Accordingly, he set them up to this
wild and wicked auction, as it would have been, if it
had been a real one, - corrupt and treacherous, as it
was, -he set these lands up for the purpose of making that discovery, and pretended that the discovery
would yield a most amazing increase of rent.
wild and wicked auction, as it would have been, if it
had been a real one, - corrupt and treacherous, as it
was, -he set these lands up for the purpose of making that discovery, and pretended that the discovery
would yield a most amazing increase of rent.
Edmund Burke
We have weighed
and considered this maturely. We have compared
exactly the time with the matter, and we have found
that we are obliged to do as all men must do who
would manage their affairs practicably, to make our
opinion of what might be most advantageous to the
business conform to the time that is left to perform
it in. We must, as all men must, submit affairs to
time, and not think of making time conform to our
wishes; and therefore, my Lords, I very willingly
fall in with the inclinations of the gentlemen with
whom I have the honor to act, to come as soon as
possible to close fighting, and to grapple immediately
? ? ? ? 4 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and directly with the corruptions of India, - to bring
before your Lordships the direct articles, to apply the
evidence to the articles, and to bring the matter forward for your Lordships' decision in that manner
which the confidence we have in the justice of our
cause demands from the Commons of Great Britain.
My Lords, these are the opinions of those with
whom I have the honor to act, and in their opinions
I readily acquiesce. For I am far from wishing to
waste any of your Lordships' time upon any matter
merely through any opinion I have of the nature of
the business, when at the same time I find that in
the opinion of others it might militate against the
production of its full, proper, and (if I may so say)
its immediate effect.
It was my design to class the crimes of the late
Governor of Bengal, --to show their mutual bearings, -- how they were mutually aided and grew and
were formed out of each other. I proposed first of
all to show your Lordships that they have their root
in that which is the origin of all evil, avarice and rapacity,- to show how that led to prodigality of the
public money, - and how prodigality of the public
money, by wasting the treasures of the East India
Company, furnished an excuse to the Governor-General to break its faith, to violate all its most solemn
engagements, and to fall with a hand of stern, ferocious, and unrelenting rapacity upon all the allies and
dependencies of the Company. But I shall be obliged
in some measure to abridge this plan; and as your
Lordships already possess, from what I had the honor to state on Saturday, a general view of this matter, you will be in a condition to pursue it when the several articles are presented.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 5
My Lords, I have to state to-day the root of all
these misdemeanors, - namely, the pecuniary corruption and avarice which gave rise and primary motion to all the rest of the delinquencies charged
to be committed by the Governor-General.
My Lords, pecuniary corruption forms not only,
as your Lordships will observe in the charges before
you, an article of charge by itself, but likewise so
intermixes with the whole, that it is necessary to
give, in the best manner I am able, a history of that
corrupt system which brought on all the subsequent
acts of corruption. I will venture to say there is no
one act, in which tyranny, malice, cruelty, and oppression can be charged, that does not at the same time carry evident marks of pecuniary corruption.
I stated to your Lordships on Saturday last the
principles upon which Mr. Hastings governed his
conduct in India, and upon which he grounds his defence. These may all be reduced to one short word,
- arbitrary power. My Lords, if Mr. Hastings had
contended, as other men have often done, that the
system of government which he patronizes, and on
which lie acted, was a system tending on the whole
to the blessing and benefit of mankind, possibly something might be said for him for setting up so wild, absurd, irrational, and wicked a system, - something
might be said to qualify'the act from the intention;
but it is singular in this man, that, at the time he
tells you he acted on the principles of arbitrary power, he takes care to inform you that he was not blind to the consequences. Mr. Hastings foresaw that the
consequences of this system was corruption. An arbitrary system, indeed, must always be a corrupt one. My Lords, there never was a man who thought he
? ? ? ? 6 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
had no law but his own will, who did not soon find
that he had no end but his own profit. Corruption
and arbitrary power are of natural unequivocal generation, necessarily producing one another. M1r. Hastings foresees the abusive and corrupt consequences, and then he justifies his conduct upon the necessities of that system. These are things which are
new in the world; for there never was a man, I believe, who contended for arbitrary power, (and there
have been persons wicked and foolish enough to con
tend for it,) that did not pretend, either that the system was good in itself, or that by their conduct they
had mitigated or had purified it, and that the poison,
by passing through their constitution, had acquired
salutary properties. But if you look at his defence
before the House of Commons, you will see that that
very system upon which he governed, and under
which he now justifies his actions, did appear to himself a system pregnant with a thousand evils and a
thousand mischiefs.
The next thing that is remarkable and singular in
the principles upon which the Governor-General acted
is, that, when he is engaged in a vicious system which
clearly leads to evil consequences, he thinks himself
bound to realize all the evil consequences involved in
that system. All other men have taken a directly
contrary course: they have'said, "I have been engaged in an evil system, that led, indeed, to mischievous consequences, but I have taken care, by
my own virtues, to prevent the evils of the system
under which I acted. "
We say, then, not only that he governed arbitrarily,
but corruptly, -- that is to say, that he was a giver
and receiver of bribes, and formed a system for the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 7
purpose of giving and receiving them. We wish your
Lordships distinctly to consider that he did not only
give and receive bribes accidentally, as it happened,
without any system and design, merely as the opportunity or momentary temptation of profit urged him to it, but that he has formed plans and systems of
government for the very purpose of accumulating
bribes and presents to himself. This system of Mr.
Hastings's government is such a one, I believe, as the
British nation in particular will disown; for I will
venture to say, that, if there is any one thing which
distinguishes this nation eminently above another, it
is, that in its offices at home, both judicial and in the
state, there is less suspicion of pecuniary corruption
attaching to them than to any similar offices in any
part of the globe, or that have existed at any time:
so that he who would set up a system of corruption,
and attempt to justify it upon the principle of utility,
that man is staining not only the nature and character of office, but that which is the peculiar glory of the official and judicial character of this country; and
therefore, in this House, which is eminently the guardian of the purity of all the offices of this kingdom, he ought to be called eminently and peculiarly to
account. There are many things, undoubtedly, in'
crimes, which make them frightful and odious; but
bribery, filthy hands, a chief governor of a great empire receiving bribes from poor, miserable, indigent people, this is what makes government itself base,
contemptible, and odious in the eyes of mankind.
My Lords, it is certain that even tyranny itself may
find some specious color, and appear as a more severe
and rigid execution of justice. Religious persecution
may shield itself under the guise of a mistaken and
? ? ? ? 38 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
over-zealous piety. Conquest may cover its baldness
with its own laurels, and the ambition of the conqueror
may be hid in the secrets of his own heart under a veil
of benevolence, and make him imagine he is bringing
temporary desolation upon a country only to promote
its ultimate advantage and his own glory. But in the
principles of that governor who makes nothing but
money his object there can be nothing of this. There
are here none of those specious delusions that look
like virtues, to veil either the governed or the governor. If you look at Mr. Hastings's merits, as lie calls them, what are they? Did he improve the internal state of the government by great reforms? No
such thing. Or by a wise and incorrupt administration of justice? No. Has he enlarged the boundary
of our government? No: there are but too strong
proofs of his lessening it. But his pretensions to
merit are, that he squeezed more money out of the
inhabitants of the country than other persons could
have done, - money got by oppression, violence, extortion from the poor, or the heavy hand of power upon the rich and great.
These are his merits. What we charge as his demerits are all of the same nature; for, though there
is undoubtedly oppression, breach of faith, cruelty,
perfidy, charged upon him, yet the great ruling principle of the whole, and that from which you can never have an act free, is money, -- it is the vice of base
avarice, which never is, nor ever appears even to the
prejudices of mankind to be, anything like a virtue.
