In America, the Patriots had turned on the King, partly as a result of government’s attempts to sell the stockpiles of East India Company tea, onto which was slapped British taxes: the Boston Tea Party, an event that built support for what would become the American War of Independence by dumping 90,000 pounds of EIC tea, worth £9,659 (over £1 million today), in Boston harbour, was in part provoked by fears that the Company might now be let loose on the thirteen colonies, much as it had been in Bengal.
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Even as Haidar was pursuing a terrified Munro back to Madras, British forces in America were already on their way to the final defeat by Washington at Yorktown, and the subsequent surrender of British forces in America in October.
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In Parliament, a year later, one MP noted that ‘in Europe we have lost Minorca, in America 13 provinces, and the two Pensacolas; in the West Indies, Tobago; and some settlements in Africa’. ‘The British Empire,’ wrote Edmund Burke, ‘is tottering to its foundation.’
Well, you did it! You made me order up a copy of “The Anarchy” and read it. Powerful stuff. Thank you for the prompt.
Mr. Dalrymple’s sympathies are clearly with the Indians who suffered at the hands of the English East India Company. But he does not dwell on a point which is clear from his excellent book — Most of the privations forced on ordinary Indians were done at the hands of other Indians, even though they may have been working for the English.
Perhaps that should not be a surprise. India is as diverse as Europe, and historically most of the miseries visited upon Europeans were at the hands of other Europeans.
Gavin, I hope you enjoy The Anarchy! The Kindle edition is well worth the $9.99 they’re charging.
Thank you. Yes, “The Anarchy” is well worth reading. Thanks again for your recommendation.
I confess to a strong distaste for reading full-length books on little electronic screens. We spend our workdays focused on electronic screens — don’t have to do that in our spare time. Instead, I bought a good used book for less than the price of the Kindle version. There is something about holding a real physical text in one’s hands!