This is a business not to be hurried
over in the mass, as amongst the acts of a great man,
who may have his little errors among his great services; no, you cannot, as a judicial body, huddle all this into a hotchpotch, and decide upon it in a heap.
over in the mass, as amongst the acts of a great man,
who may have his little errors among his great services; no, you cannot, as a judicial body, huddle all this into a hotchpotch, and decide upon it in a heap.
Edmund Burke
a year for it, and give it to the
master. " He had left Gunga Govind Sing as a
Gentoo legacy, and he now leaves the Mussulmanl
as a Mahometan legacy to the Company.
? ? ? ? 334 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Your Lordships shall now hear what was the upshot of the whole. The Company soon afterwards hearing that this college was become the greatest
nuisance in Calcutta, and that it had raised the cries
of all the inhabitants against it, one of their servants,
a Mr. Chapman, was deputed by the Governor, Sir
John Shore, to examine into it, and your Lordships
will find the account he gives of it in your minutes.
In short, my Lords, we find that this was a seminary
of robbers, housebreakers, and every nuisance to society; so that the Company was obliged to turn out the master, and to remodel the whole. Your Lordships will now judge of the merits and value of this, one of the sets-off brought forward by the prisoner
against the charges which we have brought forward
against him: it began in injustice and peculation,
and ended in a seminary for robbers and housebreakers.
Nothing now remains to be pressed by me upon
your Lordships' consideration, but the account given
by the late Governor-General, Earl Cornwallis, of the
state in which he found the country left by his predecessor, Mr. Hastings, the prisoner at your bar. But, patient as I know your Lordships to be, I also know
that your strength is not inexhaustible; and though
what I have farther to add will not consume much
of your Lordships' time, yet I conceive that there is
a necessity for deferring it to another day.
? ? ? ? S P E C HIN
GENERAL REPLY.
NINTH DAY: MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1794.
M Y LORDS, -I should think it necessary to make
an apology to your Lordships for appearing before you one day more, if I were inclined to measure this business either by the standard of my own ability, or by my own impatience, or by any supposed
impatience of yours. I know no measure, in such
a case, but the nature of the subject, and the duty
which we owe to it. You will therefore, my Lords,
permit me, in a few words, to lead you back to what
we did yesterday, that you may the better comprehend the manner in which I mean to conclude the
business to-dav.
My Lords, we took the liberty of stating to you,
the condition of Bengal before our taking possession
of it, and of the several classes of its inhabitants.
We first brought before you the Mahometan inhabitants, who had the judicial authority of the country
in their hands; and we proved to you the utter ruin
of that body of people, and with them of the justice
of the country, by their being, both one and the other, sold to an infaimous woman called Muniny Begum.
We next showed you, that the whole landed interest,
the zemindars, or Ilindoo gentry of the country, was
likewise ruined by its being given over, by letting it
? ? ? ? 336 IMIPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
on a five years' lease, to infamous farmers, and giving it up to their merciless exactions, - and afterwards by subjecting the rank of those zemindars,
their title-deeds, and all their pecuniary affairs, to the
minutest scrutiny, under pain of criminal punishment, by a commission granted to a nefarious villain
called Gunga Govind Sing. We lastly showed you
that the remaining third class, that of the En-glish,
was partly corrupted, or had its authority dissolved,
and that the whole superintending English control
was subverted or subdued, - that the products of
tlhe country were diminished, and that the revenues
of the Company were dilapidated, by an overcharge
of expenses, in four years, to the amount of 500,0001. ,
in consequence of these corrupt, dangerous, and mischievous projects.
We have farther stated, that the Company's servants were corrupted by contracts and jobs; we
proved that those that were not so corrupted were
removed from their stations or reduced to a state of
abject dependence; we showed you the destruction
of the Provincial Councils, the destruction of the
Council-General, and the formation of a committee
for no other ends whatever but for the purposes of
bribery, concealment, an]d corruption. We Inext stated some of the most monstrous instances of that bribery; and though we were of opinion that in unone of them any satisfactory defence worth mentioning
had been made, yet we have thought that this should
not hinder us from recalling to your Lordships' recollection the peculiar nature and circumstances of one
of those proceedings.
The proceedings to which we wish to call your
attention are those belonging to the second bribe
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - NINTH DAY. 337
given by the Nabob of Oude to Mr. Hastings. Mr.
HIastings's own knowledge and opinion that that
money was set apart for his use, either in bills or
assets, I have before stated; and I now wish to call
your Lordships' minute recollection to the manner in
which the fraudulent impeachment of Mr. Middleton,
for the purpose of stifling an inquiry into that business, was carried on. Your Lordships will remember
that I proved to you, upon the face of that proceeding, tile collusive nature of the accusation, and that the real state of the case was not charged, --and that
Mr. Hastings acquitted the party accused of one article of the charge, not upon the evidence of the case, contrary to his own avowed, declared, moral certainty of his guilt, but upon a pretended appeal to the conscience of the man accused. He did not, however, give him a complete, formal, official acquittal,
but referred the matter to the Court of Directors,
who could not possibly know anything of the matter,
without one article of evidence whatever produced at
the time or transmitted. We lastly proved. to you,
t;hat, after finding him guilty of five charges, and
leaving the other to the Court of Directors, Mr. Hastings, without any reason assigned, appointed him to a great office in the Company's service.
These proceedings were brought before you for two
purposes: first, to show the corrupt principle of the
whole proceeding; next, to show the manner in which
the Company's servants are treated. They are accused
and persecuted, until they are brought to submit to
whatever terms it may be thought proper to impose
upon them; they are then formally, indeed, acquitted of the most atrocious crimes charged against
them, but virtually condemned upon some articles,
VOL. XII. 22
? ? ? ? 338 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
with the scourge hung over them, -and in some
instances rewarded by the greatest, most honorable,
and most lucrative situations in the Company's service. My Lords, it is on the same ground of the
wicked, pernicious, and ruinous principles of Mr.
Hastings's government, that I have charged this with
everything that is chargeable against him, namely,
that, if your Lordships should ratify those principles
by your acquittal of him, they become principles of
government, - rejected, indeed, by the Commons, but
adopted by the Peerage of Great Britain.
There is another article which I have just touched,
but which I must do more than barely notice, upon
account of the evil example of it: I mean the taking great sums of money, under pretence of an entertainment. Your Lordships will recollect, that, when this business was charged against him in India, Mr.
Hastings neither affirmed nor denied the fact. Confession could not be there extorted from him. He
next appeared before the House of Commons, and he
still evaded a denial or a confession of it. He lastly
appeared before your Lordships, and in his answer
to our charge he in the same manner evaded either
a confession or a denial. He forced us to employ a
great part of a session in endeavoring to establish
what we have at last established, the receipt of the
sums first charged, and of seven lacs more, by him.
At length the proof could not be evaded; and after
we had fought through all the difficulties which the
law could interpose in his defence, and of which lie
availed himself with a degree of effrontery that has,
I believe, no example in the world, he confesses,
avows, and justifies his conduct. If the custom alleged be well founded, and be an honorable and a
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - NINTH DAY. 339
proper and just practice, why did he not avow it in
every part and progress of our proceedings here?
Why should he have put us to the necessity of wasting so many months in the proof of the fact? And
wlhy, after we have proved it, and not before, did he
confess it, avow it, and even glory in it?
1 must remind your Lordships that the sum charged
to be so taken by way of entertainment made only a,
part, a single article, of the bribes charged by Nundcomar to have been received by Mr. Hastings; and
when we find him confessing, what he could not deny, that single article, and evading all explanation
respecting the others, and not giving any reason
whatever why one was received and the others rejected, your Lordships will judge of the strong presumption of his having taken them all, even if we had given no other proofs of it. We think, however,
that we have proved the whole very satisfactorily.
