Lest these chiefs, without councils, should be conceived to form the groundplan of some future government, it was
publicly
declared that their continuance was.
Edmund Burke
To
maintain these reservoirs, and to keep up an annual
advance to the cultivators for seed and cattle, formed
a principal object of the piety and policy of the priests
and rulers of the Gentoo religion. . This object required a command of money; and
there was no pollam, or castle, which in the happy
days of the Carnatic was without some hoard of treasure, by which the governors were enabled to combat
with the irregularity of the seasons, and to resist or
to buy off the invasion of an enemy. In all the cities
were multitudes of merchants and bankers, for all
occasions of moneyed assistance; and on the other
hand, the native princes were in condition to obtain
credit from them. The manufacturer was paid by
the return of commodities,- or by imported money,
and not, as at present, in the taxes that had been
? ? ? ? 494 SPEECH ON IMR. POX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
originally exacted from his industry. In aid of casual distress, the country was full of choultries, which
were inns and hospitals, where the traveller and the
poor were relieved. All ranks of people had their
place in the public concern, and their share in the
common stock and common prosperity. But the chartered rights of men, and the right which it was thought
proper to set up in the Nabob of Arcot, introduced a
new system. It was their policy to consider hoards
of money as crimes, --to regard moderate rents as
frauds on: the sovereign, - and to view, in the lesser
princes, any claim of exemption from more than settled tribute as an act of rebellion. Accordingly, all
the castles were, one after the other, plundered and
destroyed; the native princes were expelled; the
hospitals fell to ruin; the reservoirs of water went to
decay; the merchants, bankers, and manufacturers
disappeared; and sterility, indigence, and depopulation overspread the face of these once flourishing
provinces.
The Company was very early sensible of these mischiefs, and of their true cause. They gave precise orders, " that the native princes, called polygars, should not be extirpated. " " The rebellion " (so they choose
to call it) "' of the polygars may, they fear, with too
much justice, be attributed to the maladministration
of the Nabob's collectors. " " They observe with concern, that their troops have been put to disagreeable
services. " They might have used a stronger expression without impropriety. But they make amends
in another place. Speaking of the polygars, the Directors say that " it was repugnant to humanity to
force theni to such dreadful extremities as they underwent "; that some examples of severity might be
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 495
necessary, "when they fell into the Nabob's hands,"
and not by the destruction of the country; "that they
fear his government is none of the mildest, and that
there is great oppression in collecting his revenues. "
They state, that the wars in which he has involved
the Carnatic had been a cause of its distresses;
"that these distresses have been certainly great, but
those by the Nabob's oppressions they believe to be
greater than all. " Pray, Sir, attend to the reason
for their opinion that the government of this their
instrument is more calamitous to the country than
the ravages of war:- Because, say they, his oppressions are " without intermission; the others are temporary;-by all which oppressions we believe the Nabob has great wealth in store. " From this store neither
he nor they could derive any advantage whatsoever,
upon the invasion of Hyder Ali, in the hour of their
greatest calamity and dismay.
It is now proper to compare these declarations with
the Company's conduct. The principal reason which
they assigned against the extirpation of the polygars
was, that the weavers were protected in their fortresses. They might have added, that the Company
itself, which stung them to death, had been warmed
in the bosom of these unfortunate princes: for, on the
taking of Madras by the French, it was in their hospitable pollams that most of the inhabitants found
refuge and protection. But notwithstanding all these
orders, reasons, and declarations, they at length gave
an indirect sanction, and permitted the use of a very
direct and irresistible force, to measures which they
had over and over again declared to be false policy,
cruel, inhuman, and oppressive. Having, however,
forgot all attention to the princes and the people,
? ? ? ? 496 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
they remembered that they had some sort of interest
in the trade of the country; and it is matter of curiosity to observe the protection which they afforded to
this their natural object.
Full of anxious cares on this head, they direct,
"that, in reducing the polygars, they [their servants]
were to be cautious not to deprive the weavers and
manufacturers of the protection they often met with
in the strongholds of the polygar countries"; and
they write to their instrument, the Nabob of Arcot,
concerning these poor people in a most pathetic
strain. " We entreat your Excellency," (say they,)
" i particular, to' make the manufacturers the object
of your tenderest care; particularly when you root out
the polygars, you do not deprive the weavers of the
protection they enjoyed under them. " When they root
out the protectors in favor of the oppressor, they show
themselves religiously cautious of the rights of the
protected. When they extirpate thle shepherd and
the shepherd's dog, they piously recommend the helpless flock to the mercy, and even to the tenderest care,
of the wolf. This is the uniform strain of their policy, - strictly forbidding, and at the same time strenuously encouraging and enforcing, every measure that can ruin and desolate the country committed to their
charge. After giving the Company's idea of the government of this their instrument, it may appear singular, but it is perfectly consistent with their system, that, besides wasting for him, at two different times,
the most exquisite spot upon the earth, Tanjore, and
all the adjacent countries, they have even voluntarily
put their own territory, that is, a large and fine country adjacent to Madras, called their jaghire, wholly
out of their protection, - and have continued to farm
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 497
their subjects, and their duties towards these subjects,
to that very Nabob whom they themselves constantly
represent as an habitual oppressor and a relentless
tyrant. This they have done without any pretence
of ignorance of the objects of oppression for which
this prince has thought fit to become their renter: for
he has again and again told them that it is for the
sole purpose of exercising authority he holds the jaghire lands; and he affirms (and I believe with truth) that he pays more for that territory than the revenues
yield. This deficiency he must make up from his
other: territories; and thus, in order to furnish the
means of oppressing one part of the Carnatic, he is
led to oppress all the rest.
The House perceives that the livery of the Company's government is uniform. I have described the condition of the countries indirectly, but most substantially, under the Company's authority. And now
I ask, whether, with this. map. of misgovernment before me, I can suppose myself bound by my vote to continue, upon any principles of pretended public
faith, the management of these countries inr those
hands. If I kept such a faith (which in reality is
no better than a Jides latronum) with what is called
the Company, I must break the faith, the covenant,
the solemn, original, indispensable oath, in which I
am bound, by the eternal frame and constitution of
things, to the whole human race.
As I have dwelt so long on these who are indirectly
under the Company's administration, I will endeavor
to be a little shorter upon the countries immediately
under this charter-government. These are the Bengal provinces. The condition of these provinces is pretty fully detailed in the Sixth and Ninth Reports,
VOL. II. 32
? ? ? ? 498 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
and in their Appendixes. I will select only such principles and instances as are broad and general. To
your own thoughts I shall leave it to furnish the detail of, oppressions involved in them. I shall state
to you, as shortly as I am able, the conduct of the
Company: - 1st, towards the landed interests;- next,
the commercial interests; -- 3rdly, the native government;- and lastly, to their own government.
