marks, which throw great light on the transactions of that country. He has reftored to life feveral men, women and children, who were represented by Meff. H. and V. as having been murdered by Meer Jaffier and his fon; and cenfures the manner of depofing that prince. His Obfervations conclude as follows:

The restoring Jaffir Ally Cawn to the fubahship was the neceffary confequence of the war againft Coffim Ally Cawn, and the conditions on which he was to be restored were, befides> the confirmation of former treaties,

That he should maintain twelve thousand horfe and twelve thousand foot, which number should not be exceeded without the confent of the company, that he fhould permit a conftant refident at his court, on behalf of the company.

That the orders iffued by Coffim Ally Cawn, declaring all trade exempt from customs for two years, fhould be reverfed, and the English permitted to trade free of duty on all commodities except falt, which should pay two and a half per cent.

Thirty laacks of rupees to be paid to the company, to defray their loffes and expences in the war.

All private perfons, inhabitants of Calcutta, to be reimburfed fuch loffes as they fhould prove before the governor and council; befides this public treaty, there were the following feparate articles, which are not entered on the records.

That twenty-five laacks fhould be paid to the army for their fervices, and half that fum to the navy.

• The war was carried on with fuch fuccefs against Coffim Ally, that he was foon driven out of his dominions, and implored the protection of Sujah Dowla, the fubah of the next province; who, on hearing Coffim Ally had entered his dominions with a confiderable force, which still remained attached to him, thought it proper to move towards the Bengal frontier; when having made Coffim Ally difmifs his troops, and probably having taken a confiderable fhare of his treasures, he then folemnly took him under his protection.

• It does not appear Sujah Dowla had at this time any intention of invading the Bengal provinces, but our fuccefs againft Coffim Ally was followed by a mutiny among our troops, at the inftigation of fome French men in our fervice; a batal◄ lion of fepoys, and about two hundred Europeans (mostly foreigners) marched off to the enemy, with their arms, colours, and two field-pieces, and the reft were with difficulty reftrained from following them.

Flattered by thefe circumstances of our diftress, Sujah Dowla feemed to affure himself of an easy conqueft of the three provinces, which he immediately invaded, General Carnac,

who

:

who at this time commanded our army, wifely declined hazarding an action as the mutinous fpirit in the army was not yet reduced, he stood on the defenfive, and always repulfed the enemy, and covered Patna, till the rains put an end to all operations. General Carnac being foon after difmiffed from the fervice by orders from England, the command devolved on major Munro, who, by a well-timed feverity, reduced the army to obedience; took the field, and gain'd the important battle of Buxar.

• Affairs in Calcutta were pufhed with as much vigour as in the field; Mir Jaffir was extremely preffed for payment of the feveral demands on him. The expence of the army was enormous, for we did not now fight our battles with a handful of men as at Plaffy in 1757. The military establishment had been annually encreasing ever fince lord Clive left the country, and now confifted of eighteen thousand horfe and foot, the expence of which foon fwallowed up the thirty laacks paid by Meer Jaffir; as alfo the further fum of five laacks per month, which Mir Jaffir had agreed to pay while the war lasted; and the company were finking from forty to fifty thousand pounds every month of their capital: befides the maintaining the war at this immenfe expence, Meer Jaffir was clofely preffed for the vast fums to be paid on private accounts.

• The article of the treaty ftipulating an indemnification for private loffes, proved a fource of the most dishonourable oppreffion. Meer Jaffir was first assured the loffes would not amount to more than ten laacks, on the faith of which he confented to make them good; he was foon after told it would be twenty, then thirty, then forty, and was finally fixed at fifty-three laacks, or feven hundred thousand pounds, of which seveneighths was for loffes fustained (or faid to be sustained) in an illicit monopoly of the neceffaries of life, carried on against the orders of the company, and to the utter ruin of many thousands of the India merchants: That we may not lofe the fight of the English conduct in this, I shall here bring this subject to a conclufion, by informing the reader, that the court of directors being juftly alarmed at the fatal confequences they apprehended from this trade, had under date, the eighth of February 1764, moft pofitively ordered their fervants to put a total and effectual stop to the inland trade in falt. Mr. VanLittart and his council met to debate on this order, and came to a refolution to carry it on, paying two and a half per cent. Mr. Vanfittart is pleafed to urge, contradictory orders were then arrived, or foon expected. Mr. Vanfittart mistakes both in dates and facts. Four months after the above order, the court of directors, conformable to an order of a general court,

informed

informed their agents at Bengal, that lord Clive and the select committee would have powers to regulate the inland trade, meaning to regulate it fo, that it fhould neither be oppreffive to the natives nor hurtful to the nabob's revenue; but this letter was not received nor known of at that period of time when the above refolution was agreed to.

• To return to the demands made upon Meer Jaffir. The twenty-five laacks, ftipulated for the army, were nearly discharged, but all delicacy of conduct was laid afide, in the manner in which payment was obtained for the feven hundred thousand pounds for private loffes, half of which was foon extorted from him, though the company were at that time finking under the burthen of the war, and obliged to borrow great fums of money of their fervants at eight per cent. intereft; and even with that affiftance could not carry on both their war and their investment, but sent their ships half loaded to Europe.

• When advice was received of lord Clive's departure from England, the perfecution of Meer Jaffir for payment of the several demands on him held pace with their fears of lord Clive's difapprobation of their conduct, and I make no doubt that the indignities he fuffered haftened his death, by bringing on a bad ftate of health, which ended in a dropfy, of which he died two months after Mr. Vanfittart left the country.'

