No More Learning

You
have a gross, horrid piece of corruption before you,
-impudently confessed, and more impudelltly defended. But you will not suffer Mr. Hastings to
say, " I have only to go to Moorshedabad, or to order the Nabob to meet me half way, and I can set aside and laugh at all your covenants and acts of
Parliament. " Is this all the force and power of
the covenant by which you would prevent the servants of the Company from committing acts of fraud and oppression, that they have nothing to do but to
amuse themselves with a tour of pleasure to Moorshedabad in order to put any sum of money in their pocket that they please?
But they justify themselves by saying, such things
have been practised before. No doubt they have;
and these covenants were made that they should not
be practised any more. But your Lordships are desired to say, that the very custom which the cove
? ? ? ? 344 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
nant is made to destroy, the very grievance itself,
may be pleaded; the abuse shall be admitted to destroy the law made to prevent it. It is impossible,
I venture to say, that your Lordshlips should act thus.
The conduct of the criminal is not half so abhorrent
as the justification is affronting to justice, whilst it
tends to vilify and degrade the dignity of the Peerage
and the character of the Commons of Great Britain,
before the former and against the latter of which such
a justification is produced in the face of the world.
At the same time- that we call for your justice
upon this man, we beseech you to remember the
severest justice upon him is the tenderest pity towards the innocent victims of his crimes. Consider
what was at that time the state of the people from
whom, in direct defiance of his covenant, he took this
sum of money. Were they at this time richer, were
they more opulent, was the state of the country more
flourishing than when Mr. Sumner, when Mr. Vansittart, in short, than when the long line of Mr. Hastings's predecessors visited that country? No, they were not. Mr. Hastings at this very time had reduced the Nabob's income from 450,0001. [400,0001. ? ]
sterling a year, exclusive of other considerable domains and revenues, to 160,0001. He was, indeed, an
object of compassion. His revenues had not only been
reduced during his state of minority, but they were
reduced when lie afterwards continued in a state in
which he could do no one valid act; and yet, in this
state, he was made competent to give away, under the
name of compensation for entertainments, the sum of
18,0001. , - perhaps at that time nearly all he had in
the world.
Look at your minutes, and you will find Mr. Hast
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 345
ings had just before this time said that the bread of
ten thousand persons, many of them of high rank,
depended upon the means possessed by the Nabob
for their support, -- that his heart was cut and afflicted to see himself obliged to ruin and starve so many of the Mahometan nobility, the greatest part
of whose yet remaining miserable allowances were
now taken away. You know, and you will forgive
me again remarking, that it is the nature of the
eagles and more generous birds of prey to fall upon
living, healthy victims, but that vultures and carrion
crows, and birds of that base and degenerate kind,
always prey upon dead or dying carcases. It is upon
ruined houses, it is upon decayed families, it is upon extinguished nobility, that Mr. Hastings chooses to prey, and to justify his making them his prey.
But again we hear, my Lords, that it is a custom, upon ceremonial and complimentary visits, to
receive these presents. Do not let us deceive ourselves. Mr. Hastings was there upon no visit either
of ceremony or politics. He was a member, at that
time, of the Committee of Circuit, which went to
Moorshedabad for the purpose of establishing a system of revenue in the country. He went up uponl that business only, as a member of the Committee
of Circuit, for which business lie was, like other
members of the Committee of Circuit, amply paid,
in addition to his emoluments as Governor, which
amounted to about 30,0001. a year. Not satisfied
with those emoluments, and without incurring new
known expense of any kind or sort, lie was paid for
the extra expenses of Inis journey, as appears in your
minutes, like other members of the Committee of
Circuit. Ill fact, lie was on no visit there at all.
