Undoubtedly these
officers
will give him their good word.
Edmund Burke
Markham.
But whether
they were or were not, it comes to the same thing.
If they were improperly made and improperly conducted, Mr. Hastings is responsible for the whole
of the mismanagement; for he gave the entire control to a person who had little experience, who was
young in the world (and this is the excuse I wish
to make for a gentleman of that age). He appointed
him, and gave him at large a discretionary authority
to name whom he pleased to be the ostensible Naib;
but we know that he took the principal part himself
in all his settlements and in all his proceedings.
Soon after the Naib had been thus appointed and'instructed by Mr. Markham, he settled, under his
directions, the administration of the country. Mr.
Markham then desires leave from Mr. Hastings to
go down to Calcutta. I imagine he never returned
to Benares; he comes to Europe; and here end the
acts of this viceroy and delegate.
Let us now begin the reign of Mr. Benn and Mr.
Fowke. These gentlemen had just the same power
delegated to them that Mr. Markham possessed, --
not one jot less, that I know of; and they were therefore responsible, and ought to have been called to
an account by Mr. Hastings for every part of their
proceedings. I will not give you my own account
of the reign of these gentlemen; but I will read to
you what Mr. Hastings has thought proper to represent the state of the people to be under their government. This course will save your Lordships time and trouble; for it will nearly supersede all observations of mine upon the subject. I hold in my hand
Mr. Hastings's representation of the effects produced
lby a government which was conceived by himself, car
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 347
ried into effect by himself, and illegally invested by
him with illegal powers, without any security or
responsibility of any kind. Hear, I say, what an account Mr. Hastings gave, when he afterwards went
up to Benares upon another wicked project, and
think what ought to have been his feelings as he
looked upon the ruin he had occasioned. Think of
the condition in which he saw Benares the first day
he entered it. He then saw it beautiful, ornamented,
rich, - an object that envy would have shed tears over
for its prosperity, that humanity would have beheld
with eyes glistening with joy for the comfort and
happiness which were there enjoyed by man: a country flourishing in cultivation to such a degree that the' soldiers were obliged to march in single files through
the fields of corn, to avoid damaging them; a country in which Mr. Stables has stated that the villages were thick beyond all expression; a country where
the people pressed round their sovereign, as Mr.
Stables also told you, with joy, triumph, and satisfaction. Such was the country; and in such a state
and under such a master was it, when he first saw
it. See what it now is under Warren Hastings; see
what it is under the British government; and then
judge whether the Commons are or are not right
ill pressing the subject upon your Lordships for your
decision, and letting you and all this great auditory
know what sort of a criminal you have before you,
who has had the impudence to represent to your
Lordships at your bar that Benares is in a flourishing
condition, in defiance of the evidence which we have
under his own hands, and who, in all the false papers that have been circulated to debauch the public opinion, has stated that we, the Commons, have given
? ? ? ? 348 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
a false representation as to the state of the country
under the English government.
Lucknow, the 2d of April, 1784. Addressed to the
Honorable Edward Wheler, Esq. , ce. Signed
Warren Hastings. It is in page 306 of the printed.
Minutes.
"GENTLEMEN, - Having contrived, by making forced
stages, while the troops of my escort marched at the
ordinary rate, to make a stay of five days at Benares,
I was thereby furnished with-the means of acquiring
some knowledge of the state of the province, which I
am anxious to communicate to you: indeed, the inquiry, which was in a great degree obtruded upon
me, affected me with very mortifying reflections on
my own inability to apply it to any useful purpose.
"From the confines of Buxar to Benares I was followed and fatigued by the clamors of the discontented inhabitants. It was what I expected in a degree, because it is rare that the exercise of authority should prove satisfactory to all who are the objects of it.
The distresses which were produced by the long continued drought unavoidably tended to heighten the general discontent; yet I have reason to fear that the
cause existed principally in a defective, if not a corrupt and oppressive administration. Of a multitude
of petitions which were presented to me, and of which
I took minutes, every one that did not relate to a personal grievance contained the representation of one and the same species of oppression, which is in its
nature of an influence most fatal to the future cultivation. The practice to which I allude is this. It is affirmed that the aumils and renters exact from the
proprietors of the actual harvest a large increase in
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 349
kind on their stipulated rent: that is, from those who
hold their pottahs by the tenure of paying one half of
the produce of their crops, either the whole without
a subterfuge, or a large proportion of it by false measurement or other pretexts; and: from those whose engagements are for a fixed rent in money the half
or a greater proportion is taken in kind. This is in
effect a tax upon the industry of the inhabitants;
since there is scarcely a field of grain in the province,
I might say not one, which has not been preserved by
the incessant labor of the cultivator, by digging wells
for their supply, or watering them from the wells of
masonry with which this country abounds, or from
the neighboring tanks, rivers, and nullahs. The people who imposed on themselves this voluntary and extraordinary labor, and not unattended with expense, did it in the expectation of reaping the profits
of it; and it is certain that they would not have done
it, if they had known that their rulers, from whom
they were entitled to an indemnification, would take
from them what they had so hardly earned. If the
same administration continues, and the country shall
again labor under a want of the natural rains, every
field will be abandoned, the revenue fail, and thousands perish through the want of subsistence: for who will labor for the sole benefit of others, and to
make himself the subject of vexation? These practices are not to be imputed to the aumils employed
in the districts, but to the Naib himself. The avowed
principle on which he acts, and which he acknowledged to myself, is, that the whole sum fixed for the revenue of the province must be collected, and that
for this purpose the deficiency arising in places where
the crops have failed, or which have been left ulcul
? ? ? ? 350 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
tivated, must be supplied from the resources of others,
where the soil has been better suited to the season, or
the industry of the cultivators more successfully exerted: a piinciple which, however specious and plausible it may at first appear, certainly tends to the most pernicious and destructive consequences. If this
declaration of the Naib had been made only to myself, I might have doubted my construction of it; but
it was repeated by him to Mr. Anderson, who understood it exactly in the same sense. In the management of the customs, the conduct of the Naib, or of
the officers under him, was forced also upon my attention. The exorbitant rates exacted by an arbitrary
valuation of the goods, the practice of exacting duties
twice on the same goods, first from the seller and afterwards from the buyer, and the vexatious disputes
and delays drawn on the merchants by these oppressions, were loudly complained of; and some instances
of this kind were said to exist at the very time when
I was in Benares. Under such circumstances, we are
not to wonder, if the merchants of foreign countries
are discouraged from resorting to Benares, and if the
commerce of that province should annually decay.
"Other evils, or imputed evils, have accidentally
come to my knowledge, which I will not now particularize, as I hope that with the assistance of the Resi. .
dent they may be in part corrected: one, however, I
must mention, because it has been verified by my own
observation, and is of that kind which reflects an unmerited reproach on our general and national character. When I was at Buxar, the Resident at my desire enjoined the Naib to appoint creditable people to every
town through which our route lay, to persuade and
encourage the inhabitants to remain in their houses,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 351
promising to give them guards as I approached, and
they required it for their protection; and that he
might perceive how earnest I was for his observance
of this precaution, (which I am certain was faithfully
delivered,) I repeated it to him in person, and dismissed him, that he might precede me for that purpose: but, to my great disappointment, I found every place through which I passed abandoned; nor had there been a man left in any of them for their protection. I am sorry to add, that, firom Buxar to the
opposite boundary, I have seen nothing but the traces of complete devastation in every village, whether caused by the followers of the troops which have
lately passed, for their natural relief, (and I know
not whether my own may not have had their share,)
or from the apprehension of the inhabitants left to
themselves, and of themselves deserting their houses.
I wish to acquit my own countrymen of the blame of
these unfavorable appearances, and in my own heart
I do acquit them: for at one encampment, near a
large village called Derrara, in the purgunnah of Zemaneea, a crowd of people came to me, complaining
that their former aumil, who was a native of the place,
and had long been established in authority over them,
and whose custom it had been, whenever any troops
passed, to remain in person on the spot for their protection, having been removed, the new aumil, on the
approach of any military detachment, himself first
fled from the place, and the inhabitants, having no
one to whom they could apply for redress, or for. the
representation of their grievances, and being thus remediless, fled also; so that their houses and effects became a prey to any person who chose to plunder them.
