Haidar signed a treaty of his own dictating, which restored to him all his former possessions, and bound each party to help the other against all assailants. Want of money and the cowardice of their native allies were the excuses pleaded by Palk's Council for this lame sequel to their former

menaces.

CHAPTER III.

1769-1772.

As second in the Madras Council to its new President, Dupré, his new colleague at once joined the Select Committee which had been entrusted with the task of restoring peace to the Carnatic, of putting the Nawáb's affairs into better order, settling all disputes with the Rajah of Tanjór, and reforming certain abuses in the Company's own service. Hastings found the Carnatic already at peace, and the disputes with Tanjór seemed to be on their way to a fair adjustment. But in other directions the work cut out for the Committee was all to do. In all the business of the Council Hastings bore due part; and his mild influence made itself felt in the troubled dealings of the Madras Government with the intriguing ruler of the Carnatic, and the high-handed envoy who, in an evil hour, had been sent from England to his Court, in utter disregard of the Company's rights and interests.

But the task to which Hastings' time and energies were mainly devoted, was one which specially devolved upon him as second in Council. To this post were attached the duties of Export Warehouse Keeper. Unlike his predecessors, Hastings declined to discharge by deputy the work entrusted to his own hands. And at that work he laboured with successful zeal. The Company's investments in silk and cotton goods had been of late so carelessly overseen, that the roguery of native contractors had brought about a marked decline in the quality of the goods shipped to England for the Company's use. Hastings set himself to find a cure for evils which threatened the very life of an important industry.

It was a task which took him some time to accomplish. He began by checking with a strong hand the extortions practised by the native middlemen on the poor weavers, whom they had forced to work on terms that plunged them deeper and deeper into debt and misery. In the bales of silk and cotton prepared for the English markets a great improvement presently took place. In the course of time, Hastings had drawn out a scheme which won the entire

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approval of the Court of Directors, for placing their investments on a sound and lucrative footing. Acting on his advice, they resolved to entrust the duties of export warehouse keeper to a separate officer, specially qualified for the post, and to furnish him with a competent staff of trained clerks. In the room of contractors and middlemen, he was empowered to employ his own agents in dealing directly with the headmen of the weaving villages, who should bind themselves in return to work for no private masters.

In the midst of these and other useful labours, Hastings learned that the Court of Directors had marked their high appreciation of his deserts, by offering him the post of Second in Council at Calcutta, with the right of succeeding Cartier in the Government of Bengal. The welcome news reached him about the end of 1771. In spite of some natural regret at parting from the friends among whom he had been living "with much comfort," and from colleagues of whom he had nothing but good to say, Hastings avowed to his friends at home the great pleasure which either his pride, or his "partial attachment to Bengal," aroused within him at the thought of returning to the scene of his former services. His fortune,

as he wrote to his friend, Mrs. Hancock, was "not worse" than when he landed at Madras, but he was "not certain that it is better;" and perhaps the hope of bettering it formed one strand in the rope of circumstances that drew him back to Bengal.

Be that as it may, his letters of this date to friends and placemen at home, evince alike his pleasure at the new turn thus given to his prospects, and his gratitude to those who had used their influence on his behalf. "I could not lose,' he writes to Francis Sykes, on January 30, 1772, "the first occasion to tell you how much joy it has given me to learn that I am much indebted .. You are

to you for my late appointment. . . . . the friend you have always professed yourself and you shall always find me your most warm, and hearty friend." Two days later, he writes to thank Sir George Colebrooke, then Chairman of the East India Company, for this fresh instance of his confidence, and to ask for his friendship as well as his support. Laurence Sulivan, a Director of the Company, meets with a like return of thanks and promises for his share in forwarding "this very unexpected change" in his friend's fortunes. That prudence may have helped to