He
regarded
the
wives of his father as his honorary mothers; he considers their children as his brethren; he thinks it
would be highly dishonorable to his government, if
one of them was taken out of the sanctuary in which
they are placed, and in which, he says, the great of
the country are obliged to maintain their dependants.
wives of his father as his honorary mothers; he considers their children as his brethren; he thinks it
would be highly dishonorable to his government, if
one of them was taken out of the sanctuary in which
they are placed, and in which, he says, the great of
the country are obliged to maintain their dependants.
Edmund Burke
Wheler and
Mr. Stables, two other members of the Council, understood tliis letter.
Mr. Wheler thus writes. -- " It always has been
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SIXTH DAY. 135
and always will be my wish to conform implicitly to the
orders of the Court of Directors, and I trust that the
opinion which I shall give upon that part of the Court's
letter which is now before us will not be taken up
against its meaning, as going to a breach of them.
The orders at present under the board's consideration
are entirely provisional. Nothing has passed since
the conclusion of the agreement made by the Governor-General with the Vizier at Chunar which induces
me to alter the opinion which I before held, as well
from the Governor-General's reports to this board
as the opinions which I have heard of many individuals totally unconcerned in the subject, that the
Begums at Fyzabad did take a hostile part against
the Company during the disturbances in Benares;
and I am impressed with a conviction that the conduct of the Begums did not proceed entirely from
motives of self-defence. But as the Court of Directors appear to be of a different opinion, and conceive
that there ought to be stronger proofs of the defection
of the Begums than have been laid before them, I
think, that, before we decide on their orders, the late
and present Resident at the Vizier's court, and the
commanding officers in the Vizier's country, ought
to be required to collect and lay before the board
all the information they can obtain with respect
to the defection of the Begums during the troubles
in Benares, and their present disposition to the
Company. "
Mr. Stables, September 9th, 1783, writes thus. -
"The Court of Directors, by their letter of the 14th
February, 1783, seem not to be satisfied that the disaffection of the Begums to this government is sufficiently proved by the evidence before them. I there
? ? ? ? 136 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
fore think that the late and present Resident and
commanding officers in the Vizier's country at the
time should be called upon to collect what further
information they can on this subject, in which the
honor and dignity of this government is so materially
concerned, that such information may be immediately
transmitted to the Court of Directors. "
When questioned upon this subject at your Lordships' bar, he gives this evidence. --" Q. What was your motive for proposing that investigation? - A. A,
letter from the Court of Directors; I conceived it to
be ordered by them. - Q. Did you conceive the letter
of the Court of Directors positively to direct that inquiry? - A. I did so certainly at the time, and I beg to refer to the minutes which expressed it. " - A question was put to the same witness by a noble lord. 1" Q. The witness has stated, that at the time he has
mentioned he conceived the letter from the Court of
Directors to order an inquiry, and that it was upon
that opinion that he regulated his conduct, and his
proposal for such inquiry. I wish to know whether
the expression,'at the time,' was merely casual, or am
I to understand from it that the witness has altered
his opinion of the intention of this letter since that
time? -- A. I certainly retain that opinion, and I
wished the inquiry to go on. "
My Lords, you see that his colleagues so understood it; you see that we so understood it; and still you have heard the prisoner, after charging us with
falsehood, insultingly tell us we may go on as we
please, we may go on in our own way. If your
Lordships think that it was not a positive order, which
Mr. Hastings was bound to obey, you will acquit him
of the breach of it. But it is a most singular thing,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SIXTH DAY. 137
among all the astonishing circumstances of this case,
that this mall, who has heard from the beginning to
the end of his trial breaches of the Company's orders
constantly charged upon him, -- (nay, I will venture
to say, that there is not a single step that we have
taken in this prosecution, or in observations upon evidence, in which we have not charged him with an avowed direct breach of the Company's order, - you
have heard it ten times this day, - in his defence before the Commons he declares he did intentionally, in naming Mr. Markham, break the Company's orders,) -it is singular, I say, that this man should
now pretend to be so sore upon this point. What is
it now that makes him break through all the rules
of common decency and common propriety, and show
all the burnings of guilt, upon being accused of the
breach of one of the innumerable orders which he
has broken, of which he has avowed the breaking,
and attempted to justify himself a thousand times in
the Company's books for having broken?
My Lords, one of his own body, one of the Council,
has sworn at your bar what he repeatedly declared
to be his sense of it. We consider it as one of the
strongest orders that can be given, because the reason
of the order is added to it: the Directors declaring,
that, if it should not be found upon inquiry, (you
see, my Lords, it puts the very case,)-" if you do
not find such and such things, we shall consider the
English honor wounded and stained, and we direct
you to make reparation. " There are, in fact, two
orders contained in this letter, which we take to be
equally strong and positive, -- and we charge him
with the breach of both: namely, the order for inquiry, and the conditional order of restoring to the
? ? ? ? 138 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Begums their jaghires, or making satisfaction for
them; and in case of any apprehension of reluctance
in the Nabob, to bring them for security into the
Company's territories. The two last positive orders
are preceded by the supposition of an inquiry which
was to justify him either in the acts he had done or
to justify him in making restitution. He did neither
the one nor the other. We aver that he disobeyed
all these orders. And now let his impatience break
out again.
Your Lordships have seen, amongst the various
pretences by which this man has endeavored to justify his various delinquencies, that of fearing to offend the Nabob by the restoration of their jaghires
to the Begums is one. Your Lordships will form
your own judgment of the truth or falsehood of this
pretence, when you shall have heard the letter which
I shall now read to you, written to Mr. Hastings by
the Nabob himself.
Letter from the Nabob Trizier to Mr. Hastings, 25th
February, 1782.
"You performed on every occasion towards me
whatever was becoming of friendship: I, too, have
done whatever affection required and you commanded; and in future also, whatever may be your pleasure, there shall be no deviation therefrom, because whatever you direct is altogether for my benefit.
[he business for which I came to Fyzabad is become
settled by your favor: particulars will become known
to your wisdom from the writings of Mr. Middleton.
I am grateful for your favors. If in these matters
you sincerely approve me, communicate it, for it will
be a comfort to me. Having appointed my own
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SIXTH DAY. 139
aurmils to the jaghire of the lady mother, I have engaged to pay her cash. She has complied with my views. Her pleasure is, that, after receiving an engagement, he should deliver up the jaghires. What is your pleasure in this matter? If you command,
it will comfort the lady mother giving her back the
jaghire after I have obtained my views; or I will
have it under my aumil. I am obedient to your
pleasure. "
Your Lordships here see the Begum a suppliant
to have her jaghire restored, (after entering into
some engagement that might have been required of
her,) and the Nabob, in a tone equally suppliant,
expressing his consent, at least, that her request
should be complied with, if the command of Mr.
Hastings could be procured.
My Lords, in order to save your Lordships' time,
and that I might not overload this business, I did not
intend to have troubled you with any observations
upon this part of it; but the charge of falsehood
which the prisoner at your bar has had the audacity
to bring against us has induced me to lay it more
particularly before you. We have now done with it;
but before we retire, your Lordships will permit me
to recapitulate briefly the substance of what has now
been urged respecting his conduct towards these
miserable women. We accuse him of reiterated
breaches of the orders of the Court of Directors, both
in the letter and spirit of them, and of his contempt
of the opinions which his colleagues in office had
formed of them. We charge him with the aggravation of these delinquencies, by the oppression and
? ? ? ? 140 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ruin which they brought upon the family of the
Nabob, by the infraction of treaties, and by the disrepute which in his person was sustained by the government he represented, and by the stain left upon the justice, honor, and good faith of the English nation. We charge him with their farther aggrava
tion by sundry false pretences alleged by him in justification of this conduct, the pretended reluctance
of the Nabob, the fear of offending him, the sugges.
tion of the Begums having forgotten and forgiven the
wrongs they had suffered, and of the danger of reviving their discontent by any attempt to redress them, and by his insolent language, that the majesty of justice with which he impudently invests himself was
only to be approached with solicitation. We have
farther stated, that the pretence that he was only concerned in this business as an accessary is equally false; it being, on the contrary, notorious, that the Nabob
was the accessary, forced into the service, and a mere
instrument in his hands, and that he and Sir Elijah
Impey (whose employment in this business we stated
as a farther aggravation) were the authors and principal agents. And we farther contend, that each of
these aggravations and pretences is itself, in fact and
in its principle, a substantive crime.
