By the last advices, something of the sum
extorted
remained unpaid.
Edmund Burke
The situation of
man is the preceptor of his duty.
Upon the plan which I laid down, and to which I
beg leave to return, I was considering the conduct of
VOL. II. 30
? ? ? ? 466 SPEECH ON, MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
the Company to those nations which are indirectly
subject to their authority. The most considerable
of the dependent princes is the Nabob of Oude. My
right honorable friend,* to whom we owe the remedial bills on your table, has already pointed out to
you, in one of the reports, the condition of that
prince, and as it stood in the time he alluded to. I
shall only add a few circumstances that may tend to
awaken some sense of the manner in which the condition of the people is affected by that of the prince,
and involved in it, - and to show you, that, when we
talk of the sufferings of princes, we do not lament the
oppression of individuals, i- and that in these cases the
high and the low suffer together.
In the year 1779, the Nabob of Oude represented,
thlough the British resident at his court, that the
number of Company's troops stationed in his dominions was a main cause of his distress, - and that all
those which he was not bound by treaty to maintain
should be withdrawn, as they had greatly diminished
his revenue and impoverished his country. I will
read you, if you please, a few extracts from these
representations.
He states, "that the country and cultivation are
abandoned, and this year in particular, from the
excessive drought of the season, deductions of many
lacs having been allowed to the farmers, who are
still left unsatisfied "; and then he proceeds with a
long detail of his own distress, and that of his family
and all his dependants; and adds, " that the newraised brigade is not only quite useless to my government, but is, moreover, the cause of much loss both in revenues and customs. The detached body of troops
* Mr. Fox.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 467
under European officers bring nothing but confusion
to the affairs of my government, and are entirely their
own masters. " Mr. Middleton, Mr. Hastings's confidential resident, vouches for the truth of this representation in its fullest extent. "I am concerned to confess that there is too good ground for this plea.
The misfortune has been general throughout the whole
of the vizier's [the Nabob of Oude] dominions, obvious to everybody; and so fatal have been its consequences, that no person of either credit or character would enter. into engagements with government for
farming the country. " He then proceeds to give
strong instances of the general calamity, and its
effects.
It was now to be seen what steps the Governor-General and Council took for the relief of this distressed
country, long laboring under the vexations of men,
and now stricken by the hand of God. The case of
a general famine is known to relax the severity even
of the most rigorous government. - Mr. Hastings
does not deny or show the least doubt of the fact.
The representation is humble, and almost abject. On
this representation from a great prince of the distress
of his subjects, Mr. Hastings falls into a violent passion,- such as (it seeims) would be unjustifiable in
any one who speaks of any part-of his conduct. He
declares "that the demands, the tone in which they
were asserted, and the season in which they were
made, are all equally alarming, and appear to him to
require an adequate degree of firmness in this board
in opposition to them. " He proceeds to deal out very
unreserved language on the person and character of
the Nabob and his ministers. He declares, that, in a
division between him and the Nabob, " the strongest
? ? ? ? 468 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
must decide. " With regard to the urgent and instant
necessity from the failure of the crops, he says, "that
perhaps expedients may be found for affording a grad-.
ual relief from the burden of which he so heavily
complains, and it shall be my endeavor to seek them
out": and lest he should be suspected of too much
haste to alleviate sufferings and to remove violence,
he says, "that these must be gradually applied, and
their complete effect may be distant; and this, I conceive, is all he can claim of right. "
This complete effect of his lenity is distant indeed.
Rejecting this demand, (as he calls the Nabob's abject
supplication,) he attributes it, as he usually does all
things of the kind, to the division in their government,
and says, " This is a powerful motive with me (however inclined I might be, upon any other occasion, to
yield to somepart of his demand) to give them an absolute and unconditional refusal upon the present, -- and even to bring to punishment, if my influence can produce
that effect, those incendiaries who have endeavored to
make themselves the instruments of division between us. "
Here, Sir, is much heat and passion, - but no more
consideration of the distress of the country, from a
failure of the means of subsistence, and (if possible)
the worse evil of an useless'and, licentious soldiery,
than if they were the most contemptible of all trifles.
A letter is written, in consequence, in such a style of
lofty despotism as I believe has hitherto been unexampled and unheard of in the records of the East.
The troops were continued. The' gradual. relief, whose
effect was to be so distant,' has never been substantially
and beneficially applied, - and the country is ruined.
Mr. Hastings, two years after, when it was too late,
Paw the absolute necessity of a removal of the intoler
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 469
able grievance of this licentious soldiery, which, under
pretence of defending it, held the country under military execution. A new treaty and arrangement, according to the pleasure of Mr. Hastings, took place; and this new treaty was broken in the old manner,
in every essential article. The soldiery were again
sent, and again set loose. The effect of all his manceuvres, from which it seems he was sanguine
enough to entertain hopes, upon the state of the
country, he himself informs us, -" The event has
proved the reverse of these hopes, and accumulation
of distress, debasement, and dissatisfaction to the Nabob, and disappointment and disgrace to me. -Every
measure [which he had himself proposed] has been
so conducted as to give him cause of displeasure.
There are no officers established by which his affairs
could be regularly conducted: mean, incapable, and
indigent men have been appointed. A number of the
districts without authority, and without the means
of personal protection; some of them have been murdered by the zemindars, and those zemindars, instead
of punishment, have been permitted to retain their
zemindaries, with independent authority; all the other zemindars suffered to rise up in rebellion, and to
insult the authority of the sircar, without any attempt made to suppress them; and the Company's
debt, instead of being discharged by the assignments
and extraordinary sources of money provided for that
purpose, is likely to exceed even the amount at which it
stood at the time in which the arrangement with his Excellency was concluded. " The House will smile at the
resource on which the Directors take credit as such a
certainty in their curious account.
This is Mr. Hastings's own narrative of the effects
? ? ? ? 470 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
of his own settlement. This is the state of the coulntry which we have been told is in perfect peace and
order; and, what is curious, he informs us, that every
part of this was foretold to him'in the order and manner
in which it happened, at the very time he made his arrangement of men and measures.
The invariable course of the Company's policy is
this: either they set up some prince too odious to
maintain himself without the necessity of their assistance, or they soon render him odious by making
him the instrument of their government. In that
case troops are bountifully sent to him to maintain
his authority. That he should have no want of assistance, a civil gentleman, called a Resident, is kept at
his court, who, under pretence of providing duly for
the pay of these troops, gets assignments on the revenue into his hands. Under his provident management, debts soon accumulate; new assignments are made for these debts; until, step by step, the whole
revenue, and with it the whole power of the country,
is delivered into his hands. The military do not behold without a virtuous emulation the moderate gains
of the civil department. They feel that in a country
driven to habitual rebellion by the civil government
the military is necessary; and they will not permit
their services to go unrewarded. Tracts of country
are delivered over to their discretion. Then it is
found proper to convert their commanding officers
into farmers of revenue. Thus, between the well-paid
civil and well-rewarded military establishment, the
situation of the natives may be easily conjectured.
The authority of the regular and lawful government
is everywhere and in every point extinguished. Disorders and violences arise; they are repressed by
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 471
other disorders and other violences. Wherever the
collectors of the revenue and the farming colonels
and majors move, ruin is about them, rebellion before
and behind them. The people in crowds fly out of
the country; and the frontier is guarded by lines of
troops, not to exclude an enemy, but to prevent the
escape of the inhabitants.
By these means, in the course of not more than
four or five years, this once opulent and flourishing
country, which, by the accounts given in the Bengal
consultations, yielded more than three crore of sicca
rupees, that is, above three millions sterling, annually,
is reduced, as far as I can discover, in a matter purposely involved in the utmost perplexity, to less than one million three hundred thousand pounds, and that
exacted by every mode of rigor that can be devised.
