Hastings, and actually in possession, was not only called upon to perform tasks beyond his strength, but was
overawed
by Mr.
Edmund Burke
- THIRD DAY.
313
should grow proud, and seek independence. Your
Lordships see that in this man's opinion riches must
beget pride. I hope your Lordships will never be
so poor as to cease to be proud; for, ceasing to be
proud, y6u will cease to be independent.
Having resolved that the Rajah should not grow
rich, for fear he should grow proud and independent,
he orders him to pay forty lacs of rupees, or 400,0001. ,
annually to the Company. The tribute had before
been 250,0001. , and he all at once raised it to
400,0001. Did he previously inform the Council
of these intentions? Did he inform them of the
amount of the gross collections of the country, from.
any properly authenticated accounts procured from
any public office?
I need not inform your Lordships, that it is a
serious thing to draw out of a country, instead of
250,0001. , an annual tribute of 400,0001. There
were other persons besides the Rajah concerned in
this enormous increase of revenue. The whole country is interested in its resources being fairly estimated and assessed; for, if you overrate the. revenue which
it is supposed to yield to the great general collector,
you necessitate him to overrate every under-collector, and thereby instigate them to harass and oppress the people. It is upon these grounds that we have
charged the prisoner at your bar with having acted
arbitrarily, illegally, unjustly, and tyrannically: and
your Lordships will bear in mind that these acts were
done by his sole authority, which authority we have
showin to have been illegally assumed.
My Lords, before he took the important steps which
I have just stated, he consulted no one but Mr. Markham, whom he placed over the new Rajah. The
? ? ? ? 314 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Rajah was only nineteen years old: but Mr. Markham undoubtedly had the advantage of him in this respect, for he was twenty-one. He had also the
benefit of five months' experience of the country:
an abundant experience, to be sure, my Lords, in a
country where it is well known, from the peculiar
character. of its inhabitants, that a man cannot anywhere put his foot without placing it upoel some trap or mine, until he is perfectly acquainted with its localities. Nevertheless, le puts the whole country and a prince of nineteen, as appears from the evidence, into the hands of Mr. Markham, a man-of twenty-one. We have no doubt of Mr. Markham's capacity; but
he could have no experience in a country over which
he possessed a general controlling power. Under
these circumstances, we surely shall not wonder, it
this young man fell into error. I do not like to treat.
harshly the errors into which a very young person
may fall: but the manil who employs him, and puts
him into a situation for which he has neither capacity
nor experience, is responsible for the consequences
of such an appointment; and Mr. Hastings is doubly
responsible in this case, because he placed Mr. Markham as Resident merely to show that he defied the authority of the Court of Directors.
But, my Lords, let us proceed. We find Mr.
Hastings resolved to exact forty lacs from the country, although he had no proof that such a tribute could be fairly collected. He next assigns to this
boy, the Rajah, emoluments amounting to about
60,0001. a year. Let us now see upon what grounds
he can justify the assignment of these emoluments. I
can perceive none but such as are founded upon the
opinion of its being necessary to the support of the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. THIRD DAY. 315
Rajah's dignity. Now. when Mr. Markham, who is
the sole ostensible actor in the management of the
new Rajah, as he had been a witness to the deposition
of the former, comes before you to give an account
of what he- thought of Cheyt Sing, who appears to
have properly supported the dignity of his situation,
he tells you that about a lac or a lac and a half
d(10,0001. or 15,0001. ) a year was as much as Cheyt
Sing could spend. And yet this young creature,
settled in the same country, and'who was to pay
400,0001. a year, instead of 250,0001. , tribute to the
Company, was authorized by Mr. Hastings to collect
and reserve to his own use 60,0001. out of the revenue. That is to say, he was to receive four times
as much as was stated by Mr. Hastings, on Mr. Markham's evidence, to have been necessary to support -him.
Your Lordships tread upon corruption everywhere.
Why was such a large revenue given to the young
Rajah to support his dignity, when, as they say, Cheyt
Sing did not spend above a lac and half in support
of his, - though it is known' he had great establishments to maintain, that he had erected considerable buildings adorned with fine gardens, and, according
to them, had made great preparations for war?
We must at length imagine that they knew the
country could bear the impost imposed upon it. I
ask, How, did they know this? We have proved to
you, by a paper presented here by Mr. Markham, that
the net amount of the collections was about 360,0001.