Your Lordships witnessed the insolence with which
this man, stung to the quick by the recital of his
crime, interrupted me; and you heard his recrimination of falsehood against us. We again avouch
the truth of all and every word we have uttered,
and the validity of every proof with which we have
supported them. Let his impatience, I say, now
again burst forth,-he who feels so sensibly everything that touches him, and yet seeks for an act of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SIXTH DAY. 141
indemnity for his own atrocities, by endeavoring to
make you believe that the wrongs of a desolated
family are within one year forgotten by them, and
buried in oblivion.
I trust, my Lords, that both his prosecutors and
his judges will evince that patience which the criminal wants. Justice is not to wait to have its majesty approached with solicitation. We see that throne in which resides invisibly, but virtually, the majesty
of England; we see your Lordships representing, in
succession, the juridical authority in the highest
court in this kingdom: but we do not approach you
with solicitation; we make it a petition of right;
we claim it; we demand it. The right of seeking
redress is not suppliant, even before the majesty of
England; it comes boldly forward, and never thinks
it offends its sovereign by claiming what is the right
of all his people.
We have now done with this business: a business
as atrocious as any that is known in the history of
mankind; a business that has stained, throughout all
Asia, the British character, and by which our fame
for honor, integrity, and public faith has been forfeited; a business which has introduced us throughout that country as breakers of faith, destroyers of treaties, plunderers of the weak and unprotected, and
has dishonored and will forever dishonor the British
name. Your Lordships have had all this in evidence.
You have seen in what manner the Nabob, his country, his revenues, his subjects, his mother, his family,
his nobility, and all their fortunes, real and personal,
have been disposed of by the prisoner at your bar;
and having seen this, you will by the impatience of
this criminal estimate the patience of the unfortu
? ? ? ? 142 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
nate women into whose injuries he refused to inquire.
What he would not do the Commons have done.
They know that you have a feeling different from
that which he manifested on this occasion; they do
not approach you suppliantly, but demand justice;
they insist, that, as the Commons have done their
part, your Lordships will perform yours.
We shall next proceed to show your Lordships
how he acted towards another set of women, the
women of the late Sujah Dowlah, and for whom the
Directors had ordered a maintenance to be secured
by an express treaty. You will see that he is cruel
towards the weak sex, and to all others in proportion
as they are weak and powerless to resist him. You
will see, I say, when he had usurped the whole government of Oude, and brought it into a servile dependence on himself, how. these women fared; and then your Lordships will judge whether or not, and
in what degree, he is criminal.
? ? ? ? SP E E C H
IN
GENERAL REPLY.
SEVENTH DAY: THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 1794.
MY LORDS, - When I had last the honor of
addressing your Lordships from this place, my
observations were principally directed to the unjust
confiscation and seizure of the jaghires and treasures
of the Begums, without previous accusation or trial,
or subsequent inquiry into their conduct, in violation of a treaty made with them and guarantied by the East India Company, -to the long imprisonment
and cruel treatment of their ministers, and to the
false pretences and abominable principles by which
the prisoner at your bar has attempted to justify his
conduct. The several acts of violence and of oppression were, as we have shown your Lordships, committed with circumstances of aggravated atrocity
highly disgraceful to the British name and character,
-- and particularly by his forcing the Nabob to become the means and instrument of reducing his mother and grandmother and their families to absolute want and distress.
I have now to call your attention to his treatment
of another branch of this miserable family,- the
women and children of the late Nabob Sujah ul
Dowlah. These persons were dependent upon the
Begums, and by the confiscation of their property,
? ? ? ? 144 i MPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and by the ruin of various persons who would otherwise have contributed to their mainteniance, were reduced to the last extremity of indigence and want. Being left without the common necessaries of life,
they were driven to the necessity of breaking through
all those local principles of decorum which constitute the character of the female sex in that part
of the world; and after fruitless supplications and
shrieks of famine, they endeavored to break the inclosure of the palace, and to force their way to the
market-place, in order to beg for bread. When they
had thus been forced to submit to the extremity
of disgrace and degradation, by exposing themselves
to public view with the starving children of their late
sovereign, the brothers and sisters of the reigning
prince, they were, in this attempt, attacked by the
sepoys armed with bludgeons, and driven back by
blows into the palace.
My Lords, we have first laid before you the sufferings and disgraces of women of the first distinction
in Asia, protected by their rank, protected byj their
sex, protected by their near relation to the prince of
the country, protected by two guaranties of the representative of the British government in India. We
now come to another class of women, who suffered
by the violent misappropriation of the revenues of
the Nabob, by which their regular allowance was
taken from them; and your Lordships will find that
this man's crimes, at every step we take, ripen in
guilt, his acts of positive injustice are always aggravated by his conduct with regard to the consequences
of them, and form but a small part in the mass of
oppression and tyranny which we have brought before you.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 145
My Lords, the unjust seizure of the jaghires and
treasures of the Begums, ount of which those women
were maintained, reduced them to a state of indigence, and exposed them not only to the sufferings
which belong to the physical nature of man, but also
to the indignities which particularly affected their
sex and condition. But before I proceed, I will beg
leave to restate to your Lordships and recall to your
memory who these women were.
The Nabob Sujah Dowlah had but one legitimate
wife. Though the Mahometan law admits of this
number's being extended in certain cases even to
four, yet it is for the most part held disreputable,
especially when a person is married to a woman of
the first distinction, to have more than one legitimate wife. Upon looking into the Hedaya, your
Lordships will see with what extreme rigor fornication is forbidden; but we know that persons of high
rank, by customs that supersede both religion and
laws, add to the number of their wives, or substitute
in their room wives of a subordinate description, and
indulge themselves in this license to an unlimited
degree. You will find in Chardin's Travels, where
he treats of the subject of marriage, that such is the
custom of all the princes of the East. The wives of
this subordinate class, though they are in reality no
better than concubines, and are subject to the power
and caprices of their lords, are yet allowed, in the
eye of the severest moralists, to have some excuse
for their frailty and their weakness; and they accordingly always do find a degree of favor in this world,
and become the object of particular protection.
We know that Sujah ul Dowlah was a man unquestionably in his manners very licentious with reVOL. XII. 10
? ? ? ? 146 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
gard to women, that he had a great number of these
women in his family, and that his women and the
women attendant upon the persons of his favorites
had increased to a very great number. We know
that his sons amounted to twenty, --or, according
to Mr. Hastings's own account, to nineteen. Montesquieu supposes that there are more females born in the East than in the West. But he says this upon
no good ground. We know by better and more regular information concerning this matter, that the birth of males and females in that country is in the
same proportion as it is here; and therefore, if you
suppose that he had twenty sons, you may suppose
he had about nineteen daughters. By the customs
of that country, all these sons and daughters were
considered as persons of eminent distinction, though
inferior to the legitimate children, - assuming the
rank of their father, without considering the rank
which their mother held. All these wives with their
children, and all their female servants and attendants, amounting in the whole to about eight hundred persons, were shut up in what they call the Khord
Mohul, or Lesser Palace. This place is described
by one of the witnesses to be about as large as St.
James's Square. Your Lordships have been told,
that, in other circumstances as well as this, these
women were considered as objects of a great degree
of respect, and of the greatest degree of protection.
I refer your Lordships to the treaty by which their
maintenance was guarantied by the English government.
In order to let your Lordships see that I state
nothing to you but what is supported not only by
general history, which is enough to support an ac
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 147
count of general manners, but by the particular and
peculiar opinions of a person best informed of the
nature of the case, I will refer you to the Nabob
himself: for, undoubtedly, the Nabob of Oude, the
Vizier of the Empire, the Subahdar of the country,
was most likely to be the best judge of what respect
was due to the women of his father's family. I will
therefore read to your Lordships, from his own letters, what the Nabob's opinion was upon this subject. Extract of a Letter from the Vizier, received 23d of
August, 1782.
