Page:History of India Vol 8.djvu/290

248 THE GOVERNOR - GENERALSHIP OF HASTINGS was fierce and bitter, yet the Governor-General carried with a high hand his energetic measures for meeting these dangers. All the French settlements in India were seized; a force was despatched from Bengal to reinforce Bombay, and under the stress of the emer- gency the Governor-General determined to throw aside THE GREAT CAVE AT ELEPHANTA, NEAR BOMBAY. a treaty just settled with the Marathas and to sanction another march upon Poona in support of Raghunath Eao. In modern times, the device of supporting pre- tenders to a foreign throne has fallen into disuse among civilized states, even when they are at war; partly because international law disapproves, if it does not condemn, the proceeding, but mainly because a long series of experiments has proved that such enterprises only exasperate the enemy and as political expedients