This is their own account, and was made up, as Mr.
Markham says, by one. of the clerks of Durbege Sing,
together with his Persian moonshee, (a very fine council to settle the revenues of the kingdom! ) i his pri
? ? ? ? 316 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
vate house. And with this account before them, they
have dared to impose upon the necks of that unhappy
people a tribute of 400,0001. , together with an income
for the Rajah of 60,0001. These sums the Naib,
Durbege Sing, was bound to furnish, and left to
get them as he could. Your Lordships will observe
that I speak of the net proceeds of the collections.
We have nothing to do with the gross amount. We
are speaking of what came to the public treasury,
which was no more than I have stated; and it was
out of the public treasury that these payments were
to be made, because there could be no other honest
way of getting the money.
But let us now come to the main point, which is
to ascertain what sums the country could really bear.
Mr. Hastings maintains (whether in the speech of his
counsel or otherwise I do not recollect) that the revenue of the country was 400,0001. , that it constantly paid that sum, and flourished under the payment.
In answer to this, I refer your Lordships, first, to Mr.
Markham's declaration, and the Wassil Baakee, which
is in page 1750 of the printed Minutes. I next refer your Lordships to Mr. Duncan's Reports, in page 2493. According to Mr. Duncan's public estimate
of the revenue of Benares, the net collections of the
very year we are speaking of, when Durbege Sing
had the management, and when Mr. Markham, his
Persian moonshee, and a clerk in his private house,
made their estimates without any documents, or with
whatever documents, or God only knows, for nothing
appears on the record of the transaction, --the collections yielded in that year but 340,0001. , that is, 20,0001. less than Mr. Markham's estimate. But take
it which. way you will, whether you take it at Mr.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 317
Markham's 360,0001. , or at Mr. Duncan's 340,0001. ,
your Lordships will see, that, after reserving 60,0001.
for his own private expenses, the RQjah could not realize a sum nearly equal to the tribute demanded.
Your Lordships have also in evidence before you
an account of the produce of the country for I believe
full five years after this period, from which it appears
that it never realized the forty lacs, or anything like
it, -- yielding only thirty-seven and thirty-nine lacs,
or thereabouts, which is 20,0001. short of Mr. Markham's estimate, and 160,0001. short of Mr. Hastings's.
On what data could the prisoner at your bar have
formed this estimate? Where were all the clerks and
mutsuddies, where were all the men of business in
Benares, who could have given him complete information upon the subject? We do not find the trace
of any of them; all our information is Mr. Markham's
moonshee, and some clerk of Durbege Sing's employed in Mr. Markham's private counting-house, in
estimating revenues'of a country.
The disposable revenue was still further reduced
by the jaghires which Mr. Hastings granted, but to
what amount does not appear. He mentions the increase in the revenue by the confiscation of the estates of the Baboos, who had been in rebellion. This he rates at six lacs. But we have inspected the accounts, we have examined them with that sedulous
attention which belongs to that branch of the legislature that has the care of the public revenues, and we
have not found one trace of this addition. Whether
these confiscations were ever actually made remains
doubtful; but if they were made, the application or
the receipt of the money they yielded does not appear in any account whatever. I leave your Lordships to judge of this.
? ? ? ? 318 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
But it may be said that Hastings might have been
in an error. If he was in an error, my Lords, his
error continued. an extraordinary length of time.
The error itself was also extraordinary in a man of
business: it was an error of account. If his confidential agent, Mr. Markham, had originally contributed to lead him into the error, he soon perceived
it. He soon informed Mr. Hastings that his expectations were erroneous, and that he had overrated the
country. What, then, are we to think of his persevering in this error? Mr. Hastings might have
formed extravagant and wild expectations, when he
was going up the country to plunder; for we allow
that avarice may often overcalculate the hoards that
it is going to rob. :If a thief is going to plunder a
banker's shop, his avarice, when running the risk of
his life, may lead him to imagine there is more money
in the shop than there really is. But w'hen this man
was in possession of the country, how came he not to
know and understand the condition of it better? In
fact, he was well acquainted with it; for he has declared it to be his opinion that forty lacs was an overrated calculation, and that the country could not continue to pay this tribute at the very time he was
imposing it. You have this admission in page 294
of the printed Minutes; but in the very face of it he
says, if the Rajah will exert himself, and continue
for some years the regular payment, he will then
grant him a remission. Thus the Rajah was told,
what he well knew, that he was overrated, but that
at some time or another he was to expect a remission.