As we are no judges of the facts contained in this pamphlet, we can only fay, that it is written with decency and good fenfe.

24. An Address from John Zephaniah Holwell, Efq; to Luke Scrafton, Efq; in Reply to his Pamphlet, intitled, Observations on Mr. Vanfittart's Narrative. 8vo. Pr. 15. Becket. We cannot be fo cruel as to flatter Mr. Holwell that Mr. Scrafton, or any other gentleman, needs to stand in awe of what he is pleased to call the just chastisement of his pen. "When you sent me (fays Mr. Scrafton to him in a letter publifhed with this addrefs) one of your Hiftorical Events, I then wrote you, that I reprefented your Memorial as falfe, or mifreprefented, in every inftance; as alfo your Account of the revenues, which has been productive of much mifchief to the company, and is fo totally falfe, that befides the grofs fum of eleven crore, being eight and a half crore more than the real fact; the items it is compofed of are ridicu loufly falfe. You rate the city of Dacca at two crore. - The whole province, city included, is but twenty-five laaks the cuftoms of the city, I dare fay, do not pafs 40,000 rupees. As you have thought fit to publish thofe things to the world, you must take the confequence of having gone on fuch

wrong

wrong informations," From this quotation it appears that Mr. Scrafton, who is a director, is offended at Mr. Holwell's eftimates, and thinks it his duty to vindicate the conduct of lord Clive.

We have already difclaimed our paffing any judgment on the facts contained in these publications, but we cannot omit tranfcribing the following very extraordinary paffage. • Let it in the first place be remembered, that howfoever happy in its confequences the defeat at Plaffey proved to individual sufferers, the means by which it was obtained fhould rather be forgot, nor fhould you blazon that defeat with the femblance of a military act of prowess, which was folely owing to the treafon and treachery of Roydullob and Mhir Jaffier, two of Surajah Dowla's generals, the higheft in office, as well as in the confidence of their mafter; thus betrayed, no glory would have been reflected on our arms, had the defeat been atchieved with one fourth of the men then under lord Clive's command.'

Mr. Holwell's manner of judging the battle of Plaffey reminds us of the obfervations of the French on the English conquefts at Agincourt, Blenheim, Ramillies, Minden, and other places; all which were acquired by fome unforeseen accident, fome fecret treachery, or fome flight inadvertency in the French generals, without a fingle grain of merit or courage on the fide of the English. According to one of those refined politicians, it was not Alexander who gained the battle of Arbela, but an old woman, who happened to throw into the street a hob-nail, which stuck into the hoof of the Perfian general's warhorse, and disabled him from charging the enemy. We shall conclude our review of this addrefs in Mr. Scrafton's own words that we fhould be forry to difturb the author's tranquility, at his time of life, or to do any thing that may tend to deprive the world of his future reveries on the Banian * religion.'

25. An Attempt to pay off the National Debt, by abolishing the EaftIndia Company of Merchants; and all other Monopolies. With other Interefting Meafures. 8vo. Pr. 15. Bladon.

We can discover no other fenfe or meaning in this pamphlet, except that, if the government of England would be fo kind to itfelf and the nation, as to commit a moft infamous breach of public faith, by deftroying the charter of the Eaft India company, the national debt might be paid. As to the execution of this proposal, it is below contempt.

L

* See vol. XX. p. 145, and vol, XXII. p. 340...

26. An Address to the Public, concerning the Business between the Go- › vernment and the Eaft-India Company. Proving that the Govern ment has no juft Demand on the Company, either for Protection granted, or for territorial Acquifition.. 8vo. Pr. 6d. Williams.

This pamphlet is occafioned by two letters in the Gazetteer, faid to be written by an Hibernian, who propofes that the company fhall pay a million yearly, till the debt of the nation is paid. It contains very warm expoftulations against the author of the preceding pamphlet, with much perfonal abufe against two admirals, and an honourable general. The whole' is the work of fome of thofe fcribblers who every day write in the public papers on temporary fubjects.

27. A Review of the prefent State of the Nation, its Maladies and Means of Relief: humbly fubmitted to the Confideration of the Inhabitants of Great Britain. By a Well-wisher to his Country. 8vo. Pr. Peat. 1. 6d.

.

The author of this pamphlet is one of thofe temporary Lycurgi, who very kindly facrifice their literary eafe to the drudgery of mending the state, inftructing his majefty, and appointing or difplacing his minifters. A certain lately created peer who is thought at prefent to prefide at the British helm, is the object of our author's indignation. He difapproves of all his' American meafures, and abufes him for raifing the price of beer to three half-pence farthing a pint. He cenfures the government for not ordering double crops to grow for the service of the good people of England; and advifes the ministry to avail themselves of the Eaft India company's revenues. He very generously provides for the two eldeft princes of the blood royal out of the rents of the crown-lands, when farmed out for pasture fields; and concludes with many patriotic effufions of public fpirit, in which we with him fuccefs.

28. A free Appeal to the People of Great-Britain, on the Conduct of the prefent Adminiftration, fince the Thirieth of July, 1766. 8vo. Pr. 1. Almon.

This pamphlet contains bitter invectives against the present adminiftration, and is written in favour of that which preceded. the laft. The right honourable perfonage fuppofed to be now at the helm of affairs is treated as the very mirror of defpotism; or, in other words, as a great Turk, who will not fuffer even a brother to be near his throne. His peerage is pronounced first to be an act of felo de fe, and afterwards a new fpecific for the gout. In fhort, the whole arrangements of the administration