ENPages
F10195_0046
19. Both Houses of Parliament passed a vote of thanks to him, & the Crown gave him the remarkable title of "Captain-General & Commander-in Chief of all the forces in the East-Indies." In addition to these numerous honours he was on December 2nd, 1799 raised by Pitt a step in the Irish Peerage - a reward with which he seemed but ill-content - & thus became the Marquis Wellesley.
The Karnatik; Tanjore; & Surat.
We next turn to his work in the Karnatik, in Tanjore, & in Surat. We put these three together not for geographical or chronological reasons, but because similar treatment was in each case administered to somewhat similar circumstances. In each case the difficulty was the same, that of overcoming the pest of dual government. In each case too the GovernorGeneral had the advantage of a new ruler with whom to deal, & in each case the method of a subsidiary treaty was adopted.
The Karnatik. The Nawab's treachery.
The Karnatik was the most important of the three states, as being both by far the largest & also the nearest to the British centre - Madras. The Nawab of the Karnatik offered no bad example of the worst side of the Oriental character; a man who
F10195_0048
20. considered craftiness a virtue, & straightforwardness a vice of which he was incapable; a feeble minded spendthrift, who loved nothing better than his own luxury. The condition of his country showed not only the weakness of his personal character but also his total lack of any real power to quell the internal disorder that raged unchecked in his land: the condition of his treasuries laid bare his extravagance. His subsidies - for the Company had already a certain hold over him* - were not, & offered no prospect of being, forthcoming. It need hardly be said that such a state of affairs could not be permitted to continue. The Governor-General communicated with the Nawab with a view to altering by a new treaty the relations between the Company & himself, so as to put matters on a more satisfactory footing. The Nawab evaded in his answer any approach to a settlement. How long these unfruitful negotiations would have continued is a matter for conjecture. As it happened, the capture of Seringapatam (April 4th, 1799) settled the question, for among the papers found there was discovered [line] * See above: page 10; line 12.
F10195_0050
21. damning evidence of the Nawab's treacherous intrigues with Tipu. James Mill, it is true, puts forward some ridiculous assertion that the documents on which Wellesley founded his charge against the Nawab were forged. But, apart from the fact that an act so criminal & repulsive must of necessity have had the knowledge of all the chief civilians & soldiers in the country - notably Josiah Webb, General Harris, & Wellesley's two brothers Arthur & Henry; - apart from this, it must be remembered that Mill had, or professed to have, such a bigoted hatred for the Governor-General, that he has counted it little short of a duty, to stain by some accusation - however unlikely - every branch of Wellesley's work, although unsupported by any authority.
The "practical annexation" of the Karnatik.
The Governor-General, having obtained the proof of the Nawab's guilt, seemed in no hurry to advance the matter further. It was as well that he did not, for by the delay the position became to a great extent simplified, when on July 15th, 1801 the Nawab died. Up to his very death he had continued in his course of evasion & indecision. Luckily his death was doubly opportune, as there were now two candidates