Bengal, and the provinces that are united to it, are
larger than the kingdom of France, and once contained, as France does contain, a great and independent landed interest, composed of princes, of great lords, of a numerous nobility and gentry, of freeholders, of lower tenants, of religious communities,
and public foundations. So early as 1769, the Company's servants perceived the decay into which these
provinces had fallen under English administration,
and they made a strong representation upon this
decay, and what they apprehended to be the causes
of it. Soon after this representation, Mr. Hastings
became President of Bengal. Instead of administering a remedy to this melancholy disorder, upon the
heels of a dreadful famine, in the year 1772, the succor which the new President and the Council lent to
this afflicted nation was- shall I be believed in relating it? - the landed interest of a whole kingdom, of
a kingdom to be compared to France, was set up to
public auction! They set up (Mr. Hastings set ur)
the whole nobility, gentry, and freeholders to the
highest bidder. No preference was given to the ancient proprietors. They must bid against every usurer, every temporary adventurer, every jobber and schemer, every servant of every European, - or they
were obliged to content themselves, in lieu of their
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BIIL,. 499
extensive domains, with their house, and such a pension as the state auctioneers thought fit to assign.
In this general calamity, several of the first nobility
thought (and in all appearance justly) that they had
better submit to the necessity of this pension, than
continue, under the name of zemindars, the objects
and instruments of a system by which they ruined
their tenants and were ruined themselves. Another
reform has since come upon the back of the first;
and a pension having been assigned to these unhappy persons, in lieu of their hereditary lands, a new
scheme of economy has taken place, and deprived
them of that pension.
The menial servants of Englishmen, persons (to
use the emphatical phrase of a ruined and patient
Eastern chief) "whose fathers' they would not have
set with the dogs of their flock" entered into their
patrimonial lands. Mr. Hastings's banian was, after this auction, found possessed of territories yielding a rent of one hundred and forty thousand pounds
a year.
Such an universal proscription, upon any pretence,
has few examples. Such a proscription, without even
a pretence of delinquency, has none. It stands by itself. It stands as a monument to astonish the imagination, to confound the reason of mankind. I confess to you, when I first came to know this business in its
true nature and extent, my surprise did a little suspend my indignation. I was in a manner stupefied
by the desperate boldness of a few obscure young
men, who, having obtained, by ways which they could
not comprehend, a power of which they saw neither
the purposes nor the limits, tossed about, subverted,
and tore to pieces, as if it were in the gambols of a
? ? ? ? 500 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
boyish unluckiness and malice, the: most established
rights, and the, most ancient and most revered insti.
tutions, of:ages and nations. Sir, I will not now
trouble you with any detail with regard to what they
have since done with these same lands and landholders, only to inform you that nothing has been suffered to settle for two seasons together upon any basis, and that the levity and inconstancy of these
mock legislators were not the least afflicting parts: of
the oppressions suffered under their usurpation; nor
will anything give stability to the property of the
natives, but an' administration in- England at once
protecting and stable. The country sustains, almost
every year, the miseries of a revolution. At present,
all is uncertainty, misery, and confusion. -- Th'ere is
to be found through- these vast regions' no longer one
landed man who is a resource for voluntary aid or
an object for particular rapine. Some of them were
not long since great princes; they possessed treasures; they levied armies. 'There was a zemindar in
Bengal, (I forget his name,) that, on the threat of an
invasion, supplied the subah of these provinces with
the loan of a million sterling. The -family at this
day wants credit for a breakfast at the bazaar.
-I shall now say a word' or two on the'Company's
care of the commercial interest of those kingdoms.
As it appears in the Reports that persons in the highest stations in Bengal have adopted as a fixed plan
of policy, the destruction'of all intermediate Idealers
between the Company and the manufacturer, native
merchants have disappeared of course. The spoil of
the revenues is the sole capital which purchases the
produce and manufactures, and through three or
four foreign companies transmits the official gains of
? ? ? ? SPEECH -ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. . 501
individuals to: Europe. No other commerce has an
existence in. Bengal. The transport of its plunder is
~the only traffic-. of: the country. . I wish to refer you
to the. :Appendix lto the: Ninth: Report for a full account'of:-tlemanner. : inawhich the Company have protected'thlii. e commercial. interests, of their. dominions in the. East. i. ::kAs to -the. native- government and the administration' of justice, it subsisted. in a poor,- tottering manner f::or. 'Some':years. ' In the, year 1781: a total revolution
took place in that. . establishment. In one of the usual
freaks f::f legislation. of the Council of Bengal, the
-:whociriminal. jurisdiction- of these courts, called the
P:hujdary Judicature, exercised till then by the prin
cipal:. Mussulmen. ,- was, in one day, without notice,
without. consultation with. the magistrates or the-. people. :there:, and without communication with the Directors- or Mirnisters herei:totally subverted. A. new
intitution:took,place, by which this jurisdiction was
diide'd between certain English servants of the Com-'paiy. iand: th'Gentoo zemindars of the country, the
at-er:of who;m:- never petitioned for it, nor, for aught
thlt i"appears, -ever desired this boon. But its natural'use was:,,madae;of. it:-. . it was made a pretence for new
extortions of money.
-The natives had, however, one consolation in the
ruin'of'their judicature: they soon saw that -it fared. no better with the English' government itself. -That,
too, after. destroying' every other, came to its period.
This revolution" may well be rated for a most daring
act, even among the extraordinary things that have
been doing in Bengal since our unhappy acquisition
of the means of so much mischief.
An establishment of English government for. . -civil
? ? ? ? 502 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
justice, and for the collection of revenue, was planned
and executed by the President and Council of Bengal,
subject to the pleasure of the Directors, in the year
1772. According to this plan, the country was divided into six districts, or provinces. In each of
these was established a provincial council, which
administered the revenue; and of that council, one
member, by monthly rotation, presided in the courts
of civil resort, with an appeal to the council of the
province, and thence to Calcutta. In this system
(whether in other respects good or evil) there were
some'capital advantages. There was, in the very
number of persons in each provincial council, authority, communication, mutual check, and control.
They were obliged, on their minutes of consultation,
to enter their reasons and dissents; so that a man of
diligence, of research, and tolerable sagacity, sitting
in London, might, from these materials, be enabled
to form some judgment of the spirit of what was
going on on the furthest banks of the Ganges and
Burrampooter.
