But what shall we say to the
deserter
of that cause,
who, having glory and honor before him, has chosen
to plunge himself into the downward road to sordid
riches?
who, having glory and honor before him, has chosen
to plunge himself into the downward road to sordid
riches?
Edmund Burke
- FIRST DAY.
163
guished and incommunicable attributes, of superior
wickedness in eminent station.
But, my Lords, when the vices of low, sordid, and
illiberal minds infect that high situation,-when theft,
bribery, and peculation, attended with fraud, prevarication, falsehood, misrepresentation, and forgery -- when all these follow in one train, -- when these
vices, which gender and spawn in dirt, and are
nursed in dunghills, come and pollute with their
slime that throne which ought to be a seat of dignity
and purity, the evil is much greater; it may operate
daily and hourly; it is not only imitable, but improvable, and it will be imitated, and will be improved, from the highest to the lowest, through all the gradations of a corrupt government. They are
reptile vices. There are situations in which the acts
of the individual are of some moment, the example
comparatively of little importance. In the other, the
mischief of the example is infinite.
My Lords, when once a Governor-General receives
bribes, he gives a signal to universal pillage to all the
inferior parts of the service. The bridles upon hardmouthed passion are removed; they are taken away;
they are broken. Fear and shame, the great guards
to virtue next to conscience, are gone. Shame! how
can it exist? -- it will soon blush away its awkward
sensibility. Shame, my Lords, cannot exist long,
when it is seen that crimes which naturally bring
disgrace are attended with all the outward symbols,
characteristics, and rewards of honor and of virtue,
- when it is seen that high station, great rank, general applause, vast wealth follow the commission of
peculation and bribery. Is it to be believed that men
can long be ashamed of that which they see to be the
? ? ? ? 164 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
road to honor? As to fear, let a Governor-General
once take bribes, there is an end of all fear in the service. What have they to fear? Is it the man whose
example they follow that is to bring them before a
tribunal for their punishment? Can he open any inquiry? He cannot: he that opens a channel of inquiry under these circumstances opens a high-road to his own detection. Can he make any laws to prevent it? None: for he can make no laws to restrain
that practice without the breach of his own laws immediately in his own conduct. If we once can admit,
for a single instant, in a Governor-General, a principle, however defended, upon any pretence whatever,
to receive bribes in consequence of his office, there is
an end of all virtue, an end of the laws, and no hope
left in the supreme justice of the country. . We are
sensible of all these difficulties; we have felt them;
and perhaps it has required no small degree of exertion for us to get the better of these difficulties
which are thrown in our way by a Governor-General
accepting bribes, and thereby screening and protecting the whole service in such iniquitous proceedings.
With regard to this matter, we are to state to your
Lordships, ill order to bring it fully and distinctly before you, what the nature of this distemper of bribery is in the Indian government. We are to state what the laws and rules are which have been opposed
to prevent it, and the utter insufficiency of all that
have been proposed: to state the grievance, the instructions of the Company and government, the acts
of Parliament, the constructions upon the acts of
Parliament. We are to state to your Lordships the
particular situation of Mr. Hastings; we are to
state the trust the Company had in him for the pre
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 165
vention of all those evils; and then we are to prove
that every evil, that all those grievances which the law
intended to prevent, which there were covenants to
restrain, and with respect to which there were encouragements to smooth and make easy the path of duty, Mr. Hastings was invested with a special, direct, and
immediate trust to prevent. We are to prove to your
Lordships that he is the man who, in his own person
collectively, has done more mischief than all those
persons whose evil practices have produced all those
laws, those regulations, and even his own appointment.
The first thing that we shall do is to state, and which
we shall prove in evidence, that this vice of bribery
was the ancient, radical, endemical, and ruinous distemper of the Company's affairs in India, from the
time of their first establishment there. Very often
there are no words nor any description which can
adequately convey the state of a thing like the direct
evidence of the thing itself: because the former might
be suspected of exaggeration; you might think that
which was really fact to be nothing but the coloring
of the person that explained it; and therefore I think
that it will be much better to give to your Lordships
here a direct state of the Presidency at the time when
the Company enacted those covenants which Mr. Hastings entered into, and when they took those measures to prevent the very evils from persons placed in those
very stations and in those very circumstances in which
we charge Mr. Hastings with having committed the
offences we now bring before you.
I wish your Lordships to know that we are going to
read a consultation of Lord Clive's, who was sent out
for the express purpose of reforming the state of the
? ? ? ? 166 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS
Company, in order to show the magnitude of the pecuniary corruptions that prevailed in it. ' It is from a due sense of the regard we owe and
profess to. your interests and to our own honor, that
we think it indispensably necessary to lay open to your
view a series of transactions too notoriously known
to be suppressed, and too affecting to your interest,
to the national character, and to the existence of the
Company in Bengal, to escape unnoticed and uncensured, - transactions which seem to demonstrate that
every spring of this government was smeared with
corruption, that principles of rapacity and oppression
universally prevailed, and that every spark of sentiment and public spirit was lost and extinguished in
the unbounded lust of unmerited wealth.
"' To illustrate these positions, we must exhibit to
your view a most unpleasing variety of complaints,
inquiries, accusations, and vindications, the particulars of which are entered in our Proceedings and the
Appendix, - assuring you that we undertake this task
with peculiar reluctance, from the personal regard we
entertain for some of the gentlemen whose characters will appear to be deeply affected.
"' At Fort St. George we received the first advices
of the demise of Mir Jaffier and of Sujah Dowlah's
defeat. It was there firmly imagined that no definite
measures would be taken, either in respect to a peace
or filling the vacancy in the nizamut, before our arrival, - as the' Lapwing' arrived in the month of January with your general letter, and the appointment of a committee with express powers to that purpose,
for the successful exertion of which the happiest occasion now offered. However, a contrary resolution
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 167
prevailed in the Council. The opportunity of acquiring immense fortunes was too inviting to be neglected, and the temptation too powerful to be resisted. A treaty was hastily drawnl up by the board, or rather transcribed, with few unimportant additions, from
that concluded with Mir Jaffier, - and a deputation,
consisting of Messrs. Johnistone, senior, Middletoll, and
Leycester, appointed to raise the natural son of the deceased Nabob to the subahdarry, in prejudice of the
claim of the grandson; and for this measure sucll
reasons are assigned as ought to have dictated a diametrically opposite resolution. Meeran's son was a
minor, which circumstance alone would have naturally brought the whole administration into our hands,
at a juncture when it became indispensably necessary we should realize that shadow of power and influence which, having no solid foundation, was exposed to the danger of being annihilated by the first stroke
of adverse fortune. But this inconsistence was not
regarded; nor was it material to the views for precipitating the treaty, which was pressed on the young
Nabob at the first interview, in so earnest and indelicate a manner as highly disgusted him and chagrined
his ministers; while not a single rupee was stipulated
for the Company, whose interests were sacrificed, that
their servants might revel in the spoils of a treasury
before impoverished, but now totally exhausted.
"This scene of corruption was first disclosed, at
a visit the Nabob was paid, to Lord Clive and the
gentlemen of the Committee, a few days after our
arrival. He there delivered to his Lordship a letter
filled with bitter complaints of the insults and indignities he had been exposed to, and the embezzlement
of near twenty lacs of rupees, issued from his treas
? ? ? ? 168 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ury for purposes unknownl, during the late negotiations. So public a complaint could not be disregarded, and it soon produced an inquiry. We referred the letter to the board, in expectation of obtaining a satisfactory account of the application of this money, and were answered only by a warm remonstrance entered by Mr. Leycester against that
very Nabob in whose elevation he boasts of having
been a principal agent.
"' Mahomed Reza Khan, the Naib Subah, was then
called upon to account for this large disbursement
from the treasury; and he soon delivered to the
Committee the very extraordinary narrative entered
in our Proceedings the 6th of June, wherein he specifies the several names and sums, by whom paid, and
to whom, whether in cash, bills, or obligations. So
precise, so accurate an account as this of money for
secret and venal services was never, we believe, before
this period, exhibited to the Honorable Court of Directors, -at least, never vouched by such undeniable
testimony and authentic documents: by Juggut Seet,
who himself was obliged to contribute largely to the
sums demanded; by Muley Ram, who was employed
by Mr. Johnstone in all those pecuniary transactions;
by the Nabob and Mahomed Reza Khan, who were
the heaviest sufferers; and, lastly, by the confession
of the gentlemen themselves whose names are specified ill the distribution list.
"Juggut Seet expressly declared in his narrative,
that the sum which he agreed to pay the deputation,
amounting to 125,000 rupees, was extorted by menaces; and since the close of our inquiry, and the
opinions we delivered in the Proceedings of the 21st
June, it fully appears that the presents from the
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 169
Nabob and Mahomed Reza Khan, exceeding the immense sum of seventeen lacs, were not the voluntary
offerings of gratitude, but contributions levied on the
weakness of the government, and violently exacted
from the dependent state and timid disposition of the
minister. The charge, indeed, is denied on the one
hand, as well as affirmed on the other. Your honorable board Mnust therefore determine how far the circumstance of extortion may aggravate the crime of disobedience to your positive orders, the exposing the
government in a manner to sale, and receiving the
infamous wages of corruption from opposite parties
and contending interests. We speak with boldness,
because we speak from conviction founded upon indubitable facts, that, besides the above sums specified
in the distribution account to the amount of 228,125
pounds sterling, there was likewise to the value of
several lacs of rupees procured from Nundcomar and
Roydullub, each of whom aspired at and obtained a
promise of that very employment it was predetermined to bestow on Mahomed Reza Khan.
