No More Learning

debtor depends upon his creditor. To that judge is
he sent, without a distinct charge, without a prosecutor, and without evidence. The next ships will bring you an account of his honorable acquittal.
I have stated before that I considered Mr. Hastings
as responsible for the characters of the people he employed, - doubly responsible, if he knew them to be bad. I therefore charge him with putting in situations in which any evil may be committed persons of known evil characters.
My Lords, I charge him, as chief governor, with
destroying the institutions of the country, which were
designed to be, and ought to have been, controls upon
such a person as Debi Sing.
An officer, called dewan, or steward of the country,
had always been placed as a control on the farmer;
but that no such control should in fact exist, that
he, Debi Sing, should be let loose to rapine, slaughter, and plunder in the country, both offices were conferred on him. Did Mr. Hastings vest these offices in him? No: but if Mr. Hastings had kept firm
to the duties which the act of Parliament appointed
him to execute, all the revenue appointments must
have been made by him; but, instead of making them
himself, he appointed Gunga Govind Sing to make
them; and for that appointment, and for the whole
train of subordinate villany which followed the placing iniquity in the chief seat of government, Mr. Hastings is answerable. He is answerable, I say,
first, for destroying his own legal capacity, and, next,
for destroying the legal capacity of the Council, not
one of whom ever had, or could have, any true knowledge of the state of the country, from the moment he buried it in the gulf of mystery and of darkness,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 107
under that collected heap of villany, Gunga Govind
Sing. From that moment he destroyed the power of
government, and put everything into his hands: for
this he is answerable.
The Provincial Councils consisted of many members, who, though they might unite in some small iniquities perhaps, could not possibly have concealed
from the public eye the commission of such acts as
these. Their very numbers, their natural competitions, the contentions that must have arisen among them, must have put a check, at least, to such a business. And therefore, Mr. Hastings having destroyed every check and control above and below, having
delivered the whole into the hands of Gunga Govind
Sing, for all the iniquities of Gunga Govind Sing he
is responsible.
But he did not know Debi Sing, whom he employed. I read, yesterday, and trust it is fresh in
your Lordships' remembrance, that Debi Sing was
presented to him by that set of tools, as they call
themselves, who acted, as they themselves tell us
they must act, entirely and implicitly under Gunga
Govind Sing, -- that is to say, by Gunga Govind Sing
himself, the confidential agent of Mr. Hastings.
Mr. Hastings is further responsible, because he
took a bribe of 40,0001. from some person in power
in Dinagepore and Rungpore, the countries which
were ravaged in this manner, through the hands of
Gunga Govind Sing, -- through the medium of that
very person whom he had appointed to exercise all
the authorities of the Supreme Council above and of
all subordinate Councils below. Having, therefore,
thus appointed a Council of tools in the hands of
Gunga Govind Sing, at the expense of 62,0001. a year,
? ? ? ? 108 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
to supersede all the English provincial authorities,having appointed them for the purpose of establishing
a bribe-factor general, a general receiver and agent
of bribes through all that country, Mr. Hastings is
responsible for all the consequences of it.
I have thought it necessary, and absolutely necessary it is, to state what the consequence of this clandestine mode of supplying the Company's exigencies was. Your Lordships will see that their exigencies
are to be supplied by the ruin of the landed interest
of a province, the destruction of the husbandmen,
and the ruin of all the people in it. This is the consequence of a general bribe-broker, an agent like
Gunga Govind Sing, superseding all the powers and
controls of government.
But Mr. Hastings has not only reduced bribery to
a system of government practically, but theoretically.
For when he despaired any longer of concealing his
bribes from the penetrating eye of Parliament, then he
took another mode, and declared, as your Lordships
will see, that it was the best way of supplying the
necessities of the East India Company in the pressing
exigencies of their affairs; that thus a relief to the
Company's affairs might be yielded, which, in the common, ostensible mode, and under the ordinary forms
of government, and publicly, never would be yielded
to them. So that bribery with him became a supplement to exaction.
The best way of showing that a theoretical system
is bad is to show the practical mischiefs that it produces: because a thing may look specious in theory,
and yet be ruinous in practice; a thing may look evil
in theory, and yet be in its practice excellent. Here
a thing in theory, stated by Mr. Hastings to be pro
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 109
ductive of much good, is in reality productive of
all those horrible mischiefs I have stated. That Mr.
