their junction, and were separately attacked.  Baillie’s detachment was destroyed.  Munro was forced to abandon his baggage, to fling his guns into the tanks, and to save himself by a retreat which might be called a flight.  In three weeks from the commencement of the war, the British empire in Southern India had been brought to the verge of ruin.  Only a few fortified places remained to us.  The glory of our arms had departed.  It was known that a great French expedition might soon be expected on the coast of Coromandel.  England, beset by enemies on every side, was in no condition to protect such remote dependencies.

Then it was that the fertile genius and serene courage of Hastings achieved their most signal triumph.  A swift ship, flying before the southwest monsoon, brought the evil tidings in few days to Calcutta.  In twenty-four hours the Governor-General had framed a complete plan of policy adapted to the altered state of affairs.  The struggle with Hyder was a struggle for life and death.  All minor objects must be sacrificed to the preservation of the Carnatic.  The disputes with the Mahrattas must be accommodated.  A large military force and a supply of money must be instantly sent to Madras.  But even these measures would be insufficient, unless the war, hitherto so grossly mismanaged, were placed under the direction of a vigorous mind.  It was no time for trifling.  Hastings determined to resort to an extreme exercise of power, to suspend the incapable governor of Fort St. George, to send Sir Eyre Coote to oppose Hyder, and to intrust that distinguished general with the whole administration of the war.

In spite of the sullen opposition of Francis, who had now recovered from his wound, and had returned to the Council, the Governor-General’s wise and firm policy was approved by the majority of the Board.  The reinforcements were sent off with great expedition, and reached Madras before the French armament arrived in the Indian seas.  Coote, broken by age and disease, was no longer the Coote of Wandewash; but he was still a resolute and skilful commander.  The progress of Hyder was arrested; and in a few months the great victory of Porto Novo retrieved the honour of the English arms.

In the meantime Francis had returned to England, and Hastings was now left perfectly unfettered.  Wheler had gradually been relaxing in his opposition, and, after the departure of his vehement and implacable colleague, cooperated heartily with the Governor-General, whose influence over the British in India, always great, had, by the vigour and success of his recent measures, been considerably increased.

But, though the difficulties arising from factions within the Council were at an end, another class of difficulties had become more pressing than ever.  The financial embarrassment was extreme.  Hastings had to find the means, not only of carrying on the government of Bengal, but of maintaining a most costly war against both Indian and European enemies in the Carnatic, and of making remittances to England.  A few years before this time he had obtained relief by plundering the Mogul and enslaving the Rohillas; nor were the resources of his fruitful mind by any means exhausted.