having reconnoitred the position, was determined to get possession of Friedland; he suddenly changed his front, and causing the right to advance, he ordered the attack to be made by the extremity of the right wing. At half after five, marshal Ney put himself in motion; some discharges from a battery of twenty pieces of cannon were the signal. At the same moment the division of general Marchand advanced against the enemy, taking their route by the steeple of the church. Gereral Bisson's division supported their left. The moment the enemy perceived that marshal Ney had quitted the wood, where he had at first taken a position with his right, they endeavoured to turn him with several regiments of cavalry, preceded by a cloud of cossacks. General Latour Maubourg's division of dragoons formed immediately, advanced to the right in full gallop, and repelled the enemy's charge. In the mean while general Victor ordered a battery of 30 pieces of cannon to be placed in the front of his centre. General Sennermont, who commanded this battery, caused it to be moved 400 paces in advance, by which the eneiny sustained a dreadful loss. The different movements made by the Russians, to effect a diversion, were useless. Marshal Ney, with that coolness and intrepidity peculiar to himself, being a head of his echelons, took upon him to direct, in person, the most minute details; thus affording an example to a corps of the army which has always distinguished itself, even among the corps of the grand army. Several columits of the enemy's infantry that attacked marshal Ney's right, were charged with the bayonet, and driven into the Alle. Several thousands found their death in that river, and some escaped by swimming. During the time marshal Ney's left arrived at the ravin which surrounds the town of Friedland. The enemy, who had here concealed the Russian emperor's guard in an ambuscade, advanced with intrepidity, and charged marshal Ney's left. This corps was for a moment shaken; but Dupont's division, which formed the right of the reserve, marched against the Russian imperial guard, routed them, and made a dreadful slaughter. The enemy drew several reinforcements from his centre, and other corps in reserve, to defend Friedland. Vain efforts! Friedland was forced, and its streets covered with dead bodies. At this moment the centre, commanded by marshal Lannes, was engaged. The effort which the enemy had made at the extremity of the right of the French, having failed, he wished to try a similar operation upon the centre. He was re ceived, as might be expected, by the brave divisions of Oudinot and Verdier, and the marshal who commanded them. The charges of cavalry and infantry could not retard the march of our columns all the efforts of Russian bravery were use less. They could make no impression, but met death upon the points of our bayonets. Marshal Mortier, who all the day exhibited proofs of intrepidity and coolness in maintaining the left, then marched forward, and was supported by the fusiliers of the guard, commanded by general Savary. The cavalry, the infantry, the artillery, every corps distinguished itself. The imperial guard, horse and foot, and two divisions of the reserve of the first corps, were not engaged. Victory was never doubtful for a moment. The field of battle is one of the most dreadful that can be seen. It is no exaggeration to estimate the number killed, of the part of the Russians, from 15 to 18,000 men. On the part of the French, the loss does not exceed 500 killed, and 3000 wounded. We have taken 80 pieces of cannon, and a great number of caissons. Several colours are in our hands. The Russians have had 25 generals killed, taken, and wounded. Their cavalry has suffered an immense loss. Night did not prevent the pursuit of the enemy: he was followed till eleven o'clock. During the remainder of the night, the columns that were cut off endeavoured to pass the Alle in several fordable places. On the following day, for the space of several leagues, we found caissons, cannon, and carriages lost in the river. The battle of Friedland is worthy to be compared with those of Marengo, Austerlitz, or Jena. The enemy was numerous, had a fine cavalry, and fought with courage. On the 15th, while the enemy was endeavouring to rally and retreat to the right bank of the Alle, the French army continued its manœuvres on the left bank, to cut the enemy off from Koningsberg. The heads of the columns arrived at Wehlau together; this town is situated at the con fluence of the Alle and the Pregel. The emperor's head quarters were at Paters walde. On the 16th, at day-break, enemy having destroyed all the bridge 2 availed himself of this obstacle to continue his retrograde movements towards Russia. At eight in the morning the emperor caused a bridge to be thrown over the Pregel, and the army was again in its positions. Almost all the enemy's magazines upon the Alle were burnt by him, or thrown into the water; we know, from what remains, the immense loss which has been sustained. In all the villages, where the Russians had magazines, they burnt them during their retreat. We found at Wehlau more than 6000 quintals of grain. The news of the victory of Friedland caused the enemy to abandon Koningsberg. Marshal Soult entered the city, where we have found immense riches several hundred thousand quintals of corn, upwards of 20,000 wounded Russians and Prussians, all the warlike stores sent by the