The general conclusion appeared to me an inevitable
? ? ? ? 352 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
consequence fiom such a state of facts, - and my own
senses bore testimony to it in this specific instance;
nor do I know how it is possible for any officer commanding a military party, how attentive soever he
may be to the discipline and forbearance of his people, to prevent disorders, when there is neither opposition to hinder nor evidence to detect them. These and many other irregularities I impute solely to the
Naib; and I think it my duty, to recommend his instant removal. I would myself hlave dismissed him,
had the control of this province come within the line
of my powers, and have established such regulations
and checks as would have been most likely, to prevent the like irregularities. I have said checks, because, unless there is some visible influence, and a powerful and able one, impended over the head of
the manager, no system can avail. The next appointed may prove, from some defect, as unfit for the office as the present; for the choice is limited to few, without experience to guide it. The first was of
my own nomination; his merits and qualifications
stood in equal balance with my knowledge of those
who might have been the candidates for the office;
but he was the father of the Rajah, and the affinity
sunk the scale wholly in his favor: for who could be
so fit to be intrusted with the charge of his son's interest, and the new credit of the rising family? He
deceived my expectations. Another was recommended by the Resident, and at my instance the board
appointed him. This was Jagher Deo Seo, the
present Naib. I knew him not, and the other members of the board as little. While Mr. Markham remained in office, of whom, as his immediate patron,
he may have stood in awe, I am told that he re
? ? ? ? -'SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DA. Y. 353
strained his natural disposition, which lias been described to me as rapacious, unfeeling, haughty, and
to an extreme vindictive.
"I cannot avoid remarking, that, excepting the
city of Benares itself, tile province depending upon it
is in effect without a governlmelt, the Naib exercising only a dependent jurisdiction without a principal.
The Rajah is without authority, and even his name
disused in the official instruments issued or taken
by the manager. The representationl of his situation
shall be the subject of another letter; I have made
this already too long, and shall confine it to the single
subject for the communication of which it was begun.
This permit me to recapitulate. The administration
of the province is misconducted, and the people oppressed; trade discouraged, and the revenue, though
said to be exceeded in the actual collections by
many lacs, (for I have a minute account of it,
which states the net amount, including jaghires, as
something more than fifty-one lacs,) in danger of a
rapid decline, from the violent appropriation of its
means; the Naib or manager is unfit for his office;
a new manager is required, and a system of official
control, -in a word, a constitution: for neither can
the board extend its superintending powers to a district so remote from its observation, nor has it delegated that authority to the Resident, who is merely the representative of government, and the receiver
of its revenue in the last process of it; nor, indeed,
would it be possible to render him wholly so, for
reasons which I may hereafter detail. "
My Lords, you have now heard -- not from the
Managers, not from records of office, not from witVOL. XI. 23
? ? ? ? 854 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
nesses at your bar, but from the prisoner himself -- the
state of the country of Benares, from the time that
Mr. Hastings and his delegated Residents had taken
the management of it. My Lords, it is a proof, beyond all other proof, of the melancholy state of the
country, in which, by attempting to exercise usurped
and arbitrary power, all power and all authority
become extinguished, complete anarchy takes place,
and nothing of government appears but the means of
robbing and ravaging, with an utter indisposition to
take one step for the protection of the people.
Think, my Lords, what a triumphal progress it was
for a British governor, from one extremity of the province to the other, (for so he has stated it,) to be pursued by the cries of an oppressed and ruined people,
where they dared to appear before him, - and when
they did not dare to appear, flying from every place,
even the very magistrates being the first to fly!
Think, my Lords, that, when these unhappy people
saw the appearance of a British soldier, they fled as
from a pestilence; and then think, that these were
the people who labored in the manner which you have
just heard, who dug their own wells, whose country
would not produce anything but from the indefatigable industry of its inhabitants; and that such a meritorious, such an industrious people, should be subjected to such a cursed anarchy uinder pretence of revenue, to such a cursed tyranny under the pretence of government!
" But Jagher Deo Seo was unfit for his office. " --
"How dared you to appoint a man unfit for his
office? " -" Oh, it signified little, without their having a constitution. " -" Why did you destroy the official constitution that existed before? - How dared you
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. --. THIRD DAY. 355
to destroy those establishments which enabled the people to dig wells and to cultivate the country like a
garden, and then to leave the whole in the hands of
your arbitrary and wicked Residents and their instruments, chosen without the least idea of government
and without the least idea of protection? "
God has sometimes converted wickedness into mnadness; and it is to the credit of human reason, that
men who are not in some degree mad are never capable of being in the highest degree wicked. The human faculties and reason are in such cases deranged; and therefore this man has been dragged by the just
vengeance of Providence to make his own madness
the discoverer of his own wicked, perfidious, and
cursed machinations in that devoted country.
Think, my Lords, of what he says respecting the
military. He says there is no restraining them, -
that they pillage the country wherever they go. But
had not Mr. Hastings himself just before encouraged
the military to pillage the country? Did he not make
the people's resistance, when the soldiers attempted
to pillage them, one of the crimes of Cheyt Sing?
And who would dare to obstruct the military in their
abominable ravages, when they knew that one of the
articles of Cheyt Sing's impeachment was his having
suffered the people of the country, when plundered
by these wicked soldiers, to return injury for injury
and blow for blow? When they saw, I say, that these
were the things for which Cheyt Sing was sacrificed,
there was manifestly nothing left for them but flight.
-- What! fly from a Goverllor-General? You would
expect he was bearing to the country, upon his
balmy and healing wings, the cure of all its disorders
and of all its distress. No: they knew him too well;
? ? ? ? 356 IMPEACHMENT -OF WARREN HASTINGS.
they knew him to be the destroyer of the country;
they knew him to be the destroyer of their sovereign,
the destroyer of the persons whom he had appointed
to govern under. him; they knew that neither governor, sub-governor, nor subject could enjoy a moment's security while he possessed supreme power. This was the state of the country; and this the
Commons of England call upon your Lordships to
avenge.
Let us now see what is next done by the prisoner
at your bar. He is satisfied with simply removing
from his office Jagher Deo Seo, who is accused by him
of all these corruptions and oppressions. The other
poor, unfortunate man, who was not even accused of
malversations in such a degree, and against whom
not one of the accusations of oppression was regularly proved, but who had, in Mr. Hastings's eye, the
one unpardonable fault of not having been made
richer by his crimes, was twice imprisoned, and finally perished in prison. But we have never heard one
word of the imprisonment of Jagher Deo Seo, who,
I believe, after some mock inquiry, was acquitted.
Here, my Lords, I must beg you to recollect Mr.
Hastings's proceeding with Gunga Govind Sing, and
to contrast his conduct towards these two peculators
with his proceeding towards Durbege Sing. Such a
comparison will let your Lordships into the secret of
one of the prisoner's motives of conduct upon such
occasions. When you will find a man pillaging and
desolating a country, in the manner Jagher Deo Seo
is described by Mr. Hastings to have done, but who
takes care to secure to himself the spoil, you will
likewise find that such a man is safe, secure, unpunished. Your Lordships will recollect the desolation
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- THIRD DAY. 357
of Dinagepore. You will recollect that the rapacious
Gunga Govind Sing, (the coadjutor of Mr. Hastings
in peculation,) out of 80,0001. which he had received
on the Company's account, retained 40,0001. for his
own use, and that, instead of being turned out of his
employment and trieated with rigor and cruelty, he
was elevated in Mr. Hastings's grace and favor, and
never called upon for the restoration of a penny.
Observe, my Lords, the difference in his treatment
of men who have wealth to purchase impunity, or
who have secrets to reveal, and of another who has
no such, merit, and is poor and insolvent.
We have shown your Lordships the effects of Mr.
