No More Learning

Your Lordships will see that there are grounds for
suspicion, not supported with the same evidence, but
with evidence of great probability, that there was another entertainment given at the expense of another lac of rupees; and there is also great probability that
Mr. Hastings received two lac of rupees, and Mr.
Middleton another lac. The whole of the Nabob's
revenues would have been exhausted by these two
men, if they had stayed there a whole year: and they
stayed three months. Nothing will be secured from
the Company's servants, so long as they can find,
under this name, or under pretence of any corrupt
custom of the country, a vicious excuse for this corrupt practice. The excuse is worse than the thing itself. I leave it, then, with your judgment to decide
whether you. will or not, if this justification comes before you, establish a principle which would put all Bengal in a worse situation than an hostile army could do, and ruin all the Company's servants by sending them from their duty to go round robbing the whole country under the name of entertainments.
My Lords, I have now done with this first part, -- namely, the presumption arising from his refusal to VOL. X. 18
? ? ? ? 274 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
make any defence, on pretence that the charge brought against him might be referred to a court of justice,
and from the non-performance of his promise to give satisfaction to his employers, - and when that pretence was removed, still refusing to give that satisfaction, though suffering as he did uinder a load of infamy
and obloquy, and though urged to give it by persons
of the greatest character. I have stated this to your Lordships as the strongest presumption of guilt, and that this presumption is strengthened by the very excuse which he fabricated for a part of his bribes, when he knew that the proof of them was irresistible, and that this excuse is a high aggravation of his
guilt, - that this excuse is not supported by law,
that it is not supported by reason, that it does not
stand with his covenant, but carries with it a manifest proof of corruption, and that it cannot be justified
by any principle, custom, or usage whatever. My
Lords, I say I have done with the presumption arising from his conduct as it regarded the fact specifically charged against him, and with respect to the relation
he stood in to the Court of Directors, and from the attempt he made to justify that conduct. I believe
your Lordships will think both one and the other
strong presumptions of his criminality, and of his knowledge that the act he was doing was criminal.
I have another fact to lay before your Lordships,
which affords a further presumption of his guilt, and which will show the mischievous consequences of it; and I trust your Lordships will not blame me for
going a little into it. Your Lordships know we
charge that the appointment of such a woman as Munny Begum to the guardianship of the Nabob, to
the superintendency of the civil justice of the coun
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - SECOND DAY. 275
try, and to the representation of the whole government, was made for no other purpose than that
through this corrupt woman sixteen thousand pounds
a year, the whole tattered remains of the Nabob's
grandeur, might be a prey to Mr. Hastings: it could
be for no other. Now your Lordships would imagine,
that, after this, knowing he was already grievously suspected, he would have abstained from giving any further ground for suspicion by a repetition of the same acts through the same person; as no other reason
could be furnished for such acts, done directly contrary to the order of his superiors, but that he was
actuated by the influence of bribery. Your Lordships would imagine, that, when this Munny Begum
was removed upon a charge of corruption, Mr. Hastings would have left her quiet in tranquil obscurity,
and that he would no longer have attempted to elevate her into a situation which furnished against
himself so much disgrace and obloquy to himself,
and concerning which he stood charged with a direct and positive act of bribery. Your Lordships well
know, that, upon the deposition of that great magistrate, Mahomed Reza Khan, this woman was appointed to supply his place. The Governor-General and Council (the majority of them being then Sir John
Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis) had
made a provisional arrangement for the time, until
they should be authorized to fill up the place in a
proper manner. Soon after, there came from Europe
a letter expressing the satisfaction which the Court
of Directors had received in the acquittal of Mahomed
Reza Khan, expressing a regard for his character, an
high opinion of his abilities, and a great disposition
to make him some recompense for his extreme suffer
? ? ? ? 276 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ings; and accordingly they ordered that he should be
again employed. Having no exact ideas of the state
of employments in that country, they made a mistake in the specific employment for which they
named him; for, being a Mahometan, and the head
of the Mahometans in that country, he was named to
an office which must be held by a Gentoo. But the
majority I have just named, who never endeavored
by any base and delusive means to fly from their
duty, or not to execute it at all, because they were
desired to execute it in a way in which they could
not execute it, followed the spirit of the order; and
finding that Mahomed Reza Khan, before his imprisonment and trial, had been in possession of another
employment, they followed the spirit of the instructions of the Directors and replaced him in that employment: by which means there was an end put to the government of Munny Begum, the country
reverted to its natural state, and men of the first
rank in the country were placed in the first situations
in it. The seat of judicature was filled with wisdom,
gravity, and learning, and Munny Begum sunk into
that situation into which a woman who had been
engaged in the practices that she had been engaged
in naturally would sink at her time of life. Mr.