? ? ? ? 346 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
He was merely executing his duty in the settlement
of the revenue, as a member of the Committee of
Circuit. I do not mean to praise the Committee
of Circuit in any way: God forbid I should! -for
we know that it was a comnmittee of robbers. He
was there as one of that. committee, which I am
pretty well justified in describing as I have done,
because the Court of Directors, together with the
Board of Control, did, in the year 1786, declare that
the five years' settlement (which originated ill that
committee) was a thing bought and sold: your Lordships may read it whenever you please, in the 80th paragraph of their letter.
Your Lordships are now fully in possession of all
the facts upon which we charge the prisoner with
peculation, by extorting or receiving large sums of
money, upon pretence of visits, or in compensation
of entertainments. I appeal to your Lordships' consciences for a serious and impartial consideration of our charge. This is a business not to be hurried
over in the mass, as amongst the acts of a great man,
who may have his little errors among his great services; no, you cannot, as a judicial body, huddle all this into a hotchpotch, and decide upon it in a heap.
You will have to ask yourselves, -- Is this justifiable
by his covenant? Is this justifiable by law? Is this
justifiable, under the circumstances of the case, by
an enlarged discretion? Is it to be justified under
any principles of humanity? Would it be justifiable
by local customs, if such were applicable to the case
in question? and even if it were, is it a practice fit
for an English Governor-General to follow?
I dwell the longer upon this, because the fact is
avowed; the whole is an issue of law between us,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. --NINTH DAY. 347
whether a Governor-General, in such a case, ought to
take such money; and therefore, before I finally dismiss it, I beg leave to restate it briefly once more for your Lordships' consideration.
First I wish to leave fixed in your Lordships'
minds, what is distinctly fixed, and shall never go oiit
of ours, that his covenant did not allow him to take
above four hundred pounds as a present, upon any
pretence whatsoever.
Your Lordships will observe we contend, that, if
there was a custom, this covenant puts an end to that
custom. It was declared and intended so to do.
The fact is, that, if such custom existed at all, it was
a custom applicable only to an ambassador or public
minister sent on a necessary complimentary visit to
a sovereign prince. We deny, positively, that there
is any such general custom. We say, that he never
was ally such minister, or that he ever went upon
any such complimentary visit. We affirm, that,
when he took this money, he was doing an act of
quite another nature, and came upon that business
only to Moorshedabad, the residence of the prince of
the country. Now do you call a man who is goinlg
to execute a commission, a commission more severe
than those issued against bankrupts, a commission to
take away half a man's income, and to starve a whole
body of people dependent upon that income, - do
yov. call this a complimentary visit? Is this a visit
for which a man is to have great entertainments given him? No, the pretence for taking this money is worse than the act itself. When a man is going to
execute upon another such harsh cruelty, when he
is going upon a service at which he himself says his
mind must revolt, is that precisely the time when he
? ? ? ? 348 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
is to take from his undone host a present, as if he was
upon a visit of compliment, or about to confer some
honor or benefit upon him, -- to augment his revenues, to add to his territories, or to conclude some valuable treaty with him? Was this a proper time
to take at all from an helpless minor so large a sum
of money?
And here I shall leave this matter for your Lordships' consideration, after reminding you that this
poor Nabob is still at AMoorshedabad, and at the mercy of any English gentleman who may choose to take 18,0001. , or any other given sum of money from him,
after the example of the prisoner at your bar, if it
should be sanctioned by your connivance. Far different was the example set him by General Clavering.
In page 1269 your Lordships will find the most honorable testimony to the uprightness and fidelity of this meritorious servant of the Company. It runs thus:
" Conceiving it to be tile intention of the legislature
that the Governor-General and members of the Council should receive no presents, either from the Indian powers or any persons whatever, lie [General Clavering] has strictly complied, since his arrival here, both with the spirit and the letter of the act of Parliament,
and has accordingly returned all the presents which
have been made to him. " I have dwelt thus long
upon this subject, not merely upon account of its own
corrupt character, which has been sufficiently stigmatized by my honorable colleague, but upon account of the principle that is laid down by the prisoner, in his
defence of his conduct,- a principle directly leading
to a continuance of the same iniquitous practice, and
subversive of every attempt to check or control it.
