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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13968-8.txt b/13968-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3964349 --- /dev/null +++ b/13968-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13590 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works Of The Right Honourable Edmund +Burke, Vol. IX. (of 12), by Edmund Burke + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works Of The Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. IX. (of 12) + +Author: Edmund Burke + +Release Date: March 27, 2005 [EBook #13968] +[Date last upated: May 5, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDMUND BURKE, VOL. IX. *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Keith M. Eckrich, the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This file +was produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + + + + + +THE WORKS + +OF + +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE + +EDMUND BURKE + + +IN TWELVE VOLUMES + +VOLUME THE NINTH + + +[Illustration: Burke Coat of Arms.] + + +LONDON +JOHN C. NIMMO +14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. +MDCCCLXXXVII + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL IX. + + +ARTICLES OF CHARGE OF HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS AGAINST +WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL: PRESENTED +TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN APRIL AND MAY, 1786.--ARTICLES VII.-XXII. + +ART. VII. CONTRACTS 3 + + VIII. PRESENTS 22 + + IX. RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICE OF GOVERNOR-GENERAL 42 + + X. SURGEON-GENERAL'S CONTRACT 60 + + XI. CONTRACTS FOR POOLBUNDY REPAIRS 60 + + XII. CONTRACTS FOR OPIUM 63 + + XIII. APPOINTMENT OF R.J. SULIVAN 70 + + XIV. RANNA OF GOHUD 72 + + XV. REVENUES + + PART I. 79 + + PART II. 87 + + XVI. MISDEMEANORS IN OUDE 95 + + XVII. MAHOMED REZA KHÂN 179 + +XVIII. THE MOGUL DELIVERED UP TO THE MAHRATTAS 202 + + XIX. LIBEL ON THE COURT OF DIRECTORS 228 + + XX. MAHRATTA WAR AND PEACE 238 + + XXI. CORRESPONDENCE 266 + + XXII. FYZOOLA KHÂN + + PART I. RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHÂN, ETC., + BEFORE THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG 268 + + PART II. RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHÂN UNDER THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG 275 + + PART III. GUARANTY OF THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG 278 + + PART IV. THANKS OF THE BOARD TO FYZOOLA KHÂN 286 + + PART V. DEMAND OF FIVE THOUSAND HORSE 287 + + PART VI. TREATY OF CHUNAR 296 + + PART VII. CONSEQUENCES OF THE TREATY OF CHUNAR 302 + + PART VIII. PECUNIARY COMMUTATION OF THE STIPULATED AID 306 + + PART IX. FULL VINDICATION OF FYZOOLA KHÂN BY + MAJOR PALMER AND MR. HASTINGS 313 + +APPENDIX TO THE EIGHTH AND SIXTEENTH CHARGES 319 + + * * * * * + +SPEECHES IN THE IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, + LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL. + + SPEECH IN OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT. + + FIRST DAY: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1788 329 + + SECOND DAY; SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 396 + + + + +ARTICLES OF CHARGE + +OF + +HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS + +AGAINST + +WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, + +LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL: + +PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN APRIL AND MAY, 1786. + + +ARTICLES VII.-XXII. + + + + +VII.--CONTRACTS. + + +That the Court of Directors of the East India Company had laid down the +following fundamental rules for the conduct of such of the Company's +business in Bengal as could be performed by contract, and had repeatedly +and strictly ordered the Governor and Council of Port William to observe +those rules, viz.: That all contracts should be publicly advertised, and +the most reasonable proposals accepted; that the contracts of +provisions, and for furnishing draught and carriage bullocks for the +army, should be _annual_; and that they should not fail to advertise for +and receive proposals for those contracts _every year_. + +That the said Warren Hastings, in direct disobedience to the said +positive orders, and, as the Directors themselves say, _by a most +deliberate breach of his duty_, did, in September, 1777, accept of +proposals offered by Ernest Alexander Johnson for providing draught and +carriage bullocks, and for victualling the Europeans, without +advertising for proposals, as he was expressly commanded to do, and +extended the contract for _three years_, which was positively ordered to +be _annual_,--and, notwithstanding that extension of the period, which +ought at least to have been compensated by some advantage to the Company +in the conditions, did conclude the said contract _upon terms less +advantageous than the preceding contract, and therefore not on the +lowest terms procurable_. That the said Warren Hastings, in defiance of +the judgment and lawful orders of his superiors, which in this case left +him no option, declared, that _he disapproved of publishing for +proposals, and that the contract was reduced too low already_: thereby +avowing himself the advocate of the contractor, against whom, as +representative of the Company, and guardian of their interests, he +properly was party, and preferring the advantage of the contractor to +those of his own constituents and employers. That the Court of Directors +of the East India Company, having carefully considered the circumstances +and tendency of this transaction, condemned it in the strongest terms, +declaring, that they would _not permit_ the contract to be continued, +and that, "if the contractor should think himself aggrieved, and take +measures in consequence by which the Company became involved in loss or +damage, they should certainly hold the majority of the Council +responsible for such loss or damage, and proceed against them +accordingly."--That the said Warren Hastings, in defiance of orders, +which the Directors say were _plain and unequivocal_, did, in January, +1777, receive from George Templer a proposal essentially different from +the advertisement published by the Governor-General and Council for +receiving proposals for feeding the Company's elephants, and did accept +thereof, not only without having recourse to the proper means for +ascertaining whether the said proposal was the lowest that would be +offered, but with another actually before the board nearly thirty per +cent lower than that made by the said George Templer, to whom the said +Warren Hastings granted a contract, in the terms proposed by the said +Templer, for three years, and did afterwards extend the same to five +years, with new and distinct conditions, accepted by the said Warren +Hastings, without advertising for fresh proposals, by which the Company +were very considerable losers: on all which the Court of Directors +declared, "that this waste of their property could not be permitted; +that he, the said Warren Hastings, had disregarded their authority, and +disobeyed their orders, in not taking the lowest offers"; and they +ordered that the contract for elephants should be annulled: and the said +Directors further declared, that, "if the contractor should recover +damages of the Company for breach of engagement, they were determined, +in such case, to institute a suit at law against those members of the +board who had presumed, in direct breach of their orders, to prefer the +interest of an individual to that of the Company."--That the said Warren +Hastings did, in the year 1777, conclude with ---- Forde a contract for +an armed vessel for the pilotage of the Chittagong river, and for the +defence of the coast and river against the incursions of robbers, for +the term of five years, in further disobedience of the Company's orders +respecting the mode and duration of contracts, and with a considerable +increase of expense to the Company. That the farming out the defence of +a country to a contractor, being wholly unprecedented, and evidently +absurd, could have no real object but to enrich the contractor at the +Company's expense: since either the service was not dangerous, and then +the establishment was totally unnecessary, or, if it was a dangerous +service, it was evidently the interest of the contractor to avoid such +danger, and not to hazard the loss of his ship or men, which must be +replaced at his own expense, and therefore that an active and faithful +discharge of the contractor's duty was incompatible with his +interest.--That the said Warren Hastings, in further defiance of the +Company's orders, and in breach of the established rule of their +service, did, in the year 1777, conclude a contract with the master and +deputy master attendant of the Company's marine or pilot service, for +supplying the said marine with naval stores, and executing the said +service for the term of two years, and without advertising for +proposals. That the use and expenditure of such stores and the direction +of the pilot vessels are under the management and at the disposition of +the master attendant by virtue of his office; that he is officially the +proper and regular check upon the person who furnishes the stores, and +bound by his duty to take care that all contracts for furnishing such +stores are duly and faithfully executed. That the said Warren Hastings, +by uniting the supply and the check in the same hands, did not only +disobey the Company's specific orders, and violate the fundamental rules +and practice of the service, but did overset the only just and rational +principle on which this and every other service of a similar nature +ought to be conducted, and did not only subject the Company's interest, +in point of expense, to fraud and collusion, but did thereby expose the +navigation of the Bengal river to manifest hazard and distress: +considering that it is the duty of the master attendant to take care +that the pilot vessels are constantly stationed in the roads to wait +the arrival of the Company's ships, especially in tempestuous weather, +and that they should be in a constant condition to keep the sea; whereas +it is manifestly the interest of the contractor, in the first instance, +to equip the said vessels as scantily as possible, and afterwards to +expose them as little as possible to any service in which the stores to +be replaced by him might be lost or consumed. And, finally, that in +June, 1779, the said contract was prolonged to the said master +attendant, by the said Warren Hastings, for the further period of two +years from the expiration of the first, without advertising for +proposals.--That it does not appear that any of the preceding contracts +have been annulled, or the charges attending any of them abated, or that +the Court of Directors have ever taken any measures to compel the said +Warren Hastings to indemnify the Company, or to make good any part of +the loss incurred by the said contracts. + +That in the year 1777 the said Warren Hastings did recommend and appoint +John Belli, at that time his private secretary, to be agent for +supplying the garrison of Fort William with victualling stores; that the +stores were to be purchased with money advanced by the Company, and that +the said agent was to be allowed a commission or percentage for his risk +and trouble; that, in order to ascertain what sum would be a reasonable +compensation for the agent, the Governor-General and Council agreed to +consult some of the principal merchants of Calcutta; that the merchants +so consulted reported their opinion, that twenty per cent on the prime +cost of the stores would be a reasonable compensation to the agent; +that, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings, supported by the vote and +concurrence of Richard Barwell, then a member of the Supreme Council, +did propose and carry it, that thirty per cent per annum should be +allowed upon all stores to be provided by the agent. That the said +Warren Hastings professed that "he preferred an agency to a contract for +this service, because, if it were performed by contract, it must then be +advertised, and the world would know what provision was made for the +defence of the fort": as if its being publicly known that the fort was +well provided for defence were likely to encourage an enemy to attack +it. That in August, 1779, in defiance of the principle laid down by +himself for preferring an agency to a contract, the said Warren Hastings +did propose and carry it, that the agency should be _converted into a +contract_, to be granted to the said John Belli, without advertising for +proposals, and fixed for the term of five years,--"pretending that he +had received frequent remonstrances from the said agent concerning the +heavy losses and inconveniences to which he was _subjected_ by the +indefinite terms of his agency," notwithstanding it appeared by evidence +produced at the board, that, on a supply of about 37,000_l._, he had +already drawn a commission of 22,000_l._ and upwards. That the said +Warren Hastings pledged himself, that, _if required by the Court of +Directors, the profits arising from the agency should be paid into the +Company's treasury, and appropriated as the Court should direct_. That +the Court of Directors, as soon as they were advised of the first +appointment of the said agency, declared that they considered the +commission of twenty per cent as an ample compensation to the agent, and +did positively order, that, according to the engagement of the said +Warren Hastings, "the commission paid or to be paid to the said agent +should be reduced to twenty pounds per cent." That the said John Belli +did positively refuse to refund any part of the profits he had received, +or to submit to a diminution of those which he was still to receive; and +that the said Warren Hastings has never made good his own voluntary and +solemn engagement to the Court of Directors hereinabove mentioned: and +as his failure to perform the said engagement is a breach of faith to +the Company, so his performance of such engagement, if he had performed +it, and even his offering to pledge himself for the agent, in the first +instance, ought to be taken as presumptive evidence of a connection +between the said Warren Hastings and the said agent, his private +secretary, which ought not to exist between a Governor acting in behalf +of the Company and a contractor making terms with such Governor for the +execution of a public service. + +That, before the expiration of the contract hereinbefore mentioned for +supplying the army with draught and carriage bullocks, granted by the +said Warren Hastings to Ernest Alexander Johnson for three years, the +said Warren Hastings did propose and carry it in Council, that a new +contract should be made on a new plan, and that an offer thereof should +be made to Richard Johnson, brother and executor of the said contractor, +without advertising for proposals, for the term of _five years_; that +this offer was _voluntarily accepted_ by the said Richard Johnson, who +at the same time desired and obtained that the new contracts should be +made out in the name of Charles Croftes, the Company's accountant and +sub-treasurer at Fort William; that the said Charles Croftes offered the +said Richard Johnson as one of his securities for the performance of +the said contract, who was accepted as such by the said Warren Hastings; +and that, at the request of the said contractor, the contract for +victualling the Europeans serving at the Presidency was added to and +united with that for furnishing bullocks, and fixed for the same period. +That this extension of the periods of the said contracts was not +compensated by a diminution in the charge to be incurred by the Company +on that account, as it ought to have been, but, on the contrary, the +charge was immoderately increased by the new contracts, insomuch that it +was proved by statements and computations produced at the board, that +the increase on the victualling contract would in five years amount to +40,000_l._, and that the increase on the bullock contract in the same +period would amount to above 400,000_l._ That, when this and many other +weighty objections against the terms of the said contracts were urged in +Council to the said Warren Hastings, he declared that _he should deliver +a reply thereto_; but it does not appear that he did ever deliver such +reply, or ever enter into a justification of any part of his conduct in +this transaction.--That the act of Parliament of 1773, by which the +first Governor-General and Council were appointed, did expressly limit +the duration of their office to the term of five years, which expired in +October, 1779, and that the several contracts hereinbefore mentioned +were granted in September, 1779, and were made to continue _five_ years +after the expiration of the government by which they were granted. That +by this anticipation the discretion and judgment of the succeeding +government respecting the subject-matter of such contracts was taken +away, and any correction or improvement therein rendered impracticable. +That the said Warren Hastings might have been justified by the rules and +practice or by the necessity of the public service in binding the +government by engagements to endure one year after the expiration of his +own office; but on no principles could he be justified in extending such +engagements beyond the term of one year, much less on the principles he +has avowed, namely, "that it was only an act of common justice in him to +secure _every man connected with him_, as far as he legally could, from +the apprehension of future oppression." That the oppression to which +such apprehension, if real, must allude, could only consist in and arise +out of the obedience which he feared a future government might pay to +the orders of the Court of Directors, by making all contracts _annual_, +and advertising for proposals publicly and indifferently from all +persons whatever, by which it might happen that such beneficial +contracts would not be constantly held by men _connected with him_, the +said Warren Hastings. That this declaration, made by the said Warren +Hastings, combined with all the circumstances belonging to these +transactions, leaves no room to doubt, that, in disobeying the Company's +orders, and betraying the trust reposed in him as guardian of the +Company's property, his object was to purchase the attachment of a +number of individuals, and to form a party capable of supporting and +protecting him in return. + +That, with the same view, and on the same principles, it appears that +excessive salaries and emoluments, at the East India Company's charge +and expense, have been lavished by the said Warren Hastings to sundry +individuals, contrary to the general principles of his duty, and in +direct contradiction to the positive orders of the Court of Directors: +particularly, that, whereas by a resolution of the Court of Proprietors +of the East India Company, and by an instruction of the Court of +Directors, it was provided and expressly ordered that there should be +paid to the late Sir John Clavering "the sum of six thousand pounds +sterling per annum in full for his services as commander-in-chief, in +lieu of travelling charges and of all other advantages and emoluments +whatever," and whereas the Court of Directors positively ordered that +the late "Sir Eyre Coote should receive the _same_ pay as +commander-in-chief of their forces in India as was received by +Lieutenant-General Sir John Clavering," the said Warren Hastings, +nevertheless, within a very short time after Sir Eyre Coote's arrival in +Bengal, did propose and carry it in Council, that a new establishment +should be created for Sir Eyre Coote, by which an increase of expense +would be incurred by the India Company to the amount of eighteen +thousand pounds a year and upwards, exclusive of and in addition to his +salary of ten thousand pounds a year, provided for him by act of +Parliament as a member of the Supreme Council, and exclusive of and in +addition to his salary of six thousand pounds a year as +commander-in-chief, appointed for him by the Company, and expressly +fixed to that amount. + +That the disobedience and breach of trust of which the said Warren +Hastings was guilty in this transaction is highly aggravated by the +following circumstances connected with it. That from the death of Sir +John Clavering to the arrival of Sir Eyre Coote in Bengal the +provisional command of the army had devolved to and been vested in +Brigadier-General Giles Stibbert, the eldest officer on that +establishment. That in this capacity, and, as the said Warren Hastings +has declared, "standing no way distinguished from the other officers in +the army, but by his accidental succession to the first place on the +list," he, the said Giles Stibbert, had, by the recommendation and +procurement of the said Warren Hastings, received and enjoyed a salary, +and other allowances, to the amount of 13,854_l._ 12_s._ per annum. That +Sir Eyre Coote, soon after his arrival, represented to the board that a +considerable part of those allowances, amounting to 8,220_l._ 10_s._ per +annum, ought to devolve to himself, as commander-in-chief of the +Company's forces in India, and, stating that the said Giles Stibbert +could no longer be considered as commander-in-chief under the Presidency +of Fort William, made a formal demand of the same. That the said Warren +Hastings, instead of reducing the allowances of the said Giles Stibbert +to the establishment at which they stood during General Clavering's +command, and for the continuance of which after Sir Eyre Coote's arrival +there could be no pretence, continued the allowances of 13,854_l._ +12_s._ per annum to the said Giles Stibbert, and at the same time, in +order to appease and satisfy the demand of the said Sir Eyre Coote, did +create for him that new establishment, hereinbefore specified, of +eighteen thousand pounds per annum,--insomuch that, instead of the +allowance of _six thousand pounds a year, in lieu of travelling charges, +and of all emoluments and allowances whatsoever_, to which the pay and +allowances of commander-in-chief were expressly limited by the united +act of the legislative and executive powers of the Company, the annual +charge to be borne by the Company on that account was increased by the +said Warren Hastings to the enormous sum of thirty-eight thousand two +hundred and seventeen pounds ten shillings sterling. + +That on the 1st of November, 1779, the said Warren Hastings did move and +carry it in Council, "that the Resident at the Vizier's court should be +furnished with an account of all the extra allowances and charges of the +commander-in-chief when in the field, with orders to add the same to the +debit of the Vizier's account, as a part of his general subsidy,--the +charge to commence from the day on which the general shall pass the +Caramnassa, and to continue till his return to the same line." That this +additional expense imposed by the said Warren Hastings on the Vizier was +unjust in itself, and a breach of treaty with that prince: the specific +amount of the subsidy to be paid by him having been fixed by a treaty, +to which no addition could justly be made, but at the previous +requisition of the Vizier. That the Court of Directors, in their letter +of the 18th of October, 1780, did condemn and prohibit the continuation +of the allowances above mentioned to Sir Eyre Coote in the following +words: "These allowances appear to us in a light so very extraordinary, +and so repugnant to the spirit of a resolution of the General Court of +Proprietors respecting the allowance made to General Clavering, that we +positively direct that they be discontinued immediately, and no part +thereof paid after the receipt of this letter." That on the 27th of +April, 1781, the Governor-General and Council, in obedience to the +orders of the Directors, did signify the same to the Commissary-General, +as an instruction to him that the extraordinary allowances to Sir Eyre +Coote _should be discontinued, and no part thereof paid after that +day_. That it appears, nevertheless, that the said extra allowances +(amounting to above twenty thousand pounds sterling a year) were +continued to be charged to the Vizier, and paid to Sir Eyre Coote, in +defiance of the orders of the Court of Directors, in defiance of the +consequent resolution of the Governor-General and Council, and in +contradiction to the terms of the original motion made by the said +Warren Hastings for adding those allowances to the debit of the Vizier, +viz., "that they should continue till Sir Eyre Coote's return to the +Caramnassa." That Sir Eyre Coote arrived at Calcutta about the end of +August, 1780, and must have crossed the Caramnassa, in his return from +Oude, some weeks before, when the charge on the Vizier, if at any time +proper, ought to have ceased. That it appears that the said allowances +were continued to be charged against the Vizier and paid to Sir Eyre +Coote for three years after, even while he was serving in the Carnatic, +and that this was done by the sole authority and private command of the +said Warren Hastings. + +That the East India Company having thought proper to create the office +of Advocate-General in Bengal, and to appoint Sir John Day to that +office, it was resolved by a General Court of Proprietors that a salary +of three thousand pounds a year should be allowed to the said Sir John +Day, _in full consideration of all demands and allowances whatsoever for +his services to the Company at the Presidency of Fort William_. That the +said Warren Hastings, nevertheless, shortly after Sir John Day's arrival +in Bengal, did increase the said Sir John Day's salary and allowances to +six thousand pounds a year, in direct disobedience of the resolution of +the Court of Proprietors, and of the order of the Court of Directors. +That the Directors, as soon as they were informed of this proceeding, +declared, "that they held _themselves_ bound by the resolution of the +General Court, and that they could not allow it to be disregarded by the +Company's servants in India," and ordered that the increased allowances +should be forthwith discontinued. That the said Warren Hastings, after +having first thought it necessary, in obedience to the orders of the +Court of Directors, to stop the extraordinary allowance which he had +granted to Sir John Day, did afterwards resolve that the allowance which +had been struck off should be _repaid_ to him, upon his signing an +obligation to refund the amount which he might receive, in case the +Directors should confirm their former orders, already twice given. That +in this transaction the said Warren Hastings trifled with the authority +of the Company, eluded the repeated orders of the Directors, and exposed +the Company to the risk and uncertainty of recovering, at a distant +period, and perhaps by a process of law, a sum of money which they had +positively ordered him not to pay. + +That in the latter part of the year 1776, by the death of Colonel +Monson, the whole power of the government of Fort William devolved to +the Governor and one member of the Council; and that from that time the +Governor-General and Council have generally consisted of an even number +of persons, in consequence of which the casting voice of the said Warren +Hastings has usually prevailed in the decision of all questions. That +about the end of the year 1776 the whole civil establishment of the said +government did not exceed 205,399_l._ per annum; that in the year 1783 +the said civil establishment had been increased to the enormous annual +sum of 927,945_l._ That such increase in the civil establishment could +not have taken place, if the said Warren Hastings, who was at the head +of the government, with the power annexed to the casting voice, had not +actively promoted the said increase, which he had power to prevent, and +which it was his duty to have prevented. That by such immoderate waste +of the property of his employers, and by such scandalous breach of his +fidelity to them, it was the intention of the said Warren Hastings to +gain and secure the attachment and support of a multitude of +individuals, by whose united interest, influence, and intrigues he hoped +to be protected against any future inquiry into his conduct. That it was +of itself highly criminal in the said Warren Hastings to have so wasted +the property of the East India Company, and that the purpose to be +obtained by such waste was a great aggravation of that crime. + +That among the various instances of profusion by which the civil +establishment of Fort William was increased to the enormous annual sum +hereinbefore mentioned, it appears that a Salt Office was created, of +six commissioners, whose annual emoluments were as follows, viz.:-- + +President, or Comptroller, per annum £18,480 +1st member 13,100 +2d do 11,480 +3d do 13,183 +4th do 6,257 +5th do 10,307 + ------ + £72,807 + +That a Board of Revenue was created by the said Warren Hastings, +consisting of five commissioners, whose annual emoluments were as +follows, viz.:-- + +1st member, per annum £10,950 +2d do 9,100 +3d do 9,100 +4th do 9,100 +5th do 9,100 + ------ + £47,350 + +That David Anderson, Esquire, first member of the said board, did not +execute the duties, though he received the emoluments of the said +office: having acted, for the greatest part of the time, as ambassador +to Mahdajee Sindia, with a further salary of 4,280_l._ a year, making in +all 15,230_l._ a year. That the said Warren Hastings did create an +office of Agent-Victualler to the garrison of Fort William, whose +profits, on an average of three years, were 15,970_l._ per annum. That +this agency was held by the Postmaster-General, who in that capacity +received 2,200_l._ a year from the Company, and who was actually no +higher than a writer in the service. That the person who held these +lucrative offices, viz., John Belli, was private secretary to the said +Warren Hastings. + +That the said Warren Hastings created a nominal office of Resident at +Goa, where the Company never had a Resident, nor business of any kind to +transact, and gave the said nominal office to a person who was not a +covenanted servant of the Company, with an allowance of 4,280_l._ a +year. + +That these instances are proofs of a criminal profusion and high breach +of trust to the India Company in the said Warren Hastings, under whose +government, and by means of whose special power, derived from the effect +of his casting voice, all the said waste and profusion did take place. + +That at the end of the year 1780, when, as the Court of Directors +affirm, _the Company were in the utmost distress for money, and almost +every department in arrear_, and when it appears that there was a great +scarcity and urgent want of grain at Fort St. George, the said Warren +Hastings did accept of a proposal made to him by James Peter Auriol, +then Secretary to the Council, to supply the Presidency of Fort St. +George with rice and other articles, and did appoint the said Auriol to +be the agent for supplying _all the other_ Presidencies with those +articles; that the said Warren Hastings declared that the intention of +the appointment "was most likely to be fulfilled by a liberal +consideration of it," and therefore allowed the said Auriol a commission +of fifteen per cent on the whole of his disbursements, thereby rendering +it the direct interest of the said Auriol to make his disbursements as +great as possible; that the chance of capture by the enemy, or danger of +the sea, was to be at the risk of the India Company, and not of the said +Auriol; that the said Warren Hastings declared personally to the said +Auriol, "that this post was intended as a reward for his long and +faithful services." That the President and Council of Bombay did +remonstrate against what they called _the enormous amount of the +charges_ of the rice with which they wore supplied, which they state to +be nine rupees a bag at Calcutta, when they themselves could have +contracted for its delivery at Bombay, free of all risk and charges, at +five rupees and three sixteenths per bag; and that even at Madras, where +the distress and demand was greatest, the supplies of grain by private +traders, charged to the Company, were nineteen per cent cheaper than +that supplied by the said Auriol, exclusive of the risk of the sea and +of capture by the enemy. That it is stated by the Court of Directors, +that the agent's commission on a supply of _a single year_ (the said +commission being not only charged on the prime cost of the rice, but +also on the freight and all other charges) would amount to pounds +sterling 26,873, and by the said Auriol himself is admitted to amount to +18,292_l._ That William Larkins, the Accountant-General at Port William, +having been ordered to examine the accounts of the said agent, did +report to the Governor-General and Council, that he found them to be +_correct in the additions and calculations_; and that then the said +Larkins adds the following declaration: "The agent _being upon honor_ +with respect to the sums charged in his accounts for the cost of the +articles supplied, I did not think myself authorized to require _any +voucher_ of the sums charged for the demurrage of sloops, either as to +the time of detention or the rate of the charge, or of those for the +articles lost in going down the river; and on that ground I thought +myself equally bound to admit the sums acknowledged as received for the +sales of goods returned, without requiring vouchers of the rates at +which they were sold." That in this transaction the said Warren Hastings +has been guilty of a high breach of trust and duty, in the unnecessary +expenditure of the Company's money, and in subjecting the Company to a +profusion of expense, at all times wholly unjustifiable, but +particularly at the time when that expense was incurred. That the said +Warren Hastings was guilty of breach of orders, as well as breach of +trust, in not advertising generally for proposals; in not _contracting_ +indifferently for the supplies with such merchants as might offer to +furnish them on the lowest terms; in giving an enormous commission to an +agent, and that commission not confined to the prime cost of the +articles, but to be computed on the whole of his charges; in accepting +of the _honor_ of the said agent as a sufficient voucher for the cost of +the articles supplied, and for all charges whatever on which his +commission was to be computed; and finally, in giving a lucrative agency +for the supply of a distressed and starving province as a reward to a +Secretary of State, whose labors in that capacity ought to have been +rewarded by an avowed public salary, and not otherwise. That, after the +first year of the said agency was expired, the said Warren Hastings did +agree, that, for the future, the commission to be drawn by the said +agent should be reduced to five per cent, which the Governor-General and +Council then declared to be _the customary, amount drawn by merchants_; +but that even in this reduction of the commission the said Warren +Hastings was guilty of a deception, and did not in fact reduce the +commission from fifteen to five per cent, having immediately after +resolved that he, the agent, should be allowed the current interest of +Calcutta upon all his drafts on the Treasury from the day of their +dates, until they should be completely liquidated; that the legal +interest of money in Bengal is twelve per cent per annum, and the +current interest from eight to ten per cent. + + + + +VIII.--PRESENTS. + + +That, before the appointment of the Governor-General and Council of Fort +William by act of Parliament, the allowances made by the East India +Company to the Presidents of that government were abundantly sufficient; +and that the said Presidents in general, and the said Warren Hastings +particularly, was restrained by a specific covenant and indenture, which +he entered into with the Company, from accepting any gifts, rewards, or +gratuities whatsoever, on any account or pretence whatsoever. That in +the Regulating Act passed in the year 1773, which appointed the said +Warren Hastings, Esquire, Governor-General of Fort William in Bengal, a +salary of twenty-five thousand pounds a year was established for him, to +which the Court of Directors added, "that he should enjoy their +principal houses, with the plate and furniture, both in town and +country, _rent-free_." That the same law which created the office and +provided the salary of the said Warren Hastings did expressly, and in +the clearest and most comprehensive terms that could be devised, +prohibit him from receiving any present, gift, or donation, in any +manner or on any account whatsoever; and that the said Warren Hastings +perfectly understood the meaning, and acknowledged the binding force of +this prohibition, before he accepted of the office to which it was +annexed: he knew, and had declared, that _the prohibition was positive +and decisive; that it admitted neither of refinement or misconstruction; +and that in his opinion an opposition would be to incur the penalty_. + +That, notwithstanding the covenants and engagements above mentioned, it +appears in the recorded proceedings of the Governor-General and Council +of Fort William, that sundry charges have been brought against the said +Warren Hastings for gifts or presents corruptly taken by him before the +promulgation of the act of 1773 in India, and that these charges were +produced at the Council Board in the presence of the said Warren +Hastings. That, in March, 1775, the late Rajah Nundcomar, a native +Hindoo, of the highest caste in his religion, and of the highest rank in +society, by the offices which he had held under the country government, +did lay before the Council an account of various sums of money paid by +him to the said Warren Hastings, amounting to forty thousand pounds and +upwards, for offices and employments corruptly disposed of by the said +Warren Hastings, and did offer and engage to prove and establish the +same by sufficient evidence. That this account is stated with a minute +particularity and precision; the date of each payment, down to that of +small sums, is specified; the various coins in which such payments were +severally made are distinguished; and the different persons through +whose hands the money passed into those of the said Warren Hastings are +named. That such particularity on the face of such a charge, supposing +it false, is favorable to the party wrongfully accused, and exposes the +accuser to an instant and easy detection: for, though, as the said +Warren Hastings himself has observed on another occasion, "papers may be +forged, and evidences may appear in numbers to attest them, yet it must +always be an _easy_ matter to detect the falsity of any forged paper +produced by examining the witnesses separately, and subjecting them to a +subsequent cross-examination, in which case, if false, they will not be +able to persevere in one regular, consistent story "; whereas, if no +advantage be taken of such particularity in the charge to detect the +falsehood thereof, and if no attempt to disprove it, and no defence +whatever be made, a presumption justly and reasonably arises in favor of +the truth of such charge. That the said Warren Hastings, instead of +offering anything in his defence, declared that _he would not suffer +Nundcomar to appear before the board at his accuser_; that he attempted +to indict his said accuser for a conspiracy, in which he failed; and +that the said Rajah Nundcomar was soon after, and while his charge +against the said Warren Hastings was depending before the Council, +indicted upon an English penal statute, which does not extend even to +Scotland,[1] before the Supreme Court of Judicature, for an offence said +to have been committed several years before, and not capital by the laws +of India, and was condemned and executed. That the evidence of this man, +not having been encountered at the time when it might and ought to have +been by the said Warren Hastings, remains justly in force against him, +and is not abated by the capital punishment of the said Nundcomar, but +rather confirmed by the time and circumstances in which the accuser of +the said Warren Hastings suffered death. That one of the offices for +which a part of the money above mentioned is stated to have been paid to +the said Warren Hastings was given by him to Munny Begum, the widow of +the late Mir Jaffier, Nabob of Bengal, whose son, by another woman, +holds that title at present. That the said Warren Hastings had been +instructed by the Court of Directors of the East India Company to +appoint "_a minister_ to transact the political affairs of the +government, and to select for that purpose some person well qualified +for the affairs of government, to be the minister and guardian of the +Nabob's minority." That for these offices, and for the execution of the +several duties belonging to them, the said Warren Hastings selected and +appointed the said Munny Begum, a woman evidently unqualified for and +incapable of such offices, and restrained from acting in such capacities +by her necessary seclusion from the world and retirement in a seraglio. +That, a considerable deficiency or embezzlement appearing in this +woman's account of the young Nabob's stipend, she voluntarily declared, +by a writing under her seal, that she had given fifteen thousand pounds +to the said Warren Hastings for an entertainment,--which declaration +corresponds with and confirms that part of the charge produced by Rajah +Nundcomar to which it relates. That neither this nor any other part of +the said charge has been at any time directly denied or disputed by the +said Warren Hastings, though made to his face, and though he was +repeatedly accused by his colleagues, who were appointed by Parliament +at the same time with himself, of peculation of every sort. That, +instead of promoting a strict inquiry into his conduct for the clearance +of his innocence and honor, he did repeatedly endeavor to elude and +stifle all inquiry by attempting to dissolve the meetings of the Council +at which such charges were produced, and by other means, and has not +since taken any steps to disprove or refute the same. That the said +Warren Hastings, so long ago as September, 1775, assured the Court of +Directors, "that it was his fixed determination most fully and +liberally to explain every circumstance of his conduct on the points on +which he had been injuriously arraigned, and to afford them the clearest +conviction of his own integrity, and of the propriety of his motives for +declining a present defence of it"; and having never since given to the +Court of Directors any explanation whatever, much less the full and +liberal explanation he had promised so repeatedly, has thereby abandoned +even that late and protracted defence which he himself must have thought +necessary to be made at some time or other, and which he would be +thought to have deferred to a period more suitable and convenient than +that in which the facts were recent, and the impression of these and +other charges of the same nature against him was fresh and unimpaired in +the minds of men. + +That on the 30th of March, 1775, a member of the Council produced and +laid before the board a petition from Mir Zein Abul Deen, (formerly +farmer of a district, and who had been in creditable stations,) setting +forth, that Khân Jehan Khân, then Phousdar of Hoogly, had obtained that +office from the said Warren Hastings, with a salary of seventy-two +thousand sicca rupees a year, and that the said _Phousdar had given a +receipt of bribe to the patron of the city_, meaning Warren Hastings, to +pay him annually thirty-six thousand rupees a year, and also to his +banian, Cantoo Baboo, four thousand rupees a year, out of the salary +above mentioned. That by the thirty-fifth article of the instructions +given to the Governor-General and Council, they are directed +"immediately to cause the strictest inquiry to be made into all +oppressions which might have been committed either against the natives +or Europeans, and into all abuses that might have prevailed in the +collection of the revenues, or any part of the civil government of the +Presidency, and to communicate to the Directors all information which +they might be able to obtain relative thereto, or to any dissipation or +embezzlement of the Company's money." That the above petition and +instruction having been read in Council, it was moved that the +petitioner should be ordered to attend the next day to make good his +charge. That the said Warren Hastings declared, "that it appeared to him +to be the purpose of the majority to make him the sole object of their +personal attacks; that they had taken their line, and might pursue it; +that he should have other remarks to make upon this transaction, but, as +they would be equally applicable _to many others_ which in the course of +this business were likely to be brought before the board, he should say +no more on the subject";--and he objected to the motion. That by the +preceding declaration the said Warren Hastings did admit that many other +charges were likely to be brought against him, and that such charges +would be of a similar nature to the first, viz., a corrupt bargaining +for the disposal of a great office, since he declared that his remarks +on that transaction would be equally applicable to the rest; and that, +by objecting to the motion for the personal attendance of the accuser, +he resisted and disobeyed the Company's instructions, and did, as far as +depended on his power, endeavor to obstruct and prevent all inquiry into +the charge. That in so doing he failed in his duty to the Company, he +disobeyed their express orders, and did leave the charge against himself +without a reply, and even without a denial, and with that unavoidable +presumption against his innocence which lies against every person +accused who not only refuses to plead, but, as far as his vote goes, +endeavors to prevent an examination of the charge, and to stifle all +inquiry into the truth of it. That, the motion having been nevertheless +carried, the said Warren Hastings did, on the day following, declare, +"that he could not sit to be confronted with such accusers, nor suffer a +judicial inquiry into his conduct at the board of which he was +president, and declared the meeting of the board dissolved." That the +board continued to sit and examine witnesses, servants of the Phousdar, +on oath and written evidence, being letters under the hand and seal of +the Phousdar, all directly tending to prove the charge: viz., that, out +of the salary of seventy-two thousand rupees a year paid by the Company, +the said Phousdar received but thirty-two thousand, and that the +remainder was received by the said Warren Hastings and his banian. That +the Phousdar, though repeatedly ordered to attend the board, did, under +various pretences, decline attending, until the 19th of May, when, the +letters stated be his, that is, under his hand and seal, being shown to +him, it was proposed by a member of the board that he should be asked +whether he had any objection to swear to the truth of such answers as he +might make to the questions proposed by the board; that the said Warren +Hastings objected to his being put to his oath; that the question was +nevertheless put to him, in consequence of a resolution of the board; +that he first declined to swear, under pretence _that it was a matter of +serious consequence to his character to take an oath_, and, when it was +finally left to his option, he declared, "Mean people might swear, but +that his character would not allow him,--that he could not swear, and +had rather subject himself to a loss." That the evidence in support of +the charge, being on oath, was in this manner left uncontradicted. That +it was admitted by the said Warren Hastings, that neither Mussulmen or +Hindoos are forbidden by the precepts of their religion to swear; that +it is not true, as the said Warren Hastings asserted, that it was +repugnant to the _manners_ either of Hindoos or Mussulmen; and that, if, +under such pretences, the natives were to be exempted from taking an +oath, when examined by the Governor and Council, all the inquiries +pointed out to them by the Company's instructions might stop or be +defeated. That no valid reason was or could be assigned why the said +Phousdar should not be examined on oath; that the charge was not against +himself; and that, if any questions had been put to him, tending to make +him accuse himself, he might have declined to answer them. That, if he +could have safely sworn to the innocence of the said Warren Hastings, +from whom he received his employment, he was bound in gratitude as well +as justice to the said Warren Hastings to have consented to be examined +on oath; that, not having done so, and having been supported and abetted +in his refusal by the said Warren Hastings himself, whose character and +honor, were immediately at stake, the whole of the evidence for the +truth of the charge remains unanswered, and in full force against the +said Warren Hastings, who on this occasion recurred to the declaration +he had before made to the Directors, viz., "that he would most fully and +liberally explain every circumstance of his conduct," but has never +since that time given the Directors any explanation whatsoever of his +said conduct. And finally, that, when the Court of Directors, in +January, 1776, referred the question (concerning the legality of the +power assumed and repeatedly exercised by the said Warren Hastings, of +dissolving the Council at his pleasure) to the late Charles Sayer, then +standing counsel of the East India Company, the said Charles Sayer +declared his opinion in favor of the power, but concerning the use and +exercise of it in the cases stated did declare his opinion in the +following words: "I believe he, Warren Hastings, is the first governor +that ever dissolved a council inquiring into his behavior, when he was +innocent." Before he could summon three councils, and dissolve them, he +had time fully to consider what would be the result of such conduct, _to +convince everybody beyond a doubt of his conscious guilt_.--That, by a +resolution of a majority of the Council, constituting a lawful act of +the Governor-General and Council, the said Khân Jehan Khân was dismissed +from the office of Phousdar of Hoogly for a contempt of the authority of +the board; that, within a few weeks after the death of the late Colonel +Monson, the number of the Council being then even, and all questions +being then determined by the Governor-General's casting voice, the said +Warren Hastings did move and carry it in Council, that the said Khân +Jehan Khân should be restored to his office; and that restoration, not +having been preceded, accompanied, or followed by any explanation or +defence whatsoever, or even by a denial of the specific and +circumstantial charge of collusion with the said Khân Jehan Khân, has +confirmed the truth of the said charge. + +That, besides the sums charged to have been paid to the said Warren +Hastings by the said Nundcomar and Munny Begum and Khân Jehan Khân, and +besides the sum of one hundred and ten thousand pounds already mentioned +to have been accepted without hesitation by him, as a present on the +part of the Nabob of Oude and that of his ministers, the circumstances +of which have been particularly reported to the House of Commons, it +appears by the confession of the said Warren Hastings, that he has at +different times since the promulgation of the act of 1773, received +various other sums, contrary to the express prohibition of the said act, +and his own declared sense of the evident intent and obligation +thereof.--That in the month of June, 1780, the said Warren Hastings made +to the Council what he called "a very unusual tender, by offering to +exonerate the Company from the expense of a particular measure, and to +_take it upon himself_; declaring that he had already deposited two lacs +of rupees [or twenty-three thousand pounds] in the hands of the +Company's sub-treasurer for that service." That in a subsequent letter, +dated the 29th of November, 1780, he informed the Court of Directors, +that "this money, by whatever means it came into their possession, _was +not his own_"; but he did not then, nor has he at any time since, made +known to the Court of Directors from whom or on what account he received +that money, as it was his duty to have done in the first instance, and +notwithstanding the said Directors signified to him their expectation +that he should communicate to them "immediate information of the channel +by which this money came into his possession, with a complete +illustration of the cause or causes of so extraordinary an event." But, +from evidence examined in England, it has been discovered that this +money was received by the said Warren Hastings from Cheyt Sing, the +Rajah of Benares, who was soon after dispossessed of all his property +and driven from his country and government by the said Warren Hastings. +That, notwithstanding the declaration made by the said Warren Hastings, +that he had actually deposited the sum above mentioned in the hands of +the Company's sub-treasurer for their service, it does not appear that +"any entry whatsoever of that or any other payment by the +Governor-General was made in the Treasury accounts at or about the +time," nor is there any trace in the Company's books of its being +actually paid into their treasury. It appears, then, by the confession +of the said Warren Hastings, that this money was received by him; but it +does not appear that he has converted it to the property and use of the +Company. + +That in a letter from the said Warren Hastings to the said Court of +Directors, dated the 22d of May, 1782, but not dispatched, as it might +and ought to have been, at that time, but detained and kept back by the +said Warren Hastings till the 16th of December following, he has +confessed the receipt of various other sums, amounting (with that which +he accepted from the Nabob of Oude) to nearly two hundred thousand +pounds, which sums he affirmed had been converted to the Company's +property through his means, but without discovering from whom or on what +account he received the same. That, instead of converting this money to +the Company's property, as he affirmed he had done, it appears that he +had lent the greater part of it to the Company upon bonds bearing +interest, which bonds were demanded and received by him, and, for aught +that yet appears, have never been given up or cancelled. That for +another considerable part of the above-mentioned sum he has taken credit +to himself, as for a deposit of his own property, and therefore +demandable by him out of the Company's treasury at his discretion. That +all sums so lent or deposited are not alienated from the person who +lends or deposits the same; consequently, that the declaration made by +the said Warren Hastings, that he had converted the whole of these sums +to the Company's property, was not true. Nor would such a transfer, if +it had really been made, have justified the said Warren Hastings in +originally receiving the money, which, being in the first instance +contrary to law, could not be rendered legal by any subsequent +disposition or application thereof; much less would it have justified +the said Warren Hastings in delaying to make a discovery of these +transactions to the Court of Directors until he had heard of the +inquiries then begun and proceeding in Parliament, in finally making a +discovery, such as it is, in terms the most intricate, obscure, and +contradictory. That, instead of that full and clear explanation of his +conduct which the Court of Directors demanded, and which the said Warren +Hastings was bound to give them, he has contented himself with telling +the said Directors, that, "if this matter was to be exposed to the view +of the public, his reasons for acting as he had done might furnish a +variety of conjectures to which it would be of little use to reply; that +he either chose to conceal the first receipts from public curiosity by +receiving bonds for the amount, or possibly acted without any studied +design which his memory could at that distance of time verify; and that +he _could_ have concealed them from their eye and that of the public +forever." That the discovery, as far as it goes, establishes the guilt +of the said Warren Hastings in taking money against law, but does not +warrant a conclusion that he has discovered _all_ that he may have +taken; that, on the contrary, such discovery, not being made in proper +time, and when made being imperfect, perplexed, and wholly +unsatisfactory, leads to a just and reasonable presumption that other +facts of the same nature have been concealed, since those which he has +confessed might have been forever, and that this partial confession was +either extorted from the said Warren Hastings by the dread of detection, +or made with a view of removing suspicion, and preventing any further +inquiry into his conduct. + +That the said Warren Hastings, in a letter to the Court of Directors +dated 21st of February, 1784, has confessed his having _privately +received_ another sum of money, the amount of which he has not declared, +but which, from the application he says he has made of it, could not be +less than thirty-four thousand pounds sterling. That he has not informed +the Directors from whom he received this money, at what time, nor on +what account; but, on the contrary, has attempted to justify the receipt +of it, which was illegal, by the application of it, which was +unauthorized and unwarrantable, and which, if admitted as a reason for +receiving money _privately_, would constitute a precedent of the most +dangerous nature to the Company's service. That, in attempting to +justify the receipt and application of the said money, he has endeavored +to establish principles of conduct in a Governor which tend to subvert +all order and regularity in the conduct of public business, to +encourage and facilitate fraud and corruption in all offices of +pecuniary trust, and to defeat all inquiry into the misconduct of any +person in whom pecuniary trust is reposed.--That the said Warren +Hastings, in his letter above mentioned, has made a declaration to the +Court of Directors in the following terms: "Having had occasion to +disburse from my own cash many sums, which, though required to enable me +to execute the duties of my station, I have hitherto omitted to enter in +my public accounts, and my own fortune being unequal to so heavy a +charge, I have resolved to reimburse myself in a mode the most suitable +to the situation of your affairs, by charging the same in my Durbar +accounts of the present year, and crediting them by a sum _privately +received_, and appropriated to your service in the same manner with +other sums received on account of the Honorable Company, and already +carried to their account." That at the time of writing this letter the +said Warren Hastings had been in possession of the government of Fort +William about twelve years, with a clear salary, or avowed emoluments, +at no time less than twenty-five thousand pounds sterling a year, +exclusive of which all the principal expenses of his residence were paid +for by the Company. That, if the services mentioned by him were required +to enable him to execute the duties of his station, he ought not to have +omitted to enter them in his public accounts at the times when the +expenses were incurred. That, if it was true, as he affirms, that, when +he first engaged in these expenses, he had no intention to carry them to +the account of the Company, there was no subsequent change in his +situation which could justify his departing from that intention. That, +if his own fortune in the year 1784 was unequal to so heavy a charge, +the state of his fortune at any earlier period must have been still more +unequal to so heavy a charge. That the fact so asserted by the said +Warren Hastings leads directly to an inference palpably false and +absurd, viz., that, the longer a Governor-General holds that lucrative +office, the poorer he must become. That neither would the assertion, if +it were true, nor the inference, if it were admitted, justify the +conduct avowed by the said Warren Hastings in resolving to reimburse +himself out of the Company's property without their consent or +knowledge.--That the account transmitted in this letter is styled by +himself _an aggregate of a contingent account of twelve years_; that all +contingent accounts should be submitted to those who ought to have an +official control over them, at annual or other shorter periods, in order +that the expense already incurred may be checked and examined, and +similar expenses, if disapproved of, may be prohibited in time; that, +after a very long period is elapsed, all check and control over such +expenses is impracticable, and, if it were practicable in the present +instance, would be completely useless, since the said Warren Hastings, +without waiting for the consent of the Directors, did _resolve to +reimburse himself_. That the conduct of the said Warren Hastings, in +withholding these accounts for twelve years together, and then resolving +to reimburse himself without the consent of his employers, has been +fraudulent in the first instance, and in the second amounts to a denial +and mockery of the authority placed over him by law; and that he has +thereby set a dangerous example to his successors, and to every man in +trust or office under him.--That the mode in which he has reimbursed +himself is a crime of a much higher order, and greatly aggravates +whatever was already criminal in the other parts of this transaction. +That the said Warren Hastings, in declaring that he should reimburse +himself by crediting the Company by _a sum privately received_, has +acknowledged himself guilty of an illegal act in receiving money +_privately_. That he has suppressed or withheld every particular which +could throw any light on a conduct so suspicious in a Governor as the +_private_ receipt of money. That the general confession of the private +receipt of a large sum in gross, in which no circumstance of time, +place, occasion, or person, nor even the amount, is specified, tends to +cover or protect any act of the same nature (as far as a general +confession can protect such acts) which may be detected hereafter, and +which in fact may not make part of the gross sum so confessed, and that +it tends to perplex and defeat all inquiry into such practices.--That +the said Warren Hastings, in stating to the Directors that he has +resolved to reimburse himself in _a mode the most suitable to the +situation of their affairs_, viz., by receiving money privately against +law, has stated a presumption highly injurious to the integrity of the +said Directors, viz., that they will not object to, or even inquire +into, any extraordinary expenses incurred and charged by their Governors +in India, provided such expenses are reimbursed by money privately and +illegally received. That he has not explained what that situation of +their affairs was or could be to which so dangerous and corrupt a +principle was or might be applied.--That no evidence has been produced +to prove that it was true, nor any ground of argument stated to show +that it might be credible, that any native of India had voluntarily and +gratuitously given money privately to the said Warren Hastings, that is, +without some prospect of a benefit in return, or some dread of his +resentment, if he refused. That it is not a thing to be believed, that +any native would give large sums privately to a Governor, which he +refused to give or lend publicly to government, unless it were to derive +some adequate secret advantage from the favor, or to avoid some mischief +from the enmity of such Governor.--That the late confessions made by the +said Warren Hastings of money received against law are no proof that he +did not originally intend to appropriate the same to his own use, such +confessions having been made at a suspicious moment, when, and not +before, he was apprised of the inquiries commenced in the House of +Commons, and when a dread of the consequence of those inquiries might +act upon his mind. That such confessions, from the obscure, intricate, +and contradictory manner in which they are made, imply guilt in the said +Warren Hastings, as far as they go; that they do not furnish any color +of reason to conclude that he has confessed all the money which he may +have corruptly received; but that, on the contrary, they warrant a just +and reasonable presumption, that, in discovering some part of the bribes +he had received, he hoped to lull suspicion, and thereby conceal and +secure the rest. + +That the Court of Directors, when the former accounts of these +transactions came before them, did show an evident disposition not to +censure the said Warren Hastings, but to give the most favorable +construction to his conduct; that, nevertheless, they found themselves +obliged "to confess that the statement of those transactions appeared to +them in many parts so _unintelligible_, that they felt themselves under +the necessity of calling on the Governor-General for an explanation, +agreeably to his promise voluntarily made to them." That their letter, +containing this requisition, was received in Bengal in the month of +August, 1784, and that the said Warren Hastings did not embark for +England until the 2d of February, 1785, but made no reply to that letter +before his departure, owing, as he has since said, _to a variety of +other more important occupations_. That, under pretence of such +occupations, he neglected to transmit to the Court of Directors a copy +of a paper which, he says, contained the _only_ account he ever kept of +the transaction. That such a paper, or a copy of it, might have been +transmitted without interrupting other important occupations, if any +could be more important than that of giving a clear and satisfactory +answer to the requisition of the Directors. That since his arrival in +England he has written a letter to the chairman of that court, +professedly in answer to their letter above mentioned, but in fact +giving no explanation or satisfaction whatsoever on the points which +they had declared to be unintelligible. That the terms of his letter are +ambiguous and obscure, such as a guilty man might have recourse to in +order to cover his guilt, but such as no innocent man, from whom nothing +was required but to clear his innocence by giving plain answers to plain +questions, could possibly have made use of. That in his letter of the +11th of July, 1785, he says, "that he has been kindly apprised that the +information required as above _was yet expected from him_: that the +submission which his respect would have enjoined him to pay to the +command imposed on him _was lost to his recollection_, perhaps from the +stronger impression which the first and distant perusal of it had left +on his mind that it was rather intended as a reprehension for something +which had given offence in his report of the original transaction than +as expressive of any want of a further elucidation of it."[2] + +That the said Warren Hastings, in affecting to doubt whether the +information expressly required of him by his employers was expected or +not, has endeavored to justify a criminal delay and evasion in giving +it. That, considering the importance of the subject, and the recent date +of the command, it is not possible _that it could be lost to his +recollection_; much less is it possible that he could have understood +the specific demand of an answer to specific questions to be intended +only as a reprehension for a former offence, viz., the offence of +withholding from the Directors that very explanation which he ought to +have given in the first instance. That the said Warren Hastings, in his +answer to the said questions, cautiously avoids affirming or denying +anything in clear, positive terms, and professes to recollect nothing +with absolute certainty. That he has not, even now, informed the +Directors of the name of any one person from whom any part of the money +in question was received, nor what was the motive of any one person for +giving the same. That he has, indeed, declared, that his motive for +lending to the Company, or depositing in their treasury in his own name, +money which he has in other places declared to be their property, was to +avoid ostentation, and that _lending_ the money was _the least liable +to reflection_; yet, when he has stated these and other conjectural +motives for his own conduct, he declares _he will not affirm, though he +is firmly persuaded, that those were his sentiments on the occasion_. +That of one thing only the said Warren Hastings declares he is +_certain_, viz., "that it was his design originally to have _concealed_ +the receipt of all the sums, except the second, even from the knowledge +of the Court of Directors, but that, when fortune threw a sum in his way +of a magnitude _which could not be concealed_, and the peculiar delicacy +of his situation at the time in which he received it made him more +circumspect of appearances, he _chose_ to apprise his employers of it." +That the said Warren Hastings informs the Directors, that he had +indorsed the bonds taken by him for money belonging to the Company, and +lent by him to the Company, _in order to guard against their becoming a +claim on the Company, as part of his estate, in the event of his death_; +but he has not affirmed, nor does it anywhere appear, that he has +surrendered the said bonds, as he ought to have done. That the said +Warren Hastings, in affirming that he had not time to answer the +questions put to him by the Directors, while he was in Bengal,--in not +bringing with him to England the documents necessary to enable him to +answer those questions, or in pretending that he has not brought +them,--in referring the Directors back again to Bengal for those +documents, and for any further information on a subject on which he has +given them no information,--and particularly in referring them back to a +person in Bengal for a paper which he says contained the _only_ account +he ever kept of the transaction, while he himself professes to doubt +whether that paper _be still in being_, whether _it be in the hands_ of +that person, or whether that person _can recollect anything distinctly +concerning it_,--has been guilty of gross evasions, and of palpable +prevarication and deceit, as well as of contumacy and disobedience to +the lawful orders of the Court of Directors, and thereby confirmed all +the former evidence of his having constantly used the influence of his +station for the most scandalous, illegal, and corrupt purposes. + + + + +IX.--RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICE OF GOVERNOR-GENERAL. + + +That Warren Hastings having by his agent, Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, on +the 10th day of October, in the year 1776, "signified to the Court of +Directors his desire to resign his office of Governor-General of Bengal, +and requested their nomination of a successor to the vacancy which would +be thereby occasioned in the Supreme Council," the Court of Directors +did thereupon desire the said Lauchlan Macleane "to inform them of the +authority under which he acted in a point of such very great +importance"; and the said Lauchlan Macleane "signifying thereupon his +readiness to give the court every possible satisfaction on that subject, +but the powers with which he was intrusted by the papers in his custody +being mixed with other matters of a nature extremely confidential, he +would submit the same to the inspection of any three of the members of +the court," the said Court of Directors empowered the Chairman, Deputy +Chairman, and Richard Becher, Esquire, to inspect the authorities, +powers, and directions with which Mr. Macleane was furnished by Mr. +Hastings to make the propositions contained in his letter of the 10th +October, 1776, and to report their opinion thereon. And the said +committee did accordingly, on the 23d of the said month, report, "that, +having conferred with Mr. Macleane on the subject of his letter +presented to the court the 11th instant, they found, that, from the +purport of Mr. Hastings's instructions, contained in a paper in his own +handwriting given to Mr. Macleane, and produced by him to them, Mr. +Hastings declared he would not continue in the government of Bengal, +unless certain conditions therein specified could be obtained, of which +they saw no probability; and Mr. George Vansittart had declared to them, +that he was present when these instructions were given to Mr. Macleane, +and when Mr. Hastings empowered Mr. Macleane to declare his resignation +to the said court; that Mr. Stewart had likewise confirmed to them, that +Mr. Hastings declared to him, that he had given directions to the above +purpose by Mr. Macleane." + +And the Court of Directors, having received from the said report due +satisfaction respecting the authority vested in the said Lauchlan +Macleane to propose the said resignation of the office of +Governor-General of Bengal, did unanimously resolve to accept the same, +and did also, under powers vested in the said court by the act of the +13th year of his present Majesty, "nominate and appoint Edward Wheler, +Esquire, to succeed to the office in the Council of Fort William in +Bengal which will become vacant by the said resignation, if such +nomination shall be approved by his Majesty": which nomination and +appointment was afterwards in due form approved and confirmed by his +Majesty. + +That the Court of Directors did, by a postscript to their general +letter, dated 25th October, 1776, acquaint the Governor-General and +Council at Calcutta of their acceptance of the said resignation, of +their appointment of Edward Wheler, Esquire, to fill the said vacancy, +and of his Majesty's approbation of the said appointment, together with +the grounds of their said proceedings; and did transmit to the said +Governor-General and Council copies of the said instruments of +appointment and confirmation. + +That the said dispatches from the Court of Directors were received at +Calcutta, and were read in Council on the 19th day of June, in the year +1777; and that Warren Hastings, Esquire, having taken no steps to yield +the government to his successor, General Clavering, and having observed +a profound silence on the subject of the said dispatches, he, the said +General Clavering, did, on the next day, being the 20th of June, by a +letter addressed to the said Warren Hastings, require him to surrender +the keys of Fort William, and of the Company's treasuries; but the said +Warren Hastings did positively refuse to comply with the said +requisition, "denying that his office was vacated, and declaring his +resolution to assert and maintain his authority by every legal means." + +That the said General Clavering, conceiving that the office of +Governor-General was vacated by the arrival of the said dispatches, +which acquainted the Council-General of the resignation of the said +Warren Hastings and the appointment of the said Edward Wheler, Esquire, +and that he, the said General Clavering, had in consequence thereof +legally succeeded, under the provisions of the act of the 13th year of +his present Majesty's reign, to the said office of Governor-General, +become vacant in the manner aforesaid, did, in virtue thereof, issue in +his own name summonses to Richard Barwell, Esquire, and Philip Francis, +Esquire, members of the Council, to attend the same, and in the presence +of the said Philip Francis, Esquire, who obeyed the said summons, did +take the oaths as Governor-General, and did sit and preside in Council +as Governor-General, and prepared several acts and resolutions in the +said capacity of Governor-General, and did, amongst other things, +prepare a proclamation to be made of his said succession to the +government, and of its commencing from the date of the said +proclamation, but did not carry any of the acts or resolutions so +prepared into execution. + +The said Warren Hastings did, notwithstanding thereof, and in pursuance +of his resolution to assert and maintain his authority, illegally and +unjustifiably summon the Council to meet in another department, and did +sit and preside therein, apart from the said General Clavering and his +Council, and, in conjunction with Richard Barwell, Esquire, who +concurred therein, issued sundry orders and did sundry acts of +government belonging to the office of Governor-General, and, amongst +others, did order several letters to be written in the name of the +Governor-General and Council, and did subscribe the same, to the +commandant of the garrison of Fort William, and to the commanding +officer at Barrackpore, and to the commanding officers at the other +stations, and also to the provincial councils and collectors in the +provinces, enjoining them severally "to obey no orders excepting such as +should be signed by the said Warren Hastings, or a majority of his +Council." + +That the said Warren Hastings did, by the said proceedings, which were +contrary both to law and to good faith, constitute a double government, +thereby destroying and annihilating all government whatever; and, by his +said orders to the military officers, did prepare for open resistance by +arms, exposing thereby the settlement, and all the inhabitants, subjects +of or dependent on the British government, whether native or European, +not only to political distractions, but to the horrors of civil war; and +did, by exposing the divisions and weakness of the supreme government, +and thereby loosening the obedience of the provinces, shake the whole +foundation of British authority, and imminently endanger the existence +of the British nation in India. + +That the said evils were averted only by the moderation of the said +General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, in consenting to a +reference, and submitting to the decision of the judges of the Supreme +Court of Judicature, although they entertained no doubts themselves on +the legality of their proceedings and the validity of General +Clavering's instant right to the chair, and although they were not in +any way bound by law to consult the said judges, who had no legal or +judicial authority therein in virtue of their offices or as a court of +justice, but were consulted, and interposed their advice, only as +individuals, by the voluntary reference of the parties in the said +dispute. And the said Warren Hastings, by his declaration, entered in +Minutes of Council, "that it was his determination to abide by the +opinion of the judges," and by the measures he had previously taken as +aforesaid to enforce the same by arms, did risk all the dangerous +consequences above mentioned: which must have taken place, if the said +General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, had not been more tender +of the public interests, and less tenacious of their own rights, and had +persisted in their claim, as they were by law entitled to do, the +extra-judicial interposition of the judges notwithstanding; and from +which claim they receded only from their desire to preserve the peace of +the settlement, and to prevent the mischiefs which the illegal +resistance of the said Warren Hastings would otherwise infallibly have +occasioned. + +That, after the said judges had delivered their opinion, "that the place +and office of Governor-General of this Presidency had not yet been +vacated by Warren Hastings, and that the actual assumption of the +government by the member of the Council next in succession to Mr. +Hastings, in consequence of any deduction which could be made from the +papers communicated to them, would be absolutely illegal," and after the +said General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, had signified to the +said Warren Hastings, by a letter dated the 21st of June, "their +intention to acquiesce in the said opinion of the judges," and when the +differences in the Supreme Council were by these means composed, and the +calamities consequent thereon were avoided, the said Warren Hastings and +Richard Barwell, Esquires, did once more endanger the public peace and +security by other illegal, unwarrantable, and unprovoked acts of +violence: having omitted to summon either the said General Clavering or +the said Philip Francis, Esquire, to Council; and having, in a Council +held thus privately and clandestinely and contrary to law, on the 22d +day of June, come to the following resolutions, viz. + +"Resolved, That, by the said acts, orders, and declarations of +Lieutenant-General John Clavering, recited in the foregoing papers," +(meaning the proceedings of General Clavering in his separate Council on +the 20th of June,) "he has actually usurped and assumed and taken +possession of the place and office of Governor-General of the Presidency +of Fort William in Bengal, granted by the act of the 13th of his present +Majesty to Warren Hastings, Esquire. + +"Resolved, That Lieutenant-General John Clavering has thereby +relinquished, resigned, surrendered, and vacated the office of Senior +Counsellor of Fort William in Bengal. + +"Resolved, That Lieutenant-General John Clavering has thereby +relinquished, resigned, surrendered, and vacated his place of +Commander-in-Chief of the Company's forces in India. + +"Resolved, That Richard Barwell, Esquire, by virtue of the said act of +Parliament, and by the death of the Honorable George Monson, Esquire, is +promoted to the office of Senior Counsellor of the Presidency of Fort +William in Bengal, in consequence of the said relinquishment, +resignation, surrender, and vacation of General Clavering. + +"Resolved, That the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Company's forces +in India, by the relinquishment, resignation, surrender, and vacation of +General Clavering, and by the death of the Honorable George Monson, +Esquire, does no longer exist. + +"Resolved, That, for the preservation of the legality of our +proceedings, Lieutenant-General John Clavering be not in future summoned +or admitted as a member of the Governor-General and Council." + +And the said Warren Hastings and Richard Barwell, Esquire, did again +sit in Council on the next day, being the 23d of June, without summoning +either General Clavering or Philip Francis, Esquire, and did come to +several other resolutions, and make several orders, contrary to law or +justice, and inconsistent with the tranquillity and the security of the +settlement: that is to say, they ordered their secretary "to notify to +General Clavering that the board had declared his offices of Senior +Counsellor and Commander-in-Chief to be vacant, and to furnish him with +a copy of these proceedings, containing the grounds of the board for the +aforesaid declaration." + +And they ordered extracts of the said proceedings "to be issued in +general orders, with letters to all the provincial councils and military +stations, directing them to publish the same in general orders"; and +they resolved, "that all military returns be made to the +Governor-General and Council in their military department, until a +commander-in-chief shall be appointed by the Company." + +That on the day following, that is to say, on the 24th of June, the said +Warren Hastings did again omit to summon General Clavering to Council, +and did again, together with Richard Barwell, Esquire, who concurred +therein, adhere to and confirm the said illegal resolutions come to on +the two former days, declaring "that they could not be retracted but by +the present authority of the law or by future orders from home," and +aggravating the guilt of the said unjustifiable acts by declaring, as +the said Warren Hastings did, "that they were not the precipitate +effects of an instant and passionate impulse, but the fruits of long and +most temperate deliberations, of inevitable necessity, of the strictest +sense of public duty, and of a conviction equal in its impression on +his mind to absolute certainty." + +That the said Warren Hastings was the less excusable in this obstinate +adherence to his former unjust proceedings, as the said declarations +were made in answer to a motion made by Philip Francis, Esquire, for the +reversal of the said proceedings, and to a minute introducing the said +motion, in which Mr. Francis set forth in a clear and forcible manner, +and in terms with which the Court of Directors have since declared their +entire concurrence, both the extreme danger and the illegality and +invalidity of the said proceedings of Warren Hastings and Richard +Barwell, Esquire, concluding the said minute by the following +conciliatory declaration: "And that this salutary motion may not be +impeded by any idea or suspicion that General Clavering may do any act +inconsistent with the acquiescence which both he and I have avowed in +the decision of the judges, I will undertake to answer for him in this +respect, or that, if he should depart from the true spirit and meaning +of that acquiescence, I will not be a party with him in such +proceedings." + +That the said Warren Hastings could not plead ignorance of the law in +excuse for the said illegal acts, as it appears from the proceedings of +the four preceding days that he was well acquainted with the tenure by +which the members of the Council held their offices under the act of the +13th of his present Majesty, and had stated the same as a ground for +retaining his own office, contrary to an express declaration of the +Court of Directors and an instrument under the sign-manual of his +Majesty; and the judges of the Supreme Court, in their reasons for their +decision in his favor, had stated the provisions in the said act,[3] so +far as they related to the matter in dispute, from which it appeared +that there were but four grounds on which the office of any member of +the Council could be vacated,--namely, death, removal, resignation, or +promotion. And as the act confined the power of removal to "his Majesty, +his heirs and successors, upon representation made by the Court of +Directors of the said United Company for the time being," and conferred +no such power on the Governor-General, or a majority of the Council, to +remove, on any ground or for any cause whatever, one of their +colleagues,--so, granting the claim of General Clavering to the chair, +and his acts done in furtherance thereof, to have been illegal, and +criminal in whatever degree, yet it did not furnish to the rest of the +Council any ground to remove him from his office of Counsellor under the +provisions of the said act; and there could therefore remain only his +_resignation_ or _promotion_, as a possible means of vacating his said +office. But with regard to the promotion of General Clavering to the +office of Governor-General, although he claimed it himself, yet, as Mr. +Hastings did not admit it, and as in fact it was even receded from by +General Clavering, it could not be considered, at least by Mr. Hastings, +as a valid ground for vacating his office of Senior Counsellor, since +the act requires for that purpose, not a rejected claim, but an actual +and effectual promotion; and General Clavering's office of Counsellor +could no more be vacated by such a naked claim, unsupported and +disallowed, than the seat of a member of the House of Commons could be +vacated, and a new writ issued to supply the vacancy, by his claim to +the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, when his Majesty has +refused to appoint him to the said office. And with regard to +resignation, although the said Warren Hastings, as a color to his +illegal resolutions, had affectedly introduced the word "resigned" +amongst those of "relinquished, surrendered, and vacated," yet he well +knew that General Clavering had made no offer nor declaration of his +resignation of his offices of Senior Counsellor and Commander-in-Chief, +and that he did not claim the office of Governor-General on the ground +of any such resignation made by himself, but on the ground of a +resignation made by the said Warren Hastings, which resignation the said +Warren Hastings did not admit; and the use of the term _resigned_ on +that occasion was therefore a manifest and wilful misconstruction and +misapplication of the words of the act of his present Majesty. And such +misinterpretation and false extension of the term of resignation was the +more indecent in the said Warren Hastings, as he was at the same moment +disavowing and refusing to give effect to his own clear and express +resignation, according to the true intent and meaning of the word as +used in the said act, made by his agent, duly authorized and instructed +by himself so to do, to an authority competent to receive and accept the +same. + +That, although the said Warren Hastings did afterwards recede from the +said illegal measures, in compliance with the opinion and advice of the +judges again interposed, and did thereby avoid the guilt of such further +acts and the blame of such further evils as must have been consequent on +a persistence therein, yet he was nevertheless still guilty of the +illegal acts above described; and the same are great crimes and +misdemeanors. + +That, although the judges did decide that the office of +Governor-General, held by the said Warren Hastings, was not _ipso facto_ +and _instanter_ vacated by the arrival of the said dispatches and +documents transmitted by the Court of Directors, and did consider the +said consequences of the resignation as awaiting some future act or +event for its complete and effectual operation, yet the said judges did +not declare any opinion on the ultimate invalidity of the said acts of +Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, as not being binding on his principal, +Warren Hastings, Esquire; nor did they declare any opinion that the +obligation of the said resignation was not from the beginning conclusive +and effectual, although its operation was, from the necessity of the +case, on account of the distance between England and India, to take +place only in future,--or that the said resignation made by Lauchlan +Macleane, Esquire, was only an offer or proposal of a resignation to be +made at some future and indefinite period, or a mere intimation of the +desire of Warren Hastings, Esquire, to resign at some future and +indefinite period, and that the said resignation, notwithstanding the +acceptance thereof by the Court of Directors, and the regular +appointment and confirmation of a successor, was still to remain +optional in the said Warren Hastings, to be ratified or departed from at +his future choice or pleasure; nor did the said judges pronounce, nor do +any of their reasonings which accompanied their decision tend to +establish it as their opinion, that even the time for ratifying and +completing the said transaction was to be at the sole discretion of the +said Warren Hastings; but they only delivered their opinion as +aforesaid, that his said office "has not _yet_ been vacated, and +[therefore] that the _actual_ assumption of the government by the +member of the Council next in succession was [in the actual +circumstances, and _rebus sic stantibus_] illegal." + +That the said Warren Hastings does nowhere himself contend that the said +resignation was not absolute, but optional, according to the true +meaning and understanding of the parties in England, and so far as the +acts of Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, and the Court of Directors, were +binding on him; but, on the contrary, he grounds his refusal to complete +the same, not on any interpretation of the words in which the said +resignation, and the other instruments aforesaid, were conceived, but +rather on a disavowal (not direct, indeed, but implied) of his said +agent, and of the powers under which the said agent had claimed to act +in his behalf. Neither did the said Warren Hastings ground his said +refusal on any objection to the particular day or period or +circumstances in which the requisition of General Clavering was made, +nor accompany the said refusal with any qualification in that respect, +or with any intimation that he would at any future or more convenient +season comply with the same,--although such an intimation might probably +have induced General Clavering to waive an instant and immediate claim +to the chair, and might therefore have prevented the distractions which +happened, and the greater evils which impended, in consequence of the +said claim of General Clavering, and the said refusal of Warren +Hastings, Esquire; but the said Warren Hastings did, on the contrary, +express his said refusal in such general and unqualified terms as +intimated an intention to resist absolutely and altogether, both then +and at any future time, the said requisition of General Clavering. And +the subsequent proceedings of the said Warren Hastings do all concur in +proving that such was his intention; for he did afterwards, in +conformity to the advice of the judges, move a resolution in Council, +"that all parties be placed in the same situation in which they stood +before the receipt of the last advices from England, reserving and +submitting to a decision in England the respective claims that each +party may conceive they have a right to make, but not acting upon those +claims till such decision shall arrive in Bengal": thereby clearly and +explicitly declaring that it was not his intention to surrender the +government until such decision should arrive in Bengal, which could not +be expected in less time than a year and a half after the date of the +said resolution; and thereby clearly and explicitly declaring that he +did not consider his resignation as binding for the present. And the +said intention was manifested, if possible, still more directly and +expressly in a letter written by the said Warren Hastings to the Court +of Directors, dated the 15th of August, 1777, being almost two months +after the receipt of the said dispatches, in which the said Warren +Hastings declares that "he did not hold himself bound by the +notification made by Mr. Macleane, nor by any of the acts consequent of +it." + +That, such appearing to have been the intention of the said Warren +Hastings, General Clavering was justified in immediately assuming the +government, without waiting for any future act of the said Warren +Hastings for the actual surrender of the said government, none such +being likely to happen; and Philip Francis, Esquire, was justified in +supporting General Clavering in the same on the soundest principles of +justice, and on a maxim received in courts of equity, namely, that no +one shall avail himself of his own wrong,--and that, if any one refuse +or neglect to perform that which he is bound to do, the rights of others +shall not be prejudiced thereby, but such acts shall be deemed and +reputed to have been actually performed, and all the consequences shall +be enforced which would have followed from such actual performance. And +therefore the resolutions moved and voted in Council by the said Warren +Hastings, declaring the offices of General Clavering to be vacant, were +not only illegal, inasmuch as the said Warren Hastings had no authority +to warrant such a declaration, even on the supposition of the acts of +General Clavering being contrary to law, but the said resolutions were +further highly culpable and criminal, inasmuch as the said acts done by +General Clavering, which were made the pretence of that proceeding, were +strictly regular and legal. + +That the refusal of the said Warren Hastings to ratify the said +resignation, and his disavowal of the said Lauchlan Macleane, his agent, +is not justified by anything contained in his said letter to the Court +of Directors, dated on the 15th of August, 1777,--the said Warren +Hastings nowhere directly and positively asserting that the said +Lauchlan Macleane was not his agent, and had not both full and general +powers, and even particular instructions for this very act, although the +said Warren Hastings uses many indirect and circuitous, but insufficient +and inapplicable, insinuations to that effect. And the said letter does, +on the contrary, contain a clear and express avowal that the said +Lauchlan Macleane was his confidential agent, and that in that capacity +he acted throughout, and particularly in this special matter, with zeal +and fidelity. And the said letter does further admit in effect the +instructions produced by the said Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, confirmed +by Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Stewart, and relied on and confided in by the +Court of Directors, by which the said Lauchlan Macleane appeared to be +specially empowered to declare the said resignation, the words of the +said instruction being as follows: "That he [Mr. Hastings] _will not +continue in the government of Bengal_, unless certain conditions therein +specified can be obtained"; and the words of the said letter being as +follows: "What I myself know with certainty, or can recollect at this +distance of time, concerning the powers and instructions which were +given to Messieurs Macleane and Graham, when they undertook to be my +agents in England, I will circumstantially relate. I am in possession of +two papers which were presented to those gentlemen at the time of their +departure from Bengal, one of which comprises four short propositions +_which I required as the conditions of my being confirmed in this +government_." And although the said Warren Hastings does here artfully +somewhat change the words of his written instructions (and which having +in his possession he might as easily have given verbatim) to other words +which may appear less explicit, yet they are in fact capable of only the +same meaning: for, as, at the time of giving the said instructions to +his agents, he was in full possession of his office, he could want no +confirmation therein except _his own_; and, in such circumstances, "to +require certain things, _as the conditions of his being confirmed in his +government_," is tantamount to a declaration "_that he will not continue +in his government, unless those conditions can be obtained_." And the +said attempt at prevarication can serve, its author the less, as either +both sentences have one and the same meaning, or, if their meaning be +different, the original instructions in his own handwriting, or, in +other words, the thing itself, must be preferred as evidence of its +contents to a loose statement of its purport, founded, perhaps, on a +loose recollection of it at a great distance of time. + +That the said refusal of Warren Hastings, Esquire, was a breach of faith +with the Court of Directors and his Majesty's ministers in England; as +the said resignation was not merely a voluntary offer without any +consideration, and therefore subject to be recalled or retracted at the +pleasure of the said Warren Hastings, but ought rather to be considered +as having been the result of a negotiation carried on between Mr. +Macleane for the benefit of Warren Hastings, Esquire, on the one hand, +and by the Court of Directors for the interests of the Company on the +other: which view of the transaction will appear the more probable, when +it is considered that at the time of the said resignation a strict +inquiry had been carrying on by the Court of Directors into the conduct +of the said Warren Hastings, and the solicitor and counsel to the +Company, and other eminent counsel, had given it as their opinions, on +cases stated to them, that there were grounds for suing the said Warren +Hastings in the courts of law and equity, and that the Company would be +entitled to recover in the said suits against Warren Hastings, Esquire, +several very large sums of money taken by him in his office of +Governor-General, contrary to law, and in breach of his covenants, and +of his duty to the Company and the public; and the Court of Directors +had also come to various severe resolutions of censure against the said +Warren Hastings, and amongst others to a resolution to recall the said +Warren Hastings, and remove him from his office of Governor-General, to +answer for sundry great crimes and delinquencies by him committed in his +said office. And on these accounts it appears probable that the said +resignation was tendered and accepted as a consideration for some +beneficial concessions made in consequence thereof to the said Warren +Hastings in his said dangerous and desperate condition. + +And the said refusal was also an act of great disrespect to the Court of +Directors and to his Majesty, and, by rendering abortive their said +measures, solemnly and deliberately taken, and ratified and confirmed by +his Majesty, tended to bring the authority of the Court of Directors and +of his Majesty into contempt. + +And the said refusal was an injury to General Clavering. + +And was also, or might have been, a great injury to Edward Wheler, +Esquire. + +And was an act of signal treachery to Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, as +also to Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Stewart, whose honors and veracity were +thereby brought into question, doubt, and suspicion. + +And the said refusal was prejudicial to the affairs of the servants of +the Company in India, by shaking the confidence to be placed in their +agents by those persons with whom it might be for their interests to +negotiate on any matter of importance, and by thus subjecting the +communication of persons abroad with those at home to difficulties not +known before. + + + + +X.--SURGEON-GENERAL'S CONTRACT. + + +That the said Warren Hastings, in the year 1777, did grant to the +Surgeon-General a contract for three years, for defraying every kind of +hospital and medicinal expense,--not only in breach of the general +orders of the Court of Directors with respect to the duration of +contracts, but in direct opposition to a particular order of the Court +of Directors, of the 30th of March, 1774, when they directed "that the +Surgeon should not be permitted to enjoy any emolument arising from his +being concerned in dieting the patients, and that the occupations of +surgeon and contractor should be forthwith separated." That the said +contract was in itself highly improper, and inconsistent with the good +of the service; as it afforded the greatest temptation to abuse, and +established a pecuniary interest in the Surgeon-General, contrary to the +duties of his station and profession. + + + + +XI.--CONTRACTS FOR POOLBUNDY REPAIRS. + + +That the Governor-General and Council at Fort William did, on the motion +and recommendation of Warren Hastings, Esquire, enter into a contract +with Archibald Frazer, Esquire, on the 16th of April, 1778, for the +repairs of the pools and banks in the province of Burdwan, for two +years, at the rate of 120,000 sicca rupees for the first year, and +80,000 rupees for the second year. + +That on the 19th of December, 1778, the said Warren Hastings did further +persuade the Supreme Council to prolong the term of the above contract +with Archibald Frazer for the space of three years more on the same +conditions, namely, the payment of 80,000 sicca rupees for each year: to +which was added a permission to Mr. Frazer to make _dobunds_, or special +repairs, whenever he should judge them necessary, at the charge of +government. + +That the said contracts, both in the manner of their acceptance by the +Supreme Council, without having previously advertised for proposals, and +in the extent of their duration, were made in direct violation of the +special orders of the Court of Directors. + +That, so far from any advantage having been obtained for the Company in +the terms of these contracts, in consideration of the length of time for +which they were to continue, the expense of government upon this article +was increased by these engagements to a very great amount. + +That it appears that this contract had been held for some years before +by the Rajah of Burdwan at the rate of 25,000 rupees per annum. + +That the superintendent of poolbundy repairs, after an accurate and +diligent survey of the bunds and pools, and the Provincial Council of +Burdwan, upon the best information they could procure, had delivered it +as their opinion to the Governor-General and Council, before the said +agreement was entered into, that, after the heavy expense stated in Mr. +Kinlock's estimate, viz., 119,405 sicca rupees, if disbursed as they +recommended, the charge in future seasons would be greatly reduced, +_and, after one thorough and effectual repair, they conceived a small +annual expense would be sufficient to keep the bunds up and prevent +their going to decay_. + +That, whatever extraordinary and unusual damages the pools and bunds +might have sustained, either from the neglect of the Rajah's officers, +or from the violence of the then late rains, and the torrents thereby +occasioned, to justify the expense of the first year, yet, as they were +all considered and included in the estimate for that year, there could +be no pretence for allowing and continuing so large and burdensome a +payment as 80,000 rupees per annum for the four succeeding years. + +That the said Warren Hastings did, in his minutes of the 13th of +February, 1778, himself support that opinion, in the comparison to be +made between Mr. Thomson's proposals, of undertaking the same service +for 60,000 rupees a year for nine years, and the terms of Mr. Frazer's +contracts: preferring the latter, because these were "to effect a +complete repair, which could hardly be concluded in one season, and the +subsequent expense would be but trifling." + +Notwithstanding which, the said Warren Hastings urged and prevailed upon +the Council to allow in the first year the full amount proposed by Mr. +Kinlock in his estimate of the necessary repairs, and did burden the +Company with what he must have deemed to be, for the greater part, an +unnecessary expense of 80,000 rupees per annum for four years. + +That the permission granted to Mr. Frazer to make dobunds, or new and +additional embankments in aid of the old ones, whenever he should judge +them necessary, at the charge of government, (the said charge to be +verified by the oath of the said Frazer, without any voucher,) was a +power very much to be suspected, and very improper to be intrusted to a +contractor who had already covenanted to keep the old pools in perfect +repair, and to construct new ones wherever the old pools had been +broken down and washed away, or where the course of the rivers might +have rendered new ones necessary, in consideration of the great sums +stipulated to be paid to him by the government. + +That the grant of the foregoing contracts, and the permission afterwards +annexed to the second of the said grants, become much more reprehensible +from a consideration of the circumstances of the person to whom such a +grant was made. + +That the due performance of the service required local knowledge and +experience, which the said Archibald Frazer, being an officer in the +Supreme Court of Justice, could not have possessed. + + + + +XII.--CONTRACTS FOR OPIUM. + + +That it appears that the opium produced in Bengal and Bahar is a +considerable and lucrative article in the export trade of those +provinces; that the whole produce has been for many years monopolized +either by individuals or by the government; that the Court of Directors +of the East India Company, in consideration of the hardship imposed on +the native owners and cultivators of the lands, who were deprived of +their natural right of dealing with many competitors, and compelled to +sell the produce of their labor to a single monopolist, did authorize +the Governor-General and Council to give up that commodity as an article +of commerce. + +That, while the said commodity continued to be a monopoly for the +benefit of government, and managed by a contractor, the contracts for +providing it were subject to the Company's fundamental regulation, +namely, to be put up to auction, and disposed of to the best bidder; and +that the Company particularly ordered that the commodity, when provided, +should be consigned to the Board of Trade, who were directed to dispose +thereof by public auction. + +That in May, 1777, the said Warren Hastings granted to John Mackenzie a +contract for the provision of opium, to continue three years, and +without advertising for proposals. That this transaction was condemned +by the Court of Directors, notwithstanding a clause had been inserted in +that contract by which it was left open to the Court of Directors to +annul the same at the expiration of the first or second year. + +That, about the end of the year 1780, the said Warren Hastings, in +contradiction to the order above mentioned, did take away the sale of +the opium from the Board of Trade, though he disclaimed, at the same +time, _any intention of implying a censure on their management_. + +That in March, 1781, the said Warren Hastings did grant to Stephen +Sulivan, son of Lawrence Sulivan, Chairman of the Court of Directors of +the East India Company, a contract for the provision of opium, without +advertising for proposals, and without even receiving any written +proposals from him, the said Sulivan; that he granted this contract for +four years, and at the request of the said Sulivan did omit that clause +which was inserted in the preceding contract, and by which it was +rendered liable to be determined by orders from the Company: the said +Warren Hastings declaring, contrary to truth, that such clause was now +unnecessary, as the Directors _had approved_ the contract. + +That the said Sulivan had been but a few months in Bengal when the above +contract was given to him; that he was a stranger to the country, and to +all the local commerce thereof, and therefore unqualified for the +management of such a concern; and that the said Sulivan, instead of +executing the contract himself, did, shortly after obtaining the same, +assign it over to John Benn and others, and in consideration of such +assignment did receive from the said Benn a great sum of money. + +That from the preceding facts, as well as from sundry other +circumstances of restrictions taken off (particularly by abolishing the +office of inspector into the quality of the opium) and of beneficial +clauses introduced, it appears that the said Warren Hastings gave this +contract to the said Stephen Sulivan in contradiction to the orders of +the Court of Directors, and without any regard to the interests of the +India Company, for the sole purpose of creating an instant fortune for +the said Sulivan at the expense of the India Company, without any claim +of service or pretence of merit on his part, and without any apparent +motive whatever, except that of securing or rewarding the attachment and +support of his father, Lawrence Sulivan, a person of great authority and +influence in the direction of the Company's affairs, and notoriously +attached to and connected with the said Warren Hastings. + +That the said Stephen Sulivan neither possessed nor pretended to possess +any skill in the business of his contract; that he exerted no industry, +nor showed or could show any exactness, in the performance of it, since +he immediately sold the contract for a sum of money to another person, +(for the sole purpose of which sale it must be presumed the same was +given,) by which person another profit was to be made; and by that +person the same was again sold to a third, by whom a third profit was to +be made. + +That the said Warren Hastings, at the very time when he engaged the +Company in a contract for engrossing the whole of the opium produced in +Bengal and Bahar in the ensuing four years on terms of such exorbitant +profit to the contractor, affirmed, that "there was little prospect of +selling the opium in Bengal at a reasonable price, and that it was but +natural to suppose that the price of opium _would fall, from the demand +being lessened_"; that in a letter dated the 5th of May, 1781, he +informed the Directors, "that, owing to the indifferent state of the +markets last season to the Eastward, and the very enhanced rates of +insurance which the war had occasioned, they had not been able to +dispose of the opium of the present year to so great an advantage as +they expected, and that more than one half of it remained still in their +warehouses." That the said Warren Hastings was guilty of a manifest +breach of trust to his constituents and his employers in monopolizing, +for their pretended use, an article of commerce for which he declared +_no purchasers had offered, and that there was little prospect of any +offering, and the price of which_, he said, _it was but natural to +suppose would fall_. + +That the said Warren Hastings, having, by his own act, loaded the +Company with a commodity for which, either in the ordinary and regular +course of public auction, or even by private contract, there was, as he +affirmed, no sale, did, under pretence of finding a market for the same, +engage the Company in an enterprise of great and certain expense, +subject to a manifest risk, and full of disgrace to the East India +Company, not only in their political character, as a great sovereign +power in India, but in their commercial character, as an eminent and +respectable body of merchants; and that the execution of this enterprise +was accompanied with sundry other engagements with other persons, in all +of which the Company's interest was constantly sacrificed to that of +individuals favored by the said Warren Hastings. + +That the said Warren Hastings first engaged in a scheme to export one +thousand four hundred and sixty chests of opium, on the Company's +account, on board a ship belonging to Cudbert Thornhill, half of which +was to be disposed of in a coasting voyage, and the remainder in Canton. +That, besides the freight and commission payable to the said Thornhill +on this adventure, twelve pieces of cannon belonging to the Company were +lent for arming the ship; though his original proposal was, that the +ship should be armed at his expense. That this part of the adventure, +depending for its success on a prudent and fortunate management of +various sales and resales in the course of a circuitous voyage, and +being exposed to such risk both of sea and enemy that all private +traders had declined to be concerned in it, was particularly unfit for a +great trading company, and could not be undertaken on their account with +any rational prospect of advantage. + +That the said Warren Hastings soon after engaged in another scheme for +exporting two thousand chests of opium directly to China on the +Company's account, and for that purpose accepted of an offer made by +Henry Watson, the Company's chief engineer, to convey the same in a +vessel of his own, and to deliver it to the Company's supra-cargoes. +That, after the offer of the said Henry Watson had been accepted, a +letter from him was produced at the board, in which he declared that he +was unable to equip the ship with a proper number of cannon, and +requested that he might be furnished with thirty-six guns from the +Company's stores at Madras; with which request the board complied. + +That it appears that George Williamson, the Company's auctioneer at +Calcutta, having complained that by this mode of exporting the opium, +which used to be sold by public auction, he lost his commission as +auctioneer, the board allowed him to draw a commission of one per cent +on all the opium which had been or was to be exported. That it appears +that the contractor for opium (whose proper duties and emoluments as +contractor ended with the delivery of the opium) was also allowed to +draw a commission on the opium then shipping on the Company's account; +but for what reason, or on what pretence, does not appear. + +That the said Warren Hastings, in order to pay the said Stephen Sulivan +in advance for the opium furnished or to be furnished by him in the +first year of his contract, did borrow the sum of twenty lacs of rupees +at eight per cent, or two hundred thousand pounds sterling, to be repaid +by drafts to be drawn on the Company by their supra-cargoes in China, +provided the opium consigned to them should arrive safe; but that, if +the adventure failed, whether by the loss of the ships or otherwise, the +subscribers to the above loan were to be repaid their capital and +interest out of the Company's treasury in Bengal. + +That the said Warren Hastings, having in this manner purchased a +commodity for which he said there was no sale, and paid for it with +money which he was obliged to borrow at a high interest, was still more +criminal in his attempt, or pretended plan, to introduce it +clandestinely into China. That the importation of opium into China is +forbidden by the Chinese government; that the opium, on seizure, is +burnt, the vessel that imports it confiscated, and the Chinese in whose +possession it may be found for sale punished with death. + +That the Governor-General and Council were well aware of the existence +of these prohibitions and penalties, and did therefore inform the +supra-cargoes in China, that the ship belonging to the said Henry Watson +would enter the river at China as an armed ship, _and would not be +reported as bearing a cargo of opium, that being a contraband trade_. + +That, of the above two ships, the first, belonging to Cudbert Thornhill, +was taken by the French; and that the second, arriving in China, did +occasion much embarrassment and distress to the Company's supra-cargoes +there, who had not been previously consulted on the formation of the +plan, and were exposed to great difficulty and hazard in the execution +of their part of it. That the ship was delayed, at a demurrage of an +hundred dollars a day, for upwards of three months, waiting in vain for +a better market. The factory estimate the _loss_ to the Company, +including port charges, demurrage, and factory charges allowed the +captain, at sixty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-three dollars, +or about twenty thousand pounds sterling. + +That the Company's factory at China, after stating the foregoing facts +to the Court of Directors, conclude with the following general +observation thereon. "On a review of these circumstances, with the +extravagant and unusual terms of the freight, demurrage, factory +charges, &c., &c., we cannot help being of opinion that private +considerations have been suffered to interfere too much for any benefit +that may have been intended to the Honorable Company. We hope for the +Honorable Court's approbation of our conduct in this affair. The novelty +and nature of the consignments have been the source of much trouble and +anxiety, and, though we wished to have had it in our power to do more, +we may truly say we have exceeded our expectations." + +That every part of this transaction, from the monopoly with which it +commenced, to the contraband dealing with which it concluded, criminates +the said Warren Hastings with wilful disobedience of orders and a +continued breach of trust; that every step taken in it was attended with +heavy loss to the Company, and with a sacrifice of their interest to +that of individuals; and that, if finally a profit had resulted to the +Company from such a transaction, no profit attending it could compensate +for the probable risk to which their trade in China was thereby exposed, +or for the certain dishonor and consequent distrust which the East India +Company must incur in the eyes of the Chinese government by being +engaged in a low, clandestine traffic, prohibited by the laws of the +country. + + + + +XIII.--APPOINTMENT OF R.J. SULIVAN. + + +That in the month of February, 1781, Mr. Richard Joseph Sulivan, +Secretary to the Select Committee at Fort St. George, applied to them +for leave to proceed to Calcutta _on his private affairs_. That, being +the confidential secretary to the Select Committee at Fort St. George, +and consequently possessed of all the views and secrets of the Company, +as far as they related to that government, he went privately into the +service of the Nabob of Arcot, and, under the pretence of proceeding to +Calcutta on his private business, undertook a commission from the said +Nabob to the Governor-General and Council, to negotiate with them in +favor of certain projects of the said Nabob which had been reprobated by +the Company. + +That the said Sulivan was soon after appointed back again by the said +Warren Hastings to the office of Resident at the Durbar of the said +Nabob of Arcot. That it was a high crime and misdemeanor in the said +Hastings to encourage so dangerous an example in the Company's service, +and to interfere unnecessarily with the government of Madras in the +discharge of the duties peculiarly ascribed to them by the practice and +orders of the Company, for the purpose of appointing to a great and +confidential situation a man who had so recently committed a breach of +trust to his employers. + +That the Court of Directors, in their letter to Bengal, dated the 12th +of July, 1782, and received there on the 18th of February, 1783, did +_condemn and revoke_ the said appointment. That the said Directors, in +theirs to Fort St. George, dated the 28th of August, 1782, and received +there the 31st of January, 1783, did highly condemn the conduct of the +said Sulivan, and, in order to deter their servants from practices of +the same kind, _did dismiss him from their service_. + +That the said Hastings, knowing that the said Sulivan's appointment had +been condemned and revoked by the Court of Directors, and pretending +that on the 15th of March, 1783, he did not know that the said Sulivan +was _dismissed_ from the Company's service, though that fact was known +at Madras on the 31st of the preceding January, did recommend the said +Sulivan to be ambassador at the court of Nizam Ali Khân, Subahdar of the +Deccan, in defiance of the authority and orders of the Court of +Directors. + +That, even admitting, what is highly improbable, that the _dismission_ +of the said Sulivan from the service of the said Company was not known +at Calcutta in forty-three days from Madras, the last-mentioned +nomination of the said Sulivan was made at least in contempt of the +censure already expressed by the Court of Directors at his former +appointment to the Durbar of the Nabob of Arcot, and which was certainly +known to the said Hastings. + + + + +XIV.--RANNA OF GOHUD. + + +That on the 2d of December, 1779, the Governor-General and Council of +Fort William, at the special recommendation and instance of Warren +Hastings, Esquire, then Governor-General, and contrary to the declared +opinion and protest of three of the members of the Council, viz., Philip +Francis and Edward Wheler, Esquires, who were present, and of Sir Eyre +Coote, who was absent, (by whose absence the casting voice of the said +Warren Hastings, Esquire, prevailed,) did conclude a treaty of perpetual +friendship and alliance, offensive and defensive, with a Hindoo prince, +called the Ranna of Gohud, for the express purpose of using the forces +of the said Ranna in opposition to the Mahrattas. + +That, among other articles, it was stipulated with the said Ranna by the +said Warren Hastings, "that, whenever peace should be concluded between +the Company and the Mahratta state, the Maha Rajah should be included as +a party in the treaty which should be made for that purpose, and his +present possessions, together with the fort of Gualior, which of old +belonged to the family of the Maha Rajah, if it should be then in his +possession, and such countries as he should have acquired in the course +of war, and which it should then be stipulated to leave in his hands, +should be guarantied to him by such treaty." + +That, in the late war against the Mahrattas, the said Ranna of Gohud did +actually join the British army under the command of Colonel Muir with +two battalions of infantry and twelve hundred cavalry, and did then +serve in person against the Mahrattas, thereby affording material +assistance, and rendering essential service to the Company. + +That, in conformity to the above-mentioned treaty, in the fourth article +of the treaty of peace concluded on the 13th of October, 1781, between +Colonel Muir, on the part of the English Company, and Mahdajee Sindia, +the Mahratta general, the said Ranna of Gohud was expressly included. + +That, notwithstanding the said express provision and agreement, Mahdajee +Sindia proceeded to attack the forts and lay waste the territories of +the said Ranna, and did undertake and prosecute a war against him for +the space of two years, in the course of which the Ranna and his family +were reduced to extreme distress, and in the end he was deprived of his +forts, and the whole not only of his acquired possessions, but of his +original dominions, so specially guarantied to him by the British +government in both the above-mentioned treaties. + +That the said Warren Hastings was duly and regularly informed of the +progress of the war against the Ranna, and of every event thereof; +notwithstanding which, he not only neglected in any manner to interfere +therein in favor of the said Ranna, or to use any endeavors to prevent +the infraction of the treaty, but gave considerable countenance and +encouragement to Mahdajee Sindia in his violation of it, both by the +residence of the British minister in the Mahratta camp, and by the +approbation shown by the said Warren Hastings to the promises made by +his agent of observing the strictest neutrality, notwithstanding he was +in justice bound, and stood pledged by the most solemn and sacred +engagements, to protect and preserve the said Ranna from those enemies, +whose resentment he had provoked only by his adherence to the interests +of the British nation. + +That, in the only attempt made to sound the disposition of Mahdajee +Sindia relative to a pacification between him and the Ranna of Gohud, on +the 14th of May, 1783, Mr. Anderson, in obedience to the orders he had +received, did clearly and explicitly declare to Bhow Bucksey, the +minister of Mahdajee Sindia, the sentiments of the said Warren Hastings +in the words following: "That it was so far from your [the said +Hastings's] meaning to intercede in his [the said Ranna's] favor, that I +only desired him to sound Sindia's sentiments, and, in case he was +desirous of peace, to mention what I had said; but if he seemed to +prefer carrying on the war, I begged that he would not mention a +syllable of what had passed, but let the matter drop entirely." + +That it afterwards appeared, in a minute of the said Hastings in Council +at Fort William, on the 22d of September, 1783, that he promised, at the +instance of a member of the Council, to write to Lieutenant James +Anderson in favor of the Ranna of Gohud, and lay his letter before the +board. + +That, nevertheless, the said Hastings, professing _not to recollect_ his +said promise, _did neglect to write a formal letter to Lieutenant +Anderson in favor of the said Ranna of Gohud_, and that the private +letter, the extract of which the said Hastings did lay before the board +on the 21st of October, 1783, so far from directing any effectual +interference in favor of the said Ranna, or commanding his agent, the +said James Anderson, to interpose the mediation of the British +government to procure "_honorable terms_" for the said Ranna, or even +"_safety to his person and family_," contains the bitterest invectives +against him, and is expressive of the satisfaction which the said +Hastings acknowledges himself to have enjoyed in the distresses of the +said Ranna, the ally of the Company. + +That the measures therein recommended appear rather to have been +designed to satisfy Mahdajee Sindia, and to justify the conduct of the +British government in not having taken a more active and a more hostile +part against the said Ranna, than an intercession on his behalf. + +That, though no consideration of good faith or observance of treaties +could induce the said Hastings to incur the hazard of any hostile +exertion of the British force for the defence or the relief of the +allies of the Company, yet in the said private letter he directed, +that, in case his mediation should be accepted, it should be made _a +specific condition_, that, _if the said Ranna should take advantage of +Sindia's absence to renew his hostilities, we ought, in that case, on +requisition, to invade the dominions of the Ranna_. + +That no beneficial effects could have been procured to the said Ranna by +an offer of mediation delayed till Sindia no longer wanted "_our +assistance to crush so fallen an enemy_," at the same time that no +reason was given to Sindia to apprehend the danger of drawing upon +himself the resentment of the British government by a disregard of their +proposal and the destruction of their ally. + +That it was a gross and scandalous mockery in the said Hastings to defer +an application to obtain honorable terms for the Ranna, and safety for +his person and family, till he had been deprived of his principal fort, +in defence of which his uncle lost his life, and on the capture of +which, his wife, to avoid the dishonor consequent upon falling into the +hands of her enemies, _had destroyed herself by an explosion of +gunpowder_. + +That, however, it does not appear that any offer of mediation was ever +actually made, or any influence exerted, either for the safety of the +Ranna's person and family or in mitigation of the _rigorous intentions_ +supposed by Lieutenant Anderson[4] to have been entertained against him +by Mahdajee Sindia after his surrender. + +That the said Hastings, in the instructions[5] given by him to Mr. David +Anderson for his conduct in negotiating the treaty of peace with the +Mahrattas, expressed his determination to desert the Ranna of Gohud in +the following words. "You will of course be attentive to any engagements +subsisting between us and other powers, in settling the terms of peace +and alliance with the Mahrattas. I except from this the Ranna of +Gohud.... Leave him to settle his own affairs with the Mahrattas." + +That the said Anderson appears very assiduously to have sought for +grounds to justify the execution of this part of his instructions, to +which, however, he was at all events obliged to conform. + +That, even after his application for that purpose to the Mahrattas, +whose testimony was much to be suspected, because it was their interest +to accuse and their determined object to destroy the said Ranna, no +satisfactory proof was obtained of his defection from the engagements he +had entered into with the Company. + +That, moreover, if all the charges which have been pretended against the +Ranna, and have been alleged by the said Hastings in justification of +his conduct, had been well founded and proved to be true, the +subject-matter of those accusations and the proofs by which they wore to +be supported were known to Colonel Muir before the conclusion of the +treaty he entered into with Mahdajee Sindia; and therefore, whatever +suspicions may have been entertained or whatever degree of criminality +may have been proved against the said Ranna previous to the said treaty, +from the time he was so provided for and included in the said treaty he +was fully and justly entitled to the security stipulated for him by the +Company, and had a right to demand and receive the protection of the +British government. + +That these considerations were urged by Mr. Anderson to the said Warren +Hastings, in his letter of the 24th of June, 1781, and were enforced by +this additional argument,--"that, in point of policy, I believe, it +ought not to be our wish that the Mahrattas should ever recover the +fortress of Gualior. It forms an important barrier to our own +possessions. In the hands of the Ranna it can be of no prejudice to us; +and notwithstanding the present prospect of a permanent peace betwixt us +and the Mahrattas, it seems highly expedient that there should always +remain some strong barrier to separate us, on this side of India, from +that warlike and powerful nation." + +That the said Warren Hastings was highly culpable in abandoning the said +Ranna to the fury of his enemies, thereby forfeiting the honor and +injuring the credit of the British nation in India, notwithstanding the +said Hastings was fully convinced, and had professed, "that the most +sacred observance of treaties, justice, and good faith were necessary to +the existence of the national interests in that country," and though the +said Hastings has complained of the insufficiency of the laws of this +kingdom to enforce this doctrine "by the punishment of persons in the +possession of power, who may be impelled by the provocation of ambition, +avarice, or vengeance, stronger than the restrictions of integrity and +honor, to the violation of this just and wise maxim." + +That the said Hastings, in thus departing from these his own principles, +with a full and just sense of the guilt he would thereby incur, and in +sacrificing the allies of this country "_to the provocations of +ambition, avarice, or vengeance_," in violation of the national faith +and justice, did commit a gross and wilful breach of his duty, and was +thereby guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor. + + + + +XV.--REVENUES. + + +PART I. + +That the property of the lands of Bengal is, according to the laws and +customs of that country, an inheritable property, and that it is, with +few exceptions; vested in certain natives, called _zemindars_, or +landholders, under whom other natives, called _talookdars_ and _ryots_, +hold certain subordinate rights of property or occupancy in the said +lands. That the said natives are Hindoos, and that their _rights and +privileges are grounded upon the possession of regular grants, a long +series of family succession, and fair purchase_. That it appears that +Bengal has been under the dominion of the Mogul, and subject to a +Mahomedan government, for above two hundred years. That, while the Mogul +government was in its vigor, the property of zemindars was _held +sacred_, and that, either by voluntary grant from the said Mogul or by +composition with him, the native Hindoos were left in the free, quiet, +and undisturbed possession of their lands, on the single condition of +paying a fixed, certain, and unalterable revenue, or quit-rent, to the +Mogul government. That this revenue, or quit-rent, was called the +_aussil jumma_, or _original ground-rent_, of the provinces, and was not +increased from the time when it was first settled in 1573 to 1740, when +the regular and effective Mogul government ended. That, from that time +to 1765, invasions, usurpations, and various revolutions took place in +the government of Bengal, in consequence of which the country was +considerably reduced and impoverished, when the East India Company +received from the present Mogul emperor, Shah Allum, a grant of the +_dewanny_, or collection of the revenues. That about the year 1770 the +provinces of Bengal and Bahar were visited with a dreadful famine and +mortality, by which at least one third of the inhabitants perished. That +Warren Hastings, Esquire, has declared, "that he had always heard the +loss of inhabitants reckoned at a third, and in many places near one +half of the whole, and that he knew not by what means such a loss could +be recruited in four or five years, and believed it impossible." That, +nevertheless, the revenue was _violently kept up to its former +standard_,--that is, in the two years immediately preceding the +appointment of the said Warren Hastings to the government of Fort +William,--in consequence of which _the remaining two thirds of the +inhabitants were obliged to pay for the lands now left without +cultivation_; and that from the year 1770 to the year 1775 _the country +had languished, and the evil continued enhancing every day_. That the +said Warren Hastings, in a letter to the Secret Committee of the Court +of Directors, dated 1st September, 1772, declared, "that the lands had +suffered unheard-of depopulation by the famine and mortality of 1769; +that the collections, _violently kept up to their former standard_, had +added to the distress of the country, and threatened a general decay of +the revenue, unless immediate remedies were applied to prevent it." That +the said Warren Hastings has declared, "that, by intrusting the +collections to the hereditary zemindars, the people would be treated +with _more tenderness_, the rents more improved, and cultivation more +likely to be encouraged; that _they_ have a perpetual interest in the +country; that _their_ inheritance cannot be removed; that _they_ are the +proprietors; that the lands are _their_ estates, and _their_ +inheritance; that, from a long continuance of the lands in their +families, it is to be concluded they have riveted an authority in the +district, acquired an ascendency over the minds of the ryots, and +_ingratiated their affections_; that, from continuing the lands under +the management of those who have a natural and perpetual interest in +their prosperity, solid advantages might be expected to accrue; that the +zemindar would be less liable to failure or deficiencies than the +farmer, from the perpetual interest which the former hath in the +country, and because his inheritance cannot be removed, and it would be +improbable that he should risk the loss of it by eloping from his +district, which is too frequently practised by a farmer when he is +hard-pressed for the payment of his balances, and as frequently +predetermined when he receives his farm." That, notwithstanding all the +preceding declarations made by the said Warren Hastings of the loss of +one third of the inhabitants and general decline of the country, he did, +immediately after his appointment to the government, in the year 1772, +make an arbitrary settlement of the revenues for five years at a higher +rate than had ever been received before, and with a progressive and +accumulating increase on each of the four last years of the said +settlement. + +That, notwithstanding the right of property and inheritance, repeatedly +acknowledged by the said Warren Hastings to be in the zemindars and +other native landholders, and notwithstanding he had declared "that the +security of private property is the greatest encouragement to industry, +on which the wealth of every state depends," the said Warren Hastings, +nevertheless, in direct violation of those acknowledged rights and +principles, did universally let the lands of Bengal _in farm_ for five +years,--thereby destroying all the rights of private property of the +zemindars,--thereby delivering the management of their estates to +farmers, and transferring by a most arbitrary and unjust act of power +the whole landed property of Bengal from the owners to strangers. That, +to accomplish this iniquitous purpose, he, the said Warren Hastings, did +put the lands of Bengal up to a pretended public auction, _and invited +all persons to make proposals for farming the same_, thereby encouraging +strangers to bid against the proprietors,--in consequence of which, not +only the said proprietors were ousted of the possession and management +of their estates, but a great part of the lands fell into the hands of +the banians, or principal black servants of British subjects connected +with and protected by the government; and that the said Warren Hastings +himself has since declared, that _by this way the lands too generally +fell into the hands of desperate or knavish adventurers_.[6] That, +before the measure hereinbefore described was carried into execution, +the said Warren Hastings did establish certain fundamental regulations +in Council, to be observed in executing the same.[7] That among these +regulations it was specially and strictly ordered, that no farm should +exceed the annual amount of _one_ lac of rupees, and "that no peshcar, +banian, or other servant, of whatever denomination, of the collector, or +relation or dependant of any such servant, should be allowed to farm +lands, nor directly or indirectly to hold a concern in any farm, nor to +be security for any farmer." That, in direct violation of these his own +regulations, and in breach of the public trust reposed in him, and +sufficiently declared by the manifest duty of his station, if it had not +been expressed and enforced by any positive institution, he, the said +Warren Hastings, did permit and suffer his own banian or principal black +steward, named Cantoo Baboo, to hold farms in different purgunnahs, or +districts, or to be security for farms, to the amount of thirteen lac of +rupees (130,000_l._ or upwards) per annum; and that, after enjoying the +whole of those farms for two years, he was permitted by the said Warren +Hastings to relinquish two of them. That on the subject of the farms +held by Cantoo Baboo the said Warren Hastings has made the following +declaration. "Many of his farms were taken without my knowledge, and +almost all against my advice. I had no right to use compulsion or +authority; nor could I with justice exclude him, because he was my +servant, from a liberty allowed to all other persons in the country. The +farms which he quitted he quitted by my advice, because I thought that +he might engage himself beyond his abilities, and be involved in +disputes, which I did not choose to have come before me as judge of +them."[8] That the said declaration contains sundry false and +contradictory assertions: that, if _almost all_ the said farms were +taken against his advice, it cannot be true that _many_ of them were +taken without his knowledge; that, whether Cantoo Baboo had been his +servant or not, the said Warren Hastings was bound by his own +regulations to prevent his holding any farms to a greater amount than +one lac of rupees per annum, and that the said Cantoo Baboo, being the +servant of the Governor-General, was excluded by the said regulations +from holding any farms whatever; that, if (as the Directors observe) it +was thought dangerous to permit the banian of a collector to be +concerned in farms, the same or stronger objections would always lie +against the Governor's banian being so concerned; that the said Warren +Hastings had a right, and was bound by his duty, to prevent his servant +from holding the same; that, in advising the said Cantoo Baboo to +relinquish some of the said farms, for which he was actually engaged, he +has acknowledged an influence over his servant, and has used that +influence for a purpose inconsistent with his duty to the India Company, +namely, to deprive them of the security of the said Cantoo Baboo's +engagement for farms which on trial he had found not beneficial, or not +likely to continue beneficial, to himself; and that, if it was improper +that he, the said Warren Hastings, should be the judge of any disputes +in which his servant might be involved on account of his farms, that +reason ought to have obliged him to prevent his servant from being +engaged in any farms whatever, or to have advised his said servant to +relinquish the remainder of his farms, as well as those which the said +Warren Hastings affirms he quitted by his advice. That on the subject of +the said charge the Court of Directors of the East India Company have +come to the following resolution: "_Resolved_, That it appears that the +conduct of the late President and Council of Fort William in Bengal, in +suffering Cantoo Baboo, the present Governor-General's banian, to hold +farms in different purgunnahs to a large amount, or to be security for +such farms, contrary to the tenor and spirit of the 17th regulation of +the Committee of Revenue at Fort William, of the 14th May, 1772, and +afterwards relinquishing that security without satisfaction made to the +Company, was highly improper, and has been attended with considerable +loss to the Company"; and that in the whole of this transaction the said +Warren Hastings has been guilty of gross collusion with his servant, and +manifest breach of trust to his employers. + +That, whereas it was acknowledged by the said Warren Hastings, that the +country, in the years 1770 and 1771, had suffered great depopulation and +decay, and that the collections of those years, having been violently +kept up to their former standard, had added to the distress of the +country, the settlement of the revenues made by him for five years, +commencing the 1st May, 1772, instead of offering any abatement or +relief to the inhabitants who had survived the famine, held out to the +East India Company a promise of great _increase_ of revenue, to be +exacted from the country by the means hereinbefore described. That this +settlement was not realized, but fell considerably short, even in the +first of the five years, when the demand was the lightest; and that on +the whole of the five years the real collections fell short of the +settlement to the enormous amount of two millions and a half sterling, +and upwards. That such a settlement, if it had been or could have been +rigorously exacted from a country already so distressed, and from a +population so impaired, that, in the belief of the said Warren Hastings, +it was impossible such loss could be recruited in four or five years, +would have been in fact, what it appeared to be in form, an act of the +most cruel and tyrannical oppression; but that the real use made of that +unjust demand upon the natives of Bengal was, to oblige them to +compound privately with the persons who formed the settlement, and who +threatened to enforce it. That the enormous balances and remissions on +that settlement arose from a general collusion between the farmers and +collectors, and from a general peculation and embezzlement of the +revenues, by which the East India Company was grossly imposed on, in the +first instance, by a promised _increase_ of revenue, and defrauded, in +the second, not only by the failure of that _increase_, but by the +revenues falling short of what they were in the two years preceding the +said settlement to a great amount. That the said Warren Hastings, being +then at the head of the government of Bengal, was a party to all the +said imposition, fraud, peculation, and embezzlement, and is principally +and specially answerable for the same; and that, whereas sundry proofs +of the said peculation and embezzlement were brought before the Court of +Directors, the said Directors (in a letter dated the 4th of March, 1778, +and signed by William Devaynes and Nathaniel Smith, Esquires, now +Chairman and Deputy-Chairman of the said Court, and members of this +House) did declare, that, "although it was rather their wish to prevent +future evils than to enter into a severe retrospection of past abuses, +yet, as in some of the cases then before them they conceived there had +been _flagrant corruption_, and in others great oppressions committed on +the native inhabitants, they thought it unjust to suffer the delinquents +to pass wholly unpunished, and therefore they directed the +Governor-General and Council forthwith to commence a prosecution against +the persons who composed the Committee of Circuit, and their +representatives, and against all other proper parties"; but that the +prosecutions so ordered by the Court of Directors in the year 1778 have +never been brought to trial; and that the said Warren Hastings did, on +the 23d of December, 1783, propose and carry it in Council, _that orders +should be given for withdrawing_ the said prosecutions,--declaring, that +he was clearly of opinion that there was no ground to maintain them, and +_that they would only be productive of expense to the Company and +unmerited vexation to the parties_. + + +REVENUES. + +PART II. + +That the said Warren Hastings has on sundry occasions declared his +deliberate opinion generally against all innovations, and particularly +in the collection and management of the revenues of Bengal: that "he was +well aware of the expense and inconvenience _which ever attends +innovations of all kinds_, on, their first institution;[9]--that +innovations are _always_ attended with difficulties and inconveniences, +and innovations in the revenue with a suspension of the +collections;[10]--that the continual variations in the mode of +collecting the revenue, and the continual usurpation on the rights of +the people, have fixed in the minds of the ryots a rooted distrust of +the ordinances of government."[11] That the Court of Directors have +repeatedly declared their apprehensions "that a sudden transition from +one mode to another, in the investigation and collection of their +revenue, might have alarmed the inhabitants, lessened their confidence +in the Company's proceedings, and been attended with other evils."[12] + +That the said Warren Hastings, immediately after his appointment to the +government of Fort William, in April, 1772, did abolish the office of +_Naib Dewan_, or native collector of the revenues, then existing; that +he did at the same time appoint a committee of the board to go on a +circuit through the provinces, and to form a settlement of the revenues +for five years; that he did then appoint sundry of the Company's +servants to have the management of the collections, viz., one in each +district, under the title of _Collector_; that he did then abolish the +General Board of Revenue or Council at Moorshedabad, for the following +reasons: "That, while the controlling and executive part of the revenue +and the correspondence with the collectors was carried on by a council +at Moorshedabad, the members of the administration at Calcutta had no +opportunity of acquiring that thorough and comprehensive knowledge which +could only result from _practical experience_; that the orders of the +Court of Directors, which established a new system, which enjoined many +new regulations and inquiries, could not properly be delegated to a +subordinate council, and it became absolutely necessary that the +business of the revenue should be conducted _under the immediate +observation and direction of the board_."[13]--That in November, 1773, +the said Warren Hastings abolished the office of Collector, and +transferred the collection and management of the revenues to several +councils of revenue, commonly called _Provincial Councils_. That on the +24th of October, 1774, the said Warren Hastings _earnestly offered his +advice_ (to the Governor-General and Council, then newly appointed by +act of Parliament) _for the continuation of the said system of +Provincial Councils in all its parts_. That the said Warren Hastings +did, on the 22d of April, 1775, transmit to the Directors a formal plan +for the future settlement of the revenues, and did therein declare, +that, "with respect to the mode of managing the collection of the +revenue and the administration of justice, none occurred to him so good +as the system which was already established of Provincial Councils." +That on the 18th of January, 1776, the said Warren Hastings did transmit +to the Court of Directors a plan for the better administration of +justice, that in this plan the establishment of the said Provincial +Councils was specially provided for and confirmed, and that Warren +Hastings did recommend it to the Directors _to obtain the sanction of +Parliament for a confirmation of the said plan_. That on the 30th of +April, 1776, the said Warren Hastings did transmit to the Court of +Directors the draft or scheme of an act of Parliament for the better +administration of justice in the provinces, in which the said +establishment of Provincial Councils is again specially included, and +special jurisdiction assigned to the said Councils. That the Court of +Directors, in a letter dated 5th of February, 1777, did give the +following instruction to the Governor-General and Council, a majority of +whom, viz., Sir John Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis, had +disapproved of the plan of Provincial Councils: "If you are fully +convinced that the establishment of Provincial Councils has not answered +nor is not capable of answering the purposes intended by such +institutions, we hereby direct you to form a new plan for the collection +of the revenues, and to transmit the same to _us for our +consideration_."--That the said Warren Hastings, in contradiction to his +own sentiments repeatedly declared, and to his own advice repeatedly +and deliberately given, and in defiance of the orders of the Directors, +to whom he transmitted no previous communication whatever of his +intention to abolish the said Provincial Councils, did, in the beginning +of the year 1781, again change the whole system of the collections of +the public revenue of Bengal, as also the administration of civil and +criminal justice throughout the provinces. That the said Warren +Hastings, in a letter dated 5th of May, 1781, advising the Court of +Directors of the said changes, has falsely affirmed, "that the plan of +superintending and collecting the public revenue of the provinces +through the agency of Provincial Councils had been instituted for the +temporary and declared purpose of introducing another more permanent +mode _by an easy and gradual change_"; that, on the contrary, the said +Warren Hastings, from the year 1773 to the year 1781, has constantly and +uniformly insisted on the wisdom of that institution, and on the +necessity of never departing from it; that he has in that time +repeatedly advised that the said institution should be confirmed _in +perpetuity_ by an act of Parliament; that the said total dissolution of +the Provincial Councils was not introduced by any easy and gradual +change, nor by any gradations whatever, but was sudden and unprepared, +and instantly accomplished by a single act of power; and that the said +Warren Hastings, in the place of the said Councils, has substituted a +Committee of Revenue, consisting of four covenanted servants, on +principles opposite to those which he had himself professed, and with +exclusive powers, tending to deprive the members of the Supreme Council +of a due knowledge of and inspection into the management of the +territorial revenues, specially and unalienably vested by the +legislature in the Governor-General and Council, and to vest the same +solely and entirely in the said Warren Hastings. That the reasons +assigned by the said Warren Hastings for constituting the said Committee +of Revenue are incompatible with those which he professed when he +abolished the subordinate Council of Revenue at Moorshedabad: that he +has invested the said Committee _in the fullest manner with all the +powers and authority of the Governor-General and Council_; that he has +thereby contracted the whole power and office of the Provincial Councils +into a small compass, and vested the same in four persons appointed by +himself; that he has thereby taken the general transaction and +cognizance of revenue business out of the Supreme Council; that the said +Committee are empowered to conduct the current business of the revenue +department without reference to the Supreme Council, and only _report to +the board such extraordinary occurrences, claims, and proposals as may +require the special orders of the board_; that even the instruction to +report to the board in extraordinary cases is nugatory and fallacious, +being accompanied with limitations which make it impossible for the said +board to decide on any questions whatsoever: since it is expressly +provided by the said Warren Hastings, _that, if the members of the +Committee differ in opinion, it is not expected that every dissentient +opinion should be recorded_; consequently the Supreme Council, on any +reference to their board, can see nothing but the resolutions or reasons +of the majority of the Committee, without the arguments on which the +dissentient opinions might be founded: and since it is also expressly +provided by the said Warren Hastings, that _the determination of the +majority of the Committee should not therefore be stayed, unless it +should be so agreed by the majority_,--that is, that, notwithstanding +the reference to the Supreme Council, the measure shall be executed +without waiting for their decision. + +That the said Warren Hastings has delivered his opinion, with many +arguments to support the same, in favor of long leases of the lands, in +preference to _annual_ settlements: that he has particularly declared, +"that the farmer who holds his farm for one year only, having no +interest in the next, takes what he can with the hand of rigor, which, +even in the execution of legal claims, is often equivalent to violence; +he is under the necessity of being rigid, and _even cruel_,--for what is +left in arrear after the expiration of his power is at best a doubtful +debt, if ever recoverable; he will be tempted to exceed the bounds of +right, and to augment his income by irregular exactions, and by racking +the tenants, for which pretences will not be wanting, where the farms +pass _annually_ from one hand to another; that the discouragements which +the tenants feel from being transferred every year to new landlords are +a great objection to such short leases; that they contribute to injure +the cultivation and dispeople the lands; that, on the contrary, from +long farms the farmer acquires a permanent interest in his lands; he +will, for his own sake, lay out money in assisting his tenants in +improving lands already cultivated, and in clearing and cultivating +waste lands."[14] That, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings, having +left it to the discretion of the Committee of Revenue, appointed by him +in 1781, to fix the time for which the ensuing settlement should be +made, and the said Committee having declared, that, _with respect to the +period of the lease, in general, it appeared to the Committee that to +limit them to one year would be the best period_, he, the said Warren +Hastings, approved of that limitation, in manifest contradiction to all +his own arguments, professions, and declarations concerning the fatal +consequences of _annual_ leases of the lands; that in so doing the said +Warren Hastings did not hold himself bound or restrained by the orders +of the Court of Directors, but acted upon his own discretion; and that +he has, for partial and interested purposes, exercised that discretion +in particular instances against his own general settlement for one year, +by granting perpetual leases of farms and zemindaries to persons +specially favored by him, and particularly by granting a perpetual lease +of the zemindary of Baharbund to his servant Cantoo Baboo on very low +terms. + +That in all the preceding transactions the said Warren Hastings did act +contrary to his duty as Governor of Fort William, contrary to the orders +of his employers, and contrary to his own declared sense of expediency, +consistency, and justice, and thereby did harass and afflict the +inhabitants of the provinces with perpetual changes in the system and +execution of the government placed over them, and with continued +innovations and exactions, against the rights of the said +inhabitants,--thereby destroying all security to private property, and +all confidence in the good faith, principles, and justice of the British +government. And that the said Warren Hastings, having substituted his +own instruments to be the managers and collectors of the public revenue, +in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, did act in manifest breach and +defiance of an act of the 13th of his present Majesty, by which _the +ordering and management and government of all the territorial revenues +in the kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa_ were vested in the +Governor-General and Council, without any power of delegating the said +trust and duty to any other persons; and that, by such unlawful +delegation of the powers of the Council to a subordinate board appointed +by himself, he, the said Warren Hastings, did in effect unite and vest +in his own person the ordering, government, and management of all the +said territorial revenues; and that for the said illegal act he, the +said Warren Hastings, is solely answerable, the same having been +proposed and resolved in Council when the Governor-General and Council +consisted but of two persons present,--namely, the said Warren Hastings, +and the late Edward Wheler, Esquire, and when consequently the +Governor-General, by virtue of the casting voice, possessed the whole +power of the government. That, in all the changes and innovations +hereinbefore described, the pretence used by the said Warren Hastings to +recommend and justify the same to the Court of Directors has been, that +such changes and innovations would be attended with increase of revenue +or diminution of expense to the East India Company; that such pretence, +if true, would not have been a justification of such acts; but that such +pretence is false and groundless: that during the administration of the +said Warren Hastings the territorial revenues have declined; that the +charges of collecting the same have greatly increased; and that the said +Warren Hastings, by his neglect, mismanagement, and by a direct and +intended waste of the Company's property, is chargeable with and +answerable for all the said decline of revenue, and all the said +increase of expense. + + + + +XVI.--MISDEMEANORS IN OUDE. + + +I. That the province of Oude and its dependencies were, before their +connection with and subordination to the Company, in a flourishing +condition with regard to culture, commerce, and population, and their +rulers and principal nobility maintained themselves in a state of +affluence and splendor; but very shortly after the period aforesaid, the +prosperity both of the country and its chiefs began sensibly and rapidly +to decline, insomuch that the revenue of the said province, which, on +the lowest estimation, had been found, in the commencement of the +British influence, at upwards of three millions sterling annually, (and +that ample revenue raised without detriment to the country,) did not in +the year 1779 exceed the sum of 1,500,000_l._, and in the subsequent +years did fall much short of that sum, although the rents were generally +advanced, and the country grievously oppressed in order to raise it. + +II. That in the aforesaid year, 1779, the demands of the East India +Company on the Nabob of Oude are stated by Mr. Purling, their Resident +at the court of Oude, to amount to the sum of 1,360,000_l._ sterling and +upwards, leaving (upon the supposition that the whole revenue should +amount to the sum of 1,500,000_l._ sterling, to which it did not amount) +no more than 140,000_l._ sterling for the support of the dignity of the +household and family of the Nabob, and for the maintenance of his +government, as well as for the payment of the public debts due within +the province. + +III. That by the treaty of Fyzabad a regular brigade of the Company's +troops, to be stationed in the dominions of the Nabob of Oude, was kept +up at the expense of the said Nabob; in addition to which a temporary +brigade of the same troops was added to his establishment, together with +several detached corps in the Company's service, and a great part of his +own native Troops were put under the command of British officers. + +IV. That the expense of the Company's temporary brigade increased in the +same year (the year of 1779) upwards of 80,000_l._ sterling above the +estimate, and the expense of the country troops under British officers +in the same period increased upwards of 40,000_l._ sterling; and in +addition to the aforesaid ruinous expenses, a large civil establishment +was gradually, secretly, and without any authority from the Court of +Directors, or record in the books of the Council-General concerning the +same, formed for the Resident, and another under Mr. Wombwell, an agent +for the Company; as also several pensions and allowances, in the same +secret and clandestine manner, were charged on the revenues of the said +Nabob for the benefit of British subjects, besides large occasional +gifts to persons in the Company's service. + +V. That in the month of November, 1779, the said Nabob did represent to +Mr. Purling, the Company's Resident aforesaid, the distressed state of +his revenues in the following terms. "During three years past, the +expense occasioned by the troops in brigade, and others commanded by +European officers, has much distressed the support of my household, +insomuch that the allowances made to the seraglio and children of the +deceased Nabob have been reduced to _one fourth_ of what it had been, +upon which they have subsisted in a very distressed manner for two years +past. The attendants, writers, and servants, &c., of my court, have +received no pay for two years past; and there is at present no part of +the country that can be allotted to the payment of my father's private +creditors, whose applications are daily pressing upon me. All these +difficulties I have for these three years past struggled through, and +found this consolation therein, that it was complying with the pleasure +of the Honorable Company, and in the hope that the Supreme Council would +make inquiry from impartial persons into my distressed situation; but I +am now forced to a representation. From the _great increase of expense_, +the revenues were necessarily farmed out _at a high rate;_ and +deficiencies followed yearly. The country and cultivation is abandoned; +and this year in particular, from the excessive drought, deductions of +many lacs" (stated by the Resident, in his letter to the board of the +13th of the month following, to amount to twenty-five lac, or +250,000_l._ sterling) "have been allowed the farmers, who were still +left unsatisfied. I have received but just sufficient to support my +absolute necessities, the revenues being deficient to the amount of +fifteen lac [150,000_l._ sterling], and for this reason many of the old +chieftains with their troops, and the useful attendants of the court, +were forced to leave it, and there is now only a few foot and horse for +the collection of my revenues; and should the zemindars be refractory, +there is not left a sufficient number to reduce them to obedience." And +the said Nabob did therefore pray that the assignments for the new +brigade, the corps of horse, and the other detached bodies of the +Company's troops might not be required from him: alleging, "that the +former was not only quite useless to his government, but, moreover, the +cause of much loss, both in the revenues and customs; and that the +detached bodies of troops under their European officers brought nothing +but confusion into the affairs of his government, and were entirely +their own masters." + +VI. That it appears that the said Nabob was not bound by any treaty to +the maintenance, without his consent, _even of the old brigade_,--the +Court of Directors having, in their letter of the 15th December, 1775, +approved of keeping the same in his service, "_provided it was done with +the free consent of the Subah, and by no means without it_." And the +_new brigade_ and temporary corps were raised on the express condition, +that the expense thereof should be charged on the Nabob only "_for so +long a time as he should require the corps for his service_." And the +Court of Directors express to the Governor-General and Council their +sense of the said agreement in the following terms: "But if you intend +to exert your influence first to induce the Vizier to acquiesce in your +proposal, and afterwards _to compel him to keep the troops in his pay +during your pleasure, your intents are unjust; and a correspondent +conduct would reflect great dishonor on the Company_." + +VII. That, in answer to the decent and humble representation aforesaid +of the Nabob of Oude, the allegations of which, so far as they relate to +the distressed state of the Nabob's finances, and his total inability to +discharge the demands made on him, were confirmed by the testimony of +the English Resident at Oude, and which the said Hastings did not deny +in the whole or in any part thereof, he, the said Warren Hastings, did, +on pretence of certain political dangers, declare the relief desired to +be "without hesitation _totally_ inadmissible," and did falsely and +maliciously insinuate, "that the _tone_ in which the demands of the +Nabob were asserted, and the season in which they were made, did give +cause for _the most alarming suspicions_." And the said Warren Hastings +did, in a letter to the Nabob aforesaid, written in haughty and insolent +language, and without taking any notice of the distresses of the said +Nabob, alleged and verified as before recited, "require and insist upon +your [the Nabob's] granting _tuncaws_ [assignments] for the full amount +of their [the Company's] demands upon you for the current year, and on +your reserving funds sufficient to answer them, _even should the +deficiencies of your revenues compel you to leave your own troops +unprovided for, or to disband a part of them to enable you to effect +it_." + +VIII. That, in a letter written at the same time to the Resident, +Purling, and intended for his directions in enforcing on the Nabob the +unjust demands aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings hath asserted, in +direct contradiction to the treaties subsisting between the said Nabob +and the Company, "that he [the Nabob] stands engaged to our government +to maintain the English armies which at his own request have been formed +for the protection of his dominions, and _that it is our part, and not +his, to judge and determine in what manner and at what time these shall +be reduced and withdrawn_." And in a Minute of Consultation, when the +aforesaid measure was proposed by the said Hastings to the Supreme +Council, he did affirm and maintain that the troops aforesaid "had now +no _separate_ or distinct existence from ours, and may be properly said +to consist of our _whole_ military establishment, with the exception +only of our European infantry; and that they could not be withdrawn +without imposing on the Company _the additional burden of them_, or +disbanding nine battalions of disciplined sepoys and three regiments of +horse." + +IX. That in the Minute of Consultation aforesaid, he, the said Warren +Hastings, hath further, in justification of the violent and arbitrary +proceedings aforesaid, asserted, "that the arrangement of measures +between the British government and their allies, the native powers of +India, must, in case of disagreement about the necessity thereof, _be +decided by the strongest_"; and hath thereby advanced a dangerous and +most indecently expressed position, subversive of the rights of allies, +and tending to breed war and confusion, instead of cordiality and +coöperation amongst them, and to destroy all confidence of the princes +of India in the faith and justice of the English nation. And the said +Hastings, having further, in the minute aforesaid, presumed to threaten +to "bring to punishment, if my influence" (his, the said Hastings's, +influence) "can produce that effect, _those incendiaries_ who have +endeavored to make themselves the instruments of division between us," +hath, as far as in him lay, obstructed the performance of one of the +most essential duties of a prince engaged in an unequal alliance with a +presiding state,--that of representing the grievances of his subjects to +that more powerful state by whose acts they suffer: leaving thereby the +governing power in total ignorance of the effects of its own measures, +and to the oppressed people no other choice than the alternative of an +unqualified submission, or a resistance productive of consequences more +fatal. + +X. That, all relief being denied to the Nabob, in the manner and on the +grounds aforesaid, the demands of the Company on the said Nabob in the +year following, that is to say, in the year 1780, did amount to the +enormous sum of 1,400,000_l._ sterling, and the distress of the province +did rapidly increase. + +XI. That the Nabob, on the 24th of February of the same year, did again +write to the Governor-General, the said Warren Hastings, a letter, in +which he expressed his constant friendship to the Company, and his +submission and obedience to their orders, and asserting that he had not +troubled them with any of his difficulties, trusting they would learn +them from other quarters, and that he should be relieved by their +friendship. "But," he says, "when _the knife had penetrated to the +bone_, and I was surrounded with such heavy distresses that I could no +longer live in expectations, I then wrote an account of my difficulties. +The answer I have received to it is such that it has given me +inexpressible grief and affliction. I never had the least idea or +expectation from you and the Council that you would have given your +orders in _so afflicting a manner, in which you never before wrote, and +I could never have imagined_. I have delivered up all my _private_ +papers to him [the Resident], that, after examining my receipts and +expenses, he may take whatever remains. That, as I know it to be my +duty to satisfy you [the Company and Council], I have not failed to obey +in any instance; but requested of him that it might be done so as not to +distress me in my _necessary_ expenses. There being no other funds but +those for the expenses of my _mutseddies_ [clerks and accountants], +household expenses, and servants, &c., he demanded these in such a +manner, that, being remediless, I was obliged to comply with what he +required. He has accordingly stopped _the pensions of my old servants +for thirty years, whether sepoys [soldiers], mutseddies [secretaries and +accountants], or household servants, and the expenses of my family and +kitchen, together with the jaghires of my grandmother, mother, and +aunts, and of my brothers and dependants, which were for their +support_." + +XII. That, in answer to the letter aforesaid, the Resident received from +the said Warren Hastings and Council an order to persevere in the demand +to its fullest extent,--that is to say, to the amount of 1,400,000_l._ +sterling. + +XIII. That on the 15th of May the Nabob replied, complaining in an +humble and suppliant manner of his distressed situation: that he had at +first opposed the assigning to the use of the Company the estates of his +mother, of his grandmother, of one of his uncles, and of the sons of +another, but that, in obedience to the injunctions of the gentlemen of +the Council, it had been done, to the amount, on the whole, of +80,000_l._ sterling a year, or thereabouts; that whatever effects were +in the country, with even his table, his animals, and the salaries of +his servants, were granted in assignments; that, besides these, if they +were resolved again to compel him to give up the estates of his parents +and relations, which were granted them for their maintenance, they were +at the Company's disposal; saying, "If the Council have directed you to +attach them, do it: in the country no further sources remain. I have no +means; for I have not a subsistence.--How long shall I dwell upon my +misfortunes?" + +XIV. That the truth of the said remonstrances was not disputed, nor the +_tone_ in which they were written complained of, the same being +submissive, and even abject, though the cause (his distresses) was by +the said Hastings, in a great degree, and in terms the most offensive, +attributed to the Nabob himself; but no relief was given, and the same +unwarrantable establishments, maintained at the same ruinous expense, +were kept up. + +XV. That the said Warren Hastings, having considered as incendiaries +those who advised the remonstrances aforesaid, and, to prevent the same +in future, having denounced vengeance on those concerned therein, did, +for the purpose of keeping in his own power all representations of the +state of the court and country aforesaid, and to subject both the one +and the other to his own arbitrary will, and to draw to himself and to +his creatures the management of the Nabob's revenues, in defiance of the +orders of the Court of Directors, a second time recall Mr. Bristow, the +Company's Resident, from the court of Oude,--having once before recalled +him, as the said Directors express themselves, "without the shadow of a +charge being exhibited against him," and having, on the occasion and +time now stated, produced no specific charge against the said Resident; +and he, the said Hastings, did appoint Nathaniel Middleton, Esquire, to +succeed him,--it being his declared principle, that he must have a +person of _his own_ confidence in that situation. + +XVI. That the said Warren Hastings, after he had refused all relief to +the distresses of the Nabob in the manner aforesaid, and had described +those who advised the representation of the grievances of Oude as +_incendiaries_, did himself, in a minute of the 21st May, 1781, describe +that province "as fallen into a state of great disorder and confusion, +and its resources in an extraordinary degree diminished,"--and did +state, that his presence in the said province was requested by the +Nabob, and that, unless some effectual measures were taken for his +relief, he [the Nabob] must be under the necessity of leaving his +country, and coming down to Calcutta, to represent the situation of his +government. And Mr. Wheler did declare that the Governor-General's +representation of the state of that province "was but too well founded, +and was convinced that it would require his utmost abilities and powers, +applied and exercised on the spot, to restore it to its former good +order and affluence." + +XVII. That the said Warren Hastings, in consequence of the minute +aforesaid, did grant to himself, and did procure the consent of his only +colleague, Edward Wheler, Esquire, to a commission or delegation, with +powers "to assist the Nabob Vizier in forming such regulations as may +be necessary for the peace and good order of his government, the +improvement of his revenue, and the adjustment of the mutual concerns +subsisting between him and the Company." And in the said commission or +delegation he, the said Warren Hastings, did cause to be inserted +certain powers and provisions of a new and dangerous nature: that is to +say, reciting the business before mentioned, he did convey to himself +"such authority to enforce the same _as the Governor-General and Council +might or could exercise on occasions in which they could be warranted to +exercise the same_, and to form and conclude such several engagements or +treaties with the Nabob Vizier, the government of Berar, and with any +chiefs or powers of Hindostan, as _he_ should judge expedient and +necessary." Towards the conclusion of the act or instrument aforesaid +are the words following, viz.: "It is hereby declared, that all such +acts, and all such engagements or treaties aforesaid, shall be binding +on the Governor-General and Council in the same manner, _and as +effectually, as if they had been done and passed by the specific and +immediate concurrence and actual junction of the Governor-General and +Council, in council assembled_." And the said powers were, by the said +Warren Hastings, given by himself and the said Wheler, under the seal of +the Company, on the 3d July, 1781. + +XVIII. That the said commission, delegating to him, the said Warren +Hastings, the whole functions of the Council, is destructive to the +constitution thereof, and is contrary to the Company's standing orders, +and is illegal. + +XIX. That, in virtue of those powers, and the illegal delegation +aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings, after he had finished his business +at Benares, did procure a meeting with the Nabob of Oude at a place +called Chunar, upon the confines of the country of Benares, and did +there enter into a treaty, or pretended treaty, with the said Nabob; one +part of which the said Warren Hastings did pretend was drawn up from a +series of requisitions presented to him by the Nabob, but which +requisitions, or any copy thereof, or of any other material document +relative thereto, he did not at the time transmit to the +Presidency,--the said Warren Hastings informing Mr. Wheler, that the +Resident, Middleton, had taken the _authentic_ papers relative to this +transaction with him to Lucknow: and it does not appear that the said +Warren Hastings did ever reclaim the said papers, in order to record +them at the Presidency, to be transmitted to the Court of Directors, as +it was his duty to do. + +XX. That the purport of certain articles of the said treaty, on the part +of the Company, was, that, in consideration of the Nabob's _inability_ +(which inability the preamble of the treaty asserts to have been +"repeatedly and urgently represented") to support the expenses of the +temporary brigade, and of three regiments of cavalry, and also of the +British officers with their battalions, and of _other_ gentlemen who +were then paid by him, the several corps aforesaid, and the other +gentlemen, (with the exception of the Resident's office _then on the +Nabob's list_, and a regiment of sepoys for the Resident's guard,) +should, after a term of two and a half months, be no longer at his, the +Nabob's, charge: "the true meaning of this being, that no more troops +than one brigade, and the pay and allowances of a regiment of sepoys," +(as aforesaid, to the Resident,) amounting in the whole to 342,000_l._ a +year, should be paid by the Nabob; and that _no officers, troops, or +others, should be put upon the Nabob's establishment_, exclusive of +those in the said treaty stipulated. + +XXI. That the said Warren Hastings did defend and justify the said +articles, in which the troops aforesaid were to be removed from the +Nabob's establishment, by declaring as follows. "That the _actual_ +disbursements to those troops had fallen upon _our own funds_, and that +_we_ support a body of troops, established _solely_ for the defence of +the Nabob's possessions, _at our own expense_. It is true, we charge the +Nabob with this expense; but the large balance already due from him +shows too justly the little prospect there was of disengaging ourselves +from _a burden_ which was daily adding to _our_ distresses and must soon +become _insupportable_, although it were granted that the Nabob's debt, +then suffered to accumulate, _might at some future period be +liquidated_, and that this measure would substantially effect an instant +relief to the pecuniary distresses of the Company." + +XXII. That Nathaniel Middleton, the Resident, did also declare that he +would at all times testify, "that, upon the plan of the foregoing years, +the receipts from the Nabob were only _a deception_, and _not an +advantage_, but _an injury_ to the Company," and "that a remission to +the Nabob of this _insufferable burden_ was _a profit_ to the Company." +And the said Hastings did assert that the force of the Company was not +lessened by withdrawing the temporary troops; although, when it suited +the purpose of the said Hastings, in denying just relief to the +distresses of the said Nabob of Oude, he had not scrupled to assert the +direct contrary of the positions by him maintained in justification of +the treaty of Chunar,--having in his minute aforesaid, of the 15th of +December, 1779, asserted, "that these troops" (the troops maintained by +the Nabob of Oude) "had no _separate or distinct existence_, and may be +properly said to consist of our whole military establishment, with the +exception only of our European infantry, and that they could not be +_withdrawn, without imposing on the Company the additional burden of +their expense_, or disbanding nine battalions of disciplined sepoys and +three regiments of horse." + +XXIII. That he, the said Warren Hastings, in justification of his +agreement to withdraw the troops aforesaid from the territories and pay +of the Nabob of Oude, did further declare, "that he had been too much +accustomed to the tales of hostile preparation and impending invasions, +against all the evidence of political probability, to regard them as any +other than phantoms raised for the purpose of perpetuating or +multiplying commands," and he did trust "all ideas of danger from the +neighboring powers were altogether visionary; and that, even if they had +been better founded, this mode of anticipating possible evils would be +more mischievous than anything they had reason to apprehend," and that +the internal state of the Nabob's dominions did not require the +continuance of the said troops; and that the Nabob, "_whose concern it +was, and not ours_" did affirm the same,--notwithstanding he, the said +Hastings, had before, in answer to the humble supplications of the +Nabob, asserted, that "_it was our part, and not his_, to judge and +determine in what manner and at what time they should be reduced or +withdrawn." + +XXIV. That the said Warren Hastings, in support of his measure of +withdrawing the said brigade and other troops, did also represent, that +"the remote stations of those troops, placing the commanding officers +beyond the notice and control of the board, afforded too much +opportunity and temptation for unwarrantable emoluments, and excited the +_contagion of peculation and rapacity throughout the whole army_, and, +as an instance thereof, that a court-martial, composed of officers of +rank and respectable characters, unanimously and honorably, 'most +honorably,' acquitted an officer upon an acknowledged fact which in +times of stricter discipline would have been deemed a crime deserving +the severest punishment." + +XXV. That the said Warren Hastings, having in the letter aforesaid +contradicted all the grounds and reasons by him assigned for keeping up +the aforesaid establishment, and having declared his own conviction that +the whole was a fallacy and imposition, and a detriment to the Company +instead of a benefit, circumstances (if they are true) which he might +and ought to have well known, was guilty of an high crime and +misdemeanor in carrying on the imposture and delusion aforesaid, and in +continuing an insupportable burden and grievance upon the Nabob for +several years, without attending to his repeated supplications to be +relieved therefrom, to the utter ruin of his country, and to the +destruction of the discipline of the British troops, by diffusing among +them a general spirit of peculation; and the said Hastings hath +committed a grievous offence in upholding the same pernicious system, +until, by his own confession and declaration, in his minute of the 21st +of May, 1781, "the evils had _grown_ to so great an height, that +exertions will be required more powerful than can be made through the +delegated authority of the servants of the Company now in the province, +and that he was far from sanguine in his expectations that _even his own +endeavors would be attended with much success_." + +XXVI. That, at the time of making the said treaty, and at the time when, +under color of the distress of the Nabob of Oude, and the failure of all +other means for his relief, he, the said Hastings, broke the Company's +faith with the parents of the Nabob, and first encouraged and afterwards +compelled him to despoil them of their landed estates, money, jewels, +and household goods, and while the said Nabob continued heavily in debt +to the Company, he, the said Warren Hastings, did, "_without +hesitation_," accept of and receive from the Nabob of Oude and his +ministers (who are notoriously known to be not only under his influence, +but under his absolute command) a bribe, or unlawful gift or present, of +one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and upwards. That, even if the +said pretended gift could be supposed to be voluntary, it was contrary +to the express provision of the Regulating Act of the 13th year of his +Majesty's reign, prohibiting the receipt of all presents upon any +pretence whatsoever, and contrary to his own sense of the true intent +and meaning of the said act, declared upon a similar, but not so strong +a case,--that is, where the service done, and the present offered in +return for it, had taken place before the promulgation of the above laws +in India: on that occasion he declared, "that the exclusion by an act of +Parliament _admitted of no abatement or evasion_, wherever its authority +extended." + +XXVII. That the said Warren Hastings, confiding in an interest which he +supposed himself to have formed in the East India House, did endeavor to +prevail on the Court of Directors to violate the said act, and to suffer +him to appropriate the money so illegally accepted by him to his own +profit, as a reward for his services. + +XXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings has since declared to the Court of +Directors, that, when _fortune threw a sum in his way_ (meaning the sum +of money above mentioned) _of a magnitude which could not be concealed, +he chose to apprise his employers of it_:[15] thereby confessing, that, +but for the magnitude of the same rendering it difficult to be +concealed, he never would have discovered it to them. And the said +unlawful present being received at the time when, for reasons directly +contradictory of all his former recorded declarations, he did agree to +remove the aforesaid troops from the Nabob's dominions, and to recall +the pensioners aforesaid, it must be presumed that he did not agree to +give the relief (which he had before so obstinately refused) upon the +grounds and motives of justice, policy, or humanity, but in +consideration of the sum of money aforesaid, which, in a time of such +extreme distress in the Nabob's affairs, could not be rationally given, +except for those and other concessions stipulated for in the said +treaty, but which had on former occasions been refused. + +XXIX. That, notwithstanding his, the said Warren Hastings's, receipt of +the present of one hundred thousand pounds, as aforesaid, he did violate +every one of the stipulations in the said treaty contained, and +particularly he did continue in the country, and in the service of the +Nabob of Oude, those troops which he had so recently stipulated to +withdraw from his country and to take from his establishment: for, upon +the 24th of December following, he did order the temporary brigade, +making ten battalions of five hundred men each, to be again put on the +Vizier's list,--although he had recently informed the Court of +Directors, through Edward Wheler, Esquire, that any benefit to be +derived from the Nabob's paying that brigade was _a fallacy and a +deception_, and that the same was _a charge_ upon the Company, and not +_an alleviation of its distresses_, as well as _an insupportable burden_ +to the Nabob: thus having, within a short space of time, twice +contradicted himself, both in declaration and in conduct. + +XXX. That this measure, in direct violation of a treaty of not three +months' duration, was so injudicious, that, in the opinion of the +Assistant Resident, Johnson, "nothing less than blows could effect it": +he, the said Resident, further adding, "that the Nabob was not even able +to pay off the arrears still due to it [the new brigade]; and that the +troops being _all_ in arrears, and no possibility of present payment, +so large a body assembled here [viz., at Lucknow] without any means to +check and control them, nothing but disorder could follow. As one proof +that the Nabob is as badly off for funds as we are, I may inform you +that his cavalry rose this day upon him, and went all armed to the +palace, to demand from thirteen to eighteen months' arrears, and were +with great difficulty persuaded to retire, which was probably more +effected by a body of troops getting under arms to go against them than +any other consideration." But the letter of Warren Hastings, Esquire, of +the 24th of December, giving the above orders for the infraction of the +treaty, and to which the letter from whence the foregoing extracts are +taken is an answer, doth not appear, any otherwise than as the same is +recited in the said answer. + +XXXI. That, notwithstanding the disorders and deficiencies in the +revenue aforesaid had continued and increased, and that three very large +balances had accumulated, the said Warren Hastings did cause the +Treasury accounts at Calcutta to be examined and scrutinized, and an +account of another arrear, composed of various articles, pretended to +have accumulated during seven years previous to the year 1779, (the +articles composing which, if they had been just, ought to have been +charged at the times they severally became due,) was sent to the +Resident, and payment thereof demanded, to the amount of 260,000_l._ +sterling; which unexpected demand, in so distressed a situation, did not +a little embarrass the Nabob. But whilst he and his ministers were +examining into the said unexpected demand, another, and fifth balance, +made up of similar forgotten articles, was demanded, to the amount of +140,000_l._ sterling more. Which said two last demands did so terrify +and confound the Nabob and his ministers, that they declared that the +Resident "might at once take the country, since justice was out of the +question." + +XXXII. That the said Hastings, in order to add to the confusion, +perplexity, and distress of the Nabob's affairs, did send to his court +(in which he had already a Resident and Assistant Resident) two secret +agents, Major Palmer and Major Davy, and did instruct Major Palmer to +make a variety of new claims, one of a loan to the Company of +600,000_l._ sterling, although he well knew the Nabob was himself +heavily in arrear to the Company, and was utterly unable to discharge +the same, as well as in arrear to his own troops, and to many +individuals, and that he borrowed (when he could at all borrow) at an +interest of near thirty per cent. To this demand was added a new bribe, +or unlawful present, to himself, to the amount of 100,000_l._ sterling, +which he did not refuse as unlawful and of evil example, but as +_indelicate_ in the Nabob's present situation,--and did, as if the same +was his own property, presume to dispose of it, and to desire the +transfer of it, as of his own bounty, to the Company, his masters. To +this second demand he, the said Hastings, added a third demand of +120,000_l._ sterling, for four additional regiments on the Nabob's list, +after he had solemnly engaged to take off the ten with which it had been +burdened: the whole of the claims through his private agent aforesaid +making the sum of 820,000_l._ sterling. + +XXXIII. That the demands, claims, &c., made by the said Warren Hastings +upon the government of Oude in that year amounted to the enormous sum of +2,530,000_l._ sterling; which joined to the arrears to troops, and some +internal failures, amounting to 255,000_l._ sterling more, the whole +charge arose to 2,785,000_l._ sterling, which was considerably more than +double the net produce of the Nabob's revenue,--the same only amounting +to 1,450,000_l._ "nominal revenue, never completely realized." + +XXXIV. That, towards providing for these extravagant demands, he, the +said Warren Hastings, did direct and authorize another breach of the +public faith given in the treaty of Chunar. For whereas, by the second +article of the treaty aforesaid, it was left to the Nabob's discretion +whether or not he should resume the landed estates, called jaghires, +within his dominions, and notwithstanding the said Hastings, in defence +of the said article, did declare that the Nabob should be left to the +exercise of his own authority and pleasure respecting them, yet he, the +said Hastings, did authorize a violent compulsion to be used towards the +said Nabob for accomplishing an universal confiscation of that species +of landed property; and in so doing he did also compel the Nabob to +break his faith with all the landholders of that description, not only +in violating the assurance of his own original grants, but his assurance +recently given, when, being pressed by the Company, he, the Nabob, had +made a temporary seizure of the profits of the lands aforesaid, in the +manner of a compulsory loan, for the repayment of which he gave his +bonds and obligations; and although he had at the same time solemnly +pledged his faith that he never would again resort to the like +oppressive measure, yet he, the said Warren Hastings, did cause him to +be compelled to confiscate the estates of at least sixty-seven of the +principal persons of his country, comprehending therein his own nearest +relations and the ancient friends and dependants of his family: the +annual value of the said estates thus confiscated amounting to +435,000_l._ sterling, or thereabouts, upon an old valuation, but stated +by the Resident, Middleton, as being found to yield considerably more. + +XXXV. That the violent and unjust measure aforesaid, subversive of +property, utterly destructive of several ancient and considerable +families, and most dishonorable to the British government, did produce +an universal discontent and the greatest confusion throughout the whole +country,--the said confiscated lands being on this occasion put to +rack-rents, and the people grievously oppressed: and to prevent a +possibility of redress, at least for a considerable time, the said +confiscated estates were mortgaged (it appearing otherwise impracticable +to make an approach towards satisfying the exorbitant demands of the +said Hastings) for a great sum to certain usurious bankers or +money-dealers at Benares. + +XXXVI. That, besides these enormous demands, which were in part made for +the support of several corps of troops under British officers which by +the treaty of Chunar ought to have been removed, very large extra +charges not belonging to the military list of the said Nabob, and +several civil charges and pensions, were continued, and others newly put +on since the treaty of Chunar, namely, an allowance to Sir Eyre Coote +of 15,554 rupees per month, (being upwards of 18,664_l._ sterling a +year,) and an allowance to Trevor Wheler, Esquire, of 5,000 rupees per +month (or 6,000_l._ sterling and upwards a year); and the whole of the +settled charges, not of a military nature, to British subjects, did +amount to little less than 140,000_l._ yearly, and, if other allowances +not included in the estimate were added, would greatly exceed that sum, +besides much more which may justly be suspected to have been paid, no +part whereof had at that time been brought forward to any public +account. + +XXXVII. That the commander of one of these corps, of whose burden the +said Nabob did complain, was Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Hannay, who +did farm the revenues of certain districts called Baraitch and +Goruckpore, which the said Hastings, in the ninth article of his +instructions to Mr. Bristow, did estimate at twenty-three lacs of +rupees, or 230,000_l._, per annum: but under his, the said Hannay's, +management, the collections did very greatly decline; complaints were +made that the countries aforesaid were harassed and oppressed, and the +same did fall into confusion, and at last the inhabitants broke out into +a general rebellion. + +XXXVIII. That the far greater part of the said heavy list was authorized +or ordered by him, the said Warren Hastings, for the purpose of +extending his own corrupt influence: for it doth appear, that, at the +time when he did pretend, in conformity to the treaty of Chunar +aforesaid, to remove the Company's servants, "_civil_ and military, +from the court and service of the Vizier," he did assert that he thereby +did "diminish _his own influence_, as well as that of his colleagues, by +narrowing the line of _patronage_"; which proves that the offices, +pensions, and other emoluments aforesaid, in Oude, were of _his_ +patronage, as his patronage could not be diminished by taking away the +said offices, &c., unless the same had been substantially of his gift. +And he did, at the time of the pretended reformation aforesaid, express +both his knowledge of the existence of the said excessive and abusive +establishments, and his sense of his duty in taking them away: for in +agreeing to the article in the treaty of Chunar for abolishing the said +establishments, he did declare himself "actuated solely by motives of +_justice_ to the Nabob, and a regard to _the honor of our national +character_"; and, according to his own representation, the said servants +of the Company, civil and military, "by their numbers, their influence, +and the _enormous amount_ of their salaries, pensions, and emoluments, +were an _intolerable_ burden on the revenues and authority of the +Vizier, and exposed us to _the envy and resentment of the whole +country_, by excluding the native servants and adherents of the Vizier +from the rewards of their services and attachment." + +XXXIX. That the revenue of the country being anticipated, mortgaged, and +dilapidated, by the counsel, concurrence, connivance, and influence, and +often by the direct order of the said Warren Hastings, the whole civil +government, magistracy, and administration of justice gradually declined +and at length totally ceased through the whole of the vast provinces +which compose the territory of Oude, and no power was visible therein +but that of the farmers of the revenue, attended by bodies of troops to +enforce the collections; insomuch that robberies, assassinations, and +acts of every description of outrage and violence were perpetrated with +impunity,--and even in the capital city of Lucknow, the seat of the +sovereign power, there was no court of justice whatever to take +cognizance of such offences. + +XL. That the said Warren Hastings, when he did interfere in the +government of Oude, was obliged by his duty to interfere for the good +purposes of government, and not merely for the purpose of extorting +money therefrom and enriching his own dependants,--which latter purpose +alone he did effect, in the manner before mentioned, but not one of the +former. For the said Hastings, having procured the extraordinary powers +given by and to himself by his delegation of the 3d of July, 1781, did +declare the same to be for the purpose, among many others, "of assisting +the Nabob Vizier in forming such regulations as may be necessary for the +peace and good order of his government and the improvement of his +revenue." And in consequence of the said powers, the said Warren +Hastings did, in the treaty of Chunar, obtain an article from the Nabob +by which the said Nabob did promise to attend to his advice in the +reformation of his civil administration; and he did give certain +instructions to the Resident, Middleton, to which he did require him to +yield _the most implicit obedience_, and did in one article thereof +direct him to urge the Nabob to endeavor gradually, if it could not be +done at once, to establish courts of _adawlut_ [justice], and that the +_darogahs_ [chief criminal magistrates], _moulavies_ [consulting or +assistant lawyers], and other officers, should be selected by the +ministers, with his, the Resident's, concurrence; and afterwards, in his +instructions to the Resident Bristow, desiring him to pursue the same +object, he declared his opinion, "that the want of such courts, and the +extreme licentiousness occasioned thereby, is one of the most +disreputable defects in his Highness the Nabob's government, and that, +while they do not exist, every man knows the hazard which he incurs in +lending his money "; but he did give him, the said Resident, no positive +instruction concerning the same, supposing the establishment of such +courts a matter of difficulty, and did therefore leave him a latitude in +his proceedings therein. + +XLI. That the said Resident Bristow did, however, in conformity to the +said instructions, at last given with such latitude, endeavor to prevail +on the said minister gradually to introduce courts of justice for the +cognizance of crimes, by beginning to establish a criminal court under a +native judge, to judge according to the Mahomedan law in the city of +Lucknow. But Hyder Beg Khân, a minister of the said Warren Hastings's +nomination, and solely dependent upon him, did elude and obstruct, and +in the end totally defeat, the establishment of the same. + +XLII. That the obstruction aforesaid, and the evil consequences thereof, +were duly represented to the said Hastings; and though the said Hastings +had made it the fourth article of a criminal charge against the Resident +Middleton, "that he did not report to the Governor-General, or to the +board, the progress which he had made from time to time in his endeavors +to comply with his instructions, and that, if he met with any +impediments in the execution of them, he had omitted to state those +impediments, and to apply for fresh orders upon them," yet he, the said +Hastings, did give no manner of support to the Resident Bristow against +the said Hyder Beg Khân, and did not even answer several of his letters, +the said Bristow's letters, stating the said impediments, or take any +notice of his remonstrances, but did at length revoke his own +instructions, declaring that he, the said Resident, should not presume +to act upon the same, and yet did not furnish him with any others, upon +which he might act, but did uphold the said Hyder Beg Khân in the +obstruction by him given to the performance of the first and fundamental +duty of all government,--namely, the administration of justice, and the +protection of the lives and property of the subject against wrong and +violence. + +XLIII. That the said Hastings did afterwards proceed to the length of +criminating the Resident Bristow aforesaid for his endeavors to +establish the said necessary court, as an invasion of the rights of the +Nabob's government,--when, if the Nabob in his own proper person and +character, and not the aforesaid Hyder Beg, (who was a creature of the +said Hastings,) had opposed the reëstablishment of justice in the said +country, it was the duty of the said Hastings to have pressed the same +upon him by every exertion of his influence. And the said Warren +Hastings, in his pretended attention to the Nabob's authority, when +exercised by his, the said Hastings's, minister, to prevent the +establishment of courts of justice for the protection of life and +property, at the same time that he did not hesitate, in the case of the +confiscation of the jaghires, and the proceedings against the mother and +grandmother of the Nabob, totally to supersede his authority, and to +force his inclinations in acts which overturned all the laws of +property, and offered violence to all the sentiments of natural +affection and duty, and accusing at the same time his instruments for +not going to the utmost lengths in the execution of his said orders, is +guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor. + +XLIV. That the said Hastings did highly aggravate his offence in +discountenancing and discouraging the reëstablishment of magistracy, +law, and order, in the country of Oude, inasmuch as he did in the eighth +article of his instructions to the Resident order him to exercise powers +which ought to have been exercised by lawful magistrates, and in a +manner agreeable to law. And in the said article he did state the +prevalence of rebellion in the said country of Oude,--as if rebellion +could exist in a country in which there was no magistracy, and no +protection for life or property, and in which the native authority had +no force whatever, and in which he himself states the exercise of +British authority to be an absolute usurpation; and he did accordingly +direct a rigorous prosecution against the offence of rebellion under +such circumstances, but "with a fair and impartial inquiry," when he did +not permit the establishment of those courts of justice and magistracy +by which alone rebellion could be prevented, or a fair and impartial +inquiry relative to the same could be had; and particularly he did +instruct the said Resident to obtain the Nabob's order for employing +some sure means for apprehending certain zemindars, and particularly +three, in the instruction named, whom he, the said Hastings, did cause +to be apprehended upon what he calls good information, founded upon some +facts to which he asserts he has the testimony of several witnesses, +"that they had the destruction of Colonel Hannay and the officers under +his command as their immediate object, and ultimately the extirpation of +the English influence and power throughout all the Nabob's dominions," +and that they did still persevere in their rebellious conduct without +deviation, "though the Nabob's, and not our government, was then the +object of it"; and he did direct the said Resident, if it should appear, +"_on a fair and regular inquiry_, that their conduct towards the Nabob +had been such as it had been reported to be, to insist upon the Nabob's +punishing them with _death_, and to treat with the same rigor every +zemindar and every subject who shall be the leader in a rebellion +against his authority." + +XLV. That the crime of the said Hastings, in his procedure aforesaid, +was further highly aggravated by his having received information of +several striking circumstances which strongly indicated the necessity of +a regular magistracy and a legal judicature, from the total failure of +justice, affecting not only the subjects at large, but even the reigning +family itself,--as also of the causes why no legal magistracy could +exist, and why the princes of the reigning family were not only exposed +to the attacks of assassins, but even to a want of the protection which +might be had from their servants and attendants, who were driven from +their masters for want of that maintenance which the princes, their +masters, could not procure even for themselves. And the circumstances +aforesaid were detailed to him, the said Hastings, by the Resident, +Bristow, in a letter from Lucknow, dated the 29th January, 1784, to the +Governor-General, the said Warren Hastings, and the Council of Bengal, +in the terms following. + +"The frequent robberies and murders perpetrated in his Excellency's, the +Vizier's, dominions, have been _too often_ the subject of my +representations to your honorable board. From the total want of police, +hardly a day elapses but I am informed of some tragical event, whereof +the bare recital is shocking to humanity. About two months since, an +attempt was made to assassinate Rajah Ticket Roy, the acting minister's +confidential agent; but he happily escaped unhurt. Nabob Bahadur, _his +Highness's brother_, has not been so fortunate, as will appear from +translations of two of his letters to me, No. 1, which I have the honor +to inclose for your information. Although my feelings are sensibly hurt +and my compassion strongly excited by _the disgraceful and miserable +state of poverty to which his Excellency's brothers are reduced_, yet, +situated as I am, it is not in my power to interfere with effect. My +efforts on a former occasion failed of success, _and my interposition +now would only excite the resentment of the minister towards the unhappy +sufferers, in consequence of their application to me, from whom ALONE, +however, they hope for relief from their present distress_, which, their +near connection with the Vizier considered, is both shameful and +unprecedented. That no regular courts of justice have been established +in this country is particularly pointed at in my instructions, as the +most disreputable defect in his Highness's government; yet the minister +seems determined on abolishing even the shadow of so necessary an +institution. The office of Chief Justice, as held by Moulavy Morobine, +was ever nugatory, but now it is sunk into the lowest contempt. The +original establishment, inadequate as it was, is mouldering away, and +the officers now attached to it are literally starving, as no part of +their allowance has been paid for above six months past. He himself has +proposed to resign his appointment, being every way precluded from a +possibility of exercising the duties of it." + +XLVI. That it appears by the said letter, and the papers therewith +transmitted, as well as other documents in the said correspondence, +that, in consequence of the distress brought upon the Nabob's finances, +certain of the princes, his brethren, the children of Sujah ul Dowlah, +the late sovereign of the country, were put upon pensions unsuitable to +their birth and rank, and by the mismanagement of the minister +aforesaid, (appointed by the said Warren Hastings,) for two years +together no considerable part of the said inadequate pension was paid; +and not being able to maintain the attendants necessary for their +protection in a city in which all magistracy and justice was abolished, +they were not only liable to suffer the greatest extremities of penury, +but their lives were exposed to the attempts of assassins: the condition +of one of the said princes, called the Nabob Bahadur, being by himself +strongly expressed in three letters to the said Resident Bristow,--the +first dated the 28th of December, 1783; the second, the 7th of January, +1784; and the third, the 15th of January, 1784,--which letters were +duly transmitted, in the dispatch of the 29th of the same month, to +Warren Hastings, Esquire, and are as follow. + +"Your own servant carried you the account of what he himself was an +eye-witness to, after the affair of last night. These are the +particulars. About midnight my aunt received twelve wounds from a +ruffian, of which she died. I also received six successive stabs, which +alarmed the people of the house, who set up a shouting: whereupon the +assassin run off. Besides being _without food or the means of providing +any_, this misfortune has befallen me. _I am desirous of sending the +coffin to your door_. It is your duty, both for the sake of God and of +Christ, to execute justice, and to inquire what harm I have done to the +murderer sufficient to deserve assassination, or even injury. _You now +stand in the place of his Excellency the Vizier_. I request you will do +me justice. What more can I say? + +"P.S. I am also desirous to show you my wounds." + + * * * * * + +_From the same, 29th [7th?] January, 1784._ + +"You have been duly informed of all the circumstances relative both to +the murder of the innocent, and of my being wounded, as well by my +former letter, as by the messenger whom you sent to inquire into the +state of my health; and I have every reason to hope, from your known +kindness, that you will not be deficient in seeking out the assassin. _I +am at this moment overwhelmed in misfortune. Whilst the blood is flowing +from my wounds, neither I nor my children nor my servants have +wherewithal to procure subsistence_; nor have I it in my power either to +purchase remedies or to reward the physician: _it is for the sake of +God alone that he attends me_. Thus loaded with calamity upon calamity, +I am unable to support life; for I find no relief from any affliction +either day or night. Do you now stand in the place of my father; grant +me fresh life by speedy acts of benevolence. + +"For these two last years his Excellency established a pension for me of +twenty thousand rupees; but I never received the full amount of it, +either last year or the year before. Should it, however, be paid me, +though inadequate to my desires, I shall still be enabled to support +myself. From the beginning of this year to the present time I have not +received a farthing, nor do I expect any; though, if you afford +protection to the oppressed, all my wishes will be accomplished. I was +desirous of waiting on you with my family, that you might be an +eye-witness to their condition; but I was advised not to stir out on +account of my wounds. What more can I say?" + + * * * * * + +_The following Extracts are made from the Third Letter from the same +Prince, dated January 15, 1784._ + +"The particulars of the late and unforeseen misfortune with which I have +been overwhelmed are not unknown unto you,--that the innocent blood of +my aunt, _the prop and ruler of my family_, was shed, and in the same +manner I, too, was wounded. Until now I feel the pain and affliction of +my wounds; _and no person has regarded my solicitations for redress, +sought after the assassin, and brought him to condign punishment, +yourself excepted_."--"In like manner as the Honorable Governor-General +has adopted my brother Saadut Ali Khân for his son and relieved him from +the vexation, affliction, and dependence of this place, would it be +extraordinary that you also should, in your bounty and favor, consent to +adopt me, who do not possess the necessaries of life, and permit me to +attend you to whatever part of the world you may travel, whereby I shall +at all times derive honor and advantage? Formerly us three brothers, +Saadut Ali, Mirza Jungly, and I, the poor and oppressed, were, in the +presence of our blessed father, whose soul rests in heaven, treated +alike. Now the ministers of this government put me upon a footing with +our younger brothers, who have lately left the zenanah, and whose +expenses are small. On this scale, which is in every respect +insufficient for my maintenance, they pay _the pitiful allowance only +when it is their pleasure to do it_. My situation has for years past +been increasing in wretchedness to a degree that _I am in want of daily +bread, and my servants and animals are dying of hunger. My distresses +are so great that I have not been able to pay a daum to the surgeons for +the cure of my wounds; and they, too, are discouraged from affording me +their assistance or furnishing me with medicines_. How, then, is it +possible for me to exist? Considering you as my patron, participating in +my afflictions, I have represented the circumstances concerning my +situation; and I hope, from your friendship, that you will honor me with +a favorable answer." + +XLVII. The Resident, Bristow, did also receive a strong application from +three others of the brethren of the reigning sovereign, called Mirza +Hyder Ali, Mirza Ennayut Ali, and Mirza Syef Ali, representing their +very pitiable case, in a letter of the 9th of March, 1783, in which, +among other particulars, are contained the following. + +"Our situation is not fit to be represented. _For two years we have not +received a hubba_ on account of our tuncaw [assignment on the revenue], +though the ministers have annually charged a lac of rupees, and never +paid us anything. _After all, we are the sons of Sujah ul Dowlah!_ It is +surprising, having such a friend as you, our situation is arrived at +that pass that we should be in distress for _dry bread and clothes_. +Whereas you have done many generous acts, be pleased so to show us your +favor, that by some means we may receive our allowances from the +Company's treasury, and not be obliged to depend upon and solicit others +for it." + +XLVIII. That one of the princes aforesaid, called the Mirza Jungly, +about the beginning of the year 1783, was obliged to fly from the +dominions of the Nabob of Oude, and to leave his country and +connections; and as the Resident, Bristow, writing from Lucknow, hath +observed, "he went to try his fortune at other courts, in preference to +starving at home, which might have been his fate, by all accounts, at +this place." And the said prince sought for succor at the court of one +of the neighboring Mahomedan princes; but conceiving some disgust at the +treatment he met with there, he departed from thence, and on the 8th of +February, 1783, arrived at the Mahratta camp, while David Anderson, +Esquire, was there in the character of Minister Plenipotentiary to the +Company, with a view, if his reception there should not prove answerable +to his wishes, to pass on to the southward. And the said Anderson, +probably considering this event as of very great importance to the honor +of the British government, as well as to its interest, on the one hand, +by exhibiting the son and brother of a sovereign prince, from whom the +Company had received many millions of money, a fugitive from his +country, and a wanderer for bread through the courts of India, and, on +the other, the consequences which might arise from the Mahrattas having +in their possession and under their influence a son of the late Nabob of +Oude, did without delay advise Warren Hastings, Esquire, of the event +aforesaid; and he did also write to Mr. Bristow, the Resident at the +court of the Nabob Vizier, several letters, of the 9th and 20th of +February, and of the 6th of March and 6th of April, 1783, in order that +some steps should be taken for his return and establishment in his own +country. And the said Anderson did inform the Resident, Bristow, in his +letter aforesaid, that, on the arrival of the fugitive prince, brother +of the reigning sovereign of Oude, at the Mahratta camp, he did cause +his tent to be pitched close to that of Mr. Anderson; but finding this +not agreeable to the Mahratta general, Sindia, he afterwards removed: +and that he showed a strong attachment to the English, and was inclined +to throw himself upon their generosity; that he was desirous of going to +Calcutta, and declared, that, if he, the said Anderson, "would give him +the smallest encouragement, he would quit all his followers, and come +alone, and would take up his residence under his protection." And the +said Anderson did declare, that he thought it "would be policy, and much +to the credit of our government, that some provision should be made for +Mirza Jungly in our territories." + +XLIX. That the said Bristow did represent the aforesaid circumstances to +Hyder Beg Khân, minister to the Nabob of Oude, declaring it his +opinion, "that his Highness's brother's thus taking refuge with a +foreign prince is a reflection upon the Vizier, and it would be +advisable that an allowance should be granted to him upon the footing of +his brothers, that he might remain in the presence." But the Nabob was +induced to refuse to his brother any offer of any allowance beyond the +two hundred pounds per month, allowed, but not paid, to his other +brothers,--and which the said prince did observe to Mr. Anderson, "that +it was not only inadequate to his expenses, but infinitely less" (as the +truth was) "than what his Excellency has settled on many persons of +inferior rank, who have not so good a claim to his support; and that it +would not be sufficient to enable him to live at Lucknow, where all his +friends and relations were, and so many of his inferiors lived in a +state of affluence." In case, therefore, it could not be increased, he +requested leave to live in the Company's provinces, or at Calcutta; for +that in any of these situations "he could with less difficulty regulate +his expenses." And he did declare, that, if his request was granted to +him, he would immediately quit all his prospects with Sindia. To these +propositions he received a very discouraging answer from his brother's +minister, containing a positive and final refusal of any increase of +allowance, obtaining only the Nabob's permission to retire into the +Company's provinces. But Mr. Anderson did not think himself authorized +to take any steps for the prince's retreat into the said province +without Sindia's concurrence, who, he observed, would use every art to +detain him, and accordingly did offer him the command of a battalion of +infantry to be paid directly from his own treasury, and six thousand +pounds sterling a year for keeping up a corps of horse, and to settle +upon him a landed estate of four thousand pounds a year as a provision +for his wife and children: which honorable offers it appears he did +accept, and did and doth remain in the Mahratta service. + +L. That, during the whole course of this transaction, the said Warren +Hastings was duly advised thereof, first by a very early letter from the +said Anderson, and afterwards by the Resident, Bristow, who, on the 23d +of April, 1783, transmitted to him his whole correspondence with Mr. +Anderson. But what answer or instructions the said Warren Hastings did +give to Mr. Anderson does not appear, he not having recorded anything +upon that subject; but it appears that to the Resident, Bristow, who +required to be informed whether the reception of the fugitive prince +aforesaid in the Company's provinces would meet his approbation, he gave +no answer whatsoever: by which criminal neglect, or worse, with regard +to a brother of an ally of the Company, who showed a strong attachment +and preference to the English nation, and by suffering him, without any +known effort to prevent it, to attach himself to the cause and fortunes +of the Mahrattas, who, he, the said Hastings, well knew, did keep up +claims upon several parts of the dominions of Oude, and had with +difficulty been persuaded to include the Nabob in the treaty of peace, +he, having suffered him first to languish at home in poverty, and then +to fly abroad for subsistence, and afterwards taking no step and +countenancing no negotiations for his return from his dangerous place of +refuge, at the same time that several of his, the said Hastings's, +creatures had each of them allowances much more considerable than would +have sufficed for the satisfaction and comfort of him, the said fugitive +prince, was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor. + +LI. That the indigent condition before related of the other brothers of +the Nabob was also duly transmitted to the said Warren Hastings; but he +did never order or direct any steps whatsoever to be taken towards the +relief of the family of a reigning prince, who were daily in danger of +perishing by famine through the effect of his measures, and those of a +person whom he supported in power against the will and inclinations of +the said prince and his family. + +LII. That the foregoing instances of the penury, distress, dispersion, +and exile of the reigning family, as well as the general disorder in all +the affairs of Oude, did strongly enforce the necessity of a proper use +of the British influence (the only real government then existing) in the +province aforesaid for a regulation of the economy of the Vizier's +court, as well as for the proper administration of the public concerns, +civil and military, which were in the greatest disorder; and the said +Warren Hastings was under obligation to provide for the same, and did +himself understand it to be his duty so to do, and that he was therein +warranted by the spirit of the treaty of Chunar, as well as by other +universal powers of control, and even of supersession, supposed by him +to exist in the relation between the British government and that of +Oude; and accordingly he did, in his instructions to the Resident +Middleton, to which he required his most implicit obedience, direct him +to an interference in and control upon all the affairs concerning the +revenues, the military arrangements, and all the other branches of the +Nabob's government. + +LIII. That, upon his recall of the said Middleton, he, in his +instructions to the Resident Bristow, dated 23d of October, 1781 +[1782?], did at large set forth the situation of the court and +government of Oude, the situation and character of the Nabob, of the +acting minister, and of the British Resident at that court, and did +plainly, distinctly, and without reserve, describe the extent of the +authority to be exercised by the last of these persons, as well as the +unqualified compliance to be expected from the two former. And he did +accordingly declare, that, "_from the nature of our connection with the +government of Oude_, and from the Nabob's incapacity, _a necessity will +forever exist_, while we have the claim of a subsidy upon the resources +of his country, of exercising an influence, and frequently substituting +it _ENTIRELY in the place of an avowed and constitutional authority, in +the administration of his [the Nabob's] government_"; and he did further +in the said instructions, namely, in instruction the fourth, direct the +said Resident in the words following: "I must have recourse to you for +the introduction of a _new_ system in that government; nor can I omit, +whilst I express my reliance on you for that purpose, to repeat the +sentiments which I expressed in the verbal instructions which I gave you +at your departure, _that there can be no medium in the relation between +the Resident and the minister, but either the Resident must be the slave +and vassal of the minister, or the minister at the absolute disposal of +the Resident_." And he, the said Hastings, did state, in the same +article of the instructions aforesaid, that, though the conduct of the +said Hyder Beg Khân had been highly reprehensible, and that he was much +displeased thereat, he would prefer him to any other, on account of his +ability and knowledge of business, with the following proviso,--"If he +would submit to hold his office on such conditions as I require. He +exists by his dependence on the influence of our government. It must be +advisable to try him by the mode of conciliation; at the same time that +in your _final conversation with him_ it will be necessary to declare to +him, _in the plainest terms_, the footing and condition on which he +shall be _permitted_ to retain his place, with the alternative of a +dismission, and a scrutiny into his conduct, if he refuses it. In the +first place, I will not receive from the Nabob, _as his_, letters +dictated by _the spirit of opposition_; but shall consider every such +attempt _as an insult on our government_. In the second place, I shall +expect that _nothing_ is done in his official character but with your +knowledge and participation." + +LIV. That the said Hastings having described, in the manner aforesaid, +the relative situation of the Resident and the minister, he did state +also the relative situation of the said minister and his master, the +Nabob, declaring, "that the minister did hold _without control_ the +unparticipated and entire administration, with all the powers annexed to +that government,--_the Nabob being, as he ever must be in the hands of +some person, a mere cipher in his_" (the minister's). And having thus +stated the subordination of the minister to the Resident, and the +subordination of the Nabob to the minister, he did naturally declare, +"that the first share of the responsibility would rest upon the said +Resident" And he did further declare, "that the other conditions did +follow distinctly in their places, because he did _consider the Resident +as responsible for them_." + +LV. That, for the direction of the Resident in the exercise of so +critical a trust, wherein all the true and substantial powers of +government were in an inverted relation and proportion to the official +and ostensible authorities, and in which the said Hastings did suppose +the necessity constantly existing for exercising an influence, and +frequently for substituting _entirely_ the British authority "in the +place of the avowed and constitutional government," he, the said +Hastings, did properly leave to the Resident a discretionary power for +his deviation from any part of his instructions,--interposing a caution +for his security and direction, that, as much as he could, he would +leave the subject free for his, the said Hastings's, correction of it, +and would instantly inform him or the board, according to the degree of +its importance, with his reasons for it. + +LVI. That, besides the institution of the courts of justice, as before +recited, four other principal objects in the reformation of the affairs +of Oude were expressly recommended to the Residents Middleton and +Bristow, and must be understood to be the conditions upon which the said +Hastings must have meant to have it understood that the acting minister +of Oude was to hold his employment: namely, the limitation of the +Nabob's personal expenses; the reduction of the Nabob's troops in +number, and the change in arrangement; the appointment of proper +collectors for the revenues; and the appointment of proper officers for +all parts of the executive administration. + +LVII. That the first object, namely, that of the limitation of the +Nabob's personal expenses, and separating them from the public +establishments, he, the said Hastings, did state as the first and +fundamental part of his regulation, and that upon which all the others +would depend,--and did declare, "that, in order to prevent the Vizier's +alliance from being a clog instead of an aid to the Company, _the most +essential_ part is to _limit_ and _separate_ his personal disbursements +from the public accounts: _they must not exceed_ what he has received in +any of the last three years." And as to the public treasury and +disbursements, he, the said Hastings, did, in the said instructions, +wholly withdraw them from the personal management or interference of the +Nabob, and did expressly order and direct "that they should be under the +_sole_ management of the ministers, with the Resident's concurrence." +And on the appointment of the Resident Bristow, in October, 1782, he, +the said Hastings, did order and direct him in every point of the +instructions to Middleton not revoked or qualified by his then +instructions, to which he did require his, the said Resident Bristow's, +"most attentive and literal obedience." + +LVIII. That the said Resident Bristow did, in consequence of the renewal +to him of the said instructions as aforesaid, endeavor to limit and put +in order the Nabob's expenses; but he was in that particular traversed +and counteracted, and in the end wholly defeated, by the minister, Hyder +Beg Khân. And though the obstructions aforesaid, agreeably to the +instructions given to Middleton, and to him, the said Bristow, were +represented to the said Warren Hastings by the Resident aforesaid, yet +the said Warren Hastings did give no kind of support to the said +Resident, or take any steps towards enabling him, the said Resident, to +effectuate the said necessary limitation and distribution of expenses, +by himself, the said Hastings, ordered and prescribed; nor, if he +disapproved the proceedings of the said Resident, did he give him any +instruction for the forbearance of the same, or for the exerting his +duty in any other mode; nor did he call for any illustration from him of +anything doubtful in his correspondence, nor state to him any complaint +made privately of his conduct, in order to receive thereon an +explanation; but he did leave him to pursue at his discretion the +extensive powers before described, to effect the reformation which he +was directed to accomplish, under the responsibility denounced to him as +aforesaid, if he should fail therein, as he was supposed to be +substantially invested with all the powers of government. + +LIX. That, instead of the said support or instruction, he, the said +Hastings, did countenance, or more probably cause or direct, a +representation to be made to him by the acting minister of the Nabob of +Oude, complaining grievously of the proceedings of the Resident +aforesaid, as usurpations on the Nabob's authority and indignities on +his person. And although he, the said Hastings, did instruct the +Resident, Bristow, to inform the said Hyder Beg Khân that he would not +receive from the Nabob, as _his_, letters directed by the spirit of +opposition, but should consider every such attempt as his, the +minister's, as an insult on our government, yet he did receive as _his_ +the Nabob's own letters, and as written from the impressions on his own +mind, and as the suggestions of his own judgment, letters to the same +effect as those written by the minister, although he had declared upon +record that the said "Nabob was a mere cipher in his, the said +minister's, hands," and "that he had dared to use both the Nabob's name, +and even his seal, affixed to letters either directed to the Nabob or +written as from him without his knowledge," and although he did assert +or record as aforesaid, that, in a letter which he had lately received +from the Nabob, the minister had the presumption to make the Nabob +declare that which was _true_ to be _false_, and that "his _making use_ +of the Nabob in such a manner did show how thin the veil was by which +_he_ covered _his own acts_, and that such artifices would only tend to +make them the more criminal from _the falsehood and duplicity with which +they were associated_." + +LX. That the said Hastings did act upon the letters pretended to be +written by the Nabob, as well as on those actually written by the +minister, without previously communicating the matter of the said +complaint to the said Resident, and did give credit to the same, and +coming, as aforesaid, from a person by himself, the said Hastings, +charged with artifice, falsehood, and duplicity, and with abusing to his +own evil purposes the name and seal of his master without his knowledge, +and without any previous inquiry into the facts and circumstances; and +did thereon ground an accusation against the said Resident, Bristow, +before the board at Calcutta, in which he did represent the conduct of +the said Bristow, in attempting to limit the household expenses of the +Nabob, as an indignity "which no man living, however mean his rank in +life, or dependent his condition in it, would permit to be exercised by +any other, but with the want or forfeiture of every manly principle." +And he did further accuse the said Bristow for that, in his proceedings +in the regulation of the Nabob's household, "he should receive to +himself, or Mr. Cowper for him, or a treasurer for both, (for the +arrangement has never been well defined,) the money assigned for the +support of the Nabob's household,--issue it as he pleased, not to the +Nabob, but to the menial officers of his household,--dispose of his +superfluous horses, and other cattle,--determine how many elephants were +necessary to the state of the Vizier of the Empire, the number of +domestics for his attendance, and pry into the kitchen for the purpose +of ascertaining the quantity of victuals which ought to be dressed in +it,--control the accounts of these disbursements,--and appropriate to +his own use (for that the consequence was inevitable, if he chose it) +the residue produced by those economical retrenchments." + +LXI. That the said charge is malicious and insidious; because the +attempt to introduce proper officers for the management of household +expenses so considerable that the said Hastings has stated the allotment +for the same at three hundred thousand pounds sterling yearly, and that +other accounts have carried it to four hundred thousand pounds sterling +and upwards, and to keep proper and regular accounts thereof, was a +necessary regulation, and agreeable to the dignity of the Nabob, and by +no means a degradation either of his person or authority, which was +specially provided for in the regulations, as no expense could be +incurred but by his own personal warrant under his sign manual; nor doth +there appear therein anything but what is of absolute necessity to +prevent embezzlement to his prejudice. And the said Hastings hath +declared, in the fifth article of the instructions to the said Resident, +that _no_ administration can be properly conducted without regular +offices; and that in the whole province of Oude "there was _not one_, +the _whole_ being engrossed by the minister": of which minister, in the +fourteenth article, he declares his suspicion that the Nabob did not +receive the whole and punctual payment of the sum assigned for the +purpose of the household, but that some part had been by him withheld +from the Nabob; and that, from private information he had lately +received, he had reason to believe that this was actually the case. And +the said Hastings well knew that the Nabob's household had been ill +conducted, that the allowances of his servants had not been paid, that +his distress was scandalous, and that his nearest relations were in a +famishing condition; and the said Hastings did also well know that the +household of the Nabob was provided for or neglected, not at his own +discretion, but at that of the said Hyder Beg Khân; and he did, in the +fourteenth article aforesaid, instruct the Resident, Bristow, to show +every ostensible and external mark of respect to the Nabob, in order to +induce him to become himself the mover of every act necessary for the +advancing of his own interests and the discharge of his debts to the +Company,--declaring, "that they never could be effected while the +minister retained that ascendency over him which he at present holds by +the means of a nearer and more private intercourse, and by affecting to +be the mediator of his rights against the claims of our government." And +the said Hastings did further well know that there was no way of +ascertaining the payment of the assignments for the Nabob's household, +either for the general purposes of their destination or to the +particular objects to which they ought to be applied, without regular +offices of receipt and of account, which might prevent the said +minister, Hyder Beg Khân, or the British Resident, or any other, from +embezzling or misapplying the same. But the total want of offices +aforesaid in every department of government did furnish occasion of +concealing all frauds, clandestine presents, or pensions to a +Governor-General, Commander-in-Chief, or other servant of the Company. + +LXII. That the said Warren Hastings, who did pretend so deep a concern +for the indignities supposed to be suffered by the Nabob merely in the +limitation and regulation of unnecessary expenses relative to his +kitchen, domestics, &c., did show no attention or compassion to the said +Nabob, when, in the year 1779, the said Nabob represented, that the +pensions of his old servants for thirty years, the expenses of his +family and kitchen, together with the jaghires of his grandmother, +mother, and aunts, and of his brothers and dependants, given for their +support, were not _regulated_, but _stopped_. + +LXIII. That the other articles of regulation, namely, the reform of the +troops in number and in arrangement, the appointment of proper +collectors for the revenues, and the general constitution of offices for +the executive administration, were in like manner totally defeated by +the said Hyder Beg Khân. And the said Hastings did receive a charge from +him, and did adopt it as his own, representing the endeavors of the +Resident to act in the regulations aforesaid agreeably to the spirit of +his instructions, and in confidence of the powers vested in and the +responsibility imposed upon him, the said Resident, as usurpations of +the authority and prerogative of the Nabob; and he, the said Hastings, +did make criminal charges thereon against the said Resident, Bristow, of +which charges the Council Board did, on hearing the same, and the +defence of the said Bristow, fully acquit him. + +LXIV. That the said Hastings, by abetting Hyder Beg Khân, a person +described by him as aforesaid, in his opposition to all the plans of +necessary reformation proposed by the said Hastings himself, and having +suggested no other whatever in lieu thereof, to answer the purposes for +which he had stipulated in the treaty of Chunar the interference of the +Resident in every branch of the Nabob's government, did thereby +frustrate every one of the good ends proposed by him in the said treaty +of Chunar, and did grossly abuse his trust in giving the exorbitant +powers before recited, and asserting them to exist in the British +Resident, without suffering them even in appearance to answer any of the +proper and justifiable ends for which any power or influence can or +ought to exist in any government. + +LXV. That there is just ground to violently presume that not only the +letters in the name of the Nabob aforesaid were dictated to him by his +minister, Hyder Beg Khân, in whose hands the said Hastings has described +his master to be "a mere cipher," &c., but which Hyder Beg was the known +instrument of the said Hastings, but that the conduct and letters of +complaint of the said Hyder Beg were in effect and substance prescribed +and dictated to him by the said Warren Hastings, or his secret agent, +Palmer, by his direction: because it is notorious that the powers of the +said Hyder Beg were solely supported by him, the said Hastings, who, +according to the state of favor or displeasure in which he stood, hath +frequently promised him support or threatened him with dismission and +punishment, and therefore it is not to be thought that he would take so +material a step as to oppose the Company's Resident, acting under the +instructions of the Governor-General and Council, and to accuse him with +so much confidence, and in a manner so different from the usual style of +supplication on all other occasions employed by that court, if he had +not been previously well assured that his writing in that manner would +be pleasing to the person upon whom he solely depended for his power, +his fortune, and perhaps for his life;--secondly, because, when it +suited the purposes of the said Hastings on a former occasion, that is, +in the year 1784 [1781?], to remove the Resident Bristow aforesaid from +his office, a letter from the Nabob was laid before the Council Board at +Calcutta, proposing, that, in order to prevent the effects of the said +Bristow's application to Europe for redress, the said Hastings should +send him drafts of letters which he, the said Nabob, would write in his +own name and character to the King, to his Majesty's ministers, and to +the Court of Directors, expressing himself, in the letter aforesaid, in +the words following, viz., "To prevent his [Bristow's] applying to +Europe, send me, if _you_ think proper, the drafts of letters which _I_ +may write to the King, the Vizier, and the chiefs of the +Company";--thirdly, that, though the said Hastings, and his secret +agent, Palmer, did pretend and positively assert that they had no share +in the letters aforesaid from the Nabob and his minister, there was an +original note to the Nabob's letters of accusation, referring to +distinct parts and specified numbers of the agent Palmer's secret +correspondence with the said Warren Hastings, and the said letter, with +the said reference, was, through inadvertence, laid before the board. + +LXVI. That the said Warren Hastings, having thrown the government of +Oude into great confusion and distress, and thereby prevented the +discharge of the debt, or pretended debt, to the Company, did, by all +the said intrigues, machinations, and charges, aim at the filling the +said office of Resident at Oude with his own dependants or by himself +personally; as it appears that he did first propose to place in the said +office his secret agent, Palmer, and that afterwards, when he was not +able to succeed therein, he did propose nominally to abolish the said +office, but in effect to fill it by himself,--proposing to the Council +and rendering himself responsible (but not in fortune) for the payment +of the Company's debt within a certain given time, if he were permitted +and commissioned by the Council to act for the board in that province, +and did inform them that he was privately well assured that in a few +days he should receive an invitation to that effect; and he did state, +(as in the year 1781 he had stated as a reason for his former +delegation,) "that the state of the country was so disordered in its +revenue and administration, and the credit and influence of the Nabob +himself so much shook by _the late usurpation_ of his authority, and the +contests which attended it, as to require the accession of an +extraneous aid to restore the powers and to reanimate the constitution +of his government,"--although he, the said Hastings, did for a long time +before attribute the weakness of his government to an extraneous +interference. And the said Council, on his engagement aforesaid, did +consent thereto; and he did accordingly receive a commission, enabling +him to act in the affairs of Oude, not only as the Resident might have +done, but as largely as the Council-General might legally delegate their +own powers. + +LXVII. That the said Warren Hastings, in accepting the said commission, +did subject his character and the reputation of his office to great +imputations and suspicions, by taking upon himself an inferior office, +out of which another had upon his intrigues been removed by a perpetual +obstruction which rendered it impossible for him to perform his duty or +to obey his instructions; and he did increase the said grounded +suspicions by exercising that office in a government from whence it was +notorious he had himself received an unlawful gift and present from the +ministers, and in which he had notoriously suffered many, and had +himself actually directed some, acts of peculation, by granting various +pensions and emoluments, to the prejudice of the revenue of a distressed +country, which he was not authorized to grant. + +LXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings did proceed unto the said province +of Oude under color of providing a remedy for the disorders described to +be existing in the same, and for the recovery of the Company's +pretended debt. And the said Warren Hastings, who had thought fit to +recall the Company's Resident, appointed to that office by the Court of +Directors, and to suspend his office, did, notwithstanding, of his own +choice and selection, and on his own mere authority, take with him in +his progress a large retinue, "and a numerous society of English +gentlemen to compose his family," which he represents as necessary, +although, in a letter from that very place to which he took that very +numerous society, he informs the Court of Directors "that his own +consequence and that of the nation he represents are independent of +show." And after his arrival there, he, the said Warren Hastings, did +write from Lucknow, the capital of that province, a letter, dated the +30th of April, 1784, to the Court of Directors, in which are several +particulars to the following purport or tenor, and which he points out +to the Directors "to be circumstances of no trivial information," +namely,--"that he had found that the lands in that province, as well as +in some parts more immediately under the Company, have suffered in a +grievous manner, being completely exhausted of their natural moisture by +the total failure of one entire season of the periodical rains," with a +few exceptions, which were produced only "by the uncommon labor of the +husbandman." And in a letter to Edward Wheler, Esquire, a member of the +Council-General, from Benares, the 20th of September, 1784, he says, +that "_the public revenues_ had declined with the failure of the +cultivation _in three successive years_; and all the stores of grain +which the _providence_ of the husbandmen, (as he was informed is their +_custom_,) in defiance of the _vigilance_ of the aumils [collectors], +_clandestinely reserved for their own use_, were of course exhausted, +in which state no person would accept of the charge of the collections +on a positive engagement; nor did the rain fall till the 10th of July." +And in another letter, dated from Benares, the 1st of October following, +he repeats the same accounts, and that the "country could not bear +further additions of expense: that it had _no inlets of trade_ to supply +the issues that were made from it" (the exceptions stated there being +inconsiderable); "therefore _every rupee_ which is drawn into your +treasury [the Company's] from its circulation will accelerate the period +at which its ability must cease _to pay even the stipulated subsidy_." +Notwithstanding this state of the country, of which he was well apprised +before he left Calcutta, and the poverty and distress of the prince +having been frequently, but in vain, represented to him, in order to +induce him to forbear his oppressive exactions, he did, in order to +furnish the Council with a color for permitting him to recall the +Company's Resident, and to exercise the whole powers of the Company in +his own person, without any check whatsoever, or witness of his +proceedings, except the persons of his own private choice, make the +express and positive engagement aforesaid, which, if understood of a +real and substantial discharge of debt for the relief of the total of +the Company's finances, was grossly fallacious: because at the very time +he must have been perfectly sensible, that, in the then state of the +revenues and country of Oude, (which are in effect the Company's +revenues and the Company's country,) the debt or pretended debt +aforesaid, asserted to be about five hundred thousand pounds, or +thereabouts, could not be paid without contracting another debt at an +usurious interest, without encroaching on the necessary establishments +or on private property or on the pay of the army, or without grievous +oppression of the country, or all these together. And it doth appear +that one hundred thousand pounds towards the said payment of debts was +borrowed at Calcutta by the Nabob's agent there, but at what interest is +not known; it appears also that other sums were borrowed for arrear of +the interest, on which forty thousand pounds sterling appears in the +Company's claims for the current year, and that various deductions were +made from the jaghires restored to the Begums, as well as other parts of +the Nabob's family; and it did and doth appear that an arrear is still +due to the old and new brigade,--but whether the same be growing or not +doth not appear: yet he hath not hesitated to assert that he had +"provided for the _complete_ discharge, in _one_ year, of a debt +contracted by _the accumulation of many_, and from a country whose +resources have been wasted and dissipated by three successive years of +drought and one of anarchy." But the said Hastings never did even +realize the payments to be made in the first year, (as he confesses in +the said letter,) except by an anticipation of the second; and though he +states in his letter aforesaid the following facts and engagements, that +is to say, "_that a recovery of so large a part of your property_ [the +Company's] will afford a seasonable and substantial relief to the +necessities of your government, and enable it (for such is my confident +hope) _to begin on the reduction of your debt at interest_ before the +conclusion of this year (I mean the year of this computation)." Whereas +the said Warren Hastings did apply the whole produce of the revenue to +the mere pay of some part of the British army in Oude; and did not +mention in his correspondence that he had remitted any money whatsoever +to Calcutta, nor to any other place, (except the fifty thousand pounds +taken from Almas Ali Khân, and said to be remitted to Surat,) for the +said "substantial relief," in consequence of the said pretended +"recovery of property,"--admitting that it had been suggested to him, +and not by him denied, that he had "disappointed the popular expectation +by not adopting the policy which he had, _on the conception of better +grounds_, rejected; nor did he begin the reduction of the interest debt" +at the time stated, nor at any time; but the whole (he well knowing the +state of the country from whence the resources aforesaid were by him +promised) was a premeditated deceit and imposition on the Board of +Council, his colleagues, and on the Court of Directors, his masters. + +LXIX. That no traces of regulation appear to have been adopted by the +said Warren Hastings during his residence at Lucknow, in conformity to +the spirit and intentions of the treaty of Chunar, or of his +instructions to Middleton and Bristow, or of the proposed objects of his +own commission. But he did, in lieu thereof, pretend to free the Nabob's +government from the interference of the Company's servants, and the +usurpation (as he called it) of a Resident, and thereby to restore it to +its proper tone and energy; whereas the measures he took were such as to +leave no useful or responsible superintendence in the British, and no +freedom in the Nabob's government: for he did confirm the sole, +unparticipated, and entire administration, with all the powers annexed +to the government, on the minister, Hyder Beg Khân, to whom he +_prevailed_ on the Nabob Vizier to commit the entire charge of his +revenues, although he knew that his master was a cipher in his +hands,--that he "had affixed his seal to letters written without his +knowledge, and such as evidently tended to promote Hyder Beg Khân's +influence and interest,"--that his said master did not consider him as a +minister of his choice, but as an instrument of his degradation,--that +"he exists as a minister by his dependence on the Calcutta government, +and that the Nabob himself had no other opinion of him,--that it is by +its _declared_ and most _obvious_ support _alone_ that he could maintain +his authority and influence." And in his instructions to his secret +agent, Major Palmer, dated 6th of May, 1782, to ease his mind and remove +his jealousy with regard to British interference, he did instruct him, +"that much delicacy and caution will be required in your declarations on +this subject, lest they should be construed to extend to an immediate +change in the administration of his affairs, or the instruments of it. +Their persons must be considered as _sacred, while_ they act with the +_participation of our influence_. This distinction the Nabob +_understands_; nor will it be either necessary or proper to allude to +it, unless he himself should first introduce the subject." And the said +Hastings did assume, as to a dependant of the lowest order, to prescribe +to him the conditions on which he is to hold his place,--to threaten him +with scrutinies into his conduct, with dismission, with +punishment,--that he was guilty of falsehood and duplicity, and that he +had made his master assert what was true to be false,--that he suspected +he had withheld from his master what he ought to have paid to him,--that +the event of his having _prevailed_ on the Nabob to intrust him as +aforesaid was, according to his, the said Hastings's, own letter, +written to the said Hyder Beg Khân himself, "an accumulation of +distress, debasement, and dissatisfaction to the Nabob, and of +disappointment and disgrace to me. Every measure which he had himself +proposed, and to which he had solicited my assistance, has been so +conducted as to give him cause of displeasure; there are no officers +established by which his affairs could be regularly conducted; mean, +incapable, and indigent man have been appointed aumils of the districts, +without authority, and without the means of personal protection; some of +them have been murdered by the zemindars, and those zemindars, instead +of punishment, have been permitted to retain their zemindaries with +independent authority; all the other zemindars suffered to rise up in +rebellion, and to insult the authority of the sircar, without any +attempt made to suppress them; and the Company's debt, instead of being +discharged by the assignments, and extraordinary sources of money +provided for that purpose, is likely to exceed even the amount at which +it stood at the time in which the arrangement with his Excellency was +concluded. _The growth of these evils was early made known to me, and +their effects foreboded in the same order and manner as they have since +come to pass._ In such a state of calamity and disgrace, I can no longer +remain a passive spectator; nor would it be becoming to conceal my +sentiments, or qualify the expression of them. I now plainly tell you, +that you are answerable for every misfortune and defect of the Nabob +Vizier's government." And after giving orders, and expressing some hopes +of better behavior, he adds, "If I am disappointed, you will impose on +me the painful and humiliating necessity of acknowledging to him that I +have been deceived, and of recommending the examination of your conduct +to his justice, both for the redress of his own and the Company's +grievances, and for the injury sustained by both in their mutual +connection. _Do not reply to me_, that what I have written is from the +suggestion of your enemies; nor imagine that I have induced myself to +write in such plain and declaratory terms, without a clear insight into +all the consequences of it, and a fixed determination upon them." + +LXX. That the aforesaid being the tenure of the power of the said +minister, and such his character, as given by the said Warren Hastings +himself, who did originally compel the Nabob to receive him, who did +constantly support him against the Nabob, his master, as well as against +the Company's Resident,--the delivering over to such a person his +master, his family, his country, and the care of the British interests +therein, without control or public inspection, was an high crime and +misdemeanor. + +LXXI. That the next person whom the said Hastings did invest with power +in the said country was a certain opulent and powerful native manager of +revenue, called Almas Ali Khân, closely connected with the said Hyder +Beg Khân, and to whom the said Hyder Beg Khân, as the said Hastings has +admitted, "had intrusted the _greatest_ part of his revenues, without +any pledge or security for his fidelity." And afterwards the said +Hastings charges the said Almas Ali with an intention of removing from +the Nabob's dominions: he states, "as taking with him," and therefore +being possessed of, "an immense treasure, the fruits of his +embezzlements and oppressions, and an army raised for its protection." + +LXXII. That the said Warren Hastings was, or pretended to be, impressed +with the evil character, dangerous designs, and immoderate power of the +said Almas Ali; that he did insert among his instructions to the +Resident Bristow an order of a dangerous and unwarrantable nature, in +which, upon his, the said Hastings's, simple allegation of offences, not +accurately described or specified, with regard either to the fact, the +nature of the offence, or the proof, he was required to urge the Nabob +to put him to death, with many qualifications in the said instructions, +full of fraud and duplicity, calculated to insnare the said Resident +Bristow, and to throw upon him the responsibility of the conduct of the +said Almas Ali Khân, if he should continue at large contrary to his +orders, or to subject him, the said Resident, to the shame and scandal +of apprehending and putting him to death by means which, in the +circumstances, must necessarily be such as would be construed into +treachery, and he, the said Almas Ali Khân, being from nature and +situation suspicious and watchful, and being at that very time in the +collection, or farmer of the most important part of the revenues, with +an extensive jurisdiction annexed, and at the head of fourteen thousand +of his own troops, and having been recently accepted by the Resident +Middleton as security for large sums of money advanced by the bankers of +Benares to the use of the East India Company; which orders (if the said +Resident would or could have executed them) must have raised an +universal alarm among all the considerable men of the country concerned +in the government, and would have been a means of subverting the public +credit of the Company, by the murder of a person engaged for very great +sums of money that had been advanced for their use. And the said +instruction is as followeth. + +"If any engagement shall actually subsist between them at the time you +have charge of the Residency, it must, however exceptionable, be +faithfully observed; but if he has been guilty of any criminal offence +to the Nabob, his master, for which no immunity is provided in the +engagement, or he shall break any one of the conditions of it, I do most +strictly enjoin you, and it must be your special care to endeavor, +_either by force or surprise_, to secure his person and bring him to +justice. By bringing him to justice I mean, that you urge the Nabob, on +due conviction, _to punish him with death_, as a necessary example to +deter others from the commission of the like crimes; nor must you desist +till this is effected. I cannot prescribe the means; but to guard myself +against the obloquy to which I may be exposed by a forced +misconstruction of this order by those who may hereafter be employed in +searching our records for cavils and informations against me, I think it +proper to forbid and protest against the use of any _fraudulent artifice +or treachery to accomplish the end which I have prescribed_; and as you +alone are privy to the order, you will of course observe the greatest +secrecy, that it may not transpire: but I repeat my recommendation of +it, as one of the first and most essential duties of your office." + +LXXIII. That, among the reasons assigned for putting to death the said +Almas Ali, which the said Hastings did recommend directly and repeatedly +to the Resident, "as one of the first and most essential duties of his +office," was, in substance, "that, by his extensive trust with regard to +the revenues, he had been permitted to acquire independency; that the +means thereof had been long seen and the effects thereof foretold by +every person acquainted with the state of government, except those +immediately interested in it"; and he, the said Warren Hastings, did +also charge the said Almas Ali with embezzlement of the revenues and +oppression of the people; and nothing appears to disprove the same, but +much to give ground to a presumption that the said Almas Ali did +grievously abuse the power committed to him, as farmer and collector of +the revenue, to the great oppression of the inhabitants of the countries +which had been rented to him by Hyder Beg Khân with the knowledge and +consent of the said Warren Hastings. + +LXXIV. That the Resident, Bristow, declining the violent attempt on the +life of Almas Ali deceitfully ordered by the said Warren Hastings, did, +on weighty reasons, drawn from the spirit of the said Hastings's own +instructions, recommend that his, the said Almas Ali Khân's, farms of +revenue, or a great part of them, should be, on the expiration of his +lease, taken out of his hands, as being too extensive, and supplying the +means of a dangerous power in the country; but yet he, the said Warren +Hastings, did not only continue him in the possession of the said +revenues, but did give to him a new lease thereof for the term of five +years. And on this renovation and increase of trust, the said Warren +Hastings did not consent to produce the informer upon whose credit he +had made his charge of capital crimes on the said Almas Ali, and had +directed him to be put to death, or call upon him to make good his +charges; but, instead of this, totally changing his relation to the said +Almas Ali, did himself labor to procure from all parts attestations to +prove him not guilty of the perfidy and disloyalty of which the said +Hastings himself appears to have been to that very time his sole +accuser, as he hath since been his most anxious advocate: but though he +did use many endeavors to acquit Almas Ali of his intended flight, yet +concerning his embezzlements and oppressions, the most important of all +charges relative to that of the revenue and collection, he, the said +Hastings, hath made no inquiry whatever; by which it might appear that +he was not as fully guilty thereof as he had always represented him to +be. But some time after he, the said Warren Hastings, had arrived at +Lucknow, in the year 1784, he suggested to the said Almas Ali Khân the +_advance_ to the Company's use of a sum of money amounting to fifty +thousand pounds or thereabouts; and the said suggested advance was (as +the said Warren Hastings asserts, no witness or document of the +transaction appearing) "cheerfully and without hesitation complied with, +considering it as an _evidence seasonably_ offered for the general +refutation of the charges of perfidy and disloyalty": which practice of +charging wealthy persons with treason and disloyalty, and afterwards +acquitting them on the payment of a sum of money, is highly scandalous +to the honor, justice, and government of Great Britain; and the offence +is highly aggravated by the said Hastings's declaration to the Court of +Directors that the charges against Almas Ali Khân have been too +laboriously urged against him, and carried at one time to such an excess +as had nearly driven him to abandon his country "_for the preservation +of his life and honor_," and thus to give a "color to the charges +themselves," when he, the said Warren Hastings, did well know that he +himself did consider as a crime, and did make it an article in a formal +accusation against the Resident Middleton, that he did not inform him, +the said Hastings, of the supposed treasons of Almas Ali Khân, and of +his design to abandon the country, when he himself did most laboriously +urge the charges against him, and when no attempt appears to have been +made against the life of the said Almas Ali Khân except by the said +Warren Hastings himself. + +LXXV. That the sum of fifty thousand pounds sterling, or thereabouts, +publicly taken by the said Warren Hastings, as an _advance_ for the use +of the Company, if given as a consideration or fine, on account of the +renewal for a long term of civil authority and military command, and the +collection of the revenues to an immense amount, the same being at least +eight hundred thousand pounds sterling yearly, was so totally inadequate +to the interest granted, that it may justly be presumed it was not on +that, or on any public ground or condition, that the said Hastings did +delegate, out of all reach of resumption or correction, a lease of +boundless power and enormous profit, for so long a term, to a known +oppressor of the country. + +LXXVI. That Warren Hastings, being at Lucknow in consequence of his +deputation aforesaid, did, in his letter from that city, dated 30th of +April, 1784, recommend to the Court of Directors, "as his _last and +ultimate hope_, that their wisdom would put a _final_ period to _the +ruinous and disreputable system_ of interference, whether _avowed or +secret_, in the affairs of the Nabob of Oude, and withdraw _forever the +influence_ by which it is maintained," and that they ought to confine +their views to the sole maintenance of the old brigade stationed in Oude +by virtue of the first treaty with the reigning Nabob, expressing +himself in the following words to the Court of Directors. "If you +transgress that line, you may extend _the distribution of patronage, and +add to the fortunes of individuals_, and to the nominal riches of Great +Britain; but your _own_ interests will suffer by it; and _the ruin of a +great and once flourishing nation will he recorded as the work of your +administration, with an everlasting reproach to the British name_. To +this reasoning I shall join _the obligations of justice and good faith, +which cut off every pretext for your exercising any power or authority +in this country, as long as the sovereign of it fulfils the engagements +he has articled with you_." + +LXXVII. That it appears by the extraordinary recommendation aforesaid, +asserted by him, the said Hastings, to be enforced by the +"_obligations of justice and good faith_," that the said Warren +Hastings, at the time of writing the said letter, had made an +agreement to withdraw the British interference, represented by him as +a "ruinous and disreputable system," out of the dominions of the Nabob +of Oude. But the instrument itself, in which the said agreement is +made, (if at all existing,) does not appear; nor hath the said +Hastings transmitted any documents relative to the said treaty, which +is a neglect highly criminal,--especially as he has informed the +Company, in his letter from Benares, "that he has promised the Nabob +that he will not abandon him to the _chance_ of any other mode of +relation, and most confidently given him assurance of _the +ratification and confirmation_ of that which he [the said Hastings] +had established between his government and the Company": the said +_confident assurance_ being given to an agreement never produced, and +made without any sort of authority from the Court of Directors,--an +agreement precluding, on the one hand, the operation of the discretion +of his masters in the conduct of their affairs, or, on the other, +subjecting them to the hazard of an imputation on their faith, by +breaking an engagement confidently made in their name, though without +their consent, by the first officer of their government. + +That the said Hastings, further to preclude the operation of such +discretionary conduct in the administration of this kingdom as +circumstances might call for, has informed the Directors that he has +gone so far as even to condition the existence of the revenue itself +with the exclusion of the Company, his masters, from all interference +whatsoever: for in his letter to Mr. Wheler, dated Benares, 20th +September, 1784, are the following words. "The aumils [collectors] +demanded that a clause should be inserted in their engagements, that +they were to be in full force for the complete term of their leases, +_provided that no foreign authority_ was exercised over them,--or, in +other words, _that their engagements were to cease whenever they should +be interrupted in their functions by the interference of an English +agent_. This requisition was officially notified to me by the acting +minister, and referred to me in form by the Nabob Vizier, for my +_previous_ consent to it. I encouraged it, and I gave my consent to +it." And the said Hastings has been guilty of the high presumption to +inform his said masters, that he has taken that course to compel them +not to violate the assurances given by him in their name: "There is one +condition" (namely, the above condition) "which _essentially connects +the confirmation of the settlement itself with the interests of the +Company_." + +LXXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings, who did show an indecent +distrust of the Company's faith, did endeavor, before that time, at +other times, namely, in his instructions to his secret agent, Major +Palmer, dated the 6th of May, 1782, to limit the confidence to be +reposed in the British government to the duration of his own power, in +the following words in the fifth article. "It is very much my desire to +impress the Nabob with a _thorough_ confidence in the faith and justice +of our government,--that is to say, _in my own_, while I am at the head +of it: I cannot be answerable for the acts of others independent of me." + +LXXIX. That the said Warren Hastings did, in his letter, dated Benares, +the 1st of October, 1784, to the Court of Directors, write, "that, if +they [the Directors] manifested no _symptoms_ of an (1.) _intended_ +interference, the objects of his engagements will be obtained; (2.) but +if a different policy shall be adopted,--if new agents are sent into the +country, and armed with authority for the purposes of vengeance or +corruption (_for to no other will they be applied_),--if new demands are +made on the Nabob Vizier, (4.) and accounts overcharged on one side, +with a wide latitude taken on the other, to swell his debt beyond the +means of payment,--(5.) if political dangers are portended, to ground on +them the plea of burdening his country with unnecessary defences and +enormous subsidies,--(6.) or if, even abstaining from _direct +encroachment on the Nabob's rights_, your government shall show but _a +degree of personal kindness to the partisans_ of the late usurpation, or +by any constructive indication of partiality and dissatisfaction +_furnish_ grounds for the _expectation_ of an _approaching_ change of +system,--I am sorry to say, that all my labors will prove abortive." + +LXXX. That all the measures deprecated in future by the said Warren +Hastings, with a reference to former conduct, in his several letters +aforesaid, being (so far as the same are intelligible) six in number, +have been all of them the proper acts and measures of the said Warren +Hastings himself. For he did himself first of all introduce, and did +afterwards continue and support, that interference which he now informs +the Court of Directors "is ruinous and disreputable, and which the very +_symptoms_ of an _intention_ to renew" he considers in the highest +degree dangerous; he did direct, with a controlling and absolute +authority, in every department of government, and in every district in +the dominions of the Nabob of Oude. Secondly, the appointment of agents, +which was eminently the act of his own administration: he not only +retaining many agents in the country of Oude, both "_secret and +avowed_," but also sending some of them, in defiance to the orders of +that very Court of Directors, to whom, in his said letter of the 1st of +October, 1784, he assigns "vengeance and corruption" as the only motives +that can produce such appointments. Thirdly, that he, the said Warren +Hastings, did instruct one of the said agents, and did charge him upon +pain of "_a dreadful responsibility_," to perform sundry acts of +violence against persons of the highest distinction and nearest relation +to the prince; which acts were justly liable to the imputation of +"_vengeance_" in the execution, and which he, in his reply to the +defence of Middleton to one of his charges, did declare to be liable to +the suspicion of "_corruption_ in the relaxation." Fourthly, that he did +raise new demands on the Vizier, "and overcharge accounts on one side +and take a wide latitude on the other," by sending up a new and before +unheard-of overcharge of four hundred thousand pounds and upwards, not +made by the Resident or admitted by the Vizier, and, by adding the same, +did swell his debt "beyond the means of payment"; and did even insert, +as the ninth article of his charge against Middleton, "his omitting to +take any notice of the additional balance of Rupees 26,48,571, stated by +the Accountant-General to be due from the Vizier on the 30th of April, +1780," to which he did add fourteen lac more, making together the above +sum. Fifthly, that he, the said Warren Hastings, did assign "political +dangers," in his minute of the 13th December, 1779, for burdening the +said Nabob of Oude "with unnecessary defences and enormous subsidies," +with regard to which he then declared, that "it was _our_ part, not +_his_ [the Nabob's], to judge and to determine." And, sixthly, that he +did not only show the _design_, but the _fact_, of personal kindness to +the partisans of what he here calls, as well as in another letter, and +in one Minute of Consultation, a "late usurpation,"--he having rewarded +the principal and most obnoxious of the instruments of the said late +usurpation, (if such it was,) Richard Johnson, Esquire, with an +honorable and profitable embassy to the court of the Nizam. + +LXXXI. That the said Warren Hastings, therefore,--by assuming an +authority which he himself did consider as an _usurpation_, and by acts +in virtue of that usurped authority, done in his own proper person and +by agents appointed by himself, and proceeding (though with some +mitigation, for which one of them was by him censured and accused) under +his own express and positive orders and instructions, and thereby +establishing, as he himself observed, "a system of interference, +disreputable and ruinous, which could only be subservient to promote +patronage, private interest, private embezzlement, corruption, and +vengeance," to the public detriment of the Company, "and to the ruin of +a once flourishing nation, and eternally reproachful to the British +name," and for the evil effects of which system, "as his sole and +ultimate hope" and remedy, he recommends an entire abdication, forever, +not only of all power and authority, but even of the interference and +influence of Great Britain,--is guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor. + +LXXXII. That the said Warren Hastings, in his letter from Chunar of the +29th of November, 1781, has represented that very influence and +interference, which in three public papers he denominates "_a late +usurpation_" as being authorized by a regular treaty and agreement, +voluntarily made with the Nabob himself, at a place called Chunar, on +the 19th of September, 1781, a copy of which hath been transmitted to +the Court of Directors,--and that three persons were present at the +execution of the same, two whereof were Middleton and Johnson, his +agents and Residents at Oude, the third the minister of the Nabob. And +he did, in his paper written to the Council-General, and transmitted to +the Court of Directors, not only declare that the said interference was +agreed to by the said Nabob, and sealed with his seal, but would be +highly beneficial to him: assuring the said Council, "that, if the +Resident performed his duty in the execution of his [the said +Hastings's] instructions, the Nabob's part of the engagement will prove +of still greater benefit to him than to our government, in whose behalf +it was exacted; and that the _participation_ which is allowed our +Resident in the _inspection_ of the public treasure will secure the +receipt of the Company's demands, whilst _the influence which our +government will ALWAYS possess over the public minister of the Nabob, +and the authority of our own_, will be an effectual means of securing an +attentive and faithful discharge of their several trusts, both towards +the Company and the Vizier." + +LXXXIII. And the said Warren Hastings did not only settle a plan, of +which the agency and interference aforesaid was a part, and assert the +beneficial consequences thereof, but did also record, that the same "was +a great public measure, constituted on a large and _established system_, +and destructive, in its instant effects, of the interest and fortune of +many patronized individuals"; and in consequence of the said treaty, he, +the said Warren Hastings, did authorize and positively require his agent +aforesaid to interfere in and control and regulate _all the Nabob's +affairs whatsoever_: and the said Warren Hastings having made for the +Company, and in its name, an acquisition of power and authority, even if +it had been abused by others, he ought to have remedied the abuse, and +brought the guilty to condign punishment, instead of making another +treaty without their approbation, consent, or knowledge, and to this +time not communicated to them, by which it appears he has annulled the +former treaty, and the authority thereby acquired to the Company, as a +grievance and usurpation, to which, from the general corruption of their +service, no other remedy could be applied than a formal renunciation of +their power and influence: for which said actings and doings the said +Warren Hastings is guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor. + +LXXXIV. That the Company's army in India is an object requiring the most +vigilant and constant inspection, both to the happiness of the natives, +the security of the British power, and to its own obedience and +discipline, and does require that inspection in proportion as it is +removed from the principal seat of government; and the number and +discipline of the troops kept up by the native princes, along with +British troops, is also of great moment and importance to the same ends. +That Warren Hastings, Esquire, pretending to pursue the same, did, in +virtue of an authority acquired by the treaty of Chunar aforesaid, give +strict orders, and to which he did demand _a most implicit obedience_, +that _all_ officers of the Nabob's army should be appointed "with _the +concurrence of the Resident_," and supposing the case that persons of +obnoxious description or of known disaffection to the British government +should be appointed, (of which he left the Resident to be the judge,) +he did direct in the following words: "You are in such case to +remonstrate against it; and if the Vizier should persist in his choice, +you are peremptorily, _and in my name_, to oppose it as _a breach of his +agreement_"; and he did also direct that the "_mootiana_ [or soldiers +employed for the collection of revenue] should be reformed, and reduced +into one corps for the whole service, and that _no_ infantry should be +left in the Nabob's service but what may be necessary for his +bodyguard"; and he did further order and direct as follows: "That in +quelling disturbances the commander of the forces should assist you [the +said Resident] on the requisition of the Vizier communicated through you +to him [the said commander], _or at your own tingle application_. It is +directed that the regiment ordered for the immediate protection of your +office and person at Lucknow shall be relieved every three months, and +during its stay there shall act solely and exclusively under your +orders." And it appears in the course of the Company's correspondence, +that the country troops under the Nabob's sole direction would be +ill-disciplined and unserviceable, if not worse, and therefore the said +Warren Hastings did order that "no infantry should be kept in his +service"; yet it appears that the said Warren Hastings did make an +arrangement for a body of native troops wholly out of the control or +inspection of the British government, and left a written order in the +hands of Major Palmer (one of _his_ agents, who had been continued +there, though the Company was not permitted to employ any) to be +transmitted to Colonel Cumming as soon as an adequate force shall be +provided _for the defence of the Nabob's frontier_ by detachments from +_the Nabob's own battalions_,--the said Colonel Cumming's forces, whom +the others were to supersede and replace, consisting wholly of infantry, +and which, being intended for the same service, were probably of the +same constitution. + +LXXXV. That the old brigade of British troops, which by treaty was to +remain, had been directed, by the instructions of the said Hastings to +the Resident Middleton and to the Resident Bristow, "not to be employed +at the requisition of the Vizier any otherwise than through the +Resident"; and the said direction was properly given,--it not being fit +that British troops should be under the sole direction of foreign +independent princes, or of any other than the British government: yet, +notwithstanding the proper and necessary direction aforesaid, he, the +said Warren Hastings, hath left the said troops, by his new treaty, +without any local control, or even inspection, notwithstanding his +powers under the treaty of Chunar, and his own repeated orders, and +notwithstanding the mischiefs and dangers which the said Warren Hastings +did foresee would result therefrom, if left under the sole direction of +the Nabob, and their own discretion, the said Hastings having stipulated +with the said Nabob not to exercise any authority, or even influence, +_secret_ or _avowed_, within his dominions. + +LXXXVI. That the crime of the said Warren Hastings, in attempting thus +to abandon the British army to the sole discretion of the Nabob of Oude, +is exceedingly aggravated by the description given by him severally of +the said Nabob of Oude, and of the British army stationed for the +defence of his dominions. In his letters to the Court of Directors, and +in his Minutes of Consultation, and particularly in his letter of ----, +immediately on the accession of the Nabob, he did inform the said Court, +"that the Nabob had not, by all accounts, the qualities of the head or +heart which fitted him for that office, though there was no dispute +concerning his right to succeed"; and some years afterwards, when his +accounts must have been rendered more certain, he did, in his Minute of +Consultation of the 15th of December, 1779, (regularly transmitted to +the Court of Directors,) upon a discussion for withdrawing certain +troops kept up in the Nabob's country without his consent, by him, the +said Warren Hastings, strongly urge as follows,--"the _necessity_ of +maintaining the influence and force which we possess in the country; +that the disorders of his state [the Nabob of Oude's state] and +dissipation of his revenues are the effects of his own conduct, which +has failed, not so much from the usual effects of _incapacity_ as from +the detestable choice he has made of the ministers of his power and the +participation of his confidence. I forbear to expatiate further on his +character; it is sufficient that I am understood by the members of this +board, who must know the truth of my allusions. Mr. Francis" (a member +of the board) "surely was not aware of the injury he did me [Warren +Hastings] by attributing to the spirit of party the character I gave +Asoph ul Dowlah [the Nabob of Oude]; he himself knows it _to be true; +and it is one of those notorieties which supersede the necessity of any +evidence. I was forced to the allusion I made by the imputation cast on +this government, as having caused the evils which prevail in the +government of the Nabob of Oude, which I could only answer by ascribing +them to their true cause, the character and conduct of the Nabob of +Oude."_ And the Resident (appointed by the said Hastings, against the +orders of the Court of Directors, as his particular confidential +representative, one whom the said Nabob did himself request might be +continued with him _by an engagement in writing forever_) did some time +before, that is, on the 3d of January, 1779, assure the said Hastings +and the Council-General, that "such is his Excellency's [the Nabob of +Oude's] disposition, and so entirely has he lost the confidence and +affections of his subjects, that, unless some restraint is imposed on +him which would effectually secure those who live under the protection +of his government from violence and oppression, I am but too well +convinced that no man of reputation or property will long continue in +these provinces"; and that the said Resident proceeds to an instance of +oppression and rapine, "out of _many_ of the Nabob's, which has caused a +total disaffection and want of confidence among his subjects: he hoped +the board would take it into their humane consideration, and interpose +their _influence_, and prevent an act which would inevitably bring +disgrace upon himself, and a proportionable degree of discredit on the +national character of the English, which I consider to be more or less +concerned in every act of his administration." + +LXXXVII. That no exception was ever taken by the said Warren Hastings to +the truth of the facts, or to the justness of the observation of the +said Resident, which he did transmit to the Court of Directors. And the +said Warren Hastings, in his letter from Chunar, dated the 29th of +November, 1781, speaking of the restraints which had been put by him, +the said Hastings, on the Nabob, relative to his own _mootiana_, or +forces for collection and police, and the necessity of giving the +Resident a control in the nomination of the officers of his army, has +asserted, "that the necessity of the reservation arose from a too well +known defect in the Nabob's character: if this _check_ be withdrawn, and +the choice left absolutely to the Nabob, the first commands in his army +will be filled with the most worthless and abandoned of his subjects: +his late commander-in-chief is a signal and scandalous instance of +this." + +LXXXVIII. And the said Warren Hastings, in his letter to the Court of +Directors, dated Benares, the 15th of October, 1784, even after he had +made the aforesaid renunciation of the Company's authority and influence +to the Nabob, did write, "that the Nabob, though most gentle in his +manners, and endued with an understanding much above the common level, +has been _unfortunately bred up in habits_ that draw his attention too +much from his own affairs, and often subject him to the guidance of +_insidious and unworthy confidants_"; which, though more decently +expressed with regard to the Nabob than in his former minutes, +substantially agrees with them. And the said Warren Hastings did inform +the Court of Directors, after he had solemnly covenanted to withdraw all +the Company's influence on the assurances and promises of a person so by +himself described, that, for reasons grounded on his knowledge of the +imbecility of the character of the Nabob, he waited in a frontier town, +"that he might be at hand to counteract any attempt to defeat the effect +of his proceedings at Lucknow"; and in his letter to Mr. Wheler from the +same place he did write in the following words: "I am still near enough +to attend to the first effects of the execution, and to interfere with +my influence for the removal of any obstructions to which they are or +may be liable." He therefore found that there was none or but an +insufficient security to the effect of his treaty, but in his own direct +personal violation of it. What otherwise was wanting in the security for +the Nabob's engagements was to be supplied as follows: "The most +respectable persons of his family will be employed to counteract every +other which may tend to warp him from it; and I am sorry to say _that +such assistance was wanting_." And in another letter, "that he had equal +ground to expect every degree of support which could be given it by _the +first characters of his family_, who are warmly and zealously interested +in it": the principal male character of the family, and of the most +influence in that family, being Salar Jung, uncle to the Nabob; and the +first female characters of the family being the mother and grandmother +of the reigning sovereign: all of whom, male and female, he, the said +Warren Hastings, in sundry letters of his own, in the transmission of +various official documents, and even in affidavits studiously collected +and sworn before Sir Elijah Impey during his short residence at Lucknow +and Benares, did himself represent as persons entirely disaffected to +the English power in India,--as having been principal promoters, if not +original contrivers, of a general rebellion and revolt for the utter +extirpation of the English nation,--and as such, he, the said Warren +Hastings, did compel the Nabob reluctantly to take from them their +landed estates; and yet the said Warren Hastings has had the presumption +to attempt to impose on the East India Company by pretending to place +his reliance on those three persons for a settlement favorable to the +Company's interests, on his renunciation of all their own power, +authority, and influence, and on his leaving their army to the sole and +uncontrolled discretion of a stranger, meriting in his opinion the +description given by him as aforesaid, as well as by him frequently +asserted to be politically incapable of supporting his own power without +the aid of the forces of the Company. And the offence of the said Warren +Hastings, in abandoning a considerable part of the British army in the +manner aforesaid, is much increased by the description which he has +himself given of the state of the said army, and particularly of that +part thereof which is stationed in the Nabob of Oude's dominions: for he +did himself, on the 29th of November, 1781, transmit the information +following, on that subject, to the Court of Directors, namely,--"that +the remote stations of those troops, placing the commanding officers +beyond the notice and control of the board [the Council-General] at +Calcutta, afforded too much of opportunity and temptation for +unwarrantable _emoluments, and excited the contagion of peculation and +rapacity throughout the whole army_. A most remarkable instance and +uncontrovertible proof of the prevalence of this spirit has been seen in +the court-martial upon Captain Erskine, where the court, composed of +officers of rank, and respectable characters, unanimously and honorably, +(_most_ honorably,) upon an acknowledged fact, acquitted him, which in +times of stricter discipline would have been deemed a crime deserving +the severest punishment." From which representation (if the said Warren +Hastings did not falsely and unjustly accuse and slander the Company's +service) it appeared that the peculation which infected the whole army, +derived from the taint which it had in Oude, and so fatal to the +discipline of the troops, would be dangerously increased by his treaty +and agreement aforesaid with the Nabob, and by his own said evil counsel +to the Court of Directors. + +LXXXIX. That it appears, after the said Warren Hastings had, on grounds +so disgraceful to the British nation and government, agreed to remove +forever the British influence and interference from the government of +Oude, on account of the disorders in the said government, solely +produced by his own criminal acts and criminal connivances, that he did +overturn his own settlement as soon as he had made it, and did, after he +had abolished the Company's Residency, as a grievance, wholly violate +his own solemn agreement: for he did, for his private purposes, continue +therein his own private agent, Major Palmer, with a number of officers +and pensioners, at a charge to the revenues of the country greatly +exceeding that of the establishment under Mr. Bristow, which he did +represent as frightfully enormous, and which he pretended to remove: the +former amounting to 112,950_l._, the latter only to 64,202_l._ + +XC. That his own secret agent, Major Palmer, did receive a salary or +allowance, equal to 22,800_l._ a year, out of the distressed province +of Oude; and this the said Palmer did declare not to be more than he +absolutely did really and _bonâ fide_ spend, and that he had +retrenched considerably "in some of the articles since the expense has +been borne by the Vizier, and in every particular he made as little +parade and appearance as his station would admit,"--his station being +that of the said Warren Hastings's private agent. But if the said +large salary must be considered as merely equal to the expenses, large +secret emoluments must be presumed to attend it, in order to make it a +place advantageous to the holder thereof. That the said Palmer did +apply to the board at Calcutta for a new authority to continue the +said establishments,--he conceiving their continuance, "after the +period of the Governor-General's departure, depended upon the pleasure +of the board, and not upon the _authority of the Governor-General, +under the sanction of which they were established or confirmed_." + +XCI. That the said Warren Hastings, in order to ruin the Resident +Bristow, and to justify himself for his former proceedings respecting +him, did bring before the board a new charge against him, for having +paid a large establishment of offices and pensions to the Company's +servants from the revenues of Oude; and the said Bristow, in making his +defence against the charge aforesaid, did plead, that he had found all +the allowances on his list established before his last appointment to +the Residency,--that they had grown to that excess in the interval +between his first removal by the said Warren Hastings and his +reappointment; and having adduced many reasons to make it highly +probable that the said Hastings was perfectly well acquainted with it, +and did approve of the expensive establishments which he, the said +Bristow, simply had paid, but not imposed, he did allege, besides the +official assurances of his predecessor, Middleton, certain facts, as +amounting to a direct proof that the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, +was not averse to the Vizier's granting large salaries to more than one +European gentleman. And the first instance was to Mr. Thomas, a surgeon, +who, exclusive of his pay from the Company, which was 1,440_l._ a year, +claimed from the Vizier, with Mr. Hastings's knowledge, the sum of +9,763_l._ a year, and upwards, making together 11,203_l._ per annum. The +next was Mr. Trevor Wheler, who did receive, upon the same +establishment, when he was Fourth Assistant at Oude, 6,000_l._ a year; +and which last fact the said Hastings has admitted upon record "that the +accusations of Mr. Bristow and Mr. Cowper did _oblige_ and _compel_ him +to acknowledge,"--denying, at the same time, that the allowances of the +Residents Middleton and Bristow, except in this single instance, were +ever authorized by him; whereas his own agent, Palmer, did, in his +letter of the 27th of March, 1785, represent, that the said salaries and +allowances (if not more and larger) were by him authorized or confirmed. + +XCII. That the aforesaid Bristow did also produce the following letter +in proof that Mr. Hastings knew and approved of large salaries to +British subjects upon the revenues of Oude, and which he did declare +that nothing but the necessity of self-defence could have induced him to +produce. + +'DEAR BRISTOW,-- + +"Sir Eyre Coote has some field-allowances to receive from the Vizier; +they amount to Sicca Rupees 15,554 per month, and he has been paid up by +the Vizier to the 20th of August, 1782. The Governor has directed me to +write to you, to request you to receive what is due from the Vizier +from the 20th August last, at the rate of Lucknow Sicca Rupees 15,664 +per month, and send me a bill for the amount, the receipt of which I +will acknowledge in the capacity of Sir Eyre Coote's attorney; and the +Governor desires that you will continue to receive Sir Eyre Coote's +field-allowances at the same rate, and remit the money to me as it comes +in. + + (Signed) "CHARLES CROFTES. + + "CALCUTTA, January 25, 1783." + +XCIII. That Sir Eyre Coote aforesaid was at the time of the said +field-allowances not serving in the country of Oude, on which the said +allowances were charged, but in the Carnatic. + +XCIV. That, from the declaration of the said Hastings himself, that it +was the conviction of Mr. Bristow and Mr. Cowper that could alone +_oblige_ and _compel_ him to _acknowledge_ certain of his aforesaid +practices, and that nothing _but the necessity of self-defence_ could +have induced Mr. Bristow to make public another and much stronger +instance of the same, it is to be violently presumed, that, where these +two, or either, or both necessities did not exist, many evil and +oppressive practices of the said Hastings do remain undiscovered,--that, +if it had not been for the contests between him, the said Hastings, and +the Resident Bristow, not only the before-mentioned particulars, but the +whole of the expensive civil establishments for English servants at +Oude, would have been forever concealed from the Directors and from +Parliament: and yet the said Hastings has had the audacity to pretend so +complete an ignorance of the facts, that, representing the Vizier as +objecting to the largeness of the payments made by Bristow, and stating +a very reduced list, which he was willing to allow for, amounting to +30,000_l._ a year, the said Hastings did affect to be alarmed at the +magnitude even of the list so curtailed, expressing himself as follows, +in his minute of the 7th of December, 1784: "For my own part, when the +Vizier's minister first informed me that the amount which his master had +authorized, and was willing to admit, for the charges of the Residency, +and the allowances of the gentlemen at Lucknow, was 25,000 rupees per +month, I own I was startled at the magnitude of the sum, and was some +days hesitating in my mind whether I could with propriety admit of it": +whereas he well knew that the three sums alone of which the necessities +aforesaid had compelled the discovery did greatly exceed that sum of +which at the first hearing he affects to have been so exceedingly +alarmed and thrown into a state of hesitation which continued for some +days, and although he, the said Hastings, was conscious that he had at +the very time authorized an establishment to more than four times the +amount thereof. + +XCV. That, in the said deceits, prevarications, contradictions, +malicious accusations, fraudulent concealments, and compelled +discoveries, as well as in the said secret, corrupt, and prodigal +disposition of the revenues of Oude, as well as in his breach of faith +to the Nabob, in continuing expensive establishments under a private +agent of his own after he had agreed to remove the Company's agent, the +said Warren Hastings is guilty of an high offence and misdemeanor. + + + + +XVII.--MAHOMED REZA KHÂN. + + +I. That it was the declared policy of the Company, on the acquisition of +the dewanny of Bengal, to continue the country government, under the +inspection of the Resident at the Nabob's durbar in the first instance, +and that of the President and Council in the last; and for that purpose +they did stipulate to assign, for the support of the dignity of the +Nabob, an annual allowance from the revenues, equal to four hundred +thousand pounds a year. + +II. That, during the country government, the principal active person in +the administration of affairs, for rank, and for reputation of probity, +and of knowledge in the revenues and the laws, was Mahomed Reza Khân, +who, besides large landed property, was possessed of offices whose +emoluments amounted nearly, if not altogether, to one hundred thousand +pounds a year. + +IV.