Holt's evidence, was
regularly
transmitted
and made known to him.
and made known to him.
Edmund Burke
,
Resident at the Court of Lucknow; 30th October,
1782.
"Last night, about eight o'clock, the women in the
Khord Mohul Zenanah, under the charge of Letafit
Ali Khan, assembled on the tops of the buildings,
crying in a most lamentable manner for food, - that
for the last four days they had got but a very scanty
allowance, and that yesterday they had got none.
The melancholy cries of famine are more easily imagined than described; and from their representations, I fear that the Nabob's agents for that business are very inattentive. I therefore think it requisite
to make you acquainted with the circumstance, that
his Excellency the Nabob may cause his agents to
be more circumspect in their conduct to these poor,
unhappy women. "
Letterfrom Mr. Bristow to Major Gilpin; Fyzabad,
4th November, 1782.
" SIR,-I have received your letters of the 12th,
19th, 27th, and 30th ultimo. I communicated the
contents of that of the 30th to the minister, who
promised me to issue orders for the payment of a
sum of money to relieve the distress of the Khord
Mohul. I shall also forward a bill for 10,000 rupees
to you in the course of three or four days; and if in
the mean time you may find means to supply to the
? ? ? ? 158 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
amount of that sum, I will become personally responsible to you for the repayment. "
Letter from Major Gilpin to John Bristow, Esq. , at the
Court of Lucknow; Fyzabad, 15th November, 1782.
"SIR, --The repeated cries of the women in the
Khord Mohul Zenanah for subsistence have been truly melancholy. They beg most piteously for liberty, that they may earn their daily bread by laborious servitude, or be relieved from their misery by immediate death. In consequence of their unhappy situation,
I have this day taken the liberty of drawing on you
in favor of Ramnarain at ten days' sight, for twenty
son Kerah rupees, ten thousand of which I have paid
to Cojah Letafit Ali Khan, under whose cha:nge that
zenanah is. "
These, my Lords, are the state of the distresses in
the year 1782, and your Lordships will see that they
continued almost, with only occasional reliefs, during the period of that whole year. Now we enter into
the year 1783, to show you that it continued during
the whole time; and then I shall make a very few
remarks upon it.
I will now read to your Lordships a part of Mr.
Holt's evidence, by which it is proved that Mr. Hastings was duly advertised of all these miserable and calamitous circumstances.
" Q. Whether you saw a letter of intelligence from
Fyzabad containing a relation of the treatment of the
women in the Khord Mohul? -- A. Yes, I did, and
translated it. -Q. From whom did it come? -- A.
Iloolas Roy. - Q. Who was he? - A. An agent of
the Resident at Fyzabad, employed for the purpose of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 159
transmitting information to the Resident. Q. Was
that paper transmitted to Mr. Hastings? - A. To the
best of my recollectionl, it was transmitted to the
Board, after I had attested it. - Q. Do you remember
at what distance of time after the receipt of the intelligence respecting the distresses of the Khord Mohul that paper was transmitted to Calcutta? -- A. I cannot say. - Q. Do you believe it was transmitted
within ten months after the time it was received?
A. I understood it to be a letter received just before
it was transmitted. - Q. Then you understand it was
transmitted as soon as received? --A. Yes, in the
course of three days. - Q. Can you bring to your
mind the time at which the translation was made?
A. To the best of my recollection, it was in January,
1784. --Q. Whether the distresses that had been
complained of had ceased for above a twelvemonth before the distresses of the Khord Mollul? - A. I understood they were new distresses. - Q. Tllen you state that that account transmitted in 1784 was, as you understand, an account of new distresses? -- A. Yes. "
I shall now refer your Lordships to page 899 of
your printed Minutes.
[The Managers for the Commons acquainted the
House, that they would next read the paper of intelligence which had been authenticated by Mr. Holt,
ini his evidence at the bar, relative to the miserable
situation of these women, which they meant to bring
home to Mr. Hastings. ]
An Extra. :t of a Consultation of the 17th Febtruary, 1784.
"At a Council: present, the Honorable Warren
Hastings, Esq. , Governor-General, Presidcu. t, Ed
? ? ? ? 160 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ward Wheler and John Stables, Esqrs. ; Mr. Macpherson absent from the Presidency for the benefit of his health: the following letter and its inclosures were
received from Mr. Bristow on the 8th instant, and
circulated.
"'IHONORABLE SIR, AND GENTLEMEN, -- I have the
honor to forward, for your further information, the
inclosure No. 3; it contains a relation of the hardships endured by the ladies of the late Vizier's zenanah. ' "Translation of a Paper of Intelligence from Pyzabad.
"'The ladies, their attendants, and servants were
still as clamorous as last night. Letafit, the darogah, went to them, and remonstrated with them on
the impropriety of their conduct, at the same time
assuring them that in a few days all their allowances
would be paid, and should that not be the case, he
would advance them ten days' subsistence, upon condition that they returned to their habitations. None of them, however, consented to his proposal, but
were still intent upon making their escape through
the bazaar, and in consequence formed themselves
in the following order, -- the children in the front,
behind themn the ladies of the seraglio, and behind
them again their attendants; but their intentions
were frustrated by the opposition which they met
with from Letafit's sepoys. The next day Letafit
went twice to the women, and used his endeavors to
make them return into the zenanah, promising to
advance them ten thousand rupees, which, upon the
money being paid down, they agreed to comply with;
but night coming on, nothing transpired.
(Signed)'JOHN BRISTOW. '
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- SEVENTH DAY. 161' On the day following, their clamors were more violent than usual. Letafit went to confer with them
on the business of yesterday, offering the same terms.
Depending upon the fidelity of his promises, they
consented to return to their apartments, which they
accordingly did, except two or three of the ladies,
and most of their attendants. Letafit went then to
lHossmund Ali Khan, to consult with him about what
means they should take. They came to a resolution
of driving them in by force, and gave orders to their
sepoys to beat any one of the women who should
attempt to move forward; the sepoys accordingly
assembled, and each one being provided with a bludgeon, they drove them, by dint of beating, into the
zenanah. The women, seeing the treachery of Letafit, proceeded to throw stones and bricks at the sepoys, and again attempted to get out; but finding that impossible, from the gates being shut, they kept up
a continual discharge till about twelve o'clock, when, finding their situation desperate, they returned into the Rung Mohul, and forced their way from thence into the palace, and dispersed themselves about the house and gardens. After this they were desirous of getting into the Begum's apartments; but she, being apprised of their intentions, ordered the doors to be shut. In the mean time Letafit and Hossmund Ali
Khan posted sentries to secure the gates of the Lesser Mohul. During the whole of this conflict, the ladies
and women remained exposed to the view of the
sepoys.
"' The Begum then sent for Letafit and Hossmund
Ali Khan, whom she severely reprimanded, and insisted upon knowing the cause of this infamous behavior. They pleaded in their defence the, impossiVOL. XII 1
? ? ? ? 162 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS
bility of helping it, as the treatment the women
had met with had only been conformable to his Excellency the Vizier's orders. The Begum alleged,
that, even admitting that the Nabob had given tliese
orders, they were by no means authorized in this
manner to disgrace the family of Sujah Dowlah, and
should they not receive their allowances for a day
or two, it could be of no great moment; what had
passed was now at an end, but that the Vizier should
certainly be acquainted with the whole of the affair,
and that whatever he directed she should implicitly
comply with. The Begum then sent for two of the
children who were wounded in the affray of last
night, and after endeavoring to soothe them, she
again sent to Letafit and Hossmund Ali Khan, and
in the presence of the children again expressed her
disapprobation of their conduct, and the improbability of Asoph ul Dowlah's suffering the ladies and children of Sujah Dowlah to be disgraced by being exposed to the view of the sepoys. Upon which Letafit produced the letter from the Nabob, representing that he was amenable only to the order of his Excellency, and that whatever he ordered it was his duty
to obey; and that, had the ladies thought proper to
have retired quietly to their apartments, he would
not have used the means he had taken to compel
them. The Begum again observed, that what had
passed was now over. She then gave the children
four hundred rupees and dismissed them, and sent
word by Sumrud and the other eunuchs, that, if the
ladies would peaceably retire to their apartments,
Letafit would supply them with three or four thousand rupees for their present expenses, and recommended them not to incur any further disgrace, and
? ? ? ? SPEECHI IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 163
that, if they did not think proper to act agreeably
to her directions, they would do wrong. The ladies
followed her advice, and about ten at night went
back to the zenanah. The next morning the Begum
waited upon the mother of Sujah Dowlah, and related to her all the circumstances of the disturbance.