I must beg leave to recall your Lordships' attention
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 349
to another, but similar instance of his peculation,
another and new mode of taking presents: I mean,
the present which Mr. Hastings took, through Gunga Govind Sing, from those farmers of the revenues
amongst whom he had distributed the pillage of the
whole country. This scandalous breach of his covenant he attempts to justify by the inward intention
of his own mind to apply the money so taken to the
public service. Upon this, my Lords, I shall only
observe, that this plea of an inward intention in his
own mind may, if admitted, justify any evil act whatever of this kind. You have seen how presents from
the Nabob are justified; you have seen how the taking a sum of money or allowance for entertainment,
directly contrary to the covenant, how that is attempted to be justified; you see in what manner he justifies this last-mentioned act of peculation; and your Lordships will now have to decide upon the validity
of these pleas.
There still remains, unobserved upon, an instance
of his malversation, wholly new in its kind, to which
I will venture to desire your Lordships very seriously
to turn your attention. In all the causes of peculation or malversation in office that ever have been
tried before this high court, or before any lower
court of judicature, in all the judicial records of
modern crimes, or of antiquity, you will not find
anything in any degree like it. We have all, in our
early education, read the Verrine Orations. We
read them not merely to instruct us, as they will
do, in the principles of eloquence, and to acquaint us
with the manners, customs, and laws of the ancient
Romans, of which they are an abundant repository,
bIut we may read them from a much higher motive.
? ? ? ? 350 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
We may read them from a motive which the great
author had doubtless in his view, when by publishing
them he left to the world and to the latest posterity
a monument by which it might be seen what course
a great public accuser in a great public cause ought
to pursue, and, as connected with it, what course
judges ought to pursue in deciding upon such a
cause. In these orations you will find almost every instance of rapacity and peculation which we charge upon Mr. Hastings. Undoubtedly, many Roman and English governors have received corrupt gifts and bribes, under various pretences. But in the
cause before your Lordships there is one species of
disgrace, in the conduct of the party accused, which
I defy you to find in Verres, or in the whole tribe
of Roman peculators, in any governor-general, proconsul, or viceroy. I desire you to consider it not included in any other class of crimes, but as a species apart by itself. It is an individual, a single case; but it is like the phoenix, - it makes a class or
species by itself: I mean the business of Nobkissin.
The money taken from him was not money pretended to be received in lieu of entertainment; it was not money taken from a farmer-general of revenue,
out of an idea that his profits were unreasonable, and
greater than government ought to allow; it was not
a donation from a great man, as an act of his bounty.
No, it was a sum of money taken from a private
individual, -- or rather, as has been proved to you
by Mr. Larkins, his own book-keeper, money borrowed, for which he had engaged to give his bond. That he had actually deposited his bond for this
money Mr. Larkins has proved to you,-and that
the bond was carried to Nobkissin's credit, in his
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 851
account with the government. But Mr. Hastings,
when lie was called upon for the money, withdraws
the bond; lie will not pay the money; he refused to
pay it upon the applications made to him both in
India and here at home; and lie now comes to your
Lordships and says, "I borrowed this money, I intended to give my bond for it, as has been proved
before you; but I must have it for my own use. "
We have heard of governors being everything that is
bad and wicked; but a governor puttinig himself in
the situation of a common cheat, of a common swindler, never was, I believe, heard of since the creation of the world to this day. This does not taste of the
common oppressions of power; this does not taste of
the common abuses of office; but it in no way differs
from one of those base swindling cases that come
to be tried and heavily punished in the King's Bench
every day. This is neither more nor less than a plain,
barefaced clieat.