[16] That the Company's servants, in the beginning, were not +conversant in the affairs of the revenue, and stood in need of natives +of integrity and experience to act in the management thereof. On that +ground, as well as in regard to the rank which Mahomed Reza Khân held in +the country, and the confidence of the people in him, they, the +President and Council, did inform the Court of Directors, in their +letter of the 30th of September, 1765, that, "as Mahomed Reza Khân's +short administration was irreproachable, they determined to continue him +in a share of the authority"; and this information was not given +lightly, but was founded upon an inquiry into his conduct, and a minute +examination of charges made against him by his rivals in the Nabob's +court,--they having insinuated to the Nabob that a design was formed for +deposing him, and placing Mahomed Reza on his throne; but, on +examination, the President and Council declare, that "he had so openly +and candidly accounted _for every rupee_ disbursed from the treasury, +that they could not, without injury to his character, and injustice to +his conduct during his short administration, refuse continuing him in a +share of the government." + +V. That the Company had reason to be satisfied with the arrangement +made, so far as it regarded him: the President and Council having +informed them, in the following year, in their letter of the 9th of +December, 1766, that "the _large_ increase of the revenue must in a +great measure be ascribed to Mr. Sykes's assiduity, and to _Mahomed Reza +Khân's profound knowledge in the finances_." + +VI. That the then President and Council, finding it necessary to make +several reforms in the administration, were principally aided in the +same by the suggestion, advice, and assistance of the said Mahomed Reza +Khân; and in their letter to the Court of Directors of the 24th of June, +1767, they state their resolution of reducing the emoluments of office, +which before had arisen from a variety of presents and other +perquisities, to fixed allowances; and they state the merits of Mahomed +Reza Khân therein, as well as the importance, dignity, and +responsibility of his station, in the following manner. + +"Mahomed Reza Khân has now _of himself, with great delicacy of honor_, +represented to us the evil consequences that must ensue from the +continuance of this practice,--since, by suffering the principal +officers of the government to depend for the support of their dignity on +the precarious fund of perquisites, they in a manner oblige them to +pursue oppressive and corrupt measures, equally injurious to the country +and the Company; and they accordingly assigned twelve lac of rupees for +the maintenance and support of the said Mahomed Reza Khân, and two other +principal persons, who held in their hands the most important +employments of that government,--having regard to their elevated +stations, and to the expediency of supporting them in all the show and +parade requisite to keep up the authority and influence of their +respective offices, as they are all men of weight and consideration in +the country, who held places of great trust and profit under the former +government. We further propose, by this act of generosity, to engage +their cordial services, and confirm them steady in our interests; since +they cannot hope, from the most successful ambition, to rise to greater +advantages by any chance or revolution of affairs. At the same time it +was reasonable we should not lose sight of Mahomed Reza Khân's past +services. He has pursued the Company's interest with steadiness and +diligence; his abilities qualify him to perform the most important +services; the unavoidable charges of his particular situation are great; +in dignity he stands second to the Nabob only;--and as he engages to +increase the revenues, without injustice or oppression, to more than the +amount of his salary, _and to relinquish those advantages, to the amount +of eight lacs of rupees per annum_, which he heretofore enjoyed, we +thought it proper, in the distribution of salaries, to consider Mahomed +Reza Khân in a light superior to the other ministers. We have only to +observe further, that, great and enormous as the sum must appear which +we have allotted for the support of the ministers of the government, we +will not hesitate to pronounce that it is necessary and reasonable, and +will appear so on the consideration of the power which men employed on +these important services have either to obstruct or promote the public +good, unless their integrity be confirmed by the ties of gratitude and +interest." + +VII. That the said Mahomed Reza Khân continued, with the same diligence, +spirit, and fidelity, to execute the trust reposed in him, which +comprehended a large proportion of the weight of government, and +particularly of the collections; and his attachment to the interest of +the Company, and his extensive knowledge, were again, in the course of +the year 1767, fully acknowledged, and stated to the Court of Directors. +And it further appears that by an incessant application to business his +health was considerably impaired, which gave occasion in the year +following, that is, in February, 1768, to a fresh acknowledgment of his +services in these terms: "We must, in justice to Mahomed Reza Khân, +express the high sense we entertain of his abilities, and of the +indefatigable attention he has shown in the execution of the important +trust reposed in him; and we cannot but lament the prospect of losing +his services from the present declining state of his health." + +VIII. That as in the increase of the revenue the said Mahomed Reza Khân +was employed as a person likely to improve the same without detriment to +the people, so, when the state of any province seemed to require a +remission, he was employed as a person disposed to the relief of the +people without fraud to the revenue; and this was expressed by the +President and Council as follows, with relation to the remissions +granted in the province of Bahar: "That the general knowledge of Mahomed +Reza Khân, in all matters relative to the dewanny revenues, induced us +to consent to such deductions being made from the general state of that +province at the _last poonah_ as may be deemed irrecoverable, or such as +may procure an immediate relief and encouragement to the ryots in the +future cultivation of their lands." + +IX. That the said Mahomed Reza Khân, in the execution of the said great +and important trusts and powers, was not so much as suspected of an +ambitious or encroaching spirit, which might make him dangerous to the +Company's then recent authority, or which might render his precedence +injurious to the consideration due to his colleagues in office; but, on +the contrary, it appears, that, a plan having been adopted for dividing +the administration, in order to remove the Nabob's jealousies, the same +was in danger of being subverted by the ambition "of two of his +colleagues, and _the excessive moderation of Mahomed Reza Khân_." And +for a remedy of the inconveniencies which might arise from the excess of +an accommodating temper, though attended with irreproachable integrity, +the President and Council did send one of their own members, as their +deputy, to the Nabob of Bengal, at his capital of Moorshedabad; and this +measure appears to have been adopted for the support of Mahomed Reza +Khân, in consequence of an inquiry made and advice given by Lord Clive, +in his letter of the 3d of July, 1765, in which letter he expresses +himself of the said Mahomed Reza Khân as follows: "It is with pleasure I +can acquaint you, _that, the more I see of Mahomed Reza Khân, the +stronger is my conviction of his honor and moderation_, but that, at the +same time, I cannot help observing, that, either from timidity or an +erroneous principle, he is too ready to submit to encroachments upon +that proportion of power that has been allotted him." + +X. That, the Nabob Jaffier Ali Khân dying in February, 1765, Mahomed +Reza Khân was appointed guardian to his children, and administrator of +his office, or regent, which appointment the Court of Directors did +approve. But the party opposite to Mahomed Reza Khân having continued to +cabal against him, sundry accusations were framed relative to oppression +at the time of the famine, and for a balance due during his employment +of collector of the revenues; upon which the Directors did order him to +be deprived of his office, and a strict inquiry to be made into his +conduct. + +XI. That the said Warren Hastings, then lately appointed to the +Presidency, did, on the 1st of April, and on the 24th of September, +1772, write letters to the Court of Directors, informing them that on +the very next day after he had received (as he asserts) their private +orders, "addressed to himself alone," and not to the board, he did +dispatch, by express messengers, his orders to Mr. Middleton, the +Resident at the Nabob's court at Moorshedabad, in a public character +and trust with the Nabob, to arrest, in his capital, and at his court, +and without any previous notice given of any charge, his principal +minister, the aforesaid Mahomed Reza Khân, and to bring him down to +Calcutta; and he did carefully conceal his said proceedings from the +knowledge of the board, on pretext of his not being acquainted with +their dispositions, and the influence which he thought that the said +Mahomed Reza Khân had amongst them. + +XII. That the said Warren Hastings, at the time he gave his orders as +aforesaid for arresting the said Mahomed Reza Khân, did not take any +measures to compel the appearance of any other persons as +witnesses,--declaring it as his opinion, "that there would be little +need of violence to obtain such intelligence as they could give against +their former master, when his authority is taken from him"; but he did +afterwards, in excuse for the long detention and imprisonment of the +said Mahomed Reza Khân, without any proofs having been obtained of his +guilt, or measures taken to bring him to a trial, assure the Directors, +in direct contradiction to his former declaration, "that the influence +of Mahomed Reza Khân still prevailed generally throughout the country, +in the Nabob's household, and at the capital, and was scarcely affected +by his present disgrace,"--notwithstanding, as he, the said Hastings, +doth confess, he had used his utmost endeavors "to break that influence, +by removing his dependants, and putting the direction of all the affairs +that had been committed to his care into the hands of _the most powerful +or active of his enemies_; that he depended on the activity of their +hatred to Mahomed Reza Khân, incited by the expectation of rewards, for +investigating the conduct of the latter; that with this the institution +of the new dewanny coincided; and that the same principle had guided him +in the choice of Munny Begum and Rajah Gourdas,--the former for the +chief administration, the latter" (the son of Nundcomar, and a mere +instrument in the hands of his father) "for the dewanny of the Nabob's +household,--both _the declared enemies_ of Mahomed Reza Khân." + +XIII. That, although it might be true that enemies will become the most +active prosecutors, and as such may, though under much guard and many +precautions, be used even as witnesses, and that it ought not to be an +exception, supposing their character and capacity otherwise good, to the +appointing them to power, yet to advance persons to power on the ground +not of their honor and integrity, which might have produced the enmity +of bad men, but merely for the enmity itself, without any reference +whatsoever to a laudable cause, and even with a declared ill opinion of +the morals of one of the party, such as was actually delivered in the +said letter by him, the said Hastings, of Nundcomar, (and which time has +shown he might also on good ground have conceived of others,) was, in +the circumstances of a criminal inquiry, a motive highly disgraceful to +the honor of government, and destructive of impartial justice, by +holding out the greatest of all possible temptation to false accusation, +to corrupt and factious conspiracies, to perjury, and to every species +of injustice and oppression. + +XIV. That, in consequence of the aforesaid motives, and others +pretended, which were by no means a sufficient justification to the said +Warren Hastings, he did appoint the woman aforesaid, called Munny Begum, +who had been of the lowest and most discreditable order in society, +according to the ideas prevalent in India, but from whom he received +several sums of money, to be guardian to the Nabob in preference to his +own mother, _and to administer the affairs of the government_ in the +place of the said Mahomed Reza Khân, the second Mussulman in rank after +the Nabob, and the first in knowledge, gravity, weight, and character +among the Mussulmen of that province. And in order to try every method +and to take every chance for his destruction, the said Warren Hastings +did maliciously and oppressively keep him under confinement, for a part +of the time without any inquiry, and afterwards with a slow and dilatory +trial, for two years together. + +XV. That, notwithstanding a total revolution in the power, in part +avowedly made for his destruction, the persons appointed for his trial +did, on full inquiry, completely acquit the said Mahomed Reza Khân of +the criminal charges against him, on account of which he had been so +long persecuted and confined, and suffered much in mind, body, and +fortune: and the Court of Directors, in their letter of the 3d of March, +1775, testify their satisfaction in the conduct and result of the said +inquiry, and did direct the restoration of the said Mahomed Reza Khân to +liberty, and to the offices which he had lately held, which comprehended +the management of the Nabob's household, and the general superintendency +of the justice of Bengal; but, according to the orders of the Court of +Directors, his appointments were reduced to thirty thousand pounds a +year, or thereabouts, of which he did make grievous complaint, on +account of the expenses attendant on his station, and the heavy debts +which he had been obliged to contract during his unjust persecution and +imprisonment aforesaid. + +XVI. That, on the removal of the said Mahomed Reza Khân from the +superintendency of the criminal justice, and in consequence of letting +the province of Bengal in farm by the said Warren Hastings, several +dangerous and mischievous innovations were made by him, the said Warren +Hastings, and the criminal justice of the country was almost wholly +subverted, and great irregularities and disorders did actually ensue. + +XVII. That the Council-General, established by act of Parliament in the +year 1773, did restore the said Mahomed Reza Khân, with the consent and +approbation of the Nabob, (but under a protest from the said Warren +Hastings,) to his liberty and to his offices, according to the spirit of +the orders given by the Court of Directors as aforesaid; and the Court +of Directors did approve of the said appointment, and did assure the +said Mahomed Reza Khân of their favor and protection as long as his +conduct should merit the same, in the following terms. "As the abilities +of Mahomed Reza Khân have been sufficiently manifested, as official +experience qualifies him for so high a station in a more eminent degree +than any other native with whom the Company has been connected, and as +no proofs of maladministration have been established against him, +either during the strict investigation of his conduct or since his +retirement, we cannot under all circumstances but approve your +recommendation of him to the Nabob to constitute him his Naib. We are +well pleased that he has received that appointment, and authorize you to +assure him of our favor, so long as a firm attachment to the interest of +the Company and a proper discharge of the duties of his station shall +render him worthy of our protection." And the said Mahomed Reza Khân did +continue to execute the same without any complaint whatsoever of +malversation or negligence, in any manner or degree, in his said office. + +XVIII. That in March, 1778, the said Warren Hastings, under color that +the Nabob had completed his twentieth year, and had desired to be placed +in the entire and uncontrolled management of his own affairs, and that +Mahomed Reza Khân should be removed from his office, and that Munny +Begum, his step-mother, the dancing-girl aforesaid, "should take on +herself the management of the _nizamut_ [the government and general +superintendency of criminal justice] without the interference of any +person whatsoever," and notwithstanding the contradictions in the +pretended applications from the Nabob, with whose incapacity for all +affairs he was well acquainted, did, in defiance of the orders of the +Court of Directors, and without regard to the infamy of an arrangement +made for the evident and declared purpose of delivering not only the +family with the prince, but the government and justice of a great +kingdom, into such insufficient, corrupt, and scandalous hands, and +though he has declared his opinion "that our national character is +concerned in the character which the Nabob may obtain in the public +opinion," on obtaining a majority in Council, without any complaint, +real or pretended, remove the said Mahomed Reza from all his offices, +and did partition his salary as a spoil in the following manner: to +Munny Begum, the dancing-girl aforesaid, an additional allowance of +72,000 rupees (7,200_l._) a year; to the Nabob's own mother but half +that sum, that is to say, 36,000 rupees (3,600_l._) a year; to Rajah +Gourdas, son of Nundcomar, (whom he had described as a weak young man,) +72,000 rupees (7,200_l._) a year, as controller of the household; and to +a magistrate called Sudder ul Hock, who, in real subserviency to the +said Munny Begum, was nominally to act in the department of criminal +justice, 78,000 rupees (7,800_l._) a year: the total of which allowances +exceeding the salary of Mahomed Reza Khân by 18,000 rupees (1,800_l._) +yearly, he did, for the corrupt and scandalous purposes aforesaid, order +the same to be made up from the Company's treasury. + +XIX. That Mr. Francis and Mr. Wheler having moved that the execution of +the aforesaid arrangement, the whole expense of which, ordinary and +extraordinary, was charged upon the Company's treasury, and therefore +could not be even colorably disposed of at the pretended will of the +said Nabob, might be suspended until the pleasure of the Court of +Directors thereon should be known, and the same being resolved agreeably +to law by a majority of the Council then present, the said Hastings, +urging on violently the immediate execution of his corrupt project, and +having obtained, by the return of Richard Barwell, Esquire, a majority +in Council in his own casting vote, did rescind the aforesaid +resolution, and did carry into immediate execution the aforesaid most +unwarrantable, mischievous, and scandalous design. + +XX. That the consequences which might be expected from such a plan of +administration did almost instantly flow from it. For the person +appointed to execute one of the offices which had been filled by Mahomed +Reza Khân did soon find that the eunuchs of Munny Begum began to employ +their power with great superiority and insolence in all the concerns of +government and the administration of justice, and did endeavor to +dispose of the offices relative to the same for their corrupt purposes, +and to rob the Nabob's servants of their due allowances; and in his +letter of the 1st September, 1778, he sent a complaint to the board, +stating, "that certain bad men had gained an ascendency over the Nabob's +temper, by whose instigation he acts"; and after complaining of the +slights he received from the Nabob, he adds: "Thus they cause the Nabob +to treat me, sometimes with indignity, at others with kindness, just as +they think proper to advise him; their view is, that, by compelling me +to displeasure at most unworthy treatment, they may force me either to +relinquish my station, or to join with them, and act by their advice, +and appoint creatures of their recommendation to the different offices, +from which they might draw profit to themselves." + +XXI. That, in a subsequent letter to the Governor, the said +Superintendent of Justice did inform him, the said Warren Hastings, of +the audacious and corrupt manner in which, by violence, fraud, and +forgery, the eunuchs of Munny Begum had abused the Nabob's name, to +deprive the judicial and executory officers of justice of the salaries +which they ought to have drawn from the Company's treasury, in the +following words: "The Begum's ministers, before my arrival, with the +advice of their counsellors, caused the Nabob to sign a receipt, in +consequence of which they received, at two different times, near 50,000 +rupees [5,000_l._], in the name of the officers of the Adawlut, +Phousdary, &c., from the Company's sircars; and having drawn up an +account-current _in the manner they wished_, they had got the Nabob to +sign it, and sent it to me." And in the same letter he asserts, "that +these people had the Nabob entirely in their power." + +XXII. That the said Warren Hastings, upon this representation, did, +notwithstanding his late pretended opinion of the fitness and the right +of the Nabob to the sole administration of his own affairs, +authoritatively forbid him from any interference therein, and ordered +that the whole should be left to the magistrate aforesaid; to which the +Nabob did, notwithstanding his pretended independence, yield an +immediate and unreserved submission: for the said Hastings's order being +given on the 1st of September at Calcutta, he received _an answer_ from +Moorshedabad on the 3d, in the following terms: "Agreeably to your +pleasure, I have relinquished all concern with the affairs of the +Phousdary and Adawlut, leaving the entire management in Sudder ul Hock's +hands." Which said circumstance, as well as many others, abundantly +proves that all the Nabob's actions were in truth and fact entirely +governed by the influence of the said Hastings, and that, however the +said Hastings may have publicly discouraged the corrupt transactions of +the said court, yet he did secretly uphold the authority and influence +of Munny Begum, who did entirely direct, with his knowledge and +countenance, all the proceedings therein. For + +XXIII. That on the 13th of the same month of September he did receive a +further complaint of the corrupt and fraudulent practices of the chief +eunuch of the said Munny Begum; and these corrupt practices did so +continue and increase, that on the 10th of October, 1778, he was obliged +to confess, in the strongest terms, the pernicious consequences of his +before-created unwarrantable and illegal arrangements; for, in a letter +of that date to the Nabob, he expresses himself as follows. "At your +Excellency's request, I sent Sudder ul Hock Khân to take on him the +administration of the affairs of the Adawlut and Phousdary, and hoped by +that means not only to have given satisfaction to your Excellency, but +that, through his abilities and experience, these affairs would have +been conducted in such manner as to have secured the peace of the +country and the happiness of the people; and it is with the greatest +concern I learn that this measure is so far from being attended with the +expected advantages, that the affairs both of the Phousdary and Adawlut +are in the greatest confusion imaginable, and daily robberies and +murders are perpetrated throughout the country. This is evidently owing +to the want of a proper authority in the person appointed to superintend +them. I therefore addressed your Excellency on the importance and +delicacy of the affairs in question, and of the necessity of lodging +full power in the hands of the person chosen to administer them; in +reply to which your Excellency expressed sentiments coincident with +mine; notwithstanding which, your dependants and people, actuated by +_selfish, and avaricious views, have by their interference so impeded +the business as to throw the whole country into a state of confusion, +from which nothing can retrieve it but an unlimited power lodged in the +hands of the superintendent_. I therefore request that your Excellency +will give the strictest injunctions to all your dependants not to +interfere in any manner with any matter relative to the affairs of the +Adawlut and Phousdary, and that you will yourself relinquish all +interference therein, and leave them entirely to the management of +Sudder ul Hock Khân: this is absolutely necessary to restore the country +to a state of tranquillity." And he concluded by again recommending the +Nabob to withdraw all interference with the administrator aforesaid: +"otherwise a measure which I adopted at your Excellency's request, and +with a view to your satisfaction and the benefit of the country, will be +attended with quite contrary effects, and bring discredit on me." + +XXIV. That the said Hastings, in the letter aforesaid, in which he so +strongly condemns the acts and so clearly marks out the mischievous +effects of the corrupt influence under which alone the Nabob acted, and +under which alone, from his known incapacity, and his dependence on the +person supported by the said Hastings, he could act, did propose to put +all the offices of justice (which on another occasion he had requested +him to _permit_ to remain in the hands which then held them) into his +own disposal,--telling him, or rather the woman and eunuchs who governed +him, "that, if his Excellency has any plan for the management of the +affairs in future, be pleased to communicate it to me, and every +attention shall be paid to give your Excellency satisfaction": by which +means not only particular parts, as before, but the whole system of +justice was to be afloat, and to be subject to the purposes of the +aforesaid corrupt cabal of women and eunuchs. + +XXV. That the Court of Directors, on receiving an account of the above +arrangements, and being well apprised of the spirit, intention, and +probable effect of the same, did, in a clear, firm, and decisive manner, +express their condemnation of the measure, and their rejection and +reprobation of all the pretended grounds and reasons on which the same +was supported,--marking distinctly his prevarication and contradictions +in the same, and pointing to him their full conviction of the unworthy +motives on which he had made so shameful an arrangement: telling him, in +the 17th paragraph of their general letter of the 4th of February, 1779, +"The Nabob's letters of the 25th and 30th of August, of the 3d of +September, and 17th of November, leave us no doubt of the _true_ design +of this _extraordinary_ business being _to bring forward_ Munny Begum, +and again to invest her with improper power and influence, +notwithstanding our former declaration, that _so great_ a part of the +Nabob's allowance had been embezzled and misapplied under her +superintendence." + +XXVI. That, in consequence of the censure and condemnation of the +unwarrantable measures of the said Warren Hastings by the Court of +Directors, on the aforesaid and other weighty and substantial grounds, +they did order and direct as follows, in the 20th paragraph of the +general letter of the same date. "As we deem it for the welfare of the +country that the office of Naib Subahdar be for the present continued, +and that this high office should be filled by a person of wisdom, +experience, and of approved fidelity to the Company, and as we have no +reason to alter the opinion given of Mahomed Reza Khân in our letter of +the 24th of December, 1776, we positively direct, that you forthwith +signify to the Nabob Mobarek ul Dowlah our pleasure that Mahomed Reza +Khân be immediately restored to the office of Naib Subahdar; and we +further direct, that Mahomed Reza Khân be again assured of the +continuance of our favor, so long as a firm attachment to the interest +of the Company and a proper discharge of the duties of his station shall +render him worthy of our protection." + +XXVII. That the aforesaid direction did convey in it such evident and +cogent reason, and was so far enforced by justice to individuals and by +regard to the peace and happiness of the natives, as well as by the +common decorum to be observed in all the transactions of government, +that the said Hastings ought to have yielded a cheerful obedience +thereto, even if he had not been by a positive statute, and his relation +of servant to the Company, bound to that just submission. Yet the said +Hastings did, without denying or evading any one of the reasons assigned +by the Court of Directors, or controverting the scandalous motives +assigned by them for his conduct, contumaciously refuse obedience to the +above positive order, on pretence that the Nabob, who, he had declared +it on record "to be as visible as the light of the sun, is a mere +pageant, and without even the shadow of authority," did dissent from the +same; and he did encourage the said Nabob, or rather the eunuchs, the +corrupt ministers of Munny Begum, to oppose himself and themselves to +the authority of the said Court of Directors: by which means the +arrangement, three times either ratified or expressly ordered by them, +was wholly defeated; the aforesaid corrupt system was continued; Mahomed +Reza Khân was not restored to his office; and a lesson was taught to the +natives of all ranks, that the declared approbation, the avowed +sanction, and the decided authority of the Court of Directors were +wholly nugatory to their protection against the corrupt influence of +their servants. + +XXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings, on a reconciliation with Mr. +Francis, one of the Council-General, who made it a condition thereof +that certain of the Company's orders should be obeyed, and that Mahomed +Reza Khân should be restored to his offices, did, a considerable time +after, notwithstanding the pretended reluctance of the Nabob, and his +pretended freedom, make, for his convenience in the said accommodation, +the arrangement which he had unwarrantably and illegally refused to the +orders of the Court of Directors, and did of his own authority and that +of the board restore Mahomed Reza Khân to his offices. + +XXIX. That soon after the departure of the said Mr. Francis he did again +deprive the said Mahomed Reza Khân of his said offices, and did make +several great changes in the constitution of the criminal justice in the +said country; and after having, under pretence of the Nabob's +sufficiency for the management of his own affairs, displaced, without +any specific charge, trial, or inquiry whatsoever, the said Mahomed Reza +Khân, he did submit the said Nabob to the entire direction, in all parts +of his concerns, of a Resident of his own nomination, Sir John D'Oyly, +Baronet, and did order an account of the most minute parts of his +domestic economy to be made out, and to be delivered to the said Sir +John D'Oyly, in the following words, contained in a paper by him +intituled, INSTRUCTIONS from the Governor-General to the Nabob Mobarek +ul Dowlah respecting his conduct in the management of his affairs. "You +will be pleased to direct your _mutseddies_ to form an account of the +fixed sums of your monthly expenses, such as servants' wages in the +different departments, pensions, and other allowances, as well as of the +estimated amount of variable expenses, to be delivered to Sir John +D'Oyly _for my inspection_. I have given such orders to Sir John D'Oyly +as will enable him to propose to you such reductions of the pensions and +other allowances, and such a distribution of the variable expenses, as +shall be proportionable to the total sum of your monthly income; _and I +must request you will conform to it_." And he did, in the subsequent +articles of his said instructions, order the whole management to be +directed by Sir John D'Oyly, subject to his own directions as aforesaid; +and did even direct what company he should keep; and did throw +reflections on some persons, in places the nearest to him, as of bad +character and base origin,--persons whom he should decline to name as +such, "unless he heard that they still availed themselves of his +goodness to retain _the places_ which they improperly hold near his +person." And he did particularly order the said Nabob not to admit any +English, but such as the said Sir John D'Oyly should approve, to his +presence; and did repeat the said order in the following peremptory +manner: "You _must forbid any_ person of _that nation_ to be intruded +into _your_ presence without _his_ introduction." And he did require his +obedience in the following authoritative style: "I shall think myself +obliged to interfere _in another manner_, if you neglect it." + +XXX. That he, the said Warren Hastings, did insult the captive condition +of the said Nabob by informing him, in his imperious instructions +aforesaid, that this total, blind, and implicit obedience, in every +respect whatsoever, to Sir John D'Oyly and himself personally, and +without any reference to the board, "was the very _conditions_ of the +compliance of the Governor-General and Council with his late +requisition"; which requisition was, that he should enjoy _the free and +uncontrolled_ management of his own affairs. And though the said captive +did offer, as he, the said Hastings, himself admits, _four lacs_ of his +stipend, at that time reduced to sixteen lac, for _the free use of the +remainder_, yet he did place him, the said Nabob, in the state of +servitude in the said instructions laid down but a very short time after +he had assumed and used the said Nabob's independent rights as a ground +for refusing to obey the Company's orders,--and although he has +declared, or pretended, on another occasion, which he would have thought +similar, that any attempt to limit the household expenses of the Nabob +of Oude was an indignity, "which no man living, however mean his rank in +life, or dependent his condition in it, would permit to be exercised by +any other, without the want or forfeiture of every manly principle." + +XXXI. That the said Warren Hastings did order the said stipend (which +was to be distributed, in the minutest particular, according to the said +Hastings's personal directions) to be paid monthly, not to any officer +of the Nabob, but to the said Resident, Sir John D'Oyly. And whereas the +Governor-General and Council did, on the appointment of Mahomed Reza +Khân, according to their duty, instruct him, that "he do conform to the +_orders_ of the Company, which direct that an annual account of the +Nabob's expenses be transmitted through the Resident at the Durbar, for +the inspection of this _board_" the said Hastings, in making his new +establishment in favor of his Resident, did wholly omit the said +instruction, and did confine the said communication to _himself_, +privately. And in fact it does not appear that any account whatsoever of +the disposition of the said large sum, exceeding 160,000_l._ sterling a +year, has been laid before the board, or at least that any such account +has been transmitted to the Court of Directors; and it is not fitting +that any British servant of the Company should have the management of +any public money, much less of so great a sum, without a public +well-vouched account of the specific expenditure thereof. + +XXXII. That the Court of Directors did, on the 17th of May, 1766, +propose certain rules for regulating the correspondence of the Resident +with the Nabob of Bengal, in which they did direct, as a principle for +the said regulations, as follows (paragraph 16th). "We would have his +correspondence to be carried on with the _Select Committee_ through the +channel of the President: he should keep a diary of all his +transactions. His correspondence with the natives _must be publicly +conducted_: copies of _all_ his letters, sent and received, be +transmitted monthly to the Presidency, with duplicates and triplicates +to be transmitted home in our general packet by every ship." + +XXXIII. That the President and Select Committee (Lord Clive being then +President) did approve of the whole substantial part of the said +regulation (the diary excepted); and the principle, in all matters of +account, ought to have been strictly adhered to, whatever limitations +may have been given to the office of Resident. Yet he, the said Warren +Hastings, in defiance of the aforesaid good rules, orders, and late +precedent in conformity to the same, did not only withhold any order for +the purpose, but, in order to carry on the business of the said durbar +in a clandestine manner for his own purposes, did, as aforesaid, exclude +all English from an intercourse with the Nabob, who might carry +complaints or representations to the board, or the Court of Directors, +of his condition, or the conduct of the Resident,--and did further, to +defeat all possible publicity, insinuate to him to give the preference +to verbal communication above letters, in the words following, of the +ninth article of his instructions to the Nabob: "Although I desire to +receive your letters frequently, yet, as many matters will occur which +cannot be _so easily explained by letters as by conversation_, I desire +that you will on such occasions give your orders to him respecting such +points as you may desire to have imparted to me; and I, postponing every +other concern, will give an immediate and the most satisfactory reply +concerning them." Accordingly, no relation whatsoever has been received +by the Court of Directors of the said Nabob's affairs, nor any account +of the money monthly paid, except from public fame, which reports that +his affairs are in groat disorder, his servants unpaid, and many of them +dismissed, and all the Mussulmen dependent on his family in a state of +indigence. + + + + +XVIII.--THE MOGUL DELIVERED UP TO THE MAHRATTAS. + + +I. That Shah Allum, the prince commonly called the Great Mogul, or, by +eminence, _The King_, is, or lately was, in the possession of the +ancient capital of Hindostan, and though without any considerable +territory, and without a revenue sufficient to maintain a moderate +state, he is still much respected and considered, and the custody of his +person is eagerly sought by many of the princes in India, on account of +the use to be made of his title and authority; and it was for the +interest of the East India Company, that, while on one hand no wars +shall be entered into in support of his pretensions, on the other no +steps should be taken which may tend to deliver him into the hands of +any of the powerful states of that country, but that he should be +treated with friendship, good faith, and respectful attention. + +II. That Warren Hastings, in contradiction to this safe, just, and +honorable policy, strongly prescribed and enforced by the orders of the +Court of Directors, did, at a time when he was engaged in a negotiation +the declared purpose of which was to give peace to India, concur with +the captain-general of the Mahratta state, called Mahdajee Sindia, in +hostile designs against the few remaining territories of that same Mogul +emperor, by virtue of whose grant the Company actually possess the +government and enjoy the revenues of great provinces, and also against +the possessions of a Mahomedan chief called Nudjif Khân, a person of +much merit with the East India Company, in acknowledgment of which they +had granted him a pension, included in the tribute due to the king, and, +together with that tribute, taken from him by the said Warren Hastings, +though expressly _guarantied_ to him by the Company. With both these +powers the Company had been in friendship, and were actually at peace at +the time of the said clandestine concurrence in a design against them; +and the said Hastings hath since declared, that the right of one of +them, namely, "the right of the Mogul emperor, to our assistance, has +been constantly acknowledged." + +III. That the said Warren Hastings, at the time of his treacherous +concurrence in a design against a power which he was himself of opinion +we were bound to assist, and against whom there was no doubt he was +bound neither to form nor to concur in any hostile attempt, did give a +caution to Colonel Muir, to whom the negotiation aforesaid was intrusted +on the part of the Company, against "inserting anything in the treaty +which might _expressly_ mark our _knowledge_ of his [the Mahratta +general's] views, _or concurrence in them_." Which said transaction was +full of duplicity and fraud; and the crime of the said Hastings therein +is aggravated by his having some years before withheld the tribute which +by treaty was solemnly agreed to be paid to the said king, on pretence +that he had thrown himself, for the recovery of his city of Delhi, on +the protection of the Mahrattas, whom the said Warren Hastings then +called _the natural enemies_ of the Company, and the growth of whose +power he then alleged to be highly dangerous to the interests of this +kingdom in India. + +IV. That, after having concurred, in the manner before mentioned, in a +design of the Mahrattas against the Mogul, and notwithstanding he, the +said Warren Hastings, had formerly declared, "that with him [the Mogul] +our connection had been a long time suspended, and _he wished never to +see it renewed_, as it had proved a fatal drain to the wealth of Bengal +and the treasury of the Company, without yielding one advantage or +possible resource, even of remote benefits, in return," the said Warren +Hastings did nevertheless, on or about the month of March, 1783, with +the privity and consent of the members of the board, but by no +authoritative act, dispatch, as agents of him, the Governor-General +only, and not as agents of the Governor-General and Council, as they +ought to have been, certain persons, among whom were Major Browne and +Major Davy, to the court of the king at Delhi, and did there enter into +certain engagements with the said king by the means of those agents, and +did carry on certain private and dangerous intrigues for various +purposes, particularly for making war in favor of the said king against +some powers or princes not precisely described, but which, as may be +inferred from a subsequent correspondence, were certain Mahomedan +princes in the neighborhood of Delhi in amity with the Company, and some +of them at that time in the actual service and in the apparent +confidence and favor of the said Mogul; and he did order Major Browne to +offer to the Mogul king to provide for the _entire_ expense of _any_ +troops the Shah [the said king] might require; and the proposal was +accordingly accepted, with the conditions annexed: by which proposal and +acceptance thereof the East India Company was placed in a situation of +great and perplexing difficulty; since either they were to engage, at an +unlimited _expense_, in new wars, contrary to their orders, contrary to +their general declared policy, and contrary to the published resolutions +of the House of Commons, and wholly incompatible with the state of their +finances, or, to preserve peace, they must risk the imputation of a new +violation of faith, by departing from an agreement made on the voluntary +proposal of their own government,--the agent of the said Hastings having +declared, in his letter to the said Hastings, by him communicated to the +board, "that the business of assisting the Shah [the Mogul emperor] can +and _must_ go on, if we wish to be secure in India, or regarded as a +nation of faith and honor." + +V. That the said Warren Hastings did, on the 20th day of January, 1784, +send in circulation to the other members of the Council a letter to him +from his agent, Major Browne, dated at Delhi, on the 30th of December, +1783, viz., that letter to which the foregoing references are made, in +which the said Browne did directly press, and indirectly (though +sufficiently and strongly) suggest, several highly dangerous measures +for realizing the general offers and engagements of the said Warren +Hastings,--proposing, that, besides a proportion of field artillery, and +a train of battering cannon for the purpose of sieges, six regiments of +sepoys in the Company's service should be transferred to that of the +said king, and that certain other corps should also be raised for the +said service in the English provinces and dependencies, to be +immediately under the king's [the Mogul's] orders, and to be maintained +by assignments of territorial revenue within the province of Oude, a +dependent member of the British government, but with a caution against +having any British officer with the same; the said Major Browne +expressing his caution as followeth: "If any European officer _be_ with +this corps, a very nice judgment indeed must direct the choice; for +scarce any are in the smallest degree _fit_ for _such_ employ, but much +more likely to do harm than good." And the letter aforesaid being +without any observation thereon, or any disavowal of the matters of fact +or of the counsels so strongly and authoritatively delivered therein by +the said Warren Hastings's agent, and without any mark of disapprobation +of any part of his plan, whether that of the assignment of territory +belonging to the Company's allies for the maintenance of troops which +were to be by that plan put under the orders of a foreign independent +power, or that of employing the said troops without any British officer +with them, or for his alarming observation by him entered on the +Company's records, which, if not an implied censure on the nature of the +service in which British officers are supposed improper to be trusted, +is a strong reflection on the character of the British officers, which +was to render them unfit to be employed in an honorable service,--the +said Warren Hastings did thereby give a countenance to the said +unwarrantable and dangerous proposals and reflections. + +VI. That a considerable time before the production and circulation of +Major Browne's letter, the said Hastings did enter a Minute of +Consultation containing a proposition similar in the general intent to +that in the said letter contained for assisting the Mogul with a +military force; but the other members of the board did disagree thereto, +and, being alarmed at the disposition so strongly shown by the said +Hastings to engage in new wars and dangerous foreign connections, and +possibly having intelligence of the proceedings of his agent, did call +upon him to produce his instructions to Major Browne; and he did, on the +5th of October, 1783, and not before, enter on the Consultations a +certain paper purporting to be the instructions which he had given to +Major Browne the preceding March, the time of his, the said Browne's, +appointment, in which pretended instructions no direction whatsoever was +given to the effect of his, the said Hastings's, Minute of Consultation +propounded: that is to say, no power was given in the said instructions +to make a direct offer of military aid to the Mogul, or to form the +arrangements stated by the said Browne, in his letter to the said +Hastings, as having been made by the express authority of the said +Hastings himself; but the said instructions contained nothing further on +that subject but a conditional direction, that, in case a military force +should be required for the Mogul's aid or protection, the Major is to +know the service on which it is to be employed, and the resources from +whence it is to be paid; and the instructions produced as his real +instructions by the said Hastings are so guarded as to caution the said +Browne against _taking any part in the intrigues of those who are about +the King's person_. By which letters, instructions, and transactions, +compared with each other, it appears that the said Warren Hastings, +after six months' delay in entering of (contrary to the Company's order) +any instructions to the said Browne, did at last enter a false paper as +the true, or that he did give other secret instructions, totally +different from, and even opposite to, his public ostensible +instructions, thereby to deceive the Council, and to carry on with less +obstruction dark and dangerous intrigues, contrary to the orders of the +Court of Directors, to the true policy of this kingdom, and to the +safety of the British possessions in the East. + +VII. That the said letter from Major Browne was by the said Warren +Hastings transmitted to the Court of Directors, without being +accompanied by any part of the previous correspondence; by which wilful +concealment the said Warren Hastings is guilty of an high and criminal +disrespect to the Court of Directors, and of a most flagrant breach and +violation of their orders, which he was bound by an act of Parliament to +obey. + +VIII. That the said Hastings having early in the year 1784 procured to +himself a deputation to act in the upper provinces, the Council, being +well aware of his disposition to engage in unwarrantable designs against +the neighboring states, did expressly confine his powers to the +circumstance of his actual residence within the Company's provinces. But +it appears that ways were found out by which he hoped to defeat the +precautions of the board: for the said Warren Hastings did write from +Lucknow, the capital of the country of Oude, to the Court of Directors, +a certain postscript of a letter, dated the 4th of May, 1784, in which +he informs the Court that the son and heir-apparent of the Great Mogul +had taken refuge with him and the Nabob of Oude; that he had a +conference with that prince on the 10th of the same month of May, "no +person being either present or within hearing" during the same; and that +in the said conference the prince had informed him of the distresses of +his father, and his wish for the relief of the king and the restoration +of the dominions of his house, as well as to rescue him from the power +of certain persons not named, who degraded him into a mere instrument of +their interested and sordid designs, and that, on a failure of his +application to him, he would either return to his father, or proceed to +Calcutta, and thence to England; and that the said Warren Hastings did +give him an answer to the following effect: "That our [the British] +government had just obtained relief from a state of universal warfare, +and required a term of repose; that our whole nation was weary of war, +and dreaded the renewal of it, _and would he equally alarmed at any +movement of which it could not see the issue or progress, but which +might eventually tend to create new hostilities_; that he came hither +[to Lucknow] with a limited authority, and could not, if he chose it, +engage in a business of that nature _without the concurrence of his +colleagues in office, who he believed would be adverse to it_; that he +would represent the same to the joint members of his own government, and +wait their determination. In the mean time he advised the prince to make +advances to Mahdajee Sindia, both because our government _was in +intimate and sworn connection_ with him, and because he was the +effectual head of the Mahratta state; besides that he [the said Warren +Hastings] feared his [Sindia's] taking the other side of the question, +unless he was early prevented." + +IX. That in the statement of this discourse there is much criminal +reserve towards the Court of Directors,--it not appearing distinctly +what the objects were, nor who the persons concerned, nor what the side +was which he apprehended the Mahrattas might take, if not prevented by +his advances; and in the discourse itself there were many particulars +highly criminal, namely,--for that in the said conversation, in which he +describes himself as declining a compliance with the request of the +prince on account of the aversion (therein strongly expressed) of his +colleagues, of the Company, and of the whole British nation, to engage +in any measures which might even "_eventually lead to hostilities_," he +spoke to the prince as if he had been entirely ignorant of the offers +which but five months before had been made to the king, his father, on +the part of that very government, (whose repugnance to such measures he +then for the first time chose to profess, but which he always had +known,) through Major Browne, the Company's representative at the court +of Delhi, "to provide for the _entire_ expense of _any_ troops which the +Shah [the king] might require," and that this was "what the Resident had +_always_ proposed to the king and his confidential ministers,"--the said +Browne further declaring, "that, if, in consequence of the said +proposals, certain arrangements for the Shah's service by _troops_ were +not immediately ordered, in his opinion all our [English government's] +_offers and promises_ will be considered as false and insidious." This +being the known state of the business, as represented by the said +Hastings's own agent, and this the public opinion of it, although to +impose on the ignorance of the prince with regard to the proceedings at +his father's court would have been unworthy in itself, yet he, the said +Warren Hastings, could not hope to succeed in such imposition, as in the +postscript aforesaid he represents the said prince (who was the king's +eldest son, and thirty-six years of age) as a person of considerable +qualifications, and perfectly acquainted with the transactions at his +father's court, and as one who had long held the _principal_ and most +active part in the little that remained of _the administration of Shah +Allum_. And the said Hastings conferring with a prince so well +instructed, without making the slightest allusions to his said positive +and recent engagements, or without giving any explanation with regard to +them, the said Warren Hastings must appear to the said prince either as +a person not only contracting engagements, but actually being the first +mover and proposer of them, without any authority from _his colleagues_, +and against theirs and the general inclination of the British nation, +and on that ground not to be trusted, or that he had used this plea of +disagreement between him and his Council as a pretence, set up without +color or decency, for a gross violation of his own engagements, leaving +the princes and states of the country no solid ground on which they can +or ought to contract with the Company, to the utter destruction of all +public confidence, and to the equal disgrace of the national candor, +integrity, and wisdom. + +X. That in a letter dated from the same place, Lucknow, the 16th of the +following June, 1784, the said Warren Hastings informs the Court of +Directors, that Major Browne, their agent to the Mogul, had arrived +there in the character also of agent from the Mogul, with two sets of +instructions from two opposite parties in his ministry, which +instructions were directly contrary to each other: the first, which were +the ostensible instructions, being to engage the said Hastings, in the +Mogul's name, to enter into a treaty of mutual alliance with a chief of +the country, then minister to the said Mogul, called Afrasaib Khân; the +second were from another principal person, called Mudjed ul Dowlah, also +a minister of the said Mogul, (but styled in the said letter +_confidential_, for distinction,) which were directly destructive of the +former; and the said latter instructions, to which it seems credence was +to be given, were sent "under the most solemn adjurations of secrecy." +The purpose of these latter and secret instructions was to require the +Company's aid in freeing the Mogul from the oppressions of his servants, +namely, from the oppressions of the said Afrasaib, between whom and the +Company Major Browne (at once agent to that Company, and to two +opposite factions in the Mogul's court) accepted a power to make a +treaty of mutual alliance under the sanction of his sovereign. And it +does not appear that he, Warren Hastings, did discountenance the +double-dealing and fraudulent agencies of his and the Company's minister +at that court, or did disavow any particular in the letter from him, the +said Browne, of the 30th of December, 1783, stating the offers made on +his part to the Mogul, so contradictory to his late declarations to the +heir-apparent of that monarch, or did give any reprimand to the said +Browne, or did show any mark of displeasure against him, as having acted +without orders, but did again send him, with renewed confidence, to the +court aforesaid. + +XI. That the said Warren Hastings, still pursuing his said evil designs, +did apply to the Council for discretionary powers relative to the +intrigues and factions in the Mogul's court, giving assurances of his +resolution not to proceed against their sense; but the said Council, +being fully aware of his disposition, and having Major Browne's letter, +recorded by himself, the said Warren Hastings, before them, did refuse +to grant the said discretionary powers, but, on the contrary, did exhort +him "most sedulously and cautiously to avoid, in his correspondence with +the different princes in India, whatever may commit, or be strained into +an interpretation of committing the Company, either as to their army or +treasure,"--observing, "that the Company's orders are positive against +their interference in the objects of dispute between the country +powers." + +XII. That, in order to subvert the plain and natural interpretation +given by the Council to the orders of the Court of Directors, and to +justify his dangerous intrigues, the said Warren Hastings, in his letter +of the 16th June, 1784, to the said Court, did, in a most insolent and +contemptuous manner, endeavor to persuade them of their ignorance of the +true sense of their own orders, and to limit their prohibition of +interference with the disputes of the country powers to such country +powers as are _permanent_,--expressing himself as follows: "The faction +which now surrounds the throne [the Mogul's throne] is widely different +from the idea which your commands are intended to convey by the +expressions to which you have generally applied them, of _country +powers_, to which that _of permanency is a necessary adjunct_, and which +may be more properly compared to a splendid bubble, which the slightest +breath of opposition may dissipate with every trace of its existence." +By which construction the said Hastings did endeavor to persuade the +Court of Directors that they meant to confine their prohibition of +sinister intrigues to those powers only who could not be easily hurt by +them, and whose strength was such that their resentment of such +clandestine interference was to be dreaded; but that, where the powers +were weak and fragile, such intrigues might be allowed. + +XIII. That the said Hastings, further to persuade the Court of Directors +to involve themselves in the affairs of the Mogul, and to reconcile this +measure with his former conduct and declared opinions, did write to them +to the following effect: That "at that former period to which the +ancient policy with regard to the Mogul applied, the king's authority +was sufficiently respected" (which he knew not to be true,--having +himself declared, in his minute of the 25th of October, 1774, "that he +remained at Delhi, the ancient capital of the empire, _a mere cipher_ in +the administration of it") to maintain itself against common +vicissitudes; that he would not have advised interference, if the king +himself retained the exercise of it, _however feeble_, in his own hands; +that, if it [the Mogul's authority] is suffered to receive its final +extinction, it is impossible to foresee _what power may arise out of its +ruins_, or what events may be linked in the same chain of revolution +with it: but your interests _may_ suffer by it, your reputation +_certainly will_, as his right to our assistance _has been constantly +acknowledged_, and by a train of consequences to which our government +has not intentionally given birth, but most especially by the movements +which _its influence, by too near an approach_, has excited, it has +unfortunately become the efficient instrument of a great portion of the +king's present distresses and dangers,--intimating (as well as the +studied obscurity of his expressions will permit anything to be +discerned) that his own late intrigues had been among the causes of the +distresses and dangers, which by new intrigues he did pretend to remove: +and he did conclude this part of his letter with some loose general +expressions of his caution not to affect the Company's interests or +revenues by any measures he might at that time take. + +XIV. That the principle, so far as the same hath been directly avowed, +of the said proceedings at the Mogul's court, was as altogether +irrational, and the pretended object as impracticable, as the means +taken in pursuit of it were fraudulent and dishonorable, namely, the +restoration of the Mogul in some degree to the dignity of his situation, +and to his free agency in the conduct of his affairs. For the said +Hastings, at the very time in which he did with the greatest apparent +earnestness urge the purpose which he pretended to have in view with +regard to the dignity and liberty of the Mogul emperor, did represent +him as a person wholly disqualified, and even indisposed, to take any +active part whatsoever in the conduct of his own affairs, and that any +attempt for that purpose would be utterly impracticable; and this he +hath stated to the Court of Directors as a matter of public notoriety, +in his said letter of the 16th of June, 1784, in the following +emphatical and decisive terms. + +"_You need not be told_ the character of the king, whose inertness, and +the habit of long-suffering, has debased his dignity and the fortunes of +his house _beyond the power of retrieving either the one or the other_. +Whilst his personal repose is undisturbed, he will _prefer_ to live in +_the meanest state of indigence_, under the rule of men whose views are +bounded by avarice and the power which they derive from his authority, +rather than commit any share of it to his own sons, (though his +affection for them is boundless in every other respect,) from a natural +jealousy, founded on the experience of a very different combination of +those circumstances which once served as a temptation and example of +unlawful ambition in the princes of the royal line. His ministers, from +a policy more reasonable, have constantly employed every means of +influence to confirm this disposition, and to prevent his sons from +having any share in the distribution of affairs, so as to have +established a complete usurpation of the royal prerogative under its +own sanction and patronage." + +XV. That the said Warren Hastings, having given this opinion of the +sovereign for whose freedom he pretended so anxious a concern, did +describe the minister with whom he had long acted in concurrence, and +from whom he had just received the extraordinary secret embassy +aforesaid for the purpose of effecting the deliverance of his master, +the Mogul, from the usurpations of _his ministers_, as follows. "The +first minister, Mudjed ul Dowlah, is _totally_ deficient in every +military quality, conceited of his own superior talents, and formed to +the practice of _that crooked policy which, generally defeats its own +purpose_, but sincerely attached to his master." The reality of the said +attachment was not improbable, but altogether useless, as the said +minister was the only one among the principal persons about the king who +(besides the total want of all military and civil ability) possessed no +territories, troops, or other means of serving and supporting him, but +was himself solely upheld by his influence over his master: neither doth +the said Hastings free him, any more than the persons more efficient, +who were to be destroyed, from a disposition to alienate the king from +an attention to his affairs, and from all confidence in his own family; +but, on the contrary, he brings him forward as the very first among the +instances he adduces to exemplify the practices of the ministers against +their sovereign and his children. + +XVI. That the said Warren Hastings, recommending in general terms, and +yet condemning in detail, every part of his own pretended plan, as +impracticable in itself, and as undertaken in favor of persons all of +whom he describes as incapable, and the principal as indisposed to avail +himself thereof, must have had some other motives for this long, +intricate, dark, and laborious proceeding with the Mogul, which must be +sought in his actions, and the evident drift and tendency thereof, and +in declarations which were brought out by him to serve other purposes, +but which serve fully to explain his real intentions in this intrigue. + +XVII. That the other members of the Council-General having abundantly +certified their averseness to his intrigues, and even having shown +apprehensions of his going personally to the Mogul and the Mahrattas for +the purpose of carrying on the same, the said Hastings was driven +headlong to acts which did much more openly indicate the true nature and +purpose of his machinations. For he at length recurred directly, and +with little disguise, to the Mahrattas, and did open an intrigue with +them, although he was obliged to confess, in his letter aforesaid of the +16th June, 1784, that the exception which he contended to be implied in +the orders of the Court of Directors forbidding the intermeddling in the +disputes of "the country powers," namely, "powers not permanent," did by +no means apply to the Mahrattas; and he informs the Court of Directors +that he did, on the very first advice he received of the flight of the +Mogul's son, write to Mr. James Anderson to apprise the Mahratta chief, +Sindia, of that event,--"for which as he was unprepared, he desired his +[the said Sindia's] advice for his conduct on the occasion of it." Which +method of calling for the advice of a foreign power to regulate his +political conduct, instead of being regulated therein by the advice of +the British Council and the standing orders of the Court of Directors, +was a procedure highly criminal; and the crime is aggravated by his not +communicating the said correspondence to the Council-General, as by his +duty he was bound to do; but it does abundantly prove his concert with +the Mahrattas in all that related to his negotiations in the Mogul +court, which were carried on agreeably to their advice, and in +subserviency to their views and purposes. + +XVIII. That, in consequence of the cabal begun with the Mahrattas, the +said chief, Sindia, did send his "familiar and confidential ministers" +to him, the said Hastings, being at Lucknow, with whom the said Hastings +did hold several secret conferences, without any secretary or other +assistant: and the said Hastings hath not conveyed to the Court of +Directors any minutes thereof, but hath purposely involved even the +general effect and tendency of these conferences in such obscurity that +it is no otherwise possible to perceive the drift and tendency of the +same, but by the general scope of councils and acts relative to the +politics of the Mogul and of the Mahrattas together, and by the final +event of the whole, which is sufficiently visible. For + +XIX. That the said Hastings had declared, in his said letter of the 16th +June, 1784, that the Mogul's right to our assistance had been constantly +acknowledged, that the Mogul had been oppressed by the lesser Mahomedan +princes in the character of his officers of state and military +commanders, and he did plainly intimate that the said Mogul ought to be +relieved from that servitude. And he did, in giving an account to the +Court of Directors of the conferences aforesaid, assure them that "his +inclinations [the inclinations of the Mahratta chief aforesaid] were not +very dissimilar from his own"; and that "neither in this nor in any +other instance would he suffer himself to be drawn into measures which +shall tend to weaken their connection, nor _in this even to oppose his_ +[the said chiefs] _inclinations_": the said Hastings well knowing, as in +his letter to Colonel Muir of the ---- he has confessed, that the +inclinations of the said Sindia were to seize on the Mogul's +territories, and that he himself did secretly concur therein, though he +did not formally insert his concurrence in the treaty with the said +Mahratta chief. It is plain, therefore, that he did all along concur +with the Mahrattas in their designs against the said king and his +ministers, under the treacherous pretence of supporting the authority of +the former against the latter, and did contrive and effect the ruin of +them all. For, first, he did give evil and fraudulent counsel to the +heir-apparent of the Mogul "to make advances to the Mahrattas," when he +well knew, and had expressly concurred in, the designs of that state +against his father's, the Mogul's, dominions; and further to engage and +entrap the said prince, did assert that "our government" (meaning the +British government) "was in intimate and sworn connection with Mahdajee +Sindia," when no alliance, offensive or defensive, appears to exist +between the said Sindia and the East India Company, nor can exist, +otherwise than in virtue of some secret agreement between him, the said +Sindia, and Warren Hastings, entered into by the latter without the +knowledge of his colleagues and the government, and never communicated +to the Court of Directors. And, secondly, he did, in order to further +the designs of the Mahrattas, contrive and effect the ruin of the said +Mogul and his authority, by setting on foot, through the aforesaid Major +Browne, sundry perplexed and intricate negotiations, contrary to public +faith, and to the honor of the British nation; by which he did +exceedingly increase the confusion and disorders of the Mogul's court, +exposing the said Mogul to new indignities, insults, and distresses, and +almost all of the northern parts of India to great and ruinous +convulsions, until three out of four of the principal chieftains, some +of them possessing the territories lately belonging to Nudjif Khân, and +maintaining among them eighty thousand troops of horse and foot, and +some of which chiefs wore the ministers aforesaid, being cut off by +their mutual dissensions, and the fort of Delhi being at length +delivered to the Mahrattas, the said Sindia became the uncontrolled +ruler of the royal army, and the person of the Mogul, with the use of +all his pretensions and claims, fell into the hands of a nation already +too powerful, together with an extensive territory, which entirely +covers the Company's possessions and dependencies on one side, and +particularly those of the Nabob of Oude. + +XX. That the circumstances of these countries did, in the opinion of the +said Warren Hastings himself, sufficiently indicate to him the necessity +of not aggrandizing any power whatsoever on their borders, he having in +the aforesaid letter of the 16th June given a deliberate opinion of the +situation of Oude in the words following: "That, whilst we are at peace +with the powers of Europe, it is only in this quarter that your +possessions under the government of Bengal are vulnerable." And he did +further in the said letter state, that, "if things had continued as they +had been to that time, with a divided government," (viz., the Company's +and the Vizier's, which government he had himself established, and under +which it ever must in a great degree remain, whilst the said country +continues in a state of dependence,) "the _slightest_ shock from a +foreign hand, or even an _accidental internal commotion_, might have +thrown the whole into confusion, and produced the most fatal +consequences." In this perilous situation he made the above-recited +sacrifices to the ambition of the Mahrattas, and did all along so +actively countenance and forward their proceedings, and with so full a +sense of their effect, that in his minute of the 24th December, 1784, he +has declared, "that in the countries which border on the dominions of +the Nabob Vizier, or on that quarter of our own, in effect _there is no +other power_." And he did further admit, that the presence of the +Mahratta chief aforesaid, so near the borders of the Nabob's dominions, +was no cause of suspicion; for "that it is the effect _of his own +solicitation_, and is _so far_ the effect of an act of that government." + +XXI. That, in further pursuit of the same pernicious design, he, the +said Warren Hastings, did enter into an agreement to withdraw a very +great body of the British troops out of the Nabob's +dominions,--asserting, however truly, yet in direct contradiction to his +own declarations, that "this government" (meaning the British +government) "has not any right to force defence with its maintenance +upon him" (the Nabob); and he did thus not only avowedly aggrandize the +Mahratta state, and weaken the defence upon the frontier, but did as +avowedly detain their captain-general in force on that very frontier, +notwithstanding he was well apprised that they had designs against those +dependent territories of Oude, which they had with great difficulty been +persuaded, even in appearance, to include in the treaty of peace,--and +that they have never renounced their claims upon certain large and +valuable portions of them, and have shown evident signs of their +intentions, on the first opportunity, of asserting and enforcing them. +And, finally, the said Warren Hastings, in contradiction to sundry +declarations of his own concerning the necessity of curbing the power of +the Mahrattas, and to the principle of sundry measures undertaken by +himself professedly for that purpose, and to the sense of the House of +Commons, expressed in their resolution of 28th May, 1782, against any +measures that tended to unite the dangerous powers of the Mahratta +empire under one active command, has endeavored to persuade the Company, +that, "while Sindia lives, every accession of territory obtained by him +will be an advantage to this [the British] government"; which if it was +true as respecting the personal dispositions of Sindia, which there is +no reason to believe, yet it was highly criminal to establish a power in +the Mahrattas which must survive the man in confidence of whose personal +dispositions a power more than personal was given, and which may +hereafter fall into hands disposed to make a more hostile use of it. + +XXII. That, in consequence of all the before-recited intrigues, the +Mogul emperor being in the hands of the Mahrattas, he, the said Mogul, +has been obliged to declare the head of the Mahratta state to be +vicegerent of the Mogul empire, an authority which supersedes that of +Vizier, and has thereby consolidated in the Mahratta state all the +powers acknowledged to be of legal authority in India; in consequence of +which, they have acquired, and have actually already attempted to use, +the said claims of general superiority against the Company itself,--the +Mahrattas claiming a right in themselves to a fourth part of the +revenues of all the provinces in the Company's possession, and claiming, +in right of the Mogul, the tribute due to him: by which actings and +doings the said Hastings has to the best of his power brought the +British provinces in India into a dependence on the Mahratta state: and +in order to add to the aforesaid enormous claims a proportioned force, +he did never cease, during his stay in India, to contrive the means for +its increase; for it is of public notoriety, that one great object of +the Mahratta policy is to unite under their dominion the nation or +religious sect of the Seiks, who, being a people abounding with +soldiers, and possessing large territories, would extend the Mahratta +power over the whole of the vast countries to the northwest of India. + +XXIII. That the said Warren Hastings, further to augment the power of +the said Mahrattas, and to endanger the safety of the British +possessions, having established in force the said Mahrattas on the +frontier, as afore-recited, and finding the Council-General averse in +that situation to the withdrawing the British forces therefrom, and for +disbanding them to the extent required by the said Hastings, did, in a +minute of the 4th December, 1784, after stating a supposition, that, +contrary to his opinion, the said troops should not be reduced, propose +to employ them under the command of the Mogul's son, then under the +influence of the Mahrattas, in a war against the aforesaid people or +religious sect called Seiks, defending the same on the following +principles: "I feel the sense of an obligation, imposed on me by the +supposition I have made, to state a mode of rendering the detachment of +use in its prescribed station, and of affording the _appearance_ of a +cause for its retention." + +XXIV. That the said Hastings did admit that there was no present danger +to the Company's possessions from that nation which could justify him in +such a war, as he had declared that the Mahrattas were _the only power_ +that bordered on the Company's possessions and those of the Vizier; but +he did assign as a reason for going to war with them their military and +enthusiastic spirit,--the hardiness of their natural constitution,--the +dangers which might arise from them in some future time, if they should +ever happen to be united under one head, they existing at present in a +state little different from anarchy; and he did predict great danger +from them, and at no very remote period, "if this people be permitted to +grow into maturity without interruption." And though he doth pretend +that the solicitations of the heir-apparent of the Mogul, who, he says, +did repeatedly and earnestly solicit him to obtain the permission to use +the Company's troops for the purpose aforesaid, had weight with him, yet +he doth declare, as he expresses himself in the minute aforesaid, that +"a _stronger impulse_, arising from the hope of _blasting the growth_ +of a generation whose strength _might_ become fatal to our own, strongly +pleaded in my mind for supporting his wishes." + +XXV. That the said Warren Hastings, after forcibly recommending the plan +aforesaid, did state strong objections, that did, "in his judgment, +outweigh the advantages which might arise from a compliance with it." +Yet the said Hastings, being determined to pursue his scheme for +aggrandizing at any rate the Mahratta power, in whose adult growth and +the recent effects of it he could see no danger, did pursue the design +of war against a nation or sect of religion in its infancy, from whom he +had received no injury, and in whose present state of government he did +not apprehend any mischief whatsoever; and finding the Council fixed and +determined on not disbanding the frontier regiments, and thinking that +therein he had found an advantage, he did ground thereon the following +proposition. + +"If the expense [of the frontier troops] is to be continued, it may be +surely better continued for some useful purpose than to keep up the +parade of a great military corps designed merely to lie inactive in its +quarters. On this ground, therefore, and on the supposition premised, I +revert to my original sentiments in favor of the prince's plan; but as +this will require some qualification in the execution of it, I will +state my recommendation of it in the terms of a proposition, viz., that, +if it shall be the resolution of the board to continue the detachment +now under the command of Colonel Sir John Cumming at Furruckabad, and if +the prince Mirza Jehander Shah shall apply, _with the authority of the +king, and the concurrence of Mahdajee Sindia_, for the assistance of an +English military force, to act in conjunction with him, to expel the +Seiks from the territories of which they have lately possessed +themselves in the neighborhood of Delhi, it may be granted, and such a +portion of the said detachment allotted to that service as shall be +hereafter judged adequate to it." + +XXVI. That the said Warren Hastings did, in the said proposal, endeavor +to circumvent and overreach the Council-General, by converting an +apparent and literal compliance with their resolution into a real and +substantial opposition to and disappointment thereof. For his first +proposal was, to withdraw the Company's troops from the Vizier's country +on the pretence of relieving him from the burden of that establishment, +but in reality with a view of facilitating the Mahratta pretensions on +that province, which would then be deprived of the means of defence. And +when the Council rejected the said proposal on the express ground of +danger to the province by withdrawing from the Mahrattas the restraint +of our troops, the said Hastings, finding his first scheme in favor of +the Mahrattas against the provinces dependent on the Company defeated by +the refusal of the Council to concur in the said measure of withdrawing +the troops, did then endeavor to obtain the same purpose in a different +way; and instead of leaving the troops, according to the intention and +policy of the Council, as a check to the ambition and progress of the +Mahrattas, he proposed to employ them in the actual furtherance of those +schemes of aggrandizement of which his colleagues were jealous, and +which it was the object of their resolution to counteract. + +XXVII. That, in the whole of the letters, negotiations, proposals, and +projects of the said Warren Hastings relative to the Mogul, he did +appear to pursue but one object, namely, the aggrandizement of the +lately hostile and always dangerous power of the Mahrattas, and did +pursue the same by means highly dishonorable to the British character +for honor, justice, candor, plain-dealing, moderation, and humanity. + + + + +XIX.--LIBEL ON THE COURT OF DIRECTORS. + + +I. That Warren Hastings, Esquire, was, during the whole of the year +1783, a servant of the East India Company, and was bound by the duties +of that relation not only to yield obedience to the orders of the Court +of Directors, but to give to the whole of their service an example of +submission, reverence, and respect to their authority; and that, if they +should in the course of their duty call in question any part of his +conduct, he was bound to conduct his defence with temper and decency; +and while his conduct was under their consideration, it was not +allowable to print and publish any of his letters to them without their +consent first had and obtained; and he was bound by the same principles +of duty, enforced by still more cogent reasons, to observe, in a paper +intended for publication, great modesty and moderation, and to treat the +said Court of Directors, his lawful masters, with respect. + +II. That the said Warren Hastings did print and publish, or cause to be +printed and published, at Calcutta in Bengal, the narrative of his +transactions at Benares, in a letter written at that place, without +leave had of the Court of Directors, in order to preoccupy the judgment +of the servants in that settlement, and to gain from them a factious +countenance and support, previous to the judgment and opinion of the +Court of Directors, his lawful superiors. + +III. That the Court of Directors, having come to certain resolutions of +fact relative to the engagements subsisting between them and the Rajah +of Benares, and the manner in which the same had been fulfilled on the +part of the Rajah, did, in the fifth resolution, which was partly a +resolution of opinion, declare as follows: "That it appears to this +Court that the conduct of the Governor-General towards the Rajah, whilst +he was at Benares, was improper; and that the imprisonment of his +person, thereby disgracing him in the eyes of his subjects and others, +was unwarrantable and highly impolitic, and may tend to weaken the +confidence which the native princes of India ought to have in the +justice and moderation of the Company's government." + +IV. That the said resolutions being transmitted to the said Warren +Hastings, he, the said Warren Hastings, did write, and cause to be +printed and published, a certain false, insolent, malicious, and +seditious libel, purporting to be a letter from him, the said Warren +Hastings, to the Court of Directors, dated Fort William, 20th March, +1783, "calculated," as the Directors truly affirm, "to bring contempt, +as well as an odium, on the Court of Directors, for their conduct on +that occasion"; and the said libel had a direct tendency to excite a +spirit of disobedience to the lawful government of this nation in India +through all ranks of their service. + +V. That he, the said Warren Hastings, among other insolent and +contumacious charges and aspersions on the Court of Directors, did +address them in the printed letter aforesaid as follows. "I deny that +Rajah Cheyt Sing was a native prince of India. Cheyt Sing is the son of +a collector of the revenue of that province, which his arts, and the +misfortunes of his master, enabled him to convert to a permanent and +hereditary possession. This man, whom _you have thus ranked among the +princes_ of India, will be astonished, when he hears it, at an elevation +so unlooked for, nor less at the independent rights which _your_ +commands have assigned him,--rights which are _so foreign to his +conceptions, that I doubt whether he will know in what language to +assert them, unless_ the example which _you have thought it consistent +with justice, however opposite to policy, to show, of becoming his +advocates against your own interests, should inspire any of your own +servants to be his advisers and instructors_." And he did further, to +bring into contempt the authority of the Company, and to excite a +resistance to their lawful orders, frame a supposition that the Court of +Directors had intended the restoration of the Rajah of Benares, and on +that ground did presume in the said libel to calumniate, in +disrespectful and contumelious terms, the policy of the Court of +Directors, as well as the person whom he did conceive to be the object +of their protection, as followeth. "Of the consequences of such a policy +I forbear to speak. _Most happily, the wretch whose hopes may be excited +by the appearances in his favor is ill qualified to avail himself of +them_, and _the force which is stationed in the province of Benares is +sufficient to suppress any symptoms of internal sedition_; but it cannot +fail to create distrust and suspense in the minds both of the rulers and +of the people, and such a state is always productive of disorder. But it +is not in this partial consideration that I dread the effects of your +commands; it is in your proclaimed indisposition against the first +executive member of your first government in India. I almost shudder at +the reflection of what might have happened, had these denunciations +against your own minister, in favor of a man universally considered in +this part of the world as justly attainted for his crimes, the murderer +of your servants and soldiers, and the rebel to your authority, arrived +two months earlier." + +VI. That the said Warren Hastings did also presume to censure and +asperse the Court of Directors for the moderate terms in which they had +expressed their displeasure against him, as putting him under the +necessity of stating in his defence a strong accusation against himself, +and as implying in the said Court a consciousness that he was not guilty +of the offences charged upon him,--being, as he asserts, in the +resolutions of the Court of Directors, "arraigned and prejudged of _a +violation of national faith, in acts of such complicated aggravation_, +that, _if they were true_, no punishment SHORT OF DEATH could atone for +the injury which the interest and credit of the public had sustained in +them"; and he did therefore censure the said Court for applying no +stronger or more criminating epithets than those of "improper, +unwarrantable, and highly impolitic," to an offence so by them charged, +and by him described. And though it be true that the expressions +aforesaid are much too reserved for the purpose of duly characterizing +the offences of the said Hastings, yet was it _in him_ most indecent to +libel the Court of Directors for the same; and his implication, from the +tenderness of the epithets and descriptions aforesaid used towards him, +was not only indecent, but ungrounded, malicious, and scandalous,--he +having himself highly, though truly, aggravated "the charge of the +injuries done by him to the Rajah of Benares," in order to bring the +said Directors into contempt and suspicion, the paragraphs in the said +libel being as follow.--"Here I must crave leave to say, that the terms +'improper, unwarrantable, and highly impolitic' are much too gentle, as +deductions from such premises; and as every reader of the latter will +obviously feel, as he reads, the deductions which inevitably belong to +them, I will add, that the strict performance of solemn engagements on +one part, followed by acts directly subversive of them and by total +dispossession on the other, stamps on the perpetrators of the latter the +guilt of the greatest possible violation of faith and justice."--"There +is an appearance of tenderness in this deviation from plain +construction, of which, however meant, I have a right to complain; +because it imposes on me the necessity of framing the terms of the +accusation against myself, which you have only not made, but have stated +the leading arguments to it so strongly, that no one who reads these can +avoid making it, _or not know it to have been intended_." + +VII. That the said Hastings, being well aware that his own declarations +did contain the clearest condemnation of his own conduct from his own +pen, did in the said libel attempt to overturn, frustrate, and render of +none effect all the proofs to be given of prevarication, contradiction, +and of opposition of action to principle, which can be used against men +in public trust, and did contend that the same could not be used against +him; and as if false assertions could be justified by factious motives, +he did endeavor to do away the authority of his own _deliberate, +recorded_ declarations, entered by him _in writing_ on the Council-Books +of the Presidency; for, after asserting, _but not attempting to prove_, +that his declarations were consistent with his conduct, he writes in the +said libel as follows: For "were it otherwise, they were not to be made +the rules of my conduct; and God forbid that every expression dictated +by the impulse of present emergency, and unpremeditatedly uttered in the +heat of party contention, should impose upon me the obligation of a +fixed principle, and be applied to every variable occasion!" + +VIII. That the said Hastings, in order to draw the lawful dependence of +the servants of the Company from the Court of Directors to a factious +dependence on himself, did, in the libel aforesaid, treat the acts and +appointments of their undoubted authority, when exercised in opposition +to his arbitrary will, as ruinous to their affairs, in the following +terms. "It is as well known to the Indian world as to the Court of +English Proprietors, that the first declaratory instruments of the +dissolution of my influence, in the year 1774, were Mr. John Bristow and +Mr. Francis Fowke. By your ancient and known constitution the Governor +has been ever held forth and understood to possess the ostensible +powers of government; all the correspondence with foreign princes is +conducted in his name; and every person resident with them for the +management of your political concerns is understood to be _more +especially his_ representative, and of _his_ choice: and such ought to +be the rule; for how otherwise can they trust an agent nominated against +the will of _his_ principal? When the state of this administration was +such as seemed to _admit of_ the appointment of Mr. Bristow to the +Residency of Lucknow without _much_ diminution of _my own_ influence, I +gladly seized the occasion to show my readiness to submit to your +commands; I proposed his nomination; he was nominated, and declared to +_be the agent of my own choice_. Even this effect of my caution _is +defeated by your absolute command for his reappointment independent of +me, and with the supposition that I should be adverse to it_.--I am now +wholly deprived of my official powers, both in the province of Oude, and +in the zemindary of Benares." + +IX. That, further to emancipate others and himself from due obedience to +the Court of Directors, he did, in the libel aforesaid, enhance his +services, which, without specification or proof, he did suppose in the +said libel to be important and valuable, by representing them as done +under their displeasure, and doth attribute his not having done more to +their opposition, as followeth. "It is now a complete period of eleven +years since I first received the first nominal charge of your affairs; +in the course of it I have _invariably_ had to contend, not with +ordinary difficulties, but such as most _unnaturally_ arose _from the +opposition of those very powers from which I primarily derived my +authority, and which were required for the support of it_. My exertions, +though applied to an unvaried and consistent line of action, have been +occasional and desultory; yet I please myself with the hope, that, in +the annals of your dominion, which shall be written after the extinction +of recent prejudices, this term of its administration will appear not +the least conducive to the interests of the Company, nor the least +reflective of the honor of the British name: and allow me to suggest the +instructive reflection of _what good might have been done, and what evil +prevented, had due support been given to that administration which has +performed such eminent and substantial services without it_." + +And the said Hastings, further to render the authority of the said Court +perfectly contemptible, doth, in a strain of exultation for his having +escaped out of a measure in which by his guilt he had involved the +Company in a ruinous war, and out of which it had escaped by a sacrifice +of almost all the territories before acquired (from that enemy which he +had made) either by war or former treaties, and by the abandoning the +Company's allies to their mercy, attribute the said supposed services to +his acting in such a manner as had on former occasions excited their +displeasure, in the following words. "Pardon, Honorable Sirs, this +digressive exultation. I cannot suppress the pride which I feel in this +successful achievement of a measure so fortunate for your interests and +the national honor; for that pride is the source of my zeal, so +frequently exerted in your support, and never more happily than in those +instances _in which I have departed from the prescribed and beaten path +of action, and assumed a responsibility which has too frequently drawn +on me the most pointed effects of your displeasure_. But however I may +yield to my private feelings in thus enlarging on the subject, my motive +in introducing it was immediately connected with its context, and was to +contrast _the actual state of your political affairs, derived from a +happier influence, with that which might have attended an earlier +dissolution of it_": and he did value himself upon "the _patience_ and +temper with which he had submitted to all the indignities which have +been heaped upon him" (meaning, by the said Court of Directors) "in this +long service"; and he did insolently attribute to an unusual strain of +zeal for their service, that he "_persevered_ in the VIOLENT MAINTENANCE +OF HIS OFFICE." + +X. That, in order further to excite the spirit of disobedience in the +Company's servants to the lawful authority set over them, he, the said +Warren Hastings, did treat contemptuously and ironically the supposed +disposition of the Company's servants to obey the orders of the Court of +Directors, in the words following. "The recall of Mr. Markham, who was +known to be the public agent of my own nomination at Benares, and the +reappointment of Mr. Francis Fowke by your order, contained in the same +letter, would place it [the restoration of Cheyt Sing] beyond a doubt. +_This order has been obeyed; and whenever you shall be pleased to order +the restoration of Cheyt Sing, I will venture to promise the same ready +and exact submission in the other members of the Council._" And he did, +in the postscript of the said letter, and as on recollection, endeavor +to make a reparation of honor to his said colleagues, as if his +expressions aforesaid had arisen from animosity to them, as follows. +"Upon a careful revisal of what I have written, I fear that an +expression which I have used, respecting the probable conduct of the +board in the event of orders being received for the restoration of Cheyt +Sing, may be construed as intimating a sense of dissatisfaction applied +to transactions already past.--It is not my intention to complain of any +one." + +XI. That the said Hastings, in the acts of injury aforesaid to the Rajah +of Benares, did assume and arrogate to himself an illegal authority +therein, and did maintain that the acts done in consequence of that +measure were not revocable by any subsequent authority, in the following +words. "If you should proceed to order the restoration of Cheyt Sing to +the zemindary, from which, _by the powers which I legally possessed_, +and conceive myself legally _bound to assert_ against any _subsequent +authority to the contrary_ derived from _the same common source_, he was +dispossessed for crimes of the greatest enormity, and your Council shall +resolve to execute the order, I will instantly give up my station and +the service." + +XII. That the said Warren Hastings did attempt to justify his +publication of the said libellous letter to and against the Court of +Directors by asserting therein that these resolutions (meaning the +resolutions of the Court of Directors relative to the Rajah of Benares) +"were _either_ published or _intended_ for publication": evidently +proving that he did take this unwarrantable course without any +sufficient assurance that the ground and motive by him assigned had any +existence. + + + + +XX.--MAHRATTA WAR AND PEACE. + + +I. That by an act passed in 1773 it was expressly ordered and provided, +"that it should not be lawful for any President and Council of Madras, +Bombay, or Bencoolen, for the time being, to make any orders for +commencing hostilities, or declaring or making war, against any Indian +princes or powers, or for negotiating or concluding any treaty of peace, +or other treaty, with any such Indian princes or powers, without the +consent and approbation of the Governor-General and Council first had +and obtained, except in such cases of _imminent necessity_ as would +render it dangerous to postpone such hostilities or treaties until the +orders from the Governor-General and Council might arrive." That, +nevertheless, the President and Council of Bombay did, in December, +1774, without the consent and approbation of the Governor-General and +Council of Fort William, and in the midst of profound peace, commence an +unjust and unprovoked war against the Mahratta government, did conclude +a treaty with a certain person, a fugitive from that government, and +proscribed by it, named Ragonaut Row, or Ragoba, and did, under various +base and treacherous pretences, invade and conquer the island of +Salsette, belonging to the Mahratta government. + +II. That Warren Hastings, on the first advices received in Bengal of the +above transactions, did condemn the same in the strongest +terms,--declaring that "the measures adopted by the Presidency of Bombay +had a tendency to a very extensive and indefinite scene of troubles, and +that their conduct was unseasonable, impolitic, unjust, and +unauthorized." And the Governor-General and Council, in order to put a +stop to the said unjust hostilities, did appoint an ambassador to the +Peshwa, or chief of the Mahratta state, resident at Poonah; and the said +ambassador did, after a long negotiation, conclude a definitive treaty +of peace with the said Peshwa on terms highly honorable and beneficial +to the East India Company, who by the said treaty obtained from the +Mahrattas a cession of considerable tracts of country, the Mahratta +share of the city of Baroach, twelve lacs of rupees for the expenses of +the said unjust war, and particularly the island of Salsette, of which +the Presidency of Bombay had possessed themselves by surprise and +treachery. That, in return for these extraordinary concessions, the +articles principally insisted on by the Mahrattas, with a view to their +own future tranquillity and internal quiet, were, that _no assistance +should he given to any subject or servant of the Peshwa that should +cause disturbances or rebellion in the Mahratta dominions_, and +particularly that the English _should not assist Ragonaut Row_, to whom +the Mahrattas agreed to allow five lacs of rupees a year, or a jaghire +to that amount, and that he should reside at Benares. That, +nevertheless, the Presidency of Bombay did receive and keep Ragonaut Row +at Bombay, did furnish him with a considerable establishment, and +continue to carry on secret intrigues and negotiations with him, thereby +giving just ground of jealousy and distrust to the Mahratta state. That +the late Colonel John Upton, by whom the treaty of Poorunder was +negotiated and concluded, did declare to the Governor-General and +Council, "that, while Ragonaut Row resides at Bombay in expectation of +being supported, the ministers can place no confidence in the Council +there, which must now be productive of the greatest inconveniencies, and +perhaps in the end of fatal consequences." That the said Warren +Hastings, concurring with his Council, which then consisted of Sir John +Clavering, Richard Barwell, and Philip Francis, Esquires, did, on the +18th of August, 1777, declare to the Presidency of Bombay, that "he +could see no reason to doubt that the presence of Ragoba at Bombay would +continue to be _an insuperable bar_ to the completion of the treaty +concluded with the Mahratta government; nor could any sincere cordiality +and good understanding be established with them, as long as he should +appear to derive encouragement and support from the English." That Sir +John Clavering died soon after, and that the late Edward Wheler, +Esquire, succeeded to a seat in the Supreme Council. That on the 29th of +January, 1778, the Governor-General and Council received a letter from +the Presidency of Bombay, dated 12th December, 1777, in which they +declared, "that they had agreed to give encouragement to a _party_ +formed in Ragoba's favor, and flattered themselves they should meet with +the hearty concurrence of the Governor-General and Council in the +measures they might be obliged to pursue in consequence." That the +_party_ so described was said to consist of four principal persons in +the Mahratta state, on whose part _some overtures_ had been made to Mr. +William Lewis, the Resident of Bombay at Poonah, _for the assistance of +the Company to bring Ragoba to Poonah_. That the said Warren Hastings, +immediately on the receipt of the preceding advices, did propose and +carry it in Council, by means of his casting voice, and against the +remonstrances, arguments, and solemn protest of two members of the +Supreme Council, that the _sanction_ of that government should be given +to the plan which the President and Council of Bombay had agreed to form +with the Mahratta government; and also that a supply of money (to the +amount of ten lacs of rupees) should be immediately granted to the +President and Council of Bombay _for the support of their engagements +above mentioned_; and also that a military force should be sent to the +Presidency of Bombay. That in defence of these resolutions the said +Warren Hastings did falsely pretend and affirm, "that the resolution of +the Presidency of Bombay was formed on such a case of _imminent +necessity_ as would have rendered it dangerous to postpone the execution +of it until the orders from the Governor-General and Council might +arrive; and that the said Presidency of Bombay _were warranted by the +treaty of Poorunder_ to join in a plan for conducting Ragonaut Row to +Poonah on the application of the ruling part of the Mahratta state": +whereas the main object of the said treaty on the part of the Mahrattas, +and to obtain which they made many important concessions to the India +Company, was, that the English should withdraw their forces, and give no +assistance to Ragoba, and that he should be excluded forever from any +share in their government, being a person _universally held in +abhorrence_ in the Mahratta empire; and if it had been true (instead of +being, as it was, notoriously false) that _the ruling part_ of the +administration of the Mahratta state solicited the return of Ragonaut +Row to Poonah, his return in that case might have been effected by acts +of their own, without the interposition of the English power, and +without our interference in their affairs. That it was the special duty +of the said Warren Hastings, derived from a special trust reposed in him +and power committed to him by Parliament, to have restrained, as by law +he had authority to do, the subordinate Presidency of Bombay from +entering into hostilities with the Mahrattas, or from making engagements +the manifest tendency of which was to enter into those hostilities, and +to have put a stop to them, if any such had been begun; that he was +bound by the duty of his office to preserve the faith of the British +government, pledged in the treaty of Poorunder, inviolate and sacred, as +well as by the special orders and instructions of the East India Company +_to fix his attention to the preservation of peace throughout India_: +all which important duties the said Warren Hastings did wilfully +violate, in giving the _sanction_ of the Governor-General and Council to +the dangerous, faithless, and ill-concerted projects of the President +and Council of Bombay hereinbefore mentioned, from which the subsequent +Mahratta war, with all the expense, distress, and disgraces which have +attended it, took their commencement; and that the said Warren Hastings, +therefore, is specially and principally answerable for the said war, and +for all the consequences thereof. That in a letter dated the 20th of +January, 1778, the President and Council of Bombay informed the +Governor-General and Council, that, in consequence of later intelligence +received from Poonah, they had _immediately resolved that nothing +further could be done, unless Saccaram Baboo, the principal in the late +treaty_ (of Poorunder) _joined in making a formal application to them_. +That no such application was ever made by that person. That the said +Warren Hastings, finding that all this pretended ground for engaging in +an invasion of the Mahratta government had totally failed, did then +pretend to give credit to, and to be greatly alarmed by, the suggestions +of the President and Council of Bombay, that the Mahrattas were +negotiating with the French, and had agreed to give them the port of +Choul, on the Malabar coast, and did affirm that the French _had +obtained possession of that port_. That all these suggestions and +assertions were false, and, if they had been true, would have furnished +no just occasion for attacking either the Mahrattas or the French, with +both of whom the British nation was then at peace. That the said Warren +Hastings did then propose and carry the following resolution in Council, +against the protest of two members thereof, that, "for the purpose of +granting you [the Presidency of Bombay] the most effectual support in +our power, we have resolved to assemble a strong military force near +Calpee, the commanding officer of which is to be ordered to march by the +most practicable route to Bombay, or to such other place as future +occurrences and your directions to him may render it expedient"; and +with respect to the _steps_ said to be taking _by the French to obtain a +settlement on the Malabar coast_, the said Warren Hastings did declare +to the Presidency of Bombay, "that it was the opinion of the +Governor-General and Council that no time ought to be lost in forming +and carrying into execution such measures as might most effectually tend +to frustrate such dangerous designs." That the said Warren Hastings, +therefore, instead of fixing his attention to the preservation of peace +throughout India, as it was his duty to have done, did continue to abet, +encourage, and support the dangerous projects of the Presidency of +Bombay, and did thereby manifest a determined intention to disturb the +peace of India, by the unfortunate success of which intention, and by +the continued efforts of the said Hastings, the greatest part of India +has been for several years involved in a bloody and calamitous war. That +both the Court of Directors and Court of Proprietors did specially +instruct the said Warren Hastings, in all his measures, "to make the +safety and prosperity of Bengal his principal object," and did heavily +censure the said Warren Hastings for having employed their troops at a +great distance from Bengal in a war against the Rohillas, which the +House of Commons have pronounced to be _iniquitous_,[17] and did on that +occasion expressly declare, "that they disapproved of all such distant +expeditions as might eventually carry their forces to any situation too +remote to admit of their speedy and safe return to the protection of +their own provinces, in case of emergency."[18] That the said Warren +Hastings nevertheless ordered a detachment from the Bengal army to cross +the Jumna, and to proceed across the peninsula by a circuitous route +through the diamond country of Bundelcund, and through the dominions of +the Rajah of Berar, situated in the centre of Hindostan, and did thereby +strip the provinces subject to the government of Fort William of a +considerable part of their established defence, and did thereby disobey +the general instructions and positive orders of the Court of Directors, +(given upon occasion of a crime of the same nature committed by the said +Hastings,) and was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor. + +That the said Warren Hastings, having taken the measures hereinbefore +described for supporting those of the Presidency of Bombay, did, on the +23d of March, 1778, "invest the said Presidency with authority to form +a new alliance with Ragoba, and to engage with him in _any_ scheme which +they should deem expedient and safe for retrieving his affairs." That +the said Hastings was then in possession of a letter from the Court of +Directors, dated the 4th of July, 1777, containing a positive order to +the Presidency of Bombay in the following words. "Though that treaty" +(meaning the treaty of Poorunder) "is not, upon the whole, so agreeable +to us as we could wish, still we are resolved strictly to adhere to it +on our parts. You must therefore be particularly vigilant, while Ragoba +is with you, to prevent him from forming any plan against what is called +the ministerial party at Poonah; and we hereby positively order you not +to engage with him in any scheme whatever in retrieving his affairs, +without the consent of the Governor-General and Council, or the Court of +Directors." That the said Ragoba neither did or could form any plan for +his restoration but what was and must be against the ministerial party +at Poonah, who held and exercised the regency of that state in the +infancy of the Peshwa; and that, supposing him to have formed any other +_scheme_, in conjunction with Bombay, _for retrieving his affairs_, the +said Hastings, in giving a previous _general_ authority to the +Presidency of Bombay to engage with Ragoba in _any_ scheme for that +purpose, without knowing what such scheme might be, and thereby +relinquishing and transferring to the discretion of a subordinate +government that superintendence and control over all measures tending to +create or provoke a war which the law had exclusively vested in the +Governor-General and Council, was guilty of a high crime and +misdemeanor. + +That the said Warren Hastings, having first declared that the measures +taken by him were for the support of the engagements made by the +Presidency of Bombay in favor of Ragoba, did afterwards, when it +appeared that those negotiations were _entirely laid aside_, declare +that his apprehension of the consequence of a pretended _intrigue_ +between the Mahrattas and the French _was the sole motive of all the +late measures taken for the support of the Presidency of Bombay_; but +that neither of the preceding declarations contained the true motives +and objects of the said Hastings, whose real purpose, as it appeared +soon after, was, to make use of the superiority of the British power in +India to carry on offensive wars, and to pursue schemes of conquest, +impolitic and unjust in their design, ill-concerted in the execution, +and which, as this House has resolved, _have brought great calamities on +India, and enormous expenses on the East India Company_. + +That the said Warren Hastings, on the 22d of June, 1778, made the +following declaration in Council. "Much less can I agree, that, with +such superior advantages as we possess over every power which can oppose +us, we should act _merely on the defensive_. On the contrary, if it be +really true that the British arms and influence have suffered so severe +a check in the Western world, it is more incumbent on those who are +charged with the interests of Great Britain in the East _to exert +themselves for the retrieval of the national loss_. We have the means in +our power, and, if they are not frustrated by our own dissensions, I +trust that the event of this expedition will yield every advantage _for +the attainment of which it was undertaken_." + +That, in pursuance of the principles avowed in the preceding +declaration, the said Warren Hastings, on the 9th of July, 1778, did +propose and carry it in Council, that an embassy should be sent from +Bengal to Moodajee Boosla, the Rajah of Berar,--falsely asserting that +the said Rajah "was, by interest and inclination, likely to join in an +alliance with the British government, and suggesting that two advantages +might be offered to him as the inducements to it: first, the support of +his pretensions to the sovereign power" (viz., of the Mahratta empire); +"second, the recovery of the captures made on his dominions by Nizam +Ali." That the said Hastings, having already given full authority to the +Presidency of Bombay to engage the British faith to Ragonaut Row to +support him in _his_ pretensions to the government or to the regency of +the Mahratta empire, was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor in +proposing to engage the same British faith to support the pretensions of +another competitor for the same object; and that, in offering to assist +the Rajah of Berar to recover the captures made on his dominions by the +Nizam, the said Hastings did endeavor, as far as depended on him, to +engage the British nation in a most unjust and utterly unprovoked war +against the said Nizam, between whom and the East India Company a treaty +of peace and friendship did then subsist, unviolated on his +part,--notwithstanding the said Hastings well knew that it made part of +the East India Company's fundamental policy to support that prince +against the Mahrattas, and _to consider him as one of the few remaining +chiefs who were yet capable of coping with the Mahrattas_, and that it +was the Company's _true interest to preserve a good understanding with +him_. That, by holding out such offers to the Rajah of Berar, the said +Hastings professed to hope that the Rajah _would ardently catch at the +objects presented to his ambition_: and although the said Hastings did +about this time lay it down as a maxim that _there is always a greater +advantage in receiving solicitations than in making advances_, he +nevertheless declared to the said Rajah that _in the whole of his +conduct he had departed from the common line of policy, and had made +advances where others in his situation would have waited for +solicitation_. That the said unjust and dangerous projects did not take +effect, because the Rajah of Berar refused to join or be concerned +therein; yet so earnest was the said Hastings for the execution of those +projects, that in a subsequent letter he daringly and treacherously +assured the Rajah, "that, if he had accepted of the terms offered him by +Colonel Goddard, and concluded a treaty with the government of Bengal +upon them, he should have held the obligation of it superior to that of +any engagement formed by the government of Bombay, and should have +thought it his duty to maintain it, &c., against every consideration +_even of the most valuable interests and safety of the English +possessions intrusted to his charge_." That all the offers of the said +Hastings were rejected with slight and contempt by the Rajah of Berar; +but the same being discovered, and generally known throughout India, did +fill the chief of the princes and states of India with a general +suspicion and distrust of the ambitious designs and treacherous +principles of the British government, and with an universal hatred of +the British nation. That the said princes and states were thereby so +thoroughly convinced of the necessity of uniting amongst themselves to +oppose a power which kept no faith with any of them, and equally +threatened them all, that, renouncing all former enmities against each +other, they united in a common confederacy against the English, viz.: +the Peshwa, as representative of the Mahratta state, and Moodajee +Boosla, the Rajah of Berar, that is, the principal Hindoo powers of +India, on one side; and Hyder Ali, and the Nizam of the Deccan, that is, +the principal Mahomedan powers of India, on the other: and that in +consequence of this confederacy Hyder Ali invaded, overran, and ruined +the Carnatic; and that Moodajee Boosla, instead of _ardently catching at +the objects presented to his ambition_ by the said Hastings, sent an +army to the frontiers of Bengal,--which army the said Warren Hastings +was at length forced to buy off with twenty-six lacs of rupees, or +300,000_l._ sterling, after a series of negotiations with the Mahratta +chiefs who commanded that army, founded and conducted on principles so +dishonorable to the British name and character, that the Secret +Committee of the House of Commons, by whom the rest of the proceedings +in that business were reported to the House, _have upon due +consideration thought it proper to leave out the letter of instructions +to Mr. Anderson_, viz., those given by the said Warren Hastings to the +representative of the British government, and concerning which the said +committee have reported in the following terms: "The schemes of policy +by which the Governor-General seems to have dictated the instructions he +gave to Mr. Anderson" (the gentleman deputed) "will also appear in this +document, as well respecting the particular succession to the _rauje_, +as also the mode of accommodating the demand of _chout_, the +establishment of which was apparently the great aim of Moodajee's +political manoeuvres, while the Governor-General's wish to defeat it was +avowedly more intent on the removal of a nominal disgrace than on the +anxiety or resolution to be freed from an expensive, if an unavoidable +incumbrance." + +That, while the said Warren Hastings was endeavoring to persuade the +Rajah of Berar to engage with him in a scheme to place the said Rajah at +the head of the Mahratta empire, the Presidency of Bombay, by virtue of +the powers specially vested in them for that purpose by the said +Hastings, did really engage with Ragonaut Row, the other competitor for +the same object, and sent a great part of their military force, +established for the defence of Bombay, on an expedition with Ragonaut +Row, to invade the dominions of the Peshwa, and to take Poonah, the +capital thereof; that this army, being surrounded and overpowered by the +Mahrattas, was obliged to capitulate; and then, through the moderation +of the Mahrattas, was permitted to return quietly, but _very +disgracefully_, to Bombay. That, supposing the said Warren Hastings +could have been justified in abandoning the project of reinstating +Ragonaut Row, which he at first authorized and promised to support, and +in preferring a scheme to place the Rajah of Berar at the head of the +Mahratta empire, he was bound by his duty, as well as injustice to the +Presidency of Bombay, to give that Presidency timely notice of such his +intention, and to have restrained them positively from resuming their +own project; that, on the contrary, the said Warren Hastings did, on the +17th of August, 1778, again _authorize_ the said Presidency "to assist +Ragoba with a military force to conduct him to Poonah, and to establish +him in the regency there," and, so far from communicating his change of +plan to Bombay, did keep it concealed from that Presidency, insomuch +that, even so late as the 19th of February, 1779, William Hornby, then +Governor of Bombay, declared in Council his total ignorance of the +schemes of the said Hastings in the following terms: "The schemes of the +Governor-General and Council with regard to the Rajah of Berar _being +yet unknown to us_, it is impossible for us to found any measures on +them; yet I cannot help now observing, that, if, as has been +conjectured, the gentleman of that Presidency have entertained thoughts +of restoring, in his person, the ancient Rajah government, the attempt +seems likely to be attended with no small difficulty." That, whereas the +said Warren Hastings did repeatedly affirm that it was his intention to +support the plan formed by the Presidency of Bombay in favor of Ragoba, +and did repeatedly authorize and encourage them to pursue it, he did +nevertheless, at the same time, in his letters and declarations to the +Peshwa, to the Nizam, and to the Rajah of Berar, falsely and +perfidiously affirm, _that it never was nor is designed by the English +chiefs to give support to Ragonaut Row,--that he_ (Hastings) _had no +idea of supporting Ragonaut Row,--and that the detachment he had sent to +Bombay was solely to awe the French, without the least design to assist +Ragonaut Row_. That, supposing it to have been the sole _professed_ +intention of the said Hastings, in sending an army across India, to +protect Bombay against a Trench invasion, even that pretence was false, +and used only to cover the real design of the said Hastings, viz., to +engage in projects of war and conquest with the Rajah of Berar. That on +the 11th of October, 1778, he informed the said Rajah "that the +detachment would soon arrive in his territories, and depend on him +[Moodajee Boosla] for its subsequent operations"; that on the 7th of +December, 1778, the said Hastings revoked the powers he had before +given[19] to the Presidency of Bombay over the detachment, declaring +that the event of Colonel Goddard's negotiation with the Rajah of Berar +_was likely to cause a very speedy and essential change in the design +and operations of the detachment_; and that on the 4th of March, 1779, +the said Hastings, immediately after receiving advice of the defeat of +the Bombay army near Poonah, and when Bombay, if at any time, +particularly required to be protected against a French invasion, did +declare in Council that he _wished for the return of the detachment to +Berar, and dreaded to hear of its proceeding to the Malabar coast_: and +therefore, if the said Hastings did not think that Bombay was in danger +of being attacked by the French, he was guilty of repeated falsehoods in +affirming the contrary for the purpose of covering a criminal design; +or, if he thought that Bombay was immediately threatened with that +danger, he then was guilty of treachery in ordering an army necessary on +that supposition to the immediate defence of Bombay to halt in Berar, to +depend on the Rajah of Berar for its subsequent operations, or on _the +event of a negotiation_ with that prince, which, as the said Hastings +declared, _was likely to cause a very speedy and essential change in the +design and operations of the detachment_; and finally, in declaring that +_he dreaded to hear of the said detachment's proceeding to the Malabar +coast_, whither he ought to have ordered it to proceed without delay, +if, as he has solemnly affirmed, it was true that _he had been told by +the highest authority that a powerful armament had been prepared in +France, the first object of which was an attack upon Bombay, and that +he knew with moral certainty that all the powers of the adjacent +continent were ready to join the invasion_. + +That through the whole of these transactions the said Warren Hastings +has been guilty of continued falsehood, fraud, contradiction, and +duplicity, highly dishonorable to the character of the British nation; +that, in consequence of the unjust and ill-concerted schemes of the said +Hastings, the British arms, heretofore respected in India, have suffered +repeated disgraces, and great calamities have been thereby brought upon +India; and that the said Warren Hastings, as well in exciting and +promoting the late unprovoked and unjustifiable war against the +Mahrattas, as in the conduct thereof, has been guilty of sundry high +crimes and misdemeanors. + +That, by the definitive treaty of peace concluded with the Mahrattas at +Poorunder, on the 1st of March, 1776, the Mahrattas gave up all right +and title to the island of Salsette, unjustly taken from them by the +Presidency of Bombay; did also give up to the English Company forever +all right and title to their entire shares of the city and purgunnah of +Baroach; did also give forever to the English Company a country of three +lacs of rupees revenue, near to Baroach; and did also agree to pay to +the Company twelve lacs of rupees, in part of the expenses of the +English army: and that the terms of the said treaty _were honorable and +advantageous to the India Company_.[20] + +That Warren Hastings, having broken the said treaty, and forced the +Mahrattas into another war by a repeated invasion of their country, and +having conducted that war in the manner hereinbefore described, did, on +the 17th of May, 1782, by the agency of Mr. David Anderson, conclude +another treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance with the Mahrattas, +by which the said Hastings agreed to deliver up to them all the +countries, places, cities, and forts, particularly the island of +Bassein, (taken from the Peshwa during the war,) and to relinquish all +claim to the country of three lacs of rupees ceded to the Company by the +treaty of Poorunder; that the said Warren Hastings did also at the said +time, by a private and separate agreement, deliver up to Mahdajee Sindia +the whole of the city of Baroach,--that is, not only the share in the +said city which the India Company acquired by the treaty of Poorunder, +but the other share thereof which the India Company possessed for +several years before that treaty; and that among the reasons assigned by +Mr. David Anderson for totally stripping the Presidency of Bombay of all +their possessions on the Malabar coast, he has declared, "that, from the +general tenor of the _rest_ of the treaty, the settlement of Bombay +would be in future put on such a footing that it might well become a +question whether the possession of an inconsiderable territory without +forts would not be attended with more loss than advantage, as it must +necessarily occasion considerable expense, must require troops for its +defence, and might probably in the end lead, as Sindia apprehended, to a +renewal of war." + +That the said Warren Hastings, having in this manner put an end to a war +commenced by him without provocation, and continued by him without +necessity, and having for that purpose made so many sacrifices to the +Mahrattas in points of essential interest to the India Company, did +consent and agree to other articles utterly dishonorable to the British +name and character, having sacrificed or abandoned every one of the +native princes who by _his_ solicitations and promises had been engaged +to take part with us in the war,--and that he did so without necessity: +since it appears that Sindia, the Mahratta chief who concluded the +treaty, _in every part of his conduct manifested a hearty desire of +establishing a peace_ with us; and that this was the disposition of all +the parties in the Mahratta confederacy, who were only kept together by +a general dread of their common enemy, the English, and who only waited +for a cessation of hostilities with us to return to their habitual and +permanent enmity against each other. That the Governor-General and +Council, in their letter of 31st August, 1781, made the following +declaration to the Court of Directors. "The Mahrattas have demanded the +sacrifice of the person of Ragonaut Row, the surrender of the fort and +territories of Ahmedabad, and of the fortress of Gualior, _which are not +ours to give, and which we could not wrest from the proprietors without +the greatest violation of public faith_. No state of affairs, in our +opinions, could warrant our acquiescence to such requisition; and we are +morally certain, that, had we yielded to them, such a consciousness of +the state of our affairs would have been implied as would have produced +an effect the very reverse from that for which it was intended, by +raising the presumption of the enemy to exact yet more _ignominious_ +terms, or perhaps their refusal to accept of any; nor, in our opinion, +would they have failed to excite in others the same belief, and the +consequent decision of all parties against us, as the natural +consequences of our decline." That the said Hastings himself, in his +instructions to Mr. David Anderson, after authorizing him to restore +_all_ that we had conquered during the war, expressly "_excepted_ +Ahmedabad, and the territory conquered for Futty Sing Gwicowar." That, +nevertheless, the said Hastings, in the peace concluded by him, has +yielded to every one of the conditions reprobated in the preceding +declarations as _ignominious_ and incompatible with public faith. + +That the said Warren Hastings did abandon the Ranna of Gohud in the +manner already charged; and that the said Ranna has not only lost the +fort of Gualior, but all his own country, and is himself a prisoner. +That the said Hastings did not interpose to obtain any terms in favor of +the Nabob of Bopaul, who was _with great reason desirous of concealing +from the Mahrattas the attachment he had borne to the English +government_:[21] the said Nabob having a just dread of the danger of +being exposed to the resentment of the Mahrattas, and no dependence on +the faith and protection of the English. That by the ninth article of +the treaty with Futty Sing it was stipulated, that, when a negotiation +for peace should take place, his interest should be primarily +considered; and that Mr. David Anderson, the minister and representative +of the Governor-General and Council, did declare to Sindia, that it was +indispensably incumbent on us to support Futty Sing's rights: that, +nevertheless, every acquisition made for or by the said Futty Sing +during the war, particularly _the fort and territories of Ahmedabad_, +were given up by the said Hastings; that Futty Sing was replaced under +the subjection of the Peshwa, (whose resentment he had provoked by +taking part with us in the war,) and under an obligation to pay a +tribute, not specified, to the Peshwa, and to perform such services and +to be subject to such obedience _as had long been established and +customary_; and that, no limit being fixed to such tribute or services, +the said Futty Sing has been left wholly at the mercy of the Mahrattas. + +That, with respect to Ragoba, the said Hastings, in his instructions to +Mr. Anderson, dated 4th of November, 1781, contented himself with +saying, "We cannot _totally_ abandon the interests of Ragonaut Row. +Endeavor to obtain for him an adequate provision." That Mr. Anderson +declared to Mahdajee Sindia,[22] "that, as we had given Ragoba +protection as an independent prince, and not brought him into our +settlement as a prisoner, we could not _in honor_ pretend to impose the +_smallest_ restraint on his will, and he must be at liberty to go +wherever he pleased; that it must rest with Sindia himself to prevail on +him to reside in his country: all that we could do was to _agree_, after +a reasonable time, _to withdraw our protection from him, and not to +insist on the payment of the stipend to him_, as Sindia had proposed, +unless on the condition of his residing in some part of Sindia's +territories." + +That, notwithstanding all the preceding declarations, and in violation +of the public faith repeatedly pledged to Ragoba, he was totally +abandoned by the said Hastings in the treaty, no provision whatever +being made even for his subsistence, but on a condition to which he +could not submit without the certain loss of his liberty and probable +hazard of his life, namely, _that he should voluntarily and of his own +accord repair to Sindia, and quietly reside with him_. That such +treacherous desertion of the said Ragoba is not capable of being +justified by any plea of necessity: but that in fact no such necessity +existed; since it appears that the Nizam, who of all the contracting +parties in the confederacy was personally most hostile to Ragoba, did +himself _propose that Ragoba, might have an option given him_ of +residing within the Company's territories. + +That the plan of negotiating a peace with the Mahrattas by application +to Sindia, and through his mediation, was earnestly recommended to the +said Hastings by the Presidency of Bombay so early as in February, 1779, +who stated clearly to him the reasons why such application ought to be +made to Sindia in preference to any other of the Mahratta chiefs, and +why it would probably be successful; the truth and justice of which +reasons were fully evinced in the issue, when the said Hastings, after +incurring, by two years' delay, all the losses and distresses of a +calamitous war, did actually pursue that very plan with much less effect +or advantage than might have been obtained at the time the advice was +given. That he neglected the advice of the Presidency of Bombay, and +retarded the peace, as well as made its conditions worse, from an +obstinate attachment to his project of an alliance offensive and +defensive with the Rajah of Berar, the object of which was rather a new +war than a termination of the war then existing against the Peshwa. + +That the said Hastings did further embarrass and retard the conclusion +of a peace by employing different ministers at the courts of the several +confederate powers, whom he severally empowered to treat and negotiate +a peace. That these ministers, not acting in concert, not knowing the +extent of each other's commissions, and having no instructions to +communicate their respective proceedings to each other, did in effect +counteract their several negotiations. That this want of concert and of +simplicity, and the mystery and intricacy in the mode of conducting the +negotiation on our part, was complained of by our ministers as +embarrassing and disconcerting to us, while it was advantageous to the +adverse party, who were thereby furnished with opportunity and pretence +for delay, when it suited their purpose, and enabled to play off one set +of negotiators against another; that it also created jealousy and +distrust in the various contending parties, with whom we were treating +at the same time, and to whom we were obliged to make contradictory +professions, while it betrayed and exposed to them all our own eagerness +and impatience for peace, raising thereby the general claims and +pretensions of the enemy. That, while Dalhousie Watherston, Esquire, was +treating at Poonah, and David Anderson, Esquire, in Sindia's camp, with +separate powers applied to the same object, the minister at Poonah +informed the said Watherston, that he had received proposals for peace +from the Nabob of Arcot with the approbation of Sir Eyre Coote; that he +had returned other proposals to the said Nabob of Arcot, who had assured +him, the minister, that those proposals _would be acceded to, and that +Mr. Macpherson would set out for Bengal, after which orders should be +immediately dispatched from the Honorable the Governor-General and +Council to the effect he wished_; that the said Nabob "had promised to +obtain and forward to him the expected _orders from Bengal in fifteen +days_, and that he was therefore every instant in expectation of their +arrival,--and observed, that, when General Goddard proposed to send a +confidential person to Poonah, he conceived that those orders must have +actually reached him": that therefore the treaty formally concluded by +David Anderson was in effect and substance the same with that offered +and in reality concluded by the Nabob of Arcot, with the exception only +of Salsette, which the Nabob of Arcot had agreed to restore to the +Mahrattas. + +That the intention of the said Warren Hastings, in pressing for a peace +with the Mahrattas on terms so dishonorable and by measures so rash and +ill-concerted, was not to restore and establish a general peace +throughout India, but to engage the India Company in a new war against +Hyder Ali, and to make the Mahrattas parties therein. That the eagerness +and passion with which the said Hastings pursued this object laid him +open to the Mahrattas, who depended thereon for obtaining whatever they +should demand from us. That, in order to carry the point of an offensive +alliance against Hyder Ali, the said Hastings exposed the negotiation +for peace with the Mahrattas to many difficulties and delays. That the +Mahrattas were bound by a clear and recent engagement, which Hyder had +never violated in any article, to make no peace with us which should not +include him; that they pleaded the sacred nature of this obligation in +answer to all our requisitions on this head, while the said Hastings, +still importunate for his favorite point, suggested to them various +means of reconciling a substantial breach of their engagement with a +formal observance of it, and taught them how they might at once be +parties in a peace with Hyder Ali and in an offensive alliance for +immediate hostility against him. That these lessons of public duplicity +and artifice, and these devices of ostensible faith and real treachery, +could have no effect but to degrade the national character, and to +inspire the Mahrattas themselves, with whom we were in treaty, with a +distrust in our sincerity and good faith. That the object of this +fraudulent policy (viz., the utter destruction of Hyder Ali, and a +partition of his dominions) was neither wise in itself, or authorized by +the orders and instructions of the Company to their servants; that it +was incompatible with the treaty of peace, in which Hyder Ali was +included, and contrary to the repeated and best-understood injunctions +of the Company,--being, in the first place, a bargain for a new war, +and, in the next, aiming at an extension of our territory by conquest. +That the best and soundest political opinions on the relations of these +states have always represented our great security against the power of +the Mahrattas to depend on its being balanced by that of Hyder Ali; and +the Mysore country is so placed as a barrier between the Carnatic and +the Mahrattas as to make it our interest rather to strengthen and repair +that barrier than to level and destroy it. That the said treaty of +partition does express itself to be _eventual_ with regard to the making +and keeping of peace; but through the whole course of the said +Hastings's proceeding he did endeavor to prevent any peace with the +Sultan or Nabob of Mysore, Tippoo Sahib, and did for a long time +endeavor to frustrate all the methods which could have rendered the +said treaty of conquest and partition wholly unnecessary. + +That the Mahrattas having taken no effectual step to oblige Hyder Ali to +make good the conditions for which they had engaged in his behalf, and +the war continuing to be carried on in the Carnatic by Tippoo Sultan, +son and successor of Hyder Ali, the Presidency of Fort St. George +undertook, upon their own authority, to open a negotiation with the said +Tippoo: which measure, though indispensably necessary, the said Hastings +utterly disapproved and discountenanced, expressly denying that there +was any ground or motive for entering into any direct or separate treaty +with Tippoo, and not consenting to or authorizing any negotiation for +such treaty, until after a cessation of hostilities had been brought +about with him by the Presidency of Fort St. George, in August, 1783, +and the ministers of Tippoo had been received and treated with by that +Presidency, and commissioners, in return, actually sent by the said +Presidency to the court of Poonah: which late and reluctant consent and +authority were extorted from him, the said Hastings, in consequence of +the acknowledgment of his agent at the court of Mahdajee Sindia, upon +whom the said Warren Hastings had depended for enforcing the clauses of +the Mahratta treaty, of the precariousness of such dependence, and of +the necessity of that direct and separate treaty with Tippoo, so long +and so lately reprobated by the said Warren Hastings, notwithstanding +the information and entreaties of the Presidency of Fort St. George, as +well as the known distresses and critical situation of the Company's +affairs. That, though the said Warren Hastings did at length give +instructions for negotiating and making peace with Tippoo, expressly +adding, that those instructions extended to _all_ the points which +occurred to _him or them_ as capable of being agitated or gained upon +the occasion,--though the said instructions were sent after the said +commissioners by the Presidency of Fort St. George, with directions to +obey them,--though not only the said instructions were obeyed, but +advantages gained which did not occur to the said Warren +Hastings,--though the said peace formed a contrast with the Mahratta +peace, in neither ceding any territory possessed by the Company before +the war, or delivering up any dependant or ally to the vengeance of his +adversaries, but providing for the restoration of all the countries that +had been taken from the Company and their allies,--though the Supreme +Council of Calcutta, forming the legal government of Bengal in the +absence of the said Warren Hastings, ratified the said treaty,--yet the +said Warren Hastings, then absent from the seat of government, and out +of the province of Bengal, and forming no legal or integral part of the +government during such absence, did, after such ratification, usurp the +power of acting as a part of such government (as if actually sitting in +Council with the other members of the same) in the consideration and +unqualified censure of the terms of the said peace. + +That the Nabob of Arcot, with whom the said Hastings did keep up an +unwarrantable clandestine correspondence, without any communication with +the Presidency of Madras, wrote a letter of complaint, dated the 27th of +March, 1784, against the Presidency of that place, without any +communication thereof to the said Presidency, the said complaint being +addressed to the said Warren Hastings, the substance of which complaint +was, that he, the Nabob, had not been made a party to the late treaty; +and although his interest had been sufficiently provided for in the said +treaty, the said Warren Hastings did sign a declaration, on the 23d of +May, at Lucknow, forming the basis of a new article, and making a new +party to the treaty, after it had been by all parties (the Supreme +Council of Calcutta included) completed and ratified, and did transmit +the said new stipulation to the Presidency at Calcutta, solely for the +purposes and at the instigation of the Nabob of Arcot; and the said +declaration was made without any previous communication with the +Presidency aforesaid, and in consequence thereof orders were sent by the +Council at Calcutta to the Presidency of Fort St. George, _under the +severest threats in case of disobedience_: which orders, whatever were +their purport, would, as an undue assumption of and participation in the +government, from which he was absent, become a high misdemeanor; but, +being to the purport of opening the said treaty after its solemn +ratification, and proposing a new clause and a new party to the same, +was also an aggravation of such misdemeanor, as it tended to convey to +the Indian powers an idea of the unsteadiness of the councils and +determinations of the British government, and to take away all reliance +on its engagements, and as, above all, it exposed the affairs of the +nation and the Company to the hazard of seeing renewed all the +calamities of war, from whence by the conclusion of the treaty they had +emerged, and upon a pretence so weak as that of proposing the Nabob of +Arcot to be a party to the same,--though he had not been made a party by +the said Warren Hastings in the Mahratta treaty, which professed to be +for the relief of the Carnatic,--though he was not a party to the former +treaty with Hyder, also relative to the Carnatic,--though it was not +certain, if the treaty were once opened, and that even Tippoo should +then consent to that Nabob's being a party, whether he, the said Nabob, +would agree to the clauses of the same, and consequently whether the +said treaty, once opened, could afterwards be concluded: an uncertainty +of which he, the said Hastings, should have learned to be aware, having +already once been disappointed by the said Nabob's refusing to accede to +a treaty which he, the said Warren Hastings, made for him with the +Dutch, about a year before. + +That the said Warren Hastings,--having broken a solemn and honorable +treaty of peace by an unjust and unprovoked war,--having neglected to +conclude that war when he might have done it without loss of honor to +the nation,--having plotted and contrived, as far as depended on him, to +engage the India Company in another war as soon as the former should be +concluded,--and having at last put an end to a most unjust war against +the Mahrattas by a most ignominious peace with them, in which he +sacrificed objects essential to the interests, and submitted to +conditions utterly incompatible with the honor of this nation, and with +his own declared sense of the dishonorable nature of those +conditions,--and having endeavored to open anew the treaty concluded +with Tippoo Sultan through the means of the Presidency of Fort St. +George, upon principles of justice and honor, and which established +peace in India, and thereby exposing the British possessions there to +the renewal of the dangers and calamities of war,--has by these several +acts been guilty of sundry high crimes and misdemeanors. + + + + +XXI.--CORRESPONDENCE. + + +That, by an act of the 13th year of his present Majesty, intituled, "An +act for establishing certain regulations for the better management of +the affairs of the East India Company, as well in India as in Europe, +the Governor-General and Council are required and directed to pay due +obedience to all such orders as they shall receive from the Court of +Directors of the said United Company, and to correspond from time to +time, and constantly and diligently transmit to the said Court an exact +particular of all advices or intelligence and of all transactions and +matters whatsoever that shall come to their knowledge, relating to the +government, commerce, revenues, or interest of the said United Company." + +That, in consequence of the above-recited act, the Court of Directors, +in their general instructions of the 29th March, 1774, to the +Governor-General and Council, did direct, "that the correspondence with +the princes or country powers in India should be carried on through the +Governor-General only; but that all letters to be sent by him should be +first approved in Council; and that he should lay before the Council, at +their next meeting, all letters received by him in the course of such +correspondence, for their information." + +And the Governor-General and Council were therein further ordered, +"that, in transacting the business of their department, they should +enter with the utmost perspicuity and exactness all their proceedings +whatsoever, and all dissents, if such should at any time be made by any +member of their board, together with all letters sent or received in the +course of their correspondence; and that broken sets of such +proceedings, to the latest period possible, be transmitted to them [the +Court of Directors], a complete set at the end of every year, and a +duplicate by the next conveyance." + +That, in defiance of the said orders, and in breach of the above-recited +act of Parliament, the said Warren Hastings has, in sundry instances, +concealed from his Council the correspondence carried on between him and +the princes or country powers in India, and neglected to communicate the +advices and intelligence he from time to time received from the British +Residents at the different courts in India to the other members of the +government, and, without their knowledge, counsel, or participation, has +dispatched orders on matters of the utmost consequence to the interests +of the Company. + +That, moreover, the said Warren Hastings, for the purpose of covering +his own improper and dangerous practices from his employers, has +withheld from the Court of Directors, upon sundry occasions, copies of +the proceedings had, and the correspondence carried on by him in his +official capacity as Governor-General, whereby the Court of Directors +have been kept in ignorance of matters which it highly imported them to +know, and the affairs of the Company have been exposed to much +inconvenience and injury. + +That, in all such concealments and acts done or ordered without the +consent and authority of the Supreme Council, the said Warren Hastings +has been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. + + + + +XXII.--FYZOOLA KHÂN. + + +PART I. + +RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHÂN, ETC., BEFORE THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG. + +I. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, who now holds of the Vizier the +territory of Rampoor, Shahabad, and certain other districts dependent +thereon, in the country of the Rohillas, is the second son of a prince +renowned in the history of Hindostan under the name of Ali Mohammed +Khân, some time sovereign of all that part of Rohilcund which is +particularly distinguished by the appellation of the Kutteehr. + +II. That, after the death of Ali Mohammed aforesaid, as Fyzoola Khân, +together with his elder brother, was then a prisoner of war at a place +called Herat, "the Rohilla chiefs took possession of the ancient +estates" of the captive princes; and the Nabob Fyzoola Khân was from +necessity compelled to waive his hereditary rights for the +inconsiderable districts of Rampoor and Shahabad, then estimated to +produce from six to eight lacs of annual revenue. + +III. That in 1774, on the invasion of Rohilcund by the united armies of +the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Company, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, +"with some of his people, was present at the decisive battle of St. +George," where Hafiz Rhamet, the great leader of the Rohillas, and many +others of their principal chiefs were slain; but, escaping from the +slaughter, Fyzoola Khân "made his retreat good towards the mountains, +with all his treasure." He there collected the scattered remains of his +countrymen; and as he was the eldest surviving son of Ali Mohammed Khân, +as, too, the most powerful obstacle to his pretensions was now removed +by the death of Hafiz, he seems at length to have been generally +acknowledged by his natural subjects the undoubted heir of his father's +authority. + +IV. That, "regarding the sacred _sincerity_ and friendship of the +English, whose _goodness_ and celebrity is everywhere known, _who +dispossess no one_," the Nabob Fyzoola Khân made early overtures for +peace to Colonel Alexander Champion, commander-in-chief of the Company's +forces in Bengal: that he did propose to the said Colonel Alexander +Champion, in three letters, received on the 14th, 24th, and 27th of May, +to put himself under the protection either of the Company, or of the +Vizier, through the mediation and with the guaranty of the Company; and +that he did offer, "whatever was conferred upon him, to pay as much +without damage or deficiency as any other person would agree to do": +stating, at the same time, his condition and pretensions hereinbefore +recited as facts "evident as the sun"; and appealing, in a forcible and +awful manner, to the generosity and magnanimity of this nation, "by +whose means he hoped in God that he should receive justice"; and as "the +person who designed the war was no more," as "in that he was himself +guiltless," and as "he had never acted in such a manner as for the +Vizier to have taken hatred to his heart against him, that he might be +reinstated in his ancient possessions, the country of Ins father." + +V. That on the last of the three dates above mentioned, that is to say, +on the 27th of May, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did also send to the +commander-in-chief a _vakeel_, or ambassador, who was authorized on the +part of him, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, his master, to make a specific +offer of three propositions; and that by one of the said propositions +"an annual increase of near 400,000_l._ would have accrued to the +revenues of our ally, and the immediate acquisition of above 300,000_l._ +to the Company, for their influence in effecting an accommodation +perfectly consistent with their engagements to the Vizier," and strictly +consonant to the demands of justice. + +VI. That, so great was the confidence of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân in the +just, humane, and liberal feelings of Englishmen, as to "lull him into +an inactivity" of the most essential detriment to his interests: since, +"in the hopes which he entertained from the interposition of our +government," he declined the invitation of the Mogul to join the arms of +his Majesty and the Mahrattas, "refused any connection with the Seiks," +and did even neglect to take the obvious precaution of crossing the +Ganges, as he had originally intended, while the river was yet +fordable,--a movement that would have enabled him certainly to baffle +all pursuit, and probably "to keep the Vizier in a state of disquietude +for the remainder of his life." + +VII. That the commander-in-chief, Colonel Alexander Champion aforesaid, +"thought nothing could be more honorable to this nation than the support +of so exalted a character; and whilst it could be done on terms so +advantageous, supposed it very unlikely that the vakeel's proposition +should be received with indifference"; that he did accordingly refer it +to the administration through Warren Hastings, Esquire, then Governor of +Fort William and President of Bengal; and he did at the same time +inclose to the said Warren Hastings a letter from the Nabob Fyzoola Khân +to the said Hastings,--which letter does not appear, but must be +supposed to have been of the same tenor with those before cited to the +commander-in-chief,--of which also copies were sent to the said Hastings +by the commander-in-chief; and he, the commander-in-chief aforesaid, +after urging to the said Hastings sundry good and cogent arguments of +policy and prudence in favor of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, did conclude by +"wishing for nothing so much as for the adoption of some measure that +might strike all the powers of the East with admiration of our justice, +in contrast to the conduct of the Vizier." + +VIII. That, in answer to such laudable wish of the said +commander-in-chief, the President, Warren Hastings, preferring his own +prohibited plans of extended dominion to the mild, equitable, and wise +policy inculcated in the standing orders of his superiors, and now +enforced by the recommendation of the commander-in-chief, did instruct +and "desire" him, the said commander-in-chief, "instead of soliciting +the Vizier to relinquish his conquest to Fyzoola Khân, to discourage it +as much as was in his power"; although the said Hastings did not once +express, or even intimate, any doubt whatever of the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân's innocence as to the origin of the war, or of his hereditary +right to the territories which he claimed, but to the said pleas of the +Nabob Fyzoola Khân, as well as to the arguments both of policy and +justice advanced by the commander-in-chief, he, the said Hastings, did +solely oppose certain speculative objects of imagined expediency, +summing up his decided rejection of the proposals made by the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân in the following remarkable words. "With respect to Fyzoola +Khân, _he appears not to merit our consideration. The petty sovereign of +a country estimated at six or eight lacs ought not for a moment to prove +an impediment to any of our measures, or to affect the consistency of +our conduct_." + +IX. That, in the aforesaid violent and arbitrary position, the said +Warren Hastings did avow it to be a public principle of his government, +that no right, however manifest, and no innocence, however unimpeached, +could entitle the weak to our protection against others, or save them +from our own active endeavors for their oppression, and even +extirpation, should they interfere with our notions of political +expediency; and that such a principle is highly derogatory to the +justice and honor of the English name, and fundamentally injurious to +our interests, inasmuch as it hath an immediate tendency to excite +distrust, jealousy, fear, and hatred against us among all the +subordinate potentates of Hindostan. + +X. That, in prosecution of the said despotic principle, the President, +Warren Hastings aforesaid, did persist to obstruct, as far as in him +lay, every advance towards an accommodation between the Vizier Sujah ul +Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khân; and particularly on the 16th of +September, only eight days after the said Hastings, in, conjunction with +the other members of the Select Committee of Bengal, had publicly +testified his _satisfaction_ in the prospect of _an accommodation_, and +had _hoped_ that "his Excellency [the Vizier] would be disposed to +conciliate the affections [of the Rohillas] to his government _by +acceding to lenient terms_," he, the said Hastings, did nevertheless +write, and without the consent or knowledge of his colleagues did +privately dispatch, a certain answer to a letter of the +commander-in-chief, in which answer the said Hastings did express other +_contradictory hopes_, namely, that the commander-in-chief _had resolved +on prosecuting the war to a final issue_,--"because" (as the said +Hastings explains himself) "it appears very plainly that Fyzoola Khân +and his adherents _lay at your mercy_, because I apprehend much +inconveniency from delays, and because _I am morally certain that no +good will he gained by negotiating_": thereby artfully suggesting his +wishes of what might be, in his hopes of what had been, resolved; and +plainly, though indirectly, instigating the commander-in-chief to much +effusion of blood in an immediate attack on the Rohillas, posted as they +were "in a very strong situation," and "combating for all." + +XI. That the said Hastings, in the answer aforesaid, did further +endeavor to inflame the commander-in-chief against the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân, by representing the said Nabob "as highly presuming, insolent, and +evasive"; and knowing the distrust which the Nabob Fyzoola Khân +entertained of the Vizier, the said Hastings did "expressly desire it +should be left wholly to the Vizier to treat with the enemy by _his own +agents_ and _in his own manner_,"--though he, the said Hastings, "by no +means wished the Vizier to lose time by seeking an accommodation, since +it would be more effectual, more decisive, and more _consistent with his +dignity, indeed with his honor, which he has already pledged_, to abide +by his first offers, to dictate the conditions of peace, and to admit +only an acceptance without reservation, or a clear refusal, from his +adversary": thereby affecting to hold up, in opposition to and in +exclusion of the substantial claims of justice, certain ideal +obligations of dignity and honor,--that is to say, the gratification of +pride, and the observance of an arrogant determination once declared. + +XII. That, although the said answer did not reach the commander-in-chief +until peace was actually concluded, and although the dangerous +consequences to be apprehended from the said answer were thereby +prevented, yet, by the sentiments contained in the said answer, Warren +Hastings, Esquire, did strongly evince his ultimate adherence to all the +former violent and unjust principles of his conduct towards the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân, which principles were disgraceful to the character and +injurious to the interests of this nation; and that the said Warren +Hastings did thereby, in a particular manner, exclude himself from any +share of credit for "the honorable period put to the Rohilla war, which +has in some degree done away the reproach so wantonly brought on the +English name." + + +PART II. + +RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHÂN UNDER THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG. + +I. That, notwithstanding the culpable and criminal reluctance of the +President, Hastings, hereinbefore recited, a treaty of peace and +friendship between the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khân +was finally signed and sealed on the 7th October, 1774, at a place +called Lall-Dang, in the presence and with the attestation of the +British commander-in-chief, Colonel Alexander Champion aforesaid; and +that for the said treaty the Nabob Fyzoola Khân agreed to pay, and did +actually pay, the valuable consideration of half his treasure, to the +amount of fifteen lacs of rupees, or 150,000_l._ sterling, and upwards. + +II. That by the said treaty the Nabob Fyzoola Khân was established in +the quiet possession of Rampoor, Shahabad, and "some other districts +dependent thereon," subject to certain conditions, of which the more +important were as follow. + +"That Fyzoola Khân should retain in his service five thousand _troops_, +and not a single man more. + +"That, with whomsoever the Vizier should make war, Fyzoola Khân should +send _two or three thousand men, according to his ability_, to join the +forces of the Vizier. + +"And that, if the Vizier should march in person, Fyzoola Khân should +himself accompany him _with his troops_." + +III. That from the terms of the treaty above recited it doth plainly, +positively, and indisputably appear that the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, in +case of war, was not bound to furnish more than three thousand men under +any construction, unless the Vizier should march in person. + +IV. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khân was not positively bound to furnish so +many as three thousand men, but an indefinite number, not more than +three and not less than two thousand; that of the precise number within +such limitations the ability of Fyzoola Khân, and not the discretion of +the Vizier, was to be the standard; and that such ability could only +mean that which was equitably consistent not only with the external +defence of his jaghire, but with the internal good management thereof, +both as to its police and revenue. + +V. That, even in case the Vizier should march in person, it might be +reasonably doubted whether the personal service of the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân "with his troops" must be understood to be with _all_ his troops, +or only with the number before stipulated, not more than three and not +less than two thousand men; and that the latter is the interpretation +finally adopted by Warren Hastings aforesaid, and the Council of Bengal, +who, in a letter to the Court of Directors, dated April 5th, 1783, +represent the clauses of the treaty relative to the stipulated aid as +meaning simply that Fyzoola Khân "should send two or three thousand men +to join the Vizier's forces, or attend in person in case it should be +requisite." + +VI. That from the aforesaid terms of the treaty it doth not specifically +appear of what the stipulated aid should consist, whether of horse or +foot, or in what proportion of both; but that it is the recorded +opinion, maturely formed by the said Hastings and his Council, in +January, 1783, that even "a single horseman included in the aid which +Fyzoola Khân might furnish would prove a literal compliance with the +stipulation." + +VII. That, in the event of any doubt fairly arising from the terms of +the treaty, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, in consideration of his hereditary +right to the whole country, and the price by him actually paid for the +said treaty, was in equity entitled to the most favorable construction. + +VIII. That, from the attestation of Colonel Champion aforesaid, the +government of Calcutta acquired the same right to interpose with the +Vizier for the protection of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân as they, the said +government, had before claimed from a similar attestation of Sir Robert +Barker to assist the Vizier in extirpating the whole nation of the said +Fyzoola Khân,--more especially as in the case of Sir Robert Barker it +was contrary to the remonstrances of the then administration, and the +furthest from the intentions of the said Barker himself, that his +attestation should involve the Company, but the attestation of Colonel +Champion was authorized by all the powers of the government, as a +"sanction" intended "to add validity" to the treaty; that they, the said +government, and in particular the said Warren Hastings, as the first +executive member of the same, were bound by the ties of natural justice +duly to exercise the aforesaid right, if need were; and that their duty +so to interfere was more particularly enforced by the spirit of the +censures passed both by the Directors and Proprietors in the Rohilla +war, and the satisfaction expressed by the Directors "in the honorable +end put to that war." + + +PART III. + +GUARANTY OF THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG. + +I. That during the life of the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah, and for some time +after his death, under his son and successor, Asoph ul Dowlah, the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân did remain without disturbance or molestation; that he did +all the while imagine his treaty to be under the sanction of the +Company, from Colonel Champion's affixing his signature thereto as a +witness, "which signature, as he [Fyzoola Khân] supposed," (rendered the +Company the _arbitrators_) between the Vizier and himself, in case of +disputes; and that, being "a man of sense, but _extreme pusillanimity_, +a good farmer, fond of wealth, _not possessed of the passion of +ambition_," he did peaceably apply himself to "improve the state of his +country, and did, _by his own prudence and attention_, increase the +revenues thereof beyond the amount specified in Sujah ul Dowlah's +grant." + +II. That in the year 1777, and in the beginning of the year 1778, being +"alarmed at the young Vizier's resumption of a number of jaghires +granted by his father to different persons, and the injustice and +oppression of his conduct in general," and having now learned (from whom +does not appear, but probably from some person supposed of competent +authority) that Colonel Champion formerly witnessed the treaty as a +private person, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did make frequent and urgent +solicitations to Nathaniel Middleton, Esquire, then Resident at Oude, +and to Warren Hastings aforesaid, then Governor-General of Bengal, "for +a renovation of his [the Nabob Fyzoola Khân's] treaty with the late +Vizier, and the guaranty of the Company," or for a "separate agreement +with the Company for his defence": considering them, the Company, as +"the only power in which he had confidence, and to which he could look +up for protection." + +III. That the said Resident Middleton, and the said Governor-General +Hastings, did not, as they were in duty bound to do, endeavor to allay +the apprehensions of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân by assuring him of his +safety under the sanction of Colonel Champion's attestation aforesaid, +but by their criminal neglect, if not by positive expressions, (as there +is just ground from their subsequent language and conduct to believe,) +they, the said Middleton and the said Hastings, did at least keep alive +and confirm (whoever may have originally suggested) the said +apprehension; and that such neglect alone was the more highly culpable +in the said Hastings, inasmuch as he, the said Hastings, in conjunction +with other members of the Select Committee of the then Presidency of +Bengal, did, on the 17th of September, 1774, write to Colonel Champion +aforesaid, publicly authorizing him, the said Colonel Champion, to join +his _sanction_ to the accommodations agreed on between the Vizier Sujah +ul Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, _to add to their validity_,--and +on the 6th of October following did again write to the said Colonel +Champion, more explicitly, to join his sanction, "either by attesting +the treaty, or _acting as guaranty_ on the part of the Company for the +performance of it": both which letters, though they did not arrive until +after the actual signature of the said Colonel Champion, do yet +incontrovertibly mark the solemn intention of the said Committee (of +which the said Hastings was President) that the sanction of Colonel +Champion's attestation should be regarded as a public, not a private, +sanction; and it was more peculiarly incumbent on such persons, who had +been members of the said Committee, so to regard the same. + +IV. That the said Warren Hastings was further guilty of much criminal +concealment for the space of "twelve months," inasmuch as he did not lay +before the board the frequent and urgent solicitations which he, the +said Hastings, was continually receiving from the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, +until the 9th of March, 1778; on which day the said Hastings did +communicate to the Council a public letter of the aforesaid Middleton, +Resident at Oude, acquainting the board that he, the said Middleton, +taking occasion from a late application of Fyzoola Khân for the +Company's guaranty, had deputed Mr. Daniel Octavus Barwell (Assistant +Resident at Benares, but then on a visit to the Resident Middleton at +Lucknow) to proceed with a special commission to Rampoor, there to +inquire on the spot into the truth of certain reports circulated to the +prejudice of Fyzoola Khân, which reports, however, the said Middleton +did afterwards confess himself to have "_always_" _thought_ "_in the +highest degree improbable_." + +That the said Resident Middleton did "request to know whether, on proof +of Fyzoola Khân's innocence, the honorable board would be pleased to +grant him [the Resident] permission to comply with his [Fyzoola Khân's] +request of the Company's guarantying his treaty with the Vizier." And +the said Middleton, in excuse for having irregularly "availed himself of +the abilities of Mr. Daniel Barwell," who belonged to another station, +and for deputing him with the aforesaid commission to Rampoor without +the previous knowledge of the board, did urge the plea "_of immediate +necessity_"; and that such plea, if the necessity really existed, was a +strong charge and accusation against the said Warren Hastings, from +whose criminal neglect and concealment the urgency of such necessity did +arise. + +V. That the Governor-General, Warren Hastings aforesaid, did immediately +move, "that the board approve the deputation of Mr. Daniel Barwell, and +that the Resident [Middleton] be authorized to offer the Company's +guaranty for the observance of the treaty subsisting between the Vizier +and Fyzoola Khân, provided it meets with the Vizier's concurrence"; and +that the Governor-General's proposition was resolved in the affirmative: +the usual majority of Council then consisting of Richard Barwell, +Esquire, a near relation of Daniel Octavus Barwell aforesaid, and the +Governor-General, Warren Hastings, who, in case of an equality, had the +casting voice. + +VI. That, on receiving from Mr. Daniel Barwell full and early assurance +of Fyzoola Khân's "having preserved every article of his treaty +inviolate," the Resident, Middleton, applied for the Vizier's +concurrence, which was readily obtained,--the Vizier, however, +"_premising_, that he gave his consent, taking it for granted, that, on +Fyzoola Khân's receiving the treaty and _khelaut_ [or robe of honor], he +was to make him a return of the complimentary presents usually offered +on such occasions, and _of such an amount as should be a manifestation +of Fyzoola Khân's due sense of his friendship, and suitable to his +Excellency's rank to receive_"; and that the Resident, Middleton, "did +make himself in some measure responsible for the said presents being +obtained," and did write to Mr. Daniel Barwell accordingly. + +VII. That, agreeably to the resolution of Council hereinbefore recited, +the solicited guaranty, under the seal of the Resident, Middleton, thus +duly authorized on behalf of the Company, was transmitted, together with +the renewed treaty, to Mr. Daniel Barwell aforesaid at Rampoor, and that +they were both by him, the said Barwell, presented to the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân, with a solemnity not often paralleled, "in the presence of the +greatest part of the Nabob's subjects, who were assembled, that the +ceremony might create a full belief in the breasts of all his people +that the Company would protect him as long as he strictly adhered to the +_letter_ of his treaty." + +VIII. That, in the conclusion of the said ceremony, the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân did deliver to the said Barwell, for the use of the Vizier, a +_nuzzer_ (or present) of elephants, horses, &c., and did add thereto a +lac of rupees, or 10,000_l._ and upwards: which sum the said Barwell, +"not being authorized to accept any pecuniary consideration, did at +first refuse; but upon Fyzoola Khân's urging, that on such occasions it +was the invariable custom of Hindostan, and _that it must on the present +be expected, as it had been formerly the case_," (but when does not +appear,) he, the said Barwell, did accept the said lac in the name of +the Vizier, our ally, "in whose wealth" (as Warren Hastings on another +occasion observed) "we should participate," and on whom we at that time +had an accumulating demand. + +IX. That, over and above the lac of rupees thus presented to the Vizier, +the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did likewise offer one other lac of rupees, or +upwards of 10,000_l._ more, for the Company, "as some acknowledgment of +the obligation he received; that, although such acknowledgment was not +pretended to be the invariable custom of Hindostan on such occasions, +however it might on the present be expected," Mr. Daniel Barwell +aforesaid (knowing, probably, the disposition and views of the then +actual government at Calcutta) did not, _even at first_, decline the +said offer, but, as he was not empowered to accept it, did immediately +propose taking a bond for the amount, until the pleasure of the board +should be known. + +That the offer was accordingly communicated by the said Barwell to the +Resident, Middleton, to be by him, the Resident, referred to the board, +and that it was so referred; that, in reply to the said reference of the +Resident, Middleton, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, did move and +carry a vote of Council, "authorizing Mr. Middleton to accept the offer +made by Fyzoola Khân to the Company of one lac of rupees," without +assigning any reason whatever in support of the said motion, +notwithstanding it was objected by a member of the board, "that, if the +measure was right, it became us to adopt it without such a +consideration," and that "our accepting of the lac of rupees as a +recompense for our interposition is beneath the dignity of this +government [of Calcutta], and will discredit us in the eyes of the +Indian powers." + +That the acceptance of the said sum, in this circumstance, was beneath +the dignity of the said government, and did tend so to discredit us; and +that the motion of the said Hastings for such acceptance was therefore +highly derogatory to the honor of this nation. + +X. That the aforesaid member of the Council did further disapprove +altogether of the guaranty, "as unnecessary"; and that another member of +Council, Richard Barwell, Esquire, the near relation of Daniel Octavus +Barwell, hereinbefore named, did declare, (but after the said guaranty +had taken place,) that "this government [of Calcutta] was in fact +engaged by Colonel Champion's signature being to the treaty with Fyzoola +Khân." That the said unnecessary guaranty did not only subject to an +heavy expense a prince whom we were bound to protect, but did further +produce in his mind the following obvious and natural conclusion, +namely, "_that the signature of any person, in whatever public capacity +he at present appears, will not be valid and of effect, as soon as some +other shall fill his station_": a conclusion, however, immediately +tending to the total discredit of all powers delegated from the board to +any individual servant of the Company, and consequently to clog, +perplex, and embarrass in future all transactions carried on at a +distance from the seat of government, and to disturb the security of +all persons possessing instruments already so ratified,--yet the only +conclusion left to Fyzoola Khân which did not involve some affront +either to the private honor of the Company's servants or to the public +honor of the Company itself; and that the suspicions which originated +from the said idea in the breast of Fyzoola Khân to the prejudice of the +Resident Middleton's authority did compel the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings, to obviate the bad effects of his first motion for the +guaranty by a second motion, namely, "That a letter be written to +Fyzoola Khân from myself, _confirming the obligations of the Company as +guaranties_ to the treaty formed between him and the Vizier,--which will +be equivalent in its effect, though not in form, to an engagement sent +him with the Company's seal affixed to it." + +XII.[23] That, whether the guaranty aforesaid was or was not necessary, +whether it created a new obligation or but more fully recognized an +obligation previously existing, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, +by the said guaranty, did, in the most explicit manner, pledge and +commit the public faith of the Company and the nation; and that by the +subsequent letter of the said Hastings (which he at his own motion +wrote, confirming to Fyzoola Khân the aforesaid guaranty) the said +Hastings did again pledge and commit the public faith of the Company and +the nation, in a manner (as the said Hastings himself remarked) +"equivalent to an engagement with the Company's seal affixed to it," and +more particularly binding the said Hastings personally to exact a due +observance of the guarantied treaty, especially to protect the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân against any arbitrary construction or unwarranted +requisition of the Vizier. + + +PART IV. + +THANKS OF THE BOARD TO FYZOOLA KHÂN. + +I. That, soon after the completion of the guaranty, in the same year, +1778, intelligence was received in India of a war between England and +France; that, on the first intimation thereof, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, +"being indirectly sounded," did show much "promptness to render the +Company any assistance within the bounds of his finances and ability"; +and that by the suggestion of the Resident, Middleton, hereinbefore +named, he, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, in a letter to the Governor-General +and Council, did make a voluntary "offer to maintain two thousand +cavalry (all he had) for our service," "though he was under no +obligation to furnish the Company with a single man." + +II. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did even "anticipate the wishes of the +board"; and that, "on an application made to him by Lieutenant-Colonel +Muir," the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did, "without hesitation or delay," +furnish him, the said Muir, with five hundred of his best cavalry. + +That the said conduct of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân was communicated by the +Company's servants both to each other and to their employers, with +expressions of "pleasure" and "particular satisfaction," as an event +"even surpassing their expectations"; that the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings, was officially requested to convoy "the thanks of the board"; +and that, not satisfied with the bare discharge of his duty under the +said request, he, the said Hastings, did, on the 8th of January, 1779, +write to Fyzoola, "that, _in his own name_," as well as "that of the +board, he [the said Hastings] returned him the _warmest_ thanks for this +instance of his faithful attachment to the Company and the English +nation." + +IV.[24] That by the strong expressions above recited the said Warren +Hastings did deliberately and emphatically add his own particular +confirmation to the general testimony of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân's +meritorious fidelity, and of his consequent claim on the generosity, no +less than the justice, of the British government. + + +PART V. + +DEMAND OF FIVE THOUSAND HORSE. + +I. That, notwithstanding his own private honor thus deeply engaged, +notwithstanding the public justice and generosity of the Company and the +nation thus solemnly committed, disregarding the plain import and +positive terms of the guarantied treaty, the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings aforesaid, in November, 1780, while a body of Fyzoola Khân's +cavalry, voluntarily granted, were still serving under a British +officer, did recommend to the Vizier "to require from Fyzoola Khân the +quota of troops stipulated by treaty to be furnished by the latter for +his [the Vizier's] service, being FIVE THOUSAND HORSE," though, as the +Vizier did not march in person, he was not, under any construction of +the treaty, entitled by stipulation to more than "_two or three thousand +troops_," horse and foot, "according to the ability of Fyzoola Khân"; +and that, whereas the said Warren Hastings would have been guilty of +very criminal perfidy, if he had simply neglected to interfere as a +guaranty against a demand thus plainly contrary to the faith of treaty, +so he aggravated the guilt of his perfidy in the most atrocious degree +by being himself the first mover and instigator of that injustice, which +he was bound by so many ties on himself, the Company, and the nation, +not only not to promote, but, by every exertion of authority, influence, +and power, to control, to divert, or to resist. + +II. That the answer of Fyzoola Khân to the Vizier did represent, with +many expressions of deference, duty, and allegiance, that the whole +force allowed him was but "five thousand men," and that "these consisted +of two thousand horse and three thousand foot; which," he adds, "in +consequence of our intimate connection, are equally yours and the +Company's": though he does subsequently intimate, that "the three +thousand foot are for the management of the concerns of his jaghire, and +without them the collections can never be made in time." + +That, on the communication of the said answer to the Governor-General, +Warren Hastings, he, the said Hastings, (who, as the Council now +consisted only of himself and Edward Wheler, Esquire, "united in his own +person all the powers of government,") was not induced to relax from his +unjust purpose, but did proceed with new violence to record, that "the +Nabob Fyzoola Khân _had evaded the performance of his part of the +treaty_ between the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah and him, to which the +Honorable Company were guaranties, and upon which he was lately summoned +to furnish the stipulated number of troops, which he is obliged to +furnish on the condition by which he holds the jaghire granted to him." + +That, by the vague and indefinite term of evasion, the said Warren +Hastings did introduce a loose and arbitrary principle of interpreting +formal engagements, which ought to be regarded, more especially by +guaranties, ill a sense the most literally scrupulous and precise. + +That he charged with such evasion a moderate, humble, and submissive +representation on a point which would have warranted a peremptory +refusal and a positive remonstrance; and that in consequence of the said +imputed evasion he indicated a disposition to attach such a forfeiture +as in justice could only have followed from a gross breach of +treaty,--though the said Hastings did not then pretend any actual +infringement even of the least among the conditions to which, in the +name of the Company, he, the said Hastings, was the executive guaranty. + +III. That, however "the number of troops stipulated by treaty may have +been understood," at the period of the original demand, "to be five +thousand horse," yet the said Warren Hastings, at the time when he +recorded the supposed evasion of Fyzoola Khân's answer to the said +demand, could not be unacquainted with the express words of the +stipulation, as a letter of the Vizier, inserted in the same +Consultation, refers the Governor-General to inclosed copies "of all +engagements entered into by the late Vizier and by himself [the +reigning Vizier] with Fyzoola Khân," and that the treaty itself, +therefore, was at the very moment before the said Warren Hastings: which +treaty (as the said Hastings observed with respect to another treaty, in +the case of another person) "most assuredly does not contain a syllable +to justify his conduct; but, by the unexampled latitude which he assumes +in his constructions, he may, if he pleases, extort this or any other +meaning from any part of it."[25] + +IV. That the Vizier himself appears by no means to have been persuaded +of his own right to five thousand horse under the treaty,--since, in his +correspondence on the subject, he, the Vizier, nowhere mentions the +treaty as the ground of his demand, except where he is recapitulating to +the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, the substance of his, the said +Hastings's, own letters; on the contrary, the Vizier hints his +apprehensions lest Fyzoola Khân should appeal to the treaty against the +demand, as a breach thereof,--in which case, he, the Vizier, informs the +said Hastings of the projected reply. "Should Fyzoola Khân" (says the +Vizier) "mention anything of the tenor of the treaty, _the first breach +of it has been committed by him_, in keeping up more men than allowed of +by the treaty: _I have accordingly sent a person to settle that point +also_. In case he should mention to me anything respecting the treaty, I +will then reproach him with having kept up too many troops, and will +oblige him to send the five thousand horse": thereby clearly intimating, +that, as a remonstrance against the demand as a breach of treaty could +only be answered by charging a prior breach of treaty on Fyzoola Khân, +so by annulling the whole treaty to reduce the question to a mere +question of force, and thus "oblige Fyzoola Khân to send the five +thousand horse": "for," (continues the Vizier,) "if, when the Company's +affairs, on which my honor depends, require it, Fyzoola Khân will not +lend his assistance, _what_ USE _is there to continue the country to +him_?" + +That the Vizier actually did make his application to Fyzoola Khân for +the five thousand horse, not as for an aid to which he had a just claim, +but as for something over and above the obligations of the treaty, +something "that would give increase to their friendship and satisfaction +to the Nabob Governor," (meaning the said Hastings,) whose directions he +represents as the motive "of his call for the five thousand horse to be +employed," not in his, the Vizier's, "but in the Company's service." + +And that the aforesaid Warren Hastings did, therefore, in recording the +answer of Fyzoola Khân as an evasion of treaty, act in notorious +contradiction not only to that which ought to have been the fair +construction of the said treaty, but to that which he, the said +Hastings, must have known to be the Vizier's own interpretation of the +same, disposed as the Vizier was "to reproach Fyzoola Khân with breach +of treaty," and to "send up persons who should settle points with him." + +V. That the said Warren Hastings, not thinking himself justified, on the +mere plea of an evasion, to push forward his proceedings to that +extremity which he seems already to have made his scope and object, and +seeking some better color for his unjust and violent purposes, did +further move, that commissioners should be sent from the Vizier and the +Company to Fyzoola Khân, to insist on a clause of a treaty which nowhere +appears, being essentially different from the treaty of Lall-Dang, +though not in the part on which the requisition is founded; and the said +Hastings did then, in a style unusually imperative, proceed as follows. + +"_Demand immediate delivery of three thousand cavalry; and if he should +evade or refuse compliance, that the deputies shall deliver him a formal +protest against him for breach of treaty_, and return, making this +report to the Vizier, which Mr. Middleton is to transmit to the board." + +VI. That the said motion of the Governor-General, Hastings, was ordered +accordingly,--the Council, as already has been herein related, +consisting but of two members, and the said Hastings consequently +"uniting in his own person all the powers of government." + +VII. That, when the said Hastings ordered the said demand for three +thousand cavalry, he, the said Hastings, well knew that a compliance +therewith, on the part of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, was utterly +impossible: for he, the said Hastings, had at the very moment before him +a letter of Fyzoola Khân, stating, that he, Fyzoola Khân, had "but two +thousand cavalry" altogether; which letter is entered on the records of +the Company, in the same Consultation, immediately preceding the +Governor-General's minute. That the said Hastings, therefore, knew that +the only possible consequence of the aforesaid demand necessarily and +inevitably must be a protest for a breach of treaty; and the Court of +Directors did not hesitate to declare that the said demand "carried the +appearance of a determination to create a pretext for depriving him +[Fyzoola Khân] of his jaghire entirely, or to leave him at the mercy of +the Vizier." + +VIII. That Richard Johnson, Esquire, Assistant Resident at Oude, was, +agreeably to the afore-mentioned order of Council, deputed commissioner +from Mr. Middleton and the Vizier to Fyzoola Khân; but that he did early +give the most indecent proofs of glaring partiality, to the prejudice of +the said Fyzoola Khân: for that the very next day (as it seems) after +his arrival, he, the said Johnson, from opinions imbibed in his journey, +did state himself to be "unwilling to draw any favorable or flattering +inferences relatively to the object of his mission," and did studiously +seek to find new breaches of treaty, and, without any form of regular +inquiry whatever, from a single glance of his eye in passing, did take +upon himself to pronounce "the Rohilla soldiers, in the district of +Rampoor alone, to be not less than twenty thousand," and the grant of +course to be forfeited. And that such a gross and palpable display of a +predetermination to discover guilt did argue in the said Johnson a +knowledge, a strong presumption, or a belief, that such representations +would be agreeable to the secret wishes and views of the said Hastings, +under whose orders he, the said Johnson, acted, and to whom all his +reports were to be referred. + +IX. That the said Richard Johnson, did soon after proceed to the +immediate object of his mission, "which" (the said Johnson relates) +"was short to a degree." The demand was made, and "a flat refusal" +given. The question was repeated, with like effect. The said Johnson, in +presence of proper witnesses, then drew up his protest, "together with a +memorandum of _a palliative offer_ made by the Nabob Fyzoola Khân," and +inserted in the protest:--"That he would, in compliance with the demand, +and _in conformity to the treaty, which specified no definite number of +cavalry or infantry, only expressing troops_, furnish three thousand +men: viz., he would, in addition to the one thousand cavalry already +granted, give one thousand more, when and wheresoever required, and one +thousand foot,"--together with one year's pay in advance, and funds for +the regular payment of them in future. + +And this, the said Richard Johnson observes, "I put down at his [the +Nabob Fyzoola Khân's] particular desire, but otherwise useless; as _my +orders_" (which orders do not appear) "_were, not to receive any +palliation, but a negative or affirmative_": though such palliation, as +it is called by the said Johnson, might be, as it was, in the strictest +conformity to the treaty. + +X. That in the said offer the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, instead of palliating, +did at once admit the extreme right of the Vizier under the treaty, by +agreeing to furnish three thousand men, when he, Fyzoola Khân, would +have been justified in pleading his inability to send more than two +thousand; that such inability would not (as appears) have been a false +and evasive plea, but perfectly true and valid,--as the three thousand +foot maintained by Fyzoola Khân were for the purposes of his internal +government, for which the whole three thousand must have been +demonstrably necessary; and that the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, by declining to +avail himself of a plea so fair, so well founded, and so consonant to +the indulgence expressly acknowledged in the treaty, and by thus meeting +the specific demand of the Vizier as fully as, according to his own +military establishment, he could, did for the said offer deserve rather +the thanks of the said Vizier and the Company than the protest which the +aforesaid Johnson, under the orders of Warren Hastings, did deliver. + +XI. That the report of the said protest, as well as the former letter of +the said Johnson, were by the Resident, Middleton, transmitted to the +board, together with a letter from the Vizier, founded on the said +report and letter of the said Johnson, and proposing in consequence "to +resume the grant, and to leave Fyzoola Khân to join his other faithless +brethren who were sent across the Ganges." + +That the said papers were read in Council on the 4th of June, 1781, when +the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, did move and carry a vote to +suspend a final resolution on the same: and the said Hastings did not +express any disapprobation of the proceedings of the said Johnson; +neither did the said Hastings assign any reasons for his motion of +suspension, which passed without debate. That in truth the said Hastings +had then projected a journey up the country to meet the Vizier for the +settlement of articles relative to the regulation of Oude and its +dependencies, among which was included the jaghire of Fyzoola Khân; and +the said Hastings, for the aforesaid purposes, did, on the 3d of July, +by his own casting vote, grant to himself, and did prevail on his +colleague, Edward Wheler, Esquire, to grant, a certain illegal +delegation of the whole powers of the Governor-General and Council, and +on the seventh of the same month did proceed on his way to join the +Vizier at a place called Chunar, on the borders of Benares; and that the +aforesaid vote of suspending a final resolution on the transactions with +Fyzoola Khân was therefore in substance and effect a reference thereof +by the said Hastings from himself in council with his colleague, Wheler, +to himself in conference and negotiation with the Vizier, who, from the +first demand of the five thousand horse, had taken every occasion of +showing his inclination to dispossess Fyzoola Khân, and who before the +said demand (in a letter which does not appear, but which the Vizier +himself quotes as antecedent to the said demand) had complained to the +said Hastings of the "injury and irregularity in the management of the +provinces bordering on Rampoor, arising from Fyzoola Khân having the +uncontrolled dominion of that district." + + +PART VI. + +TREATY OF CHUNAR. + +I. That the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, being vested with the +illegal powers before recited, did, on the 19th of September, 1781, +enter into a treaty with the Vizier at Chunar,--which treaty (as the +said Hastings relates) was drawn up "from a series of requisitions +presented to him [the said Hastings] by the Vizier," and by him received +"with an instant and unqualified assent to each article"; and that the +said Hastings assigns his reasons for such ready assent in the +following words: "I considered the subjects of his [the Vizier's] +requests as essential to the reputation of our government, and no less +to our interest than his." + +II. That in the said treaty of Chunar the third article is as follows. + +"That, as Fyzoola Khân has by his breach of treaty forfeited the +protection of the English government, and causes by his continuance in +his present independent state great alarm and detriment to the Nabob +Vizier, he be permitted, _when time shall suit_, to resume his lands, +and pay him in money, through the Resident, the amount stipulated by +treaty, after deducting the amount and charges of the troops he stands +engaged to furnish by treaty; which amount shall be passed to the +account of the Company during the continuance of the present war." + +III. That, for the better elucidation of his policy in the several +articles of the treaty above mentioned, the said Hastings did send to +the Council of Calcutta (now consisting of Edward Wheler and John +Macpherson, Esquires) two different copies of the said treaty, with +explanatory minutes opposed to each article; and that the minute opposed +to the third article is thus expressed. + +"The conduct of Fyzoola Khân, in refusing the aid demanded, though (1.) +_not an absolute breach of treaty_, was evasive and uncandid. (2.) _The +demand was made for five thousand cavalry_. (3.) _The engagement, in the +treaty is literally for five thousand horse and foot_. Fyzoola Khân +could not be ignorant that we had no occasion for any succors of +infantry from him, and that cavalry would be of the most essential +service. (4.) _So scrupulous an attention to literal expression, when a +more liberal interpretation would have been highly useful and acceptable +to us, strongly marks his unfriendly disposition, though it may not +impeach his fidelity, and leaves him little claim to any exertions from +us for the continuance of his jaghires. But _ (5.) _I am of opinion that +neither the Vizier's nor the Company's interests would be promoted by +depriving Fyzoola Khân of his independency, and I have_ (6.) _therefore +reserved the execution of this agreement to an indefinite term; and our +government may always interpose to prevent any ill effects from it_." + +IV. That, in his aforesaid authentic evidence of his own purposes, +motives, and principles, in the third article of the treaty of Chunar, +the said Hastings hath established divers matters of weighty and serious +crimination against himself. + +1st. That the said Hastings doth acknowledge therein, that he did, in a +public instrument, solemnly recognize, "_as a breach of treaty_," and as +such did subject to the consequent penalties, an act which he, the said +Hastings, did at the same time think, and did immediately declare, to be +"_no breach of treaty_"; and by so falsely and unjustly proceeding +against a person under the Company's guaranty, the said Hastings, on his +own confession, did himself break the faith of the said guaranty. + +2d. That, in justifying this breach of the Company's faith, the said +Hastings doth _wholly abandon his second peremptory demand for the three +thousand horse_, and the protest consequent thereon; and the said +Hastings doth thereby himself condemn the violence and injustice of the +same. + +3dly. That, in recurring to the original demand of five thousand horse +as the ground of his justification, the said Hastings doth falsely +assert "the engagement in the treaty to be _literally_ FIVE _thousand +horse and foot_," whereas it is in fact for TWO _or_ THREE _thousand +men_; and the said Hastings doth thereby wilfully attempt to deceive and +mislead his employers, which is an high crime and misdemeanor in a +servant of so great trust. + +4thly. That, with a view to his further justification, the said Hastings +doth advance a principle that "_a scrupulous attention to the literal +expression_" of a guarantied treaty "_leaves_" to the person so +observing the same "_but little claim to the exertions_" _of a guaranty +on his behalf_; that such a principle is utterly subversive of all faith +of guaranties, and is therefore highly criminal in the first executive +member of a government that must necessarily stand in that mutual +relation to many. + +5thly. That the said Hastings doth profess his opinion of an article to +which he gave an "_instant and unqualified assent_," that it was a +measure "_by which neither the Vizier's nor the Company's interests +would be promoted_," but from which, without some interposition, "_ill +effects_" _must be expected_; and that the said Hastings doth thereby +charge himself with a high breach of trust towards his employers. + +6thly. That the said Hastings having thus confessed that consciously and +wilfully (from what motives he hath not chosen to confess) he did give +his formal sanction to a measure both of injustice and impolicy, he, the +said Hastings, doth urge in his defence, that he did at the same time +insert words "reserving the execution of the said agreement to an +indefinite term," with an intent that it might in truth be never +executed at all,--but that "our government might always interpose," +without right, by means of an indirect and undue influence, to prevent +the ill effects following from a collusive surrender of a clear and +authorized right to interpose; and the said Hastings doth thereby +declare himself to have introduced a principle of duplicity, deceit, and +double-dealing into a public engagement, which ought in its essence to +be clear, open, and explicit; that such a declaration tends to shake and +overthrow the confidence of all in the most solemn instruments of any +person so declaring, and is therefore an high crime and misdemeanor in +the first executive member of government, by whom all treaties and other +engagements of the state are principally to be conducted. + +V. That, by the explanatory minute aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings +doth further, in the most direct manner, contradict his own assertions +in the very letter which inclosed the said minute to his colleagues; for +that one of the articles to which he there gave "_an instant and +unqualified assent, as no less to our interest than to the Vizier's_" he +doth here declare unequivocally to be _neither to our interests nor the +Vizier's_; and the "_unqualified_ assent" given to the said article is +now so _qualified_ as wholly to defeat itself. That by such +irreconcilable contradictions the said Hastings doth incur the suspicion +of much criminal misrepresentation in other like cases of unwitnessed +conferences; and in the present instance (as far as it extends) the said +Hastings doth prove himself to have given an account both of his actions +and motives by his own confession untrue, for the purpose of deceiving +his employers, which is an high crime and misdemeanor in a servant of so +great trust. + +VI. That the said third article of the treaty of Chunar, as it thus +stands explained by the said Hastings himself, doth on the whole appear +designed to hold the protection of the Company in suspense; that it +acknowledges all right of interference to cease, but leaves it to our +discretion to determine when it will suit our conveniency to give the +Vizier the liberty of acting on the principles by us already admitted; +that it is dexterously constructed to balance the desires of one man, +rapacious and profuse, against the fears of another, described as "of +extreme pusillanimity and wealthy," but that, whatever may have been the +secret objects of the artifice and intrigue confessed to form its very +essence, it must on the very face of it necessarily implicate the +Company in a breach of faith, whichever might be the event, as they must +equally break their faith either by withdrawing their guaranty unjustly +or by continuing that guaranty in contradiction to this treaty of +Chunar; that it thus tends to hold out to India, and to the whole world, +that the public principle of the English government is a deliberate +system of injustice joined with falsehood, of impolicy, of bad faith, +and treachery; and that the said article is therefore in the highest +degree derogatory to the honor, and injurious to the interests of this +nation. + + +PART VII. + +CONSEQUENCES OF THE TREATY OF CHUNAR. + +I. That, in consequence of the treaty of Chunar, the Governor-General, +Warren Hastings, did send official instructions respecting the various +articles of the said treaty to the said Resident, Middleton; and that, +in a postscript, the said Hastings did forbid the resumption of the +Nabob Fyzoola Khân's jaghire, "until circumstances may render it more +expedient and easy to be attempted than the present more material +pursuits of government make it appear": thereby intimating a positive +limitation of the indefinite term in the explanatory minute above +recited, and confining the suspension of the article to the pressure of +the war. + +II. That, soon after the date of the said instructions, and within two +months of the signature of the treaty of Chunar, the said Hastings did +cause Sir Elijah Impey, Knight, his Majesty's chief-justice at Fort +William, to discredit the justice of the crown of Great Britain by +making him the channel of unwarrantable communication, and did, through +the said Sir Elijah, signify to the Resident, Middleton, his, the said +Hastings's, "approbation of a _subsidy_ from Fyzoola Khân." + +III. That the Resident, in answer, represents the proper equivalent for +two thousand horse and one thousand foot (the forces offered to Mr. +Johnson by Fyzoola Khân) to be twelve lacs, or 120,000_l._ sterling and +upwards, each year; which the said Resident supposes is considerably +beyond what he, Fyzoola Khân, _will voluntarily pay_: "however, if it +is your wish that the claim should be made, I am ready to take it up, +and _you may he assured nothing in my power shall be left undone to +carry it through_." + +IV. That the reply of the said Hastings doth not appear; but that it +does appear on record that "a negotiation" (Mr. Johnson's) "was begun +for Fyzoola Khân's cavalry to act with General Goddard, and, on his +[Fyzoola Khân's] _evading_ it, _that a sum of money was demanded_." + +V. That, in the months of February, March, and April, the Resident, +Middleton, did repeatedly propose the resumption of Fyzoola Khân's +jaghire, agreeably to the treaty of Chunar; and that, driven to +extremity (as the said Hastings supposes) "by the public menaces and +denunciations of the Resident and minister," Hyder Beg Khân, a creature +of the said Hastings, and both the minister and Resident acting +professedly on and under the treaty of Chunar, "the Nabob Fyzoola Khân +made such preparations, and such a disposition of his family and wealth, +as evidently manifested either an intended or an _expected rupture_." + +VI. That on the 6th of May the said Hastings did send his confidential +agent and friend, Major Palmer, on a private commission to Lucknow; and +that the said Palmer was charged with secret instructions relative to +Fyzoola Khân, but of what import cannot be ascertained, the said +Hastings in his public instructions having inserted only the name of +Fyzoola Khân, as a mere reference (according to the explanation of the +said Hastings) to what he had verbally communicated to the said Palmer; +and that the said Hastings was thereby guilty of a criminal concealment. + +VII. That some time about the month of August an engagement happened +between a body of Fyzoola Khân's cavalry and a part of the Vizier's +army, in which the latter were beaten, and their guns taken; that the +Resident, Middleton, did represent the same but as a slight and +accidental affray; that it was acknowledged the troops of the Vizier +were the aggressors; that it did appear to the board, and to the said +Hastings himself, an affair of more considerable magnitude; and that +they did make the concealment thereof an article of charge against the +Resident, Middleton, though the said Resident did in truth acquaint them +with the same, but in a cursory manner. + +VIII. That, immediately after the said "fray" at Daranagur, the Vizier +(who was "but a cipher in the hands" of the minister and the Resident, +both of them directly appointed and supported by the said Hastings) did +make of Fyzoola Khân a new demand, equally contrary to the true intent +and meaning of the treaty as his former requisitions: which new demand +was for the detachment in garrison at Daranagur to be cantoned as a +stationary force at Lucknow, the capital of the Vizier; whereas he, the +Vizier, had only a right to demand an occasional aid to join his army in +the field or in garrison during a war. But the said new demand being +_evaded_, or rather refused, agreeably to the fair construction of the +treaty, by the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, the matter was for the present +dropped. + +IX. That in the letter in which the Resident, Middleton, did mention +"what he calls the fray" aforesaid, the said Middleton did again apply +for the resumption of the jaghire of Rampoor; and that, the objections +against the measure being now removed, (by the separate peace with +Sindia,) he desired to know if the board "would give assurances of their +support to the Vizier, in case, _which_" (says the Resident) "_I think +very probable, his_ [the Vizier's] _own strength should be found unequal +to the undertaking_." + +X. That, although the said Warren Hastings did make the foregoing +application a new charge against the Resident, Middleton, yet the said +Hastings did only criminate the said Middleton for a proposal tending +"at such a crisis to increase the number of our enemies," and did in no +degree, either in his articles of charge or in his accompanying minutes, +express any disapprobation whatever of the principle; that, in truth, +the whole proceedings of the said Resident were the natural result of +the treaty of Chunar; that the said proceedings were from time to time +communicated to the said Hastings; that, as he nowhere charges any +disobedience of orders on Mr. Middleton with respect to Fyzoola Khân, it +may be justly inferred that the said Hastings did not interfere to check +the proceedings of the said Middleton on that subject; and that by such +criminal neglect the said Hastings did make the guilt of the said +Middleton, whatever it might be, his own. + + +PART VIII. + +PECUNIARY COMMUTATION OF THE STIPULATED AID. + +I. That on the charges and for the misdemeanors above specified, +together with divers other accusations, the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings, in September, 1782, did remove the aforesaid Middleton from +his office of Resident at Oude, and did appoint thereto John Bristow, +Esquire, whom he had twice before, without cause, recalled from the +same; and that about the same time the said Hastings did believe the +mind of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân to be so irritated, in consequence of the +above-recited conduct of the late Resident, Middleton, and of his, the +said Hastings's, own criminal neglect, that he, the said Hastings, found +it necessary to write to Fyzoola Khân, assuring him "of the favorable +disposition of the government toward him, while he shall not have +forfeited it by any improper conduct"; but that the said assurances of +the Governor-General did not tend, as soon after appeared, to raise much +confidence in the Nabob, over whom a public instrument of the same +Hastings was still holding the terrors of a deprivation of his jaghire, +and an exile "among his other faithless brethren across the Ganges." + +II. That, on the subject of Fyzoola Khân, the said Hastings, in his +instructions to the new Resident, Bristow, did leave him to be guided by +his own discretion; but he adds, "Be careful to prevent the Vizier's +affairs from being involved with new difficulties, while he has already +so many to oppress him": thereby plainly hinting at some more decisive +measures, whenever the Vizier should be less oppressed with +difficulties. + +III. That the Resident, Bristow, after acquainting the Governor-General +with his intentions, did under the said instructions renew the aforesaid +claim for a sum of money, but with much caution and circumspection, +distantly sounding Allif Khân, the _vakeel_ (or envoy) of Fyzoola Khân +at the court of the Vizier; that "Allif Khân wrote to his master on the +subject, and in answer he was directed not to agree to the granting of +any pecuniary aid." + +IV. That the Resident, Bristow, did then openly depute Major Palmer +aforesaid, with the concurrence of the Vizier, and the approbation of +the Governor-General, to the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, at Rampoor; and that +the said Palmer was to "endeavor to convince the Nabob that _all doubts +of his attachment to the Vizier are ceased, and whatever claims may be +made on him are founded upon the basis of his interest and advantage and +a plan of establishing his right to the possession of his jaghire_." + +That the sudden ceasing of the said doubts, without any inquiry of the +slightest kind, doth warrant a strong presumption of the Resident's +conviction that they never really existed, but were artfully feigned, as +a pretence for some harsh interposition; and that the indecent mockery +of establishing, as a matter of favor, for a pecuniary consideration, +rights which were never impeached but by the treaty of Chunar, (an +instrument recorded by Warren Hastings himself to be founded on +falsehood and injustice,) doth powerfully prove the true purpose and +object of all the duplicity, deceit, and double-dealing with which that +treaty was projected and executed. + +V. That the said Palmer was instructed by the Resident, Bristow, with +the subsequent approbation of the Governor-General, "to obtain from +Fyzoola Khân _an annual tribute_"; to which the Resident adds,--"_If +you can procure from him, over and above this, a peshcush_ [or fine] _of +at least five lacs_, it would be rendering an essential service to the +Vizier, and add to _the confidence his Excellency would hereafter repose +in the attachment of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân_." And that the said +Governor-General, Hastings, did give the following extraordinary ground +of calculation, as the basis of the said Palmer's negotiation for the +annual tribute aforesaid. + +"_It was certainly understood_, at the time the treaty was concluded, +(of which this stipulation was a part,) that it applied _solely to +cavalry_: as the Nabob Vizier, possessing the service of our forces, +could not possibly require infantry, and least of all such infantry as +Fyzoola Khân could furnish; and _a single horseman included in the aid +which Fyzoola Khân might furnish would prove a literal compliance with +the said stipulation_. The number, therefore, of horse implied by it +ought at least to be ascertained: _we will suppose five thousand_, and, +allowing the exigency for their attendance to exist only in the +proportion of _one year in five_, reduce the demand to one thousand for +the computation of the subsidy, which, at the rate of _fifty rupees_ per +man, will amount to fifty thousand _per mensem_. This may serve for the +basis of this article in the negotiation upon it." + +VI. That the said Warren Hastings doth then continue to instruct the +said Palmer in the alternative of a refusal from Fyzoola Khân. "If +Fyzoola Khân shall refuse to treat for a subsidy, and claim the benefit +of his original agreement in its literal expression, _he possesses a +right which we cannot dispute_, and it will in that case remain only to +fix the precise number of horse which he shall furnish, which ought at +least to exceed twenty-five hundred." + +VII. That, in the above-recited instruction, the said Warren Hastings +doth insinuate (for he doth not directly assert),-- + +1st. That we are entitled by treaty to five thousand troops, which he +says were undoubtedly intended to be all cavalry. + +2d. That the said Hastings doth then admit that a single horseman, +included in the aid furnished by Fyzoola Khân, would prove a literal +compliance. + +3d. That the said Hastings doth next resort again to the supposition of +our right to the whole five thousand cavalry. + +4th. That the said Hastings doth afterwards think, in the event of an +explanation of the treaty, and a settlement of the proportion of +cavalry, instead of a pecuniary commutation, it will be all we can +demand that the number should _at least exceed twenty-five hundred_. + +5th. That the said Hastings doth, in calculating the supposed time of +their service, assume an arbitrary estimate of one year of war to four +of peace; which (however moderate the calculation may appear on the +average of the said Hastings's own government) doth involve a principle +in a considerable degree repugnant to the system of perfect peace +inculcated in the standing orders of the Company. + +6th. That, in estimating the pay of the cavalry to be commuted, the +said Hastings doth fix the pay of each man at fifty rupees a month; +which on five thousand troops, all cavalry, (as the said Hastings +supposes the treaty of Lall-Dang to have meant,) would amount to an +expense of thirty lacs a year, or between 300,000_l._ or 400,000_l._ And +this expense, strictly resulting (according to the calculations of the +said Hastings) from the intention of Sujah ul Dowlah's grant to Fyzoola +Khân, was designed to be supported out of a jaghire valued at fifteen +lacs only, or something more than 150,000_l._ of yearly revenue, just +half the amount of the expense to be incurred in consideration of the +said jaghire. + +And that a basis of negotiation so inconsistent, so arbitrary, and so +unjust is contrary to that uprightness and integrity which should mark +the transactions of a great state, and is highly derogatory to the honor +of this nation. + +VIII. That, notwithstanding the seeming moderation and justice of the +said Hastings in admitting the clear and undoubted right of Fyzoola Khân +to insist on his treaty, the head of instruction immediately succeeding +doth afford just reason for a violent presumption that such apparent +lenity was but policy, to give a color to his conduct: he, the said +Hastings, in the very next paragraph, bringing forth a new engine of +oppression, as follows. + +"To demand the surrender of all the ryots [or peasants] of the Nabob +Vizier's dominions to whom Fyzoola has given protection and service, _or +an annual tribute in compensation for the loss sustained by the Nabob +Vizier in his revenue thus transferred to Fyzoola Khân_. + +"You have stated the increase of his jaghire, occasioned by this act, +at the moderate sum of fifteen lacs. _The tribute ought at least to be +one third of that amount_. + +"We conceive that Fyzoola Khân himself may be disposed to yield to the +preceding demand, on the additional condition of being allowed to hold +his lands in _ultumgaw_ [or an inheritable tenure] instead of his +present tenure by _jaghire_ [or a tenure for life]. This we think the +Vizier can have no objection to grant, and we recommend it; _but for +this a fine, or peshcush, ought to be immediately paid, in the customary +proportion of the jumma, estimated at thirty lacs_." + +IX. That the Resident, Bristow, (to whom the letter containing Major +Palmer's instructions is addressed,) nowhere attributes the increase of +Fyzoola Khân's revenues to this protection of the fugitive ryots, +subjects of the Vizier; that the said Warren Hastings was, therefore, +not warranted to make that a pretext of such a peremptory demand. That, +as an inducement to make Fyzoola Khân agree to the said demand, it is +offered to settle his lands upon a tenure which would secure them to his +children; but that settlement is to bring with it a new demand of a fine +of thirty lacs, or 300,000_l._ and upwards; that the principles of the +said demand are violent and despotic, and the inducement to acquiescence +deceitful and insidious; and that both the demand and the inducement are +derogatory to the honor of this nation. + +X. That Major Palmer aforesaid proceeded under these instructions to +Rampoor, where his journey "_to extort a sum of money_" was previously +known from Allif Khân, vakeel of Fyzoola Khân at the Vizier's court; and +that, notwithstanding the assurances of the friendly disposition of +government given by the said Hastings, (as is herein related,) the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân did express the most serious and desponding apprehensions, +both by letter and through his vakeel, to the Resident, Bristow, who +represents them to Major Palmer in the following manner. + +"The Nabob Fyzoola Khân complains of the distresses he has this year +suffered from the drought. The whole collections have, with great +management, amounted to about twelve lacs of rupees, from which sum he +has to support his troops, his family, and several relations and +dependants of the late Rohilla chiefs. _He says, it clearly appears to +be intended to deprive him of his country, as the high demand you have +made of him is inadmissible._ Should he have assented to it, it would be +impossible to perform the conditions, and then his reputation would be +injured by a breach of agreement. _Allif Khân further represents, that +it is his master's intention, in case the demand should not be +relinquished by you, first to proceed to Lucknow, where he proposes +having an interview with the Vizier and the Resident; if he should not +be able to obtain his own terms for a future possession of his jaghire, +he will set off for Calcutta in order to pray for justice from the +Honorable the Governor-General._ He observes, it is the custom of the +Honorable Company, when they deprive a chief of his country, to grant +him some allowance. This he expects from Mr. Hastings's bounty; _but if +he should be disappointed, he will certainly set off upon a pilgrimage +to Mecca and Medina, and renounce the cares of the world_.--_He directs +his vakeel to ascertain whether the English intend to deprive him of his +country_; for if they do, he is ready to surrender it, upon receiving an +order from the Resident." + +XI. That, after much negotiation, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, "being fully +sensible that an engagement to furnish military aid, _however clearly +the conditions might be stated, must be a source of perpetual +misunderstanding and inconveniencies_," did at length agree with Major +Palmer to give fifteen lacs, or 150,000_l._ and upwards, by four +instalments, that he might be exempted from all future claims of +military service; that the said Palmer represents it to be his belief, +"_that no person, not known to possess your_ [the said Hastings's] +_confidence and support in the degree that I am supposed to do_, would +have obtained nearly so good terms"; but from what motive "terms so +good" were granted, and how the confidence and support of the said +Hastings did truly operate on the mind of Fyzoola Khân, doth appear to +be better explained by another passage in the same letter, where the +said Palmer congratulates himself on _the satisfaction which he gave to +Fyzoola Khân_ in the conduct of this negotiation, as he spent a month in +order to effect "by argument and persuasion _what he could have obtained +in an hour by threats and compulsions_." + + +PART IX. + +FULL VINDICATION OF FYZOOLA KHÂN BY MAJOR PALMER AND MR. HASTINGS. + +I. That, in the course of the said negotiation for establishing the +rights of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, Major Palmer aforesaid did communicate +to the Resident, Bristow, and through the said Resident to the +Council-General of Bengal, the full and direct denial of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân to all and every of the charges made or pretended to be +made against him, as follows. + +"Fyzoola Khân persists in denying the infringement on his part of any +one article in the treaty, or the neglect of any obligation which it +imposed upon him. + +"He does not admit of _the improvements reported to be made_ in his +jaghire, and even asserts that the collections this year will fall short +of the original _jumma_ [or estimate] by reason of the long drought. + +"He denies having exceeded the limited number of Rohillas in his +service; + +"And having refused the required aid of cavalry, made by Johnson, to act +with General Goddard. + +"He observes, respecting the charge of evading the Vizier's requisition +for the cavalry lately stationed at Daranagur, to be stationed at +Lucknow, that he is not bound by treaty to maintain a stationary force +for the service of the Vizier, but to supply an aid of two or three +thousand troops in time of war. + +"Lastly, he asserts, that, so far from encouraging the ryots [or +peasants] of the Vizier to settle in his jaghire, it has been his +constant practice to deliver them up to the Aumil of Rohilcund, whenever +he could discover them." + +II. That, in giving his opinions on the aforesaid denials of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân, the said Palmer did not controvert any one of the +constructions of the treaty advanced by the said Nabob. + +That, although the said Palmer, "from general appearances as well as +universal report, did not doubt that the jumma of the jaghire is +_greatly increased_," yet he, the said Palmer, did not intimate that it +was increased in any degree near _the amount reported_, as it was drawn +out in a regular estimate transmitted to the said Palmer expressly for +the purposes of his negotiation, which was of course by him produced to +the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, and to which specifically the denial of Fyzoola +Khân must be understood to apply. + +That the said Palmer did not hint any doubt of the deficiency affirmed +by Fyzoola Khân in the collections for the current year: and, + +That, if any increase of jumma did truly exist, whatever it may have +been, the said Palmer did acknowledge it "to have been solemnly +relinquished (in a private agreement) by the Vizier." + +That, although the said Palmer did suppose the number of Rohillas +(employed "in ordinary occupations) in Rampoor alone to exceed that +limited by the treaty for his [Fyzoola Khân's] service," yet the said +Palmer did by no means imply that the Nabob Fyzoola Khân _maintained in +his service_ a single man more than was allowed by treaty; and by a +particular and minute account of the troops of Fyzoola Khân, transmitted +by the Resident, Bristow, to the said Palmer, the number was stated but +at 5,840, probably including officers, who were not understood to be +comprehended in the treaty. + +That the said Palmer did further admit it "_to be not clearly expressed_ +in the treaty, whether the restriction included Rohillas of all +descriptions"; but, at any rate, he adds, "it does not appear that their +number is formidable, or that he [Fyzoola Khân] _could by any means +subsist such numbers as could cause any serious alarm to the Vizier_; +neither is there any appearance of their entertaining any views beyond +the quiet possession of the advantages which they at present enjoy." + +And that, in a subsequent letter, in which the said Palmer thought it +prudent "to vindicate himself from any possible insinuation that he +meant to sacrifice the Vizier's interest," he, the said Palmer, did +positively attest the new claim on Fyzoola Khân for the protection of +the Vizier's ryots to be wholly without foundation, as the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân "had proved to him [Palmer], by producing receipts of various dates +and for great numbers of these people surrendered upon requisition from +the Vizier's officers." + +III. That, over and above the aforesaid complete refutation of the +different charges and pretexts under which exactions had been practised, +or attempted to be practised, on the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, the said Palmer +did further condemn altogether the principle of calculation assumed in +such exactions (even if they had been founded in justice) by the +following explanation of the nature of the tenure by which, under the +treaty of Lall-Dang, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân held his possessions as a +jaghiredar. + +"There are no precedents in the ancient usage of the country for +ascertaining the _nuzzerana_ [customary present] or _peshcush_ [regular +fine] of grants of this nature: _they were bestowed by the prince as +rewards or favors_; and the accustomary present in return was adapted to +the dignity of the donor rather than to the value of the gift,--_to +which it never, I believe, bore any kind of proportion_." + +IV. That a sum of money ("which of course was to be received by the +Company") being now obtained, and the "_interests both of the Company +and the Vizier_" being thus much "_better promoted_" by "_establishing +the rights_" of Fyzoola Khân than they could have been by "_depriving +him of his independency_," when every undue influence of secret and +criminal purposes was removed from the mind of the Governor-General, +Warren Hastings, Esquire, he, the said Hastings, did also concur with +his friend and agent, Major Palmer, in the vindication of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân, and in the most ample manner. + +That the said Warren Hastings did now clearly and explicitly understand +the clauses of the treaty, "that Fyzoola Khân should send _two_ or +_three_ [and not _five_] thousand men, or _attend in person, in case it +was requisite_." + +That the said Warren Hastings did now confess that the right of the +Vizier under the treaty was at best "but _a precarious and unserviceable +right_; and that he thought fifteen lacs, or 150,000_l._ and upwards, an +ample equivalent," (or, according to the expression of Major Palmer, _an +excellent bargain_,) as in truth it was, "for expunging an article of +such a tenor and so loosely worded." + +And, finally, that the said Hastings did give the following description +of the general character, disposition, and circumstances of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân. + +"The rumors which had been spread of his hostile designs against the +Vizier were totally groundless, and if he had been inclined, he had not +the means to make himself formidable; on the contrary, being in the +decline of life, and possessing a very fertile and prosperous jaghire, +it is more natural to suppose that Fyzoola Khân wishes to spend the +remainder of his days in quietness than that he is preparing to embark +in active and offensive scenes which must end in his own destruction." + +V. Yet that, notwithstanding this virtual and implied crimination of his +whole conduct toward the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, and after all the aforesaid +acts systematically prosecuted in open violation of a positive treaty +against a prince who had an hereditary right to more than he actually +possessed, for whose protection the faith of the Company and the nation +was repeatedly pledged, and who had deserved and obtained the public +thanks of the British government,--when, in allusion to certain of the +said acts, the Court of Directors had expressed to the said Hastings +their wishes "to be considered rather as the guardians of the honor and +property of the native powers than as the instruments of oppression," +he, the said Hastings, in reply to the said Directors, his masters, did +conclude his official account of the final settlement with Fyzoola Khân +with the following indecent, because unjust, exultation:-- + +"Such are the measures which we shall ever wish to observe towards our +allies or dependants upon our frontiers." + + + + +APPENDIX + +TO THE + +EIGHTH AND SIXTEENTH CHARGES.[26] + + + Copy of a Letter from Warren Hastings, Esquire, to William Devaynes, + Esquire, Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East India + Company, dated Cheltenham, 11th of July, 1785, and printed by order + of the House of Commons. + +_To William Devaynes, Esquire, Chairman of the Honorable the Court of +Directors._ + +Sir,--The Honorable Court of Directors, in their general letter to +Bengal by the "Surprise," dated the 16th March, 1784, were pleased to +express their desire that I should inform them of the periods when each +sum of the presents mentioned in my address of the 22d May, 1782, was +received, what were my motives for withholding the several receipts from +the knowledge of the Council, or of the Court of Directors, and what +were my reasons for taking bonds for part of these sums, and for paying +other sums into the treasury as deposits on my own account. + +I have been kindly apprised that the information required as above is +yet expected from me. I hope that the circumstances of my past +situation, when considered, will plead my excuse for having thus long +withheld it. The fact is, that I was not at the Presidency when the +"Surprise" arrived; and when I returned to it, my time and attention +were so entirely engrossed, to the day of my final departure from it, by +a variety of other more important occupations, of which, Sir, I may +safely appeal to your testimony, grounded on the large portion +contributed by myself of the volumes which compose our Consultations of +that period, that the submission which my respect would have enjoined me +to pay to the command imposed on me was lost to my recollection, perhaps +from the stronger impression which the first and distant perusal of it +had left on my mind that it was rather intended as a reprehension for +something which had given offence in my report of the original +transaction than as expressive of any want of a further elucidation of +it. + +I will now endeavor to reply to the different questions which have been +stated to me in as explicit a manner as I am able. To such information +as I can give the Honorable Court is fully entitled; and where that +shall prove defective, I will point out the easy means by which it may +be rendered more complete. + +First, I believe I can affirm with certainty, that the several sums +mentioned in the account transmitted with my letter above mentioned were +received at or within a very few days of the dates which are prefixed to +them in the account; but as this contains only the gross sums, and each +of these was received in different payments, though at no great distance +of time, I cannot therefore assign a greater degree of accuracy to the +account. Perhaps the Honorable Court will judge this sufficient for any +purpose to which their inquiry was directed; but if it should not be so, +I will beg leave to refer for a more minute information, and for the +means of making any investigation which they may think it proper to +direct, respecting the particulars of this transaction, to Mr. Larkins, +your Accountant-General, who was privy to every process of it, and +possesses, as I believe, the original paper, which contained the only +account that I ever kept of it. In this each receipt was, as I +recollect, specifically inserted, with the name of the person by whom it +was made; and I shall write to him to desire that he will furnish you +with the paper itself, if it is still in being and in his hands, or with +whatever he can distinctly recollect concerning it. + +For my motives for withholding the several receipts from the knowledge +of the Council, or of the Court of Directors, and for taking bonds for +part of these sums, and paying others into the treasury as deposits on +my own account, I have generally accounted in my letter to the Honorable +the Court of Directors of the 22d May, 1782: namely, that "I either +chose to conceal the first receipts from public curiosity by receiving +bonds for the amount, or possibly acted without any studied design which +my memory at that distance of time could verify; and that I did not +think it worth my care to observe the same means with the rest." It will +not be expected that I should be able to give a more correct explanation +of my intentions after a lapse of three years, having declared at the +time that many particulars had escaped my remembrance; neither shall I +attempt to add more than the clearer affirmation of the facts implied in +that report of them, and such inferences as necessarily, or with a +strong probability, follow them. + +I have said that the three first sums of the account were paid into the +Company's treasury without passing through my hands. The second of these +was forced into notice by its destination and application to the expense +of a detachment which was formed and employed against Mahdajee Sindia +under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Camac, as I particularly +apprised the Court of Directors in my letter of the 29th November, 1780. +The other two were certainly not intended, when I received them, to be +made public, though intended for public service, and actually applied to +it. The exigencies of the government were at that time my own, and every +pressure upon it rested with its full weight upon my mind. Wherever I +could find allowable means of relieving those wants, I eagerly seized +them; but neither could it occur to me as necessary to state on our +Proceedings every little aid which I could thus procure, nor do I know +how I could have stated it, without appearing to court favor by an +ostentation which I disdain, nor without the chance of exciting the +jealousy of my colleagues by the constructive assertion of a separate +and unparticipated merit, derived from the influence of my station, to +which they might have laid an equal claim. I should have deemed it +particularly dishonorable to receive for my own use money tendered by +men of a certain class, from whom I had interdicted the receipt of +presents to my inferiors, and bound them by oath not to receive them. I +was therefore more than ordinarily cautious to avoid the suspicion of +it, which would scarcely have failed to light upon me, had I suffered +the money to be brought directly to my own house, or to that of any +person known to be in trust for me: for these reasons I caused it to be +transported immediately to the treasury. There, you well know, Sir, it +could not be received without being passed to some credit, and this +could only be done by entering it as a loan or as a deposit: the first +was the least liable to reflection, and therefore I had obviously +recourse to it. Why the second sum was entered as a deposit I am utterly +ignorant: possibly it was done without any special direction from me; +possibly because it was the simplest mode of entry, and therefore +preferred, as the transaction itself did not require concealment, having +been already avowed. + +Although I am firmly persuaded that these were my sentiments on the +occasion, yet I will not affirm that they were. Though I feel their +impression as the remains of a series of thoughts retained on my memory, +I am not certain that they may not have been produced by subsequent +reflection on the principal fact, combining with it the probable motives +of it. Of this I am certain, that it was my design originally to have +concealed the receipt of all the sums, except the second, even from the +knowledge of the Court of Directors. They had answered my purpose of +public utility, and I had almost totally dismissed them from my +remembrance. But when fortune threw a sum in my way of a magnitude which +could not be concealed, and the peculiar delicacy of my situation at the +time in which I received it made me more circumspect of appearances, I +chose to apprise my employers of it, which I did hastily and generally: +hastily, perhaps to prevent the vigilance and activity of secret +calumny; and generally, because I knew not the exact amount of the sum, +of which I was in the receipt, but not in the full possession. I +promised to acquaint them with the result as soon as I should be in +possession of it, and in the performance of my promise I thought it +consistent with it to add to the account all the former appropriations +of the same kind: my good genius then suggesting to me, with a spirit of +caution which might have spared me the trouble of this apology, had I +universally attended to it, that, if I had suppressed them, and they +were afterwards known, I might be asked what were my motives for +withholding part of these receipts from the knowledge of the Court of +Directors and informing them of the rest. + +It being my wish to clear up every doubt upon this transaction, which +either my own mind could suggest or which may have been suggested by +others, I beg leave to suppose another question, and to state the terms +of it in my reply, by informing you that the indorsement on the bonds +was made about the period of my leaving the Presidency, in the middle of +the year 1781, in order to guard against their becoming a claim on the +Company, as part of my estate, in the event of my death occurring in the +course of the service on which I was then entering. + +This, Sir, is the plain history of the transaction. I should be ashamed +to request that you would communicate it to the Honorable Court of +Directors, whose time is too valuable for the intrusion of a subject so +uninteresting, but that it is become a point of indispensable duty; I +must therefore request the favor of you to lay it, at a convenient time, +before them. In addressing it to you personally, I yield to my own +feelings of the respect which is due to them as a body, and to the +assurances which I derive from your experienced civilities that you will +kindly overlook the trouble imposed by it. + +I have the honor to be, Sir, + Your very humble and most obedient servant, + (Signed) WARREN HASTINGS. + + CHELTENHAM, 11 July, 1785. + + + + +SPEECHES + +IN + +THE IMPEACHMENT + +OF + +WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, + +LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL. + + +SPEECH IN OPENING. + +FEBRUARY, 1788. + + + + +SPEECH + +IN + +OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT. + +FIRST DAY: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1788. + + +My Lords,--The gentlemen who have it in command to support the +impeachment against Mr. Hastings have directed me to open the cause with +a general view of the grounds upon which the Commons have proceeded in +their charge against him. They have directed me to accompany this with +another general view of the extent, the magnitude, the nature, the +tendency, and the effect of the crimes which they allege to have been by +him committed. They have also directed me to give an explanation (with +their aid I may be enabled to give it) of such circumstances, preceding +the crimes charged on Mr. Hastings, or concomitant with them, as may +tend to elucidate whatever may be found obscure in the articles as they +stand. To these they wished me to add a few illustrative remarks on the +laws, customs, opinions, and manners of the people concerned, and who +are the objects of the crimes we charge on Mr. Hastings. The several +articles, as they appear before you, will be opened by other gentlemen +with more particularity, with more distinctness, and, without doubt, +with infinitely more ability, when they come to apply the evidence which +naturally belongs to each article of this accusation. This, my Lords, is +the plan which we mean to pursue on the great charge which is now to +abide your judgment. + +My Lords, I must look upon it as an auspicious circumstance to this +cause, in which the honor of the kingdom and the fate of many nations +are involved, that, from the first commencement of our Parliamentary +process to this the hour of solemn trial, not the smallest difference of +opinion has arisen between the two Houses. + +My Lords, there are persons who, looking rather upon what was to be +found in our records and histories than what was to be expected from the +public justice, had formed hopes consolatory to themselves and +dishonorable to us. They flattered themselves that the corruptions of +India would escape amidst the dissensions of Parliament. They are +disappointed. They will be disappointed in all the rest of their +expectations which they have formed upon everything, except the merits +of their cause. The Commons will not have the melancholy unsocial glory +of having acted a solitary part in a noble, but imperfect work. What the +greatest inquest of the nation has begun its highest tribunal will +accomplish. At length justice will be done to India. It is true that +your Lordships will have your full share in this great achievement; but +the Commons have always considered that whatever honor is divided with +you is doubled on themselves. + +My Lords, I must confess, that, amidst these encouraging prospects, the +Commons do not approach your bar without awe and anxiety. The magnitude +of the interests which we have in charge will reconcile some degree of +solicitude for the event with the undoubting confidence with which we +repose ourselves upon your Lordships' justice. For we are men, my +Lords; and men are so made, that it is not only the greatness of danger, +but the value of the adventure, which measures the degree of our concern +in every undertaking. I solemnly assure your Lordships that no standard +is sufficient to estimate the value which the Commons set upon the event +of the cause they now bring before you. My Lords, the business of this +day is not the business of this man, it is not solely whether the +prisoner at the bar be found innocent or guilty, but whether millions of +mankind shall be made miserable or happy. + +Your Lordships will see, in the progress of this cause, that there is +not only a long, connected, systematic series of misdemeanors, but an +equally connected system of maxims and principles invented to justify +them. Upon both of these you must judge. According to the judgment that +you shall give upon the past transactions in India, inseparably +connected as they are with the principles which support them, the whole +character of your future government in that distant empire is to be +unalterably decided. It will take its perpetual tenor, it will receive +its final impression, from the stamp of this very hour. + +It is not only the interest of India, now the most considerable part of +the British empire, which is concerned, but the credit and honor of the +British nation itself will be decided by this decision. We are to decide +by this judgment, whether the crimes of individuals are to be turned +into public guilt and national ignominy, or whether this nation will +convert the very offences which have thrown a transient shade upon its +government into something that will reflect a permanent lustre upon the +honor, justice, and humanity of this kingdom. + +My Lords, there is another consideration, which augments the solicitude +of the Commons, equal to those other two great interests I have stated, +those of our empire and our national character,--something that, if +possible, comes more home to the hearts and feelings of every +Englishman: I mean, the interests of our Constitution itself, which is +deeply involved in the event of this cause. The future use and the whole +effect, if not the very existence, of the process of an impeachment of +high crimes and misdemeanors before the peers of this kingdom upon the +charge of the Commons will very much be decided by your judgment in this +cause. This tribunal will be found (I hope it will always be found) too +great for petty causes: if it should at the same time be found +incompetent to one of the greatest,--that is, if little offences, from +their minuteness, escape you, and the greatest, from their magnitude, +oppress you,--it is impossible that this form of trial should not in the +end vanish out of the Constitution. For we must not deceive ourselves: +whatever does not stand with credit cannot stand long. And if the +Constitution should be deprived, I do not mean in form, but virtually, +of this resource, it is virtually deprived of everything else that is +valuable in it. For this process is the cement which binds the whole +together; this is the individuating principle that makes England what +England is. In this court it is that no subject, in no part of the +empire, can fail of competent and proportionable justice; here it is +that we provide for that which is the substantial excellence of our +Constitution,--I mean, the great circulation of responsibility, by which +(excepting the supreme power) no man, in no circumstance, can escape +the account which he owes to the laws of his country. It is by this +process that magistracy, which tries and controls all other things, is +itself tried and controlled. Other constitutions are satisfied with +making good subjects; this is a security for good governors. It is by +this tribunal that statesmen who abuse their power are accused by +statesmen and tried by statesmen, not upon the niceties of a narrow +jurisprudence, but upon the enlarged and solid principles of state +morality. It is here that those who by the abuse of power have violated +the spirit of law can never hope for protection from any of its forms; +it is here that those who have refused to conform themselves to its +perfections can never hope to escape through any of its defects. It +ought, therefore, my Lords, to become our common care to guard this your +precious deposit, rare in its use, but powerful in its effect, with a +religious vigilance, and never to suffer it to be either discredited or +antiquated. For this great end your Lordships are invested with great +and plenary powers: but you do not suspend, you do not supersede, you do +not annihilate any subordinate jurisdiction; on the contrary, you are +auxiliary and supplemental to them all. + +Whether it is owing to the felicity of our times, less fertile in great +offences than those which have gone before us, or whether it is from a +sluggish apathy which has dulled and enervated the public justice, I am +not called upon to determine,--but, whatever may be the cause, it is now +sixty-three years since any impeachment, grounded upon abuse of +authority and misdemeanor in office, has come before this tribunal. The +last is that of Lord Macclesfield, which happened in the year 1725. So +that the oldest process known to the Constitution of this country has, +upon its revival, some appearance of novelty. At this time, when all +Europe is in a state of, perhaps, contagious fermentation, when +antiquity has lost all its reverence and all its effect on the minds of +men, at the same time that novelty is still attended with the suspicions +that always will be attached to whatever is new, we have been anxiously +careful, in a business which seems to combine the objections both to +what is antiquated and what is novel, so to conduct ourselves that +nothing in the revival of this great Parliamentary process shall afford +a pretext for its future disuse. + +My Lords, strongly impressed as they are with these sentiments, the +Commons have conducted themselves with singular care and caution. +Without losing the spirit and zeal of a public prosecution, they have +comported themselves with such moderation, temper, and decorum as would +not have ill become the final judgment, if with them rested the final +judgment, of this great cause. + +With very few intermissions, the affairs of India have constantly +engaged the attention of the Commons for more than fourteen years. We +may safely affirm we have tried every mode of legislative provision +before we had recourse to anything of penal process. It was in the year +1774 [1773?] we framed an act of Parliament for remedy to the then +existing disorders in India, such as the then information before us +enabled us to enact. Finding that the act of Parliament did not answer +all the ends that were expected from it, we had, in the year 1782, +recourse to a body of monitory resolutions. Neither had we the expected +fruit from them. When, therefore, we found that our inquiries and our +reports, our laws and our admonitions, were alike despised, that +enormities increased in proportion as they were forbidden, detected, and +exposed,--when we found that guilt stalked with an erect and upright +front, and that legal authority seemed to skulk and hide its head like +outlawed guilt,--when we found that some of those very persons who were +appointed by Parliament to assert the authority of the laws of this +kingdom were the most forward, the most bold, and the most active in the +conspiracy for their destruction,--then it was time for the justice of +the nation to recollect itself. To have forborne longer would not have +been patience, but collusion; it would have been participation with +guilt; it would have been to make ourselves accomplices with the +criminal. + +We found it was impossible to evade painful duty without betraying a +sacred trust. Having, therefore, resolved upon the last and only +resource, a penal prosecution, it was our next business to act in a +manner worthy of our long deliberation. In all points we proceeded with +selection. We have chosen (we trust it will so appear to your Lordships) +such a crime, and such a criminal, and such a body of evidence, and such +a mode of process, as would have recommended this course of justice to +posterity, even if it had not been supported by any example in the +practice of our forefathers. + +First, to speak of the process: we are to inform your Lordships, that, +besides that long previous deliberation of fourteen years, we examined, +as a preliminary to this proceeding, every circumstance which could +prove favorable to parties apparently delinquent, before we finally +resolved to prosecute. There was no precedent to be found in the +Journals, favorable to persons in Mr. Hastings's circumstances, that was +not applied to. Many measures utterly unknown to former Parliamentary +proceedings, and which, indeed, seemed in some degree to enfeeble them, +but which were all to the advantage of those that were to be prosecuted, +were adopted, for the first time, upon this occasion. In an early stage +of the proceeding, the criminal desired to be heard. He was heard; and +he produced before the bar of the House that insolent and unbecoming +paper which lies upon our table. It was deliberately given in by his own +hand, and signed with his own name. The Commons, however, passed by +everything offensive in that paper with a magnanimity that became them. +They considered nothing in it but the facts that the defendant alleged, +and the principles he maintained; and after a deliberation not short of +judicial, we proceeded with confidence to your bar. + +So far as to the process; which, though I mentioned last in the line and +order in which I stated the objects of our selection, I thought it best +to dispatch first. + +As to the crime which we chose, we first considered well what it was in +its nature, under all the circumstances which attended it. We weighed it +with all its extenuations and with all its aggravations. On that review, +we are warranted to assert that the crimes with which we charge the +prisoner at the bar are substantial crimes,--that they are no errors or +mistakes, such as wise and good men might possibly fall into, which may +even produce very pernicious effects without being in fact great +offences. The Commons are too liberal not to allow for the difficulties +of a great and arduous public situation. They know too well the +domineering necessities which frequently occur in all great affairs. +They know the exigency of a pressing occasion, which, in its precipitate +career, bears everything down before it,--which does not give time to +the mind to recollect its faculties, to reinforce its reason, and to +have recourse to fixed principles, but, by compelling an instant and +tumultuous decision, too often obliges men to decide in a manner that +calm judgment would certainly have rejected. We know, as we are to be +served by men, that the persons who serve us must be tried as men, and +with a very large allowance indeed to human infirmity and human error. +This, my Lords, we knew and we weighed before we came before you. But +the crimes which we charge in these articles are not lapses, defects, +errors of common human frailty, which, as we know and feel, we can allow +for. We charge this offender with no crimes that have not arisen from +passions which it is criminal to harbor,--with no offences that have not +their root in avarice, rapacity, pride, insolence, ferocity, treachery, +cruelty, malignity of temper,--in short, in [with?] nothing that does +not argue a total extinction of all moral principle, that does not +manifest an inveterate blackness of heart, dyed in grain with malice, +vitiated, corrupted, gangrened to the very core. If we do not plant his +crimes in those vices which the breast of man is made to abhor, and the +spirit of all laws, human and divine, to interdict, we desire no longer +to be heard upon this occasion. Let everything that can be pleaded on +the ground of surprise or error, upon those grounds be pleaded with +success: we give up the whole of those predicaments. We urge no crimes +that were not crimes of forethought. We charge him with nothing that he +did not commit upon deliberation,--that he did not commit against +advice, supplication, and remonstrance,--that he did not commit against +the direct command of lawful authority,--that he did not commit after +reproof and reprimand, the reproof and reprimand of those who were +authorized by the laws to reprove and reprimand him. The crimes of Mr. +Hastings are crimes not only in themselves, but aggravated by being +crimes of contumacy. They were crimes, not against forms, but against +those eternal laws of justice which are our rule and our birthright. His +offences are, not in formal, technical language, but in reality, in +substance and effect, _high_ crimes and high misdemeanors. + +So far as to the crimes. As to the criminal, we have chosen him on the +same principle on which we selected the crimes. We have not chosen to +bring before you a poor, puny, trembling delinquent, misled, perhaps, by +those who ought to have taught him better, but who have afterwards +oppressed him by their power, as they had first corrupted him by their +example. Instances there have been many, wherein the punishment of minor +offences, in inferior persons, has been made the means of screening +crimes of an high order, and in men of high description. Our course is +different. We have not brought before you an obscure offender, who, when +his insignificance and weakness are weighed against the power of the +prosecution, gives even to public justice something of the appearance of +oppression: no, my Lords, we have brought before you the first man of +India, in rank, authority, and station. We have brought before you the +chief of the tribe, the head of the whole body of Eastern offenders, a +captain-general of iniquity, under whom all the fraud, all the +peculation, all the tyranny in India are embodied, disciplined, arrayed, +and paid. This is the person, my Lords, that we bring before you. We +have brought before you such a person, that, if you strike at him with +the firm and decided arm of justice, you will not have need of a great +many more examples. You strike at the whole corps, if you strike at the +head. + +So far as to the crime: so far as to the criminal. Now, my Lords, I +shall say a few words relative to the evidence which we have brought to +support such a charge, and which ought to be equal in weight to the +charge itself. It is chiefly evidence of record, officially signed by +the criminal himself in many instances. We have brought before you his +own letters, authenticated by his own hand. On these we chiefly rely. +But we shall likewise bring before you living witnesses, competent to +speak to the points to which they are brought. + +When you consider the late enormous power of the prisoner,--when you +consider his criminal, indefatigable assiduity in the destruction of all +recorded evidence,--when you consider the influence he has over almost +all living testimony,--when you consider the distance of the scene of +action,--I believe your Lordships, and I believe the world, will be +astonished that so much, so clear, so solid, and so conclusive evidence +of all kinds has been obtained against him. I have no doubt that in nine +instances in ten the evidence is such as would satisfy the narrow +precision supposed to prevail, and to a degree rightly to prevail, in +all subordinate power and delegated jurisdiction. But your Lordships +will maintain, what we assert and claim as the right of the subjects of +Great Britain, that you are not bound by any rules of evidence, or any +other rules whatever, except those of natural, immutable, and +substantial justice. + +God forbid the Commons should desire that anything should be received as +proof from them which is not by nature adapted to prove the thing in +question! If they should make such a request, they would aim at +overturning the very principles of that justice to which they resort; +they would give the nation an evil example that would rebound back on +themselves, and bring destruction upon their own heads, and on those of +all their posterity. + +On the other hand, I have too much confidence in the learning with which +you will be advised, and the liberality and nobleness of the sentiments +with which you are born, to suspect that you would, by any abuse of the +forms, and a technical course of proceeding, deny justice to so great a +part of the world that claims it at your hands. Your Lordships always +had an ample power, and almost unlimited jurisdiction; you have now a +boundless object. It is not from this district or from that parish, not +from this city or the other province, that relief is now applied for: +exiled and undone princes, extensive tribes, suffering nations, infinite +descriptions of men, different in language, in manners, and in rites, +men separated by every barrier of Nature from you, by the Providence of +God are blended in one common cause, and are now become suppliants at +your bar. For the honor of this nation, in vindication of this +mysterious Providence, let it be known that no rule formed upon +municipal maxims (if any such rule exists) will prevent the course of +that imperial justice which you owe to the people that call to you from +all parts of a great disjointed world. For, situated as this kingdom is, +an object, thank God, of envy to the rest of the nations, its conduct in +that high and elevated situation will undoubtedly be scrutinized with a +severity as great as its power is invidious. + +It is well known that enormous wealth has poured into this country from +India through a thousand channels, public and concealed; and it is no +particular derogation from our honor to suppose a possibility of being +corrupted by that by which other empires have been corrupted, and +assemblies almost as respectable and venerable as your Lordships' have +been directly or indirectly vitiated. Forty millions of money, at least, +have within our memory been brought from India into England. In this +case the most sacred judicature ought to look to its reputation. Without +offence we may venture to suggest that the best way to secure reputation +is, not by a proud defiance of public opinion, but by guiding our +actions in such a manner as that public opinion may in the end be +securely defied, by having been previously respected and dreaded. No +direct false judgment is apprehended from the tribunals of this country; +but it is feared that partiality may lurk and nestle in the abuse of our +forms of proceeding. It is necessary, therefore, that nothing in that +proceeding should appear to mark the slightest trace, should betray the +faintest odor of chicane. God forbid, that, when you try the most +serious of all causes, that, when you try the cause of Asia in the +presence of Europe, there should be the least suspicion that a narrow +partiality, utterly destructive of justice, should so guide us that a +British subject in power should appear in substance to possess rights +which are denied to the humble allies, to the attached dependants of +this kingdom, who by their distance have a double demand upon your +protection, and who, by an implicit (I hope not a weak and useless) +trust in you, have stripped themselves of every other resource under +heaven! + +I do not say this from any fear, doubt, or hesitation concerning what +your Lordships will finally do,--none in the world; but I cannot shut my +ears to the rumors which you all know to be disseminated abroad. The +abusers of power may have a chance to cover themselves by those fences +and intrenchments which were made to secure the liberties of the people +against men of that very description. But God forbid it should be +bruited from Pekin to Paris, that the laws of England are for the rich +and the powerful, but to the poor, the miserable, and defenceless they +afford no resource at all! God forbid it should be said, no nation is +equal to the English in _substantial_ violence and in _formal_ +justice,--that in this kingdom we feel ourselves competent to confer the +most extravagant and inordinate powers upon public ministers, but that +we are deficient, poor, helpless, lame, and impotent in the means of +calling them to account for their use of them! An opinion has been +insidiously circulated through this kingdom, and through foreign nations +too, that, in order to cover our participation in guilt, and our common +interest in the plunder of the East, we have invented a set of +scholastic distinctions, abhorrent to the common sense and unpropitious +to the common necessities of mankind, by which we are to deny ourselves +the knowledge of what the rest of the world knows, and what so great a +part of the world both knows and feels. I do not deprecate any +appearance which may give countenance to this aspersion from suspicion +that any corrupt motive can influence this court; I deprecate it from +knowing that hitherto we have moved within the narrow circle of +municipal justice. I am afraid, that, from the habits acquired by moving +within a circumscribed sphere, we may be induced rather to endeavor at +forcing Nature into that municipal circle than to enlarge the circle of +national justice to the necessities of the empire we have obtained. + +This is the only thing which does create any doubt or difficulty in the +minds of sober people. But there are those who will not judge so +equitably. Where two motives, neither of them perfectly justifiable, may +be assigned, the worst has the chance of being preferred. If, from any +appearance of chicane in the court, justice should fail, all men will +say, better there were no tribunals at all. In my humble opinion, it +would be better a thousand times to give all complainants the short +answer the Dey of Algiers gave a British ambassador, representing +certain grievances suffered by the British merchants,--"My friend," (as +the story is related by Dr. Shaw,) "do not you know that my subjects are +a band of robbers, and that I am their captain?"--better it would be a +thousand times, and a thousand thousand times more manly, than an +hypocritical process, which, under a pretended reverence to punctilious +ceremonies and observances of law, abandons mankind without help and +resource to all the desolating consequences of arbitrary power. The +conduct and event of this cause will put an end to such doubts, +wherever they may be entertained. Your Lordships will exercise the great +plenary powers with which you are invested in a manner that will do +honor to the protecting justice of this kingdom, that will completely +avenge the great people who are subjected to it. You will not suffer +your proceedings to be squared by any rules but by their necessities, +and by that law of a common nature which cements them to us and us to +them. The reports to the contrary have been spread abroad with uncommon +industry; but they will be speedily refuted by the humanity, simplicity, +dignity, and nobleness of your Lordships' justice. + + * * * * * + +Having said all that I am instructed to say concerning the process which +the House of Commons has used, concerning the crimes which they have +chosen, concerning the criminal upon whom they attach the crimes, and +concerning the evidence which they mean to produce, I am now to proceed +to open that part of the business which falls to my share. It is rather +an explanation of the circumstances than an enforcement of the crimes. + +Your Lordships of course will be apprised that this cause is not what +occurs every day, in the ordinary round of municipal affairs,--that it +has a relation to many things, that it touches many points in many +places, which are wholly removed from the ordinary beaten orbit of our +English affairs. In other affairs, every allusion immediately meets its +point of reference; nothing can be started that does not immediately +awaken your attention to something in your own laws and usages which you +meet with every day in the ordinary transactions of life. But here you +are caught, as it were, into another world; you are to have the way +pioneered before you. As the subject is new, it must be explained; as it +is intricate as well as new, that explanation can be only comparatively +short: and therefore, knowing your Lordships to be possessed, along with +all other judicial virtues, of the first and foundation of them all, +judicial patience, I hope that you will not grudge a few hours to the +explanation of that which has cost the Commons fourteen years' assiduous +application to acquire,--that your Lordships will not disdain to grant a +few hours to what has cost the people of India upwards of thirty years +of their innate, inveterate, hereditary patience to endure. + + * * * * * + +My Lords, the powers which Mr. Hastings is charged with having abused +are the powers delegated to him by the East India Company. The East +India Company itself acts under two very dissimilar sorts of powers, +derived from two sources very remote from each other. The first source +of its power is under charters which the crown of Great Britain was +authorized by act of Parliament to grant; the other is from several +charters derived from the Emperor of the Moguls, the person in whose +dominions they were chiefly conversant,--particularly that great charter +by which, in the year 1765, they acquired the high-stewardship of the +kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. Under those two bodies of +charters, the East India Company, and all their servants, are authorized +to act. + +As to those of the first description, it is from the British charters +that they derive the capacity by which they are considered as a public +body, or at all capable of any public function. It is from thence they +acquire the capacity to take from any power whatsoever any other +charter, to acquire any other offices, or to hold any other possessions. +This, being the root and origin of their power, renders them responsible +to the party from whom all their immediate and consequential powers are +derived. As they have emanated from the supreme power of this kingdom, +the whole body and the whole train of their servants, the corporate body +as a corporate body, individuals as individuals, are responsible to the +high justice of this kingdom. In delegating great power to the East +India Company, this kingdom has not released its sovereignty; on the +contrary, the responsibility of the Company is increased by the +greatness and sacredness of the powers that have been intrusted to it. +Attempts have been made abroad to circulate a notion that the acts of +the East India Company and their servants are not cognizable here. I +hope on this occasion your Lordships will show that this nation never +did give a power without annexing to it a proportionable degree of +responsibility. + +As to their other powers, the Company derives them from the Mogul empire +by various charters from that crown, and from the great magistrates of +that crown, and particularly by the Mogul charter of 1765, by which they +obtained the _dewanny_, that is, the office of lord high-steward, of the +kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. By that charter they bound +themselves (and bound inclusively all their servants) to perform all the +duties belonging to that new office, and to be held by all the ties +belonging to that new relation. If the Mogul empire had existed in its +vigor, they would have been bound, under that responsibility, to +observe the laws, rights, usages, and customs of the natives, and to +pursue their benefit in all things: for this duty was inherent in the +nature, institution, and purpose of the office which they received. If +the power of the sovereign from whom they derived these powers should by +any revolution in human affairs be annihilated or suspended, their duty +to the people below them, which was created under the Mogul charter, is +not annihilated, is not even suspended; and for their responsibility in +the performance of that duty, they are thrown back upon that country +(thank God, not annihilated) from whence their original power, and all +subsequent derivative powers, have flowed. When the Company acquired +that high office in India, an English corporation became an integral +part of the Mogul empire. When Great Britain virtually assented to that +grant of office, and afterwards took advantage of it, Great Britain +guarantied the performance of all its duties. Great Britain entered into +a virtual act of union with that country, by which we bound ourselves as +securities to preserve the people in all the rights, laws, and liberties +which their natural, original sovereign was bound to support, if he had +been in condition to support them. By the disposition of events, the two +duties, flowing from two different sources, are now united in one. The +people of India, therefore, come in the name of the Commons of Great +Britain, but in their own right, to the bar of this House, before the +supreme royal justice of this kingdom, from whence originally all the +powers under which they have suffered were derived. + +It may be a little necessary, when we are stating the powers the Company +have derived from their charter, and which we state Mr. Hastings to +have abused, to state in as short and as comprehensive words as I can +(for the matter is large indeed) what the constitution of that Company +is,--I mean chiefly, what it is in reference to its Indian service, the +great theatre of the abuse. Your Lordships will naturally conceive that +it is not to inform you, but to revive circumstances in your memory, +that I enter into this detail. + +You will therefore recollect, that the East India Company had its origin +about the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth, a period of projects, +when all sorts of commercial adventures, companies, and monopolies were +in fashion. At that time the Company was constituted with extensive +powers for increasing the commerce and the honor of this country; +because increasing its commerce, without increasing its honor and +reputation, would have been thought at that time, and will be thought +now, a bad bargain for the country. The powers of the Company were, +under that charter, merely commercial. By degrees, as the theatre of +operation was distant, as its intercourse was with many great, some +barbarous, and all of them armed nations, nations in which not only the +sovereign, but the subjects, were armed, it was found necessary to +enlarge their powers. The first power they obtained was a power of naval +discipline in their ships,--a power which has been since dropped; the +next was a power of law martial; the next was a power of civil, and, to +a degree, of criminal jurisdiction, within their own factories, upon +their own people and their own servants; the next was (and here was a +stride indeed) the power of peace and war. Those high and almost +incommunicable prerogatives of sovereignty, which were hardly ever +known before to be parted with to any subjects, and which in several +states were not wholly intrusted to the prince or head of the +commonwealth himself, were given to the East India Company. That Company +acquired these powers about the end of the reign of Charles the Second; +and they were afterwards more fully, as well as more legally, given by +Parliament after the Revolution. From this time, the East India Company +was no longer merely a mercantile company, formed for the extension of +the British commerce: it more nearly resembled a delegation of the whole +power and sovereignty of this kingdom sent into the East. From that time +the Company ought to be considered as a subordinate sovereign power: +that is, sovereign with regard to the objects which it touched; +subordinate with regard to the power from whence its great trust was +derived. + +Under these successive arrangements things took a course very different +from their usual order. A new disposition took place, not dreamt of in +the theories of speculative politicians, and of which few examples in +the least resembling it have been seen in the modern world, none at all +in the ancient. In other instances, a political body that acts as a +commonwealth was first settled, and trade followed as a consequence of +the protection obtained by political power; but here the course of +affairs was reversed. The constitution of the Company began in commerce +and ended in empire. Indeed, wherever the sovereign powers of peace and +war are given, there wants but time and circumstance to make these +powers supersede every other. The affairs of commerce will fall at last +into their proper rank and situation. However primary in their original +intention, they will become secondary. The possession, therefore, and +the power of assertion of these great authorities coinciding with the +improved state of Europe, with the improved state of arts in Europe, +with the improved state of laws, and, what is much more material, the +improved state of military discipline, more and more perfected every day +with us,--universal improvement in Europe coinciding with the general +decay of Asia, (for the proud day of Asia is passed,) this improvement +coinciding with the relaxation and dissolution of the Mogul government, +with the decline of its warlike spirit, with the total disuse of the +ancient strictness of the military discipline established by Tamerlane, +the India Company came to be what it is, a great empire, carrying on, +subordinately, a great commerce; it became that thing which was supposed +by the Roman law irreconcilable to reason and propriety,--_eundem +negotiatorem et dominum_: the same power became the general trader, the +same power became the supreme lord. + +In this exalted situation, the India Company, however, still preserves +traces of its original mercantile character. The whole exterior order of +its political service is carried on upon a mercantile plan and +mercantile principles. In fact, the East India Company in Asia is a +state in the disguise of a merchant. Its whole service is a system of +public offices in the disguise of a counting-house. Accordingly, the +whole external order and series of the service, as I observed, is +commercial; the principal, the inward, the real, is almost entirely +political. + +This system of the Company's service, its order and discipline, is +necessary to be explained to your Lordships, that you may see in what +manner the abuses have affected it. In the first place, all the persons +who go abroad in the Company's civil service enter as clerks in the +counting-house, and are called by a name to correspond to +it,--_writers_. In that condition they are obliged to serve five years. +The second step is that of a _factor_, in which they are obliged to +serve three years. The third step they take is that of a _junior +merchant_, in which they are obliged to serve three years more. At that +period they become _senior merchants_, which is the highest stage of +advance in the Company's service,--a rank by which they had pretensions, +before the year 1774, to the Council, to the succession of the +Presidency, and to whatever other honors the Company has to bestow. + +The Company had, in its early times, established factories in certain +places; which factories by degrees grew to the name of Presidencies and +Council, in proportion as the power and influence of the Company +increased, and as the political began first to struggle with, and at +length to predominate over, the mercantile. In this form it continued +till the year 1773, when the legislature broke in, for proper reasons +urging them to it, upon that order of the service, and appointed to the +superior department persons who had no title to that place under the +ordinary usage of the service. Mr. Hastings and Mr. Harwell, whatever +other titles they might have had, held solely under the act of +Parliament nominating them to that authority; but in all other respects, +except where the act and other subsequent acts have not broken in upon +it, the whole course of the service remains upon the ancient footing, +that is, the commercial footing, as to the gradation and order of +service. + +Your Lordships see here a regular series of gradation, which requires +eleven years before any persons can arrive at the highest trusts and +situations. You will therefore be astonished, when so long a +probationary service was required, that effects very different from +those to be expected from long probation have happened, and that in a +much shorter time than those eleven years you have seen persons +returning into this kingdom with affluent, with overbearing fortunes. It +will be a great part of your inquiry, when we come before your Lordships +to substantiate evidence against Mr. Hastings, to discover how that +order came to be so completely broken down and erased that scarce a +trace of it for any good purpose remains. Though I will not deny that +that order, or that any order in a state, may be superseded by the +ruling power, when great talents, upon pressing exigencies, are to be +called forth, yet I must say the order itself was formed upon wise +principles. It furnished the persons who were put in that course of +probation with an opportunity (if circumstances enabled them) of +acquiring experience in business of revenue, trade, and policy. It gave +to those who watched them a constant inspection of their conduct through +all their progress. On the expectants of office it imposed the necessity +of acquiring a character in proportion to their standing, in order that +all which they had gained by the good behavior of years should not be +lost by the misconduct of an hour. It was a great substantial +regulation. But scarce a trace of the true spirit of it remains to be +discovered in Mr. Hastings's government; for Mr. Hastings established +offices, nay, whole systems of offices, and especially a system of +offices in 1781, which being altogether new, none of the rules of +gradation applied to them; and he filled those offices in such a manner +as suited best, not the constitution nor the spirit of the service, but +his own particular views and purposes. The consequence has been, that +persons in the most immature stages of life have been appointed to +conduct affairs which required the greatest maturity of judgment, the +greatest possible temper and moderation. Effects naturally consequent +have followed upon it.--I shall not trouble your Lordships with any +further observations on this system of gradation. + +I must, however, remark, before I go further, that there is something in +the representation of the East India Company in their Oriental territory +different from that, perhaps, of any other nation that has ever +transported any part of its power from one country to another. The East +India Company in India is not properly a branch of the British nation: +it is only a deputation of individuals. When the Tartars entered into +China, when the Arabs and Tartars successively entered into Hindostan, +when the Goths and Vandals penetrated into Europe, when the Normans +forced their way into England, indeed, in all conquests, migrations, +settlements, and colonizations, the new people came as the offset of a +nation. The Company in India does not exist as a national colony. In +effect and substance nobody can go thither that does not go in its +service. The English in India are nothing but a seminary for the +succession of officers. They are a nation of placemen; they are a +commonwealth without a people; they are a state made up wholly of +magistrates. There is nothing to be in propriety called people, to +watch, to inspect, to balance against the power of office. The power of +office, so far as the English nation is concerned, is the sole power in +the country: the consequence of which is, that, being a kingdom of +magistrates, what is commonly called the _esprit du corps_ is strong in +it. This spirit of the body predominates equally in all its parts; by +which the members must consider themselves as having a common interest, +and that common interest separated both from that of the country which +sent them out and from that of the country in which they act. No control +upon them exists,--none, I mean, in persons who understand their +language, who understand their manners, or can apply their conduct to +the laws. Therefore, in a body so constituted, confederacy is easy, and +has been general. Your Lordships are not to expect that that should +happen in such a body which never happened in any body or +corporation,--that is, that they should, in any instance, be a proper +check and control upon themselves. It is not in the nature of things. +The fundamental principle of the whole of the East India Company's +system is monopoly, in some sense or other. The same principle +predominates in the service abroad and the service at home; and both +systems are united into one, animated with the same spirit, that is, +with the corporate spirit. The whole, taken together, is such as has not +been seen in the examples of the Moors, the Portuguese, the Spaniards, +the Romans,--in no old, in no recent examples. The Dutch may resemble +it, but they have not an empire properly so denominated. By means of +this peculiar circumstance it has not been difficult for Mr. Hastings to +embody abuse, and to put himself at the head of a regular system of +corruption. + +Another circumstance in that service is deserving of notice. Except in +the highest parts of all, the emoluments of office do not in any degree +correspond with the trust, nor the nature of the office with its name. +In other official systems, the style, in general, is above the function; +here it is the reverse. Under the name of junior merchant, senior +merchant, writer, and other petty appellations of the counting-house, +you have magistrates of high dignity, you have administrators of +revenues truly royal, you have judges, civil, and in some respects +criminal, who pass judgment upon the greatest properties of a great +country. The legal public emoluments that belong to them are very often +so inadequate to the real dignity of the character, that it is +impossible, almost absolutely impossible, for the subordinate parts of +it, which, though subordinate, are stations of power, to exist, as +Englishmen, who look at a fortune to be enjoyed at home as their +ultimate object, and to exist in a state of perfect incorruption in that +service. + +In some parts of Europe, it is true that the greatest situations are +often attended with but little emolument; yet still they are filled. +Why? Because reputation, glory, fame, the esteem, the love, the tears of +joy which flow from happy sensibility, the honest applauses of a +grateful country, sometimes pay the cares, anxieties, and toils which +wait on great situations in the commonwealth; and in these they pay in +money what cannot be paid in fame and reputation. It is the reverse in +the service of the India Company. Glory is not the lot of subordinated +merit,--and all the subordinate parts of the gradation are officers who, +in comparison with the offices and duties intrusted to them, are +miserably provided for; whereas the chief of each great Presidency has +emoluments securing him against every mode of temptation. But if this +has not secured the head, we may easily judge how the members are to be +coerced. Mr. Hastings, at the head of the service, with high legal +emoluments, has fouled his hands and sullied his government with bribes. +He has substituted oppression and tyranny in the place of legal +government. With all that unbounded, licentious power which he has +assumed over the public revenues, instead of endeavoring to find a +series of gradual, progressive, honorable, and adequate rewards for the +persons who serve the public in the subordinate, but powerful +situations, he has left them to prey upon the people without the +smallest degree of control. In default of honest emolument, there is the +unbounded license of power; and, as one of the honestest and ablest +servants of the Company said to me in conversation, the civil service of +the Company resembled the military service of the Mahrattas,--little +pay, but unbounded license to plunder. I do not say that some of the +salaries given in India would not sound well here; but when you consider +the nature of the trusts, the dignity of the situation, whatever the +name of them may be, the powers that are granted, the hopes that every +man has of establishing himself at home, I repeat, it is a source of +infinite grievance, of infinite abuse: of which source of corrupt power +we charge Mr. Hastings with having availed himself, in filling up the +void of direct pay by finding out and countenancing every kind of +oblique and unjust emolument; though it must be confessed that he is +far from being solely guilty of this offence. + +Another circumstance which distinguishes the East India Company is the +youth of the persons who are employed in the system of that service. The +servants have almost universally been sent out to begin their progress +and career in active occupation, and in the exercise of high authority, +at that period of life which, in all other places, has been employed in +the course of a rigid education. To put the matter in a few words,--they +are transferred from slippery youth to perilous independence, from +perilous independence to inordinate expectations, from inordinate +expectations to boundless power. School-boys without tutors, minors +without guardians, the world is let loose upon them with all its +temptations, and they are let loose upon the world with all the powers +that despotism involves. + +It is further remarkable, these servants exercise what your Lordships +are now exercising, high judicial powers, and they exercise them without +the smallest study of any law, either general or municipal. It is made a +sort of rule in the service, a rule confirmed even by the attempts that +were made to correct it, (I mean confirmed by Sir Elijah Impey, when, +under the auspices of Mr. Hastings, he undertook to be legislator for +India,) that the judicial character, the last in the order of legal +progress, that to which all professional men look up as the crown of +their labors, that ultimate hope of men grown gray in professional +practice, is among the first experimental situations of a Company's +servant. It is expressly said in that body of regulations to which I +allude, that the office and situation of a judge of the Dewanny Courts +of Adawlut is to be filled by the _junior_ servants of the Company; and +as the judicial emolument is not substantially equal to that of other +situations, the office of a judge is to be taken, as it were, _in +transitu_, as a passage to other offices not of a judicial nature. As +soon, therefore, as a young man has supplied the defects of his +education by the advantage of some experience, he is immediately +translated to a totally different office; and another young man is +substituted, to learn, at the expense of the property of India, to fill +a situation which, when he may be qualified to fill, he is no longer to +hold. + +It is in a great measure the same with regard to the other situations. +They are the situations of great statesmen, which, according to the +practice of the world, require, to fill properly, rather a large +converse with men and much intercourse in life than deep study of +books,--though that, too, has its eminent service. We know that in the +habits of civilized life, in cultivated society, there is imbibed by men +a good deal of the solid practice of government, of the true maxims of +state, and everything that enables a man to serve his country. But these +men are sent over to exercise functions at which a statesman here would +tremble, without any theoretical study, and without any of that sort of +experience which, in mixed societies of business and converse, form men +gradually and insensibly to great affairs. Low cunning, intrigue, and +stratagem are soon acquired; but manly, durable policy, which never +sacrifices the general interest to a partial or momentary advantage, is +not so cheaply formed in the human understanding. + +Mr. Hastings, in his defence before the House of Commons, and in the +defences he has made before your Lordships, has lamented his own +situation in this particular. It was much to be lamented, indeed. How +far it will furnish justification, extenuation, or palliation of his +conduct, when we come to examine that conduct, will be seen. + +These circumstances in the system have in a great degree vitiated and +perverted what is in reality (and many things are in reality) excellent +in it. They have rendered the application of all correctives and +remedies to abuse, at best, precarious in their operation. The laws that +we have made, the covenants which the Company has obliged its servants +to enter into, the occasional orders that have been given, at least +ostensibly good, all have proved noxious to the country, instead of +beneficial. + +To illustrate this point, I beg leave to observe to your Lordships, that +the servants of the Company are obliged to enter into that service not +only with an impression of the general duty which attaches upon all +servants, but are obliged to engage in a specific covenant with their +masters to perform all the duties described in that covenant (which are +all the duties of their relation) under heavy penalties. They are bound +to a repetition of these covenants at every step of their progress, from +writer to factor, from factor to junior merchant, and from junior +merchant to senior merchant. They ought, according to the rule, to renew +these covenants at these times by something (I speak without offence) +which may be said to resemble confirmation in the Church. They are +obliged to renew their obligation in particular to receive no gifts, +gratuities, or presents whatsoever. + +This scheme of covenants would have been wise and proper, if it had +belonged to a judicious order, and rational, consistent scheme of +discipline. The orders of the Company have forbidden their servants to +take any extraneous emoluments. The act of Parliament has fulminated +against them. Clear, positive laws, and clear, positive private +engagements, have no exception of circumstances in them, no difference +_quoad majus et minus_; but every one who offends against the law is +liable to the law. The consequence is this: he who has deviated but an +inch from the straight line, he who has taken but one penny of unlawful +emolument, (and all have taken many pennies of unlawful emolument,) does +not dare to complain of the most abandoned extortion and cruel +oppression in any of his fellow-servants. He who has taken a trifle, +perhaps as the reward of a good action, is obliged to be silent, when he +sees whole nations desolated around him. The great criminal at the head +of the service has the laws in his hand; he is always able to prove the +small offence, and crush the person who has committed it. This is one +grand source of Mr. Hastings's power. After he had got the better of the +Parliamentary commission, no complaint from any part of the service has +appeared against Mr. Hastings. He is bold enough to state it as one +presumption of his merit, that there has been no such complaint. No such +complaint, indeed, can exist. The spirit of the corps would of itself +almost forbid it,--to which spirit an informer is the most odious and +detestable of all characters, and is hunted down, and has always been +hunted down, as a common enemy. But here is a new security. Who can +complain, or dares to accuse? The whole service is irregular: nobody is +free from small offences; and, as I have said, the great offender can +always crush the small one. + +If you examine the correspondence of Mr. Hastings, you would imagine, +from many expressions very deliberately used by him, that the Company's +service was made out of the very filth and dregs of human corruption; +but if you examine his conduct towards the corrupt body he describes, +you would imagine he had lived in the speculative schemes of visionary +perfection. He was fourteen years at the head of that service; and there +is not an instance, no, not one single instance, in which he endeavored +to detect corruption, or that he ever, in any one single instance, +attempted to punish it; but the whole service, with that whole mass of +enormity which he attributes to it, slept, as it were, at once, under +his terror and his protection: under his protection, if they did not +dare to move against him; under terror, from his power to pluck out +individuals and make a public example of them, whenever he thought fit. +And therefore that service, under his guidance and influence, was, +beyond even what its own nature disposed it to, a service of +confederacy, a service of connivance, a service composed of various +systems of guilt, of which Mr. Hastings was the head and the protector. +But this general connivance he did not think sufficient to secure to him +the general support of the Indian interest. He went further. We shall +prove to your Lordships, that, when the Company were driven by shame, +not by inclination, to order several prosecutions against delinquents in +their service, Mr. Hastings, directly contrary to the duty of his +office, directly contrary to the express and positive law of the Court +of Directors, which law Parliament had bound upon him as his rule of +action, not satisfied with his long tacit connivance, ventured, before +he left his government, and among his last acts, to pass a general act +of pardon and indemnity, and at once ordered the whole body of the +prosecutions directed by his masters, the Company, to be discharged. + +Having had fourteen years' lease of connivance to bestow, and giving at +the end a general release of all suits and actions, he now puts himself +at the head of a vast body enriched by his bounties, connivances, and +indemnities, and expects the support of those whom he had thus fully +rewarded and discharged from the pursuit of the laws. You will find, in +the course of this business, that, when charges have been brought +against him of any bribery, corruption, or other malversation, his +course has been to answer little or nothing to that specific bribery, +corruption, or malversation: his way has been to call on the Court of +Directors to inquire of every servant who comes to Europe, and to say +whether there was any one man in it that will give him an ill word. He +has put himself into a situation in which he may always safely call to +his character, and will always find himself utterly incapable of +justifying his conduct. + +So far I have troubled your Lordships with the system of confederacy and +connivance, which, under his auspices, was the vital principle of almost +the whole service. There is one member of the service which I have +omitted: but whether I ought to have put it first, or, as I do now, +last, I must confess I am at some loss; because, though it appears to be +the lowest (if any regular) part of the service, it is by far the most +considerable and the most efficient, without a full consideration and +explanation of which hardly any part of the conduct of Mr. Hastings, +and of many others that may be in his situation, can be fully +understood. + +I have given your Lordships an account of writers, factors, merchants, +who exercise the office of judges, lord chancellors, chancellors of the +exchequer, ministers of state, and managers of great revenues. But there +is another description of men, of more importance than them all, a +description you have often heard of, but which has not been sufficiently +explained: I mean the _banian_. When the Company's service was no more +than mercantile, and the servants were generally unacquainted with the +country, they used the intervention of certain factors among the +natives, which were called _banians_: we called them so, because they +were of the tribe or caste of the banians or merchants,--the Indians +being generally distributed into trades according to their tribes. The +name still continues, when the functions of the banians are totally +altered. The banian is known by other appellations. He is called +_dewan_, or steward; and, indeed, this is a term with more propriety +applied to him in several of his functions. He is, by his name of +office, the steward of the household of the European gentleman: he has +the management of his affairs, and the ordering of his servants. He is +himself a domestic servant, and generally chosen out of that class of +natives who, by being habituated to misery and subjection, can submit to +any orders, and are fit for any of the basest services. Trained under +oppression, (it is the true education,) they are fit to oppress others. +They serve an apprenticeship of servitude to qualify them for the trade +of tyranny. They know all the devices, all the little frauds, all the +artifices and contrivances, the whole panoply of the defensive armor by +which ingenious slavery secures itself against the violence of power. +They know all the lurking-holes, all the winding recesses, of the +unfortunate; and they hunt out distress and misery even to their last +retreats. They have suffered themselves; but, far from being taught by +those sufferings to abstain from rigor, they have only learned the +methods of afflicting their fellow-slaves. They have the best +intelligence of what is done in England. The moment a Company's servant +arrives in India, and his English connections are known to be powerful, +some of that class of people immediately take possession of him, as if +he were their inheritance. They have knowledge of the country and its +affairs; they have money; they have the arts of making money. The +gentleman who comes from England has none of these; he enters into that +world, as he enters into the world at large, naked. His portion is great +simplicity, great indigence, and a strong disposition to relieve +himself. The banian, once in possession, employs his tyranny, not only +over the native people of his country, but often over the master +himself, who has little other share in the proceedings of his servant +but in giving him the ticket of his name to mark that he is connected +with and supported by an European who is himself well connected and +supported at home. This is a commission which nothing can resist. From +that moment forward it is not the Englishman, it is the black banian, +that is the master. The nominal master often lives from his hand. We +know how young men are sent out of this country; we know how happy we +are to hear soon that they are no longer a burden to their friends and +parents. The banian knows it, too. He supplies the young servant with +money. He has him under his power: first, from the necessity of +employing such a man; and next, (and this is the more important of the +two,) he has that dreadful power over his master which every creditor +has over his debtor. Actions the most abhorrent to his nature he must +see done before his face, and thousands and thousands worse are done in +his absence, and he dare not complain. The banian extorts, robs, +plunders, and then gives him just what proportion of the spoil he +pleases. If the master should murmur, the very power that was sent over +to protect the people of India from these very abuses, (the best things +being perverted, when applied to unknown objects and put into unsuitable +situations,) the very laws of England, by making the recovery of debts +more easy, infinitely increase the power of the banian over his master. +Thus the Supreme Court of Justice, the destined corrector of all abuses, +becomes a collateral security for that abominable tyranny exercised by +the moneyed banians over Europeans as well as the natives. So that, +while we are here boasting of the British power in the East, we are in +perhaps more than half our service nothing but the inferior, miserable +instruments of the tyranny which the lowest part of the natives of India +exercise, to the disgrace of the British authority, and to the ruin of +all that is respectable among their own countrymen. They have subverted +the first houses, totally ruined and undone the country, cheated and +defrauded the revenue,--the master a silent, sometimes a melancholy +spectator, until some office of high emolument has emancipated him. This +has often been the true reason that the Company's servants in India, in +order to free themselves from this horrid and atrocious servitude, are +obliged to become instruments of another tyranny, and must prostitute +themselves to men in power, in order to obtain some office that may +enable them to escape the servitudes below, and enable them to pay their +debts. And thus many have become the instruments of Mr. Hastings. + +These banians, or dewans, were originally among the lower castes in the +country. But now, it is true, that, after seeing the power and profits +of these men,--that there is neither power, profession, nor occupation +to be had, which a reputable person can exercise, but through that +channel,--men of higher castes, and born to better things, have thrown +themselves into that disgraceful servitude, have become menial servants +to Englishmen, that they might rise by their degradation. But whoever +they are, or of whatever birth, they have equally prostituted their +integrity, they have equally lost their character; and, once entered +into that course of life, there is no difference between the best castes +and the worst. That system Mr. Hastings confirmed, established, +increased, and made the instrument of the most austere tyranny, of the +basest peculations, and the most scandalous and iniquitous extortions. + +In the description I have given of banians a distinction is to be made. +Your Lordships must distinguish the banians of the British servants in +subordinate situations and the banians who are such to persons in higher +authority. In the latter case the banian is in strict subordination, +because he may always be ruined by his superior; whereas in the former +it is always in his power to ruin his nominal superior. It was not +through fear, but voluntarily, and not for the banian's purposes, but +his own, Mr. Hastings has brought forward his banian. He seated him in +the houses of the principal nobility, and invested him with farms of the +revenue; he has given him enormous jobs; he has put him over the heads +of a nobility which, for their grandeur, antiquity, and dignity, might +almost be matched with your Lordships. He has made him supreme +ecclesiastical judge, judge even of the very castes, in the preservation +of the separate rules and separate privileges of which that people +exists. He who has dominion over the caste has an absolute power over +something more than life and fortune. + +Such is that first, or last, (I know not which to call it,) order in the +Company's service called a banian. The _mutseddies_, clerks, +accountants, of Calcutta, generally fall under this description. Your +Lordships will see hereafter the necessity of giving you, in the opening +the case, an idea of the situation of a banian. You will see, as no +Englishman, properly speaking, acts by himself, that he must be made +responsible for that person called his banian,--for the power he either +uses under him, or the power he has acquired over him. The banian +escapes, in the night of his complexion and situation, the inquiry that +a white man cannot stand before in this country. Through the banians, or +other black natives, a bad servant of the Company receives his bribes. +Through them he decides falsely against the titles of litigants in the +court of castes, or in the offices of public registry. Through them Mr. +Hastings has exercised oppressions which, I will venture to say, in his +own name, in his own character, daring as he is, (and he is the most +daring criminal that ever existed,) he never would dare to practise. +Many, if not most, of the iniquities of his interior bad administration +have been perpetrated through these banians, or other native agents and +confidants; and we shall show you that he is not satisfied with one of +them, confiding few of his secrets to Europeans, and hardly any of his +instruments, either native or European, knowing the secrets of each +other. This is the system of banianism, and of concealment, which Mr. +Hastings, instead of eradicating out of the service, has propagated by +example and by support, and enlarged by converting even Europeans into +that dark and insidious character. + +I have explained, or endeavored to explain, to your Lordships these +circumstances of the true spirit, genius, and character, more than the +ostensible institutions of the Company's service: I now shall beg leave +to bring before you one institution, taken from the mercantile +constitution of the Company, so excellent, that I will venture to say +that human wisdom has never exceeded it. In this excellent institution +the counting-house gave lessons to the state. The active, awakened, and +enlightened principle of self-interest will provide a better system for +the guard of that interest than the cold, drowsy wisdom of those who +provide for a good out of themselves ever contrived for the public. The +plans sketched by private prudence for private interest, the regulations +by mercantile men for their mercantile purposes, when they can be +applied to the discipline and order of the state, produce a discipline +and order which no state should be ashamed to copy. The Company's +mercantile regulations are admirably fitted for the government of a +remote, large, disjointed empire. As merchants, having factors abroad +in distant parts of the world, they have obliged them to a minuteness +and strictness of register, and to a regularity of correspondence, which +no state has ever used in the same degree with regard to its public +ministers. The Company has made it a fundamental part of their +constitution, that almost their whole government shall be a written +government. Your Lordships will observe, in the course of the +proceeding, the propriety of opening fully to you this circumstance in +the government of India,--that is, that the Company's government is a +government of writing, a government of record. The strictest court of +justice, in its proceeding, is not more, perhaps not so much a court of +record as the India Company's executive service is, or ought to be, in +all its proceedings. + +In the first place, they oblige their servants to keep a journal or +diary of all their transactions, public and private: they are bound to +do this by an express covenant. They oblige them, as a corrective upon +that diary, to keep a letter-book, in which all their letters are to be +regularly entered. And they are bound by the same covenant to produce +all those books upon requisition, although they should be mixed with +affairs concerning their own private negotiations and transactions of +commerce, or their closest and most retired concerns in private life. +But as the great corrective of all, they have contrived that every +proceeding in public council shall be written,--no debates merely +verbal. The arguments, first or last, are to be in writing, and +recorded. All other bodies, the Houses of Lords, Commons, Privy Council, +Cabinet Councils for secret state deliberations, enter only resolves, +decisions, and final resolutions of affairs: the argument, the +discussion, the dissent, does very rarely, if at all, appear. But the +Company has proceeded much further, and done much more wisely, because +they proceeded upon mercantile principles; and they have provided, +either by orders or course of office, that all shall be written,--the +proposition, the argument, the dissent. This is not confined to their +great Council; but this order ought to be observed, as I conceive, (and +I see considerable traces of it in practice,) in every Provincial +Council, whilst the Provincial Councils existed, and even down to the +minutest ramification of their service. These books, in a progression +from the lowest Councils to the highest Presidency, are ordered to be +transmitted, duplicate and triplicate, by every ship that sails to +Europe. On this system an able servant of the Company, and high in their +service, has recorded his opinion, and strongly expressed his +sentiments. Writing to the Court of Directors, he says, "It ought to be +remembered, that the basis upon which you rose to power, and have been +able to stand the shock of repeated convulsions, has been the accuracy +and simplicity of mercantile method, which makes every transaction in +your service and every expenditure a matter of record." + +My Lords, this method not only must produce to them, if strictly +observed, a more accurate idea of the nature of their affairs and the +nature of their expenditures, but it must afford them no trivial +opportunity and means of knowing the true characters of their servants, +their capacities, their ways of thinking, the turn and bias of their +minds. If well employed, and but a little improved, the East India +Company possessed an advantage unknown before to the chief of a remote +government. In the most remote parts of the world, and in the minutest +parts of a remote service, everything came before the principal with a +domestic accuracy and local familiarity. It was, in the power of a +Director, sitting in London, to form an accurate judgment of every +incident that happened upon the Ganges and the Gogra. + +The use of this recorded system did not consist only in the facility of +discovering what the nature of their affairs and the character and +capacity of their servants was, but it furnished the means of detecting +their misconduct, frequently of proving it too, and of producing the +evidence of it judicially under their own hands. For your Lordships must +have observed that it is rare indeed, that, in a continued course of +evil practices, any uniform method of proceeding will serve the purposes +of the delinquent. Innocence is plain, direct, and simple: guilt is a +crooked, intricate, inconstant, and various thing. The iniquitous job of +to-day may be covered by specious reasons; but when the job of iniquity +of to-morrow succeeds, the reasons that have colored the first crime may +expose the second malversation. The man of fraud falls into +contradiction, prevarication, confusion. This hastens, this facilitates, +conviction. Besides, time is not allowed for corrupting the records. +They are flown out of their hands, they are in Europe, they are safe in +the registers of the Company, perhaps they are under the eye of +Parliament, before the writers of them have time to invent an excuse for +a direct contrary conduct to that to which their former pretended +principles applied. This is a great, a material part of the constitution +of the Company. My Lords, I do not think it to be much apologized for, +if I repeat, that this is the fundamental regulation of that service, +and which, if preserved in the first instance, as it ought to be, in +official practice in India, and then used as it ought to be in England, +would afford such a mode of governing a great, foreign, dispersed +empire, as, I will venture to say, few countries ever possessed, even in +governing the most limited and narrow jurisdiction. + +It was the great business of Mr. Hastings's policy to subvert this great +political edifice. His first mode of subverting it was by commanding the +public ministers, paid by the Company, to deliver their correspondence +upon the most critical and momentous affairs to him, in order to be +suppressed and destroyed at his pleasure. To support him in this plan of +spoliation, he has made a mischievous distinction in public business +between public and private correspondence. The Company's orders and +covenants made none. There are, readily I admit, thousands of occasions +in which it is not proper to divulge promiscuously a private +correspondence, though on public affairs, to the world; but there is no +occasion in which it is not a necessary duty, on requisition, to +communicate your correspondence to those who form the paramount +government, on whose interests and on whose concerns and under whose +authority this correspondence has been carried on. The very same reasons +which require secrecy with regard to others demand the freest +communication to them. But Mr. Hastings has established principles of +confidence and secrecy towards himself which have cut off all confidence +between the Directors and their ministers, and effectually kept them at +least out of the secret of their own affairs. + +Without entering into all the practices by which he has attempted to +maim the Company's records, I shall state one more to your +Lordships,--that is, his avowed appointment of spies and under-agents, +who shall carry on the real state business, while there are public and +ostensible agents who are not in the secret. The correspondence of those +private agents he holds in his own hands, communicates as he thinks +proper, but most commonly withholds. There remains nothing for the +Directors but the shell and husk of a dry, formal, official +correspondence, which neither means anything nor was intended to mean +anything. + +These are some of the methods by which he has defeated the purposes of +the excellent institution of a recorded administration. But there are +cases to be brought before this court in which he has laid the axe at +once to the root,--which was, by delegating out of his own hands a great +department of the powers of the Company, which he was himself bound to +execute, to a board which was not bound to record their deliberations +with the same strictness as he himself was bound. He appointed of his +own usurped authority a board for the administration of the revenue, the +members of which were expressly dispensed from recording their dissents, +until they chose it; and in that office, as in a great gulf, a most +important part of the Company's transactions has been buried. + +Notwithstanding his unwearied pains in the work of spoliation, some +precious fragments are left, which we ought infinitely to value,--by +which we may learn, and lament, the loss of what he has destroyed. If it +were not for those inestimable fragments and wrecks of the recorded +government which have been saved from the destruction which Mr. +Hastings intended for them all, the most shameful enormities that have +ever disgraced a government or harassed a people would only be known in +this country by secret whispers and unauthenticated anecdotes; the +disgracer's of government, the vexers and afflicters of mankind, instead +of being brought before an awful public tribunal, might have been +honored with the highest distinctions and rewards their country has to +bestow; and sordid bribery, base peculation, iron-handed extortion, +fierce, unrelenting tyranny, might themselves have been invested with +those sacred robes of justice before which this day they have cause to +tremble. + +Mr. Hastings, sensible of what he suffers from this register of acts and +opinions, has endeavored to discredit and ruin what remains of it. He +refuses, in his defence to the House of Commons, in letters to the Court +of Directors, in various writings and declarations, he refuses to be +tried by his own recorded declarations; he refuses to be bound by his +own opinions, delivered under his own hand. He knows that he and the +record cannot exist together. He knows that what remains of the written +constitution which he has not destroyed is enough to destroy him. He +claims a privilege of systematic inconstancy, a privilege of +prevarication, a privilege of contradiction,--a privilege of not only +changing his conduct, but the principles of his conduct, whenever it +suits his occasions. But I hope your Lordships will show the destroyers +of that wise constitution, and the destroyers of those records which are +to be the securities against malversation in office, the discoverers and +avengers of it, that whoever destroys the discoverer establishes the +iniquity; that, therefore, your Lordships will bind him to his own +declarations, given on record under his own hand; that you will say to +this unfaithful servant of the Company, what was said to another +unfaithful person upon a far less occasion by a far greater authority, +"Out of thy own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant." + + * * * * * + +Having gone through what I have been instructed might be necessary to +state to your Lordships concerning the Company's constitution, (I mean +the real inside, and not the shell of its constitution,)--having stated +the abuses that existed in it,--having stated how Mr. Hastings +endeavored to perpetuate and to increase and to profit of the abuse, and +how he has systematically endeavored to destroy, and has in some +instances in fact destroyed, many things truly excellent in that +constitution,--if I have not wasted your time in explanation of matters +that you are already well acquainted with, I shall next beg leave to +state to you the abuse in some particulars of the other part of the +public authority which the Company acquired over the natives of India, +in virtue of the royal charter of the present Mogul emperor, in the year +1766 [1765?]. + +My Lords, that you may the better judge of the abuse Mr. Hastings has +made of the powers vested in him, it will be expedient to consider a +little who the people are to whose prejudice he has abused these powers. +I shall explain this point with as much brevity as is consistent with +the distinctness with which I mean to bring the whole before your +Lordships; and I beg to observe to you that this previous discourse, +rather explanatory than accusatorial, (if I may use the expression,) is +meant rather to elucidate the nature of the matter to come before you in +regular charges than as proof of the charges themselves. + +I know that a good deal of latitude is allowed to advocates, when +opening a cause in a private court, to indulge themselves in their +narratives leading to the charges they intend to bring. They are not +always called to the strictest account for such prefatory matter, +because the court, when it comes to judge, sifts and distinguishes it +from the points to be strictly proved, and on whose merits the cause +relies. But I wish your Lordships to know, that, with the high opinion I +have of your gravity, (and it is impossible for a man to conceive a +higher,) and sensible of the weight of those I represent at this place, +namely, the Commons of Great Britain, I should be sorry that any one +substantial fact, even in this explanatory opening, or even the color of +the fact, should be alleged, which, when called upon, I should not be +ready to make good to you by proof,--I mean, by proof adapted to its +nature: public opinion, by evidence of public opinion; by record, that +to which record is applicable; by oral testimony, things to which oral +testimony alone can be produced; and, last of all, that which is matter +of historic proof, by historic evidence. This I hope to do with the +usual allowance to errors and mistakes, which is the claim of human +infirmity. + +Then, my Lords, two distinct people inhabit India. Two sorts of people +inhabit the same country, as totally distinct from each other, in +characters, lives, opinions, prejudices, and manners, as the inhabitants +of countries most remote from each other. For both of these descriptions +Mr. Hastings was bound to provide equally, agreeable to the terms of +the charter which the Company received from the lawful governing power +of that country: a charter received at its own solicitation; a charter +not forced upon us by a superior power, but given at the immediate +solicitation of the principal servants belonging to the Company; a +charter solemnly accepted by the Company, and by them, I am very sorry +to say, little regarded,--or, at least, little regarded by their +principal servants. + +My Lords, the first description of people who are subjected virtually to +the British empire through those mediums which I have described to you +are the original inhabitants of Hindostan, who have in all time, and +beyond all the eras which we use, (I mean always the two grand eras +excepted,) been the aboriginal inhabitants and proprietors of that +country,--with manners, religion, customs, and usages appropriated to +themselves, and little resembling those of the rest of mankind. This +description of men is commonly called Gentoos. The system and principle +of that government is locality. Their laws, their manners, their +religion are all local. + +Their legislator, whoever he was, (for who he was is a matter lost in +the mists of a most obscure antiquity,) had it as a great leading +principle of his policy to connect the people with their soil. +Accordingly, by one of those anomalies which a larger acquaintance with +our species daily discovers, and which perhaps an attentive reflection +might explain in the nature of man, this aboriginal people of +India,--who are the softest in their manners of any of our race, +approaching almost to feminine tenderness,--who are formed +constitutionally benevolent, and, in many particulars, made to fill a +larger circle of benevolence than our morals take in,--who extend their +good-will to the whole animal creation,--these people are, of all +nations, the most unalliable to any other part of mankind. They cannot, +the highest orders of them, at least, cannot, come into contact with any +other. That bond which is one of the chief instruments of society, and +which, supporting the individual, connects the species, can have no +existence with them: I mean the convivial bond. That race can be held to +no other by that great link of life. No Hindoo can mix at meals even +with those on whom he depends for the meat he eats. This circumstance +renders it difficult for us to enter with due sympathy into their +concerns, or for them to enter into ours, even when we meet on the same +ground. But there are other circumstances which render our intercourse, +in our mutual relation, very full of difficulty. The sea is between us. +The mass of that element, which, by appearing to disconnect, unites +mankind, is to them a forbidden road. It is a great gulf fixed between +you and them,--not so much that elementary gulf, but that gulf which +manners, opinions, and laws have radicated in the very nature of the +people. None of their high castes, without great danger to his +situation, religion, rank, and estimation, can ever pass the sea; and +this forbids, forever, all direct communication between that country and +this. That material and affecting circumstance, my Lords, makes it ten +times more necessary, since they cannot come to us, to keep a strict eye +upon all persons who go to them. It imposes upon us a stricter duty to +guard with a firm and powerful vigilance those whose principles of +conscience weaken their principles of self-defence. If we undertake to +govern the inhabitants of such a country, we must govern them upon their +own principles and maxims, and not upon ours. We must not think to force +them into the narrow circle of our ideas; we must extend ours to take in +their system of opinions and rites, and the necessities which result +from both: all change on their part is absolutely impracticable. We have +more versatility of character and manners, and it is we who must +conform. We know what the empire of opinion is in human nature. I had +almost said that the law of opinion was human nature itself. It is, +however, the strongest principle in the composition of the frame of the +human mind; and more of the happiness and unhappiness of mankind resides +in that inward principle than in all external circumstances put +together. But if such is the empire of opinion even amongst us, it has a +pure, unrestrained, complete, and despotic power amongst them. The +variety of balanced opinions in our minds weakens the force of each: for +in Europe, sometimes, the laws of religion differ from the laws of the +land; sometimes the laws of the land differ from our laws of honor; our +laws of honor are full of caprice, differing from those other laws, and +sometimes differing from themselves: but there the laws of religion, the +laws of the land, and the laws of honor are all united and consolidated +in one invariable system, and bind men by eternal and indissoluble bonds +to the rules of what, amongst them, is called his _caste_. + +It may be necessary just to state to your Lordships what a _caste_ is. +The Gentoo people, from the oldest time, have been distributed into +various orders, all of them hereditary: these family orders are called +castes; these castes are the fundamental part of the constitution of +the Gentoo commonwealth, both in their church and in their state. + +Your Lordships are born to hereditary honors in the chief of your +houses; the rest mix with the people. With the Gentoos, they who are +born noble can never fall into any second rank. They are divided into +four orders,--the Brahmins, the Chittery, the Bice, and the Soodur, with +many subdivisions in each. An eternal barrier is placed between them. +The higher cannot pass into the lower; the lower cannot rise into the +higher. They have all their appropriated rank, place, and situation, and +their appropriated religion too, which is essentially different in its +rites and ceremonies, sometimes in its object, in each of those castes. +A man who is born in the highest caste, which at once unites what would +be tantamount in this country to the dignity of the peerage and the +ennobled sanctity of the episcopal character,--the Brahmin, who sustains +these characters, if he loses his caste, does not fall into an inferior +order, the Chittery, the Bice, or the Soodur, but he is thrown at once +out of all ranks of society. He is precipitated from the proudest +elevation of respect and honor to a bottomless abyss of contempt,--from +glory to infamy,--from purity to pollution,--from sanctity to +profanation. No honest occupation is open to him; his children are no +longer his children; their parent loses that name; the conjugal bond is +dissolved. Few survive this most terrible of all calamities. To speak to +an Indian of his caste is to speak to him of his all. + +But the rule of caste has, with them, given one power more to fortune +than the manners of any other nation were ever known to do. For it is +singular, the caste may be lost, not only by certain voluntary crimes, +but by certain involuntary sufferings, disgraces, and pollutions, that +are utterly out of their power to prevent. Those who have patiently +submitted to imprisonment,--those who have not flinched from the +scourge,--those who have been as unmoved as marble under torture,--those +who have laughed at the menaces of death itself,--have instantly given +way, when it has been attempted to subject them to any of those +pollutions by which they lose caste. To this caste they are bound by all +laws of all descriptions, human and divine; and inveterate usage has +radicated it in them to a depth and with an adhesion with which no other +known prejudice has been known to exist. Tyranny is therefore armed +against them with a greater variety of weapons than are found in its +ordinary stores. + +This, amongst a thousand other considerations, speaks to us in very +authoritative language with what care and circumspection we ought to +handle people so delicate. In the course of this trial your Lordships +will see with horror the use which Mr. Hastings made, through several of +his wicked and abominable instruments, chosen from the natives +themselves, of these superadded means of oppression. I shall prove, in +the course of this trial, that he has put his own menial domestic +servant,--a wretch totally dependent,--a wretch grossly ignorant,--the +common instrument of his bribery and peculation,--he has enthroned him, +I say, on the first seat of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which was to +decide upon the castes of all those people, including their rank, their +family, their honor, and their happiness here, and, in their judgment, +their salvation hereafter. Under the awe of this power, no man dared to +breathe a murmur against his tyranny. Fortified in this security, he +says, "Who complains of me!"--"No, none of us dare complain of you," +says the trembling Gentoo. "No! your menial servant has my caste in his +power."