Quaint Gleanings from Ancient Poetry | Page 8

the month of May last they sail'd on the Main,
And now in
September they come back again
With the loss of some ships, but in
Battle none slain,
Which, etc.
[Footnote 12: Probably George, Viscount Torrington, First Lord of the
Admiralty in 1727.]
ON SEEING MR. FOX AND MR. HASTINGS AT
CHELTENHAM.

"En redit Hastingus, pocatis regibus Indi,
Anglorum et posito nomine,
et imperio,
Ecce silet vulpes, annosaque fabula Burki,
Faucibus
haret, eheu, Dic, age, dic Sheridan."
From Eastern climes, lo, Hastings! late return'd,
His struggles ended,
and his fame well earn'd,
Illustrious Stateman! [13] to a distant age

Thy name shall live and grace th'historic page;
There licens'd
falsehoods [14] shall no more prevail,
Nor Dodsley publish [15]
Edmund's annual tale.
When France, exulting, deem'd our ruin near,

And Hyder's progress struck each Chief with fear;
When hostile
nations press'd in league combin'd,
Collected, firm, and dauntless was
thy mind;
Inspir'd by Hastings, Coote [16]: the seasons brav'd,

Embark'd his succours, and a kingdom sav'd.
Goddard [17] at his
command our standard bore
Through lands to England's sons
unknown before;
While Popham's victories rais'd our country's fame

And fix'd in realms remote the British name.
The sued-for peace
[18] to Gualior's fall is due.
And Gualior's capture long was Hastings'
view.
History shall tell how clos'd the scene of blood,
When to a
world oppos'd Britannia stood;
No conquest Gallia claims on India's
coast,
No splendid triumphs can the Belgian boast,
For millions
wasted, [19] and a navy lost.
The keen Maratta and the fierce Mysore

Their league dissolve, and give the contest o'er;
And peace restor'd,
e'en party owns, tho' late, [20]
That Hastings' firmness has preserv'd
the State.
Succeeding ages this great truth shall know,
A truth
recorded by a generous foe, [21]
That England's genius, in a luckless
hour
For Gallic schemes, gave Hastings Sov'reign pow'r.
[Footnote 13: Pitt, who moved the address upon the peace in Lord
Shelburne's administration, declared, in the course of his speech, that
he had no fears for India while so illustrious a stateman as Mr. Hastings
directed our councils, and so great a general as Sir Eyre Coote
commanded our armies. This declaration was the more honourable for
Mr. Hastings because at that time the absurd prejudices of the
Rockingham party had misled half the Nation.]

[Footnote 14: It can be remembered with what diligence copies of the
reports of the Select Committee were circulated under the sanction of
the Ministry, and how many false and abusive libels were given away
through the kingdom, tending to depreciate the character of Mr.
Hastings, previous to Mr. Fox's bringing in his India Bill.]
[Footnote 15: Mr. Burke published a speech almost every year after he
came into notice.]
[Footnote 16: The preservation of the British empire in India depended
upon Sir Eyre Coote's safe arrival at Madras with money and troops at
the most dangerous season of the year, when merchant ships seldom
venture upon the coast.]
[Footnote 17: General Goddard marched from Corah to Surat, across
the continent of Indostan, and after the conclusion of the peace the
same army returned to Bengal under the command of Colonel Charles
Morgan, through countries which we had formerly little knowledge of.
Colonel Pearce marched at the head of five regiments of Bengal Sepoys
from Calcutta to reinforce Sir Eyre Coote's army at Madras. This brave
detachment was distinguished in every action; on the attack of the
French lines at Cuddalore, one of the regiments was opposed to a
French European regiment, and much of the success of that day is
attributed to the spirited exertions of the Bengal detachment. Colonel
Pearce, on the conclusion of the peace with Tippoo, marched this
detachment back to Calcutta, where it was disbanded in the month of
January.]
[Footnote 18: The separate peace with Madagee Scindia was entirely
owing to the capture of Gwalior and to the subsequent operations of a
detachment formed by Hastings for the express purpose of drawing
Scindia from Guzzerat to the defence of his own dominions, and as a
certain means of effecting a general peace.]
[Footnote 19: The war in India cost France at least seven millions
sterling, and at the close of it we were in possession of all the French
and Dutch settlements on the continent of India, and were besieging
their forces in Cuddalore when intelligence of the peace in Europe was

received at Madras.]
[Footnote 20: The Directors were divided at one period in their opinion
of Hastings; and Fox and Burke invariably laid great stress upon the
circumstance that thirteen directors were of opinion he ought to be
recalled in 1783, though ten of the same body, and 428 proprietors,
most strenuously supported him. Many of the thirteen who voted his
recall in 1783 were in the Direction when he received a unanimous vote
of thanks for his long, faithful, and important services.]
[Footnote 21: Monsieur Law, governor of Pondicherry, in a memoir
addressed to the French Minister, says, "In an evil hour