When you examine these
witnesses
here, they tell
you it was paid to Hyder Beg Khan.
you it was paid to Hyder Beg Khan.
Edmund Burke
There is mention
made of a few preliminary severities used by Mr.
Middleton, in order to get at their money. Well,
he did get at the money, and he got a bond for the
payment of an additional sum, which they thought
proper to fix at about six hundred thousand pounds,
to which was added another usurious bond for sixty
thousand; and in order to extort these forced bonds,
and to make up their aggravated crimes of usury,
violence, and oppression, they put these eunuchs into prison, without food and water, and loaded their limbs with fetters. This was their second imprisonment; and what followed these few severities your Lordships will remark, - still more severities. They
continued to persecute, to oppress, to work upon
these men by torture and by the fear of torture, till
at last, having found that all their proceedings were
totally ineffectual, they desire the women to surrender their house; though it is in evidence before you, that to remove a woman from her own house to another house without her consent is an outrage of the greatest atrocity, on account of which many women
have not only threatened, but have actually put them
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FIFTH DAY. 57
selves to death. Mr. Hastings himself, in the case of
Munny Begum, had considered such a proposition as
the last degree of outrage that could be offered. These
women offered to go from house to house while their
residence was searched; but "No," say their tormentors, " the treasure may be bricked up, in so large
a house, in such a manner that we cannot find it. "
But to proceed with the treatment of these unfortunate men. I will read to your Lordships a letter of
Mr. Middleton to Captain Leonard Jaques, commanding at Fyzabad, 18th March, 1782.
SIR, -I have received your letter of the 13th
instant. The two prisoners, Behar and Jewar Ali
Khan, having violated their written solemn engagement with me for the payment of the balance due to
the Honorable Company on the Nabob's assignments
accepted by them, and declining giving me any satisfactory assurances on that head, I am under the disagreeable necessity of recurring to severities to enforce the said payment. This is, therefore, to desire that you immediately cause them to be put in irons,
and kept so until I shall arrive at Fyzabad, to take
further measures, as may be necessary. "
Here is the answer of Captain Jaques to Mr. Middleton.
"April 23d, 1782.
" SIR,-Allow me the honor of informing you that
the place the prisoners Behar Ali Khan and Jewar
Ali Khlln are confined in is become so very unhealthy, by the number obliged to be on duty in so
confined a place at this hot season of the year, and
so situated, that no reduction can with propriety be
? ? ? ? 1h8 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
made from their guard, it being at such a distance
from the battalion. "
You see, my Lords, what a condition these unfortunate persons were in at that period; you see they were put in irons, in a place highly unhealthy; and
from this you will judge of the treatment which
followed the few severities. The first yielded a bond
for 600,0001. ; the second, a bond for 60,0001. ; the
third was intended to extort the payment of these
bonds, and completed their series.
I will now read a letter from Captain Jaques to Mr.
Middleton, from the printed Minutes, dated Palace,
Fyzabad, May 18th, 1782, consequently written nearly a month after the former.
" SIR, -- The prisoners Behar and Jewar Ali Khan,
who seem to be very sickly, have requested their
irons might be taken off for a few days, that they
might take medicine, and walk about the garden of
the place where they are confined, to assist the medicine in its operation. Now, as I am sure they would be equally as secure without their irons as
with them, I think it my duty to inform you of this
request, and desire to know your pleasure concerning it.
(Signed) "LEONARD JAQUES. "
On the 22d May, 1782, Captain Jaques's humane
proposal is thus replied to by Mr. Middleton.
"I am sorry it is not in my power to comply with
your proposal of easing the prisoners for a few days
of their fetters. Much as my humanity may be
touched by their sufferings, I should think it inex
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FIFTH DAY. 59
pedient to afford them any alleviation while they persist in a breach of their contract with me; and, indeed, no indulgence could be shown them without the authority of the Nabob, who, instead of consenting to moderate the rigors of their situation, would
be most willing to multiply them.
(Signed) "NATTHANIEL MIDDLETON. "
I will now call your Lordships' attention to other
letters connected with this transaction.
Letter from Major Gilpin to Mr. Middleton, June 5th,
1782.
" SIR, - Agreeably to your instructions, I went to
the prisoners, Behar and Jewar Ali Khan, accompanied by Hoolas Roy, who read the papers respecting
the balance now due, &c. , &c.
" In general terms they expressed concern at not
being able to discharge the same without the assistance of the Begum, and requested indulgence to send
a message to her on that subject, and in the evening
they would give an answer.
" I went at the time appointed for the answer, but
did not receive a satisfactory one; in consequence of
which I desired them to be ready, at the shortest notice, to proceed to Lucknow, and explained to them
every particular contained in your letter of the 1st
instant respecting them.
"Yesterday morning I sent for Letafit Ali Khan,
and desired him to go to the Bhow Begum, and deliver the substance of my instructions to her, which
he did, and returned with the inclosed letter from
her. From some circumstances which I have heard
to-day, I am hopeful the prisoners will soon think
? ? ? ? 60 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
seriously of their removal, and pay the balance rather than submit themselves to an inconvenient journey to Lucknow. "
To Major Gilpin, commanding at Fyzabad, from Mr.
Middleton.
"SIR,- -I have been favored with your letter of
the 5th instant, informing me of the steps you had
taken in consequence of my instructions of the 1st,
and covering a letter from the Bhow Begum, which
is so unsatisfactory that I cannot think of returning
an answer to it. Indeed, as all correspondence between the Begum and me has long been stopped, I request you will be pleased to inform her that I by
no means wish to resume it, or maintain any friendly
intercourse with her, until she has made good my
claim upon her for the balance due.
"I have now, in conformity to my former instructions, to desire that the two prisoners, Behar
and Jewar Ali Khan, may be immediately sent,
under a sufficient guard, to Lucknow, unless, upon
your imparting to them this intimation, either they
or the Begum should actually pay the balance, or
give you such assurances or security for the assets to
be immediately forthcoming as you think can be relied upon; in which case you will of course suspend
the execution of this order. "
Mr. Richard Johnson to Major Gilpin. Luclcnow,
24th June, 1782.
"SIR, - I have received the honor of your letter of
the 20th. The prisoners arrived here this morning.
Lieutenant Crow has delivered them over to Captain
Waugh, and returns to you in a day or two.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FIFTH DAY. 61
"1 think their hint to you a very good one, and
worth improving upon. Was the Bhow Begum to
think that she must go to Allahabad, or any other
place, while her palace is searched for the hidden
treasure of the late Vizier, it might go further than
any other step that can be immediately taken towards
procuring payment of the balance outstanding.
" Tile prisoners are to be threatened with severities to-morrow, to make them discover where the balance may be procurable, the fear of which may possibly have a good effect; and the apprehensions ol the Begum. lest they should discover the hidden
treasure may induce her to make you tenders of
payment, which you may give any reasonable encouragement to promote that may occur to you.
"The jaghire cannot be released to her on any
other terms, nor even to the Nabob, until the five
lacs for which it was granted be paid up; and the
prisoners must also be detained until the full fifty
lacs be liquidated: consequently nothing but the
fear of an increase of demand, upon breach of the
first engagement on her part, will induce her to
prompt payment. "
Letter front Mr. Richard Johnson to the Commanding
Officer of the Guard. Lucknow, 23d July, 1782.