Our desire of acquiring sovereignty in India undoubtedly originated first in ideas of safety and necessity; its next step was a step of ambition. That ambition,
as generally happens in conquest, was followed by
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 9
gains of money; but afterwards there was no mixture
at all; it was, during Mr. Hastings's time, altogether
a business of money. If he has extirpated a nation,
I will not say whether properly or improperly, it is
because (says he) you have all the benefit of conquest
without expense; you have got a large sum of money
from the people, and you may leave them to be governed by whom and as they will. This is directly contrary to the principles of conquerors. If he has
at any time taken any money from the dependencies
of the Company, he does not pretend that it was obtained from their zeal and affection to our cause, or that it made their submission more complete: very far
from it. He says they ought to be independent, and
all that you have to do is to squeeze money from,
them. In short, money is the beginning, the middle,
and the end of every kind of act done by Mr. Hastings: pretendedly for the Company, but really for himself.
Having said so much about the origin, the first
principle, both of that which he makes his merit and
which we charge as his demerit, the next step is, that
I should lay open to your Lordships, as clearly as I
can, what the sense of his employers, the East India
Company, and what the sense of the legislature itself,
has been upon those merits and demerits of money.
My Lords, the Company, knowing that these money
transactions were likely to subvert that empire which
was first established upon them, did, in the year 1765,
send out a body of the strongest and most solemn
covenants to their servants, that they should take no
presents from the country powers, under any name
or description, except those things which were publicly and openly taken for the use of the Company, -
? ? ? ? 10 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
namely, territories or sums of money which might be
obtained by treaty. They distinguished such presents as were taken from any persons privately, and
unknown to them, and without their authority, from
subsidies: and that this is the true nature and construction of their order I shall contend and explain
afterwards to your Lordships. They have said, nothillg shall be taken for their private use; for though
in that and in every state there may be subsidiary
treaties by which sums of money may be received,
yet they forbid their servants, their governors, whatever application they might pretend to make of them,
to receive, under any other name or pretence, more
than a certain, marked, simple sum of money, and this
not without the consent and permission of the Presidency to which they belong. This is the substance,
the principle, and the spirit of the covenants, and will
show your Lordships how radicated an evil this of
bribery and presents was judged to be.
When these covenants arrived inl India, the servants
refused at first to execute them, - and suspended the
execution of them, till they had enriched themselves
with presents. Eleven months elapsed, and it was not
till Lord Clive reached the place of his destination
that the covenants were executed: and they were not
executed then without some degree of force. Soon
afterwards the treaty was made with the country
powers by which Sujah ul Dowlah was reestablished
in the province of Oude, and paid a sum of 500,0001.
to the Company for it. It was a public payment, and
there was not a suspicion that a single shilling of private emolument attended it. But whether Mr. Hastings had the example of others or not, their example,could not justify his briberies. He was sent there to
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - THIRD DAY. 11
put all end to all those examples. The Company did
expressly vest him with that power. They declared
at that time, that the whole of their service was totally corrupted by bribes and presents, and by extravagance and luxury, which partly gave rise to them, and these, in their turn, enabled them to pursue those
excesses. They not only reposed trust in the integrity of Mr. Hastings, but reposed trust in his remarkable frugality and order in his affairs, which they considered as things that distinguished his character.
But in his defence we have him quite in another character, --no longer the frugal, attentive servant, bred
to business, bred to book-keeping, as all the Company's servants are; he now. knows nothing of his own
affairs, knows not whether he is rich or poor, knows
not what lie has in the world. Nay, people are
brought forward to say that they know better than
lie does what his affairs are. He is not like a careful
man bred in a counting-house, and by the Directors
put into an office of the highest trust on account of
the regularity of his affairs; lie is like one buried in
the contemplation of the stars, and knows nothing of
the things in this world. It was, then, on account of
an idea of his great integrity that the Company put
him into this situation. Since that lie has thought
proper to justify himself, not by clearing himself of
receiving bribes, but by saying that no bad consequences resulted from it, and that, if any such evil
consequences did arise from it, they arose rather from
his inattention to money than from his desire of acquiring it.
I have stated to your Lordships the nature of the
covenants which the East India Company sent out.
Afterwards, when they found their servants had re
? ? ? ? 12 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
fused to execute these covenants, they not only very
severely reprehended even a moment's delay in their
execution, and threatened the exacting the most strict
and rigorous performance of them, but they sent a
commission to enforce the observance of them more
strongly; and that commission had it specially in
charge never to receive presents. They never sent
out a person to India without recognizing the grievalice, and without ordering that presents should not
be received, as the main fundamental part of their duty, and upon which all the rest depended, as it certainly must: for persons at the head of government should not encourage that by example which they
ought by precept, authority, and force to restrain in
all below them. That commission failing, another
commission was preparing to be sent out with the
same instructions, when an act of Parliament took it
up; and that act, which gave Mr. Hastings power,
did mould in the very first stamina of his power this
principle, in words the most clear and forcible that
an act of Parliament could possibly devise upon the
subject. And that act was made not only upon a
general knowledge of the grievance, but your Lordships will see in the reports of that time that Parliament had directly in view before themn the whole of that monstrous head of corruption under the name
of presents, and all the monstrous consequences that
followed it.
Now, my Lords, every office of trust, in its very
nature, forbids the receipt of bribes. But Mr. Hastings was forbidden it, first, by his official situation,next, by covenant, -- and lastly, by act of Parliament: that is to say, by all the things that bind mankind, or
that can bind them, - first, moral obligation inherent
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 13
i1i the duty of their office,- next, the positive injunctions of the legislature of the country, -and lastly,
a man's own private, particular, voluntary act and
covenant. These three, the great and only obligations
that bind mankind, all united in the focus of this sir. ngle point, - that they should take no presents.
I am to mark to your Lordships, that this law and
this covenant did consider indirect ways of taking
presents -- taking them by others, and such like --
directly in the very same light as they considered
taking them by themselves. It is perhaps a much
more dangerous way; because it adds to the crime a
false, prevaricating mode of concealing it, and makes
it much more mischievous by admitting others into
the participation of it. Mr. Hastings has said, (and
it is one of the general complaints of Mr. IHastings,)
that he is made answerable for the acts of other men.
It is a thing inherent in the nature of his situation.
All those who enjoy a great superintending trust,
which is to regulate the whole affairs of an empire,
are responsible for the acts and conduct of other men,
so far as they had anything to do with appointing
them, or holding them in their places, or having any
sort of inspection into their conduct. But when a
Governor presumes to remove from their situations
those persons whom the public authority and sanction
of the Company have appointed, and obtrudes upon
them by violence other persons, superseding the orders of his masters, lie becomes doubly responsible for their conduct. If the persons he names should be
of notorious evil character and evil principles, and
if this should be perfectly known to himself, and of
public notoriety to the rest of the world, then another
strong responsibility attaches on him for the acts of
those persons.
? ? ? ? 14 IMPEACHMENT OF W ARREN HASTINGS.
Governors, we know very well, cannot with their
own hands be continually receiving bribes, - for then
they must have as many hands as one of the idols in.
all Indian temple, in order to receive all the bribes
which a Governor-General may receive, --but they
have them vicariously. As there are many offices, so
he has had various officers for receiving and distributing his bribes; he has a great many, some white and some black agents. The white men are loose
and licentious; they are apt to have resentments,
and to be bold in revenging them. The black men
are very secret and mysterious; they are not apt to
have very quick resentments, they have not the same
liberty and boldness of language which characterize
Europeans; and they have fears, too, for themselves,
which makes it more likely that they will conceal
anything committed to them by Europeans. Therefore Mr. Hastings had his black agents, not one, two, three, but many, disseminated through the country:
no two of them, hardly, appear to be in the secret of
any one bribe. He has had likewise his white agents,
- they were necessary, - a Mr. Larkins and a Mr.
Croftes. Mr. Croftes was sub-treasurer, and Mr.
Larkins accountant-general. These were the last
persons of all others that should have had anything
to do with bribes; yet these were some of his agents
in bribery. There are few instances, in comparison
of the whole number of bribes, but there are some,
where two men are in the secret of the same bribe.
Nay, it appears that there was one bribe divided
into different payments at different times,- that one
part was committed to one black secretary, another
part to another black secretary. So that it is almost
impossible to make up a complete body of all his bri
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 15
bery: you may find the scattered limbs, some here and
others there; and while you are employed in picking
them up, he may escape entirely in a prosecution for
the whole.