Now, my Lords, let us see how it is justified. To
justify openly and directly a cheat, to justify a fraud
upon an individual, is reserved for otr times. But,
good Heavens, what a justification have we here i
Oh, my Lords, consider into what a state Indian
corruption has brought us in this country, when any
person can be found to come to the bar of the House
of Lords and say, "I did cheat, I did defraud; I
did promise, and gave my bond; I have now withdrawn it, but I will account for it to you as to a
gang of robbers concerned with me in the transaction. I confess I robbed this manl; but I have acted
as trustee for the gang. Observe what I have done
for the gang. Come forward, Mr. Auriol, and prove
what handsome budgeros I gave the company: were
? ? ? ? 352 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
not they elegantly painted, beautifully gilt, charming
and commodious? I made use of them as long as
I had occasion; and though they are little worse for
wear, and would hardly suffer the least percentage
deduction from prime cost upon them, I gave them
to the company. Oh, I did not put the money into
my own pocket. I provided for myself and wore a
suit of lace clothes, when I was Jew bail for some
of this company: it will turn, for it is hardly the
worse for wear, though I appeared two or three
times, in different characters, as bail for you on such
and such anl occasion. I therefore set off these items
against this money which I gained by swindling on
your account. It is true I also picked such a one's
pocket of a watch; here it is; I have worn it as long
as it was convenient; now I give the watch to the
company, and let them send it to the pawnbroker
for what it will bring. Besides all this, I maintained
aide-de-camps for you, and gave them house-rent. "
(By the way, my Lords, what sort of aide-de-camps
were these? Who made him a military man, and
to have such a legion of aide-de-camps? ) " But,"
says he, " I paid house-rent for them; that is, in
other words, I paid, at night-cellars and houses in
Saint Giles's, sixpence a week for some of the gang. "
(This, my Lords, is the real spirit of th. e whole proceeding, and more especially of the last item in it. ) "Then," says he, "I was the gang's schoolmaster,
and taught lessons on their account. I founded a
Mahometan school. " (Your Lordships have already
heard something of this shameful affair, of this scene
of iniquity,-I think of' such iniquity as the world
never yet had to blush at. ) "I founded a Mallometall college for your use; and I bore the expense of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 353
it from September, 1780, when I placed a professor
there, called Mudjed-o-Din. " -This Mudjed-o-Din was
to perfect men, by contract, in all the arts and sciences, in about six months; and the chief purpose of
the school was, as Mr. Hastings himself tells you, to
breed theologians, magistrates, and moulavies, that
is to say, judges and doctors of law, who were to be
something like our masters in chancery, the assessors
of judges, to assist them in their judgments. Such
was the college founded by Mr. Hastings, and he
soon afterwards appropriated one of the Company's
estates, (I am speaking of matters of public notoriety,) worth 3,0001. a year, for its support. Heaven
be praised, that Mr. Hastings, when he was resolved
to be pious and munificent, and to be a great founder, chose a Mahometan rather than a Christian foundation, so that our religion was not disgraced by such a foundation!
Observe how he charges the expense of the foundation to the Company twice over. He first makes them
set aside an estate of 3,0001. a year for its support.
In what manner this income was applied during Mr.
Hastings's stay in India no man living knows; but
we know, that, at his departure, one of the last acts
he did was to desire it should be put into the
hands of Mudjed-o-Din. He afterwards, as you have
seen, takes credit to himself with the Company for
the expenses relative to this college.
I must now introduce your Lordships to the last
visitation that was made of this college. It was
visited by order of Lord Cornwallis in the year 1788,
upon the complaints made against it which I have
already mentioned to your Lordships, -- that it was
a sink of filth, vermin, and misery. Mr. Chapman,
VOL. XII. 23
? ? ? ? 354 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
who was the visitor, and the friend of Mr. Hastings,
declares that he could not sit in it even for a few
minutes; his words are, -" The wretched, squalid
figures that from every part ran out upon me appeared to be more like anything else than students.