The mother of Snujah Dowlah returned for answer,
that, after there being no accounts kept by crores
of revenue, she was not surprised that the family of
Sujah Dowlah, in their endeavors to procure subsistence, should be obliged to expose themselves to the
meanest of the people. After bewailing their misfortunes and shedding many tears, the Begum took her
leave and returned home. ' "
As a proof of the extremity of the distress which
reigned in the Khord Mohul, your Lordships have been
told that these women must have perished through
famine, if their gaolers, Captain Jaques and Major
Gilpin, had not raised money upon their own credit, and supplied them with an occasional relief. And
therefore, when they talk of his peculation, of his taking but a bribe here and a bribe there, see the consequences of his system of peculation, see the consequences of a usurpation which extinguishes the natural authority of the country, see the consequences of a clandestine correspondence that does not let the
injuries of the country come regularly before the
authorities in Oude to relieve it, consider the whole
mass of crimes, and then consider the sufferings that
have arisen in consequence of it.
My Lords, it was not corporal pain alone that
these miserable women suffered. The unsatisfied
cravings of hunger and the blows of the sepoys'
? ? ? ? 164 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
bludgeons could touch only the physical part of their
nature. But, my Lords, men are made of two
parts, -- the physical part, and the moral. The former he has in common with the brute creation. Like theirs, our corporeal pains are very limited and temporary. But the sufferings which touch our moral nature have a wider range, and are infinitely more
acute, driving the sufferer sometimes to the extremities of despair and distraction. Man, in his moral nature, becomes, in his progress through life, a creature of prejudice, a creature of opinions, a creature of habits, and of sentiments growing out of them.
These form our second nature, as inhabitants of the
country and members of the society in which Providence has placed us. This sensibility of our moral nature is far more acute in that sex which, I may
say without any compliment, forms the better and
more virtuous part of mankind, and which is at the
same time the least protected from the insults and
outrages to which this sensibility exposes them.
This is a new source of feelings, that often make
corporal distress doubly felt; and it has a whole
class of distresses of its own. These are the things
that have gone to the heart of the Commons.
We have stated, first, the sufferings of the Begum,
and, secondly, the sufferings of the two thousand
women (I believe they are not fewer in number) that
belong to them, and are dependent upon them, and
dependent upon their well-being. We have stated to
you that the Court of Directors were shocked and
astonished, when they received the account of the
first, before they had heard the second. We have
proved they desired him to redress the former, if,
upon inquiry, he found that his original suspicions
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 165
concerning their conduct were ill-founded. He has
declared here that he did not consider these as orders. Whether they were orders or not, could anything have been more pressing upon all the duties and all the sentiments of man than at least to do
what was just, - that is, to make such an inquiry as
in the result might justify his acts, or have entitled
them to redress? Not one trace of inquiry or redress
do we find, except we suppose, as we hear nothing
after this of the famine, that Mr. Bristow, who seems
to be a man of humanity, did so effectually interpose,
that they should no longer depend for the safety of
their honor on the bludgeons of the sepoys, by which
alone it seems they were defended from the profane
view of the vulgar, and which we must state as a
matter of great aggravation in this case.
The counsel on the other side say that all this
intelligence comes in an anonymous paper without
date, transmitted from a newspaper-writer at Fyzabad. This is the contempt with which they treat
this serious paper, sent to Mr. Hastings himself by
official authority, -- by Hoolas Roy, who was the
news-writer at Fyzabad, - the person appointed to
convey authentic intelligence concerning the state of
it to the Resident at Lucknow. The Resident received it as such; he transmitted it to Mr. Hastings;
and it was not till this hour, till the counsel were
instructed (God forgive them for obeying such instructions! ) to treat these things with ridicule, that
we have heard this Hoolas Roy called a common
news-writer of anonymous information, and the like.
If the information had come in any way the least
authentic, instead of coming in a manner the most
authentic in which it was possible to come to Mr.
? ? ? ? 166 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Hastings, he was bound by every feeling of humanity, every principle of regard to his own honor and
his employers', to see whether it was true or false;
if false, to refute it; if true, to afford redress: he
has done neither. Therefore we charge him with
being the cause; we charge upon him the consequelnces, with all the aggravations attending them;
and we call both upon justice and humanity for
redress, as far as it call be afforded to these people,
and for the severest punishments which your Lordships can inflict upon the author of these evils. If,
instead of the mass of crimes that we have brought
before you, this singly had been charged upon the
prisoner, I will say that it is a greater crime than
allny man has ever been impeached for before the
House of Lords, from the first records of Parliament
to this hour.
I need not remind your Lordships of one particular circumstance in this cruel outrage. No excuse
or pretence whatever is brought forward in its justification. With respect to the Begums, they have been
charged with rebellion; but who has accused the
miserable inhabitants of the Khord Mohul of rebellion or rebellious designs? What hearsay is there,
evein, against them of it? No: even the persons permitted by Mr. Hastings to rob and destroy the country, and who are stated by him to have been so employed, - not one of that legion of locusts which he had sent into the country to eat up and devour
the bread of its inhabitants, and who had been the
cause both of the famine itself and of the inability
of the Begums to struggle with it, -none of these
people, I say, ventured even a hearsay about these
womeln.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- SEVENTH DAY. 167
Were the sufferers few? There were eight hundred of them, besides children. Were they persons
of any rank and consequence? We are told that
they were persons of considerable rank and distinction, connected with and living under the protection of women of the first rank in Asia. Were they persons not deserving pity? We know that they were innocent women and children, not accused, and unsuspected, of any crime. He has taken into his head to speak contemptuously of these women of the
Khord Mohul: but your Lordships will consider both
descriptions generally with some respect; and where
they are not objects of the highest respect, they will
be objects of your compassion. Your Lordships, by
your avenging justice, will rescue the name of the
British government from the foulest disgrace which
this man has brought upon it.
An account of these transactions, as we have proved
by Mr.
Holt's evidence, was regularly transmitted
and made known to him. But why do I say made
known to him? Do not your Lordships know that
Oude was his,-that he treated it like his private
estate, -- that he managed it in all its concerns as
if it were his private demesne, --that the Nabob
dared not do a single act without him, -that he had
a Resident there, nioiniiated by himself, and forced
upon the Nabob, in defiance of the Company's orders? Yet, notwithstanding all this, we do not find
a trace of anything done to relieve the aggravated
distresses of these unfortunate people.
These are some of the consequences of that abominable system which, in defiance of the laws of his country, Mr. Hastings established in Oude. He knew
everything there; he had spies upon his regular
? ? ? ? 168 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
agents, and spies again upon them. We can prove,
(indeed, he has himself proved,) that, besides his correspondence with his avowed agents, Major Palmer
and Major Davy, he had secret correspondence with
a whole host of agents and pensioners, who did and
must have informed him of every circumstance of
these affairs. But if he had never'been informed
of it at all, the Commons contend, and very well
and justly contend, that he who usurps the govern
ment of'a country, who extinguishes the authority
of its native sovereign, anid places in it instruments
of his own, and that in defiance of those whose orders lhe was bound to obey, is responsible for everything that was done in the country. We do charge him with these acts of delinquencies and omissions,
we declare him responsible for them; and we call
for your Lordships' judgment upon these outrages
against humanity, as cruel perhaps as ever were suffered in any country.
My Lords, if there is a spark of manhood, if there
is in your breasts the least feeling for our common
humanity, and especially for the sufferings and distresses of that part of human nature which is made
by its peculiar constitution more quick and sensible,
-- if, I say, there is a trace of this in your breasts,
if you are yet alive to such feelings, it is impossible
that you should not join with the Commons of Great
Britain in feeling the utmost degree of indignation
against the man who was the guilty cause of this
accumulated distress. You see women, whom we
have proved to be of respectable rank and condition,
exposed to what is held to be the last of indignities
in that country, - the view of a base, insultin)g, ridiculing, or perhaps vainly pitying populace. You
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 169
Lave before vou the first women in Asia, who consider their honor as joined with that of these people,
weeping and bewailing the calamities of their house.
You have seen that in this misery and distress the
sons of the Nabob were involved, and that two of
them were wounded in an attempt to escape: and
yet this man has had the impudence to declare his
doubts of the Nabob's having had any children in the
place, though the account of what was going onl had
been regularly transmitted to him. After this, what
is there in his conduct that we can wonder at?
My Lords, the maintenance of these women had
been guarantied by the Company; but it was doubly
guarantied under the great seal of humanity. The
conscience of every main, and more especially of the
great and powerful, is the keeper of that great seal,
and knows what is due to its authority. For the
violation of both these guaranties, without even the
vain and frivolous pretence of a rebellion, and for all
its consequences, Mr. Hastings is answerable; and lie
will not escape your justice by those miserable excuses which he has produced to the Court of Directors, and which he has produced here in his justification. My Lords, that justification we leave with your Lordships.