" SIR,-Some violent demands having been made
for the release of the prisoners, it is necessary that
every possible precaution be taken for their security.
You will therefore be pleased to be very strict in
guarding them; and I herewith send another pair
of fetters, to be added to those now upon the prisoners. "
? ? ? ? 62 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Letter from Robert Steere Allen to Richard Johnson,
Esq. , Acting Resident. Lucknow, 23d July, 1782.
"SIR, --I have received your instructions, and
ordered the fetters to be added; but they are by
much too small for their feet. The utmost regard
shall be paid to the security of the prisoners. I have
sent back the fetters, that you may have them altered, if you think proper. "
Letter from Mr. Johnson to the Officer commanding the
Guard. Lucknow, 28th June, 1782.
" SI, -The Nabob having determined to inflict
corporal punishment. upon the prisoners under your
guard, this is to desire that his officers, when they
shall come, may have free access to the prisoners,
and be permitted to do with them as they shall see
proper, only taking care that they leave them always
under your charge. "
I will now trouble your Lordships with the following passages from Mr. IIolt's evidence.
" Q. Did you ever see the two ministers of the Begum? - A. I saw them brought into Lucknow. -- Q. In what situation were they, when you saw them
brought into Lucknow? -A. They were brought in
their palanquins, attended by a guard of sepoys. Q. Under whose command were the sepoys? -- A. That they were brought in by? - Q. Yes. A. I do not recollect. - Q. Were those sepoys that brought in the prisoners part of the Nabob's army,
or were they any British troops? -- A. To the
best of my recollection, they were detached from
a regiment then stationed at Fyzabad. --Q. In
whose service was that regiment? -A. In the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FIFTH DAY. 63
Company's. Q. Were they imprisoned in any house
near that in which you resided? --A. They were
imprisoned immediately under the window of the
house in which I resided, close to it. --Q. Did
you or did you not ever see any preparations made
for any corporal punishment? - A. I saw something of a scaffolding. - Q. For what purpose? -
A. I heard it was for the purpose of tying them
up. --Q. Whose prisoners did you consider these
men to be? -A. I considered them as prisoners of
the Resident; they were close to his house, and under an European officer. "
Your Lordships have now seen the whole process,
except one dreadful part of it, which was the threatening to send the Begum to the castle at Chunar.
After all these cruelties, after all these menaces of
further cruelties, after erecting a scaffold for actually exercising the last degree of criminal punishment,
namely, by whipping these miserable persons in public, -after everything has been done but execution,
our inability to prove by evidence this part of their
proceedings has secured to your Lordships a circumstance of decorum observed on the stage where murders, executions, whippings, and cruelties are performed behind the scenes. I know as certainly as a man can know such a thing, from a document which
I cannot produce in evidence here, but I have it
in the handwriting of the Resident, Mr. Bristow, that
Behar Ali Khan was actually scourged in the manner that we speak. of. I had it in writing in the
man's hand; I put the question to him, but he
refused to answer it, because he thouglht it might
criminate himself, and criminate us all; but if your
? ? ? ? 64 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Lordships saw the scaffold erected for the purpose,
(and of this we have evidence,) would you not necessarily believe that the scourging did follow? All this was done in the name of the Nabob; but if
the Nabob is the person claiming his father's effects,
if the Nabob is the person vindicating a rebellion
against himself upon his nearest relations, why did
he not in person take a single step in this matter?
why do we see nothing but his abused name in it?
We see no order under his own hand. We see all
the orders given by the cool Mr. Middleton, by the
outrageous Mr. Johnson, by all that gang of persons
that the prisoner used to disgrace the British name.
Who are the officers that stormed their fort? who
put on the irons? who sent them? who supplied
them? They ar9 all, all, English officers. There is
not an appearance, even, of a minister of the Nabob's
in the whole transaction. The actors are all Englishmen; and we, as Englishmen, call for punishment upon those who have thus degraded and dishonored
the English name.
We do not use torture or cruelties, even for the
greatest crimes, but have banished them from our
courts of justice; we never suffer them in any case.
Yet those men, in order to force others to break their
most sacred trust, inflict tortures upon them. They
drag their poor victims from dungeon to dungeon,
from one place of punishment to another, and wholly
on account of an extorted bond, -for they owed no
money, they could not owe any, -- but to get this
miserable balance of 60,0001. , founded upon their
tables of exchange: after they had plundered these
ladies of 500,0001. in money, and 70,0001. a year
in land, they could not be satisfied without putting
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FIFTH DAY. 65
usury and extortion upon tyranny and oppression.
To enforce this unjust demand, the miserable victims
were imprisoned, ironed, scourged, and at last threatened to be sent prisoners to Chunar. This menace succeeded. The persons who had resisted irons, who
had been, as the Begums say, refused food and water,
stowed in an unwholesome, stinking, pestilential prison, these persons withstood everything till the fort of Chunar was mentioned to them; and then their fortitude gave way: and why? The fort of Chunar was
not in the dominions of the Nabob, whose rights they
pretended to be vindicating: to name a British fort,
in their circumstances, was to name everything that
is most horrible in tyranny; so, at least, it appeared
to them. They gave way; and thus were committed
acts of oppression and cruelty unknown, I will venture to say, in the history of India. The women,
indeed, could not be brought forward and scourged,
but their ministers were tortured, till, for their redemption, these princesses gave up all their clothes,
all the ornaments of their persons, all their jewels,
all the memorials of their husbands and fathers, -
all were delivered up, and valued by merchants at
50,0001. ; and they also gave up 5,0001. in money, or
thereabouts: so that, in reality, only about 5,0001. ,
a mere nothing, a sum not worth mentioning, even
in the calculations of extortion and usury, remained
unpaid.
But, my Lords, what became of all this money?
When you examine these witnesses here, they tell
you it was paid to Hyder Beg Khan. Now they had
themselves received the money in tale at their own
assay-table. And when an account is demanded of
the produce of the goods, they shrink from it, and say
VOL. XII. 5
? ? ? ? 66 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
it was Hyder Beg Khan who received the things and
sold them. Where is Hyder Beg Khan's receipt?
The Begums say (and the thing speaks for itself) that
even gold and jewels coming from them lost their
value; that part of the goods were. spoilt, being kept
long unsold in damp and bad warehouses; and that
the rest of the goods were sold, as thieves sell their
spoil, for little or nothing. In all this business Mr.
Hastings and Mr. Middleton were themselves the
actors, chief actors; but now, when they are called
to account, they substitute Hyder Beg Khan in their
place, a man that is dead and gone, and you hear
nothing more of this part of the business.
But the sufferings of these eunuchs did not end
here; they were, on account of this odd 5,0001. ,
confined for twelve months, - not prisoners at large,
like this prisoner who thrusts his sore leg into your
Lordships' faces every day, but in harsh and cruel
confinement. These are the persons that I feel for.