Hastings resisted this appointment. He trifled with
the Company's orders on account of the letter of
them, and endeavored to disobey the spirit of them.
However, the majority overbore him; they put Mahomed Reza Khan into his former situation; and as
a proof and seal to the honor and virtue of their
character, there was not a breath of suspicion that
they had any corrupt motive for this conduct. They
were odious to many of the India House here; they
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -SECOND DAY. 277
were odious to that corrupt influence which had
begun and was going on to ruin India; but in the
face of all this odium, they gave the appointment to
Mahomed Reza Kh. an, because the act contained in
itself its own justification. Mr. Hastings made a violent protest against it. and resisted it to the best of his power, always in favor of Munny Begum, as
your Lordships will see. Mr. Hastings sent this protest to the Directors; but the Directors, as soon as the case came before them, acknowledged their error, and praised the majority of the Council, Sir John Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis, for the
wise and honorable part they had taken upon the occasion, by obeying the spirit and not the letter, -- commended the act they had done, - confirmed Mahomed Reza Khan in his place, -- and to prevent that great man from being any longer the sport of
fortune, any longer the play of avarice between corrupt governors and dancing-girls, they gave him the pledged faith of the Company that he should remain
in that office as long as his conduct deserved their
protection: it was a good and an honorable tenure.
My Lords, soon afterwards there happened two
lamentable deaths, -first of Colonel Monson, afterwards of General Clavering. Thus Mr. Hastings
was set loose: there was an inspection and a watch
upon his conduct, and no more. He was then just
in the same situation in which he had stood in 1772.
What does he do? Even just what he did in 1772.
He deposes Mahomed Reza Khan, notwithstanding
the Company's orders, notwithstanding their pledged
faith; he turns him out, and makes a distribution of
two lacs and a half of rupees, the salary of that great
magistrate, in the manner I will now show your
? ? ? ? 278 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Lordships. He made ain arrangement consisting ot
three main parts: the first was with regard to the womell, the next with regard to the magistracy, the
last with regard to the officers of state of the household. The first person that occurred to Mr. Hastings was Munny Begum; and he gave her, not out of that part
of the Nabob's allowance which was to support the
seraglio, but out of the allowance of this very magistrate, just as if such a thing had been done here out of the salary of a Lord Chancellor or a Lord ChiefJustice, - out of these two lacs and a half of rupees,
that is, about twenty-four or twenty-five thousand
pounds a year, he ordered an allowance to be made
to Munny Begum of 72,000 rupees per annum, or
7,2001. a year; for the Nabob's own mother, whom
he thrust, as usual, into a subordinate situation, he
made an allowance of 3,0001. ; to the Sudder ul i[uk
Khlan, which is, translated into English, the Lord
Chief-Justice, he allowed the same sum that he did
to the dancing-girl, (which was very liberal in him,
and I am rather astonished to find it,) namely,
7,2001. a year. And who do you think was the next
public officer he appointed? It was the Rajah Gourdas, the son of Nundcomar, and whose testimony he has attempted both before and since this occasion to
weaken. To him, however, he gave an employment
of 6,0001. a year, as if to make through the son some
compensation to the manes of the father. And in
this manner he distributes, with a wild and liberal
profusion, between magistrates and dancing-girls, the
whole spoil of Mahomed Reza Khan, notwithstanding the Company's direct and positive assurance given to him. Everything was done, at the same time, to
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -SECOND DAY. 279
put, as it was before, into the hands of this dancinggirl the miserable Nabob's whole family; and that
the fund for corruption might be large enough, he
did not take the money for this dancing-girl out of
the Nabob's separate revenue, of which he and the
dancing-girl had the private disposal between them.
Now upon what pretence did he do all this? The
Nabob had represented to Mr. Hastings that he was
now of age, - that he was an independent, sovereign
prince, - that, being independent and sovereign in
his situation, and being of full age, he had a right to
manage his own concerns himself; and therefore he
desired to be admitted to that management. And,
indeed, my Lords, ostensibly, and supposing him to
have been this independent prince, and that the
Company had no authority or had never exercised
any authority over him through Mr. Hastings, there
might be a good deal said in favor of this request.
But what was the real state of the case? The Nabob
was a puppet in the hands of Mr. Hastings and Munny Begunm; and you will find, upon producing the
correspondence, that lie confesses that she was the
ultimate object and end of this request.