We now proceed to another part of our charge,
which Mr. Hastings has not thought proper to deny,
but upon which we shall beg leave to make a few
observations. You will first hear read to you, from
the 17th article of our charge, the subject-matter to
which we now wish to call your attention.
" That in or about the month of March, 1783,
three of the said brothers of the Nabob, namely,
? ? ? ? 1. 70 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Mirza Hyder Ali, Mirza Imayut All, and Mirza Syef
Ali, did represent to the said Bristow that they were
in distress for dry bread and clothes, and in consequence of such representation were relieved by the
intervention of the said Bristow, but soon after the
deputation of the said Warren Hastings to Oude, in
the year 1784, that is to say, some time in or about
the month of September, in the said year 1784, the
said Mirza Hyder Ali, one of the three princes aforesaid, did fly to the province of Benares, and did remain there in great distress; and that, although the said Warren Hastings did write to the said Nabob
an account of the aforesaid circumstances, in certain
loose, light, and disrespectful expressions concerning the said Mirza Hyder Ali, he did not, as he was
in duty bound to do, in any wise exert that influence which he actually and notoriously possessed
over the mind of the said Nabob, for the relief of the
said prince, the brother of the said Nabob, but, without obtaining any satisfactory and specific assurances,
either from the said Nabob or the said minister, the
said Warren Hastings did content himself with advising the said prince to return to his brother, the said. Nabob. "
The answer of Mr. Hastings to that part of the
17th article states:-'" And the said Warren Hastings says, that in or
about the month of July, in the year 1783, a paper
was received, inclosed in a letter to the GovernorGeneral and Council, from Mr. Bristow, purporting
to be a translation of a letter from three brothers of
the said Vizier, in which they did represent themselves to be inl distress for dry bread and clothes;
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SE tIITH DAY. 171
but whether such distress actually existed, and was
relieved by the said Bristow, the said Warren Hastings cannot set forth.
" And the said Warren Hastings further says, that
some time in the month of September, 1784, the said
Warren Hastings, being then at Benares, did receive
information that Mirza Hyder Ali was arrived there,
and the said Warren Hastings, not knowing before
that time that there was any such. person, did write
to the Nabob Vizier, to the purport or effect following: -' A few days since I learnt that a person
called Mirza Hyder Ali was arrived at Benares, and
calls himself a son of the deceased Nabob Sujah ul
Dowlah, and I was also told that lie came from Fyzabad; as I did not know whether he left Fyzabad with or without your consent, I therefore did not pay him
much attention, and I now trouble you to give me
every information on this subject, how he came here,
and what your intentions are about him; he remains
here in great distress, and I therefore wish to know
your sentiments. '
"And the said Warren Hastings further says, that,
having received an answer from the said Vizier, he
did, on or about the 13th of October, 1784, inclose
the same in a letter to the said Mirza, of which letter
the following is a copy: --' An answer is arrived to
what I wrote on your account to the Nabob Vizier,
which I inclose to you: having read it, you will send
it back. I conceive you had better go to the Nabob
Vizier's presence, who will certainly afford you protection and assistance. I will write what is proper
to carry with you to the Nabob, and it will in every
respect be for your good; whatever may be your intention on this head, you will write to me. '
? ? ? ? 172 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
"And the said Warren Hastings submits, that it
was no part of his duty as Governor-General to interfere with the said Vizier on behalf of the said Mirza,
or to obtain from the said Vizier any specific assurances on the subject. "
Continuation of the 17th article of the charge: --
" That, in order to avoid famine at home, another
of the said Nabob's brothers, by name Mirza Jungli,
was under the necessity of flying from his native country, and did seek protection from a certain Mahometan lord called Mirza Shuffee Khain, then prime-minister of the Mogul, from whom he did go to the camp of the Mahratta chief Mahdajee Sindia, where he did
solicit and obtain a military command, together with
a grant of lands, or jaghire, for the subsistence of
himself, his family, and followers; but wishing again
to be received under the protection of the British government, the said Mirza Jungli, in 1783, did apply
to the said Resident Bristow, through David Anderson, Esquire, then on an embassy in the camp of the
said Sindia; and in consequence of such application,
the said Bristow, sensible of the disgrace which the
exile of the said Mirza Jungli reflected both on the
said Nabob of Oude and the British nation, did negotiate with the said Nabob and his ministers for the
return of the said Mirza Jungli, and for the settlement and regular payment of some proper allowance
for the maintenance of the said Mirza Jungli; but
the allowance required was ultimately refused; and
althollgh the whole of the transactions aforesaid were
duly represented to the said Warren Hastings by the
said Anderson and by the said Bristow, and although
he had himself received, so early as the 23d of August,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 173
1782, a letter from the Vizier, grievously complaining of the cruel and extortions demands made upon him by the said Warren Hastings, in which letter he
did expressly mention the flight of his brothers, and
the distresses of the women of his late father, who he
said were all as his mothers, and that his said brothers,
from the resumption of their jaghires, were reduced
to great affliction and distress, and he did attribute
the said flight of some of his brethren, and the distresses of the rest, and of the women who stood in a species of maternal relation to him, as owing to the
aforesaid oppressive demands, yet he, the said Warren Hastings, did cruelly, inhumanly, and corruptly decline to make any order for the better provision of
any of the said eminent family, or for the return of
the said prince, who had fled from his brother's court
to avoid the danger of perishing by famine. "
Answer of Mr. Hastings to that part of the
charge: -
" And the said Warren Hastings further says, that
he was informed that Mirza Jungli, in the said article also mentioned, did leave his native country in distress, and did go to Mirza Shuffee KhIan, in the
said article also mentioned; and the said Warren
Hastings likewise admits he was informed that the
said Mirza Jungli did afterwards leave the said Mirza
Shuffee Khan, and repair to the camp of Mahdajee
Sindia, with a view of obtaining some establishment
for himself and followers.
"' And the said Warren Hastings further says, that
in certain letters written by David Anderson, Esquire,
and John Bristow, Esquire, it was represented that
the said Mirza Jungli did apply to the said Bristow,
? ? ? ? 174 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
through the said Anderson, then on an embassy in
the camp of the said Sindia, and that in consequence
thereof the said Bristow did, amongst other things,
apply to the said Nabob Vizier for a certain allowance
to be made for the said Mirza, and for the regular
payment thereof, and that a certain allowance was
accordingly settled by the said Vizier on the said
Mirza; and the said Warrien Hastings says, that information of the above transactions was transmitted
to the Board of Council, and that a letter from the
said Vizier was received on the 23d of August, 1782,
containing certain representations of the distresses of
himself and his family; and he admits that no order
was made by him, the said Warren Hastings, for the
provision of any of the said family, or for the return
of the said Mirza; but the said Warren Hastings denies that he was guilty of any cruelty, inhumanity,
or corruption, or of any misconduct whatsoever, in
the matters aforesaid. "
Continuation of the charge:"'That some time in or about the month of December, 1783, the Nabob Bahadur, another of the brothers of the said Nabob of Oude, did represent to
the said Bristow, that he, the said Nabob Bahadur, had not received a farthing of his allowance for
the current year, and was without food; and being
wounded by an assassin, who had also murdered his
aunt in the very capital of Oude, the said Nabob
Bahadur had not a daum to pay the surgeon, who
attended him for the love of God alone. That at or
about the period of this said representation the said
Bristow was recalled, and the said Warren Hastings
proceeded up to Lucknow, but did not inquire into
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 175
the said representations transmitted by the said Bristow to Calcutta, nor did order any relief. "
Mr. Hastings's answer to the part of the charge
last read:" And the said Warren Hastings further says, that
on the 29th of January, 1784, after the recall of the
said Bristow, he, the said. Bristow, did transmit to
the Governor-General and Council two letters, one
dated 28th of December, 1783, the other 7th of
January, 1784, purporting to be written by the said
Nabob Bahadur, addressed to him, the said Bristow,
to the effect in the said article stated; and the said
Warren Hastings admits, that, when at Lucknow, he
did not institute any inquiry into the supposed transaction in the said 17th article stated, or make any order concerning the said Bahadur, and he denies
that it was his duty so to do. "
Here is the name of this Nabob from a list of the
jaghiredars stated by Mr. Purling, page 485 printed
Minutes. Amongst the names of jaghiredars, the
times when granted, and the amount of the jaghires,
there occurs that of the Nabob Bahadur, with a grant
of a jaghire of the amount of 20,000 rupees.
[ The Lord Chancellor here remarked, that what
had been just read was matter of the 17th article of
the charge and parts of the answer to it, and that,
upon looking back to the former proceedings, it has
escaped his attention, if any matter contained in the
17th article had been made matter of the charge;
that it therefore seemed to him that it could not be
brought in upon a reply, not having been made matter of the charge originally.
