Hastings was gone, India seemed a little to respire; there was a vast,
oppressive
weight taken off it, there was a mountain removed from its breast; and
persons did dare then, for the first time, to breathe
their complaints.
persons did dare then, for the first time, to breathe
their complaints.
Edmund Burke
Anderson is still more
strong; for, as he thinks he should have written it
with a little more guard, but should have agreed in
substance, you must naturally think the strongest expression the truest representation of the circumstance.
There is another circumstance that must strike
your Lordships relative to this institution. It is
where the President says that the use of the President would be to exert his best abilities, his greatest application, his constant guard, - for what? - to prevent his dewan from being guilty of bribery and
being guilty of oppressions. So here is an executive
constitution in which the chief executive minister
is to be in such a situation and of such a disposition
that the chief employment of the presiding person
in the Committee is to guard against him and to prevent his doing mischief. Here is a man appointed,
of the greatest possible power, of the greatest possible
wickedness, in a situation to exert that power and
wickedness for the destruction of the country, and
without doubt it would require the greatest ability
and diligence in the person at the head of that Council to prevent it. Such a constitution, allowed and
alleged by the persons themselves who composed it,
was, I believe, never heard of in the world.
? ? ? ? 116 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Now that I have done with this part of the system
of bribery, your Lordships will permit me to follow
Mr. Hastings to his last parting scene. He parted
with his power, he parted with his situation, he parted with everything, but he never could part with Gunga Govind Sing. He was on his voyage, he had
embarked, he was upon the Ganges, he had quitted
his government; and his last dying sigh, his last parting voice, was " Gunga Govind Sing! " It ran upon the banks of the Ganges, as another plaintive voice ran
upon the banks of another river (I forget whose); his
last accents were, "Gunga, Gunga Govind Sing! "
It demonstrates the power of friendship.
It is said by some idle, absurd moralists, that
friendship is a thing that cannot subsist between
bad men; but I will show your Lordships the direct
contrary; land, after having shown you what Gunga
Govind Sing was, I shall bring before you Mr. Hastings's last act of friendship for him. Not that I have quite shown you everything, but pretty well, I think,
respecting this man. There is a great deal concerning his character and conduct that is laid by, and I do believe, that, whatever time I should take up in
expatiating upon these things, there would be " in the
lowest deep still a lower deep"; for there is not a
day of the inquiry that does not bring to light more
and more of this evil against Mr. Hastings.
But before I open the papers relative to this act of
Mr. Hastings's friendship for Gunga Govind Sing, I
must re-state some circumstances, that your Lordships
may understand thoroughly the nature of it. Your
Lordships may recollect, that, about the time of the
succession of the minor Rajah of Dinagepore, who
was then but five or six years of age, and when Mr.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 117
Hastings left Bengal eight or nine, Mr. Hastings had
received from that country a bribe of about 40,0001.
There is a fidelity even in bribery; there is a truth
and observance even in corruption; there is a justice,
that, if money is to be paid for protection, protection
should be given. My Lords, Mr. Hastings received
this bribe through Gunga Govind Sing; then, at least,
through Gunga Govind Sing he ought to take care
that that Rajah should not be robbed, - that he
should not be robbed, if Gunga Govind Sing could
help it, - that, above all, he should not be robbed by
Gunga Govind Sing himself. But your Lordships
will find that the last act of Mr. Hastings's life was
to be an accomplice in the most cruel and perfidious
breach of faith, in the most iniquitous transaction, that
I do believe ever was held out to the indignation of
the world with regard to private persons. When he
departed, on the 16th of February, 1785, when he was
on board, in the mouth of the Ganges, and preparing
to visit his native country, let us see what the last act
of his life then was. Hear the last tender accents of
the dying swan upon the Ganges.
"The regret which I cannot but feel in relinquishing the service of my honorable employers would be
much embittered, were it accompanied by the reflection that I have neglected. the merits of a man who deserves no less of them than of myself, Gunga Govind Sing, who from his earliest youth had been employed
in the collection of the revenues, and was about eleven
years ago selected for his superior talents to fill the
office of dewan to the Calcutta Committee. He has
from that time, with a short intermission, been the
principal native agent in the collection of the Company's revenues; and I can take upon myself to say that
? ? ? ? 118 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
he has performed the duties of his office with fidelity, diligence, and ability. To myself he has given
proofs of a constancy and attachment which neither the
fears nor expectations excited by the prevalence of a
different influence could shake, - and at a time, too,
when these qualities were so dangerous, that, far from
finding them amongst the generality of his countrymen, I did not invariably meet with them amongst my
own. With such a sense of his merits, it is natural that
I should feel a desire of rewarding him, - for justice,
gratitude, generosity, and even policy, demand it;
and I resort to the board for the means of performing
so necessary a duty, in full confidence, that, as those
which I shall point out are neither incompatible with
the Company's interest nor prejudicial to the rights
of others, they will not be withheld from me. At the
request, therefore, of Gunga Govind Sing, I deliver
the accompanying durkhausts, or petitions, for grants
of lands lying in different districts, the total jumma,
or rent, of which amount to Rupees 2,38,061. 12. 1. "
Your Lordships recollect that Mr. Larkins was one
of the bribe-agents of Mr. Hastings, - one, I mean,
of a corporation, but not corporate in their acts.
My Lords, Mr. Larkins has told you, he has told us,
and he has told the Court of Directors, that Mr. Hastings parted in a quarrel with Gunga Govind Sing, because he had not faithfully kept his engagement with regard to his bribe, and that, instead of 40,0001. from
Dinagepore, he had only paid him 30,0001. My
Lords, that iniquitous men will defraud one another
I can conceive; but you will perceive by Mr. Hastings's behavior at parting, that he either had in fact
received this money from Gunga Govind Sing, or in
some way or other had abundant reason to be satis
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 119
ned, -- that he totally forgot his anger upon this occasion, and that at parting his last act was to ratify grants of lands (so described by Mr. Hastings) to
Gunga Govind Sing. Your Lordships will recollect
the tender and forgiving temper of Mr. Hastings.
Whatever little bickerings there might have been between them about their small money concerns, the purifying waters of the Ganges had washed away all
sins, enmities, and discontent. By some of those arts
which Gunga Govind Sing knows how to practise, (I
mean conciliatory, honest arts,) he had fairly wiped
away all resentment out of Mr. Hastings's mind; and
he, who so long remembered the affront offered him
by Cheyt Sing, totally forgets Gunga Govind Sing's
fraud of 10,0001. , and attempts to make others the
instruments of giving him what he calls his reward.
Mr. Hastings states, among Gunga Govind's merits,
that he had, from the time of its institution, and with
a very short intermission, served the office of dewan
to the Calcutta Committee. That short intermission
was when he was turned out of office upon proof of
peculation and embezzlement of public money; but
of this cause of the intermission in the political life
and political merits of Gunga Govind Sing Mr. Hastings does not tell you.
Your Lordships shall now hear what opinion a
member of the Provincial Council at Calcutta, in
which he had also served, had of him.
" Who is Gunga Govind Sing? " The answer is,
"He was, when I left Bengal, dewan to the Committee of Revenue. -What was his office and power during Mr. Hastings's administration since 1780? He was formerly dewan to the Provincial Council stationed at Calcutta, of which I was a member. His
? ? ? ? 120 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
conduct then was licentious and unwarrantable, oppressive and extortionary. He was stationed under
us to be an humble and submissive servant, and to be
of use to us in the discharge of our duty. His conduct was everything the reverse. We endeavored to
correct the mischiefs he was guilty of as much as
possible. In one attempt to release fifteen persons
illegally confined by him, we were dismissed our offices: a different pretence was held out for our dismission, but it was only a pretence. Since his appoinltment as dewan to the present Committee of Revenue, his line of conduct has only been a continuance of
what I have described, but upon a larger scale.
