Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/172

166 proval of the plan of annexing Malabar to the Presidency. He would not, however, stir in the matter. Dundas at the India Board was jealous of any interference with his own department, and there was quite enough of controversial matters in Ireland without any addition from Indian disputes and claims. It may be mentioned while keeping clear of the Irish controversy, that just as Cornwallis was about to leave, the Ministry had received information from another quarter about a supposed conspiracy and an intended massacre. It is characterised by Cornwallis as a great exaggeration, and the Duke of Portland is recommended to accept with a degree of qualification stories circulated in England regarding the state of Ireland. The following extracts show the exact state of his feelings on retirement from office : —

'The joy that I should feel at being released from a situation which, with regard to every idea of enjoyment of life, has been most irksome to me, will be greatly alloyed by my apprehension that I am leaving a people who love me, and whose happiness I had so nearly secured in a state of progressive misery.'

Three days afterwards he writes to another friend: — 'You know me too well to doubt my being happy at the thoughts of retirement, and you will likewise believe that the ungracious circumstances that attend it do not give me much concern, but the reflection of