? ? ? ? 176 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Mr. Burke. My Lords, I have to say to this, that
I believe you have heard these facts made matter of
charge by the House of Commons, that I conceive
they hlave been admitted by the prisoner, and that
tile Commons have nothing to do with the proofs of
anythilng in their charge which is fullly and in terms
admitted. The proofs which they have produced to
your Lordships were upon matters which were contested; but here the facts are admitted in the fullest
mannler. We neither have abandoned them, intended to abandon them, or ever shall abandon them;
we have made them, as a charge, upon record; the
answers to them have been recorded, which answers
are complete admissions of every fact in the charge.
Lord Chancellor. I do not make myself understood. The objection is not that there has not been
evidence given upon the 17th article, but at the
close of the case on the part of the Managers for the
House of Commons no mention having been made
of the matter contained in the 17th article, that
therefore, although it may all have been admitted
by the answer to be true, yet in justice, if from that
answer you ground the charge, it is necessary the
defendant should be heard upon it.
iMr. Burke. If your Lordships choose that the
defendant shall be heard upon it, we hlave no kind
of objection, nor ever had, or proposed an objection
to the defendant being heard upon it. Your Lordships know that the defendant's counsel value themselves upon having abandoned their defence against certain parts of the charge; your Lordships know
that they declared that they broke off thus in the
middle of their defence in order to expedite this
business.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 177
Lord Chancellor. Referring to the proceedings, I
think it a matter perfectly clear, that, in the course
of the charge, after certain articles had been gone
through, the Managers for the Commons closed the
case there, leaving therefore all the other articles,
excepting those that had been discussed, as matters
standing with the answers against them, but not insisted upon in making out the charge. Of course, therefore, if the defendant had gone into any of those
articles, the defendant must have been stopped upon
them, because he would then have been making a
case in defence to that which had not been made
a case in the prosecution. The objection, therefore,
is not at all that no evidence has been examined.
To be sure, it would be an answer to that to say,
you are now proceeding upon an admission; but even
upon those facts that are admitted, (if the facts are
admitted that are insisted upon as matter in charge,)
that should come in the original state of the cause,
and the defendant in common justice must be heard
upon that, and then, and then only, come the observations in reply.
Mr. Burke. We do not know, nor are informed,
that any charge, information, or indictment, that is
before the court, and upon record, and is not denied
by the defendant, does not stand in full force against
him. We conceive it to be so; we conceive it to
be agreeable to the analogy of all proceedings; and
the reason why we did not go into and insist upon
it was, that, having a very long cause before us,
and having the most full and complete admission
upon this subject, we did not proceed further in
it. The defendant defends himself by averring that
VOL. XII. 12
? ? ? ? 178 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
it was not his duty. It was not our business to prove
that it was his duty. It was he that admitted the
facts assumed to be the foundation of his duty; the
negative he was bound to prove, and he never offered to prove it. All that I can say upon this point
is, that his delinquency in the matter in question
appeared to us to be a clear, distinct case, - to be a
great offence, - an offence charged upon the record,
admitted upon the record, and never by us abandoned. As to his defence having been abandoned,
we refer your Lordships to the last petition laid by
him upon your table, (that libellous petition, which
we speak of as a libel upon the House of Commons,)
and which has no validity but as it asserts a matter
of fact from the petitioner; and there you will find
that he has declared explicitly, that, for the accommodation and ease of this business, and for its expedition, he did abandon his defence at a certain period. Lord Chancellor. A charge consisting of a variety
of articles in their nature (however connected with
each other in their subject, but in their nature) distinct and specific, if only certain articles are pressed
in the charge, to those articles only can a defence
be applied; and all the other articles, that are not
made matter of charge originally, have never, in the
course of any proceeding whatever, been taken up
originally in reply.
Mr. Burke. With great respect to your Lordship's judgment, we conceive that the objection taken
from our not having at a certain period argued or
observed upon the prisoner's answer to the articles
not insisted upon is not conclusive; inasmuch as the
record still stands, and as our charge still stands.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 179
It was never abandoned; and the defendant might
have made a justification to it, if he had thought
fit: he never did think fit so to do. If your Lordships think that we ought not to argue upon it
here in our reply, because we did not argue upon
it before, - well and good; but we have argued and
do argue in our reply many things to which he never
gave any answer at all. I shall beg leave, if your
Lordships please, to retire with my fellow Managers
for a moment, to consult whether we shall press this
point or not. We shall not detain your Lordships
many minutes.
(The Managers withdrew: in a few minutes the Managers returned again into the Hall. )
Mr. Burke. My Lords, the Managers have consulted among themselves upon this business; they
first referred to your printed proceedings, in order
to see the particular circumstance on which the observation of your Lordship is founded; we find it
thus stated: --" Then the Managers for the Commons informed the Lords, that, saving to themselves their undoubted rights and privileges, the Cominmons
were content to rest their charge here. " We rested
our charge there, not because we meant to efface any
precedent matter of the charge which had been made
by us, and of which the facts had been admitted by
the defendant, but, simply saving our rights and privileges, that is, to resume, (and to make new matter, if we thought fit,) the Commons were content to rest
the charge there.
I have further to remark to your Lordships, that
the counsel for the defendant have opened a vast
variety of matter that is not upon record, either
? ? ? ? 180 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
on our part or on theirs, in order to illustrate and
to support their cause; and they have spoken day
after day upon the principles on which their defence
was made. My great object now is an examination
of those principles, and to illustrate the effects of
these principles by examples which are not the less
cogent, the less weighty, and the less known, because they are articles in this charge. Most assuredly they are not. If your Lordships recollect
the speeches that were made here, you know that
great merit was given to Mr. Hastings for matters
that were not at all in the charge, and which would
put us under the greatest difficulties, if we were to
take no notice of them in our reply. For instance,
his merits in the Mahratta war, and a great mass of
matter upon that subject, were obliquely, and for
other purposes, brought before you, upon which they
argued. That immense mass of matter, containing
an immense mass of principles, and which was sometimes supported by alleged facts, sometimes by none,
they have opened and argued upon, as matter relative to principle. In answer to their argument, we
propose to show the mischiefs that have happened
from the mischievous principles laid down by Mr.
Hastings, and the mischievous consequences of them.
If, however, after this explanation, your Lordships
are of opinion that we ought not to be allowed to
take this course, wishing to fall in with your Lordships' sentiments, we shall abandon it. But we will
remind your Lordships that such things stand upon
your records; that they stand unanswered and admitted on your records; and consequently they cannot be destroyed by any act of ours, but by a renunciation of the charge, which renunciation we cannot
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 181
make, because the defendant has clearly and fully
admitted it to be founded in fact. We cannot plead
error; we cannot retract it. And why? Because
he has admitted it. We therefore only remind your
Lordships that the charge stands uncontradicted;
and that the observation we intended to make upon
it was to show your Lordships that the principles
upon which he defends all such conduct are totally
false and groundless. But though your Lordships
should be of opinion that we cannot press it, yet we
cannot abandon it; it is not in your power, it is not
in our power, it is not in his power to abandon that
charge. You cannot acquit him of that charge; it
is impossible. If, however, your Lordships, for the
accommodation of business, method of proceedings,
or any circumstance of that kind, wish we should say
no more upon the subject, we close the subject there.
Your Lordships are in possession both of the charge
and the admission; and we wish, and we cannot wish
better than, to leave it as it is upon the record.
The Lord Chancellor here said, -- The opinion of
the Lords can only be with me matter of conjecture.
I certainly was not commanded by the House to state
the observation that had occurred to me; but in the
position in which it now stands, I feel no difficulty
ill saying, as my own judgment, that nothing call be
matter in reply that does not relate to those articles
that were pressed in the original charge; and therefore, in this position of the business of reply, you cannot go into new matter arising out of other articles that were not originally insisted upon.
Mr. Burke. We were aware of the objection that
might be made to admitting our observations, if con
? ? ? ? 182 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
sidered as observations upon the 17th article, but not
when considered with reference to facts on the record
before you, for the purpose of disproving the principles upon which the defendant and his counsel had relied: that was the purpose for which we proposed
chiefly to make them. But your Lordship's [the
Lord Chancellor's] own personal authority will have
great weight with us, and, unless we perceive some
other peer differ from you, we will take it in the
course we have constantly done. We never have sent
your Lordships out of the hall to consent [consult? ]
upon a matter upon which that noble lord appeared
to have formed a decision in his own mind; we take
for granted that what is delivered from the woolsack,
to which no peer expresses a dissent, is the sense of
the House; as such we take it, and as such we submit to it in this instance.
Therefore, leaving this upon the record as it stands,
without observing upon it, and submitting to your
Lordships' decision, that we cannot, according to order, observe in reply upon what was not declared by us to be a part of the charges we meant to insist
upon, we proceed to another business. ]
We have already stated to your Lordships, and we
beg to remind you of it, the state and condition of
the country of Oude when Mr.
