For millions wasted, [19] and a navy lost.
The keen Maratta and the fierce Mysore
Their league dissolve, and give the contest o'er;
And peace restor'd, e'en party owns, tho' late, [20]
That Hastings' firmness has preserv'd the State.
Succeeding ages this great truth shall know,
A truth recorded by a generous foe, [21]
That England's genius, in a luckless hour
For Gallic schemes, gave Hastings Sov'reign pow'r.

[Footnote 13: Pitt, who moved the address upon the peace in Lord
Shelburne's administration, declared, in the course of his speech,
that he had no fears for India while so illustrious a stateman as Mr.
Hastings directed our councils, and so great a general as Sir Eyre
Coote commanded our armies. This declaration was the more honourable
for Mr. Hastings because at that time the absurd prejudices of the
Rockingham party had misled half the Nation.]

[Footnote 14: It can be remembered with what diligence copies of the
reports of the Select Committee were circulated under the sanction of
the Ministry, and how many false and abusive libels were given away
through the kingdom, tending to depreciate the character of Mr.
Hastings, previous to Mr. Fox's bringing in his India Bill.]

[Footnote 15: Mr. Burke published a speech almost every year after he
came into notice.]

[Footnote 16: The preservation of the British empire in India depended
upon Sir Eyre Coote's safe arrival at Madras with money and troops at
the most dangerous season of the year, when merchant ships seldom