The Court of Directors so far ratified this establishment, (which was consonant enough to their general
plan of government,) that they gave precise orders
that no alteration should be made in it without their
consent. So far from being apprised of any design
against this constitution, they had reason to conceive
that on trial it had been more and more approved by
their Council-General, at least by the Governor-General, who had planned it. At the time of the revolution, the Council-General was nominally in two persons, virtually in one. At that time measures of
an arduous and critical nature ought to have been
forborne, even if, to the fullest council, this specific
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 503
measure had not been prohibited by the superior
authority. It was in this very situation that one
man had the hardiness to conceive and the temerity
to execute a total revolution in the form and the
persons composing the government of a great kingdom. Without any previous step, at one stroke, the whole constitution of Bengal, civil and criminal, was
swept away. The counsellors were recalled from
their provinces; upwards of fifty of the principal
officers of government were turned out of employ,
and rendered dependent on Mr. Hastings for their
immediate subsistence, and for all hope of future
provision. The chief of each council, and one European collector of revenue, was left in each province.
But here, Sir, you may imagine a new government, of some permanent description, was established
in the place of that which had been thus suddenlyoverturned. No such thing.
Lest these chiefs, without councils, should be conceived to form the groundplan of some future government, it was publicly declared that their continuance was. only temporary
and permissive. The whole subordinate British administration of revenue was then vested in a committee in Calcutta, all creatures of the' GovernorGeneral; and the provincial management, under the permissive chief, was delivered over to native officers.
But that the revolution and the purposes of the
revolution might be complete, to this committee were
delegated, not only the functions of all the inferior,
but, what will surprise the House, those of the supreme administration of revenue also. Hitherto the Governor-General and Council had, in their revenue
department, administered the finances of those king
? ? ? ? 504 SPEECH -ON MR. . FOX'S:EAST INDIA BILL.
doms. . By the. new scheme they are delegated to this
committee, who are only. :to report their proceedings
for approbation,.
The key to the whole transaction is given in one of
the: instructions to the committee, --" that it is not
necessary that they should enter dissents. ". By this
means the. ancient plan of the Company's administration was destroyed; but the plan of concealment was perfected. To that moment the accounts of the revenues. were tolerably clear, --or at least means were furnished for inquiries, by which they might be rendered satisfactory. In the obscure and silent gulf of
this committee everything is now buried. The thickest shades of night surround all their transactions.
No effectual means of detecting fraud, mismanagement, or misrepresentation exist. The Directors,
who have dared to talk with such confidence on their
revenues, know nothing about them. What used to
fill volumes is now comprised under a few dry heads
on a sheet of paper. The natives, a people habitually
made to concealment, are the chief managers of the
revenue throughout -the provinces. I mean by natives such wretches as your rulers select out of them
as most fitted for, their purposes. As a proper keystone to bind the arch, a native, one Gunga Govind
Sing, a man turned out of his employment by Sir
John Clavering for malversation in office, is made
the corresponding secretary, and, indeed, the great
moving principle of their new board.
As the whole revenue and civil administration was
thus subverted, and a clandestine government substituted in the place of it, the judicial institution underwent a like revolution. :In 1772 there had
been six courts, formed out of the six provincial
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. . 506
councils. . Eighteen new ones are appointed in their
place, with each a judge, taken from the junior servants of the Company. To maintain these eighteen
courts, a. tax is levied on the sums in litigation, of
two and one half per cent on the great, and of five
per cent on the less. This money is all drawn from
the provinces to Calcutta. The. chief justice (the
same who stays in defiance of a vote of this House,
and of his Majesty's recall) is appointed at once the
treasurer: and disposer of these taxes, levied without
any sort:of authority from the Company, from the
Crown, or from Parliament.
In effect, Sir, every legal, regular authority, in
matters of revenue,. of political administration, of
criminal law, of civil law, in many of the most essential parts, of military discipline, is laid level with the
ground; and an oppressive, irregular, capricious, unsteady, rapacious, and peculating despotism, with a. direct disavowal. of obedience to, any authority at home, and without! any fixed maxim, principle, or
rule. of proceeding to guide them in India, is at present the state of your charter-government over great
kingdoms.
As the Company has made this use of their trust, I
should ill discharge mine, if I refused to give my most
cheerful vote for the redress of these abuses, by putting the affairs of so large and valuable a part of the
interests of this nation and of'mankind into some
steady hands, possessing the confidence and assured
of the. support of this House, until they can be restored
to regularity, order, and consistency.
I have touched the heads of some of the grievances
of the people and the abuses of government. But I
hope. and trust you will give me credit, when I faith
? ? ? ? 506 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
fully assure you that I have not mentioned one
fourth part of what has come to my knowledge in
your committee; and further, I have full reason to
believe that not one fourth part of the abuses are
come to my knowledge, by that or by any other
means. Pray consider what I have said only as an
index to direct you in your inquiries.
If this, then, Sir, has been the use made of the trust
of political powers, internal and external, given by
you in the charter, the next thing to be seen is the
conduct of the Company with regard to the commercial trust. And here I will make a fair offer:- If it
can be proved that they have acted wisely, prudently,
and frugally, as merchants, I shall pass by the whole
mass of their enormities as statesmen. That they
have not done this their present condition is proof
sufficient. Their distresses are said to be owing to
their wars. This is not wholly true. But if it were,
is not that readiness to engage in wars, which distinguishes them, and for which the Committee of Secrecy has so branded their politics, founded on the falsest
principles of mercantile speculation?
The principle of buying cheap and selling dear is
the first, the great foundation of mercantile dealing.
Have they ever attended to this principle? Nay, for
years have they not actually authorized in their servants a total indifference as to the prices they were
to pay?
A great deal of strictness in driving bargains for
whatever we contract is another of the principles of
mercantile policy. Try the Company by that test.
Look at the contracts that are made for them. Is
the Company so much as a good commissary to their
own armies? I engage to select for you, out of the
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 507 innumerable mass of their dealings, all conducted very nearly alike, one contract only the excessive profits on which during a short term would pay the whole of their year's dividend. I shall undertake
to show that upon two others the inordinate profits
given, with the losses incurred in order to secure
those profits, would pay a year's dividend more.
It is a third property of trading-men to see that
their clerks do not divert the dealings of the master
to their own benefit. It was the other day only,
when their Governor and Council taxed the Company's investment with a sum of fifty thousand pounds, as an inducement to persuade only seven
members of their Board of Trade to give their honor that they would abstain from such profits upon that investment, as they must have violated their oaths, if they had made at all.
It is a fourth quality of a merchant to be exact in
his accounts. What will be thought, when you have
fully before you the mode of accounting made use of
in the Treasury of Bengal? I hope you will have it
soon. With regard to one of their agencies, when it
came to the material part, the prime cost of the goods
on which a commission of fifteen per cent was allowed, to the astonishment of the factory to whom the commodities were sent, the Accountant-General reports that he did not think himself authorized to call for vouchers relative to this and other particulars, -
because the agent was upon his honor with regard to
them. A new principle of account upon honor seems
to be regularly established in their dealings and their
treasury, which in reality amounts to an entire annihilation of the principle of all accounts.