English for the Russians, and, among other things, 160,000 muskets, not un packed. Thus Providence has punished those who, instead of negociating with good faith to perfect the salutary work of peace, have made light of it, mistaking the calmness of the conqueror for weakness or impotence. The army here occupies the finest country imaginable. The borders of the Pregel are rich. In a short time, the magazines and cellars of Koningsberg and Dantzick will supply us with fresh means of health and abundance. The enemy recommenced hostilities on the 5th. We may estimate the loss he has sustained in ten days, and in consequence of the succeeding operations, at 60,000 men, prisoners, killed, wounded, and disabled. He has lost a part of his artillery, almost all his ammunition, and all his magazines upon a line upwards of 40 leagues in extent. The French armies have seldom obtained such great success with so little loss. While the body of the French army were thus engaged, Murat after several sharp actions with the Prussian army under generat l'Estocq, occupied Koningsberg, which the Prussians evacuated as soon as they learnt that the French were approachmg Wehlau. At Koningsberg, the enemy found immense stores. Pillau is invested, On the 19th of June, Buonaparte entered Tilsit, the bridge of which over the Niemen the Russians burnt on their retreat. Near Tilsit, the following notes were transmitted to general Murat from prince Bagrathion. The General in Chief Bennigsen to his Excellency Prince Bagrathion. "After the torrents of blood which have lately flowed in battles as sanguinary as frequently repeated, I could wish to assuage the evils of this destructive war, by proposing an armistice. Before we enter into a conflict, into a new war perhaps still more terrible than the former, I request you, prince, to make known to the chiefs of the French army this intention on my part, of which the consequences may have effects the more salutary, as a general congress had already been proposed, and may prevent a useless effusion of human blood.-You will afterwards transmit to me the result of your proceeding.-And believe me to be, With the most distinguished consideration, "Your Excellency's most humble and most obedient servant, "General The general commander in chief has addressed to me a letter relative to the orders which his excellency has received from his majesty the emperor, directing me to communicate to you its contents. I think I cannot better comply with his intentions than by transmitting to you the original. I request you at the same time to send me your answer, and accept the assurance of the high consider ation with which I am, general, "Your most humble and most obedient servant, June 6-18. While these bloody tragedies were exhibiting in the north of Europe, the French had provided an episode at Constantinople. My limits permit me only to presnt my readers with the account of the revolution which has taken place in that capital, and which closed with the deposition and death of the sultan Selim, reserving, until ano-. ther opportunity, my remarks upon all these transactions. This account comes from Vienna, and wears every appearance of probability, since it is ascertained that the grand signor was dethroned. "The emperor Selim is no more; the discontents occasioned among the people by the scarcity of provisions, and among the jannisaries by the European exercise and discipline, furnished the enemies of government with an occasion to excite an insurrection which cost the unhappy sultan his throne and life. On the 24th of May, the Muiti, at the head of the malcontents, repaired with 300 janissuries to the Seraglio, and read to him a list of his pretended offences, recited passages from the Kotan, which declared him, on account of those offences, unworthy of the throne, and ordered him to sign a renunciation of it.. Selim, seeing no means of resistance, signed the deed of renunciation, and begged his life. The Mufti promised to intercede for him. His person was then secured, and 14 of his principal ministers were put to death. Couriers were sent to the camp and the Dardanelles, to arrest and strangle the grand vizier and captain pacha. On the 25th of May, a proclamation was published in Constantinople, to announce to the people that the sultan had been dethroned, and to make known his offences, and the passages of the Koran which condemned those offences. The people were invited to remain tranquil, and mind their affairs. On the 26th, Mustapha, the son of Achmet, was proclaimed Grand Signior. On the 27th, he sent an order to Selim to take poison. Selim obeyed, and died in a short time. During the whole of this revolution, but few disorders were committed. The mass of the people took no part at all; so that we attribute this catastrophe to some chiefs of parties yet unknown to the janissaries. All foreign ers have been ordered to be respected. We are assured that the grand vizier made no resistance to the orders sent him, and was strangled. Of the captain pacha we know nothing. The grand vizier had gained some successes before he died: he passed the Danube at Ismail, and forced gen. Michleson to retire from Wallachia to Foksany and Rimnick. The new administration is entirely composed of persons devoted to the janissaries; we know not what dispositions it will show towards foreign powers; yet some think the revolution will have no influence upon our foreign politics, because