Still the terms of the bond were
insisted
on, although
Mr.
Mr.
Edmund Burke
SPEECH IN REPLY.
THIRD DAY.
333
vent any abuses or irregularities in the others, and
together form a system of reciprocal checks. Upon
that principle, I desire you will in particular establish, under whatever names, one office of receipts,
and another of treasury. The officers of both must
be responsible for the truth and regularity of their
respective accounts, but not subject in the statement
of them to the control or interference of the Rajah or
Naib; nor should they be removable at pleasure, but
for manifest misconduct only. At the head of one
or other of these offices I could wish- to see the late
Buckshee, Rogoober Dyall. His conduct in his
former office, his behavior on the revolt of Cheyt
Sing, and particularly at the fall of Bidjegur, together with his general character, prove him worthy
of employment, and of the notice of our government.
It is possible that he may have objections to holding
al office under the present Rajah: offer him one, however, and let him know that you do so by my directions. " He then goes on to say, -"Do not wholly neglect the Rajah; consult with him in appearance,
but in appearance only. His situation requires that
you should do that much; but his youth and inexperience forbid that you should do more. "
You see, my Lords, he has completely put the
whole government into the hands of a man who had
no name, character, or official situation, but that of
the Company's Resident at that place. Let us now
see what is the office of a Resident. It is to reside
at the court of the native prince, to give the Council
notice of the transactions that are going on there, and
to take care that the tribute be regularly paid, kist
by kist. 'But we have seen that Mr. Markham, the
Resident at Benares, was invested by Mr. Hastings
? ? ? ? 334 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
with supreme authority in this unhappy country.
He was to name whoever he pleased to its government, with the exception of Ussaun Sing, and to
drive out the person who had possessed it under an
authority which could only be revoked by the Council. Thus Mr. Hastings delegated to Mr. Markham
an authority which he himself did not really possess,
and which could only be legally exercised through
the medium of the Council.
With respect to Durbege Sing, he adds, - He has
dishonored my choice of him. " My choice of hims!
"It now only remains to guard against the ill effects
of his misconduct, to detect and punish it. To
this end I desire that the officers to be appointed in
consequence of these instructions do, with as much
accuracy and expedition as possible, make out ain account of the receipts, disbursements, and transactions of Durbege Sing, during the time he has acted as
Naib of the zemindary of Benares; and I desire you
will, in my name, assure him, that, unless he pays at
the limited time every rupee of the revenue due to
the Company, his life shall answer for the default.
I need not caution you to provide against his flight,
and the removal of his effects. " He here says, my
Lords, that he will detect and punish him; but the
first thing he does, without any detection, even before
the accounts he talks of are made up, and without
knowing whether he has got the money or not, he
declares that he will have every rupee paid at the
time, or otherwise: the Naib's life shall pay for it.
Is this the language of a British governor, -of a
person appointed to govern by law nations subject to
the dominion and under the protection of This kingdom? Is he to- order aa man to be first imprisoned
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 335
and deprived of his property, then for an inquiry to
be made, and to declare, during that inquiry, that,
if every rupee of a presumed embezzlement be not
paid up, the life of his victim shall answer for it?
And accordingly this man's life did answer for it, -
as I have already had occasion to mention to your
Lordships. . I will now read Mr. Markham's letter to the Council, in which he enters into the charges against
Durbege Sing, after this unhappy man had been
imprisoned.
Benares, 24th of October, 1782. -" I am sorry
that my duty obliges me to mention to your Honorable Board my apprehensions of a severe loss accruing
to the Honorable Company, if Baboo Durbege Sing is
continued in the Naibut during the present year. I
ground my fears on the knowledge I have had of his
mismanagement, the bad choice he has made of his
allmils, the mistrust which they have of him, and the
several complaints which have been preferred to me
by the ryots of almost every purgunnah in the zemindary. I did not choose to waste the time of your
Honorable Board in listening to my representations
of his inattention to the complaints of oppression
which were made to him by his ryots, as I hoped
that a letter he received from the Honorable Governor-. General would have had weight, sufficient to
have made him more regular in his business, and
more careful of his son's interest. "
My Lords, think of the condition of your government in India! Here is a Resident at Benares exercising power not given to him by virtue of his office, but given only by the private orders of the prisoner
at your bar. And what is it he does? He says, he
? ? ? ? 836 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
did not choose to trouble the Council with a particular account of his reasons for removing a man who
possessed an high office under their immediate appointment. The Council was not to know them: he
did not choose to waste the time of their honorable
board in listening to the complaints of the people.
No: the honorable board is not to have its time
wasted in that improper manner; therefore, without
the least inquiry or inquisition, the man must be im
prisoned, and deprived of his office; he must have
all his property confiscated,-and be threatened with
the loss of his life.
These are crimes, my Lords, for which the Com
mons of Great Britain knock at the breasts of your
consciences, and call for justice. They would think
themselves dishonored forever, if they had not
brought these crimes before your Lordships, and with
the utmost energy demanded your vindictive justice,
to the fullest extent in which it can be rendered.
But there are some aggravating circumstances in
these crimes, which I have not yet stated. It appears that this unhappy and injured man was, without any solicitation of his own, placed in a situation the duties of which even Mr. Hastings considered it
impossible for him to execute. Instead of supporting him with the countenance of the supreme government, Mr. Hastings did everything to lessen his weight, his consequence, and authority. And when
the business of the collection became embarrassed,
without any fault of his, that has ever yet been
proved, Mr. Markham instituted an inquiry. What
kind of inquiry it was that would or could be made
your Lordships will judge. While this was going
on, Mr. Markham tells you, that, in consequence of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 337
orders which he had received, he first put him into
a gentle confinement. Your Lordships know what
that confinement was; and you know what it is for
a man of his rank to be put into any confinement.
We have shown he was thereby incapable of transacting business. His life had been threatened, if he
should not pay in the balance of his accounts within
a short limited time; still he was subjected to confinement, while he had money accounts to settle with
the whole country. Could a man in gaol, dishonored and reprobated, take effectual means to recover the arrears which he was called upon to pay? Could he, in such a situation, recover the money
which was unpaid to him, in such an extensive district as Benares? Yet Mr. Markham tells the Council he thought proper 1" that Durbege Sing should be put under a gentle confinement, until I shall receive
your Honorable Board's orders for any future measures. "' Thus Mr. Markham, without any orders
from the Council, assumed an authority to do that
which we assert a Resident at Benares had no right
to do, but to which he was instigated by Mr. Hastings's recommendation that Durbege Sing should be
prevented from flight.
Now, my Lords, was it to be expected that a man
of Durbege Sing's rank should suffer these hardships
and indignities, and at the same time kiss the rod
and say, "I have deserved it all"? We know that
all mankind revolts at oppression, if it be real; we
know that men do not willingly submit to punishment, just or unjust; and we find that Durbege Sing
had near relatives, who used for his relief all the
power which was left them,- that of remonstrating
with his oppressors. Two arzees, or petitions, were
VOL. XI. 22
? ? ? ? 338 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
presented to the Council, of which we shall first call
your Lordships' attention to one from the dowager
princess of Benares, in favor of her child and of her
family.
Prom the Ranny, widow of Bulwant Sing. Received the
15th of December, 1782.
