in the beginning, as is their custom, were at length roused by the evidence of their territorial hazard, their exertions suddenly shewed the innate vigour of the national spirit; and, as is equally their custom, they swept all resistance before them. The military genius of Clive, a name equivalent to all that the art of war has of decision, intrepidity, and intelligence; first put a sudden stop to the French progess in the field, and then proceeded from fortress to fortress, until he shook the whole frame of the enemy's power. Dupleix, unsuccessful abroad, became unpopular at home. The English redoubled their efforts. In his perplexity he was forced to make use of the strong measures of men fighting for their last stake. He thus gave new advantages to his opposers in France. The Minister, to escape being crushed in his fall, abandoned him. pleix was recalled in 1754, indignant at the Minister, whom he accused of treachery; at the French India Company, against whom he commenced a suit for what he pronounced their robbery of him; at the ingrati

Du

tude of France, and at the caprices of fortune. But the change was too great to be borne by any of the resources that are to be found in French philosophy. His spirit was broken by his fall; and in a short time this proud, powerful, and brilliant statesman, general, and sovereign, died, and with him died the dominion of his country in the "Golden Peninsula !"

CHAPTER IX.

Character of Burke by the Bishop of Rochester-Trial of HastingsTwelve Maxims of Genghiz Khan.

BURKE had been charged with personal motives in the impeachment of Hastings. The charge was shown to be groundless; his determination to Indian affairs was the work of his nature, his circumstances, and his opportunities. He had been charged with the personal ambition of figuring as the great assailant of a criminal supported by great influence; but this ambition found no place in his character. No man was more clear-sighted in perceiving the obstacles to final success; no man more habitually declined rash resistance to authority, to harmless prejudice, or to the natural impressions of old attachment, or vigorous service. Burke saw the Crown, the Ministers, and the whole Indian interest, abroad and at home, forming an entrenchment round Hastings. No man better knew the difficulty of forcing that powerful circumvallation. If he attempted it, he knew that he must be prepared to encounter long opposition, to hazard the total loss of popularity, to commit himself and his friends to a cause which might overwhelm their whole public buoy

ancy, and finally, after years of labour, personal obloquy, and perhaps individual hazard, find such comfort as was to be found in the consciousness that he had volunteered the ruin of his party. The true cause was, that he was urged to this anxious undertaking by the motive which has given birth to the most arduous, and most illustrious, successes of man,—a sense of duty extinguishing all sense of danger. And this was the acknowledged opinion of those most conversant with his mind. “In the mind of Mr Burke," says King, Bishop of Rochester, forcibly and truly, “political principles were not objects of barren speculation. Wisdom in him was always practical. Whatever his understanding adopted as truth, made its way to his heart, and sank deep into it; and his ardent and generous feelings seized with promptitude every occasion of applying it to the use of mankind. Where shall we find recorded exertions of active benevolence at once so numerous, so varied, and so important, made by one man? Among those, the redress of wrongs, and the protection of weakness from the oppression of power, were most conspicuous. And of this the impeachment of Mr Hastings was considered by Mr Burke as, beyond all comparison, the most momentous.

"The assumption of arbitrary power, in whatever shape it appeared, whether under the veil of legitimacy, or skulking in the disguise of state necessity, or presenting the shameless front of usurpation-whether the prescriptive claim of ascendency, or the brief career of official authority, or the newly acquired domi