"
In fact, a universal outcry was raised by the whole
city against it, not only as a receptacle of every kind
of abuse, not only of filth and excrements which
made it stink in the natural nostrils, but of worse
filth, which made it insufferably offensive to the
moral nostrils of every inhabitant. Such is the account given of a college supported at an expense
of 3,0001. a year, (a handsome foundation for a
college,) and for building which the Company was
charged 5,0001. : though no vouchers of its expenditure were ever given by Mr. Hastings. But this
is not all. When Lord Cornwallis came to inquire
into it, he found that Mudjed-o-Din had sunk the income of the estate from 3,0001. to 2,0001. a year,in short, that it had been a scene of peculation, both by the masters and scholars, as well as of abandonmrent to every kind of vicious and licentious courses;
and all this without the shadow of any benefit having
been derived from it. The visitors expressly inquired
whether there was any good mixed with all this evil;
and they found it was all bad and mischievous, from
one end to the other. Your Lordships will remark,
that the greatest part of this disgusting business must
have been known to Mr. Hastings when he gave to
Mudjed-o-T)in the disposal of 3,0001. a year. And
now, my Lords, can you vote this money, expended
in the manner which I have stated to you, to be a
set-off in his favor, in an account for money which
was itself swindled from a private individual?
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 355
But there still remains behind another more serious matter belonging to this affair; and I hope you
will not think that I am laying too much stress upon
it, when I declare, that, if I were to select from the
whole of his conduct one thing more dishonorable
than another to the British nation, it would be that
which I am now about to mention. I will leave your
Lordships to judge of the sincerity of this declaration, when you shall have heard read a paper produced by the prisoner in justification of conduct such
as I have stated his to have been. It is the razinama, or attestation, of Munny Begum (the woman
whom Mr. Hastings placed in the seat of justice in
that country) concerning this college, made precisely
at the time of this inquisition by Lord Cornwallis into
the management of it. Your Lordships will see what
sort of things attestations are from that country: that
they are attestations procured in diametrical contradiction to the certain knowledge of the party attesting. It is in page 2350 of your Minutes. Indeed,
my Lords, these are pages which, unless they are
effaced by your judgment, will rise up in judgment
against us, some day or other.
" He [Mr. Hastings] respected the learned and
wise men, and, in order for the propagation of learning, he built a college, and endowed it with a provision for the maintenance of the students, insomuch that thousands reaping the benefits thereof offer up
their prayers for the prosperity of the King of England, and for the success of the Company. "
I must here remind your Lordships of another attestation of the same character, and to the same effect.
It comes from Mahomed Reza Khan, who, as your
? ? ? ? 356 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Lordships will remember, had been reduced by Mr.
Hastings from a situation of the highest rank and
authority, with an income of suitable magnitude, to
one of comparative insignificance, with a small sal. .
ary annexed. This mail is made to disgrace himself,
and to abet the disgrace and injury done to his country, by bearing his testimony to the merits of this very
college.
I hope your Lordships will never lose sight of this
aggravating circumstance of the prisoner's criminality, - namely, that you never find any wicked, fraudulent, and criminal act, in which you do not find the persons who suffered by it, and must have been well
acquainted with it, to be the very persons who are
brought to attest in its favor. O Heaven! but let
shame for one moment veil its face, let indignation
suppress its feelings, whilst I again call upon you to
view all this as a mere swindling transaction, in which
the prisoner was attempting to defraud the Company.
Mr. HIastings has declared, and you will find it upon the Company's records, that this institution (which
cost the Company not less than 40,0001. in one way
or other) did not commence before October in the
year 1780; and he brings it before the board in April,
1781, - that is, about six months after its foundation.