Resident at the Court of Lucknow; 30th October,
1782.
"Last night, about eight o'clock, the women in the
Khord Mohul Zenanah, under the charge of Letafit
Ali Khan, assembled on the tops of the buildings,
crying in a most lamentable manner for food, - that
for the last four days they had got but a very scanty
allowance, and that yesterday they had got none.
The melancholy cries of famine are more easily imagined than described; and from their representations, I fear that the Nabob's agents for that business are very inattentive. I therefore think it requisite
to make you acquainted with the circumstance, that
his Excellency the Nabob may cause his agents to
be more circumspect in their conduct to these poor,
unhappy women. "
Letterfrom Mr. Bristow to Major Gilpin; Fyzabad,
4th November, 1782.
" SIR,-I have received your letters of the 12th,
19th, 27th, and 30th ultimo. I communicated the
contents of that of the 30th to the minister, who
promised me to issue orders for the payment of a
sum of money to relieve the distress of the Khord
Mohul. I shall also forward a bill for 10,000 rupees
to you in the course of three or four days; and if in
the mean time you may find means to supply to the
? ? ? ? 158 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
amount of that sum, I will become personally responsible to you for the repayment. "
Letter from Major Gilpin to John Bristow, Esq. , at the
Court of Lucknow; Fyzabad, 15th November, 1782.
"SIR, --The repeated cries of the women in the
Khord Mohul Zenanah for subsistence have been truly melancholy. They beg most piteously for liberty, that they may earn their daily bread by laborious servitude, or be relieved from their misery by immediate death. In consequence of their unhappy situation,
I have this day taken the liberty of drawing on you
in favor of Ramnarain at ten days' sight, for twenty
son Kerah rupees, ten thousand of which I have paid
to Cojah Letafit Ali Khan, under whose cha:nge that
zenanah is. "
These, my Lords, are the state of the distresses in
the year 1782, and your Lordships will see that they
continued almost, with only occasional reliefs, during the period of that whole year. Now we enter into
the year 1783, to show you that it continued during
the whole time; and then I shall make a very few
remarks upon it.
I will now read to your Lordships a part of Mr.
Holt's evidence, by which it is proved that Mr. Hastings was duly advertised of all these miserable and calamitous circumstances.
" Q. Whether you saw a letter of intelligence from
Fyzabad containing a relation of the treatment of the
women in the Khord Mohul? -- A. Yes, I did, and
translated it. -Q. From whom did it come? -- A.
Iloolas Roy. - Q. Who was he? - A. An agent of
the Resident at Fyzabad, employed for the purpose of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 159
transmitting information to the Resident. Q. Was
that paper transmitted to Mr. Hastings? - A. To the
best of my recollectionl, it was transmitted to the
Board, after I had attested it. - Q. Do you remember
at what distance of time after the receipt of the intelligence respecting the distresses of the Khord Mohul that paper was transmitted to Calcutta? -- A. I cannot say. - Q. Do you believe it was transmitted
within ten months after the time it was received?
A. I understood it to be a letter received just before
it was transmitted. - Q. Then you understand it was
transmitted as soon as received? --A. Yes, in the
course of three days. - Q. Can you bring to your
mind the time at which the translation was made?
A. To the best of my recollection, it was in January,
1784. --Q. Whether the distresses that had been
complained of had ceased for above a twelvemonth before the distresses of the Khord Mollul? - A. I understood they were new distresses. - Q. Tllen you state that that account transmitted in 1784 was, as you understand, an account of new distresses? -- A. Yes. "
I shall now refer your Lordships to page 899 of
your printed Minutes.
[The Managers for the Commons acquainted the
House, that they would next read the paper of intelligence which had been authenticated by Mr. Holt,
ini his evidence at the bar, relative to the miserable
situation of these women, which they meant to bring
home to Mr. Hastings. ]
An Extra. :t of a Consultation of the 17th Febtruary, 1784.
"At a Council: present, the Honorable Warren
Hastings, Esq. , Governor-General, Presidcu. t, Ed
? ? ? ? 160 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ward Wheler and John Stables, Esqrs. ; Mr. Macpherson absent from the Presidency for the benefit of his health: the following letter and its inclosures were
received from Mr. Bristow on the 8th instant, and
circulated.
"'IHONORABLE SIR, AND GENTLEMEN, -- I have the
honor to forward, for your further information, the
inclosure No. 3; it contains a relation of the hardships endured by the ladies of the late Vizier's zenanah. ' "Translation of a Paper of Intelligence from Pyzabad.
"'The ladies, their attendants, and servants were
still as clamorous as last night. Letafit, the darogah, went to them, and remonstrated with them on
the impropriety of their conduct, at the same time
assuring them that in a few days all their allowances
would be paid, and should that not be the case, he
would advance them ten days' subsistence, upon condition that they returned to their habitations. None of them, however, consented to his proposal, but
were still intent upon making their escape through
the bazaar, and in consequence formed themselves
in the following order, -- the children in the front,
behind themn the ladies of the seraglio, and behind
them again their attendants; but their intentions
were frustrated by the opposition which they met
with from Letafit's sepoys. The next day Letafit
went twice to the women, and used his endeavors to
make them return into the zenanah, promising to
advance them ten thousand rupees, which, upon the
money being paid down, they agreed to comply with;
but night coming on, nothing transpired.
(Signed)'JOHN BRISTOW. '
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- SEVENTH DAY. 161' On the day following, their clamors were more violent than usual. Letafit went to confer with them
on the business of yesterday, offering the same terms.
Depending upon the fidelity of his promises, they
consented to return to their apartments, which they
accordingly did, except two or three of the ladies,
and most of their attendants. Letafit went then to
lHossmund Ali Khan, to consult with him about what
means they should take. They came to a resolution
of driving them in by force, and gave orders to their
sepoys to beat any one of the women who should
attempt to move forward; the sepoys accordingly
assembled, and each one being provided with a bludgeon, they drove them, by dint of beating, into the
zenanah. The women, seeing the treachery of Letafit, proceeded to throw stones and bricks at the sepoys, and again attempted to get out; but finding that impossible, from the gates being shut, they kept up
a continual discharge till about twelve o'clock, when, finding their situation desperate, they returned into the Rung Mohul, and forced their way from thence into the palace, and dispersed themselves about the house and gardens. After this they were desirous of getting into the Begum's apartments; but she, being apprised of their intentions, ordered the doors to be shut. In the mean time Letafit and Hossmund Ali
Khan posted sentries to secure the gates of the Lesser Mohul. During the whole of this conflict, the ladies
and women remained exposed to the view of the
sepoys.
"' The Begum then sent for Letafit and Hossmund
Ali Khan, whom she severely reprimanded, and insisted upon knowing the cause of this infamous behavior. They pleaded in their defence the, impossiVOL. XII 1
? ? ? ? 162 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS
bility of helping it, as the treatment the women
had met with had only been conformable to his Excellency the Vizier's orders. The Begum alleged,
that, even admitting that the Nabob had given tliese
orders, they were by no means authorized in this
manner to disgrace the family of Sujah Dowlah, and
should they not receive their allowances for a day
or two, it could be of no great moment; what had
passed was now at an end, but that the Vizier should
certainly be acquainted with the whole of the affair,
and that whatever he directed she should implicitly
comply with. The Begum then sent for two of the
children who were wounded in the affray of last
night, and after endeavoring to soothe them, she
again sent to Letafit and Hossmund Ali Khan, and
in the presence of the children again expressed her
disapprobation of their conduct, and the improbability of Asoph ul Dowlah's suffering the ladies and children of Sujah Dowlah to be disgraced by being exposed to the view of the sepoys. Upon which Letafit produced the letter from the Nabob, representing that he was amenable only to the order of his Excellency, and that whatever he ordered it was his duty
to obey; and that, had the ladies thought proper to
have retired quietly to their apartments, he would
not have used the means he had taken to compel
them. The Begum again observed, that what had
passed was now over. She then gave the children
four hundred rupees and dismissed them, and sent
word by Sumrud and the other eunuchs, that, if the
ladies would peaceably retire to their apartments,
Letafit would supply them with three or four thousand rupees for their present expenses, and recommended them not to incur any further disgrace, and
? ? ? ? SPEECHI IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 163
that, if they did not think proper to act agreeably
to her directions, they would do wrong. The ladies
followed her advice, and about ten at night went
back to the zenanah. The next morning the Begum
waited upon the mother of Sujah Dowlah, and related to her all the circumstances of the disturbance.