"I never found resource equal to the necessary
expenses. Every year, by taking from the ministers, and selling the articles of my harkhanna, I with great distress transacted the business. But I could
not take care of my dependants: so that some of my
brothers, from their difficulties, arose and departed;
and the people of the Khord Mohul of the late Nabob, who are all my mothers, from their distresses are reduced to poverty and involved in difficulties. No
man of rank is deficient in the care of his dependants, in proportion to his ability. "
Another Letter from the Vizier, received the 31st July,
1784.
"My brother, dear as life, Saadut Ali Khan, has
requested that I would permit his mother to go and
reside with him. My friend, all the mothers of my
brothels, and the women of the late Nabob, whom I
respect as my own mothers, are here, and it is incumbent upon me to support them: accordingly I
do it; and it is improper that they should be separated, nor do I approve it. By God's blessing and
? ? ? ? 148 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
your kindness, I hope that all the women of the late
Nabob may remain here; it is the wish also of my
grandmother and my mother that they should. "
Your Lordships now see in what degree of estimation the Nabob held these women.
He regarded the
wives of his father as his honorary mothers; he considers their children as his brethren; he thinks it
would be highly dishonorable to his government, if
one of them was taken out of the sanctuary in which
they are placed, and in which, he says, the great of
the country are obliged to maintain their dependants.
This is the account given by the person best acquainted with the usages of the country, best acquainted with his own duties, best acquainted with
his own wishes.
Now, my Lords, you will see in what light another
person, the agent of a trading company, who designates himself under the name of Majesty, and assumes other great distinctions, presumes also to consider these persons, --and in what contempt he is pleased to hold what is respected and what is held
sacred in that country. What I am now going to
quote is from the prisoner's second defence. For I
must remind your Lordships that Mr. Hastings has
made three defences, --one in the House of Commons, another in the lobby of the House of Commons, and a third at your Lordships' bar. The
second defence, though delivered without name, to
the members in the lobby of the House of Commons,
has been proved at your Lordships' bar to be written by himself. This lobby, this out-of-door defence,
militates in some respects, as your Lordships will
find, with the in-door defence; but it probably con
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 149
tains the real sentiments of Mr. Hastings himself,
delivered with a little more freeness when he gets
into the open air, --like the man who was so vain
of some silly plot he had hatched, that he told it to
the hackney-coachman, and every man lie met in the
streets.
He says, -" Begums are the ladies of an Eastern
prince; but these women are also styled the ladies
of the late Vizier, and their sufferings are painted
in such strong colors that the unsuspecting reader is
led to mix the subjects together, and to suppose that
these latter, too, were princesses of Oude, that all
their sufferings proceeded from some act of mine, or
had the sanction of my authority or permission. The
fact is, that the persons of the Khord Mohul (or Little Seraglio) were young creatures picked up wherever youth and beauty could be found, and mostly purchased from amongst the most necessitous and
meanest ranks of the people, for the Nabob's pleasures. " In the in-door defence, he says, "The said
women, who were mostly persons of low condition,
and the said children, if any such there were, lived
in the Khord Mohul, on an establishment entirely
distinct from the said Begums'. "
My Lords, you have seen what was the opinion
of the Nabob, who ought to know the nature and
circumstances of his father's palace, respecting these
women; you hear what Mr. Hastings's opinion is:
and now the question is, whether your Lordships will
consider these women in the same light in which the
person does who is most nearly connected with them
and most likely to know them, or in the way in which
Mr. Hastings has thought proper, within doors and
without doors, to describe them. Your Lordships will
? ? ? ? 150 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
be pleased to observe that he has brought no proof
whatever of facts which are so boldly asserted by him
in defiance of proof to the contrary, totally at variance
with the letter of the son of the man to whom these
women belonged. Your Lordships, I say, will remark that he has produced not one word of evidence,
either within the House of Commons or the House
of Peers, or in the lobby. or anywhere else, to verify
any one word he has said. He slanders these women
in order to lessen that compassion which your Lordships might have for the sufferings he inflicted upon
them. But admitting that some of these women were
of a meaner condition, and that they derived nothing
from their connection with the dignity of the person
by whom they had children, (and we know that in
the whole they amounted to about fourscore children,
the Nabob having a race like the patriarchs of old,
as many great persons in that part of the world still
have,) -supposing, I say, all this to be true, yet,
when persons are reduced from ease and affluence
to misery and distress, they naturally excite in the
mind a greater degree of compassion by comparing
the circumstances in which they once stood with
those into which they are fallen: for famine, degradation, and oppression were famine, degradation, and
oppression to those persons, even though they were
as mean as Mr. Hastings chooses to represent them.
But I hope, as you will sympathize with the great
on account of their condition, that you will sympathize with all mankind on the ground of the common condition of humanity which belongs to us all; therefore I hope your Lordships will not consider
the calumny of Mr. Hastings against those women
as any other than as an aggravation of his offence
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 151
against them. That is the light in which the House
of Commons considered it; for they had heard both
his in-door and out-door defence, and they still persevered in making the charge, and do persevere in making it still.
We have first stated what these women were,in what light they stood with the Nabob, - in what
light they stood with the country at large. I have
now to state in what light they stood with the British government, previous to this invasion of their rights; and we will prove they were the actual subjects of a guaranty by the Company.
Extract from an Agreement made by Mr. liddleton,
to all the Particulars of which he engages to procure a Treaty from the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah,
after his Arrival, and that he will also sign it, as
follows:
"First, That, whenever the Begum shall choose
to go to Mecca, she shall be permitted to go.
"Second, That, when the Nabob shall arrive, I
[Mr. Middleton] will procure suitable allowances to
be made to the ladies of the zenanah and the chil
dren of the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah, and take
care that they are paid.
" Third, That the festivals (shadee) and marriages
of the children of the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah
shall be at the disposal of the Begum: whenever she
thinks proper, she shall marry them; and whatever
money shall be necessary for these expenses shall
be paid by the Nabob.
"Fourth, That the syer of Coda Gunge and Ali
Gunge shall be retained by the Begum as heretofore.
? ? ? ? 152 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS. "Fifth, That I [Mr. Middleton] will, upon the
arrival of the Nabob, procure Vizier Gunge and the garden of Sepoy Dand Khan, or their equivalent, for the Begum.
"Sixth, That I [Mr. Middleton] will endeavor to
obtain from the Nabob the sum of 1,150,000 rupees on
account of the purchase of Metchee Bohaun, and the
house of Sahebjee, and the fort of the Gossim, with
the land and garden and the barraderry on the banks
of Goomply [Goomty? ], and bazaar and garden of
the house of Mahnarain and the house of Beng Peofand at Lucknow: all of which the Nabob Asoph ul
Dowlah has assumed possession of.
"Seventh, That I will settle with the Nabob the
allowances to be made in ready money to the ladies
of the zenanah and others specified, in the following
amount: Total, 17 lacs 250 rupees per month.
" Eighth, Upon the arrival of the Nabob Asoph ul
Dowlah Bahadur, I will endeavor with all my influence to settle the monthly allowances of Mohrum
Ali Khan and Mahlmud Eltifant Khan, &c. , the attendants of the Begums.
" Ninth, That, if the Begum shall go to Mecca, she
shall leave her mahals and jaghires to the Begum,
the mother of Asoph ul Dowlah, who shall remit the
revenues thereof to the Burree Begum: no one shall
prevent her enjoying her jaghires. "
Now, my Lords, we will read the copy of an engagement under the seal of the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah, and under the seal and signature, in English, of Mr. Middleton, as follows.
"First, I, who am the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 153
Bahadur, do agree that the jaghires and the gunges
and monthly allowance of the officers and servants,
and of the ladies of the zenanah, and of those specified in the accounts annexed, shall be at the disposal and under the management and authority of the Begum, and no one shall oppose or prevent it: this
I will punctually observe. In this agreement Mr.
Middleton and the English are engaged.
"Second, Whenever the Begum may choose to go
to Mecca, I will not oppose it.
"Third, Whenever the Begum should go to Mecca,
she shall leave her lands, jaghires, &c. , either in the
care of my mother or of me; and I will procure bills
for the amount of their revenues, and send them to
her: no one shall oppose this.