To complete the business, most of the wretched remnants of this revenue are mortgaged, and delivered into the hands of the usurers at Benares (for there
alone are to be found some lingering remains of the
ancient wealth of these regions) at an interest of near
thirty per cent per annum.
The revenues in this manner failing, they seized
upon the estates of every person of eminence in the
country, and, under the name of resumption, confiscated their property. I wish, Sir, to be understood universally and literally, when I assert that there is
not left one man of property and substance for his
rank in the whole of these provinces, in provinces
which are nearly the extent of England and Wales
taken together: not one landholder, not one banker,
not one merchant, not one even of those who usually
perish last, the ultimum moriens in a ruined state, not
one farmer of revenue.
? ? ? ? 472 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
One country for a while remained, which stood as
an island in the midst of the grand waste of the
Company's domiaion. My right honorable friend, in
his admirable speech on moving the bill, just touched
the situation, the offences, and the punishment of a
native prince, called Fizulla Khan. This man, by
policy and force, had protected himself from the general extirpation of the Rohilla chiefs. He was secured (if that were any security) by a treaty. It was stated
to you, as it was stated by the enemies of that unfortunate man, "that the whole of his country is what thle whole country of the Rohillas was, cultivated like
a garden, without one neglected spot in it. " Another
accuser says, -" Fyzoolah Khan, though a bad soldier, [that is the true source of his misfortune,] has approved himself a good aumil, --, having, it is supposed, in the course of a few years, at least doubled the population and revenue of his country. " In another part of the correspondence he is charged with making his country an asylum for the oppressed
peasants who fly from the territories of Oude. The
improvement of his revenue, arising from this single
crime, (which Mr. Hastings considers as tantamount
to treason,) is stated at an hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year.
Dr. Swift somewhere says, that he who could make
two blades of grass grow where but one grew before
was a greater benefactor to the human race than all
the politicians that ever existed. This prince, who
would have been deified -by antiquity, who would
have been ranked with Osiris, and Bacchus, and
Ceres, and the divinities most propitious to men,
was, for those very merits, by name attacked by the
Company's government, as a cheat, a robber, a traitor.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 473
In the same breath in which he was accused as a
rebel, he was ordered at once to furnish five thousand horse. On delay, or (according to the technical
phrase, when any remonstrance is made to them) ~' on
evasion," -he was declared a violator of treaties, and
everything he had was to be taken from him. Not
one word, however, of horse in this treaty.
The territory of this Fizulla'Khn, Mr. Speaker,
is less than the County of Norfolk. It -is an inland
country, full seven hundred miles from any seaport,
and not distinguished for any one considerable branch
of manufacture whatsoever. From this territory several very considerable sums had at several times been
paid to the British resident. The demand of cavalry,
without a shadow or decent pretext of right, amounted to three hundred thousand a year more, at the lowest computation; and it is stated, by the last person sent to negotiate, as a demand of little use, if it could
be complied with,- but that the compliance was impossible, as it amounted to more than his territories
could supply, if there had been no other demand
upon him. Three hundred thousand pounds a year
from an inland country not so large as Norfolk!
The thing most extraordinary was to hear the
culprit defend himself from the imputation of his
virtues, as if they had been the blackest offences.
He extenuated the superior cultivation of his couintry. He denied its population. He endeavored to
prove that he had often sent' back the poor peasant
that sought shelter with him. - I can make no observation on this.
After a variety of extortions and vexations, too fatiguing to you, too disgusting to me, to go through
with, they found "that they ought to be in a bet.
? ? ? ? 474 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
ter state to warrant forcible means"; they therefore
contented themselves with a gross sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds for their present
demand. They offered him, indeed, an indemnity
from their exactions in future for three hundred
thousand pounds more. But he refused to buy their
securities, - pleading (probably with truth) his poverty; but if the plea were not founded, in my opinion very wisely: not choosing to deal anly more in that dangerous commodity of the Company's faith;
and thinking it better to oppose distress and unarmed
obstinacy to uncolored exaction than to subject himself to be considered as a cheat, if he should make a
treaty in the least beneficial to himself.
Thus they executed an exemplary punishment on
Fizulla Khan for the culture of his country. But,
conscious that the prevention of evils is the great object of all good regulation, they deprived him of the
means of increasing that criminal cultivation in future,
by exhausting his coffers; and that the population of
his country should no more be a standing reproach
and libel on the Company's government, they bound
him by a positive engagement not to afford any shelter whatsoever to the farmers and laborers who should
seek refuge in his territories from the exactions of the
British residents in Oude. When they had done all
this effectually, they gave him a full and complete
acquittance from all charges of rebellion, or of any
intention to rebel, or of his having originally had any
interest in, or any means of, rebellion.
These intended rebellions are one of the Company's
standing resources. When money has been thought
to be heaped up anywhere, its owners are universally
accused of rebellion, until they are acquitted of their
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 475
money and their treasons at once. The money once
taken, all accusation, trial, and punishment ends. It
is so settled a resource, that I rather wonder how it
comes to be omitted in the Directors' account; but I
take it for granted this omission will be supplied in
their next edition.
The Company stretched this resource to the full
extent, when they accused two'old women, in the remotest corner of India, (who could have no possible view or motive to raise disturbances,) of being engaged in rebellion, with an intent to drive out the English nation, in whose protection, purchased by
money and secured by treaty, rested the sole hope of
their existence. But the Company wanted money,
and the old women must be guilty of a plot. They
were accused of rebellion, and they were convicted
of wealth. Twice had great sums been extorted from
them, and as often had the British faith guarantied
the remainder. A body of British troops, with one
of the military farmers-general at their head, was sent
to seize upon the castle in which these helpless women
resided. Their chief eunuchs, who were their agents,
their guardians, protectors, persons of high rank according to the Eastern manners, and of great trust, were thrown into dungeons, to make them discover
their hidden treasures; and there they lie at present.
The lands assigned for the maintenance of the women
were seized and confiscated. Their jewels and effects
were taken, and set up to a pretended auction in an
obscure place, and bought'at such a price as the gentlemen thought proper to give. No account has ever been transmitted of the articles or produce of this sale.
What money was obtained is unknown, or what terms
were stipulated for the maintenance of these despoiled
? ? ? ? 476 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
and forlorn creatures: for by some particulars it appears as if an engagement of the kind was made.
Let me here remark, once for all, that though the
act of 1773 requires that an account of all proceedings should be diligently transmitted, that this, like
all the other injunctions of the law, is totally despised,
and that half at least of the most important papers
are intentionally withheld.
I wish you, Sir, to advert particularly, in this transaction, to the quality and the numbers of the persons
spoiled, and the instrument by whom that spoil was
made. These ancient matrons, called the Begums,
or Princesses, were of the first birth and quality in
India: the one mother, the other wife, of the late Nabob of Oude, Sujah Dowlah, a prince possessed of extensive and flourishing dominions, and the second man in the Mogul Empire. This prince (suspicious,
and not unjustly suspicious, of his son and successor)
at his death committed his treasures and his family
to the British faith. That family and household consisted of two thousand women, to which were added
two other seraglios of near kindred, and said to be extremely numerous, and (as I am well informed) of
about fourscore of the Nabob's children, with all the
eunuchs, the ancient servants, and a multitude of the
dependants of his splendid court. These were all to
be provided, for present maintenance and future establishment, from the lands assigned as dower, and
from the treasures which he left to these matrons, in
trust for the whole family.