It is a fifth property of a merchant, who does not
? ? ? ? 508 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA. BILL.
meditate a fraudulent bankruptcy, to calculate his
probable profits. upon the. money he takes up to vest
in business. Did the Company,:when they bought
goods on bonds bearing eight per cent interest, at
ten and even twenty per cent discount, even ask
themselves a question concerning the possibility of
advantage from dealing on these terms?
The last quality of a merchant I shall advert to is
the taking care. to be properly prepared, in cash or
goods in the ordinary course of sale, for the. bills
which are drawn on them. Now I ask, whether they
have ever calculated the clear produce of any given
sales, to make them tally with the four million of
bills which are come and coming upon them, so as
at the proper periods to enable the one to liquidate
the other. No, they have not. They are now obliged
to borrow money of their own servants to purchase
their investment. The servants stipulate five per
cent on the capital they advance, if their bills. should
not be paid at. the time when they become due; and
the value of the rupee on which they charge this interest is taken, at two shillings and. a penny. Has the
Company ever troubled themselves to inquire whether
their sales can bear the payment of that interest, and
at that rate of exchange? Have they once considered
the dilemma in which they are placed, - the ruin of
their credit in the East Indies, if they refuse the bills,
- the ruin. of their credit and existence in England,
if they accept them?
Indeed, no trace of equitable government is found
in their politics,not one trace of commercial principle
in their mercantile dealing: and hence is the deepest and maturest, -wisdom of Parliament demanded, and the best resources of this kingdom must be
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 509
strained, to' restore them,- that is, to restore -the
countries destroyed by the misconduct of the Company, and to restore the. Company itself, ruined by the consequences of their plans for destroying what
they were bound to preserve.
I required, if you: remember, at my outset, a proof
that these abuses were habitual. 'But surely this is
not: necessary for me to consider as:a separate head';
because I trust: I have madeit evident beyond a doubt,
in considering the abuses themselves, that they are
regular,:permanent, and systematical.
J:I am,now come:to my last condition, without
which, for one, I will never readily-lend:my hand to
the. destruction of any established government, which
is,. :that, in its present. state, the government of the
East India Company is absolutely incorrigible.
Of this great truth. I think there can be little' doubt,
after all that has appeared in this Eouse. It is so
very. clear,'that I'. must consider the leaving any
power in. their; hands, and the determined resolution
to. . . :continue and countenance every mode and every
degree of peculation, oppression, and tyranny, to be
one and the same'thing. I look, upon that body incorrigible, from the fullest consideration both of their uniform conduct and their present real and'virtual
constitution.
If. they had not constantly been apprised of all the
enormities -committed in India under their authority,
if this state of things had been as much a discovery to
them as,'it was. to many of us, we might flatter ourselves that the detection of the abuses would lead to their reformation. I will go further. If the Court
of Directors had not uniformly condemned every
act which this House or any of its committees had
? ? ? ? 510 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
condemned, if the language in which they expret;sed
their disapprobation against enormities and their authors had not been much more vehement and indignant than any ever used in this House, I should entertain some hopes. If they had not, on the other
hand, as uniformly commended all their servants who
had done their duty and obeyed their orders as they
had heavily censured those who rebelled, I might
say, These people have been in an error, and when
they are sensible of it they will mend. But when I
reflect on' the uniformity of their- support to the objects of their uniform censure, and the state of insignificance and disgrace to which all of those have been reduced whom they approved, and that even utter
ruin and premature death have been among the fruits
of their favor, I must be convinced, that in this case,
as in all others, hypocrisy is the only vice that never
can be cured.
Attend, I pray you, to the situation and prosperity
of Benfield, Hastings, and others of that sort. The
last of these has been treated by the Company with an
asperity of reprehension that has no parallel. They
lament "' that the power of disposing of their property
for perpetuity should fall into such hands. " Yet for
fourteen years, with little interruption, he has governed all their affairs, of every description, with an
absolute sway. He has had himself the means of
heaping up immense wealth; and duiring that whole
period, the fortunes of hundreds have depended on
his smiles and frowns. He himself tells you he is
incumbered with two hundred and fifty young gentlemen, some of them of the best families in England,
all of whom aim at returning with vast fortunes to
Europe in the prime of life. He has, then, two hun
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 511
dred and fifty of your children as his hostages for
your good behavior; and loaded for years, as he
has been, with the execrations of the natives, with
the censures of the. Court of Directors, and struck
and blasted with resolutions of this House, he still
maintains the most despotic. power ever known in
India. He domineers with an overbearing sway in
the assemblies of his pretended masters; and it is
thought in a degree rash to venture to name his
offences in this House, even as grounds of a legislative remedy.
On the other hand, consider the fate of those who
have met with the applauses of the Directors. Colonel Monson, one of the best of men, had his days
shortened by the applauses, destitute of the support,
of the Company. General Clavering, whose panegyric was made in every dispatch from England,
whose hearse was bedewed with the tears and hung
round with the eulogies of the Court of Directors,
burst an honest and indignant heart at the treachery
of those who ruined him by their praises. Uncommon patience. and temper supported Mr. Francis a
while longer under the baneful influence of the commendation of the Court of Directors. His health,
however, gave way at length; and in utter despair,
he returned to Europe. At his return, the doors of
the. India House were shut to this man who had been
the object of their, constant admiration. He has, indeed, escaped with life; but he has forfeited all expectation of credit, consequence, party, and following. He may well say, "Me nemo ministro fur erit, atque
ideo nulli comes exeo. " This man, whose deep reach
of thought, whose large legislative conceptions, and
whose grand plans of policy make the most shining
? ? ? ? 512 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
part of our Reports, from whence we have all learned
our lessons, if we have learned any good ones, - this
man, from whose materials those gentlemen who
have least acknowledged it have yet spoken as from
a brief, -this man, driven from his employment, discountenanced by the Directors, has had no other reward, and no other distinction, but that inward
" sunshine of the soul " which a good conscience can
always bestow upon itself. He has not yet had so
much as a good word, but from a person too insignificant to make any other return for the means with which he has been furnished for performing his share
of a duty which is equally urgent on us all.
Add to this, that, from the highest in place to the
lowest, every British subject; who, in obedience to
the Company's orders, has been active in the discovery of peculations, has been ruined. They have been driven from India. When they made their appeal at
home, they were not heard; when they attempted to
return, they were stopped. No artifice of fraud, no
violence of. power, has been omitted to destroy them
in character as well as in fortune.
