No More Learning

? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 349
himself by a large ransom, to the amount of two hundred thousand pounds sterling, to be paid for the use of the Company. And it appears that the said alarm
was far from groundless; for Major Palmer, one of
the secret and confidential agents of the said Hast-*
ings, hath sworn, on the 4th of December, 1781, at the
desire of the said Warren Hastings, before Sir Elijah
Impey, to the following effect, that is to say: "' That
the said Warren Hastings had told him, the said
Palmer, that he, the said Hastings, had rejected the
offer of two hundred thousand pounds made by the
Rajah of Benares for the public service, and that he
was resolved to convert the faults committed by the Rajah into a public benefit, and would exact the sum of five hundred thousand pounds, as a punishment for
his breach of engagements with the government of
Bengal, and acts of misconduct in his zemindary; and
if the Rajah should absolutely refuse the demand, that
he would deprive him of his zemindary, or transfer the
sovereignty thereof to the Nabob of Oude. "
XIV. And Mr. Anderson, in his declaration from
Sindia's camp, of the 4th of January, 1782, did also,
at the desire of Mr. Hastings, depose (though not on
oath) concerning a conversation between him and
the said Hastings (but mentioning neither the time
nor place where the same was held); in which conversation, after reciting the allegations of the said Hastings relative to several particulars of the delay
and backwardness of the Rajah in paying the aforesaid extra demand, and his resolution to exact from
the Rajah " a considerable sum of money to the relief
of the Company's exigencies," he proceeds in the following words: " That, if he [the Rajah] consented,
? ? ? ? 350 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
you [the said Warren Hastings] were desirous of establishing his possessions on the most permanent and eligible footing; but if he refused, you had it in your
power to raise a large sum for the Company by accepting an offer which had been made for his districts by the Vizier. " And the said Anderson, in the declaration aforesaid, made at the request of the said Hastings, and addressed to him, expressed himself
as follows: " That you told me you had communicated our designs to Mr. Wheler [his only remaining colleague]; and I believe, but I do not positively
recollect, you said he concurred in them. " But
no trace of any such communication or concurrence
did, at the time referred to, or at any time ever after, appear on the Consultations, as it ought to have done; and the said Hastings is criminal for having
omitted to enter and record the proceeding. That
the said Wheler did also declare, but a considerable
time after the date of the conversations aforesaid,
that, " on the eve of the Governor-General's departure, the said Hastings had told him that the Rajah's offences (not stating what offences, he having paid
up all the demands, ordinary and extraordinary)
were declared to require early punishment; and as
his wealth was great, and the Company's exigencies
pressing, it was thought a measure of policy and of
justice to exact from him a large pecuniary mulct
for their relief. The sum to which the Governor declared his resolution to extend the fine was forty or
fifty lacs; his ability to pay it was stated as a fact
that could not admit of a doubt; and the two alternatives on which the Governor declared himself to have resolved were, to the best of my recollection,
either a removal from his zemind. ary entirely, or, by
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 351
taking immediate possession of all his forts, to obtain
out of the treasure deposited in them the above sum
for the Company. "
XV. That in the declaration of the said Wheler
the time of the conversation aforesaid is stated to be
on the eve of the Governor's departure, and then said
to be confidential; nor is it said or insinuated that
he knew or ever heard thereof at a more early period, though it appears by Major Palmer's affidavit that the design of taking, not four or five, but absolutely five, hundred thousand pounds from the Rajah, was communicated to him as early as the month of
June. And it does not appear by the declarations
of the said Wheler he did ever casually or officially
approve of the measure; which long concealment
and late communication, time not being allowed to
his colleague to consider the nature and consequences
of such a project, or to advise any precaution concerning the same, is a high misdemeanor.
XVI. That the said Hastings, having formed a
resolution to execute one of the three violent and
arbitrary resolutions aforesaid, - namely, to sell the
Company's sovereignty over Benares to the Nabob of
Oude, or to dispossess the Rajah of his territories, or
to seize upon his forts, and to plunder them of the
treasure therein contained, to the amount of four or
five hundred thousand pounds, - did reject the offer
of two hundred thousand pounds, tendered by the
said Rajah for his redemption from the injuries which
he had discovered that the said Hastings had clandestinely meditated against him, although the sum aforesaid would have been a considerable and season
? ? ? ? 352 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
able acquisition at that time: the said Hastings being determined, at a critical period, to risk the existence of the British empire, rather than fail in the gratification of his revenge against the said Rajah.
XVII. That the first of his three instituted projects, namely, the depriving the Rajah of his territories, was by himself considered as a measure likely
to be productive of much odium to the British government: he having declared, whatever opinions he
might entertain of its justice, "that it would have
an appearance of severity, and might furnish grounds
unfavorable to the credit of our government, and to his
own reputation, from the natural influence which
every act of rigor, exercised in the persons of men
in elevated situations, is apt to impress on those who
are too remote from the scene of action to judge, by
any evidence of the facts themselves, of their motives or propriety. " And the second attempt, the
sum of money which he aimed at by attacking the
fortresses of the Rajah, and plundering them of the
treasure supposed to be there secured, besides the obvious uncertainty of acquiring what was thus sought,
would be liable to the same imputations with the fornuer. And with regard to the third project, namely,
the sale of the Company's sovereignty to the Nabob
of Oude, and his having actually received proposals
for the same, it was an high offence to the Company,
as presuming, without their authority or consent, to
put up to sale their sovereign rights, and particularly
to put them up to sale to that very person against
whom the independence of the said province had
been declared by the Governor-General and Council
to be necessary, as a barrier for the security of the
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 353
other provinces, in case of a. future rupture with him. *
It was an heinous injury to the said Rajah to attempt
to change his relation without his consent, especially on account of the person to whom he was to be
made over for money, by reason of the known enmity
subsisting between his family and that of the Nabob,
who was to be the purchaser; and it was a grievous
outrage on the innocent inhabitants of the zemindary
of Benares to propose putting them under a person
long before described by himself to the Court of Directors " to want the qualities of the head and heart
requisite for his station"; and a letter from the
British Resident at Oude, transmitted to the said[
Court, represents him "to have wholly lost, by his;
oppressions, the confidence and affections of his own
subjects"; and whose distresses, and the known disorders in his government, he, the said Hastings, did
attribute solely to his own bad conduct and evil
character; admitting also, in a letter written to Edward Wheler, Esquire, and transmitted to the Court
of Directors, " that many circumstances did favor suspicion of his [the said Nabob's] fidelity to the English interest, the Nabob being surrounded by men base in their characters and improvident in their understandings, his favorites, and his companions of his
looser hours. These had every cause to dread the
effect of my influence on theirs; and both these, and
the relations of the family, whose views of consequence and power were intercepted by our participation in the administration of his affairs, entertained a mortal hatred to our nation, and openly avowed it. "
And the said Hastings was well aware, that, in case
the Nabob, by him described in the manner aforesaid,
* See Hastings's Letter.