But whether we have or not, the proof of a single
present received is sufficient; because the principle
to be established respecting these bribes is this,whether or not a Governor-General, paying a visit
to any of the poor, miserable, dependent creatures
called sovereign princes in that country, (men whom
Mr. Hastings has himself declared to be nothing but
phantoms, and that they had no one attribute of sovereignty about them,) whether, I say, he can consider them to be such sovereign princes as to justify his taking from them great sums of money by way of a
present. The Nabob, in fact, was not a sovereign
prince, nor a country power, in any sense but that
which the Company meant to exempt from the custom of making presents. It was their design to prevent their servants from availing themselves of the
? ? ? ? 340 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
real dependence of the nominal native powers to extort money from them under the pretence of their sovereignty. Such presents, so far from being voluntary, were in reality obtained from their weakness, their hopeless and unprotected condition; and you are to
lecide whether or not this custom, whicli is insisted
upon by the prisoner's counsel, with great triumph, to
be a thing which he could not evade, without breaking
through all the usages of the country, and violating
principles established by the most clear law of India,
is to be admitted as his justification.
It was on this very account, namely, the extortion
suffered by these people, under the name or pretence
of presents, that the Company first bound their servants by a covenant, which your Lordships shall now'
hear read.
" That they shall not take any grant of lands, or
rents or revenues issuing out of lands, or any territorial possession, jurisdiction, dominion, power, or
authority whatsoever, from any of the Indian princes,
sovereigns, subahs, or nabobs, or any of their ministers, servants, or agents, for any service or services,
or upon any account or pretence whatsoever, without
the license or consent of the Court of Directors. "
This clause in the covenant had doubtless a regard
to Lord Clive, and to Sir Hector Munro, and to some
others, who had received gifts, and grants of jaghires,
and other territorial revenues, that were confirmed by
the Company. But though this confirmation might
be justifiable at a time when we had no real sovereignty in the country, yet the Company very wisely
provided afterwards, that under no pretence whatever should their servants have the means of extort
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 341
ing from the sovereigns or pretended sovereigns of
the country any of their lands or possessions. Afterwards it appeared that there existed abuses of a similar nature, and particularly (as was proved before us in the year 1773, and reported to our House, upon
the evidence of Mahomed Reza Khan) the practice
of frequently visiting the princes, and of extorting,
under pretence of such visits, great sums of money.
All their servants, and the Governor-General particularly, were therefore obliged to enter into the following covenant: -
" That they shall not, directly or indirectly, accept,
take, or receive, or agree to accept, take, or receive,
any gift, reward, gratuity, allowance, donation, or
compensation, in money, effects, jewels, or otherwise
howsoever, from any of the Indian princes, sovereigns,
subals, or nabobs, or any of their ministers, servants,
or agents, exceeding the value of four thousand rupees, for any service or services performed or to be
performed by them in India, or upon any other account or pretence whatsoever. "
By this covenant, my Lords, Mr. Hastings is forbidden to accept, upon any pretence and under any
name whatsoever, any sum above four thousand rupees, -that is to say, any sum above four hundred
pounds. Now the sum that was here received is
eighteen thousand pounds sterling, by way of a present, under the name of an allowance for an entertainment, which is the precise thing which his covenant was made to prevent. The covenant suffered him to
receive four hundred pounds: if he received more
than that money, he became a criminal, he had broken his covenant, and forfeited the obligation he had
? ? ? ? 342 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
made with his masters. Think with yourselves, my
Lords, what you will do, if you acquit the prisoner
of this charge. You will avow the validity, you will
sanction the principle of his defence: for, as the fact
is avowed, there is an end of that.
Good God! my Lords, where are we? If they
conceal their gifts and presents, they are safe by their
concealment; if they avow them, they are still safer.
They plead the customs of the country, or rather,
the customs which we have introduced into the country, - customs which have been declared to have their
foundation in a system of the most abominable corruption, the most flagitious extortion, the most dreadful oppression, -those very customs which their covenant is made to abolish. Think where your Lordships are. You have before you a covenant declaring that
he should take under no name whatever (I do not
know how words could be selected in the English
language more expressive) any sum more thanl four
hundred pounds. He says, " I have taken eighteen
thousand pounds. " He makes his counsel declare,
and he desires your Lordships to confirm their declaration, that he is not only justifiable iln so doing, but
that he ought to do so, --that he ought to break his
covenant, and act in direct contradiction to it. He
does not even pretend to say that this money was
intended, either inwardly or outwardly, avowedly or
covertly, for the Company's service. He put absolutely into his own pocket eighteen thousand pounds,
besides his salary.
Consider, my Lords, the consequences of this species of iniquity. If any servant of the Company,
high in station, chooses to make a visit from Calcutta
to Moorshedabad, which Moorshedabad was then the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 343
residence of our principal revenue government, --if
he should choose to take anll airing for his health, if
he has a fancy to make a little voyage for pleasure
as far as Moorshedabad, in one of those handsome
barges or budgeros of which you have heard so much
in his charge against Nundcomar, he can put twenty
thousand pounds into his pocket any day he pleases,
in defiance of all our acts of Parliament, covenants,
and regulations.
Do you make your laws, do you make your covenants, for the very purpose of their being evaded?
Is this the purpose for which a British tribunal sits
here, to furnish a subject for an epigram, or a tale
for the laughter of the world? Believe me, my
Lords, the world is not to be thus trifled with. But,
my Lords, you will never trifle with your duty. You
have a gross, horrid piece of corruption before you,
-impudently confessed, and more impudelltly defended. But you will not suffer Mr. Hastings to
say, " I have only to go to Moorshedabad, or to order the Nabob to meet me half way, and I can set aside and laugh at all your covenants and acts of
Parliament. " Is this all the force and power of
the covenant by which you would prevent the servants of the Company from committing acts of fraud and oppression, that they have nothing to do but to
amuse themselves with a tour of pleasure to Moorshedabad in order to put any sum of money in their pocket that they please?
But they justify themselves by saying, such things
have been practised before. No doubt they have;
and these covenants were made that they should not
be practised any more. But your Lordships are desired to say, that the very custom which the cove
? ? ? ? 344 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
nant is made to destroy, the very grievance itself,
may be pleaded; the abuse shall be admitted to destroy the law made to prevent it. It is impossible,
I venture to say, that your Lordshlips should act thus.
The conduct of the criminal is not half so abhorrent
as the justification is affronting to justice, whilst it
tends to vilify and degrade the dignity of the Peerage
and the character of the Commons of Great Britain,
before the former and against the latter of which such
a justification is produced in the face of the world.
At the same time- that we call for your justice
upon this man, we beseech you to remember the
severest justice upon him is the tenderest pity towards the innocent victims of his crimes. Consider
what was at that time the state of the people from
whom, in direct defiance of his covenant, he took this
sum of money. Were they at this time richer, were
they more opulent, was the state of the country more
flourishing than when Mr. Sumner, when Mr. Vansittart, in short, than when the long line of Mr. Hastings's predecessors visited that country? No, they were not. Mr. Hastings at this very time had reduced the Nabob's income from 450,0001. [400,0001. ? ]
sterling a year, exclusive of other considerable domains and revenues, to 160,0001. He was, indeed, an
object of compassion. His revenues had not only been
reduced during his state of minority, but they were
reduced when lie afterwards continued in a state in
which he could do no one valid act; and yet, in this
state, he was made competent to give away, under the
name of compensation for entertainments, the sum of
18,0001. , - perhaps at that time nearly all he had in
the world.
Look at your minutes, and you will find Mr. Hast
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 345
ings had just before this time said that the bread of
ten thousand persons, many of them of high rank,
depended upon the means possessed by the Nabob
for their support, -- that his heart was cut and afflicted to see himself obliged to ruin and starve so many of the Mahometan nobility, the greatest part
of whose yet remaining miserable allowances were
now taken away. You know, and you will forgive
me again remarking, that it is the nature of the
eagles and more generous birds of prey to fall upon
living, healthy victims, but that vultures and carrion
crows, and birds of that base and degenerate kind,
always prey upon dead or dying carcases. It is upon
ruined houses, it is upon decayed families, it is upon extinguished nobility, that Mr. Hastings chooses to prey, and to justify his making them his prey.