" Fourth, The Begum shall have authority over all
the ladies of her zenanah; she shall let them remain
with me, and not let them go anywhere without my
permission, or keep them with her.
"Fifth, The jaghires Coda Gunge and Ali Gunge,
&c. , with, the mahal and syer belonging to the Begum and made over, shall remain as heretofore in her
possession: Total, 14,460 rupees per month.
"Eighth, The Beguin has authority over the ladies
and attendants of the zenanah; neither myself nor
any one else will oppose it.
"Ninth, The Begum, my grandmother, shall have
the authority in all festivals, and in the marriage
of the children of the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah,
and, with the consent of my mother and myself,
shall regulate them: excepting in the festivals (shadee), the authority is mine.
" The English are guaranties to the above engagements, so long as the Begum shall exist. "
? ? ? ? 154 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Your Lordships will observe something here worthy of your notice. You will first perceive, that the
very treaty in which Mr. Hastings, by his representative, Mr. Middleton, was a party concerned, supposes that the Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah had other children
besides the reigning prince by his sole legitimate wife;
and yet Mr. Hastings, in his defence, has thought
proper, with a full knowledge of that circumstance,
to doubt whether there were any other children.
You next see that these women have Mr. Middleton's
(that is, Mr. Hastings's) guaranty for the allowances
which are made and settled upon them, and for the
maintenance of their attendants, for the security and
enjoyment of their own possessions, for their having
a law officer of high rank, a moulavy, of their own.
In short, there is a regular establishment formed for
all these women: they are not separated as a part
distinct from the Begums, but they are put by this
very guaranty entirely under their management; the
maintenance of the children is secured; the whole
order and economy of their establishment is delivered entirely to the Begum, the grandmother, and
the Begum, the mother, of the Nabob.
My Lords, you see that all these arrangements have
the solemn guaranty of the Company, and that these
women form a very considerable part of that guaranty; and therefore your Lordships will not treat their sufferings, inflicted in violation of the Company's
own settlement and guaranty, as a matter of no consideration for you.
But to proceed. -We have proved to your Lordships that the Nabob was reduced to a state of the greatest possible misery and distress; that his whole
revenue was sequestered into the hands of Mr. Hast
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 155
ings's agents; that by the treaty of Chunar he was to
be relieved from the expense of a body of troops with
which he had been burdened without his own voluntary consent, -- nay, more, the temporary brigade, which Mr. Hastings proposed to take off, but kept on,
which he considers not only as a great distress to his
finances, but a dreadful scourge and calamity to his
country, - there was a whole pension-list upon it,
with such enormous pensions as 18,0001. a year to
Sir Eyre Coote, and other pensions, that Mr. Hastings
proposed to take off, but did not; that, in proportion as the Nabob's distress increased, Mr. Hastings's demands increased too; he was not satisfied with
taking from him for the Company, but he took from
him for himself; he demanded six hundred thousand
pounds as a loan, when he knew he had neither
money nor credit.
The consequence of these acts of violence was,
that these people, besieged by the English troops,
and deprived of every resource, even of the funds of
charity, by which the protectors of the family, male
and female, might have relieved them, but which the
cruel rapacity of Mr. Hastings had either entirely
taken away or greatly diminished, were reduced to
the last extremity of distress.
After the length of time which has elapsed since
we first brought these matters with their proofs, I
shall beg leave, before you go to judgment, to refresh
your memory with a recital of a part of that evidence,
in order that your Lordships may again fully and
distinctly comprehend the nature and extent of the
oppression, cruelty, and injustice committed by Mr.
Hastings, and by which you may estimate the punishment you will inflict upon. him.
? ? ? ? 156 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Letter from Captain Leonard Jaques to Richard Johnson, -Esq. , Resident at the TVizier's Court; March 6th,
1782.
" SIR, -The women belonging to the Khord Mohul complain of their being in want of every necessary
of life, and are at last drove to that desperation, that
they at night get on the top of the zenanah, make a
great disturbance, and last night not only abused the
sentinels posted in the gardens, but threw dirt at
them; they threatened to throw themselves from the
walls of the zenanah, and also to break out of it.
Humanity obliges me to acquaint you of this matter,
and to request to know if you have any direction to
give me concerning it. I also beg leave to acquaint
you, I sent for Letafit Ali Khan, the cojah who has
the charge of them, who informs me their complaint
is well grounded, -that they have sold everything
they had, even to the clothes from their backs, and
now have no means of existing. Inclosed, I transmit
you a letter from Mandall on the subject. "
Letterfrom Captain Jaques to Richard Johnson, Esq. ,
March 7th, 1782.
SIR, -- I beg leave to address you again concerning the women in the Khord Mohul. Their behavior
last night was so furious that there seemed the greatest probability of their proceeding to the utmost extremities, and that they would either throw themselves from the walls or force the doors of the zenanah. I have made every inquiry concerning the cause of
their complaints, and find from Letafit Ali Khan that
they are in a starving condition, having sold all their
clothes and necessaries, and now have not where
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 157
withal to support nature. And as my instructions are
quite silent upon this head, should be glad to know
how to proceed in case they were to force the doors
of the zenanah; as I suspect it will happen, should
no subsistence be very quickly sent to them. "
Letter from Major Gilpin to John Bristow, -Esq. ,
Resident at the Court of Lucknow; 30th October,
1782.
"Last night, about eight o'clock, the women in the
Khord Mohul Zenanah, under the charge of Letafit
Ali Khan, assembled on the tops of the buildings,
crying in a most lamentable manner for food, - that
for the last four days they had got but a very scanty
allowance, and that yesterday they had got none.
The melancholy cries of famine are more easily imagined than described; and from their representations, I fear that the Nabob's agents for that business are very inattentive. I therefore think it requisite
to make you acquainted with the circumstance, that
his Excellency the Nabob may cause his agents to
be more circumspect in their conduct to these poor,
unhappy women. "
Letterfrom Mr. Bristow to Major Gilpin; Fyzabad,
4th November, 1782.
" SIR,-I have received your letters of the 12th,
19th, 27th, and 30th ultimo. I communicated the
contents of that of the 30th to the minister, who
promised me to issue orders for the payment of a
sum of money to relieve the distress of the Khord
Mohul. I shall also forward a bill for 10,000 rupees
to you in the course of three or four days; and if in
the mean time you may find means to supply to the
? ? ? ? 158 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
amount of that sum, I will become personally responsible to you for the repayment. "
Letter from Major Gilpin to John Bristow, Esq. , at the
Court of Lucknow; Fyzabad, 15th November, 1782.
"SIR, --The repeated cries of the women in the
Khord Mohul Zenanah for subsistence have been truly melancholy. They beg most piteously for liberty, that they may earn their daily bread by laborious servitude, or be relieved from their misery by immediate death. In consequence of their unhappy situation,
I have this day taken the liberty of drawing on you
in favor of Ramnarain at ten days' sight, for twenty
son Kerah rupees, ten thousand of which I have paid
to Cojah Letafit Ali Khan, under whose cha:nge that
zenanah is. "
These, my Lords, are the state of the distresses in
the year 1782, and your Lordships will see that they
continued almost, with only occasional reliefs, during the period of that whole year. Now we enter into
the year 1783, to show you that it continued during
the whole time; and then I shall make a very few
remarks upon it.
I will now read to your Lordships a part of Mr.
Holt's evidence, by which it is proved that Mr. Hastings was duly advertised of all these miserable and calamitous circumstances.
" Q. Whether you saw a letter of intelligence from
Fyzabad containing a relation of the treatment of the
women in the Khord Mohul? -- A. Yes, I did, and
translated it. -Q. From whom did it come? -- A.
Iloolas Roy. - Q. Who was he? - A. An agent of
the Resident at Fyzabad, employed for the purpose of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 159
transmitting information to the Resident. Q. Was
that paper transmitted to Mr. Hastings? - A. To the
best of my recollectionl, it was transmitted to the
Board, after I had attested it. - Q. Do you remember
at what distance of time after the receipt of the intelligence respecting the distresses of the Khord Mohul that paper was transmitted to Calcutta? -- A. I cannot say. - Q. Do you believe it was transmitted
within ten months after the time it was received?