VOL. VIII. 23
? ? ? ? 354 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
on making such purchase, should continue to observe
the terms of his father's original covenants and engagements with the Rajah, and should pay the Comparny the only tribute which he could lawfully exact from the said Rajah, it was impossible that he could,
for the mere naked and unprofitable rights of a sovereignlty paramount, afford to offer so great a sum as
the Rajahll did offer to the said Hastings for his redemption from oppression; such an acquisition to
the Nabob (while he kept his faith) could not possibly be of any advantage whatever to him; and that
therefore, if a great sum was to be paid by the Nabob
of Oude, it must be for the purpose of oppression
and violation of public faith, to be perpetrated in the
person of the said Nabob, to an extent and in a
manner which the said Hastings was then apprehensive. he could not justify to the Court of Directors as
his own personal act.
PART III.
EXPULSION OF THE RAJAH OF BENARES.
I. THAT the said Warren Hastings, being resolved
on the ruin of the Rajah aforesaid, as a preliminary
step thereto, did, against the express orders of the
Court of Directors, remove Francis Fowke, Esquire,
the Company's Resident at the city of Benares, without any complaint or pretence of complaint whatsoever, but merely on his own declaration that he must have as a Resident at Benares a person of his own
special and personal nomination and confidence, and
not a man of the Company's nomination,- and ill
the place of the said Franlcis Fowke, thus illegally
divested of hlis office, did appoint thereto another servant of the Company of his own choice.
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 355
II. That, soon after he had removed the Company's Resident, he prepared for a journey to the upper
provinces, and particularly to Benares, in order to
execute the wicked and perfidious designs by him before meditated and contrived: and although he did
communicate his purpose privately to such persons as
he thought fit to intrust therewith, he did not enter
anything on the Consultations to that purpose, or
record the principles, real or pretended, on which he
had resolved to act, nor did he state any guilt in the
Rajah which he intended to punish, or charge him,
the said Rajah, with entertaining any hostile intentions, the effects of which were to be prevented by any
strong measure; but, on the contrary, he did industriously conceal his real designs from the Court of
Directors, and did fallaciously enter on the Consultations a minute declaratory of purposes wholly different
therefrom, and which supposed nothing more than an
amicable adjustment, founded on the treaties between
the Company and the Rajah, investing himself by his
said minute with " full power and authority to form
such arrangements with the Rajah of Benares for the
better government and management of his zemindary,
and to perform such acts for the improvement of the
interest which the Company possesses in it, as he
shall think fit and consonant to the mutual engagements subsisting between the Company and the Rajah "; and for this and other purposes he did invest himself with the whole power of the Council, giving to himself an authority as if his acts had been
the acts of the Council itself: which, though a power of a dangerous, unwarrantable, and illegal extent,
yet does plainly imply the following limits, namely,
that the acts done should be arranged with the Rajah,
? ? ? ? 356 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
that is, with his consent; and, secondly, that they
should be consonant to the actual engagements between the parties; and nothing appears in the minute conferring the said power, which did express or imnply any authority for depriving the Rajah of his
government, or selling the sovereignty thereof to his
hereditary enemy, or for the plunder of his fort-treasures.
III. That the said Warren Hastings, having formed
the plans aforesaid for the ruin of the Rajah, did set
out on a journey to the city of Benares with a great
train, but with a very small force, not much exceeding six companies of regular black soldiers, to perpetrate some of the unjust and violent acts by him meditated and resolved on; and the said Hastings
was met, according to the usage of distinguished persons in that country, by the Rajah of Benares with a
very great attendance, both in boats and on shore,
which attendance he did apparently intend as a mark
of honor and observance to the place and person of
the said Hastings, but which the said Hastings did
afterwards groundlessly and maliciously represent as
an indication of a design upon his life; and the said
Rajah came into the pinnace in which the said Hastings was carried, and in a lowly and suppliant manner, alone, and without any guard or attendance whatsoever, entreated his favor; and being received
with great sternness and arrogance, he did put his
turban in the lap of the said Hastings, thereby signifying that he abandoned his life and fortune to his
disposal, and then departed, the said Hastings not apprehending, nor having any reason to apprehend, anly
violence whatsoever to his person.
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 357
IV. That the said Hastings, in the utmost security
and freedom from apprehension, did pursue his journey, and did arrive at the city of Benares on the 14th
of August, 1781, some hours before the Rajah, who,
soon after his arrival, intended to pay him a visit of
honor and respect at his quarters, but was by the said
Hastings rudely and insolently forbid, until he should
receive his permission. And the said Hastings, although he had previously determined on the ruin of
the said Rajah, in order to afford some color of regularity and justice to his proceedings, did, on the day
after his arrival, that is, on the 15th day of August,
1781, send to the Rajah a charge in writing, which,
though informal and irregular, may be reduced to four
articles, two general, and two more particular: the
first of the general being, " That he [the Rajah] had,
by the means of his secret agents, endeavored to bxcite
disorders in the government on which he depended";
the second," That he had suffered the daily perpetration'of robberies and murders, even in the streets of
Benares, to the great and public scandal of the English name. "
V. That it appears that the said Warren Hastings
is guilty of an high offence, contrary to the fundamental principles of justice, in the said mode of charging
misdemeanors, without any specification of person or
place or time or act, or any offer of specification or
proofs by which the party charged may be enabled
to refute the same, in order to unjustly load his reputation, and to prejudice him with regard to the articles more clearly specified. VI. That the two specified articles relate to cer
? ? ? ? 358 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
tain delays: the first, with regard to the payment of
the sums of money unjustly extorted as aforesaid;
and the second, the non-compliance with a requisition
of cavalry, - which non-compliance the said Hastings (even if the said charges had been founded) did falsely, and in contradiction to all law, affirm and
maintain (in his accusation against the Rajah, and
addressing himself to him) " to amount to a direct
charge of disaffection and infidelity to the government
on which you depend": and further proceeded as
follows: "' I therefore judged it proper to state them
[the said charges] thus fully to you in writing, and to
require your answer; and this I expect immediately. "
That the said Hastings, stating his pretended facts to
amount to a charge of the nature (as he would have
it understood) of high treason, and therefore calling
for an immediate answer, did wilfully act against the
rules of natural justice, which requires that a convenient time should be given to answer, proportioned to the greatness of the offence alleged, and the lfeavy
penalties which attend it; and when he did arrogate
to himself a right both to charge and to judge in his
own person, lie ought to have allowed the Rajah full
opportunity for conferring with his ministers, his doctors of law, and his accountants, on the facts charged, and on the criminality inferred in the said accusation
of disloyalty and disaffection, or offences of that quality.
VII. That the said Rajah did, under the pressure
of the disadvantages aforesaid, deliver in, upon the
very evening of the day of the charge, a full, complete,
and specific answer to the two articles therein specified; and did allege and offer proof that the whole of
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 359
the extraordinary demands of the said Hastings had
been actually long before paid and discharged; and
did state a proper defence with regard to the cavalry,
even supposing him bound (when he was not bound)
to furnish anly. And the said Rajah did make a direct denial of the truth of the two general articles, and did explain himself on the same in as satisfactory a
manner and as fully as their nature could permit, offering to enter into immediate trial of the points in issue between him and the said Hastings, in the remarkable words following. " My enemies, with a view to my ruin, have made false representations to you.