The mother of Snujah Dowlah returned for answer,
that, after there being no accounts kept by crores
of revenue, she was not surprised that the family of
Sujah Dowlah, in their endeavors to procure subsistence, should be obliged to expose themselves to the
meanest of the people. After bewailing their misfortunes and shedding many tears, the Begum took her
leave and returned home. ' "
As a proof of the extremity of the distress which
reigned in the Khord Mohul, your Lordships have been
told that these women must have perished through
famine, if their gaolers, Captain Jaques and Major
Gilpin, had not raised money upon their own credit, and supplied them with an occasional relief. And
therefore, when they talk of his peculation, of his taking but a bribe here and a bribe there, see the consequences of his system of peculation, see the consequences of a usurpation which extinguishes the natural authority of the country, see the consequences of a clandestine correspondence that does not let the
injuries of the country come regularly before the
authorities in Oude to relieve it, consider the whole
mass of crimes, and then consider the sufferings that
have arisen in consequence of it.
My Lords, it was not corporal pain alone that
these miserable women suffered. The unsatisfied
cravings of hunger and the blows of the sepoys'
? ? ? ? 164 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
bludgeons could touch only the physical part of their
nature. But, my Lords, men are made of two
parts, -- the physical part, and the moral. The former he has in common with the brute creation. Like theirs, our corporeal pains are very limited and temporary. But the sufferings which touch our moral nature have a wider range, and are infinitely more
acute, driving the sufferer sometimes to the extremities of despair and distraction. Man, in his moral nature, becomes, in his progress through life, a creature of prejudice, a creature of opinions, a creature of habits, and of sentiments growing out of them.
These form our second nature, as inhabitants of the
country and members of the society in which Providence has placed us. This sensibility of our moral nature is far more acute in that sex which, I may
say without any compliment, forms the better and
more virtuous part of mankind, and which is at the
same time the least protected from the insults and
outrages to which this sensibility exposes them.
This is a new source of feelings, that often make
corporal distress doubly felt; and it has a whole
class of distresses of its own. These are the things
that have gone to the heart of the Commons.
We have stated, first, the sufferings of the Begum,
and, secondly, the sufferings of the two thousand
women (I believe they are not fewer in number) that
belong to them, and are dependent upon them, and
dependent upon their well-being. We have stated to
you that the Court of Directors were shocked and
astonished, when they received the account of the
first, before they had heard the second. We have
proved they desired him to redress the former, if,
upon inquiry, he found that his original suspicions
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 165
concerning their conduct were ill-founded. He has
declared here that he did not consider these as orders. Whether they were orders or not, could anything have been more pressing upon all the duties and all the sentiments of man than at least to do
what was just, - that is, to make such an inquiry as
in the result might justify his acts, or have entitled
them to redress? Not one trace of inquiry or redress
do we find, except we suppose, as we hear nothing
after this of the famine, that Mr. Bristow, who seems
to be a man of humanity, did so effectually interpose,
that they should no longer depend for the safety of
their honor on the bludgeons of the sepoys, by which
alone it seems they were defended from the profane
view of the vulgar, and which we must state as a
matter of great aggravation in this case.
The counsel on the other side say that all this
intelligence comes in an anonymous paper without
date, transmitted from a newspaper-writer at Fyzabad. This is the contempt with which they treat
this serious paper, sent to Mr. Hastings himself by
official authority, -- by Hoolas Roy, who was the
news-writer at Fyzabad, - the person appointed to
convey authentic intelligence concerning the state of
it to the Resident at Lucknow. The Resident received it as such; he transmitted it to Mr. Hastings;
and it was not till this hour, till the counsel were
instructed (God forgive them for obeying such instructions! ) to treat these things with ridicule, that
we have heard this Hoolas Roy called a common
news-writer of anonymous information, and the like.
If the information had come in any way the least
authentic, instead of coming in a manner the most
authentic in which it was possible to come to Mr.
? ? ? ? 166 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Hastings, he was bound by every feeling of humanity, every principle of regard to his own honor and
his employers', to see whether it was true or false;
if false, to refute it; if true, to afford redress: he
has done neither. Therefore we charge him with
being the cause; we charge upon him the consequelnces, with all the aggravations attending them;
and we call both upon justice and humanity for
redress, as far as it call be afforded to these people,
and for the severest punishments which your Lordships can inflict upon the author of these evils. If,
instead of the mass of crimes that we have brought
before you, this singly had been charged upon the
prisoner, I will say that it is a greater crime than
allny man has ever been impeached for before the
House of Lords, from the first records of Parliament
to this hour.
I need not remind your Lordships of one particular circumstance in this cruel outrage. No excuse
or pretence whatever is brought forward in its justification. With respect to the Begums, they have been
charged with rebellion; but who has accused the
miserable inhabitants of the Khord Mohul of rebellion or rebellious designs? What hearsay is there,
evein, against them of it? No: even the persons permitted by Mr. Hastings to rob and destroy the country, and who are stated by him to have been so employed, - not one of that legion of locusts which he had sent into the country to eat up and devour
the bread of its inhabitants, and who had been the
cause both of the famine itself and of the inability
of the Begums to struggle with it, -none of these
people, I say, ventured even a hearsay about these
womeln.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- SEVENTH DAY. 167
Were the sufferers few? There were eight hundred of them, besides children. Were they persons
of any rank and consequence? We are told that
they were persons of considerable rank and distinction, connected with and living under the protection of women of the first rank in Asia. Were they persons not deserving pity? We know that they were innocent women and children, not accused, and unsuspected, of any crime. He has taken into his head to speak contemptuously of these women of the
Khord Mohul: but your Lordships will consider both
descriptions generally with some respect; and where
they are not objects of the highest respect, they will
be objects of your compassion. Your Lordships, by
your avenging justice, will rescue the name of the
British government from the foulest disgrace which
this man has brought upon it.
An account of these transactions, as we have proved
by Mr.
Holt's evidence, was regularly transmitted
and made known to him. But why do I say made
known to him? Do not your Lordships know that
Oude was his,-that he treated it like his private
estate, -- that he managed it in all its concerns as
if it were his private demesne, --that the Nabob
dared not do a single act without him, -that he had
a Resident there, nioiniiated by himself, and forced
upon the Nabob, in defiance of the Company's orders? Yet, notwithstanding all this, we do not find
a trace of anything done to relieve the aggravated
distresses of these unfortunate people.
These are some of the consequences of that abominable system which, in defiance of the laws of his country, Mr. Hastings established in Oude. He knew
everything there; he had spies upon his regular
? ? ? ? 168 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
agents, and spies again upon them. We can prove,
(indeed, he has himself proved,) that, besides his correspondence with his avowed agents, Major Palmer
and Major Davy, he had secret correspondence with
a whole host of agents and pensioners, who did and
must have informed him of every circumstance of
these affairs. But if he had never'been informed
of it at all, the Commons contend, and very well
and justly contend, that he who usurps the govern
ment of'a country, who extinguishes the authority
of its native sovereign, anid places in it instruments
of his own, and that in defiance of those whose orders lhe was bound to obey, is responsible for everything that was done in the country. We do charge him with these acts of delinquencies and omissions,
we declare him responsible for them; and we call
for your Lordships' judgment upon these outrages
against humanity, as cruel perhaps as ever were suffered in any country.
My Lords, if there is a spark of manhood, if there
is in your breasts the least feeling for our common
humanity, and especially for the sufferings and distresses of that part of human nature which is made
by its peculiar constitution more quick and sensible,
-- if, I say, there is a trace of this in your breasts,
if you are yet alive to such feelings, it is impossible
that you should not join with the Commons of Great
Britain in feeling the utmost degree of indignation
against the man who was the guilty cause of this
accumulated distress. You see women, whom we
have proved to be of respectable rank and condition,
exposed to what is held to be the last of indignities
in that country, - the view of a base, insultin)g, ridiculing, or perhaps vainly pitying populace. You
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 169
Lave before vou the first women in Asia, who consider their honor as joined with that of these people,
weeping and bewailing the calamities of their house.
You have seen that in this misery and distress the
sons of the Nabob were involved, and that two of
them were wounded in an attempt to escape: and
yet this man has had the impudence to declare his
doubts of the Nabob's having had any children in the
place, though the account of what was going onl had
been regularly transmitted to him. After this, what
is there in his conduct that we can wonder at?
My Lords, the maintenance of these women had
been guarantied by the Company; but it was doubly
guarantied under the great seal of humanity. The
conscience of every main, and more especially of the
great and powerful, is the keeper of that great seal,
and knows what is due to its authority. For the
violation of both these guaranties, without even the
vain and frivolous pretence of a rebellion, and for all
its consequences, Mr. Hastings is answerable; and lie
will not escape your justice by those miserable excuses which he has produced to the Court of Directors, and which he has produced here in his justification. My Lords, that justification we leave with your Lordships.
We now proceed to another part of our charge,
which Mr. Hastings has not thought proper to deny,
but upon which we shall beg leave to make a few
observations. You will first hear read to you, from
the 17th article of our charge, the subject-matter to
which we now wish to call your attention.