The first act of his government in Bengal was the
most bold and extraordinary that I believe ever entered into the head of ally man,- I will say, of
any tyrant. It was no more or less than a general,
almost exceptless confiscation, in time of profound
peace, of all the landed property in Bengal, upon
most extraordinary pretences. Strange as this may
appear, he did so confiscate it; he put it up to a
pretended public, in reality to a private corrupt auction; and such favored landholders as came to it were obliged to consider themselves as not any longerl
proprietors of the estates, but to recognize themselves
as farmers under government: and even those few
that were permitted to remain on their estates had
their payments raised at his arbitrary discretion; and.
the rest of the lands were given to farmers-general,
appointed by him and his committee, at a price fixed
by the same arbitrary discretion.
It is necessary to inform your Lordships that the
revenues of Bengal are, for the most part, territorial revenues, great quit-rents issuing out of lands. I shall say nothing either of the nature of this property,
of the rights of the people to it, or of the mode of exacting the rents, till that great question of revenues, one of the greatest which we shall have to lay before
you, shall be brought before your Lordships particularly and specially as an article of charge. I only mention it now as all exemplification of the great
principle of corruption which guided Mr. Hastings's
conduct.
? ? ? ? 16 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
When the ancient nobility, the great princes, (for
such I may call them,) a nobility, perhaps, as ancient
as that of your Lordships, (and a more truly noble
body never existed in that character,) - my Lords,
when all the nobility, some of whom have borne the
rank and port of princes, all the gentry, all the freeholders of the country, had their estates in that mallner confiscated,-that is, either given to themselves to hold on the footing of farmers, or totally confiscated,
- when such an act of tyranny was done, no doubt
some good was pretended. This confiscation was
made by Mr. Hastings, and the lands let to these
farmers for five years, upon an idea which always
accompanies his acts of oppression, the idea of moneyed merit. He adopted this mode of confiscating the
estates, and letting them to farmers, for the avowed
purpose of seeing how much it was possible to take
out of them.
Accordingly, he set them up to this
wild and wicked auction, as it would have been, if it
had been a real one, - corrupt and treacherous, as it
was, -he set these lands up for the purpose of making that discovery, and pretended that the discovery
would yield a most amazing increase of rent. And
for some time it appeared so to do, till it came to the
touchstone of experience; and then it was found that
there was a defalcation from these monstrous raised
revenues which were to cancel iln the minds of the
Directors the wickedness of so atrocious, flagitious,
and horrid an act of treachery. At the end of five
years what do you think was the failure? No less
than 2,050,0001. Then a new source of corruption
was opened,-that is, how to deal with the balances:
for every man who had engaged in these transactions
was a debtor to goverlullnlt, and the remission of that
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. t7
debt depended upon the discretion of the GovernorGeneral. Then the persons who were to settle the composition of that immense debt, who were to see
how much was recoverable and how much not, were
able to favor, or to exact to the last shilling; and
there never existed a doubt but that not only upon
the original cruel exaction, but upon the remission
afterwards, immense gains were derived. This will
account for the manner in which those stupendous
fortunes which astonish the world have been made.
They have been made, first by a tyrannous exaction
from the people who were suffered to remain'in
possession of their own land as farmers, - then by
selling the rest to farmers at rents and under hopes
which could never be realized, and then getting money for the relaxation of their debts. But whatever excuse, and however wicked, there might have been
for this wicked act, namely, that it carried upon the
face of it some sort of appearance of public good, -
that is to say, that sort of public good which Mr. Hastings so often professed, of ruining the country for the benefit of the Company, - yet, in fact, this business
of balances is that nidus in which have been nustled
and bred and born all the corruptions of India, first
by making extravagant demands, and afterwards by
making corrupt relaxations of them.
Besides this monstrous failure, in consequence of
a miserable exaction by which more was attempted
to be forced from the country than it was capable of
yielding, and this by way of experiment, when your
Lordships come to inquire who the farmers-general of
the revenue were, you would naturally expect to find
them to be the men in the several countries who had
the most interest, the greatest wealth, the best knowlVOL. X. 2
? ? ? ? 18 IMPEACHMIENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
edge of the revenue and resources of the country in
which they lived. 'Thllese would be thought the natural, proper farmers-general of each district. No such
thillng, my Lords. They are found in thle body of
people whom I have mentioned to your Lordships.
They were almost all let to Calcutta banlians. Calcutta banialls were tile farmers of almost the whole.
The'lly sub-delegated to others, who sometimes had
sub-delegates under them ad infinitum. The whole
formed a system together, through the succession of
black tyrants scattered through the country, in which
you at last find the European at the enlld, solnetimes
illdeed not hid very deep, not above one betweenl him
and the ifarmer, lamely, his banlian directly, or some
other black persoll to represent him. But some have
so managed the afif:ir, that, when you inquire who
the farmer is, - Was such a one farmer? No. Cantoo Baboo? No. Another? No, -- at last you find
three deep of fictitious farmers, and you find the European gentlemen, hligll in place and authority, the. real farmers of tile settlement. So that the zenm-,indars were dispossessed, the country racked and ruined, for the benefit of anl European, under the. name of a farmer: for you will easily judge whether. these gentlemen had fallen so deeply in love with the
banians, and thought so highly of their merits and
services, as to reward them with all the possessions
of tile great landed interest of tile country. Your
Lordships are too grave, wise, and discerning, to
make it necessary for me to say more upoln that subject. Tell me that the banialls of English gentlemen,
dependants on them at Calcultta, were the farmers
throughout, and I believe I need nlot tell your Lordships for whose benefit they were farmers.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 19
But there is one of these who comes so nearly, indeed so precisely, within this observation, that it is impossible for me to pass him by. Whoever llas heard
of Mr. Hastings's name, with any knowledge of Indian
connections, has heard of his banian, Calltoo Baboo.
This man is well known in the records of tile Company, as his agent for receiving secret gifts, confiscations, and presents. You would have imagined that
lie would at least have kept him out of these farms, in
order to give the measure a color at least of disinterestedness, and to show that this whole system of corruption and pecuniary oppression was carried on for the benefit of the Company. The Governor-General
and Council made an ostensible order by which no
collector, or person concerned in the revenue, should
have any connection with these farms. This order
did not include the Governor-General ill the words
of it, but more than included him in the spirit of it;
because his power to protect a farmer-general in the
person of his own servant was infinitely greater than
that of any subordinate person. Mr. HIastings, in
breach of this order, gave farms to his own banian.
You find him the farmer of great, of vast and extensive farms. Another regulation that was made on
that occasion was, that no farmer should have, except
in particular cases, which were marked, described,
and accurately distinguished, a greater farm than
wlhat paid 10,0001. a year to government. Mr. Hastings, who had broken the first regulation by giving
ally farm at all to his banian, findinig hlimself bolder,
broke the second too, and, instead of 10,0001. , gave
him farms paying a revenue of 130,0001. a year to
governlment. Men unldoubtedly have been known
to be under the dominion of their domestics; such
? ? ? ? '20 IMIPEACHMIENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
things have happened to great men: they never have
happened justifiably in my opinion. They have nev-;er happened excusably; but we are acquainted sufficiently with the weakness of human nature to know that a domestic who has served you in a near office
long, and in your opinion faithfully, does become a
kind of relation; it brings on a great affection and
regard for his interest. Now was this the case with
Mr. Hastings and Cantoo Baboo? Mr. Hastings was
just arrived at his government, and Cantoo Baboo
had been but a year in his service; so that he could
not in that time have contracted any great degree of
friendship for him. These people do not live in your'house; the Hindoo servants never sleep in it; they
cannot eat with your servants; they have no second
table, in which they can be continually about you, to
be domesticated with yourself, a part of your being,
as people's servants are to a certain degree. These
persons live all abroad; they come at stated hours
upon matters of business, and nothing more. But
if it had been otherwise, Mr. Hastings's connection
with Cantoo Baboo had been but of a year's stand-ing; he had before served in that capacity Mr. Sykes,
who recommended him to Mr. Hastings. Your Lord-'ships, then, are to judge whether such outrageous violations of all the principles by which Mr. Hastings pretended to be guided in the settlement of these
farms were for the benefit of this old, decayed, affectionate servant of one year's standing: your Lordships
will judge of that.