A. I understood it to be a letter received just before
it was transmitted. - Q. Then you understand it was
transmitted as soon as received? --A. Yes, in the
course of three days. - Q. Can you bring to your
mind the time at which the translation was made?
Mr. Stables, two other members of the Council, understood tliis letter.
Mr. Wheler thus writes. -- " It always has been
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SIXTH DAY. 135
and always will be my wish to conform implicitly to the
orders of the Court of Directors, and I trust that the
opinion which I shall give upon that part of the Court's
letter which is now before us will not be taken up
against its meaning, as going to a breach of them.
The orders at present under the board's consideration
are entirely provisional. Nothing has passed since
the conclusion of the agreement made by the Governor-General with the Vizier at Chunar which induces
me to alter the opinion which I before held, as well
from the Governor-General's reports to this board
as the opinions which I have heard of many individuals totally unconcerned in the subject, that the
Begums at Fyzabad did take a hostile part against
the Company during the disturbances in Benares;
and I am impressed with a conviction that the conduct of the Begums did not proceed entirely from
motives of self-defence. But as the Court of Directors appear to be of a different opinion, and conceive
that there ought to be stronger proofs of the defection
of the Begums than have been laid before them, I
think, that, before we decide on their orders, the late
and present Resident at the Vizier's court, and the
commanding officers in the Vizier's country, ought
to be required to collect and lay before the board
all the information they can obtain with respect
to the defection of the Begums during the troubles
in Benares, and their present disposition to the
Company. "
Mr. Stables, September 9th, 1783, writes thus. -
"The Court of Directors, by their letter of the 14th
February, 1783, seem not to be satisfied that the disaffection of the Begums to this government is sufficiently proved by the evidence before them. I there
? ? ? ? 136 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
fore think that the late and present Resident and
commanding officers in the Vizier's country at the
time should be called upon to collect what further
information they can on this subject, in which the
honor and dignity of this government is so materially
concerned, that such information may be immediately
transmitted to the Court of Directors. "
When questioned upon this subject at your Lordships' bar, he gives this evidence. --" Q. What was your motive for proposing that investigation? - A. A,
letter from the Court of Directors; I conceived it to
be ordered by them. - Q. Did you conceive the letter
of the Court of Directors positively to direct that inquiry? - A. I did so certainly at the time, and I beg to refer to the minutes which expressed it. " - A question was put to the same witness by a noble lord. 1" Q. The witness has stated, that at the time he has
mentioned he conceived the letter from the Court of
Directors to order an inquiry, and that it was upon
that opinion that he regulated his conduct, and his
proposal for such inquiry. I wish to know whether
the expression,'at the time,' was merely casual, or am
I to understand from it that the witness has altered
his opinion of the intention of this letter since that
time? -- A. I certainly retain that opinion, and I
wished the inquiry to go on. "
My Lords, you see that his colleagues so understood it; you see that we so understood it; and still you have heard the prisoner, after charging us with
falsehood, insultingly tell us we may go on as we
please, we may go on in our own way. If your
Lordships think that it was not a positive order, which
Mr. Hastings was bound to obey, you will acquit him
of the breach of it. But it is a most singular thing,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SIXTH DAY. 137
among all the astonishing circumstances of this case,
that this mall, who has heard from the beginning to
the end of his trial breaches of the Company's orders
constantly charged upon him, -- (nay, I will venture
to say, that there is not a single step that we have
taken in this prosecution, or in observations upon evidence, in which we have not charged him with an avowed direct breach of the Company's order, - you
have heard it ten times this day, - in his defence before the Commons he declares he did intentionally, in naming Mr. Markham, break the Company's orders,) -it is singular, I say, that this man should
now pretend to be so sore upon this point. What is
it now that makes him break through all the rules
of common decency and common propriety, and show
all the burnings of guilt, upon being accused of the
breach of one of the innumerable orders which he
has broken, of which he has avowed the breaking,
and attempted to justify himself a thousand times in
the Company's books for having broken?
My Lords, one of his own body, one of the Council,
has sworn at your bar what he repeatedly declared
to be his sense of it. We consider it as one of the
strongest orders that can be given, because the reason
of the order is added to it: the Directors declaring,
that, if it should not be found upon inquiry, (you
see, my Lords, it puts the very case,)-" if you do
not find such and such things, we shall consider the
English honor wounded and stained, and we direct
you to make reparation. " There are, in fact, two
orders contained in this letter, which we take to be
equally strong and positive, -- and we charge him
with the breach of both: namely, the order for inquiry, and the conditional order of restoring to the
? ? ? ? 138 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Begums their jaghires, or making satisfaction for
them; and in case of any apprehension of reluctance
in the Nabob, to bring them for security into the
Company's territories. The two last positive orders
are preceded by the supposition of an inquiry which
was to justify him either in the acts he had done or
to justify him in making restitution. He did neither
the one nor the other. We aver that he disobeyed
all these orders. And now let his impatience break
out again.
Your Lordships have seen, amongst the various
pretences by which this man has endeavored to justify his various delinquencies, that of fearing to offend the Nabob by the restoration of their jaghires
to the Begums is one. Your Lordships will form
your own judgment of the truth or falsehood of this
pretence, when you shall have heard the letter which
I shall now read to you, written to Mr. Hastings by
the Nabob himself.
Letter from the Nabob Trizier to Mr. Hastings, 25th
February, 1782.
"You performed on every occasion towards me
whatever was becoming of friendship: I, too, have
done whatever affection required and you commanded; and in future also, whatever may be your pleasure, there shall be no deviation therefrom, because whatever you direct is altogether for my benefit.
[he business for which I came to Fyzabad is become
settled by your favor: particulars will become known
to your wisdom from the writings of Mr. Middleton.
I am grateful for your favors. If in these matters
you sincerely approve me, communicate it, for it will
be a comfort to me. Having appointed my own
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SIXTH DAY. 139
aurmils to the jaghire of the lady mother, I have engaged to pay her cash. She has complied with my views. Her pleasure is, that, after receiving an engagement, he should deliver up the jaghires. What is your pleasure in this matter? If you command,
it will comfort the lady mother giving her back the
jaghire after I have obtained my views; or I will
have it under my aumil. I am obedient to your
pleasure. "
Your Lordships here see the Begum a suppliant
to have her jaghire restored, (after entering into
some engagement that might have been required of
her,) and the Nabob, in a tone equally suppliant,
expressing his consent, at least, that her request
should be complied with, if the command of Mr.
Hastings could be procured.
My Lords, in order to save your Lordships' time,
and that I might not overload this business, I did not
intend to have troubled you with any observations
upon this part of it; but the charge of falsehood
which the prisoner at your bar has had the audacity
to bring against us has induced me to lay it more
particularly before you. We have now done with it;
but before we retire, your Lordships will permit me
to recapitulate briefly the substance of what has now
been urged respecting his conduct towards these
miserable women. We accuse him of reiterated
breaches of the orders of the Court of Directors, both
in the letter and spirit of them, and of his contempt
of the opinions which his colleagues in office had
formed of them. We charge him with the aggravation of these delinquencies, by the oppression and
? ? ? ? 140 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ruin which they brought upon the family of the
Nabob, by the infraction of treaties, and by the disrepute which in his person was sustained by the government he represented, and by the stain left upon the justice, honor, and good faith of the English nation. We charge him with their farther aggrava
tion by sundry false pretences alleged by him in justification of this conduct, the pretended reluctance
of the Nabob, the fear of offending him, the sugges.
tion of the Begums having forgotten and forgiven the
wrongs they had suffered, and of the danger of reviving their discontent by any attempt to redress them, and by his insolent language, that the majesty of justice with which he impudently invests himself was
only to be approached with solicitation. We have
farther stated, that the pretence that he was only concerned in this business as an accessary is equally false; it being, on the contrary, notorious, that the Nabob
was the accessary, forced into the service, and a mere
instrument in his hands, and that he and Sir Elijah
Impey (whose employment in this business we stated
as a farther aggravation) were the authors and principal agents. And we farther contend, that each of
these aggravations and pretences is itself, in fact and
in its principle, a substantive crime.