the insurgents strongly censure the adherents of the Russian system." VINDICATION OF LORD WELLESLEY'S CONDUCT RELATIVE TO THE ARRANGEMENTS IN THE CARNATIC. "I should conceive that I had not performed the duty of the high and responsible office in which you did me the honour to place me, if I did not declare that the present mixed government of the Carnatic cannot prosper even in the best hands in which your part of it can be placed; and that unless the nabob could be induced, by a large annual revenue regularly paid, and properly secured to him, to surrender the management of his country for a long term of years to the company, the inhabitants of the Carnatic must continue to be wretched, the nabob must remain an indigent bankrupt; and his country an useless and expensive burthen to the company and to the nation." Lord Cornwallis to the Directors, 10th August, 1790. As sir T. Turton has given notice of his intention to revive the Carnatic question in the house of commons, I shall now redeem the pledge which I had made to my readers, and proceed to investigate this division of the charges against lord Wellesley, agreeably to the principles that I have uniformly pursued in discussing the merits of the Oude charge. I have before observed, that the history of this branch of the persecution which his lordship has undergone is remarkably singular both in its nature and process; for the arrangements in the Carnatic were concluded six years ago, and the details of them were immediately forwarded to the government in England. At that period, lord Dartmouth was president of the board of controul without a seat in the cabinet. The Carnatic question was, therefore, submitted to the cabinet during Mr. Addington's administration; and after it had occupied the consideration of ministers for six months, it was finally approved by them, and the whole arrangement was consequently confirmed in September, 1802, through the usual channel of communication, the secret committee, which is appointed by law to signify such confirmation. This occurred five years ago. In the mean while, the subject had been agitated in parliament by Mr. Sheridan, and every paper con nected with it had been twice printed for the use of the house of commons, when that gentleman, for reasons which he has more than once explained, abandoned the prosecution of it: it was then suffered to lie dormant until last session, when it was revived by sir T. Turton, who moved for the reprinting of all those voluminous papers, which motion, (like every other in which lord Wellesley was implicated) was acceded to without opposition. 1 The parties concerned in this Carnatic question are, first, Mr. Pitt's first admi nistration of which the lords Grenville, Spencer, Chatham, the duke of Portland, Mr. Windham, &c. were members, and which sanctioned, as I shall shew hereafter, all the proceedings of lord Wellesley to the period of their resignation. Second, Mr. Addington's administration, including the lords Hawkesbury, Eldon, Castlereagh, Dartmouth, Buckinghamshire, Chichester, St. Vincent, &c. Third, all the directors of the East India company for the four last years-it is impossible to name them. Fourth, lord Wellesley and the government of Bengal; and fifth, lord Powis and the government of Madras. I must also remark that the members of council in Bengal concurred with lord Wellesley throughout the whole transaction, as is evident from their letter of the 23d of April 1800,* in which they state that "this dispatch," meaning lord Wellesley's instructions to lord Clive, "although bearing the signature of the governor-general, and for the reasons assigned in it, addressed individually to lord Clive, was written with our knowledge and concurrence." Retaining these considerations in their minds, my readers will observe that on the Carnatic as well as on every other question relative to lord Wellesley's administration in India, the East India directors, through Messrs. Charles Grant and Robert Thornton, have always been anxious to persuade the public, that "the court of directors have nothing to do with lord Wellesley's acts, and were entirely ignorant of the different measures of his government, which were approved by their secret committee." I have already exposed the falsehood of these assertions, with regard to the transactions in Oude, and I have shewn, that even if they were, as they pretend, ignorant of lord Wellesley's public measures, they are still responsible for them, inasmuch as those measures were approved by their secret committee, a body appointed by the court of directors, and authorised by act of parliament, as well as by the special orders of the court of directors, renewed every year, to convey to the government's of India all orders which may relate to political negociations and treaties with the native states. But I shall now prove, that in the Carnatic as well as the Oude arrangements, lord Wellesley's conduct is completely justifiable by the orders of the company in England, and by their final approbation of the whole, after they had con sidered it with great attention, it is to be presumed for upwards of one year. The general nature of the connection between the nabobs of Arcot and the British power is thus explained by the court of directors themselves, and not by their secret committee, in their political letter to Fort St. George, dated June 10, 1795.