I have here spoken only of the beginning of a great,'notorious system of corruption, which branched out
so many ways and into such a variety of abuses, and
has afflicted that kingdom with such horrible evils
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - THIRD DAY. 21
from that day to this, that I will venture to say it
will make one of the greatest, weightiest, and most
material parts of the charge that is now before you;
as I believe I need not tell your Lordships that an
attempt to set up the whole landed interest of a,
kingdom to auction must be attended, not only in,
that act, but every consequential act, with most grievous and terrible consequences.
My Lords, I will now come to a scene of peculation
of another kind: namely, a peculation by the direct
sale of offices of justice, - by the direct sale of the
successions of families, -by the sale of guardianships,
and trusts, held most sacred among the people of India: by the sale of them, not, as before, to farmers, not,
as you might imagine, to near relations of the families,
but a sale of them to the unfaithful servants of those,
families, their own perfidious servants, who had ruined their estates, who, if any balances had accrued
to the government, had been the cause of those debts.
Those very servants were put in power over their estates, their persons, and their families, by Mr. Hastings, for a shameful price. It will be proved to your Lordships, in the course of this business, that Mr.
Hastings has done this in another sacred trust, the
most sacred trust a man can have, -- that is, in the
case of those vakeels, (as they call them,) agents,
or attorneys, who had been sent to assert and support
the rights of their miserable masters before the Council-General. It will be proved that these vakeels
were by Mr. Hastings, for a price to be paid for it,
put in possession of the very power, situation, and
estates of those masters who sent them to Calcutta to
defend them from wrong and violence. The selling
offices of justice, the sale of succession in families, of
? ? ? ? 22 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
guardianships and other sacred trusts, the selling
masters to their servants, and principals to the attorneys they employed to defend themselves, were all
parts of the same system; and these were the horrid
ways in which he received bribes beyond any corn
mon rate.
Wlhen Mr. Hastings was appointed in the year
1773 to be Governor-General of Bengal, together with
Mr. Barwell, General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and
Mr. Franicis, the Company, knowing the former corrupt state of their service, (but the whole corrupt
system of Mr. Hastings at that time not being known
or even suspected at home,) did order them, in discharge of the spirit of the act of Parliament, to make
an inquiry into all manner of corruptions and malversations in office, without the exception of any persons wllateverl. Your Lordships are to know that the act did expressly authorize the Court of Directors to
frame a body of instructions, and to give orders to
their new servants appointed under the act of Parliamenlt, lest it should be supposed that they, by their
appointment under the act, could supersede the authority of the Directors. The Directors, sensible of
the power left in them over their servants by the act
of Parliament, though their nomination was taken
from them, did, agreeably to the spirit and power of
that act, give this order.
The Council consisted of two parties: Mr. Hastings and Mr. Barwell, who were chosen and kept
there upon the idea of their local knowledge; and
the other three, who were appointed on account of
their great parts and known integrity. And I will
venture to say that those three gentlemen did so execute their duty in India, in all the substantial parts
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 23
of it, that they will serve as a shield to cover the
honor of England, whenever this country is upbraided in India.
They found a rumor running through the country of great peculations and oppressions. Soon after,
when it was known what their instructions were, and
that the Council was ready, as is the first duty of all
governors, even when there is no express order, to
receive complaints against the oppressions and corruptions of government in any part of it, they found such a body (and that body shall be produced to your
Lordships) of corruption and peculation in every
walk, in every department, in every situation of life,
in' the sale of the most sacred trusts, and in the destruction of the most ancient families of the country,
as I believe in so short a time never was unveiled
since the world began.
Your Lordships would imagine that Mr. Hastings
would at least ostensibly have taken some part in endeavoring to bring these corruptions before the public, or that he would at least have acted with some little
management in his opposition. But, alas! it was not
in his power; there was not one, I think, but I am
sure very few, of these general articles of corruption,
in which the most eminent figure in the crowd, the
principal figure as it were in the piece, was not Mr.
Hastings himself. There were a great many others
involved; for all departments were corrupted and
vitiated. But you could not open a page in which
you did not see Mr. Hastings, or in which you did
not see Cantoo Baboo. Either the black or white
side of Mr. Hastings constantly was visible to the
world in every part of these transactions.
With the other gentlemen, who were visible too,
? ? ? ? 24 IMIPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
I have at present no dealing. Mr. Hastings, instead
of using any management on that occasion, instantly
set up his power and authority, directly against the
majority of the Council, directly against his colleagues,
directly against the authority of the East India Company and the authority of the act of Parliament, to put a dead stop to all these inquiries. He broke up
the Council, the moment they attempted to perform
this part of their duty. As the evidence multiplied
upon him, the daring exertions of his power in stopping all inquiries increased continually. But he gave
a credit and authority to the evidence by these attempts to suppress it.
Your Lordships have heard that among the body
of the accusers of this corruption there was a principal man in the country, a man of the first rank and authority in it, called Nundcomar, who had the management of revenues amounting to 150,0001. a year, and who had, if really inclined to play the small game
with which he has been charged by his accusers,
abundant means to gratify himself in playing great
ones; but Mr. Hastings has himself given him, upon
the records of the Company, a character which would
at least justify the Council in making some inquiry
into charges made by him.
First, he was perfectly competent to make them,
because he was in the management of those affairs
from which Mr. Hastings is supposed to have received
corrupt emolument. He and his son were the chief
managers in those transactions. He was therefore
pe rfectly competent to it. - Mr. Hastings has cleared
his character; for though it is true, in the contradictions in which Mr. Hastings has entangled himself, he has abused and insulted him, and particularly after
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 25
his appearance as an accuser, yet before this he has
given this testimony of him, that the hatred that had
been drawn upon him, and the general obloquy of the
English nation, was on account of his attachment to
his own prince and the liberties of his country. Be
he what he might, I am not disposed, nor have I the
least occasion, to defend either his conduct or his
memory.
It is to no purpose for Mr. Hastings to spend time
in idle objections to the character of Nundcomar. Let
him be as bad as Mr. Hastings represents him. I suppose he was a caballing, bribing, intriguing politician,
like others in that country,. both black and white.
We know associates in dark and evil actions are not
generally the best of men; but be that as it will, it
generally happens that they are the best of all discoverers. If Mr. Hastings were the accuser of Nundcomar, I should think the presumptions equally strong against Nundcomar, if he had acted as Mr. Hastings
has acted. - He was not only competent, but the most
competent of all men to be Mr. Hastings's accuser.
But Mr. Hastings has himself established both his
character and his competency by employing him
against Mahomed Reza Khan. He shall not blow
hot and cold. In what respect was Mr. Hastings
better than Mahomed Reza Khan, that the whole
rule, principle, and system of accusation and inquiry
should be totally reversed in general, nay, reversed in
the particular instance, the moment he became accuser
against Mr. Hastings? - Such was the accuser. He
was the man that gave the bribes, and, in addition to
his own evidence, offers proof by other witnesses.
What was the accusation? Was the accusation
improbable, either on account of the subject-matter
? ? ? ? 26 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
or the actor in it? Does such an appointment as
that of Munny Begum, in the most barefaced evasion
of his orders, appear to your Lordships a matter that
contains no. just presumptions of guilt, so that, when
a charge of bribery comes upon it, you are prepared
to reject it, as if the action were so clear and proper
that no man could attribute it to an improper motive?
And as to the man, -- is Mr. Hastings a mall against
whom a charge of bribery is improbable? Why, he
owns it. He is a professor of it. He reduces it into
scheme and system. He glories in it. He turns it
to merit, and declares it is the best way of supplying the exigencies of the Company. Why, therefore, should it be held improbable? - But I cannot mention this proceeding without shame and horror.