(Signed at the end)
C CLIVE.
WM B. SUMNER.
JOHN CARNAC.
H. VERELST.
FRA8 SYKES. "
This paper cannot be denied to be a paper of
weight and authenticity, because it is signed by a
gentleman now in this House, who sits oil one side
of the gentleman at your bar, as his bail. This
grievance, therefore, so authenticated, so great, and
described in so many circumstances, I think it might
? ? ? ? 170 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
be sufficient for me, in this part of the business, to
show was, when Mr. Hastings was sent to India, a
prevalent evil.
But, my Lords, it is necessary that I should show
to you something more, because, prigna fronte, this
is some exculpation of Mr. Hastings: for, if he was
only a partaker in a general misconduct, it was
rather vitium loci et vitium, temporis than vitium
hominis. This might be said in his exculpation.
But I am next to show your Lordships the means
which the Company took for removing this grievance; and that Mr. Hastings's peculiar trust, the
great specific ground of his appointment, was a confidence that he would eradicate this very evil, of
which we are going to prove that he has been one
of the principal promoters. I wish your Lordships
to advert to one particular circumstance, - namely,
that the two persons who were bidders at this time,
and at this auction of government, for the favor and
countenance of the Presidency at Calcutta, were
Mahomed Reza Khan and Rajah Nundcomar. I
wish your Lordships to recollect this by-and-by, when
we shall bring before you the very same two persons,
who, in the same sort of transaction, and in circumstances exactly similar, or very nearly so, were candidates for the favor of Mr. Hastings. My Lords, our next step will be to show you that
the Company in 1768 had made a covenant expressly
forbidding the taking of presents of above 4001. value
in each present by the Governor-General. I take it
for granted, this will not be much litigated. They renewed and enforced that with other covenants and
other instructions; and at last came an act of Parliament, in the clearest, the most definite, the most spe
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 171
cific words that all the wisdom of the legislature, intent upon the eradication of this evil, could use, to prevent the receiving of presents.
My Lords, I think it is necessary to state, that
there has been some little difficulty concerning this
word, presents. Bribery and extortion have been
covered by the name of presents, and the authority
and practice of the East has been adduced as a palliation of the crime. My Lords, no authority of the East will be a palliation of the breach of laws enacted
in the West: and to those laws of the West, and not
the vicious customs of the East, we insist upon making Mr. Hastings liable. But do not your Lordships see that this is an entire mistake? that there never
was any custom of the East for it? I do not mean
vicious practices and customs, which it is the business
of good laws and good customs to eradicate. There
are three species of presents known in the East, - two
of them payments of money known to be legal, and
the other perfectly illegal, and which has a name exactly expressing it in the manner our language does. It is necessary that your Lordships should see that
Mr. Hastings has made use of a perversion of the
names of authorized gifts to cover the most abominable
and prostituted bribery. The first of these presents is
known in the country by the name of pesheush: this
peshcush is a fine paid, upon the grant of lands, to
the sovereign, or whoever grants them. The second
is the nuzzer, or nuzzerana, which is a tribute of acknowledgment from an inferior to a superior. The
last is called reshwat, in the Persian language,- that
is to say, a bribe, or sum of money clandestinely
and corruptly taken, - and is as much distinguished
from the others as, in the English language, a fine or
? ? ? ? 172 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
acknowledgment is distinguished from a bribe. To
show your Lordships this, we shall give in evidence,
that, whenever a peshcush or fine is paid, it is a sum
of money publicly paid, and paid in proportion to the
grant, - and that the sum is entered upon the very
grant itself. We shall prove the nuzzer is in the
same manner entered, and that all legal fees are indorsed upon the body of the grant for which they are
taken: and that they are no more in the East than
in the West any kind of color or pretence for corrupt
acts, which are known by the circumstance of their
being clandestinely taken, and which are acknowledged and confessed to be illegal and corrupt. Having stated that Mr. Hastings, in some of the evidence that we shall produce, endeavors to confound these
three things, I am only to remark that the nuzzer is
generally a very small sum of money, that it sometimes amounts to one gold mohur, that sometimes it
is less, and that, in all the records of the Company, I
have never known it exceed one gold mohur, or about
thirty-five shillings, -- passing by the fifty gold mohurs which were given to Mr. Hastings by Cheyt Sing,
and a hundred gold mohurs which were given to the
Mogul, as a nuzzer, by Mahomed Ali, Nabob of Arcot.
The Company, seeing that this nuzzer, though
small in each sum, might amount at last to a large
tax upon the country, (and it did so in fact,) thought
proper to prohibit any sum of money to be taken upon any pretext whatever; and the Company in the
year 1775 did expressly explode the whole doctrine
of peshcush, nuzzer, and every other private lucrative
emolument, under whatever name, to be taken by
the Governor-General, and did expressly send out an
order that that was the construction of the act, and
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 173
that he was not even to take a nuzzer. Thus we
shall show that that act had totally cut up the whole
system of bribery and corruption, and that Mr. Hastings had no sort of color whatever for taking the money which we shall prove he has taken.
I know that positive prohibitions, that acts of Parliament, that covenants, are things of very little validity indeed, as long as all the means of corruption are left in power, and all the temptations to corrupt
-profit are left in poverty. I should really think that
the Company deserved to be ill served, if they had
not annexed such appointments to great trusts as
might secure the persons intrusted from the temptations of unlawful emolument, and, what in all cases
is the greatest security, given a lawful gratification
to the natural passions of men. Matrimony is to be
used as a true remedy against a vicious course of
profligate manners; fair and lawful emoluments, and
the just profits of office, are opposed to the unlawful
means which might be made use of to supply them.
For, in truth, I am ready to agree, that for any man
to expect a series of sacrifices without a return in
blessings, to expect labor without a prospect of reward, and fatigue without any means of securing
rest, is an unreasonable demand in any human creature from another. Those who trust that they shall find in men uncommon and heroic virtues are themselves endeavoring to have nothing paid them but the common returns of the worst parts of human infirmity. And therefore I shall show your Lordships that
the Company did provide large, ample, abundant
means for supporting the Governor-General, - that
Lord Clive, in the year 1765, and the Council with
him, of which Mr. Sumner, I am glad and proud to
? ? ? ? 174 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
say, was one, did fix such an allowance as they
thought a sufficient security to the Governor-General
against the temptations attendant upon his situation;
and therefore, after they had fixed this sum, they
say, " that, although by this means the Governor will
not be able to amass a million or half a million in
the space of two or three years, yet he will acquire
a very handsome independency, and be in that very
situation which a man of honor and true zeal for
the service would wish to possess. Thus situated, he
may defy all opposition in Council; he will have
nothing to ask, nothing to propose, but what he wishes for the advantage of his employers; he may defy
the law, because there can be no foundation for a bill
of discovery; and he may defy the obloquy of the
world, because there can be nothing censurable in
his conduct. In short, if stability can be insured to
such a government as this, where riches have been
acquired in abundance in a small space of time, by
all ways and means, and by men with or without capacities, it must be effected by a Governor thus restricted," -that is, a Governor restricted from every emolument but that of his salary. I must remark,
that this salary and these emoluments were not settled upon the vague speculations of men taking the
measure of their necessities for India from the manners of England; but it was fixed by the Council
themselves,- fixed in India, - fixed by those who
knew and were in the situation of the Governor-General, and who knew what was necessary to support
his dignity and to preserve him from the temptation
of corruption: and they have laid open to you such a
body of advantages arising from it as would lead any
man, who had a regard to his honor or conscience, to
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. --- FIRST DAY. 175 think himself happy in having such a provision made for him, and at the same time every temptation to act corruptly removed far from him.
The emoluments of the office, though reduced from the original plan which Lord Clive had proposed, may be computed at near 30,0001. a year, when Mr. Hastings was President: 22,0001. in certain money, and the rest in other advantages. Whatever it was,
I have shown that it was thought sufficient by those
who were the best judges, and who, in carving for
others, were carving for themselves their own allowance at the time. But, my Lords, I am to give a
better opinion of the sufficiency of that provision to
guard against the temptation, out of Mr. Hastings's
own mouth. He says, in his letter to the Court of
Directors, " Although I disclaim the consideration of
my own interest in these speculations, and flatter myself that I proceed upon more liberal grounds, yet I
am proud to avow the feelings of an honest ambition
that stimulates me to aspire at the possession of my
present station for years to come. Those who know
my natural turn of mind will not ascribe this to sordid views. A very few years' possession of the government would undoubtedly enable me to retire with
a fortune amply fitted to the measure of my desires,
were I to consult only my ease: but in my present
situation I feel my mind expand to something greater; I have catched the desire of applause in public
life. "
Here Mr. Hastings confesses that the emoluments
affixed to office were not only sufficient for the purposes and ends which the nature of his office demanded, and the support of present dignity, but that they were sufficient to secure him, in a very few years, a
? ? ? ? 176 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
comfortable retreat; but his object in wishing to hold
his office long was to catch applause in public life.
What an unfortunate mall is he, who has so often
told us, in so many places, and through so many
mouths, that, after fourteen years' possession of an
office which was to mrake him a comfortable fortune
in a few years, he is at length bankrupt in fortune,
and for his applause in public life is now at your
Lordships' bar, and his accuser is his country! This,
my Lords, is to be unfortunate: but there are some
misfortunes that never do or ever can arrive. but
through crimes. He was a deserter from the path
of honor. At the turning of the two ways he made a
glorious choice, -- he caught at the applause of ambition: which though I am ready to consent is not virtue, yet surely a generous ambition for applause for public services in life is one of the best counterfeits
of virtue, and supplies its place in some degree; and
it adds a lustre to real virtue, where it exists as the
substratum of it. Human nature, while it is made
as it is, never can wholly repudiate it for its imperfection, because there is something yet more perfect.