Hastings well knew this appears from an extract
of the Bengal Revenue Consultations, 21st January,
1785, a little before he came away.
Mr. Hastings says, -" I entirely acquit Mr. Goodlad of all the charges: he has disproved them. It
was the duty of the accuser to prove them. Whatever crimes may be established against Rajah Debi Sing, it does not follow that Mr. Goodlad was responsible for them; and I so well know the character and abilities of Rajah Debi Sing, that I can easily conceive
that it was in his power both to commit the enormities which are laid to his charge, and to conceal the grounds of them from Mr. Goodlad, who had no authority but that of receiving the accounts and rents of the district from Rajah Debi Sing, and occasionally
to be the channel of communication between him and
the Committee. "
We shall now see what things Mr. Hastings did,
what course he was in, a little before his departure, -
with what propriety and consistency of character he
has behaved from the year of the commencement of
his corrupt system, in 1773, to the end of it, when he
closed it in 1785, when the bribes not only mounted
the chariot, but boarded the barge, and, as I shall
show, followed him down the Ganges, and even to
the sea, and that he never quitted his system of iniquity, but that it survived his political life itself.
One of his last political acts was this.
Your Lordships will remember that Mr. Goodlad
was sent up into the country, whose conduct was
terrible indeed: for that he could not be in place
and authority in that country, and be innocent, while
? ? ? ? 110 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
such things were doing, I shall prove. But that is
not now my consideration.
The Governor-General's minute, just read, is this.
"I entirely acquit Mr. Goodlad of all the charges:
he has disproved them. It was the duty of the accuser to prove them" (the accuser, namely, the commissioner). "Whatever crimes may be established against Rajah Debi Sing, it does not follow that Mr.
Goodlad was responsible for them; and I so well
know the characters" &c. , &c. , &c.
Now your Lordships perceive he has acquitted Mr.
Goodlad. He is clear. Be it that he is fairly and conscientiously acquitted. But what is Mr. Hastings's
account of Rajah Debi Sing? He is presented to him
in 1781, by Gunga Govind Sing, as a person against
whose character there could be no exception, and by
him accepted in that light. Upon the occasion I have
mentioned, Mr. Hastings's opinion of him is this: " I
so well know the character and abilities of Rajah Debi Sing, that I can easily conceive that it was in his
power both to commit the enormities which are laid to
his charge, and to conceal the grounds of them from
Mr. Goodlad, who had no authority but that of receiving the accounts and rents of the district from Rajah
Debi Sing, and occasionally to be the channel of communication between him and the Committee. "
Thus your Lordships see what Mr. Hastings's opinion of Debi Sing was. We shall prove it at another
time, by abundance of clear and demonstrative evidence, that, whether he was bad or no, (but we shall
prove that bad he was indeed,) even he could hardly
be so bad as he was in the opinion which Mr. Hastings
entertained of him; who, notwithstanding, now disowns this mock Committee, instituted by himself, but,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 111
in reality, entirely managed by Gunga Govind Sing.
This Debi Sing was accepted as an unexceptionable
man; and yet Mr. Hastings knows both his power of
doing mischief and his artifice in concealing it. If,
then, Mr. Goodlad is to be acquitted, does it not show
the evil of Mr. Hastings's conduct in destroying those
Provincial Councils which, as I have already stated,
were obliged to book everything, to minute all the circumstances which came before them, together with all the consultations respecting them? He strikes at
the whole system at once, and, instead of it, he leaves
an Englishman, under pretence of controlling Gunga
Govind Sing's agent, appointed for the very purpose
of giving him bribes, in a province where Mr. Hastings
says that agent had the power of committing such
enormities, and which nobody doubts his disposition
to commit, -he leaves him, I say, in such a state of
inefficiency, that these iniquities could be concealed
(though every one true) from the person appointed
there to inspect his conduct! What, then, could be
his business there? Was it only to receive such sums
of money as Debi Sing might put into his hands, and
which might have been easily sent to Calcutta? Was
he to be of use as a communication between Debi
Sing and the Committee, and in no other way?