† "We are ready," say they, "to admit that Mahommed Ally is the lawful nabob of the Carnatic; at the same time, we must observe, that he acquired that title by our means, and has been, and is now, supported in it by our authority; nor have we the smallest intention of withdrawing that support; but it must be remembered, · THAT THE SWORD, that most prominent and essential mark of sovereignty, is exclusively in the hands of the company. The nabob can form no alliance, either offensive or defensive, with foreign powers. Even in the last treaty with Tippoo Sultaun, he is merely recognized as the friend and ally of the company, and under their protection." Under these circumstances, the company had at least a right to expect fidelity, if not gratitude from a person who had acquired his title by their means, and who was then supported in it by their authority. They had also a right to expect from the * Vid. printed papers on the Carnatic. +Vid. printed Carnatic papers, No. 1. August 1803, p. 234. par. 58. nabob an exact fulfilment of his engagements to them as his protector. But the nabob was in the constant habit of deviating from those engagements, by granting assignments on the revenues of the districts mortgaged to the company under the treaty of 1792 for the security of the military subsidy which he was bound to pay. In consequence of this infraction of his engagements, the company had expressed great anxiety for "a modification of that treaty," and in 1796, directed lord Hobart, at that time governor of Madras, to endeavour to effect a commutation of the subsidy for territorial security, observing in their letter to the nabob,* “that the leading features of the engagements between the company and the nabob were protection on the one side, and security for the payment of a fixed subsidy on the other." Lord Hobart having failed, through the perverse councils of the nabob, in accomplishing the wishes of the company, lord Wellesley was directed by the court of directors, of which Mr. Robert Thornton was a member, in their political dispatch,† dated October 18, 1797,"to endeavour to prevail on the nabob to agree to a modification of the treaty of 1792," and his lordship was informed, "that he would render a most essential service to the company, should he be able to accomplish that object." Lord Wellesley was, however, as unsuccessful as lord Hobart in the execution of the courts orders, and communicated the intelligence of his failure, in a letter from "the governor-general in council, dated July 4, 1798.4 On the 5th of June 1799, the court of directors addressed the government of Fort St. George to "adopt the neces sary measures for taking possession in the name of the company of the whole or any part of certain districts, the revenues of which the nabob might have assigned to individuals contrary to the stipulations of the treaty of 1792, and to continue to hold the same, and collect the rents thereof."§ On the 13th of the same month, the secret committee, with the sanction of his majesty's then ministers, informed the governor-general, "that in the event of a war with Tippoo Sultaun, the country of the nabob of Arcot would of course come under the company's management, and directed that it might not be relinquished without special orders from the company," although it is stipulated by the third article of the treaty of 1792, that the country shall be relinquished on the termination of the war. Such was the state of our relations with the nabob of Arcot in the year 1799, and such were the sentiments of the company respecting our rights over that prince. From these extracts, it appears, that the company considered themselve first, to be in exclusive possession of the most essential mark of sovereignty over the nabob; secondly, to be justified in ordering parts of his territory to be taken possession of in the name of the company, without the nabob's consent; and thirdly, to be entitled to order their governments not to relinquish the nabob's country without special orders from them, although such a direliction forms a special stipulation of the subsisting treaty between the nabob and the company. The conquest of Seringapatam, however, gave a new appearance to the connection between the parties, and imperiously required the government of India to decide a question of the utmost importance and delicacy, which, as it could not possibly have been foreseen, was not provided for by any instructions from England. Persons in this country seem to forget that the government in India is obliged to act upon every event that may occur, and that it is always necessary and politic to do something. It is very easy at this distance, to censure, but no one has yet informed us, what lord Wellesley ought to have done? The fall of Seringapatam put the British government in possession of the original records of Tippoo Sultaun, and amongst other documents, of papers containing a secret and hostile correspondence between the nabob of the Carnatic, and Tippoo. On the 23d of April 1800, the governor general in council, transmitted to the secret committee a copy of lord Wellesley's instructions to lord Clive, dated April 7, 1800, together with the documents found at Seringap tam. In those instructions to lord Clive, lord Wellesley observed that," the proofs arising from these papers would certainly be sufficient to justify the British government in depriving the nabob of the Carnatic of all means * Vid. printed papers, p. 212. + Printed papers, p. 243. |