Your Lordships witnessed the insolence with which
this man, stung to the quick by the recital of his
crime, interrupted me; and you heard his recrimination of falsehood against us. We again avouch
the truth of all and every word we have uttered,
and the validity of every proof with which we have
supported them. Let his impatience, I say, now
again burst forth,-he who feels so sensibly everything that touches him, and yet seeks for an act of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SIXTH DAY. 141
indemnity for his own atrocities, by endeavoring to
make you believe that the wrongs of a desolated
family are within one year forgotten by them, and
buried in oblivion.
I trust, my Lords, that both his prosecutors and
his judges will evince that patience which the criminal wants. Justice is not to wait to have its majesty approached with solicitation. We see that throne in which resides invisibly, but virtually, the majesty
of England; we see your Lordships representing, in
succession, the juridical authority in the highest
court in this kingdom: but we do not approach you
with solicitation; we make it a petition of right;
we claim it; we demand it. The right of seeking
redress is not suppliant, even before the majesty of
England; it comes boldly forward, and never thinks
it offends its sovereign by claiming what is the right
of all his people.
We have now done with this business: a business
as atrocious as any that is known in the history of
mankind; a business that has stained, throughout all
Asia, the British character, and by which our fame
for honor, integrity, and public faith has been forfeited; a business which has introduced us throughout that country as breakers of faith, destroyers of treaties, plunderers of the weak and unprotected, and
has dishonored and will forever dishonor the British
name. Your Lordships have had all this in evidence.
You have seen in what manner the Nabob, his country, his revenues, his subjects, his mother, his family,
his nobility, and all their fortunes, real and personal,
have been disposed of by the prisoner at your bar;
and having seen this, you will by the impatience of
this criminal estimate the patience of the unfortu
? ? ? ? 142 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
nate women into whose injuries he refused to inquire.
What he would not do the Commons have done.
They know that you have a feeling different from
that which he manifested on this occasion; they do
not approach you suppliantly, but demand justice;
they insist, that, as the Commons have done their
part, your Lordships will perform yours.
We shall next proceed to show your Lordships
how he acted towards another set of women, the
women of the late Sujah Dowlah, and for whom the
Directors had ordered a maintenance to be secured
by an express treaty. You will see that he is cruel
towards the weak sex, and to all others in proportion
as they are weak and powerless to resist him. You
will see, I say, when he had usurped the whole government of Oude, and brought it into a servile dependence on himself, how. these women fared; and then your Lordships will judge whether or not, and
in what degree, he is criminal.
? ? ? ? SP E E C H
IN
GENERAL REPLY.
SEVENTH DAY: THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 1794.
MY LORDS, - When I had last the honor of
addressing your Lordships from this place, my
observations were principally directed to the unjust
confiscation and seizure of the jaghires and treasures
of the Begums, without previous accusation or trial,
or subsequent inquiry into their conduct, in violation of a treaty made with them and guarantied by the East India Company, -to the long imprisonment
and cruel treatment of their ministers, and to the
false pretences and abominable principles by which
the prisoner at your bar has attempted to justify his
conduct. The several acts of violence and of oppression were, as we have shown your Lordships, committed with circumstances of aggravated atrocity
highly disgraceful to the British name and character,
-- and particularly by his forcing the Nabob to become the means and instrument of reducing his mother and grandmother and their families to absolute want and distress.
I have now to call your attention to his treatment
of another branch of this miserable family,- the
women and children of the late Nabob Sujah ul
Dowlah. These persons were dependent upon the
Begums, and by the confiscation of their property,
? ? ? ? 144 i MPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and by the ruin of various persons who would otherwise have contributed to their mainteniance, were reduced to the last extremity of indigence and want. Being left without the common necessaries of life,
they were driven to the necessity of breaking through
all those local principles of decorum which constitute the character of the female sex in that part
of the world; and after fruitless supplications and
shrieks of famine, they endeavored to break the inclosure of the palace, and to force their way to the
market-place, in order to beg for bread. When they
had thus been forced to submit to the extremity
of disgrace and degradation, by exposing themselves
to public view with the starving children of their late
sovereign, the brothers and sisters of the reigning
prince, they were, in this attempt, attacked by the
sepoys armed with bludgeons, and driven back by
blows into the palace.
My Lords, we have first laid before you the sufferings and disgraces of women of the first distinction
in Asia, protected by their rank, protected byj their
sex, protected by their near relation to the prince of
the country, protected by two guaranties of the representative of the British government in India. We
now come to another class of women, who suffered
by the violent misappropriation of the revenues of
the Nabob, by which their regular allowance was
taken from them; and your Lordships will find that
this man's crimes, at every step we take, ripen in
guilt, his acts of positive injustice are always aggravated by his conduct with regard to the consequences
of them, and form but a small part in the mass of
oppression and tyranny which we have brought before you.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 145
My Lords, the unjust seizure of the jaghires and
treasures of the Begums, ount of which those women
were maintained, reduced them to a state of indigence, and exposed them not only to the sufferings
which belong to the physical nature of man, but also
to the indignities which particularly affected their
sex and condition. But before I proceed, I will beg
leave to restate to your Lordships and recall to your
memory who these women were.
The Nabob Sujah Dowlah had but one legitimate
wife. Though the Mahometan law admits of this
number's being extended in certain cases even to
four, yet it is for the most part held disreputable,
especially when a person is married to a woman of
the first distinction, to have more than one legitimate wife. Upon looking into the Hedaya, your
Lordships will see with what extreme rigor fornication is forbidden; but we know that persons of high
rank, by customs that supersede both religion and
laws, add to the number of their wives, or substitute
in their room wives of a subordinate description, and
indulge themselves in this license to an unlimited
degree. You will find in Chardin's Travels, where
he treats of the subject of marriage, that such is the
custom of all the princes of the East. The wives of
this subordinate class, though they are in reality no
better than concubines, and are subject to the power
and caprices of their lords, are yet allowed, in the
eye of the severest moralists, to have some excuse
for their frailty and their weakness; and they accordingly always do find a degree of favor in this world,
and become the object of particular protection.
We know that Sujah ul Dowlah was a man unquestionably in his manners very licentious with reVOL. XII. 10
? ? ? ? 146 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
gard to women, that he had a great number of these
women in his family, and that his women and the
women attendant upon the persons of his favorites
had increased to a very great number. We know
that his sons amounted to twenty, --or, according
to Mr. Hastings's own account, to nineteen. Montesquieu supposes that there are more females born in the East than in the West. But he says this upon
no good ground. We know by better and more regular information concerning this matter, that the birth of males and females in that country is in the
same proportion as it is here; and therefore, if you
suppose that he had twenty sons, you may suppose
he had about nineteen daughters. By the customs
of that country, all these sons and daughters were
considered as persons of eminent distinction, though
inferior to the legitimate children, - assuming the
rank of their father, without considering the rank
which their mother held. All these wives with their
children, and all their female servants and attendants, amounting in the whole to about eight hundred persons, were shut up in what they call the Khord
Mohul, or Lesser Palace. This place is described
by one of the witnesses to be about as large as St.
James's Square. Your Lordships have been told,
that, in other circumstances as well as this, these
women were considered as objects of a great degree
of respect, and of the greatest degree of protection.
I refer your Lordships to the treaty by which their
maintenance was guarantied by the English government.
In order to let your Lordships see that I state
nothing to you but what is supported not only by
general history, which is enough to support an ac
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 147
count of general manners, but by the particular and
peculiar opinions of a person best informed of the
nature of the case, I will refer you to the Nabob
himself: for, undoubtedly, the Nabob of Oude, the
Vizier of the Empire, the Subahdar of the country,
was most likely to be the best judge of what respect
was due to the women of his father's family. I will
therefore read to your Lordships, from his own letters, what the Nabob's opinion was upon this subject. Extract of a Letter from the Vizier, received 23d of
August, 1782.
"I never found resource equal to the necessary
expenses. Every year, by taking from the ministers, and selling the articles of my harkhanna, I with great distress transacted the business. But I could
not take care of my dependants: so that some of my
brothers, from their difficulties, arose and departed;
and the people of the Khord Mohul of the late Nabob, who are all my mothers, from their distresses are reduced to poverty and involved in difficulties. No
man of rank is deficient in the care of his dependants, in proportion to his ability. "
Another Letter from the Vizier, received the 31st July,
1784.