So far as to the objects of the spoil. The instrument
chosen by Mr. Hastings to despoil the relict of Sujah
Dowlah was her own son, the reigning Nabob of Oude.
It was the pious hand of a son that was selected to
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 477
tear from his mother and grandmother the provision
of their age, the maintenance of his brethren, and of
all the ancient household of his father. [Here a
laugh from some young members. ] The laugh is seasonable, and the occasion decent and proper.
By the last advices, something of the sum extorted remained unpaid. The women, in despair, refuse
to deliver more, unless their lands are restored, and
their ministers released from prison; but Mr. Hastings and his council, steady to their point, and consistent to the last in their conduct, write to the
resident to stimulate the son to accomplish the filial
acts he had brought so near to their perfection. " We
desire," say they in their letter to the resident,
(written so late as March last,) "' that you will inform us if any, and what means, have been taken for
recovering the balance due from the Begum [Princess] at Fyzabad; and that, if necessary, you recommend it to the vizier to enforce the most effectual means for that purpose. "
What their effectual means of enforcing demands
on women of high rank and. condition are I shall show
you, Sir, in a few minutes, when I represent to you
another of these plots and rebellions, which always in
India, though so rarely anywhere else, are the offspring of at easy condition and hoarded riches.
Benares is the capital city of the Indian religion.
It is regarded as holy by a particular and distinguished sanctity; and the Gentoos in general think
themselves as much obliged to visit it once in their
lives as the Mahometans to perform their pilgrimage.
to Mecca. By this means that city grew great in
commerce and opulence; and so effectually was it
secured by the pious veneration of that people, that:
? ? ? ? 478 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
in all wars and in all violences of power there was
so sure an asylum both for poverty and wealth, (as it
were under a divine protection,) that the wisest laws
and best assured free constitution could not better
provide for the relief of the one or the safety of the
other; and this tranquillity influenced to the greatest degree the prosperity, of all the country, and the
territory of which it was the capital. The interest of
money there was not more than half the usual rate in
which it stood in all other places. The reports have
fully informed you of the means and of the terms in
which this city and the territory called Ghazipoor, of
which it was the head, came under the sovereignty
of the East India Company.
If ever there was a subordinate dominion pleasantly circumstanced to the superior power, it was
this. A large rent or tribute, to the amount of two
hundred and sixty thousand pounds a year, was paid
in monthly instalments with the punctuality of a dividend at the Bank. If ever there was a prince who
could not have an interest in disturbances, it was-its
sovereign, the Rajah Cheit Sing. He was in possession of the capital of his religion, and a willing revenue was paid by the devout people who resorted to him from all parts. His sovereignty and his independence, except his tribute, was secured by every
tie. His territory was not much less than half of
Ireland, and displayed in all parts a degree of cultivation, ease, and plenty, under his frugal and paternal
management, which left him nothing to desire, either
~for honor or satisfaction.
This was the light in which this country appeared
to almost every eye. But Mr. Hastings beheld it
askance. Mr. Hastings tells us that it was reported of
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 479
this Cheit Sing, that his father left him a million sterling, and that he made annual accessions to the hoard.
Nothing could be so obnoxious to indigent power. So
much wealth could not be innocent. The House is
fully acquainted with the unfounded and unjust requisitions which were made upon this prince. The
question has been most ably and conclusively cleared
up in one of the reports of the select committee, and
in an answer of the Court of Directors to an extraordinary publication against them by their servant, Mr.
Hastings. But I mean to pass by these exactions as
if they were perfectly just and regular; and having
admitted them, I take what I shall now trouble you
with only as it serves to show the spirit of the Company's government, the mode in which it is carried
on, and the maxims on which it proceeds.
Mr. Hastings, from whom I take the doctrine, endeavors to prove that Cheit Sing was no sovereign
prince, but a mere zemindar, or common subject,
holding land by rent. If this be granted to him, it
is next to be seen under what terms he is of opinion
such a landholder, that is a British subject, holds his
life and property under the Company's government.
It is proper to understand well the doctrines of the
person whose administration has lately received such
distinguished approbation from the Company. His
doctrine is, -" That the Company, or the person delegated by it, holds an absolute authority over such zemindars;-that he [such a subject] owes an implicit and unreserved obedience to its authority, at the forfeiture even of his life and property, at the DISCRETION
of those who held or fully represented the sovereign
authority;- and that these rights are fully delegated'
to him, Mr. Hastings. "
? ? ? ? 480 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
Such is a British governor's idea of the condition
of a great zemindar holding. under a British authority; and this kind of authority he supposes fully delegated to him, -though no such delegation appears in any commission, instruction, or act of Parliament.
At his discretion he may demand of the substance of
any zemindar, over and above his rent or tribute, even
what he pleases, with a sovereign authority; and if he
does not yield an implicit, unreserved obedience to all
his commands, he forfeits his lands, his life, and his
property, at Mr. HIastingss discretion. But, extravagant, and even frantic, as these positions appear, they
are less so than what I shall now read to you; for he
asserts, that, if any one should urge an exemption
from more than a stated payments or should consider
the deeds which passed between him and the Board
" as bearing the quality and force of a treaty between
equal states," he says, " that such an opinion is itself
criminal to the state of which he is a subject; and
that he was himself amenable to its justice, if he gave
countenance to such a belief. " Here is a new species
of crime invented, that of countenancing a belief,but a belief of what? A belief of that which the
Court of Directors, Hastings's masters, and a committee of this House, have decided as this prince's indisputable right.
But supposing the Rajah of Benares to be a mere
subject, and that subject a criminal of the highest
form;_let us see what course was taken by an upright English magistrate. Did he cite this culprit before his tribunal? Did he make a charge? Did he produce witnesses? These are not forms; they are
parts of substantial and eternal justice. No, not a
word of all this. Mr. Hastings concludes him, in his
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 481
own mind, to be guilty: he makes this conclusion on
reports, on hearsays, on appearances, on rumors, on
conjectures, on presumptions; and even these never
once hinted to the party, nor publicly to any human
being, till the whole business was done.
But the Governor tells you his motive for this
extraordinary proceeding, so contrary to every mode
of justice towards either a prince or a subject, fairly
and without disguise; and he puts into your hands
the key of his whole conduct:-" I will suppose, for
a moment, that I have acted with unwarrantable
rigor towards Cheit Sing, and even with injustice. -
Let my MOTIVE be consulted. I left Calcutta, impressed with a belief that extraordinary means were necessary, and those exerted with a steady hand, to
preserve the Company's interests from sinking under
the accumulated weight which oppressed them. I saw
a political necessity for curbing the overgrown power
of a great member of their dominion, and for making
it contribute to the relief of their pressing exigencies. "
This is plain speaking; after this, it is no wonder that
the Rajah's wealth and his offence, the necessities
of the judge and the opulence of the delinquent, are
never separated, through the whole of Mr. Hastings's
apology. "The justice and policy of exacting a large
pecuniary mulct. " The resolution " to draw from his
guilt the means of relief to the Company's distresses. "
His determination " to make him pay largely for his
pardon, or to execute a severe vengeance for past delinquency. " That "as his wealth was great, and the Company's exigencies pressing, he thought it a measure of justice and policy to exact from him a large pecuniary mulct for their relief. . " -" The sum " (says
Mr. Wheler, bearing evidence, at his desire, to his
VOL. II. 31
? ? ? ? 482 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
intentions) " to which the Governor declared his resolution to extend his fine was forty or fifty lacs, that
is, four or five hundred thousand pounds; and that, if
he refused, he was to be removed from his zemindary
entirely; or by taking possession of his forts, to obtain,
out of the treasure deposited in them, the above sum for
the Company. "
Crimes so convenient, crimes so politic, crimes so
necessary, crimes so alleviating of distress, can never
be wanting to those who use no process, and who
produce no proofs.