Now that, happily for me, you have yourself arrived
at this place, you will be able to ascertain all the circumstances: first, relative to the horse; secondly, to my people going to Calcutta; and thirdly, the dates
of the receipts of the particular sums above mentioned.
You will then know whether I have amused you with
a false representation, or made a just report to you. "
And in the said answer the said Rajah complained,
but in the most modest terms, of an injury to him of
the most dangerous and criminal nature in transactions of such moment, namely, his not receiving any answer to his letters and petitions, and concluded in
the following words. "I have never swerved in the
smallest degree from my duty to you. It remains
with you to decide on all these matters. I am in
every case your slave. What is just I have represented to you. May your prosperity increase! "
VIII. That the said Warren Hastings was bound
by the essential principles of natural justice to attend
to the claim made by the Rajah to a fair and impartial trial and inquiry into the matter of accusation
? ? ? ? 360 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
brought against him by the said Hastings, at a time
and place which furnished all proper materials and the
presence of all necessary witnesses; but the said Hastings, instead of instituting the said inquiry and granting trial, did receive an humble request for justice
from a great prince as a fresh offence, and as a personal insult to himself, and did conceive a violent passion of anger and a strong resentment thereat, declaring that he did consider the said answer as not only unsatisfactory in substance, but offensive in style.
" This answer you will perceive to be not only unsatisfactory in substance, but offensive in style, and less
a vindication of himself than a recrimination on me.
It expresses no concern for the causes of complaint
contained in my letter, or desire to atone for them,
nor the smallest intention to pursue a different line
of conduct. An answer couched nearly in terms of
defiance to requisitions of so serious a nature I could
not but consider as a strong indication of that spirit of
independency which the Rajah has for some years past
assumed, and of which indeed I had early observed
other manifest symptoms, both before and from the
instant of my arrival. " Which representation is altogether and in all parts thereof groundless and injurious; as the substance of the answer is a justification
proper to be pleaded, and the style, if in anything
exceptionable, it is in its extreme humility, resulting
rather from an unmanly and abject spirit than from
anything of an offensive liberty; but being received
as disrespectful by the said Hastings, it abundantly
indicates the tyrannical arrogance of the said Hastings, and the depression into which the natives are
sunk under the British government.
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 361
IX. That the said Warren Hastings, pretending
to have been much alarmed at the offensive language
of the said Rajah's defence, and at certain appearances
of independency which he had observed, not only onl
former occasions, but since his arrival at Benares,
(where he had been but little more than one day,)
and which appearances he never has specified in any
one instance, did assert that he conceived himself indispensably obliged to adopt some decisive plan; and without ally further inquiry or consultation (which
appears) with any person, did, at ten o'clock of the
very night on which he received the before-mentioned
full and satisfactory as well as submissive answer,
send an order to the British Resident (then being a
public minister representing the British government
at the court of the said Rajah, and as such bound
by the law of nations to respect the prince at whose
court he was Resident, and not to attempt anything
against his person or state, and who ought not, therefore, to have been chosen by the said Hastings, and compelled to serve in that business) that he should
on the next morning arrest the said prince in his palace, and keep him in his custody until further orders; which said order being conceived in the most peremptory terms, the Rajah was put under arrest, with a guard of about thirty orderly sepoys, with their swords
drawn; and the particulars thereof were reported to
him as follows.
" HONORABLE SIR, --I this morning, in obedience
to your orders of last night, proceeded with a few of
my orderlies, accompanied by Lieutenant Stalker, to
Shewalla Ghaut, the present residence of Rajah Cheyt
Sing, and acquainted him it was your pleasure he
? ? ? ? 362 ARTJCLES OF CHARGE
should consider himself in arrest; that he should or.
der his people to behave. in a quiet and orderly manner, for that any attempt to rescue him would be attended with his own destruction. The Rajah submitted quietly to the arrest, and assured me, that, whatever were your orders, lie was ready implicitly to obey; he hoped that you would allow him a subsistence, but as for his zemindary, his forts, and his treasure, he was ready to lay them at your feet, and his life,
if required. He expressed himself much hurt at the
ignominy which lie affirmed must be the consequence
of his confinement, and entreated me to return to you
with the foregoing submission, hoping that you would
make allowances for his youth and inexperience, and
in consideration of his father's name release him from
his confinement, as soon as he should prove the sincerity of his offers, and himself deserving of your compassion and forgiveness. "
X. That a further order was given, that every servant of the Rajah's should be disarmed, and a certain
number only left to attend him under a strict watch.
In a quarter of an hour after this conversation, two
companies of grenadier sepoys were sent to the Rajah's palace by the said Hastings; and the Rajah,
being dismayed by this unexpected and unprovoked
treatment, wrote two short letters or petitions to the
said Hastings, under the greatest apparent dejection
at the outrage and dishonor he had suffered in the
eyes of his subjects, (all imprisonment of persons of
rank being held in that country as a mark of indelible infamy, and lie also, in all probability, considering
his imprisonment as a prelude to the taking away hlis
life,) and in the first of the said petitions he did ex
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 363
press himself in this manner: " Whatever may be
your pleasure, do it with your own hands; I am your
slave. What occasion can there be for a guard? "
And in the other: " My honor was bestowed upon
me by your Highness. It depends on you alone to
take away or not to take away the country out of my
hands. In case my honor is not left to me, how
shall I be equal to the business of the government?
Whoever, with his hands in a supplicating posture,
is ready with his life and property, what necessity
can there be for him to be dealt with in this way? "
XI. That, according to the said Hastings's narrative of this transaction, he, the said Hastings, on account of the apparent despondency in which these letters were written, "thought it necessary to give
him some encouragement," and therefore wrote him
a note of a few lines, carelessly and haughtily expressed, and little calculated to relieve him from his
uneasiness, promising to send to him a person to explain particulars, and desiring him " to set his mind
at rest, and not to conceive any terror or apprehension. " To which an answer of great humility and
dejection was received.
XII. That the report of the Rajah's arrest did
cause a great alarm in the city, in the suburbs of
which the Rajah's palace is situated, and in the adjacent country. The people were filled with dismay
and anger at the outrage and indignity offered to a
prince under whose government they enjoyed much
ease and happiness. Under these circumstances the
Rajah desired leave to perform his ablutions; which
was refused, unless he sent for water, and performed
? ? ? ? 364 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
that ceremony on the spot. This he did. And soon
after some of the people, who now began to surround
the palace in considerable numbers, attempting to
force their way into the palace, a British officer, commanding the guard upon the Rajah, struck one of
them with his sword. The people grew more and
more irritated; but a message being sent from the
Rajah to appease them, they continued, on this interposition, for a while quiet. Then the Rajah retired
to a sort of stone pavilion, or bastion, to perform his
devotions, the guard of sepoys attending him in this
act of religion. In the mean time a person of the
meanest station, called a chubdar, at best answering
to our common beadle or tipstaff, was sent with a
message (of what nature does not appear) from Mr.