But again we hear, my Lords, that it is a custom, upon ceremonial and complimentary visits, to
receive these presents. Do not let us deceive ourselves. Mr. Hastings was there upon no visit either
of ceremony or politics. He was a member, at that
time, of the Committee of Circuit, which went to
Moorshedabad for the purpose of establishing a system of revenue in the country. He went up uponl that business only, as a member of the Committee
of Circuit, for which business lie was, like other
members of the Committee of Circuit, amply paid,
in addition to his emoluments as Governor, which
amounted to about 30,0001. a year. Not satisfied
with those emoluments, and without incurring new
known expense of any kind or sort, lie was paid for
the extra expenses of Inis journey, as appears in your
minutes, like other members of the Committee of
Circuit. Ill fact, lie was on no visit there at all.
? ? ? ? 346 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
He was merely executing his duty in the settlement
of the revenue, as a member of the Committee of
Circuit. I do not mean to praise the Committee
of Circuit in any way: God forbid I should! -for
we know that it was a comnmittee of robbers. He
was there as one of that. committee, which I am
pretty well justified in describing as I have done,
because the Court of Directors, together with the
Board of Control, did, in the year 1786, declare that
the five years' settlement (which originated ill that
committee) was a thing bought and sold: your Lordships may read it whenever you please, in the 80th paragraph of their letter.
Your Lordships are now fully in possession of all
the facts upon which we charge the prisoner with
peculation, by extorting or receiving large sums of
money, upon pretence of visits, or in compensation
of entertainments. I appeal to your Lordships' consciences for a serious and impartial consideration of our charge.
This is a business not to be hurried
over in the mass, as amongst the acts of a great man,
who may have his little errors among his great services; no, you cannot, as a judicial body, huddle all this into a hotchpotch, and decide upon it in a heap.
You will have to ask yourselves, -- Is this justifiable
by his covenant? Is this justifiable by law? Is this
justifiable, under the circumstances of the case, by
an enlarged discretion? Is it to be justified under
any principles of humanity? Would it be justifiable
by local customs, if such were applicable to the case
in question? and even if it were, is it a practice fit
for an English Governor-General to follow?
I dwell the longer upon this, because the fact is
avowed; the whole is an issue of law between us,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. --NINTH DAY. 347
whether a Governor-General, in such a case, ought to
take such money; and therefore, before I finally dismiss it, I beg leave to restate it briefly once more for your Lordships' consideration.
First I wish to leave fixed in your Lordships'
minds, what is distinctly fixed, and shall never go oiit
of ours, that his covenant did not allow him to take
above four hundred pounds as a present, upon any
pretence whatsoever.
Your Lordships will observe we contend, that, if
there was a custom, this covenant puts an end to that
custom. It was declared and intended so to do.
The fact is, that, if such custom existed at all, it was
a custom applicable only to an ambassador or public
minister sent on a necessary complimentary visit to
a sovereign prince. We deny, positively, that there
is any such general custom. We say, that he never
was ally such minister, or that he ever went upon
any such complimentary visit. We affirm, that,
when he took this money, he was doing an act of
quite another nature, and came upon that business
only to Moorshedabad, the residence of the prince of
the country. Now do you call a man who is goinlg
to execute a commission, a commission more severe
than those issued against bankrupts, a commission to
take away half a man's income, and to starve a whole
body of people dependent upon that income, - do
yov. call this a complimentary visit? Is this a visit
for which a man is to have great entertainments given him? No, the pretence for taking this money is worse than the act itself. When a man is going to
execute upon another such harsh cruelty, when he
is going upon a service at which he himself says his
mind must revolt, is that precisely the time when he
? ? ? ? 348 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
is to take from his undone host a present, as if he was
upon a visit of compliment, or about to confer some
honor or benefit upon him, -- to augment his revenues, to add to his territories, or to conclude some valuable treaty with him? Was this a proper time
to take at all from an helpless minor so large a sum
of money?
And here I shall leave this matter for your Lordships' consideration, after reminding you that this
poor Nabob is still at AMoorshedabad, and at the mercy of any English gentleman who may choose to take 18,0001. , or any other given sum of money from him,
after the example of the prisoner at your bar, if it
should be sanctioned by your connivance. Far different was the example set him by General Clavering.
In page 1269 your Lordships will find the most honorable testimony to the uprightness and fidelity of this meritorious servant of the Company. It runs thus:
" Conceiving it to be tile intention of the legislature
that the Governor-General and members of the Council should receive no presents, either from the Indian powers or any persons whatever, lie [General Clavering] has strictly complied, since his arrival here, both with the spirit and the letter of the act of Parliament,
and has accordingly returned all the presents which
have been made to him. " I have dwelt thus long
upon this subject, not merely upon account of its own
corrupt character, which has been sufficiently stigmatized by my honorable colleague, but upon account of the principle that is laid down by the prisoner, in his
defence of his conduct,- a principle directly leading
to a continuance of the same iniquitous practice, and
subversive of every attempt to check or control it.
I must beg leave to recall your Lordships' attention
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 349
to another, but similar instance of his peculation,
another and new mode of taking presents: I mean,
the present which Mr. Hastings took, through Gunga Govind Sing, from those farmers of the revenues
amongst whom he had distributed the pillage of the
whole country. This scandalous breach of his covenant he attempts to justify by the inward intention
of his own mind to apply the money so taken to the
public service. Upon this, my Lords, I shall only
observe, that this plea of an inward intention in his
own mind may, if admitted, justify any evil act whatever of this kind. You have seen how presents from
the Nabob are justified; you have seen how the taking a sum of money or allowance for entertainment,
directly contrary to the covenant, how that is attempted to be justified; you see in what manner he justifies this last-mentioned act of peculation; and your Lordships will now have to decide upon the validity
of these pleas.
There still remains, unobserved upon, an instance
of his malversation, wholly new in its kind, to which
I will venture to desire your Lordships very seriously
to turn your attention. In all the causes of peculation or malversation in office that ever have been
tried before this high court, or before any lower
court of judicature, in all the judicial records of
modern crimes, or of antiquity, you will not find
anything in any degree like it. We have all, in our
early education, read the Verrine Orations. We
read them not merely to instruct us, as they will
do, in the principles of eloquence, and to acquaint us
with the manners, customs, and laws of the ancient
Romans, of which they are an abundant repository,
bIut we may read them from a much higher motive.
? ? ? ? 350 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
We may read them from a motive which the great
author had doubtless in his view, when by publishing
them he left to the world and to the latest posterity
a monument by which it might be seen what course
a great public accuser in a great public cause ought
to pursue, and, as connected with it, what course
judges ought to pursue in deciding upon such a
cause. In these orations you will find almost every instance of rapacity and peculation which we charge upon Mr. Hastings. Undoubtedly, many Roman and English governors have received corrupt gifts and bribes, under various pretences. But in the
cause before your Lordships there is one species of
disgrace, in the conduct of the party accused, which
I defy you to find in Verres, or in the whole tribe
of Roman peculators, in any governor-general, proconsul, or viceroy. I desire you to consider it not included in any other class of crimes, but as a species apart by itself. It is an individual, a single case; but it is like the phoenix, - it makes a class or
species by itself: I mean the business of Nobkissin.
The money taken from him was not money pretended to be received in lieu of entertainment; it was not money taken from a farmer-general of revenue,
out of an idea that his profits were unreasonable, and
greater than government ought to allow; it was not
a donation from a great man, as an act of his bounty.
No, it was a sum of money taken from a private
individual, -- or rather, as has been proved to you
by Mr. Larkins, his own book-keeper, money borrowed, for which he had engaged to give his bond. That he had actually deposited his bond for this
money Mr. Larkins has proved to you,-and that
the bond was carried to Nobkissin's credit, in his
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 851
account with the government. But Mr. Hastings,
when lie was called upon for the money, withdraws
the bond; lie will not pay the money; he refused to
pay it upon the applications made to him both in
India and here at home; and lie now comes to your
Lordships and says, "I borrowed this money, I intended to give my bond for it, as has been proved
before you; but I must have it for my own use. "
We have heard of governors being everything that is
bad and wicked; but a governor puttinig himself in
the situation of a common cheat, of a common swindler, never was, I believe, heard of since the creation of the world to this day. This does not taste of the
common oppressions of power; this does not taste of
the common abuses of office; but it in no way differs
from one of those base swindling cases that come
to be tried and heavily punished in the King's Bench
every day. This is neither more nor less than a plain,
barefaced clieat.