"I and my children have no hopes but from your
Highness, and our honor and rank are bestowed by
you. Mr. Markham, from the advice of my enemies,
having protected the farmers, would not permit the
balances to be collected. Baboo Durbege Sing frequently before desired that gentleman to show his
resentment against the people who owed balances,
that the balances might be collected, and to give ease
to his mind for the present year, conformably to the
requests signed by the presence, that he might complete the bundobust. But that gentleman would not
listen to him, and, having appointed a mutsuddy
and tahsildar, employs them in the collections of the
year, and sent two companies of sepoys and arrested
Baboo Durbege Sing upon this charge, that he had
secreted in his house many lacs of rupees from the
collections, and he carried the mutsuddies and treasurer with their papers to his own presence. He neither ascertained this matter by proofs, nor does he complete the balance of the sircar from the jaidads
of the balances: right or wrong, he is resolved to destroy our lives. As we have no asylum or hope except from your Highness, and as the Almighty has formed your mind to be a distributor of justice in
these times, I therefore hope from the benignity of
your Highness, that you will inquire and do justice in this matter, and that an aurmeen may be ap
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 339
pointed from the presence, that, having discovered
the crimes or innocence of Baboo Durbege Sing,
he may report to the presence. Further particulars
will be made known to your Highness by the arzee
of my son Rajah Mehip Narrain Bahadur. "
Arzee from Rajah Mehip Narrain Bahadur. Received
15th December, 1782.
"I before this had the honor of addressing several
arzees to your presence; but, from my unfortunate
state, not one of them has been perused by your
Highness, that my situation might be fully learnt by
you. The case is this. Mr. Markham, from the
advice of my enemies, having occasioned several
kinds of losses, and given protection to those who
owed balances, prevented the balance from being
collected, - for this reason, that, the money not being
paid in time, the Baboo might be convicted of inability. From this reason, all the owers of balances refused to pay the malwajib of the sircar. Before
this, the Baboo had frequently desired that gentleman to show his resentment against the persons who owed the balances, that the balances might be paid,
and that his mind might be at ease for the present
year, so that the bundobust of the present year might
be completed, -adding, that, if, next year, such kinds
of injuries, and protection of the farmers, were to
happen, he should not be able to support it. "
I am here to remark to your Lordships, that the
last of these petitions begins by stating, "I' before
this have had the honor of addressing several arzees
to your presence; but, from my unfortunate state, not
one of them has been perused by your Highness. "
? ? ? ? 340 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
My Lords, if there is any one right secured to the
subject, it is that of presenting a petition and having
that petition noticed. This right grows in importance
in proportion to the power and despotic nature of the
governments to which the petitioner is subject: for
where there is no sort of remedy from any fixed laws,
nothing remains but complaint, and prayers, and
petitions. This was the case in Benares: for Mr.
Hastings had destroyed every trace of law, leaving
only the police of the single city of Benares. Still
we find this complaint, prayer, and petition was not
the first, but only one of many, which Mr. Hastings
took no notice of, entirely despised, and never would
suffer to be produced to the Council; which never
knew angything, until this bundle of papers came
before them, of the complaint of Mr. Markham
against Durbege Sing, or of the complaint of Durbege
Sing against Mr. Markham.
Observe, my Lords, the person that put Durbege
Sing in prison was Mr. Markham; while the complaint in the arzee is, that Mr. Markham was himself
the cause of the very failure for which he imprisoned
him. Now what was the conduct of Mr. Hastings as
judge? He has two persons before him: the one in
the ostensible care of the revenue of the country;
the other his own agent, acting under his authority.
The first is accused by the second of default in his
payments; the latter is complained of by the former,
who says that the occasion of the accusation had been
furnished by him, the accuser. The judge, instead
of granting redress, dismisses the complaints against
Mr. Markham with reprehension, and sends the complainant to rot in prison, without making one inquiry, or giving himself the trouble of stating to Mr. Mark
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 341
ham the complaints against him, and desiring him to
clear himself from them. My Lords, if there were
nothing but this to mark the treacherous and perfidious nature of his conduct, this would be sufficient.
In this state of things, Mr. Hastings thus writes.
"To Mr. Markham. The measures which you have
taken with Baboo Durbege Sing are perfectly right
and proper, so far as they go; and we now direct
that you exact from him, with the utmost rigor, every
rupee of the collections which it shall appear that
he has made and not brought to account, and either
confine him at Benares, or send him prisoner to Chunar, and keep him in confinement until he shall have discharged the whole of thle amount due from him. "
He here employs the very person against whom
the complaint is made to imprison the complainant.
He approves the conduct of his agent without having
heard his defence, and leaves him, at his option, to
keep his victim a prisoner at Benaxes, or to imprison
him in the fortress of Chunar, the infernal place to
which he sends the persons whom he has a mind to
extort money from.
Your Lordships will be curious to know how this
debt of Durbege Sing stood at the time of his imprisonment. I will state the matter to your Lordships briefly, and in plain language, referring you for the
particulars of the account to the papers which are in
your Minutes. It appears from them, that, towards
the end of the yealrly account in 1782, a kist or payment of eight lacs (about 80,0001. ), the balance of the annual tribute, was due. In part of this kist,
Durbege Sing paid two lacs (20,0001. ). Of the remaining six lacs (60,0001. ), the outstanding debts in the country due to the revenue, but not collected by
? ? ? ? 342 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the Naib, amounted to four lacs (40,0001. ). Thus
far the account is not controverted by the accusing
party. But Mr. Markham asserts that he shall be able
to prove that the Naib had also actually received the
other two lacs (20,0001. ), and consequently was an
actual defaulter to that amount, and had, upon the
whole, suffered the annual tribute to fall six lacs in
arrear. The Naib denies the receipt of the two lacs
just mentioned, and challenges inquiry; but no inquiries appear to have been made, and to this hour
Mr. Markham has produced no proof of the fact.
With respect to the arrear of. the tribute money which
appeared on the balance of the whole account, the
Naib defended himself by alleging the distresses of the
country, the diminution of his authority, and the want
of support from the supreme government in the collection of the revenues; and he asserts that he has
assets sufficient, if time and power be allowed him for
collecting them, to discharge the whole balance due
to the Company. The immediate payment of the
whole balance was demanded, and Durbege Sing, unable to comply with the demand, was sent to prison. Thus stood the. business, when Mr. Markham, soon after he had sent the Naib to prison, quitted the
Residency. He was succeeded by Mr. Benn, who
acted exactly upon the same principle. He declares
that the six lacs demanded were not demanded upon
the principle of its having been actually collected by
him, but upon the principle of his having agreed to
pay it. " We have," say Mr. Hastings's agents to the
Naib, "we have a Jew's bond. If it is in your bond,
we will have it, or we will have a pound of your flesh:
wlhether you have, received it or not is no business of
ou'rs. " About this time some hopes were entertainted
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 343
by the Resident that the Naib's personal exertions in
collecting the arrears of the tribute might be useful.
These hopes procured him a short liberation from his
confinement. He was let out of prison, and appears to
have made another payment of half a lac of rupees.
Still the terms of the bond were insisted on, although
Mr. Hastings had allowed that these terms were extravagant, and only one lac and a half of the money
which had been actually received remained unpaid.
One would think that common charity, that common
decency, that common regard to the decorum of life
would, under such circumstances, have hindered Mr.
Hastings from imprisoning him again. But, my
Lords, he was imprisoned again; he continued in
prison till Mr. Hastings quitted the country; and
there he soon after died, -- a victim to the enormous
oppression which has been detailed to your Lordships.
It appears that in the mean time the Residents had
been using other means for recovering the balance
due to the Company. The family of the Rajah had
not been paid one shilling of the 60,0001. allowed for
their maintenance. They were obliged to mortgage
their own hereditary estates for their support, while
the Residents confiscated all the property of Durbege
Sing. Of the money thus obtained what account has
been given? None, my Lords, none. It must therefore have been disposed of in some abominably corrupt way or other, while this miserable victim of Mr. Hastings was left to perish in a prison, after he had
been elevated to the highest rank in the country.