--I shall not trouble your Lordships with mentioning others; it +was enough that Cantoo Baboo, and Ginga Govind Sing, names to which your +Lordships are to be familiarized hereafter,--it is enough that those +persons had the caste and character of all the people of Bengal in their +hands. Through them he has taken effectual security against all +complaint. Your Lordships will hence discern how very necessary it is +become that some other personage should intervene, should take upon him +their representation, and by his freedom and his power should supply the +defects arising from their servitude and their impotence. The Commons of +Great Britain charge themselves with this character. + +My Lords, these Gentoo people are the original people of Hindostan. They +are still, beyond comparison, the most numerous. Faults this nation may +have; but God forbid we should pass judgment upon people who framed +their laws and institutions prior to our insect origin of yesterday! +With all the faults of their nature and errors of their institutions, +their institutions, which act so powerfully on their natures, have two +material characteristics which entitle them to respect: first, great +force and stability; and next, excellent moral and civil effects. + +Their stability has been proved by their holding on an uniform tenor for +a duration commensurate to all the empires with which history has made +us acquainted; and they still exist in a green old age, with all the +reverence of antiquity, and with all the passion that people have to +novelty and change. They have stood firm on their ancient base; they +have cast their roots deep in their native soil,--perhaps because they +have never spread them anywhere else than in their native soil. Their +blood, their opinions, and the soil of their country make one consistent +piece, admitting no mixture, no adulteration, no improvement: +accordingly, their religion has made no converts, their dominion has +made no conquests; but in proportion as their laws and opinions were +concentred within themselves, and hindered from spreading abroad, they +have doubled their force at home. They have existed in spite of +Mahomedan and Portuguese bigotry,--in spite of Tartarian and Arabian +tyranny,--in spite of all the fury of successive foreign conquest,--in +spite of a more formidable foe, the avarice of the English dominion. + +I have spoken now, my Lords, of what their principles are, their laws +and religious institutions, in point of force and stability; I have +given instances of their force in the very circumstance in which all the +institutions of mankind in other respects show their weakness. They have +existed, when the country has been otherwise subdued. This alone +furnishes full proof that there must be some powerful influence +resulting from them beyond all our little fashionable theories upon such +subjects. + +The second consideration in the Gentoo institutions is their beneficial +effects, moral and civil. The policy, civil or religious, or, as theirs +is, composed of both, that makes a people happy and a state flourishing, +(putting further and higher considerations out of the way, which are not +now before us,) must undoubtedly, so far as human considerations +prevail, be a policy wisely conceived in any scheme of government. It +is confirmed by all observation, that, where the Hindoo religion has +been established, that country has been flourishing. We have seen some +patterns remaining to this day. The very country which is to be the +subject of your Lordships' judicial inquiry is an instance, by an entire +change of government, of the different effects resulting from the +rapacity of a foreign hand, and the paternal, lenient, protecting arm of +a native government, formed on the long connection of prejudice and +power. I shall give you its state under the Hindoo government from a +book written by a very old servant of the Company, whose authority is of +the greater weight, as the very destruction of all this scheme of +government is the great object of the author. + +The author, Mr. Holwell, divides the country of Bengal into its +different provinces. He supposes what they then paid to the supreme +government; he supposes what the country is capable of yielding; and his +project is, to change entirely the application of the revenues of the +country, and to secure the whole into the hands of government. In +enumerating these provinces, at last he comes to the province of +Burdwan. + +"In truth," (says this author,) "it would be almost cruelty to molest +this happy people; for in this district are the only vestiges of the +beauty, purity, piety, regularity, equity, and strictness of the ancient +Hindostan government. Here the property as well as the liberty of the +people are inviolate. Here no robberies are heard of, either public or +private. The traveller, either with or without merchandise, becomes the +immediate care of the government, which allots him guards, without any +expense, to conduct him from stage to stage; and these are accountable +for the safety and accommodation of his person and effects. At the end +of the first stage he is delivered over, with certain benevolent +formalities, to the guards of the next, who, after interrogating the +traveller as to the usage he had received in his journey, dismiss the +first guard with a written certificate of their behavior, and a receipt +for the traveller and his effects; which certificate and receipt are +returnable to the commanding officer of the first stage, who registers +the same, and regularly reports it to the rajah. + +"In this form the traveller is passed through the country; and if he +only passes, he is not suffered to be at any expense for food, +accommodation, or carriage for his merchandise or baggage: but it is +otherwise, if he is permitted to make any residence in one place above +three days, unless occasioned by sickness, or any unavoidable accident. +If anything is lost in this district,--for instance, a bag of money or +other valuables,--the person who finds it hangs it upon the next tree, +and gives notice to the nearest _chowkey_, or place of guard, the +officer of which orders immediate publication of the same by beat of +_tomtom_, or drum." + +These, my Lords, are the effects universally produced by the Hindoo +polity throughout that vast region, before it was distorted and put out +of frame by the barbarism of foreign conquests. Some choice, reserved +spots continued to flourish under it to the year 1756. Some remained +till Mr. Hastings obtained the means of utterly defacing them. Such was +the prospect of Benares under the happy government of Bulwant Sing. +Such was the happy state of the same Benares in the happy days of Cheyt +Sing, until, in the year 1781, Mr. Hastings introduced _his_ reform into +that country. + +Having stated the general outline of the manners of the original people +of Hindostan, having stated the general principles of their policy, +which either prohibit connection, or oblige us to a connection very +different from what we have hitherto used towards them, I shall leave it +to your Lordships' judgment whether you will suffer such fair monuments +of wisdom and benevolence to be defaced by the rapacity of your +governors. I hope I have not gone out of my way to bring before you any +circumstance relative to the Gentoo religion and manners, further than +as they relate to the spirit of our government over them; for though +there never was such food for the curiosity of the human mind as is +found in the manners of this people, I pass it totally over. + + * * * * * + +I wish to divide this preliminary view into six periods; and your +Lordships will consider that of the Hindoos, which I have now mentioned, +as the first era. + +The second era is an era of great misfortune to that country, and to the +world in general: I mean, the time of the prophet Mahomed. The +enthusiasm which animated his first followers, the despotic power which +religion obtained through that enthusiasm, and the advantages derived +from both over the enervated great empires, and broken, disunited, +lesser governments of the world, extended the influence of that proud +and domineering sect from the banks of the Ganges to the banks of the +Loire. + +This second period is the era of the Arabs. These people made a great +and lasting impression on India. They established, very early, Mahomedan +sovereigns in all parts of it, particularly in the kingdom of Bengal, +which is the principal object of our present inquiry. They held that +kingdom for a long series of years, under a dynasty of thirty-three +kings,--having begun their conquest and founded their dominion in Bengal +not very long after the time of their prophet. + +These people, when they first settled in India, attempted, with the +ferocious arm of their prophetic sword, to change the religion and +manners of that country; but at length perceiving that their cruelty +wearied out itself, and never could touch the constancy of the +sufferers, they permitted the native people of the country to remain in +quiet, and left the Mahomedan religion to operate upon them as it could, +by appealing to the ambition or avarice of the great, or by taking the +lower people, who had lost their castes, into this new sect, and thus, +from the refuse of the Gentoo, increasing the bounds of the Mahomedan +religion. They left many of the ancient rajahs of the country possessed +of an inferior sovereignty; and where the strength of the country, or +other circumstances, would not permit this subordination, they suffered +them to continue in a separate state, approaching to independence, if +not wholly independent. + +The Mahomedans, during the period of the Arabs, never expelled or +destroyed the native Gentoo nobility, zemindars, or landholders of the +country. They all, or almost all, remained fixed in their places, +properties, and dignities; and the shadows of several of them remain +under our jurisdiction. + +The next, which is the third era, is an era the more necessary to +observe upon, because Mr. Hastings has made many applications to it in +his defence before the Commons: namely, the invasion of the Tartars, or +the era of Tamerlane. These Tartars did not establish themselves on the +ruins of the Hindoos. Their conquests were over the other Mahomedans: +for Tamerlane invaded Hindostan, as he invaded other countries, in the +character of the great reformer of the Mahomedan religion. He came as a +sort of successor to the rights of the Prophet, upon a divine title. He +struck at all the Mahomedan princes who reigned at that time. He +considered them as apostates, or at least as degenerated from the faith, +and as tyrants abusing their power. To facilitate his conquests over +these, he was often obliged to come to a sort of a composition with the +people of the country he invaded. Tamerlane had neither time nor means +nor inclination to dispossess the ancient rajahs of the country. + +Your Lordships will observe that I propose nothing more than to give you +an idea of the principles of policy which prevailed in these several +revolutions, and not an history of the furious military achievements of +a barbarous invader. Historians, indeed, are generally very liberal of +their information concerning everything but what we ought to be very +anxious to know. They tell us that India was conquered by Tamerlane, and +conquered in such a year. The year will be found to coincide somewhere, +I believe, with the end of the fourteenth century. Thinking the mere +fact as of little moment, and its chronology as nothing, but thinking +the policy very material, which, indeed, is to be collected only here +and there, in various books written with various views, I shall beg +leave to lay before you a very remarkable circumstance relative to that +policy, and taken from the same book to which I formerly referred, Mr. +Holwell's. + +"When the Hindoo rajahs, or princes of Hindostan, submitted to +Tamerlane, it was on these capital stipulations: that the emperor should +marry a daughter of Rajah Cheyt Sing's house; that the head of this +house should be in perpetuity governors of the citadel of Agra, and +anoint the king at his coronation; and that the emperors should never +impose the _jessera_ (or poll-tax) upon the Hindoos." + +Here was a conqueror, as he is called, coming in upon terms; mixing his +blood with that of the native nobility of the country he conquered, and, +in consequence of this mixture, placing them in succession upon the +throne of the country he subdued; making one of them even hereditary +constable of the capital of his kingdom, and thereby putting his +posterity as a pledge into their hands. What is full as remarkable, he +freed the Hindoos forever from that tax which the Mahomedans have laid +upon every country over which the sword of Mahomet prevailed,--namely, a +capitation tax upon all who do not profess the religion of the +Mahomedans. But the Hindoos, by express charter, were exempted from that +mark of servitude, and thereby declared not to be a conquered people. +The native princes, in all their transactions with the Mogul government, +carried the evident marks of this free condition in a noble independency +of spirit. Within their own districts the authority of many of them +seemed entire. We are often led into mistakes concerning the government +of Hindostan, by comparing it with those governments where the prince is +armed with a full, speculative, entire authority, and where the great +people have, with great titles, no privileges at all, or, having +privileges, have those privileges only as subjects. But in Hindostan the +modes, the degrees, the circumstances of subjection varied infinitely. +In some places hardly a trace at all of subjection was to be discerned; +in some the rajahs were almost assessors of the throne, as in this case +of the Rajah Cheyt Sing. These circumstances mark, that Tamerlane, +however he may be indicated by the odious names of Tartar and Conqueror, +was no barbarian; that the people who submitted to him did not submit +with the abject submission of slaves to the sword of a conqueror, but +admitted a great supreme emperor, who was just, prudent, and politic, +instead of the ferocious, oppressive, lesser Mahomedan sovereigns, who +had before forced their way by the sword into the country. + +That country resembled more a republic of princes with a great chief at +their head than a territory in absolute, uniform, systematic subjection +from one end to the other,--in which light Mr. Hastings and others of +late have thought proper to consider it. According to them, if a +subordinate prince, like Cheyt Sing, was not ready to pay any exorbitant +sum on instant demand, or submit to any extent of fine which should be +inflicted upon him by the mere will of the person who called _robbery_ a +_fine_, and who took the measure of that fine without either considering +the means of paying or the degree of delinquency that justified it, +their properties, liberties, and lives were instantly forfeited. The +rajahs of that country were armed; they had fortresses for their +security; they had troops. In the receipt of both their own and the +imperial revenue, their securities for justice were in their own hands: +but the policy of the Mogul princes very rarely led them to push that +people to such extremity as it is supposed that on every slight occasion +we have a right to push those who are the subjects of our pretended +conquest. + +Mr. Holwell throws much light on this policy, which became the standing +law of the empire. + +In the unfortunate wars which followed the death of Mauz-o-Din, "Sevajee +Cheyt Sing," (the great rajah we have just mentioned,) "with a select +body of Rajpoots, by a well-conducted retreat recovered Agra, and was +soon after reconciled to the king [the Mogul] and admitted to his +favor,--conformable to the steady policy of this government, in keeping +a good understanding with the principal rajahs, and more especially with +the head of this house, who is ever capable of raising and fomenting a +very formidable party upon any intended revolution in this despotic and +precarious monarchy." + +You see that it was the monarchy that was precarious, not the rights of +the subordinate chiefs. Your Lordships see, that, notwithstanding our +ideas of Oriental despotism, under the successors of Tamerlane, these +principal rajahs, instead of being called wretches, and treated as such, +as Mr. Hastings has thought it becoming to call and treat them, when +they were in arms against their sovereign, were regarded with respect, +and were admitted to easy reconciliations; because, in reality, in their +occasional hostilities, they were not properly rebellious subjects, but +princes often asserting their natural rights and the just constitution +of the country. + +This view of the policy which prevailed during the dynasty of Tamerlane +naturally conducts me to the next, which is the fourth era in this +history: I mean the era of the Emperor Akbar. He was the first of the +successors of Tamerlane who obtained possession of Bengal. It is easy to +show of what nature his conquest was. It was over the last Mahomedan +dynasty. He, too, like his predecessor, Tamerlane, conquered the prince, +not the country. It is a certain mark that it was not a conquered +country in the sense in which we commonly call a country conquered, that +the natives, great men and landholders, continued in every part in the +possession of their estates, and of the jurisdictions annexed to them. +It is true, that, in the several wars for the succession to the Mogul +empire, and in other of their internal wars, severe revenges were taken, +which bore resemblance to those taken in the wars of the Roses in this +country, where it was the common course, in the heat of blood,--"Off +with his head!--so much for Buckingham!" Yet, where the country again +recovered its form and settlement, it recovered the spirit of a mild +government. Whatever rigor was used with regard to the Mahomedan +adventurers from Persia, Turkey, and other parts, who filled the places +of servile grandeur in the Mogul court, the Hindoos were a favored, +protected, gently treated people. + +The next, which is the fifth era, is a troubled and vexatious +period,--the era of the independent Subahs of Bengal. Five of these +subahs, or viceroys, governed from about the year 1717, or thereabouts. +They grew into independence partly by the calamities and concussions of +that empire, which happened during the disputes for the succession of +Tamerlane, and partly, and indeed principally, by the great shook which +the empire received when Thamas Kouli Khân broke into that country, +carried off its revenues, overturned the throne, and massacred not only +many of the chief nobility, but almost all the inhabitants of the +capital city. This rude shock, which that empire was never able to +recover, enabled the viceroys to become independent; but their +independence led to their ruin. Those who had usurped upon their masters +had servants who usurped upon them. Aliverdy Khân murdered his master, +and opened a way into Bengal for a body of foreign invaders, the +Mahrattas, who cruelly harassed the country for several years. Their +retreat was at length purchased, and by a sum which is supposed to +amount to five millions sterling. By this purchase he secured the +exhausted remains of an exhausted kingdom, and left it to his grandson, +Surajah Dowlah, in peace and poverty. On the fall of Surajah Dowlah, in +1756, commenced the last, which is the sixth,--the era of the British +empire. + +On the fifth dynasty I have only to remark to your Lordships, that at +its close the Hindoo chiefs were almost everywhere found in possession +of the country; that, although Aliverdy Khân was a cruel tyrant, though +he was an untitled usurper, though he racked and tormented the people +under his government, urged, however, by an apparent necessity from an +invading army of one hundred thousand horse in his dominions,--yet, +under him, the rajahs still preserved their rank, their dignity, their +castles, their houses, their seigniories, all the insignia of their +situation, and always the right, sometimes also the means, of protecting +their subordinate people, till the last and unfortunate era of 1756. + +Through the whole of this sketch of history I wish to impress but one +great and important truth upon your minds: namely, that, through all +these revolutions in government and changes in power, an Hindoo polity, +and the spirit of an Hindoo government, did more or less exist in that +province with which he was concerned, until it was finally to be +destroyed by Mr. Hastings. + + * * * * * + +My Lords, I have gone through all the eras precedent to those of the +British power in India, and am come to the first of those eras. Mr. +Hastings existed in India, and was a servant of the Company before that +era, and had his education between both. He is an antediluvian with +regard to the British dominion in Bengal. He was coexistent with all the +acts and monuments of that revolution, and had no small share in all the +abuses of that abusive period which preceded his actual government. Bat +as it was during that transit from Eastern to Western power that most of +the abuses had their origin, it will not be perfectly easy for your +Lordships thoroughly to enter into the nature and circumstances of them +without an explanation of the principal events that happened from the +year 1756 until the commencement of Mr. Hastings's government,--during a +good part of which time we do not often lose sight of him. If I find it +agreeable to your Lordships, if I find that you wish to know these +annals of Indian suffering and British delinquency, if you desire that I +should unfold the series of the transactions from 1756 to the period of +Mr. Hastings's government in 1771, that you may know how far he promoted +what was good, how far he rectified what was evil, how far he abstained +from innovation in tyranny, and contented himself with the old stock of +abuse, your Lordships will have the goodness to consult the strength +which from late indisposition, begins almost to fail me. And if you +think the explanation is not time lost in this new world and in this new +business, I shall venture to sketch out, as briefly and with as much +perspicuity as I can give them, the leading events of that obscure and +perplexed period which intervened between the British settlement in 1757 +and Mr. Hastings's government. If I should be so happy as to succeed in +that attempt, your Lordships' minds will be prepared for hearing this +cause. Then your Lordships will have a clear view of the origin and +nature of the abuses which prevailed in that government before Mr. +Hastings obtained his greatest power, and since that time; and then we +shall be able to enter fully and explicitly into the nature of the +cause: and I should hope that it will pave the way and make everything +easy for your subsequent justice. + +I therefore wish to stop at this period, in which Mr. Hastings became +active in the service, pretty near the time when he began his political +career: and here, my Lords, I pause, wishing your indulgence at such +time as will suit your convenience for pursuing the rest of this +eventful history. + + + + +SPEECH + +IN + +OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT. + +SECOND DAY: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1788. + + +My Lords,--In what I had the honor of laying before your Lordships +yesterday, and in what I may further trouble you with to-day, I wish to +observe a distinction, which if I did not lay down so perfectly as I +ought, I hope I shall now be able to mark it out with sufficient +exactness and perspicuity. + +First, I beg leave to observe that what I shall think necessary to +state, as matter of preliminary explanation, in order to give your +Lordships a true idea of the scene of action, of the instruments which +Mr. Hastings employed, and the effects which they produced,--all this I +wish to be distinguished from matter brought to criminate. Even the +matter, as stated by me, which may be hereafter brought to criminate, so +far as it falls to my share at present, is only to be considered, in +this stage of the business, as merely illustrative. Your Lordships are +to expect, as undoubtedly you will require, substantial matter of +crimination to be laid open for that purpose at the moment when the +evidence to each charge is ready to be produced to you. Thus your +Lordships will easily separate historical illustration from criminal +opening. For instance, if I stated yesterday to your Lordships, as I +did, the tyranny and cruelty of one of the usurping viceroys, whose +usurpation and whose vices led the way to the destruction of his country +and the introduction of a foreign power, I do not mean to charge Mr. +Hastings with any part of that guilt: what bears upon Mr. Hastings is +his having avowedly looked to such a tyrant and such a usurper as his +model, and followed that pernicious example with a servile fidelity. +When I have endeavored to lay open to your Lordships anything abusive, +or leading to abuse, from defects or errors in the constitution of the +Company's service, I did not mean to criminate Mr. Hastings on any part +of those defects and errors: I state them to show that he took advantage +of the imperfections of the institution to lot in his abuse of the power +with which he was intrusted. If, for a further instance, I have stated +that in general the service of the India Company was insufficient in +legal pay or emolument and abundant in the means of illegal profit, I do +not state that defect as owing to Mr. Hastings; but I state it as a +fact, to show in what manner and on what pretences he did, fraudulently, +corruptly, and for the purposes of his own ambition, take advantage of +that defect, and, under color of reformation, make an illegal, partial, +corrupt rise of emoluments to certain favored persons without regard to +the interests of the service at large,--increasing rather than lessening +the means of illicit emolument, as well as loading the Company with many +heavy and ruinous expenses in avowed salaries and allowances. + +Having requested your Lordships to keep in mind, which I trust you would +do even without my taking the liberty of suggesting it to you, these +necessary distinctions, I shall revert to the period at which I closed +yesterday, that great and memorable period which has remotely given +occasion to the trial of this day. + + * * * * * + +My Lords, to obtain empire is common; to govern it well has been rare +indeed. To chastise the guilt of those who have been instruments of +imperial sway over other nations by the high superintending justice of +the sovereign state has not many striking examples among any people. +Hitherto we have not furnished our contingent to the records of honor. +We have been confounded with the herd of conquerors. Our dominion has +been a vulgar thing. But we begin to emerge; and I hope that a severe +inspection of ourselves, a purification of our own offences, a +lustration of the exorbitances of our own power, is a glory reserved to +this time, to this nation, and to this august tribunal. + +The year 1756 is a memorable era in the history of the world: it +introduced a new nation from the remotest verge of the Western world, +with new manners, new customs, new institutions, new opinions, new laws, +into the heart of Asia. + +My Lords, if, in that part of Asia whose native regular government was +then broken up,--if, at the moment when it had fallen into darkness and +confusion from having become the prey and almost the sport of the +ambition of its home-born grandees,--if, in that gloomy season, a star +had risen from the West, that would prognosticate a better generation, +and would shed down the sweet influences of order, peace, science, and +security to the natives of that vexed and harassed country, we should +have been covered with genuine honor. It would have been a beautiful and +noble spectacle to mankind. + +Indeed, something might have been expected of the kind, when a new +dominion emanated from a learned and enlightened part of the world in +the most enlightened period of its existence. Still more might it have +been expected, when that dominion was found to issue from the bosom of a +free country, that it would have carried with it the full benefit of the +vital principle of the British liberty and Constitution, though its +municipal forms were not communicable, or at least the advantage of the +liberty and spirit of the British Constitution. Had this been the case, +(alas! it was not,) you would have been saved the trouble of this day. +It might have been expected, too, that, in that enlightened state of the +world, influenced by the best religion, and from an improved description +of that best religion, (I mean the Christian reformed religion,) that we +should have done honor to Europe, to letters, to laws, to +religion,--done honor to all the circumstances of which in this island +we boast ourselves, at the great and critical moment of that revolution. + +My Lords, it has happened otherwise. It is now left for us to repair our +former errors. Resuming the history where I broke off yesterday by your +indulgence to my weakness,--Surajah Dowlah was the adopted grandson of +Aliverdy Khân, a cruel and ferocious tyrant, the manner of whose +acquisition of power I have already stated. He came too young and +unexperienced to that throne of usurpation. It was a usurpation yet +green in the country, and the country felt uneasy under it. It had not +the advantage of that prescriptive usage, that inveterate habit, that +traditionary opinion, which a long continuance of any system of +government secures to it. The only real security which Surajah Dowlah's +government could possess was the security of an army. But the great aim +of this prince and his predecessor was to supply the weakness of his +government by the strength of his purse; he therefore amassed treasures +by all ways and on all hands. But as the Indian princes, in general, are +as unwisely tenacious of their treasure as they are rapacious in getting +it, the more money he amassed, the more he felt the effects of poverty. +The consequence was, that their armies were unpaid, and, being unpaid or +irregularly paid, were undisciplined, disorderly, unfaithful. In this +situation, a young prince, confiding more in the appearances than +examining into the reality of things, undertook (from motives which the +House of Commons, with all their industry to discover the circumstances, +have found it difficult to make out) to attack a little miserable +trading fort that we had erected at Calcutta. He succeeded in that +attempt only because success in that attempt was easy. A close +imprisonment of the whole settlement followed,--not owing, I believe, to +the direct will of the prince, but, what will always happen when the +will of the prince is but too much the law, to a gross abuse of his +power by his lowest servants,--by which one hundred and twenty or more +of our countrymen perished miserably in a dungeon, by a fate too +tragical for me to be desirous to relate, and too well known to stand in +need of it. + +At the time that this event happened, there was at the same time a +concurrence of other events, which, from this partial and momentary +weakness, displayed the strength of Great Britain in Asia. For some +years before, the French and English troops began, on the coast of +Coromandel, to exhibit the power, force, and efficacy of European +discipline. As we daily looked for a war with France, our settlements on +that coast were in some degree armed. Lord Pigot, then Governor of +Madras,--Lord Pigot, the preserver and the victim of the British +dominion in Asia,--detached such of the Company's force as could he +collected and spared, and such of his Majesty's ships as were on that +station, to the assistance of Calcutta. And--to hasten this history to +its conclusion--the daring and commanding genius of Clive, the patient +and firm ability of Watson, the treachery of Mir Jaffier, and the battle +of Plassey gave us at once the patronage of a kingdom and the command of +all its treasures. We negotiated with Mir Jaffier for the viceroyal +throne of his master. On that throne we seated him. And we obtained, on +our part, immense sums of money. We obtained a million sterling for the +Company, upwards of a million for individuals, in the whole a sum of +about two millions two hundred and thirty thousand pounds for various +purposes, from the prince whom we had set up. We obtained, too, the town +of Calcutta more completely than we had before possessed it, and the +twenty-four districts adjoining. This was the first small seminal +principle of the immense territorial acquisitions we have since made in +India. + +Many circumstances of this acquisition I pass by. There is a sacred veil +to be drawn over the beginnings of all governments. Ours in India had an +origin like those which time has sanctified by obscurity. Time, in the +origin of most governments, has thrown this mysterious veil over them; +prudence and discretion make it necessary to throw something of the same +drapery over more recent foundations, in which otherwise the fortune, +the genius, the talents, and military virtue of this nation never shone +more conspicuously. But whatever necessity might hide or excuse or +palliate, in the acquisition of power, a wise nation, when it has once +made a revolution upon its own principles and for its own ends, rests +there. The first step to empire is revolution, by which power is +conferred; the next is good laws, good order, good institutions, to give +that power stability. I am sorry to say that the reverse of this policy +was the principle on which the gentlemen in India acted. It was such as +tended to make the new government as unstable as the old. By the vast +sums of money acquired by individuals upon this occasion, by the immense +sudden prodigies of fortune, it was discovered that a revolution in +Bengal was a mine much more easily worked and infinitely more productive +than the mines of Potosi and Mexico. It was found that the work was not +only very lucrative, but not at all difficult. Where Clive forded a deep +water upon an unknown bottom, he left a bridge for his successors, over +which the lame could hobble and the blind might grope their way. There +was not at that time a knot of clerks in a counting-house, there was not +a captain of a band of ragged _topasses_, that looked for anything less +than the deposition of subahs and the sale of kingdoms. Accordingly, +this revolution, which ought to have precluded other revolutions, +unfortunately became fruitful of them; and when Lord Clive returned to +Europe, to enjoy his fame and fortune in his own country, there arose +another description of men, who thought that a revolution might be made +upon his revolution, and as lucrative to them as his was to the first +projectors. Scarcely was Mir Jaffier, Lord Olive's nabob, seated on his +_musnud_, than they immediately, or in a short time, projected another +revolution, a revolution which was to unsettle all the former had +settled, a revolution to make way for new disturbances and new wars, and +which led to that long chain of peculation which ever since has +afflicted and oppressed Bengal. + +If ever there was a time when Bengal should have had respite from +internal revolutions, it was this. The governor forced upon the natives +was now upon the throne. All the great lords of the country, both +Gentoos and Mahomedans, were uneasy, discontented, and disobedient, and +some absolutely in arms, and refusing to recognize the prince we had set +up. An imminent invasion of the Mahrattas, an actual invasion headed by +the son of the Mogul, the revenues on account of the late shock very ill +collected even where the country was in some apparent quiet, an hungry +treasury at Calcutta, an empty treasury at Moorshedabad,--everything +demanded tranquillity, and with it order and economy. In this situation +it was resolved to make a new and entirely mercenary revolution, and to +set up to sale the government, secured to its present possessor by every +tie of public faith and every sacred obligation which could bind or +influence mankind. This second revolution forms that period in the +Bengal history which had the most direct influence upon all the +subsequent transactions. It introduces some of the persons who were most +active in the succeeding scenes, and from that time to this has given +its tone and character to the British affairs and government. It marks +and specifies the origin and true principle of all the abuses which Mr. +Hastings was afterwards appointed to correct, and which the Commons +charge that he continued and aggravated: namely, the venal depositions +and venal exaltations of the country powers; the taking of bribes and +corrupt presents from all parties in those changes; the vitiating and +maiming the Company's records; the suppression of public correspondence; +corrupt combinations and conspiracies; perfidy in negotiation +established into principle; acts of the most atrocious wickedness +justified upon purity of intention; mock-trials and collusive acquittals +among the parties in common guilt; and in the end, the Court of +Directors supporting the scandalous breach of their own orders. I shall +state the particulars of this second revolution more at large. + +Soon after the revolution which had seated Mir Jaffier on the viceroyal +throne, the spirit of the Mogul empire began, as it were, to make one +faint struggle before it finally expired. The then heir to that throne, +escaping from the hands of those who had held his father prisoner, had +put himself at the head of several chiefs collected under the standard +of his house, and appeared in force on the frontiers of the provinces of +Bengal and Bahar, upon both which he made some impression. This alarmed +the new powers, the Nabob Mir Jaffier, and the Presidency of Calcutta; +and as in a common cause, and by the terms of their mutual alliance, +they took the field against him. The Nabob's eldest son and +heir-apparent commanded in chief. Major Calliaud commanded the English +forces under the government of Calcutta. Mr. Holwell was in the +temporary possession of the Presidency. Mr. Vansittart was hourly +expected to supersede him. Mr. Warren Hastings, a young gentleman about +twenty-seven years of age, was Resident for the Company at the durbar, +or court, of Mir Jaffier, our new-created Nabob of Bengal, allied to +this country by the most solemn treaties that can bind men; for which +treaties he had paid, and was then paying, immense sums of money. Mr. +Warren Hastings was the pledge in his hands for the honor of the British +nation, and their fidelity to their engagements. + +In this situation, Mr. Holwell, whom the terrible example of the Black +Hole at Calcutta had not cured of ambition, thought an hour was not to +be lost in accomplishing a revolution and selling the reigning Nabob. + +My Lords, there was in the house of Mir Jaffier, in his court, and in +his family, a man of an intriguing, crafty, subtle, and at the same time +bold, daring, desperate, bloody, and ferocious character, called Cossim +Ali Khân. He was the son-in-law of Mir Jaffier; and he made no other use +of this affinity than to find some means to dethrone and to murder him. +This was the person in whose school of politics Mr. Hastings made his +first studies, and whose conduct he quotes as his example, and for whose +friends, agents, and favorites he has always shown a marked +predilection. This dangerous man was not long without finding persons +who observed his talents with admiration, and who thought fit to employ +him. + +The Council at Calcutta was divided into two departments: one, the +Council in general; the other a Select Committee, which they had +arranged for the better carrying on their political affairs. But the +Select Committee had no power of acting wholly without the Council at +large,--at least, finally and conclusively. The Select Committee +thought otherwise. Between these litigant parties for power I shall not +determine on the merits,--thinking of nothing but the use that was made +of the power, to whomsoever it belonged. This Secret Committee, then, +without communicating with the rest of the Council, formed the plan for +a second revolution. But the concurrence of Major Calliaud, who +commanded the British troops, was essential to the purpose, as it could +not be accomplished without force. Mr. Hastings's assistance was +necessary, as it could not be accomplished without treachery. + +These are the parties concerned in the intended revolution. Mr. Holwell, +who considered himself in possession only of temporary power, was urged +to precipitate the business; for if Mr. Vansittart should arrive before +his plot could be finally put into execution, he would have all the +leading advantages of it, and Mr. Holwell would be considered only as a +secondary instrument. But whilst Mr. Holwell, who originally conceived +this plot, urged forward the execution of it, in order that the chief +share of the profits might fall to him, the Major, and possibly the +Resident, held back, till they might receive the sanction of the +permanent governor, who was hourly expected, with whom one of them was +connected, and who was to carry with him the whole weight of the +authority of this kingdom. This difference produced discussions. Holwell +endeavored by his correspondence to stimulate Calliaud to this +enterprise, which without him could not be undertaken at all. But Major +Calliaud had different views. He concurred inwardly, as he tells us +himself, in all the principles of this intended revolution, in the +propriety and necessity of it. He only wished delay. But he gave such +powerful, solid, and satisfactory reasons, not against the delay, but +the very merits of the design itself, exposing the injustice and the +danger of it, and the impossibility of mending by it their condition in +any respect, as must have damned it in the minds of all rational men: at +least it ought to have damned it forever in his own. But you will see +that Holwell persevered in his plan, and that Major Calliaud thought two +things necessary: first, not wholly to destroy the scheme, which he +tells us he always approved, but to postpone the execution,--and in the +mean time to delude the Nabob by the most strong, direct, and sanguine +assurances of friendship and protection that it was possible to give to +man. + +Whilst the projected revolution stood suspended,--whilst Mr. Holwell +urged it forward, and Mr. Vansittart was expected every day to give it +effect,--whilst Major Calliaud, with this design of ruining the Nabob +lodged in his breast, suspended in execution, and condemned in +principle, kept the fairest face and the most confidential interviews +with that unfortunate prince and his son,--as the operations of the +campaign relaxed, the army drew near to Moorshedabad, the capital, when +a truly extraordinary scene happened, such I am sure the English annals +before that time had furnished no example of, nor will, I trust, in +future. I shall state it as one piece from beginning to end, reserving +the events which intervened; because, as I do not produce any part of +this series for the gratification of historical curiosity, the +con-texture is necessary to demonstrate to your Lordships the spirit of +our Bengal politics, and the necessity of some other sort of judicial +inquiries than those which that government institute for themselves. +The transaction so manifestly marks the character of the whole +proceeding that I hope I shall not be blamed for suspending for a moment +the narrative of the steps taken towards the revolution, that you may +see the whole of this episode together,--that by it you may judge of the +causes which led progressively to the state in which the Company's +affairs stood, when Mr. Hastings was sent for the express purpose of +reforming it. + +The business I am going to enter into is commonly known by the name of +the Story of the Three Seals. It is to be found in the Appendix, No. 10, +to the First Report of the state and condition of the East India +Company, made in 1773. The word _Report_, my Lords, is sometimes a +little equivocal, and may signify sometimes, not what is made known, but +what remains in obscurity: the detail and evidence of many facts +referred to in the Report being usually thrown into the Appendix. Many +people, and I among the rest, (I take shame to myself for it,) may not +have fully examined that Appendix. I was not a member of either of the +India committees of 1773. It is not, indeed, till within this year that +I have been thoroughly acquainted with that memorable history of the +Three Seals. + +The history is this. In the year 1760 the allies were in the course of +operations against the son of the Mogul, now the present Mogul, who, as +I have already stated, had made an irruption into the kingdom of Bahar, +in order to reduce the lower provinces to his obedience. The parties +opposing him were the Nabob of Bengal and the Company's troops under +Major Calliaud. It was whilst they faced the common enemy as one body, +this negotiation for the destruction of the Nabob of Bengal by his +faithful allies of the Company was going on with diligence. At that time +the Nabob's son, Meeran, a youth in the flower of his age, bold, +vigorous, active, full of the politics in which those who are versed in +usurpation are never wanting, commanded the army under his father, but +was in reality the efficient person in all things. + +About the 15th of April, 1760, as I have it from Major Calliaud's letter +of that date, the Nabob came into his tent, and, with looks of the +utmost embarrassment, big with some design which swelled his bosom, +something that was too large and burdensome to conceal, and yet too +critical to be told, appeared to be in a state of great distraction. The +Major, seeing him in this condition, kindly, gently, like a fast and +sure friend, employed (to use his own expression) _some of those +assurances that tend to make men fully open their hearts_; and +accordingly, fortified by his assurances, and willing to disburden +himself of the secret that oppressed him, he opens his heart to the +commanding officer of his new friends, allies, and protectors. The +Nabob, thus assured, did open himself, and informed Major Calliaud that +he had just received a message from the Prince, or his principal +minister, informing him that the Prince Royal, now the Mogul, had an +intention (as, indeed, he rationally might, supposing that we were as +well disposed to him as we showed ourselves afterwards) to surrender +himself into the hands of him, the Nabob, but at the same time wished, +as a guaranty, that the commander-in-chief of the English forces should +give him security for his life and his honor, when he should in that +manner surrender himself to the Nabob. I do not mean, my Lords, by +surrendering, that it was supposed he intended to surrender himself +prisoner of war, but as a sovereign dubious of the fidelity of those +about him would put himself into the hands of his faithful subjects, of +those who claimed to derive all their power, as both we and the Nabob +did, under his authority. The Nabob stated to the English general, that +without this English security the Prince would not deliver himself into +his hands. Here he confessed he found a difficulty. For the giving this +faith, if it were kept, would defeat his ultimate view, which was, when +the Prince had delivered himself into his hands, in plain terms to +murder him. This grand act could not be accomplished without the English +general. In the first place, the Prince, without the English security, +would not deliver himself into the Nabob's hands; and afterwards, +without the English concurrence, he could not be murdered. These were +difficulties that pressed upon the mind of the Nabob. + +The English commander heard this astonishing proposition without any +apparent emotion. Being a man habituated to great affairs, versed in +revolutions, and with a mind fortified against extraordinary events, he +heard it and answered it without showing any signs of abhorrence or +detestation,--at the same time with a protestation that he would indeed +serve him, the Nabob, but it should be upon such terms as honor and +justice could support: informing him, that an assurance for the Prince's +safety could not be given by him, until he had consulted Mr. Holwell, +who was Governor, and his superior. + +This conversation passed in the morning. On that very morning, and +whilst the transaction was hot, Major Calliaud writes to Mr. Holwell an +account of it. In his letter he informs him that he made an inquiry, +without stating from whom, but that he did inquire the probability of +the Nabob's getting possession of the Prince from some persons, who +assured him that there was no probability of the Prince's intention to +deliver himself to the Nabob on any terms. Be that as it may, it is +impossible not to remark that the whole transaction of the morning of +the 15th of April was not very discouraging to the Nabob,--not such as +would induce him to consider this most detestable of all projects as a +thing utterly unfeasible, and as such to abandon it. The evening came on +without anything to alter his opinion. Major Calliaud that evening came +to the Nabob's tent to arrange some matters relative to the approaching +campaign. The business soon ended with regard to the campaign; but the +proposal of the morning to Major Calliaud, as might be expected to +happen, was in effect renewed. Indeed, the form was a little different; +but the substantial part remained the same. Your Lordships will see what +these alterations were. + +In the evening scene the persons were more numerous. On the part of the +Company, Major Calliaud, Mr. Lushington, Mr. Knox, and the ambassador at +the Nabob's court, Mr. Warren Hastings. On the part of the Moorish +government, the Nabob himself, his son Meeran, a Persian secretary, and +the Nabob's head spy, an officer well known in that part of the world, +and of some rank. These were the persons of the drama in the evening +scene. The Nabob and his son did not wait for the Prince's committing +himself to their faith, which, it seems, Major Calliaud did not think +likely to happen; so that one act of treachery is saved: but another +opened of as extraordinary a nature. Intent and eager on the execution, +and the more certain, of their design, they accepted the plan of a +wicked wretch, principal servant of the then prime-minister to the +Mogul, or themselves suggested it to him. A person called Conery, dewan +or principal steward to Camgar Khân, a great chief in the service of the +Shahzada, or Prince, (now the Great Mogul, the sovereign under whom the +Company holds their charter,) had, it seems, made a proposal to the +Nabob, that, if a considerable territory then held by his master was +assured to him, and a reward of a lac of rupees (ten or twelve thousand, +pounds) secured to him, he would for that consideration deliver the +Prince, the eldest son of the Mogul, alive into the hands of the Nabob; +or if that could not be effected, he engaged to murder him for the same +reward. But as the assassin could not rely on the Nabob and his son for +his reward for this meritorious action, and thought better of English +honor and fidelity in such delicate cases, he required that Major +Calliaud should set his seal to the agreement. This proposition was made +to an English commander: what discourse happened upon it is uncertain. +Mr. Hastings is stated by some evidence to have acted as interpreter in +this memorable congress. But Major Calliaud agreed to it without any +difficulty. Accordingly, an instrument was drawn, an indenture +tripartite prepared by the Persian secretary, securing to the party the +reward of this infamous, perfidious, murderous act. First, the Nabob put +his own seal to the murder. The Nabob's son, Meeran, affixed _his_ seal. +A third seal, the most important of all, was yet wanting. A pause +ensued: Major Calliaud's seal was not at hand; but Mr. Lushington was +sent near half a mile to bring it. It was brought at length; and the +instrument of blood and treachery was completely executed. Three seals +were set to it. + +This business of the three seals, by some means not quite fully +explained, but (as suspected by the parties) by means of the information +of Mr. Holwell, who soon after came home, was conveyed to the ears of +the Court of Directors. The Court of Directors wrote out, under date of +the 7th of October, 1761, within a little more than a year after this +extraordinary transaction, to this effect:--that, in conjunction with +the Nabob, Major Calliaud had signed a paper offering a reward of a lac +of rupees, or some such sum, to several black persons, for the +assassination of the Shahzada, or Prince heir-apparent,--which paper was +offered to the then Chief of Patna to sign, but which he refused on +account of the infamy of the measure. As it appeared in the same light +to them, the Directors, they ordered a strict inquiry into it. The India +Company, who here did their duty with apparent manliness and vigor, were +resolved, however, to do it with gentleness, and to proceed in a manner +that could not produce any serious mischief to the parties charged; for +they directed the commission of inquiry to the very clan and set of +people who, from a participation in their common offences, stood in awe +of one another,--in effect, to the parties in the transaction. Without a +prosecutor, without an impartial director of the inquiry, they left it +substantially to those persons to try one another for their common acts. + +Here I come upon the principle which I wish most strongly to mark to +your Lordships: I mean collusive trials and collusive acquittals. When +this matter came to be examined, according to the orders of the Court, +which was on the 4th of October, 1762, the Council consisted of Peter +Maguire, Warren Hastings, and Hugh Watts. Mr. Hastings had by this time +accomplished the business of Resident with the Nabob, and had taken the +seat to which his seniority entitled him in Council. Here a difficulty +arose _in limine_. Mr. Hastings was represented to have acted as +interpreter in this business; he was therefore himself an object of the +inquisition; he was doubtful as evidence; he was disqualified as a +judge. It likewise appeared that there might be some objection to others +whose evidence was wanting, but who were themselves concerned in the +guilt. Mr. Lushington's evidence would be useful, but there were two +circumstances rather unlucky. First, he had put the seal to the +instrument of murder; and, secondly, and what was most material, he had +made an affidavit at Patna, whilst the affair was green and recent, that +he had done so; and in the same affidavit had deposed that Warren +Hastings was interpreter in that transaction. Here were difficulties +both on him and Mr. Hastings. The question was, how to get Mr. Hastings, +the interpreter, out of his interpretation, and to put him upon the seat +of judgment. It was effected, however, and the manner in which it was +effected was something curious. Mr. Lushington, who by this time was got +completely over, himself tells you that in conferences with Major +Calliaud, and by arguments and reasons by him delivered, he was +persuaded to unsay his swearing, and to declare that he believed that +the affidavit which he made at Patna, and while the transaction was +recent or nearly recent, must be a mistake: that he _believed_ (what is +amazing indeed for any belief) that not Mr. Hastings, but he himself, +interpreted. Mr. Lushington completely loses his own memory, and he +accepts an offered, a given memory, a memory supplied to him by a party +in the transaction. By this operation all difficulties are removed: Mr. +Hastings is at once put into the capacity of a judge. He is declared by +Mr. Lushington not to have been an interpreter in the transaction. After +this, Mr. Hastings is himself examined. Your Lordships will look at the +transaction at your leisure, and I think you will consider it as a +pattern for inquiries of this kind. Mr. Hastings is examined: he does +not recollect. His memory also fails on a business in which it is not +easy to suppose a man could be doubtful,--whether he was present or not: +he thinks he was not there,--for that, if he had been there, and acted +as interpreter, he could not have forgot it. + +I think it is pretty nearly as I state it: if I have fallen into any +error or inaccuracy, it is easily rectified; for here is the state of +the transaction given by the parties themselves. On this inaccurate +memory of Mr. Hastings, not venturing, however, to say positively that +he was not the interpreter, or that he was not present, he is discharged +from being an accomplice,--he is removed from the bar, and leaps upon +the seat of justice. The court thus completed, Major Calliaud comes +manfully forward to make his defence. Mr. Lushington is taken off his +back in the manner we have seen, and no one person remains but Captain +Knox. Now, if Captain Knox was there and assenting, he is an accomplice +too. Captain Knox asserts, that, at the consultation about the murder, +he said it was a pity to cut off so fine a young fellow in such a +manner,--meaning that fine young fellow the Prince, the descendant of +Tamerlane, the present reigning Mogul, from whom the Company derive +their present charter. The purpose to be served by this declaration, if +it had any purpose, was, that Captain Knox did not assent to the murder, +and that therefore his evidence might be valid. + +The defence set up by Major Calliaud was to this effect. He was +apprehensive, he said, that the Nabob was alarmed at the violent designs +that were formed against him by Mr. Holwell, and that therefore, to +quiet his mind, (to quiet it by a proposition compounded of murder and +treason,--an odd kind of mind he had that was to be quieted by such +means!)--but to quiet his mind, and to show that the English were +willing to go all lengths with him, to sell body and soul to him, he did +put his seal to this extraordinary agreement, he put his seal to this +wonderful paper. He likewise stated, that he was of opinion at the time +that nothing at all sinister could happen from it, that no such murder +was likely to take place, whatever might be the intention of the +parties. In fact, he had very luckily said in a letter of his, written a +day after the setting the seal, "I think nothing will come of this +matter, but it is no harm to try." This experimental treachery, and +these essays of conditional murder, appeared to him good enough to make +a trial of; but at the same time he was afraid nothing would come of it. +In general, the whole gest of his defence comes to one point, in which +he persists,--that, whatever the act might be, his mind is clear: "My +hands are guilty, but my heart is free." He conceived that it would be +very improper, undoubtedly, to do such an act, if he suspected anything +could happen from it: he, however, let the thing out of his own hands; +he put, it into the hands of others; he put the commission into the +hands of a murderer. The fact was not denied; it was fully before these +severe judges. The extenuation was the purity of his heart, and the bad +situation of the Company's affairs,--the perpetual plea, which your +Lordships will hear of forever, and which if it will justify evil +actions, they will take good care that the most nefarious of their deeds +shall never want a sufficient justification. But then he calls upon his +life and his character to oppose to his seal; and though he has declared +that Mr. Holwell had intended ill to the Nabob, and that he approved of +those measures, and only postponed them, yet he thought it necessary, he +says, to quiet the fears of the Nabob; and from this motive he did an +act abhorrent to his nature, and which, he says, he expressed his +abhorrence of the morning after he signed it: not that he did so; but if +he had, I believe it would only have made the thing so many degrees +worse. Your Lordships will observe, that, in this conference, as stated +by himself, these reasons and apologies for it did not appear, nor did +they appear in the letter, nor anywhere else, till next year, when he +came upon his trial. Then it was immediately recollected that Mr. +Holwell's designs were so wicked they certainly must be known to the +Nabob, though he never mentioned them in the conference of the morning +or the evening of the 15th; yet such was now the weight and prevalence +of them upon the Major's mind, that he calls upon Mr. Hastings to know +whether the Nabob was not informed of these designs of Mr. Holwell +against him. Mr. Hastings's memory was not quite correct upon the +occasion. He does not recollect anything of the matter. He certainly +seems not to think that he ever mentioned it to the Nabob, or the Nabob +to him; but he does recollect, he thinks, speaking something to some of +the Nabob's attendants upon it, and further this deponent sayeth not. On +this state of things, namely, the purity of intention, the necessities +of the Company, the propriety of keeping the Nabob in perfect good-humor +and removing suspicions from his mind, which suspicions he had never +expressed, they came to the resolution I shall have the honor to read to +you: "That the representation, given in the said defence, of the state +of the affairs of the country at that time" (that is, about the month of +April, 1760) "is true and just" (that is, the bad state of the country, +which we shall consider hereafter); "that, in such circumstances, the +Nabob's urgent account of his own distresses, the Colonel's desire of +making him easy," (for here is a recapitulation of the whole defence,) +"as the first thing necessary for the good of the service, and the +suddenness of the thing proposed, might deprive him for a moment of his +recollection, and surprise him into a measure which, as to the measure +itself, he could not approve. That such only were the motives which did +or could influence Colonel Calliaud to assent to the proposal is fully +evinced by the deposition of Captain Knox and Mr. Lushington, that _his_ +[_Calliaud's_] _conscience, at the time, never reproached him with a bad +design_." + +Your Lordships have heard of the testimony of a person to his own +conscience; but the testimony of another man to any one's +conscience--this is the first time, I believe, it ever appeared in a +judicial proceeding. It is natural to say, "My conscience acquits me of +it"; but _they_ declare, that "_his_ conscience never reproached him +with a bad design, and therefore, upon the whole, they are satisfied +that his intention was good, though he erred in the measure." + +I beg leave to state one thing that escaped me: that the Nabob, who was +one of the parties to the design, was, at the time of the inquiry, a +sort of prisoner or an exile at Calcutta; that his _moonshee_ was there, +or might have been had; and that his spy was likewise there; and that +they, though parties to this transaction, were never called to account +for it in any sense or in any degree, or to show how far it was +_necessary_ to quiet the Nabob's mind. + +The accomplices, by acquitting him upon _their_ testimony to _his +conscience_, did their business nobly. But the good Court of Directors, +who were so easily satisfied, so ready to condemn at the first +proposition and so ready afterwards to acquit, put the last finishing +hand of a master to it. For the accomplices acquit him of evil +intentions and excuse his act. The Court of Directors, disapproving +indeed the measure, but receiving the testimony of his conscience in +justification of his conduct, and taking up the whole ground, honorably +acquit him, and commend this action as an instance of heroic zeal in +their service. + +The great end and purpose for which I produce this to your Lordships is +to show you the necessity there is for other inquiries, other trials, +other acquittals of parties, than those made by a collusive clan abroad, +or by the Directors at home, who had required the parties to inquire of +themselves, and to take the testimony of the judges at second-hand, as +to the conscience of the party accused, respecting acts which neither +they nor any man living can look upon but with horror. + +I have troubled your Lordships with the story of the Three Seals, as a +specimen of the then state of the service, and the politics of the +servants, civil and military, in the horrid abuses which then prevailed, +and which render at length the most rigorous reformation necessary. I +close this episode to resume the proceedings at the second revolution. + +This affair of the three seals was, we have seen, to quiet the fears of +the Nabob. His fears it was indeed necessary to quiet; for your +Lordships will see that the man whose fears were to be set asleep by +Major Calliaud's offering him, in a scheme for murdering his sovereign, +an odd sort of opiate, made up of blood and treason, was now in a fair +way of being murdered himself by the machinations of him whose seal was +set to his murderous security of peace, and by those his accomplices, +Holwell and Hastings: at least they resolved to put him in a situation +in which his murder was in a manner inevitable, as you will see in the +sequel of the transaction. Now the plan proceeds. The parties continued +in the camp; but there was another _remora_. To remove a nabob and to +create a revolution is not easy: houses are strong who have sons grown +up with vigor and fitness for the command of armies. They are not easily +overturned by removing the principal, unless the secondary is got rid +of: and if this _remora_ could be removed, everything was going on in a +happy way in the business. This plan, which now (that is, about the +month of July) began to get into great ripeness and forwardness, Mr. +Holwell urged forward, Mr. Vansittart being hourly expected. + +I do not know whether I am going to state a thing, though it is upon the +records, which will not have too theatrical an appearance for the grave +state in which we are. But here it is,--the difficulty, the knot, and +the solution, as recorded by the parties themselves. It was the object +of this bold, desperate, designing man, Cossim All Khân, who aimed at +everything, and who scrupled not to do anything in attaining what he +aimed at, to be appointed the lieutenant of the Nabob Jaffier Ali, and +thus to get possession of his office during his lifetime under that +name, with a design of murdering him: for that office, according to many +usages of that country, totally supersedes the authority of the first +magistrate, renders him a cipher in his hand, gives the administration +of his affairs and command of his troops to the lieutenant. It was a +part of his plan, that he was, after his appointment to the lieutenancy, +to be named to the succession of the Nabob, who had several other +children; but the eldest son stood in the way. + +But as things hastened to a crisis, this difficulty was removed in the +most extraordinary and providential unheard-of manner, by the most +extraordinary event that, I believe, is recorded in history. Just in the +nick of time, in the moment of projection, on the 3d of July, this +Prince Meeran, in the flower of his age, bold, active, enterprising, +lying asleep in his tent, is suddenly, without any one's knowing it, +without any alarm or menace in the heavens that ever was heard of or +mentioned, without any one whatever being hurt or even alarmed in the +camp, killed with a flash of lightning. My Lords, thus was the Gordian +knot cut. This prince dies of a flash of lightning, and Mr. Lushington +(of whom you have heard) comes in the morning with his hair standing +erect, comes frightened into the presence of Major Calliaud, and, with +the utmost alarm, tells him of a circumstance that was afterwards to +give them so much pleasure. The alarm was immediately communicated to +the Major, who was seized with a fright; and fearing lest the army +should mutiny upon the death of their chief, it was contrived, in a +manner that I believe was most difficult to contrive, that what might +have excited a general mutiny was concealed by the ability, the good +conduct, and dexterity of Major Calliaud for seven days together, till +he led the army out of the place of danger. Thus a judgment fell upon +one of the (innocent) murderers in the scene of the Three Seals. This +man, who was probably guilty in his conscience as well as in act, thus +fell by that most lucky, providential, and most useful flash of +lightning. + +There were at that time, it seems, in Calcutta, a wicked, skeptical set +of people, who somehow or other believed that _human_ agency was +concerned in this elective flash, which came so very opportunely, and +which was a favor so thankfully acknowledged. These wicked, ill-natured +skeptics disseminated reports (which I am sure I do not mean to charge +or prove, leaving the effect of them to you) very dishonorable, I +believe, to Cossim Ali Khân in the business, and to some Englishmen who +were concerned. + +The difficulty of getting rid of Meeran being thus removed, Mr. +Vansittart comes upon the scene. I verily believe he was a man of good +intentions, and rather debauched by that amazing flood of iniquity which +prevailed at that time, or hurried and carried away with it. In a few +days he sent for Major Calliaud. All his objections vanish in _an +instant_: like that flash of lightning, everything is _instant_. The +Major agrees to perform his part. They send for Cossim Ali Khân and Mr. +Hastings; they open a treaty and conclude it with him, leaving the +management of it to two persons, Mr. Holwell and another person, whom we +have heard of, an Armenian, called Coja Petruse, who afterwards played +his part in another illustrious scene. By this Petruse and Mr. Holwell +the matter is settled. The moment Mr. Holwell is raised to be a +Secretary of State, the revolution is accomplished. By it Cossim Ali +Khân is to have the lieutenancy at present, and the succession. +Everything is put into his hands, and he is to make for it large +concessions, which you will hear of afterwards, to the Company. Cossim +Ali Khân proposed to Mr. Holwell, what would have been no bad supplement +to the flash of lightning, the murder of the Nabob; but Mr. Holwell was +a man of too much honor and conscience to suffer that. He instantly flew +out at it, and declared the whole business should stop, unless the +affair of the murder was given up. Accordingly things were so settled. +But if he gave the Nabob over to an intended murderer, and delivered his +person, treasure, and everything into his hands, Cossim Ali Khân might +have had no great reason to complain of being left to the execution of +his own projects in his own way. The treaty was made, and amounted to +this,--that the Company was to receive three great provinces: for here, +as we proceed, you will have an opportunity of observing, with the +progress of these plots, one thing which has constantly and uniformly +pervaded the whole of these projects, and which the persons concerned in +them have avowed as a principle of their actions,--that they were first +to take care of the Company's interest, then of their own; that is, +first to secure to the Company an enormous bribe, and under the shadow +of that bribe to take all the little emoluments they could to +themselves. Three great, rich, southern provinces, maritime, or nearly +maritime, Burdwan, Midnapoor, and Chittagong, were to be dissevered from +the Subah and to be ceded to the Company. There were other minor +stipulations, which it is not necessary at present to trouble you with, +signed, sealed, and executed at Calcutta between these parties with the +greatest possible secrecy. The lieutenancy and the succession were +secured to Cossim Ali, and he was likewise to give somewhere about the +sum of 200,000_l._ to the gentlemen who were concerned, as a reward for +serving him so effectually, and for serving their country so well. +Accordingly, these stipulations, actual or understood, (for they were +eventually carried into effect,) being settled, a commission of +delegation, consisting chiefly of Mr. Vansittart and Major Calliaud, was +sent up to Moorshedabad: the new Governor taking this opportunity of +paying the usual visit of respect to the Nabob, and in a manner which a +new Governor coming into place would do, with the detail of which it is +not necessary to trouble you. Mr. Hastings was at this time at the +durbar; and having everything prepared, and the ground smoothed, they +first endeavored to persuade the Nabob to deliver over the power +negotiated for into the hands of their friend Cossim Ali Khân. But when +the old man, frightened out of his wits, asked, "What is it he has bid +for me?" and added, "I will give half as much again to save myself; pray +let me know what my price is,"--he entreated in vain. They were true, +firm, and faithful to their word and their engagement. When he saw they +were resolved that he should be delivered into the hands of Cossim Ali +Khân, he at once surrenders the whole to him. They instantly grasp it. +He throws himself into a boat, and will not remain at home an hour, but +hurries down to Calcutta to leave his blood at our door, if we should +have a mind to take it. But the life of the Nabob was too great a stake +(partly as a security for the good behavior of Cossim Ali Khân, and +still more for the future use that might be made of him) to be thrown +away, or left in the hands of a man who would certainly murder him, and +who was very angry at being refused the murder of his father-in-law. The +price of this second revolution was, according to their shares in it, (I +believe I have it here,) somewhere about 200,000_l._ This little +effusion to private interest settled the matter, and here ended the +second revolution in the country: effected, indeed, without bloodshed, +but with infinite treachery, with infinite mischief, consequent to the +dismemberment of the country, and which had nearly become fatal to our +concerns there, like everything else in which Mr. Hastings had any +share. + +This prince, Cossim Ali Khân, the friend of Mr. Hastings, knew that +those who could give could take away dominion. He had scarcely got upon +the throne, procured for him by our public spirit and his own +iniquities, than he began directly and instantly to fortify himself, and +to bend all his politics against those who were or could be the donors +of such fatal gifts. He began with the natives who were in their +interest, and cruelly put to death, under the eye of Mr. Hastings and +his clan, all those who, by their moneyed wealth or landed +consideration, could give any effect to their dispositions in favor of +those ambitious strangers. He removed from Moorshedabad higher up into +the country, to Monghir, in order to be more out of our view. He kept +his word pretty well, but not altogether faithfully, with the gentlemen; +and though he had no money, for his treasury was empty, he gave +obligations which are known by the name of _jeeps_--(the Indian +vocabulary will by degrees become familiar to your Lordships, as we +develop the modes and customs of the country). As soon as he had done +this, he began to rack and tear the provinces that were left to him, to +get as much from them as should compensate him for the revenues of those +great provinces he had lost; and accordingly he began a scene of +extortion, horrible, nefarious, without precedent or example, upon +almost all the landed interest of that country. I mention this, because +he is one of those persons whose governments Mr. Hastings, in a paper +called his Defence, delivered in to the House of Commons, has produced +as precedents and examples which he has thought fit to follow, and which +he thought would justify him in the conduct he has pursued. This Cossim +Ali Khân, after he had acted the tyrant on the landed interest, fell +upon the moneyed interest. In that country there was a person called +Juggut Seit. There were several of the family, who were bankers to such +a magnitude as was never heard of in the world. Receivers of the public +revenue, their correspondence extended all over Asia; and there are +those who are of opinion that the house of Juggut Seit, including all +its branches, was not worth less than six or seven millions sterling. +This house became the prey of Cossim Ali Khân; but Mr. Holwell had +predicted that _it should be delivered over to Satan to be buffeted_ +(his own pious expression). He predicted the misfortunes that should +befall them; and we chose a Satan to buffet them, and who did so buffet +them, by the murder of the principal persons of the house, and by +robbing them of great sums of their wealth, that I believe such a scene +of nefarious tyranny, destroying and cutting up the root of public +credit in that country, was scarce ever known. In the mean time Cossim +was extending his tyranny over all who were obnoxious to him; and the +persons he first sought were those traitors who had been friends to the +English. Several of the principal of these he murdered. There was in the +province of Bahar a man named Ramarain; he had got the most positive +assurances of English faith; but Mr. Macguire, a member of the Council, +on the receipt of five thousand gold mohurs, or something more than +8,000_l._ sterling, delivered him up to be first imprisoned, then +tortured, then robbed in consequence of the torture, and finally +murdered, by Cossim Ali Khân. In this way Cossim Ali Khân acted, while +our government looked on. I hardly choose to mention to you the fate of +a certain native in consequence of a dispute with Mr. Mott, a friend of +Mr. Hastings, which is in the Company's records,--records which are +almost buried by their own magnitude from the knowledge of this country. +In a contest with this native for his house and property, some scuffle +having happened between the parties, the one attempting to seize and the +other to defend, the latter made a complaint to the Nabob, who was in an +entire subjection at that time to the English, and who ordered this +unfortunate man, on account of this very scuffle, arising from +defending his property, to be blown off from the mouth of a cannon. In +short, I am not able to tell your Lordships of all the nefarious +transactions of this man, whom the intrigues of Mr. Holwell and Mr. +Hastings had set upon the throne of Bengal. But there is a circumstance +in this business that comes across here, and will tend to show another +grievance that vexed that country, which vexed it long, and is one of +the causes of its chief disasters, and which, I fear, is not so +perfectly extirpated but that some part of its roots may remain in the +ground at this moment. + +Commerce, which enriches every other country in the world, was bringing +Bengal to total ruin. The Company, in former times, when it had no +sovereignty or power in the country, had large privileges under their +_dustuck_, or permit: their goods passed, without paying duties, through +the country. The servants of the Company made use of this dustuck for +their own private trade, which, while it was used with moderation, the +native government winked at in some degree; but when it got wholly into +private hands, it was more like robbery than trade. These traders +appeared everywhere; they sold at their own prices, and forced the +people to sell to them at their own prices also. It appeared more like +an army going to pillage the people, under pretence of commerce, than +anything else. In vain the people claimed the protection of their own +country courts. This English army of traders in their march ravaged +worse than a Tartarian conqueror. The trade they carried on, and which +more resembled robbery than commerce, anticipated the resources of the +tyrant, and threatened to leave him no materials for imposition or +confiscation. Thus this miserable country was torn to pieces by the +horrible rapaciousness of a double tyranny. This appeared to be so +strong a case, that a deputation was sent to him at his new capital, +Monghir, to form a treaty for the purpose of giving some relief against +this cruel, cursed, and oppressive trade, which was worse even than the +tyranny of the sovereign. This trade Mr. Vansittart, the President about +this time, that is, in 1763, who succeeded to Mr. Holwell, and was in +close union of interests with the tyrant Cossim Ali Khân, by a treaty +known by the name of the treaty of Monghir, agreed very much to suppress +and to confine within something like reasonable bounds. There never was +a doubt on the face of that treaty, that it was a just, proper, fair +transaction. But as nobody in Bengal did then believe that rapine was +ever forborne but in favor of bribery, the persons who lost every +advantage by the treaty of Monghir, when they thought they saw corrupt +negotiation carrying away the prizes of unlawful commerce, and were +likely to see their trade crippled by Cossim Ali Khân, fell into a most +violent fury at this treaty; and as the treaty was made without the +concurrence of the rest of the Council, the Company's servants grew +divided: one part were the advocates of the treaty, the other of the +trade. The latter were universally of opinion that the treaty was bought +for a great sum of money. The evidence we have on our records of the +sums of money that are stated to have been paid on this occasion has +never been investigated to the bottom; but we have it on record, that a +great sum (70,000_l._) was paid to persons concerned in that +negotiation. The rest were exceedingly wroth to see themselves not +profiting by the negotiation, and losing the trade, or likely to be +excluded from it; and they were the more so, because, as we have it upon +our journals, during all that time the trade of the negotiators was not +proscribed, but a purwannah was issued by Cossim Ali Khân, that the +trade of his friends Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Hastings should not be +subject to the general regulations. This filled the whole settlement +with ill blood; but in the regulation itself (I put the motive and the +secret history out of the case) undoubtedly Mr. Hastings and Mr. +Vansittart were on the right side. They had shown to a demonstration the +mischief of this trade. However, as the other party were strong, and did +not readily let go their hold of this great advantage, first, +dissensions, murmurs, various kinds of complaints, and ill blood arose. +Cossim Ali was driven to the wall; and having at the same time made what +he thought good preparations, a war broke out at last. And how did it +break out? This Cossim Ali Khân signalized his first acts of hostility +by an atrocity committed against the faith of treaties, against the +rules of war, against every principle of honor. This intended murderer +of his father-in-law, whom Mr. Hastings had assisted to raise to the +throne of Bengal, well knowing his character and his disposition, and +well knowing what such a man was capable of doing,--this man massacred +the English wherever he met them. There were two hundred, or +thereabouts, of the Company's servants, or their dependants, slaughtered +at Patna with every circumstance of the most abominable cruelty. Their +limbs were cut to pieces. The tyrant whom Mr. Hastings set up cut and +hacked the limbs of British subjects in the most cruel and perfidious +manner, threw them into wells, and polluted the waters of the country +with British blood. Immediately war is declared against him in form. +That war sets the whole country in a blaze; and then other parties begin +to appear upon the scene, whose transactions you will find yourselves +deeply concerned in hereafter. + +As soon as war was declared against Cossim, it was necessary to resolve +to put up another Nabob, and to have another revolution: and where do +they resort, but to the man whom, for his alleged tyranny, for his +incapacity, for the numberless iniquities he was said to have committed, +and for his total unfitness and disinclination to all the duties of +government, they had dethroned? This very man they take up again, to +place on the throne from which they had about two years before removed +him, and for the effecting of which they had committed so many +iniquities. Even this revolution was not made without being paid for. +According to the usual order of procession, in which the youngest walk +first, first comes the Company; and the Company had secured to it in +perpetuity those provinces which Cossim Ali Khân had ceded, as it was +thought, rather in the way of mortgage than anything else. Then, under +the name of compensation for sufferings to the people concerned in the +trade, and in the name of donation to an army and a navy which had +little to do in this affair, they tax him--what sum do you think? They +tax that empty and undone treasury of that miserable and undone country +500,000_l._ for a private emolument to themselves,--for the compensation +for this iniquitous trade,--for the compensation for abuses of which he +was neither the author nor the abettor, they tax this miserable prince +500,000_l._ That sum was given to individuals. Now comes the Company at +home, which, on hearing this news, was all inflamed. The Directors were +on fire. They were shocked at it, and particularly at this donation to +the army and navy. They resolved they would give it no countenance and +support. In the mean time the gentlemen did not trouble their heads upon +that subject, but meant to exact and get their 500,000_l._ as they +could. + +Here was a third revolution, bought at this amazing sum, and this poor, +miserable prince first dragged from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, then +dragged back from Calcutta to Moorshedabad, the sport of fortune and the +plaything of avarice. This poor man is again set up, but is left with no +authority: his troops limited,--his person, everything about him, in a +manner subjugated,--a British Resident the master of his court: he is +set up as a pageant on this throne, with no other authority but what +would be sufficient to give a countenance to presents, gifts, and +donations. That authority was always left, when all the rest was taken +away. One would have thought that this revolution might have satisfied +these gentlemen, and that the money gained by it would have been +sufficient. No. The partisans of Cossim Ali wanted another revolution. +The partisans of the other side wished to have something more done in +the present. They now began to think that to depose Cossim instantly, +and to sell him to another, was too much at one time,--especially as +Cossim Ali was a man of vigor and resolution, carrying on a fierce war +against them. But what do you think they did? They began to see, from +the example of Cossim Ali, that the lieutenancy, the ministry of the +king, was a good thing to be sold, and the sale of that might turn out +as good a thing as the sale of the prince. + +For this office there were two rival candidates, persons of great +consideration, in Bengal: one, a principal Mahomedan, called Mahomed +Reza Khân, a man of high authority, great piety in his own religion, +great learning in the law, of the very first class of Mahomedan +nobility; but at the same time, on all these accounts, he was abhorred +and dreaded by the Nabob, who necessarily feared that a man of Mahomed +Reza Khân's description would be considered as better entitled and +fitter for his seat, as Nabob of the provinces. To balance him, there +was another man, known by the name of the Great Rajah Nundcomar. This +man was accounted the highest of his caste, and held the same rank among +the Gentoos that Mahomed Reza Khân obtained among the Mahomedans. The +prince on the throne had no jealousy of Nundcomar, because he knew, +that, as a Gentoo, he could not aspire to the office of Subahdar. For +that reason he was firmly attached to him; he might depend completely on +his services; he was _his_ against Mahomed Reza Khân, and against the +whole world. There was, however, a flaw in the Nabob's title, which it +was necessary should be hid. And perhaps it lay against Mahomed Reza +Khân as well as him. But it was a source of apprehension to the Nabob, +and contributed to make him wish to keep all Mahomedan influence at a +distance. For he was a Syed, that is to say, a descendant of Mahomet, +and as such, though of the only acknowledged nobility among Mussulmen, +would be by that circumstance excluded, by the known laws of the Mogul +empire, from being Subahdar in any of the Mogul provinces, in case the +revival of the constitution of that empire should ever again take place. + +An auction was now opened before the English Council at Calcutta. +Mahomed Reza Khân bid largely; Nundcomar bid largely. The circumstances +of these two rivals at the Nabob court were equally favorable to the +pretensions of each. But the preponderating merits of Mahomed Reza Khân, +arising from the subjection in which he was likely to keep the Nabob, +and make him fitter for the purpose of continued exactions, induced the +Council to take his money, which amounted to about 220,000_l._ Be the +sum paid what it may, it was certainly a large one; in consequence of +which the Council attempted to invest Mahomed Reza Khân with the office +of Naib Subah, or Deputy Viceroy. As to Nundcomar, they fell upon him +with a vengeful fury. He fought his battle as well as he could; he +opposed bribe to bribe, eagle to eagle; but at length he was driven to +the wall. Some received his money, but did him no service in return; +others, more conscientious, refused to receive it; and in this battle of +bribes he was vanquished. A deputation was sent from Calcutta to the +miserable Nabob, to tear Nundcomar, his only support, from his side, and +to put the object of all his terrors, Mahomed Reza Khân, in his place. + +Thus began a new division that split the Presidency into violent +factions; but the faction which adhered to Nundcomar was undoubtedly the +weakest. That most miserable of men, Mir Jaffier Ali Khân, clinging, as +to the last pillar, to Nundcomar, trembling at Mahomed Reza Khân, died +in the struggle, a miserable victim to all the revolutions, to all the +successive changes and versatile politics at Calcutta. Like all the rest +of the great personages whom we have degraded and brutalized by insult +and oppression, he betook himself to the usual destructive resources of +unprincipled misery,--sensuality, opium, and wine. His gigantic frame of +constitution soon gave way under the oppression of this relief, and he +died, leaving children and grandchildren by wives and concubines. On the +old Nabob's death, Mahomed Reza Khân was acknowledged Deputy Nabob, the +money paid, and this revolution completed. + +Here, my Lords, opened a new source of plunder, peculation, and bribery, +which was not neglected. Revolutions were no longer necessary; +succession supplied their places: and well the object agreed with the +policy. Rules of succession could not be very well ascertained to an +office like that of the Nabob, which was hereditary only by the +appointment of the Mogul. The issue by lawful wives would naturally be +preferred by those who meant the quiet of the country. But a more +doubtful title was preferred, as better adapted to the purposes of +extortion and peculation. This miserable succession was sold, and the +eldest of the issue of Munny Begum, an harlot, brought in to pollute the +harem of the seraglio, of whom you will hear much hereafter, was chosen. +He soon succeeded to the grave. Another son of the same prostitute +succeeded to the same unhappy throne, and followed to the same untimely +grave. Every succession was sold; and between venal successions and +venal revolutions, in a very few years seven princes and six sales were +seen successively in Bengal. The last was a minor, the issue of a +legitimate wife, admitted to succeed because a minor, and because there +was none illegitimate left. He was instantly stripped of the allowance +of his progenitors, and reduced to a pension of 160,000 a year. He still +exists, and continued to the end of Mr. Hastings's government to furnish +constant sources of bribery and plunder to him and his creatures. + +The offspring of Munny Begum clinging, as his father did, to Nundcomar, +they tore Nundcomar from his side, as they had done from the side of his +father, and carried him down as a sort of prisoner to Calcutta; where, +having had the weakness to become the first informer, he was made the +first example. This person, pushed to the wall, and knowing that the man +he had to deal with was desperate and cruel in his resentments, resolves +on the first blow, and enters before the Council a regular information +in writing of bribery against Mr. Hastings. In his preface to that +charge he excuses himself for what is considered to be an act equally +insane and wicked, and as the one inexpiable crime of an Indian, the +discovery of the money he gives,--that Mr. Hastings had declaredly +determined on his ruin, and to accomplish it had newly associated +himself with one Mohun Persaud, a name I wish your Lordships to +remember, a bitter enemy of his, an infamous person, whom Mr. Hastings +knew to be such, and as such had turned him out of his house,--that Mr. +Hastings had lately recalled, and held frequent communications with this +Mohun Persaud, the subject of which he had no doubt was his ruin. In the +year 1775 he was hanged by those incorrupt English judges who were sent +to India by Parliament to protect the natives from oppression. + +Your Lordships will observe that this new sale of the office of +ministers succeeded to the sale of that of nabobs. All these varied and +successive sales shook the country to pieces. As if those miserable +exhausted provinces were to be cured of inanition by phlebotomy, while +Cossim Ali was racking it above, the Company were drawing off all its +nutriment below. A dreadful, an extensive, and most chargeable war +followed. Half the northern force of India poured down like a torrent on +Bengal, endangered our existence, and exhausted all our resources. The +war was the fruit of Mr. Hastings's cabals. Its termination, as usual, +was the result of the military merit and the fortune of this nation. +Cossim Ali, after having been defeated toy the military genius and +spirit of England, (for the Adamses, Monroes, and others of that period, +I believe, showed as much skill and bravery as any of their +predecessors,) in his flight swept away above three millions in money, +jewels, or effects, out of a country which he had plundered and +exhausted by his unheard-of exactions. However, he fought his way like a +retiring lion, turning his face to his pursuers. He still fought along +his frontier. His ability and his money drew to his cause the Subahdar +of Oude, the famous Sujah ul Dowlah. The Mogul entered into these wars, +and penetrated into the lower provinces on one side, whilst Bulwant +Sing, the Rajah of Benares, entered them on another. After various +changes of party and changes of fortune, the loss which began in the +treachery of the civil service was, as I have before remarked, redeemed +by military merit. Many examples of the same sort have since been seen. + +Whilst these things were transacted in India, the Court of Directors in +London, hearing of so many changes, hearing of such an incredible mass +of perfidy and venality, knowing that there was a general market made of +the country and of the Company, that the flame of war spread from +province to province, that, in proportion as it spread, the fire glowed +with augmented fierceness, and that the rapacity which originally gave +rise to it was following it in all its progress,--the Company, my Lords, +alarmed not only for their acquisitions, but their existence, and +finding themselves sinking lower and lower by every victory they +obtained, thought it necessary at length to come to some system and some +settlement. After composing their differences with Lord Clive, they sent +him out to that country about the year 1765, in order, by his name, +weight, authority, and vigor of mind, to give some sort of form and +stability to government, and to rectify the innumerable abuses which +prevailed there, and particularly that great source of disorders, that +fundamental abuse, presents: for the bribes by which all these +revolutions were bought had not the name of conditions, stipulations, or +rewards; they even had the free and gratuitous style of presents. The +receivers contended that they were mere gratuities given for service +done, or mere tokens of affection and gratitude to the parties. They may +give them what names they please, and your Lordships will think of them +what you please; but they were the donations of misery to power, the +gifts of sufferers to the oppressors; and consequently, where they +prevailed, they left no certain property or fixed situation to any man +in India, from the highest to the lowest. + +The Court of Directors sent out orders to enlarge the servants' +covenants with new and severe clauses, strongly prohibiting the practice +of receiving presents. Lord Clive himself had been a large receiver of +them. Yet, as it was in the moment of a revolution which gave them all +they possessed, the Company would hear no more of it. They sent him out +to reform: whether they chose well or ill does not signify. I think, +upon the whole, they chose well; because his name and authority could do +much. They sent him out to redress the grievances of that country, and +it was necessary he should be well armed for that service. They sent him +out with such powers as no servant of the Company ever held before. I +would not be understood here in my own character, much less in the +delegated character in which I stand, to contend for any man in the +totality of his conduct. Perhaps in some of his measures he was +mistaken, and in some of his acts reprehensible; but justice obliges me +to say, that the plan which he formed and the course which he pursued +were in general great and well imagined,--that he laid great +foundations, if they had been properly built upon. For, in the first +place, he composed all the neighboring countries torn to pieces by the +wars of Cossim Ali, and quieted the apprehensions raised by the opinion +of the boundless ambition of England. He took strong measures to put an +end to a great many of the abuses that prevailed in the country subject +to the Company. He then proceeded to the upper provinces, and formed a +plan which, for a military man, has great civil and political merit. He +put a bound to the aspiring spirit of the Company's servants; he limited +its conquests; he prescribed bounds to its ambition. "First" (says he) +"quiet the minds of the country; what you have obtained regulate; make +it known to India that you resolve to acquire no more." + +On this solid plan he fixed every prince that was concerned in the +preceding wars, on the one side and on the other, in an happy and easy +settlement. He restored Sujah ul Dowlah, who had been driven from his +dominions by the military arm of Great Britain, to the rank of Vizier, +and to the dominion of the territories of Oude. With a generosity that +astonished all Asia, he reinstated this expelled enemy of his nation +peaceably upon his throne. And this act of politic generosity did more +towards quieting the minds of the people of Asia than all the terror, +great as it was, of the English arms. At the same time, Lord Clive, +generous to all, took peculiar care of our friends and allies. He took +care of Bulwant Sing, the great Rajah of Benares, who had taken our part +in the war. He secured him from the revenge of Sujah ul Dowlah. The +Mogul had granted us the superiority over Bulwant Sing. Lord Clive +reëstablished him in a secure, easy independency. He confirmed him, +under the British guaranty, in the rich principality which he held. + +The Mogul, the head of the Mussulman religion in India, and of the +Indian empire, a head honored and esteemed even in its ruins, he +procured to be recognized by all the persons that were connected with +his empire. The rents that ought to be paid to the Vizier of the Empire +he gave to the Vizierate. Thus our alliances were cemented, our enemies +were reconciled, all Asia was conciliated by our settlement with the +king. To that unhappy fugitive king, driven from place to place, the +sport of fortune, now an emperor and now a prisoner, prayed for in every +mosque in which his authority was conspired against, one day opposed by +the coin struck in his name and the other day sold for it,--to this +descendant of Tamerlane he allotted, with a decent share of royal +dignity, an honorable fixed residence, where he might be useful and +could not be dangerous. + +As to the Bengal provinces, he did not take for the Company the +viceroyalty, as Mr. Holwell would have persuaded, almost forced, the +Company to do; but, to satisfy the prejudices of the Mahomedans, the +country was left in the hands nominally of the Subah, or viceroy, who +was to administer the criminal justice and the exterior forms of +royalty. He obtained from the sovereign the _dewanny_. This is the great +act of the constitutional entrance of the Company into the body politic +of India. It gave to the settlement of Bengal a fixed constitutional +form, with a legal title, acknowledged and recognized now for the first +time by all the natural powers of the country, because it arose from the +charter of the undoubted sovereign. The _dewanny_, or high-stewardship, +gave to the Company the collection and management of the revenue; and in +this modest and civil character they appeared, not the oppressors, but +the protectors of the people. This scheme had all the real power, +without any invidious appearance of it; it gave them the revenue, +without the parade of sovereignty. On this double foundation the +government was happily settled. The minds of the natives were quieted. +The Company's territories and views were circumscribed. The arm of force +was put out of sight. The imperial name covered everything. The power of +the purse was in the hand of the Company. The power of the sword was in +effect so, as they contracted for the maintenance of the army. The +Company had a revenue of a million and a half. The Nabob had, indeed, +fallen from any real and effective power, yet the dignity of the court +was maintained. The prejudices and interests of the Mahomedans, and +particularly of their nobility, who had suffered more by this great +revolution even than the old inhabitants of the country, were consulted; +for by this plan a revenue of 500,000_l._ was settled on the +viceroyalty, which was thus enabled to provide in some measure for those +great families. The Company likewise, by this plan, in order to enjoy +their revenues securely, and to avoid envy and murmur, put them into the +hands of Mahomed Reza Khân, whom Lord Clive found in the management of +affairs, and did not displace; and he was now made deputy-steward to the +Company, as he had been before lieutenant-viceroy to the Nabob. A +British Resident at Moorshedabad was established as a control. The +Company exercised their power over the revenue in the first instance +through the natives, but the British Resident was in reality the great +mover. + +If ever this nation stood in a situation of glory throughout Asia, it +was in that moment. But, as I have said, some material errors and +mistakes were committed. After the formation of this plan, Lord Clive +unfortunately did not stay long enough in the country to give +consistency to the measures of reformation he had undertaken, but +rapidly returned to England; and after his departure, the government +that continued had not vigor or authority to support the settlement then +made, and considerable abuses began to prevail in every quarter. Another +capital period in our history here commences. Those who succeeded +(though I believe one of them was one of the honestest men that ever +served the Company, I mean Governor Verelst) had not weight enough to +poise the system of the service, and consequently many abuses and +grievances again prevailed. Supervisors were appointed to every +district, as a check on the native collectors, and to report every abuse +as it should arise. But they who were appointed to redress grievances +were themselves accused of being guilty of them. However, the disorders +were not of that violent kind which preceded Mr. Hastings's departure, +nor such as followed his return: no mercenary wars, no mercenary +revolutions, no extirpation of nations, no violent convulsions in the +revenue, no subversion of ancient houses, no general sales of any +descriptions of men,--none of these, but certainly such grievances as +made it necessary for the Company to send out another commission in +1769, with instructions pointing out the chief abuses. It was composed +of Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Ford, and Mr. Scrafton. The unfortunate end of +that commission is known to all the world; but I mention it in order to +state that the receipt of presents was considered as one of the +grievances which then prevailed in India, and that the supervisors under +that commission were ordered upon no account whatever to take presents. +Upon the unfortunate catastrophe which happened, the Company was +preparing to send out another for the rectification of these grievances, +when Parliament thought it necessary to supersede that commission, to +take the matter into their own hands, and to appoint another commission +in a Parliamentary way (of which Mr. Hastings was one) for the better +government of that country. Mr. Hastings, as I must mention to your +Lordships, soon after the deposition and restoration of Jaffier Ali +Khân, and before Lord Clive arrived, quitted for a while the scene in +which he had been so mischievously employed, and returned to England to +strengthen himself by those cabals which again sent him out with new +authority to pursue the courses which were the natural sequel to his +former proceedings. He returned to India with great power, +indeed,--first to a seat in Council at Fort St. George, and from thence +to succeed to the Presidency of Fort William. On him the Company placed +their chief reliance. Happy had it been for them, happy for India and +for England, if his conduct had been such as to spare your Lordships and +the Commons the exhibition of this day! + +When this government, with Mr. Hastings at the head of it, was settled, +Moorshedabad did still continue the seat of the native government, and +of all the collections. Here the Company was not satisfied with placing +a Resident at the durbar, which was the first step to our assuming the +government in that country. These steps must be traced by your +Lordships; for I should never have given you this trouble, if it was not +necessary to possess you clearly of the several progressive steps by +which the Company's government came to be established and to supersede +the native. The next step was the appointment of supervisors in every +province, to oversee the native collector. The third was to establish a +general Council of Revenue at Moorshedabad, to superintend the great +steward, Mahomed Reza Khân. In 1772 that Council by Mr. Hastings was +overturned, and the whole management of the revenue brought to Calcutta. +Mahomed Reza Khân, by orders of the Company, was turned out of all his +offices, and turned out for reasons and principles which your Lordships +will hereafter see; and at last the dewanny was entirely taken out of +the native hands, and settled in the Supreme Council and Presidency +itself in Calcutta; and so it remained until the year 1781, when Mr. +Hastings made another revolution, took it out of the hands of the +Supreme Council, in which the orders of the Company, an act of +Parliament, and their own act had vested it, and put it into a +subordinate council: that is, it was entirely vested in himself. + + * * * * * + +Now your Lordships see the whole of the revolutions. I have stated them, +I trust, with perspicuity,--stated the grounds and principles upon which +they were made,--stated the abuses that grew upon them,--and that every +revolution produced its abuse. You saw the native government vanish by +degrees, until it was reduced to a situation fit for nothing but to +become a private perquisite, as it has been, to Mr. Hastings, and to be +granted to whom he pleased. The English government succeeded, at the +head of which Mr. Hastings was placed by an act of Parliament, having +before held the office of President of the Council,--the express object +of both these appointments being to redress grievances; and within these +two periods of his power, as President and Governor-General, were those +crimes committed of which he now stands accused. All this history is +merely by way of illustration: his crimination begins from his +nomination to the Presidency; and we are to consider how he comported +himself in that station, and in his office of Governor-General. + +The first thing, in considering the merits or demerits of any governor, +is to have some test by which they are to be tried. And here, my Lords, +we conceive, that, when a British governor is sent abroad, he is sent to +pursue the good of the people as much as possible in the spirit of the +laws of this country, which in all respects intend their conservation, +their happiness, and their prosperity. This is the principle upon which +Mr. Hastings was bound to govern, and upon which he is to account for +his conduct here. His rule was, what a British governor, intrusted with +the power of this country, was bound to do or to forbear. If he has +performed and if he has abstained as he ought, dismiss him honorably +acquitted from your bar; otherwise condemn him. He may resort to other +principles and to other maxims; but this country will force him to be +tried by its laws. The law of this country recognizes that well-known +crime called misconduct in office; it is a head of the law of England, +and, so far as inferior courts are competent to try it, may be tried in +them. Here your Lordships' competence is plenary: you are fully +competent both to inquire into and to punish the offence. + +And, first, I am to state to your Lordships, by the direction of those +whom I am bound to obey, the principles on which Mr. Hastings declares +he has conducted his government,--principles which he has avowed, first +in several letters written to the East India Company, next in a paper of +defence delivered to the House of Commons explicitly, and more +explicitly in his defence before your Lordships. Nothing in Mr. +Hastings's proceedings is so curious as his several defences; and +nothing in the defences is so singular as the principles upon which he +proceeds. Your Lordships will have to decide not only upon a large, +connected, systematic train of misdemeanors, but an equally connected +system of principles and maxims of government, invented to justify those +misdemeanors. He has brought them forward and avowed them in the face of +day. He has boldly and insultingly thrown them in the face of the +representatives of a free people, and we cannot pass them by without +adopting them. I am directed to protest against those grounds and +principles upon which he frames his defence; for, if those grounds are +good and valid, they carry off a great deal at least, if not entirely, +the foundation of our charge. + +My Lords, we contend that Mr. Hastings, as a British governor, ought to +govern on British principles, not by British forms,--God forbid!--for if +ever there was a case in which the letter kills and the spirit gives +life, it would be an attempt to introduce British forms and the +substance of despotic principles together into any country. No! We call +for that spirit of equity, that spirit of justice, that spirit of +protection, that spirit of lenity, which ought to characterize every +British subject in power; and on these, and these principles only, he +will be tried. + +But he has told your Lordships, in his defence, that actions in Asia do +not bear the same moral qualities which the same actions would bear in +Europe. + +My Lords, we positively deny that principle. I am authorized and called +upon to deny it. And having stated at large what he means by saying that +the same actions have not the same qualities in Asia and in Europe, we +are to let your Lordships know that these gentlemen have formed a plan +of _geographical morality_, by which the duties of men, in public and in +private situations, are not to be governed by their relation to the +great Governor of the Universe, or by their relation to mankind, but by +climates, degrees of longitude, parallels, not of life, but of +latitudes: as if, when you have crossed the equinoctial, all the virtues +die, as they say some insects die when they cross the line; as if there +were a kind of baptism, like that practised by seamen, by which they +unbaptize themselves of all that they learned in Europe, and after which +a new order and system of things commenced. + +This geographical morality we do protest against; Mr. Hastings shall not +screen himself under it; and on this point I hope and trust many words +will not be necessary to satisfy your Lordships. But we think it +necessary, in justification of ourselves, to declare that the laws of +morality are the same everywhere, and that there is no action which +would pass for an act of extortion, of peculation, of bribery, and of +oppression in England, that is not an act of extortion, of peculation, +of bribery, and oppression in Europe, Asia, Africa, and all the world +over. This I contend for not in the technical forms of it, but I contend +for it in the substance. + +Mr. Hastings comes before your Lordships not as a British governor +answering to a British tribunal, but as a subahdar, as a bashaw of three +tails. He says, "I had an arbitrary power to exercise: I exercised it. +Slaves I found the people: slaves they are,--they are so by their +constitution; and if they are, I did not make it for them. I was +unfortunately bound to exercise this arbitrary power, and accordingly I +did exercise it. It was disagreeable to me, but I did exercise it; and +no other power can be exercised in that country." This, if it be true, +is a plea in bar. But I trust and hope your Lordships will not judge by +laws and institutions which you do not know, against those laws and +institutions which you do know, and under whose power and authority Mr. +Hastings went out to India. Can your Lordships patiently hear what _we_ +have heard with indignation enough, and what, if there were nothing +else, would call these principles, as well as the actions which are +justified on such principles, to your Lordships' bar, that it may be +known whether the peers of England do not sympathize with the Commons in +their detestation of such doctrine? Think of an English governor tried +before you as a British subject, and yet declaring that he governed on +the principles of arbitrary power! His plea is, that he did govern there +on arbitrary and despotic, and, as he supposes, Oriental principles. And +as this plea is boldly avowed and maintained, and as, no doubt, all his +conduct was perfectly correspondent to these principles, the principles +and the conduct must be tried together. + +If your Lordships will now permit me, I will state one of the many +places in which he has avowed these principles as the basis and +foundation of all his conduct. "The sovereignty which they assumed, it +fell to my lot, very unexpectedly, to exert; and whether or not such +power, or powers of that nature, were delegated to me by any provisions +of any act of Parliament, I confess myself too little of a lawyer to +pronounce. I only know that the acceptance of the sovereignty of +Benares, &c., is not acknowledged or admitted by any act of Parliament; +and yet, by the particular interference of the majority of the Council, +the Company is clearly and indisputably seized of that sovereignty." So +that this gentleman, because he is not a lawyer, nor clothed with those +robes which distinguish, and well distinguish, the learning of this +country, is not to know anything of his duty; and whether he was bound +by any, or what act of Parliament, is a thing he is not lawyer enough to +know! Now, if your Lordships will suffer the laws to be broken by those +who are not of the long robe, I am afraid those of the long robe will +have none to punish but those of their own profession. He therefore goes +to a law he is better acquainted with,--that is, the law of arbitrary +power and force, if it deserves to be called by the name of law. "If, +therefore," says he, "the _sovereignty_ of Benares, as ceded to us by +the Vizier, have _any rights whatever_ annexed to it, and be not a mere +empty word without meaning, those rights must be such as are held, +countenanced, and established by the law, custom, and usage of the Mogul +empire, and not by the provisions of any British act of Parliament +hitherto enacted. _Those rights_, and none other, I have been the +involuntary instrument of enforcing. And if any future act of Parliament +shall positively or by implication tend to annihilate those very rights, +or their exertion as I have exerted them, I much fear that the boasted +sovereignty of Benares, which was held up as an acquisition, almost +obtruded on the Company against my consent and opinion, (for I +acknowledge that even then I foresaw many difficulties and +inconveniences in its future exercise,)--I fear, I say, that this +sovereignty will be found a burden instead of a benefit, a heavy clog +rather than a precious gem to its present possessors: I mean, unless the +whole of our territory in that quarter shall be rounded and made an +uniform compact body by one grand and systematic arrangement.--such an +arrangement as shall do away all the mischiefs, doubts, and +inconveniences (both to the governors and the governed) arising from the +variety of tenures, rights, and claims in all cases of landed property +and feudal jurisdiction in India, from the informality, invalidity, and +instability of all engagements in so divided and unsettled a state of +society, and from the unavoidable anarchy and confusion of different +laws, religions, and prejudices, moral, civil, and political, all +jumbled together in one unnatural and discordant mass. + +"Every part of Hindostan has been constantly exposed to these and +similar disadvantages ever since the Mahomedan conquests. The Hindoos, +who never incorporated with their conquerors, were kept in order only by +the strong hand of power. The constant necessity of similar exertions +would increase at once their energy and extent; so that rebellion itself +is the parent and promoter of despotism. Sovereignty in India implies +nothing else. For I know not how we can form an estimate of its powers, +but from its visible effects; and those are everywhere the same, from +Cabool to Assam. The whole history of Asia is nothing more than +precedents to prove the invariable exercise of arbitrary power. To all +this I strongly alluded in the minutes I delivered in Council, when the +treaty with the new Vizier was on foot in 1775; and I wished to make +Cheyt Sing independent, because in India dependence included a thousand +evils, many of which I enumerated at that time, and they are entered in +the ninth clause of the first section of this charge. I knew the powers +with which an Indian sovereignty is armed, and the dangers to which +tributaries are exposed. I knew, that, from the history of Asia, and +from the very nature of mankind, the subjects of a despotic empire are +always vigilant for the moment to rebel, and the sovereign is ever +jealous of rebellious intentions. A zemindar is an Indian subject, and +as such exposed to the common lot of his fellows. _The mean and depraved +state of a mere zemindar_ is therefore this very dependence above +mentioned on a despotic government, this very proneness to shake off his +allegiance, and this very exposure to continual danger from his +sovereign's jealousy, which are consequent on the political state of +Hindostanic governments. Bulwant Sing, if he had been, and Cheyt Sing, +as long as he was a zemindar, stood exactly in this _mean and depraved +state_ by the constitution of his country. I did not make it for him, +but would have secured him from it. Those who made him a zemindar +entailed upon him the consequences of so mean and depraved a tenure. +Aliverdy Khân and Cossim Ali fined all their zemindars on the +necessities of war, and on every pretence either of court necessity or +court extravagance." + +My Lords, you have now heard the principles on which Mr. Hastings +governs the part of Asia subjected to the British empire. You have heard +his opinion of the mean and depraved state of those who are subject to +it. You have heard his lecture upon arbitrary power, which he states to +be the constitution of Asia. You hear the application he makes of it; +and you hear the practices which he employs to justify it, and who the +persons were on whose authority he relies, and whose example he +professes to follow. In the first place, your Lordships will be +astonished at the audacity with which he speaks of his own +administration, as if he was reading a speculative lecture on the evils +attendant upon some vicious system of foreign government in which he had +no sort of concern whatsoever. And then, when in this speculative way he +has established, or thinks he has, the vices of the government, he +conceives he has found a sufficient apology for his own crimes. And if +he violates the most solemn engagements, if he oppresses, extorts, and +robs, if he imprisons, confiscates, banishes at his sole will and +pleasure, when we accuse him for his ill-treatment of the people +committed to him as a sacred trust, his defence is,--"To be robbed, +violated, oppressed, is their privilege. Let the constitution of their +country answer for it. I did not make it for them. Slaves I found them, +and as slaves I have treated them. I was a despotic prince. Despotic +governments are jealous, and the subjects prone to rebellion. This very +proneness of the subject to shake off his allegiance exposes him to +continual danger from his sovereign's jealousy, and this is consequent +on the political state of Hindostanic governments." He lays it down as a +rule, that despotism is the genuine constitution of India, that a +disposition to rebellion in the subject or dependent prince is the +necessary effect of this despotism, and that jealousy and its +consequences naturally arise on the part of the sovereign,--that the +government is everything, and the subject nothing,--that the great +landed men are in a mean and depraved state, and subject to many evils. + +Such a state of things, if true, would warrant conclusions directly +opposite to those which Mr. Hastings means to draw from them, both +argumentatively and practically, first to influence his conduct, and +then to bottom his defence of it. + +Perhaps you will imagine that the man who avows these principles of +arbitrary government, and pleads them as the justification of acts which +nothing else can justify, is of opinion that they are on the whole good +for the people over whom they are exercised. The very reverse. He +mentions them as horrible things, tending to inflict on the people a +thousand evils, and to bring on the ruler a continual train of dangers. +Yet he states, that your acquisitions in India will be a detriment +instead of an advantage, if you destroy arbitrary power, unless you can +reduce all the religious establishments, all the civil institutions, and +tenures of land, into one uniform mass,--that is, unless by acts of +arbitrary power you extinguish all the laws, rights, and religious +principles of the people, and force them to an uniformity, and on that +uniformity build a system of arbitrary power. + +But nothing is more false than that despotism is the constitution of any +country in Asia that we are acquainted with. It is certainly not true of +any Mahomedan constitution. But if it were, do your Lordships really +think that the nation would bear, that any human creature would bear, to +hear an English governor defend himself on such principles? or, if he +can defend himself on such principles, is it possible to deny the +conclusion, that no man in India has a security for anything, but by +being totally independent of the British government? Here he has +declared his opinion, that he is a despotic prince, that he is to use +arbitrary power; and of course all his acts are covered with that +shield. "_I know_," says he, "_the constitution of Asia only from its +practice_." Will your Lordships submit to hear the corrupt practices of +mankind made the principles of government? No! it will be your pride +and glory to teach men intrusted with power, that, in their use of it, +they are to conform to principles, and not to draw their principles from +the corrupt practice of any man whatever. Was there ever heard, or could +it be conceived, that a governor would dare to heap up all the evil +practices, all the cruelties, oppressions, extortions, corruptions, +briberies, of all the ferocious usurpers, desperate robbers, thieves, +cheats, and jugglers, that ever had office, from one end of Asia to +another, and, consolidating all this mass of the crimes and absurdities +of barbarous domination into one code, establish it as the whole duty of +an English governor? I believe that till this time so audacious a thing +was never attempted by man. + +_He_ have arbitrary power! My Lords, the East India Company have not +arbitrary power to give him; the king has no arbitrary power to give +him; your Lordships have not; nor the Commons, nor the whole +legislature. We have no arbitrary power to give, because arbitrary power +is a thing which neither any man can hold nor any man can give. No man +can lawfully govern himself according to his own will; much less can one +person be governed by the will of another. We are all born in +subjection,--all born equally, high and low, governors and governed, in +subjection to one great, immutable, preëxistent law, prior to all our +devices and prior to all our contrivances, paramount to all our ideas +and all our sensations, antecedent to our very existence, by which we +are knit and connected in the eternal frame of the universe, out of +which we cannot stir. + +This great law does not arise from our conventions or compacts; on the +contrary, it gives to our conventions and compacts all the force and +sanction they can have. It does not arise from our vain institutions. +Every good gift is of God; all power is of God; and He who has given the +power, and from whom alone it originates, will never suffer the exercise +of it to be practised upon any less solid foundation than the power +itself. If, then, all dominion of man over man is the effect of the +Divine disposition, it is bound by the eternal laws of Him that gave it, +with which no human authority can dispense,--neither he that exercises +it, nor even those who are subject to it; and if they were mad enough to +make an express compact that should release their magistrate from his +duty, and should declare their lives, liberties, and properties +dependent upon, not rules and laws, but his mere capricious will, that +covenant would be void. The acceptor of it has not his authority +increased, but he has his crime doubled. Therefore can it be imagined, +if this be true, that He will suffer this great gift of government, the +greatest, the best, that was ever given by God to mankind, to be the +plaything and the sport of the feeble will of a man, who, by a +blasphemous, absurd, and petulant usurpation, would place his own +feeble, contemptible, ridiculous will in the place of the Divine wisdom +and justice? + +The title of conquest makes no difference at all. No conquest can give +such a right; for conquest, that is, force, cannot convert its own +injustice into a just title, by which it may rule others at its +pleasure. By conquest, which is a more immediate designation of the hand +of God, the conqueror succeeds to all the painful duties and +subordination to the power of God which belonged to the sovereign whom +he has displaced, just as if he had come in by the positive law of some +descent or some election. To this at least he is strictly bound: he +ought to govern them as he governs his own subjects. But every wise +conqueror has gone much further than he was bound to go. It has been his +ambition and his policy to reconcile the vanquished to his fortune, to +show that they had gained by the change, to convert their momentary +suffering into a long benefit, and to draw from the humiliation of his +enemies an accession to his own glory. This has been so constant a +practice, that it is to repeat the histories of all politic conquerors +in all nations and in all times; and I will not so much distrust your +Lordships' enlightened and discriminating studies and correct memories +as to allude to one of them. I will only show you that the Court of +Directors, under whom he served, has adopted that idea,--that they +constantly inculcated it to him, and to all the servants,--that they run +a parallel between their own and the native government, and, supposing +it to be very evil, did not hold it up as an example to be followed, but +as an abuse to be corrected,--that they never made it a question, +whether India is to be improved by English law and liberty, or English +law and liberty vitiated by Indian corruption. + +No, my Lords, this arbitrary power is not to be had by conquest. Nor can +any sovereign have it by succession; for no man can succeed to fraud, +rapine, and violence. Neither by compact, covenant, or submission,--for +men cannot covenant themselves out of their rights and their +duties,--nor by any other means, can arbitrary power be conveyed to any +man. Those who give to others such rights perform acts that are void as +they are given,--good indeed and valid only as tending to subject +themselves, and those who act with them, to the Divine displeasure; +because morally there can be no such power. Those who give and those who +receive arbitrary power are alike criminal; and there is no man but is +bound to resist it to the best of his power, wherever it shall show its +face to the world. It is a crime to bear it, when it can be rationally +shaken off. Nothing but absolute impotence can justify men in not +resisting it to the utmost of their ability. + +Law and arbitrary power are in eternal enmity. Name me a magistrate, and +I will name property; name me power, and I will name protection. It is a +contradiction in terms, it is blasphemy in religion, it is wickedness in +politics, to say that any man can have arbitrary power. In every patent +of office the duty is included. For what else does a magistrate exist? +To suppose for power is an absurdity in idea. Judges are guided and +governed by the eternal laws of justice, to which we are all subject. We +may bite our chains, if we will, but we shall be made to know ourselves, +and be taught that man is born to be governed by law; and he that will +substitute _will_ in the place of it is an enemy to GOD. + +Despotism does not in the smallest degree abrogate, alter, or lessen any +one duty of any one relation of life, or weaken the force or obligation +of any one engagement or contract whatsoever. Despotism, if it means +anything that is at all defensible, means a mode of government bound by +no written rules, and coerced by no controlling magistracies or +well-settled orders in the state. But if it has no written law, it +neither does nor can cancel the primeval, indefeasible, unalterable law +of Nature and of nations; and if no magistracies control its exertions, +those exertions must derive their limitation and direction either from +the equity and moderation of the ruler, or from downright revolt on the +part of the subject by rebellion, divested of all its criminal +qualities. The moment a sovereign removes the idea of security and +protection from his subjects, and declares that he is everything and +they nothing, when he declares that no contract he makes with them can +or ought to bind him, he then declares war upon them: he is no longer +sovereign; they are no longer subjects. + +No man, therefore, has a right to arbitrary power. But the thought which +is suggested by the depravity of him who brings it forward is supported +by a gross confusion of ideas and principles, which your Lordships well +know how to discern and separate. It is manifest, that, in the Eastern +governments, and the Western, and in all governments, the supreme power +in the state cannot, whilst that state subsists, be rendered criminally +responsible for its actions: otherwise it would not be the supreme +power. It is certainly true: but the actions do not change their nature +by losing their responsibility. The arbitrary acts which are unpunished +are not the less vicious, though none but God, the conscience, and the +opinions of mankind take cognizance of them. + +It is not merely so in this or that government, but in all countries. +The king in this country is undoubtedly unaccountable for his actions. +The House of Lords, if it should ever exercise, (God forbid I should +suspect it would ever do what it has never done!)--but if it should ever +abuse its judicial power, and give such a judgment as it ought not to +give, whether from fear of popular clamor on the one hand, or +predilection to the prisoner on the other,--if they abuse their +judgments, there is no calling them to an account for it. And so, if the +Commons should abuse their power, nay, if they should have been so +greatly delinquent as not to have prosecuted this offender, they could +not be accountable for it; there is no punishing them for their acts, +because we exercise a part of the supreme power. But are they less +criminal, less rebellious against the Divine Majesty? are they less +hateful to man, whose opinions they ought to cultivate as far as they +are just? No: till society fall into a state of dissolution, they cannot +be accountable for their acts. But it is from confounding the +unaccountable character inherent in the supreme power with arbitrary +power, that all this confusion of ideas has arisen. + +Even upon a supposition that arbitrary power can exist anywhere, which +we deny totally, and which your Lordships will be the first and proudest +to deny, still, absolute supreme dominion was never conferred or +delegated by you,--much less, arbitrary power, which never did in any +case, nor ever will in any case, time, or country, produce any one of +the ends of just government. + +It is true that the supreme power in every constitution of government +must be absolute, and this may be corrupted into the arbitrary. But all +good constitutions have established certain fixed rules for the exercise +of their functions, which they rarely or ever depart from, and which +rules form the security against that worst of evils, the government of +will and force instead of wisdom and justice. + +But though the supreme power is in a situation resembling arbitrary, yet +never was there heard of in the history of the world, that is, in that +mixed chaos of human wisdom and folly, such a thing as an _intermediate_ +arbitrary power,--that is, of an officer of government who is to exert +authority over the people without any law at all, and who is to have the +benefit of all laws, and all forms of law, when he is called to an +account. For that is to let a wild beast (for such is a man without law) +loose upon the people to prey on them at his pleasure, whilst all the +laws which ought to secure the people against the abuse of power are +employed to screen that abuse against the cries of the people. + +This is _de facto_ the state of our Indian government. But to establish +it so in right as well as in fact is a thing left for us to begin with, +the first of mankind. For a subordinate arbitrary or even despotic power +never was heard of in right, claim, or authorized practice; least of all +has it been heard of in the Eastern governments, where all the instances +of severity and cruelty fall upon governors and persons intrusted with +power. This would be a gross contradiction. Before Mr. Hastings, none +ever came before his superiors to claim it; because, if any such thing +could exist, he claims the very power of that sovereign who calls him to +account. + +But suppose a man to come before us, denying all the benefits of law to +the people under him,--and yet, when he is called to account, to claim +all the benefits of that law which was made to screen mankind from the +excesses of power: such a claim, I will venture to say, is a monster +that never existed, except in the wild imagination of some theorist. It +cannot be admitted, because it is a perversion of the fundamental +principle, that every power given for the protection of the people below +should be responsible to the power above. It is to suppose that the +people shall have no laws with regard to _him_, yet, when _he_ comes to +be tried, he shall claim the protection of those laws which were made to +secure the people from his violence,--that he shall claim a fair trial, +an equitable hearing, every advantage of counsel, (God forbid he should +not have them!) yet that the people under him shall have none of those +advantages. The reverse is the principle of every just and rational +procedure. For the people, who have nothing to use but their natural +faculties, ought to be gently dealt with; but those who are intrusted +with an artificial and instituted authority have in their hands a great +deal of the force of other people; and as their temptations to injustice +are greater, so their moans are infinitely more effectual for mischief +by turning the powers given for the preservation of society to its +destruction: so that, if an arbitrary procedure be justifiable, (a +strong one I am sure is,) it is when used against those who pretend to +use it against others. + +My Lords, I will venture to say of the governments of Asia, that none of +them ever had an arbitrary power; and if any governments had an +arbitrary power, they cannot delegate it to any persons under them: that +is, they cannot so delegate it to others as not to leave them +accountable on the principles upon which it was given. As this is a +contradiction in terms, a gross absurdity, as well as a monstrous +wickedness, let me say, for the honor of human nature, that, although +undoubtedly we may speak it with the pride of England that we have +better institutions for the preservation of the rights of men than any +other country in the world, yet I will venture to say that no country +has wholly meant, or ever meant, to give this power. + +As it cannot exist in right on any rational and solid principles of +government, so neither does it exist in the constitution of Oriental +governments,--and I do insist upon it, that Oriental governments know +nothing of arbitrary power. I have taken as much pains as I could to +examine into the constitutions of them. I have been endeavoring to +inform myself at all times on this subject; of late my duty has led me +to a more minute inspection of them; and I do challenge the whole race +of man to show me any of the Oriental governors claiming to themselves a +right to act by arbitrary will. + +The greatest part of Asia is under Mahomedan governments. To name a +Mahomedan government is to name a government by law. It is a law +enforced by stronger sanctions than any law that can bind a Christian +sovereign. Their law is believed to be given by God; and it has the +double sanction of law and of religion, with which the prince is no more +authorized to dispense than any one else. And if any man will produce +the Koran to me, and will but show me one text in it that authorizes in +any degree an arbitrary power in the government, I will confess that I +have read that book, and been conversant in the affairs of Asia, in +vain. There is not such a syllable in it; but, on the contrary, against +oppressors by name every letter of that law is fulminated. There are +interpreters established throughout all Asia to explain that law, an +order of priesthood, whom they call _men of the law_. These men are +conservators of the law; and to enable them to preserve it in its +perfection, they are secured from the resentment of the sovereign: for +he cannot touch them. Even their kings are not always vested with a real +supreme power, but the government is in some degree republican. + +To bring this point a little nearer home,--since we are challenged thus, +since we are led into Asia, since we are called upon to make good our +charge on the principles of the governments there, rather than on those +of our own country, (which I trust your Lordships will oblige him +finally to be governed by, puffed up as he is with the insolence of +Asia,)--the nearest to us of the governments he appeals to is that of +the Grand Seignior, the Emperor of the Turks.--_He_ an arbitrary power! +Why, he has not the supreme power of his own country. Every one knows +that the Grand Seignior is exalted high in _titles_, as our prerogative +lawyers exalt an abstract sovereign,--and he cannot be exalted higher in +our books. I say he is destitute of the first character of sovereign +power: he cannot lay a tax upon his people. The next part in which he +misses of a sovereign power is, that he cannot dispose of the life, of +the property, or of the liberty of any of his subjects, but by what is +called the _fetwah_, or sentence of the law. He cannot declare peace or +war without the same sentence of the law: so much is _he_, more than +European sovereigns, a subject of strict law, that he cannot declare war +or peace without it. Then, if he can neither touch life nor property, +if he cannot lay a tax on his subjects, or declare peace or war, I leave +it to your Lordships' judgment, whether he can be called, according to +the principles of that constitution, an arbitrary power. A Turkish +sovereign, if he should be judged by the body of that law to have acted +against its principles, (unless he happens to be secured by a faction of +the soldiery,) is liable to be deposed on the sentence of that law, and +his successor comes in under the strict limitations of the ancient law +of that country: neither can he hold his place, dispose of his +succession, or take any one step whatever, without being bound by law. +Thus much may be said, when gentlemen talk of the affairs of Asia, as to +the nearest of Asiatic sovereigns: and he is more Asiatic than European, +he is a Mahomedan sovereign; and no Mahomedan is born who can exercise +any arbitrary power at all, consistently with their constitution; +insomuch that this chief magistrate, who is the highest executive power +among them, is the very person who, by the constitution of the country, +is the most fettered by law. + +Corruption is the true cause of the loss of all the benefits of the +constitution of that country. The _practice of Asia_, as the gentleman +at your bar has thought fit to say, is what he holds to; the +constitution he flies away from. The question is, whether you will take +the constitution of the country as your rule, or the base practices of +those usurpers, robbers, and tyrants who have subverted it. Undoubtedly, +much blood, murder, false imprisonment, much peculation, cruelty, and +robbery are to be found in Asia; and if, instead of going to the sacred +laws of the country, he chooses to resort to the iniquitous practices of +it, and practices authorized only by public tumult, contention, war, and +riot, he may indeed find as clear an acquittal in the practices as he +would find condemnation in the institutions of it. He has rejected the +law of England. Your Lordships will not suffer it. God forbid! For my +part, I should have no sort of objection to let him choose his +law,--Mahomedan, Tartarian, Gentoo. But if he disputes, as he does, the +authority of an act of Parliament, let him state to me that law to which +he means to be subject, or any law which he knows that will justify his +actions. I am not authorized to say that I shall, even in that case, +give up what is not in me to give up, because I represent an authority +of which I must stand in awe; but, for myself, I shall confess that I am +brought to public shame, and am not fit to manage the great interests +committed to my charge. I therefore again repeat of that Asiatic +government with which we are best acquainted, which has been constituted +more in obedience to the laws of Mahomet than any other, that the +sovereign cannot, agreeably to that constitution, exercise any arbitrary +power whatever. + +The next point for us to consider is, whether or no the Mahomedan +constitution of India authorizes that power. The gentleman at your +Lordships' bar has thought proper to say, that it will be happy for +India, (though soon after he tells you it is an happiness they can never +enjoy,) "when the despotic institutes of Genghiz Khân or Tamerlane shall +give place to the liberal spirit of a British legislature; and," says +he, "I shall be amply satisfied in my present prosecution, if it shall +tend to hasten the approach of an event so beneficial to the great +interests of mankind." + +My Lords, you have seen what he says about an act of Parliament. Do you +not now think it rather an extraordinary thing, that any British subject +should, in vindication of the authority which he has exercised, here +quote the names and institutes, as he calls them, of fierce conquerors, +of men who were the scourges of mankind, whose power was a power which +they held by force only? + +As to the institutes of Genghiz Khân, which he calls arbitrary +institutes, I never saw them. If he has that book, he will oblige the +public by producing it. I have seen a book existing, called Yassa of +Genghiz Khân; the other I never saw. If there be any part of it to +justify arbitrary power, he will produce it. But if we may judge by +those ten precepts of Genghiz Khân which we have, there is not a shadow +of arbitrary power to be found in any one of them. Institutes of +arbitrary power! Why, if there is arbitrary power, there can be no +institutes. + +As to the institutes of Tamerlane, here they are in their original, and +here is a translation. I have carefully read every part of these +institutes; and if any one shows me one word in them in which the prince +claims in himself arbitrary power, I again repeat, that I shall for my +own part confess that I have brought myself to great shame. There is no +book in the world, I believe, which contains nobler, more just, more +manly, more pious principles of government than this book, called the +Institutions of Tamerlane. Nor is there one word of arbitrary power in +it, much less of that arbitrary power which Mr. Hastings supposes +himself justified by,--namely, a delegated, subordinate, arbitrary +power. So far was that great prince from permitting this gross, violent, +intermediate arbitrary power, that I will venture to say the chief thing +by which he has recommended himself to posterity was a most direct +declaration of all the wrath and indignation of the supreme government +against it. But here is the book. It contains the institutes of the +founder of the Mogul empire, left as a sacred legacy to his posterity, +as a rule for their conduct, and as a means of preserving their power. + + * * * * * + +"Be it known to my fortunate sons, the conquerors of kingdoms, to my +mighty descendants, the lords of the earth, that, since I have hope in +Almighty God that many of my children, descendants, and posterity shall +sit upon the throne of power and regal authority, upon this account, +having established laws and regulations for the well governing of my +dominions, I have collected together those regulations and laws as a +model for others, to the end that, every one of my children, +descendants, and posterity acting agreeably thereto, my power and +empire, which I acquired through hardships and difficulties and perils +and bloodshed, by the Divine favor, and by the influence of the holy +religion of Mahomet, (God's peace be up on him!) and with the assistance +of the powerful descendants and illustrious followers of that prophet, +may be by them preserved. And let them make these regulations the rule +of their conduct in the affairs of their empire, that the fortune and +the power which shall descend from me to them may be safe from discord +and dissolution. + +"Now, therefore, be it known to my sons, the fortunate and the +illustrious, to my descendants, the mighty subduers of kingdoms, that, +in like manner as I by twelve maxims, which I established as the rule of +my conduct, attained to regal dignity, and with the assistance of these +maxims conquered and governed kingdoms, and decorated and adorned the +throne of my empire, let them also act according to these regulations, +and preserve the splendor of mine and their dominions. + +"And among the rules which I established for the support of my glory and +empire, the _first_ was this,--that I promoted the worship of Almighty +God, and propagated the religion of the sacred Mahomet throughout the +world, and at all times and in all places supported the true faith. + +"_Secondly_. With the people of the twelve classes and tribes I +conquered and governed kingdoms, and with them I strengthened the +pillars of my fortune, and from them I formed my assembly. + +"_Thirdly_. By consultation and deliberation and provident measures, by +caution and by vigilance, I vanquished armies, and I reduced kingdoms to +my authority. And I carried on the business of my empire by complying +with times and occasions, and by generosity, and by patience, and by +policy; and I acted with courteousness towards my friends and towards my +enemies. + +"_Fourthly_. By order and by discipline I regulated the concerns of my +government; and by discipline and by order I so firmly established my +authority, that the emirs and the viziers and the soldiers and the +subjects could not aspire beyond their respective degrees; and every one +of them was the keeper of his own station. + +"_Fifthly_. I gave encouragement to my emirs and to my soldiers, and +with money and with jewels I made them glad of heart; and I permitted +them to come into the banquet; and in the field of blood they hazarded +their lives. And I withheld not from them my gold nor my silver. And I +educated and trained them to arms; and to alleviate their sufferings, I +myself shared in their labors and in their hardships, until with the arm +of fortitude and resolution, and with the unanimity of my chiefs and my +generals and my warriors, by the edge of the sword, I obtained +possession of the thrones of seven-and-twenty kings, and became the king +and the ruler of the kingdoms of Eraun, and of Tooraun, and of Room, and +of Mughrib, and of Shaum, and of Missur, and of Erauk-a-Arrub, and of +Ajjum, and of Mauzinduraun, and of Kylaunaut, and of Shurvaunaut, and of +Azzurbauejaun, and of Fauris, and of Khorausaun, and of the Dusht of +Jitteh, and the Dusht of Kipchauk, and of Khauruzm, and Khuttun, and of +Kauboolistaun, and of Hindostaun, and of Bauktur Zemeen. + +"And when I clothed myself in the robe of empire, I shut my eyes to +safety, and to the repose which is found on the bed of ease. And from +the twelfth year of my age I travelled over countries, and combated +difficulties, and formed enterprises, and vanquished armies, and +experienced mutinies amongst my officers and my soldiers, and was +familiarized to the language of disobedience; and I opposed them with +policy and with fortitude, and I hazarded my person in the hour of +danger; until in the end I vanquished kingdoms and empires, and +established the glory of my name. + +"_Sixthly_. By justice and equity I gained the affections of the people +of God; and I extended my clemency to the guilty as well as to the +innocent; and I passed that sentence which truth required; and by +benevolence I gained a place in the hearts of men; and by rewards and +punishments I kept both my troops and my subjects divided between hope +and fear. And I compassionated the lower ranks of my people, and those +who were distressed. And I gave gifts to the soldiers. + +"And I delivered the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor; and after +proof of the oppression, whether on the property or the person, the +decision which I passed between them was agreeable to the sacred law. +And I did not cause any one person to suffer for the guilt of another. + +"Those who had done me injuries, who had attacked my person in battle, +and had counteracted my schemes and enterprises, when they threw +themselves on my mercy, I received them with kindness, I conferred on +them additional honors, and I drew the pen of oblivion over their evil +actions; and I treated them in such sort, that, if suspicion remained in +their hearts, it was plucked out entirely. + +"_Seventhly_, I selected out, and treated with esteem and veneration, +the posterity of the Prophet, and the theologians, and the teachers of +the true faith, and the philosophers, and the historians. And I loved +men of courage and valor; for God Almighty loveth the brave. And I +associated with good and learned men; and I gained their affections, and +I entreated their support, and I sought success from their holy prayers. +And I loved the dervishes and the poor; and I oppressed them not, +neither did I exclude them from my favor. And I permitted not the evil +and the malevolent to enter into my council; and I acted not by their +advice; and I listened not to their insinuations to the prejudice of +others. + +"_Eighthly_. I acted with resolution; and on whatever undertaking I +resolved, I made that undertaking the only object of my attention; and I +withdrew not my hand from that enterprise, until I had brought it to a +conclusion. And I acted according to that which I said. And I dealt not +with severity towards any one, and I was not oppressive in any of my +actions; that God Almighty might not deal severely towards me, nor +render my own actions oppressive unto me. + +"And I inquired of learned men into the laws and regulations of ancient +princes, from the days of Adam to those of the Prophet, and from the +days of the Prophet down to this time. And I weighed their institutions +and their actions and their opinions, one by one. And from their +approved manners and their good qualities I selected models. And I +inquired into the causes of the subversion of their power, and I shunned +those actions which tend to the destruction and overthrow of regal +authority. And from cruelty and from oppression, which are the +destroyers of posterity and the bringers of famine and of plagues, I +found it was good to abstain. + +"_Ninthly_. The situation of my people was known unto me. And those who +were great among them I considered as my brethren; and I regarded the +poor as my children. And I made myself acquainted with the tempers and +the dispositions of the people of every country and of every city. And I +contracted intimacies with the citizens and the chiefs and the nobles; +and I appointed over them governors adapted to their manners and their +dispositions and their wishes. And I knew the circumstances of the +inhabitants of every province. And in every kingdom I appointed writers +of intelligence, men of truth and integrity, that they might send me +information of the conduct and the behavior and the actions and the +manners of the troops and of the inhabitants, and of every occurrence +that might come to pass amongst them. And if I discovered aught contrary +to their information, I inflicted punishment on the intelligencer; and +every circumstance of cruelty and oppression in the governors and in the +troops and in the inhabitants, which reached my ears, I chastised +agreeably to justice and equity. + +"_Tenthly_. Whatever tribe, and whatever horde, whether Toork, or +Taucheek, or Arrub, or Ajjum, came in unto me, I received their chiefs +with distinction and respect, and their followers I honored according to +their degrees and their stations; and to the good among them I did good, +and the evil I delivered over to their evil actions. + +"And whoever attached himself unto me, I forgot not the merit of his +attachment, and I acted towards him with kindness and generosity; and +whoever had rendered me services, I repaid the value of those services +unto him. And whoever had been my enemy, and was ashamed thereof, and, +flying to me for protection, humbled himself before me, I forgot his +enmity, and I purchased him with liberality and kindness. + +"In such manner Share Behraum, the chief of a tribe, was along with me. +And he left me in the hour of action, and he united with the enemy, and +he drew forth his sword against me. And at length my salt, which he had +eaten, seized upon him; and he again fled to me for refuge, and humbled +himself before me. As he was a man of illustrious descent, and of +bravery, and of experience, I covered my eyes from his evil actions; and +I magnified him, and I exalted him to a superior rank, and I pardoned +his disloyalty in consideration of his valor. + +"_Eleventhly_. My children, and my relations, and my associates, and my +neighbors, and such as had been connected with me, all these I +distinguished in the days of my fortune and prosperity, and I paid unto +them their due. And with respect to my family, I rent not asunder the +bands of consanguinity and mercy; and I issued not commands to slay +them, or to bind them with chains. + +"And I dealt with every man, whatever the judgment I had formed of him, +according to my own opinion of his worth. As I had seen much of +prosperity and adversity, and had acquired knowledge and experience, I +conducted myself with caution and with policy towards my friends and +towards my enemies. + +"_Twelfthly_. Soldiers, whether associates or adversaries, I held in +esteem,--those who sell their permanent happiness to perishable honor, +and throw themselves into the field of slaughter and battle, and hazard +their lives in the hour of danger. + +"And the man who drew his sword on the side of my enemy, and committed +hostilities against me, and preserved his fidelity to his master, him I +greatly honored; and when such a man came unto me, knowing his worth, I +classed him with my faithful associates; and I respected and valued his +fidelity and his attachment. + +"And the soldier who forgot his duty and his honor, and in the hour of +action turned his face from his master, and came in unto me, I +considered as the most detestable of men. + +"And in the war between Touktummish Khaun, his emirs forgot their duty +to Touktummish, who was their master and my foe, and sent proposals and +wrote letters unto me. And I uttered execrations upon them, because, +unmindful of that which they owed to their lord, they had thrown aside +their honor and their duty, and came in unto me. I said unto myself, +'What fidelity have they observed to their liege lord? what fidelity +will they show unto me?' + +"And, behold, it was known unto me by experience, that every empire +which is not established in morality and religion, nor strengthened by +regulations and laws, from that empire all order, grandeur, and power +shall pass away. And that empire may be likened unto a naked man, who, +when exposed to view, commandeth the eye of modesty to be covered; and +it is like unto a house which hath neither roof nor gates nor defences, +into which whoever willeth may enter unmolested. + +"THEREFORE I established the foundation of my empire on the morality and +the religion of Islaum; and by regulations and laws I gave it stability. +And by laws and by regulations I executed every business and every +transaction that came before me in the course of my government." + + * * * * * + +I need not read any further, or I might show your Lordships the noble +principles, the grand, bold, and manly maxims, the resolution to abstain +from oppression himself, and to crush it in the governors under him, to +be found in this book, which Mr. Hastings has thought proper to resort +to as containing what he calls arbitrary principles. + +But it is not in this instance only that I must do justice to the East. +I assert that their morality is equal to ours, in whatever regards the +duties of governors, fathers, and superiors; and I challenge the world +to show in any modern European book more true morality and wisdom than +is to be found in the writings of Asiatic men in high trust, and who +have been counsellors to princes. If this be the true morality of Asia, +as I affirm and can prove that it is, the plea founded on Mr. Hastings's +geographical morality is annihilated. + +I little regard the theories of travellers, where they do not relate the +facts on which they are founded. I have two instances of facts attested +by Tavernier, a traveller of power and consequence, which are very +material to be mentioned here, because they show that in some of the +instances recorded, in which the princes of the country have used any of +those cruel and barbarous executions which make us execrate them, it has +been upon governors who have abused their trust,--and that this very +Oriental authority to which Mr. Hastings appeals would have condemned +him to a dreadful punishment. I thank God, and I say it from my heart, +that even for his enormous offences there neither is nor can be anything +like such punishments. God forbid that we should not as much detest +out-of-the-way, mad, furious, and unequal punishments as we detest +enormous and abominable crimes! because a severe and cruel penalty for a +crime of a light nature is as bad and iniquitous as the crime which it +pretends to punish. As the instances I allude to are curious, and as +they go to the principles of Mr. Hastings's defence, I shall beg to +quote them. + +The first is upon a governor who did what Mr. Hastings says he has a +power delegated to him to do: he levied a tax without the consent of his +master. "Some years after my departure from Com," says Tavernier, "the +governor had, of his own accord, and without any communication with the +king, laid a small impost upon every pannier of fruit brought into the +city, for the purpose of making some necessary reparations in the walls +and bridges of the town. It was towards the end of the year 1632 that +the event I am going to relate happened. The king, being informed of the +impost which the governor had laid upon the fruit, ordered him to be +brought in chains to court. The king ordered him to be exposed to the +people at one of the gates of the palace; then he commanded the son to +pluck off the mustachios of his father, to cut off his nose and ears, to +put out his eyes, and then cut off his head. The king then told the son +to go and take possession of the government of his father, saying, _See +that you govern better than this deceased dog, or thy doom shall be a +death more exquisitely tormenting_." + +My Lords, you are struck with horror, I am struck with horror, at this +punishment. I do not relate it to approve of such a barbarous act, but +to prove to your Lordships, that, whatever power the princes of that +country have, they are jealous of it to such a degree, that, if any of +their governors should levy a tax, even the most insignificant, and for +the best purposes, he meets with a cruel punishment. I do not justify +the punishment; but the severity of it shows how little of their power +the princes of that country mean to delegate to their servants, the +whole of which the gentleman at your bar says was delegated to him. + +There is another case, a very strong one, and that is the case of +presents, which I understand is a custom admitted throughout Asia in all +their governments. It was of a person who was raised to a high office; +no business was suffered to come before him without a previous present. +"One morning, the king being at this time on a hunting party, the +_nazar_ came to the tent of the king, but was denied entrance by the +_meter_, or master of the wardrobe. About the same time the king came +forth, and, seeing the nazar, commanded his officers to take off the +bonnet from the head of that dog that took gifts from his people, and +that he should sit three days bareheaded in the heat of the sun, and as +many nights in the air. Afterwards he caused him to be chained about the +neck and arms, and condemned him to perpetual imprisonment, with a +_mamoudy_ a day for his maintenance; but he died for grief within eight +days after he was put in prison." + +Do I mean, by reading this to your Lordships, to express or intimate an +approbation either of the cruelty of the punishment or of the coarse +barbarism of the language? Neither one nor the other. I produce it to +your Lordships to prove to you, from this dreadful example, the horror +which that government felt, when any person subject to it assumed to +himself a privilege to receive presents. The cruelty and severity +exercised by these princes is not levelled at the poor unfortunate +people who complain at their gates, but, to use their own barbarous +expression, _to dogs that impose taxes and take presents_. God forbid I +should use that language! The people, when they complain, are not called +dogs and sent away, but the governors, who do these things against the +people: they are called dogs, and treated in that cruel manner. I quote +them to show that no governors in the East, upon any principle of their +constitution or any good practice of their government, can lay arbitrary +imposts or receive presents. When they escape, it is probably by +bribery, by corruption, by creating factions for themselves in the +seraglio, in the country, in the army, in the divan. But how they escape +such punishments is not my business to inquire; it is enough for me that +the constitution disavows them, that the princes of the country disavow +them,--that they revile them with the most horrible expressions, and +inflict dreadful punishments on them, when they are called to answer for +these offences. Thus much concerning the Mahomedan laws of Asia. That +the people of Asia have no laws, rights, or liberty, is a doctrine that +wickedly is to be disseminated through this country. But I again assert, +every Mahomedan government is, by its principles, a government of law. + +I shall now state, from what is known of the government of India, that +it does not and cannot delegate, as Mr. Hastings has frequently +declared, the whole of its powers and authority to him. If they are +absolute, as they must be in the supreme power, they ought to be +arbitrary in none; they were, however, never absolute in any of their +subordinate parts, and I will prove it by the known provincial +constitutions of Hindostan, which are all Mahomedan, the laws of which +are as clear, as explicit, and as learned as ours. + +The first foundation of their law is the _Koran_. The next part is the +_Fetwah_, or adjudged cases by proper authority, well known there. The +next, the written interpretations of the principles of jurisprudence: +and their books are as numerous upon the principles of jurisprudence as +in any country in Europe. The next part of their law is what they call +the _Kanon_,--that is, a positive rule equivalent to acts of Parliament, +the law of the several powers of the country, taken from the Greek word +[Greek: Kanôn], which was brought into their country, and is well known. +The next is the _Rawaj-ul-Mulk_, or common law and custom of the +kingdom, equivalent to our common law. Therefore they have laws from +more sources than we have, exactly in the same order, grounded upon the +same authority, fundamentally fixed to be administered to the people +upon these principles. + +The next thing is to show that in India there is a partition of the +powers of the government, which proves that there is no absolute power +delegated. + +In every province the first person is the _Subahdar_ or _Nazim_, or +Viceroy: he has the power of the sword, and the administration of +criminal justice only. Then there is the _Dewan_, or High Steward: he +has the revenue and all exchequer causes under him, to be governed +according to the law and custom and institutions of the kingdom. The law +of inheritances, successions, and everything that relates to them, is +under the _Cadi_, in whose court these matters are tried. But this, too, +was subdivided. The Cadi could not judge, but by the advice of his +assessors. Properly in the Mahomedan law there is no appeal, only a +removal of the cause; but when there is no judgment, as none can be when +the court is not unanimous, it goes to the general assembly of all the +men of the law. There are, I will venture to say, other divisions and +subdivisions; for there are the _Kanongoes_, who hold their places for +life, to be the conservators of the canons, customs, and good usages of +the country: all these, as well as the Cadi and the Mufti, hold their +places and situations, not during the wanton pleasure of the prince, but +on permanent and fixed terms for life. All these powers of magistracy, +revenue, and law are all different, consequently not delegated in the +whole to any one person. + +This is the provincial constitution, and these the laws of Bengal; which +proves, if there were no other proof, by the division of the functions +and authorities, that the supreme power of the state in the Mogul empire +did by no means delegate to any of its officers the supreme power in its +fulness. Whether or no we have delegated to Mr. Hastings the supreme +power of King and Parliament, that he should act with the plenitude of +authority of the British legislature, you are to judge. + +Mr. Hastings has no refuge here. Let him run from law to law; let him +fly from the common law and the sacred institutions of the country in +which he was born; let him fly from acts of Parliament, from which his +power originated; let him plead his ignorance of them, or fly in the +face of them. Will he fly to the Mahomedan law? That condemns him. Will +he fly to the high magistracy of Asia to defend taking of presents? +Padishah and the Sultan would condemn him to a cruel death. Will he fly +to the Sophis, to the laws of Persia, or to the practice of those +monarchs? I cannot utter the pains, the tortures, that would be +inflicted on him, if he were to govern there as he has done in a British +province. Let him fly where he will, from law to law; law, I thank God, +meets him everywhere, and enforced, too, by the practice of the most +impious tyrants, which he quotes as if it would justify his conduct. I +would as willingly have him tried by the law of the Koran, or the +Institutes of Tamerlane, as on the common law or statute law of this +kingdom. + +The next question is, whether the Gentoo laws justify arbitrary power: +and if he finds any sanctuary there, let him take it, with the cow in +the pagoda. The Gentoos have a law which positively proscribes in +magistrates any idea of will,--a law with which, or rather with extracts +of it, that gentleman himself has furnished us. These people in many +points are governed by their own ancient written law, called the +_Shaster_. Its interpreters and judges are the _Pundits_. This law is +comprehensive, extending to all the concerns of life, affording +principles and maxims and legal theories applicable to all cases, drawn +from the sources of natural equity, modified by their institutions, full +of refinement and subtilty of distinction equal to that of any other +law, and has the grand test of all law, that, wherever it has prevailed, +the country has been populous, flourishing, and happy. + +Upon the whole, then, follow him where you will, let him have Eastern or +Western law, you find everywhere arbitrary power and peculation of +governors proscribed and horribly punished,--more so than I should ever +wish to punish any, the most guilty, human creature. And if this be the +case, as I hope and trust it has been proved to your Lordships, that +there is law in these countries, that there is no delegation of power +which exempts a governor from the law, then I say at any rate a British +governor is to answer for his conduct, and cannot be justified by wicked +examples and profligate practices. + +But another thing which he says is, that he was left to himself, to +govern himself by his own practice: that is to say, when he had taken +one bribe, he might take another; when he had robbed one man of his +property, he might rob another; when he had imprisoned one man +arbitrarily, and extorted money from him, he might do so by another. He +resorts at first to the practice of barbarians and usurpers; at last he +comes to his own. Now, if your Lordships will try him by such maxims and +principles, he is certainly clear: for there is no manner of doubt that +there is nothing he has practised once which he has not practised again; +and then the repetition of crimes becomes the means of his indemnity. + +The next pleas he urges are not so much in bar of the impeachment as in +extenuation. The first are to be laid by as claims to be made on motion +for arrest of judgment, the others as an extenuation or mitigation of +his fine. He says, and with a kind of triumph, "The ministry of this +country have great legal assistance,--commercial lights of the greatest +commercial city in the world,--the greatest generals and officers to +guide and direct them in military affairs: whereas I, poor man, was sent +almost a school-boy from England, or at least little better,--sent to +find my way in that new world as well as I could. I had no men of the +law, no legal assistance, to supply my deficiencies." _At Sphingem +habebas domi._ Had he not the chief-justice, the tamed and domesticated +chief-justice, who waited on him like a familiar spirit, whom he takes +from province to province, his amanuensis at home, his postilion and +riding express abroad? + +Such a declaration would in some measure suit persons who had acted much +otherwise than Mr. Hastings. When a man pleads ignorance in +justification of his conduct, it ought to be an humble, modest, +unpresuming ignorance, an ignorance which may have made him lax and +timid in the exercise of his duty; but an assuming, rash, presumptuous, +confident, daring, desperate, and disobedient ignorance heightens every +crime that it accompanies. Mr. Hastings, if through ignorance he left +some of the Company's orders unexecuted, because he did not understand +them, might well say, "I was an ignorant man, and these things were +above my capacity." But when he understands them, and when he declares +he will not obey them, positively and dogmatically,--when he says, as he +has said, and we shall prove it, _that he never succeeds better than +when he acts in an utter defiance of those orders_, and sets at nought +the laws of his country,--I believe this will not be thought the +language of an ignorant man. But I beg your Lordships' pardon: it is the +language of an ignorant man; for no man who was not full of a bold, +determined, profligate ignorance could ever think of such a system of +defence. He quitted Westminster School almost a boy. We have reason to +regret that he did not finish his education in that noble seminary, +which has given so many luminaries to the Church and ornaments to the +State. Greatly it is to be lamented that he did not go to those +Universities where arbitrary power will I hope never be heard of, but +the true principles of religion, of liberty, and law will ever be +inculcated, instead of studying in the school of Cossim Ali Khân. + +If he had lived with us, he would have quoted the example of Cicero in +his government, he would have quoted several of the sacred and holy +prophets, and made _them_ his example. His want of learning, profane as +well as sacred, reduces him to the necessity of appealing to every name +and authority of barbarism, tyranny, and usurpation that are to be +found; and from these he says, "From the practice of one part of Asia or +other I have taken my rule." But your Lordships will show him that in +Asia as well as in Europe the same law of nations prevails, the same +principles are continually resorted to, and the same maxims sacredly +held and strenuously maintained, and, however disobeyed, no man suffers +from the breach of them who does not know how and where to complain of +that breach,--that Asia is enlightened in that respect as well as +Europe; but if it were totally blinded, that England would send out +governors to teach them better, and that he must justify himself to the +piety, the truth, the faith of England, and not by having recourse to +the crimes and criminals of other countries, to the barbarous tyranny of +Asia, or any other part of the world. + +I will go further with Mr. Hastings, and admit, that, if there be a boy +in the fourth form of Westminster School, or any school in England, who +does not know, when these articles are read to him, that he has been +guilty of gross and enormous crimes, he may have the shelter of his +present plea, as far as it will serve him. There are none of us, thank +God, so uninstructed, who have learned our catechisms or the first +elements of Christianity, who do not know that such conduct is not to be +justified, and least of all by examples. + +There is another topic he takes up more seriously, and as a general +rebutter to the charge. Says he, "After a great many of these practices +with which I am charged, Parliament appointed me to my trust, and +consequently has acquitted me."--Has it, my Lords? I am bold to say that +the Commons are wholly guiltless of this charge. I will admit, if +Parliament, on a full state of his offences before them, and full +examination of those offences, had appointed him to the government, that +then the people of India and England would have just reason to exclaim +against so flagitious a proceeding. A sense of propriety and decorum +might have restrained us from prosecuting. They might have been +restrained by some sort of decorum from pursuing him criminally. But the +Commons stand before your Lordships without shame. First, in their name +we solemnly assure your Lordships that we had not in our Parliamentary +capacity (and most of us, myself I can say surely, heard very little, +and that in confused rumors) the slightest knowledge of any one of the +acts charged upon this criminal at either of the times of his being +appointed to office, and that we were not guilty of the nefarious act of +collusion and flagitious breach of trust with which he presumes +obliquely to charge us; but from the moment we knew them, we never +ceased to condemn them by reports, by votes, by resolutions, and that we +admonished and declared it to be the duty of the Court of Directors to +take measures for his recall, and when frustrated in the way known to +that court we then proceeded to an inquiry. Your Lordships know whether +you were better informed. We are, therefore, neither guilty of the +precedent crime of colluding with the criminal, nor the subsequent +indecorum of prosecuting what we had virtually and practically approved. + +Secondly, several of his worst crimes have been committed since the last +Parliamentary renewal of his trust, as appears by the dates in the +charge. + +But I believe, my Lords, the judges--judges to others, grave and weighty +counsellors and assistants to your Lordships--will not, on reference, +assert to your Lordships, (which God forbid, and we cannot conceive, or +hardly state in argument, if but for argument,) that, if one of the +judges had received bribes before his appointment to an higher judiciary +office, he would not still be open to prosecution. + +So far from admitting it as a plea in bar, we charge, and we hope your +Lordships will find it an extreme aggravation of his offences, that no +favors heaped upon him could make him grateful, no renewed and repeated +trusts could make him faithful and honest. + +We have now gone through most of the general topics. + +But he is not responsible, as being thanked by the Court of Directors. +He has had the thanks and approbation of the India Company for his +services.--We know too well here, I trust the world knows, and you will +always assert, that a pardon from the crown is not pleadable here, that +it cannot bar the impeachment of the Commons,--much less a pardon of the +East India Company, though it may involve them in guilt which might +induce us to punish them for such a pardon. If any corporation by +collusion with criminals refuse to do their duty in coercing them, the +magistrates are answerable. + +It is the use, virtue, and efficacy of Parliamentary judicial procedure, +that it puts an end to this dominion of faction, intrigue, cabal, and +clandestine intelligences. The acts of men are put to their proper test, +and the works of darkness tried in the face of day,--not the corrupted +opinions of others on them, but their own intrinsic merits. We charge it +as his crime, that he bribed the Court of Directors to thank him for +what they had condemned as breaches of his duty. + +The East India Company, it is true, have thanked him. They ought not to +have done it; and it is a reflection upon their character that they did +it. But the Directors praise him in the gross, after having condemned +each act in detail. His actions are _all_, every one, censured one by +one as they arise. I do not recollect any one transaction, few there +are, I am sure, in the whole body of that succession of crimes now +brought before you for your judgment, in which the India Company have +not censured him. Nay, in one instance he pleads their censure in bar of +this trial;[27] for he says, "In that censure I have already received my +punishment." If, for any other reasons, they come and say, "We thank +you, Sir, for all your services," to that I answer, Yes; and _I_ would +thank him for his services, too, if I knew them. But _I_ do +not;--perhaps _they_ do. Let them thank him for those services. I am +ordered to prosecute him for these crimes. Here, therefore, we are on a +balance with the India Company; and your Lordships may perhaps think it +some addition to his crimes, that he has found means to obtain the +thanks of the India Company for the whole of his conduct, at the same +time that their records are full of constant, uniform, particular +censure and reprobation of every one of those acts for which he now +stands accused. + +He says, there is the testimony of Indian princes in his favor. But do +we not know how seals are obtained in that country? Do we not know how +those princes are imposed upon? Do we not know the subjection and +thraldom in which they are held, and that they are obliged to return +thanks for the sufferings which they have felt? I believe your Lordships +will think that there is not, with regard to some of these princes, a +more dreadful thing that can be said of them than that he has obtained +their thanks. + +I understand he has obtained the thanks of the miserable Princesses of +Oude, whom he has cruelly imprisoned, whose treasure he has seized, and +whose eunuchs he has tortured.[28] They thank him for going away; they +thank him for leaving them the smallest trifle of their subsistence; and +I venture to say, if he wanted a hundred more panegyrics, provided he +never came again among them, he might have them. I understand that +Mahdajee Sindia has made his panegyric, too. Mahdajee Sindia has not +made his panegyric for nothing; for, if your Lordships will suffer him +to enter into such a justification, we shall prove that he has +sacrificed the dignity of this country and the interests of all its +allies to that prince. We appear here neither with panegyric nor with +satire; it is for substantial crimes we bring him before you, and +amongst others for cruelly using persons of the highest rank and +consideration in India; and when we prove he has cruelly injured them, +you will think the panegyrics either gross forgeries or most miserable +aggravations of his offences, since they show the abject and dreadful +state into which he has driven those people. For let it be proved that I +have cruelly robbed and maltreated any persons, if I produce a +certificate from them of my good behavior, would it not be a +corroborative proof of the terror into which those persons are thrown by +my misconduct? + + * * * * * + +My Lords, these are, I believe, the general grounds of our charge. I +have now closed completely, and I hope to your Lordships' satisfaction, +the whole body of history of which I wished to put your Lordships in +possession. I do not mean that many of your Lordships may not have known +it more perfectly by your own previous inquiries; but, bringing to your +remembrance the state of the circumstances of the persons with whom he +acted, the persons and power he has abused, I have gone to the +principles he maintains, the precedents he quotes, the laws and +authorities which he refuses to abide by, and those on which he relies; +and at last I have refuted all those pleas in bar on which he depends, +and for the effect of which he presumes on the indulgence and patience +of this country, or on the corruption of some persons in it. And here I +close what I had to say upon this subject,--wishing and hoping, that, +when I open before your Lordships the case more particularly, so as to +state rather a plan of the proceeding than the direct proof of the +crimes, your Lordships will hear me with the same goodness and +indulgence I have hitherto experienced,--that you will consider, if I +have detained you long, it was not with a view of exhausting my own +strength, or putting your patience to too severe a trial, but from the +sense I feel that it is the most difficult and the most complicated +cause that was ever brought before any human tribunal. Therefore I was +resolved to bring the whole substantially before you. And now, if your +Lordships will permit me, I will state the method of my future +proceeding, and the future proceeding of the gentlemen assisting me. + +I mean first to bring before you the crimes as they are classed, and are +of the same species and genus, and how they mutually arose from one +another. I shall first show that Mr. Hastings's crimes had root in that +which is the root of all evil, I mean avarice; that avarice and rapacity +were the groundwork and foundation of all his other vicious system; that +he showed it in setting to sale the native government of the country, in +setting to sale the whole landed interest of the country, in setting to +sale the British government and his own fellow-servants, to the basest +and wickedest of mankind. + +I shall then show your Lordships, that, when, in consequence of such a +body of corruption and peculation, he justly dreaded the indignation of +his country and the vengeance of its laws, in order to raise himself a +faction embodied by the same guilt and rewarded in the same manner, he +has, with a most abandoned profusion, thrown away the revenues of the +country to form such a faction here. + +I shall next show your Lordships, that, having exhausted the resources +of the Company, and brought it to extreme difficulties within, he has +looked to his _external_ resources, as he calls them; he has gone up +into the country. I will show that he has plundered, or attempted to +plunder, every person dependent upon, connected, or allied with this +country. + +We shall afterwards show what infinite mischief has followed in the case +of Benares, upon which he first laid his hands; next, in the case of the +Begums of Oude. + +We shall then lay before you the profligate system by which he +endeavored to oppress that country: first by Residents; next by spies +under the name of British Agents; and lastly, that, pursuing his way up +to the mountains, he has found out one miserable chief, whose crimes +were the prosperity of his country,--that him he endeavored to torture +and destroy,--I do not mean in his body, but by exhausting the treasures +which he kept for the benefit of his people. + +In short, having shown your Lordships that no man who is in his power is +safe from his arbitrary will,--that no man, within or without, friend, +ally, rival, has been safe from him,--having brought it to this point, +if I am not able in my own person immediately to go up into the country +and show the ramifications of the system, (I hope and trust I shall be +spared to take my part in pursuing him through both,) if I am not, I +shall go at least to the root of it, and some other gentleman, with a +thousand times more ability than I possess, will take up each separate +part in its proper order. And I believe it is proposed by the managers +that one of them shall as soon as possible begin with the affair of +Benares. + +The point I now mean first to bring before your Lordships is the +corruption of Mr. Hastings, his system of peculation and bribery, and to +show your Lordships the horrible consequences which resulted from it: +for, at first sight, bribery and peculation do not seem to be so horrid +a matter; they may seem to be only the transferring a little money out +of one pocket into another; but I shall show that by such a system of +bribery the country is undone. + +I shall inform your Lordships in the best manner I can, and afterwards +submit the whole, as I do with a cheerful heart and with an easy and +assured security, to that justice which is the security for all the +other justice in the kingdom. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] 2d year of George II. + +[2] See his letter of the 11th of July, 1785, at the end of the Charges. + +[3] 13 Geo. III. c. 63, § 10. + +[4] 29 February, 1784. + +[5] Dated, Benares, 4th of November, 1781. + +[6] Revenue Consultation, 28th January, 1775. + +[7] Revenue Board, 14th May, 1772. + +[8] Address to the Court of Directors, 25th March, 1775. + +[9] 3d November, 1772. + +[10] 24th October, 1774. + +[11] 22d April, 1775. + +[12] 5th February, 1777; 4th July, 1777. + +[13] 3d November, 1772. + +[14] 14th May, 1772. + +[15] See his letter of the 11th July, 1785, at the end of the Charges. + +[16] Sic orig. + +[17] 28th May, 1782. + +[18] 15th Dec, 1775. + +[19] On the 15th of November. + +[20] Resolution of the House of Commons, 28th May, 1782. + +[21] Anderson's letter of 26th January, 1782. + +[22] Anderson's letter of 24th February, 1782. + +[23] Sic orig. + +[24] Sic orig. + +[25] Observations on Mr. Bristow's Defence. + +[26] As the letter referred to in the Eighth and Sixteenth Articles of +Charge is not contained in any of the Appendixes to the Reports of the +Select Committee, it has been thought necessary to annex it as an +Appendix to these Charges. + +[27] See Mr. Hastings's answer to the first charge. + +[28] A Latin sentence, which was quoted here, is omitted in the MS of +the short-hand writer.--Ed. + + +END OF VOL. IX. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works Of The Right Honourable +Edmund Burke, Vol. IX. (of 12), by Edmund Burke + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDMUND BURKE, VOL. IX. *** + +***** This file should be named 13968-8.txt or 13968-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/9/6/13968/ + +Produced by Paul Murray, Keith M. Eckrich, the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This file +was produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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(of 12), by Edmund Burke + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works Of The Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. IX. (of 12) + +Author: Edmund Burke + +Release Date: March 27, 2005 [EBook #13968] +[Date last upated: May 5, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDMUND BURKE, VOL. IX. *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Keith M. Eckrich, the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This file +was produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h2>THE WORKS +<br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 71%">OF</span> +<br /><br /> +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 200%">EDMUND BURKE</span></h2> + +<h3>IN TWELVE VOLUMES<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: smaller">VOLUME THE NINTH</span></h3> +<p /> + +<p /> +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0"><b>London</b><br /> +<br /> +JOHN C. NIMMO<br /> +<br /> +14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C.<br /> +<br /> + +MDCCCLXXXVII<br /></p> +<div><!-- Page -3 --><a name="Page_-3" id="Page_-3" /><!-- Page -2 --><a name="Page_-2" id="Page_-2" /><!-- Page -1 --><a name="Page_-1" id="Page_-1" /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS_OF_VOL_IX" id="CONTENTS_OF_VOL_IX" />CONTENTS OF VOL IX.</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. +<p> + <a href="#CONTENTS_OF_VOL_IX"><b>CONTENTS OF VOL IX.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#ARTICLES_OF_CHARGE"><b>ARTICLES OF CHARGE</b></a><br /> + <a href="#VII_CONTRACTS"><b>VII.—CONTRACTS.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#VIII_PRESENTS"><b>VIII.—PRESENTS.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#IX_RESIGNATION_OF_THE_OFFICE_OF_GOVERNOR_GENERAL"><b>IX.—RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICE OF GOVERNOR-GENERAL.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#X_SURGEON_GENERALS_CONTRACT"><b>X.—SURGEON-GENERAL'S CONTRACT.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XI_CONTRACTS_FOR_POOLBUNDY_REPAIRS"><b>XI.—CONTRACTS FOR POOLBUNDY REPAIRS.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XII_CONTRACTS_FOR_OPIUM"><b>XII.—CONTRACTS FOR OPIUM.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XIII_APPOINTMENT_OF_RJ_SULIVAN"><b>XIII.—APPOINTMENT OF R.J. SULIVAN.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XIV_RANNA_OF_GOHUD"><b>XIV.—RANNA OF GOHUD.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XV_REVENUES"><b>XV.—REVENUES.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XVI_MISDEMEANORS_IN_OUDE"><b>XVI.—MISDEMEANORS IN OUDE.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XVII_MAHOMED_REZA_KHAN"><b>XVII.—MAHOMED REZA KHÂN.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XVIII_THE_MOGUL_DELIVERED_UP_TO_THE_MAHRATTAS"><b>XVIII.—THE MOGUL DELIVERED UP TO THE MAHRATTAS.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XIX_LIBEL_ON_THE_COURT_OF_DIRECTORS"><b>XIX.—LIBEL ON THE COURT OF DIRECTORS.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XX_MAHRATTA_WAR_AND_PEACE"><b>XX.—MAHRATTA WAR AND PEACE.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XXI_CORRESPONDENCE"><b>XXI.—CORRESPONDENCE.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#XXII_FYZOOLA_KHAN"><b>XXII.—FYZOOLA KHÂN.</b></a><br /> + <a href="#APPENDIX"><b>APPENDIX</b></a><br /> + <a href="#SPEECHES"><b>SPEECHES</b></a><br /> + <a href="#SPEECHa"><b>SPEECH</b></a><br /> + <a href="#SPEECHb"><b>SPEECH</b></a><br /> + <a href="#FOOTNOTES"><b>FOOTNOTES:</b></a><br /> + </p> + End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<p /> <!-- bizarrely, without this line, IE5 doesn't show the TOC at all!! (just a big blank) --> +<ul class="TOC"> +<li> <span class="tocright">Page</span></li> +<li> +<a href="#ARTICLES_OF_CHARGE">ARTICLES OF CHARGE OF HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS AGAINST +WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL: PRESENTED +TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN APRIL AND MAY, 1786.—ARTICLES VII.-XXII.</a></li> + +<li><a href="#VII_CONTRACTS">ART. VII. CONTRACTS</a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#VIII_PRESENTS">VIII. PRESENTS </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#IX_RESIGNATION_OF_THE_OFFICE_OF_GOVERNOR_GENERAL">IX. RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICE OF GOVERNOR-GENERAL</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#X_SURGEON_GENERALS_CONTRACT">X. SURGEON-GENERAL'S CONTRACT</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#XI_CONTRACTS_FOR_POOLBUNDY_REPAIRS">XI. CONTRACTS FOR POOLBUNDY REPAIRS</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#XII_CONTRACTS_FOR_OPIUM">XII. CONTRACTS FOR OPIUM </a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#XIII_APPOINTMENT_OF_RJ_SULIVAN">XIII. APPOINTMENT OF R.J. SULIVAN </a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#XIV_RANNA_OF_GOHUD">XIV. RANNA OF GOHUD </a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></span></li> + + +<li><a href="#XV_REVENUES">XV. REVENUES</a> </li> + +<li> +<ul class="TOCSub"> +<li><a href="#PART_Ia">PART I. </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#PART_IIa">PART II. </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></span></li> +</ul> +</li> + +<li><a href="#XVI_MISDEMEANORS_IN_OUDE">XVI. MISDEMEANORS IN OUDE </a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#XVII_MAHOMED_REZA_KHAN">XVII. MAHOMED REZA KHÂN </a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#XVIII_THE_MOGUL_DELIVERED_UP_TO_THE_MAHRATTAS">XVIII. THE MOGUL DELIVERED UP TO THE MAHRATTAS </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_202">202</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#XIX_LIBEL_ON_THE_COURT_OF_DIRECTORS">XIX. LIBEL ON THE COURT OF DIRECTORS </a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_228">228</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#XX_MAHRATTA_WAR_AND_PEACE">XX. MAHRATTA WAR AND PEACE </a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#XXI_CORRESPONDENCE">XXI. CORRESPONDENCE </a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#XXII_FYZOOLA_KHAN">XXII. FYZOOLA KHÂN</a> </li> + +<li> +<ul class="TOCSub"> + +<li><a href="#PART_Ib">PART I. RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHÂN, ETC., BEFORE THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_268">268</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#PART_IIb">PART II. RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHÂN UNDER THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_275">275</a></span><!-- Page 0 --><a name="Page_0" id="Page_0"></a></li> + +<li><a href="#PART_IIIb">PART III. GUARANTY OF THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_278">278</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#PART_IVb">PART IV. THANKS OF THE BOARD TO FYZOOLA KHÂN </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_286">286</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#PART_Vb">PART V. DEMAND OF FIVE THOUSAND HORSE </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_287">287</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#PART_VIb">PART VI. TREATY OF CHUNAR </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#PART_VIIb">PART VII. CONSEQUENCES OF THE TREATY OF CHUNAR </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_302">302</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#PART_VIIIb">PART VIII. PECUNIARY COMMUTATION OF THE STIPULATED AID </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_306">306</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#PART_IXb">PART IX. FULL VINDICATION OF FYZOOLA KHÂN BY MAJOR PALMER AND MR. HASTINGS </a><span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_313">313</a></span></li> + +</ul> +</li> + +<li><a href="#APPENDIX">APPENDIX TO THE EIGHTH AND SIXTEENTH CHARGES</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_319">319</a></span></li> + +<li><hr style='width: 45%;' /></li> + +<li><a href="#SPEECHES">SPEECHES IN THE IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL.<br /> + +SPEECH IN OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT.</a><br /></li> + +<li><a href="#SPEECHa">FIRST DAY: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1788 </a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></span></li> + +<li><a href="#SPEECHb">SECOND DAY; SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 </a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_396">396</a></span></li> +</ul> + +<div><!-- Page 1 --><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1" title="1" class="pagenum"></a></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ARTICLES_OF_CHARGE" id="ARTICLES_OF_CHARGE" />ARTICLES OF CHARGE<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">OF</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 71%">HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">AGAINST</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 100%">WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL:</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 71%">PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS </span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">IN APRIL AND MAY, 1786.</span><br /> +<br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 71%">ARTICLES VII.-XXII.</span></h2> +<div><!-- Page 2 --><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2" title="2" class="pagenum"></a> +<!-- Page 3 --><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3" title="3" class="pagenum"></a></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII_CONTRACTS" id="VII_CONTRACTS" />VII.—CONTRACTS.</h2> + + +<p>That the Court of Directors of the East India Company had laid down the +following fundamental rules for the conduct of such of the Company's +business in Bengal as could be performed by contract, and had repeatedly +and strictly ordered the Governor and Council of Port William to observe +those rules, viz.: That all contracts should be publicly advertised, and +the most reasonable proposals accepted; that the contracts of +provisions, and for furnishing draught and carriage bullocks for the +army, should be <i>annual</i>; and that they should not fail to advertise for +and receive proposals for those contracts <i>every year</i>.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, in direct disobedience to the said +positive orders, and, as the Directors themselves say, <i>by a most +deliberate breach of his duty</i>, did, in September, 1777, accept of +proposals offered by Ernest Alexander Johnson for providing draught and +carriage bullocks, and for victualling the Europeans, without +advertising for proposals, as he was expressly commanded to do, and +extended the contract for <i>three years</i>, which was positively ordered to +<!-- Page 4 --><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4" title="4" class="pagenum"></a>be <i>annual</i>,—and, notwithstanding that extension of the period, which +ought at least to have been compensated by some advantage to the Company +in the conditions, did conclude the said contract <i>upon terms less +advantageous than the preceding contract, and therefore not on the +lowest terms procurable</i>. That the said Warren Hastings, in defiance of +the judgment and lawful orders of his superiors, which in this case left +him no option, declared, that <i>he disapproved of publishing for +proposals, and that the contract was reduced too low already</i>: thereby +avowing himself the advocate of the contractor, against whom, as +representative of the Company, and guardian of their interests, he +properly was party, and preferring the advantage of the contractor to +those of his own constituents and employers. That the Court of Directors +of the East India Company, having carefully considered the circumstances +and tendency of this transaction, condemned it in the strongest terms, +declaring, that they would <i>not permit</i> the contract to be continued, +and that, "if the contractor should think himself aggrieved, and take +measures in consequence by which the Company became involved in loss or +damage, they should certainly hold the majority of the Council +responsible for such loss or damage, and proceed against them +accordingly."—That the said Warren Hastings, in defiance of orders, +which the Directors say were <i>plain and unequivocal</i>, did, in January, +1777, receive from George Templer a proposal essentially different from +the advertisement published by the Governor-General and Council for +receiving proposals for feeding the Company's elephants, and did accept +thereof, not only without having recourse to the proper means for +ascertaining whether the said proposal was <!-- Page 5 --><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5" title="5" class="pagenum"></a>the lowest that would be +offered, but with another actually before the board nearly thirty per +cent lower than that made by the said George Templer, to whom the said +Warren Hastings granted a contract, in the terms proposed by the said +Templer, for three years, and did afterwards extend the same to five +years, with new and distinct conditions, accepted by the said Warren +Hastings, without advertising for fresh proposals, by which the Company +were very considerable losers: on all which the Court of Directors +declared, "that this waste of their property could not be permitted; +that he, the said Warren Hastings, had disregarded their authority, and +disobeyed their orders, in not taking the lowest offers"; and they +ordered that the contract for elephants should be annulled: and the said +Directors further declared, that, "if the contractor should recover +damages of the Company for breach of engagement, they were determined, +in such case, to institute a suit at law against those members of the +board who had presumed, in direct breach of their orders, to prefer the +interest of an individual to that of the Company."—That the said Warren +Hastings did, in the year 1777, conclude with —— Forde a contract for +an armed vessel for the pilotage of the Chittagong river, and for the +defence of the coast and river against the incursions of robbers, for +the term of five years, in further disobedience of the Company's orders +respecting the mode and duration of contracts, and with a considerable +increase of expense to the Company. That the farming out the defence of +a country to a contractor, being wholly unprecedented, and evidently +absurd, could have no real object but to enrich the contractor at the +Company's expense: since either the service was not dangerous, <!-- Page 6 --><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6" title="6" class="pagenum"></a>and then +the establishment was totally unnecessary, or, if it was a dangerous +service, it was evidently the interest of the contractor to avoid such +danger, and not to hazard the loss of his ship or men, which must be +replaced at his own expense, and therefore that an active and faithful +discharge of the contractor's duty was incompatible with his +interest.—That the said Warren Hastings, in further defiance of the +Company's orders, and in breach of the established rule of their +service, did, in the year 1777, conclude a contract with the master and +deputy master attendant of the Company's marine or pilot service, for +supplying the said marine with naval stores, and executing the said +service for the term of two years, and without advertising for +proposals. That the use and expenditure of such stores and the direction +of the pilot vessels are under the management and at the disposition of +the master attendant by virtue of his office; that he is officially the +proper and regular check upon the person who furnishes the stores, and +bound by his duty to take care that all contracts for furnishing such +stores are duly and faithfully executed. That the said Warren Hastings, +by uniting the supply and the check in the same hands, did not only +disobey the Company's specific orders, and violate the fundamental rules +and practice of the service, but did overset the only just and rational +principle on which this and every other service of a similar nature +ought to be conducted, and did not only subject the Company's interest, +in point of expense, to fraud and collusion, but did thereby expose the +navigation of the Bengal river to manifest hazard and distress: +considering that it is the duty of the master attendant to take care +that the pilot vessels are constantly stationed in <!-- Page 7 --><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7" title="7" class="pagenum"></a>the roads to wait +the arrival of the Company's ships, especially in tempestuous weather, +and that they should be in a constant condition to keep the sea; whereas +it is manifestly the interest of the contractor, in the first instance, +to equip the said vessels as scantily as possible, and afterwards to +expose them as little as possible to any service in which the stores to +be replaced by him might be lost or consumed. And, finally, that in +June, 1779, the said contract was prolonged to the said master +attendant, by the said Warren Hastings, for the further period of two +years from the expiration of the first, without advertising for +proposals.—That it does not appear that any of the preceding contracts +have been annulled, or the charges attending any of them abated, or that +the Court of Directors have ever taken any measures to compel the said +Warren Hastings to indemnify the Company, or to make good any part of +the loss incurred by the said contracts.</p> + +<p>That in the year 1777 the said Warren Hastings did recommend and appoint +John Belli, at that time his private secretary, to be agent for +supplying the garrison of Fort William with victualling stores; that the +stores were to be purchased with money advanced by the Company, and that +the said agent was to be allowed a commission or percentage for his risk +and trouble; that, in order to ascertain what sum would be a reasonable +compensation for the agent, the Governor-General and Council agreed to +consult some of the principal merchants of Calcutta; that the merchants +so consulted reported their opinion, that twenty per cent on the prime +cost of the stores would be a reasonable compensation to the agent; +that, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings, supported by the <!-- Page 8 --><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8" title="8" class="pagenum"></a>vote and +concurrence of Richard Barwell, then a member of the Supreme Council, +did propose and carry it, that thirty per cent per annum should be +allowed upon all stores to be provided by the agent. That the said +Warren Hastings professed that "he preferred an agency to a contract for +this service, because, if it were performed by contract, it must then be +advertised, and the world would know what provision was made for the +defence of the fort": as if its being publicly known that the fort was +well provided for defence were likely to encourage an enemy to attack +it. That in August, 1779, in defiance of the principle laid down by +himself for preferring an agency to a contract, the said Warren Hastings +did propose and carry it, that the agency should be <i>converted into a +contract</i>, to be granted to the said John Belli, without advertising for +proposals, and fixed for the term of five years,—"pretending that he +had received frequent remonstrances from the said agent concerning the +heavy losses and inconveniences to which he was <i>subjected</i> by the +indefinite terms of his agency," notwithstanding it appeared by evidence +produced at the board, that, on a supply of about 37,000<i>l.</i>, he had +already drawn a commission of 22,000<i>l.</i> and upwards. That the said +Warren Hastings pledged himself, that, <i>if required by the Court of +Directors, the profits arising from the agency should be paid into the +Company's treasury, and appropriated as the Court should direct</i>. That +the Court of Directors, as soon as they were advised of the first +appointment of the said agency, declared that they considered the +commission of twenty per cent as an ample compensation to the agent, and +did positively order, that, according to the engagement of the said +Warren Hastings, "the com<!-- Page 9 --><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9" title="9" class="pagenum"></a>mission paid or to be paid to the said agent +should be reduced to twenty pounds per cent." That the said John Belli +did positively refuse to refund any part of the profits he had received, +or to submit to a diminution of those which he was still to receive; and +that the said Warren Hastings has never made good his own voluntary and +solemn engagement to the Court of Directors hereinabove mentioned: and +as his failure to perform the said engagement is a breach of faith to +the Company, so his performance of such engagement, if he had performed +it, and even his offering to pledge himself for the agent, in the first +instance, ought to be taken as presumptive evidence of a connection +between the said Warren Hastings and the said agent, his private +secretary, which ought not to exist between a Governor acting in behalf +of the Company and a contractor making terms with such Governor for the +execution of a public service.</p> + +<p>That, before the expiration of the contract hereinbefore mentioned for +supplying the army with draught and carriage bullocks, granted by the +said Warren Hastings to Ernest Alexander Johnson for three years, the +said Warren Hastings did propose and carry it in Council, that a new +contract should be made on a new plan, and that an offer thereof should +be made to Richard Johnson, brother and executor of the said contractor, +without advertising for proposals, for the term of <i>five years</i>; that +this offer was <i>voluntarily accepted</i> by the said Richard Johnson, who +at the same time desired and obtained that the new contracts should be +made out in the name of Charles Croftes, the Company's accountant and +sub-treasurer at Fort William; that the said Charles Croftes offered the +said Richard Johnson as one of his securities for the <!-- Page 10 --><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10" title="10" class="pagenum"></a>performance of +the said contract, who was accepted as such by the said Warren Hastings; +and that, at the request of the said contractor, the contract for +victualling the Europeans serving at the Presidency was added to and +united with that for furnishing bullocks, and fixed for the same period. +That this extension of the periods of the said contracts was not +compensated by a diminution in the charge to be incurred by the Company +on that account, as it ought to have been, but, on the contrary, the +charge was immoderately increased by the new contracts, insomuch that it +was proved by statements and computations produced at the board, that +the increase on the victualling contract would in five years amount to +40,000<i>l.</i>, and that the increase on the bullock contract in the same +period would amount to above 400,000<i>l.</i> That, when this and many other +weighty objections against the terms of the said contracts were urged in +Council to the said Warren Hastings, he declared that <i>he should deliver +a reply thereto</i>; but it does not appear that he did ever deliver such +reply, or ever enter into a justification of any part of his conduct in +this transaction.—That the act of Parliament of 1773, by which the +first Governor-General and Council were appointed, did expressly limit +the duration of their office to the term of five years, which expired in +October, 1779, and that the several contracts hereinbefore mentioned +were granted in September, 1779, and were made to continue <i>five</i> years +after the expiration of the government by which they were granted. That +by this anticipation the discretion and judgment of the succeeding +government respecting the subject-matter of such contracts was taken +away, and any correction or improvement there<!-- Page 11 --><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11" title="11" class="pagenum"></a>in rendered impracticable. +That the said Warren Hastings might have been justified by the rules and +practice or by the necessity of the public service in binding the +government by engagements to endure one year after the expiration of his +own office; but on no principles could he be justified in extending such +engagements beyond the term of one year, much less on the principles he +has avowed, namely, "that it was only an act of common justice in him to +secure <i>every man connected with him</i>, as far as he legally could, from +the apprehension of future oppression." That the oppression to which +such apprehension, if real, must allude, could only consist in and arise +out of the obedience which he feared a future government might pay to +the orders of the Court of Directors, by making all contracts <i>annual</i>, +and advertising for proposals publicly and indifferently from all +persons whatever, by which it might happen that such beneficial +contracts would not be constantly held by men <i>connected with him</i>, the +said Warren Hastings. That this declaration, made by the said Warren +Hastings, combined with all the circumstances belonging to these +transactions, leaves no room to doubt, that, in disobeying the Company's +orders, and betraying the trust reposed in him as guardian of the +Company's property, his object was to purchase the attachment of a +number of individuals, and to form a party capable of supporting and +protecting him in return.</p> + +<p>That, with the same view, and on the same principles, it appears that +excessive salaries and emoluments, at the East India Company's charge +and expense, have been lavished by the said Warren Hastings to sundry +individuals, contrary to the general principles of his duty, and in +direct contradiction to <!-- Page 12 --><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12" title="12" class="pagenum"></a>the positive orders of the Court of Directors: +particularly, that, whereas by a resolution of the Court of Proprietors +of the East India Company, and by an instruction of the Court of +Directors, it was provided and expressly ordered that there should be +paid to the late Sir John Clavering "the sum of six thousand pounds +sterling per annum in full for his services as commander-in-chief, in +lieu of travelling charges and of all other advantages and emoluments +whatever," and whereas the Court of Directors positively ordered that +the late "Sir Eyre Coote should receive the <i>same</i> pay as +commander-in-chief of their forces in India as was received by +Lieutenant-General Sir John Clavering," the said Warren Hastings, +nevertheless, within a very short time after Sir Eyre Coote's arrival in +Bengal, did propose and carry it in Council, that a new establishment +should be created for Sir Eyre Coote, by which an increase of expense +would be incurred by the India Company to the amount of eighteen +thousand pounds a year and upwards, exclusive of and in addition to his +salary of ten thousand pounds a year, provided for him by act of +Parliament as a member of the Supreme Council, and exclusive of and in +addition to his salary of six thousand pounds a year as +commander-in-chief, appointed for him by the Company, and expressly +fixed to that amount.</p> + +<p>That the disobedience and breach of trust of which the said Warren +Hastings was guilty in this transaction is highly aggravated by the +following circumstances connected with it. That from the death of Sir +John Clavering to the arrival of Sir Eyre Coote in Bengal the +provisional command of the army had devolved to and been vested in +Brigadier-General Giles <!-- Page 13 --><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13" title="13" class="pagenum"></a>Stibbert, the eldest officer on that +establishment. That in this capacity, and, as the said Warren Hastings +has declared, "standing no way distinguished from the other officers in +the army, but by his accidental succession to the first place on the +list," he, the said Giles Stibbert, had, by the recommendation and +procurement of the said Warren Hastings, received and enjoyed a salary, +and other allowances, to the amount of 13,854<i>l.</i> 12<i>s.</i> per annum. That +Sir Eyre Coote, soon after his arrival, represented to the board that a +considerable part of those allowances, amounting to 8,220<i>l.</i> 10<i>s.</i> per +annum, ought to devolve to himself, as commander-in-chief of the +Company's forces in India, and, stating that the said Giles Stibbert +could no longer be considered as commander-in-chief under the Presidency +of Fort William, made a formal demand of the same. That the said Warren +Hastings, instead of reducing the allowances of the said Giles Stibbert +to the establishment at which they stood during General Clavering's +command, and for the continuance of which after Sir Eyre Coote's arrival +there could be no pretence, continued the allowances of 13,854<i>l.</i> +12<i>s.</i> per annum to the said Giles Stibbert, and at the same time, in +order to appease and satisfy the demand of the said Sir Eyre Coote, did +create for him that new establishment, hereinbefore specified, of +eighteen thousand pounds per annum,—insomuch that, instead of the +allowance of <i>six thousand pounds a year, in lieu of travelling charges, +and of all emoluments and allowances whatsoever</i>, to which the pay and +allowances of commander-in-chief were expressly limited by the united +act of the legislative and executive powers of the Company, the annual +charge to be borne by the <!-- Page 14 --><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14" title="14" class="pagenum"></a>Company on that account was increased by the +said Warren Hastings to the enormous sum of thirty-eight thousand two +hundred and seventeen pounds ten shillings sterling.</p> + +<p>That on the 1st of November, 1779, the said Warren Hastings did move and +carry it in Council, "that the Resident at the Vizier's court should be +furnished with an account of all the extra allowances and charges of the +commander-in-chief when in the field, with orders to add the same to the +debit of the Vizier's account, as a part of his general subsidy,—the +charge to commence from the day on which the general shall pass the +Caramnassa, and to continue till his return to the same line." That this +additional expense imposed by the said Warren Hastings on the Vizier was +unjust in itself, and a breach of treaty with that prince: the specific +amount of the subsidy to be paid by him having been fixed by a treaty, +to which no addition could justly be made, but at the previous +requisition of the Vizier. That the Court of Directors, in their letter +of the 18th of October, 1780, did condemn and prohibit the continuation +of the allowances above mentioned to Sir Eyre Coote in the following +words: "These allowances appear to us in a light so very extraordinary, +and so repugnant to the spirit of a resolution of the General Court of +Proprietors respecting the allowance made to General Clavering, that we +positively direct that they be discontinued immediately, and no part +thereof paid after the receipt of this letter." That on the 27th of +April, 1781, the Governor-General and Council, in obedience to the +orders of the Directors, did signify the same to the Commissary-General, +as an instruction to him that the extraordinary allowances to Sir Eyre +Coote <!-- Page 15 --><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15" title="15" class="pagenum"></a><i>should be discontinued, and no part thereof paid after that +day</i>. That it appears, nevertheless, that the said extra allowances +(amounting to above twenty thousand pounds sterling a year) were +continued to be charged to the Vizier, and paid to Sir Eyre Coote, in +defiance of the orders of the Court of Directors, in defiance of the +consequent resolution of the Governor-General and Council, and in +contradiction to the terms of the original motion made by the said +Warren Hastings for adding those allowances to the debit of the Vizier, +viz., "that they should continue till Sir Eyre Coote's return to the +Caramnassa." That Sir Eyre Coote arrived at Calcutta about the end of +August, 1780, and must have crossed the Caramnassa, in his return from +Oude, some weeks before, when the charge on the Vizier, if at any time +proper, ought to have ceased. That it appears that the said allowances +were continued to be charged against the Vizier and paid to Sir Eyre +Coote for three years after, even while he was serving in the Carnatic, +and that this was done by the sole authority and private command of the +said Warren Hastings.</p> + +<p>That the East India Company having thought proper to create the office +of Advocate-General in Bengal, and to appoint Sir John Day to that +office, it was resolved by a General Court of Proprietors that a salary +of three thousand pounds a year should be allowed to the said Sir John +Day, <i>in full consideration of all demands and allowances whatsoever for +his services to the Company at the Presidency of Fort William</i>. That the +said Warren Hastings, nevertheless, shortly after Sir John Day's arrival +in Bengal, did increase the said Sir John Day's salary and allowances to +six thousand pounds a year, in direct disobedience of the <!-- Page 16 --><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16" title="16" class="pagenum"></a>resolution of +the Court of Proprietors, and of the order of the Court of Directors. +That the Directors, as soon as they were informed of this proceeding, +declared, "that they held <i>themselves</i> bound by the resolution of the +General Court, and that they could not allow it to be disregarded by the +Company's servants in India," and ordered that the increased allowances +should be forthwith discontinued. That the said Warren Hastings, after +having first thought it necessary, in obedience to the orders of the +Court of Directors, to stop the extraordinary allowance which he had +granted to Sir John Day, did afterwards resolve that the allowance which +had been struck off should be <i>repaid</i> to him, upon his signing an +obligation to refund the amount which he might receive, in case the +Directors should confirm their former orders, already twice given. That +in this transaction the said Warren Hastings trifled with the authority +of the Company, eluded the repeated orders of the Directors, and exposed +the Company to the risk and uncertainty of recovering, at a distant +period, and perhaps by a process of law, a sum of money which they had +positively ordered him not to pay.</p> + +<p>That in the latter part of the year 1776, by the death of Colonel +Monson, the whole power of the government of Fort William devolved to +the Governor and one member of the Council; and that from that time the +Governor-General and Council have generally consisted of an even number +of persons, in consequence of which the casting voice of the said Warren +Hastings has usually prevailed in the decision of all questions. That +about the end of the year 1776 the whole civil establishment of the said +government did not exceed 205,399<i>l.</i> per annum; that in the year <!-- Page 17 --><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17" title="17" class="pagenum"></a>1783 +the said civil establishment had been increased to the enormous annual +sum of 927,945<i>l.</i> That such increase in the civil establishment could +not have taken place, if the said Warren Hastings, who was at the head +of the government, with the power annexed to the casting voice, had not +actively promoted the said increase, which he had power to prevent, and +which it was his duty to have prevented. That by such immoderate waste +of the property of his employers, and by such scandalous breach of his +fidelity to them, it was the intention of the said Warren Hastings to +gain and secure the attachment and support of a multitude of +individuals, by whose united interest, influence, and intrigues he hoped +to be protected against any future inquiry into his conduct. That it was +of itself highly criminal in the said Warren Hastings to have so wasted +the property of the East India Company, and that the purpose to be +obtained by such waste was a great aggravation of that crime.</p> + +<p>That among the various instances of profusion by which the civil +establishment of Fort William was increased to the enormous annual sum +hereinbefore mentioned, it appears that a Salt Office was created, of +six commissioners, whose annual emoluments were as follows, viz.:—</p> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="" style="width: 100%; max-width: 25em; padding-left: 1em;"> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">President, or Comptroller, per annum</td><td align='right'>£18,480</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">1st member</td><td align='right'>13,100</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">2d do</td><td align='right'>11,480</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">3d do</td><td align='right'>13,183</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">4th do</td><td align='right'> 6,257</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">5th do</td><td align='right'>10,307</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap"></td><td align='right'>———</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap"></td><td align='right'>£72,807</td></tr></table> + +<!-- <p>President, or Comptroller, per annum £18,480 +1st member 13,100 +2d do 11,480 +3d do 13,183 +4th do 6,257 +5th do 10,307<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 20.5em;">———</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;">£72,807</span><br /> --> + +<p><!-- Page 18 --><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18" title="18" class="pagenum"></a> +That a Board of Revenue was created by the said Warren Hastings, +consisting of five commissioners, whose annual emoluments were as +follows, viz.:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="" style="width: 100%; max-width: 25em; padding-left: 1em;"> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">1st member, per annum</td><td align='right'> £10,950</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">2d do</td><td align='right'>9,100</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">3d do</td><td align='right'>9,100</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">4th do</td><td align='right'>9,100</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap">5th do</td><td align='right'>9,100</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap"></td><td align='right'>———</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left' class="wrap"></td><td align='right'>£46,350</td></tr></table> + +<!-- <p>1st member, per annum £10,950 +2d do 9,100 +3d do 9,100 +4th do 9,100 +5th do 9,100<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 20.5em;">———</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;">£47,350</span><br /> --> + +<p>That David Anderson, Esquire, first member of the said board, did not +execute the duties, though he received the emoluments of the said +office: having acted, for the greatest part of the time, as ambassador +to Mahdajee Sindia, with a further salary of 4,280<i>l.</i> a year, making in +all 15,230<i>l.</i> a year. That the said Warren Hastings did create an +office of Agent-Victualler to the garrison of Fort William, whose +profits, on an average of three years, were 15,970<i>l.</i> per annum. That +this agency was held by the Postmaster-General, who in that capacity +received 2,200<i>l.</i> a year from the Company, and who was actually no +higher than a writer in the service. That the person who held these +lucrative offices, viz., John Belli, was private secretary to the said +Warren Hastings.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings created a nominal office of Resident at +Goa, where the Company never had a Resident, nor business of any kind to +transact, and gave the said nominal office to a person who was not a +covenanted servant of the Company, with an allowance of 4,280<i>l.</i> a +year.</p> + +<p>That these instances are proofs of a criminal pro<!-- Page 19 --><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19" title="19" class="pagenum"></a>fusion and high breach +of trust to the India Company in the said Warren Hastings, under whose +government, and by means of whose special power, derived from the effect +of his casting voice, all the said waste and profusion did take place.</p> + +<p>That at the end of the year 1780, when, as the Court of Directors +affirm, <i>the Company were in the utmost distress for money, and almost +every department in arrear</i>, and when it appears that there was a great +scarcity and urgent want of grain at Fort St. George, the said Warren +Hastings did accept of a proposal made to him by James Peter Auriol, +then Secretary to the Council, to supply the Presidency of Fort St. +George with rice and other articles, and did appoint the said Auriol to +be the agent for supplying <i>all the other</i> Presidencies with those +articles; that the said Warren Hastings declared that the intention of +the appointment "was most likely to be fulfilled by a liberal +consideration of it," and therefore allowed the said Auriol a commission +of fifteen per cent on the whole of his disbursements, thereby rendering +it the direct interest of the said Auriol to make his disbursements as +great as possible; that the chance of capture by the enemy, or danger of +the sea, was to be at the risk of the India Company, and not of the said +Auriol; that the said Warren Hastings declared personally to the said +Auriol, "that this post was intended as a reward for his long and +faithful services." That the President and Council of Bombay did +remonstrate against what they called <i>the enormous amount of the +charges</i> of the rice with which they wore supplied, which they state to +be nine rupees a bag at Calcutta, when they themselves could have +contracted for its delivery at Bombay, free of all risk <!-- Page 20 --><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20" title="20" class="pagenum"></a>and charges, at +five rupees and three sixteenths per bag; and that even at Madras, where +the distress and demand was greatest, the supplies of grain by private +traders, charged to the Company, were nineteen per cent cheaper than +that supplied by the said Auriol, exclusive of the risk of the sea and +of capture by the enemy. That it is stated by the Court of Directors, +that the agent's commission on a supply of <i>a single year</i> (the said +commission being not only charged on the prime cost of the rice, but +also on the freight and all other charges) would amount to pounds +sterling 26,873, and by the said Auriol himself is admitted to amount to +18,292<i>l.</i> That William Larkins, the Accountant-General at Port William, +having been ordered to examine the accounts of the said agent, did +report to the Governor-General and Council, that he found them to be +<i>correct in the additions and calculations</i>; and that then the said +Larkins adds the following declaration: "The agent <i>being upon honor</i> +with respect to the sums charged in his accounts for the cost of the +articles supplied, I did not think myself authorized to require <i>any +voucher</i> of the sums charged for the demurrage of sloops, either as to +the time of detention or the rate of the charge, or of those for the +articles lost in going down the river; and on that ground I thought +myself equally bound to admit the sums acknowledged as received for the +sales of goods returned, without requiring vouchers of the rates at +which they were sold." That in this transaction the said Warren Hastings +has been guilty of a high breach of trust and duty, in the unnecessary +expenditure of the Company's money, and in subjecting the Company to a +profusion of expense, at all times wholly unjustifiable, but +particularly at the time when <!-- Page 21 --><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21" title="21" class="pagenum"></a>that expense was incurred. That the said +Warren Hastings was guilty of breach of orders, as well as breach of +trust, in not advertising generally for proposals; in not <i>contracting</i> +indifferently for the supplies with such merchants as might offer to +furnish them on the lowest terms; in giving an enormous commission to an +agent, and that commission not confined to the prime cost of the +articles, but to be computed on the whole of his charges; in accepting +of the <i>honor</i> of the said agent as a sufficient voucher for the cost of +the articles supplied, and for all charges whatever on which his +commission was to be computed; and finally, in giving a lucrative agency +for the supply of a distressed and starving province as a reward to a +Secretary of State, whose labors in that capacity ought to have been +rewarded by an avowed public salary, and not otherwise. That, after the +first year of the said agency was expired, the said Warren Hastings did +agree, that, for the future, the commission to be drawn by the said +agent should be reduced to five per cent, which the Governor-General and +Council then declared to be <i>the customary, amount drawn by merchants</i>; +but that even in this reduction of the commission the said Warren +Hastings was guilty of a deception, and did not in fact reduce the +commission from fifteen to five per cent, having immediately after +resolved that he, the agent, should be allowed the current interest of +Calcutta upon all his drafts on the Treasury from the day of their +dates, until they should be completely liquidated; that the legal +interest of money in Bengal is twelve per cent per annum, and the +current interest from eight to ten per cent.<!-- Page 22 --><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22" title="22" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII_PRESENTS" id="VIII_PRESENTS" />VIII.—PRESENTS.</h2> + + +<p>That, before the appointment of the Governor-General and Council of Fort +William by act of Parliament, the allowances made by the East India +Company to the Presidents of that government were abundantly sufficient; +and that the said Presidents in general, and the said Warren Hastings +particularly, was restrained by a specific covenant and indenture, which +he entered into with the Company, from accepting any gifts, rewards, or +gratuities whatsoever, on any account or pretence whatsoever. That in +the Regulating Act passed in the year 1773, which appointed the said +Warren Hastings, Esquire, Governor-General of Fort William in Bengal, a +salary of twenty-five thousand pounds a year was established for him, to +which the Court of Directors added, "that he should enjoy their +principal houses, with the plate and furniture, both in town and +country, <i>rent-free</i>." That the same law which created the office and +provided the salary of the said Warren Hastings did expressly, and in +the clearest and most comprehensive terms that could be devised, +prohibit him from receiving any present, gift, or donation, in any +manner or on any account whatsoever; and that the said Warren Hastings +perfectly understood the meaning, and acknowledged the binding force of +this prohibition, before he accepted of the office to which it was +annexed: he knew, and had declared, that <i>the prohibition was positive +and decisive; that it admitted neither of refinement or misconstruction; +and that in his opinion an opposition would be to incur the penalty</i>.</p> + +<p>That, notwithstanding the covenants and engage<!-- Page 23 --><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23" title="23" class="pagenum"></a>ments above mentioned, it +appears in the recorded proceedings of the Governor-General and Council +of Fort William, that sundry charges have been brought against the said +Warren Hastings for gifts or presents corruptly taken by him before the +promulgation of the act of 1773 in India, and that these charges were +produced at the Council Board in the presence of the said Warren +Hastings. That, in March, 1775, the late Rajah Nundcomar, a native +Hindoo, of the highest caste in his religion, and of the highest rank in +society, by the offices which he had held under the country government, +did lay before the Council an account of various sums of money paid by +him to the said Warren Hastings, amounting to forty thousand pounds and +upwards, for offices and employments corruptly disposed of by the said +Warren Hastings, and did offer and engage to prove and establish the +same by sufficient evidence. That this account is stated with a minute +particularity and precision; the date of each payment, down to that of +small sums, is specified; the various coins in which such payments were +severally made are distinguished; and the different persons through +whose hands the money passed into those of the said Warren Hastings are +named. That such particularity on the face of such a charge, supposing +it false, is favorable to the party wrongfully accused, and exposes the +accuser to an instant and easy detection: for, though, as the said +Warren Hastings himself has observed on another occasion, "papers may be +forged, and evidences may appear in numbers to attest them, yet it must +always be an <i>easy</i> matter to detect the falsity of any forged paper +produced by examining the witnesses separately, and subjecting them to a +subse<!-- Page 24 --><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24" title="24" class="pagenum"></a>quent cross-examination, in which case, if false, they will not be +able to persevere in one regular, consistent story "; whereas, if no +advantage be taken of such particularity in the charge to detect the +falsehood thereof, and if no attempt to disprove it, and no defence +whatever be made, a presumption justly and reasonably arises in favor of +the truth of such charge. That the said Warren Hastings, instead of +offering anything in his defence, declared that <i>he would not suffer +Nundcomar to appear before the board at his accuser</i>; that he attempted +to indict his said accuser for a conspiracy, in which he failed; and +that the said Rajah Nundcomar was soon after, and while his charge +against the said Warren Hastings was depending before the Council, +indicted upon an English penal statute, which does not extend even to +Scotland,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1" /><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor" +title="2d year of George II.">[1]</a> before the Supreme Court of Judicature, for an offence said +to have been committed several years before, and not capital by the laws +of India, and was condemned and executed. That the evidence of this man, +not having been encountered at the time when it might and ought to have +been by the said Warren Hastings, remains justly in force against him, +and is not abated by the capital punishment of the said Nundcomar, but +rather confirmed by the time and circumstances in which the accuser of +the said Warren Hastings suffered death. That one of the offices for +which a part of the money above mentioned is stated to have been paid to +the said Warren Hastings was given by him to Munny Begum, the widow of +the late Mir Jaffier, Nabob of Bengal, whose son, by another woman, +holds that title at present. That the said Warren Hastings had been +instructed by the <!-- Page 25 --><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25" title="25" class="pagenum"></a>Court of Directors of the East India Company to +appoint "<i>a minister</i> to transact the political affairs of the +government, and to select for that purpose some person well qualified +for the affairs of government, to be the minister and guardian of the +Nabob's minority." That for these offices, and for the execution of the +several duties belonging to them, the said Warren Hastings selected and +appointed the said Munny Begum, a woman evidently unqualified for and +incapable of such offices, and restrained from acting in such capacities +by her necessary seclusion from the world and retirement in a seraglio. +That, a considerable deficiency or embezzlement appearing in this +woman's account of the young Nabob's stipend, she voluntarily declared, +by a writing under her seal, that she had given fifteen thousand pounds +to the said Warren Hastings for an entertainment,—which declaration +corresponds with and confirms that part of the charge produced by Rajah +Nundcomar to which it relates. That neither this nor any other part of +the said charge has been at any time directly denied or disputed by the +said Warren Hastings, though made to his face, and though he was +repeatedly accused by his colleagues, who were appointed by Parliament +at the same time with himself, of peculation of every sort. That, +instead of promoting a strict inquiry into his conduct for the clearance +of his innocence and honor, he did repeatedly endeavor to elude and +stifle all inquiry by attempting to dissolve the meetings of the Council +at which such charges were produced, and by other means, and has not +since taken any steps to disprove or refute the same. That the said +Warren Hastings, so long ago as September, 1775, assured the Court of +Directors, "that <!-- Page 26 --><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26" title="26" class="pagenum"></a>it was his fixed determination most fully and +liberally to explain every circumstance of his conduct on the points on +which he had been injuriously arraigned, and to afford them the clearest +conviction of his own integrity, and of the propriety of his motives for +declining a present defence of it"; and having never since given to the +Court of Directors any explanation whatever, much less the full and +liberal explanation he had promised so repeatedly, has thereby abandoned +even that late and protracted defence which he himself must have thought +necessary to be made at some time or other, and which he would be +thought to have deferred to a period more suitable and convenient than +that in which the facts were recent, and the impression of these and +other charges of the same nature against him was fresh and unimpaired in +the minds of men.</p> + +<p>That on the 30th of March, 1775, a member of the Council produced and +laid before the board a petition from Mir Zein Abul Deen, (formerly +farmer of a district, and who had been in creditable stations,) setting +forth, that Khân Jehan Khân, then Phousdar of Hoogly, had obtained that +office from the said Warren Hastings, with a salary of seventy-two +thousand sicca rupees a year, and that the said <i>Phousdar had given a +receipt of bribe to the patron of the city</i>, meaning Warren Hastings, to +pay him annually thirty-six thousand rupees a year, and also to his +banian, Cantoo Baboo, four thousand rupees a year, out of the salary +above mentioned. That by the thirty-fifth article of the instructions +given to the Governor-General and Council, they are directed +"immediately to cause the strictest inquiry to be made into all +oppressions which might have been committed either<!-- Page 27 --><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27" title="27" class="pagenum"></a> against the natives +or Europeans, and into all abuses that might have prevailed in the +collection of the revenues, or any part of the civil government of the +Presidency, and to communicate to the Directors all information which +they might be able to obtain relative thereto, or to any dissipation or +embezzlement of the Company's money." That the above petition and +instruction having been read in Council, it was moved that the +petitioner should be ordered to attend the next day to make good his +charge. That the said Warren Hastings declared, "that it appeared to him +to be the purpose of the majority to make him the sole object of their +personal attacks; that they had taken their line, and might pursue it; +that he should have other remarks to make upon this transaction, but, as +they would be equally applicable <i>to many others</i> which in the course of +this business were likely to be brought before the board, he should say +no more on the subject";—and he objected to the motion. That by the +preceding declaration the said Warren Hastings did admit that many other +charges were likely to be brought against him, and that such charges +would be of a similar nature to the first, viz., a corrupt bargaining +for the disposal of a great office, since he declared that his remarks +on that transaction would be equally applicable to the rest; and that, +by objecting to the motion for the personal attendance of the accuser, +he resisted and disobeyed the Company's instructions, and did, as far as +depended on his power, endeavor to obstruct and prevent all inquiry into +the charge. That in so doing he failed in his duty to the Company, he +disobeyed their express orders, and did leave the charge against himself +without a reply, and even without a denial,<!-- Page 28 --><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28" title="28" class="pagenum"></a> and with that unavoidable +presumption against his innocence which lies against every person +accused who not only refuses to plead, but, as far as his vote goes, +endeavors to prevent an examination of the charge, and to stifle all +inquiry into the truth of it. That, the motion having been nevertheless +carried, the said Warren Hastings did, on the day following, declare, +"that he could not sit to be confronted with such accusers, nor suffer a +judicial inquiry into his conduct at the board of which he was +president, and declared the meeting of the board dissolved." That the +board continued to sit and examine witnesses, servants of the Phousdar, +on oath and written evidence, being letters under the hand and seal of +the Phousdar, all directly tending to prove the charge: viz., that, out +of the salary of seventy-two thousand rupees a year paid by the Company, +the said Phousdar received but thirty-two thousand, and that the +remainder was received by the said Warren Hastings and his banian. That +the Phousdar, though repeatedly ordered to attend the board, did, under +various pretences, decline attending, until the 19th of May, when, the +letters stated be his, that is, under his hand and seal, being shown to +him, it was proposed by a member of the board that he should be asked +whether he had any objection to swear to the truth of such answers as he +might make to the questions proposed by the board; that the said Warren +Hastings objected to his being put to his oath; that the question was +nevertheless put to him, in consequence of a resolution of the board; +that he first declined to swear, under pretence <i>that it was a matter of +serious consequence to his character to take an oath</i>, and, when it was +finally left to his option, he <!-- Page 29 --><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29" title="29" class="pagenum"></a>declared, "Mean people might swear, but +that his character would not allow him,—that he could not swear, and +had rather subject himself to a loss." That the evidence in support of +the charge, being on oath, was in this manner left uncontradicted. That +it was admitted by the said Warren Hastings, that neither Mussulmen or +Hindoos are forbidden by the precepts of their religion to swear; that +it is not true, as the said Warren Hastings asserted, that it was +repugnant to the <i>manners</i> either of Hindoos or Mussulmen; and that, if, +under such pretences, the natives were to be exempted from taking an +oath, when examined by the Governor and Council, all the inquiries +pointed out to them by the Company's instructions might stop or be +defeated. That no valid reason was or could be assigned why the said +Phousdar should not be examined on oath; that the charge was not against +himself; and that, if any questions had been put to him, tending to make +him accuse himself, he might have declined to answer them. That, if he +could have safely sworn to the innocence of the said Warren Hastings, +from whom he received his employment, he was bound in gratitude as well +as justice to the said Warren Hastings to have consented to be examined +on oath; that, not having done so, and having been supported and abetted +in his refusal by the said Warren Hastings himself, whose character and +honor, were immediately at stake, the whole of the evidence for the +truth of the charge remains unanswered, and in full force against the +said Warren Hastings, who on this occasion recurred to the declaration +he had before made to the Directors, viz., "that he would most fully and +liberally explain every circumstance of his conduct,"<!-- Page 30 --><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30" title="30" class="pagenum"></a> but has never +since that time given the Directors any explanation whatsoever of his +said conduct. And finally, that, when the Court of Directors, in +January, 1776, referred the question (concerning the legality of the +power assumed and repeatedly exercised by the said Warren Hastings, of +dissolving the Council at his pleasure) to the late Charles Sayer, then +standing counsel of the East India Company, the said Charles Sayer +declared his opinion in favor of the power, but concerning the use and +exercise of it in the cases stated did declare his opinion in the +following words: "I believe he, Warren Hastings, is the first governor +that ever dissolved a council inquiring into his behavior, when he was +innocent." Before he could summon three councils, and dissolve them, he +had time fully to consider what would be the result of such conduct, <i>to +convince everybody beyond a doubt of his conscious guilt</i>.—That, by a +resolution of a majority of the Council, constituting a lawful act of +the Governor-General and Council, the said Khân Jehan Khân was dismissed +from the office of Phousdar of Hoogly for a contempt of the authority of +the board; that, within a few weeks after the death of the late Colonel +Monson, the number of the Council being then even, and all questions +being then determined by the Governor-General's casting voice, the said +Warren Hastings did move and carry it in Council, that the said Khân +Jehan Khân should be restored to his office; and that restoration, not +having been preceded, accompanied, or followed by any explanation or +defence whatsoever, or even by a denial of the specific and +circumstantial charge of collusion with the said Khân Jehan Khân, has +confirmed the truth of the said charge.<!-- Page 31 --><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31" title="31" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>That, besides the sums charged to have been paid to the said Warren +Hastings by the said Nundcomar and Munny Begum and Khân Jehan Khân, and +besides the sum of one hundred and ten thousand pounds already mentioned +to have been accepted without hesitation by him, as a present on the +part of the Nabob of Oude and that of his ministers, the circumstances +of which have been particularly reported to the House of Commons, it +appears by the confession of the said Warren Hastings, that he has at +different times since the promulgation of the act of 1773, received +various other sums, contrary to the express prohibition of the said act, +and his own declared sense of the evident intent and obligation +thereof.—That in the month of June, 1780, the said Warren Hastings made +to the Council what he called "a very unusual tender, by offering to +exonerate the Company from the expense of a particular measure, and to +<i>take it upon himself</i>; declaring that he had already deposited two lacs +of rupees [or twenty-three thousand pounds] in the hands of the +Company's sub-treasurer for that service." That in a subsequent letter, +dated the 29th of November, 1780, he informed the Court of Directors, +that "this money, by whatever means it came into their possession, <i>was +not his own</i>"; but he did not then, nor has he at any time since, made +known to the Court of Directors from whom or on what account he received +that money, as it was his duty to have done in the first instance, and +notwithstanding the said Directors signified to him their expectation +that he should communicate to them "immediate information of the channel +by which this money came into his possession, with a complete +illustration of the cause or causes of <!-- Page 32 --><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32" title="32" class="pagenum"></a>so extraordinary an event." But, +from evidence examined in England, it has been discovered that this +money was received by the said Warren Hastings from Cheyt Sing, the +Rajah of Benares, who was soon after dispossessed of all his property +and driven from his country and government by the said Warren Hastings. +That, notwithstanding the declaration made by the said Warren Hastings, +that he had actually deposited the sum above mentioned in the hands of +the Company's sub-treasurer for their service, it does not appear that +"any entry whatsoever of that or any other payment by the +Governor-General was made in the Treasury accounts at or about the +time," nor is there any trace in the Company's books of its being +actually paid into their treasury. It appears, then, by the confession +of the said Warren Hastings, that this money was received by him; but it +does not appear that he has converted it to the property and use of the +Company.</p> + +<p>That in a letter from the said Warren Hastings to the said Court of +Directors, dated the 22d of May, 1782, but not dispatched, as it might +and ought to have been, at that time, but detained and kept back by the +said Warren Hastings till the 16th of December following, he has +confessed the receipt of various other sums, amounting (with that which +he accepted from the Nabob of Oude) to nearly two hundred thousand +pounds, which sums he affirmed had been converted to the Company's +property through his means, but without discovering from whom or on what +account he received the same. That, instead of converting this money to +the Company's property, as he affirmed he had done, it appears that he +had lent the greater part of it to the Company upon bonds <!-- Page 33 --><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33" title="33" class="pagenum"></a>bearing +interest, which bonds were demanded and received by him, and, for aught +that yet appears, have never been given up or cancelled. That for +another considerable part of the above-mentioned sum he has taken credit +to himself, as for a deposit of his own property, and therefore +demandable by him out of the Company's treasury at his discretion. That +all sums so lent or deposited are not alienated from the person who +lends or deposits the same; consequently, that the declaration made by +the said Warren Hastings, that he had converted the whole of these sums +to the Company's property, was not true. Nor would such a transfer, if +it had really been made, have justified the said Warren Hastings in +originally receiving the money, which, being in the first instance +contrary to law, could not be rendered legal by any subsequent +disposition or application thereof; much less would it have justified +the said Warren Hastings in delaying to make a discovery of these +transactions to the Court of Directors until he had heard of the +inquiries then begun and proceeding in Parliament, in finally making a +discovery, such as it is, in terms the most intricate, obscure, and +contradictory. That, instead of that full and clear explanation of his +conduct which the Court of Directors demanded, and which the said Warren +Hastings was bound to give them, he has contented himself with telling +the said Directors, that, "if this matter was to be exposed to the view +of the public, his reasons for acting as he had done might furnish a +variety of conjectures to which it would be of little use to reply; that +he either chose to conceal the first receipts from public curiosity by +receiving bonds for the amount, or possibly acted without any studied +design which his memory could at that dis<!-- Page 34 --><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34" title="34" class="pagenum"></a>tance of time verify; and that +he <i>could</i> have concealed them from their eye and that of the public +forever." That the discovery, as far as it goes, establishes the guilt +of the said Warren Hastings in taking money against law, but does not +warrant a conclusion that he has discovered <i>all</i> that he may have +taken; that, on the contrary, such discovery, not being made in proper +time, and when made being imperfect, perplexed, and wholly +unsatisfactory, leads to a just and reasonable presumption that other +facts of the same nature have been concealed, since those which he has +confessed might have been forever, and that this partial confession was +either extorted from the said Warren Hastings by the dread of detection, +or made with a view of removing suspicion, and preventing any further +inquiry into his conduct.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, in a letter to the Court of Directors +dated 21st of February, 1784, has confessed his having <i>privately +received</i> another sum of money, the amount of which he has not declared, +but which, from the application he says he has made of it, could not be +less than thirty-four thousand pounds sterling. That he has not informed +the Directors from whom he received this money, at what time, nor on +what account; but, on the contrary, has attempted to justify the receipt +of it, which was illegal, by the application of it, which was +unauthorized and unwarrantable, and which, if admitted as a reason for +receiving money <i>privately</i>, would constitute a precedent of the most +dangerous nature to the Company's service. That, in attempting to +justify the receipt and application of the said money, he has endeavored +to establish principles of conduct in a Governor which tend to subvert +all order and regularity in the con<!-- Page 35 --><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35" title="35" class="pagenum"></a>duct of public business, to +encourage and facilitate fraud and corruption in all offices of +pecuniary trust, and to defeat all inquiry into the misconduct of any +person in whom pecuniary trust is reposed.—That the said Warren +Hastings, in his letter above mentioned, has made a declaration to the +Court of Directors in the following terms: "Having had occasion to +disburse from my own cash many sums, which, though required to enable me +to execute the duties of my station, I have hitherto omitted to enter in +my public accounts, and my own fortune being unequal to so heavy a +charge, I have resolved to reimburse myself in a mode the most suitable +to the situation of your affairs, by charging the same in my Durbar +accounts of the present year, and crediting them by a sum <i>privately +received</i>, and appropriated to your service in the same manner with +other sums received on account of the Honorable Company, and already +carried to their account." That at the time of writing this letter the +said Warren Hastings had been in possession of the government of Fort +William about twelve years, with a clear salary, or avowed emoluments, +at no time less than twenty-five thousand pounds sterling a year, +exclusive of which all the principal expenses of his residence were paid +for by the Company. That, if the services mentioned by him were required +to enable him to execute the duties of his station, he ought not to have +omitted to enter them in his public accounts at the times when the +expenses were incurred. That, if it was true, as he affirms, that, when +he first engaged in these expenses, he had no intention to carry them to +the account of the Company, there was no subsequent change in his +situation which could justify his departing from that intention. That, +if his own <!-- Page 36 --><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36" title="36" class="pagenum"></a>fortune in the year 1784 was unequal to so heavy a charge, +the state of his fortune at any earlier period must have been still more +unequal to so heavy a charge. That the fact so asserted by the said +Warren Hastings leads directly to an inference palpably false and +absurd, viz., that, the longer a Governor-General holds that lucrative +office, the poorer he must become. That neither would the assertion, if +it were true, nor the inference, if it were admitted, justify the +conduct avowed by the said Warren Hastings in resolving to reimburse +himself out of the Company's property without their consent or +knowledge.—That the account transmitted in this letter is styled by +himself <i>an aggregate of a contingent account of twelve years</i>; that all +contingent accounts should be submitted to those who ought to have an +official control over them, at annual or other shorter periods, in order +that the expense already incurred may be checked and examined, and +similar expenses, if disapproved of, may be prohibited in time; that, +after a very long period is elapsed, all check and control over such +expenses is impracticable, and, if it were practicable in the present +instance, would be completely useless, since the said Warren Hastings, +without waiting for the consent of the Directors, did <i>resolve to +reimburse himself</i>. That the conduct of the said Warren Hastings, in +withholding these accounts for twelve years together, and then resolving +to reimburse himself without the consent of his employers, has been +fraudulent in the first instance, and in the second amounts to a denial +and mockery of the authority placed over him by law; and that he has +thereby set a dangerous example to his successors, and to every man in +trust or office under him.—That the mode in which he has <!-- Page 37 --><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37" title="37" class="pagenum"></a>reimbursed +himself is a crime of a much higher order, and greatly aggravates +whatever was already criminal in the other parts of this transaction. +That the said Warren Hastings, in declaring that he should reimburse +himself by crediting the Company by <i>a sum privately received</i>, has +acknowledged himself guilty of an illegal act in receiving money +<i>privately</i>. That he has suppressed or withheld every particular which +could throw any light on a conduct so suspicious in a Governor as the +<i>private</i> receipt of money. That the general confession of the private +receipt of a large sum in gross, in which no circumstance of time, +place, occasion, or person, nor even the amount, is specified, tends to +cover or protect any act of the same nature (as far as a general +confession can protect such acts) which may be detected hereafter, and +which in fact may not make part of the gross sum so confessed, and that +it tends to perplex and defeat all inquiry into such practices.—That +the said Warren Hastings, in stating to the Directors that he has +resolved to reimburse himself in <i>a mode the most suitable to the +situation of their affairs</i>, viz., by receiving money privately against +law, has stated a presumption highly injurious to the integrity of the +said Directors, viz., that they will not object to, or even inquire +into, any extraordinary expenses incurred and charged by their Governors +in India, provided such expenses are reimbursed by money privately and +illegally received. That he has not explained what that situation of +their affairs was or could be to which so dangerous and corrupt a +principle was or might be applied.—That no evidence has been produced +to prove that it was true, nor any ground of argument stated to show +that it might be credible, that any na<!-- Page 38 --><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38" title="38" class="pagenum"></a>tive of India had voluntarily and +gratuitously given money privately to the said Warren Hastings, that is, +without some prospect of a benefit in return, or some dread of his +resentment, if he refused. That it is not a thing to be believed, that +any native would give large sums privately to a Governor, which he +refused to give or lend publicly to government, unless it were to derive +some adequate secret advantage from the favor, or to avoid some mischief +from the enmity of such Governor.—That the late confessions made by the +said Warren Hastings of money received against law are no proof that he +did not originally intend to appropriate the same to his own use, such +confessions having been made at a suspicious moment, when, and not +before, he was apprised of the inquiries commenced in the House of +Commons, and when a dread of the consequence of those inquiries might +act upon his mind. That such confessions, from the obscure, intricate, +and contradictory manner in which they are made, imply guilt in the said +Warren Hastings, as far as they go; that they do not furnish any color +of reason to conclude that he has confessed all the money which he may +have corruptly received; but that, on the contrary, they warrant a just +and reasonable presumption, that, in discovering some part of the bribes +he had received, he hoped to lull suspicion, and thereby conceal and +secure the rest.</p> + +<p>That the Court of Directors, when the former accounts of these +transactions came before them, did show an evident disposition not to +censure the said Warren Hastings, but to give the most favorable +construction to his conduct; that, nevertheless, they found themselves +obliged "to confess that the statement of those transactions appeared to +them in many <!-- Page 39 --><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39" title="39" class="pagenum"></a>parts so <i>unintelligible</i>, that they felt themselves under +the necessity of calling on the Governor-General for an explanation, +agreeably to his promise voluntarily made to them." That their letter, +containing this requisition, was received in Bengal in the month of +August, 1784, and that the said Warren Hastings did not embark for +England until the 2d of February, 1785, but made no reply to that letter +before his departure, owing, as he has since said, <i>to a variety of +other more important occupations</i>. That, under pretence of such +occupations, he neglected to transmit to the Court of Directors a copy +of a paper which, he says, contained the <i>only</i> account he ever kept of +the transaction. That such a paper, or a copy of it, might have been +transmitted without interrupting other important occupations, if any +could be more important than that of giving a clear and satisfactory +answer to the requisition of the Directors. That since his arrival in +England he has written a letter to the chairman of that court, +professedly in answer to their letter above mentioned, but in fact +giving no explanation or satisfaction whatsoever on the points which +they had declared to be unintelligible. That the terms of his letter are +ambiguous and obscure, such as a guilty man might have recourse to in +order to cover his guilt, but such as no innocent man, from whom nothing +was required but to clear his innocence by giving plain answers to plain +questions, could possibly have made use of. That in his letter of the +11th of July, 1785, he says, "that he has been kindly apprised that the +information required as above <i>was yet expected from him</i>: that the +submission which his respect would have enjoined him to pay to the +command imposed on him <i>was lost to his recollection</i>, perhaps from the +stronger impression which the first and distant perusal of it had left +on his mind that it was rather intended as a reprehension for something +which had given offence in his report of the original transaction than +as expressive of any want of a further elucidation of it."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2" /><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor" +title="See his letter of the 11th of July, 1785, at the end of the Charges.">[2]</a> +<!-- Page 40 --><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40" title="40" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, in affecting to doubt whether the +information expressly required of him by his employers was expected or +not, has endeavored to justify a criminal delay and evasion in giving +it. That, considering the importance of the subject, and the recent date +of the command, it is not possible <i>that it could be lost to his +recollection</i>; much less is it possible that he could have understood +the specific demand of an answer to specific questions to be intended +only as a reprehension for a former offence, viz., the offence of +withholding from the Directors that very explanation which he ought to +have given in the first instance. That the said Warren Hastings, in his +answer to the said questions, cautiously avoids affirming or denying +anything in clear, positive terms, and professes to recollect nothing +with absolute certainty. That he has not, even now, informed the +Directors of the name of any one person from whom any part of the money +in question was received, nor what was the motive of any one person for +giving the same. That he has, indeed, declared, that his motive for +lending to the Company, or depositing in their treasury in his own name, +money which he has in other places declared to be their property, was to +avoid ostentation, and that <i>lending</i> the <!-- Page 41 --><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41" title="41" class="pagenum"></a>money was <i>the least liable +to reflection</i>; yet, when he has stated these and other conjectural +motives for his own conduct, he declares <i>he will not affirm, though he +is firmly persuaded, that those were his sentiments on the occasion</i>. +That of one thing only the said Warren Hastings declares he is +<i>certain</i>, viz., "that it was his design originally to have <i>concealed</i> +the receipt of all the sums, except the second, even from the knowledge +of the Court of Directors, but that, when fortune threw a sum in his way +of a magnitude <i>which could not be concealed</i>, and the peculiar delicacy +of his situation at the time in which he received it made him more +circumspect of appearances, he <i>chose</i> to apprise his employers of it." +That the said Warren Hastings informs the Directors, that he had +indorsed the bonds taken by him for money belonging to the Company, and +lent by him to the Company, <i>in order to guard against their becoming a +claim on the Company, as part of his estate, in the event of his death</i>; +but he has not affirmed, nor does it anywhere appear, that he has +surrendered the said bonds, as he ought to have done. That the said +Warren Hastings, in affirming that he had not time to answer the +questions put to him by the Directors, while he was in Bengal,—in not +bringing with him to England the documents necessary to enable him to +answer those questions, or in pretending that he has not brought +them,—in referring the Directors back again to Bengal for those +documents, and for any further information on a subject on which he has +given them no information,—and particularly in referring them back to a +person in Bengal for a paper which he says contained the <i>only</i> account +he ever kept of the transaction, while he himself professes to doubt +whether <!-- Page 42 --><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42" title="42" class="pagenum"></a>that paper <i>be still in being</i>, whether <i>it be in the hands</i> of +that person, or whether that person <i>can recollect anything distinctly +concerning it</i>,—has been guilty of gross evasions, and of palpable +prevarication and deceit, as well as of contumacy and disobedience to +the lawful orders of the Court of Directors, and thereby confirmed all +the former evidence of his having constantly used the influence of his +station for the most scandalous, illegal, and corrupt purposes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX_RESIGNATION_OF_THE_OFFICE_OF_GOVERNOR_GENERAL" id="IX_RESIGNATION_OF_THE_OFFICE_OF_GOVERNOR_GENERAL" />IX.—RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICE OF GOVERNOR-GENERAL.</h2> + + +<p>That Warren Hastings having by his agent, Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, on +the 10th day of October, in the year 1776, "signified to the Court of +Directors his desire to resign his office of Governor-General of Bengal, +and requested their nomination of a successor to the vacancy which would +be thereby occasioned in the Supreme Council," the Court of Directors +did thereupon desire the said Lauchlan Macleane "to inform them of the +authority under which he acted in a point of such very great +importance"; and the said Lauchlan Macleane "signifying thereupon his +readiness to give the court every possible satisfaction on that subject, +but the powers with which he was intrusted by the papers in his custody +being mixed with other matters of a nature extremely confidential, he +would submit the same to the inspection of any three of the members of +the court," the said Court of Directors empowered the Chairman, Deputy +Chairman, and Richard Becher, Esquire, to inspect the authorities, +powers, and directions with <!-- Page 43 --><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43" title="43" class="pagenum"></a>which Mr. Macleane was furnished by Mr. +Hastings to make the propositions contained in his letter of the 10th +October, 1776, and to report their opinion thereon. And the said +committee did accordingly, on the 23d of the said month, report, "that, +having conferred with Mr. Macleane on the subject of his letter +presented to the court the 11th instant, they found, that, from the +purport of Mr. Hastings's instructions, contained in a paper in his own +handwriting given to Mr. Macleane, and produced by him to them, Mr. +Hastings declared he would not continue in the government of Bengal, +unless certain conditions therein specified could be obtained, of which +they saw no probability; and Mr. George Vansittart had declared to them, +that he was present when these instructions were given to Mr. Macleane, +and when Mr. Hastings empowered Mr. Macleane to declare his resignation +to the said court; that Mr. Stewart had likewise confirmed to them, that +Mr. Hastings declared to him, that he had given directions to the above +purpose by Mr. Macleane."</p> + +<p>And the Court of Directors, having received from the said report due +satisfaction respecting the authority vested in the said Lauchlan +Macleane to propose the said resignation of the office of +Governor-General of Bengal, did unanimously resolve to accept the same, +and did also, under powers vested in the said court by the act of the +13th year of his present Majesty, "nominate and appoint Edward Wheler, +Esquire, to succeed to the office in the Council of Fort William in +Bengal which will become vacant by the said resignation, if such +nomination shall be approved by his Majesty": which nomination and +appointment was afterwards in due form approved and confirmed by his +Majesty.<!-- Page 44 --><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44" title="44" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>That the Court of Directors did, by a postscript to their general +letter, dated 25th October, 1776, acquaint the Governor-General and +Council at Calcutta of their acceptance of the said resignation, of +their appointment of Edward Wheler, Esquire, to fill the said vacancy, +and of his Majesty's approbation of the said appointment, together with +the grounds of their said proceedings; and did transmit to the said +Governor-General and Council copies of the said instruments of +appointment and confirmation.</p> + +<p>That the said dispatches from the Court of Directors were received at +Calcutta, and were read in Council on the 19th day of June, in the year +1777; and that Warren Hastings, Esquire, having taken no steps to yield +the government to his successor, General Clavering, and having observed +a profound silence on the subject of the said dispatches, he, the said +General Clavering, did, on the next day, being the 20th of June, by a +letter addressed to the said Warren Hastings, require him to surrender +the keys of Fort William, and of the Company's treasuries; but the said +Warren Hastings did positively refuse to comply with the said +requisition, "denying that his office was vacated, and declaring his +resolution to assert and maintain his authority by every legal means."</p> + +<p>That the said General Clavering, conceiving that the office of +Governor-General was vacated by the arrival of the said dispatches, +which acquainted the Council-General of the resignation of the said +Warren Hastings and the appointment of the said Edward Wheler, Esquire, +and that he, the said General Clavering, had in consequence thereof +legally succeeded, under the provisions of the act of the 13th year of +his <!-- Page 45 --><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45" title="45" class="pagenum"></a>present Majesty's reign, to the said office of Governor-General, +become vacant in the manner aforesaid, did, in virtue thereof, issue in +his own name summonses to Richard Barwell, Esquire, and Philip Francis, +Esquire, members of the Council, to attend the same, and in the presence +of the said Philip Francis, Esquire, who obeyed the said summons, did +take the oaths as Governor-General, and did sit and preside in Council +as Governor-General, and prepared several acts and resolutions in the +said capacity of Governor-General, and did, amongst other things, +prepare a proclamation to be made of his said succession to the +government, and of its commencing from the date of the said +proclamation, but did not carry any of the acts or resolutions so +prepared into execution.</p> + +<p>The said Warren Hastings did, notwithstanding thereof, and in pursuance +of his resolution to assert and maintain his authority, illegally and +unjustifiably summon the Council to meet in another department, and did +sit and preside therein, apart from the said General Clavering and his +Council, and, in conjunction with Richard Barwell, Esquire, who +concurred therein, issued sundry orders and did sundry acts of +government belonging to the office of Governor-General, and, amongst +others, did order several letters to be written in the name of the +Governor-General and Council, and did subscribe the same, to the +commandant of the garrison of Fort William, and to the commanding +officer at Barrackpore, and to the commanding officers at the other +stations, and also to the provincial councils and collectors in the +provinces, enjoining them severally "to obey no orders excepting such as +should be signed by the said Warren Hastings, or a majority of his +Council."<!-- Page 46 --><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46" title="46" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings did, by the said proceedings, which were +contrary both to law and to good faith, constitute a double government, +thereby destroying and annihilating all government whatever; and, by his +said orders to the military officers, did prepare for open resistance by +arms, exposing thereby the settlement, and all the inhabitants, subjects +of or dependent on the British government, whether native or European, +not only to political distractions, but to the horrors of civil war; and +did, by exposing the divisions and weakness of the supreme government, +and thereby loosening the obedience of the provinces, shake the whole +foundation of British authority, and imminently endanger the existence +of the British nation in India.</p> + +<p>That the said evils were averted only by the moderation of the said +General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, in consenting to a +reference, and submitting to the decision of the judges of the Supreme +Court of Judicature, although they entertained no doubts themselves on +the legality of their proceedings and the validity of General +Clavering's instant right to the chair, and although they were not in +any way bound by law to consult the said judges, who had no legal or +judicial authority therein in virtue of their offices or as a court of +justice, but were consulted, and interposed their advice, only as +individuals, by the voluntary reference of the parties in the said +dispute. And the said Warren Hastings, by his declaration, entered in +Minutes of Council, "that it was his determination to abide by the +opinion of the judges," and by the measures he had previously taken as +aforesaid to enforce the same by arms, did risk all the dangerous +consequences above mentioned: which must have <!-- Page 47 --><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47" title="47" class="pagenum"></a>taken place, if the said +General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, had not been more tender +of the public interests, and less tenacious of their own rights, and had +persisted in their claim, as they were by law entitled to do, the +extra-judicial interposition of the judges notwithstanding; and from +which claim they receded only from their desire to preserve the peace of +the settlement, and to prevent the mischiefs which the illegal +resistance of the said Warren Hastings would otherwise infallibly have +occasioned.</p> + +<p>That, after the said judges had delivered their opinion, "that the place +and office of Governor-General of this Presidency had not yet been +vacated by Warren Hastings, and that the actual assumption of the +government by the member of the Council next in succession to Mr. +Hastings, in consequence of any deduction which could be made from the +papers communicated to them, would be absolutely illegal," and after the +said General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, had signified to the +said Warren Hastings, by a letter dated the 21st of June, "their +intention to acquiesce in the said opinion of the judges," and when the +differences in the Supreme Council were by these means composed, and the +calamities consequent thereon were avoided, the said Warren Hastings and +Richard Barwell, Esquires, did once more endanger the public peace and +security by other illegal, unwarrantable, and unprovoked acts of +violence: having omitted to summon either the said General Clavering or +the said Philip Francis, Esquire, to Council; and having, in a Council +held thus privately and clandestinely and contrary to law, on the 22d +day of June, come to the following resolutions, viz.<!-- Page 48 --><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48" title="48" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>"Resolved, That, by the said acts, orders, and declarations of +Lieutenant-General John Clavering, recited in the foregoing papers," +(meaning the proceedings of General Clavering in his separate Council on +the 20th of June,) "he has actually usurped and assumed and taken +possession of the place and office of Governor-General of the Presidency +of Fort William in Bengal, granted by the act of the 13th of his present +Majesty to Warren Hastings, Esquire.</p> + +<p>"Resolved, That Lieutenant-General John Clavering has thereby +relinquished, resigned, surrendered, and vacated the office of Senior +Counsellor of Fort William in Bengal.</p> + +<p>"Resolved, That Lieutenant-General John Clavering has thereby +relinquished, resigned, surrendered, and vacated his place of +Commander-in-Chief of the Company's forces in India.</p> + +<p>"Resolved, That Richard Barwell, Esquire, by virtue of the said act of +Parliament, and by the death of the Honorable George Monson, Esquire, is +promoted to the office of Senior Counsellor of the Presidency of Fort +William in Bengal, in consequence of the said relinquishment, +resignation, surrender, and vacation of General Clavering.</p> + +<p>"Resolved, That the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Company's forces +in India, by the relinquishment, resignation, surrender, and vacation of +General Clavering, and by the death of the Honorable George Monson, +Esquire, does no longer exist.</p> + +<p>"Resolved, That, for the preservation of the legality of our +proceedings, Lieutenant-General John Clavering be not in future summoned +or admitted as a member of the Governor-General and Council."</p> + +<p>And the said Warren Hastings and Richard Bar<!-- Page 49 --><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49" title="49" class="pagenum"></a>well, Esquire, did again +sit in Council on the next day, being the 23d of June, without summoning +either General Clavering or Philip Francis, Esquire, and did come to +several other resolutions, and make several orders, contrary to law or +justice, and inconsistent with the tranquillity and the security of the +settlement: that is to say, they ordered their secretary "to notify to +General Clavering that the board had declared his offices of Senior +Counsellor and Commander-in-Chief to be vacant, and to furnish him with +a copy of these proceedings, containing the grounds of the board for the +aforesaid declaration."</p> + +<p>And they ordered extracts of the said proceedings "to be issued in +general orders, with letters to all the provincial councils and military +stations, directing them to publish the same in general orders"; and +they resolved, "that all military returns be made to the +Governor-General and Council in their military department, until a +commander-in-chief shall be appointed by the Company."</p> + +<p>That on the day following, that is to say, on the 24th of June, the said +Warren Hastings did again omit to summon General Clavering to Council, +and did again, together with Richard Barwell, Esquire, who concurred +therein, adhere to and confirm the said illegal resolutions come to on +the two former days, declaring "that they could not be retracted but by +the present authority of the law or by future orders from home," and +aggravating the guilt of the said unjustifiable acts by declaring, as +the said Warren Hastings did, "that they were not the precipitate +effects of an instant and passionate impulse, but the fruits of long and +most temperate deliberations, of inevitable necessity, of the strictest +sense of public <!-- Page 50 --><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50" title="50" class="pagenum"></a>duty, and of a conviction equal in its impression on +his mind to absolute certainty."</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings was the less excusable in this obstinate +adherence to his former unjust proceedings, as the said declarations +were made in answer to a motion made by Philip Francis, Esquire, for the +reversal of the said proceedings, and to a minute introducing the said +motion, in which Mr. Francis set forth in a clear and forcible manner, +and in terms with which the Court of Directors have since declared their +entire concurrence, both the extreme danger and the illegality and +invalidity of the said proceedings of Warren Hastings and Richard +Barwell, Esquire, concluding the said minute by the following +conciliatory declaration: "And that this salutary motion may not be +impeded by any idea or suspicion that General Clavering may do any act +inconsistent with the acquiescence which both he and I have avowed in +the decision of the judges, I will undertake to answer for him in this +respect, or that, if he should depart from the true spirit and meaning +of that acquiescence, I will not be a party with him in such +proceedings."</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings could not plead ignorance of the law in +excuse for the said illegal acts, as it appears from the proceedings of +the four preceding days that he was well acquainted with the tenure by +which the members of the Council held their offices under the act of the +13th of his present Majesty, and had stated the same as a ground for +retaining his own office, contrary to an express declaration of the +Court of Directors and an instrument under the sign-manual of his +Majesty; and the judges of the Supreme Court, in their reasons for their +decision in his favor, <!-- Page 51 --><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51" title="51" class="pagenum"></a>had stated the provisions in the said act,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3" /><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor" +title="13 Geo. III. c. 63, § 10.">[3]</a> so +far as they related to the matter in dispute, from which it appeared +that there were but four grounds on which the office of any member of +the Council could be vacated,—namely, death, removal, resignation, or +promotion. And as the act confined the power of removal to "his Majesty, +his heirs and successors, upon representation made by the Court of +Directors of the said United Company for the time being," and conferred +no such power on the Governor-General, or a majority of the Council, to +remove, on any ground or for any cause whatever, one of their +colleagues,—so, granting the claim of General Clavering to the chair, +and his acts done in furtherance thereof, to have been illegal, and +criminal in whatever degree, yet it did not furnish to the rest of the +Council any ground to remove him from his office of Counsellor under the +provisions of the said act; and there could therefore remain only his +<i>resignation</i> or <i>promotion</i>, as a possible means of vacating his said +office. But with regard to the promotion of General Clavering to the +office of Governor-General, although he claimed it himself, yet, as Mr. +Hastings did not admit it, and as in fact it was even receded from by +General Clavering, it could not be considered, at least by Mr. Hastings, +as a valid ground for vacating his office of Senior Counsellor, since +the act requires for that purpose, not a rejected claim, but an actual +and effectual promotion; and General Clavering's office of Counsellor +could no more be vacated by such a naked claim, unsupported and +disallowed, than the seat of a member of the House of Commons could be +vacated, and a new writ issued to supply the vacancy, by his claim <!-- Page 52 --><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52" title="52" class="pagenum"></a>to +the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, when his Majesty has +refused to appoint him to the said office. And with regard to +resignation, although the said Warren Hastings, as a color to his +illegal resolutions, had affectedly introduced the word "resigned" +amongst those of "relinquished, surrendered, and vacated," yet he well +knew that General Clavering had made no offer nor declaration of his +resignation of his offices of Senior Counsellor and Commander-in-Chief, +and that he did not claim the office of Governor-General on the ground +of any such resignation made by himself, but on the ground of a +resignation made by the said Warren Hastings, which resignation the said +Warren Hastings did not admit; and the use of the term <i>resigned</i> on +that occasion was therefore a manifest and wilful misconstruction and +misapplication of the words of the act of his present Majesty. And such +misinterpretation and false extension of the term of resignation was the +more indecent in the said Warren Hastings, as he was at the same moment +disavowing and refusing to give effect to his own clear and express +resignation, according to the true intent and meaning of the word as +used in the said act, made by his agent, duly authorized and instructed +by himself so to do, to an authority competent to receive and accept the +same.</p> + +<p>That, although the said Warren Hastings did afterwards recede from the +said illegal measures, in compliance with the opinion and advice of the +judges again interposed, and did thereby avoid the guilt of such further +acts and the blame of such further evils as must have been consequent on +a persistence therein, yet he was nevertheless still guilty of the +illegal acts above described; and the same are great crimes and +misdemeanors.<!-- Page 53 --><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53" title="53" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>That, although the judges did decide that the office of +Governor-General, held by the said Warren Hastings, was not <i>ipso facto</i> +and <i>instanter</i> vacated by the arrival of the said dispatches and +documents transmitted by the Court of Directors, and did consider the +said consequences of the resignation as awaiting some future act or +event for its complete and effectual operation, yet the said judges did +not declare any opinion on the ultimate invalidity of the said acts of +Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, as not being binding on his principal, +Warren Hastings, Esquire; nor did they declare any opinion that the +obligation of the said resignation was not from the beginning conclusive +and effectual, although its operation was, from the necessity of the +case, on account of the distance between England and India, to take +place only in future,—or that the said resignation made by Lauchlan +Macleane, Esquire, was only an offer or proposal of a resignation to be +made at some future and indefinite period, or a mere intimation of the +desire of Warren Hastings, Esquire, to resign at some future and +indefinite period, and that the said resignation, notwithstanding the +acceptance thereof by the Court of Directors, and the regular +appointment and confirmation of a successor, was still to remain +optional in the said Warren Hastings, to be ratified or departed from at +his future choice or pleasure; nor did the said judges pronounce, nor do +any of their reasonings which accompanied their decision tend to +establish it as their opinion, that even the time for ratifying and +completing the said transaction was to be at the sole discretion of the +said Warren Hastings; but they only delivered their opinion as +aforesaid, that his said office "has not <i>yet</i> been vacated, and +[therefore] that <!-- Page 54 --><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54" title="54" class="pagenum"></a>the <i>actual</i> assumption of the government by the +member of the Council next in succession was [in the actual +circumstances, and <i>rebus sic stantibus</i>] illegal."</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings does nowhere himself contend that the said +resignation was not absolute, but optional, according to the true +meaning and understanding of the parties in England, and so far as the +acts of Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, and the Court of Directors, were +binding on him; but, on the contrary, he grounds his refusal to complete +the same, not on any interpretation of the words in which the said +resignation, and the other instruments aforesaid, were conceived, but +rather on a disavowal (not direct, indeed, but implied) of his said +agent, and of the powers under which the said agent had claimed to act +in his behalf. Neither did the said Warren Hastings ground his said +refusal on any objection to the particular day or period or +circumstances in which the requisition of General Clavering was made, +nor accompany the said refusal with any qualification in that respect, +or with any intimation that he would at any future or more convenient +season comply with the same,—although such an intimation might probably +have induced General Clavering to waive an instant and immediate claim +to the chair, and might therefore have prevented the distractions which +happened, and the greater evils which impended, in consequence of the +said claim of General Clavering, and the said refusal of Warren +Hastings, Esquire; but the said Warren Hastings did, on the contrary, +express his said refusal in such general and unqualified terms as +intimated an intention to resist absolutely and altogether, both then +and at any future time, the said requisition of General Clavering. And +the sub<!-- Page 55 --><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55" title="55" class="pagenum"></a>sequent proceedings of the said Warren Hastings do all concur in +proving that such was his intention; for he did afterwards, in +conformity to the advice of the judges, move a resolution in Council, +"that all parties be placed in the same situation in which they stood +before the receipt of the last advices from England, reserving and +submitting to a decision in England the respective claims that each +party may conceive they have a right to make, but not acting upon those +claims till such decision shall arrive in Bengal": thereby clearly and +explicitly declaring that it was not his intention to surrender the +government until such decision should arrive in Bengal, which could not +be expected in less time than a year and a half after the date of the +said resolution; and thereby clearly and explicitly declaring that he +did not consider his resignation as binding for the present. And the +said intention was manifested, if possible, still more directly and +expressly in a letter written by the said Warren Hastings to the Court +of Directors, dated the 15th of August, 1777, being almost two months +after the receipt of the said dispatches, in which the said Warren +Hastings declares that "he did not hold himself bound by the +notification made by Mr. Macleane, nor by any of the acts consequent of +it."</p> + +<p>That, such appearing to have been the intention of the said Warren +Hastings, General Clavering was justified in immediately assuming the +government, without waiting for any future act of the said Warren +Hastings for the actual surrender of the said government, none such +being likely to happen; and Philip Francis, Esquire, was justified in +supporting General Clavering in the same on the soundest principles of +justice, and on a maxim received in courts of equity, <!-- Page 56 --><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56" title="56" class="pagenum"></a>namely, that no +one shall avail himself of his own wrong,—and that, if any one refuse +or neglect to perform that which he is bound to do, the rights of others +shall not be prejudiced thereby, but such acts shall be deemed and +reputed to have been actually performed, and all the consequences shall +be enforced which would have followed from such actual performance. And +therefore the resolutions moved and voted in Council by the said Warren +Hastings, declaring the offices of General Clavering to be vacant, were +not only illegal, inasmuch as the said Warren Hastings had no authority +to warrant such a declaration, even on the supposition of the acts of +General Clavering being contrary to law, but the said resolutions were +further highly culpable and criminal, inasmuch as the said acts done by +General Clavering, which were made the pretence of that proceeding, were +strictly regular and legal.</p> + +<p>That the refusal of the said Warren Hastings to ratify the said +resignation, and his disavowal of the said Lauchlan Macleane, his agent, +is not justified by anything contained in his said letter to the Court +of Directors, dated on the 15th of August, 1777,—the said Warren +Hastings nowhere directly and positively asserting that the said +Lauchlan Macleane was not his agent, and had not both full and general +powers, and even particular instructions for this very act, although the +said Warren Hastings uses many indirect and circuitous, but insufficient +and inapplicable, insinuations to that effect. And the said letter does, +on the contrary, contain a clear and express avowal that the said +Lauchlan Macleane was his confidential agent, and that in that capacity +he acted throughout, and particularly in this special matter, <!-- Page 57 --><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57" title="57" class="pagenum"></a>with zeal +and fidelity. And the said letter does further admit in effect the +instructions produced by the said Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, confirmed +by Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Stewart, and relied on and confided in by the +Court of Directors, by which the said Lauchlan Macleane appeared to be +specially empowered to declare the said resignation, the words of the +said instruction being as follows: "That he [Mr. Hastings] <i>will not +continue in the government of Bengal</i>, unless certain conditions therein +specified can be obtained"; and the words of the said letter being as +follows: "What I myself know with certainty, or can recollect at this +distance of time, concerning the powers and instructions which were +given to Messieurs Macleane and Graham, when they undertook to be my +agents in England, I will circumstantially relate. I am in possession of +two papers which were presented to those gentlemen at the time of their +departure from Bengal, one of which comprises four short propositions +<i>which I required as the conditions of my being confirmed in this +government</i>." And although the said Warren Hastings does here artfully +somewhat change the words of his written instructions (and which having +in his possession he might as easily have given verbatim) to other words +which may appear less explicit, yet they are in fact capable of only the +same meaning: for, as, at the time of giving the said instructions to +his agents, he was in full possession of his office, he could want no +confirmation therein except <i>his own</i>; and, in such circumstances, "to +require certain things, <i>as the conditions of his being confirmed in his +government</i>," is tantamount to a declaration "<i>that he will not continue +in his government, unless those conditions can be obtained</i>." And <!-- Page 58 --><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58" title="58" class="pagenum"></a>the +said attempt at prevarication can serve, its author the less, as either +both sentences have one and the same meaning, or, if their meaning be +different, the original instructions in his own handwriting, or, in +other words, the thing itself, must be preferred as evidence of its +contents to a loose statement of its purport, founded, perhaps, on a +loose recollection of it at a great distance of time.</p> + +<p>That the said refusal of Warren Hastings, Esquire, was a breach of faith +with the Court of Directors and his Majesty's ministers in England; as +the said resignation was not merely a voluntary offer without any +consideration, and therefore subject to be recalled or retracted at the +pleasure of the said Warren Hastings, but ought rather to be considered +as having been the result of a negotiation carried on between Mr. +Macleane for the benefit of Warren Hastings, Esquire, on the one hand, +and by the Court of Directors for the interests of the Company on the +other: which view of the transaction will appear the more probable, when +it is considered that at the time of the said resignation a strict +inquiry had been carrying on by the Court of Directors into the conduct +of the said Warren Hastings, and the solicitor and counsel to the +Company, and other eminent counsel, had given it as their opinions, on +cases stated to them, that there were grounds for suing the said Warren +Hastings in the courts of law and equity, and that the Company would be +entitled to recover in the said suits against Warren Hastings, Esquire, +several very large sums of money taken by him in his office of +Governor-General, contrary to law, and in breach of his covenants, and +of his duty to the Company and the public; and the Court of Directors +had also come to <!-- Page 59 --><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59" title="59" class="pagenum"></a>various severe resolutions of censure against the said +Warren Hastings, and amongst others to a resolution to recall the said +Warren Hastings, and remove him from his office of Governor-General, to +answer for sundry great crimes and delinquencies by him committed in his +said office. And on these accounts it appears probable that the said +resignation was tendered and accepted as a consideration for some +beneficial concessions made in consequence thereof to the said Warren +Hastings in his said dangerous and desperate condition.</p> + +<p>And the said refusal was also an act of great disrespect to the Court of +Directors and to his Majesty, and, by rendering abortive their said +measures, solemnly and deliberately taken, and ratified and confirmed by +his Majesty, tended to bring the authority of the Court of Directors and +of his Majesty into contempt.</p> + +<p>And the said refusal was an injury to General Clavering.</p> + +<p>And was also, or might have been, a great injury to Edward Wheler, +Esquire.</p> + +<p>And was an act of signal treachery to Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, as +also to Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Stewart, whose honors and veracity were +thereby brought into question, doubt, and suspicion.</p> + +<p>And the said refusal was prejudicial to the affairs of the servants of +the Company in India, by shaking the confidence to be placed in their +agents by those persons with whom it might be for their interests to +negotiate on any matter of importance, and by thus subjecting the +communication of persons abroad with those at home to difficulties not +known before.<!-- Page 60 --><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60" title="60" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X_SURGEON_GENERALS_CONTRACT" id="X_SURGEON_GENERALS_CONTRACT" />X.—SURGEON-GENERAL'S CONTRACT.</h2> + + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, in the year 1777, did grant to the +Surgeon-General a contract for three years, for defraying every kind of +hospital and medicinal expense,—not only in breach of the general +orders of the Court of Directors with respect to the duration of +contracts, but in direct opposition to a particular order of the Court +of Directors, of the 30th of March, 1774, when they directed "that the +Surgeon should not be permitted to enjoy any emolument arising from his +being concerned in dieting the patients, and that the occupations of +surgeon and contractor should be forthwith separated." That the said +contract was in itself highly improper, and inconsistent with the good +of the service; as it afforded the greatest temptation to abuse, and +established a pecuniary interest in the Surgeon-General, contrary to the +duties of his station and profession.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI_CONTRACTS_FOR_POOLBUNDY_REPAIRS" id="XI_CONTRACTS_FOR_POOLBUNDY_REPAIRS" />XI.—CONTRACTS FOR POOLBUNDY REPAIRS.</h2> + + +<p>That the Governor-General and Council at Fort William did, on the motion +and recommendation of Warren Hastings, Esquire, enter into a contract +with Archibald Frazer, Esquire, on the 16th of April, 1778, for the +repairs of the pools and banks in the province of Burdwan, for two +years, at the rate of 120,000 sicca rupees for the first year, and +80,000 rupees for the second year.</p> + +<p>That on the 19th of December, 1778, the said Warren Hastings did further +persuade the Supreme Council to prolong the term of the above contract +with <!-- Page 61 --><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61" title="61" class="pagenum"></a>Archibald Frazer for the space of three years more on the same +conditions, namely, the payment of 80,000 sicca rupees for each year: to +which was added a permission to Mr. Frazer to make <i>dobunds</i>, or special +repairs, whenever he should judge them necessary, at the charge of +government.</p> + +<p>That the said contracts, both in the manner of their acceptance by the +Supreme Council, without having previously advertised for proposals, and +in the extent of their duration, were made in direct violation of the +special orders of the Court of Directors.</p> + +<p>That, so far from any advantage having been obtained for the Company in +the terms of these contracts, in consideration of the length of time for +which they were to continue, the expense of government upon this article +was increased by these engagements to a very great amount.</p> + +<p>That it appears that this contract had been held for some years before +by the Rajah of Burdwan at the rate of 25,000 rupees per annum.</p> + +<p>That the superintendent of poolbundy repairs, after an accurate and +diligent survey of the bunds and pools, and the Provincial Council of +Burdwan, upon the best information they could procure, had delivered it +as their opinion to the Governor-General and Council, before the said +agreement was entered into, that, after the heavy expense stated in Mr. +Kinlock's estimate, viz., 119,405 sicca rupees, if disbursed as they +recommended, the charge in future seasons would be greatly reduced, +<i>and, after one thorough and effectual repair, they conceived a small +annual expense would be sufficient to keep the bunds up and prevent +their going to decay</i>.</p> + +<p>That, whatever extraordinary and unusual damages <!-- Page 62 --><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62" title="62" class="pagenum"></a>the pools and bunds +might have sustained, either from the neglect of the Rajah's officers, +or from the violence of the then late rains, and the torrents thereby +occasioned, to justify the expense of the first year, yet, as they were +all considered and included in the estimate for that year, there could +be no pretence for allowing and continuing so large and burdensome a +payment as 80,000 rupees per annum for the four succeeding years.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings did, in his minutes of the 13th of +February, 1778, himself support that opinion, in the comparison to be +made between Mr. Thomson's proposals, of undertaking the same service +for 60,000 rupees a year for nine years, and the terms of Mr. Frazer's +contracts: preferring the latter, because these were "to effect a +complete repair, which could hardly be concluded in one season, and the +subsequent expense would be but trifling."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding which, the said Warren Hastings urged and prevailed upon +the Council to allow in the first year the full amount proposed by Mr. +Kinlock in his estimate of the necessary repairs, and did burden the +Company with what he must have deemed to be, for the greater part, an +unnecessary expense of 80,000 rupees per annum for four years.</p> + +<p>That the permission granted to Mr. Frazer to make dobunds, or new and +additional embankments in aid of the old ones, whenever he should judge +them necessary, at the charge of government, (the said charge to be +verified by the oath of the said Frazer, without any voucher,) was a +power very much to be suspected, and very improper to be intrusted to a +contractor who had already covenanted to keep the old pools in perfect +repair, and to construct new ones <!-- Page 63 --><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63" title="63" class="pagenum"></a>wherever the old pools had been +broken down and washed away, or where the course of the rivers might +have rendered new ones necessary, in consideration of the great sums +stipulated to be paid to him by the government.</p> + +<p>That the grant of the foregoing contracts, and the permission afterwards +annexed to the second of the said grants, become much more reprehensible +from a consideration of the circumstances of the person to whom such a +grant was made.</p> + +<p>That the due performance of the service required local knowledge and +experience, which the said Archibald Frazer, being an officer in the +Supreme Court of Justice, could not have possessed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII_CONTRACTS_FOR_OPIUM" id="XII_CONTRACTS_FOR_OPIUM" />XII.—CONTRACTS FOR OPIUM.</h2> + + +<p>That it appears that the opium produced in Bengal and Bahar is a +considerable and lucrative article in the export trade of those +provinces; that the whole produce has been for many years monopolized +either by individuals or by the government; that the Court of Directors +of the East India Company, in consideration of the hardship imposed on +the native owners and cultivators of the lands, who were deprived of +their natural right of dealing with many competitors, and compelled to +sell the produce of their labor to a single monopolist, did authorize +the Governor-General and Council to give up that commodity as an article +of commerce.</p> + +<p>That, while the said commodity continued to be a monopoly for the +benefit of government, and managed by a contractor, the contracts for +providing it were <!-- Page 64 --><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64" title="64" class="pagenum"></a>subject to the Company's fundamental regulation, +namely, to be put up to auction, and disposed of to the best bidder; and +that the Company particularly ordered that the commodity, when provided, +should be consigned to the Board of Trade, who were directed to dispose +thereof by public auction.</p> + +<p>That in May, 1777, the said Warren Hastings granted to John Mackenzie a +contract for the provision of opium, to continue three years, and +without advertising for proposals. That this transaction was condemned +by the Court of Directors, notwithstanding a clause had been inserted in +that contract by which it was left open to the Court of Directors to +annul the same at the expiration of the first or second year.</p> + +<p>That, about the end of the year 1780, the said Warren Hastings, in +contradiction to the order above mentioned, did take away the sale of +the opium from the Board of Trade, though he disclaimed, at the same +time, <i>any intention of implying a censure on their management</i>.</p> + +<p>That in March, 1781, the said Warren Hastings did grant to Stephen +Sulivan, son of Lawrence Sulivan, Chairman of the Court of Directors of +the East India Company, a contract for the provision of opium, without +advertising for proposals, and without even receiving any written +proposals from him, the said Sulivan; that he granted this contract for +four years, and at the request of the said Sulivan did omit that clause +which was inserted in the preceding contract, and by which it was +rendered liable to be determined by orders from the Company: the said +Warren Hastings declaring, contrary to truth, that such clause was now +unnecessary, as the Directors <i>had approved</i> the contract.<!-- Page 65 --><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65" title="65" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>That the said Sulivan had been but a few months in Bengal when the above +contract was given to him; that he was a stranger to the country, and to +all the local commerce thereof, and therefore unqualified for the +management of such a concern; and that the said Sulivan, instead of +executing the contract himself, did, shortly after obtaining the same, +assign it over to John Benn and others, and in consideration of such +assignment did receive from the said Benn a great sum of money.</p> + +<p>That from the preceding facts, as well as from sundry other +circumstances of restrictions taken off (particularly by abolishing the +office of inspector into the quality of the opium) and of beneficial +clauses introduced, it appears that the said Warren Hastings gave this +contract to the said Stephen Sulivan in contradiction to the orders of +the Court of Directors, and without any regard to the interests of the +India Company, for the sole purpose of creating an instant fortune for +the said Sulivan at the expense of the India Company, without any claim +of service or pretence of merit on his part, and without any apparent +motive whatever, except that of securing or rewarding the attachment and +support of his father, Lawrence Sulivan, a person of great authority and +influence in the direction of the Company's affairs, and notoriously +attached to and connected with the said Warren Hastings.</p> + +<p>That the said Stephen Sulivan neither possessed nor pretended to possess +any skill in the business of his contract; that he exerted no industry, +nor showed or could show any exactness, in the performance of it, since +he immediately sold the contract for a sum of money to another person, +(for the sole purpose of <!-- Page 66 --><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66" title="66" class="pagenum"></a>which sale it must be presumed the same was +given,) by which person another profit was to be made; and by that +person the same was again sold to a third, by whom a third profit was to +be made.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, at the very time when he engaged the +Company in a contract for engrossing the whole of the opium produced in +Bengal and Bahar in the ensuing four years on terms of such exorbitant +profit to the contractor, affirmed, that "there was little prospect of +selling the opium in Bengal at a reasonable price, and that it was but +natural to suppose that the price of opium <i>would fall, from the demand +being lessened</i>"; that in a letter dated the 5th of May, 1781, he +informed the Directors, "that, owing to the indifferent state of the +markets last season to the Eastward, and the very enhanced rates of +insurance which the war had occasioned, they had not been able to +dispose of the opium of the present year to so great an advantage as +they expected, and that more than one half of it remained still in their +warehouses." That the said Warren Hastings was guilty of a manifest +breach of trust to his constituents and his employers in monopolizing, +for their pretended use, an article of commerce for which he declared +<i>no purchasers had offered, and that there was little prospect of any +offering, and the price of which</i>, he said, <i>it was but natural to +suppose would fall</i>.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, having, by his own act, loaded the +Company with a commodity for which, either in the ordinary and regular +course of public auction, or even by private contract, there was, as he +affirmed, no sale, did, under pretence of finding a market for the same, +engage the Company in an enterprise of great and certain expense, +subject to <!-- Page 67 --><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67" title="67" class="pagenum"></a>a manifest risk, and full of disgrace to the East India +Company, not only in their political character, as a great sovereign +power in India, but in their commercial character, as an eminent and +respectable body of merchants; and that the execution of this enterprise +was accompanied with sundry other engagements with other persons, in all +of which the Company's interest was constantly sacrificed to that of +individuals favored by the said Warren Hastings.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings first engaged in a scheme to export one +thousand four hundred and sixty chests of opium, on the Company's +account, on board a ship belonging to Cudbert Thornhill, half of which +was to be disposed of in a coasting voyage, and the remainder in Canton. +That, besides the freight and commission payable to the said Thornhill +on this adventure, twelve pieces of cannon belonging to the Company were +lent for arming the ship; though his original proposal was, that the +ship should be armed at his expense. That this part of the adventure, +depending for its success on a prudent and fortunate management of +various sales and resales in the course of a circuitous voyage, and +being exposed to such risk both of sea and enemy that all private +traders had declined to be concerned in it, was particularly unfit for a +great trading company, and could not be undertaken on their account with +any rational prospect of advantage.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings soon after engaged in another scheme for +exporting two thousand chests of opium directly to China on the +Company's account, and for that purpose accepted of an offer made by +Henry Watson, the Company's chief engineer, to convey the same in a +vessel of his own, and to deliver <!-- Page 68 --><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68" title="68" class="pagenum"></a>it to the Company's supra-cargoes. +That, after the offer of the said Henry Watson had been accepted, a +letter from him was produced at the board, in which he declared that he +was unable to equip the ship with a proper number of cannon, and +requested that he might be furnished with thirty-six guns from the +Company's stores at Madras; with which request the board complied.</p> + +<p>That it appears that George Williamson, the Company's auctioneer at +Calcutta, having complained that by this mode of exporting the opium, +which used to be sold by public auction, he lost his commission as +auctioneer, the board allowed him to draw a commission of one per cent +on all the opium which had been or was to be exported. That it appears +that the contractor for opium (whose proper duties and emoluments as +contractor ended with the delivery of the opium) was also allowed to +draw a commission on the opium then shipping on the Company's account; +but for what reason, or on what pretence, does not appear.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, in order to pay the said Stephen Sulivan +in advance for the opium furnished or to be furnished by him in the +first year of his contract, did borrow the sum of twenty lacs of rupees +at eight per cent, or two hundred thousand pounds sterling, to be repaid +by drafts to be drawn on the Company by their supra-cargoes in China, +provided the opium consigned to them should arrive safe; but that, if +the adventure failed, whether by the loss of the ships or otherwise, the +subscribers to the above loan were to be repaid their capital and +interest out of the Company's treasury in Bengal.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, having in this <!