It is their dungeon, it is their unrevenged wrongs
that move me. It is for these innocent, miserable,
unhappy men, who were guilty of no offence but
fidelity to their mistresses, in order to vex and torture whom (the first women in Asia) in the persons of their ministers these cruelties were exercised,
these are they for whom I feel, and not for the miserable sore leg or whining cant of this prisoner. He has been the author of all these wrongs; and
if you transfer to him any of the sympathy you
owe to these sufferers, you do wrong, you violate
compassion. Think of their irons. Has not this
criminal, who put on these irons, been without one
iron? Has he been threatened with torture? Has
he been locked up without food and water? Have his
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FIFTH DAY. 67
sufferings been aggravated as the sufferings of these
poor men were aggravated? What punishment has
been inflicted, and what can be inflicted upon him, in
any manner commensurate with the atrocity of his
crimes?
At last, my Lords, these unhappy men were
released. Mr. Bristow, who had been sent to Lucknow, writes to Mr. Hastings, and informs him that severities could do no more, that imprisonments and
menaces could get no more money. I believe not, for
I doubt much whether any more was to be got. But
whether there was or not, all the arts of extortion,
fortified by all the arts of tyranny, of every name and
species, had failed, and therefore Mr. Bristow released the prisoners, - but without any warrant for
so doing from Mr. Hastings, who, after having received this letter from Mr. Bristow, gets the Supreme Council to order these very severities to be continued
till the last farthing was paid. In order to induce the
Council to sanction this measure, he suppressed Mr.
Bristow's declaration, that severities could do nothing
more in exacting further payments; and the Resident, I find, was afterwards obliquely punished for his humanity by Mr. Hastings.
Mr. Bristow's letter is dated the 12th of December,
and he thus writes.
"The battalion at Fyzabad" (where the Begums
and their ministers had been confined) "is recalled,
and my letter to the board of the 1st instant has
explained my conduct to the Begum. The letter I
addressed her, a translation of which I beg leave to
inclose, (No. 2,) was with a view of convincing her
that you readily assented to her being freed from the
restraints which had been imposed upon her, and that
? ? ? ? 68 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
your acquiescence in her sufferings was a measure of
necessity, to which you were forced by her extraordinary conduct. I wished to make it appear this was
a matter on which you directed me to consult the
Vizier's pleasure, that it might be known you were
the spring from whence she was restored to her
dignity and consequence. "
On the 3d of March following, the Council agree
to send the following order to Mr. Bristow.
"We desire you will inform us if any and what
means have been taken for recovering the balance
due from the Begum at Fyzabad, and, if necessary,
that you recommend it to the Vizier to enforce the
most effectual means for that purpose. "
My Lords, you see the fraud he has put upon the
Council. You will find that Mr. Bristow's letters,
up to the 3d of March, had been suppressed; and
though then communicated, yet he instigated his
cat's-paw, that blind and ignorant Council, to demand from the Vizier the renewal of these very severities and cruelties, the continuance of which the letters in his pocket had shown him were of no effect.
Htere you have an instance of his implacable cruelty; you see that it never relaxes, never remits, and
that, finding all the resources of tyranny useless
and ineffective, he is still willing to use them, and
for that purpose he makes a fraudulent concealment
of the utter inefficacy of all the means that had been
used.
But, you will ask, what could make him persevere
in these acts of cruelty, after his avarice had been
more than satiated? You will find it is this. He
had had some quarrel with these women. He believed that they had done him some personal injury
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FIFTH DAY. 69
or other, of which he nowhere informs you. But,
as you find that in the case of Cheyt Sing he considered his visit to General Clavering as an horrid
outrage against himself, which he never forgave, and
revenged to the ruin of that miserable person, so you
find that hle has avowed the same malicious disposition towards the Begums, arising from some similar
cause. In page 367 of your printed Minutes, he
says, --" I am sorry that I must in truth add, that a
part of the resentment of the Begums was, as I had
too much reason to suspect, directed to myself personally. The incidents which gave rise to it are too
light to be mixed with the professed subject and occasion of this detail; and as they want the authenticity of recorded evidence, I could lay no claim to credit in my relation of them. At some period I
may be induced to offer them to the world, my ultimate and unerring judges, both of that and of every
other trait in my political character. "
My Lords, you have an anecdote here handed to
you which is the key of a great part of this transaction. He had determined upon some deep and desperate revenge for some injury or affront of some kind or other that he thought he had received from
these people. He accuses them of a personal quarrel
with himself; and yet he has not the honor or honesty to tell you what it was, -- what it was that could
induce them to entertain such a personal resentment
against him as to ruin themselves and their country by their supposed rebellion. He says, that some
time or other he will tell it to the world. Why did
he not tell his counsel, and authorize them to tell
a story which could not be unimportant, as it was
connected with a rebellion which shook the British
? ? ? ? 70 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
power in India to its foundation? And if it be true
that this rebellion had its rise in some wicked act of
this man, who had offended these women, and made
them, as he says, his mortal enemies, you will then see
that you never can go so deep with this prisoner that
you do not find in every criminal act of his some
other criminal act. In the lowest deep there is still
a lower deep. In every act of his cruelty there is
some hidden, dark motive, worse than the act itself,
of which he just gives you a hint, without exposing
it to that open light which truth courts and falsehood
basely slinks from.
But cruelly as they have suffered, dreadfully as
they have been robbed, insulted as they have been, in
every mode of insult that could be offered to women
of their rank, all this must have been highly aggravated by coming from such a man as Mr Middleton.
You have heard the audacious and insulting language he has held to them, his declining to correspond with them, and the mode of his doing it. . There are, my Lords, things that embitter the bitterness of oppression itself: contumelious acts and language, coming from persons who the other day
would have licked the dust under the feet of the
lowest servants of these ladies, must have embittered
their wrongs, and poisoned the very cup of malice
itself.
Oh! but they deserved it. They were concerned
in a wicked, outrageous rebellion: first, for expelling
their own son from his dominions; and, secondly, for
expelling and extirpating the English nation out of
India. --Good God Almighty! my Lords, do you
hear this? Do you understand that the English nation had made themselves so odious, so particularly
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FIFTH DAY. 71
hateful, even to women the most secluded from
the world, that there was no crime, no mischief, no
family destruction, through which they would not
wade, for our extermination? Is this a pleasant
thing to hear of? Rebellion is, in all parts of the
world, undoubtedly considered as a great misfortune: in some countries it must be considered as
a presumption of some fault in government: nowhere
is it boasted of as supplying the means of justifying
acts of cruelty and insult, but with us.
We have, indeed, seen that a rebellion did exist
in Baraitch and Goruckpore. It was an universal
insurrection of the people: an insurrection for the
very extermination of Englishmen, -- for the extermination of Colonel Hannay, -- for the extermination of Captain Gordon, - for the extermination of Captain Williams, and of all the other captains and
colonels exercising the office of farmer-general and
sub-farmer-general in the manner that we have described. We know that there did exist in that country such a rebellion. But mark, my Lords, against whom! -against these mild and gracious sovereigns;
Colonel Hannay, Captain Gordon, Captain Williams.