My Lords, when this man appeared as an accuser
of Mr. Hastings, if he was a man of bad character,
it was a great advantage to Mr.
and considered this maturely. We have compared
exactly the time with the matter, and we have found
that we are obliged to do as all men must do who
would manage their affairs practicably, to make our
opinion of what might be most advantageous to the
business conform to the time that is left to perform
it in. We must, as all men must, submit affairs to
time, and not think of making time conform to our
wishes; and therefore, my Lords, I very willingly
fall in with the inclinations of the gentlemen with
whom I have the honor to act, to come as soon as
possible to close fighting, and to grapple immediately
? ? ? ? 4 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and directly with the corruptions of India, - to bring
before your Lordships the direct articles, to apply the
evidence to the articles, and to bring the matter forward for your Lordships' decision in that manner
which the confidence we have in the justice of our
cause demands from the Commons of Great Britain.
My Lords, these are the opinions of those with
whom I have the honor to act, and in their opinions
I readily acquiesce. For I am far from wishing to
waste any of your Lordships' time upon any matter
merely through any opinion I have of the nature of
the business, when at the same time I find that in
the opinion of others it might militate against the
production of its full, proper, and (if I may so say)
its immediate effect.
It was my design to class the crimes of the late
Governor of Bengal, --to show their mutual bearings, -- how they were mutually aided and grew and
were formed out of each other. I proposed first of
all to show your Lordships that they have their root
in that which is the origin of all evil, avarice and rapacity,- to show how that led to prodigality of the
public money, - and how prodigality of the public
money, by wasting the treasures of the East India
Company, furnished an excuse to the Governor-General to break its faith, to violate all its most solemn
engagements, and to fall with a hand of stern, ferocious, and unrelenting rapacity upon all the allies and
dependencies of the Company. But I shall be obliged
in some measure to abridge this plan; and as your
Lordships already possess, from what I had the honor to state on Saturday, a general view of this matter, you will be in a condition to pursue it when the several articles are presented.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 5
My Lords, I have to state to-day the root of all
these misdemeanors, - namely, the pecuniary corruption and avarice which gave rise and primary motion to all the rest of the delinquencies charged
to be committed by the Governor-General.
My Lords, pecuniary corruption forms not only,
as your Lordships will observe in the charges before
you, an article of charge by itself, but likewise so
intermixes with the whole, that it is necessary to
give, in the best manner I am able, a history of that
corrupt system which brought on all the subsequent
acts of corruption. I will venture to say there is no
one act, in which tyranny, malice, cruelty, and oppression can be charged, that does not at the same time carry evident marks of pecuniary corruption.
I stated to your Lordships on Saturday last the
principles upon which Mr. Hastings governed his
conduct in India, and upon which he grounds his defence. These may all be reduced to one short word,
- arbitrary power. My Lords, if Mr. Hastings had
contended, as other men have often done, that the
system of government which he patronizes, and on
which lie acted, was a system tending on the whole
to the blessing and benefit of mankind, possibly something might be said for him for setting up so wild, absurd, irrational, and wicked a system, - something
might be said to qualify'the act from the intention;
but it is singular in this man, that, at the time he
tells you he acted on the principles of arbitrary power, he takes care to inform you that he was not blind to the consequences. Mr. Hastings foresaw that the
consequences of this system was corruption. An arbitrary system, indeed, must always be a corrupt one. My Lords, there never was a man who thought he
? ? ? ? 6 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
had no law but his own will, who did not soon find
that he had no end but his own profit. Corruption
and arbitrary power are of natural unequivocal generation, necessarily producing one another. M1r. Hastings foresees the abusive and corrupt consequences, and then he justifies his conduct upon the necessities of that system. These are things which are
new in the world; for there never was a man, I believe, who contended for arbitrary power, (and there
have been persons wicked and foolish enough to con
tend for it,) that did not pretend, either that the system was good in itself, or that by their conduct they
had mitigated or had purified it, and that the poison,
by passing through their constitution, had acquired
salutary properties. But if you look at his defence
before the House of Commons, you will see that that
very system upon which he governed, and under
which he now justifies his actions, did appear to himself a system pregnant with a thousand evils and a
thousand mischiefs.
The next thing that is remarkable and singular in
the principles upon which the Governor-General acted
is, that, when he is engaged in a vicious system which
clearly leads to evil consequences, he thinks himself
bound to realize all the evil consequences involved in
that system. All other men have taken a directly
contrary course: they have'said, "I have been engaged in an evil system, that led, indeed, to mischievous consequences, but I have taken care, by
my own virtues, to prevent the evils of the system
under which I acted. "
We say, then, not only that he governed arbitrarily,
but corruptly, -- that is to say, that he was a giver
and receiver of bribes, and formed a system for the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 7
purpose of giving and receiving them. We wish your
Lordships distinctly to consider that he did not only
give and receive bribes accidentally, as it happened,
without any system and design, merely as the opportunity or momentary temptation of profit urged him to it, but that he has formed plans and systems of
government for the very purpose of accumulating
bribes and presents to himself. This system of Mr.
Hastings's government is such a one, I believe, as the
British nation in particular will disown; for I will
venture to say, that, if there is any one thing which
distinguishes this nation eminently above another, it
is, that in its offices at home, both judicial and in the
state, there is less suspicion of pecuniary corruption
attaching to them than to any similar offices in any
part of the globe, or that have existed at any time:
so that he who would set up a system of corruption,
and attempt to justify it upon the principle of utility,
that man is staining not only the nature and character of office, but that which is the peculiar glory of the official and judicial character of this country; and
therefore, in this House, which is eminently the guardian of the purity of all the offices of this kingdom, he ought to be called eminently and peculiarly to
account. There are many things, undoubtedly, in'
crimes, which make them frightful and odious; but
bribery, filthy hands, a chief governor of a great empire receiving bribes from poor, miserable, indigent people, this is what makes government itself base,
contemptible, and odious in the eyes of mankind.
My Lords, it is certain that even tyranny itself may
find some specious color, and appear as a more severe
and rigid execution of justice. Religious persecution
may shield itself under the guise of a mistaken and
? ? ? ? 38 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
over-zealous piety. Conquest may cover its baldness
with its own laurels, and the ambition of the conqueror
may be hid in the secrets of his own heart under a veil
of benevolence, and make him imagine he is bringing
temporary desolation upon a country only to promote
its ultimate advantage and his own glory. But in the
principles of that governor who makes nothing but
money his object there can be nothing of this. There
are here none of those specious delusions that look
like virtues, to veil either the governed or the governor. If you look at Mr. Hastings's merits, as lie calls them, what are they? Did he improve the internal state of the government by great reforms? No
such thing. Or by a wise and incorrupt administration of justice? No. Has he enlarged the boundary
of our government? No: there are but too strong
proofs of his lessening it. But his pretensions to
merit are, that he squeezed more money out of the
inhabitants of the country than other persons could
have done, - money got by oppression, violence, extortion from the poor, or the heavy hand of power upon the rich and great.
These are his merits. What we charge as his demerits are all of the same nature; for, though there
is undoubtedly oppression, breach of faith, cruelty,
perfidy, charged upon him, yet the great ruling principle of the whole, and that from which you can never have an act free, is money, -- it is the vice of base
avarice, which never is, nor ever appears even to the
prejudices of mankind to be, anything like a virtue.
Our desire of acquiring sovereignty in India undoubtedly originated first in ideas of safety and necessity; its next step was a step of ambition. That ambition,
as generally happens in conquest, was followed by
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 9
gains of money; but afterwards there was no mixture
at all; it was, during Mr. Hastings's time, altogether
a business of money. If he has extirpated a nation,
I will not say whether properly or improperly, it is
because (says he) you have all the benefit of conquest
without expense; you have got a large sum of money
from the people, and you may leave them to be governed by whom and as they will. This is directly contrary to the principles of conquerors. If he has
at any time taken any money from the dependencies
of the Company, he does not pretend that it was obtained from their zeal and affection to our cause, or that it made their submission more complete: very far
from it. He says they ought to be independent, and
all that you have to do is to squeeze money from,
them. In short, money is the beginning, the middle,
and the end of every kind of act done by Mr. Hastings: pretendedly for the Company, but really for himself.