-- Page 69 --><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69" title="69" class="pagenum"></a>manner purchased a +commodity for which he said there was no sale, and paid for it with +money which he was obliged to borrow at a high interest, was still more +criminal in his attempt, or pretended plan, to introduce it +clandestinely into China. That the importation of opium into China is +forbidden by the Chinese government; that the opium, on seizure, is +burnt, the vessel that imports it confiscated, and the Chinese in whose +possession it may be found for sale punished with death.</p> + +<p>That the Governor-General and Council were well aware of the existence +of these prohibitions and penalties, and did therefore inform the +supra-cargoes in China, that the ship belonging to the said Henry Watson +would enter the river at China as an armed ship, <i>and would not be +reported as bearing a cargo of opium, that being a contraband trade</i>.</p> + +<p>That, of the above two ships, the first, belonging to Cudbert Thornhill, +was taken by the French; and that the second, arriving in China, did +occasion much embarrassment and distress to the Company's supra-cargoes +there, who had not been previously consulted on the formation of the +plan, and were exposed to great difficulty and hazard in the execution +of their part of it. That the ship was delayed, at a demurrage of an +hundred dollars a day, for upwards of three months, waiting in vain for +a better market. The factory estimate the <i>loss</i> to the Company, +including port charges, demurrage, and factory charges allowed the +captain, at sixty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-three dollars, +or about twenty thousand pounds sterling.</p> + +<p>That the Company's factory at China, after stating the foregoing facts +to the Court of Directors, conclude <!-- Page 70 --><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70" title="70" class="pagenum"></a>with the following general +observation thereon. "On a review of these circumstances, with the +extravagant and unusual terms of the freight, demurrage, factory +charges, &c., &c., we cannot help being of opinion that private +considerations have been suffered to interfere too much for any benefit +that may have been intended to the Honorable Company. We hope for the +Honorable Court's approbation of our conduct in this affair. The novelty +and nature of the consignments have been the source of much trouble and +anxiety, and, though we wished to have had it in our power to do more, +we may truly say we have exceeded our expectations."</p> + +<p>That every part of this transaction, from the monopoly with which it +commenced, to the contraband dealing with which it concluded, criminates +the said Warren Hastings with wilful disobedience of orders and a +continued breach of trust; that every step taken in it was attended with +heavy loss to the Company, and with a sacrifice of their interest to +that of individuals; and that, if finally a profit had resulted to the +Company from such a transaction, no profit attending it could compensate +for the probable risk to which their trade in China was thereby exposed, +or for the certain dishonor and consequent distrust which the East India +Company must incur in the eyes of the Chinese government by being +engaged in a low, clandestine traffic, prohibited by the laws of the +country.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII_APPOINTMENT_OF_RJ_SULIVAN" id="XIII_APPOINTMENT_OF_RJ_SULIVAN" />XIII.—APPOINTMENT OF R.J. SULIVAN.</h2> + + +<p>That in the month of February, 1781, Mr. Richard Joseph Sulivan, +Secretary to the Select Committee <!-- Page 71 --><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71" title="71" class="pagenum"></a>at Fort St. George, applied to them +for leave to proceed to Calcutta <i>on his private affairs</i>. That, being +the confidential secretary to the Select Committee at Fort St. George, +and consequently possessed of all the views and secrets of the Company, +as far as they related to that government, he went privately into the +service of the Nabob of Arcot, and, under the pretence of proceeding to +Calcutta on his private business, undertook a commission from the said +Nabob to the Governor-General and Council, to negotiate with them in +favor of certain projects of the said Nabob which had been reprobated by +the Company.</p> + +<p>That the said Sulivan was soon after appointed back again by the said +Warren Hastings to the office of Resident at the Durbar of the said +Nabob of Arcot. That it was a high crime and misdemeanor in the said +Hastings to encourage so dangerous an example in the Company's service, +and to interfere unnecessarily with the government of Madras in the +discharge of the duties peculiarly ascribed to them by the practice and +orders of the Company, for the purpose of appointing to a great and +confidential situation a man who had so recently committed a breach of +trust to his employers.</p> + +<p>That the Court of Directors, in their letter to Bengal, dated the 12th +of July, 1782, and received there on the 18th of February, 1783, did +<i>condemn and revoke</i> the said appointment. That the said Directors, in +theirs to Fort St. George, dated the 28th of August, 1782, and received +there the 31st of January, 1783, did highly condemn the conduct of the +said Sulivan, and, in order to deter their servants from practices of +the same kind, <i>did dismiss him from their service</i>.</p> + +<p>That the said Hastings, knowing that the said Suli<!-- Page 72 --><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72" title="72" class="pagenum"></a>van's appointment had +been condemned and revoked by the Court of Directors, and pretending +that on the 15th of March, 1783, he did not know that the said Sulivan +was <i>dismissed</i> from the Company's service, though that fact was known +at Madras on the 31st of the preceding January, did recommend the said +Sulivan to be ambassador at the court of Nizam Ali Khân, Subahdar of the +Deccan, in defiance of the authority and orders of the Court of +Directors.</p> + +<p>That, even admitting, what is highly improbable, that the <i>dismission</i> +of the said Sulivan from the service of the said Company was not known +at Calcutta in forty-three days from Madras, the last-mentioned +nomination of the said Sulivan was made at least in contempt of the +censure already expressed by the Court of Directors at his former +appointment to the Durbar of the Nabob of Arcot, and which was certainly +known to the said Hastings.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV_RANNA_OF_GOHUD" id="XIV_RANNA_OF_GOHUD" />XIV.—RANNA OF GOHUD.</h2> + + +<p>That on the 2d of December, 1779, the Governor-General and Council of +Fort William, at the special recommendation and instance of Warren +Hastings, Esquire, then Governor-General, and contrary to the declared +opinion and protest of three of the members of the Council, viz., Philip +Francis and Edward Wheler, Esquires, who were present, and of Sir Eyre +Coote, who was absent, (by whose absence the casting voice of the said +Warren Hastings, Esquire, prevailed,) did conclude a treaty of perpetual +friendship and alliance, offensive and defensive, with a Hindoo prince, +called the Ranna of Gohud, for the express purpose of using <!-- Page 73 --><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73" title="73" class="pagenum"></a>the forces +of the said Ranna in opposition to the Mahrattas.</p> + +<p>That, among other articles, it was stipulated with the said Ranna by the +said Warren Hastings, "that, whenever peace should be concluded between +the Company and the Mahratta state, the Maha Rajah should be included as +a party in the treaty which should be made for that purpose, and his +present possessions, together with the fort of Gualior, which of old +belonged to the family of the Maha Rajah, if it should be then in his +possession, and such countries as he should have acquired in the course +of war, and which it should then be stipulated to leave in his hands, +should be guarantied to him by such treaty."</p> + +<p>That, in the late war against the Mahrattas, the said Ranna of Gohud did +actually join the British army under the command of Colonel Muir with +two battalions of infantry and twelve hundred cavalry, and did then +serve in person against the Mahrattas, thereby affording material +assistance, and rendering essential service to the Company.</p> + +<p>That, in conformity to the above-mentioned treaty, in the fourth article +of the treaty of peace concluded on the 13th of October, 1781, between +Colonel Muir, on the part of the English Company, and Mahdajee Sindia, +the Mahratta general, the said Ranna of Gohud was expressly included.</p> + +<p>That, notwithstanding the said express provision and agreement, Mahdajee +Sindia proceeded to attack the forts and lay waste the territories of +the said Ranna, and did undertake and prosecute a war against him for +the space of two years, in the course of which the Ranna and his family +were reduced to extreme distress, and in the end he was deprived of his +forts, and <!-- Page 74 --><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74" title="74" class="pagenum"></a>the whole not only of his acquired possessions, but of his +original dominions, so specially guarantied to him by the British +government in both the above-mentioned treaties.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings was duly and regularly informed of the +progress of the war against the Ranna, and of every event thereof; +notwithstanding which, he not only neglected in any manner to interfere +therein in favor of the said Ranna, or to use any endeavors to prevent +the infraction of the treaty, but gave considerable countenance and +encouragement to Mahdajee Sindia in his violation of it, both by the +residence of the British minister in the Mahratta camp, and by the +approbation shown by the said Warren Hastings to the promises made by +his agent of observing the strictest neutrality, notwithstanding he was +in justice bound, and stood pledged by the most solemn and sacred +engagements, to protect and preserve the said Ranna from those enemies, +whose resentment he had provoked only by his adherence to the interests +of the British nation.</p> + +<p>That, in the only attempt made to sound the disposition of Mahdajee +Sindia relative to a pacification between him and the Ranna of Gohud, on +the 14th of May, 1783, Mr. Anderson, in obedience to the orders he had +received, did clearly and explicitly declare to Bhow Bucksey, the +minister of Mahdajee Sindia, the sentiments of the said Warren Hastings +in the words following: "That it was so far from your [the said +Hastings's] meaning to intercede in his [the said Ranna's] favor, that I +only desired him to sound Sindia's sentiments, and, in case he was +desirous of peace, to mention what I had said; but if he seemed to +prefer carrying on the war, I begged that <!-- Page 75 --><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75" title="75" class="pagenum"></a>he would not mention a +syllable of what had passed, but let the matter drop entirely."</p> + +<p>That it afterwards appeared, in a minute of the said Hastings in Council +at Fort William, on the 22d of September, 1783, that he promised, at the +instance of a member of the Council, to write to Lieutenant James +Anderson in favor of the Ranna of Gohud, and lay his letter before the +board.</p> + +<p>That, nevertheless, the said Hastings, professing <i>not to recollect</i> his +said promise, <i>did neglect to write a formal letter to Lieutenant +Anderson in favor of the said Ranna of Gohud</i>, and that the private +letter, the extract of which the said Hastings did lay before the board +on the 21st of October, 1783, so far from directing any effectual +interference in favor of the said Ranna, or commanding his agent, the +said James Anderson, to interpose the mediation of the British +government to procure "<i>honorable terms</i>" for the said Ranna, or even +"<i>safety to his person and family</i>," contains the bitterest invectives +against him, and is expressive of the satisfaction which the said +Hastings acknowledges himself to have enjoyed in the distresses of the +said Ranna, the ally of the Company.</p> + +<p>That the measures therein recommended appear rather to have been +designed to satisfy Mahdajee Sindia, and to justify the conduct of the +British government in not having taken a more active and a more hostile +part against the said Ranna, than an intercession on his behalf.</p> + +<p>That, though no consideration of good faith or observance of treaties +could induce the said Hastings to incur the hazard of any hostile +exertion of the British force for the defence or the relief of the +allies of the Company, yet in the said private letter he directed, +<!-- Page 76 --><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76" title="76" class="pagenum"></a>that, in case his mediation should be accepted, it should be made <i>a +specific condition</i>, that, <i>if the said Ranna should take advantage of +Sindia's absence to renew his hostilities, we ought, in that case, on +requisition, to invade the dominions of the Ranna</i>.</p> + +<p>That no beneficial effects could have been procured to the said Ranna by +an offer of mediation delayed till Sindia no longer wanted "<i>our +assistance to crush so fallen an enemy</i>," at the same time that no +reason was given to Sindia to apprehend the danger of drawing upon +himself the resentment of the British government by a disregard of their +proposal and the destruction of their ally.</p> + +<p>That it was a gross and scandalous mockery in the said Hastings to defer +an application to obtain honorable terms for the Ranna, and safety for +his person and family, till he had been deprived of his principal fort, +in defence of which his uncle lost his life, and on the capture of +which, his wife, to avoid the dishonor consequent upon falling into the +hands of her enemies, <i>had destroyed herself by an explosion of +gunpowder</i>.</p> + +<p>That, however, it does not appear that any offer of mediation was ever +actually made, or any influence exerted, either for the safety of the +Ranna's person and family or in mitigation of the <i>rigorous intentions</i> +supposed by Lieutenant Anderson<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4" /><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor" +title="29 February, 1784.">[4]</a> to have been entertained against him +by Mahdajee Sindia after his surrender.</p> + +<p>That the said Hastings, in the instructions<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5" /><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor" +title=" Dated, Benares, 4th of November, 1781.">[5]</a> given by him to Mr. David +Anderson for his conduct in negotiating the treaty of peace with the +Mahrattas, expressed his determination to desert the Ranna of <!-- Page 77 --><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77" title="77" class="pagenum"></a>Gohud in +the following words. "You will of course be attentive to any engagements +subsisting between us and other powers, in settling the terms of peace +and alliance with the Mahrattas. I except from this the Ranna of +Gohud.... Leave him to settle his own affairs with the Mahrattas."</p> + +<p>That the said Anderson appears very assiduously to have sought for +grounds to justify the execution of this part of his instructions, to +which, however, he was at all events obliged to conform.</p> + +<p>That, even after his application for that purpose to the Mahrattas, +whose testimony was much to be suspected, because it was their interest +to accuse and their determined object to destroy the said Ranna, no +satisfactory proof was obtained of his defection from the engagements he +had entered into with the Company.</p> + +<p>That, moreover, if all the charges which have been pretended against the +Ranna, and have been alleged by the said Hastings in justification of +his conduct, had been well founded and proved to be true, the +subject-matter of those accusations and the proofs by which they wore to +be supported were known to Colonel Muir before the conclusion of the +treaty he entered into with Mahdajee Sindia; and therefore, whatever +suspicions may have been entertained or whatever degree of criminality +may have been proved against the said Ranna previous to the said treaty, +from the time he was so provided for and included in the said treaty he +was fully and justly entitled to the security stipulated for him by the +Company, and had a right to demand and receive the protection of the +British government.</p> + +<p>That these considerations were urged by Mr. Anderson to the said Warren +Hastings, in his letter of <!-- Page 78 --><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78" title="78" class="pagenum"></a>the 24th of June, 1781, and were enforced by +this additional argument,—"that, in point of policy, I believe, it +ought not to be our wish that the Mahrattas should ever recover the +fortress of Gualior. It forms an important barrier to our own +possessions. In the hands of the Ranna it can be of no prejudice to us; +and notwithstanding the present prospect of a permanent peace betwixt us +and the Mahrattas, it seems highly expedient that there should always +remain some strong barrier to separate us, on this side of India, from +that warlike and powerful nation."</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings was highly culpable in abandoning the said +Ranna to the fury of his enemies, thereby forfeiting the honor and +injuring the credit of the British nation in India, notwithstanding the +said Hastings was fully convinced, and had professed, "that the most +sacred observance of treaties, justice, and good faith were necessary to +the existence of the national interests in that country," and though the +said Hastings has complained of the insufficiency of the laws of this +kingdom to enforce this doctrine "by the punishment of persons in the +possession of power, who may be impelled by the provocation of ambition, +avarice, or vengeance, stronger than the restrictions of integrity and +honor, to the violation of this just and wise maxim."</p> + +<p>That the said Hastings, in thus departing from these his own principles, +with a full and just sense of the guilt he would thereby incur, and in +sacrificing the allies of this country "<i>to the provocations of +ambition, avarice, or vengeance</i>," in violation of the national faith +and justice, did commit a gross and wilful breach of his duty, and was +thereby guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor.<!-- Page 79 --><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79" title="79" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV_REVENUES" id="XV_REVENUES" />XV.—REVENUES.</h2> + + +<h3><a name="PART_Ia" id="PART_Ia" />PART I.</h3> + +<p>That the property of the lands of Bengal is, according to the laws and +customs of that country, an inheritable property, and that it is, with +few exceptions; vested in certain natives, called <i>zemindars</i>, or +landholders, under whom other natives, called <i>talookdars</i> and <i>ryots</i>, +hold certain subordinate rights of property or occupancy in the said +lands. That the said natives are Hindoos, and that their <i>rights and +privileges are grounded upon the possession of regular grants, a long +series of family succession, and fair purchase</i>. That it appears that +Bengal has been under the dominion of the Mogul, and subject to a +Mahomedan government, for above two hundred years. That, while the Mogul +government was in its vigor, the property of zemindars was <i>held +sacred</i>, and that, either by voluntary grant from the said Mogul or by +composition with him, the native Hindoos were left in the free, quiet, +and undisturbed possession of their lands, on the single condition of +paying a fixed, certain, and unalterable revenue, or quit-rent, to the +Mogul government. That this revenue, or quit-rent, was called the +<i>aussil jumma</i>, or <i>original ground-rent</i>, of the provinces, and was not +increased from the time when it was first settled in 1573 to 1740, when +the regular and effective Mogul government ended. That, from that time +to 1765, invasions, usurpations, and various revolutions took place in +the government of Bengal, in consequence of which the country was +considerably reduced and impoverished, when the East India Company +received from the <!-- Page 80 --><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80" title="80" class="pagenum"></a>present Mogul emperor, Shah Allum, a grant of the +<i>dewanny</i>, or collection of the revenues. That about the year 1770 the +provinces of Bengal and Bahar were visited with a dreadful famine and +mortality, by which at least one third of the inhabitants perished. That +Warren Hastings, Esquire, has declared, "that he had always heard the +loss of inhabitants reckoned at a third, and in many places near one +half of the whole, and that he knew not by what means such a loss could +be recruited in four or five years, and believed it impossible." That, +nevertheless, the revenue was <i>violently kept up to its former +standard</i>,—that is, in the two years immediately preceding the +appointment of the said Warren Hastings to the government of Fort +William,—in consequence of which <i>the remaining two thirds of the +inhabitants were obliged to pay for the lands now left without +cultivation</i>; and that from the year 1770 to the year 1775 <i>the country +had languished, and the evil continued enhancing every day</i>. That the +said Warren Hastings, in a letter to the Secret Committee of the Court +of Directors, dated 1st September, 1772, declared, "that the lands had +suffered unheard-of depopulation by the famine and mortality of 1769; +that the collections, <i>violently kept up to their former standard</i>, had +added to the distress of the country, and threatened a general decay of +the revenue, unless immediate remedies were applied to prevent it." That +the said Warren Hastings has declared, "that, by intrusting the +collections to the hereditary zemindars, the people would be treated +with <i>more tenderness</i>, the rents more improved, and cultivation more +likely to be encouraged; that <i>they</i> have a perpetual interest in the +country; that <i>their</i> inheritance cannot be removed; that <i>they</i> are the +<!-- Page 81 --><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81" title="81" class="pagenum"></a>proprietors; that the lands are <i>their</i> estates, and <i>their</i> +inheritance; that, from a long continuance of the lands in their +families, it is to be concluded they have riveted an authority in the +district, acquired an ascendency over the minds of the ryots, and +<i>ingratiated their affections</i>; that, from continuing the lands under +the management of those who have a natural and perpetual interest in +their prosperity, solid advantages might be expected to accrue; that the +zemindar would be less liable to failure or deficiencies than the +farmer, from the perpetual interest which the former hath in the +country, and because his inheritance cannot be removed, and it would be +improbable that he should risk the loss of it by eloping from his +district, which is too frequently practised by a farmer when he is +hard-pressed for the payment of his balances, and as frequently +predetermined when he receives his farm." That, notwithstanding all the +preceding declarations made by the said Warren Hastings of the loss of +one third of the inhabitants and general decline of the country, he did, +immediately after his appointment to the government, in the year 1772, +make an arbitrary settlement of the revenues for five years at a higher +rate than had ever been received before, and with a progressive and +accumulating increase on each of the four last years of the said +settlement.</p> + +<p>That, notwithstanding the right of property and inheritance, repeatedly +acknowledged by the said Warren Hastings to be in the zemindars and +other native landholders, and notwithstanding he had declared "that the +security of private property is the greatest encouragement to industry, +on which the wealth of every state depends," the said Warren Hast<!-- Page 82 --><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82" title="82" class="pagenum"></a>ings, +nevertheless, in direct violation of those acknowledged rights and +principles, did universally let the lands of Bengal <i>in farm</i> for five +years,—thereby destroying all the rights of private property of the +zemindars,—thereby delivering the management of their estates to +farmers, and transferring by a most arbitrary and unjust act of power +the whole landed property of Bengal from the owners to strangers. That, +to accomplish this iniquitous purpose, he, the said Warren Hastings, did +put the lands of Bengal up to a pretended public auction, <i>and invited +all persons to make proposals for farming the same</i>, thereby encouraging +strangers to bid against the proprietors,—in consequence of which, not +only the said proprietors were ousted of the possession and management +of their estates, but a great part of the lands fell into the hands of +the banians, or principal black servants of British subjects connected +with and protected by the government; and that the said Warren Hastings +himself has since declared, that <i>by this way the lands too generally +fell into the hands of desperate or knavish adventurers</i>.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6" /><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor" +title="Revenue Consultation, 28th January, 1775.">[6]</a> That, +before the measure hereinbefore described was carried into execution, +the said Warren Hastings did establish certain fundamental regulations +in Council, to be observed in executing the same.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7" /><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor" +title="Revenue Board, 14th May, 1772.">[7]</a> That among these +regulations it was specially and strictly ordered, that no farm should +exceed the annual amount of <i>one</i> lac of rupees, and "that no peshcar, +banian, or other servant, of whatever denomination, of the collector, or +relation or dependant of any such servant, should be allowed to farm +lands, nor directly or indirectly to hold a concern in <!-- Page 83 --><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83" title="83" class="pagenum"></a>any farm, nor to +be security for any farmer." That, in direct violation of these his own +regulations, and in breach of the public trust reposed in him, and +sufficiently declared by the manifest duty of his station, if it had not +been expressed and enforced by any positive institution, he, the said +Warren Hastings, did permit and suffer his own banian or principal black +steward, named Cantoo Baboo, to hold farms in different purgunnahs, or +districts, or to be security for farms, to the amount of thirteen lac of +rupees (130,000<i>l.</i> or upwards) per annum; and that, after enjoying the +whole of those farms for two years, he was permitted by the said Warren +Hastings to relinquish two of them. That on the subject of the farms +held by Cantoo Baboo the said Warren Hastings has made the following +declaration. "Many of his farms were taken without my knowledge, and +almost all against my advice. I had no right to use compulsion or +authority; nor could I with justice exclude him, because he was my +servant, from a liberty allowed to all other persons in the country. The +farms which he quitted he quitted by my advice, because I thought that +he might engage himself beyond his abilities, and be involved in +disputes, which I did not choose to have come before me as judge of +them."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8" /><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor" +title="Address to the Court of Directors, 25th March, 1775.">[8]</a> That the said declaration contains sundry false and +contradictory assertions: that, if <i>almost all</i> the said farms were +taken against his advice, it cannot be true that <i>many</i> of them were +taken without his knowledge; that, whether Cantoo Baboo had been his +servant or not, the said Warren Hastings was bound by his own +regulations to prevent his holding any farms to a greater amount than +one lac of rupees per annum, and that <!-- Page 84 --><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84" title="84" class="pagenum"></a>the said Cantoo Baboo, being the +servant of the Governor-General, was excluded by the said regulations +from holding any farms whatever; that, if (as the Directors observe) it +was thought dangerous to permit the banian of a collector to be +concerned in farms, the same or stronger objections would always lie +against the Governor's banian being so concerned; that the said Warren +Hastings had a right, and was bound by his duty, to prevent his servant +from holding the same; that, in advising the said Cantoo Baboo to +relinquish some of the said farms, for which he was actually engaged, he +has acknowledged an influence over his servant, and has used that +influence for a purpose inconsistent with his duty to the India Company, +namely, to deprive them of the security of the said Cantoo Baboo's +engagement for farms which on trial he had found not beneficial, or not +likely to continue beneficial, to himself; and that, if it was improper +that he, the said Warren Hastings, should be the judge of any disputes +in which his servant might be involved on account of his farms, that +reason ought to have obliged him to prevent his servant from being +engaged in any farms whatever, or to have advised his said servant to +relinquish the remainder of his farms, as well as those which the said +Warren Hastings affirms he quitted by his advice. That on the subject of +the said charge the Court of Directors of the East India Company have +come to the following resolution: "<i>Resolved</i>, That it appears that the +conduct of the late President and Council of Fort William in Bengal, in +suffering Cantoo Baboo, the present Governor-General's banian, to hold +farms in different purgunnahs to a large amount, or to be security for +such farms, contrary to the tenor and spirit of the 17th regulation of +<!-- Page 85 --><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85" title="85" class="pagenum"></a>the Committee of Revenue at Fort William, of the 14th May, 1772, and +afterwards relinquishing that security without satisfaction made to the +Company, was highly improper, and has been attended with considerable +loss to the Company"; and that in the whole of this transaction the said +Warren Hastings has been guilty of gross collusion with his servant, and +manifest breach of trust to his employers.</p> + +<p>That, whereas it was acknowledged by the said Warren Hastings, that the +country, in the years 1770 and 1771, had suffered great depopulation and +decay, and that the collections of those years, having been violently +kept up to their former standard, had added to the distress of the +country, the settlement of the revenues made by him for five years, +commencing the 1st May, 1772, instead of offering any abatement or +relief to the inhabitants who had survived the famine, held out to the +East India Company a promise of great <i>increase</i> of revenue, to be +exacted from the country by the means hereinbefore described. That this +settlement was not realized, but fell considerably short, even in the +first of the five years, when the demand was the lightest; and that on +the whole of the five years the real collections fell short of the +settlement to the enormous amount of two millions and a half sterling, +and upwards. That such a settlement, if it had been or could have been +rigorously exacted from a country already so distressed, and from a +population so impaired, that, in the belief of the said Warren Hastings, +it was impossible such loss could be recruited in four or five years, +would have been in fact, what it appeared to be in form, an act of the +most cruel and tyrannical oppression; but that the real use made of that +unjust demand upon the natives of Bengal was, <!-- Page 86 --><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86" title="86" class="pagenum"></a>to oblige them to +compound privately with the persons who formed the settlement, and who +threatened to enforce it. That the enormous balances and remissions on +that settlement arose from a general collusion between the farmers and +collectors, and from a general peculation and embezzlement of the +revenues, by which the East India Company was grossly imposed on, in the +first instance, by a promised <i>increase</i> of revenue, and defrauded, in +the second, not only by the failure of that <i>increase</i>, but by the +revenues falling short of what they were in the two years preceding the +said settlement to a great amount. That the said Warren Hastings, being +then at the head of the government of Bengal, was a party to all the +said imposition, fraud, peculation, and embezzlement, and is principally +and specially answerable for the same; and that, whereas sundry proofs +of the said peculation and embezzlement were brought before the Court of +Directors, the said Directors (in a letter dated the 4th of March, 1778, +and signed by William Devaynes and Nathaniel Smith, Esquires, now +Chairman and Deputy-Chairman of the said Court, and members of this +House) did declare, that, "although it was rather their wish to prevent +future evils than to enter into a severe retrospection of past abuses, +yet, as in some of the cases then before them they conceived there had +been <i>flagrant corruption</i>, and in others great oppressions committed on +the native inhabitants, they thought it unjust to suffer the delinquents +to pass wholly unpunished, and therefore they directed the +Governor-General and Council forthwith to commence a prosecution against +the persons who composed the Committee of Circuit, and their +representatives, and against all other proper parties"; but that the +prosecutions so <!-- Page 87 --><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87" title="87" class="pagenum"></a>ordered by the Court of Directors in the year 1778 have +never been brought to trial; and that the said Warren Hastings did, on +the 23d of December, 1783, propose and carry it in Council, <i>that orders +should be given for withdrawing</i> the said prosecutions,—declaring, that +he was clearly of opinion that there was no ground to maintain them, and +<i>that they would only be productive of expense to the Company and +unmerited vexation to the parties</i>.</p> + + +<h3>REVENUES.<br /> +<a name="PART_IIa" id="PART_IIa" />PART II.</h3> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings has on sundry occasions declared his +deliberate opinion generally against all innovations, and particularly +in the collection and management of the revenues of Bengal: that "he was +well aware of the expense and inconvenience <i>which ever attends +innovations of all kinds</i>, on, their first institution;<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9" /><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor" +title="3d November, 1772.">[9]</a>—that +innovations are <i>always</i> attended with difficulties and inconveniences, +and innovations in the revenue with a suspension of the +collections;<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10" /><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor" +title="24th October, 1774.">[10]</a>—that the continual variations in the mode of +collecting the revenue, and the continual usurpation on the rights of +the people, have fixed in the minds of the ryots a rooted distrust of +the ordinances of government."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11" /><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor" +title="22d April, 1775.">[11]</a> That the Court of Directors have +repeatedly declared their apprehensions "that a sudden transition from +one mode to another, in the investigation and collection of their +revenue, might have alarmed the inhabitants, lessened their confidence +in the Company's proceedings, and been attended with other evils."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12" /><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor" +title="5th February, 1777; 4th July, 1777.">[12]</a><!-- Page 88 --><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88" title="88" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, immediately after his appointment to the +government of Fort William, in April, 1772, did abolish the office of +<i>Naib Dewan</i>, or native collector of the revenues, then existing; that +he did at the same time appoint a committee of the board to go on a +circuit through the provinces, and to form a settlement of the revenues +for five years; that he did then appoint sundry of the Company's +servants to have the management of the collections, viz., one in each +district, under the title of <i>Collector</i>; that he did then abolish the +General Board of Revenue or Council at Moorshedabad, for the following +reasons: "That, while the controlling and executive part of the revenue +and the correspondence with the collectors was carried on by a council +at Moorshedabad, the members of the administration at Calcutta had no +opportunity of acquiring that thorough and comprehensive knowledge which +could only result from <i>practical experience</i>; that the orders of the +Court of Directors, which established a new system, which enjoined many +new regulations and inquiries, could not properly be delegated to a +subordinate council, and it became absolutely necessary that the +business of the revenue should be conducted <i>under the immediate +observation and direction of the board</i>."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13" /><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor" +title="3d November, 1772.">[13]</a>—That in November, 1773, +the said Warren Hastings abolished the office of Collector, and +transferred the collection and management of the revenues to several +councils of revenue, commonly called <i>Provincial Councils</i>. That on the +24th of October, 1774, the said Warren Hastings <i>earnestly offered his +advice</i> (to the Governor-General and Council, then newly appointed by +act of Parliament) <i>for the continuation of the said </i><!-- Page 89 --><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89" title="89" class="pagenum"></a><i>system of +Provincial Councils in all its parts</i>. That the said Warren Hastings +did, on the 22d of April, 1775, transmit to the Directors a formal plan +for the future settlement of the revenues, and did therein declare, +that, "with respect to the mode of managing the collection of the +revenue and the administration of justice, none occurred to him so good +as the system which was already established of Provincial Councils." +That on the 18th of January, 1776, the said Warren Hastings did transmit +to the Court of Directors a plan for the better administration of +justice, that in this plan the establishment of the said Provincial +Councils was specially provided for and confirmed, and that Warren +Hastings did recommend it to the Directors <i>to obtain the sanction of +Parliament for a confirmation of the said plan</i>. That on the 30th of +April, 1776, the said Warren Hastings did transmit to the Court of +Directors the draft or scheme of an act of Parliament for the better +administration of justice in the provinces, in which the said +establishment of Provincial Councils is again specially included, and +special jurisdiction assigned to the said Councils. That the Court of +Directors, in a letter dated 5th of February, 1777, did give the +following instruction to the Governor-General and Council, a majority of +whom, viz., Sir John Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis, had +disapproved of the plan of Provincial Councils: "If you are fully +convinced that the establishment of Provincial Councils has not answered +nor is not capable of answering the purposes intended by such +institutions, we hereby direct you to form a new plan for the collection +of the revenues, and to transmit the same to <i>us for our +consideration</i>."—That the said Warren Hastings, in contradiction to his +own <!-- Page 90 --><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90" title="90" class="pagenum"></a>sentiments repeatedly declared, and to his own advice repeatedly +and deliberately given, and in defiance of the orders of the Directors, +to whom he transmitted no previous communication whatever of his +intention to abolish the said Provincial Councils, did, in the beginning +of the year 1781, again change the whole system of the collections of +the public revenue of Bengal, as also the administration of civil and +criminal justice throughout the provinces. That the said Warren +Hastings, in a letter dated 5th of May, 1781, advising the Court of +Directors of the said changes, has falsely affirmed, "that the plan of +superintending and collecting the public revenue of the provinces +through the agency of Provincial Councils had been instituted for the +temporary and declared purpose of introducing another more permanent +mode <i>by an easy and gradual change</i>"; that, on the contrary, the said +Warren Hastings, from the year 1773 to the year 1781, has constantly and +uniformly insisted on the wisdom of that institution, and on the +necessity of never departing from it; that he has in that time +repeatedly advised that the said institution should be confirmed <i>in +perpetuity</i> by an act of Parliament; that the said total dissolution of +the Provincial Councils was not introduced by any easy and gradual +change, nor by any gradations whatever, but was sudden and unprepared, +and instantly accomplished by a single act of power; and that the said +Warren Hastings, in the place of the said Councils, has substituted a +Committee of Revenue, consisting of four covenanted servants, on +principles opposite to those which he had himself professed, and with +exclusive powers, tending to deprive the members of the Supreme Council +of a due knowledge of and inspection into the management <!-- Page 91 --><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91" title="91" class="pagenum"></a>of the +territorial revenues, specially and unalienably vested by the +legislature in the Governor-General and Council, and to vest the same +solely and entirely in the said Warren Hastings. That the reasons +assigned by the said Warren Hastings for constituting the said Committee +of Revenue are incompatible with those which he professed when he +abolished the subordinate Council of Revenue at Moorshedabad: that he +has invested the said Committee <i>in the fullest manner with all the +powers and authority of the Governor-General and Council</i>; that he has +thereby contracted the whole power and office of the Provincial Councils +into a small compass, and vested the same in four persons appointed by +himself; that he has thereby taken the general transaction and +cognizance of revenue business out of the Supreme Council; that the said +Committee are empowered to conduct the current business of the revenue +department without reference to the Supreme Council, and only <i>report to +the board such extraordinary occurrences, claims, and proposals as may +require the special orders of the board</i>; that even the instruction to +report to the board in extraordinary cases is nugatory and fallacious, +being accompanied with limitations which make it impossible for the said +board to decide on any questions whatsoever: since it is expressly +provided by the said Warren Hastings, <i>that, if the members of the +Committee differ in opinion, it is not expected that every dissentient +opinion should be recorded</i>; consequently the Supreme Council, on any +reference to their board, can see nothing but the resolutions or reasons +of the majority of the Committee, without the arguments on which the +dissentient opinions might be founded: and since it is also expressly +provided by <!-- Page 92 --><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92" title="92" class="pagenum"></a>the said Warren Hastings, that <i>the determination of the +majority of the Committee should not therefore be stayed, unless it +should be so agreed by the majority</i>,—that is, that, notwithstanding +the reference to the Supreme Council, the measure shall be executed +without waiting for their decision.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings has delivered his opinion, with many +arguments to support the same, in favor of long leases of the lands, in +preference to <i>annual</i> settlements: that he has particularly declared, +"that the farmer who holds his farm for one year only, having no +interest in the next, takes what he can with the hand of rigor, which, +even in the execution of legal claims, is often equivalent to violence; +he is under the necessity of being rigid, and <i>even cruel</i>,—for what is +left in arrear after the expiration of his power is at best a doubtful +debt, if ever recoverable; he will be tempted to exceed the bounds of +right, and to augment his income by irregular exactions, and by racking +the tenants, for which pretences will not be wanting, where the farms +pass <i>annually</i> from one hand to another; that the discouragements which +the tenants feel from being transferred every year to new landlords are +a great objection to such short leases; that they contribute to injure +the cultivation and dispeople the lands; that, on the contrary, from +long farms the farmer acquires a permanent interest in his lands; he +will, for his own sake, lay out money in assisting his tenants in +improving lands already cultivated, and in clearing and cultivating +waste lands."<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14" /><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor" +title="14th May, 1772.">[14]</a> That, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings, having +left it to the discretion of the Committee of Revenue, appointed by him +in 1781, to fix the time for which <!-- Page 93 --><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93" title="93" class="pagenum"></a>the ensuing settlement should be +made, and the said Committee having declared, that, <i>with respect to the +period of the lease, in general, it appeared to the Committee that to +limit them to one year would be the best period</i>, he, the said Warren +Hastings, approved of that limitation, in manifest contradiction to all +his own arguments, professions, and declarations concerning the fatal +consequences of <i>annual</i> leases of the lands; that in so doing the said +Warren Hastings did not hold himself bound or restrained by the orders +of the Court of Directors, but acted upon his own discretion; and that +he has, for partial and interested purposes, exercised that discretion +in particular instances against his own general settlement for one year, +by granting perpetual leases of farms and zemindaries to persons +specially favored by him, and particularly by granting a perpetual lease +of the zemindary of Baharbund to his servant Cantoo Baboo on very low +terms.</p> + +<p>That in all the preceding transactions the said Warren Hastings did act +contrary to his duty as Governor of Fort William, contrary to the orders +of his employers, and contrary to his own declared sense of expediency, +consistency, and justice, and thereby did harass and afflict the +inhabitants of the provinces with perpetual changes in the system and +execution of the government placed over them, and with continued +innovations and exactions, against the rights of the said +inhabitants,—thereby destroying all security to private property, and +all confidence in the good faith, principles, and justice of the British +government. And that the said Warren Hastings, having substituted his +own instruments to be the managers and collectors of the public revenue, +in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, did act in manifest breach <!-- Page 94 --><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94" title="94" class="pagenum"></a>and +defiance of an act of the 13th of his present Majesty, by which <i>the +ordering and management and government of all the territorial revenues +in the kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa</i> were vested in the +Governor-General and Council, without any power of delegating the said +trust and duty to any other persons; and that, by such unlawful +delegation of the powers of the Council to a subordinate board appointed +by himself, he, the said Warren Hastings, did in effect unite and vest +in his own person the ordering, government, and management of all the +said territorial revenues; and that for the said illegal act he, the +said Warren Hastings, is solely answerable, the same having been +proposed and resolved in Council when the Governor-General and Council +consisted but of two persons present,—namely, the said Warren Hastings, +and the late Edward Wheler, Esquire, and when consequently the +Governor-General, by virtue of the casting voice, possessed the whole +power of the government. That, in all the changes and innovations +hereinbefore described, the pretence used by the said Warren Hastings to +recommend and justify the same to the Court of Directors has been, that +such changes and innovations would be attended with increase of revenue +or diminution of expense to the East India Company; that such pretence, +if true, would not have been a justification of such acts; but that such +pretence is false and groundless: that during the administration of the +said Warren Hastings the territorial revenues have declined; that the +charges of collecting the same have greatly increased; and that the said +Warren Hastings, by his neglect, mismanagement, and by a direct and +intended waste of the Company's property, is chargeable with and +<!-- Page 95 --><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95" title="95" class="pagenum"></a>answerable for all the said decline of revenue, and all the said +increase of expense.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVI_MISDEMEANORS_IN_OUDE" id="XVI_MISDEMEANORS_IN_OUDE" />XVI.—MISDEMEANORS IN OUDE.</h2> + + +<p>I. That the province of Oude and its dependencies were, before their +connection with and subordination to the Company, in a flourishing +condition with regard to culture, commerce, and population, and their +rulers and principal nobility maintained themselves in a state of +affluence and splendor; but very shortly after the period aforesaid, the +prosperity both of the country and its chiefs began sensibly and rapidly +to decline, insomuch that the revenue of the said province, which, on +the lowest estimation, had been found, in the commencement of the +British influence, at upwards of three millions sterling annually, (and +that ample revenue raised without detriment to the country,) did not in +the year 1779 exceed the sum of 1,500,000<i>l.</i>, and in the subsequent +years did fall much short of that sum, although the rents were generally +advanced, and the country grievously oppressed in order to raise it.</p> + +<p>II. That in the aforesaid year, 1779, the demands of the East India +Company on the Nabob of Oude are stated by Mr. Purling, their Resident +at the court of Oude, to amount to the sum of 1,360,000<i>l.</i> sterling and +upwards, leaving (upon the supposition that the whole revenue should +amount to the sum of 1,500,000<i>l.</i> sterling, to which it did not amount) +no more than 140,000<i>l.</i> sterling for the support of the dignity of the +household and family of the Nabob, and for the maintenance of his +government, as well as for the payment of the public debts due within +the province.<!-- Page 96 --><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96" title="96" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>III. That by the treaty of Fyzabad a regular brigade of the Company's +troops, to be stationed in the dominions of the Nabob of Oude, was kept +up at the expense of the said Nabob; in addition to which a temporary +brigade of the same troops was added to his establishment, together with +several detached corps in the Company's service, and a great part of his +own native Troops were put under the command of British officers.</p> + +<p>IV. That the expense of the Company's temporary brigade increased in the +same year (the year of 1779) upwards of 80,000<i>l.</i> sterling above the +estimate, and the expense of the country troops under British officers +in the same period increased upwards of 40,000<i>l.</i> sterling; and in +addition to the aforesaid ruinous expenses, a large civil establishment +was gradually, secretly, and without any authority from the Court of +Directors, or record in the books of the Council-General concerning the +same, formed for the Resident, and another under Mr. Wombwell, an agent +for the Company; as also several pensions and allowances, in the same +secret and clandestine manner, were charged on the revenues of the said +Nabob for the benefit of British subjects, besides large occasional +gifts to persons in the Company's service.</p> + +<p>V. That in the month of November, 1779, the said Nabob did represent to +Mr. Purling, the Company's Resident aforesaid, the distressed state of +his revenues in the following terms. "During three years past, the +expense occasioned by the troops in brigade, and others commanded by +European officers, has much distressed the support of my household, +insomuch that the allowances made to the seraglio and children of <!-- Page 97 --><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97" title="97" class="pagenum"></a>the +deceased Nabob have been reduced to <i>one fourth</i> of what it had been, +upon which they have subsisted in a very distressed manner for two years +past. The attendants, writers, and servants, &c., of my court, have +received no pay for two years past; and there is at present no part of +the country that can be allotted to the payment of my father's private +creditors, whose applications are daily pressing upon me. All these +difficulties I have for these three years past struggled through, and +found this consolation therein, that it was complying with the pleasure +of the Honorable Company, and in the hope that the Supreme Council would +make inquiry from impartial persons into my distressed situation; but I +am now forced to a representation. From the <i>great increase of expense</i>, +the revenues were necessarily farmed out <i>at a high rate;</i> and +deficiencies followed yearly. The country and cultivation is abandoned; +and this year in particular, from the excessive drought, deductions of +many lacs" (stated by the Resident, in his letter to the board of the +13th of the month following, to amount to twenty-five lac, or +250,000<i>l.</i> sterling) "have been allowed the farmers, who were still +left unsatisfied. I have received but just sufficient to support my +absolute necessities, the revenues being deficient to the amount of +fifteen lac [150,000<i>l.</i> sterling], and for this reason many of the old +chieftains with their troops, and the useful attendants of the court, +were forced to leave it, and there is now only a few foot and horse for +the collection of my revenues; and should the zemindars be refractory, +there is not left a sufficient number to reduce them to obedience." And +the said Nabob did therefore pray that the assignments for the new +brigade, the corps of horse, and the other de<!-- Page 98 --><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98" title="98" class="pagenum"></a>tached bodies of the +Company's troops might not be required from him: alleging, "that the +former was not only quite useless to his government, but, moreover, the +cause of much loss, both in the revenues and customs; and that the +detached bodies of troops under their European officers brought nothing +but confusion into the affairs of his government, and were entirely +their own masters."</p> + +<p>VI. That it appears that the said Nabob was not bound by any treaty to +the maintenance, without his consent, <i>even of the old brigade</i>,—the +Court of Directors having, in their letter of the 15th December, 1775, +approved of keeping the same in his service, "<i>provided it was done with +the free consent of the Subah, and by no means without it</i>." And the +<i>new brigade</i> and temporary corps were raised on the express condition, +that the expense thereof should be charged on the Nabob only "<i>for so +long a time as he should require the corps for his service</i>." And the +Court of Directors express to the Governor-General and Council their +sense of the said agreement in the following terms: "But if you intend +to exert your influence first to induce the Vizier to acquiesce in your +proposal, and afterwards <i>to compel him to keep the troops in his pay +during your pleasure, your intents are unjust; and a correspondent +conduct would reflect great dishonor on the Company</i>."</p> + +<p>VII. That, in answer to the decent and humble representation aforesaid +of the Nabob of Oude, the allegations of which, so far as they relate to +the distressed state of the Nabob's finances, and his total inability to +discharge the demands made on him, <!-- Page 99 --><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99" title="99" class="pagenum"></a>were confirmed by the testimony of +the English Resident at Oude, and which the said Hastings did not deny +in the whole or in any part thereof, he, the said Warren Hastings, did, +on pretence of certain political dangers, declare the relief desired to +be "without hesitation <i>totally</i> inadmissible," and did falsely and +maliciously insinuate, "that the <i>tone</i> in which the demands of the +Nabob were asserted, and the season in which they were made, did give +cause for <i>the most alarming suspicions</i>." And the said Warren Hastings +did, in a letter to the Nabob aforesaid, written in haughty and insolent +language, and without taking any notice of the distresses of the said +Nabob, alleged and verified as before recited, "require and insist upon +your [the Nabob's] granting <i>tuncaws</i> [assignments] for the full amount +of their [the Company's] demands upon you for the current year, and on +your reserving funds sufficient to answer them, <i>even should the +deficiencies of your revenues compel you to leave your own troops +unprovided for, or to disband a part of them to enable you to effect +it</i>."</p> + +<p>VIII. That, in a letter written at the same time to the Resident, +Purling, and intended for his directions in enforcing on the Nabob the +unjust demands aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings hath asserted, in +direct contradiction to the treaties subsisting between the said Nabob +and the Company, "that he [the Nabob] stands engaged to our government +to maintain the English armies which at his own request have been formed +for the protection of his dominions, and <i>that it is our part, and not +his, to judge and determine in what manner and at what time these shall +be reduced and withdrawn</i>." And in a Minute of Consultation, <!-- Page 100 --><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100" title="100" class="pagenum"></a>when the +aforesaid measure was proposed by the said Hastings to the Supreme +Council, he did affirm and maintain that the troops aforesaid "had now +no <i>separate</i> or distinct existence from ours, and may be properly said +to consist of our <i>whole</i> military establishment, with the exception +only of our European infantry; and that they could not be withdrawn +without imposing on the Company <i>the additional burden of them</i>, or +disbanding nine battalions of disciplined sepoys and three regiments of +horse."</p> + +<p>IX. That in the Minute of Consultation aforesaid, he, the said Warren +Hastings, hath further, in justification of the violent and arbitrary +proceedings aforesaid, asserted, "that the arrangement of measures +between the British government and their allies, the native powers of +India, must, in case of disagreement about the necessity thereof, <i>be +decided by the strongest</i>"; and hath thereby advanced a dangerous and +most indecently expressed position, subversive of the rights of allies, +and tending to breed war and confusion, instead of cordiality and +coöperation amongst them, and to destroy all confidence of the princes +of India in the faith and justice of the English nation. And the said +Hastings, having further, in the minute aforesaid, presumed to threaten +to "bring to punishment, if my influence" (his, the said Hastings's, +influence) "can produce that effect, <i>those incendiaries</i> who have +endeavored to make themselves the instruments of division between us," +hath, as far as in him lay, obstructed the performance of one of the +most essential duties of a prince engaged in an unequal alliance with a +presiding state,—that of representing the grievances of his subjects to +that more powerful <!-- Page 101 --><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101" title="101" class="pagenum"></a>state by whose acts they suffer: leaving thereby the +governing power in total ignorance of the effects of its own measures, +and to the oppressed people no other choice than the alternative of an +unqualified submission, or a resistance productive of consequences more +fatal.</p> + +<p>X. That, all relief being denied to the Nabob, in the manner and on the +grounds aforesaid, the demands of the Company on the said Nabob in the +year following, that is to say, in the year 1780, did amount to the +enormous sum of 1,400,000<i>l.</i> sterling, and the distress of the province +did rapidly increase.</p> + +<p>XI. That the Nabob, on the 24th of February of the same year, did again +write to the Governor-General, the said Warren Hastings, a letter, in +which he expressed his constant friendship to the Company, and his +submission and obedience to their orders, and asserting that he had not +troubled them with any of his difficulties, trusting they would learn +them from other quarters, and that he should be relieved by their +friendship. "But," he says, "when <i>the knife had penetrated to the +bone</i>, and I was surrounded with such heavy distresses that I could no +longer live in expectations, I then wrote an account of my difficulties. +The answer I have received to it is such that it has given me +inexpressible grief and affliction. I never had the least idea or +expectation from you and the Council that you would have given your +orders in <i>so afflicting a manner, in which you never before wrote, and +I could never have imagined</i>. I have delivered up all my <i>private</i> +papers to him [the Resident], that, after examining my receipts and +expenses, he <!-- Page 102 --><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102" title="102" class="pagenum"></a>may take whatever remains. That, as I know it to be my +duty to satisfy you [the Company and Council], I have not failed to obey +in any instance; but requested of him that it might be done so as not to +distress me in my <i>necessary</i> expenses. There being no other funds but +those for the expenses of my <i>mutseddies</i> [clerks and accountants], +household expenses, and servants, &c., he demanded these in such a +manner, that, being remediless, I was obliged to comply with what he +required. He has accordingly stopped <i>the pensions of my old servants +for thirty years, whether sepoys [soldiers], mutseddies [secretaries and +accountants], or household servants, and the expenses of my family and +kitchen, together with the jaghires of my grandmother, mother, and +aunts, and of my brothers and dependants, which were for their +support</i>."</p> + +<p>XII. That, in answer to the letter aforesaid, the Resident received from +the said Warren Hastings and Council an order to persevere in the demand +to its fullest extent,—that is to say, to the amount of 1,400,000<i>l.</i> +sterling.</p> + +<p>XIII. That on the 15th of May the Nabob replied, complaining in an +humble and suppliant manner of his distressed situation: that he had at +first opposed the assigning to the use of the Company the estates of his +mother, of his grandmother, of one of his uncles, and of the sons of +another, but that, in obedience to the injunctions of the gentlemen of +the Council, it had been done, to the amount, on the whole, of +80,000<i>l.</i> sterling a year, or thereabouts; that whatever effects were +in the country, with even his table, his animals, and the salaries of +his servants, were <!-- Page 103 --><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103" title="103" class="pagenum"></a>granted in assignments; that, besides these, if they +were resolved again to compel him to give up the estates of his parents +and relations, which were granted them for their maintenance, they were +at the Company's disposal; saying, "If the Council have directed you to +attach them, do it: in the country no further sources remain. I have no +means; for I have not a subsistence.—How long shall I dwell upon my +misfortunes?"</p> + +<p>XIV. That the truth of the said remonstrances was not disputed, nor the +<i>tone</i> in which they were written complained of, the same being +submissive, and even abject, though the cause (his distresses) was by +the said Hastings, in a great degree, and in terms the most offensive, +attributed to the Nabob himself; but no relief was given, and the same +unwarrantable establishments, maintained at the same ruinous expense, +were kept up.</p> + +<p>XV. That the said Warren Hastings, having considered as incendiaries +those who advised the remonstrances aforesaid, and, to prevent the same +in future, having denounced vengeance on those concerned therein, did, +for the purpose of keeping in his own power all representations of the +state of the court and country aforesaid, and to subject both the one +and the other to his own arbitrary will, and to draw to himself and to +his creatures the management of the Nabob's revenues, in defiance of the +orders of the Court of Directors, a second time recall Mr. Bristow, the +Company's Resident, from the court of Oude,—having once before recalled +him, as the said Directors express themselves, "without the shadow of a +charge <!-- Page 104 --><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104" title="104" class="pagenum"></a>being exhibited against him," and having, on the occasion and +time now stated, produced no specific charge against the said Resident; +and he, the said Hastings, did appoint Nathaniel Middleton, Esquire, to +succeed him,—it being his declared principle, that he must have a +person of <i>his own</i> confidence in that situation.</p> + +<p>XVI. That the said Warren Hastings, after he had refused all relief to +the distresses of the Nabob in the manner aforesaid, and had described +those who advised the representation of the grievances of Oude as +<i>incendiaries</i>, did himself, in a minute of the 21st May, 1781, describe +that province "as fallen into a state of great disorder and confusion, +and its resources in an extraordinary degree diminished,"—and did +state, that his presence in the said province was requested by the +Nabob, and that, unless some effectual measures were taken for his +relief, he [the Nabob] must be under the necessity of leaving his +country, and coming down to Calcutta, to represent the situation of his +government. And Mr. Wheler did declare that the Governor-General's +representation of the state of that province "was but too well founded, +and was convinced that it would require his utmost abilities and powers, +applied and exercised on the spot, to restore it to its former good +order and affluence."</p> + +<p>XVII. That the said Warren Hastings, in consequence of the minute +aforesaid, did grant to himself, and did procure the consent of his only +colleague, Edward Wheler, Esquire, to a commission or delegation, with +powers "to assist the Nabob Vizier in <!-- Page 105 --><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105" title="105" class="pagenum"></a>forming such regulations as may +be necessary for the peace and good order of his government, the +improvement of his revenue, and the adjustment of the mutual concerns +subsisting between him and the Company." And in the said commission or +delegation he, the said Warren Hastings, did cause to be inserted +certain powers and provisions of a new and dangerous nature: that is to +say, reciting the business before mentioned, he did convey to himself +"such authority to enforce the same <i>as the Governor-General and Council +might or could exercise on occasions in which they could be warranted to +exercise the same</i>, and to form and conclude such several engagements or +treaties with the Nabob Vizier, the government of Berar, and with any +chiefs or powers of Hindostan, as <i>he</i> should judge expedient and +necessary." Towards the conclusion of the act or instrument aforesaid +are the words following, viz.: "It is hereby declared, that all such +acts, and all such engagements or treaties aforesaid, shall be binding +on the Governor-General and Council in the same manner, <i>and as +effectually, as if they had been done and passed by the specific and +immediate concurrence and actual junction of the Governor-General and +Council, in council assembled</i>." And the said powers were, by the said +Warren Hastings, given by himself and the said Wheler, under the seal of +the Company, on the 3d July, 1781.</p> + +<p>XVIII. That the said commission, delegating to him, the said Warren +Hastings, the whole functions of the Council, is destructive to the +constitution thereof, and is contrary to the Company's standing orders, +and is illegal.<!-- Page 106 --><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106" title="106" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>XIX. That, in virtue of those powers, and the illegal delegation +aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings, after he had finished his business +at Benares, did procure a meeting with the Nabob of Oude at a place +called Chunar, upon the confines of the country of Benares, and did +there enter into a treaty, or pretended treaty, with the said Nabob; one +part of which the said Warren Hastings did pretend was drawn up from a +series of requisitions presented to him by the Nabob, but which +requisitions, or any copy thereof, or of any other material document +relative thereto, he did not at the time transmit to the +Presidency,—the said Warren Hastings informing Mr. Wheler, that the +Resident, Middleton, had taken the <i>authentic</i> papers relative to this +transaction with him to Lucknow: and it does not appear that the said +Warren Hastings did ever reclaim the said papers, in order to record +them at the Presidency, to be transmitted to the Court of Directors, as +it was his duty to do.</p> + +<p>XX. That the purport of certain articles of the said treaty, on the part +of the Company, was, that, in consideration of the Nabob's <i>inability</i> +(which inability the preamble of the treaty asserts to have been +"repeatedly and urgently represented") to support the expenses of the +temporary brigade, and of three regiments of cavalry, and also of the +British officers with their battalions, and of <i>other</i> gentlemen who +were then paid by him, the several corps aforesaid, and the other +gentlemen, (with the exception of the Resident's office <i>then on the +Nabob's list</i>, and a regiment of sepoys for the Resident's guard,) +should, after a term of two and a half months, be no longer at his, <!-- Page 107 --><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107" title="107" class="pagenum"></a>the +Nabob's, charge: "the true meaning of this being, that no more troops +than one brigade, and the pay and allowances of a regiment of sepoys," +(as aforesaid, to the Resident,) amounting in the whole to 342,000<i>l.</i> a +year, should be paid by the Nabob; and that <i>no officers, troops, or +others, should be put upon the Nabob's establishment</i>, exclusive of +those in the said treaty stipulated.</p> + +<p>XXI. That the said Warren Hastings did defend and justify the said +articles, in which the troops aforesaid were to be removed from the +Nabob's establishment, by declaring as follows. "That the <i>actual</i> +disbursements to those troops had fallen upon <i>our own funds</i>, and that +<i>we</i> support a body of troops, established <i>solely</i> for the defence of +the Nabob's possessions, <i>at our own expense</i>. It is true, we charge the +Nabob with this expense; but the large balance already due from him +shows too justly the little prospect there was of disengaging ourselves +from <i>a burden</i> which was daily adding to <i>our</i> distresses and must soon +become <i>insupportable</i>, although it were granted that the Nabob's debt, +then suffered to accumulate, <i>might at some future period be +liquidated</i>, and that this measure would substantially effect an instant +relief to the pecuniary distresses of the Company."</p> + +<p>XXII. That Nathaniel Middleton, the Resident, did also declare that he +would at all times testify, "that, upon the plan of the foregoing years, +the receipts from the Nabob were only <i>a deception</i>, and <i>not an +advantage</i>, but <i>an injury</i> to the Company," and "that a remission to +the Nabob of this <i>insufferable burden</i> was <i>a profit</i> to the Company." +And the said <!-- Page 108 --><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108" title="108" class="pagenum"></a>Hastings did assert that the force of the Company was not +lessened by withdrawing the temporary troops; although, when it suited +the purpose of the said Hastings, in denying just relief to the +distresses of the said Nabob of Oude, he had not scrupled to assert the +direct contrary of the positions by him maintained in justification of +the treaty of Chunar,—having in his minute aforesaid, of the 15th of +December, 1779, asserted, "that these troops" (the troops maintained by +the Nabob of Oude) "had no <i>separate or distinct existence</i>, and may be +properly said to consist of our whole military establishment, with the +exception only of our European infantry, and that they could not be +<i>withdrawn, without imposing on the Company the additional burden of +their expense</i>, or disbanding nine battalions of disciplined sepoys and +three regiments of horse."</p> + +<p>XXIII. That he, the said Warren Hastings, in justification of his +agreement to withdraw the troops aforesaid from the territories and pay +of the Nabob of Oude, did further declare, "that he had been too much +accustomed to the tales of hostile preparation and impending invasions, +against all the evidence of political probability, to regard them as any +other than phantoms raised for the purpose of perpetuating or +multiplying commands," and he did trust "all ideas of danger from the +neighboring powers were altogether visionary; and that, even if they had +been better founded, this mode of anticipating possible evils would be +more mischievous than anything they had reason to apprehend," and that +the internal state of the Nabob's dominions did not require the +continuance of the said troops; and that the Nabob, "<i>whose concern </i><!-- Page 109 --><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109" title="109" class="pagenum"></a><i>it +was, and not ours</i>" did affirm the same,—notwithstanding he, the said +Hastings, had before, in answer to the humble supplications of the +Nabob, asserted, that "<i>it was our part, and not his</i>, to judge and +determine in what manner and at what time they should be reduced or +withdrawn."</p> + +<p>XXIV. That the said Warren Hastings, in support of his measure of +withdrawing the said brigade and other troops, did also represent, that +"the remote stations of those troops, placing the commanding officers +beyond the notice and control of the board, afforded too much +opportunity and temptation for unwarrantable emoluments, and excited the +<i>contagion of peculation and rapacity throughout the whole army</i>, and, +as an instance thereof, that a court-martial, composed of officers of +rank and respectable characters, unanimously and honorably, 'most +honorably,' acquitted an officer upon an acknowledged fact which in +times of stricter discipline would have been deemed a crime deserving +the severest punishment."</p> + +<p>XXV. That the said Warren Hastings, having in the letter aforesaid +contradicted all the grounds and reasons by him assigned for keeping up +the aforesaid establishment, and having declared his own conviction that +the whole was a fallacy and imposition, and a detriment to the Company +instead of a benefit, circumstances (if they are true) which he might +and ought to have well known, was guilty of an high crime and +misdemeanor in carrying on the imposture and delusion aforesaid, and in +continuing an insupportable burden and grievance upon the Nabob for +several years, without attending to his repeated supplications <!-- Page 110 --><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110" title="110" class="pagenum"></a>to be +relieved therefrom, to the utter ruin of his country, and to the +destruction of the discipline of the British troops, by diffusing among +them a general spirit of peculation; and the said Hastings hath +committed a grievous offence in upholding the same pernicious system, +until, by his own confession and declaration, in his minute of the 21st +of May, 1781, "the evils had <i>grown</i> to so great an height, that +exertions will be required more powerful than can be made through the +delegated authority of the servants of the Company now in the province, +and that he was far from sanguine in his expectations that <i>even his own +endeavors would be attended with much success</i>."</p> + +<p>XXVI. That, at the time of making the said treaty, and at the time when, +under color of the distress of the Nabob of Oude, and the failure of all +other means for his relief, he, the said Hastings, broke the Company's +faith with the parents of the Nabob, and first encouraged and afterwards +compelled him to despoil them of their landed estates, money, jewels, +and household goods, and while the said Nabob continued heavily in debt +to the Company, he, the said Warren Hastings, did, "<i>without +hesitation</i>," accept of and receive from the Nabob of Oude and his +ministers (who are notoriously known to be not only under his influence, +but under his absolute command) a bribe, or unlawful gift or present, of +one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and upwards. That, even if the +said pretended gift could be supposed to be voluntary, it was contrary +to the express provision of the Regulating Act of the 13th year of his +Majesty's reign, prohibiting the receipt of all presents upon any +pretence whatso<!-- Page 111 --><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111" title="111" class="pagenum"></a>ever, and contrary to his own sense of the true intent +and meaning of the said act, declared upon a similar, but not so strong +a case,—that is, where the service done, and the present offered in +return for it, had taken place before the promulgation of the above laws +in India: on that occasion he declared, "that the exclusion by an act of +Parliament <i>admitted of no abatement or evasion</i>, wherever its authority +extended."</p> + +<p>XXVII. That the said Warren Hastings, confiding in an interest which he +supposed himself to have formed in the East India House, did endeavor to +prevail on the Court of Directors to violate the said act, and to suffer +him to appropriate the money so illegally accepted by him to his own +profit, as a reward for his services.</p> + +<p>XXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings has since declared to the Court of +Directors, that, when <i>fortune threw a sum in his way</i> (meaning the sum +of money above mentioned) <i>of a magnitude which could not be concealed, +he chose to apprise his employers of it</i>:<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15" /><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor" +title="See his letter of the 11th July, 1785, at the end of the Charges">[15]</a> thereby confessing, that, +but for the magnitude of the same rendering it difficult to be +concealed, he never would have discovered it to them. And the said +unlawful present being received at the time when, for reasons directly +contradictory of all his former recorded declarations, he did agree to +remove the aforesaid troops from the Nabob's dominions, and to recall +the pensioners aforesaid, it must be presumed that he did not agree to +give the relief (which he had before so obstinately refused) upon the +grounds and motives of justice, policy, or humanity, but in +consideration <!-- Page 112 --><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112" title="112" class="pagenum"></a>of the sum of money aforesaid, which, in a time of such +extreme distress in the Nabob's affairs, could not be rationally given, +except for those and other concessions stipulated for in the said +treaty, but which had on former occasions been refused.</p> + +<p>XXIX. That, notwithstanding his, the said Warren Hastings's, receipt of +the present of one hundred thousand pounds, as aforesaid, he did violate +every one of the stipulations in the said treaty contained, and +particularly he did continue in the country, and in the service of the +Nabob of Oude, those troops which he had so recently stipulated to +withdraw from his country and to take from his establishment: for, upon +the 24th of December following, he did order the temporary brigade, +making ten battalions of five hundred men each, to be again put on the +Vizier's list,—although he had recently informed the Court of +Directors, through Edward Wheler, Esquire, that any benefit to be +derived from the Nabob's paying that brigade was <i>a fallacy and a +deception</i>, and that the same was <i>a charge</i> upon the Company, and not +<i>an alleviation of its distresses</i>, as well as <i>an insupportable burden</i> +to the Nabob: thus having, within a short space of time, twice +contradicted himself, both in declaration and in conduct.</p> + +<p>XXX. That this measure, in direct violation of a treaty of not three +months' duration, was so injudicious, that, in the opinion of the +Assistant Resident, Johnson, "nothing less than blows could effect it": +he, the said Resident, further adding, "that the Nabob was not even able +to pay off the arrears still due to it [the new brigade]; and that the +troops being <i>all</i> in <!-- Page 113 --><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113" title="113" class="pagenum"></a>arrears, and no possibility of present payment, +so large a body assembled here [viz., at Lucknow] without any means to +check and control them, nothing but disorder could follow. As one proof +that the Nabob is as badly off for funds as we are, I may inform you +that his cavalry rose this day upon him, and went all armed to the +palace, to demand from thirteen to eighteen months' arrears, and were +with great difficulty persuaded to retire, which was probably more +effected by a body of troops getting under arms to go against them than +any other consideration." But the letter of Warren Hastings, Esquire, of +the 24th of December, giving the above orders for the infraction of the +treaty, and to which the letter from whence the foregoing extracts are +taken is an answer, doth not appear, any otherwise than as the same is +recited in the said answer.</p> + +<p>XXXI. That, notwithstanding the disorders and deficiencies in the +revenue aforesaid had continued and increased, and that three very large +balances had accumulated, the said Warren Hastings did cause the +Treasury accounts at Calcutta to be examined and scrutinized, and an +account of another arrear, composed of various articles, pretended to +have accumulated during seven years previous to the year 1779, (the +articles composing which, if they had been just, ought to have been +charged at the times they severally became due,) was sent to the +Resident, and payment thereof demanded, to the amount of 260,000<i>l.</i> +sterling; which unexpected demand, in so distressed a situation, did not +a little embarrass the Nabob. But whilst he and his ministers were +examining into the said unexpected demand, another, and <!-- Page 114 --><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114" title="114" class="pagenum"></a>fifth balance, +made up of similar forgotten articles, was demanded, to the amount of +140,000<i>l.</i> sterling more. Which said two last demands did so terrify +and confound the Nabob and his ministers, that they declared that the +Resident "might at once take the country, since justice was out of the +question."</p> + +<p>XXXII. That the said Hastings, in order to add to the confusion, +perplexity, and distress of the Nabob's affairs, did send to his court +(in which he had already a Resident and Assistant Resident) two secret +agents, Major Palmer and Major Davy, and did instruct Major Palmer to +make a variety of new claims, one of a loan to the Company of +600,000<i>l.</i> sterling, although he well knew the Nabob was himself +heavily in arrear to the Company, and was utterly unable to discharge +the same, as well as in arrear to his own troops, and to many +individuals, and that he borrowed (when he could at all borrow) at an +interest of near thirty per cent. To this demand was added a new bribe, +or unlawful present, to himself, to the amount of 100,000<i>l.</i> sterling, +which he did not refuse as unlawful and of evil example, but as +<i>indelicate</i> in the Nabob's present situation,—and did, as if the same +was his own property, presume to dispose of it, and to desire the +transfer of it, as of his own bounty, to the Company, his masters. To +this second demand he, the said Hastings, added a third demand of +120,000<i>l.</i> sterling, for four additional regiments on the Nabob's list, +after he had solemnly engaged to take off the ten with which it had been +burdened: the whole of the claims through his private agent aforesaid +making the sum of 820,000<i>l.</i> sterling.<!-- Page 115 --><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115" title="115" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>XXXIII. That the demands, claims, &c., made by the said Warren Hastings +upon the government of Oude in that year amounted to the enormous sum of +2,530,000<i>l.</i> sterling; which joined to the arrears to troops, and some +internal failures, amounting to 255,000<i>l.</i> sterling more, the whole +charge arose to 2,785,000<i>l.</i> sterling, which was considerably more than +double the net produce of the Nabob's revenue,—the same only amounting +to 1,450,000<i>l.</i> "nominal revenue, never completely realized."</p> + +<p>XXXIV. That, towards providing for these extravagant demands, he, the +said Warren Hastings, did direct and authorize another breach of the +public faith given in the treaty of Chunar. For whereas, by the second +article of the treaty aforesaid, it was left to the Nabob's discretion +whether or not he should resume the landed estates, called jaghires, +within his dominions, and notwithstanding the said Hastings, in defence +of the said article, did declare that the Nabob should be left to the +exercise of his own authority and pleasure respecting them, yet he, the +said Hastings, did authorize a violent compulsion to be used towards the +said Nabob for accomplishing an universal confiscation of that species +of landed property; and in so doing he did also compel the Nabob to +break his faith with all the landholders of that description, not only +in violating the assurance of his own original grants, but his assurance +recently given, when, being pressed by the Company, he, the Nabob, had +made a temporary seizure of the profits of the lands aforesaid, in the +manner of a compulsory loan, for the repayment of which he gave his +bonds and obligations; and although he had at the same time sole<!-- Page 116 --><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116" title="116" class="pagenum"></a>mnly +pledged his faith that he never would again resort to the like +oppressive measure, yet he, the said Warren Hastings, did cause him to +be compelled to confiscate the estates of at least sixty-seven of the +principal persons of his country, comprehending therein his own nearest +relations and the ancient friends and dependants of his family: the +annual value of the said estates thus confiscated amounting to +435,000<i>l.</i> sterling, or thereabouts, upon an old valuation, but stated +by the Resident, Middleton, as being found to yield considerably more.</p> + +<p>XXXV. That the violent and unjust measure aforesaid, subversive of +property, utterly destructive of several ancient and considerable +families, and most dishonorable to the British government, did produce +an universal discontent and the greatest confusion throughout the whole +country,—the said confiscated lands being on this occasion put to +rack-rents, and the people grievously oppressed: and to prevent a +possibility of redress, at least for a considerable time, the said +confiscated estates were mortgaged (it appearing otherwise impracticable +to make an approach towards satisfying the exorbitant demands of the +said Hastings) for a great sum to certain usurious bankers or +money-dealers at Benares.</p> + +<p>XXXVI. That, besides these enormous demands, which were in part made for +the support of several corps of troops under British officers which by +the treaty of Chunar ought to have been removed, very large extra +charges not belonging to the military list of the said Nabob, and +several civil charges and pensions, were continued, and others newly put +on since the <!-- Page 117 --><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117" title="117" class="pagenum"></a>treaty of Chunar, namely, an allowance to Sir Eyre Coote +of 15,554 rupees per month, (being upwards of 18,664<i>l.</i> sterling a +year,) and an allowance to Trevor Wheler, Esquire, of 5,000 rupees per +month (or 6,000<i>l.</i> sterling and upwards a year); and the whole of the +settled charges, not of a military nature, to British subjects, did +amount to little less than 140,000<i>l.</i> yearly, and, if other allowances +not included in the estimate were added, would greatly exceed that sum, +besides much more which may justly be suspected to have been paid, no +part whereof had at that time been brought forward to any public +account.</p> + +<p>XXXVII. That the commander of one of these corps, of whose burden the +said Nabob did complain, was Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Hannay, who +did farm the revenues of certain districts called Baraitch and +Goruckpore, which the said Hastings, in the ninth article of his +instructions to Mr. Bristow, did estimate at twenty-three lacs of +rupees, or 230,000<i>l.</i>, per annum: but under his, the said Hannay's, +management, the collections did very greatly decline; complaints were +made that the countries aforesaid were harassed and oppressed, and the +same did fall into confusion, and at last the inhabitants broke out into +a general rebellion.</p> + +<p>XXXVIII. That the far greater part of the said heavy list was authorized +or ordered by him, the said Warren Hastings, for the purpose of +extending his own corrupt influence: for it doth appear, that, at the +time when he did pretend, in conformity to the treaty of Chunar +aforesaid, to remove the Company's <!-- Page 118 --><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118" title="118" class="pagenum"></a>servants, "<i>civil</i> and military, +from the court and service of the Vizier," he did assert that he thereby +did "diminish <i>his own influence</i>, as well as that of his colleagues, by +narrowing the line of <i>patronage</i>"; which proves that the offices, +pensions, and other emoluments aforesaid, in Oude, were of <i>his</i> +patronage, as his patronage could not be diminished by taking away the +said offices, &c., unless the same had been substantially of his gift. +And he did, at the time of the pretended reformation aforesaid, express +both his knowledge of the existence of the said excessive and abusive +establishments, and his sense of his duty in taking them away: for in +agreeing to the article in the treaty of Chunar for abolishing the said +establishments, he did declare himself "actuated solely by motives of +<i>justice</i> to the Nabob, and a regard to <i>the honor of our national +character</i>"; and, according to his own representation, the said servants +of the Company, civil and military, "by their numbers, their influence, +and the <i>enormous amount</i> of their salaries, pensions, and emoluments, +were an <i>intolerable</i> burden on the revenues and authority of the +Vizier, and exposed us to <i>the envy and resentment of the whole +country</i>, by excluding the native servants and adherents of the Vizier +from the rewards of their services and attachment."</p> + +<p>XXXIX. That the revenue of the country being anticipated, mortgaged, and +dilapidated, by the counsel, concurrence, connivance, and influence, and +often by the direct order of the said Warren Hastings, the whole civil +government, magistracy, and administration of justice gradually declined +and at length totally ceased through the whole of the vast provinces +<!-- Page 119 --><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119" title="119" class="pagenum"></a>which compose the territory of Oude, and no power was visible therein +but that of the farmers of the revenue, attended by bodies of troops to +enforce the collections; insomuch that robberies, assassinations, and +acts of every description of outrage and violence were perpetrated with +impunity,—and even in the capital city of Lucknow, the seat of the +sovereign power, there was no court of justice whatever to take +cognizance of such offences.</p> + +<p>XL. That the said Warren Hastings, when he did interfere in the +government of Oude, was obliged by his duty to interfere for the good +purposes of government, and not merely for the purpose of extorting +money therefrom and enriching his own dependants,—which latter purpose +alone he did effect, in the manner before mentioned, but not one of the +former. For the said Hastings, having procured the extraordinary powers +given by and to himself by his delegation of the 3d of July, 1781, did +declare the same to be for the purpose, among many others, "of assisting +the Nabob Vizier in forming such regulations as may be necessary for the +peace and good order of his government and the improvement of his +revenue." And in consequence of the said powers, the said Warren +Hastings did, in the treaty of Chunar, obtain an article from the Nabob +by which the said Nabob did promise to attend to his advice in the +reformation of his civil administration; and he did give certain +instructions to the Resident, Middleton, to which he did require him to +yield <i>the most implicit obedience</i>, and did in one article thereof +direct him to urge the Nabob to endeavor gradually, if it could not be +done at once, to establish courts of <i>adawlut</i> [justice], and that <!-- Page 120 --><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120" title="120" class="pagenum"></a>the +<i>darogahs</i> [chief criminal magistrates], <i>moulavies</i> [consulting or +assistant lawyers], and other officers, should be selected by the +ministers, with his, the Resident's, concurrence; and afterwards, in his +instructions to the Resident Bristow, desiring him to pursue the same +object, he declared his opinion, "that the want of such courts, and the +extreme licentiousness occasioned thereby, is one of the most +disreputable defects in his Highness the Nabob's government, and that, +while they do not exist, every man knows the hazard which he incurs in +lending his money "; but he did give him, the said Resident, no positive +instruction concerning the same, supposing the establishment of such +courts a matter of difficulty, and did therefore leave him a latitude in +his proceedings therein.</p> + +<p>XLI. That the said Resident Bristow did, however, in conformity to the +said instructions, at last given with such latitude, endeavor to prevail +on the said minister gradually to introduce courts of justice for the +cognizance of crimes, by beginning to establish a criminal court under a +native judge, to judge according to the Mahomedan law in the city of +Lucknow. But Hyder Beg Khân, a minister of the said Warren Hastings's +nomination, and solely dependent upon him, did elude and obstruct, and +in the end totally defeat, the establishment of the same.</p> + +<p>XLII. That the obstruction aforesaid, and the evil consequences thereof, +were duly represented to the said Hastings; and though the said Hastings +had made it the fourth article of a criminal charge against the Resident +Middleton, "that he did not report to <!-- Page 121 --><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121" title="121" class="pagenum"></a>the Governor-General, or to the +board, the progress which he had made from time to time in his endeavors +to comply with his instructions, and that, if he met with any +impediments in the execution of them, he had omitted to state those +impediments, and to apply for fresh orders upon them," yet he, the said +Hastings, did give no manner of support to the Resident Bristow against +the said Hyder Beg Khân, and did not even answer several of his letters, +the said Bristow's letters, stating the said impediments, or take any +notice of his remonstrances, but did at length revoke his own +instructions, declaring that he, the said Resident, should not presume +to act upon the same, and yet did not furnish him with any others, upon +which he might act, but did uphold the said Hyder Beg Khân in the +obstruction by him given to the performance of the first and fundamental +duty of all government,—namely, the administration of justice, and the +protection of the lives and property of the subject against wrong and +violence.</p> + +<p>XLIII. That the said Hastings did afterwards proceed to the length of +criminating the Resident Bristow aforesaid for his endeavors to +establish the said necessary court, as an invasion of the rights of the +Nabob's government,—when, if the Nabob in his own proper person and +character, and not the aforesaid Hyder Beg, (who was a creature of the +said Hastings,) had opposed the reëstablishment of justice in the said +country, it was the duty of the said Hastings to have pressed the same +upon him by every exertion of his influence. And the said Warren +Hastings, in his pretended attention to the Nabob's authority, when +exercised by his, the said Hastings's, minister, to <!-- Page 122 --><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122" title="122" class="pagenum"></a>prevent the +establishment of courts of justice for the protection of life and +property, at the same time that he did not hesitate, in the case of the +confiscation of the jaghires, and the proceedings against the mother and +grandmother of the Nabob, totally to supersede his authority, and to +force his inclinations in acts which overturned all the laws of +property, and offered violence to all the sentiments of natural +affection and duty, and accusing at the same time his instruments for +not going to the utmost lengths in the execution of his said orders, is +guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor.</p> + +<p>XLIV. That the said Hastings did highly aggravate his offence in +discountenancing and discouraging the reëstablishment of magistracy, +law, and order, in the country of Oude, inasmuch as he did in the eighth +article of his instructions to the Resident order him to exercise powers +which ought to have been exercised by lawful magistrates, and in a +manner agreeable to law. And in the said article he did state the +prevalence of rebellion in the said country of Oude,—as if rebellion +could exist in a country in which there was no magistracy, and no +protection for life or property, and in which the native authority had +no force whatever, and in which he himself states the exercise of +British authority to be an absolute usurpation; and he did accordingly +direct a rigorous prosecution against the offence of rebellion under +such circumstances, but "with a fair and impartial inquiry," when he did +not permit the establishment of those courts of justice and magistracy +by which alone rebellion could be prevented, or a fair and impartial +inquiry relative to the same could be had; and par<!-- Page 123 --><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123" title="123" class="pagenum"></a>ticularly he did +instruct the said Resident to obtain the Nabob's order for employing +some sure means for apprehending certain zemindars, and particularly +three, in the instruction named, whom he, the said Hastings, did cause +to be apprehended upon what he calls good information, founded upon some +facts to which he asserts he has the testimony of several witnesses, +"that they had the destruction of Colonel Hannay and the officers under +his command as their immediate object, and ultimately the extirpation of +the English influence and power throughout all the Nabob's dominions," +and that they did still persevere in their rebellious conduct without +deviation, "though the Nabob's, and not our government, was then the +object of it"; and he did direct the said Resident, if it should appear, +"<i>on a fair and regular inquiry</i>, that their conduct towards the Nabob +had been such as it had been reported to be, to insist upon the Nabob's +punishing them with <i>death</i>, and to treat with the same rigor every +zemindar and every subject who shall be the leader in a rebellion +against his authority."</p> + +<p>XLV. That the crime of the said Hastings, in his procedure aforesaid, +was further highly aggravated by his having received information of +several striking circumstances which strongly indicated the necessity of +a regular magistracy and a legal judicature, from the total failure of +justice, affecting not only the subjects at large, but even the reigning +family itself,—as also of the causes why no legal magistracy could +exist, and why the princes of the reigning family were not only exposed +to the attacks of assassins, but even to a want of the protection which +might be had from their servants and attendants, who were driven from +<!-- Page 124 --><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124" title="124" class="pagenum"></a>their masters for want of that maintenance which the princes, their +masters, could not procure even for themselves. And the circumstances +aforesaid were detailed to him, the said Hastings, by the Resident, +Bristow, in a letter from Lucknow, dated the 29th January, 1784, to the +Governor-General, the said Warren Hastings, and the Council of Bengal, +in the terms following.</p> + +<p>"The frequent robberies and murders perpetrated in his Excellency's, the +Vizier's, dominions, have been <i>too often</i> the subject of my +representations to your honorable board. From the total want of police, +hardly a day elapses but I am informed of some tragical event, whereof +the bare recital is shocking to humanity. About two months since, an +attempt was made to assassinate Rajah Ticket Roy, the acting minister's +confidential agent; but he happily escaped unhurt. Nabob Bahadur, <i>his +Highness's brother</i>, has not been so fortunate, as will appear from +translations of two of his letters to me, No. 1, which I have the honor +to inclose for your information. Although my feelings are sensibly hurt +and my compassion strongly excited by <i>the disgraceful and miserable +state of poverty to which his Excellency's brothers are reduced</i>, yet, +situated as I am, it is not in my power to interfere with effect. My +efforts on a former occasion failed of success, <i>and my interposition +now would only excite the resentment of the minister towards the unhappy +sufferers, in consequence of their application to me, from whom ALONE, +however, they hope for relief from their present distress</i>, which, their +near connection with the Vizier considered, is both shameful and +unprecedented. That no regular courts of justice have been established +in this country is particularly pointed at <!-- Page 125 --><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125" title="125" class="pagenum"></a>in my instructions, as the +most disreputable defect in his Highness's government; yet the minister +seems determined on abolishing even the shadow of so necessary an +institution. The office of Chief Justice, as held by Moulavy Morobine, +was ever nugatory, but now it is sunk into the lowest contempt. The +original establishment, inadequate as it was, is mouldering away, and +the officers now attached to it are literally starving, as no part of +their allowance has been paid for above six months past. He himself has +proposed to resign his appointment, being every way precluded from a +possibility of exercising the duties of it."</p> + +<p>XLVI. That it appears by the said letter, and the papers therewith +transmitted, as well as other documents in the said correspondence, +that, in consequence of the distress brought upon the Nabob's finances, +certain of the princes, his brethren, the children of Sujah ul Dowlah, +the late sovereign of the country, were put upon pensions unsuitable to +their birth and rank, and by the mismanagement of the minister +aforesaid, (appointed by the said Warren Hastings,) for two years +together no considerable part of the said inadequate pension was paid; +and not being able to maintain the attendants necessary for their +protection in a city in which all magistracy and justice was abolished, +they were not only liable to suffer the greatest extremities of penury, +but their lives were exposed to the attempts of assassins: the condition +of one of the said princes, called the Nabob Bahadur, being by himself +strongly expressed in three letters to the said Resident Bristow,—the +first dated the 28th of December, 1783; the second, the 7th of January, +1784; and the third, the 15th of January, 1784,—which letters <!-- Page 126 --><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126" title="126" class="pagenum"></a>were +duly transmitted, in the dispatch of the 29th of the same month, to +Warren Hastings, Esquire, and are as follow.</p> + +<p>"Your own servant carried you the account of what he himself was an +eye-witness to, after the affair of last night. These are the +particulars. About midnight my aunt received twelve wounds from a +ruffian, of which she died. I also received six successive stabs, which +alarmed the people of the house, who set up a shouting: whereupon the +assassin run off. Besides being <i>without food or the means of providing +any</i>, this misfortune has befallen me. <i>I am desirous of sending the +coffin to your door</i>. It is your duty, both for the sake of God and of +Christ, to execute justice, and to inquire what harm I have done to the +murderer sufficient to deserve assassination, or even injury. <i>You now +stand in the place of his Excellency the Vizier</i>. I request you will do +me justice. What more can I say?</p> + +<p>"P.S. I am also desirous to show you my wounds."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0"><i>From the same, 29th [7th?] January, 1784.</i></p> + +<p>"You have been duly informed of all the circumstances relative both to +the murder of the innocent, and of my being wounded, as well by my +former letter, as by the messenger whom you sent to inquire into the +state of my health; and I have every reason to hope, from your known +kindness, that you will not be deficient in seeking out the assassin. <i>I +am at this moment overwhelmed in misfortune. Whilst the blood is flowing +from my wounds, neither I nor my children nor my servants have +wherewithal to procure subsistence</i>; nor have I it in my power either to +purchase remedies <!-- Page 127 --><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127" title="127" class="pagenum"></a>or to reward the physician: <i>it is for the sake of +God alone that he attends me</i>. Thus loaded with calamity upon calamity, +I am unable to support life; for I find no relief from any affliction +either day or night. Do you now stand in the place of my father; grant +me fresh life by speedy acts of benevolence.</p> + +<p>"For these two last years his Excellency established a pension for me of +twenty thousand rupees; but I never received the full amount of it, +either last year or the year before. Should it, however, be paid me, +though inadequate to my desires, I shall still be enabled to support +myself. From the beginning of this year to the present time I have not +received a farthing, nor do I expect any; though, if you afford +protection to the oppressed, all my wishes will be accomplished. I was +desirous of waiting on you with my family, that you might be an +eye-witness to their condition; but I was advised not to stir out on +account of my wounds. What more can I say?"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0"><i>The following Extracts are made from the Third Letter from the same +Prince, dated January 15, 1784.</i></p> + +<p>"The particulars of the late and unforeseen misfortune with which I have +been overwhelmed are not unknown unto you,—that the innocent blood of +my aunt, <i>the prop and ruler of my family</i>, was shed, and in the same +manner I, too, was wounded. Until now I feel the pain and affliction of +my wounds; <i>and no person has regarded my solicitations for redress, +sought after the assassin, and brought him to condign punishment, +yourself excepted</i>."—"In like manner as the Honorable Governor-General +has adopted my brother Saadut Ali Khân for his son and relieved him from +<!-- Page 128 --><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128" title="128" class="pagenum"></a>the vexation, affliction, and dependence of this place, would it be +extraordinary that you also should, in your bounty and favor, consent to +adopt me, who do not possess the necessaries of life, and permit me to +attend you to whatever part of the world you may travel, whereby I shall +at all times derive honor and advantage? Formerly us three brothers, +Saadut Ali, Mirza Jungly, and I, the poor and oppressed, were, in the +presence of our blessed father, whose soul rests in heaven, treated +alike. Now the ministers of this government put me upon a footing with +our younger brothers, who have lately left the zenanah, and whose +expenses are small. On this scale, which is in every respect +insufficient for my maintenance, they pay <i>the pitiful allowance only +when it is their pleasure to do it</i>. My situation has for years past +been increasing in wretchedness to a degree that <i>I am in want of daily +bread, and my servants and animals are dying of hunger. My distresses +are so great that I have not been able to pay a daum to the surgeons for +the cure of my wounds; and they, too, are discouraged from affording me +their assistance or furnishing me with medicines</i>. How, then, is it +possible for me to exist? Considering you as my patron, participating in +my afflictions, I have represented the circumstances concerning my +situation; and I hope, from your friendship, that you will honor me with +a favorable answer."</p> + +<p>XLVII. The Resident, Bristow, did also receive a strong application from +three others of the brethren of the reigning sovereign, called Mirza +Hyder Ali, Mirza Ennayut Ali, and Mirza Syef Ali, representing their +very pitiable case, in a letter of the 9th of March, 1783, in which, +among other particulars, are contained the following.<!-- Page 129 --><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129" title="129" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>"Our situation is not fit to be represented. <i>For two years we have not +received a hubba</i> on account of our tuncaw [assignment on the revenue], +though the ministers have annually charged a lac of rupees, and never +paid us anything. <i>After all, we are the sons of Sujah ul Dowlah!</i> It is +surprising, having such a friend as you, our situation is arrived at +that pass that we should be in distress for <i>dry bread and clothes</i>. +Whereas you have done many generous acts, be pleased so to show us your +favor, that by some means we may receive our allowances from the +Company's treasury, and not be obliged to depend upon and solicit others +for it."</p> + +<p>XLVIII. That one of the princes aforesaid, called the Mirza Jungly, +about the beginning of the year 1783, was obliged to fly from the +dominions of the Nabob of Oude, and to leave his country and +connections; and as the Resident, Bristow, writing from Lucknow, hath +observed, "he went to try his fortune at other courts, in preference to +starving at home, which might have been his fate, by all accounts, at +this place." And the said prince sought for succor at the court of one +of the neighboring Mahomedan princes; but conceiving some disgust at the +treatment he met with there, he departed from thence, and on the 8th of +February, 1783, arrived at the Mahratta camp, while David Anderson, +Esquire, was there in the character of Minister Plenipotentiary to the +Company, with a view, if his reception there should not prove answerable +to his wishes, to pass on to the southward. And the said Anderson, +probably considering this event as of very great importance to the honor +of the British government, as well as to its interest, on <!-- Page 130 --><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130" title="130" class="pagenum"></a>the one hand, +by exhibiting the son and brother of a sovereign prince, from whom the +Company had received many millions of money, a fugitive from his +country, and a wanderer for bread through the courts of India, and, on +the other, the consequences which might arise from the Mahrattas having +in their possession and under their influence a son of the late Nabob of +Oude, did without delay advise Warren Hastings, Esquire, of the event +aforesaid; and he did also write to Mr. Bristow, the Resident at the +court of the Nabob Vizier, several letters, of the 9th and 20th of +February, and of the 6th of March and 6th of April, 1783, in order that +some steps should be taken for his return and establishment in his own +country. And the said Anderson did inform the Resident, Bristow, in his +letter aforesaid, that, on the arrival of the fugitive prince, brother +of the reigning sovereign of Oude, at the Mahratta camp, he did cause +his tent to be pitched close to that of Mr. Anderson; but finding this +not agreeable to the Mahratta general, Sindia, he afterwards removed: +and that he showed a strong attachment to the English, and was inclined +to throw himself upon their generosity; that he was desirous of going to +Calcutta, and declared, that, if he, the said Anderson, "would give him +the smallest encouragement, he would quit all his followers, and come +alone, and would take up his residence under his protection." And the +said Anderson did declare, that he thought it "would be policy, and much +to the credit of our government, that some provision should be made for +Mirza Jungly in our territories."</p> + +<p>XLIX. That the said Bristow did represent the aforesaid circumstances to +Hyder Beg Khân, minister <!-- Page 131 --><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131" title="131" class="pagenum"></a>to the Nabob of Oude, declaring it his +opinion, "that his Highness's brother's thus taking refuge with a +foreign prince is a reflection upon the Vizier, and it would be +advisable that an allowance should be granted to him upon the footing of +his brothers, that he might remain in the presence." But the Nabob was +induced to refuse to his brother any offer of any allowance beyond the +two hundred pounds per month, allowed, but not paid, to his other +brothers,—and which the said prince did observe to Mr. Anderson, "that +it was not only inadequate to his expenses, but infinitely less" (as the +truth was) "than what his Excellency has settled on many persons of +inferior rank, who have not so good a claim to his support; and that it +would not be sufficient to enable him to live at Lucknow, where all his +friends and relations were, and so many of his inferiors lived in a +state of affluence." In case, therefore, it could not be increased, he +requested leave to live in the Company's provinces, or at Calcutta; for +that in any of these situations "he could with less difficulty regulate +his expenses." And he did declare, that, if his request was granted to +him, he would immediately quit all his prospects with Sindia. To these +propositions he received a very discouraging answer from his brother's +minister, containing a positive and final refusal of any increase of +allowance, obtaining only the Nabob's permission to retire into the +Company's provinces. But Mr. Anderson did not think himself authorized +to take any steps for the prince's retreat into the said province +without Sindia's concurrence, who, he observed, would use every art to +detain him, and accordingly did offer him the command of a battalion of +infantry to be paid directly from his own treasury, and six thousand +pounds ster<!-- Page 132 --><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132" title="132" class="pagenum"></a>ling a year for keeping up a corps of horse, and to settle +upon him a landed estate of four thousand pounds a year as a provision +for his wife and children: which honorable offers it appears he did +accept, and did and doth remain in the Mahratta service.</p> + +<p>L. That, during the whole course of this transaction, the said Warren +Hastings was duly advised thereof, first by a very early letter from the +said Anderson, and afterwards by the Resident, Bristow, who, on the 23d +of April, 1783, transmitted to him his whole correspondence with Mr. +Anderson. But what answer or instructions the said Warren Hastings did +give to Mr. Anderson does not appear, he not having recorded anything +upon that subject; but it appears that to the Resident, Bristow, who +required to be informed whether the reception of the fugitive prince +aforesaid in the Company's provinces would meet his approbation, he gave +no answer whatsoever: by which criminal neglect, or worse, with regard +to a brother of an ally of the Company, who showed a strong attachment +and preference to the English nation, and by suffering him, without any +known effort to prevent it, to attach himself to the cause and fortunes +of the Mahrattas, who, he, the said Hastings, well knew, did keep up +claims upon several parts of the dominions of Oude, and had with +difficulty been persuaded to include the Nabob in the treaty of peace, +he, having suffered him first to languish at home in poverty, and then +to fly abroad for subsistence, and afterwards taking no step and +countenancing no negotiations for his return from his dangerous place of +refuge, at the same time that several of his, the said Hastings's, +creatures had each of them allowances much more <!-- Page 133 --><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133" title="133" class="pagenum"></a>considerable than would +have sufficed for the satisfaction and comfort of him, the said fugitive +prince, was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor.</p> + +<p>LI. That the indigent condition before related of the other brothers of +the Nabob was also duly transmitted to the said Warren Hastings; but he +did never order or direct any steps whatsoever to be taken towards the +relief of the family of a reigning prince, who were daily in danger of +perishing by famine through the effect of his measures, and those of a +person whom he supported in power against the will and inclinations of +the said prince and his family.</p> + +<p>LII. That the foregoing instances of the penury, distress, dispersion, +and exile of the reigning family, as well as the general disorder in all +the affairs of Oude, did strongly enforce the necessity of a proper use +of the British influence (the only real government then existing) in the +province aforesaid for a regulation of the economy of the Vizier's +court, as well as for the proper administration of the public concerns, +civil and military, which were in the greatest disorder; and the said +Warren Hastings was under obligation to provide for the same, and did +himself understand it to be his duty so to do, and that he was therein +warranted by the spirit of the treaty of Chunar, as well as by other +universal powers of control, and even of supersession, supposed by him +to exist in the relation between the British government and that of +Oude; and accordingly he did, in his instructions to the Resident +Middleton, to which he required his most implicit obedience, direct him +to an interference in and control upon all the affairs concerning the +rev<!-- Page 134 --><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134" title="134" class="pagenum"></a>enues, the military arrangements, and all the other branches of the +Nabob's government.</p> + +<p>LIII. That, upon his recall of the said Middleton, he, in his +instructions to the Resident Bristow, dated 23d of October, 1781 +[1782?], did at large set forth the situation of the court and +government of Oude, the situation and character of the Nabob, of the +acting minister, and of the British Resident at that court, and did +plainly, distinctly, and without reserve, describe the extent of the +authority to be exercised by the last of these persons, as well as the +unqualified compliance to be expected from the two former. And he did +accordingly declare, that, "<i>from the nature of our connection with the +government of Oude</i>, and from the Nabob's incapacity, <i>a necessity will +forever exist</i>, while we have the claim of a subsidy upon the resources +of his country, of exercising an influence, and frequently substituting +it <i>ENTIRELY in the place of an avowed and constitutional authority, in +the administration of his [the Nabob's] government</i>"; and he did further +in the said instructions, namely, in instruction the fourth, direct the +said Resident in the words following: "I must have recourse to you for +the introduction of a <i>new</i> system in that government; nor can I omit, +whilst I express my reliance on you for that purpose, to repeat the +sentiments which I expressed in the verbal instructions which I gave you +at your departure, <i>that there can be no medium in the relation between +the Resident and the minister, but either the Resident must be the slave +and vassal of the minister, or the minister at the absolute disposal of +the Resident</i>." And he, the said Hastings, did state, in the same +article of the instructions aforesaid, that, though the conduct of the +<!-- Page 135 --><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135" title="135" class="pagenum"></a>said Hyder Beg Khân had been highly reprehensible, and that he was much +displeased thereat, he would prefer him to any other, on account of his +ability and knowledge of business, with the following proviso,—"If he +would submit to hold his office on such conditions as I require. He +exists by his dependence on the influence of our government. It must be +advisable to try him by the mode of conciliation; at the same time that +in your <i>final conversation with him</i> it will be necessary to declare to +him, <i>in the plainest terms</i>, the footing and condition on which he +shall be <i>permitted</i> to retain his place, with the alternative of a +dismission, and a scrutiny into his conduct, if he refuses it. In the +first place, I will not receive from the Nabob, <i>as his</i>, letters +dictated by <i>the spirit of opposition</i>; but shall consider every such +attempt <i>as an insult on our government</i>. In the second place, I shall +expect that <i>nothing</i> is done in his official character but with your +knowledge and participation."</p> + +<p>LIV. That the said Hastings having described, in the manner aforesaid, +the relative situation of the Resident and the minister, he did state +also the relative situation of the said minister and his master, the +Nabob, declaring, "that the minister did hold <i>without control</i> the +unparticipated and entire administration, with all the powers annexed to +that government,—<i>the Nabob being, as he ever must be in the hands of +some person, a mere cipher in his</i>" (the minister's). And having thus +stated the subordination of the minister to the Resident, and the +subordination of the Nabob to the minister, he did naturally declare, +"that the first share of the responsibility would rest upon the said +Resident" And he did further declare, "that <!-- Page 136 --><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136" title="136" class="pagenum"></a>the other conditions did +follow distinctly in their places, because he did <i>consider the Resident +as responsible for them</i>."</p> + +<p>LV. That, for the direction of the Resident in the exercise of so +critical a trust, wherein all the true and substantial powers of +government were in an inverted relation and proportion to the official +and ostensible authorities, and in which the said Hastings did suppose +the necessity constantly existing for exercising an influence, and +frequently for substituting <i>entirely</i> the British authority "in the +place of the avowed and constitutional government," he, the said +Hastings, did properly leave to the Resident a discretionary power for +his deviation from any part of his instructions,—interposing a caution +for his security and direction, that, as much as he could, he would +leave the subject free for his, the said Hastings's, correction of it, +and would instantly inform him or the board, according to the degree of +its importance, with his reasons for it.</p> + +<p>LVI. That, besides the institution of the courts of justice, as before +recited, four other principal objects in the reformation of the affairs +of Oude were expressly recommended to the Residents Middleton and +Bristow, and must be understood to be the conditions upon which the said +Hastings must have meant to have it understood that the acting minister +of Oude was to hold his employment: namely, the limitation of the +Nabob's personal expenses; the reduction of the Nabob's troops in +number, and the change in arrangement; the appointment of proper +collectors for the revenues; and the appointment of proper officers for +all parts of the executive administration.<!-- Page 137 --><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137" title="137" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>LVII. That the first object, namely, that of the limitation of the +Nabob's personal expenses, and separating them from the public +establishments, he, the said Hastings, did state as the first and +fundamental part of his regulation, and that upon which all the others +would depend,—and did declare, "that, in order to prevent the Vizier's +alliance from being a clog instead of an aid to the Company, <i>the most +essential</i> part is to <i>limit</i> and <i>separate</i> his personal disbursements +from the public accounts: <i>they must not exceed</i> what he has received in +any of the last three years." And as to the public treasury and +disbursements, he, the said Hastings, did, in the said instructions, +wholly withdraw them from the personal management or interference of the +Nabob, and did expressly order and direct "that they should be under the +<i>sole</i> management of the ministers, with the Resident's concurrence." +And on the appointment of the Resident Bristow, in October, 1782, he, +the said Hastings, did order and direct him in every point of the +instructions to Middleton not revoked or qualified by his then +instructions, to which he did require his, the said Resident Bristow's, +"most attentive and literal obedience."</p> + +<p>LVIII. That the said Resident Bristow did, in consequence of the renewal +to him of the said instructions as aforesaid, endeavor to limit and put +in order the Nabob's expenses; but he was in that particular traversed +and counteracted, and in the end wholly defeated, by the minister, Hyder +Beg Khân. And though the obstructions aforesaid, agreeably to the +instructions given to Middleton, and to him, the said Bristow, were +represented to the said Warren Hastings by the Resident aforesaid, yet +the said War<!-- Page 138 --><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138" title="138" class="pagenum"></a>ren Hastings did give no kind of support to the said +Resident, or take any steps towards enabling him, the said Resident, to +effectuate the said necessary limitation and distribution of expenses, +by himself, the said Hastings, ordered and prescribed; nor, if he +disapproved the proceedings of the said Resident, did he give him any +instruction for the forbearance of the same, or for the exerting his +duty in any other mode; nor did he call for any illustration from him of +anything doubtful in his correspondence, nor state to him any complaint +made privately of his conduct, in order to receive thereon an +explanation; but he did leave him to pursue at his discretion the +extensive powers before described, to effect the reformation which he +was directed to accomplish, under the responsibility denounced to him as +aforesaid, if he should fail therein, as he was supposed to be +substantially invested with all the powers of government.</p> + +<p>LIX. That, instead of the said support or instruction, he, the said +Hastings, did countenance, or more probably cause or direct, a +representation to be made to him by the acting minister of the Nabob of +Oude, complaining grievously of the proceedings of the Resident +aforesaid, as usurpations on the Nabob's authority and indignities on +his person. And although he, the said Hastings, did instruct the +Resident, Bristow, to inform the said Hyder Beg Khân that he would not +receive from the Nabob, as <i>his</i>, letters directed by the spirit of +opposition, but should consider every such attempt as his, the +minister's, as an insult on our government, yet he did receive as <i>his</i> +the Nabob's own letters, and as written from the impressions on his own +mind, and as the suggestions of his own judg<!-- Page 139 --><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139" title="139" class="pagenum"></a>ment, letters to the same +effect as those written by the minister, although he had declared upon +record that the said "Nabob was a mere cipher in his, the said +minister's, hands," and "that he had dared to use both the Nabob's name, +and even his seal, affixed to letters either directed to the Nabob or +written as from him without his knowledge," and although he did assert +or record as aforesaid, that, in a letter which he had lately received +from the Nabob, the minister had the presumption to make the Nabob +declare that which was <i>true</i> to be <i>false</i>, and that "his <i>making use</i> +of the Nabob in such a manner did show how thin the veil was by which +<i>he</i> covered <i>his own acts</i>, and that such artifices would only tend to +make them the more criminal from <i>the falsehood and duplicity with which +they were associated</i>."</p> + +<p>LX. That the said Hastings did act upon the letters pretended to be +written by the Nabob, as well as on those actually written by the +minister, without previously communicating the matter of the said +complaint to the said Resident, and did give credit to the same, and +coming, as aforesaid, from a person by himself, the said Hastings, +charged with artifice, falsehood, and duplicity, and with abusing to his +own evil purposes the name and seal of his master without his knowledge, +and without any previous inquiry into the facts and circumstances; and +did thereon ground an accusation against the said Resident, Bristow, +before the board at Calcutta, in which he did represent the conduct of +the said Bristow, in attempting to limit the household expenses of the +Nabob, as an indignity "which no man living, however mean his rank in +life, or dependent his condition in it, would permit to be <!-- Page 140 --><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140" title="140" class="pagenum"></a>exercised by +any other, but with the want or forfeiture of every manly principle." +And he did further accuse the said Bristow for that, in his proceedings +in the regulation of the Nabob's household, "he should receive to +himself, or Mr. Cowper for him, or a treasurer for both, (for the +arrangement has never been well defined,) the money assigned for the +support of the Nabob's household,—issue it as he pleased, not to the +Nabob, but to the menial officers of his household,—dispose of his +superfluous horses, and other cattle,—determine how many elephants were +necessary to the state of the Vizier of the Empire, the number of +domestics for his attendance, and pry into the kitchen for the purpose +of ascertaining the quantity of victuals which ought to be dressed in +it,—control the accounts of these disbursements,—and appropriate to +his own use (for that the consequence was inevitable, if he chose it) +the residue produced by those economical retrenchments."</p> + +<p>LXI. That the said charge is malicious and insidious; because the +attempt to introduce proper officers for the management of household +expenses so considerable that the said Hastings has stated the allotment +for the same at three hundred thousand pounds sterling yearly, and that +other accounts have carried it to four hundred thousand pounds sterling +and upwards, and to keep proper and regular accounts thereof, was a +necessary regulation, and agreeable to the dignity of the Nabob, and by +no means a degradation either of his person or authority, which was +specially provided for in the regulations, as no expense could be +incurred but by his own personal warrant under his sign manual; nor doth +there appear therein any<!-- Page 141 --><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141" title="141" class="pagenum"></a>thing but what is of absolute necessity to +prevent embezzlement to his prejudice. And the said Hastings hath +declared, in the fifth article of the instructions to the said Resident, +that <i>no</i> administration can be properly conducted without regular +offices; and that in the whole province of Oude "there was <i>not one</i>, +the <i>whole</i> being engrossed by the minister": of which minister, in the +fourteenth article, he declares his suspicion that the Nabob did not +receive the whole and punctual payment of the sum assigned for the +purpose of the household, but that some part had been by him withheld +from the Nabob; and that, from private information he had lately +received, he had reason to believe that this was actually the case. And +the said Hastings well knew that the Nabob's household had been ill +conducted, that the allowances of his servants had not been paid, that +his distress was scandalous, and that his nearest relations were in a +famishing condition; and the said Hastings did also well know that the +household of the Nabob was provided for or neglected, not at his own +discretion, but at that of the said Hyder Beg Khân; and he did, in the +fourteenth article aforesaid, instruct the Resident, Bristow, to show +every ostensible and external mark of respect to the Nabob, in order to +induce him to become himself the mover of every act necessary for the +advancing of his own interests and the discharge of his debts to the +Company,—declaring, "that they never could be effected while the +minister retained that ascendency over him which he at present holds by +the means of a nearer and more private intercourse, and by affecting to +be the mediator of his rights against the claims of our government." And +the said Hastings did further well know that there <!-- Page 142 --><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142" title="142" class="pagenum"></a>was no way of +ascertaining the payment of the assignments for the Nabob's household, +either for the general purposes of their destination or to the +particular objects to which they ought to be applied, without regular +offices of receipt and of account, which might prevent the said +minister, Hyder Beg Khân, or the British Resident, or any other, from +embezzling or misapplying the same. But the total want of offices +aforesaid in every department of government did furnish occasion of +concealing all frauds, clandestine presents, or pensions to a +Governor-General, Commander-in-Chief, or other servant of the Company.</p> + +<p>LXII. That the said Warren Hastings, who did pretend so deep a concern +for the indignities supposed to be suffered by the Nabob merely in the +limitation and regulation of unnecessary expenses relative to his +kitchen, domestics, &c., did show no attention or compassion to the said +Nabob, when, in the year 1779, the said Nabob represented, that the +pensions of his old servants for thirty years, the expenses of his +family and kitchen, together with the jaghires of his grandmother, +mother, and aunts, and of his brothers and dependants, given for their +support, were not <i>regulated</i>, but <i>stopped</i>.</p> + +<p>LXIII. That the other articles of regulation, namely, the reform of the +troops in number and in arrangement, the appointment of proper +collectors for the revenues, and the general constitution of offices for +the executive administration, were in like manner totally defeated by +the said Hyder Beg Khân. And the said Hastings did receive a charge from +him, and did adopt it as his own, representing the endeavors <!-- Page 143 --><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143" title="143" class="pagenum"></a>of the +Resident to act in the regulations aforesaid agreeably to the spirit of +his instructions, and in confidence of the powers vested in and the +responsibility imposed upon him, the said Resident, as usurpations of +the authority and prerogative of the Nabob; and he, the said Hastings, +did make criminal charges thereon against the said Resident, Bristow, of +which charges the Council Board did, on hearing the same, and the +defence of the said Bristow, fully acquit him.</p> + +<p>LXIV. That the said Hastings, by abetting Hyder Beg Khân, a person +described by him as aforesaid, in his opposition to all the plans of +necessary reformation proposed by the said Hastings himself, and having +suggested no other whatever in lieu thereof, to answer the purposes for +which he had stipulated in the treaty of Chunar the interference of the +Resident in every branch of the Nabob's government, did thereby +frustrate every one of the good ends proposed by him in the said treaty +of Chunar, and did grossly abuse his trust in giving the exorbitant +powers before recited, and asserting them to exist in the British +Resident, without suffering them even in appearance to answer any of the +proper and justifiable ends for which any power or influence can or +ought to exist in any government.</p> + +<p>LXV. That there is just ground to violently presume that not only the +letters in the name of the Nabob aforesaid were dictated to him by his +minister, Hyder Beg Khân, in whose hands the said Hastings has described +his master to be "a mere cipher," &c., but which Hyder Beg was the known +instrument of the said Hastings, but that the conduct and letters of +<!-- Page 144 --><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144" title="144" class="pagenum"></a>complaint of the said Hyder Beg were in effect and substance prescribed +and dictated to him by the said Warren Hastings, or his secret agent, +Palmer, by his direction: because it is notorious that the powers of the +said Hyder Beg were solely supported by him, the said Hastings, who, +according to the state of favor or displeasure in which he stood, hath +frequently promised him support or threatened him with dismission and +punishment, and therefore it is not to be thought that he would take so +material a step as to oppose the Company's Resident, acting under the +instructions of the Governor-General and Council, and to accuse him with +so much confidence, and in a manner so different from the usual style of +supplication on all other occasions employed by that court, if he had +not been previously well assured that his writing in that manner would +be pleasing to the person upon whom he solely depended for his power, +his fortune, and perhaps for his life;—secondly, because, when it +suited the purposes of the said Hastings on a former occasion, that is, +in the year 1784 [1781?], to remove the Resident Bristow aforesaid from +his office, a letter from the Nabob was laid before the Council Board at +Calcutta, proposing, that, in order to prevent the effects of the said +Bristow's application to Europe for redress, the said Hastings should +send him drafts of letters which he, the said Nabob, would write in his +own name and character to the King, to his Majesty's ministers, and to +the Court of Directors, expressing himself, in the letter aforesaid, in +the words following, viz., "To prevent his [Bristow's] applying to +Europe, send me, if <i>you</i> think proper, the drafts of letters which <i>I</i> +may write to the King, the Vizier, and the chiefs of the +Company";—thirdly, that, though the said Hastings, <!-- Page 145 --><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145" title="145" class="pagenum"></a>and his secret +agent, Palmer, did pretend and positively assert that they had no share +in the letters aforesaid from the Nabob and his minister, there was an +original note to the Nabob's letters of accusation, referring to +distinct parts and specified numbers of the agent Palmer's secret +correspondence with the said Warren Hastings, and the said letter, with +the said reference, was, through inadvertence, laid before the board.</p> + +<p>LXVI. That the said Warren Hastings, having thrown the government of +Oude into great confusion and distress, and thereby prevented the +discharge of the debt, or pretended debt, to the Company, did, by all +the said intrigues, machinations, and charges, aim at the filling the +said office of Resident at Oude with his own dependants or by himself +personally; as it appears that he did first propose to place in the said +office his secret agent, Palmer, and that afterwards, when he was not +able to succeed therein, he did propose nominally to abolish the said +office, but in effect to fill it by himself,—proposing to the Council +and rendering himself responsible (but not in fortune) for the payment +of the Company's debt within a certain given time, if he were permitted +and commissioned by the Council to act for the board in that province, +and did inform them that he was privately well assured that in a few +days he should receive an invitation to that effect; and he did state, +(as in the year 1781 he had stated as a reason for his former +delegation,) "that the state of the country was so disordered in its +revenue and administration, and the credit and influence of the Nabob +himself so much shook by <i>the late usurpation</i> of his authority, and the +<!-- Page 146 --><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146" title="146" class="pagenum"></a>contests which attended it, as to require the accession of an +extraneous aid to restore the powers and to reanimate the constitution +of his government,"—although he, the said Hastings, did for a long time +before attribute the weakness of his government to an extraneous +interference. And the said Council, on his engagement aforesaid, did +consent thereto; and he did accordingly receive a commission, enabling +him to act in the affairs of Oude, not only as the Resident might have +done, but as largely as the Council-General might legally delegate their +own powers.</p> + +<p>LXVII. That the said Warren Hastings, in accepting the said commission, +did subject his character and the reputation of his office to great +imputations and suspicions, by taking upon himself an inferior office, +out of which another had upon his intrigues been removed by a perpetual +obstruction which rendered it impossible for him to perform his duty or +to obey his instructions; and he did increase the said grounded +suspicions by exercising that office in a government from whence it was +notorious he had himself received an unlawful gift and present from the +ministers, and in which he had notoriously suffered many, and had +himself actually directed some, acts of peculation, by granting various +pensions and emoluments, to the prejudice of the revenue of a distressed +country, which he was not authorized to grant.</p> + +<p>LXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings did proceed unto the said province +of Oude under color of providing a remedy for the disorders described to +be existing in the same, and for the recovery of the <!-- Page 147 --><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147" title="147" class="pagenum"></a>Company's +pretended debt. And the said Warren Hastings, who had thought fit to +recall the Company's Resident, appointed to that office by the Court of +Directors, and to suspend his office, did, notwithstanding, of his own +choice and selection, and on his own mere authority, take with him in +his progress a large retinue, "and a numerous society of English +gentlemen to compose his family," which he represents as necessary, +although, in a letter from that very place to which he took that very +numerous society, he informs the Court of Directors "that his own +consequence and that of the nation he represents are independent of +show." And after his arrival there, he, the said Warren Hastings, did +write from Lucknow, the capital of that province, a letter, dated the +30th of April, 1784, to the Court of Directors, in which are several +particulars to the following purport or tenor, and which he points out +to the Directors "to be circumstances of no trivial information," +namely,—"that he had found that the lands in that province, as well as +in some parts more immediately under the Company, have suffered in a +grievous manner, being completely exhausted of their natural moisture by +the total failure of one entire season of the periodical rains," with a +few exceptions, which were produced only "by the uncommon labor of the +husbandman." And in a letter to Edward Wheler, Esquire, a member of the +Council-General, from Benares, the 20th of September, 1784, he says, +that "<i>the public revenues</i> had declined with the failure of the +cultivation <i>in three successive years</i>; and all the stores of grain +which the <i>providence</i> of the husbandmen, (as he was informed is their +<i>custom</i>,) in defiance of the <i>vigilance</i> of the aumils [collectors], +<i>clandestinely <!-- Page 148 --><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148" title="148" class="pagenum"></a>reserved for their own use</i>, were of course exhausted, +in which state no person would accept of the charge of the collections +on a positive engagement; nor did the rain fall till the 10th of July." +And in another letter, dated from Benares, the 1st of October following, +he repeats the same accounts, and that the "country could not bear +further additions of expense: that it had <i>no inlets of trade</i> to supply +the issues that were made from it" (the exceptions stated there being +inconsiderable); "therefore <i>every rupee</i> which is drawn into your +treasury [the Company's] from its circulation will accelerate the period +at which its ability must cease <i>to pay even the stipulated subsidy</i>." +Notwithstanding this state of the country, of which he was well apprised +before he left Calcutta, and the poverty and distress of the prince +having been frequently, but in vain, represented to him, in order to +induce him to forbear his oppressive exactions, he did, in order to +furnish the Council with a color for permitting him to recall the +Company's Resident, and to exercise the whole powers of the Company in +his own person, without any check whatsoever, or witness of his +proceedings, except the persons of his own private choice, make the +express and positive engagement aforesaid, which, if understood of a +real and substantial discharge of debt for the relief of the total of +the Company's finances, was grossly fallacious: because at the very time +he must have been perfectly sensible, that, in the then state of the +revenues and country of Oude, (which are in effect the Company's +revenues and the Company's country,) the debt or pretended debt +aforesaid, asserted to be about five hundred thousand pounds, or +thereabouts, could not be paid without contracting another debt at an +usurious interest, <!-- Page 149 --><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149" title="149" class="pagenum"></a>without encroaching on the necessary establishments +or on private property or on the pay of the army, or without grievous +oppression of the country, or all these together. And it doth appear +that one hundred thousand pounds towards the said payment of debts was +borrowed at Calcutta by the Nabob's agent there, but at what interest is +not known; it appears also that other sums were borrowed for arrear of +the interest, on which forty thousand pounds sterling appears in the +Company's claims for the current year, and that various deductions were +made from the jaghires restored to the Begums, as well as other parts of +the Nabob's family; and it did and doth appear that an arrear is still +due to the old and new brigade,—but whether the same be growing or not +doth not appear: yet he hath not hesitated to assert that he had +"provided for the <i>complete</i> discharge, in <i>one</i> year, of a debt +contracted by <i>the accumulation of many</i>, and from a country whose +resources have been wasted and dissipated by three successive years of +drought and one of anarchy." But the said Hastings never did even +realize the payments to be made in the first year, (as he confesses in +the said letter,) except by an anticipation of the second; and though he +states in his letter aforesaid the following facts and engagements, that +is to say, "<i>that a recovery of so large a part of your property</i> [the +Company's] will afford a seasonable and substantial relief to the +necessities of your government, and enable it (for such is my confident +hope) <i>to begin on the reduction of your debt at interest</i> before the +conclusion of this year (I mean the year of this computation)." Whereas +the said Warren Hastings did apply the whole produce of the revenue to +the mere pay of some part of the <!-- Page 150 --><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150" title="150" class="pagenum"></a>British army in Oude; and did not +mention in his correspondence that he had remitted any money whatsoever +to Calcutta, nor to any other place, (except the fifty thousand pounds +taken from Almas Ali Khân, and said to be remitted to Surat,) for the +said "substantial relief," in consequence of the said pretended +"recovery of property,"—admitting that it had been suggested to him, +and not by him denied, that he had "disappointed the popular expectation +by not adopting the policy which he had, <i>on the conception of better +grounds</i>, rejected; nor did he begin the reduction of the interest debt" +at the time stated, nor at any time; but the whole (he well knowing the +state of the country from whence the resources aforesaid were by him +promised) was a premeditated deceit and imposition on the Board of +Council, his colleagues, and on the Court of Directors, his masters.</p> + +<p>LXIX. That no traces of regulation appear to have been adopted by the +said Warren Hastings during his residence at Lucknow, in conformity to +the spirit and intentions of the treaty of Chunar, or of his +instructions to Middleton and Bristow, or of the proposed objects of his +own commission. But he did, in lieu thereof, pretend to free the Nabob's +government from the interference of the Company's servants, and the +usurpation (as he called it) of a Resident, and thereby to restore it to +its proper tone and energy; whereas the measures he took were such as to +leave no useful or responsible superintendence in the British, and no +freedom in the Nabob's government: for he did confirm the sole, +unparticipated, and entire administration, with all the powers annexed +to <!-- Page 151 --><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151" title="151" class="pagenum"></a>the government, on the minister, Hyder Beg Khân, to whom he +<i>prevailed</i> on the Nabob Vizier to commit the entire charge of his +revenues, although he knew that his master was a cipher in his +hands,—that he "had affixed his seal to letters written without his +knowledge, and such as evidently tended to promote Hyder Beg Khân's +influence and interest,"—that his said master did not consider him as a +minister of his choice, but as an instrument of his degradation,—that +"he exists as a minister by his dependence on the Calcutta government, +and that the Nabob himself had no other opinion of him,—that it is by +its <i>declared</i> and most <i>obvious</i> support <i>alone</i> that he could maintain +his authority and influence." And in his instructions to his secret +agent, Major Palmer, dated 6th of May, 1782, to ease his mind and remove +his jealousy with regard to British interference, he did instruct him, +"that much delicacy and caution will be required in your declarations on +this subject, lest they should be construed to extend to an immediate +change in the administration of his affairs, or the instruments of it. +Their persons must be considered as <i>sacred, while</i> they act with the +<i>participation of our influence</i>. This distinction the Nabob +<i>understands</i>; nor will it be either necessary or proper to allude to +it, unless he himself should first introduce the subject." And the said +Hastings did assume, as to a dependant of the lowest order, to prescribe +to him the conditions on which he is to hold his place,—to threaten him +with scrutinies into his conduct, with dismission, with +punishment,—that he was guilty of falsehood and duplicity, and that he +had made his master assert what was true to be false,—that he suspected +he had withheld from his master what he ought to have paid to him,—that +<!-- Page 152 --><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152" title="152" class="pagenum"></a>the event of his having <i>prevailed</i> on the Nabob to intrust him as +aforesaid was, according to his, the said Hastings's, own letter, +written to the said Hyder Beg Khân himself, "an accumulation of +distress, debasement, and dissatisfaction to the Nabob, and of +disappointment and disgrace to me. Every measure which he had himself +proposed, and to which he had solicited my assistance, has been so +conducted as to give him cause of displeasure; there are no officers +established by which his affairs could be regularly conducted; mean, +incapable, and indigent man have been appointed aumils of the districts, +without authority, and without the means of personal protection; some of +them have been murdered by the zemindars, and those zemindars, instead +of punishment, have been permitted to retain their zemindaries with +independent authority; all the other zemindars suffered to rise up in +rebellion, and to insult the authority of the sircar, without any +attempt made to suppress them; and the Company's debt, instead of being +discharged by the assignments, and extraordinary sources of money +provided for that purpose, is likely to exceed even the amount at which +it stood at the time in which the arrangement with his Excellency was +concluded. <i>The growth of these evils was early made known to me, and +their effects foreboded in the same order and manner as they have since +come to pass.</i> In such a state of calamity and disgrace, I can no longer +remain a passive spectator; nor would it be becoming to conceal my +sentiments, or qualify the expression of them. I now plainly tell you, +that you are answerable for every misfortune and defect of the Nabob +Vizier's government." And after giving orders, and expressing some hopes +of better behavior, he adds, "<!-- Page 153 --><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153" title="153" class="pagenum"></a>If I am disappointed, you will impose on +me the painful and humiliating necessity of acknowledging to him that I +have been deceived, and of recommending the examination of your conduct +to his justice, both for the redress of his own and the Company's +grievances, and for the injury sustained by both in their mutual +connection. <i>Do not reply to me</i>, that what I have written is from the +suggestion of your enemies; nor imagine that I have induced myself to +write in such plain and declaratory terms, without a clear insight into +all the consequences of it, and a fixed determination upon them."</p> + +<p>LXX. That the aforesaid being the tenure of the power of the said +minister, and such his character, as given by the said Warren Hastings +himself, who did originally compel the Nabob to receive him, who did +constantly support him against the Nabob, his master, as well as against +the Company's Resident,—the delivering over to such a person his +master, his family, his country, and the care of the British interests +therein, without control or public inspection, was an high crime and +misdemeanor.</p> + +<p>LXXI. That the next person whom the said Hastings did invest with power +in the said country was a certain opulent and powerful native manager of +revenue, called Almas Ali Khân, closely connected with the said Hyder +Beg Khân, and to whom the said Hyder Beg Khân, as the said Hastings has +admitted, "had intrusted the <i>greatest</i> part of his revenues, without +any pledge or security for his fidelity." And afterwards the said +Hastings charges the said Almas Ali with an intention of removing from +the Nabob's <!-- Page 154 --><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154" title="154" class="pagenum"></a>dominions: he states, "as taking with him," and therefore +being possessed of, "an immense treasure, the fruits of his +embezzlements and oppressions, and an army raised for its protection."</p> + +<p>LXXII. That the said Warren Hastings was, or pretended to be, impressed +with the evil character, dangerous designs, and immoderate power of the +said Almas Ali; that he did insert among his instructions to the +Resident Bristow an order of a dangerous and unwarrantable nature, in +which, upon his, the said Hastings's, simple allegation of offences, not +accurately described or specified, with regard either to the fact, the +nature of the offence, or the proof, he was required to urge the Nabob +to put him to death, with many qualifications in the said instructions, +full of fraud and duplicity, calculated to insnare the said Resident +Bristow, and to throw upon him the responsibility of the conduct of the +said Almas Ali Khân, if he should continue at large contrary to his +orders, or to subject him, the said Resident, to the shame and scandal +of apprehending and putting him to death by means which, in the +circumstances, must necessarily be such as would be construed into +treachery, and he, the said Almas Ali Khân, being from nature and +situation suspicious and watchful, and being at that very time in the +collection, or farmer of the most important part of the revenues, with +an extensive jurisdiction annexed, and at the head of fourteen thousand +of his own troops, and having been recently accepted by the Resident +Middleton as security for large sums of money advanced by the bankers of +Benares to the use of the East India Company; which orders (if the said +Resident would or could have executed them) <!-- Page 155 --><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155" title="155" class="pagenum"></a>must have raised an +universal alarm among all the considerable men of the country concerned +in the government, and would have been a means of subverting the public +credit of the Company, by the murder of a person engaged for very great +sums of money that had been advanced for their use. And the said +instruction is as followeth.</p> + +<p>"If any engagement shall actually subsist between them at the time you +have charge of the Residency, it must, however exceptionable, be +faithfully observed; but if he has been guilty of any criminal offence +to the Nabob, his master, for which no immunity is provided in the +engagement, or he shall break any one of the conditions of it, I do most +strictly enjoin you, and it must be your special care to endeavor, +<i>either by force or surprise</i>, to secure his person and bring him to +justice. By bringing him to justice I mean, that you urge the Nabob, on +due conviction, <i>to punish him with death</i>, as a necessary example to +deter others from the commission of the like crimes; nor must you desist +till this is effected. I cannot prescribe the means; but to guard myself +against the obloquy to which I may be exposed by a forced +misconstruction of this order by those who may hereafter be employed in +searching our records for cavils and informations against me, I think it +proper to forbid and protest against the use of any <i>fraudulent artifice +or treachery to accomplish the end which I have prescribed</i>; and as you +alone are privy to the order, you will of course observe the greatest +secrecy, that it may not transpire: but I repeat my recommendation of +it, as one of the first and most essential duties of your office."</p> + +<p><!-- Page 156 --><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156" title="156" class="pagenum"></a>LXXIII. That, among the reasons assigned for putting to death the said +Almas Ali, which the said Hastings did recommend directly and repeatedly +to the Resident, "as one of the first and most essential duties of his +office," was, in substance, "that, by his extensive trust with regard to +the revenues, he had been permitted to acquire independency; that the +means thereof had been long seen and the effects thereof foretold by +every person acquainted with the state of government, except those +immediately interested in it"; and he, the said Warren Hastings, did +also charge the said Almas Ali with embezzlement of the revenues and +oppression of the people; and nothing appears to disprove the same, but +much to give ground to a presumption that the said Almas Ali did +grievously abuse the power committed to him, as farmer and collector of +the revenue, to the great oppression of the inhabitants of the countries +which had been rented to him by Hyder Beg Khân with the knowledge and +consent of the said Warren Hastings.</p> + +<p>LXXIV. That the Resident, Bristow, declining the violent attempt on the +life of Almas Ali deceitfully ordered by the said Warren Hastings, did, +on weighty reasons, drawn from the spirit of the said Hastings's own +instructions, recommend that his, the said Almas Ali Khân's, farms of +revenue, or a great part of them, should be, on the expiration of his +lease, taken out of his hands, as being too extensive, and supplying the +means of a dangerous power in the country; but yet he, the said Warren +Hastings, did not only continue him in the possession of the said +revenues, but did give to him a new lease thereof for the term of five +years. And on this renovation and increase of <!-- Page 157 --><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157" title="157" class="pagenum"></a>trust, the said Warren +Hastings did not consent to produce the informer upon whose credit he +had made his charge of capital crimes on the said Almas Ali, and had +directed him to be put to death, or call upon him to make good his +charges; but, instead of this, totally changing his relation to the said +Almas Ali, did himself labor to procure from all parts attestations to +prove him not guilty of the perfidy and disloyalty of which the said +Hastings himself appears to have been to that very time his sole +accuser, as he hath since been his most anxious advocate: but though he +did use many endeavors to acquit Almas Ali of his intended flight, yet +concerning his embezzlements and oppressions, the most important of all +charges relative to that of the revenue and collection, he, the said +Hastings, hath made no inquiry whatever; by which it might appear that +he was not as fully guilty thereof as he had always represented him to +be. But some time after he, the said Warren Hastings, had arrived at +Lucknow, in the year 1784, he suggested to the said Almas Ali Khân the +<i>advance</i> to the Company's use of a sum of money amounting to fifty +thousand pounds or thereabouts; and the said suggested advance was (as +the said Warren Hastings asserts, no witness or document of the +transaction appearing) "cheerfully and without hesitation complied with, +considering it as an <i>evidence seasonably</i> offered for the general +refutation of the charges of perfidy and disloyalty": which practice of +charging wealthy persons with treason and disloyalty, and afterwards +acquitting them on the payment of a sum of money, is highly scandalous +to the honor, justice, and government of Great Britain; and the offence +is highly aggravated by the said Hastings's declaration to the Court of +Directors that the <!-- Page 158 --><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158" title="158" class="pagenum"></a>charges against Almas Ali Khân have been too +laboriously urged against him, and carried at one time to such an excess +as had nearly driven him to abandon his country "<i>for the preservation +of his life and honor</i>," and thus to give a "color to the charges +themselves," when he, the said Warren Hastings, did well know that he +himself did consider as a crime, and did make it an article in a formal +accusation against the Resident Middleton, that he did not inform him, +the said Hastings, of the supposed treasons of Almas Ali Khân, and of +his design to abandon the country, when he himself did most laboriously +urge the charges against him, and when no attempt appears to have been +made against the life of the said Almas Ali Khân except by the said +Warren Hastings himself.</p> + +<p>LXXV. That the sum of fifty thousand pounds sterling, or thereabouts, +publicly taken by the said Warren Hastings, as an <i>advance</i> for the use +of the Company, if given as a consideration or fine, on account of the +renewal for a long term of civil authority and military command, and the +collection of the revenues to an immense amount, the same being at least +eight hundred thousand pounds sterling yearly, was so totally inadequate +to the interest granted, that it may justly be presumed it was not on +that, or on any public ground or condition, that the said Hastings did +delegate, out of all reach of resumption or correction, a lease of +boundless power and enormous profit, for so long a term, to a known +oppressor of the country.</p> + +<p>LXXVI. That Warren Hastings, being at Lucknow in consequence of his +deputation aforesaid, did, in his letter from that city, dated 30th of +April, 1784, recom<!-- Page 159 --><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159" title="159" class="pagenum"></a>mend to the Court of Directors, "as his <i>last and +ultimate hope</i>, that their wisdom would put a <i>final</i> period to <i>the +ruinous and disreputable system</i> of interference, whether <i>avowed or +secret</i>, in the affairs of the Nabob of Oude, and withdraw <i>forever the +influence</i> by which it is maintained," and that they ought to confine +their views to the sole maintenance of the old brigade stationed in Oude +by virtue of the first treaty with the reigning Nabob, expressing +himself in the following words to the Court of Directors. "If you +transgress that line, you may extend <i>the distribution of patronage, and +add to the fortunes of individuals</i>, and to the nominal riches of Great +Britain; but your <i>own</i> interests will suffer by it; and <i>the ruin of a +great and once flourishing nation will he recorded as the work of your +administration, with an everlasting reproach to the British name</i>. To +this reasoning I shall join <i>the obligations of justice and good faith, +which cut off every pretext for your exercising any power or authority +in this country, as long as the sovereign of it fulfils the engagements +he has articled with you</i>."</p> + +<p>LXXVII. That it appears by the extraordinary recommendation aforesaid, +asserted by him, the said Hastings, to be enforced by the +"<i>obligations of justice and good faith</i>," that the said Warren +Hastings, at the time of writing the said letter, had made an +agreement to withdraw the British interference, represented by him as +a "ruinous and disreputable system," out of the dominions of the Nabob +of Oude. But the instrument itself, in which the said agreement is +made, (if at all existing,) does not appear; nor hath the said +Hastings transmitted any documents relative to the said treaty, which +is a neglect highly criminal,—<!-- Page 160 --><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160" title="160" class="pagenum"></a>especially as he has informed the +Company, in his letter from Benares, "that he has promised the Nabob +that he will not abandon him to the <i>chance</i> of any other mode of +relation, and most confidently given him assurance of <i>the +ratification and confirmation</i> of that which he [the said Hastings] +had established between his government and the Company": the said +<i>confident assurance</i> being given to an agreement never produced, and +made without any sort of authority from the Court of Directors,—an +agreement precluding, on the one hand, the operation of the discretion +of his masters in the conduct of their affairs, or, on the other, +subjecting them to the hazard of an imputation on their faith, by +breaking an engagement confidently made in their name, though without +their consent, by the first officer of their government.</p> + +<p>That the said Hastings, further to preclude the operation of such +discretionary conduct in the administration of this kingdom as +circumstances might call for, has informed the Directors that he has +gone so far as even to condition the existence of the revenue itself +with the exclusion of the Company, his masters, from all interference +whatsoever: for in his letter to Mr. Wheler, dated Benares, 20th +September, 1784, are the following words. "The aumils [collectors] +demanded that a clause should be inserted in their engagements, that +they were to be in full force for the complete term of their leases, +<i>provided that no foreign authority</i> was exercised over them,—or, in +other words, <i>that their engagements were to cease whenever they should +be interrupted in their functions by the interference of an English +agent</i>. This requisition was officially notified to me by the acting +minister, and referred to me in form by the Nabob Vizier, for my +<i>previous</i> consent <!-- Page 161 --><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161" title="161" class="pagenum"></a>to it. I encouraged it, and I gave my consent to +it." And the said Hastings has been guilty of the high presumption to +inform his said masters, that he has taken that course to compel them +not to violate the assurances given by him in their name: "There is one +condition" (namely, the above condition) "which <i>essentially connects +the confirmation of the settlement itself with the interests of the +Company</i>."</p> + +<p>LXXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings, who did show an indecent +distrust of the Company's faith, did endeavor, before that time, at +other times, namely, in his instructions to his secret agent, Major +Palmer, dated the 6th of May, 1782, to limit the confidence to be +reposed in the British government to the duration of his own power, in +the following words in the fifth article. "It is very much my desire to +impress the Nabob with a <i>thorough</i> confidence in the faith and justice +of our government,—that is to say, <i>in my own</i>, while I am at the head +of it: I cannot be answerable for the acts of others independent of me."</p> + +<p>LXXIX. That the said Warren Hastings did, in his letter, dated Benares, +the 1st of October, 1784, to the Court of Directors, write, "that, if +they [the Directors] manifested no <i>symptoms</i> of an (1.) <i>intended</i> +interference, the objects of his engagements will be obtained; (2.) but +if a different policy shall be adopted,—if new agents are sent into the +country, and armed with authority for the purposes of vengeance or +corruption (<i>for to no other will they be applied</i>),—if new demands are +made on the Nabob Vizier, (4.) and accounts overcharged on one side, +with a wide latitude taken on the other, to swell his debt <!-- Page 162 --><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162" title="162" class="pagenum"></a>beyond the +means of payment,—(5.) if political dangers are portended, to ground on +them the plea of burdening his country with unnecessary defences and +enormous subsidies,—(6.) or if, even abstaining from <i>direct +encroachment on the Nabob's rights</i>, your government shall show but <i>a +degree of personal kindness to the partisans</i> of the late usurpation, or +by any constructive indication of partiality and dissatisfaction +<i>furnish</i> grounds for the <i>expectation</i> of an <i>approaching</i> change of +system,—I am sorry to say, that all my labors will prove abortive."</p> + +<p>LXXX. That all the measures deprecated in future by the said Warren +Hastings, with a reference to former conduct, in his several letters +aforesaid, being (so far as the same are intelligible) six in number, +have been all of them the proper acts and measures of the said Warren +Hastings himself. For he did himself first of all introduce, and did +afterwards continue and support, that interference which he now informs +the Court of Directors "is ruinous and disreputable, and which the very +<i>symptoms</i> of an <i>intention</i> to renew" he considers in the highest +degree dangerous; he did direct, with a controlling and absolute +authority, in every department of government, and in every district in +the dominions of the Nabob of Oude. Secondly, the appointment of agents, +which was eminently the act of his own administration: he not only +retaining many agents in the country of Oude, both "<i>secret and +avowed</i>," but also sending some of them, in defiance to the orders of +that very Court of Directors, to whom, in his said letter of the 1st of +October, 1784, he assigns "vengeance and corruption" as the only motives +that can produce such <!-- Page 163 --><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163" title="163" class="pagenum"></a>appointments. Thirdly, that he, the said Warren +Hastings, did instruct one of the said agents, and did charge him upon +pain of "<i>a dreadful responsibility</i>," to perform sundry acts of +violence against persons of the highest distinction and nearest relation +to the prince; which acts were justly liable to the imputation of +"<i>vengeance</i>" in the execution, and which he, in his reply to the +defence of Middleton to one of his charges, did declare to be liable to +the suspicion of "<i>corruption</i> in the relaxation." Fourthly, that he did +raise new demands on the Vizier, "and overcharge accounts on one side +and take a wide latitude on the other," by sending up a new and before +unheard-of overcharge of four hundred thousand pounds and upwards, not +made by the Resident or admitted by the Vizier, and, by adding the same, +did swell his debt "beyond the means of payment"; and did even insert, +as the ninth article of his charge against Middleton, "his omitting to +take any notice of the additional balance of Rupees 26,48,571, stated by +the Accountant-General to be due from the Vizier on the 30th of April, +1780," to which he did add fourteen lac more, making together the above +sum. Fifthly, that he, the said Warren Hastings, did assign "political +dangers," in his minute of the 13th December, 1779, for burdening the +said Nabob of Oude "with unnecessary defences and enormous subsidies," +with regard to which he then declared, that "it was <i>our</i> part, not +<i>his</i> [the Nabob's], to judge and to determine." And, sixthly, that he +did not only show the <i>design</i>, but the <i>fact</i>, of personal kindness to +the partisans of what he here calls, as well as in another letter, and +in one Minute of Consultation, a "late usurpation,"—he having rewarded +the principal and most obnoxious of the instruments of <!-- Page 164 --><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164" title="164" class="pagenum"></a>the said late +usurpation, (if such it was,) Richard Johnson, Esquire, with an +honorable and profitable embassy to the court of the Nizam.</p> + +<p>LXXXI. That the said Warren Hastings, therefore,—by assuming an +authority which he himself did consider as an <i>usurpation</i>, and by acts +in virtue of that usurped authority, done in his own proper person and +by agents appointed by himself, and proceeding (though with some +mitigation, for which one of them was by him censured and accused) under +his own express and positive orders and instructions, and thereby +establishing, as he himself observed, "a system of interference, +disreputable and ruinous, which could only be subservient to promote +patronage, private interest, private embezzlement, corruption, and +vengeance," to the public detriment of the Company, "and to the ruin of +a once flourishing nation, and eternally reproachful to the British +name," and for the evil effects of which system, "as his sole and +ultimate hope" and remedy, he recommends an entire abdication, forever, +not only of all power and authority, but even of the interference and +influence of Great Britain,—is guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor.</p> + +<p>LXXXII. That the said Warren Hastings, in his letter from Chunar of the +29th of November, 1781, has represented that very influence and +interference, which in three public papers he denominates "<i>a late +usurpation</i>" as being authorized by a regular treaty and agreement, +voluntarily made with the Nabob himself, at a place called Chunar, on +the 19th of September, 1781, a copy of which hath been transmitted <!-- Page 165 --><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165" title="165" class="pagenum"></a>to +the Court of Directors,—and that three persons were present at the +execution of the same, two whereof were Middleton and Johnson, his +agents and Residents at Oude, the third the minister of the Nabob. And +he did, in his paper written to the Council-General, and transmitted to +the Court of Directors, not only declare that the said interference was +agreed to by the said Nabob, and sealed with his seal, but would be +highly beneficial to him: assuring the said Council, "that, if the +Resident performed his duty in the execution of his [the said +Hastings's] instructions, the Nabob's part of the engagement will prove +of still greater benefit to him than to our government, in whose behalf +it was exacted; and that the <i>participation</i> which is allowed our +Resident in the <i>inspection</i> of the public treasure will secure the +receipt of the Company's demands, whilst <i>the influence which our +government will ALWAYS possess over the public minister of the Nabob, +and the authority of our own</i>, will be an effectual means of securing an +attentive and faithful discharge of their several trusts, both towards +the Company and the Vizier."</p> + +<p>LXXXIII. And the said Warren Hastings did not only settle a plan, of +which the agency and interference aforesaid was a part, and assert the +beneficial consequences thereof, but did also record, that the same "was +a great public measure, constituted on a large and <i>established system</i>, +and destructive, in its instant effects, of the interest and fortune of +many patronized individuals"; and in consequence of the said treaty, he, +the said Warren Hastings, did authorize and positively require his agent +aforesaid to interfere in and control and regulate <i>all the Nabob's +affairs </i><!-- Page 166 --><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166" title="166" class="pagenum"></a><i>whatsoever</i>: and the said Warren Hastings having made for the +Company, and in its name, an acquisition of power and authority, even if +it had been abused by others, he ought to have remedied the abuse, and +brought the guilty to condign punishment, instead of making another +treaty without their approbation, consent, or knowledge, and to this +time not communicated to them, by which it appears he has annulled the +former treaty, and the authority thereby acquired to the Company, as a +grievance and usurpation, to which, from the general corruption of their +service, no other remedy could be applied than a formal renunciation of +their power and influence: for which said actings and doings the said +Warren Hastings is guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor.</p> + +<p>LXXXIV. That the Company's army in India is an object requiring the most +vigilant and constant inspection, both to the happiness of the natives, +the security of the British power, and to its own obedience and +discipline, and does require that inspection in proportion as it is +removed from the principal seat of government; and the number and +discipline of the troops kept up by the native princes, along with +British troops, is also of great moment and importance to the same ends. +That Warren Hastings, Esquire, pretending to pursue the same, did, in +virtue of an authority acquired by the treaty of Chunar aforesaid, give +strict orders, and to which he did demand <i>a most implicit obedience</i>, +that <i>all</i> officers of the Nabob's army should be appointed "with <i>the +concurrence of the Resident</i>," and supposing the case that persons of +obnoxious description or of known disaffection to the British government +should be appointed, <!-- Page 167 --><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167" title="167" class="pagenum"></a>(of which he left the Resident to be the judge,) +he did direct in the following words: "You are in such case to +remonstrate against it; and if the Vizier should persist in his choice, +you are peremptorily, <i>and in my name</i>, to oppose it as <i>a breach of his +agreement</i>"; and he did also direct that the "<i>mootiana</i> [or soldiers +employed for the collection of revenue] should be reformed, and reduced +into one corps for the whole service, and that <i>no</i> infantry should be +left in the Nabob's service but what may be necessary for his +bodyguard"; and he did further order and direct as follows: "That in +quelling disturbances the commander of the forces should assist you [the +said Resident] on the requisition of the Vizier communicated through you +to him [the said commander], <i>or at your own tingle application</i>. It is +directed that the regiment ordered for the immediate protection of your +office and person at Lucknow shall be relieved every three months, and +during its stay there shall act solely and exclusively under your +orders." And it appears in the course of the Company's correspondence, +that the country troops under the Nabob's sole direction would be +ill-disciplined and unserviceable, if not worse, and therefore the said +Warren Hastings did order that "no infantry should be kept in his +service"; yet it appears that the said Warren Hastings did make an +arrangement for a body of native troops wholly out of the control or +inspection of the British government, and left a written order in the +hands of Major Palmer (one of <i>his</i> agents, who had been continued +there, though the Company was not permitted to employ any) to be +transmitted to Colonel Cumming as soon as an adequate force shall be +provided <i>for the defence of the Nabob's frontier</i> by detachments <!-- Page 168 --><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168" title="168" class="pagenum"></a>from +<i>the Nabob's own battalions</i>,—the said Colonel Cumming's forces, whom +the others were to supersede and replace, consisting wholly of infantry, +and which, being intended for the same service, were probably of the +same constitution.</p> + +<p>LXXXV. That the old brigade of British troops, which by treaty was to +remain, had been directed, by the instructions of the said Hastings to +the Resident Middleton and to the Resident Bristow, "not to be employed +at the requisition of the Vizier any otherwise than through the +Resident"; and the said direction was properly given,—it not being fit +that British troops should be under the sole direction of foreign +independent princes, or of any other than the British government: yet, +notwithstanding the proper and necessary direction aforesaid, he, the +said Warren Hastings, hath left the said troops, by his new treaty, +without any local control, or even inspection, notwithstanding his +powers under the treaty of Chunar, and his own repeated orders, and +notwithstanding the mischiefs and dangers which the said Warren Hastings +did foresee would result therefrom, if left under the sole direction of +the Nabob, and their own discretion, the said Hastings having stipulated +with the said Nabob not to exercise any authority, or even influence, +<i>secret</i> or <i>avowed</i>, within his dominions.</p> + +<p>LXXXVI. That the crime of the said Warren Hastings, in attempting thus +to abandon the British army to the sole discretion of the Nabob of Oude, +is exceedingly aggravated by the description given by him severally of +the said Nabob of Oude, and of the British army stationed for the +defence of his dominions.<!-- Page 169 --><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169" title="169" class="pagenum"></a> In his letters to the Court of Directors, and +in his Minutes of Consultation, and particularly in his letter of ——, +immediately on the accession of the Nabob, he did inform the said Court, +"that the Nabob had not, by all accounts, the qualities of the head or +heart which fitted him for that office, though there was no dispute +concerning his right to succeed"; and some years afterwards, when his +accounts must have been rendered more certain, he did, in his Minute of +Consultation of the 15th of December, 1779, (regularly transmitted to +the Court of Directors,) upon a discussion for withdrawing certain +troops kept up in the Nabob's country without his consent, by him, the +said Warren Hastings, strongly urge as follows,—"the <i>necessity</i> of +maintaining the influence and force which we possess in the country; +that the disorders of his state [the Nabob of Oude's state] and +dissipation of his revenues are the effects of his own conduct, which +has failed, not so much from the usual effects of <i>incapacity</i> as from +the detestable choice he has made of the ministers of his power and the +participation of his confidence. I forbear to expatiate further on his +character; it is sufficient that I am understood by the members of this +board, who must know the truth of my allusions. Mr. Francis" (a member +of the board) "surely was not aware of the injury he did me [Warren +Hastings] by attributing to the spirit of party the character I gave +Asoph ul Dowlah [the Nabob of Oude]; he himself knows it <i>to be true; +and it is one of those notorieties which supersede the necessity of any +evidence. I was forced to the allusion I made by the imputation cast on +this government, as having caused the evils which prevail in the +government of the Nabob of Oude, which I could only answer by ascribing +them to their true </i><!-- Page 170 --><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170" title="170" class="pagenum"></a><i>cause, the character and conduct of the Nabob of +Oude."</i> And the Resident (appointed by the said Hastings, against the +orders of the Court of Directors, as his particular confidential +representative, one whom the said Nabob did himself request might be +continued with him <i>by an engagement in writing forever</i>) did some time +before, that is, on the 3d of January, 1779, assure the said Hastings +and the Council-General, that "such is his Excellency's [the Nabob of +Oude's] disposition, and so entirely has he lost the confidence and +affections of his subjects, that, unless some restraint is imposed on +him which would effectually secure those who live under the protection +of his government from violence and oppression, I am but too well +convinced that no man of reputation or property will long continue in +these provinces"; and that the said Resident proceeds to an instance of +oppression and rapine, "out of <i>many</i> of the Nabob's, which has caused a +total disaffection and want of confidence among his subjects: he hoped +the board would take it into their humane consideration, and interpose +their <i>influence</i>, and prevent an act which would inevitably bring +disgrace upon himself, and a proportionable degree of discredit on the +national character of the English, which I consider to be more or less +concerned in every act of his administration."</p> + +<p>LXXXVII. That no exception was ever taken by the said Warren Hastings to +the truth of the facts, or to the justness of the observation of the +said Resident, which he did transmit to the Court of Directors. And the +said Warren Hastings, in his letter from Chunar, dated the 29th of +November, 1781, speaking of the restraints which had been put by him, +the said <!-- Page 171 --><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171" title="171" class="pagenum"></a>Hastings, on the Nabob, relative to his own <i>mootiana</i>, or +forces for collection and police, and the necessity of giving the +Resident a control in the nomination of the officers of his army, has +asserted, "that the necessity of the reservation arose from a too well +known defect in the Nabob's character: if this <i>check</i> be withdrawn, and +the choice left absolutely to the Nabob, the first commands in his army +will be filled with the most worthless and abandoned of his subjects: +his late commander-in-chief is a signal and scandalous instance of +this."</p> + +<p>LXXXVIII. And the said Warren Hastings, in his letter to the Court of +Directors, dated Benares, the 15th of October, 1784, even after he had +made the aforesaid renunciation of the Company's authority and influence +to the Nabob, did write, "that the Nabob, though most gentle in his +manners, and endued with an understanding much above the common level, +has been <i>unfortunately bred up in habits</i> that draw his attention too +much from his own affairs, and often subject him to the guidance of +<i>insidious and unworthy confidants</i>"; which, though more decently +expressed with regard to the Nabob than in his former minutes, +substantially agrees with them. And the said Warren Hastings did inform +the Court of Directors, after he had solemnly covenanted to withdraw all +the Company's influence on the assurances and promises of a person so by +himself described, that, for reasons grounded on his knowledge of the +imbecility of the character of the Nabob, he waited in a frontier town, +"that he might be at hand to counteract any attempt to defeat the effect +of his proceedings at Lucknow"; and in his letter to Mr. Wheler from the +<!-- Page 172 --><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172" title="172" class="pagenum"></a>same place he did write in the following words: "I am still near enough +to attend to the first effects of the execution, and to interfere with +my influence for the removal of any obstructions to which they are or +may be liable." He therefore found that there was none or but an +insufficient security to the effect of his treaty, but in his own direct +personal violation of it. What otherwise was wanting in the security for +the Nabob's engagements was to be supplied as follows: "The most +respectable persons of his family will be employed to counteract every +other which may tend to warp him from it; and I am sorry to say <i>that +such assistance was wanting</i>." And in another letter, "that he had equal +ground to expect every degree of support which could be given it by <i>the +first characters of his family</i>, who are warmly and zealously interested +in it": the principal male character of the family, and of the most +influence in that family, being Salar Jung, uncle to the Nabob; and the +first female characters of the family being the mother and grandmother +of the reigning sovereign: all of whom, male and female, he, the said +Warren Hastings, in sundry letters of his own, in the transmission of +various official documents, and even in affidavits studiously collected +and sworn before Sir Elijah Impey during his short residence at Lucknow +and Benares, did himself represent as persons entirely disaffected to +the English power in India,—as having been principal promoters, if not +original contrivers, of a general rebellion and revolt for the utter +extirpation of the English nation,—and as such, he, the said Warren +Hastings, did compel the Nabob reluctantly to take from them their +landed estates; and yet the said Warren Hastings has had the presumption +to attempt to impose <!-- Page 173 --><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173" title="173" class="pagenum"></a>on the East India Company by pretending to place +his reliance on those three persons for a settlement favorable to the +Company's interests, on his renunciation of all their own power, +authority, and influence, and on his leaving their army to the sole and +uncontrolled discretion of a stranger, meriting in his opinion the +description given by him as aforesaid, as well as by him frequently +asserted to be politically incapable of supporting his own power without +the aid of the forces of the Company. And the offence of the said Warren +Hastings, in abandoning a considerable part of the British army in the +manner aforesaid, is much increased by the description which he has +himself given of the state of the said army, and particularly of that +part thereof which is stationed in the Nabob of Oude's dominions: for he +did himself, on the 29th of November, 1781, transmit the information +following, on that subject, to the Court of Directors, namely,—"that +the remote stations of those troops, placing the commanding officers +beyond the notice and control of the board [the Council-General] at +Calcutta, afforded too much of opportunity and temptation for +unwarrantable <i>emoluments, and excited the contagion of peculation and +rapacity throughout the whole army</i>. A most remarkable instance and +uncontrovertible proof of the prevalence of this spirit has been seen in +the court-martial upon Captain Erskine, where the court, composed of +officers of rank, and respectable characters, unanimously and honorably, +(<i>most</i> honorably,) upon an acknowledged fact, acquitted him, which in +times of stricter discipline would have been deemed a crime deserving +the severest punishment." From which representation (if the said Warren +Hastings did not falsely and unjustly accuse <!-- Page 174 --><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174" title="174" class="pagenum"></a>and slander the Company's +service) it appeared that the peculation which infected the whole army, +derived from the taint which it had in Oude, and so fatal to the +discipline of the troops, would be dangerously increased by his treaty +and agreement aforesaid with the Nabob, and by his own said evil counsel +to the Court of Directors.</p> + +<p>LXXXIX. That it appears, after the said Warren Hastings had, on grounds +so disgraceful to the British nation and government, agreed to remove +forever the British influence and interference from the government of +Oude, on account of the disorders in the said government, solely +produced by his own criminal acts and criminal connivances, that he did +overturn his own settlement as soon as he had made it, and did, after he +had abolished the Company's Residency, as a grievance, wholly violate +his own solemn agreement: for he did, for his private purposes, continue +therein his own private agent, Major Palmer, with a number of officers +and pensioners, at a charge to the revenues of the country greatly +exceeding that of the establishment under Mr. Bristow, which he did +represent as frightfully enormous, and which he pretended to remove: the +former amounting to 112,950<i>l.</i>, the latter only to 64,202<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>XC. That his own secret agent, Major Palmer, did receive a salary or +allowance, equal to 22,800<i>l.</i> a year, out of the distressed province +of Oude; and this the said Palmer did declare not to be more than he +absolutely did really and <i>bonâ fide</i> spend, and that he had +retrenched considerably "in some of the articles since the expense has +been borne by the Viz<!-- Page 175 --><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175" title="175" class="pagenum"></a>ier, and in every particular he made as little +parade and appearance as his station would admit,"—his station being +that of the said Warren Hastings's private agent. But if the said +large salary must be considered as merely equal to the expenses, large +secret emoluments must be presumed to attend it, in order to make it a +place advantageous to the holder thereof. That the said Palmer did +apply to the board at Calcutta for a new authority to continue the +said establishments,—he conceiving their continuance, "after the +period of the Governor-General's departure, depended upon the pleasure +of the board, and not upon the <i>authority of the Governor-General, +under the sanction of which they were established or confirmed</i>."</p> + +<p>XCI. That the said Warren Hastings, in order to ruin the Resident +Bristow, and to justify himself for his former proceedings respecting +him, did bring before the board a new charge against him, for having +paid a large establishment of offices and pensions to the Company's +servants from the revenues of Oude; and the said Bristow, in making his +defence against the charge aforesaid, did plead, that he had found all +the allowances on his list established before his last appointment to +the Residency,—that they had grown to that excess in the interval +between his first removal by the said Warren Hastings and his +reappointment; and having adduced many reasons to make it highly +probable that the said Hastings was perfectly well acquainted with it, +and did approve of the expensive establishments which he, the said +Bristow, simply had paid, but not imposed, he did allege, besides the +official assurances of his predecessor, Middleton, certain facts, as +amounting to a direct proof <!-- Page 176 --><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176" title="176" class="pagenum"></a>that the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, +was not averse to the Vizier's granting large salaries to more than one +European gentleman. And the first instance was to Mr. Thomas, a surgeon, +who, exclusive of his pay from the Company, which was 1,440<i>l.</i> a year, +claimed from the Vizier, with Mr. Hastings's knowledge, the sum of +9,763<i>l.</i> a year, and upwards, making together 11,203<i>l.</i> per annum. The +next was Mr. Trevor Wheler, who did receive, upon the same +establishment, when he was Fourth Assistant at Oude, 6,000<i>l.</i> a year; +and which last fact the said Hastings has admitted upon record "that the +accusations of Mr. Bristow and Mr. Cowper did <i>oblige</i> and <i>compel</i> him +to acknowledge,"—denying, at the same time, that the allowances of the +Residents Middleton and Bristow, except in this single instance, were +ever authorized by him; whereas his own agent, Palmer, did, in his +letter of the 27th of March, 1785, represent, that the said salaries and +allowances (if not more and larger) were by him authorized or confirmed.</p> + +<p>XCII. That the aforesaid Bristow did also produce the following letter +in proof that Mr. Hastings knew and approved of large salaries to +British subjects upon the revenues of Oude, and which he did declare +that nothing but the necessity of self-defence could have induced him to +produce.</p> + +<p>'DEAR BRISTOW,—</p> + +<p>"Sir Eyre Coote has some field-allowances to receive from the Vizier; +they amount to Sicca Rupees 15,554 per month, and he has been paid up by +the Vizier to the 20th of August, 1782. The Governor has directed me to +write to you, to request you to re<!-- Page 177 --><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177" title="177" class="pagenum"></a>ceive what is due from the Vizier +from the 20th August last, at the rate of Lucknow Sicca Rupees 15,664 +per month, and send me a bill for the amount, the receipt of which I +will acknowledge in the capacity of Sir Eyre Coote's attorney; and the +Governor desires that you will continue to receive Sir Eyre Coote's +field-allowances at the same rate, and remit the money to me as it comes +in.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">(Signed) "CHARLES CROFTES.</span></p> + +<p class="quotdate">"CALCUTTA, January 25, 1783."</p> + +<p>XCIII. That Sir Eyre Coote aforesaid was at the time of the said +field-allowances not serving in the country of Oude, on which the said +allowances were charged, but in the Carnatic.</p> + +<p>XCIV. That, from the declaration of the said Hastings himself, that it +was the conviction of Mr. Bristow and Mr. Cowper that could alone +<i>oblige</i> and <i>compel</i> him to <i>acknowledge</i> certain of his aforesaid +practices, and that nothing <i>but the necessity of self-defence</i> could +have induced Mr. Bristow to make public another and much stronger +instance of the same, it is to be violently presumed, that, where these +two, or either, or both necessities did not exist, many evil and +oppressive practices of the said Hastings do remain undiscovered,—that, +if it had not been for the contests between him, the said Hastings, and +the Resident Bristow, not only the before-mentioned particulars, but the +whole of the expensive civil establishments for English servants at +Oude, would have been forever concealed from the Directors and from +Parliament: and yet the said Hastings has had the audacity to pretend so +complete an ignorance of the facts, that, repre<!-- Page 178 --><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178" title="178" class="pagenum"></a>senting the Vizier as +objecting to the largeness of the payments made by Bristow, and stating +a very reduced list, which he was willing to allow for, amounting to +30,000<i>l.</i> a year, the said Hastings did affect to be alarmed at the +magnitude even of the list so curtailed, expressing himself as follows, +in his minute of the 7th of December, 1784: "For my own part, when the +Vizier's minister first informed me that the amount which his master had +authorized, and was willing to admit, for the charges of the Residency, +and the allowances of the gentlemen at Lucknow, was 25,000 rupees per +month, I own I was startled at the magnitude of the sum, and was some +days hesitating in my mind whether I could with propriety admit of it": +whereas he well knew that the three sums alone of which the necessities +aforesaid had compelled the discovery did greatly exceed that sum of +which at the first hearing he affects to have been so exceedingly +alarmed and thrown into a state of hesitation which continued for some +days, and although he, the said Hastings, was conscious that he had at +the very time authorized an establishment to more than four times the +amount thereof.</p> + +<p>XCV. That, in the said deceits, prevarications, contradictions, +malicious accusations, fraudulent concealments, and compelled +discoveries, as well as in the said secret, corrupt, and prodigal +disposition of the revenues of Oude, as well as in his breach of faith +to the Nabob, in continuing expensive establishments under a private +agent of his own after he had agreed to remove the Company's agent, the +said Warren Hastings is guilty of an high offence and misdemeanor.<!-- Page 179 --><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179" title="179" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVII_MAHOMED_REZA_KHAN" id="XVII_MAHOMED_REZA_KHAN" />XVII.—MAHOMED REZA KHÂN.</h2> + + +<p>I. That it was the declared policy of the Company, on the acquisition of +the dewanny of Bengal, to continue the country government, under the +inspection of the Resident at the Nabob's durbar in the first instance, +and that of the President and Council in the last; and for that purpose +they did stipulate to assign, for the support of the dignity of the +Nabob, an annual allowance from the revenues, equal to four hundred +thousand pounds a year.</p> + +<p>II. That, during the country government, the principal active person in +the administration of affairs, for rank, and for reputation of probity, +and of knowledge in the revenues and the laws, was Mahomed Reza Khân, +who, besides large landed property, was possessed of offices whose +emoluments amounted nearly, if not altogether, to one hundred thousand +pounds a year.</p> + +<p>IV.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16" /><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor" +title="Sic orig.">[16]</a> That the Company's servants, in the beginning, were not +conversant in the affairs of the revenue, and stood in need of natives +of integrity and experience to act in the management thereof. On that +ground, as well as in regard to the rank which Mahomed Reza Khân held in +the country, and the confidence of the people in him, they, the +President and Council, did inform the Court of Directors, in their +letter of the 30th of September, 1765, that, "as Mahomed Reza Khân's +short administration was irreproachable, they determined to continue him +in a share of the authority"; and this information was not given +lightly, but was founded upon an inquiry <!-- Page 180 --><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180" title="180" class="pagenum"></a>into his conduct, and a minute +examination of charges made against him by his rivals in the Nabob's +court,—they having insinuated to the Nabob that a design was formed for +deposing him, and placing Mahomed Reza on his throne; but, on +examination, the President and Council declare, that "he had so openly +and candidly accounted <i>for every rupee</i> disbursed from the treasury, +that they could not, without injury to his character, and injustice to +his conduct during his short administration, refuse continuing him in a +share of the government."</p> + +<p>V. That the Company had reason to be satisfied with the arrangement +made, so far as it regarded him: the President and Council having +informed them, in the following year, in their letter of the 9th of +December, 1766, that "the <i>large</i> increase of the revenue must in a +great measure be ascribed to Mr. Sykes's assiduity, and to <i>Mahomed Reza +Khân's profound knowledge in the finances</i>."</p> + +<p>VI. That the then President and Council, finding it necessary to make +several reforms in the administration, were principally aided in the +same by the suggestion, advice, and assistance of the said Mahomed Reza +Khân; and in their letter to the Court of Directors of the 24th of June, +1767, they state their resolution of reducing the emoluments of office, +which before had arisen from a variety of presents and other +perquisities, to fixed allowances; and they state the merits of Mahomed +Reza Khân therein, as well as the importance, dignity, and +responsibility of his station, in the following manner.</p> + +<p>"Mahomed Reza Khân has now <i>of himself, with </i><!-- Page 181 --><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181" title="181" class="pagenum"></a><i>great delicacy of honor</i>, +represented to us the evil consequences that must ensue from the +continuance of this practice,—since, by suffering the principal +officers of the government to depend for the support of their dignity on +the precarious fund of perquisites, they in a manner oblige them to +pursue oppressive and corrupt measures, equally injurious to the country +and the Company; and they accordingly assigned twelve lac of rupees for +the maintenance and support of the said Mahomed Reza Khân, and two other +principal persons, who held in their hands the most important +employments of that government,—having regard to their elevated +stations, and to the expediency of supporting them in all the show and +parade requisite to keep up the authority and influence of their +respective offices, as they are all men of weight and consideration in +the country, who held places of great trust and profit under the former +government. We further propose, by this act of generosity, to engage +their cordial services, and confirm them steady in our interests; since +they cannot hope, from the most successful ambition, to rise to greater +advantages by any chance or revolution of affairs. At the same time it +was reasonable we should not lose sight of Mahomed Reza Khân's past +services. He has pursued the Company's interest with steadiness and +diligence; his abilities qualify him to perform the most important +services; the unavoidable charges of his particular situation are great; +in dignity he stands second to the Nabob only;—and as he engages to +increase the revenues, without injustice or oppression, to more than the +amount of his salary, <i>and to relinquish those advantages, to the amount +of eight lacs of rupees per annum</i>, which he heretofore enjoyed, we +<!-- Page 182 --><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182" title="182" class="pagenum"></a>thought it proper, in the distribution of salaries, to consider Mahomed +Reza Khân in a light superior to the other ministers. We have only to +observe further, that, great and enormous as the sum must appear which +we have allotted for the support of the ministers of the government, we +will not hesitate to pronounce that it is necessary and reasonable, and +will appear so on the consideration of the power which men employed on +these important services have either to obstruct or promote the public +good, unless their integrity be confirmed by the ties of gratitude and +interest."</p> + +<p>VII. That the said Mahomed Reza Khân continued, with the same diligence, +spirit, and fidelity, to execute the trust reposed in him, which +comprehended a large proportion of the weight of government, and +particularly of the collections; and his attachment to the interest of +the Company, and his extensive knowledge, were again, in the course of +the year 1767, fully acknowledged, and stated to the Court of Directors. +And it further appears that by an incessant application to business his +health was considerably impaired, which gave occasion in the year +following, that is, in February, 1768, to a fresh acknowledgment of his +services in these terms: "We must, in justice to Mahomed Reza Khân, +express the high sense we entertain of his abilities, and of the +indefatigable attention he has shown in the execution of the important +trust reposed in him; and we cannot but lament the prospect of losing +his services from the present declining state of his health."</p> + +<p>VIII. That as in the increase of the revenue the <!-- Page 183 --><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183" title="183" class="pagenum"></a>said Mahomed Reza Khân +was employed as a person likely to improve the same without detriment to +the people, so, when the state of any province seemed to require a +remission, he was employed as a person disposed to the relief of the +people without fraud to the revenue; and this was expressed by the +President and Council as follows, with relation to the remissions +granted in the province of Bahar: "That the general knowledge of Mahomed +Reza Khân, in all matters relative to the dewanny revenues, induced us +to consent to such deductions being made from the general state of that +province at the <i>last poonah</i> as may be deemed irrecoverable, or such as +may procure an immediate relief and encouragement to the ryots in the +future cultivation of their lands."</p> + +<p>IX. That the said Mahomed Reza Khân, in the execution of the said great +and important trusts and powers, was not so much as suspected of an +ambitious or encroaching spirit, which might make him dangerous to the +Company's then recent authority, or which might render his precedence +injurious to the consideration due to his colleagues in office; but, on +the contrary, it appears, that, a plan having been adopted for dividing +the administration, in order to remove the Nabob's jealousies, the same +was in danger of being subverted by the ambition "of two of his +colleagues, and <i>the excessive moderation of Mahomed Reza Khân</i>." And +for a remedy of the inconveniencies which might arise from the excess of +an accommodating temper, though attended with irreproachable integrity, +the President and Council did send one of their own members, as their +deputy, to the Nabob of Bengal, at his capital of Moorshedabad; and this +measure appears to <!-- Page 184 --><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184" title="184" class="pagenum"></a>have been adopted for the support of Mahomed Reza +Khân, in consequence of an inquiry made and advice given by Lord Clive, +in his letter of the 3d of July, 1765, in which letter he expresses +himself of the said Mahomed Reza Khân as follows: "It is with pleasure I +can acquaint you, <i>that, the more I see of Mahomed Reza Khân, the +stronger is my conviction of his honor and moderation</i>, but that, at the +same time, I cannot help observing, that, either from timidity or an +erroneous principle, he is too ready to submit to encroachments upon +that proportion of power that has been allotted him."</p> + +<p>X. That, the Nabob Jaffier Ali Khân dying in February, 1765, Mahomed +Reza Khân was appointed guardian to his children, and administrator of +his office, or regent, which appointment the Court of Directors did +approve. But the party opposite to Mahomed Reza Khân having continued to +cabal against him, sundry accusations were framed relative to oppression +at the time of the famine, and for a balance due during his employment +of collector of the revenues; upon which the Directors did order him to +be deprived of his office, and a strict inquiry to be made into his +conduct.</p> + +<p>XI. That the said Warren Hastings, then lately appointed to the +Presidency, did, on the 1st of April, and on the 24th of September, +1772, write letters to the Court of Directors, informing them that on +the very next day after he had received (as he asserts) their private +orders, "addressed to himself alone," and not to the board, he did +dispatch, by express messengers, his orders to Mr. Middleton, the +Resident at <!-- Page 185 --><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185" title="185" class="pagenum"></a>the Nabob's court at Moorshedabad, in a public character +and trust with the Nabob, to arrest, in his capital, and at his court, +and without any previous notice given of any charge, his principal +minister, the aforesaid Mahomed Reza Khân, and to bring him down to +Calcutta; and he did carefully conceal his said proceedings from the +knowledge of the board, on pretext of his not being acquainted with +their dispositions, and the influence which he thought that the said +Mahomed Reza Khân had amongst them.</p> + +<p>XII. That the said Warren Hastings, at the time he gave his orders as +aforesaid for arresting the said Mahomed Reza Khân, did not take any +measures to compel the appearance of any other persons as +witnesses,—declaring it as his opinion, "that there would be little +need of violence to obtain such intelligence as they could give against +their former master, when his authority is taken from him"; but he did +afterwards, in excuse for the long detention and imprisonment of the +said Mahomed Reza Khân, without any proofs having been obtained of his +guilt, or measures taken to bring him to a trial, assure the Directors, +in direct contradiction to his former declaration, "that the influence +of Mahomed Reza Khân still prevailed generally throughout the country, +in the Nabob's household, and at the capital, and was scarcely affected +by his present disgrace,"—notwithstanding, as he, the said Hastings, +doth confess, he had used his utmost endeavors "to break that influence, +by removing his dependants, and putting the direction of all the affairs +that had been committed to his care into the hands of <i>the most powerful +or active of his enemies</i>; that he depended on the activity of their +hatred to <!-- Page 186 --><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186" title="186" class="pagenum"></a>Mahomed Reza Khân, incited by the expectation of rewards, for +investigating the conduct of the latter; that with this the institution +of the new dewanny coincided; and that the same principle had guided him +in the choice of Munny Begum and Rajah Gourdas,—the former for the +chief administration, the latter" (the son of Nundcomar, and a mere +instrument in the hands of his father) "for the dewanny of the Nabob's +household,—both <i>the declared enemies</i> of Mahomed Reza Khân."</p> + +<p>XIII. That, although it might be true that enemies will become the most +active prosecutors, and as such may, though under much guard and many +precautions, be used even as witnesses, and that it ought not to be an +exception, supposing their character and capacity otherwise good, to the +appointing them to power, yet to advance persons to power on the ground +not of their honor and integrity, which might have produced the enmity +of bad men, but merely for the enmity itself, without any reference +whatsoever to a laudable cause, and even with a declared ill opinion of +the morals of one of the party, such as was actually delivered in the +said letter by him, the said Hastings, of Nundcomar, (and which time has +shown he might also on good ground have conceived of others,) was, in +the circumstances of a criminal inquiry, a motive highly disgraceful to +the honor of government, and destructive of impartial justice, by +holding out the greatest of all possible temptation to false accusation, +to corrupt and factious conspiracies, to perjury, and to every species +of injustice and oppression.</p> + +<p>XIV. That, in consequence of the aforesaid mo<!-- Page 187 --><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187" title="187" class="pagenum"></a>tives, and others +pretended, which were by no means a sufficient justification to the said +Warren Hastings, he did appoint the woman aforesaid, called Munny Begum, +who had been of the lowest and most discreditable order in society, +according to the ideas prevalent in India, but from whom he received +several sums of money, to be guardian to the Nabob in preference to his +own mother, <i>and to administer the affairs of the government</i> in the +place of the said Mahomed Reza Khân, the second Mussulman in rank after +the Nabob, and the first in knowledge, gravity, weight, and character +among the Mussulmen of that province. And in order to try every method +and to take every chance for his destruction, the said Warren Hastings +did maliciously and oppressively keep him under confinement, for a part +of the time without any inquiry, and afterwards with a slow and dilatory +trial, for two years together.</p> + +<p>XV. That, notwithstanding a total revolution in the power, in part +avowedly made for his destruction, the persons appointed for his trial +did, on full inquiry, completely acquit the said Mahomed Reza Khân of +the criminal charges against him, on account of which he had been so +long persecuted and confined, and suffered much in mind, body, and +fortune: and the Court of Directors, in their letter of the 3d of March, +1775, testify their satisfaction in the conduct and result of the said +inquiry, and did direct the restoration of the said Mahomed Reza Khân to +liberty, and to the offices which he had lately held, which comprehended +the management of the Nabob's household, and the general superintendency +of the justice of Bengal; but, according to the orders of <!-- Page 188 --><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188" title="188" class="pagenum"></a>the Court of +Directors, his appointments were reduced to thirty thousand pounds a +year, or thereabouts, of which he did make grievous complaint, on +account of the expenses attendant on his station, and the heavy debts +which he had been obliged to contract during his unjust persecution and +imprisonment aforesaid.</p> + +<p>XVI. That, on the removal of the said Mahomed Reza Khân from the +superintendency of the criminal justice, and in consequence of letting +the province of Bengal in farm by the said Warren Hastings, several +dangerous and mischievous innovations were made by him, the said Warren +Hastings, and the criminal justice of the country was almost wholly +subverted, and great irregularities and disorders did actually ensue.</p> + +<p>XVII. That the Council-General, established by act of Parliament in the +year 1773, did restore the said Mahomed Reza Khân, with the consent and +approbation of the Nabob, (but under a protest from the said Warren +Hastings,) to his liberty and to his offices, according to the spirit of +the orders given by the Court of Directors as aforesaid; and the Court +of Directors did approve of the said appointment, and did assure the +said Mahomed Reza Khân of their favor and protection as long as his +conduct should merit the same, in the following terms. "As the abilities +of Mahomed Reza Khân have been sufficiently manifested, as official +experience qualifies him for so high a station in a more eminent degree +than any other native with whom the Company has been connected, and as +no proofs of maladministration have been established <!-- Page 189 --><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189" title="189" class="pagenum"></a>against him, +either during the strict investigation of his conduct or since his +retirement, we cannot under all circumstances but approve your +recommendation of him to the Nabob to constitute him his Naib. We are +well pleased that he has received that appointment, and authorize you to +assure him of our favor, so long as a firm attachment to the interest of +the Company and a proper discharge of the duties of his station shall +render him worthy of our protection." And the said Mahomed Reza Khân did +continue to execute the same without any complaint whatsoever of +malversation or negligence, in any manner or degree, in his said office.</p> + +<p>XVIII. That in March, 1778, the said Warren Hastings, under color that +the Nabob had completed his twentieth year, and had desired to be placed +in the entire and uncontrolled management of his own affairs, and that +Mahomed Reza Khân should be removed from his office, and that Munny +Begum, his step-mother, the dancing-girl aforesaid, "should take on +herself the management of the <i>nizamut</i> [the government and general +superintendency of criminal justice] without the interference of any +person whatsoever," and notwithstanding the contradictions in the +pretended applications from the Nabob, with whose incapacity for all +affairs he was well acquainted, did, in defiance of the orders of the +Court of Directors, and without regard to the infamy of an arrangement +made for the evident and declared purpose of delivering not only the +family with the prince, but the government and justice of a great +kingdom, into such insufficient, corrupt, and scandalous hands, and +though he has declared his opinion "that our na<!-- Page 190 --><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190" title="190" class="pagenum"></a>tional character is +concerned in the character which the Nabob may obtain in the public +opinion," on obtaining a majority in Council, without any complaint, +real or pretended, remove the said Mahomed Reza from all his offices, +and did partition his salary as a spoil in the following manner: to +Munny Begum, the dancing-girl aforesaid, an additional allowance of +72,000 rupees (7,200<i>l.</i>) a year; to the Nabob's own mother but half +that sum, that is to say, 36,000 rupees (3,600<i>l.</i>) a year; to Rajah +Gourdas, son of Nundcomar, (whom he had described as a weak young man,) +72,000 rupees (7,200<i>l.</i>) a year, as controller of the household; and to +a magistrate called Sudder ul Hock, who, in real subserviency to the +said Munny Begum, was nominally to act in the department of criminal +justice, 78,000 rupees (7,800<i>l.</i>) a year: the total of which allowances +exceeding the salary of Mahomed Reza Khân by 18,000 rupees (1,800<i>l.</i>) +yearly, he did, for the corrupt and scandalous purposes aforesaid, order +the same to be made up from the Company's treasury.</p> + +<p>XIX. That Mr. Francis and Mr. Wheler having moved that the execution of +the aforesaid arrangement, the whole expense of which, ordinary and +extraordinary, was charged upon the Company's treasury, and therefore +could not be even colorably disposed of at the pretended will of the +said Nabob, might be suspended until the pleasure of the Court of +Directors thereon should be known, and the same being resolved agreeably +to law by a majority of the Council then present, the said Hastings, +urging on violently the immediate execution of his corrupt project, and +having obtained, by the return of Richard Barwell, <!-- Page 191 --><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191" title="191" class="pagenum"></a>Esquire, a majority +in Council in his own casting vote, did rescind the aforesaid +resolution, and did carry into immediate execution the aforesaid most +unwarrantable, mischievous, and scandalous design.</p> + +<p>XX. That the consequences which might be expected from such a plan of +administration did almost instantly flow from it. For the person +appointed to execute one of the offices which had been filled by Mahomed +Reza Khân did soon find that the eunuchs of Munny Begum began to employ +their power with great superiority and insolence in all the concerns of +government and the administration of justice, and did endeavor to +dispose of the offices relative to the same for their corrupt purposes, +and to rob the Nabob's servants of their due allowances; and in his +letter of the 1st September, 1778, he sent a complaint to the board, +stating, "that certain bad men had gained an ascendency over the Nabob's +temper, by whose instigation he acts"; and after complaining of the +slights he received from the Nabob, he adds: "Thus they cause the Nabob +to treat me, sometimes with indignity, at others with kindness, just as +they think proper to advise him; their view is, that, by compelling me +to displeasure at most unworthy treatment, they may force me either to +relinquish my station, or to join with them, and act by their advice, +and appoint creatures of their recommendation to the different offices, +from which they might draw profit to themselves."</p> + +<p>XXI. That, in a subsequent letter to the Governor, the said +Superintendent of Justice did inform him, the said Warren Hastings, of +the audacious and <!-- Page 192 --><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192" title="192" class="pagenum"></a>corrupt manner in which, by violence, fraud, and +forgery, the eunuchs of Munny Begum had abused the Nabob's name, to +deprive the judicial and executory officers of justice of the salaries +which they ought to have drawn from the Company's treasury, in the +following words: "The Begum's ministers, before my arrival, with the +advice of their counsellors, caused the Nabob to sign a receipt, in +consequence of which they received, at two different times, near 50,000 +rupees [5,000<i>l.</i>], in the name of the officers of the Adawlut, +Phousdary, &c., from the Company's sircars; and having drawn up an +account-current <i>in the manner they wished</i>, they had got the Nabob to +sign it, and sent it to me." And in the same letter he asserts, "that +these people had the Nabob entirely in their power."</p> + +<p>XXII. That the said Warren Hastings, upon this representation, did, +notwithstanding his late pretended opinion of the fitness and the right +of the Nabob to the sole administration of his own affairs, +authoritatively forbid him from any interference therein, and ordered +that the whole should be left to the magistrate aforesaid; to which the +Nabob did, notwithstanding his pretended independence, yield an +immediate and unreserved submission: for the said Hastings's order being +given on the 1st of September at Calcutta, he received <i>an answer</i> from +Moorshedabad on the 3d, in the following terms: "Agreeably to your +pleasure, I have relinquished all concern with the affairs of the +Phousdary and Adawlut, leaving the entire management in Sudder ul Hock's +hands." Which said circumstance, as well as many others, abundantly +proves that all the Nabob's actions were in truth and fact en<!-- Page 193 --><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193" title="193" class="pagenum"></a>tirely +governed by the influence of the said Hastings, and that, however the +said Hastings may have publicly discouraged the corrupt transactions of +the said court, yet he did secretly uphold the authority and influence +of Munny Begum, who did entirely direct, with his knowledge and +countenance, all the proceedings therein. For</p> + +<p>XXIII. That on the 13th of the same month of September he did receive a +further complaint of the corrupt and fraudulent practices of the chief +eunuch of the said Munny Begum; and these corrupt practices did so +continue and increase, that on the 10th of October, 1778, he was obliged +to confess, in the strongest terms, the pernicious consequences of his +before-created unwarrantable and illegal arrangements; for, in a letter +of that date to the Nabob, he expresses himself as follows. "At your +Excellency's request, I sent Sudder ul Hock Khân to take on him the +administration of the affairs of the Adawlut and Phousdary, and hoped by +that means not only to have given satisfaction to your Excellency, but +that, through his abilities and experience, these affairs would have +been conducted in such manner as to have secured the peace of the +country and the happiness of the people; and it is with the greatest +concern I learn that this measure is so far from being attended with the +expected advantages, that the affairs both of the Phousdary and Adawlut +are in the greatest confusion imaginable, and daily robberies and +murders are perpetrated throughout the country. This is evidently owing +to the want of a proper authority in the person appointed to superintend +them. I therefore addressed your Excellency on the importance and +delicacy of <!-- Page 194 --><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194" title="194" class="pagenum"></a>the affairs in question, and of the necessity of lodging +full power in the hands of the person chosen to administer them; in +reply to which your Excellency expressed sentiments coincident with +mine; notwithstanding which, your dependants and people, actuated by +<i>selfish, and avaricious views, have by their interference so impeded +the business as to throw the whole country into a state of confusion, +from which nothing can retrieve it but an unlimited power lodged in the +hands of the superintendent</i>. I therefore request that your Excellency +will give the strictest injunctions to all your dependants not to +interfere in any manner with any matter relative to the affairs of the +Adawlut and Phousdary, and that you will yourself relinquish all +interference therein, and leave them entirely to the management of +Sudder ul Hock Khân: this is absolutely necessary to restore the country +to a state of tranquillity." And he concluded by again recommending the +Nabob to withdraw all interference with the administrator aforesaid: +"otherwise a measure which I adopted at your Excellency's request, and +with a view to your satisfaction and the benefit of the country, will be +attended with quite contrary effects, and bring discredit on me."</p> + +<p>XXIV. That the said Hastings, in the letter aforesaid, in which he so +strongly condemns the acts and so clearly marks out the mischievous +effects of the corrupt influence under which alone the Nabob acted, and +under which alone, from his known incapacity, and his dependence on the +person supported by the said Hastings, he could act, did propose to put +all the offices of justice (which on another occasion he had requested +him to <i>permit</i> to remain in the hands which <!-- Page 195 --><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195" title="195" class="pagenum"></a>then held them) into his +own disposal,—telling him, or rather the woman and eunuchs who governed +him, "that, if his Excellency has any plan for the management of the +affairs in future, be pleased to communicate it to me, and every +attention shall be paid to give your Excellency satisfaction": by which +means not only particular parts, as before, but the whole system of +justice was to be afloat, and to be subject to the purposes of the +aforesaid corrupt cabal of women and eunuchs.</p> + +<p>XXV. That the Court of Directors, on receiving an account of the above +arrangements, and being well apprised of the spirit, intention, and +probable effect of the same, did, in a clear, firm, and decisive manner, +express their condemnation of the measure, and their rejection and +reprobation of all the pretended grounds and reasons on which the same +was supported,—marking distinctly his prevarication and contradictions +in the same, and pointing to him their full conviction of the unworthy +motives on which he had made so shameful an arrangement: telling him, in +the 17th paragraph of their general letter of the 4th of February, 1779, +"The Nabob's letters of the 25th and 30th of August, of the 3d of +September, and 17th of November, leave us no doubt of the <i>true</i> design +of this <i>extraordinary</i> business being <i>to bring forward</i> Munny Begum, +and again to invest her with improper power and influence, +notwithstanding our former declaration, that <i>so great</i> a part of the +Nabob's allowance had been embezzled and misapplied under her +superintendence."</p> + +<p>XXVI. That, in consequence of the censure and <!-- Page 196 --><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196" title="196" class="pagenum"></a>condemnation of the +unwarrantable measures of the said Warren Hastings by the Court of +Directors, on the aforesaid and other weighty and substantial grounds, +they did order and direct as follows, in the 20th paragraph of the +general letter of the same date. "As we deem it for the welfare of the +country that the office of Naib Subahdar be for the present continued, +and that this high office should be filled by a person of wisdom, +experience, and of approved fidelity to the Company, and as we have no +reason to alter the opinion given of Mahomed Reza Khân in our letter of +the 24th of December, 1776, we positively direct, that you forthwith +signify to the Nabob Mobarek ul Dowlah our pleasure that Mahomed Reza +Khân be immediately restored to the office of Naib Subahdar; and we +further direct, that Mahomed Reza Khân be again assured of the +continuance of our favor, so long as a firm attachment to the interest +of the Company and a proper discharge of the duties of his station shall +render him worthy of our protection."</p> + +<p>XXVII. That the aforesaid direction did convey in it such evident and +cogent reason, and was so far enforced by justice to individuals and by +regard to the peace and happiness of the natives, as well as by the +common decorum to be observed in all the transactions of government, +that the said Hastings ought to have yielded a cheerful obedience +thereto, even if he had not been by a positive statute, and his relation +of servant to the Company, bound to that just submission. Yet the said +Hastings did, without denying or evading any one of the reasons assigned +by the Court of Directors, or controverting the scandalous <!-- Page 197 --><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197" title="197" class="pagenum"></a>motives +assigned by them for his conduct, contumaciously refuse obedience to the +above positive order, on pretence that the Nabob, who, he had declared +it on record "to be as visible as the light of the sun, is a mere +pageant, and without even the shadow of authority," did dissent from the +same; and he did encourage the said Nabob, or rather the eunuchs, the +corrupt ministers of Munny Begum, to oppose himself and themselves to +the authority of the said Court of Directors: by which means the +arrangement, three times either ratified or expressly ordered by them, +was wholly defeated; the aforesaid corrupt system was continued; Mahomed +Reza Khân was not restored to his office; and a lesson was taught to the +natives of all ranks, that the declared approbation, the avowed +sanction, and the decided authority of the Court of Directors were +wholly nugatory to their protection against the corrupt influence of +their servants.</p> + +<p>XXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings, on a reconciliation with Mr. +Francis, one of the Council-General, who made it a condition thereof +that certain of the Company's orders should be obeyed, and that Mahomed +Reza Khân should be restored to his offices, did, a considerable time +after, notwithstanding the pretended reluctance of the Nabob, and his +pretended freedom, make, for his convenience in the said accommodation, +the arrangement which he had unwarrantably and illegally refused to the +orders of the Court of Directors, and did of his own authority and that +of the board restore Mahomed Reza Khân to his offices.<!-- Page 198 --><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198" title="198" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>XXIX. That soon after the departure of the said Mr. Francis he did again +deprive the said Mahomed Reza Khân of his said offices, and did make +several great changes in the constitution of the criminal justice in the +said country; and after having, under pretence of the Nabob's +sufficiency for the management of his own affairs, displaced, without +any specific charge, trial, or inquiry whatsoever, the said Mahomed Reza +Khân, he did submit the said Nabob to the entire direction, in all parts +of his concerns, of a Resident of his own nomination, Sir John D'Oyly, +Baronet, and did order an account of the most minute parts of his +domestic economy to be made out, and to be delivered to the said Sir +John D'Oyly, in the following words, contained in a paper by him +intituled, INSTRUCTIONS from the Governor-General to the Nabob Mobarek +ul Dowlah respecting his conduct in the management of his affairs. "You +will be pleased to direct your <i>mutseddies</i> to form an account of the +fixed sums of your monthly expenses, such as servants' wages in the +different departments, pensions, and other allowances, as well as of the +estimated amount of variable expenses, to be delivered to Sir John +D'Oyly <i>for my inspection</i>. I have given such orders to Sir John D'Oyly +as will enable him to propose to you such reductions of the pensions and +other allowances, and such a distribution of the variable expenses, as +shall be proportionable to the total sum of your monthly income; <i>and I +must request you will conform to it</i>." And he did, in the subsequent +articles of his said instructions, order the whole management to be +directed by Sir John D'Oyly, subject to his own directions as aforesaid; +and did even direct what company he should keep; <!-- Page 199 --><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199" title="199" class="pagenum"></a>and did throw +reflections on some persons, in places the nearest to him, as of bad +character and base origin,—persons whom he should decline to name as +such, "unless he heard that they still availed themselves of his +goodness to retain <i>the places</i> which they improperly hold near his +person." And he did particularly order the said Nabob not to admit any +English, but such as the said Sir John D'Oyly should approve, to his +presence; and did repeat the said order in the following peremptory +manner: "You <i>must forbid any</i> person of <i>that nation</i> to be intruded +into <i>your</i> presence without <i>his</i> introduction." And he did require his +obedience in the following authoritative style: "I shall think myself +obliged to interfere <i>in another manner</i>, if you neglect it."</p> + +<p>XXX. That he, the said Warren Hastings, did insult the captive condition +of the said Nabob by informing him, in his imperious instructions +aforesaid, that this total, blind, and implicit obedience, in every +respect whatsoever, to Sir John D'Oyly and himself personally, and +without any reference to the board, "was the very <i>conditions</i> of the +compliance of the Governor-General and Council with his late +requisition"; which requisition was, that he should enjoy <i>the free and +uncontrolled</i> management of his own affairs. And though the said captive +did offer, as he, the said Hastings, himself admits, <i>four lacs</i> of his +stipend, at that time reduced to sixteen lac, for <i>the free use of the +remainder</i>, yet he did place him, the said Nabob, in the state of +servitude in the said instructions laid down but a very short time after +he had assumed and used the said Nabob's independent rights as a ground +for refusing to obey the Com<!-- Page 200 --><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200" title="200" class="pagenum"></a>pany's orders,—and although he has +declared, or pretended, on another occasion, which he would have thought +similar, that any attempt to limit the household expenses of the Nabob +of Oude was an indignity, "which no man living, however mean his rank in +life, or dependent his condition in it, would permit to be exercised by +any other, without the want or forfeiture of every manly principle."</p> + +<p>XXXI. That the said Warren Hastings did order the said stipend (which +was to be distributed, in the minutest particular, according to the said +Hastings's personal directions) to be paid monthly, not to any officer +of the Nabob, but to the said Resident, Sir John D'Oyly. And whereas the +Governor-General and Council did, on the appointment of Mahomed Reza +Khân, according to their duty, instruct him, that "he do conform to the +<i>orders</i> of the Company, which direct that an annual account of the +Nabob's expenses be transmitted through the Resident at the Durbar, for +the inspection of this <i>board</i>" the said Hastings, in making his new +establishment in favor of his Resident, did wholly omit the said +instruction, and did confine the said communication to <i>himself</i>, +privately. And in fact it does not appear that any account whatsoever of +the disposition of the said large sum, exceeding 160,000<i>l.</i> sterling a +year, has been laid before the board, or at least that any such account +has been transmitted to the Court of Directors; and it is not fitting +that any British servant of the Company should have the management of +any public money, much less of so great a sum, without a public +well-vouched account of the specific expenditure thereof.<!-- Page 201 --><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201" title="201" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>XXXII. That the Court of Directors did, on the 17th of May, 1766, +propose certain rules for regulating the correspondence of the Resident +with the Nabob of Bengal, in which they did direct, as a principle for +the said regulations, as follows (paragraph 16th). "We would have his +correspondence to be carried on with the <i>Select Committee</i> through the +channel of the President: he should keep a diary of all his +transactions. His correspondence with the natives <i>must be publicly +conducted</i>: copies of <i>all</i> his letters, sent and received, be +transmitted monthly to the Presidency, with duplicates and triplicates +to be transmitted home in our general packet by every ship."</p> + +<p>XXXIII. That the President and Select Committee (Lord Clive being then +President) did approve of the whole substantial part of the said +regulation (the diary excepted); and the principle, in all matters of +account, ought to have been strictly adhered to, whatever limitations +may have been given to the office of Resident. Yet he, the said Warren +Hastings, in defiance of the aforesaid good rules, orders, and late +precedent in conformity to the same, did not only withhold any order for +the purpose, but, in order to carry on the business of the said durbar +in a clandestine manner for his own purposes, did, as aforesaid, exclude +all English from an intercourse with the Nabob, who might carry +complaints or representations to the board, or the Court of Directors, +of his condition, or the conduct of the Resident,—and did further, to +defeat all possible publicity, insinuate to him to give the preference +to verbal communication above letters, in the words <!-- Page 202 --><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202" title="202" class="pagenum"></a>following, of the +ninth article of his instructions to the Nabob: "Although I desire to +receive your letters frequently, yet, as many matters will occur which +cannot be <i>so easily explained by letters as by conversation</i>, I desire +that you will on such occasions give your orders to him respecting such +points as you may desire to have imparted to me; and I, postponing every +other concern, will give an immediate and the most satisfactory reply +concerning them." Accordingly, no relation whatsoever has been received +by the Court of Directors of the said Nabob's affairs, nor any account +of the money monthly paid, except from public fame, which reports that +his affairs are in groat disorder, his servants unpaid, and many of them +dismissed, and all the Mussulmen dependent on his family in a state of +indigence.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVIII_THE_MOGUL_DELIVERED_UP_TO_THE_MAHRATTAS" id="XVIII_THE_MOGUL_DELIVERED_UP_TO_THE_MAHRATTAS" />XVIII.—THE MOGUL DELIVERED UP TO THE MAHRATTAS.</h2> + + +<p>I. That Shah Allum, the prince commonly called the Great Mogul, or, by +eminence, <i>The King</i>, is, or lately was, in the possession of the +ancient capital of Hindostan, and though without any considerable +territory, and without a revenue sufficient to maintain a moderate +state, he is still much respected and considered, and the custody of his +person is eagerly sought by many of the princes in India, on account of +the use to be made of his title and authority; and it was for the +interest of the East India Company, that, while on one hand no wars +shall be entered into in support of his pretensions, on the other no +steps should be taken which may tend to <!-- Page 203 --><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203" title="203" class="pagenum"></a>deliver him into the hands of +any of the powerful states of that country, but that he should be +treated with friendship, good faith, and respectful attention.</p> + +<p>II. That Warren Hastings, in contradiction to this safe, just, and +honorable policy, strongly prescribed and enforced by the orders of the +Court of Directors, did, at a time when he was engaged in a negotiation +the declared purpose of which was to give peace to India, concur with +the captain-general of the Mahratta state, called Mahdajee Sindia, in +hostile designs against the few remaining territories of that same Mogul +emperor, by virtue of whose grant the Company actually possess the +government and enjoy the revenues of great provinces, and also against +the possessions of a Mahomedan chief called Nudjif Khân, a person of +much merit with the East India Company, in acknowledgment of which they +had granted him a pension, included in the tribute due to the king, and, +together with that tribute, taken from him by the said Warren Hastings, +though expressly <i>guarantied</i> to him by the Company. With both these +powers the Company had been in friendship, and were actually at peace at +the time of the said clandestine concurrence in a design against them; +and the said Hastings hath since declared, that the right of one of +them, namely, "the right of the Mogul emperor, to our assistance, has +been constantly acknowledged."</p> + +<p>III. That the said Warren Hastings, at the time of his treacherous +concurrence in a design against a power which he was himself of opinion +we were bound to assist, and against whom there was no <!-- Page 204 --><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204" title="204" class="pagenum"></a>doubt he was +bound neither to form nor to concur in any hostile attempt, did give a +caution to Colonel Muir, to whom the negotiation aforesaid was intrusted +on the part of the Company, against "inserting anything in the treaty +which might <i>expressly</i> mark our <i>knowledge</i> of his [the Mahratta +general's] views, <i>or concurrence in them</i>." Which said transaction was +full of duplicity and fraud; and the crime of the said Hastings therein +is aggravated by his having some years before withheld the tribute which +by treaty was solemnly agreed to be paid to the said king, on pretence +that he had thrown himself, for the recovery of his city of Delhi, on +the protection of the Mahrattas, whom the said Warren Hastings then +called <i>the natural enemies</i> of the Company, and the growth of whose +power he then alleged to be highly dangerous to the interests of this +kingdom in India.</p> + +<p>IV. That, after having concurred, in the manner before mentioned, in a +design of the Mahrattas against the Mogul, and notwithstanding he, the +said Warren Hastings, had formerly declared, "that with him [the Mogul] +our connection had been a long time suspended, and <i>he wished never to +see it renewed</i>, as it had proved a fatal drain to the wealth of Bengal +and the treasury of the Company, without yielding one advantage or +possible resource, even of remote benefits, in return," the said Warren +Hastings did nevertheless, on or about the month of March, 1783, with +the privity and consent of the members of the board, but by no +authoritative act, dispatch, as agents of him, the Governor-General +only, and not as agents of the Governor-General and Council, as they +ought to have been, certain persons, among whom were Ma<!-- Page 205 --><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205" title="205" class="pagenum"></a>jor Browne and +Major Davy, to the court of the king at Delhi, and did there enter into +certain engagements with the said king by the means of those agents, and +did carry on certain private and dangerous intrigues for various +purposes, particularly for making war in favor of the said king against +some powers or princes not precisely described, but which, as may be +inferred from a subsequent correspondence, were certain Mahomedan +princes in the neighborhood of Delhi in amity with the Company, and some +of them at that time in the actual service and in the apparent +confidence and favor of the said Mogul; and he did order Major Browne to +offer to the Mogul king to provide for the <i>entire</i> expense of <i>any</i> +troops the Shah [the said king] might require; and the proposal was +accordingly accepted, with the conditions annexed: by which proposal and +acceptance thereof the East India Company was placed in a situation of +great and perplexing difficulty; since either they were to engage, at an +unlimited <i>expense</i>, in new wars, contrary to their orders, contrary to +their general declared policy, and contrary to the published resolutions +of the House of Commons, and wholly incompatible with the state of their +finances, or, to preserve peace, they must risk the imputation of a new +violation of faith, by departing from an agreement made on the voluntary +proposal of their own government,—the agent of the said Hastings having +declared, in his letter to the said Hastings, by him communicated to the +board, "that the business of assisting the Shah [the Mogul emperor] can +and <i>must</i> go on, if we wish to be secure in India, or regarded as a +nation of faith and honor."<!-- Page 206 --><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206" title="206" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>V. That the said Warren Hastings did, on the 20th day of January, 1784, +send in circulation to the other members of the Council a letter to him +from his agent, Major Browne, dated at Delhi, on the 30th of December, +1783, viz., that letter to which the foregoing references are made, in +which the said Browne did directly press, and indirectly (though +sufficiently and strongly) suggest, several highly dangerous measures +for realizing the general offers and engagements of the said Warren +Hastings,—proposing, that, besides a proportion of field artillery, and +a train of battering cannon for the purpose of sieges, six regiments of +sepoys in the Company's service should be transferred to that of the +said king, and that certain other corps should also be raised for the +said service in the English provinces and dependencies, to be +immediately under the king's [the Mogul's] orders, and to be maintained +by assignments of territorial revenue within the province of Oude, a +dependent member of the British government, but with a caution against +having any British officer with the same; the said Major Browne +expressing his caution as followeth: "If any European officer <i>be</i> with +this corps, a very nice judgment indeed must direct the choice; for +scarce any are in the smallest degree <i>fit</i> for <i>such</i> employ, but much +more likely to do harm than good." And the letter aforesaid being +without any observation thereon, or any disavowal of the matters of fact +or of the counsels so strongly and authoritatively delivered therein by +the said Warren Hastings's agent, and without any mark of disapprobation +of any part of his plan, whether that of the assignment of territory +belonging to the Company's allies for the maintenance of troops which +were to be by that plan put <!-- Page 207 --><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207" title="207" class="pagenum"></a>under the orders of a foreign independent +power, or that of employing the said troops without any British officer +with them, or for his alarming observation by him entered on the +Company's records, which, if not an implied censure on the nature of the +service in which British officers are supposed improper to be trusted, +is a strong reflection on the character of the British officers, which +was to render them unfit to be employed in an honorable service,—the +said Warren Hastings did thereby give a countenance to the said +unwarrantable and dangerous proposals and reflections.</p> + +<p>VI. That a considerable time before the production and circulation of +Major Browne's letter, the said Hastings did enter a Minute of +Consultation containing a proposition similar in the general intent to +that in the said letter contained for assisting the Mogul with a +military force; but the other members of the board did disagree thereto, +and, being alarmed at the disposition so strongly shown by the said +Hastings to engage in new wars and dangerous foreign connections, and +possibly having intelligence of the proceedings of his agent, did call +upon him to produce his instructions to Major Browne; and he did, on the +5th of October, 1783, and not before, enter on the Consultations a +certain paper purporting to be the instructions which he had given to +Major Browne the preceding March, the time of his, the said Browne's, +appointment, in which pretended instructions no direction whatsoever was +given to the effect of his, the said Hastings's, Minute of Consultation +propounded: that is to say, no power was given in the said instructions +to make a direct offer of military aid to the <!-- Page 208 --><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208" title="208" class="pagenum"></a>Mogul, or to form the +arrangements stated by the said Browne, in his letter to the said +Hastings, as having been made by the express authority of the said +Hastings himself; but the said instructions contained nothing further on +that subject but a conditional direction, that, in case a military force +should be required for the Mogul's aid or protection, the Major is to +know the service on which it is to be employed, and the resources from +whence it is to be paid; and the instructions produced as his real +instructions by the said Hastings are so guarded as to caution the said +Browne against <i>taking any part in the intrigues of those who are about +the King's person</i>. By which letters, instructions, and transactions, +compared with each other, it appears that the said Warren Hastings, +after six months' delay in entering of (contrary to the Company's order) +any instructions to the said Browne, did at last enter a false paper as +the true, or that he did give other secret instructions, totally +different from, and even opposite to, his public ostensible +instructions, thereby to deceive the Council, and to carry on with less +obstruction dark and dangerous intrigues, contrary to the orders of the +Court of Directors, to the true policy of this kingdom, and to the +safety of the British possessions in the East.</p> + +<p>VII. That the said letter from Major Browne was by the said Warren +Hastings transmitted to the Court of Directors, without being +accompanied by any part of the previous correspondence; by which wilful +concealment the said Warren Hastings is guilty of an high and criminal +disrespect to the Court of Directors, and of a most flagrant breach and +violation of their orders, which he was bound by an act of Parliament to +obey.<!-- Page 209 --><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209" title="209" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>VIII. That the said Hastings having early in the year 1784 procured to +himself a deputation to act in the upper provinces, the Council, being +well aware of his disposition to engage in unwarrantable designs against +the neighboring states, did expressly confine his powers to the +circumstance of his actual residence within the Company's provinces. But +it appears that ways were found out by which he hoped to defeat the +precautions of the board: for the said Warren Hastings did write from +Lucknow, the capital of the country of Oude, to the Court of Directors, +a certain postscript of a letter, dated the 4th of May, 1784, in which +he informs the Court that the son and heir-apparent of the Great Mogul +had taken refuge with him and the Nabob of Oude; that he had a +conference with that prince on the 10th of the same month of May, "no +person being either present or within hearing" during the same; and that +in the said conference the prince had informed him of the distresses of +his father, and his wish for the relief of the king and the restoration +of the dominions of his house, as well as to rescue him from the power +of certain persons not named, who degraded him into a mere instrument of +their interested and sordid designs, and that, on a failure of his +application to him, he would either return to his father, or proceed to +Calcutta, and thence to England; and that the said Warren Hastings did +give him an answer to the following effect: "That our [the British] +government had just obtained relief from a state of universal warfare, +and required a term of repose; that our whole nation was weary of war, +and dreaded the renewal of it, <i>and would he equally alarmed at any +movement of which it could not see the issue or progress,<!-- Page 210 --><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210" title="210" class="pagenum"></a> but which +might eventually tend to create new hostilities</i>; that he came hither +[to Lucknow] with a limited authority, and could not, if he chose it, +engage in a business of that nature <i>without the concurrence of his +colleagues in office, who he believed would be adverse to it</i>; that he +would represent the same to the joint members of his own government, and +wait their determination. In the mean time he advised the prince to make +advances to Mahdajee Sindia, both because our government <i>was in +intimate and sworn connection</i> with him, and because he was the +effectual head of the Mahratta state; besides that he [the said Warren +Hastings] feared his [Sindia's] taking the other side of the question, +unless he was early prevented."</p> + +<p>IX. That in the statement of this discourse there is much criminal +reserve towards the Court of Directors,—it not appearing distinctly +what the objects were, nor who the persons concerned, nor what the side +was which he apprehended the Mahrattas might take, if not prevented by +his advances; and in the discourse itself there were many particulars +highly criminal, namely,—for that in the said conversation, in which he +describes himself as declining a compliance with the request of the +prince on account of the aversion (therein strongly expressed) of his +colleagues, of the Company, and of the whole British nation, to engage +in any measures which might even "<i>eventually lead to hostilities</i>," he +spoke to the prince as if he had been entirely ignorant of the offers +which but five months before had been made to the king, his father, on +the part of that very government, (whose repugnance to such measures he +then for the <!-- Page 211 --><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211" title="211" class="pagenum"></a>first time chose to profess, but which he always had +known,) through Major Browne, the Company's representative at the court +of Delhi, "to provide for the <i>entire</i> expense of <i>any</i> troops which the +Shah [the king] might require," and that this was "what the Resident had +<i>always</i> proposed to the king and his confidential ministers,"—the said +Browne further declaring, "that, if, in consequence of the said +proposals, certain arrangements for the Shah's service by <i>troops</i> were +not immediately ordered, in his opinion all our [English government's] +<i>offers and promises</i> will be considered as false and insidious." This +being the known state of the business, as represented by the said +Hastings's own agent, and this the public opinion of it, although to +impose on the ignorance of the prince with regard to the proceedings at +his father's court would have been unworthy in itself, yet he, the said +Warren Hastings, could not hope to succeed in such imposition, as in the +postscript aforesaid he represents the said prince (who was the king's +eldest son, and thirty-six years of age) as a person of considerable +qualifications, and perfectly acquainted with the transactions at his +father's court, and as one who had long held the <i>principal</i> and most +active part in the little that remained of <i>the administration of Shah +Allum</i>. And the said Hastings conferring with a prince so well +instructed, without making the slightest allusions to his said positive +and recent engagements, or without giving any explanation with regard to +them, the said Warren Hastings must appear to the said prince either as +a person not only contracting engagements, but actually being the first +mover and proposer of them, without any authority from <i>his colleagues</i>, +and against theirs and the gen<!-- Page 212 --><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212" title="212" class="pagenum"></a>eral inclination of the British nation, +and on that ground not to be trusted, or that he had used this plea of +disagreement between him and his Council as a pretence, set up without +color or decency, for a gross violation of his own engagements, leaving +the princes and states of the country no solid ground on which they can +or ought to contract with the Company, to the utter destruction of all +public confidence, and to the equal disgrace of the national candor, +integrity, and wisdom.</p> + +<p>X. That in a letter dated from the same place, Lucknow, the 16th of the +following June, 1784, the said Warren Hastings informs the Court of +Directors, that Major Browne, their agent to the Mogul, had arrived +there in the character also of agent from the Mogul, with two sets of +instructions from two opposite parties in his ministry, which +instructions were directly contrary to each other: the first, which were +the ostensible instructions, being to engage the said Hastings, in the +Mogul's name, to enter into a treaty of mutual alliance with a chief of +the country, then minister to the said Mogul, called Afrasaib Khân; the +second were from another principal person, called Mudjed ul Dowlah, also +a minister of the said Mogul, (but styled in the said letter +<i>confidential</i>, for distinction,) which were directly destructive of the +former; and the said latter instructions, to which it seems credence was +to be given, were sent "under the most solemn adjurations of secrecy." +The purpose of these latter and secret instructions was to require the +Company's aid in freeing the Mogul from the oppressions of his servants, +namely, from the oppressions of the said Afrasaib, between whom and the +Com<!-- Page 213 --><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213" title="213" class="pagenum"></a>pany Major Browne (at once agent to that Company, and to two +opposite factions in the Mogul's court) accepted a power to make a +treaty of mutual alliance under the sanction of his sovereign. And it +does not appear that he, Warren Hastings, did discountenance the +double-dealing and fraudulent agencies of his and the Company's minister +at that court, or did disavow any particular in the letter from him, the +said Browne, of the 30th of December, 1783, stating the offers made on +his part to the Mogul, so contradictory to his late declarations to the +heir-apparent of that monarch, or did give any reprimand to the said +Browne, or did show any mark of displeasure against him, as having acted +without orders, but did again send him, with renewed confidence, to the +court aforesaid.</p> + +<p>XI. That the said Warren Hastings, still pursuing his said evil designs, +did apply to the Council for discretionary powers relative to the +intrigues and factions in the Mogul's court, giving assurances of his +resolution not to proceed against their sense; but the said Council, +being fully aware of his disposition, and having Major Browne's letter, +recorded by himself, the said Warren Hastings, before them, did refuse +to grant the said discretionary powers, but, on the contrary, did exhort +him "most sedulously and cautiously to avoid, in his correspondence with +the different princes in India, whatever may commit, or be strained into +an interpretation of committing the Company, either as to their army or +treasure,"—observing, "that the Company's orders are positive against +their interference in the objects of dispute between the country +powers."<!-- Page 214 --><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214" title="214" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>XII. That, in order to subvert the plain and natural interpretation +given by the Council to the orders of the Court of Directors, and to +justify his dangerous intrigues, the said Warren Hastings, in his letter +of the 16th June, 1784, to the said Court, did, in a most insolent and +contemptuous manner, endeavor to persuade them of their ignorance of the +true sense of their own orders, and to limit their prohibition of +interference with the disputes of the country powers to such country +powers as are <i>permanent</i>,—expressing himself as follows: "The faction +which now surrounds the throne [the Mogul's throne] is widely different +from the idea which your commands are intended to convey by the +expressions to which you have generally applied them, of <i>country +powers</i>, to which that <i>of permanency is a necessary adjunct</i>, and which +may be more properly compared to a splendid bubble, which the slightest +breath of opposition may dissipate with every trace of its existence." +By which construction the said Hastings did endeavor to persuade the +Court of Directors that they meant to confine their prohibition of +sinister intrigues to those powers only who could not be easily hurt by +them, and whose strength was such that their resentment of such +clandestine interference was to be dreaded; but that, where the powers +were weak and fragile, such intrigues might be allowed.</p> + +<p>XIII. That the said Hastings, further to persuade the Court of Directors +to involve themselves in the affairs of the Mogul, and to reconcile this +measure with his former conduct and declared opinions, did write to them +to the following effect: That "at that former period to which the +ancient policy with regard <!-- Page 215 --><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215" title="215" class="pagenum"></a>to the Mogul applied, the king's authority +was sufficiently respected" (which he knew not to be true,—having +himself declared, in his minute of the 25th of October, 1774, "that he +remained at Delhi, the ancient capital of the empire, <i>a mere cipher</i> in +the administration of it") to maintain itself against common +vicissitudes; that he would not have advised interference, if the king +himself retained the exercise of it, <i>however feeble</i>, in his own hands; +that, if it [the Mogul's authority] is suffered to receive its final +extinction, it is impossible to foresee <i>what power may arise out of its +ruins</i>, or what events may be linked in the same chain of revolution +with it: but your interests <i>may</i> suffer by it, your reputation +<i>certainly will</i>, as his right to our assistance <i>has been constantly +acknowledged</i>, and by a train of consequences to which our government +has not intentionally given birth, but most especially by the movements +which <i>its influence, by too near an approach</i>, has excited, it has +unfortunately become the efficient instrument of a great portion of the +king's present distresses and dangers,—intimating (as well as the +studied obscurity of his expressions will permit anything to be +discerned) that his own late intrigues had been among the causes of the +distresses and dangers, which by new intrigues he did pretend to remove: +and he did conclude this part of his letter with some loose general +expressions of his caution not to affect the Company's interests or +revenues by any measures he might at that time take.</p> + +<p>XIV. That the principle, so far as the same hath been directly avowed, +of the said proceedings at the Mogul's court, was as altogether +irrational, and the pretended object as impracticable, as the means +taken <!-- Page 216 --><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216" title="216" class="pagenum"></a>in pursuit of it were fraudulent and dishonorable, namely, the +restoration of the Mogul in some degree to the dignity of his situation, +and to his free agency in the conduct of his affairs. For the said +Hastings, at the very time in which he did with the greatest apparent +earnestness urge the purpose which he pretended to have in view with +regard to the dignity and liberty of the Mogul emperor, did represent +him as a person wholly disqualified, and even indisposed, to take any +active part whatsoever in the conduct of his own affairs, and that any +attempt for that purpose would be utterly impracticable; and this he +hath stated to the Court of Directors as a matter of public notoriety, +in his said letter of the 16th of June, 1784, in the following +emphatical and decisive terms.</p> + +<p>"<i>You need not be told</i> the character of the king, whose inertness, and +the habit of long-suffering, has debased his dignity and the fortunes of +his house <i>beyond the power of retrieving either the one or the other</i>. +Whilst his personal repose is undisturbed, he will <i>prefer</i> to live in +<i>the meanest state of indigence</i>, under the rule of men whose views are +bounded by avarice and the power which they derive from his authority, +rather than commit any share of it to his own sons, (though his +affection for them is boundless in every other respect,) from a natural +jealousy, founded on the experience of a very different combination of +those circumstances which once served as a temptation and example of +unlawful ambition in the princes of the royal line. His ministers, from +a policy more reasonable, have constantly employed every means of +influence to confirm this disposition, and to prevent his sons from +having any share in the distribution of affairs, so as to have +established a complete usurpation <!-- Page 217 --><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217" title="217" class="pagenum"></a>of the royal prerogative under its +own sanction and patronage."</p> + +<p>XV. That the said Warren Hastings, having given this opinion of the +sovereign for whose freedom he pretended so anxious a concern, did +describe the minister with whom he had long acted in concurrence, and +from whom he had just received the extraordinary secret embassy +aforesaid for the purpose of effecting the deliverance of his master, +the Mogul, from the usurpations of <i>his ministers</i>, as follows. "The +first minister, Mudjed ul Dowlah, is <i>totally</i> deficient in every +military quality, conceited of his own superior talents, and formed to +the practice of <i>that crooked policy which, generally defeats its own +purpose</i>, but sincerely attached to his master." The reality of the said +attachment was not improbable, but altogether useless, as the said +minister was the only one among the principal persons about the king who +(besides the total want of all military and civil ability) possessed no +territories, troops, or other means of serving and supporting him, but +was himself solely upheld by his influence over his master: neither doth +the said Hastings free him, any more than the persons more efficient, +who were to be destroyed, from a disposition to alienate the king from +an attention to his affairs, and from all confidence in his own family; +but, on the contrary, he brings him forward as the very first among the +instances he adduces to exemplify the practices of the ministers against +their sovereign and his children.</p> + +<p>XVI. That the said Warren Hastings, recommending in general terms, and +yet condemning in detail, <!-- Page 218 --><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218" title="218" class="pagenum"></a>every part of his own pretended plan, as +impracticable in itself, and as undertaken in favor of persons all of +whom he describes as incapable, and the principal as indisposed to avail +himself thereof, must have had some other motives for this long, +intricate, dark, and laborious proceeding with the Mogul, which must be +sought in his actions, and the evident drift and tendency thereof, and +in declarations which were brought out by him to serve other purposes, +but which serve fully to explain his real intentions in this intrigue.</p> + +<p>XVII. That the other members of the Council-General having abundantly +certified their averseness to his intrigues, and even having shown +apprehensions of his going personally to the Mogul and the Mahrattas for +the purpose of carrying on the same, the said Hastings was driven +headlong to acts which did much more openly indicate the true nature and +purpose of his machinations. For he at length recurred directly, and +with little disguise, to the Mahrattas, and did open an intrigue with +them, although he was obliged to confess, in his letter aforesaid of the +16th June, 1784, that the exception which he contended to be implied in +the orders of the Court of Directors forbidding the intermeddling in the +disputes of "the country powers," namely, "powers not permanent," did by +no means apply to the Mahrattas; and he informs the Court of Directors +that he did, on the very first advice he received of the flight of the +Mogul's son, write to Mr. James Anderson to apprise the Mahratta chief, +Sindia, of that event,—"for which as he was unprepared, he desired his +[the said Sindia's] advice for his conduct on the occasion of it." Which +method of calling for the advice of a <!-- Page 219 --><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219" title="219" class="pagenum"></a>foreign power to regulate his +political conduct, instead of being regulated therein by the advice of +the British Council and the standing orders of the Court of Directors, +was a procedure highly criminal; and the crime is aggravated by his not +communicating the said correspondence to the Council-General, as by his +duty he was bound to do; but it does abundantly prove his concert with +the Mahrattas in all that related to his negotiations in the Mogul +court, which were carried on agreeably to their advice, and in +subserviency to their views and purposes.</p> + +<p>XVIII. That, in consequence of the cabal begun with the Mahrattas, the +said chief, Sindia, did send his "familiar and confidential ministers" +to him, the said Hastings, being at Lucknow, with whom the said Hastings +did hold several secret conferences, without any secretary or other +assistant: and the said Hastings hath not conveyed to the Court of +Directors any minutes thereof, but hath purposely involved even the +general effect and tendency of these conferences in such obscurity that +it is no otherwise possible to perceive the drift and tendency of the +same, but by the general scope of councils and acts relative to the +politics of the Mogul and of the Mahrattas together, and by the final +event of the whole, which is sufficiently visible. For</p> + +<p>XIX. That the said Hastings had declared, in his said letter of the 16th +June, 1784, that the Mogul's right to our assistance had been constantly +acknowledged, that the Mogul had been oppressed by the lesser Mahomedan +princes in the character of his officers of state and military +commanders, and he did <!-- Page 220 --><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220" title="220" class="pagenum"></a>plainly intimate that the said Mogul ought to be +relieved from that servitude. And he did, in giving an account to the +Court of Directors of the conferences aforesaid, assure them that "his +inclinations [the inclinations of the Mahratta chief aforesaid] were not +very dissimilar from his own"; and that "neither in this nor in any +other instance would he suffer himself to be drawn into measures which +shall tend to weaken their connection, nor <i>in this even to oppose his</i> +[the said chiefs] <i>inclinations</i>": the said Hastings well knowing, as in +his letter to Colonel Muir of the —— he has confessed, that the +inclinations of the said Sindia were to seize on the Mogul's +territories, and that he himself did secretly concur therein, though he +did not formally insert his concurrence in the treaty with the said +Mahratta chief. It is plain, therefore, that he did all along concur +with the Mahrattas in their designs against the said king and his +ministers, under the treacherous pretence of supporting the authority of +the former against the latter, and did contrive and effect the ruin of +them all. For, first, he did give evil and fraudulent counsel to the +heir-apparent of the Mogul "to make advances to the Mahrattas," when he +well knew, and had expressly concurred in, the designs of that state +against his father's, the Mogul's, dominions; and further to engage and +entrap the said prince, did assert that "our government" (meaning the +British government) "was in intimate and sworn connection with Mahdajee +Sindia," when no alliance, offensive or defensive, appears to exist +between the said Sindia and the East India Company, nor can exist, +otherwise than in virtue of some secret agreement between him, the said +Sindia, and Warren Hastings, entered <!-- Page 221 --><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221" title="221" class="pagenum"></a>into by the latter without the +knowledge of his colleagues and the government, and never communicated +to the Court of Directors. And, secondly, he did, in order to further +the designs of the Mahrattas, contrive and effect the ruin of the said +Mogul and his authority, by setting on foot, through the aforesaid Major +Browne, sundry perplexed and intricate negotiations, contrary to public +faith, and to the honor of the British nation; by which he did +exceedingly increase the confusion and disorders of the Mogul's court, +exposing the said Mogul to new indignities, insults, and distresses, and +almost all of the northern parts of India to great and ruinous +convulsions, until three out of four of the principal chieftains, some +of them possessing the territories lately belonging to Nudjif Khân, and +maintaining among them eighty thousand troops of horse and foot, and +some of which chiefs wore the ministers aforesaid, being cut off by +their mutual dissensions, and the fort of Delhi being at length +delivered to the Mahrattas, the said Sindia became the uncontrolled +ruler of the royal army, and the person of the Mogul, with the use of +all his pretensions and claims, fell into the hands of a nation already +too powerful, together with an extensive territory, which entirely +covers the Company's possessions and dependencies on one side, and +particularly those of the Nabob of Oude.</p> + +<p>XX. That the circumstances of these countries did, in the opinion of the +said Warren Hastings himself, sufficiently indicate to him the necessity +of not aggrandizing any power whatsoever on their borders, he having in +the aforesaid letter of the 16th June given a deliberate opinion of the +situation of Oude in <!-- Page 222 --><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222" title="222" class="pagenum"></a>the words following: "That, whilst we are at peace +with the powers of Europe, it is only in this quarter that your +possessions under the government of Bengal are vulnerable." And he did +further in the said letter state, that, "if things had continued as they +had been to that time, with a divided government," (viz., the Company's +and the Vizier's, which government he had himself established, and under +which it ever must in a great degree remain, whilst the said country +continues in a state of dependence,) "the <i>slightest</i> shock from a +foreign hand, or even an <i>accidental internal commotion</i>, might have +thrown the whole into confusion, and produced the most fatal +consequences." In this perilous situation he made the above-recited +sacrifices to the ambition of the Mahrattas, and did all along so +actively countenance and forward their proceedings, and with so full a +sense of their effect, that in his minute of the 24th December, 1784, he +has declared, "that in the countries which border on the dominions of +the Nabob Vizier, or on that quarter of our own, in effect <i>there is no +other power</i>." And he did further admit, that the presence of the +Mahratta chief aforesaid, so near the borders of the Nabob's dominions, +was no cause of suspicion; for "that it is the effect <i>of his own +solicitation</i>, and is <i>so far</i> the effect of an act of that government."</p> + +<p>XXI. That, in further pursuit of the same pernicious design, he, the +said Warren Hastings, did enter into an agreement to withdraw a very +great body of the British troops out of the Nabob's +dominions,—asserting, however truly, yet in direct contradiction to his +own declarations, that "this government" (meaning the British +government) "has not any right to <!-- Page 223 --><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223" title="223" class="pagenum"></a>force defence with its maintenance +upon him" (the Nabob); and he did thus not only avowedly aggrandize the +Mahratta state, and weaken the defence upon the frontier, but did as +avowedly detain their captain-general in force on that very frontier, +notwithstanding he was well apprised that they had designs against those +dependent territories of Oude, which they had with great difficulty been +persuaded, even in appearance, to include in the treaty of peace,—and +that they have never renounced their claims upon certain large and +valuable portions of them, and have shown evident signs of their +intentions, on the first opportunity, of asserting and enforcing them. +And, finally, the said Warren Hastings, in contradiction to sundry +declarations of his own concerning the necessity of curbing the power of +the Mahrattas, and to the principle of sundry measures undertaken by +himself professedly for that purpose, and to the sense of the House of +Commons, expressed in their resolution of 28th May, 1782, against any +measures that tended to unite the dangerous powers of the Mahratta +empire under one active command, has endeavored to persuade the Company, +that, "while Sindia lives, every accession of territory obtained by him +will be an advantage to this [the British] government"; which if it was +true as respecting the personal dispositions of Sindia, which there is +no reason to believe, yet it was highly criminal to establish a power in +the Mahrattas which must survive the man in confidence of whose personal +dispositions a power more than personal was given, and which may +hereafter fall into hands disposed to make a more hostile use of it.</p> + +<p>XXII. That, in consequence of all the before-<!-- Page 224 --><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224" title="224" class="pagenum"></a>recited intrigues, the +Mogul emperor being in the hands of the Mahrattas, he, the said Mogul, +has been obliged to declare the head of the Mahratta state to be +vicegerent of the Mogul empire, an authority which supersedes that of +Vizier, and has thereby consolidated in the Mahratta state all the +powers acknowledged to be of legal authority in India; in consequence of +which, they have acquired, and have actually already attempted to use, +the said claims of general superiority against the Company itself,—the +Mahrattas claiming a right in themselves to a fourth part of the +revenues of all the provinces in the Company's possession, and claiming, +in right of the Mogul, the tribute due to him: by which actings and +doings the said Hastings has to the best of his power brought the +British provinces in India into a dependence on the Mahratta state: and +in order to add to the aforesaid enormous claims a proportioned force, +he did never cease, during his stay in India, to contrive the means for +its increase; for it is of public notoriety, that one great object of +the Mahratta policy is to unite under their dominion the nation or +religious sect of the Seiks, who, being a people abounding with +soldiers, and possessing large territories, would extend the Mahratta +power over the whole of the vast countries to the northwest of India.</p> + +<p>XXIII. That the said Warren Hastings, further to augment the power of +the said Mahrattas, and to endanger the safety of the British +possessions, having established in force the said Mahrattas on the +frontier, as afore-recited, and finding the Council-General averse in +that situation to the withdrawing the British forces therefrom, and for +disbanding them to <!-- Page 225 --><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225" title="225" class="pagenum"></a>the extent required by the said Hastings, did, in a +minute of the 4th December, 1784, after stating a supposition, that, +contrary to his opinion, the said troops should not be reduced, propose +to employ them under the command of the Mogul's son, then under the +influence of the Mahrattas, in a war against the aforesaid people or +religious sect called Seiks, defending the same on the following +principles: "I feel the sense of an obligation, imposed on me by the +supposition I have made, to state a mode of rendering the detachment of +use in its prescribed station, and of affording the <i>appearance</i> of a +cause for its retention."</p> + +<p>XXIV. That the said Hastings did admit that there was no present danger +to the Company's possessions from that nation which could justify him in +such a war, as he had declared that the Mahrattas were <i>the only power</i> +that bordered on the Company's possessions and those of the Vizier; but +he did assign as a reason for going to war with them their military and +enthusiastic spirit,—the hardiness of their natural constitution,—the +dangers which might arise from them in some future time, if they should +ever happen to be united under one head, they existing at present in a +state little different from anarchy; and he did predict great danger +from them, and at no very remote period, "if this people be permitted to +grow into maturity without interruption." And though he doth pretend +that the solicitations of the heir-apparent of the Mogul, who, he says, +did repeatedly and earnestly solicit him to obtain the permission to use +the Company's troops for the purpose aforesaid, had weight with him, yet +he doth declare, as he expresses himself in the minute aforesaid, that +"a <!-- Page 226 --><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226" title="226" class="pagenum"></a><i>stronger impulse</i>, arising from the hope of <i>blasting the growth</i> +of a generation whose strength <i>might</i> become fatal to our own, strongly +pleaded in my mind for supporting his wishes."</p> + +<p>XXV. That the said Warren Hastings, after forcibly recommending the plan +aforesaid, did state strong objections, that did, "in his judgment, +outweigh the advantages which might arise from a compliance with it." +Yet the said Hastings, being determined to pursue his scheme for +aggrandizing at any rate the Mahratta power, in whose adult growth and +the recent effects of it he could see no danger, did pursue the design +of war against a nation or sect of religion in its infancy, from whom he +had received no injury, and in whose present state of government he did +not apprehend any mischief whatsoever; and finding the Council fixed and +determined on not disbanding the frontier regiments, and thinking that +therein he had found an advantage, he did ground thereon the following +proposition.</p> + +<p>"If the expense [of the frontier troops] is to be continued, it may be +surely better continued for some useful purpose than to keep up the +parade of a great military corps designed merely to lie inactive in its +quarters. On this ground, therefore, and on the supposition premised, I +revert to my original sentiments in favor of the prince's plan; but as +this will require some qualification in the execution of it, I will +state my recommendation of it in the terms of a proposition, viz., that, +if it shall be the resolution of the board to continue the detachment +now under the command of Colonel Sir John Cumming at Furruckabad, and if +the prince Mirza Jehander Shah shall apply, <i>with the authority of the +king, and the concurrence <!-- Page 227 --><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227" title="227" class="pagenum"></a>of Mahdajee Sindia</i>, for the assistance of an +English military force, to act in conjunction with him, to expel the +Seiks from the territories of which they have lately possessed +themselves in the neighborhood of Delhi, it may be granted, and such a +portion of the said detachment allotted to that service as shall be +hereafter judged adequate to it."</p> + +<p>XXVI. That the said Warren Hastings did, in the said proposal, endeavor +to circumvent and overreach the Council-General, by converting an +apparent and literal compliance with their resolution into a real and +substantial opposition to and disappointment thereof. For his first +proposal was, to withdraw the Company's troops from the Vizier's country +on the pretence of relieving him from the burden of that establishment, +but in reality with a view of facilitating the Mahratta pretensions on +that province, which would then be deprived of the means of defence. And +when the Council rejected the said proposal on the express ground of +danger to the province by withdrawing from the Mahrattas the restraint +of our troops, the said Hastings, finding his first scheme in favor of +the Mahrattas against the provinces dependent on the Company defeated by +the refusal of the Council to concur in the said measure of withdrawing +the troops, did then endeavor to obtain the same purpose in a different +way; and instead of leaving the troops, according to the intention and +policy of the Council, as a check to the ambition and progress of the +Mahrattas, he proposed to employ them in the actual furtherance of those +schemes of aggrandizement of which his colleagues were jealous, and +which it was the object of their resolution to counteract.<!-- Page 228 --><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228" title="228" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>XXVII. That, in the whole of the letters, negotiations, proposals, and +projects of the said Warren Hastings relative to the Mogul, he did +appear to pursue but one object, namely, the aggrandizement of the +lately hostile and always dangerous power of the Mahrattas, and did +pursue the same by means highly dishonorable to the British character +for honor, justice, candor, plain-dealing, moderation, and humanity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIX_LIBEL_ON_THE_COURT_OF_DIRECTORS" id="XIX_LIBEL_ON_THE_COURT_OF_DIRECTORS" />XIX.—LIBEL ON THE COURT OF DIRECTORS.</h2> + + +<p>I. That Warren Hastings, Esquire, was, during the whole of the year +1783, a servant of the East India Company, and was bound by the duties +of that relation not only to yield obedience to the orders of the Court +of Directors, but to give to the whole of their service an example of +submission, reverence, and respect to their authority; and that, if they +should in the course of their duty call in question any part of his +conduct, he was bound to conduct his defence with temper and decency; +and while his conduct was under their consideration, it was not +allowable to print and publish any of his letters to them without their +consent first had and obtained; and he was bound by the same principles +of duty, enforced by still more cogent reasons, to observe, in a paper +intended for publication, great modesty and moderation, and to treat the +said Court of Directors, his lawful masters, with respect.</p> + +<p>II. That the said Warren Hastings did print and publish, or cause to be +printed and published, at Calcutta in Bengal, the narrative of his +<!-- Page 229 --><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229" title="229" class="pagenum"></a>transactions at Benares, in a letter written at that place, without +leave had of the Court of Directors, in order to preoccupy the judgment +of the servants in that settlement, and to gain from them a factious +countenance and support, previous to the judgment and opinion of the +Court of Directors, his lawful superiors.</p> + +<p>III. That the Court of Directors, having come to certain resolutions of +fact relative to the engagements subsisting between them and the Rajah +of Benares, and the manner in which the same had been fulfilled on the +part of the Rajah, did, in the fifth resolution, which was partly a +resolution of opinion, declare as follows: "That it appears to this +Court that the conduct of the Governor-General towards the Rajah, whilst +he was at Benares, was improper; and that the imprisonment of his +person, thereby disgracing him in the eyes of his subjects and others, +was unwarrantable and highly impolitic, and may tend to weaken the +confidence which the native princes of India ought to have in the +justice and moderation of the Company's government."</p> + +<p>IV. That the said resolutions being transmitted to the said Warren +Hastings, he, the said Warren Hastings, did write, and cause to be +printed and published, a certain false, insolent, malicious, and +seditious libel, purporting to be a letter from him, the said Warren +Hastings, to the Court of Directors, dated Fort William, 20th March, +1783, "calculated," as the Directors truly affirm, "to bring contempt, +as well as an odium, on the Court of Directors, for their conduct on +that occasion"; and the said libel had a direct tendency to excite a +spirit of disobe<!-- Page 230 --><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230" title="230" class="pagenum"></a>dience to the lawful government of this nation in India +through all ranks of their service.</p> + +<p>V. That he, the said Warren Hastings, among other insolent and +contumacious charges and aspersions on the Court of Directors, did +address them in the printed letter aforesaid as follows. "I deny that +Rajah Cheyt Sing was a native prince of India. Cheyt Sing is the son of +a collector of the revenue of that province, which his arts, and the +misfortunes of his master, enabled him to convert to a permanent and +hereditary possession. This man, whom <i>you have thus ranked among the +princes</i> of India, will be astonished, when he hears it, at an elevation +so unlooked for, nor less at the independent rights which <i>your</i> +commands have assigned him,—rights which are <i>so foreign to his +conceptions, that I doubt whether he will know in what language to +assert them, unless</i> the example which <i>you have thought it consistent +with justice, however opposite to policy, to show, of becoming his +advocates against your own interests, should inspire any of your own +servants to be his advisers and instructors</i>." And he did further, to +bring into contempt the authority of the Company, and to excite a +resistance to their lawful orders, frame a supposition that the Court of +Directors had intended the restoration of the Rajah of Benares, and on +that ground did presume in the said libel to calumniate, in +disrespectful and contumelious terms, the policy of the Court of +Directors, as well as the person whom he did conceive to be the object +of their protection, as followeth. "Of the consequences of such a policy +I forbear to speak. <i>Most happily, the wretch whose hopes may be excited +by the appearances in his favor is <!-- Page 231 --><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231" title="231" class="pagenum"></a>ill qualified to avail himself of +them</i>, and <i>the force which is stationed in the province of Benares is +sufficient to suppress any symptoms of internal sedition</i>; but it cannot +fail to create distrust and suspense in the minds both of the rulers and +of the people, and such a state is always productive of disorder. But it +is not in this partial consideration that I dread the effects of your +commands; it is in your proclaimed indisposition against the first +executive member of your first government in India. I almost shudder at +the reflection of what might have happened, had these denunciations +against your own minister, in favor of a man universally considered in +this part of the world as justly attainted for his crimes, the murderer +of your servants and soldiers, and the rebel to your authority, arrived +two months earlier."</p> + +<p>VI. That the said Warren Hastings did also presume to censure and +asperse the Court of Directors for the moderate terms in which they had +expressed their displeasure against him, as putting him under the +necessity of stating in his defence a strong accusation against himself, +and as implying in the said Court a consciousness that he was not guilty +of the offences charged upon him,—being, as he asserts, in the +resolutions of the Court of Directors, "arraigned and prejudged of <i>a +violation of national faith, in acts of such complicated aggravation</i>, +that, <i>if they were true</i>, no punishment SHORT OF DEATH could atone for +the injury which the interest and credit of the public had sustained in +them"; and he did therefore censure the said Court for applying no +stronger or more criminating epithets than those of "improper, +unwarrantable, and highly impolitic," to an <!-- Page 232 --><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232" title="232" class="pagenum"></a>offence so by them charged, +and by him described. And though it be true that the expressions +aforesaid are much too reserved for the purpose of duly characterizing +the offences of the said Hastings, yet was it <i>in him</i> most indecent to +libel the Court of Directors for the same; and his implication, from the +tenderness of the epithets and descriptions aforesaid used towards him, +was not only indecent, but ungrounded, malicious, and scandalous,—he +having himself highly, though truly, aggravated "the charge of the +injuries done by him to the Rajah of Benares," in order to bring the +said Directors into contempt and suspicion, the paragraphs in the said +libel being as follow.—"Here I must crave leave to say, that the terms +'improper, unwarrantable, and highly impolitic' are much too gentle, as +deductions from such premises; and as every reader of the latter will +obviously feel, as he reads, the deductions which inevitably belong to +them, I will add, that the strict performance of solemn engagements on +one part, followed by acts directly subversive of them and by total +dispossession on the other, stamps on the perpetrators of the latter the +guilt of the greatest possible violation of faith and justice."—"There +is an appearance of tenderness in this deviation from plain +construction, of which, however meant, I have a right to complain; +because it imposes on me the necessity of framing the terms of the +accusation against myself, which you have only not made, but have stated +the leading arguments to it so strongly, that no one who reads these can +avoid making it, <i>or not know it to have been intended</i>."</p> + +<p>VII. That the said Hastings, being well aware that <!-- Page 233 --><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233" title="233" class="pagenum"></a>his own declarations +did contain the clearest condemnation of his own conduct from his own +pen, did in the said libel attempt to overturn, frustrate, and render of +none effect all the proofs to be given of prevarication, contradiction, +and of opposition of action to principle, which can be used against men +in public trust, and did contend that the same could not be used against +him; and as if false assertions could be justified by factious motives, +he did endeavor to do away the authority of his own <i>deliberate, +recorded</i> declarations, entered by him <i>in writing</i> on the Council-Books +of the Presidency; for, after asserting, <i>but not attempting to prove</i>, +that his declarations were consistent with his conduct, he writes in the +said libel as follows: For "were it otherwise, they were not to be made +the rules of my conduct; and God forbid that every expression dictated +by the impulse of present emergency, and unpremeditatedly uttered in the +heat of party contention, should impose upon me the obligation of a +fixed principle, and be applied to every variable occasion!"</p> + +<p>VIII. That the said Hastings, in order to draw the lawful dependence of +the servants of the Company from the Court of Directors to a factious +dependence on himself, did, in the libel aforesaid, treat the acts and +appointments of their undoubted authority, when exercised in opposition +to his arbitrary will, as ruinous to their affairs, in the following +terms. "It is as well known to the Indian world as to the Court of +English Proprietors, that the first declaratory instruments of the +dissolution of my influence, in the year 1774, were Mr. John Bristow and +Mr. Francis Fowke. By your ancient and known constitution the Governor +<!-- Page 234 --><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234" title="234" class="pagenum"></a>has been ever held forth and understood to possess the ostensible +powers of government; all the correspondence with foreign princes is +conducted in his name; and every person resident with them for the +management of your political concerns is understood to be <i>more +especially his</i> representative, and of <i>his</i> choice: and such ought to +be the rule; for how otherwise can they trust an agent nominated against +the will of <i>his</i> principal? When the state of this administration was +such as seemed to <i>admit of</i> the appointment of Mr. Bristow to the +Residency of Lucknow without <i>much</i> diminution of <i>my own</i> influence, I +gladly seized the occasion to show my readiness to submit to your +commands; I proposed his nomination; he was nominated, and declared to +<i>be the agent of my own choice</i>. Even this effect of my caution <i>is +defeated by your absolute command for his reappointment independent of +me, and with the supposition that I should be adverse to it</i>.—I am now +wholly deprived of my official powers, both in the province of Oude, and +in the zemindary of Benares."</p> + +<p>IX. That, further to emancipate others and himself from due obedience to +the Court of Directors, he did, in the libel aforesaid, enhance his +services, which, without specification or proof, he did suppose in the +said libel to be important and valuable, by representing them as done +under their displeasure, and doth attribute his not having done more to +their opposition, as followeth. "It is now a complete period of eleven +years since I first received the first nominal charge of your affairs; +in the course of it I have <i>invariably</i> had to contend, not with +ordinary difficulties, but such as most <i>unnaturally</i> arose <i>from the +opposition of <!-- Page 235 --><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235" title="235" class="pagenum"></a>those very powers from which I primarily derived my +authority, and which were required for the support of it</i>. My exertions, +though applied to an unvaried and consistent line of action, have been +occasional and desultory; yet I please myself with the hope, that, in +the annals of your dominion, which shall be written after the extinction +of recent prejudices, this term of its administration will appear not +the least conducive to the interests of the Company, nor the least +reflective of the honor of the British name: and allow me to suggest the +instructive reflection of <i>what good might have been done, and what evil +prevented, had due support been given to that administration which has +performed such eminent and substantial services without it</i>."</p> + +<p>And the said Hastings, further to render the authority of the said Court +perfectly contemptible, doth, in a strain of exultation for his having +escaped out of a measure in which by his guilt he had involved the +Company in a ruinous war, and out of which it had escaped by a sacrifice +of almost all the territories before acquired (from that enemy which he +had made) either by war or former treaties, and by the abandoning the +Company's allies to their mercy, attribute the said supposed services to +his acting in such a manner as had on former occasions excited their +displeasure, in the following words. "Pardon, Honorable Sirs, this +digressive exultation. I cannot suppress the pride which I feel in this +successful achievement of a measure so fortunate for your interests and +the national honor; for that pride is the source of my zeal, so +frequently exerted in your support, and never more happily than in those +instances <i>in which I have departed from the prescribed and beaten path +of action, <!-- Page 236 --><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236" title="236" class="pagenum"></a>and assumed a responsibility which has too frequently drawn +on me the most pointed effects of your displeasure</i>. But however I may +yield to my private feelings in thus enlarging on the subject, my motive +in introducing it was immediately connected with its context, and was to +contrast <i>the actual state of your political affairs, derived from a +happier influence, with that which might have attended an earlier +dissolution of it</i>": and he did value himself upon "the <i>patience</i> and +temper with which he had submitted to all the indignities which have +been heaped upon him" (meaning, by the said Court of Directors) "in this +long service"; and he did insolently attribute to an unusual strain of +zeal for their service, that he "<i>persevered</i> in the VIOLENT MAINTENANCE +OF HIS OFFICE."</p> + +<p>X. That, in order further to excite the spirit of disobedience in the +Company's servants to the lawful authority set over them, he, the said +Warren Hastings, did treat contemptuously and ironically the supposed +disposition of the Company's servants to obey the orders of the Court of +Directors, in the words following. "The recall of Mr. Markham, who was +known to be the public agent of my own nomination at Benares, and the +reappointment of Mr. Francis Fowke by your order, contained in the same +letter, would place it [the restoration of Cheyt Sing] beyond a doubt. +<i>This order has been obeyed; and whenever you shall be pleased to order +the restoration of Cheyt Sing, I will venture to promise the same ready +and exact submission in the other members of the Council.</i>" And he did, +in the postscript of the said letter, and as on recollection, endeavor +to make a reparation of honor to his said colleagues, as if his +expressions aforesaid <!-- Page 237 --><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237" title="237" class="pagenum"></a>had arisen from animosity to them, as follows. +"Upon a careful revisal of what I have written, I fear that an +expression which I have used, respecting the probable conduct of the +board in the event of orders being received for the restoration of Cheyt +Sing, may be construed as intimating a sense of dissatisfaction applied +to transactions already past.—It is not my intention to complain of any +one."</p> + +<p>XI. That the said Hastings, in the acts of injury aforesaid to the Rajah +of Benares, did assume and arrogate to himself an illegal authority +therein, and did maintain that the acts done in consequence of that +measure were not revocable by any subsequent authority, in the following +words. "If you should proceed to order the restoration of Cheyt Sing to +the zemindary, from which, <i>by the powers which I legally possessed</i>, +and conceive myself legally <i>bound to assert</i> against any <i>subsequent +authority to the contrary</i> derived from <i>the same common source</i>, he was +dispossessed for crimes of the greatest enormity, and your Council shall +resolve to execute the order, I will instantly give up my station and +the service."</p> + +<p>XII. That the said Warren Hastings did attempt to justify his +publication of the said libellous letter to and against the Court of +Directors by asserting therein that these resolutions (meaning the +resolutions of the Court of Directors relative to the Rajah of Benares) +"were <i>either</i> published or <i>intended</i> for publication": evidently +proving that he did take this unwarrantable course without any +sufficient assurance that the ground and motive by him assigned had any +existence.<!-- Page 238 --><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238" title="238" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XX_MAHRATTA_WAR_AND_PEACE" id="XX_MAHRATTA_WAR_AND_PEACE" />XX.—MAHRATTA WAR AND PEACE.</h2> + + +<p>I. That by an act passed in 1773 it was expressly ordered and provided, +"that it should not be lawful for any President and Council of Madras, +Bombay, or Bencoolen, for the time being, to make any orders for +commencing hostilities, or declaring or making war, against any Indian +princes or powers, or for negotiating or concluding any treaty of peace, +or other treaty, with any such Indian princes or powers, without the +consent and approbation of the Governor-General and Council first had +and obtained, except in such cases of <i>imminent necessity</i> as would +render it dangerous to postpone such hostilities or treaties until the +orders from the Governor-General and Council might arrive." That, +nevertheless, the President and Council of Bombay did, in December, +1774, without the consent and approbation of the Governor-General and +Council of Fort William, and in the midst of profound peace, commence an +unjust and unprovoked war against the Mahratta government, did conclude +a treaty with a certain person, a fugitive from that government, and +proscribed by it, named Ragonaut Row, or Ragoba, and did, under various +base and treacherous pretences, invade and conquer the island of +Salsette, belonging to the Mahratta government.</p> + +<p>II. That Warren Hastings, on the first advices received in Bengal of the +above transactions, did condemn the same in the strongest +terms,—declaring that "the measures adopted by the Presidency of Bombay +had a tendency to a very extensive and indefinite scene of troubles, and +that their conduct was unseasonable, impolitic, unjust, and +unauthorized."<!-- Page 239 --><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239" title="239" class="pagenum"></a> And the Governor-General and Council, in order to put a +stop to the said unjust hostilities, did appoint an ambassador to the +Peshwa, or chief of the Mahratta state, resident at Poonah; and the said +ambassador did, after a long negotiation, conclude a definitive treaty +of peace with the said Peshwa on terms highly honorable and beneficial +to the East India Company, who by the said treaty obtained from the +Mahrattas a cession of considerable tracts of country, the Mahratta +share of the city of Baroach, twelve lacs of rupees for the expenses of +the said unjust war, and particularly the island of Salsette, of which +the Presidency of Bombay had possessed themselves by surprise and +treachery. That, in return for these extraordinary concessions, the +articles principally insisted on by the Mahrattas, with a view to their +own future tranquillity and internal quiet, were, that <i>no assistance +should he given to any subject or servant of the Peshwa that should +cause disturbances or rebellion in the Mahratta dominions</i>, and +particularly that the English <i>should not assist Ragonaut Row</i>, to whom +the Mahrattas agreed to allow five lacs of rupees a year, or a jaghire +to that amount, and that he should reside at Benares. That, +nevertheless, the Presidency of Bombay did receive and keep Ragonaut Row +at Bombay, did furnish him with a considerable establishment, and +continue to carry on secret intrigues and negotiations with him, thereby +giving just ground of jealousy and distrust to the Mahratta state. That +the late Colonel John Upton, by whom the treaty of Poorunder was +negotiated and concluded, did declare to the Governor-General and +Council, "that, while Ragonaut Row resides at Bombay in expectation of +being supported, the ministers <!-- Page 240 --><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240" title="240" class="pagenum"></a>can place no confidence in the Council +there, which must now be productive of the greatest inconveniencies, and +perhaps in the end of fatal consequences." That the said Warren +Hastings, concurring with his Council, which then consisted of Sir John +Clavering, Richard Barwell, and Philip Francis, Esquires, did, on the +18th of August, 1777, declare to the Presidency of Bombay, that "he +could see no reason to doubt that the presence of Ragoba at Bombay would +continue to be <i>an insuperable bar</i> to the completion of the treaty +concluded with the Mahratta government; nor could any sincere cordiality +and good understanding be established with them, as long as he should +appear to derive encouragement and support from the English." That Sir +John Clavering died soon after, and that the late Edward Wheler, +Esquire, succeeded to a seat in the Supreme Council. That on the 29th of +January, 1778, the Governor-General and Council received a letter from +the Presidency of Bombay, dated 12th December, 1777, in which they +declared, "that they had agreed to give encouragement to a <i>party</i> +formed in Ragoba's favor, and flattered themselves they should meet with +the hearty concurrence of the Governor-General and Council in the +measures they might be obliged to pursue in consequence." That the +<i>party</i> so described was said to consist of four principal persons in +the Mahratta state, on whose part <i>some overtures</i> had been made to Mr. +William Lewis, the Resident of Bombay at Poonah, <i>for the assistance of +the Company to bring Ragoba to Poonah</i>. That the said Warren Hastings, +immediately on the receipt of the preceding advices, did propose and +carry it in Council, by means of his casting voice, and against the +remonstrances, arguments, and sol<!-- Page 241 --><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241" title="241" class="pagenum"></a>emn protest of two members of the +Supreme Council, that the <i>sanction</i> of that government should be given +to the plan which the President and Council of Bombay had agreed to form +with the Mahratta government; and also that a supply of money (to the +amount of ten lacs of rupees) should be immediately granted to the +President and Council of Bombay <i>for the support of their engagements +above mentioned</i>; and also that a military force should be sent to the +Presidency of Bombay. That in defence of these resolutions the said +Warren Hastings did falsely pretend and affirm, "that the resolution of +the Presidency of Bombay was formed on such a case of <i>imminent +necessity</i> as would have rendered it dangerous to postpone the execution +of it until the orders from the Governor-General and Council might +arrive; and that the said Presidency of Bombay <i>were warranted by the +treaty of Poorunder</i> to join in a plan for conducting Ragonaut Row to +Poonah on the application of the ruling part of the Mahratta state": +whereas the main object of the said treaty on the part of the Mahrattas, +and to obtain which they made many important concessions to the India +Company, was, that the English should withdraw their forces, and give no +assistance to Ragoba, and that he should be excluded forever from any +share in their government, being a person <i>universally held in +abhorrence</i> in the Mahratta empire; and if it had been true (instead of +being, as it was, notoriously false) that <i>the ruling part</i> of the +administration of the Mahratta state solicited the return of Ragonaut +Row to Poonah, his return in that case might have been effected by acts +of their own, without the interposition of the English power, and +without our interference in their affairs. That it was <!-- Page 242 --><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242" title="242" class="pagenum"></a>the special duty +of the said Warren Hastings, derived from a special trust reposed in him +and power committed to him by Parliament, to have restrained, as by law +he had authority to do, the subordinate Presidency of Bombay from +entering into hostilities with the Mahrattas, or from making engagements +the manifest tendency of which was to enter into those hostilities, and +to have put a stop to them, if any such had been begun; that he was +bound by the duty of his office to preserve the faith of the British +government, pledged in the treaty of Poorunder, inviolate and sacred, as +well as by the special orders and instructions of the East India Company +<i>to fix his attention to the preservation of peace throughout India</i>: +all which important duties the said Warren Hastings did wilfully +violate, in giving the <i>sanction</i> of the Governor-General and Council to +the dangerous, faithless, and ill-concerted projects of the President +and Council of Bombay hereinbefore mentioned, from which the subsequent +Mahratta war, with all the expense, distress, and disgraces which have +attended it, took their commencement; and that the said Warren Hastings, +therefore, is specially and principally answerable for the said war, and +for all the consequences thereof. That in a letter dated the 20th of +January, 1778, the President and Council of Bombay informed the +Governor-General and Council, that, in consequence of later intelligence +received from Poonah, they had <i>immediately resolved that nothing +further could be done, unless Saccaram Baboo, the principal in the late +treaty</i> (of Poorunder) <i>joined in making a formal application to them</i>. +That no such application was ever made by that person. That the said +Warren Hastings, finding that all this pretended ground for engaging in +an in<!-- Page 243 --><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243" title="243" class="pagenum"></a>vasion of the Mahratta government had totally failed, did then +pretend to give credit to, and to be greatly alarmed by, the suggestions +of the President and Council of Bombay, that the Mahrattas were +negotiating with the French, and had agreed to give them the port of +Choul, on the Malabar coast, and did affirm that the French <i>had +obtained possession of that port</i>. That all these suggestions and +assertions were false, and, if they had been true, would have furnished +no just occasion for attacking either the Mahrattas or the French, with +both of whom the British nation was then at peace. That the said Warren +Hastings did then propose and carry the following resolution in Council, +against the protest of two members thereof, that, "for the purpose of +granting you [the Presidency of Bombay] the most effectual support in +our power, we have resolved to assemble a strong military force near +Calpee, the commanding officer of which is to be ordered to march by the +most practicable route to Bombay, or to such other place as future +occurrences and your directions to him may render it expedient"; and +with respect to the <i>steps</i> said to be taking <i>by the French to obtain a +settlement on the Malabar coast</i>, the said Warren Hastings did declare +to the Presidency of Bombay, "that it was the opinion of the +Governor-General and Council that no time ought to be lost in forming +and carrying into execution such measures as might most effectually tend +to frustrate such dangerous designs." That the said Warren Hastings, +therefore, instead of fixing his attention to the preservation of peace +throughout India, as it was his duty to have done, did continue to abet, +encourage, and support the dangerous projects of the Presidency of +Bombay, and did thereby manifest a determined <!