Hastings's government upon the country and its inhabitants; and although I have before suggested to you some of its effects upon the army of the Company, I will now call your attention to a few other observations on that subject. Your Lordships will,
in the first place, be pleased to attend to the character which he gives of this army. You have heard what he tells you of the state of the country in which
it was stationed, and of the terror which it struck
into the inhabitants. The appearance of an English
soldier was enough to strike the country people with
affright and dismay: they everywhere, he tells you,
fled before them. And yet they are the officers of
this very army who are brought here as witnesses to
express the general satisfaction of the people of In-' dia. To be sure, a man who never calls Englishmen to an account for any robbery or injury whatever,
who acquits them, upon their good intentions, without any inquiry, will in return for this indemnity have their good words. We are not surprised to find
them coming with emulation to your bar to declare
? ? ? ? 358 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
him possessed of all virtues, and that nobody has or can
have a right to complain of him. But we, my Lords,
protest against these indemnities; we protest against
their good words; we protest against their testimonials; and we insist upon your Lordships trying him,
not upon what this or that officer says of his good
conduct, but upon the proved result of the actions
tried before you. Without ascribing, perhaps, much
guilt to men who must naturally wish to favor the
person who covers their excesses, who suffers their
fortunes to be made, you will know what value to set
upon their testimony. The Commons look on those
testimonies with the greatest slight, and they consider as nothing all evidence given by persons who are
interested in the very cause, -- persons who derive
their fortunes from the ruin of the very people of
the country, and who have divided the spoils with
the man whom we accuse.
Undoubtedly these officers will give him their good word. Undoubtedly
the Residents will give him their good word. Mr.
Markham, and Mr. Benn, and Mr. Fowke, if he had
been called, every servant of the Company, except
some few, will give him the same good word, every
one of them; because, my Lords, they have made
their fortunes under him, and their conduct has not
been inquired into.
But to return to the observations we were making
upon the ruinous effects in general of the successive
governments which had been established at Benares
by the prisoner at your bar. These effects, he would
have you believe, arose from the want of a constitution. Why, I again ask, did he destroy the constitution which he found established there, or suffer it to be destroyed? But he had actually authorized Mr.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 359
Markham to make a new, a regular, an official con
stitution. Did Mr. Markham make it? No: though
he professed to do it, it never was done: and so far
from there being any regular, able, efficient constitution, you see there was an absolute and complete anarchy in the country. The native inhabitants, deprived of their ancient government, were so far from looking up to their new masters for protection, that,
the moment they saw the face of a soldier or of a
British person in authority, they fled in dismay, and
thought it more eligible to abandon their houses to
robbery than to remain exposed to the tyranny of a
British governor. Is this what they call British dominion? Will you sanction by your judicial authority transactions done in direct defiance of your legislative authority? Are they so injuriously mad as to suppose your Lordships can be corrupted to betray in
your judicial capacity (the most sacred of the two)
what you have ordained in your legislative character?
My Lords, I am next to remind you what this man
has had the insolence and audacity to state at your
bar. " In fact," says he, " I can adduce very many
gentlemen now in London to confirm my assertions,
that the countries of Benares and Gazipore were never within the memory of Englishmen so well protected, so peaceably governed, or more industriously
cultivated than at the present moment. "
Your Lordships know that this report of Mr. Hastings which has been read was made in the year 1784.
Your Lordships know that no step was taken, while
Mr. Hastings remained in India, for the regulation
and management of the country. If there was, let
it be shown. There was no constitution framed, nor
? ? ? ? 360 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
any other means taken for the settlement of the country, except the appointment of Ajeet Sing in the room
of Durbege Sing, to reign like him, and like him to
be turned out. Mr. Hastings left India in February,
1785; he arrived here, as I believe, in June or July
following. Our proceedings against him commenced
in the sessions of 1786; and this defence was given,
I believe, in the year 1787. Yet at that time, when
he could hardly have received any account from India, he was ready, he says, to produce the evidence
(and no doubt might have done so) of many gentlemen whose depositions would have directly contradicted what he had himself deposed of the state in which he, so short a time before, had left the country.
Your Lordships cannot suppose that it could have
recovered its prosperity within that time. We know
you may destroy that in a day which will take up
years to build; we know a tyrant can in a moment
ruin and oppress: but you cannot restore the dead
to life; you cannot in a moment restore fields to cultivation; you cannot, as you please, make the people
in a moment restore old or dig new wells: and yet
Mr. Hastings has dared to say to the Commons that
he would produce persons to refute the account which
we had fresh from himself. We will, however, undertake to show you that the direct contrary was the
fact.
I will first refer you to Mr. Barlow's account of
the state of trade. Your Lordships will there find a
full exposure of the total falsehood of the prisoner's
assertions. You will find that Mr. Hastings himself had been obliged to give orders for the change
of almost every one of the regulations he had made.
Your Lordships may there see the madness and folly
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 361
of tyranny attempting to regulate trade. In the printed Minutes, page 2830, your Lordships will see how
completely Mr. Hastings had ruined the trade of the
country. You will find, that, wherever he pretended
to redress the grievances which he had occasioned,
he did not take care to have any one part of his pretended redress executed. When you consider the anarchy in which he states the country through which he passed to have been, you may easily conceive that
regulations for the protection of trade, without the
means of enforcing them, must be nugatory.
Mr. Barlow was sent, in the years 178'6 and 1787,
to examine into the state of the country. He has
stated the effect of all those regulations, which Mr.
Hastings has had the assurance to represent here as
prodigies of wisdom. At the very time when our
charge was brought to this House, (it is a remarkable
period, and we desire your Lordships to advert to it,)
at that time, I do not know whether it was not on the
very same day that we brought our charge to your
bar, Mr. Duncan was sent by Lord Cornwallis to
examine into the state of that province. Now, my
Lords, you have Mr. Duncan's report before you, and
you will judge whether or not, by any regulation
which Mr. Hastings had made, or whether through
any means used by him, that country had recovered
or was recovering. Your Lordships will there find
other proofs of the audacious falsehood of his representation, that all which he had done had operated on
the minds of the inhabitants very greatly in favor of
British integrity and good government. Mr. Duncan's report will not only enable you to decide upon
what he has said himself, it will likewise enable you
to judge of tle credit which is due to the gentlemen
? ? ? ? 362 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGs.
now in London whom he can produce to confirm his
assertions, that the country of Benares and Gazipore
were never, within the memory of Englishmen, so
well protected and cultivated as at the present moment.
Instead, therefore, of a speech from me, you shall
hear what the country says itself, by the report of the
last commissioner who was sent to examine it by Lord
Cornwallis. The perfect credibility of his testimony
Mr. Hastings has established out of Lord Cornwallis's
mouth, who, being asked the character of Mr. Jonathan Duncan, has declared that there is nothing he can report of the state of the country to which you ought
not to give credit. Your Lordships will now see how
deep the wounds are which tyranny and arbitrary
power must make in a country where their existence
is suffered; and you will be pleased to observe that
this statement was made at a time when Mr. Hastings
was amusing us with his account of Benares.
Extract of the Proceedings of the Resident at Benares,
under date the 16th February, 1788, at the Purgunnah of Gurrah. Dehmah, c. Printed Minutes, page 2610.
" Tie Resident, having arrived in this purgunnah
of Gurrah Dehmah from that of Mohammedabad, is
very sorry to observe that it seems about one third
at least uncultivated, owing to the mismanagement
of the few last years. The Rajah, however, promises
that it shall be by next year in a complete state of
cultivation; and Tobarck Hossaine, his aumeen, aumil, or agent, professes his confidence of the same happy effects, saying, that he has already brought a
great proportion of the land, that lay fallow when he
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -, THIRD DAY. 363
came into the purgunnah in the beginning of the
year, into cultivation, and that, it being equally the
Rajah's directions and his own wish, he does not
doubt of being successful in regard to the remaining part of the waste land. "
Report, dated the 18th of February, at the Purgunnah
of Bulleah.
"The Resident, having come yesterday into this
purgunnah from that of Gurrah Dehmah, finds its
appearance much superior to that purgunnah in point
of cultivation; yet it is on the decline so far that its
collectible jumma will not be so much this year as
it was last, notwithstanding all the efforts of Reazel
Husn, the agent of Khulb Ali Khan, who has farmed
this purgunnah upon a three years' lease, (of which
the present is the last,) during which his, that is, the
head farmer's, management cannot be applauded, as
the funds of the purgunnah are very considerably declined in his hands: indeed, Reazel Husn declares
that this year there was little or no khereef, or first
harvest, in the purgunnah, and that it has been
merely by the greatest exertions that he has prevailed
on the ryots to cultivate the rubby crop, which is now
on the ground and seems plentiful. "
Report, dated the 20th of February, at the Purgunnah
of JKhereed.
" The Resident, having this day come into the purgunnah of Khereed, finds that part of it laying between the frontiers of Bulleah, the present station,
and' Bansdeah, (which is one of the tuppahs, or subdivisions, of Khereed,) exceedingly wasted and uncultivated. The said tuppah is sub-farmed by Gobind
? ? ? ? 364 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Ram from Kulub Alli Bey, and Gobind Ram has again
under-rented it to the zemindars. "
Report, dated the 23d February, at the Purgunnah of
Sekunderpoor.