But there is another serious part (what is not so? )
in this affair. Let us suppose that the power for
which Mr. Hastings contends, a power which no sovereign ever did or ever can vest in any of his subjects, namely, his own sovereign authority, to be conveyed by the act of Parliament to any man or
body of men whatsoever; it certainly was never
given. to Mr. Hastings. The powers given by the
act of 1773 were formal and official; they were
given, not to the Governor-General, but to the major
vote of the board, as a board, on discussion amongst
themselves, in their public character and capacity;
and their acts in that character and capacity were to
be ascertained by records and minutes of council.
The despotic acts exercised by Mr. Hastings were
done merely in his private character; and, if they
had been moderate and just, would still be the acts
of an usurped authority, and without any one of.
the legal modes of proceeding which could give him
competence for the most trivial exertion of power.
There was no proposition or deliberation whatsoever
in council, no minute on record, by circulation or
otherwise, to authorize his proceedings; no delega.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA -BILL. 483
tion of power to impose a fine, or to take any step to
deprive the Rajah of Benares of his government, his
property, or his liberty. The minutes of consultation assign to his journey a totally different object,
duty, and destination. Mr. Wheler, at his desire,
tells us long after, that he had a confidential conversation with him on various subjects, of which this
was the principal, in which Mr. Hastings notified to
him his secret intentions; "- and that he bespoke his
support of the measures which he intended to pursue
towards him (the Rajah). " This confidential discourse, and bespeaking of support, could give him no
power, in opposition to an express act of Parliament,
and the whole tenor of the orders. of the Court of
Directors.
In what manner the powers thus usurped were
employed is known to the whole world. All the
House knows that the design on the Rajah proved
as unfruitful as it was violent. The unhappy prince
was expelled, and his more unhappy country was
enslaved and ruined; but not a rupee was acquired.
Instead of treasure to recruit the Company's finances, wasted by their wanton wars and corrupt jobs,
they were plunged into a new war, which shook
their power in India to its foundation, and, to use
the Governor's own happy simile, might have dissolved it like a magic structure, if the talisman had
been broken.
But the success is no part of my consideration,
who should think just the same of this business, if the. spoil of one rajah had been fully acquired, and faithfully applied to the destruction of twenty other rajahs. Not only the. arrest of the Rajah in his palace was
unnecessary and unwarrantable, and calculated to stir
? ? ? ? 484 SPEECH'ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
up any manly blood which remained in his subjects;
but the despotic style and the extreme insolence of
language and demeanor, used to a person of great
condition among the politest people in the world, was
intolerable. Nothing aggravates tyranny so much
as contumely. Quicquid superbia in contumeliis was
charged by a great man of antiquity, as a principal
head of offence against the Governor-General of that
day. The unhappy people were still more insulted.
A relation, but an enemy to the family, a notorious
robber and villain, called Ussaun Sing, kept as a
hawk in a mew, to fly upon this nation, was set up
to govern there, instead of a prince honored and
beloved. But when the business of insult was accomplished, the. revenue was too serious a concern to be intrusted to such hands. Another was set up in his
place, as guardian to an infant.
But here, Sir, mark the effect of all these extraordinary means, of all this policy and justice. The
revenues, which had been hitherto. paid with such
astonishing punctuality, fell into arrear. The new
prince guardian was deposed without ceremony,'and with as little, cast into prison. The government
of that once happy country has been in the utmost confusion ever since such good order was taken about it. But, to complete the contumely offered to this undone
people, and to make them feel their servitude in all
its degradation and all its bitterness, the government
of their sacred city, the government of that Benares
which had been so respected by Persian and Tartar
conquerors, though of the Mussulman persuasion,that, even in the plenitude of their pride, power, and bigotry, no magistrate of that sect entered the place,. was now, delivered over by English hands to a' Ma
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. . 485
hometan; and an Ali Ibrahim Kh-an was introduced,
nnder the Company's authority, with power of life
and death, into the sanctuary of the Gentoo religion.
After this, the taking off a slight payment, cheerfully
made by pilgrims to a chief of their own rites, was
represented as a mighty benefit.
It'remains only to show, through the conduct in
this business, the spirit of the Company's government, and the respect they pay towards other prejudices, not less regarded in the East than those of religion-: I mean the reverence paid to the female sex in general, and particularly to women of high rank
and condition. During the general confusion of the
country of Ghazipoor, Panna, the mother of. Cheit
Sing, was lodged &with her train. in a castle called
Bidg6 Gur,: in which were likewise deposited a large
portion of the treasures of her son, or,more. probably
her own. To whomsoever they belonged was indifferent: for, though: no charge of rebellion was made
on this woman, (which' was rather singular, as it
would have cost nothing,) they were resolved to secure her with her fortune. . The castle was besieged
by Major Popham.
There was no great reason to apprehend that
soldiers ill paid, that soldiers who thought they had
been defrauded of their plunder on former services
of the same kind, would not have been sufficiently
attentive to the spoil they were expressly come for;
but the gallantry and generosity of the profession
was, justly suspected, as being likely to set bounds
to military rapaciousness. The Company's first civil
magistrate discovered the greatest uneasiness lest
the women should have anything preserved to them.
Terms tending to put some restraint on military
? ? ? ? 486 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
violence were granted. He writes a letter to Mr.
Popham, referring to some letter written before to
the same effect, which I do not remember to have
seen'; but it shows his anxiety on this subject. Hear
himself:'-" I think every demand she has made on
you, except that of safety and respect to her person,
is unreasonable. If the reports brought to me are
true, your rejecting her offers, or any negotiation,
would soon obtain you the fort upon your own terms.
I apprehend she will attempt to defraud the captors
of a considerable part of their booty, by being suffered
to retire without examination. But this is your concern, 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 you must be the best judge of the promised indulgence to the Ranny: what you have engaged for I will certainly ratify;
but as to suffering the Ranny to hold the purgunna of Hurlich, or any other zemindary, without being subject to the authority of the zemindar, orany lands whatsoever, or indeed making any condition with her for a provision, I will never consent. "
Here your Governor stimulates a rapacious and
licentious soldiery to the personal search of women,
lest these unhappy creatures should avail themselves
of the protection of their sex to secure any supply
for their necessities; and he positively orders that
no stipulation should be made for any provision for
them. The widow and mother of a prince, well informed of her miserable situation, and the cause of! it, a woman of this rank became a suppliant to the
domestic servant of Mr. Hastings, (they are his own
words that I read,) "' imploring his intercession that
she may be relieved from the hardships and dangers
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 487
of her present situation, and offering to surrender the
fort, and the treasure and valuable effects contained in
it, provided she can be assured of safety andprotection
to her person and honor, and to that of her family and
attendants. " He is so good as to consent to this,
"provided she surrenders everything of value, with
the reserve only of such articles as you shall think
necessary to her condition, or as you yourself shall be
disposed to indulge her with. - But should she refuse
to execute the promise she has made, or delay it beyond th6 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 ineffectually, and of course myself to
discredit, I shall consider it as a wanton affront and
indignity which I 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. "
The dreadful secret hinted at by the merciful Gov-,ernor -in the latter part of the letter is well understood in India, where those who suffer, corporeal indignities generally expiate the offences of others with their own blood. However, in spite of all these,
the temper of the military did, some way or other,
operate. They came to terms which have never been
transmitted. It appears that a fifteenth per cent
of the plunder was reserved to the captives, of which
? ? ? ?
man is the preceptor of his duty.