-- Page 244 --><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244" title="244" class="pagenum"></a>intention to disturb the +peace of India, by the unfortunate success of which intention, and by +the continued efforts of the said Hastings, the greatest part of India +has been for several years involved in a bloody and calamitous war. That +both the Court of Directors and Court of Proprietors did specially +instruct the said Warren Hastings, in all his measures, "to make the +safety and prosperity of Bengal his principal object," and did heavily +censure the said Warren Hastings for having employed their troops at a +great distance from Bengal in a war against the Rohillas, which the +House of Commons have pronounced to be <i>iniquitous</i>,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17" /><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor" +title="28th May, 1782.">[17]</a> and did on that +occasion expressly declare, "that they disapproved of all such distant +expeditions as might eventually carry their forces to any situation too +remote to admit of their speedy and safe return to the protection of +their own provinces, in case of emergency."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18" /><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor" +title="15th Dec, 1775.">[18]</a> That the said Warren +Hastings nevertheless ordered a detachment from the Bengal army to cross +the Jumna, and to proceed across the peninsula by a circuitous route +through the diamond country of Bundelcund, and through the dominions of +the Rajah of Berar, situated in the centre of Hindostan, and did thereby +strip the provinces subject to the government of Fort William of a +considerable part of their established defence, and did thereby disobey +the general instructions and positive orders of the Court of Directors, +(given upon occasion of a crime of the same nature committed by the said +Hastings,) and was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, having taken the measures hereinbefore +described for supporting those of the Presidency of Bombay, did, on the +23d <!-- Page 245 --><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245" title="245" class="pagenum"></a>of March, 1778, "invest the said Presidency with authority to form +a new alliance with Ragoba, and to engage with him in <i>any</i> scheme which +they should deem expedient and safe for retrieving his affairs." That +the said Hastings was then in possession of a letter from the Court of +Directors, dated the 4th of July, 1777, containing a positive order to +the Presidency of Bombay in the following words. "Though that treaty" +(meaning the treaty of Poorunder) "is not, upon the whole, so agreeable +to us as we could wish, still we are resolved strictly to adhere to it +on our parts. You must therefore be particularly vigilant, while Ragoba +is with you, to prevent him from forming any plan against what is called +the ministerial party at Poonah; and we hereby positively order you not +to engage with him in any scheme whatever in retrieving his affairs, +without the consent of the Governor-General and Council, or the Court of +Directors." That the said Ragoba neither did or could form any plan for +his restoration but what was and must be against the ministerial party +at Poonah, who held and exercised the regency of that state in the +infancy of the Peshwa; and that, supposing him to have formed any other +<i>scheme</i>, in conjunction with Bombay, <i>for retrieving his affairs</i>, the +said Hastings, in giving a previous <i>general</i> authority to the +Presidency of Bombay to engage with Ragoba in <i>any</i> scheme for that +purpose, without knowing what such scheme might be, and thereby +relinquishing and transferring to the discretion of a subordinate +government that superintendence and control over all measures tending to +create or provoke a war which the law had exclusively vested in the +Governor-General and Council, was guilty of a high crime and +misdemeanor.<!-- Page 246 --><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246" title="246" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, having first declared that the measures +taken by him were for the support of the engagements made by the +Presidency of Bombay in favor of Ragoba, did afterwards, when it +appeared that those negotiations were <i>entirely laid aside</i>, declare +that his apprehension of the consequence of a pretended <i>intrigue</i> +between the Mahrattas and the French <i>was the sole motive of all the +late measures taken for the support of the Presidency of Bombay</i>; but +that neither of the preceding declarations contained the true motives +and objects of the said Hastings, whose real purpose, as it appeared +soon after, was, to make use of the superiority of the British power in +India to carry on offensive wars, and to pursue schemes of conquest, +impolitic and unjust in their design, ill-concerted in the execution, +and which, as this House has resolved, <i>have brought great calamities on +India, and enormous expenses on the East India Company</i>.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, on the 22d of June, 1778, made the +following declaration in Council. "Much less can I agree, that, with +such superior advantages as we possess over every power which can oppose +us, we should act <i>merely on the defensive</i>. On the contrary, if it be +really true that the British arms and influence have suffered so severe +a check in the Western world, it is more incumbent on those who are +charged with the interests of Great Britain in the East <i>to exert +themselves for the retrieval of the national loss</i>. We have the means in +our power, and, if they are not frustrated by our own dissensions, I +trust that the event of this expedition will yield every advantage <i>for +the attainment of which it was undertaken</i>."</p> + +<p>That, in pursuance of the principles avowed in the preceding +declaration, the said Warren Hastings, on the 9th <!-- Page 247 --><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247" title="247" class="pagenum"></a>of July, 1778, did +propose and carry it in Council, that an embassy should be sent from +Bengal to Moodajee Boosla, the Rajah of Berar,—falsely asserting that +the said Rajah "was, by interest and inclination, likely to join in an +alliance with the British government, and suggesting that two advantages +might be offered to him as the inducements to it: first, the support of +his pretensions to the sovereign power" (viz., of the Mahratta empire); +"second, the recovery of the captures made on his dominions by Nizam +Ali." That the said Hastings, having already given full authority to the +Presidency of Bombay to engage the British faith to Ragonaut Row to +support him in <i>his</i> pretensions to the government or to the regency of +the Mahratta empire, was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor in +proposing to engage the same British faith to support the pretensions of +another competitor for the same object; and that, in offering to assist +the Rajah of Berar to recover the captures made on his dominions by the +Nizam, the said Hastings did endeavor, as far as depended on him, to +engage the British nation in a most unjust and utterly unprovoked war +against the said Nizam, between whom and the East India Company a treaty +of peace and friendship did then subsist, unviolated on his +part,—notwithstanding the said Hastings well knew that it made part of +the East India Company's fundamental policy to support that prince +against the Mahrattas, and <i>to consider him as one of the few remaining +chiefs who were yet capable of coping with the Mahrattas</i>, and that it +was the Company's <i>true interest to preserve a good understanding with +him</i>. That, by holding out such offers to the Rajah of Berar, the said +Hastings professed to hope that the Rajah <i>would ar<!-- Page 248 --><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248" title="248" class="pagenum"></a>dently catch at the +objects presented to his ambition</i>: and although the said Hastings did +about this time lay it down as a maxim that <i>there is always a greater +advantage in receiving solicitations than in making advances</i>, he +nevertheless declared to the said Rajah that <i>in the whole of his +conduct he had departed from the common line of policy, and had made +advances where others in his situation would have waited for +solicitation</i>. That the said unjust and dangerous projects did not take +effect, because the Rajah of Berar refused to join or be concerned +therein; yet so earnest was the said Hastings for the execution of those +projects, that in a subsequent letter he daringly and treacherously +assured the Rajah, "that, if he had accepted of the terms offered him by +Colonel Goddard, and concluded a treaty with the government of Bengal +upon them, he should have held the obligation of it superior to that of +any engagement formed by the government of Bombay, and should have +thought it his duty to maintain it, &c., against every consideration +<i>even of the most valuable interests and safety of the English +possessions intrusted to his charge</i>." That all the offers of the said +Hastings were rejected with slight and contempt by the Rajah of Berar; +but the same being discovered, and generally known throughout India, did +fill the chief of the princes and states of India with a general +suspicion and distrust of the ambitious designs and treacherous +principles of the British government, and with an universal hatred of +the British nation. That the said princes and states were thereby so +thoroughly convinced of the necessity of uniting amongst themselves to +oppose a power which kept no faith with any of them, and equally +threatened them all, that, renouncing all former enmities against each +<!-- Page 249 --><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249" title="249" class="pagenum"></a>other, they united in a common confederacy against the English, viz.: +the Peshwa, as representative of the Mahratta state, and Moodajee +Boosla, the Rajah of Berar, that is, the principal Hindoo powers of +India, on one side; and Hyder Ali, and the Nizam of the Deccan, that is, +the principal Mahomedan powers of India, on the other: and that in +consequence of this confederacy Hyder Ali invaded, overran, and ruined +the Carnatic; and that Moodajee Boosla, instead of <i>ardently catching at +the objects presented to his ambition</i> by the said Hastings, sent an +army to the frontiers of Bengal,—which army the said Warren Hastings +was at length forced to buy off with twenty-six lacs of rupees, or +300,000<i>l.</i> sterling, after a series of negotiations with the Mahratta +chiefs who commanded that army, founded and conducted on principles so +dishonorable to the British name and character, that the Secret +Committee of the House of Commons, by whom the rest of the proceedings +in that business were reported to the House, <i>have upon due +consideration thought it proper to leave out the letter of instructions +to Mr. Anderson</i>, viz., those given by the said Warren Hastings to the +representative of the British government, and concerning which the said +committee have reported in the following terms: "The schemes of policy +by which the Governor-General seems to have dictated the instructions he +gave to Mr. Anderson" (the gentleman deputed) "will also appear in this +document, as well respecting the particular succession to the <i>rauje</i>, +as also the mode of accommodating the demand of <i>chout</i>, the +establishment of which was apparently the great aim of Moodajee's +political manoeuvres, while the Governor-General's wish to defeat it was +avowedly more intent on the removal of a <!-- Page 250 --><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250" title="250" class="pagenum"></a>nominal disgrace than on the +anxiety or resolution to be freed from an expensive, if an unavoidable +incumbrance."</p> + +<p>That, while the said Warren Hastings was endeavoring to persuade the +Rajah of Berar to engage with him in a scheme to place the said Rajah at +the head of the Mahratta empire, the Presidency of Bombay, by virtue of +the powers specially vested in them for that purpose by the said +Hastings, did really engage with Ragonaut Row, the other competitor for +the same object, and sent a great part of their military force, +established for the defence of Bombay, on an expedition with Ragonaut +Row, to invade the dominions of the Peshwa, and to take Poonah, the +capital thereof; that this army, being surrounded and overpowered by the +Mahrattas, was obliged to capitulate; and then, through the moderation +of the Mahrattas, was permitted to return quietly, but <i>very +disgracefully</i>, to Bombay. That, supposing the said Warren Hastings +could have been justified in abandoning the project of reinstating +Ragonaut Row, which he at first authorized and promised to support, and +in preferring a scheme to place the Rajah of Berar at the head of the +Mahratta empire, he was bound by his duty, as well as injustice to the +Presidency of Bombay, to give that Presidency timely notice of such his +intention, and to have restrained them positively from resuming their +own project; that, on the contrary, the said Warren Hastings did, on the +17th of August, 1778, again <i>authorize</i> the said Presidency "to assist +Ragoba with a military force to conduct him to Poonah, and to establish +him in the regency there," and, so far from communicating his change of +plan to Bombay, did keep it concealed from that Presidency, insomuch +<!-- Page 251 --><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251" title="251" class="pagenum"></a>that, even so late as the 19th of February, 1779, William Hornby, then +Governor of Bombay, declared in Council his total ignorance of the +schemes of the said Hastings in the following terms: "The schemes of the +Governor-General and Council with regard to the Rajah of Berar <i>being +yet unknown to us</i>, it is impossible for us to found any measures on +them; yet I cannot help now observing, that, if, as has been +conjectured, the gentleman of that Presidency have entertained thoughts +of restoring, in his person, the ancient Rajah government, the attempt +seems likely to be attended with no small difficulty." That, whereas the +said Warren Hastings did repeatedly affirm that it was his intention to +support the plan formed by the Presidency of Bombay in favor of Ragoba, +and did repeatedly authorize and encourage them to pursue it, he did +nevertheless, at the same time, in his letters and declarations to the +Peshwa, to the Nizam, and to the Rajah of Berar, falsely and +perfidiously affirm, <i>that it never was nor is designed by the English +chiefs to give support to Ragonaut Row,—that he</i> (Hastings) <i>had no +idea of supporting Ragonaut Row,—and that the detachment he had sent to +Bombay was solely to awe the French, without the least design to assist +Ragonaut Row</i>. That, supposing it to have been the sole <i>professed</i> +intention of the said Hastings, in sending an army across India, to +protect Bombay against a Trench invasion, even that pretence was false, +and used only to cover the real design of the said Hastings, viz., to +engage in projects of war and conquest with the Rajah of Berar. That on +the 11th of October, 1778, he informed the said Rajah "that the +detachment would soon arrive in his territories, and depend on him +[Moodajee Boosla] for its sub<!-- Page 252 --><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252" title="252" class="pagenum"></a>sequent operations"; that on the 7th of +December, 1778, the said Hastings revoked the powers he had before +given<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19" /><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor" +title="On the 15th of November.">[19]</a> to the Presidency of Bombay over the detachment, declaring +that the event of Colonel Goddard's negotiation with the Rajah of Berar +<i>was likely to cause a very speedy and essential change in the design +and operations of the detachment</i>; and that on the 4th of March, 1779, +the said Hastings, immediately after receiving advice of the defeat of +the Bombay army near Poonah, and when Bombay, if at any time, +particularly required to be protected against a French invasion, did +declare in Council that he <i>wished for the return of the detachment to +Berar, and dreaded to hear of its proceeding to the Malabar coast</i>: and +therefore, if the said Hastings did not think that Bombay was in danger +of being attacked by the French, he was guilty of repeated falsehoods in +affirming the contrary for the purpose of covering a criminal design; +or, if he thought that Bombay was immediately threatened with that +danger, he then was guilty of treachery in ordering an army necessary on +that supposition to the immediate defence of Bombay to halt in Berar, to +depend on the Rajah of Berar for its subsequent operations, or on <i>the +event of a negotiation</i> with that prince, which, as the said Hastings +declared, <i>was likely to cause a very speedy and essential change in the +design and operations of the detachment</i>; and finally, in declaring that +<i>he dreaded to hear of the said detachment's proceeding to the Malabar +coast</i>, whither he ought to have ordered it to proceed without delay, +if, as he has solemnly affirmed, it was true that <i>he had been told by +the highest authority that a powerful armament had been prepared in +France, the first object <!-- Page 253 --><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253" title="253" class="pagenum"></a>of which was an attack upon Bombay, and that +he knew with moral certainty that all the powers of the adjacent +continent were ready to join the invasion</i>.</p> + +<p>That through the whole of these transactions the said Warren Hastings +has been guilty of continued falsehood, fraud, contradiction, and +duplicity, highly dishonorable to the character of the British nation; +that, in consequence of the unjust and ill-concerted schemes of the said +Hastings, the British arms, heretofore respected in India, have suffered +repeated disgraces, and great calamities have been thereby brought upon +India; and that the said Warren Hastings, as well in exciting and +promoting the late unprovoked and unjustifiable war against the +Mahrattas, as in the conduct thereof, has been guilty of sundry high +crimes and misdemeanors.</p> + +<p>That, by the definitive treaty of peace concluded with the Mahrattas at +Poorunder, on the 1st of March, 1776, the Mahrattas gave up all right +and title to the island of Salsette, unjustly taken from them by the +Presidency of Bombay; did also give up to the English Company forever +all right and title to their entire shares of the city and purgunnah of +Baroach; did also give forever to the English Company a country of three +lacs of rupees revenue, near to Baroach; and did also agree to pay to +the Company twelve lacs of rupees, in part of the expenses of the +English army: and that the terms of the said treaty <i>were honorable and +advantageous to the India Company</i>.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20" /><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor" +title="Resolution of the House of Commons, 28th May, 1782.">[20]</a></p> + +<p>That Warren Hastings, having broken the said treaty, and forced the +Mahrattas into another war by a repeated invasion of their country, and +having conducted that war in the manner hereinbefore described, <!-- Page 254 --><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254" title="254" class="pagenum"></a>did, on +the 17th of May, 1782, by the agency of Mr. David Anderson, conclude +another treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance with the Mahrattas, +by which the said Hastings agreed to deliver up to them all the +countries, places, cities, and forts, particularly the island of +Bassein, (taken from the Peshwa during the war,) and to relinquish all +claim to the country of three lacs of rupees ceded to the Company by the +treaty of Poorunder; that the said Warren Hastings did also at the said +time, by a private and separate agreement, deliver up to Mahdajee Sindia +the whole of the city of Baroach,—that is, not only the share in the +said city which the India Company acquired by the treaty of Poorunder, +but the other share thereof which the India Company possessed for +several years before that treaty; and that among the reasons assigned by +Mr. David Anderson for totally stripping the Presidency of Bombay of all +their possessions on the Malabar coast, he has declared, "that, from the +general tenor of the <i>rest</i> of the treaty, the settlement of Bombay +would be in future put on such a footing that it might well become a +question whether the possession of an inconsiderable territory without +forts would not be attended with more loss than advantage, as it must +necessarily occasion considerable expense, must require troops for its +defence, and might probably in the end lead, as Sindia apprehended, to a +renewal of war."</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings, having in this manner put an end to a war +commenced by him without provocation, and continued by him without +necessity, and having for that purpose made so many sacrifices to the +Mahrattas in points of essential interest to the India Company, did +consent and agree to <!-- Page 255 --><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255" title="255" class="pagenum"></a>other articles utterly dishonorable to the British +name and character, having sacrificed or abandoned every one of the +native princes who by <i>his</i> solicitations and promises had been engaged +to take part with us in the war,—and that he did so without necessity: +since it appears that Sindia, the Mahratta chief who concluded the +treaty, <i>in every part of his conduct manifested a hearty desire of +establishing a peace</i> with us; and that this was the disposition of all +the parties in the Mahratta confederacy, who were only kept together by +a general dread of their common enemy, the English, and who only waited +for a cessation of hostilities with us to return to their habitual and +permanent enmity against each other. That the Governor-General and +Council, in their letter of 31st August, 1781, made the following +declaration to the Court of Directors. "The Mahrattas have demanded the +sacrifice of the person of Ragonaut Row, the surrender of the fort and +territories of Ahmedabad, and of the fortress of Gualior, <i>which are not +ours to give, and which we could not wrest from the proprietors without +the greatest violation of public faith</i>. No state of affairs, in our +opinions, could warrant our acquiescence to such requisition; and we are +morally certain, that, had we yielded to them, such a consciousness of +the state of our affairs would have been implied as would have produced +an effect the very reverse from that for which it was intended, by +raising the presumption of the enemy to exact yet more <i>ignominious</i> +terms, or perhaps their refusal to accept of any; nor, in our opinion, +would they have failed to excite in others the same belief, and the +consequent decision of all parties against us, as the natural +consequences of our decline." That the said Hastings himself, in his +instructions to Mr. <!-- Page 256 --><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256" title="256" class="pagenum"></a>David Anderson, after authorizing him to restore +<i>all</i> that we had conquered during the war, expressly "<i>excepted</i> +Ahmedabad, and the territory conquered for Futty Sing Gwicowar." That, +nevertheless, the said Hastings, in the peace concluded by him, has +yielded to every one of the conditions reprobated in the preceding +declarations as <i>ignominious</i> and incompatible with public faith.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings did abandon the Ranna of Gohud in the +manner already charged; and that the said Ranna has not only lost the +fort of Gualior, but all his own country, and is himself a prisoner. +That the said Hastings did not interpose to obtain any terms in favor of +the Nabob of Bopaul, who was <i>with great reason desirous of concealing +from the Mahrattas the attachment he had borne to the English +government</i>:<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21" /><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor" +title="Anderson's letter of 26th January, 1782.">[21]</a> the said Nabob having a just dread of the danger of +being exposed to the resentment of the Mahrattas, and no dependence on +the faith and protection of the English. That by the ninth article of +the treaty with Futty Sing it was stipulated, that, when a negotiation +for peace should take place, his interest should be primarily +considered; and that Mr. David Anderson, the minister and representative +of the Governor-General and Council, did declare to Sindia, that it was +indispensably incumbent on us to support Futty Sing's rights: that, +nevertheless, every acquisition made for or by the said Futty Sing +during the war, particularly <i>the fort and territories of Ahmedabad</i>, +were given up by the said Hastings; that Futty Sing was replaced under +the subjection of the Peshwa, (whose resentment he had provoked by +taking part with us in the war,) and under an obligation <!-- Page 257 --><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257" title="257" class="pagenum"></a>to pay a +tribute, not specified, to the Peshwa, and to perform such services and +to be subject to such obedience <i>as had long been established and +customary</i>; and that, no limit being fixed to such tribute or services, +the said Futty Sing has been left wholly at the mercy of the Mahrattas.</p> + +<p>That, with respect to Ragoba, the said Hastings, in his instructions to +Mr. Anderson, dated 4th of November, 1781, contented himself with +saying, "We cannot <i>totally</i> abandon the interests of Ragonaut Row. +Endeavor to obtain for him an adequate provision." That Mr. Anderson +declared to Mahdajee Sindia,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22" /><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor" +title="Anderson's letter of 24th February, 1782.">[22]</a> "that, as we had given Ragoba +protection as an independent prince, and not brought him into our +settlement as a prisoner, we could not <i>in honor</i> pretend to impose the +<i>smallest</i> restraint on his will, and he must be at liberty to go +wherever he pleased; that it must rest with Sindia himself to prevail on +him to reside in his country: all that we could do was to <i>agree</i>, after +a reasonable time, <i>to withdraw our protection from him, and not to +insist on the payment of the stipend to him</i>, as Sindia had proposed, +unless on the condition of his residing in some part of Sindia's +territories."</p> + +<p>That, notwithstanding all the preceding declarations, and in violation +of the public faith repeatedly pledged to Ragoba, he was totally +abandoned by the said Hastings in the treaty, no provision whatever +being made even for his subsistence, but on a condition to which he +could not submit without the certain loss of his liberty and probable +hazard of his life, namely, <i>that he should voluntarily and of his own +accord repair to Sindia, and quietly reside with <!-- Page 258 --><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258" title="258" class="pagenum"></a>him</i>. That such +treacherous desertion of the said Ragoba is not capable of being +justified by any plea of necessity: but that in fact no such necessity +existed; since it appears that the Nizam, who of all the contracting +parties in the confederacy was personally most hostile to Ragoba, did +himself <i>propose that Ragoba, might have an option given him</i> of +residing within the Company's territories.</p> + +<p>That the plan of negotiating a peace with the Mahrattas by application +to Sindia, and through his mediation, was earnestly recommended to the +said Hastings by the Presidency of Bombay so early as in February, 1779, +who stated clearly to him the reasons why such application ought to be +made to Sindia in preference to any other of the Mahratta chiefs, and +why it would probably be successful; the truth and justice of which +reasons were fully evinced in the issue, when the said Hastings, after +incurring, by two years' delay, all the losses and distresses of a +calamitous war, did actually pursue that very plan with much less effect +or advantage than might have been obtained at the time the advice was +given. That he neglected the advice of the Presidency of Bombay, and +retarded the peace, as well as made its conditions worse, from an +obstinate attachment to his project of an alliance offensive and +defensive with the Rajah of Berar, the object of which was rather a new +war than a termination of the war then existing against the Peshwa.</p> + +<p>That the said Hastings did further embarrass and retard the conclusion +of a peace by employing different ministers at the courts of the several +confederate powers, whom he severally empowered to treat <!-- Page 259 --><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259" title="259" class="pagenum"></a>and negotiate +a peace. That these ministers, not acting in concert, not knowing the +extent of each other's commissions, and having no instructions to +communicate their respective proceedings to each other, did in effect +counteract their several negotiations. That this want of concert and of +simplicity, and the mystery and intricacy in the mode of conducting the +negotiation on our part, was complained of by our ministers as +embarrassing and disconcerting to us, while it was advantageous to the +adverse party, who were thereby furnished with opportunity and pretence +for delay, when it suited their purpose, and enabled to play off one set +of negotiators against another; that it also created jealousy and +distrust in the various contending parties, with whom we were treating +at the same time, and to whom we were obliged to make contradictory +professions, while it betrayed and exposed to them all our own eagerness +and impatience for peace, raising thereby the general claims and +pretensions of the enemy. That, while Dalhousie Watherston, Esquire, was +treating at Poonah, and David Anderson, Esquire, in Sindia's camp, with +separate powers applied to the same object, the minister at Poonah +informed the said Watherston, that he had received proposals for peace +from the Nabob of Arcot with the approbation of Sir Eyre Coote; that he +had returned other proposals to the said Nabob of Arcot, who had assured +him, the minister, that those proposals <i>would be acceded to, and that +Mr. Macpherson would set out for Bengal, after which orders should be +immediately dispatched from the Honorable the Governor-General and +Council to the effect he wished</i>; that the said Nabob "had prom<!-- Page 260 --><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260" title="260" class="pagenum"></a>ised to +obtain and forward to him the expected <i>orders from Bengal in fifteen +days</i>, and that he was therefore every instant in expectation of their +arrival,—and observed, that, when General Goddard proposed to send a +confidential person to Poonah, he conceived that those orders must have +actually reached him": that therefore the treaty formally concluded by +David Anderson was in effect and substance the same with that offered +and in reality concluded by the Nabob of Arcot, with the exception only +of Salsette, which the Nabob of Arcot had agreed to restore to the +Mahrattas.</p> + +<p>That the intention of the said Warren Hastings, in pressing for a peace +with the Mahrattas on terms so dishonorable and by measures so rash and +ill-concerted, was not to restore and establish a general peace +throughout India, but to engage the India Company in a new war against +Hyder Ali, and to make the Mahrattas parties therein. That the eagerness +and passion with which the said Hastings pursued this object laid him +open to the Mahrattas, who depended thereon for obtaining whatever they +should demand from us. That, in order to carry the point of an offensive +alliance against Hyder Ali, the said Hastings exposed the negotiation +for peace with the Mahrattas to many difficulties and delays. That the +Mahrattas were bound by a clear and recent engagement, which Hyder had +never violated in any article, to make no peace with us which should not +include him; that they pleaded the sacred nature of this obligation in +answer to all our requisitions on this head, while the said Hastings, +still importunate for his favorite point, suggested to them various +means of reconciling a substantial <!-- Page 261 --><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261" title="261" class="pagenum"></a>breach of their engagement with a +formal observance of it, and taught them how they might at once be +parties in a peace with Hyder Ali and in an offensive alliance for +immediate hostility against him. That these lessons of public duplicity +and artifice, and these devices of ostensible faith and real treachery, +could have no effect but to degrade the national character, and to +inspire the Mahrattas themselves, with whom we were in treaty, with a +distrust in our sincerity and good faith. That the object of this +fraudulent policy (viz., the utter destruction of Hyder Ali, and a +partition of his dominions) was neither wise in itself, or authorized by +the orders and instructions of the Company to their servants; that it +was incompatible with the treaty of peace, in which Hyder Ali was +included, and contrary to the repeated and best-understood injunctions +of the Company,—being, in the first place, a bargain for a new war, +and, in the next, aiming at an extension of our territory by conquest. +That the best and soundest political opinions on the relations of these +states have always represented our great security against the power of +the Mahrattas to depend on its being balanced by that of Hyder Ali; and +the Mysore country is so placed as a barrier between the Carnatic and +the Mahrattas as to make it our interest rather to strengthen and repair +that barrier than to level and destroy it. That the said treaty of +partition does express itself to be <i>eventual</i> with regard to the making +and keeping of peace; but through the whole course of the said +Hastings's proceeding he did endeavor to prevent any peace with the +Sultan or Nabob of Mysore, Tippoo Sahib, and did for a long time +endeavor to frustrate all the <!-- Page 262 --><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262" title="262" class="pagenum"></a>methods which could have rendered the +said treaty of conquest and partition wholly unnecessary.</p> + +<p>That the Mahrattas having taken no effectual step to oblige Hyder Ali to +make good the conditions for which they had engaged in his behalf, and +the war continuing to be carried on in the Carnatic by Tippoo Sultan, +son and successor of Hyder Ali, the Presidency of Fort St. George +undertook, upon their own authority, to open a negotiation with the said +Tippoo: which measure, though indispensably necessary, the said Hastings +utterly disapproved and discountenanced, expressly denying that there +was any ground or motive for entering into any direct or separate treaty +with Tippoo, and not consenting to or authorizing any negotiation for +such treaty, until after a cessation of hostilities had been brought +about with him by the Presidency of Fort St. George, in August, 1783, +and the ministers of Tippoo had been received and treated with by that +Presidency, and commissioners, in return, actually sent by the said +Presidency to the court of Poonah: which late and reluctant consent and +authority were extorted from him, the said Hastings, in consequence of +the acknowledgment of his agent at the court of Mahdajee Sindia, upon +whom the said Warren Hastings had depended for enforcing the clauses of +the Mahratta treaty, of the precariousness of such dependence, and of +the necessity of that direct and separate treaty with Tippoo, so long +and so lately reprobated by the said Warren Hastings, notwithstanding +the information and entreaties of the Presidency of Fort St. George, as +well as the known distresses and critical situation of the Company's +affairs. That, though the said Warren Hastings did at length give +instructions for negotiating and making <!-- Page 263 --><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263" title="263" class="pagenum"></a>peace with Tippoo, expressly +adding, that those instructions extended to <i>all</i> the points which +occurred to <i>him or them</i> as capable of being agitated or gained upon +the occasion,—though the said instructions were sent after the said +commissioners by the Presidency of Fort St. George, with directions to +obey them,—though not only the said instructions were obeyed, but +advantages gained which did not occur to the said Warren +Hastings,—though the said peace formed a contrast with the Mahratta +peace, in neither ceding any territory possessed by the Company before +the war, or delivering up any dependant or ally to the vengeance of his +adversaries, but providing for the restoration of all the countries that +had been taken from the Company and their allies,—though the Supreme +Council of Calcutta, forming the legal government of Bengal in the +absence of the said Warren Hastings, ratified the said treaty,—yet the +said Warren Hastings, then absent from the seat of government, and out +of the province of Bengal, and forming no legal or integral part of the +government during such absence, did, after such ratification, usurp the +power of acting as a part of such government (as if actually sitting in +Council with the other members of the same) in the consideration and +unqualified censure of the terms of the said peace.</p> + +<p>That the Nabob of Arcot, with whom the said Hastings did keep up an +unwarrantable clandestine correspondence, without any communication with +the Presidency of Madras, wrote a letter of complaint, dated the 27th of +March, 1784, against the Presidency of that place, without any +communication thereof to the said Presidency, the said complaint being +addressed to the said Warren Hastings, the <!-- Page 264 --><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264" title="264" class="pagenum"></a>substance of which complaint +was, that he, the Nabob, had not been made a party to the late treaty; +and although his interest had been sufficiently provided for in the said +treaty, the said Warren Hastings did sign a declaration, on the 23d of +May, at Lucknow, forming the basis of a new article, and making a new +party to the treaty, after it had been by all parties (the Supreme +Council of Calcutta included) completed and ratified, and did transmit +the said new stipulation to the Presidency at Calcutta, solely for the +purposes and at the instigation of the Nabob of Arcot; and the said +declaration was made without any previous communication with the +Presidency aforesaid, and in consequence thereof orders were sent by the +Council at Calcutta to the Presidency of Fort St. George, <i>under the +severest threats in case of disobedience</i>: which orders, whatever were +their purport, would, as an undue assumption of and participation in the +government, from which he was absent, become a high misdemeanor; but, +being to the purport of opening the said treaty after its solemn +ratification, and proposing a new clause and a new party to the same, +was also an aggravation of such misdemeanor, as it tended to convey to +the Indian powers an idea of the unsteadiness of the councils and +determinations of the British government, and to take away all reliance +on its engagements, and as, above all, it exposed the affairs of the +nation and the Company to the hazard of seeing renewed all the +calamities of war, from whence by the conclusion of the treaty they had +emerged, and upon a pretence so weak as that of proposing the Nabob of +Arcot to be a party to the same,—though he had not been made a party by +the said Warren Has<!-- Page 265 --><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265" title="265" class="pagenum"></a>tings in the Mahratta treaty, which professed to be +for the relief of the Carnatic,—though he was not a party to the former +treaty with Hyder, also relative to the Carnatic,—though it was not +certain, if the treaty were once opened, and that even Tippoo should +then consent to that Nabob's being a party, whether he, the said Nabob, +would agree to the clauses of the same, and consequently whether the +said treaty, once opened, could afterwards be concluded: an uncertainty +of which he, the said Hastings, should have learned to be aware, having +already once been disappointed by the said Nabob's refusing to accede to +a treaty which he, the said Warren Hastings, made for him with the +Dutch, about a year before.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings,—having broken a solemn and honorable +treaty of peace by an unjust and unprovoked war,—having neglected to +conclude that war when he might have done it without loss of honor to +the nation,—having plotted and contrived, as far as depended on him, to +engage the India Company in another war as soon as the former should be +concluded,—and having at last put an end to a most unjust war against +the Mahrattas by a most ignominious peace with them, in which he +sacrificed objects essential to the interests, and submitted to +conditions utterly incompatible with the honor of this nation, and with +his own declared sense of the dishonorable nature of those +conditions,—and having endeavored to open anew the treaty concluded +with Tippoo Sultan through the means of the Presidency of Fort St. +George, upon principles of justice and honor, and which established +peace in India, and thereby exposing the British possessions there to +the renewal of the dangers and calamities of war,—has by these <!-- Page 266 --><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266" title="266" class="pagenum"></a>several +acts been guilty of sundry high crimes and misdemeanors.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXI_CORRESPONDENCE" id="XXI_CORRESPONDENCE" />XXI.—CORRESPONDENCE.</h2> + + +<p>That, by an act of the 13th year of his present Majesty, intituled, "An +act for establishing certain regulations for the better management of +the affairs of the East India Company, as well in India as in Europe, +the Governor-General and Council are required and directed to pay due +obedience to all such orders as they shall receive from the Court of +Directors of the said United Company, and to correspond from time to +time, and constantly and diligently transmit to the said Court an exact +particular of all advices or intelligence and of all transactions and +matters whatsoever that shall come to their knowledge, relating to the +government, commerce, revenues, or interest of the said United Company."</p> + +<p>That, in consequence of the above-recited act, the Court of Directors, +in their general instructions of the 29th March, 1774, to the +Governor-General and Council, did direct, "that the correspondence with +the princes or country powers in India should be carried on through the +Governor-General only; but that all letters to be sent by him should be +first approved in Council; and that he should lay before the Council, at +their next meeting, all letters received by him in the course of such +correspondence, for their information."</p> + +<p>And the Governor-General and Council were therein further ordered, +"that, in transacting the business of their department, they should +enter with the utmost perspicuity and exactness all their proceedings +<!-- Page 267 --><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267" title="267" class="pagenum"></a>whatsoever, and all dissents, if such should at any time be made by any +member of their board, together with all letters sent or received in the +course of their correspondence; and that broken sets of such +proceedings, to the latest period possible, be transmitted to them [the +Court of Directors], a complete set at the end of every year, and a +duplicate by the next conveyance."</p> + +<p>That, in defiance of the said orders, and in breach of the above-recited +act of Parliament, the said Warren Hastings has, in sundry instances, +concealed from his Council the correspondence carried on between him and +the princes or country powers in India, and neglected to communicate the +advices and intelligence he from time to time received from the British +Residents at the different courts in India to the other members of the +government, and, without their knowledge, counsel, or participation, has +dispatched orders on matters of the utmost consequence to the interests +of the Company.</p> + +<p>That, moreover, the said Warren Hastings, for the purpose of covering +his own improper and dangerous practices from his employers, has +withheld from the Court of Directors, upon sundry occasions, copies of +the proceedings had, and the correspondence carried on by him in his +official capacity as Governor-General, whereby the Court of Directors +have been kept in ignorance of matters which it highly imported them to +know, and the affairs of the Company have been exposed to much +inconvenience and injury.</p> + +<p>That, in all such concealments and acts done or ordered without the +consent and authority of the Supreme Council, the said Warren Hastings +has been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.<!-- Page 268 --><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268" title="268" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXII_FYZOOLA_KHAN" id="XXII_FYZOOLA_KHAN" />XXII.—FYZOOLA KHÂN.</h2> + + +<h3><a name="PART_Ib" id="PART_Ib" />PART I.<br /> + +RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHÂN, ETC., BEFORE THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG.</h3> + +<p>I. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, who now holds of the Vizier the +territory of Rampoor, Shahabad, and certain other districts dependent +thereon, in the country of the Rohillas, is the second son of a prince +renowned in the history of Hindostan under the name of Ali Mohammed +Khân, some time sovereign of all that part of Rohilcund which is +particularly distinguished by the appellation of the Kutteehr.</p> + +<p>II. That, after the death of Ali Mohammed aforesaid, as Fyzoola Khân, +together with his elder brother, was then a prisoner of war at a place +called Herat, "the Rohilla chiefs took possession of the ancient +estates" of the captive princes; and the Nabob Fyzoola Khân was from +necessity compelled to waive his hereditary rights for the +inconsiderable districts of Rampoor and Shahabad, then estimated to +produce from six to eight lacs of annual revenue.</p> + +<p>III. That in 1774, on the invasion of Rohilcund by the united armies of +the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Company, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, +"with some of his people, was present at the decisive battle of St. +George," where Hafiz Rhamet, the great leader of the Rohillas, and many +others of their principal chiefs were slain; but, escaping from the +slaughter, Fyzoola Khân "made his retreat good towards the mountains, +with all his treasure." He there collected the scat<!-- Page 269 --><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269" title="269" class="pagenum"></a>tered remains of his +countrymen; and as he was the eldest surviving son of Ali Mohammed Khân, +as, too, the most powerful obstacle to his pretensions was now removed +by the death of Hafiz, he seems at length to have been generally +acknowledged by his natural subjects the undoubted heir of his father's +authority.</p> + +<p>IV. That, "regarding the sacred <i>sincerity</i> and friendship of the +English, whose <i>goodness</i> and celebrity is everywhere known, <i>who +dispossess no one</i>," the Nabob Fyzoola Khân made early overtures for +peace to Colonel Alexander Champion, commander-in-chief of the Company's +forces in Bengal: that he did propose to the said Colonel Alexander +Champion, in three letters, received on the 14th, 24th, and 27th of May, +to put himself under the protection either of the Company, or of the +Vizier, through the mediation and with the guaranty of the Company; and +that he did offer, "whatever was conferred upon him, to pay as much +without damage or deficiency as any other person would agree to do": +stating, at the same time, his condition and pretensions hereinbefore +recited as facts "evident as the sun"; and appealing, in a forcible and +awful manner, to the generosity and magnanimity of this nation, "by +whose means he hoped in God that he should receive justice"; and as "the +person who designed the war was no more," as "in that he was himself +guiltless," and as "he had never acted in such a manner as for the +Vizier to have taken hatred to his heart against him, that he might be +reinstated in his ancient possessions, the country of Ins father."</p> + +<p>V. That on the last of the three dates above men<!-- Page 270 --><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270" title="270" class="pagenum"></a>tioned, that is to say, +on the 27th of May, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did also send to the +commander-in-chief a <i>vakeel</i>, or ambassador, who was authorized on the +part of him, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, his master, to make a specific +offer of three propositions; and that by one of the said propositions +"an annual increase of near 400,000<i>l.</i> would have accrued to the +revenues of our ally, and the immediate acquisition of above 300,000<i>l.</i> +to the Company, for their influence in effecting an accommodation +perfectly consistent with their engagements to the Vizier," and strictly +consonant to the demands of justice.</p> + +<p>VI. That, so great was the confidence of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân in the +just, humane, and liberal feelings of Englishmen, as to "lull him into +an inactivity" of the most essential detriment to his interests: since, +"in the hopes which he entertained from the interposition of our +government," he declined the invitation of the Mogul to join the arms of +his Majesty and the Mahrattas, "refused any connection with the Seiks," +and did even neglect to take the obvious precaution of crossing the +Ganges, as he had originally intended, while the river was yet +fordable,—a movement that would have enabled him certainly to baffle +all pursuit, and probably "to keep the Vizier in a state of disquietude +for the remainder of his life."</p> + +<p>VII. That the commander-in-chief, Colonel Alexander Champion aforesaid, +"thought nothing could be more honorable to this nation than the support +of so exalted a character; and whilst it could be <!-- Page 271 --><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271" title="271" class="pagenum"></a>done on terms so +advantageous, supposed it very unlikely that the vakeel's proposition +should be received with indifference"; that he did accordingly refer it +to the administration through Warren Hastings, Esquire, then Governor of +Fort William and President of Bengal; and he did at the same time +inclose to the said Warren Hastings a letter from the Nabob Fyzoola Khân +to the said Hastings,—which letter does not appear, but must be +supposed to have been of the same tenor with those before cited to the +commander-in-chief,—of which also copies were sent to the said Hastings +by the commander-in-chief; and he, the commander-in-chief aforesaid, +after urging to the said Hastings sundry good and cogent arguments of +policy and prudence in favor of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, did conclude by +"wishing for nothing so much as for the adoption of some measure that +might strike all the powers of the East with admiration of our justice, +in contrast to the conduct of the Vizier."</p> + +<p>VIII. That, in answer to such laudable wish of the said +commander-in-chief, the President, Warren Hastings, preferring his own +prohibited plans of extended dominion to the mild, equitable, and wise +policy inculcated in the standing orders of his superiors, and now +enforced by the recommendation of the commander-in-chief, did instruct +and "desire" him, the said commander-in-chief, "instead of soliciting +the Vizier to relinquish his conquest to Fyzoola Khân, to discourage it +as much as was in his power"; although the said Hastings did not once +express, or even intimate, any doubt whatever of the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân's innocence as to the <!-- Page 272 --><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272" title="272" class="pagenum"></a>origin of the war, or of his hereditary +right to the territories which he claimed, but to the said pleas of the +Nabob Fyzoola Khân, as well as to the arguments both of policy and +justice advanced by the commander-in-chief, he, the said Hastings, did +solely oppose certain speculative objects of imagined expediency, +summing up his decided rejection of the proposals made by the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân in the following remarkable words. "With respect to Fyzoola +Khân, <i>he appears not to merit our consideration. The petty sovereign of +a country estimated at six or eight lacs ought not for a moment to prove +an impediment to any of our measures, or to affect the consistency of +our conduct</i>."</p> + +<p>IX. That, in the aforesaid violent and arbitrary position, the said +Warren Hastings did avow it to be a public principle of his government, +that no right, however manifest, and no innocence, however unimpeached, +could entitle the weak to our protection against others, or save them +from our own active endeavors for their oppression, and even +extirpation, should they interfere with our notions of political +expediency; and that such a principle is highly derogatory to the +justice and honor of the English name, and fundamentally injurious to +our interests, inasmuch as it hath an immediate tendency to excite +distrust, jealousy, fear, and hatred against us among all the +subordinate potentates of Hindostan.</p> + +<p>X. That, in prosecution of the said despotic principle, the President, +Warren Hastings aforesaid, did persist to obstruct, as far as in him +lay, every <!-- Page 273 --><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273" title="273" class="pagenum"></a>advance towards an accommodation between the Vizier Sujah ul +Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khân; and particularly on the 16th of +September, only eight days after the said Hastings, in, conjunction with +the other members of the Select Committee of Bengal, had publicly +testified his <i>satisfaction</i> in the prospect of <i>an accommodation</i>, and +had <i>hoped</i> that "his Excellency [the Vizier] would be disposed to +conciliate the affections [of the Rohillas] to his government <i>by +acceding to lenient terms</i>," he, the said Hastings, did nevertheless +write, and without the consent or knowledge of his colleagues did +privately dispatch, a certain answer to a letter of the +commander-in-chief, in which answer the said Hastings did express other +<i>contradictory hopes</i>, namely, that the commander-in-chief <i>had resolved +on prosecuting the war to a final issue</i>,—"because" (as the said +Hastings explains himself) "it appears very plainly that Fyzoola Khân +and his adherents <i>lay at your mercy</i>, because I apprehend much +inconveniency from delays, and because <i>I am morally certain that no +good will he gained by negotiating</i>": thereby artfully suggesting his +wishes of what might be, in his hopes of what had been, resolved; and +plainly, though indirectly, instigating the commander-in-chief to much +effusion of blood in an immediate attack on the Rohillas, posted as they +were "in a very strong situation," and "combating for all."</p> + +<p>XI. That the said Hastings, in the answer aforesaid, did further +endeavor to inflame the commander-in-chief against the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân, by representing the said Nabob "as highly presuming, insolent, and +evasive"; and knowing the distrust <!-- Page 274 --><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274" title="274" class="pagenum"></a>which the Nabob Fyzoola Khân +entertained of the Vizier, the said Hastings did "expressly desire it +should be left wholly to the Vizier to treat with the enemy by <i>his own +agents</i> and <i>in his own manner</i>,"—though he, the said Hastings, "by no +means wished the Vizier to lose time by seeking an accommodation, since +it would be more effectual, more decisive, and more <i>consistent with his +dignity, indeed with his honor, which he has already pledged</i>, to abide +by his first offers, to dictate the conditions of peace, and to admit +only an acceptance without reservation, or a clear refusal, from his +adversary": thereby affecting to hold up, in opposition to and in +exclusion of the substantial claims of justice, certain ideal +obligations of dignity and honor,—that is to say, the gratification of +pride, and the observance of an arrogant determination once declared.</p> + +<p>XII. That, although the said answer did not reach the commander-in-chief +until peace was actually concluded, and although the dangerous +consequences to be apprehended from the said answer were thereby +prevented, yet, by the sentiments contained in the said answer, Warren +Hastings, Esquire, did strongly evince his ultimate adherence to all the +former violent and unjust principles of his conduct towards the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân, which principles were disgraceful to the character and +injurious to the interests of this nation; and that the said Warren +Hastings did thereby, in a particular manner, exclude himself from any +share of credit for "the honorable period put to the Rohilla war, which +has in some degree done away the reproach so wantonly brought on the +English name."<!-- Page 275 --><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275" title="275" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + +<h3><a name="PART_IIb" id="PART_IIb" />PART II.<br /> + +RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHÂN UNDER THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG.</h3> + +<p>I. That, notwithstanding the culpable and criminal reluctance of the +President, Hastings, hereinbefore recited, a treaty of peace and +friendship between the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khân +was finally signed and sealed on the 7th October, 1774, at a place +called Lall-Dang, in the presence and with the attestation of the +British commander-in-chief, Colonel Alexander Champion aforesaid; and +that for the said treaty the Nabob Fyzoola Khân agreed to pay, and did +actually pay, the valuable consideration of half his treasure, to the +amount of fifteen lacs of rupees, or 150,000<i>l.</i> sterling, and upwards.</p> + +<p>II. That by the said treaty the Nabob Fyzoola Khân was established in +the quiet possession of Rampoor, Shahabad, and "some other districts +dependent thereon," subject to certain conditions, of which the more +important were as follow.</p> + +<p>"That Fyzoola Khân should retain in his service five thousand <i>troops</i>, +and not a single man more.</p> + +<p>"That, with whomsoever the Vizier should make war, Fyzoola Khân should +send <i>two or three thousand men, according to his ability</i>, to join the +forces of the Vizier.</p> + +<p>"And that, if the Vizier should march in person, Fyzoola Khân should +himself accompany him <i>with his troops</i>."</p> + +<p>III. That from the terms of the treaty above recited it doth plainly, +positively, and indisputably ap<!-- Page 276 --><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276" title="276" class="pagenum"></a>pear that the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, in +case of war, was not bound to furnish more than three thousand men under +any construction, unless the Vizier should march in person.</p> + +<p>IV. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khân was not positively bound to furnish so +many as three thousand men, but an indefinite number, not more than +three and not less than two thousand; that of the precise number within +such limitations the ability of Fyzoola Khân, and not the discretion of +the Vizier, was to be the standard; and that such ability could only +mean that which was equitably consistent not only with the external +defence of his jaghire, but with the internal good management thereof, +both as to its police and revenue.</p> + +<p>V. That, even in case the Vizier should march in person, it might be +reasonably doubted whether the personal service of the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân "with his troops" must be understood to be with <i>all</i> his troops, +or only with the number before stipulated, not more than three and not +less than two thousand men; and that the latter is the interpretation +finally adopted by Warren Hastings aforesaid, and the Council of Bengal, +who, in a letter to the Court of Directors, dated April 5th, 1783, +represent the clauses of the treaty relative to the stipulated aid as +meaning simply that Fyzoola Khân "should send two or three thousand men +to join the Vizier's forces, or attend in person in case it should be +requisite."</p> + +<p>VI. That from the aforesaid terms of the treaty it doth not specifically +appear of what the stipulated aid <!-- Page 277 --><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277" title="277" class="pagenum"></a>should consist, whether of horse or +foot, or in what proportion of both; but that it is the recorded +opinion, maturely formed by the said Hastings and his Council, in +January, 1783, that even "a single horseman included in the aid which +Fyzoola Khân might furnish would prove a literal compliance with the +stipulation."</p> + +<p>VII. That, in the event of any doubt fairly arising from the terms of +the treaty, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, in consideration of his hereditary +right to the whole country, and the price by him actually paid for the +said treaty, was in equity entitled to the most favorable construction.</p> + +<p>VIII. That, from the attestation of Colonel Champion aforesaid, the +government of Calcutta acquired the same right to interpose with the +Vizier for the protection of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân as they, the said +government, had before claimed from a similar attestation of Sir Robert +Barker to assist the Vizier in extirpating the whole nation of the said +Fyzoola Khân,—more especially as in the case of Sir Robert Barker it +was contrary to the remonstrances of the then administration, and the +furthest from the intentions of the said Barker himself, that his +attestation should involve the Company, but the attestation of Colonel +Champion was authorized by all the powers of the government, as a +"sanction" intended "to add validity" to the treaty; that they, the said +government, and in particular the said Warren Hastings, as the first +executive member of the same, were bound by the ties of natural justice +duly to exercise the aforesaid right, if need were; and that their duty +so <!-- Page 278 --><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278" title="278" class="pagenum"></a>to interfere was more particularly enforced by the spirit of the +censures passed both by the Directors and Proprietors in the Rohilla +war, and the satisfaction expressed by the Directors "in the honorable +end put to that war."</p> + + +<h3><a name="PART_IIIb" id="PART_IIIb" />PART III.<br /> + +GUARANTY OF THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG.</h3> + +<p>I. That during the life of the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah, and for some time +after his death, under his son and successor, Asoph ul Dowlah, the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân did remain without disturbance or molestation; that he did +all the while imagine his treaty to be under the sanction of the +Company, from Colonel Champion's affixing his signature thereto as a +witness, "which signature, as he [Fyzoola Khân] supposed," (rendered the +Company the <i>arbitrators</i>) between the Vizier and himself, in case of +disputes; and that, being "a man of sense, but <i>extreme pusillanimity</i>, +a good farmer, fond of wealth, <i>not possessed of the passion of +ambition</i>," he did peaceably apply himself to "improve the state of his +country, and did, <i>by his own prudence and attention</i>, increase the +revenues thereof beyond the amount specified in Sujah ul Dowlah's +grant."</p> + +<p>II. That in the year 1777, and in the beginning of the year 1778, being +"alarmed at the young Vizier's resumption of a number of jaghires +granted by his father to different persons, and the injustice and +oppression of his conduct in general," and having now learned (from whom +does not appear, but probably from some person supposed of competent +author<!-- Page 279 --><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279" title="279" class="pagenum"></a>ity) that Colonel Champion formerly witnessed the treaty as a +private person, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did make frequent and urgent +solicitations to Nathaniel Middleton, Esquire, then Resident at Oude, +and to Warren Hastings aforesaid, then Governor-General of Bengal, "for +a renovation of his [the Nabob Fyzoola Khân's] treaty with the late +Vizier, and the guaranty of the Company," or for a "separate agreement +with the Company for his defence": considering them, the Company, as +"the only power in which he had confidence, and to which he could look +up for protection."</p> + +<p>III. That the said Resident Middleton, and the said Governor-General +Hastings, did not, as they were in duty bound to do, endeavor to allay +the apprehensions of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân by assuring him of his +safety under the sanction of Colonel Champion's attestation aforesaid, +but by their criminal neglect, if not by positive expressions, (as there +is just ground from their subsequent language and conduct to believe,) +they, the said Middleton and the said Hastings, did at least keep alive +and confirm (whoever may have originally suggested) the said +apprehension; and that such neglect alone was the more highly culpable +in the said Hastings, inasmuch as he, the said Hastings, in conjunction +with other members of the Select Committee of the then Presidency of +Bengal, did, on the 17th of September, 1774, write to Colonel Champion +aforesaid, publicly authorizing him, the said Colonel Champion, to join +his <i>sanction</i> to the accommodations agreed on between the Vizier Sujah +ul Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, <i>to add to their validity</i>,—and +on the 6th of October following did again write to the said Colonel +Champion, more ex<!-- Page 280 --><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280" title="280" class="pagenum"></a>plicitly, to join his sanction, "either by attesting +the treaty, or <i>acting as guaranty</i> on the part of the Company for the +performance of it": both which letters, though they did not arrive until +after the actual signature of the said Colonel Champion, do yet +incontrovertibly mark the solemn intention of the said Committee (of +which the said Hastings was President) that the sanction of Colonel +Champion's attestation should be regarded as a public, not a private, +sanction; and it was more peculiarly incumbent on such persons, who had +been members of the said Committee, so to regard the same.</p> + +<p>IV. That the said Warren Hastings was further guilty of much criminal +concealment for the space of "twelve months," inasmuch as he did not lay +before the board the frequent and urgent solicitations which he, the +said Hastings, was continually receiving from the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, +until the 9th of March, 1778; on which day the said Hastings did +communicate to the Council a public letter of the aforesaid Middleton, +Resident at Oude, acquainting the board that he, the said Middleton, +taking occasion from a late application of Fyzoola Khân for the +Company's guaranty, had deputed Mr. Daniel Octavus Barwell (Assistant +Resident at Benares, but then on a visit to the Resident Middleton at +Lucknow) to proceed with a special commission to Rampoor, there to +inquire on the spot into the truth of certain reports circulated to the +prejudice of Fyzoola Khân, which reports, however, the said Middleton +did afterwards confess himself to have "<i>always</i>" <i>thought</i> "<i>in the +highest degree improbable</i>."</p> + +<p>That the said Resident Middleton did "request <!-- Page 281 --><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281" title="281" class="pagenum"></a>to know whether, on proof +of Fyzoola Khân's innocence, the honorable board would be pleased to +grant him [the Resident] permission to comply with his [Fyzoola Khân's] +request of the Company's guarantying his treaty with the Vizier." And +the said Middleton, in excuse for having irregularly "availed himself of +the abilities of Mr. Daniel Barwell," who belonged to another station, +and for deputing him with the aforesaid commission to Rampoor without +the previous knowledge of the board, did urge the plea "<i>of immediate +necessity</i>"; and that such plea, if the necessity really existed, was a +strong charge and accusation against the said Warren Hastings, from +whose criminal neglect and concealment the urgency of such necessity did +arise.</p> + +<p>V. That the Governor-General, Warren Hastings aforesaid, did immediately +move, "that the board approve the deputation of Mr. Daniel Barwell, and +that the Resident [Middleton] be authorized to offer the Company's +guaranty for the observance of the treaty subsisting between the Vizier +and Fyzoola Khân, provided it meets with the Vizier's concurrence"; and +that the Governor-General's proposition was resolved in the affirmative: +the usual majority of Council then consisting of Richard Barwell, +Esquire, a near relation of Daniel Octavus Barwell aforesaid, and the +Governor-General, Warren Hastings, who, in case of an equality, had the +casting voice.</p> + +<p>VI. That, on receiving from Mr. Daniel Barwell full and early assurance +of Fyzoola Khân's "having preserved every article of his treaty +inviolate," the Resident, Middleton, applied for the Vizier's +concur<!-- Page 282 --><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282" title="282" class="pagenum"></a>rence, which was readily obtained,—the Vizier, however, +"<i>premising</i>, that he gave his consent, taking it for granted, that, on +Fyzoola Khân's receiving the treaty and <i>khelaut</i> [or robe of honor], he +was to make him a return of the complimentary presents usually offered +on such occasions, and <i>of such an amount as should be a manifestation +of Fyzoola Khân's due sense of his friendship, and suitable to his +Excellency's rank to receive</i>"; and that the Resident, Middleton, "did +make himself in some measure responsible for the said presents being +obtained," and did write to Mr. Daniel Barwell accordingly.</p> + +<p>VII. That, agreeably to the resolution of Council hereinbefore recited, +the solicited guaranty, under the seal of the Resident, Middleton, thus +duly authorized on behalf of the Company, was transmitted, together with +the renewed treaty, to Mr. Daniel Barwell aforesaid at Rampoor, and that +they were both by him, the said Barwell, presented to the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân, with a solemnity not often paralleled, "in the presence of the +greatest part of the Nabob's subjects, who were assembled, that the +ceremony might create a full belief in the breasts of all his people +that the Company would protect him as long as he strictly adhered to the +<i>letter</i> of his treaty."</p> + +<p>VIII. That, in the conclusion of the said ceremony, the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân did deliver to the said Barwell, for the use of the Vizier, a +<i>nuzzer</i> (or present) of elephants, horses, &c., and did add thereto a +lac of rupees, or 10,000<i>l.</i> and upwards: which sum the said Barwell, +"not being authorized to accept any pecuniary consideration, did at +first refuse; but <!-- Page 283 --><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283" title="283" class="pagenum"></a>upon Fyzoola Khân's urging, that on such occasions it +was the invariable custom of Hindostan, and <i>that it must on the present +be expected, as it had been formerly the case</i>," (but when does not +appear,) he, the said Barwell, did accept the said lac in the name of +the Vizier, our ally, "in whose wealth" (as Warren Hastings on another +occasion observed) "we should participate," and on whom we at that time +had an accumulating demand.</p> + +<p>IX. That, over and above the lac of rupees thus presented to the Vizier, +the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did likewise offer one other lac of rupees, or +upwards of 10,000<i>l.</i> more, for the Company, "as some acknowledgment of +the obligation he received; that, although such acknowledgment was not +pretended to be the invariable custom of Hindostan on such occasions, +however it might on the present be expected," Mr. Daniel Barwell +aforesaid (knowing, probably, the disposition and views of the then +actual government at Calcutta) did not, <i>even at first</i>, decline the +said offer, but, as he was not empowered to accept it, did immediately +propose taking a bond for the amount, until the pleasure of the board +should be known.</p> + +<p>That the offer was accordingly communicated by the said Barwell to the +Resident, Middleton, to be by him, the Resident, referred to the board, +and that it was so referred; that, in reply to the said reference of the +Resident, Middleton, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, did move and +carry a vote of Council, "authorizing Mr. Middleton to accept the offer +made by Fyzoola Khân to the Company of one lac of rupees," without +assigning any reason whatever in support of the said motion, +notwithstanding it was <!-- Page 284 --><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284" title="284" class="pagenum"></a>objected by a member of the board, "that, if the +measure was right, it became us to adopt it without such a +consideration," and that "our accepting of the lac of rupees as a +recompense for our interposition is beneath the dignity of this +government [of Calcutta], and will discredit us in the eyes of the +Indian powers."</p> + +<p>That the acceptance of the said sum, in this circumstance, was beneath +the dignity of the said government, and did tend so to discredit us; and +that the motion of the said Hastings for such acceptance was therefore +highly derogatory to the honor of this nation.</p> + +<p>X. That the aforesaid member of the Council did further disapprove +altogether of the guaranty, "as unnecessary"; and that another member of +Council, Richard Barwell, Esquire, the near relation of Daniel Octavus +Barwell, hereinbefore named, did declare, (but after the said guaranty +had taken place,) that "this government [of Calcutta] was in fact +engaged by Colonel Champion's signature being to the treaty with Fyzoola +Khân." That the said unnecessary guaranty did not only subject to an +heavy expense a prince whom we were bound to protect, but did further +produce in his mind the following obvious and natural conclusion, +namely, "<i>that the signature of any person, in whatever public capacity +he at present appears, will not be valid and of effect, as soon as some +other shall fill his station</i>": a conclusion, however, immediately +tending to the total discredit of all powers delegated from the board to +any individual servant of the Company, and consequently to clog, +perplex, and embarrass in future all transactions carried on at a +distance from the seat of government, and to <!-- Page 285 --><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285" title="285" class="pagenum"></a>disturb the security of +all persons possessing instruments already so ratified,—yet the only +conclusion left to Fyzoola Khân which did not involve some affront +either to the private honor of the Company's servants or to the public +honor of the Company itself; and that the suspicions which originated +from the said idea in the breast of Fyzoola Khân to the prejudice of the +Resident Middleton's authority did compel the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings, to obviate the bad effects of his first motion for the +guaranty by a second motion, namely, "That a letter be written to +Fyzoola Khân from myself, <i>confirming the obligations of the Company as +guaranties</i> to the treaty formed between him and the Vizier,—which will +be equivalent in its effect, though not in form, to an engagement sent +him with the Company's seal affixed to it."</p> + +<p>XII.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23" /><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor" +title="Sic orig.">[23]</a> That, whether the guaranty aforesaid was or was not necessary, +whether it created a new obligation or but more fully recognized an +obligation previously existing, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, +by the said guaranty, did, in the most explicit manner, pledge and +commit the public faith of the Company and the nation; and that by the +subsequent letter of the said Hastings (which he at his own motion +wrote, confirming to Fyzoola Khân the aforesaid guaranty) the said +Hastings did again pledge and commit the public faith of the Company and +the nation, in a manner (as the said Hastings himself remarked) +"equivalent to an engagement with the Company's seal affixed to it," and +more particularly binding the said Hastings personally to exact a due +observance of the guarantied treaty, es<!-- Page 286 --><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286" title="286" class="pagenum"></a>pecially to protect the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân against any arbitrary construction or unwarranted +requisition of the Vizier.</p> + + +<h3><a name="PART_IVb" id="PART_IVb" />PART IV.<br /> + +THANKS OF THE BOARD TO FYZOOLA KHÂN.</h3> + +<p>I. That, soon after the completion of the guaranty, in the same year, +1778, intelligence was received in India of a war between England and +France; that, on the first intimation thereof, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, +"being indirectly sounded," did show much "promptness to render the +Company any assistance within the bounds of his finances and ability"; +and that by the suggestion of the Resident, Middleton, hereinbefore +named, he, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, in a letter to the Governor-General +and Council, did make a voluntary "offer to maintain two thousand +cavalry (all he had) for our service," "though he was under no +obligation to furnish the Company with a single man."</p> + +<p>II. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did even "anticipate the wishes of the +board"; and that, "on an application made to him by Lieutenant-Colonel +Muir," the Nabob Fyzoola Khân did, "without hesitation or delay," +furnish him, the said Muir, with five hundred of his best cavalry.</p> + +<p>That the said conduct of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân was communicated by the +Company's servants both to each other and to their employers, with +expressions of "pleasure" and "particular satisfaction," as an event +"even surpassing their expectations"; that the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings, was officially <!-- Page 287 --><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287" title="287" class="pagenum"></a>requested to convoy "the thanks of the board"; +and that, not satisfied with the bare discharge of his duty under the +said request, he, the said Hastings, did, on the 8th of January, 1779, +write to Fyzoola, "that, <i>in his own name</i>," as well as "that of the +board, he [the said Hastings] returned him the <i>warmest</i> thanks for this +instance of his faithful attachment to the Company and the English +nation."</p> + +<p>IV.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24" /><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor" +title="Sic orig.">[24]</a> That by the strong expressions above recited the said Warren +Hastings did deliberately and emphatically add his own particular +confirmation to the general testimony of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân's +meritorious fidelity, and of his consequent claim on the generosity, no +less than the justice, of the British government.</p> + + +<h3><a name="PART_Vb" id="PART_Vb" />PART V.<br /> + +DEMAND OF FIVE THOUSAND HORSE.</h3> + +<p>I. That, notwithstanding his own private honor thus deeply engaged, +notwithstanding the public justice and generosity of the Company and the +nation thus solemnly committed, disregarding the plain import and +positive terms of the guarantied treaty, the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings aforesaid, in November, 1780, while a body of Fyzoola Khân's +cavalry, voluntarily granted, were still serving under a British +officer, did recommend to the Vizier "to require from Fyzoola Khân the +quota of troops stipulated by treaty to be furnished by the latter for +his [the Vizier's] service, being FIVE THOUSAND HORSE," though, as the +Vizier did not march in person, he <!-- Page 288 --><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288" title="288" class="pagenum"></a>was not, under any construction of +the treaty, entitled by stipulation to more than "<i>two or three thousand +troops</i>," horse and foot, "according to the ability of Fyzoola Khân"; +and that, whereas the said Warren Hastings would have been guilty of +very criminal perfidy, if he had simply neglected to interfere as a +guaranty against a demand thus plainly contrary to the faith of treaty, +so he aggravated the guilt of his perfidy in the most atrocious degree +by being himself the first mover and instigator of that injustice, which +he was bound by so many ties on himself, the Company, and the nation, +not only not to promote, but, by every exertion of authority, influence, +and power, to control, to divert, or to resist.</p> + +<p>II. That the answer of Fyzoola Khân to the Vizier did represent, with +many expressions of deference, duty, and allegiance, that the whole +force allowed him was but "five thousand men," and that "these consisted +of two thousand horse and three thousand foot; which," he adds, "in +consequence of our intimate connection, are equally yours and the +Company's": though he does subsequently intimate, that "the three +thousand foot are for the management of the concerns of his jaghire, and +without them the collections can never be made in time."</p> + +<p>That, on the communication of the said answer to the Governor-General, +Warren Hastings, he, the said Hastings, (who, as the Council now +consisted only of himself and Edward Wheler, Esquire, "united in his own +person all the powers of government,") was not induced to relax from his +unjust purpose, but did proceed with new violence to record, that "the +Nabob Fyzoola Khân <i>had evaded the perform</i><!-- Page 289 --><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289" title="289" class="pagenum"></a><i>ance of his part of the +treaty</i> between the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah and him, to which the +Honorable Company were guaranties, and upon which he was lately summoned +to furnish the stipulated number of troops, which he is obliged to +furnish on the condition by which he holds the jaghire granted to him."</p> + +<p>That, by the vague and indefinite term of evasion, the said Warren +Hastings did introduce a loose and arbitrary principle of interpreting +formal engagements, which ought to be regarded, more especially by +guaranties, ill a sense the most literally scrupulous and precise.</p> + +<p>That he charged with such evasion a moderate, humble, and submissive +representation on a point which would have warranted a peremptory +refusal and a positive remonstrance; and that in consequence of the said +imputed evasion he indicated a disposition to attach such a forfeiture +as in justice could only have followed from a gross breach of +treaty,—though the said Hastings did not then pretend any actual +infringement even of the least among the conditions to which, in the +name of the Company, he, the said Hastings, was the executive guaranty.</p> + +<p>III. That, however "the number of troops stipulated by treaty may have +been understood," at the period of the original demand, "to be five +thousand horse," yet the said Warren Hastings, at the time when he +recorded the supposed evasion of Fyzoola Khân's answer to the said +demand, could not be unacquainted with the express words of the +stipulation, as a letter of the Vizier, inserted in the same +Consultation, refers the Governor-General to inclosed copies "of all +engagements entered into by the late Vizier <!-- Page 290 --><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290" title="290" class="pagenum"></a>and by himself [the +reigning Vizier] with Fyzoola Khân," and that the treaty itself, +therefore, was at the very moment before the said Warren Hastings: which +treaty (as the said Hastings observed with respect to another treaty, in +the case of another person) "most assuredly does not contain a syllable +to justify his conduct; but, by the unexampled latitude which he assumes +in his constructions, he may, if he pleases, extort this or any other +meaning from any part of it."<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25" /><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor" +title="Observations on Mr. Bristow's Defence.">[25]</a></p> + +<p>IV. That the Vizier himself appears by no means to have been persuaded +of his own right to five thousand horse under the treaty,—since, in his +correspondence on the subject, he, the Vizier, nowhere mentions the +treaty as the ground of his demand, except where he is recapitulating to +the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, the substance of his, the said +Hastings's, own letters; on the contrary, the Vizier hints his +apprehensions lest Fyzoola Khân should appeal to the treaty against the +demand, as a breach thereof,—in which case, he, the Vizier, informs the +said Hastings of the projected reply. "Should Fyzoola Khân" (says the +Vizier) "mention anything of the tenor of the treaty, <i>the first breach +of it has been committed by him</i>, in keeping up more men than allowed of +by the treaty: <i>I have accordingly sent a person to settle that point +also</i>. In case he should mention to me anything respecting the treaty, I +will then reproach him with having kept up too many troops, and will +oblige him to send the five thousand horse": thereby clearly intimating, +that, as a remonstrance against the demand <!-- Page 291 --><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291" title="291" class="pagenum"></a>as a breach of treaty could +only be answered by charging a prior breach of treaty on Fyzoola Khân, +so by annulling the whole treaty to reduce the question to a mere +question of force, and thus "oblige Fyzoola Khân to send the five +thousand horse": "for," (continues the Vizier,) "if, when the Company's +affairs, on which my honor depends, require it, Fyzoola Khân will not +lend his assistance, <i>what</i> USE <i>is there to continue the country to +him</i>?"</p> + +<p>That the Vizier actually did make his application to Fyzoola Khân for +the five thousand horse, not as for an aid to which he had a just claim, +but as for something over and above the obligations of the treaty, +something "that would give increase to their friendship and satisfaction +to the Nabob Governor," (meaning the said Hastings,) whose directions he +represents as the motive "of his call for the five thousand horse to be +employed," not in his, the Vizier's, "but in the Company's service."</p> + +<p>And that the aforesaid Warren Hastings did, therefore, in recording the +answer of Fyzoola Khân as an evasion of treaty, act in notorious +contradiction not only to that which ought to have been the fair +construction of the said treaty, but to that which he, the said +Hastings, must have known to be the Vizier's own interpretation of the +same, disposed as the Vizier was "to reproach Fyzoola Khân with breach +of treaty," and to "send up persons who should settle points with him."</p> + +<p>V. That the said Warren Hastings, not thinking himself justified, on the +mere plea of an evasion, to push forward his proceedings to that +extremity which he seems already to have made his scope and object, <!-- Page 292 --><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292" title="292" class="pagenum"></a>and +seeking some better color for his unjust and violent purposes, did +further move, that commissioners should be sent from the Vizier and the +Company to Fyzoola Khân, to insist on a clause of a treaty which nowhere +appears, being essentially different from the treaty of Lall-Dang, +though not in the part on which the requisition is founded; and the said +Hastings did then, in a style unusually imperative, proceed as follows.</p> + +<p>"<i>Demand immediate delivery of three thousand cavalry; and if he should +evade or refuse compliance, that the deputies shall deliver him a formal +protest against him for breach of treaty</i>, and return, making this +report to the Vizier, which Mr. Middleton is to transmit to the board."</p> + +<p>VI. That the said motion of the Governor-General, Hastings, was ordered +accordingly,—the Council, as already has been herein related, +consisting but of two members, and the said Hastings consequently +"uniting in his own person all the powers of government."</p> + +<p>VII. That, when the said Hastings ordered the said demand for three +thousand cavalry, he, the said Hastings, well knew that a compliance +therewith, on the part of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, was utterly +impossible: for he, the said Hastings, had at the very moment before him +a letter of Fyzoola Khân, stating, that he, Fyzoola Khân, had "but two +thousand cavalry" altogether; which letter is entered on the records of +the Company, in the same Consultation, immediately preceding the +Governor-General's minute. That the said Hastings, therefore, knew that +the only possible consequence of the aforesaid demand necessarily <!-- Page 293 --><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293" title="293" class="pagenum"></a>and +inevitably must be a protest for a breach of treaty; and the Court of +Directors did not hesitate to declare that the said demand "carried the +appearance of a determination to create a pretext for depriving him +[Fyzoola Khân] of his jaghire entirely, or to leave him at the mercy of +the Vizier."</p> + +<p>VIII. That Richard Johnson, Esquire, Assistant Resident at Oude, was, +agreeably to the afore-mentioned order of Council, deputed commissioner +from Mr. Middleton and the Vizier to Fyzoola Khân; but that he did early +give the most indecent proofs of glaring partiality, to the prejudice of +the said Fyzoola Khân: for that the very next day (as it seems) after +his arrival, he, the said Johnson, from opinions imbibed in his journey, +did state himself to be "unwilling to draw any favorable or flattering +inferences relatively to the object of his mission," and did studiously +seek to find new breaches of treaty, and, without any form of regular +inquiry whatever, from a single glance of his eye in passing, did take +upon himself to pronounce "the Rohilla soldiers, in the district of +Rampoor alone, to be not less than twenty thousand," and the grant of +course to be forfeited. And that such a gross and palpable display of a +predetermination to discover guilt did argue in the said Johnson a +knowledge, a strong presumption, or a belief, that such representations +would be agreeable to the secret wishes and views of the said Hastings, +under whose orders he, the said Johnson, acted, and to whom all his +reports were to be referred.</p> + +<p>IX. That the said Richard Johnson, did soon after proceed to the +immediate object of his mission, "<!-- Page 294 --><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294" title="294" class="pagenum"></a>which" (the said Johnson relates) +"was short to a degree." The demand was made, and "a flat refusal" +given. The question was repeated, with like effect. The said Johnson, in +presence of proper witnesses, then drew up his protest, "together with a +memorandum of <i>a palliative offer</i> made by the Nabob Fyzoola Khân," and +inserted in the protest:—"That he would, in compliance with the demand, +and <i>in conformity to the treaty, which specified no definite number of +cavalry or infantry, only expressing troops</i>, furnish three thousand +men: viz., he would, in addition to the one thousand cavalry already +granted, give one thousand more, when and wheresoever required, and one +thousand foot,"—together with one year's pay in advance, and funds for +the regular payment of them in future.</p> + +<p>And this, the said Richard Johnson observes, "I put down at his [the +Nabob Fyzoola Khân's] particular desire, but otherwise useless; as <i>my +orders</i>" (which orders do not appear) "<i>were, not to receive any +palliation, but a negative or affirmative</i>": though such palliation, as +it is called by the said Johnson, might be, as it was, in the strictest +conformity to the treaty.</p> + +<p>X. That in the said offer the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, instead of palliating, +did at once admit the extreme right of the Vizier under the treaty, by +agreeing to furnish three thousand men, when he, Fyzoola Khân, would +have been justified in pleading his inability to send more than two +thousand; that such inability would not (as appears) have been a false +and evasive plea, but perfectly true and valid,—as the three thousand +foot maintained by Fyzoola Khân were for the purposes of his internal +government, for which the <!-- Page 295 --><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295" title="295" class="pagenum"></a>whole three thousand must have been +demonstrably necessary; and that the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, by declining to +avail himself of a plea so fair, so well founded, and so consonant to +the indulgence expressly acknowledged in the treaty, and by thus meeting +the specific demand of the Vizier as fully as, according to his own +military establishment, he could, did for the said offer deserve rather +the thanks of the said Vizier and the Company than the protest which the +aforesaid Johnson, under the orders of Warren Hastings, did deliver.</p> + +<p>XI. That the report of the said protest, as well as the former letter of +the said Johnson, were by the Resident, Middleton, transmitted to the +board, together with a letter from the Vizier, founded on the said +report and letter of the said Johnson, and proposing in consequence "to +resume the grant, and to leave Fyzoola Khân to join his other faithless +brethren who were sent across the Ganges."</p> + +<p>That the said papers were read in Council on the 4th of June, 1781, when +the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, did move and carry a vote to +suspend a final resolution on the same: and the said Hastings did not +express any disapprobation of the proceedings of the said Johnson; +neither did the said Hastings assign any reasons for his motion of +suspension, which passed without debate. That in truth the said Hastings +had then projected a journey up the country to meet the Vizier for the +settlement of articles relative to the regulation of Oude and its +dependencies, among which was included the jaghire of Fyzoola Khân; and +the said Hastings, for the aforesaid purposes, did, on the 3d of July, +by his own casting vote, grant to him<!-- Page 296 --><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296" title="296" class="pagenum"></a>self, and did prevail on his +colleague, Edward Wheler, Esquire, to grant, a certain illegal +delegation of the whole powers of the Governor-General and Council, and +on the seventh of the same month did proceed on his way to join the +Vizier at a place called Chunar, on the borders of Benares; and that the +aforesaid vote of suspending a final resolution on the transactions with +Fyzoola Khân was therefore in substance and effect a reference thereof +by the said Hastings from himself in council with his colleague, Wheler, +to himself in conference and negotiation with the Vizier, who, from the +first demand of the five thousand horse, had taken every occasion of +showing his inclination to dispossess Fyzoola Khân, and who before the +said demand (in a letter which does not appear, but which the Vizier +himself quotes as antecedent to the said demand) had complained to the +said Hastings of the "injury and irregularity in the management of the +provinces bordering on Rampoor, arising from Fyzoola Khân having the +uncontrolled dominion of that district."</p> + + +<h3><a name="PART_VIb" id="PART_VIb" />PART VI.<br /> + +TREATY OF CHUNAR.</h3> + +<p>I. That the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, being vested with the +illegal powers before recited, did, on the 19th of September, 1781, +enter into a treaty with the Vizier at Chunar,—which treaty (as the +said Hastings relates) was drawn up "from a series of requisitions +presented to him [the said Hastings] by the Vizier," and by him received +"with an instant and unqualified assent to each article"; and that the +said Hastings assigns his reasons for <!-- Page 297 --><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297" title="297" class="pagenum"></a>such ready assent in the +following words: "I considered the subjects of his [the Vizier's] +requests as essential to the reputation of our government, and no less +to our interest than his."</p> + +<p>II. That in the said treaty of Chunar the third article is as follows.</p> + +<p>"That, as Fyzoola Khân has by his breach of treaty forfeited the +protection of the English government, and causes by his continuance in +his present independent state great alarm and detriment to the Nabob +Vizier, he be permitted, <i>when time shall suit</i>, to resume his lands, +and pay him in money, through the Resident, the amount stipulated by +treaty, after deducting the amount and charges of the troops he stands +engaged to furnish by treaty; which amount shall be passed to the +account of the Company during the continuance of the present war."</p> + +<p>III. That, for the better elucidation of his policy in the several +articles of the treaty above mentioned, the said Hastings did send to +the Council of Calcutta (now consisting of Edward Wheler and John +Macpherson, Esquires) two different copies of the said treaty, with +explanatory minutes opposed to each article; and that the minute opposed +to the third article is thus expressed.</p> + +<p>"The conduct of Fyzoola Khân, in refusing the aid demanded, though (1.) +<i>not an absolute breach of treaty</i>, was evasive and uncandid. (2.) <i>The +demand was made for five thousand cavalry</i>. (3.) <i>The engagement, in the +treaty is literally for five thousand horse and foot</i>. Fyzoola Khân +could not be ignorant that we had no occasion for any succors of +infantry from him, <!-- Page 298 --><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298" title="298" class="pagenum"></a>and that cavalry would be of the most essential +service. (4.) <i>So scrupulous an attention to literal expression, when a +more liberal interpretation would have been highly useful and acceptable +to us, strongly marks his unfriendly disposition, though it may not +impeach his fidelity, and leaves him little claim to any exertions from +us for the continuance of his jaghires. But </i> (5.) <i>I am of opinion that +neither the Vizier's nor the Company's interests would be promoted by +depriving Fyzoola Khân of his independency, and I have</i> (6.) <i>therefore +reserved the execution of this agreement to an indefinite term; and our +government may always interpose to prevent any ill effects from it</i>."</p> + +<p>IV. That, in his aforesaid authentic evidence of his own purposes, +motives, and principles, in the third article of the treaty of Chunar, +the said Hastings hath established divers matters of weighty and serious +crimination against himself.</p> + +<p>1st. That the said Hastings doth acknowledge therein, that he did, in a +public instrument, solemnly recognize, "<i>as a breach of treaty</i>," and as +such did subject to the consequent penalties, an act which he, the said +Hastings, did at the same time think, and did immediately declare, to be +"<i>no breach of treaty</i>"; and by so falsely and unjustly proceeding +against a person under the Company's guaranty, the said Hastings, on his +own confession, did himself break the faith of the said guaranty.</p> + +<p>2d. That, in justifying this breach of the Company's faith, the said +Hastings doth <i>wholly abandon his second peremptory demand for the three +thousand horse</i>, and the protest consequent thereon; and the said +Hastings doth thereby himself condemn the violence and injustice of the +same.<!-- Page 299 --><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299" title="299" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>3dly. That, in recurring to the original demand of five thousand horse +as the ground of his justification, the said Hastings doth falsely +assert "the engagement in the treaty to be <i>literally</i> FIVE <i>thousand +horse and foot</i>," whereas it is in fact for TWO <i>or</i> THREE <i>thousand +men</i>; and the said Hastings doth thereby wilfully attempt to deceive and +mislead his employers, which is an high crime and misdemeanor in a +servant of so great trust.</p> + +<p>4thly. That, with a view to his further justification, the said Hastings +doth advance a principle that "<i>a scrupulous attention to the literal +expression</i>" of a guarantied treaty "<i>leaves</i>" to the person so +observing the same "<i>but little claim to the exertions</i>" <i>of a guaranty +on his behalf</i>; that such a principle is utterly subversive of all faith +of guaranties, and is therefore highly criminal in the first executive +member of a government that must necessarily stand in that mutual +relation to many.</p> + +<p>5thly. That the said Hastings doth profess his opinion of an article to +which he gave an "<i>instant and unqualified assent</i>," that it was a +measure "<i>by which neither the Vizier's nor the Company's interests +would be promoted</i>," but from which, without some interposition, "<i>ill +effects</i>" <i>must be expected</i>; and that the said Hastings doth thereby +charge himself with a high breach of trust towards his employers.</p> + +<p>6thly. That the said Hastings having thus confessed that consciously and +wilfully (from what motives he hath not chosen to confess) he did give +his formal sanction to a measure both of injustice and impolicy, he, the +said Hastings, doth urge in his defence, that he did at the same time +insert words "reserving the execution of the said agreement to an +in<!-- Page 300 --><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300" title="300" class="pagenum"></a>definite term," with an intent that it might in truth be never +executed at all,—but that "our government might always interpose," +without right, by means of an indirect and undue influence, to prevent +the ill effects following from a collusive surrender of a clear and +authorized right to interpose; and the said Hastings doth thereby +declare himself to have introduced a principle of duplicity, deceit, and +double-dealing into a public engagement, which ought in its essence to +be clear, open, and explicit; that such a declaration tends to shake and +overthrow the confidence of all in the most solemn instruments of any +person so declaring, and is therefore an high crime and misdemeanor in +the first executive member of government, by whom all treaties and other +engagements of the state are principally to be conducted.</p> + +<p>V. That, by the explanatory minute aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings +doth further, in the most direct manner, contradict his own assertions +in the very letter which inclosed the said minute to his colleagues; for +that one of the articles to which he there gave "<i>an instant and +unqualified assent, as no less to our interest than to the Vizier's</i>" he +doth here declare unequivocally to be <i>neither to our interests nor the +Vizier's</i>; and the "<i>unqualified</i> assent" given to the said article is +now so <i>qualified</i> as wholly to defeat itself. That by such +irreconcilable contradictions the said Hastings doth incur the suspicion +of much criminal misrepresentation in other like cases of unwitnessed +conferences; and in the present instance (as far as it extends) the said +Hastings doth prove himself to have given an account both of his actions +and motives by his own confession untrue, for the purpose of deceiv<!-- Page 301 --><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301" title="301" class="pagenum"></a>ing +his employers, which is an high crime and misdemeanor in a servant of so +great trust.</p> + +<p>VI. That the said third article of the treaty of Chunar, as it thus +stands explained by the said Hastings himself, doth on the whole appear +designed to hold the protection of the Company in suspense; that it +acknowledges all right of interference to cease, but leaves it to our +discretion to determine when it will suit our conveniency to give the +Vizier the liberty of acting on the principles by us already admitted; +that it is dexterously constructed to balance the desires of one man, +rapacious and profuse, against the fears of another, described as "of +extreme pusillanimity and wealthy," but that, whatever may have been the +secret objects of the artifice and intrigue confessed to form its very +essence, it must on the very face of it necessarily implicate the +Company in a breach of faith, whichever might be the event, as they must +equally break their faith either by withdrawing their guaranty unjustly +or by continuing that guaranty in contradiction to this treaty of +Chunar; that it thus tends to hold out to India, and to the whole world, +that the public principle of the English government is a deliberate +system of injustice joined with falsehood, of impolicy, of bad faith, +and treachery; and that the said article is therefore in the highest +degree derogatory to the honor, and injurious to the interests of this +nation.<!-- Page 302 --><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302" title="302" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + +<h3><a name="PART_VIIb" id="PART_VIIb" />PART VII.<br /> + +CONSEQUENCES OF THE TREATY OF CHUNAR.</h3> + +<p>I. That, in consequence of the treaty of Chunar, the Governor-General, +Warren Hastings, did send official instructions respecting the various +articles of the said treaty to the said Resident, Middleton; and that, +in a postscript, the said Hastings did forbid the resumption of the +Nabob Fyzoola Khân's jaghire, "until circumstances may render it more +expedient and easy to be attempted than the present more material +pursuits of government make it appear": thereby intimating a positive +limitation of the indefinite term in the explanatory minute above +recited, and confining the suspension of the article to the pressure of +the war.</p> + +<p>II. That, soon after the date of the said instructions, and within two +months of the signature of the treaty of Chunar, the said Hastings did +cause Sir Elijah Impey, Knight, his Majesty's chief-justice at Fort +William, to discredit the justice of the crown of Great Britain by +making him the channel of unwarrantable communication, and did, through +the said Sir Elijah, signify to the Resident, Middleton, his, the said +Hastings's, "approbation of a <i>subsidy</i> from Fyzoola Khân."</p> + +<p>III. That the Resident, in answer, represents the proper equivalent for +two thousand horse and one thousand foot (the forces offered to Mr. +Johnson by Fyzoola Khân) to be twelve lacs, or 120,000<i>l.</i> sterling and +upwards, each year; which the said Resident supposes is considerably +beyond what he, Fyzoola <!-- Page 303 --><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303" title="303" class="pagenum"></a>Khân, <i>will voluntarily pay</i>: "however, if it +is your wish that the claim should be made, I am ready to take it up, +and <i>you may he assured nothing in my power shall be left undone to +carry it through</i>."</p> + +<p>IV. That the reply of the said Hastings doth not appear; but that it +does appear on record that "a negotiation" (Mr. Johnson's) "was begun +for Fyzoola Khân's cavalry to act with General Goddard, and, on his +[Fyzoola Khân's] <i>evading</i> it, <i>that a sum of money was demanded</i>."</p> + +<p>V. That, in the months of February, March, and April, the Resident, +Middleton, did repeatedly propose the resumption of Fyzoola Khân's +jaghire, agreeably to the treaty of Chunar; and that, driven to +extremity (as the said Hastings supposes) "by the public menaces and +denunciations of the Resident and minister," Hyder Beg Khân, a creature +of the said Hastings, and both the minister and Resident acting +professedly on and under the treaty of Chunar, "the Nabob Fyzoola Khân +made such preparations, and such a disposition of his family and wealth, +as evidently manifested either an intended or an <i>expected rupture</i>."</p> + +<p>VI. That on the 6th of May the said Hastings did send his confidential +agent and friend, Major Palmer, on a private commission to Lucknow; and +that the said Palmer was charged with secret instructions relative to +Fyzoola Khân, but of what import cannot be ascertained, the said +Hastings in his public instructions having inserted only the name of +Fyzoola Khân, as a mere reference (according to the explanation of <!-- Page 304 --><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304" title="304" class="pagenum"></a>the +said Hastings) to what he had verbally communicated to the said Palmer; +and that the said Hastings was thereby guilty of a criminal concealment.</p> + +<p>VII. That some time about the month of August an engagement happened +between a body of Fyzoola Khân's cavalry and a part of the Vizier's +army, in which the latter were beaten, and their guns taken; that the +Resident, Middleton, did represent the same but as a slight and +accidental affray; that it was acknowledged the troops of the Vizier +were the aggressors; that it did appear to the board, and to the said +Hastings himself, an affair of more considerable magnitude; and that +they did make the concealment thereof an article of charge against the +Resident, Middleton, though the said Resident did in truth acquaint them +with the same, but in a cursory manner.</p> + +<p>VIII. That, immediately after the said "fray" at Daranagur, the Vizier +(who was "but a cipher in the hands" of the minister and the Resident, +both of them directly appointed and supported by the said Hastings) did +make of Fyzoola Khân a new demand, equally contrary to the true intent +and meaning of the treaty as his former requisitions: which new demand +was for the detachment in garrison at Daranagur to be cantoned as a +stationary force at Lucknow, the capital of the Vizier; whereas he, the +Vizier, had only a right to demand an occasional aid to join his army in +the field or in garrison during a war. But the said new demand being +<i>evaded</i>, or rather refused, agreeably to the fair construction of the +treaty, by the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, the matter was for the present +dropped.<!-- Page 305 --><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305" title="305" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>IX. That in the letter in which the Resident, Middleton, did mention +"what he calls the fray" aforesaid, the said Middleton did again apply +for the resumption of the jaghire of Rampoor; and that, the objections +against the measure being now removed, (by the separate peace with +Sindia,) he desired to know if the board "would give assurances of their +support to the Vizier, in case, <i>which</i>" (says the Resident) "<i>I think +very probable, his</i> [the Vizier's] <i>own strength should be found unequal +to the undertaking</i>."</p> + +<p>X. That, although the said Warren Hastings did make the foregoing +application a new charge against the Resident, Middleton, yet the said +Hastings did only criminate the said Middleton for a proposal tending +"at such a crisis to increase the number of our enemies," and did in no +degree, either in his articles of charge or in his accompanying minutes, +express any disapprobation whatever of the principle; that, in truth, +the whole proceedings of the said Resident were the natural result of +the treaty of Chunar; that the said proceedings were from time to time +communicated to the said Hastings; that, as he nowhere charges any +disobedience of orders on Mr. Middleton with respect to Fyzoola Khân, it +may be justly inferred that the said Hastings did not interfere to check +the proceedings of the said Middleton on that subject; and that by such +criminal neglect the said Hastings did make the guilt of the said +Middleton, whatever it might be, his own.<!-- Page 306 --><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306" title="306" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + +<h3><a name="PART_VIIIb" id="PART_VIIIb" />PART VIII.<br /> + +PECUNIARY COMMUTATION OF THE STIPULATED AID.</h3> + +<p>I. That on the charges and for the misdemeanors above specified, +together with divers other accusations, the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings, in September, 1782, did remove the aforesaid Middleton from +his office of Resident at Oude, and did appoint thereto John Bristow, +Esquire, whom he had twice before, without cause, recalled from the +same; and that about the same time the said Hastings did believe the +mind of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân to be so irritated, in consequence of the +above-recited conduct of the late Resident, Middleton, and of his, the +said Hastings's, own criminal neglect, that he, the said Hastings, found +it necessary to write to Fyzoola Khân, assuring him "of the favorable +disposition of the government toward him, while he shall not have +forfeited it by any improper conduct"; but that the said assurances of +the Governor-General did not tend, as soon after appeared, to raise much +confidence in the Nabob, over whom a public instrument of the same +Hastings was still holding the terrors of a deprivation of his jaghire, +and an exile "among his other faithless brethren across the Ganges."</p> + +<p>II. That, on the subject of Fyzoola Khân, the said Hastings, in his +instructions to the new Resident, Bristow, did leave him to be guided by +his own discretion; but he adds, "Be careful to prevent the Vizier's +affairs from being involved with new difficulties, while he has already +so many to oppress him": thereby plainly hinting at some more decisive +measures, whenever the Vizier should be less oppressed with +difficulties.<!-- Page 307 --><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307" title="307" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>III. That the Resident, Bristow, after acquainting the Governor-General +with his intentions, did under the said instructions renew the aforesaid +claim for a sum of money, but with much caution and circumspection, +distantly sounding Allif Khân, the <i>vakeel</i> (or envoy) of Fyzoola Khân +at the court of the Vizier; that "Allif Khân wrote to his master on the +subject, and in answer he was directed not to agree to the granting of +any pecuniary aid."</p> + +<p>IV. That the Resident, Bristow, did then openly depute Major Palmer +aforesaid, with the concurrence of the Vizier, and the approbation of +the Governor-General, to the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, at Rampoor; and that +the said Palmer was to "endeavor to convince the Nabob that <i>all doubts +of his attachment to the Vizier are ceased, and whatever claims may be +made on him are founded upon the basis of his interest and advantage and +a plan of establishing his right to the possession of his jaghire</i>."</p> + +<p>That the sudden ceasing of the said doubts, without any inquiry of the +slightest kind, doth warrant a strong presumption of the Resident's +conviction that they never really existed, but were artfully feigned, as +a pretence for some harsh interposition; and that the indecent mockery +of establishing, as a matter of favor, for a pecuniary consideration, +rights which were never impeached but by the treaty of Chunar, (an +instrument recorded by Warren Hastings himself to be founded on +falsehood and injustice,) doth powerfully prove the true purpose and +object of all the duplicity, deceit, and double-dealing with which that +treaty was projected and executed.<!-- Page 308 --><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308" title="308" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>V. That the said Palmer was instructed by the Resident, Bristow, with +the subsequent approbation of the Governor-General, "to obtain from +Fyzoola Khân <i>an annual tribute</i>"; to which the Resident adds,—"<i>If +you can procure from him, over and above this, a peshcush</i> [or fine] <i>of +at least five lacs</i>, it would be rendering an essential service to the +Vizier, and add to <i>the confidence his Excellency would hereafter repose +in the attachment of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân</i>." And that the said +Governor-General, Hastings, did give the following extraordinary ground +of calculation, as the basis of the said Palmer's negotiation for the +annual tribute aforesaid.</p> + +<p>"<i>It was certainly understood</i>, at the time the treaty was concluded, +(of which this stipulation was a part,) that it applied <i>solely to +cavalry</i>: as the Nabob Vizier, possessing the service of our forces, +could not possibly require infantry, and least of all such infantry as +Fyzoola Khân could furnish; and <i>a single horseman included in the aid +which Fyzoola Khân might furnish would prove a literal compliance with +the said stipulation</i>. The number, therefore, of horse implied by it +ought at least to be ascertained: <i>we will suppose five thousand</i>, and, +allowing the exigency for their attendance to exist only in the +proportion of <i>one year in five</i>, reduce the demand to one thousand for +the computation of the subsidy, which, at the rate of <i>fifty rupees</i> per +man, will amount to fifty thousand <i>per mensem</i>. This may serve for the +basis of this article in the negotiation upon it."</p> + +<p>VI. That the said Warren Hastings doth then continue to instruct the +said Palmer in the alternative of a refusal from Fyzoola Khân. "If +Fyzoola Khân <!-- Page 309 --><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309" title="309" class="pagenum"></a>shall refuse to treat for a subsidy, and claim the benefit +of his original agreement in its literal expression, <i>he possesses a +right which we cannot dispute</i>, and it will in that case remain only to +fix the precise number of horse which he shall furnish, which ought at +least to exceed twenty-five hundred."</p> + +<p>VII. That, in the above-recited instruction, the said Warren Hastings +doth insinuate (for he doth not directly assert),—</p> + +<p>1st. That we are entitled by treaty to five thousand troops, which he +says were undoubtedly intended to be all cavalry.</p> + +<p>2d. That the said Hastings doth then admit that a single horseman, +included in the aid furnished by Fyzoola Khân, would prove a literal +compliance.</p> + +<p>3d. That the said Hastings doth next resort again to the supposition of +our right to the whole five thousand cavalry.</p> + +<p>4th. That the said Hastings doth afterwards think, in the event of an +explanation of the treaty, and a settlement of the proportion of +cavalry, instead of a pecuniary commutation, it will be all we can +demand that the number should <i>at least exceed twenty-five hundred</i>.</p> + +<p>5th. That the said Hastings doth, in calculating the supposed time of +their service, assume an arbitrary estimate of one year of war to four +of peace; which (however moderate the calculation may appear on the +average of the said Hastings's own government) doth involve a principle +in a considerable degree repugnant to the system of perfect peace +inculcated in the standing orders of the Company.</p> + +<p>6th. That, in estimating the pay of the cavalry to <!-- Page 310 --><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310" title="310" class="pagenum"></a>be commuted, the +said Hastings doth fix the pay of each man at fifty rupees a month; +which on five thousand troops, all cavalry, (as the said Hastings +supposes the treaty of Lall-Dang to have meant,) would amount to an +expense of thirty lacs a year, or between 300,000<i>l.</i> or 400,000<i>l.</i> And +this expense, strictly resulting (according to the calculations of the +said Hastings) from the intention of Sujah ul Dowlah's grant to Fyzoola +Khân, was designed to be supported out of a jaghire valued at fifteen +lacs only, or something more than 150,000<i>l.</i> of yearly revenue, just +half the amount of the expense to be incurred in consideration of the +said jaghire.</p> + +<p>And that a basis of negotiation so inconsistent, so arbitrary, and so +unjust is contrary to that uprightness and integrity which should mark +the transactions of a great state, and is highly derogatory to the honor +of this nation.</p> + +<p>VIII. That, notwithstanding the seeming moderation and justice of the +said Hastings in admitting the clear and undoubted right of Fyzoola Khân +to insist on his treaty, the head of instruction immediately succeeding +doth afford just reason for a violent presumption that such apparent +lenity was but policy, to give a color to his conduct: he, the said +Hastings, in the very next paragraph, bringing forth a new engine of +oppression, as follows.</p> + +<p>"To demand the surrender of all the ryots [or peasants] of the Nabob +Vizier's dominions to whom Fyzoola has given protection and service, <i>or +an annual tribute in compensation for the loss sustained by the Nabob +Vizier in his revenue thus transferred to Fyzoola Khân</i>.</p> + +<p>"You have stated the increase of his jaghire, occa<!-- Page 311 --><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311" title="311" class="pagenum"></a>sioned by this act, +at the moderate sum of fifteen lacs. <i>The tribute ought at least to be +one third of that amount</i>.</p> + +<p>"We conceive that Fyzoola Khân himself may be disposed to yield to the +preceding demand, on the additional condition of being allowed to hold +his lands in <i>ultumgaw</i> [or an inheritable tenure] instead of his +present tenure by <i>jaghire</i> [or a tenure for life]. This we think the +Vizier can have no objection to grant, and we recommend it; <i>but for +this a fine, or peshcush, ought to be immediately paid, in the customary +proportion of the jumma, estimated at thirty lacs</i>."</p> + +<p>IX. That the Resident, Bristow, (to whom the letter containing Major +Palmer's instructions is addressed,) nowhere attributes the increase of +Fyzoola Khân's revenues to this protection of the fugitive ryots, +subjects of the Vizier; that the said Warren Hastings was, therefore, +not warranted to make that a pretext of such a peremptory demand. That, +as an inducement to make Fyzoola Khân agree to the said demand, it is +offered to settle his lands upon a tenure which would secure them to his +children; but that settlement is to bring with it a new demand of a fine +of thirty lacs, or 300,000<i>l.</i> and upwards; that the principles of the +said demand are violent and despotic, and the inducement to acquiescence +deceitful and insidious; and that both the demand and the inducement are +derogatory to the honor of this nation.</p> + +<p>X. That Major Palmer aforesaid proceeded under these instructions to +Rampoor, where his journey "<i>to extort a sum of money</i>" was previously +known from Allif Khân, vakeel of Fyzoola Khân at the Vizier's court; and +that, notwithstanding the assurances of <!-- Page 312 --><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312" title="312" class="pagenum"></a>the friendly disposition of +government given by the said Hastings, (as is herein related,) the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân did express the most serious and desponding apprehensions, +both by letter and through his vakeel, to the Resident, Bristow, who +represents them to Major Palmer in the following manner.</p> + +<p>"The Nabob Fyzoola Khân complains of the distresses he has this year +suffered from the drought. The whole collections have, with great +management, amounted to about twelve lacs of rupees, from which sum he +has to support his troops, his family, and several relations and +dependants of the late Rohilla chiefs. <i>He says, it clearly appears to +be intended to deprive him of his country, as the high demand you have +made of him is inadmissible.</i> Should he have assented to it, it would be +impossible to perform the conditions, and then his reputation would be +injured by a breach of agreement. <i>Allif Khân further represents, that +it is his master's intention, in case the demand should not be +relinquished by you, first to proceed to Lucknow, where he proposes +having an interview with the Vizier and the Resident; if he should not +be able to obtain his own terms for a future possession of his jaghire, +he will set off for Calcutta in order to pray for justice from the +Honorable the Governor-General.</i> He observes, it is the custom of the +Honorable Company, when they deprive a chief of his country, to grant +him some allowance. This he expects from Mr. Hastings's bounty; <i>but if +he should be disappointed, he will certainly set off upon a pilgrimage +to Mecca and Medina, and renounce the cares of the world</i>.—<i>He directs +his vakeel to ascertain whether the English intend to deprive him of his +country</i>; for if they do, he is ready to surrender it, upon receiving an +order from the Resident."<!-- Page 313 --><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313" title="313" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>XI. That, after much negotiation, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, "being fully +sensible that an engagement to furnish military aid, <i>however clearly +the conditions might be stated, must be a source of perpetual +misunderstanding and inconveniencies</i>," did at length agree with Major +Palmer to give fifteen lacs, or 150,000<i>l.</i> and upwards, by four +instalments, that he might be exempted from all future claims of +military service; that the said Palmer represents it to be his belief, +"<i>that no person, not known to possess your</i> [the said Hastings's] +<i>confidence and support in the degree that I am supposed to do</i>, would +have obtained nearly so good terms"; but from what motive "terms so +good" were granted, and how the confidence and support of the said +Hastings did truly operate on the mind of Fyzoola Khân, doth appear to +be better explained by another passage in the same letter, where the +said Palmer congratulates himself on <i>the satisfaction which he gave to +Fyzoola Khân</i> in the conduct of this negotiation, as he spent a month in +order to effect "by argument and persuasion <i>what he could have obtained +in an hour by threats and compulsions</i>."</p> + + +<h3><a name="PART_IXb" id="PART_IXb" />PART IX.<br /> + +FULL VINDICATION OF FYZOOLA KHÂN BY MAJOR PALMER AND MR. HASTINGS.</h3> + +<p>I. That, in the course of the said negotiation for establishing the +rights of the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, Major Palmer aforesaid did communicate +to the Resident, Bristow, and through the said Resident to the +Council-General of Bengal, the full and direct denial of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân to all and every of the charges made or pretended to be +made against him, as follows.<!-- Page 314 --><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314" title="314" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>"Fyzoola Khân persists in denying the infringement on his part of any +one article in the treaty, or the neglect of any obligation which it +imposed upon him.</p> + +<p>"He does not admit of <i>the improvements reported to be made</i> in his +jaghire, and even asserts that the collections this year will fall short +of the original <i>jumma</i> [or estimate] by reason of the long drought.</p> + +<p>"He denies having exceeded the limited number of Rohillas in his +service;</p> + +<p>"And having refused the required aid of cavalry, made by Johnson, to act +with General Goddard.</p> + +<p>"He observes, respecting the charge of evading the Vizier's requisition +for the cavalry lately stationed at Daranagur, to be stationed at +Lucknow, that he is not bound by treaty to maintain a stationary force +for the service of the Vizier, but to supply an aid of two or three +thousand troops in time of war.</p> + +<p>"Lastly, he asserts, that, so far from encouraging the ryots [or +peasants] of the Vizier to settle in his jaghire, it has been his +constant practice to deliver them up to the Aumil of Rohilcund, whenever +he could discover them."</p> + +<p>II. That, in giving his opinions on the aforesaid denials of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân, the said Palmer did not controvert any one of the +constructions of the treaty advanced by the said Nabob.</p> + +<p>That, although the said Palmer, "from general appearances as well as +universal report, did not doubt that the jumma of the jaghire is +<i>greatly increased</i>," yet he, the said Palmer, did not intimate that it +was increased in any degree near <i>the amount reported</i>, as it was drawn +out in a regular estimate transmitted to the said Palmer expressly for +the purposes of his nego<!-- Page 315 --><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315" title="315" class="pagenum"></a>tiation, which was of course by him produced to +the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, and to which specifically the denial of Fyzoola +Khân must be understood to apply.</p> + +<p>That the said Palmer did not hint any doubt of the deficiency affirmed +by Fyzoola Khân in the collections for the current year: and,</p> + +<p>That, if any increase of jumma did truly exist, whatever it may have +been, the said Palmer did acknowledge it "to have been solemnly +relinquished (in a private agreement) by the Vizier."</p> + +<p>That, although the said Palmer did suppose the number of Rohillas +(employed "in ordinary occupations) in Rampoor alone to exceed that +limited by the treaty for his [Fyzoola Khân's] service," yet the said +Palmer did by no means imply that the Nabob Fyzoola Khân <i>maintained in +his service</i> a single man more than was allowed by treaty; and by a +particular and minute account of the troops of Fyzoola Khân, transmitted +by the Resident, Bristow, to the said Palmer, the number was stated but +at 5,840, probably including officers, who were not understood to be +comprehended in the treaty.</p> + +<p>That the said Palmer did further admit it "<i>to be not clearly expressed</i> +in the treaty, whether the restriction included Rohillas of all +descriptions"; but, at any rate, he adds, "it does not appear that their +number is formidable, or that he [Fyzoola Khân] <i>could by any means +subsist such numbers as could cause any serious alarm to the Vizier</i>; +neither is there any appearance of their entertaining any views beyond +the quiet possession of the advantages which they at present enjoy."</p> + +<p>And that, in a subsequent letter, in which the said Palmer thought it +prudent "to vindicate him<!-- Page 316 --><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316" title="316" class="pagenum"></a>self from any possible insinuation that he +meant to sacrifice the Vizier's interest," he, the said Palmer, did +positively attest the new claim on Fyzoola Khân for the protection of +the Vizier's ryots to be wholly without foundation, as the Nabob Fyzoola +Khân "had proved to him [Palmer], by producing receipts of various dates +and for great numbers of these people surrendered upon requisition from +the Vizier's officers."</p> + +<p>III. That, over and above the aforesaid complete refutation of the +different charges and pretexts under which exactions had been practised, +or attempted to be practised, on the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, the said Palmer +did further condemn altogether the principle of calculation assumed in +such exactions (even if they had been founded in justice) by the +following explanation of the nature of the tenure by which, under the +treaty of Lall-Dang, the Nabob Fyzoola Khân held his possessions as a +jaghiredar.</p> + +<p>"There are no precedents in the ancient usage of the country for +ascertaining the <i>nuzzerana</i> [customary present] or <i>peshcush</i> [regular +fine] of grants of this nature: <i>they were bestowed by the prince as +rewards or favors</i>; and the accustomary present in return was adapted to +the dignity of the donor rather than to the value of the gift,—<i>to +which it never, I believe, bore any kind of proportion</i>."</p> + +<p>IV. That a sum of money ("which of course was to be received by the +Company") being now obtained, and the "<i>interests both of the Company +and the Vizier</i>" being thus much "<i>better promoted</i>" by "<i>establishing +the rights</i>" of Fyzoola Khân than they <!-- Page 317 --><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317" title="317" class="pagenum"></a>could have been by "<i>depriving +him of his independency</i>," when every undue influence of secret and +criminal purposes was removed from the mind of the Governor-General, +Warren Hastings, Esquire, he, the said Hastings, did also concur with +his friend and agent, Major Palmer, in the vindication of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân, and in the most ample manner.</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings did now clearly and explicitly understand +the clauses of the treaty, "that Fyzoola Khân should send <i>two</i> or +<i>three</i> [and not <i>five</i>] thousand men, or <i>attend in person, in case it +was requisite</i>."</p> + +<p>That the said Warren Hastings did now confess that the right of the +Vizier under the treaty was at best "but <i>a precarious and unserviceable +right</i>; and that he thought fifteen lacs, or 150,000<i>l.</i> and upwards, an +ample equivalent," (or, according to the expression of Major Palmer, <i>an +excellent bargain</i>,) as in truth it was, "for expunging an article of +such a tenor and so loosely worded."</p> + +<p>And, finally, that the said Hastings did give the following description +of the general character, disposition, and circumstances of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khân.</p> + +<p>"The rumors which had been spread of his hostile designs against the +Vizier were totally groundless, and if he had been inclined, he had not +the means to make himself formidable; on the contrary, being in the +decline of life, and possessing a very fertile and prosperous jaghire, +it is more natural to suppose that Fyzoola Khân wishes to spend the +remainder of his days in quietness than that he is preparing to embark +in active and offensive scenes which must end in his own destruction."<!-- Page 318 --><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318" title="318" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>V. Yet that, notwithstanding this virtual and implied crimination of his +whole conduct toward the Nabob Fyzoola Khân, and after all the aforesaid +acts systematically prosecuted in open violation of a positive treaty +against a prince who had an hereditary right to more than he actually +possessed, for whose protection the faith of the Company and the nation +was repeatedly pledged, and who had deserved and obtained the public +thanks of the British government,—when, in allusion to certain of the +said acts, the Court of Directors had expressed to the said Hastings +their wishes "to be considered rather as the guardians of the honor and +property of the native powers than as the instruments of oppression," +he, the said Hastings, in reply to the said Directors, his masters, did +conclude his official account of the final settlement with Fyzoola Khân +with the following indecent, because unjust, exultation:—</p> + +<p>"Such are the measures which we shall ever wish to observe towards our +allies or dependants upon our frontiers."<!-- Page 319 --><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319" title="319" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX" />APPENDIX<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">TO THE</span><br /> +<br /> +EIGHTH AND SIXTEENTH CHARGES.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26" /><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor" +title="As the letter referred to in the Eighth and Sixteenth Articles of +Charge is not contained in any of the Appendixes to the Reports of the +Select Committee, it has been thought necessary to annex it as an +Appendix to these Charges.">[26]</a></h2> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Copy of a Letter from Warren Hastings, Esquire, to William Devaynes, +Esquire, Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, +dated Cheltenham, 11th of July, 1785, and printed by order of the House +of Commons.</p></div> + +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0"><i>To William Devaynes, Esquire, Chairman of the Honorable the Court of +Directors.</i></p> + +<p>Sir,—The Honorable Court of Directors, in their general letter to +Bengal by the "Surprise," dated the 16th March, 1784, were pleased to +express their desire that I should inform them of the periods when each +sum of the presents mentioned in my address of the 22d May, 1782, was +received, what were my motives for withholding the several receipts from +the knowledge of the Council, or of the Court of Directors, and what +were my reasons for taking bonds for part of these sums, and for paying +other sums into the treasury as deposits on my own account.</p> + +<p>I have been kindly apprised that the information required as above is +yet expected from me. I hope <!-- Page 320 --><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320" title="320" class="pagenum"></a>that the circumstances of my past +situation, when considered, will plead my excuse for having thus long +withheld it. The fact is, that I was not at the Presidency when the +"Surprise" arrived; and when I returned to it, my time and attention +were so entirely engrossed, to the day of my final departure from it, by +a variety of other more important occupations, of which, Sir, I may +safely appeal to your testimony, grounded on the large portion +contributed by myself of the volumes which compose our Consultations of +that period, that the submission which my respect would have enjoined me +to pay to the command imposed on me was lost to my recollection, perhaps +from the stronger impression which the first and distant perusal of it +had left on my mind that it was rather intended as a reprehension for +something which had given offence in my report of the original +transaction than as expressive of any want of a further elucidation of +it.</p> + +<p>I will now endeavor to reply to the different questions which have been +stated to me in as explicit a manner as I am able. To such information +as I can give the Honorable Court is fully entitled; and where that +shall prove defective, I will point out the easy means by which it may +be rendered more complete.</p> + +<p>First, I believe I can affirm with certainty, that the several sums +mentioned in the account transmitted with my letter above mentioned were +received at or within a very few days of the dates which are prefixed to +them in the account; but as this contains only the gross sums, and each +of these was received in different payments, though at no great distance +of time, I cannot therefore assign a greater degree of accuracy <!-- Page 321 --><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321" title="321" class="pagenum"></a>to the +account. Perhaps the Honorable Court will judge this sufficient for any +purpose to which their inquiry was directed; but if it should not be so, +I will beg leave to refer for a more minute information, and for the +means of making any investigation which they may think it proper to +direct, respecting the particulars of this transaction, to Mr. Larkins, +your Accountant-General, who was privy to every process of it, and +possesses, as I believe, the original paper, which contained the only +account that I ever kept of it. In this each receipt was, as I +recollect, specifically inserted, with the name of the person by whom it +was made; and I shall write to him to desire that he will furnish you +with the paper itself, if it is still in being and in his hands, or with +whatever he can distinctly recollect concerning it.</p> + +<p>For my motives for withholding the several receipts from the knowledge +of the Council, or of the Court of Directors, and for taking bonds for +part of these sums, and paying others into the treasury as deposits on +my own account, I have generally accounted in my letter to the Honorable +the Court of Directors of the 22d May, 1782: namely, that "I either +chose to conceal the first receipts from public curiosity by receiving +bonds for the amount, or possibly acted without any studied design which +my memory at that distance of time could verify; and that I did not +think it worth my care to observe the same means with the rest." It will +not be expected that I should be able to give a more correct explanation +of my intentions after a lapse of three years, having declared at the +time that many particulars had escaped my remembrance; neither shall I +attempt to add more than the clearer affirmation of the facts implied in +that report of <!-- Page 322 --><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322" title="322" class="pagenum"></a>them, and such inferences as necessarily, or with a +strong probability, follow them.</p> + +<p>I have said that the three first sums of the account were paid into the +Company's treasury without passing through my hands. The second of these +was forced into notice by its destination and application to the expense +of a detachment which was formed and employed against Mahdajee Sindia +under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Camac, as I particularly +apprised the Court of Directors in my letter of the 29th November, 1780. +The other two were certainly not intended, when I received them, to be +made public, though intended for public service, and actually applied to +it. The exigencies of the government were at that time my own, and every +pressure upon it rested with its full weight upon my mind. Wherever I +could find allowable means of relieving those wants, I eagerly seized +them; but neither could it occur to me as necessary to state on our +Proceedings every little aid which I could thus procure, nor do I know +how I could have stated it, without appearing to court favor by an +ostentation which I disdain, nor without the chance of exciting the +jealousy of my colleagues by the constructive assertion of a separate +and unparticipated merit, derived from the influence of my station, to +which they might have laid an equal claim. I should have deemed it +particularly dishonorable to receive for my own use money tendered by +men of a certain class, from whom I had interdicted the receipt of +presents to my inferiors, and bound them by oath not to receive them. I +was therefore more than ordinarily cautious to avoid the suspicion of +it, which would scarcely have failed to light upon me, had I suffered +<!-- Page 323 --><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323" title="323" class="pagenum"></a>the money to be brought directly to my own house, or to that of any +person known to be in trust for me: for these reasons I caused it to be +transported immediately to the treasury. There, you well know, Sir, it +could not be received without being passed to some credit, and this +could only be done by entering it as a loan or as a deposit: the first +was the least liable to reflection, and therefore I had obviously +recourse to it. Why the second sum was entered as a deposit I am utterly +ignorant: possibly it was done without any special direction from me; +possibly because it was the simplest mode of entry, and therefore +preferred, as the transaction itself did not require concealment, having +been already avowed.</p> + +<p>Although I am firmly persuaded that these were my sentiments on the +occasion, yet I will not affirm that they were. Though I feel their +impression as the remains of a series of thoughts retained on my memory, +I am not certain that they may not have been produced by subsequent +reflection on the principal fact, combining with it the probable motives +of it. Of this I am certain, that it was my design originally to have +concealed the receipt of all the sums, except the second, even from the +knowledge of the Court of Directors. They had answered my purpose of +public utility, and I had almost totally dismissed them from my +remembrance. But when fortune threw a sum in my way of a magnitude which +could not be concealed, and the peculiar delicacy of my situation at the +time in which I received it made me more circumspect of appearances, I +chose to apprise my employers of it, which I did hastily and generally: +hastily, perhaps to prevent the vigilance and activity of secret +calumny; and generally, because I <!-- Page 324 --><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324" title="324" class="pagenum"></a>knew not the exact amount of the sum, +of which I was in the receipt, but not in the full possession. I +promised to acquaint them with the result as soon as I should be in +possession of it, and in the performance of my promise I thought it +consistent with it to add to the account all the former appropriations +of the same kind: my good genius then suggesting to me, with a spirit of +caution which might have spared me the trouble of this apology, had I +universally attended to it, that, if I had suppressed them, and they +were afterwards known, I might be asked what were my motives for +withholding part of these receipts from the knowledge of the Court of +Directors and informing them of the rest.</p> + +<p>It being my wish to clear up every doubt upon this transaction, which +either my own mind could suggest or which may have been suggested by +others, I beg leave to suppose another question, and to state the terms +of it in my reply, by informing you that the indorsement on the bonds +was made about the period of my leaving the Presidency, in the middle of +the year 1781, in order to guard against their becoming a claim on the +Company, as part of my estate, in the event of my death occurring in the +course of the service on which I was then entering.</p> + +<p>This, Sir, is the plain history of the transaction. I should be ashamed +to request that you would communicate it to the Honorable Court of +Directors, whose time is too valuable for the intrusion of a subject so +uninteresting, but that it is become a point of indispensable duty; I +must therefore request the favor of you to lay it, at a convenient time, +before them. In addressing it to you personally, I yield to my own +feelings of the respect which is due to them as a body, and to the +assurances which I derive from your experienced civilities that you will +kindly overlook the trouble imposed by it.</p> + +<p>I have the honor to be, Sir,</p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your very humble and most obedient servant,</span></p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">(Signed) WARREN HASTINGS.</span></p> + +<p class="quotdate">CHELTENHAM, 11 July, 1785. +<!-- Page 325 --><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325" title="325" class="pagenum"></a><!-- Page 334 --><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326" title="326" class="pagenum"></a><!-- Page 327 --><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327" title="327" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SPEECHES" id="SPEECHES" />SPEECHES<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">IN</span><br /> +<br /> +THE IMPEACHMENT<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">OF</span><br /> +<br /> +WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE,<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL.</span><br /> +<br /><br /> +SPEECH IN OPENING.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">FEBRUARY, 1788.</span><br /> +</h2> + + + +<div><hr style="width: 65%;" /><!-- Page 328 --><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328" title="328" class="pagenum"></a><!-- Page 337 --><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329" title="329" class="pagenum"></a></div> +<h2><a name="SPEECHa" id="SPEECHa" />SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">IN</span><br /> +<br /> +OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">FIRST DAY: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1788.</span></h2> + + +<p>My Lords,—The gentlemen who have it in command to support the +impeachment against Mr. Hastings have directed me to open the cause with +a general view of the grounds upon which the Commons have proceeded in +their charge against him. They have directed me to accompany this with +another general view of the extent, the magnitude, the nature, the +tendency, and the effect of the crimes which they allege to have been by +him committed. They have also directed me to give an explanation (with +their aid I may be enabled to give it) of such circumstances, preceding +the crimes charged on Mr. Hastings, or concomitant with them, as may +tend to elucidate whatever may be found obscure in the articles as they +stand. To these they wished me to add a few illustrative remarks on the +laws, customs, opinions, and manners of the people concerned, and who +are the objects of the crimes we charge on Mr. Hastings. The several +articles, as they appear before you, will be opened by other gentlemen +with more particularity, with more distinctness, and, without doubt, +with infinitely more ability, when they come to apply the evidence which +naturally belongs to each article of this accusation. This, my Lords, is +<!-- Page 330 --><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330" title="330" class="pagenum"></a>the plan which we mean to pursue on the great charge which is now to +abide your judgment.</p> + +<p>My Lords, I must look upon it as an auspicious circumstance to this +cause, in which the honor of the kingdom and the fate of many nations +are involved, that, from the first commencement of our Parliamentary +process to this the hour of solemn trial, not the smallest difference of +opinion has arisen between the two Houses.</p> + +<p>My Lords, there are persons who, looking rather upon what was to be +found in our records and histories than what was to be expected from the +public justice, had formed hopes consolatory to themselves and +dishonorable to us. They flattered themselves that the corruptions of +India would escape amidst the dissensions of Parliament. They are +disappointed. They will be disappointed in all the rest of their +expectations which they have formed upon everything, except the merits +of their cause. The Commons will not have the melancholy unsocial glory +of having acted a solitary part in a noble, but imperfect work. What the +greatest inquest of the nation has begun its highest tribunal will +accomplish. At length justice will be done to India. It is true that +your Lordships will have your full share in this great achievement; but +the Commons have always considered that whatever honor is divided with +you is doubled on themselves.</p> + +<p>My Lords, I must confess, that, amidst these encouraging prospects, the +Commons do not approach your bar without awe and anxiety. The magnitude +of the interests which we have in charge will reconcile some degree of +solicitude for the event with the undoubting confidence with which we +repose ourselves <!-- Page 331 --><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331" title="331" class="pagenum"></a>upon your Lordships' justice. For we are men, my +Lords; and men are so made, that it is not only the greatness of danger, +but the value of the adventure, which measures the degree of our concern +in every undertaking. I solemnly assure your Lordships that no standard +is sufficient to estimate the value which the Commons set upon the event +of the cause they now bring before you. My Lords, the business of this +day is not the business of this man, it is not solely whether the +prisoner at the bar be found innocent or guilty, but whether millions of +mankind shall be made miserable or happy.</p> + +<p>Your Lordships will see, in the progress of this cause, that there is +not only a long, connected, systematic series of misdemeanors, but an +equally connected system of maxims and principles invented to justify +them. Upon both of these you must judge. According to the judgment that +you shall give upon the past transactions in India, inseparably +connected as they are with the principles which support them, the whole +character of your future government in that distant empire is to be +unalterably decided. It will take its perpetual tenor, it will receive +its final impression, from the stamp of this very hour.</p> + +<p>It is not only the interest of India, now the most considerable part of +the British empire, which is concerned, but the credit and honor of the +British nation itself will be decided by this decision. We are to decide +by this judgment, whether the crimes of individuals are to be turned +into public guilt and national ignominy, or whether this nation will +convert the very offences which have thrown a transient shade upon its +government into something that will reflect a permanent lustre upon the +honor, justice, and humanity of this kingdom.<!-- Page 332 --><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332" title="332" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>My Lords, there is another consideration, which augments the solicitude +of the Commons, equal to those other two great interests I have stated, +those of our empire and our national character,—something that, if +possible, comes more home to the hearts and feelings of every +Englishman: I mean, the interests of our Constitution itself, which is +deeply involved in the event of this cause. The future use and the whole +effect, if not the very existence, of the process of an impeachment of +high crimes and misdemeanors before the peers of this kingdom upon the +charge of the Commons will very much be decided by your judgment in this +cause. This tribunal will be found (I hope it will always be found) too +great for petty causes: if it should at the same time be found +incompetent to one of the greatest,—that is, if little offences, from +their minuteness, escape you, and the greatest, from their magnitude, +oppress you,—it is impossible that this form of trial should not in the +end vanish out of the Constitution. For we must not deceive ourselves: +whatever does not stand with credit cannot stand long. And if the +Constitution should be deprived, I do not mean in form, but virtually, +of this resource, it is virtually deprived of everything else that is +valuable in it. For this process is the cement which binds the whole +together; this is the individuating principle that makes England what +England is. In this court it is that no subject, in no part of the +empire, can fail of competent and proportionable justice; here it is +that we provide for that which is the substantial excellence of our +Constitution,—I mean, the great circulation of responsibility, by which +(excepting the <!-- Page 333 --><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333" title="333" class="pagenum"></a>supreme power) no man, in no circumstance, can escape +the account which he owes to the laws of his country. It is by this +process that magistracy, which tries and controls all other things, is +itself tried and controlled. Other constitutions are satisfied with +making good subjects; this is a security for good governors. It is by +this tribunal that statesmen who abuse their power are accused by +statesmen and tried by statesmen, not upon the niceties of a narrow +jurisprudence, but upon the enlarged and solid principles of state +morality. It is here that those who by the abuse of power have violated +the spirit of law can never hope for protection from any of its forms; +it is here that those who have refused to conform themselves to its +perfections can never hope to escape through any of its defects. It +ought, therefore, my Lords, to become our common care to guard this your +precious deposit, rare in its use, but powerful in its effect, with a +religious vigilance, and never to suffer it to be either discredited or +antiquated. For this great end your Lordships are invested with great +and plenary powers: but you do not suspend, you do not supersede, you do +not annihilate any subordinate jurisdiction; on the contrary, you are +auxiliary and supplemental to them all.</p> + +<p>Whether it is owing to the felicity of our times, less fertile in great +offences than those which have gone before us, or whether it is from a +sluggish apathy which has dulled and enervated the public justice, I am +not called upon to determine,—but, whatever may be the cause, it is now +sixty-three years since any impeachment, grounded upon abuse of +authority and misdemeanor in office, has come before this tri<!-- Page 334 --><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334" title="334" class="pagenum"></a>bunal. The +last is that of Lord Macclesfield, which happened in the year 1725. So +that the oldest process known to the Constitution of this country has, +upon its revival, some appearance of novelty. At this time, when all +Europe is in a state of, perhaps, contagious fermentation, when +antiquity has lost all its reverence and all its effect on the minds of +men, at the same time that novelty is still attended with the suspicions +that always will be attached to whatever is new, we have been anxiously +careful, in a business which seems to combine the objections both to +what is antiquated and what is novel, so to conduct ourselves that +nothing in the revival of this great Parliamentary process shall afford +a pretext for its future disuse.</p> + +<p>My Lords, strongly impressed as they are with these sentiments, the +Commons have conducted themselves with singular care and caution. +Without losing the spirit and zeal of a public prosecution, they have +comported themselves with such moderation, temper, and decorum as would +not have ill become the final judgment, if with them rested the final +judgment, of this great cause.</p> + +<p>With very few intermissions, the affairs of India have constantly +engaged the attention of the Commons for more than fourteen years. We +may safely affirm we have tried every mode of legislative provision +before we had recourse to anything of penal process. It was in the year +1774 [1773?] we framed an act of Parliament for remedy to the then +existing disorders in India, such as the then information before us +enabled us to enact. Finding that the act of Parliament did not answer +all the ends that were expected from it, we had, in the year 1782, +recourse <!-- Page 335 --><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335" title="335" class="pagenum"></a>to a body of monitory resolutions. Neither had we the expected +fruit from them. When, therefore, we found that our inquiries and our +reports, our laws and our admonitions, were alike despised, that +enormities increased in proportion as they were forbidden, detected, and +exposed,—when we found that guilt stalked with an erect and upright +front, and that legal authority seemed to skulk and hide its head like +outlawed guilt,—when we found that some of those very persons who were +appointed by Parliament to assert the authority of the laws of this +kingdom were the most forward, the most bold, and the most active in the +conspiracy for their destruction,—then it was time for the justice of +the nation to recollect itself. To have forborne longer would not have +been patience, but collusion; it would have been participation with +guilt; it would have been to make ourselves accomplices with the +criminal.</p> + +<p>We found it was impossible to evade painful duty without betraying a +sacred trust. Having, therefore, resolved upon the last and only +resource, a penal prosecution, it was our next business to act in a +manner worthy of our long deliberation. In all points we proceeded with +selection. We have chosen (we trust it will so appear to your Lordships) +such a crime, and such a criminal, and such a body of evidence, and such +a mode of process, as would have recommended this course of justice to +posterity, even if it had not been supported by any example in the +practice of our forefathers.</p> + +<p>First, to speak of the process: we are to inform your Lordships, that, +besides that long previous deliberation of fourteen years, we examined, +as a pre<!-- Page 336 --><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336" title="336" class="pagenum"></a>liminary to this proceeding, every circumstance which could +prove favorable to parties apparently delinquent, before we finally +resolved to prosecute. There was no precedent to be found in the +Journals, favorable to persons in Mr. Hastings's circumstances, that was +not applied to. Many measures utterly unknown to former Parliamentary +proceedings, and which, indeed, seemed in some degree to enfeeble them, +but which were all to the advantage of those that were to be prosecuted, +were adopted, for the first time, upon this occasion. In an early stage +of the proceeding, the criminal desired to be heard. He was heard; and +he produced before the bar of the House that insolent and unbecoming +paper which lies upon our table. It was deliberately given in by his own +hand, and signed with his own name. The Commons, however, passed by +everything offensive in that paper with a magnanimity that became them. +They considered nothing in it but the facts that the defendant alleged, +and the principles he maintained; and after a deliberation not short of +judicial, we proceeded with confidence to your bar.</p> + +<p>So far as to the process; which, though I mentioned last in the line and +order in which I stated the objects of our selection, I thought it best +to dispatch first.</p> + +<p>As to the crime which we chose, we first considered well what it was in +its nature, under all the circumstances which attended it. We weighed it +with all its extenuations and with all its aggravations. On that review, +we are warranted to assert that the crimes with which we charge the +prisoner at the bar are substantial crimes,—that they are no errors or +mistakes, such as wise and good men might possibly <!-- Page 337 --><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337" title="337" class="pagenum"></a>fall into, which may +even produce very pernicious effects without being in fact great +offences. The Commons are too liberal not to allow for the difficulties +of a great and arduous public situation. They know too well the +domineering necessities which frequently occur in all great affairs. +They know the exigency of a pressing occasion, which, in its precipitate +career, bears everything down before it,—which does not give time to +the mind to recollect its faculties, to reinforce its reason, and to +have recourse to fixed principles, but, by compelling an instant and +tumultuous decision, too often obliges men to decide in a manner that +calm judgment would certainly have rejected. We know, as we are to be +served by men, that the persons who serve us must be tried as men, and +with a very large allowance indeed to human infirmity and human error. +This, my Lords, we knew and we weighed before we came before you. But +the crimes which we charge in these articles are not lapses, defects, +errors of common human frailty, which, as we know and feel, we can allow +for. We charge this offender with no crimes that have not arisen from +passions which it is criminal to harbor,—with no offences that have not +their root in avarice, rapacity, pride, insolence, ferocity, treachery, +cruelty, malignity of temper,—in short, in [with?] nothing that does +not argue a total extinction of all moral principle, that does not +manifest an inveterate blackness of heart, dyed in grain with malice, +vitiated, corrupted, gangrened to the very core. If we do not plant his +crimes in those vices which the breast of man is made to abhor, and the +spirit of all laws, human and divine, to interdict, we desire no longer +to be heard upon this occasion. Let everything that can be <!-- Page 338 --><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338" title="338" class="pagenum"></a>pleaded on +the ground of surprise or error, upon those grounds be pleaded with +success: we give up the whole of those predicaments. We urge no crimes +that were not crimes of forethought. We charge him with nothing that he +did not commit upon deliberation,—that he did not commit against +advice, supplication, and remonstrance,—that he did not commit against +the direct command of lawful authority,—that he did not commit after +reproof and reprimand, the reproof and reprimand of those who were +authorized by the laws to reprove and reprimand him. The crimes of Mr. +Hastings are crimes not only in themselves, but aggravated by being +crimes of contumacy. They were crimes, not against forms, but against +those eternal laws of justice which are our rule and our birthright. His +offences are, not in formal, technical language, but in reality, in +substance and effect, <i>high</i> crimes and high misdemeanors.</p> + +<p>So far as to the crimes. As to the criminal, we have chosen him on the +same principle on which we selected the crimes. We have not chosen to +bring before you a poor, puny, trembling delinquent, misled, perhaps, by +those who ought to have taught him better, but who have afterwards +oppressed him by their power, as they had first corrupted him by their +example. Instances there have been many, wherein the punishment of minor +offences, in inferior persons, has been made the means of screening +crimes of an high order, and in men of high description. Our course is +different. We have not brought before you an obscure offender, who, when +his insignificance and weakness are weighed against the power of the +prosecution, gives even to public justice something of the appearance of +oppression: no, my Lords, we have <!-- Page 339 --><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339" title="339" class="pagenum"></a>brought before you the first man of +India, in rank, authority, and station. We have brought before you the +chief of the tribe, the head of the whole body of Eastern offenders, a +captain-general of iniquity, under whom all the fraud, all the +peculation, all the tyranny in India are embodied, disciplined, arrayed, +and paid. This is the person, my Lords, that we bring before you. We +have brought before you such a person, that, if you strike at him with +the firm and decided arm of justice, you will not have need of a great +many more examples. You strike at the whole corps, if you strike at the +head.</p> + +<p>So far as to the crime: so far as to the criminal. Now, my Lords, I +shall say a few words relative to the evidence which we have brought to +support such a charge, and which ought to be equal in weight to the +charge itself. It is chiefly evidence of record, officially signed by +the criminal himself in many instances. We have brought before you his +own letters, authenticated by his own hand. On these we chiefly rely. +But we shall likewise bring before you living witnesses, competent to +speak to the points to which they are brought.</p> + +<p>When you consider the late enormous power of the prisoner,—when you +consider his criminal, indefatigable assiduity in the destruction of all +recorded evidence,—when you consider the influence he has over almost +all living testimony,—when you consider the distance of the scene of +action,—I believe your Lordships, and I believe the world, will be +astonished that so much, so clear, so solid, and so conclusive evidence +of all kinds has been obtained against him. I have no doubt that in nine +instances in ten the evidence is such as would satisfy the narrow +precision <!-- Page 340 --><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340" title="340" class="pagenum"></a>supposed to prevail, and to a degree rightly to prevail, in +all subordinate power and delegated jurisdiction. But your Lordships +will maintain, what we assert and claim as the right of the subjects of +Great Britain, that you are not bound by any rules of evidence, or any +other rules whatever, except those of natural, immutable, and +substantial justice.</p> + +<p>God forbid the Commons should desire that anything should be received as +proof from them which is not by nature adapted to prove the thing in +question! If they should make such a request, they would aim at +overturning the very principles of that justice to which they resort; +they would give the nation an evil example that would rebound back on +themselves, and bring destruction upon their own heads, and on those of +all their posterity.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, I have too much confidence in the learning with which +you will be advised, and the liberality and nobleness of the sentiments +with which you are born, to suspect that you would, by any abuse of the +forms, and a technical course of proceeding, deny justice to so great a +part of the world that claims it at your hands. Your Lordships always +had an ample power, and almost unlimited jurisdiction; you have now a +boundless object. It is not from this district or from that parish, not +from this city or the other province, that relief is now applied for: +exiled and undone princes, extensive tribes, suffering nations, infinite +descriptions of men, different in language, in manners, and in rites, +men separated by every barrier of Nature from you, by the Providence of +God are blended in one common cause, and are now become suppliants at +your bar. For the honor of this nation, in vindication of this +mysterious Providence, let it be <!-- Page 341 --><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341" title="341" class="pagenum"></a>known that no rule formed upon +municipal maxims (if any such rule exists) will prevent the course of +that imperial justice which you owe to the people that call to you from +all parts of a great disjointed world. For, situated as this kingdom is, +an object, thank God, of envy to the rest of the nations, its conduct in +that high and elevated situation will undoubtedly be scrutinized with a +severity as great as its power is invidious.</p> + +<p>It is well known that enormous wealth has poured into this country from +India through a thousand channels, public and concealed; and it is no +particular derogation from our honor to suppose a possibility of being +corrupted by that by which other empires have been corrupted, and +assemblies almost as respectable and venerable as your Lordships' have +been directly or indirectly vitiated. Forty millions of money, at least, +have within our memory been brought from India into England. In this +case the most sacred judicature ought to look to its reputation. Without +offence we may venture to suggest that the best way to secure reputation +is, not by a proud defiance of public opinion, but by guiding our +actions in such a manner as that public opinion may in the end be +securely defied, by having been previously respected and dreaded. No +direct false judgment is apprehended from the tribunals of this country; +but it is feared that partiality may lurk and nestle in the abuse of our +forms of proceeding. It is necessary, therefore, that nothing in that +proceeding should appear to mark the slightest trace, should betray the +faintest odor of chicane. God forbid, that, when you try the most +serious of all causes, that, when you try the cause of Asia in the +presence of Europe, there should be <!-- Page 342 --><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342" title="342" class="pagenum"></a>the least suspicion that a narrow +partiality, utterly destructive of justice, should so guide us that a +British subject in power should appear in substance to possess rights +which are denied to the humble allies, to the attached dependants of +this kingdom, who by their distance have a double demand upon your +protection, and who, by an implicit (I hope not a weak and useless) +trust in you, have stripped themselves of every other resource under +heaven!</p> + +<p>I do not say this from any fear, doubt, or hesitation concerning what +your Lordships will finally do,—none in the world; but I cannot shut my +ears to the rumors which you all know to be disseminated abroad. The +abusers of power may have a chance to cover themselves by those fences +and intrenchments which were made to secure the liberties of the people +against men of that very description. But God forbid it should be +bruited from Pekin to Paris, that the laws of England are for the rich +and the powerful, but to the poor, the miserable, and defenceless they +afford no resource at all! God forbid it should be said, no nation is +equal to the English in <i>substantial</i> violence and in <i>formal</i> +justice,—that in this kingdom we feel ourselves competent to confer the +most extravagant and inordinate powers upon public ministers, but that +we are deficient, poor, helpless, lame, and impotent in the means of +calling them to account for their use of them! An opinion has been +insidiously circulated through this kingdom, and through foreign nations +too, that, in order to cover our participation in guilt, and our common +interest in the plunder of the East, we have invented a set of +scholastic distinctions, abhorrent to the common sense and unpropitious +to the common necessities of mankind, by which we are to <!-- Page 343 --><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343" title="343" class="pagenum"></a>deny ourselves +the knowledge of what the rest of the world knows, and what so great a +part of the world both knows and feels. I do not deprecate any +appearance which may give countenance to this aspersion from suspicion +that any corrupt motive can influence this court; I deprecate it from +knowing that hitherto we have moved within the narrow circle of +municipal justice. I am afraid, that, from the habits acquired by moving +within a circumscribed sphere, we may be induced rather to endeavor at +forcing Nature into that municipal circle than to enlarge the circle of +national justice to the necessities of the empire we have obtained.</p> + +<p>This is the only thing which does create any doubt or difficulty in the +minds of sober people. But there are those who will not judge so +equitably. Where two motives, neither of them perfectly justifiable, may +be assigned, the worst has the chance of being preferred. If, from any +appearance of chicane in the court, justice should fail, all men will +say, better there were no tribunals at all. In my humble opinion, it +would be better a thousand times to give all complainants the short +answer the Dey of Algiers gave a British ambassador, representing +certain grievances suffered by the British merchants,—"My friend," (as +the story is related by Dr. Shaw,) "do not you know that my subjects are +a band of robbers, and that I am their captain?"—better it would be a +thousand times, and a thousand thousand times more manly, than an +hypocritical process, which, under a pretended reverence to punctilious +ceremonies and observances of law, abandons mankind without help and +resource to all the desolating consequences of arbitrary power. The +conduct and event of this cause will put an end <!-- Page 344 --><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344" title="344" class="pagenum"></a>to such doubts, +wherever they may be entertained. Your Lordships will exercise the great +plenary powers with which you are invested in a manner that will do +honor to the protecting justice of this kingdom, that will completely +avenge the great people who are subjected to it. You will not suffer +your proceedings to be squared by any rules but by their necessities, +and by that law of a common nature which cements them to us and us to +them. The reports to the contrary have been spread abroad with uncommon +industry; but they will be speedily refuted by the humanity, simplicity, +dignity, and nobleness of your Lordships' justice.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Having said all that I am instructed to say concerning the process which +the House of Commons has used, concerning the crimes which they have +chosen, concerning the criminal upon whom they attach the crimes, and +concerning the evidence which they mean to produce, I am now to proceed +to open that part of the business which falls to my share. It is rather +an explanation of the circumstances than an enforcement of the crimes.</p> + +<p>Your Lordships of course will be apprised that this cause is not what +occurs every day, in the ordinary round of municipal affairs,—that it +has a relation to many things, that it touches many points in many +places, which are wholly removed from the ordinary beaten orbit of our +English affairs. In other affairs, every allusion immediately meets its +point of reference; nothing can be started that does not immediately +awaken your attention to something in your own laws and usages which you +meet with every day in the ordinary transactions of life. But here you +are <!-- Page 345 --><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345" title="345" class="pagenum"></a>caught, as it were, into another world; you are to have the way +pioneered before you. As the subject is new, it must be explained; as it +is intricate as well as new, that explanation can be only comparatively +short: and therefore, knowing your Lordships to be possessed, along with +all other judicial virtues, of the first and foundation of them all, +judicial patience, I hope that you will not grudge a few hours to the +explanation of that which has cost the Commons fourteen years' assiduous +application to acquire,—that your Lordships will not disdain to grant a +few hours to what has cost the people of India upwards of thirty years +of their innate, inveterate, hereditary patience to endure.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>My Lords, the powers which Mr. Hastings is charged with having abused +are the powers delegated to him by the East India Company. The East +India Company itself acts under two very dissimilar sorts of powers, +derived from two sources very remote from each other. The first source +of its power is under charters which the crown of Great Britain was +authorized by act of Parliament to grant; the other is from several +charters derived from the Emperor of the Moguls, the person in whose +dominions they were chiefly conversant,—particularly that great charter +by which, in the year 1765, they acquired the high-stewardship of the +kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. Under those two bodies of +charters, the East India Company, and all their servants, are authorized +to act.</p> + +<p>As to those of the first description, it is from the British charters +that they derive the capacity by which they are considered as a public +body, or at all capa<!-- Page 346 --><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346" title="346" class="pagenum"></a>ble of any public function. It is from thence they +acquire the capacity to take from any power whatsoever any other +charter, to acquire any other offices, or to hold any other possessions. +This, being the root and origin of their power, renders them responsible +to the party from whom all their immediate and consequential powers are +derived. As they have emanated from the supreme power of this kingdom, +the whole body and the whole train of their servants, the corporate body +as a corporate body, individuals as individuals, are responsible to the +high justice of this kingdom. In delegating great power to the East +India Company, this kingdom has not released its sovereignty; on the +contrary, the responsibility of the Company is increased by the +greatness and sacredness of the powers that have been intrusted to it. +Attempts have been made abroad to circulate a notion that the acts of +the East India Company and their servants are not cognizable here. I +hope on this occasion your Lordships will show that this nation never +did give a power without annexing to it a proportionable degree of +responsibility.</p> + +<p>As to their other powers, the Company derives them from the Mogul empire +by various charters from that crown, and from the great magistrates of +that crown, and particularly by the Mogul charter of 1765, by which they +obtained the <i>dewanny</i>, that is, the office of lord high-steward, of the +kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. By that charter they bound +themselves (and bound inclusively all their servants) to perform all the +duties belonging to that new office, and to be held by all the ties +belonging to that new relation. If the Mogul empire had existed in its +vigor, they would have been bound, under that respon<!-- Page 347 --><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347" title="347" class="pagenum"></a>sibility, to +observe the laws, rights, usages, and customs of the natives, and to +pursue their benefit in all things: for this duty was inherent in the +nature, institution, and purpose of the office which they received. If +the power of the sovereign from whom they derived these powers should by +any revolution in human affairs be annihilated or suspended, their duty +to the people below them, which was created under the Mogul charter, is +not annihilated, is not even suspended; and for their responsibility in +the performance of that duty, they are thrown back upon that country +(thank God, not annihilated) from whence their original power, and all +subsequent derivative powers, have flowed. When the Company acquired +that high office in India, an English corporation became an integral +part of the Mogul empire. When Great Britain virtually assented to that +grant of office, and afterwards took advantage of it, Great Britain +guarantied the performance of all its duties. Great Britain entered into +a virtual act of union with that country, by which we bound ourselves as +securities to preserve the people in all the rights, laws, and liberties +which their natural, original sovereign was bound to support, if he had +been in condition to support them. By the disposition of events, the two +duties, flowing from two different sources, are now united in one. The +people of India, therefore, come in the name of the Commons of Great +Britain, but in their own right, to the bar of this House, before the +supreme royal justice of this kingdom, from whence originally all the +powers under which they have suffered were derived.</p> + +<p>It may be a little necessary, when we are stating the powers the Company +have derived from their <!-- Page 348 --><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348" title="348" class="pagenum"></a>charter, and which we state Mr. Hastings to +have abused, to state in as short and as comprehensive words as I can +(for the matter is large indeed) what the constitution of that Company +is,—I mean chiefly, what it is in reference to its Indian service, the +great theatre of the abuse. Your Lordships will naturally conceive that +it is not to inform you, but to revive circumstances in your memory, +that I enter into this detail.</p> + +<p>You will therefore recollect, that the East India Company had its origin +about the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth, a period of projects, +when all sorts of commercial adventures, companies, and monopolies were +in fashion. At that time the Company was constituted with extensive +powers for increasing the commerce and the honor of this country; +because increasing its commerce, without increasing its honor and +reputation, would have been thought at that time, and will be thought +now, a bad bargain for the country. The powers of the Company were, +under that charter, merely commercial. By degrees, as the theatre of +operation was distant, as its intercourse was with many great, some +barbarous, and all of them armed nations, nations in which not only the +sovereign, but the subjects, were armed, it was found necessary to +enlarge their powers. The first power they obtained was a power of naval +discipline in their ships,—a power which has been since dropped; the +next was a power of law martial; the next was a power of civil, and, to +a degree, of criminal jurisdiction, within their own factories, upon +their own people and their own servants; the next was (and here was a +stride indeed) the power of peace and war. Those high and almost +incommunicable prerogatives of sov<!-- Page 349 --><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349" title="349" class="pagenum"></a>ereignty, which were hardly ever +known before to be parted with to any subjects, and which in several +states were not wholly intrusted to the prince or head of the +commonwealth himself, were given to the East India Company. That Company +acquired these powers about the end of the reign of Charles the Second; +and they were afterwards more fully, as well as more legally, given by +Parliament after the Revolution. From this time, the East India Company +was no longer merely a mercantile company, formed for the extension of +the British commerce: it more nearly resembled a delegation of the whole +power and sovereignty of this kingdom sent into the East. From that time +the Company ought to be considered as a subordinate sovereign power: +that is, sovereign with regard to the objects which it touched; +subordinate with regard to the power from whence its great trust was +derived.</p> + +<p>Under these successive arrangements things took a course very different +from their usual order. A new disposition took place, not dreamt of in +the theories of speculative politicians, and of which few examples in +the least resembling it have been seen in the modern world, none at all +in the ancient. In other instances, a political body that acts as a +commonwealth was first settled, and trade followed as a consequence of +the protection obtained by political power; but here the course of +affairs was reversed. The constitution of the Company began in commerce +and ended in empire. Indeed, wherever the sovereign powers of peace and +war are given, there wants but time and circumstance to make these +powers supersede every other. The affairs of commerce will fall at last +into their proper rank and situation. However primary in <!-- Page 350 --><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350" title="350" class="pagenum"></a>their original +intention, they will become secondary. The possession, therefore, and +the power of assertion of these great authorities coinciding with the +improved state of Europe, with the improved state of arts in Europe, +with the improved state of laws, and, what is much more material, the +improved state of military discipline, more and more perfected every day +with us,—universal improvement in Europe coinciding with the general +decay of Asia, (for the proud day of Asia is passed,) this improvement +coinciding with the relaxation and dissolution of the Mogul government, +with the decline of its warlike spirit, with the total disuse of the +ancient strictness of the military discipline established by Tamerlane, +the India Company came to be what it is, a great empire, carrying on, +subordinately, a great commerce; it became that thing which was supposed +by the Roman law irreconcilable to reason and propriety,—<i>eundem +negotiatorem et dominum</i>: the same power became the general trader, the +same power became the supreme lord.</p> + +<p>In this exalted situation, the India Company, however, still preserves +traces of its original mercantile character. The whole exterior order of +its political service is carried on upon a mercantile plan and +mercantile principles. In fact, the East India Company in Asia is a +state in the disguise of a merchant. Its whole service is a system of +public offices in the disguise of a counting-house. Accordingly, the +whole external order and series of the service, as I observed, is +commercial; the principal, the inward, the real, is almost entirely +political.</p> + +<p>This system of the Company's service, its order and discipline, is +necessary to be explained to your <!-- Page 351 --><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351" title="351" class="pagenum"></a>Lordships, that you may see in what +manner the abuses have affected it. In the first place, all the persons +who go abroad in the Company's civil service enter as clerks in the +counting-house, and are called by a name to correspond to +it,—<i>writers</i>. In that condition they are obliged to serve five years. +The second step is that of a <i>factor</i>, in which they are obliged to +serve three years. The third step they take is that of a <i>junior +merchant</i>, in which they are obliged to serve three years more. At that +period they become <i>senior merchants</i>, which is the highest stage of +advance in the Company's service,—a rank by which they had pretensions, +before the year 1774, to the Council, to the succession of the +Presidency, and to whatever other honors the Company has to bestow.</p> + +<p>The Company had, in its early times, established factories in certain +places; which factories by degrees grew to the name of Presidencies and +Council, in proportion as the power and influence of the Company +increased, and as the political began first to struggle with, and at +length to predominate over, the mercantile. In this form it continued +till the year 1773, when the legislature broke in, for proper reasons +urging them to it, upon that order of the service, and appointed to the +superior department persons who had no title to that place under the +ordinary usage of the service. Mr. Hastings and Mr. Harwell, whatever +other titles they might have had, held solely under the act of +Parliament nominating them to that authority; but in all other respects, +except where the act and other subsequent acts have not broken in upon +it, the whole course of the service remains upon the ancient footing, +<!-- Page 352 --><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352" title="352" class="pagenum"></a>that is, the commercial footing, as to the gradation and order of +service.</p> + +<p>Your Lordships see here a regular series of gradation, which requires +eleven years before any persons can arrive at the highest trusts and +situations. You will therefore be astonished, when so long a +probationary service was required, that effects very different from +those to be expected from long probation have happened, and that in a +much shorter time than those eleven years you have seen persons +returning into this kingdom with affluent, with overbearing fortunes. It +will be a great part of your inquiry, when we come before your Lordships +to substantiate evidence against Mr. Hastings, to discover how that +order came to be so completely broken down and erased that scarce a +trace of it for any good purpose remains. Though I will not deny that +that order, or that any order in a state, may be superseded by the +ruling power, when great talents, upon pressing exigencies, are to be +called forth, yet I must say the order itself was formed upon wise +principles. It furnished the persons who were put in that course of +probation with an opportunity (if circumstances enabled them) of +acquiring experience in business of revenue, trade, and policy. It gave +to those who watched them a constant inspection of their conduct through +all their progress. On the expectants of office it imposed the necessity +of acquiring a character in proportion to their standing, in order that +all which they had gained by the good behavior of years should not be +lost by the misconduct of an hour. It was a great substantial +regulation. But scarce a trace of the true spirit of it remains to be +discovered in Mr. Hastings's gov<!-- Page 353 --><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353" title="353" class="pagenum"></a>ernment; for Mr. Hastings established +offices, nay, whole systems of offices, and especially a system of +offices in 1781, which being altogether new, none of the rules of +gradation applied to them; and he filled those offices in such a manner +as suited best, not the constitution nor the spirit of the service, but +his own particular views and purposes. The consequence has been, that +persons in the most immature stages of life have been appointed to +conduct affairs which required the greatest maturity of judgment, the +greatest possible temper and moderation. Effects naturally consequent +have followed upon it.—I shall not trouble your Lordships with any +further observations on this system of gradation.</p> + +<p>I must, however, remark, before I go further, that there is something in +the representation of the East India Company in their Oriental territory +different from that, perhaps, of any other nation that has ever +transported any part of its power from one country to another. The East +India Company in India is not properly a branch of the British nation: +it is only a deputation of individuals. When the Tartars entered into +China, when the Arabs and Tartars successively entered into Hindostan, +when the Goths and Vandals penetrated into Europe, when the Normans +forced their way into England, indeed, in all conquests, migrations, +settlements, and colonizations, the new people came as the offset of a +nation. The Company in India does not exist as a national colony. In +effect and substance nobody can go thither that does not go in its +service. The English in India are nothing but a seminary for the +succession of officers. They are a nation of place<!-- Page 354 --><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354" title="354" class="pagenum"></a>men; they are a +commonwealth without a people; they are a state made up wholly of +magistrates. There is nothing to be in propriety called people, to +watch, to inspect, to balance against the power of office. The power of +office, so far as the English nation is concerned, is the sole power in +the country: the consequence of which is, that, being a kingdom of +magistrates, what is commonly called the <i>esprit du corps</i> is strong in +it. This spirit of the body predominates equally in all its parts; by +which the members must consider themselves as having a common interest, +and that common interest separated both from that of the country which +sent them out and from that of the country in which they act. No control +upon them exists,—none, I mean, in persons who understand their +language, who understand their manners, or can apply their conduct to +the laws. Therefore, in a body so constituted, confederacy is easy, and +has been general. Your Lordships are not to expect that that should +happen in such a body which never happened in any body or +corporation,—that is, that they should, in any instance, be a proper +check and control upon themselves. It is not in the nature of things. +The fundamental principle of the whole of the East India Company's +system is monopoly, in some sense or other. The same principle +predominates in the service abroad and the service at home; and both +systems are united into one, animated with the same spirit, that is, +with the corporate spirit. The whole, taken together, is such as has not +been seen in the examples of the Moors, the Portuguese, the Spaniards, +the Romans,—in no old, in no recent examples. The Dutch may resemble +it, but they have not an em<!-- Page 355 --><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355" title="355" class="pagenum"></a>pire properly so denominated. By means of +this peculiar circumstance it has not been difficult for Mr. Hastings to +embody abuse, and to put himself at the head of a regular system of +corruption.</p> + +<p>Another circumstance in that service is deserving of notice. Except in +the highest parts of all, the emoluments of office do not in any degree +correspond with the trust, nor the nature of the office with its name. +In other official systems, the style, in general, is above the function; +here it is the reverse. Under the name of junior merchant, senior +merchant, writer, and other petty appellations of the counting-house, +you have magistrates of high dignity, you have administrators of +revenues truly royal, you have judges, civil, and in some respects +criminal, who pass judgment upon the greatest properties of a great +country. The legal public emoluments that belong to them are very often +so inadequate to the real dignity of the character, that it is +impossible, almost absolutely impossible, for the subordinate parts of +it, which, though subordinate, are stations of power, to exist, as +Englishmen, who look at a fortune to be enjoyed at home as their +ultimate object, and to exist in a state of perfect incorruption in that +service.</p> + +<p>In some parts of Europe, it is true that the greatest situations are +often attended with but little emolument; yet still they are filled. +Why? Because reputation, glory, fame, the esteem, the love, the tears of +joy which flow from happy sensibility, the honest applauses of a +grateful country, sometimes pay the cares, anxieties, and toils which +wait on great situations in the commonwealth; and in these they pay in +money what cannot be paid in fame and reputation. It is the reverse in +the service of the India Company. <!-- Page 356 --><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356" title="356" class="pagenum"></a>Glory is not the lot of subordinated +merit,—and all the subordinate parts of the gradation are officers who, +in comparison with the offices and duties intrusted to them, are +miserably provided for; whereas the chief of each great Presidency has +emoluments securing him against every mode of temptation. But if this +has not secured the head, we may easily judge how the members are to be +coerced. Mr. Hastings, at the head of the service, with high legal +emoluments, has fouled his hands and sullied his government with bribes. +He has substituted oppression and tyranny in the place of legal +government. With all that unbounded, licentious power which he has +assumed over the public revenues, instead of endeavoring to find a +series of gradual, progressive, honorable, and adequate rewards for the +persons who serve the public in the subordinate, but powerful +situations, he has left them to prey upon the people without the +smallest degree of control. In default of honest emolument, there is the +unbounded license of power; and, as one of the honestest and ablest +servants of the Company said to me in conversation, the civil service of +the Company resembled the military service of the Mahrattas,—little +pay, but unbounded license to plunder. I do not say that some of the +salaries given in India would not sound well here; but when you consider +the nature of the trusts, the dignity of the situation, whatever the +name of them may be, the powers that are granted, the hopes that every +man has of establishing himself at home, I repeat, it is a source of +infinite grievance, of infinite abuse: of which source of corrupt power +we charge Mr. Hastings with having availed himself, in filling up the +void of direct pay by finding out and countenancing every kind of +<!-- Page 357 --><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357" title="357" class="pagenum"></a>oblique and unjust emolument; though it must be confessed that he is +far from being solely guilty of this offence.</p> + +<p>Another circumstance which distinguishes the East India Company is the +youth of the persons who are employed in the system of that service. The +servants have almost universally been sent out to begin their progress +and career in active occupation, and in the exercise of high authority, +at that period of life which, in all other places, has been employed in +the course of a rigid education. To put the matter in a few words,—they +are transferred from slippery youth to perilous independence, from +perilous independence to inordinate expectations, from inordinate +expectations to boundless power. School-boys without tutors, minors +without guardians, the world is let loose upon them with all its +temptations, and they are let loose upon the world with all the powers +that despotism involves.</p> + +<p>It is further remarkable, these servants exercise what your Lordships +are now exercising, high judicial powers, and they exercise them without +the smallest study of any law, either general or municipal. It is made a +sort of rule in the service, a rule confirmed even by the attempts that +were made to correct it, (I mean confirmed by Sir Elijah Impey, when, +under the auspices of Mr. Hastings, he undertook to be legislator for +India,) that the judicial character, the last in the order of legal +progress, that to which all professional men look up as the crown of +their labors, that ultimate hope of men grown gray in professional +practice, is among the first experimental situations of a Company's +servant. It is expressly said in that body of regulations to which I +allude, that the office and sit<!-- Page 358 --><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358" title="358" class="pagenum"></a>uation of a judge of the Dewanny Courts +of Adawlut is to be filled by the <i>junior</i> servants of the Company; and +as the judicial emolument is not substantially equal to that of other +situations, the office of a judge is to be taken, as it were, <i>in +transitu</i>, as a passage to other offices not of a judicial nature. As +soon, therefore, as a young man has supplied the defects of his +education by the advantage of some experience, he is immediately +translated to a totally different office; and another young man is +substituted, to learn, at the expense of the property of India, to fill +a situation which, when he may be qualified to fill, he is no longer to +hold.</p> + +<p>It is in a great measure the same with regard to the other situations. +They are the situations of great statesmen, which, according to the +practice of the world, require, to fill properly, rather a large +converse with men and much intercourse in life than deep study of +books,—though that, too, has its eminent service. We know that in the +habits of civilized life, in cultivated society, there is imbibed by men +a good deal of the solid practice of government, of the true maxims of +state, and everything that enables a man to serve his country. But these +men are sent over to exercise functions at which a statesman here would +tremble, without any theoretical study, and without any of that sort of +experience which, in mixed societies of business and converse, form men +gradually and insensibly to great affairs. Low cunning, intrigue, and +stratagem are soon acquired; but manly, durable policy, which never +sacrifices the general interest to a partial or momentary advantage, is +not so cheaply formed in the human understanding.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hastings, in his defence before the House of <!-- Page 359 --><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359" title="359" class="pagenum"></a>Commons, and in the +defences he has made before your Lordships, has lamented his own +situation in this particular. It was much to be lamented, indeed. How +far it will furnish justification, extenuation, or palliation of his +conduct, when we come to examine that conduct, will be seen.</p> + +<p>These circumstances in the system have in a great degree vitiated and +perverted what is in reality (and many things are in reality) excellent +in it. They have rendered the application of all correctives and +remedies to abuse, at best, precarious in their operation. The laws that +we have made, the covenants which the Company has obliged its servants +to enter into, the occasional orders that have been given, at least +ostensibly good, all have proved noxious to the country, instead of +beneficial.</p> + +<p>To illustrate this point, I beg leave to observe to your Lordships, that +the servants of the Company are obliged to enter into that service not +only with an impression of the general duty which attaches upon all +servants, but are obliged to engage in a specific covenant with their +masters to perform all the duties described in that covenant (which are +all the duties of their relation) under heavy penalties. They are bound +to a repetition of these covenants at every step of their progress, from +writer to factor, from factor to junior merchant, and from junior +merchant to senior merchant. They ought, according to the rule, to renew +these covenants at these times by something (I speak without offence) +which may be said to resemble confirmation in the Church. They are +obliged to renew their obligation in particular to receive no gifts, +gratuities, or presents whatsoever.</p> + +<p>This scheme of covenants would have been wise <!-- Page 360 --><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360" title="360" class="pagenum"></a>and proper, if it had +belonged to a judicious order, and rational, consistent scheme of +discipline. The orders of the Company have forbidden their servants to +take any extraneous emoluments. The act of Parliament has fulminated +against them. Clear, positive laws, and clear, positive private +engagements, have no exception of circumstances in them, no difference +<i>quoad majus et minus</i>; but every one who offends against the law is +liable to the law. The consequence is this: he who has deviated but an +inch from the straight line, he who has taken but one penny of unlawful +emolument, (and all have taken many pennies of unlawful emolument,) does +not dare to complain of the most abandoned extortion and cruel +oppression in any of his fellow-servants. He who has taken a trifle, +perhaps as the reward of a good action, is obliged to be silent, when he +sees whole nations desolated around him. The great criminal at the head +of the service has the laws in his hand; he is always able to prove the +small offence, and crush the person who has committed it. This is one +grand source of Mr. Hastings's power. After he had got the better of the +Parliamentary commission, no complaint from any part of the service has +appeared against Mr. Hastings. He is bold enough to state it as one +presumption of his merit, that there has been no such complaint. No such +complaint, indeed, can exist. The spirit of the corps would of itself +almost forbid it,—to which spirit an informer is the most odious and +detestable of all characters, and is hunted down, and has always been +hunted down, as a common enemy. But here is a new security. Who can +complain, or dares to accuse? The whole service is irregular: nobody is +<!-- Page 361 --><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361" title="361" class="pagenum"></a>free from small offences; and, as I have said, the great offender can +always crush the small one.</p> + +<p>If you examine the correspondence of Mr. Hastings, you would imagine, +from many expressions very deliberately used by him, that the Company's +service was made out of the very filth and dregs of human corruption; +but if you examine his conduct towards the corrupt body he describes, +you would imagine he had lived in the speculative schemes of visionary +perfection. He was fourteen years at the head of that service; and there +is not an instance, no, not one single instance, in which he endeavored +to detect corruption, or that he ever, in any one single instance, +attempted to punish it; but the whole service, with that whole mass of +enormity which he attributes to it, slept, as it were, at once, under +his terror and his protection: under his protection, if they did not +dare to move against him; under terror, from his power to pluck out +individuals and make a public example of them, whenever he thought fit. +And therefore that service, under his guidance and influence, was, +beyond even what its own nature disposed it to, a service of +confederacy, a service of connivance, a service composed of various +systems of guilt, of which Mr. Hastings was the head and the protector. +But this general connivance he did not think sufficient to secure to him +the general support of the Indian interest. He went further. We shall +prove to your Lordships, that, when the Company were driven by shame, +not by inclination, to order several prosecutions against delinquents in +their service, Mr. Hastings, directly contrary to the duty of his +office, directly contrary to the express and positive law of the Court +of Directors, which law Parliament had <!-- Page 362 --><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362" title="362" class="pagenum"></a>bound upon him as his rule of +action, not satisfied with his long tacit connivance, ventured, before +he left his government, and among his last acts, to pass a general act +of pardon and indemnity, and at once ordered the whole body of the +prosecutions directed by his masters, the Company, to be discharged.</p> + +<p>Having had fourteen years' lease of connivance to bestow, and giving at +the end a general release of all suits and actions, he now puts himself +at the head of a vast body enriched by his bounties, connivances, and +indemnities, and expects the support of those whom he had thus fully +rewarded and discharged from the pursuit of the laws. You will find, in +the course of this business, that, when charges have been brought +against him of any bribery, corruption, or other malversation, his +course has been to answer little or nothing to that specific bribery, +corruption, or malversation: his way has been to call on the Court of +Directors to inquire of every servant who comes to Europe, and to say +whether there was any one man in it that will give him an ill word. He +has put himself into a situation in which he may always safely call to +his character, and will always find himself utterly incapable of +justifying his conduct.</p> + +<p>So far I have troubled your Lordships with the system of confederacy and +connivance, which, under his auspices, was the vital principle of almost +the whole service. There is one member of the service which I have +omitted: but whether I ought to have put it first, or, as I do now, +last, I must confess I am at some loss; because, though it appears to be +the lowest (if any regular) part of the service, it is by far the most +considerable and the most efficient, without a full consideration and +explanation of which <!-- Page 363 --><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363" title="363" class="pagenum"></a>hardly any part of the conduct of Mr. Hastings, +and of many others that may be in his situation, can be fully +understood.</p> + +<p>I have given your Lordships an account of writers, factors, merchants, +who exercise the office of judges, lord chancellors, chancellors of the +exchequer, ministers of state, and managers of great revenues. But there +is another description of men, of more importance than them all, a +description you have often heard of, but which has not been sufficiently +explained: I mean the <i>banian</i>. When the Company's service was no more +than mercantile, and the servants were generally unacquainted with the +country, they used the intervention of certain factors among the +natives, which were called <i>banians</i>: we called them so, because they +were of the tribe or caste of the banians or merchants,—the Indians +being generally distributed into trades according to their tribes. The +name still continues, when the functions of the banians are totally +altered. The banian is known by other appellations. He is called +<i>dewan</i>, or steward; and, indeed, this is a term with more propriety +applied to him in several of his functions. He is, by his name of +office, the steward of the household of the European gentleman: he has +the management of his affairs, and the ordering of his servants. He is +himself a domestic servant, and generally chosen out of that class of +natives who, by being habituated to misery and subjection, can submit to +any orders, and are fit for any of the basest services. Trained under +oppression, (it is the true education,) they are fit to oppress others. +They serve an apprenticeship of servitude to qualify them for the trade +of tyranny. They know all the devices, all the little frauds, all the +arti<!-- Page 364 --><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364" title="364" class="pagenum"></a>fices and contrivances, the whole panoply of the defensive armor by +which ingenious slavery secures itself against the violence of power. +They know all the lurking-holes, all the winding recesses, of the +unfortunate; and they hunt out distress and misery even to their last +retreats. They have suffered themselves; but, far from being taught by +those sufferings to abstain from rigor, they have only learned the +methods of afflicting their fellow-slaves. They have the best +intelligence of what is done in England. The moment a Company's servant +arrives in India, and his English connections are known to be powerful, +some of that class of people immediately take possession of him, as if +he were their inheritance. They have knowledge of the country and its +affairs; they have money; they have the arts of making money. The +gentleman who comes from England has none of these; he enters into that +world, as he enters into the world at large, naked. His portion is great +simplicity, great indigence, and a strong disposition to relieve +himself. The banian, once in possession, employs his tyranny, not only +over the native people of his country, but often over the master +himself, who has little other share in the proceedings of his servant +but in giving him the ticket of his name to mark that he is connected +with and supported by an European who is himself well connected and +supported at home. This is a commission which nothing can resist. From +that moment forward it is not the Englishman, it is the black banian, +that is the master. The nominal master often lives from his hand. We +know how young men are sent out of this country; we know how happy we +are to hear soon that they are no longer a burden to their friends and +parents. <!-- Page 365 --><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365" title="365" class="pagenum"></a>The banian knows it, too. He supplies the young servant with +money. He has him under his power: first, from the necessity of +employing such a man; and next, (and this is the more important of the +two,) he has that dreadful power over his master which every creditor +has over his debtor. Actions the most abhorrent to his nature he must +see done before his face, and thousands and thousands worse are done in +his absence, and he dare not complain. The banian extorts, robs, +plunders, and then gives him just what proportion of the spoil he +pleases. If the master should murmur, the very power that was sent over +to protect the people of India from these very abuses, (the best things +being perverted, when applied to unknown objects and put into unsuitable +situations,) the very laws of England, by making the recovery of debts +more easy, infinitely increase the power of the banian over his master. +Thus the Supreme Court of Justice, the destined corrector of all abuses, +becomes a collateral security for that abominable tyranny exercised by +the moneyed banians over Europeans as well as the natives. So that, +while we are here boasting of the British power in the East, we are in +perhaps more than half our service nothing but the inferior, miserable +instruments of the tyranny which the lowest part of the natives of India +exercise, to the disgrace of the British authority, and to the ruin of +all that is respectable among their own countrymen. They have subverted +the first houses, totally ruined and undone the country, cheated and +defrauded the revenue,—the master a silent, sometimes a melancholy +spectator, until some office of high emolument has emancipated him. This +has often been the true reason that the Company's servants in India, in +or<!-- Page 366 --><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366" title="366" class="pagenum"></a>der to free themselves from this horrid and atrocious servitude, are +obliged to become instruments of another tyranny, and must prostitute +themselves to men in power, in order to obtain some office that may +enable them to escape the servitudes below, and enable them to pay their +debts. And thus many have become the instruments of Mr. Hastings.</p> + +<p>These banians, or dewans, were originally among the lower castes in the +country. But now, it is true, that, after seeing the power and profits +of these men,—that there is neither power, profession, nor occupation +to be had, which a reputable person can exercise, but through that +channel,—men of higher castes, and born to better things, have thrown +themselves into that disgraceful servitude, have become menial servants +to Englishmen, that they might rise by their degradation. But whoever +they are, or of whatever birth, they have equally prostituted their +integrity, they have equally lost their character; and, once entered +into that course of life, there is no difference between the best castes +and the worst. That system Mr. Hastings confirmed, established, +increased, and made the instrument of the most austere tyranny, of the +basest peculations, and the most scandalous and iniquitous extortions.</p> + +<p>In the description I have given of banians a distinction is to be made. +Your Lordships must distinguish the banians of the British servants in +subordinate situations and the banians who are such to persons in higher +authority. In the latter case the banian is in strict subordination, +because he may always be ruined by his superior; whereas in the former +it is always in his power to ruin his nominal superior. It was not +through fear, but <!-- Page 367 --><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367" title="367" class="pagenum"></a>voluntarily, and not for the banian's purposes, but +his own, Mr. Hastings has brought forward his banian. He seated him in +the houses of the principal nobility, and invested him with farms of the +revenue; he has given him enormous jobs; he has put him over the heads +of a nobility which, for their grandeur, antiquity, and dignity, might +almost be matched with your Lordships. He has made him supreme +ecclesiastical judge, judge even of the very castes, in the preservation +of the separate rules and separate privileges of which that people +exists. He who has dominion over the caste has an absolute power over +something more than life and fortune.</p> + +<p>Such is that first, or last, (I know not which to call it,) order in the +Company's service called a banian. The <i>mutseddies</i>, clerks, +accountants, of Calcutta, generally fall under this description. Your +Lordships will see hereafter the necessity of giving you, in the opening +the case, an idea of the situation of a banian. You will see, as no +Englishman, properly speaking, acts by himself, that he must be made +responsible for that person called his banian,—for the power he either +uses under him, or the power he has acquired over him. The banian +escapes, in the night of his complexion and situation, the inquiry that +a white man cannot stand before in this country. Through the banians, or +other black natives, a bad servant of the Company receives his bribes. +Through them he decides falsely against the titles of litigants in the +court of castes, or in the offices of public registry. Through them Mr. +Hastings has exercised oppressions which, I will venture to say, in his +own name, in his own character, daring as he is, (and he is the most +daring criminal that ever existed,) he <!-- Page 368 --><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368" title="368" class="pagenum"></a>never would dare to practise. +Many, if not most, of the iniquities of his interior bad administration +have been perpetrated through these banians, or other native agents and +confidants; and we shall show you that he is not satisfied with one of +them, confiding few of his secrets to Europeans, and hardly any of his +instruments, either native or European, knowing the secrets of each +other. This is the system of banianism, and of concealment, which Mr. +Hastings, instead of eradicating out of the service, has propagated by +example and by support, and enlarged by converting even Europeans into +that dark and insidious character.</p> + +<p>I have explained, or endeavored to explain, to your Lordships these +circumstances of the true spirit, genius, and character, more than the +ostensible institutions of the Company's service: I now shall beg leave +to bring before you one institution, taken from the mercantile +constitution of the Company, so excellent, that I will venture to say +that human wisdom has never exceeded it. In this excellent institution +the counting-house gave lessons to the state. The active, awakened, and +enlightened principle of self-interest will provide a better system for +the guard of that interest than the cold, drowsy wisdom of those who +provide for a good out of themselves ever contrived for the public. The +plans sketched by private prudence for private interest, the regulations +by mercantile men for their mercantile purposes, when they can be +applied to the discipline and order of the state, produce a discipline +and order which no state should be ashamed to copy. The Company's +mercantile regulations are admirably fitted for the government of a +remote, large, disjointed empire. As merchants, hav<!-- Page 369 --><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369" title="369" class="pagenum"></a>ing factors abroad +in distant parts of the world, they have obliged them to a minuteness +and strictness of register, and to a regularity of correspondence, which +no state has ever used in the same degree with regard to its public +ministers. The Company has made it a fundamental part of their +constitution, that almost their whole government shall be a written +government. Your Lordships will observe, in the course of the +proceeding, the propriety of opening fully to you this circumstance in +the government of India,—that is, that the Company's government is a +government of writing, a government of record. The strictest court of +justice, in its proceeding, is not more, perhaps not so much a court of +record as the India Company's executive service is, or ought to be, in +all its proceedings.</p> + +<p>In the first place, they oblige their servants to keep a journal or +diary of all their transactions, public and private: they are bound to +do this by an express covenant. They oblige them, as a corrective upon +that diary, to keep a letter-book, in which all their letters are to be +regularly entered. And they are bound by the same covenant to produce +all those books upon requisition, although they should be mixed with +affairs concerning their own private negotiations and transactions of +commerce, or their closest and most retired concerns in private life. +But as the great corrective of all, they have contrived that every +proceeding in public council shall be written,—no debates merely +verbal. The arguments, first or last, are to be in writing, and +recorded. All other bodies, the Houses of Lords, Commons, Privy Council, +Cabinet Councils for secret state deliberations, enter only resolves, +decisions, and final resolu<!-- Page 370 --><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370" title="370" class="pagenum"></a>tions of affairs: the argument, the +discussion, the dissent, does very rarely, if at all, appear. But the +Company has proceeded much further, and done much more wisely, because +they proceeded upon mercantile principles; and they have provided, +either by orders or course of office, that all shall be written,—the +proposition, the argument, the dissent. This is not confined to their +great Council; but this order ought to be observed, as I conceive, (and +I see considerable traces of it in practice,) in every Provincial +Council, whilst the Provincial Councils existed, and even down to the +minutest ramification of their service. These books, in a progression +from the lowest Councils to the highest Presidency, are ordered to be +transmitted, duplicate and triplicate, by every ship that sails to +Europe. On this system an able servant of the Company, and high in their +service, has recorded his opinion, and strongly expressed his +sentiments. Writing to the Court of Directors, he says, "It ought to be +remembered, that the basis upon which you rose to power, and have been +able to stand the shock of repeated convulsions, has been the accuracy +and simplicity of mercantile method, which makes every transaction in +your service and every expenditure a matter of record."</p> + +<p>My Lords, this method not only must produce to them, if strictly +observed, a more accurate idea of the nature of their affairs and the +nature of their expenditures, but it must afford them no trivial +opportunity and means of knowing the true characters of their servants, +their capacities, their ways of thinking, the turn and bias of their +minds. If well employed, and but a little improved, the East India +Company possessed an advantage unknown before to the chief of a <!-- Page 371 --><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371" title="371" class="pagenum"></a>remote +government. In the most remote parts of the world, and in the minutest +parts of a remote service, everything came before the principal with a +domestic accuracy and local familiarity. It was, in the power of a +Director, sitting in London, to form an accurate judgment of every +incident that happened upon the Ganges and the Gogra.</p> + +<p>The use of this recorded system did not consist only in the facility of +discovering what the nature of their affairs and the character and +capacity of their servants was, but it furnished the means of detecting +their misconduct, frequently of proving it too, and of producing the +evidence of it judicially under their own hands. For your Lordships must +have observed that it is rare indeed, that, in a continued course of +evil practices, any uniform method of proceeding will serve the purposes +of the delinquent. Innocence is plain, direct, and simple: guilt is a +crooked, intricate, inconstant, and various thing. The iniquitous job of +to-day may be covered by specious reasons; but when the job of iniquity +of to-morrow succeeds, the reasons that have colored the first crime may +expose the second malversation. The man of fraud falls into +contradiction, prevarication, confusion. This hastens, this facilitates, +conviction. Besides, time is not allowed for corrupting the records. +They are flown out of their hands, they are in Europe, they are safe in +the registers of the Company, perhaps they are under the eye of +Parliament, before the writers of them have time to invent an excuse for +a direct contrary conduct to that to which their former pretended +principles applied. This is a great, a material part of the constitution +of the Company. My Lords, I do not think it to be much apolo<!-- Page 372 --><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372" title="372" class="pagenum"></a>gized for, +if I repeat, that this is the fundamental regulation of that service, +and which, if preserved in the first instance, as it ought to be, in +official practice in India, and then used as it ought to be in England, +would afford such a mode of governing a great, foreign, dispersed +empire, as, I will venture to say, few countries ever possessed, even in +governing the most limited and narrow jurisdiction.</p> + +<p>It was the great business of Mr. Hastings's policy to subvert this great +political edifice. His first mode of subverting it was by commanding the +public ministers, paid by the Company, to deliver their correspondence +upon the most critical and momentous affairs to him, in order to be +suppressed and destroyed at his pleasure. To support him in this plan of +spoliation, he has made a mischievous distinction in public business +between public and private correspondence. The Company's orders and +covenants made none. There are, readily I admit, thousands of occasions +in which it is not proper to divulge promiscuously a private +correspondence, though on public affairs, to the world; but there is no +occasion in which it is not a necessary duty, on requisition, to +communicate your correspondence to those who form the paramount +government, on whose interests and on whose concerns and under whose +authority this correspondence has been carried on. The very same reasons +which require secrecy with regard to others demand the freest +communication to them. But Mr. Hastings has established principles of +confidence and secrecy towards himself which have cut off all confidence +between the Directors and their ministers, and effectually kept them at +least out of the secret of their own affairs.<!-- Page 373 --><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373" title="373" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>Without entering into all the practices by which he has attempted to +maim the Company's records, I shall state one more to your +Lordships,—that is, his avowed appointment of spies and under-agents, +who shall carry on the real state business, while there are public and +ostensible agents who are not in the secret. The correspondence of those +private agents he holds in his own hands, communicates as he thinks +proper, but most commonly withholds. There remains nothing for the +Directors but the shell and husk of a dry, formal, official +correspondence, which neither means anything nor was intended to mean +anything.</p> + +<p>These are some of the methods by which he has defeated the purposes of +the excellent institution of a recorded administration. But there are +cases to be brought before this court in which he has laid the axe at +once to the root,—which was, by delegating out of his own hands a great +department of the powers of the Company, which he was himself bound to +execute, to a board which was not bound to record their deliberations +with the same strictness as he himself was bound. He appointed of his +own usurped authority a board for the administration of the revenue, the +members of which were expressly dispensed from recording their dissents, +until they chose it; and in that office, as in a great gulf, a most +important part of the Company's transactions has been buried.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding his unwearied pains in the work of spoliation, some +precious fragments are left, which we ought infinitely to value,—by +which we may learn, and lament, the loss of what he has destroyed. If it +were not for those inestimable fragments and wrecks of the recorded +government which have been <!-- Page 374 --><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374" title="374" class="pagenum"></a>saved from the destruction which Mr. +Hastings intended for them all, the most shameful enormities that have +ever disgraced a government or harassed a people would only be known in +this country by secret whispers and unauthenticated anecdotes; the +disgracer's of government, the vexers and afflicters of mankind, instead +of being brought before an awful public tribunal, might have been +honored with the highest distinctions and rewards their country has to +bestow; and sordid bribery, base peculation, iron-handed extortion, +fierce, unrelenting tyranny, might themselves have been invested with +those sacred robes of justice before which this day they have cause to +tremble.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hastings, sensible of what he suffers from this register of acts and +opinions, has endeavored to discredit and ruin what remains of it. He +refuses, in his defence to the House of Commons, in letters to the Court +of Directors, in various writings and declarations, he refuses to be +tried by his own recorded declarations; he refuses to be bound by his +own opinions, delivered under his own hand. He knows that he and the +record cannot exist together. He knows that what remains of the written +constitution which he has not destroyed is enough to destroy him. He +claims a privilege of systematic inconstancy, a privilege of +prevarication, a privilege of contradiction,—a privilege of not only +changing his conduct, but the principles of his conduct, whenever it +suits his occasions. But I hope your Lordships will show the destroyers +of that wise constitution, and the destroyers of those records which are +to be the securities against malversation in office, the discoverers and +avengers of it, that whoever destroys the dis<!-- Page 375 --><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375" title="375" class="pagenum"></a>coverer establishes the +iniquity; that, therefore, your Lordships will bind him to his own +declarations, given on record under his own hand; that you will say to +this unfaithful servant of the Company, what was said to another +unfaithful person upon a far less occasion by a far greater authority, +"Out of thy own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Having gone through what I have been instructed might be necessary to +state to your Lordships concerning the Company's constitution, (I mean +the real inside, and not the shell of its constitution,)—having stated +the abuses that existed in it,—having stated how Mr. Hastings +endeavored to perpetuate and to increase and to profit of the abuse, and +how he has systematically endeavored to destroy, and has in some +instances in fact destroyed, many things truly excellent in that +constitution,—if I have not wasted your time in explanation of matters +that you are already well acquainted with, I shall next beg leave to +state to you the abuse in some particulars of the other part of the +public authority which the Company acquired over the natives of India, +in virtue of the royal charter of the present Mogul emperor, in the year +1766 [1765?].</p> + +<p>My Lords, that you may the better judge of the abuse Mr. Hastings has +made of the powers vested in him, it will be expedient to consider a +little who the people are to whose prejudice he has abused these powers. +I shall explain this point with as much brevity as is consistent with +the distinctness with which I mean to bring the whole before your +Lordships; and I beg to observe to you that this previous discourse, +rather explanatory than accusatorial, (if I may use <!-- Page 376 --><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376" title="376" class="pagenum"></a>the expression,) is +meant rather to elucidate the nature of the matter to come before you in +regular charges than as proof of the charges themselves.</p> + +<p>I know that a good deal of latitude is allowed to advocates, when +opening a cause in a private court, to indulge themselves in their +narratives leading to the charges they intend to bring. They are not +always called to the strictest account for such prefatory matter, +because the court, when it comes to judge, sifts and distinguishes it +from the points to be strictly proved, and on whose merits the cause +relies. But I wish your Lordships to know, that, with the high opinion I +have of your gravity, (and it is impossible for a man to conceive a +higher,) and sensible of the weight of those I represent at this place, +namely, the Commons of Great Britain, I should be sorry that any one +substantial fact, even in this explanatory opening, or even the color of +the fact, should be alleged, which, when called upon, I should not be +ready to make good to you by proof,—I mean, by proof adapted to its +nature: public opinion, by evidence of public opinion; by record, that +to which record is applicable; by oral testimony, things to which oral +testimony alone can be produced; and, last of all, that which is matter +of historic proof, by historic evidence. This I hope to do with the +usual allowance to errors and mistakes, which is the claim of human +infirmity.</p> + +<p>Then, my Lords, two distinct people inhabit India. Two sorts of people +inhabit the same country, as totally distinct from each other, in +characters, lives, opinions, prejudices, and manners, as the inhabitants +of countries most remote from each other. For both of these descriptions +Mr. Hastings was bound to pro<!-- Page 377 --><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377" title="377" class="pagenum"></a>vide equally, agreeable to the terms of +the charter which the Company received from the lawful governing power +of that country: a charter received at its own solicitation; a charter +not forced upon us by a superior power, but given at the immediate +solicitation of the principal servants belonging to the Company; a +charter solemnly accepted by the Company, and by them, I am very sorry +to say, little regarded,—or, at least, little regarded by their +principal servants.</p> + +<p>My Lords, the first description of people who are subjected virtually to +the British empire through those mediums which I have described to you +are the original inhabitants of Hindostan, who have in all time, and +beyond all the eras which we use, (I mean always the two grand eras +excepted,) been the aboriginal inhabitants and proprietors of that +country,—with manners, religion, customs, and usages appropriated to +themselves, and little resembling those of the rest of mankind. This +description of men is commonly called Gentoos. The system and principle +of that government is locality. Their laws, their manners, their +religion are all local.</p> + +<p>Their legislator, whoever he was, (for who he was is a matter lost in +the mists of a most obscure antiquity,) had it as a great leading +principle of his policy to connect the people with their soil. +Accordingly, by one of those anomalies which a larger acquaintance with +our species daily discovers, and which perhaps an attentive reflection +might explain in the nature of man, this aboriginal people of +India,—who are the softest in their manners of any of our race, +approaching almost to feminine tenderness,—who are formed +constitutionally benevolent, and, in many <!-- Page 378 --><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378" title="378" class="pagenum"></a>particulars, made to fill a +larger circle of benevolence than our morals take in,—who extend their +good-will to the whole animal creation,—these people are, of all +nations, the most unalliable to any other part of mankind. They cannot, +the highest orders of them, at least, cannot, come into contact with any +other. That bond which is one of the chief instruments of society, and +which, supporting the individual, connects the species, can have no +existence with them: I mean the convivial bond. That race can be held to +no other by that great link of life. No Hindoo can mix at meals even +with those on whom he depends for the meat he eats. This circumstance +renders it difficult for us to enter with due sympathy into their +concerns, or for them to enter into ours, even when we meet on the same +ground. But there are other circumstances which render our intercourse, +in our mutual relation, very full of difficulty. The sea is between us. +The mass of that element, which, by appearing to disconnect, unites +mankind, is to them a forbidden road. It is a great gulf fixed between +you and them,—not so much that elementary gulf, but that gulf which +manners, opinions, and laws have radicated in the very nature of the +people. None of their high castes, without great danger to his +situation, religion, rank, and estimation, can ever pass the sea; and +this forbids, forever, all direct communication between that country and +this. That material and affecting circumstance, my Lords, makes it ten +times more necessary, since they cannot come to us, to keep a strict eye +upon all persons who go to them. It imposes upon us a stricter duty to +guard with a firm and powerful vigilance those whose principles of +conscience weaken their principles of self-defence. If we un<!-- Page 379 --><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379" title="379" class="pagenum"></a>dertake to +govern the inhabitants of such a country, we must govern them upon their +own principles and maxims, and not upon ours. We must not think to force +them into the narrow circle of our ideas; we must extend ours to take in +their system of opinions and rites, and the necessities which result +from both: all change on their part is absolutely impracticable. We have +more versatility of character and manners, and it is we who must +conform. We know what the empire of opinion is in human nature. I had +almost said that the law of opinion was human nature itself. It is, +however, the strongest principle in the composition of the frame of the +human mind; and more of the happiness and unhappiness of mankind resides +in that inward principle than in all external circumstances put +together. But if such is the empire of opinion even amongst us, it has a +pure, unrestrained, complete, and despotic power amongst them. The +variety of balanced opinions in our minds weakens the force of each: for +in Europe, sometimes, the laws of religion differ from the laws of the +land; sometimes the laws of the land differ from our laws of honor; our +laws of honor are full of caprice, differing from those other laws, and +sometimes differing from themselves: but there the laws of religion, the +laws of the land, and the laws of honor are all united and consolidated +in one invariable system, and bind men by eternal and indissoluble bonds +to the rules of what, amongst them, is called his <i>caste</i>.</p> + +<p>It may be necessary just to state to your Lordships what a <i>caste</i> is. +The Gentoo people, from the oldest time, have been distributed into +various orders, all of them hereditary: these family orders are called +castes; these castes are the fundamental part of the <!-- Page 380 --><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380" title="380" class="pagenum"></a>constitution of +the Gentoo commonwealth, both in their church and in their state.</p> + +<p>Your Lordships are born to hereditary honors in the chief of your +houses; the rest mix with the people. With the Gentoos, they who are +born noble can never fall into any second rank. They are divided into +four orders,—the Brahmins, the Chittery, the Bice, and the Soodur, with +many subdivisions in each. An eternal barrier is placed between them. +The higher cannot pass into the lower; the lower cannot rise into the +higher. They have all their appropriated rank, place, and situation, and +their appropriated religion too, which is essentially different in its +rites and ceremonies, sometimes in its object, in each of those castes. +A man who is born in the highest caste, which at once unites what would +be tantamount in this country to the dignity of the peerage and the +ennobled sanctity of the episcopal character,—the Brahmin, who sustains +these characters, if he loses his caste, does not fall into an inferior +order, the Chittery, the Bice, or the Soodur, but he is thrown at once +out of all ranks of society. He is precipitated from the proudest +elevation of respect and honor to a bottomless abyss of contempt,—from +glory to infamy,—from purity to pollution,—from sanctity to +profanation. No honest occupation is open to him; his children are no +longer his children; their parent loses that name; the conjugal bond is +dissolved. Few survive this most terrible of all calamities. To speak to +an Indian of his caste is to speak to him of his all.</p> + +<p>But the rule of caste has, with them, given one power more to fortune +than the manners of any other nation were ever known to do. For it is +singular, the caste may be lost, not only by certain voluntary <!-- Page 381 --><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381" title="381" class="pagenum"></a>crimes, +but by certain involuntary sufferings, disgraces, and pollutions, that +are utterly out of their power to prevent. Those who have patiently +submitted to imprisonment,—those who have not flinched from the +scourge,—those who have been as unmoved as marble under torture,—those +who have laughed at the menaces of death itself,—have instantly given +way, when it has been attempted to subject them to any of those +pollutions by which they lose caste. To this caste they are bound by all +laws of all descriptions, human and divine; and inveterate usage has +radicated it in them to a depth and with an adhesion with which no other +known prejudice has been known to exist. Tyranny is therefore armed +against them with a greater variety of weapons than are found in its +ordinary stores.</p> + +<p>This, amongst a thousand other considerations, speaks to us in very +authoritative language with what care and circumspection we ought to +handle people so delicate. In the course of this trial your Lordships +will see with horror the use which Mr. Hastings made, through several of +his wicked and abominable instruments, chosen from the natives +themselves, of these superadded means of oppression. I shall prove, in +the course of this trial, that he has put his own menial domestic +servant,—a wretch totally dependent,—a wretch grossly ignorant,—the +common instrument of his bribery and peculation,—he has enthroned him, +I say, on the first seat of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which was to +decide upon the castes of all those people, including their rank, their +family, their honor, and their happiness here, and, in their judgment, +their salvation hereafter. Under the awe of this power, no man dared to +breathe <!-- Page 382 --><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382" title="382" class="pagenum"></a>a murmur against his tyranny. Fortified in this security, he +says, "Who complains of me!"—"No, none of us dare complain of you," +says the trembling Gentoo. "No! your menial servant has my caste in his +power."—I shall not trouble your Lordships with mentioning others; it +was enough that Cantoo Baboo, and Ginga Govind Sing, names to which your +Lordships are to be familiarized hereafter,—it is enough that those +persons had the caste and character of all the people of Bengal in their +hands. Through them he has taken effectual security against all +complaint. Your Lordships will hence discern how very necessary it is +become that some other personage should intervene, should take upon him +their representation, and by his freedom and his power should supply the +defects arising from their servitude and their impotence. The Commons of +Great Britain charge themselves with this character.</p> + +<p>My Lords, these Gentoo people are the original people of Hindostan. They +are still, beyond comparison, the most numerous. Faults this nation may +have; but God forbid we should pass judgment upon people who framed +their laws and institutions prior to our insect origin of yesterday! +With all the faults of their nature and errors of their institutions, +their institutions, which act so powerfully on their natures, have two +material characteristics which entitle them to respect: first, great +force and stability; and next, excellent moral and civil effects.</p> + +<p>Their stability has been proved by their holding on an uniform tenor for +a duration commensurate to all the empires with which history has made +us acquainted; and they still exist in a green old age, with all the +reverence of antiquity, and with all the passion <!-- Page 383 --><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383" title="383" class="pagenum"></a>that people have to +novelty and change. They have stood firm on their ancient base; they +have cast their roots deep in their native soil,—perhaps because they +have never spread them anywhere else than in their native soil. Their +blood, their opinions, and the soil of their country make one consistent +piece, admitting no mixture, no adulteration, no improvement: +accordingly, their religion has made no converts, their dominion has +made no conquests; but in proportion as their laws and opinions were +concentred within themselves, and hindered from spreading abroad, they +have doubled their force at home. They have existed in spite of +Mahomedan and Portuguese bigotry,—in spite of Tartarian and Arabian +tyranny,—in spite of all the fury of successive foreign conquest,—in +spite of a more formidable foe, the avarice of the English dominion.</p> + +<p>I have spoken now, my Lords, of what their principles are, their laws +and religious institutions, in point of force and stability; I have +given instances of their force in the very circumstance in which all the +institutions of mankind in other respects show their weakness. They have +existed, when the country has been otherwise subdued. This alone +furnishes full proof that there must be some powerful influence +resulting from them beyond all our little fashionable theories upon such +subjects.</p> + +<p>The second consideration in the Gentoo institutions is their beneficial +effects, moral and civil. The policy, civil or religious, or, as theirs +is, composed of both, that makes a people happy and a state flourishing, +(putting further and higher considerations out of the way, which are not +now before us,) must undoubtedly, so far as human considerations +prevail, be a pol<!-- Page 384 --><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384" title="384" class="pagenum"></a>icy wisely conceived in any scheme of government. It +is confirmed by all observation, that, where the Hindoo religion has +been established, that country has been flourishing. We have seen some +patterns remaining to this day. The very country which is to be the +subject of your Lordships' judicial inquiry is an instance, by an entire +change of government, of the different effects resulting from the +rapacity of a foreign hand, and the paternal, lenient, protecting arm of +a native government, formed on the long connection of prejudice and +power. I shall give you its state under the Hindoo government from a +book written by a very old servant of the Company, whose authority is of +the greater weight, as the very destruction of all this scheme of +government is the great object of the author.</p> + +<p>The author, Mr. Holwell, divides the country of Bengal into its +different provinces. He supposes what they then paid to the supreme +government; he supposes what the country is capable of yielding; and his +project is, to change entirely the application of the revenues of the +country, and to secure the whole into the hands of government. In +enumerating these provinces, at last he comes to the province of +Burdwan.</p> + +<p>"In truth," (says this author,) "it would be almost cruelty to molest +this happy people; for in this district are the only vestiges of the +beauty, purity, piety, regularity, equity, and strictness of the ancient +Hindostan government. Here the property as well as the liberty of the +people are inviolate. Here no robberies are heard of, either public or +private. The traveller, either with or without merchandise, becomes the +immediate care of the government, which <!-- Page 385 --><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385" title="385" class="pagenum"></a>allots him guards, without any +expense, to conduct him from stage to stage; and these are accountable +for the safety and accommodation of his person and effects. At the end +of the first stage he is delivered over, with certain benevolent +formalities, to the guards of the next, who, after interrogating the +traveller as to the usage he had received in his journey, dismiss the +first guard with a written certificate of their behavior, and a receipt +for the traveller and his effects; which certificate and receipt are +returnable to the commanding officer of the first stage, who registers +the same, and regularly reports it to the rajah.</p> + +<p>"In this form the traveller is passed through the country; and if he +only passes, he is not suffered to be at any expense for food, +accommodation, or carriage for his merchandise or baggage: but it is +otherwise, if he is permitted to make any residence in one place above +three days, unless occasioned by sickness, or any unavoidable accident. +If anything is lost in this district,—for instance, a bag of money or +other valuables,—the person who finds it hangs it upon the next tree, +and gives notice to the nearest <i>chowkey</i>, or place of guard, the +officer of which orders immediate publication of the same by beat of +<i>tomtom</i>, or drum."</p> + +<p>These, my Lords, are the effects universally produced by the Hindoo +polity throughout that vast region, before it was distorted and put out +of frame by the barbarism of foreign conquests. Some choice, reserved +spots continued to flourish under it to the year 1756. Some remained +till Mr. Hastings obtained the means of utterly defacing them. Such was +the prospect of Benares under the happy government of <!-- Page 386 --><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386" title="386" class="pagenum"></a>Bulwant Sing. +Such was the happy state of the same Benares in the happy days of Cheyt +Sing, until, in the year 1781, Mr. Hastings introduced <i>his</i> reform into +that country.</p> + +<p>Having stated the general outline of the manners of the original people +of Hindostan, having stated the general principles of their policy, +which either prohibit connection, or oblige us to a connection very +different from what we have hitherto used towards them, I shall leave it +to your Lordships' judgment whether you will suffer such fair monuments +of wisdom and benevolence to be defaced by the rapacity of your +governors. I hope I have not gone out of my way to bring before you any +circumstance relative to the Gentoo religion and manners, further than +as they relate to the spirit of our government over them; for though +there never was such food for the curiosity of the human mind as is +found in the manners of this people, I pass it totally over.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I wish to divide this preliminary view into six periods; and your +Lordships will consider that of the Hindoos, which I have now mentioned, +as the first era.</p> + +<p>The second era is an era of great misfortune to that country, and to the +world in general: I mean, the time of the prophet Mahomed. The +enthusiasm which animated his first followers, the despotic power which +religion obtained through that enthusiasm, and the advantages derived +from both over the enervated great empires, and broken, disunited, +lesser governments of the world, extended the influence of that proud +and domineering sect from the banks of the Ganges to the banks of the +Loire.<!-- Page 387 --><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387" title="387" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>This second period is the era of the Arabs. These people made a great +and lasting impression on India. They established, very early, Mahomedan +sovereigns in all parts of it, particularly in the kingdom of Bengal, +which is the principal object of our present inquiry. They held that +kingdom for a long series of years, under a dynasty of thirty-three +kings,—having begun their conquest and founded their dominion in Bengal +not very long after the time of their prophet.</p> + +<p>These people, when they first settled in India, attempted, with the +ferocious arm of their prophetic sword, to change the religion and +manners of that country; but at length perceiving that their cruelty +wearied out itself, and never could touch the constancy of the +sufferers, they permitted the native people of the country to remain in +quiet, and left the Mahomedan religion to operate upon them as it could, +by appealing to the ambition or avarice of the great, or by taking the +lower people, who had lost their castes, into this new sect, and thus, +from the refuse of the Gentoo, increasing the bounds of the Mahomedan +religion. They left many of the ancient rajahs of the country possessed +of an inferior sovereignty; and where the strength of the country, or +other circumstances, would not permit this subordination, they suffered +them to continue in a separate state, approaching to independence, if +not wholly independent.</p> + +<p>The Mahomedans, during the period of the Arabs, never expelled or +destroyed the native Gentoo nobility, zemindars, or landholders of the +country. They all, or almost all, remained fixed in their places, +properties, and dignities; and the shadows of several of them remain +under our jurisdiction.<!-- Page 388 --><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388" title="388" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>The next, which is the third era, is an era the more necessary to +observe upon, because Mr. Hastings has made many applications to it in +his defence before the Commons: namely, the invasion of the Tartars, or +the era of Tamerlane. These Tartars did not establish themselves on the +ruins of the Hindoos. Their conquests were over the other Mahomedans: +for Tamerlane invaded Hindostan, as he invaded other countries, in the +character of the great reformer of the Mahomedan religion. He came as a +sort of successor to the rights of the Prophet, upon a divine title. He +struck at all the Mahomedan princes who reigned at that time. He +considered them as apostates, or at least as degenerated from the faith, +and as tyrants abusing their power. To facilitate his conquests over +these, he was often obliged to come to a sort of a composition with the +people of the country he invaded. Tamerlane had neither time nor means +nor inclination to dispossess the ancient rajahs of the country.</p> + +<p>Your Lordships will observe that I propose nothing more than to give you +an idea of the principles of policy which prevailed in these several +revolutions, and not an history of the furious military achievements of +a barbarous invader. Historians, indeed, are generally very liberal of +their information concerning everything but what we ought to be very +anxious to know. They tell us that India was conquered by Tamerlane, and +conquered in such a year. The year will be found to coincide somewhere, +I believe, with the end of the fourteenth century. Thinking the mere +fact as of little moment, and its chronology as nothing, but thinking +the policy very material, which, indeed, is to be <!-- Page 389 --><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389" title="389" class="pagenum"></a>collected only here +and there, in various books written with various views, I shall beg +leave to lay before you a very remarkable circumstance relative to that +policy, and taken from the same book to which I formerly referred, Mr. +Holwell's.</p> + +<p>"When the Hindoo rajahs, or princes of Hindostan, submitted to +Tamerlane, it was on these capital stipulations: that the emperor should +marry a daughter of Rajah Cheyt Sing's house; that the head of this +house should be in perpetuity governors of the citadel of Agra, and +anoint the king at his coronation; and that the emperors should never +impose the <i>jessera</i> (or poll-tax) upon the Hindoos."</p> + +<p>Here was a conqueror, as he is called, coming in upon terms; mixing his +blood with that of the native nobility of the country he conquered, and, +in consequence of this mixture, placing them in succession upon the +throne of the country he subdued; making one of them even hereditary +constable of the capital of his kingdom, and thereby putting his +posterity as a pledge into their hands. What is full as remarkable, he +freed the Hindoos forever from that tax which the Mahomedans have laid +upon every country over which the sword of Mahomet prevailed,—namely, a +capitation tax upon all who do not profess the religion of the +Mahomedans. But the Hindoos, by express charter, were exempted from that +mark of servitude, and thereby declared not to be a conquered people. +The native princes, in all their transactions with the Mogul government, +carried the evident marks of this free condition in a noble independency +of spirit. Within their own districts the authority of many of them +seemed entire. We are often led into mistakes concerning <!-- Page 390 --><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390" title="390" class="pagenum"></a>the government +of Hindostan, by comparing it with those governments where the prince is +armed with a full, speculative, entire authority, and where the great +people have, with great titles, no privileges at all, or, having +privileges, have those privileges only as subjects. But in Hindostan the +modes, the degrees, the circumstances of subjection varied infinitely. +In some places hardly a trace at all of subjection was to be discerned; +in some the rajahs were almost assessors of the throne, as in this case +of the Rajah Cheyt Sing. These circumstances mark, that Tamerlane, +however he may be indicated by the odious names of Tartar and Conqueror, +was no barbarian; that the people who submitted to him did not submit +with the abject submission of slaves to the sword of a conqueror, but +admitted a great supreme emperor, who was just, prudent, and politic, +instead of the ferocious, oppressive, lesser Mahomedan sovereigns, who +had before forced their way by the sword into the country.</p> + +<p>That country resembled more a republic of princes with a great chief at +their head than a territory in absolute, uniform, systematic subjection +from one end to the other,—in which light Mr. Hastings and others of +late have thought proper to consider it. According to them, if a +subordinate prince, like Cheyt Sing, was not ready to pay any exorbitant +sum on instant demand, or submit to any extent of fine which should be +inflicted upon him by the mere will of the person who called <i>robbery</i> a +<i>fine</i>, and who took the measure of that fine without either considering +the means of paying or the degree of delinquency that justified it, +their properties, liberties, and lives were instantly forfeited. The +rajahs of that country were <!-- Page 391 --><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391" title="391" class="pagenum"></a>armed; they had fortresses for their +security; they had troops. In the receipt of both their own and the +imperial revenue, their securities for justice were in their own hands: +but the policy of the Mogul princes very rarely led them to push that +people to such extremity as it is supposed that on every slight occasion +we have a right to push those who are the subjects of our pretended +conquest.</p> + +<p>Mr. Holwell throws much light on this policy, which became the standing +law of the empire.</p> + +<p>In the unfortunate wars which followed the death of Mauz-o-Din, "Sevajee +Cheyt Sing," (the great rajah we have just mentioned,) "with a select +body of Rajpoots, by a well-conducted retreat recovered Agra, and was +soon after reconciled to the king [the Mogul] and admitted to his +favor,—conformable to the steady policy of this government, in keeping +a good understanding with the principal rajahs, and more especially with +the head of this house, who is ever capable of raising and fomenting a +very formidable party upon any intended revolution in this despotic and +precarious monarchy."</p> + +<p>You see that it was the monarchy that was precarious, not the rights of +the subordinate chiefs. Your Lordships see, that, notwithstanding our +ideas of Oriental despotism, under the successors of Tamerlane, these +principal rajahs, instead of being called wretches, and treated as such, +as Mr. Hastings has thought it becoming to call and treat them, when +they were in arms against their sovereign, were regarded with respect, +and were admitted to easy reconciliations; because, in reality, in their +occasional hostilities, they were not properly rebellious subjects, but +princes often asserting their natural rights and the just constitution +of the country.<!-- Page 392 --><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392" title="392" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>This view of the policy which prevailed during the dynasty of Tamerlane +naturally conducts me to the next, which is the fourth era in this +history: I mean the era of the Emperor Akbar. He was the first of the +successors of Tamerlane who obtained possession of Bengal. It is easy to +show of what nature his conquest was. It was over the last Mahomedan +dynasty. He, too, like his predecessor, Tamerlane, conquered the prince, +not the country. It is a certain mark that it was not a conquered +country in the sense in which we commonly call a country conquered, that +the natives, great men and landholders, continued in every part in the +possession of their estates, and of the jurisdictions annexed to them. +It is true, that, in the several wars for the succession to the Mogul +empire, and in other of their internal wars, severe revenges were taken, +which bore resemblance to those taken in the wars of the Roses in this +country, where it was the common course, in the heat of blood,—"Off +with his head!—so much for Buckingham!" Yet, where the country again +recovered its form and settlement, it recovered the spirit of a mild +government. Whatever rigor was used with regard to the Mahomedan +adventurers from Persia, Turkey, and other parts, who filled the places +of servile grandeur in the Mogul court, the Hindoos were a favored, +protected, gently treated people.</p> + +<p>The next, which is the fifth era, is a troubled and vexatious +period,—the era of the independent Subahs of Bengal. Five of these +subahs, or viceroys, governed from about the year 1717, or thereabouts. +They grew into independence partly by the calamities and concussions of +that empire, which happened during the disputes for the succession of +Tamerlane, <!-- Page 393 --><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393" title="393" class="pagenum"></a>and partly, and indeed principally, by the great shook which +the empire received when Thamas Kouli Khân broke into that country, +carried off its revenues, overturned the throne, and massacred not only +many of the chief nobility, but almost all the inhabitants of the +capital city. This rude shock, which that empire was never able to +recover, enabled the viceroys to become independent; but their +independence led to their ruin. Those who had usurped upon their masters +had servants who usurped upon them. Aliverdy Khân murdered his master, +and opened a way into Bengal for a body of foreign invaders, the +Mahrattas, who cruelly harassed the country for several years. Their +retreat was at length purchased, and by a sum which is supposed to +amount to five millions sterling. By this purchase he secured the +exhausted remains of an exhausted kingdom, and left it to his grandson, +Surajah Dowlah, in peace and poverty. On the fall of Surajah Dowlah, in +1756, commenced the last, which is the sixth,—the era of the British +empire.</p> + +<p>On the fifth dynasty I have only to remark to your Lordships, that at +its close the Hindoo chiefs were almost everywhere found in possession +of the country; that, although Aliverdy Khân was a cruel tyrant, though +he was an untitled usurper, though he racked and tormented the people +under his government, urged, however, by an apparent necessity from an +invading army of one hundred thousand horse in his dominions,—yet, +under him, the rajahs still preserved their rank, their dignity, their +castles, their houses, their seigniories, all the insignia of their +situation, and always the right, sometimes also the means, of protecting +their subordinate people, till the last and unfortunate era of 1756.<!-- Page 394 --><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394" title="394" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>Through the whole of this sketch of history I wish to impress but one +great and important truth upon your minds: namely, that, through all +these revolutions in government and changes in power, an Hindoo polity, +and the spirit of an Hindoo government, did more or less exist in that +province with which he was concerned, until it was finally to be +destroyed by Mr. Hastings.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>My Lords, I have gone through all the eras precedent to those of the +British power in India, and am come to the first of those eras. Mr. +Hastings existed in India, and was a servant of the Company before that +era, and had his education between both. He is an antediluvian with +regard to the British dominion in Bengal. He was coexistent with all the +acts and monuments of that revolution, and had no small share in all the +abuses of that abusive period which preceded his actual government. Bat +as it was during that transit from Eastern to Western power that most of +the abuses had their origin, it will not be perfectly easy for your +Lordships thoroughly to enter into the nature and circumstances of them +without an explanation of the principal events that happened from the +year 1756 until the commencement of Mr. Hastings's government,—during a +good part of which time we do not often lose sight of him. If I find it +agreeable to your Lordships, if I find that you wish to know these +annals of Indian suffering and British delinquency, if you desire that I +should unfold the series of the transactions from 1756 to the period of +Mr. Hastings's government in 1771, that you may know how far he promoted +what was good, how far he rectified what was evil, how far he abstained +from innovation in <!-- Page 395 --><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395" title="395" class="pagenum"></a>tyranny, and contented himself with the old stock of +abuse, your Lordships will have the goodness to consult the strength +which from late indisposition, begins almost to fail me. And if you +think the explanation is not time lost in this new world and in this new +business, I shall venture to sketch out, as briefly and with as much +perspicuity as I can give them, the leading events of that obscure and +perplexed period which intervened between the British settlement in 1757 +and Mr. Hastings's government. If I should be so happy as to succeed in +that attempt, your Lordships' minds will be prepared for hearing this +cause. Then your Lordships will have a clear view of the origin and +nature of the abuses which prevailed in that government before Mr. +Hastings obtained his greatest power, and since that time; and then we +shall be able to enter fully and explicitly into the nature of the +cause: and I should hope that it will pave the way and make everything +easy for your subsequent justice.</p> + +<p>I therefore wish to stop at this period, in which Mr. Hastings became +active in the service, pretty near the time when he began his political +career: and here, my Lords, I pause, wishing your indulgence at such +time as will suit your convenience for pursuing the rest of this +eventful history.<!-- Page 396 --><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396" title="396" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SPEECHb" id="SPEECHb" />SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">IN</span><br /> +<br /> +OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">SECOND DAY: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1788.</span></h2> + + +<p>My Lords,—In what I had the honor of laying before your Lordships +yesterday, and in what I may further trouble you with to-day, I wish to +observe a distinction, which if I did not lay down so perfectly as I +ought, I hope I shall now be able to mark it out with sufficient +exactness and perspicuity.</p> + +<p>First, I beg leave to observe that what I shall think necessary to +state, as matter of preliminary explanation, in order to give your +Lordships a true idea of the scene of action, of the instruments which +Mr. Hastings employed, and the effects which they produced,—all this I +wish to be distinguished from matter brought to criminate. Even the +matter, as stated by me, which may be hereafter brought to criminate, so +far as it falls to my share at present, is only to be considered, in +this stage of the business, as merely illustrative. Your Lordships are +to expect, as undoubtedly you will require, substantial matter of +crimination to be laid open for that purpose at the moment when the +evidence to each charge is ready to be produced to you. Thus your +Lordships will easily separate historical illustration from criminal +opening. For instance, if I stated yesterday to your Lordships, as I +did, the tyranny and cruelty of one of the usurp<!-- Page 397 --><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397" title="397" class="pagenum"></a>ing viceroys, whose +usurpation and whose vices led the way to the destruction of his country +and the introduction of a foreign power, I do not mean to charge Mr. +Hastings with any part of that guilt: what bears upon Mr. Hastings is +his having avowedly looked to such a tyrant and such a usurper as his +model, and followed that pernicious example with a servile fidelity. +When I have endeavored to lay open to your Lordships anything abusive, +or leading to abuse, from defects or errors in the constitution of the +Company's service, I did not mean to criminate Mr. Hastings on any part +of those defects and errors: I state them to show that he took advantage +of the imperfections of the institution to lot in his abuse of the power +with which he was intrusted. If, for a further instance, I have stated +that in general the service of the India Company was insufficient in +legal pay or emolument and abundant in the means of illegal profit, I do +not state that defect as owing to Mr. Hastings; but I state it as a +fact, to show in what manner and on what pretences he did, fraudulently, +corruptly, and for the purposes of his own ambition, take advantage of +that defect, and, under color of reformation, make an illegal, partial, +corrupt rise of emoluments to certain favored persons without regard to +the interests of the service at large,—increasing rather than lessening +the means of illicit emolument, as well as loading the Company with many +heavy and ruinous expenses in avowed salaries and allowances.</p> + +<p>Having requested your Lordships to keep in mind, which I trust you would +do even without my taking the liberty of suggesting it to you, these +necessary distinctions, I shall revert to the period at which I closed +yesterday, that great and memorable period <!-- Page 398 --><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398" title="398" class="pagenum"></a>which has remotely given +occasion to the trial of this day.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>My Lords, to obtain empire is common; to govern it well has been rare +indeed. To chastise the guilt of those who have been instruments of +imperial sway over other nations by the high superintending justice of +the sovereign state has not many striking examples among any people. +Hitherto we have not furnished our contingent to the records of honor. +We have been confounded with the herd of conquerors. Our dominion has +been a vulgar thing. But we begin to emerge; and I hope that a severe +inspection of ourselves, a purification of our own offences, a +lustration of the exorbitances of our own power, is a glory reserved to +this time, to this nation, and to this august tribunal.</p> + +<p>The year 1756 is a memorable era in the history of the world: it +introduced a new nation from the remotest verge of the Western world, +with new manners, new customs, new institutions, new opinions, new laws, +into the heart of Asia.</p> + +<p>My Lords, if, in that part of Asia whose native regular government was +then broken up,—if, at the moment when it had fallen into darkness and +confusion from having become the prey and almost the sport of the +ambition of its home-born grandees,—if, in that gloomy season, a star +had risen from the West, that would prognosticate a better generation, +and would shed down the sweet influences of order, peace, science, and +security to the natives of that vexed and harassed country, we should +have been covered with genuine honor. It would have been a beautiful and +noble spectacle to mankind.<!-- Page 399 --><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399" title="399" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>Indeed, something might have been expected of the kind, when a new +dominion emanated from a learned and enlightened part of the world in +the most enlightened period of its existence. Still more might it have +been expected, when that dominion was found to issue from the bosom of a +free country, that it would have carried with it the full benefit of the +vital principle of the British liberty and Constitution, though its +municipal forms were not communicable, or at least the advantage of the +liberty and spirit of the British Constitution. Had this been the case, +(alas! it was not,) you would have been saved the trouble of this day. +It might have been expected, too, that, in that enlightened state of the +world, influenced by the best religion, and from an improved description +of that best religion, (I mean the Christian reformed religion,) that we +should have done honor to Europe, to letters, to laws, to +religion,—done honor to all the circumstances of which in this island +we boast ourselves, at the great and critical moment of that revolution.</p> + +<p>My Lords, it has happened otherwise. It is now left for us to repair our +former errors. Resuming the history where I broke off yesterday by your +indulgence to my weakness,—Surajah Dowlah was the adopted grandson of +Aliverdy Khân, a cruel and ferocious tyrant, the manner of whose +acquisition of power I have already stated. He came too young and +unexperienced to that throne of usurpation. It was a usurpation yet +green in the country, and the country felt uneasy under it. It had not +the advantage of that prescriptive usage, that inveterate habit, that +traditionary opinion, which a long continuance of any system of +government secures to it. The only <!-- Page 400 --><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400" title="400" class="pagenum"></a>real security which Surajah Dowlah's +government could possess was the security of an army. But the great aim +of this prince and his predecessor was to supply the weakness of his +government by the strength of his purse; he therefore amassed treasures +by all ways and on all hands. But as the Indian princes, in general, are +as unwisely tenacious of their treasure as they are rapacious in getting +it, the more money he amassed, the more he felt the effects of poverty. +The consequence was, that their armies were unpaid, and, being unpaid or +irregularly paid, were undisciplined, disorderly, unfaithful. In this +situation, a young prince, confiding more in the appearances than +examining into the reality of things, undertook (from motives which the +House of Commons, with all their industry to discover the circumstances, +have found it difficult to make out) to attack a little miserable +trading fort that we had erected at Calcutta. He succeeded in that +attempt only because success in that attempt was easy. A close +imprisonment of the whole settlement followed,—not owing, I believe, to +the direct will of the prince, but, what will always happen when the +will of the prince is but too much the law, to a gross abuse of his +power by his lowest servants,—by which one hundred and twenty or more +of our countrymen perished miserably in a dungeon, by a fate too +tragical for me to be desirous to relate, and too well known to stand in +need of it.</p> + +<p>At the time that this event happened, there was at the same time a +concurrence of other events, which, from this partial and momentary +weakness, displayed the strength of Great Britain in Asia. For some +years before, the French and English troops began, on the coast of +Coromandel, to exhibit the power, <!-- Page 401 --><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401" title="401" class="pagenum"></a>force, and efficacy of European +discipline. As we daily looked for a war with France, our settlements on +that coast were in some degree armed. Lord Pigot, then Governor of +Madras,—Lord Pigot, the preserver and the victim of the British +dominion in Asia,—detached such of the Company's force as could he +collected and spared, and such of his Majesty's ships as were on that +station, to the assistance of Calcutta. And—to hasten this history to +its conclusion—the daring and commanding genius of Clive, the patient +and firm ability of Watson, the treachery of Mir Jaffier, and the battle +of Plassey gave us at once the patronage of a kingdom and the command of +all its treasures. We negotiated with Mir Jaffier for the viceroyal +throne of his master. On that throne we seated him. And we obtained, on +our part, immense sums of money. We obtained a million sterling for the +Company, upwards of a million for individuals, in the whole a sum of +about two millions two hundred and thirty thousand pounds for various +purposes, from the prince whom we had set up. We obtained, too, the town +of Calcutta more completely than we had before possessed it, and the +twenty-four districts adjoining. This was the first small seminal +principle of the immense territorial acquisitions we have since made in +India.</p> + +<p>Many circumstances of this acquisition I pass by. There is a sacred veil +to be drawn over the beginnings of all governments. Ours in India had an +origin like those which time has sanctified by obscurity. Time, in the +origin of most governments, has thrown this mysterious veil over them; +prudence and discretion make it necessary to throw something of the same +drapery over more recent foundations, in <!-- Page 402 --><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402" title="402" class="pagenum"></a>which otherwise the fortune, +the genius, the talents, and military virtue of this nation never shone +more conspicuously. But whatever necessity might hide or excuse or +palliate, in the acquisition of power, a wise nation, when it has once +made a revolution upon its own principles and for its own ends, rests +there. The first step to empire is revolution, by which power is +conferred; the next is good laws, good order, good institutions, to give +that power stability. I am sorry to say that the reverse of this policy +was the principle on which the gentlemen in India acted. It was such as +tended to make the new government as unstable as the old. By the vast +sums of money acquired by individuals upon this occasion, by the immense +sudden prodigies of fortune, it was discovered that a revolution in +Bengal was a mine much more easily worked and infinitely more productive +than the mines of Potosi and Mexico. It was found that the work was not +only very lucrative, but not at all difficult. Where Clive forded a deep +water upon an unknown bottom, he left a bridge for his successors, over +which the lame could hobble and the blind might grope their way. There +was not at that time a knot of clerks in a counting-house, there was not +a captain of a band of ragged <i>topasses</i>, that looked for anything less +than the deposition of subahs and the sale of kingdoms. Accordingly, +this revolution, which ought to have precluded other revolutions, +unfortunately became fruitful of them; and when Lord Clive returned to +Europe, to enjoy his fame and fortune in his own country, there arose +another description of men, who thought that a revolution might be made +upon his revolution, and as lucrative to them as his was to the first +projectors. Scarcely was Mir <!-- Page 403 --><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403" title="403" class="pagenum"></a>Jaffier, Lord Olive's nabob, seated on his +<i>musnud</i>, than they immediately, or in a short time, projected another +revolution, a revolution which was to unsettle all the former had +settled, a revolution to make way for new disturbances and new wars, and +which led to that long chain of peculation which ever since has +afflicted and oppressed Bengal.</p> + +<p>If ever there was a time when Bengal should have had respite from +internal revolutions, it was this. The governor forced upon the natives +was now upon the throne. All the great lords of the country, both +Gentoos and Mahomedans, were uneasy, discontented, and disobedient, and +some absolutely in arms, and refusing to recognize the prince we had set +up. An imminent invasion of the Mahrattas, an actual invasion headed by +the son of the Mogul, the revenues on account of the late shock very ill +collected even where the country was in some apparent quiet, an hungry +treasury at Calcutta, an empty treasury at Moorshedabad,—everything +demanded tranquillity, and with it order and economy. In this situation +it was resolved to make a new and entirely mercenary revolution, and to +set up to sale the government, secured to its present possessor by every +tie of public faith and every sacred obligation which could bind or +influence mankind. This second revolution forms that period in the +Bengal history which had the most direct influence upon all the +subsequent transactions. It introduces some of the persons who were most +active in the succeeding scenes, and from that time to this has given +its tone and character to the British affairs and government. It marks +and specifies the origin and true principle of all the abuses which Mr. +Hast<!-- Page 404 --><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404" title="404" class="pagenum"></a>ings was afterwards appointed to correct, and which the Commons +charge that he continued and aggravated: namely, the venal depositions +and venal exaltations of the country powers; the taking of bribes and +corrupt presents from all parties in those changes; the vitiating and +maiming the Company's records; the suppression of public correspondence; +corrupt combinations and conspiracies; perfidy in negotiation +established into principle; acts of the most atrocious wickedness +justified upon purity of intention; mock-trials and collusive acquittals +among the parties in common guilt; and in the end, the Court of +Directors supporting the scandalous breach of their own orders. I shall +state the particulars of this second revolution more at large.</p> + +<p>Soon after the revolution which had seated Mir Jaffier on the viceroyal +throne, the spirit of the Mogul empire began, as it were, to make one +faint struggle before it finally expired. The then heir to that throne, +escaping from the hands of those who had held his father prisoner, had +put himself at the head of several chiefs collected under the standard +of his house, and appeared in force on the frontiers of the provinces of +Bengal and Bahar, upon both which he made some impression. This alarmed +the new powers, the Nabob Mir Jaffier, and the Presidency of Calcutta; +and as in a common cause, and by the terms of their mutual alliance, +they took the field against him. The Nabob's eldest son and +heir-apparent commanded in chief. Major Calliaud commanded the English +forces under the government of Calcutta. Mr. Holwell was in the +temporary possession of the Presidency. Mr. Vansittart was hourly +expected to supersede him. Mr. Warren <!-- Page 405 --><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405" title="405" class="pagenum"></a>Hastings, a young gentleman about +twenty-seven years of age, was Resident for the Company at the durbar, +or court, of Mir Jaffier, our new-created Nabob of Bengal, allied to +this country by the most solemn treaties that can bind men; for which +treaties he had paid, and was then paying, immense sums of money. Mr. +Warren Hastings was the pledge in his hands for the honor of the British +nation, and their fidelity to their engagements.</p> + +<p>In this situation, Mr. Holwell, whom the terrible example of the Black +Hole at Calcutta had not cured of ambition, thought an hour was not to +be lost in accomplishing a revolution and selling the reigning Nabob.</p> + +<p>My Lords, there was in the house of Mir Jaffier, in his court, and in +his family, a man of an intriguing, crafty, subtle, and at the same time +bold, daring, desperate, bloody, and ferocious character, called Cossim +Ali Khân. He was the son-in-law of Mir Jaffier; and he made no other use +of this affinity than to find some means to dethrone and to murder him. +This was the person in whose school of politics Mr. Hastings made his +first studies, and whose conduct he quotes as his example, and for whose +friends, agents, and favorites he has always shown a marked +predilection. This dangerous man was not long without finding persons +who observed his talents with admiration, and who thought fit to employ +him.</p> + +<p>The Council at Calcutta was divided into two departments: one, the +Council in general; the other a Select Committee, which they had +arranged for the better carrying on their political affairs. But the +Select Committee had no power of acting wholly without the Council at +large,—at least, finally and con<!-- Page 406 --><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406" title="406" class="pagenum"></a>clusively. The Select Committee +thought otherwise. Between these litigant parties for power I shall not +determine on the merits,—thinking of nothing but the use that was made +of the power, to whomsoever it belonged. This Secret Committee, then, +without communicating with the rest of the Council, formed the plan for +a second revolution. But the concurrence of Major Calliaud, who +commanded the British troops, was essential to the purpose, as it could +not be accomplished without force. Mr. Hastings's assistance was +necessary, as it could not be accomplished without treachery.</p> + +<p>These are the parties concerned in the intended revolution. Mr. Holwell, +who considered himself in possession only of temporary power, was urged +to precipitate the business; for if Mr. Vansittart should arrive before +his plot could be finally put into execution, he would have all the +leading advantages of it, and Mr. Holwell would be considered only as a +secondary instrument. But whilst Mr. Holwell, who originally conceived +this plot, urged forward the execution of it, in order that the chief +share of the profits might fall to him, the Major, and possibly the +Resident, held back, till they might receive the sanction of the +permanent governor, who was hourly expected, with whom one of them was +connected, and who was to carry with him the whole weight of the +authority of this kingdom. This difference produced discussions. Holwell +endeavored by his correspondence to stimulate Calliaud to this +enterprise, which without him could not be undertaken at all. But Major +Calliaud had different views. He concurred inwardly, as he tells us +himself, in all the principles of this intended revolution, in the +propriety and ne<!-- Page 407 --><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407" title="407" class="pagenum"></a>cessity of it. He only wished delay. But he gave such +powerful, solid, and satisfactory reasons, not against the delay, but +the very merits of the design itself, exposing the injustice and the +danger of it, and the impossibility of mending by it their condition in +any respect, as must have damned it in the minds of all rational men: at +least it ought to have damned it forever in his own. But you will see +that Holwell persevered in his plan, and that Major Calliaud thought two +things necessary: first, not wholly to destroy the scheme, which he +tells us he always approved, but to postpone the execution,—and in the +mean time to delude the Nabob by the most strong, direct, and sanguine +assurances of friendship and protection that it was possible to give to +man.</p> + +<p>Whilst the projected revolution stood suspended,—whilst Mr. Holwell +urged it forward, and Mr. Vansittart was expected every day to give it +effect,—whilst Major Calliaud, with this design of ruining the Nabob +lodged in his breast, suspended in execution, and condemned in +principle, kept the fairest face and the most confidential interviews +with that unfortunate prince and his son,—as the operations of the +campaign relaxed, the army drew near to Moorshedabad, the capital, when +a truly extraordinary scene happened, such I am sure the English annals +before that time had furnished no example of, nor will, I trust, in +future. I shall state it as one piece from beginning to end, reserving +the events which intervened; because, as I do not produce any part of +this series for the gratification of historical curiosity, the +con-texture is necessary to demonstrate to your Lordships the spirit of +our Bengal politics, and the necessity of some other sort of judicial +inquiries than those which <!-- Page 408 --><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408" title="408" class="pagenum"></a>that government institute for themselves. +The transaction so manifestly marks the character of the whole +proceeding that I hope I shall not be blamed for suspending for a moment +the narrative of the steps taken towards the revolution, that you may +see the whole of this episode together,—that by it you may judge of the +causes which led progressively to the state in which the Company's +affairs stood, when Mr. Hastings was sent for the express purpose of +reforming it.</p> + +<p>The business I am going to enter into is commonly known by the name of +the Story of the Three Seals. It is to be found in the Appendix, No. 10, +to the First Report of the state and condition of the East India +Company, made in 1773. The word <i>Report</i>, my Lords, is sometimes a +little equivocal, and may signify sometimes, not what is made known, but +what remains in obscurity: the detail and evidence of many facts +referred to in the Report being usually thrown into the Appendix. Many +people, and I among the rest, (I take shame to myself for it,) may not +have fully examined that Appendix. I was not a member of either of the +India committees of 1773. It is not, indeed, till within this year that +I have been thoroughly acquainted with that memorable history of the +Three Seals.</p> + +<p>The history is this. In the year 1760 the allies were in the course of +operations against the son of the Mogul, now the present Mogul, who, as +I have already stated, had made an irruption into the kingdom of Bahar, +in order to reduce the lower provinces to his obedience. The parties +opposing him were the Nabob of Bengal and the Company's troops under +Major Calliaud. It was whilst they <!-- Page 409 --><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409" title="409" class="pagenum"></a>faced the common enemy as one body, +this negotiation for the destruction of the Nabob of Bengal by his +faithful allies of the Company was going on with diligence. At that time +the Nabob's son, Meeran, a youth in the flower of his age, bold, +vigorous, active, full of the politics in which those who are versed in +usurpation are never wanting, commanded the army under his father, but +was in reality the efficient person in all things.</p> + +<p>About the 15th of April, 1760, as I have it from Major Calliaud's letter +of that date, the Nabob came into his tent, and, with looks of the +utmost embarrassment, big with some design which swelled his bosom, +something that was too large and burdensome to conceal, and yet too +critical to be told, appeared to be in a state of great distraction. The +Major, seeing him in this condition, kindly, gently, like a fast and +sure friend, employed (to use his own expression) <i>some of those +assurances that tend to make men fully open their hearts</i>; and +accordingly, fortified by his assurances, and willing to disburden +himself of the secret that oppressed him, he opens his heart to the +commanding officer of his new friends, allies, and protectors. The +Nabob, thus assured, did open himself, and informed Major Calliaud that +he had just received a message from the Prince, or his principal +minister, informing him that the Prince Royal, now the Mogul, had an +intention (as, indeed, he rationally might, supposing that we were as +well disposed to him as we showed ourselves afterwards) to surrender +himself into the hands of him, the Nabob, but at the same time wished, +as a guaranty, that the commander-in-chief of the English forces should +give him security for his life and his honor, when he should in <!-- Page 410 --><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410" title="410" class="pagenum"></a>that +manner surrender himself to the Nabob. I do not mean, my Lords, by +surrendering, that it was supposed he intended to surrender himself +prisoner of war, but as a sovereign dubious of the fidelity of those +about him would put himself into the hands of his faithful subjects, of +those who claimed to derive all their power, as both we and the Nabob +did, under his authority. The Nabob stated to the English general, that +without this English security the Prince would not deliver himself into +his hands. Here he confessed he found a difficulty. For the giving this +faith, if it were kept, would defeat his ultimate view, which was, when +the Prince had delivered himself into his hands, in plain terms to +murder him. This grand act could not be accomplished without the English +general. In the first place, the Prince, without the English security, +would not deliver himself into the Nabob's hands; and afterwards, +without the English concurrence, he could not be murdered. These were +difficulties that pressed upon the mind of the Nabob.</p> + +<p>The English commander heard this astonishing proposition without any +apparent emotion. Being a man habituated to great affairs, versed in +revolutions, and with a mind fortified against extraordinary events, he +heard it and answered it without showing any signs of abhorrence or +detestation,—at the same time with a protestation that he would indeed +serve him, the Nabob, but it should be upon such terms as honor and +justice could support: informing him, that an assurance for the Prince's +safety could not be given by him, until he had consulted Mr. Holwell, +who was Governor, and his superior.</p> + +<p>This conversation passed in the morning. On that <!-- Page 411 --><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411" title="411" class="pagenum"></a>very morning, and +whilst the transaction was hot, Major Calliaud writes to Mr. Holwell an +account of it. In his letter he informs him that he made an inquiry, +without stating from whom, but that he did inquire the probability of +the Nabob's getting possession of the Prince from some persons, who +assured him that there was no probability of the Prince's intention to +deliver himself to the Nabob on any terms. Be that as it may, it is +impossible not to remark that the whole transaction of the morning of +the 15th of April was not very discouraging to the Nabob,—not such as +would induce him to consider this most detestable of all projects as a +thing utterly unfeasible, and as such to abandon it. The evening came on +without anything to alter his opinion. Major Calliaud that evening came +to the Nabob's tent to arrange some matters relative to the approaching +campaign. The business soon ended with regard to the campaign; but the +proposal of the morning to Major Calliaud, as might be expected to +happen, was in effect renewed. Indeed, the form was a little different; +but the substantial part remained the same. Your Lordships will see what +these alterations were.</p> + +<p>In the evening scene the persons were more numerous. On the part of the +Company, Major Calliaud, Mr. Lushington, Mr. Knox, and the ambassador at +the Nabob's court, Mr. Warren Hastings. On the part of the Moorish +government, the Nabob himself, his son Meeran, a Persian secretary, and +the Nabob's head spy, an officer well known in that part of the world, +and of some rank. These were the persons of the drama in the evening +scene. The Nabob and his son did not wait for the Prince's committing +himself to their faith, which, it seems, Major Calliaud <!-- Page 412 --><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412" title="412" class="pagenum"></a>did not think +likely to happen; so that one act of treachery is saved: but another +opened of as extraordinary a nature. Intent and eager on the execution, +and the more certain, of their design, they accepted the plan of a +wicked wretch, principal servant of the then prime-minister to the +Mogul, or themselves suggested it to him. A person called Conery, dewan +or principal steward to Camgar Khân, a great chief in the service of the +Shahzada, or Prince, (now the Great Mogul, the sovereign under whom the +Company holds their charter,) had, it seems, made a proposal to the +Nabob, that, if a considerable territory then held by his master was +assured to him, and a reward of a lac of rupees (ten or twelve thousand, +pounds) secured to him, he would for that consideration deliver the +Prince, the eldest son of the Mogul, alive into the hands of the Nabob; +or if that could not be effected, he engaged to murder him for the same +reward. But as the assassin could not rely on the Nabob and his son for +his reward for this meritorious action, and thought better of English +honor and fidelity in such delicate cases, he required that Major +Calliaud should set his seal to the agreement. This proposition was made +to an English commander: what discourse happened upon it is uncertain. +Mr. Hastings is stated by some evidence to have acted as interpreter in +this memorable congress. But Major Calliaud agreed to it without any +difficulty. Accordingly, an instrument was drawn, an indenture +tripartite prepared by the Persian secretary, securing to the party the +reward of this infamous, perfidious, murderous act. First, the Nabob put +his own seal to the murder. The Nabob's son, Meeran, affixed <i>his</i> seal. +A third seal, <!-- Page 413 --><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413" title="413" class="pagenum"></a>the most important of all, was yet wanting. A pause +ensued: Major Calliaud's seal was not at hand; but Mr. Lushington was +sent near half a mile to bring it. It was brought at length; and the +instrument of blood and treachery was completely executed. Three seals +were set to it.</p> + +<p>This business of the three seals, by some means not quite fully +explained, but (as suspected by the parties) by means of the information +of Mr. Holwell, who soon after came home, was conveyed to the ears of +the Court of Directors. The Court of Directors wrote out, under date of +the 7th of October, 1761, within a little more than a year after this +extraordinary transaction, to this effect:—that, in conjunction with +the Nabob, Major Calliaud had signed a paper offering a reward of a lac +of rupees, or some such sum, to several black persons, for the +assassination of the Shahzada, or Prince heir-apparent,—which paper was +offered to the then Chief of Patna to sign, but which he refused on +account of the infamy of the measure. As it appeared in the same light +to them, the Directors, they ordered a strict inquiry into it. The India +Company, who here did their duty with apparent manliness and vigor, were +resolved, however, to do it with gentleness, and to proceed in a manner +that could not produce any serious mischief to the parties charged; for +they directed the commission of inquiry to the very clan and set of +people who, from a participation in their common offences, stood in awe +of one another,—in effect, to the parties in the transaction. Without a +prosecutor, without an impartial director of the inquiry, they left it +substantially to those persons to try one another for their common acts.</p> + +<p>Here I come upon the principle which I wish most <!-- Page 414 --><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414" title="414" class="pagenum"></a>strongly to mark to +your Lordships: I mean collusive trials and collusive acquittals. When +this matter came to be examined, according to the orders of the Court, +which was on the 4th of October, 1762, the Council consisted of Peter +Maguire, Warren Hastings, and Hugh Watts. Mr. Hastings had by this time +accomplished the business of Resident with the Nabob, and had taken the +seat to which his seniority entitled him in Council. Here a difficulty +arose <i>in limine</i>. Mr. Hastings was represented to have acted as +interpreter in this business; he was therefore himself an object of the +inquisition; he was doubtful as evidence; he was disqualified as a +judge. It likewise appeared that there might be some objection to others +whose evidence was wanting, but who were themselves concerned in the +guilt. Mr. Lushington's evidence would be useful, but there were two +circumstances rather unlucky. First, he had put the seal to the +instrument of murder; and, secondly, and what was most material, he had +made an affidavit at Patna, whilst the affair was green and recent, that +he had done so; and in the same affidavit had deposed that Warren +Hastings was interpreter in that transaction. Here were difficulties +both on him and Mr. Hastings. The question was, how to get Mr. Hastings, +the interpreter, out of his interpretation, and to put him upon the seat +of judgment. It was effected, however, and the manner in which it was +effected was something curious. Mr. Lushington, who by this time was got +completely over, himself tells you that in conferences with Major +Calliaud, and by arguments and reasons by him delivered, he was +persuaded to unsay his swearing, and to declare that he believed that +the affidavit which he made at Patna, and while the <!-- Page 415 --><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415" title="415" class="pagenum"></a>transaction was +recent or nearly recent, must be a mistake: that he <i>believed</i> (what is +amazing indeed for any belief) that not Mr. Hastings, but he himself, +interpreted. Mr. Lushington completely loses his own memory, and he +accepts an offered, a given memory, a memory supplied to him by a party +in the transaction. By this operation all difficulties are removed: Mr. +Hastings is at once put into the capacity of a judge. He is declared by +Mr. Lushington not to have been an interpreter in the transaction. After +this, Mr. Hastings is himself examined. Your Lordships will look at the +transaction at your leisure, and I think you will consider it as a +pattern for inquiries of this kind. Mr. Hastings is examined: he does +not recollect. His memory also fails on a business in which it is not +easy to suppose a man could be doubtful,—whether he was present or not: +he thinks he was not there,—for that, if he had been there, and acted +as interpreter, he could not have forgot it.</p> + +<p>I think it is pretty nearly as I state it: if I have fallen into any +error or inaccuracy, it is easily rectified; for here is the state of +the transaction given by the parties themselves. On this inaccurate +memory of Mr. Hastings, not venturing, however, to say positively that +he was not the interpreter, or that he was not present, he is discharged +from being an accomplice,—he is removed from the bar, and leaps upon +the seat of justice. The court thus completed, Major Calliaud comes +manfully forward to make his defence. Mr. Lushington is taken off his +back in the manner we have seen, and no one person remains but Captain +Knox. Now, if Captain Knox was there and assenting, he is an accomplice +too. Captain Knox asserts, that, at the consultation about the murder, +he <!-- Page 416 --><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416" title="416" class="pagenum"></a>said it was a pity to cut off so fine a young fellow in such a +manner,—meaning that fine young fellow the Prince, the descendant of +Tamerlane, the present reigning Mogul, from whom the Company derive +their present charter. The purpose to be served by this declaration, if +it had any purpose, was, that Captain Knox did not assent to the murder, +and that therefore his evidence might be valid.</p> + +<p>The defence set up by Major Calliaud was to this effect. He was +apprehensive, he said, that the Nabob was alarmed at the violent designs +that were formed against him by Mr. Holwell, and that therefore, to +quiet his mind, (to quiet it by a proposition compounded of murder and +treason,—an odd kind of mind he had that was to be quieted by such +means!)—but to quiet his mind, and to show that the English were +willing to go all lengths with him, to sell body and soul to him, he did +put his seal to this extraordinary agreement, he put his seal to this +wonderful paper. He likewise stated, that he was of opinion at the time +that nothing at all sinister could happen from it, that no such murder +was likely to take place, whatever might be the intention of the +parties. In fact, he had very luckily said in a letter of his, written a +day after the setting the seal, "I think nothing will come of this +matter, but it is no harm to try." This experimental treachery, and +these essays of conditional murder, appeared to him good enough to make +a trial of; but at the same time he was afraid nothing would come of it. +In general, the whole gest of his defence comes to one point, in which +he persists,—that, whatever the act might be, his mind is clear: "My +hands are guilty, but my heart is free." He conceived that it would be +very <!-- Page 417 --><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417" title="417" class="pagenum"></a>improper, undoubtedly, to do such an act, if he suspected anything +could happen from it: he, however, let the thing out of his own hands; +he put, it into the hands of others; he put the commission into the +hands of a murderer. The fact was not denied; it was fully before these +severe judges. The extenuation was the purity of his heart, and the bad +situation of the Company's affairs,—the perpetual plea, which your +Lordships will hear of forever, and which if it will justify evil +actions, they will take good care that the most nefarious of their deeds +shall never want a sufficient justification. But then he calls upon his +life and his character to oppose to his seal; and though he has declared +that Mr. Holwell had intended ill to the Nabob, and that he approved of +those measures, and only postponed them, yet he thought it necessary, he +says, to quiet the fears of the Nabob; and from this motive he did an +act abhorrent to his nature, and which, he says, he expressed his +abhorrence of the morning after he signed it: not that he did so; but if +he had, I believe it would only have made the thing so many degrees +worse. Your Lordships will observe, that, in this conference, as stated +by himself, these reasons and apologies for it did not appear, nor did +they appear in the letter, nor anywhere else, till next year, when he +came upon his trial. Then it was immediately recollected that Mr. +Holwell's designs were so wicked they certainly must be known to the +Nabob, though he never mentioned them in the conference of the morning +or the evening of the 15th; yet such was now the weight and prevalence +of them upon the Major's mind, that he calls upon Mr. Hastings to know +whether the Nabob was not informed of these designs of Mr. Holwell +against him. Mr. Hastings's memory <!-- Page 418 --><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418" title="418" class="pagenum"></a>was not quite correct upon the +occasion. He does not recollect anything of the matter. He certainly +seems not to think that he ever mentioned it to the Nabob, or the Nabob +to him; but he does recollect, he thinks, speaking something to some of +the Nabob's attendants upon it, and further this deponent sayeth not. On +this state of things, namely, the purity of intention, the necessities +of the Company, the propriety of keeping the Nabob in perfect good-humor +and removing suspicions from his mind, which suspicions he had never +expressed, they came to the resolution I shall have the honor to read to +you: "That the representation, given in the said defence, of the state +of the affairs of the country at that time" (that is, about the month of +April, 1760) "is true and just" (that is, the bad state of the country, +which we shall consider hereafter); "that, in such circumstances, the +Nabob's urgent account of his own distresses, the Colonel's desire of +making him easy," (for here is a recapitulation of the whole defence,) +"as the first thing necessary for the good of the service, and the +suddenness of the thing proposed, might deprive him for a moment of his +recollection, and surprise him into a measure which, as to the measure +itself, he could not approve. That such only were the motives which did +or could influence Colonel Calliaud to assent to the proposal is fully +evinced by the deposition of Captain Knox and Mr. Lushington, that <i>his</i> +[<i>Calliaud's</i>] <i>conscience, at the time, never reproached him with a bad +design</i>."</p> + +<p>Your Lordships have heard of the testimony of a person to his own +conscience; but the testimony of another man to any one's +conscience—this is the first time, I believe, it ever appeared in a +judicial proceed<!-- Page 419 --><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419" title="419" class="pagenum"></a>ing. It is natural to say, "My conscience acquits me of +it"; but <i>they</i> declare, that "<i>his</i> conscience never reproached him +with a bad design, and therefore, upon the whole, they are satisfied +that his intention was good, though he erred in the measure."</p> + +<p>I beg leave to state one thing that escaped me: that the Nabob, who was +one of the parties to the design, was, at the time of the inquiry, a +sort of prisoner or an exile at Calcutta; that his <i>moonshee</i> was there, +or might have been had; and that his spy was likewise there; and that +they, though parties to this transaction, were never called to account +for it in any sense or in any degree, or to show how far it was +<i>necessary</i> to quiet the Nabob's mind.</p> + +<p>The accomplices, by acquitting him upon <i>their</i> testimony to <i>his +conscience</i>, did their business nobly. But the good Court of Directors, +who were so easily satisfied, so ready to condemn at the first +proposition and so ready afterwards to acquit, put the last finishing +hand of a master to it. For the accomplices acquit him of evil +intentions and excuse his act. The Court of Directors, disapproving +indeed the measure, but receiving the testimony of his conscience in +justification of his conduct, and taking up the whole ground, honorably +acquit him, and commend this action as an instance of heroic zeal in +their service.</p> + +<p>The great end and purpose for which I produce this to your Lordships is +to show you the necessity there is for other inquiries, other trials, +other acquittals of parties, than those made by a collusive clan abroad, +or by the Directors at home, who had required the parties to inquire of +themselves, and to take the testimony of the judges at second-hand, as +to the <!-- Page 420 --><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420" title="420" class="pagenum"></a>conscience of the party accused, respecting acts which neither +they nor any man living can look upon but with horror.</p> + +<p>I have troubled your Lordships with the story of the Three Seals, as a +specimen of the then state of the service, and the politics of the +servants, civil and military, in the horrid abuses which then prevailed, +and which render at length the most rigorous reformation necessary. I +close this episode to resume the proceedings at the second revolution.</p> + +<p>This affair of the three seals was, we have seen, to quiet the fears of +the Nabob. His fears it was indeed necessary to quiet; for your +Lordships will see that the man whose fears were to be set asleep by +Major Calliaud's offering him, in a scheme for murdering his sovereign, +an odd sort of opiate, made up of blood and treason, was now in a fair +way of being murdered himself by the machinations of him whose seal was +set to his murderous security of peace, and by those his accomplices, +Holwell and Hastings: at least they resolved to put him in a situation +in which his murder was in a manner inevitable, as you will see in the +sequel of the transaction. Now the plan proceeds. The parties continued +in the camp; but there was another <i>remora</i>. To remove a nabob and to +create a revolution is not easy: houses are strong who have sons grown +up with vigor and fitness for the command of armies. They are not easily +overturned by removing the principal, unless the secondary is got rid +of: and if this <i>remora</i> could be removed, everything was going on in a +happy way in the business. This plan, which now (that is, about the +month of July) began to get into great ripeness and forwardness, Mr. +Holwell urged forward, Mr. Vansittart being hourly expected.<!-- Page 421 --><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421" title="421" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>I do not know whether I am going to state a thing, though it is upon the +records, which will not have too theatrical an appearance for the grave +state in which we are. But here it is,—the difficulty, the knot, and +the solution, as recorded by the parties themselves. It was the object +of this bold, desperate, designing man, Cossim All Khân, who aimed at +everything, and who scrupled not to do anything in attaining what he +aimed at, to be appointed the lieutenant of the Nabob Jaffier Ali, and +thus to get possession of his office during his lifetime under that +name, with a design of murdering him: for that office, according to many +usages of that country, totally supersedes the authority of the first +magistrate, renders him a cipher in his hand, gives the administration +of his affairs and command of his troops to the lieutenant. It was a +part of his plan, that he was, after his appointment to the lieutenancy, +to be named to the succession of the Nabob, who had several other +children; but the eldest son stood in the way.</p> + +<p>But as things hastened to a crisis, this difficulty was removed in the +most extraordinary and providential unheard-of manner, by the most +extraordinary event that, I believe, is recorded in history. Just in the +nick of time, in the moment of projection, on the 3d of July, this +Prince Meeran, in the flower of his age, bold, active, enterprising, +lying asleep in his tent, is suddenly, without any one's knowing it, +without any alarm or menace in the heavens that ever was heard of or +mentioned, without any one whatever being hurt or even alarmed in the +camp, killed with a flash of lightning. My Lords, thus was the Gordian +knot cut. This prince dies of a flash of lightning, and Mr. Lushington +(of whom you have heard) comes in <!-- Page 422 --><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422" title="422" class="pagenum"></a>the morning with his hair standing +erect, comes frightened into the presence of Major Calliaud, and, with +the utmost alarm, tells him of a circumstance that was afterwards to +give them so much pleasure. The alarm was immediately communicated to +the Major, who was seized with a fright; and fearing lest the army +should mutiny upon the death of their chief, it was contrived, in a +manner that I believe was most difficult to contrive, that what might +have excited a general mutiny was concealed by the ability, the good +conduct, and dexterity of Major Calliaud for seven days together, till +he led the army out of the place of danger. Thus a judgment fell upon +one of the (innocent) murderers in the scene of the Three Seals. This +man, who was probably guilty in his conscience as well as in act, thus +fell by that most lucky, providential, and most useful flash of +lightning.