And what, my Lords, was the condition upon which
he was to obtain this promised indulgence? The
punctual payment of that which Mr. Hastings de
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- THIRD DAY. 319
dlares he was not able to pay, - and which he could
not pay without ruining the country, betraying his
own honor and character, and acting directly contrary
to the duties of the station in which Mr. Hastings
had placed him. Thus this unfortunate man was
compelled to have recourse to the most rigorous exaction, that he might be enabled to satisfy the exorbitant demand which had been made upon him.
But let us suppose that the country was able to
afford the sum at which it was assessed, and that
nothing was required but vigor and activity in the Rajah. Did Mr. Hastings endeavor to make his strength
equal to the task imposed on him? No: the direct
contrary. In proportion as he augmented the burdens of this man, in just that proportion he took away
his strength and power of supporting these burdens.
There was not one of the external marks of honor
which attended the government of Cheyt Sing that
he did not take away from the new Rajah; and still,
when this new man came to his new authority, deprived of all external marks of consequence, and degraded in the opinion of his subjects, he was to extort from his people an additional revenue, payable to the Company, of fifteen lacs of rupees more than
was paid by the late Rajah in all the plenitude of
undivided authority. To increase this difficulty still
more, the father and guardian of this inexperienced
youth was a man who had no credit or reputation
in the country. This circumstance alone was a sufficient drawback from the weight of his authority; but
Mr. Hastings took care that he should be divested
of it altogether; for, as our charge states, he placed
him under the immediate direction of Mr. Markham, and consequently Mr. Markham was the gov
? ? ? ? 320 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ernor of the country. Could a man with a. reduced,
divided, contemptible authority venture to strike such
bold and hardy strokes as would be efficient without
being oppressive? Could he or any other man, thus
bound and shackled, execute such vigorous and energetic measures as were necessary to realize such
an enormous tribute as was imposed upon this unhappy country?
My Lords, I must now call your attention to another circumstance, not mentioned in the charge, but
connected with the appointment of the new Rajah,
and of his Naib, Durbege Sing, and demonstrative
of the unjust and cruel treatment to which they
were exposed. It appears from a letter produced
here by Mr. Markham, (upon which kind of correspondence I shall take the liberty to remark hereafter,) that the Rajah lived in perpetual apprehension of being removed, and that a person called Ussaun Sing was intended as his successor. Mr.
Markham, in one part of, his correspondence, tells
you that the Rajah did not intend to hold the government any longer. Why? Upon a point of right,
namely, that he did not possess it upon the same
advantageous terms as Cheyt Siug; but he tells you
in another letter, (and this is a much better key to
the whole transaction,) that he was in dread of that
Ussaun Sing whom I have just mentioned. This
man Mr. Hastings kept ready to terrify the Rajah;
and you will, in the course of these transactions,
see that there is not a man in India, of any consideration, against whom Mr. Hastings did not keep
a kind of pretender, to keep him in continual awe.
This Ussaun Sing, whom Mr. Hastings brought up
with him to Benares, was dreaded by Cheyt Sing
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. THIRD DAY. 321
not less than by his successor. We find that lie
was at first nominated Naib or acting governor of
the country, but had never been put in actual possession of this high office, and Durbege Sing was
appointed to it. Although Ussaun Sing was thus
removed, he continued his pretensions, and constantly solicited the office. Thus the poor man
appointed by Mr.
Hastings, and actually in possession, was not only called upon to perform tasks beyond his strength, but was overawed by Mr. Markham, and terrified by Ussaun Sing, (the mortal enemy of the family,) who, like an accusing fiend, was continually at his post, and unceasingly reiterating his accusations. This Ussaun Sing was, as Mr.
Markham tells you, one of the causes of the Rajah's
continued dejection and despondency. But it does
not appear that any of these circumstances were ever
laid before the Council; the whole passed between
Mr. Hastings and Mr. Markham.
