estershire. The great powers of
Europe, humbled to the dust by the vigor and genius which had guided the
councils of George the Second, now rejoiced in the prospect of a signal
revenge. The time was approaching when our island, while struggling to
keep down the United States of America, and pressed with a still nearer
danger by the too just discontents of Ireland, was to be assailed by
France, Spain, and Holland, and to be threatened by the armed neutrality
of the Baltic; when even our maritime supremacy was to be in jeopardy;
when hostile fleets were to command the Straits of Calpe and the Mexican
Sea; when the British flag was to be scarcely able to protect the
British Channel. Great as were the faults of Hastings, it was happy for
our country that at that conjuncture, the most terrible through which
she has ever passed, he was the ruler of her Indian dominions.

An attack by sea on Bengal was little to be apprehended. The danger was
that the European enemies of England might form an alliance with some
native power, might furnish that power with troops, arms, and
ammunition, and might thus assail our possessions on the side of the
land. It was chiefly from the Mahrattas that Hastings anticipated
danger. The original seat of that singular people was the wild range of
hills which runs along the western coast of India. In the reign of
Aurungzebe the inhabitants of those regions, led by the great Sevajee,
began to descend on the possessions of their wealthier and less warlike
neighbors. The energy, ferocity, and cunning of the Mahrattas soon made
them the most conspicuous among the new powers which were generated by
the corruption of the decaying monarchy. At first they were only
robbers. They soon rose to the dignity of conquerors. Half the provinces
of the empire were turned into Mahratta principalities. Freebooters,
sprung from low castes, and accustomed to menial employments, became
mighty Rajahs. The Bonslas, at the head of a band of plunderers,
occupied the vast region of Berar. The Guicowar, which is, being
interpreted, the Herdsman, founded that dynasty which still reigns in
Guzerat. The houses of Scindia and Holkar waxed great in Malwa. One
adventurous captain made his nest on the impregnable rock of Gooti.
Another became the lord of the thousand villages which are scattered
among the green rice-fields of Tanjore.

That was the time, throughout India, of double government. The form and
the power were everywhere