A Reply to the Strictures of the Edinburgh Review; On the Foreign Policy of Marquis Wellesley's Administration in India; comprising an examination of the late transactions in the Carnatic. The third edition.

CAMPBELL, Lawrence Dundas.

Published by London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1808

About this Item

Third edition. This work is a reply to an allegedly "unprecedented attack" on Richard Wellesley's administration as Governor-General of Bengal by the Edinburgh Review in 1807. The Edinburgh Review published a review of Robert Orme's Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire (1805) in which the editors "passed some strictures on the general policy of Lord Wellesley's administration, and particularly on some arrangements which were adopted in the year 1801 for the security of the public interests in the Carnatic". Wellesley (1760-1842) was Governor-General of Bengal from 1797 until 1805, when he retired, "in the face of severe criticism". This work is a defence of Wellesley and a direct response to the comments made in the Edinburgh Review, described at the time as part of "a malignant party cry raised against Lord Wellesley". The London Literary Review described Campbell (1766-1839), as "perfectly qualified to discuss a subject which had excited great attention", and this work as "no less distinguished by its classical elegance than by the candid and temperate manner in which the strictures of his lordship's adversaries are noticed". The work proved popular; the first edition was published in late 1807 with three further editions released in 1808. This edition is uncommon, with just one copy traced institutionally on WorldCat at the British Library. The London Review, Volume 52, 1807, pp. 449-451. Octavo. Contemporary tan half calf, marbled paper sides, titles gilt to brown label to spine, spine gilt in compartments, edges speckled brown. Minor loss to foot of spine, wear to extremities, faint marginal mark to pp. 256-257; an excellent copy.

Seller Inventory # 118093

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Reply to the Strictures of the Edinburgh Review; On the Foreign Policy of Marquis Wellesley's Administration in India; comprising an examination of the late transactions in the Carnatic. The third edition.
• Publisher: London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1808