Central India (1804) recalled memories of the convention of Wargaum, and
of the destruction of Colonel Baillie's force by Hyder Ali. The repulse
of Lake in person at the siege of Bharatpur (Bhurtpore) (1805) is
memorable as an instance of a British army in India having to turn back
with its object unaccomplished.
Barlow.
The ambitious policy and the continuous wars of Lord Wellesley exhausted
the patience of the court of directors at home. In 1804 Lord Cornwallis
was sent out as governor-general a second time, with instructions to
bring about peace at any price, while Holkar was still unsubdued, and
Sindhia was threatening a fresh war. But Cornwallis was now an old man
and broken down in health. Travelling up to the north-west during the
rainy season, he sank and died at Ghazipur, before he had been ten weeks
in the country. His immediate successor was Sir George Barlow, a civil
servant of the company, who, as a _locum tenens_, had no alternative but
to carry out faithfully the orders of his employers. He is charged with
being, under these orders, the only governor-general who diminished the
area of British territory, and with violating engagements by abandoning
the Rajput chiefs to the tender mercies of Holkar and Sindhia. During
his administration also occurred the mutiny of the Madras sepoys at
Vellore, which, though promptly suppressed, sent a shock of insecurity
through the empire.
Lord Minto, governor-general from 1807 to 1813, consolidated the
conquests which Wellesley had acquired. His only military exploits were
the occupation of the island of Mauritius, and the conquest of Java by
an expedition which he accompanied in person. The condition of central
India continued to be disturbed, but Lord Minto succeeded in preventing
any violent outbreaks without himself having recourse to the sword. The
company had ordered him to follow a policy of non-intervention, and he
managed to obey his orders without injuring the prestige of the British
name. In his time the Indian government first opened relations with a
new set of foreign powers by sending embassies to the Punjab, to
Afghanistan and to Persia. The ambassadors were all trained in the
school of Wellesley, and formed perhaps the most illustrious trio of
"politicals" that the Indian service has produced. Sir Charles Metcalfe
was the envoy to the court of Ranjit Singh at Lahore; Mountstuart
Elphinstone met the shah of Afghanistan at Peshawar; and Sir John
Malcolm was despatched to Persia. If it cannot be said that any of these
missions were fruitful in permanent results, at least they introduced
the English to a new set of diplomatic relations, and widened the sphere
of their influence.
Gurkha War.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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