Worse, far worse, has been the fate of the poor
creatures, the natives of India, whom the hypocrisy
of the Company has betrayed into complaint of oppression and discovery of peculation. The first women
in Bengal, the Ranny of Rajeshahi, the Ranny of
Burdwan, the Ranny of Ambooah, by their weak and
thoughtless trust in. the Company's honor and protection, are utterly ruined: the first of these women,
a person of princely rank, and once of correspondent
fortune, who -paid above two hundred thousand a year
quit-rentto the state, is, according to very credible information, so completely beggared as to stand in need
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
maintain these reservoirs, and to keep up an annual
advance to the cultivators for seed and cattle, formed
a principal object of the piety and policy of the priests
and rulers of the Gentoo religion. . This object required a command of money; and
there was no pollam, or castle, which in the happy
days of the Carnatic was without some hoard of treasure, by which the governors were enabled to combat
with the irregularity of the seasons, and to resist or
to buy off the invasion of an enemy. In all the cities
were multitudes of merchants and bankers, for all
occasions of moneyed assistance; and on the other
hand, the native princes were in condition to obtain
credit from them. The manufacturer was paid by
the return of commodities,- or by imported money,
and not, as at present, in the taxes that had been
? ? ? ? 494 SPEECH ON IMR. POX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
originally exacted from his industry. In aid of casual distress, the country was full of choultries, which
were inns and hospitals, where the traveller and the
poor were relieved. All ranks of people had their
place in the public concern, and their share in the
common stock and common prosperity. But the chartered rights of men, and the right which it was thought
proper to set up in the Nabob of Arcot, introduced a
new system. It was their policy to consider hoards
of money as crimes, --to regard moderate rents as
frauds on: the sovereign, - and to view, in the lesser
princes, any claim of exemption from more than settled tribute as an act of rebellion. Accordingly, all
the castles were, one after the other, plundered and
destroyed; the native princes were expelled; the
hospitals fell to ruin; the reservoirs of water went to
decay; the merchants, bankers, and manufacturers
disappeared; and sterility, indigence, and depopulation overspread the face of these once flourishing
provinces.
The Company was very early sensible of these mischiefs, and of their true cause. They gave precise orders, " that the native princes, called polygars, should not be extirpated. " " The rebellion " (so they choose
to call it) "' of the polygars may, they fear, with too
much justice, be attributed to the maladministration
of the Nabob's collectors. " " They observe with concern, that their troops have been put to disagreeable
services. " They might have used a stronger expression without impropriety. But they make amends
in another place. Speaking of the polygars, the Directors say that " it was repugnant to humanity to
force theni to such dreadful extremities as they underwent "; that some examples of severity might be
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 495
necessary, "when they fell into the Nabob's hands,"
and not by the destruction of the country; "that they
fear his government is none of the mildest, and that
there is great oppression in collecting his revenues. "
They state, that the wars in which he has involved
the Carnatic had been a cause of its distresses;
"that these distresses have been certainly great, but
those by the Nabob's oppressions they believe to be
greater than all. " Pray, Sir, attend to the reason
for their opinion that the government of this their
instrument is more calamitous to the country than
the ravages of war:- Because, say they, his oppressions are " without intermission; the others are temporary;-by all which oppressions we believe the Nabob has great wealth in store. " From this store neither
he nor they could derive any advantage whatsoever,
upon the invasion of Hyder Ali, in the hour of their
greatest calamity and dismay.
It is now proper to compare these declarations with
the Company's conduct. The principal reason which
they assigned against the extirpation of the polygars
was, that the weavers were protected in their fortresses. They might have added, that the Company
itself, which stung them to death, had been warmed
in the bosom of these unfortunate princes: for, on the
taking of Madras by the French, it was in their hospitable pollams that most of the inhabitants found
refuge and protection. But notwithstanding all these
orders, reasons, and declarations, they at length gave
an indirect sanction, and permitted the use of a very
direct and irresistible force, to measures which they
had over and over again declared to be false policy,
cruel, inhuman, and oppressive. Having, however,
forgot all attention to the princes and the people,
? ? ? ? 496 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
they remembered that they had some sort of interest
in the trade of the country; and it is matter of curiosity to observe the protection which they afforded to
this their natural object.
Full of anxious cares on this head, they direct,
"that, in reducing the polygars, they [their servants]
were to be cautious not to deprive the weavers and
manufacturers of the protection they often met with
in the strongholds of the polygar countries"; and
they write to their instrument, the Nabob of Arcot,
concerning these poor people in a most pathetic
strain. " We entreat your Excellency," (say they,)
" i particular, to' make the manufacturers the object
of your tenderest care; particularly when you root out
the polygars, you do not deprive the weavers of the
protection they enjoyed under them. " When they root
out the protectors in favor of the oppressor, they show
themselves religiously cautious of the rights of the
protected. When they extirpate thle shepherd and
the shepherd's dog, they piously recommend the helpless flock to the mercy, and even to the tenderest care,
of the wolf. This is the uniform strain of their policy, - strictly forbidding, and at the same time strenuously encouraging and enforcing, every measure that can ruin and desolate the country committed to their
charge. After giving the Company's idea of the government of this their instrument, it may appear singular, but it is perfectly consistent with their system, that, besides wasting for him, at two different times,
the most exquisite spot upon the earth, Tanjore, and
all the adjacent countries, they have even voluntarily
put their own territory, that is, a large and fine country adjacent to Madras, called their jaghire, wholly
out of their protection, - and have continued to farm
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 497
their subjects, and their duties towards these subjects,
to that very Nabob whom they themselves constantly
represent as an habitual oppressor and a relentless
tyrant. This they have done without any pretence
of ignorance of the objects of oppression for which
this prince has thought fit to become their renter: for
he has again and again told them that it is for the
sole purpose of exercising authority he holds the jaghire lands; and he affirms (and I believe with truth) that he pays more for that territory than the revenues
yield. This deficiency he must make up from his
other: territories; and thus, in order to furnish the
means of oppressing one part of the Carnatic, he is
led to oppress all the rest.
The House perceives that the livery of the Company's government is uniform. I have described the condition of the countries indirectly, but most substantially, under the Company's authority. And now
I ask, whether, with this. map. of misgovernment before me, I can suppose myself bound by my vote to continue, upon any principles of pretended public
faith, the management of these countries inr those
hands. If I kept such a faith (which in reality is
no better than a Jides latronum) with what is called
the Company, I must break the faith, the covenant,
the solemn, original, indispensable oath, in which I
am bound, by the eternal frame and constitution of
things, to the whole human race.
As I have dwelt so long on these who are indirectly
under the Company's administration, I will endeavor
to be a little shorter upon the countries immediately
under this charter-government. These are the Bengal provinces. The condition of these provinces is pretty fully detailed in the Sixth and Ninth Reports,
VOL. II. 32
? ? ? ? 498 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
and in their Appendixes. I will select only such principles and instances as are broad and general. To
your own thoughts I shall leave it to furnish the detail of, oppressions involved in them. I shall state
to you, as shortly as I am able, the conduct of the
Company: - 1st, towards the landed interests;- next,
the commercial interests; -- 3rdly, the native government;- and lastly, to their own government.