Here, then, we have that English authority which
Mr. Hastings left in the country, -here the native
authority which he settled, and the establishment of
native iniquity in a regular system under Gunga
Govind Sing, --here the destruction of all English
inspection. I hope I need say no more to prove to
your Lordships that this system, taken nakedly as it
thus stands, founded in mystery and obscurity, founded for the very express purpose of conveying bribes,
? ? ? ? 112 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
as the best mode of collecting the revenue and supplying the Company's exigencies through Gunga Govind Sing, would be iniquitous upon the face and the statement of it. But when your Lordships coii-.
sider what horrid effects it produced, you will easily
see what the mischief and abomination of Mr. Hastings's destroying these Provincial Councils and protecting these persons must necessarily be. If you had not known in theory, you must have seen it in practice.
But when both practice and theory concur, there
can be no doubt that a system of private bribery for
a revenue, and of private agency for a constitutional
government, must ruin the country where it prevails,
must disgrace the country that uses it, and finally
end in the destruction of the revenue. For what
says Mr. Hastings? " I was to have received 40,0001.
in bribes, and 30,0001. was actually applied to the
use of the Company. " Now I hope I shall demonstrate, if not, it will be by some one abler than me
demonstrated, in the course of this business, that
there never was a bribe received by Mr. Ihastings that
was not instantly followed with a deficiency inll the
revenue, -- this is clear, and what we undertake to
prove,- and that Debi Sing himself was, at the time
Mr. Hastings came away, between twenty and thirty
thousand pounds debtor to the Company. So that, in
truth, you always find a deficiency of revenue nearly
equal, and in some instances I shall show double, to
all the bribes Mr. Hastings received: from whence
it will be evident that he never could nor did receive
them under that absurd and strange idea of a resource to government.
I il:lst re-state to your Lordships, because I wish
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 113
you never to forget, that this Committee of Revenue
was, in their own opinion, and from their own certain
knowledge and mere motion, if motion can be attributed originally to instruments, mere tools; that
they knew that they were tools in the hands of Gunga
Govind Sing. There were two persons principal in
it, --Mr. Shore, who was the acting President, and
Mr. Anderson, who was President in rank, and President in emolument, but absent for a great part of the
time upon a foreign embassy. It is the recorded opinion of the former, (for I must beg leave to read again
a part of the paper which has already been read to your
Lordships,) that "the Committee, with the best intentions, best abilities, and steadiest application, must,
after all, be a tool in the hands of their dewan. "
Now do you believe, in the first place, that men
will long have abilities, will long have good intentious, and will long, above all, have steady application, when they know they are but tools in the hands of another, -- when they know they are tools for his
own corrupt purposes?
In the next place, I must beg leave to state to you,
that, on the constitution of this Committee, Mr. Hastings made them all take a solemn oath that they
would never receive any present whatever. It was
not enough to trust to a general covenant; it was
not enough to trust to the penial act of 1773: he
bound the Committee by a new oath, and forced them
to declare that they would not receive any bribes.
As soon as he had so secured them against receiving
bribes, he was resolved to make them inefficient, --a
good way to secure them against bribes, by taking
from them the power of bribe-worthy service. This
was a good counter-security to their oath. But Mr. .
VOL. X. 8
? ? ? ? 114 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Hastings put a dewan there, against whom there was
no security; he let loose this dewan to frustrate their
intentions, their application, their abilities, and oath:
that is, there was a person at that board who was
more than the board itself, who might riot in peculation and plunder from one end of the country to the other. He was there to receive bribes for Mr. Hastiligs; the Committee were to be pure with impotent hands; and then came a person with ample power for
Mr. Hastings himself. And lest this person should
not have power enough in this Committee, he is made
the general bribe-broker to Mr. Hastings. This secret under-current, as your Lordships will see, is to counteract everything, and, as fast as one part is rendered pure, totally to corrupt all the rest.
But, my Lords, this was not the private opinion of
Mr. Shore only, a mall of great abilities, and intimately acquainted with the revenue, who must know when he was in a situation to do good and when not. The
other gentleman whom I have mentioned, Mr. Hastings's confidant in everything but his bribes, and supposed to be in his closest secrets, is Mr. Anderson.