Upon the plan which I laid down, and to which I
beg leave to return, I was considering the conduct of
VOL. II. 30
? ? ? ? 466 SPEECH ON, MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
the Company to those nations which are indirectly
subject to their authority. The most considerable
of the dependent princes is the Nabob of Oude. My
right honorable friend,* to whom we owe the remedial bills on your table, has already pointed out to
you, in one of the reports, the condition of that
prince, and as it stood in the time he alluded to. I
shall only add a few circumstances that may tend to
awaken some sense of the manner in which the condition of the people is affected by that of the prince,
and involved in it, - and to show you, that, when we
talk of the sufferings of princes, we do not lament the
oppression of individuals, i- and that in these cases the
high and the low suffer together.
In the year 1779, the Nabob of Oude represented,
thlough the British resident at his court, that the
number of Company's troops stationed in his dominions was a main cause of his distress, - and that all
those which he was not bound by treaty to maintain
should be withdrawn, as they had greatly diminished
his revenue and impoverished his country. I will
read you, if you please, a few extracts from these
representations.
He states, "that the country and cultivation are
abandoned, and this year in particular, from the
excessive drought of the season, deductions of many
lacs having been allowed to the farmers, who are
still left unsatisfied "; and then he proceeds with a
long detail of his own distress, and that of his family
and all his dependants; and adds, " that the newraised brigade is not only quite useless to my government, but is, moreover, the cause of much loss both in revenues and customs. The detached body of troops
* Mr. Fox.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 467
under European officers bring nothing but confusion
to the affairs of my government, and are entirely their
own masters. " Mr. Middleton, Mr. Hastings's confidential resident, vouches for the truth of this representation in its fullest extent. "I am concerned to confess that there is too good ground for this plea.
The misfortune has been general throughout the whole
of the vizier's [the Nabob of Oude] dominions, obvious to everybody; and so fatal have been its consequences, that no person of either credit or character would enter. into engagements with government for
farming the country. " He then proceeds to give
strong instances of the general calamity, and its
effects.
It was now to be seen what steps the Governor-General and Council took for the relief of this distressed
country, long laboring under the vexations of men,
and now stricken by the hand of God. The case of
a general famine is known to relax the severity even
of the most rigorous government. - Mr. Hastings
does not deny or show the least doubt of the fact.
The representation is humble, and almost abject. On
this representation from a great prince of the distress
of his subjects, Mr. Hastings falls into a violent passion,- such as (it seeims) would be unjustifiable in
any one who speaks of any part-of his conduct. He
declares "that the demands, the tone in which they
were asserted, and the season in which they were
made, are all equally alarming, and appear to him to
require an adequate degree of firmness in this board
in opposition to them. " He proceeds to deal out very
unreserved language on the person and character of
the Nabob and his ministers. He declares, that, in a
division between him and the Nabob, " the strongest
? ? ? ? 468 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
must decide. " With regard to the urgent and instant
necessity from the failure of the crops, he says, "that
perhaps expedients may be found for affording a grad-.
ual relief from the burden of which he so heavily
complains, and it shall be my endeavor to seek them
out": and lest he should be suspected of too much
haste to alleviate sufferings and to remove violence,
he says, "that these must be gradually applied, and
their complete effect may be distant; and this, I conceive, is all he can claim of right. "
This complete effect of his lenity is distant indeed.
Rejecting this demand, (as he calls the Nabob's abject
supplication,) he attributes it, as he usually does all
things of the kind, to the division in their government,
and says, " This is a powerful motive with me (however inclined I might be, upon any other occasion, to
yield to somepart of his demand) to give them an absolute and unconditional refusal upon the present, -- and even to bring to punishment, if my influence can produce
that effect, those incendiaries who have endeavored to
make themselves the instruments of division between us. "
Here, Sir, is much heat and passion, - but no more
consideration of the distress of the country, from a
failure of the means of subsistence, and (if possible)
the worse evil of an useless'and, licentious soldiery,
than if they were the most contemptible of all trifles.
A letter is written, in consequence, in such a style of
lofty despotism as I believe has hitherto been unexampled and unheard of in the records of the East.
The troops were continued. The' gradual. relief, whose
effect was to be so distant,' has never been substantially
and beneficially applied, - and the country is ruined.
Mr. Hastings, two years after, when it was too late,
Paw the absolute necessity of a removal of the intoler
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 469
able grievance of this licentious soldiery, which, under
pretence of defending it, held the country under military execution. A new treaty and arrangement, according to the pleasure of Mr. Hastings, took place; and this new treaty was broken in the old manner,
in every essential article. The soldiery were again
sent, and again set loose. The effect of all his manceuvres, from which it seems he was sanguine
enough to entertain hopes, upon the state of the
country, he himself informs us, -" The event has
proved the reverse of these hopes, and accumulation
of distress, debasement, and dissatisfaction to the Nabob, and disappointment and disgrace to me. -Every
measure [which he had himself proposed] has been
so conducted as to give him cause of displeasure.
There are no officers established by which his affairs
could be regularly conducted: mean, incapable, and
indigent men have been appointed. A number of the
districts without authority, and without the means
of personal protection; some of them have been murdered by the zemindars, and those zemindars, instead
of punishment, have been permitted to retain their
zemindaries, with independent authority; all the other zemindars suffered to rise up in rebellion, and to
insult the authority of the sircar, without any attempt made to suppress them; and the Company's
debt, instead of being discharged by the assignments
and extraordinary sources of money provided for that
purpose, is likely to exceed even the amount at which it
stood at the time in which the arrangement with his Excellency was concluded. " The House will smile at the
resource on which the Directors take credit as such a
certainty in their curious account.
This is Mr. Hastings's own narrative of the effects
? ? ? ? 470 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
of his own settlement. This is the state of the coulntry which we have been told is in perfect peace and
order; and, what is curious, he informs us, that every
part of this was foretold to him'in the order and manner
in which it happened, at the very time he made his arrangement of men and measures.
The invariable course of the Company's policy is
this: either they set up some prince too odious to
maintain himself without the necessity of their assistance, or they soon render him odious by making
him the instrument of their government. In that
case troops are bountifully sent to him to maintain
his authority. That he should have no want of assistance, a civil gentleman, called a Resident, is kept at
his court, who, under pretence of providing duly for
the pay of these troops, gets assignments on the revenue into his hands. Under his provident management, debts soon accumulate; new assignments are made for these debts; until, step by step, the whole
revenue, and with it the whole power of the country,
is delivered into his hands. The military do not behold without a virtuous emulation the moderate gains
of the civil department. They feel that in a country
driven to habitual rebellion by the civil government
the military is necessary; and they will not permit
their services to go unrewarded. Tracts of country
are delivered over to their discretion. Then it is
found proper to convert their commanding officers
into farmers of revenue. Thus, between the well-paid
civil and well-rewarded military establishment, the
situation of the natives may be easily conjectured.
The authority of the regular and lawful government
is everywhere and in every point extinguished. Disorders and violences arise; they are repressed by
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 471
other disorders and other violences. Wherever the
collectors of the revenue and the farming colonels
and majors move, ruin is about them, rebellion before
and behind them. The people in crowds fly out of
the country; and the frontier is guarded by lines of
troops, not to exclude an enemy, but to prevent the
escape of the inhabitants.
By these means, in the course of not more than
four or five years, this once opulent and flourishing
country, which, by the accounts given in the Bengal
consultations, yielded more than three crore of sicca
rupees, that is, above three millions sterling, annually,
is reduced, as far as I can discover, in a matter purposely involved in the utmost perplexity, to less than one million three hundred thousand pounds, and that
exacted by every mode of rigor that can be devised.