But, without doubt, they found abundance of effects
after his death? No, my Lords, they did not find
anything. They ransacked his house; they examined
? ? ? ? 344 IMPEACHMENT, OF WARREN HASTINGS.
all his accounts, every paper that he had, in and out
of prison. They searched and scrutinized everything.
They had every penny of his fortune, and I believe,
though I cannot with certainty know, that the man
died insolvent; and it was not pretended that he had
ever applied to -his own use any part of the Company's
money.
Thus Durbege Sing is gone; this tragedy is finished; a second Rajah of Benares has been destroyed.
I do not speak of that miserable puppet who was said
by Mr. Hastings to be in a state of childhood when
arrived at manhood, but of the person who represented the dignity of the family. He is gone; he is swept away; and in his name, in the name of this
devoted Durbege Sing, in the name of his afflicted
family, in the name of the people of the country
thus oppressed by an usurped authority, in the name
of all these, respecting whom justice has been thus
outraged, we call upon your Lordships for justice.
We are now at the commencement of a new or
der of things. Mr. Markham had been authorized to
appoint whoever he pleased as Naib, with the exception of Ussaun Sing. He accordingly exercises this power, and chooses a person called Jagher Deo Seo.
From the time of the confinement of Durbege Sing to
the time of this man's being put into the government,
in whose hands were the revenues of the country?
Mr. Markham himself has told you, at your bar, that
they were in his hands, - that he was the person who
not only named this man, but that he had the sole
management of the revenues; and he was, of course,
answerable for them all that time. The nominal
title of Zemindar was still left to the miserable pageant who held it; but even the very name soon fell
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 345
entirely out of use. It is in evidence before your
Lordships that his name is not even so much as mentioned in the proceedings of the government; and
that the person who really governed was not the ostensible Jagher Deo Seo, but Mr. Markham. The government, therefore, was taken completely and entirely out of the hands of the person who had a legal right
to administer it, - out of the hands of his guardians,
- out of the hands of his mother, - out of the hands
of his nearest relations, - and, in short, of all those
who, in the common course of things, ought to have
been intrusted with it. From all such persons, I
say, it was taken: and where, my Lords, was it deposited? Why, in the hands of a man of'whom we
know nothing, and of whom we never heard anything, before we heard that Mr. Markham, of his own
usurped authority, authorized by the usurped authority of Mr. Hastings, without the least communication
with the Council, had put him in possession of that
country.
Mr. Markham himself, as I have just said, administered the revenues alone, without the smallest
authority for so doing, without the least knowledge
of the Council, till Jagher Deo Seo was appointed
Naib. Did he then give up his authority? No such
thing. All the measures of Jagher Deo Seo's government were taken with the concurrence and joint
management of Mr. Markham. He conducted the
whole; the settlements were made, the'leases and
agreements with farmers all regulated by him. I
need not tell you, I believe, that Jagher Deo Seo was
not a person of very much authority in the case:
your Lordships would laugh at me, if I said he was.
The revenue arrangements were, I firmly believe,
? ? ? ? 346 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
regulated and made by Mr. Markham. But whether
they were or were not, it comes to the same thing.
If they were improperly made and improperly conducted, Mr. Hastings is responsible for the whole
of the mismanagement; for he gave the entire control to a person who had little experience, who was
young in the world (and this is the excuse I wish
to make for a gentleman of that age). He appointed
him, and gave him at large a discretionary authority
to name whom he pleased to be the ostensible Naib;
but we know that he took the principal part himself
in all his settlements and in all his proceedings.
Soon after the Naib had been thus appointed and'instructed by Mr. Markham, he settled, under his
directions, the administration of the country. Mr.
Markham then desires leave from Mr. Hastings to
go down to Calcutta. I imagine he never returned
to Benares; he comes to Europe; and here end the
acts of this viceroy and delegate.
Let us now begin the reign of Mr. Benn and Mr.
Fowke. These gentlemen had just the same power
delegated to them that Mr. Markham possessed, --
not one jot less, that I know of; and they were therefore responsible, and ought to have been called to
an account by Mr. Hastings for every part of their
proceedings. I will not give you my own account
of the reign of these gentlemen; but I will read to
you what Mr. Hastings has thought proper to represent the state of the people to be under their government. This course will save your Lordships time and trouble; for it will nearly supersede all observations of mine upon the subject. I hold in my hand
Mr. Hastings's representation of the effects produced
lby a government which was conceived by himself, car
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 347
ried into effect by himself, and illegally invested by
him with illegal powers, without any security or
responsibility of any kind. Hear, I say, what an account Mr. Hastings gave, when he afterwards went
up to Benares upon another wicked project, and
think what ought to have been his feelings as he
looked upon the ruin he had occasioned. Think of
the condition in which he saw Benares the first day
he entered it. He then saw it beautiful, ornamented,
rich, - an object that envy would have shed tears over
for its prosperity, that humanity would have beheld
with eyes glistening with joy for the comfort and
happiness which were there enjoyed by man: a country flourishing in cultivation to such a degree that the' soldiers were obliged to march in single files through
the fields of corn, to avoid damaging them; a country in which Mr. Stables has stated that the villages were thick beyond all expression; a country where
the people pressed round their sovereign, as Mr.
Stables also told you, with joy, triumph, and satisfaction. Such was the country; and in such a state
and under such a master was it, when he first saw
it. See what it now is under Warren Hastings; see
what it is under the British government; and then
judge whether the Commons are or are not right
ill pressing the subject upon your Lordships for your
decision, and letting you and all this great auditory
know what sort of a criminal you have before you,
who has had the impudence to represent to your
Lordships at your bar that Benares is in a flourishing
condition, in defiance of the evidence which we have
under his own hands, and who, in all the false papers that have been circulated to debauch the public opinion, has stated that we, the Commons, have given
? ? ? ? 348 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
a false representation as to the state of the country
under the English government.
Lucknow, the 2d of April, 1784. Addressed to the
Honorable Edward Wheler, Esq. , ce. Signed
Warren Hastings. It is in page 306 of the printed.
Minutes.
"GENTLEMEN, - Having contrived, by making forced
stages, while the troops of my escort marched at the
ordinary rate, to make a stay of five days at Benares,
I was thereby furnished with-the means of acquiring
some knowledge of the state of the province, which I
am anxious to communicate to you: indeed, the inquiry, which was in a great degree obtruded upon
me, affected me with very mortifying reflections on
my own inability to apply it to any useful purpose.
"From the confines of Buxar to Benares I was followed and fatigued by the clamors of the discontented inhabitants. It was what I expected in a degree, because it is rare that the exercise of authority should prove satisfactory to all who are the objects of it.