Now, my Lords, let us see how it is justified. To
justify openly and directly a cheat, to justify a fraud
upon an individual, is reserved for otr times. But,
good Heavens, what a justification have we here i
Oh, my Lords, consider into what a state Indian
corruption has brought us in this country, when any
person can be found to come to the bar of the House
of Lords and say, "I did cheat, I did defraud; I
did promise, and gave my bond; I have now withdrawn it, but I will account for it to you as to a
gang of robbers concerned with me in the transaction. I confess I robbed this manl; but I have acted
as trustee for the gang. Observe what I have done
for the gang. Come forward, Mr. Auriol, and prove
what handsome budgeros I gave the company: were
? ? ? ? 352 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
not they elegantly painted, beautifully gilt, charming
and commodious? I made use of them as long as
I had occasion; and though they are little worse for
wear, and would hardly suffer the least percentage
deduction from prime cost upon them, I gave them
to the company. Oh, I did not put the money into
my own pocket. I provided for myself and wore a
suit of lace clothes, when I was Jew bail for some
of this company: it will turn, for it is hardly the
worse for wear, though I appeared two or three
times, in different characters, as bail for you on such
and such anl occasion. I therefore set off these items
against this money which I gained by swindling on
your account. It is true I also picked such a one's
pocket of a watch; here it is; I have worn it as long
as it was convenient; now I give the watch to the
company, and let them send it to the pawnbroker
for what it will bring. Besides all this, I maintained
aide-de-camps for you, and gave them house-rent. "
(By the way, my Lords, what sort of aide-de-camps
were these? Who made him a military man, and
to have such a legion of aide-de-camps? ) " But,"
says he, " I paid house-rent for them; that is, in
other words, I paid, at night-cellars and houses in
Saint Giles's, sixpence a week for some of the gang. "
(This, my Lords, is the real spirit of th. e whole proceeding, and more especially of the last item in it. ) "Then," says he, "I was the gang's schoolmaster,
and taught lessons on their account. I founded a
Mahometan school. " (Your Lordships have already
heard something of this shameful affair, of this scene
of iniquity,-I think of' such iniquity as the world
never yet had to blush at. ) "I founded a Mallometall college for your use; and I bore the expense of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 353
it from September, 1780, when I placed a professor
there, called Mudjed-o-Din. " -This Mudjed-o-Din was
to perfect men, by contract, in all the arts and sciences, in about six months; and the chief purpose of
the school was, as Mr. Hastings himself tells you, to
breed theologians, magistrates, and moulavies, that
is to say, judges and doctors of law, who were to be
something like our masters in chancery, the assessors
of judges, to assist them in their judgments. Such
was the college founded by Mr. Hastings, and he
soon afterwards appropriated one of the Company's
estates, (I am speaking of matters of public notoriety,) worth 3,0001. a year, for its support. Heaven
be praised, that Mr. Hastings, when he was resolved
to be pious and munificent, and to be a great founder, chose a Mahometan rather than a Christian foundation, so that our religion was not disgraced by such a foundation!
Observe how he charges the expense of the foundation to the Company twice over. He first makes them
set aside an estate of 3,0001. a year for its support.
In what manner this income was applied during Mr.
Hastings's stay in India no man living knows; but
we know, that, at his departure, one of the last acts
he did was to desire it should be put into the
hands of Mudjed-o-Din. He afterwards, as you have
seen, takes credit to himself with the Company for
the expenses relative to this college.
I must now introduce your Lordships to the last
visitation that was made of this college. It was
visited by order of Lord Cornwallis in the year 1788,
upon the complaints made against it which I have
already mentioned to your Lordships, -- that it was
a sink of filth, vermin, and misery. Mr. Chapman,
VOL. XII. 23
? ? ? ? 354 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
who was the visitor, and the friend of Mr. Hastings,
declares that he could not sit in it even for a few
minutes; his words are, -" The wretched, squalid
figures that from every part ran out upon me appeared to be more like anything else than students. "
In fact, a universal outcry was raised by the whole
city against it, not only as a receptacle of every kind
of abuse, not only of filth and excrements which
made it stink in the natural nostrils, but of worse
filth, which made it insufferably offensive to the
moral nostrils of every inhabitant. Such is the account given of a college supported at an expense
of 3,0001. a year, (a handsome foundation for a
college,) and for building which the Company was
charged 5,0001. : though no vouchers of its expenditure were ever given by Mr. Hastings. But this
is not all. When Lord Cornwallis came to inquire
into it, he found that Mudjed-o-Din had sunk the income of the estate from 3,0001. to 2,0001. a year,in short, that it had been a scene of peculation, both by the masters and scholars, as well as of abandonmrent to every kind of vicious and licentious courses;
and all this without the shadow of any benefit having
been derived from it. The visitors expressly inquired
whether there was any good mixed with all this evil;
and they found it was all bad and mischievous, from
one end to the other. Your Lordships will remark,
that the greatest part of this disgusting business must
have been known to Mr. Hastings when he gave to
Mudjed-o-T)in the disposal of 3,0001. a year. And
now, my Lords, can you vote this money, expended
in the manner which I have stated to you, to be a
set-off in his favor, in an account for money which
was itself swindled from a private individual?
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 355
But there still remains behind another more serious matter belonging to this affair; and I hope you
will not think that I am laying too much stress upon
it, when I declare, that, if I were to select from the
whole of his conduct one thing more dishonorable
than another to the British nation, it would be that
which I am now about to mention. I will leave your
Lordships to judge of the sincerity of this declaration, when you shall have heard read a paper produced by the prisoner in justification of conduct such
as I have stated his to have been. It is the razinama, or attestation, of Munny Begum (the woman
whom Mr. Hastings placed in the seat of justice in
that country) concerning this college, made precisely
at the time of this inquisition by Lord Cornwallis into
the management of it. Your Lordships will see what
sort of things attestations are from that country: that
they are attestations procured in diametrical contradiction to the certain knowledge of the party attesting. It is in page 2350 of your Minutes. Indeed,
my Lords, these are pages which, unless they are
effaced by your judgment, will rise up in judgment
against us, some day or other.
" He [Mr. Hastings] respected the learned and
wise men, and, in order for the propagation of learning, he built a college, and endowed it with a provision for the maintenance of the students, insomuch that thousands reaping the benefits thereof offer up
their prayers for the prosperity of the King of England, and for the success of the Company. "
I must here remind your Lordships of another attestation of the same character, and to the same effect.
It comes from Mahomed Reza Khan, who, as your
? ? ? ? 356 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Lordships will remember, had been reduced by Mr.
Hastings from a situation of the highest rank and
authority, with an income of suitable magnitude, to
one of comparative insignificance, with a small sal. .
ary annexed. This mail is made to disgrace himself,
and to abet the disgrace and injury done to his country, by bearing his testimony to the merits of this very
college.
I hope your Lordships will never lose sight of this
aggravating circumstance of the prisoner's criminality, - namely, that you never find any wicked, fraudulent, and criminal act, in which you do not find the persons who suffered by it, and must have been well
acquainted with it, to be the very persons who are
brought to attest in its favor. O Heaven! but let
shame for one moment veil its face, let indignation
suppress its feelings, whilst I again call upon you to
view all this as a mere swindling transaction, in which
the prisoner was attempting to defraud the Company.
Mr. HIastings has declared, and you will find it upon the Company's records, that this institution (which
cost the Company not less than 40,0001. in one way
or other) did not commence before October in the
year 1780; and he brings it before the board in April,
1781, - that is, about six months after its foundation.