" That in or about the month of March, 1783,
three of the said brothers of the Nabob, namely,
? ? ? ? 1. 70 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Mirza Hyder Ali, Mirza Imayut All, and Mirza Syef
Ali, did represent to the said Bristow that they were
in distress for dry bread and clothes, and in consequence of such representation were relieved by the
intervention of the said Bristow, but soon after the
deputation of the said Warren Hastings to Oude, in
the year 1784, that is to say, some time in or about
the month of September, in the said year 1784, the
said Mirza Hyder Ali, one of the three princes aforesaid, did fly to the province of Benares, and did remain there in great distress; and that, although the said Warren Hastings did write to the said Nabob
an account of the aforesaid circumstances, in certain
loose, light, and disrespectful expressions concerning the said Mirza Hyder Ali, he did not, as he was
in duty bound to do, in any wise exert that influence which he actually and notoriously possessed
over the mind of the said Nabob, for the relief of the
said prince, the brother of the said Nabob, but, without obtaining any satisfactory and specific assurances,
either from the said Nabob or the said minister, the
said Warren Hastings did content himself with advising the said prince to return to his brother, the said. Nabob. "
The answer of Mr. Hastings to that part of the
17th article states:-'" And the said Warren Hastings says, that in or
about the month of July, in the year 1783, a paper
was received, inclosed in a letter to the GovernorGeneral and Council, from Mr. Bristow, purporting
to be a translation of a letter from three brothers of
the said Vizier, in which they did represent themselves to be inl distress for dry bread and clothes;
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SE tIITH DAY. 171
but whether such distress actually existed, and was
relieved by the said Bristow, the said Warren Hastings cannot set forth.
" And the said Warren Hastings further says, that
some time in the month of September, 1784, the said
Warren Hastings, being then at Benares, did receive
information that Mirza Hyder Ali was arrived there,
and the said Warren Hastings, not knowing before
that time that there was any such. person, did write
to the Nabob Vizier, to the purport or effect following: -' A few days since I learnt that a person
called Mirza Hyder Ali was arrived at Benares, and
calls himself a son of the deceased Nabob Sujah ul
Dowlah, and I was also told that lie came from Fyzabad; as I did not know whether he left Fyzabad with or without your consent, I therefore did not pay him
much attention, and I now trouble you to give me
every information on this subject, how he came here,
and what your intentions are about him; he remains
here in great distress, and I therefore wish to know
your sentiments. '
"And the said Warren Hastings further says, that,
having received an answer from the said Vizier, he
did, on or about the 13th of October, 1784, inclose
the same in a letter to the said Mirza, of which letter
the following is a copy: --' An answer is arrived to
what I wrote on your account to the Nabob Vizier,
which I inclose to you: having read it, you will send
it back. I conceive you had better go to the Nabob
Vizier's presence, who will certainly afford you protection and assistance. I will write what is proper
to carry with you to the Nabob, and it will in every
respect be for your good; whatever may be your intention on this head, you will write to me. '
? ? ? ? 172 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
"And the said Warren Hastings submits, that it
was no part of his duty as Governor-General to interfere with the said Vizier on behalf of the said Mirza,
or to obtain from the said Vizier any specific assurances on the subject. "
Continuation of the 17th article of the charge: --
" That, in order to avoid famine at home, another
of the said Nabob's brothers, by name Mirza Jungli,
was under the necessity of flying from his native country, and did seek protection from a certain Mahometan lord called Mirza Shuffee Khain, then prime-minister of the Mogul, from whom he did go to the camp of the Mahratta chief Mahdajee Sindia, where he did
solicit and obtain a military command, together with
a grant of lands, or jaghire, for the subsistence of
himself, his family, and followers; but wishing again
to be received under the protection of the British government, the said Mirza Jungli, in 1783, did apply
to the said Resident Bristow, through David Anderson, Esquire, then on an embassy in the camp of the
said Sindia; and in consequence of such application,
the said Bristow, sensible of the disgrace which the
exile of the said Mirza Jungli reflected both on the
said Nabob of Oude and the British nation, did negotiate with the said Nabob and his ministers for the
return of the said Mirza Jungli, and for the settlement and regular payment of some proper allowance
for the maintenance of the said Mirza Jungli; but
the allowance required was ultimately refused; and
althollgh the whole of the transactions aforesaid were
duly represented to the said Warren Hastings by the
said Anderson and by the said Bristow, and although
he had himself received, so early as the 23d of August,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 173
1782, a letter from the Vizier, grievously complaining of the cruel and extortions demands made upon him by the said Warren Hastings, in which letter he
did expressly mention the flight of his brothers, and
the distresses of the women of his late father, who he
said were all as his mothers, and that his said brothers,
from the resumption of their jaghires, were reduced
to great affliction and distress, and he did attribute
the said flight of some of his brethren, and the distresses of the rest, and of the women who stood in a species of maternal relation to him, as owing to the
aforesaid oppressive demands, yet he, the said Warren Hastings, did cruelly, inhumanly, and corruptly decline to make any order for the better provision of
any of the said eminent family, or for the return of
the said prince, who had fled from his brother's court
to avoid the danger of perishing by famine. "
Answer of Mr. Hastings to that part of the
charge: -
" And the said Warren Hastings further says, that
he was informed that Mirza Jungli, in the said article also mentioned, did leave his native country in distress, and did go to Mirza Shuffee KhIan, in the
said article also mentioned; and the said Warren
Hastings likewise admits he was informed that the
said Mirza Jungli did afterwards leave the said Mirza
Shuffee Khan, and repair to the camp of Mahdajee
Sindia, with a view of obtaining some establishment
for himself and followers.
"' And the said Warren Hastings further says, that
in certain letters written by David Anderson, Esquire,
and John Bristow, Esquire, it was represented that
the said Mirza Jungli did apply to the said Bristow,
? ? ? ? 174 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
through the said Anderson, then on an embassy in
the camp of the said Sindia, and that in consequence
thereof the said Bristow did, amongst other things,
apply to the said Nabob Vizier for a certain allowance
to be made for the said Mirza, and for the regular
payment thereof, and that a certain allowance was
accordingly settled by the said Vizier on the said
Mirza; and the said Warrien Hastings says, that information of the above transactions was transmitted
to the Board of Council, and that a letter from the
said Vizier was received on the 23d of August, 1782,
containing certain representations of the distresses of
himself and his family; and he admits that no order
was made by him, the said Warren Hastings, for the
provision of any of the said family, or for the return
of the said Mirza; but the said Warren Hastings denies that he was guilty of any cruelty, inhumanity,
or corruption, or of any misconduct whatsoever, in
the matters aforesaid. "
Continuation of the charge:"'That some time in or about the month of December, 1783, the Nabob Bahadur, another of the brothers of the said Nabob of Oude, did represent to
the said Bristow, that he, the said Nabob Bahadur, had not received a farthing of his allowance for
the current year, and was without food; and being
wounded by an assassin, who had also murdered his
aunt in the very capital of Oude, the said Nabob
Bahadur had not a daum to pay the surgeon, who
attended him for the love of God alone. That at or
about the period of this said representation the said
Bristow was recalled, and the said Warren Hastings
proceeded up to Lucknow, but did not inquire into
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 175
the said representations transmitted by the said Bristow to Calcutta, nor did order any relief. "
Mr. Hastings's answer to the part of the charge
last read:" And the said Warren Hastings further says, that
on the 29th of January, 1784, after the recall of the
said Bristow, he, the said. Bristow, did transmit to
the Governor-General and Council two letters, one
dated 28th of December, 1783, the other 7th of
January, 1784, purporting to be written by the said
Nabob Bahadur, addressed to him, the said Bristow,
to the effect in the said article stated; and the said
Warren Hastings admits, that, when at Lucknow, he
did not institute any inquiry into the supposed transaction in the said 17th article stated, or make any order concerning the said Bahadur, and he denies
that it was his duty so to do. "
Here is the name of this Nabob from a list of the
jaghiredars stated by Mr. Purling, page 485 printed
Minutes. Amongst the names of jaghiredars, the
times when granted, and the amount of the jaghires,
there occurs that of the Nabob Bahadur, with a grant
of a jaghire of the amount of 20,000 rupees.
[ The Lord Chancellor here remarked, that what
had been just read was matter of the 17th article of
the charge and parts of the answer to it, and that,
upon looking back to the former proceedings, it has
escaped his attention, if any matter contained in the
17th article had been made matter of the charge;
that it therefore seemed to him that it could not be
brought in upon a reply, not having been made matter of the charge originally.