Mr. Hastings having by,his arbitrary will thus disposed of the revenue and of the landed property of
Benares, we will now trace his further proceedings
and their effects. He found the country most flourishing in agriculture and in trade; but not satisfied
with the experiment he had made upon the government, upon the revenues, upon the reigning family,
and upon all the landed property, he resolved to
make as bold and as novel an experiment upon the
commercial interests of the country. Accordingly
he entirely changed that part of the revenue system
which affects trade and commerce, the life and soul
of a state. Without any advice that we know of,
except Mr. Markham's, he sat down to change in
every point the whole commercial system of that
VOL. XI. 21
? ? ? ? 322 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
country; and he effected the change upon the same
arbitrary principles which he had before acted upon,
namely, his own arbitrary will. We are told, indeed,
that he consulted bankers and merchants;but when
your Lordships shall have learned what has hap*pened from this experiment, you will easily see
whether he did resort to proper sources of information or not. You will see that the mischief which
has happened has proceeded from the exercise of arbitrary power. Arbitrary power, my Lords, is always a miserable creature. When a man once adopts it as the principle of his actions, no one dares to tell
him a truth, no one dares to give him any information that is disagreeable to him; for all know that
their life and fortune depend upon his caprice. Thus
the man who lives in the exercise of arbitrary power
condemns himself to eternal ignorance. Of this the
prisoner at your bar affords us a striking example.
This man, without advice, without assistance, and
without resource, except in his own arbitrary power,
stupidly ignorant in himself, and puffed up with the
constant companion of ignorance, a blind presumption, alters the system of commercial imposts, and
thereby ruined the whole trade of the country, leaving no one part of it undestroyed.
Let me now call your Lordships' attention to his
assumption of power, without one word of communication with the Council at Calcutta, where the whole
of these trading regulations might and ought to have
been considered, and where they could have been deliberately examined and determined upon. By this
assumption the Council was placed in the situation
which I have before described: it must either confirm
his. acts,. or again undo everything which had been
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 323
done. He had provided not only against resistance,
but almost against anlly inquiry into his wild projects.
He had by his opium contracts put all vigilance
asleep, and by his bullock and other contracts he had
secured a variety of concealed interests, both abroad
and at home. He was sure of the ratification of his
acts by the Council, whenever he should please to inform them of-his measures; and to his secret influence he trusted for impunity in his career of tyranny and oppression.
In bringing before you his arbitrary mode of imposing duties, I beg to remind your Lordships, that, when
I examined Mr. Markham concerning the imposing
of a duty of five per cent instead of the former duty
of two, I asked him whether that five per cent was
not laid on in such a manner as utterly to extinguish
the trade, and whether it was not in effect and substance five times as much as had been paid before.
What was his answer? Why, that many plans:,
which, when considered in the closet, look specious
and plausible,. will not hold when they come to be
tried in practice, and that this plan was one of them.
The additional duties, said he, have never since been
exacted. But, my Lords, the very attempt to exact
them utterly ruined the trade of the country. They
were imposed upon a visionary theory, formed in his
own closet, and-the result was exactly what might
have been anticipated. Was it not an abominable
thing in Mr. Hastings to withhold from the Council
the means of ascertaining the real operation of his
taxes? He had no knowledge of trade himself; he
cannot keep an account; he has no memory. In fact,
we find him a man possessed of no one quality fit for
any kind of business whatever. We find him pursu
? ? ? ? 324 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ing his own visionary projects, without knowing anything of the nature or [of? ] the circumstances under which the trade of the country was carried on. These
projects might have looked very plausible: but when
you come to examine the actual state of the trade, it is
not merely a difference between five and two per cent,
but it becomes a different mode of estimating the
commodity, and it amounts to five times as much as
was paid before. We bring this as an exemplification of this cursed mode of arbitrary proceeding, and
to show you his total ignorance of the subject, and his
total indifference about the event of the measure he
was pursuing. When he began to perceive his blunders, he never took any means whatever to put the new regulations which these blunders had made necessary into execution, but he left all this mischievous project to rage in its full extent.
I have shown your Lordships how he managed the
private property of the country, how he managed the
government, and how he managed the trade. I am
now to call your Lordships' attention to some of the
consequences which have resulted from the instances of management, or rather gross mismanagement, which have been brought before you. Your Lordships will recollect that none of these violent and
arbitrary measures, either in. their conception or in
the progress of their execution, were officially made
known to the Council; and you will observe, as we
proved, that the same criminal concealment existed
with respect to the fatal consequences of these acts.