The distresses which were produced by the long continued drought unavoidably tended to heighten the general discontent; yet I have reason to fear that the
cause existed principally in a defective, if not a corrupt and oppressive administration. Of a multitude
of petitions which were presented to me, and of which
I took minutes, every one that did not relate to a personal grievance contained the representation of one and the same species of oppression, which is in its
nature of an influence most fatal to the future cultivation. The practice to which I allude is this. It is affirmed that the aumils and renters exact from the
proprietors of the actual harvest a large increase in
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 349
kind on their stipulated rent: that is, from those who
hold their pottahs by the tenure of paying one half of
the produce of their crops, either the whole without
a subterfuge, or a large proportion of it by false measurement or other pretexts; and: from those whose engagements are for a fixed rent in money the half
or a greater proportion is taken in kind. This is in
effect a tax upon the industry of the inhabitants;
since there is scarcely a field of grain in the province,
I might say not one, which has not been preserved by
the incessant labor of the cultivator, by digging wells
for their supply, or watering them from the wells of
masonry with which this country abounds, or from
the neighboring tanks, rivers, and nullahs. The people who imposed on themselves this voluntary and extraordinary labor, and not unattended with expense, did it in the expectation of reaping the profits
of it; and it is certain that they would not have done
it, if they had known that their rulers, from whom
they were entitled to an indemnification, would take
from them what they had so hardly earned. If the
same administration continues, and the country shall
again labor under a want of the natural rains, every
field will be abandoned, the revenue fail, and thousands perish through the want of subsistence: for who will labor for the sole benefit of others, and to
make himself the subject of vexation? These practices are not to be imputed to the aumils employed
in the districts, but to the Naib himself. The avowed
principle on which he acts, and which he acknowledged to myself, is, that the whole sum fixed for the revenue of the province must be collected, and that
for this purpose the deficiency arising in places where
the crops have failed, or which have been left ulcul
? ? ? ? 350 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
tivated, must be supplied from the resources of others,
where the soil has been better suited to the season, or
the industry of the cultivators more successfully exerted: a piinciple which, however specious and plausible it may at first appear, certainly tends to the most pernicious and destructive consequences. If this
declaration of the Naib had been made only to myself, I might have doubted my construction of it; but
it was repeated by him to Mr. Anderson, who understood it exactly in the same sense. In the management of the customs, the conduct of the Naib, or of
the officers under him, was forced also upon my attention. The exorbitant rates exacted by an arbitrary
valuation of the goods, the practice of exacting duties
twice on the same goods, first from the seller and afterwards from the buyer, and the vexatious disputes
and delays drawn on the merchants by these oppressions, were loudly complained of; and some instances
of this kind were said to exist at the very time when
I was in Benares. Under such circumstances, we are
not to wonder, if the merchants of foreign countries
are discouraged from resorting to Benares, and if the
commerce of that province should annually decay.
"Other evils, or imputed evils, have accidentally
come to my knowledge, which I will not now particularize, as I hope that with the assistance of the Resi. .
dent they may be in part corrected: one, however, I
must mention, because it has been verified by my own
observation, and is of that kind which reflects an unmerited reproach on our general and national character. When I was at Buxar, the Resident at my desire enjoined the Naib to appoint creditable people to every
town through which our route lay, to persuade and
encourage the inhabitants to remain in their houses,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 351
promising to give them guards as I approached, and
they required it for their protection; and that he
might perceive how earnest I was for his observance
of this precaution, (which I am certain was faithfully
delivered,) I repeated it to him in person, and dismissed him, that he might precede me for that purpose: but, to my great disappointment, I found every place through which I passed abandoned; nor had there been a man left in any of them for their protection. I am sorry to add, that, firom Buxar to the
opposite boundary, I have seen nothing but the traces of complete devastation in every village, whether caused by the followers of the troops which have
lately passed, for their natural relief, (and I know
not whether my own may not have had their share,)
or from the apprehension of the inhabitants left to
themselves, and of themselves deserting their houses.
I wish to acquit my own countrymen of the blame of
these unfavorable appearances, and in my own heart
I do acquit them: for at one encampment, near a
large village called Derrara, in the purgunnah of Zemaneea, a crowd of people came to me, complaining
that their former aumil, who was a native of the place,
and had long been established in authority over them,
and whose custom it had been, whenever any troops
passed, to remain in person on the spot for their protection, having been removed, the new aumil, on the
approach of any military detachment, himself first
fled from the place, and the inhabitants, having no
one to whom they could apply for redress, or for. the
representation of their grievances, and being thus remediless, fled also; so that their houses and effects became a prey to any person who chose to plunder them.
The general conclusion appeared to me an inevitable
? ? ? ? 352 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
consequence fiom such a state of facts, - and my own
senses bore testimony to it in this specific instance;
nor do I know how it is possible for any officer commanding a military party, how attentive soever he
may be to the discipline and forbearance of his people, to prevent disorders, when there is neither opposition to hinder nor evidence to detect them. These and many other irregularities I impute solely to the
Naib; and I think it my duty, to recommend his instant removal. I would myself hlave dismissed him,
had the control of this province come within the line
of my powers, and have established such regulations
and checks as would have been most likely, to prevent the like irregularities. I have said checks, because, unless there is some visible influence, and a powerful and able one, impended over the head of
the manager, no system can avail. The next appointed may prove, from some defect, as unfit for the office as the present; for the choice is limited to few, without experience to guide it. The first was of
my own nomination; his merits and qualifications
stood in equal balance with my knowledge of those
who might have been the candidates for the office;
but he was the father of the Rajah, and the affinity
sunk the scale wholly in his favor: for who could be
so fit to be intrusted with the charge of his son's interest, and the new credit of the rising family? He
deceived my expectations. Another was recommended by the Resident, and at my instance the board
appointed him. This was Jagher Deo Seo, the
present Naib. I knew him not, and the other members of the board as little. While Mr. Markham remained in office, of whom, as his immediate patron,
he may have stood in awe, I am told that he re
? ? ? ? -'SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DA. Y. 353
strained his natural disposition, which lias been described to me as rapacious, unfeeling, haughty, and
to an extreme vindictive.
"I cannot avoid remarking, that, excepting the
city of Benares itself, tile province depending upon it
is in effect without a governlmelt, the Naib exercising only a dependent jurisdiction without a principal.
The Rajah is without authority, and even his name
disused in the official instruments issued or taken
by the manager. The representationl of his situation
shall be the subject of another letter; I have made
this already too long, and shall confine it to the single
subject for the communication of which it was begun.
This permit me to recapitulate. The administration
of the province is misconducted, and the people oppressed; trade discouraged, and the revenue, though
said to be exceeded in the actual collections by
many lacs, (for I have a minute account of it,
which states the net amount, including jaghires, as
something more than fifty-one lacs,) in danger of a
rapid decline, from the violent appropriation of its
means; the Naib or manager is unfit for his office;
a new manager is required, and a system of official
control, -in a word, a constitution: for neither can
the board extend its superintending powers to a district so remote from its observation, nor has it delegated that authority to the Resident, who is merely the representative of government, and the receiver
of its revenue in the last process of it; nor, indeed,
would it be possible to render him wholly so, for
reasons which I may hereafter detail. "
My Lords, you have now heard -- not from the
Managers, not from records of office, not from witVOL. XI. 23
? ? ? ? 854 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
nesses at your bar, but from the prisoner himself -- the
state of the country of Benares, from the time that
Mr. Hastings and his delegated Residents had taken
the management of it. My Lords, it is a proof, beyond all other proof, of the melancholy state of the
country, in which, by attempting to exercise usurped
and arbitrary power, all power and all authority
become extinguished, complete anarchy takes place,
and nothing of government appears but the means of
robbing and ravaging, with an utter indisposition to
take one step for the protection of the people.
Think, my Lords, what a triumphal progress it was
for a British governor, from one extremity of the province to the other, (for so he has stated it,) to be pursued by the cries of an oppressed and ruined people,
where they dared to appear before him, - and when
they did not dare to appear, flying from every place,
even the very magistrates being the first to fly!
Think, my Lords, that, when these unhappy people
saw the appearance of a British soldier, they fled as
from a pestilence; and then think, that these were
the people who labored in the manner which you have
just heard, who dug their own wells, whose country
would not produce anything but from the indefatigable industry of its inhabitants; and that such a meritorious, such an industrious people, should be subjected to such a cursed anarchy uinder pretence of revenue, to such a cursed tyranny under the pretence of government!