I think this correspondence, wherein a son is made
to petition, in his own name, for the elevation of a
dancing-girl, his step-mother, above himself and everybody else, will appear to your Lordships such a curiosity as, I believe, is not to be found in the state correspondence of the whole world. The Nabob begins thus: -" The excellency of that policy by which her
Highness the Begum" (meaning Munny Begum)
" (may her shadow be far extended! ) formerly, during the time of her administration, transacted the
affairs of the nizamut in the very best and most ad
? ? ? ? 280 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
vantageous manner, was, by means of the delusions of
enemies disguised under the appearance of friends,
hidden from me. Having lately seriously reflected
on my own affairs, I am convinced that it was the
effect of maternal affection, was highly proper, and
for my interest, - and that, except the said Begum is
again invested with the administration, the regulation
and prosperity of this family, which is in fact her
own, cannot be effected. For this cause, from the
time of her suspension until now, I have passed my
time, and do so still, in great trouble and uneasiness.
As all affairs, and particularly the happiness and
prosperity of this family, depend on your pleasure, I
now trouble you, in hopes that you, likewise concurring in this point, will be so kind as to write in fit and proper terms to her Highness the Begum, that
she will always, as formerly, employ her authority in
the administration of the nizamut and the affairs of
this family. "
This letter, my Lords, was received upon the 23d
of August; and your Lordships may observe two
things in it: first, that, some way or other, this Nabob had been (as the fact was) made to express his desire of being released from his subjection to the
Munny Begum, but that now he has got new lights,
all the mists are gone, and he now finds that Munny Begum is not only the fittest person to govern him, but the whole country. This young man, whose
inlcapacity is stated, and never denied, by Mr. Hastinlgs, and by Lord Cornwallis, and by all the rest of the world who know him, begins to be charmed
with the excellency of the policy of Munny Begum.
Such is his violent impatience, such the impossibility of his existing an hour but under the govern
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -SECOND DAY. 281
tnent of Munny Begum, that he writes again on the
25th of August, (hle had really the impatience of a
lover,) and within five days afterwards writes again,
- so impatient, so anxious and jealous is this young
man to be put under the government of an old dancing-woman. He is afraid lest Mr. Hastings should imagine that some sinister influence had prevailed
upon him in so natural and proper a request. He
says, "Knowing it for my interest and advantage
that the administration of the affairs of the nizamut
should be restored to her Highness the Munny Begum, I have already troubled you with my request, that, regarding my situation with an eye of favor,
you will approve of this measure. I am credibly
informed that some one of my enemies, from selfish
views, has, for the purpose of oversetting this measure, written you that the said Begum procured from me by artifice the letter I wrote you on this subject.
This caulses me the. greatest astonishment. Please to
consider, that artifice and delusion are confined to
cheats and impostors, and can never proceed from
a person of such exalted rank, who is the head and
patron of all the family of the deceased Nabob, my
father,- and that to be deluded, being a proof of
weakness and folly, can have no relation to me, except the inventor of this report considers me as void of understanding, and has represented me to the gentlemen as a blockhead and an idiot. God knows how harshly such expressions appear to me; but, as the
truth. or falsehood has not yet been fully ascertained,
I have therefore suspended my demand of satisfaction. Should it be true, be so kind as to inform me
of it, that the person may be made to answer for it. "
My Lords, here is a very proper demand. The
? ? ? ? 282 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Nabob is astonished at the suspicion, that such a
woman as Munny Begum, whose trade in youth had
been delusion, should be capable of deluding anybody.
Astonishing it certainly was, that a woman who had
been a deluder in youth should be suspected to be
the same in old age, and that he, a young man,
should be subject to her artifices. "They must suspect me to be a great blockhead," he says, " if a man of my rank is to be deluded. " There he forgot
that it is the unhappy privilege of great men to be
cheated, to be deluded, much more than other persons; but he thought it so impossible in the case
of Munny Begum, that he says, " Produce me the
traitor that could suppose it possible for me to be deluded, when I call for this woman as the governor of the country. I demand satisfaction. " I rather wonder that Mr. Hastings did not inform him who it was that had reported so gross and improbable a tale,
and deliver him up to the fury of the Nabob.
Mr. Hastings is absolutely besieged by him; for
he receives another letter upon the 3d of September.
Here are four letters following one another quick as
p)ost expresses with horns sounding before them. " Oh,
I die, I perish, I sink, if Munny Begum is not put
into the government of the country! -- I therefore
desire to have her put into the government of the
country, and that you will not keep me longer in this
painful suspense, but will be kindly pleased to write
immediately to the Munny Begum, that she take on
herself the administration of the affairs of the nizamut, which is, in fact, her own family, without the interference of any other person whatever: by this
you will give me complete satisfaction. " Here is a
correspondence more like an amorous than a state
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - SECOND DAY. 283
correspondence. What is this man so eager about,
what in such a rage about, that he cannot endure
the smallest delay of the post with common patience?