Hastings, or the Resident, to the prince under arrest: and this base person, without regard to the
rank of the prisoner, or to his then occupation, addressed him in a rude, boisterous manner, "passionately and insultingly," (as the said Rajah has without contradiction asserted,) " and, reviling him with a loud voice, gave both him and his people the vilest
abuse"; and the manner and matter being observable and audible to the multitude, divided only by an
open stone lattice from the scene within, a firing
commenced from without the palace; on which the
Rajah again interposed, and did what in him lay to
suppress the tumult, until, an English officer striking
him with a sword, and wounding him on the hand,
the people no longer kept any measures, but broke
through the inclosure of the palace. The insolent
tipstaff was first cut down, and the multitude falling
upon the sepoys and the English officers, the whole,
or nearly the whole, were cut to pieces: the soldie. s
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 365
having been ordered to that service without any
charges for their pieces. And in this tumult, the Rajah, being justly fearful of falling into the hands of
the said Hastings, did make his escape over the walls
of his palace, by means of a rope formed of his turban
tied together, into a boat upon the river, and from
thence into a place of security; abandoning many of
his family to the discretion of the said Hastings, who
did cause the said palace to be occupied by a company of soldiers after the flight of the Rajah.
XIII. That the Rajah, as soon as he had arrived
at a place of refuge, did, on the very day of his flight,
send a suppliant letter to the said Hastings, filled
with expressions of concern (affirmed by the said
Hastings to be slight expressions) for what had happened, and professions (said by the said Hastings
to be indefinite and unapplied) of fidelity: but the
said Warren Hastings, though bound by his duty to
hear the said Rajah, and to prevent extremities, if
possible, being filled with insolence and malice, did
not think it " becoming of him to make any reply to
it; and that he thought he ordered the bearer of the
letter to be told that it required none. "
XIV. That this letter of submission having been
received, the said Rajah, not discouraged or provoked
from using every attempt towards peace and reconciliation, did again apply, on the very morning following, to Richard Johnson, Esquire, for his interposition, but to no purpose; and did likewise, with as little effect, send a message to Cantoo Baboo, native
steward and confidential agent of the said HIastings,
which was afterwards reduced into writing, " to ex
? ? ? ? 366 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
culpate himself from any concern in what had passed,
and to profess his obedience to his will [Hastings's]
in whatever way he should dictate. " But the said
HIastings, for several false and contradictory reasons
by him assigned, did not take any advantage of the
said opening, attributing the same to artifice in order
to gain time; but instead of accepting the said submissions, he did resolve upon flight from the city of Benares, and did suddenly fly therefrom in great confusion.
XV. That the said Hastings did persevere in his
resolutions not to listen to any submission or offer of
accommodation whatsoever, though several were afterwards made through almost every person who might be supposed to have influence with him, but did cause
the Rajah's troops to be attacked and fallen upon,
though they only acted on the defensive, (as the Rajah has without contradiction asserted,) and thereby, and by his preceding refusal of propositions of the
same nature, and by other his perfidious, unjust,
and tyrannical acts by him perpetrated and done,
and by his total improvidence in not taking any one
rational security whatsoever against the inevitable
consequences of those acts, did make himself guilty
of all the mutual slaughter and devastation which
ensued, as well as, in his opinion, of the imminent
danger of the total subversion of the British power in
India by the risk of his own person, which he asserts
that it did run, - as also " that it ought not to be
thought that he attributed too much consequence to
his personal safety, when he supposed the fate of the
British empire in India connected with it, and that,
mean as its substance may be, its accidental qualities
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 367
were equivalent to those which, like the characters
of a talisman in the Arabian mythology, formed the
essence of the state itself, representation, title, and the
estimate of the public opinion; that, had he fallen,
such a stroke would be universally considered as decisive of the national fate; every state round it would
have started into arms against it, and every subject of
its own dominion would, according to their several abilities, have become its enemy ": and that he knew and has declared, that, though the said stroke was not struck,
that great convulsions did actually ensue from his proceedinigs, "that half the province of Oude was in a
state of as complete rebellion as that of Benares," and
that invasions, tumults, and insurrections were occasioned thereby in various other parts.
XVI. That the said Warren Hastings, after he had
collected his forces from all parts, did, with little difficulty or bloodshed, subsequent to that time, on the
part of his troops, and in a few days, entirely reduce
the said province of Benares; and did, after the said
short and little resisted hostility, in cold blood, issue
an order for burning a certain town, in which he accused the people at large of having killed, "upon
what provocation he knows not," certain wounded
sepoys, who were prisoners: which order, being generally given, when it was his duty to have made some inquiry concerning the particular offenders, but which
he did never make, or cause to be made, was cruel,
inhumaii, and tended to the destruction of the revenues of the Company; aild that this, and other acts
of devastation, did cause the loss of two months of
the collections.
? ? ? ? 368 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
XVII. That the said Warren Hastings did not only refuse the submissions of the said Rajah, which
were frequently repeated through various persons
after he had left Benares, and even after the defeat
of certain of the Company's forces, but did proscribe
and except him from the pardons which he issued
after he had satisfied his vengeance on the province
of Benares.
XVIII. That the said Warren Hastings did send
to a certain castle, called Bidzigur, the residence of
a person of high rank, called Panna, the mother of
the Rajah of Benares, with whom his wife, a woman
described by the said Hastings " to be of all amiable
character," and all the other women of the Rajah's
family, and the survivors of the family of his father,
Bulwant Sing, did then reside, a body of troops to
dispossess them of her said residence, and to seize
upon her money and effects, although she did not
stand, even by himself, accused of any offence whatsoever, - pretending, but not proving, and not attempting to prove, then nor since, that the treasures therein contained were the property of the Rajah,
and not her own; and did, in order to stimulate the
British soldiery to rapine and outrage, issue to them
several barbarous orders, contrary to the practice of
civilized nations, relative to their property, movable
and immovable, attended with unworthy and unbecoming menaces, highly offensive to the manners of
the East and the particular respect there paid to the
female sex, - which letters. and orders, as well as the
letters which he had received from the officers concerned, the said Hastings did unlawfully suppress,
until forced by the disputes between him and the said
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS.
369
officers to discover the same: and the said orders are
as follow.
" I am this instant favored with yours of yesterday.
Mine of the same date [22d October, 1781] has before this time acquainted you with my resolutions
and sentiments respecting the Rannee [the mother
of the Rajah Cheyt Sing]. I think every demand she
has made to you, except that of safety and respect for
her person, is unreasonable. If the reports brought
to me are true, your rejecting her offers, or any negotiations with her, would soon obtain you possession of
the fort upon your own terms. I apprehend that she
will contrive to defraud the captors of a considerable.