What was the general opinion of the natives of the
use he made of his power? He was looked up to by
the natives as the second person in the government,
if not the first. He was considered as the only chanInel for obtaining favor and employment from the
Governor. There is hardly a native family of rank
or credit within the three provinces whom he has not
some time or other distressed and afflicted; scarce
a zemindary that he has not dismembered and plundered. - Were you in a situation to know this to be
true? - I certainly was. - What was the general opinion, and your own, concerning his wealth? - It is almost impossible to form a competent judgment, his
means of acquiring it have been so extensive. I had
an account shown to me, about July, 1785, stating his
acquisitions at three hundred and twenty lacs of rupees, - that is, 3,200,0001. "
My Lords, I have only to add, that, from the best
inquiries I have been able to make, those who speak
highest of his wealth are those who obtain the greatest credit. The estimate of any man's wealth is un
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 121
certain; but the enormity of his wealth is universally
believed. Yet Mr. Hastings seemed to act as if he
needed a reward; and it is therefore necessary to
inquire what recommended him particularly to Mr.
Hastings. Your Lordships have seen that he was on
the point of being dismissed for misbehavior and oppression by that Calcutta Committee his services to
which Mr. Hastings gives as one proof of his constant
and uniform good behavior. " He had executed," he
says, " the duties of his office with fidelity, diligence,
and ability. " These are his public merits; but he
has private merits. '" To myself," says he, " he has
given proofs of constancy and attachment. "
Now we, who have been used to look very diligently
over the Company's records, and to compare one part
with another, ask what those services were, which
have so strongly recommended him to Mr. Hastings,
and induced him to speak so favorably of his public
services. What those services are does not appear;
we have searched the records for them, (and those
records are very busy and loquacious,) about that period of time during which Mr. Hastings was laboring under an eclipse, and near the dragon's mouth, and all the drums of Bengal beating to free him from
this dangerous eclipse. During this time there is
nothing publicly done, there is nothing publicly said,
by Gunga Govind Sing. There were, then, some
services of Gunga Govind Sing that lie undiscovered,
which he takes as proofs of attachment. What could
they be? They were not public; nobody knows anything of them; they must, by reference to the time,
as far as we can judge of them, be services of concealment: otherwise, in the course of this business, it will
be necessary, and Mr. Hastings will find occasion, to
? ? ? ? 122 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
show what those personal services of Gunga Govind
Sing to him were. His services to Gunga Govind
Sing were pretty conspicuous: for, after he was turned
out for peculation, Mr. Hastings restored him to his
office; and when he had imprisoned fifteen persons
illegally and oppressively, and when the Council were
about to set them at liberty, they were set at liberty
themselves, they were dismissed their offices. Your
Lordships see, then, what his public services were.
His private services are unknown: they must be, as
we conceive from their being unknown, of a suspicious
nature; and I do not go further than suspicion, because I never heard, and I have not been without attempts to make the discovery, what those services were that recommended him to Mr. Hastings.
Having looked at his public services, which are
well-known scenes of wickedness, barbarity, and corruption, we next come to see what his reward is.
Your Lordships hear what reward he thought proper
to secure for himself; and I believe a man who has
power like Gunga Govind Sing, and a disposition like
Gunga Govind Sing, can hardly want the means of
rewarding himself; and if every virtue rewards itself,
and virtue is said to be its own reward, the virtue of
Gunga Govind Sing was in a good way of seeking its
own reward. Mr. Hastings, however, thought it was
not right that such a man should reward himself, but
that it was necessary for the honor and justice of government to find him a reward. Then the next thing
is, what that reward shall be. It is a grant of lands.
Your Lordships will observe, that Mr. Hastings declares some of these lands to be unoccupied, others
occupied, but not by the just owners. Now these
were the very lands of the Rajah of Dinagepore from
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 123
whence he had taken the bribe of 40,0001. My Lords,
this was a monstrous thing. Mr. Hastings had the
audacity, as his parting act, when he was coming to
England, and ought to have expected (whatever he
did expect) the responsibility of this day, -he was,
I say, shameless enough not only to give this recommendation, but to perpetuate the mischiefs of his reign, as he has done, to his successors: for he has
really done so, by making it impossible, almost, to
know anything of the true state of that country; and
he has thereby made them much less responsible and
criminal than before in any ill acts they may have
done since his time. But Mr. Hastings not only
recommends and backs the petition of Gunga Govind
Sing with his parting authority, which authority he
made the people there believe would be greater in
England than it was in India, but he is an evidence;
he declares, that, " to his own knowledge, these lands
are vacant, and confessedly, therefore, by the laws of
this as well as of most other countries, in the absolute gift of government. "
My Lords, as I said, Mr. Hastings becomes a witness, and I believe in the course of the proceedings
you will find a false witness, for Gulnga Govind Sing. :" To my own knowledge," says he, " they are vacant. " Why, I cannot find that Mr. Hastings had ever been
in Dinagepore; or if he had, it must have been only
as a passenger. He had not the supervision of the
district, in any other sense than with that kind of
eagle eye which he must have had over all Bengal,
and which he had for no other purposes than those
for which eagles' eyes are commonly used. 'He becomes, you see, a witness for Gunga Govind Sing, and orders to be given him, as a recompense for all the
? ? ? ? 124 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
iniquitous acts this man committed, the lands of that
very Rajah who through the hands of Gunga Govind
Sing had given an enormous bribe to Mr. Hastings.
These lands were not without an ownership, but
were lands in the hands of the Rajah, and were to
be severed from the zemindary, and given to Gunga
Govind Sing. The manner of obtaining them is something so shocking, and contains such a number of enormities completed in one act, that one can scarce
imagine how such a compound could exist.
This man, besides his office of dewan to the Calcutta
Committee, which gave him the whole management
and power of the revenue, was, as I have stated, at the
head of all the registers in the kingdom, whose duty
it was to be a control upon him as dewan. As Mr.
Hastings destroyed every other constitutional settlement of the country, so the office which was to be a check upon Gunga Govind Sing, namely, the register
of the country, had been superseded, and revived in
another shape, and given to the own son of this very
man. God forbid that a son should not be under
a certain and reasonable subordination! But though
in this country we know a son may possibly be free
from the control of his father, yet the meanest slave
is not in a more abject condition of slavery than a son
is in that country to his father; for it extends to the
power of a Roman parent. The office of register is to
take care that a full and fair rent is secured to government; and above all, it is his business to take care of the body of laws, the Rawaj-ul-Mul1k, or custom
of the country, of which he is the guardian as the
head of the law. It was his business to secure that
fundamental law of the government, and fundamental
law of the country, that a zemindary cannot be split,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 125
or any portion of it separated, without the consent of
the government. This man betrayed his trust, and
did privately, contrary to the duty of his office, get
this minor Rajah, who was but an infant, who was
but nine years old at the time, to make over to him a
part of his zemindary, to a large amount, under color
of a fraudulent and fictitious sale. By the laws of that
country, by the common laws of Nature, the act of
this child was void. The act was void as against the
government, by giving a zemindary without the consent of the government to the very man who ought to have prevented such an act. He has the same sacred
guardianship of minors that the Chancellor of England has. This man got to himself those lands by a fraudulent, and probably forged deed, -- for that is
charged too; but whether it was forged or not, this
miserable minor was obliged to give the lands to him:
he did not dare to quarrel with him upon such an
article; because he who would purchase could take.
The next step was to get one of his nearest relations
to seem to give a consent; because taking it of the
minor was too gross. The relation, who could no
more consent by the law of that country than the law
of this, gave apparently his consent. And these were
the very lands that Mr. Hastings speaks of as " lands
entirely at the disposal of government. "
All this came before the Council. The moment
Mr.
Hastings was gone, India seemed a little to respire; there was a vast, oppressive weight taken off it, there was a mountain removed from its breast; and
persons did dare then, for the first time, to breathe
their complaints. And accordingly, this minor Rajah
got some person kind enough to tell him that he was
a minor, that he could not part with his estate; and
? ? ? ? 126 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
this, with the other shocking and illegal parts of the
process, was stated by him to the Council, who had
Mr. Hastings's recommendation of Gunga Govind
Sing before them. The Council, shocked to see a minor attempted to be dispossessed in such a manner
by him who was the natural guardian of all minors,
shocked at such an enormous, daring piece of iniquity, began to inquire further, and to ask, "How
came this his near relation to consent? " He was apparently partner in the fraud. Partner in the fraud
he was, but not partner in the profit; for he was to do
it without getting anything for it: the wickedness
was in him, and the profit in Gunga Govind Sing.