Bengal, and the provinces that are united to it, are
larger than the kingdom of France, and once contained, as France does contain, a great and independent landed interest, composed of princes, of great lords, of a numerous nobility and gentry, of freeholders, of lower tenants, of religious communities,
and public foundations. So early as 1769, the Company's servants perceived the decay into which these
provinces had fallen under English administration,
and they made a strong representation upon this
decay, and what they apprehended to be the causes
of it. Soon after this representation, Mr. Hastings
became President of Bengal. Instead of administering a remedy to this melancholy disorder, upon the
heels of a dreadful famine, in the year 1772, the succor which the new President and the Council lent to
this afflicted nation was- shall I be believed in relating it? - the landed interest of a whole kingdom, of
a kingdom to be compared to France, was set up to
public auction! They set up (Mr. Hastings set ur)
the whole nobility, gentry, and freeholders to the
highest bidder. No preference was given to the ancient proprietors. They must bid against every usurer, every temporary adventurer, every jobber and schemer, every servant of every European, - or they
were obliged to content themselves, in lieu of their
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BIIL,. 499
extensive domains, with their house, and such a pension as the state auctioneers thought fit to assign.
In this general calamity, several of the first nobility
thought (and in all appearance justly) that they had
better submit to the necessity of this pension, than
continue, under the name of zemindars, the objects
and instruments of a system by which they ruined
their tenants and were ruined themselves. Another
reform has since come upon the back of the first;
and a pension having been assigned to these unhappy persons, in lieu of their hereditary lands, a new
scheme of economy has taken place, and deprived
them of that pension.
The menial servants of Englishmen, persons (to
use the emphatical phrase of a ruined and patient
Eastern chief) "whose fathers' they would not have
set with the dogs of their flock" entered into their
patrimonial lands. Mr. Hastings's banian was, after this auction, found possessed of territories yielding a rent of one hundred and forty thousand pounds
a year.
Such an universal proscription, upon any pretence,
has few examples. Such a proscription, without even
a pretence of delinquency, has none. It stands by itself. It stands as a monument to astonish the imagination, to confound the reason of mankind. I confess to you, when I first came to know this business in its
true nature and extent, my surprise did a little suspend my indignation. I was in a manner stupefied
by the desperate boldness of a few obscure young
men, who, having obtained, by ways which they could
not comprehend, a power of which they saw neither
the purposes nor the limits, tossed about, subverted,
and tore to pieces, as if it were in the gambols of a
? ? ? ? 500 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
boyish unluckiness and malice, the: most established
rights, and the, most ancient and most revered insti.
tutions, of:ages and nations. Sir, I will not now
trouble you with any detail with regard to what they
have since done with these same lands and landholders, only to inform you that nothing has been suffered to settle for two seasons together upon any basis, and that the levity and inconstancy of these
mock legislators were not the least afflicting parts: of
the oppressions suffered under their usurpation; nor
will anything give stability to the property of the
natives, but an' administration in- England at once
protecting and stable. The country sustains, almost
every year, the miseries of a revolution. At present,
all is uncertainty, misery, and confusion. -- Th'ere is
to be found through- these vast regions' no longer one
landed man who is a resource for voluntary aid or
an object for particular rapine. Some of them were
not long since great princes; they possessed treasures; they levied armies. 'There was a zemindar in
Bengal, (I forget his name,) that, on the threat of an
invasion, supplied the subah of these provinces with
the loan of a million sterling. The -family at this
day wants credit for a breakfast at the bazaar.
-I shall now say a word' or two on the'Company's
care of the commercial interest of those kingdoms.
As it appears in the Reports that persons in the highest stations in Bengal have adopted as a fixed plan
of policy, the destruction'of all intermediate Idealers
between the Company and the manufacturer, native
merchants have disappeared of course. The spoil of
the revenues is the sole capital which purchases the
produce and manufactures, and through three or
four foreign companies transmits the official gains of
? ? ? ? SPEECH -ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. . 501
individuals to: Europe. No other commerce has an
existence in. Bengal. The transport of its plunder is
~the only traffic-. of: the country. . I wish to refer you
to the. :Appendix lto the: Ninth: Report for a full account'of:-tlemanner. : inawhich the Company have protected'thlii. e commercial. interests, of their. dominions in the. East. i. ::kAs to -the. native- government and the administration' of justice, it subsisted. in a poor,- tottering manner f::or. 'Some':years. ' In the, year 1781: a total revolution
took place in that. . establishment. In one of the usual
freaks f::f legislation. of the Council of Bengal, the
-:whociriminal. jurisdiction- of these courts, called the
P:hujdary Judicature, exercised till then by the prin
cipal:. Mussulmen. ,- was, in one day, without notice,
without. consultation with. the magistrates or the-. people. :there:, and without communication with the Directors- or Mirnisters herei:totally subverted. A. new
intitution:took,place, by which this jurisdiction was
diide'd between certain English servants of the Com-'paiy. iand: th'Gentoo zemindars of the country, the
at-er:of who;m:- never petitioned for it, nor, for aught
thlt i"appears, -ever desired this boon. But its natural'use was:,,madae;of. it:-. . it was made a pretence for new
extortions of money.
-The natives had, however, one consolation in the
ruin'of'their judicature: they soon saw that -it fared. no better with the English' government itself. -That,
too, after. destroying' every other, came to its period.
This revolution" may well be rated for a most daring
act, even among the extraordinary things that have
been doing in Bengal since our unhappy acquisition
of the means of so much mischief.
An establishment of English government for. . -civil
? ? ? ? 502 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
justice, and for the collection of revenue, was planned
and executed by the President and Council of Bengal,
subject to the pleasure of the Directors, in the year
1772. According to this plan, the country was divided into six districts, or provinces. In each of
these was established a provincial council, which
administered the revenue; and of that council, one
member, by monthly rotation, presided in the courts
of civil resort, with an appeal to the council of the
province, and thence to Calcutta. In this system
(whether in other respects good or evil) there were
some'capital advantages. There was, in the very
number of persons in each provincial council, authority, communication, mutual check, and control.
They were obliged, on their minutes of consultation,
to enter their reasons and dissents; so that a man of
diligence, of research, and tolerable sagacity, sitting
in London, might, from these materials, be enabled
to form some judgment of the spirit of what was
going on on the furthest banks of the Ganges and
Burrampooter.
The Court of Directors so far ratified this establishment, (which was consonant enough to their general
plan of government,) that they gave precise orders
that no alteration should be made in it without their
consent. So far from being apprised of any design
against this constitution, they had reason to conceive
that on trial it had been more and more approved by
their Council-General, at least by the Governor-General, who had planned it. At the time of the revolution, the Council-General was nominally in two persons, virtually in one. At that time measures of
an arduous and critical nature ought to have been
forborne, even if, to the fullest council, this specific
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 503
measure had not been prohibited by the superior
authority. It was in this very situation that one
man had the hardiness to conceive and the temerity
to execute a total revolution in the form and the
persons composing the government of a great kingdom. Without any previous step, at one stroke, the whole constitution of Bengal, civil and criminal, was
swept away. The counsellors were recalled from
their provinces; upwards of fifty of the principal
officers of government were turned out of employ,
and rendered dependent on Mr. Hastings for their
immediate subsistence, and for all hope of future
provision. The chief of each council, and one European collector of revenue, was left in each province.