I should remark to your Lordships, that Mr. Andersoil is a man apparently of weak nerves, of modest
and very guarded demeanor, as we have seen him in
the House of Commons; it is in that way only I have
the honor of knowing him. Mr. Anderson being asked
whether he agreed in the opinion and admitted the
truth of his friend Mr. Shore's statement relative to
the dewan of the Committee, his answer was this:
"I do not think that I should have written it quite
so strong, but I do in a great measure agree to it:
that is, I think there is a great deal of truth in the
observation; I think, in particular, that it would
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - FOURTH DAY. 115
require great exertion in the Committee, and great
abilities on the part of the President, to restrain effectually the conduct of the dewan; I think it would be
difficult for the Committee to interpose a sufficient
control to guard against all the abuses of the dewan. "
There is the real President of the Committee,there the most active, efficient member of it. They
are both of one opinion concerning their situation:
and I think this opinion of Mr. Anderson is still more
strong; for, as he thinks he should have written it
with a little more guard, but should have agreed in
substance, you must naturally think the strongest expression the truest representation of the circumstance.
There is another circumstance that must strike
your Lordships relative to this institution. It is
where the President says that the use of the President would be to exert his best abilities, his greatest application, his constant guard, - for what? - to prevent his dewan from being guilty of bribery and
being guilty of oppressions. So here is an executive
constitution in which the chief executive minister
is to be in such a situation and of such a disposition
that the chief employment of the presiding person
in the Committee is to guard against him and to prevent his doing mischief. Here is a man appointed,
of the greatest possible power, of the greatest possible
wickedness, in a situation to exert that power and
wickedness for the destruction of the country, and
without doubt it would require the greatest ability
and diligence in the person at the head of that Council to prevent it. Such a constitution, allowed and
alleged by the persons themselves who composed it,
was, I believe, never heard of in the world.
? ? ? ? 116 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Now that I have done with this part of the system
of bribery, your Lordships will permit me to follow
Mr.
Hastings to his last parting scene. He parted
with his power, he parted with his situation, he parted with everything, but he never could part with Gunga Govind Sing. He was on his voyage, he had
embarked, he was upon the Ganges, he had quitted
his government; and his last dying sigh, his last parting voice, was " Gunga Govind Sing! " It ran upon the banks of the Ganges, as another plaintive voice ran
upon the banks of another river (I forget whose); his
last accents were, "Gunga, Gunga Govind Sing! "
It demonstrates the power of friendship.
It is said by some idle, absurd moralists, that
friendship is a thing that cannot subsist between
bad men; but I will show your Lordships the direct
contrary; land, after having shown you what Gunga
Govind Sing was, I shall bring before you Mr. Hastings's last act of friendship for him. Not that I have quite shown you everything, but pretty well, I think,
respecting this man. There is a great deal concerning his character and conduct that is laid by, and I do believe, that, whatever time I should take up in
expatiating upon these things, there would be " in the
lowest deep still a lower deep"; for there is not a
day of the inquiry that does not bring to light more
and more of this evil against Mr. Hastings.
But before I open the papers relative to this act of
Mr. Hastings's friendship for Gunga Govind Sing, I
must re-state some circumstances, that your Lordships
may understand thoroughly the nature of it. Your
Lordships may recollect, that, about the time of the
succession of the minor Rajah of Dinagepore, who
was then but five or six years of age, and when Mr.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 117
Hastings left Bengal eight or nine, Mr. Hastings had
received from that country a bribe of about 40,0001.
There is a fidelity even in bribery; there is a truth
and observance even in corruption; there is a justice,
that, if money is to be paid for protection, protection
should be given. My Lords, Mr. Hastings received
this bribe through Gunga Govind Sing; then, at least,
through Gunga Govind Sing he ought to take care
that that Rajah should not be robbed, - that he
should not be robbed, if Gunga Govind Sing could
help it, - that, above all, he should not be robbed by
Gunga Govind Sing himself. But your Lordships
will find that the last act of Mr. Hastings's life was
to be an accomplice in the most cruel and perfidious
breach of faith, in the most iniquitous transaction, that
I do believe ever was held out to the indignation of
the world with regard to private persons. When he
departed, on the 16th of February, 1785, when he was
on board, in the mouth of the Ganges, and preparing
to visit his native country, let us see what the last act
of his life then was. Hear the last tender accents of
the dying swan upon the Ganges.