In consequence of this inquiry, the man comes down
to account for his conduct, and declares another atrocious iniquity, that shows you the powers which Gunga Govind Sing possessed. " Gunga Govind Sing," says he, " is master of the country; he had made a
great festival for the burial of his mother; all those
of that caste ought to be invited to the funeral festival; he would have disgraced me forever, if I had not
been invited to that funeral festival. " These funeral
festivals, you should know, are great things in that
country, and celebrated in this manner, and, you may
depend upon it, in a royal manner by him, upon burying his mother: any person left out was marked, despised, and disgraced. "But he had it in his power, and I was threatened to be deprived of my caste by
his register, who had the caste in his absolute disposition. " Says he, "I was under terror, I was under
duress, and I did it. "
Gunga Govind Sing was fortified by the opinion,
that the Governor, though departed, virtually resided in that country. God grant that his power may
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 127
ue extirpated out of it now! I doubt it; but, most
assuredly, it was residing in its plenitude when he
departed from thence; and there was not a man in
India who was not of opinion, either that he was
actually to return to govern India again, or that his
power is such in England as that he might govern it
here. And such were the hopes of those who had intentions against the estates of others. Gunga Govind Sing, therefore, being pressed to the wall by this declaration of the Rajah's relation, when he could say nothing against it, when it was clear and manifest,
and there were only impudent barefaced denials, and
asseverations against facts which carried truth with
themselves, did not in his answer pretend to say that
a zemindary might be parted without the consent of
the government, that a minor might be deprived of
it, that the next relation had a power of disposing
of it. He did indeed say, but nobody believed him,
that he had used no force upon this relation; but as
every one knew the act would be void, he was driven
to Mr. Hastings's great refuge, -- he was driven to
say, " The government in this country has arbitrary
power; the power of government is everything, the
right of the subject nothing; they have at all times
separated zemindaries from their lawful proprietors.
Give me what Mr. Hastings has constantly given to
other people without any right, or shadow or semblance of right at all. "'God knows, it is well that
I walk with my authority in my hand; for there are
such crimes, such portentous, incredible crimes, to be
brought before your Lordships, that it would hardly
be believed, were it not that I am constantly, as I
hope I shall constantly be, guarded with evidence, and
that the strongest that can be, even the evidence of
the parties themselves.
? ? ? ? 128 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
"From your inquiry," Gunga Govind Sing says
to the Council,'every circumstance will appear in
its true colors. With respect to the alienation of
parts of zemindaries, the extent and consequence of
the great zemindars depend in a great measure on
the favor and countenance of the ruling powers.
By what means did this zemindar of Dinagepore get
possession of Purgunnah Buttassim after the death
of Rycobad Chowdry in 1158, of Purgunnah Coolygong after the death of Sahebrance Chowderanne in the same year, notwithstanding his heirs existed,
and of Purgunnah Suntoe, &c. , during the lifetime
of Sumboonant, the zemindar, in 1167, all without
right, title, or pecuniary consideration? This has
been the case with many purgunnahs in his zemindary, and indeed exists in many other zemindaries besides since the Company's accession. Ramkissen,
in 1172, got possession of Nurrulloor, the zemindary
of Mahomed Ali. The purgunnah of Ichanguipore,
&c. , was in three divisions in 1173. The petition
of Govind Deo Sheopersaud was made over to the
son of Bousser Chowdry, possessor of the third share.
Purgunnah Baharbund belonged to the zemindary
of Ranny Bhowanny, and in 1180 was made over
to Lucknaut Nundy. All these changes took place
in the lifetime of the rightful possessors, without
right, title, or purchase. "
Your Lordships have not heard before of Lucknaut
Nundy. He was the son of a person of whom your
Lordships have heard before, called Cantoo Baboo, the
banian of Mr. Hastings. Mr. Hastings has proved
in abundance of other cases that a grant to father
and son is the same thing. The fathers generally
take out grants in the names of their sons; and
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 129
the Ranny Bhowanny, possessing the zemindary of
Radshi, an old lady of the first rank and family in
India, was stripped of part of her zemindary, and it
was given to Lucknaut Nundy, the son of Mr. Hastings's baIlian; and then (you see the consequence of
good examples) comes Gunga Govind Sing, and says,
"I am as good a mail as he; there is a zemindary
given; then do as much for Gunga Govind Sing as
you have done for Cantoo Baboo. " Here is an argument drawn from the practice of Mr. Hastings. And
this shows your Lordships the necessity of suppressing such iniquities by punishing the author of them.
You will punish Mr. Hastings, and no man will hereafter dare to rob minors, no man will hereafter dare:
to rob widows, to give to the vilest of mankind, their
own base instruments for their own nefarious purposes, the lands of others, without right, title, or purchase. My Lords, I will not after this state to you the false
representation of the value of these lands which this
man gave in to government. He represented it to be
much less than it was, when he desired the grant of
them, - as shall be stated, when it comes before your
Lordships, at the proper time. But at present I am
only touching upon principles, and bringing examples
so far as they illustrate principles, and to show how
precedents spread.
I believe your Lordships will conceive better of the
spirit of these transactions by lmy intermixing with
them, as I shall endeavor to do, as much as possible
of the grounds of them. I will venture to say, that
no description that I can give, no painting, if I was
either able or willing to paint, could make these transactions appear to your Lordships with the strength VOL. X. 9
? ? ? ? 130 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
which they have ill themselves; and your Lordships
will be convinced of this, when you see, what nobody
could hardly believe, that a man can say, "It was
given to others without right, title, or purchase, --
give it to me without right, title, or purchase; give
me the estates of minors without right, title, or purclhase, because Mr. Hastings gave the estates of widows without right, title, or purchase. " Of this exemplary grant, of this pattern for future
proceedings, I will show your Lordships the consequence. I will read to your Lordships part of the
examination of a witness, taken from a report of a
committee of the House of Commons.
"Are you acquainted with the situation of the
zemindary of Balharbund? -- It lies to the eastward
of Dilagepore and Rullngpore. I was stationed in that
neighborhood. - To whom did it originally belong?
I believe, to the zemnindary of Radshi, belonging
to Ranny Bhowanny. - For what reason was it taken
from the Rannlly of Radshi and given to Cantoo Baboo? - I do not exactly recollect: I believe, on some
plea of incapacity or insufficiency in her to manage it,
or some pretended decline in the revenue, owing to
mismanagement. - On what terms was it granted to
Cantoo Baboo or his son? - I believe it was a grant in
perpetuity, at the revenue of Rupees 82,000 or 83,000
per annum. - What amount did he collect from the
country? - -I cannot tell. The year I was in that
neighborhood, the settlement with his under-tenants
was something above 3,53,000 rupees. The inhabitants of the country objected to it. They assembled in
a body of about five thousand, and were proceeding to
Calcutta to make known their grievances to the Committee of Revenue. They were stopped at Cossim.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 131
bazar by Noor Sing Baboo, the brother of Cantoo
Baboo, and there the matter was compromised, - in
what manner I cannot say. "
Your Lordships see, Mr. Hastings's banian got
this zemindary belonging to this venerable lady, unable to protect herself; that it was granted to him without right, title, or purchase. To show you that
Mr. Hastings had been in a constant course of such
proceeding, here is a petition from a person called
for some favor from government which it is
not necessary now to state. In order to make good
his claim, he states what nobody denied, but which
is universally known in fact. Says he, "I have
never entertained any such intention or idea," that
is, of seizing upon other people's zemindaries; " neither am I at all desirous of acquiring any other person's zemindary in this country," &c.
[The document read here is wanting, ending] " as
several Calcutta banians have done," &c.
He states it as a kind of constant practice, by
which the country had been robbed under Mr. Hastings, known and acknowledged to be so, to seize upon the inheritance of the widow and the fatherless. In
this manner did Gunga Govind Sing govern himself,
upon the direct precedent of Cantoo Baboo, the banian of Mr. Hastings; and this other instrument of
his in like manner calls upon government for favor
of some kind or other, upon the same principle and
the same precedent.