"My brother, dear as life, Saadut Ali Khan, has
requested that I would permit his mother to go and
reside with him. My friend, all the mothers of my
brothels, and the women of the late Nabob, whom I
respect as my own mothers, are here, and it is incumbent upon me to support them: accordingly I
do it; and it is improper that they should be separated, nor do I approve it. By God's blessing and
? ? ? ? 148 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
your kindness, I hope that all the women of the late
Nabob may remain here; it is the wish also of my
grandmother and my mother that they should. "
Your Lordships now see in what degree of estimation the Nabob held these women.
He regarded the
wives of his father as his honorary mothers; he considers their children as his brethren; he thinks it
would be highly dishonorable to his government, if
one of them was taken out of the sanctuary in which
they are placed, and in which, he says, the great of
the country are obliged to maintain their dependants.
This is the account given by the person best acquainted with the usages of the country, best acquainted with his own duties, best acquainted with
his own wishes.
Now, my Lords, you will see in what light another
person, the agent of a trading company, who designates himself under the name of Majesty, and assumes other great distinctions, presumes also to consider these persons, --and in what contempt he is pleased to hold what is respected and what is held
sacred in that country. What I am now going to
quote is from the prisoner's second defence. For I
must remind your Lordships that Mr. Hastings has
made three defences, --one in the House of Commons, another in the lobby of the House of Commons, and a third at your Lordships' bar. The
second defence, though delivered without name, to
the members in the lobby of the House of Commons,
has been proved at your Lordships' bar to be written by himself. This lobby, this out-of-door defence,
militates in some respects, as your Lordships will
find, with the in-door defence; but it probably con
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 149
tains the real sentiments of Mr. Hastings himself,
delivered with a little more freeness when he gets
into the open air, --like the man who was so vain
of some silly plot he had hatched, that he told it to
the hackney-coachman, and every man lie met in the
streets.
He says, -" Begums are the ladies of an Eastern
prince; but these women are also styled the ladies
of the late Vizier, and their sufferings are painted
in such strong colors that the unsuspecting reader is
led to mix the subjects together, and to suppose that
these latter, too, were princesses of Oude, that all
their sufferings proceeded from some act of mine, or
had the sanction of my authority or permission. The
fact is, that the persons of the Khord Mohul (or Little Seraglio) were young creatures picked up wherever youth and beauty could be found, and mostly purchased from amongst the most necessitous and
meanest ranks of the people, for the Nabob's pleasures. " In the in-door defence, he says, "The said
women, who were mostly persons of low condition,
and the said children, if any such there were, lived
in the Khord Mohul, on an establishment entirely
distinct from the said Begums'. "
My Lords, you have seen what was the opinion
of the Nabob, who ought to know the nature and
circumstances of his father's palace, respecting these
women; you hear what Mr. Hastings's opinion is:
and now the question is, whether your Lordships will
consider these women in the same light in which the
person does who is most nearly connected with them
and most likely to know them, or in the way in which
Mr. Hastings has thought proper, within doors and
without doors, to describe them. Your Lordships will
? ? ? ? 150 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
be pleased to observe that he has brought no proof
whatever of facts which are so boldly asserted by him
in defiance of proof to the contrary, totally at variance
with the letter of the son of the man to whom these
women belonged. Your Lordships, I say, will remark that he has produced not one word of evidence,
either within the House of Commons or the House
of Peers, or in the lobby. or anywhere else, to verify
any one word he has said. He slanders these women
in order to lessen that compassion which your Lordships might have for the sufferings he inflicted upon
them. But admitting that some of these women were
of a meaner condition, and that they derived nothing
from their connection with the dignity of the person
by whom they had children, (and we know that in
the whole they amounted to about fourscore children,
the Nabob having a race like the patriarchs of old,
as many great persons in that part of the world still
have,) -supposing, I say, all this to be true, yet,
when persons are reduced from ease and affluence
to misery and distress, they naturally excite in the
mind a greater degree of compassion by comparing
the circumstances in which they once stood with
those into which they are fallen: for famine, degradation, and oppression were famine, degradation, and
oppression to those persons, even though they were
as mean as Mr. Hastings chooses to represent them.
But I hope, as you will sympathize with the great
on account of their condition, that you will sympathize with all mankind on the ground of the common condition of humanity which belongs to us all; therefore I hope your Lordships will not consider
the calumny of Mr. Hastings against those women
as any other than as an aggravation of his offence
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 151
against them. That is the light in which the House
of Commons considered it; for they had heard both
his in-door and out-door defence, and they still persevered in making the charge, and do persevere in making it still.
We have first stated what these women were,in what light they stood with the Nabob, - in what
light they stood with the country at large. I have
now to state in what light they stood with the British government, previous to this invasion of their rights; and we will prove they were the actual subjects of a guaranty by the Company.
Extract from an Agreement made by Mr. liddleton,
to all the Particulars of which he engages to procure a Treaty from the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah,
after his Arrival, and that he will also sign it, as
follows:
"First, That, whenever the Begum shall choose
to go to Mecca, she shall be permitted to go.
"Second, That, when the Nabob shall arrive, I
[Mr. Middleton] will procure suitable allowances to
be made to the ladies of the zenanah and the chil
dren of the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah, and take
care that they are paid.
" Third, That the festivals (shadee) and marriages
of the children of the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah
shall be at the disposal of the Begum: whenever she
thinks proper, she shall marry them; and whatever
money shall be necessary for these expenses shall
be paid by the Nabob.
"Fourth, That the syer of Coda Gunge and Ali
Gunge shall be retained by the Begum as heretofore.
? ? ? ? 152 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS. "Fifth, That I [Mr. Middleton] will, upon the
arrival of the Nabob, procure Vizier Gunge and the garden of Sepoy Dand Khan, or their equivalent, for the Begum.
"Sixth, That I [Mr. Middleton] will endeavor to
obtain from the Nabob the sum of 1,150,000 rupees on
account of the purchase of Metchee Bohaun, and the
house of Sahebjee, and the fort of the Gossim, with
the land and garden and the barraderry on the banks
of Goomply [Goomty? ], and bazaar and garden of
the house of Mahnarain and the house of Beng Peofand at Lucknow: all of which the Nabob Asoph ul
Dowlah has assumed possession of.
"Seventh, That I will settle with the Nabob the
allowances to be made in ready money to the ladies
of the zenanah and others specified, in the following
amount: Total, 17 lacs 250 rupees per month.
" Eighth, Upon the arrival of the Nabob Asoph ul
Dowlah Bahadur, I will endeavor with all my influence to settle the monthly allowances of Mohrum
Ali Khan and Mahlmud Eltifant Khan, &c. , the attendants of the Begums.
" Ninth, That, if the Begum shall go to Mecca, she
shall leave her mahals and jaghires to the Begum,
the mother of Asoph ul Dowlah, who shall remit the
revenues thereof to the Burree Begum: no one shall
prevent her enjoying her jaghires. "
Now, my Lords, we will read the copy of an engagement under the seal of the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah, and under the seal and signature, in English, of Mr. Middleton, as follows.
"First, I, who am the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 153
Bahadur, do agree that the jaghires and the gunges
and monthly allowance of the officers and servants,
and of the ladies of the zenanah, and of those specified in the accounts annexed, shall be at the disposal and under the management and authority of the Begum, and no one shall oppose or prevent it: this
I will punctually observe. In this agreement Mr.
Middleton and the English are engaged.
"Second, Whenever the Begum may choose to go
to Mecca, I will not oppose it.
"Third, Whenever the Begum should go to Mecca,
she shall leave her lands, jaghires, &c. , either in the
care of my mother or of me; and I will procure bills
for the amount of their revenues, and send them to
her: no one shall oppose this.
" Fourth, The Begum shall have authority over all
the ladies of her zenanah; she shall let them remain
with me, and not let them go anywhere without my
permission, or keep them with her.