" But Jagher Deo Seo was unfit for his office. " --
"How dared you to appoint a man unfit for his
office? " -" Oh, it signified little, without their having a constitution. " -" Why did you destroy the official constitution that existed before? - How dared you
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY.
vent any abuses or irregularities in the others, and
together form a system of reciprocal checks. Upon
that principle, I desire you will in particular establish, under whatever names, one office of receipts,
and another of treasury. The officers of both must
be responsible for the truth and regularity of their
respective accounts, but not subject in the statement
of them to the control or interference of the Rajah or
Naib; nor should they be removable at pleasure, but
for manifest misconduct only. At the head of one
or other of these offices I could wish- to see the late
Buckshee, Rogoober Dyall. His conduct in his
former office, his behavior on the revolt of Cheyt
Sing, and particularly at the fall of Bidjegur, together with his general character, prove him worthy
of employment, and of the notice of our government.
It is possible that he may have objections to holding
al office under the present Rajah: offer him one, however, and let him know that you do so by my directions. " He then goes on to say, -"Do not wholly neglect the Rajah; consult with him in appearance,
but in appearance only. His situation requires that
you should do that much; but his youth and inexperience forbid that you should do more. "
You see, my Lords, he has completely put the
whole government into the hands of a man who had
no name, character, or official situation, but that of
the Company's Resident at that place. Let us now
see what is the office of a Resident. It is to reside
at the court of the native prince, to give the Council
notice of the transactions that are going on there, and
to take care that the tribute be regularly paid, kist
by kist. 'But we have seen that Mr. Markham, the
Resident at Benares, was invested by Mr. Hastings
? ? ? ? 334 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
with supreme authority in this unhappy country.
He was to name whoever he pleased to its government, with the exception of Ussaun Sing, and to
drive out the person who had possessed it under an
authority which could only be revoked by the Council. Thus Mr. Hastings delegated to Mr. Markham
an authority which he himself did not really possess,
and which could only be legally exercised through
the medium of the Council.
With respect to Durbege Sing, he adds, - He has
dishonored my choice of him. " My choice of hims!
"It now only remains to guard against the ill effects
of his misconduct, to detect and punish it. To
this end I desire that the officers to be appointed in
consequence of these instructions do, with as much
accuracy and expedition as possible, make out ain account of the receipts, disbursements, and transactions of Durbege Sing, during the time he has acted as
Naib of the zemindary of Benares; and I desire you
will, in my name, assure him, that, unless he pays at
the limited time every rupee of the revenue due to
the Company, his life shall answer for the default.
I need not caution you to provide against his flight,
and the removal of his effects. " He here says, my
Lords, that he will detect and punish him; but the
first thing he does, without any detection, even before
the accounts he talks of are made up, and without
knowing whether he has got the money or not, he
declares that he will have every rupee paid at the
time, or otherwise: the Naib's life shall pay for it.
Is this the language of a British governor, -of a
person appointed to govern by law nations subject to
the dominion and under the protection of This kingdom? Is he to- order aa man to be first imprisoned
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 335
and deprived of his property, then for an inquiry to
be made, and to declare, during that inquiry, that,
if every rupee of a presumed embezzlement be not
paid up, the life of his victim shall answer for it?
And accordingly this man's life did answer for it, -
as I have already had occasion to mention to your
Lordships. . I will now read Mr. Markham's letter to the Council, in which he enters into the charges against
Durbege Sing, after this unhappy man had been
imprisoned.
Benares, 24th of October, 1782. -" I am sorry
that my duty obliges me to mention to your Honorable Board my apprehensions of a severe loss accruing
to the Honorable Company, if Baboo Durbege Sing is
continued in the Naibut during the present year. I
ground my fears on the knowledge I have had of his
mismanagement, the bad choice he has made of his
allmils, the mistrust which they have of him, and the
several complaints which have been preferred to me
by the ryots of almost every purgunnah in the zemindary. I did not choose to waste the time of your
Honorable Board in listening to my representations
of his inattention to the complaints of oppression
which were made to him by his ryots, as I hoped
that a letter he received from the Honorable Governor-. General would have had weight, sufficient to
have made him more regular in his business, and
more careful of his son's interest. "
My Lords, think of the condition of your government in India! Here is a Resident at Benares exercising power not given to him by virtue of his office, but given only by the private orders of the prisoner
at your bar. And what is it he does? He says, he
? ? ? ? 836 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
did not choose to trouble the Council with a particular account of his reasons for removing a man who
possessed an high office under their immediate appointment. The Council was not to know them: he
did not choose to waste the time of their honorable
board in listening to the complaints of the people.
No: the honorable board is not to have its time
wasted in that improper manner; therefore, without
the least inquiry or inquisition, the man must be im
prisoned, and deprived of his office; he must have
all his property confiscated,-and be threatened with
the loss of his life.
These are crimes, my Lords, for which the Com
mons of Great Britain knock at the breasts of your
consciences, and call for justice. They would think
themselves dishonored forever, if they had not
brought these crimes before your Lordships, and with
the utmost energy demanded your vindictive justice,
to the fullest extent in which it can be rendered.
But there are some aggravating circumstances in
these crimes, which I have not yet stated. It appears that this unhappy and injured man was, without any solicitation of his own, placed in a situation the duties of which even Mr. Hastings considered it
impossible for him to execute. Instead of supporting him with the countenance of the supreme government, Mr. Hastings did everything to lessen his weight, his consequence, and authority. And when
the business of the collection became embarrassed,
without any fault of his, that has ever yet been
proved, Mr. Markham instituted an inquiry. What
kind of inquiry it was that would or could be made
your Lordships will judge. While this was going
on, Mr. Markham tells you, that, in consequence of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 337
orders which he had received, he first put him into
a gentle confinement. Your Lordships know what
that confinement was; and you know what it is for
a man of his rank to be put into any confinement.
We have shown he was thereby incapable of transacting business. His life had been threatened, if he
should not pay in the balance of his accounts within
a short limited time; still he was subjected to confinement, while he had money accounts to settle with
the whole country. Could a man in gaol, dishonored and reprobated, take effectual means to recover the arrears which he was called upon to pay? Could he, in such a situation, recover the money
which was unpaid to him, in such an extensive district as Benares? Yet Mr. Markham tells the Council he thought proper 1" that Durbege Sing should be put under a gentle confinement, until I shall receive
your Honorable Board's orders for any future measures. "' Thus Mr. Markham, without any orders
from the Council, assumed an authority to do that
which we assert a Resident at Benares had no right
to do, but to which he was instigated by Mr. Hastings's recommendation that Durbege Sing should be
prevented from flight.
Now, my Lords, was it to be expected that a man
of Durbege Sing's rank should suffer these hardships
and indignities, and at the same time kiss the rod
and say, "I have deserved it all"? We know that
all mankind revolts at oppression, if it be real; we
know that men do not willingly submit to punishment, just or unjust; and we find that Durbege Sing
had near relatives, who used for his relief all the
power which was left them,- that of remonstrating
with his oppressors. Two arzees, or petitions, were
VOL. XI. 22
? ? ? ? 338 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
presented to the Council, of which we shall first call
your Lordships' attention to one from the dowager
princess of Benares, in favor of her child and of her
family.
Prom the Ranny, widow of Bulwant Sing. Received the
15th of December, 1782.