Why, lest this old woman (who is not his mother, and
with whom he had no other tie of blood) should not
be made mistress of himself and the whole country!
However, in a very few months afterwards he himself
is appointed by Mr. Hastings to the government; and
you may easily judge by the preceding letters who
was to govern. It would be an affront to your Lordships' judgment to attempt to prove who was to govern, after he had desired to put the whole government of affairs into the hands of Munny Begum.
Now, Munny Begum having obtained this salary,
and being invested with this authority, and made in
effect the total and entire governor of the country,
as I have proved by the Nabob's letters, let us see
the consequences of it; and then I desire to know
whether your Lordships can believe that in all this
haste, which, in fact, is Mr. Hastings's haste and impatience, (for we shall prove that. the Nabob never did or could take a step but by his immediate orders and directions,) -whether your Lordships can believe that
Mr. Hastings would incur all the odium attending
such transactions, unless he had some corrupt consideration.
My Lords, very soon after these appointments were
made, consisting of Munny Begum at the head of the
affairs, the Lord Chief-Justice under her, and under
her direction, and Rajah Gourdas as steward of the
household, the first thing we hear is, just what your
Lordships expect to hear upon such a case, that this
unfortunate chief-justice, who was a man undoubtedly of but a poor, low disposition, but, I believe, a per.
? ? ? ? 284 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
fectly honest, perfectly well-intentioned man, found it
absolutely impossible for him to execute his office under the direction of Munny Begum; and accordingly, in the month of September following, he sends a
complainit to Mr. Hastings, " that certain bad men
had gained an ascendency over the Nabob's temper, by
whose instigation he acts. " After complaining of the
slights he receives from the Nabob, he adds, " Thus
they cause the Nabob to treat me, sometimes with indignity, at others with kindness, just as they think
proper to advise him: their view is, that, by compelling me to displeasure at such unworthy treatment,
they may force me either to relinquish my station, or
to join with them, and act by their advice, and appoint
creatures of their recommendation to the different
offices, fromn which they might draw profit to themselves. " This is followed by another letter, in which
he shows who those corrupt men were that had gained
the ascendency over the Nabob's temper, -- namely,
the eunuchs of Munny Begum: one of them her
direct instrument in bribery with Mr. Hastings.
What you would expect from such a state of things
accordingly happened. Everything in the course of
justice was confounded; all official responsibility destroyed; and nothing but a scene of forgery, peculation, and knavery of every kind and description prevailed through the country, and totally disturbed all order and justice in it. He says, " The Begum's ministers, before my arrival, with the advice of their
counsellors, caused, the Nabob to sign a receipt, in
consequence of which they received at two different
times near fifty thousand rupees, in the name of the
officers of the Adawlut, Foujdarry, &c. , from the
Company's circar; and having drawn up an account
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -SECOND DAY. 285
current in the manner they wished, they got the Nabob to sign it, and then sent it to me. " In the same letter he asserts "that these people have the Nabob
entirely in their power. "
My Lords, you see here Mr. Hastings enabling the
corrupt eunuchs of this wicked old woman to draw
upon the Company's treasury at their pleasure, under
forged papers of the Nabob, for just such moneys as
they please, under the name and pretence of giving
it to the officers of justice, but which they distribute
among themselves as they think fit. This complaint
was soon followed by another, and they furnish, first,
the strongest presumptive proof of the corrupt motives
of Mr. Hastings; and, secondly, they show the horrible
mischievous effects of his conduct upon the country.
In consequence of the first complaint, Mr. Hastings
directs this independent Nabob not to concern himself any longer with the Foujdarry. The Nabob, who had before declared that the superintendence of all
the offices belonged to him, and was to be executed by himself, or under his orders, instantly obeys Mr. Hastings, and declares he will not interfere in
the business of the courts any more. Your Lordships
will observe further that the complaint is not against
the Nabob, but against the creatures and the menial
servants of Munny Begum: and yet it is the Nabob
he forbids to interfere in this business; of the others
he takes no notice; and this is a strong proof of the
corrupt dealings of Mr. Hastings with this woman.
When the whole country was fallen into confusion
under the administration of this woman, and under
her corrupt ministers, men base-born and employed
in the basest offices, (the men of the household train
of the women of rank in that country are of that
? ? ? ?