"The regret which I cannot but feel in relinquishing the service of my honorable employers would be
much embittered, were it accompanied by the reflection that I have neglected. the merits of a man who deserves no less of them than of myself, Gunga Govind Sing, who from his earliest youth had been employed
in the collection of the revenues, and was about eleven
years ago selected for his superior talents to fill the
office of dewan to the Calcutta Committee. He has
from that time, with a short intermission, been the
principal native agent in the collection of the Company's revenues; and I can take upon myself to say that
? ? ? ? 118 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
he has performed the duties of his office with fidelity, diligence, and ability. To myself he has given
proofs of a constancy and attachment which neither the
fears nor expectations excited by the prevalence of a
different influence could shake, - and at a time, too,
when these qualities were so dangerous, that, far from
finding them amongst the generality of his countrymen, I did not invariably meet with them amongst my
own. With such a sense of his merits, it is natural that
I should feel a desire of rewarding him, - for justice,
gratitude, generosity, and even policy, demand it;
and I resort to the board for the means of performing
so necessary a duty, in full confidence, that, as those
which I shall point out are neither incompatible with
the Company's interest nor prejudicial to the rights
of others, they will not be withheld from me. At the
request, therefore, of Gunga Govind Sing, I deliver
the accompanying durkhausts, or petitions, for grants
of lands lying in different districts, the total jumma,
or rent, of which amount to Rupees 2,38,061. 12. 1. "
Your Lordships recollect that Mr. Larkins was one
of the bribe-agents of Mr. Hastings, - one, I mean,
of a corporation, but not corporate in their acts.
My Lords, Mr. Larkins has told you, he has told us,
and he has told the Court of Directors, that Mr. Hastings parted in a quarrel with Gunga Govind Sing, because he had not faithfully kept his engagement with regard to his bribe, and that, instead of 40,0001. from
Dinagepore, he had only paid him 30,0001. My
Lords, that iniquitous men will defraud one another
I can conceive; but you will perceive by Mr. Hastings's behavior at parting, that he either had in fact
received this money from Gunga Govind Sing, or in
some way or other had abundant reason to be satis
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 119
ned, -- that he totally forgot his anger upon this occasion, and that at parting his last act was to ratify grants of lands (so described by Mr. Hastings) to
Gunga Govind Sing. Your Lordships will recollect
the tender and forgiving temper of Mr. Hastings.
Whatever little bickerings there might have been between them about their small money concerns, the purifying waters of the Ganges had washed away all
sins, enmities, and discontent. By some of those arts
which Gunga Govind Sing knows how to practise, (I
mean conciliatory, honest arts,) he had fairly wiped
away all resentment out of Mr. Hastings's mind; and
he, who so long remembered the affront offered him
by Cheyt Sing, totally forgets Gunga Govind Sing's
fraud of 10,0001. , and attempts to make others the
instruments of giving him what he calls his reward.
Mr. Hastings states, among Gunga Govind's merits,
that he had, from the time of its institution, and with
a very short intermission, served the office of dewan
to the Calcutta Committee. That short intermission
was when he was turned out of office upon proof of
peculation and embezzlement of public money; but
of this cause of the intermission in the political life
and political merits of Gunga Govind Sing Mr. Hastings does not tell you.
Your Lordships shall now hear what opinion a
member of the Provincial Council at Calcutta, in
which he had also served, had of him.
" Who is Gunga Govind Sing? " The answer is,
"He was, when I left Bengal, dewan to the Committee of Revenue. -What was his office and power during Mr. Hastings's administration since 1780? He was formerly dewan to the Provincial Council stationed at Calcutta, of which I was a member. His
? ? ? ? 120 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
conduct then was licentious and unwarrantable, oppressive and extortionary. He was stationed under
us to be an humble and submissive servant, and to be
of use to us in the discharge of our duty. His conduct was everything the reverse. We endeavored to
correct the mischiefs he was guilty of as much as
possible. In one attempt to release fifteen persons
illegally confined by him, we were dismissed our offices: a different pretence was held out for our dismission, but it was only a pretence. Since his appoinltment as dewan to the present Committee of Revenue, his line of conduct has only been a continuance of
what I have described, but upon a larger scale.
What was the general opinion of the natives of the
use he made of his power? He was looked up to by
the natives as the second person in the government,
if not the first. He was considered as the only chanInel for obtaining favor and employment from the
Governor. There is hardly a native family of rank
or credit within the three provinces whom he has not
some time or other distressed and afflicted; scarce
a zemindary that he has not dismembered and plundered. - Were you in a situation to know this to be
true? - I certainly was. - What was the general opinion, and your own, concerning his wealth? - It is almost impossible to form a competent judgment, his
means of acquiring it have been so extensive. I had
an account shown to me, about July, 1785, stating his
acquisitions at three hundred and twenty lacs of rupees, - that is, 3,200,0001. "
My Lords, I have only to add, that, from the best
inquiries I have been able to make, those who speak
highest of his wealth are those who obtain the greatest credit. The estimate of any man's wealth is un
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 121
certain; but the enormity of his wealth is universally
believed. Yet Mr. Hastings seemed to act as if he
needed a reward; and it is therefore necessary to
inquire what recommended him particularly to Mr.