part of the booty by being suffered to retire without:
examination. But this is your consideration, and not:
mine. I should be very sorry that your officers and soldiers lost ANY PART of the reward to which they
are so well entitled; but I cannot make any objection,
as you must be the best judge of the expediency of the
promised indulgence to the Rannee. What you have
engaged for I will certainly ratify; but as to permitting the Rannee to hold the purgunnah of Hurluk,
or any other in the zemindary, without being subject to
the authority of the zemindar, or any lands whatever,
or indeed making any conditions with her for a provision, I will never consent to it. " And in another letter
to the same person, dated Benares, 3d of November,
1781, in which he, the said Hastings, consents that
the said woman of distinction should be allowed to
evacuate the place and to receive protection, he did
express himself as follows. " I am willing to grant
her now the same conditions to which I at first consented, provided that she delivers into your possession, within twenty-four hours from the time of re -- VOL. . VIII. 24
? ? ? ? 370 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
ceiving your message, the fort of Bidzigur, with the
treasure and effects lodged therein by Cheyt Sing or
any of his adherents, with the reserve only, as above
mentioned, of such articles as you shall think necessary to her sex and condition, or as you shall be disposed
of yourself to indulge her with. If she complies, as I
expect she will, it will be your part to secure the fort
and the property it contains for the benefit of yourself and detachment. I have only further to request
that you will grant an escort, if Panna should require it, to conduct her here, or wherever she may
choose to retire to. But should she refuse to execute the promise she has made, or delay it beyond the
term of twenty-four hours, it is my positive injunction
that you immediately put a stop to any further intercourse or negotiation with her, and on no pretext renew it. If she disappoints or trifles with me, after I have subjected my duan to the disgrace of returning
ineffecturally, and of course myself to discredit, I shall
consider it as a wanton affront and indignity which 1
can never forgive, nor will I grant her any conditions
whatever, but leave her exposed to those dangers
which she has chosen to risk rather than trust to the
clemency and generosity of our government. I think
she cannot be ignorant of these consequences, and will
not venture to incur them; and it is for this reason I
place a dependence on her offers, and have consented
to send my duan to her. "
XIX. That the castle aforesaid being surrendered
upon terms of safety, and on express condition of not
attempting to search their persons, the woman of rank
aforesaid, her female relations and female depenldants,
to the number of three hundred, besides children,
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 371
evacuated the said castle; but the spirit of rapacity
being excited by the letters and other proceedings
of the said Hastings, the capitulation was shamefully
and outrageously broken, and, in despite of the endeavors of the commanding officer, the said woman of
high condition, and her female dependants, friends,
and servants, were plundered of the effects they carried with them, and which were reserved to them in
the capitulation of their fortress, and in their persons
were otherwise rudely and inhumanly dealt with by
the licentious followers of the camp: for which outrages, represented to the said Hastings with great
concern by the commanding officer, Major Popham,
he, the said Hastings, did afterwards recommend a
late and fruitless redress.
XX. That the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, in exciting the hopes of the military by declaring them well entitled to the plunder of the fortress aforesaid, the residence of the mother and other women of the Rajah of Benares, and by wishing the
troops to secure the same for their own benefit, did
advise and act in direct contradiction to the orders
of the Court of Directors, and to his own opinion of
his public duty, as well as to the truth and reality
thereof, -- he having some years before entered in
writing the declaration which follows.
" The very idea of prize-money suggests to my remembrance the former disorders which arose in our
army from this source, and had almost proved fatal to
it. Of this circumstance you must be sufficiently
apprised, and of the necessity for discouraging every
expectation of this kind amongst the troops. It is to
be avoided like poison. The bad effects of a similar
? ? ? ? 372 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
measure were but too plainly felt in a former period,
and our honorable masters did not fail on that occasion to reprobate with their censure, in the most severe terms, a practice which they regarded as the source of infinite evils, and which, if established,
would in their judgment necessarily bring corruption
and ruin on their army. "
XXI. That the said Hastings, after he had given
the license aforesaid, and that in consequence thereof the booty found in the castle, to the amount of
23,27,813 current rupees, was distributed among the
soldiers employed in its reduction, the said Hastings
did retract his declaration of right, and his permission to the soldiers to appropriate to themselves the
plunder, and endeavored, by various devices and artifices, to explain the same away, and to recover the
spoil aforesaid for the use of the Company; and
wholly failing in his attempts to resume by a breach
of faith with the soldiers what he had unlawfully disposed of by a breach of duty to his constituents, he
attempted to obtain the same as a loan, in which attempt he also failed; and the aforesaid money being
the only part of the treasures belonging to the Rajah,
or any of his family, that had been found, he was
altogether frustrated in the acquisition of every part
of that dishonorable object which alone he pretended
to, and pursued through a long series of acts of injustice, inhumanity, oppression, violence, and bloodshed, at the hazard of his person and reputation, and, in his own opinion, at the risk of the total subversion
of the British empire.
XXII. That the said Warren Hastings, after the
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 373
commission of the offences aforesaid, being well aware
that he should be called to an account for the same,
did, by the evil counsel and agency of Sir Elijah Impey, Knight, his Majesty's chief-justice, who was then
out of the limits of his jurisdiction, cause to be taken
at Benares, before or by the said Sir Elijah Impey,
and through the intervention, not of the Company's
interpreter, but of a certain private interpreter of
his, the said Hastings's, own appointment, and a dependant on him, called Major Davy, several declarations and depositions by natives of Hindostan, - and did also cause to be taken before the said Sir Elijah
Impey several attestations in English, made by British subjects, and which were afterwards transmitted
to Calcutta, and laid before the Council-General,some of which depositions were upon oath, some
upon honor, and others neither upon oath nor honor,
but all or most of which were of an irregular and irrelevant nature, and not fit or decent to be taken by
a British magistrate, or to be transmitted to a British
government.
XXIII. That one of the said attestations (but not
on oath) was made by a principal minister of the
Nabob of Oude, to whom the said Hastings had some
time before proposed to sell the sovereignty of that
very territory of Benares; and that one other attestation (not upon oath) was made by a native woman of
distinction, whose son he, the said Hastings, did actually promote to the government of Benares, vacated
by the unjust expulsion of the Rajah aforesaid, and
who in her deposition did declare that she considered
the expelled Rajah as her enemy, and that he never
did confer with her, or suffer her to be acquainted
with any of his designs.
? ? ? ? 374 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
XXIV. That, besides the depositions of persons interested in the ruin of the Rajah, others were made
by persons who then received pensions from him, the
said Hastings; and several of the affidavits were
made by persons of mean condition, and so wholly
illiterate as not to be able to write their names.
XXV. That he, the said Hastings, did also cause
to be examined by various proofs and essays, the result of which was delivered in upon honor, the quality of certain military stores taken by the British troops from the said Rajah of Benares; and upon the
report that the same were of a good quality, and executed by persons conversant in the making of good
military stores, although the cannon was stated by the
same authority to be bad, he, the said Warren Hastings, from the report aforesaid, did maliciously, and
contrary to the principles of natural and legal reason,
infer that the insurrection which had been raised by
his own violence and oppression, and rendered for a
time successful by his own improvidence, was the
consequence of a premeditated design to overturn the
British empire in India, and to exterminate therefrom the British nation; which design, if it had been
true, the said Hastings might have known, or rationally conjectured, and ought to have provided against.
And if the said Hastings had received any credible
information of such design, it was his duty to lay the
same before the Council Board, and to state the same
to the Rajah, when he was in a condition to have
given an answer thereto or to observe thereon, and
not, after he had proscribed and driven him from his
dominions, to have inquired into offences to justify
the previous infliction of punishment.