286 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
description,) he writes to the Nabob again, and himself confesses the mischiefs that had arisen from his
corrupt arrangements.
"At your Excellency's request, I sent Sudder ul
Huk Khan to take on him the administration of the
affairs of the Adawlut and Foujdarry, and hoped by
that means not only to have given satisfaction to
your Excellency, but that through his abilities and
experience these affairs would have been conducted
in such manner as to have secured the peace of the
country and the happiness of the people; and it is
with the greatest concern I learn that this measure is
so far from being attended with the expected advantages, that the affairs both of the Foujdarry and Adawlut are in the greatest confusion imaginable, and daily robberies and murders are perpetrated throughout
the country. This is evidently owing to the want of
a proper authority in the person appointed to superintend them. I therefore addressed your Excellency
on the importance and delicacy of the affairs in question, and of the necessity of lodging full power in
the hands of the person chosen to administer them.
In reply to which your Excellency expressed sentiments coincident with mine. Notwithstanding which,
your dependants and people, actuated by selfish and
avaricious views, have by their interference so impeded the business as to throw the whole country into a
state of confusion, from which nothing can retrieve it
but an unlimited power lodged in the hands of the
superintendent. I therefore request that your Excellency will give the strictest injunctions to all your
dependants not to interfere in any manner with any
matter relative to the affairs of the Adawlut and
Foujdarry, and that you will yourself relinquish all
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -SECOND DAY. 287
interference therein, and leave them entirely to the
management of Sudder ul Huk Khan. This is absolutely necessary to restore the country to. a state of
tranquillity. "
My Lords, what evidence do we produce to your
Lordships of the consequences of Mr. Hastings's corrupt measures? His own. He here gives you the
state into which the country was thrown by the criminal interference of the wicked woman whom he had
established in power, totally superseding the regular
judicial authority of the country, and throwing everything into confusion. As usual, there is such irregularity in his conduct, and his crimes are so multiplied, that all the contrivances of ingenuity are unable to
cover them. Now and then he comes and betrays himself; and here he confesses you his own weakness, and
the effects of his own corruption: he had appointed
Munny Begum to this office of power, he dare not
say a word to her upon her abuse of it, but he lays
the whole upon the Nabob. When the Chief-Justice
complains that these crimes were the consequence of
Munny Begum's interference, and were committed
by her creatures, why did he not say to the Nabob,
"'The Begum must not interfere; the Begum's eunuchs must not interfere "? He dared not: because
that womant had concealed all the bribes but one from
public notice to gratify him; she and Yatibar Ali
Kh'an, her minister, who had the principal share in
this destruction of justice and perversion of all the
principal functions of government, had it in their
power to discover the whole. Mr. Hastings was
obliged, in consequence of that concealment, to support her and to support him. Every evil principle
was at work. He bought a mercenary silence to pay
? ? ? ? 288 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the same back to them. It was a wicked silence, the
concealment of their common guilt. There was at
once a corrupt gratitude operating mutually by a corrupt influence on both, and a corrupt fear influencing the mind of Mr. Hastings, which did not permit him
to put an end to this scene of disorder and confusion,
bought at the expense of twenty-four thousand pounds
a year to the Company. You will hereafter see what
use he makes of the evidence of Yatibar Ali Khl'in,
and of this woman, for concealing their guilt.
Your Lordships will observe that the virtuous majority, whose reign was but short, and two of whom
died of grief and vexation under the impediments
which they met with from the corruptions and oppositions of Mr. Hastings, (their indirect murderer, -
for it is well known to the world that their hearts
were thus broken,) put their conduct out of all suspicion. For they ordered an exact account to be
kept by Mahomed Reza Khan, -- though, certainly,
if any person in the country could be trusted, he,
upon his character, might; but they did not trust
him, because they knew the Company did not suffer
them to trust any man: they ordered an exact account to be kept by him of the Nabob's expenses,
which finally must be the Company's expenses; they
ordered the account to be sent down yeaTly, to be
controlled, if necessary, whilst the means of control
existed. -- What was Mr. Hastings's conduct? He
did not give the persons whom he appointed any
order to produce any account, though their character and circumstances were such as made an account ten thousand times more necessary from them than
from those from whom it had been in former times
by the Company strictly exacted. So that his not
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - SECOND DAY. 289
ordering any account to be given of the money that
was to be expended leaves no doubt that the appointment of Munny Begum was in pursuance of his old
system of bribery, and that he maintained her in office, to the subversion of public justice, for the purpose of robbing, and of continuing in the practice of robbing, the country.