Your Lordships now see how necessary it was to
say something about arbitrary power. For, first, the
wicked people of that country (Mr. Hastings's instru
? ? ? ? 132 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ments, I mean) pretend right, title, purchase, grant;
and when their frauds in all these legal means are
discovered, then they fly off, and have recourse to
arbitrary power, and say, " It is true I can make out
no right, title, grant, or purchase; the parties are
minors; I am bound to take care of their right: but
you have arbitrary power; you have exercised it upon
other occasions; exercise it upon this; give me the
rights of other people. " This was the last act, and I
hope will be the last act, of Mr. Hastings's wicked
power, done by the wickedest man in favor of the
wickedest man, and by the wickedest means, which
failed upon his own testimony.
To bring your Lordships to the end of this business,
which I hope will lead me very near to the end of
what I have to trouble your Lordships with, I will
now state the conduct of the Council, and the resolution about Gunga Govind Sing. I am to inform your Lordships that there was a reference made by the
Council to the Committee of Revenue, namely, to
Gunga Govind Sing himself,- a reference with regard to the right, title, mode, and proceeding, and many other circumstances; upon which the Committee, being such as I have described, very naturally were silent. Gunga Govind Sing loquitur solus,- in
the manner you have just heard; the Committee
were the chorus,- they sometimes talk, fill up a vacant part,-but Gunga Govind Sing was the great actor, the sole one. The report of this Committee
being laid before the Council, Mr. Stables, one of the
board, entered the following minute on the 15th of
May, 1785.
" I have perused the several papers upon this subject, and am sorry to observe that the Committee of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -- FOURTH DAY. 133
Revenue are totally silent on the most material points
therein, and sending the petition to them has only
been so much time thrown away: I mean, on the
actual value of the lands in question, what the
amount derived from them has been in the last year,
and what advantages or disadvantages to government
by the sale, and whether, in their opinion, the supposed sale was compulsive or not. But it is not necessary for the discussion of the question respecting the regularity or irregularity of the pretended sale
of Salbarry to Gunga Govind Sing, the dewan, to
enter into the particular assertions of each party.
"The representations of the Rajah's agent, confirmed by the petitions of his principal, positively
assert the sale to have been compulsive and violent;
and the dewan as positively denies it, though the fears
he expresses,'that their common enemies would set
aside the act before it was complete,' show clearly
that they were sensible the act was unjustifiable, if
they do not tend to falsify his denial.
" But it is clearly established and admitted by the
language and writings of both parties, that there has
been a most unwarrantable collusion in endeavoring
to alienate the rights of government, contrary to the
most positive original laws of the constitution of
these provinces,' that no zemindar and other landholder, paying revenue to government, shall be permitted to alienate his lands without the express authority of that government. '
" The defence set up by Gunga Govind Sing does
not go to disavow the transaction; for, if it did, the
deed of sale, &c. , produced by himself, and the petition to the board for its confirmation, would detect
him: on the contrary, he openly admits its existence,
? ? ? ? 134 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and only strives to show that it was a voluntary one
on the part of the Ranny and the servants of the
Rajah. Whether voluntary or not, it was equally
criminal in Gunga Govind Sing, as the public officer
of government: because diametrically opposite to the
positive and repeated standing orders of that government for the rule of his conduct, as dewan, and native guardian of the public rights intrusted especially to his care; because it was his duty, not only not to be guilty of a breach of those rules himself, but,
as dewan, and exercising the efficient office of kanungo, to prevent, detect, expose, and apprise his employers of every instance attempted to the contrary;
because it was his duty to prevent the government
being defrauded, and the Rajah, a child of nine years
old, robbed of his hereditary possessions, as he would
have been, if this transaction had not been detected:
whereas, on the contrary, the dewan is himself the
principal mover and sole instrument in that fraud and
robbery, if I am rightly informed, to the amount
of 42,474 rupees* in perpetuity, by which he alone
was to benefit; and because lie has even dared to
stand forward in an attempt to obtain our sanction,
and thereby make us parties to (in my opinion) a
false deed and fraudulent transaction, as his own
defence now shows the bill of sale and all its collateral papers to be.
"If offences of this dark tendency and magnitude
were not to be punished in a public manner, the high
* Vakeel states Mofussil Jumma, of Salbarry, for 1,191
Sa Rs. . . . 96,229
Purchase money. 53,755
Per annum, loss. 42,474
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 135
example here set the natives employed under the government by their first native officer would very soon render our authority contemptible, and operate to
the destruction of the public revenues. I will not
dwell further on the contradictions in these papers'
before us on this subject.
" But I beg leave to point out how tenacious the
government have been of insuring implicit obedience
to their rules on this subject in particular, and in
prohibiting conduct like that here exhibited against
their public officer, and how sacredly they have
viewed the public institutes on this subject, which
have been violated and trampled on; and it will suffice to show their public orders on a similar instance which happened some time ago, and which the dewan,
from his official situation, must have been a party in
detecting.
"'I desire the board's letter to the Committee on
this subject, dated the 31st May, 1782, may be read,
and a copy be annexed to this minute.
"I therefore move the board that Gunga Govind
Sing may be forthwith required to surrender the
original deeds produced by him as a title to the grant
of Salbarry, in order that they may be returned to
the Rajah's agents, to be made null and void.
" I further move the board, that the dewan, Gunga
Govind Sing, together with his naib, Prawn Kishin
Sing, his son, and all his dependants, be removed
from their offices, and that the Roy Royan, Rajah
Rajebullub, whose duty only Gunga Govind Sing virtually is to perform, be reinstated in the exercise of
the duties of his department; and that Gunga Govind
Sing be ordered to deliver up all official papers of
the circar to the Comnlitteo of Revenue and the Roy
? ? ? ? 136 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Royan, and that they be ordered accordingly to take
charge of them, and finally settle all accounts. "
This motion was overruled, and no final proceeding
appears.
My Lords, you have heard the proceedings of the
court before which Gunga Govind Sing thought proper
to appeal, in consequence of the power and protection
of Mr. Hastings being understood to exist after he
left India, and authenticated by his last parting deed
Your Lordships will judge by that last act of Mr
Hastings what the rest of his whole life was.
My Lords, I do not mean now to go further than
just to remind your Lordships of this, that Mr. Hastings's government was one whole system of oppression, of robbery of individuals, of destruction of the public, and of suppression of the whole system of the
English government, in order to vest in the worst of
the natives all the powers that could possibly exist in
any government, - in order to defeat the ends which
all governments ought in common to have in view.
Thus, my Lords, I show you at one point of view
what you are to expect from him in all the rest. I
have, I think, made out as clear as can be to your
Lordships, so far as it was necessary to go, that his
bribery and peculation was not occasional, but habitual, - that it was not urged upon him a; the moment, but was regular and systematic. I have shown to your Lordships the operation of such a system on
the revenues.
My Lords, Mr. Hastings pleads one constant merit
to justify those acts,- namely, that they produce an
increase of the public revenue; and accordingly he
never sells to any of those wicked agents any trusts
whatever in the country, that you do not hear that it
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 137
will considerably tend to the increase of the revenue.
Your Lordships will see, when he sold to wicked men
the province of Bahar in the same way in which Debi
Sing had this province of Dinagepore, that consequences of a horrid and atrocious nature, though not to so great an extent, followed from it. I will just beg
leave to state to your Lordships, that the kingdom
of Bahar is annexed to the kingdom of Bengal; that
this kingdom was governed by another Provincial
Council; that he turned out that Provincial Council,
and sold that government to two wicked men: one of
no fortune at all, and the other of a very suspicious
fortune; one a total bankrupt, the other justly excommunicated for his wickedness in his country, and then in prison for misdemeanors in a subordinate situation
of government. Mr. Hastings destroyed the Council
that imprisoned him; and, instead of putting one of
the best and most reputable of the natives to govern it, he takes out of prison this excommunicated wretch, hated by God and man,- this bankrupt, this
man of evil and desperate character, this mismanager
of the public revenue in an inferior station; and, as
he had given Bengal to Gunga Govind Sing, he gave
this province to Rajahs Kelleram and Cullian Sing.