Now look at his other account, in which he makes it
to begin in the year 1779, and in which he has therefore overcharged the expenses of it a whole year. But Mr. Larkins, who kept this latter account for him, may have been inaccurate. - Good Heavens!
where are we? Mr. Hastings, who was bred an
accountant, who was bred in all sorts of trade and
business, declares that he keeps no accounts. Then
comes Mr. Larkins, who keeps an account for him;
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 357
but he keeps a false account. Indeed, all tile accounts from India, from one end to another, are nothing but a series of fraud, while Mr. Hastings
was concerned in them. Mr. Larkins, who keeps his
private account just as his master kept the public
accounts, has swindled from the Company a whole
year's expenses of this college. I should not thus
repeatedly dwell upon this transaction, but because I
wish your Lordships to be cautious how you admit
such accounts at all to be given in evidence, into the
truth of which you cannot penetrate in any regular
way. Upon the face of the two accounts there is a
gross fraud. It is no matter which is true or false, as
it is an account which you are in no situation to decide upon. I lay down this as a fixed judicial rule, that no judge ought to receive an account (which is
as serious a part of a judicial proceeding as can be)
the correctness of which he has no means of ascertaining, but must depend upon the sole word of the accountant.
Having stated, therefore, the nature of the offence,
which differs nothing from a common dog-trot fraud,
suchl as we see amongst the meanest of mankind, your
Lordships will be cautious how you admit these, or
any other of his pretended services, to be set off
against his crimes. These stand on record confessed
before you; the former, of which you can form no
just estimate, and into which you cannot enter, rest
for their truth upon his own assertions, and they all
are found, upon the very face of them, to carry marks
of fraud as well as of wickedness.
I have only further to observe to your Lordships,
that this Mudjed-o-Din, who, under the patronage
of Mr. Hastings, was to do all these wonders, Lord
? ? ? ? 358 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Cornwallis turned out of his office with every mark
of disgrace, when he attempted to put into some more
respectable state that establishment which Mr. HIastings had made a sink of abuse.
I here conclude all that I have to say upon this
business, trusting that your Lordships will feel yourselves more offended, and justice more insulted, by the defence than by the criminal acts of the prisoner
at your bar; and that your Lordships will concur
with us in thinking, that to make this unhappy people
make these attestations, knowing the direct contrary
of every word which they say to be the truth, is a
shocking aggravation of his guilt. I say they must
know it; for Lord Cornwallis tells you it is notorious; and if you think fit to inquire into it, you will
find that it was unusually notorious.
My Lords, we have now brought to a conclusion
our observations upon the effects produced by that
mass of oppression which we have stated and proved
before your Lordships, - namely, its effects upon the
revenues, and upon the public servants of the Company. We have shown you how greatly the former were diminished, and in what manner the latter were
reduced to the worst of all bad states, a state of subserviency to the will of the Governor-General. I have shown your Lordships that in this state they were not
only rendered incapable of performing their own duty,
but were fitted for the worst of all purposes, coiperation with him in the perpetration of his criminal acts, and collusion with him in the concealment of them.
I have lastly to speak of these effects as they regard
the general state and welfare of the country. And
here your Lordships will permit me to read the evi
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 359
deace given by Lord Cornwallis, a witness called by
the prisoner at your bar, Mr. Hastings himself.
The Evidence of Lord Cornwallis. Page 2721.
" Q. Whether your Lordship recollects an account
that you have given to the Court of Directors, in
your letter of the 2d of August, 1789, concerning
the state of those provinces? - A. I really could not
venture to be particular as to any letter I may have
written so long since, as I have brought no copies
of my letters with me from India, having left them
at Bengal when I went to the coast. - Q. Whether your Lordship recollects, in any letter that you wrote about the 2d of August, 1789, paragraph 18,
any expressions to this effect, namely:'I am sorry
to be obliged to say, that agriculture and internal
commerce have for many years been gradually declining, and that at present, excepting the class of shroffs and banians, who reside almost entirely in
great towns, the inhabitants of these provinces are
advancing hastily to a general state of poverty and
wretchedness': - whether your Lordship recollects
that you have written a letter to that effect? - A.