But though this continued longer than was for the
good of the country, yet it did not continue absolutely
and relatively long; because the Court of Directors,
as soon as they heard of this iniquitous appointment,
which glared uponI them in all the light of its infamy,
immediately wrote the strongest, the most decided,
and the most peremptory censure upon him, attributing his acts, every one of them, to the same causes to,
which I attribute them. As a proof that the Court
of Directors saw the thing in the very light in which
I represent it to your Lordships, and indeed in which
every one must see it, you will find that they reprobate all his idle excuses, - that they reprobate all the
actors in the scene, - that they consider everything
to have been done, not by the Nabob, but by himself,
-that the object of the appointment of Munny Begum was money, and that the consequence of that appointment was the robbery of the Nabob's treasury. "We by no means approve your late proceedings,
on the application of the Nabob Mobarek. ul Dowlah
for the removal of the Naib Subahdar. The requisition of Mobarek ul Dowlah was improper. and
unfriendly; because lie must have known that, the
late appointment of Mahomed Reza Khan to the office of Naib Subahdar had been marked with the
Company's special approbation, and that the Court
of Directors had assured him of their favor so long
VOL. X. 19
? ? ? ? 290 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
as a firm attachment to the Company's interest and a
proper discharge of the duties of his station should
render him worthy of their protection. We therefore repeat our declaration, that to require the dismission of a prime-minister thus circtimstanced, without producing the smallest proof of his infidelity to the Company, or venturing to charge him with one
instance of maladministration in the discharge of his
public duty, was improper and inconsistent with the
friendship subsisting between the Nabob of Bengal
and the Company. " And further on they say, --
" The Nabob having intimated that he had repeatedly
stated the trouble and uneasiness which lie had suffered from the naibship of the nizamut being vested
in Mahomed Reza Khan, we observe one of the members of your board desired the Nabob's repeated letters on the subject might be read, but this reasonable
request was overruled, on a plea of saving the board's
time, which we can by no means admit as a sufficient
objection. The Nabob's letters of the 25th and 30th
August, of the 3d September and 17th November,
leave us no doubt of the true design of this extraordinary business being to bring forward Munny Begum,
and again to invest her with improper power and influence, notwithstanding our former declaration, that
so great a part of the Nabob's allowance had been
embezzled or misapplied under her superintendence. "
At present I do not think it necessary, because it
would be doing more thlan enough, it would be slaying the slain, to show your Lordships what Mr. Hastings's motives were in acting against the sense of the
East India Company, appointed by an act of Parliament to control him, - that he did it for a corrupt
purpose, that all his pretences were false and fraudu
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -SECOND DAY. 291 lent, and that he had his own corrupt views in the whole of the proceeding. But in the statement which I have given of this matter, I beg your Lordships
to observe the instruments with which Mr. Hastings
acts. The great men of that country, and particularly the Subahdar himself, the Nabob, are and is in so
equivocal a situation, that it afforded him two boltingholes, by which he is enabled to resist the authority
of the Company, and exercise an arbitrary authority
of his own: for, though the Nabob has the titles of
high sovereignty, he is the lowest of all dependants;
he appears to be the master of the country, - he is a
pensioner of the Company's government.
When Mr. Hastings wants him to obey and answer
his corrupt purposes, he finds him in the character of
a pensioner: when he wants his authority to support
him in opposition to the authority of the Company,
immediately he invests him with high sovereign powers, and he dare not execute the orders of the Company for fear of doing some act that will make him odious in the eyes of God and man. We see how he
appointed all officers for him, and forbade his interference in all affairs. When the Company see the impropriety and the guilt of these acts, and order him to rescind them, and appoint again Mahomed Reza
Kha'n, he declares he will not, that he cannot do
it in justice, but that he will consent to send him the
order of the Company, but without backing it with
any order of the board: which, supposing even there
had been no private communication, was, in other
words, commanding him to disobey it. So this poor
man, who a short time before was at the feet of Mr.
Hastings, whom Mr. Hastings declared to be a pageant, and swore in a court of justice that he was
? ? ? ? 292 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
but a pageant, and followed that affidavit with long
declarations in Council that he was a pageant in sovereignty, and ought in policy ever to be held out as such, -this man he sets up in opposition to the
Company, and refuses to appoint Mahomed Reza
Khan to the office which was guarantied to him by
the express faith of the Company, pledged to his support. Will any man tell me that this resistance, under such base, though plausible pretences, could
spring from any other cause than a resolution of persisting systematically in his course of corruption and bribery through Munny Begum?