But what shall we say to the deserter of that cause,
who, having glory and honor before him, has chosen
to plunge himself into the downward road to sordid
riches?
My Lords, I have shown the grievances that existed. I have shown the means that existed to put Mr.
Hastings beyond a temptation to those practices of
which we accuse him, even in his own opinion, -- if
he will not follow his example in the House of Commons, and disavow this letter, as lie has done his defence before them, and say he never wrote it. That situation which was to afford him a comfortable for
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 177
tune in a few years he has held for many years, and
therefore he has not one excuse to make for himself;
but I shall show your Lordships much greater and
stronger proofs, that will lean heavy upon him in the
day of your sentence. The first, the peculiar, trust
that was put in him, was to redress all those grievances.
My Lords, I have stated to you the condition of
India in 1765. You may suppose that the means
that were taken, the regulations that were made by
the Company at that period of time, had operated
their effect, and that by the beginning of the year
1772, when Mr. Hastings came first to his government, these evils did not then require, perhaps, so!
vigorous an example, or so much diligence in putting
an end to them; but, my Lords, I have to show you
a very melancholy truth, that, notwithstanding all
these means, the Company Was of opinion that all
these disorders had increased, and accordingly they
say, without entering into all the grievous circumstances of this letter, which was wrote on the 10th
of April, 1773, " We wish we could refute the observation, that almost every attempt made by us and
our administration at your Presidency for reforming
abuses has rather increased them, and added to the
misery of a country we are so anxious to protect and
cherish. " They say, that, " when oppression pervades the whole country, when youths have been suffered with impunity to exercise sovereign jurisdiction over the natives, and to acquire rapid fortunes by monopolizing of commerce, it cannot be a wonder to um
or yourselves that Dadney merchants do not come
forward to contract with the Company, that the man.
ufactures find their way through foreign channels, or
VOL. x. 12
? ? ? ? 178 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that our investments are at once enormously dear
and of a debased quality. It is evident, then, that
the evils which have been so destructive to us lie too
deep for any partial plans to reach or correct; it is
therefore our resolution to aim at the root of those
evils, and we are happy in having reason to believe
that in every just and necessary regulation we shall
imeet with the approbation and support of the legislature, who consider the public as materially interested in the Company's prosperity. "
This is to show your Lordships that Mr. Hastings
was armed with great powers to correct great abuses,
and that there was reposed in him a special trust for
that purpose. And now I shall show, by the twentyfifth paragraph of the same letter, that they intrusted Mr. Hastings with this very great power from some
particular hope they had, not only of his abstaining
himself, whic;l is a thing takenf for granted, but of his
restraining abuses through every part of the service;
and therefore they say,' that, in order to effectuate
this great end, the first step must be to restore perfect
obedience and due subordination to your administration. Our Governor and Council must reassume and exercise their delegated powers upon every just occasion,-punish delinquents, cherish the meritorious, discountenance that luxury and dissipation which, to
the reproach of government, prevailed in Bengal.
Our President, Mr. Hastings, we trust, will set the
example of temperance, economy, and application;
and upon this, we are sensible, much will depend.
And here we take occasion to indulge the pleasure
we have in acknowledging Mr. Hastings's services
upon the coast of Coromandel, in constructing with
equal labor and ability the plan which has so much
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 179
improved our investments there; and as we are persuaded he will persevere in the same laudable pursuit through every branch of our affairs inl Bengal, he, in return, may depend on the steady support and
favor of his employers. " IIere are not only laws to
restrain abuse, here are not only salaries to prevent
the temptation to it, but here are praises to animate
and encourage him, here is what very few men, even
bad in other respects, have resisted, - here is a great
trust put in him, to call upon him with particular
vigor and exertion to prevent all abuses through the
settlement, and particularly these abuses of corruption. Much trust is put in his frugality, his order, his
management of his private affairs; and from thence
they hope that he would not ruin his own fortune, but
improve it by honorable means, and teach the Company's servants the same order and management, in
order to free them from temptation to rapacity in
their own particular situations. There have been
known to be men, otherwise corrupt and vicious, who,
when great trust was put in them, have called forth
principles of honor latent in their minds; and men
who were nursed, in a manner, in corruption have
been not only great reformers by institution, but
greater reformers by the example of their own conduct. Then I am to show, that, soon after his coming to that government, there were means given him instantly of realizing those hopes and expectations, by
putting into his hands several arduous and several
difficult commissions.
My Lords, in the year 1772 the Company had received alarming advices of many disorders throughout the country: there were likewise, at the same time, circumstances in the state of the government
? ? ? ? 180 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
upon which they thought it necessary to make new
regulations. The famine which prevailed in and
devastated Bengal, and the ill use that was made of
that calamity to aggravate the distress for the advan
tage of individuals, produced a great many complaints,
some true, some exaggerated, but universally spread,
as I believe is in the memory of those who are not very
young among us. This obliged the Company to a
very serious consideration of an affair which dishonored and disgraced their government, not only at home, but through all the countries in Europe, much
more than perhaps even more grievous and real oppressions that were exercised under them. It had alarmed their feelings, it had been marked, and had
called the attention of the public upon them in an
eminent manner.
Your Lordships remember the death of Jaffier Ali
Khan, the first of those subahs who introduced the
English power into Bengal. He died about four or
five years before this period. He was succeeded by
two of his sons, who succeeded to one another in a
very rapid succession. The first was the person of
whom we have read an account to you. He was the
natural son of the Nabob by a person called Munny
Begum, who, for the corrupt gifts the circumstances
of which we have'recited, had, in prejudice of the lawful issue of the Nabob, been raised to the musnud; but as bastard slips, it is said in King Richard, (all
abuse of a Scripture phrase,) do not take deep root,
this bastard slip, Nujim ul Dowlah, shortly died, and
the legitimate son, Syef ul Dowlah, succeeded him.
After him another legitimate son, Mobarek ul Dowlah,
succeeded in a minority. When I say succeeded, 1
wish your Lordships to understand that there is no
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 181
regular succession in the office of subah or viceroy
of the kingdom; but, in general, succession has been
considered, and persons have been put in that place
upon some principles resembling a regular succession.
That regular succession had been broken in favor of
a natural son, and the mother of that natural son did
obtain the superiority in the female part of the famlily
for a time.
In consequence of these two circumstances, namely, the famine, and the abuses that were supposed to arise from it, and from the circumstance of the minority of Mobarek ul Dowlah, who now reigns or appears to reign,- in consequence of these two circumstances, the Company gave two sets of orders. The first order related to Mahomed Reza Khan,
who was (as your Lordships remember I took, in the
beginning of this affair, means of explaining) lorddeputy of the province under the native government, the English holding the dewanny, - and deputy de
wan, or high-steward, under the name of the English, and had the command of the whole revenue;
and who was accused before the Company (the chan
nel of which accusation we now learn) of having
aggravated that famine by a monopoly for his own
benefit. The Company, upon these loose and general charges, ordered that he should be divested of his office, that he should be brought down to Calcutta,
and there be obliged to render an account of his conduct.
The next regulation they made was concerning the
effective government of the country, which was become
vacant by the removal of Mahomed Reza Khan. The
offices which he held were in effect these: he was
guardian to the Nabob by the appointment of the
? ? ? ? 182 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Company; he had the care and management of his
family; he had the care of the public justice; and he
represented that shadow of government to foreign
nations which it was the policy of the Company, at
that time, to keep up. This was the person whom
Mr. Hastings was ordered to remove; in consequence
of which removal all these offices were to be supplied,
-of guardian of the Nabob's person and manager of
his family, of chief magistrate, and of representative
of the fallen dignity of the native government to the
foreign nations which traded to Bengal.
To these orders was added an instruction of a very
remarkable nature, which was a third trust that was
given to Mr. Hastings: that during tho Nabob's minority he should reduce the annual allowance, which
was thirty-two lacs, to sixteen; and that to prevent
the abuse of this restricted sum, and to prevent its
being directed by the minister's authority to other
purposes than that for which the Company allowed
it, (that is to say, allowed him out of what was his
own,) of these sixteen lacs an account was to be
regularly kept, as a check upon the person so appointed, which account was ordered to be transmitted to Calcutta, and to be sent to England.
Now we are to show your Lordships what Mr. Hastings's conduct was upon all these occasions; and for
this we mean to produce testimony recorded in the
Company's books, and authentic documents taken
from the public offices of that country. At the same
time I do admit that there never was a positive testimony that did not stand something in need of the support of presumption: for, as we know that witnesses may be perjured, and as we know that documents
can be forged, we have recourse to a known principle
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 183
in the laws of all countries, that circumstances cannot
lie; and therefore, if the testimony that is given was
ever so clear and positive, yet, if it is' contrary to the
circumstances of the country, if it is contrary to the
circumstances of the facts to which it alludes, if the
deposition is totally adverse and alien to the characters of the persons, then I will say, that, though the
testimonies should be many, though they should be
consistent, and though they should be clear, yet they
will still leave some degree of hesitation and doubt
upon every mind timorous in the execution of justice,
as every mind ought to be. If, for instance, ten witnesses were to swear that the Chief-Justice of England, that the Lord High-Chancellor, or the Archbishop of Canterbury, was seen, in the robes of his function, at noonday, robbing upon the highway, it
is not the clearness, the weight, the authority of testimonies, that could make me believe it; I should
attribute it to any cause, either corruption, mistake,
error, or madness, rather than believe that fact.