Having said so much about the origin, the first
principle, both of that which he makes his merit and
which we charge as his demerit, the next step is, that
I should lay open to your Lordships, as clearly as I
can, what the sense of his employers, the East India
Company, and what the sense of the legislature itself,
has been upon those merits and demerits of money.
My Lords, the Company, knowing that these money
transactions were likely to subvert that empire which
was first established upon them, did, in the year 1765,
send out a body of the strongest and most solemn
covenants to their servants, that they should take no
presents from the country powers, under any name
or description, except those things which were publicly and openly taken for the use of the Company, -
? ? ? ? 10 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
namely, territories or sums of money which might be
obtained by treaty. They distinguished such presents as were taken from any persons privately, and
unknown to them, and without their authority, from
subsidies: and that this is the true nature and construction of their order I shall contend and explain
afterwards to your Lordships. They have said, nothillg shall be taken for their private use; for though
in that and in every state there may be subsidiary
treaties by which sums of money may be received,
yet they forbid their servants, their governors, whatever application they might pretend to make of them,
to receive, under any other name or pretence, more
than a certain, marked, simple sum of money, and this
not without the consent and permission of the Presidency to which they belong. This is the substance,
the principle, and the spirit of the covenants, and will
show your Lordships how radicated an evil this of
bribery and presents was judged to be.
When these covenants arrived inl India, the servants
refused at first to execute them, - and suspended the
execution of them, till they had enriched themselves
with presents. Eleven months elapsed, and it was not
till Lord Clive reached the place of his destination
that the covenants were executed: and they were not
executed then without some degree of force. Soon
afterwards the treaty was made with the country
powers by which Sujah ul Dowlah was reestablished
in the province of Oude, and paid a sum of 500,0001.
to the Company for it. It was a public payment, and
there was not a suspicion that a single shilling of private emolument attended it. But whether Mr. Hastings had the example of others or not, their example,could not justify his briberies. He was sent there to
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - THIRD DAY. 11
put all end to all those examples. The Company did
expressly vest him with that power. They declared
at that time, that the whole of their service was totally corrupted by bribes and presents, and by extravagance and luxury, which partly gave rise to them, and these, in their turn, enabled them to pursue those
excesses. They not only reposed trust in the integrity of Mr. Hastings, but reposed trust in his remarkable frugality and order in his affairs, which they considered as things that distinguished his character.
But in his defence we have him quite in another character, --no longer the frugal, attentive servant, bred
to business, bred to book-keeping, as all the Company's servants are; he now. knows nothing of his own
affairs, knows not whether he is rich or poor, knows
not what lie has in the world. Nay, people are
brought forward to say that they know better than
lie does what his affairs are. He is not like a careful
man bred in a counting-house, and by the Directors
put into an office of the highest trust on account of
the regularity of his affairs; lie is like one buried in
the contemplation of the stars, and knows nothing of
the things in this world. It was, then, on account of
an idea of his great integrity that the Company put
him into this situation. Since that lie has thought
proper to justify himself, not by clearing himself of
receiving bribes, but by saying that no bad consequences resulted from it, and that, if any such evil
consequences did arise from it, they arose rather from
his inattention to money than from his desire of acquiring it.
I have stated to your Lordships the nature of the
covenants which the East India Company sent out.
Afterwards, when they found their servants had re
? ? ? ? 12 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
fused to execute these covenants, they not only very
severely reprehended even a moment's delay in their
execution, and threatened the exacting the most strict
and rigorous performance of them, but they sent a
commission to enforce the observance of them more
strongly; and that commission had it specially in
charge never to receive presents. They never sent
out a person to India without recognizing the grievalice, and without ordering that presents should not
be received, as the main fundamental part of their duty, and upon which all the rest depended, as it certainly must: for persons at the head of government should not encourage that by example which they
ought by precept, authority, and force to restrain in
all below them. That commission failing, another
commission was preparing to be sent out with the
same instructions, when an act of Parliament took it
up; and that act, which gave Mr. Hastings power,
did mould in the very first stamina of his power this
principle, in words the most clear and forcible that
an act of Parliament could possibly devise upon the
subject. And that act was made not only upon a
general knowledge of the grievance, but your Lordships will see in the reports of that time that Parliament had directly in view before themn the whole of that monstrous head of corruption under the name
of presents, and all the monstrous consequences that
followed it.
Now, my Lords, every office of trust, in its very
nature, forbids the receipt of bribes. But Mr. Hastings was forbidden it, first, by his official situation,next, by covenant, -- and lastly, by act of Parliament: that is to say, by all the things that bind mankind, or
that can bind them, - first, moral obligation inherent
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 13
i1i the duty of their office,- next, the positive injunctions of the legislature of the country, -and lastly,
a man's own private, particular, voluntary act and
covenant. These three, the great and only obligations
that bind mankind, all united in the focus of this sir. ngle point, - that they should take no presents.
I am to mark to your Lordships, that this law and
this covenant did consider indirect ways of taking
presents -- taking them by others, and such like --
directly in the very same light as they considered
taking them by themselves. It is perhaps a much
more dangerous way; because it adds to the crime a
false, prevaricating mode of concealing it, and makes
it much more mischievous by admitting others into
the participation of it. Mr. Hastings has said, (and
it is one of the general complaints of Mr. IHastings,)
that he is made answerable for the acts of other men.
It is a thing inherent in the nature of his situation.
All those who enjoy a great superintending trust,
which is to regulate the whole affairs of an empire,
are responsible for the acts and conduct of other men,
so far as they had anything to do with appointing
them, or holding them in their places, or having any
sort of inspection into their conduct. But when a
Governor presumes to remove from their situations
those persons whom the public authority and sanction
of the Company have appointed, and obtrudes upon
them by violence other persons, superseding the orders of his masters, lie becomes doubly responsible for their conduct. If the persons he names should be
of notorious evil character and evil principles, and
if this should be perfectly known to himself, and of
public notoriety to the rest of the world, then another
strong responsibility attaches on him for the acts of
those persons.
? ? ? ? 14 IMPEACHMENT OF W ARREN HASTINGS.
Governors, we know very well, cannot with their
own hands be continually receiving bribes, - for then
they must have as many hands as one of the idols in.
all Indian temple, in order to receive all the bribes
which a Governor-General may receive, --but they
have them vicariously. As there are many offices, so
he has had various officers for receiving and distributing his bribes; he has a great many, some white and some black agents. The white men are loose
and licentious; they are apt to have resentments,
and to be bold in revenging them. The black men
are very secret and mysterious; they are not apt to
have very quick resentments, they have not the same
liberty and boldness of language which characterize
Europeans; and they have fears, too, for themselves,
which makes it more likely that they will conceal
anything committed to them by Europeans. Therefore Mr. Hastings had his black agents, not one, two, three, but many, disseminated through the country:
no two of them, hardly, appear to be in the secret of
any one bribe. He has had likewise his white agents,
- they were necessary, - a Mr. Larkins and a Mr.
Croftes. Mr. Croftes was sub-treasurer, and Mr.
Larkins accountant-general. These were the last
persons of all others that should have had anything
to do with bribes; yet these were some of his agents
in bribery. There are few instances, in comparison
of the whole number of bribes, but there are some,
where two men are in the secret of the same bribe.
Nay, it appears that there was one bribe divided
into different payments at different times,- that one
part was committed to one black secretary, another
part to another black secretary. So that it is almost
impossible to make up a complete body of all his bri
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 15
bery: you may find the scattered limbs, some here and
others there; and while you are employed in picking
them up, he may escape entirely in a prosecution for
the whole.