I cannot take upon me to recollect the words of a
letter that I have written five years ago, but I conclude I must have written to that effect. -- Q. Whether your Lordship recollects that in the immediately following paragraph, the 19th, you wrote to this effect:' In this description' (namely, the
foregone description)' I must even include almost
every zemindar in the Comlpany's territories, which,
though it may have been partly occasioned by their
own indolence and extravagance, I am afraid must
also be in a great measure attributed to the defects
? ? ? ? 360 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
of our former system of management. ' (Paragraph
20. )'The settlement, in conformity to your orders,
will only be made for ten years certain, with the notification of its being your intention to declare it a perpetual, an unalterable assessment of these provinces, if the amount and the principles upon which it has been made should meet with your approbation':
- whether your Lordship recollects to have written
something to the effect of these two last paragraphs,
as well as of the first? - A. I do recollect that I
did write it; but in that letter I alluded to the former system of annual assessments. -Q. Whether
your Lordship recollects that you wrote, on or
about the 18th of September, 1789, in one of your
minutes, thus:'I may safely assert that one third of
the Company's territory in Hindostan is now a jungle, inhabited only by wild beasts: will a ten years' lease induce any proprietor to clear away that jungle, and encourage the ryot to come and cultivate
his lands, when at the end of that lease he must
either submit to be taxed ad libitum for the newly
cultivated lands, or lose all hopes of deriving any
benefit from his labor, for which perhaps by that
time he will hardly be repaid? ' --whether your
Lordship recollects a minute to that effect? - A.
I perfectly recollect to have written that minute. --
Q. Now with respect to a letter, dated November the
3d, 1788, paragraph 38, containing the following sentiments:' I shall therefore only remark in general, that, from frequent changes of system or other reasons, much is wanting to establish good order and regulations in the internal bnsiniess of the country,
and that, from various causes, by far the greatest
part of the zemindars, and other lanldholders and
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 361
renters, are fallen into a state much below that of'
wealth and affluence. This country, however, when
the fertility of its soil, and the industry and ingenuity of its numerous inhabitants are taken into consideration, must unquestionably be admitted to be
one of the finest in the world; and, with the uniform attention of government to moderation in exaction, and to a due administration of justice, may
long prove a source of great riches both to the Company and to Britain. ' (Paragraph 39. )'I am persuaded, that, by a train of judicious measures, the
land revenue of these provinces is capable in time
of being increased; but, consistent with the principles
of humanity, and even those of your own interest, it
is only by adopting measures for the gradual cultivation and improvement of these waste lands, and
by a gentle and cautious plan for the resumption of
lands that have been fraudulently alienated, that it
ought ever to be attempted to be accomplished.
Men of speculative and sanguine dispositions, and
others, either firom ignorance of the subject, or with
views of recommending themselves to your favor,
may confidently hold forth specious grounds to encourage you to hope that a great and immediate
accession to that branch of your revenue might be
practicable. My public duty obliges me to caution
you, in the most serious manner, against listening to
propositions which recommend this attempt; because
I am clearly convinced, that, if carried into execution, they would be attended with the most baneful
consequences. ' (Paragraph 40. )'Desperate adventurers, without fortulle or clharacter, would uiidoubtedly be found, as has already been too often experienced, to rent the diflferent districts of the country
? ? ? ? 362 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
at the highest rates that could be put upon them;
that [but? ] the delusion would be of a short duration, and the impolicy and inhumanity of the plan
would, when perhaps too late for effectual remedy,
become apparent by the complaints of the people and
the disappointments at the treasury in the payments
of the revenue, and would probably terminate in the
ruin and depopulation of the unfortunate country':
-whether your Lordship recollects to have written
anything to that effect about that time? -A. I perfectly recollect having written the extracts that have
been read. "
My Lords, Lord Cornwallis has been called, he has
been examined before you. We stopped our proceedings ten days for the purpose of taking his evidence. We do not regret this delay. And he has borne the testimony which you have heard to the
effects of Mr. Hastings's government of a country
once the most fertile and cultivated, of a people the
most industrious, flourishing, and happy, -- that the
one was wasted and desolated, the other reduced
to a condition of want and misery, and that the
zemindars, that is, the nobility and gentry of the
country, were so beggared as not to be able to give
even a common decent education to their children,
notwitl-standing the foundation of Mr. Hastings's
colleges. You have heard this noble person, who
had been an eye-witness of what he relates, supplicating for their relief, and expressly stating that
most of the complicated miseries, and perhaps the
cruelest of the afflictions they endured, arose from
the management of the country having been taken
out of the hands of its natural rulers, and given
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - NINTH DAY. 363
up to Mr. Hastings's farmers, namely, the banians of
Calcutta. These are the things that ought to go
to your Lordships' hearts. You see a country wasted and desolated. You see a third of it become a
jungle for wild beasts. You see the other parts oppressed by persons in the form and shape of men,
but with all the character and disposition of beasts
of prey. This state of the country is brought before
you, and by the most unexceptionable evidence, -being brought forward through Mr. Hastings himself.