To complete the business, most of the wretched remnants of this revenue are mortgaged, and delivered into the hands of the usurers at Benares (for there
alone are to be found some lingering remains of the
ancient wealth of these regions) at an interest of near
thirty per cent per annum.
The revenues in this manner failing, they seized
upon the estates of every person of eminence in the
country, and, under the name of resumption, confiscated their property. I wish, Sir, to be understood universally and literally, when I assert that there is
not left one man of property and substance for his
rank in the whole of these provinces, in provinces
which are nearly the extent of England and Wales
taken together: not one landholder, not one banker,
not one merchant, not one even of those who usually
perish last, the ultimum moriens in a ruined state, not
one farmer of revenue.
? ? ? ? 472 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
One country for a while remained, which stood as
an island in the midst of the grand waste of the
Company's domiaion. My right honorable friend, in
his admirable speech on moving the bill, just touched
the situation, the offences, and the punishment of a
native prince, called Fizulla Khan. This man, by
policy and force, had protected himself from the general extirpation of the Rohilla chiefs. He was secured (if that were any security) by a treaty. It was stated
to you, as it was stated by the enemies of that unfortunate man, "that the whole of his country is what thle whole country of the Rohillas was, cultivated like
a garden, without one neglected spot in it. " Another
accuser says, -" Fyzoolah Khan, though a bad soldier, [that is the true source of his misfortune,] has approved himself a good aumil, --, having, it is supposed, in the course of a few years, at least doubled the population and revenue of his country. " In another part of the correspondence he is charged with making his country an asylum for the oppressed
peasants who fly from the territories of Oude. The
improvement of his revenue, arising from this single
crime, (which Mr. Hastings considers as tantamount
to treason,) is stated at an hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year.
Dr. Swift somewhere says, that he who could make
two blades of grass grow where but one grew before
was a greater benefactor to the human race than all
the politicians that ever existed. This prince, who
would have been deified -by antiquity, who would
have been ranked with Osiris, and Bacchus, and
Ceres, and the divinities most propitious to men,
was, for those very merits, by name attacked by the
Company's government, as a cheat, a robber, a traitor.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 473
In the same breath in which he was accused as a
rebel, he was ordered at once to furnish five thousand horse. On delay, or (according to the technical
phrase, when any remonstrance is made to them) ~' on
evasion," -he was declared a violator of treaties, and
everything he had was to be taken from him. Not
one word, however, of horse in this treaty.
The territory of this Fizulla'Khn, Mr. Speaker,
is less than the County of Norfolk. It -is an inland
country, full seven hundred miles from any seaport,
and not distinguished for any one considerable branch
of manufacture whatsoever. From this territory several very considerable sums had at several times been
paid to the British resident. The demand of cavalry,
without a shadow or decent pretext of right, amounted to three hundred thousand a year more, at the lowest computation; and it is stated, by the last person sent to negotiate, as a demand of little use, if it could
be complied with,- but that the compliance was impossible, as it amounted to more than his territories
could supply, if there had been no other demand
upon him. Three hundred thousand pounds a year
from an inland country not so large as Norfolk!
The thing most extraordinary was to hear the
culprit defend himself from the imputation of his
virtues, as if they had been the blackest offences.
He extenuated the superior cultivation of his couintry. He denied its population. He endeavored to
prove that he had often sent' back the poor peasant
that sought shelter with him. - I can make no observation on this.
After a variety of extortions and vexations, too fatiguing to you, too disgusting to me, to go through
with, they found "that they ought to be in a bet.
? ? ? ? 474 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
ter state to warrant forcible means"; they therefore
contented themselves with a gross sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds for their present
demand. They offered him, indeed, an indemnity
from their exactions in future for three hundred
thousand pounds more. But he refused to buy their
securities, - pleading (probably with truth) his poverty; but if the plea were not founded, in my opinion very wisely: not choosing to deal anly more in that dangerous commodity of the Company's faith;
and thinking it better to oppose distress and unarmed
obstinacy to uncolored exaction than to subject himself to be considered as a cheat, if he should make a
treaty in the least beneficial to himself.
Thus they executed an exemplary punishment on
Fizulla Khan for the culture of his country. But,
conscious that the prevention of evils is the great object of all good regulation, they deprived him of the
means of increasing that criminal cultivation in future,
by exhausting his coffers; and that the population of
his country should no more be a standing reproach
and libel on the Company's government, they bound
him by a positive engagement not to afford any shelter whatsoever to the farmers and laborers who should
seek refuge in his territories from the exactions of the
British residents in Oude. When they had done all
this effectually, they gave him a full and complete
acquittance from all charges of rebellion, or of any
intention to rebel, or of his having originally had any
interest in, or any means of, rebellion.
These intended rebellions are one of the Company's
standing resources. When money has been thought
to be heaped up anywhere, its owners are universally
accused of rebellion, until they are acquitted of their
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 475
money and their treasons at once. The money once
taken, all accusation, trial, and punishment ends. It
is so settled a resource, that I rather wonder how it
comes to be omitted in the Directors' account; but I
take it for granted this omission will be supplied in
their next edition.
The Company stretched this resource to the full
extent, when they accused two'old women, in the remotest corner of India, (who could have no possible view or motive to raise disturbances,) of being engaged in rebellion, with an intent to drive out the English nation, in whose protection, purchased by
money and secured by treaty, rested the sole hope of
their existence. But the Company wanted money,
and the old women must be guilty of a plot. They
were accused of rebellion, and they were convicted
of wealth. Twice had great sums been extorted from
them, and as often had the British faith guarantied
the remainder. A body of British troops, with one
of the military farmers-general at their head, was sent
to seize upon the castle in which these helpless women
resided. Their chief eunuchs, who were their agents,
their guardians, protectors, persons of high rank according to the Eastern manners, and of great trust, were thrown into dungeons, to make them discover
their hidden treasures; and there they lie at present.
The lands assigned for the maintenance of the women
were seized and confiscated. Their jewels and effects
were taken, and set up to a pretended auction in an
obscure place, and bought'at such a price as the gentlemen thought proper to give. No account has ever been transmitted of the articles or produce of this sale.
What money was obtained is unknown, or what terms
were stipulated for the maintenance of these despoiled
? ? ? ? 476 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
and forlorn creatures: for by some particulars it appears as if an engagement of the kind was made.
Let me here remark, once for all, that though the
act of 1773 requires that an account of all proceedings should be diligently transmitted, that this, like
all the other injunctions of the law, is totally despised,
and that half at least of the most important papers
are intentionally withheld.
I wish you, Sir, to advert particularly, in this transaction, to the quality and the numbers of the persons
spoiled, and the instrument by whom that spoil was
made. These ancient matrons, called the Begums,
or Princesses, were of the first birth and quality in
India: the one mother, the other wife, of the late Nabob of Oude, Sujah Dowlah, a prince possessed of extensive and flourishing dominions, and the second man in the Mogul Empire. This prince (suspicious,
and not unjustly suspicious, of his son and successor)
at his death committed his treasures and his family
to the British faith. That family and household consisted of two thousand women, to which were added
two other seraglios of near kindred, and said to be extremely numerous, and (as I am well informed) of
about fourscore of the Nabob's children, with all the
eunuchs, the ancient servants, and a multitude of the
dependants of his splendid court. These were all to
be provided, for present maintenance and future establishment, from the lands assigned as dower, and
from the treasures which he left to these matrons, in
trust for the whole family.
