Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 5.djvu/374

360 equally decisive. The rana of Gohud, a hilly district lying south of Agra, who was an ally of the British, being attacked by the Mahrattas, applied to Hastings for help. He sent captain Popham thither with a small body of troops, who, with little assistance from the rana, soon cleared Gohud of the enemy, and pursued them into their own country; stormed and took the city of Lahore, and the great fortress of Gualior, which the Mahrattas deemed impregnable.

To assist the governor-general, the British government had sent out Sir Eyre Coote to the scene of his former fame, not only as commander of the forces in place of general Clavering, but also as member of council. Coote generally supported Hastings in the council, but he greatly embarrassed him by the insatiable spirit of avarice which had grown upon him with years; and in making arrangements with the nabob of Oude and others to supply the means of accommodation to the old commander, Hastings greatly augmented the grounds of his future persecutions. He likewise relaxed in his resentment towards Francis, and showed a disposition to promote the interests of him and his adherents.



He appointed Mr. Fowke, and others of them, to lucrative posts, and, calculating on the promises of Francis to desist from annoyance, he allowed Barwell, his stanch supporter, to return to Europe with his large fortune. But scarcely was he gone when the haughty spirit of Francis again broke out, and Hastings, in his indignation, declared that he would no longer put faith in Mr. Francis's candour, convinced that he was incapable of straightforward conduct; that, judging him both by his public and private conduct, he found him devoid of truth and honour. These words were never forgotten, and continued to stimulate the vengeance of Francis after his return to Europe. Their immediate effect was a duel between him and Hastings, in which Hastings shot him in the side. This took place on the 17th of August, 1780; and Francis, on his recovery, resigned his office, and returned to England in December.

A still more painful contest now distracted the governor-general. This was no other than with his old school-fellow and stanch friend of so many years, Sir Elijah Impey. Hastings considered that the supreme court unnecessarily violated the customs and wounded the feelings of the natives, by adhering too strictly to their ideas of English law. Disputes arose betwixt himself and the judges on this head, and grew to such a pitch of animosity, that in 1780 they burst into open flame. The supreme court had decided a law-suit against the rajah of Cossijurah, and issued a writ to sequester his lands. To enforce the writ they sent a serjeant of the court, attended by a troop of armed bailiffs. The rajah was absent, and these men not only burst into his house, but into the zenana, or chamber of the women, always held sacred by the people of the East. They were accused of having not only abused his servants, but plundered his