Why? Because it is totally alien to the character of
the persons, the situation, the circumstances, and to
all the rules of probability. But if, on the contrary,
the crime charged has a perfect relation with the person, with his known conduct, with his known habits,
with the situation and circumstances of the place that
he is in, and with the very corrupt inherent nature of
the act that he does, then much less proof than we
are able to produce will serve; and according to the
nature and strength of the presumptions arising from
the inherent nature of a vicious -principle and vicious
motives in the act, will be strengthened the weakest
evidence, or, if it comes to a sufficient height, the
whole burden of proof will be turned upon the party
? ? ? ? 184 IDIPEACHAMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
accused. And thus we shall think ourselves bound
to show your Lordships, in every step of this proceeding, that there is an inherent presumption of corruption in every act. We shall show the presumptions which preceded, we shall show the presumptions which
accompanied the proof; and these, with the subsequent presumptions, will make it impossible to disbelieve them. Such a body of proof was never given upon any such occasion: and it is such proof as will
prevail against the whole voice of corruption, that
amazing, active, diligent, spreading voice, which has
been made, by buzzing in every part of this country,
sometimes to sound like the public voice; it will put
it to silence, by showing that your Lordships have
proceeded upon the strongest evidence, active and
passive.
First, Mr. Hastings received a positive order to
seize upon Mahomed Reza Khan. That order lihe
executed with a military promptitude of obedience,
which will show your Lordships what are the services
which are congenial to his own mind, and which find
in him always a ready acquiescence, a faithful agent,
and a spirited instrument in the execution. The very
day after lie received the order, he sent up, privately,
without communicating with the Council, from whom
he was not ordered to keep this proceeding a secret, -
he sent up, and found that great and respectable man
and respectable magistrate, who was in all those high
offices which I have stated: and if I was to compare
them to circumstances and situations in this country,
I should say lie had united in himself the character
of First Lord of the Treasury, the character of ChiefJustice, the character of Lord High-Chancellor, and
the character of Archbishop of Canterbury: a man
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 185
o~ great gravity, dignity, and authority, and advanced
in years; had once 100,0001. a year for the support
of his dignity, and had at that time 50,0001. This
man, sitting in his garden, reposing himself after the
toils of his situation, (for he was one of the most
laborious men in the world,) was suddenly arrested,
and, without a moment's respite, dragged down to
Calcutta, and there by Mr. Hastings (exceeding the
orders of the Company) confined near two years
under a guard of soldiers. Mr. Hastings kept this
great man for several months without even attempting the trial upon him. How he tried him afterwards
your Lordships may probably in the course of this
business inquire; and you will then judge, from the
circumstances of that trial, that, as he was not tried
for his crime, so neither was he acquitted for his
innocence; - but at present I leave him in that situation. Mr. Hastings, unknown to the Council, having executed the orders of the Company in the last
degree of rigor to this unhappy man, keeps him in
that situation, without a trial, under a guard, separated from his country, disgraced and dishonored, and
by Mr. Hastings's express order not suffered either to
make a visit or receive a visitor.
There was another commission for Mr. Hastings
contained in these orders. The Company, because
they were of opinion that justice could not be easily
obtained while the first situations of the country were
filled with this man's adherents, desired Mr. Hastings to displace them: leaving him a very large power, and confiding in his justice, prudence, and impartiality not to abuse a trust of such delicacy. But we shall prove to your Lordships that Mr. Hastings
thought it necessary to turn out, from the highest to
? ? ? ? 186 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the lowest, several hundreds of people, for no other
reason than that they had been put in their employments by that very man whom the English government had formerly placed there. If we were to insist that
we could not possibly try Mr. Hastings, or come at
his wickedness, until we had eradicated his influence
in Bengal, and left not one man in it who was during
his government in any place or office whatever, yet,
though we should readily admit that we could not do
the whole without it, at the same time, rather than
make a general massacre of every person presumed to
be under his influence, we would leave some of his
crimes unproved. He did avow and declare, that,
unless he turned all these persons out of their offices, lie could never hope to come at the truth of any charges against Mahomed Reza Khan, against whom
no specific charge had been made. Yet, upon loose
and general charges, did he seize upon this man,
confine him in this manner, and every person who
derived any place or authority from him, high or low,
was turned out. Mr. Hastings had in the Company's
orders something to justify him in rigor, but he had
likewise a prudential power over that rigor; and he
not only treated this man in the manner described,
but every human creature connected with him, as if
they had been all guilty, without any charge whatever against them. These are his reasons for taking
this extraordinary step.
"I pretend not to enter into the views of others.
My own were these. Mahomed Reza Kbhan's influence
still prevailed generally throughout the country. In
the Nabob's household, and at the capital, it was scarce
affected by his present disgrace. His favor was still
courted, and his anger dreaded. Who, under such
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 187 discouragements, would give information or evidence against him? His agents and creatures filled every office of the nizamut and dewalny. How was the
truth of his conduct to be investigated by these?
It would be superfluous to add other arguments to
show the necessity of prefacing the inquiry by breaking his influence, removing his dependants, and putting the direction of all the affairs which had been committed to his care into the hands of the most
powerful or active of his enemies. "
My Lords, if we of the House of Commons were to
desire and to compel the East India Company, or to
address the crown, to remove, according to their several situations and several capacities, every creature
that had been put into office by Mr. Hastings, because
we could otherwise make no inquiry into his conduct, should we not be justified by his own example
in insisting upon the removal of every creature of the
reigning power before we could inquire into his conduct? We have not done that, though we feel, as he
felt, great disadvantages in proceeding in the inquiry
while every situation in Bengal is notoriously held by
his creatures, - always excepting the first of all, but
which we could show is nothing under such circunmstances. Then what do I infer from this, - from his
obedience to the orders of the Company, carried so
much beyond necessity, and prosecuted with so much
rigor, - from the inquiry being suspended for so long
a time, -- from every person in office being removed
from his situation, - from all these precautions being
used as prefatory to the inquiry, when he himself says,
that, after he had used all these means, he found not
the least benefit and advantage from them? The use
I mean to make of this is, to let your Lordships see
? ? ? ? 188 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the great probability and presumption that Mr. Hastings, finding himself in the very selfsame situation that had occurred the year before, when Nundcomar
was sold to Mahomed Reza Khan, of selling Mallomed
Reza Khan to Nundcomar, made a corrupt use of it,
and that, as Mahomed Reza Khan was not treated
with severity for his crimes, so neither was he acquitted for his innocence. The Company had given
Mr. Hastings severe orders, and very severely had he
executed them. The Company gave him no orders
not to institute a present inquiry; but he, under pretence of business, neglected that inquiry, and suffered this man to languish in prison to the utter ruin of his
fortune.
We have in part shown your Lordships what Mr.
Hastings's own manner of proceeding with regard to
a public delinquent is; but at present we leave Mahomed Reza Khan where he was. Do your Lordships think that there is no presumption of Mr. Hastings
having a corrupt view in this business, and of his
having put this great man, who was supposed to be
of immense wealth, under contributions? Mr. Hastings never trusted his colleagues in this proceeding; and what reason does he give? Why, he supposed
that they must be bribed by Mahomed Reza Khan.
"For," says he, "as I did not know their characters at that time, I did not know whether Ma~homed
Reza Khaan had not secured them to his interest by
the known ways in which great men in the East secure men to their interest. " He never trusted his colleagues with the secret; and the person that he
employed to prosecute Mahomed Reza Khlln was his
bitter enemy, Nundcomar. I will not go the length
of saying that the circumstance of enmity disables a
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 189
person from being a prosecutor; under some circumstances it renders a man incompetent to be a witness;
but this I know, that the circumstance of having no
other person to rely upon in a charge against any
man but his enemy, and of having no other principle
to go upon than what is supposed to be derived out
of that enmity, must form some considerable suspicion against the proceeding. But in this he was justified by the Company; for Nundcomar, the great rival of Mahomed Reza Khan, was in the worst situation
with the Company as to his credit. This Nundcomar's politics in the country had been by Mr. Hastings himself, and by several persons joined with him, cruelly represented to the Company; and accordingly
he stood so ill with them, by reason of Mr. Hastings's
representations and those of his predecessors, that the
Company ordered and directed, that, if he could be
of any use in the inquiry into Mahomed Reza Khan's
conduct, some reward should be given him suitable
to his services; but they caution Mr. Hastings at the
same time against giving him any trust which he
might employ to the disadvantage of the Company.
Now Mr. Hastings began, before he could experience
any service from him, by giving him his reward, and
not the base reward of a base service, money, but
every trust and power which he was prohibited from
giving him. Having turned out every one of Mahomed
Reza Khan's dependants, he filled every office, as he
avows, with the creatures of Nundcomar. Now when
he uses a cruel and rigorous obedience in the case of
Mahomed Reza Khan, when he breaks through the
principles of his former conduct with regard to Nundcomar, when he gives him, Nundcomar, trust, whom
he was cautioned not to trust, and when he gives him
? ? ? ? 190 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that reward before any service could be done,-I say,
when he does this, in violation of the Company's orders and his own principles, it is the strongest evidence that he now found them in the situation in
which they were in 1765, when bribes were notoriously taken, and that each party was mutually sold
to the other, and faith kept with neither. The situation in which Mr. ITastings thus placed himself should
have been dreaded by him of all things, because he
knew it was a situation in which the most outrageous
corruption had taken place before.
guished and incommunicable attributes, of superior
wickedness in eminent station.