Hastings. Your Lordships have seen that he was on
the point of being dismissed for misbehavior and oppression by that Calcutta Committee his services to
which Mr. Hastings gives as one proof of his constant
and uniform good behavior. " He had executed," he
says, " the duties of his office with fidelity, diligence,
and ability. " These are his public merits; but he
has private merits. '" To myself," says he, " he has
given proofs of constancy and attachment. "
Now we, who have been used to look very diligently
over the Company's records, and to compare one part
with another, ask what those services were, which
have so strongly recommended him to Mr. Hastings,
and induced him to speak so favorably of his public
services. What those services are does not appear;
we have searched the records for them, (and those
records are very busy and loquacious,) about that period of time during which Mr. Hastings was laboring under an eclipse, and near the dragon's mouth, and all the drums of Bengal beating to free him from
this dangerous eclipse. During this time there is
nothing publicly done, there is nothing publicly said,
by Gunga Govind Sing. There were, then, some
services of Gunga Govind Sing that lie undiscovered,
which he takes as proofs of attachment. What could
they be? They were not public; nobody knows anything of them; they must, by reference to the time,
as far as we can judge of them, be services of concealment: otherwise, in the course of this business, it will
be necessary, and Mr. Hastings will find occasion, to
? ? ? ? 122 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
show what those personal services of Gunga Govind
Sing to him were. His services to Gunga Govind
Sing were pretty conspicuous: for, after he was turned
out for peculation, Mr. Hastings restored him to his
office; and when he had imprisoned fifteen persons
illegally and oppressively, and when the Council were
about to set them at liberty, they were set at liberty
themselves, they were dismissed their offices. Your
Lordships see, then, what his public services were.
His private services are unknown: they must be, as
we conceive from their being unknown, of a suspicious
nature; and I do not go further than suspicion, because I never heard, and I have not been without attempts to make the discovery, what those services were that recommended him to Mr. Hastings.
Having looked at his public services, which are
well-known scenes of wickedness, barbarity, and corruption, we next come to see what his reward is.
Your Lordships hear what reward he thought proper
to secure for himself; and I believe a man who has
power like Gunga Govind Sing, and a disposition like
Gunga Govind Sing, can hardly want the means of
rewarding himself; and if every virtue rewards itself,
and virtue is said to be its own reward, the virtue of
Gunga Govind Sing was in a good way of seeking its
own reward. Mr. Hastings, however, thought it was
not right that such a man should reward himself, but
that it was necessary for the honor and justice of government to find him a reward. Then the next thing
is, what that reward shall be. It is a grant of lands.
Your Lordships will observe, that Mr. Hastings declares some of these lands to be unoccupied, others
occupied, but not by the just owners. Now these
were the very lands of the Rajah of Dinagepore from
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 123
whence he had taken the bribe of 40,0001. My Lords,
this was a monstrous thing. Mr. Hastings had the
audacity, as his parting act, when he was coming to
England, and ought to have expected (whatever he
did expect) the responsibility of this day, -he was,
I say, shameless enough not only to give this recommendation, but to perpetuate the mischiefs of his reign, as he has done, to his successors: for he has
really done so, by making it impossible, almost, to
know anything of the true state of that country; and
he has thereby made them much less responsible and
criminal than before in any ill acts they may have
done since his time. But Mr. Hastings not only
recommends and backs the petition of Gunga Govind
Sing with his parting authority, which authority he
made the people there believe would be greater in
England than it was in India, but he is an evidence;
he declares, that, " to his own knowledge, these lands
are vacant, and confessedly, therefore, by the laws of
this as well as of most other countries, in the absolute gift of government. "
My Lords, as I said, Mr. Hastings becomes a witness, and I believe in the course of the proceedings
you will find a false witness, for Gulnga Govind Sing. :" To my own knowledge," says he, " they are vacant. " Why, I cannot find that Mr. Hastings had ever been
in Dinagepore; or if he had, it must have been only
as a passenger. He had not the supervision of the
district, in any other sense than with that kind of
eagle eye which he must have had over all Bengal,
and which he had for no other purposes than those
for which eagles' eyes are commonly used. 'He becomes, you see, a witness for Gunga Govind Sing, and orders to be given him, as a recompense for all the
? ? ? ? 124 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
iniquitous acts this man committed, the lands of that
very Rajah who through the hands of Gunga Govind
Sing had given an enormous bribe to Mr. Hastings.