? ? ? ? 176 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Mr. Burke. My Lords, I have to say to this, that
I believe you have heard these facts made matter of
charge by the House of Commons, that I conceive
they hlave been admitted by the prisoner, and that
tile Commons have nothing to do with the proofs of
anythilng in their charge which is fullly and in terms
admitted. The proofs which they have produced to
your Lordships were upon matters which were contested; but here the facts are admitted in the fullest
mannler. We neither have abandoned them, intended to abandon them, or ever shall abandon them;
we have made them, as a charge, upon record; the
answers to them have been recorded, which answers
are complete admissions of every fact in the charge.
Lord Chancellor. I do not make myself understood. The objection is not that there has not been
evidence given upon the 17th article, but at the
close of the case on the part of the Managers for the
House of Commons no mention having been made
of the matter contained in the 17th article, that
therefore, although it may all have been admitted
by the answer to be true, yet in justice, if from that
answer you ground the charge, it is necessary the
defendant should be heard upon it.
iMr. Burke. If your Lordships choose that the
defendant shall be heard upon it, we hlave no kind
of objection, nor ever had, or proposed an objection
to the defendant being heard upon it. Your Lordships know that the defendant's counsel value themselves upon having abandoned their defence against certain parts of the charge; your Lordships know
that they declared that they broke off thus in the
middle of their defence in order to expedite this
business.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 177
Lord Chancellor. Referring to the proceedings, I
think it a matter perfectly clear, that, in the course
of the charge, after certain articles had been gone
through, the Managers for the Commons closed the
case there, leaving therefore all the other articles,
excepting those that had been discussed, as matters
standing with the answers against them, but not insisted upon in making out the charge. Of course, therefore, if the defendant had gone into any of those
articles, the defendant must have been stopped upon
them, because he would then have been making a
case in defence to that which had not been made
a case in the prosecution. The objection, therefore,
is not at all that no evidence has been examined.
To be sure, it would be an answer to that to say,
you are now proceeding upon an admission; but even
upon those facts that are admitted, (if the facts are
admitted that are insisted upon as matter in charge,)
that should come in the original state of the cause,
and the defendant in common justice must be heard
upon that, and then, and then only, come the observations in reply.
Mr. Burke. We do not know, nor are informed,
that any charge, information, or indictment, that is
before the court, and upon record, and is not denied
by the defendant, does not stand in full force against
him. We conceive it to be so; we conceive it to
be agreeable to the analogy of all proceedings; and
the reason why we did not go into and insist upon
it was, that, having a very long cause before us,
and having the most full and complete admission
upon this subject, we did not proceed further in
it. The defendant defends himself by averring that
VOL. XII. 12
? ? ? ? 178 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
it was not his duty. It was not our business to prove
that it was his duty. It was he that admitted the
facts assumed to be the foundation of his duty; the
negative he was bound to prove, and he never offered to prove it. All that I can say upon this point
is, that his delinquency in the matter in question
appeared to us to be a clear, distinct case, - to be a
great offence, - an offence charged upon the record,
admitted upon the record, and never by us abandoned. As to his defence having been abandoned,
we refer your Lordships to the last petition laid by
him upon your table, (that libellous petition, which
we speak of as a libel upon the House of Commons,)
and which has no validity but as it asserts a matter
of fact from the petitioner; and there you will find
that he has declared explicitly, that, for the accommodation and ease of this business, and for its expedition, he did abandon his defence at a certain period. Lord Chancellor. A charge consisting of a variety
of articles in their nature (however connected with
each other in their subject, but in their nature) distinct and specific, if only certain articles are pressed
in the charge, to those articles only can a defence
be applied; and all the other articles, that are not
made matter of charge originally, have never, in the
course of any proceeding whatever, been taken up
originally in reply.
Mr. Burke. With great respect to your Lordship's judgment, we conceive that the objection taken
from our not having at a certain period argued or
observed upon the prisoner's answer to the articles
not insisted upon is not conclusive; inasmuch as the
record still stands, and as our charge still stands.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 179
It was never abandoned; and the defendant might
have made a justification to it, if he had thought
fit: he never did think fit so to do. If your Lordships think that we ought not to argue upon it
here in our reply, because we did not argue upon
it before, - well and good; but we have argued and
do argue in our reply many things to which he never
gave any answer at all. I shall beg leave, if your
Lordships please, to retire with my fellow Managers
for a moment, to consult whether we shall press this
point or not. We shall not detain your Lordships
many minutes.
(The Managers withdrew: in a few minutes the Managers returned again into the Hall. )
Mr. Burke. My Lords, the Managers have consulted among themselves upon this business; they
first referred to your printed proceedings, in order
to see the particular circumstance on which the observation of your Lordship is founded; we find it
thus stated: --" Then the Managers for the Commons informed the Lords, that, saving to themselves their undoubted rights and privileges, the Cominmons
were content to rest their charge here. " We rested
our charge there, not because we meant to efface any
precedent matter of the charge which had been made
by us, and of which the facts had been admitted by
the defendant, but, simply saving our rights and privileges, that is, to resume, (and to make new matter, if we thought fit,) the Commons were content to rest
the charge there.
I have further to remark to your Lordships, that
the counsel for the defendant have opened a vast
variety of matter that is not upon record, either
? ? ? ? 180 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
on our part or on theirs, in order to illustrate and
to support their cause; and they have spoken day
after day upon the principles on which their defence
was made. My great object now is an examination
of those principles, and to illustrate the effects of
these principles by examples which are not the less
cogent, the less weighty, and the less known, because they are articles in this charge. Most assuredly they are not. If your Lordships recollect
the speeches that were made here, you know that
great merit was given to Mr. Hastings for matters
that were not at all in the charge, and which would
put us under the greatest difficulties, if we were to
take no notice of them in our reply. For instance,
his merits in the Mahratta war, and a great mass of
matter upon that subject, were obliquely, and for
other purposes, brought before you, upon which they
argued. That immense mass of matter, containing
an immense mass of principles, and which was sometimes supported by alleged facts, sometimes by none,
they have opened and argued upon, as matter relative to principle. In answer to their argument, we
propose to show the mischiefs that have happened
from the mischievous principles laid down by Mr.
Hastings, and the mischievous consequences of them.
If, however, after this explanation, your Lordships
are of opinion that we ought not to be allowed to
take this course, wishing to fall in with your Lordships' sentiments, we shall abandon it. But we will
remind your Lordships that such things stand upon
your records; that they stand unanswered and admitted on your records; and consequently they cannot be destroyed by any act of ours, but by a renunciation of the charge, which renunciation we cannot
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 181
make, because the defendant has clearly and fully
admitted it to be founded in fact. We cannot plead
error; we cannot retract it. And why? Because
he has admitted it. We therefore only remind your
Lordships that the charge stands uncontradicted;
and that the observation we intended to make upon
it was to show your Lordships that the principles
upon which he defends all such conduct are totally
false and groundless. But though your Lordships
should be of opinion that we cannot press it, yet we
cannot abandon it; it is not in your power, it is not
in our power, it is not in his power to abandon that
charge. You cannot acquit him of that charge; it
is impossible. If, however, your Lordships, for the
accommodation of business, method of proceedings,
or any circumstance of that kind, wish we should say
no more upon the subject, we close the subject there.
Your Lordships are in possession both of the charge
and the admission; and we wish, and we cannot wish
better than, to leave it as it is upon the record.
The Lord Chancellor here said, -- The opinion of
the Lords can only be with me matter of conjecture.
I certainly was not commanded by the House to state
the observation that had occurred to me; but in the
position in which it now stands, I feel no difficulty
ill saying, as my own judgment, that nothing call be
matter in reply that does not relate to those articles
that were pressed in the original charge; and therefore, in this position of the business of reply, you cannot go into new matter arising out of other articles that were not originally insisted upon.
Mr. Burke. We were aware of the objection that
might be made to admitting our observations, if con
? ? ? ? 182 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
sidered as observations upon the 17th article, but not
when considered with reference to facts on the record
before you, for the purpose of disproving the principles upon which the defendant and his counsel had relied: that was the purpose for which we proposed
chiefly to make them. But your Lordship's [the
Lord Chancellor's] own personal authority will have
great weight with us, and, unless we perceive some
other peer differ from you, we will take it in the
course we have constantly done. We never have sent
your Lordships out of the hall to consent [consult? ]
upon a matter upon which that noble lord appeared
to have formed a decision in his own mind; we take
for granted that what is delivered from the woolsack,
to which no peer expresses a dissent, is the sense of
the House; as such we take it, and as such we submit to it in this instance.
Therefore, leaving this upon the record as it stands,
without observing upon it, and submitting to your
Lordships' decision, that we cannot, according to order, observe in reply upon what was not declared by us to be a part of the charges we meant to insist
upon, we proceed to another business. ]
We have already stated to your Lordships, and we
beg to remind you of it, the state and condition of
the country of Oude when Mr.