After the flight of Cheyt Sing, the revenues were
punctually paid by the Naib, Durbege Sing, month
-by month, kist by kist, until the month of July, and
then, as the country had suffered some distress, the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 325
Naib wished this kist, or instalment, to be thrown on
the next month. You will ask why he wished to
burden this month beyond thle rest. I reply, The
reason was obvious: the month of August is the last
of the year, and he would, at its expiration, have the
advantage of viewing the receipts of the whole year,
and ascertaining the claim of the country to the remission of a part of the annual tribute which Mr.
Hastings had promised, provided the instalments were
paid regularly. It was well known to everybody that
the country had suffered very considerably by the
revolt, and by a drought which prevailed that year.
The Rajah, therefore, expected to avail himself of
Mr. Hastings's flattering promise, and to save by the
delay the payment of one of the two kists. But mark
the course that was taken. The two kists were at
once demanded at the end of the year, and no remission of tribute was allowed. By the promise of
remission Mr. Hastings tacitly acknowledged that the
Rajah was overburdened; and he admits that the payment of the July kist was postponed at the Rajah's
own desire. He must have seen the Rajah's motive
for desiring delay, and he ought to have taken care
that this poor man should not be oppressed and ruined by this compliance with requests founded on
such motives.
So passed the year 1781. No complaints of arrears
in Durbege Sing's payments appear on record before
the month of April, 1782; and I wish your Lordships
seriously to advert to the circumstances attending
the evidence respecting these arrears, which has been
produced for the first time by the prisoner in his defence here at your bar. This evidence does not appear in the Company's records; it does not appear
? ? ? ? 326 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
in the book of the Benares correspondence; it does
not appear in any documents to which the Commons
could have access; it was unknown to the Directors,
unknown to the Council, unknown to the Residents,
Mr. Markham's successors, at Benares, unknown to
the searching and inquisitive eye of the Commons of
Great Britain. This important evidence was drawn
out of Mr. Markham's pocket, in the presence of your
Lordships. It consists of a private correspondence
which he carried on with Mr. Hastings, unknown to
the Council, after Durbege Sing had been appointed
Naib, after the new government had been established,
after Mr. Hastings had quitted that province, and
had apparently wholly abandoned it, and when there
was no reason whatever why the correspondence
should not be public. This private correspondence
of Mr. Markham's, now produced for the first time,
is full of the bitterest complaints against Durbege
Sing. These clandestine complaints, these underhand means of accomplishing the ruin of a man, without the knowledge of his true and proper judges, we produce to your Lordships as a heavy aggravation of
our charge, and as a proof of a wicked conspiracy to
destroy the man. For if there was any danger of his
falling into arrears when the heavy accumulated kists
came upon him, the Council ought to have known
that danger; they ought to have known every particular of these complaints: for Mr. Hastings had then
carried into effect his own plans.
I ought to have particularly marked for your Lord
ships' attention this second era of clandestine correspondence between Mr. Hastings and Mr. Markham.
It commenced after Mr. Hastings had quitted Bexnares, and had nothing to do with it but as Gov
? ? ? ? 'SPEECH IN REPLY. . - THIRD DAY. 327
ernor-General: even after his extraordinary, and, as
we contend, illegal, power had completely expired,
the same clandestine correspondence was carried on.
He apparently considered Benares as his private
property; and just as a man acts with his private
steward about his private estate, so he acted with the
Resident at Benares. He receives from him and
answers letters containing a series of complaints
against Durbege Sing, which began in April and continued to the month of November, without making any public communication of them. -. He never laid
one word of this correspondence before the Council
until the 29th of November, and he had then completely settled the fate of this Durbege Sing.
This clandestine correspondence we charge against
him as an act of rebellion; for he was bound to lay
before the Council the whole of his correspondence
relative to the revenue and all the other affairs of the
country. We charge it not only as rebellion against
the orders of the Company and the laws of the land,
but as a wicked plot to destroy this man, by depriving him of any opportunity of defending himself before the Council, his lawful judges. I wish to
impress it strongly on your Lordships' minds, that
neither the complaints of Mr. Markham nor the exculpations of Durbege Sing were ever made known till Mr. Markham was examined in this hall.
The first intimation afforded the Council of what
had been going on at Benares from April, 1782, at
which time, Mr. Markham says, the complaints against
Durbege Sing had risen to serious importance, was in
a letter dated the 27th of November following. This
letter was sent to the Council from Nia Serai, in the
Ganges, where Mr. Hastings had retired for the bene.