But, my Lords, when the vices of low, sordid, and
illiberal minds infect that high situation,-when theft,
bribery, and peculation, attended with fraud, prevarication, falsehood, misrepresentation, and forgery -- when all these follow in one train, -- when these
vices, which gender and spawn in dirt, and are
nursed in dunghills, come and pollute with their
slime that throne which ought to be a seat of dignity
and purity, the evil is much greater; it may operate
daily and hourly; it is not only imitable, but improvable, and it will be imitated, and will be improved, from the highest to the lowest, through all the gradations of a corrupt government. They are
reptile vices. There are situations in which the acts
of the individual are of some moment, the example
comparatively of little importance. In the other, the
mischief of the example is infinite.
My Lords, when once a Governor-General receives
bribes, he gives a signal to universal pillage to all the
inferior parts of the service. The bridles upon hardmouthed passion are removed; they are taken away;
they are broken. Fear and shame, the great guards
to virtue next to conscience, are gone. Shame! how
can it exist? -- it will soon blush away its awkward
sensibility. Shame, my Lords, cannot exist long,
when it is seen that crimes which naturally bring
disgrace are attended with all the outward symbols,
characteristics, and rewards of honor and of virtue,
- when it is seen that high station, great rank, general applause, vast wealth follow the commission of
peculation and bribery. Is it to be believed that men
can long be ashamed of that which they see to be the
? ? ? ? 164 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
road to honor? As to fear, let a Governor-General
once take bribes, there is an end of all fear in the service. What have they to fear? Is it the man whose
example they follow that is to bring them before a
tribunal for their punishment? Can he open any inquiry? He cannot: he that opens a channel of inquiry under these circumstances opens a high-road to his own detection. Can he make any laws to prevent it? None: for he can make no laws to restrain
that practice without the breach of his own laws immediately in his own conduct. If we once can admit,
for a single instant, in a Governor-General, a principle, however defended, upon any pretence whatever,
to receive bribes in consequence of his office, there is
an end of all virtue, an end of the laws, and no hope
left in the supreme justice of the country. . We are
sensible of all these difficulties; we have felt them;
and perhaps it has required no small degree of exertion for us to get the better of these difficulties
which are thrown in our way by a Governor-General
accepting bribes, and thereby screening and protecting the whole service in such iniquitous proceedings.
With regard to this matter, we are to state to your
Lordships, ill order to bring it fully and distinctly before you, what the nature of this distemper of bribery is in the Indian government. We are to state what the laws and rules are which have been opposed
to prevent it, and the utter insufficiency of all that
have been proposed: to state the grievance, the instructions of the Company and government, the acts
of Parliament, the constructions upon the acts of
Parliament. We are to state to your Lordships the
particular situation of Mr. Hastings; we are to
state the trust the Company had in him for the pre
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 165
vention of all those evils; and then we are to prove
that every evil, that all those grievances which the law
intended to prevent, which there were covenants to
restrain, and with respect to which there were encouragements to smooth and make easy the path of duty, Mr. Hastings was invested with a special, direct, and
immediate trust to prevent. We are to prove to your
Lordships that he is the man who, in his own person
collectively, has done more mischief than all those
persons whose evil practices have produced all those
laws, those regulations, and even his own appointment.
The first thing that we shall do is to state, and which
we shall prove in evidence, that this vice of bribery
was the ancient, radical, endemical, and ruinous distemper of the Company's affairs in India, from the
time of their first establishment there. Very often
there are no words nor any description which can
adequately convey the state of a thing like the direct
evidence of the thing itself: because the former might
be suspected of exaggeration; you might think that
which was really fact to be nothing but the coloring
of the person that explained it; and therefore I think
that it will be much better to give to your Lordships
here a direct state of the Presidency at the time when
the Company enacted those covenants which Mr. Hastings entered into, and when they took those measures to prevent the very evils from persons placed in those
very stations and in those very circumstances in which
we charge Mr. Hastings with having committed the
offences we now bring before you.
I wish your Lordships to know that we are going to
read a consultation of Lord Clive's, who was sent out
for the express purpose of reforming the state of the
? ? ? ? 166 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS
Company, in order to show the magnitude of the pecuniary corruptions that prevailed in it. ' It is from a due sense of the regard we owe and
profess to. your interests and to our own honor, that
we think it indispensably necessary to lay open to your
view a series of transactions too notoriously known
to be suppressed, and too affecting to your interest,
to the national character, and to the existence of the
Company in Bengal, to escape unnoticed and uncensured, - transactions which seem to demonstrate that
every spring of this government was smeared with
corruption, that principles of rapacity and oppression
universally prevailed, and that every spark of sentiment and public spirit was lost and extinguished in
the unbounded lust of unmerited wealth.
"' To illustrate these positions, we must exhibit to
your view a most unpleasing variety of complaints,
inquiries, accusations, and vindications, the particulars of which are entered in our Proceedings and the
Appendix, - assuring you that we undertake this task
with peculiar reluctance, from the personal regard we
entertain for some of the gentlemen whose characters will appear to be deeply affected.
"' At Fort St. George we received the first advices
of the demise of Mir Jaffier and of Sujah Dowlah's
defeat. It was there firmly imagined that no definite
measures would be taken, either in respect to a peace
or filling the vacancy in the nizamut, before our arrival, - as the' Lapwing' arrived in the month of January with your general letter, and the appointment of a committee with express powers to that purpose,
for the successful exertion of which the happiest occasion now offered. However, a contrary resolution
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 167
prevailed in the Council. The opportunity of acquiring immense fortunes was too inviting to be neglected, and the temptation too powerful to be resisted. A treaty was hastily drawnl up by the board, or rather transcribed, with few unimportant additions, from
that concluded with Mir Jaffier, - and a deputation,
consisting of Messrs. Johnistone, senior, Middletoll, and
Leycester, appointed to raise the natural son of the deceased Nabob to the subahdarry, in prejudice of the
claim of the grandson; and for this measure sucll
reasons are assigned as ought to have dictated a diametrically opposite resolution. Meeran's son was a
minor, which circumstance alone would have naturally brought the whole administration into our hands,
at a juncture when it became indispensably necessary we should realize that shadow of power and influence which, having no solid foundation, was exposed to the danger of being annihilated by the first stroke
of adverse fortune. But this inconsistence was not
regarded; nor was it material to the views for precipitating the treaty, which was pressed on the young
Nabob at the first interview, in so earnest and indelicate a manner as highly disgusted him and chagrined
his ministers; while not a single rupee was stipulated
for the Company, whose interests were sacrificed, that
their servants might revel in the spoils of a treasury
before impoverished, but now totally exhausted.
"This scene of corruption was first disclosed, at
a visit the Nabob was paid, to Lord Clive and the
gentlemen of the Committee, a few days after our
arrival. He there delivered to his Lordship a letter
filled with bitter complaints of the insults and indignities he had been exposed to, and the embezzlement
of near twenty lacs of rupees, issued from his treas
? ? ? ? 168 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ury for purposes unknownl, during the late negotiations. So public a complaint could not be disregarded, and it soon produced an inquiry. We referred the letter to the board, in expectation of obtaining a satisfactory account of the application of this money, and were answered only by a warm remonstrance entered by Mr. Leycester against that
very Nabob in whose elevation he boasts of having
been a principal agent.
"' Mahomed Reza Khan, the Naib Subah, was then
called upon to account for this large disbursement
from the treasury; and he soon delivered to the
Committee the very extraordinary narrative entered
in our Proceedings the 6th of June, wherein he specifies the several names and sums, by whom paid, and
to whom, whether in cash, bills, or obligations. So
precise, so accurate an account as this of money for
secret and venal services was never, we believe, before
this period, exhibited to the Honorable Court of Directors, -at least, never vouched by such undeniable
testimony and authentic documents: by Juggut Seet,
who himself was obliged to contribute largely to the
sums demanded; by Muley Ram, who was employed
by Mr. Johnstone in all those pecuniary transactions;
by the Nabob and Mahomed Reza Khan, who were
the heaviest sufferers; and, lastly, by the confession
of the gentlemen themselves whose names are specified ill the distribution list.
"Juggut Seet expressly declared in his narrative,
that the sum which he agreed to pay the deputation,
amounting to 125,000 rupees, was extorted by menaces; and since the close of our inquiry, and the
opinions we delivered in the Proceedings of the 21st
June, it fully appears that the presents from the
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 169
Nabob and Mahomed Reza Khan, exceeding the immense sum of seventeen lacs, were not the voluntary
offerings of gratitude, but contributions levied on the
weakness of the government, and violently exacted
from the dependent state and timid disposition of the
minister. The charge, indeed, is denied on the one
hand, as well as affirmed on the other. Your honorable board Mnust therefore determine how far the circumstance of extortion may aggravate the crime of disobedience to your positive orders, the exposing the
government in a manner to sale, and receiving the
infamous wages of corruption from opposite parties
and contending interests. We speak with boldness,
because we speak from conviction founded upon indubitable facts, that, besides the above sums specified
in the distribution account to the amount of 228,125
pounds sterling, there was likewise to the value of
several lacs of rupees procured from Nundcomar and
Roydullub, each of whom aspired at and obtained a
promise of that very employment it was predetermined to bestow on Mahomed Reza Khan.
(Signed at the end)
C CLIVE.
WM B. SUMNER.