"The Resident is set out for Sekunderpoor, and is
sorry to observe, that, for about six or seven coss that'he had ffurther to pass through the purgunnah of Kereebs, the whole appeared one continued waste, as far as the eye could reach, on both sides of the road.
The purgunnah Sekunderpoor, beginning about a
coss before he reached the village, an old fort of that
name, appeared to a little more advantage; but even
here the crops seem very scanty, and the ground more
than half fallow. " -
-Extract of the Proceedings of the Resident at Benares,
under date the 26th _February, at the Purgunnah of
Sekunderpoor.
" The Resident now leaves Sekunderpoor to proceed to Nurgurah, the head cutchery of the purgunnah. He is sorry to observe, that, during the whole
way between these two places, which are at the distance of six coss, or twelve miles, from each other, not
above twenty fields of cultivated ground are to be
seen; all the rest being, as far as the eye can reach,
except just in the vicinity of Nuggeha, one general
waste of long grass, with here and there some straggling jungly trees. This falling off in the cultivation
is said to have happened in the course of but a few
years,- that is, since the late Rajah's expulsion. "
Your Lordships will observe, the date of the ruin
of this country is the expulsion of Cheyt Sing.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 365
zExtract of the Proceedings of the Resident at Benares,
under date the 27th Efebruary, at the Purgunnah
Sekunderpoor.
" The Resident meant to have proceeded from this
place to Cossimabad; but understanding that the village of Ressenda, the capital of the purgunnah of
Susknesser, is situated at three coss' distance, and
that many rahdarry collections are there exacted,
the zemindars and ryots being, it seems, all one body
of Rajpoots, who affect to hold themselves in some
sort -independent of the Rajah's government, paying
only a mokurrery, or fixed jumma, (which it may
be supposed is not overrated,) and managing their
interior concerns as they think fit, the Resident
thought it proper on this report to deviate a little
from his intended route, by proceeding this day to
Ressenda, where he accordingly arrived in the afternoon; and the remaining part of the country near
the road through Sekunderpoor, from Nuggurha to
Seundah, appearing nearly equally waste with the
former part, as already noticed in the proceedings
of the 26th instant.
" The Rajah is therefore desired to appoint a person to bring those waste lands into cultivation, in like
manner as he has done in Khereed, with this difference or addition in his instructions,-that he subjoin in those to the Aband Kar, or manager, of the re-cultivation of Sekunderpoor, the rates at which he
is authorized to grant pottahs for tlie various kinds
of land; and it is recommended to him to make
these rates even somewhat lower than he may himself think strictly conformable to justice, reporting
the particulars to the Resident.
? ? ? ? 366 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
"The Rajah is also desired to prepare and transmit a table of similar rates to the Aband Kar of purgunnah Khereed.
(Signed) " JONN DUNCAN, Resident.
"BENARES, the 12th September, 1788. "
Here your Lordships find, in spite of Mr. Hastings
himself, in spite of all the testimonies which he has
called, and of all the other testimonies which he
would have called, that his own account of the matter
is confirmed against his own pretended evidence; you
find his own written account confirmed in a manner
not to be doubted: and the only difference between
his account and this is, that the people did not fly
from Mr. Duncan, when he approached, as they fled
from Mr. Hastings. They did not feel any of that
terror at the approach of a person from the beneficent government of Lord Cornwallis with which they
had been entirely filled at the appearance of the prisoner at your bar. From him they fled in dismay.
They fled from his very presence, as from a consuming pestilence, as from something far worse than
drought and famine; they fled from him as a cruel,
corrupt, and arbitrary governor, which is worse than
any other evil that ever afflicted mankind.
You see, my Lords, in what manner the country
has been wasted and destroyed; and you have seen,
by the date of these measures, that they have happened within a few years, namely, since the expulsion of Rajah Cheyt Sing. There begins the era of calamity. Ask yourselves, then, whether you will or
can countenance the acts which led directly and necessarily to such consequences. Your Lordships will
mark what it is to oppress and expel a cherished in
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. THIRD DAY. 367
dividual from his government, and finally to subvert
it. Nothing stands after him; down go all order
and authority with him; ruin and desolation fall
upon the country; the fields are uncultivated, the
wells are dried up. The people, says Mr. Duncan,
promised, indeed, some time or other, under some
other government, to do something. They will.
again cultivate the lands, when they can get an assurance of security. My Lords, judge, I pray you, whether the House of Commons, when they had read
the account which Mr. Hastings has- himself given of
the dreadful consequences of his proceedings, when
they had read the account given by Mr. Duncan of an
uncultivated country as far as the eye could reach,
would not have shown themselves unworthy to represent not only the Commons of Great Britain, but the meanest village in it, if they had not brought
this great criminal before you, and called upon your
Lordships to punish him. This ruined country, its
desolate fields and its undone inhabitants, all call
aloud for British justice, all call for vengeance upon
the head of this execrable criminal.
Oh! but we ought to be tender towards his personal character, -extremely cautious in our speech; we ought not to let indignation loose. - My Lords,
we do let our indignation loose; we cannot bear with
patience this affliction of mankind. We will neither
abate our energy, relax in our feelings, nor in the
expressions which those feelings dictate. Nothing
but corruption like his own could enable any man
to see such a scene of desolation and ruin unmoved.
We feel pity for the works of God and man; we feel
horror for the debasement of human nature; and
feeling thus, we give a loose to our indignation, and
call upon yoar Lordships for justice.
? ? ? ? 368 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Strange as it may appear to your Lordships, there
remains to be stated an aggravation of his crimes,
and of his victims' misery. Would you consider it
possible, my Lords, that there could be an aggravation of such a case as you have heard? Would you think it possible for a people to suffer more than the
inhabitants of Benares have suffered, from the noble
possessor of the splendid mansion down to the miserable tenants of the cottage and the hut? Yes, there is a state of misery, a state of degradation, far
below all that you have yet heard. It is, my Lords,
that these miserable people should come to your
Lordships' bar, and declare that they have never
felt one of those grievances of which they complain;
that not one of those petitions with wllich they pursued Mr. Hastings had a word of truth in it; that they felt nothing under his government but ease,
tranquillity, joy, and happiness; that every day during his government was a festival, and every night an illumination and rejoicing. The addresses which
contain these expressions of satisfaction have been
produced at your bar, and have been read to your
Lordships. You must have heard with disgust, at
least, these flowers of Oriental rhetoric, pennred at
ease by dirty hireling moonshees at Calcutta, who
make these people put their seals, not to declarations
of their ruin, but to expressions of their satisfaction.
You have heard what he himself says of the country;
you have heard what Mr. Duncan says of it; you
have heard the cries of the country itself calling for
justice upon himn: and now, my Lords, hear what
he has made these people say. '"W e have heard
that the gentlemen in England are displeased with
Mr. Hastings, on suspicion that he oppressed us, the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 369
inhabitants of this place, took our money by deceit
and force, and ruined the country. " They then declare solemnly before God, according to their different religions, that Mr. Hastings "distributed protection and security to religion, and kindness and peace to all. He is free," say they, "from the charge
of embezzlement and fraud, and his heart is void
of covetousness and avidity. During the period of
his government no one ever experienced from him
other than protection and justice, never having felt
hardships from him; nor did the poor ever know
the weight of an oppressive hand from him. Our
characters and reputation have been always guarded
in quiet from attack, by the vigilance of his prudence
and foresight, and by the terror of his justice. "
Upon my word, my Lords, the paragraphs are delightful. Observe, in this translation from the Persian there is all the fluency of an English paragraph
well preserved. All I can say is, that these people
of Benares feel their joy, comfort, and satisfaction
in swearing to the falseness of Mr. Hastings's representation against himself. In spite of his own testimony, they say, "He secured happiness and joy to
us; he reestablished the foundation of justice; and
we at all times, during his government, lived in comfort and passed our days in peace. " The shame of
England and of the English government is here put
upon your Lordships' records. Here you have, just
following that afflicting report of Mr. Duncan's, and
that account of Mr. Hastings himself, in which he
said the inhabitants fled before his face, the addresses
of these miserable people. He dares to impose upon your eyesight, upon your common sense, upon the
plain faculties of mankind. He dares, in contraVOL.
they were or were not, it comes to the same thing.