? ? ? ? 328 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
fit of the air. During the whole time he was in Calcutta, it does not appear upon the records that he had
ever held any communication with the Council upon
the subject. The letter is in the printed Minutes,
page 298, and is as follows.
"' The Governor-General. -- I desire. the Secretary
to lay the accompanying letters from Mr. Markham
before the board, and request that orders may be immediately sent to him concerning the subjects contained in them. It may be necessary to inform the board, that, on repeated information from Mr. Markham, which indeed was confirmed to me beyond a
doubt by other channels, and by private assurances
which I could trust, that the affairs of that province
were likely to fall into the greatest confusion from
the misconduct of Baboo Durbege Sing. whom I had
appointed the Naib, fearing the dangerous consequences of a delay, and being at too great a distance
to consult the members of the board, who I knew
could repose that confidence in my local knowledge
as to admit of this occasional exercise of my own separate authority, I wrote to Mr. Markham the letter to
which he alludes, dated the 29th of September last, of
which I now lay before the board a copy. The first
of the accompanying letters from Mr. Markham arrived at a time when a severe return of my late illness obliged me, by the advice of my physicians, to leave Calcutta for the benefit of the country air, and
prevented me from bringing it earlier before the
notice of the board. "
I have to remark upon this part of the letter, that
he claims for himself an exercise of his own authority.
He had now no delegation, and therefore no claim to
separate authority. He was only a member of the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 329
board, obliged to do everything according to the decision of the majority, and yet he speaks of his own separate authority; and after complimenting himself,
he requests its confirmation. The complaints of Mr.
Markham had been increasing, growing, and multiplying upon him, from the month of April preceding, and he had never given the least intimation of it to
the board until he wrote this letter. This was at so
late a period that he then says, " The time won't wait
for a remedy; I am obliged to use my own separate
authority "; although he had had abundant time for
laying the whole matter before the Council.
He next goes on to say, -"' It had, indeed, been my
intention, but for the same cause, to have requested
the instructions of the board for the conduct of Mr.
Markham in the difficulties which he had to encounter immediately after the date of my letter to him, and to have recommended the substance of it for an
order to the board. " He seems to have promised Mr.
Markham, that, if the violent act which Mr. Markham
proposed, and which he, MIt. Hastings, ordered, was
carried into execution, an authority should be procured from the board. He, however, did not get Mr. Markham such an authority. Why? Because he
was resolved, as he has told you, to act by his own
separate authority; and because, as he has likewise
told you, that he disobeys the orders of the Court of
Directors, and defies the laws of his country, as a signal of his authority.
Now what does he recommend to the board? That
it will be pleased to confirm the appointment which
Mr. Markham made in obedience to his individual
orders, as well as the directions which he had given
him to exact from Baboo Durbege Sing with the ut
? ? ? ? 330 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
most rigor every rupee of the collections, and either
to confine' him at Benares or send him to Chunar and
imprison him there until the whole of his arrears
were paid up. Here, then, my Lords, you have,
what plainly appears in every act of Mr. Hastings, a
feeling of resentment for some personal injury. " I
feel myself," says he, " and may be allowed on such
an occasion to acknowledge it, personally hurt at the
ingratitude of this man, and the discredit which his
ill conduct has thrown on my appointment of him.
The Rajah himself, scarcely arrived at the verge of
manhood, was in understanding but little advanced
beyond the term of childhood; and it had been the
policy of Cheyt Sing to keep him equally secluded
from the world and from business. " This is the character Mr. Hastings gives of a man whom he appointed to govern the country. He goes on to say of Durbege
Sing, -" As he was allowed a jaghire of a very liberal amount, to enable him to maintain a state and consequence suitable both to the relation in which he
stood to the Rajah and the high office which had been
assigned to him, and sufficient also to free him from
the temptation of little and mean peculations, it is
therefore my opinion, and I recommend, that Mr.
Markham be ordered to divest him of his jaghire, and
reunite it to the malguzaree, or the land paying its
revenue through the Rajah to the Company. The
opposition made by the' Rajah and the old Ranny,
both equally incapable of judging for themselves, do
certainly originate from some secret influence which
ought to be checked by a decided and peremptory
declaration of the authority of the board, and a denunciation of their displeasure at their presumption.