Oh, unnatural and abominable rebellion! - But will
any one pretend to say that the Nabob himself was ever attacked by any of these rebels? No: the attacks
were levelled against the English. The people rose
in favor of their lawful sovereign, against a rebellion
headed by Mr. Middleton, who, you see, usurped his
authority, -- headed by Colonel Hannay, -- headed
by Captain Gordon,-headed by all those abominable persons exercising, under the Nabob's name, an
authority destructive to himself and his subjects.
Against them there was a rebellion. But was this
? ? ? ? 72 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
an unnatural rebellion, -a rebellion against usurped
authority, to save the prince, his children, and state,
from a set of vile usurpers?
My Lords, I shall soon close our proceeding for this
day, because I wish to leave this part of our charge
strongly and distinctly impressed upon your Lordships' memory, and because nothing can aggravate
it. I shall next proceed, in the farther examination
of the prisoner's defence, to dissipate, as I trust we
have done, and as I hope we shall do, all the miserable stuff they have given by way of defence. ~ I shall
often have occasion to repeat and press upon your
Lordships that that miserable defence is a heavy
aggravation of his crime. At present, I shall conclude, leaving this part of our cllarge with the impression upon your Lordships' minds that this pretended rebellion was merely an insurrection against the English, excited by their oppression.
If the rebellion was against the Nabob, or if he was
the author of the oppression which caused it, why do
the English only appear to be concerned in both of
them? How comes it that the Nabob never appears
to have expressed any resentment against the rebels?
We shall prove beyond a doubt, that the Begums had
nothing to do with it. There was, indeed, as I have
already said, what may be called a rebellion; but it
was a rebellion against - not the Nabob, but in favor
of the lawful prince of the country, -- against the
usurpers of his authority and the destroyers of his
country. With this, as a rebellion, Mr. Hastings has
charged these women; he has charged them with a
war against their son, for the purpose of exterminating the English. Look, I pray you, at the whole
business, consider all the circumstances of it, and ask
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- FIFTH DAY. 73
yourselves whether this is not a charge, not only so
grossly improbable, but so perfectly impossible, that
there is not any evidence which can make it even
plausible. Consider next, my Lords, on the other
side, the evidence of their innocence, and then ask
yourselves whether any additional matter could make
its probability in the least degree more probable.
My Lords, the evidence we have produced is neither
more nor less than that of almost all the persons who
have had a share in exciting that rebellion, and who,
to justify their own horrible cruelty, have attempted
to charge the natural consequences of that cruelty
upon these unhappy women.
But where, all this time, is the Nabob, against
whom this rebellion is pretended to be directed?
Was it ever even insinuated to him that his mother
had raised a rebellion against him? When were the
proofs shown to him? Did lie ever charge her with
it? He surely must have been most anxious to
prevent and suppress a rebellion against himself:
but not one word on that subject has ever come out
of his mouth; nor has any one person been produced
to show that he was informed of the existence of
such a rebellion. The persons said to be rebels are
his mother and grandmother; and I again ask, Was
there the least intimation given to him by Mr. Middleton, or by any other person, of their being even suspected of rebellion against him? There was, indeed, a hint of some rebellion, which the creatures of Mr. Hastings got at obliquely; but neither the
person against whom the rebellion is supposed to
exist, nor the persons who were said to be guilty of
it, were ever either informed of or charged with it.
I defy the prisoner and his whole gang to produce
? ? ? ? 74 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
one word ever uttered by allny one of them, from
which the Nabob or Begums could learn that they
were supposed to be concerned in the rebellion: so
that none of those who were said to be the principal
actors in the scene ever heard of the parts they were
acting from the actual authors and managers of the
business. Not one word was uttered of a charge made,
much less of proof given. Nothing was heard but
" Give me the money! " - irons, - new irons, - new
imprisonment, - and at last the castle of Chunar.
And here I beg leave to pause, and to leave upon
your minds the impression, first, of the wrong that
was done, the violence, and the robbery, - and, secondly, of the pretences, both civil and criminal, by which they have attempted to justify their proceedings.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
IN
GENERAL REPLY.
SIXTH DAY: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1794.
M Y LORDS, -Your Lordships will recollect that
we closed the last day of your proceeding in
this trial at a most interesting part of our charge,
or rather of our observations upon that charge. We
closed at that awful moment when we found the first
women of Oude pillaged of all their landed and of
all their moneyed property, in short, of all they possessed. We closed by reciting to you the false pretence on which this pillage was defended, namely, that it was the work of the Nabob. Now we had
before proved to you, from evidence adduced by the
prisoner himself, that this Nabob was a mere tool in
his hands; and therefore, if this pretence be true,
it aggravates his guilt: for surely the forcing a son
to violate the property of his mother must everywhere be considered a crime most portentous and
enormous. At this point we closed; and after the
detail which has been given you already of these
horrible and iniquitous proceedings, some apology
may perhaps be necessary for entering again into
the refutation of this iniquitous pretence.
My honorable fellow Manager who preceded me
in this business did, in his remarks upon the inference drawn by the prisoner's counsel from the seiz
? ? ? ? 76 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ure of the Begums' treasures by the Nabob, as evidence of their guilt, as he ought to do, -he treated
it with proper contempt. I consider it, indeed, to
be as little an evidence of their guilt as he does,
and as little a defence of that *seizure as he does.
But I consider it in another and in a new light,
namely, as a heavy aggravation of the prisoner's
crimes, and as a matter that will let you into the
whole spirit of his government; and I warn your
Lordships against being imposed on by evasions, of
which if it were possible for you to be the dupes,
you would be unfit to be judges of the smallest
matters in the world, civil or criminal.
The first observation which I shall beg leave to
make to your Lordships is this, that the whole of
the proceedings, from beginning to end, has been a
mystery of iniquity, and that in no part of them have
the orders of the Company been regarded, but, on
the contrary, the whole has been carried on in a
secret and clandestine manner.
It is necessary that your Lordships should be acquainted with the manner in which the correspondence of the Company's servants ought to be carried on and their proceedings regulated; your Lordships,
therefore, will please to hear read the orders given
concerning correspondence of every kind with the
country powers. You will remember the period
when these orders were issued, namely, the period
at which the act passed for the better direction of
the servants of the Company. By this act Mr. Hastings was appointed to be Governor-General, and the
Court of Directors was required by that act to prepare orders and instructions, which Mr. Hastings
was required by the same act to comply with. You
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SIXTH DAY. 77
will see what these instructions and orders were, and
in what manner lie has complied with them.
Extract of General Instructions to the Governor-'General and Council, 29th of March, 1774.
" We direct that you assemble in Council twice
every week, and that all the members be duly summoned; that the correspondence with the princes
or country powers in India be carried on by the
Governor-General only, but that all letters sent by
him be first approved in Council, and that he lay before the Council, at their next meeting, all letters received by him in the course of such correspondence, for their information. We likewise direct that a
copy of such parts of the country correspondence be
communicated to our Board of Trade (to be constituted as hereinafter mentioned) as may any ways
relate to the business of their department. "
You will observe, my Lords, two important circumstances in these instructions: first, that, after
the board had regularly met, the Persian correspondence, kept by the Governor only, was to be
communicated to the Council; and, secondly; that he
should write no answer to any part of the business
until he had previously consulted the Council upon
it. Here is the law of the land, - an order given in
pursuance of an act of Parliament.
made of a few preliminary severities used by Mr.