"I and my children have no hopes but from your
Highness, and our honor and rank are bestowed by
you. Mr. Markham, from the advice of my enemies,
having protected the farmers, would not permit the
balances to be collected. Baboo Durbege Sing frequently before desired that gentleman to show his
resentment against the people who owed balances,
that the balances might be collected, and to give ease
to his mind for the present year, conformably to the
requests signed by the presence, that he might complete the bundobust. But that gentleman would not
listen to him, and, having appointed a mutsuddy
and tahsildar, employs them in the collections of the
year, and sent two companies of sepoys and arrested
Baboo Durbege Sing upon this charge, that he had
secreted in his house many lacs of rupees from the
collections, and he carried the mutsuddies and treasurer with their papers to his own presence. He neither ascertained this matter by proofs, nor does he complete the balance of the sircar from the jaidads
of the balances: right or wrong, he is resolved to destroy our lives. As we have no asylum or hope except from your Highness, and as the Almighty has formed your mind to be a distributor of justice in
these times, I therefore hope from the benignity of
your Highness, that you will inquire and do justice in this matter, and that an aurmeen may be ap
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 339
pointed from the presence, that, having discovered
the crimes or innocence of Baboo Durbege Sing,
he may report to the presence. Further particulars
will be made known to your Highness by the arzee
of my son Rajah Mehip Narrain Bahadur. "
Arzee from Rajah Mehip Narrain Bahadur. Received
15th December, 1782.
"I before this had the honor of addressing several
arzees to your presence; but, from my unfortunate
state, not one of them has been perused by your
Highness, that my situation might be fully learnt by
you. The case is this. Mr. Markham, from the
advice of my enemies, having occasioned several
kinds of losses, and given protection to those who
owed balances, prevented the balance from being
collected, - for this reason, that, the money not being
paid in time, the Baboo might be convicted of inability. From this reason, all the owers of balances refused to pay the malwajib of the sircar. Before
this, the Baboo had frequently desired that gentleman to show his resentment against the persons who owed the balances, that the balances might be paid,
and that his mind might be at ease for the present
year, so that the bundobust of the present year might
be completed, -adding, that, if, next year, such kinds
of injuries, and protection of the farmers, were to
happen, he should not be able to support it. "
I am here to remark to your Lordships, that the
last of these petitions begins by stating, "I' before
this have had the honor of addressing several arzees
to your presence; but, from my unfortunate state, not
one of them has been perused by your Highness. "
? ? ? ? 340 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
My Lords, if there is any one right secured to the
subject, it is that of presenting a petition and having
that petition noticed. This right grows in importance
in proportion to the power and despotic nature of the
governments to which the petitioner is subject: for
where there is no sort of remedy from any fixed laws,
nothing remains but complaint, and prayers, and
petitions. This was the case in Benares: for Mr.
Hastings had destroyed every trace of law, leaving
only the police of the single city of Benares. Still
we find this complaint, prayer, and petition was not
the first, but only one of many, which Mr. Hastings
took no notice of, entirely despised, and never would
suffer to be produced to the Council; which never
knew angything, until this bundle of papers came
before them, of the complaint of Mr. Markham
against Durbege Sing, or of the complaint of Durbege
Sing against Mr. Markham.
Observe, my Lords, the person that put Durbege
Sing in prison was Mr. Markham; while the complaint in the arzee is, that Mr. Markham was himself
the cause of the very failure for which he imprisoned
him. Now what was the conduct of Mr. Hastings as
judge? He has two persons before him: the one in
the ostensible care of the revenue of the country;
the other his own agent, acting under his authority.
The first is accused by the second of default in his
payments; the latter is complained of by the former,
who says that the occasion of the accusation had been
furnished by him, the accuser. The judge, instead
of granting redress, dismisses the complaints against
Mr. Markham with reprehension, and sends the complainant to rot in prison, without making one inquiry, or giving himself the trouble of stating to Mr. Mark
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 341
ham the complaints against him, and desiring him to
clear himself from them. My Lords, if there were
nothing but this to mark the treacherous and perfidious nature of his conduct, this would be sufficient.
In this state of things, Mr. Hastings thus writes.
"To Mr. Markham. The measures which you have
taken with Baboo Durbege Sing are perfectly right
and proper, so far as they go; and we now direct
that you exact from him, with the utmost rigor, every
rupee of the collections which it shall appear that
he has made and not brought to account, and either
confine him at Benares, or send him prisoner to Chunar, and keep him in confinement until he shall have discharged the whole of thle amount due from him. "
He here employs the very person against whom
the complaint is made to imprison the complainant.
He approves the conduct of his agent without having
heard his defence, and leaves him, at his option, to
keep his victim a prisoner at Benaxes, or to imprison
him in the fortress of Chunar, the infernal place to
which he sends the persons whom he has a mind to
extort money from.
Your Lordships will be curious to know how this
debt of Durbege Sing stood at the time of his imprisonment. I will state the matter to your Lordships briefly, and in plain language, referring you for the
particulars of the account to the papers which are in
your Minutes. It appears from them, that, towards
the end of the yealrly account in 1782, a kist or payment of eight lacs (about 80,0001. ), the balance of the annual tribute, was due. In part of this kist,
Durbege Sing paid two lacs (20,0001. ). Of the remaining six lacs (60,0001. ), the outstanding debts in the country due to the revenue, but not collected by
? ? ? ? 342 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the Naib, amounted to four lacs (40,0001. ). Thus
far the account is not controverted by the accusing
party. But Mr. Markham asserts that he shall be able
to prove that the Naib had also actually received the
other two lacs (20,0001. ), and consequently was an
actual defaulter to that amount, and had, upon the
whole, suffered the annual tribute to fall six lacs in
arrear. The Naib denies the receipt of the two lacs
just mentioned, and challenges inquiry; but no inquiries appear to have been made, and to this hour
Mr. Markham has produced no proof of the fact.
With respect to the arrear of. the tribute money which
appeared on the balance of the whole account, the
Naib defended himself by alleging the distresses of the
country, the diminution of his authority, and the want
of support from the supreme government in the collection of the revenues; and he asserts that he has
assets sufficient, if time and power be allowed him for
collecting them, to discharge the whole balance due
to the Company. The immediate payment of the
whole balance was demanded, and Durbege Sing, unable to comply with the demand, was sent to prison. Thus stood the. business, when Mr. Markham, soon after he had sent the Naib to prison, quitted the
Residency. He was succeeded by Mr. Benn, who
acted exactly upon the same principle. He declares
that the six lacs demanded were not demanded upon
the principle of its having been actually collected by
him, but upon the principle of his having agreed to
pay it. " We have," say Mr. Hastings's agents to the
Naib, "we have a Jew's bond. If it is in your bond,
we will have it, or we will have a pound of your flesh:
wlhether you have, received it or not is no business of
ou'rs. " About this time some hopes were entertainted
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 343
by the Resident that the Naib's personal exertions in
collecting the arrears of the tribute might be useful.
These hopes procured him a short liberation from his
confinement. He was let out of prison, and appears to
have made another payment of half a lac of rupees.
Still the terms of the bond were insisted on, although
Mr. Hastings had allowed that these terms were extravagant, and only one lac and a half of the money
which had been actually received remained unpaid.
One would think that common charity, that common
decency, that common regard to the decorum of life
would, under such circumstances, have hindered Mr.
Hastings from imprisoning him again. But, my
Lords, he was imprisoned again; he continued in
prison till Mr. Hastings quitted the country; and
there he soon after died, -- a victim to the enormous
oppression which has been detailed to your Lordships.
It appears that in the mean time the Residents had
been using other means for recovering the balance
due to the Company. The family of the Rajah had
not been paid one shilling of the 60,0001. allowed for
their maintenance. They were obliged to mortgage
their own hereditary estates for their support, while
the Residents confiscated all the property of Durbege
Sing. Of the money thus obtained what account has
been given? None, my Lords, none. It must therefore have been disposed of in some abominably corrupt way or other, while this miserable victim of Mr. Hastings was left to perish in a prison, after he had
been elevated to the highest rank in the country.