But here, Sir, you may imagine a new government, of some permanent description, was established
in the place of that which had been thus suddenlyoverturned. No such thing.
Lest these chiefs, without councils, should be conceived to form the groundplan of some future government, it was publicly declared that their continuance was. only temporary
and permissive. The whole subordinate British administration of revenue was then vested in a committee in Calcutta, all creatures of the' GovernorGeneral; and the provincial management, under the permissive chief, was delivered over to native officers.
But that the revolution and the purposes of the
revolution might be complete, to this committee were
delegated, not only the functions of all the inferior,
but, what will surprise the House, those of the supreme administration of revenue also. Hitherto the Governor-General and Council had, in their revenue
department, administered the finances of those king
? ? ? ? 504 SPEECH -ON MR. . FOX'S:EAST INDIA BILL.
doms. . By the. new scheme they are delegated to this
committee, who are only. :to report their proceedings
for approbation,.
The key to the whole transaction is given in one of
the: instructions to the committee, --" that it is not
necessary that they should enter dissents. ". By this
means the. ancient plan of the Company's administration was destroyed; but the plan of concealment was perfected. To that moment the accounts of the revenues. were tolerably clear, --or at least means were furnished for inquiries, by which they might be rendered satisfactory. In the obscure and silent gulf of
this committee everything is now buried. The thickest shades of night surround all their transactions.
No effectual means of detecting fraud, mismanagement, or misrepresentation exist. The Directors,
who have dared to talk with such confidence on their
revenues, know nothing about them. What used to
fill volumes is now comprised under a few dry heads
on a sheet of paper. The natives, a people habitually
made to concealment, are the chief managers of the
revenue throughout -the provinces. I mean by natives such wretches as your rulers select out of them
as most fitted for, their purposes. As a proper keystone to bind the arch, a native, one Gunga Govind
Sing, a man turned out of his employment by Sir
John Clavering for malversation in office, is made
the corresponding secretary, and, indeed, the great
moving principle of their new board.
As the whole revenue and civil administration was
thus subverted, and a clandestine government substituted in the place of it, the judicial institution underwent a like revolution. :In 1772 there had
been six courts, formed out of the six provincial
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. . 506
councils. . Eighteen new ones are appointed in their
place, with each a judge, taken from the junior servants of the Company. To maintain these eighteen
courts, a. tax is levied on the sums in litigation, of
two and one half per cent on the great, and of five
per cent on the less. This money is all drawn from
the provinces to Calcutta. The. chief justice (the
same who stays in defiance of a vote of this House,
and of his Majesty's recall) is appointed at once the
treasurer: and disposer of these taxes, levied without
any sort:of authority from the Company, from the
Crown, or from Parliament.
In effect, Sir, every legal, regular authority, in
matters of revenue,. of political administration, of
criminal law, of civil law, in many of the most essential parts, of military discipline, is laid level with the
ground; and an oppressive, irregular, capricious, unsteady, rapacious, and peculating despotism, with a. direct disavowal. of obedience to, any authority at home, and without! any fixed maxim, principle, or
rule. of proceeding to guide them in India, is at present the state of your charter-government over great
kingdoms.
As the Company has made this use of their trust, I
should ill discharge mine, if I refused to give my most
cheerful vote for the redress of these abuses, by putting the affairs of so large and valuable a part of the
interests of this nation and of'mankind into some
steady hands, possessing the confidence and assured
of the. support of this House, until they can be restored
to regularity, order, and consistency.
I have touched the heads of some of the grievances
of the people and the abuses of government. But I
hope. and trust you will give me credit, when I faith
? ? ? ? 506 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
fully assure you that I have not mentioned one
fourth part of what has come to my knowledge in
your committee; and further, I have full reason to
believe that not one fourth part of the abuses are
come to my knowledge, by that or by any other
means. Pray consider what I have said only as an
index to direct you in your inquiries.
If this, then, Sir, has been the use made of the trust
of political powers, internal and external, given by
you in the charter, the next thing to be seen is the
conduct of the Company with regard to the commercial trust. And here I will make a fair offer:- If it
can be proved that they have acted wisely, prudently,
and frugally, as merchants, I shall pass by the whole
mass of their enormities as statesmen. That they
have not done this their present condition is proof
sufficient. Their distresses are said to be owing to
their wars. This is not wholly true. But if it were,
is not that readiness to engage in wars, which distinguishes them, and for which the Committee of Secrecy has so branded their politics, founded on the falsest
principles of mercantile speculation?
The principle of buying cheap and selling dear is
the first, the great foundation of mercantile dealing.
Have they ever attended to this principle? Nay, for
years have they not actually authorized in their servants a total indifference as to the prices they were
to pay?
A great deal of strictness in driving bargains for
whatever we contract is another of the principles of
mercantile policy. Try the Company by that test.
Look at the contracts that are made for them. Is
the Company so much as a good commissary to their
own armies? I engage to select for you, out of the
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 507 innumerable mass of their dealings, all conducted very nearly alike, one contract only the excessive profits on which during a short term would pay the whole of their year's dividend. I shall undertake
to show that upon two others the inordinate profits
given, with the losses incurred in order to secure
those profits, would pay a year's dividend more.
It is a third property of trading-men to see that
their clerks do not divert the dealings of the master
to their own benefit. It was the other day only,
when their Governor and Council taxed the Company's investment with a sum of fifty thousand pounds, as an inducement to persuade only seven
members of their Board of Trade to give their honor that they would abstain from such profits upon that investment, as they must have violated their oaths, if they had made at all.
It is a fourth quality of a merchant to be exact in
his accounts. What will be thought, when you have
fully before you the mode of accounting made use of
in the Treasury of Bengal? I hope you will have it
soon. With regard to one of their agencies, when it
came to the material part, the prime cost of the goods
on which a commission of fifteen per cent was allowed, to the astonishment of the factory to whom the commodities were sent, the Accountant-General reports that he did not think himself authorized to call for vouchers relative to this and other particulars, -
because the agent was upon his honor with regard to
them. A new principle of account upon honor seems
to be regularly established in their dealings and their
treasury, which in reality amounts to an entire annihilation of the principle of all accounts.
It is a fifth property of a merchant, who does not
? ? ? ? 508 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA. BILL.
meditate a fraudulent bankruptcy, to calculate his
probable profits. upon the. money he takes up to vest
in business. Did the Company,:when they bought
goods on bonds bearing eight per cent interest, at
ten and even twenty per cent discount, even ask
themselves a question concerning the possibility of
advantage from dealing on these terms?