Middleton, in order to get at their money. Well,
he did get at the money, and he got a bond for the
payment of an additional sum, which they thought
proper to fix at about six hundred thousand pounds,
to which was added another usurious bond for sixty
thousand; and in order to extort these forced bonds,
and to make up their aggravated crimes of usury,
violence, and oppression, they put these eunuchs into prison, without food and water, and loaded their limbs with fetters. This was their second imprisonment; and what followed these few severities your Lordships will remark, - still more severities. They
continued to persecute, to oppress, to work upon
these men by torture and by the fear of torture, till
at last, having found that all their proceedings were
totally ineffectual, they desire the women to surrender their house; though it is in evidence before you, that to remove a woman from her own house to another house without her consent is an outrage of the greatest atrocity, on account of which many women
have not only threatened, but have actually put them
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FIFTH DAY. 57
selves to death. Mr. Hastings himself, in the case of
Munny Begum, had considered such a proposition as
the last degree of outrage that could be offered. These
women offered to go from house to house while their
residence was searched; but "No," say their tormentors, " the treasure may be bricked up, in so large
a house, in such a manner that we cannot find it. "
But to proceed with the treatment of these unfortunate men. I will read to your Lordships a letter of
Mr. Middleton to Captain Leonard Jaques, commanding at Fyzabad, 18th March, 1782.
SIR, -I have received your letter of the 13th
instant. The two prisoners, Behar and Jewar Ali
Khan, having violated their written solemn engagement with me for the payment of the balance due to
the Honorable Company on the Nabob's assignments
accepted by them, and declining giving me any satisfactory assurances on that head, I am under the disagreeable necessity of recurring to severities to enforce the said payment. This is, therefore, to desire that you immediately cause them to be put in irons,
and kept so until I shall arrive at Fyzabad, to take
further measures, as may be necessary. "
Here is the answer of Captain Jaques to Mr. Middleton.
"April 23d, 1782.
" SIR,-Allow me the honor of informing you that
the place the prisoners Behar Ali Khan and Jewar
Ali Khlln are confined in is become so very unhealthy, by the number obliged to be on duty in so
confined a place at this hot season of the year, and
so situated, that no reduction can with propriety be
? ? ? ? 1h8 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
made from their guard, it being at such a distance
from the battalion. "
You see, my Lords, what a condition these unfortunate persons were in at that period; you see they were put in irons, in a place highly unhealthy; and
from this you will judge of the treatment which
followed the few severities. The first yielded a bond
for 600,0001. ; the second, a bond for 60,0001. ; the
third was intended to extort the payment of these
bonds, and completed their series.
I will now read a letter from Captain Jaques to Mr.
Middleton, from the printed Minutes, dated Palace,
Fyzabad, May 18th, 1782, consequently written nearly a month after the former.
" SIR, -- The prisoners Behar and Jewar Ali Khan,
who seem to be very sickly, have requested their
irons might be taken off for a few days, that they
might take medicine, and walk about the garden of
the place where they are confined, to assist the medicine in its operation. Now, as I am sure they would be equally as secure without their irons as
with them, I think it my duty to inform you of this
request, and desire to know your pleasure concerning it.
(Signed) "LEONARD JAQUES. "
On the 22d May, 1782, Captain Jaques's humane
proposal is thus replied to by Mr. Middleton.
"I am sorry it is not in my power to comply with
your proposal of easing the prisoners for a few days
of their fetters. Much as my humanity may be
touched by their sufferings, I should think it inex
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FIFTH DAY. 59
pedient to afford them any alleviation while they persist in a breach of their contract with me; and, indeed, no indulgence could be shown them without the authority of the Nabob, who, instead of consenting to moderate the rigors of their situation, would
be most willing to multiply them.
(Signed) "NATTHANIEL MIDDLETON. "
I will now call your Lordships' attention to other
letters connected with this transaction.
Letter from Major Gilpin to Mr. Middleton, June 5th,
1782.
" SIR, - Agreeably to your instructions, I went to
the prisoners, Behar and Jewar Ali Khan, accompanied by Hoolas Roy, who read the papers respecting
the balance now due, &c. , &c.
" In general terms they expressed concern at not
being able to discharge the same without the assistance of the Begum, and requested indulgence to send
a message to her on that subject, and in the evening
they would give an answer.
" I went at the time appointed for the answer, but
did not receive a satisfactory one; in consequence of
which I desired them to be ready, at the shortest notice, to proceed to Lucknow, and explained to them
every particular contained in your letter of the 1st
instant respecting them.
"Yesterday morning I sent for Letafit Ali Khan,
and desired him to go to the Bhow Begum, and deliver the substance of my instructions to her, which
he did, and returned with the inclosed letter from
her. From some circumstances which I have heard
to-day, I am hopeful the prisoners will soon think
? ? ? ? 60 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
seriously of their removal, and pay the balance rather than submit themselves to an inconvenient journey to Lucknow. "
To Major Gilpin, commanding at Fyzabad, from Mr.
Middleton.
"SIR,- -I have been favored with your letter of
the 5th instant, informing me of the steps you had
taken in consequence of my instructions of the 1st,
and covering a letter from the Bhow Begum, which
is so unsatisfactory that I cannot think of returning
an answer to it. Indeed, as all correspondence between the Begum and me has long been stopped, I request you will be pleased to inform her that I by
no means wish to resume it, or maintain any friendly
intercourse with her, until she has made good my
claim upon her for the balance due.
"I have now, in conformity to my former instructions, to desire that the two prisoners, Behar
and Jewar Ali Khan, may be immediately sent,
under a sufficient guard, to Lucknow, unless, upon
your imparting to them this intimation, either they
or the Begum should actually pay the balance, or
give you such assurances or security for the assets to
be immediately forthcoming as you think can be relied upon; in which case you will of course suspend
the execution of this order. "
Mr. Richard Johnson to Major Gilpin. Luclcnow,
24th June, 1782.
"SIR, - I have received the honor of your letter of
the 20th. The prisoners arrived here this morning.
Lieutenant Crow has delivered them over to Captain
Waugh, and returns to you in a day or two.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FIFTH DAY. 61
"1 think their hint to you a very good one, and
worth improving upon. Was the Bhow Begum to
think that she must go to Allahabad, or any other
place, while her palace is searched for the hidden
treasure of the late Vizier, it might go further than
any other step that can be immediately taken towards
procuring payment of the balance outstanding.
" Tile prisoners are to be threatened with severities to-morrow, to make them discover where the balance may be procurable, the fear of which may possibly have a good effect; and the apprehensions ol the Begum. lest they should discover the hidden
treasure may induce her to make you tenders of
payment, which you may give any reasonable encouragement to promote that may occur to you.
"The jaghire cannot be released to her on any
other terms, nor even to the Nabob, until the five
lacs for which it was granted be paid up; and the
prisoners must also be detained until the full fifty
lacs be liquidated: consequently nothing but the
fear of an increase of demand, upon breach of the
first engagement on her part, will induce her to
prompt payment. "
Letter front Mr. Richard Johnson to the Commanding
Officer of the Guard. Lucknow, 23d July, 1782.