The first act of his government in Bengal was the
most bold and extraordinary that I believe ever entered into the head of ally man,- I will say, of
any tyrant. It was no more or less than a general,
almost exceptless confiscation, in time of profound
peace, of all the landed property in Bengal, upon
most extraordinary pretences. Strange as this may
appear, he did so confiscate it; he put it up to a
pretended public, in reality to a private corrupt auction; and such favored landholders as came to it were obliged to consider themselves as not any longerl
proprietors of the estates, but to recognize themselves
as farmers under government: and even those few
that were permitted to remain on their estates had
their payments raised at his arbitrary discretion; and.
the rest of the lands were given to farmers-general,
appointed by him and his committee, at a price fixed
by the same arbitrary discretion.
It is necessary to inform your Lordships that the
revenues of Bengal are, for the most part, territorial revenues, great quit-rents issuing out of lands. I shall say nothing either of the nature of this property,
of the rights of the people to it, or of the mode of exacting the rents, till that great question of revenues, one of the greatest which we shall have to lay before
you, shall be brought before your Lordships particularly and specially as an article of charge. I only mention it now as all exemplification of the great
principle of corruption which guided Mr. Hastings's
conduct.
? ? ? ? 16 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
When the ancient nobility, the great princes, (for
such I may call them,) a nobility, perhaps, as ancient
as that of your Lordships, (and a more truly noble
body never existed in that character,) - my Lords,
when all the nobility, some of whom have borne the
rank and port of princes, all the gentry, all the freeholders of the country, had their estates in that mallner confiscated,-that is, either given to themselves to hold on the footing of farmers, or totally confiscated,
- when such an act of tyranny was done, no doubt
some good was pretended. This confiscation was
made by Mr. Hastings, and the lands let to these
farmers for five years, upon an idea which always
accompanies his acts of oppression, the idea of moneyed merit. He adopted this mode of confiscating the
estates, and letting them to farmers, for the avowed
purpose of seeing how much it was possible to take
out of them.
Accordingly, he set them up to this
wild and wicked auction, as it would have been, if it
had been a real one, - corrupt and treacherous, as it
was, -he set these lands up for the purpose of making that discovery, and pretended that the discovery
would yield a most amazing increase of rent. And
for some time it appeared so to do, till it came to the
touchstone of experience; and then it was found that
there was a defalcation from these monstrous raised
revenues which were to cancel iln the minds of the
Directors the wickedness of so atrocious, flagitious,
and horrid an act of treachery. At the end of five
years what do you think was the failure? No less
than 2,050,0001. Then a new source of corruption
was opened,-that is, how to deal with the balances:
for every man who had engaged in these transactions
was a debtor to goverlullnlt, and the remission of that
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. t7
debt depended upon the discretion of the GovernorGeneral. Then the persons who were to settle the composition of that immense debt, who were to see
how much was recoverable and how much not, were
able to favor, or to exact to the last shilling; and
there never existed a doubt but that not only upon
the original cruel exaction, but upon the remission
afterwards, immense gains were derived. This will
account for the manner in which those stupendous
fortunes which astonish the world have been made.
They have been made, first by a tyrannous exaction
from the people who were suffered to remain'in
possession of their own land as farmers, - then by
selling the rest to farmers at rents and under hopes
which could never be realized, and then getting money for the relaxation of their debts. But whatever excuse, and however wicked, there might have been
for this wicked act, namely, that it carried upon the
face of it some sort of appearance of public good, -
that is to say, that sort of public good which Mr. Hastings so often professed, of ruining the country for the benefit of the Company, - yet, in fact, this business
of balances is that nidus in which have been nustled
and bred and born all the corruptions of India, first
by making extravagant demands, and afterwards by
making corrupt relaxations of them.
Besides this monstrous failure, in consequence of
a miserable exaction by which more was attempted
to be forced from the country than it was capable of
yielding, and this by way of experiment, when your
Lordships come to inquire who the farmers-general of
the revenue were, you would naturally expect to find
them to be the men in the several countries who had
the most interest, the greatest wealth, the best knowlVOL. X. 2
? ? ? ? 18 IMPEACHMIENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
edge of the revenue and resources of the country in
which they lived. 'Thllese would be thought the natural, proper farmers-general of each district. No such
thillng, my Lords. They are found in thle body of
people whom I have mentioned to your Lordships.
They were almost all let to Calcutta banlians. Calcutta banialls were tile farmers of almost the whole.
The'lly sub-delegated to others, who sometimes had
sub-delegates under them ad infinitum. The whole
formed a system together, through the succession of
black tyrants scattered through the country, in which
you at last find the European at the enlld, solnetimes
illdeed not hid very deep, not above one betweenl him
and the ifarmer, lamely, his banlian directly, or some
other black persoll to represent him. But some have
so managed the afif:ir, that, when you inquire who
the farmer is, - Was such a one farmer? No. Cantoo Baboo? No. Another? No, -- at last you find
three deep of fictitious farmers, and you find the European gentlemen, hligll in place and authority, the. real farmers of tile settlement. So that the zenm-,indars were dispossessed, the country racked and ruined, for the benefit of anl European, under the. name of a farmer: for you will easily judge whether. these gentlemen had fallen so deeply in love with the
banians, and thought so highly of their merits and
services, as to reward them with all the possessions
of tile great landed interest of tile country. Your
Lordships are too grave, wise, and discerning, to
make it necessary for me to say more upoln that subject. Tell me that the banialls of English gentlemen,
dependants on them at Calcultta, were the farmers
throughout, and I believe I need nlot tell your Lordships for whose benefit they were farmers.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 19
But there is one of these who comes so nearly, indeed so precisely, within this observation, that it is impossible for me to pass him by. Whoever llas heard
of Mr. Hastings's name, with any knowledge of Indian
connections, has heard of his banian, Calltoo Baboo.
This man is well known in the records of tile Company, as his agent for receiving secret gifts, confiscations, and presents. You would have imagined that
lie would at least have kept him out of these farms, in
order to give the measure a color at least of disinterestedness, and to show that this whole system of corruption and pecuniary oppression was carried on for the benefit of the Company. The Governor-General
and Council made an ostensible order by which no
collector, or person concerned in the revenue, should
have any connection with these farms. This order
did not include the Governor-General ill the words
of it, but more than included him in the spirit of it;
because his power to protect a farmer-general in the
person of his own servant was infinitely greater than
that of any subordinate person. Mr. HIastings, in
breach of this order, gave farms to his own banian.
You find him the farmer of great, of vast and extensive farms. Another regulation that was made on
that occasion was, that no farmer should have, except
in particular cases, which were marked, described,
and accurately distinguished, a greater farm than
wlhat paid 10,0001. a year to government. Mr. Hastings, who had broken the first regulation by giving
ally farm at all to his banian, findinig hlimself bolder,
broke the second too, and, instead of 10,0001. , gave
him farms paying a revenue of 130,0001. a year to
governlment. Men unldoubtedly have been known
to be under the dominion of their domestics; such
? ? ? ? '20 IMIPEACHMIENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
things have happened to great men: they never have
happened justifiably in my opinion. They have nev-;er happened excusably; but we are acquainted sufficiently with the weakness of human nature to know that a domestic who has served you in a near office
long, and in your opinion faithfully, does become a
kind of relation; it brings on a great affection and
regard for his interest. Now was this the case with
Mr. Hastings and Cantoo Baboo? Mr. Hastings was
just arrived at his government, and Cantoo Baboo
had been but a year in his service; so that he could
not in that time have contracted any great degree of
friendship for him. These people do not live in your'house; the Hindoo servants never sleep in it; they
cannot eat with your servants; they have no second
table, in which they can be continually about you, to
be domesticated with yourself, a part of your being,
as people's servants are to a certain degree. These
persons live all abroad; they come at stated hours
upon matters of business, and nothing more. But
if it had been otherwise, Mr. Hastings's connection
with Cantoo Baboo had been but of a year's stand-ing; he had before served in that capacity Mr. Sykes,
who recommended him to Mr. Hastings. Your Lord-'ships, then, are to judge whether such outrageous violations of all the principles by which Mr. Hastings pretended to be guided in the settlement of these
farms were for the benefit of this old, decayed, affectionate servant of one year's standing: your Lordships
will judge of that.