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 375
XXVI. That it does not appear, that, in taking
the said depositions, there was any person present on
the part of the Rajah to object to the competence or
credibility or relevancy of any of the said affidavits
or other attestations, or to account, otherwise than as
the said deponents did account, for any of the facts
therein stated; nor were any copies thereof sent to
the said Rajah, although the Company had a milister at the place of his residence, namely, in the
camp of the Mahratta chief Sindia, so as to enable
him to transmit to the Company any matters which
might induce or enable them to do justice to the injured prince aforesaid. And it does not appear that the said Hastings has ever produced any witness, letter, or other document, tending to prove that the said Rajah ever did carry on any hostile negotiation
whatever with any of those powers with whom he was
charged with a conspiracy against the Company, previous to the period of the said Hastings's having arrested him in his palace, although he, the said
Hastings, had various agents at the courts of all
those princes, - and that a late principal agent and
near relation of a minister of one them, the Rajah
of Berar, called Benaram Pundit, was, at the time of
the tumult at Benares, actually with the said Hastings, and the said Benaram Pundit was by him
highly applauded for his zeal and fidelity, and was
therefore by him rewarded with a large pension on
those very revenues which he had taken from the
Rajah Cheyt Sing, and if such a conspiracy had previously existed, the Mahratta minister aforesaid must have known, and would have attested it.
XXVII. That it appears that the said Warren
? ? ? ? 376 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
Hastings, at the time that he formed his design of
seizing upon the treasures of the Rajah of Benares,
and of deposing him, did not believe him guilty of
that premeditated project for driving the English out
of India with which he afterwards thought fit to
charge him, or that he was really guilty of any other
great offence: because he has caused it to be deposed, that, if the said Rajah should pay the sum of
money by him exacted, " he would settle his zemindary upon him on the most eligible footing "; whereas, if he had conceived him to have entertained traitorous designs against the Company, from whom
he held his tributary estate, or had been otherwise
guilty of such enormous offences as to make it necessary to take extraordinary methods for coercing him,
it would not have been proper for him to settle upon
such a traitor and criminal the zemindary of Benllares,
or any other territory, upon the most eligible, or
upon any other footing whatever: whereby the said
Hastings has by his own stating demonstrated that
the money intended to have been exacted was not as
a punishment for crimes, but that the crimes were
pretended for the purpose of exacting money.
XXVIII. That the said Warren Hastings, in order to justify the acts of violence aforesaid to the
Court of Directors, did assert certain false facts,
known by him to be such, and did draw from them
certain false and dangerous inferences, utterly subversive of the rights of the princes and subjects dependent on the British nation in India, contrary to the principles of all just government, and highly dishonorable to that of Great Britain: namely, that the
"Rajah of Benares was not a vassal or tributary
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 377
prince, and that the deeds which passed between him
and the board, upon the transfer of the zemindary in
1775, were not to be understood to bear the quality
and force of a treaty upon optional conditions between equal states; that the payments to be made by
him were not a tribute, but a rent; and that the instruments by which his territories were conveyed to
him did not differ from common grants to zemindars
who were merely subjects; but that, being nothing
more than a common zemindar and mere subject, and
the Company holding the acknowledged rights of his
former sovereign, held an absolute authority over him;
that, in the known relations of zemindar to the sovereign authority, or power delegated by it, he owed a
personal allegiance and an implicit and unreserved obedience to that authority, at the forfeiture of his zemindary, and even of his life and property. " Whereas the said Hastings did well know, that, whether the payments from the Rajah were called rent or tribute,
having been frequently by himself called the one and
the other, and that of whatever'nature the instruments by which he held might have been, he did not
consider him as a common zemindar or landholder,
but as far independent as a tributary prince could
be: for he did assign as a reason for receiving his
rent rather within. the Company's province than in
his own capital, that it would not " frustrate the intention of rendering the Rajah independent; that, if
a Resident was appointed to receive the money as it
became due at Benares, such a Resident would unavoidably acquire an influence over the Rajah, and
over his country, which would in effect render him
the master of both; that this consequence might not,
perhaps, be brought completely to pass without a
? ? ? ? 378 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
struggle, and many appeals to the Council, which,
in a government constituted like this, cannot fail to
terminate against the Rajah, and, by the construction to which his opposition to the agent would be
liable, might eventually draw on him severe restrictions, and end in reducing him to the mean and depraved state of a zemindar. "
XXIX. And the said Hastings, in the said Minute
of Consultation, having enumerated the frauds, embezzlements, and oppressions which would ensue from
the Rajah's being in the dependent state aforesaid,
and having obviated all apprehensions from giving
to him the implied symbols of dominion, did assert,
"that, without such appearance, he would expect
from every change of government additional demands
to be made upon him, and would of course descend
to all the arts of intrigue and concealment practised
by other dependent Rajahs, which would keep him indigyent and weak, and eventually prove hurtful to the
Company; but that, by proper encouragement and
protection, he might prove a profitable dependant, an
useful barrier, and even a powerful ally to the Company; but that he would be neither, if the conditions
of his connection with the Company were left open to
future variations. "
XXX. That, if the fact had been true that the
Rajah of Benares was merely an eminent landholder
or any other subject, the wicked and dangerous doctrine aforesaid, namely, that he owed a personal allegiance and an implicit and unreserved obedience to the sovereign authority, at the forfeiture of his zemindary, and even of his life and property, at the dis
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 379
cretion of those who held or fully represented the sovereign authority, doth leave security neither for life nor property to any persons residing under the Company's protection; and that no such powers, nor any powers of that nature, had been delegated to the said
Warren Hastings by any provisions of the act of Parliament appointing a Governor-General and Council
at Fort William in Bengal.
XXXI. That the said Warren Hastings did also
advance another dangerous and pernicious principle
in justification of his violent, arbitrary, and iniquitous
actings aforesaid: namely, " that, if he had acted with
an unwarrantable rigor, and even injustice, towards
Cheyt Sing, yet, first, if he did believe that extraordinary means were necessary, and those exerted with a strong hand, to preserve the Company's interests from
sinking under the accumulated weight that oppressed
them, or, secondly, if he saw a political necessity for
curbing the overgrown power of a great member of
their dominion, and to make it contribute to the relief of their pressing exigencies, that his error would
be excusable, as prompted by an excess of zeal for
their [the Company's] interest, operating with too
strong a bias on his judgment; but that much stronger is the presumption that such acts are founded on just principles than that they are the result of a misguided judgment. " That the said doctrines are, in
both the members thereof, subversive of all the principles of just government, by empowering a governor with delegated authority, in the first case, on his own
private belief concerning the necessities of the state,
not to levy an impartial and equal rate of taxation
suitable to the circumstances of the several members
? ? ? ? 380 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
of the community, but to select any individual from
the same as an object of arbitrary and unmeasured
imposition, - and, in the second case, enabling the
same governor, on the same arbitrary principles, to
determine whose property should be considered as
overgrown, and to reduce the same at his pleasure.
PART IV.
SECOND REVOLUTION IN BENARES.