Now look at his other account, in which he makes it
to begin in the year 1779, and in which he has therefore overcharged the expenses of it a whole year. But Mr. Larkins, who kept this latter account for him, may have been inaccurate. - Good Heavens!
where are we? Mr. Hastings, who was bred an
accountant, who was bred in all sorts of trade and
business, declares that he keeps no accounts. Then
comes Mr. Larkins, who keeps an account for him;
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 357
but he keeps a false account. Indeed, all tile accounts from India, from one end to another, are nothing but a series of fraud, while Mr.
master. " He had left Gunga Govind Sing as a
Gentoo legacy, and he now leaves the Mussulmanl
as a Mahometan legacy to the Company.
? ? ? ? 334 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Your Lordships shall now hear what was the upshot of the whole. The Company soon afterwards hearing that this college was become the greatest
nuisance in Calcutta, and that it had raised the cries
of all the inhabitants against it, one of their servants,
a Mr. Chapman, was deputed by the Governor, Sir
John Shore, to examine into it, and your Lordships
will find the account he gives of it in your minutes.
In short, my Lords, we find that this was a seminary
of robbers, housebreakers, and every nuisance to society; so that the Company was obliged to turn out the master, and to remodel the whole. Your Lordships will now judge of the merits and value of this, one of the sets-off brought forward by the prisoner
against the charges which we have brought forward
against him: it began in injustice and peculation,
and ended in a seminary for robbers and housebreakers.
Nothing now remains to be pressed by me upon
your Lordships' consideration, but the account given
by the late Governor-General, Earl Cornwallis, of the
state in which he found the country left by his predecessor, Mr. Hastings, the prisoner at your bar. But, patient as I know your Lordships to be, I also know
that your strength is not inexhaustible; and though
what I have farther to add will not consume much
of your Lordships' time, yet I conceive that there is
a necessity for deferring it to another day.
? ? ? ? S P E C HIN
GENERAL REPLY.
NINTH DAY: MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1794.
M Y LORDS, -I should think it necessary to make
an apology to your Lordships for appearing before you one day more, if I were inclined to measure this business either by the standard of my own ability, or by my own impatience, or by any supposed
impatience of yours. I know no measure, in such
a case, but the nature of the subject, and the duty
which we owe to it. You will therefore, my Lords,
permit me, in a few words, to lead you back to what
we did yesterday, that you may the better comprehend the manner in which I mean to conclude the
business to-dav.
My Lords, we took the liberty of stating to you,
the condition of Bengal before our taking possession
of it, and of the several classes of its inhabitants.
We first brought before you the Mahometan inhabitants, who had the judicial authority of the country
in their hands; and we proved to you the utter ruin
of that body of people, and with them of the justice
of the country, by their being, both one and the other, sold to an infaimous woman called Muniny Begum.
We next showed you, that the whole landed interest,
the zemindars, or Ilindoo gentry of the country, was
likewise ruined by its being given over, by letting it
? ? ? ? 336 IMIPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
on a five years' lease, to infamous farmers, and giving it up to their merciless exactions, - and afterwards by subjecting the rank of those zemindars,
their title-deeds, and all their pecuniary affairs, to the
minutest scrutiny, under pain of criminal punishment, by a commission granted to a nefarious villain
called Gunga Govind Sing. We lastly showed you
that the remaining third class, that of the En-glish,
was partly corrupted, or had its authority dissolved,
and that the whole superintending English control
was subverted or subdued, - that the products of
tlhe country were diminished, and that the revenues
of the Company were dilapidated, by an overcharge
of expenses, in four years, to the amount of 500,0001. ,
in consequence of these corrupt, dangerous, and mischievous projects.
We have farther stated, that the Company's servants were corrupted by contracts and jobs; we
proved that those that were not so corrupted were
removed from their stations or reduced to a state of
abject dependence; we showed you the destruction
of the Provincial Councils, the destruction of the
Council-General, and the formation of a committee
for no other ends whatever but for the purposes of
bribery, concealment, an]d corruption. We Inext stated some of the most monstrous instances of that bribery; and though we were of opinion that in unone of them any satisfactory defence worth mentioning
had been made, yet we have thought that this should
not hinder us from recalling to your Lordships' recollection the peculiar nature and circumstances of one
of those proceedings.
The proceedings to which we wish to call your
attention are those belonging to the second bribe
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - NINTH DAY. 337
given by the Nabob of Oude to Mr. Hastings. Mr.
HIastings's own knowledge and opinion that that
money was set apart for his use, either in bills or
assets, I have before stated; and I now wish to call
your Lordships' minute recollection to the manner in
which the fraudulent impeachment of Mr. Middleton,
for the purpose of stifling an inquiry into that business, was carried on. Your Lordships will remember
that I proved to you, upon the face of that proceeding, tile collusive nature of the accusation, and that the real state of the case was not charged, --and that
Mr. Hastings acquitted the party accused of one article of the charge, not upon the evidence of the case, contrary to his own avowed, declared, moral certainty of his guilt, but upon a pretended appeal to the conscience of the man accused. He did not, however, give him a complete, formal, official acquittal,
but referred the matter to the Court of Directors,
who could not possibly know anything of the matter,
without one article of evidence whatever produced at
the time or transmitted. We lastly proved. to you,
t;hat, after finding him guilty of five charges, and
leaving the other to the Court of Directors, Mr. Hastings, without any reason assigned, appointed him to a great office in the Company's service.
These proceedings were brought before you for two
purposes: first, to show the corrupt principle of the
whole proceeding; next, to show the manner in which
the Company's servants are treated. They are accused
and persecuted, until they are brought to submit to
whatever terms it may be thought proper to impose
upon them; they are then formally, indeed, acquitted of the most atrocious crimes charged against
them, but virtually condemned upon some articles,
VOL. XII. 22
? ? ? ? 338 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
with the scourge hung over them, -and in some
instances rewarded by the greatest, most honorable,
and most lucrative situations in the Company's service. My Lords, it is on the same ground of the
wicked, pernicious, and ruinous principles of Mr.
Hastings's government, that I have charged this with
everything that is chargeable against him, namely,
that, if your Lordships should ratify those principles
by your acquittal of him, they become principles of
government, - rejected, indeed, by the Commons, but
adopted by the Peerage of Great Britain.
There is another article which I have just touched,
but which I must do more than barely notice, upon
account of the evil example of it: I mean the taking great sums of money, under pretence of an entertainment. Your Lordships will recollect, that, when this business was charged against him in India, Mr.
Hastings neither affirmed nor denied the fact. Confession could not be there extorted from him. He
next appeared before the House of Commons, and he
still evaded a denial or a confession of it. He lastly
appeared before your Lordships, and in his answer
to our charge he in the same manner evaded either
a confession or a denial. He forced us to employ a
great part of a session in endeavoring to establish
what we have at last established, the receipt of the
sums first charged, and of seven lacs more, by him.
At length the proof could not be evaded; and after
we had fought through all the difficulties which the
law could interpose in his defence, and of which lie
availed himself with a degree of effrontery that has,
I believe, no example in the world, he confesses,
avows, and justifies his conduct. If the custom alleged be well founded, and be an honorable and a
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - NINTH DAY. 339
proper and just practice, why did he not avow it in
every part and progress of our proceedings here?
Why should he have put us to the necessity of wasting so many months in the proof of the fact? And
wlhy, after we have proved it, and not before, did he
confess it, avow it, and even glory in it?
1 must remind your Lordships that the sum charged
to be so taken by way of entertainment made only a,
part, a single article, of the bribes charged by Nundcomar to have been received by Mr. Hastings; and
when we find him confessing, what he could not deny, that single article, and evading all explanation
respecting the others, and not giving any reason
whatever why one was received and the others rejected, your Lordships will judge of the strong presumption of his having taken them all, even if we had given no other proofs of it. We think, however,
that we have proved the whole very satisfactorily.