The last quality of a merchant I shall advert to is
the taking care. to be properly prepared, in cash or
goods in the ordinary course of sale, for the. bills
which are drawn on them. Now I ask, whether they
have ever calculated the clear produce of any given
sales, to make them tally with the four million of
bills which are come and coming upon them, so as
at the proper periods to enable the one to liquidate
the other. No, they have not. They are now obliged
to borrow money of their own servants to purchase
their investment. The servants stipulate five per
cent on the capital they advance, if their bills. should
not be paid at. the time when they become due; and
the value of the rupee on which they charge this interest is taken, at two shillings and. a penny. Has the
Company ever troubled themselves to inquire whether
their sales can bear the payment of that interest, and
at that rate of exchange? Have they once considered
the dilemma in which they are placed, - the ruin of
their credit in the East Indies, if they refuse the bills,
- the ruin. of their credit and existence in England,
if they accept them?
Indeed, no trace of equitable government is found
in their politics,not one trace of commercial principle
in their mercantile dealing: and hence is the deepest and maturest, -wisdom of Parliament demanded, and the best resources of this kingdom must be
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 509
strained, to' restore them,- that is, to restore -the
countries destroyed by the misconduct of the Company, and to restore the. Company itself, ruined by the consequences of their plans for destroying what
they were bound to preserve.
I required, if you: remember, at my outset, a proof
that these abuses were habitual. 'But surely this is
not: necessary for me to consider as:a separate head';
because I trust: I have madeit evident beyond a doubt,
in considering the abuses themselves, that they are
regular,:permanent, and systematical.
J:I am,now come:to my last condition, without
which, for one, I will never readily-lend:my hand to
the. destruction of any established government, which
is,. :that, in its present. state, the government of the
East India Company is absolutely incorrigible.
Of this great truth. I think there can be little' doubt,
after all that has appeared in this Eouse. It is so
very. clear,'that I'. must consider the leaving any
power in. their; hands, and the determined resolution
to. . . :continue and countenance every mode and every
degree of peculation, oppression, and tyranny, to be
one and the same'thing. I look, upon that body incorrigible, from the fullest consideration both of their uniform conduct and their present real and'virtual
constitution.
If. they had not constantly been apprised of all the
enormities -committed in India under their authority,
if this state of things had been as much a discovery to
them as,'it was. to many of us, we might flatter ourselves that the detection of the abuses would lead to their reformation. I will go further. If the Court
of Directors had not uniformly condemned every
act which this House or any of its committees had
? ? ? ? 510 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
condemned, if the language in which they expret;sed
their disapprobation against enormities and their authors had not been much more vehement and indignant than any ever used in this House, I should entertain some hopes. If they had not, on the other
hand, as uniformly commended all their servants who
had done their duty and obeyed their orders as they
had heavily censured those who rebelled, I might
say, These people have been in an error, and when
they are sensible of it they will mend. But when I
reflect on' the uniformity of their- support to the objects of their uniform censure, and the state of insignificance and disgrace to which all of those have been reduced whom they approved, and that even utter
ruin and premature death have been among the fruits
of their favor, I must be convinced, that in this case,
as in all others, hypocrisy is the only vice that never
can be cured.
Attend, I pray you, to the situation and prosperity
of Benfield, Hastings, and others of that sort. The
last of these has been treated by the Company with an
asperity of reprehension that has no parallel. They
lament "' that the power of disposing of their property
for perpetuity should fall into such hands. " Yet for
fourteen years, with little interruption, he has governed all their affairs, of every description, with an
absolute sway. He has had himself the means of
heaping up immense wealth; and duiring that whole
period, the fortunes of hundreds have depended on
his smiles and frowns. He himself tells you he is
incumbered with two hundred and fifty young gentlemen, some of them of the best families in England,
all of whom aim at returning with vast fortunes to
Europe in the prime of life. He has, then, two hun
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 511
dred and fifty of your children as his hostages for
your good behavior; and loaded for years, as he
has been, with the execrations of the natives, with
the censures of the. Court of Directors, and struck
and blasted with resolutions of this House, he still
maintains the most despotic. power ever known in
India. He domineers with an overbearing sway in
the assemblies of his pretended masters; and it is
thought in a degree rash to venture to name his
offences in this House, even as grounds of a legislative remedy.
On the other hand, consider the fate of those who
have met with the applauses of the Directors. Colonel Monson, one of the best of men, had his days
shortened by the applauses, destitute of the support,
of the Company. General Clavering, whose panegyric was made in every dispatch from England,
whose hearse was bedewed with the tears and hung
round with the eulogies of the Court of Directors,
burst an honest and indignant heart at the treachery
of those who ruined him by their praises. Uncommon patience. and temper supported Mr. Francis a
while longer under the baneful influence of the commendation of the Court of Directors. His health,
however, gave way at length; and in utter despair,
he returned to Europe. At his return, the doors of
the. India House were shut to this man who had been
the object of their, constant admiration. He has, indeed, escaped with life; but he has forfeited all expectation of credit, consequence, party, and following. He may well say, "Me nemo ministro fur erit, atque
ideo nulli comes exeo. " This man, whose deep reach
of thought, whose large legislative conceptions, and
whose grand plans of policy make the most shining
? ? ? ? 512 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
part of our Reports, from whence we have all learned
our lessons, if we have learned any good ones, - this
man, from whose materials those gentlemen who
have least acknowledged it have yet spoken as from
a brief, -this man, driven from his employment, discountenanced by the Directors, has had no other reward, and no other distinction, but that inward
" sunshine of the soul " which a good conscience can
always bestow upon itself. He has not yet had so
much as a good word, but from a person too insignificant to make any other return for the means with which he has been furnished for performing his share
of a duty which is equally urgent on us all.
Add to this, that, from the highest in place to the
lowest, every British subject; who, in obedience to
the Company's orders, has been active in the discovery of peculations, has been ruined. They have been driven from India. When they made their appeal at
home, they were not heard; when they attempted to
return, they were stopped. No artifice of fraud, no
violence of. power, has been omitted to destroy them
in character as well as in fortune.
Worse, far worse, has been the fate of the poor
creatures, the natives of India, whom the hypocrisy
of the Company has betrayed into complaint of oppression and discovery of peculation. The first women
in Bengal, the Ranny of Rajeshahi, the Ranny of
Burdwan, the Ranny of Ambooah, by their weak and
thoughtless trust in. the Company's honor and protection, are utterly ruined: the first of these women,
a person of princely rank, and once of correspondent
fortune, who -paid above two hundred thousand a year
quit-rentto the state, is, according to very credible information, so completely beggared as to stand in need
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