But there is another circumstance that puts this in
a stronger light. He opposes the Nabob's mock authority to the authority of the Company, and leaves Mahomed Reza Khan unemployed, because, as he
says, he cannot in justice execute orders from the
Company (though they are his undoubted masters)
contrary to the rights of the Nabob. You see what
the rights of the Nabob were: the rights of the Nabob were, to be governed by Munny Begum and her scandalous ministers. But, however, we now see
him exalted to be an independent sovereign; he defies the Company at the head of their armies and their treasury; that name that makes all India shake
was defied by one of its pensioners. My Lords, human greatness is an unstable thing. This man, so suddenly exalted, was as soon depressed; and the
manner of his depression is as curious as that of his
exaltation by Mr. Hastings, and will tend to show
you the man most clearly.
Mr. Francis, whose conduct all along was directed
by no other principles than those which were in conformity with the plan adopted by himself and his
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - SECOND DAY. 293
virtuous colleagues, namely, an entire obedience to
the laws of his country, and who constantly had
opposed Mr. Hastings, upon principles of honor, and
principles of obedience to the authority of the Company under which he acted, had never contended for any one thing, in any way, or in any instance, but
obedience to them, and had constantly asserted that
Mahomed Reza Khan ought to be put into employment. Mr. Hastings as constantly opposed him; and the reason he gave for it was, that it was against
the direct rights of the Nabob, and that they were
rights so sacred that they could not be infringed
even by the sovereign authority of the Company ordering him to do it. He had so great an aversion
to the least subtraction of the Nabob's right, that,
though expressly commanded by the Court of Directors, he would not suffer Mahomed Reza Khan to be invested with his office under the Company's authority. The Nabob was too sovereign, too supreme, for him to do it. But such is the fate of human grandeur, that a whimsical event reduced the Nabob to his state of pageant again, and made him the mere subject of --you will see whom. Mr. Hastings found he was so embarrassed by his disobedience to the spirit of the orders of the Company, and by the various wild projects he had formed, as to make it necessary
for him, even though he had a majority in the Council, to gain over at any price Mr. Francis. Mr. Francis, frightened by the same miserable situation
of affairs, (for this happened at a most dangerous period,- the height of the Mahratta war,) was willing likewise to give up his opposition to Mr. Hastings, to
suspend the execution of many rightful things, and to
concede them to the public necessity. Accordingly
? ? ? ? 294 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
he agreed to terms with Mr. Hastings. But what
was the price of that concession? Any base purpose,
any desertion of public duty? No: all that he desired of Mr. Hastings was, that he should obey the orders of the Company; and among other acts of
the obedience required was this, that Mahomed Reza
Khlln should be put into his office.
You have heard how Mr. Hastings opposed the
order of the Company, and on what account he opposed it. On the 1st of September he sent an order to the Nabob, now become his subject, to give up
this office to Mahomed Reza Khan: an act which he
had before represented as a dethroning of the. Nabob.
The order went on the 1st of September, and on the
3d this great and mighty prince, whom all earth
could not move from the assertion of his rights, gives
them all up, and Mahomed Reza Khan is invested
with them. So there all his pretences were gone.
It is plain that what had been done before was for
Munny Begum, and that what he now gave up was
from necessity: and it shows that the Nabob was the
meanest of his servants; for in truth he ate his daily bread out of the hands of Mr. Hastings, through Munny Begum.
Mahomed Reza Khan was now invested again with
his office; but such was the treachery of Mr. Hastings, that, though he wrote to the Nabob that this was done in consequence of the orders of the Company, he did clandestinely, according to his usual mode, assure the Nabob that Mahomed Reza Khan
should not hold the place longer than till he heard
from England. He then wrote him another letter,
that he should hold it no longer than while lie submitted to his present necessity, (thus giving up to
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - SECOND DAY. 295
his colleague what he refused to the Company,) and
engaged, privately, that he would dismiss Mahomed
Reza Khaln again. And accordingly, the moment he
thought Mr. Francis was not in a condition to giVe
him trouble any longer, that moment he again turned
out Mahomed Reza Khan from that general superintendence of affairs which the Company gave him, and deposed him as a minister, leaving him only a
very confined authority as a magistrate.
All these changes, no less than four great revolutions, if I may so call them, were made by Mr. Hastings for his own corrupt purposes. This is the manner in which Mr. Hastings has played with the most sacred objects that man ever had a dealing with:
with the government, with the justice, with the order,
with the dignity, with the nobility of a great country'
he played with them to satisfy his own wicked and
corrupt purposes through the basest instrument.
