fund from one and a quarter pagodas to nearly forty-four pagodas; and, while greatly forwarding the difficult task of feeding the army, secured a considerable surplus, which was handed over to the nabob on the conclusion of the war in March 1784. For these services the committee was publicly thanked by the governor-general and the council of Bengal; and even Burke, in his speech on the nabob of Arcot's debts, spoke of its services in high terms.
The ability which Oakeley had displayed in these affairs led to his appointment in April 1786 by Sir Archibald Campbell to the presidency of the new board of revenue of Madras. This office, however, he was compelled by family affairs to resign early in 1788, and in February 1789 he sailed for Europe on board the Manship.
Having been two-and-twenty years in India, and being still some distance in point of seniority from membership of council, he had little expectation or desire of further service. Pitt and Dundas, however, to whom Sir Archibald Campbell had recommended him, pressed him to return, and, the court of directors having in 1789 placed on record its high appreciation of his services, he was appointed in April 1790 to succeed General Medows as governor of Madras, and was also gazetted a baronet on 5 June. It was expected that the transfer of General Medows to the governor-generalship of Bengal would take place forthwith, and Oakeley was accordingly sworn in as governor. But when the news arrived of the outbreak of fresh hostilities with Tippoo Sahib, the vacation of the governorship by Medows was necessarily postponed, and Oakeley was placed second in council at Madras, till the course of the war should render it possible for General Medows to be transferred. Arriving in Madras on 15 Oct. 1790, he found General Medows in the field, and therefore assumed, in his absence, charge of the civil administration of Madras, a task rendered doubly difficult by the great and constant needs of the army, and the extreme financial embarrassment of the company's Madras exchequer. As this was largely due to want of public confidence in the government, Oakeley, instead of borrowing from Bengal or Europe, proceeded to improve the administration of Madras. He retrenched expenses, enforced a more efficient collection of revenue, caused rupees, which formerly had been mere bullion and were converted into pagodas at great cost of time and money, to circulate as currency at less than their market value, and exacted a subsidy of ten lacs per annum from the rajah of Travancore, on whose account the war had been commenced. But perhaps the measure which most tended to restore public credit was the resumption of cash payments for all army and public obligations, which had previously been made only in the case of the most pressing debts. The only exception which he made was in the case of his own official salary, which remained unpaid till the close of the war, though he had meantime to borrow money at twelve per cent. for his own private expenses.
These measures were taken only just in time. On 26 May 1791 Lord Cornwallis was compelled, in spite of victory in the field, to retire from Seringapatam, destroying his battering train for want of the means of transport. Heavy requisitions were consequently made on the Madras government for draught cattle, stores, and funds. Fortunately, Oakeley's reforms had enabled the presidency revenue to meet so large a portion of the expenses of the war that the supplies from Bengal and from England had accumulated to nearly a million sterling, and the company's twelve-per-cent. bonds, recently at a discount, had gone to a premium. The requisitions of Lord Cornwallis were therefore promptly and amply met. Oakeley poured into the field of operations money, grain, and cattle. Lord Cornwallis wrote to him several letters (e.g. 6 July and 4 Aug. 1791, and 1 Jan. and 31 May 1792) recognising the value of this assistance; and the presidency of Bengal benefited greatly by the ability of Madras to bear so large a part of the burden. On the conclusion of the war in March 1792 General Medows quitted Madras, and Oakeley entered on the full authority of governor. He at once attacked the question of converting the company's floating debt. Step by step he converted the twelve-per-cent. war debt into eight-per-cent. bonds or paid it off, and afterwards the whole of the eight-per-cent. debt, incurred chiefly before the war, was paid off or converted into six-per-cent. obligations, which, in spite of the reduction of interest, speedily went to a premium. Accordingly, when the news reached India, in June 1793, of the outbreak of war with France, a fully equipped army was promptly despatched against Pondicherry, and five lacs of pagodas remitted to Bengal without disturbance to the government credit. The Pondicherry expedition was planned and directed by the Madras government, and had been, in fact, undertaken on Oakeley's own responsibility some weeks in advance of instructions from home, and as soon as the news of the outbreak of war arrived overland. It was successfully completed by the fall of Pondicherry in