"Fifth, The jaghires Coda Gunge and Ali Gunge,
&c. , with, the mahal and syer belonging to the Begum and made over, shall remain as heretofore in her
possession: Total, 14,460 rupees per month.
"Eighth, The Beguin has authority over the ladies
and attendants of the zenanah; neither myself nor
any one else will oppose it.
"Ninth, The Begum, my grandmother, shall have
the authority in all festivals, and in the marriage
of the children of the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah,
and, with the consent of my mother and myself,
shall regulate them: excepting in the festivals (shadee), the authority is mine.
" The English are guaranties to the above engagements, so long as the Begum shall exist. "
? ? ? ? 154 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Your Lordships will observe something here worthy of your notice. You will first perceive, that the
very treaty in which Mr. Hastings, by his representative, Mr. Middleton, was a party concerned, supposes that the Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah had other children
besides the reigning prince by his sole legitimate wife;
and yet Mr. Hastings, in his defence, has thought
proper, with a full knowledge of that circumstance,
to doubt whether there were any other children.
You next see that these women have Mr. Middleton's
(that is, Mr. Hastings's) guaranty for the allowances
which are made and settled upon them, and for the
maintenance of their attendants, for the security and
enjoyment of their own possessions, for their having
a law officer of high rank, a moulavy, of their own.
In short, there is a regular establishment formed for
all these women: they are not separated as a part
distinct from the Begums, but they are put by this
very guaranty entirely under their management; the
maintenance of the children is secured; the whole
order and economy of their establishment is delivered entirely to the Begum, the grandmother, and
the Begum, the mother, of the Nabob.
My Lords, you see that all these arrangements have
the solemn guaranty of the Company, and that these
women form a very considerable part of that guaranty; and therefore your Lordships will not treat their sufferings, inflicted in violation of the Company's
own settlement and guaranty, as a matter of no consideration for you.
But to proceed. -We have proved to your Lordships that the Nabob was reduced to a state of the greatest possible misery and distress; that his whole
revenue was sequestered into the hands of Mr. Hast
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 155
ings's agents; that by the treaty of Chunar he was to
be relieved from the expense of a body of troops with
which he had been burdened without his own voluntary consent, -- nay, more, the temporary brigade, which Mr. Hastings proposed to take off, but kept on,
which he considers not only as a great distress to his
finances, but a dreadful scourge and calamity to his
country, - there was a whole pension-list upon it,
with such enormous pensions as 18,0001. a year to
Sir Eyre Coote, and other pensions, that Mr. Hastings
proposed to take off, but did not; that, in proportion as the Nabob's distress increased, Mr. Hastings's demands increased too; he was not satisfied with
taking from him for the Company, but he took from
him for himself; he demanded six hundred thousand
pounds as a loan, when he knew he had neither
money nor credit.
The consequence of these acts of violence was,
that these people, besieged by the English troops,
and deprived of every resource, even of the funds of
charity, by which the protectors of the family, male
and female, might have relieved them, but which the
cruel rapacity of Mr. Hastings had either entirely
taken away or greatly diminished, were reduced to
the last extremity of distress.
After the length of time which has elapsed since
we first brought these matters with their proofs, I
shall beg leave, before you go to judgment, to refresh
your memory with a recital of a part of that evidence,
in order that your Lordships may again fully and
distinctly comprehend the nature and extent of the
oppression, cruelty, and injustice committed by Mr.
Hastings, and by which you may estimate the punishment you will inflict upon. him.
? ? ? ? 156 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Letter from Captain Leonard Jaques to Richard Johnson, -Esq. , Resident at the TVizier's Court; March 6th,
1782.
" SIR, -The women belonging to the Khord Mohul complain of their being in want of every necessary
of life, and are at last drove to that desperation, that
they at night get on the top of the zenanah, make a
great disturbance, and last night not only abused the
sentinels posted in the gardens, but threw dirt at
them; they threatened to throw themselves from the
walls of the zenanah, and also to break out of it.
Humanity obliges me to acquaint you of this matter,
and to request to know if you have any direction to
give me concerning it. I also beg leave to acquaint
you, I sent for Letafit Ali Khan, the cojah who has
the charge of them, who informs me their complaint
is well grounded, -that they have sold everything
they had, even to the clothes from their backs, and
now have no means of existing. Inclosed, I transmit
you a letter from Mandall on the subject. "
Letterfrom Captain Jaques to Richard Johnson, Esq. ,
March 7th, 1782.
SIR, -- I beg leave to address you again concerning the women in the Khord Mohul. Their behavior
last night was so furious that there seemed the greatest probability of their proceeding to the utmost extremities, and that they would either throw themselves from the walls or force the doors of the zenanah. I have made every inquiry concerning the cause of
their complaints, and find from Letafit Ali Khan that
they are in a starving condition, having sold all their
clothes and necessaries, and now have not where
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 157
withal to support nature. And as my instructions are
quite silent upon this head, should be glad to know
how to proceed in case they were to force the doors
of the zenanah; as I suspect it will happen, should
no subsistence be very quickly sent to them. "
Letter from Major Gilpin to John Bristow, -Esq. ,
Resident at the Court of Lucknow; 30th October,
1782.
"Last night, about eight o'clock, the women in the
Khord Mohul Zenanah, under the charge of Letafit
Ali Khan, assembled on the tops of the buildings,
crying in a most lamentable manner for food, - that
for the last four days they had got but a very scanty
allowance, and that yesterday they had got none.
The melancholy cries of famine are more easily imagined than described; and from their representations, I fear that the Nabob's agents for that business are very inattentive. I therefore think it requisite
to make you acquainted with the circumstance, that
his Excellency the Nabob may cause his agents to
be more circumspect in their conduct to these poor,
unhappy women. "
Letterfrom Mr. Bristow to Major Gilpin; Fyzabad,
4th November, 1782.
" SIR,-I have received your letters of the 12th,
19th, 27th, and 30th ultimo. I communicated the
contents of that of the 30th to the minister, who
promised me to issue orders for the payment of a
sum of money to relieve the distress of the Khord
Mohul. I shall also forward a bill for 10,000 rupees
to you in the course of three or four days; and if in
the mean time you may find means to supply to the
? ? ? ? 158 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
amount of that sum, I will become personally responsible to you for the repayment. "
Letter from Major Gilpin to John Bristow, Esq. , at the
Court of Lucknow; Fyzabad, 15th November, 1782.
"SIR, --The repeated cries of the women in the
Khord Mohul Zenanah for subsistence have been truly melancholy. They beg most piteously for liberty, that they may earn their daily bread by laborious servitude, or be relieved from their misery by immediate death. In consequence of their unhappy situation,
I have this day taken the liberty of drawing on you
in favor of Ramnarain at ten days' sight, for twenty
son Kerah rupees, ten thousand of which I have paid
to Cojah Letafit Ali Khan, under whose cha:nge that
zenanah is. "
These, my Lords, are the state of the distresses in
the year 1782, and your Lordships will see that they
continued almost, with only occasional reliefs, during the period of that whole year. Now we enter into
the year 1783, to show you that it continued during
the whole time; and then I shall make a very few
remarks upon it.
I will now read to your Lordships a part of Mr.
Holt's evidence, by which it is proved that Mr. Hastings was duly advertised of all these miserable and calamitous circumstances.
" Q. Whether you saw a letter of intelligence from
Fyzabad containing a relation of the treatment of the
women in the Khord Mohul? -- A. Yes, I did, and
translated it. -Q. From whom did it come? -- A.
Iloolas Roy. - Q. Who was he? - A. An agent of
the Resident at Fyzabad, employed for the purpose of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 159
transmitting information to the Resident. Q. Was
that paper transmitted to Mr. Hastings? - A. To the
best of my recollectionl, it was transmitted to the
Board, after I had attested it. - Q. Do you remember
at what distance of time after the receipt of the intelligence respecting the distresses of the Khord Mohul that paper was transmitted to Calcutta? -- A. I cannot say. - Q. Do you believe it was transmitted
within ten months after the time it was received?
A. I understood it to be a letter received just before
it was transmitted. - Q. Then you understand it was
transmitted as soon as received? --A. Yes, in the
course of three days. - Q. Can you bring to your
mind the time at which the translation was made?