So far as to the objects of the spoil. The instrument
chosen by Mr. Hastings to despoil the relict of Sujah
Dowlah was her own son, the reigning Nabob of Oude.
It was the pious hand of a son that was selected to
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 477
tear from his mother and grandmother the provision
of their age, the maintenance of his brethren, and of
all the ancient household of his father. [Here a
laugh from some young members. ] The laugh is seasonable, and the occasion decent and proper.
By the last advices, something of the sum extorted remained unpaid. The women, in despair, refuse
to deliver more, unless their lands are restored, and
their ministers released from prison; but Mr. Hastings and his council, steady to their point, and consistent to the last in their conduct, write to the
resident to stimulate the son to accomplish the filial
acts he had brought so near to their perfection. " We
desire," say they in their letter to the resident,
(written so late as March last,) "' that you will inform us if any, and what means, have been taken for
recovering the balance due from the Begum [Princess] at Fyzabad; and that, if necessary, you recommend it to the vizier to enforce the most effectual means for that purpose. "
What their effectual means of enforcing demands
on women of high rank and. condition are I shall show
you, Sir, in a few minutes, when I represent to you
another of these plots and rebellions, which always in
India, though so rarely anywhere else, are the offspring of at easy condition and hoarded riches.
Benares is the capital city of the Indian religion.
It is regarded as holy by a particular and distinguished sanctity; and the Gentoos in general think
themselves as much obliged to visit it once in their
lives as the Mahometans to perform their pilgrimage.
to Mecca. By this means that city grew great in
commerce and opulence; and so effectually was it
secured by the pious veneration of that people, that:
? ? ? ? 478 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
in all wars and in all violences of power there was
so sure an asylum both for poverty and wealth, (as it
were under a divine protection,) that the wisest laws
and best assured free constitution could not better
provide for the relief of the one or the safety of the
other; and this tranquillity influenced to the greatest degree the prosperity, of all the country, and the
territory of which it was the capital. The interest of
money there was not more than half the usual rate in
which it stood in all other places. The reports have
fully informed you of the means and of the terms in
which this city and the territory called Ghazipoor, of
which it was the head, came under the sovereignty
of the East India Company.
If ever there was a subordinate dominion pleasantly circumstanced to the superior power, it was
this. A large rent or tribute, to the amount of two
hundred and sixty thousand pounds a year, was paid
in monthly instalments with the punctuality of a dividend at the Bank. If ever there was a prince who
could not have an interest in disturbances, it was-its
sovereign, the Rajah Cheit Sing. He was in possession of the capital of his religion, and a willing revenue was paid by the devout people who resorted to him from all parts. His sovereignty and his independence, except his tribute, was secured by every
tie. His territory was not much less than half of
Ireland, and displayed in all parts a degree of cultivation, ease, and plenty, under his frugal and paternal
management, which left him nothing to desire, either
~for honor or satisfaction.
This was the light in which this country appeared
to almost every eye. But Mr. Hastings beheld it
askance. Mr. Hastings tells us that it was reported of
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 479
this Cheit Sing, that his father left him a million sterling, and that he made annual accessions to the hoard.
Nothing could be so obnoxious to indigent power. So
much wealth could not be innocent. The House is
fully acquainted with the unfounded and unjust requisitions which were made upon this prince. The
question has been most ably and conclusively cleared
up in one of the reports of the select committee, and
in an answer of the Court of Directors to an extraordinary publication against them by their servant, Mr.
Hastings. But I mean to pass by these exactions as
if they were perfectly just and regular; and having
admitted them, I take what I shall now trouble you
with only as it serves to show the spirit of the Company's government, the mode in which it is carried
on, and the maxims on which it proceeds.
Mr. Hastings, from whom I take the doctrine, endeavors to prove that Cheit Sing was no sovereign
prince, but a mere zemindar, or common subject,
holding land by rent. If this be granted to him, it
is next to be seen under what terms he is of opinion
such a landholder, that is a British subject, holds his
life and property under the Company's government.
It is proper to understand well the doctrines of the
person whose administration has lately received such
distinguished approbation from the Company. His
doctrine is, -" That the Company, or the person delegated by it, holds an absolute authority over such zemindars;-that he [such a subject] owes an implicit and unreserved obedience to its authority, at the forfeiture even of his life and property, at the DISCRETION
of those who held or fully represented the sovereign
authority;- and that these rights are fully delegated'
to him, Mr. Hastings. "
? ? ? ? 480 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
Such is a British governor's idea of the condition
of a great zemindar holding. under a British authority; and this kind of authority he supposes fully delegated to him, -though no such delegation appears in any commission, instruction, or act of Parliament.
At his discretion he may demand of the substance of
any zemindar, over and above his rent or tribute, even
what he pleases, with a sovereign authority; and if he
does not yield an implicit, unreserved obedience to all
his commands, he forfeits his lands, his life, and his
property, at Mr. HIastingss discretion. But, extravagant, and even frantic, as these positions appear, they
are less so than what I shall now read to you; for he
asserts, that, if any one should urge an exemption
from more than a stated payments or should consider
the deeds which passed between him and the Board
" as bearing the quality and force of a treaty between
equal states," he says, " that such an opinion is itself
criminal to the state of which he is a subject; and
that he was himself amenable to its justice, if he gave
countenance to such a belief. " Here is a new species
of crime invented, that of countenancing a belief,but a belief of what? A belief of that which the
Court of Directors, Hastings's masters, and a committee of this House, have decided as this prince's indisputable right.
But supposing the Rajah of Benares to be a mere
subject, and that subject a criminal of the highest
form;_let us see what course was taken by an upright English magistrate. Did he cite this culprit before his tribunal? Did he make a charge? Did he produce witnesses? These are not forms; they are
parts of substantial and eternal justice. No, not a
word of all this. Mr. Hastings concludes him, in his
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 481
own mind, to be guilty: he makes this conclusion on
reports, on hearsays, on appearances, on rumors, on
conjectures, on presumptions; and even these never
once hinted to the party, nor publicly to any human
being, till the whole business was done.
But the Governor tells you his motive for this
extraordinary proceeding, so contrary to every mode
of justice towards either a prince or a subject, fairly
and without disguise; and he puts into your hands
the key of his whole conduct:-" I will suppose, for
a moment, that I have acted with unwarrantable
rigor towards Cheit Sing, and even with injustice. -
Let my MOTIVE be consulted. I left Calcutta, impressed with a belief that extraordinary means were necessary, and those exerted with a steady hand, to
preserve the Company's interests from sinking under
the accumulated weight which oppressed them. I saw
a political necessity for curbing the overgrown power
of a great member of their dominion, and for making
it contribute to the relief of their pressing exigencies. "
This is plain speaking; after this, it is no wonder that
the Rajah's wealth and his offence, the necessities
of the judge and the opulence of the delinquent, are
never separated, through the whole of Mr. Hastings's
apology. "The justice and policy of exacting a large
pecuniary mulct. " The resolution " to draw from his
guilt the means of relief to the Company's distresses. "
His determination " to make him pay largely for his
pardon, or to execute a severe vengeance for past delinquency. " That "as his wealth was great, and the Company's exigencies pressing, he thought it a measure of justice and policy to exact from him a large pecuniary mulct for their relief. . " -" The sum " (says
Mr. Wheler, bearing evidence, at his desire, to his
VOL. II. 31
? ? ? ? 482 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
intentions) " to which the Governor declared his resolution to extend his fine was forty or fifty lacs, that
is, four or five hundred thousand pounds; and that, if
he refused, he was to be removed from his zemindary
entirely; or by taking possession of his forts, to obtain,
out of the treasure deposited in them, the above sum for
the Company. "
Crimes so convenient, crimes so politic, crimes so
necessary, crimes so alleviating of distress, can never
be wanting to those who use no process, and who
produce no proofs.