JOHN CARNAC.
H. VERELST.
FRA8 SYKES. "
This paper cannot be denied to be a paper of
weight and authenticity, because it is signed by a
gentleman now in this House, who sits oil one side
of the gentleman at your bar, as his bail. This
grievance, therefore, so authenticated, so great, and
described in so many circumstances, I think it might
? ? ? ? 170 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
be sufficient for me, in this part of the business, to
show was, when Mr. Hastings was sent to India, a
prevalent evil.
But, my Lords, it is necessary that I should show
to you something more, because, prigna fronte, this
is some exculpation of Mr. Hastings: for, if he was
only a partaker in a general misconduct, it was
rather vitium loci et vitium, temporis than vitium
hominis. This might be said in his exculpation.
But I am next to show your Lordships the means
which the Company took for removing this grievance; and that Mr. Hastings's peculiar trust, the
great specific ground of his appointment, was a confidence that he would eradicate this very evil, of
which we are going to prove that he has been one
of the principal promoters. I wish your Lordships
to advert to one particular circumstance, - namely,
that the two persons who were bidders at this time,
and at this auction of government, for the favor and
countenance of the Presidency at Calcutta, were
Mahomed Reza Khan and Rajah Nundcomar. I
wish your Lordships to recollect this by-and-by, when
we shall bring before you the very same two persons,
who, in the same sort of transaction, and in circumstances exactly similar, or very nearly so, were candidates for the favor of Mr. Hastings. My Lords, our next step will be to show you that
the Company in 1768 had made a covenant expressly
forbidding the taking of presents of above 4001. value
in each present by the Governor-General. I take it
for granted, this will not be much litigated. They renewed and enforced that with other covenants and
other instructions; and at last came an act of Parliament, in the clearest, the most definite, the most spe
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 171
cific words that all the wisdom of the legislature, intent upon the eradication of this evil, could use, to prevent the receiving of presents.
My Lords, I think it is necessary to state, that
there has been some little difficulty concerning this
word, presents. Bribery and extortion have been
covered by the name of presents, and the authority
and practice of the East has been adduced as a palliation of the crime. My Lords, no authority of the East will be a palliation of the breach of laws enacted
in the West: and to those laws of the West, and not
the vicious customs of the East, we insist upon making Mr. Hastings liable. But do not your Lordships see that this is an entire mistake? that there never
was any custom of the East for it? I do not mean
vicious practices and customs, which it is the business
of good laws and good customs to eradicate. There
are three species of presents known in the East, - two
of them payments of money known to be legal, and
the other perfectly illegal, and which has a name exactly expressing it in the manner our language does. It is necessary that your Lordships should see that
Mr. Hastings has made use of a perversion of the
names of authorized gifts to cover the most abominable
and prostituted bribery. The first of these presents is
known in the country by the name of pesheush: this
peshcush is a fine paid, upon the grant of lands, to
the sovereign, or whoever grants them. The second
is the nuzzer, or nuzzerana, which is a tribute of acknowledgment from an inferior to a superior. The
last is called reshwat, in the Persian language,- that
is to say, a bribe, or sum of money clandestinely
and corruptly taken, - and is as much distinguished
from the others as, in the English language, a fine or
? ? ? ? 172 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
acknowledgment is distinguished from a bribe. To
show your Lordships this, we shall give in evidence,
that, whenever a peshcush or fine is paid, it is a sum
of money publicly paid, and paid in proportion to the
grant, - and that the sum is entered upon the very
grant itself. We shall prove the nuzzer is in the
same manner entered, and that all legal fees are indorsed upon the body of the grant for which they are
taken: and that they are no more in the East than
in the West any kind of color or pretence for corrupt
acts, which are known by the circumstance of their
being clandestinely taken, and which are acknowledged and confessed to be illegal and corrupt. Having stated that Mr. Hastings, in some of the evidence that we shall produce, endeavors to confound these
three things, I am only to remark that the nuzzer is
generally a very small sum of money, that it sometimes amounts to one gold mohur, that sometimes it
is less, and that, in all the records of the Company, I
have never known it exceed one gold mohur, or about
thirty-five shillings, -- passing by the fifty gold mohurs which were given to Mr. Hastings by Cheyt Sing,
and a hundred gold mohurs which were given to the
Mogul, as a nuzzer, by Mahomed Ali, Nabob of Arcot.
The Company, seeing that this nuzzer, though
small in each sum, might amount at last to a large
tax upon the country, (and it did so in fact,) thought
proper to prohibit any sum of money to be taken upon any pretext whatever; and the Company in the
year 1775 did expressly explode the whole doctrine
of peshcush, nuzzer, and every other private lucrative
emolument, under whatever name, to be taken by
the Governor-General, and did expressly send out an
order that that was the construction of the act, and
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 173
that he was not even to take a nuzzer. Thus we
shall show that that act had totally cut up the whole
system of bribery and corruption, and that Mr. Hastings had no sort of color whatever for taking the money which we shall prove he has taken.
I know that positive prohibitions, that acts of Parliament, that covenants, are things of very little validity indeed, as long as all the means of corruption are left in power, and all the temptations to corrupt
-profit are left in poverty. I should really think that
the Company deserved to be ill served, if they had
not annexed such appointments to great trusts as
might secure the persons intrusted from the temptations of unlawful emolument, and, what in all cases
is the greatest security, given a lawful gratification
to the natural passions of men. Matrimony is to be
used as a true remedy against a vicious course of
profligate manners; fair and lawful emoluments, and
the just profits of office, are opposed to the unlawful
means which might be made use of to supply them.
For, in truth, I am ready to agree, that for any man
to expect a series of sacrifices without a return in
blessings, to expect labor without a prospect of reward, and fatigue without any means of securing
rest, is an unreasonable demand in any human creature from another. Those who trust that they shall find in men uncommon and heroic virtues are themselves endeavoring to have nothing paid them but the common returns of the worst parts of human infirmity. And therefore I shall show your Lordships that
the Company did provide large, ample, abundant
means for supporting the Governor-General, - that
Lord Clive, in the year 1765, and the Council with
him, of which Mr. Sumner, I am glad and proud to
? ? ? ? 174 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
say, was one, did fix such an allowance as they
thought a sufficient security to the Governor-General
against the temptations attendant upon his situation;
and therefore, after they had fixed this sum, they
say, " that, although by this means the Governor will
not be able to amass a million or half a million in
the space of two or three years, yet he will acquire
a very handsome independency, and be in that very
situation which a man of honor and true zeal for
the service would wish to possess. Thus situated, he
may defy all opposition in Council; he will have
nothing to ask, nothing to propose, but what he wishes for the advantage of his employers; he may defy
the law, because there can be no foundation for a bill
of discovery; and he may defy the obloquy of the
world, because there can be nothing censurable in
his conduct. In short, if stability can be insured to
such a government as this, where riches have been
acquired in abundance in a small space of time, by
all ways and means, and by men with or without capacities, it must be effected by a Governor thus restricted," -that is, a Governor restricted from every emolument but that of his salary. I must remark,
that this salary and these emoluments were not settled upon the vague speculations of men taking the
measure of their necessities for India from the manners of England; but it was fixed by the Council
themselves,- fixed in India, - fixed by those who
knew and were in the situation of the Governor-General, and who knew what was necessary to support
his dignity and to preserve him from the temptation
of corruption: and they have laid open to you such a
body of advantages arising from it as would lead any
man, who had a regard to his honor or conscience, to
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. --- FIRST DAY. 175 think himself happy in having such a provision made for him, and at the same time every temptation to act corruptly removed far from him.
The emoluments of the office, though reduced from the original plan which Lord Clive had proposed, may be computed at near 30,0001. a year, when Mr. Hastings was President: 22,0001. in certain money, and the rest in other advantages. Whatever it was,
I have shown that it was thought sufficient by those
who were the best judges, and who, in carving for
others, were carving for themselves their own allowance at the time. But, my Lords, I am to give a
better opinion of the sufficiency of that provision to
guard against the temptation, out of Mr. Hastings's
own mouth. He says, in his letter to the Court of
Directors, " Although I disclaim the consideration of
my own interest in these speculations, and flatter myself that I proceed upon more liberal grounds, yet I
am proud to avow the feelings of an honest ambition
that stimulates me to aspire at the possession of my
present station for years to come. Those who know
my natural turn of mind will not ascribe this to sordid views. A very few years' possession of the government would undoubtedly enable me to retire with
a fortune amply fitted to the measure of my desires,
were I to consult only my ease: but in my present
situation I feel my mind expand to something greater; I have catched the desire of applause in public
life. "
Here Mr. Hastings confesses that the emoluments
affixed to office were not only sufficient for the purposes and ends which the nature of his office demanded, and the support of present dignity, but that they were sufficient to secure him, in a very few years, a
? ? ? ? 176 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
comfortable retreat; but his object in wishing to hold
his office long was to catch applause in public life.
What an unfortunate mall is he, who has so often
told us, in so many places, and through so many
mouths, that, after fourteen years' possession of an
office which was to mrake him a comfortable fortune
in a few years, he is at length bankrupt in fortune,
and for his applause in public life is now at your
Lordships' bar, and his accuser is his country! This,
my Lords, is to be unfortunate: but there are some
misfortunes that never do or ever can arrive. but
through crimes. He was a deserter from the path
of honor. At the turning of the two ways he made a
glorious choice, -- he caught at the applause of ambition: which though I am ready to consent is not virtue, yet surely a generous ambition for applause for public services in life is one of the best counterfeits
of virtue, and supplies its place in some degree; and
it adds a lustre to real virtue, where it exists as the
substratum of it. Human nature, while it is made
as it is, never can wholly repudiate it for its imperfection, because there is something yet more perfect.