But, without doubt, they found abundance of effects
after his death? No, my Lords, they did not find
anything. They ransacked his house; they examined
? ? ? ? 344 IMPEACHMENT, OF WARREN HASTINGS.
all his accounts, every paper that he had, in and out
of prison. They searched and scrutinized everything.
They had every penny of his fortune, and I believe,
though I cannot with certainty know, that the man
died insolvent; and it was not pretended that he had
ever applied to -his own use any part of the Company's
money.
Thus Durbege Sing is gone; this tragedy is finished; a second Rajah of Benares has been destroyed.
I do not speak of that miserable puppet who was said
by Mr. Hastings to be in a state of childhood when
arrived at manhood, but of the person who represented the dignity of the family. He is gone; he is swept away; and in his name, in the name of this
devoted Durbege Sing, in the name of his afflicted
family, in the name of the people of the country
thus oppressed by an usurped authority, in the name
of all these, respecting whom justice has been thus
outraged, we call upon your Lordships for justice.
We are now at the commencement of a new or
der of things. Mr. Markham had been authorized to
appoint whoever he pleased as Naib, with the exception of Ussaun Sing. He accordingly exercises this power, and chooses a person called Jagher Deo Seo.
From the time of the confinement of Durbege Sing to
the time of this man's being put into the government,
in whose hands were the revenues of the country?
Mr. Markham himself has told you, at your bar, that
they were in his hands, - that he was the person who
not only named this man, but that he had the sole
management of the revenues; and he was, of course,
answerable for them all that time. The nominal
title of Zemindar was still left to the miserable pageant who held it; but even the very name soon fell
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 345
entirely out of use. It is in evidence before your
Lordships that his name is not even so much as mentioned in the proceedings of the government; and
that the person who really governed was not the ostensible Jagher Deo Seo, but Mr. Markham. The government, therefore, was taken completely and entirely out of the hands of the person who had a legal right
to administer it, - out of the hands of his guardians,
- out of the hands of his mother, - out of the hands
of his nearest relations, - and, in short, of all those
who, in the common course of things, ought to have
been intrusted with it. From all such persons, I
say, it was taken: and where, my Lords, was it deposited? Why, in the hands of a man of'whom we
know nothing, and of whom we never heard anything, before we heard that Mr. Markham, of his own
usurped authority, authorized by the usurped authority of Mr. Hastings, without the least communication
with the Council, had put him in possession of that
country.
Mr. Markham himself, as I have just said, administered the revenues alone, without the smallest
authority for so doing, without the least knowledge
of the Council, till Jagher Deo Seo was appointed
Naib. Did he then give up his authority? No such
thing. All the measures of Jagher Deo Seo's government were taken with the concurrence and joint
management of Mr. Markham. He conducted the
whole; the settlements were made, the'leases and
agreements with farmers all regulated by him. I
need not tell you, I believe, that Jagher Deo Seo was
not a person of very much authority in the case:
your Lordships would laugh at me, if I said he was.
The revenue arrangements were, I firmly believe,
? ? ? ? 346 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
regulated and made by Mr. Markham. But whether
they were or were not, it comes to the same thing.
If they were improperly made and improperly conducted, Mr. Hastings is responsible for the whole
of the mismanagement; for he gave the entire control to a person who had little experience, who was
young in the world (and this is the excuse I wish
to make for a gentleman of that age). He appointed
him, and gave him at large a discretionary authority
to name whom he pleased to be the ostensible Naib;
but we know that he took the principal part himself
in all his settlements and in all his proceedings.
Soon after the Naib had been thus appointed and'instructed by Mr. Markham, he settled, under his
directions, the administration of the country. Mr.
Markham then desires leave from Mr. Hastings to
go down to Calcutta. I imagine he never returned
to Benares; he comes to Europe; and here end the
acts of this viceroy and delegate.
Let us now begin the reign of Mr. Benn and Mr.
Fowke. These gentlemen had just the same power
delegated to them that Mr. Markham possessed, --
not one jot less, that I know of; and they were therefore responsible, and ought to have been called to
an account by Mr. Hastings for every part of their
proceedings. I will not give you my own account
of the reign of these gentlemen; but I will read to
you what Mr. Hastings has thought proper to represent the state of the people to be under their government. This course will save your Lordships time and trouble; for it will nearly supersede all observations of mine upon the subject. I hold in my hand
Mr. Hastings's representation of the effects produced
lby a government which was conceived by himself, car
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 347
ried into effect by himself, and illegally invested by
him with illegal powers, without any security or
responsibility of any kind. Hear, I say, what an account Mr. Hastings gave, when he afterwards went
up to Benares upon another wicked project, and
think what ought to have been his feelings as he
looked upon the ruin he had occasioned. Think of
the condition in which he saw Benares the first day
he entered it. He then saw it beautiful, ornamented,
rich, - an object that envy would have shed tears over
for its prosperity, that humanity would have beheld
with eyes glistening with joy for the comfort and
happiness which were there enjoyed by man: a country flourishing in cultivation to such a degree that the' soldiers were obliged to march in single files through
the fields of corn, to avoid damaging them; a country in which Mr. Stables has stated that the villages were thick beyond all expression; a country where
the people pressed round their sovereign, as Mr.
Stables also told you, with joy, triumph, and satisfaction. Such was the country; and in such a state
and under such a master was it, when he first saw
it. See what it now is under Warren Hastings; see
what it is under the British government; and then
judge whether the Commons are or are not right
ill pressing the subject upon your Lordships for your
decision, and letting you and all this great auditory
know what sort of a criminal you have before you,
who has had the impudence to represent to your
Lordships at your bar that Benares is in a flourishing
condition, in defiance of the evidence which we have
under his own hands, and who, in all the false papers that have been circulated to debauch the public opinion, has stated that we, the Commons, have given
? ? ? ? 348 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
a false representation as to the state of the country
under the English government.
Lucknow, the 2d of April, 1784. Addressed to the
Honorable Edward Wheler, Esq. , ce. Signed
Warren Hastings. It is in page 306 of the printed.
Minutes.
"GENTLEMEN, - Having contrived, by making forced
stages, while the troops of my escort marched at the
ordinary rate, to make a stay of five days at Benares,
I was thereby furnished with-the means of acquiring
some knowledge of the state of the province, which I
am anxious to communicate to you: indeed, the inquiry, which was in a great degree obtruded upon
me, affected me with very mortifying reflections on
my own inability to apply it to any useful purpose.
"From the confines of Buxar to Benares I was followed and fatigued by the clamors of the discontented inhabitants. It was what I expected in a degree, because it is rare that the exercise of authority should prove satisfactory to all who are the objects of it.