If they were improperly made and improperly conducted, Mr. Hastings is responsible for the whole
of the mismanagement; for he gave the entire control to a person who had little experience, who was
young in the world (and this is the excuse I wish
to make for a gentleman of that age). He appointed
him, and gave him at large a discretionary authority
to name whom he pleased to be the ostensible Naib;
but we know that he took the principal part himself
in all his settlements and in all his proceedings.
Soon after the Naib had been thus appointed and'instructed by Mr. Markham, he settled, under his
directions, the administration of the country. Mr.
Markham then desires leave from Mr. Hastings to
go down to Calcutta. I imagine he never returned
to Benares; he comes to Europe; and here end the
acts of this viceroy and delegate.
Let us now begin the reign of Mr. Benn and Mr.
Fowke. These gentlemen had just the same power
delegated to them that Mr. Markham possessed, --
not one jot less, that I know of; and they were therefore responsible, and ought to have been called to
an account by Mr. Hastings for every part of their
proceedings. I will not give you my own account
of the reign of these gentlemen; but I will read to
you what Mr. Hastings has thought proper to represent the state of the people to be under their government. This course will save your Lordships time and trouble; for it will nearly supersede all observations of mine upon the subject. I hold in my hand
Mr. Hastings's representation of the effects produced
lby a government which was conceived by himself, car
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 347
ried into effect by himself, and illegally invested by
him with illegal powers, without any security or
responsibility of any kind. Hear, I say, what an account Mr. Hastings gave, when he afterwards went
up to Benares upon another wicked project, and
think what ought to have been his feelings as he
looked upon the ruin he had occasioned. Think of
the condition in which he saw Benares the first day
he entered it. He then saw it beautiful, ornamented,
rich, - an object that envy would have shed tears over
for its prosperity, that humanity would have beheld
with eyes glistening with joy for the comfort and
happiness which were there enjoyed by man: a country flourishing in cultivation to such a degree that the' soldiers were obliged to march in single files through
the fields of corn, to avoid damaging them; a country in which Mr. Stables has stated that the villages were thick beyond all expression; a country where
the people pressed round their sovereign, as Mr.
Stables also told you, with joy, triumph, and satisfaction. Such was the country; and in such a state
and under such a master was it, when he first saw
it. See what it now is under Warren Hastings; see
what it is under the British government; and then
judge whether the Commons are or are not right
ill pressing the subject upon your Lordships for your
decision, and letting you and all this great auditory
know what sort of a criminal you have before you,
who has had the impudence to represent to your
Lordships at your bar that Benares is in a flourishing
condition, in defiance of the evidence which we have
under his own hands, and who, in all the false papers that have been circulated to debauch the public opinion, has stated that we, the Commons, have given
? ? ? ? 348 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
a false representation as to the state of the country
under the English government.
Lucknow, the 2d of April, 1784. Addressed to the
Honorable Edward Wheler, Esq. , ce. Signed
Warren Hastings. It is in page 306 of the printed.
Minutes.
"GENTLEMEN, - Having contrived, by making forced
stages, while the troops of my escort marched at the
ordinary rate, to make a stay of five days at Benares,
I was thereby furnished with-the means of acquiring
some knowledge of the state of the province, which I
am anxious to communicate to you: indeed, the inquiry, which was in a great degree obtruded upon
me, affected me with very mortifying reflections on
my own inability to apply it to any useful purpose.
"From the confines of Buxar to Benares I was followed and fatigued by the clamors of the discontented inhabitants. It was what I expected in a degree, because it is rare that the exercise of authority should prove satisfactory to all who are the objects of it.
The distresses which were produced by the long continued drought unavoidably tended to heighten the general discontent; yet I have reason to fear that the
cause existed principally in a defective, if not a corrupt and oppressive administration. Of a multitude
of petitions which were presented to me, and of which
I took minutes, every one that did not relate to a personal grievance contained the representation of one and the same species of oppression, which is in its
nature of an influence most fatal to the future cultivation. The practice to which I allude is this. It is affirmed that the aumils and renters exact from the
proprietors of the actual harvest a large increase in
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 349
kind on their stipulated rent: that is, from those who
hold their pottahs by the tenure of paying one half of
the produce of their crops, either the whole without
a subterfuge, or a large proportion of it by false measurement or other pretexts; and: from those whose engagements are for a fixed rent in money the half
or a greater proportion is taken in kind. This is in
effect a tax upon the industry of the inhabitants;
since there is scarcely a field of grain in the province,
I might say not one, which has not been preserved by
the incessant labor of the cultivator, by digging wells
for their supply, or watering them from the wells of
masonry with which this country abounds, or from
the neighboring tanks, rivers, and nullahs. The people who imposed on themselves this voluntary and extraordinary labor, and not unattended with expense, did it in the expectation of reaping the profits
of it; and it is certain that they would not have done
it, if they had known that their rulers, from whom
they were entitled to an indemnification, would take
from them what they had so hardly earned. If the
same administration continues, and the country shall
again labor under a want of the natural rains, every
field will be abandoned, the revenue fail, and thousands perish through the want of subsistence: for who will labor for the sole benefit of others, and to
make himself the subject of vexation? These practices are not to be imputed to the aumils employed
in the districts, but to the Naib himself. The avowed
principle on which he acts, and which he acknowledged to myself, is, that the whole sum fixed for the revenue of the province must be collected, and that
for this purpose the deficiency arising in places where
the crops have failed, or which have been left ulcul
? ? ? ? 350 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
tivated, must be supplied from the resources of others,
where the soil has been better suited to the season, or
the industry of the cultivators more successfully exerted: a piinciple which, however specious and plausible it may at first appear, certainly tends to the most pernicious and destructive consequences. If this
declaration of the Naib had been made only to myself, I might have doubted my construction of it; but
it was repeated by him to Mr. Anderson, who understood it exactly in the same sense. In the management of the customs, the conduct of the Naib, or of
the officers under him, was forced also upon my attention. The exorbitant rates exacted by an arbitrary
valuation of the goods, the practice of exacting duties
twice on the same goods, first from the seller and afterwards from the buyer, and the vexatious disputes
and delays drawn on the merchants by these oppressions, were loudly complained of; and some instances
of this kind were said to exist at the very time when
I was in Benares. Under such circumstances, we are
not to wonder, if the merchants of foreign countries
are discouraged from resorting to Benares, and if the
commerce of that province should annually decay.
"Other evils, or imputed evils, have accidentally
come to my knowledge, which I will not now particularize, as I hope that with the assistance of the Resi. .
dent they may be in part corrected: one, however, I
must mention, because it has been verified by my own
observation, and is of that kind which reflects an unmerited reproach on our general and national character. When I was at Buxar, the Resident at my desire enjoined the Naib to appoint creditable people to every
town through which our route lay, to persuade and
encourage the inhabitants to remain in their houses,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 351
promising to give them guards as I approached, and
they required it for their protection; and that he
might perceive how earnest I was for his observance
of this precaution, (which I am certain was faithfully
delivered,) I repeated it to him in person, and dismissed him, that he might precede me for that purpose: but, to my great disappointment, I found every place through which I passed abandoned; nor had there been a man left in any of them for their protection. I am sorry to add, that, firom Buxar to the
opposite boundary, I have seen nothing but the traces of complete devastation in every village, whether caused by the followers of the troops which have
lately passed, for their natural relief, (and I know
not whether my own may not have had their share,)
or from the apprehension of the inhabitants left to
themselves, and of themselves deserting their houses.
I wish to acquit my own countrymen of the blame of
these unfavorable appearances, and in my own heart
I do acquit them: for at one encampment, near a
large village called Derrara, in the purgunnah of Zemaneea, a crowd of people came to me, complaining
that their former aumil, who was a native of the place,
and had long been established in authority over them,
and whose custom it had been, whenever any troops
passed, to remain in person on the spot for their protection, having been removed, the new aumil, on the
approach of any military detachment, himself first
fled from the place, and the inhabitants, having no
one to whom they could apply for redress, or for. the
representation of their grievances, and being thus remediless, fled also; so that their houses and effects became a prey to any person who chose to plunder them.