" SIR,-Some violent demands having been made
for the release of the prisoners, it is necessary that
every possible precaution be taken for their security.
You will therefore be pleased to be very strict in
guarding them; and I herewith send another pair
of fetters, to be added to those now upon the prisoners. "
? ? ? ? 62 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Letter from Robert Steere Allen to Richard Johnson,
Esq. , Acting Resident. Lucknow, 23d July, 1782.
"SIR, --I have received your instructions, and
ordered the fetters to be added; but they are by
much too small for their feet. The utmost regard
shall be paid to the security of the prisoners. I have
sent back the fetters, that you may have them altered, if you think proper. "
Letter from Mr. Johnson to the Officer commanding the
Guard. Lucknow, 28th June, 1782.
" SI, -The Nabob having determined to inflict
corporal punishment. upon the prisoners under your
guard, this is to desire that his officers, when they
shall come, may have free access to the prisoners,
and be permitted to do with them as they shall see
proper, only taking care that they leave them always
under your charge. "
I will now trouble your Lordships with the following passages from Mr. IIolt's evidence.
" Q. Did you ever see the two ministers of the Begum? - A. I saw them brought into Lucknow. -- Q. In what situation were they, when you saw them
brought into Lucknow? -A. They were brought in
their palanquins, attended by a guard of sepoys. Q. Under whose command were the sepoys? -- A. That they were brought in by? - Q. Yes. A. I do not recollect. - Q. Were those sepoys that brought in the prisoners part of the Nabob's army,
or were they any British troops? -- A. To the
best of my recollection, they were detached from
a regiment then stationed at Fyzabad. --Q. In
whose service was that regiment? -A. In the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FIFTH DAY. 63
Company's. Q. Were they imprisoned in any house
near that in which you resided? --A. They were
imprisoned immediately under the window of the
house in which I resided, close to it. --Q. Did
you or did you not ever see any preparations made
for any corporal punishment? - A. I saw something of a scaffolding. - Q. For what purpose? -
A. I heard it was for the purpose of tying them
up. --Q. Whose prisoners did you consider these
men to be? -A. I considered them as prisoners of
the Resident; they were close to his house, and under an European officer. "
Your Lordships have now seen the whole process,
except one dreadful part of it, which was the threatening to send the Begum to the castle at Chunar.
After all these cruelties, after all these menaces of
further cruelties, after erecting a scaffold for actually exercising the last degree of criminal punishment,
namely, by whipping these miserable persons in public, -after everything has been done but execution,
our inability to prove by evidence this part of their
proceedings has secured to your Lordships a circumstance of decorum observed on the stage where murders, executions, whippings, and cruelties are performed behind the scenes. I know as certainly as a man can know such a thing, from a document which
I cannot produce in evidence here, but I have it
in the handwriting of the Resident, Mr. Bristow, that
Behar Ali Khan was actually scourged in the manner that we speak. of. I had it in writing in the
man's hand; I put the question to him, but he
refused to answer it, because he thouglht it might
criminate himself, and criminate us all; but if your
? ? ? ? 64 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Lordships saw the scaffold erected for the purpose,
(and of this we have evidence,) would you not necessarily believe that the scourging did follow? All this was done in the name of the Nabob; but if
the Nabob is the person claiming his father's effects,
if the Nabob is the person vindicating a rebellion
against himself upon his nearest relations, why did
he not in person take a single step in this matter?
why do we see nothing but his abused name in it?
We see no order under his own hand. We see all
the orders given by the cool Mr. Middleton, by the
outrageous Mr. Johnson, by all that gang of persons
that the prisoner used to disgrace the British name.
Who are the officers that stormed their fort? who
put on the irons? who sent them? who supplied
them? They ar9 all, all, English officers. There is
not an appearance, even, of a minister of the Nabob's
in the whole transaction. The actors are all Englishmen; and we, as Englishmen, call for punishment upon those who have thus degraded and dishonored
the English name.
We do not use torture or cruelties, even for the
greatest crimes, but have banished them from our
courts of justice; we never suffer them in any case.
Yet those men, in order to force others to break their
most sacred trust, inflict tortures upon them. They
drag their poor victims from dungeon to dungeon,
from one place of punishment to another, and wholly
on account of an extorted bond, -for they owed no
money, they could not owe any, -- but to get this
miserable balance of 60,0001. , founded upon their
tables of exchange: after they had plundered these
ladies of 500,0001. in money, and 70,0001. a year
in land, they could not be satisfied without putting
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FIFTH DAY. 65
usury and extortion upon tyranny and oppression.
To enforce this unjust demand, the miserable victims
were imprisoned, ironed, scourged, and at last threatened to be sent prisoners to Chunar. This menace succeeded. The persons who had resisted irons, who
had been, as the Begums say, refused food and water,
stowed in an unwholesome, stinking, pestilential prison, these persons withstood everything till the fort of Chunar was mentioned to them; and then their fortitude gave way: and why? The fort of Chunar was
not in the dominions of the Nabob, whose rights they
pretended to be vindicating: to name a British fort,
in their circumstances, was to name everything that
is most horrible in tyranny; so, at least, it appeared
to them. They gave way; and thus were committed
acts of oppression and cruelty unknown, I will venture to say, in the history of India. The women,
indeed, could not be brought forward and scourged,
but their ministers were tortured, till, for their redemption, these princesses gave up all their clothes,
all the ornaments of their persons, all their jewels,
all the memorials of their husbands and fathers, -
all were delivered up, and valued by merchants at
50,0001. ; and they also gave up 5,0001. in money, or
thereabouts: so that, in reality, only about 5,0001. ,
a mere nothing, a sum not worth mentioning, even
in the calculations of extortion and usury, remained
unpaid.
But, my Lords, what became of all this money?
When you examine these witnesses here, they tell
you it was paid to Hyder Beg Khan. Now they had
themselves received the money in tale at their own
assay-table. And when an account is demanded of
the produce of the goods, they shrink from it, and say
VOL. XII. 5
? ? ? ? 66 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
it was Hyder Beg Khan who received the things and
sold them. Where is Hyder Beg Khan's receipt?
The Begums say (and the thing speaks for itself) that
even gold and jewels coming from them lost their
value; that part of the goods were. spoilt, being kept
long unsold in damp and bad warehouses; and that
the rest of the goods were sold, as thieves sell their
spoil, for little or nothing. In all this business Mr.
Hastings and Mr. Middleton were themselves the
actors, chief actors; but now, when they are called
to account, they substitute Hyder Beg Khan in their
place, a man that is dead and gone, and you hear
nothing more of this part of the business.
But the sufferings of these eunuchs did not end
here; they were, on account of this odd 5,0001. ,
confined for twelve months, - not prisoners at large,
like this prisoner who thrusts his sore leg into your
Lordships' faces every day, but in harsh and cruel
confinement. These are the persons that I feel for.