</p> + +<p>There were at that time, it seems, in Calcutta, a wicked, skeptical set +of people, who somehow or other believed that <i>human</i> agency was +concerned in this elective flash, which came so very opportunely, and +which was a favor so thankfully acknowledged. These wicked, ill-natured +skeptics disseminated reports (which I am sure I do not mean to charge +or prove, leaving the effect of them to you) very dishonorable, I +believe, to Cossim Ali Khân in the business, and to some Englishmen who +were concerned.</p> + +<p>The difficulty of getting rid of Meeran being thus removed, Mr. +Vansittart comes upon the scene. I verily believe he was a man of good +intentions, and rather debauched by that amazing flood of iniquity which +prevailed at that time, or hurried and carried away with it. In a few +days he sent for Major Calliaud. All his objections vanish in <i>an +instant</i>: like <!-- Page 423 --><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423" title="423" class="pagenum"></a>that flash of lightning, everything is <i>instant</i>. The +Major agrees to perform his part. They send for Cossim Ali Khân and Mr. +Hastings; they open a treaty and conclude it with him, leaving the +management of it to two persons, Mr. Holwell and another person, whom we +have heard of, an Armenian, called Coja Petruse, who afterwards played +his part in another illustrious scene. By this Petruse and Mr. Holwell +the matter is settled. The moment Mr. Holwell is raised to be a +Secretary of State, the revolution is accomplished. By it Cossim Ali +Khân is to have the lieutenancy at present, and the succession. +Everything is put into his hands, and he is to make for it large +concessions, which you will hear of afterwards, to the Company. Cossim +Ali Khân proposed to Mr. Holwell, what would have been no bad supplement +to the flash of lightning, the murder of the Nabob; but Mr. Holwell was +a man of too much honor and conscience to suffer that. He instantly flew +out at it, and declared the whole business should stop, unless the +affair of the murder was given up. Accordingly things were so settled. +But if he gave the Nabob over to an intended murderer, and delivered his +person, treasure, and everything into his hands, Cossim Ali Khân might +have had no great reason to complain of being left to the execution of +his own projects in his own way. The treaty was made, and amounted to +this,—that the Company was to receive three great provinces: for here, +as we proceed, you will have an opportunity of observing, with the +progress of these plots, one thing which has constantly and uniformly +pervaded the whole of these projects, and which the persons concerned in +them have avowed as a principle of their actions,—that <!-- Page 424 --><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424" title="424" class="pagenum"></a>they were first +to take care of the Company's interest, then of their own; that is, +first to secure to the Company an enormous bribe, and under the shadow +of that bribe to take all the little emoluments they could to +themselves. Three great, rich, southern provinces, maritime, or nearly +maritime, Burdwan, Midnapoor, and Chittagong, were to be dissevered from +the Subah and to be ceded to the Company. There were other minor +stipulations, which it is not necessary at present to trouble you with, +signed, sealed, and executed at Calcutta between these parties with the +greatest possible secrecy. The lieutenancy and the succession were +secured to Cossim Ali, and he was likewise to give somewhere about the +sum of 200,000<i>l.</i> to the gentlemen who were concerned, as a reward for +serving him so effectually, and for serving their country so well. +Accordingly, these stipulations, actual or understood, (for they were +eventually carried into effect,) being settled, a commission of +delegation, consisting chiefly of Mr. Vansittart and Major Calliaud, was +sent up to Moorshedabad: the new Governor taking this opportunity of +paying the usual visit of respect to the Nabob, and in a manner which a +new Governor coming into place would do, with the detail of which it is +not necessary to trouble you. Mr. Hastings was at this time at the +durbar; and having everything prepared, and the ground smoothed, they +first endeavored to persuade the Nabob to deliver over the power +negotiated for into the hands of their friend Cossim Ali Khân. But when +the old man, frightened out of his wits, asked, "What is it he has bid +for me?" and added, "I will give half as much again to save myself; pray +let me know what my price is,"—he entreated in vain. They were true, +<!-- Page 425 --><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425" title="425" class="pagenum"></a>firm, and faithful to their word and their engagement. When he saw they +were resolved that he should be delivered into the hands of Cossim Ali +Khân, he at once surrenders the whole to him. They instantly grasp it. +He throws himself into a boat, and will not remain at home an hour, but +hurries down to Calcutta to leave his blood at our door, if we should +have a mind to take it. But the life of the Nabob was too great a stake +(partly as a security for the good behavior of Cossim Ali Khân, and +still more for the future use that might be made of him) to be thrown +away, or left in the hands of a man who would certainly murder him, and +who was very angry at being refused the murder of his father-in-law. The +price of this second revolution was, according to their shares in it, (I +believe I have it here,) somewhere about 200,000<i>l.</i> This little +effusion to private interest settled the matter, and here ended the +second revolution in the country: effected, indeed, without bloodshed, +but with infinite treachery, with infinite mischief, consequent to the +dismemberment of the country, and which had nearly become fatal to our +concerns there, like everything else in which Mr. Hastings had any +share.</p> + +<p>This prince, Cossim Ali Khân, the friend of Mr. Hastings, knew that +those who could give could take away dominion. He had scarcely got upon +the throne, procured for him by our public spirit and his own +iniquities, than he began directly and instantly to fortify himself, and +to bend all his politics against those who were or could be the donors +of such fatal gifts. He began with the natives who were in their +interest, and cruelly put to death, under the eye of Mr. Hastings and +his clan, all those who, by their <!-- Page 426 --><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426" title="426" class="pagenum"></a>moneyed wealth or landed +consideration, could give any effect to their dispositions in favor of +those ambitious strangers. He removed from Moorshedabad higher up into +the country, to Monghir, in order to be more out of our view. He kept +his word pretty well, but not altogether faithfully, with the gentlemen; +and though he had no money, for his treasury was empty, he gave +obligations which are known by the name of <i>jeeps</i>—(the Indian +vocabulary will by degrees become familiar to your Lordships, as we +develop the modes and customs of the country). As soon as he had done +this, he began to rack and tear the provinces that were left to him, to +get as much from them as should compensate him for the revenues of those +great provinces he had lost; and accordingly he began a scene of +extortion, horrible, nefarious, without precedent or example, upon +almost all the landed interest of that country. I mention this, because +he is one of those persons whose governments Mr. Hastings, in a paper +called his Defence, delivered in to the House of Commons, has produced +as precedents and examples which he has thought fit to follow, and which +he thought would justify him in the conduct he has pursued. This Cossim +Ali Khân, after he had acted the tyrant on the landed interest, fell +upon the moneyed interest. In that country there was a person called +Juggut Seit. There were several of the family, who were bankers to such +a magnitude as was never heard of in the world. Receivers of the public +revenue, their correspondence extended all over Asia; and there are +those who are of opinion that the house of Juggut Seit, including all +its branches, was not worth less than six or seven millions sterling. +This house became the prey of <!-- Page 427 --><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427" title="427" class="pagenum"></a>Cossim Ali Khân; but Mr. Holwell had +predicted that <i>it should be delivered over to Satan to be buffeted</i> +(his own pious expression). He predicted the misfortunes that should +befall them; and we chose a Satan to buffet them, and who did so buffet +them, by the murder of the principal persons of the house, and by +robbing them of great sums of their wealth, that I believe such a scene +of nefarious tyranny, destroying and cutting up the root of public +credit in that country, was scarce ever known. In the mean time Cossim +was extending his tyranny over all who were obnoxious to him; and the +persons he first sought were those traitors who had been friends to the +English. Several of the principal of these he murdered. There was in the +province of Bahar a man named Ramarain; he had got the most positive +assurances of English faith; but Mr. Macguire, a member of the Council, +on the receipt of five thousand gold mohurs, or something more than +8,000<i>l.</i> sterling, delivered him up to be first imprisoned, then +tortured, then robbed in consequence of the torture, and finally +murdered, by Cossim Ali Khân. In this way Cossim Ali Khân acted, while +our government looked on. I hardly choose to mention to you the fate of +a certain native in consequence of a dispute with Mr. Mott, a friend of +Mr. Hastings, which is in the Company's records,—records which are +almost buried by their own magnitude from the knowledge of this country. +In a contest with this native for his house and property, some scuffle +having happened between the parties, the one attempting to seize and the +other to defend, the latter made a complaint to the Nabob, who was in an +entire subjection at that time to the English, and who ordered this +unfortunate man, on <!-- Page 428 --><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428" title="428" class="pagenum"></a>account of this very scuffle, arising from +defending his property, to be blown off from the mouth of a cannon. In +short, I am not able to tell your Lordships of all the nefarious +transactions of this man, whom the intrigues of Mr. Holwell and Mr. +Hastings had set upon the throne of Bengal. But there is a circumstance +in this business that comes across here, and will tend to show another +grievance that vexed that country, which vexed it long, and is one of +the causes of its chief disasters, and which, I fear, is not so +perfectly extirpated but that some part of its roots may remain in the +ground at this moment.</p> + +<p>Commerce, which enriches every other country in the world, was bringing +Bengal to total ruin. The Company, in former times, when it had no +sovereignty or power in the country, had large privileges under their +<i>dustuck</i>, or permit: their goods passed, without paying duties, through +the country. The servants of the Company made use of this dustuck for +their own private trade, which, while it was used with moderation, the +native government winked at in some degree; but when it got wholly into +private hands, it was more like robbery than trade. These traders +appeared everywhere; they sold at their own prices, and forced the +people to sell to them at their own prices also. It appeared more like +an army going to pillage the people, under pretence of commerce, than +anything else. In vain the people claimed the protection of their own +country courts. This English army of traders in their march ravaged +worse than a Tartarian conqueror. The trade they carried on, and which +more resembled robbery than commerce, anticipated the resources of the +tyrant, and threatened to leave him no mate<!-- Page 429 --><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429" title="429" class="pagenum"></a>rials for imposition or +confiscation. Thus this miserable country was torn to pieces by the +horrible rapaciousness of a double tyranny. This appeared to be so +strong a case, that a deputation was sent to him at his new capital, +Monghir, to form a treaty for the purpose of giving some relief against +this cruel, cursed, and oppressive trade, which was worse even than the +tyranny of the sovereign. This trade Mr. Vansittart, the President about +this time, that is, in 1763, who succeeded to Mr. Holwell, and was in +close union of interests with the tyrant Cossim Ali Khân, by a treaty +known by the name of the treaty of Monghir, agreed very much to suppress +and to confine within something like reasonable bounds. There never was +a doubt on the face of that treaty, that it was a just, proper, fair +transaction. But as nobody in Bengal did then believe that rapine was +ever forborne but in favor of bribery, the persons who lost every +advantage by the treaty of Monghir, when they thought they saw corrupt +negotiation carrying away the prizes of unlawful commerce, and were +likely to see their trade crippled by Cossim Ali Khân, fell into a most +violent fury at this treaty; and as the treaty was made without the +concurrence of the rest of the Council, the Company's servants grew +divided: one part were the advocates of the treaty, the other of the +trade. The latter were universally of opinion that the treaty was bought +for a great sum of money. The evidence we have on our records of the +sums of money that are stated to have been paid on this occasion has +never been investigated to the bottom; but we have it on record, that a +great sum (70,000<i>l.</i>) was paid to persons concerned in that +negotiation. The <!-- Page 430 --><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430" title="430" class="pagenum"></a>rest were exceedingly wroth to see themselves not +profiting by the negotiation, and losing the trade, or likely to be +excluded from it; and they were the more so, because, as we have it upon +our journals, during all that time the trade of the negotiators was not +proscribed, but a purwannah was issued by Cossim Ali Khân, that the +trade of his friends Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Hastings should not be +subject to the general regulations. This filled the whole settlement +with ill blood; but in the regulation itself (I put the motive and the +secret history out of the case) undoubtedly Mr. Hastings and Mr. +Vansittart were on the right side. They had shown to a demonstration the +mischief of this trade. However, as the other party were strong, and did +not readily let go their hold of this great advantage, first, +dissensions, murmurs, various kinds of complaints, and ill blood arose. +Cossim Ali was driven to the wall; and having at the same time made what +he thought good preparations, a war broke out at last. And how did it +break out? This Cossim Ali Khân signalized his first acts of hostility +by an atrocity committed against the faith of treaties, against the +rules of war, against every principle of honor. This intended murderer +of his father-in-law, whom Mr. Hastings had assisted to raise to the +throne of Bengal, well knowing his character and his disposition, and +well knowing what such a man was capable of doing,—this man massacred +the English wherever he met them. There were two hundred, or +thereabouts, of the Company's servants, or their dependants, slaughtered +at Patna with every circumstance of the most abominable cruelty. Their +limbs were cut to pieces. The tyrant whom Mr. Hastings <!-- Page 431 --><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431" title="431" class="pagenum"></a>set up cut and +hacked the limbs of British subjects in the most cruel and perfidious +manner, threw them into wells, and polluted the waters of the country +with British blood. Immediately war is declared against him in form. +That war sets the whole country in a blaze; and then other parties begin +to appear upon the scene, whose transactions you will find yourselves +deeply concerned in hereafter.</p> + +<p>As soon as war was declared against Cossim, it was necessary to resolve +to put up another Nabob, and to have another revolution: and where do +they resort, but to the man whom, for his alleged tyranny, for his +incapacity, for the numberless iniquities he was said to have committed, +and for his total unfitness and disinclination to all the duties of +government, they had dethroned? This very man they take up again, to +place on the throne from which they had about two years before removed +him, and for the effecting of which they had committed so many +iniquities. Even this revolution was not made without being paid for. +According to the usual order of procession, in which the youngest walk +first, first comes the Company; and the Company had secured to it in +perpetuity those provinces which Cossim Ali Khân had ceded, as it was +thought, rather in the way of mortgage than anything else. Then, under +the name of compensation for sufferings to the people concerned in the +trade, and in the name of donation to an army and a navy which had +little to do in this affair, they tax him—what sum do you think? They +tax that empty and undone treasury of that miserable and undone country +500,000<i>l.</i> for a private emolument to themselves,—for the compensation +for this iniquitous trade,—for the compen<!-- Page 432 --><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432" title="432" class="pagenum"></a>sation for abuses of which he +was neither the author nor the abettor, they tax this miserable prince +500,000<i>l.</i> That sum was given to individuals. Now comes the Company at +home, which, on hearing this news, was all inflamed. The Directors were +on fire. They were shocked at it, and particularly at this donation to +the army and navy. They resolved they would give it no countenance and +support. In the mean time the gentlemen did not trouble their heads upon +that subject, but meant to exact and get their 500,000<i>l.</i> as they +could.</p> + +<p>Here was a third revolution, bought at this amazing sum, and this poor, +miserable prince first dragged from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, then +dragged back from Calcutta to Moorshedabad, the sport of fortune and the +plaything of avarice. This poor man is again set up, but is left with no +authority: his troops limited,—his person, everything about him, in a +manner subjugated,—a British Resident the master of his court: he is +set up as a pageant on this throne, with no other authority but what +would be sufficient to give a countenance to presents, gifts, and +donations. That authority was always left, when all the rest was taken +away. One would have thought that this revolution might have satisfied +these gentlemen, and that the money gained by it would have been +sufficient. No. The partisans of Cossim Ali wanted another revolution. +The partisans of the other side wished to have something more done in +the present. They now began to think that to depose Cossim instantly, +and to sell him to another, was too much at one time,—especially as +Cossim Ali was a man of vigor and resolution, carrying on a fierce war +against them. But what do you think they did? They began to see, from +the <!-- Page 433 --><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433" title="433" class="pagenum"></a>example of Cossim Ali, that the lieutenancy, the ministry of the +king, was a good thing to be sold, and the sale of that might turn out +as good a thing as the sale of the prince.</p> + +<p>For this office there were two rival candidates, persons of great +consideration, in Bengal: one, a principal Mahomedan, called Mahomed +Reza Khân, a man of high authority, great piety in his own religion, +great learning in the law, of the very first class of Mahomedan +nobility; but at the same time, on all these accounts, he was abhorred +and dreaded by the Nabob, who necessarily feared that a man of Mahomed +Reza Khân's description would be considered as better entitled and +fitter for his seat, as Nabob of the provinces. To balance him, there +was another man, known by the name of the Great Rajah Nundcomar. This +man was accounted the highest of his caste, and held the same rank among +the Gentoos that Mahomed Reza Khân obtained among the Mahomedans. The +prince on the throne had no jealousy of Nundcomar, because he knew, +that, as a Gentoo, he could not aspire to the office of Subahdar. For +that reason he was firmly attached to him; he might depend completely on +his services; he was <i>his</i> against Mahomed Reza Khân, and against the +whole world. There was, however, a flaw in the Nabob's title, which it +was necessary should be hid. And perhaps it lay against Mahomed Reza +Khân as well as him. But it was a source of apprehension to the Nabob, +and contributed to make him wish to keep all Mahomedan influence at a +distance. For he was a Syed, that is to say, a descendant of Mahomet, +and as such, though of the only acknowledged nobility among Mussulmen, +would be by that circumstance <!-- Page 434 --><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434" title="434" class="pagenum"></a>excluded, by the known laws of the Mogul +empire, from being Subahdar in any of the Mogul provinces, in case the +revival of the constitution of that empire should ever again take place.</p> + +<p>An auction was now opened before the English Council at Calcutta. +Mahomed Reza Khân bid largely; Nundcomar bid largely. The circumstances +of these two rivals at the Nabob court were equally favorable to the +pretensions of each. But the preponderating merits of Mahomed Reza Khân, +arising from the subjection in which he was likely to keep the Nabob, +and make him fitter for the purpose of continued exactions, induced the +Council to take his money, which amounted to about 220,000<i>l.</i> Be the +sum paid what it may, it was certainly a large one; in consequence of +which the Council attempted to invest Mahomed Reza Khân with the office +of Naib Subah, or Deputy Viceroy. As to Nundcomar, they fell upon him +with a vengeful fury. He fought his battle as well as he could; he +opposed bribe to bribe, eagle to eagle; but at length he was driven to +the wall. Some received his money, but did him no service in return; +others, more conscientious, refused to receive it; and in this battle of +bribes he was vanquished. A deputation was sent from Calcutta to the +miserable Nabob, to tear Nundcomar, his only support, from his side, and +to put the object of all his terrors, Mahomed Reza Khân, in his place.</p> + +<p>Thus began a new division that split the Presidency into violent +factions; but the faction which adhered to Nundcomar was undoubtedly the +weakest. That most miserable of men, Mir Jaffier Ali Khân, clinging, as +to the last pillar, to Nundcomar, trembling at Mahomed Reza Khân, died +in the struggle, <!-- Page 435 --><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435" title="435" class="pagenum"></a>a miserable victim to all the revolutions, to all the +successive changes and versatile politics at Calcutta. Like all the rest +of the great personages whom we have degraded and brutalized by insult +and oppression, he betook himself to the usual destructive resources of +unprincipled misery,—sensuality, opium, and wine. His gigantic frame of +constitution soon gave way under the oppression of this relief, and he +died, leaving children and grandchildren by wives and concubines. On the +old Nabob's death, Mahomed Reza Khân was acknowledged Deputy Nabob, the +money paid, and this revolution completed.</p> + +<p>Here, my Lords, opened a new source of plunder, peculation, and bribery, +which was not neglected. Revolutions were no longer necessary; +succession supplied their places: and well the object agreed with the +policy. Rules of succession could not be very well ascertained to an +office like that of the Nabob, which was hereditary only by the +appointment of the Mogul. The issue by lawful wives would naturally be +preferred by those who meant the quiet of the country. But a more +doubtful title was preferred, as better adapted to the purposes of +extortion and peculation. This miserable succession was sold, and the +eldest of the issue of Munny Begum, an harlot, brought in to pollute the +harem of the seraglio, of whom you will hear much hereafter, was chosen. +He soon succeeded to the grave. Another son of the same prostitute +succeeded to the same unhappy throne, and followed to the same untimely +grave. Every succession was sold; and between venal successions and +venal revolutions, in a very few years seven princes and six sales were +seen successively in Bengal. The last was a minor, the issue <!-- Page 436 --><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436" title="436" class="pagenum"></a>of a +legitimate wife, admitted to succeed because a minor, and because there +was none illegitimate left. He was instantly stripped of the allowance +of his progenitors, and reduced to a pension of 160,000 a year. He still +exists, and continued to the end of Mr. Hastings's government to furnish +constant sources of bribery and plunder to him and his creatures.</p> + +<p>The offspring of Munny Begum clinging, as his father did, to Nundcomar, +they tore Nundcomar from his side, as they had done from the side of his +father, and carried him down as a sort of prisoner to Calcutta; where, +having had the weakness to become the first informer, he was made the +first example. This person, pushed to the wall, and knowing that the man +he had to deal with was desperate and cruel in his resentments, resolves +on the first blow, and enters before the Council a regular information +in writing of bribery against Mr. Hastings. In his preface to that +charge he excuses himself for what is considered to be an act equally +insane and wicked, and as the one inexpiable crime of an Indian, the +discovery of the money he gives,—that Mr. Hastings had declaredly +determined on his ruin, and to accomplish it had newly associated +himself with one Mohun Persaud, a name I wish your Lordships to +remember, a bitter enemy of his, an infamous person, whom Mr. Hastings +knew to be such, and as such had turned him out of his house,—that Mr. +Hastings had lately recalled, and held frequent communications with this +Mohun Persaud, the subject of which he had no doubt was his ruin. In the +year 1775 he was hanged by those incorrupt English judges who were sent +to India by Parliament to protect the natives from oppression.<!-- Page 437 --><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437" title="437" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>Your Lordships will observe that this new sale of the office of +ministers succeeded to the sale of that of nabobs. All these varied and +successive sales shook the country to pieces. As if those miserable +exhausted provinces were to be cured of inanition by phlebotomy, while +Cossim Ali was racking it above, the Company were drawing off all its +nutriment below. A dreadful, an extensive, and most chargeable war +followed. Half the northern force of India poured down like a torrent on +Bengal, endangered our existence, and exhausted all our resources. The +war was the fruit of Mr. Hastings's cabals. Its termination, as usual, +was the result of the military merit and the fortune of this nation. +Cossim Ali, after having been defeated toy the military genius and +spirit of England, (for the Adamses, Monroes, and others of that period, +I believe, showed as much skill and bravery as any of their +predecessors,) in his flight swept away above three millions in money, +jewels, or effects, out of a country which he had plundered and +exhausted by his unheard-of exactions. However, he fought his way like a +retiring lion, turning his face to his pursuers. He still fought along +his frontier. His ability and his money drew to his cause the Subahdar +of Oude, the famous Sujah ul Dowlah. The Mogul entered into these wars, +and penetrated into the lower provinces on one side, whilst Bulwant +Sing, the Rajah of Benares, entered them on another. After various +changes of party and changes of fortune, the loss which began in the +treachery of the civil service was, as I have before remarked, redeemed +by military merit. Many examples of the same sort have since been seen.<!-- Page 438 --><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438" title="438" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>Whilst these things were transacted in India, the Court of Directors in +London, hearing of so many changes, hearing of such an incredible mass +of perfidy and venality, knowing that there was a general market made of +the country and of the Company, that the flame of war spread from +province to province, that, in proportion as it spread, the fire glowed +with augmented fierceness, and that the rapacity which originally gave +rise to it was following it in all its progress,—the Company, my Lords, +alarmed not only for their acquisitions, but their existence, and +finding themselves sinking lower and lower by every victory they +obtained, thought it necessary at length to come to some system and some +settlement. After composing their differences with Lord Clive, they sent +him out to that country about the year 1765, in order, by his name, +weight, authority, and vigor of mind, to give some sort of form and +stability to government, and to rectify the innumerable abuses which +prevailed there, and particularly that great source of disorders, that +fundamental abuse, presents: for the bribes by which all these +revolutions were bought had not the name of conditions, stipulations, or +rewards; they even had the free and gratuitous style of presents. The +receivers contended that they were mere gratuities given for service +done, or mere tokens of affection and gratitude to the parties. They may +give them what names they please, and your Lordships will think of them +what you please; but they were the donations of misery to power, the +gifts of sufferers to the oppressors; and consequently, where they +prevailed, they left no certain property or fixed situation to any man +in India, from the highest to the lowest.</p> + +<p>The Court of Directors sent out orders to enlarge <!-- Page 439 --><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439" title="439" class="pagenum"></a>the servants' +covenants with new and severe clauses, strongly prohibiting the practice +of receiving presents. Lord Clive himself had been a large receiver of +them. Yet, as it was in the moment of a revolution which gave them all +they possessed, the Company would hear no more of it. They sent him out +to reform: whether they chose well or ill does not signify. I think, +upon the whole, they chose well; because his name and authority could do +much. They sent him out to redress the grievances of that country, and +it was necessary he should be well armed for that service. They sent him +out with such powers as no servant of the Company ever held before. I +would not be understood here in my own character, much less in the +delegated character in which I stand, to contend for any man in the +totality of his conduct. Perhaps in some of his measures he was +mistaken, and in some of his acts reprehensible; but justice obliges me +to say, that the plan which he formed and the course which he pursued +were in general great and well imagined,—that he laid great +foundations, if they had been properly built upon. For, in the first +place, he composed all the neighboring countries torn to pieces by the +wars of Cossim Ali, and quieted the apprehensions raised by the opinion +of the boundless ambition of England. He took strong measures to put an +end to a great many of the abuses that prevailed in the country subject +to the Company. He then proceeded to the upper provinces, and formed a +plan which, for a military man, has great civil and political merit. He +put a bound to the aspiring spirit of the Company's servants; he limited +its conquests; he prescribed bounds to its ambition. "First" (says he) +"quiet the minds of the <!-- Page 440 --><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440" title="440" class="pagenum"></a>country; what you have obtained regulate; make +it known to India that you resolve to acquire no more."</p> + +<p>On this solid plan he fixed every prince that was concerned in the +preceding wars, on the one side and on the other, in an happy and easy +settlement. He restored Sujah ul Dowlah, who had been driven from his +dominions by the military arm of Great Britain, to the rank of Vizier, +and to the dominion of the territories of Oude. With a generosity that +astonished all Asia, he reinstated this expelled enemy of his nation +peaceably upon his throne. And this act of politic generosity did more +towards quieting the minds of the people of Asia than all the terror, +great as it was, of the English arms. At the same time, Lord Clive, +generous to all, took peculiar care of our friends and allies. He took +care of Bulwant Sing, the great Rajah of Benares, who had taken our part +in the war. He secured him from the revenge of Sujah ul Dowlah. The +Mogul had granted us the superiority over Bulwant Sing. Lord Clive +reëstablished him in a secure, easy independency. He confirmed him, +under the British guaranty, in the rich principality which he held.</p> + +<p>The Mogul, the head of the Mussulman religion in India, and of the +Indian empire, a head honored and esteemed even in its ruins, he +procured to be recognized by all the persons that were connected with +his empire. The rents that ought to be paid to the Vizier of the Empire +he gave to the Vizierate. Thus our alliances were cemented, our enemies +were reconciled, all Asia was conciliated by our settlement with the +king. To that unhappy fugitive king, driven from place to place, the +sport of fortune, now an emperor and now a prisoner, prayed for in every +<!-- Page 441 --><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441" title="441" class="pagenum"></a>mosque in which his authority was conspired against, one day opposed by +the coin struck in his name and the other day sold for it,—to this +descendant of Tamerlane he allotted, with a decent share of royal +dignity, an honorable fixed residence, where he might be useful and +could not be dangerous.</p> + +<p>As to the Bengal provinces, he did not take for the Company the +viceroyalty, as Mr. Holwell would have persuaded, almost forced, the +Company to do; but, to satisfy the prejudices of the Mahomedans, the +country was left in the hands nominally of the Subah, or viceroy, who +was to administer the criminal justice and the exterior forms of +royalty. He obtained from the sovereign the <i>dewanny</i>. This is the great +act of the constitutional entrance of the Company into the body politic +of India. It gave to the settlement of Bengal a fixed constitutional +form, with a legal title, acknowledged and recognized now for the first +time by all the natural powers of the country, because it arose from the +charter of the undoubted sovereign. The <i>dewanny</i>, or high-stewardship, +gave to the Company the collection and management of the revenue; and in +this modest and civil character they appeared, not the oppressors, but +the protectors of the people. This scheme had all the real power, +without any invidious appearance of it; it gave them the revenue, +without the parade of sovereignty. On this double foundation the +government was happily settled. The minds of the natives were quieted. +The Company's territories and views were circumscribed. The arm of force +was put out of sight. The imperial name covered everything. The power of +the purse was in the hand of the Company. The power of the sword was in +effect <!-- Page 442 --><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442" title="442" class="pagenum"></a>so, as they contracted for the maintenance of the army. The +Company had a revenue of a million and a half. The Nabob had, indeed, +fallen from any real and effective power, yet the dignity of the court +was maintained. The prejudices and interests of the Mahomedans, and +particularly of their nobility, who had suffered more by this great +revolution even than the old inhabitants of the country, were consulted; +for by this plan a revenue of 500,000<i>l.</i> was settled on the +viceroyalty, which was thus enabled to provide in some measure for those +great families. The Company likewise, by this plan, in order to enjoy +their revenues securely, and to avoid envy and murmur, put them into the +hands of Mahomed Reza Khân, whom Lord Clive found in the management of +affairs, and did not displace; and he was now made deputy-steward to the +Company, as he had been before lieutenant-viceroy to the Nabob. A +British Resident at Moorshedabad was established as a control. The +Company exercised their power over the revenue in the first instance +through the natives, but the British Resident was in reality the great +mover.</p> + +<p>If ever this nation stood in a situation of glory throughout Asia, it +was in that moment. But, as I have said, some material errors and +mistakes were committed. After the formation of this plan, Lord Clive +unfortunately did not stay long enough in the country to give +consistency to the measures of reformation he had undertaken, but +rapidly returned to England; and after his departure, the government +that continued had not vigor or authority to support the settlement then +made, and considerable abuses began to prevail in every quarter. Another +capital period in our history here commences. Those who <!-- Page 443 --><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443" title="443" class="pagenum"></a>succeeded +(though I believe one of them was one of the honestest men that ever +served the Company, I mean Governor Verelst) had not weight enough to +poise the system of the service, and consequently many abuses and +grievances again prevailed. Supervisors were appointed to every +district, as a check on the native collectors, and to report every abuse +as it should arise. But they who were appointed to redress grievances +were themselves accused of being guilty of them. However, the disorders +were not of that violent kind which preceded Mr. Hastings's departure, +nor such as followed his return: no mercenary wars, no mercenary +revolutions, no extirpation of nations, no violent convulsions in the +revenue, no subversion of ancient houses, no general sales of any +descriptions of men,—none of these, but certainly such grievances as +made it necessary for the Company to send out another commission in +1769, with instructions pointing out the chief abuses. It was composed +of Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Ford, and Mr. Scrafton. The unfortunate end of +that commission is known to all the world; but I mention it in order to +state that the receipt of presents was considered as one of the +grievances which then prevailed in India, and that the supervisors under +that commission were ordered upon no account whatever to take presents. +Upon the unfortunate catastrophe which happened, the Company was +preparing to send out another for the rectification of these grievances, +when Parliament thought it necessary to supersede that commission, to +take the matter into their own hands, and to appoint another commission +in a Parliamentary way (of which Mr. Hastings was one) for the better +government of that country. Mr. Hastings, as I must mention to <!-- Page 444 --><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444" title="444" class="pagenum"></a>your +Lordships, soon after the deposition and restoration of Jaffier Ali +Khân, and before Lord Clive arrived, quitted for a while the scene in +which he had been so mischievously employed, and returned to England to +strengthen himself by those cabals which again sent him out with new +authority to pursue the courses which were the natural sequel to his +former proceedings. He returned to India with great power, +indeed,—first to a seat in Council at Fort St. George, and from thence +to succeed to the Presidency of Fort William. On him the Company placed +their chief reliance. Happy had it been for them, happy for India and +for England, if his conduct had been such as to spare your Lordships and +the Commons the exhibition of this day!</p> + +<p>When this government, with Mr. Hastings at the head of it, was settled, +Moorshedabad did still continue the seat of the native government, and +of all the collections. Here the Company was not satisfied with placing +a Resident at the durbar, which was the first step to our assuming the +government in that country. These steps must be traced by your +Lordships; for I should never have given you this trouble, if it was not +necessary to possess you clearly of the several progressive steps by +which the Company's government came to be established and to supersede +the native. The next step was the appointment of supervisors in every +province, to oversee the native collector. The third was to establish a +general Council of Revenue at Moorshedabad, to superintend the great +steward, Mahomed Reza Khân. In 1772 that Council by Mr. Hastings was +overturned, and the whole management of the revenue brought to Calcutta. +Mahomed Reza Khân, by orders of the Company, was turned out of <!-- Page 445 --><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445" title="445" class="pagenum"></a>all his +offices, and turned out for reasons and principles which your Lordships +will hereafter see; and at last the dewanny was entirely taken out of +the native hands, and settled in the Supreme Council and Presidency +itself in Calcutta; and so it remained until the year 1781, when Mr. +Hastings made another revolution, took it out of the hands of the +Supreme Council, in which the orders of the Company, an act of +Parliament, and their own act had vested it, and put it into a +subordinate council: that is, it was entirely vested in himself.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Now your Lordships see the whole of the revolutions. I have stated them, +I trust, with perspicuity,—stated the grounds and principles upon which +they were made,—stated the abuses that grew upon them,—and that every +revolution produced its abuse. You saw the native government vanish by +degrees, until it was reduced to a situation fit for nothing but to +become a private perquisite, as it has been, to Mr. Hastings, and to be +granted to whom he pleased. The English government succeeded, at the +head of which Mr. Hastings was placed by an act of Parliament, having +before held the office of President of the Council,—the express object +of both these appointments being to redress grievances; and within these +two periods of his power, as President and Governor-General, were those +crimes committed of which he now stands accused. All this history is +merely by way of illustration: his crimination begins from his +nomination to the Presidency; and we are to consider how he comported +himself in that station, and in his office of Governor-General.</p> + +<p>The first thing, in considering the merits or demer<!-- Page 446 --><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446" title="446" class="pagenum"></a>its of any governor, +is to have some test by which they are to be tried. And here, my Lords, +we conceive, that, when a British governor is sent abroad, he is sent to +pursue the good of the people as much as possible in the spirit of the +laws of this country, which in all respects intend their conservation, +their happiness, and their prosperity. This is the principle upon which +Mr. Hastings was bound to govern, and upon which he is to account for +his conduct here. His rule was, what a British governor, intrusted with +the power of this country, was bound to do or to forbear. If he has +performed and if he has abstained as he ought, dismiss him honorably +acquitted from your bar; otherwise condemn him. He may resort to other +principles and to other maxims; but this country will force him to be +tried by its laws. The law of this country recognizes that well-known +crime called misconduct in office; it is a head of the law of England, +and, so far as inferior courts are competent to try it, may be tried in +them. Here your Lordships' competence is plenary: you are fully +competent both to inquire into and to punish the offence.</p> + +<p>And, first, I am to state to your Lordships, by the direction of those +whom I am bound to obey, the principles on which Mr. Hastings declares +he has conducted his government,—principles which he has avowed, first +in several letters written to the East India Company, next in a paper of +defence delivered to the House of Commons explicitly, and more +explicitly in his defence before your Lordships. Nothing in Mr. +Hastings's proceedings is so curious as his several defences; and +nothing in the defences is so singular as the principles upon which he +proceeds. Your Lordships will have to decide not only upon a <!-- Page 447 --><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447" title="447" class="pagenum"></a>large, +connected, systematic train of misdemeanors, but an equally connected +system of principles and maxims of government, invented to justify those +misdemeanors. He has brought them forward and avowed them in the face of +day. He has boldly and insultingly thrown them in the face of the +representatives of a free people, and we cannot pass them by without +adopting them. I am directed to protest against those grounds and +principles upon which he frames his defence; for, if those grounds are +good and valid, they carry off a great deal at least, if not entirely, +the foundation of our charge.</p> + +<p>My Lords, we contend that Mr. Hastings, as a British governor, ought to +govern on British principles, not by British forms,—God forbid!—for if +ever there was a case in which the letter kills and the spirit gives +life, it would be an attempt to introduce British forms and the +substance of despotic principles together into any country. No! We call +for that spirit of equity, that spirit of justice, that spirit of +protection, that spirit of lenity, which ought to characterize every +British subject in power; and on these, and these principles only, he +will be tried.</p> + +<p>But he has told your Lordships, in his defence, that actions in Asia do +not bear the same moral qualities which the same actions would bear in +Europe.</p> + +<p>My Lords, we positively deny that principle. I am authorized and called +upon to deny it. And having stated at large what he means by saying that +the same actions have not the same qualities in Asia and in Europe, we +are to let your Lordships know that these gentlemen have formed a plan +of <i>geographical morality</i>, by which the duties of men, in public and in +private situations, are not to be governed by their <!-- Page 448 --><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448" title="448" class="pagenum"></a>relation to the +great Governor of the Universe, or by their relation to mankind, but by +climates, degrees of longitude, parallels, not of life, but of +latitudes: as if, when you have crossed the equinoctial, all the virtues +die, as they say some insects die when they cross the line; as if there +were a kind of baptism, like that practised by seamen, by which they +unbaptize themselves of all that they learned in Europe, and after which +a new order and system of things commenced.</p> + +<p>This geographical morality we do protest against; Mr. Hastings shall not +screen himself under it; and on this point I hope and trust many words +will not be necessary to satisfy your Lordships. But we think it +necessary, in justification of ourselves, to declare that the laws of +morality are the same everywhere, and that there is no action which +would pass for an act of extortion, of peculation, of bribery, and of +oppression in England, that is not an act of extortion, of peculation, +of bribery, and oppression in Europe, Asia, Africa, and all the world +over. This I contend for not in the technical forms of it, but I contend +for it in the substance.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hastings comes before your Lordships not as a British governor +answering to a British tribunal, but as a subahdar, as a bashaw of three +tails. He says, "I had an arbitrary power to exercise: I exercised it. +Slaves I found the people: slaves they are,—they are so by their +constitution; and if they are, I did not make it for them. I was +unfortunately bound to exercise this arbitrary power, and accordingly I +did exercise it. It was disagreeable to me, but I did exercise it; and +no other power can be exercised in that country." This, if it be true, +is a plea in bar. <!-- Page 449 --><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449" title="449" class="pagenum"></a>But I trust and hope your Lordships will not judge by +laws and institutions which you do not know, against those laws and +institutions which you do know, and under whose power and authority Mr. +Hastings went out to India. Can your Lordships patiently hear what <i>we</i> +have heard with indignation enough, and what, if there were nothing +else, would call these principles, as well as the actions which are +justified on such principles, to your Lordships' bar, that it may be +known whether the peers of England do not sympathize with the Commons in +their detestation of such doctrine? Think of an English governor tried +before you as a British subject, and yet declaring that he governed on +the principles of arbitrary power! His plea is, that he did govern there +on arbitrary and despotic, and, as he supposes, Oriental principles. And +as this plea is boldly avowed and maintained, and as, no doubt, all his +conduct was perfectly correspondent to these principles, the principles +and the conduct must be tried together.</p> + +<p>If your Lordships will now permit me, I will state one of the many +places in which he has avowed these principles as the basis and +foundation of all his conduct. "The sovereignty which they assumed, it +fell to my lot, very unexpectedly, to exert; and whether or not such +power, or powers of that nature, were delegated to me by any provisions +of any act of Parliament, I confess myself too little of a lawyer to +pronounce. I only know that the acceptance of the sovereignty of +Benares, &c., is not acknowledged or admitted by any act of Parliament; +and yet, by the particular interference of the majority of the Council, +the Company is clearly and indisputably seized of that sovereignty." So +that this gentleman, because <!-- Page 450 --><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450" title="450" class="pagenum"></a>he is not a lawyer, nor clothed with those +robes which distinguish, and well distinguish, the learning of this +country, is not to know anything of his duty; and whether he was bound +by any, or what act of Parliament, is a thing he is not lawyer enough to +know! Now, if your Lordships will suffer the laws to be broken by those +who are not of the long robe, I am afraid those of the long robe will +have none to punish but those of their own profession. He therefore goes +to a law he is better acquainted with,—that is, the law of arbitrary +power and force, if it deserves to be called by the name of law. "If, +therefore," says he, "the <i>sovereignty</i> of Benares, as ceded to us by +the Vizier, have <i>any rights whatever</i> annexed to it, and be not a mere +empty word without meaning, those rights must be such as are held, +countenanced, and established by the law, custom, and usage of the Mogul +empire, and not by the provisions of any British act of Parliament +hitherto enacted. <i>Those rights</i>, and none other, I have been the +involuntary instrument of enforcing. And if any future act of Parliament +shall positively or by implication tend to annihilate those very rights, +or their exertion as I have exerted them, I much fear that the boasted +sovereignty of Benares, which was held up as an acquisition, almost +obtruded on the Company against my consent and opinion, (for I +acknowledge that even then I foresaw many difficulties and +inconveniences in its future exercise,)—I fear, I say, that this +sovereignty will be found a burden instead of a benefit, a heavy clog +rather than a precious gem to its present possessors: I mean, unless the +whole of our territory in that quarter shall be rounded and made an +uniform compact body by one grand and systematic arrangement.—<!-- Page 451 --><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451" title="451" class="pagenum"></a>such an +arrangement as shall do away all the mischiefs, doubts, and +inconveniences (both to the governors and the governed) arising from the +variety of tenures, rights, and claims in all cases of landed property +and feudal jurisdiction in India, from the informality, invalidity, and +instability of all engagements in so divided and unsettled a state of +society, and from the unavoidable anarchy and confusion of different +laws, religions, and prejudices, moral, civil, and political, all +jumbled together in one unnatural and discordant mass.</p> + +<p>"Every part of Hindostan has been constantly exposed to these and +similar disadvantages ever since the Mahomedan conquests. The Hindoos, +who never incorporated with their conquerors, were kept in order only by +the strong hand of power. The constant necessity of similar exertions +would increase at once their energy and extent; so that rebellion itself +is the parent and promoter of despotism. Sovereignty in India implies +nothing else. For I know not how we can form an estimate of its powers, +but from its visible effects; and those are everywhere the same, from +Cabool to Assam. The whole history of Asia is nothing more than +precedents to prove the invariable exercise of arbitrary power. To all +this I strongly alluded in the minutes I delivered in Council, when the +treaty with the new Vizier was on foot in 1775; and I wished to make +Cheyt Sing independent, because in India dependence included a thousand +evils, many of which I enumerated at that time, and they are entered in +the ninth clause of the first section of this charge. I knew the powers +with which an Indian sovereignty is armed, and the dangers to which +tributaries are exposed. I knew, that, <!-- Page 452 --><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452" title="452" class="pagenum"></a>from the history of Asia, and +from the very nature of mankind, the subjects of a despotic empire are +always vigilant for the moment to rebel, and the sovereign is ever +jealous of rebellious intentions. A zemindar is an Indian subject, and +as such exposed to the common lot of his fellows. <i>The mean and depraved +state of a mere zemindar</i> is therefore this very dependence above +mentioned on a despotic government, this very proneness to shake off his +allegiance, and this very exposure to continual danger from his +sovereign's jealousy, which are consequent on the political state of +Hindostanic governments. Bulwant Sing, if he had been, and Cheyt Sing, +as long as he was a zemindar, stood exactly in this <i>mean and depraved +state</i> by the constitution of his country. I did not make it for him, +but would have secured him from it. Those who made him a zemindar +entailed upon him the consequences of so mean and depraved a tenure. +Aliverdy Khân and Cossim Ali fined all their zemindars on the +necessities of war, and on every pretence either of court necessity or +court extravagance."</p> + +<p>My Lords, you have now heard the principles on which Mr. Hastings +governs the part of Asia subjected to the British empire. You have heard +his opinion of the mean and depraved state of those who are subject to +it. You have heard his lecture upon arbitrary power, which he states to +be the constitution of Asia. You hear the application he makes of it; +and you hear the practices which he employs to justify it, and who the +persons were on whose authority he relies, and whose example he +professes to follow. In the first place, your Lordships will be +astonished at the audacity with which he speaks of his own +admin<!-- Page 453 --><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453" title="453" class="pagenum"></a>istration, as if he was reading a speculative lecture on the evils +attendant upon some vicious system of foreign government in which he had +no sort of concern whatsoever. And then, when in this speculative way he +has established, or thinks he has, the vices of the government, he +conceives he has found a sufficient apology for his own crimes. And if +he violates the most solemn engagements, if he oppresses, extorts, and +robs, if he imprisons, confiscates, banishes at his sole will and +pleasure, when we accuse him for his ill-treatment of the people +committed to him as a sacred trust, his defence is,—"To be robbed, +violated, oppressed, is their privilege. Let the constitution of their +country answer for it. I did not make it for them. Slaves I found them, +and as slaves I have treated them. I was a despotic prince. Despotic +governments are jealous, and the subjects prone to rebellion. This very +proneness of the subject to shake off his allegiance exposes him to +continual danger from his sovereign's jealousy, and this is consequent +on the political state of Hindostanic governments." He lays it down as a +rule, that despotism is the genuine constitution of India, that a +disposition to rebellion in the subject or dependent prince is the +necessary effect of this despotism, and that jealousy and its +consequences naturally arise on the part of the sovereign,—that the +government is everything, and the subject nothing,—that the great +landed men are in a mean and depraved state, and subject to many evils.</p> + +<p>Such a state of things, if true, would warrant conclusions directly +opposite to those which Mr. Hastings means to draw from them, both +argumentatively and practically, first to influence his conduct, and +then to bottom his defence of it.<!-- Page 454 --><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454" title="454" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>Perhaps you will imagine that the man who avows these principles of +arbitrary government, and pleads them as the justification of acts which +nothing else can justify, is of opinion that they are on the whole good +for the people over whom they are exercised. The very reverse. He +mentions them as horrible things, tending to inflict on the people a +thousand evils, and to bring on the ruler a continual train of dangers. +Yet he states, that your acquisitions in India will be a detriment +instead of an advantage, if you destroy arbitrary power, unless you can +reduce all the religious establishments, all the civil institutions, and +tenures of land, into one uniform mass,—that is, unless by acts of +arbitrary power you extinguish all the laws, rights, and religious +principles of the people, and force them to an uniformity, and on that +uniformity build a system of arbitrary power.</p> + +<p>But nothing is more false than that despotism is the constitution of any +country in Asia that we are acquainted with. It is certainly not true of +any Mahomedan constitution. But if it were, do your Lordships really +think that the nation would bear, that any human creature would bear, to +hear an English governor defend himself on such principles? or, if he +can defend himself on such principles, is it possible to deny the +conclusion, that no man in India has a security for anything, but by +being totally independent of the British government? Here he has +declared his opinion, that he is a despotic prince, that he is to use +arbitrary power; and of course all his acts are covered with that +shield. "<i>I know</i>," says he, "<i>the constitution of Asia only from its +practice</i>." Will your Lordships submit to hear the corrupt practices of +mankind made the principles of <!-- Page 455 --><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455" title="455" class="pagenum"></a>government? No! it will be your pride +and glory to teach men intrusted with power, that, in their use of it, +they are to conform to principles, and not to draw their principles from +the corrupt practice of any man whatever. Was there ever heard, or could +it be conceived, that a governor would dare to heap up all the evil +practices, all the cruelties, oppressions, extortions, corruptions, +briberies, of all the ferocious usurpers, desperate robbers, thieves, +cheats, and jugglers, that ever had office, from one end of Asia to +another, and, consolidating all this mass of the crimes and absurdities +of barbarous domination into one code, establish it as the whole duty of +an English governor? I believe that till this time so audacious a thing +was never attempted by man.</p> + +<p><i>He</i> have arbitrary power! My Lords, the East India Company have not +arbitrary power to give him; the king has no arbitrary power to give +him; your Lordships have not; nor the Commons, nor the whole +legislature. We have no arbitrary power to give, because arbitrary power +is a thing which neither any man can hold nor any man can give. No man +can lawfully govern himself according to his own will; much less can one +person be governed by the will of another. We are all born in +subjection,—all born equally, high and low, governors and governed, in +subjection to one great, immutable, preëxistent law, prior to all our +devices and prior to all our contrivances, paramount to all our ideas +and all our sensations, antecedent to our very existence, by which we +are knit and connected in the eternal frame of the universe, out of +which we cannot stir.</p> + +<p>This great law does not arise from our conventions or compacts; on the +contrary, it gives to our <!-- Page 456 --><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456" title="456" class="pagenum"></a>conventions and compacts all the force and +sanction they can have. It does not arise from our vain institutions. +Every good gift is of God; all power is of God; and He who has given the +power, and from whom alone it originates, will never suffer the exercise +of it to be practised upon any less solid foundation than the power +itself. If, then, all dominion of man over man is the effect of the +Divine disposition, it is bound by the eternal laws of Him that gave it, +with which no human authority can dispense,—neither he that exercises +it, nor even those who are subject to it; and if they were mad enough to +make an express compact that should release their magistrate from his +duty, and should declare their lives, liberties, and properties +dependent upon, not rules and laws, but his mere capricious will, that +covenant would be void. The acceptor of it has not his authority +increased, but he has his crime doubled. Therefore can it be imagined, +if this be true, that He will suffer this great gift of government, the +greatest, the best, that was ever given by God to mankind, to be the +plaything and the sport of the feeble will of a man, who, by a +blasphemous, absurd, and petulant usurpation, would place his own +feeble, contemptible, ridiculous will in the place of the Divine wisdom +and justice?</p> + +<p>The title of conquest makes no difference at all. No conquest can give +such a right; for conquest, that is, force, cannot convert its own +injustice into a just title, by which it may rule others at its +pleasure. By conquest, which is a more immediate designation of the hand +of God, the conqueror succeeds to all the painful duties and +subordination to the power of God which belonged to the sovereign whom +<!-- Page 457 --><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457" title="457" class="pagenum"></a>he has displaced, just as if he had come in by the positive law of some +descent or some election. To this at least he is strictly bound: he +ought to govern them as he governs his own subjects. But every wise +conqueror has gone much further than he was bound to go. It has been his +ambition and his policy to reconcile the vanquished to his fortune, to +show that they had gained by the change, to convert their momentary +suffering into a long benefit, and to draw from the humiliation of his +enemies an accession to his own glory. This has been so constant a +practice, that it is to repeat the histories of all politic conquerors +in all nations and in all times; and I will not so much distrust your +Lordships' enlightened and discriminating studies and correct memories +as to allude to one of them. I will only show you that the Court of +Directors, under whom he served, has adopted that idea,—that they +constantly inculcated it to him, and to all the servants,—that they run +a parallel between their own and the native government, and, supposing +it to be very evil, did not hold it up as an example to be followed, but +as an abuse to be corrected,—that they never made it a question, +whether India is to be improved by English law and liberty, or English +law and liberty vitiated by Indian corruption.</p> + +<p>No, my Lords, this arbitrary power is not to be had by conquest. Nor can +any sovereign have it by succession; for no man can succeed to fraud, +rapine, and violence. Neither by compact, covenant, or submission,—for +men cannot covenant themselves out of their rights and their +duties,—nor by any other means, can arbitrary power be conveyed to <!-- Page 458 --><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458" title="458" class="pagenum"></a>any +man. Those who give to others such rights perform acts that are void as +they are given,—good indeed and valid only as tending to subject +themselves, and those who act with them, to the Divine displeasure; +because morally there can be no such power. Those who give and those who +receive arbitrary power are alike criminal; and there is no man but is +bound to resist it to the best of his power, wherever it shall show its +face to the world. It is a crime to bear it, when it can be rationally +shaken off. Nothing but absolute impotence can justify men in not +resisting it to the utmost of their ability.</p> + +<p>Law and arbitrary power are in eternal enmity. Name me a magistrate, and +I will name property; name me power, and I will name protection. It is a +contradiction in terms, it is blasphemy in religion, it is wickedness in +politics, to say that any man can have arbitrary power. In every patent +of office the duty is included. For what else does a magistrate exist? +To suppose for power is an absurdity in idea. Judges are guided and +governed by the eternal laws of justice, to which we are all subject. We +may bite our chains, if we will, but we shall be made to know ourselves, +and be taught that man is born to be governed by law; and he that will +substitute <i>will</i> in the place of it is an enemy to GOD.</p> + +<p>Despotism does not in the smallest degree abrogate, alter, or lessen any +one duty of any one relation of life, or weaken the force or obligation +of any one engagement or contract whatsoever. Despotism, if it means +anything that is at all defensible, means a mode of government bound by +no <!-- Page 459 --><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459" title="459" class="pagenum"></a>written rules, and coerced by no controlling magistracies or +well-settled orders in the state. But if it has no written law, it +neither does nor can cancel the primeval, indefeasible, unalterable law +of Nature and of nations; and if no magistracies control its exertions, +those exertions must derive their limitation and direction either from +the equity and moderation of the ruler, or from downright revolt on the +part of the subject by rebellion, divested of all its criminal +qualities. The moment a sovereign removes the idea of security and +protection from his subjects, and declares that he is everything and +they nothing, when he declares that no contract he makes with them can +or ought to bind him, he then declares war upon them: he is no longer +sovereign; they are no longer subjects.</p> + +<p>No man, therefore, has a right to arbitrary power. But the thought which +is suggested by the depravity of him who brings it forward is supported +by a gross confusion of ideas and principles, which your Lordships well +know how to discern and separate. It is manifest, that, in the Eastern +governments, and the Western, and in all governments, the supreme power +in the state cannot, whilst that state subsists, be rendered criminally +responsible for its actions: otherwise it would not be the supreme +power. It is certainly true: but the actions do not change their nature +by losing their responsibility. The arbitrary acts which are unpunished +are not the less vicious, though none but God, the conscience, and the +opinions of mankind take cognizance of them.</p> + +<p>It is not merely so in this or that government, but in all countries. +The king in this country is undoubtedly unaccountable for his actions. +The <!-- Page 460 --><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460" title="460" class="pagenum"></a>House of Lords, if it should ever exercise, (God forbid I should +suspect it would ever do what it has never done!)—but if it should ever +abuse its judicial power, and give such a judgment as it ought not to +give, whether from fear of popular clamor on the one hand, or +predilection to the prisoner on the other,—if they abuse their +judgments, there is no calling them to an account for it. And so, if the +Commons should abuse their power, nay, if they should have been so +greatly delinquent as not to have prosecuted this offender, they could +not be accountable for it; there is no punishing them for their acts, +because we exercise a part of the supreme power. But are they less +criminal, less rebellious against the Divine Majesty? are they less +hateful to man, whose opinions they ought to cultivate as far as they +are just? No: till society fall into a state of dissolution, they cannot +be accountable for their acts. But it is from confounding the +unaccountable character inherent in the supreme power with arbitrary +power, that all this confusion of ideas has arisen.</p> + +<p>Even upon a supposition that arbitrary power can exist anywhere, which +we deny totally, and which your Lordships will be the first and proudest +to deny, still, absolute supreme dominion was never conferred or +delegated by you,—much less, arbitrary power, which never did in any +case, nor ever will in any case, time, or country, produce any one of +the ends of just government.</p> + +<p>It is true that the supreme power in every constitution of government +must be absolute, and this may be corrupted into the arbitrary. But all +good constitutions have established certain fixed rules for the exercise +of their functions, which they rarely or ever <!-- Page 461 --><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461" title="461" class="pagenum"></a>depart from, and which +rules form the security against that worst of evils, the government of +will and force instead of wisdom and justice.</p> + +<p>But though the supreme power is in a situation resembling arbitrary, yet +never was there heard of in the history of the world, that is, in that +mixed chaos of human wisdom and folly, such a thing as an <i>intermediate</i> +arbitrary power,—that is, of an officer of government who is to exert +authority over the people without any law at all, and who is to have the +benefit of all laws, and all forms of law, when he is called to an +account. For that is to let a wild beast (for such is a man without law) +loose upon the people to prey on them at his pleasure, whilst all the +laws which ought to secure the people against the abuse of power are +employed to screen that abuse against the cries of the people.</p> + +<p>This is <i>de facto</i> the state of our Indian government. But to establish +it so in right as well as in fact is a thing left for us to begin with, +the first of mankind. For a subordinate arbitrary or even despotic power +never was heard of in right, claim, or authorized practice; least of all +has it been heard of in the Eastern governments, where all the instances +of severity and cruelty fall upon governors and persons intrusted with +power. This would be a gross contradiction. Before Mr. Hastings, none +ever came before his superiors to claim it; because, if any such thing +could exist, he claims the very power of that sovereign who calls him to +account.</p> + +<p>But suppose a man to come before us, denying all the benefits of law to +the people under him,—and yet, when he is called to account, to claim +all the benefits of that law which was made to screen man<!-- Page 462 --><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462" title="462" class="pagenum"></a>kind from the +excesses of power: such a claim, I will venture to say, is a monster +that never existed, except in the wild imagination of some theorist. It +cannot be admitted, because it is a perversion of the fundamental +principle, that every power given for the protection of the people below +should be responsible to the power above. It is to suppose that the +people shall have no laws with regard to <i>him</i>, yet, when <i>he</i> comes to +be tried, he shall claim the protection of those laws which were made to +secure the people from his violence,—that he shall claim a fair trial, +an equitable hearing, every advantage of counsel, (God forbid he should +not have them!) yet that the people under him shall have none of those +advantages. The reverse is the principle of every just and rational +procedure. For the people, who have nothing to use but their natural +faculties, ought to be gently dealt with; but those who are intrusted +with an artificial and instituted authority have in their hands a great +deal of the force of other people; and as their temptations to injustice +are greater, so their moans are infinitely more effectual for mischief +by turning the powers given for the preservation of society to its +destruction: so that, if an arbitrary procedure be justifiable, (a +strong one I am sure is,) it is when used against those who pretend to +use it against others.</p> + +<p>My Lords, I will venture to say of the governments of Asia, that none of +them ever had an arbitrary power; and if any governments had an +arbitrary power, they cannot delegate it to any persons under them: that +is, they cannot so delegate it to others as not to leave them +accountable on the principles upon which it was given. As this is a +contradiction <!-- Page 463 --><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463" title="463" class="pagenum"></a>in terms, a gross absurdity, as well as a monstrous +wickedness, let me say, for the honor of human nature, that, although +undoubtedly we may speak it with the pride of England that we have +better institutions for the preservation of the rights of men than any +other country in the world, yet I will venture to say that no country +has wholly meant, or ever meant, to give this power.</p> + +<p>As it cannot exist in right on any rational and solid principles of +government, so neither does it exist in the constitution of Oriental +governments,—and I do insist upon it, that Oriental governments know +nothing of arbitrary power. I have taken as much pains as I could to +examine into the constitutions of them. I have been endeavoring to +inform myself at all times on this subject; of late my duty has led me +to a more minute inspection of them; and I do challenge the whole race +of man to show me any of the Oriental governors claiming to themselves a +right to act by arbitrary will.</p> + +<p>The greatest part of Asia is under Mahomedan governments. To name a +Mahomedan government is to name a government by law. It is a law +enforced by stronger sanctions than any law that can bind a Christian +sovereign. Their law is believed to be given by God; and it has the +double sanction of law and of religion, with which the prince is no more +authorized to dispense than any one else. And if any man will produce +the Koran to me, and will but show me one text in it that authorizes in +any degree an arbitrary power in the government, I will confess that I +have read that book, and been conversant in the affairs of Asia, in +vain. There is not such a syllable in it; but, on the contrary, against +oppressors by name every <!-- Page 464 --><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464" title="464" class="pagenum"></a>letter of that law is fulminated. There are +interpreters established throughout all Asia to explain that law, an +order of priesthood, whom they call <i>men of the law</i>. These men are +conservators of the law; and to enable them to preserve it in its +perfection, they are secured from the resentment of the sovereign: for +he cannot touch them. Even their kings are not always vested with a real +supreme power, but the government is in some degree republican.</p> + +<p>To bring this point a little nearer home,—since we are challenged thus, +since we are led into Asia, since we are called upon to make good our +charge on the principles of the governments there, rather than on those +of our own country, (which I trust your Lordships will oblige him +finally to be governed by, puffed up as he is with the insolence of +Asia,)—the nearest to us of the governments he appeals to is that of +the Grand Seignior, the Emperor of the Turks.—<i>He</i> an arbitrary power! +Why, he has not the supreme power of his own country. Every one knows +that the Grand Seignior is exalted high in <i>titles</i>, as our prerogative +lawyers exalt an abstract sovereign,—and he cannot be exalted higher in +our books. I say he is destitute of the first character of sovereign +power: he cannot lay a tax upon his people. The next part in which he +misses of a sovereign power is, that he cannot dispose of the life, of +the property, or of the liberty of any of his subjects, but by what is +called the <i>fetwah</i>, or sentence of the law. He cannot declare peace or +war without the same sentence of the law: so much is <i>he</i>, more than +European sovereigns, a subject of strict law, that he cannot declare war +or peace without it. Then, if he can neither touch <!-- Page 465 --><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465" title="465" class="pagenum"></a>life nor property, +if he cannot lay a tax on his subjects, or declare peace or war, I leave +it to your Lordships' judgment, whether he can be called, according to +the principles of that constitution, an arbitrary power. A Turkish +sovereign, if he should be judged by the body of that law to have acted +against its principles, (unless he happens to be secured by a faction of +the soldiery,) is liable to be deposed on the sentence of that law, and +his successor comes in under the strict limitations of the ancient law +of that country: neither can he hold his place, dispose of his +succession, or take any one step whatever, without being bound by law. +Thus much may be said, when gentlemen talk of the affairs of Asia, as to +the nearest of Asiatic sovereigns: and he is more Asiatic than European, +he is a Mahomedan sovereign; and no Mahomedan is born who can exercise +any arbitrary power at all, consistently with their constitution; +insomuch that this chief magistrate, who is the highest executive power +among them, is the very person who, by the constitution of the country, +is the most fettered by law.</p> + +<p>Corruption is the true cause of the loss of all the benefits of the +constitution of that country. The <i>practice of Asia</i>, as the gentleman +at your bar has thought fit to say, is what he holds to; the +constitution he flies away from. The question is, whether you will take +the constitution of the country as your rule, or the base practices of +those usurpers, robbers, and tyrants who have subverted it. Undoubtedly, +much blood, murder, false imprisonment, much peculation, cruelty, and +robbery are to be found in Asia; and if, instead of going to the sa<!-- Page 466 --><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466" title="466" class="pagenum"></a>cred +laws of the country, he chooses to resort to the iniquitous practices of +it, and practices authorized only by public tumult, contention, war, and +riot, he may indeed find as clear an acquittal in the practices as he +would find condemnation in the institutions of it. He has rejected the +law of England. Your Lordships will not suffer it. God forbid! For my +part, I should have no sort of objection to let him choose his +law,—Mahomedan, Tartarian, Gentoo. But if he disputes, as he does, the +authority of an act of Parliament, let him state to me that law to which +he means to be subject, or any law which he knows that will justify his +actions. I am not authorized to say that I shall, even in that case, +give up what is not in me to give up, because I represent an authority +of which I must stand in awe; but, for myself, I shall confess that I am +brought to public shame, and am not fit to manage the great interests +committed to my charge. I therefore again repeat of that Asiatic +government with which we are best acquainted, which has been constituted +more in obedience to the laws of Mahomet than any other, that the +sovereign cannot, agreeably to that constitution, exercise any arbitrary +power whatever.</p> + +<p>The next point for us to consider is, whether or no the Mahomedan +constitution of India authorizes that power. The gentleman at your +Lordships' bar has thought proper to say, that it will be happy for +India, (though soon after he tells you it is an happiness they can never +enjoy,) "when the despotic institutes of Genghiz Khân or Tamerlane shall +give place to the liberal spirit of a British legislature; and," says +he, "I shall be amply satisfied in my present prosecution, if it shall +tend to hasten <!-- Page 467 --><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467" title="467" class="pagenum"></a>the approach of an event so beneficial to the great +interests of mankind."</p> + +<p>My Lords, you have seen what he says about an act of Parliament. Do you +not now think it rather an extraordinary thing, that any British subject +should, in vindication of the authority which he has exercised, here +quote the names and institutes, as he calls them, of fierce conquerors, +of men who were the scourges of mankind, whose power was a power which +they held by force only?</p> + +<p>As to the institutes of Genghiz Khân, which he calls arbitrary +institutes, I never saw them. If he has that book, he will oblige the +public by producing it. I have seen a book existing, called Yassa of +Genghiz Khân; the other I never saw. If there be any part of it to +justify arbitrary power, he will produce it. But if we may judge by +those ten precepts of Genghiz Khân which we have, there is not a shadow +of arbitrary power to be found in any one of them. Institutes of +arbitrary power! Why, if there is arbitrary power, there can be no +institutes.</p> + +<p>As to the institutes of Tamerlane, here they are in their original, and +here is a translation. I have carefully read every part of these +institutes; and if any one shows me one word in them in which the prince +claims in himself arbitrary power, I again repeat, that I shall for my +own part confess that I have brought myself to great shame. There is no +book in the world, I believe, which contains nobler, more just, more +manly, more pious principles of government than this book, called the +Institutions of Tamerlane. Nor is there one word of arbitrary power in +it, much less of that arbitrary power which Mr. Hastings supposes +himself justified by,—namely, a delegated, <!-- Page 468 --><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468" title="468" class="pagenum"></a>subordinate, arbitrary +power. So far was that great prince from permitting this gross, violent, +intermediate arbitrary power, that I will venture to say the chief thing +by which he has recommended himself to posterity was a most direct +declaration of all the wrath and indignation of the supreme government +against it. But here is the book. It contains the institutes of the +founder of the Mogul empire, left as a sacred legacy to his posterity, +as a rule for their conduct, and as a means of preserving their power.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Be it known to my fortunate sons, the conquerors of kingdoms, to my +mighty descendants, the lords of the earth, that, since I have hope in +Almighty God that many of my children, descendants, and posterity shall +sit upon the throne of power and regal authority, upon this account, +having established laws and regulations for the well governing of my +dominions, I have collected together those regulations and laws as a +model for others, to the end that, every one of my children, +descendants, and posterity acting agreeably thereto, my power and +empire, which I acquired through hardships and difficulties and perils +and bloodshed, by the Divine favor, and by the influence of the holy +religion of Mahomet, (God's peace be up on him!) and with the assistance +of the powerful descendants and illustrious followers of that prophet, +may be by them preserved. And let them make these regulations the rule +of their conduct in the affairs of their empire, that the fortune and +the power which shall descend from me to them may be safe from discord +and dissolution.</p> + +<p>"Now, therefore, be it known to my sons, the fortunate and the +illustrious, to my descendants, the <!-- Page 469 --><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469" title="469" class="pagenum"></a>mighty subduers of kingdoms, that, +in like manner as I by twelve maxims, which I established as the rule of +my conduct, attained to regal dignity, and with the assistance of these +maxims conquered and governed kingdoms, and decorated and adorned the +throne of my empire, let them also act according to these regulations, +and preserve the splendor of mine and their dominions.</p> + +<p>"And among the rules which I established for the support of my glory and +empire, the <i>first</i> was this,—that I promoted the worship of Almighty +God, and propagated the religion of the sacred Mahomet throughout the +world, and at all times and in all places supported the true faith.</p> + +<p>"<i>Secondly</i>. With the people of the twelve classes and tribes I +conquered and governed kingdoms, and with them I strengthened the +pillars of my fortune, and from them I formed my assembly.</p> + +<p>"<i>Thirdly</i>. By consultation and deliberation and provident measures, by +caution and by vigilance, I vanquished armies, and I reduced kingdoms to +my authority. And I carried on the business of my empire by complying +with times and occasions, and by generosity, and by patience, and by +policy; and I acted with courteousness towards my friends and towards my +enemies.</p> + +<p>"<i>Fourthly</i>. By order and by discipline I regulated the concerns of my +government; and by discipline and by order I so firmly established my +authority, that the emirs and the viziers and the soldiers and the +subjects could not aspire beyond their respective degrees; and every one +of them was the keeper of his own station.</p> + +<p>"<i>Fifthly</i>. I gave encouragement to my emirs and <!-- Page 470 --><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470" title="470" class="pagenum"></a>to my soldiers, and +with money and with jewels I made them glad of heart; and I permitted +them to come into the banquet; and in the field of blood they hazarded +their lives. And I withheld not from them my gold nor my silver. And I +educated and trained them to arms; and to alleviate their sufferings, I +myself shared in their labors and in their hardships, until with the arm +of fortitude and resolution, and with the unanimity of my chiefs and my +generals and my warriors, by the edge of the sword, I obtained +possession of the thrones of seven-and-twenty kings, and became the king +and the ruler of the kingdoms of Eraun, and of Tooraun, and of Room, and +of Mughrib, and of Shaum, and of Missur, and of Erauk-a-Arrub, and of +Ajjum, and of Mauzinduraun, and of Kylaunaut, and of Shurvaunaut, and of +Azzurbauejaun, and of Fauris, and of Khorausaun, and of the Dusht of +Jitteh, and the Dusht of Kipchauk, and of Khauruzm, and Khuttun, and of +Kauboolistaun, and of Hindostaun, and of Bauktur Zemeen.</p> + +<p>"And when I clothed myself in the robe of empire, I shut my eyes to +safety, and to the repose which is found on the bed of ease. And from +the twelfth year of my age I travelled over countries, and combated +difficulties, and formed enterprises, and vanquished armies, and +experienced mutinies amongst my officers and my soldiers, and was +familiarized to the language of disobedience; and I opposed them with +policy and with fortitude, and I hazarded my person in the hour of +danger; until in the end I vanquished kingdoms and empires, and +established the glory of my name.</p> + +<p>"<i>Sixthly</i>. By justice and equity I gained the affec<!-- Page 471 --><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471" title="471" class="pagenum"></a>tions of the people +of God; and I extended my clemency to the guilty as well as to the +innocent; and I passed that sentence which truth required; and by +benevolence I gained a place in the hearts of men; and by rewards and +punishments I kept both my troops and my subjects divided between hope +and fear. And I compassionated the lower ranks of my people, and those +who were distressed. And I gave gifts to the soldiers.</p> + +<p>"And I delivered the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor; and after +proof of the oppression, whether on the property or the person, the +decision which I passed between them was agreeable to the sacred law. +And I did not cause any one person to suffer for the guilt of another.</p> + +<p>"Those who had done me injuries, who had attacked my person in battle, +and had counteracted my schemes and enterprises, when they threw +themselves on my mercy, I received them with kindness, I conferred on +them additional honors, and I drew the pen of oblivion over their evil +actions; and I treated them in such sort, that, if suspicion remained in +their hearts, it was plucked out entirely.</p> + +<p>"<i>Seventhly</i>, I selected out, and treated with esteem and veneration, +the posterity of the Prophet, and the theologians, and the teachers of +the true faith, and the philosophers, and the historians. And I loved +men of courage and valor; for God Almighty loveth the brave. And I +associated with good and learned men; and I gained their affections, and +I entreated their support, and I sought success from their holy prayers. +And I loved the dervishes and the poor; and I oppressed them not, +neither did I exclude them from my favor. And I permitted not the evil +and the ma<!-- Page 472 --><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472" title="472" class="pagenum"></a>levolent to enter into my council; and I acted not by their +advice; and I listened not to their insinuations to the prejudice of +others.</p> + +<p>"<i>Eighthly</i>. I acted with resolution; and on whatever undertaking I +resolved, I made that undertaking the only object of my attention; and I +withdrew not my hand from that enterprise, until I had brought it to a +conclusion. And I acted according to that which I said. And I dealt not +with severity towards any one, and I was not oppressive in any of my +actions; that God Almighty might not deal severely towards me, nor +render my own actions oppressive unto me.</p> + +<p>"And I inquired of learned men into the laws and regulations of ancient +princes, from the days of Adam to those of the Prophet, and from the +days of the Prophet down to this time. And I weighed their institutions +and their actions and their opinions, one by one. And from their +approved manners and their good qualities I selected models. And I +inquired into the causes of the subversion of their power, and I shunned +those actions which tend to the destruction and overthrow of regal +authority. And from cruelty and from oppression, which are the +destroyers of posterity and the bringers of famine and of plagues, I +found it was good to abstain.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ninthly</i>. The situation of my people was known unto me. And those who +were great among them I considered as my brethren; and I regarded the +poor as my children. And I made myself acquainted with the tempers and +the dispositions of the people of every country and of every city. And I +contracted intimacies with the citizens and the chiefs and the nobles; +and I appointed over them governors adapted to their manners and their +dispositions and their <!-- Page 473 --><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473" title="473" class="pagenum"></a>wishes. And I knew the circumstances of the +inhabitants of every province. And in every kingdom I appointed writers +of intelligence, men of truth and integrity, that they might send me +information of the conduct and the behavior and the actions and the +manners of the troops and of the inhabitants, and of every occurrence +that might come to pass amongst them. And if I discovered aught contrary +to their information, I inflicted punishment on the intelligencer; and +every circumstance of cruelty and oppression in the governors and in the +troops and in the inhabitants, which reached my ears, I chastised +agreeably to justice and equity.</p> + +<p>"<i>Tenthly</i>. Whatever tribe, and whatever horde, whether Toork, or +Taucheek, or Arrub, or Ajjum, came in unto me, I received their chiefs +with distinction and respect, and their followers I honored according to +their degrees and their stations; and to the good among them I did good, +and the evil I delivered over to their evil actions.</p> + +<p>"And whoever attached himself unto me, I forgot not the merit of his +attachment, and I acted towards him with kindness and generosity; and +whoever had rendered me services, I repaid the value of those services +unto him. And whoever had been my enemy, and was ashamed thereof, and, +flying to me for protection, humbled himself before me, I forgot his +enmity, and I purchased him with liberality and kindness.</p> + +<p>"In such manner Share Behraum, the chief of a tribe, was along with me. +And he left me in the hour of action, and he united with the enemy, and +he drew forth his sword against me. And at length my salt, which he had +eaten, seized upon him; and <!-- Page 474 --><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474" title="474" class="pagenum"></a>he again fled to me for refuge, and humbled +himself before me. As he was a man of illustrious descent, and of +bravery, and of experience, I covered my eyes from his evil actions; and +I magnified him, and I exalted him to a superior rank, and I pardoned +his disloyalty in consideration of his valor.</p> + +<p>"<i>Eleventhly</i>. My children, and my relations, and my associates, and my +neighbors, and such as had been connected with me, all these I +distinguished in the days of my fortune and prosperity, and I paid unto +them their due. And with respect to my family, I rent not asunder the +bands of consanguinity and mercy; and I issued not commands to slay +them, or to bind them with chains.</p> + +<p>"And I dealt with every man, whatever the judgment I had formed of him, +according to my own opinion of his worth. As I had seen much of +prosperity and adversity, and had acquired knowledge and experience, I +conducted myself with caution and with policy towards my friends and +towards my enemies.</p> + +<p>"<i>Twelfthly</i>. Soldiers, whether associates or adversaries, I held in +esteem,—those who sell their permanent happiness to perishable honor, +and throw themselves into the field of slaughter and battle, and hazard +their lives in the hour of danger.</p> + +<p>"And the man who drew his sword on the side of my enemy, and committed +hostilities against me, and preserved his fidelity to his master, him I +greatly honored; and when such a man came unto me, knowing his worth, I +classed him with my faithful associates; and I respected and valued his +fidelity and his attachment.</p> + +<p>"And the soldier who forgot his duty and <!-- Page 475 --><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475" title="475" class="pagenum"></a>his honor, and in the hour of +action turned his face from his master, and came in unto me, I +considered as the most detestable of men.</p> + +<p>"And in the war between Touktummish Khaun, his emirs forgot their duty +to Touktummish, who was their master and my foe, and sent proposals and +wrote letters unto me. And I uttered execrations upon them, because, +unmindful of that which they owed to their lord, they had thrown aside +their honor and their duty, and came in unto me. I said unto myself, +'What fidelity have they observed to their liege lord? what fidelity +will they show unto me?'</p> + +<p>"And, behold, it was known unto me by experience, that every empire +which is not established in morality and religion, nor strengthened by +regulations and laws, from that empire all order, grandeur, and power +shall pass away. And that empire may be likened unto a naked man, who, +when exposed to view, commandeth the eye of modesty to be covered; and +it is like unto a house which hath neither roof nor gates nor defences, +into which whoever willeth may enter unmolested.</p> + +<p>"THEREFORE I established the foundation of my empire on the morality and +the religion of Islaum; and by regulations and laws I gave it stability. +And by laws and by regulations I executed every business and every +transaction that came before me in the course of my government."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I need not read any further, or I might show your Lordships the noble +principles, the grand, bold, and manly maxims, the resolution to abstain +from oppression himself, and to crush it in the govern<!-- Page 476 --><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476" title="476" class="pagenum"></a>ors under him, to +be found in this book, which Mr. Hastings has thought proper to resort +to as containing what he calls arbitrary principles.</p> + +<p>But it is not in this instance only that I must do justice to the East. +I assert that their morality is equal to ours, in whatever regards the +duties of governors, fathers, and superiors; and I challenge the world +to show in any modern European book more true morality and wisdom than +is to be found in the writings of Asiatic men in high trust, and who +have been counsellors to princes. If this be the true morality of Asia, +as I affirm and can prove that it is, the plea founded on Mr. Hastings's +geographical morality is annihilated.</p> + +<p>I little regard the theories of travellers, where they do not relate the +facts on which they are founded. I have two instances of facts attested +by Tavernier, a traveller of power and consequence, which are very +material to be mentioned here, because they show that in some of the +instances recorded, in which the princes of the country have used any of +those cruel and barbarous executions which make us execrate them, it has +been upon governors who have abused their trust,—and that this very +Oriental authority to which Mr. Hastings appeals would have condemned +him to a dreadful punishment. I thank God, and I say it from my heart, +that even for his enormous offences there neither is nor can be anything +like such punishments. God forbid that we should not as much detest +out-of-the-way, mad, furious, and unequal punishments as we detest +enormous and abominable crimes! because a severe and cruel penalty for a +crime of a light nature is as bad and iniquitous as <!-- Page 477 --><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477" title="477" class="pagenum"></a>the crime which it +pretends to punish. As the instances I allude to are curious, and as +they go to the principles of Mr. Hastings's defence, I shall beg to +quote them.</p> + +<p>The first is upon a governor who did what Mr. Hastings says he has a +power delegated to him to do: he levied a tax without the consent of his +master. "Some years after my departure from Com," says Tavernier, "the +governor had, of his own accord, and without any communication with the +king, laid a small impost upon every pannier of fruit brought into the +city, for the purpose of making some necessary reparations in the walls +and bridges of the town. It was towards the end of the year 1632 that +the event I am going to relate happened. The king, being informed of the +impost which the governor had laid upon the fruit, ordered him to be +brought in chains to court. The king ordered him to be exposed to the +people at one of the gates of the palace; then he commanded the son to +pluck off the mustachios of his father, to cut off his nose and ears, to +put out his eyes, and then cut off his head. The king then told the son +to go and take possession of the government of his father, saying, <i>See +that you govern better than this deceased dog, or thy doom shall be a +death more exquisitely tormenting</i>."</p> + +<p>My Lords, you are struck with horror, I am struck with horror, at this +punishment. I do not relate it to approve of such a barbarous act, but +to prove to your Lordships, that, whatever power the princes of that +country have, they are jealous of it to such a degree, that, if any of +their governors should levy a tax, even the most insignificant, and for +the best purposes, he meets with a cruel punishment. I do <!-- Page 478 --><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478" title="478" class="pagenum"></a>not justify +the punishment; but the severity of it shows how little of their power +the princes of that country mean to delegate to their servants, the +whole of which the gentleman at your bar says was delegated to him.</p> + +<p>There is another case, a very strong one, and that is the case of +presents, which I understand is a custom admitted throughout Asia in all +their governments. It was of a person who was raised to a high office; +no business was suffered to come before him without a previous present. +"One morning, the king being at this time on a hunting party, the +<i>nazar</i> came to the tent of the king, but was denied entrance by the +<i>meter</i>, or master of the wardrobe. About the same time the king came +forth, and, seeing the nazar, commanded his officers to take off the +bonnet from the head of that dog that took gifts from his people, and +that he should sit three days bareheaded in the heat of the sun, and as +many nights in the air. Afterwards he caused him to be chained about the +neck and arms, and condemned him to perpetual imprisonment, with a +<i>mamoudy</i> a day for his maintenance; but he died for grief within eight +days after he was put in prison."</p> + +<p>Do I mean, by reading this to your Lordships, to express or intimate an +approbation either of the cruelty of the punishment or of the coarse +barbarism of the language? Neither one nor the other. I produce it to +your Lordships to prove to you, from this dreadful example, the horror +which that government felt, when any person subject to it assumed to +himself a privilege to receive presents. The cruelty and severity +exercised by these princes is not levelled at the poor unfortunate +people who complain at <!-- Page 479 --><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479" title="479" class="pagenum"></a>their gates, but, to use their own barbarous +expression, <i>to dogs that impose taxes and take presents</i>. God forbid I +should use that language! The people, when they complain, are not called +dogs and sent away, but the governors, who do these things against the +people: they are called dogs, and treated in that cruel manner. I quote +them to show that no governors in the East, upon any principle of their +constitution or any good practice of their government, can lay arbitrary +imposts or receive presents. When they escape, it is probably by +bribery, by corruption, by creating factions for themselves in the +seraglio, in the country, in the army, in the divan. But how they escape +such punishments is not my business to inquire; it is enough for me that +the constitution disavows them, that the princes of the country disavow +them,—that they revile them with the most horrible expressions, and +inflict dreadful punishments on them, when they are called to answer for +these offences. Thus much concerning the Mahomedan laws of Asia. That +the people of Asia have no laws, rights, or liberty, is a doctrine that +wickedly is to be disseminated through this country. But I again assert, +every Mahomedan government is, by its principles, a government of law.</p> + +<p>I shall now state, from what is known of the government of India, that +it does not and cannot delegate, as Mr. Hastings has frequently +declared, the whole of its powers and authority to him. If they are +absolute, as they must be in the supreme power, they ought to be +arbitrary in none; they were, however, never absolute in any of their +subordinate parts, and I will prove it by the known provincial +constitu<!-- Page 480 --><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480" title="480" class="pagenum"></a>tions of Hindostan, which are all Mahomedan, the laws of which +are as clear, as explicit, and as learned as ours.</p> + +<p>The first foundation of their law is the <i>Koran</i>. The next part is the +<i>Fetwah</i>, or adjudged cases by proper authority, well known there. The +next, the written interpretations of the principles of jurisprudence: +and their books are as numerous upon the principles of jurisprudence as +in any country in Europe. The next part of their law is what they call +the <i>Kanon</i>,—that is, a positive rule equivalent to acts of Parliament, +the law of the several powers of the country, taken from the Greek word +<span lang="el" title="Kanôn">Κανών</span>, +which was brought into their country, and is well known. +The next is the <i>Rawaj-ul-Mulk</i>, or common law and custom of the +kingdom, equivalent to our common law. Therefore they have laws from +more sources than we have, exactly in the same order, grounded upon the +same authority, fundamentally fixed to be administered to the people +upon these principles.</p> + +<p>The next thing is to show that in India there is a partition of the +powers of the government, which proves that there is no absolute power +delegated.</p> + +<p>In every province the first person is the <i>Subahdar</i> or <i>Nazim</i>, or +Viceroy: he has the power of the sword, and the administration of +criminal justice only. Then there is the <i>Dewan</i>, or High Steward: he +has the revenue and all exchequer causes under him, to be governed +according to the law and custom and institutions of the kingdom. The law +of inheritances, successions, and everything that relates to them, is +under the <i>Cadi</i>, in whose court these matters are tried. But this, too, +was subdivided. The Cadi could not judge, but by the advice of his +assessors. Properly <!-- Page 481 --><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481" title="481" class="pagenum"></a>in the Mahomedan law there is no appeal, only a +removal of the cause; but when there is no judgment, as none can be when +the court is not unanimous, it goes to the general assembly of all the +men of the law. There are, I will venture to say, other divisions and +subdivisions; for there are the <i>Kanongoes</i>, who hold their places for +life, to be the conservators of the canons, customs, and good usages of +the country: all these, as well as the Cadi and the Mufti, hold their +places and situations, not during the wanton pleasure of the prince, but +on permanent and fixed terms for life. All these powers of magistracy, +revenue, and law are all different, consequently not delegated in the +whole to any one person.</p> + +<p>This is the provincial constitution, and these the laws of Bengal; which +proves, if there were no other proof, by the division of the functions +and authorities, that the supreme power of the state in the Mogul empire +did by no means delegate to any of its officers the supreme power in its +fulness. Whether or no we have delegated to Mr. Hastings the supreme +power of King and Parliament, that he should act with the plenitude of +authority of the British legislature, you are to judge.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hastings has no refuge here. Let him run from law to law; let him +fly from the common law and the sacred institutions of the country in +which he was born; let him fly from acts of Parliament, from which his +power originated; let him plead his ignorance of them, or fly in the +face of them. Will he fly to the Mahomedan law? That condemns him. Will +he fly to the high magistracy of Asia to defend taking of presents? +Padishah and the Sultan would condemn him to a cruel death. Will he fly +to the <!-- Page 482 --><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482" title="482" class="pagenum"></a>Sophis, to the laws of Persia, or to the practice of those +monarchs? I cannot utter the pains, the tortures, that would be +inflicted on him, if he were to govern there as he has done in a British +province. Let him fly where he will, from law to law; law, I thank God, +meets him everywhere, and enforced, too, by the practice of the most +impious tyrants, which he quotes as if it would justify his conduct. I +would as willingly have him tried by the law of the Koran, or the +Institutes of Tamerlane, as on the common law or statute law of this +kingdom.</p> + +<p>The next question is, whether the Gentoo laws justify arbitrary power: +and if he finds any sanctuary there, let him take it, with the cow in +the pagoda. The Gentoos have a law which positively proscribes in +magistrates any idea of will,—a law with which, or rather with extracts +of it, that gentleman himself has furnished us. These people in many +points are governed by their own ancient written law, called the +<i>Shaster</i>. Its interpreters and judges are the <i>Pundits</i>. This law is +comprehensive, extending to all the concerns of life, affording +principles and maxims and legal theories applicable to all cases, drawn +from the sources of natural equity, modified by their institutions, full +of refinement and subtilty of distinction equal to that of any other +law, and has the grand test of all law, that, wherever it has prevailed, +the country has been populous, flourishing, and happy.</p> + +<p>Upon the whole, then, follow him where you will, let him have Eastern or +Western law, you find everywhere arbitrary power and peculation of +governors proscribed and horribly punished,—more so than I should ever +wish to punish any, the most guilty, human creature. And if this be the +case, as I hope <!-- Page 483 --><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483" title="483" class="pagenum"></a>and trust it has been proved to your Lordships, that +there is law in these countries, that there is no delegation of power +which exempts a governor from the law, then I say at any rate a British +governor is to answer for his conduct, and cannot be justified by wicked +examples and profligate practices.</p> + +<p>But another thing which he says is, that he was left to himself, to +govern himself by his own practice: that is to say, when he had taken +one bribe, he might take another; when he had robbed one man of his +property, he might rob another; when he had imprisoned one man +arbitrarily, and extorted money from him, he might do so by another. He +resorts at first to the practice of barbarians and usurpers; at last he +comes to his own. Now, if your Lordships will try him by such maxims and +principles, he is certainly clear: for there is no manner of doubt that +there is nothing he has practised once which he has not practised again; +and then the repetition of crimes becomes the means of his indemnity.</p> + +<p>The next pleas he urges are not so much in bar of the impeachment as in +extenuation. The first are to be laid by as claims to be made on motion +for arrest of judgment, the others as an extenuation or mitigation of +his fine. He says, and with a kind of triumph, "The ministry of this +country have great legal assistance,—commercial lights of the greatest +commercial city in the world,—the greatest generals and officers to +guide and direct them in military affairs: whereas I, poor man, was sent +almost a school-boy from England, or at least little better,—sent to +find my way in that new world as well as I could. I had no men of the +law, no legal assistance, to supply my deficiencies." <i>At Sphingem +habebas domi.</i> Had he <!-- Page 484 --><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484" title="484" class="pagenum"></a>not the chief-justice, the tamed and domesticated +chief-justice, who waited on him like a familiar spirit, whom he takes +from province to province, his amanuensis at home, his postilion and +riding express abroad?</p> + +<p>Such a declaration would in some measure suit persons who had acted much +otherwise than Mr. Hastings. When a man pleads ignorance in +justification of his conduct, it ought to be an humble, modest, +unpresuming ignorance, an ignorance which may have made him lax and +timid in the exercise of his duty; but an assuming, rash, presumptuous, +confident, daring, desperate, and disobedient ignorance heightens every +crime that it accompanies. Mr. Hastings, if through ignorance he left +some of the Company's orders unexecuted, because he did not understand +them, might well say, "I was an ignorant man, and these things were +above my capacity." But when he understands them, and when he declares +he will not obey them, positively and dogmatically,—when he says, as he +has said, and we shall prove it, <i>that he never succeeds better than +when he acts in an utter defiance of those orders</i>, and sets at nought +the laws of his country,—I believe this will not be thought the +language of an ignorant man. But I beg your Lordships' pardon: it is the +language of an ignorant man; for no man who was not full of a bold, +determined, profligate ignorance could ever think of such a system of +defence. He quitted Westminster School almost a boy. We have reason to +regret that he did not finish his education in that noble seminary, +which has given so many luminaries to the Church and ornaments to the +State. Greatly it is to be lamented that he did not go to those +Universities where arbitrary <!-- Page 485 --><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485" title="485" class="pagenum"></a>power will I hope never be heard of, but +the true principles of religion, of liberty, and law will ever be +inculcated, instead of studying in the school of Cossim Ali Khân.</p> + +<p>If he had lived with us, he would have quoted the example of Cicero in +his government, he would have quoted several of the sacred and holy +prophets, and made <i>them</i> his example. His want of learning, profane as +well as sacred, reduces him to the necessity of appealing to every name +and authority of barbarism, tyranny, and usurpation that are to be +found; and from these he says, "From the practice of one part of Asia or +other I have taken my rule." But your Lordships will show him that in +Asia as well as in Europe the same law of nations prevails, the same +principles are continually resorted to, and the same maxims sacredly +held and strenuously maintained, and, however disobeyed, no man suffers +from the breach of them who does not know how and where to complain of +that breach,—that Asia is enlightened in that respect as well as +Europe; but if it were totally blinded, that England would send out +governors to teach them better, and that he must justify himself to the +piety, the truth, the faith of England, and not by having recourse to +the crimes and criminals of other countries, to the barbarous tyranny of +Asia, or any other part of the world.</p> + +<p>I will go further with Mr. Hastings, and admit, that, if there be a boy +in the fourth form of Westminster School, or any school in England, who +does not know, when these articles are read to him, that he has been +guilty of gross and enormous crimes, he may have the shelter of his +present plea, as far as it will serve him. There are none of us, thank +God, so <!-- Page 486 --><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486" title="486" class="pagenum"></a>uninstructed, who have learned our catechisms or the first +elements of Christianity, who do not know that such conduct is not to be +justified, and least of all by examples.</p> + +<p>There is another topic he takes up more seriously, and as a general +rebutter to the charge. Says he, "After a great many of these practices +with which I am charged, Parliament appointed me to my trust, and +consequently has acquitted me."—Has it, my Lords? I am bold to say that +the Commons are wholly guiltless of this charge. I will admit, if +Parliament, on a full state of his offences before them, and full +examination of those offences, had appointed him to the government, that +then the people of India and England would have just reason to exclaim +against so flagitious a proceeding. A sense of propriety and decorum +might have restrained us from prosecuting. They might have been +restrained by some sort of decorum from pursuing him criminally. But the +Commons stand before your Lordships without shame. First, in their name +we solemnly assure your Lordships that we had not in our Parliamentary +capacity (and most of us, myself I can say surely, heard very little, +and that in confused rumors) the slightest knowledge of any one of the +acts charged upon this criminal at either of the times of his being +appointed to office, and that we were not guilty of the nefarious act of +collusion and flagitious breach of trust with which he presumes +obliquely to charge us; but from the moment we knew them, we never +ceased to condemn them by reports, by votes, by resolutions, and that we +admonished and declared it to be the duty of the Court of Directors to +take measures for his recall, and when frustrated in the way known to +that <!-- Page 487 --><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487" title="487" class="pagenum"></a>court we then proceeded to an inquiry. Your Lordships know whether +you were better informed. We are, therefore, neither guilty of the +precedent crime of colluding with the criminal, nor the subsequent +indecorum of prosecuting what we had virtually and practically approved.</p> + +<p>Secondly, several of his worst crimes have been committed since the last +Parliamentary renewal of his trust, as appears by the dates in the +charge.</p> + +<p>But I believe, my Lords, the judges—judges to others, grave and weighty +counsellors and assistants to your Lordships—will not, on reference, +assert to your Lordships, (which God forbid, and we cannot conceive, or +hardly state in argument, if but for argument,) that, if one of the +judges had received bribes before his appointment to an higher judiciary +office, he would not still be open to prosecution.</p> + +<p>So far from admitting it as a plea in bar, we charge, and we hope your +Lordships will find it an extreme aggravation of his offences, that no +favors heaped upon him could make him grateful, no renewed and repeated +trusts could make him faithful and honest.</p> + +<p>We have now gone through most of the general topics.</p> + +<p>But he is not responsible, as being thanked by the Court of Directors. +He has had the thanks and approbation of the India Company for his +services.—We know too well here, I trust the world knows, and you will +always assert, that a pardon from the crown is not pleadable here, that +it cannot bar the impeachment of the Commons,—much less a pardon of the +East India Company, though it may involve them in guilt which might +induce us to punish them for such <!-- Page 488 --><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488" title="488" class="pagenum"></a>a pardon. If any corporation by +collusion with criminals refuse to do their duty in coercing them, the +magistrates are answerable.</p> + +<p>It is the use, virtue, and efficacy of Parliamentary judicial procedure, +that it puts an end to this dominion of faction, intrigue, cabal, and +clandestine intelligences. The acts of men are put to their proper test, +and the works of darkness tried in the face of day,—not the corrupted +opinions of others on them, but their own intrinsic merits. We charge it +as his crime, that he bribed the Court of Directors to thank him for +what they had condemned as breaches of his duty.</p> + +<p>The East India Company, it is true, have thanked him. They ought not to +have done it; and it is a reflection upon their character that they did +it. But the Directors praise him in the gross, after having condemned +each act in detail. His actions are <i>all</i>, every one, censured one by +one as they arise. I do not recollect any one transaction, few there +are, I am sure, in the whole body of that succession of crimes now +brought before you for your judgment, in which the India Company have +not censured him. Nay, in one instance he pleads their censure in bar of +this trial;<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27" /><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor" +title="See Mr. Hastings's answer to the first charge.">[27]</a> for he says, "In that censure I have already received my +punishment." If, for any other reasons, they come and say, "We thank +you, Sir, for all your services," to that I answer, Yes; and <i>I</i> would +thank him for his services, too, if I knew them. But <i>I</i> do +not;—perhaps <i>they</i> do. Let them thank him for those services. I am +ordered to prosecute him for these crimes. Here, therefore, we are on a +balance with the India Company; and your Lordships may <!-- Page 489 --><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489" title="489" class="pagenum"></a>perhaps think it +some addition to his crimes, that he has found means to obtain the +thanks of the India Company for the whole of his conduct, at the same +time that their records are full of constant, uniform, particular +censure and reprobation of every one of those acts for which he now +stands accused.</p> + +<p>He says, there is the testimony of Indian princes in his favor. But do +we not know how seals are obtained in that country? Do we not know how +those princes are imposed upon? Do we not know the subjection and +thraldom in which they are held, and that they are obliged to return +thanks for the sufferings which they have felt? I believe your Lordships +will think that there is not, with regard to some of these princes, a +more dreadful thing that can be said of them than that he has obtained +their thanks.</p> + +<p>I understand he has obtained the thanks of the miserable Princesses of +Oude, whom he has cruelly imprisoned, whose treasure he has seized, and +whose eunuchs he has tortured.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28" /><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor" +title="A Latin sentence, which was quoted here, is omitted in the MS of the short-hand writer.—Ed.">[28]</a> They thank him for going away; they +thank him for leaving them the smallest trifle of their subsistence; and +I venture to say, if he wanted a hundred more panegyrics, provided he +never came again among them, he might have them. I understand that +Mahdajee Sindia has made his panegyric, too. Mahdajee Sindia has not +made his panegyric for nothing; for, if your Lordships will suffer him +to enter into such a justification, we shall prove that he has +sacrificed the dignity of this country and the interests of all its +allies to that prince. We appear here neither with panegyric nor with +satire; it is for substantial crimes we bring him be<!-- Page 490 --><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490" title="490" class="pagenum"></a>fore you, and +amongst others for cruelly using persons of the highest rank and +consideration in India; and when we prove he has cruelly injured them, +you will think the panegyrics either gross forgeries or most miserable +aggravations of his offences, since they show the abject and dreadful +state into which he has driven those people. For let it be proved that I +have cruelly robbed and maltreated any persons, if I produce a +certificate from them of my good behavior, would it not be a +corroborative proof of the terror into which those persons are thrown by +my misconduct?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>My Lords, these are, I believe, the general grounds of our charge. I +have now closed completely, and I hope to your Lordships' satisfaction, +the whole body of history of which I wished to put your Lordships in +possession. I do not mean that many of your Lordships may not have known +it more perfectly by your own previous inquiries; but, bringing to your +remembrance the state of the circumstances of the persons with whom he +acted, the persons and power he has abused, I have gone to the +principles he maintains, the precedents he quotes, the laws and +authorities which he refuses to abide by, and those on which he relies; +and at last I have refuted all those pleas in bar on which he depends, +and for the effect of which he presumes on the indulgence and patience +of this country, or on the corruption of some persons in it. And here I +close what I had to say upon this subject,—wishing and hoping, that, +when I open before your Lordships the case more particularly, so as to +state rather a plan of the proceeding than the direct proof of the +crimes, your Lordships will hear me with the <!-- Page 491 --><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491" title="491" class="pagenum"></a>same goodness and +indulgence I have hitherto experienced,—that you will consider, if I +have detained you long, it was not with a view of exhausting my own +strength, or putting your patience to too severe a trial, but from the +sense I feel that it is the most difficult and the most complicated +cause that was ever brought before any human tribunal. Therefore I was +resolved to bring the whole substantially before you. And now, if your +Lordships will permit me, I will state the method of my future +proceeding, and the future proceeding of the gentlemen assisting me.</p> + +<p>I mean first to bring before you the crimes as they are classed, and are +of the same species and genus, and how they mutually arose from one +another. I shall first show that Mr. Hastings's crimes had root in that +which is the root of all evil, I mean avarice; that avarice and rapacity +were the groundwork and foundation of all his other vicious system; that +he showed it in setting to sale the native government of the country, in +setting to sale the whole landed interest of the country, in setting to +sale the British government and his own fellow-servants, to the basest +and wickedest of mankind.</p> + +<p>I shall then show your Lordships, that, when, in consequence of such a +body of corruption and peculation, he justly dreaded the indignation of +his country and the vengeance of its laws, in order to raise himself a +faction embodied by the same guilt and rewarded in the same manner, he +has, with a most abandoned profusion, thrown away the revenues of the +country to form such a faction here.</p> + +<p>I shall next show your Lordships, that, having exhausted the resources +of the Company, and brought it to extreme difficulties within, he has +looked to his <!-- Page 492 --><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492" title="492" class="pagenum"></a><i>external</i> resources, as he calls them; he has gone up +into the country. I will show that he has plundered, or attempted to +plunder, every person dependent upon, connected, or allied with this +country.</p> + +<p>We shall afterwards show what infinite mischief has followed in the case +of Benares, upon which he first laid his hands; next, in the case of the +Begums of Oude.</p> + +<p>We shall then lay before you the profligate system by which he +endeavored to oppress that country: first by Residents; next by spies +under the name of British Agents; and lastly, that, pursuing his way up +to the mountains, he has found out one miserable chief, whose crimes +were the prosperity of his country,—that him he endeavored to torture +and destroy,—I do not mean in his body, but by exhausting the treasures +which he kept for the benefit of his people.</p> + +<p>In short, having shown your Lordships that no man who is in his power is +safe from his arbitrary will,—that no man, within or without, friend, +ally, rival, has been safe from him,—having brought it to this point, +if I am not able in my own person immediately to go up into the country +and show the ramifications of the system, (I hope and trust I shall be +spared to take my part in pursuing him through both,) if I am not, I +shall go at least to the root of it, and some other gentleman, with a +thousand times more ability than I possess, will take up each separate +part in its proper order. And I believe it is proposed by the managers +that one of them shall as soon as possible begin with the affair of +Benares.</p> + +<p>The point I now mean first to bring before your Lordships is the +corruption of Mr. Hastings, his system of peculation and bribery, and to +show your Lord<!-- Page 493 --><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493" title="493" class="pagenum"></a>ships the horrible consequences which resulted from it: +for, at first sight, bribery and peculation do not seem to be so horrid +a matter; they may seem to be only the transferring a little money out +of one pocket into another; but I shall show that by such a system of +bribery the country is undone.</p> + +<p>I shall inform your Lordships in the best manner I can, and afterwards +submit the whole, as I do with a cheerful heart and with an easy and +assured security, to that justice which is the security for all the +other justice in the kingdom.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="footnotes"><h3><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES" />FOOTNOTES:</h3> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1" /><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> 2d year of George II.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2" /><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> See his letter of the 11th of July, 1785, at the end of the +Charges.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3" /><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> 13 Geo. III. c. 63, § 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4" /><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> 29 February, 1784.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5" /><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Dated, Benares, 4th of November, 1781.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6" /><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Revenue Consultation, 28th January, 1775.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7" /><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Revenue Board, 14th May, 1772.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8" /><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Address to the Court of Directors, 25th March, 1775.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9" /><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> 3d November, 1772.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10" /><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> 24th October, 1774.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11" /><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> 22d April, 1775.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12" /><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> 5th February, 1777; 4th July, 1777.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13" /><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> 3d November, 1772.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14" /><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> 14th May, 1772.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15" /><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> See his letter of the 11th July, 1785, at the end of the Charges</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16" /><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Sic orig.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17" /><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> 28th May, 1782.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18" /><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> 15th Dec, 1775.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19" /><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> On the 15th of November.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20" /><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Resolution of the House of Commons, 28th May, 1782.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21" /><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Anderson's letter of 26th January, 1782.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22" /><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Anderson's letter of 24th February, 1782.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23" /><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Sic orig.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24" /><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Sic orig.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25" /><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Observations on Mr. Bristow's Defence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26" /><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> As the letter referred to in the Eighth and Sixteenth Articles of +Charge is not contained in any of the Appendixes to the Reports of the +Select Committee, it has been thought necessary to annex it as an +Appendix to these Charges.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27" /><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> See Mr. Hastings's answer to the first charge.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28" /><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> A Latin sentence, which was quoted here, is omitted in the MS of +the short-hand writer.—Ed.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + +<h3>END OF VOL. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works Of The Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. IX. (of 12) + +Author: Edmund Burke + +Release Date: March 27, 2005 [EBook #13968] +[Date last upated: May 5, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDMUND BURKE, VOL. IX. *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Keith M. Eckrich, the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This file +was produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + + + + + +THE WORKS + +OF + +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE + +EDMUND BURKE + + +IN TWELVE VOLUMES + +VOLUME THE NINTH + + +[Illustration: Burke Coat of Arms.] + + +LONDON +JOHN C. NIMMO +14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. +MDCCCLXXXVII + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL IX. + + +ARTICLES OF CHARGE OF HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS AGAINST +WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL: PRESENTED +TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN APRIL AND MAY, 1786.--ARTICLES VII.-XXII. + +ART. VII. CONTRACTS 3 + + VIII. PRESENTS 22 + + IX. RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICE OF GOVERNOR-GENERAL 42 + + X. SURGEON-GENERAL'S CONTRACT 60 + + XI. CONTRACTS FOR POOLBUNDY REPAIRS 60 + + XII. CONTRACTS FOR OPIUM 63 + + XIII. APPOINTMENT OF R.J. SULIVAN 70 + + XIV. RANNA OF GOHUD 72 + + XV. REVENUES + + PART I. 79 + + PART II. 87 + + XVI. MISDEMEANORS IN OUDE 95 + + XVII. MAHOMED REZA KHAN 179 + +XVIII. THE MOGUL DELIVERED UP TO THE MAHRATTAS 202 + + XIX. LIBEL ON THE COURT OF DIRECTORS 228 + + XX. MAHRATTA WAR AND PEACE 238 + + XXI. CORRESPONDENCE 266 + + XXII. FYZOOLA KHAN + + PART I. RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHAN, ETC., + BEFORE THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG 268 + + PART II. RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHAN UNDER THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG 275 + + PART III. GUARANTY OF THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG 278 + + PART IV. THANKS OF THE BOARD TO FYZOOLA KHAN 286 + + PART V. DEMAND OF FIVE THOUSAND HORSE 287 + + PART VI. TREATY OF CHUNAR 296 + + PART VII. CONSEQUENCES OF THE TREATY OF CHUNAR 302 + + PART VIII. PECUNIARY COMMUTATION OF THE STIPULATED AID 306 + + PART IX. FULL VINDICATION OF FYZOOLA KHAN BY + MAJOR PALMER AND MR. HASTINGS 313 + +APPENDIX TO THE EIGHTH AND SIXTEENTH CHARGES 319 + + * * * * * + +SPEECHES IN THE IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, + LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL. + + SPEECH IN OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT. + + FIRST DAY: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1788 329 + + SECOND DAY; SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 396 + + + + +ARTICLES OF CHARGE + +OF + +HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS + +AGAINST + +WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, + +LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL: + +PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN APRIL AND MAY, 1786. + + +ARTICLES VII.-XXII. + + + + +VII.--CONTRACTS. + + +That the Court of Directors of the East India Company had laid down the +following fundamental rules for the conduct of such of the Company's +business in Bengal as could be performed by contract, and had repeatedly +and strictly ordered the Governor and Council of Port William to observe +those rules, viz.: That all contracts should be publicly advertised, and +the most reasonable proposals accepted; that the contracts of +provisions, and for furnishing draught and carriage bullocks for the +army, should be _annual_; and that they should not fail to advertise for +and receive proposals for those contracts _every year_. + +That the said Warren Hastings, in direct disobedience to the said +positive orders, and, as the Directors themselves say, _by a most +deliberate breach of his duty_, did, in September, 1777, accept of +proposals offered by Ernest Alexander Johnson for providing draught and +carriage bullocks, and for victualling the Europeans, without +advertising for proposals, as he was expressly commanded to do, and +extended the contract for _three years_, which was positively ordered to +be _annual_,--and, notwithstanding that extension of the period, which +ought at least to have been compensated by some advantage to the Company +in the conditions, did conclude the said contract _upon terms less +advantageous than the preceding contract, and therefore not on the +lowest terms procurable_. That the said Warren Hastings, in defiance of +the judgment and lawful orders of his superiors, which in this case left +him no option, declared, that _he disapproved of publishing for +proposals, and that the contract was reduced too low already_: thereby +avowing himself the advocate of the contractor, against whom, as +representative of the Company, and guardian of their interests, he +properly was party, and preferring the advantage of the contractor to +those of his own constituents and employers. That the Court of Directors +of the East India Company, having carefully considered the circumstances +and tendency of this transaction, condemned it in the strongest terms, +declaring, that they would _not permit_ the contract to be continued, +and that, "if the contractor should think himself aggrieved, and take +measures in consequence by which the Company became involved in loss or +damage, they should certainly hold the majority of the Council +responsible for such loss or damage, and proceed against them +accordingly."--That the said Warren Hastings, in defiance of orders, +which the Directors say were _plain and unequivocal_, did, in January, +1777, receive from George Templer a proposal essentially different from +the advertisement published by the Governor-General and Council for +receiving proposals for feeding the Company's elephants, and did accept +thereof, not only without having recourse to the proper means for +ascertaining whether the said proposal was the lowest that would be +offered, but with another actually before the board nearly thirty per +cent lower than that made by the said George Templer, to whom the said +Warren Hastings granted a contract, in the terms proposed by the said +Templer, for three years, and did afterwards extend the same to five +years, with new and distinct conditions, accepted by the said Warren +Hastings, without advertising for fresh proposals, by which the Company +were very considerable losers: on all which the Court of Directors +declared, "that this waste of their property could not be permitted; +that he, the said Warren Hastings, had disregarded their authority, and +disobeyed their orders, in not taking the lowest offers"; and they +ordered that the contract for elephants should be annulled: and the said +Directors further declared, that, "if the contractor should recover +damages of the Company for breach of engagement, they were determined, +in such case, to institute a suit at law against those members of the +board who had presumed, in direct breach of their orders, to prefer the +interest of an individual to that of the Company."--That the said Warren +Hastings did, in the year 1777, conclude with ---- Forde a contract for +an armed vessel for the pilotage of the Chittagong river, and for the +defence of the coast and river against the incursions of robbers, for +the term of five years, in further disobedience of the Company's orders +respecting the mode and duration of contracts, and with a considerable +increase of expense to the Company. That the farming out the defence of +a country to a contractor, being wholly unprecedented, and evidently +absurd, could have no real object but to enrich the contractor at the +Company's expense: since either the service was not dangerous, and then +the establishment was totally unnecessary, or, if it was a dangerous +service, it was evidently the interest of the contractor to avoid such +danger, and not to hazard the loss of his ship or men, which must be +replaced at his own expense, and therefore that an active and faithful +discharge of the contractor's duty was incompatible with his +interest.--That the said Warren Hastings, in further defiance of the +Company's orders, and in breach of the established rule of their +service, did, in the year 1777, conclude a contract with the master and +deputy master attendant of the Company's marine or pilot service, for +supplying the said marine with naval stores, and executing the said +service for the term of two years, and without advertising for +proposals. That the use and expenditure of such stores and the direction +of the pilot vessels are under the management and at the disposition of +the master attendant by virtue of his office; that he is officially the +proper and regular check upon the person who furnishes the stores, and +bound by his duty to take care that all contracts for furnishing such +stores are duly and faithfully executed. That the said Warren Hastings, +by uniting the supply and the check in the same hands, did not only +disobey the Company's specific orders, and violate the fundamental rules +and practice of the service, but did overset the only just and rational +principle on which this and every other service of a similar nature +ought to be conducted, and did not only subject the Company's interest, +in point of expense, to fraud and collusion, but did thereby expose the +navigation of the Bengal river to manifest hazard and distress: +considering that it is the duty of the master attendant to take care +that the pilot vessels are constantly stationed in the roads to wait +the arrival of the Company's ships, especially in tempestuous weather, +and that they should be in a constant condition to keep the sea; whereas +it is manifestly the interest of the contractor, in the first instance, +to equip the said vessels as scantily as possible, and afterwards to +expose them as little as possible to any service in which the stores to +be replaced by him might be lost or consumed. And, finally, that in +June, 1779, the said contract was prolonged to the said master +attendant, by the said Warren Hastings, for the further period of two +years from the expiration of the first, without advertising for +proposals.--That it does not appear that any of the preceding contracts +have been annulled, or the charges attending any of them abated, or that +the Court of Directors have ever taken any measures to compel the said +Warren Hastings to indemnify the Company, or to make good any part of +the loss incurred by the said contracts. + +That in the year 1777 the said Warren Hastings did recommend and appoint +John Belli, at that time his private secretary, to be agent for +supplying the garrison of Fort William with victualling stores; that the +stores were to be purchased with money advanced by the Company, and that +the said agent was to be allowed a commission or percentage for his risk +and trouble; that, in order to ascertain what sum would be a reasonable +compensation for the agent, the Governor-General and Council agreed to +consult some of the principal merchants of Calcutta; that the merchants +so consulted reported their opinion, that twenty per cent on the prime +cost of the stores would be a reasonable compensation to the agent; +that, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings, supported by the vote and +concurrence of Richard Barwell, then a member of the Supreme Council, +did propose and carry it, that thirty per cent per annum should be +allowed upon all stores to be provided by the agent. That the said +Warren Hastings professed that "he preferred an agency to a contract for +this service, because, if it were performed by contract, it must then be +advertised, and the world would know what provision was made for the +defence of the fort": as if its being publicly known that the fort was +well provided for defence were likely to encourage an enemy to attack +it. That in August, 1779, in defiance of the principle laid down by +himself for preferring an agency to a contract, the said Warren Hastings +did propose and carry it, that the agency should be _converted into a +contract_, to be granted to the said John Belli, without advertising for +proposals, and fixed for the term of five years,--"pretending that he +had received frequent remonstrances from the said agent concerning the +heavy losses and inconveniences to which he was _subjected_ by the +indefinite terms of his agency," notwithstanding it appeared by evidence +produced at the board, that, on a supply of about 37,000_l._, he had +already drawn a commission of 22,000_l._ and upwards. That the said +Warren Hastings pledged himself, that, _if required by the Court of +Directors, the profits arising from the agency should be paid into the +Company's treasury, and appropriated as the Court should direct_. That +the Court of Directors, as soon as they were advised of the first +appointment of the said agency, declared that they considered the +commission of twenty per cent as an ample compensation to the agent, and +did positively order, that, according to the engagement of the said +Warren Hastings, "the commission paid or to be paid to the said agent +should be reduced to twenty pounds per cent." That the said John Belli +did positively refuse to refund any part of the profits he had received, +or to submit to a diminution of those which he was still to receive; and +that the said Warren Hastings has never made good his own voluntary and +solemn engagement to the Court of Directors hereinabove mentioned: and +as his failure to perform the said engagement is a breach of faith to +the Company, so his performance of such engagement, if he had performed +it, and even his offering to pledge himself for the agent, in the first +instance, ought to be taken as presumptive evidence of a connection +between the said Warren Hastings and the said agent, his private +secretary, which ought not to exist between a Governor acting in behalf +of the Company and a contractor making terms with such Governor for the +execution of a public service. + +That, before the expiration of the contract hereinbefore mentioned for +supplying the army with draught and carriage bullocks, granted by the +said Warren Hastings to Ernest Alexander Johnson for three years, the +said Warren Hastings did propose and carry it in Council, that a new +contract should be made on a new plan, and that an offer thereof should +be made to Richard Johnson, brother and executor of the said contractor, +without advertising for proposals, for the term of _five years_; that +this offer was _voluntarily accepted_ by the said Richard Johnson, who +at the same time desired and obtained that the new contracts should be +made out in the name of Charles Croftes, the Company's accountant and +sub-treasurer at Fort William; that the said Charles Croftes offered the +said Richard Johnson as one of his securities for the performance of +the said contract, who was accepted as such by the said Warren Hastings; +and that, at the request of the said contractor, the contract for +victualling the Europeans serving at the Presidency was added to and +united with that for furnishing bullocks, and fixed for the same period. +That this extension of the periods of the said contracts was not +compensated by a diminution in the charge to be incurred by the Company +on that account, as it ought to have been, but, on the contrary, the +charge was immoderately increased by the new contracts, insomuch that it +was proved by statements and computations produced at the board, that +the increase on the victualling contract would in five years amount to +40,000_l._, and that the increase on the bullock contract in the same +period would amount to above 400,000_l._ That, when this and many other +weighty objections against the terms of the said contracts were urged in +Council to the said Warren Hastings, he declared that _he should deliver +a reply thereto_; but it does not appear that he did ever deliver such +reply, or ever enter into a justification of any part of his conduct in +this transaction.--That the act of Parliament of 1773, by which the +first Governor-General and Council were appointed, did expressly limit +the duration of their office to the term of five years, which expired in +October, 1779, and that the several contracts hereinbefore mentioned +were granted in September, 1779, and were made to continue _five_ years +after the expiration of the government by which they were granted. That +by this anticipation the discretion and judgment of the succeeding +government respecting the subject-matter of such contracts was taken +away, and any correction or improvement therein rendered impracticable. +That the said Warren Hastings might have been justified by the rules and +practice or by the necessity of the public service in binding the +government by engagements to endure one year after the expiration of his +own office; but on no principles could he be justified in extending such +engagements beyond the term of one year, much less on the principles he +has avowed, namely, "that it was only an act of common justice in him to +secure _every man connected with him_, as far as he legally could, from +the apprehension of future oppression." That the oppression to which +such apprehension, if real, must allude, could only consist in and arise +out of the obedience which he feared a future government might pay to +the orders of the Court of Directors, by making all contracts _annual_, +and advertising for proposals publicly and indifferently from all +persons whatever, by which it might happen that such beneficial +contracts would not be constantly held by men _connected with him_, the +said Warren Hastings. That this declaration, made by the said Warren +Hastings, combined with all the circumstances belonging to these +transactions, leaves no room to doubt, that, in disobeying the Company's +orders, and betraying the trust reposed in him as guardian of the +Company's property, his object was to purchase the attachment of a +number of individuals, and to form a party capable of supporting and +protecting him in return. + +That, with the same view, and on the same principles, it appears that +excessive salaries and emoluments, at the East India Company's charge +and expense, have been lavished by the said Warren Hastings to sundry +individuals, contrary to the general principles of his duty, and in +direct contradiction to the positive orders of the Court of Directors: +particularly, that, whereas by a resolution of the Court of Proprietors +of the East India Company, and by an instruction of the Court of +Directors, it was provided and expressly ordered that there should be +paid to the late Sir John Clavering "the sum of six thousand pounds +sterling per annum in full for his services as commander-in-chief, in +lieu of travelling charges and of all other advantages and emoluments +whatever," and whereas the Court of Directors positively ordered that +the late "Sir Eyre Coote should receive the _same_ pay as +commander-in-chief of their forces in India as was received by +Lieutenant-General Sir John Clavering," the said Warren Hastings, +nevertheless, within a very short time after Sir Eyre Coote's arrival in +Bengal, did propose and carry it in Council, that a new establishment +should be created for Sir Eyre Coote, by which an increase of expense +would be incurred by the India Company to the amount of eighteen +thousand pounds a year and upwards, exclusive of and in addition to his +salary of ten thousand pounds a year, provided for him by act of +Parliament as a member of the Supreme Council, and exclusive of and in +addition to his salary of six thousand pounds a year as +commander-in-chief, appointed for him by the Company, and expressly +fixed to that amount. + +That the disobedience and breach of trust of which the said Warren +Hastings was guilty in this transaction is highly aggravated by the +following circumstances connected with it. That from the death of Sir +John Clavering to the arrival of Sir Eyre Coote in Bengal the +provisional command of the army had devolved to and been vested in +Brigadier-General Giles Stibbert, the eldest officer on that +establishment. That in this capacity, and, as the said Warren Hastings +has declared, "standing no way distinguished from the other officers in +the army, but by his accidental succession to the first place on the +list," he, the said Giles Stibbert, had, by the recommendation and +procurement of the said Warren Hastings, received and enjoyed a salary, +and other allowances, to the amount of 13,854_l._ 12_s._ per annum. That +Sir Eyre Coote, soon after his arrival, represented to the board that a +considerable part of those allowances, amounting to 8,220_l._ 10_s._ per +annum, ought to devolve to himself, as commander-in-chief of the +Company's forces in India, and, stating that the said Giles Stibbert +could no longer be considered as commander-in-chief under the Presidency +of Fort William, made a formal demand of the same. That the said Warren +Hastings, instead of reducing the allowances of the said Giles Stibbert +to the establishment at which they stood during General Clavering's +command, and for the continuance of which after Sir Eyre Coote's arrival +there could be no pretence, continued the allowances of 13,854_l._ +12_s._ per annum to the said Giles Stibbert, and at the same time, in +order to appease and satisfy the demand of the said Sir Eyre Coote, did +create for him that new establishment, hereinbefore specified, of +eighteen thousand pounds per annum,--insomuch that, instead of the +allowance of _six thousand pounds a year, in lieu of travelling charges, +and of all emoluments and allowances whatsoever_, to which the pay and +allowances of commander-in-chief were expressly limited by the united +act of the legislative and executive powers of the Company, the annual +charge to be borne by the Company on that account was increased by the +said Warren Hastings to the enormous sum of thirty-eight thousand two +hundred and seventeen pounds ten shillings sterling. + +That on the 1st of November, 1779, the said Warren Hastings did move and +carry it in Council, "that the Resident at the Vizier's court should be +furnished with an account of all the extra allowances and charges of the +commander-in-chief when in the field, with orders to add the same to the +debit of the Vizier's account, as a part of his general subsidy,--the +charge to commence from the day on which the general shall pass the +Caramnassa, and to continue till his return to the same line." That this +additional expense imposed by the said Warren Hastings on the Vizier was +unjust in itself, and a breach of treaty with that prince: the specific +amount of the subsidy to be paid by him having been fixed by a treaty, +to which no addition could justly be made, but at the previous +requisition of the Vizier. That the Court of Directors, in their letter +of the 18th of October, 1780, did condemn and prohibit the continuation +of the allowances above mentioned to Sir Eyre Coote in the following +words: "These allowances appear to us in a light so very extraordinary, +and so repugnant to the spirit of a resolution of the General Court of +Proprietors respecting the allowance made to General Clavering, that we +positively direct that they be discontinued immediately, and no part +thereof paid after the receipt of this letter." That on the 27th of +April, 1781, the Governor-General and Council, in obedience to the +orders of the Directors, did signify the same to the Commissary-General, +as an instruction to him that the extraordinary allowances to Sir Eyre +Coote _should be discontinued, and no part thereof paid after that +day_. That it appears, nevertheless, that the said extra allowances +(amounting to above twenty thousand pounds sterling a year) were +continued to be charged to the Vizier, and paid to Sir Eyre Coote, in +defiance of the orders of the Court of Directors, in defiance of the +consequent resolution of the Governor-General and Council, and in +contradiction to the terms of the original motion made by the said +Warren Hastings for adding those allowances to the debit of the Vizier, +viz., "that they should continue till Sir Eyre Coote's return to the +Caramnassa." That Sir Eyre Coote arrived at Calcutta about the end of +August, 1780, and must have crossed the Caramnassa, in his return from +Oude, some weeks before, when the charge on the Vizier, if at any time +proper, ought to have ceased. That it appears that the said allowances +were continued to be charged against the Vizier and paid to Sir Eyre +Coote for three years after, even while he was serving in the Carnatic, +and that this was done by the sole authority and private command of the +said Warren Hastings. + +That the East India Company having thought proper to create the office +of Advocate-General in Bengal, and to appoint Sir John Day to that +office, it was resolved by a General Court of Proprietors that a salary +of three thousand pounds a year should be allowed to the said Sir John +Day, _in full consideration of all demands and allowances whatsoever for +his services to the Company at the Presidency of Fort William_. That the +said Warren Hastings, nevertheless, shortly after Sir John Day's arrival +in Bengal, did increase the said Sir John Day's salary and allowances to +six thousand pounds a year, in direct disobedience of the resolution of +the Court of Proprietors, and of the order of the Court of Directors. +That the Directors, as soon as they were informed of this proceeding, +declared, "that they held _themselves_ bound by the resolution of the +General Court, and that they could not allow it to be disregarded by the +Company's servants in India," and ordered that the increased allowances +should be forthwith discontinued. That the said Warren Hastings, after +having first thought it necessary, in obedience to the orders of the +Court of Directors, to stop the extraordinary allowance which he had +granted to Sir John Day, did afterwards resolve that the allowance which +had been struck off should be _repaid_ to him, upon his signing an +obligation to refund the amount which he might receive, in case the +Directors should confirm their former orders, already twice given. That +in this transaction the said Warren Hastings trifled with the authority +of the Company, eluded the repeated orders of the Directors, and exposed +the Company to the risk and uncertainty of recovering, at a distant +period, and perhaps by a process of law, a sum of money which they had +positively ordered him not to pay. + +That in the latter part of the year 1776, by the death of Colonel +Monson, the whole power of the government of Fort William devolved to +the Governor and one member of the Council; and that from that time the +Governor-General and Council have generally consisted of an even number +of persons, in consequence of which the casting voice of the said Warren +Hastings has usually prevailed in the decision of all questions. That +about the end of the year 1776 the whole civil establishment of the said +government did not exceed 205,399_l._ per annum; that in the year 1783 +the said civil establishment had been increased to the enormous annual +sum of 927,945_l._ That such increase in the civil establishment could +not have taken place, if the said Warren Hastings, who was at the head +of the government, with the power annexed to the casting voice, had not +actively promoted the said increase, which he had power to prevent, and +which it was his duty to have prevented. That by such immoderate waste +of the property of his employers, and by such scandalous breach of his +fidelity to them, it was the intention of the said Warren Hastings to +gain and secure the attachment and support of a multitude of +individuals, by whose united interest, influence, and intrigues he hoped +to be protected against any future inquiry into his conduct. That it was +of itself highly criminal in the said Warren Hastings to have so wasted +the property of the East India Company, and that the purpose to be +obtained by such waste was a great aggravation of that crime. + +That among the various instances of profusion by which the civil +establishment of Fort William was increased to the enormous annual sum +hereinbefore mentioned, it appears that a Salt Office was created, of +six commissioners, whose annual emoluments were as follows, viz.:-- + +President, or Comptroller, per annum L18,480 +1st member 13,100 +2d do 11,480 +3d do 13,183 +4th do 6,257 +5th do 10,307 + ------ + L72,807 + +That a Board of Revenue was created by the said Warren Hastings, +consisting of five commissioners, whose annual emoluments were as +follows, viz.:-- + +1st member, per annum L10,950 +2d do 9,100 +3d do 9,100 +4th do 9,100 +5th do 9,100 + ------ + L47,350 + +That David Anderson, Esquire, first member of the said board, did not +execute the duties, though he received the emoluments of the said +office: having acted, for the greatest part of the time, as ambassador +to Mahdajee Sindia, with a further salary of 4,280_l._ a year, making in +all 15,230_l._ a year. That the said Warren Hastings did create an +office of Agent-Victualler to the garrison of Fort William, whose +profits, on an average of three years, were 15,970_l._ per annum. That +this agency was held by the Postmaster-General, who in that capacity +received 2,200_l._ a year from the Company, and who was actually no +higher than a writer in the service. That the person who held these +lucrative offices, viz., John Belli, was private secretary to the said +Warren Hastings. + +That the said Warren Hastings created a nominal office of Resident at +Goa, where the Company never had a Resident, nor business of any kind to +transact, and gave the said nominal office to a person who was not a +covenanted servant of the Company, with an allowance of 4,280_l._ a +year. + +That these instances are proofs of a criminal profusion and high breach +of trust to the India Company in the said Warren Hastings, under whose +government, and by means of whose special power, derived from the effect +of his casting voice, all the said waste and profusion did take place. + +That at the end of the year 1780, when, as the Court of Directors +affirm, _the Company were in the utmost distress for money, and almost +every department in arrear_, and when it appears that there was a great +scarcity and urgent want of grain at Fort St. George, the said Warren +Hastings did accept of a proposal made to him by James Peter Auriol, +then Secretary to the Council, to supply the Presidency of Fort St. +George with rice and other articles, and did appoint the said Auriol to +be the agent for supplying _all the other_ Presidencies with those +articles; that the said Warren Hastings declared that the intention of +the appointment "was most likely to be fulfilled by a liberal +consideration of it," and therefore allowed the said Auriol a commission +of fifteen per cent on the whole of his disbursements, thereby rendering +it the direct interest of the said Auriol to make his disbursements as +great as possible; that the chance of capture by the enemy, or danger of +the sea, was to be at the risk of the India Company, and not of the said +Auriol; that the said Warren Hastings declared personally to the said +Auriol, "that this post was intended as a reward for his long and +faithful services." That the President and Council of Bombay did +remonstrate against what they called _the enormous amount of the +charges_ of the rice with which they wore supplied, which they state to +be nine rupees a bag at Calcutta, when they themselves could have +contracted for its delivery at Bombay, free of all risk and charges, at +five rupees and three sixteenths per bag; and that even at Madras, where +the distress and demand was greatest, the supplies of grain by private +traders, charged to the Company, were nineteen per cent cheaper than +that supplied by the said Auriol, exclusive of the risk of the sea and +of capture by the enemy. That it is stated by the Court of Directors, +that the agent's commission on a supply of _a single year_ (the said +commission being not only charged on the prime cost of the rice, but +also on the freight and all other charges) would amount to pounds +sterling 26,873, and by the said Auriol himself is admitted to amount to +18,292_l._ That William Larkins, the Accountant-General at Port William, +having been ordered to examine the accounts of the said agent, did +report to the Governor-General and Council, that he found them to be +_correct in the additions and calculations_; and that then the said +Larkins adds the following declaration: "The agent _being upon honor_ +with respect to the sums charged in his accounts for the cost of the +articles supplied, I did not think myself authorized to require _any +voucher_ of the sums charged for the demurrage of sloops, either as to +the time of detention or the rate of the charge, or of those for the +articles lost in going down the river; and on that ground I thought +myself equally bound to admit the sums acknowledged as received for the +sales of goods returned, without requiring vouchers of the rates at +which they were sold." That in this transaction the said Warren Hastings +has been guilty of a high breach of trust and duty, in the unnecessary +expenditure of the Company's money, and in subjecting the Company to a +profusion of expense, at all times wholly unjustifiable, but +particularly at the time when that expense was incurred. That the said +Warren Hastings was guilty of breach of orders, as well as breach of +trust, in not advertising generally for proposals; in not _contracting_ +indifferently for the supplies with such merchants as might offer to +furnish them on the lowest terms; in giving an enormous commission to an +agent, and that commission not confined to the prime cost of the +articles, but to be computed on the whole of his charges; in accepting +of the _honor_ of the said agent as a sufficient voucher for the cost of +the articles supplied, and for all charges whatever on which his +commission was to be computed; and finally, in giving a lucrative agency +for the supply of a distressed and starving province as a reward to a +Secretary of State, whose labors in that capacity ought to have been +rewarded by an avowed public salary, and not otherwise. That, after the +first year of the said agency was expired, the said Warren Hastings did +agree, that, for the future, the commission to be drawn by the said +agent should be reduced to five per cent, which the Governor-General and +Council then declared to be _the customary, amount drawn by merchants_; +but that even in this reduction of the commission the said Warren +Hastings was guilty of a deception, and did not in fact reduce the +commission from fifteen to five per cent, having immediately after +resolved that he, the agent, should be allowed the current interest of +Calcutta upon all his drafts on the Treasury from the day of their +dates, until they should be completely liquidated; that the legal +interest of money in Bengal is twelve per cent per annum, and the +current interest from eight to ten per cent. + + + + +VIII.--PRESENTS. + + +That, before the appointment of the Governor-General and Council of Fort +William by act of Parliament, the allowances made by the East India +Company to the Presidents of that government were abundantly sufficient; +and that the said Presidents in general, and the said Warren Hastings +particularly, was restrained by a specific covenant and indenture, which +he entered into with the Company, from accepting any gifts, rewards, or +gratuities whatsoever, on any account or pretence whatsoever. That in +the Regulating Act passed in the year 1773, which appointed the said +Warren Hastings, Esquire, Governor-General of Fort William in Bengal, a +salary of twenty-five thousand pounds a year was established for him, to +which the Court of Directors added, "that he should enjoy their +principal houses, with the plate and furniture, both in town and +country, _rent-free_." That the same law which created the office and +provided the salary of the said Warren Hastings did expressly, and in +the clearest and most comprehensive terms that could be devised, +prohibit him from receiving any present, gift, or donation, in any +manner or on any account whatsoever; and that the said Warren Hastings +perfectly understood the meaning, and acknowledged the binding force of +this prohibition, before he accepted of the office to which it was +annexed: he knew, and had declared, that _the prohibition was positive +and decisive; that it admitted neither of refinement or misconstruction; +and that in his opinion an opposition would be to incur the penalty_. + +That, notwithstanding the covenants and engagements above mentioned, it +appears in the recorded proceedings of the Governor-General and Council +of Fort William, that sundry charges have been brought against the said +Warren Hastings for gifts or presents corruptly taken by him before the +promulgation of the act of 1773 in India, and that these charges were +produced at the Council Board in the presence of the said Warren +Hastings. That, in March, 1775, the late Rajah Nundcomar, a native +Hindoo, of the highest caste in his religion, and of the highest rank in +society, by the offices which he had held under the country government, +did lay before the Council an account of various sums of money paid by +him to the said Warren Hastings, amounting to forty thousand pounds and +upwards, for offices and employments corruptly disposed of by the said +Warren Hastings, and did offer and engage to prove and establish the +same by sufficient evidence. That this account is stated with a minute +particularity and precision; the date of each payment, down to that of +small sums, is specified; the various coins in which such payments were +severally made are distinguished; and the different persons through +whose hands the money passed into those of the said Warren Hastings are +named. That such particularity on the face of such a charge, supposing +it false, is favorable to the party wrongfully accused, and exposes the +accuser to an instant and easy detection: for, though, as the said +Warren Hastings himself has observed on another occasion, "papers may be +forged, and evidences may appear in numbers to attest them, yet it must +always be an _easy_ matter to detect the falsity of any forged paper +produced by examining the witnesses separately, and subjecting them to a +subsequent cross-examination, in which case, if false, they will not be +able to persevere in one regular, consistent story "; whereas, if no +advantage be taken of such particularity in the charge to detect the +falsehood thereof, and if no attempt to disprove it, and no defence +whatever be made, a presumption justly and reasonably arises in favor of +the truth of such charge. That the said Warren Hastings, instead of +offering anything in his defence, declared that _he would not suffer +Nundcomar to appear before the board at his accuser_; that he attempted +to indict his said accuser for a conspiracy, in which he failed; and +that the said Rajah Nundcomar was soon after, and while his charge +against the said Warren Hastings was depending before the Council, +indicted upon an English penal statute, which does not extend even to +Scotland,[1] before the Supreme Court of Judicature, for an offence said +to have been committed several years before, and not capital by the laws +of India, and was condemned and executed. That the evidence of this man, +not having been encountered at the time when it might and ought to have +been by the said Warren Hastings, remains justly in force against him, +and is not abated by the capital punishment of the said Nundcomar, but +rather confirmed by the time and circumstances in which the accuser of +the said Warren Hastings suffered death. That one of the offices for +which a part of the money above mentioned is stated to have been paid to +the said Warren Hastings was given by him to Munny Begum, the widow of +the late Mir Jaffier, Nabob of Bengal, whose son, by another woman, +holds that title at present. That the said Warren Hastings had been +instructed by the Court of Directors of the East India Company to +appoint "_a minister_ to transact the political affairs of the +government, and to select for that purpose some person well qualified +for the affairs of government, to be the minister and guardian of the +Nabob's minority." That for these offices, and for the execution of the +several duties belonging to them, the said Warren Hastings selected and +appointed the said Munny Begum, a woman evidently unqualified for and +incapable of such offices, and restrained from acting in such capacities +by her necessary seclusion from the world and retirement in a seraglio. +That, a considerable deficiency or embezzlement appearing in this +woman's account of the young Nabob's stipend, she voluntarily declared, +by a writing under her seal, that she had given fifteen thousand pounds +to the said Warren Hastings for an entertainment,--which declaration +corresponds with and confirms that part of the charge produced by Rajah +Nundcomar to which it relates. That neither this nor any other part of +the said charge has been at any time directly denied or disputed by the +said Warren Hastings, though made to his face, and though he was +repeatedly accused by his colleagues, who were appointed by Parliament +at the same time with himself, of peculation of every sort. That, +instead of promoting a strict inquiry into his conduct for the clearance +of his innocence and honor, he did repeatedly endeavor to elude and +stifle all inquiry by attempting to dissolve the meetings of the Council +at which such charges were produced, and by other means, and has not +since taken any steps to disprove or refute the same. That the said +Warren Hastings, so long ago as September, 1775, assured the Court of +Directors, "that it was his fixed determination most fully and +liberally to explain every circumstance of his conduct on the points on +which he had been injuriously arraigned, and to afford them the clearest +conviction of his own integrity, and of the propriety of his motives for +declining a present defence of it"; and having never since given to the +Court of Directors any explanation whatever, much less the full and +liberal explanation he had promised so repeatedly, has thereby abandoned +even that late and protracted defence which he himself must have thought +necessary to be made at some time or other, and which he would be +thought to have deferred to a period more suitable and convenient than +that in which the facts were recent, and the impression of these and +other charges of the same nature against him was fresh and unimpaired in +the minds of men. + +That on the 30th of March, 1775, a member of the Council produced and +laid before the board a petition from Mir Zein Abul Deen, (formerly +farmer of a district, and who had been in creditable stations,) setting +forth, that Khan Jehan Khan, then Phousdar of Hoogly, had obtained that +office from the said Warren Hastings, with a salary of seventy-two +thousand sicca rupees a year, and that the said _Phousdar had given a +receipt of bribe to the patron of the city_, meaning Warren Hastings, to +pay him annually thirty-six thousand rupees a year, and also to his +banian, Cantoo Baboo, four thousand rupees a year, out of the salary +above mentioned. That by the thirty-fifth article of the instructions +given to the Governor-General and Council, they are directed +"immediately to cause the strictest inquiry to be made into all +oppressions which might have been committed either against the natives +or Europeans, and into all abuses that might have prevailed in the +collection of the revenues, or any part of the civil government of the +Presidency, and to communicate to the Directors all information which +they might be able to obtain relative thereto, or to any dissipation or +embezzlement of the Company's money." That the above petition and +instruction having been read in Council, it was moved that the +petitioner should be ordered to attend the next day to make good his +charge. That the said Warren Hastings declared, "that it appeared to him +to be the purpose of the majority to make him the sole object of their +personal attacks; that they had taken their line, and might pursue it; +that he should have other remarks to make upon this transaction, but, as +they would be equally applicable _to many others_ which in the course of +this business were likely to be brought before the board, he should say +no more on the subject";--and he objected to the motion. That by the +preceding declaration the said Warren Hastings did admit that many other +charges were likely to be brought against him, and that such charges +would be of a similar nature to the first, viz., a corrupt bargaining +for the disposal of a great office, since he declared that his remarks +on that transaction would be equally applicable to the rest; and that, +by objecting to the motion for the personal attendance of the accuser, +he resisted and disobeyed the Company's instructions, and did, as far as +depended on his power, endeavor to obstruct and prevent all inquiry into +the charge. That in so doing he failed in his duty to the Company, he +disobeyed their express orders, and did leave the charge against himself +without a reply, and even without a denial, and with that unavoidable +presumption against his innocence which lies against every person +accused who not only refuses to plead, but, as far as his vote goes, +endeavors to prevent an examination of the charge, and to stifle all +inquiry into the truth of it. That, the motion having been nevertheless +carried, the said Warren Hastings did, on the day following, declare, +"that he could not sit to be confronted with such accusers, nor suffer a +judicial inquiry into his conduct at the board of which he was +president, and declared the meeting of the board dissolved." That the +board continued to sit and examine witnesses, servants of the Phousdar, +on oath and written evidence, being letters under the hand and seal of +the Phousdar, all directly tending to prove the charge: viz., that, out +of the salary of seventy-two thousand rupees a year paid by the Company, +the said Phousdar received but thirty-two thousand, and that the +remainder was received by the said Warren Hastings and his banian. That +the Phousdar, though repeatedly ordered to attend the board, did, under +various pretences, decline attending, until the 19th of May, when, the +letters stated be his, that is, under his hand and seal, being shown to +him, it was proposed by a member of the board that he should be asked +whether he had any objection to swear to the truth of such answers as he +might make to the questions proposed by the board; that the said Warren +Hastings objected to his being put to his oath; that the question was +nevertheless put to him, in consequence of a resolution of the board; +that he first declined to swear, under pretence _that it was a matter of +serious consequence to his character to take an oath_, and, when it was +finally left to his option, he declared, "Mean people might swear, but +that his character would not allow him,--that he could not swear, and +had rather subject himself to a loss." That the evidence in support of +the charge, being on oath, was in this manner left uncontradicted. That +it was admitted by the said Warren Hastings, that neither Mussulmen or +Hindoos are forbidden by the precepts of their religion to swear; that +it is not true, as the said Warren Hastings asserted, that it was +repugnant to the _manners_ either of Hindoos or Mussulmen; and that, if, +under such pretences, the natives were to be exempted from taking an +oath, when examined by the Governor and Council, all the inquiries +pointed out to them by the Company's instructions might stop or be +defeated. That no valid reason was or could be assigned why the said +Phousdar should not be examined on oath; that the charge was not against +himself; and that, if any questions had been put to him, tending to make +him accuse himself, he might have declined to answer them. That, if he +could have safely sworn to the innocence of the said Warren Hastings, +from whom he received his employment, he was bound in gratitude as well +as justice to the said Warren Hastings to have consented to be examined +on oath; that, not having done so, and having been supported and abetted +in his refusal by the said Warren Hastings himself, whose character and +honor, were immediately at stake, the whole of the evidence for the +truth of the charge remains unanswered, and in full force against the +said Warren Hastings, who on this occasion recurred to the declaration +he had before made to the Directors, viz., "that he would most fully and +liberally explain every circumstance of his conduct," but has never +since that time given the Directors any explanation whatsoever of his +said conduct. And finally, that, when the Court of Directors, in +January, 1776, referred the question (concerning the legality of the +power assumed and repeatedly exercised by the said Warren Hastings, of +dissolving the Council at his pleasure) to the late Charles Sayer, then +standing counsel of the East India Company, the said Charles Sayer +declared his opinion in favor of the power, but concerning the use and +exercise of it in the cases stated did declare his opinion in the +following words: "I believe he, Warren Hastings, is the first governor +that ever dissolved a council inquiring into his behavior, when he was +innocent." Before he could summon three councils, and dissolve them, he +had time fully to consider what would be the result of such conduct, _to +convince everybody beyond a doubt of his conscious guilt_.--That, by a +resolution of a majority of the Council, constituting a lawful act of +the Governor-General and Council, the said Khan Jehan Khan was dismissed +from the office of Phousdar of Hoogly for a contempt of the authority of +the board; that, within a few weeks after the death of the late Colonel +Monson, the number of the Council being then even, and all questions +being then determined by the Governor-General's casting voice, the said +Warren Hastings did move and carry it in Council, that the said Khan +Jehan Khan should be restored to his office; and that restoration, not +having been preceded, accompanied, or followed by any explanation or +defence whatsoever, or even by a denial of the specific and +circumstantial charge of collusion with the said Khan Jehan Khan, has +confirmed the truth of the said charge. + +That, besides the sums charged to have been paid to the said Warren +Hastings by the said Nundcomar and Munny Begum and Khan Jehan Khan, and +besides the sum of one hundred and ten thousand pounds already mentioned +to have been accepted without hesitation by him, as a present on the +part of the Nabob of Oude and that of his ministers, the circumstances +of which have been particularly reported to the House of Commons, it +appears by the confession of the said Warren Hastings, that he has at +different times since the promulgation of the act of 1773, received +various other sums, contrary to the express prohibition of the said act, +and his own declared sense of the evident intent and obligation +thereof.--That in the month of June, 1780, the said Warren Hastings made +to the Council what he called "a very unusual tender, by offering to +exonerate the Company from the expense of a particular measure, and to +_take it upon himself_; declaring that he had already deposited two lacs +of rupees [or twenty-three thousand pounds] in the hands of the +Company's sub-treasurer for that service." That in a subsequent letter, +dated the 29th of November, 1780, he informed the Court of Directors, +that "this money, by whatever means it came into their possession, _was +not his own_"; but he did not then, nor has he at any time since, made +known to the Court of Directors from whom or on what account he received +that money, as it was his duty to have done in the first instance, and +notwithstanding the said Directors signified to him their expectation +that he should communicate to them "immediate information of the channel +by which this money came into his possession, with a complete +illustration of the cause or causes of so extraordinary an event." But, +from evidence examined in England, it has been discovered that this +money was received by the said Warren Hastings from Cheyt Sing, the +Rajah of Benares, who was soon after dispossessed of all his property +and driven from his country and government by the said Warren Hastings. +That, notwithstanding the declaration made by the said Warren Hastings, +that he had actually deposited the sum above mentioned in the hands of +the Company's sub-treasurer for their service, it does not appear that +"any entry whatsoever of that or any other payment by the +Governor-General was made in the Treasury accounts at or about the +time," nor is there any trace in the Company's books of its being +actually paid into their treasury. It appears, then, by the confession +of the said Warren Hastings, that this money was received by him; but it +does not appear that he has converted it to the property and use of the +Company. + +That in a letter from the said Warren Hastings to the said Court of +Directors, dated the 22d of May, 1782, but not dispatched, as it might +and ought to have been, at that time, but detained and kept back by the +said Warren Hastings till the 16th of December following, he has +confessed the receipt of various other sums, amounting (with that which +he accepted from the Nabob of Oude) to nearly two hundred thousand +pounds, which sums he affirmed had been converted to the Company's +property through his means, but without discovering from whom or on what +account he received the same. That, instead of converting this money to +the Company's property, as he affirmed he had done, it appears that he +had lent the greater part of it to the Company upon bonds bearing +interest, which bonds were demanded and received by him, and, for aught +that yet appears, have never been given up or cancelled. That for +another considerable part of the above-mentioned sum he has taken credit +to himself, as for a deposit of his own property, and therefore +demandable by him out of the Company's treasury at his discretion. That +all sums so lent or deposited are not alienated from the person who +lends or deposits the same; consequently, that the declaration made by +the said Warren Hastings, that he had converted the whole of these sums +to the Company's property, was not true. Nor would such a transfer, if +it had really been made, have justified the said Warren Hastings in +originally receiving the money, which, being in the first instance +contrary to law, could not be rendered legal by any subsequent +disposition or application thereof; much less would it have justified +the said Warren Hastings in delaying to make a discovery of these +transactions to the Court of Directors until he had heard of the +inquiries then begun and proceeding in Parliament, in finally making a +discovery, such as it is, in terms the most intricate, obscure, and +contradictory. That, instead of that full and clear explanation of his +conduct which the Court of Directors demanded, and which the said Warren +Hastings was bound to give them, he has contented himself with telling +the said Directors, that, "if this matter was to be exposed to the view +of the public, his reasons for acting as he had done might furnish a +variety of conjectures to which it would be of little use to reply; that +he either chose to conceal the first receipts from public curiosity by +receiving bonds for the amount, or possibly acted without any studied +design which his memory could at that distance of time verify; and that +he _could_ have concealed them from their eye and that of the public +forever." That the discovery, as far as it goes, establishes the guilt +of the said Warren Hastings in taking money against law, but does not +warrant a conclusion that he has discovered _all_ that he may have +taken; that, on the contrary, such discovery, not being made in proper +time, and when made being imperfect, perplexed, and wholly +unsatisfactory, leads to a just and reasonable presumption that other +facts of the same nature have been concealed, since those which he has +confessed might have been forever, and that this partial confession was +either extorted from the said Warren Hastings by the dread of detection, +or made with a view of removing suspicion, and preventing any further +inquiry into his conduct. + +That the said Warren Hastings, in a letter to the Court of Directors +dated 21st of February, 1784, has confessed his having _privately +received_ another sum of money, the amount of which he has not declared, +but which, from the application he says he has made of it, could not be +less than thirty-four thousand pounds sterling. That he has not informed +the Directors from whom he received this money, at what time, nor on +what account; but, on the contrary, has attempted to justify the receipt +of it, which was illegal, by the application of it, which was +unauthorized and unwarrantable, and which, if admitted as a reason for +receiving money _privately_, would constitute a precedent of the most +dangerous nature to the Company's service. That, in attempting to +justify the receipt and application of the said money, he has endeavored +to establish principles of conduct in a Governor which tend to subvert +all order and regularity in the conduct of public business, to +encourage and facilitate fraud and corruption in all offices of +pecuniary trust, and to defeat all inquiry into the misconduct of any +person in whom pecuniary trust is reposed.--That the said Warren +Hastings, in his letter above mentioned, has made a declaration to the +Court of Directors in the following terms: "Having had occasion to +disburse from my own cash many sums, which, though required to enable me +to execute the duties of my station, I have hitherto omitted to enter in +my public accounts, and my own fortune being unequal to so heavy a +charge, I have resolved to reimburse myself in a mode the most suitable +to the situation of your affairs, by charging the same in my Durbar +accounts of the present year, and crediting them by a sum _privately +received_, and appropriated to your service in the same manner with +other sums received on account of the Honorable Company, and already +carried to their account." That at the time of writing this letter the +said Warren Hastings had been in possession of the government of Fort +William about twelve years, with a clear salary, or avowed emoluments, +at no time less than twenty-five thousand pounds sterling a year, +exclusive of which all the principal expenses of his residence were paid +for by the Company. That, if the services mentioned by him were required +to enable him to execute the duties of his station, he ought not to have +omitted to enter them in his public accounts at the times when the +expenses were incurred. That, if it was true, as he affirms, that, when +he first engaged in these expenses, he had no intention to carry them to +the account of the Company, there was no subsequent change in his +situation which could justify his departing from that intention. That, +if his own fortune in the year 1784 was unequal to so heavy a charge, +the state of his fortune at any earlier period must have been still more +unequal to so heavy a charge. That the fact so asserted by the said +Warren Hastings leads directly to an inference palpably false and +absurd, viz., that, the longer a Governor-General holds that lucrative +office, the poorer he must become. That neither would the assertion, if +it were true, nor the inference, if it were admitted, justify the +conduct avowed by the said Warren Hastings in resolving to reimburse +himself out of the Company's property without their consent or +knowledge.--That the account transmitted in this letter is styled by +himself _an aggregate of a contingent account of twelve years_; that all +contingent accounts should be submitted to those who ought to have an +official control over them, at annual or other shorter periods, in order +that the expense already incurred may be checked and examined, and +similar expenses, if disapproved of, may be prohibited in time; that, +after a very long period is elapsed, all check and control over such +expenses is impracticable, and, if it were practicable in the present +instance, would be completely useless, since the said Warren Hastings, +without waiting for the consent of the Directors, did _resolve to +reimburse himself_. That the conduct of the said Warren Hastings, in +withholding these accounts for twelve years together, and then resolving +to reimburse himself without the consent of his employers, has been +fraudulent in the first instance, and in the second amounts to a denial +and mockery of the authority placed over him by law; and that he has +thereby set a dangerous example to his successors, and to every man in +trust or office under him.--That the mode in which he has reimbursed +himself is a crime of a much higher order, and greatly aggravates +whatever was already criminal in the other parts of this transaction. +That the said Warren Hastings, in declaring that he should reimburse +himself by crediting the Company by _a sum privately received_, has +acknowledged himself guilty of an illegal act in receiving money +_privately_. That he has suppressed or withheld every particular which +could throw any light on a conduct so suspicious in a Governor as the +_private_ receipt of money. That the general confession of the private +receipt of a large sum in gross, in which no circumstance of time, +place, occasion, or person, nor even the amount, is specified, tends to +cover or protect any act of the same nature (as far as a general +confession can protect such acts) which may be detected hereafter, and +which in fact may not make part of the gross sum so confessed, and that +it tends to perplex and defeat all inquiry into such practices.--That +the said Warren Hastings, in stating to the Directors that he has +resolved to reimburse himself in _a mode the most suitable to the +situation of their affairs_, viz., by receiving money privately against +law, has stated a presumption highly injurious to the integrity of the +said Directors, viz., that they will not object to, or even inquire +into, any extraordinary expenses incurred and charged by their Governors +in India, provided such expenses are reimbursed by money privately and +illegally received. That he has not explained what that situation of +their affairs was or could be to which so dangerous and corrupt a +principle was or might be applied.--That no evidence has been produced +to prove that it was true, nor any ground of argument stated to show +that it might be credible, that any native of India had voluntarily and +gratuitously given money privately to the said Warren Hastings, that is, +without some prospect of a benefit in return, or some dread of his +resentment, if he refused. That it is not a thing to be believed, that +any native would give large sums privately to a Governor, which he +refused to give or lend publicly to government, unless it were to derive +some adequate secret advantage from the favor, or to avoid some mischief +from the enmity of such Governor.--That the late confessions made by the +said Warren Hastings of money received against law are no proof that he +did not originally intend to appropriate the same to his own use, such +confessions having been made at a suspicious moment, when, and not +before, he was apprised of the inquiries commenced in the House of +Commons, and when a dread of the consequence of those inquiries might +act upon his mind. That such confessions, from the obscure, intricate, +and contradictory manner in which they are made, imply guilt in the said +Warren Hastings, as far as they go; that they do not furnish any color +of reason to conclude that he has confessed all the money which he may +have corruptly received; but that, on the contrary, they warrant a just +and reasonable presumption, that, in discovering some part of the bribes +he had received, he hoped to lull suspicion, and thereby conceal and +secure the rest. + +That the Court of Directors, when the former accounts of these +transactions came before them, did show an evident disposition not to +censure the said Warren Hastings, but to give the most favorable +construction to his conduct; that, nevertheless, they found themselves +obliged "to confess that the statement of those transactions appeared to +them in many parts so _unintelligible_, that they felt themselves under +the necessity of calling on the Governor-General for an explanation, +agreeably to his promise voluntarily made to them." That their letter, +containing this requisition, was received in Bengal in the month of +August, 1784, and that the said Warren Hastings did not embark for +England until the 2d of February, 1785, but made no reply to that letter +before his departure, owing, as he has since said, _to a variety of +other more important occupations_. That, under pretence of such +occupations, he neglected to transmit to the Court of Directors a copy +of a paper which, he says, contained the _only_ account he ever kept of +the transaction. That such a paper, or a copy of it, might have been +transmitted without interrupting other important occupations, if any +could be more important than that of giving a clear and satisfactory +answer to the requisition of the Directors. That since his arrival in +England he has written a letter to the chairman of that court, +professedly in answer to their letter above mentioned, but in fact +giving no explanation or satisfaction whatsoever on the points which +they had declared to be unintelligible. That the terms of his letter are +ambiguous and obscure, such as a guilty man might have recourse to in +order to cover his guilt, but such as no innocent man, from whom nothing +was required but to clear his innocence by giving plain answers to plain +questions, could possibly have made use of. That in his letter of the +11th of July, 1785, he says, "that he has been kindly apprised that the +information required as above _was yet expected from him_: that the +submission which his respect would have enjoined him to pay to the +command imposed on him _was lost to his recollection_, perhaps from the +stronger impression which the first and distant perusal of it had left +on his mind that it was rather intended as a reprehension for something +which had given offence in his report of the original transaction than +as expressive of any want of a further elucidation of it."[2] + +That the said Warren Hastings, in affecting to doubt whether the +information expressly required of him by his employers was expected or +not, has endeavored to justify a criminal delay and evasion in giving +it. That, considering the importance of the subject, and the recent date +of the command, it is not possible _that it could be lost to his +recollection_; much less is it possible that he could have understood +the specific demand of an answer to specific questions to be intended +only as a reprehension for a former offence, viz., the offence of +withholding from the Directors that very explanation which he ought to +have given in the first instance. That the said Warren Hastings, in his +answer to the said questions, cautiously avoids affirming or denying +anything in clear, positive terms, and professes to recollect nothing +with absolute certainty. That he has not, even now, informed the +Directors of the name of any one person from whom any part of the money +in question was received, nor what was the motive of any one person for +giving the same. That he has, indeed, declared, that his motive for +lending to the Company, or depositing in their treasury in his own name, +money which he has in other places declared to be their property, was to +avoid ostentation, and that _lending_ the money was _the least liable +to reflection_; yet, when he has stated these and other conjectural +motives for his own conduct, he declares _he will not affirm, though he +is firmly persuaded, that those were his sentiments on the occasion_. +That of one thing only the said Warren Hastings declares he is +_certain_, viz., "that it was his design originally to have _concealed_ +the receipt of all the sums, except the second, even from the knowledge +of the Court of Directors, but that, when fortune threw a sum in his way +of a magnitude _which could not be concealed_, and the peculiar delicacy +of his situation at the time in which he received it made him more +circumspect of appearances, he _chose_ to apprise his employers of it." +That the said Warren Hastings informs the Directors, that he had +indorsed the bonds taken by him for money belonging to the Company, and +lent by him to the Company, _in order to guard against their becoming a +claim on the Company, as part of his estate, in the event of his death_; +but he has not affirmed, nor does it anywhere appear, that he has +surrendered the said bonds, as he ought to have done. That the said +Warren Hastings, in affirming that he had not time to answer the +questions put to him by the Directors, while he was in Bengal,--in not +bringing with him to England the documents necessary to enable him to +answer those questions, or in pretending that he has not brought +them,--in referring the Directors back again to Bengal for those +documents, and for any further information on a subject on which he has +given them no information,--and particularly in referring them back to a +person in Bengal for a paper which he says contained the _only_ account +he ever kept of the transaction, while he himself professes to doubt +whether that paper _be still in being_, whether _it be in the hands_ of +that person, or whether that person _can recollect anything distinctly +concerning it_,--has been guilty of gross evasions, and of palpable +prevarication and deceit, as well as of contumacy and disobedience to +the lawful orders of the Court of Directors, and thereby confirmed all +the former evidence of his having constantly used the influence of his +station for the most scandalous, illegal, and corrupt purposes. + + + + +IX.--RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICE OF GOVERNOR-GENERAL. + + +That Warren Hastings having by his agent, Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, on +the 10th day of October, in the year 1776, "signified to the Court of +Directors his desire to resign his office of Governor-General of Bengal, +and requested their nomination of a successor to the vacancy which would +be thereby occasioned in the Supreme Council," the Court of Directors +did thereupon desire the said Lauchlan Macleane "to inform them of the +authority under which he acted in a point of such very great +importance"; and the said Lauchlan Macleane "signifying thereupon his +readiness to give the court every possible satisfaction on that subject, +but the powers with which he was intrusted by the papers in his custody +being mixed with other matters of a nature extremely confidential, he +would submit the same to the inspection of any three of the members of +the court," the said Court of Directors empowered the Chairman, Deputy +Chairman, and Richard Becher, Esquire, to inspect the authorities, +powers, and directions with which Mr. Macleane was furnished by Mr. +Hastings to make the propositions contained in his letter of the 10th +October, 1776, and to report their opinion thereon. And the said +committee did accordingly, on the 23d of the said month, report, "that, +having conferred with Mr. Macleane on the subject of his letter +presented to the court the 11th instant, they found, that, from the +purport of Mr. Hastings's instructions, contained in a paper in his own +handwriting given to Mr. Macleane, and produced by him to them, Mr. +Hastings declared he would not continue in the government of Bengal, +unless certain conditions therein specified could be obtained, of which +they saw no probability; and Mr. George Vansittart had declared to them, +that he was present when these instructions were given to Mr. Macleane, +and when Mr. Hastings empowered Mr. Macleane to declare his resignation +to the said court; that Mr. Stewart had likewise confirmed to them, that +Mr. Hastings declared to him, that he had given directions to the above +purpose by Mr. Macleane." + +And the Court of Directors, having received from the said report due +satisfaction respecting the authority vested in the said Lauchlan +Macleane to propose the said resignation of the office of +Governor-General of Bengal, did unanimously resolve to accept the same, +and did also, under powers vested in the said court by the act of the +13th year of his present Majesty, "nominate and appoint Edward Wheler, +Esquire, to succeed to the office in the Council of Fort William in +Bengal which will become vacant by the said resignation, if such +nomination shall be approved by his Majesty": which nomination and +appointment was afterwards in due form approved and confirmed by his +Majesty. + +That the Court of Directors did, by a postscript to their general +letter, dated 25th October, 1776, acquaint the Governor-General and +Council at Calcutta of their acceptance of the said resignation, of +their appointment of Edward Wheler, Esquire, to fill the said vacancy, +and of his Majesty's approbation of the said appointment, together with +the grounds of their said proceedings; and did transmit to the said +Governor-General and Council copies of the said instruments of +appointment and confirmation. + +That the said dispatches from the Court of Directors were received at +Calcutta, and were read in Council on the 19th day of June, in the year +1777; and that Warren Hastings, Esquire, having taken no steps to yield +the government to his successor, General Clavering, and having observed +a profound silence on the subject of the said dispatches, he, the said +General Clavering, did, on the next day, being the 20th of June, by a +letter addressed to the said Warren Hastings, require him to surrender +the keys of Fort William, and of the Company's treasuries; but the said +Warren Hastings did positively refuse to comply with the said +requisition, "denying that his office was vacated, and declaring his +resolution to assert and maintain his authority by every legal means." + +That the said General Clavering, conceiving that the office of +Governor-General was vacated by the arrival of the said dispatches, +which acquainted the Council-General of the resignation of the said +Warren Hastings and the appointment of the said Edward Wheler, Esquire, +and that he, the said General Clavering, had in consequence thereof +legally succeeded, under the provisions of the act of the 13th year of +his present Majesty's reign, to the said office of Governor-General, +become vacant in the manner aforesaid, did, in virtue thereof, issue in +his own name summonses to Richard Barwell, Esquire, and Philip Francis, +Esquire, members of the Council, to attend the same, and in the presence +of the said Philip Francis, Esquire, who obeyed the said summons, did +take the oaths as Governor-General, and did sit and preside in Council +as Governor-General, and prepared several acts and resolutions in the +said capacity of Governor-General, and did, amongst other things, +prepare a proclamation to be made of his said succession to the +government, and of its commencing from the date of the said +proclamation, but did not carry any of the acts or resolutions so +prepared into execution. + +The said Warren Hastings did, notwithstanding thereof, and in pursuance +of his resolution to assert and maintain his authority, illegally and +unjustifiably summon the Council to meet in another department, and did +sit and preside therein, apart from the said General Clavering and his +Council, and, in conjunction with Richard Barwell, Esquire, who +concurred therein, issued sundry orders and did sundry acts of +government belonging to the office of Governor-General, and, amongst +others, did order several letters to be written in the name of the +Governor-General and Council, and did subscribe the same, to the +commandant of the garrison of Fort William, and to the commanding +officer at Barrackpore, and to the commanding officers at the other +stations, and also to the provincial councils and collectors in the +provinces, enjoining them severally "to obey no orders excepting such as +should be signed by the said Warren Hastings, or a majority of his +Council." + +That the said Warren Hastings did, by the said proceedings, which were +contrary both to law and to good faith, constitute a double government, +thereby destroying and annihilating all government whatever; and, by his +said orders to the military officers, did prepare for open resistance by +arms, exposing thereby the settlement, and all the inhabitants, subjects +of or dependent on the British government, whether native or European, +not only to political distractions, but to the horrors of civil war; and +did, by exposing the divisions and weakness of the supreme government, +and thereby loosening the obedience of the provinces, shake the whole +foundation of British authority, and imminently endanger the existence +of the British nation in India. + +That the said evils were averted only by the moderation of the said +General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, in consenting to a +reference, and submitting to the decision of the judges of the Supreme +Court of Judicature, although they entertained no doubts themselves on +the legality of their proceedings and the validity of General +Clavering's instant right to the chair, and although they were not in +any way bound by law to consult the said judges, who had no legal or +judicial authority therein in virtue of their offices or as a court of +justice, but were consulted, and interposed their advice, only as +individuals, by the voluntary reference of the parties in the said +dispute. And the said Warren Hastings, by his declaration, entered in +Minutes of Council, "that it was his determination to abide by the +opinion of the judges," and by the measures he had previously taken as +aforesaid to enforce the same by arms, did risk all the dangerous +consequences above mentioned: which must have taken place, if the said +General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, had not been more tender +of the public interests, and less tenacious of their own rights, and had +persisted in their claim, as they were by law entitled to do, the +extra-judicial interposition of the judges notwithstanding; and from +which claim they receded only from their desire to preserve the peace of +the settlement, and to prevent the mischiefs which the illegal +resistance of the said Warren Hastings would otherwise infallibly have +occasioned. + +That, after the said judges had delivered their opinion, "that the place +and office of Governor-General of this Presidency had not yet been +vacated by Warren Hastings, and that the actual assumption of the +government by the member of the Council next in succession to Mr. +Hastings, in consequence of any deduction which could be made from the +papers communicated to them, would be absolutely illegal," and after the +said General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, had signified to the +said Warren Hastings, by a letter dated the 21st of June, "their +intention to acquiesce in the said opinion of the judges," and when the +differences in the Supreme Council were by these means composed, and the +calamities consequent thereon were avoided, the said Warren Hastings and +Richard Barwell, Esquires, did once more endanger the public peace and +security by other illegal, unwarrantable, and unprovoked acts of +violence: having omitted to summon either the said General Clavering or +the said Philip Francis, Esquire, to Council; and having, in a Council +held thus privately and clandestinely and contrary to law, on the 22d +day of June, come to the following resolutions, viz. + +"Resolved, That, by the said acts, orders, and declarations of +Lieutenant-General John Clavering, recited in the foregoing papers," +(meaning the proceedings of General Clavering in his separate Council on +the 20th of June,) "he has actually usurped and assumed and taken +possession of the place and office of Governor-General of the Presidency +of Fort William in Bengal, granted by the act of the 13th of his present +Majesty to Warren Hastings, Esquire. + +"Resolved, That Lieutenant-General John Clavering has thereby +relinquished, resigned, surrendered, and vacated the office of Senior +Counsellor of Fort William in Bengal. + +"Resolved, That Lieutenant-General John Clavering has thereby +relinquished, resigned, surrendered, and vacated his place of +Commander-in-Chief of the Company's forces in India. + +"Resolved, That Richard Barwell, Esquire, by virtue of the said act of +Parliament, and by the death of the Honorable George Monson, Esquire, is +promoted to the office of Senior Counsellor of the Presidency of Fort +William in Bengal, in consequence of the said relinquishment, +resignation, surrender, and vacation of General Clavering. + +"Resolved, That the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Company's forces +in India, by the relinquishment, resignation, surrender, and vacation of +General Clavering, and by the death of the Honorable George Monson, +Esquire, does no longer exist. + +"Resolved, That, for the preservation of the legality of our +proceedings, Lieutenant-General John Clavering be not in future summoned +or admitted as a member of the Governor-General and Council." + +And the said Warren Hastings and Richard Barwell, Esquire, did again +sit in Council on the next day, being the 23d of June, without summoning +either General Clavering or Philip Francis, Esquire, and did come to +several other resolutions, and make several orders, contrary to law or +justice, and inconsistent with the tranquillity and the security of the +settlement: that is to say, they ordered their secretary "to notify to +General Clavering that the board had declared his offices of Senior +Counsellor and Commander-in-Chief to be vacant, and to furnish him with +a copy of these proceedings, containing the grounds of the board for the +aforesaid declaration." + +And they ordered extracts of the said proceedings "to be issued in +general orders, with letters to all the provincial councils and military +stations, directing them to publish the same in general orders"; and +they resolved, "that all military returns be made to the +Governor-General and Council in their military department, until a +commander-in-chief shall be appointed by the Company." + +That on the day following, that is to say, on the 24th of June, the said +Warren Hastings did again omit to summon General Clavering to Council, +and did again, together with Richard Barwell, Esquire, who concurred +therein, adhere to and confirm the said illegal resolutions come to on +the two former days, declaring "that they could not be retracted but by +the present authority of the law or by future orders from home," and +aggravating the guilt of the said unjustifiable acts by declaring, as +the said Warren Hastings did, "that they were not the precipitate +effects of an instant and passionate impulse, but the fruits of long and +most temperate deliberations, of inevitable necessity, of the strictest +sense of public duty, and of a conviction equal in its impression on +his mind to absolute certainty." + +That the said Warren Hastings was the less excusable in this obstinate +adherence to his former unjust proceedings, as the said declarations +were made in answer to a motion made by Philip Francis, Esquire, for the +reversal of the said proceedings, and to a minute introducing the said +motion, in which Mr. Francis set forth in a clear and forcible manner, +and in terms with which the Court of Directors have since declared their +entire concurrence, both the extreme danger and the illegality and +invalidity of the said proceedings of Warren Hastings and Richard +Barwell, Esquire, concluding the said minute by the following +conciliatory declaration: "And that this salutary motion may not be +impeded by any idea or suspicion that General Clavering may do any act +inconsistent with the acquiescence which both he and I have avowed in +the decision of the judges, I will undertake to answer for him in this +respect, or that, if he should depart from the true spirit and meaning +of that acquiescence, I will not be a party with him in such +proceedings." + +That the said Warren Hastings could not plead ignorance of the law in +excuse for the said illegal acts, as it appears from the proceedings of +the four preceding days that he was well acquainted with the tenure by +which the members of the Council held their offices under the act of the +13th of his present Majesty, and had stated the same as a ground for +retaining his own office, contrary to an express declaration of the +Court of Directors and an instrument under the sign-manual of his +Majesty; and the judges of the Supreme Court, in their reasons for their +decision in his favor, had stated the provisions in the said act,[3] so +far as they related to the matter in dispute, from which it appeared +that there were but four grounds on which the office of any member of +the Council could be vacated,--namely, death, removal, resignation, or +promotion. And as the act confined the power of removal to "his Majesty, +his heirs and successors, upon representation made by the Court of +Directors of the said United Company for the time being," and conferred +no such power on the Governor-General, or a majority of the Council, to +remove, on any ground or for any cause whatever, one of their +colleagues,--so, granting the claim of General Clavering to the chair, +and his acts done in furtherance thereof, to have been illegal, and +criminal in whatever degree, yet it did not furnish to the rest of the +Council any ground to remove him from his office of Counsellor under the +provisions of the said act; and there could therefore remain only his +_resignation_ or _promotion_, as a possible means of vacating his said +office. But with regard to the promotion of General Clavering to the +office of Governor-General, although he claimed it himself, yet, as Mr. +Hastings did not admit it, and as in fact it was even receded from by +General Clavering, it could not be considered, at least by Mr. Hastings, +as a valid ground for vacating his office of Senior Counsellor, since +the act requires for that purpose, not a rejected claim, but an actual +and effectual promotion; and General Clavering's office of Counsellor +could no more be vacated by such a naked claim, unsupported and +disallowed, than the seat of a member of the House of Commons could be +vacated, and a new writ issued to supply the vacancy, by his claim to +the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, when his Majesty has +refused to appoint him to the said office. And with regard to +resignation, although the said Warren Hastings, as a color to his +illegal resolutions, had affectedly introduced the word "resigned" +amongst those of "relinquished, surrendered, and vacated," yet he well +knew that General Clavering had made no offer nor declaration of his +resignation of his offices of Senior Counsellor and Commander-in-Chief, +and that he did not claim the office of Governor-General on the ground +of any such resignation made by himself, but on the ground of a +resignation made by the said Warren Hastings, which resignation the said +Warren Hastings did not admit; and the use of the term _resigned_ on +that occasion was therefore a manifest and wilful misconstruction and +misapplication of the words of the act of his present Majesty. And such +misinterpretation and false extension of the term of resignation was the +more indecent in the said Warren Hastings, as he was at the same moment +disavowing and refusing to give effect to his own clear and express +resignation, according to the true intent and meaning of the word as +used in the said act, made by his agent, duly authorized and instructed +by himself so to do, to an authority competent to receive and accept the +same. + +That, although the said Warren Hastings did afterwards recede from the +said illegal measures, in compliance with the opinion and advice of the +judges again interposed, and did thereby avoid the guilt of such further +acts and the blame of such further evils as must have been consequent on +a persistence therein, yet he was nevertheless still guilty of the +illegal acts above described; and the same are great crimes and +misdemeanors. + +That, although the judges did decide that the office of +Governor-General, held by the said Warren Hastings, was not _ipso facto_ +and _instanter_ vacated by the arrival of the said dispatches and +documents transmitted by the Court of Directors, and did consider the +said consequences of the resignation as awaiting some future act or +event for its complete and effectual operation, yet the said judges did +not declare any opinion on the ultimate invalidity of the said acts of +Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, as not being binding on his principal, +Warren Hastings, Esquire; nor did they declare any opinion that the +obligation of the said resignation was not from the beginning conclusive +and effectual, although its operation was, from the necessity of the +case, on account of the distance between England and India, to take +place only in future,--or that the said resignation made by Lauchlan +Macleane, Esquire, was only an offer or proposal of a resignation to be +made at some future and indefinite period, or a mere intimation of the +desire of Warren Hastings, Esquire, to resign at some future and +indefinite period, and that the said resignation, notwithstanding the +acceptance thereof by the Court of Directors, and the regular +appointment and confirmation of a successor, was still to remain +optional in the said Warren Hastings, to be ratified or departed from at +his future choice or pleasure; nor did the said judges pronounce, nor do +any of their reasonings which accompanied their decision tend to +establish it as their opinion, that even the time for ratifying and +completing the said transaction was to be at the sole discretion of the +said Warren Hastings; but they only delivered their opinion as +aforesaid, that his said office "has not _yet_ been vacated, and +[therefore] that the _actual_ assumption of the government by the +member of the Council next in succession was [in the actual +circumstances, and _rebus sic stantibus_] illegal." + +That the said Warren Hastings does nowhere himself contend that the said +resignation was not absolute, but optional, according to the true +meaning and understanding of the parties in England, and so far as the +acts of Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, and the Court of Directors, were +binding on him; but, on the contrary, he grounds his refusal to complete +the same, not on any interpretation of the words in which the said +resignation, and the other instruments aforesaid, were conceived, but +rather on a disavowal (not direct, indeed, but implied) of his said +agent, and of the powers under which the said agent had claimed to act +in his behalf. Neither did the said Warren Hastings ground his said +refusal on any objection to the particular day or period or +circumstances in which the requisition of General Clavering was made, +nor accompany the said refusal with any qualification in that respect, +or with any intimation that he would at any future or more convenient +season comply with the same,--although such an intimation might probably +have induced General Clavering to waive an instant and immediate claim +to the chair, and might therefore have prevented the distractions which +happened, and the greater evils which impended, in consequence of the +said claim of General Clavering, and the said refusal of Warren +Hastings, Esquire; but the said Warren Hastings did, on the contrary, +express his said refusal in such general and unqualified terms as +intimated an intention to resist absolutely and altogether, both then +and at any future time, the said requisition of General Clavering. And +the subsequent proceedings of the said Warren Hastings do all concur in +proving that such was his intention; for he did afterwards, in +conformity to the advice of the judges, move a resolution in Council, +"that all parties be placed in the same situation in which they stood +before the receipt of the last advices from England, reserving and +submitting to a decision in England the respective claims that each +party may conceive they have a right to make, but not acting upon those +claims till such decision shall arrive in Bengal": thereby clearly and +explicitly declaring that it was not his intention to surrender the +government until such decision should arrive in Bengal, which could not +be expected in less time than a year and a half after the date of the +said resolution; and thereby clearly and explicitly declaring that he +did not consider his resignation as binding for the present. And the +said intention was manifested, if possible, still more directly and +expressly in a letter written by the said Warren Hastings to the Court +of Directors, dated the 15th of August, 1777, being almost two months +after the receipt of the said dispatches, in which the said Warren +Hastings declares that "he did not hold himself bound by the +notification made by Mr. Macleane, nor by any of the acts consequent of +it." + +That, such appearing to have been the intention of the said Warren +Hastings, General Clavering was justified in immediately assuming the +government, without waiting for any future act of the said Warren +Hastings for the actual surrender of the said government, none such +being likely to happen; and Philip Francis, Esquire, was justified in +supporting General Clavering in the same on the soundest principles of +justice, and on a maxim received in courts of equity, namely, that no +one shall avail himself of his own wrong,--and that, if any one refuse +or neglect to perform that which he is bound to do, the rights of others +shall not be prejudiced thereby, but such acts shall be deemed and +reputed to have been actually performed, and all the consequences shall +be enforced which would have followed from such actual performance. And +therefore the resolutions moved and voted in Council by the said Warren +Hastings, declaring the offices of General Clavering to be vacant, were +not only illegal, inasmuch as the said Warren Hastings had no authority +to warrant such a declaration, even on the supposition of the acts of +General Clavering being contrary to law, but the said resolutions were +further highly culpable and criminal, inasmuch as the said acts done by +General Clavering, which were made the pretence of that proceeding, were +strictly regular and legal. + +That the refusal of the said Warren Hastings to ratify the said +resignation, and his disavowal of the said Lauchlan Macleane, his agent, +is not justified by anything contained in his said letter to the Court +of Directors, dated on the 15th of August, 1777,--the said Warren +Hastings nowhere directly and positively asserting that the said +Lauchlan Macleane was not his agent, and had not both full and general +powers, and even particular instructions for this very act, although the +said Warren Hastings uses many indirect and circuitous, but insufficient +and inapplicable, insinuations to that effect. And the said letter does, +on the contrary, contain a clear and express avowal that the said +Lauchlan Macleane was his confidential agent, and that in that capacity +he acted throughout, and particularly in this special matter, with zeal +and fidelity. And the said letter does further admit in effect the +instructions produced by the said Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, confirmed +by Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Stewart, and relied on and confided in by the +Court of Directors, by which the said Lauchlan Macleane appeared to be +specially empowered to declare the said resignation, the words of the +said instruction being as follows: "That he [Mr. Hastings] _will not +continue in the government of Bengal_, unless certain conditions therein +specified can be obtained"; and the words of the said letter being as +follows: "What I myself know with certainty, or can recollect at this +distance of time, concerning the powers and instructions which were +given to Messieurs Macleane and Graham, when they undertook to be my +agents in England, I will circumstantially relate. I am in possession of +two papers which were presented to those gentlemen at the time of their +departure from Bengal, one of which comprises four short propositions +_which I required as the conditions of my being confirmed in this +government_." And although the said Warren Hastings does here artfully +somewhat change the words of his written instructions (and which having +in his possession he might as easily have given verbatim) to other words +which may appear less explicit, yet they are in fact capable of only the +same meaning: for, as, at the time of giving the said instructions to +his agents, he was in full possession of his office, he could want no +confirmation therein except _his own_; and, in such circumstances, "to +require certain things, _as the conditions of his being confirmed in his +government_," is tantamount to a declaration "_that he will not continue +in his government, unless those conditions can be obtained_." And the +said attempt at prevarication can serve, its author the less, as either +both sentences have one and the same meaning, or, if their meaning be +different, the original instructions in his own handwriting, or, in +other words, the thing itself, must be preferred as evidence of its +contents to a loose statement of its purport, founded, perhaps, on a +loose recollection of it at a great distance of time. + +That the said refusal of Warren Hastings, Esquire, was a breach of faith +with the Court of Directors and his Majesty's ministers in England; as +the said resignation was not merely a voluntary offer without any +consideration, and therefore subject to be recalled or retracted at the +pleasure of the said Warren Hastings, but ought rather to be considered +as having been the result of a negotiation carried on between Mr. +Macleane for the benefit of Warren Hastings, Esquire, on the one hand, +and by the Court of Directors for the interests of the Company on the +other: which view of the transaction will appear the more probable, when +it is considered that at the time of the said resignation a strict +inquiry had been carrying on by the Court of Directors into the conduct +of the said Warren Hastings, and the solicitor and counsel to the +Company, and other eminent counsel, had given it as their opinions, on +cases stated to them, that there were grounds for suing the said Warren +Hastings in the courts of law and equity, and that the Company would be +entitled to recover in the said suits against Warren Hastings, Esquire, +several very large sums of money taken by him in his office of +Governor-General, contrary to law, and in breach of his covenants, and +of his duty to the Company and the public; and the Court of Directors +had also come to various severe resolutions of censure against the said +Warren Hastings, and amongst others to a resolution to recall the said +Warren Hastings, and remove him from his office of Governor-General, to +answer for sundry great crimes and delinquencies by him committed in his +said office. And on these accounts it appears probable that the said +resignation was tendered and accepted as a consideration for some +beneficial concessions made in consequence thereof to the said Warren +Hastings in his said dangerous and desperate condition. + +And the said refusal was also an act of great disrespect to the Court of +Directors and to his Majesty, and, by rendering abortive their said +measures, solemnly and deliberately taken, and ratified and confirmed by +his Majesty, tended to bring the authority of the Court of Directors and +of his Majesty into contempt. + +And the said refusal was an injury to General Clavering. + +And was also, or might have been, a great injury to Edward Wheler, +Esquire. + +And was an act of signal treachery to Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, as +also to Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Stewart, whose honors and veracity were +thereby brought into question, doubt, and suspicion. + +And the said refusal was prejudicial to the affairs of the servants of +the Company in India, by shaking the confidence to be placed in their +agents by those persons with whom it might be for their interests to +negotiate on any matter of importance, and by thus subjecting the +communication of persons abroad with those at home to difficulties not +known before. + + + + +X.--SURGEON-GENERAL'S CONTRACT. + + +That the said Warren Hastings, in the year 1777, did grant to the +Surgeon-General a contract for three years, for defraying every kind of +hospital and medicinal expense,--not only in breach of the general +orders of the Court of Directors with respect to the duration of +contracts, but in direct opposition to a particular order of the Court +of Directors, of the 30th of March, 1774, when they directed "that the +Surgeon should not be permitted to enjoy any emolument arising from his +being concerned in dieting the patients, and that the occupations of +surgeon and contractor should be forthwith separated." That the said +contract was in itself highly improper, and inconsistent with the good +of the service; as it afforded the greatest temptation to abuse, and +established a pecuniary interest in the Surgeon-General, contrary to the +duties of his station and profession. + + + + +XI.--CONTRACTS FOR POOLBUNDY REPAIRS. + + +That the Governor-General and Council at Fort William did, on the motion +and recommendation of Warren Hastings, Esquire, enter into a contract +with Archibald Frazer, Esquire, on the 16th of April, 1778, for the +repairs of the pools and banks in the province of Burdwan, for two +years, at the rate of 120,000 sicca rupees for the first year, and +80,000 rupees for the second year. + +That on the 19th of December, 1778, the said Warren Hastings did further +persuade the Supreme Council to prolong the term of the above contract +with Archibald Frazer for the space of three years more on the same +conditions, namely, the payment of 80,000 sicca rupees for each year: to +which was added a permission to Mr. Frazer to make _dobunds_, or special +repairs, whenever he should judge them necessary, at the charge of +government. + +That the said contracts, both in the manner of their acceptance by the +Supreme Council, without having previously advertised for proposals, and +in the extent of their duration, were made in direct violation of the +special orders of the Court of Directors. + +That, so far from any advantage having been obtained for the Company in +the terms of these contracts, in consideration of the length of time for +which they were to continue, the expense of government upon this article +was increased by these engagements to a very great amount. + +That it appears that this contract had been held for some years before +by the Rajah of Burdwan at the rate of 25,000 rupees per annum. + +That the superintendent of poolbundy repairs, after an accurate and +diligent survey of the bunds and pools, and the Provincial Council of +Burdwan, upon the best information they could procure, had delivered it +as their opinion to the Governor-General and Council, before the said +agreement was entered into, that, after the heavy expense stated in Mr. +Kinlock's estimate, viz., 119,405 sicca rupees, if disbursed as they +recommended, the charge in future seasons would be greatly reduced, +_and, after one thorough and effectual repair, they conceived a small +annual expense would be sufficient to keep the bunds up and prevent +their going to decay_. + +That, whatever extraordinary and unusual damages the pools and bunds +might have sustained, either from the neglect of the Rajah's officers, +or from the violence of the then late rains, and the torrents thereby +occasioned, to justify the expense of the first year, yet, as they were +all considered and included in the estimate for that year, there could +be no pretence for allowing and continuing so large and burdensome a +payment as 80,000 rupees per annum for the four succeeding years. + +That the said Warren Hastings did, in his minutes of the 13th of +February, 1778, himself support that opinion, in the comparison to be +made between Mr. Thomson's proposals, of undertaking the same service +for 60,000 rupees a year for nine years, and the terms of Mr. Frazer's +contracts: preferring the latter, because these were "to effect a +complete repair, which could hardly be concluded in one season, and the +subsequent expense would be but trifling." + +Notwithstanding which, the said Warren Hastings urged and prevailed upon +the Council to allow in the first year the full amount proposed by Mr. +Kinlock in his estimate of the necessary repairs, and did burden the +Company with what he must have deemed to be, for the greater part, an +unnecessary expense of 80,000 rupees per annum for four years. + +That the permission granted to Mr. Frazer to make dobunds, or new and +additional embankments in aid of the old ones, whenever he should judge +them necessary, at the charge of government, (the said charge to be +verified by the oath of the said Frazer, without any voucher,) was a +power very much to be suspected, and very improper to be intrusted to a +contractor who had already covenanted to keep the old pools in perfect +repair, and to construct new ones wherever the old pools had been +broken down and washed away, or where the course of the rivers might +have rendered new ones necessary, in consideration of the great sums +stipulated to be paid to him by the government. + +That the grant of the foregoing contracts, and the permission afterwards +annexed to the second of the said grants, become much more reprehensible +from a consideration of the circumstances of the person to whom such a +grant was made. + +That the due performance of the service required local knowledge and +experience, which the said Archibald Frazer, being an officer in the +Supreme Court of Justice, could not have possessed. + + + + +XII.--CONTRACTS FOR OPIUM. + + +That it appears that the opium produced in Bengal and Bahar is a +considerable and lucrative article in the export trade of those +provinces; that the whole produce has been for many years monopolized +either by individuals or by the government; that the Court of Directors +of the East India Company, in consideration of the hardship imposed on +the native owners and cultivators of the lands, who were deprived of +their natural right of dealing with many competitors, and compelled to +sell the produce of their labor to a single monopolist, did authorize +the Governor-General and Council to give up that commodity as an article +of commerce. + +That, while the said commodity continued to be a monopoly for the +benefit of government, and managed by a contractor, the contracts for +providing it were subject to the Company's fundamental regulation, +namely, to be put up to auction, and disposed of to the best bidder; and +that the Company particularly ordered that the commodity, when provided, +should be consigned to the Board of Trade, who were directed to dispose +thereof by public auction. + +That in May, 1777, the said Warren Hastings granted to John Mackenzie a +contract for the provision of opium, to continue three years, and +without advertising for proposals. That this transaction was condemned +by the Court of Directors, notwithstanding a clause had been inserted in +that contract by which it was left open to the Court of Directors to +annul the same at the expiration of the first or second year. + +That, about the end of the year 1780, the said Warren Hastings, in +contradiction to the order above mentioned, did take away the sale of +the opium from the Board of Trade, though he disclaimed, at the same +time, _any intention of implying a censure on their management_. + +That in March, 1781, the said Warren Hastings did grant to Stephen +Sulivan, son of Lawrence Sulivan, Chairman of the Court of Directors of +the East India Company, a contract for the provision of opium, without +advertising for proposals, and without even receiving any written +proposals from him, the said Sulivan; that he granted this contract for +four years, and at the request of the said Sulivan did omit that clause +which was inserted in the preceding contract, and by which it was +rendered liable to be determined by orders from the Company: the said +Warren Hastings declaring, contrary to truth, that such clause was now +unnecessary, as the Directors _had approved_ the contract. + +That the said Sulivan had been but a few months in Bengal when the above +contract was given to him; that he was a stranger to the country, and to +all the local commerce thereof, and therefore unqualified for the +management of such a concern; and that the said Sulivan, instead of +executing the contract himself, did, shortly after obtaining the same, +assign it over to John Benn and others, and in consideration of such +assignment did receive from the said Benn a great sum of money. + +That from the preceding facts, as well as from sundry other +circumstances of restrictions taken off (particularly by abolishing the +office of inspector into the quality of the opium) and of beneficial +clauses introduced, it appears that the said Warren Hastings gave this +contract to the said Stephen Sulivan in contradiction to the orders of +the Court of Directors, and without any regard to the interests of the +India Company, for the sole purpose of creating an instant fortune for +the said Sulivan at the expense of the India Company, without any claim +of service or pretence of merit on his part, and without any apparent +motive whatever, except that of securing or rewarding the attachment and +support of his father, Lawrence Sulivan, a person of great authority and +influence in the direction of the Company's affairs, and notoriously +attached to and connected with the said Warren Hastings. + +That the said Stephen Sulivan neither possessed nor pretended to possess +any skill in the business of his contract; that he exerted no industry, +nor showed or could show any exactness, in the performance of it, since +he immediately sold the contract for a sum of money to another person, +(for the sole purpose of which sale it must be presumed the same was +given,) by which person another profit was to be made; and by that +person the same was again sold to a third, by whom a third profit was to +be made. + +That the said Warren Hastings, at the very time when he engaged the +Company in a contract for engrossing the whole of the opium produced in +Bengal and Bahar in the ensuing four years on terms of such exorbitant +profit to the contractor, affirmed, that "there was little prospect of +selling the opium in Bengal at a reasonable price, and that it was but +natural to suppose that the price of opium _would fall, from the demand +being lessened_"; that in a letter dated the 5th of May, 1781, he +informed the Directors, "that, owing to the indifferent state of the +markets last season to the Eastward, and the very enhanced rates of +insurance which the war had occasioned, they had not been able to +dispose of the opium of the present year to so great an advantage as +they expected, and that more than one half of it remained still in their +warehouses." That the said Warren Hastings was guilty of a manifest +breach of trust to his constituents and his employers in monopolizing, +for their pretended use, an article of commerce for which he declared +_no purchasers had offered, and that there was little prospect of any +offering, and the price of which_, he said, _it was but natural to +suppose would fall_. + +That the said Warren Hastings, having, by his own act, loaded the +Company with a commodity for which, either in the ordinary and regular +course of public auction, or even by private contract, there was, as he +affirmed, no sale, did, under pretence of finding a market for the same, +engage the Company in an enterprise of great and certain expense, +subject to a manifest risk, and full of disgrace to the East India +Company, not only in their political character, as a great sovereign +power in India, but in their commercial character, as an eminent and +respectable body of merchants; and that the execution of this enterprise +was accompanied with sundry other engagements with other persons, in all +of which the Company's interest was constantly sacrificed to that of +individuals favored by the said Warren Hastings. + +That the said Warren Hastings first engaged in a scheme to export one +thousand four hundred and sixty chests of opium, on the Company's +account, on board a ship belonging to Cudbert Thornhill, half of which +was to be disposed of in a coasting voyage, and the remainder in Canton. +That, besides the freight and commission payable to the said Thornhill +on this adventure, twelve pieces of cannon belonging to the Company were +lent for arming the ship; though his original proposal was, that the +ship should be armed at his expense. That this part of the adventure, +depending for its success on a prudent and fortunate management of +various sales and resales in the course of a circuitous voyage, and +being exposed to such risk both of sea and enemy that all private +traders had declined to be concerned in it, was particularly unfit for a +great trading company, and could not be undertaken on their account with +any rational prospect of advantage. + +That the said Warren Hastings soon after engaged in another scheme for +exporting two thousand chests of opium directly to China on the +Company's account, and for that purpose accepted of an offer made by +Henry Watson, the Company's chief engineer, to convey the same in a +vessel of his own, and to deliver it to the Company's supra-cargoes. +That, after the offer of the said Henry Watson had been accepted, a +letter from him was produced at the board, in which he declared that he +was unable to equip the ship with a proper number of cannon, and +requested that he might be furnished with thirty-six guns from the +Company's stores at Madras; with which request the board complied. + +That it appears that George Williamson, the Company's auctioneer at +Calcutta, having complained that by this mode of exporting the opium, +which used to be sold by public auction, he lost his commission as +auctioneer, the board allowed him to draw a commission of one per cent +on all the opium which had been or was to be exported. That it appears +that the contractor for opium (whose proper duties and emoluments as +contractor ended with the delivery of the opium) was also allowed to +draw a commission on the opium then shipping on the Company's account; +but for what reason, or on what pretence, does not appear. + +That the said Warren Hastings, in order to pay the said Stephen Sulivan +in advance for the opium furnished or to be furnished by him in the +first year of his contract, did borrow the sum of twenty lacs of rupees +at eight per cent, or two hundred thousand pounds sterling, to be repaid +by drafts to be drawn on the Company by their supra-cargoes in China, +provided the opium consigned to them should arrive safe; but that, if +the adventure failed, whether by the loss of the ships or otherwise, the +subscribers to the above loan were to be repaid their capital and +interest out of the Company's treasury in Bengal. + +That the said Warren Hastings, having in this manner purchased a +commodity for which he said there was no sale, and paid for it with +money which he was obliged to borrow at a high interest, was still more +criminal in his attempt, or pretended plan, to introduce it +clandestinely into China. That the importation of opium into China is +forbidden by the Chinese government; that the opium, on seizure, is +burnt, the vessel that imports it confiscated, and the Chinese in whose +possession it may be found for sale punished with death. + +That the Governor-General and Council were well aware of the existence +of these prohibitions and penalties, and did therefore inform the +supra-cargoes in China, that the ship belonging to the said Henry Watson +would enter the river at China as an armed ship, _and would not be +reported as bearing a cargo of opium, that being a contraband trade_. + +That, of the above two ships, the first, belonging to Cudbert Thornhill, +was taken by the French; and that the second, arriving in China, did +occasion much embarrassment and distress to the Company's supra-cargoes +there, who had not been previously consulted on the formation of the +plan, and were exposed to great difficulty and hazard in the execution +of their part of it. That the ship was delayed, at a demurrage of an +hundred dollars a day, for upwards of three months, waiting in vain for +a better market. The factory estimate the _loss_ to the Company, +including port charges, demurrage, and factory charges allowed the +captain, at sixty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-three dollars, +or about twenty thousand pounds sterling. + +That the Company's factory at China, after stating the foregoing facts +to the Court of Directors, conclude with the following general +observation thereon. "On a review of these circumstances, with the +extravagant and unusual terms of the freight, demurrage, factory +charges, &c., &c., we cannot help being of opinion that private +considerations have been suffered to interfere too much for any benefit +that may have been intended to the Honorable Company. We hope for the +Honorable Court's approbation of our conduct in this affair. The novelty +and nature of the consignments have been the source of much trouble and +anxiety, and, though we wished to have had it in our power to do more, +we may truly say we have exceeded our expectations." + +That every part of this transaction, from the monopoly with which it +commenced, to the contraband dealing with which it concluded, criminates +the said Warren Hastings with wilful disobedience of orders and a +continued breach of trust; that every step taken in it was attended with +heavy loss to the Company, and with a sacrifice of their interest to +that of individuals; and that, if finally a profit had resulted to the +Company from such a transaction, no profit attending it could compensate +for the probable risk to which their trade in China was thereby exposed, +or for the certain dishonor and consequent distrust which the East India +Company must incur in the eyes of the Chinese government by being +engaged in a low, clandestine traffic, prohibited by the laws of the +country. + + + + +XIII.--APPOINTMENT OF R.J. SULIVAN. + + +That in the month of February, 1781, Mr. Richard Joseph Sulivan, +Secretary to the Select Committee at Fort St. George, applied to them +for leave to proceed to Calcutta _on his private affairs_. That, being +the confidential secretary to the Select Committee at Fort St. George, +and consequently possessed of all the views and secrets of the Company, +as far as they related to that government, he went privately into the +service of the Nabob of Arcot, and, under the pretence of proceeding to +Calcutta on his private business, undertook a commission from the said +Nabob to the Governor-General and Council, to negotiate with them in +favor of certain projects of the said Nabob which had been reprobated by +the Company. + +That the said Sulivan was soon after appointed back again by the said +Warren Hastings to the office of Resident at the Durbar of the said +Nabob of Arcot. That it was a high crime and misdemeanor in the said +Hastings to encourage so dangerous an example in the Company's service, +and to interfere unnecessarily with the government of Madras in the +discharge of the duties peculiarly ascribed to them by the practice and +orders of the Company, for the purpose of appointing to a great and +confidential situation a man who had so recently committed a breach of +trust to his employers. + +That the Court of Directors, in their letter to Bengal, dated the 12th +of July, 1782, and received there on the 18th of February, 1783, did +_condemn and revoke_ the said appointment. That the said Directors, in +theirs to Fort St. George, dated the 28th of August, 1782, and received +there the 31st of January, 1783, did highly condemn the conduct of the +said Sulivan, and, in order to deter their servants from practices of +the same kind, _did dismiss him from their service_. + +That the said Hastings, knowing that the said Sulivan's appointment had +been condemned and revoked by the Court of Directors, and pretending +that on the 15th of March, 1783, he did not know that the said Sulivan +was _dismissed_ from the Company's service, though that fact was known +at Madras on the 31st of the preceding January, did recommend the said +Sulivan to be ambassador at the court of Nizam Ali Khan, Subahdar of the +Deccan, in defiance of the authority and orders of the Court of +Directors. + +That, even admitting, what is highly improbable, that the _dismission_ +of the said Sulivan from the service of the said Company was not known +at Calcutta in forty-three days from Madras, the last-mentioned +nomination of the said Sulivan was made at least in contempt of the +censure already expressed by the Court of Directors at his former +appointment to the Durbar of the Nabob of Arcot, and which was certainly +known to the said Hastings. + + + + +XIV.--RANNA OF GOHUD. + + +That on the 2d of December, 1779, the Governor-General and Council of +Fort William, at the special recommendation and instance of Warren +Hastings, Esquire, then Governor-General, and contrary to the declared +opinion and protest of three of the members of the Council, viz., Philip +Francis and Edward Wheler, Esquires, who were present, and of Sir Eyre +Coote, who was absent, (by whose absence the casting voice of the said +Warren Hastings, Esquire, prevailed,) did conclude a treaty of perpetual +friendship and alliance, offensive and defensive, with a Hindoo prince, +called the Ranna of Gohud, for the express purpose of using the forces +of the said Ranna in opposition to the Mahrattas. + +That, among other articles, it was stipulated with the said Ranna by the +said Warren Hastings, "that, whenever peace should be concluded between +the Company and the Mahratta state, the Maha Rajah should be included as +a party in the treaty which should be made for that purpose, and his +present possessions, together with the fort of Gualior, which of old +belonged to the family of the Maha Rajah, if it should be then in his +possession, and such countries as he should have acquired in the course +of war, and which it should then be stipulated to leave in his hands, +should be guarantied to him by such treaty." + +That, in the late war against the Mahrattas, the said Ranna of Gohud did +actually join the British army under the command of Colonel Muir with +two battalions of infantry and twelve hundred cavalry, and did then +serve in person against the Mahrattas, thereby affording material +assistance, and rendering essential service to the Company. + +That, in conformity to the above-mentioned treaty, in the fourth article +of the treaty of peace concluded on the 13th of October, 1781, between +Colonel Muir, on the part of the English Company, and Mahdajee Sindia, +the Mahratta general, the said Ranna of Gohud was expressly included. + +That, notwithstanding the said express provision and agreement, Mahdajee +Sindia proceeded to attack the forts and lay waste the territories of +the said Ranna, and did undertake and prosecute a war against him for +the space of two years, in the course of which the Ranna and his family +were reduced to extreme distress, and in the end he was deprived of his +forts, and the whole not only of his acquired possessions, but of his +original dominions, so specially guarantied to him by the British +government in both the above-mentioned treaties. + +That the said Warren Hastings was duly and regularly informed of the +progress of the war against the Ranna, and of every event thereof; +notwithstanding which, he not only neglected in any manner to interfere +therein in favor of the said Ranna, or to use any endeavors to prevent +the infraction of the treaty, but gave considerable countenance and +encouragement to Mahdajee Sindia in his violation of it, both by the +residence of the British minister in the Mahratta camp, and by the +approbation shown by the said Warren Hastings to the promises made by +his agent of observing the strictest neutrality, notwithstanding he was +in justice bound, and stood pledged by the most solemn and sacred +engagements, to protect and preserve the said Ranna from those enemies, +whose resentment he had provoked only by his adherence to the interests +of the British nation. + +That, in the only attempt made to sound the disposition of Mahdajee +Sindia relative to a pacification between him and the Ranna of Gohud, on +the 14th of May, 1783, Mr. Anderson, in obedience to the orders he had +received, did clearly and explicitly declare to Bhow Bucksey, the +minister of Mahdajee Sindia, the sentiments of the said Warren Hastings +in the words following: "That it was so far from your [the said +Hastings's] meaning to intercede in his [the said Ranna's] favor, that I +only desired him to sound Sindia's sentiments, and, in case he was +desirous of peace, to mention what I had said; but if he seemed to +prefer carrying on the war, I begged that he would not mention a +syllable of what had passed, but let the matter drop entirely." + +That it afterwards appeared, in a minute of the said Hastings in Council +at Fort William, on the 22d of September, 1783, that he promised, at the +instance of a member of the Council, to write to Lieutenant James +Anderson in favor of the Ranna of Gohud, and lay his letter before the +board. + +That, nevertheless, the said Hastings, professing _not to recollect_ his +said promise, _did neglect to write a formal letter to Lieutenant +Anderson in favor of the said Ranna of Gohud_, and that the private +letter, the extract of which the said Hastings did lay before the board +on the 21st of October, 1783, so far from directing any effectual +interference in favor of the said Ranna, or commanding his agent, the +said James Anderson, to interpose the mediation of the British +government to procure "_honorable terms_" for the said Ranna, or even +"_safety to his person and family_," contains the bitterest invectives +against him, and is expressive of the satisfaction which the said +Hastings acknowledges himself to have enjoyed in the distresses of the +said Ranna, the ally of the Company. + +That the measures therein recommended appear rather to have been +designed to satisfy Mahdajee Sindia, and to justify the conduct of the +British government in not having taken a more active and a more hostile +part against the said Ranna, than an intercession on his behalf. + +That, though no consideration of good faith or observance of treaties +could induce the said Hastings to incur the hazard of any hostile +exertion of the British force for the defence or the relief of the +allies of the Company, yet in the said private letter he directed, +that, in case his mediation should be accepted, it should be made _a +specific condition_, that, _if the said Ranna should take advantage of +Sindia's absence to renew his hostilities, we ought, in that case, on +requisition, to invade the dominions of the Ranna_. + +That no beneficial effects could have been procured to the said Ranna by +an offer of mediation delayed till Sindia no longer wanted "_our +assistance to crush so fallen an enemy_," at the same time that no +reason was given to Sindia to apprehend the danger of drawing upon +himself the resentment of the British government by a disregard of their +proposal and the destruction of their ally. + +That it was a gross and scandalous mockery in the said Hastings to defer +an application to obtain honorable terms for the Ranna, and safety for +his person and family, till he had been deprived of his principal fort, +in defence of which his uncle lost his life, and on the capture of +which, his wife, to avoid the dishonor consequent upon falling into the +hands of her enemies, _had destroyed herself by an explosion of +gunpowder_. + +That, however, it does not appear that any offer of mediation was ever +actually made, or any influence exerted, either for the safety of the +Ranna's person and family or in mitigation of the _rigorous intentions_ +supposed by Lieutenant Anderson[4] to have been entertained against him +by Mahdajee Sindia after his surrender. + +That the said Hastings, in the instructions[5] given by him to Mr. David +Anderson for his conduct in negotiating the treaty of peace with the +Mahrattas, expressed his determination to desert the Ranna of Gohud in +the following words. "You will of course be attentive to any engagements +subsisting between us and other powers, in settling the terms of peace +and alliance with the Mahrattas. I except from this the Ranna of +Gohud.... Leave him to settle his own affairs with the Mahrattas." + +That the said Anderson appears very assiduously to have sought for +grounds to justify the execution of this part of his instructions, to +which, however, he was at all events obliged to conform. + +That, even after his application for that purpose to the Mahrattas, +whose testimony was much to be suspected, because it was their interest +to accuse and their determined object to destroy the said Ranna, no +satisfactory proof was obtained of his defection from the engagements he +had entered into with the Company. + +That, moreover, if all the charges which have been pretended against the +Ranna, and have been alleged by the said Hastings in justification of +his conduct, had been well founded and proved to be true, the +subject-matter of those accusations and the proofs by which they wore to +be supported were known to Colonel Muir before the conclusion of the +treaty he entered into with Mahdajee Sindia; and therefore, whatever +suspicions may have been entertained or whatever degree of criminality +may have been proved against the said Ranna previous to the said treaty, +from the time he was so provided for and included in the said treaty he +was fully and justly entitled to the security stipulated for him by the +Company, and had a right to demand and receive the protection of the +British government. + +That these considerations were urged by Mr. Anderson to the said Warren +Hastings, in his letter of the 24th of June, 1781, and were enforced by +this additional argument,--"that, in point of policy, I believe, it +ought not to be our wish that the Mahrattas should ever recover the +fortress of Gualior. It forms an important barrier to our own +possessions. In the hands of the Ranna it can be of no prejudice to us; +and notwithstanding the present prospect of a permanent peace betwixt us +and the Mahrattas, it seems highly expedient that there should always +remain some strong barrier to separate us, on this side of India, from +that warlike and powerful nation." + +That the said Warren Hastings was highly culpable in abandoning the said +Ranna to the fury of his enemies, thereby forfeiting the honor and +injuring the credit of the British nation in India, notwithstanding the +said Hastings was fully convinced, and had professed, "that the most +sacred observance of treaties, justice, and good faith were necessary to +the existence of the national interests in that country," and though the +said Hastings has complained of the insufficiency of the laws of this +kingdom to enforce this doctrine "by the punishment of persons in the +possession of power, who may be impelled by the provocation of ambition, +avarice, or vengeance, stronger than the restrictions of integrity and +honor, to the violation of this just and wise maxim." + +That the said Hastings, in thus departing from these his own principles, +with a full and just sense of the guilt he would thereby incur, and in +sacrificing the allies of this country "_to the provocations of +ambition, avarice, or vengeance_," in violation of the national faith +and justice, did commit a gross and wilful breach of his duty, and was +thereby guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor. + + + + +XV.--REVENUES. + + +PART I. + +That the property of the lands of Bengal is, according to the laws and +customs of that country, an inheritable property, and that it is, with +few exceptions; vested in certain natives, called _zemindars_, or +landholders, under whom other natives, called _talookdars_ and _ryots_, +hold certain subordinate rights of property or occupancy in the said +lands. That the said natives are Hindoos, and that their _rights and +privileges are grounded upon the possession of regular grants, a long +series of family succession, and fair purchase_. That it appears that +Bengal has been under the dominion of the Mogul, and subject to a +Mahomedan government, for above two hundred years. That, while the Mogul +government was in its vigor, the property of zemindars was _held +sacred_, and that, either by voluntary grant from the said Mogul or by +composition with him, the native Hindoos were left in the free, quiet, +and undisturbed possession of their lands, on the single condition of +paying a fixed, certain, and unalterable revenue, or quit-rent, to the +Mogul government. That this revenue, or quit-rent, was called the +_aussil jumma_, or _original ground-rent_, of the provinces, and was not +increased from the time when it was first settled in 1573 to 1740, when +the regular and effective Mogul government ended. That, from that time +to 1765, invasions, usurpations, and various revolutions took place in +the government of Bengal, in consequence of which the country was +considerably reduced and impoverished, when the East India Company +received from the present Mogul emperor, Shah Allum, a grant of the +_dewanny_, or collection of the revenues. That about the year 1770 the +provinces of Bengal and Bahar were visited with a dreadful famine and +mortality, by which at least one third of the inhabitants perished. That +Warren Hastings, Esquire, has declared, "that he had always heard the +loss of inhabitants reckoned at a third, and in many places near one +half of the whole, and that he knew not by what means such a loss could +be recruited in four or five years, and believed it impossible." That, +nevertheless, the revenue was _violently kept up to its former +standard_,--that is, in the two years immediately preceding the +appointment of the said Warren Hastings to the government of Fort +William,--in consequence of which _the remaining two thirds of the +inhabitants were obliged to pay for the lands now left without +cultivation_; and that from the year 1770 to the year 1775 _the country +had languished, and the evil continued enhancing every day_. That the +said Warren Hastings, in a letter to the Secret Committee of the Court +of Directors, dated 1st September, 1772, declared, "that the lands had +suffered unheard-of depopulation by the famine and mortality of 1769; +that the collections, _violently kept up to their former standard_, had +added to the distress of the country, and threatened a general decay of +the revenue, unless immediate remedies were applied to prevent it." That +the said Warren Hastings has declared, "that, by intrusting the +collections to the hereditary zemindars, the people would be treated +with _more tenderness_, the rents more improved, and cultivation more +likely to be encouraged; that _they_ have a perpetual interest in the +country; that _their_ inheritance cannot be removed; that _they_ are the +proprietors; that the lands are _their_ estates, and _their_ +inheritance; that, from a long continuance of the lands in their +families, it is to be concluded they have riveted an authority in the +district, acquired an ascendency over the minds of the ryots, and +_ingratiated their affections_; that, from continuing the lands under +the management of those who have a natural and perpetual interest in +their prosperity, solid advantages might be expected to accrue; that the +zemindar would be less liable to failure or deficiencies than the +farmer, from the perpetual interest which the former hath in the +country, and because his inheritance cannot be removed, and it would be +improbable that he should risk the loss of it by eloping from his +district, which is too frequently practised by a farmer when he is +hard-pressed for the payment of his balances, and as frequently +predetermined when he receives his farm." That, notwithstanding all the +preceding declarations made by the said Warren Hastings of the loss of +one third of the inhabitants and general decline of the country, he did, +immediately after his appointment to the government, in the year 1772, +make an arbitrary settlement of the revenues for five years at a higher +rate than had ever been received before, and with a progressive and +accumulating increase on each of the four last years of the said +settlement. + +That, notwithstanding the right of property and inheritance, repeatedly +acknowledged by the said Warren Hastings to be in the zemindars and +other native landholders, and notwithstanding he had declared "that the +security of private property is the greatest encouragement to industry, +on which the wealth of every state depends," the said Warren Hastings, +nevertheless, in direct violation of those acknowledged rights and +principles, did universally let the lands of Bengal _in farm_ for five +years,--thereby destroying all the rights of private property of the +zemindars,--thereby delivering the management of their estates to +farmers, and transferring by a most arbitrary and unjust act of power +the whole landed property of Bengal from the owners to strangers. That, +to accomplish this iniquitous purpose, he, the said Warren Hastings, did +put the lands of Bengal up to a pretended public auction, _and invited +all persons to make proposals for farming the same_, thereby encouraging +strangers to bid against the proprietors,--in consequence of which, not +only the said proprietors were ousted of the possession and management +of their estates, but a great part of the lands fell into the hands of +the banians, or principal black servants of British subjects connected +with and protected by the government; and that the said Warren Hastings +himself has since declared, that _by this way the lands too generally +fell into the hands of desperate or knavish adventurers_.[6] That, +before the measure hereinbefore described was carried into execution, +the said Warren Hastings did establish certain fundamental regulations +in Council, to be observed in executing the same.[7] That among these +regulations it was specially and strictly ordered, that no farm should +exceed the annual amount of _one_ lac of rupees, and "that no peshcar, +banian, or other servant, of whatever denomination, of the collector, or +relation or dependant of any such servant, should be allowed to farm +lands, nor directly or indirectly to hold a concern in any farm, nor to +be security for any farmer." That, in direct violation of these his own +regulations, and in breach of the public trust reposed in him, and +sufficiently declared by the manifest duty of his station, if it had not +been expressed and enforced by any positive institution, he, the said +Warren Hastings, did permit and suffer his own banian or principal black +steward, named Cantoo Baboo, to hold farms in different purgunnahs, or +districts, or to be security for farms, to the amount of thirteen lac of +rupees (130,000_l._ or upwards) per annum; and that, after enjoying the +whole of those farms for two years, he was permitted by the said Warren +Hastings to relinquish two of them. That on the subject of the farms +held by Cantoo Baboo the said Warren Hastings has made the following +declaration. "Many of his farms were taken without my knowledge, and +almost all against my advice. I had no right to use compulsion or +authority; nor could I with justice exclude him, because he was my +servant, from a liberty allowed to all other persons in the country. The +farms which he quitted he quitted by my advice, because I thought that +he might engage himself beyond his abilities, and be involved in +disputes, which I did not choose to have come before me as judge of +them."[8] That the said declaration contains sundry false and +contradictory assertions: that, if _almost all_ the said farms were +taken against his advice, it cannot be true that _many_ of them were +taken without his knowledge; that, whether Cantoo Baboo had been his +servant or not, the said Warren Hastings was bound by his own +regulations to prevent his holding any farms to a greater amount than +one lac of rupees per annum, and that the said Cantoo Baboo, being the +servant of the Governor-General, was excluded by the said regulations +from holding any farms whatever; that, if (as the Directors observe) it +was thought dangerous to permit the banian of a collector to be +concerned in farms, the same or stronger objections would always lie +against the Governor's banian being so concerned; that the said Warren +Hastings had a right, and was bound by his duty, to prevent his servant +from holding the same; that, in advising the said Cantoo Baboo to +relinquish some of the said farms, for which he was actually engaged, he +has acknowledged an influence over his servant, and has used that +influence for a purpose inconsistent with his duty to the India Company, +namely, to deprive them of the security of the said Cantoo Baboo's +engagement for farms which on trial he had found not beneficial, or not +likely to continue beneficial, to himself; and that, if it was improper +that he, the said Warren Hastings, should be the judge of any disputes +in which his servant might be involved on account of his farms, that +reason ought to have obliged him to prevent his servant from being +engaged in any farms whatever, or to have advised his said servant to +relinquish the remainder of his farms, as well as those which the said +Warren Hastings affirms he quitted by his advice. That on the subject of +the said charge the Court of Directors of the East India Company have +come to the following resolution: "_Resolved_, That it appears that the +conduct of the late President and Council of Fort William in Bengal, in +suffering Cantoo Baboo, the present Governor-General's banian, to hold +farms in different purgunnahs to a large amount, or to be security for +such farms, contrary to the tenor and spirit of the 17th regulation of +the Committee of Revenue at Fort William, of the 14th May, 1772, and +afterwards relinquishing that security without satisfaction made to the +Company, was highly improper, and has been attended with considerable +loss to the Company"; and that in the whole of this transaction the said +Warren Hastings has been guilty of gross collusion with his servant, and +manifest breach of trust to his employers. + +That, whereas it was acknowledged by the said Warren Hastings, that the +country, in the years 1770 and 1771, had suffered great depopulation and +decay, and that the collections of those years, having been violently +kept up to their former standard, had added to the distress of the +country, the settlement of the revenues made by him for five years, +commencing the 1st May, 1772, instead of offering any abatement or +relief to the inhabitants who had survived the famine, held out to the +East India Company a promise of great _increase_ of revenue, to be +exacted from the country by the means hereinbefore described. That this +settlement was not realized, but fell considerably short, even in the +first of the five years, when the demand was the lightest; and that on +the whole of the five years the real collections fell short of the +settlement to the enormous amount of two millions and a half sterling, +and upwards. That such a settlement, if it had been or could have been +rigorously exacted from a country already so distressed, and from a +population so impaired, that, in the belief of the said Warren Hastings, +it was impossible such loss could be recruited in four or five years, +would have been in fact, what it appeared to be in form, an act of the +most cruel and tyrannical oppression; but that the real use made of that +unjust demand upon the natives of Bengal was, to oblige them to +compound privately with the persons who formed the settlement, and who +threatened to enforce it. That the enormous balances and remissions on +that settlement arose from a general collusion between the farmers and +collectors, and from a general peculation and embezzlement of the +revenues, by which the East India Company was grossly imposed on, in the +first instance, by a promised _increase_ of revenue, and defrauded, in +the second, not only by the failure of that _increase_, but by the +revenues falling short of what they were in the two years preceding the +said settlement to a great amount. That the said Warren Hastings, being +then at the head of the government of Bengal, was a party to all the +said imposition, fraud, peculation, and embezzlement, and is principally +and specially answerable for the same; and that, whereas sundry proofs +of the said peculation and embezzlement were brought before the Court of +Directors, the said Directors (in a letter dated the 4th of March, 1778, +and signed by William Devaynes and Nathaniel Smith, Esquires, now +Chairman and Deputy-Chairman of the said Court, and members of this +House) did declare, that, "although it was rather their wish to prevent +future evils than to enter into a severe retrospection of past abuses, +yet, as in some of the cases then before them they conceived there had +been _flagrant corruption_, and in others great oppressions committed on +the native inhabitants, they thought it unjust to suffer the delinquents +to pass wholly unpunished, and therefore they directed the +Governor-General and Council forthwith to commence a prosecution against +the persons who composed the Committee of Circuit, and their +representatives, and against all other proper parties"; but that the +prosecutions so ordered by the Court of Directors in the year 1778 have +never been brought to trial; and that the said Warren Hastings did, on +the 23d of December, 1783, propose and carry it in Council, _that orders +should be given for withdrawing_ the said prosecutions,--declaring, that +he was clearly of opinion that there was no ground to maintain them, and +_that they would only be productive of expense to the Company and +unmerited vexation to the parties_. + + +REVENUES. + +PART II. + +That the said Warren Hastings has on sundry occasions declared his +deliberate opinion generally against all innovations, and particularly +in the collection and management of the revenues of Bengal: that "he was +well aware of the expense and inconvenience _which ever attends +innovations of all kinds_, on, their first institution;[9]--that +innovations are _always_ attended with difficulties and inconveniences, +and innovations in the revenue with a suspension of the +collections;[10]--that the continual variations in the mode of +collecting the revenue, and the continual usurpation on the rights of +the people, have fixed in the minds of the ryots a rooted distrust of +the ordinances of government."[11] That the Court of Directors have +repeatedly declared their apprehensions "that a sudden transition from +one mode to another, in the investigation and collection of their +revenue, might have alarmed the inhabitants, lessened their confidence +in the Company's proceedings, and been attended with other evils."[12] + +That the said Warren Hastings, immediately after his appointment to the +government of Fort William, in April, 1772, did abolish the office of +_Naib Dewan_, or native collector of the revenues, then existing; that +he did at the same time appoint a committee of the board to go on a +circuit through the provinces, and to form a settlement of the revenues +for five years; that he did then appoint sundry of the Company's +servants to have the management of the collections, viz., one in each +district, under the title of _Collector_; that he did then abolish the +General Board of Revenue or Council at Moorshedabad, for the following +reasons: "That, while the controlling and executive part of the revenue +and the correspondence with the collectors was carried on by a council +at Moorshedabad, the members of the administration at Calcutta had no +opportunity of acquiring that thorough and comprehensive knowledge which +could only result from _practical experience_; that the orders of the +Court of Directors, which established a new system, which enjoined many +new regulations and inquiries, could not properly be delegated to a +subordinate council, and it became absolutely necessary that the +business of the revenue should be conducted _under the immediate +observation and direction of the board_."[13]--That in November, 1773, +the said Warren Hastings abolished the office of Collector, and +transferred the collection and management of the revenues to several +councils of revenue, commonly called _Provincial Councils_. That on the +24th of October, 1774, the said Warren Hastings _earnestly offered his +advice_ (to the Governor-General and Council, then newly appointed by +act of Parliament) _for the continuation of the said system of +Provincial Councils in all its parts_. That the said Warren Hastings +did, on the 22d of April, 1775, transmit to the Directors a formal plan +for the future settlement of the revenues, and did therein declare, +that, "with respect to the mode of managing the collection of the +revenue and the administration of justice, none occurred to him so good +as the system which was already established of Provincial Councils." +That on the 18th of January, 1776, the said Warren Hastings did transmit +to the Court of Directors a plan for the better administration of +justice, that in this plan the establishment of the said Provincial +Councils was specially provided for and confirmed, and that Warren +Hastings did recommend it to the Directors _to obtain the sanction of +Parliament for a confirmation of the said plan_. That on the 30th of +April, 1776, the said Warren Hastings did transmit to the Court of +Directors the draft or scheme of an act of Parliament for the better +administration of justice in the provinces, in which the said +establishment of Provincial Councils is again specially included, and +special jurisdiction assigned to the said Councils. That the Court of +Directors, in a letter dated 5th of February, 1777, did give the +following instruction to the Governor-General and Council, a majority of +whom, viz., Sir John Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis, had +disapproved of the plan of Provincial Councils: "If you are fully +convinced that the establishment of Provincial Councils has not answered +nor is not capable of answering the purposes intended by such +institutions, we hereby direct you to form a new plan for the collection +of the revenues, and to transmit the same to _us for our +consideration_."--That the said Warren Hastings, in contradiction to his +own sentiments repeatedly declared, and to his own advice repeatedly +and deliberately given, and in defiance of the orders of the Directors, +to whom he transmitted no previous communication whatever of his +intention to abolish the said Provincial Councils, did, in the beginning +of the year 1781, again change the whole system of the collections of +the public revenue of Bengal, as also the administration of civil and +criminal justice throughout the provinces. That the said Warren +Hastings, in a letter dated 5th of May, 1781, advising the Court of +Directors of the said changes, has falsely affirmed, "that the plan of +superintending and collecting the public revenue of the provinces +through the agency of Provincial Councils had been instituted for the +temporary and declared purpose of introducing another more permanent +mode _by an easy and gradual change_"; that, on the contrary, the said +Warren Hastings, from the year 1773 to the year 1781, has constantly and +uniformly insisted on the wisdom of that institution, and on the +necessity of never departing from it; that he has in that time +repeatedly advised that the said institution should be confirmed _in +perpetuity_ by an act of Parliament; that the said total dissolution of +the Provincial Councils was not introduced by any easy and gradual +change, nor by any gradations whatever, but was sudden and unprepared, +and instantly accomplished by a single act of power; and that the said +Warren Hastings, in the place of the said Councils, has substituted a +Committee of Revenue, consisting of four covenanted servants, on +principles opposite to those which he had himself professed, and with +exclusive powers, tending to deprive the members of the Supreme Council +of a due knowledge of and inspection into the management of the +territorial revenues, specially and unalienably vested by the +legislature in the Governor-General and Council, and to vest the same +solely and entirely in the said Warren Hastings. That the reasons +assigned by the said Warren Hastings for constituting the said Committee +of Revenue are incompatible with those which he professed when he +abolished the subordinate Council of Revenue at Moorshedabad: that he +has invested the said Committee _in the fullest manner with all the +powers and authority of the Governor-General and Council_; that he has +thereby contracted the whole power and office of the Provincial Councils +into a small compass, and vested the same in four persons appointed by +himself; that he has thereby taken the general transaction and +cognizance of revenue business out of the Supreme Council; that the said +Committee are empowered to conduct the current business of the revenue +department without reference to the Supreme Council, and only _report to +the board such extraordinary occurrences, claims, and proposals as may +require the special orders of the board_; that even the instruction to +report to the board in extraordinary cases is nugatory and fallacious, +being accompanied with limitations which make it impossible for the said +board to decide on any questions whatsoever: since it is expressly +provided by the said Warren Hastings, _that, if the members of the +Committee differ in opinion, it is not expected that every dissentient +opinion should be recorded_; consequently the Supreme Council, on any +reference to their board, can see nothing but the resolutions or reasons +of the majority of the Committee, without the arguments on which the +dissentient opinions might be founded: and since it is also expressly +provided by the said Warren Hastings, that _the determination of the +majority of the Committee should not therefore be stayed, unless it +should be so agreed by the majority_,--that is, that, notwithstanding +the reference to the Supreme Council, the measure shall be executed +without waiting for their decision. + +That the said Warren Hastings has delivered his opinion, with many +arguments to support the same, in favor of long leases of the lands, in +preference to _annual_ settlements: that he has particularly declared, +"that the farmer who holds his farm for one year only, having no +interest in the next, takes what he can with the hand of rigor, which, +even in the execution of legal claims, is often equivalent to violence; +he is under the necessity of being rigid, and _even cruel_,--for what is +left in arrear after the expiration of his power is at best a doubtful +debt, if ever recoverable; he will be tempted to exceed the bounds of +right, and to augment his income by irregular exactions, and by racking +the tenants, for which pretences will not be wanting, where the farms +pass _annually_ from one hand to another; that the discouragements which +the tenants feel from being transferred every year to new landlords are +a great objection to such short leases; that they contribute to injure +the cultivation and dispeople the lands; that, on the contrary, from +long farms the farmer acquires a permanent interest in his lands; he +will, for his own sake, lay out money in assisting his tenants in +improving lands already cultivated, and in clearing and cultivating +waste lands."[14] That, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings, having +left it to the discretion of the Committee of Revenue, appointed by him +in 1781, to fix the time for which the ensuing settlement should be +made, and the said Committee having declared, that, _with respect to the +period of the lease, in general, it appeared to the Committee that to +limit them to one year would be the best period_, he, the said Warren +Hastings, approved of that limitation, in manifest contradiction to all +his own arguments, professions, and declarations concerning the fatal +consequences of _annual_ leases of the lands; that in so doing the said +Warren Hastings did not hold himself bound or restrained by the orders +of the Court of Directors, but acted upon his own discretion; and that +he has, for partial and interested purposes, exercised that discretion +in particular instances against his own general settlement for one year, +by granting perpetual leases of farms and zemindaries to persons +specially favored by him, and particularly by granting a perpetual lease +of the zemindary of Baharbund to his servant Cantoo Baboo on very low +terms. + +That in all the preceding transactions the said Warren Hastings did act +contrary to his duty as Governor of Fort William, contrary to the orders +of his employers, and contrary to his own declared sense of expediency, +consistency, and justice, and thereby did harass and afflict the +inhabitants of the provinces with perpetual changes in the system and +execution of the government placed over them, and with continued +innovations and exactions, against the rights of the said +inhabitants,--thereby destroying all security to private property, and +all confidence in the good faith, principles, and justice of the British +government. And that the said Warren Hastings, having substituted his +own instruments to be the managers and collectors of the public revenue, +in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, did act in manifest breach and +defiance of an act of the 13th of his present Majesty, by which _the +ordering and management and government of all the territorial revenues +in the kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa_ were vested in the +Governor-General and Council, without any power of delegating the said +trust and duty to any other persons; and that, by such unlawful +delegation of the powers of the Council to a subordinate board appointed +by himself, he, the said Warren Hastings, did in effect unite and vest +in his own person the ordering, government, and management of all the +said territorial revenues; and that for the said illegal act he, the +said Warren Hastings, is solely answerable, the same having been +proposed and resolved in Council when the Governor-General and Council +consisted but of two persons present,--namely, the said Warren Hastings, +and the late Edward Wheler, Esquire, and when consequently the +Governor-General, by virtue of the casting voice, possessed the whole +power of the government. That, in all the changes and innovations +hereinbefore described, the pretence used by the said Warren Hastings to +recommend and justify the same to the Court of Directors has been, that +such changes and innovations would be attended with increase of revenue +or diminution of expense to the East India Company; that such pretence, +if true, would not have been a justification of such acts; but that such +pretence is false and groundless: that during the administration of the +said Warren Hastings the territorial revenues have declined; that the +charges of collecting the same have greatly increased; and that the said +Warren Hastings, by his neglect, mismanagement, and by a direct and +intended waste of the Company's property, is chargeable with and +answerable for all the said decline of revenue, and all the said +increase of expense. + + + + +XVI.--MISDEMEANORS IN OUDE. + + +I. That the province of Oude and its dependencies were, before their +connection with and subordination to the Company, in a flourishing +condition with regard to culture, commerce, and population, and their +rulers and principal nobility maintained themselves in a state of +affluence and splendor; but very shortly after the period aforesaid, the +prosperity both of the country and its chiefs began sensibly and rapidly +to decline, insomuch that the revenue of the said province, which, on +the lowest estimation, had been found, in the commencement of the +British influence, at upwards of three millions sterling annually, (and +that ample revenue raised without detriment to the country,) did not in +the year 1779 exceed the sum of 1,500,000_l._, and in the subsequent +years did fall much short of that sum, although the rents were generally +advanced, and the country grievously oppressed in order to raise it. + +II. That in the aforesaid year, 1779, the demands of the East India +Company on the Nabob of Oude are stated by Mr. Purling, their Resident +at the court of Oude, to amount to the sum of 1,360,000_l._ sterling and +upwards, leaving (upon the supposition that the whole revenue should +amount to the sum of 1,500,000_l._ sterling, to which it did not amount) +no more than 140,000_l._ sterling for the support of the dignity of the +household and family of the Nabob, and for the maintenance of his +government, as well as for the payment of the public debts due within +the province. + +III. That by the treaty of Fyzabad a regular brigade of the Company's +troops, to be stationed in the dominions of the Nabob of Oude, was kept +up at the expense of the said Nabob; in addition to which a temporary +brigade of the same troops was added to his establishment, together with +several detached corps in the Company's service, and a great part of his +own native Troops were put under the command of British officers. + +IV. That the expense of the Company's temporary brigade increased in the +same year (the year of 1779) upwards of 80,000_l._ sterling above the +estimate, and the expense of the country troops under British officers +in the same period increased upwards of 40,000_l._ sterling; and in +addition to the aforesaid ruinous expenses, a large civil establishment +was gradually, secretly, and without any authority from the Court of +Directors, or record in the books of the Council-General concerning the +same, formed for the Resident, and another under Mr. Wombwell, an agent +for the Company; as also several pensions and allowances, in the same +secret and clandestine manner, were charged on the revenues of the said +Nabob for the benefit of British subjects, besides large occasional +gifts to persons in the Company's service. + +V. That in the month of November, 1779, the said Nabob did represent to +Mr. Purling, the Company's Resident aforesaid, the distressed state of +his revenues in the following terms. "During three years past, the +expense occasioned by the troops in brigade, and others commanded by +European officers, has much distressed the support of my household, +insomuch that the allowances made to the seraglio and children of the +deceased Nabob have been reduced to _one fourth_ of what it had been, +upon which they have subsisted in a very distressed manner for two years +past. The attendants, writers, and servants, &c., of my court, have +received no pay for two years past; and there is at present no part of +the country that can be allotted to the payment of my father's private +creditors, whose applications are daily pressing upon me. All these +difficulties I have for these three years past struggled through, and +found this consolation therein, that it was complying with the pleasure +of the Honorable Company, and in the hope that the Supreme Council would +make inquiry from impartial persons into my distressed situation; but I +am now forced to a representation. From the _great increase of expense_, +the revenues were necessarily farmed out _at a high rate;_ and +deficiencies followed yearly. The country and cultivation is abandoned; +and this year in particular, from the excessive drought, deductions of +many lacs" (stated by the Resident, in his letter to the board of the +13th of the month following, to amount to twenty-five lac, or +250,000_l._ sterling) "have been allowed the farmers, who were still +left unsatisfied. I have received but just sufficient to support my +absolute necessities, the revenues being deficient to the amount of +fifteen lac [150,000_l._ sterling], and for this reason many of the old +chieftains with their troops, and the useful attendants of the court, +were forced to leave it, and there is now only a few foot and horse for +the collection of my revenues; and should the zemindars be refractory, +there is not left a sufficient number to reduce them to obedience." And +the said Nabob did therefore pray that the assignments for the new +brigade, the corps of horse, and the other detached bodies of the +Company's troops might not be required from him: alleging, "that the +former was not only quite useless to his government, but, moreover, the +cause of much loss, both in the revenues and customs; and that the +detached bodies of troops under their European officers brought nothing +but confusion into the affairs of his government, and were entirely +their own masters." + +VI. That it appears that the said Nabob was not bound by any treaty to +the maintenance, without his consent, _even of the old brigade_,--the +Court of Directors having, in their letter of the 15th December, 1775, +approved of keeping the same in his service, "_provided it was done with +the free consent of the Subah, and by no means without it_." And the +_new brigade_ and temporary corps were raised on the express condition, +that the expense thereof should be charged on the Nabob only "_for so +long a time as he should require the corps for his service_." And the +Court of Directors express to the Governor-General and Council their +sense of the said agreement in the following terms: "But if you intend +to exert your influence first to induce the Vizier to acquiesce in your +proposal, and afterwards _to compel him to keep the troops in his pay +during your pleasure, your intents are unjust; and a correspondent +conduct would reflect great dishonor on the Company_." + +VII. That, in answer to the decent and humble representation aforesaid +of the Nabob of Oude, the allegations of which, so far as they relate to +the distressed state of the Nabob's finances, and his total inability to +discharge the demands made on him, were confirmed by the testimony of +the English Resident at Oude, and which the said Hastings did not deny +in the whole or in any part thereof, he, the said Warren Hastings, did, +on pretence of certain political dangers, declare the relief desired to +be "without hesitation _totally_ inadmissible," and did falsely and +maliciously insinuate, "that the _tone_ in which the demands of the +Nabob were asserted, and the season in which they were made, did give +cause for _the most alarming suspicions_." And the said Warren Hastings +did, in a letter to the Nabob aforesaid, written in haughty and insolent +language, and without taking any notice of the distresses of the said +Nabob, alleged and verified as before recited, "require and insist upon +your [the Nabob's] granting _tuncaws_ [assignments] for the full amount +of their [the Company's] demands upon you for the current year, and on +your reserving funds sufficient to answer them, _even should the +deficiencies of your revenues compel you to leave your own troops +unprovided for, or to disband a part of them to enable you to effect +it_." + +VIII. That, in a letter written at the same time to the Resident, +Purling, and intended for his directions in enforcing on the Nabob the +unjust demands aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings hath asserted, in +direct contradiction to the treaties subsisting between the said Nabob +and the Company, "that he [the Nabob] stands engaged to our government +to maintain the English armies which at his own request have been formed +for the protection of his dominions, and _that it is our part, and not +his, to judge and determine in what manner and at what time these shall +be reduced and withdrawn_." And in a Minute of Consultation, when the +aforesaid measure was proposed by the said Hastings to the Supreme +Council, he did affirm and maintain that the troops aforesaid "had now +no _separate_ or distinct existence from ours, and may be properly said +to consist of our _whole_ military establishment, with the exception +only of our European infantry; and that they could not be withdrawn +without imposing on the Company _the additional burden of them_, or +disbanding nine battalions of disciplined sepoys and three regiments of +horse." + +IX. That in the Minute of Consultation aforesaid, he, the said Warren +Hastings, hath further, in justification of the violent and arbitrary +proceedings aforesaid, asserted, "that the arrangement of measures +between the British government and their allies, the native powers of +India, must, in case of disagreement about the necessity thereof, _be +decided by the strongest_"; and hath thereby advanced a dangerous and +most indecently expressed position, subversive of the rights of allies, +and tending to breed war and confusion, instead of cordiality and +cooeperation amongst them, and to destroy all confidence of the princes +of India in the faith and justice of the English nation. And the said +Hastings, having further, in the minute aforesaid, presumed to threaten +to "bring to punishment, if my influence" (his, the said Hastings's, +influence) "can produce that effect, _those incendiaries_ who have +endeavored to make themselves the instruments of division between us," +hath, as far as in him lay, obstructed the performance of one of the +most essential duties of a prince engaged in an unequal alliance with a +presiding state,--that of representing the grievances of his subjects to +that more powerful state by whose acts they suffer: leaving thereby the +governing power in total ignorance of the effects of its own measures, +and to the oppressed people no other choice than the alternative of an +unqualified submission, or a resistance productive of consequences more +fatal. + +X. That, all relief being denied to the Nabob, in the manner and on the +grounds aforesaid, the demands of the Company on the said Nabob in the +year following, that is to say, in the year 1780, did amount to the +enormous sum of 1,400,000_l._ sterling, and the distress of the province +did rapidly increase. + +XI. That the Nabob, on the 24th of February of the same year, did again +write to the Governor-General, the said Warren Hastings, a letter, in +which he expressed his constant friendship to the Company, and his +submission and obedience to their orders, and asserting that he had not +troubled them with any of his difficulties, trusting they would learn +them from other quarters, and that he should be relieved by their +friendship. "But," he says, "when _the knife had penetrated to the +bone_, and I was surrounded with such heavy distresses that I could no +longer live in expectations, I then wrote an account of my difficulties. +The answer I have received to it is such that it has given me +inexpressible grief and affliction. I never had the least idea or +expectation from you and the Council that you would have given your +orders in _so afflicting a manner, in which you never before wrote, and +I could never have imagined_. I have delivered up all my _private_ +papers to him [the Resident], that, after examining my receipts and +expenses, he may take whatever remains. That, as I know it to be my +duty to satisfy you [the Company and Council], I have not failed to obey +in any instance; but requested of him that it might be done so as not to +distress me in my _necessary_ expenses. There being no other funds but +those for the expenses of my _mutseddies_ [clerks and accountants], +household expenses, and servants, &c., he demanded these in such a +manner, that, being remediless, I was obliged to comply with what he +required. He has accordingly stopped _the pensions of my old servants +for thirty years, whether sepoys [soldiers], mutseddies [secretaries and +accountants], or household servants, and the expenses of my family and +kitchen, together with the jaghires of my grandmother, mother, and +aunts, and of my brothers and dependants, which were for their +support_." + +XII. That, in answer to the letter aforesaid, the Resident received from +the said Warren Hastings and Council an order to persevere in the demand +to its fullest extent,--that is to say, to the amount of 1,400,000_l._ +sterling. + +XIII. That on the 15th of May the Nabob replied, complaining in an +humble and suppliant manner of his distressed situation: that he had at +first opposed the assigning to the use of the Company the estates of his +mother, of his grandmother, of one of his uncles, and of the sons of +another, but that, in obedience to the injunctions of the gentlemen of +the Council, it had been done, to the amount, on the whole, of +80,000_l._ sterling a year, or thereabouts; that whatever effects were +in the country, with even his table, his animals, and the salaries of +his servants, were granted in assignments; that, besides these, if they +were resolved again to compel him to give up the estates of his parents +and relations, which were granted them for their maintenance, they were +at the Company's disposal; saying, "If the Council have directed you to +attach them, do it: in the country no further sources remain. I have no +means; for I have not a subsistence.