The general conclusion appeared to me an inevitable
? ? ? ? 352 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
consequence fiom such a state of facts, - and my own
senses bore testimony to it in this specific instance;
nor do I know how it is possible for any officer commanding a military party, how attentive soever he
may be to the discipline and forbearance of his people, to prevent disorders, when there is neither opposition to hinder nor evidence to detect them. These and many other irregularities I impute solely to the
Naib; and I think it my duty, to recommend his instant removal. I would myself hlave dismissed him,
had the control of this province come within the line
of my powers, and have established such regulations
and checks as would have been most likely, to prevent the like irregularities. I have said checks, because, unless there is some visible influence, and a powerful and able one, impended over the head of
the manager, no system can avail. The next appointed may prove, from some defect, as unfit for the office as the present; for the choice is limited to few, without experience to guide it. The first was of
my own nomination; his merits and qualifications
stood in equal balance with my knowledge of those
who might have been the candidates for the office;
but he was the father of the Rajah, and the affinity
sunk the scale wholly in his favor: for who could be
so fit to be intrusted with the charge of his son's interest, and the new credit of the rising family? He
deceived my expectations. Another was recommended by the Resident, and at my instance the board
appointed him. This was Jagher Deo Seo, the
present Naib. I knew him not, and the other members of the board as little. While Mr. Markham remained in office, of whom, as his immediate patron,
he may have stood in awe, I am told that he re
? ? ? ? -'SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DA. Y. 353
strained his natural disposition, which lias been described to me as rapacious, unfeeling, haughty, and
to an extreme vindictive.
"I cannot avoid remarking, that, excepting the
city of Benares itself, tile province depending upon it
is in effect without a governlmelt, the Naib exercising only a dependent jurisdiction without a principal.
The Rajah is without authority, and even his name
disused in the official instruments issued or taken
by the manager. The representationl of his situation
shall be the subject of another letter; I have made
this already too long, and shall confine it to the single
subject for the communication of which it was begun.
This permit me to recapitulate. The administration
of the province is misconducted, and the people oppressed; trade discouraged, and the revenue, though
said to be exceeded in the actual collections by
many lacs, (for I have a minute account of it,
which states the net amount, including jaghires, as
something more than fifty-one lacs,) in danger of a
rapid decline, from the violent appropriation of its
means; the Naib or manager is unfit for his office;
a new manager is required, and a system of official
control, -in a word, a constitution: for neither can
the board extend its superintending powers to a district so remote from its observation, nor has it delegated that authority to the Resident, who is merely the representative of government, and the receiver
of its revenue in the last process of it; nor, indeed,
would it be possible to render him wholly so, for
reasons which I may hereafter detail. "
My Lords, you have now heard -- not from the
Managers, not from records of office, not from witVOL. XI. 23
? ? ? ? 854 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
nesses at your bar, but from the prisoner himself -- the
state of the country of Benares, from the time that
Mr. Hastings and his delegated Residents had taken
the management of it. My Lords, it is a proof, beyond all other proof, of the melancholy state of the
country, in which, by attempting to exercise usurped
and arbitrary power, all power and all authority
become extinguished, complete anarchy takes place,
and nothing of government appears but the means of
robbing and ravaging, with an utter indisposition to
take one step for the protection of the people.
Think, my Lords, what a triumphal progress it was
for a British governor, from one extremity of the province to the other, (for so he has stated it,) to be pursued by the cries of an oppressed and ruined people,
where they dared to appear before him, - and when
they did not dare to appear, flying from every place,
even the very magistrates being the first to fly!
Think, my Lords, that, when these unhappy people
saw the appearance of a British soldier, they fled as
from a pestilence; and then think, that these were
the people who labored in the manner which you have
just heard, who dug their own wells, whose country
would not produce anything but from the indefatigable industry of its inhabitants; and that such a meritorious, such an industrious people, should be subjected to such a cursed anarchy uinder pretence of revenue, to such a cursed tyranny under the pretence of government!
" But Jagher Deo Seo was unfit for his office. " --
"How dared you to appoint a man unfit for his
office? " -" Oh, it signified little, without their having a constitution. " -" Why did you destroy the official constitution that existed before? - How dared you
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. --. THIRD DAY. 355
to destroy those establishments which enabled the people to dig wells and to cultivate the country like a
garden, and then to leave the whole in the hands of
your arbitrary and wicked Residents and their instruments, chosen without the least idea of government
and without the least idea of protection? "
God has sometimes converted wickedness into mnadness; and it is to the credit of human reason, that
men who are not in some degree mad are never capable of being in the highest degree wicked. The human faculties and reason are in such cases deranged; and therefore this man has been dragged by the just
vengeance of Providence to make his own madness
the discoverer of his own wicked, perfidious, and
cursed machinations in that devoted country.
Think, my Lords, of what he says respecting the
military. He says there is no restraining them, -
that they pillage the country wherever they go. But
had not Mr. Hastings himself just before encouraged
the military to pillage the country? Did he not make
the people's resistance, when the soldiers attempted
to pillage them, one of the crimes of Cheyt Sing?
And who would dare to obstruct the military in their
abominable ravages, when they knew that one of the
articles of Cheyt Sing's impeachment was his having
suffered the people of the country, when plundered
by these wicked soldiers, to return injury for injury
and blow for blow? When they saw, I say, that these
were the things for which Cheyt Sing was sacrificed,
there was manifestly nothing left for them but flight.
-- What! fly from a Goverllor-General? You would
expect he was bearing to the country, upon his
balmy and healing wings, the cure of all its disorders
and of all its distress. No: they knew him too well;
? ? ? ? 356 IMPEACHMENT -OF WARREN HASTINGS.
they knew him to be the destroyer of the country;
they knew him to be the destroyer of their sovereign,
the destroyer of the persons whom he had appointed
to govern under. him; they knew that neither governor, sub-governor, nor subject could enjoy a moment's security while he possessed supreme power. This was the state of the country; and this the
Commons of England call upon your Lordships to
avenge.
Let us now see what is next done by the prisoner
at your bar. He is satisfied with simply removing
from his office Jagher Deo Seo, who is accused by him
of all these corruptions and oppressions. The other
poor, unfortunate man, who was not even accused of
malversations in such a degree, and against whom
not one of the accusations of oppression was regularly proved, but who had, in Mr. Hastings's eye, the
one unpardonable fault of not having been made
richer by his crimes, was twice imprisoned, and finally perished in prison. But we have never heard one
word of the imprisonment of Jagher Deo Seo, who,
I believe, after some mock inquiry, was acquitted.
Here, my Lords, I must beg you to recollect Mr.
Hastings's proceeding with Gunga Govind Sing, and
to contrast his conduct towards these two peculators
with his proceeding towards Durbege Sing. Such a
comparison will let your Lordships into the secret of
one of the prisoner's motives of conduct upon such
occasions. When you will find a man pillaging and
desolating a country, in the manner Jagher Deo Seo
is described by Mr. Hastings to have done, but who
takes care to secure to himself the spoil, you will
likewise find that such a man is safe, secure, unpunished. Your Lordships will recollect the desolation
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- THIRD DAY. 357
of Dinagepore. You will recollect that the rapacious
Gunga Govind Sing, (the coadjutor of Mr. Hastings
in peculation,) out of 80,0001. which he had received
on the Company's account, retained 40,0001. for his
own use, and that, instead of being turned out of his
employment and trieated with rigor and cruelty, he
was elevated in Mr. Hastings's grace and favor, and
never called upon for the restoration of a penny.
Observe, my Lords, the difference in his treatment
of men who have wealth to purchase impunity, or
who have secrets to reveal, and of another who has
no such, merit, and is poor and insolvent.
We have shown your Lordships the effects of Mr.
Hastings's government upon the country and its inhabitants; and although I have before suggested to you some of its effects upon the army of the Company, I will now call your attention to a few other observations on that subject. Your Lordships will,
in the first place, be pleased to attend to the character which he gives of this army. You have heard what he tells you of the state of the country in which
it was stationed, and of the terror which it struck
into the inhabitants. The appearance of an English
soldier was enough to strike the country people with
affright and dismay: they everywhere, he tells you,
fled before them. And yet they are the officers of
this very army who are brought here as witnesses to
express the general satisfaction of the people of In-' dia. To be sure, a man who never calls Englishmen to an account for any robbery or injury whatever,
who acquits them, upon their good intentions, without any inquiry, will in return for this indemnity have their good words. We are not surprised to find
them coming with emulation to your bar to declare
? ? ? ? 358 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
him possessed of all virtues, and that nobody has or can
have a right to complain of him. But we, my Lords,
protest against these indemnities; we protest against
their good words; we protest against their testimonials; and we insist upon your Lordships trying him,
not upon what this or that officer says of his good
conduct, but upon the proved result of the actions
tried before you. Without ascribing, perhaps, much
guilt to men who must naturally wish to favor the
person who covers their excesses, who suffers their
fortunes to be made, you will know what value to set
upon their testimony. The Commons look on those
testimonies with the greatest slight, and they consider as nothing all evidence given by persons who are
interested in the very cause, -- persons who derive
their fortunes from the ruin of the very people of
the country, and who have divided the spoils with
the man whom we accuse.
