into the river; his fons lifted up and daiiied before his face on
the hard floors, and himfelf flung recumbent, and his eye-balls-
torn from their fockets by the daggers of mercilefs favages, by
order of a Robilla ruffian *. A ftill more wondrous fcene would
have pafled before his eyes: the defcendants of thofe merchants,
thofe humble fuppliants to whom he had granted a little
trail of ground, rifing into a great people $ he would have feen
them affume the ftate and power of natural monarchs ; depofe
or create kings and princes, as fuited their interefls; wage fierce
wars with other European nations on the Indian ihores, Europeans
who firft came among them in the fame humble guife.
He would have feen them traverfe the great empire with their
armies from eaft to weft, from north to fouth r lhed deluges of
blood to maintain their wrongful dames: mutual maflacres
arife before his eyes ! Struck with horrors fucceeding horrors,
he would have daihed to pieces the terrific glafs, and left to future
times to unfold the eventful ails that at prefent we are
forbidden to know, forbidden to reveal' Some hillorian may
arife, and, like Horatio, in Hamlet, high on the ftage, deliver
the eventful hiftory, and
Speak to the yet unknowing world,
How thefe things came about: So fhall you heat
O f cruel, bloody, and unnatural ails »
O f accidental judgments, cafual daughters :
O f deaths put on by cunning, and forc’d caufe r
And in this upfhot, piirpofes miftook
Fall’n on the inventors heads.
» Hift. Tranfcftions by Jonathan Scott, Efcj. vol. ii. part r . p. 293.
T he famous feat o f government, Madras, may be divided
into two parts. The fortified part, called Fort St. George, a place
of great ftrength, ftretching along the very fhore, and guarded
on two fides by its wandering river. This fortrefs includes
within it the White Town: the Black Town Hands to the north-
well, is very large and populous, and is inhabited by the
■richefl Indian merchants, and the Armenians. Beyond that are
the fuburbs, a large divifion inhabited by Indian natives o f all
ranks, fubjeil to the Company; befides thefe, are at a fmall dif-
tance two vail villages, filled with Indian natives, manufaitur-
ers, and artificers. When Mr. Orme was reiident in India,
there Were not fewer than two hundred and fifty thoufand
inhabitants on the adjacent territories o f the Eajl India Company.
T he prefent territory belonging to Madras was granted to it
by the great Mogul, and is called the Jaghire, fee vol. i. p. 78; this
our Company, with a degree of certainty, interpret a perpetuity.
This grant extends along the coaft a hundred and eight miles,
from Alemparve fouthward, as far as Pullicate northward, and
inland as far as the town o f Conjeveram, and brings in a revenue
o f a hundred and fifty thoufand pounds a year.
B e f o r e t h e p r o f i t a b le t r a d e o f w a r b y it s r a p id a c q u i l i t io n
o f w e a l t h , g a v e a m o r t a l c h e c k to h o n e f l in d u f t r y , t h e lo om
fu r n i fh e d a g r e a t a n d f lo u r i i h i n g c o m m e r c e : a l l t h e c o u n t r y
Was f u l l o f lo om s : b u t I am in fo rm e d th a t fom e y e a r s a g o ( t i l l
a la t e r e v iv a l o f t r a d e ) th e r e w e r e f c a r c e ly g o o d s e n o u g h to lo a d
a fh ip .
Fort St. George u n d e rw e n t in o u r d a y s tw o m em o r a b le l ie g e s ,
I 2 attended
T he J aghirs.
S eized in 1746,