These lands were not without an ownership, but
were lands in the hands of the Rajah, and were to
be severed from the zemindary, and given to Gunga
Govind Sing. The manner of obtaining them is something so shocking, and contains such a number of enormities completed in one act, that one can scarce
imagine how such a compound could exist.
This man, besides his office of dewan to the Calcutta
Committee, which gave him the whole management
and power of the revenue, was, as I have stated, at the
head of all the registers in the kingdom, whose duty
it was to be a control upon him as dewan. As Mr.
Hastings destroyed every other constitutional settlement of the country, so the office which was to be a check upon Gunga Govind Sing, namely, the register
of the country, had been superseded, and revived in
another shape, and given to the own son of this very
man. God forbid that a son should not be under
a certain and reasonable subordination! But though
in this country we know a son may possibly be free
from the control of his father, yet the meanest slave
is not in a more abject condition of slavery than a son
is in that country to his father; for it extends to the
power of a Roman parent. The office of register is to
take care that a full and fair rent is secured to government; and above all, it is his business to take care of the body of laws, the Rawaj-ul-Mul1k, or custom
of the country, of which he is the guardian as the
head of the law. It was his business to secure that
fundamental law of the government, and fundamental
law of the country, that a zemindary cannot be split,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -FOURTH DAY. 125
or any portion of it separated, without the consent of
the government. This man betrayed his trust, and
did privately, contrary to the duty of his office, get
this minor Rajah, who was but an infant, who was
but nine years old at the time, to make over to him a
part of his zemindary, to a large amount, under color
of a fraudulent and fictitious sale. By the laws of that
country, by the common laws of Nature, the act of
this child was void. The act was void as against the
government, by giving a zemindary without the consent of the government to the very man who ought to have prevented such an act. He has the same sacred
guardianship of minors that the Chancellor of England has. This man got to himself those lands by a fraudulent, and probably forged deed, -- for that is
charged too; but whether it was forged or not, this
miserable minor was obliged to give the lands to him:
he did not dare to quarrel with him upon such an
article; because he who would purchase could take.
The next step was to get one of his nearest relations
to seem to give a consent; because taking it of the
minor was too gross. The relation, who could no
more consent by the law of that country than the law
of this, gave apparently his consent. And these were
the very lands that Mr. Hastings speaks of as " lands
entirely at the disposal of government. "
All this came before the Council. The moment
Mr. Hastings was gone, India seemed a little to respire; there was a vast, oppressive weight taken off it, there was a mountain removed from its breast; and
persons did dare then, for the first time, to breathe
their complaints. And accordingly, this minor Rajah
got some person kind enough to tell him that he was
a minor, that he could not part with his estate; and
? ? ? ? 126 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
this, with the other shocking and illegal parts of the
process, was stated by him to the Council, who had
Mr. Hastings's recommendation of Gunga Govind
Sing before them. The Council, shocked to see a minor attempted to be dispossessed in such a manner
by him who was the natural guardian of all minors,
shocked at such an enormous, daring piece of iniquity, began to inquire further, and to ask, "How
came this his near relation to consent? " He was apparently partner in the fraud. Partner in the fraud
he was, but not partner in the profit; for he was to do
it without getting anything for it: the wickedness
was in him, and the profit in Gunga Govind Sing.
In consequence of this inquiry, the man comes down
to account for his conduct, and declares another atrocious iniquity, that shows you the powers which Gunga Govind Sing possessed. " Gunga Govind Sing," says he, " is master of the country; he had made a
great festival for the burial of his mother; all those
of that caste ought to be invited to the funeral festival; he would have disgraced me forever, if I had not
been invited to that funeral festival. " These funeral
festivals, you should know, are great things in that
country, and celebrated in this manner, and, you may
depend upon it, in a royal manner by him, upon burying his mother: any person left out was marked, despised, and disgraced.