It was done upon this principle, that they would increase and very much better the revenue. These men seemed to be as strange instruments for improving
a revenue as ever were chosen, I suppose, since the
world began. Perhaps their merit was giving a bribe
of 40,0001. to Mr. Hastings. How he disposed of it
I don't know. He says, " I disposed of it to the public, and it was in a case of emergency. " You will
see in the course of this business the falsehood of that
pretence: for you will see, though the obligation is
? ? ? ?
strong; for, as he thinks he should have written it
with a little more guard, but should have agreed in
substance, you must naturally think the strongest expression the truest representation of the circumstance.
There is another circumstance that must strike
your Lordships relative to this institution. It is
where the President says that the use of the President would be to exert his best abilities, his greatest application, his constant guard, - for what? - to prevent his dewan from being guilty of bribery and
being guilty of oppressions. So here is an executive
constitution in which the chief executive minister
is to be in such a situation and of such a disposition
that the chief employment of the presiding person
in the Committee is to guard against him and to prevent his doing mischief. Here is a man appointed,
of the greatest possible power, of the greatest possible
wickedness, in a situation to exert that power and
wickedness for the destruction of the country, and
without doubt it would require the greatest ability
and diligence in the person at the head of that Council to prevent it. Such a constitution, allowed and
alleged by the persons themselves who composed it,
was, I believe, never heard of in the world.
? ? ? ? 116 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Now that I have done with this part of the system
of bribery, your Lordships will permit me to follow
Mr. Hastings to his last parting scene. He parted
with his power, he parted with his situation, he parted with everything, but he never could part with Gunga Govind Sing. He was on his voyage, he had
embarked, he was upon the Ganges, he had quitted
his government; and his last dying sigh, his last parting voice, was " Gunga Govind Sing! " It ran upon the banks of the Ganges, as another plaintive voice ran
upon the banks of another river (I forget whose); his
last accents were, "Gunga, Gunga Govind Sing! "
It demonstrates the power of friendship.
It is said by some idle, absurd moralists, that
friendship is a thing that cannot subsist between
bad men; but I will show your Lordships the direct
contrary; land, after having shown you what Gunga
Govind Sing was, I shall bring before you Mr. Hastings's last act of friendship for him. Not that I have quite shown you everything, but pretty well, I think,
respecting this man. There is a great deal concerning his character and conduct that is laid by, and I do believe, that, whatever time I should take up in
expatiating upon these things, there would be " in the
lowest deep still a lower deep"; for there is not a
day of the inquiry that does not bring to light more
and more of this evil against Mr. Hastings.
But before I open the papers relative to this act of
Mr. Hastings's friendship for Gunga Govind Sing, I
must re-state some circumstances, that your Lordships
may understand thoroughly the nature of it. Your
Lordships may recollect, that, about the time of the
succession of the minor Rajah of Dinagepore, who
was then but five or six years of age, and when Mr.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 117
Hastings left Bengal eight or nine, Mr. Hastings had
received from that country a bribe of about 40,0001.
There is a fidelity even in bribery; there is a truth
and observance even in corruption; there is a justice,
that, if money is to be paid for protection, protection
should be given. My Lords, Mr. Hastings received
this bribe through Gunga Govind Sing; then, at least,
through Gunga Govind Sing he ought to take care
that that Rajah should not be robbed, - that he
should not be robbed, if Gunga Govind Sing could
help it, - that, above all, he should not be robbed by
Gunga Govind Sing himself. But your Lordships
will find that the last act of Mr. Hastings's life was
to be an accomplice in the most cruel and perfidious
breach of faith, in the most iniquitous transaction, that
I do believe ever was held out to the indignation of
the world with regard to private persons. When he
departed, on the 16th of February, 1785, when he was
on board, in the mouth of the Ganges, and preparing
to visit his native country, let us see what the last act
of his life then was. Hear the last tender accents of
the dying swan upon the Ganges.
"The regret which I cannot but feel in relinquishing the service of my honorable employers would be
much embittered, were it accompanied by the reflection that I have neglected. the merits of a man who deserves no less of them than of myself, Gunga Govind Sing, who from his earliest youth had been employed
in the collection of the revenues, and was about eleven
years ago selected for his superior talents to fill the
office of dewan to the Calcutta Committee. He has
from that time, with a short intermission, been the
principal native agent in the collection of the Company's revenues; and I can take upon myself to say that
? ? ? ? 118 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
he has performed the duties of his office with fidelity, diligence, and ability. To myself he has given
proofs of a constancy and attachment which neither the
fears nor expectations excited by the prevalence of a
different influence could shake, - and at a time, too,
when these qualities were so dangerous, that, far from
finding them amongst the generality of his countrymen, I did not invariably meet with them amongst my
own. With such a sense of his merits, it is natural that
I should feel a desire of rewarding him, - for justice,
gratitude, generosity, and even policy, demand it;
and I resort to the board for the means of performing
so necessary a duty, in full confidence, that, as those
which I shall point out are neither incompatible with
the Company's interest nor prejudicial to the rights
of others, they will not be withheld from me. At the
request, therefore, of Gunga Govind Sing, I deliver
the accompanying durkhausts, or petitions, for grants
of lands lying in different districts, the total jumma,
or rent, of which amount to Rupees 2,38,061. 12. 1. "
Your Lordships recollect that Mr. Larkins was one
of the bribe-agents of Mr. Hastings, - one, I mean,
of a corporation, but not corporate in their acts.
My Lords, Mr. Larkins has told you, he has told us,
and he has told the Court of Directors, that Mr. Hastings parted in a quarrel with Gunga Govind Sing, because he had not faithfully kept his engagement with regard to his bribe, and that, instead of 40,0001. from
Dinagepore, he had only paid him 30,0001. My
Lords, that iniquitous men will defraud one another
I can conceive; but you will perceive by Mr. Hastings's behavior at parting, that he either had in fact
received this money from Gunga Govind Sing, or in
some way or other had abundant reason to be satis
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 119
ned, -- that he totally forgot his anger upon this occasion, and that at parting his last act was to ratify grants of lands (so described by Mr. Hastings) to
Gunga Govind Sing. Your Lordships will recollect
the tender and forgiving temper of Mr. Hastings.
Whatever little bickerings there might have been between them about their small money concerns, the purifying waters of the Ganges had washed away all
sins, enmities, and discontent. By some of those arts
which Gunga Govind Sing knows how to practise, (I
mean conciliatory, honest arts,) he had fairly wiped
away all resentment out of Mr. Hastings's mind; and
he, who so long remembered the affront offered him
by Cheyt Sing, totally forgets Gunga Govind Sing's
fraud of 10,0001. , and attempts to make others the
instruments of giving him what he calls his reward.
Mr. Hastings states, among Gunga Govind's merits,
that he had, from the time of its institution, and with
a very short intermission, served the office of dewan
to the Calcutta Committee. That short intermission
was when he was turned out of office upon proof of
peculation and embezzlement of public money; but
of this cause of the intermission in the political life
and political merits of Gunga Govind Sing Mr. Hastings does not tell you.
Your Lordships shall now hear what opinion a
member of the Provincial Council at Calcutta, in
which he had also served, had of him.
" Who is Gunga Govind Sing? " The answer is,
"He was, when I left Bengal, dewan to the Committee of Revenue. -What was his office and power during Mr. Hastings's administration since 1780? He was formerly dewan to the Provincial Council stationed at Calcutta, of which I was a member. His
? ? ? ? 120 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
conduct then was licentious and unwarrantable, oppressive and extortionary. He was stationed under
us to be an humble and submissive servant, and to be
of use to us in the discharge of our duty. His conduct was everything the reverse. We endeavored to
correct the mischiefs he was guilty of as much as
possible. In one attempt to release fifteen persons
illegally confined by him, we were dismissed our offices: a different pretence was held out for our dismission, but it was only a pretence. Since his appoinltment as dewan to the present Committee of Revenue, his line of conduct has only been a continuance of
what I have described, but upon a larger scale.
