274 BETWEEN HASTINGS AND CORNWALLIS

to be closer, as the points of contact multiplied, and as the value of her magnificent acquisition became known to England, her clearer recognition of national rights and duties brought Indian affairs within the current of domestic politics. Not only foreign wars, but the struggle of Parlia- mentary parties at home had lately affected India. In 1780 Lord North moved in the House of Commons for an order that the three years' statutory notice of inten- tion to dissolve their charter should be given to the Company. The motion was carried against the stren- uous opposition of Fox, who asked the minister whether he was not content with having lost America, and of Burke, who warned the House not to throw away the East after the West in another chase after revenue. Nevertheless, by 1783, when the period of notice was expiring, the point of view taken up by these great orators, who were then in office, had materially changed. The conclusion of peace in Europe and America in 1783 had now given the English, after an interval of ten years, a second opportunity of looking into the con- dition and management of their distant possessions; the loss of the western colonies had sharpened their solicitude for the new dominion that had been gained in the East. There could now be no doubt that England had acquired a great Indian sovereignty; for although the wars and perpetual contests of the last seven years had for the time imperilled her position in the country, the general result was to prove its stability under severe