The distresses which were produced by the long continued drought unavoidably tended to heighten the general discontent; yet I have reason to fear that the
cause existed principally in a defective, if not a corrupt and oppressive administration. Of a multitude
of petitions which were presented to me, and of which
I took minutes, every one that did not relate to a personal grievance contained the representation of one and the same species of oppression, which is in its
nature of an influence most fatal to the future cultivation. The practice to which I allude is this. It is affirmed that the aumils and renters exact from the
proprietors of the actual harvest a large increase in
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 349
kind on their stipulated rent: that is, from those who
hold their pottahs by the tenure of paying one half of
the produce of their crops, either the whole without
a subterfuge, or a large proportion of it by false measurement or other pretexts; and: from those whose engagements are for a fixed rent in money the half
or a greater proportion is taken in kind. This is in
effect a tax upon the industry of the inhabitants;
since there is scarcely a field of grain in the province,
I might say not one, which has not been preserved by
the incessant labor of the cultivator, by digging wells
for their supply, or watering them from the wells of
masonry with which this country abounds, or from
the neighboring tanks, rivers, and nullahs. The people who imposed on themselves this voluntary and extraordinary labor, and not unattended with expense, did it in the expectation of reaping the profits
of it; and it is certain that they would not have done
it, if they had known that their rulers, from whom
they were entitled to an indemnification, would take
from them what they had so hardly earned. If the
same administration continues, and the country shall
again labor under a want of the natural rains, every
field will be abandoned, the revenue fail, and thousands perish through the want of subsistence: for who will labor for the sole benefit of others, and to
make himself the subject of vexation? These practices are not to be imputed to the aumils employed
in the districts, but to the Naib himself. The avowed
principle on which he acts, and which he acknowledged to myself, is, that the whole sum fixed for the revenue of the province must be collected, and that
for this purpose the deficiency arising in places where
the crops have failed, or which have been left ulcul
? ? ? ? 350 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
tivated, must be supplied from the resources of others,
where the soil has been better suited to the season, or
the industry of the cultivators more successfully exerted: a piinciple which, however specious and plausible it may at first appear, certainly tends to the most pernicious and destructive consequences. If this
declaration of the Naib had been made only to myself, I might have doubted my construction of it; but
it was repeated by him to Mr. Anderson, who understood it exactly in the same sense. In the management of the customs, the conduct of the Naib, or of
the officers under him, was forced also upon my attention. The exorbitant rates exacted by an arbitrary
valuation of the goods, the practice of exacting duties
twice on the same goods, first from the seller and afterwards from the buyer, and the vexatious disputes
and delays drawn on the merchants by these oppressions, were loudly complained of; and some instances
of this kind were said to exist at the very time when
I was in Benares. Under such circumstances, we are
not to wonder, if the merchants of foreign countries
are discouraged from resorting to Benares, and if the
commerce of that province should annually decay.
"Other evils, or imputed evils, have accidentally
come to my knowledge, which I will not now particularize, as I hope that with the assistance of the Resi. .
dent they may be in part corrected: one, however, I
must mention, because it has been verified by my own
observation, and is of that kind which reflects an unmerited reproach on our general and national character. When I was at Buxar, the Resident at my desire enjoined the Naib to appoint creditable people to every
town through which our route lay, to persuade and
encourage the inhabitants to remain in their houses,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 351
promising to give them guards as I approached, and
they required it for their protection; and that he
might perceive how earnest I was for his observance
of this precaution, (which I am certain was faithfully
delivered,) I repeated it to him in person, and dismissed him, that he might precede me for that purpose: but, to my great disappointment, I found every place through which I passed abandoned; nor had there been a man left in any of them for their protection. I am sorry to add, that, firom Buxar to the
opposite boundary, I have seen nothing but the traces of complete devastation in every village, whether caused by the followers of the troops which have
lately passed, for their natural relief, (and I know
not whether my own may not have had their share,)
or from the apprehension of the inhabitants left to
themselves, and of themselves deserting their houses.
I wish to acquit my own countrymen of the blame of
these unfavorable appearances, and in my own heart
I do acquit them: for at one encampment, near a
large village called Derrara, in the purgunnah of Zemaneea, a crowd of people came to me, complaining
that their former aumil, who was a native of the place,
and had long been established in authority over them,
and whose custom it had been, whenever any troops
passed, to remain in person on the spot for their protection, having been removed, the new aumil, on the
approach of any military detachment, himself first
fled from the place, and the inhabitants, having no
one to whom they could apply for redress, or for. the
representation of their grievances, and being thus remediless, fled also; so that their houses and effects became a prey to any person who chose to plunder them.
The general conclusion appeared to me an inevitable
? ? ? ? 352 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
consequence fiom such a state of facts, - and my own
senses bore testimony to it in this specific instance;
nor do I know how it is possible for any officer commanding a military party, how attentive soever he
may be to the discipline and forbearance of his people, to prevent disorders, when there is neither opposition to hinder nor evidence to detect them. These and many other irregularities I impute solely to the
Naib; and I think it my duty, to recommend his instant removal. I would myself hlave dismissed him,
had the control of this province come within the line
of my powers, and have established such regulations
and checks as would have been most likely, to prevent the like irregularities. I have said checks, because, unless there is some visible influence, and a powerful and able one, impended over the head of
the manager, no system can avail. The next appointed may prove, from some defect, as unfit for the office as the present; for the choice is limited to few, without experience to guide it. The first was of
my own nomination; his merits and qualifications
stood in equal balance with my knowledge of those
who might have been the candidates for the office;
but he was the father of the Rajah, and the affinity
sunk the scale wholly in his favor: for who could be
so fit to be intrusted with the charge of his son's interest, and the new credit of the rising family? He
deceived my expectations. Another was recommended by the Resident, and at my instance the board
appointed him. This was Jagher Deo Seo, the
present Naib. I knew him not, and the other members of the board as little. While Mr. Markham remained in office, of whom, as his immediate patron,
he may have stood in awe, I am told that he re
? ? ? ? -'SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DA. Y. 353
strained his natural disposition, which lias been described to me as rapacious, unfeeling, haughty, and
to an extreme vindictive.
"I cannot avoid remarking, that, excepting the
city of Benares itself, tile province depending upon it
is in effect without a governlmelt, the Naib exercising only a dependent jurisdiction without a principal.
The Rajah is without authority, and even his name
disused in the official instruments issued or taken
by the manager. The representationl of his situation
shall be the subject of another letter; I have made
this already too long, and shall confine it to the single
subject for the communication of which it was begun.
This permit me to recapitulate. The administration
of the province is misconducted, and the people oppressed; trade discouraged, and the revenue, though
said to be exceeded in the actual collections by
many lacs, (for I have a minute account of it,
which states the net amount, including jaghires, as
something more than fifty-one lacs,) in danger of a
rapid decline, from the violent appropriation of its
means; the Naib or manager is unfit for his office;
a new manager is required, and a system of official
control, -in a word, a constitution: for neither can
the board extend its superintending powers to a district so remote from its observation, nor has it delegated that authority to the Resident, who is merely the representative of government, and the receiver
of its revenue in the last process of it; nor, indeed,
would it be possible to render him wholly so, for
reasons which I may hereafter detail. "
My Lords, you have now heard -- not from the
Managers, not from records of office, not from witVOL. XI. 23
? ? ? ? 854 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
nesses at your bar, but from the prisoner himself -- the
state of the country of Benares, from the time that
Mr. Hastings and his delegated Residents had taken
the management of it. My Lords, it is a proof, beyond all other proof, of the melancholy state of the
country, in which, by attempting to exercise usurped
and arbitrary power, all power and all authority
become extinguished, complete anarchy takes place,
and nothing of government appears but the means of
robbing and ravaging, with an utter indisposition to
take one step for the protection of the people.
Think, my Lords, what a triumphal progress it was
for a British governor, from one extremity of the province to the other, (for so he has stated it,) to be pursued by the cries of an oppressed and ruined people,
where they dared to appear before him, - and when
they did not dare to appear, flying from every place,
even the very magistrates being the first to fly!
Think, my Lords, that, when these unhappy people
saw the appearance of a British soldier, they fled as
from a pestilence; and then think, that these were
the people who labored in the manner which you have
just heard, who dug their own wells, whose country
would not produce anything but from the indefatigable industry of its inhabitants; and that such a meritorious, such an industrious people, should be subjected to such a cursed anarchy uinder pretence of revenue, to such a cursed tyranny under the pretence of government!
" But Jagher Deo Seo was unfit for his office. " --
"How dared you to appoint a man unfit for his
office? " -" Oh, it signified little, without their having a constitution. " -" Why did you destroy the official constitution that existed before? - How dared you
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY.