What was the general opinion of the natives of the
use he made of his power? He was looked up to by
the natives as the second person in the government,
if not the first. He was considered as the only chanInel for obtaining favor and employment from the
Governor. There is hardly a native family of rank
or credit within the three provinces whom he has not
some time or other distressed and afflicted; scarce
a zemindary that he has not dismembered and plundered. - Were you in a situation to know this to be
true? - I certainly was. - What was the general opinion, and your own, concerning his wealth? - It is almost impossible to form a competent judgment, his
means of acquiring it have been so extensive. I had
an account shown to me, about July, 1785, stating his
acquisitions at three hundred and twenty lacs of rupees, - that is, 3,200,0001. "
My Lords, I have only to add, that, from the best
inquiries I have been able to make, those who speak
highest of his wealth are those who obtain the greatest credit. The estimate of any man's wealth is un
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 121
certain; but the enormity of his wealth is universally
believed. Yet Mr. Hastings seemed to act as if he
needed a reward; and it is therefore necessary to
inquire what recommended him particularly to Mr.
Hastings. Your Lordships have seen that he was on
the point of being dismissed for misbehavior and oppression by that Calcutta Committee his services to
which Mr. Hastings gives as one proof of his constant
and uniform good behavior. " He had executed," he
says, " the duties of his office with fidelity, diligence,
and ability. " These are his public merits; but he
has private merits. '" To myself," says he, " he has
given proofs of constancy and attachment. "
Now we, who have been used to look very diligently
over the Company's records, and to compare one part
with another, ask what those services were, which
have so strongly recommended him to Mr. Hastings,
and induced him to speak so favorably of his public
services. What those services are does not appear;
we have searched the records for them, (and those
records are very busy and loquacious,) about that period of time during which Mr. Hastings was laboring under an eclipse, and near the dragon's mouth, and all the drums of Bengal beating to free him from
this dangerous eclipse. During this time there is
nothing publicly done, there is nothing publicly said,
by Gunga Govind Sing. There were, then, some
services of Gunga Govind Sing that lie undiscovered,
which he takes as proofs of attachment. What could
they be? They were not public; nobody knows anything of them; they must, by reference to the time,
as far as we can judge of them, be services of concealment: otherwise, in the course of this business, it will
be necessary, and Mr. Hastings will find occasion, to
? ? ? ? 122 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
show what those personal services of Gunga Govind
Sing to him were. His services to Gunga Govind
Sing were pretty conspicuous: for, after he was turned
out for peculation, Mr. Hastings restored him to his
office; and when he had imprisoned fifteen persons
illegally and oppressively, and when the Council were
about to set them at liberty, they were set at liberty
themselves, they were dismissed their offices. Your
Lordships see, then, what his public services were.
His private services are unknown: they must be, as
we conceive from their being unknown, of a suspicious
nature; and I do not go further than suspicion, because I never heard, and I have not been without attempts to make the discovery, what those services were that recommended him to Mr. Hastings.
Having looked at his public services, which are
well-known scenes of wickedness, barbarity, and corruption, we next come to see what his reward is.
Your Lordships hear what reward he thought proper
to secure for himself; and I believe a man who has
power like Gunga Govind Sing, and a disposition like
Gunga Govind Sing, can hardly want the means of
rewarding himself; and if every virtue rewards itself,
and virtue is said to be its own reward, the virtue of
Gunga Govind Sing was in a good way of seeking its
own reward. Mr. Hastings, however, thought it was
not right that such a man should reward himself, but
that it was necessary for the honor and justice of government to find him a reward. Then the next thing
is, what that reward shall be. It is a grant of lands.
Your Lordships will observe, that Mr. Hastings declares some of these lands to be unoccupied, others
occupied, but not by the just owners. Now these
were the very lands of the Rajah of Dinagepore from
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 123
whence he had taken the bribe of 40,0001. My Lords,
this was a monstrous thing. Mr. Hastings had the
audacity, as his parting act, when he was coming to
England, and ought to have expected (whatever he
did expect) the responsibility of this day, -he was,
I say, shameless enough not only to give this recommendation, but to perpetuate the mischiefs of his reign, as he has done, to his successors: for he has
really done so, by making it impossible, almost, to
know anything of the true state of that country; and
he has thereby made them much less responsible and
criminal than before in any ill acts they may have
done since his time. But Mr. Hastings not only
recommends and backs the petition of Gunga Govind
Sing with his parting authority, which authority he
made the people there believe would be greater in
England than it was in India, but he is an evidence;
he declares, that, " to his own knowledge, these lands
are vacant, and confessedly, therefore, by the laws of
this as well as of most other countries, in the absolute gift of government. "
My Lords, as I said, Mr. Hastings becomes a witness, and I believe in the course of the proceedings
you will find a false witness, for Gulnga Govind Sing. :" To my own knowledge," says he, " they are vacant. " Why, I cannot find that Mr. Hastings had ever been
in Dinagepore; or if he had, it must have been only
as a passenger. He had not the supervision of the
district, in any other sense than with that kind of
eagle eye which he must have had over all Bengal,
and which he had for no other purposes than those
for which eagles' eyes are commonly used. 'He becomes, you see, a witness for Gunga Govind Sing, and orders to be given him, as a recompense for all the
? ? ? ? 124 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
iniquitous acts this man committed, the lands of that
very Rajah who through the hands of Gunga Govind
Sing had given an enormous bribe to Mr. Hastings.
These lands were not without an ownership, but
were lands in the hands of the Rajah, and were to
be severed from the zemindary, and given to Gunga
Govind Sing. The manner of obtaining them is something so shocking, and contains such a number of enormities completed in one act, that one can scarce
imagine how such a compound could exist.
This man, besides his office of dewan to the Calcutta
Committee, which gave him the whole management
and power of the revenue, was, as I have stated, at the
head of all the registers in the kingdom, whose duty
it was to be a control upon him as dewan. As Mr.
Hastings destroyed every other constitutional settlement of the country, so the office which was to be a check upon Gunga Govind Sing, namely, the register
of the country, had been superseded, and revived in
another shape, and given to the own son of this very
man. God forbid that a son should not be under
a certain and reasonable subordination! But though
in this country we know a son may possibly be free
from the control of his father, yet the meanest slave
is not in a more abject condition of slavery than a son
is in that country to his father; for it extends to the
power of a Roman parent. The office of register is to
take care that a full and fair rent is secured to government; and above all, it is his business to take care of the body of laws, the Rawaj-ul-Mul1k, or custom
of the country, of which he is the guardian as the
head of the law. It was his business to secure that
fundamental law of the government, and fundamental
law of the country, that a zemindary cannot be split,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 125
or any portion of it separated, without the consent of
the government. This man betrayed his trust, and
did privately, contrary to the duty of his office, get
this minor Rajah, who was but an infant, who was
but nine years old at the time, to make over to him a
part of his zemindary, to a large amount, under color
of a fraudulent and fictitious sale. By the laws of that
country, by the common laws of Nature, the act of
this child was void. The act was void as against the
government, by giving a zemindary without the consent of the government to the very man who ought to have prevented such an act. He has the same sacred
guardianship of minors that the Chancellor of England has. This man got to himself those lands by a fraudulent, and probably forged deed, -- for that is
charged too; but whether it was forged or not, this
miserable minor was obliged to give the lands to him:
he did not dare to quarrel with him upon such an
article; because he who would purchase could take.
The next step was to get one of his nearest relations
to seem to give a consent; because taking it of the
minor was too gross. The relation, who could no
more consent by the law of that country than the law
of this, gave apparently his consent. And these were
the very lands that Mr. Hastings speaks of as " lands
entirely at the disposal of government. "
All this came before the Council. The moment
Mr.
Hastings was gone, India seemed a little to respire; there was a vast, oppressive weight taken off it, there was a mountain removed from its breast; and
persons did dare then, for the first time, to breathe
their complaints. And accordingly, this minor Rajah
got some person kind enough to tell him that he was
a minor, that he could not part with his estate; and
? ? ? ? 126 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
this, with the other shocking and illegal parts of the
process, was stated by him to the Council, who had
Mr. Hastings's recommendation of Gunga Govind
Sing before them. The Council, shocked to see a minor attempted to be dispossessed in such a manner
by him who was the natural guardian of all minors,
shocked at such an enormous, daring piece of iniquity, began to inquire further, and to ask, "How
came this his near relation to consent? " He was apparently partner in the fraud. Partner in the fraud
he was, but not partner in the profit; for he was to do
it without getting anything for it: the wickedness
was in him, and the profit in Gunga Govind Sing.