But whether we have or not, the proof of a single
present received is sufficient; because the principle
to be established respecting these bribes is this,whether or not a Governor-General, paying a visit
to any of the poor, miserable, dependent creatures
called sovereign princes in that country, (men whom
Mr. Hastings has himself declared to be nothing but
phantoms, and that they had no one attribute of sovereignty about them,) whether, I say, he can consider them to be such sovereign princes as to justify his taking from them great sums of money by way of a
present. The Nabob, in fact, was not a sovereign
prince, nor a country power, in any sense but that
which the Company meant to exempt from the custom of making presents. It was their design to prevent their servants from availing themselves of the
? ? ? ? 340 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
real dependence of the nominal native powers to extort money from them under the pretence of their sovereignty. Such presents, so far from being voluntary, were in reality obtained from their weakness, their hopeless and unprotected condition; and you are to
lecide whether or not this custom, whicli is insisted
upon by the prisoner's counsel, with great triumph, to
be a thing which he could not evade, without breaking
through all the usages of the country, and violating
principles established by the most clear law of India,
is to be admitted as his justification.
It was on this very account, namely, the extortion
suffered by these people, under the name or pretence
of presents, that the Company first bound their servants by a covenant, which your Lordships shall now'
hear read.
" That they shall not take any grant of lands, or
rents or revenues issuing out of lands, or any territorial possession, jurisdiction, dominion, power, or
authority whatsoever, from any of the Indian princes,
sovereigns, subahs, or nabobs, or any of their ministers, servants, or agents, for any service or services,
or upon any account or pretence whatsoever, without
the license or consent of the Court of Directors. "
This clause in the covenant had doubtless a regard
to Lord Clive, and to Sir Hector Munro, and to some
others, who had received gifts, and grants of jaghires,
and other territorial revenues, that were confirmed by
the Company. But though this confirmation might
be justifiable at a time when we had no real sovereignty in the country, yet the Company very wisely
provided afterwards, that under no pretence whatever should their servants have the means of extort
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 341
ing from the sovereigns or pretended sovereigns of
the country any of their lands or possessions. Afterwards it appeared that there existed abuses of a similar nature, and particularly (as was proved before us in the year 1773, and reported to our House, upon
the evidence of Mahomed Reza Khan) the practice
of frequently visiting the princes, and of extorting,
under pretence of such visits, great sums of money.
All their servants, and the Governor-General particularly, were therefore obliged to enter into the following covenant: -
" That they shall not, directly or indirectly, accept,
take, or receive, or agree to accept, take, or receive,
any gift, reward, gratuity, allowance, donation, or
compensation, in money, effects, jewels, or otherwise
howsoever, from any of the Indian princes, sovereigns,
subals, or nabobs, or any of their ministers, servants,
or agents, exceeding the value of four thousand rupees, for any service or services performed or to be
performed by them in India, or upon any other account or pretence whatsoever. "
By this covenant, my Lords, Mr. Hastings is forbidden to accept, upon any pretence and under any
name whatsoever, any sum above four thousand rupees, -that is to say, any sum above four hundred
pounds. Now the sum that was here received is
eighteen thousand pounds sterling, by way of a present, under the name of an allowance for an entertainment, which is the precise thing which his covenant was made to prevent. The covenant suffered him to
receive four hundred pounds: if he received more
than that money, he became a criminal, he had broken his covenant, and forfeited the obligation he had
? ? ? ? 342 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
made with his masters. Think with yourselves, my
Lords, what you will do, if you acquit the prisoner
of this charge. You will avow the validity, you will
sanction the principle of his defence: for, as the fact
is avowed, there is an end of that.
Good God! my Lords, where are we? If they
conceal their gifts and presents, they are safe by their
concealment; if they avow them, they are still safer.
They plead the customs of the country, or rather,
the customs which we have introduced into the country, - customs which have been declared to have their
foundation in a system of the most abominable corruption, the most flagitious extortion, the most dreadful oppression, -those very customs which their covenant is made to abolish. Think where your Lordships are. You have before you a covenant declaring that
he should take under no name whatever (I do not
know how words could be selected in the English
language more expressive) any sum more thanl four
hundred pounds. He says, " I have taken eighteen
thousand pounds. " He makes his counsel declare,
and he desires your Lordships to confirm their declaration, that he is not only justifiable iln so doing, but
that he ought to do so, --that he ought to break his
covenant, and act in direct contradiction to it. He
does not even pretend to say that this money was
intended, either inwardly or outwardly, avowedly or
covertly, for the Company's service. He put absolutely into his own pocket eighteen thousand pounds,
besides his salary.
Consider, my Lords, the consequences of this species of iniquity. If any servant of the Company,
high in station, chooses to make a visit from Calcutta
to Moorshedabad, which Moorshedabad was then the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 343
residence of our principal revenue government, --if
he should choose to take anll airing for his health, if
he has a fancy to make a little voyage for pleasure
as far as Moorshedabad, in one of those handsome
barges or budgeros of which you have heard so much
in his charge against Nundcomar, he can put twenty
thousand pounds into his pocket any day he pleases,
in defiance of all our acts of Parliament, covenants,
and regulations.
Do you make your laws, do you make your covenants, for the very purpose of their being evaded?
Is this the purpose for which a British tribunal sits
here, to furnish a subject for an epigram, or a tale
for the laughter of the world? Believe me, my
Lords, the world is not to be thus trifled with. But,
my Lords, you will never trifle with your duty. You
have a gross, horrid piece of corruption before you,
-impudently confessed, and more impudelltly defended. But you will not suffer Mr. Hastings to
say, " I have only to go to Moorshedabad, or to order the Nabob to meet me half way, and I can set aside and laugh at all your covenants and acts of
Parliament. " Is this all the force and power of
the covenant by which you would prevent the servants of the Company from committing acts of fraud and oppression, that they have nothing to do but to
amuse themselves with a tour of pleasure to Moorshedabad in order to put any sum of money in their pocket that they please?
But they justify themselves by saying, such things
have been practised before. No doubt they have;
and these covenants were made that they should not
be practised any more. But your Lordships are desired to say, that the very custom which the cove
? ? ? ? 344 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
nant is made to destroy, the very grievance itself,
may be pleaded; the abuse shall be admitted to destroy the law made to prevent it. It is impossible,
I venture to say, that your Lordshlips should act thus.
The conduct of the criminal is not half so abhorrent
as the justification is affronting to justice, whilst it
tends to vilify and degrade the dignity of the Peerage
and the character of the Commons of Great Britain,
before the former and against the latter of which such
a justification is produced in the face of the world.
At the same time- that we call for your justice
upon this man, we beseech you to remember the
severest justice upon him is the tenderest pity towards the innocent victims of his crimes. Consider
what was at that time the state of the people from
whom, in direct defiance of his covenant, he took this
sum of money. Were they at this time richer, were
they more opulent, was the state of the country more
flourishing than when Mr. Sumner, when Mr. Vansittart, in short, than when the long line of Mr. Hastings's predecessors visited that country? No, they were not. Mr. Hastings at this very time had reduced the Nabob's income from 450,0001. [400,0001. ? ]
sterling a year, exclusive of other considerable domains and revenues, to 160,0001. He was, indeed, an
object of compassion. His revenues had not only been
reduced during his state of minority, but they were
reduced when lie afterwards continued in a state in
which he could do no one valid act; and yet, in this
state, he was made competent to give away, under the
name of compensation for entertainments, the sum of
18,0001. , - perhaps at that time nearly all he had in
the world.
Look at your minutes, and you will find Mr. Hast
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 345
ings had just before this time said that the bread of
ten thousand persons, many of them of high rank,
depended upon the means possessed by the Nabob
for their support, -- that his heart was cut and afflicted to see himself obliged to ruin and starve so many of the Mahometan nobility, the greatest part
of whose yet remaining miserable allowances were
now taken away. You know, and you will forgive
me again remarking, that it is the nature of the
eagles and more generous birds of prey to fall upon
living, healthy victims, but that vultures and carrion
crows, and birds of that base and degenerate kind,
always prey upon dead or dying carcases. It is upon
ruined houses, it is upon decayed families, it is upon extinguished nobility, that Mr. Hastings chooses to prey, and to justify his making them his prey.
