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340 maintained by the Nizam; he took possession of the Karnatic, annexed half the dominions of the Oudh Vizir, forced all the great military states into subjection or subsidiary alliance, and by completely breaking down the power of the Maratha confederacy he removed the last important obstacle to the accomplishment of England's undisputed supremacy.

We may regard with just admiration the high qualities shown by the Governor-General in the prosecution of this magnificent career, his rapid apprehension of a complicated political situation, and the vigour and address with which he carried out not only military operations and diplomatic strokes, but also the reforms of internal administration and the organization of government in the ceded or conquered provinces. No man was ever a better subject for panegyric; nor is it worth while to scan too closely, at this distance of time, the defects of a great public servant by whose strenuous qualities the nation has profited very largely.

It is essential, however, to lay stress, for historical purposes, on the peculiar combination of circumstances which gave scope and encouragement to Lord Wellesley's ardent and masterful statesmanship, and which enabled him to treat those who opposed him or criticized him with the supreme contempt that his home correspondence invariably discloses. He had left England and reached India in the darkest hour of the fierce struggle between the French and English nations, when Buonaparte's star was in the ascendent over Europe, when he was invading Egypt and meditating Asiatic