It is their dungeon, it is their unrevenged wrongs
that move me. It is for these innocent, miserable,
unhappy men, who were guilty of no offence but
fidelity to their mistresses, in order to vex and torture whom (the first women in Asia) in the persons of their ministers these cruelties were exercised,
these are they for whom I feel, and not for the miserable sore leg or whining cant of this prisoner. He has been the author of all these wrongs; and
if you transfer to him any of the sympathy you
owe to these sufferers, you do wrong, you violate
compassion. Think of their irons. Has not this
criminal, who put on these irons, been without one
iron? Has he been threatened with torture? Has
he been locked up without food and water? Have his
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FIFTH DAY. 67
sufferings been aggravated as the sufferings of these
poor men were aggravated? What punishment has
been inflicted, and what can be inflicted upon him, in
any manner commensurate with the atrocity of his
crimes?
At last, my Lords, these unhappy men were
released. Mr. Bristow, who had been sent to Lucknow, writes to Mr. Hastings, and informs him that severities could do no more, that imprisonments and
menaces could get no more money. I believe not, for
I doubt much whether any more was to be got. But
whether there was or not, all the arts of extortion,
fortified by all the arts of tyranny, of every name and
species, had failed, and therefore Mr. Bristow released the prisoners, - but without any warrant for
so doing from Mr. Hastings, who, after having received this letter from Mr. Bristow, gets the Supreme Council to order these very severities to be continued
till the last farthing was paid. In order to induce the
Council to sanction this measure, he suppressed Mr.
Bristow's declaration, that severities could do nothing
more in exacting further payments; and the Resident, I find, was afterwards obliquely punished for his humanity by Mr. Hastings.
Mr. Bristow's letter is dated the 12th of December,
and he thus writes.
"The battalion at Fyzabad" (where the Begums
and their ministers had been confined) "is recalled,
and my letter to the board of the 1st instant has
explained my conduct to the Begum. The letter I
addressed her, a translation of which I beg leave to
inclose, (No. 2,) was with a view of convincing her
that you readily assented to her being freed from the
restraints which had been imposed upon her, and that
? ? ? ? 68 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
your acquiescence in her sufferings was a measure of
necessity, to which you were forced by her extraordinary conduct. I wished to make it appear this was
a matter on which you directed me to consult the
Vizier's pleasure, that it might be known you were
the spring from whence she was restored to her
dignity and consequence. "
On the 3d of March following, the Council agree
to send the following order to Mr. Bristow.
"We desire you will inform us if any and what
means have been taken for recovering the balance
due from the Begum at Fyzabad, and, if necessary,
that you recommend it to the Vizier to enforce the
most effectual means for that purpose. "
My Lords, you see the fraud he has put upon the
Council. You will find that Mr. Bristow's letters,
up to the 3d of March, had been suppressed; and
though then communicated, yet he instigated his
cat's-paw, that blind and ignorant Council, to demand from the Vizier the renewal of these very severities and cruelties, the continuance of which the letters in his pocket had shown him were of no effect.
Htere you have an instance of his implacable cruelty; you see that it never relaxes, never remits, and
that, finding all the resources of tyranny useless
and ineffective, he is still willing to use them, and
for that purpose he makes a fraudulent concealment
of the utter inefficacy of all the means that had been
used.
But, you will ask, what could make him persevere
in these acts of cruelty, after his avarice had been
more than satiated? You will find it is this. He
had had some quarrel with these women. He believed that they had done him some personal injury
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FIFTH DAY. 69
or other, of which he nowhere informs you. But,
as you find that in the case of Cheyt Sing he considered his visit to General Clavering as an horrid
outrage against himself, which he never forgave, and
revenged to the ruin of that miserable person, so you
find that hle has avowed the same malicious disposition towards the Begums, arising from some similar
cause. In page 367 of your printed Minutes, he
says, --" I am sorry that I must in truth add, that a
part of the resentment of the Begums was, as I had
too much reason to suspect, directed to myself personally. The incidents which gave rise to it are too
light to be mixed with the professed subject and occasion of this detail; and as they want the authenticity of recorded evidence, I could lay no claim to credit in my relation of them. At some period I
may be induced to offer them to the world, my ultimate and unerring judges, both of that and of every
other trait in my political character. "
My Lords, you have an anecdote here handed to
you which is the key of a great part of this transaction. He had determined upon some deep and desperate revenge for some injury or affront of some kind or other that he thought he had received from
these people. He accuses them of a personal quarrel
with himself; and yet he has not the honor or honesty to tell you what it was, -- what it was that could
induce them to entertain such a personal resentment
against him as to ruin themselves and their country by their supposed rebellion. He says, that some
time or other he will tell it to the world. Why did
he not tell his counsel, and authorize them to tell
a story which could not be unimportant, as it was
connected with a rebellion which shook the British
? ? ? ? 70 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
power in India to its foundation? And if it be true
that this rebellion had its rise in some wicked act of
this man, who had offended these women, and made
them, as he says, his mortal enemies, you will then see
that you never can go so deep with this prisoner that
you do not find in every criminal act of his some
other criminal act. In the lowest deep there is still
a lower deep. In every act of his cruelty there is
some hidden, dark motive, worse than the act itself,
of which he just gives you a hint, without exposing
it to that open light which truth courts and falsehood
basely slinks from.
But cruelly as they have suffered, dreadfully as
they have been robbed, insulted as they have been, in
every mode of insult that could be offered to women
of their rank, all this must have been highly aggravated by coming from such a man as Mr Middleton.
You have heard the audacious and insulting language he has held to them, his declining to correspond with them, and the mode of his doing it. . There are, my Lords, things that embitter the bitterness of oppression itself: contumelious acts and language, coming from persons who the other day
would have licked the dust under the feet of the
lowest servants of these ladies, must have embittered
their wrongs, and poisoned the very cup of malice
itself.
Oh! but they deserved it. They were concerned
in a wicked, outrageous rebellion: first, for expelling
their own son from his dominions; and, secondly, for
expelling and extirpating the English nation out of
India. --Good God Almighty! my Lords, do you
hear this? Do you understand that the English nation had made themselves so odious, so particularly
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FIFTH DAY. 71
hateful, even to women the most secluded from
the world, that there was no crime, no mischief, no
family destruction, through which they would not
wade, for our extermination? Is this a pleasant
thing to hear of? Rebellion is, in all parts of the
world, undoubtedly considered as a great misfortune: in some countries it must be considered as
a presumption of some fault in government: nowhere
is it boasted of as supplying the means of justifying
acts of cruelty and insult, but with us.
We have, indeed, seen that a rebellion did exist
in Baraitch and Goruckpore. It was an universal
insurrection of the people: an insurrection for the
very extermination of Englishmen, -- for the extermination of Colonel Hannay, -- for the extermination of Captain Gordon, - for the extermination of Captain Williams, and of all the other captains and
colonels exercising the office of farmer-general and
sub-farmer-general in the manner that we have described. We know that there did exist in that country such a rebellion. But mark, my Lords, against whom! -against these mild and gracious sovereigns;
Colonel Hannay, Captain Gordon, Captain Williams.
Oh, unnatural and abominable rebellion! - But will
any one pretend to say that the Nabob himself was ever attacked by any of these rebels? No: the attacks
were levelled against the English. The people rose
in favor of their lawful sovereign, against a rebellion
headed by Mr. Middleton, who, you see, usurped his
authority, -- headed by Colonel Hannay, -- headed
by Captain Gordon,-headed by all those abominable persons exercising, under the Nabob's name, an
authority destructive to himself and his subjects.