But again we hear, my Lords, that it is a custom, upon ceremonial and complimentary visits, to
receive these presents. Do not let us deceive ourselves. Mr. Hastings was there upon no visit either
of ceremony or politics. He was a member, at that
time, of the Committee of Circuit, which went to
Moorshedabad for the purpose of establishing a system of revenue in the country. He went up uponl that business only, as a member of the Committee
of Circuit, for which business lie was, like other
members of the Committee of Circuit, amply paid,
in addition to his emoluments as Governor, which
amounted to about 30,0001. a year. Not satisfied
with those emoluments, and without incurring new
known expense of any kind or sort, lie was paid for
the extra expenses of Inis journey, as appears in your
minutes, like other members of the Committee of
Circuit. Ill fact, lie was on no visit there at all.
? ? ? ? 346 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
He was merely executing his duty in the settlement
of the revenue, as a member of the Committee of
Circuit. I do not mean to praise the Committee
of Circuit in any way: God forbid I should! -for
we know that it was a comnmittee of robbers. He
was there as one of that. committee, which I am
pretty well justified in describing as I have done,
because the Court of Directors, together with the
Board of Control, did, in the year 1786, declare that
the five years' settlement (which originated ill that
committee) was a thing bought and sold: your Lordships may read it whenever you please, in the 80th paragraph of their letter.
Your Lordships are now fully in possession of all
the facts upon which we charge the prisoner with
peculation, by extorting or receiving large sums of
money, upon pretence of visits, or in compensation
of entertainments. I appeal to your Lordships' consciences for a serious and impartial consideration of our charge.
This is a business not to be hurried
over in the mass, as amongst the acts of a great man,
who may have his little errors among his great services; no, you cannot, as a judicial body, huddle all this into a hotchpotch, and decide upon it in a heap.
You will have to ask yourselves, -- Is this justifiable
by his covenant? Is this justifiable by law? Is this
justifiable, under the circumstances of the case, by
an enlarged discretion? Is it to be justified under
any principles of humanity? Would it be justifiable
by local customs, if such were applicable to the case
in question? and even if it were, is it a practice fit
for an English Governor-General to follow?
I dwell the longer upon this, because the fact is
avowed; the whole is an issue of law between us,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. --NINTH DAY. 347
whether a Governor-General, in such a case, ought to
take such money; and therefore, before I finally dismiss it, I beg leave to restate it briefly once more for your Lordships' consideration.
First I wish to leave fixed in your Lordships'
minds, what is distinctly fixed, and shall never go oiit
of ours, that his covenant did not allow him to take
above four hundred pounds as a present, upon any
pretence whatsoever.
Your Lordships will observe we contend, that, if
there was a custom, this covenant puts an end to that
custom. It was declared and intended so to do.
The fact is, that, if such custom existed at all, it was
a custom applicable only to an ambassador or public
minister sent on a necessary complimentary visit to
a sovereign prince. We deny, positively, that there
is any such general custom. We say, that he never
was ally such minister, or that he ever went upon
any such complimentary visit. We affirm, that,
when he took this money, he was doing an act of
quite another nature, and came upon that business
only to Moorshedabad, the residence of the prince of
the country. Now do you call a man who is goinlg
to execute a commission, a commission more severe
than those issued against bankrupts, a commission to
take away half a man's income, and to starve a whole
body of people dependent upon that income, - do
yov. call this a complimentary visit? Is this a visit
for which a man is to have great entertainments given him? No, the pretence for taking this money is worse than the act itself. When a man is going to
execute upon another such harsh cruelty, when he
is going upon a service at which he himself says his
mind must revolt, is that precisely the time when he
? ? ? ? 348 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
is to take from his undone host a present, as if he was
upon a visit of compliment, or about to confer some
honor or benefit upon him, -- to augment his revenues, to add to his territories, or to conclude some valuable treaty with him? Was this a proper time
to take at all from an helpless minor so large a sum
of money?
And here I shall leave this matter for your Lordships' consideration, after reminding you that this
poor Nabob is still at AMoorshedabad, and at the mercy of any English gentleman who may choose to take 18,0001. , or any other given sum of money from him,
after the example of the prisoner at your bar, if it
should be sanctioned by your connivance. Far different was the example set him by General Clavering.
In page 1269 your Lordships will find the most honorable testimony to the uprightness and fidelity of this meritorious servant of the Company. It runs thus:
" Conceiving it to be tile intention of the legislature
that the Governor-General and members of the Council should receive no presents, either from the Indian powers or any persons whatever, lie [General Clavering] has strictly complied, since his arrival here, both with the spirit and the letter of the act of Parliament,
and has accordingly returned all the presents which
have been made to him. " I have dwelt thus long
upon this subject, not merely upon account of its own
corrupt character, which has been sufficiently stigmatized by my honorable colleague, but upon account of the principle that is laid down by the prisoner, in his
defence of his conduct,- a principle directly leading
to a continuance of the same iniquitous practice, and
subversive of every attempt to check or control it.
I must beg leave to recall your Lordships' attention
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 349
to another, but similar instance of his peculation,
another and new mode of taking presents: I mean,
the present which Mr. Hastings took, through Gunga Govind Sing, from those farmers of the revenues
amongst whom he had distributed the pillage of the
whole country. This scandalous breach of his covenant he attempts to justify by the inward intention
of his own mind to apply the money so taken to the
public service. Upon this, my Lords, I shall only
observe, that this plea of an inward intention in his
own mind may, if admitted, justify any evil act whatever of this kind. You have seen how presents from
the Nabob are justified; you have seen how the taking a sum of money or allowance for entertainment,
directly contrary to the covenant, how that is attempted to be justified; you see in what manner he justifies this last-mentioned act of peculation; and your Lordships will now have to decide upon the validity
of these pleas.
There still remains, unobserved upon, an instance
of his malversation, wholly new in its kind, to which
I will venture to desire your Lordships very seriously
to turn your attention. In all the causes of peculation or malversation in office that ever have been
tried before this high court, or before any lower
court of judicature, in all the judicial records of
modern crimes, or of antiquity, you will not find
anything in any degree like it. We have all, in our
early education, read the Verrine Orations. We
read them not merely to instruct us, as they will
do, in the principles of eloquence, and to acquaint us
with the manners, customs, and laws of the ancient
Romans, of which they are an abundant repository,
bIut we may read them from a much higher motive.
? ? ? ? 350 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
We may read them from a motive which the great
author had doubtless in his view, when by publishing
them he left to the world and to the latest posterity
a monument by which it might be seen what course
a great public accuser in a great public cause ought
to pursue, and, as connected with it, what course
judges ought to pursue in deciding upon such a
cause. In these orations you will find almost every instance of rapacity and peculation which we charge upon Mr. Hastings. Undoubtedly, many Roman and English governors have received corrupt gifts and bribes, under various pretences. But in the
cause before your Lordships there is one species of
disgrace, in the conduct of the party accused, which
I defy you to find in Verres, or in the whole tribe
of Roman peculators, in any governor-general, proconsul, or viceroy. I desire you to consider it not included in any other class of crimes, but as a species apart by itself. It is an individual, a single case; but it is like the phoenix, - it makes a class or
species by itself: I mean the business of Nobkissin.
The money taken from him was not money pretended to be received in lieu of entertainment; it was not money taken from a farmer-general of revenue,
out of an idea that his profits were unreasonable, and
greater than government ought to allow; it was not
a donation from a great man, as an act of his bounty.
No, it was a sum of money taken from a private
individual, -- or rather, as has been proved to you
by Mr. Larkins, his own book-keeper, money borrowed, for which he had engaged to give his bond. That he had actually deposited his bond for this
money Mr. Larkins has proved to you,-and that
the bond was carried to Nobkissin's credit, in his
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 851
account with the government. But Mr. Hastings,
when lie was called upon for the money, withdraws
the bond; lie will not pay the money; he refused to
pay it upon the applications made to him both in
India and here at home; and lie now comes to your
Lordships and says, "I borrowed this money, I intended to give my bond for it, as has been proved
before you; but I must have it for my own use. "
We have heard of governors being everything that is
bad and wicked; but a governor puttinig himself in
the situation of a common cheat, of a common swindler, never was, I believe, heard of since the creation of the world to this day. This does not taste of the
common oppressions of power; this does not taste of
the common abuses of office; but it in no way differs
from one of those base swindling cases that come
to be tried and heavily punished in the King's Bench
every day. This is neither more nor less than a plain,
barefaced clieat.