In consequence of this inquiry, the man comes down
to account for his conduct, and declares another atrocious iniquity, that shows you the powers which Gunga Govind Sing possessed. " Gunga Govind Sing," says he, " is master of the country; he had made a
great festival for the burial of his mother; all those
of that caste ought to be invited to the funeral festival; he would have disgraced me forever, if I had not
been invited to that funeral festival. " These funeral
festivals, you should know, are great things in that
country, and celebrated in this manner, and, you may
depend upon it, in a royal manner by him, upon burying his mother: any person left out was marked, despised, and disgraced. "But he had it in his power, and I was threatened to be deprived of my caste by
his register, who had the caste in his absolute disposition. " Says he, "I was under terror, I was under
duress, and I did it. "
Gunga Govind Sing was fortified by the opinion,
that the Governor, though departed, virtually resided in that country. God grant that his power may
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 127
ue extirpated out of it now! I doubt it; but, most
assuredly, it was residing in its plenitude when he
departed from thence; and there was not a man in
India who was not of opinion, either that he was
actually to return to govern India again, or that his
power is such in England as that he might govern it
here. And such were the hopes of those who had intentions against the estates of others. Gunga Govind Sing, therefore, being pressed to the wall by this declaration of the Rajah's relation, when he could say nothing against it, when it was clear and manifest,
and there were only impudent barefaced denials, and
asseverations against facts which carried truth with
themselves, did not in his answer pretend to say that
a zemindary might be parted without the consent of
the government, that a minor might be deprived of
it, that the next relation had a power of disposing
of it. He did indeed say, but nobody believed him,
that he had used no force upon this relation; but as
every one knew the act would be void, he was driven
to Mr. Hastings's great refuge, -- he was driven to
say, " The government in this country has arbitrary
power; the power of government is everything, the
right of the subject nothing; they have at all times
separated zemindaries from their lawful proprietors.
Give me what Mr. Hastings has constantly given to
other people without any right, or shadow or semblance of right at all. "'God knows, it is well that
I walk with my authority in my hand; for there are
such crimes, such portentous, incredible crimes, to be
brought before your Lordships, that it would hardly
be believed, were it not that I am constantly, as I
hope I shall constantly be, guarded with evidence, and
that the strongest that can be, even the evidence of
the parties themselves.
? ? ? ? 128 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
"From your inquiry," Gunga Govind Sing says
to the Council,'every circumstance will appear in
its true colors. With respect to the alienation of
parts of zemindaries, the extent and consequence of
the great zemindars depend in a great measure on
the favor and countenance of the ruling powers.
By what means did this zemindar of Dinagepore get
possession of Purgunnah Buttassim after the death
of Rycobad Chowdry in 1158, of Purgunnah Coolygong after the death of Sahebrance Chowderanne in the same year, notwithstanding his heirs existed,
and of Purgunnah Suntoe, &c. , during the lifetime
of Sumboonant, the zemindar, in 1167, all without
right, title, or pecuniary consideration? This has
been the case with many purgunnahs in his zemindary, and indeed exists in many other zemindaries besides since the Company's accession. Ramkissen,
in 1172, got possession of Nurrulloor, the zemindary
of Mahomed Ali. The purgunnah of Ichanguipore,
&c. , was in three divisions in 1173. The petition
of Govind Deo Sheopersaud was made over to the
son of Bousser Chowdry, possessor of the third share.
Purgunnah Baharbund belonged to the zemindary
of Ranny Bhowanny, and in 1180 was made over
to Lucknaut Nundy. All these changes took place
in the lifetime of the rightful possessors, without
right, title, or purchase. "
Your Lordships have not heard before of Lucknaut
Nundy. He was the son of a person of whom your
Lordships have heard before, called Cantoo Baboo, the
banian of Mr. Hastings. Mr. Hastings has proved
in abundance of other cases that a grant to father
and son is the same thing. The fathers generally
take out grants in the names of their sons; and
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 129
the Ranny Bhowanny, possessing the zemindary of
Radshi, an old lady of the first rank and family in
India, was stripped of part of her zemindary, and it
was given to Lucknaut Nundy, the son of Mr. Hastings's baIlian; and then (you see the consequence of
good examples) comes Gunga Govind Sing, and says,
"I am as good a mail as he; there is a zemindary
given; then do as much for Gunga Govind Sing as
you have done for Cantoo Baboo. " Here is an argument drawn from the practice of Mr. Hastings. And
this shows your Lordships the necessity of suppressing such iniquities by punishing the author of them.
You will punish Mr. Hastings, and no man will hereafter dare to rob minors, no man will hereafter dare:
to rob widows, to give to the vilest of mankind, their
own base instruments for their own nefarious purposes, the lands of others, without right, title, or purchase. My Lords, I will not after this state to you the false
representation of the value of these lands which this
man gave in to government. He represented it to be
much less than it was, when he desired the grant of
them, - as shall be stated, when it comes before your
Lordships, at the proper time. But at present I am
only touching upon principles, and bringing examples
so far as they illustrate principles, and to show how
precedents spread.
I believe your Lordships will conceive better of the
spirit of these transactions by lmy intermixing with
them, as I shall endeavor to do, as much as possible
of the grounds of them. I will venture to say, that
no description that I can give, no painting, if I was
either able or willing to paint, could make these transactions appear to your Lordships with the strength VOL. X. 9
? ? ? ? 130 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
which they have ill themselves; and your Lordships
will be convinced of this, when you see, what nobody
could hardly believe, that a man can say, "It was
given to others without right, title, or purchase, --
give it to me without right, title, or purchase; give
me the estates of minors without right, title, or purclhase, because Mr. Hastings gave the estates of widows without right, title, or purchase. " Of this exemplary grant, of this pattern for future
proceedings, I will show your Lordships the consequence. I will read to your Lordships part of the
examination of a witness, taken from a report of a
committee of the House of Commons.
"Are you acquainted with the situation of the
zemindary of Balharbund? -- It lies to the eastward
of Dilagepore and Rullngpore. I was stationed in that
neighborhood. - To whom did it originally belong?
I believe, to the zemnindary of Radshi, belonging
to Ranny Bhowanny. - For what reason was it taken
from the Rannlly of Radshi and given to Cantoo Baboo? - I do not exactly recollect: I believe, on some
plea of incapacity or insufficiency in her to manage it,
or some pretended decline in the revenue, owing to
mismanagement. - On what terms was it granted to
Cantoo Baboo or his son? - I believe it was a grant in
perpetuity, at the revenue of Rupees 82,000 or 83,000
per annum. - What amount did he collect from the
country? - -I cannot tell. The year I was in that
neighborhood, the settlement with his under-tenants
was something above 3,53,000 rupees. The inhabitants of the country objected to it. They assembled in
a body of about five thousand, and were proceeding to
Calcutta to make known their grievances to the Committee of Revenue. They were stopped at Cossim.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 131
bazar by Noor Sing Baboo, the brother of Cantoo
Baboo, and there the matter was compromised, - in
what manner I cannot say. "
Your Lordships see, Mr. Hastings's banian got
this zemindary belonging to this venerable lady, unable to protect herself; that it was granted to him without right, title, or purchase. To show you that
Mr. Hastings had been in a constant course of such
proceeding, here is a petition from a person called
for some favor from government which it is
not necessary now to state. In order to make good
his claim, he states what nobody denied, but which
is universally known in fact. Says he, "I have
never entertained any such intention or idea," that
is, of seizing upon other people's zemindaries; " neither am I at all desirous of acquiring any other person's zemindary in this country," &c.
[The document read here is wanting, ending] " as
several Calcutta banians have done," &c.
He states it as a kind of constant practice, by
which the country had been robbed under Mr. Hastings, known and acknowledged to be so, to seize upon the inheritance of the widow and the fatherless. In
this manner did Gunga Govind Sing govern himself,
upon the direct precedent of Cantoo Baboo, the banian of Mr. Hastings; and this other instrument of
his in like manner calls upon government for favor
of some kind or other, upon the same principle and
the same precedent.