--How long shall I dwell upon my +misfortunes?" + +XIV. That the truth of the said remonstrances was not disputed, nor the +_tone_ in which they were written complained of, the same being +submissive, and even abject, though the cause (his distresses) was by +the said Hastings, in a great degree, and in terms the most offensive, +attributed to the Nabob himself; but no relief was given, and the same +unwarrantable establishments, maintained at the same ruinous expense, +were kept up. + +XV. That the said Warren Hastings, having considered as incendiaries +those who advised the remonstrances aforesaid, and, to prevent the same +in future, having denounced vengeance on those concerned therein, did, +for the purpose of keeping in his own power all representations of the +state of the court and country aforesaid, and to subject both the one +and the other to his own arbitrary will, and to draw to himself and to +his creatures the management of the Nabob's revenues, in defiance of the +orders of the Court of Directors, a second time recall Mr. Bristow, the +Company's Resident, from the court of Oude,--having once before recalled +him, as the said Directors express themselves, "without the shadow of a +charge being exhibited against him," and having, on the occasion and +time now stated, produced no specific charge against the said Resident; +and he, the said Hastings, did appoint Nathaniel Middleton, Esquire, to +succeed him,--it being his declared principle, that he must have a +person of _his own_ confidence in that situation. + +XVI. That the said Warren Hastings, after he had refused all relief to +the distresses of the Nabob in the manner aforesaid, and had described +those who advised the representation of the grievances of Oude as +_incendiaries_, did himself, in a minute of the 21st May, 1781, describe +that province "as fallen into a state of great disorder and confusion, +and its resources in an extraordinary degree diminished,"--and did +state, that his presence in the said province was requested by the +Nabob, and that, unless some effectual measures were taken for his +relief, he [the Nabob] must be under the necessity of leaving his +country, and coming down to Calcutta, to represent the situation of his +government. And Mr. Wheler did declare that the Governor-General's +representation of the state of that province "was but too well founded, +and was convinced that it would require his utmost abilities and powers, +applied and exercised on the spot, to restore it to its former good +order and affluence." + +XVII. That the said Warren Hastings, in consequence of the minute +aforesaid, did grant to himself, and did procure the consent of his only +colleague, Edward Wheler, Esquire, to a commission or delegation, with +powers "to assist the Nabob Vizier in forming such regulations as may +be necessary for the peace and good order of his government, the +improvement of his revenue, and the adjustment of the mutual concerns +subsisting between him and the Company." And in the said commission or +delegation he, the said Warren Hastings, did cause to be inserted +certain powers and provisions of a new and dangerous nature: that is to +say, reciting the business before mentioned, he did convey to himself +"such authority to enforce the same _as the Governor-General and Council +might or could exercise on occasions in which they could be warranted to +exercise the same_, and to form and conclude such several engagements or +treaties with the Nabob Vizier, the government of Berar, and with any +chiefs or powers of Hindostan, as _he_ should judge expedient and +necessary." Towards the conclusion of the act or instrument aforesaid +are the words following, viz.: "It is hereby declared, that all such +acts, and all such engagements or treaties aforesaid, shall be binding +on the Governor-General and Council in the same manner, _and as +effectually, as if they had been done and passed by the specific and +immediate concurrence and actual junction of the Governor-General and +Council, in council assembled_." And the said powers were, by the said +Warren Hastings, given by himself and the said Wheler, under the seal of +the Company, on the 3d July, 1781. + +XVIII. That the said commission, delegating to him, the said Warren +Hastings, the whole functions of the Council, is destructive to the +constitution thereof, and is contrary to the Company's standing orders, +and is illegal. + +XIX. That, in virtue of those powers, and the illegal delegation +aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings, after he had finished his business +at Benares, did procure a meeting with the Nabob of Oude at a place +called Chunar, upon the confines of the country of Benares, and did +there enter into a treaty, or pretended treaty, with the said Nabob; one +part of which the said Warren Hastings did pretend was drawn up from a +series of requisitions presented to him by the Nabob, but which +requisitions, or any copy thereof, or of any other material document +relative thereto, he did not at the time transmit to the +Presidency,--the said Warren Hastings informing Mr. Wheler, that the +Resident, Middleton, had taken the _authentic_ papers relative to this +transaction with him to Lucknow: and it does not appear that the said +Warren Hastings did ever reclaim the said papers, in order to record +them at the Presidency, to be transmitted to the Court of Directors, as +it was his duty to do. + +XX. That the purport of certain articles of the said treaty, on the part +of the Company, was, that, in consideration of the Nabob's _inability_ +(which inability the preamble of the treaty asserts to have been +"repeatedly and urgently represented") to support the expenses of the +temporary brigade, and of three regiments of cavalry, and also of the +British officers with their battalions, and of _other_ gentlemen who +were then paid by him, the several corps aforesaid, and the other +gentlemen, (with the exception of the Resident's office _then on the +Nabob's list_, and a regiment of sepoys for the Resident's guard,) +should, after a term of two and a half months, be no longer at his, the +Nabob's, charge: "the true meaning of this being, that no more troops +than one brigade, and the pay and allowances of a regiment of sepoys," +(as aforesaid, to the Resident,) amounting in the whole to 342,000_l._ a +year, should be paid by the Nabob; and that _no officers, troops, or +others, should be put upon the Nabob's establishment_, exclusive of +those in the said treaty stipulated. + +XXI. That the said Warren Hastings did defend and justify the said +articles, in which the troops aforesaid were to be removed from the +Nabob's establishment, by declaring as follows. "That the _actual_ +disbursements to those troops had fallen upon _our own funds_, and that +_we_ support a body of troops, established _solely_ for the defence of +the Nabob's possessions, _at our own expense_. It is true, we charge the +Nabob with this expense; but the large balance already due from him +shows too justly the little prospect there was of disengaging ourselves +from _a burden_ which was daily adding to _our_ distresses and must soon +become _insupportable_, although it were granted that the Nabob's debt, +then suffered to accumulate, _might at some future period be +liquidated_, and that this measure would substantially effect an instant +relief to the pecuniary distresses of the Company." + +XXII. That Nathaniel Middleton, the Resident, did also declare that he +would at all times testify, "that, upon the plan of the foregoing years, +the receipts from the Nabob were only _a deception_, and _not an +advantage_, but _an injury_ to the Company," and "that a remission to +the Nabob of this _insufferable burden_ was _a profit_ to the Company." +And the said Hastings did assert that the force of the Company was not +lessened by withdrawing the temporary troops; although, when it suited +the purpose of the said Hastings, in denying just relief to the +distresses of the said Nabob of Oude, he had not scrupled to assert the +direct contrary of the positions by him maintained in justification of +the treaty of Chunar,--having in his minute aforesaid, of the 15th of +December, 1779, asserted, "that these troops" (the troops maintained by +the Nabob of Oude) "had no _separate or distinct existence_, and may be +properly said to consist of our whole military establishment, with the +exception only of our European infantry, and that they could not be +_withdrawn, without imposing on the Company the additional burden of +their expense_, or disbanding nine battalions of disciplined sepoys and +three regiments of horse." + +XXIII. That he, the said Warren Hastings, in justification of his +agreement to withdraw the troops aforesaid from the territories and pay +of the Nabob of Oude, did further declare, "that he had been too much +accustomed to the tales of hostile preparation and impending invasions, +against all the evidence of political probability, to regard them as any +other than phantoms raised for the purpose of perpetuating or +multiplying commands," and he did trust "all ideas of danger from the +neighboring powers were altogether visionary; and that, even if they had +been better founded, this mode of anticipating possible evils would be +more mischievous than anything they had reason to apprehend," and that +the internal state of the Nabob's dominions did not require the +continuance of the said troops; and that the Nabob, "_whose concern it +was, and not ours_" did affirm the same,--notwithstanding he, the said +Hastings, had before, in answer to the humble supplications of the +Nabob, asserted, that "_it was our part, and not his_, to judge and +determine in what manner and at what time they should be reduced or +withdrawn." + +XXIV. That the said Warren Hastings, in support of his measure of +withdrawing the said brigade and other troops, did also represent, that +"the remote stations of those troops, placing the commanding officers +beyond the notice and control of the board, afforded too much +opportunity and temptation for unwarrantable emoluments, and excited the +_contagion of peculation and rapacity throughout the whole army_, and, +as an instance thereof, that a court-martial, composed of officers of +rank and respectable characters, unanimously and honorably, 'most +honorably,' acquitted an officer upon an acknowledged fact which in +times of stricter discipline would have been deemed a crime deserving +the severest punishment." + +XXV. That the said Warren Hastings, having in the letter aforesaid +contradicted all the grounds and reasons by him assigned for keeping up +the aforesaid establishment, and having declared his own conviction that +the whole was a fallacy and imposition, and a detriment to the Company +instead of a benefit, circumstances (if they are true) which he might +and ought to have well known, was guilty of an high crime and +misdemeanor in carrying on the imposture and delusion aforesaid, and in +continuing an insupportable burden and grievance upon the Nabob for +several years, without attending to his repeated supplications to be +relieved therefrom, to the utter ruin of his country, and to the +destruction of the discipline of the British troops, by diffusing among +them a general spirit of peculation; and the said Hastings hath +committed a grievous offence in upholding the same pernicious system, +until, by his own confession and declaration, in his minute of the 21st +of May, 1781, "the evils had _grown_ to so great an height, that +exertions will be required more powerful than can be made through the +delegated authority of the servants of the Company now in the province, +and that he was far from sanguine in his expectations that _even his own +endeavors would be attended with much success_." + +XXVI. That, at the time of making the said treaty, and at the time when, +under color of the distress of the Nabob of Oude, and the failure of all +other means for his relief, he, the said Hastings, broke the Company's +faith with the parents of the Nabob, and first encouraged and afterwards +compelled him to despoil them of their landed estates, money, jewels, +and household goods, and while the said Nabob continued heavily in debt +to the Company, he, the said Warren Hastings, did, "_without +hesitation_," accept of and receive from the Nabob of Oude and his +ministers (who are notoriously known to be not only under his influence, +but under his absolute command) a bribe, or unlawful gift or present, of +one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and upwards. That, even if the +said pretended gift could be supposed to be voluntary, it was contrary +to the express provision of the Regulating Act of the 13th year of his +Majesty's reign, prohibiting the receipt of all presents upon any +pretence whatsoever, and contrary to his own sense of the true intent +and meaning of the said act, declared upon a similar, but not so strong +a case,--that is, where the service done, and the present offered in +return for it, had taken place before the promulgation of the above laws +in India: on that occasion he declared, "that the exclusion by an act of +Parliament _admitted of no abatement or evasion_, wherever its authority +extended." + +XXVII. That the said Warren Hastings, confiding in an interest which he +supposed himself to have formed in the East India House, did endeavor to +prevail on the Court of Directors to violate the said act, and to suffer +him to appropriate the money so illegally accepted by him to his own +profit, as a reward for his services. + +XXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings has since declared to the Court of +Directors, that, when _fortune threw a sum in his way_ (meaning the sum +of money above mentioned) _of a magnitude which could not be concealed, +he chose to apprise his employers of it_:[15] thereby confessing, that, +but for the magnitude of the same rendering it difficult to be +concealed, he never would have discovered it to them. And the said +unlawful present being received at the time when, for reasons directly +contradictory of all his former recorded declarations, he did agree to +remove the aforesaid troops from the Nabob's dominions, and to recall +the pensioners aforesaid, it must be presumed that he did not agree to +give the relief (which he had before so obstinately refused) upon the +grounds and motives of justice, policy, or humanity, but in +consideration of the sum of money aforesaid, which, in a time of such +extreme distress in the Nabob's affairs, could not be rationally given, +except for those and other concessions stipulated for in the said +treaty, but which had on former occasions been refused. + +XXIX. That, notwithstanding his, the said Warren Hastings's, receipt of +the present of one hundred thousand pounds, as aforesaid, he did violate +every one of the stipulations in the said treaty contained, and +particularly he did continue in the country, and in the service of the +Nabob of Oude, those troops which he had so recently stipulated to +withdraw from his country and to take from his establishment: for, upon +the 24th of December following, he did order the temporary brigade, +making ten battalions of five hundred men each, to be again put on the +Vizier's list,--although he had recently informed the Court of +Directors, through Edward Wheler, Esquire, that any benefit to be +derived from the Nabob's paying that brigade was _a fallacy and a +deception_, and that the same was _a charge_ upon the Company, and not +_an alleviation of its distresses_, as well as _an insupportable burden_ +to the Nabob: thus having, within a short space of time, twice +contradicted himself, both in declaration and in conduct. + +XXX. That this measure, in direct violation of a treaty of not three +months' duration, was so injudicious, that, in the opinion of the +Assistant Resident, Johnson, "nothing less than blows could effect it": +he, the said Resident, further adding, "that the Nabob was not even able +to pay off the arrears still due to it [the new brigade]; and that the +troops being _all_ in arrears, and no possibility of present payment, +so large a body assembled here [viz., at Lucknow] without any means to +check and control them, nothing but disorder could follow. As one proof +that the Nabob is as badly off for funds as we are, I may inform you +that his cavalry rose this day upon him, and went all armed to the +palace, to demand from thirteen to eighteen months' arrears, and were +with great difficulty persuaded to retire, which was probably more +effected by a body of troops getting under arms to go against them than +any other consideration." But the letter of Warren Hastings, Esquire, of +the 24th of December, giving the above orders for the infraction of the +treaty, and to which the letter from whence the foregoing extracts are +taken is an answer, doth not appear, any otherwise than as the same is +recited in the said answer. + +XXXI. That, notwithstanding the disorders and deficiencies in the +revenue aforesaid had continued and increased, and that three very large +balances had accumulated, the said Warren Hastings did cause the +Treasury accounts at Calcutta to be examined and scrutinized, and an +account of another arrear, composed of various articles, pretended to +have accumulated during seven years previous to the year 1779, (the +articles composing which, if they had been just, ought to have been +charged at the times they severally became due,) was sent to the +Resident, and payment thereof demanded, to the amount of 260,000_l._ +sterling; which unexpected demand, in so distressed a situation, did not +a little embarrass the Nabob. But whilst he and his ministers were +examining into the said unexpected demand, another, and fifth balance, +made up of similar forgotten articles, was demanded, to the amount of +140,000_l._ sterling more. Which said two last demands did so terrify +and confound the Nabob and his ministers, that they declared that the +Resident "might at once take the country, since justice was out of the +question." + +XXXII. That the said Hastings, in order to add to the confusion, +perplexity, and distress of the Nabob's affairs, did send to his court +(in which he had already a Resident and Assistant Resident) two secret +agents, Major Palmer and Major Davy, and did instruct Major Palmer to +make a variety of new claims, one of a loan to the Company of +600,000_l._ sterling, although he well knew the Nabob was himself +heavily in arrear to the Company, and was utterly unable to discharge +the same, as well as in arrear to his own troops, and to many +individuals, and that he borrowed (when he could at all borrow) at an +interest of near thirty per cent. To this demand was added a new bribe, +or unlawful present, to himself, to the amount of 100,000_l._ sterling, +which he did not refuse as unlawful and of evil example, but as +_indelicate_ in the Nabob's present situation,--and did, as if the same +was his own property, presume to dispose of it, and to desire the +transfer of it, as of his own bounty, to the Company, his masters. To +this second demand he, the said Hastings, added a third demand of +120,000_l._ sterling, for four additional regiments on the Nabob's list, +after he had solemnly engaged to take off the ten with which it had been +burdened: the whole of the claims through his private agent aforesaid +making the sum of 820,000_l._ sterling. + +XXXIII. That the demands, claims, &c., made by the said Warren Hastings +upon the government of Oude in that year amounted to the enormous sum of +2,530,000_l._ sterling; which joined to the arrears to troops, and some +internal failures, amounting to 255,000_l._ sterling more, the whole +charge arose to 2,785,000_l._ sterling, which was considerably more than +double the net produce of the Nabob's revenue,--the same only amounting +to 1,450,000_l._ "nominal revenue, never completely realized." + +XXXIV. That, towards providing for these extravagant demands, he, the +said Warren Hastings, did direct and authorize another breach of the +public faith given in the treaty of Chunar. For whereas, by the second +article of the treaty aforesaid, it was left to the Nabob's discretion +whether or not he should resume the landed estates, called jaghires, +within his dominions, and notwithstanding the said Hastings, in defence +of the said article, did declare that the Nabob should be left to the +exercise of his own authority and pleasure respecting them, yet he, the +said Hastings, did authorize a violent compulsion to be used towards the +said Nabob for accomplishing an universal confiscation of that species +of landed property; and in so doing he did also compel the Nabob to +break his faith with all the landholders of that description, not only +in violating the assurance of his own original grants, but his assurance +recently given, when, being pressed by the Company, he, the Nabob, had +made a temporary seizure of the profits of the lands aforesaid, in the +manner of a compulsory loan, for the repayment of which he gave his +bonds and obligations; and although he had at the same time solemnly +pledged his faith that he never would again resort to the like +oppressive measure, yet he, the said Warren Hastings, did cause him to +be compelled to confiscate the estates of at least sixty-seven of the +principal persons of his country, comprehending therein his own nearest +relations and the ancient friends and dependants of his family: the +annual value of the said estates thus confiscated amounting to +435,000_l._ sterling, or thereabouts, upon an old valuation, but stated +by the Resident, Middleton, as being found to yield considerably more. + +XXXV. That the violent and unjust measure aforesaid, subversive of +property, utterly destructive of several ancient and considerable +families, and most dishonorable to the British government, did produce +an universal discontent and the greatest confusion throughout the whole +country,--the said confiscated lands being on this occasion put to +rack-rents, and the people grievously oppressed: and to prevent a +possibility of redress, at least for a considerable time, the said +confiscated estates were mortgaged (it appearing otherwise impracticable +to make an approach towards satisfying the exorbitant demands of the +said Hastings) for a great sum to certain usurious bankers or +money-dealers at Benares. + +XXXVI. That, besides these enormous demands, which were in part made for +the support of several corps of troops under British officers which by +the treaty of Chunar ought to have been removed, very large extra +charges not belonging to the military list of the said Nabob, and +several civil charges and pensions, were continued, and others newly put +on since the treaty of Chunar, namely, an allowance to Sir Eyre Coote +of 15,554 rupees per month, (being upwards of 18,664_l._ sterling a +year,) and an allowance to Trevor Wheler, Esquire, of 5,000 rupees per +month (or 6,000_l._ sterling and upwards a year); and the whole of the +settled charges, not of a military nature, to British subjects, did +amount to little less than 140,000_l._ yearly, and, if other allowances +not included in the estimate were added, would greatly exceed that sum, +besides much more which may justly be suspected to have been paid, no +part whereof had at that time been brought forward to any public +account. + +XXXVII. That the commander of one of these corps, of whose burden the +said Nabob did complain, was Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Hannay, who +did farm the revenues of certain districts called Baraitch and +Goruckpore, which the said Hastings, in the ninth article of his +instructions to Mr. Bristow, did estimate at twenty-three lacs of +rupees, or 230,000_l._, per annum: but under his, the said Hannay's, +management, the collections did very greatly decline; complaints were +made that the countries aforesaid were harassed and oppressed, and the +same did fall into confusion, and at last the inhabitants broke out into +a general rebellion. + +XXXVIII. That the far greater part of the said heavy list was authorized +or ordered by him, the said Warren Hastings, for the purpose of +extending his own corrupt influence: for it doth appear, that, at the +time when he did pretend, in conformity to the treaty of Chunar +aforesaid, to remove the Company's servants, "_civil_ and military, +from the court and service of the Vizier," he did assert that he thereby +did "diminish _his own influence_, as well as that of his colleagues, by +narrowing the line of _patronage_"; which proves that the offices, +pensions, and other emoluments aforesaid, in Oude, were of _his_ +patronage, as his patronage could not be diminished by taking away the +said offices, &c., unless the same had been substantially of his gift. +And he did, at the time of the pretended reformation aforesaid, express +both his knowledge of the existence of the said excessive and abusive +establishments, and his sense of his duty in taking them away: for in +agreeing to the article in the treaty of Chunar for abolishing the said +establishments, he did declare himself "actuated solely by motives of +_justice_ to the Nabob, and a regard to _the honor of our national +character_"; and, according to his own representation, the said servants +of the Company, civil and military, "by their numbers, their influence, +and the _enormous amount_ of their salaries, pensions, and emoluments, +were an _intolerable_ burden on the revenues and authority of the +Vizier, and exposed us to _the envy and resentment of the whole +country_, by excluding the native servants and adherents of the Vizier +from the rewards of their services and attachment." + +XXXIX. That the revenue of the country being anticipated, mortgaged, and +dilapidated, by the counsel, concurrence, connivance, and influence, and +often by the direct order of the said Warren Hastings, the whole civil +government, magistracy, and administration of justice gradually declined +and at length totally ceased through the whole of the vast provinces +which compose the territory of Oude, and no power was visible therein +but that of the farmers of the revenue, attended by bodies of troops to +enforce the collections; insomuch that robberies, assassinations, and +acts of every description of outrage and violence were perpetrated with +impunity,--and even in the capital city of Lucknow, the seat of the +sovereign power, there was no court of justice whatever to take +cognizance of such offences. + +XL. That the said Warren Hastings, when he did interfere in the +government of Oude, was obliged by his duty to interfere for the good +purposes of government, and not merely for the purpose of extorting +money therefrom and enriching his own dependants,--which latter purpose +alone he did effect, in the manner before mentioned, but not one of the +former. For the said Hastings, having procured the extraordinary powers +given by and to himself by his delegation of the 3d of July, 1781, did +declare the same to be for the purpose, among many others, "of assisting +the Nabob Vizier in forming such regulations as may be necessary for the +peace and good order of his government and the improvement of his +revenue." And in consequence of the said powers, the said Warren +Hastings did, in the treaty of Chunar, obtain an article from the Nabob +by which the said Nabob did promise to attend to his advice in the +reformation of his civil administration; and he did give certain +instructions to the Resident, Middleton, to which he did require him to +yield _the most implicit obedience_, and did in one article thereof +direct him to urge the Nabob to endeavor gradually, if it could not be +done at once, to establish courts of _adawlut_ [justice], and that the +_darogahs_ [chief criminal magistrates], _moulavies_ [consulting or +assistant lawyers], and other officers, should be selected by the +ministers, with his, the Resident's, concurrence; and afterwards, in his +instructions to the Resident Bristow, desiring him to pursue the same +object, he declared his opinion, "that the want of such courts, and the +extreme licentiousness occasioned thereby, is one of the most +disreputable defects in his Highness the Nabob's government, and that, +while they do not exist, every man knows the hazard which he incurs in +lending his money "; but he did give him, the said Resident, no positive +instruction concerning the same, supposing the establishment of such +courts a matter of difficulty, and did therefore leave him a latitude in +his proceedings therein. + +XLI. That the said Resident Bristow did, however, in conformity to the +said instructions, at last given with such latitude, endeavor to prevail +on the said minister gradually to introduce courts of justice for the +cognizance of crimes, by beginning to establish a criminal court under a +native judge, to judge according to the Mahomedan law in the city of +Lucknow. But Hyder Beg Khan, a minister of the said Warren Hastings's +nomination, and solely dependent upon him, did elude and obstruct, and +in the end totally defeat, the establishment of the same. + +XLII. That the obstruction aforesaid, and the evil consequences thereof, +were duly represented to the said Hastings; and though the said Hastings +had made it the fourth article of a criminal charge against the Resident +Middleton, "that he did not report to the Governor-General, or to the +board, the progress which he had made from time to time in his endeavors +to comply with his instructions, and that, if he met with any +impediments in the execution of them, he had omitted to state those +impediments, and to apply for fresh orders upon them," yet he, the said +Hastings, did give no manner of support to the Resident Bristow against +the said Hyder Beg Khan, and did not even answer several of his letters, +the said Bristow's letters, stating the said impediments, or take any +notice of his remonstrances, but did at length revoke his own +instructions, declaring that he, the said Resident, should not presume +to act upon the same, and yet did not furnish him with any others, upon +which he might act, but did uphold the said Hyder Beg Khan in the +obstruction by him given to the performance of the first and fundamental +duty of all government,--namely, the administration of justice, and the +protection of the lives and property of the subject against wrong and +violence. + +XLIII. That the said Hastings did afterwards proceed to the length of +criminating the Resident Bristow aforesaid for his endeavors to +establish the said necessary court, as an invasion of the rights of the +Nabob's government,--when, if the Nabob in his own proper person and +character, and not the aforesaid Hyder Beg, (who was a creature of the +said Hastings,) had opposed the reestablishment of justice in the said +country, it was the duty of the said Hastings to have pressed the same +upon him by every exertion of his influence. And the said Warren +Hastings, in his pretended attention to the Nabob's authority, when +exercised by his, the said Hastings's, minister, to prevent the +establishment of courts of justice for the protection of life and +property, at the same time that he did not hesitate, in the case of the +confiscation of the jaghires, and the proceedings against the mother and +grandmother of the Nabob, totally to supersede his authority, and to +force his inclinations in acts which overturned all the laws of +property, and offered violence to all the sentiments of natural +affection and duty, and accusing at the same time his instruments for +not going to the utmost lengths in the execution of his said orders, is +guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor. + +XLIV. That the said Hastings did highly aggravate his offence in +discountenancing and discouraging the reestablishment of magistracy, +law, and order, in the country of Oude, inasmuch as he did in the eighth +article of his instructions to the Resident order him to exercise powers +which ought to have been exercised by lawful magistrates, and in a +manner agreeable to law. And in the said article he did state the +prevalence of rebellion in the said country of Oude,--as if rebellion +could exist in a country in which there was no magistracy, and no +protection for life or property, and in which the native authority had +no force whatever, and in which he himself states the exercise of +British authority to be an absolute usurpation; and he did accordingly +direct a rigorous prosecution against the offence of rebellion under +such circumstances, but "with a fair and impartial inquiry," when he did +not permit the establishment of those courts of justice and magistracy +by which alone rebellion could be prevented, or a fair and impartial +inquiry relative to the same could be had; and particularly he did +instruct the said Resident to obtain the Nabob's order for employing +some sure means for apprehending certain zemindars, and particularly +three, in the instruction named, whom he, the said Hastings, did cause +to be apprehended upon what he calls good information, founded upon some +facts to which he asserts he has the testimony of several witnesses, +"that they had the destruction of Colonel Hannay and the officers under +his command as their immediate object, and ultimately the extirpation of +the English influence and power throughout all the Nabob's dominions," +and that they did still persevere in their rebellious conduct without +deviation, "though the Nabob's, and not our government, was then the +object of it"; and he did direct the said Resident, if it should appear, +"_on a fair and regular inquiry_, that their conduct towards the Nabob +had been such as it had been reported to be, to insist upon the Nabob's +punishing them with _death_, and to treat with the same rigor every +zemindar and every subject who shall be the leader in a rebellion +against his authority." + +XLV. That the crime of the said Hastings, in his procedure aforesaid, +was further highly aggravated by his having received information of +several striking circumstances which strongly indicated the necessity of +a regular magistracy and a legal judicature, from the total failure of +justice, affecting not only the subjects at large, but even the reigning +family itself,--as also of the causes why no legal magistracy could +exist, and why the princes of the reigning family were not only exposed +to the attacks of assassins, but even to a want of the protection which +might be had from their servants and attendants, who were driven from +their masters for want of that maintenance which the princes, their +masters, could not procure even for themselves. And the circumstances +aforesaid were detailed to him, the said Hastings, by the Resident, +Bristow, in a letter from Lucknow, dated the 29th January, 1784, to the +Governor-General, the said Warren Hastings, and the Council of Bengal, +in the terms following. + +"The frequent robberies and murders perpetrated in his Excellency's, the +Vizier's, dominions, have been _too often_ the subject of my +representations to your honorable board. From the total want of police, +hardly a day elapses but I am informed of some tragical event, whereof +the bare recital is shocking to humanity. About two months since, an +attempt was made to assassinate Rajah Ticket Roy, the acting minister's +confidential agent; but he happily escaped unhurt. Nabob Bahadur, _his +Highness's brother_, has not been so fortunate, as will appear from +translations of two of his letters to me, No. 1, which I have the honor +to inclose for your information. Although my feelings are sensibly hurt +and my compassion strongly excited by _the disgraceful and miserable +state of poverty to which his Excellency's brothers are reduced_, yet, +situated as I am, it is not in my power to interfere with effect. My +efforts on a former occasion failed of success, _and my interposition +now would only excite the resentment of the minister towards the unhappy +sufferers, in consequence of their application to me, from whom ALONE, +however, they hope for relief from their present distress_, which, their +near connection with the Vizier considered, is both shameful and +unprecedented. That no regular courts of justice have been established +in this country is particularly pointed at in my instructions, as the +most disreputable defect in his Highness's government; yet the minister +seems determined on abolishing even the shadow of so necessary an +institution. The office of Chief Justice, as held by Moulavy Morobine, +was ever nugatory, but now it is sunk into the lowest contempt. The +original establishment, inadequate as it was, is mouldering away, and +the officers now attached to it are literally starving, as no part of +their allowance has been paid for above six months past. He himself has +proposed to resign his appointment, being every way precluded from a +possibility of exercising the duties of it." + +XLVI. That it appears by the said letter, and the papers therewith +transmitted, as well as other documents in the said correspondence, +that, in consequence of the distress brought upon the Nabob's finances, +certain of the princes, his brethren, the children of Sujah ul Dowlah, +the late sovereign of the country, were put upon pensions unsuitable to +their birth and rank, and by the mismanagement of the minister +aforesaid, (appointed by the said Warren Hastings,) for two years +together no considerable part of the said inadequate pension was paid; +and not being able to maintain the attendants necessary for their +protection in a city in which all magistracy and justice was abolished, +they were not only liable to suffer the greatest extremities of penury, +but their lives were exposed to the attempts of assassins: the condition +of one of the said princes, called the Nabob Bahadur, being by himself +strongly expressed in three letters to the said Resident Bristow,--the +first dated the 28th of December, 1783; the second, the 7th of January, +1784; and the third, the 15th of January, 1784,--which letters were +duly transmitted, in the dispatch of the 29th of the same month, to +Warren Hastings, Esquire, and are as follow. + +"Your own servant carried you the account of what he himself was an +eye-witness to, after the affair of last night. These are the +particulars. About midnight my aunt received twelve wounds from a +ruffian, of which she died. I also received six successive stabs, which +alarmed the people of the house, who set up a shouting: whereupon the +assassin run off. Besides being _without food or the means of providing +any_, this misfortune has befallen me. _I am desirous of sending the +coffin to your door_. It is your duty, both for the sake of God and of +Christ, to execute justice, and to inquire what harm I have done to the +murderer sufficient to deserve assassination, or even injury. _You now +stand in the place of his Excellency the Vizier_. I request you will do +me justice. What more can I say? + +"P.S. I am also desirous to show you my wounds." + + * * * * * + +_From the same, 29th [7th?] January, 1784._ + +"You have been duly informed of all the circumstances relative both to +the murder of the innocent, and of my being wounded, as well by my +former letter, as by the messenger whom you sent to inquire into the +state of my health; and I have every reason to hope, from your known +kindness, that you will not be deficient in seeking out the assassin. _I +am at this moment overwhelmed in misfortune. Whilst the blood is flowing +from my wounds, neither I nor my children nor my servants have +wherewithal to procure subsistence_; nor have I it in my power either to +purchase remedies or to reward the physician: _it is for the sake of +God alone that he attends me_. Thus loaded with calamity upon calamity, +I am unable to support life; for I find no relief from any affliction +either day or night. Do you now stand in the place of my father; grant +me fresh life by speedy acts of benevolence. + +"For these two last years his Excellency established a pension for me of +twenty thousand rupees; but I never received the full amount of it, +either last year or the year before. Should it, however, be paid me, +though inadequate to my desires, I shall still be enabled to support +myself. From the beginning of this year to the present time I have not +received a farthing, nor do I expect any; though, if you afford +protection to the oppressed, all my wishes will be accomplished. I was +desirous of waiting on you with my family, that you might be an +eye-witness to their condition; but I was advised not to stir out on +account of my wounds. What more can I say?" + + * * * * * + +_The following Extracts are made from the Third Letter from the same +Prince, dated January 15, 1784._ + +"The particulars of the late and unforeseen misfortune with which I have +been overwhelmed are not unknown unto you,--that the innocent blood of +my aunt, _the prop and ruler of my family_, was shed, and in the same +manner I, too, was wounded. Until now I feel the pain and affliction of +my wounds; _and no person has regarded my solicitations for redress, +sought after the assassin, and brought him to condign punishment, +yourself excepted_."--"In like manner as the Honorable Governor-General +has adopted my brother Saadut Ali Khan for his son and relieved him from +the vexation, affliction, and dependence of this place, would it be +extraordinary that you also should, in your bounty and favor, consent to +adopt me, who do not possess the necessaries of life, and permit me to +attend you to whatever part of the world you may travel, whereby I shall +at all times derive honor and advantage? Formerly us three brothers, +Saadut Ali, Mirza Jungly, and I, the poor and oppressed, were, in the +presence of our blessed father, whose soul rests in heaven, treated +alike. Now the ministers of this government put me upon a footing with +our younger brothers, who have lately left the zenanah, and whose +expenses are small. On this scale, which is in every respect +insufficient for my maintenance, they pay _the pitiful allowance only +when it is their pleasure to do it_. My situation has for years past +been increasing in wretchedness to a degree that _I am in want of daily +bread, and my servants and animals are dying of hunger. My distresses +are so great that I have not been able to pay a daum to the surgeons for +the cure of my wounds; and they, too, are discouraged from affording me +their assistance or furnishing me with medicines_. How, then, is it +possible for me to exist? Considering you as my patron, participating in +my afflictions, I have represented the circumstances concerning my +situation; and I hope, from your friendship, that you will honor me with +a favorable answer." + +XLVII. The Resident, Bristow, did also receive a strong application from +three others of the brethren of the reigning sovereign, called Mirza +Hyder Ali, Mirza Ennayut Ali, and Mirza Syef Ali, representing their +very pitiable case, in a letter of the 9th of March, 1783, in which, +among other particulars, are contained the following. + +"Our situation is not fit to be represented. _For two years we have not +received a hubba_ on account of our tuncaw [assignment on the revenue], +though the ministers have annually charged a lac of rupees, and never +paid us anything. _After all, we are the sons of Sujah ul Dowlah!_ It is +surprising, having such a friend as you, our situation is arrived at +that pass that we should be in distress for _dry bread and clothes_. +Whereas you have done many generous acts, be pleased so to show us your +favor, that by some means we may receive our allowances from the +Company's treasury, and not be obliged to depend upon and solicit others +for it." + +XLVIII. That one of the princes aforesaid, called the Mirza Jungly, +about the beginning of the year 1783, was obliged to fly from the +dominions of the Nabob of Oude, and to leave his country and +connections; and as the Resident, Bristow, writing from Lucknow, hath +observed, "he went to try his fortune at other courts, in preference to +starving at home, which might have been his fate, by all accounts, at +this place." And the said prince sought for succor at the court of one +of the neighboring Mahomedan princes; but conceiving some disgust at the +treatment he met with there, he departed from thence, and on the 8th of +February, 1783, arrived at the Mahratta camp, while David Anderson, +Esquire, was there in the character of Minister Plenipotentiary to the +Company, with a view, if his reception there should not prove answerable +to his wishes, to pass on to the southward. And the said Anderson, +probably considering this event as of very great importance to the honor +of the British government, as well as to its interest, on the one hand, +by exhibiting the son and brother of a sovereign prince, from whom the +Company had received many millions of money, a fugitive from his +country, and a wanderer for bread through the courts of India, and, on +the other, the consequences which might arise from the Mahrattas having +in their possession and under their influence a son of the late Nabob of +Oude, did without delay advise Warren Hastings, Esquire, of the event +aforesaid; and he did also write to Mr. Bristow, the Resident at the +court of the Nabob Vizier, several letters, of the 9th and 20th of +February, and of the 6th of March and 6th of April, 1783, in order that +some steps should be taken for his return and establishment in his own +country. And the said Anderson did inform the Resident, Bristow, in his +letter aforesaid, that, on the arrival of the fugitive prince, brother +of the reigning sovereign of Oude, at the Mahratta camp, he did cause +his tent to be pitched close to that of Mr. Anderson; but finding this +not agreeable to the Mahratta general, Sindia, he afterwards removed: +and that he showed a strong attachment to the English, and was inclined +to throw himself upon their generosity; that he was desirous of going to +Calcutta, and declared, that, if he, the said Anderson, "would give him +the smallest encouragement, he would quit all his followers, and come +alone, and would take up his residence under his protection." And the +said Anderson did declare, that he thought it "would be policy, and much +to the credit of our government, that some provision should be made for +Mirza Jungly in our territories." + +XLIX. That the said Bristow did represent the aforesaid circumstances to +Hyder Beg Khan, minister to the Nabob of Oude, declaring it his +opinion, "that his Highness's brother's thus taking refuge with a +foreign prince is a reflection upon the Vizier, and it would be +advisable that an allowance should be granted to him upon the footing of +his brothers, that he might remain in the presence." But the Nabob was +induced to refuse to his brother any offer of any allowance beyond the +two hundred pounds per month, allowed, but not paid, to his other +brothers,--and which the said prince did observe to Mr. Anderson, "that +it was not only inadequate to his expenses, but infinitely less" (as the +truth was) "than what his Excellency has settled on many persons of +inferior rank, who have not so good a claim to his support; and that it +would not be sufficient to enable him to live at Lucknow, where all his +friends and relations were, and so many of his inferiors lived in a +state of affluence." In case, therefore, it could not be increased, he +requested leave to live in the Company's provinces, or at Calcutta; for +that in any of these situations "he could with less difficulty regulate +his expenses." And he did declare, that, if his request was granted to +him, he would immediately quit all his prospects with Sindia. To these +propositions he received a very discouraging answer from his brother's +minister, containing a positive and final refusal of any increase of +allowance, obtaining only the Nabob's permission to retire into the +Company's provinces. But Mr. Anderson did not think himself authorized +to take any steps for the prince's retreat into the said province +without Sindia's concurrence, who, he observed, would use every art to +detain him, and accordingly did offer him the command of a battalion of +infantry to be paid directly from his own treasury, and six thousand +pounds sterling a year for keeping up a corps of horse, and to settle +upon him a landed estate of four thousand pounds a year as a provision +for his wife and children: which honorable offers it appears he did +accept, and did and doth remain in the Mahratta service. + +L. That, during the whole course of this transaction, the said Warren +Hastings was duly advised thereof, first by a very early letter from the +said Anderson, and afterwards by the Resident, Bristow, who, on the 23d +of April, 1783, transmitted to him his whole correspondence with Mr. +Anderson. But what answer or instructions the said Warren Hastings did +give to Mr. Anderson does not appear, he not having recorded anything +upon that subject; but it appears that to the Resident, Bristow, who +required to be informed whether the reception of the fugitive prince +aforesaid in the Company's provinces would meet his approbation, he gave +no answer whatsoever: by which criminal neglect, or worse, with regard +to a brother of an ally of the Company, who showed a strong attachment +and preference to the English nation, and by suffering him, without any +known effort to prevent it, to attach himself to the cause and fortunes +of the Mahrattas, who, he, the said Hastings, well knew, did keep up +claims upon several parts of the dominions of Oude, and had with +difficulty been persuaded to include the Nabob in the treaty of peace, +he, having suffered him first to languish at home in poverty, and then +to fly abroad for subsistence, and afterwards taking no step and +countenancing no negotiations for his return from his dangerous place of +refuge, at the same time that several of his, the said Hastings's, +creatures had each of them allowances much more considerable than would +have sufficed for the satisfaction and comfort of him, the said fugitive +prince, was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor. + +LI. That the indigent condition before related of the other brothers of +the Nabob was also duly transmitted to the said Warren Hastings; but he +did never order or direct any steps whatsoever to be taken towards the +relief of the family of a reigning prince, who were daily in danger of +perishing by famine through the effect of his measures, and those of a +person whom he supported in power against the will and inclinations of +the said prince and his family. + +LII. That the foregoing instances of the penury, distress, dispersion, +and exile of the reigning family, as well as the general disorder in all +the affairs of Oude, did strongly enforce the necessity of a proper use +of the British influence (the only real government then existing) in the +province aforesaid for a regulation of the economy of the Vizier's +court, as well as for the proper administration of the public concerns, +civil and military, which were in the greatest disorder; and the said +Warren Hastings was under obligation to provide for the same, and did +himself understand it to be his duty so to do, and that he was therein +warranted by the spirit of the treaty of Chunar, as well as by other +universal powers of control, and even of supersession, supposed by him +to exist in the relation between the British government and that of +Oude; and accordingly he did, in his instructions to the Resident +Middleton, to which he required his most implicit obedience, direct him +to an interference in and control upon all the affairs concerning the +revenues, the military arrangements, and all the other branches of the +Nabob's government. + +LIII. That, upon his recall of the said Middleton, he, in his +instructions to the Resident Bristow, dated 23d of October, 1781 +[1782?], did at large set forth the situation of the court and +government of Oude, the situation and character of the Nabob, of the +acting minister, and of the British Resident at that court, and did +plainly, distinctly, and without reserve, describe the extent of the +authority to be exercised by the last of these persons, as well as the +unqualified compliance to be expected from the two former. And he did +accordingly declare, that, "_from the nature of our connection with the +government of Oude_, and from the Nabob's incapacity, _a necessity will +forever exist_, while we have the claim of a subsidy upon the resources +of his country, of exercising an influence, and frequently substituting +it _ENTIRELY in the place of an avowed and constitutional authority, in +the administration of his [the Nabob's] government_"; and he did further +in the said instructions, namely, in instruction the fourth, direct the +said Resident in the words following: "I must have recourse to you for +the introduction of a _new_ system in that government; nor can I omit, +whilst I express my reliance on you for that purpose, to repeat the +sentiments which I expressed in the verbal instructions which I gave you +at your departure, _that there can be no medium in the relation between +the Resident and the minister, but either the Resident must be the slave +and vassal of the minister, or the minister at the absolute disposal of +the Resident_." And he, the said Hastings, did state, in the same +article of the instructions aforesaid, that, though the conduct of the +said Hyder Beg Khan had been highly reprehensible, and that he was much +displeased thereat, he would prefer him to any other, on account of his +ability and knowledge of business, with the following proviso,--"If he +would submit to hold his office on such conditions as I require. He +exists by his dependence on the influence of our government. It must be +advisable to try him by the mode of conciliation; at the same time that +in your _final conversation with him_ it will be necessary to declare to +him, _in the plainest terms_, the footing and condition on which he +shall be _permitted_ to retain his place, with the alternative of a +dismission, and a scrutiny into his conduct, if he refuses it. In the +first place, I will not receive from the Nabob, _as his_, letters +dictated by _the spirit of opposition_; but shall consider every such +attempt _as an insult on our government_. In the second place, I shall +expect that _nothing_ is done in his official character but with your +knowledge and participation." + +LIV. That the said Hastings having described, in the manner aforesaid, +the relative situation of the Resident and the minister, he did state +also the relative situation of the said minister and his master, the +Nabob, declaring, "that the minister did hold _without control_ the +unparticipated and entire administration, with all the powers annexed to +that government,--_the Nabob being, as he ever must be in the hands of +some person, a mere cipher in his_" (the minister's). And having thus +stated the subordination of the minister to the Resident, and the +subordination of the Nabob to the minister, he did naturally declare, +"that the first share of the responsibility would rest upon the said +Resident" And he did further declare, "that the other conditions did +follow distinctly in their places, because he did _consider the Resident +as responsible for them_." + +LV. That, for the direction of the Resident in the exercise of so +critical a trust, wherein all the true and substantial powers of +government were in an inverted relation and proportion to the official +and ostensible authorities, and in which the said Hastings did suppose +the necessity constantly existing for exercising an influence, and +frequently for substituting _entirely_ the British authority "in the +place of the avowed and constitutional government," he, the said +Hastings, did properly leave to the Resident a discretionary power for +his deviation from any part of his instructions,--interposing a caution +for his security and direction, that, as much as he could, he would +leave the subject free for his, the said Hastings's, correction of it, +and would instantly inform him or the board, according to the degree of +its importance, with his reasons for it. + +LVI. That, besides the institution of the courts of justice, as before +recited, four other principal objects in the reformation of the affairs +of Oude were expressly recommended to the Residents Middleton and +Bristow, and must be understood to be the conditions upon which the said +Hastings must have meant to have it understood that the acting minister +of Oude was to hold his employment: namely, the limitation of the +Nabob's personal expenses; the reduction of the Nabob's troops in +number, and the change in arrangement; the appointment of proper +collectors for the revenues; and the appointment of proper officers for +all parts of the executive administration. + +LVII. That the first object, namely, that of the limitation of the +Nabob's personal expenses, and separating them from the public +establishments, he, the said Hastings, did state as the first and +fundamental part of his regulation, and that upon which all the others +would depend,--and did declare, "that, in order to prevent the Vizier's +alliance from being a clog instead of an aid to the Company, _the most +essential_ part is to _limit_ and _separate_ his personal disbursements +from the public accounts: _they must not exceed_ what he has received in +any of the last three years." And as to the public treasury and +disbursements, he, the said Hastings, did, in the said instructions, +wholly withdraw them from the personal management or interference of the +Nabob, and did expressly order and direct "that they should be under the +_sole_ management of the ministers, with the Resident's concurrence." +And on the appointment of the Resident Bristow, in October, 1782, he, +the said Hastings, did order and direct him in every point of the +instructions to Middleton not revoked or qualified by his then +instructions, to which he did require his, the said Resident Bristow's, +"most attentive and literal obedience." + +LVIII. That the said Resident Bristow did, in consequence of the renewal +to him of the said instructions as aforesaid, endeavor to limit and put +in order the Nabob's expenses; but he was in that particular traversed +and counteracted, and in the end wholly defeated, by the minister, Hyder +Beg Khan. And though the obstructions aforesaid, agreeably to the +instructions given to Middleton, and to him, the said Bristow, were +represented to the said Warren Hastings by the Resident aforesaid, yet +the said Warren Hastings did give no kind of support to the said +Resident, or take any steps towards enabling him, the said Resident, to +effectuate the said necessary limitation and distribution of expenses, +by himself, the said Hastings, ordered and prescribed; nor, if he +disapproved the proceedings of the said Resident, did he give him any +instruction for the forbearance of the same, or for the exerting his +duty in any other mode; nor did he call for any illustration from him of +anything doubtful in his correspondence, nor state to him any complaint +made privately of his conduct, in order to receive thereon an +explanation; but he did leave him to pursue at his discretion the +extensive powers before described, to effect the reformation which he +was directed to accomplish, under the responsibility denounced to him as +aforesaid, if he should fail therein, as he was supposed to be +substantially invested with all the powers of government. + +LIX. That, instead of the said support or instruction, he, the said +Hastings, did countenance, or more probably cause or direct, a +representation to be made to him by the acting minister of the Nabob of +Oude, complaining grievously of the proceedings of the Resident +aforesaid, as usurpations on the Nabob's authority and indignities on +his person. And although he, the said Hastings, did instruct the +Resident, Bristow, to inform the said Hyder Beg Khan that he would not +receive from the Nabob, as _his_, letters directed by the spirit of +opposition, but should consider every such attempt as his, the +minister's, as an insult on our government, yet he did receive as _his_ +the Nabob's own letters, and as written from the impressions on his own +mind, and as the suggestions of his own judgment, letters to the same +effect as those written by the minister, although he had declared upon +record that the said "Nabob was a mere cipher in his, the said +minister's, hands," and "that he had dared to use both the Nabob's name, +and even his seal, affixed to letters either directed to the Nabob or +written as from him without his knowledge," and although he did assert +or record as aforesaid, that, in a letter which he had lately received +from the Nabob, the minister had the presumption to make the Nabob +declare that which was _true_ to be _false_, and that "his _making use_ +of the Nabob in such a manner did show how thin the veil was by which +_he_ covered _his own acts_, and that such artifices would only tend to +make them the more criminal from _the falsehood and duplicity with which +they were associated_." + +LX. That the said Hastings did act upon the letters pretended to be +written by the Nabob, as well as on those actually written by the +minister, without previously communicating the matter of the said +complaint to the said Resident, and did give credit to the same, and +coming, as aforesaid, from a person by himself, the said Hastings, +charged with artifice, falsehood, and duplicity, and with abusing to his +own evil purposes the name and seal of his master without his knowledge, +and without any previous inquiry into the facts and circumstances; and +did thereon ground an accusation against the said Resident, Bristow, +before the board at Calcutta, in which he did represent the conduct of +the said Bristow, in attempting to limit the household expenses of the +Nabob, as an indignity "which no man living, however mean his rank in +life, or dependent his condition in it, would permit to be exercised by +any other, but with the want or forfeiture of every manly principle." +And he did further accuse the said Bristow for that, in his proceedings +in the regulation of the Nabob's household, "he should receive to +himself, or Mr. Cowper for him, or a treasurer for both, (for the +arrangement has never been well defined,) the money assigned for the +support of the Nabob's household,--issue it as he pleased, not to the +Nabob, but to the menial officers of his household,--dispose of his +superfluous horses, and other cattle,--determine how many elephants were +necessary to the state of the Vizier of the Empire, the number of +domestics for his attendance, and pry into the kitchen for the purpose +of ascertaining the quantity of victuals which ought to be dressed in +it,--control the accounts of these disbursements,--and appropriate to +his own use (for that the consequence was inevitable, if he chose it) +the residue produced by those economical retrenchments." + +LXI. That the said charge is malicious and insidious; because the +attempt to introduce proper officers for the management of household +expenses so considerable that the said Hastings has stated the allotment +for the same at three hundred thousand pounds sterling yearly, and that +other accounts have carried it to four hundred thousand pounds sterling +and upwards, and to keep proper and regular accounts thereof, was a +necessary regulation, and agreeable to the dignity of the Nabob, and by +no means a degradation either of his person or authority, which was +specially provided for in the regulations, as no expense could be +incurred but by his own personal warrant under his sign manual; nor doth +there appear therein anything but what is of absolute necessity to +prevent embezzlement to his prejudice. And the said Hastings hath +declared, in the fifth article of the instructions to the said Resident, +that _no_ administration can be properly conducted without regular +offices; and that in the whole province of Oude "there was _not one_, +the _whole_ being engrossed by the minister": of which minister, in the +fourteenth article, he declares his suspicion that the Nabob did not +receive the whole and punctual payment of the sum assigned for the +purpose of the household, but that some part had been by him withheld +from the Nabob; and that, from private information he had lately +received, he had reason to believe that this was actually the case. And +the said Hastings well knew that the Nabob's household had been ill +conducted, that the allowances of his servants had not been paid, that +his distress was scandalous, and that his nearest relations were in a +famishing condition; and the said Hastings did also well know that the +household of the Nabob was provided for or neglected, not at his own +discretion, but at that of the said Hyder Beg Khan; and he did, in the +fourteenth article aforesaid, instruct the Resident, Bristow, to show +every ostensible and external mark of respect to the Nabob, in order to +induce him to become himself the mover of every act necessary for the +advancing of his own interests and the discharge of his debts to the +Company,--declaring, "that they never could be effected while the +minister retained that ascendency over him which he at present holds by +the means of a nearer and more private intercourse, and by affecting to +be the mediator of his rights against the claims of our government." And +the said Hastings did further well know that there was no way of +ascertaining the payment of the assignments for the Nabob's household, +either for the general purposes of their destination or to the +particular objects to which they ought to be applied, without regular +offices of receipt and of account, which might prevent the said +minister, Hyder Beg Khan, or the British Resident, or any other, from +embezzling or misapplying the same. But the total want of offices +aforesaid in every department of government did furnish occasion of +concealing all frauds, clandestine presents, or pensions to a +Governor-General, Commander-in-Chief, or other servant of the Company. + +LXII. That the said Warren Hastings, who did pretend so deep a concern +for the indignities supposed to be suffered by the Nabob merely in the +limitation and regulation of unnecessary expenses relative to his +kitchen, domestics, &c., did show no attention or compassion to the said +Nabob, when, in the year 1779, the said Nabob represented, that the +pensions of his old servants for thirty years, the expenses of his +family and kitchen, together with the jaghires of his grandmother, +mother, and aunts, and of his brothers and dependants, given for their +support, were not _regulated_, but _stopped_. + +LXIII. That the other articles of regulation, namely, the reform of the +troops in number and in arrangement, the appointment of proper +collectors for the revenues, and the general constitution of offices for +the executive administration, were in like manner totally defeated by +the said Hyder Beg Khan. And the said Hastings did receive a charge from +him, and did adopt it as his own, representing the endeavors of the +Resident to act in the regulations aforesaid agreeably to the spirit of +his instructions, and in confidence of the powers vested in and the +responsibility imposed upon him, the said Resident, as usurpations of +the authority and prerogative of the Nabob; and he, the said Hastings, +did make criminal charges thereon against the said Resident, Bristow, of +which charges the Council Board did, on hearing the same, and the +defence of the said Bristow, fully acquit him. + +LXIV. That the said Hastings, by abetting Hyder Beg Khan, a person +described by him as aforesaid, in his opposition to all the plans of +necessary reformation proposed by the said Hastings himself, and having +suggested no other whatever in lieu thereof, to answer the purposes for +which he had stipulated in the treaty of Chunar the interference of the +Resident in every branch of the Nabob's government, did thereby +frustrate every one of the good ends proposed by him in the said treaty +of Chunar, and did grossly abuse his trust in giving the exorbitant +powers before recited, and asserting them to exist in the British +Resident, without suffering them even in appearance to answer any of the +proper and justifiable ends for which any power or influence can or +ought to exist in any government. + +LXV. That there is just ground to violently presume that not only the +letters in the name of the Nabob aforesaid were dictated to him by his +minister, Hyder Beg Khan, in whose hands the said Hastings has described +his master to be "a mere cipher," &c., but which Hyder Beg was the known +instrument of the said Hastings, but that the conduct and letters of +complaint of the said Hyder Beg were in effect and substance prescribed +and dictated to him by the said Warren Hastings, or his secret agent, +Palmer, by his direction: because it is notorious that the powers of the +said Hyder Beg were solely supported by him, the said Hastings, who, +according to the state of favor or displeasure in which he stood, hath +frequently promised him support or threatened him with dismission and +punishment, and therefore it is not to be thought that he would take so +material a step as to oppose the Company's Resident, acting under the +instructions of the Governor-General and Council, and to accuse him with +so much confidence, and in a manner so different from the usual style of +supplication on all other occasions employed by that court, if he had +not been previously well assured that his writing in that manner would +be pleasing to the person upon whom he solely depended for his power, +his fortune, and perhaps for his life;--secondly, because, when it +suited the purposes of the said Hastings on a former occasion, that is, +in the year 1784 [1781?], to remove the Resident Bristow aforesaid from +his office, a letter from the Nabob was laid before the Council Board at +Calcutta, proposing, that, in order to prevent the effects of the said +Bristow's application to Europe for redress, the said Hastings should +send him drafts of letters which he, the said Nabob, would write in his +own name and character to the King, to his Majesty's ministers, and to +the Court of Directors, expressing himself, in the letter aforesaid, in +the words following, viz., "To prevent his [Bristow's] applying to +Europe, send me, if _you_ think proper, the drafts of letters which _I_ +may write to the King, the Vizier, and the chiefs of the +Company";--thirdly, that, though the said Hastings, and his secret +agent, Palmer, did pretend and positively assert that they had no share +in the letters aforesaid from the Nabob and his minister, there was an +original note to the Nabob's letters of accusation, referring to +distinct parts and specified numbers of the agent Palmer's secret +correspondence with the said Warren Hastings, and the said letter, with +the said reference, was, through inadvertence, laid before the board. + +LXVI. That the said Warren Hastings, having thrown the government of +Oude into great confusion and distress, and thereby prevented the +discharge of the debt, or pretended debt, to the Company, did, by all +the said intrigues, machinations, and charges, aim at the filling the +said office of Resident at Oude with his own dependants or by himself +personally; as it appears that he did first propose to place in the said +office his secret agent, Palmer, and that afterwards, when he was not +able to succeed therein, he did propose nominally to abolish the said +office, but in effect to fill it by himself,--proposing to the Council +and rendering himself responsible (but not in fortune) for the payment +of the Company's debt within a certain given time, if he were permitted +and commissioned by the Council to act for the board in that province, +and did inform them that he was privately well assured that in a few +days he should receive an invitation to that effect; and he did state, +(as in the year 1781 he had stated as a reason for his former +delegation,) "that the state of the country was so disordered in its +revenue and administration, and the credit and influence of the Nabob +himself so much shook by _the late usurpation_ of his authority, and the +contests which attended it, as to require the accession of an +extraneous aid to restore the powers and to reanimate the constitution +of his government,"--although he, the said Hastings, did for a long time +before attribute the weakness of his government to an extraneous +interference. And the said Council, on his engagement aforesaid, did +consent thereto; and he did accordingly receive a commission, enabling +him to act in the affairs of Oude, not only as the Resident might have +done, but as largely as the Council-General might legally delegate their +own powers. + +LXVII. That the said Warren Hastings, in accepting the said commission, +did subject his character and the reputation of his office to great +imputations and suspicions, by taking upon himself an inferior office, +out of which another had upon his intrigues been removed by a perpetual +obstruction which rendered it impossible for him to perform his duty or +to obey his instructions; and he did increase the said grounded +suspicions by exercising that office in a government from whence it was +notorious he had himself received an unlawful gift and present from the +ministers, and in which he had notoriously suffered many, and had +himself actually directed some, acts of peculation, by granting various +pensions and emoluments, to the prejudice of the revenue of a distressed +country, which he was not authorized to grant. + +LXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings did proceed unto the said province +of Oude under color of providing a remedy for the disorders described to +be existing in the same, and for the recovery of the Company's +pretended debt. And the said Warren Hastings, who had thought fit to +recall the Company's Resident, appointed to that office by the Court of +Directors, and to suspend his office, did, notwithstanding, of his own +choice and selection, and on his own mere authority, take with him in +his progress a large retinue, "and a numerous society of English +gentlemen to compose his family," which he represents as necessary, +although, in a letter from that very place to which he took that very +numerous society, he informs the Court of Directors "that his own +consequence and that of the nation he represents are independent of +show." And after his arrival there, he, the said Warren Hastings, did +write from Lucknow, the capital of that province, a letter, dated the +30th of April, 1784, to the Court of Directors, in which are several +particulars to the following purport or tenor, and which he points out +to the Directors "to be circumstances of no trivial information," +namely,--"that he had found that the lands in that province, as well as +in some parts more immediately under the Company, have suffered in a +grievous manner, being completely exhausted of their natural moisture by +the total failure of one entire season of the periodical rains," with a +few exceptions, which were produced only "by the uncommon labor of the +husbandman." And in a letter to Edward Wheler, Esquire, a member of the +Council-General, from Benares, the 20th of September, 1784, he says, +that "_the public revenues_ had declined with the failure of the +cultivation _in three successive years_; and all the stores of grain +which the _providence_ of the husbandmen, (as he was informed is their +_custom_,) in defiance of the _vigilance_ of the aumils [collectors], +_clandestinely reserved for their own use_, were of course exhausted, +in which state no person would accept of the charge of the collections +on a positive engagement; nor did the rain fall till the 10th of July." +And in another letter, dated from Benares, the 1st of October following, +he repeats the same accounts, and that the "country could not bear +further additions of expense: that it had _no inlets of trade_ to supply +the issues that were made from it" (the exceptions stated there being +inconsiderable); "therefore _every rupee_ which is drawn into your +treasury [the Company's] from its circulation will accelerate the period +at which its ability must cease _to pay even the stipulated subsidy_." +Notwithstanding this state of the country, of which he was well apprised +before he left Calcutta, and the poverty and distress of the prince +having been frequently, but in vain, represented to him, in order to +induce him to forbear his oppressive exactions, he did, in order to +furnish the Council with a color for permitting him to recall the +Company's Resident, and to exercise the whole powers of the Company in +his own person, without any check whatsoever, or witness of his +proceedings, except the persons of his own private choice, make the +express and positive engagement aforesaid, which, if understood of a +real and substantial discharge of debt for the relief of the total of +the Company's finances, was grossly fallacious: because at the very time +he must have been perfectly sensible, that, in the then state of the +revenues and country of Oude, (which are in effect the Company's +revenues and the Company's country,) the debt or pretended debt +aforesaid, asserted to be about five hundred thousand pounds, or +thereabouts, could not be paid without contracting another debt at an +usurious interest, without encroaching on the necessary establishments +or on private property or on the pay of the army, or without grievous +oppression of the country, or all these together. And it doth appear +that one hundred thousand pounds towards the said payment of debts was +borrowed at Calcutta by the Nabob's agent there, but at what interest is +not known; it appears also that other sums were borrowed for arrear of +the interest, on which forty thousand pounds sterling appears in the +Company's claims for the current year, and that various deductions were +made from the jaghires restored to the Begums, as well as other parts of +the Nabob's family; and it did and doth appear that an arrear is still +due to the old and new brigade,--but whether the same be growing or not +doth not appear: yet he hath not hesitated to assert that he had +"provided for the _complete_ discharge, in _one_ year, of a debt +contracted by _the accumulation of many_, and from a country whose +resources have been wasted and dissipated by three successive years of +drought and one of anarchy." But the said Hastings never did even +realize the payments to be made in the first year, (as he confesses in +the said letter,) except by an anticipation of the second; and though he +states in his letter aforesaid the following facts and engagements, that +is to say, "_that a recovery of so large a part of your property_ [the +Company's] will afford a seasonable and substantial relief to the +necessities of your government, and enable it (for such is my confident +hope) _to begin on the reduction of your debt at interest_ before the +conclusion of this year (I mean the year of this computation)." Whereas +the said Warren Hastings did apply the whole produce of the revenue to +the mere pay of some part of the British army in Oude; and did not +mention in his correspondence that he had remitted any money whatsoever +to Calcutta, nor to any other place, (except the fifty thousand pounds +taken from Almas Ali Khan, and said to be remitted to Surat,) for the +said "substantial relief," in consequence of the said pretended +"recovery of property,"--admitting that it had been suggested to him, +and not by him denied, that he had "disappointed the popular expectation +by not adopting the policy which he had, _on the conception of better +grounds_, rejected; nor did he begin the reduction of the interest debt" +at the time stated, nor at any time; but the whole (he well knowing the +state of the country from whence the resources aforesaid were by him +promised) was a premeditated deceit and imposition on the Board of +Council, his colleagues, and on the Court of Directors, his masters. + +LXIX. That no traces of regulation appear to have been adopted by the +said Warren Hastings during his residence at Lucknow, in conformity to +the spirit and intentions of the treaty of Chunar, or of his +instructions to Middleton and Bristow, or of the proposed objects of his +own commission. But he did, in lieu thereof, pretend to free the Nabob's +government from the interference of the Company's servants, and the +usurpation (as he called it) of a Resident, and thereby to restore it to +its proper tone and energy; whereas the measures he took were such as to +leave no useful or responsible superintendence in the British, and no +freedom in the Nabob's government: for he did confirm the sole, +unparticipated, and entire administration, with all the powers annexed +to the government, on the minister, Hyder Beg Khan, to whom he +_prevailed_ on the Nabob Vizier to commit the entire charge of his +revenues, although he knew that his master was a cipher in his +hands,--that he "had affixed his seal to letters written without his +knowledge, and such as evidently tended to promote Hyder Beg Khan's +influence and interest,"--that his said master did not consider him as a +minister of his choice, but as an instrument of his degradation,--that +"he exists as a minister by his dependence on the Calcutta government, +and that the Nabob himself had no other opinion of him,--that it is by +its _declared_ and most _obvious_ support _alone_ that he could maintain +his authority and influence." And in his instructions to his secret +agent, Major Palmer, dated 6th of May, 1782, to ease his mind and remove +his jealousy with regard to British interference, he did instruct him, +"that much delicacy and caution will be required in your declarations on +this subject, lest they should be construed to extend to an immediate +change in the administration of his affairs, or the instruments of it. +Their persons must be considered as _sacred, while_ they act with the +_participation of our influence_. This distinction the Nabob +_understands_; nor will it be either necessary or proper to allude to +it, unless he himself should first introduce the subject." And the said +Hastings did assume, as to a dependant of the lowest order, to prescribe +to him the conditions on which he is to hold his place,--to threaten him +with scrutinies into his conduct, with dismission, with +punishment,--that he was guilty of falsehood and duplicity, and that he +had made his master assert what was true to be false,--that he suspected +he had withheld from his master what he ought to have paid to him,--that +the event of his having _prevailed_ on the Nabob to intrust him as +aforesaid was, according to his, the said Hastings's, own letter, +written to the said Hyder Beg Khan himself, "an accumulation of +distress, debasement, and dissatisfaction to the Nabob, and of +disappointment and disgrace to me. Every measure which he had himself +proposed, and to which he had solicited my assistance, has been so +conducted as to give him cause of displeasure; there are no officers +established by which his affairs could be regularly conducted; mean, +incapable, and indigent man have been appointed aumils of the districts, +without authority, and without the means of personal protection; some of +them have been murdered by the zemindars, and those zemindars, instead +of punishment, have been permitted to retain their zemindaries with +independent authority; all the other zemindars suffered to rise up in +rebellion, and to insult the authority of the sircar, without any +attempt made to suppress them; and the Company's debt, instead of being +discharged by the assignments, and extraordinary sources of money +provided for that purpose, is likely to exceed even the amount at which +it stood at the time in which the arrangement with his Excellency was +concluded. _The growth of these evils was early made known to me, and +their effects foreboded in the same order and manner as they have since +come to pass._ In such a state of calamity and disgrace, I can no longer +remain a passive spectator; nor would it be becoming to conceal my +sentiments, or qualify the expression of them. I now plainly tell you, +that you are answerable for every misfortune and defect of the Nabob +Vizier's government." And after giving orders, and expressing some hopes +of better behavior, he adds, "If I am disappointed, you will impose on +me the painful and humiliating necessity of acknowledging to him that I +have been deceived, and of recommending the examination of your conduct +to his justice, both for the redress of his own and the Company's +grievances, and for the injury sustained by both in their mutual +connection. _Do not reply to me_, that what I have written is from the +suggestion of your enemies; nor imagine that I have induced myself to +write in such plain and declaratory terms, without a clear insight into +all the consequences of it, and a fixed determination upon them." + +LXX. That the aforesaid being the tenure of the power of the said +minister, and such his character, as given by the said Warren Hastings +himself, who did originally compel the Nabob to receive him, who did +constantly support him against the Nabob, his master, as well as against +the Company's Resident,--the delivering over to such a person his +master, his family, his country, and the care of the British interests +therein, without control or public inspection, was an high crime and +misdemeanor. + +LXXI. That the next person whom the said Hastings did invest with power +in the said country was a certain opulent and powerful native manager of +revenue, called Almas Ali Khan, closely connected with the said Hyder +Beg Khan, and to whom the said Hyder Beg Khan, as the said Hastings has +admitted, "had intrusted the _greatest_ part of his revenues, without +any pledge or security for his fidelity." And afterwards the said +Hastings charges the said Almas Ali with an intention of removing from +the Nabob's dominions: he states, "as taking with him," and therefore +being possessed of, "an immense treasure, the fruits of his +embezzlements and oppressions, and an army raised for its protection." + +LXXII. That the said Warren Hastings was, or pretended to be, impressed +with the evil character, dangerous designs, and immoderate power of the +said Almas Ali; that he did insert among his instructions to the +Resident Bristow an order of a dangerous and unwarrantable nature, in +which, upon his, the said Hastings's, simple allegation of offences, not +accurately described or specified, with regard either to the fact, the +nature of the offence, or the proof, he was required to urge the Nabob +to put him to death, with many qualifications in the said instructions, +full of fraud and duplicity, calculated to insnare the said Resident +Bristow, and to throw upon him the responsibility of the conduct of the +said Almas Ali Khan, if he should continue at large contrary to his +orders, or to subject him, the said Resident, to the shame and scandal +of apprehending and putting him to death by means which, in the +circumstances, must necessarily be such as would be construed into +treachery, and he, the said Almas Ali Khan, being from nature and +situation suspicious and watchful, and being at that very time in the +collection, or farmer of the most important part of the revenues, with +an extensive jurisdiction annexed, and at the head of fourteen thousand +of his own troops, and having been recently accepted by the Resident +Middleton as security for large sums of money advanced by the bankers of +Benares to the use of the East India Company; which orders (if the said +Resident would or could have executed them) must have raised an +universal alarm among all the considerable men of the country concerned +in the government, and would have been a means of subverting the public +credit of the Company, by the murder of a person engaged for very great +sums of money that had been advanced for their use. And the said +instruction is as followeth. + +"If any engagement shall actually subsist between them at the time you +have charge of the Residency, it must, however exceptionable, be +faithfully observed; but if he has been guilty of any criminal offence +to the Nabob, his master, for which no immunity is provided in the +engagement, or he shall break any one of the conditions of it, I do most +strictly enjoin you, and it must be your special care to endeavor, +_either by force or surprise_, to secure his person and bring him to +justice. By bringing him to justice I mean, that you urge the Nabob, on +due conviction, _to punish him with death_, as a necessary example to +deter others from the commission of the like crimes; nor must you desist +till this is effected. I cannot prescribe the means; but to guard myself +against the obloquy to which I may be exposed by a forced +misconstruction of this order by those who may hereafter be employed in +searching our records for cavils and informations against me, I think it +proper to forbid and protest against the use of any _fraudulent artifice +or treachery to accomplish the end which I have prescribed_; and as you +alone are privy to the order, you will of course observe the greatest +secrecy, that it may not transpire: but I repeat my recommendation of +it, as one of the first and most essential duties of your office." + +LXXIII. That, among the reasons assigned for putting to death the said +Almas Ali, which the said Hastings did recommend directly and repeatedly +to the Resident, "as one of the first and most essential duties of his +office," was, in substance, "that, by his extensive trust with regard to +the revenues, he had been permitted to acquire independency; that the +means thereof had been long seen and the effects thereof foretold by +every person acquainted with the state of government, except those +immediately interested in it"; and he, the said Warren Hastings, did +also charge the said Almas Ali with embezzlement of the revenues and +oppression of the people; and nothing appears to disprove the same, but +much to give ground to a presumption that the said Almas Ali did +grievously abuse the power committed to him, as farmer and collector of +the revenue, to the great oppression of the inhabitants of the countries +which had been rented to him by Hyder Beg Khan with the knowledge and +consent of the said Warren Hastings. + +LXXIV. That the Resident, Bristow, declining the violent attempt on the +life of Almas Ali deceitfully ordered by the said Warren Hastings, did, +on weighty reasons, drawn from the spirit of the said Hastings's own +instructions, recommend that his, the said Almas Ali Khan's, farms of +revenue, or a great part of them, should be, on the expiration of his +lease, taken out of his hands, as being too extensive, and supplying the +means of a dangerous power in the country; but yet he, the said Warren +Hastings, did not only continue him in the possession of the said +revenues, but did give to him a new lease thereof for the term of five +years. And on this renovation and increase of trust, the said Warren +Hastings did not consent to produce the informer upon whose credit he +had made his charge of capital crimes on the said Almas Ali, and had +directed him to be put to death, or call upon him to make good his +charges; but, instead of this, totally changing his relation to the said +Almas Ali, did himself labor to procure from all parts attestations to +prove him not guilty of the perfidy and disloyalty of which the said +Hastings himself appears to have been to that very time his sole +accuser, as he hath since been his most anxious advocate: but though he +did use many endeavors to acquit Almas Ali of his intended flight, yet +concerning his embezzlements and oppressions, the most important of all +charges relative to that of the revenue and collection, he, the said +Hastings, hath made no inquiry whatever; by which it might appear that +he was not as fully guilty thereof as he had always represented him to +be. But some time after he, the said Warren Hastings, had arrived at +Lucknow, in the year 1784, he suggested to the said Almas Ali Khan the +_advance_ to the Company's use of a sum of money amounting to fifty +thousand pounds or thereabouts; and the said suggested advance was (as +the said Warren Hastings asserts, no witness or document of the +transaction appearing) "cheerfully and without hesitation complied with, +considering it as an _evidence seasonably_ offered for the general +refutation of the charges of perfidy and disloyalty": which practice of +charging wealthy persons with treason and disloyalty, and afterwards +acquitting them on the payment of a sum of money, is highly scandalous +to the honor, justice, and government of Great Britain; and the offence +is highly aggravated by the said Hastings's declaration to the Court of +Directors that the charges against Almas Ali Khan have been too +laboriously urged against him, and carried at one time to such an excess +as had nearly driven him to abandon his country "_for the preservation +of his life and honor_," and thus to give a "color to the charges +themselves," when he, the said Warren Hastings, did well know that he +himself did consider as a crime, and did make it an article in a formal +accusation against the Resident Middleton, that he did not inform him, +the said Hastings, of the supposed treasons of Almas Ali Khan, and of +his design to abandon the country, when he himself did most laboriously +urge the charges against him, and when no attempt appears to have been +made against the life of the said Almas Ali Khan except by the said +Warren Hastings himself. + +LXXV. That the sum of fifty thousand pounds sterling, or thereabouts, +publicly taken by the said Warren Hastings, as an _advance_ for the use +of the Company, if given as a consideration or fine, on account of the +renewal for a long term of civil authority and military command, and the +collection of the revenues to an immense amount, the same being at least +eight hundred thousand pounds sterling yearly, was so totally inadequate +to the interest granted, that it may justly be presumed it was not on +that, or on any public ground or condition, that the said Hastings did +delegate, out of all reach of resumption or correction, a lease of +boundless power and enormous profit, for so long a term, to a known +oppressor of the country. + +LXXVI. That Warren Hastings, being at Lucknow in consequence of his +deputation aforesaid, did, in his letter from that city, dated 30th of +April, 1784, recommend to the Court of Directors, "as his _last and +ultimate hope_, that their wisdom would put a _final_ period to _the +ruinous and disreputable system_ of interference, whether _avowed or +secret_, in the affairs of the Nabob of Oude, and withdraw _forever the +influence_ by which it is maintained," and that they ought to confine +their views to the sole maintenance of the old brigade stationed in Oude +by virtue of the first treaty with the reigning Nabob, expressing +himself in the following words to the Court of Directors. "If you +transgress that line, you may extend _the distribution of patronage, and +add to the fortunes of individuals_, and to the nominal riches of Great +Britain; but your _own_ interests will suffer by it; and _the ruin of a +great and once flourishing nation will he recorded as the work of your +administration, with an everlasting reproach to the British name_. To +this reasoning I shall join _the obligations of justice and good faith, +which cut off every pretext for your exercising any power or authority +in this country, as long as the sovereign of it fulfils the engagements +he has articled with you_." + +LXXVII. That it appears by the extraordinary recommendation aforesaid, +asserted by him, the said Hastings, to be enforced by the +"_obligations of justice and good faith_," that the said Warren +Hastings, at the time of writing the said letter, had made an +agreement to withdraw the British interference, represented by him as +a "ruinous and disreputable system," out of the dominions of the Nabob +of Oude. But the instrument itself, in which the said agreement is +made, (if at all existing,) does not appear; nor hath the said +Hastings transmitted any documents relative to the said treaty, which +is a neglect highly criminal,--especially as he has informed the +Company, in his letter from Benares, "that he has promised the Nabob +that he will not abandon him to the _chance_ of any other mode of +relation, and most confidently given him assurance of _the +ratification and confirmation_ of that which he [the said Hastings] +had established between his government and the Company": the said +_confident assurance_ being given to an agreement never produced, and +made without any sort of authority from the Court of Directors,--an +agreement precluding, on the one hand, the operation of the discretion +of his masters in the conduct of their affairs, or, on the other, +subjecting them to the hazard of an imputation on their faith, by +breaking an engagement confidently made in their name, though without +their consent, by the first officer of their government. + +That the said Hastings, further to preclude the operation of such +discretionary conduct in the administration of this kingdom as +circumstances might call for, has informed the Directors that he has +gone so far as even to condition the existence of the revenue itself +with the exclusion of the Company, his masters, from all interference +whatsoever: for in his letter to Mr. Wheler, dated Benares, 20th +September, 1784, are the following words. "The aumils [collectors] +demanded that a clause should be inserted in their engagements, that +they were to be in full force for the complete term of their leases, +_provided that no foreign authority_ was exercised over them,--or, in +other words, _that their engagements were to cease whenever they should +be interrupted in their functions by the interference of an English +agent_. This requisition was officially notified to me by the acting +minister, and referred to me in form by the Nabob Vizier, for my +_previous_ consent to it. I encouraged it, and I gave my consent to +it." And the said Hastings has been guilty of the high presumption to +inform his said masters, that he has taken that course to compel them +not to violate the assurances given by him in their name: "There is one +condition" (namely, the above condition) "which _essentially connects +the confirmation of the settlement itself with the interests of the +Company_." + +LXXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings, who did show an indecent +distrust of the Company's faith, did endeavor, before that time, at +other times, namely, in his instructions to his secret agent, Major +Palmer, dated the 6th of May, 1782, to limit the confidence to be +reposed in the British government to the duration of his own power, in +the following words in the fifth article. "It is very much my desire to +impress the Nabob with a _thorough_ confidence in the faith and justice +of our government,--that is to say, _in my own_, while I am at the head +of it: I cannot be answerable for the acts of others independent of me." + +LXXIX. That the said Warren Hastings did, in his letter, dated Benares, +the 1st of October, 1784, to the Court of Directors, write, "that, if +they [the Directors] manifested no _symptoms_ of an (1.) _intended_ +interference, the objects of his engagements will be obtained; (2.) but +if a different policy shall be adopted,--if new agents are sent into the +country, and armed with authority for the purposes of vengeance or +corruption (_for to no other will they be applied_),--if new demands are +made on the Nabob Vizier, (4.) and accounts overcharged on one side, +with a wide latitude taken on the other, to swell his debt beyond the +means of payment,--(5.) if political dangers are portended, to ground on +them the plea of burdening his country with unnecessary defences and +enormous subsidies,--(6.) or if, even abstaining from _direct +encroachment on the Nabob's rights_, your government shall show but _a +degree of personal kindness to the partisans_ of the late usurpation, or +by any constructive indication of partiality and dissatisfaction +_furnish_ grounds for the _expectation_ of an _approaching_ change of +system,--I am sorry to say, that all my labors will prove abortive." + +LXXX. That all the measures deprecated in future by the said Warren +Hastings, with a reference to former conduct, in his several letters +aforesaid, being (so far as the same are intelligible) six in number, +have been all of them the proper acts and measures of the said Warren +Hastings himself. For he did himself first of all introduce, and did +afterwards continue and support, that interference which he now informs +the Court of Directors "is ruinous and disreputable, and which the very +_symptoms_ of an _intention_ to renew" he considers in the highest +degree dangerous; he did direct, with a controlling and absolute +authority, in every department of government, and in every district in +the dominions of the Nabob of Oude. Secondly, the appointment of agents, +which was eminently the act of his own administration: he not only +retaining many agents in the country of Oude, both "_secret and +avowed_," but also sending some of them, in defiance to the orders of +that very Court of Directors, to whom, in his said letter of the 1st of +October, 1784, he assigns "vengeance and corruption" as the only motives +that can produce such appointments. Thirdly, that he, the said Warren +Hastings, did instruct one of the said agents, and did charge him upon +pain of "_a dreadful responsibility_," to perform sundry acts of +violence against persons of the highest distinction and nearest relation +to the prince; which acts were justly liable to the imputation of +"_vengeance_" in the execution, and which he, in his reply to the +defence of Middleton to one of his charges, did declare to be liable to +the suspicion of "_corruption_ in the relaxation." Fourthly, that he did +raise new demands on the Vizier, "and overcharge accounts on one side +and take a wide latitude on the other," by sending up a new and before +unheard-of overcharge of four hundred thousand pounds and upwards, not +made by the Resident or admitted by the Vizier, and, by adding the same, +did swell his debt "beyond the means of payment"; and did even insert, +as the ninth article of his charge against Middleton, "his omitting to +take any notice of the additional balance of Rupees 26,48,571, stated by +the Accountant-General to be due from the Vizier on the 30th of April, +1780," to which he did add fourteen lac more, making together the above +sum. Fifthly, that he, the said Warren Hastings, did assign "political +dangers," in his minute of the 13th December, 1779, for burdening the +said Nabob of Oude "with unnecessary defences and enormous subsidies," +with regard to which he then declared, that "it was _our_ part, not +_his_ [the Nabob's], to judge and to determine." And, sixthly, that he +did not only show the _design_, but the _fact_, of personal kindness to +the partisans of what he here calls, as well as in another letter, and +in one Minute of Consultation, a "late usurpation,"--he having rewarded +the principal and most obnoxious of the instruments of the said late +usurpation, (if such it was,) Richard Johnson, Esquire, with an +honorable and profitable embassy to the court of the Nizam. + +LXXXI. That the said Warren Hastings, therefore,--by assuming an +authority which he himself did consider as an _usurpation_, and by acts +in virtue of that usurped authority, done in his own proper person and +by agents appointed by himself, and proceeding (though with some +mitigation, for which one of them was by him censured and accused) under +his own express and positive orders and instructions, and thereby +establishing, as he himself observed, "a system of interference, +disreputable and ruinous, which could only be subservient to promote +patronage, private interest, private embezzlement, corruption, and +vengeance," to the public detriment of the Company, "and to the ruin of +a once flourishing nation, and eternally reproachful to the British +name," and for the evil effects of which system, "as his sole and +ultimate hope" and remedy, he recommends an entire abdication, forever, +not only of all power and authority, but even of the interference and +influence of Great Britain,--is guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor. + +LXXXII. That the said Warren Hastings, in his letter from Chunar of the +29th of November, 1781, has represented that very influence and +interference, which in three public papers he denominates "_a late +usurpation_" as being authorized by a regular treaty and agreement, +voluntarily made with the Nabob himself, at a place called Chunar, on +the 19th of September, 1781, a copy of which hath been transmitted to +the Court of Directors,--and that three persons were present at the +execution of the same, two whereof were Middleton and Johnson, his +agents and Residents at Oude, the third the minister of the Nabob. And +he did, in his paper written to the Council-General, and transmitted to +the Court of Directors, not only declare that the said interference was +agreed to by the said Nabob, and sealed with his seal, but would be +highly beneficial to him: assuring the said Council, "that, if the +Resident performed his duty in the execution of his [the said +Hastings's] instructions, the Nabob's part of the engagement will prove +of still greater benefit to him than to our government, in whose behalf +it was exacted; and that the _participation_ which is allowed our +Resident in the _inspection_ of the public treasure will secure the +receipt of the Company's demands, whilst _the influence which our +government will ALWAYS possess over the public minister of the Nabob, +and the authority of our own_, will be an effectual means of securing an +attentive and faithful discharge of their several trusts, both towards +the Company and the Vizier." + +LXXXIII. And the said Warren Hastings did not only settle a plan, of +which the agency and interference aforesaid was a part, and assert the +beneficial consequences thereof, but did also record, that the same "was +a great public measure, constituted on a large and _established system_, +and destructive, in its instant effects, of the interest and fortune of +many patronized individuals"; and in consequence of the said treaty, he, +the said Warren Hastings, did authorize and positively require his agent +aforesaid to interfere in and control and regulate _all the Nabob's +affairs whatsoever_: and the said Warren Hastings having made for the +Company, and in its name, an acquisition of power and authority, even if +it had been abused by others, he ought to have remedied the abuse, and +brought the guilty to condign punishment, instead of making another +treaty without their approbation, consent, or knowledge, and to this +time not communicated to them, by which it appears he has annulled the +former treaty, and the authority thereby acquired to the Company, as a +grievance and usurpation, to which, from the general corruption of their +service, no other remedy could be applied than a formal renunciation of +their power and influence: for which said actings and doings the said +Warren Hastings is guilty of an high crime and misdemeanor. + +LXXXIV. That the Company's army in India is an object requiring the most +vigilant and constant inspection, both to the happiness of the natives, +the security of the British power, and to its own obedience and +discipline, and does require that inspection in proportion as it is +removed from the principal seat of government; and the number and +discipline of the troops kept up by the native princes, along with +British troops, is also of great moment and importance to the same ends. +That Warren Hastings, Esquire, pretending to pursue the same, did, in +virtue of an authority acquired by the treaty of Chunar aforesaid, give +strict orders, and to which he did demand _a most implicit obedience_, +that _all_ officers of the Nabob's army should be appointed "with _the +concurrence of the Resident_," and supposing the case that persons of +obnoxious description or of known disaffection to the British government +should be appointed, (of which he left the Resident to be the judge,) +he did direct in the following words: "You are in such case to +remonstrate against it; and if the Vizier should persist in his choice, +you are peremptorily, _and in my name_, to oppose it as _a breach of his +agreement_"; and he did also direct that the "_mootiana_ [or soldiers +employed for the collection of revenue] should be reformed, and reduced +into one corps for the whole service, and that _no_ infantry should be +left in the Nabob's service but what may be necessary for his +bodyguard"; and he did further order and direct as follows: "That in +quelling disturbances the commander of the forces should assist you [the +said Resident] on the requisition of the Vizier communicated through you +to him [the said commander], _or at your own tingle application_. It is +directed that the regiment ordered for the immediate protection of your +office and person at Lucknow shall be relieved every three months, and +during its stay there shall act solely and exclusively under your +orders." And it appears in the course of the Company's correspondence, +that the country troops under the Nabob's sole direction would be +ill-disciplined and unserviceable, if not worse, and therefore the said +Warren Hastings did order that "no infantry should be kept in his +service"; yet it appears that the said Warren Hastings did make an +arrangement for a body of native troops wholly out of the control or +inspection of the British government, and left a written order in the +hands of Major Palmer (one of _his_ agents, who had been continued +there, though the Company was not permitted to employ any) to be +transmitted to Colonel Cumming as soon as an adequate force shall be +provided _for the defence of the Nabob's frontier_ by detachments from +_the Nabob's own battalions_,--the said Colonel Cumming's forces, whom +the others were to supersede and replace, consisting wholly of infantry, +and which, being intended for the same service, were probably of the +same constitution. + +LXXXV. That the old brigade of British troops, which by treaty was to +remain, had been directed, by the instructions of the said Hastings to +the Resident Middleton and to the Resident Bristow, "not to be employed +at the requisition of the Vizier any otherwise than through the +Resident"; and the said direction was properly given,--it not being fit +that British troops should be under the sole direction of foreign +independent princes, or of any other than the British government: yet, +notwithstanding the proper and necessary direction aforesaid, he, the +said Warren Hastings, hath left the said troops, by his new treaty, +without any local control, or even inspection, notwithstanding his +powers under the treaty of Chunar, and his own repeated orders, and +notwithstanding the mischiefs and dangers which the said Warren Hastings +did foresee would result therefrom, if left under the sole direction of +the Nabob, and their own discretion, the said Hastings having stipulated +with the said Nabob not to exercise any authority, or even influence, +_secret_ or _avowed_, within his dominions. + +LXXXVI. That the crime of the said Warren Hastings, in attempting thus +to abandon the British army to the sole discretion of the Nabob of Oude, +is exceedingly aggravated by the description given by him severally of +the said Nabob of Oude, and of the British army stationed for the +defence of his dominions. In his letters to the Court of Directors, and +in his Minutes of Consultation, and particularly in his letter of ----, +immediately on the accession of the Nabob, he did inform the said Court, +"that the Nabob had not, by all accounts, the qualities of the head or +heart which fitted him for that office, though there was no dispute +concerning his right to succeed"; and some years afterwards, when his +accounts must have been rendered more certain, he did, in his Minute of +Consultation of the 15th of December, 1779, (regularly transmitted to +the Court of Directors,) upon a discussion for withdrawing certain +troops kept up in the Nabob's country without his consent, by him, the +said Warren Hastings, strongly urge as follows,--"the _necessity_ of +maintaining the influence and force which we possess in the country; +that the disorders of his state [the Nabob of Oude's state] and +dissipation of his revenues are the effects of his own conduct, which +has failed, not so much from the usual effects of _incapacity_ as from +the detestable choice he has made of the ministers of his power and the +participation of his confidence. I forbear to expatiate further on his +character; it is sufficient that I am understood by the members of this +board, who must know the truth of my allusions. Mr. Francis" (a member +of the board) "surely was not aware of the injury he did me [Warren +Hastings] by attributing to the spirit of party the character I gave +Asoph ul Dowlah [the Nabob of Oude]; he himself knows it _to be true; +and it is one of those notorieties which supersede the necessity of any +evidence. I was forced to the allusion I made by the imputation cast on +this government, as having caused the evils which prevail in the +government of the Nabob of Oude, which I could only answer by ascribing +them to their true cause, the character and conduct of the Nabob of +Oude."_ And the Resident (appointed by the said Hastings, against the +orders of the Court of Directors, as his particular confidential +representative, one whom the said Nabob did himself request might be +continued with him _by an engagement in writing forever_) did some time +before, that is, on the 3d of January, 1779, assure the said Hastings +and the Council-General, that "such is his Excellency's [the Nabob of +Oude's] disposition, and so entirely has he lost the confidence and +affections of his subjects, that, unless some restraint is imposed on +him which would effectually secure those who live under the protection +of his government from violence and oppression, I am but too well +convinced that no man of reputation or property will long continue in +these provinces"; and that the said Resident proceeds to an instance of +oppression and rapine, "out of _many_ of the Nabob's, which has caused a +total disaffection and want of confidence among his subjects: he hoped +the board would take it into their humane consideration, and interpose +their _influence_, and prevent an act which would inevitably bring +disgrace upon himself, and a proportionable degree of discredit on the +national character of the English, which I consider to be more or less +concerned in every act of his administration." + +LXXXVII. That no exception was ever taken by the said Warren Hastings to +the truth of the facts, or to the justness of the observation of the +said Resident, which he did transmit to the Court of Directors. And the +said Warren Hastings, in his letter from Chunar, dated the 29th of +November, 1781, speaking of the restraints which had been put by him, +the said Hastings, on the Nabob, relative to his own _mootiana_, or +forces for collection and police, and the necessity of giving the +Resident a control in the nomination of the officers of his army, has +asserted, "that the necessity of the reservation arose from a too well +known defect in the Nabob's character: if this _check_ be withdrawn, and +the choice left absolutely to the Nabob, the first commands in his army +will be filled with the most worthless and abandoned of his subjects: +his late commander-in-chief is a signal and scandalous instance of +this." + +LXXXVIII. And the said Warren Hastings, in his letter to the Court of +Directors, dated Benares, the 15th of October, 1784, even after he had +made the aforesaid renunciation of the Company's authority and influence +to the Nabob, did write, "that the Nabob, though most gentle in his +manners, and endued with an understanding much above the common level, +has been _unfortunately bred up in habits_ that draw his attention too +much from his own affairs, and often subject him to the guidance of +_insidious and unworthy confidants_"; which, though more decently +expressed with regard to the Nabob than in his former minutes, +substantially agrees with them. And the said Warren Hastings did inform +the Court of Directors, after he had solemnly covenanted to withdraw all +the Company's influence on the assurances and promises of a person so by +himself described, that, for reasons grounded on his knowledge of the +imbecility of the character of the Nabob, he waited in a frontier town, +"that he might be at hand to counteract any attempt to defeat the effect +of his proceedings at Lucknow"; and in his letter to Mr. Wheler from the +same place he did write in the following words: "I am still near enough +to attend to the first effects of the execution, and to interfere with +my influence for the removal of any obstructions to which they are or +may be liable." He therefore found that there was none or but an +insufficient security to the effect of his treaty, but in his own direct +personal violation of it. What otherwise was wanting in the security for +the Nabob's engagements was to be supplied as follows: "The most +respectable persons of his family will be employed to counteract every +other which may tend to warp him from it; and I am sorry to say _that +such assistance was wanting_." And in another letter, "that he had equal +ground to expect every degree of support which could be given it by _the +first characters of his family_, who are warmly and zealously interested +in it": the principal male character of the family, and of the most +influence in that family, being Salar Jung, uncle to the Nabob; and the +first female characters of the family being the mother and grandmother +of the reigning sovereign: all of whom, male and female, he, the said +Warren Hastings, in sundry letters of his own, in the transmission of +various official documents, and even in affidavits studiously collected +and sworn before Sir Elijah Impey during his short residence at Lucknow +and Benares, did himself represent as persons entirely disaffected to +the English power in India,--as having been principal promoters, if not +original contrivers, of a general rebellion and revolt for the utter +extirpation of the English nation,--and as such, he, the said Warren +Hastings, did compel the Nabob reluctantly to take from them their +landed estates; and yet the said Warren Hastings has had the presumption +to attempt to impose on the East India Company by pretending to place +his reliance on those three persons for a settlement favorable to the +Company's interests, on his renunciation of all their own power, +authority, and influence, and on his leaving their army to the sole and +uncontrolled discretion of a stranger, meriting in his opinion the +description given by him as aforesaid, as well as by him frequently +asserted to be politically incapable of supporting his own power without +the aid of the forces of the Company. And the offence of the said Warren +Hastings, in abandoning a considerable part of the British army in the +manner aforesaid, is much increased by the description which he has +himself given of the state of the said army, and particularly of that +part thereof which is stationed in the Nabob of Oude's dominions: for he +did himself, on the 29th of November, 1781, transmit the information +following, on that subject, to the Court of Directors, namely,--"that +the remote stations of those troops, placing the commanding officers +beyond the notice and control of the board [the Council-General] at +Calcutta, afforded too much of opportunity and temptation for +unwarrantable _emoluments, and excited the contagion of peculation and +rapacity throughout the whole army_. A most remarkable instance and +uncontrovertible proof of the prevalence of this spirit has been seen in +the court-martial upon Captain Erskine, where the court, composed of +officers of rank, and respectable characters, unanimously and honorably, +(_most_ honorably,) upon an acknowledged fact, acquitted him, which in +times of stricter discipline would have been deemed a crime deserving +the severest punishment." From which representation (if the said Warren +Hastings did not falsely and unjustly accuse and slander the Company's +service) it appeared that the peculation which infected the whole army, +derived from the taint which it had in Oude, and so fatal to the +discipline of the troops, would be dangerously increased by his treaty +and agreement aforesaid with the Nabob, and by his own said evil counsel +to the Court of Directors. + +LXXXIX. That it appears, after the said Warren Hastings had, on grounds +so disgraceful to the British nation and government, agreed to remove +forever the British influence and interference from the government of +Oude, on account of the disorders in the said government, solely +produced by his own criminal acts and criminal connivances, that he did +overturn his own settlement as soon as he had made it, and did, after he +had abolished the Company's Residency, as a grievance, wholly violate +his own solemn agreement: for he did, for his private purposes, continue +therein his own private agent, Major Palmer, with a number of officers +and pensioners, at a charge to the revenues of the country greatly +exceeding that of the establishment under Mr. Bristow, which he did +represent as frightfully enormous, and which he pretended to remove: the +former amounting to 112,950_l._, the latter only to 64,202_l._ + +XC. That his own secret agent, Major Palmer, did receive a salary or +allowance, equal to 22,800_l._ a year, out of the distressed province +of Oude; and this the said Palmer did declare not to be more than he +absolutely did really and _bona fide_ spend, and that he had +retrenched considerably "in some of the articles since the expense has +been borne by the Vizier, and in every particular he made as little +parade and appearance as his station would admit,"--his station being +that of the said Warren Hastings's private agent. But if the said +large salary must be considered as merely equal to the expenses, large +secret emoluments must be presumed to attend it, in order to make it a +place advantageous to the holder thereof. That the said Palmer did +apply to the board at Calcutta for a new authority to continue the +said establishments,--he conceiving their continuance, "after the +period of the Governor-General's departure, depended upon the pleasure +of the board, and not upon the _authority of the Governor-General, +under the sanction of which they were established or confirmed_." + +XCI. That the said Warren Hastings, in order to ruin the Resident +Bristow, and to justify himself for his former proceedings respecting +him, did bring before the board a new charge against him, for having +paid a large establishment of offices and pensions to the Company's +servants from the revenues of Oude; and the said Bristow, in making his +defence against the charge aforesaid, did plead, that he had found all +the allowances on his list established before his last appointment to +the Residency,--that they had grown to that excess in the interval +between his first removal by the said Warren Hastings and his +reappointment; and having adduced many reasons to make it highly +probable that the said Hastings was perfectly well acquainted with it, +and did approve of the expensive establishments which he, the said +Bristow, simply had paid, but not imposed, he did allege, besides the +official assurances of his predecessor, Middleton, certain facts, as +amounting to a direct proof that the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, +was not averse to the Vizier's granting large salaries to more than one +European gentleman. And the first instance was to Mr. Thomas, a surgeon, +who, exclusive of his pay from the Company, which was 1,440_l._ a year, +claimed from the Vizier, with Mr. Hastings's knowledge, the sum of +9,763_l._ a year, and upwards, making together 11,203_l._ per annum. The +next was Mr. Trevor Wheler, who did receive, upon the same +establishment, when he was Fourth Assistant at Oude, 6,000_l._ a year; +and which last fact the said Hastings has admitted upon record "that the +accusations of Mr. Bristow and Mr. Cowper did _oblige_ and _compel_ him +to acknowledge,"--denying, at the same time, that the allowances of the +Residents Middleton and Bristow, except in this single instance, were +ever authorized by him; whereas his own agent, Palmer, did, in his +letter of the 27th of March, 1785, represent, that the said salaries and +allowances (if not more and larger) were by him authorized or confirmed. + +XCII. That the aforesaid Bristow did also produce the following letter +in proof that Mr. Hastings knew and approved of large salaries to +British subjects upon the revenues of Oude, and which he did declare +that nothing but the necessity of self-defence could have induced him to +produce. + +'DEAR BRISTOW,-- + +"Sir Eyre Coote has some field-allowances to receive from the Vizier; +they amount to Sicca Rupees 15,554 per month, and he has been paid up by +the Vizier to the 20th of August, 1782. The Governor has directed me to +write to you, to request you to receive what is due from the Vizier +from the 20th August last, at the rate of Lucknow Sicca Rupees 15,664 +per month, and send me a bill for the amount, the receipt of which I +will acknowledge in the capacity of Sir Eyre Coote's attorney; and the +Governor desires that you will continue to receive Sir Eyre Coote's +field-allowances at the same rate, and remit the money to me as it comes +in. + + (Signed) "CHARLES CROFTES. + + "CALCUTTA, January 25, 1783." + +XCIII. That Sir Eyre Coote aforesaid was at the time of the said +field-allowances not serving in the country of Oude, on which the said +allowances were charged, but in the Carnatic. + +XCIV. That, from the declaration of the said Hastings himself, that it +was the conviction of Mr. Bristow and Mr. Cowper that could alone +_oblige_ and _compel_ him to _acknowledge_ certain of his aforesaid +practices, and that nothing _but the necessity of self-defence_ could +have induced Mr. Bristow to make public another and much stronger +instance of the same, it is to be violently presumed, that, where these +two, or either, or both necessities did not exist, many evil and +oppressive practices of the said Hastings do remain undiscovered,--that, +if it had not been for the contests between him, the said Hastings, and +the Resident Bristow, not only the before-mentioned particulars, but the +whole of the expensive civil establishments for English servants at +Oude, would have been forever concealed from the Directors and from +Parliament: and yet the said Hastings has had the audacity to pretend so +complete an ignorance of the facts, that, representing the Vizier as +objecting to the largeness of the payments made by Bristow, and stating +a very reduced list, which he was willing to allow for, amounting to +30,000_l._ a year, the said Hastings did affect to be alarmed at the +magnitude even of the list so curtailed, expressing himself as follows, +in his minute of the 7th of December, 1784: "For my own part, when the +Vizier's minister first informed me that the amount which his master had +authorized, and was willing to admit, for the charges of the Residency, +and the allowances of the gentlemen at Lucknow, was 25,000 rupees per +month, I own I was startled at the magnitude of the sum, and was some +days hesitating in my mind whether I could with propriety admit of it": +whereas he well knew that the three sums alone of which the necessities +aforesaid had compelled the discovery did greatly exceed that sum of +which at the first hearing he affects to have been so exceedingly +alarmed and thrown into a state of hesitation which continued for some +days, and although he, the said Hastings, was conscious that he had at +the very time authorized an establishment to more than four times the +amount thereof. + +XCV. That, in the said deceits, prevarications, contradictions, +malicious accusations, fraudulent concealments, and compelled +discoveries, as well as in the said secret, corrupt, and prodigal +disposition of the revenues of Oude, as well as in his breach of faith +to the Nabob, in continuing expensive establishments under a private +agent of his own after he had agreed to remove the Company's agent, the +said Warren Hastings is guilty of an high offence and misdemeanor. + + + + +XVII.--MAHOMED REZA KHAN. + + +I. That it was the declared policy of the Company, on the acquisition of +the dewanny of Bengal, to continue the country government, under the +inspection of the Resident at the Nabob's durbar in the first instance, +and that of the President and Council in the last; and for that purpose +they did stipulate to assign, for the support of the dignity of the +Nabob, an annual allowance from the revenues, equal to four hundred +thousand pounds a year. + +II. That, during the country government, the principal active person in +the administration of affairs, for rank, and for reputation of probity, +and of knowledge in the revenues and the laws, was Mahomed Reza Khan, +who, besides large landed property, was possessed of offices whose +emoluments amounted nearly, if not altogether, to one hundred thousand +pounds a year. + +IV.[16] That the Company's servants, in the beginning, were not +conversant in the affairs of the revenue, and stood in need of natives +of integrity and experience to act in the management thereof. On that +ground, as well as in regard to the rank which Mahomed Reza Khan held in +the country, and the confidence of the people in him, they, the +President and Council, did inform the Court of Directors, in their +letter of the 30th of September, 1765, that, "as Mahomed Reza Khan's +short administration was irreproachable, they determined to continue him +in a share of the authority"; and this information was not given +lightly, but was founded upon an inquiry into his conduct, and a minute +examination of charges made against him by his rivals in the Nabob's +court,--they having insinuated to the Nabob that a design was formed for +deposing him, and placing Mahomed Reza on his throne; but, on +examination, the President and Council declare, that "he had so openly +and candidly accounted _for every rupee_ disbursed from the treasury, +that they could not, without injury to his character, and injustice to +his conduct during his short administration, refuse continuing him in a +share of the government." + +V. That the Company had reason to be satisfied with the arrangement +made, so far as it regarded him: the President and Council having +informed them, in the following year, in their letter of the 9th of +December, 1766, that "the _large_ increase of the revenue must in a +great measure be ascribed to Mr. Sykes's assiduity, and to _Mahomed Reza +Khan's profound knowledge in the finances_." + +VI. That the then President and Council, finding it necessary to make +several reforms in the administration, were principally aided in the +same by the suggestion, advice, and assistance of the said Mahomed Reza +Khan; and in their letter to the Court of Directors of the 24th of June, +1767, they state their resolution of reducing the emoluments of office, +which before had arisen from a variety of presents and other +perquisities, to fixed allowances; and they state the merits of Mahomed +Reza Khan therein, as well as the importance, dignity, and +responsibility of his station, in the following manner. + +"Mahomed Reza Khan has now _of himself, with great delicacy of honor_, +represented to us the evil consequences that must ensue from the +continuance of this practice,--since, by suffering the principal +officers of the government to depend for the support of their dignity on +the precarious fund of perquisites, they in a manner oblige them to +pursue oppressive and corrupt measures, equally injurious to the country +and the Company; and they accordingly assigned twelve lac of rupees for +the maintenance and support of the said Mahomed Reza Khan, and two other +principal persons, who held in their hands the most important +employments of that government,--having regard to their elevated +stations, and to the expediency of supporting them in all the show and +parade requisite to keep up the authority and influence of their +respective offices, as they are all men of weight and consideration in +the country, who held places of great trust and profit under the former +government. We further propose, by this act of generosity, to engage +their cordial services, and confirm them steady in our interests; since +they cannot hope, from the most successful ambition, to rise to greater +advantages by any chance or revolution of affairs. At the same time it +was reasonable we should not lose sight of Mahomed Reza Khan's past +services. He has pursued the Company's interest with steadiness and +diligence; his abilities qualify him to perform the most important +services; the unavoidable charges of his particular situation are great; +in dignity he stands second to the Nabob only;--and as he engages to +increase the revenues, without injustice or oppression, to more than the +amount of his salary, _and to relinquish those advantages, to the amount +of eight lacs of rupees per annum_, which he heretofore enjoyed, we +thought it proper, in the distribution of salaries, to consider Mahomed +Reza Khan in a light superior to the other ministers. We have only to +observe further, that, great and enormous as the sum must appear which +we have allotted for the support of the ministers of the government, we +will not hesitate to pronounce that it is necessary and reasonable, and +will appear so on the consideration of the power which men employed on +these important services have either to obstruct or promote the public +good, unless their integrity be confirmed by the ties of gratitude and +interest." + +VII. That the said Mahomed Reza Khan continued, with the same diligence, +spirit, and fidelity, to execute the trust reposed in him, which +comprehended a large proportion of the weight of government, and +particularly of the collections; and his attachment to the interest of +the Company, and his extensive knowledge, were again, in the course of +the year 1767, fully acknowledged, and stated to the Court of Directors. +And it further appears that by an incessant application to business his +health was considerably impaired, which gave occasion in the year +following, that is, in February, 1768, to a fresh acknowledgment of his +services in these terms: "We must, in justice to Mahomed Reza Khan, +express the high sense we entertain of his abilities, and of the +indefatigable attention he has shown in the execution of the important +trust reposed in him; and we cannot but lament the prospect of losing +his services from the present declining state of his health." + +VIII. That as in the increase of the revenue the said Mahomed Reza Khan +was employed as a person likely to improve the same without detriment to +the people, so, when the state of any province seemed to require a +remission, he was employed as a person disposed to the relief of the +people without fraud to the revenue; and this was expressed by the +President and Council as follows, with relation to the remissions +granted in the province of Bahar: "That the general knowledge of Mahomed +Reza Khan, in all matters relative to the dewanny revenues, induced us +to consent to such deductions being made from the general state of that +province at the _last poonah_ as may be deemed irrecoverable, or such as +may procure an immediate relief and encouragement to the ryots in the +future cultivation of their lands." + +IX. That the said Mahomed Reza Khan, in the execution of the said great +and important trusts and powers, was not so much as suspected of an +ambitious or encroaching spirit, which might make him dangerous to the +Company's then recent authority, or which might render his precedence +injurious to the consideration due to his colleagues in office; but, on +the contrary, it appears, that, a plan having been adopted for dividing +the administration, in order to remove the Nabob's jealousies, the same +was in danger of being subverted by the ambition "of two of his +colleagues, and _the excessive moderation of Mahomed Reza Khan_." And +for a remedy of the inconveniencies which might arise from the excess of +an accommodating temper, though attended with irreproachable integrity, +the President and Council did send one of their own members, as their +deputy, to the Nabob of Bengal, at his capital of Moorshedabad; and this +measure appears to have been adopted for the support of Mahomed Reza +Khan, in consequence of an inquiry made and advice given by Lord Clive, +in his letter of the 3d of July, 1765, in which letter he expresses +himself of the said Mahomed Reza Khan as follows: "It is with pleasure I +can acquaint you, _that, the more I see of Mahomed Reza Khan, the +stronger is my conviction of his honor and moderation_, but that, at the +same time, I cannot help observing, that, either from timidity or an +erroneous principle, he is too ready to submit to encroachments upon +that proportion of power that has been allotted him." + +X. That, the Nabob Jaffier Ali Khan dying in February, 1765, Mahomed +Reza Khan was appointed guardian to his children, and administrator of +his office, or regent, which appointment the Court of Directors did +approve. But the party opposite to Mahomed Reza Khan having continued to +cabal against him, sundry accusations were framed relative to oppression +at the time of the famine, and for a balance due during his employment +of collector of the revenues; upon which the Directors did order him to +be deprived of his office, and a strict inquiry to be made into his +conduct. + +XI. That the said Warren Hastings, then lately appointed to the +Presidency, did, on the 1st of April, and on the 24th of September, +1772, write letters to the Court of Directors, informing them that on +the very next day after he had received (as he asserts) their private +orders, "addressed to himself alone," and not to the board, he did +dispatch, by express messengers, his orders to Mr. Middleton, the +Resident at the Nabob's court at Moorshedabad, in a public character +and trust with the Nabob, to arrest, in his capital, and at his court, +and without any previous notice given of any charge, his principal +minister, the aforesaid Mahomed Reza Khan, and to bring him down to +Calcutta; and he did carefully conceal his said proceedings from the +knowledge of the board, on pretext of his not being acquainted with +their dispositions, and the influence which he thought that the said +Mahomed Reza Khan had amongst them. + +XII. That the said Warren Hastings, at the time he gave his orders as +aforesaid for arresting the said Mahomed Reza Khan, did not take any +measures to compel the appearance of any other persons as +witnesses,--declaring it as his opinion, "that there would be little +need of violence to obtain such intelligence as they could give against +their former master, when his authority is taken from him"; but he did +afterwards, in excuse for the long detention and imprisonment of the +said Mahomed Reza Khan, without any proofs having been obtained of his +guilt, or measures taken to bring him to a trial, assure the Directors, +in direct contradiction to his former declaration, "that the influence +of Mahomed Reza Khan still prevailed generally throughout the country, +in the Nabob's household, and at the capital, and was scarcely affected +by his present disgrace,"--notwithstanding, as he, the said Hastings, +doth confess, he had used his utmost endeavors "to break that influence, +by removing his dependants, and putting the direction of all the affairs +that had been committed to his care into the hands of _the most powerful +or active of his enemies_; that he depended on the activity of their +hatred to Mahomed Reza Khan, incited by the expectation of rewards, for +investigating the conduct of the latter; that with this the institution +of the new dewanny coincided; and that the same principle had guided him +in the choice of Munny Begum and Rajah Gourdas,--the former for the +chief administration, the latter" (the son of Nundcomar, and a mere +instrument in the hands of his father) "for the dewanny of the Nabob's +household,--both _the declared enemies_ of Mahomed Reza Khan." + +XIII. That, although it might be true that enemies will become the most +active prosecutors, and as such may, though under much guard and many +precautions, be used even as witnesses, and that it ought not to be an +exception, supposing their character and capacity otherwise good, to the +appointing them to power, yet to advance persons to power on the ground +not of their honor and integrity, which might have produced the enmity +of bad men, but merely for the enmity itself, without any reference +whatsoever to a laudable cause, and even with a declared ill opinion of +the morals of one of the party, such as was actually delivered in the +said letter by him, the said Hastings, of Nundcomar, (and which time has +shown he might also on good ground have conceived of others,) was, in +the circumstances of a criminal inquiry, a motive highly disgraceful to +the honor of government, and destructive of impartial justice, by +holding out the greatest of all possible temptation to false accusation, +to corrupt and factious conspiracies, to perjury, and to every species +of injustice and oppression. + +XIV. That, in consequence of the aforesaid motives, and others +pretended, which were by no means a sufficient justification to the said +Warren Hastings, he did appoint the woman aforesaid, called Munny Begum, +who had been of the lowest and most discreditable order in society, +according to the ideas prevalent in India, but from whom he received +several sums of money, to be guardian to the Nabob in preference to his +own mother, _and to administer the affairs of the government_ in the +place of the said Mahomed Reza Khan, the second Mussulman in rank after +the Nabob, and the first in knowledge, gravity, weight, and character +among the Mussulmen of that province. And in order to try every method +and to take every chance for his destruction, the said Warren Hastings +did maliciously and oppressively keep him under confinement, for a part +of the time without any inquiry, and afterwards with a slow and dilatory +trial, for two years together. + +XV. That, notwithstanding a total revolution in the power, in part +avowedly made for his destruction, the persons appointed for his trial +did, on full inquiry, completely acquit the said Mahomed Reza Khan of +the criminal charges against him, on account of which he had been so +long persecuted and confined, and suffered much in mind, body, and +fortune: and the Court of Directors, in their letter of the 3d of March, +1775, testify their satisfaction in the conduct and result of the said +inquiry, and did direct the restoration of the said Mahomed Reza Khan to +liberty, and to the offices which he had lately held, which comprehended +the management of the Nabob's household, and the general superintendency +of the justice of Bengal; but, according to the orders of the Court of +Directors, his appointments were reduced to thirty thousand pounds a +year, or thereabouts, of which he did make grievous complaint, on +account of the expenses attendant on his station, and the heavy debts +which he had been obliged to contract during his unjust persecution and +imprisonment aforesaid. + +XVI. That, on the removal of the said Mahomed Reza Khan from the +superintendency of the criminal justice, and in consequence of letting +the province of Bengal in farm by the said Warren Hastings, several +dangerous and mischievous innovations were made by him, the said Warren +Hastings, and the criminal justice of the country was almost wholly +subverted, and great irregularities and disorders did actually ensue. + +XVII. That the Council-General, established by act of Parliament in the +year 1773, did restore the said Mahomed Reza Khan, with the consent and +approbation of the Nabob, (but under a protest from the said Warren +Hastings,) to his liberty and to his offices, according to the spirit of +the orders given by the Court of Directors as aforesaid; and the Court +of Directors did approve of the said appointment, and did assure the +said Mahomed Reza Khan of their favor and protection as long as his +conduct should merit the same, in the following terms. "As the abilities +of Mahomed Reza Khan have been sufficiently manifested, as official +experience qualifies him for so high a station in a more eminent degree +than any other native with whom the Company has been connected, and as +no proofs of maladministration have been established against him, +either during the strict investigation of his conduct or since his +retirement, we cannot under all circumstances but approve your +recommendation of him to the Nabob to constitute him his Naib. We are +well pleased that he has received that appointment, and authorize you to +assure him of our favor, so long as a firm attachment to the interest of +the Company and a proper discharge of the duties of his station shall +render him worthy of our protection." And the said Mahomed Reza Khan did +continue to execute the same without any complaint whatsoever of +malversation or negligence, in any manner or degree, in his said office. + +XVIII. That in March, 1778, the said Warren Hastings, under color that +the Nabob had completed his twentieth year, and had desired to be placed +in the entire and uncontrolled management of his own affairs, and that +Mahomed Reza Khan should be removed from his office, and that Munny +Begum, his step-mother, the dancing-girl aforesaid, "should take on +herself the management of the _nizamut_ [the government and general +superintendency of criminal justice] without the interference of any +person whatsoever," and notwithstanding the contradictions in the +pretended applications from the Nabob, with whose incapacity for all +affairs he was well acquainted, did, in defiance of the orders of the +Court of Directors, and without regard to the infamy of an arrangement +made for the evident and declared purpose of delivering not only the +family with the prince, but the government and justice of a great +kingdom, into such insufficient, corrupt, and scandalous hands, and +though he has declared his opinion "that our national character is +concerned in the character which the Nabob may obtain in the public +opinion," on obtaining a majority in Council, without any complaint, +real or pretended, remove the said Mahomed Reza from all his offices, +and did partition his salary as a spoil in the following manner: to +Munny Begum, the dancing-girl aforesaid, an additional allowance of +72,000 rupees (7,200_l._) a year; to the Nabob's own mother but half +that sum, that is to say, 36,000 rupees (3,600_l._) a year; to Rajah +Gourdas, son of Nundcomar, (whom he had described as a weak young man,) +72,000 rupees (7,200_l._) a year, as controller of the household; and to +a magistrate called Sudder ul Hock, who, in real subserviency to the +said Munny Begum, was nominally to act in the department of criminal +justice, 78,000 rupees (7,800_l._) a year: the total of which allowances +exceeding the salary of Mahomed Reza Khan by 18,000 rupees (1,800_l._) +yearly, he did, for the corrupt and scandalous purposes aforesaid, order +the same to be made up from the Company's treasury. + +XIX. That Mr. Francis and Mr. Wheler having moved that the execution of +the aforesaid arrangement, the whole expense of which, ordinary and +extraordinary, was charged upon the Company's treasury, and therefore +could not be even colorably disposed of at the pretended will of the +said Nabob, might be suspended until the pleasure of the Court of +Directors thereon should be known, and the same being resolved agreeably +to law by a majority of the Council then present, the said Hastings, +urging on violently the immediate execution of his corrupt project, and +having obtained, by the return of Richard Barwell, Esquire, a majority +in Council in his own casting vote, did rescind the aforesaid +resolution, and did carry into immediate execution the aforesaid most +unwarrantable, mischievous, and scandalous design. + +XX. That the consequences which might be expected from such a plan of +administration did almost instantly flow from it. For the person +appointed to execute one of the offices which had been filled by Mahomed +Reza Khan did soon find that the eunuchs of Munny Begum began to employ +their power with great superiority and insolence in all the concerns of +government and the administration of justice, and did endeavor to +dispose of the offices relative to the same for their corrupt purposes, +and to rob the Nabob's servants of their due allowances; and in his +letter of the 1st September, 1778, he sent a complaint to the board, +stating, "that certain bad men had gained an ascendency over the Nabob's +temper, by whose instigation he acts"; and after complaining of the +slights he received from the Nabob, he adds: "Thus they cause the Nabob +to treat me, sometimes with indignity, at others with kindness, just as +they think proper to advise him; their view is, that, by compelling me +to displeasure at most unworthy treatment, they may force me either to +relinquish my station, or to join with them, and act by their advice, +and appoint creatures of their recommendation to the different offices, +from which they might draw profit to themselves." + +XXI. That, in a subsequent letter to the Governor, the said +Superintendent of Justice did inform him, the said Warren Hastings, of +the audacious and corrupt manner in which, by violence, fraud, and +forgery, the eunuchs of Munny Begum had abused the Nabob's name, to +deprive the judicial and executory officers of justice of the salaries +which they ought to have drawn from the Company's treasury, in the +following words: "The Begum's ministers, before my arrival, with the +advice of their counsellors, caused the Nabob to sign a receipt, in +consequence of which they received, at two different times, near 50,000 +rupees [5,000_l._], in the name of the officers of the Adawlut, +Phousdary, &c., from the Company's sircars; and having drawn up an +account-current _in the manner they wished_, they had got the Nabob to +sign it, and sent it to me." And in the same letter he asserts, "that +these people had the Nabob entirely in their power." + +XXII. That the said Warren Hastings, upon this representation, did, +notwithstanding his late pretended opinion of the fitness and the right +of the Nabob to the sole administration of his own affairs, +authoritatively forbid him from any interference therein, and ordered +that the whole should be left to the magistrate aforesaid; to which the +Nabob did, notwithstanding his pretended independence, yield an +immediate and unreserved submission: for the said Hastings's order being +given on the 1st of September at Calcutta, he received _an answer_ from +Moorshedabad on the 3d, in the following terms: "Agreeably to your +pleasure, I have relinquished all concern with the affairs of the +Phousdary and Adawlut, leaving the entire management in Sudder ul Hock's +hands." Which said circumstance, as well as many others, abundantly +proves that all the Nabob's actions were in truth and fact entirely +governed by the influence of the said Hastings, and that, however the +said Hastings may have publicly discouraged the corrupt transactions of +the said court, yet he did secretly uphold the authority and influence +of Munny Begum, who did entirely direct, with his knowledge and +countenance, all the proceedings therein. For + +XXIII. That on the 13th of the same month of September he did receive a +further complaint of the corrupt and fraudulent practices of the chief +eunuch of the said Munny Begum; and these corrupt practices did so +continue and increase, that on the 10th of October, 1778, he was obliged +to confess, in the strongest terms, the pernicious consequences of his +before-created unwarrantable and illegal arrangements; for, in a letter +of that date to the Nabob, he expresses himself as follows. "At your +Excellency's request, I sent Sudder ul Hock Khan to take on him the +administration of the affairs of the Adawlut and Phousdary, and hoped by +that means not only to have given satisfaction to your Excellency, but +that, through his abilities and experience, these affairs would have +been conducted in such manner as to have secured the peace of the +country and the happiness of the people; and it is with the greatest +concern I learn that this measure is so far from being attended with the +expected advantages, that the affairs both of the Phousdary and Adawlut +are in the greatest confusion imaginable, and daily robberies and +murders are perpetrated throughout the country. This is evidently owing +to the want of a proper authority in the person appointed to superintend +them. I therefore addressed your Excellency on the importance and +delicacy of the affairs in question, and of the necessity of lodging +full power in the hands of the person chosen to administer them; in +reply to which your Excellency expressed sentiments coincident with +mine; notwithstanding which, your dependants and people, actuated by +_selfish, and avaricious views, have by their interference so impeded +the business as to throw the whole country into a state of confusion, +from which nothing can retrieve it but an unlimited power lodged in the +hands of the superintendent_. I therefore request that your Excellency +will give the strictest injunctions to all your dependants not to +interfere in any manner with any matter relative to the affairs of the +Adawlut and Phousdary, and that you will yourself relinquish all +interference therein, and leave them entirely to the management of +Sudder ul Hock Khan: this is absolutely necessary to restore the country +to a state of tranquillity." And he concluded by again recommending the +Nabob to withdraw all interference with the administrator aforesaid: +"otherwise a measure which I adopted at your Excellency's request, and +with a view to your satisfaction and the benefit of the country, will be +attended with quite contrary effects, and bring discredit on me." + +XXIV. That the said Hastings, in the letter aforesaid, in which he so +strongly condemns the acts and so clearly marks out the mischievous +effects of the corrupt influence under which alone the Nabob acted, and +under which alone, from his known incapacity, and his dependence on the +person supported by the said Hastings, he could act, did propose to put +all the offices of justice (which on another occasion he had requested +him to _permit_ to remain in the hands which then held them) into his +own disposal,--telling him, or rather the woman and eunuchs who governed +him, "that, if his Excellency has any plan for the management of the +affairs in future, be pleased to communicate it to me, and every +attention shall be paid to give your Excellency satisfaction": by which +means not only particular parts, as before, but the whole system of +justice was to be afloat, and to be subject to the purposes of the +aforesaid corrupt cabal of women and eunuchs. + +XXV. That the Court of Directors, on receiving an account of the above +arrangements, and being well apprised of the spirit, intention, and +probable effect of the same, did, in a clear, firm, and decisive manner, +express their condemnation of the measure, and their rejection and +reprobation of all the pretended grounds and reasons on which the same +was supported,--marking distinctly his prevarication and contradictions +in the same, and pointing to him their full conviction of the unworthy +motives on which he had made so shameful an arrangement: telling him, in +the 17th paragraph of their general letter of the 4th of February, 1779, +"The Nabob's letters of the 25th and 30th of August, of the 3d of +September, and 17th of November, leave us no doubt of the _true_ design +of this _extraordinary_ business being _to bring forward_ Munny Begum, +and again to invest her with improper power and influence, +notwithstanding our former declaration, that _so great_ a part of the +Nabob's allowance had been embezzled and misapplied under her +superintendence." + +XXVI. That, in consequence of the censure and condemnation of the +unwarrantable measures of the said Warren Hastings by the Court of +Directors, on the aforesaid and other weighty and substantial grounds, +they did order and direct as follows, in the 20th paragraph of the +general letter of the same date. "As we deem it for the welfare of the +country that the office of Naib Subahdar be for the present continued, +and that this high office should be filled by a person of wisdom, +experience, and of approved fidelity to the Company, and as we have no +reason to alter the opinion given of Mahomed Reza Khan in our letter of +the 24th of December, 1776, we positively direct, that you forthwith +signify to the Nabob Mobarek ul Dowlah our pleasure that Mahomed Reza +Khan be immediately restored to the office of Naib Subahdar; and we +further direct, that Mahomed Reza Khan be again assured of the +continuance of our favor, so long as a firm attachment to the interest +of the Company and a proper discharge of the duties of his station shall +render him worthy of our protection." + +XXVII. That the aforesaid direction did convey in it such evident and +cogent reason, and was so far enforced by justice to individuals and by +regard to the peace and happiness of the natives, as well as by the +common decorum to be observed in all the transactions of government, +that the said Hastings ought to have yielded a cheerful obedience +thereto, even if he had not been by a positive statute, and his relation +of servant to the Company, bound to that just submission. Yet the said +Hastings did, without denying or evading any one of the reasons assigned +by the Court of Directors, or controverting the scandalous motives +assigned by them for his conduct, contumaciously refuse obedience to the +above positive order, on pretence that the Nabob, who, he had declared +it on record "to be as visible as the light of the sun, is a mere +pageant, and without even the shadow of authority," did dissent from the +same; and he did encourage the said Nabob, or rather the eunuchs, the +corrupt ministers of Munny Begum, to oppose himself and themselves to +the authority of the said Court of Directors: by which means the +arrangement, three times either ratified or expressly ordered by them, +was wholly defeated; the aforesaid corrupt system was continued; Mahomed +Reza Khan was not restored to his office; and a lesson was taught to the +natives of all ranks, that the declared approbation, the avowed +sanction, and the decided authority of the Court of Directors were +wholly nugatory to their protection against the corrupt influence of +their servants. + +XXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings, on a reconciliation with Mr. +Francis, one of the Council-General, who made it a condition thereof +that certain of the Company's orders should be obeyed, and that Mahomed +Reza Khan should be restored to his offices, did, a considerable time +after, notwithstanding the pretended reluctance of the Nabob, and his +pretended freedom, make, for his convenience in the said accommodation, +the arrangement which he had unwarrantably and illegally refused to the +orders of the Court of Directors, and did of his own authority and that +of the board restore Mahomed Reza Khan to his offices. + +XXIX. That soon after the departure of the said Mr. Francis he did again +deprive the said Mahomed Reza Khan of his said offices, and did make +several great changes in the constitution of the criminal justice in the +said country; and after having, under pretence of the Nabob's +sufficiency for the management of his own affairs, displaced, without +any specific charge, trial, or inquiry whatsoever, the said Mahomed Reza +Khan, he did submit the said Nabob to the entire direction, in all parts +of his concerns, of a Resident of his own nomination, Sir John D'Oyly, +Baronet, and did order an account of the most minute parts of his +domestic economy to be made out, and to be delivered to the said Sir +John D'Oyly, in the following words, contained in a paper by him +intituled, INSTRUCTIONS from the Governor-General to the Nabob Mobarek +ul Dowlah respecting his conduct in the management of his affairs. "You +will be pleased to direct your _mutseddies_ to form an account of the +fixed sums of your monthly expenses, such as servants' wages in the +different departments, pensions, and other allowances, as well as of the +estimated amount of variable expenses, to be delivered to Sir John +D'Oyly _for my inspection_. I have given such orders to Sir John D'Oyly +as will enable him to propose to you such reductions of the pensions and +other allowances, and such a distribution of the variable expenses, as +shall be proportionable to the total sum of your monthly income; _and I +must request you will conform to it_." And he did, in the subsequent +articles of his said instructions, order the whole management to be +directed by Sir John D'Oyly, subject to his own directions as aforesaid; +and did even direct what company he should keep; and did throw +reflections on some persons, in places the nearest to him, as of bad +character and base origin,--persons whom he should decline to name as +such, "unless he heard that they still availed themselves of his +goodness to retain _the places_ which they improperly hold near his +person." And he did particularly order the said Nabob not to admit any +English, but such as the said Sir John D'Oyly should approve, to his +presence; and did repeat the said order in the following peremptory +manner: "You _must forbid any_ person of _that nation_ to be intruded +into _your_ presence without _his_ introduction." And he did require his +obedience in the following authoritative style: "I shall think myself +obliged to interfere _in another manner_, if you neglect it." + +XXX. That he, the said Warren Hastings, did insult the captive condition +of the said Nabob by informing him, in his imperious instructions +aforesaid, that this total, blind, and implicit obedience, in every +respect whatsoever, to Sir John D'Oyly and himself personally, and +without any reference to the board, "was the very _conditions_ of the +compliance of the Governor-General and Council with his late +requisition"; which requisition was, that he should enjoy _the free and +uncontrolled_ management of his own affairs. And though the said captive +did offer, as he, the said Hastings, himself admits, _four lacs_ of his +stipend, at that time reduced to sixteen lac, for _the free use of the +remainder_, yet he did place him, the said Nabob, in the state of +servitude in the said instructions laid down but a very short time after +he had assumed and used the said Nabob's independent rights as a ground +for refusing to obey the Company's orders,--and although he has +declared, or pretended, on another occasion, which he would have thought +similar, that any attempt to limit the household expenses of the Nabob +of Oude was an indignity, "which no man living, however mean his rank in +life, or dependent his condition in it, would permit to be exercised by +any other, without the want or forfeiture of every manly principle." + +XXXI. That the said Warren Hastings did order the said stipend (which +was to be distributed, in the minutest particular, according to the said +Hastings's personal directions) to be paid monthly, not to any officer +of the Nabob, but to the said Resident, Sir John D'Oyly. And whereas the +Governor-General and Council did, on the appointment of Mahomed Reza +Khan, according to their duty, instruct him, that "he do conform to the +_orders_ of the Company, which direct that an annual account of the +Nabob's expenses be transmitted through the Resident at the Durbar, for +the inspection of this _board_" the said Hastings, in making his new +establishment in favor of his Resident, did wholly omit the said +instruction, and did confine the said communication to _himself_, +privately. And in fact it does not appear that any account whatsoever of +the disposition of the said large sum, exceeding 160,000_l._ sterling a +year, has been laid before the board, or at least that any such account +has been transmitted to the Court of Directors; and it is not fitting +that any British servant of the Company should have the management of +any public money, much less of so great a sum, without a public +well-vouched account of the specific expenditure thereof. + +XXXII. That the Court of Directors did, on the 17th of May, 1766, +propose certain rules for regulating the correspondence of the Resident +with the Nabob of Bengal, in which they did direct, as a principle for +the said regulations, as follows (paragraph 16th). "We would have his +correspondence to be carried on with the _Select Committee_ through the +channel of the President: he should keep a diary of all his +transactions. His correspondence with the natives _must be publicly +conducted_: copies of _all_ his letters, sent and received, be +transmitted monthly to the Presidency, with duplicates and triplicates +to be transmitted home in our general packet by every ship." + +XXXIII. That the President and Select Committee (Lord Clive being then +President) did approve of the whole substantial part of the said +regulation (the diary excepted); and the principle, in all matters of +account, ought to have been strictly adhered to, whatever limitations +may have been given to the office of Resident. Yet he, the said Warren +Hastings, in defiance of the aforesaid good rules, orders, and late +precedent in conformity to the same, did not only withhold any order for +the purpose, but, in order to carry on the business of the said durbar +in a clandestine manner for his own purposes, did, as aforesaid, exclude +all English from an intercourse with the Nabob, who might carry +complaints or representations to the board, or the Court of Directors, +of his condition, or the conduct of the Resident,--and did further, to +defeat all possible publicity, insinuate to him to give the preference +to verbal communication above letters, in the words following, of the +ninth article of his instructions to the Nabob: "Although I desire to +receive your letters frequently, yet, as many matters will occur which +cannot be _so easily explained by letters as by conversation_, I desire +that you will on such occasions give your orders to him respecting such +points as you may desire to have imparted to me; and I, postponing every +other concern, will give an immediate and the most satisfactory reply +concerning them." Accordingly, no relation whatsoever has been received +by the Court of Directors of the said Nabob's affairs, nor any account +of the money monthly paid, except from public fame, which reports that +his affairs are in groat disorder, his servants unpaid, and many of them +dismissed, and all the Mussulmen dependent on his family in a state of +indigence. + + + + +XVIII.--THE MOGUL DELIVERED UP TO THE MAHRATTAS. + + +I. That Shah Allum, the prince commonly called the Great Mogul, or, by +eminence, _The King_, is, or lately was, in the possession of the +ancient capital of Hindostan, and though without any considerable +territory, and without a revenue sufficient to maintain a moderate +state, he is still much respected and considered, and the custody of his +person is eagerly sought by many of the princes in India, on account of +the use to be made of his title and authority; and it was for the +interest of the East India Company, that, while on one hand no wars +shall be entered into in support of his pretensions, on the other no +steps should be taken which may tend to deliver him into the hands of +any of the powerful states of that country, but that he should be +treated with friendship, good faith, and respectful attention. + +II. That Warren Hastings, in contradiction to this safe, just, and +honorable policy, strongly prescribed and enforced by the orders of the +Court of Directors, did, at a time when he was engaged in a negotiation +the declared purpose of which was to give peace to India, concur with +the captain-general of the Mahratta state, called Mahdajee Sindia, in +hostile designs against the few remaining territories of that same Mogul +emperor, by virtue of whose grant the Company actually possess the +government and enjoy the revenues of great provinces, and also against +the possessions of a Mahomedan chief called Nudjif Khan, a person of +much merit with the East India Company, in acknowledgment of which they +had granted him a pension, included in the tribute due to the king, and, +together with that tribute, taken from him by the said Warren Hastings, +though expressly _guarantied_ to him by the Company. With both these +powers the Company had been in friendship, and were actually at peace at +the time of the said clandestine concurrence in a design against them; +and the said Hastings hath since declared, that the right of one of +them, namely, "the right of the Mogul emperor, to our assistance, has +been constantly acknowledged." + +III. That the said Warren Hastings, at the time of his treacherous +concurrence in a design against a power which he was himself of opinion +we were bound to assist, and against whom there was no doubt he was +bound neither to form nor to concur in any hostile attempt, did give a +caution to Colonel Muir, to whom the negotiation aforesaid was intrusted +on the part of the Company, against "inserting anything in the treaty +which might _expressly_ mark our _knowledge_ of his [the Mahratta +general's] views, _or concurrence in them_." Which said transaction was +full of duplicity and fraud; and the crime of the said Hastings therein +is aggravated by his having some years before withheld the tribute which +by treaty was solemnly agreed to be paid to the said king, on pretence +that he had thrown himself, for the recovery of his city of Delhi, on +the protection of the Mahrattas, whom the said Warren Hastings then +called _the natural enemies_ of the Company, and the growth of whose +power he then alleged to be highly dangerous to the interests of this +kingdom in India. + +IV. That, after having concurred, in the manner before mentioned, in a +design of the Mahrattas against the Mogul, and notwithstanding he, the +said Warren Hastings, had formerly declared, "that with him [the Mogul] +our connection had been a long time suspended, and _he wished never to +see it renewed_, as it had proved a fatal drain to the wealth of Bengal +and the treasury of the Company, without yielding one advantage or +possible resource, even of remote benefits, in return," the said Warren +Hastings did nevertheless, on or about the month of March, 1783, with +the privity and consent of the members of the board, but by no +authoritative act, dispatch, as agents of him, the Governor-General +only, and not as agents of the Governor-General and Council, as they +ought to have been, certain persons, among whom were Major Browne and +Major Davy, to the court of the king at Delhi, and did there enter into +certain engagements with the said king by the means of those agents, and +did carry on certain private and dangerous intrigues for various +purposes, particularly for making war in favor of the said king against +some powers or princes not precisely described, but which, as may be +inferred from a subsequent correspondence, were certain Mahomedan +princes in the neighborhood of Delhi in amity with the Company, and some +of them at that time in the actual service and in the apparent +confidence and favor of the said Mogul; and he did order Major Browne to +offer to the Mogul king to provide for the _entire_ expense of _any_ +troops the Shah [the said king] might require; and the proposal was +accordingly accepted, with the conditions annexed: by which proposal and +acceptance thereof the East India Company was placed in a situation of +great and perplexing difficulty; since either they were to engage, at an +unlimited _expense_, in new wars, contrary to their orders, contrary to +their general declared policy, and contrary to the published resolutions +of the House of Commons, and wholly incompatible with the state of their +finances, or, to preserve peace, they must risk the imputation of a new +violation of faith, by departing from an agreement made on the voluntary +proposal of their own government,--the agent of the said Hastings having +declared, in his letter to the said Hastings, by him communicated to the +board, "that the business of assisting the Shah [the Mogul emperor] can +and _must_ go on, if we wish to be secure in India, or regarded as a +nation of faith and honor." + +V. That the said Warren Hastings did, on the 20th day of January, 1784, +send in circulation to the other members of the Council a letter to him +from his agent, Major Browne, dated at Delhi, on the 30th of December, +1783, viz., that letter to which the foregoing references are made, in +which the said Browne did directly press, and indirectly (though +sufficiently and strongly) suggest, several highly dangerous measures +for realizing the general offers and engagements of the said Warren +Hastings,--proposing, that, besides a proportion of field artillery, and +a train of battering cannon for the purpose of sieges, six regiments of +sepoys in the Company's service should be transferred to that of the +said king, and that certain other corps should also be raised for the +said service in the English provinces and dependencies, to be +immediately under the king's [the Mogul's] orders, and to be maintained +by assignments of territorial revenue within the province of Oude, a +dependent member of the British government, but with a caution against +having any British officer with the same; the said Major Browne +expressing his caution as followeth: "If any European officer _be_ with +this corps, a very nice judgment indeed must direct the choice; for +scarce any are in the smallest degree _fit_ for _such_ employ, but much +more likely to do harm than good." And the letter aforesaid being +without any observation thereon, or any disavowal of the matters of fact +or of the counsels so strongly and authoritatively delivered therein by +the said Warren Hastings's agent, and without any mark of disapprobation +of any part of his plan, whether that of the assignment of territory +belonging to the Company's allies for the maintenance of troops which +were to be by that plan put under the orders of a foreign independent +power, or that of employing the said troops without any British officer +with them, or for his alarming observation by him entered on the +Company's records, which, if not an implied censure on the nature of the +service in which British officers are supposed improper to be trusted, +is a strong reflection on the character of the British officers, which +was to render them unfit to be employed in an honorable service,--the +said Warren Hastings did thereby give a countenance to the said +unwarrantable and dangerous proposals and reflections. + +VI. That a considerable time before the production and circulation of +Major Browne's letter, the said Hastings did enter a Minute of +Consultation containing a proposition similar in the general intent to +that in the said letter contained for assisting the Mogul with a +military force; but the other members of the board did disagree thereto, +and, being alarmed at the disposition so strongly shown by the said +Hastings to engage in new wars and dangerous foreign connections, and +possibly having intelligence of the proceedings of his agent, did call +upon him to produce his instructions to Major Browne; and he did, on the +5th of October, 1783, and not before, enter on the Consultations a +certain paper purporting to be the instructions which he had given to +Major Browne the preceding March, the time of his, the said Browne's, +appointment, in which pretended instructions no direction whatsoever was +given to the effect of his, the said Hastings's, Minute of Consultation +propounded: that is to say, no power was given in the said instructions +to make a direct offer of military aid to the Mogul, or to form the +arrangements stated by the said Browne, in his letter to the said +Hastings, as having been made by the express authority of the said +Hastings himself; but the said instructions contained nothing further on +that subject but a conditional direction, that, in case a military force +should be required for the Mogul's aid or protection, the Major is to +know the service on which it is to be employed, and the resources from +whence it is to be paid; and the instructions produced as his real +instructions by the said Hastings are so guarded as to caution the said +Browne against _taking any part in the intrigues of those who are about +the King's person_. By which letters, instructions, and transactions, +compared with each other, it appears that the said Warren Hastings, +after six months' delay in entering of (contrary to the Company's order) +any instructions to the said Browne, did at last enter a false paper as +the true, or that he did give other secret instructions, totally +different from, and even opposite to, his public ostensible +instructions, thereby to deceive the Council, and to carry on with less +obstruction dark and dangerous intrigues, contrary to the orders of the +Court of Directors, to the true policy of this kingdom, and to the +safety of the British possessions in the East. + +VII. That the said letter from Major Browne was by the said Warren +Hastings transmitted to the Court of Directors, without being +accompanied by any part of the previous correspondence; by which wilful +concealment the said Warren Hastings is guilty of an high and criminal +disrespect to the Court of Directors, and of a most flagrant breach and +violation of their orders, which he was bound by an act of Parliament to +obey. + +VIII. That the said Hastings having early in the year 1784 procured to +himself a deputation to act in the upper provinces, the Council, being +well aware of his disposition to engage in unwarrantable designs against +the neighboring states, did expressly confine his powers to the +circumstance of his actual residence within the Company's provinces. But +it appears that ways were found out by which he hoped to defeat the +precautions of the board: for the said Warren Hastings did write from +Lucknow, the capital of the country of Oude, to the Court of Directors, +a certain postscript of a letter, dated the 4th of May, 1784, in which +he informs the Court that the son and heir-apparent of the Great Mogul +had taken refuge with him and the Nabob of Oude; that he had a +conference with that prince on the 10th of the same month of May, "no +person being either present or within hearing" during the same; and that +in the said conference the prince had informed him of the distresses of +his father, and his wish for the relief of the king and the restoration +of the dominions of his house, as well as to rescue him from the power +of certain persons not named, who degraded him into a mere instrument of +their interested and sordid designs, and that, on a failure of his +application to him, he would either return to his father, or proceed to +Calcutta, and thence to England; and that the said Warren Hastings did +give him an answer to the following effect: "That our [the British] +government had just obtained relief from a state of universal warfare, +and required a term of repose; that our whole nation was weary of war, +and dreaded the renewal of it, _and would he equally alarmed at any +movement of which it could not see the issue or progress, but which +might eventually tend to create new hostilities_; that he came hither +[to Lucknow] with a limited authority, and could not, if he chose it, +engage in a business of that nature _without the concurrence of his +colleagues in office, who he believed would be adverse to it_; that he +would represent the same to the joint members of his own government, and +wait their determination. In the mean time he advised the prince to make +advances to Mahdajee Sindia, both because our government _was in +intimate and sworn connection_ with him, and because he was the +effectual head of the Mahratta state; besides that he [the said Warren +Hastings] feared his [Sindia's] taking the other side of the question, +unless he was early prevented." + +IX. That in the statement of this discourse there is much criminal +reserve towards the Court of Directors,--it not appearing distinctly +what the objects were, nor who the persons concerned, nor what the side +was which he apprehended the Mahrattas might take, if not prevented by +his advances; and in the discourse itself there were many particulars +highly criminal, namely,--for that in the said conversation, in which he +describes himself as declining a compliance with the request of the +prince on account of the aversion (therein strongly expressed) of his +colleagues, of the Company, and of the whole British nation, to engage +in any measures which might even "_eventually lead to hostilities_," he +spoke to the prince as if he had been entirely ignorant of the offers +which but five months before had been made to the king, his father, on +the part of that very government, (whose repugnance to such measures he +then for the first time chose to profess, but which he always had +known,) through Major Browne, the Company's representative at the court +of Delhi, "to provide for the _entire_ expense of _any_ troops which the +Shah [the king] might require," and that this was "what the Resident had +_always_ proposed to the king and his confidential ministers,"--the said +Browne further declaring, "that, if, in consequence of the said +proposals, certain arrangements for the Shah's service by _troops_ were +not immediately ordered, in his opinion all our [English government's] +_offers and promises_ will be considered as false and insidious." This +being the known state of the business, as represented by the said +Hastings's own agent, and this the public opinion of it, although to +impose on the ignorance of the prince with regard to the proceedings at +his father's court would have been unworthy in itself, yet he, the said +Warren Hastings, could not hope to succeed in such imposition, as in the +postscript aforesaid he represents the said prince (who was the king's +eldest son, and thirty-six years of age) as a person of considerable +qualifications, and perfectly acquainted with the transactions at his +father's court, and as one who had long held the _principal_ and most +active part in the little that remained of _the administration of Shah +Allum_. And the said Hastings conferring with a prince so well +instructed, without making the slightest allusions to his said positive +and recent engagements, or without giving any explanation with regard to +them, the said Warren Hastings must appear to the said prince either as +a person not only contracting engagements, but actually being the first +mover and proposer of them, without any authority from _his colleagues_, +and against theirs and the general inclination of the British nation, +and on that ground not to be trusted, or that he had used this plea of +disagreement between him and his Council as a pretence, set up without +color or decency, for a gross violation of his own engagements, leaving +the princes and states of the country no solid ground on which they can +or ought to contract with the Company, to the utter destruction of all +public confidence, and to the equal disgrace of the national candor, +integrity, and wisdom. + +X. That in a letter dated from the same place, Lucknow, the 16th of the +following June, 1784, the said Warren Hastings informs the Court of +Directors, that Major Browne, their agent to the Mogul, had arrived +there in the character also of agent from the Mogul, with two sets of +instructions from two opposite parties in his ministry, which +instructions were directly contrary to each other: the first, which were +the ostensible instructions, being to engage the said Hastings, in the +Mogul's name, to enter into a treaty of mutual alliance with a chief of +the country, then minister to the said Mogul, called Afrasaib Khan; the +second were from another principal person, called Mudjed ul Dowlah, also +a minister of the said Mogul, (but styled in the said letter +_confidential_, for distinction,) which were directly destructive of the +former; and the said latter instructions, to which it seems credence was +to be given, were sent "under the most solemn adjurations of secrecy." +The purpose of these latter and secret instructions was to require the +Company's aid in freeing the Mogul from the oppressions of his servants, +namely, from the oppressions of the said Afrasaib, between whom and the +Company Major Browne (at once agent to that Company, and to two +opposite factions in the Mogul's court) accepted a power to make a +treaty of mutual alliance under the sanction of his sovereign. And it +does not appear that he, Warren Hastings, did discountenance the +double-dealing and fraudulent agencies of his and the Company's minister +at that court, or did disavow any particular in the letter from him, the +said Browne, of the 30th of December, 1783, stating the offers made on +his part to the Mogul, so contradictory to his late declarations to the +heir-apparent of that monarch, or did give any reprimand to the said +Browne, or did show any mark of displeasure against him, as having acted +without orders, but did again send him, with renewed confidence, to the +court aforesaid. + +XI. That the said Warren Hastings, still pursuing his said evil designs, +did apply to the Council for discretionary powers relative to the +intrigues and factions in the Mogul's court, giving assurances of his +resolution not to proceed against their sense; but the said Council, +being fully aware of his disposition, and having Major Browne's letter, +recorded by himself, the said Warren Hastings, before them, did refuse +to grant the said discretionary powers, but, on the contrary, did exhort +him "most sedulously and cautiously to avoid, in his correspondence with +the different princes in India, whatever may commit, or be strained into +an interpretation of committing the Company, either as to their army or +treasure,"--observing, "that the Company's orders are positive against +their interference in the objects of dispute between the country +powers." + +XII. That, in order to subvert the plain and natural interpretation +given by the Council to the orders of the Court of Directors, and to +justify his dangerous intrigues, the said Warren Hastings, in his letter +of the 16th June, 1784, to the said Court, did, in a most insolent and +contemptuous manner, endeavor to persuade them of their ignorance of the +true sense of their own orders, and to limit their prohibition of +interference with the disputes of the country powers to such country +powers as are _permanent_,--expressing himself as follows: "The faction +which now surrounds the throne [the Mogul's throne] is widely different +from the idea which your commands are intended to convey by the +expressions to which you have generally applied them, of _country +powers_, to which that _of permanency is a necessary adjunct_, and which +may be more properly compared to a splendid bubble, which the slightest +breath of opposition may dissipate with every trace of its existence." +By which construction the said Hastings did endeavor to persuade the +Court of Directors that they meant to confine their prohibition of +sinister intrigues to those powers only who could not be easily hurt by +them, and whose strength was such that their resentment of such +clandestine interference was to be dreaded; but that, where the powers +were weak and fragile, such intrigues might be allowed. + +XIII. That the said Hastings, further to persuade the Court of Directors +to involve themselves in the affairs of the Mogul, and to reconcile this +measure with his former conduct and declared opinions, did write to them +to the following effect: That "at that former period to which the +ancient policy with regard to the Mogul applied, the king's authority +was sufficiently respected" (which he knew not to be true,--having +himself declared, in his minute of the 25th of October, 1774, "that he +remained at Delhi, the ancient capital of the empire, _a mere cipher_ in +the administration of it") to maintain itself against common +vicissitudes; that he would not have advised interference, if the king +himself retained the exercise of it, _however feeble_, in his own hands; +that, if it [the Mogul's authority] is suffered to receive its final +extinction, it is impossible to foresee _what power may arise out of its +ruins_, or what events may be linked in the same chain of revolution +with it: but your interests _may_ suffer by it, your reputation +_certainly will_, as his right to our assistance _has been constantly +acknowledged_, and by a train of consequences to which our government +has not intentionally given birth, but most especially by the movements +which _its influence, by too near an approach_, has excited, it has +unfortunately become the efficient instrument of a great portion of the +king's present distresses and dangers,--intimating (as well as the +studied obscurity of his expressions will permit anything to be +discerned) that his own late intrigues had been among the causes of the +distresses and dangers, which by new intrigues he did pretend to remove: +and he did conclude this part of his letter with some loose general +expressions of his caution not to affect the Company's interests or +revenues by any measures he might at that time take. + +XIV. That the principle, so far as the same hath been directly avowed, +of the said proceedings at the Mogul's court, was as altogether +irrational, and the pretended object as impracticable, as the means +taken in pursuit of it were fraudulent and dishonorable, namely, the +restoration of the Mogul in some degree to the dignity of his situation, +and to his free agency in the conduct of his affairs. For the said +Hastings, at the very time in which he did with the greatest apparent +earnestness urge the purpose which he pretended to have in view with +regard to the dignity and liberty of the Mogul emperor, did represent +him as a person wholly disqualified, and even indisposed, to take any +active part whatsoever in the conduct of his own affairs, and that any +attempt for that purpose would be utterly impracticable; and this he +hath stated to the Court of Directors as a matter of public notoriety, +in his said letter of the 16th of June, 1784, in the following +emphatical and decisive terms. + +"_You need not be told_ the character of the king, whose inertness, and +the habit of long-suffering, has debased his dignity and the fortunes of +his house _beyond the power of retrieving either the one or the other_. +Whilst his personal repose is undisturbed, he will _prefer_ to live in +_the meanest state of indigence_, under the rule of men whose views are +bounded by avarice and the power which they derive from his authority, +rather than commit any share of it to his own sons, (though his +affection for them is boundless in every other respect,) from a natural +jealousy, founded on the experience of a very different combination of +those circumstances which once served as a temptation and example of +unlawful ambition in the princes of the royal line. His ministers, from +a policy more reasonable, have constantly employed every means of +influence to confirm this disposition, and to prevent his sons from +having any share in the distribution of affairs, so as to have +established a complete usurpation of the royal prerogative under its +own sanction and patronage." + +XV. That the said Warren Hastings, having given this opinion of the +sovereign for whose freedom he pretended so anxious a concern, did +describe the minister with whom he had long acted in concurrence, and +from whom he had just received the extraordinary secret embassy +aforesaid for the purpose of effecting the deliverance of his master, +the Mogul, from the usurpations of _his ministers_, as follows. "The +first minister, Mudjed ul Dowlah, is _totally_ deficient in every +military quality, conceited of his own superior talents, and formed to +the practice of _that crooked policy which, generally defeats its own +purpose_, but sincerely attached to his master." The reality of the said +attachment was not improbable, but altogether useless, as the said +minister was the only one among the principal persons about the king who +(besides the total want of all military and civil ability) possessed no +territories, troops, or other means of serving and supporting him, but +was himself solely upheld by his influence over his master: neither doth +the said Hastings free him, any more than the persons more efficient, +who were to be destroyed, from a disposition to alienate the king from +an attention to his affairs, and from all confidence in his own family; +but, on the contrary, he brings him forward as the very first among the +instances he adduces to exemplify the practices of the ministers against +their sovereign and his children. + +XVI. That the said Warren Hastings, recommending in general terms, and +yet condemning in detail, every part of his own pretended plan, as +impracticable in itself, and as undertaken in favor of persons all of +whom he describes as incapable, and the principal as indisposed to avail +himself thereof, must have had some other motives for this long, +intricate, dark, and laborious proceeding with the Mogul, which must be +sought in his actions, and the evident drift and tendency thereof, and +in declarations which were brought out by him to serve other purposes, +but which serve fully to explain his real intentions in this intrigue. + +XVII. That the other members of the Council-General having abundantly +certified their averseness to his intrigues, and even having shown +apprehensions of his going personally to the Mogul and the Mahrattas for +the purpose of carrying on the same, the said Hastings was driven +headlong to acts which did much more openly indicate the true nature and +purpose of his machinations. For he at length recurred directly, and +with little disguise, to the Mahrattas, and did open an intrigue with +them, although he was obliged to confess, in his letter aforesaid of the +16th June, 1784, that the exception which he contended to be implied in +the orders of the Court of Directors forbidding the intermeddling in the +disputes of "the country powers," namely, "powers not permanent," did by +no means apply to the Mahrattas; and he informs the Court of Directors +that he did, on the very first advice he received of the flight of the +Mogul's son, write to Mr. James Anderson to apprise the Mahratta chief, +Sindia, of that event,--"for which as he was unprepared, he desired his +[the said Sindia's] advice for his conduct on the occasion of it." Which +method of calling for the advice of a foreign power to regulate his +political conduct, instead of being regulated therein by the advice of +the British Council and the standing orders of the Court of Directors, +was a procedure highly criminal; and the crime is aggravated by his not +communicating the said correspondence to the Council-General, as by his +duty he was bound to do; but it does abundantly prove his concert with +the Mahrattas in all that related to his negotiations in the Mogul +court, which were carried on agreeably to their advice, and in +subserviency to their views and purposes. + +XVIII. That, in consequence of the cabal begun with the Mahrattas, the +said chief, Sindia, did send his "familiar and confidential ministers" +to him, the said Hastings, being at Lucknow, with whom the said Hastings +did hold several secret conferences, without any secretary or other +assistant: and the said Hastings hath not conveyed to the Court of +Directors any minutes thereof, but hath purposely involved even the +general effect and tendency of these conferences in such obscurity that +it is no otherwise possible to perceive the drift and tendency of the +same, but by the general scope of councils and acts relative to the +politics of the Mogul and of the Mahrattas together, and by the final +event of the whole, which is sufficiently visible. For + +XIX. That the said Hastings had declared, in his said letter of the 16th +June, 1784, that the Mogul's right to our assistance had been constantly +acknowledged, that the Mogul had been oppressed by the lesser Mahomedan +princes in the character of his officers of state and military +commanders, and he did plainly intimate that the said Mogul ought to be +relieved from that servitude. And he did, in giving an account to the +Court of Directors of the conferences aforesaid, assure them that "his +inclinations [the inclinations of the Mahratta chief aforesaid] were not +very dissimilar from his own"; and that "neither in this nor in any +other instance would he suffer himself to be drawn into measures which +shall tend to weaken their connection, nor _in this even to oppose his_ +[the said chiefs] _inclinations_": the said Hastings well knowing, as in +his letter to Colonel Muir of the ---- he has confessed, that the +inclinations of the said Sindia were to seize on the Mogul's +territories, and that he himself did secretly concur therein, though he +did not formally insert his concurrence in the treaty with the said +Mahratta chief. It is plain, therefore, that he did all along concur +with the Mahrattas in their designs against the said king and his +ministers, under the treacherous pretence of supporting the authority of +the former against the latter, and did contrive and effect the ruin of +them all. For, first, he did give evil and fraudulent counsel to the +heir-apparent of the Mogul "to make advances to the Mahrattas," when he +well knew, and had expressly concurred in, the designs of that state +against his father's, the Mogul's, dominions; and further to engage and +entrap the said prince, did assert that "our government" (meaning the +British government) "was in intimate and sworn connection with Mahdajee +Sindia," when no alliance, offensive or defensive, appears to exist +between the said Sindia and the East India Company, nor can exist, +otherwise than in virtue of some secret agreement between him, the said +Sindia, and Warren Hastings, entered into by the latter without the +knowledge of his colleagues and the government, and never communicated +to the Court of Directors. And, secondly, he did, in order to further +the designs of the Mahrattas, contrive and effect the ruin of the said +Mogul and his authority, by setting on foot, through the aforesaid Major +Browne, sundry perplexed and intricate negotiations, contrary to public +faith, and to the honor of the British nation; by which he did +exceedingly increase the confusion and disorders of the Mogul's court, +exposing the said Mogul to new indignities, insults, and distresses, and +almost all of the northern parts of India to great and ruinous +convulsions, until three out of four of the principal chieftains, some +of them possessing the territories lately belonging to Nudjif Khan, and +maintaining among them eighty thousand troops of horse and foot, and +some of which chiefs wore the ministers aforesaid, being cut off by +their mutual dissensions, and the fort of Delhi being at length +delivered to the Mahrattas, the said Sindia became the uncontrolled +ruler of the royal army, and the person of the Mogul, with the use of +all his pretensions and claims, fell into the hands of a nation already +too powerful, together with an extensive territory, which entirely +covers the Company's possessions and dependencies on one side, and +particularly those of the Nabob of Oude. + +XX. That the circumstances of these countries did, in the opinion of the +said Warren Hastings himself, sufficiently indicate to him the necessity +of not aggrandizing any power whatsoever on their borders, he having in +the aforesaid letter of the 16th June given a deliberate opinion of the +situation of Oude in the words following: "That, whilst we are at peace +with the powers of Europe, it is only in this quarter that your +possessions under the government of Bengal are vulnerable." And he did +further in the said letter state, that, "if things had continued as they +had been to that time, with a divided government," (viz., the Company's +and the Vizier's, which government he had himself established, and under +which it ever must in a great degree remain, whilst the said country +continues in a state of dependence,) "the _slightest_ shock from a +foreign hand, or even an _accidental internal commotion_, might have +thrown the whole into confusion, and produced the most fatal +consequences." In this perilous situation he made the above-recited +sacrifices to the ambition of the Mahrattas, and did all along so +actively countenance and forward their proceedings, and with so full a +sense of their effect, that in his minute of the 24th December, 1784, he +has declared, "that in the countries which border on the dominions of +the Nabob Vizier, or on that quarter of our own, in effect _there is no +other power_." And he did further admit, that the presence of the +Mahratta chief aforesaid, so near the borders of the Nabob's dominions, +was no cause of suspicion; for "that it is the effect _of his own +solicitation_, and is _so far_ the effect of an act of that government." + +XXI. That, in further pursuit of the same pernicious design, he, the +said Warren Hastings, did enter into an agreement to withdraw a very +great body of the British troops out of the Nabob's +dominions,--asserting, however truly, yet in direct contradiction to his +own declarations, that "this government" (meaning the British +government) "has not any right to force defence with its maintenance +upon him" (the Nabob); and he did thus not only avowedly aggrandize the +Mahratta state, and weaken the defence upon the frontier, but did as +avowedly detain their captain-general in force on that very frontier, +notwithstanding he was well apprised that they had designs against those +dependent territories of Oude, which they had with great difficulty been +persuaded, even in appearance, to include in the treaty of peace,--and +that they have never renounced their claims upon certain large and +valuable portions of them, and have shown evident signs of their +intentions, on the first opportunity, of asserting and enforcing them. +And, finally, the said Warren Hastings, in contradiction to sundry +declarations of his own concerning the necessity of curbing the power of +the Mahrattas, and to the principle of sundry measures undertaken by +himself professedly for that purpose, and to the sense of the House of +Commons, expressed in their resolution of 28th May, 1782, against any +measures that tended to unite the dangerous powers of the Mahratta +empire under one active command, has endeavored to persuade the Company, +that, "while Sindia lives, every accession of territory obtained by him +will be an advantage to this [the British] government"; which if it was +true as respecting the personal dispositions of Sindia, which there is +no reason to believe, yet it was highly criminal to establish a power in +the Mahrattas which must survive the man in confidence of whose personal +dispositions a power more than personal was given, and which may +hereafter fall into hands disposed to make a more hostile use of it. + +XXII. That, in consequence of all the before-recited intrigues, the +Mogul emperor being in the hands of the Mahrattas, he, the said Mogul, +has been obliged to declare the head of the Mahratta state to be +vicegerent of the Mogul empire, an authority which supersedes that of +Vizier, and has thereby consolidated in the Mahratta state all the +powers acknowledged to be of legal authority in India; in consequence of +which, they have acquired, and have actually already attempted to use, +the said claims of general superiority against the Company itself,--the +Mahrattas claiming a right in themselves to a fourth part of the +revenues of all the provinces in the Company's possession, and claiming, +in right of the Mogul, the tribute due to him: by which actings and +doings the said Hastings has to the best of his power brought the +British provinces in India into a dependence on the Mahratta state: and +in order to add to the aforesaid enormous claims a proportioned force, +he did never cease, during his stay in India, to contrive the means for +its increase; for it is of public notoriety, that one great object of +the Mahratta policy is to unite under their dominion the nation or +religious sect of the Seiks, who, being a people abounding with +soldiers, and possessing large territories, would extend the Mahratta +power over the whole of the vast countries to the northwest of India. + +XXIII. That the said Warren Hastings, further to augment the power of +the said Mahrattas, and to endanger the safety of the British +possessions, having established in force the said Mahrattas on the +frontier, as afore-recited, and finding the Council-General averse in +that situation to the withdrawing the British forces therefrom, and for +disbanding them to the extent required by the said Hastings, did, in a +minute of the 4th December, 1784, after stating a supposition, that, +contrary to his opinion, the said troops should not be reduced, propose +to employ them under the command of the Mogul's son, then under the +influence of the Mahrattas, in a war against the aforesaid people or +religious sect called Seiks, defending the same on the following +principles: "I feel the sense of an obligation, imposed on me by the +supposition I have made, to state a mode of rendering the detachment of +use in its prescribed station, and of affording the _appearance_ of a +cause for its retention." + +XXIV. That the said Hastings did admit that there was no present danger +to the Company's possessions from that nation which could justify him in +such a war, as he had declared that the Mahrattas were _the only power_ +that bordered on the Company's possessions and those of the Vizier; but +he did assign as a reason for going to war with them their military and +enthusiastic spirit,--the hardiness of their natural constitution,--the +dangers which might arise from them in some future time, if they should +ever happen to be united under one head, they existing at present in a +state little different from anarchy; and he did predict great danger +from them, and at no very remote period, "if this people be permitted to +grow into maturity without interruption." And though he doth pretend +that the solicitations of the heir-apparent of the Mogul, who, he says, +did repeatedly and earnestly solicit him to obtain the permission to use +the Company's troops for the purpose aforesaid, had weight with him, yet +he doth declare, as he expresses himself in the minute aforesaid, that +"a _stronger impulse_, arising from the hope of _blasting the growth_ +of a generation whose strength _might_ become fatal to our own, strongly +pleaded in my mind for supporting his wishes." + +XXV. That the said Warren Hastings, after forcibly recommending the plan +aforesaid, did state strong objections, that did, "in his judgment, +outweigh the advantages which might arise from a compliance with it." +Yet the said Hastings, being determined to pursue his scheme for +aggrandizing at any rate the Mahratta power, in whose adult growth and +the recent effects of it he could see no danger, did pursue the design +of war against a nation or sect of religion in its infancy, from whom he +had received no injury, and in whose present state of government he did +not apprehend any mischief whatsoever; and finding the Council fixed and +determined on not disbanding the frontier regiments, and thinking that +therein he had found an advantage, he did ground thereon the following +proposition. + +"If the expense [of the frontier troops] is to be continued, it may be +surely better continued for some useful purpose than to keep up the +parade of a great military corps designed merely to lie inactive in its +quarters. On this ground, therefore, and on the supposition premised, I +revert to my original sentiments in favor of the prince's plan; but as +this will require some qualification in the execution of it, I will +state my recommendation of it in the terms of a proposition, viz., that, +if it shall be the resolution of the board to continue the detachment +now under the command of Colonel Sir John Cumming at Furruckabad, and if +the prince Mirza Jehander Shah shall apply, _with the authority of the +king, and the concurrence of Mahdajee Sindia_, for the assistance of an +English military force, to act in conjunction with him, to expel the +Seiks from the territories of which they have lately possessed +themselves in the neighborhood of Delhi, it may be granted, and such a +portion of the said detachment allotted to that service as shall be +hereafter judged adequate to it." + +XXVI. That the said Warren Hastings did, in the said proposal, endeavor +to circumvent and overreach the Council-General, by converting an +apparent and literal compliance with their resolution into a real and +substantial opposition to and disappointment thereof. For his first +proposal was, to withdraw the Company's troops from the Vizier's country +on the pretence of relieving him from the burden of that establishment, +but in reality with a view of facilitating the Mahratta pretensions on +that province, which would then be deprived of the means of defence. And +when the Council rejected the said proposal on the express ground of +danger to the province by withdrawing from the Mahrattas the restraint +of our troops, the said Hastings, finding his first scheme in favor of +the Mahrattas against the provinces dependent on the Company defeated by +the refusal of the Council to concur in the said measure of withdrawing +the troops, did then endeavor to obtain the same purpose in a different +way; and instead of leaving the troops, according to the intention and +policy of the Council, as a check to the ambition and progress of the +Mahrattas, he proposed to employ them in the actual furtherance of those +schemes of aggrandizement of which his colleagues were jealous, and +which it was the object of their resolution to counteract. + +XXVII. That, in the whole of the letters, negotiations, proposals, and +projects of the said Warren Hastings relative to the Mogul, he did +appear to pursue but one object, namely, the aggrandizement of the +lately hostile and always dangerous power of the Mahrattas, and did +pursue the same by means highly dishonorable to the British character +for honor, justice, candor, plain-dealing, moderation, and humanity. + + + + +XIX.--LIBEL ON THE COURT OF DIRECTORS. + + +I. That Warren Hastings, Esquire, was, during the whole of the year +1783, a servant of the East India Company, and was bound by the duties +of that relation not only to yield obedience to the orders of the Court +of Directors, but to give to the whole of their service an example of +submission, reverence, and respect to their authority; and that, if they +should in the course of their duty call in question any part of his +conduct, he was bound to conduct his defence with temper and decency; +and while his conduct was under their consideration, it was not +allowable to print and publish any of his letters to them without their +consent first had and obtained; and he was bound by the same principles +of duty, enforced by still more cogent reasons, to observe, in a paper +intended for publication, great modesty and moderation, and to treat the +said Court of Directors, his lawful masters, with respect. + +II. That the said Warren Hastings did print and publish, or cause to be +printed and published, at Calcutta in Bengal, the narrative of his +transactions at Benares, in a letter written at that place, without +leave had of the Court of Directors, in order to preoccupy the judgment +of the servants in that settlement, and to gain from them a factious +countenance and support, previous to the judgment and opinion of the +Court of Directors, his lawful superiors. + +III. That the Court of Directors, having come to certain resolutions of +fact relative to the engagements subsisting between them and the Rajah +of Benares, and the manner in which the same had been fulfilled on the +part of the Rajah, did, in the fifth resolution, which was partly a +resolution of opinion, declare as follows: "That it appears to this +Court that the conduct of the Governor-General towards the Rajah, whilst +he was at Benares, was improper; and that the imprisonment of his +person, thereby disgracing him in the eyes of his subjects and others, +was unwarrantable and highly impolitic, and may tend to weaken the +confidence which the native princes of India ought to have in the +justice and moderation of the Company's government." + +IV. That the said resolutions being transmitted to the said Warren +Hastings, he, the said Warren Hastings, did write, and cause to be +printed and published, a certain false, insolent, malicious, and +seditious libel, purporting to be a letter from him, the said Warren +Hastings, to the Court of Directors, dated Fort William, 20th March, +1783, "calculated," as the Directors truly affirm, "to bring contempt, +as well as an odium, on the Court of Directors, for their conduct on +that occasion"; and the said libel had a direct tendency to excite a +spirit of disobedience to the lawful government of this nation in India +through all ranks of their service. + +V. That he, the said Warren Hastings, among other insolent and +contumacious charges and aspersions on the Court of Directors, did +address them in the printed letter aforesaid as follows. "I deny that +Rajah Cheyt Sing was a native prince of India. Cheyt Sing is the son of +a collector of the revenue of that province, which his arts, and the +misfortunes of his master, enabled him to convert to a permanent and +hereditary possession. This man, whom _you have thus ranked among the +princes_ of India, will be astonished, when he hears it, at an elevation +so unlooked for, nor less at the independent rights which _your_ +commands have assigned him,--rights which are _so foreign to his +conceptions, that I doubt whether he will know in what language to +assert them, unless_ the example which _you have thought it consistent +with justice, however opposite to policy, to show, of becoming his +advocates against your own interests, should inspire any of your own +servants to be his advisers and instructors_." And he did further, to +bring into contempt the authority of the Company, and to excite a +resistance to their lawful orders, frame a supposition that the Court of +Directors had intended the restoration of the Rajah of Benares, and on +that ground did presume in the said libel to calumniate, in +disrespectful and contumelious terms, the policy of the Court of +Directors, as well as the person whom he did conceive to be the object +of their protection, as followeth. "Of the consequences of such a policy +I forbear to speak. _Most happily, the wretch whose hopes may be excited +by the appearances in his favor is ill qualified to avail himself of +them_, and _the force which is stationed in the province of Benares is +sufficient to suppress any symptoms of internal sedition_; but it cannot +fail to create distrust and suspense in the minds both of the rulers and +of the people, and such a state is always productive of disorder. But it +is not in this partial consideration that I dread the effects of your +commands; it is in your proclaimed indisposition against the first +executive member of your first government in India. I almost shudder at +the reflection of what might have happened, had these denunciations +against your own minister, in favor of a man universally considered in +this part of the world as justly attainted for his crimes, the murderer +of your servants and soldiers, and the rebel to your authority, arrived +two months earlier." + +VI. That the said Warren Hastings did also presume to censure and +asperse the Court of Directors for the moderate terms in which they had +expressed their displeasure against him, as putting him under the +necessity of stating in his defence a strong accusation against himself, +and as implying in the said Court a consciousness that he was not guilty +of the offences charged upon him,--being, as he asserts, in the +resolutions of the Court of Directors, "arraigned and prejudged of _a +violation of national faith, in acts of such complicated aggravation_, +that, _if they were true_, no punishment SHORT OF DEATH could atone for +the injury which the interest and credit of the public had sustained in +them"; and he did therefore censure the said Court for applying no +stronger or more criminating epithets than those of "improper, +unwarrantable, and highly impolitic," to an offence so by them charged, +and by him described. And though it be true that the expressions +aforesaid are much too reserved for the purpose of duly characterizing +the offences of the said Hastings, yet was it _in him_ most indecent to +libel the Court of Directors for the same; and his implication, from the +tenderness of the epithets and descriptions aforesaid used towards him, +was not only indecent, but ungrounded, malicious, and scandalous,--he +having himself highly, though truly, aggravated "the charge of the +injuries done by him to the Rajah of Benares," in order to bring the +said Directors into contempt and suspicion, the paragraphs in the said +libel being as follow.--"Here I must crave leave to say, that the terms +'improper, unwarrantable, and highly impolitic' are much too gentle, as +deductions from such premises; and as every reader of the latter will +obviously feel, as he reads, the deductions which inevitably belong to +them, I will add, that the strict performance of solemn engagements on +one part, followed by acts directly subversive of them and by total +dispossession on the other, stamps on the perpetrators of the latter the +guilt of the greatest possible violation of faith and justice."--"There +is an appearance of tenderness in this deviation from plain +construction, of which, however meant, I have a right to complain; +because it imposes on me the necessity of framing the terms of the +accusation against myself, which you have only not made, but have stated +the leading arguments to it so strongly, that no one who reads these can +avoid making it, _or not know it to have been intended_." + +VII. That the said Hastings, being well aware that his own declarations +did contain the clearest condemnation of his own conduct from his own +pen, did in the said libel attempt to overturn, frustrate, and render of +none effect all the proofs to be given of prevarication, contradiction, +and of opposition of action to principle, which can be used against men +in public trust, and did contend that the same could not be used against +him; and as if false assertions could be justified by factious motives, +he did endeavor to do away the authority of his own _deliberate, +recorded_ declarations, entered by him _in writing_ on the Council-Books +of the Presidency; for, after asserting, _but not attempting to prove_, +that his declarations were consistent with his conduct, he writes in the +said libel as follows: For "were it otherwise, they were not to be made +the rules of my conduct; and God forbid that every expression dictated +by the impulse of present emergency, and unpremeditatedly uttered in the +heat of party contention, should impose upon me the obligation of a +fixed principle, and be applied to every variable occasion!" + +VIII. That the said Hastings, in order to draw the lawful dependence of +the servants of the Company from the Court of Directors to a factious +dependence on himself, did, in the libel aforesaid, treat the acts and +appointments of their undoubted authority, when exercised in opposition +to his arbitrary will, as ruinous to their affairs, in the following +terms. "It is as well known to the Indian world as to the Court of +English Proprietors, that the first declaratory instruments of the +dissolution of my influence, in the year 1774, were Mr. John Bristow and +Mr. Francis Fowke. By your ancient and known constitution the Governor +has been ever held forth and understood to possess the ostensible +powers of government; all the correspondence with foreign princes is +conducted in his name; and every person resident with them for the +management of your political concerns is understood to be _more +especially his_ representative, and of _his_ choice: and such ought to +be the rule; for how otherwise can they trust an agent nominated against +the will of _his_ principal? When the state of this administration was +such as seemed to _admit of_ the appointment of Mr. Bristow to the +Residency of Lucknow without _much_ diminution of _my own_ influence, I +gladly seized the occasion to show my readiness to submit to your +commands; I proposed his nomination; he was nominated, and declared to +_be the agent of my own choice_. Even this effect of my caution _is +defeated by your absolute command for his reappointment independent of +me, and with the supposition that I should be adverse to it_.--I am now +wholly deprived of my official powers, both in the province of Oude, and +in the zemindary of Benares." + +IX. That, further to emancipate others and himself from due obedience to +the Court of Directors, he did, in the libel aforesaid, enhance his +services, which, without specification or proof, he did suppose in the +said libel to be important and valuable, by representing them as done +under their displeasure, and doth attribute his not having done more to +their opposition, as followeth. "It is now a complete period of eleven +years since I first received the first nominal charge of your affairs; +in the course of it I have _invariably_ had to contend, not with +ordinary difficulties, but such as most _unnaturally_ arose _from the +opposition of those very powers from which I primarily derived my +authority, and which were required for the support of it_. My exertions, +though applied to an unvaried and consistent line of action, have been +occasional and desultory; yet I please myself with the hope, that, in +the annals of your dominion, which shall be written after the extinction +of recent prejudices, this term of its administration will appear not +the least conducive to the interests of the Company, nor the least +reflective of the honor of the British name: and allow me to suggest the +instructive reflection of _what good might have been done, and what evil +prevented, had due support been given to that administration which has +performed such eminent and substantial services without it_." + +And the said Hastings, further to render the authority of the said Court +perfectly contemptible, doth, in a strain of exultation for his having +escaped out of a measure in which by his guilt he had involved the +Company in a ruinous war, and out of which it had escaped by a sacrifice +of almost all the territories before acquired (from that enemy which he +had made) either by war or former treaties, and by the abandoning the +Company's allies to their mercy, attribute the said supposed services to +his acting in such a manner as had on former occasions excited their +displeasure, in the following words. "Pardon, Honorable Sirs, this +digressive exultation. I cannot suppress the pride which I feel in this +successful achievement of a measure so fortunate for your interests and +the national honor; for that pride is the source of my zeal, so +frequently exerted in your support, and never more happily than in those +instances _in which I have departed from the prescribed and beaten path +of action, and assumed a responsibility which has too frequently drawn +on me the most pointed effects of your displeasure_. But however I may +yield to my private feelings in thus enlarging on the subject, my motive +in introducing it was immediately connected with its context, and was to +contrast _the actual state of your political affairs, derived from a +happier influence, with that which might have attended an earlier +dissolution of it_": and he did value himself upon "the _patience_ and +temper with which he had submitted to all the indignities which have +been heaped upon him" (meaning, by the said Court of Directors) "in this +long service"; and he did insolently attribute to an unusual strain of +zeal for their service, that he "_persevered_ in the VIOLENT MAINTENANCE +OF HIS OFFICE." + +X. That, in order further to excite the spirit of disobedience in the +Company's servants to the lawful authority set over them, he, the said +Warren Hastings, did treat contemptuously and ironically the supposed +disposition of the Company's servants to obey the orders of the Court of +Directors, in the words following. "The recall of Mr. Markham, who was +known to be the public agent of my own nomination at Benares, and the +reappointment of Mr. Francis Fowke by your order, contained in the same +letter, would place it [the restoration of Cheyt Sing] beyond a doubt. +_This order has been obeyed; and whenever you shall be pleased to order +the restoration of Cheyt Sing, I will venture to promise the same ready +and exact submission in the other members of the Council._" And he did, +in the postscript of the said letter, and as on recollection, endeavor +to make a reparation of honor to his said colleagues, as if his +expressions aforesaid had arisen from animosity to them, as follows. +"Upon a careful revisal of what I have written, I fear that an +expression which I have used, respecting the probable conduct of the +board in the event of orders being received for the restoration of Cheyt +Sing, may be construed as intimating a sense of dissatisfaction applied +to transactions already past.--It is not my intention to complain of any +one." + +XI. That the said Hastings, in the acts of injury aforesaid to the Rajah +of Benares, did assume and arrogate to himself an illegal authority +therein, and did maintain that the acts done in consequence of that +measure were not revocable by any subsequent authority, in the following +words. "If you should proceed to order the restoration of Cheyt Sing to +the zemindary, from which, _by the powers which I legally possessed_, +and conceive myself legally _bound to assert_ against any _subsequent +authority to the contrary_ derived from _the same common source_, he was +dispossessed for crimes of the greatest enormity, and your Council shall +resolve to execute the order, I will instantly give up my station and +the service." + +XII. That the said Warren Hastings did attempt to justify his +publication of the said libellous letter to and against the Court of +Directors by asserting therein that these resolutions (meaning the +resolutions of the Court of Directors relative to the Rajah of Benares) +"were _either_ published or _intended_ for publication": evidently +proving that he did take this unwarrantable course without any +sufficient assurance that the ground and motive by him assigned had any +existence. + + + + +XX.--MAHRATTA WAR AND PEACE. + + +I. That by an act passed in 1773 it was expressly ordered and provided, +"that it should not be lawful for any President and Council of Madras, +Bombay, or Bencoolen, for the time being, to make any orders for +commencing hostilities, or declaring or making war, against any Indian +princes or powers, or for negotiating or concluding any treaty of peace, +or other treaty, with any such Indian princes or powers, without the +consent and approbation of the Governor-General and Council first had +and obtained, except in such cases of _imminent necessity_ as would +render it dangerous to postpone such hostilities or treaties until the +orders from the Governor-General and Council might arrive." That, +nevertheless, the President and Council of Bombay did, in December, +1774, without the consent and approbation of the Governor-General and +Council of Fort William, and in the midst of profound peace, commence an +unjust and unprovoked war against the Mahratta government, did conclude +a treaty with a certain person, a fugitive from that government, and +proscribed by it, named Ragonaut Row, or Ragoba, and did, under various +base and treacherous pretences, invade and conquer the island of +Salsette, belonging to the Mahratta government. + +II. That Warren Hastings, on the first advices received in Bengal of the +above transactions, did condemn the same in the strongest +terms,--declaring that "the measures adopted by the Presidency of Bombay +had a tendency to a very extensive and indefinite scene of troubles, and +that their conduct was unseasonable, impolitic, unjust, and +unauthorized." And the Governor-General and Council, in order to put a +stop to the said unjust hostilities, did appoint an ambassador to the +Peshwa, or chief of the Mahratta state, resident at Poonah; and the said +ambassador did, after a long negotiation, conclude a definitive treaty +of peace with the said Peshwa on terms highly honorable and beneficial +to the East India Company, who by the said treaty obtained from the +Mahrattas a cession of considerable tracts of country, the Mahratta +share of the city of Baroach, twelve lacs of rupees for the expenses of +the said unjust war, and particularly the island of Salsette, of which +the Presidency of Bombay had possessed themselves by surprise and +treachery. That, in return for these extraordinary concessions, the +articles principally insisted on by the Mahrattas, with a view to their +own future tranquillity and internal quiet, were, that _no assistance +should he given to any subject or servant of the Peshwa that should +cause disturbances or rebellion in the Mahratta dominions_, and +particularly that the English _should not assist Ragonaut Row_, to whom +the Mahrattas agreed to allow five lacs of rupees a year, or a jaghire +to that amount, and that he should reside at Benares. That, +nevertheless, the Presidency of Bombay did receive and keep Ragonaut Row +at Bombay, did furnish him with a considerable establishment, and +continue to carry on secret intrigues and negotiations with him, thereby +giving just ground of jealousy and distrust to the Mahratta state. That +the late Colonel John Upton, by whom the treaty of Poorunder was +negotiated and concluded, did declare to the Governor-General and +Council, "that, while Ragonaut Row resides at Bombay in expectation of +being supported, the ministers can place no confidence in the Council +there, which must now be productive of the greatest inconveniencies, and +perhaps in the end of fatal consequences." That the said Warren +Hastings, concurring with his Council, which then consisted of Sir John +Clavering, Richard Barwell, and Philip Francis, Esquires, did, on the +18th of August, 1777, declare to the Presidency of Bombay, that "he +could see no reason to doubt that the presence of Ragoba at Bombay would +continue to be _an insuperable bar_ to the completion of the treaty +concluded with the Mahratta government; nor could any sincere cordiality +and good understanding be established with them, as long as he should +appear to derive encouragement and support from the English." That Sir +John Clavering died soon after, and that the late Edward Wheler, +Esquire, succeeded to a seat in the Supreme Council. That on the 29th of +January, 1778, the Governor-General and Council received a letter from +the Presidency of Bombay, dated 12th December, 1777, in which they +declared, "that they had agreed to give encouragement to a _party_ +formed in Ragoba's favor, and flattered themselves they should meet with +the hearty concurrence of the Governor-General and Council in the +measures they might be obliged to pursue in consequence." That the +_party_ so described was said to consist of four principal persons in +the Mahratta state, on whose part _some overtures_ had been made to Mr. +William Lewis, the Resident of Bombay at Poonah, _for the assistance of +the Company to bring Ragoba to Poonah_. That the said Warren Hastings, +immediately on the receipt of the preceding advices, did propose and +carry it in Council, by means of his casting voice, and against the +remonstrances, arguments, and solemn protest of two members of the +Supreme Council, that the _sanction_ of that government should be given +to the plan which the President and Council of Bombay had agreed to form +with the Mahratta government; and also that a supply of money (to the +amount of ten lacs of rupees) should be immediately granted to the +President and Council of Bombay _for the support of their engagements +above mentioned_; and also that a military force should be sent to the +Presidency of Bombay. That in defence of these resolutions the said +Warren Hastings did falsely pretend and affirm, "that the resolution of +the Presidency of Bombay was formed on such a case of _imminent +necessity_ as would have rendered it dangerous to postpone the execution +of it until the orders from the Governor-General and Council might +arrive; and that the said Presidency of Bombay _were warranted by the +treaty of Poorunder_ to join in a plan for conducting Ragonaut Row to +Poonah on the application of the ruling part of the Mahratta state": +whereas the main object of the said treaty on the part of the Mahrattas, +and to obtain which they made many important concessions to the India +Company, was, that the English should withdraw their forces, and give no +assistance to Ragoba, and that he should be excluded forever from any +share in their government, being a person _universally held in +abhorrence_ in the Mahratta empire; and if it had been true (instead of +being, as it was, notoriously false) that _the ruling part_ of the +administration of the Mahratta state solicited the return of Ragonaut +Row to Poonah, his return in that case might have been effected by acts +of their own, without the interposition of the English power, and +without our interference in their affairs. That it was the special duty +of the said Warren Hastings, derived from a special trust reposed in him +and power committed to him by Parliament, to have restrained, as by law +he had authority to do, the subordinate Presidency of Bombay from +entering into hostilities with the Mahrattas, or from making engagements +the manifest tendency of which was to enter into those hostilities, and +to have put a stop to them, if any such had been begun; that he was +bound by the duty of his office to preserve the faith of the British +government, pledged in the treaty of Poorunder, inviolate and sacred, as +well as by the special orders and instructions of the East India Company +_to fix his attention to the preservation of peace throughout India_: +all which important duties the said Warren Hastings did wilfully +violate, in giving the _sanction_ of the Governor-General and Council to +the dangerous, faithless, and ill-concerted projects of the President +and Council of Bombay hereinbefore mentioned, from which the subsequent +Mahratta war, with all the expense, distress, and disgraces which have +attended it, took their commencement; and that the said Warren Hastings, +therefore, is specially and principally answerable for the said war, and +for all the consequences thereof. That in a letter dated the 20th of +January, 1778, the President and Council of Bombay informed the +Governor-General and Council, that, in consequence of later intelligence +received from Poonah, they had _immediately resolved that nothing +further could be done, unless Saccaram Baboo, the principal in the late +treaty_ (of Poorunder) _joined in making a formal application to them_. +That no such application was ever made by that person. That the said +Warren Hastings, finding that all this pretended ground for engaging in +an invasion of the Mahratta government had totally failed, did then +pretend to give credit to, and to be greatly alarmed by, the suggestions +of the President and Council of Bombay, that the Mahrattas were +negotiating with the French, and had agreed to give them the port of +Choul, on the Malabar coast, and did affirm that the French _had +obtained possession of that port_. That all these suggestions and +assertions were false, and, if they had been true, would have furnished +no just occasion for attacking either the Mahrattas or the French, with +both of whom the British nation was then at peace. That the said Warren +Hastings did then propose and carry the following resolution in Council, +against the protest of two members thereof, that, "for the purpose of +granting you [the Presidency of Bombay] the most effectual support in +our power, we have resolved to assemble a strong military force near +Calpee, the commanding officer of which is to be ordered to march by the +most practicable route to Bombay, or to such other place as future +occurrences and your directions to him may render it expedient"; and +with respect to the _steps_ said to be taking _by the French to obtain a +settlement on the Malabar coast_, the said Warren Hastings did declare +to the Presidency of Bombay, "that it was the opinion of the +Governor-General and Council that no time ought to be lost in forming +and carrying into execution such measures as might most effectually tend +to frustrate such dangerous designs." That the said Warren Hastings, +therefore, instead of fixing his attention to the preservation of peace +throughout India, as it was his duty to have done, did continue to abet, +encourage, and support the dangerous projects of the Presidency of +Bombay, and did thereby manifest a determined intention to disturb the +peace of India, by the unfortunate success of which intention, and by +the continued efforts of the said Hastings, the greatest part of India +has been for several years involved in a bloody and calamitous war. That +both the Court of Directors and Court of Proprietors did specially +instruct the said Warren Hastings, in all his measures, "to make the +safety and prosperity of Bengal his principal object," and did heavily +censure the said Warren Hastings for having employed their troops at a +great distance from Bengal in a war against the Rohillas, which the +House of Commons have pronounced to be _iniquitous_,[17] and did on that +occasion expressly declare, "that they disapproved of all such distant +expeditions as might eventually carry their forces to any situation too +remote to admit of their speedy and safe return to the protection of +their own provinces, in case of emergency."[18] That the said Warren +Hastings nevertheless ordered a detachment from the Bengal army to cross +the Jumna, and to proceed across the peninsula by a circuitous route +through the diamond country of Bundelcund, and through the dominions of +the Rajah of Berar, situated in the centre of Hindostan, and did thereby +strip the provinces subject to the government of Fort William of a +considerable part of their established defence, and did thereby disobey +the general instructions and positive orders of the Court of Directors, +(given upon occasion of a crime of the same nature committed by the said +Hastings,) and was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor. + +That the said Warren Hastings, having taken the measures hereinbefore +described for supporting those of the Presidency of Bombay, did, on the +23d of March, 1778, "invest the said Presidency with authority to form +a new alliance with Ragoba, and to engage with him in _any_ scheme which +they should deem expedient and safe for retrieving his affairs." That +the said Hastings was then in possession of a letter from the Court of +Directors, dated the 4th of July, 1777, containing a positive order to +the Presidency of Bombay in the following words. "Though that treaty" +(meaning the treaty of Poorunder) "is not, upon the whole, so agreeable +to us as we could wish, still we are resolved strictly to adhere to it +on our parts. You must therefore be particularly vigilant, while Ragoba +is with you, to prevent him from forming any plan against what is called +the ministerial party at Poonah; and we hereby positively order you not +to engage with him in any scheme whatever in retrieving his affairs, +without the consent of the Governor-General and Council, or the Court of +Directors." That the said Ragoba neither did or could form any plan for +his restoration but what was and must be against the ministerial party +at Poonah, who held and exercised the regency of that state in the +infancy of the Peshwa; and that, supposing him to have formed any other +_scheme_, in conjunction with Bombay, _for retrieving his affairs_, the +said Hastings, in giving a previous _general_ authority to the +Presidency of Bombay to engage with Ragoba in _any_ scheme for that +purpose, without knowing what such scheme might be, and thereby +relinquishing and transferring to the discretion of a subordinate +government that superintendence and control over all measures tending to +create or provoke a war which the law had exclusively vested in the +Governor-General and Council, was guilty of a high crime and +misdemeanor. + +That the said Warren Hastings, having first declared that the measures +taken by him were for the support of the engagements made by the +Presidency of Bombay in favor of Ragoba, did afterwards, when it +appeared that those negotiations were _entirely laid aside_, declare +that his apprehension of the consequence of a pretended _intrigue_ +between the Mahrattas and the French _was the sole motive of all the +late measures taken for the support of the Presidency of Bombay_; but +that neither of the preceding declarations contained the true motives +and objects of the said Hastings, whose real purpose, as it appeared +soon after, was, to make use of the superiority of the British power in +India to carry on offensive wars, and to pursue schemes of conquest, +impolitic and unjust in their design, ill-concerted in the execution, +and which, as this House has resolved, _have brought great calamities on +India, and enormous expenses on the East India Company_. + +That the said Warren Hastings, on the 22d of June, 1778, made the +following declaration in Council. "Much less can I agree, that, with +such superior advantages as we possess over every power which can oppose +us, we should act _merely on the defensive_. On the contrary, if it be +really true that the British arms and influence have suffered so severe +a check in the Western world, it is more incumbent on those who are +charged with the interests of Great Britain in the East _to exert +themselves for the retrieval of the national loss_. We have the means in +our power, and, if they are not frustrated by our own dissensions, I +trust that the event of this expedition will yield every advantage _for +the attainment of which it was undertaken_." + +That, in pursuance of the principles avowed in the preceding +declaration, the said Warren Hastings, on the 9th of July, 1778, did +propose and carry it in Council, that an embassy should be sent from +Bengal to Moodajee Boosla, the Rajah of Berar,--falsely asserting that +the said Rajah "was, by interest and inclination, likely to join in an +alliance with the British government, and suggesting that two advantages +might be offered to him as the inducements to it: first, the support of +his pretensions to the sovereign power" (viz., of the Mahratta empire); +"second, the recovery of the captures made on his dominions by Nizam +Ali." That the said Hastings, having already given full authority to the +Presidency of Bombay to engage the British faith to Ragonaut Row to +support him in _his_ pretensions to the government or to the regency of +the Mahratta empire, was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor in +proposing to engage the same British faith to support the pretensions of +another competitor for the same object; and that, in offering to assist +the Rajah of Berar to recover the captures made on his dominions by the +Nizam, the said Hastings did endeavor, as far as depended on him, to +engage the British nation in a most unjust and utterly unprovoked war +against the said Nizam, between whom and the East India Company a treaty +of peace and friendship did then subsist, unviolated on his +part,--notwithstanding the said Hastings well knew that it made part of +the East India Company's fundamental policy to support that prince +against the Mahrattas, and _to consider him as one of the few remaining +chiefs who were yet capable of coping with the Mahrattas_, and that it +was the Company's _true interest to preserve a good understanding with +him_. That, by holding out such offers to the Rajah of Berar, the said +Hastings professed to hope that the Rajah _would ardently catch at the +objects presented to his ambition_: and although the said Hastings did +about this time lay it down as a maxim that _there is always a greater +advantage in receiving solicitations than in making advances_, he +nevertheless declared to the said Rajah that _in the whole of his +conduct he had departed from the common line of policy, and had made +advances where others in his situation would have waited for +solicitation_. That the said unjust and dangerous projects did not take +effect, because the Rajah of Berar refused to join or be concerned +therein; yet so earnest was the said Hastings for the execution of those +projects, that in a subsequent letter he daringly and treacherously +assured the Rajah, "that, if he had accepted of the terms offered him by +Colonel Goddard, and concluded a treaty with the government of Bengal +upon them, he should have held the obligation of it superior to that of +any engagement formed by the government of Bombay, and should have +thought it his duty to maintain it, &c., against every consideration +_even of the most valuable interests and safety of the English +possessions intrusted to his charge_." That all the offers of the said +Hastings were rejected with slight and contempt by the Rajah of Berar; +but the same being discovered, and generally known throughout India, did +fill the chief of the princes and states of India with a general +suspicion and distrust of the ambitious designs and treacherous +principles of the British government, and with an universal hatred of +the British nation. That the said princes and states were thereby so +thoroughly convinced of the necessity of uniting amongst themselves to +oppose a power which kept no faith with any of them, and equally +threatened them all, that, renouncing all former enmities against each +other, they united in a common confederacy against the English, viz.: +the Peshwa, as representative of the Mahratta state, and Moodajee +Boosla, the Rajah of Berar, that is, the principal Hindoo powers of +India, on one side; and Hyder Ali, and the Nizam of the Deccan, that is, +the principal Mahomedan powers of India, on the other: and that in +consequence of this confederacy Hyder Ali invaded, overran, and ruined +the Carnatic; and that Moodajee Boosla, instead of _ardently catching at +the objects presented to his ambition_ by the said Hastings, sent an +army to the frontiers of Bengal,--which army the said Warren Hastings +was at length forced to buy off with twenty-six lacs of rupees, or +300,000_l._ sterling, after a series of negotiations with the Mahratta +chiefs who commanded that army, founded and conducted on principles so +dishonorable to the British name and character, that the Secret +Committee of the House of Commons, by whom the rest of the proceedings +in that business were reported to the House, _have upon due +consideration thought it proper to leave out the letter of instructions +to Mr. Anderson_, viz., those given by the said Warren Hastings to the +representative of the British government, and concerning which the said +committee have reported in the following terms: "The schemes of policy +by which the Governor-General seems to have dictated the instructions he +gave to Mr. Anderson" (the gentleman deputed) "will also appear in this +document, as well respecting the particular succession to the _rauje_, +as also the mode of accommodating the demand of _chout_, the +establishment of which was apparently the great aim of Moodajee's +political manoeuvres, while the Governor-General's wish to defeat it was +avowedly more intent on the removal of a nominal disgrace than on the +anxiety or resolution to be freed from an expensive, if an unavoidable +incumbrance." + +That, while the said Warren Hastings was endeavoring to persuade the +Rajah of Berar to engage with him in a scheme to place the said Rajah at +the head of the Mahratta empire, the Presidency of Bombay, by virtue of +the powers specially vested in them for that purpose by the said +Hastings, did really engage with Ragonaut Row, the other competitor for +the same object, and sent a great part of their military force, +established for the defence of Bombay, on an expedition with Ragonaut +Row, to invade the dominions of the Peshwa, and to take Poonah, the +capital thereof; that this army, being surrounded and overpowered by the +Mahrattas, was obliged to capitulate; and then, through the moderation +of the Mahrattas, was permitted to return quietly, but _very +disgracefully_, to Bombay. That, supposing the said Warren Hastings +could have been justified in abandoning the project of reinstating +Ragonaut Row, which he at first authorized and promised to support, and +in preferring a scheme to place the Rajah of Berar at the head of the +Mahratta empire, he was bound by his duty, as well as injustice to the +Presidency of Bombay, to give that Presidency timely notice of such his +intention, and to have restrained them positively from resuming their +own project; that, on the contrary, the said Warren Hastings did, on the +17th of August, 1778, again _authorize_ the said Presidency "to assist +Ragoba with a military force to conduct him to Poonah, and to establish +him in the regency there," and, so far from communicating his change of +plan to Bombay, did keep it concealed from that Presidency, insomuch +that, even so late as the 19th of February, 1779, William Hornby, then +Governor of Bombay, declared in Council his total ignorance of the +schemes of the said Hastings in the following terms: "The schemes of the +Governor-General and Council with regard to the Rajah of Berar _being +yet unknown to us_, it is impossible for us to found any measures on +them; yet I cannot help now observing, that, if, as has been +conjectured, the gentleman of that Presidency have entertained thoughts +of restoring, in his person, the ancient Rajah government, the attempt +seems likely to be attended with no small difficulty." That, whereas the +said Warren Hastings did repeatedly affirm that it was his intention to +support the plan formed by the Presidency of Bombay in favor of Ragoba, +and did repeatedly authorize and encourage them to pursue it, he did +nevertheless, at the same time, in his letters and declarations to the +Peshwa, to the Nizam, and to the Rajah of Berar, falsely and +perfidiously affirm, _that it never was nor is designed by the English +chiefs to give support to Ragonaut Row,--that he_ (Hastings) _had no +idea of supporting Ragonaut Row,--and that the detachment he had sent to +Bombay was solely to awe the French, without the least design to assist +Ragonaut Row_. That, supposing it to have been the sole _professed_ +intention of the said Hastings, in sending an army across India, to +protect Bombay against a Trench invasion, even that pretence was false, +and used only to cover the real design of the said Hastings, viz., to +engage in projects of war and conquest with the Rajah of Berar. That on +the 11th of October, 1778, he informed the said Rajah "that the +detachment would soon arrive in his territories, and depend on him +[Moodajee Boosla] for its subsequent operations"; that on the 7th of +December, 1778, the said Hastings revoked the powers he had before +given[19] to the Presidency of Bombay over the detachment, declaring +that the event of Colonel Goddard's negotiation with the Rajah of Berar +_was likely to cause a very speedy and essential change in the design +and operations of the detachment_; and that on the 4th of March, 1779, +the said Hastings, immediately after receiving advice of the defeat of +the Bombay army near Poonah, and when Bombay, if at any time, +particularly required to be protected against a French invasion, did +declare in Council that he _wished for the return of the detachment to +Berar, and dreaded to hear of its proceeding to the Malabar coast_: and +therefore, if the said Hastings did not think that Bombay was in danger +of being attacked by the French, he was guilty of repeated falsehoods in +affirming the contrary for the purpose of covering a criminal design; +or, if he thought that Bombay was immediately threatened with that +danger, he then was guilty of treachery in ordering an army necessary on +that supposition to the immediate defence of Bombay to halt in Berar, to +depend on the Rajah of Berar for its subsequent operations, or on _the +event of a negotiation_ with that prince, which, as the said Hastings +declared, _was likely to cause a very speedy and essential change in the +design and operations of the detachment_; and finally, in declaring that +_he dreaded to hear of the said detachment's proceeding to the Malabar +coast_, whither he ought to have ordered it to proceed without delay, +if, as he has solemnly affirmed, it was true that _he had been told by +the highest authority that a powerful armament had been prepared in +France, the first object of which was an attack upon Bombay, and that +he knew with moral certainty that all the powers of the adjacent +continent were ready to join the invasion_. + +That through the whole of these transactions the said Warren Hastings +has been guilty of continued falsehood, fraud, contradiction, and +duplicity, highly dishonorable to the character of the British nation; +that, in consequence of the unjust and ill-concerted schemes of the said +Hastings, the British arms, heretofore respected in India, have suffered +repeated disgraces, and great calamities have been thereby brought upon +India; and that the said Warren Hastings, as well in exciting and +promoting the late unprovoked and unjustifiable war against the +Mahrattas, as in the conduct thereof, has been guilty of sundry high +crimes and misdemeanors. + +That, by the definitive treaty of peace concluded with the Mahrattas at +Poorunder, on the 1st of March, 1776, the Mahrattas gave up all right +and title to the island of Salsette, unjustly taken from them by the +Presidency of Bombay; did also give up to the English Company forever +all right and title to their entire shares of the city and purgunnah of +Baroach; did also give forever to the English Company a country of three +lacs of rupees revenue, near to Baroach; and did also agree to pay to +the Company twelve lacs of rupees, in part of the expenses of the +English army: and that the terms of the said treaty _were honorable and +advantageous to the India Company_.[20] + +That Warren Hastings, having broken the said treaty, and forced the +Mahrattas into another war by a repeated invasion of their country, and +having conducted that war in the manner hereinbefore described, did, on +the 17th of May, 1782, by the agency of Mr. David Anderson, conclude +another treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance with the Mahrattas, +by which the said Hastings agreed to deliver up to them all the +countries, places, cities, and forts, particularly the island of +Bassein, (taken from the Peshwa during the war,) and to relinquish all +claim to the country of three lacs of rupees ceded to the Company by the +treaty of Poorunder; that the said Warren Hastings did also at the said +time, by a private and separate agreement, deliver up to Mahdajee Sindia +the whole of the city of Baroach,--that is, not only the share in the +said city which the India Company acquired by the treaty of Poorunder, +but the other share thereof which the India Company possessed for +several years before that treaty; and that among the reasons assigned by +Mr. David Anderson for totally stripping the Presidency of Bombay of all +their possessions on the Malabar coast, he has declared, "that, from the +general tenor of the _rest_ of the treaty, the settlement of Bombay +would be in future put on such a footing that it might well become a +question whether the possession of an inconsiderable territory without +forts would not be attended with more loss than advantage, as it must +necessarily occasion considerable expense, must require troops for its +defence, and might probably in the end lead, as Sindia apprehended, to a +renewal of war." + +That the said Warren Hastings, having in this manner put an end to a war +commenced by him without provocation, and continued by him without +necessity, and having for that purpose made so many sacrifices to the +Mahrattas in points of essential interest to the India Company, did +consent and agree to other articles utterly dishonorable to the British +name and character, having sacrificed or abandoned every one of the +native princes who by _his_ solicitations and promises had been engaged +to take part with us in the war,--and that he did so without necessity: +since it appears that Sindia, the Mahratta chief who concluded the +treaty, _in every part of his conduct manifested a hearty desire of +establishing a peace_ with us; and that this was the disposition of all +the parties in the Mahratta confederacy, who were only kept together by +a general dread of their common enemy, the English, and who only waited +for a cessation of hostilities with us to return to their habitual and +permanent enmity against each other. That the Governor-General and +Council, in their letter of 31st August, 1781, made the following +declaration to the Court of Directors. "The Mahrattas have demanded the +sacrifice of the person of Ragonaut Row, the surrender of the fort and +territories of Ahmedabad, and of the fortress of Gualior, _which are not +ours to give, and which we could not wrest from the proprietors without +the greatest violation of public faith_. No state of affairs, in our +opinions, could warrant our acquiescence to such requisition; and we are +morally certain, that, had we yielded to them, such a consciousness of +the state of our affairs would have been implied as would have produced +an effect the very reverse from that for which it was intended, by +raising the presumption of the enemy to exact yet more _ignominious_ +terms, or perhaps their refusal to accept of any; nor, in our opinion, +would they have failed to excite in others the same belief, and the +consequent decision of all parties against us, as the natural +consequences of our decline." That the said Hastings himself, in his +instructions to Mr. David Anderson, after authorizing him to restore +_all_ that we had conquered during the war, expressly "_excepted_ +Ahmedabad, and the territory conquered for Futty Sing Gwicowar." That, +nevertheless, the said Hastings, in the peace concluded by him, has +yielded to every one of the conditions reprobated in the preceding +declarations as _ignominious_ and incompatible with public faith. + +That the said Warren Hastings did abandon the Ranna of Gohud in the +manner already charged; and that the said Ranna has not only lost the +fort of Gualior, but all his own country, and is himself a prisoner. +That the said Hastings did not interpose to obtain any terms in favor of +the Nabob of Bopaul, who was _with great reason desirous of concealing +from the Mahrattas the attachment he had borne to the English +government_:[21] the said Nabob having a just dread of the danger of +being exposed to the resentment of the Mahrattas, and no dependence on +the faith and protection of the English. That by the ninth article of +the treaty with Futty Sing it was stipulated, that, when a negotiation +for peace should take place, his interest should be primarily +considered; and that Mr. David Anderson, the minister and representative +of the Governor-General and Council, did declare to Sindia, that it was +indispensably incumbent on us to support Futty Sing's rights: that, +nevertheless, every acquisition made for or by the said Futty Sing +during the war, particularly _the fort and territories of Ahmedabad_, +were given up by the said Hastings; that Futty Sing was replaced under +the subjection of the Peshwa, (whose resentment he had provoked by +taking part with us in the war,) and under an obligation to pay a +tribute, not specified, to the Peshwa, and to perform such services and +to be subject to such obedience _as had long been established and +customary_; and that, no limit being fixed to such tribute or services, +the said Futty Sing has been left wholly at the mercy of the Mahrattas. + +That, with respect to Ragoba, the said Hastings, in his instructions to +Mr. Anderson, dated 4th of November, 1781, contented himself with +saying, "We cannot _totally_ abandon the interests of Ragonaut Row. +Endeavor to obtain for him an adequate provision." That Mr. Anderson +declared to Mahdajee Sindia,[22] "that, as we had given Ragoba +protection as an independent prince, and not brought him into our +settlement as a prisoner, we could not _in honor_ pretend to impose the +_smallest_ restraint on his will, and he must be at liberty to go +wherever he pleased; that it must rest with Sindia himself to prevail on +him to reside in his country: all that we could do was to _agree_, after +a reasonable time, _to withdraw our protection from him, and not to +insist on the payment of the stipend to him_, as Sindia had proposed, +unless on the condition of his residing in some part of Sindia's +territories." + +That, notwithstanding all the preceding declarations, and in violation +of the public faith repeatedly pledged to Ragoba, he was totally +abandoned by the said Hastings in the treaty, no provision whatever +being made even for his subsistence, but on a condition to which he +could not submit without the certain loss of his liberty and probable +hazard of his life, namely, _that he should voluntarily and of his own +accord repair to Sindia, and quietly reside with him_. That such +treacherous desertion of the said Ragoba is not capable of being +justified by any plea of necessity: but that in fact no such necessity +existed; since it appears that the Nizam, who of all the contracting +parties in the confederacy was personally most hostile to Ragoba, did +himself _propose that Ragoba, might have an option given him_ of +residing within the Company's territories. + +That the plan of negotiating a peace with the Mahrattas by application +to Sindia, and through his mediation, was earnestly recommended to the +said Hastings by the Presidency of Bombay so early as in February, 1779, +who stated clearly to him the reasons why such application ought to be +made to Sindia in preference to any other of the Mahratta chiefs, and +why it would probably be successful; the truth and justice of which +reasons were fully evinced in the issue, when the said Hastings, after +incurring, by two years' delay, all the losses and distresses of a +calamitous war, did actually pursue that very plan with much less effect +or advantage than might have been obtained at the time the advice was +given. That he neglected the advice of the Presidency of Bombay, and +retarded the peace, as well as made its conditions worse, from an +obstinate attachment to his project of an alliance offensive and +defensive with the Rajah of Berar, the object of which was rather a new +war than a termination of the war then existing against the Peshwa. + +That the said Hastings did further embarrass and retard the conclusion +of a peace by employing different ministers at the courts of the several +confederate powers, whom he severally empowered to treat and negotiate +a peace. That these ministers, not acting in concert, not knowing the +extent of each other's commissions, and having no instructions to +communicate their respective proceedings to each other, did in effect +counteract their several negotiations. That this want of concert and of +simplicity, and the mystery and intricacy in the mode of conducting the +negotiation on our part, was complained of by our ministers as +embarrassing and disconcerting to us, while it was advantageous to the +adverse party, who were thereby furnished with opportunity and pretence +for delay, when it suited their purpose, and enabled to play off one set +of negotiators against another; that it also created jealousy and +distrust in the various contending parties, with whom we were treating +at the same time, and to whom we were obliged to make contradictory +professions, while it betrayed and exposed to them all our own eagerness +and impatience for peace, raising thereby the general claims and +pretensions of the enemy. That, while Dalhousie Watherston, Esquire, was +treating at Poonah, and David Anderson, Esquire, in Sindia's camp, with +separate powers applied to the same object, the minister at Poonah +informed the said Watherston, that he had received proposals for peace +from the Nabob of Arcot with the approbation of Sir Eyre Coote; that he +had returned other proposals to the said Nabob of Arcot, who had assured +him, the minister, that those proposals _would be acceded to, and that +Mr. Macpherson would set out for Bengal, after which orders should be +immediately dispatched from the Honorable the Governor-General and +Council to the effect he wished_; that the said Nabob "had promised to +obtain and forward to him the expected _orders from Bengal in fifteen +days_, and that he was therefore every instant in expectation of their +arrival,--and observed, that, when General Goddard proposed to send a +confidential person to Poonah, he conceived that those orders must have +actually reached him": that therefore the treaty formally concluded by +David Anderson was in effect and substance the same with that offered +and in reality concluded by the Nabob of Arcot, with the exception only +of Salsette, which the Nabob of Arcot had agreed to restore to the +Mahrattas. + +That the intention of the said Warren Hastings, in pressing for a peace +with the Mahrattas on terms so dishonorable and by measures so rash and +ill-concerted, was not to restore and establish a general peace +throughout India, but to engage the India Company in a new war against +Hyder Ali, and to make the Mahrattas parties therein. That the eagerness +and passion with which the said Hastings pursued this object laid him +open to the Mahrattas, who depended thereon for obtaining whatever they +should demand from us. That, in order to carry the point of an offensive +alliance against Hyder Ali, the said Hastings exposed the negotiation +for peace with the Mahrattas to many difficulties and delays. That the +Mahrattas were bound by a clear and recent engagement, which Hyder had +never violated in any article, to make no peace with us which should not +include him; that they pleaded the sacred nature of this obligation in +answer to all our requisitions on this head, while the said Hastings, +still importunate for his favorite point, suggested to them various +means of reconciling a substantial breach of their engagement with a +formal observance of it, and taught them how they might at once be +parties in a peace with Hyder Ali and in an offensive alliance for +immediate hostility against him. That these lessons of public duplicity +and artifice, and these devices of ostensible faith and real treachery, +could have no effect but to degrade the national character, and to +inspire the Mahrattas themselves, with whom we were in treaty, with a +distrust in our sincerity and good faith. That the object of this +fraudulent policy (viz., the utter destruction of Hyder Ali, and a +partition of his dominions) was neither wise in itself, or authorized by +the orders and instructions of the Company to their servants; that it +was incompatible with the treaty of peace, in which Hyder Ali was +included, and contrary to the repeated and best-understood injunctions +of the Company,--being, in the first place, a bargain for a new war, +and, in the next, aiming at an extension of our territory by conquest. +That the best and soundest political opinions on the relations of these +states have always represented our great security against the power of +the Mahrattas to depend on its being balanced by that of Hyder Ali; and +the Mysore country is so placed as a barrier between the Carnatic and +the Mahrattas as to make it our interest rather to strengthen and repair +that barrier than to level and destroy it. That the said treaty of +partition does express itself to be _eventual_ with regard to the making +and keeping of peace; but through the whole course of the said +Hastings's proceeding he did endeavor to prevent any peace with the +Sultan or Nabob of Mysore, Tippoo Sahib, and did for a long time +endeavor to frustrate all the methods which could have rendered the +said treaty of conquest and partition wholly unnecessary. + +That the Mahrattas having taken no effectual step to oblige Hyder Ali to +make good the conditions for which they had engaged in his behalf, and +the war continuing to be carried on in the Carnatic by Tippoo Sultan, +son and successor of Hyder Ali, the Presidency of Fort St. George +undertook, upon their own authority, to open a negotiation with the said +Tippoo: which measure, though indispensably necessary, the said Hastings +utterly disapproved and discountenanced, expressly denying that there +was any ground or motive for entering into any direct or separate treaty +with Tippoo, and not consenting to or authorizing any negotiation for +such treaty, until after a cessation of hostilities had been brought +about with him by the Presidency of Fort St. George, in August, 1783, +and the ministers of Tippoo had been received and treated with by that +Presidency, and commissioners, in return, actually sent by the said +Presidency to the court of Poonah: which late and reluctant consent and +authority were extorted from him, the said Hastings, in consequence of +the acknowledgment of his agent at the court of Mahdajee Sindia, upon +whom the said Warren Hastings had depended for enforcing the clauses of +the Mahratta treaty, of the precariousness of such dependence, and of +the necessity of that direct and separate treaty with Tippoo, so long +and so lately reprobated by the said Warren Hastings, notwithstanding +the information and entreaties of the Presidency of Fort St. George, as +well as the known distresses and critical situation of the Company's +affairs. That, though the said Warren Hastings did at length give +instructions for negotiating and making peace with Tippoo, expressly +adding, that those instructions extended to _all_ the points which +occurred to _him or them_ as capable of being agitated or gained upon +the occasion,--though the said instructions were sent after the said +commissioners by the Presidency of Fort St. George, with directions to +obey them,--though not only the said instructions were obeyed, but +advantages gained which did not occur to the said Warren +Hastings,--though the said peace formed a contrast with the Mahratta +peace, in neither ceding any territory possessed by the Company before +the war, or delivering up any dependant or ally to the vengeance of his +adversaries, but providing for the restoration of all the countries that +had been taken from the Company and their allies,--though the Supreme +Council of Calcutta, forming the legal government of Bengal in the +absence of the said Warren Hastings, ratified the said treaty,--yet the +said Warren Hastings, then absent from the seat of government, and out +of the province of Bengal, and forming no legal or integral part of the +government during such absence, did, after such ratification, usurp the +power of acting as a part of such government (as if actually sitting in +Council with the other members of the same) in the consideration and +unqualified censure of the terms of the said peace. + +That the Nabob of Arcot, with whom the said Hastings did keep up an +unwarrantable clandestine correspondence, without any communication with +the Presidency of Madras, wrote a letter of complaint, dated the 27th of +March, 1784, against the Presidency of that place, without any +communication thereof to the said Presidency, the said complaint being +addressed to the said Warren Hastings, the substance of which complaint +was, that he, the Nabob, had not been made a party to the late treaty; +and although his interest had been sufficiently provided for in the said +treaty, the said Warren Hastings did sign a declaration, on the 23d of +May, at Lucknow, forming the basis of a new article, and making a new +party to the treaty, after it had been by all parties (the Supreme +Council of Calcutta included) completed and ratified, and did transmit +the said new stipulation to the Presidency at Calcutta, solely for the +purposes and at the instigation of the Nabob of Arcot; and the said +declaration was made without any previous communication with the +Presidency aforesaid, and in consequence thereof orders were sent by the +Council at Calcutta to the Presidency of Fort St. George, _under the +severest threats in case of disobedience_: which orders, whatever were +their purport, would, as an undue assumption of and participation in the +government, from which he was absent, become a high misdemeanor; but, +being to the purport of opening the said treaty after its solemn +ratification, and proposing a new clause and a new party to the same, +was also an aggravation of such misdemeanor, as it tended to convey to +the Indian powers an idea of the unsteadiness of the councils and +determinations of the British government, and to take away all reliance +on its engagements, and as, above all, it exposed the affairs of the +nation and the Company to the hazard of seeing renewed all the +calamities of war, from whence by the conclusion of the treaty they had +emerged, and upon a pretence so weak as that of proposing the Nabob of +Arcot to be a party to the same,--though he had not been made a party by +the said Warren Hastings in the Mahratta treaty, which professed to be +for the relief of the Carnatic,--though he was not a party to the former +treaty with Hyder, also relative to the Carnatic,--though it was not +certain, if the treaty were once opened, and that even Tippoo should +then consent to that Nabob's being a party, whether he, the said Nabob, +would agree to the clauses of the same, and consequently whether the +said treaty, once opened, could afterwards be concluded: an uncertainty +of which he, the said Hastings, should have learned to be aware, having +already once been disappointed by the said Nabob's refusing to accede to +a treaty which he, the said Warren Hastings, made for him with the +Dutch, about a year before. + +That the said Warren Hastings,--having broken a solemn and honorable +treaty of peace by an unjust and unprovoked war,--having neglected to +conclude that war when he might have done it without loss of honor to +the nation,--having plotted and contrived, as far as depended on him, to +engage the India Company in another war as soon as the former should be +concluded,--and having at last put an end to a most unjust war against +the Mahrattas by a most ignominious peace with them, in which he +sacrificed objects essential to the interests, and submitted to +conditions utterly incompatible with the honor of this nation, and with +his own declared sense of the dishonorable nature of those +conditions,--and having endeavored to open anew the treaty concluded +with Tippoo Sultan through the means of the Presidency of Fort St. +George, upon principles of justice and honor, and which established +peace in India, and thereby exposing the British possessions there to +the renewal of the dangers and calamities of war,--has by these several +acts been guilty of sundry high crimes and misdemeanors. + + + + +XXI.--CORRESPONDENCE. + + +That, by an act of the 13th year of his present Majesty, intituled, "An +act for establishing certain regulations for the better management of +the affairs of the East India Company, as well in India as in Europe, +the Governor-General and Council are required and directed to pay due +obedience to all such orders as they shall receive from the Court of +Directors of the said United Company, and to correspond from time to +time, and constantly and diligently transmit to the said Court an exact +particular of all advices or intelligence and of all transactions and +matters whatsoever that shall come to their knowledge, relating to the +government, commerce, revenues, or interest of the said United Company." + +That, in consequence of the above-recited act, the Court of Directors, +in their general instructions of the 29th March, 1774, to the +Governor-General and Council, did direct, "that the correspondence with +the princes or country powers in India should be carried on through the +Governor-General only; but that all letters to be sent by him should be +first approved in Council; and that he should lay before the Council, at +their next meeting, all letters received by him in the course of such +correspondence, for their information." + +And the Governor-General and Council were therein further ordered, +"that, in transacting the business of their department, they should +enter with the utmost perspicuity and exactness all their proceedings +whatsoever, and all dissents, if such should at any time be made by any +member of their board, together with all letters sent or received in the +course of their correspondence; and that broken sets of such +proceedings, to the latest period possible, be transmitted to them [the +Court of Directors], a complete set at the end of every year, and a +duplicate by the next conveyance." + +That, in defiance of the said orders, and in breach of the above-recited +act of Parliament, the said Warren Hastings has, in sundry instances, +concealed from his Council the correspondence carried on between him and +the princes or country powers in India, and neglected to communicate the +advices and intelligence he from time to time received from the British +Residents at the different courts in India to the other members of the +government, and, without their knowledge, counsel, or participation, has +dispatched orders on matters of the utmost consequence to the interests +of the Company. + +That, moreover, the said Warren Hastings, for the purpose of covering +his own improper and dangerous practices from his employers, has +withheld from the Court of Directors, upon sundry occasions, copies of +the proceedings had, and the correspondence carried on by him in his +official capacity as Governor-General, whereby the Court of Directors +have been kept in ignorance of matters which it highly imported them to +know, and the affairs of the Company have been exposed to much +inconvenience and injury. + +That, in all such concealments and acts done or ordered without the +consent and authority of the Supreme Council, the said Warren Hastings +has been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. + + + + +XXII.--FYZOOLA KHAN. + + +PART I. + +RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHAN, ETC., BEFORE THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG. + +I. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, who now holds of the Vizier the +territory of Rampoor, Shahabad, and certain other districts dependent +thereon, in the country of the Rohillas, is the second son of a prince +renowned in the history of Hindostan under the name of Ali Mohammed +Khan, some time sovereign of all that part of Rohilcund which is +particularly distinguished by the appellation of the Kutteehr. + +II. That, after the death of Ali Mohammed aforesaid, as Fyzoola Khan, +together with his elder brother, was then a prisoner of war at a place +called Herat, "the Rohilla chiefs took possession of the ancient +estates" of the captive princes; and the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was from +necessity compelled to waive his hereditary rights for the +inconsiderable districts of Rampoor and Shahabad, then estimated to +produce from six to eight lacs of annual revenue. + +III. That in 1774, on the invasion of Rohilcund by the united armies of +the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Company, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, +"with some of his people, was present at the decisive battle of St. +George," where Hafiz Rhamet, the great leader of the Rohillas, and many +others of their principal chiefs were slain; but, escaping from the +slaughter, Fyzoola Khan "made his retreat good towards the mountains, +with all his treasure." He there collected the scattered remains of his +countrymen; and as he was the eldest surviving son of Ali Mohammed Khan, +as, too, the most powerful obstacle to his pretensions was now removed +by the death of Hafiz, he seems at length to have been generally +acknowledged by his natural subjects the undoubted heir of his father's +authority. + +IV. That, "regarding the sacred _sincerity_ and friendship of the +English, whose _goodness_ and celebrity is everywhere known, _who +dispossess no one_," the Nabob Fyzoola Khan made early overtures for +peace to Colonel Alexander Champion, commander-in-chief of the Company's +forces in Bengal: that he did propose to the said Colonel Alexander +Champion, in three letters, received on the 14th, 24th, and 27th of May, +to put himself under the protection either of the Company, or of the +Vizier, through the mediation and with the guaranty of the Company; and +that he did offer, "whatever was conferred upon him, to pay as much +without damage or deficiency as any other person would agree to do": +stating, at the same time, his condition and pretensions hereinbefore +recited as facts "evident as the sun"; and appealing, in a forcible and +awful manner, to the generosity and magnanimity of this nation, "by +whose means he hoped in God that he should receive justice"; and as "the +person who designed the war was no more," as "in that he was himself +guiltless," and as "he had never acted in such a manner as for the +Vizier to have taken hatred to his heart against him, that he might be +reinstated in his ancient possessions, the country of Ins father." + +V. That on the last of the three dates above mentioned, that is to say, +on the 27th of May, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did also send to the +commander-in-chief a _vakeel_, or ambassador, who was authorized on the +part of him, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, his master, to make a specific +offer of three propositions; and that by one of the said propositions +"an annual increase of near 400,000_l._ would have accrued to the +revenues of our ally, and the immediate acquisition of above 300,000_l._ +to the Company, for their influence in effecting an accommodation +perfectly consistent with their engagements to the Vizier," and strictly +consonant to the demands of justice. + +VI. That, so great was the confidence of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan in the +just, humane, and liberal feelings of Englishmen, as to "lull him into +an inactivity" of the most essential detriment to his interests: since, +"in the hopes which he entertained from the interposition of our +government," he declined the invitation of the Mogul to join the arms of +his Majesty and the Mahrattas, "refused any connection with the Seiks," +and did even neglect to take the obvious precaution of crossing the +Ganges, as he had originally intended, while the river was yet +fordable,--a movement that would have enabled him certainly to baffle +all pursuit, and probably "to keep the Vizier in a state of disquietude +for the remainder of his life." + +VII. That the commander-in-chief, Colonel Alexander Champion aforesaid, +"thought nothing could be more honorable to this nation than the support +of so exalted a character; and whilst it could be done on terms so +advantageous, supposed it very unlikely that the vakeel's proposition +should be received with indifference"; that he did accordingly refer it +to the administration through Warren Hastings, Esquire, then Governor of +Fort William and President of Bengal; and he did at the same time +inclose to the said Warren Hastings a letter from the Nabob Fyzoola Khan +to the said Hastings,--which letter does not appear, but must be +supposed to have been of the same tenor with those before cited to the +commander-in-chief,--of which also copies were sent to the said Hastings +by the commander-in-chief; and he, the commander-in-chief aforesaid, +after urging to the said Hastings sundry good and cogent arguments of +policy and prudence in favor of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, did conclude by +"wishing for nothing so much as for the adoption of some measure that +might strike all the powers of the East with admiration of our justice, +in contrast to the conduct of the Vizier." + +VIII. That, in answer to such laudable wish of the said +commander-in-chief, the President, Warren Hastings, preferring his own +prohibited plans of extended dominion to the mild, equitable, and wise +policy inculcated in the standing orders of his superiors, and now +enforced by the recommendation of the commander-in-chief, did instruct +and "desire" him, the said commander-in-chief, "instead of soliciting +the Vizier to relinquish his conquest to Fyzoola Khan, to discourage it +as much as was in his power"; although the said Hastings did not once +express, or even intimate, any doubt whatever of the Nabob Fyzoola +Khan's innocence as to the origin of the war, or of his hereditary +right to the territories which he claimed, but to the said pleas of the +Nabob Fyzoola Khan, as well as to the arguments both of policy and +justice advanced by the commander-in-chief, he, the said Hastings, did +solely oppose certain speculative objects of imagined expediency, +summing up his decided rejection of the proposals made by the Nabob +Fyzoola Khan in the following remarkable words. "With respect to Fyzoola +Khan, _he appears not to merit our consideration. The petty sovereign of +a country estimated at six or eight lacs ought not for a moment to prove +an impediment to any of our measures, or to affect the consistency of +our conduct_." + +IX. That, in the aforesaid violent and arbitrary position, the said +Warren Hastings did avow it to be a public principle of his government, +that no right, however manifest, and no innocence, however unimpeached, +could entitle the weak to our protection against others, or save them +from our own active endeavors for their oppression, and even +extirpation, should they interfere with our notions of political +expediency; and that such a principle is highly derogatory to the +justice and honor of the English name, and fundamentally injurious to +our interests, inasmuch as it hath an immediate tendency to excite +distrust, jealousy, fear, and hatred against us among all the +subordinate potentates of Hindostan. + +X. That, in prosecution of the said despotic principle, the President, +Warren Hastings aforesaid, did persist to obstruct, as far as in him +lay, every advance towards an accommodation between the Vizier Sujah ul +Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khan; and particularly on the 16th of +September, only eight days after the said Hastings, in, conjunction with +the other members of the Select Committee of Bengal, had publicly +testified his _satisfaction_ in the prospect of _an accommodation_, and +had _hoped_ that "his Excellency [the Vizier] would be disposed to +conciliate the affections [of the Rohillas] to his government _by +acceding to lenient terms_," he, the said Hastings, did nevertheless +write, and without the consent or knowledge of his colleagues did +privately dispatch, a certain answer to a letter of the +commander-in-chief, in which answer the said Hastings did express other +_contradictory hopes_, namely, that the commander-in-chief _had resolved +on prosecuting the war to a final issue_,--"because" (as the said +Hastings explains himself) "it appears very plainly that Fyzoola Khan +and his adherents _lay at your mercy_, because I apprehend much +inconveniency from delays, and because _I am morally certain that no +good will he gained by negotiating_": thereby artfully suggesting his +wishes of what might be, in his hopes of what had been, resolved; and +plainly, though indirectly, instigating the commander-in-chief to much +effusion of blood in an immediate attack on the Rohillas, posted as they +were "in a very strong situation," and "combating for all." + +XI. That the said Hastings, in the answer aforesaid, did further +endeavor to inflame the commander-in-chief against the Nabob Fyzoola +Khan, by representing the said Nabob "as highly presuming, insolent, and +evasive"; and knowing the distrust which the Nabob Fyzoola Khan +entertained of the Vizier, the said Hastings did "expressly desire it +should be left wholly to the Vizier to treat with the enemy by _his own +agents_ and _in his own manner_,"--though he, the said Hastings, "by no +means wished the Vizier to lose time by seeking an accommodation, since +it would be more effectual, more decisive, and more _consistent with his +dignity, indeed with his honor, which he has already pledged_, to abide +by his first offers, to dictate the conditions of peace, and to admit +only an acceptance without reservation, or a clear refusal, from his +adversary": thereby affecting to hold up, in opposition to and in +exclusion of the substantial claims of justice, certain ideal +obligations of dignity and honor,--that is to say, the gratification of +pride, and the observance of an arrogant determination once declared. + +XII. That, although the said answer did not reach the commander-in-chief +until peace was actually concluded, and although the dangerous +consequences to be apprehended from the said answer were thereby +prevented, yet, by the sentiments contained in the said answer, Warren +Hastings, Esquire, did strongly evince his ultimate adherence to all the +former violent and unjust principles of his conduct towards the Nabob +Fyzoola Khan, which principles were disgraceful to the character and +injurious to the interests of this nation; and that the said Warren +Hastings did thereby, in a particular manner, exclude himself from any +share of credit for "the honorable period put to the Rohilla war, which +has in some degree done away the reproach so wantonly brought on the +English name." + + +PART II. + +RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA KHAN UNDER THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG. + +I. That, notwithstanding the culpable and criminal reluctance of the +President, Hastings, hereinbefore recited, a treaty of peace and +friendship between the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khan +was finally signed and sealed on the 7th October, 1774, at a place +called Lall-Dang, in the presence and with the attestation of the +British commander-in-chief, Colonel Alexander Champion aforesaid; and +that for the said treaty the Nabob Fyzoola Khan agreed to pay, and did +actually pay, the valuable consideration of half his treasure, to the +amount of fifteen lacs of rupees, or 150,000_l._ sterling, and upwards. + +II. That by the said treaty the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was established in +the quiet possession of Rampoor, Shahabad, and "some other districts +dependent thereon," subject to certain conditions, of which the more +important were as follow. + +"That Fyzoola Khan should retain in his service five thousand _troops_, +and not a single man more. + +"That, with whomsoever the Vizier should make war, Fyzoola Khan should +send _two or three thousand men, according to his ability_, to join the +forces of the Vizier. + +"And that, if the Vizier should march in person, Fyzoola Khan should +himself accompany him _with his troops_." + +III. That from the terms of the treaty above recited it doth plainly, +positively, and indisputably appear that the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, in +case of war, was not bound to furnish more than three thousand men under +any construction, unless the Vizier should march in person. + +IV. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was not positively bound to furnish so +many as three thousand men, but an indefinite number, not more than +three and not less than two thousand; that of the precise number within +such limitations the ability of Fyzoola Khan, and not the discretion of +the Vizier, was to be the standard; and that such ability could only +mean that which was equitably consistent not only with the external +defence of his jaghire, but with the internal good management thereof, +both as to its police and revenue. + +V. That, even in case the Vizier should march in person, it might be +reasonably doubted whether the personal service of the Nabob Fyzoola +Khan "with his troops" must be understood to be with _all_ his troops, +or only with the number before stipulated, not more than three and not +less than two thousand men; and that the latter is the interpretation +finally adopted by Warren Hastings aforesaid, and the Council of Bengal, +who, in a letter to the Court of Directors, dated April 5th, 1783, +represent the clauses of the treaty relative to the stipulated aid as +meaning simply that Fyzoola Khan "should send two or three thousand men +to join the Vizier's forces, or attend in person in case it should be +requisite." + +VI. That from the aforesaid terms of the treaty it doth not specifically +appear of what the stipulated aid should consist, whether of horse or +foot, or in what proportion of both; but that it is the recorded +opinion, maturely formed by the said Hastings and his Council, in +January, 1783, that even "a single horseman included in the aid which +Fyzoola Khan might furnish would prove a literal compliance with the +stipulation." + +VII. That, in the event of any doubt fairly arising from the terms of +the treaty, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, in consideration of his hereditary +right to the whole country, and the price by him actually paid for the +said treaty, was in equity entitled to the most favorable construction. + +VIII. That, from the attestation of Colonel Champion aforesaid, the +government of Calcutta acquired the same right to interpose with the +Vizier for the protection of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan as they, the said +government, had before claimed from a similar attestation of Sir Robert +Barker to assist the Vizier in extirpating the whole nation of the said +Fyzoola Khan,--more especially as in the case of Sir Robert Barker it +was contrary to the remonstrances of the then administration, and the +furthest from the intentions of the said Barker himself, that his +attestation should involve the Company, but the attestation of Colonel +Champion was authorized by all the powers of the government, as a +"sanction" intended "to add validity" to the treaty; that they, the said +government, and in particular the said Warren Hastings, as the first +executive member of the same, were bound by the ties of natural justice +duly to exercise the aforesaid right, if need were; and that their duty +so to interfere was more particularly enforced by the spirit of the +censures passed both by the Directors and Proprietors in the Rohilla +war, and the satisfaction expressed by the Directors "in the honorable +end put to that war." + + +PART III. + +GUARANTY OF THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG. + +I. That during the life of the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah, and for some time +after his death, under his son and successor, Asoph ul Dowlah, the Nabob +Fyzoola Khan did remain without disturbance or molestation; that he did +all the while imagine his treaty to be under the sanction of the +Company, from Colonel Champion's affixing his signature thereto as a +witness, "which signature, as he [Fyzoola Khan] supposed," (rendered the +Company the _arbitrators_) between the Vizier and himself, in case of +disputes; and that, being "a man of sense, but _extreme pusillanimity_, +a good farmer, fond of wealth, _not possessed of the passion of +ambition_," he did peaceably apply himself to "improve the state of his +country, and did, _by his own prudence and attention_, increase the +revenues thereof beyond the amount specified in Sujah ul Dowlah's +grant." + +II. That in the year 1777, and in the beginning of the year 1778, being +"alarmed at the young Vizier's resumption of a number of jaghires +granted by his father to different persons, and the injustice and +oppression of his conduct in general," and having now learned (from whom +does not appear, but probably from some person supposed of competent +authority) that Colonel Champion formerly witnessed the treaty as a +private person, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did make frequent and urgent +solicitations to Nathaniel Middleton, Esquire, then Resident at Oude, +and to Warren Hastings aforesaid, then Governor-General of Bengal, "for +a renovation of his [the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's] treaty with the late +Vizier, and the guaranty of the Company," or for a "separate agreement +with the Company for his defence": considering them, the Company, as +"the only power in which he had confidence, and to which he could look +up for protection." + +III. That the said Resident Middleton, and the said Governor-General +Hastings, did not, as they were in duty bound to do, endeavor to allay +the apprehensions of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan by assuring him of his +safety under the sanction of Colonel Champion's attestation aforesaid, +but by their criminal neglect, if not by positive expressions, (as there +is just ground from their subsequent language and conduct to believe,) +they, the said Middleton and the said Hastings, did at least keep alive +and confirm (whoever may have originally suggested) the said +apprehension; and that such neglect alone was the more highly culpable +in the said Hastings, inasmuch as he, the said Hastings, in conjunction +with other members of the Select Committee of the then Presidency of +Bengal, did, on the 17th of September, 1774, write to Colonel Champion +aforesaid, publicly authorizing him, the said Colonel Champion, to join +his _sanction_ to the accommodations agreed on between the Vizier Sujah +ul Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, _to add to their validity_,--and +on the 6th of October following did again write to the said Colonel +Champion, more explicitly, to join his sanction, "either by attesting +the treaty, or _acting as guaranty_ on the part of the Company for the +performance of it": both which letters, though they did not arrive until +after the actual signature of the said Colonel Champion, do yet +incontrovertibly mark the solemn intention of the said Committee (of +which the said Hastings was President) that the sanction of Colonel +Champion's attestation should be regarded as a public, not a private, +sanction; and it was more peculiarly incumbent on such persons, who had +been members of the said Committee, so to regard the same. + +IV. That the said Warren Hastings was further guilty of much criminal +concealment for the space of "twelve months," inasmuch as he did not lay +before the board the frequent and urgent solicitations which he, the +said Hastings, was continually receiving from the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, +until the 9th of March, 1778; on which day the said Hastings did +communicate to the Council a public letter of the aforesaid Middleton, +Resident at Oude, acquainting the board that he, the said Middleton, +taking occasion from a late application of Fyzoola Khan for the +Company's guaranty, had deputed Mr. Daniel Octavus Barwell (Assistant +Resident at Benares, but then on a visit to the Resident Middleton at +Lucknow) to proceed with a special commission to Rampoor, there to +inquire on the spot into the truth of certain reports circulated to the +prejudice of Fyzoola Khan, which reports, however, the said Middleton +did afterwards confess himself to have "_always_" _thought_ "_in the +highest degree improbable_." + +That the said Resident Middleton did "request to know whether, on proof +of Fyzoola Khan's innocence, the honorable board would be pleased to +grant him [the Resident] permission to comply with his [Fyzoola Khan's] +request of the Company's guarantying his treaty with the Vizier." And +the said Middleton, in excuse for having irregularly "availed himself of +the abilities of Mr. Daniel Barwell," who belonged to another station, +and for deputing him with the aforesaid commission to Rampoor without +the previous knowledge of the board, did urge the plea "_of immediate +necessity_"; and that such plea, if the necessity really existed, was a +strong charge and accusation against the said Warren Hastings, from +whose criminal neglect and concealment the urgency of such necessity did +arise. + +V. That the Governor-General, Warren Hastings aforesaid, did immediately +move, "that the board approve the deputation of Mr. Daniel Barwell, and +that the Resident [Middleton] be authorized to offer the Company's +guaranty for the observance of the treaty subsisting between the Vizier +and Fyzoola Khan, provided it meets with the Vizier's concurrence"; and +that the Governor-General's proposition was resolved in the affirmative: +the usual majority of Council then consisting of Richard Barwell, +Esquire, a near relation of Daniel Octavus Barwell aforesaid, and the +Governor-General, Warren Hastings, who, in case of an equality, had the +casting voice. + +VI. That, on receiving from Mr. Daniel Barwell full and early assurance +of Fyzoola Khan's "having preserved every article of his treaty +inviolate," the Resident, Middleton, applied for the Vizier's +concurrence, which was readily obtained,--the Vizier, however, +"_premising_, that he gave his consent, taking it for granted, that, on +Fyzoola Khan's receiving the treaty and _khelaut_ [or robe of honor], he +was to make him a return of the complimentary presents usually offered +on such occasions, and _of such an amount as should be a manifestation +of Fyzoola Khan's due sense of his friendship, and suitable to his +Excellency's rank to receive_"; and that the Resident, Middleton, "did +make himself in some measure responsible for the said presents being +obtained," and did write to Mr. Daniel Barwell accordingly. + +VII. That, agreeably to the resolution of Council hereinbefore recited, +the solicited guaranty, under the seal of the Resident, Middleton, thus +duly authorized on behalf of the Company, was transmitted, together with +the renewed treaty, to Mr. Daniel Barwell aforesaid at Rampoor, and that +they were both by him, the said Barwell, presented to the Nabob Fyzoola +Khan, with a solemnity not often paralleled, "in the presence of the +greatest part of the Nabob's subjects, who were assembled, that the +ceremony might create a full belief in the breasts of all his people +that the Company would protect him as long as he strictly adhered to the +_letter_ of his treaty." + +VIII. That, in the conclusion of the said ceremony, the Nabob Fyzoola +Khan did deliver to the said Barwell, for the use of the Vizier, a +_nuzzer_ (or present) of elephants, horses, &c., and did add thereto a +lac of rupees, or 10,000_l._ and upwards: which sum the said Barwell, +"not being authorized to accept any pecuniary consideration, did at +first refuse; but upon Fyzoola Khan's urging, that on such occasions it +was the invariable custom of Hindostan, and _that it must on the present +be expected, as it had been formerly the case_," (but when does not +appear,) he, the said Barwell, did accept the said lac in the name of +the Vizier, our ally, "in whose wealth" (as Warren Hastings on another +occasion observed) "we should participate," and on whom we at that time +had an accumulating demand. + +IX. That, over and above the lac of rupees thus presented to the Vizier, +the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did likewise offer one other lac of rupees, or +upwards of 10,000_l._ more, for the Company, "as some acknowledgment of +the obligation he received; that, although such acknowledgment was not +pretended to be the invariable custom of Hindostan on such occasions, +however it might on the present be expected," Mr. Daniel Barwell +aforesaid (knowing, probably, the disposition and views of the then +actual government at Calcutta) did not, _even at first_, decline the +said offer, but, as he was not empowered to accept it, did immediately +propose taking a bond for the amount, until the pleasure of the board +should be known. + +That the offer was accordingly communicated by the said Barwell to the +Resident, Middleton, to be by him, the Resident, referred to the board, +and that it was so referred; that, in reply to the said reference of the +Resident, Middleton, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, did move and +carry a vote of Council, "authorizing Mr. Middleton to accept the offer +made by Fyzoola Khan to the Company of one lac of rupees," without +assigning any reason whatever in support of the said motion, +notwithstanding it was objected by a member of the board, "that, if the +measure was right, it became us to adopt it without such a +consideration," and that "our accepting of the lac of rupees as a +recompense for our interposition is beneath the dignity of this +government [of Calcutta], and will discredit us in the eyes of the +Indian powers." + +That the acceptance of the said sum, in this circumstance, was beneath +the dignity of the said government, and did tend so to discredit us; and +that the motion of the said Hastings for such acceptance was therefore +highly derogatory to the honor of this nation. + +X. That the aforesaid member of the Council did further disapprove +altogether of the guaranty, "as unnecessary"; and that another member of +Council, Richard Barwell, Esquire, the near relation of Daniel Octavus +Barwell, hereinbefore named, did declare, (but after the said guaranty +had taken place,) that "this government [of Calcutta] was in fact +engaged by Colonel Champion's signature being to the treaty with Fyzoola +Khan." That the said unnecessary guaranty did not only subject to an +heavy expense a prince whom we were bound to protect, but did further +produce in his mind the following obvious and natural conclusion, +namely, "_that the signature of any person, in whatever public capacity +he at present appears, will not be valid and of effect, as soon as some +other shall fill his station_": a conclusion, however, immediately +tending to the total discredit of all powers delegated from the board to +any individual servant of the Company, and consequently to clog, +perplex, and embarrass in future all transactions carried on at a +distance from the seat of government, and to disturb the security of +all persons possessing instruments already so ratified,--yet the only +conclusion left to Fyzoola Khan which did not involve some affront +either to the private honor of the Company's servants or to the public +honor of the Company itself; and that the suspicions which originated +from the said idea in the breast of Fyzoola Khan to the prejudice of the +Resident Middleton's authority did compel the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings, to obviate the bad effects of his first motion for the +guaranty by a second motion, namely, "That a letter be written to +Fyzoola Khan from myself, _confirming the obligations of the Company as +guaranties_ to the treaty formed between him and the Vizier,--which will +be equivalent in its effect, though not in form, to an engagement sent +him with the Company's seal affixed to it." + +XII.[23] That, whether the guaranty aforesaid was or was not necessary, +whether it created a new obligation or but more fully recognized an +obligation previously existing, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, +by the said guaranty, did, in the most explicit manner, pledge and +commit the public faith of the Company and the nation; and that by the +subsequent letter of the said Hastings (which he at his own motion +wrote, confirming to Fyzoola Khan the aforesaid guaranty) the said +Hastings did again pledge and commit the public faith of the Company and +the nation, in a manner (as the said Hastings himself remarked) +"equivalent to an engagement with the Company's seal affixed to it," and +more particularly binding the said Hastings personally to exact a due +observance of the guarantied treaty, especially to protect the Nabob +Fyzoola Khan against any arbitrary construction or unwarranted +requisition of the Vizier. + + +PART IV. + +THANKS OF THE BOARD TO FYZOOLA KHAN. + +I. That, soon after the completion of the guaranty, in the same year, +1778, intelligence was received in India of a war between England and +France; that, on the first intimation thereof, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, +"being indirectly sounded," did show much "promptness to render the +Company any assistance within the bounds of his finances and ability"; +and that by the suggestion of the Resident, Middleton, hereinbefore +named, he, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, in a letter to the Governor-General +and Council, did make a voluntary "offer to maintain two thousand +cavalry (all he had) for our service," "though he was under no +obligation to furnish the Company with a single man." + +II. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did even "anticipate the wishes of the +board"; and that, "on an application made to him by Lieutenant-Colonel +Muir," the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did, "without hesitation or delay," +furnish him, the said Muir, with five hundred of his best cavalry. + +That the said conduct of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was communicated by the +Company's servants both to each other and to their employers, with +expressions of "pleasure" and "particular satisfaction," as an event +"even surpassing their expectations"; that the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings, was officially requested to convoy "the thanks of the board"; +and that, not satisfied with the bare discharge of his duty under the +said request, he, the said Hastings, did, on the 8th of January, 1779, +write to Fyzoola, "that, _in his own name_," as well as "that of the +board, he [the said Hastings] returned him the _warmest_ thanks for this +instance of his faithful attachment to the Company and the English +nation." + +IV.[24] That by the strong expressions above recited the said Warren +Hastings did deliberately and emphatically add his own particular +confirmation to the general testimony of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's +meritorious fidelity, and of his consequent claim on the generosity, no +less than the justice, of the British government. + + +PART V. + +DEMAND OF FIVE THOUSAND HORSE. + +I. That, notwithstanding his own private honor thus deeply engaged, +notwithstanding the public justice and generosity of the Company and the +nation thus solemnly committed, disregarding the plain import and +positive terms of the guarantied treaty, the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings aforesaid, in November, 1780, while a body of Fyzoola Khan's +cavalry, voluntarily granted, were still serving under a British +officer, did recommend to the Vizier "to require from Fyzoola Khan the +quota of troops stipulated by treaty to be furnished by the latter for +his [the Vizier's] service, being FIVE THOUSAND HORSE," though, as the +Vizier did not march in person, he was not, under any construction of +the treaty, entitled by stipulation to more than "_two or three thousand +troops_," horse and foot, "according to the ability of Fyzoola Khan"; +and that, whereas the said Warren Hastings would have been guilty of +very criminal perfidy, if he had simply neglected to interfere as a +guaranty against a demand thus plainly contrary to the faith of treaty, +so he aggravated the guilt of his perfidy in the most atrocious degree +by being himself the first mover and instigator of that injustice, which +he was bound by so many ties on himself, the Company, and the nation, +not only not to promote, but, by every exertion of authority, influence, +and power, to control, to divert, or to resist. + +II. That the answer of Fyzoola Khan to the Vizier did represent, with +many expressions of deference, duty, and allegiance, that the whole +force allowed him was but "five thousand men," and that "these consisted +of two thousand horse and three thousand foot; which," he adds, "in +consequence of our intimate connection, are equally yours and the +Company's": though he does subsequently intimate, that "the three +thousand foot are for the management of the concerns of his jaghire, and +without them the collections can never be made in time." + +That, on the communication of the said answer to the Governor-General, +Warren Hastings, he, the said Hastings, (who, as the Council now +consisted only of himself and Edward Wheler, Esquire, "united in his own +person all the powers of government,") was not induced to relax from his +unjust purpose, but did proceed with new violence to record, that "the +Nabob Fyzoola Khan _had evaded the performance of his part of the +treaty_ between the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah and him, to which the +Honorable Company were guaranties, and upon which he was lately summoned +to furnish the stipulated number of troops, which he is obliged to +furnish on the condition by which he holds the jaghire granted to him." + +That, by the vague and indefinite term of evasion, the said Warren +Hastings did introduce a loose and arbitrary principle of interpreting +formal engagements, which ought to be regarded, more especially by +guaranties, ill a sense the most literally scrupulous and precise. + +That he charged with such evasion a moderate, humble, and submissive +representation on a point which would have warranted a peremptory +refusal and a positive remonstrance; and that in consequence of the said +imputed evasion he indicated a disposition to attach such a forfeiture +as in justice could only have followed from a gross breach of +treaty,--though the said Hastings did not then pretend any actual +infringement even of the least among the conditions to which, in the +name of the Company, he, the said Hastings, was the executive guaranty. + +III. That, however "the number of troops stipulated by treaty may have +been understood," at the period of the original demand, "to be five +thousand horse," yet the said Warren Hastings, at the time when he +recorded the supposed evasion of Fyzoola Khan's answer to the said +demand, could not be unacquainted with the express words of the +stipulation, as a letter of the Vizier, inserted in the same +Consultation, refers the Governor-General to inclosed copies "of all +engagements entered into by the late Vizier and by himself [the +reigning Vizier] with Fyzoola Khan," and that the treaty itself, +therefore, was at the very moment before the said Warren Hastings: which +treaty (as the said Hastings observed with respect to another treaty, in +the case of another person) "most assuredly does not contain a syllable +to justify his conduct; but, by the unexampled latitude which he assumes +in his constructions, he may, if he pleases, extort this or any other +meaning from any part of it."