Against them there was a rebellion. But was this
? ? ? ? 72 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
an unnatural rebellion, -a rebellion against usurped
authority, to save the prince, his children, and state,
from a set of vile usurpers?
My Lords, I shall soon close our proceeding for this
day, because I wish to leave this part of our charge
strongly and distinctly impressed upon your Lordships' memory, and because nothing can aggravate
it. I shall next proceed, in the farther examination
of the prisoner's defence, to dissipate, as I trust we
have done, and as I hope we shall do, all the miserable stuff they have given by way of defence. ~ I shall
often have occasion to repeat and press upon your
Lordships that that miserable defence is a heavy
aggravation of his crime. At present, I shall conclude, leaving this part of our cllarge with the impression upon your Lordships' minds that this pretended rebellion was merely an insurrection against the English, excited by their oppression.
If the rebellion was against the Nabob, or if he was
the author of the oppression which caused it, why do
the English only appear to be concerned in both of
them? How comes it that the Nabob never appears
to have expressed any resentment against the rebels?
We shall prove beyond a doubt, that the Begums had
nothing to do with it. There was, indeed, as I have
already said, what may be called a rebellion; but it
was a rebellion against - not the Nabob, but in favor
of the lawful prince of the country, -- against the
usurpers of his authority and the destroyers of his
country. With this, as a rebellion, Mr. Hastings has
charged these women; he has charged them with a
war against their son, for the purpose of exterminating the English. Look, I pray you, at the whole
business, consider all the circumstances of it, and ask
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- FIFTH DAY. 73
yourselves whether this is not a charge, not only so
grossly improbable, but so perfectly impossible, that
there is not any evidence which can make it even
plausible. Consider next, my Lords, on the other
side, the evidence of their innocence, and then ask
yourselves whether any additional matter could make
its probability in the least degree more probable.
My Lords, the evidence we have produced is neither
more nor less than that of almost all the persons who
have had a share in exciting that rebellion, and who,
to justify their own horrible cruelty, have attempted
to charge the natural consequences of that cruelty
upon these unhappy women.
But where, all this time, is the Nabob, against
whom this rebellion is pretended to be directed?
Was it ever even insinuated to him that his mother
had raised a rebellion against him? When were the
proofs shown to him? Did lie ever charge her with
it? He surely must have been most anxious to
prevent and suppress a rebellion against himself:
but not one word on that subject has ever come out
of his mouth; nor has any one person been produced
to show that he was informed of the existence of
such a rebellion. The persons said to be rebels are
his mother and grandmother; and I again ask, Was
there the least intimation given to him by Mr. Middleton, or by any other person, of their being even suspected of rebellion against him? There was, indeed, a hint of some rebellion, which the creatures of Mr. Hastings got at obliquely; but neither the
person against whom the rebellion is supposed to
exist, nor the persons who were said to be guilty of
it, were ever either informed of or charged with it.
I defy the prisoner and his whole gang to produce
? ? ? ? 74 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
one word ever uttered by allny one of them, from
which the Nabob or Begums could learn that they
were supposed to be concerned in the rebellion: so
that none of those who were said to be the principal
actors in the scene ever heard of the parts they were
acting from the actual authors and managers of the
business. Not one word was uttered of a charge made,
much less of proof given. Nothing was heard but
" Give me the money! " - irons, - new irons, - new
imprisonment, - and at last the castle of Chunar.
And here I beg leave to pause, and to leave upon
your minds the impression, first, of the wrong that
was done, the violence, and the robbery, - and, secondly, of the pretences, both civil and criminal, by which they have attempted to justify their proceedings.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
IN
GENERAL REPLY.
SIXTH DAY: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1794.
M Y LORDS, -Your Lordships will recollect that
we closed the last day of your proceeding in
this trial at a most interesting part of our charge,
or rather of our observations upon that charge. We
closed at that awful moment when we found the first
women of Oude pillaged of all their landed and of
all their moneyed property, in short, of all they possessed. We closed by reciting to you the false pretence on which this pillage was defended, namely, that it was the work of the Nabob. Now we had
before proved to you, from evidence adduced by the
prisoner himself, that this Nabob was a mere tool in
his hands; and therefore, if this pretence be true,
it aggravates his guilt: for surely the forcing a son
to violate the property of his mother must everywhere be considered a crime most portentous and
enormous. At this point we closed; and after the
detail which has been given you already of these
horrible and iniquitous proceedings, some apology
may perhaps be necessary for entering again into
the refutation of this iniquitous pretence.
My honorable fellow Manager who preceded me
in this business did, in his remarks upon the inference drawn by the prisoner's counsel from the seiz
? ? ? ? 76 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ure of the Begums' treasures by the Nabob, as evidence of their guilt, as he ought to do, -he treated
it with proper contempt. I consider it, indeed, to
be as little an evidence of their guilt as he does,
and as little a defence of that *seizure as he does.
But I consider it in another and in a new light,
namely, as a heavy aggravation of the prisoner's
crimes, and as a matter that will let you into the
whole spirit of his government; and I warn your
Lordships against being imposed on by evasions, of
which if it were possible for you to be the dupes,
you would be unfit to be judges of the smallest
matters in the world, civil or criminal.
The first observation which I shall beg leave to
make to your Lordships is this, that the whole of
the proceedings, from beginning to end, has been a
mystery of iniquity, and that in no part of them have
the orders of the Company been regarded, but, on
the contrary, the whole has been carried on in a
secret and clandestine manner.
It is necessary that your Lordships should be acquainted with the manner in which the correspondence of the Company's servants ought to be carried on and their proceedings regulated; your Lordships,
therefore, will please to hear read the orders given
concerning correspondence of every kind with the
country powers. You will remember the period
when these orders were issued, namely, the period
at which the act passed for the better direction of
the servants of the Company. By this act Mr. Hastings was appointed to be Governor-General, and the
Court of Directors was required by that act to prepare orders and instructions, which Mr. Hastings
was required by the same act to comply with. You
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SIXTH DAY. 77
will see what these instructions and orders were, and
in what manner lie has complied with them.
Extract of General Instructions to the Governor-'General and Council, 29th of March, 1774.
" We direct that you assemble in Council twice
every week, and that all the members be duly summoned; that the correspondence with the princes
or country powers in India be carried on by the
Governor-General only, but that all letters sent by
him be first approved in Council, and that he lay before the Council, at their next meeting, all letters received by him in the course of such correspondence, for their information. We likewise direct that a
copy of such parts of the country correspondence be
communicated to our Board of Trade (to be constituted as hereinafter mentioned) as may any ways
relate to the business of their department. "
You will observe, my Lords, two important circumstances in these instructions: first, that, after
the board had regularly met, the Persian correspondence, kept by the Governor only, was to be
communicated to the Council; and, secondly; that he
should write no answer to any part of the business
until he had previously consulted the Council upon
it. Here is the law of the land, - an order given in
pursuance of an act of Parliament.