THAT the said Warren Hastings, after he had, in
the manner aforesaid, unjustly and violently expelled
the Rajah Cheyt Sing, the lord or zemindar of Benlares, from his said lordship or zemindary, did, of
his own mere usurped authority, and without any
communication with the other members of the Council of Calcutta, appoint another person, of the name
of Mehip Narrain, a descendant by the mother from
the late Rajah, Bulwant Sing, to the government of
Benares; and on account or pretence of his youth
and inexperience (the said Mehip Narrain not being
above twenty years old) did appoint his father, Durbege Sing, to act as his representative or administrator of his affairs; but did give a controlling authority to the British Resident over both, notwithstanding his
declarations before mentioned of the mischiefs likely
to happen to the said country from the establishment
of a Resident, and his opinion since declared in a
letter to the Court of Directors, dated from this very
place (Benares) the 1st of October, 1784, to the same
or stronger effect, in case " agents are sent into the
country, and armed with authority for the purposes
of vengeance and corruption, -for to no other will
they be applied. "
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 381
That the said Warren Hastings did, by the same
usurped authority, entirely set-aside all the agreements made between the late Rajah and the Company (which were real agreements with the state of Benares, in the person of the lord or prince thereof,
and his heirs); and without any form of trial, inquisition, or other legal process, for forfeiture, of the
privileges of the people to be governed by magistrates of their own, and according to their natural
laws, customs, and usages, did, contrary to the said
agreement, separate the mint and the criminal justice from the said government, and did vest the
mint in the British Resident, and the criminal justice
in a Mahomedan native of his own appointment; ahd
did enhance the tribute to be paid from the province,
from two hundred and fifty thousand pounds annually, limited by treaty, or thereabouts, to three hundred and thirty thousand pounds for the first year, and to four hundred thousand for every year after; and
did compel the administrator aforesaid (father to the
Rajah) to agree to the same; and did, by the same
usurped authority, illegally impose, and cause to be
levied, sundry injudicious and oppressive duties on
goods and merchandise, which did greatly impair the
trade of the province, and threaten the utter ruin
thereof; and did charge several pensions on the said
revenues, of his own mere authority; and did send
and keep up various bodies of the Company's troops
in the said. country; and did perform sundry other
acts with regard to the said territory, in total subversion of the rights of the sovereign and the people,
and in violation of the treaties and agreements aforesaid.
That the said Warren Hastings, being absent, on
? ? ? ? 382 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
account of ill health, from the Presidency of Calcutta,
at a place called Nia Serai, about forty miles distant
therefrom, did carry on a secret correspondence with
the Resident at Benares, and, under color that the instalments for the new rent or tribute were in arrear, did of his own authority make, in about one year, a
second revolution in the government of the territory
aforesaid, and did order and direct that Durbege
Sing aforesaid, father of the Rajah, and administrator of his authority, should be deprived of his office and of his lands, and thrown into prison, and did
threaten him with death: although he, the said Warren Hastings, had, at the time of the making his new arrangement, declared himself sensible that the rent
aforesaid might require abatement; although he was
well apprised that the administrator had been for
two months of his administration in a weak and languid state of body, and wholly incapable of attending to the business of the collections; though a considerable drought had prevailed in the said province, and did consequently affect the regularity and produce of
the collections; and though he had other sufficient
reason to believe that the said administrator had not
himself received from the collectors of government
and the cultivators of the soil the rent in arrear: yet
he, the said Warren Hastings, without any known
process, or recording any answer, defence, plea, exculpation, or apology from the party, or recording any other grounds of rigor against him, except the
following paragraph of a letter from the Resident,
not only gave the order as aforesaid, but did afterwards, without laying any other or better ground before the Council-General, persuade them to, and
did procure from them, a confirmation of the afore
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 383
said cruel and illegal proceedings, the correspondence
concerning which had not been before communicated:
he pleading his illness for not communicating the
same, though that illness did not prevent him from
carrying on correspondence concerning the deposition
of the said administrator, and other important affairs
in various places.
That in. the letter to the Council requiring the
confirmation of his acts aforesaid the said Warren
Hastings did not only propose the confinement of the
said administrator at Benares, although by his imprisonment he must have been in a great measure
disabled from recovering the balances due to him,
and for the non-payment of which he was thus imprisoned, but did propose, as an alternative, his imprisonment at a remote fortress, out of the said territory, and in the Company's provinces, called Chunar: desiring them to direct the Resident at Benares " to
exact from Baboo Durbege Sing every rupee of the
collections which it shall appear that he has made
and not brought to account, and either to confine
him at Benares, or to send him a prisoner to Chunar,
and to keep him in confinement until he shall have
discharged the whole of the amount due from him. "
And the said Warren Hastings did assign motives of
passion and personal resentment for the said unjust
and rigorous proceedings, as follows: " I feel myself,
and may be allowed on such ain occasion to acknowledge it, personally hurt at the ingratitude of this man,
and at the discredit which his ill conduct has thrown
on my appointment of him. He has deceived me; he
has offended against the government which I then
represented. " And as a further reason for depriving him of his jaghire, (or salary out of land,) he did
? ? ? ? 384 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
insinuate in the said letter, but without giving or
offering any proof, " that the said Rajah had been
guilty of little and mean peculations, although the
appointments assigned to him had been sufficient to
free him from the temptations thereto. "
That it appears, as it might naturally have been
expected, that the wife of the said administrator, the
daughter of Bulwant Sing, the late Rajah of Benares,
and her son, the reigning Rajah, did oppose to the
best of their power, but by what remonstrances or
upon what plea the said Warren Hastings did never
inform the Court of Directors, the deposition, imprisonment, and confiscation of the estates of the husband
of the one and the father of the other; but that the
said Hastings, persisting in his malice, did declare to
the said Council as follows: " The opposition made
by the Rajah and the old Rannee, both equally incapable of judging for themselves, does certainly originate from some secret influence, which ought to be
checked by a decided and peremptory declaration of
the authority of the board, and a denunciation of their
displeasure at their presumption. "
That the said Warren Hastings, not satisfied with
tile injuries done and the insults and disgraces offered to the family aforesaid, did, in a manner unparalleled, except by an act of his own on another occasion, fraudulently and inhumanly endeavor to make the wife and son of the said administrator, contrary
to the sentiments and the law of Nature, the instruments of his oppressions: directing, " that, if they"
(the mother and son aforesaid) " could be induced to
yield the appearance of a cheerful acquiescence in the
new arrangement, and to adopt it as a measure formed
with their participation, it would be better than that it
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 385
should be done by a declared act of compulsion; but
that at all events it ought to be done. "
That, in consequence of the pressing declarations
aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings did on his special
recommendation appoint, in opposition to the wishes
and desires of the Rajah and his mother, another person to the administration of his affairs, called Jagher Deo Seo.
That, the Company having sent express orders for
the sending the Resident by them before appointed
to Benares, the said Warren Hastings did strongly
oppose himself to the same, and did throw upon the
person appointed by the Company (Francis Fowke,
Esquire) several strong, but unspecified, reflections.
and aspersions, contrary to the duty he owed to the
Company, and to the justice he owed to all its ser --
vants.
That the said Resident, being appointed by the
votes of the rest of the Council, in obedience to the
reiterated orders of the Company, and in despite of
the opposition of the said Hastings, did proceed to Benares, and, on the representation of the parties, and the submission of the accounts of the aforesaid Durbege Sing to an arbitrator, did find him, the said Durbege Sing, in debt to the Company for a sum
not considerable enough to justify the severe treatment of the said Durbege Sing: his wife and son complaining, at or about the same time, that the balances due to him from the aumils, or sub-collectors, had been received by the new administrators and
carried to his own credit, in prejudice and wrong to
the said Durbege Sing; which representation, the
only one that has been transmitted on the part of the
said sufferers, has not been contradicted.