This evidence, whatever opinion you may entertain
of the effrontery or of the impudence of the criminal
who has produced it, is of double and treble force.
And yet at the very time when Lord Cornwallis is
giving this statement of the country and its inhabitants, at the very time when he is calling for pity
upon their condition, are these people brought forward to bear testimony to the benign and auspicious
government of Mr. Hastings, directed, as your Lordships know it was, by the merciful and upright Gunga Govind Sing. My Lords, you have now the evidence of Lord
Cornwallis on the one hand, and the razinamas of
India on the other. But before I dismiss this part of
my subject, I must call your Lordships' attention to
another authority, -to a declaration, strictly speaking, legal, of the state to which our Indian provinces
were reduced, and of the oppressions which they have
suffered, during the government of Mr. Hastings:
I speak of the act 24 Geo. III. cap. 25, intituled,
" An act for the better regulation and management
of the affairs of the East India Company, and of the
British possessions in India, and for establishing a
court of judicature for the more speedy and effectual
? ? ? ? 364 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
trial of persons accused of offences committed in the
East Indies," ~ 39.
My Lords, here is an act of Parliament; here are
regulations enacted in consequence of an inquiry
which had been directed to be made into the grievances of India, for the redress of them. This act of
Parliament declares the existence of oppressions in the
country. What oppressions were they? The oppressions which it suffered by being let out to the farmers
of the Company's revenues. W~ ho was the person that
sold these revenues to the farmers? Warren Hastings. By whom were these oppressions notified to
the Court of Directors? By Lord Cornwallis. Upon
what occasion were these letters written by my Lord
Cornwallis? They were answers to inquiries made
by the Court of Directors, and ordered by an act of
Parliament to be made. The existence, then, of the
grievances, and the cause of them, are expressly declared in an act of Parliament. It orders an inquiry; and Lord Cornwallis, in consequence of that inquiry, transmits to the Court of Directors this very information; he gives you this identical state of the
country: so that it is consolidated, mixed, and embodied with an act of Parliament itself, which no
power on earth, I trust, but the power that made it,
can shake. I trust, I say, that neither we, the Commons, nor you, the Lords, nor his Majesty, the sovereign of this country, can shake one word of this
act of Parliament,- can invalidate the truth of its
declaration, or the authority of the persons, men of
high honor and character, that made that inquiry
and this report. Your Lordships must repeal this
act in order to acquit Mr. Hastings.
But Mr. Hastings and his counsel have produced
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 365
evidence against this act of Parliament, against the
order of the Court of Directors by which an inquiry
and report were made under that act, against Lord
Cornwallis's return to that inquiry; and now, once
for all, hear what the miserable wretches are themnselves made to say, to invalidate the act of Parliament, to invalidate the authority of the Court of Directors,
to invalidate the evidence of an official return of Lord
Cornwallis under the act. Pray hear what these miserable creatures describe as an elysium, speaking with rapture of their satisfaction under the government of
Mr. Hastings.