But what shall we say to the deserter of that cause,
who, having glory and honor before him, has chosen
to plunge himself into the downward road to sordid
riches?
My Lords, I have shown the grievances that existed. I have shown the means that existed to put Mr.
Hastings beyond a temptation to those practices of
which we accuse him, even in his own opinion, -- if
he will not follow his example in the House of Commons, and disavow this letter, as lie has done his defence before them, and say he never wrote it. That situation which was to afford him a comfortable for
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 177
tune in a few years he has held for many years, and
therefore he has not one excuse to make for himself;
but I shall show your Lordships much greater and
stronger proofs, that will lean heavy upon him in the
day of your sentence. The first, the peculiar, trust
that was put in him, was to redress all those grievances.
My Lords, I have stated to you the condition of
India in 1765. You may suppose that the means
that were taken, the regulations that were made by
the Company at that period of time, had operated
their effect, and that by the beginning of the year
1772, when Mr. Hastings came first to his government, these evils did not then require, perhaps, so!
vigorous an example, or so much diligence in putting
an end to them; but, my Lords, I have to show you
a very melancholy truth, that, notwithstanding all
these means, the Company Was of opinion that all
these disorders had increased, and accordingly they
say, without entering into all the grievous circumstances of this letter, which was wrote on the 10th
of April, 1773, " We wish we could refute the observation, that almost every attempt made by us and
our administration at your Presidency for reforming
abuses has rather increased them, and added to the
misery of a country we are so anxious to protect and
cherish. " They say, that, " when oppression pervades the whole country, when youths have been suffered with impunity to exercise sovereign jurisdiction over the natives, and to acquire rapid fortunes by monopolizing of commerce, it cannot be a wonder to um
or yourselves that Dadney merchants do not come
forward to contract with the Company, that the man.
ufactures find their way through foreign channels, or
VOL. x. 12
? ? ? ? 178 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that our investments are at once enormously dear
and of a debased quality. It is evident, then, that
the evils which have been so destructive to us lie too
deep for any partial plans to reach or correct; it is
therefore our resolution to aim at the root of those
evils, and we are happy in having reason to believe
that in every just and necessary regulation we shall
imeet with the approbation and support of the legislature, who consider the public as materially interested in the Company's prosperity. "
This is to show your Lordships that Mr. Hastings
was armed with great powers to correct great abuses,
and that there was reposed in him a special trust for
that purpose. And now I shall show, by the twentyfifth paragraph of the same letter, that they intrusted Mr. Hastings with this very great power from some
particular hope they had, not only of his abstaining
himself, whic;l is a thing takenf for granted, but of his
restraining abuses through every part of the service;
and therefore they say,' that, in order to effectuate
this great end, the first step must be to restore perfect
obedience and due subordination to your administration. Our Governor and Council must reassume and exercise their delegated powers upon every just occasion,-punish delinquents, cherish the meritorious, discountenance that luxury and dissipation which, to
the reproach of government, prevailed in Bengal.
Our President, Mr. Hastings, we trust, will set the
example of temperance, economy, and application;
and upon this, we are sensible, much will depend.
And here we take occasion to indulge the pleasure
we have in acknowledging Mr. Hastings's services
upon the coast of Coromandel, in constructing with
equal labor and ability the plan which has so much
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 179
improved our investments there; and as we are persuaded he will persevere in the same laudable pursuit through every branch of our affairs inl Bengal, he, in return, may depend on the steady support and
favor of his employers. " IIere are not only laws to
restrain abuse, here are not only salaries to prevent
the temptation to it, but here are praises to animate
and encourage him, here is what very few men, even
bad in other respects, have resisted, - here is a great
trust put in him, to call upon him with particular
vigor and exertion to prevent all abuses through the
settlement, and particularly these abuses of corruption. Much trust is put in his frugality, his order, his
management of his private affairs; and from thence
they hope that he would not ruin his own fortune, but
improve it by honorable means, and teach the Company's servants the same order and management, in
order to free them from temptation to rapacity in
their own particular situations. There have been
known to be men, otherwise corrupt and vicious, who,
when great trust was put in them, have called forth
principles of honor latent in their minds; and men
who were nursed, in a manner, in corruption have
been not only great reformers by institution, but
greater reformers by the example of their own conduct. Then I am to show, that, soon after his coming to that government, there were means given him instantly of realizing those hopes and expectations, by
putting into his hands several arduous and several
difficult commissions.
My Lords, in the year 1772 the Company had received alarming advices of many disorders throughout the country: there were likewise, at the same time, circumstances in the state of the government
? ? ? ? 180 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
upon which they thought it necessary to make new
regulations. The famine which prevailed in and
devastated Bengal, and the ill use that was made of
that calamity to aggravate the distress for the advan
tage of individuals, produced a great many complaints,
some true, some exaggerated, but universally spread,
as I believe is in the memory of those who are not very
young among us. This obliged the Company to a
very serious consideration of an affair which dishonored and disgraced their government, not only at home, but through all the countries in Europe, much
more than perhaps even more grievous and real oppressions that were exercised under them. It had alarmed their feelings, it had been marked, and had
called the attention of the public upon them in an
eminent manner.
Your Lordships remember the death of Jaffier Ali
Khan, the first of those subahs who introduced the
English power into Bengal. He died about four or
five years before this period. He was succeeded by
two of his sons, who succeeded to one another in a
very rapid succession. The first was the person of
whom we have read an account to you. He was the
natural son of the Nabob by a person called Munny
Begum, who, for the corrupt gifts the circumstances
of which we have'recited, had, in prejudice of the lawful issue of the Nabob, been raised to the musnud; but as bastard slips, it is said in King Richard, (all
abuse of a Scripture phrase,) do not take deep root,
this bastard slip, Nujim ul Dowlah, shortly died, and
the legitimate son, Syef ul Dowlah, succeeded him.
After him another legitimate son, Mobarek ul Dowlah,
succeeded in a minority. When I say succeeded, 1
wish your Lordships to understand that there is no
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 181
regular succession in the office of subah or viceroy
of the kingdom; but, in general, succession has been
considered, and persons have been put in that place
upon some principles resembling a regular succession.
That regular succession had been broken in favor of
a natural son, and the mother of that natural son did
obtain the superiority in the female part of the famlily
for a time.
In consequence of these two circumstances, namely, the famine, and the abuses that were supposed to arise from it, and from the circumstance of the minority of Mobarek ul Dowlah, who now reigns or appears to reign,- in consequence of these two circumstances, the Company gave two sets of orders. The first order related to Mahomed Reza Khan,
who was (as your Lordships remember I took, in the
beginning of this affair, means of explaining) lorddeputy of the province under the native government, the English holding the dewanny, - and deputy de
wan, or high-steward, under the name of the English, and had the command of the whole revenue;
and who was accused before the Company (the chan
nel of which accusation we now learn) of having
aggravated that famine by a monopoly for his own
benefit. The Company, upon these loose and general charges, ordered that he should be divested of his office, that he should be brought down to Calcutta,
and there be obliged to render an account of his conduct.
The next regulation they made was concerning the
effective government of the country, which was become
vacant by the removal of Mahomed Reza Khan. The
offices which he held were in effect these: he was
guardian to the Nabob by the appointment of the
? ? ? ? 182 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Company; he had the care and management of his
family; he had the care of the public justice; and he
represented that shadow of government to foreign
nations which it was the policy of the Company, at
that time, to keep up. This was the person whom
Mr. Hastings was ordered to remove; in consequence
of which removal all these offices were to be supplied,
-of guardian of the Nabob's person and manager of
his family, of chief magistrate, and of representative
of the fallen dignity of the native government to the
foreign nations which traded to Bengal.
To these orders was added an instruction of a very
remarkable nature, which was a third trust that was
given to Mr. Hastings: that during tho Nabob's minority he should reduce the annual allowance, which
was thirty-two lacs, to sixteen; and that to prevent
the abuse of this restricted sum, and to prevent its
being directed by the minister's authority to other
purposes than that for which the Company allowed
it, (that is to say, allowed him out of what was his
own,) of these sixteen lacs an account was to be
regularly kept, as a check upon the person so appointed, which account was ordered to be transmitted to Calcutta, and to be sent to England.
Now we are to show your Lordships what Mr. Hastings's conduct was upon all these occasions; and for
this we mean to produce testimony recorded in the
Company's books, and authentic documents taken
from the public offices of that country. At the same
time I do admit that there never was a positive testimony that did not stand something in need of the support of presumption: for, as we know that witnesses may be perjured, and as we know that documents
can be forged, we have recourse to a known principle
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 183
in the laws of all countries, that circumstances cannot
lie; and therefore, if the testimony that is given was
ever so clear and positive, yet, if it is' contrary to the
circumstances of the country, if it is contrary to the
circumstances of the facts to which it alludes, if the
deposition is totally adverse and alien to the characters of the persons, then I will say, that, though the
testimonies should be many, though they should be
consistent, and though they should be clear, yet they
will still leave some degree of hesitation and doubt
upon every mind timorous in the execution of justice,
as every mind ought to be. If, for instance, ten witnesses were to swear that the Chief-Justice of England, that the Lord High-Chancellor, or the Archbishop of Canterbury, was seen, in the robes of his function, at noonday, robbing upon the highway, it
is not the clearness, the weight, the authority of testimonies, that could make me believe it; I should
attribute it to any cause, either corruption, mistake,
error, or madness, rather than believe that fact.