I have here spoken only of the beginning of a great,'notorious system of corruption, which branched out
so many ways and into such a variety of abuses, and
has afflicted that kingdom with such horrible evils
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - THIRD DAY. 21
from that day to this, that I will venture to say it
will make one of the greatest, weightiest, and most
material parts of the charge that is now before you;
as I believe I need not tell your Lordships that an
attempt to set up the whole landed interest of a,
kingdom to auction must be attended, not only in,
that act, but every consequential act, with most grievous and terrible consequences.
My Lords, I will now come to a scene of peculation
of another kind: namely, a peculation by the direct
sale of offices of justice, - by the direct sale of the
successions of families, -by the sale of guardianships,
and trusts, held most sacred among the people of India: by the sale of them, not, as before, to farmers, not,
as you might imagine, to near relations of the families,
but a sale of them to the unfaithful servants of those,
families, their own perfidious servants, who had ruined their estates, who, if any balances had accrued
to the government, had been the cause of those debts.
Those very servants were put in power over their estates, their persons, and their families, by Mr. Hastings, for a shameful price. It will be proved to your Lordships, in the course of this business, that Mr.
Hastings has done this in another sacred trust, the
most sacred trust a man can have, -- that is, in the
case of those vakeels, (as they call them,) agents,
or attorneys, who had been sent to assert and support
the rights of their miserable masters before the Council-General. It will be proved that these vakeels
were by Mr. Hastings, for a price to be paid for it,
put in possession of the very power, situation, and
estates of those masters who sent them to Calcutta to
defend them from wrong and violence. The selling
offices of justice, the sale of succession in families, of
? ? ? ? 22 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
guardianships and other sacred trusts, the selling
masters to their servants, and principals to the attorneys they employed to defend themselves, were all
parts of the same system; and these were the horrid
ways in which he received bribes beyond any corn
mon rate.
Wlhen Mr. Hastings was appointed in the year
1773 to be Governor-General of Bengal, together with
Mr. Barwell, General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and
Mr. Franicis, the Company, knowing the former corrupt state of their service, (but the whole corrupt
system of Mr. Hastings at that time not being known
or even suspected at home,) did order them, in discharge of the spirit of the act of Parliament, to make
an inquiry into all manner of corruptions and malversations in office, without the exception of any persons wllateverl. Your Lordships are to know that the act did expressly authorize the Court of Directors to
frame a body of instructions, and to give orders to
their new servants appointed under the act of Parliamenlt, lest it should be supposed that they, by their
appointment under the act, could supersede the authority of the Directors. The Directors, sensible of
the power left in them over their servants by the act
of Parliament, though their nomination was taken
from them, did, agreeably to the spirit and power of
that act, give this order.
The Council consisted of two parties: Mr. Hastings and Mr. Barwell, who were chosen and kept
there upon the idea of their local knowledge; and
the other three, who were appointed on account of
their great parts and known integrity. And I will
venture to say that those three gentlemen did so execute their duty in India, in all the substantial parts
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 23
of it, that they will serve as a shield to cover the
honor of England, whenever this country is upbraided in India.
They found a rumor running through the country of great peculations and oppressions. Soon after,
when it was known what their instructions were, and
that the Council was ready, as is the first duty of all
governors, even when there is no express order, to
receive complaints against the oppressions and corruptions of government in any part of it, they found such a body (and that body shall be produced to your
Lordships) of corruption and peculation in every
walk, in every department, in every situation of life,
in' the sale of the most sacred trusts, and in the destruction of the most ancient families of the country,
as I believe in so short a time never was unveiled
since the world began.
Your Lordships would imagine that Mr. Hastings
would at least ostensibly have taken some part in endeavoring to bring these corruptions before the public, or that he would at least have acted with some little
management in his opposition. But, alas! it was not
in his power; there was not one, I think, but I am
sure very few, of these general articles of corruption,
in which the most eminent figure in the crowd, the
principal figure as it were in the piece, was not Mr.
Hastings himself. There were a great many others
involved; for all departments were corrupted and
vitiated. But you could not open a page in which
you did not see Mr. Hastings, or in which you did
not see Cantoo Baboo. Either the black or white
side of Mr. Hastings constantly was visible to the
world in every part of these transactions.
With the other gentlemen, who were visible too,
? ? ? ? 24 IMIPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
I have at present no dealing. Mr. Hastings, instead
of using any management on that occasion, instantly
set up his power and authority, directly against the
majority of the Council, directly against his colleagues,
directly against the authority of the East India Company and the authority of the act of Parliament, to put a dead stop to all these inquiries. He broke up
the Council, the moment they attempted to perform
this part of their duty. As the evidence multiplied
upon him, the daring exertions of his power in stopping all inquiries increased continually. But he gave
a credit and authority to the evidence by these attempts to suppress it.
Your Lordships have heard that among the body
of the accusers of this corruption there was a principal man in the country, a man of the first rank and authority in it, called Nundcomar, who had the management of revenues amounting to 150,0001. a year, and who had, if really inclined to play the small game
with which he has been charged by his accusers,
abundant means to gratify himself in playing great
ones; but Mr. Hastings has himself given him, upon
the records of the Company, a character which would
at least justify the Council in making some inquiry
into charges made by him.
First, he was perfectly competent to make them,
because he was in the management of those affairs
from which Mr. Hastings is supposed to have received
corrupt emolument. He and his son were the chief
managers in those transactions. He was therefore
pe rfectly competent to it. - Mr. Hastings has cleared
his character; for though it is true, in the contradictions in which Mr. Hastings has entangled himself, he has abused and insulted him, and particularly after
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -THIRD DAY. 25
his appearance as an accuser, yet before this he has
given this testimony of him, that the hatred that had
been drawn upon him, and the general obloquy of the
English nation, was on account of his attachment to
his own prince and the liberties of his country. Be
he what he might, I am not disposed, nor have I the
least occasion, to defend either his conduct or his
memory.
It is to no purpose for Mr. Hastings to spend time
in idle objections to the character of Nundcomar. Let
him be as bad as Mr. Hastings represents him. I suppose he was a caballing, bribing, intriguing politician,
like others in that country,. both black and white.
We know associates in dark and evil actions are not
generally the best of men; but be that as it will, it
generally happens that they are the best of all discoverers. If Mr. Hastings were the accuser of Nundcomar, I should think the presumptions equally strong against Nundcomar, if he had acted as Mr. Hastings
has acted. - He was not only competent, but the most
competent of all men to be Mr. Hastings's accuser.
But Mr. Hastings has himself established both his
character and his competency by employing him
against Mahomed Reza Khan. He shall not blow
hot and cold. In what respect was Mr. Hastings
better than Mahomed Reza Khan, that the whole
rule, principle, and system of accusation and inquiry
should be totally reversed in general, nay, reversed in
the particular instance, the moment he became accuser
against Mr. Hastings? - Such was the accuser. He
was the man that gave the bribes, and, in addition to
his own evidence, offers proof by other witnesses.
What was the accusation? Was the accusation
improbable, either on account of the subject-matter
? ? ? ? 26 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
or the actor in it? Does such an appointment as
that of Munny Begum, in the most barefaced evasion
of his orders, appear to your Lordships a matter that
contains no. just presumptions of guilt, so that, when
a charge of bribery comes upon it, you are prepared
to reject it, as if the action were so clear and proper
that no man could attribute it to an improper motive?
And as to the man, -- is Mr. Hastings a mall against
whom a charge of bribery is improbable? Why, he
owns it. He is a professor of it. He reduces it into
scheme and system. He glories in it. He turns it
to merit, and declares it is the best way of supplying the exigencies of the Company. Why, therefore, should it be held improbable? - But I cannot mention this proceeding without shame and horror.
My Lords, when this man appeared as an accuser
of Mr. Hastings, if he was a man of bad character,
it was a great advantage to Mr.