Now, my Lords, let us see how it is justified. To
justify openly and directly a cheat, to justify a fraud
upon an individual, is reserved for otr times. But,
good Heavens, what a justification have we here i
Oh, my Lords, consider into what a state Indian
corruption has brought us in this country, when any
person can be found to come to the bar of the House
of Lords and say, "I did cheat, I did defraud; I
did promise, and gave my bond; I have now withdrawn it, but I will account for it to you as to a
gang of robbers concerned with me in the transaction. I confess I robbed this manl; but I have acted
as trustee for the gang. Observe what I have done
for the gang. Come forward, Mr. Auriol, and prove
what handsome budgeros I gave the company: were
? ? ? ? 352 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
not they elegantly painted, beautifully gilt, charming
and commodious? I made use of them as long as
I had occasion; and though they are little worse for
wear, and would hardly suffer the least percentage
deduction from prime cost upon them, I gave them
to the company. Oh, I did not put the money into
my own pocket. I provided for myself and wore a
suit of lace clothes, when I was Jew bail for some
of this company: it will turn, for it is hardly the
worse for wear, though I appeared two or three
times, in different characters, as bail for you on such
and such anl occasion. I therefore set off these items
against this money which I gained by swindling on
your account. It is true I also picked such a one's
pocket of a watch; here it is; I have worn it as long
as it was convenient; now I give the watch to the
company, and let them send it to the pawnbroker
for what it will bring. Besides all this, I maintained
aide-de-camps for you, and gave them house-rent. "
(By the way, my Lords, what sort of aide-de-camps
were these? Who made him a military man, and
to have such a legion of aide-de-camps? ) " But,"
says he, " I paid house-rent for them; that is, in
other words, I paid, at night-cellars and houses in
Saint Giles's, sixpence a week for some of the gang. "
(This, my Lords, is the real spirit of th. e whole proceeding, and more especially of the last item in it. ) "Then," says he, "I was the gang's schoolmaster,
and taught lessons on their account. I founded a
Mahometan school. " (Your Lordships have already
heard something of this shameful affair, of this scene
of iniquity,-I think of' such iniquity as the world
never yet had to blush at. ) "I founded a Mallometall college for your use; and I bore the expense of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 353
it from September, 1780, when I placed a professor
there, called Mudjed-o-Din. " -This Mudjed-o-Din was
to perfect men, by contract, in all the arts and sciences, in about six months; and the chief purpose of
the school was, as Mr. Hastings himself tells you, to
breed theologians, magistrates, and moulavies, that
is to say, judges and doctors of law, who were to be
something like our masters in chancery, the assessors
of judges, to assist them in their judgments. Such
was the college founded by Mr. Hastings, and he
soon afterwards appropriated one of the Company's
estates, (I am speaking of matters of public notoriety,) worth 3,0001. a year, for its support. Heaven
be praised, that Mr. Hastings, when he was resolved
to be pious and munificent, and to be a great founder, chose a Mahometan rather than a Christian foundation, so that our religion was not disgraced by such a foundation!
Observe how he charges the expense of the foundation to the Company twice over. He first makes them
set aside an estate of 3,0001. a year for its support.
In what manner this income was applied during Mr.
Hastings's stay in India no man living knows; but
we know, that, at his departure, one of the last acts
he did was to desire it should be put into the
hands of Mudjed-o-Din. He afterwards, as you have
seen, takes credit to himself with the Company for
the expenses relative to this college.
I must now introduce your Lordships to the last
visitation that was made of this college. It was
visited by order of Lord Cornwallis in the year 1788,
upon the complaints made against it which I have
already mentioned to your Lordships, -- that it was
a sink of filth, vermin, and misery. Mr. Chapman,
VOL. XII. 23
? ? ? ? 354 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
who was the visitor, and the friend of Mr. Hastings,
declares that he could not sit in it even for a few
minutes; his words are, -" The wretched, squalid
figures that from every part ran out upon me appeared to be more like anything else than students. "
In fact, a universal outcry was raised by the whole
city against it, not only as a receptacle of every kind
of abuse, not only of filth and excrements which
made it stink in the natural nostrils, but of worse
filth, which made it insufferably offensive to the
moral nostrils of every inhabitant. Such is the account given of a college supported at an expense
of 3,0001. a year, (a handsome foundation for a
college,) and for building which the Company was
charged 5,0001. : though no vouchers of its expenditure were ever given by Mr. Hastings. But this
is not all. When Lord Cornwallis came to inquire
into it, he found that Mudjed-o-Din had sunk the income of the estate from 3,0001. to 2,0001. a year,in short, that it had been a scene of peculation, both by the masters and scholars, as well as of abandonmrent to every kind of vicious and licentious courses;
and all this without the shadow of any benefit having
been derived from it. The visitors expressly inquired
whether there was any good mixed with all this evil;
and they found it was all bad and mischievous, from
one end to the other. Your Lordships will remark,
that the greatest part of this disgusting business must
have been known to Mr. Hastings when he gave to
Mudjed-o-T)in the disposal of 3,0001. a year. And
now, my Lords, can you vote this money, expended
in the manner which I have stated to you, to be a
set-off in his favor, in an account for money which
was itself swindled from a private individual?
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 355
But there still remains behind another more serious matter belonging to this affair; and I hope you
will not think that I am laying too much stress upon
it, when I declare, that, if I were to select from the
whole of his conduct one thing more dishonorable
than another to the British nation, it would be that
which I am now about to mention. I will leave your
Lordships to judge of the sincerity of this declaration, when you shall have heard read a paper produced by the prisoner in justification of conduct such
as I have stated his to have been. It is the razinama, or attestation, of Munny Begum (the woman
whom Mr. Hastings placed in the seat of justice in
that country) concerning this college, made precisely
at the time of this inquisition by Lord Cornwallis into
the management of it. Your Lordships will see what
sort of things attestations are from that country: that
they are attestations procured in diametrical contradiction to the certain knowledge of the party attesting. It is in page 2350 of your Minutes. Indeed,
my Lords, these are pages which, unless they are
effaced by your judgment, will rise up in judgment
against us, some day or other.
" He [Mr. Hastings] respected the learned and
wise men, and, in order for the propagation of learning, he built a college, and endowed it with a provision for the maintenance of the students, insomuch that thousands reaping the benefits thereof offer up
their prayers for the prosperity of the King of England, and for the success of the Company. "
I must here remind your Lordships of another attestation of the same character, and to the same effect.
It comes from Mahomed Reza Khan, who, as your
? ? ? ? 356 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Lordships will remember, had been reduced by Mr.
Hastings from a situation of the highest rank and
authority, with an income of suitable magnitude, to
one of comparative insignificance, with a small sal. .
ary annexed. This mail is made to disgrace himself,
and to abet the disgrace and injury done to his country, by bearing his testimony to the merits of this very
college.
I hope your Lordships will never lose sight of this
aggravating circumstance of the prisoner's criminality, - namely, that you never find any wicked, fraudulent, and criminal act, in which you do not find the persons who suffered by it, and must have been well
acquainted with it, to be the very persons who are
brought to attest in its favor. O Heaven! but let
shame for one moment veil its face, let indignation
suppress its feelings, whilst I again call upon you to
view all this as a mere swindling transaction, in which
the prisoner was attempting to defraud the Company.
Mr. HIastings has declared, and you will find it upon the Company's records, that this institution (which
cost the Company not less than 40,0001. in one way
or other) did not commence before October in the
year 1780; and he brings it before the board in April,
1781, - that is, about six months after its foundation.
Now look at his other account, in which he makes it
to begin in the year 1779, and in which he has therefore overcharged the expenses of it a whole year. But Mr. Larkins, who kept this latter account for him, may have been inaccurate. - Good Heavens!
where are we? Mr. Hastings, who was bred an
accountant, who was bred in all sorts of trade and
business, declares that he keeps no accounts. Then
comes Mr. Larkins, who keeps an account for him;
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -NINTH DAY. 357
but he keeps a false account. Indeed, all tile accounts from India, from one end to another, are nothing but a series of fraud, while Mr.