Undoubtedly these officers will give him their good word. Undoubtedly
the Residents will give him their good word. Mr.
Markham, and Mr. Benn, and Mr. Fowke, if he had
been called, every servant of the Company, except
some few, will give him the same good word, every
one of them; because, my Lords, they have made
their fortunes under him, and their conduct has not
been inquired into.
But to return to the observations we were making
upon the ruinous effects in general of the successive
governments which had been established at Benares
by the prisoner at your bar. These effects, he would
have you believe, arose from the want of a constitution. Why, I again ask, did he destroy the constitution which he found established there, or suffer it to be destroyed? But he had actually authorized Mr.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 359
Markham to make a new, a regular, an official con
stitution. Did Mr. Markham make it? No: though
he professed to do it, it never was done: and so far
from there being any regular, able, efficient constitution, you see there was an absolute and complete anarchy in the country. The native inhabitants, deprived of their ancient government, were so far from looking up to their new masters for protection, that,
the moment they saw the face of a soldier or of a
British person in authority, they fled in dismay, and
thought it more eligible to abandon their houses to
robbery than to remain exposed to the tyranny of a
British governor. Is this what they call British dominion? Will you sanction by your judicial authority transactions done in direct defiance of your legislative authority? Are they so injuriously mad as to suppose your Lordships can be corrupted to betray in
your judicial capacity (the most sacred of the two)
what you have ordained in your legislative character?
My Lords, I am next to remind you what this man
has had the insolence and audacity to state at your
bar. " In fact," says he, " I can adduce very many
gentlemen now in London to confirm my assertions,
that the countries of Benares and Gazipore were never within the memory of Englishmen so well protected, so peaceably governed, or more industriously
cultivated than at the present moment. "
Your Lordships know that this report of Mr. Hastings which has been read was made in the year 1784.
Your Lordships know that no step was taken, while
Mr. Hastings remained in India, for the regulation
and management of the country. If there was, let
it be shown. There was no constitution framed, nor
? ? ? ? 360 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
any other means taken for the settlement of the country, except the appointment of Ajeet Sing in the room
of Durbege Sing, to reign like him, and like him to
be turned out. Mr. Hastings left India in February,
1785; he arrived here, as I believe, in June or July
following. Our proceedings against him commenced
in the sessions of 1786; and this defence was given,
I believe, in the year 1787. Yet at that time, when
he could hardly have received any account from India, he was ready, he says, to produce the evidence
(and no doubt might have done so) of many gentlemen whose depositions would have directly contradicted what he had himself deposed of the state in which he, so short a time before, had left the country.
Your Lordships cannot suppose that it could have
recovered its prosperity within that time. We know
you may destroy that in a day which will take up
years to build; we know a tyrant can in a moment
ruin and oppress: but you cannot restore the dead
to life; you cannot in a moment restore fields to cultivation; you cannot, as you please, make the people
in a moment restore old or dig new wells: and yet
Mr. Hastings has dared to say to the Commons that
he would produce persons to refute the account which
we had fresh from himself. We will, however, undertake to show you that the direct contrary was the
fact.
I will first refer you to Mr. Barlow's account of
the state of trade. Your Lordships will there find a
full exposure of the total falsehood of the prisoner's
assertions. You will find that Mr. Hastings himself had been obliged to give orders for the change
of almost every one of the regulations he had made.
Your Lordships may there see the madness and folly
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 361
of tyranny attempting to regulate trade. In the printed Minutes, page 2830, your Lordships will see how
completely Mr. Hastings had ruined the trade of the
country. You will find, that, wherever he pretended
to redress the grievances which he had occasioned,
he did not take care to have any one part of his pretended redress executed. When you consider the anarchy in which he states the country through which he passed to have been, you may easily conceive that
regulations for the protection of trade, without the
means of enforcing them, must be nugatory.
Mr. Barlow was sent, in the years 178'6 and 1787,
to examine into the state of the country. He has
stated the effect of all those regulations, which Mr.
Hastings has had the assurance to represent here as
prodigies of wisdom. At the very time when our
charge was brought to this House, (it is a remarkable
period, and we desire your Lordships to advert to it,)
at that time, I do not know whether it was not on the
very same day that we brought our charge to your
bar, Mr. Duncan was sent by Lord Cornwallis to
examine into the state of that province. Now, my
Lords, you have Mr. Duncan's report before you, and
you will judge whether or not, by any regulation
which Mr. Hastings had made, or whether through
any means used by him, that country had recovered
or was recovering. Your Lordships will there find
other proofs of the audacious falsehood of his representation, that all which he had done had operated on
the minds of the inhabitants very greatly in favor of
British integrity and good government. Mr. Duncan's report will not only enable you to decide upon
what he has said himself, it will likewise enable you
to judge of tle credit which is due to the gentlemen
? ? ? ? 362 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGs.
now in London whom he can produce to confirm his
assertions, that the country of Benares and Gazipore
were never, within the memory of Englishmen, so
well protected and cultivated as at the present moment.
Instead, therefore, of a speech from me, you shall
hear what the country says itself, by the report of the
last commissioner who was sent to examine it by Lord
Cornwallis. The perfect credibility of his testimony
Mr. Hastings has established out of Lord Cornwallis's
mouth, who, being asked the character of Mr. Jonathan Duncan, has declared that there is nothing he can report of the state of the country to which you ought
not to give credit. Your Lordships will now see how
deep the wounds are which tyranny and arbitrary
power must make in a country where their existence
is suffered; and you will be pleased to observe that
this statement was made at a time when Mr. Hastings
was amusing us with his account of Benares.
Extract of the Proceedings of the Resident at Benares,
under date the 16th February, 1788, at the Purgunnah of Gurrah. Dehmah, c. Printed Minutes, page 2610.
" Tie Resident, having arrived in this purgunnah
of Gurrah Dehmah from that of Mohammedabad, is
very sorry to observe that it seems about one third
at least uncultivated, owing to the mismanagement
of the few last years. The Rajah, however, promises
that it shall be by next year in a complete state of
cultivation; and Tobarck Hossaine, his aumeen, aumil, or agent, professes his confidence of the same happy effects, saying, that he has already brought a
great proportion of the land, that lay fallow when he
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -, THIRD DAY. 363
came into the purgunnah in the beginning of the
year, into cultivation, and that, it being equally the
Rajah's directions and his own wish, he does not
doubt of being successful in regard to the remaining part of the waste land. "
Report, dated the 18th of February, at the Purgunnah
of Bulleah.
"The Resident, having come yesterday into this
purgunnah from that of Gurrah Dehmah, finds its
appearance much superior to that purgunnah in point
of cultivation; yet it is on the decline so far that its
collectible jumma will not be so much this year as
it was last, notwithstanding all the efforts of Reazel
Husn, the agent of Khulb Ali Khan, who has farmed
this purgunnah upon a three years' lease, (of which
the present is the last,) during which his, that is, the
head farmer's, management cannot be applauded, as
the funds of the purgunnah are very considerably declined in his hands: indeed, Reazel Husn declares
that this year there was little or no khereef, or first
harvest, in the purgunnah, and that it has been
merely by the greatest exertions that he has prevailed
on the ryots to cultivate the rubby crop, which is now
on the ground and seems plentiful. "
Report, dated the 20th of February, at the Purgunnah
of JKhereed.
" The Resident, having this day come into the purgunnah of Khereed, finds that part of it laying between the frontiers of Bulleah, the present station,
and' Bansdeah, (which is one of the tuppahs, or subdivisions, of Khereed,) exceedingly wasted and uncultivated. The said tuppah is sub-farmed by Gobind
? ? ? ? 364 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Ram from Kulub Alli Bey, and Gobind Ram has again
under-rented it to the zemindars. "
Report, dated the 23d February, at the Purgunnah of
Sekunderpoor.