VOL. VIII. 25
? ? ? ? 386 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
That it appears that the said Durbege Sing did
afterwards go to Calcutta for the redress of his grievances, and that it does not appear that the same were
redressed, or even his complaints heard, Hut he received two peremptory orders from the Supreme
Council to leave the said city and to return to Benares; that, on his return to Bellares, and being there
met by Warren Hastings aforesaid, he, the said Warren Hastings, although he had reason to be well assured that the said Durbege Sing was in possession of small or no substance, did again cruelly and inhumanly, and without any legal authority, order the
said Durbege Sing to be strictly imprisoned; and
the said Durbege Sing, in consequence of the vexations, hardships, and oppressions aforesaid, died in a
short time after, insolvent, but whether in prison or
not does not appear.
PART V.
THIRD REVOLUTION IN BENARES.
THAT the said Warren Hastings, having, in the
manner before recited, divested Durbege Sing of the
administration of the province of Benares, did, of his
own arbitrary will and pleasure, and against the remonstrances of the Rajah and his mother, (in whose
name and in whose right the said Durbege Sing,
father of the one, and husband of the other, had administered the affairs of the government,) appoint
a person called Jagher Deo Seo to administer the
same.
That the new administrator, warned by the severe
example made of his predecessor, is represented by
the said Warren Hastings as having made it his
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 387
" avowed principle " (as it might be expected it should
be) "' that the sum fixed for the revenue must be collected. " And he did, upon the principle aforesaid,
and by the means suggested by a principle of that
sort, accordingly levy from the country, and did regularly discharge to the British Resident at Benares,
by monthly payments, the sums imposed by the said
Warren Hastings, as it is asserted by the Resident,
Fowke; but the said Warren Hastings did assert that
his annual collections did not amount to more than
Lac 37,37,600, or thereabouts, which he says is much
short of the revenues of the province, and is by about
twenty-four thousand pounds short of his agreement.
That it further appears, that, notwithstanding
the new administrator aforesaid was appointed two
months, or thereabouts, after the beginning of the
Fusseli year, that is to say, about the middle of November, 1782, and the former administrator had collected a certain portion of the revenues of that year,
amounting to 17,0001. and upwards, yet he, the said
new administrator, upon the unjust and destructive
principle aforesaid, suggested by the cruel and violent
proceedings of the said Warren Hastings towards his
predecessor, did levy on the province, within the said
year, the whole amount of the revenues to be collected, in addition to the sum collected by his predecessor aforesaid.
That, on account of a great drought which prevailed in the province aforesaid, a remission of certain duties in grain was proposed by the chief criminal judge at Benares; but the administrator aforesaid, being fearful that the revenue should fall short in his hands, did strenuously oppose himself to the
necessary relief to the inhabitants of the said city.
? ? ? ? 388 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
That, notwithstanding the cantonment of several
bodies of the Company's troops within the province,
since the abolition of the native government, it became subject in a particular manner to the depredations of the Rajahs upon the borders; insomuch that
in one quarter no fewer than thirty villages had been
sacked and burned, and the inhabitants reduced to
the most extreme distress.
That the Resident, in his letter to the board at
Calcutta, did represent that the collection of the revenue was become very difficult, and, besides the extreme drought, did assign for a cause of that difficulty the following. " That there is also one fund which in former years was often applied in this country to remedy temporary inconveniences in the revenue, and which in the present year does not exist.
This was the private fortunes of merchants and shroffs
[bankers] resident in Benares, from whom aumils
[collectors] of credit could obtain temporary loans
to satisfy the immediate calls of the Rajah. These
sums, which used to circulate between the aumil and
the merchant, have been turned into a different channel, by bills of exchange to defray the expenses of
government, both on the west coast of India, and
also at Madras. " To which representation it does
not appear that any answer was given, or that any
mode of redress was adopted in consequence thereof.
That the said Warren Hastings, having passed
through the province of Benares (Gazipore) in his
progress towards Oude, did, in a letter dated from the
city of Lucknow, the 2d of April, 1784, give to the
Council Board at Calcutta an account, highly dishonorable to the British government, of the effect of
the arrangements made by himself in the years 1781
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 389
and 1782, in the words following. "Having contrived, by making forced stages, while the troops of
my escort miarched at the ordinary rate, to make a
stay of five days at Benares, I was thereby furnished
with the means of acquiring some knowledge of the
state of the province, which I am anxious to communicate to you. Indeed, the inquiry, which was in a
great degree obtruded upon me, affected me with very
mortifying reflections on my inability to apply it to
any useful purpose. From the confines of Buxar to
Benares I was followed and fatigued by the clamors
of the discontented inhabitants. It was what I expected in a degree, because it is rare that the exercise
of authority should prove satisfactory to all who are
the objects of it. The distresses which were produced by the long-continued drought unavoidably
tended to heighten the general discontent; yet I have
reason to fear that the cause existed principally in a
defective, if not a corrupt and oppressive administration. Of a multitude of petitions which were presented to me, and of which I took minutes, every one that did not relate to a personal grievance contained
the representation of one and the same species of oppression, which is in its nature of an influence most
fatal to the future cultivation. The practice to which
I allude is this. It is affirmed that the aumils and
renters exact from the proprietors of the actual harvest a large increase in kind on their stipulated rent:
that is, from those who hold their pottah by the tenure
of paying one half of the produce of their crops, either
the whole without subterfuge, or a large proportion of
it by a false measurement or other pretexts; and from
those whose engagements are for a fixed rent in money, the half, or a greater proportion, is taken in kind.
? ? ? ? 390 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
This is in effect a tax upon the industry of the inhabitants: since there is scarce a field of grain in the province, I might say not one, which has not been
preserved by the incessant labor of the cultivator,
by digging wells for their supply, or watering them
from the wells of masonry with which their country
abounds, or from the neighboring tanks, rivers, and
nullahs. The people who imposed on themselves this
voluntary and extraordinary labor, and not unattended with expense, did it on the expectation of reaping the profits of it; and it is certain they would not have
done it, if they had known that their rulers, from
whom they were entitled to an indemnification, would
take from them what they had so hardly earned.
If the same administration continues, and the country shall again labor under a want of rain, every field will be abandoned, the revenue fail, and thousands perish through want of subsistence: for who will labor for the sole benefit of others, and to make himself the
subject of exaction? These practices are to be imputed to the Naib himself" (the administrator forced
by the said Warren Hastings on the present Rajah
of Benares). "The avowed principle on which he
acts, and which he acknowledged to myself, is, that
the whole sum fixed for the revenue of the province
must be collected, - and that, for this purpose, the
deficiency arising in places where the crops have
failed, or which have been left uncultivated, must
be supplied from the resources of others, where the
soil has been better suited to the season, or the industry of the cultivators hath been more successfully exerted: a principle which, however specious and
plausible it may at first appear, certainly tends to
the most pernicious and destructive consequences. If
? ? ? ?