[25] + +IV. That the Vizier himself appears by no means to have been persuaded +of his own right to five thousand horse under the treaty,--since, in his +correspondence on the subject, he, the Vizier, nowhere mentions the +treaty as the ground of his demand, except where he is recapitulating to +the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, the substance of his, the said +Hastings's, own letters; on the contrary, the Vizier hints his +apprehensions lest Fyzoola Khan should appeal to the treaty against the +demand, as a breach thereof,--in which case, he, the Vizier, informs the +said Hastings of the projected reply. "Should Fyzoola Khan" (says the +Vizier) "mention anything of the tenor of the treaty, _the first breach +of it has been committed by him_, in keeping up more men than allowed of +by the treaty: _I have accordingly sent a person to settle that point +also_. In case he should mention to me anything respecting the treaty, I +will then reproach him with having kept up too many troops, and will +oblige him to send the five thousand horse": thereby clearly intimating, +that, as a remonstrance against the demand as a breach of treaty could +only be answered by charging a prior breach of treaty on Fyzoola Khan, +so by annulling the whole treaty to reduce the question to a mere +question of force, and thus "oblige Fyzoola Khan to send the five +thousand horse": "for," (continues the Vizier,) "if, when the Company's +affairs, on which my honor depends, require it, Fyzoola Khan will not +lend his assistance, _what_ USE _is there to continue the country to +him_?" + +That the Vizier actually did make his application to Fyzoola Khan for +the five thousand horse, not as for an aid to which he had a just claim, +but as for something over and above the obligations of the treaty, +something "that would give increase to their friendship and satisfaction +to the Nabob Governor," (meaning the said Hastings,) whose directions he +represents as the motive "of his call for the five thousand horse to be +employed," not in his, the Vizier's, "but in the Company's service." + +And that the aforesaid Warren Hastings did, therefore, in recording the +answer of Fyzoola Khan as an evasion of treaty, act in notorious +contradiction not only to that which ought to have been the fair +construction of the said treaty, but to that which he, the said +Hastings, must have known to be the Vizier's own interpretation of the +same, disposed as the Vizier was "to reproach Fyzoola Khan with breach +of treaty," and to "send up persons who should settle points with him." + +V. That the said Warren Hastings, not thinking himself justified, on the +mere plea of an evasion, to push forward his proceedings to that +extremity which he seems already to have made his scope and object, and +seeking some better color for his unjust and violent purposes, did +further move, that commissioners should be sent from the Vizier and the +Company to Fyzoola Khan, to insist on a clause of a treaty which nowhere +appears, being essentially different from the treaty of Lall-Dang, +though not in the part on which the requisition is founded; and the said +Hastings did then, in a style unusually imperative, proceed as follows. + +"_Demand immediate delivery of three thousand cavalry; and if he should +evade or refuse compliance, that the deputies shall deliver him a formal +protest against him for breach of treaty_, and return, making this +report to the Vizier, which Mr. Middleton is to transmit to the board." + +VI. That the said motion of the Governor-General, Hastings, was ordered +accordingly,--the Council, as already has been herein related, +consisting but of two members, and the said Hastings consequently +"uniting in his own person all the powers of government." + +VII. That, when the said Hastings ordered the said demand for three +thousand cavalry, he, the said Hastings, well knew that a compliance +therewith, on the part of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, was utterly +impossible: for he, the said Hastings, had at the very moment before him +a letter of Fyzoola Khan, stating, that he, Fyzoola Khan, had "but two +thousand cavalry" altogether; which letter is entered on the records of +the Company, in the same Consultation, immediately preceding the +Governor-General's minute. That the said Hastings, therefore, knew that +the only possible consequence of the aforesaid demand necessarily and +inevitably must be a protest for a breach of treaty; and the Court of +Directors did not hesitate to declare that the said demand "carried the +appearance of a determination to create a pretext for depriving him +[Fyzoola Khan] of his jaghire entirely, or to leave him at the mercy of +the Vizier." + +VIII. That Richard Johnson, Esquire, Assistant Resident at Oude, was, +agreeably to the afore-mentioned order of Council, deputed commissioner +from Mr. Middleton and the Vizier to Fyzoola Khan; but that he did early +give the most indecent proofs of glaring partiality, to the prejudice of +the said Fyzoola Khan: for that the very next day (as it seems) after +his arrival, he, the said Johnson, from opinions imbibed in his journey, +did state himself to be "unwilling to draw any favorable or flattering +inferences relatively to the object of his mission," and did studiously +seek to find new breaches of treaty, and, without any form of regular +inquiry whatever, from a single glance of his eye in passing, did take +upon himself to pronounce "the Rohilla soldiers, in the district of +Rampoor alone, to be not less than twenty thousand," and the grant of +course to be forfeited. And that such a gross and palpable display of a +predetermination to discover guilt did argue in the said Johnson a +knowledge, a strong presumption, or a belief, that such representations +would be agreeable to the secret wishes and views of the said Hastings, +under whose orders he, the said Johnson, acted, and to whom all his +reports were to be referred. + +IX. That the said Richard Johnson, did soon after proceed to the +immediate object of his mission, "which" (the said Johnson relates) +"was short to a degree." The demand was made, and "a flat refusal" +given. The question was repeated, with like effect. The said Johnson, in +presence of proper witnesses, then drew up his protest, "together with a +memorandum of _a palliative offer_ made by the Nabob Fyzoola Khan," and +inserted in the protest:--"That he would, in compliance with the demand, +and _in conformity to the treaty, which specified no definite number of +cavalry or infantry, only expressing troops_, furnish three thousand +men: viz., he would, in addition to the one thousand cavalry already +granted, give one thousand more, when and wheresoever required, and one +thousand foot,"--together with one year's pay in advance, and funds for +the regular payment of them in future. + +And this, the said Richard Johnson observes, "I put down at his [the +Nabob Fyzoola Khan's] particular desire, but otherwise useless; as _my +orders_" (which orders do not appear) "_were, not to receive any +palliation, but a negative or affirmative_": though such palliation, as +it is called by the said Johnson, might be, as it was, in the strictest +conformity to the treaty. + +X. That in the said offer the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, instead of palliating, +did at once admit the extreme right of the Vizier under the treaty, by +agreeing to furnish three thousand men, when he, Fyzoola Khan, would +have been justified in pleading his inability to send more than two +thousand; that such inability would not (as appears) have been a false +and evasive plea, but perfectly true and valid,--as the three thousand +foot maintained by Fyzoola Khan were for the purposes of his internal +government, for which the whole three thousand must have been +demonstrably necessary; and that the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, by declining to +avail himself of a plea so fair, so well founded, and so consonant to +the indulgence expressly acknowledged in the treaty, and by thus meeting +the specific demand of the Vizier as fully as, according to his own +military establishment, he could, did for the said offer deserve rather +the thanks of the said Vizier and the Company than the protest which the +aforesaid Johnson, under the orders of Warren Hastings, did deliver. + +XI. That the report of the said protest, as well as the former letter of +the said Johnson, were by the Resident, Middleton, transmitted to the +board, together with a letter from the Vizier, founded on the said +report and letter of the said Johnson, and proposing in consequence "to +resume the grant, and to leave Fyzoola Khan to join his other faithless +brethren who were sent across the Ganges." + +That the said papers were read in Council on the 4th of June, 1781, when +the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, did move and carry a vote to +suspend a final resolution on the same: and the said Hastings did not +express any disapprobation of the proceedings of the said Johnson; +neither did the said Hastings assign any reasons for his motion of +suspension, which passed without debate. That in truth the said Hastings +had then projected a journey up the country to meet the Vizier for the +settlement of articles relative to the regulation of Oude and its +dependencies, among which was included the jaghire of Fyzoola Khan; and +the said Hastings, for the aforesaid purposes, did, on the 3d of July, +by his own casting vote, grant to himself, and did prevail on his +colleague, Edward Wheler, Esquire, to grant, a certain illegal +delegation of the whole powers of the Governor-General and Council, and +on the seventh of the same month did proceed on his way to join the +Vizier at a place called Chunar, on the borders of Benares; and that the +aforesaid vote of suspending a final resolution on the transactions with +Fyzoola Khan was therefore in substance and effect a reference thereof +by the said Hastings from himself in council with his colleague, Wheler, +to himself in conference and negotiation with the Vizier, who, from the +first demand of the five thousand horse, had taken every occasion of +showing his inclination to dispossess Fyzoola Khan, and who before the +said demand (in a letter which does not appear, but which the Vizier +himself quotes as antecedent to the said demand) had complained to the +said Hastings of the "injury and irregularity in the management of the +provinces bordering on Rampoor, arising from Fyzoola Khan having the +uncontrolled dominion of that district." + + +PART VI. + +TREATY OF CHUNAR. + +I. That the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, being vested with the +illegal powers before recited, did, on the 19th of September, 1781, +enter into a treaty with the Vizier at Chunar,--which treaty (as the +said Hastings relates) was drawn up "from a series of requisitions +presented to him [the said Hastings] by the Vizier," and by him received +"with an instant and unqualified assent to each article"; and that the +said Hastings assigns his reasons for such ready assent in the +following words: "I considered the subjects of his [the Vizier's] +requests as essential to the reputation of our government, and no less +to our interest than his." + +II. That in the said treaty of Chunar the third article is as follows. + +"That, as Fyzoola Khan has by his breach of treaty forfeited the +protection of the English government, and causes by his continuance in +his present independent state great alarm and detriment to the Nabob +Vizier, he be permitted, _when time shall suit_, to resume his lands, +and pay him in money, through the Resident, the amount stipulated by +treaty, after deducting the amount and charges of the troops he stands +engaged to furnish by treaty; which amount shall be passed to the +account of the Company during the continuance of the present war." + +III. That, for the better elucidation of his policy in the several +articles of the treaty above mentioned, the said Hastings did send to +the Council of Calcutta (now consisting of Edward Wheler and John +Macpherson, Esquires) two different copies of the said treaty, with +explanatory minutes opposed to each article; and that the minute opposed +to the third article is thus expressed. + +"The conduct of Fyzoola Khan, in refusing the aid demanded, though (1.) +_not an absolute breach of treaty_, was evasive and uncandid. (2.) _The +demand was made for five thousand cavalry_. (3.) _The engagement, in the +treaty is literally for five thousand horse and foot_. Fyzoola Khan +could not be ignorant that we had no occasion for any succors of +infantry from him, and that cavalry would be of the most essential +service. (4.) _So scrupulous an attention to literal expression, when a +more liberal interpretation would have been highly useful and acceptable +to us, strongly marks his unfriendly disposition, though it may not +impeach his fidelity, and leaves him little claim to any exertions from +us for the continuance of his jaghires. But _ (5.) _I am of opinion that +neither the Vizier's nor the Company's interests would be promoted by +depriving Fyzoola Khan of his independency, and I have_ (6.) _therefore +reserved the execution of this agreement to an indefinite term; and our +government may always interpose to prevent any ill effects from it_." + +IV. That, in his aforesaid authentic evidence of his own purposes, +motives, and principles, in the third article of the treaty of Chunar, +the said Hastings hath established divers matters of weighty and serious +crimination against himself. + +1st. That the said Hastings doth acknowledge therein, that he did, in a +public instrument, solemnly recognize, "_as a breach of treaty_," and as +such did subject to the consequent penalties, an act which he, the said +Hastings, did at the same time think, and did immediately declare, to be +"_no breach of treaty_"; and by so falsely and unjustly proceeding +against a person under the Company's guaranty, the said Hastings, on his +own confession, did himself break the faith of the said guaranty. + +2d. That, in justifying this breach of the Company's faith, the said +Hastings doth _wholly abandon his second peremptory demand for the three +thousand horse_, and the protest consequent thereon; and the said +Hastings doth thereby himself condemn the violence and injustice of the +same. + +3dly. That, in recurring to the original demand of five thousand horse +as the ground of his justification, the said Hastings doth falsely +assert "the engagement in the treaty to be _literally_ FIVE _thousand +horse and foot_," whereas it is in fact for TWO _or_ THREE _thousand +men_; and the said Hastings doth thereby wilfully attempt to deceive and +mislead his employers, which is an high crime and misdemeanor in a +servant of so great trust. + +4thly. That, with a view to his further justification, the said Hastings +doth advance a principle that "_a scrupulous attention to the literal +expression_" of a guarantied treaty "_leaves_" to the person so +observing the same "_but little claim to the exertions_" _of a guaranty +on his behalf_; that such a principle is utterly subversive of all faith +of guaranties, and is therefore highly criminal in the first executive +member of a government that must necessarily stand in that mutual +relation to many. + +5thly. That the said Hastings doth profess his opinion of an article to +which he gave an "_instant and unqualified assent_," that it was a +measure "_by which neither the Vizier's nor the Company's interests +would be promoted_," but from which, without some interposition, "_ill +effects_" _must be expected_; and that the said Hastings doth thereby +charge himself with a high breach of trust towards his employers. + +6thly. That the said Hastings having thus confessed that consciously and +wilfully (from what motives he hath not chosen to confess) he did give +his formal sanction to a measure both of injustice and impolicy, he, the +said Hastings, doth urge in his defence, that he did at the same time +insert words "reserving the execution of the said agreement to an +indefinite term," with an intent that it might in truth be never +executed at all,--but that "our government might always interpose," +without right, by means of an indirect and undue influence, to prevent +the ill effects following from a collusive surrender of a clear and +authorized right to interpose; and the said Hastings doth thereby +declare himself to have introduced a principle of duplicity, deceit, and +double-dealing into a public engagement, which ought in its essence to +be clear, open, and explicit; that such a declaration tends to shake and +overthrow the confidence of all in the most solemn instruments of any +person so declaring, and is therefore an high crime and misdemeanor in +the first executive member of government, by whom all treaties and other +engagements of the state are principally to be conducted. + +V. That, by the explanatory minute aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings +doth further, in the most direct manner, contradict his own assertions +in the very letter which inclosed the said minute to his colleagues; for +that one of the articles to which he there gave "_an instant and +unqualified assent, as no less to our interest than to the Vizier's_" he +doth here declare unequivocally to be _neither to our interests nor the +Vizier's_; and the "_unqualified_ assent" given to the said article is +now so _qualified_ as wholly to defeat itself. That by such +irreconcilable contradictions the said Hastings doth incur the suspicion +of much criminal misrepresentation in other like cases of unwitnessed +conferences; and in the present instance (as far as it extends) the said +Hastings doth prove himself to have given an account both of his actions +and motives by his own confession untrue, for the purpose of deceiving +his employers, which is an high crime and misdemeanor in a servant of so +great trust. + +VI. That the said third article of the treaty of Chunar, as it thus +stands explained by the said Hastings himself, doth on the whole appear +designed to hold the protection of the Company in suspense; that it +acknowledges all right of interference to cease, but leaves it to our +discretion to determine when it will suit our conveniency to give the +Vizier the liberty of acting on the principles by us already admitted; +that it is dexterously constructed to balance the desires of one man, +rapacious and profuse, against the fears of another, described as "of +extreme pusillanimity and wealthy," but that, whatever may have been the +secret objects of the artifice and intrigue confessed to form its very +essence, it must on the very face of it necessarily implicate the +Company in a breach of faith, whichever might be the event, as they must +equally break their faith either by withdrawing their guaranty unjustly +or by continuing that guaranty in contradiction to this treaty of +Chunar; that it thus tends to hold out to India, and to the whole world, +that the public principle of the English government is a deliberate +system of injustice joined with falsehood, of impolicy, of bad faith, +and treachery; and that the said article is therefore in the highest +degree derogatory to the honor, and injurious to the interests of this +nation. + + +PART VII. + +CONSEQUENCES OF THE TREATY OF CHUNAR. + +I. That, in consequence of the treaty of Chunar, the Governor-General, +Warren Hastings, did send official instructions respecting the various +articles of the said treaty to the said Resident, Middleton; and that, +in a postscript, the said Hastings did forbid the resumption of the +Nabob Fyzoola Khan's jaghire, "until circumstances may render it more +expedient and easy to be attempted than the present more material +pursuits of government make it appear": thereby intimating a positive +limitation of the indefinite term in the explanatory minute above +recited, and confining the suspension of the article to the pressure of +the war. + +II. That, soon after the date of the said instructions, and within two +months of the signature of the treaty of Chunar, the said Hastings did +cause Sir Elijah Impey, Knight, his Majesty's chief-justice at Fort +William, to discredit the justice of the crown of Great Britain by +making him the channel of unwarrantable communication, and did, through +the said Sir Elijah, signify to the Resident, Middleton, his, the said +Hastings's, "approbation of a _subsidy_ from Fyzoola Khan." + +III. That the Resident, in answer, represents the proper equivalent for +two thousand horse and one thousand foot (the forces offered to Mr. +Johnson by Fyzoola Khan) to be twelve lacs, or 120,000_l._ sterling and +upwards, each year; which the said Resident supposes is considerably +beyond what he, Fyzoola Khan, _will voluntarily pay_: "however, if it +is your wish that the claim should be made, I am ready to take it up, +and _you may he assured nothing in my power shall be left undone to +carry it through_." + +IV. That the reply of the said Hastings doth not appear; but that it +does appear on record that "a negotiation" (Mr. Johnson's) "was begun +for Fyzoola Khan's cavalry to act with General Goddard, and, on his +[Fyzoola Khan's] _evading_ it, _that a sum of money was demanded_." + +V. That, in the months of February, March, and April, the Resident, +Middleton, did repeatedly propose the resumption of Fyzoola Khan's +jaghire, agreeably to the treaty of Chunar; and that, driven to +extremity (as the said Hastings supposes) "by the public menaces and +denunciations of the Resident and minister," Hyder Beg Khan, a creature +of the said Hastings, and both the minister and Resident acting +professedly on and under the treaty of Chunar, "the Nabob Fyzoola Khan +made such preparations, and such a disposition of his family and wealth, +as evidently manifested either an intended or an _expected rupture_." + +VI. That on the 6th of May the said Hastings did send his confidential +agent and friend, Major Palmer, on a private commission to Lucknow; and +that the said Palmer was charged with secret instructions relative to +Fyzoola Khan, but of what import cannot be ascertained, the said +Hastings in his public instructions having inserted only the name of +Fyzoola Khan, as a mere reference (according to the explanation of the +said Hastings) to what he had verbally communicated to the said Palmer; +and that the said Hastings was thereby guilty of a criminal concealment. + +VII. That some time about the month of August an engagement happened +between a body of Fyzoola Khan's cavalry and a part of the Vizier's +army, in which the latter were beaten, and their guns taken; that the +Resident, Middleton, did represent the same but as a slight and +accidental affray; that it was acknowledged the troops of the Vizier +were the aggressors; that it did appear to the board, and to the said +Hastings himself, an affair of more considerable magnitude; and that +they did make the concealment thereof an article of charge against the +Resident, Middleton, though the said Resident did in truth acquaint them +with the same, but in a cursory manner. + +VIII. That, immediately after the said "fray" at Daranagur, the Vizier +(who was "but a cipher in the hands" of the minister and the Resident, +both of them directly appointed and supported by the said Hastings) did +make of Fyzoola Khan a new demand, equally contrary to the true intent +and meaning of the treaty as his former requisitions: which new demand +was for the detachment in garrison at Daranagur to be cantoned as a +stationary force at Lucknow, the capital of the Vizier; whereas he, the +Vizier, had only a right to demand an occasional aid to join his army in +the field or in garrison during a war. But the said new demand being +_evaded_, or rather refused, agreeably to the fair construction of the +treaty, by the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, the matter was for the present +dropped. + +IX. That in the letter in which the Resident, Middleton, did mention +"what he calls the fray" aforesaid, the said Middleton did again apply +for the resumption of the jaghire of Rampoor; and that, the objections +against the measure being now removed, (by the separate peace with +Sindia,) he desired to know if the board "would give assurances of their +support to the Vizier, in case, _which_" (says the Resident) "_I think +very probable, his_ [the Vizier's] _own strength should be found unequal +to the undertaking_." + +X. That, although the said Warren Hastings did make the foregoing +application a new charge against the Resident, Middleton, yet the said +Hastings did only criminate the said Middleton for a proposal tending +"at such a crisis to increase the number of our enemies," and did in no +degree, either in his articles of charge or in his accompanying minutes, +express any disapprobation whatever of the principle; that, in truth, +the whole proceedings of the said Resident were the natural result of +the treaty of Chunar; that the said proceedings were from time to time +communicated to the said Hastings; that, as he nowhere charges any +disobedience of orders on Mr. Middleton with respect to Fyzoola Khan, it +may be justly inferred that the said Hastings did not interfere to check +the proceedings of the said Middleton on that subject; and that by such +criminal neglect the said Hastings did make the guilt of the said +Middleton, whatever it might be, his own. + + +PART VIII. + +PECUNIARY COMMUTATION OF THE STIPULATED AID. + +I. That on the charges and for the misdemeanors above specified, +together with divers other accusations, the Governor-General, Warren +Hastings, in September, 1782, did remove the aforesaid Middleton from +his office of Resident at Oude, and did appoint thereto John Bristow, +Esquire, whom he had twice before, without cause, recalled from the +same; and that about the same time the said Hastings did believe the +mind of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan to be so irritated, in consequence of the +above-recited conduct of the late Resident, Middleton, and of his, the +said Hastings's, own criminal neglect, that he, the said Hastings, found +it necessary to write to Fyzoola Khan, assuring him "of the favorable +disposition of the government toward him, while he shall not have +forfeited it by any improper conduct"; but that the said assurances of +the Governor-General did not tend, as soon after appeared, to raise much +confidence in the Nabob, over whom a public instrument of the same +Hastings was still holding the terrors of a deprivation of his jaghire, +and an exile "among his other faithless brethren across the Ganges." + +II. That, on the subject of Fyzoola Khan, the said Hastings, in his +instructions to the new Resident, Bristow, did leave him to be guided by +his own discretion; but he adds, "Be careful to prevent the Vizier's +affairs from being involved with new difficulties, while he has already +so many to oppress him": thereby plainly hinting at some more decisive +measures, whenever the Vizier should be less oppressed with +difficulties. + +III. That the Resident, Bristow, after acquainting the Governor-General +with his intentions, did under the said instructions renew the aforesaid +claim for a sum of money, but with much caution and circumspection, +distantly sounding Allif Khan, the _vakeel_ (or envoy) of Fyzoola Khan +at the court of the Vizier; that "Allif Khan wrote to his master on the +subject, and in answer he was directed not to agree to the granting of +any pecuniary aid." + +IV. That the Resident, Bristow, did then openly depute Major Palmer +aforesaid, with the concurrence of the Vizier, and the approbation of +the Governor-General, to the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, at Rampoor; and that +the said Palmer was to "endeavor to convince the Nabob that _all doubts +of his attachment to the Vizier are ceased, and whatever claims may be +made on him are founded upon the basis of his interest and advantage and +a plan of establishing his right to the possession of his jaghire_." + +That the sudden ceasing of the said doubts, without any inquiry of the +slightest kind, doth warrant a strong presumption of the Resident's +conviction that they never really existed, but were artfully feigned, as +a pretence for some harsh interposition; and that the indecent mockery +of establishing, as a matter of favor, for a pecuniary consideration, +rights which were never impeached but by the treaty of Chunar, (an +instrument recorded by Warren Hastings himself to be founded on +falsehood and injustice,) doth powerfully prove the true purpose and +object of all the duplicity, deceit, and double-dealing with which that +treaty was projected and executed. + +V. That the said Palmer was instructed by the Resident, Bristow, with +the subsequent approbation of the Governor-General, "to obtain from +Fyzoola Khan _an annual tribute_"; to which the Resident adds,--"_If +you can procure from him, over and above this, a peshcush_ [or fine] _of +at least five lacs_, it would be rendering an essential service to the +Vizier, and add to _the confidence his Excellency would hereafter repose +in the attachment of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan_." And that the said +Governor-General, Hastings, did give the following extraordinary ground +of calculation, as the basis of the said Palmer's negotiation for the +annual tribute aforesaid. + +"_It was certainly understood_, at the time the treaty was concluded, +(of which this stipulation was a part,) that it applied _solely to +cavalry_: as the Nabob Vizier, possessing the service of our forces, +could not possibly require infantry, and least of all such infantry as +Fyzoola Khan could furnish; and _a single horseman included in the aid +which Fyzoola Khan might furnish would prove a literal compliance with +the said stipulation_. The number, therefore, of horse implied by it +ought at least to be ascertained: _we will suppose five thousand_, and, +allowing the exigency for their attendance to exist only in the +proportion of _one year in five_, reduce the demand to one thousand for +the computation of the subsidy, which, at the rate of _fifty rupees_ per +man, will amount to fifty thousand _per mensem_. This may serve for the +basis of this article in the negotiation upon it." + +VI. That the said Warren Hastings doth then continue to instruct the +said Palmer in the alternative of a refusal from Fyzoola Khan. "If +Fyzoola Khan shall refuse to treat for a subsidy, and claim the benefit +of his original agreement in its literal expression, _he possesses a +right which we cannot dispute_, and it will in that case remain only to +fix the precise number of horse which he shall furnish, which ought at +least to exceed twenty-five hundred." + +VII. That, in the above-recited instruction, the said Warren Hastings +doth insinuate (for he doth not directly assert),-- + +1st. That we are entitled by treaty to five thousand troops, which he +says were undoubtedly intended to be all cavalry. + +2d. That the said Hastings doth then admit that a single horseman, +included in the aid furnished by Fyzoola Khan, would prove a literal +compliance. + +3d. That the said Hastings doth next resort again to the supposition of +our right to the whole five thousand cavalry. + +4th. That the said Hastings doth afterwards think, in the event of an +explanation of the treaty, and a settlement of the proportion of +cavalry, instead of a pecuniary commutation, it will be all we can +demand that the number should _at least exceed twenty-five hundred_. + +5th. That the said Hastings doth, in calculating the supposed time of +their service, assume an arbitrary estimate of one year of war to four +of peace; which (however moderate the calculation may appear on the +average of the said Hastings's own government) doth involve a principle +in a considerable degree repugnant to the system of perfect peace +inculcated in the standing orders of the Company. + +6th. That, in estimating the pay of the cavalry to be commuted, the +said Hastings doth fix the pay of each man at fifty rupees a month; +which on five thousand troops, all cavalry, (as the said Hastings +supposes the treaty of Lall-Dang to have meant,) would amount to an +expense of thirty lacs a year, or between 300,000_l._ or 400,000_l._ And +this expense, strictly resulting (according to the calculations of the +said Hastings) from the intention of Sujah ul Dowlah's grant to Fyzoola +Khan, was designed to be supported out of a jaghire valued at fifteen +lacs only, or something more than 150,000_l._ of yearly revenue, just +half the amount of the expense to be incurred in consideration of the +said jaghire. + +And that a basis of negotiation so inconsistent, so arbitrary, and so +unjust is contrary to that uprightness and integrity which should mark +the transactions of a great state, and is highly derogatory to the honor +of this nation. + +VIII. That, notwithstanding the seeming moderation and justice of the +said Hastings in admitting the clear and undoubted right of Fyzoola Khan +to insist on his treaty, the head of instruction immediately succeeding +doth afford just reason for a violent presumption that such apparent +lenity was but policy, to give a color to his conduct: he, the said +Hastings, in the very next paragraph, bringing forth a new engine of +oppression, as follows. + +"To demand the surrender of all the ryots [or peasants] of the Nabob +Vizier's dominions to whom Fyzoola has given protection and service, _or +an annual tribute in compensation for the loss sustained by the Nabob +Vizier in his revenue thus transferred to Fyzoola Khan_. + +"You have stated the increase of his jaghire, occasioned by this act, +at the moderate sum of fifteen lacs. _The tribute ought at least to be +one third of that amount_. + +"We conceive that Fyzoola Khan himself may be disposed to yield to the +preceding demand, on the additional condition of being allowed to hold +his lands in _ultumgaw_ [or an inheritable tenure] instead of his +present tenure by _jaghire_ [or a tenure for life]. This we think the +Vizier can have no objection to grant, and we recommend it; _but for +this a fine, or peshcush, ought to be immediately paid, in the customary +proportion of the jumma, estimated at thirty lacs_." + +IX. That the Resident, Bristow, (to whom the letter containing Major +Palmer's instructions is addressed,) nowhere attributes the increase of +Fyzoola Khan's revenues to this protection of the fugitive ryots, +subjects of the Vizier; that the said Warren Hastings was, therefore, +not warranted to make that a pretext of such a peremptory demand. That, +as an inducement to make Fyzoola Khan agree to the said demand, it is +offered to settle his lands upon a tenure which would secure them to his +children; but that settlement is to bring with it a new demand of a fine +of thirty lacs, or 300,000_l._ and upwards; that the principles of the +said demand are violent and despotic, and the inducement to acquiescence +deceitful and insidious; and that both the demand and the inducement are +derogatory to the honor of this nation. + +X. That Major Palmer aforesaid proceeded under these instructions to +Rampoor, where his journey "_to extort a sum of money_" was previously +known from Allif Khan, vakeel of Fyzoola Khan at the Vizier's court; and +that, notwithstanding the assurances of the friendly disposition of +government given by the said Hastings, (as is herein related,) the Nabob +Fyzoola Khan did express the most serious and desponding apprehensions, +both by letter and through his vakeel, to the Resident, Bristow, who +represents them to Major Palmer in the following manner. + +"The Nabob Fyzoola Khan complains of the distresses he has this year +suffered from the drought. The whole collections have, with great +management, amounted to about twelve lacs of rupees, from which sum he +has to support his troops, his family, and several relations and +dependants of the late Rohilla chiefs. _He says, it clearly appears to +be intended to deprive him of his country, as the high demand you have +made of him is inadmissible._ Should he have assented to it, it would be +impossible to perform the conditions, and then his reputation would be +injured by a breach of agreement. _Allif Khan further represents, that +it is his master's intention, in case the demand should not be +relinquished by you, first to proceed to Lucknow, where he proposes +having an interview with the Vizier and the Resident; if he should not +be able to obtain his own terms for a future possession of his jaghire, +he will set off for Calcutta in order to pray for justice from the +Honorable the Governor-General._ He observes, it is the custom of the +Honorable Company, when they deprive a chief of his country, to grant +him some allowance. This he expects from Mr. Hastings's bounty; _but if +he should be disappointed, he will certainly set off upon a pilgrimage +to Mecca and Medina, and renounce the cares of the world_.--_He directs +his vakeel to ascertain whether the English intend to deprive him of his +country_; for if they do, he is ready to surrender it, upon receiving an +order from the Resident." + +XI. That, after much negotiation, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, "being fully +sensible that an engagement to furnish military aid, _however clearly +the conditions might be stated, must be a source of perpetual +misunderstanding and inconveniencies_," did at length agree with Major +Palmer to give fifteen lacs, or 150,000_l._ and upwards, by four +instalments, that he might be exempted from all future claims of +military service; that the said Palmer represents it to be his belief, +"_that no person, not known to possess your_ [the said Hastings's] +_confidence and support in the degree that I am supposed to do_, would +have obtained nearly so good terms"; but from what motive "terms so +good" were granted, and how the confidence and support of the said +Hastings did truly operate on the mind of Fyzoola Khan, doth appear to +be better explained by another passage in the same letter, where the +said Palmer congratulates himself on _the satisfaction which he gave to +Fyzoola Khan_ in the conduct of this negotiation, as he spent a month in +order to effect "by argument and persuasion _what he could have obtained +in an hour by threats and compulsions_." + + +PART IX. + +FULL VINDICATION OF FYZOOLA KHAN BY MAJOR PALMER AND MR. HASTINGS. + +I. That, in the course of the said negotiation for establishing the +rights of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, Major Palmer aforesaid did communicate +to the Resident, Bristow, and through the said Resident to the +Council-General of Bengal, the full and direct denial of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khan to all and every of the charges made or pretended to be +made against him, as follows. + +"Fyzoola Khan persists in denying the infringement on his part of any +one article in the treaty, or the neglect of any obligation which it +imposed upon him. + +"He does not admit of _the improvements reported to be made_ in his +jaghire, and even asserts that the collections this year will fall short +of the original _jumma_ [or estimate] by reason of the long drought. + +"He denies having exceeded the limited number of Rohillas in his +service; + +"And having refused the required aid of cavalry, made by Johnson, to act +with General Goddard. + +"He observes, respecting the charge of evading the Vizier's requisition +for the cavalry lately stationed at Daranagur, to be stationed at +Lucknow, that he is not bound by treaty to maintain a stationary force +for the service of the Vizier, but to supply an aid of two or three +thousand troops in time of war. + +"Lastly, he asserts, that, so far from encouraging the ryots [or +peasants] of the Vizier to settle in his jaghire, it has been his +constant practice to deliver them up to the Aumil of Rohilcund, whenever +he could discover them." + +II. That, in giving his opinions on the aforesaid denials of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khan, the said Palmer did not controvert any one of the +constructions of the treaty advanced by the said Nabob. + +That, although the said Palmer, "from general appearances as well as +universal report, did not doubt that the jumma of the jaghire is +_greatly increased_," yet he, the said Palmer, did not intimate that it +was increased in any degree near _the amount reported_, as it was drawn +out in a regular estimate transmitted to the said Palmer expressly for +the purposes of his negotiation, which was of course by him produced to +the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, and to which specifically the denial of Fyzoola +Khan must be understood to apply. + +That the said Palmer did not hint any doubt of the deficiency affirmed +by Fyzoola Khan in the collections for the current year: and, + +That, if any increase of jumma did truly exist, whatever it may have +been, the said Palmer did acknowledge it "to have been solemnly +relinquished (in a private agreement) by the Vizier." + +That, although the said Palmer did suppose the number of Rohillas +(employed "in ordinary occupations) in Rampoor alone to exceed that +limited by the treaty for his [Fyzoola Khan's] service," yet the said +Palmer did by no means imply that the Nabob Fyzoola Khan _maintained in +his service_ a single man more than was allowed by treaty; and by a +particular and minute account of the troops of Fyzoola Khan, transmitted +by the Resident, Bristow, to the said Palmer, the number was stated but +at 5,840, probably including officers, who were not understood to be +comprehended in the treaty. + +That the said Palmer did further admit it "_to be not clearly expressed_ +in the treaty, whether the restriction included Rohillas of all +descriptions"; but, at any rate, he adds, "it does not appear that their +number is formidable, or that he [Fyzoola Khan] _could by any means +subsist such numbers as could cause any serious alarm to the Vizier_; +neither is there any appearance of their entertaining any views beyond +the quiet possession of the advantages which they at present enjoy." + +And that, in a subsequent letter, in which the said Palmer thought it +prudent "to vindicate himself from any possible insinuation that he +meant to sacrifice the Vizier's interest," he, the said Palmer, did +positively attest the new claim on Fyzoola Khan for the protection of +the Vizier's ryots to be wholly without foundation, as the Nabob Fyzoola +Khan "had proved to him [Palmer], by producing receipts of various dates +and for great numbers of these people surrendered upon requisition from +the Vizier's officers." + +III. That, over and above the aforesaid complete refutation of the +different charges and pretexts under which exactions had been practised, +or attempted to be practised, on the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, the said Palmer +did further condemn altogether the principle of calculation assumed in +such exactions (even if they had been founded in justice) by the +following explanation of the nature of the tenure by which, under the +treaty of Lall-Dang, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan held his possessions as a +jaghiredar. + +"There are no precedents in the ancient usage of the country for +ascertaining the _nuzzerana_ [customary present] or _peshcush_ [regular +fine] of grants of this nature: _they were bestowed by the prince as +rewards or favors_; and the accustomary present in return was adapted to +the dignity of the donor rather than to the value of the gift,--_to +which it never, I believe, bore any kind of proportion_." + +IV. That a sum of money ("which of course was to be received by the +Company") being now obtained, and the "_interests both of the Company +and the Vizier_" being thus much "_better promoted_" by "_establishing +the rights_" of Fyzoola Khan than they could have been by "_depriving +him of his independency_," when every undue influence of secret and +criminal purposes was removed from the mind of the Governor-General, +Warren Hastings, Esquire, he, the said Hastings, did also concur with +his friend and agent, Major Palmer, in the vindication of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khan, and in the most ample manner. + +That the said Warren Hastings did now clearly and explicitly understand +the clauses of the treaty, "that Fyzoola Khan should send _two_ or +_three_ [and not _five_] thousand men, or _attend in person, in case it +was requisite_." + +That the said Warren Hastings did now confess that the right of the +Vizier under the treaty was at best "but _a precarious and unserviceable +right_; and that he thought fifteen lacs, or 150,000_l._ and upwards, an +ample equivalent," (or, according to the expression of Major Palmer, _an +excellent bargain_,) as in truth it was, "for expunging an article of +such a tenor and so loosely worded." + +And, finally, that the said Hastings did give the following description +of the general character, disposition, and circumstances of the Nabob +Fyzoola Khan. + +"The rumors which had been spread of his hostile designs against the +Vizier were totally groundless, and if he had been inclined, he had not +the means to make himself formidable; on the contrary, being in the +decline of life, and possessing a very fertile and prosperous jaghire, +it is more natural to suppose that Fyzoola Khan wishes to spend the +remainder of his days in quietness than that he is preparing to embark +in active and offensive scenes which must end in his own destruction." + +V. Yet that, notwithstanding this virtual and implied crimination of his +whole conduct toward the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, and after all the aforesaid +acts systematically prosecuted in open violation of a positive treaty +against a prince who had an hereditary right to more than he actually +possessed, for whose protection the faith of the Company and the nation +was repeatedly pledged, and who had deserved and obtained the public +thanks of the British government,--when, in allusion to certain of the +said acts, the Court of Directors had expressed to the said Hastings +their wishes "to be considered rather as the guardians of the honor and +property of the native powers than as the instruments of oppression," +he, the said Hastings, in reply to the said Directors, his masters, did +conclude his official account of the final settlement with Fyzoola Khan +with the following indecent, because unjust, exultation:-- + +"Such are the measures which we shall ever wish to observe towards our +allies or dependants upon our frontiers." + + + + +APPENDIX + +TO THE + +EIGHTH AND SIXTEENTH CHARGES.[26] + + + Copy of a Letter from Warren Hastings, Esquire, to William Devaynes, + Esquire, Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East India + Company, dated Cheltenham, 11th of July, 1785, and printed by order + of the House of Commons. + +_To William Devaynes, Esquire, Chairman of the Honorable the Court of +Directors._ + +Sir,--The Honorable Court of Directors, in their general letter to +Bengal by the "Surprise," dated the 16th March, 1784, were pleased to +express their desire that I should inform them of the periods when each +sum of the presents mentioned in my address of the 22d May, 1782, was +received, what were my motives for withholding the several receipts from +the knowledge of the Council, or of the Court of Directors, and what +were my reasons for taking bonds for part of these sums, and for paying +other sums into the treasury as deposits on my own account. + +I have been kindly apprised that the information required as above is +yet expected from me. I hope that the circumstances of my past +situation, when considered, will plead my excuse for having thus long +withheld it. The fact is, that I was not at the Presidency when the +"Surprise" arrived; and when I returned to it, my time and attention +were so entirely engrossed, to the day of my final departure from it, by +a variety of other more important occupations, of which, Sir, I may +safely appeal to your testimony, grounded on the large portion +contributed by myself of the volumes which compose our Consultations of +that period, that the submission which my respect would have enjoined me +to pay to the command imposed on me was lost to my recollection, perhaps +from the stronger impression which the first and distant perusal of it +had left on my mind that it was rather intended as a reprehension for +something which had given offence in my report of the original +transaction than as expressive of any want of a further elucidation of +it. + +I will now endeavor to reply to the different questions which have been +stated to me in as explicit a manner as I am able. To such information +as I can give the Honorable Court is fully entitled; and where that +shall prove defective, I will point out the easy means by which it may +be rendered more complete. + +First, I believe I can affirm with certainty, that the several sums +mentioned in the account transmitted with my letter above mentioned were +received at or within a very few days of the dates which are prefixed to +them in the account; but as this contains only the gross sums, and each +of these was received in different payments, though at no great distance +of time, I cannot therefore assign a greater degree of accuracy to the +account. Perhaps the Honorable Court will judge this sufficient for any +purpose to which their inquiry was directed; but if it should not be so, +I will beg leave to refer for a more minute information, and for the +means of making any investigation which they may think it proper to +direct, respecting the particulars of this transaction, to Mr. Larkins, +your Accountant-General, who was privy to every process of it, and +possesses, as I believe, the original paper, which contained the only +account that I ever kept of it. In this each receipt was, as I +recollect, specifically inserted, with the name of the person by whom it +was made; and I shall write to him to desire that he will furnish you +with the paper itself, if it is still in being and in his hands, or with +whatever he can distinctly recollect concerning it. + +For my motives for withholding the several receipts from the knowledge +of the Council, or of the Court of Directors, and for taking bonds for +part of these sums, and paying others into the treasury as deposits on +my own account, I have generally accounted in my letter to the Honorable +the Court of Directors of the 22d May, 1782: namely, that "I either +chose to conceal the first receipts from public curiosity by receiving +bonds for the amount, or possibly acted without any studied design which +my memory at that distance of time could verify; and that I did not +think it worth my care to observe the same means with the rest." It will +not be expected that I should be able to give a more correct explanation +of my intentions after a lapse of three years, having declared at the +time that many particulars had escaped my remembrance; neither shall I +attempt to add more than the clearer affirmation of the facts implied in +that report of them, and such inferences as necessarily, or with a +strong probability, follow them. + +I have said that the three first sums of the account were paid into the +Company's treasury without passing through my hands. The second of these +was forced into notice by its destination and application to the expense +of a detachment which was formed and employed against Mahdajee Sindia +under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Camac, as I particularly +apprised the Court of Directors in my letter of the 29th November, 1780. +The other two were certainly not intended, when I received them, to be +made public, though intended for public service, and actually applied to +it. The exigencies of the government were at that time my own, and every +pressure upon it rested with its full weight upon my mind. Wherever I +could find allowable means of relieving those wants, I eagerly seized +them; but neither could it occur to me as necessary to state on our +Proceedings every little aid which I could thus procure, nor do I know +how I could have stated it, without appearing to court favor by an +ostentation which I disdain, nor without the chance of exciting the +jealousy of my colleagues by the constructive assertion of a separate +and unparticipated merit, derived from the influence of my station, to +which they might have laid an equal claim. I should have deemed it +particularly dishonorable to receive for my own use money tendered by +men of a certain class, from whom I had interdicted the receipt of +presents to my inferiors, and bound them by oath not to receive them. I +was therefore more than ordinarily cautious to avoid the suspicion of +it, which would scarcely have failed to light upon me, had I suffered +the money to be brought directly to my own house, or to that of any +person known to be in trust for me: for these reasons I caused it to be +transported immediately to the treasury. There, you well know, Sir, it +could not be received without being passed to some credit, and this +could only be done by entering it as a loan or as a deposit: the first +was the least liable to reflection, and therefore I had obviously +recourse to it. Why the second sum was entered as a deposit I am utterly +ignorant: possibly it was done without any special direction from me; +possibly because it was the simplest mode of entry, and therefore +preferred, as the transaction itself did not require concealment, having +been already avowed. + +Although I am firmly persuaded that these were my sentiments on the +occasion, yet I will not affirm that they were. Though I feel their +impression as the remains of a series of thoughts retained on my memory, +I am not certain that they may not have been produced by subsequent +reflection on the principal fact, combining with it the probable motives +of it. Of this I am certain, that it was my design originally to have +concealed the receipt of all the sums, except the second, even from the +knowledge of the Court of Directors. They had answered my purpose of +public utility, and I had almost totally dismissed them from my +remembrance. But when fortune threw a sum in my way of a magnitude which +could not be concealed, and the peculiar delicacy of my situation at the +time in which I received it made me more circumspect of appearances, I +chose to apprise my employers of it, which I did hastily and generally: +hastily, perhaps to prevent the vigilance and activity of secret +calumny; and generally, because I knew not the exact amount of the sum, +of which I was in the receipt, but not in the full possession. I +promised to acquaint them with the result as soon as I should be in +possession of it, and in the performance of my promise I thought it +consistent with it to add to the account all the former appropriations +of the same kind: my good genius then suggesting to me, with a spirit of +caution which might have spared me the trouble of this apology, had I +universally attended to it, that, if I had suppressed them, and they +were afterwards known, I might be asked what were my motives for +withholding part of these receipts from the knowledge of the Court of +Directors and informing them of the rest. + +It being my wish to clear up every doubt upon this transaction, which +either my own mind could suggest or which may have been suggested by +others, I beg leave to suppose another question, and to state the terms +of it in my reply, by informing you that the indorsement on the bonds +was made about the period of my leaving the Presidency, in the middle of +the year 1781, in order to guard against their becoming a claim on the +Company, as part of my estate, in the event of my death occurring in the +course of the service on which I was then entering. + +This, Sir, is the plain history of the transaction. I should be ashamed +to request that you would communicate it to the Honorable Court of +Directors, whose time is too valuable for the intrusion of a subject so +uninteresting, but that it is become a point of indispensable duty; I +must therefore request the favor of you to lay it, at a convenient time, +before them. In addressing it to you personally, I yield to my own +feelings of the respect which is due to them as a body, and to the +assurances which I derive from your experienced civilities that you will +kindly overlook the trouble imposed by it. + +I have the honor to be, Sir, + Your very humble and most obedient servant, + (Signed) WARREN HASTINGS. + + CHELTENHAM, 11 July, 1785. + + + + +SPEECHES + +IN + +THE IMPEACHMENT + +OF + +WARREN HASTINGS, ESQUIRE, + +LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF BENGAL. + + +SPEECH IN OPENING. + +FEBRUARY, 1788. + + + + +SPEECH + +IN + +OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT. + +FIRST DAY: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1788. + + +My Lords,--The gentlemen who have it in command to support the +impeachment against Mr. Hastings have directed me to open the cause with +a general view of the grounds upon which the Commons have proceeded in +their charge against him. They have directed me to accompany this with +another general view of the extent, the magnitude, the nature, the +tendency, and the effect of the crimes which they allege to have been by +him committed. They have also directed me to give an explanation (with +their aid I may be enabled to give it) of such circumstances, preceding +the crimes charged on Mr. Hastings, or concomitant with them, as may +tend to elucidate whatever may be found obscure in the articles as they +stand. To these they wished me to add a few illustrative remarks on the +laws, customs, opinions, and manners of the people concerned, and who +are the objects of the crimes we charge on Mr. Hastings. The several +articles, as they appear before you, will be opened by other gentlemen +with more particularity, with more distinctness, and, without doubt, +with infinitely more ability, when they come to apply the evidence which +naturally belongs to each article of this accusation. This, my Lords, is +the plan which we mean to pursue on the great charge which is now to +abide your judgment. + +My Lords, I must look upon it as an auspicious circumstance to this +cause, in which the honor of the kingdom and the fate of many nations +are involved, that, from the first commencement of our Parliamentary +process to this the hour of solemn trial, not the smallest difference of +opinion has arisen between the two Houses. + +My Lords, there are persons who, looking rather upon what was to be +found in our records and histories than what was to be expected from the +public justice, had formed hopes consolatory to themselves and +dishonorable to us. They flattered themselves that the corruptions of +India would escape amidst the dissensions of Parliament. They are +disappointed. They will be disappointed in all the rest of their +expectations which they have formed upon everything, except the merits +of their cause. The Commons will not have the melancholy unsocial glory +of having acted a solitary part in a noble, but imperfect work. What the +greatest inquest of the nation has begun its highest tribunal will +accomplish. At length justice will be done to India. It is true that +your Lordships will have your full share in this great achievement; but +the Commons have always considered that whatever honor is divided with +you is doubled on themselves. + +My Lords, I must confess, that, amidst these encouraging prospects, the +Commons do not approach your bar without awe and anxiety. The magnitude +of the interests which we have in charge will reconcile some degree of +solicitude for the event with the undoubting confidence with which we +repose ourselves upon your Lordships' justice. For we are men, my +Lords; and men are so made, that it is not only the greatness of danger, +but the value of the adventure, which measures the degree of our concern +in every undertaking. I solemnly assure your Lordships that no standard +is sufficient to estimate the value which the Commons set upon the event +of the cause they now bring before you. My Lords, the business of this +day is not the business of this man, it is not solely whether the +prisoner at the bar be found innocent or guilty, but whether millions of +mankind shall be made miserable or happy. + +Your Lordships will see, in the progress of this cause, that there is +not only a long, connected, systematic series of misdemeanors, but an +equally connected system of maxims and principles invented to justify +them. Upon both of these you must judge. According to the judgment that +you shall give upon the past transactions in India, inseparably +connected as they are with the principles which support them, the whole +character of your future government in that distant empire is to be +unalterably decided. It will take its perpetual tenor, it will receive +its final impression, from the stamp of this very hour. + +It is not only the interest of India, now the most considerable part of +the British empire, which is concerned, but the credit and honor of the +British nation itself will be decided by this decision. We are to decide +by this judgment, whether the crimes of individuals are to be turned +into public guilt and national ignominy, or whether this nation will +convert the very offences which have thrown a transient shade upon its +government into something that will reflect a permanent lustre upon the +honor, justice, and humanity of this kingdom. + +My Lords, there is another consideration, which augments the solicitude +of the Commons, equal to those other two great interests I have stated, +those of our empire and our national character,--something that, if +possible, comes more home to the hearts and feelings of every +Englishman: I mean, the interests of our Constitution itself, which is +deeply involved in the event of this cause. The future use and the whole +effect, if not the very existence, of the process of an impeachment of +high crimes and misdemeanors before the peers of this kingdom upon the +charge of the Commons will very much be decided by your judgment in this +cause. This tribunal will be found (I hope it will always be found) too +great for petty causes: if it should at the same time be found +incompetent to one of the greatest,--that is, if little offences, from +their minuteness, escape you, and the greatest, from their magnitude, +oppress you,--it is impossible that this form of trial should not in the +end vanish out of the Constitution. For we must not deceive ourselves: +whatever does not stand with credit cannot stand long. And if the +Constitution should be deprived, I do not mean in form, but virtually, +of this resource, it is virtually deprived of everything else that is +valuable in it. For this process is the cement which binds the whole +together; this is the individuating principle that makes England what +England is. In this court it is that no subject, in no part of the +empire, can fail of competent and proportionable justice; here it is +that we provide for that which is the substantial excellence of our +Constitution,--I mean, the great circulation of responsibility, by which +(excepting the supreme power) no man, in no circumstance, can escape +the account which he owes to the laws of his country. It is by this +process that magistracy, which tries and controls all other things, is +itself tried and controlled. Other constitutions are satisfied with +making good subjects; this is a security for good governors. It is by +this tribunal that statesmen who abuse their power are accused by +statesmen and tried by statesmen, not upon the niceties of a narrow +jurisprudence, but upon the enlarged and solid principles of state +morality. It is here that those who by the abuse of power have violated +the spirit of law can never hope for protection from any of its forms; +it is here that those who have refused to conform themselves to its +perfections can never hope to escape through any of its defects. It +ought, therefore, my Lords, to become our common care to guard this your +precious deposit, rare in its use, but powerful in its effect, with a +religious vigilance, and never to suffer it to be either discredited or +antiquated. For this great end your Lordships are invested with great +and plenary powers: but you do not suspend, you do not supersede, you do +not annihilate any subordinate jurisdiction; on the contrary, you are +auxiliary and supplemental to them all. + +Whether it is owing to the felicity of our times, less fertile in great +offences than those which have gone before us, or whether it is from a +sluggish apathy which has dulled and enervated the public justice, I am +not called upon to determine,--but, whatever may be the cause, it is now +sixty-three years since any impeachment, grounded upon abuse of +authority and misdemeanor in office, has come before this tribunal. The +last is that of Lord Macclesfield, which happened in the year 1725. So +that the oldest process known to the Constitution of this country has, +upon its revival, some appearance of novelty. At this time, when all +Europe is in a state of, perhaps, contagious fermentation, when +antiquity has lost all its reverence and all its effect on the minds of +men, at the same time that novelty is still attended with the suspicions +that always will be attached to whatever is new, we have been anxiously +careful, in a business which seems to combine the objections both to +what is antiquated and what is novel, so to conduct ourselves that +nothing in the revival of this great Parliamentary process shall afford +a pretext for its future disuse. + +My Lords, strongly impressed as they are with these sentiments, the +Commons have conducted themselves with singular care and caution. +Without losing the spirit and zeal of a public prosecution, they have +comported themselves with such moderation, temper, and decorum as would +not have ill become the final judgment, if with them rested the final +judgment, of this great cause. + +With very few intermissions, the affairs of India have constantly +engaged the attention of the Commons for more than fourteen years. We +may safely affirm we have tried every mode of legislative provision +before we had recourse to anything of penal process. It was in the year +1774 [1773?] we framed an act of Parliament for remedy to the then +existing disorders in India, such as the then information before us +enabled us to enact. Finding that the act of Parliament did not answer +all the ends that were expected from it, we had, in the year 1782, +recourse to a body of monitory resolutions. Neither had we the expected +fruit from them. When, therefore, we found that our inquiries and our +reports, our laws and our admonitions, were alike despised, that +enormities increased in proportion as they were forbidden, detected, and +exposed,--when we found that guilt stalked with an erect and upright +front, and that legal authority seemed to skulk and hide its head like +outlawed guilt,--when we found that some of those very persons who were +appointed by Parliament to assert the authority of the laws of this +kingdom were the most forward, the most bold, and the most active in the +conspiracy for their destruction,--then it was time for the justice of +the nation to recollect itself. To have forborne longer would not have +been patience, but collusion; it would have been participation with +guilt; it would have been to make ourselves accomplices with the +criminal. + +We found it was impossible to evade painful duty without betraying a +sacred trust. Having, therefore, resolved upon the last and only +resource, a penal prosecution, it was our next business to act in a +manner worthy of our long deliberation. In all points we proceeded with +selection. We have chosen (we trust it will so appear to your Lordships) +such a crime, and such a criminal, and such a body of evidence, and such +a mode of process, as would have recommended this course of justice to +posterity, even if it had not been supported by any example in the +practice of our forefathers. + +First, to speak of the process: we are to inform your Lordships, that, +besides that long previous deliberation of fourteen years, we examined, +as a preliminary to this proceeding, every circumstance which could +prove favorable to parties apparently delinquent, before we finally +resolved to prosecute. There was no precedent to be found in the +Journals, favorable to persons in Mr. Hastings's circumstances, that was +not applied to. Many measures utterly unknown to former Parliamentary +proceedings, and which, indeed, seemed in some degree to enfeeble them, +but which were all to the advantage of those that were to be prosecuted, +were adopted, for the first time, upon this occasion. In an early stage +of the proceeding, the criminal desired to be heard. He was heard; and +he produced before the bar of the House that insolent and unbecoming +paper which lies upon our table. It was deliberately given in by his own +hand, and signed with his own name. The Commons, however, passed by +everything offensive in that paper with a magnanimity that became them. +They considered nothing in it but the facts that the defendant alleged, +and the principles he maintained; and after a deliberation not short of +judicial, we proceeded with confidence to your bar. + +So far as to the process; which, though I mentioned last in the line and +order in which I stated the objects of our selection, I thought it best +to dispatch first. + +As to the crime which we chose, we first considered well what it was in +its nature, under all the circumstances which attended it. We weighed it +with all its extenuations and with all its aggravations. On that review, +we are warranted to assert that the crimes with which we charge the +prisoner at the bar are substantial crimes,--that they are no errors or +mistakes, such as wise and good men might possibly fall into, which may +even produce very pernicious effects without being in fact great +offences. The Commons are too liberal not to allow for the difficulties +of a great and arduous public situation. They know too well the +domineering necessities which frequently occur in all great affairs. +They know the exigency of a pressing occasion, which, in its precipitate +career, bears everything down before it,--which does not give time to +the mind to recollect its faculties, to reinforce its reason, and to +have recourse to fixed principles, but, by compelling an instant and +tumultuous decision, too often obliges men to decide in a manner that +calm judgment would certainly have rejected. We know, as we are to be +served by men, that the persons who serve us must be tried as men, and +with a very large allowance indeed to human infirmity and human error. +This, my Lords, we knew and we weighed before we came before you. But +the crimes which we charge in these articles are not lapses, defects, +errors of common human frailty, which, as we know and feel, we can allow +for. We charge this offender with no crimes that have not arisen from +passions which it is criminal to harbor,--with no offences that have not +their root in avarice, rapacity, pride, insolence, ferocity, treachery, +cruelty, malignity of temper,--in short, in [with?] nothing that does +not argue a total extinction of all moral principle, that does not +manifest an inveterate blackness of heart, dyed in grain with malice, +vitiated, corrupted, gangrened to the very core. If we do not plant his +crimes in those vices which the breast of man is made to abhor, and the +spirit of all laws, human and divine, to interdict, we desire no longer +to be heard upon this occasion. Let everything that can be pleaded on +the ground of surprise or error, upon those grounds be pleaded with +success: we give up the whole of those predicaments. We urge no crimes +that were not crimes of forethought. We charge him with nothing that he +did not commit upon deliberation,--that he did not commit against +advice, supplication, and remonstrance,--that he did not commit against +the direct command of lawful authority,--that he did not commit after +reproof and reprimand, the reproof and reprimand of those who were +authorized by the laws to reprove and reprimand him. The crimes of Mr. +Hastings are crimes not only in themselves, but aggravated by being +crimes of contumacy. They were crimes, not against forms, but against +those eternal laws of justice which are our rule and our birthright. His +offences are, not in formal, technical language, but in reality, in +substance and effect, _high_ crimes and high misdemeanors. + +So far as to the crimes. As to the criminal, we have chosen him on the +same principle on which we selected the crimes. We have not chosen to +bring before you a poor, puny, trembling delinquent, misled, perhaps, by +those who ought to have taught him better, but who have afterwards +oppressed him by their power, as they had first corrupted him by their +example. Instances there have been many, wherein the punishment of minor +offences, in inferior persons, has been made the means of screening +crimes of an high order, and in men of high description. Our course is +different. We have not brought before you an obscure offender, who, when +his insignificance and weakness are weighed against the power of the +prosecution, gives even to public justice something of the appearance of +oppression: no, my Lords, we have brought before you the first man of +India, in rank, authority, and station. We have brought before you the +chief of the tribe, the head of the whole body of Eastern offenders, a +captain-general of iniquity, under whom all the fraud, all the +peculation, all the tyranny in India are embodied, disciplined, arrayed, +and paid. This is the person, my Lords, that we bring before you. We +have brought before you such a person, that, if you strike at him with +the firm and decided arm of justice, you will not have need of a great +many more examples. You strike at the whole corps, if you strike at the +head. + +So far as to the crime: so far as to the criminal. Now, my Lords, I +shall say a few words relative to the evidence which we have brought to +support such a charge, and which ought to be equal in weight to the +charge itself. It is chiefly evidence of record, officially signed by +the criminal himself in many instances. We have brought before you his +own letters, authenticated by his own hand. On these we chiefly rely. +But we shall likewise bring before you living witnesses, competent to +speak to the points to which they are brought. + +When you consider the late enormous power of the prisoner,--when you +consider his criminal, indefatigable assiduity in the destruction of all +recorded evidence,--when you consider the influence he has over almost +all living testimony,--when you consider the distance of the scene of +action,--I believe your Lordships, and I believe the world, will be +astonished that so much, so clear, so solid, and so conclusive evidence +of all kinds has been obtained against him. I have no doubt that in nine +instances in ten the evidence is such as would satisfy the narrow +precision supposed to prevail, and to a degree rightly to prevail, in +all subordinate power and delegated jurisdiction. But your Lordships +will maintain, what we assert and claim as the right of the subjects of +Great Britain, that you are not bound by any rules of evidence, or any +other rules whatever, except those of natural, immutable, and +substantial justice. + +God forbid the Commons should desire that anything should be received as +proof from them which is not by nature adapted to prove the thing in +question! If they should make such a request, they would aim at +overturning the very principles of that justice to which they resort; +they would give the nation an evil example that would rebound back on +themselves, and bring destruction upon their own heads, and on those of +all their posterity. + +On the other hand, I have too much confidence in the learning with which +you will be advised, and the liberality and nobleness of the sentiments +with which you are born, to suspect that you would, by any abuse of the +forms, and a technical course of proceeding, deny justice to so great a +part of the world that claims it at your hands. Your Lordships always +had an ample power, and almost unlimited jurisdiction; you have now a +boundless object. It is not from this district or from that parish, not +from this city or the other province, that relief is now applied for: +exiled and undone princes, extensive tribes, suffering nations, infinite +descriptions of men, different in language, in manners, and in rites, +men separated by every barrier of Nature from you, by the Providence of +God are blended in one common cause, and are now become suppliants at +your bar. For the honor of this nation, in vindication of this +mysterious Providence, let it be known that no rule formed upon +municipal maxims (if any such rule exists) will prevent the course of +that imperial justice which you owe to the people that call to you from +all parts of a great disjointed world. For, situated as this kingdom is, +an object, thank God, of envy to the rest of the nations, its conduct in +that high and elevated situation will undoubtedly be scrutinized with a +severity as great as its power is invidious. + +It is well known that enormous wealth has poured into this country from +India through a thousand channels, public and concealed; and it is no +particular derogation from our honor to suppose a possibility of being +corrupted by that by which other empires have been corrupted, and +assemblies almost as respectable and venerable as your Lordships' have +been directly or indirectly vitiated. Forty millions of money, at least, +have within our memory been brought from India into England. In this +case the most sacred judicature ought to look to its reputation. Without +offence we may venture to suggest that the best way to secure reputation +is, not by a proud defiance of public opinion, but by guiding our +actions in such a manner as that public opinion may in the end be +securely defied, by having been previously respected and dreaded. No +direct false judgment is apprehended from the tribunals of this country; +but it is feared that partiality may lurk and nestle in the abuse of our +forms of proceeding. It is necessary, therefore, that nothing in that +proceeding should appear to mark the slightest trace, should betray the +faintest odor of chicane. God forbid, that, when you try the most +serious of all causes, that, when you try the cause of Asia in the +presence of Europe, there should be the least suspicion that a narrow +partiality, utterly destructive of justice, should so guide us that a +British subject in power should appear in substance to possess rights +which are denied to the humble allies, to the attached dependants of +this kingdom, who by their distance have a double demand upon your +protection, and who, by an implicit (I hope not a weak and useless) +trust in you, have stripped themselves of every other resource under +heaven! + +I do not say this from any fear, doubt, or hesitation concerning what +your Lordships will finally do,--none in the world; but I cannot shut my +ears to the rumors which you all know to be disseminated abroad. The +abusers of power may have a chance to cover themselves by those fences +and intrenchments which were made to secure the liberties of the people +against men of that very description. But God forbid it should be +bruited from Pekin to Paris, that the laws of England are for the rich +and the powerful, but to the poor, the miserable, and defenceless they +afford no resource at all! God forbid it should be said, no nation is +equal to the English in _substantial_ violence and in _formal_ +justice,--that in this kingdom we feel ourselves competent to confer the +most extravagant and inordinate powers upon public ministers, but that +we are deficient, poor, helpless, lame, and impotent in the means of +calling them to account for their use of them! An opinion has been +insidiously circulated through this kingdom, and through foreign nations +too, that, in order to cover our participation in guilt, and our common +interest in the plunder of the East, we have invented a set of +scholastic distinctions, abhorrent to the common sense and unpropitious +to the common necessities of mankind, by which we are to deny ourselves +the knowledge of what the rest of the world knows, and what so great a +part of the world both knows and feels. I do not deprecate any +appearance which may give countenance to this aspersion from suspicion +that any corrupt motive can influence this court; I deprecate it from +knowing that hitherto we have moved within the narrow circle of +municipal justice. I am afraid, that, from the habits acquired by moving +within a circumscribed sphere, we may be induced rather to endeavor at +forcing Nature into that municipal circle than to enlarge the circle of +national justice to the necessities of the empire we have obtained. + +This is the only thing which does create any doubt or difficulty in the +minds of sober people. But there are those who will not judge so +equitably. Where two motives, neither of them perfectly justifiable, may +be assigned, the worst has the chance of being preferred. If, from any +appearance of chicane in the court, justice should fail, all men will +say, better there were no tribunals at all. In my humble opinion, it +would be better a thousand times to give all complainants the short +answer the Dey of Algiers gave a British ambassador, representing +certain grievances suffered by the British merchants,--"My friend," (as +the story is related by Dr. Shaw,) "do not you know that my subjects are +a band of robbers, and that I am their captain?"--better it would be a +thousand times, and a thousand thousand times more manly, than an +hypocritical process, which, under a pretended reverence to punctilious +ceremonies and observances of law, abandons mankind without help and +resource to all the desolating consequences of arbitrary power. The +conduct and event of this cause will put an end to such doubts, +wherever they may be entertained. Your Lordships will exercise the great +plenary powers with which you are invested in a manner that will do +honor to the protecting justice of this kingdom, that will completely +avenge the great people who are subjected to it. You will not suffer +your proceedings to be squared by any rules but by their necessities, +and by that law of a common nature which cements them to us and us to +them. The reports to the contrary have been spread abroad with uncommon +industry; but they will be speedily refuted by the humanity, simplicity, +dignity, and nobleness of your Lordships' justice. + + * * * * * + +Having said all that I am instructed to say concerning the process which +the House of Commons has used, concerning the crimes which they have +chosen, concerning the criminal upon whom they attach the crimes, and +concerning the evidence which they mean to produce, I am now to proceed +to open that part of the business which falls to my share. It is rather +an explanation of the circumstances than an enforcement of the crimes. + +Your Lordships of course will be apprised that this cause is not what +occurs every day, in the ordinary round of municipal affairs,--that it +has a relation to many things, that it touches many points in many +places, which are wholly removed from the ordinary beaten orbit of our +English affairs. In other affairs, every allusion immediately meets its +point of reference; nothing can be started that does not immediately +awaken your attention to something in your own laws and usages which you +meet with every day in the ordinary transactions of life. But here you +are caught, as it were, into another world; you are to have the way +pioneered before you. As the subject is new, it must be explained; as it +is intricate as well as new, that explanation can be only comparatively +short: and therefore, knowing your Lordships to be possessed, along with +all other judicial virtues, of the first and foundation of them all, +judicial patience, I hope that you will not grudge a few hours to the +explanation of that which has cost the Commons fourteen years' assiduous +application to acquire,--that your Lordships will not disdain to grant a +few hours to what has cost the people of India upwards of thirty years +of their innate, inveterate, hereditary patience to endure. + + * * * * * + +My Lords, the powers which Mr. Hastings is charged with having abused +are the powers delegated to him by the East India Company. The East +India Company itself acts under two very dissimilar sorts of powers, +derived from two sources very remote from each other. The first source +of its power is under charters which the crown of Great Britain was +authorized by act of Parliament to grant; the other is from several +charters derived from the Emperor of the Moguls, the person in whose +dominions they were chiefly conversant,--particularly that great charter +by which, in the year 1765, they acquired the high-stewardship of the +kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. Under those two bodies of +charters, the East India Company, and all their servants, are authorized +to act. + +As to those of the first description, it is from the British charters +that they derive the capacity by which they are considered as a public +body, or at all capable of any public function. It is from thence they +acquire the capacity to take from any power whatsoever any other +charter, to acquire any other offices, or to hold any other possessions. +This, being the root and origin of their power, renders them responsible +to the party from whom all their immediate and consequential powers are +derived. As they have emanated from the supreme power of this kingdom, +the whole body and the whole train of their servants, the corporate body +as a corporate body, individuals as individuals, are responsible to the +high justice of this kingdom. In delegating great power to the East +India Company, this kingdom has not released its sovereignty; on the +contrary, the responsibility of the Company is increased by the +greatness and sacredness of the powers that have been intrusted to it. +Attempts have been made abroad to circulate a notion that the acts of +the East India Company and their servants are not cognizable here. I +hope on this occasion your Lordships will show that this nation never +did give a power without annexing to it a proportionable degree of +responsibility. + +As to their other powers, the Company derives them from the Mogul empire +by various charters from that crown, and from the great magistrates of +that crown, and particularly by the Mogul charter of 1765, by which they +obtained the _dewanny_, that is, the office of lord high-steward, of the +kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. By that charter they bound +themselves (and bound inclusively all their servants) to perform all the +duties belonging to that new office, and to be held by all the ties +belonging to that new relation. If the Mogul empire had existed in its +vigor, they would have been bound, under that responsibility, to +observe the laws, rights, usages, and customs of the natives, and to +pursue their benefit in all things: for this duty was inherent in the +nature, institution, and purpose of the office which they received. If +the power of the sovereign from whom they derived these powers should by +any revolution in human affairs be annihilated or suspended, their duty +to the people below them, which was created under the Mogul charter, is +not annihilated, is not even suspended; and for their responsibility in +the performance of that duty, they are thrown back upon that country +(thank God, not annihilated) from whence their original power, and all +subsequent derivative powers, have flowed. When the Company acquired +that high office in India, an English corporation became an integral +part of the Mogul empire. When Great Britain virtually assented to that +grant of office, and afterwards took advantage of it, Great Britain +guarantied the performance of all its duties. Great Britain entered into +a virtual act of union with that country, by which we bound ourselves as +securities to preserve the people in all the rights, laws, and liberties +which their natural, original sovereign was bound to support, if he had +been in condition to support them. By the disposition of events, the two +duties, flowing from two different sources, are now united in one. The +people of India, therefore, come in the name of the Commons of Great +Britain, but in their own right, to the bar of this House, before the +supreme royal justice of this kingdom, from whence originally all the +powers under which they have suffered were derived. + +It may be a little necessary, when we are stating the powers the Company +have derived from their charter, and which we state Mr. Hastings to +have abused, to state in as short and as comprehensive words as I can +(for the matter is large indeed) what the constitution of that Company +is,--I mean chiefly, what it is in reference to its Indian service, the +great theatre of the abuse. Your Lordships will naturally conceive that +it is not to inform you, but to revive circumstances in your memory, +that I enter into this detail. + +You will therefore recollect, that the East India Company had its origin +about the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth, a period of projects, +when all sorts of commercial adventures, companies, and monopolies were +in fashion. At that time the Company was constituted with extensive +powers for increasing the commerce and the honor of this country; +because increasing its commerce, without increasing its honor and +reputation, would have been thought at that time, and will be thought +now, a bad bargain for the country. The powers of the Company were, +under that charter, merely commercial. By degrees, as the theatre of +operation was distant, as its intercourse was with many great, some +barbarous, and all of them armed nations, nations in which not only the +sovereign, but the subjects, were armed, it was found necessary to +enlarge their powers. The first power they obtained was a power of naval +discipline in their ships,--a power which has been since dropped; the +next was a power of law martial; the next was a power of civil, and, to +a degree, of criminal jurisdiction, within their own factories, upon +their own people and their own servants; the next was (and here was a +stride indeed) the power of peace and war. Those high and almost +incommunicable prerogatives of sovereignty, which were hardly ever +known before to be parted with to any subjects, and which in several +states were not wholly intrusted to the prince or head of the +commonwealth himself, were given to the East India Company. That Company +acquired these powers about the end of the reign of Charles the Second; +and they were afterwards more fully, as well as more legally, given by +Parliament after the Revolution. From this time, the East India Company +was no longer merely a mercantile company, formed for the extension of +the British commerce: it more nearly resembled a delegation of the whole +power and sovereignty of this kingdom sent into the East. From that time +the Company ought to be considered as a subordinate sovereign power: +that is, sovereign with regard to the objects which it touched; +subordinate with regard to the power from whence its great trust was +derived. + +Under these successive arrangements things took a course very different +from their usual order. A new disposition took place, not dreamt of in +the theories of speculative politicians, and of which few examples in +the least resembling it have been seen in the modern world, none at all +in the ancient. In other instances, a political body that acts as a +commonwealth was first settled, and trade followed as a consequence of +the protection obtained by political power; but here the course of +affairs was reversed. The constitution of the Company began in commerce +and ended in empire. Indeed, wherever the sovereign powers of peace and +war are given, there wants but time and circumstance to make these +powers supersede every other. The affairs of commerce will fall at last +into their proper rank and situation. However primary in their original +intention, they will become secondary. The possession, therefore, and +the power of assertion of these great authorities coinciding with the +improved state of Europe, with the improved state of arts in Europe, +with the improved state of laws, and, what is much more material, the +improved state of military discipline, more and more perfected every day +with us,--universal improvement in Europe coinciding with the general +decay of Asia, (for the proud day of Asia is passed,) this improvement +coinciding with the relaxation and dissolution of the Mogul government, +with the decline of its warlike spirit, with the total disuse of the +ancient strictness of the military discipline established by Tamerlane, +the India Company came to be what it is, a great empire, carrying on, +subordinately, a great commerce; it became that thing which was supposed +by the Roman law irreconcilable to reason and propriety,--_eundem +negotiatorem et dominum_: the same power became the general trader, the +same power became the supreme lord. + +In this exalted situation, the India Company, however, still preserves +traces of its original mercantile character. The whole exterior order of +its political service is carried on upon a mercantile plan and +mercantile principles. In fact, the East India Company in Asia is a +state in the disguise of a merchant. Its whole service is a system of +public offices in the disguise of a counting-house. Accordingly, the +whole external order and series of the service, as I observed, is +commercial; the principal, the inward, the real, is almost entirely +political. + +This system of the Company's service, its order and discipline, is +necessary to be explained to your Lordships, that you may see in what +manner the abuses have affected it. In the first place, all the persons +who go abroad in the Company's civil service enter as clerks in the +counting-house, and are called by a name to correspond to +it,--_writers_. In that condition they are obliged to serve five years. +The second step is that of a _factor_, in which they are obliged to +serve three years. The third step they take is that of a _junior +merchant_, in which they are obliged to serve three years more. At that +period they become _senior merchants_, which is the highest stage of +advance in the Company's service,--a rank by which they had pretensions, +before the year 1774, to the Council, to the succession of the +Presidency, and to whatever other honors the Company has to bestow. + +The Company had, in its early times, established factories in certain +places; which factories by degrees grew to the name of Presidencies and +Council, in proportion as the power and influence of the Company +increased, and as the political began first to struggle with, and at +length to predominate over, the mercantile. In this form it continued +till the year 1773, when the legislature broke in, for proper reasons +urging them to it, upon that order of the service, and appointed to the +superior department persons who had no title to that place under the +ordinary usage of the service. Mr. Hastings and Mr. Harwell, whatever +other titles they might have had, held solely under the act of +Parliament nominating them to that authority; but in all other respects, +except where the act and other subsequent acts have not broken in upon +it, the whole course of the service remains upon the ancient footing, +that is, the commercial footing, as to the gradation and order of +service. + +Your Lordships see here a regular series of gradation, which requires +eleven years before any persons can arrive at the highest trusts and +situations. You will therefore be astonished, when so long a +probationary service was required, that effects very different from +those to be expected from long probation have happened, and that in a +much shorter time than those eleven years you have seen persons +returning into this kingdom with affluent, with overbearing fortunes. It +will be a great part of your inquiry, when we come before your Lordships +to substantiate evidence against Mr. Hastings, to discover how that +order came to be so completely broken down and erased that scarce a +trace of it for any good purpose remains. Though I will not deny that +that order, or that any order in a state, may be superseded by the +ruling power, when great talents, upon pressing exigencies, are to be +called forth, yet I must say the order itself was formed upon wise +principles. It furnished the persons who were put in that course of +probation with an opportunity (if circumstances enabled them) of +acquiring experience in business of revenue, trade, and policy. It gave +to those who watched them a constant inspection of their conduct through +all their progress. On the expectants of office it imposed the necessity +of acquiring a character in proportion to their standing, in order that +all which they had gained by the good behavior of years should not be +lost by the misconduct of an hour. It was a great substantial +regulation. But scarce a trace of the true spirit of it remains to be +discovered in Mr. Hastings's government; for Mr. Hastings established +offices, nay, whole systems of offices, and especially a system of +offices in 1781, which being altogether new, none of the rules of +gradation applied to them; and he filled those offices in such a manner +as suited best, not the constitution nor the spirit of the service, but +his own particular views and purposes. The consequence has been, that +persons in the most immature stages of life have been appointed to +conduct affairs which required the greatest maturity of judgment, the +greatest possible temper and moderation. Effects naturally consequent +have followed upon it.--I shall not trouble your Lordships with any +further observations on this system of gradation. + +I must, however, remark, before I go further, that there is something in +the representation of the East India Company in their Oriental territory +different from that, perhaps, of any other nation that has ever +transported any part of its power from one country to another. The East +India Company in India is not properly a branch of the British nation: +it is only a deputation of individuals. When the Tartars entered into +China, when the Arabs and Tartars successively entered into Hindostan, +when the Goths and Vandals penetrated into Europe, when the Normans +forced their way into England, indeed, in all conquests, migrations, +settlements, and colonizations, the new people came as the offset of a +nation. The Company in India does not exist as a national colony. In +effect and substance nobody can go thither that does not go in its +service. The English in India are nothing but a seminary for the +succession of officers. They are a nation of placemen; they are a +commonwealth without a people; they are a state made up wholly of +magistrates. There is nothing to be in propriety called people, to +watch, to inspect, to balance against the power of office. The power of +office, so far as the English nation is concerned, is the sole power in +the country: the consequence of which is, that, being a kingdom of +magistrates, what is commonly called the _esprit du corps_ is strong in +it. This spirit of the body predominates equally in all its parts; by +which the members must consider themselves as having a common interest, +and that common interest separated both from that of the country which +sent them out and from that of the country in which they act. No control +upon them exists,--none, I mean, in persons who understand their +language, who understand their manners, or can apply their conduct to +the laws. Therefore, in a body so constituted, confederacy is easy, and +has been general. Your Lordships are not to expect that that should +happen in such a body which never happened in any body or +corporation,--that is, that they should, in any instance, be a proper +check and control upon themselves. It is not in the nature of things. +The fundamental principle of the whole of the East India Company's +system is monopoly, in some sense or other. The same principle +predominates in the service abroad and the service at home; and both +systems are united into one, animated with the same spirit, that is, +with the corporate spirit. The whole, taken together, is such as has not +been seen in the examples of the Moors, the Portuguese, the Spaniards, +the Romans,--in no old, in no recent examples. The Dutch may resemble +it, but they have not an empire properly so denominated. By means of +this peculiar circumstance it has not been difficult for Mr. Hastings to +embody abuse, and to put himself at the head of a regular system of +corruption. + +Another circumstance in that service is deserving of notice. Except in +the highest parts of all, the emoluments of office do not in any degree +correspond with the trust, nor the nature of the office with its name. +In other official systems, the style, in general, is above the function; +here it is the reverse. Under the name of junior merchant, senior +merchant, writer, and other petty appellations of the counting-house, +you have magistrates of high dignity, you have administrators of +revenues truly royal, you have judges, civil, and in some respects +criminal, who pass judgment upon the greatest properties of a great +country. The legal public emoluments that belong to them are very often +so inadequate to the real dignity of the character, that it is +impossible, almost absolutely impossible, for the subordinate parts of +it, which, though subordinate, are stations of power, to exist, as +Englishmen, who look at a fortune to be enjoyed at home as their +ultimate object, and to exist in a state of perfect incorruption in that +service. + +In some parts of Europe, it is true that the greatest situations are +often attended with but little emolument; yet still they are filled. +Why? Because reputation, glory, fame, the esteem, the love, the tears of +joy which flow from happy sensibility, the honest applauses of a +grateful country, sometimes pay the cares, anxieties, and toils which +wait on great situations in the commonwealth; and in these they pay in +money what cannot be paid in fame and reputation. It is the reverse in +the service of the India Company. Glory is not the lot of subordinated +merit,--and all the subordinate parts of the gradation are officers who, +in comparison with the offices and duties intrusted to them, are +miserably provided for; whereas the chief of each great Presidency has +emoluments securing him against every mode of temptation. But if this +has not secured the head, we may easily judge how the members are to be +coerced. Mr. Hastings, at the head of the service, with high legal +emoluments, has fouled his hands and sullied his government with bribes. +He has substituted oppression and tyranny in the place of legal +government. With all that unbounded, licentious power which he has +assumed over the public revenues, instead of endeavoring to find a +series of gradual, progressive, honorable, and adequate rewards for the +persons who serve the public in the subordinate, but powerful +situations, he has left them to prey upon the people without the +smallest degree of control. In default of honest emolument, there is the +unbounded license of power; and, as one of the honestest and ablest +servants of the Company said to me in conversation, the civil service of +the Company resembled the military service of the Mahrattas,--little +pay, but unbounded license to plunder. I do not say that some of the +salaries given in India would not sound well here; but when you consider +the nature of the trusts, the dignity of the situation, whatever the +name of them may be, the powers that are granted, the hopes that every +man has of establishing himself at home, I repeat, it is a source of +infinite grievance, of infinite abuse: of which source of corrupt power +we charge Mr. Hastings with having availed himself, in filling up the +void of direct pay by finding out and countenancing every kind of +oblique and unjust emolument; though it must be confessed that he is +far from being solely guilty of this offence. + +Another circumstance which distinguishes the East India Company is the +youth of the persons who are employed in the system of that service. The +servants have almost universally been sent out to begin their progress +and career in active occupation, and in the exercise of high authority, +at that period of life which, in all other places, has been employed in +the course of a rigid education. To put the matter in a few words,--they +are transferred from slippery youth to perilous independence, from +perilous independence to inordinate expectations, from inordinate +expectations to boundless power. School-boys without tutors, minors +without guardians, the world is let loose upon them with all its +temptations, and they are let loose upon the world with all the powers +that despotism involves. + +It is further remarkable, these servants exercise what your Lordships +are now exercising, high judicial powers, and they exercise them without +the smallest study of any law, either general or municipal. It is made a +sort of rule in the service, a rule confirmed even by the attempts that +were made to correct it, (I mean confirmed by Sir Elijah Impey, when, +under the auspices of Mr. Hastings, he undertook to be legislator for +India,) that the judicial character, the last in the order of legal +progress, that to which all professional men look up as the crown of +their labors, that ultimate hope of men grown gray in professional +practice, is among the first experimental situations of a Company's +servant. It is expressly said in that body of regulations to which I +allude, that the office and situation of a judge of the Dewanny Courts +of Adawlut is to be filled by the _junior_ servants of the Company; and +as the judicial emolument is not substantially equal to that of other +situations, the office of a judge is to be taken, as it were, _in +transitu_, as a passage to other offices not of a judicial nature. As +soon, therefore, as a young man has supplied the defects of his +education by the advantage of some experience, he is immediately +translated to a totally different office; and another young man is +substituted, to learn, at the expense of the property of India, to fill +a situation which, when he may be qualified to fill, he is no longer to +hold. + +It is in a great measure the same with regard to the other situations. +They are the situations of great statesmen, which, according to the +practice of the world, require, to fill properly, rather a large +converse with men and much intercourse in life than deep study of +books,--though that, too, has its eminent service. We know that in the +habits of civilized life, in cultivated society, there is imbibed by men +a good deal of the solid practice of government, of the true maxims of +state, and everything that enables a man to serve his country. But these +men are sent over to exercise functions at which a statesman here would +tremble, without any theoretical study, and without any of that sort of +experience which, in mixed societies of business and converse, form men +gradually and insensibly to great affairs. Low cunning, intrigue, and +stratagem are soon acquired; but manly, durable policy, which never +sacrifices the general interest to a partial or momentary advantage, is +not so cheaply formed in the human understanding. + +Mr. Hastings, in his defence before the House of Commons, and in the +defences he has made before your Lordships, has lamented his own +situation in this particular. It was much to be lamented, indeed. How +far it will furnish justification, extenuation, or palliation of his +conduct, when we come to examine that conduct, will be seen. + +These circumstances in the system have in a great degree vitiated and +perverted what is in reality (and many things are in reality) excellent +in it. They have rendered the application of all correctives and +remedies to abuse, at best, precarious in their operation. The laws that +we have made, the covenants which the Company has obliged its servants +to enter into, the occasional orders that have been given, at least +ostensibly good, all have proved noxious to the country, instead of +beneficial. + +To illustrate this point, I beg leave to observe to your Lordships, that +the servants of the Company are obliged to enter into that service not +only with an impression of the general duty which attaches upon all +servants, but are obliged to engage in a specific covenant with their +masters to perform all the duties described in that covenant (which are +all the duties of their relation) under heavy penalties. They are bound +to a repetition of these covenants at every step of their progress, from +writer to factor, from factor to junior merchant, and from junior +merchant to senior merchant. They ought, according to the rule, to renew +these covenants at these times by something (I speak without offence) +which may be said to resemble confirmation in the Church. They are +obliged to renew their obligation in particular to receive no gifts, +gratuities, or presents whatsoever. + +This scheme of covenants would have been wise and proper, if it had +belonged to a judicious order, and rational, consistent scheme of +discipline. The orders of the Company have forbidden their servants to +take any extraneous emoluments. The act of Parliament has fulminated +against them. Clear, positive laws, and clear, positive private +engagements, have no exception of circumstances in them, no difference +_quoad majus et minus_; but every one who offends against the law is +liable to the law. The consequence is this: he who has deviated but an +inch from the straight line, he who has taken but one penny of unlawful +emolument, (and all have taken many pennies of unlawful emolument,) does +not dare to complain of the most abandoned extortion and cruel +oppression in any of his fellow-servants. He who has taken a trifle, +perhaps as the reward of a good action, is obliged to be silent, when he +sees whole nations desolated around him. The great criminal at the head +of the service has the laws in his hand; he is always able to prove the +small offence, and crush the person who has committed it. This is one +grand source of Mr. Hastings's power. After he had got the better of the +Parliamentary commission, no complaint from any part of the service has +appeared against Mr. Hastings. He is bold enough to state it as one +presumption of his merit, that there has been no such complaint. No such +complaint, indeed, can exist. The spirit of the corps would of itself +almost forbid it,--to which spirit an informer is the most odious and +detestable of all characters, and is hunted down, and has always been +hunted down, as a common enemy. But here is a new security. Who can +complain, or dares to accuse? The whole service is irregular: nobody is +free from small offences; and, as I have said, the great offender can +always crush the small one. + +If you examine the correspondence of Mr. Hastings, you would imagine, +from many expressions very deliberately used by him, that the Company's +service was made out of the very filth and dregs of human corruption; +but if you examine his conduct towards the corrupt body he describes, +you would imagine he had lived in the speculative schemes of visionary +perfection. He was fourteen years at the head of that service; and there +is not an instance, no, not one single instance, in which he endeavored +to detect corruption, or that he ever, in any one single instance, +attempted to punish it; but the whole service, with that whole mass of +enormity which he attributes to it, slept, as it were, at once, under +his terror and his protection: under his protection, if they did not +dare to move against him; under terror, from his power to pluck out +individuals and make a public example of them, whenever he thought fit. +And therefore that service, under his guidance and influence, was, +beyond even what its own nature disposed it to, a service of +confederacy, a service of connivance, a service composed of various +systems of guilt, of which Mr. Hastings was the head and the protector. +But this general connivance he did not think sufficient to secure to him +the general support of the Indian interest. He went further. We shall +prove to your Lordships, that, when the Company were driven by shame, +not by inclination, to order several prosecutions against delinquents in +their service, Mr. Hastings, directly contrary to the duty of his +office, directly contrary to the express and positive law of the Court +of Directors, which law Parliament had bound upon him as his rule of +action, not satisfied with his long tacit connivance, ventured, before +he left his government, and among his last acts, to pass a general act +of pardon and indemnity, and at once ordered the whole body of the +prosecutions directed by his masters, the Company, to be discharged. + +Having had fourteen years' lease of connivance to bestow, and giving at +the end a general release of all suits and actions, he now puts himself +at the head of a vast body enriched by his bounties, connivances, and +indemnities, and expects the support of those whom he had thus fully +rewarded and discharged from the pursuit of the laws. You will find, in +the course of this business, that, when charges have been brought +against him of any bribery, corruption, or other malversation, his +course has been to answer little or nothing to that specific bribery, +corruption, or malversation: his way has been to call on the Court of +Directors to inquire of every servant who comes to Europe, and to say +whether there was any one man in it that will give him an ill word. He +has put himself into a situation in which he may always safely call to +his character, and will always find himself utterly incapable of +justifying his conduct. + +So far I have troubled your Lordships with the system of confederacy and +connivance, which, under his auspices, was the vital principle of almost +the whole service. There is one member of the service which I have +omitted: but whether I ought to have put it first, or, as I do now, +last, I must confess I am at some loss; because, though it appears to be +the lowest (if any regular) part of the service, it is by far the most +considerable and the most efficient, without a full consideration and +explanation of which hardly any part of the conduct of Mr. Hastings, +and of many others that may be in his situation, can be fully +understood. + +I have given your Lordships an account of writers, factors, merchants, +who exercise the office of judges, lord chancellors, chancellors of the +exchequer, ministers of state, and managers of great revenues. But there +is another description of men, of more importance than them all, a +description you have often heard of, but which has not been sufficiently +explained: I mean the _banian_. When the Company's service was no more +than mercantile, and the servants were generally unacquainted with the +country, they used the intervention of certain factors among the +natives, which were called _banians_: we called them so, because they +were of the tribe or caste of the banians or merchants,--the Indians +being generally distributed into trades according to their tribes. The +name still continues, when the functions of the banians are totally +altered. The banian is known by other appellations. He is called +_dewan_, or steward; and, indeed, this is a term with more propriety +applied to him in several of his functions. He is, by his name of +office, the steward of the household of the European gentleman: he has +the management of his affairs, and the ordering of his servants. He is +himself a domestic servant, and generally chosen out of that class of +natives who, by being habituated to misery and subjection, can submit to +any orders, and are fit for any of the basest services. Trained under +oppression, (it is the true education,) they are fit to oppress others. +They serve an apprenticeship of servitude to qualify them for the trade +of tyranny. They know all the devices, all the little frauds, all the +artifices and contrivances, the whole panoply of the defensive armor by +which ingenious slavery secures itself against the violence of power. +They know all the lurking-holes, all the winding recesses, of the +unfortunate; and they hunt out distress and misery even to their last +retreats. They have suffered themselves; but, far from being taught by +those sufferings to abstain from rigor, they have only learned the +methods of afflicting their fellow-slaves. They have the best +intelligence of what is done in England. The moment a Company's servant +arrives in India, and his English connections are known to be powerful, +some of that class of people immediately take possession of him, as if +he were their inheritance. They have knowledge of the country and its +affairs; they have money; they have the arts of making money. The +gentleman who comes from England has none of these; he enters into that +world, as he enters into the world at large, naked. His portion is great +simplicity, great indigence, and a strong disposition to relieve +himself. The banian, once in possession, employs his tyranny, not only +over the native people of his country, but often over the master +himself, who has little other share in the proceedings of his servant +but in giving him the ticket of his name to mark that he is connected +with and supported by an European who is himself well connected and +supported at home. This is a commission which nothing can resist. From +that moment forward it is not the Englishman, it is the black banian, +that is the master. The nominal master often lives from his hand. We +know how young men are sent out of this country; we know how happy we +are to hear soon that they are no longer a burden to their friends and +parents. The banian knows it, too. He supplies the young servant with +money. He has him under his power: first, from the necessity of +employing such a man; and next, (and this is the more important of the +two,) he has that dreadful power over his master which every creditor +has over his debtor. Actions the most abhorrent to his nature he must +see done before his face, and thousands and thousands worse are done in +his absence, and he dare not complain. The banian extorts, robs, +plunders, and then gives him just what proportion of the spoil he +pleases. If the master should murmur, the very power that was sent over +to protect the people of India from these very abuses, (the best things +being perverted, when applied to unknown objects and put into unsuitable +situations,) the very laws of England, by making the recovery of debts +more easy, infinitely increase the power of the banian over his master. +Thus the Supreme Court of Justice, the destined corrector of all abuses, +becomes a collateral security for that abominable tyranny exercised by +the moneyed banians over Europeans as well as the natives. So that, +while we are here boasting of the British power in the East, we are in +perhaps more than half our service nothing but the inferior, miserable +instruments of the tyranny which the lowest part of the natives of India +exercise, to the disgrace of the British authority, and to the ruin of +all that is respectable among their own countrymen. They have subverted +the first houses, totally ruined and undone the country, cheated and +defrauded the revenue,--the master a silent, sometimes a melancholy +spectator, until some office of high emolument has emancipated him. This +has often been the true reason that the Company's servants in India, in +order to free themselves from this horrid and atrocious servitude, are +obliged to become instruments of another tyranny, and must prostitute +themselves to men in power, in order to obtain some office that may +enable them to escape the servitudes below, and enable them to pay their +debts. And thus many have become the instruments of Mr. Hastings. + +These banians, or dewans, were originally among the lower castes in the +country. But now, it is true, that, after seeing the power and profits +of these men,--that there is neither power, profession, nor occupation +to be had, which a reputable person can exercise, but through that +channel,--men of higher castes, and born to better things, have thrown +themselves into that disgraceful servitude, have become menial servants +to Englishmen, that they might rise by their degradation. But whoever +they are, or of whatever birth, they have equally prostituted their +integrity, they have equally lost their character; and, once entered +into that course of life, there is no difference between the best castes +and the worst. That system Mr. Hastings confirmed, established, +increased, and made the instrument of the most austere tyranny, of the +basest peculations, and the most scandalous and iniquitous extortions. + +In the description I have given of banians a distinction is to be made. +Your Lordships must distinguish the banians of the British servants in +subordinate situations and the banians who are such to persons in higher +authority. In the latter case the banian is in strict subordination, +because he may always be ruined by his superior; whereas in the former +it is always in his power to ruin his nominal superior. It was not +through fear, but voluntarily, and not for the banian's purposes, but +his own, Mr. Hastings has brought forward his banian. He seated him in +the houses of the principal nobility, and invested him with farms of the +revenue; he has given him enormous jobs; he has put him over the heads +of a nobility which, for their grandeur, antiquity, and dignity, might +almost be matched with your Lordships. He has made him supreme +ecclesiastical judge, judge even of the very castes, in the preservation +of the separate rules and separate privileges of which that people +exists. He who has dominion over the caste has an absolute power over +something more than life and fortune. + +Such is that first, or last, (I know not which to call it,) order in the +Company's service called a banian. The _mutseddies_, clerks, +accountants, of Calcutta, generally fall under this description. Your +Lordships will see hereafter the necessity of giving you, in the opening +the case, an idea of the situation of a banian. You will see, as no +Englishman, properly speaking, acts by himself, that he must be made +responsible for that person called his banian,--for the power he either +uses under him, or the power he has acquired over him. The banian +escapes, in the night of his complexion and situation, the inquiry that +a white man cannot stand before in this country. Through the banians, or +other black natives, a bad servant of the Company receives his bribes. +Through them he decides falsely against the titles of litigants in the +court of castes, or in the offices of public registry. Through them Mr. +Hastings has exercised oppressions which, I will venture to say, in his +own name, in his own character, daring as he is, (and he is the most +daring criminal that ever existed,) he never would dare to practise. +Many, if not most, of the iniquities of his interior bad administration +have been perpetrated through these banians, or other native agents and +confidants; and we shall show you that he is not satisfied with one of +them, confiding few of his secrets to Europeans, and hardly any of his +instruments, either native or European, knowing the secrets of each +other. This is the system of banianism, and of concealment, which Mr. +Hastings, instead of eradicating out of the service, has propagated by +example and by support, and enlarged by converting even Europeans into +that dark and insidious character. + +I have explained, or endeavored to explain, to your Lordships these +circumstances of the true spirit, genius, and character, more than the +ostensible institutions of the Company's service: I now shall beg leave +to bring before you one institution, taken from the mercantile +constitution of the Company, so excellent, that I will venture to say +that human wisdom has never exceeded it. In this excellent institution +the counting-house gave lessons to the state. The active, awakened, and +enlightened principle of self-interest will provide a better system for +the guard of that interest than the cold, drowsy wisdom of those who +provide for a good out of themselves ever contrived for the public. The +plans sketched by private prudence for private interest, the regulations +by mercantile men for their mercantile purposes, when they can be +applied to the discipline and order of the state, produce a discipline +and order which no state should be ashamed to copy. The Company's +mercantile regulations are admirably fitted for the government of a +remote, large, disjointed empire. As merchants, having factors abroad +in distant parts of the world, they have obliged them to a minuteness +and strictness of register, and to a regularity of correspondence, which +no state has ever used in the same degree with regard to its public +ministers. The Company has made it a fundamental part of their +constitution, that almost their whole government shall be a written +government. Your Lordships will observe, in the course of the +proceeding, the propriety of opening fully to you this circumstance in +the government of India,--that is, that the Company's government is a +government of writing, a government of record. The strictest court of +justice, in its proceeding, is not more, perhaps not so much a court of +record as the India Company's executive service is, or ought to be, in +all its proceedings. + +In the first place, they oblige their servants to keep a journal or +diary of all their transactions, public and private: they are bound to +do this by an express covenant. They oblige them, as a corrective upon +that diary, to keep a letter-book, in which all their letters are to be +regularly entered. And they are bound by the same covenant to produce +all those books upon requisition, although they should be mixed with +affairs concerning their own private negotiations and transactions of +commerce, or their closest and most retired concerns in private life. +But as the great corrective of all, they have contrived that every +proceeding in public council shall be written,--no debates merely +verbal. The arguments, first or last, are to be in writing, and +recorded. All other bodies, the Houses of Lords, Commons, Privy Council, +Cabinet Councils for secret state deliberations, enter only resolves, +decisions, and final resolutions of affairs: the argument, the +discussion, the dissent, does very rarely, if at all, appear. But the +Company has proceeded much further, and done much more wisely, because +they proceeded upon mercantile principles; and they have provided, +either by orders or course of office, that all shall be written,--the +proposition, the argument, the dissent. This is not confined to their +great Council; but this order ought to be observed, as I conceive, (and +I see considerable traces of it in practice,) in every Provincial +Council, whilst the Provincial Councils existed, and even down to the +minutest ramification of their service. These books, in a progression +from the lowest Councils to the highest Presidency, are ordered to be +transmitted, duplicate and triplicate, by every ship that sails to +Europe. On this system an able servant of the Company, and high in their +service, has recorded his opinion, and strongly expressed his +sentiments. Writing to the Court of Directors, he says, "It ought to be +remembered, that the basis upon which you rose to power, and have been +able to stand the shock of repeated convulsions, has been the accuracy +and simplicity of mercantile method, which makes every transaction in +your service and every expenditure a matter of record." + +My Lords, this method not only must produce to them, if strictly +observed, a more accurate idea of the nature of their affairs and the +nature of their expenditures, but it must afford them no trivial +opportunity and means of knowing the true characters of their servants, +their capacities, their ways of thinking, the turn and bias of their +minds. If well employed, and but a little improved, the East India +Company possessed an advantage unknown before to the chief of a remote +government. In the most remote parts of the world, and in the minutest +parts of a remote service, everything came before the principal with a +domestic accuracy and local familiarity. It was, in the power of a +Director, sitting in London, to form an accurate judgment of every +incident that happened upon the Ganges and the Gogra. + +The use of this recorded system did not consist only in the facility of +discovering what the nature of their affairs and the character and +capacity of their servants was, but it furnished the means of detecting +their misconduct, frequently of proving it too, and of producing the +evidence of it judicially under their own hands. For your Lordships must +have observed that it is rare indeed, that, in a continued course of +evil practices, any uniform method of proceeding will serve the purposes +of the delinquent. Innocence is plain, direct, and simple: guilt is a +crooked, intricate, inconstant, and various thing. The iniquitous job of +to-day may be covered by specious reasons; but when the job of iniquity +of to-morrow succeeds, the reasons that have colored the first crime may +expose the second malversation. The man of fraud falls into +contradiction, prevarication, confusion. This hastens, this facilitates, +conviction. Besides, time is not allowed for corrupting the records. +They are flown out of their hands, they are in Europe, they are safe in +the registers of the Company, perhaps they are under the eye of +Parliament, before the writers of them have time to invent an excuse for +a direct contrary conduct to that to which their former pretended +principles applied. This is a great, a material part of the constitution +of the Company. My Lords, I do not think it to be much apologized for, +if I repeat, that this is the fundamental regulation of that service, +and which, if preserved in the first instance, as it ought to be, in +official practice in India, and then used as it ought to be in England, +would afford such a mode of governing a great, foreign, dispersed +empire, as, I will venture to say, few countries ever possessed, even in +governing the most limited and narrow jurisdiction. + +It was the great business of Mr. Hastings's policy to subvert this great +political edifice. His first mode of subverting it was by commanding the +public ministers, paid by the Company, to deliver their correspondence +upon the most critical and momentous affairs to him, in order to be +suppressed and destroyed at his pleasure. To support him in this plan of +spoliation, he has made a mischievous distinction in public business +between public and private correspondence. The Company's orders and +covenants made none. There are, readily I admit, thousands of occasions +in which it is not proper to divulge promiscuously a private +correspondence, though on public affairs, to the world; but there is no +occasion in which it is not a necessary duty, on requisition, to +communicate your correspondence to those who form the paramount +government, on whose interests and on whose concerns and under whose +authority this correspondence has been carried on. The very same reasons +which require secrecy with regard to others demand the freest +communication to them. But Mr. Hastings has established principles of +confidence and secrecy towards himself which have cut off all confidence +between the Directors and their ministers, and effectually kept them at +least out of the secret of their own affairs. + +Without entering into all the practices by which he has attempted to +maim the Company's records, I shall state one more to your +Lordships,--that is, his avowed appointment of spies and under-agents, +who shall carry on the real state business, while there are public and +ostensible agents who are not in the secret. The correspondence of those +private agents he holds in his own hands, communicates as he thinks +proper, but most commonly withholds. There remains nothing for the +Directors but the shell and husk of a dry, formal, official +correspondence, which neither means anything nor was intended to mean +anything. + +These are some of the methods by which he has defeated the purposes of +the excellent institution of a recorded administration. But there are +cases to be brought before this court in which he has laid the axe at +once to the root,--which was, by delegating out of his own hands a great +department of the powers of the Company, which he was himself bound to +execute, to a board which was not bound to record their deliberations +with the same strictness as he himself was bound. He appointed of his +own usurped authority a board for the administration of the revenue, the +members of which were expressly dispensed from recording their dissents, +until they chose it; and in that office, as in a great gulf, a most +important part of the Company's transactions has been buried. + +Notwithstanding his unwearied pains in the work of spoliation, some +precious fragments are left, which we ought infinitely to value,--by +which we may learn, and lament, the loss of what he has destroyed. If it +were not for those inestimable fragments and wrecks of the recorded +government which have been saved from the destruction which Mr. +Hastings intended for them all, the most shameful enormities that have +ever disgraced a government or harassed a people would only be known in +this country by secret whispers and unauthenticated anecdotes; the +disgracer's of government, the vexers and afflicters of mankind, instead +of being brought before an awful public tribunal, might have been +honored with the highest distinctions and rewards their country has to +bestow; and sordid bribery, base peculation, iron-handed extortion, +fierce, unrelenting tyranny, might themselves have been invested with +those sacred robes of justice before which this day they have cause to +tremble. + +Mr. Hastings, sensible of what he suffers from this register of acts and +opinions, has endeavored to discredit and ruin what remains of it. He +refuses, in his defence to the House of Commons, in letters to the Court +of Directors, in various writings and declarations, he refuses to be +tried by his own recorded declarations; he refuses to be bound by his +own opinions, delivered under his own hand. He knows that he and the +record cannot exist together. He knows that what remains of the written +constitution which he has not destroyed is enough to destroy him. He +claims a privilege of systematic inconstancy, a privilege of +prevarication, a privilege of contradiction,--a privilege of not only +changing his conduct, but the principles of his conduct, whenever it +suits his occasions. But I hope your Lordships will show the destroyers +of that wise constitution, and the destroyers of those records which are +to be the securities against malversation in office, the discoverers and +avengers of it, that whoever destroys the discoverer establishes the +iniquity; that, therefore, your Lordships will bind him to his own +declarations, given on record under his own hand; that you will say to +this unfaithful servant of the Company, what was said to another +unfaithful person upon a far less occasion by a far greater authority, +"Out of thy own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant." + + * * * * * + +Having gone through what I have been instructed might be necessary to +state to your Lordships concerning the Company's constitution, (I mean +the real inside, and not the shell of its constitution,)--having stated +the abuses that existed in it,--having stated how Mr. Hastings +endeavored to perpetuate and to increase and to profit of the abuse, and +how he has systematically endeavored to destroy, and has in some +instances in fact destroyed, many things truly excellent in that +constitution,--if I have not wasted your time in explanation of matters +that you are already well acquainted with, I shall next beg leave to +state to you the abuse in some particulars of the other part of the +public authority which the Company acquired over the natives of India, +in virtue of the royal charter of the present Mogul emperor, in the year +1766 [1765?]. + +My Lords, that you may the better judge of the abuse Mr. Hastings has +made of the powers vested in him, it will be expedient to consider a +little who the people are to whose prejudice he has abused these powers. +I shall explain this point with as much brevity as is consistent with +the distinctness with which I mean to bring the whole before your +Lordships; and I beg to observe to you that this previous discourse, +rather explanatory than accusatorial, (if I may use the expression,) is +meant rather to elucidate the nature of the matter to come before you in +regular charges than as proof of the charges themselves. + +I know that a good deal of latitude is allowed to advocates, when +opening a cause in a private court, to indulge themselves in their +narratives leading to the charges they intend to bring. They are not +always called to the strictest account for such prefatory matter, +because the court, when it comes to judge, sifts and distinguishes it +from the points to be strictly proved, and on whose merits the cause +relies. But I wish your Lordships to know, that, with the high opinion I +have of your gravity, (and it is impossible for a man to conceive a +higher,) and sensible of the weight of those I represent at this place, +namely, the Commons of Great Britain, I should be sorry that any one +substantial fact, even in this explanatory opening, or even the color of +the fact, should be alleged, which, when called upon, I should not be +ready to make good to you by proof,--I mean, by proof adapted to its +nature: public opinion, by evidence of public opinion; by record, that +to which record is applicable; by oral testimony, things to which oral +testimony alone can be produced; and, last of all, that which is matter +of historic proof, by historic evidence. This I hope to do with the +usual allowance to errors and mistakes, which is the claim of human +infirmity. + +Then, my Lords, two distinct people inhabit India. Two sorts of people +inhabit the same country, as totally distinct from each other, in +characters, lives, opinions, prejudices, and manners, as the inhabitants +of countries most remote from each other. For both of these descriptions +Mr. Hastings was bound to provide equally, agreeable to the terms of +the charter which the Company received from the lawful governing power +of that country: a charter received at its own solicitation; a charter +not forced upon us by a superior power, but given at the immediate +solicitation of the principal servants belonging to the Company; a +charter solemnly accepted by the Company, and by them, I am very sorry +to say, little regarded,--or, at least, little regarded by their +principal servants. + +My Lords, the first description of people who are subjected virtually to +the British empire through those mediums which I have described to you +are the original inhabitants of Hindostan, who have in all time, and +beyond all the eras which we use, (I mean always the two grand eras +excepted,) been the aboriginal inhabitants and proprietors of that +country,--with manners, religion, customs, and usages appropriated to +themselves, and little resembling those of the rest of mankind. This +description of men is commonly called Gentoos. The system and principle +of that government is locality. Their laws, their manners, their +religion are all local. + +Their legislator, whoever he was, (for who he was is a matter lost in +the mists of a most obscure antiquity,) had it as a great leading +principle of his policy to connect the people with their soil. +Accordingly, by one of those anomalies which a larger acquaintance with +our species daily discovers, and which perhaps an attentive reflection +might explain in the nature of man, this aboriginal people of +India,--who are the softest in their manners of any of our race, +approaching almost to feminine tenderness,--who are formed +constitutionally benevolent, and, in many particulars, made to fill a +larger circle of benevolence than our morals take in,--who extend their +good-will to the whole animal creation,--these people are, of all +nations, the most unalliable to any other part of mankind. They cannot, +the highest orders of them, at least, cannot, come into contact with any +other. That bond which is one of the chief instruments of society, and +which, supporting the individual, connects the species, can have no +existence with them: I mean the convivial bond. That race can be held to +no other by that great link of life. No Hindoo can mix at meals even +with those on whom he depends for the meat he eats. This circumstance +renders it difficult for us to enter with due sympathy into their +concerns, or for them to enter into ours, even when we meet on the same +ground. But there are other circumstances which render our intercourse, +in our mutual relation, very full of difficulty. The sea is between us. +The mass of that element, which, by appearing to disconnect, unites +mankind, is to them a forbidden road. It is a great gulf fixed between +you and them,--not so much that elementary gulf, but that gulf which +manners, opinions, and laws have radicated in the very nature of the +people. None of their high castes, without great danger to his +situation, religion, rank, and estimation, can ever pass the sea; and +this forbids, forever, all direct communication between that country and +this. That material and affecting circumstance, my Lords, makes it ten +times more necessary, since they cannot come to us, to keep a strict eye +upon all persons who go to them. It imposes upon us a stricter duty to +guard with a firm and powerful vigilance those whose principles of +conscience weaken their principles of self-defence. If we undertake to +govern the inhabitants of such a country, we must govern them upon their +own principles and maxims, and not upon ours. We must not think to force +them into the narrow circle of our ideas; we must extend ours to take in +their system of opinions and rites, and the necessities which result +from both: all change on their part is absolutely impracticable. We have +more versatility of character and manners, and it is we who must +conform. We know what the empire of opinion is in human nature. I had +almost said that the law of opinion was human nature itself. It is, +however, the strongest principle in the composition of the frame of the +human mind; and more of the happiness and unhappiness of mankind resides +in that inward principle than in all external circumstances put +together. But if such is the empire of opinion even amongst us, it has a +pure, unrestrained, complete, and despotic power amongst them. The +variety of balanced opinions in our minds weakens the force of each: for +in Europe, sometimes, the laws of religion differ from the laws of the +land; sometimes the laws of the land differ from our laws of honor; our +laws of honor are full of caprice, differing from those other laws, and +sometimes differing from themselves: but there the laws of religion, the +laws of the land, and the laws of honor are all united and consolidated +in one invariable system, and bind men by eternal and indissoluble bonds +to the rules of what, amongst them, is called his _caste_. + +It may be necessary just to state to your Lordships what a _caste_ is. +The Gentoo people, from the oldest time, have been distributed into +various orders, all of them hereditary: these family orders are called +castes; these castes are the fundamental part of the constitution of +the Gentoo commonwealth, both in their church and in their state. + +Your Lordships are born to hereditary honors in the chief of your +houses; the rest mix with the people. With the Gentoos, they who are +born noble can never fall into any second rank. They are divided into +four orders,--the Brahmins, the Chittery, the Bice, and the Soodur, with +many subdivisions in each. An eternal barrier is placed between them. +The higher cannot pass into the lower; the lower cannot rise into the +higher. They have all their appropriated rank, place, and situation, and +their appropriated religion too, which is essentially different in its +rites and ceremonies, sometimes in its object, in each of those castes. +A man who is born in the highest caste, which at once unites what would +be tantamount in this country to the dignity of the peerage and the +ennobled sanctity of the episcopal character,--the Brahmin, who sustains +these characters, if he loses his caste, does not fall into an inferior +order, the Chittery, the Bice, or the Soodur, but he is thrown at once +out of all ranks of society. He is precipitated from the proudest +elevation of respect and honor to a bottomless abyss of contempt,--from +glory to infamy,--from purity to pollution,--from sanctity to +profanation. No honest occupation is open to him; his children are no +longer his children; their parent loses that name; the conjugal bond is +dissolved. Few survive this most terrible of all calamities. To speak to +an Indian of his caste is to speak to him of his all. + +But the rule of caste has, with them, given one power more to fortune +than the manners of any other nation were ever known to do. For it is +singular, the caste may be lost, not only by certain voluntary crimes, +but by certain involuntary sufferings, disgraces, and pollutions, that +are utterly out of their power to prevent. Those who have patiently +submitted to imprisonment,--those who have not flinched from the +scourge,--those who have been as unmoved as marble under torture,--those +who have laughed at the menaces of death itself,--have instantly given +way, when it has been attempted to subject them to any of those +pollutions by which they lose caste. To this caste they are bound by all +laws of all descriptions, human and divine; and inveterate usage has +radicated it in them to a depth and with an adhesion with which no other +known prejudice has been known to exist. Tyranny is therefore armed +against them with a greater variety of weapons than are found in its +ordinary stores. + +This, amongst a thousand other considerations, speaks to us in very +authoritative language with what care and circumspection we ought to +handle people so delicate. In the course of this trial your Lordships +will see with horror the use which Mr. Hastings made, through several of +his wicked and abominable instruments, chosen from the natives +themselves, of these superadded means of oppression. I shall prove, in +the course of this trial, that he has put his own menial domestic +servant,--a wretch totally dependent,--a wretch grossly ignorant,--the +common instrument of his bribery and peculation,--he has enthroned him, +I say, on the first seat of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which was to +decide upon the castes of all those people, including their rank, their +family, their honor, and their happiness here, and, in their judgment, +their salvation hereafter. Under the awe of this power, no man dared to +breathe a murmur against his tyranny. Fortified in this security, he +says, "Who complains of me!"--"No, none of us dare complain of you," +says the trembling Gentoo. "No! your menial servant has my caste in his +power."--I shall not trouble your Lordships with mentioning others; it +was enough that Cantoo Baboo, and Ginga Govind Sing, names to which your +Lordships are to be familiarized hereafter,--it is enough that those +persons had the caste and character of all the people of Bengal in their +hands. Through them he has taken effectual security against all +complaint. Your Lordships will hence discern how very necessary it is +become that some other personage should intervene, should take upon him +their representation, and by his freedom and his power should supply the +defects arising from their servitude and their impotence. The Commons of +Great Britain charge themselves with this character. + +My Lords, these Gentoo people are the original people of Hindostan. They +are still, beyond comparison, the most numerous. Faults this nation may +have; but God forbid we should pass judgment upon people who framed +their laws and institutions prior to our insect origin of yesterday! +With all the faults of their nature and errors of their institutions, +their institutions, which act so powerfully on their natures, have two +material characteristics which entitle them to respect: first, great +force and stability; and next, excellent moral and civil effects. + +Their stability has been proved by their holding on an uniform tenor for +a duration commensurate to all the empires with which history has made +us acquainted; and they still exist in a green old age, with all the +reverence of antiquity, and with all the passion that people have to +novelty and change. They have stood firm on their ancient base; they +have cast their roots deep in their native soil,--perhaps because they +have never spread them anywhere else than in their native soil. Their +blood, their opinions, and the soil of their country make one consistent +piece, admitting no mixture, no adulteration, no improvement: +accordingly, their religion has made no converts, their dominion has +made no conquests; but in proportion as their laws and opinions were +concentred within themselves, and hindered from spreading abroad, they +have doubled their force at home. They have existed in spite of +Mahomedan and Portuguese bigotry,--in spite of Tartarian and Arabian +tyranny,--in spite of all the fury of successive foreign conquest,--in +spite of a more formidable foe, the avarice of the English dominion. + +I have spoken now, my Lords, of what their principles are, their laws +and religious institutions, in point of force and stability; I have +given instances of their force in the very circumstance in which all the +institutions of mankind in other respects show their weakness. They have +existed, when the country has been otherwise subdued. This alone +furnishes full proof that there must be some powerful influence +resulting from them beyond all our little fashionable theories upon such +subjects. + +The second consideration in the Gentoo institutions is their beneficial +effects, moral and civil. The policy, civil or religious, or, as theirs +is, composed of both, that makes a people happy and a state flourishing, +(putting further and higher considerations out of the way, which are not +now before us,) must undoubtedly, so far as human considerations +prevail, be a policy wisely conceived in any scheme of government. It +is confirmed by all observation, that, where the Hindoo religion has +been established, that country has been flourishing. We have seen some +patterns remaining to this day. The very country which is to be the +subject of your Lordships' judicial inquiry is an instance, by an entire +change of government, of the different effects resulting from the +rapacity of a foreign hand, and the paternal, lenient, protecting arm of +a native government, formed on the long connection of prejudice and +power. I shall give you its state under the Hindoo government from a +book written by a very old servant of the Company, whose authority is of +the greater weight, as the very destruction of all this scheme of +government is the great object of the author. + +The author, Mr. Holwell, divides the country of Bengal into its +different provinces. He supposes what they then paid to the supreme +government; he supposes what the country is capable of yielding; and his +project is, to change entirely the application of the revenues of the +country, and to secure the whole into the hands of government. In +enumerating these provinces, at last he comes to the province of +Burdwan. + +"In truth," (says this author,) "it would be almost cruelty to molest +this happy people; for in this district are the only vestiges of the +beauty, purity, piety, regularity, equity, and strictness of the ancient +Hindostan government. Here the property as well as the liberty of the +people are inviolate. Here no robberies are heard of, either public or +private. The traveller, either with or without merchandise, becomes the +immediate care of the government, which allots him guards, without any +expense, to conduct him from stage to stage; and these are accountable +for the safety and accommodation of his person and effects. At the end +of the first stage he is delivered over, with certain benevolent +formalities, to the guards of the next, who, after interrogating the +traveller as to the usage he had received in his journey, dismiss the +first guard with a written certificate of their behavior, and a receipt +for the traveller and his effects; which certificate and receipt are +returnable to the commanding officer of the first stage, who registers +the same, and regularly reports it to the rajah. + +"In this form the traveller is passed through the country; and if he +only passes, he is not suffered to be at any expense for food, +accommodation, or carriage for his merchandise or baggage: but it is +otherwise, if he is permitted to make any residence in one place above +three days, unless occasioned by sickness, or any unavoidable accident. +If anything is lost in this district,--for instance, a bag of money or +other valuables,--the person who finds it hangs it upon the next tree, +and gives notice to the nearest _chowkey_, or place of guard, the +officer of which orders immediate publication of the same by beat of +_tomtom_, or drum." + +These, my Lords, are the effects universally produced by the Hindoo +polity throughout that vast region, before it was distorted and put out +of frame by the barbarism of foreign conquests. Some choice, reserved +spots continued to flourish under it to the year 1756. Some remained +till Mr. Hastings obtained the means of utterly defacing them. Such was +the prospect of Benares under the happy government of Bulwant Sing. +Such was the happy state of the same Benares in the happy days of Cheyt +Sing, until, in the year 1781, Mr. Hastings introduced _his_ reform into +that country. + +Having stated the general outline of the manners of the original people +of Hindostan, having stated the general principles of their policy, +which either prohibit connection, or oblige us to a connection very +different from what we have hitherto used towards them, I shall leave it +to your Lordships' judgment whether you will suffer such fair monuments +of wisdom and benevolence to be defaced by the rapacity of your +governors. I hope I have not gone out of my way to bring before you any +circumstance relative to the Gentoo religion and manners, further than +as they relate to the spirit of our government over them; for though +there never was such food for the curiosity of the human mind as is +found in the manners of this people, I pass it totally over. + + * * * * * + +I wish to divide this preliminary view into six periods; and your +Lordships will consider that of the Hindoos, which I have now mentioned, +as the first era. + +The second era is an era of great misfortune to that country, and to the +world in general: I mean, the time of the prophet Mahomed. The +enthusiasm which animated his first followers, the despotic power which +religion obtained through that enthusiasm, and the advantages derived +from both over the enervated great empires, and broken, disunited, +lesser governments of the world, extended the influence of that proud +and domineering sect from the banks of the Ganges to the banks of the +Loire. + +This second period is the era of the Arabs. These people made a great +and lasting impression on India. They established, very early, Mahomedan +sovereigns in all parts of it, particularly in the kingdom of Bengal, +which is the principal object of our present inquiry. They held that +kingdom for a long series of years, under a dynasty of thirty-three +kings,--having begun their conquest and founded their dominion in Bengal +not very long after the time of their prophet. + +These people, when they first settled in India, attempted, with the +ferocious arm of their prophetic sword, to change the religion and +manners of that country; but at length perceiving that their cruelty +wearied out itself, and never could touch the constancy of the +sufferers, they permitted the native people of the country to remain in +quiet, and left the Mahomedan religion to operate upon them as it could, +by appealing to the ambition or avarice of the great, or by taking the +lower people, who had lost their castes, into this new sect, and thus, +from the refuse of the Gentoo, increasing the bounds of the Mahomedan +religion. They left many of the ancient rajahs of the country possessed +of an inferior sovereignty; and where the strength of the country, or +other circumstances, would not permit this subordination, they suffered +them to continue in a separate state, approaching to independence, if +not wholly independent. + +The Mahomedans, during the period of the Arabs, never expelled or +destroyed the native Gentoo nobility, zemindars, or landholders of the +country. They all, or almost all, remained fixed in their places, +properties, and dignities; and the shadows of several of them remain +under our jurisdiction. + +The next, which is the third era, is an era the more necessary to +observe upon, because Mr. Hastings has made many applications to it in +his defence before the Commons: namely, the invasion of the Tartars, or +the era of Tamerlane. These Tartars did not establish themselves on the +ruins of the Hindoos. Their conquests were over the other Mahomedans: +for Tamerlane invaded Hindostan, as he invaded other countries, in the +character of the great reformer of the Mahomedan religion. He came as a +sort of successor to the rights of the Prophet, upon a divine title. He +struck at all the Mahomedan princes who reigned at that time. He +considered them as apostates, or at least as degenerated from the faith, +and as tyrants abusing their power. To facilitate his conquests over +these, he was often obliged to come to a sort of a composition with the +people of the country he invaded. Tamerlane had neither time nor means +nor inclination to dispossess the ancient rajahs of the country. + +Your Lordships will observe that I propose nothing more than to give you +an idea of the principles of policy which prevailed in these several +revolutions, and not an history of the furious military achievements of +a barbarous invader. Historians, indeed, are generally very liberal of +their information concerning everything but what we ought to be very +anxious to know. They tell us that India was conquered by Tamerlane, and +conquered in such a year. The year will be found to coincide somewhere, +I believe, with the end of the fourteenth century. Thinking the mere +fact as of little moment, and its chronology as nothing, but thinking +the policy very material, which, indeed, is to be collected only here +and there, in various books written with various views, I shall beg +leave to lay before you a very remarkable circumstance relative to that +policy, and taken from the same book to which I formerly referred, Mr. +Holwell's. + +"When the Hindoo rajahs, or princes of Hindostan, submitted to +Tamerlane, it was on these capital stipulations: that the emperor should +marry a daughter of Rajah Cheyt Sing's house; that the head of this +house should be in perpetuity governors of the citadel of Agra, and +anoint the king at his coronation; and that the emperors should never +impose the _jessera_ (or poll-tax) upon the Hindoos." + +Here was a conqueror, as he is called, coming in upon terms; mixing his +blood with that of the native nobility of the country he conquered, and, +in consequence of this mixture, placing them in succession upon the +throne of the country he subdued; making one of them even hereditary +constable of the capital of his kingdom, and thereby putting his +posterity as a pledge into their hands. What is full as remarkable, he +freed the Hindoos forever from that tax which the Mahomedans have laid +upon every country over which the sword of Mahomet prevailed,--namely, a +capitation tax upon all who do not profess the religion of the +Mahomedans. But the Hindoos, by express charter, were exempted from that +mark of servitude, and thereby declared not to be a conquered people. +The native princes, in all their transactions with the Mogul government, +carried the evident marks of this free condition in a noble independency +of spirit. Within their own districts the authority of many of them +seemed entire. We are often led into mistakes concerning the government +of Hindostan, by comparing it with those governments where the prince is +armed with a full, speculative, entire authority, and where the great +people have, with great titles, no privileges at all, or, having +privileges, have those privileges only as subjects. But in Hindostan the +modes, the degrees, the circumstances of subjection varied infinitely. +In some places hardly a trace at all of subjection was to be discerned; +in some the rajahs were almost assessors of the throne, as in this case +of the Rajah Cheyt Sing. These circumstances mark, that Tamerlane, +however he may be indicated by the odious names of Tartar and Conqueror, +was no barbarian; that the people who submitted to him did not submit +with the abject submission of slaves to the sword of a conqueror, but +admitted a great supreme emperor, who was just, prudent, and politic, +instead of the ferocious, oppressive, lesser Mahomedan sovereigns, who +had before forced their way by the sword into the country. + +That country resembled more a republic of princes with a great chief at +their head than a territory in absolute, uniform, systematic subjection +from one end to the other,--in which light Mr. Hastings and others of +late have thought proper to consider it. According to them, if a +subordinate prince, like Cheyt Sing, was not ready to pay any exorbitant +sum on instant demand, or submit to any extent of fine which should be +inflicted upon him by the mere will of the person who called _robbery_ a +_fine_, and who took the measure of that fine without either considering +the means of paying or the degree of delinquency that justified it, +their properties, liberties, and lives were instantly forfeited. The +rajahs of that country were armed; they had fortresses for their +security; they had troops. In the receipt of both their own and the +imperial revenue, their securities for justice were in their own hands: +but the policy of the Mogul princes very rarely led them to push that +people to such extremity as it is supposed that on every slight occasion +we have a right to push those who are the subjects of our pretended +conquest. + +Mr. Holwell throws much light on this policy, which became the standing +law of the empire. + +In the unfortunate wars which followed the death of Mauz-o-Din, "Sevajee +Cheyt Sing," (the great rajah we have just mentioned,) "with a select +body of Rajpoots, by a well-conducted retreat recovered Agra, and was +soon after reconciled to the king [the Mogul] and admitted to his +favor,--conformable to the steady policy of this government, in keeping +a good understanding with the principal rajahs, and more especially with +the head of this house, who is ever capable of raising and fomenting a +very formidable party upon any intended revolution in this despotic and +precarious monarchy." + +You see that it was the monarchy that was precarious, not the rights of +the subordinate chiefs. Your Lordships see, that, notwithstanding our +ideas of Oriental despotism, under the successors of Tamerlane, these +principal rajahs, instead of being called wretches, and treated as such, +as Mr. Hastings has thought it becoming to call and treat them, when +they were in arms against their sovereign, were regarded with respect, +and were admitted to easy reconciliations; because, in reality, in their +occasional hostilities, they were not properly rebellious subjects, but +princes often asserting their natural rights and the just constitution +of the country. + +This view of the policy which prevailed during the dynasty of Tamerlane +naturally conducts me to the next, which is the fourth era in this +history: I mean the era of the Emperor Akbar. He was the first of the +successors of Tamerlane who obtained possession of Bengal. It is easy to +show of what nature his conquest was. It was over the last Mahomedan +dynasty. He, too, like his predecessor, Tamerlane, conquered the prince, +not the country. It is a certain mark that it was not a conquered +country in the sense in which we commonly call a country conquered, that +the natives, great men and landholders, continued in every part in the +possession of their estates, and of the jurisdictions annexed to them. +It is true, that, in the several wars for the succession to the Mogul +empire, and in other of their internal wars, severe revenges were taken, +which bore resemblance to those taken in the wars of the Roses in this +country, where it was the common course, in the heat of blood,--"Off +with his head!--so much for Buckingham!" Yet, where the country again +recovered its form and settlement, it recovered the spirit of a mild +government. Whatever rigor was used with regard to the Mahomedan +adventurers from Persia, Turkey, and other parts, who filled the places +of servile grandeur in the Mogul court, the Hindoos were a favored, +protected, gently treated people. + +The next, which is the fifth era, is a troubled and vexatious +period,--the era of the independent Subahs of Bengal. Five of these +subahs, or viceroys, governed from about the year 1717, or thereabouts. +They grew into independence partly by the calamities and concussions of +that empire, which happened during the disputes for the succession of +Tamerlane, and partly, and indeed principally, by the great shook which +the empire received when Thamas Kouli Khan broke into that country, +carried off its revenues, overturned the throne, and massacred not only +many of the chief nobility, but almost all the inhabitants of the +capital city. This rude shock, which that empire was never able to +recover, enabled the viceroys to become independent; but their +independence led to their ruin. Those who had usurped upon their masters +had servants who usurped upon them. Aliverdy Khan murdered his master, +and opened a way into Bengal for a body of foreign invaders, the +Mahrattas, who cruelly harassed the country for several years. Their +retreat was at length purchased, and by a sum which is supposed to +amount to five millions sterling. By this purchase he secured the +exhausted remains of an exhausted kingdom, and left it to his grandson, +Surajah Dowlah, in peace and poverty. On the fall of Surajah Dowlah, in +1756, commenced the last, which is the sixth,--the era of the British +empire. + +On the fifth dynasty I have only to remark to your Lordships, that at +its close the Hindoo chiefs were almost everywhere found in possession +of the country; that, although Aliverdy Khan was a cruel tyrant, though +he was an untitled usurper, though he racked and tormented the people +under his government, urged, however, by an apparent necessity from an +invading army of one hundred thousand horse in his dominions,--yet, +under him, the rajahs still preserved their rank, their dignity, their +castles, their houses, their seigniories, all the insignia of their +situation, and always the right, sometimes also the means, of protecting +their subordinate people, till the last and unfortunate era of 1756. + +Through the whole of this sketch of history I wish to impress but one +great and important truth upon your minds: namely, that, through all +these revolutions in government and changes in power, an Hindoo polity, +and the spirit of an Hindoo government, did more or less exist in that +province with which he was concerned, until it was finally to be +destroyed by Mr. Hastings. + + * * * * * + +My Lords, I have gone through all the eras precedent to those of the +British power in India, and am come to the first of those eras. Mr. +Hastings existed in India, and was a servant of the Company before that +era, and had his education between both. He is an antediluvian with +regard to the British dominion in Bengal. He was coexistent with all the +acts and monuments of that revolution, and had no small share in all the +abuses of that abusive period which preceded his actual government. Bat +as it was during that transit from Eastern to Western power that most of +the abuses had their origin, it will not be perfectly easy for your +Lordships thoroughly to enter into the nature and circumstances of them +without an explanation of the principal events that happened from the +year 1756 until the commencement of Mr. Hastings's government,--during a +good part of which time we do not often lose sight of him. If I find it +agreeable to your Lordships, if I find that you wish to know these +annals of Indian suffering and British delinquency, if you desire that I +should unfold the series of the transactions from 1756 to the period of +Mr. Hastings's government in 1771, that you may know how far he promoted +what was good, how far he rectified what was evil, how far he abstained +from innovation in tyranny, and contented himself with the old stock of +abuse, your Lordships will have the goodness to consult the strength +which from late indisposition, begins almost to fail me. And if you +think the explanation is not time lost in this new world and in this new +business, I shall venture to sketch out, as briefly and with as much +perspicuity as I can give them, the leading events of that obscure and +perplexed period which intervened between the British settlement in 1757 +and Mr. Hastings's government. If I should be so happy as to succeed in +that attempt, your Lordships' minds will be prepared for hearing this +cause. Then your Lordships will have a clear view of the origin and +nature of the abuses which prevailed in that government before Mr. +Hastings obtained his greatest power, and since that time; and then we +shall be able to enter fully and explicitly into the nature of the +cause: and I should hope that it will pave the way and make everything +easy for your subsequent justice. + +I therefore wish to stop at this period, in which Mr. Hastings became +active in the service, pretty near the time when he began his political +career: and here, my Lords, I pause, wishing your indulgence at such +time as will suit your convenience for pursuing the rest of this +eventful history. + + + + +SPEECH + +IN + +OPENING THE IMPEACHMENT. + +SECOND DAY: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1788. + + +My Lords,--In what I had the honor of laying before your Lordships +yesterday, and in what I may further trouble you with to-day, I wish to +observe a distinction, which if I did not lay down so perfectly as I +ought, I hope I shall now be able to mark it out with sufficient +exactness and perspicuity. + +First, I beg leave to observe that what I shall think necessary to +state, as matter of preliminary explanation, in order to give your +Lordships a true idea of the scene of action, of the instruments which +Mr. Hastings employed, and the effects which they produced,--all this I +wish to be distinguished from matter brought to criminate. Even the +matter, as stated by me, which may be hereafter brought to criminate, so +far as it falls to my share at present, is only to be considered, in +this stage of the business, as merely illustrative. Your Lordships are +to expect, as undoubtedly you will require, substantial matter of +crimination to be laid open for that purpose at the moment when the +evidence to each charge is ready to be produced to you. Thus your +Lordships will easily separate historical illustration from criminal +opening. For instance, if I stated yesterday to your Lordships, as I +did, the tyranny and cruelty of one of the usurping viceroys, whose +usurpation and whose vices led the way to the destruction of his country +and the introduction of a foreign power, I do not mean to charge Mr. +Hastings with any part of that guilt: what bears upon Mr. Hastings is +his having avowedly looked to such a tyrant and such a usurper as his +model, and followed that pernicious example with a servile fidelity. +When I have endeavored to lay open to your Lordships anything abusive, +or leading to abuse, from defects or errors in the constitution of the +Company's service, I did not mean to criminate Mr. Hastings on any part +of those defects and errors: I state them to show that he took advantage +of the imperfections of the institution to lot in his abuse of the power +with which he was intrusted. If, for a further instance, I have stated +that in general the service of the India Company was insufficient in +legal pay or emolument and abundant in the means of illegal profit, I do +not state that defect as owing to Mr. Hastings; but I state it as a +fact, to show in what manner and on what pretences he did, fraudulently, +corruptly, and for the purposes of his own ambition, take advantage of +that defect, and, under color of reformation, make an illegal, partial, +corrupt rise of emoluments to certain favored persons without regard to +the interests of the service at large,--increasing rather than lessening +the means of illicit emolument, as well as loading the Company with many +heavy and ruinous expenses in avowed salaries and allowances. + +Having requested your Lordships to keep in mind, which I trust you would +do even without my taking the liberty of suggesting it to you, these +necessary distinctions, I shall revert to the period at which I closed +yesterday, that great and memorable period which has remotely given +occasion to the trial of this day. + + * * * * * + +My Lords, to obtain empire is common; to govern it well has been rare +indeed. To chastise the guilt of those who have been instruments of +imperial sway over other nations by the high superintending justice of +the sovereign state has not many striking examples among any people. +Hitherto we have not furnished our contingent to the records of honor. +We have been confounded with the herd of conquerors. Our dominion has +been a vulgar thing. But we begin to emerge; and I hope that a severe +inspection of ourselves, a purification of our own offences, a +lustration of the exorbitances of our own power, is a glory reserved to +this time, to this nation, and to this august tribunal. + +The year 1756 is a memorable era in the history of the world: it +introduced a new nation from the remotest verge of the Western world, +with new manners, new customs, new institutions, new opinions, new laws, +into the heart of Asia. + +My Lords, if, in that part of Asia whose native regular government was +then broken up,--if, at the moment when it had fallen into darkness and +confusion from having become the prey and almost the sport of the +ambition of its home-born grandees,--if, in that gloomy season, a star +had risen from the West, that would prognosticate a better generation, +and would shed down the sweet influences of order, peace, science, and +security to the natives of that vexed and harassed country, we should +have been covered with genuine honor. It would have been a beautiful and +noble spectacle to mankind. + +Indeed, something might have been expected of the kind, when a new +dominion emanated from a learned and enlightened part of the world in +the most enlightened period of its existence. Still more might it have +been expected, when that dominion was found to issue from the bosom of a +free country, that it would have carried with it the full benefit of the +vital principle of the British liberty and Constitution, though its +municipal forms were not communicable, or at least the advantage of the +liberty and spirit of the British Constitution. Had this been the case, +(alas! it was not,) you would have been saved the trouble of this day. +It might have been expected, too, that, in that enlightened state of the +world, influenced by the best religion, and from an improved description +of that best religion, (I mean the Christian reformed religion,) that we +should have done honor to Europe, to letters, to laws, to +religion,--done honor to all the circumstances of which in this island +we boast ourselves, at the great and critical moment of that revolution. + +My Lords, it has happened otherwise. It is now left for us to repair our +former errors. Resuming the history where I broke off yesterday by your +indulgence to my weakness,--Surajah Dowlah was the adopted grandson of +Aliverdy Khan, a cruel and ferocious tyrant, the manner of whose +acquisition of power I have already stated. He came too young and +unexperienced to that throne of usurpation. It was a usurpation yet +green in the country, and the country felt uneasy under it. It had not +the advantage of that prescriptive usage, that inveterate habit, that +traditionary opinion, which a long continuance of any system of +government secures to it. The only real security which Surajah Dowlah's +government could possess was the security of an army. But the great aim +of this prince and his predecessor was to supply the weakness of his +government by the strength of his purse; he therefore amassed treasures +by all ways and on all hands. But as the Indian princes, in general, are +as unwisely tenacious of their treasure as they are rapacious in getting +it, the more money he amassed, the more he felt the effects of poverty. +The consequence was, that their armies were unpaid, and, being unpaid or +irregularly paid, were undisciplined, disorderly, unfaithful. In this +situation, a young prince, confiding more in the appearances than +examining into the reality of things, undertook (from motives which the +House of Commons, with all their industry to discover the circumstances, +have found it difficult to make out) to attack a little miserable +trading fort that we had erected at Calcutta. He succeeded in that +attempt only because success in that attempt was easy. A close +imprisonment of the whole settlement followed,--not owing, I believe, to +the direct will of the prince, but, what will always happen when the +will of the prince is but too much the law, to a gross abuse of his +power by his lowest servants,--by which one hundred and twenty or more +of our countrymen perished miserably in a dungeon, by a fate too +tragical for me to be desirous to relate, and too well known to stand in +need of it. + +At the time that this event happened, there was at the same time a +concurrence of other events, which, from this partial and momentary +weakness, displayed the strength of Great Britain in Asia. For some +years before, the French and English troops began, on the coast of +Coromandel, to exhibit the power, force, and efficacy of European +discipline. As we daily looked for a war with France, our settlements on +that coast were in some degree armed. Lord Pigot, then Governor of +Madras,--Lord Pigot, the preserver and the victim of the British +dominion in Asia,--detached such of the Company's force as could he +collected and spared, and such of his Majesty's ships as were on that +station, to the assistance of Calcutta. And--to hasten this history to +its conclusion--the daring and commanding genius of Clive, the patient +and firm ability of Watson, the treachery of Mir Jaffier, and the battle +of Plassey gave us at once the patronage of a kingdom and the command of +all its treasures. We negotiated with Mir Jaffier for the viceroyal +throne of his master. On that throne we seated him. And we obtained, on +our part, immense sums of money. We obtained a million sterling for the +Company, upwards of a million for individuals, in the whole a sum of +about two millions two hundred and thirty thousand pounds for various +purposes, from the prince whom we had set up. We obtained, too, the town +of Calcutta more completely than we had before possessed it, and the +twenty-four districts adjoining. This was the first small seminal +principle of the immense territorial acquisitions we have since made in +India. + +Many circumstances of this acquisition I pass by. There is a sacred veil +to be drawn over the beginnings of all governments. Ours in India had an +origin like those which time has sanctified by obscurity. Time, in the +origin of most governments, has thrown this mysterious veil over them; +prudence and discretion make it necessary to throw something of the same +drapery over more recent foundations, in which otherwise the fortune, +the genius, the talents, and military virtue of this nation never shone +more conspicuously. But whatever necessity might hide or excuse or +palliate, in the acquisition of power, a wise nation, when it has once +made a revolution upon its own principles and for its own ends, rests +there. The first step to empire is revolution, by which power is +conferred; the next is good laws, good order, good institutions, to give +that power stability. I am sorry to say that the reverse of this policy +was the principle on which the gentlemen in India acted. It was such as +tended to make the new government as unstable as the old. By the vast +sums of money acquired by individuals upon this occasion, by the immense +sudden prodigies of fortune, it was discovered that a revolution in +Bengal was a mine much more easily worked and infinitely more productive +than the mines of Potosi and Mexico. It was found that the work was not +only very lucrative, but not at all difficult. Where Clive forded a deep +water upon an unknown bottom, he left a bridge for his successors, over +which the lame could hobble and the blind might grope their way. There +was not at that time a knot of clerks in a counting-house, there was not +a captain of a band of ragged _topasses_, that looked for anything less +than the deposition of subahs and the sale of kingdoms. Accordingly, +this revolution, which ought to have precluded other revolutions, +unfortunately became fruitful of them; and when Lord Clive returned to +Europe, to enjoy his fame and fortune in his own country, there arose +another description of men, who thought that a revolution might be made +upon his revolution, and as lucrative to them as his was to the first +projectors. Scarcely was Mir Jaffier, Lord Olive's nabob, seated on his +_musnud_, than they immediately, or in a short time, projected another +revolution, a revolution which was to unsettle all the former had +settled, a revolution to make way for new disturbances and new wars, and +which led to that long chain of peculation which ever since has +afflicted and oppressed Bengal. + +If ever there was a time when Bengal should have had respite from +internal revolutions, it was this. The governor forced upon the natives +was now upon the throne. All the great lords of the country, both +Gentoos and Mahomedans, were uneasy, discontented, and disobedient, and +some absolutely in arms, and refusing to recognize the prince we had set +up. An imminent invasion of the Mahrattas, an actual invasion headed by +the son of the Mogul, the revenues on account of the late shock very ill +collected even where the country was in some apparent quiet, an hungry +treasury at Calcutta, an empty treasury at Moorshedabad,--everything +demanded tranquillity, and with it order and economy. In this situation +it was resolved to make a new and entirely mercenary revolution, and to +set up to sale the government, secured to its present possessor by every +tie of public faith and every sacred obligation which could bind or +influence mankind. This second revolution forms that period in the +Bengal history which had the most direct influence upon all the +subsequent transactions. It introduces some of the persons who were most +active in the succeeding scenes, and from that time to this has given +its tone and character to the British affairs and government. It marks +and specifies the origin and true principle of all the abuses which Mr. +Hastings was afterwards appointed to correct, and which the Commons +charge that he continued and aggravated: namely, the venal depositions +and venal exaltations of the country powers; the taking of bribes and +corrupt presents from all parties in those changes; the vitiating and +maiming the Company's records; the suppression of public correspondence; +corrupt combinations and conspiracies; perfidy in negotiation +established into principle; acts of the most atrocious wickedness +justified upon purity of intention; mock-trials and collusive acquittals +among the parties in common guilt; and in the end, the Court of +Directors supporting the scandalous breach of their own orders. I shall +state the particulars of this second revolution more at large. + +Soon after the revolution which had seated Mir Jaffier on the viceroyal +throne, the spirit of the Mogul empire began, as it were, to make one +faint struggle before it finally expired. The then heir to that throne, +escaping from the hands of those who had held his father prisoner, had +put himself at the head of several chiefs collected under the standard +of his house, and appeared in force on the frontiers of the provinces of +Bengal and Bahar, upon both which he made some impression. This alarmed +the new powers, the Nabob Mir Jaffier, and the Presidency of Calcutta; +and as in a common cause, and by the terms of their mutual alliance, +they took the field against him. The Nabob's eldest son and +heir-apparent commanded in chief. Major Calliaud commanded the English +forces under the government of Calcutta. Mr. Holwell was in the +temporary possession of the Presidency. Mr. Vansittart was hourly +expected to supersede him. Mr. Warren Hastings, a young gentleman about +twenty-seven years of age, was Resident for the Company at the durbar, +or court, of Mir Jaffier, our new-created Nabob of Bengal, allied to +this country by the most solemn treaties that can bind men; for which +treaties he had paid, and was then paying, immense sums of money. Mr. +Warren Hastings was the pledge in his hands for the honor of the British +nation, and their fidelity to their engagements. + +In this situation, Mr. Holwell, whom the terrible example of the Black +Hole at Calcutta had not cured of ambition, thought an hour was not to +be lost in accomplishing a revolution and selling the reigning Nabob. + +My Lords, there was in the house of Mir Jaffier, in his court, and in +his family, a man of an intriguing, crafty, subtle, and at the same time +bold, daring, desperate, bloody, and ferocious character, called Cossim +Ali Khan. He was the son-in-law of Mir Jaffier; and he made no other use +of this affinity than to find some means to dethrone and to murder him. +This was the person in whose school of politics Mr. Hastings made his +first studies, and whose conduct he quotes as his example, and for whose +friends, agents, and favorites he has always shown a marked +predilection. This dangerous man was not long without finding persons +who observed his talents with admiration, and who thought fit to employ +him. + +The Council at Calcutta was divided into two departments: one, the +Council in general; the other a Select Committee, which they had +arranged for the better carrying on their political affairs. But the +Select Committee had no power of acting wholly without the Council at +large,--at least, finally and conclusively. The Select Committee +thought otherwise. Between these litigant parties for power I shall not +determine on the merits,--thinking of nothing but the use that was made +of the power, to whomsoever it belonged. This Secret Committee, then, +without communicating with the rest of the Council, formed the plan for +a second revolution. But the concurrence of Major Calliaud, who +commanded the British troops, was essential to the purpose, as it could +not be accomplished without force. Mr. Hastings's assistance was +necessary, as it could not be accomplished without treachery. + +These are the parties concerned in the intended revolution. Mr. Holwell, +who considered himself in possession only of temporary power, was urged +to precipitate the business; for if Mr. Vansittart should arrive before +his plot could be finally put into execution, he would have all the +leading advantages of it, and Mr. Holwell would be considered only as a +secondary instrument. But whilst Mr. Holwell, who originally conceived +this plot, urged forward the execution of it, in order that the chief +share of the profits might fall to him, the Major, and possibly the +Resident, held back, till they might receive the sanction of the +permanent governor, who was hourly expected, with whom one of them was +connected, and who was to carry with him the whole weight of the +authority of this kingdom. This difference produced discussions. Holwell +endeavored by his correspondence to stimulate Calliaud to this +enterprise, which without him could not be undertaken at all. But Major +Calliaud had different views. He concurred inwardly, as he tells us +himself, in all the principles of this intended revolution, in the +propriety and necessity of it. He only wished delay. But he gave such +powerful, solid, and satisfactory reasons, not against the delay, but +the very merits of the design itself, exposing the injustice and the +danger of it, and the impossibility of mending by it their condition in +any respect, as must have damned it in the minds of all rational men: at +least it ought to have damned it forever in his own. But you will see +that Holwell persevered in his plan, and that Major Calliaud thought two +things necessary: first, not wholly to destroy the scheme, which he +tells us he always approved, but to postpone the execution,--and in the +mean time to delude the Nabob by the most strong, direct, and sanguine +assurances of friendship and protection that it was possible to give to +man. + +Whilst the projected revolution stood suspended,--whilst Mr. Holwell +urged it forward, and Mr. Vansittart was expected every day to give it +effect,--whilst Major Calliaud, with this design of ruining the Nabob +lodged in his breast, suspended in execution, and condemned in +principle, kept the fairest face and the most confidential interviews +with that unfortunate prince and his son,--as the operations of the +campaign relaxed, the army drew near to Moorshedabad, the capital, when +a truly extraordinary scene happened, such I am sure the English annals +before that time had furnished no example of, nor will, I trust, in +future. I shall state it as one piece from beginning to end, reserving +the events which intervened; because, as I do not produce any part of +this series for the gratification of historical curiosity, the +con-texture is necessary to demonstrate to your Lordships the spirit of +our Bengal politics, and the necessity of some other sort of judicial +inquiries than those which that government institute for themselves. +The transaction so manifestly marks the character of the whole +proceeding that I hope I shall not be blamed for suspending for a moment +the narrative of the steps taken towards the revolution, that you may +see the whole of this episode together,--that by it you may judge of the +causes which led progressively to the state in which the Company's +affairs stood, when Mr. Hastings was sent for the express purpose of +reforming it. + +The business I am going to enter into is commonly known by the name of +the Story of the Three Seals. It is to be found in the Appendix, No. 10, +to the First Report of the state and condition of the East India +Company, made in 1773. The word _Report_, my Lords, is sometimes a +little equivocal, and may signify sometimes, not what is made known, but +what remains in obscurity: the detail and evidence of many facts +referred to in the Report being usually thrown into the Appendix. Many +people, and I among the rest, (I take shame to myself for it,) may not +have fully examined that Appendix. I was not a member of either of the +India committees of 1773. It is not, indeed, till within this year that +I have been thoroughly acquainted with that memorable history of the +Three Seals. + +The history is this. In the year 1760 the allies were in the course of +operations against the son of the Mogul, now the present Mogul, who, as +I have already stated, had made an irruption into the kingdom of Bahar, +in order to reduce the lower provinces to his obedience. The parties +opposing him were the Nabob of Bengal and the Company's troops under +Major Calliaud. It was whilst they faced the common enemy as one body, +this negotiation for the destruction of the Nabob of Bengal by his +faithful allies of the Company was going on with diligence. At that time +the Nabob's son, Meeran, a youth in the flower of his age, bold, +vigorous, active, full of the politics in which those who are versed in +usurpation are never wanting, commanded the army under his father, but +was in reality the efficient person in all things. + +About the 15th of April, 1760, as I have it from Major Calliaud's letter +of that date, the Nabob came into his tent, and, with looks of the +utmost embarrassment, big with some design which swelled his bosom, +something that was too large and burdensome to conceal, and yet too +critical to be told, appeared to be in a state of great distraction. The +Major, seeing him in this condition, kindly, gently, like a fast and +sure friend, employed (to use his own expression) _some of those +assurances that tend to make men fully open their hearts_; and +accordingly, fortified by his assurances, and willing to disburden +himself of the secret that oppressed him, he opens his heart to the +commanding officer of his new friends, allies, and protectors. The +Nabob, thus assured, did open himself, and informed Major Calliaud that +he had just received a message from the Prince, or his principal +minister, informing him that the Prince Royal, now the Mogul, had an +intention (as, indeed, he rationally might, supposing that we were as +well disposed to him as we showed ourselves afterwards) to surrender +himself into the hands of him, the Nabob, but at the same time wished, +as a guaranty, that the commander-in-chief of the English forces should +give him security for his life and his honor, when he should in that +manner surrender himself to the Nabob. I do not mean, my Lords, by +surrendering, that it was supposed he intended to surrender himself +prisoner of war, but as a sovereign dubious of the fidelity of those +about him would put himself into the hands of his faithful subjects, of +those who claimed to derive all their power, as both we and the Nabob +did, under his authority. The Nabob stated to the English general, that +without this English security the Prince would not deliver himself into +his hands. Here he confessed he found a difficulty. For the giving this +faith, if it were kept, would defeat his ultimate view, which was, when +the Prince had delivered himself into his hands, in plain terms to +murder him. This grand act could not be accomplished without the English +general. In the first place, the Prince, without the English security, +would not deliver himself into the Nabob's hands; and afterwards, +without the English concurrence, he could not be murdered. These were +difficulties that pressed upon the mind of the Nabob. + +The English commander heard this astonishing proposition without any +apparent emotion. Being a man habituated to great affairs, versed in +revolutions, and with a mind fortified against extraordinary events, he +heard it and answered it without showing any signs of abhorrence or +detestation,--at the same time with a protestation that he would indeed +serve him, the Nabob, but it should be upon such terms as honor and +justice could support: informing him, that an assurance for the Prince's +safety could not be given by him, until he had consulted Mr. Holwell, +who was Governor, and his superior. + +This conversation passed in the morning. On that very morning, and +whilst the transaction was hot, Major Calliaud writes to Mr. Holwell an +account of it. In his letter he informs him that he made an inquiry, +without stating from whom, but that he did inquire the probability of +the Nabob's getting possession of the Prince from some persons, who +assured him that there was no probability of the Prince's intention to +deliver himself to the Nabob on any terms. Be that as it may, it is +impossible not to remark that the whole transaction of the morning of +the 15th of April was not very discouraging to the Nabob,--not such as +would induce him to consider this most detestable of all projects as a +thing utterly unfeasible, and as such to abandon it. The evening came on +without anything to alter his opinion. Major Calliaud that evening came +to the Nabob's tent to arrange some matters relative to the approaching +campaign. The business soon ended with regard to the campaign; but the +proposal of the morning to Major Calliaud, as might be expected to +happen, was in effect renewed. Indeed, the form was a little different; +but the substantial part remained the same. Your Lordships will see what +these alterations were. + +In the evening scene the persons were more numerous. On the part of the +Company, Major Calliaud, Mr. Lushington, Mr. Knox, and the ambassador at +the Nabob's court, Mr. Warren Hastings. On the part of the Moorish +government, the Nabob himself, his son Meeran, a Persian secretary, and +the Nabob's head spy, an officer well known in that part of the world, +and of some rank. These were the persons of the drama in the evening +scene. The Nabob and his son did not wait for the Prince's committing +himself to their faith, which, it seems, Major Calliaud did not think +likely to happen; so that one act of treachery is saved: but another +opened of as extraordinary a nature. Intent and eager on the execution, +and the more certain, of their design, they accepted the plan of a +wicked wretch, principal servant of the then prime-minister to the +Mogul, or themselves suggested it to him. A person called Conery, dewan +or principal steward to Camgar Khan, a great chief in the service of the +Shahzada, or Prince, (now the Great Mogul, the sovereign under whom the +Company holds their charter,) had, it seems, made a proposal to the +Nabob, that, if a considerable territory then held by his master was +assured to him, and a reward of a lac of rupees (ten or twelve thousand, +pounds) secured to him, he would for that consideration deliver the +Prince, the eldest son of the Mogul, alive into the hands of the Nabob; +or if that could not be effected, he engaged to murder him for the same +reward. But as the assassin could not rely on the Nabob and his son for +his reward for this meritorious action, and thought better of English +honor and fidelity in such delicate cases, he required that Major +Calliaud should set his seal to the agreement. This proposition was made +to an English commander: what discourse happened upon it is uncertain. +Mr. Hastings is stated by some evidence to have acted as interpreter in +this memorable congress. But Major Calliaud agreed to it without any +difficulty. Accordingly, an instrument was drawn, an indenture +tripartite prepared by the Persian secretary, securing to the party the +reward of this infamous, perfidious, murderous act. First, the Nabob put +his own seal to the murder. The Nabob's son, Meeran, affixed _his_ seal. +A third seal, the most important of all, was yet wanting. A pause +ensued: Major Calliaud's seal was not at hand; but Mr. Lushington was +sent near half a mile to bring it. It was brought at length; and the +instrument of blood and treachery was completely executed. Three seals +were set to it. + +This business of the three seals, by some means not quite fully +explained, but (as suspected by the parties) by means of the information +of Mr. Holwell, who soon after came home, was conveyed to the ears of +the Court of Directors. The Court of Directors wrote out, under date of +the 7th of October, 1761, within a little more than a year after this +extraordinary transaction, to this effect:--that, in conjunction with +the Nabob, Major Calliaud had signed a paper offering a reward of a lac +of rupees, or some such sum, to several black persons, for the +assassination of the Shahzada, or Prince heir-apparent,--which paper was +offered to the then Chief of Patna to sign, but which he refused on +account of the infamy of the measure. As it appeared in the same light +to them, the Directors, they ordered a strict inquiry into it. The India +Company, who here did their duty with apparent manliness and vigor, were +resolved, however, to do it with gentleness, and to proceed in a manner +that could not produce any serious mischief to the parties charged; for +they directed the commission of inquiry to the very clan and set of +people who, from a participation in their common offences, stood in awe +of one another,--in effect, to the parties in the transaction. Without a +prosecutor, without an impartial director of the inquiry, they left it +substantially to those persons to try one another for their common acts. + +Here I come upon the principle which I wish most strongly to mark to +your Lordships: I mean collusive trials and collusive acquittals. When +this matter came to be examined, according to the orders of the Court, +which was on the 4th of October, 1762, the Council consisted of Peter +Maguire, Warren Hastings, and Hugh Watts. Mr. Hastings had by this time +accomplished the business of Resident with the Nabob, and had taken the +seat to which his seniority entitled him in Council. Here a difficulty +arose _in limine_. Mr. Hastings was represented to have acted as +interpreter in this business; he was therefore himself an object of the +inquisition; he was doubtful as evidence; he was disqualified as a +judge. It likewise appeared that there might be some objection to others +whose evidence was wanting, but who were themselves concerned in the +guilt. Mr. Lushington's evidence would be useful, but there were two +circumstances rather unlucky. First, he had put the seal to the +instrument of murder; and, secondly, and what was most material, he had +made an affidavit at Patna, whilst the affair was green and recent, that +he had done so; and in the same affidavit had deposed that Warren +Hastings was interpreter in that transaction. Here were difficulties +both on him and Mr. Hastings. The question was, how to get Mr. Hastings, +the interpreter, out of his interpretation, and to put him upon the seat +of judgment. It was effected, however, and the manner in which it was +effected was something curious. Mr. Lushington, who by this time was got +completely over, himself tells you that in conferences with Major +Calliaud, and by arguments and reasons by him delivered, he was +persuaded to unsay his swearing, and to declare that he believed that +the affidavit which he made at Patna, and while the transaction was +recent or nearly recent, must be a mistake: that he _believed_ (what is +amazing indeed for any belief) that not Mr. Hastings, but he himself, +interpreted. Mr. Lushington completely loses his own memory, and he +accepts an offered, a given memory, a memory supplied to him by a party +in the transaction. By this operation all difficulties are removed: Mr. +Hastings is at once put into the capacity of a judge. He is declared by +Mr. Lushington not to have been an interpreter in the transaction. After +this, Mr. Hastings is himself examined. Your Lordships will look at the +transaction at your leisure, and I think you will consider it as a +pattern for inquiries of this kind. Mr. Hastings is examined: he does +not recollect. His memory also fails on a business in which it is not +easy to suppose a man could be doubtful,--whether he was present or not: +he thinks he was not there,--for that, if he had been there, and acted +as interpreter, he could not have forgot it. + +I think it is pretty nearly as I state it: if I have fallen into any +error or inaccuracy, it is easily rectified; for here is the state of +the transaction given by the parties themselves. On this inaccurate +memory of Mr. Hastings, not venturing, however, to say positively that +he was not the interpreter, or that he was not present, he is discharged +from being an accomplice,--he is removed from the bar, and leaps upon +the seat of justice. The court thus completed, Major Calliaud comes +manfully forward to make his defence. Mr. Lushington is taken off his +back in the manner we have seen, and no one person remains but Captain +Knox. Now, if Captain Knox was there and assenting, he is an accomplice +too. Captain Knox asserts, that, at the consultation about the murder, +he said it was a pity to cut off so fine a young fellow in such a +manner,--meaning that fine young fellow the Prince, the descendant of +Tamerlane, the present reigning Mogul, from whom the Company derive +their present charter. The purpose to be served by this declaration, if +it had any purpose, was, that Captain Knox did not assent to the murder, +and that therefore his evidence might be valid. + +The defence set up by Major Calliaud was to this effect. He was +apprehensive, he said, that the Nabob was alarmed at the violent designs +that were formed against him by Mr. Holwell, and that therefore, to +quiet his mind, (to quiet it by a proposition compounded of murder and +treason,--an odd kind of mind he had that was to be quieted by such +means!)--but to quiet his mind, and to show that the English were +willing to go all lengths with him, to sell body and soul to him, he did +put his seal to this extraordinary agreement, he put his seal to this +wonderful paper. He likewise stated, that he was of opinion at the time +that nothing at all sinister could happen from it, that no such murder +was likely to take place, whatever might be the intention of the +parties. In fact, he had very luckily said in a letter of his, written a +day after the setting the seal, "I think nothing will come of this +matter, but it is no harm to try." This experimental treachery, and +these essays of conditional murder, appeared to him good enough to make +a trial of; but at the same time he was afraid nothing would come of it. +In general, the whole gest of his defence comes to one point, in which +he persists,--that, whatever the act might be, his mind is clear: "My +hands are guilty, but my heart is free." He conceived that it would be +very improper, undoubtedly, to do such an act, if he suspected anything +could happen from it: he, however, let the thing out of his own hands; +he put, it into the hands of others; he put the commission into the +hands of a murderer. The fact was not denied; it was fully before these +severe judges. The extenuation was the purity of his heart, and the bad +situation of the Company's affairs,--the perpetual plea, which your +Lordships will hear of forever, and which if it will justify evil +actions, they will take good care that the most nefarious of their deeds +shall never want a sufficient justification. But then he calls upon his +life and his character to oppose to his seal; and though he has declared +that Mr. Holwell had intended ill to the Nabob, and that he approved of +those measures, and only postponed them, yet he thought it necessary, he +says, to quiet the fears of the Nabob; and from this motive he did an +act abhorrent to his nature, and which, he says, he expressed his +abhorrence of the morning after he signed it: not that he did so; but if +he had, I believe it would only have made the thing so many degrees +worse. Your Lordships will observe, that, in this conference, as stated +by himself, these reasons and apologies for it did not appear, nor did +they appear in the letter, nor anywhere else, till next year, when he +came upon his trial. Then it was immediately recollected that Mr. +Holwell's designs were so wicked they certainly must be known to the +Nabob, though he never mentioned them in the conference of the morning +or the evening of the 15th; yet such was now the weight and prevalence +of them upon the Major's mind, that he calls upon Mr. Hastings to know +whether the Nabob was not informed of these designs of Mr. Holwell +against him. Mr. Hastings's memory was not quite correct upon the +occasion. He does not recollect anything of the matter. He certainly +seems not to think that he ever mentioned it to the Nabob, or the Nabob +to him; but he does recollect, he thinks, speaking something to some of +the Nabob's attendants upon it, and further this deponent sayeth not. On +this state of things, namely, the purity of intention, the necessities +of the Company, the propriety of keeping the Nabob in perfect good-humor +and removing suspicions from his mind, which suspicions he had never +expressed, they came to the resolution I shall have the honor to read to +you: "That the representation, given in the said defence, of the state +of the affairs of the country at that time" (that is, about the month of +April, 1760) "is true and just" (that is, the bad state of the country, +which we shall consider hereafter); "that, in such circumstances, the +Nabob's urgent account of his own distresses, the Colonel's desire of +making him easy," (for here is a recapitulation of the whole defence,) +"as the first thing necessary for the good of the service, and the +suddenness of the thing proposed, might deprive him for a moment of his +recollection, and surprise him into a measure which, as to the measure +itself, he could not approve. That such only were the motives which did +or could influence Colonel Calliaud to assent to the proposal is fully +evinced by the deposition of Captain Knox and Mr. Lushington, that _his_ +[_Calliaud's_] _conscience, at the time, never reproached him with a bad +design_." + +Your Lordships have heard of the testimony of a person to his own +conscience; but the testimony of another man to any one's +conscience--this is the first time, I believe, it ever appeared in a +judicial proceeding. It is natural to say, "My conscience acquits me of +it"; but _they_ declare, that "_his_ conscience never reproached him +with a bad design, and therefore, upon the whole, they are satisfied +that his intention was good, though he erred in the measure." + +I beg leave to state one thing that escaped me: that the Nabob, who was +one of the parties to the design, was, at the time of the inquiry, a +sort of prisoner or an exile at Calcutta; that his _moonshee_ was there, +or might have been had; and that his spy was likewise there; and that +they, though parties to this transaction, were never called to account +for it in any sense or in any degree, or to show how far it was +_necessary_ to quiet the Nabob's mind. + +The accomplices, by acquitting him upon _their_ testimony to _his +conscience_, did their business nobly. But the good Court of Directors, +who were so easily satisfied, so ready to condemn at the first +proposition and so ready afterwards to acquit, put the last finishing +hand of a master to it. For the accomplices acquit him of evil +intentions and excuse his act. The Court of Directors, disapproving +indeed the measure, but receiving the testimony of his conscience in +justification of his conduct, and taking up the whole ground, honorably +acquit him, and commend this action as an instance of heroic zeal in +their service. + +The great end and purpose for which I produce this to your Lordships is +to show you the necessity there is for other inquiries, other trials, +other acquittals of parties, than those made by a collusive clan abroad, +or by the Directors at home, who had required the parties to inquire of +themselves, and to take the testimony of the judges at second-hand, as +to the conscience of the party accused, respecting acts which neither +they nor any man living can look upon but with horror. + +I have troubled your Lordships with the story of the Three Seals, as a +specimen of the then state of the service, and the politics of the +servants, civil and military, in the horrid abuses which then prevailed, +and which render at length the most rigorous reformation necessary. I +close this episode to resume the proceedings at the second revolution. + +This affair of the three seals was, we have seen, to quiet the fears of +the Nabob. His fears it was indeed necessary to quiet; for your +Lordships will see that the man whose fears were to be set asleep by +Major Calliaud's offering him, in a scheme for murdering his sovereign, +an odd sort of opiate, made up of blood and treason, was now in a fair +way of being murdered himself by the machinations of him whose seal was +set to his murderous security of peace, and by those his accomplices, +Holwell and Hastings: at least they resolved to put him in a situation +in which his murder was in a manner inevitable, as you will see in the +sequel of the transaction. Now the plan proceeds. The parties continued +in the camp; but there was another _remora_. To remove a nabob and to +create a revolution is not easy: houses are strong who have sons grown +up with vigor and fitness for the command of armies. They are not easily +overturned by removing the principal, unless the secondary is got rid +of: and if this _remora_ could be removed, everything was going on in a +happy way in the business. This plan, which now (that is, about the +month of July) began to get into great ripeness and forwardness, Mr. +Holwell urged forward, Mr. Vansittart being hourly expected. + +I do not know whether I am going to state a thing, though it is upon the +records, which will not have too theatrical an appearance for the grave +state in which we are. But here it is,--the difficulty, the knot, and +the solution, as recorded by the parties themselves. It was the object +of this bold, desperate, designing man, Cossim All Khan, who aimed at +everything, and who scrupled not to do anything in attaining what he +aimed at, to be appointed the lieutenant of the Nabob Jaffier Ali, and +thus to get possession of his office during his lifetime under that +name, with a design of murdering him: for that office, according to many +usages of that country, totally supersedes the authority of the first +magistrate, renders him a cipher in his hand, gives the administration +of his affairs and command of his troops to the lieutenant. It was a +part of his plan, that he was, after his appointment to the lieutenancy, +to be named to the succession of the Nabob, who had several other +children; but the eldest son stood in the way. + +But as things hastened to a crisis, this difficulty was removed in the +most extraordinary and providential unheard-of manner, by the most +extraordinary event that, I believe, is recorded in history. Just in the +nick of time, in the moment of projection, on the 3d of July, this +Prince Meeran, in the flower of his age, bold, active, enterprising, +lying asleep in his tent, is suddenly, without any one's knowing it, +without any alarm or menace in the heavens that ever was heard of or +mentioned, without any one whatever being hurt or even alarmed in the +camp, killed with a flash of lightning. My Lords, thus was the Gordian +knot cut. This prince dies of a flash of lightning, and Mr. Lushington +(of whom you have heard) comes in the morning with his hair standing +erect, comes frightened into the presence of Major Calliaud, and, with +the utmost alarm, tells him of a circumstance that was afterwards to +give them so much pleasure. The alarm was immediately communicated to +the Major, who was seized with a fright; and fearing lest the army +should mutiny upon the death of their chief, it was contrived, in a +manner that I believe was most difficult to contrive, that what might +have excited a general mutiny was concealed by the ability, the good +conduct, and dexterity of Major Calliaud for seven days together, till +he led the army out of the place of danger. Thus a judgment fell upon +one of the (innocent) murderers in the scene of the Three Seals. This +man, who was probably guilty in his conscience as well as in act, thus +fell by that most lucky, providential, and most useful flash of +lightning. + +There were at that time, it seems, in Calcutta, a wicked, skeptical set +of people, who somehow or other believed that _human_ agency was +concerned in this elective flash, which came so very opportunely, and +which was a favor so thankfully acknowledged. These wicked, ill-natured +skeptics disseminated reports (which I am sure I do not mean to charge +or prove, leaving the effect of them to you) very dishonorable, I +believe, to Cossim Ali Khan in the business, and to some Englishmen who +were concerned. + +The difficulty of getting rid of Meeran being thus removed, Mr. +Vansittart comes upon the scene. I verily believe he was a man of good +intentions, and rather debauched by that amazing flood of iniquity which +prevailed at that time, or hurried and carried away with it. In a few +days he sent for Major Calliaud. All his objections vanish in _an +instant_: like that flash of lightning, everything is _instant_. The +Major agrees to perform his part. They send for Cossim Ali Khan and Mr. +Hastings; they open a treaty and conclude it with him, leaving the +management of it to two persons, Mr. Holwell and another person, whom we +have heard of, an Armenian, called Coja Petruse, who afterwards played +his part in another illustrious scene. By this Petruse and Mr. Holwell +the matter is settled. The moment Mr. Holwell is raised to be a +Secretary of State, the revolution is accomplished. By it Cossim Ali +Khan is to have the lieutenancy at present, and the succession. +Everything is put into his hands, and he is to make for it large +concessions, which you will hear of afterwards, to the Company. Cossim +Ali Khan proposed to Mr. Holwell, what would have been no bad supplement +to the flash of lightning, the murder of the Nabob; but Mr. Holwell was +a man of too much honor and conscience to suffer that. He instantly flew +out at it, and declared the whole business should stop, unless the +affair of the murder was given up. Accordingly things were so settled. +But if he gave the Nabob over to an intended murderer, and delivered his +person, treasure, and everything into his hands, Cossim Ali Khan might +have had no great reason to complain of being left to the execution of +his own projects in his own way. The treaty was made, and amounted to +this,--that the Company was to receive three great provinces: for here, +as we proceed, you will have an opportunity of observing, with the +progress of these plots, one thing which has constantly and uniformly +pervaded the whole of these projects, and which the persons concerned in +them have avowed as a principle of their actions,--that they were first +to take care of the Company's interest, then of their own; that is, +first to secure to the Company an enormous bribe, and under the shadow +of that bribe to take all the little emoluments they could to +themselves. Three great, rich, southern provinces, maritime, or nearly +maritime, Burdwan, Midnapoor, and Chittagong, were to be dissevered from +the Subah and to be ceded to the Company. There were other minor +stipulations, which it is not necessary at present to trouble you with, +signed, sealed, and executed at Calcutta between these parties with the +greatest possible secrecy. The lieutenancy and the succession were +secured to Cossim Ali, and he was likewise to give somewhere about the +sum of 200,000_l._ to the gentlemen who were concerned, as a reward for +serving him so effectually, and for serving their country so well. +Accordingly, these stipulations, actual or understood, (for they were +eventually carried into effect,) being settled, a commission of +delegation, consisting chiefly of Mr. Vansittart and Major Calliaud, was +sent up to Moorshedabad: the new Governor taking this opportunity of +paying the usual visit of respect to the Nabob, and in a manner which a +new Governor coming into place would do, with the detail of which it is +not necessary to trouble you. Mr. Hastings was at this time at the +durbar; and having everything prepared, and the ground smoothed, they +first endeavored to persuade the Nabob to deliver over the power +negotiated for into the hands of their friend Cossim Ali Khan. But when +the old man, frightened out of his wits, asked, "What is it he has bid +for me?" and added, "I will give half as much again to save myself; pray +let me know what my price is,"--he entreated in vain. They were true, +firm, and faithful to their word and their engagement. When he saw they +were resolved that he should be delivered into the hands of Cossim Ali +Khan, he at once surrenders the whole to him. They instantly grasp it. +He throws himself into a boat, and will not remain at home an hour, but +hurries down to Calcutta to leave his blood at our door, if we should +have a mind to take it. But the life of the Nabob was too great a stake +(partly as a security for the good behavior of Cossim Ali Khan, and +still more for the future use that might be made of him) to be thrown +away, or left in the hands of a man who would certainly murder him, and +who was very angry at being refused the murder of his father-in-law. The +price of this second revolution was, according to their shares in it, (I +believe I have it here,) somewhere about 200,000_l._ This little +effusion to private interest settled the matter, and here ended the +second revolution in the country: effected, indeed, without bloodshed, +but with infinite treachery, with infinite mischief, consequent to the +dismemberment of the country, and which had nearly become fatal to our +concerns there, like everything else in which Mr. Hastings had any +share. + +This prince, Cossim Ali Khan, the friend of Mr. Hastings, knew that +those who could give could take away dominion. He had scarcely got upon +the throne, procured for him by our public spirit and his own +iniquities, than he began directly and instantly to fortify himself, and +to bend all his politics against those who were or could be the donors +of such fatal gifts. He began with the natives who were in their +interest, and cruelly put to death, under the eye of Mr. Hastings and +his clan, all those who, by their moneyed wealth or landed +consideration, could give any effect to their dispositions in favor of +those ambitious strangers. He removed from Moorshedabad higher up into +the country, to Monghir, in order to be more out of our view. He kept +his word pretty well, but not altogether faithfully, with the gentlemen; +and though he had no money, for his treasury was empty, he gave +obligations which are known by the name of _jeeps_--(the Indian +vocabulary will by degrees become familiar to your Lordships, as we +develop the modes and customs of the country). As soon as he had done +this, he began to rack and tear the provinces that were left to him, to +get as much from them as should compensate him for the revenues of those +great provinces he had lost; and accordingly he began a scene of +extortion, horrible, nefarious, without precedent or example, upon +almost all the landed interest of that country. I mention this, because +he is one of those persons whose governments Mr. Hastings, in a paper +called his Defence, delivered in to the House of Commons, has produced +as precedents and examples which he has thought fit to follow, and which +he thought would justify him in the conduct he has pursued. This Cossim +Ali Khan, after he had acted the tyrant on the landed interest, fell +upon the moneyed interest. In that country there was a person called +Juggut Seit. There were several of the family, who were bankers to such +a magnitude as was never heard of in the world. Receivers of the public +revenue, their correspondence extended all over Asia; and there are +those who are of opinion that the house of Juggut Seit, including all +its branches, was not worth less than six or seven millions sterling. +This house became the prey of Cossim Ali Khan; but Mr. Holwell had +predicted that _it should be delivered over to Satan to be buffeted_ +(his own pious expression). He predicted the misfortunes that should +befall them; and we chose a Satan to buffet them, and who did so buffet +them, by the murder of the principal persons of the house, and by +robbing them of great sums of their wealth, that I believe such a scene +of nefarious tyranny, destroying and cutting up the root of public +credit in that country, was scarce ever known. In the mean time Cossim +was extending his tyranny over all who were obnoxious to him; and the +persons he first sought were those traitors who had been friends to the +English. Several of the principal of these he murdered. There was in the +province of Bahar a man named Ramarain; he had got the most positive +assurances of English faith; but Mr. Macguire, a member of the Council, +on the receipt of five thousand gold mohurs, or something more than +8,000_l._ sterling, delivered him up to be first imprisoned, then +tortured, then robbed in consequence of the torture, and finally +murdered, by Cossim Ali Khan. In this way Cossim Ali Khan acted, while +our government looked on. I hardly choose to mention to you the fate of +a certain native in consequence of a dispute with Mr. Mott, a friend of +Mr. Hastings, which is in the Company's records,--records which are +almost buried by their own magnitude from the knowledge of this country. +In a contest with this native for his house and property, some scuffle +having happened between the parties, the one attempting to seize and the +other to defend, the latter made a complaint to the Nabob, who was in an +entire subjection at that time to the English, and who ordered this +unfortunate man, on account of this very scuffle, arising from +defending his property, to be blown off from the mouth of a cannon. In +short, I am not able to tell your Lordships of all the nefarious +transactions of this man, whom the intrigues of Mr. Holwell and Mr. +Hastings had set upon the throne of Bengal. But there is a circumstance +in this business that comes across here, and will tend to show another +grievance that vexed that country, which vexed it long, and is one of +the causes of its chief disasters, and which, I fear, is not so +perfectly extirpated but that some part of its roots may remain in the +ground at this moment. + +Commerce, which enriches every other country in the world, was bringing +Bengal to total ruin. The Company, in former times, when it had no +sovereignty or power in the country, had large privileges under their +_dustuck_, or permit: their goods passed, without paying duties, through +the country. The servants of the Company made use of this dustuck for +their own private trade, which, while it was used with moderation, the +native government winked at in some degree; but when it got wholly into +private hands, it was more like robbery than trade. These traders +appeared everywhere; they sold at their own prices, and forced the +people to sell to them at their own prices also. It appeared more like +an army going to pillage the people, under pretence of commerce, than +anything else. In vain the people claimed the protection of their own +country courts. This English army of traders in their march ravaged +worse than a Tartarian conqueror. The trade they carried on, and which +more resembled robbery than commerce, anticipated the resources of the +tyrant, and threatened to leave him no materials for imposition or +confiscation. Thus this miserable country was torn to pieces by the +horrible rapaciousness of a double tyranny. This appeared to be so +strong a case, that a deputation was sent to him at his new capital, +Monghir, to form a treaty for the purpose of giving some relief against +this cruel, cursed, and oppressive trade, which was worse even than the +tyranny of the sovereign. This trade Mr. Vansittart, the President about +this time, that is, in 1763, who succeeded to Mr. Holwell, and was in +close union of interests with the tyrant Cossim Ali Khan, by a treaty +known by the name of the treaty of Monghir, agreed very much to suppress +and to confine within something like reasonable bounds. There never was +a doubt on the face of that treaty, that it was a just, proper, fair +transaction. But as nobody in Bengal did then believe that rapine was +ever forborne but in favor of bribery, the persons who lost every +advantage by the treaty of Monghir, when they thought they saw corrupt +negotiation carrying away the prizes of unlawful commerce, and were +likely to see their trade crippled by Cossim Ali Khan, fell into a most +violent fury at this treaty; and as the treaty was made without the +concurrence of the rest of the Council, the Company's servants grew +divided: one part were the advocates of the treaty, the other of the +trade. The latter were universally of opinion that the treaty was bought +for a great sum of money. The evidence we have on our records of the +sums of money that are stated to have been paid on this occasion has +never been investigated to the bottom; but we have it on record, that a +great sum (70,000_l._) was paid to persons concerned in that +negotiation. The rest were exceedingly wroth to see themselves not +profiting by the negotiation, and losing the trade, or likely to be +excluded from it; and they were the more so, because, as we have it upon +our journals, during all that time the trade of the negotiators was not +proscribed, but a purwannah was issued by Cossim Ali Khan, that the +trade of his friends Mr. Vansittart and Mr. Hastings should not be +subject to the general regulations. This filled the whole settlement +with ill blood; but in the regulation itself (I put the motive and the +secret history out of the case) undoubtedly Mr. Hastings and Mr. +Vansittart were on the right side. They had shown to a demonstration the +mischief of this trade. However, as the other party were strong, and did +not readily let go their hold of this great advantage, first, +dissensions, murmurs, various kinds of complaints, and ill blood arose. +Cossim Ali was driven to the wall; and having at the same time made what +he thought good preparations, a war broke out at last. And how did it +break out? This Cossim Ali Khan signalized his first acts of hostility +by an atrocity committed against the faith of treaties, against the +rules of war, against every principle of honor. This intended murderer +of his father-in-law, whom Mr. Hastings had assisted to raise to the +throne of Bengal, well knowing his character and his disposition, and +well knowing what such a man was capable of doing,--this man massacred +the English wherever he met them. There were two hundred, or +thereabouts, of the Company's servants, or their dependants, slaughtered +at Patna with every circumstance of the most abominable cruelty. Their +limbs were cut to pieces. The tyrant whom Mr. Hastings set up cut and +hacked the limbs of British subjects in the most cruel and perfidious +manner, threw them into wells, and polluted the waters of the country +with British blood. Immediately war is declared against him in form. +That war sets the whole country in a blaze; and then other parties begin +to appear upon the scene, whose transactions you will find yourselves +deeply concerned in hereafter. + +As soon as war was declared against Cossim, it was necessary to resolve +to put up another Nabob, and to have another revolution: and where do +they resort, but to the man whom, for his alleged tyranny, for his +incapacity, for the numberless iniquities he was said to have committed, +and for his total unfitness and disinclination to all the duties of +government, they had dethroned? This very man they take up again, to +place on the throne from which they had about two years before removed +him, and for the effecting of which they had committed so many +iniquities. Even this revolution was not made without being paid for. +According to the usual order of procession, in which the youngest walk +first, first comes the Company; and the Company had secured to it in +perpetuity those provinces which Cossim Ali Khan had ceded, as it was +thought, rather in the way of mortgage than anything else. Then, under +the name of compensation for sufferings to the people concerned in the +trade, and in the name of donation to an army and a navy which had +little to do in this affair, they tax him--what sum do you think? They +tax that empty and undone treasury of that miserable and undone country +500,000_l._ for a private emolument to themselves,--for the compensation +for this iniquitous trade,--for the compensation for abuses of which he +was neither the author nor the abettor, they tax this miserable prince +500,000_l._ That sum was given to individuals. Now comes the Company at +home, which, on hearing this news, was all inflamed. The Directors were +on fire. They were shocked at it, and particularly at this donation to +the army and navy. They resolved they would give it no countenance and +support. In the mean time the gentlemen did not trouble their heads upon +that subject, but meant to exact and get their 500,000_l._ as they +could. + +Here was a third revolution, bought at this amazing sum, and this poor, +miserable prince first dragged from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, then +dragged back from Calcutta to Moorshedabad, the sport of fortune and the +plaything of avarice. This poor man is again set up, but is left with no +authority: his troops limited,--his person, everything about him, in a +manner subjugated,--a British Resident the master of his court: he is +set up as a pageant on this throne, with no other authority but what +would be sufficient to give a countenance to presents, gifts, and +donations. That authority was always left, when all the rest was taken +away. One would have thought that this revolution might have satisfied +these gentlemen, and that the money gained by it would have been +sufficient. No. The partisans of Cossim Ali wanted another revolution. +The partisans of the other side wished to have something more done in +the present. They now began to think that to depose Cossim instantly, +and to sell him to another, was too much at one time,--especially as +Cossim Ali was a man of vigor and resolution, carrying on a fierce war +against them. But what do you think they did? They began to see, from +the example of Cossim Ali, that the lieutenancy, the ministry of the +king, was a good thing to be sold, and the sale of that might turn out +as good a thing as the sale of the prince. + +For this office there were two rival candidates, persons of great +consideration, in Bengal: one, a principal Mahomedan, called Mahomed +Reza Khan, a man of high authority, great piety in his own religion, +great learning in the law, of the very first class of Mahomedan +nobility; but at the same time, on all these accounts, he was abhorred +and dreaded by the Nabob, who necessarily feared that a man of Mahomed +Reza Khan's description would be considered as better entitled and +fitter for his seat, as Nabob of the provinces. To balance him, there +was another man, known by the name of the Great Rajah Nundcomar. This +man was accounted the highest of his caste, and held the same rank among +the Gentoos that Mahomed Reza Khan obtained among the Mahomedans. The +prince on the throne had no jealousy of Nundcomar, because he knew, +that, as a Gentoo, he could not aspire to the office of Subahdar. For +that reason he was firmly attached to him; he might depend completely on +his services; he was _his_ against Mahomed Reza Khan, and against the +whole world. There was, however, a flaw in the Nabob's title, which it +was necessary should be hid. And perhaps it lay against Mahomed Reza +Khan as well as him. But it was a source of apprehension to the Nabob, +and contributed to make him wish to keep all Mahomedan influence at a +distance. For he was a Syed, that is to say, a descendant of Mahomet, +and as such, though of the only acknowledged nobility among Mussulmen, +would be by that circumstance excluded, by the known laws of the Mogul +empire, from being Subahdar in any of the Mogul provinces, in case the +revival of the constitution of that empire should ever again take place. + +An auction was now opened before the English Council at Calcutta. +Mahomed Reza Khan bid largely; Nundcomar bid largely. The circumstances +of these two rivals at the Nabob court were equally favorable to the +pretensions of each. But the preponderating merits of Mahomed Reza Khan, +arising from the subjection in which he was likely to keep the Nabob, +and make him fitter for the purpose of continued exactions, induced the +Council to take his money, which amounted to about 220,000_l._ Be the +sum paid what it may, it was certainly a large one; in consequence of +which the Council attempted to invest Mahomed Reza Khan with the office +of Naib Subah, or Deputy Viceroy. As to Nundcomar, they fell upon him +with a vengeful fury. He fought his battle as well as he could; he +opposed bribe to bribe, eagle to eagle; but at length he was driven to +the wall. Some received his money, but did him no service in return; +others, more conscientious, refused to receive it; and in this battle of +bribes he was vanquished. A deputation was sent from Calcutta to the +miserable Nabob, to tear Nundcomar, his only support, from his side, and +to put the object of all his terrors, Mahomed Reza Khan, in his place. + +Thus began a new division that split the Presidency into violent +factions; but the faction which adhered to Nundcomar was undoubtedly the +weakest. That most miserable of men, Mir Jaffier Ali Khan, clinging, as +to the last pillar, to Nundcomar, trembling at Mahomed Reza Khan, died +in the struggle, a miserable victim to all the revolutions, to all the +successive changes and versatile politics at Calcutta. Like all the rest +of the great personages whom we have degraded and brutalized by insult +and oppression, he betook himself to the usual destructive resources of +unprincipled misery,--sensuality, opium, and wine. His gigantic frame of +constitution soon gave way under the oppression of this relief, and he +died, leaving children and grandchildren by wives and concubines. On the +old Nabob's death, Mahomed Reza Khan was acknowledged Deputy Nabob, the +money paid, and this revolution completed. + +Here, my Lords, opened a new source of plunder, peculation, and bribery, +which was not neglected. Revolutions were no longer necessary; +succession supplied their places: and well the object agreed with the +policy. Rules of succession could not be very well ascertained to an +office like that of the Nabob, which was hereditary only by the +appointment of the Mogul. The issue by lawful wives would naturally be +preferred by those who meant the quiet of the country. But a more +doubtful title was preferred, as better adapted to the purposes of +extortion and peculation. This miserable succession was sold, and the +eldest of the issue of Munny Begum, an harlot, brought in to pollute the +harem of the seraglio, of whom you will hear much hereafter, was chosen. +He soon succeeded to the grave. Another son of the same prostitute +succeeded to the same unhappy throne, and followed to the same untimely +grave. Every succession was sold; and between venal successions and +venal revolutions, in a very few years seven princes and six sales were +seen successively in Bengal. The last was a minor, the issue of a +legitimate wife, admitted to succeed because a minor, and because there +was none illegitimate left. He was instantly stripped of the allowance +of his progenitors, and reduced to a pension of 160,000 a year. He still +exists, and continued to the end of Mr. Hastings's government to furnish +constant sources of bribery and plunder to him and his creatures. + +The offspring of Munny Begum clinging, as his father did, to Nundcomar, +they tore Nundcomar from his side, as they had done from the side of his +father, and carried him down as a sort of prisoner to Calcutta; where, +having had the weakness to become the first informer, he was made the +first example. This person, pushed to the wall, and knowing that the man +he had to deal with was desperate and cruel in his resentments, resolves +on the first blow, and enters before the Council a regular information +in writing of bribery against Mr. Hastings. In his preface to that +charge he excuses himself for what is considered to be an act equally +insane and wicked, and as the one inexpiable crime of an Indian, the +discovery of the money he gives,--that Mr. Hastings had declaredly +determined on his ruin, and to accomplish it had newly associated +himself with one Mohun Persaud, a name I wish your Lordships to +remember, a bitter enemy of his, an infamous person, whom Mr. Hastings +knew to be such, and as such had turned him out of his house,--that Mr. +Hastings had lately recalled, and held frequent communications with this +Mohun Persaud, the subject of which he had no doubt was his ruin. In the +year 1775 he was hanged by those incorrupt English judges who were sent +to India by Parliament to protect the natives from oppression. + +Your Lordships will observe that this new sale of the office of +ministers succeeded to the sale of that of nabobs. All these varied and +successive sales shook the country to pieces. As if those miserable +exhausted provinces were to be cured of inanition by phlebotomy, while +Cossim Ali was racking it above, the Company were drawing off all its +nutriment below. A dreadful, an extensive, and most chargeable war +followed. Half the northern force of India poured down like a torrent on +Bengal, endangered our existence, and exhausted all our resources. The +war was the fruit of Mr. Hastings's cabals. Its termination, as usual, +was the result of the military merit and the fortune of this nation. +Cossim Ali, after having been defeated toy the military genius and +spirit of England, (for the Adamses, Monroes, and others of that period, +I believe, showed as much skill and bravery as any of their +predecessors,) in his flight swept away above three millions in money, +jewels, or effects, out of a country which he had plundered and +exhausted by his unheard-of exactions. However, he fought his way like a +retiring lion, turning his face to his pursuers. He still fought along +his frontier. His ability and his money drew to his cause the Subahdar +of Oude, the famous Sujah ul Dowlah. The Mogul entered into these wars, +and penetrated into the lower provinces on one side, whilst Bulwant +Sing, the Rajah of Benares, entered them on another. After various +changes of party and changes of fortune, the loss which began in the +treachery of the civil service was, as I have before remarked, redeemed +by military merit. Many examples of the same sort have since been seen. + +Whilst these things were transacted in India, the Court of Directors in +London, hearing of so many changes, hearing of such an incredible mass +of perfidy and venality, knowing that there was a general market made of +the country and of the Company, that the flame of war spread from +province to province, that, in proportion as it spread, the fire glowed +with augmented fierceness, and that the rapacity which originally gave +rise to it was following it in all its progress,--the Company, my Lords, +alarmed not only for their acquisitions, but their existence, and +finding themselves sinking lower and lower by every victory they +obtained, thought it necessary at length to come to some system and some +settlement. After composing their differences with Lord Clive, they sent +him out to that country about the year 1765, in order, by his name, +weight, authority, and vigor of mind, to give some sort of form and +stability to government, and to rectify the innumerable abuses which +prevailed there, and particularly that great source of disorders, that +fundamental abuse, presents: for the bribes by which all these +revolutions were bought had not the name of conditions, stipulations, or +rewards; they even had the free and gratuitous style of presents. The +receivers contended that they were mere gratuities given for service +done, or mere tokens of affection and gratitude to the parties. They may +give them what names they please, and your Lordships will think of them +what you please; but they were the donations of misery to power, the +gifts of sufferers to the oppressors; and consequently, where they +prevailed, they left no certain property or fixed situation to any man +in India, from the highest to the lowest. + +The Court of Directors sent out orders to enlarge the servants' +covenants with new and severe clauses, strongly prohibiting the practice +of receiving presents. Lord Clive himself had been a large receiver of +them. Yet, as it was in the moment of a revolution which gave them all +they possessed, the Company would hear no more of it. They sent him out +to reform: whether they chose well or ill does not signify. I think, +upon the whole, they chose well; because his name and authority could do +much. They sent him out to redress the grievances of that country, and +it was necessary he should be well armed for that service. They sent him +out with such powers as no servant of the Company ever held before. I +would not be understood here in my own character, much less in the +delegated character in which I stand, to contend for any man in the +totality of his conduct. Perhaps in some of his measures he was +mistaken, and in some of his acts reprehensible; but justice obliges me +to say, that the plan which he formed and the course which he pursued +were in general great and well imagined,--that he laid great +foundations, if they had been properly built upon. For, in the first +place, he composed all the neighboring countries torn to pieces by the +wars of Cossim Ali, and quieted the apprehensions raised by the opinion +of the boundless ambition of England. He took strong measures to put an +end to a great many of the abuses that prevailed in the country subject +to the Company. He then proceeded to the upper provinces, and formed a +plan which, for a military man, has great civil and political merit. He +put a bound to the aspiring spirit of the Company's servants; he limited +its conquests; he prescribed bounds to its ambition. "First" (says he) +"quiet the minds of the country; what you have obtained regulate; make +it known to India that you resolve to acquire no more." + +On this solid plan he fixed every prince that was concerned in the +preceding wars, on the one side and on the other, in an happy and easy +settlement. He restored Sujah ul Dowlah, who had been driven from his +dominions by the military arm of Great Britain, to the rank of Vizier, +and to the dominion of the territories of Oude. With a generosity that +astonished all Asia, he reinstated this expelled enemy of his nation +peaceably upon his throne. And this act of politic generosity did more +towards quieting the minds of the people of Asia than all the terror, +great as it was, of the English arms. At the same time, Lord Clive, +generous to all, took peculiar care of our friends and allies. He took +care of Bulwant Sing, the great Rajah of Benares, who had taken our part +in the war. He secured him from the revenge of Sujah ul Dowlah. The +Mogul had granted us the superiority over Bulwant Sing. Lord Clive +reestablished him in a secure, easy independency. He confirmed him, +under the British guaranty, in the rich principality which he held. + +The Mogul, the head of the Mussulman religion in India, and of the +Indian empire, a head honored and esteemed even in its ruins, he +procured to be recognized by all the persons that were connected with +his empire. The rents that ought to be paid to the Vizier of the Empire +he gave to the Vizierate. Thus our alliances were cemented, our enemies +were reconciled, all Asia was conciliated by our settlement with the +king. To that unhappy fugitive king, driven from place to place, the +sport of fortune, now an emperor and now a prisoner, prayed for in every +mosque in which his authority was conspired against, one day opposed by +the coin struck in his name and the other day sold for it,--to this +descendant of Tamerlane he allotted, with a decent share of royal +dignity, an honorable fixed residence, where he might be useful and +could not be dangerous. + +As to the Bengal provinces, he did not take for the Company the +viceroyalty, as Mr. Holwell would have persuaded, almost forced, the +Company to do; but, to satisfy the prejudices of the Mahomedans, the +country was left in the hands nominally of the Subah, or viceroy, who +was to administer the criminal justice and the exterior forms of +royalty. He obtained from the sovereign the _dewanny_. This is the great +act of the constitutional entrance of the Company into the body politic +of India. It gave to the settlement of Bengal a fixed constitutional +form, with a legal title, acknowledged and recognized now for the first +time by all the natural powers of the country, because it arose from the +charter of the undoubted sovereign. The _dewanny_, or high-stewardship, +gave to the Company the collection and management of the revenue; and in +this modest and civil character they appeared, not the oppressors, but +the protectors of the people. This scheme had all the real power, +without any invidious appearance of it; it gave them the revenue, +without the parade of sovereignty. On this double foundation the +government was happily settled. The minds of the natives were quieted. +The Company's territories and views were circumscribed. The arm of force +was put out of sight. The imperial name covered everything. The power of +the purse was in the hand of the Company. The power of the sword was in +effect so, as they contracted for the maintenance of the army. The +Company had a revenue of a million and a half. The Nabob had, indeed, +fallen from any real and effective power, yet the dignity of the court +was maintained. The prejudices and interests of the Mahomedans, and +particularly of their nobility, who had suffered more by this great +revolution even than the old inhabitants of the country, were consulted; +for by this plan a revenue of 500,000_l._ was settled on the +viceroyalty, which was thus enabled to provide in some measure for those +great families. The Company likewise, by this plan, in order to enjoy +their revenues securely, and to avoid envy and murmur, put them into the +hands of Mahomed Reza Khan, whom Lord Clive found in the management of +affairs, and did not displace; and he was now made deputy-steward to the +Company, as he had been before lieutenant-viceroy to the Nabob. A +British Resident at Moorshedabad was established as a control. The +Company exercised their power over the revenue in the first instance +through the natives, but the British Resident was in reality the great +mover. + +If ever this nation stood in a situation of glory throughout Asia, it +was in that moment. But, as I have said, some material errors and +mistakes were committed. After the formation of this plan, Lord Clive +unfortunately did not stay long enough in the country to give +consistency to the measures of reformation he had undertaken, but +rapidly returned to England; and after his departure, the government +that continued had not vigor or authority to support the settlement then +made, and considerable abuses began to prevail in every quarter. Another +capital period in our history here commences. Those who succeeded +(though I believe one of them was one of the honestest men that ever +served the Company, I mean Governor Verelst) had not weight enough to +poise the system of the service, and consequently many abuses and +grievances again prevailed. Supervisors were appointed to every +district, as a check on the native collectors, and to report every abuse +as it should arise. But they who were appointed to redress grievances +were themselves accused of being guilty of them. However, the disorders +were not of that violent kind which preceded Mr. Hastings's departure, +nor such as followed his return: no mercenary wars, no mercenary +revolutions, no extirpation of nations, no violent convulsions in the +revenue, no subversion of ancient houses, no general sales of any +descriptions of men,--none of these, but certainly such grievances as +made it necessary for the Company to send out another commission in +1769, with instructions pointing out the chief abuses. It was composed +of Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Ford, and Mr. Scrafton. The unfortunate end of +that commission is known to all the world; but I mention it in order to +state that the receipt of presents was considered as one of the +grievances which then prevailed in India, and that the supervisors under +that commission were ordered upon no account whatever to take presents. +Upon the unfortunate catastrophe which happened, the Company was +preparing to send out another for the rectification of these grievances, +when Parliament thought it necessary to supersede that commission, to +take the matter into their own hands, and to appoint another commission +in a Parliamentary way (of which Mr. Hastings was one) for the better +government of that country. Mr. Hastings, as I must mention to your +Lordships, soon after the deposition and restoration of Jaffier Ali +Khan, and before Lord Clive arrived, quitted for a while the scene in +which he had been so mischievously employed, and returned to England to +strengthen himself by those cabals which again sent him out with new +authority to pursue the courses which were the natural sequel to his +former proceedings. He returned to India with great power, +indeed,--first to a seat in Council at Fort St. George, and from thence +to succeed to the Presidency of Fort William. On him the Company placed +their chief reliance. Happy had it been for them, happy for India and +for England, if his conduct had been such as to spare your Lordships and +the Commons the exhibition of this day! + +When this government, with Mr. Hastings at the head of it, was settled, +Moorshedabad did still continue the seat of the native government, and +of all the collections. Here the Company was not satisfied with placing +a Resident at the durbar, which was the first step to our assuming the +government in that country. These steps must be traced by your +Lordships; for I should never have given you this trouble, if it was not +necessary to possess you clearly of the several progressive steps by +which the Company's government came to be established and to supersede +the native. The next step was the appointment of supervisors in every +province, to oversee the native collector. The third was to establish a +general Council of Revenue at Moorshedabad, to superintend the great +steward, Mahomed Reza Khan. In 1772 that Council by Mr. Hastings was +overturned, and the whole management of the revenue brought to Calcutta. +Mahomed Reza Khan, by orders of the Company, was turned out of all his +offices, and turned out for reasons and principles which your Lordships +will hereafter see; and at last the dewanny was entirely taken out of +the native hands, and settled in the Supreme Council and Presidency +itself in Calcutta; and so it remained until the year 1781, when Mr. +Hastings made another revolution, took it out of the hands of the +Supreme Council, in which the orders of the Company, an act of +Parliament, and their own act had vested it, and put it into a +subordinate council: that is, it was entirely vested in himself. + + * * * * * + +Now your Lordships see the whole of the revolutions. I have stated them, +I trust, with perspicuity,--stated the grounds and principles upon which +they were made,--stated the abuses that grew upon them,--and that every +revolution produced its abuse. You saw the native government vanish by +degrees, until it was reduced to a situation fit for nothing but to +become a private perquisite, as it has been, to Mr. Hastings, and to be +granted to whom he pleased. The English government succeeded, at the +head of which Mr. Hastings was placed by an act of Parliament, having +before held the office of President of the Council,--the express object +of both these appointments being to redress grievances; and within these +two periods of his power, as President and Governor-General, were those +crimes committed of which he now stands accused. All this history is +merely by way of illustration: his crimination begins from his +nomination to the Presidency; and we are to consider how he comported +himself in that station, and in his office of Governor-General. + +The first thing, in considering the merits or demerits of any governor, +is to have some test by which they are to be tried. And here, my Lords, +we conceive, that, when a British governor is sent abroad, he is sent to +pursue the good of the people as much as possible in the spirit of the +laws of this country, which in all respects intend their conservation, +their happiness, and their prosperity. This is the principle upon which +Mr. Hastings was bound to govern, and upon which he is to account for +his conduct here. His rule was, what a British governor, intrusted with +the power of this country, was bound to do or to forbear. If he has +performed and if he has abstained as he ought, dismiss him honorably +acquitted from your bar; otherwise condemn him. He may resort to other +principles and to other maxims; but this country will force him to be +tried by its laws. The law of this country recognizes that well-known +crime called misconduct in office; it is a head of the law of England, +and, so far as inferior courts are competent to try it, may be tried in +them. Here your Lordships' competence is plenary: you are fully +competent both to inquire into and to punish the offence. + +And, first, I am to state to your Lordships, by the direction of those +whom I am bound to obey, the principles on which Mr. Hastings declares +he has conducted his government,--principles which he has avowed, first +in several letters written to the East India Company, next in a paper of +defence delivered to the House of Commons explicitly, and more +explicitly in his defence before your Lordships. Nothing in Mr. +Hastings's proceedings is so curious as his several defences; and +nothing in the defences is so singular as the principles upon which he +proceeds. Your Lordships will have to decide not only upon a large, +connected, systematic train of misdemeanors, but an equally connected +system of principles and maxims of government, invented to justify those +misdemeanors. He has brought them forward and avowed them in the face of +day. He has boldly and insultingly thrown them in the face of the +representatives of a free people, and we cannot pass them by without +adopting them. I am directed to protest against those grounds and +principles upon which he frames his defence; for, if those grounds are +good and valid, they carry off a great deal at least, if not entirely, +the foundation of our charge. + +My Lords, we contend that Mr. Hastings, as a British governor, ought to +govern on British principles, not by British forms,--God forbid!--for if +ever there was a case in which the letter kills and the spirit gives +life, it would be an attempt to introduce British forms and the +substance of despotic principles together into any country. No! We call +for that spirit of equity, that spirit of justice, that spirit of +protection, that spirit of lenity, which ought to characterize every +British subject in power; and on these, and these principles only, he +will be tried. + +But he has told your Lordships, in his defence, that actions in Asia do +not bear the same moral qualities which the same actions would bear in +Europe. + +My Lords, we positively deny that principle. I am authorized and called +upon to deny it. And having stated at large what he means by saying that +the same actions have not the same qualities in Asia and in Europe, we +are to let your Lordships know that these gentlemen have formed a plan +of _geographical morality_, by which the duties of men, in public and in +private situations, are not to be governed by their relation to the +great Governor of the Universe, or by their relation to mankind, but by +climates, degrees of longitude, parallels, not of life, but of +latitudes: as if, when you have crossed the equinoctial, all the virtues +die, as they say some insects die when they cross the line; as if there +were a kind of baptism, like that practised by seamen, by which they +unbaptize themselves of all that they learned in Europe, and after which +a new order and system of things commenced. + +This geographical morality we do protest against; Mr. Hastings shall not +screen himself under it; and on this point I hope and trust many words +will not be necessary to satisfy your Lordships. But we think it +necessary, in justification of ourselves, to declare that the laws of +morality are the same everywhere, and that there is no action which +would pass for an act of extortion, of peculation, of bribery, and of +oppression in England, that is not an act of extortion, of peculation, +of bribery, and oppression in Europe, Asia, Africa, and all the world +over. This I contend for not in the technical forms of it, but I contend +for it in the substance. + +Mr. Hastings comes before your Lordships not as a British governor +answering to a British tribunal, but as a subahdar, as a bashaw of three +tails. He says, "I had an arbitrary power to exercise: I exercised it. +Slaves I found the people: slaves they are,--they are so by their +constitution; and if they are, I did not make it for them. I was +unfortunately bound to exercise this arbitrary power, and accordingly I +did exercise it. It was disagreeable to me, but I did exercise it; and +no other power can be exercised in that country." This, if it be true, +is a plea in bar. But I trust and hope your Lordships will not judge by +laws and institutions which you do not know, against those laws and +institutions which you do know, and under whose power and authority Mr. +Hastings went out to India. Can your Lordships patiently hear what _we_ +have heard with indignation enough, and what, if there were nothing +else, would call these principles, as well as the actions which are +justified on such principles, to your Lordships' bar, that it may be +known whether the peers of England do not sympathize with the Commons in +their detestation of such doctrine? Think of an English governor tried +before you as a British subject, and yet declaring that he governed on +the principles of arbitrary power! His plea is, that he did govern there +on arbitrary and despotic, and, as he supposes, Oriental principles. And +as this plea is boldly avowed and maintained, and as, no doubt, all his +conduct was perfectly correspondent to these principles, the principles +and the conduct must be tried together. + +If your Lordships will now permit me, I will state one of the many +places in which he has avowed these principles as the basis and +foundation of all his conduct. "The sovereignty which they assumed, it +fell to my lot, very unexpectedly, to exert; and whether or not such +power, or powers of that nature, were delegated to me by any provisions +of any act of Parliament, I confess myself too little of a lawyer to +pronounce. I only know that the acceptance of the sovereignty of +Benares, &c., is not acknowledged or admitted by any act of Parliament; +and yet, by the particular interference of the majority of the Council, +the Company is clearly and indisputably seized of that sovereignty." So +that this gentleman, because he is not a lawyer, nor clothed with those +robes which distinguish, and well distinguish, the learning of this +country, is not to know anything of his duty; and whether he was bound +by any, or what act of Parliament, is a thing he is not lawyer enough to +know! Now, if your Lordships will suffer the laws to be broken by those +who are not of the long robe, I am afraid those of the long robe will +have none to punish but those of their own profession. He therefore goes +to a law he is better acquainted with,--that is, the law of arbitrary +power and force, if it deserves to be called by the name of law. "If, +therefore," says he, "the _sovereignty_ of Benares, as ceded to us by +the Vizier, have _any rights whatever_ annexed to it, and be not a mere +empty word without meaning, those rights must be such as are held, +countenanced, and established by the law, custom, and usage of the Mogul +empire, and not by the provisions of any British act of Parliament +hitherto enacted. _Those rights_, and none other, I have been the +involuntary instrument of enforcing. And if any future act of Parliament +shall positively or by implication tend to annihilate those very rights, +or their exertion as I have exerted them, I much fear that the boasted +sovereignty of Benares, which was held up as an acquisition, almost +obtruded on the Company against my consent and opinion, (for I +acknowledge that even then I foresaw many difficulties and +inconveniences in its future exercise,)--I fear, I say, that this +sovereignty will be found a burden instead of a benefit, a heavy clog +rather than a precious gem to its present possessors: I mean, unless the +whole of our territory in that quarter shall be rounded and made an +uniform compact body by one grand and systematic arrangement.--such an +arrangement as shall do away all the mischiefs, doubts, and +inconveniences (both to the governors and the governed) arising from the +variety of tenures, rights, and claims in all cases of landed property +and feudal jurisdiction in India, from the informality, invalidity, and +instability of all engagements in so divided and unsettled a state of +society, and from the unavoidable anarchy and confusion of different +laws, religions, and prejudices, moral, civil, and political, all +jumbled together in one unnatural and discordant mass. + +"Every part of Hindostan has been constantly exposed to these and +similar disadvantages ever since the Mahomedan conquests. The Hindoos, +who never incorporated with their conquerors, were kept in order only by +the strong hand of power. The constant necessity of similar exertions +would increase at once their energy and extent; so that rebellion itself +is the parent and promoter of despotism. Sovereignty in India implies +nothing else. For I know not how we can form an estimate of its powers, +but from its visible effects; and those are everywhere the same, from +Cabool to Assam. The whole history of Asia is nothing more than +precedents to prove the invariable exercise of arbitrary power. To all +this I strongly alluded in the minutes I delivered in Council, when the +treaty with the new Vizier was on foot in 1775; and I wished to make +Cheyt Sing independent, because in India dependence included a thousand +evils, many of which I enumerated at that time, and they are entered in +the ninth clause of the first section of this charge. I knew the powers +with which an Indian sovereignty is armed, and the dangers to which +tributaries are exposed. I knew, that, from the history of Asia, and +from the very nature of mankind, the subjects of a despotic empire are +always vigilant for the moment to rebel, and the sovereign is ever +jealous of rebellious intentions. A zemindar is an Indian subject, and +as such exposed to the common lot of his fellows. _The mean and depraved +state of a mere zemindar_ is therefore this very dependence above +mentioned on a despotic government, this very proneness to shake off his +allegiance, and this very exposure to continual danger from his +sovereign's jealousy, which are consequent on the political state of +Hindostanic governments. Bulwant Sing, if he had been, and Cheyt Sing, +as long as he was a zemindar, stood exactly in this _mean and depraved +state_ by the constitution of his country. I did not make it for him, +but would have secured him from it. Those who made him a zemindar +entailed upon him the consequences of so mean and depraved a tenure. +Aliverdy Khan and Cossim Ali fined all their zemindars on the +necessities of war, and on every pretence either of court necessity or +court extravagance." + +My Lords, you have now heard the principles on which Mr. Hastings +governs the part of Asia subjected to the British empire. You have heard +his opinion of the mean and depraved state of those who are subject to +it. You have heard his lecture upon arbitrary power, which he states to +be the constitution of Asia. You hear the application he makes of it; +and you hear the practices which he employs to justify it, and who the +persons were on whose authority he relies, and whose example he +professes to follow. In the first place, your Lordships will be +astonished at the audacity with which he speaks of his own +administration, as if he was reading a speculative lecture on the evils +attendant upon some vicious system of foreign government in which he had +no sort of concern whatsoever. And then, when in this speculative way he +has established, or thinks he has, the vices of the government, he +conceives he has found a sufficient apology for his own crimes. And if +he violates the most solemn engagements, if he oppresses, extorts, and +robs, if he imprisons, confiscates, banishes at his sole will and +pleasure, when we accuse him for his ill-treatment of the people +committed to him as a sacred trust, his defence is,--"To be robbed, +violated, oppressed, is their privilege. Let the constitution of their +country answer for it. I did not make it for them. Slaves I found them, +and as slaves I have treated them. I was a despotic prince. Despotic +governments are jealous, and the subjects prone to rebellion. This very +proneness of the subject to shake off his allegiance exposes him to +continual danger from his sovereign's jealousy, and this is consequent +on the political state of Hindostanic governments." He lays it down as a +rule, that despotism is the genuine constitution of India, that a +disposition to rebellion in the subject or dependent prince is the +necessary effect of this despotism, and that jealousy and its +consequences naturally arise on the part of the sovereign,--that the +government is everything, and the subject nothing,--that the great +landed men are in a mean and depraved state, and subject to many evils. + +Such a state of things, if true, would warrant conclusions directly +opposite to those which Mr. Hastings means to draw from them, both +argumentatively and practically, first to influence his conduct, and +then to bottom his defence of it. + +Perhaps you will imagine that the man who avows these principles of +arbitrary government, and pleads them as the justification of acts which +nothing else can justify, is of opinion that they are on the whole good +for the people over whom they are exercised. The very reverse. He +mentions them as horrible things, tending to inflict on the people a +thousand evils, and to bring on the ruler a continual train of dangers. +Yet he states, that your acquisitions in India will be a detriment +instead of an advantage, if you destroy arbitrary power, unless you can +reduce all the religious establishments, all the civil institutions, and +tenures of land, into one uniform mass,--that is, unless by acts of +arbitrary power you extinguish all the laws, rights, and religious +principles of the people, and force them to an uniformity, and on that +uniformity build a system of arbitrary power. + +But nothing is more false than that despotism is the constitution of any +country in Asia that we are acquainted with. It is certainly not true of +any Mahomedan constitution. But if it were, do your Lordships really +think that the nation would bear, that any human creature would bear, to +hear an English governor defend himself on such principles? or, if he +can defend himself on such principles, is it possible to deny the +conclusion, that no man in India has a security for anything, but by +being totally independent of the British government? Here he has +declared his opinion, that he is a despotic prince, that he is to use +arbitrary power; and of course all his acts are covered with that +shield. "_I know_," says he, "_the constitution of Asia only from its +practice_." Will your Lordships submit to hear the corrupt practices of +mankind made the principles of government? No! it will be your pride +and glory to teach men intrusted with power, that, in their use of it, +they are to conform to principles, and not to draw their principles from +the corrupt practice of any man whatever. Was there ever heard, or could +it be conceived, that a governor would dare to heap up all the evil +practices, all the cruelties, oppressions, extortions, corruptions, +briberies, of all the ferocious usurpers, desperate robbers, thieves, +cheats, and jugglers, that ever had office, from one end of Asia to +another, and, consolidating all this mass of the crimes and absurdities +of barbarous domination into one code, establish it as the whole duty of +an English governor? I believe that till this time so audacious a thing +was never attempted by man. + +_He_ have arbitrary power! My Lords, the East India Company have not +arbitrary power to give him; the king has no arbitrary power to give +him; your Lordships have not; nor the Commons, nor the whole +legislature. We have no arbitrary power to give, because arbitrary power +is a thing which neither any man can hold nor any man can give. No man +can lawfully govern himself according to his own will; much less can one +person be governed by the will of another. We are all born in +subjection,--all born equally, high and low, governors and governed, in +subjection to one great, immutable, preexistent law, prior to all our +devices and prior to all our contrivances, paramount to all our ideas +and all our sensations, antecedent to our very existence, by which we +are knit and connected in the eternal frame of the universe, out of +which we cannot stir. + +This great law does not arise from our conventions or compacts; on the +contrary, it gives to our conventions and compacts all the force and +sanction they can have. It does not arise from our vain institutions. +Every good gift is of God; all power is of God; and He who has given the +power, and from whom alone it originates, will never suffer the exercise +of it to be practised upon any less solid foundation than the power +itself. If, then, all dominion of man over man is the effect of the +Divine disposition, it is bound by the eternal laws of Him that gave it, +with which no human authority can dispense,--neither he that exercises +it, nor even those who are subject to it; and if they were mad enough to +make an express compact that should release their magistrate from his +duty, and should declare their lives, liberties, and properties +dependent upon, not rules and laws, but his mere capricious will, that +covenant would be void. The acceptor of it has not his authority +increased, but he has his crime doubled. Therefore can it be imagined, +if this be true, that He will suffer this great gift of government, the +greatest, the best, that was ever given by God to mankind, to be the +plaything and the sport of the feeble will of a man, who, by a +blasphemous, absurd, and petulant usurpation, would place his own +feeble, contemptible, ridiculous will in the place of the Divine wisdom +and justice? + +The title of conquest makes no difference at all. No conquest can give +such a right; for conquest, that is, force, cannot convert its own +injustice into a just title, by which it may rule others at its +pleasure. By conquest, which is a more immediate designation of the hand +of God, the conqueror succeeds to all the painful duties and +subordination to the power of God which belonged to the sovereign whom +he has displaced, just as if he had come in by the positive law of some +descent or some election. To this at least he is strictly bound: he +ought to govern them as he governs his own subjects. But every wise +conqueror has gone much further than he was bound to go. It has been his +ambition and his policy to reconcile the vanquished to his fortune, to +show that they had gained by the change, to convert their momentary +suffering into a long benefit, and to draw from the humiliation of his +enemies an accession to his own glory. This has been so constant a +practice, that it is to repeat the histories of all politic conquerors +in all nations and in all times; and I will not so much distrust your +Lordships' enlightened and discriminating studies and correct memories +as to allude to one of them. I will only show you that the Court of +Directors, under whom he served, has adopted that idea,--that they +constantly inculcated it to him, and to all the servants,--that they run +a parallel between their own and the native government, and, supposing +it to be very evil, did not hold it up as an example to be followed, but +as an abuse to be corrected,--that they never made it a question, +whether India is to be improved by English law and liberty, or English +law and liberty vitiated by Indian corruption. + +No, my Lords, this arbitrary power is not to be had by conquest. Nor can +any sovereign have it by succession; for no man can succeed to fraud, +rapine, and violence. Neither by compact, covenant, or submission,--for +men cannot covenant themselves out of their rights and their +duties,--nor by any other means, can arbitrary power be conveyed to any +man. Those who give to others such rights perform acts that are void as +they are given,--good indeed and valid only as tending to subject +themselves, and those who act with them, to the Divine displeasure; +because morally there can be no such power. Those who give and those who +receive arbitrary power are alike criminal; and there is no man but is +bound to resist it to the best of his power, wherever it shall show its +face to the world. It is a crime to bear it, when it can be rationally +shaken off. Nothing but absolute impotence can justify men in not +resisting it to the utmost of their ability. + +Law and arbitrary power are in eternal enmity. Name me a magistrate, and +I will name property; name me power, and I will name protection. It is a +contradiction in terms, it is blasphemy in religion, it is wickedness in +politics, to say that any man can have arbitrary power. In every patent +of office the duty is included. For what else does a magistrate exist? +To suppose for power is an absurdity in idea. Judges are guided and +governed by the eternal laws of justice, to which we are all subject. We +may bite our chains, if we will, but we shall be made to know ourselves, +and be taught that man is born to be governed by law; and he that will +substitute _will_ in the place of it is an enemy to GOD. + +Despotism does not in the smallest degree abrogate, alter, or lessen any +one duty of any one relation of life, or weaken the force or obligation +of any one engagement or contract whatsoever. Despotism, if it means +anything that is at all defensible, means a mode of government bound by +no written rules, and coerced by no controlling magistracies or +well-settled orders in the state. But if it has no written law, it +neither does nor can cancel the primeval, indefeasible, unalterable law +of Nature and of nations; and if no magistracies control its exertions, +those exertions must derive their limitation and direction either from +the equity and moderation of the ruler, or from downright revolt on the +part of the subject by rebellion, divested of all its criminal +qualities. The moment a sovereign removes the idea of security and +protection from his subjects, and declares that he is everything and +they nothing, when he declares that no contract he makes with them can +or ought to bind him, he then declares war upon them: he is no longer +sovereign; they are no longer subjects. + +No man, therefore, has a right to arbitrary power. But the thought which +is suggested by the depravity of him who brings it forward is supported +by a gross confusion of ideas and principles, which your Lordships well +know how to discern and separate. It is manifest, that, in the Eastern +governments, and the Western, and in all governments, the supreme power +in the state cannot, whilst that state subsists, be rendered criminally +responsible for its actions: otherwise it would not be the supreme +power. It is certainly true: but the actions do not change their nature +by losing their responsibility. The arbitrary acts which are unpunished +are not the less vicious, though none but God, the conscience, and the +opinions of mankind take cognizance of them. + +It is not merely so in this or that government, but in all countries. +The king in this country is undoubtedly unaccountable for his actions. +The House of Lords, if it should ever exercise, (God forbid I should +suspect it would ever do what it has never done!)--but if it should ever +abuse its judicial power, and give such a judgment as it ought not to +give, whether from fear of popular clamor on the one hand, or +predilection to the prisoner on the other,--if they abuse their +judgments, there is no calling them to an account for it. And so, if the +Commons should abuse their power, nay, if they should have been so +greatly delinquent as not to have prosecuted this offender, they could +not be accountable for it; there is no punishing them for their acts, +because we exercise a part of the supreme power. But are they less +criminal, less rebellious against the Divine Majesty? are they less +hateful to man, whose opinions they ought to cultivate as far as they +are just? No: till society fall into a state of dissolution, they cannot +be accountable for their acts. But it is from confounding the +unaccountable character inherent in the supreme power with arbitrary +power, that all this confusion of ideas has arisen. + +Even upon a supposition that arbitrary power can exist anywhere, which +we deny totally, and which your Lordships will be the first and proudest +to deny, still, absolute supreme dominion was never conferred or +delegated by you,--much less, arbitrary power, which never did in any +case, nor ever will in any case, time, or country, produce any one of +the ends of just government. + +It is true that the supreme power in every constitution of government +must be absolute, and this may be corrupted into the arbitrary. But all +good constitutions have established certain fixed rules for the exercise +of their functions, which they rarely or ever depart from, and which +rules form the security against that worst of evils, the government of +will and force instead of wisdom and justice. + +But though the supreme power is in a situation resembling arbitrary, yet +never was there heard of in the history of the world, that is, in that +mixed chaos of human wisdom and folly, such a thing as an _intermediate_ +arbitrary power,--that is, of an officer of government who is to exert +authority over the people without any law at all, and who is to have the +benefit of all laws, and all forms of law, when he is called to an +account. For that is to let a wild beast (for such is a man without law) +loose upon the people to prey on them at his pleasure, whilst all the +laws which ought to secure the people against the abuse of power are +employed to screen that abuse against the cries of the people. + +This is _de facto_ the state of our Indian government. But to establish +it so in right as well as in fact is a thing left for us to begin with, +the first of mankind. For a subordinate arbitrary or even despotic power +never was heard of in right, claim, or authorized practice; least of all +has it been heard of in the Eastern governments, where all the instances +of severity and cruelty fall upon governors and persons intrusted with +power. This would be a gross contradiction. Before Mr. Hastings, none +ever came before his superiors to claim it; because, if any such thing +could exist, he claims the very power of that sovereign who calls him to +account. + +But suppose a man to come before us, denying all the benefits of law to +the people under him,--and yet, when he is called to account, to claim +all the benefits of that law which was made to screen mankind from the +excesses of power: such a claim, I will venture to say, is a monster +that never existed, except in the wild imagination of some theorist. It +cannot be admitted, because it is a perversion of the fundamental +principle, that every power given for the protection of the people below +should be responsible to the power above. It is to suppose that the +people shall have no laws with regard to _him_, yet, when _he_ comes to +be tried, he shall claim the protection of those laws which were made to +secure the people from his violence,--that he shall claim a fair trial, +an equitable hearing, every advantage of counsel, (God forbid he should +not have them!) yet that the people under him shall have none of those +advantages. The reverse is the principle of every just and rational +procedure. For the people, who have nothing to use but their natural +faculties, ought to be gently dealt with; but those who are intrusted +with an artificial and instituted authority have in their hands a great +deal of the force of other people; and as their temptations to injustice +are greater, so their moans are infinitely more effectual for mischief +by turning the powers given for the preservation of society to its +destruction: so that, if an arbitrary procedure be justifiable, (a +strong one I am sure is,) it is when used against those who pretend to +use it against others. + +My Lords, I will venture to say of the governments of Asia, that none of +them ever had an arbitrary power; and if any governments had an +arbitrary power, they cannot delegate it to any persons under them: that +is, they cannot so delegate it to others as not to leave them +accountable on the principles upon which it was given. As this is a +contradiction in terms, a gross absurdity, as well as a monstrous +wickedness, let me say, for the honor of human nature, that, although +undoubtedly we may speak it with the pride of England that we have +better institutions for the preservation of the rights of men than any +other country in the world, yet I will venture to say that no country +has wholly meant, or ever meant, to give this power. + +As it cannot exist in right on any rational and solid principles of +government, so neither does it exist in the constitution of Oriental +governments,--and I do insist upon it, that Oriental governments know +nothing of arbitrary power. I have taken as much pains as I could to +examine into the constitutions of them. I have been endeavoring to +inform myself at all times on this subject; of late my duty has led me +to a more minute inspection of them; and I do challenge the whole race +of man to show me any of the Oriental governors claiming to themselves a +right to act by arbitrary will. + +The greatest part of Asia is under Mahomedan governments. To name a +Mahomedan government is to name a government by law. It is a law +enforced by stronger sanctions than any law that can bind a Christian +sovereign. Their law is believed to be given by God; and it has the +double sanction of law and of religion, with which the prince is no more +authorized to dispense than any one else. And if any man will produce +the Koran to me, and will but show me one text in it that authorizes in +any degree an arbitrary power in the government, I will confess that I +have read that book, and been conversant in the affairs of Asia, in +vain. There is not such a syllable in it; but, on the contrary, against +oppressors by name every letter of that law is fulminated. There are +interpreters established throughout all Asia to explain that law, an +order of priesthood, whom they call _men of the law_. These men are +conservators of the law; and to enable them to preserve it in its +perfection, they are secured from the resentment of the sovereign: for +he cannot touch them. Even their kings are not always vested with a real +supreme power, but the government is in some degree republican. + +To bring this point a little nearer home,--since we are challenged thus, +since we are led into Asia, since we are called upon to make good our +charge on the principles of the governments there, rather than on those +of our own country, (which I trust your Lordships will oblige him +finally to be governed by, puffed up as he is with the insolence of +Asia,)--the nearest to us of the governments he appeals to is that of +the Grand Seignior, the Emperor of the Turks.--_He_ an arbitrary power! +Why, he has not the supreme power of his own country. Every one knows +that the Grand Seignior is exalted high in _titles_, as our prerogative +lawyers exalt an abstract sovereign,--and he cannot be exalted higher in +our books. I say he is destitute of the first character of sovereign +power: he cannot lay a tax upon his people. The next part in which he +misses of a sovereign power is, that he cannot dispose of the life, of +the property, or of the liberty of any of his subjects, but by what is +called the _fetwah_, or sentence of the law. He cannot declare peace or +war without the same sentence of the law: so much is _he_, more than +European sovereigns, a subject of strict law, that he cannot declare war +or peace without it. Then, if he can neither touch life nor property, +if he cannot lay a tax on his subjects, or declare peace or war, I leave +it to your Lordships' judgment, whether he can be called, according to +the principles of that constitution, an arbitrary power. A Turkish +sovereign, if he should be judged by the body of that law to have acted +against its principles, (unless he happens to be secured by a faction of +the soldiery,) is liable to be deposed on the sentence of that law, and +his successor comes in under the strict limitations of the ancient law +of that country: neither can he hold his place, dispose of his +succession, or take any one step whatever, without being bound by law. +Thus much may be said, when gentlemen talk of the affairs of Asia, as to +the nearest of Asiatic sovereigns: and he is more Asiatic than European, +he is a Mahomedan sovereign; and no Mahomedan is born who can exercise +any arbitrary power at all, consistently with their constitution; +insomuch that this chief magistrate, who is the highest executive power +among them, is the very person who, by the constitution of the country, +is the most fettered by law. + +Corruption is the true cause of the loss of all the benefits of the +constitution of that country. The _practice of Asia_, as the gentleman +at your bar has thought fit to say, is what he holds to; the +constitution he flies away from. The question is, whether you will take +the constitution of the country as your rule, or the base practices of +those usurpers, robbers, and tyrants who have subverted it. Undoubtedly, +much blood, murder, false imprisonment, much peculation, cruelty, and +robbery are to be found in Asia; and if, instead of going to the sacred +laws of the country, he chooses to resort to the iniquitous practices of +it, and practices authorized only by public tumult, contention, war, and +riot, he may indeed find as clear an acquittal in the practices as he +would find condemnation in the institutions of it. He has rejected the +law of England. Your Lordships will not suffer it. God forbid! For my +part, I should have no sort of objection to let him choose his +law,--Mahomedan, Tartarian, Gentoo. But if he disputes, as he does, the +authority of an act of Parliament, let him state to me that law to which +he means to be subject, or any law which he knows that will justify his +actions. I am not authorized to say that I shall, even in that case, +give up what is not in me to give up, because I represent an authority +of which I must stand in awe; but, for myself, I shall confess that I am +brought to public shame, and am not fit to manage the great interests +committed to my charge. I therefore again repeat of that Asiatic +government with which we are best acquainted, which has been constituted +more in obedience to the laws of Mahomet than any other, that the +sovereign cannot, agreeably to that constitution, exercise any arbitrary +power whatever. + +The next point for us to consider is, whether or no the Mahomedan +constitution of India authorizes that power. The gentleman at your +Lordships' bar has thought proper to say, that it will be happy for +India, (though soon after he tells you it is an happiness they can never +enjoy,) "when the despotic institutes of Genghiz Khan or Tamerlane shall +give place to the liberal spirit of a British legislature; and," says +he, "I shall be amply satisfied in my present prosecution, if it shall +tend to hasten the approach of an event so beneficial to the great +interests of mankind." + +My Lords, you have seen what he says about an act of Parliament. Do you +not now think it rather an extraordinary thing, that any British subject +should, in vindication of the authority which he has exercised, here +quote the names and institutes, as he calls them, of fierce conquerors, +of men who were the scourges of mankind, whose power was a power which +they held by force only? + +As to the institutes of Genghiz Khan, which he calls arbitrary +institutes, I never saw them. If he has that book, he will oblige the +public by producing it. I have seen a book existing, called Yassa of +Genghiz Khan; the other I never saw. If there be any part of it to +justify arbitrary power, he will produce it. But if we may judge by +those ten precepts of Genghiz Khan which we have, there is not a shadow +of arbitrary power to be found in any one of them. Institutes of +arbitrary power! Why, if there is arbitrary power, there can be no +institutes. + +As to the institutes of Tamerlane, here they are in their original, and +here is a translation. I have carefully read every part of these +institutes; and if any one shows me one word in them in which the prince +claims in himself arbitrary power, I again repeat, that I shall for my +own part confess that I have brought myself to great shame. There is no +book in the world, I believe, which contains nobler, more just, more +manly, more pious principles of government than this book, called the +Institutions of Tamerlane. Nor is there one word of arbitrary power in +it, much less of that arbitrary power which Mr. Hastings supposes +himself justified by,--namely, a delegated, subordinate, arbitrary +power. So far was that great prince from permitting this gross, violent, +intermediate arbitrary power, that I will venture to say the chief thing +by which he has recommended himself to posterity was a most direct +declaration of all the wrath and indignation of the supreme government +against it. But here is the book. It contains the institutes of the +founder of the Mogul empire, left as a sacred legacy to his posterity, +as a rule for their conduct, and as a means of preserving their power. + + * * * * * + +"Be it known to my fortunate sons, the conquerors of kingdoms, to my +mighty descendants, the lords of the earth, that, since I have hope in +Almighty God that many of my children, descendants, and posterity shall +sit upon the throne of power and regal authority, upon this account, +having established laws and regulations for the well governing of my +dominions, I have collected together those regulations and laws as a +model for others, to the end that, every one of my children, +descendants, and posterity acting agreeably thereto, my power and +empire, which I acquired through hardships and difficulties and perils +and bloodshed, by the Divine favor, and by the influence of the holy +religion of Mahomet, (God's peace be up on him!) and with the assistance +of the powerful descendants and illustrious followers of that prophet, +may be by them preserved. And let them make these regulations the rule +of their conduct in the affairs of their empire, that the fortune and +the power which shall descend from me to them may be safe from discord +and dissolution. + +"Now, therefore, be it known to my sons, the fortunate and the +illustrious, to my descendants, the mighty subduers of kingdoms, that, +in like manner as I by twelve maxims, which I established as the rule of +my conduct, attained to regal dignity, and with the assistance of these +maxims conquered and governed kingdoms, and decorated and adorned the +throne of my empire, let them also act according to these regulations, +and preserve the splendor of mine and their dominions. + +"And among the rules which I established for the support of my glory and +empire, the _first_ was this,--that I promoted the worship of Almighty +God, and propagated the religion of the sacred Mahomet throughout the +world, and at all times and in all places supported the true faith. + +"_Secondly_. With the people of the twelve classes and tribes I +conquered and governed kingdoms, and with them I strengthened the +pillars of my fortune, and from them I formed my assembly. + +"_Thirdly_. By consultation and deliberation and provident measures, by +caution and by vigilance, I vanquished armies, and I reduced kingdoms to +my authority. And I carried on the business of my empire by complying +with times and occasions, and by generosity, and by patience, and by +policy; and I acted with courteousness towards my friends and towards my +enemies. + +"_Fourthly_. By order and by discipline I regulated the concerns of my +government; and by discipline and by order I so firmly established my +authority, that the emirs and the viziers and the soldiers and the +subjects could not aspire beyond their respective degrees; and every one +of them was the keeper of his own station. + +"_Fifthly_. I gave encouragement to my emirs and to my soldiers, and +with money and with jewels I made them glad of heart; and I permitted +them to come into the banquet; and in the field of blood they hazarded +their lives. And I withheld not from them my gold nor my silver. And I +educated and trained them to arms; and to alleviate their sufferings, I +myself shared in their labors and in their hardships, until with the arm +of fortitude and resolution, and with the unanimity of my chiefs and my +generals and my warriors, by the edge of the sword, I obtained +possession of the thrones of seven-and-twenty kings, and became the king +and the ruler of the kingdoms of Eraun, and of Tooraun, and of Room, and +of Mughrib, and of Shaum, and of Missur, and of Erauk-a-Arrub, and of +Ajjum, and of Mauzinduraun, and of Kylaunaut, and of Shurvaunaut, and of +Azzurbauejaun, and of Fauris, and of Khorausaun, and of the Dusht of +Jitteh, and the Dusht of Kipchauk, and of Khauruzm, and Khuttun, and of +Kauboolistaun, and of Hindostaun, and of Bauktur Zemeen. + +"And when I clothed myself in the robe of empire, I shut my eyes to +safety, and to the repose which is found on the bed of ease. And from +the twelfth year of my age I travelled over countries, and combated +difficulties, and formed enterprises, and vanquished armies, and +experienced mutinies amongst my officers and my soldiers, and was +familiarized to the language of disobedience; and I opposed them with +policy and with fortitude, and I hazarded my person in the hour of +danger; until in the end I vanquished kingdoms and empires, and +established the glory of my name. + +"_Sixthly_. By justice and equity I gained the affections of the people +of God; and I extended my clemency to the guilty as well as to the +innocent; and I passed that sentence which truth required; and by +benevolence I gained a place in the hearts of men; and by rewards and +punishments I kept both my troops and my subjects divided between hope +and fear. And I compassionated the lower ranks of my people, and those +who were distressed. And I gave gifts to the soldiers. + +"And I delivered the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor; and after +proof of the oppression, whether on the property or the person, the +decision which I passed between them was agreeable to the sacred law. +And I did not cause any one person to suffer for the guilt of another. + +"Those who had done me injuries, who had attacked my person in battle, +and had counteracted my schemes and enterprises, when they threw +themselves on my mercy, I received them with kindness, I conferred on +them additional honors, and I drew the pen of oblivion over their evil +actions; and I treated them in such sort, that, if suspicion remained in +their hearts, it was plucked out entirely. + +"_Seventhly_, I selected out, and treated with esteem and veneration, +the posterity of the Prophet, and the theologians, and the teachers of +the true faith, and the philosophers, and the historians. And I loved +men of courage and valor; for God Almighty loveth the brave. And I +associated with good and learned men; and I gained their affections, and +I entreated their support, and I sought success from their holy prayers. +And I loved the dervishes and the poor; and I oppressed them not, +neither did I exclude them from my favor. And I permitted not the evil +and the malevolent to enter into my council; and I acted not by their +advice; and I listened not to their insinuations to the prejudice of +others. + +"_Eighthly_. I acted with resolution; and on whatever undertaking I +resolved, I made that undertaking the only object of my attention; and I +withdrew not my hand from that enterprise, until I had brought it to a +conclusion. And I acted according to that which I said. And I dealt not +with severity towards any one, and I was not oppressive in any of my +actions; that God Almighty might not deal severely towards me, nor +render my own actions oppressive unto me. + +"And I inquired of learned men into the laws and regulations of ancient +princes, from the days of Adam to those of the Prophet, and from the +days of the Prophet down to this time. And I weighed their institutions +and their actions and their opinions, one by one. And from their +approved manners and their good qualities I selected models. And I +inquired into the causes of the subversion of their power, and I shunned +those actions which tend to the destruction and overthrow of regal +authority. And from cruelty and from oppression, which are the +destroyers of posterity and the bringers of famine and of plagues, I +found it was good to abstain. + +"_Ninthly_. The situation of my people was known unto me. And those who +were great among them I considered as my brethren; and I regarded the +poor as my children. And I made myself acquainted with the tempers and +the dispositions of the people of every country and of every city. And I +contracted intimacies with the citizens and the chiefs and the nobles; +and I appointed over them governors adapted to their manners and their +dispositions and their wishes. And I knew the circumstances of the +inhabitants of every province. And in every kingdom I appointed writers +of intelligence, men of truth and integrity, that they might send me +information of the conduct and the behavior and the actions and the +manners of the troops and of the inhabitants, and of every occurrence +that might come to pass amongst them. And if I discovered aught contrary +to their information, I inflicted punishment on the intelligencer; and +every circumstance of cruelty and oppression in the governors and in the +troops and in the inhabitants, which reached my ears, I chastised +agreeably to justice and equity. + +"_Tenthly_. Whatever tribe, and whatever horde, whether Toork, or +Taucheek, or Arrub, or Ajjum, came in unto me, I received their chiefs +with distinction and respect, and their followers I honored according to +their degrees and their stations; and to the good among them I did good, +and the evil I delivered over to their evil actions. + +"And whoever attached himself unto me, I forgot not the merit of his +attachment, and I acted towards him with kindness and generosity; and +whoever had rendered me services, I repaid the value of those services +unto him. And whoever had been my enemy, and was ashamed thereof, and, +flying to me for protection, humbled himself before me, I forgot his +enmity, and I purchased him with liberality and kindness. + +"In such manner Share Behraum, the chief of a tribe, was along with me. +And he left me in the hour of action, and he united with the enemy, and +he drew forth his sword against me. And at length my salt, which he had +eaten, seized upon him; and he again fled to me for refuge, and humbled +himself before me. As he was a man of illustrious descent, and of +bravery, and of experience, I covered my eyes from his evil actions; and +I magnified him, and I exalted him to a superior rank, and I pardoned +his disloyalty in consideration of his valor. + +"_Eleventhly_. My children, and my relations, and my associates, and my +neighbors, and such as had been connected with me, all these I +distinguished in the days of my fortune and prosperity, and I paid unto +them their due. And with respect to my family, I rent not asunder the +bands of consanguinity and mercy; and I issued not commands to slay +them, or to bind them with chains. + +"And I dealt with every man, whatever the judgment I had formed of him, +according to my own opinion of his worth. As I had seen much of +prosperity and adversity, and had acquired knowledge and experience, I +conducted myself with caution and with policy towards my friends and +towards my enemies. + +"_Twelfthly_. Soldiers, whether associates or adversaries, I held in +esteem,--those who sell their permanent happiness to perishable honor, +and throw themselves into the field of slaughter and battle, and hazard +their lives in the hour of danger. + +"And the man who drew his sword on the side of my enemy, and committed +hostilities against me, and preserved his fidelity to his master, him I +greatly honored; and when such a man came unto me, knowing his worth, I +classed him with my faithful associates; and I respected and valued his +fidelity and his attachment. + +"And the soldier who forgot his duty and his honor, and in the hour of +action turned his face from his master, and came in unto me, I +considered as the most detestable of men. + +"And in the war between Touktummish Khaun, his emirs forgot their duty +to Touktummish, who was their master and my foe, and sent proposals and +wrote letters unto me. And I uttered execrations upon them, because, +unmindful of that which they owed to their lord, they had thrown aside +their honor and their duty, and came in unto me. I said unto myself, +'What fidelity have they observed to their liege lord? what fidelity +will they show unto me?' + +"And, behold, it was known unto me by experience, that every empire +which is not established in morality and religion, nor strengthened by +regulations and laws, from that empire all order, grandeur, and power +shall pass away. And that empire may be likened unto a naked man, who, +when exposed to view, commandeth the eye of modesty to be covered; and +it is like unto a house which hath neither roof nor gates nor defences, +into which whoever willeth may enter unmolested. + +"THEREFORE I established the foundation of my empire on the morality and +the religion of Islaum; and by regulations and laws I gave it stability. +And by laws and by regulations I executed every business and every +transaction that came before me in the course of my government." + + * * * * * + +I need not read any further, or I might show your Lordships the noble +principles, the grand, bold, and manly maxims, the resolution to abstain +from oppression himself, and to crush it in the governors under him, to +be found in this book, which Mr. Hastings has thought proper to resort +to as containing what he calls arbitrary principles. + +But it is not in this instance only that I must do justice to the East. +I assert that their morality is equal to ours, in whatever regards the +duties of governors, fathers, and superiors; and I challenge the world +to show in any modern European book more true morality and wisdom than +is to be found in the writings of Asiatic men in high trust, and who +have been counsellors to princes. If this be the true morality of Asia, +as I affirm and can prove that it is, the plea founded on Mr. Hastings's +geographical morality is annihilated. + +I little regard the theories of travellers, where they do not relate the +facts on which they are founded. I have two instances of facts attested +by Tavernier, a traveller of power and consequence, which are very +material to be mentioned here, because they show that in some of the +instances recorded, in which the princes of the country have used any of +those cruel and barbarous executions which make us execrate them, it has +been upon governors who have abused their trust,--and that this very +Oriental authority to which Mr. Hastings appeals would have condemned +him to a dreadful punishment. I thank God, and I say it from my heart, +that even for his enormous offences there neither is nor can be anything +like such punishments. God forbid that we should not as much detest +out-of-the-way, mad, furious, and unequal punishments as we detest +enormous and abominable crimes! because a severe and cruel penalty for a +crime of a light nature is as bad and iniquitous as the crime which it +pretends to punish. As the instances I allude to are curious, and as +they go to the principles of Mr. Hastings's defence, I shall beg to +quote them. + +The first is upon a governor who did what Mr. Hastings says he has a +power delegated to him to do: he levied a tax without the consent of his +master. "Some years after my departure from Com," says Tavernier, "the +governor had, of his own accord, and without any communication with the +king, laid a small impost upon every pannier of fruit brought into the +city, for the purpose of making some necessary reparations in the walls +and bridges of the town. It was towards the end of the year 1632 that +the event I am going to relate happened. The king, being informed of the +impost which the governor had laid upon the fruit, ordered him to be +brought in chains to court. The king ordered him to be exposed to the +people at one of the gates of the palace; then he commanded the son to +pluck off the mustachios of his father, to cut off his nose and ears, to +put out his eyes, and then cut off his head. The king then told the son +to go and take possession of the government of his father, saying, _See +that you govern better than this deceased dog, or thy doom shall be a +death more exquisitely tormenting_." + +My Lords, you are struck with horror, I am struck with horror, at this +punishment. I do not relate it to approve of such a barbarous act, but +to prove to your Lordships, that, whatever power the princes of that +country have, they are jealous of it to such a degree, that, if any of +their governors should levy a tax, even the most insignificant, and for +the best purposes, he meets with a cruel punishment. I do not justify +the punishment; but the severity of it shows how little of their power +the princes of that country mean to delegate to their servants, the +whole of which the gentleman at your bar says was delegated to him. + +There is another case, a very strong one, and that is the case of +presents, which I understand is a custom admitted throughout Asia in all +their governments. It was of a person who was raised to a high office; +no business was suffered to come before him without a previous present. +"One morning, the king being at this time on a hunting party, the +_nazar_ came to the tent of the king, but was denied entrance by the +_meter_, or master of the wardrobe. About the same time the king came +forth, and, seeing the nazar, commanded his officers to take off the +bonnet from the head of that dog that took gifts from his people, and +that he should sit three days bareheaded in the heat of the sun, and as +many nights in the air. Afterwards he caused him to be chained about the +neck and arms, and condemned him to perpetual imprisonment, with a +_mamoudy_ a day for his maintenance; but he died for grief within eight +days after he was put in prison." + +Do I mean, by reading this to your Lordships, to express or intimate an +approbation either of the cruelty of the punishment or of the coarse +barbarism of the language? Neither one nor the other. I produce it to +your Lordships to prove to you, from this dreadful example, the horror +which that government felt, when any person subject to it assumed to +himself a privilege to receive presents. The cruelty and severity +exercised by these princes is not levelled at the poor unfortunate +people who complain at their gates, but, to use their own barbarous +expression, _to dogs that impose taxes and take presents_. God forbid I +should use that language! The people, when they complain, are not called +dogs and sent away, but the governors, who do these things against the +people: they are called dogs, and treated in that cruel manner. I quote +them to show that no governors in the East, upon any principle of their +constitution or any good practice of their government, can lay arbitrary +imposts or receive presents. When they escape, it is probably by +bribery, by corruption, by creating factions for themselves in the +seraglio, in the country, in the army, in the divan. But how they escape +such punishments is not my business to inquire; it is enough for me that +the constitution disavows them, that the princes of the country disavow +them,--that they revile them with the most horrible expressions, and +inflict dreadful punishments on them, when they are called to answer for +these offences. Thus much concerning the Mahomedan laws of Asia. That +the people of Asia have no laws, rights, or liberty, is a doctrine that +wickedly is to be disseminated through this country. But I again assert, +every Mahomedan government is, by its principles, a government of law. + +I shall now state, from what is known of the government of India, that +it does not and cannot delegate, as Mr. Hastings has frequently +declared, the whole of its powers and authority to him. If they are +absolute, as they must be in the supreme power, they ought to be +arbitrary in none; they were, however, never absolute in any of their +subordinate parts, and I will prove it by the known provincial +constitutions of Hindostan, which are all Mahomedan, the laws of which +are as clear, as explicit, and as learned as ours. + +The first foundation of their law is the _Koran_. The next part is the +_Fetwah_, or adjudged cases by proper authority, well known there. The +next, the written interpretations of the principles of jurisprudence: +and their books are as numerous upon the principles of jurisprudence as +in any country in Europe. The next part of their law is what they call +the _Kanon_,--that is, a positive rule equivalent to acts of Parliament, +the law of the several powers of the country, taken from the Greek word +[Greek: Kanon], which was brought into their country, and is well known. +The next is the _Rawaj-ul-Mulk_, or common law and custom of the +kingdom, equivalent to our common law. Therefore they have laws from +more sources than we have, exactly in the same order, grounded upon the +same authority, fundamentally fixed to be administered to the people +upon these principles. + +The next thing is to show that in India there is a partition of the +powers of the government, which proves that there is no absolute power +delegated. + +In every province the first person is the _Subahdar_ or _Nazim_, or +Viceroy: he has the power of the sword, and the administration of +criminal justice only. Then there is the _Dewan_, or High Steward: he +has the revenue and all exchequer causes under him, to be governed +according to the law and custom and institutions of the kingdom. The law +of inheritances, successions, and everything that relates to them, is +under the _Cadi_, in whose court these matters are tried. But this, too, +was subdivided. The Cadi could not judge, but by the advice of his +assessors. Properly in the Mahomedan law there is no appeal, only a +removal of the cause; but when there is no judgment, as none can be when +the court is not unanimous, it goes to the general assembly of all the +men of the law. There are, I will venture to say, other divisions and +subdivisions; for there are the _Kanongoes_, who hold their places for +life, to be the conservators of the canons, customs, and good usages of +the country: all these, as well as the Cadi and the Mufti, hold their +places and situations, not during the wanton pleasure of the prince, but +on permanent and fixed terms for life. All these powers of magistracy, +revenue, and law are all different, consequently not delegated in the +whole to any one person. + +This is the provincial constitution, and these the laws of Bengal; which +proves, if there were no other proof, by the division of the functions +and authorities, that the supreme power of the state in the Mogul empire +did by no means delegate to any of its officers the supreme power in its +fulness. Whether or no we have delegated to Mr. Hastings the supreme +power of King and Parliament, that he should act with the plenitude of +authority of the British legislature, you are to judge. + +Mr. Hastings has no refuge here. Let him run from law to law; let him +fly from the common law and the sacred institutions of the country in +which he was born; let him fly from acts of Parliament, from which his +power originated; let him plead his ignorance of them, or fly in the +face of them. Will he fly to the Mahomedan law? That condemns him. Will +he fly to the high magistracy of Asia to defend taking of presents? +Padishah and the Sultan would condemn him to a cruel death. Will he fly +to the Sophis, to the laws of Persia, or to the practice of those +monarchs? I cannot utter the pains, the tortures, that would be +inflicted on him, if he were to govern there as he has done in a British +province. Let him fly where he will, from law to law; law, I thank God, +meets him everywhere, and enforced, too, by the practice of the most +impious tyrants, which he quotes as if it would justify his conduct. I +would as willingly have him tried by the law of the Koran, or the +Institutes of Tamerlane, as on the common law or statute law of this +kingdom. + +The next question is, whether the Gentoo laws justify arbitrary power: +and if he finds any sanctuary there, let him take it, with the cow in +the pagoda. The Gentoos have a law which positively proscribes in +magistrates any idea of will,--a law with which, or rather with extracts +of it, that gentleman himself has furnished us. These people in many +points are governed by their own ancient written law, called the +_Shaster_. Its interpreters and judges are the _Pundits_. This law is +comprehensive, extending to all the concerns of life, affording +principles and maxims and legal theories applicable to all cases, drawn +from the sources of natural equity, modified by their institutions, full +of refinement and subtilty of distinction equal to that of any other +law, and has the grand test of all law, that, wherever it has prevailed, +the country has been populous, flourishing, and happy. + +Upon the whole, then, follow him where you will, let him have Eastern or +Western law, you find everywhere arbitrary power and peculation of +governors proscribed and horribly punished,--more so than I should ever +wish to punish any, the most guilty, human creature. And if this be the +case, as I hope and trust it has been proved to your Lordships, that +there is law in these countries, that there is no delegation of power +which exempts a governor from the law, then I say at any rate a British +governor is to answer for his conduct, and cannot be justified by wicked +examples and profligate practices. + +But another thing which he says is, that he was left to himself, to +govern himself by his own practice: that is to say, when he had taken +one bribe, he might take another; when he had robbed one man of his +property, he might rob another; when he had imprisoned one man +arbitrarily, and extorted money from him, he might do so by another. He +resorts at first to the practice of barbarians and usurpers; at last he +comes to his own. Now, if your Lordships will try him by such maxims and +principles, he is certainly clear: for there is no manner of doubt that +there is nothing he has practised once which he has not practised again; +and then the repetition of crimes becomes the means of his indemnity. + +The next pleas he urges are not so much in bar of the impeachment as in +extenuation. The first are to be laid by as claims to be made on motion +for arrest of judgment, the others as an extenuation or mitigation of +his fine. He says, and with a kind of triumph, "The ministry of this +country have great legal assistance,--commercial lights of the greatest +commercial city in the world,--the greatest generals and officers to +guide and direct them in military affairs: whereas I, poor man, was sent +almost a school-boy from England, or at least little better,--sent to +find my way in that new world as well as I could. I had no men of the +law, no legal assistance, to supply my deficiencies." _At Sphingem +habebas domi._ Had he not the chief-justice, the tamed and domesticated +chief-justice, who waited on him like a familiar spirit, whom he takes +from province to province, his amanuensis at home, his postilion and +riding express abroad? + +Such a declaration would in some measure suit persons who had acted much +otherwise than Mr. Hastings. When a man pleads ignorance in +justification of his conduct, it ought to be an humble, modest, +unpresuming ignorance, an ignorance which may have made him lax and +timid in the exercise of his duty; but an assuming, rash, presumptuous, +confident, daring, desperate, and disobedient ignorance heightens every +crime that it accompanies. Mr. Hastings, if through ignorance he left +some of the Company's orders unexecuted, because he did not understand +them, might well say, "I was an ignorant man, and these things were +above my capacity." But when he understands them, and when he declares +he will not obey them, positively and dogmatically,--when he says, as he +has said, and we shall prove it, _that he never succeeds better than +when he acts in an utter defiance of those orders_, and sets at nought +the laws of his country,--I believe this will not be thought the +language of an ignorant man. But I beg your Lordships' pardon: it is the +language of an ignorant man; for no man who was not full of a bold, +determined, profligate ignorance could ever think of such a system of +defence. He quitted Westminster School almost a boy. We have reason to +regret that he did not finish his education in that noble seminary, +which has given so many luminaries to the Church and ornaments to the +State. Greatly it is to be lamented that he did not go to those +Universities where arbitrary power will I hope never be heard of, but +the true principles of religion, of liberty, and law will ever be +inculcated, instead of studying in the school of Cossim Ali Khan. + +If he had lived with us, he would have quoted the example of Cicero in +his government, he would have quoted several of the sacred and holy +prophets, and made _them_ his example. His want of learning, profane as +well as sacred, reduces him to the necessity of appealing to every name +and authority of barbarism, tyranny, and usurpation that are to be +found; and from these he says, "From the practice of one part of Asia or +other I have taken my rule." But your Lordships will show him that in +Asia as well as in Europe the same law of nations prevails, the same +principles are continually resorted to, and the same maxims sacredly +held and strenuously maintained, and, however disobeyed, no man suffers +from the breach of them who does not know how and where to complain of +that breach,--that Asia is enlightened in that respect as well as +Europe; but if it were totally blinded, that England would send out +governors to teach them better, and that he must justify himself to the +piety, the truth, the faith of England, and not by having recourse to +the crimes and criminals of other countries, to the barbarous tyranny of +Asia, or any other part of the world. + +I will go further with Mr. Hastings, and admit, that, if there be a boy +in the fourth form of Westminster School, or any school in England, who +does not know, when these articles are read to him, that he has been +guilty of gross and enormous crimes, he may have the shelter of his +present plea, as far as it will serve him. There are none of us, thank +God, so uninstructed, who have learned our catechisms or the first +elements of Christianity, who do not know that such conduct is not to be +justified, and least of all by examples. + +There is another topic he takes up more seriously, and as a general +rebutter to the charge. Says he, "After a great many of these practices +with which I am charged, Parliament appointed me to my trust, and +consequently has acquitted me."--Has it, my Lords? I am bold to say that +the Commons are wholly guiltless of this charge. I will admit, if +Parliament, on a full state of his offences before them, and full +examination of those offences, had appointed him to the government, that +then the people of India and England would have just reason to exclaim +against so flagitious a proceeding. A sense of propriety and decorum +might have restrained us from prosecuting. They might have been +restrained by some sort of decorum from pursuing him criminally. But the +Commons stand before your Lordships without shame. First, in their name +we solemnly assure your Lordships that we had not in our Parliamentary +capacity (and most of us, myself I can say surely, heard very little, +and that in confused rumors) the slightest knowledge of any one of the +acts charged upon this criminal at either of the times of his being +appointed to office, and that we were not guilty of the nefarious act of +collusion and flagitious breach of trust with which he presumes +obliquely to charge us; but from the moment we knew them, we never +ceased to condemn them by reports, by votes, by resolutions, and that we +admonished and declared it to be the duty of the Court of Directors to +take measures for his recall, and when frustrated in the way known to +that court we then proceeded to an inquiry. Your Lordships know whether +you were better informed. We are, therefore, neither guilty of the +precedent crime of colluding with the criminal, nor the subsequent +indecorum of prosecuting what we had virtually and practically approved. + +Secondly, several of his worst crimes have been committed since the last +Parliamentary renewal of his trust, as appears by the dates in the +charge. + +But I believe, my Lords, the judges--judges to others, grave and weighty +counsellors and assistants to your Lordships--will not, on reference, +assert to your Lordships, (which God forbid, and we cannot conceive, or +hardly state in argument, if but for argument,) that, if one of the +judges had received bribes before his appointment to an higher judiciary +office, he would not still be open to prosecution. + +So far from admitting it as a plea in bar, we charge, and we hope your +Lordships will find it an extreme aggravation of his offences, that no +favors heaped upon him could make him grateful, no renewed and repeated +trusts could make him faithful and honest. + +We have now gone through most of the general topics. + +But he is not responsible, as being thanked by the Court of Directors. +He has had the thanks and approbation of the India Company for his +services.--We know too well here, I trust the world knows, and you will +always assert, that a pardon from the crown is not pleadable here, that +it cannot bar the impeachment of the Commons,--much less a pardon of the +East India Company, though it may involve them in guilt which might +induce us to punish them for such a pardon. If any corporation by +collusion with criminals refuse to do their duty in coercing them, the +magistrates are answerable. + +It is the use, virtue, and efficacy of Parliamentary judicial procedure, +that it puts an end to this dominion of faction, intrigue, cabal, and +clandestine intelligences. The acts of men are put to their proper test, +and the works of darkness tried in the face of day,--not the corrupted +opinions of others on them, but their own intrinsic merits. We charge it +as his crime, that he bribed the Court of Directors to thank him for +what they had condemned as breaches of his duty. + +The East India Company, it is true, have thanked him. They ought not to +have done it; and it is a reflection upon their character that they did +it. But the Directors praise him in the gross, after having condemned +each act in detail. His actions are _all_, every one, censured one by +one as they arise. I do not recollect any one transaction, few there +are, I am sure, in the whole body of that succession of crimes now +brought before you for your judgment, in which the India Company have +not censured him. Nay, in one instance he pleads their censure in bar of +this trial;[27] for he says, "In that censure I have already received my +punishment." If, for any other reasons, they come and say, "We thank +you, Sir, for all your services," to that I answer, Yes; and _I_ would +thank him for his services, too, if I knew them. But _I_ do +not;--perhaps _they_ do. Let them thank him for those services. I am +ordered to prosecute him for these crimes. Here, therefore, we are on a +balance with the India Company; and your Lordships may perhaps think it +some addition to his crimes, that he has found means to obtain the +thanks of the India Company for the whole of his conduct, at the same +time that their records are full of constant, uniform, particular +censure and reprobation of every one of those acts for which he now +stands accused. + +He says, there is the testimony of Indian princes in his favor. But do +we not know how seals are obtained in that country? Do we not know how +those princes are imposed upon? Do we not know the subjection and +thraldom in which they are held, and that they are obliged to return +thanks for the sufferings which they have felt? I believe your Lordships +will think that there is not, with regard to some of these princes, a +more dreadful thing that can be said of them than that he has obtained +their thanks. + +I understand he has obtained the thanks of the miserable Princesses of +Oude, whom he has cruelly imprisoned, whose treasure he has seized, and +whose eunuchs he has tortured.[28] They thank him for going away; they +thank him for leaving them the smallest trifle of their subsistence; and +I venture to say, if he wanted a hundred more panegyrics, provided he +never came again among them, he might have them. I understand that +Mahdajee Sindia has made his panegyric, too. Mahdajee Sindia has not +made his panegyric for nothing; for, if your Lordships will suffer him +to enter into such a justification, we shall prove that he has +sacrificed the dignity of this country and the interests of all its +allies to that prince. We appear here neither with panegyric nor with +satire; it is for substantial crimes we bring him before you, and +amongst others for cruelly using persons of the highest rank and +consideration in India; and when we prove he has cruelly injured them, +you will think the panegyrics either gross forgeries or most miserable +aggravations of his offences, since they show the abject and dreadful +state into which he has driven those people. For let it be proved that I +have cruelly robbed and maltreated any persons, if I produce a +certificate from them of my good behavior, would it not be a +corroborative proof of the terror into which those persons are thrown by +my misconduct? + + * * * * * + +My Lords, these are, I believe, the general grounds of our charge. I +have now closed completely, and I hope to your Lordships' satisfaction, +the whole body of history of which I wished to put your Lordships in +possession. I do not mean that many of your Lordships may not have known +it more perfectly by your own previous inquiries; but, bringing to your +remembrance the state of the circumstances of the persons with whom he +acted, the persons and power he has abused, I have gone to the +principles he maintains, the precedents he quotes, the laws and +authorities which he refuses to abide by, and those on which he relies; +and at last I have refuted all those pleas in bar on which he depends, +and for the effect of which he presumes on the indulgence and patience +of this country, or on the corruption of some persons in it. And here I +close what I had to say upon this subject,--wishing and hoping, that, +when I open before your Lordships the case more particularly, so as to +state rather a plan of the proceeding than the direct proof of the +crimes, your Lordships will hear me with the same goodness and +indulgence I have hitherto experienced,--that you will consider, if I +have detained you long, it was not with a view of exhausting my own +strength, or putting your patience to too severe a trial, but from the +sense I feel that it is the most difficult and the most complicated +cause that was ever brought before any human tribunal. Therefore I was +resolved to bring the whole substantially before you. And now, if your +Lordships will permit me, I will state the method of my future +proceeding, and the future proceeding of the gentlemen assisting me. + +I mean first to bring before you the crimes as they are classed, and are +of the same species and genus, and how they mutually arose from one +another. I shall first show that Mr. Hastings's crimes had root in that +which is the root of all evil, I mean avarice; that avarice and rapacity +were the groundwork and foundation of all his other vicious system; that +he showed it in setting to sale the native government of the country, in +setting to sale the whole landed interest of the country, in setting to +sale the British government and his own fellow-servants, to the basest +and wickedest of mankind. + +I shall then show your Lordships, that, when, in consequence of such a +body of corruption and peculation, he justly dreaded the indignation of +his country and the vengeance of its laws, in order to raise himself a +faction embodied by the same guilt and rewarded in the same manner, he +has, with a most abandoned profusion, thrown away the revenues of the +country to form such a faction here. + +I shall next show your Lordships, that, having exhausted the resources +of the Company, and brought it to extreme difficulties within, he has +looked to his _external_ resources, as he calls them; he has gone up +into the country. I will show that he has plundered, or attempted to +plunder, every person dependent upon, connected, or allied with this +country. + +We shall afterwards show what infinite mischief has followed in the case +of Benares, upon which he first laid his hands; next, in the case of the +Begums of Oude. + +We shall then lay before you the profligate system by which he +endeavored to oppress that country: first by Residents; next by spies +under the name of British Agents; and lastly, that, pursuing his way up +to the mountains, he has found out one miserable chief, whose crimes +were the prosperity of his country,--that him he endeavored to torture +and destroy,--I do not mean in his body, but by exhausting the treasures +which he kept for the benefit of his people. + +In short, having shown your Lordships that no man who is in his power is +safe from his arbitrary will,--that no man, within or without, friend, +ally, rival, has been safe from him,--having brought it to this point, +if I am not able in my own person immediately to go up into the country +and show the ramifications of the system, (I hope and trust I shall be +spared to take my part in pursuing him through both,) if I am not, I +shall go at least to the root of it, and some other gentleman, with a +thousand times more ability than I possess, will take up each separate +part in its proper order. And I believe it is proposed by the managers +that one of them shall as soon as possible begin with the affair of +Benares. + +The point I now mean first to bring before your Lordships is the +corruption of Mr. Hastings, his system of peculation and bribery, and to +show your Lordships the horrible consequences which resulted from it: +for, at first sight, bribery and peculation do not seem to be so horrid +a matter; they may seem to be only the transferring a little money out +of one pocket into another; but I shall show that by such a system of +bribery the country is undone. + +I shall inform your Lordships in the best manner I can, and afterwards +submit the whole, as I do with a cheerful heart and with an easy and +assured security, to that justice which is the security for all the +other justice in the kingdom. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] 2d year of George II. + +[2] See his letter of the 11th of July, 1785, at the end of the Charges. + +[3] 13 Geo. III. c. 63, Sec. 10. + +[4] 29 February, 1784. + +[5] Dated, Benares, 4th of November, 1781. + +[6] Revenue Consultation, 28th January, 1775. + +[7] Revenue Board, 14th May, 1772. + +[8] Address to the Court of Directors, 25th March, 1775. + +[9] 3d November, 1772. + +[10] 24th October, 1774. + +[11] 22d April, 1775. + +[12] 5th February, 1777; 4th July, 1777. + +[13] 3d November, 1772. + +[14] 14th May, 1772. + +[15] See his letter of the 11th July, 1785, at the end of the Charges. + +[16] Sic orig. + +[17] 28th May, 1782. + +[18] 15th Dec, 1775. + +[19] On the 15th of November. + +[20] Resolution of the House of Commons, 28th May, 1782. + +[21] Anderson's letter of 26th January, 1782. + +[22] Anderson's letter of 24th February, 1782. + +[23] Sic orig. + +[24] Sic orig. + +[25] Observations on Mr. Bristow's Defence. + +[26] As the letter referred to in the Eighth and Sixteenth Articles of +Charge is not contained in any of the Appendixes to the Reports of the +Select Committee, it has been thought necessary to annex it as an +Appendix to these Charges. + +[27] See Mr. Hastings's answer to the first charge. + +[28] A Latin sentence, which was quoted here, is omitted in the MS of +the short-hand writer.--Ed. + + +END OF VOL. IX. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works Of The Right Honourable +Edmund Burke, Vol. IX. (of 12), by Edmund Burke + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDMUND BURKE, VOL. IX. *** + +***** This file should be named 13968.txt or 13968.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/9/6/13968/ + +Produced by Paul Murray, Keith M. Eckrich, the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This file +was produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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