Now, my Lords, I have done with these presumptions of corruption with Munny Begum, and have
shown that it is not a slight crime, but that it is
attended with a breach of public faith, with a breach
of his orders, with a breach of the whole English government, and the destruction of the native government, of the police, the order, the safety, the security,
and the justice of the country, - and that all these
are much concerned in this cause. Therefore the
Commons stand before the face of the world, and say,
We have brought a cause, a great cause, a cause
worthy the Commons of England to prosecute, and
worthy the Lords to judge and determine upon.
I have now nothing further to state than what the
consequences are of Mr. Hastings taking bribes, -
that Mr. Hastings's taking of bribes is not only his
? ? ? ? 296 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
own corruption, but the incurable corruption of the
whole service. I will show, first, that he was named
in 1773 to put an end to that corruption. I will
show that he did not, -- that he knowingly and willingly connived at it, - and that that connivance was the principal cause of all the disorders that have hitherto prevailed in that country. I will show you that he positively refused to obey the Company's order
to inquire into and to correct the corruptions that
prevailed in that country; next, that he established
an avowed system of connivance, in order to gain
over everything that was corrupt in the country
and that, lastly, to secure it, he gave up all thE
prosecutions, and enervated and took away the sole
arm left to the Company for the assertion of authority
and the preservation of good morals and purity in
their service.
My Lords, here is a letter, in the year 1773, in
which the Court of Directors had, upon his own
representation, approved some part of his conduct-.
He is charmed with their approbation; he promises
the greatest things; but I believe your Lordships
will see, from the manner in which he proceeds at
that very instant, that a more deliberate system, for
not only being corrupt himself, but supporting corruption in others, never was exhibited in any public paper.
"While I indulge the pleasure which I receive
from the past successes of my endeavors, I own I
cannot refrain from looking back with a mixture of
anxiety on the omissions by which I am sensible I
may since have hazarded the diminution of your esteem. All my letters addressed to your Honorable Court, and to the Secret Committee, repeat the stroll
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. --SECOND DAY. 297
gest promises of prosecuting the inquiries into the conduct of your servants which you had been pleased to
commit particularly to my charge. You will readily
perceive that I must have been sincere in those declarations; since it would have argued great indiscretion to have made them, had I foreseen my inability
to perform them. I find myself now under the disagreeable necessity of avowing that inability; at the
same time I will boldly take upon me to affirm,
that, on whomsoever you might have delegated that
charge, and by whatever powers it might have been
accompanied, it would have been sufficient to occupy
the entire attention of those who were intrusted with
it, and, even with all the aids of leisure and authority,
would have proved ineffectual. I dare appeal to the
public records, to the testimony of those who have
opportunities of knowing me, and even to the detail
which the public voice can report of the past acts of
this government, that my time has been neither idly
nor uselessly employed: yet such are the cares and
embarrassments of this various state, that, although
much may be done, much more, even in matters of
moment, must necessarily remain neglected. To select from the miscellaneous heap which each day's exigencies present to our choice those points on which the general welfare of your affairs most essentially
depends, to provide expedients for future advantages
and guard against probable evils, are all that your administration can faithfully promise to perform for your
service with their united labors most diligently exerted. They cannot look back without sacrificing the
objects of their immediate duty, which are those of
your interests, to endless researches, which can produce no real good, and may expose your affairs to all
? ? ? ? 298 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the ruinous consequences of personal malevolence,
both here and at home. "
My Lords, this is the first man, I believe, that ever took credit for his sincerity from his breach of his promises. " I could not," he says, " have made these
promises, if I had not thought that I could perform
them. Now I find I cannot perform them, and you
have in that non-performance and in that profession
a security for my sincerity when I promised them. "
Upon this principle, any man who makes a promise
has nothing to do afterwards, but to say that he finds
himself (without assigning any particular cause for
it) unable to perform it, - not only to justify himself for his non-performance, but to justify himself and claim credit for sincerity in his original profession. The charge was given him specially, and he promised obedience, over and over, upon the spot,
and in the country, in which he was no novice, for
he had been bred in it: it was his native country in
one sense, it was the place of his renewed nativity
and regeneration. Yet this very man, as if he was a
novice in it, now says, "I promised you what I now
find I cannot perform. " Nay, what is worse, he
declares no man could perform it, if he gave up his
whole time to it. And lastly, he says, that the inquiry into these corruptions, even if you succeeded in it, would do more harm than good. Now was
there ever an instance of a man so basely deserting
a duty, and giving so base a reason for it? His duty
was to put an end to corruption in every channel of
government. It cannot be done. Why? Because
it would expose our affairs to malignity and enmity, and end, perhaps, to our disadvantage. Not only will he connive himself, but he advises the Company
? ? ? ?