Your Lordships now see how necessary it was to
say something about arbitrary power. For, first, the
wicked people of that country (Mr. Hastings's instru
? ? ? ? 132 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ments, I mean) pretend right, title, purchase, grant;
and when their frauds in all these legal means are
discovered, then they fly off, and have recourse to
arbitrary power, and say, " It is true I can make out
no right, title, grant, or purchase; the parties are
minors; I am bound to take care of their right: but
you have arbitrary power; you have exercised it upon
other occasions; exercise it upon this; give me the
rights of other people. " This was the last act, and I
hope will be the last act, of Mr. Hastings's wicked
power, done by the wickedest man in favor of the
wickedest man, and by the wickedest means, which
failed upon his own testimony.
To bring your Lordships to the end of this business,
which I hope will lead me very near to the end of
what I have to trouble your Lordships with, I will
now state the conduct of the Council, and the resolution about Gunga Govind Sing. I am to inform your Lordships that there was a reference made by the
Council to the Committee of Revenue, namely, to
Gunga Govind Sing himself,- a reference with regard to the right, title, mode, and proceeding, and many other circumstances; upon which the Committee, being such as I have described, very naturally were silent. Gunga Govind Sing loquitur solus,- in
the manner you have just heard; the Committee
were the chorus,- they sometimes talk, fill up a vacant part,-but Gunga Govind Sing was the great actor, the sole one. The report of this Committee
being laid before the Council, Mr. Stables, one of the
board, entered the following minute on the 15th of
May, 1785.
" I have perused the several papers upon this subject, and am sorry to observe that the Committee of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -- FOURTH DAY. 133
Revenue are totally silent on the most material points
therein, and sending the petition to them has only
been so much time thrown away: I mean, on the
actual value of the lands in question, what the
amount derived from them has been in the last year,
and what advantages or disadvantages to government
by the sale, and whether, in their opinion, the supposed sale was compulsive or not. But it is not necessary for the discussion of the question respecting the regularity or irregularity of the pretended sale
of Salbarry to Gunga Govind Sing, the dewan, to
enter into the particular assertions of each party.
"The representations of the Rajah's agent, confirmed by the petitions of his principal, positively
assert the sale to have been compulsive and violent;
and the dewan as positively denies it, though the fears
he expresses,'that their common enemies would set
aside the act before it was complete,' show clearly
that they were sensible the act was unjustifiable, if
they do not tend to falsify his denial.
" But it is clearly established and admitted by the
language and writings of both parties, that there has
been a most unwarrantable collusion in endeavoring
to alienate the rights of government, contrary to the
most positive original laws of the constitution of
these provinces,' that no zemindar and other landholder, paying revenue to government, shall be permitted to alienate his lands without the express authority of that government. '
" The defence set up by Gunga Govind Sing does
not go to disavow the transaction; for, if it did, the
deed of sale, &c. , produced by himself, and the petition to the board for its confirmation, would detect
him: on the contrary, he openly admits its existence,
? ? ? ? 134 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and only strives to show that it was a voluntary one
on the part of the Ranny and the servants of the
Rajah. Whether voluntary or not, it was equally
criminal in Gunga Govind Sing, as the public officer
of government: because diametrically opposite to the
positive and repeated standing orders of that government for the rule of his conduct, as dewan, and native guardian of the public rights intrusted especially to his care; because it was his duty, not only not to be guilty of a breach of those rules himself, but,
as dewan, and exercising the efficient office of kanungo, to prevent, detect, expose, and apprise his employers of every instance attempted to the contrary;
because it was his duty to prevent the government
being defrauded, and the Rajah, a child of nine years
old, robbed of his hereditary possessions, as he would
have been, if this transaction had not been detected:
whereas, on the contrary, the dewan is himself the
principal mover and sole instrument in that fraud and
robbery, if I am rightly informed, to the amount
of 42,474 rupees* in perpetuity, by which he alone
was to benefit; and because lie has even dared to
stand forward in an attempt to obtain our sanction,
and thereby make us parties to (in my opinion) a
false deed and fraudulent transaction, as his own
defence now shows the bill of sale and all its collateral papers to be.
"If offences of this dark tendency and magnitude
were not to be punished in a public manner, the high
* Vakeel states Mofussil Jumma, of Salbarry, for 1,191
Sa Rs. . . . 96,229
Purchase money. 53,755
Per annum, loss. 42,474
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 135
example here set the natives employed under the government by their first native officer would very soon render our authority contemptible, and operate to
the destruction of the public revenues. I will not
dwell further on the contradictions in these papers'
before us on this subject.
" But I beg leave to point out how tenacious the
government have been of insuring implicit obedience
to their rules on this subject in particular, and in
prohibiting conduct like that here exhibited against
their public officer, and how sacredly they have
viewed the public institutes on this subject, which
have been violated and trampled on; and it will suffice to show their public orders on a similar instance which happened some time ago, and which the dewan,
from his official situation, must have been a party in
detecting.
"'I desire the board's letter to the Committee on
this subject, dated the 31st May, 1782, may be read,
and a copy be annexed to this minute.
"I therefore move the board that Gunga Govind
Sing may be forthwith required to surrender the
original deeds produced by him as a title to the grant
of Salbarry, in order that they may be returned to
the Rajah's agents, to be made null and void.
" I further move the board, that the dewan, Gunga
Govind Sing, together with his naib, Prawn Kishin
Sing, his son, and all his dependants, be removed
from their offices, and that the Roy Royan, Rajah
Rajebullub, whose duty only Gunga Govind Sing virtually is to perform, be reinstated in the exercise of
the duties of his department; and that Gunga Govind
Sing be ordered to deliver up all official papers of
the circar to the Comnlitteo of Revenue and the Roy
? ? ? ? 136 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Royan, and that they be ordered accordingly to take
charge of them, and finally settle all accounts. "
This motion was overruled, and no final proceeding
appears.
My Lords, you have heard the proceedings of the
court before which Gunga Govind Sing thought proper
to appeal, in consequence of the power and protection
of Mr. Hastings being understood to exist after he
left India, and authenticated by his last parting deed
Your Lordships will judge by that last act of Mr
Hastings what the rest of his whole life was.
My Lords, I do not mean now to go further than
just to remind your Lordships of this, that Mr. Hastings's government was one whole system of oppression, of robbery of individuals, of destruction of the public, and of suppression of the whole system of the
English government, in order to vest in the worst of
the natives all the powers that could possibly exist in
any government, - in order to defeat the ends which
all governments ought in common to have in view.
Thus, my Lords, I show you at one point of view
what you are to expect from him in all the rest. I
have, I think, made out as clear as can be to your
Lordships, so far as it was necessary to go, that his
bribery and peculation was not occasional, but habitual, - that it was not urged upon him a; the moment, but was regular and systematic. I have shown to your Lordships the operation of such a system on
the revenues.
My Lords, Mr. Hastings pleads one constant merit
to justify those acts,- namely, that they produce an
increase of the public revenue; and accordingly he
never sells to any of those wicked agents any trusts
whatever in the country, that you do not hear that it
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 137
will considerably tend to the increase of the revenue.
Your Lordships will see, when he sold to wicked men
the province of Bahar in the same way in which Debi
Sing had this province of Dinagepore, that consequences of a horrid and atrocious nature, though not to so great an extent, followed from it. I will just beg
leave to state to your Lordships, that the kingdom
of Bahar is annexed to the kingdom of Bengal; that
this kingdom was governed by another Provincial
Council; that he turned out that Provincial Council,
and sold that government to two wicked men: one of
no fortune at all, and the other of a very suspicious
fortune; one a total bankrupt, the other justly excommunicated for his wickedness in his country, and then in prison for misdemeanors in a subordinate situation
of government. Mr. Hastings destroyed the Council
that imprisoned him; and, instead of putting one of
the best and most reputable of the natives to govern it, he takes out of prison this excommunicated wretch, hated by God and man,- this bankrupt, this
man of evil and desperate character, this mismanager
of the public revenue in an inferior station; and, as
he had given Bengal to Gunga Govind Sing, he gave
this province to Rajahs Kelleram and Cullian Sing.
It was done upon this principle, that they would increase and very much better the revenue. These men seemed to be as strange instruments for improving
a revenue as ever were chosen, I suppose, since the
world began. Perhaps their merit was giving a bribe
of 40,0001. to Mr. Hastings. How he disposed of it
I don't know. He says, " I disposed of it to the public, and it was in a case of emergency. " You will
see in the course of this business the falsehood of that
pretence: for you will see, though the obligation is
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