But there is another serious part (what is not so? )
in this affair. Let us suppose that the power for
which Mr. Hastings contends, a power which no sovereign ever did or ever can vest in any of his subjects, namely, his own sovereign authority, to be conveyed by the act of Parliament to any man or
body of men whatsoever; it certainly was never
given. to Mr. Hastings. The powers given by the
act of 1773 were formal and official; they were
given, not to the Governor-General, but to the major
vote of the board, as a board, on discussion amongst
themselves, in their public character and capacity;
and their acts in that character and capacity were to
be ascertained by records and minutes of council.
The despotic acts exercised by Mr. Hastings were
done merely in his private character; and, if they
had been moderate and just, would still be the acts
of an usurped authority, and without any one of.
the legal modes of proceeding which could give him
competence for the most trivial exertion of power.
There was no proposition or deliberation whatsoever
in council, no minute on record, by circulation or
otherwise, to authorize his proceedings; no delega.
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA -BILL. 483
tion of power to impose a fine, or to take any step to
deprive the Rajah of Benares of his government, his
property, or his liberty. The minutes of consultation assign to his journey a totally different object,
duty, and destination. Mr. Wheler, at his desire,
tells us long after, that he had a confidential conversation with him on various subjects, of which this
was the principal, in which Mr. Hastings notified to
him his secret intentions; "- and that he bespoke his
support of the measures which he intended to pursue
towards him (the Rajah). " This confidential discourse, and bespeaking of support, could give him no
power, in opposition to an express act of Parliament,
and the whole tenor of the orders. of the Court of
Directors.
In what manner the powers thus usurped were
employed is known to the whole world. All the
House knows that the design on the Rajah proved
as unfruitful as it was violent. The unhappy prince
was expelled, and his more unhappy country was
enslaved and ruined; but not a rupee was acquired.
Instead of treasure to recruit the Company's finances, wasted by their wanton wars and corrupt jobs,
they were plunged into a new war, which shook
their power in India to its foundation, and, to use
the Governor's own happy simile, might have dissolved it like a magic structure, if the talisman had
been broken.
But the success is no part of my consideration,
who should think just the same of this business, if the. spoil of one rajah had been fully acquired, and faithfully applied to the destruction of twenty other rajahs. Not only the. arrest of the Rajah in his palace was
unnecessary and unwarrantable, and calculated to stir
? ? ? ? 484 SPEECH'ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
up any manly blood which remained in his subjects;
but the despotic style and the extreme insolence of
language and demeanor, used to a person of great
condition among the politest people in the world, was
intolerable. Nothing aggravates tyranny so much
as contumely. Quicquid superbia in contumeliis was
charged by a great man of antiquity, as a principal
head of offence against the Governor-General of that
day. The unhappy people were still more insulted.
A relation, but an enemy to the family, a notorious
robber and villain, called Ussaun Sing, kept as a
hawk in a mew, to fly upon this nation, was set up
to govern there, instead of a prince honored and
beloved. But when the business of insult was accomplished, the. revenue was too serious a concern to be intrusted to such hands. Another was set up in his
place, as guardian to an infant.
But here, Sir, mark the effect of all these extraordinary means, of all this policy and justice. The
revenues, which had been hitherto. paid with such
astonishing punctuality, fell into arrear. The new
prince guardian was deposed without ceremony,'and with as little, cast into prison. The government
of that once happy country has been in the utmost confusion ever since such good order was taken about it. But, to complete the contumely offered to this undone
people, and to make them feel their servitude in all
its degradation and all its bitterness, the government
of their sacred city, the government of that Benares
which had been so respected by Persian and Tartar
conquerors, though of the Mussulman persuasion,that, even in the plenitude of their pride, power, and bigotry, no magistrate of that sect entered the place,. was now, delivered over by English hands to a' Ma
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. . 485
hometan; and an Ali Ibrahim Kh-an was introduced,
nnder the Company's authority, with power of life
and death, into the sanctuary of the Gentoo religion.
After this, the taking off a slight payment, cheerfully
made by pilgrims to a chief of their own rites, was
represented as a mighty benefit.
It'remains only to show, through the conduct in
this business, the spirit of the Company's government, and the respect they pay towards other prejudices, not less regarded in the East than those of religion-: I mean the reverence paid to the female sex in general, and particularly to women of high rank
and condition. During the general confusion of the
country of Ghazipoor, Panna, the mother of. Cheit
Sing, was lodged &with her train. in a castle called
Bidg6 Gur,: in which were likewise deposited a large
portion of the treasures of her son, or,more. probably
her own. To whomsoever they belonged was indifferent: for, though: no charge of rebellion was made
on this woman, (which' was rather singular, as it
would have cost nothing,) they were resolved to secure her with her fortune. . The castle was besieged
by Major Popham.
There was no great reason to apprehend that
soldiers ill paid, that soldiers who thought they had
been defrauded of their plunder on former services
of the same kind, would not have been sufficiently
attentive to the spoil they were expressly come for;
but the gallantry and generosity of the profession
was, justly suspected, as being likely to set bounds
to military rapaciousness. The Company's first civil
magistrate discovered the greatest uneasiness lest
the women should have anything preserved to them.
Terms tending to put some restraint on military
? ? ? ? 486 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL.
violence were granted. He writes a letter to Mr.
Popham, referring to some letter written before to
the same effect, which I do not remember to have
seen'; but it shows his anxiety on this subject. Hear
himself:'-" I think every demand she has made on
you, except that of safety and respect to her person,
is unreasonable. If the reports brought to me are
true, your rejecting her offers, or any negotiation,
would soon obtain you the fort upon your own terms.
I apprehend she will attempt to defraud the captors
of a considerable part of their booty, by being suffered
to retire without examination. But this is your concern, 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 you must be the best judge of the promised indulgence to the Ranny: what you have engaged for I will certainly ratify;
but as to suffering the Ranny to hold the purgunna of Hurlich, or any other zemindary, without being subject to the authority of the zemindar, orany lands whatsoever, or indeed making any condition with her for a provision, I will never consent. "
Here your Governor stimulates a rapacious and
licentious soldiery to the personal search of women,
lest these unhappy creatures should avail themselves
of the protection of their sex to secure any supply
for their necessities; and he positively orders that
no stipulation should be made for any provision for
them. The widow and mother of a prince, well informed of her miserable situation, and the cause of! it, a woman of this rank became a suppliant to the
domestic servant of Mr. Hastings, (they are his own
words that I read,) "' imploring his intercession that
she may be relieved from the hardships and dangers
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL. 487
of her present situation, and offering to surrender the
fort, and the treasure and valuable effects contained in
it, provided she can be assured of safety andprotection
to her person and honor, and to that of her family and
attendants. " He is so good as to consent to this,
"provided she surrenders everything of value, with
the reserve only of such articles as you shall think
necessary to her condition, or as you yourself shall be
disposed to indulge her with. - But should she refuse
to execute the promise she has made, or delay it beyond th6 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 ineffectually, and of course myself to
discredit, I shall consider it as a wanton affront and
indignity which I 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. "
The dreadful secret hinted at by the merciful Gov-,ernor -in the latter part of the letter is well understood in India, where those who suffer, corporeal indignities generally expiate the offences of others with their own blood. However, in spite of all these,
the temper of the military did, some way or other,
operate. They came to terms which have never been
transmitted. It appears that a fifteenth per cent
of the plunder was reserved to the captives, of which
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