"The Resident is set out for Sekunderpoor, and is
sorry to observe, that, for about six or seven coss that'he had ffurther to pass through the purgunnah of Kereebs, the whole appeared one continued waste, as far as the eye could reach, on both sides of the road.
The purgunnah Sekunderpoor, beginning about a
coss before he reached the village, an old fort of that
name, appeared to a little more advantage; but even
here the crops seem very scanty, and the ground more
than half fallow. " -
-Extract of the Proceedings of the Resident at Benares,
under date the 26th _February, at the Purgunnah of
Sekunderpoor.
" The Resident now leaves Sekunderpoor to proceed to Nurgurah, the head cutchery of the purgunnah. He is sorry to observe, that, during the whole
way between these two places, which are at the distance of six coss, or twelve miles, from each other, not
above twenty fields of cultivated ground are to be
seen; all the rest being, as far as the eye can reach,
except just in the vicinity of Nuggeha, one general
waste of long grass, with here and there some straggling jungly trees. This falling off in the cultivation
is said to have happened in the course of but a few
years,- that is, since the late Rajah's expulsion. "
Your Lordships will observe, the date of the ruin
of this country is the expulsion of Cheyt Sing.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 365
zExtract of the Proceedings of the Resident at Benares,
under date the 27th Efebruary, at the Purgunnah
Sekunderpoor.
" The Resident meant to have proceeded from this
place to Cossimabad; but understanding that the village of Ressenda, the capital of the purgunnah of
Susknesser, is situated at three coss' distance, and
that many rahdarry collections are there exacted,
the zemindars and ryots being, it seems, all one body
of Rajpoots, who affect to hold themselves in some
sort -independent of the Rajah's government, paying
only a mokurrery, or fixed jumma, (which it may
be supposed is not overrated,) and managing their
interior concerns as they think fit, the Resident
thought it proper on this report to deviate a little
from his intended route, by proceeding this day to
Ressenda, where he accordingly arrived in the afternoon; and the remaining part of the country near
the road through Sekunderpoor, from Nuggurha to
Seundah, appearing nearly equally waste with the
former part, as already noticed in the proceedings
of the 26th instant.
" The Rajah is therefore desired to appoint a person to bring those waste lands into cultivation, in like
manner as he has done in Khereed, with this difference or addition in his instructions,-that he subjoin in those to the Aband Kar, or manager, of the re-cultivation of Sekunderpoor, the rates at which he
is authorized to grant pottahs for tlie various kinds
of land; and it is recommended to him to make
these rates even somewhat lower than he may himself think strictly conformable to justice, reporting
the particulars to the Resident.
? ? ? ? 366 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
"The Rajah is also desired to prepare and transmit a table of similar rates to the Aband Kar of purgunnah Khereed.
(Signed) " JONN DUNCAN, Resident.
"BENARES, the 12th September, 1788. "
Here your Lordships find, in spite of Mr. Hastings
himself, in spite of all the testimonies which he has
called, and of all the other testimonies which he
would have called, that his own account of the matter
is confirmed against his own pretended evidence; you
find his own written account confirmed in a manner
not to be doubted: and the only difference between
his account and this is, that the people did not fly
from Mr. Duncan, when he approached, as they fled
from Mr. Hastings. They did not feel any of that
terror at the approach of a person from the beneficent government of Lord Cornwallis with which they
had been entirely filled at the appearance of the prisoner at your bar. From him they fled in dismay.
They fled from his very presence, as from a consuming pestilence, as from something far worse than
drought and famine; they fled from him as a cruel,
corrupt, and arbitrary governor, which is worse than
any other evil that ever afflicted mankind.
You see, my Lords, in what manner the country
has been wasted and destroyed; and you have seen,
by the date of these measures, that they have happened within a few years, namely, since the expulsion of Rajah Cheyt Sing. There begins the era of calamity. Ask yourselves, then, whether you will or
can countenance the acts which led directly and necessarily to such consequences. Your Lordships will
mark what it is to oppress and expel a cherished in
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. THIRD DAY. 367
dividual from his government, and finally to subvert
it. Nothing stands after him; down go all order
and authority with him; ruin and desolation fall
upon the country; the fields are uncultivated, the
wells are dried up. The people, says Mr. Duncan,
promised, indeed, some time or other, under some
other government, to do something. They will.
again cultivate the lands, when they can get an assurance of security. My Lords, judge, I pray you, whether the House of Commons, when they had read
the account which Mr. Hastings has- himself given of
the dreadful consequences of his proceedings, when
they had read the account given by Mr. Duncan of an
uncultivated country as far as the eye could reach,
would not have shown themselves unworthy to represent not only the Commons of Great Britain, but the meanest village in it, if they had not brought
this great criminal before you, and called upon your
Lordships to punish him. This ruined country, its
desolate fields and its undone inhabitants, all call
aloud for British justice, all call for vengeance upon
the head of this execrable criminal.
Oh! but we ought to be tender towards his personal character, -extremely cautious in our speech; we ought not to let indignation loose. - My Lords,
we do let our indignation loose; we cannot bear with
patience this affliction of mankind. We will neither
abate our energy, relax in our feelings, nor in the
expressions which those feelings dictate. Nothing
but corruption like his own could enable any man
to see such a scene of desolation and ruin unmoved.
We feel pity for the works of God and man; we feel
horror for the debasement of human nature; and
feeling thus, we give a loose to our indignation, and
call upon yoar Lordships for justice.
? ? ? ? 368 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Strange as it may appear to your Lordships, there
remains to be stated an aggravation of his crimes,
and of his victims' misery. Would you consider it
possible, my Lords, that there could be an aggravation of such a case as you have heard? Would you think it possible for a people to suffer more than the
inhabitants of Benares have suffered, from the noble
possessor of the splendid mansion down to the miserable tenants of the cottage and the hut? Yes, there is a state of misery, a state of degradation, far
below all that you have yet heard. It is, my Lords,
that these miserable people should come to your
Lordships' bar, and declare that they have never
felt one of those grievances of which they complain;
that not one of those petitions with wllich they pursued Mr. Hastings had a word of truth in it; that they felt nothing under his government but ease,
tranquillity, joy, and happiness; that every day during his government was a festival, and every night an illumination and rejoicing. The addresses which
contain these expressions of satisfaction have been
produced at your bar, and have been read to your
Lordships. You must have heard with disgust, at
least, these flowers of Oriental rhetoric, pennred at
ease by dirty hireling moonshees at Calcutta, who
make these people put their seals, not to declarations
of their ruin, but to expressions of their satisfaction.
You have heard what he himself says of the country;
you have heard what Mr. Duncan says of it; you
have heard the cries of the country itself calling for
justice upon himn: and now, my Lords, hear what
he has made these people say. '"W e have heard
that the gentlemen in England are displeased with
Mr. Hastings, on suspicion that he oppressed us, the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 369
inhabitants of this place, took our money by deceit
and force, and ruined the country. " They then declare solemnly before God, according to their different religions, that Mr. Hastings "distributed protection and security to religion, and kindness and peace to all. He is free," say they, "from the charge
of embezzlement and fraud, and his heart is void
of covetousness and avidity. During the period of
his government no one ever experienced from him
other than protection and justice, never having felt
hardships from him; nor did the poor ever know
the weight of an oppressive hand from him. Our
characters and reputation have been always guarded
in quiet from attack, by the vigilance of his prudence
and foresight, and by the terror of his justice. "
Upon my word, my Lords, the paragraphs are delightful. Observe, in this translation from the Persian there is all the fluency of an English paragraph
well preserved. All I can say is, that these people
of Benares feel their joy, comfort, and satisfaction
in swearing to the falseness of Mr. Hastings's representation against himself. In spite of his own testimony, they say, "He secured happiness and joy to
us; he reestablished the foundation of justice; and
we at all times, during his government, lived in comfort and passed our days in peace. " The shame of
England and of the English government is here put
upon your Lordships' records. Here you have, just
following that afflicting report of Mr. Duncan's, and
that account of Mr. Hastings himself, in which he
said the inhabitants fled before his face, the addresses
of these miserable people. He dares to impose upon your eyesight, upon your common sense, upon the
plain faculties of mankind. He dares, in contraVOL.