Why? Because it is totally alien to the character of
the persons, the situation, the circumstances, and to
all the rules of probability. But if, on the contrary,
the crime charged has a perfect relation with the person, with his known conduct, with his known habits,
with the situation and circumstances of the place that
he is in, and with the very corrupt inherent nature of
the act that he does, then much less proof than we
are able to produce will serve; and according to the
nature and strength of the presumptions arising from
the inherent nature of a vicious -principle and vicious
motives in the act, will be strengthened the weakest
evidence, or, if it comes to a sufficient height, the
whole burden of proof will be turned upon the party
? ? ? ? 184 IDIPEACHAMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
accused. And thus we shall think ourselves bound
to show your Lordships, in every step of this proceeding, that there is an inherent presumption of corruption in every act. We shall show the presumptions which preceded, we shall show the presumptions which
accompanied the proof; and these, with the subsequent presumptions, will make it impossible to disbelieve them. Such a body of proof was never given upon any such occasion: and it is such proof as will
prevail against the whole voice of corruption, that
amazing, active, diligent, spreading voice, which has
been made, by buzzing in every part of this country,
sometimes to sound like the public voice; it will put
it to silence, by showing that your Lordships have
proceeded upon the strongest evidence, active and
passive.
First, Mr. Hastings received a positive order to
seize upon Mahomed Reza Khan. That order lihe
executed with a military promptitude of obedience,
which will show your Lordships what are the services
which are congenial to his own mind, and which find
in him always a ready acquiescence, a faithful agent,
and a spirited instrument in the execution. The very
day after lie received the order, he sent up, privately,
without communicating with the Council, from whom
he was not ordered to keep this proceeding a secret, -
he sent up, and found that great and respectable man
and respectable magistrate, who was in all those high
offices which I have stated: and if I was to compare
them to circumstances and situations in this country,
I should say lie had united in himself the character
of First Lord of the Treasury, the character of ChiefJustice, the character of Lord High-Chancellor, and
the character of Archbishop of Canterbury: a man
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 185
o~ great gravity, dignity, and authority, and advanced
in years; had once 100,0001. a year for the support
of his dignity, and had at that time 50,0001. This
man, sitting in his garden, reposing himself after the
toils of his situation, (for he was one of the most
laborious men in the world,) was suddenly arrested,
and, without a moment's respite, dragged down to
Calcutta, and there by Mr. Hastings (exceeding the
orders of the Company) confined near two years
under a guard of soldiers. Mr. Hastings kept this
great man for several months without even attempting the trial upon him. How he tried him afterwards
your Lordships may probably in the course of this
business inquire; and you will then judge, from the
circumstances of that trial, that, as he was not tried
for his crime, so neither was he acquitted for his
innocence; - but at present I leave him in that situation. Mr. Hastings, unknown to the Council, having executed the orders of the Company in the last
degree of rigor to this unhappy man, keeps him in
that situation, without a trial, under a guard, separated from his country, disgraced and dishonored, and
by Mr. Hastings's express order not suffered either to
make a visit or receive a visitor.
There was another commission for Mr. Hastings
contained in these orders. The Company, because
they were of opinion that justice could not be easily
obtained while the first situations of the country were
filled with this man's adherents, desired Mr. Hastings to displace them: leaving him a very large power, and confiding in his justice, prudence, and impartiality not to abuse a trust of such delicacy. But we shall prove to your Lordships that Mr. Hastings
thought it necessary to turn out, from the highest to
? ? ? ? 186 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the lowest, several hundreds of people, for no other
reason than that they had been put in their employments by that very man whom the English government had formerly placed there. If we were to insist that
we could not possibly try Mr. Hastings, or come at
his wickedness, until we had eradicated his influence
in Bengal, and left not one man in it who was during
his government in any place or office whatever, yet,
though we should readily admit that we could not do
the whole without it, at the same time, rather than
make a general massacre of every person presumed to
be under his influence, we would leave some of his
crimes unproved. He did avow and declare, that,
unless he turned all these persons out of their offices, lie could never hope to come at the truth of any charges against Mahomed Reza Khan, against whom
no specific charge had been made. Yet, upon loose
and general charges, did he seize upon this man,
confine him in this manner, and every person who
derived any place or authority from him, high or low,
was turned out. Mr. Hastings had in the Company's
orders something to justify him in rigor, but he had
likewise a prudential power over that rigor; and he
not only treated this man in the manner described,
but every human creature connected with him, as if
they had been all guilty, without any charge whatever against them. These are his reasons for taking
this extraordinary step.
"I pretend not to enter into the views of others.
My own were these. Mahomed Reza Kbhan's influence
still prevailed generally throughout the country. In
the Nabob's household, and at the capital, it was scarce
affected by his present disgrace. His favor was still
courted, and his anger dreaded. Who, under such
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 187 discouragements, would give information or evidence against him? His agents and creatures filled every office of the nizamut and dewalny. How was the
truth of his conduct to be investigated by these?
It would be superfluous to add other arguments to
show the necessity of prefacing the inquiry by breaking his influence, removing his dependants, and putting the direction of all the affairs which had been committed to his care into the hands of the most
powerful or active of his enemies. "
My Lords, if we of the House of Commons were to
desire and to compel the East India Company, or to
address the crown, to remove, according to their several situations and several capacities, every creature
that had been put into office by Mr. Hastings, because
we could otherwise make no inquiry into his conduct, should we not be justified by his own example
in insisting upon the removal of every creature of the
reigning power before we could inquire into his conduct? We have not done that, though we feel, as he
felt, great disadvantages in proceeding in the inquiry
while every situation in Bengal is notoriously held by
his creatures, - always excepting the first of all, but
which we could show is nothing under such circunmstances. Then what do I infer from this, - from his
obedience to the orders of the Company, carried so
much beyond necessity, and prosecuted with so much
rigor, - from the inquiry being suspended for so long
a time, -- from every person in office being removed
from his situation, - from all these precautions being
used as prefatory to the inquiry, when he himself says,
that, after he had used all these means, he found not
the least benefit and advantage from them? The use
I mean to make of this is, to let your Lordships see
? ? ? ? 188 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the great probability and presumption that Mr. Hastings, finding himself in the very selfsame situation that had occurred the year before, when Nundcomar
was sold to Mahomed Reza Khan, of selling Mallomed
Reza Khan to Nundcomar, made a corrupt use of it,
and that, as Mahomed Reza Khan was not treated
with severity for his crimes, so neither was he acquitted for his innocence. The Company had given
Mr. Hastings severe orders, and very severely had he
executed them. The Company gave him no orders
not to institute a present inquiry; but he, under pretence of business, neglected that inquiry, and suffered this man to languish in prison to the utter ruin of his
fortune.
We have in part shown your Lordships what Mr.
Hastings's own manner of proceeding with regard to
a public delinquent is; but at present we leave Mahomed Reza Khan where he was. Do your Lordships think that there is no presumption of Mr. Hastings
having a corrupt view in this business, and of his
having put this great man, who was supposed to be
of immense wealth, under contributions? Mr. Hastings never trusted his colleagues in this proceeding; and what reason does he give? Why, he supposed
that they must be bribed by Mahomed Reza Khan.
"For," says he, "as I did not know their characters at that time, I did not know whether Ma~homed
Reza Khaan had not secured them to his interest by
the known ways in which great men in the East secure men to their interest. " He never trusted his colleagues with the secret; and the person that he
employed to prosecute Mahomed Reza Khlln was his
bitter enemy, Nundcomar. I will not go the length
of saying that the circumstance of enmity disables a
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 189
person from being a prosecutor; under some circumstances it renders a man incompetent to be a witness;
but this I know, that the circumstance of having no
other person to rely upon in a charge against any
man but his enemy, and of having no other principle
to go upon than what is supposed to be derived out
of that enmity, must form some considerable suspicion against the proceeding. But in this he was justified by the Company; for Nundcomar, the great rival of Mahomed Reza Khan, was in the worst situation
with the Company as to his credit. This Nundcomar's politics in the country had been by Mr. Hastings himself, and by several persons joined with him, cruelly represented to the Company; and accordingly
he stood so ill with them, by reason of Mr. Hastings's
representations and those of his predecessors, that the
Company ordered and directed, that, if he could be
of any use in the inquiry into Mahomed Reza Khan's
conduct, some reward should be given him suitable
to his services; but they caution Mr. Hastings at the
same time against giving him any trust which he
might employ to the disadvantage of the Company.
Now Mr. Hastings began, before he could experience
any service from him, by giving him his reward, and
not the base reward of a base service, money, but
every trust and power which he was prohibited from
giving him. Having turned out every one of Mahomed
Reza Khan's dependants, he filled every office, as he
avows, with the creatures of Nundcomar. Now when
he uses a cruel and rigorous obedience in the case of
Mahomed Reza Khan, when he breaks through the
principles of his former conduct with regard to Nundcomar, when he gives him, Nundcomar, trust, whom
he was cautioned not to trust, and when he gives him
? ? ? ? 190 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that reward before any service could be done,-I say,
when he does this, in violation of the Company's orders and his own principles, it is the strongest evidence that he now found them in the situation in
which they were in 1765, when bribes were notoriously taken, and that each party was mutually sold
to the other, and faith kept with neither. The situation in which Mr. ITastings thus placed himself should
have been dreaded by him of all things, because he
knew it was a situation in which the most outrageous
corruption had taken place before.