If: they can be induced to yield the appearance of a
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 331
cheerful acquiescence in the new arrangement, and to
adopt it as a measure formed with their participation,
it would be better than that it should be done by a. declared act of compulsion; but at all events it ought
to be done. " My Lords, it had been already done:
the Naib was dismissed; he was imprisoned; his jaghire was confiscated: all these things were done by
Mr. Hastings's orders. He had resolved to take the
whole-upon himself; he had acted upon that resolution before he addressed this letter to the board.
Thus, my Lords,: was this unhappy man punished
without any previous trial, or any charges, except
the complaints of Mr. Markham, and some other private information which Mr. Hastings said he had received. Before the poor object of these:complaints could make up his accounts, before a single step was
taken, judicially or officially, to convict him of any
crime, he was sent to prison, and his private estates
confiscated.
My Lords, the Commons of Great Britain claim
from you, that no man shall be imprisoned till a regular charge is made against him, and the accused
fairly heard in his defence.
should grow proud, and seek independence. Your
Lordships see that in this man's opinion riches must
beget pride. I hope your Lordships will never be
so poor as to cease to be proud; for, ceasing to be
proud, y6u will cease to be independent.
Having resolved that the Rajah should not grow
rich, for fear he should grow proud and independent,
he orders him to pay forty lacs of rupees, or 400,0001. ,
annually to the Company. The tribute had before
been 250,0001. , and he all at once raised it to
400,0001. Did he previously inform the Council
of these intentions? Did he inform them of the
amount of the gross collections of the country, from.
any properly authenticated accounts procured from
any public office?
I need not inform your Lordships, that it is a
serious thing to draw out of a country, instead of
250,0001. , an annual tribute of 400,0001. There
were other persons besides the Rajah concerned in
this enormous increase of revenue. The whole country is interested in its resources being fairly estimated and assessed; for, if you overrate the. revenue which
it is supposed to yield to the great general collector,
you necessitate him to overrate every under-collector, and thereby instigate them to harass and oppress the people. It is upon these grounds that we have
charged the prisoner at your bar with having acted
arbitrarily, illegally, unjustly, and tyrannically: and
your Lordships will bear in mind that these acts were
done by his sole authority, which authority we have
showin to have been illegally assumed.
My Lords, before he took the important steps which
I have just stated, he consulted no one but Mr. Markham, whom he placed over the new Rajah. The
? ? ? ? 314 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Rajah was only nineteen years old: but Mr. Markham undoubtedly had the advantage of him in this respect, for he was twenty-one. He had also the
benefit of five months' experience of the country:
an abundant experience, to be sure, my Lords, in a
country where it is well known, from the peculiar
character. of its inhabitants, that a man cannot anywhere put his foot without placing it upoel some trap or mine, until he is perfectly acquainted with its localities. Nevertheless, le puts the whole country and a prince of nineteen, as appears from the evidence, into the hands of Mr. Markham, a man-of twenty-one. We have no doubt of Mr. Markham's capacity; but
he could have no experience in a country over which
he possessed a general controlling power. Under
these circumstances, we surely shall not wonder, it
this young man fell into error. I do not like to treat.
harshly the errors into which a very young person
may fall: but the manil who employs him, and puts
him into a situation for which he has neither capacity
nor experience, is responsible for the consequences
of such an appointment; and Mr. Hastings is doubly
responsible in this case, because he placed Mr. Markham as Resident merely to show that he defied the authority of the Court of Directors.
But, my Lords, let us proceed. We find Mr.
Hastings resolved to exact forty lacs from the country, although he had no proof that such a tribute could be fairly collected. He next assigns to this
boy, the Rajah, emoluments amounting to about
60,0001. a year. Let us now see upon what grounds
he can justify the assignment of these emoluments. I
can perceive none but such as are founded upon the
opinion of its being necessary to the support of the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. THIRD DAY. 315
Rajah's dignity. Now. when Mr. Markham, who is
the sole ostensible actor in the management of the
new Rajah, as he had been a witness to the deposition
of the former, comes before you to give an account
of what he- thought of Cheyt Sing, who appears to
have properly supported the dignity of his situation,
he tells you that about a lac or a lac and a half
d(10,0001. or 15,0001. ) a year was as much as Cheyt
Sing could spend. And yet this young creature,
settled in the same country, and'who was to pay
400,0001. a year, instead of 250,0001. , tribute to the
Company, was authorized by Mr. Hastings to collect
and reserve to his own use 60,0001. out of the revenue. That is to say, he was to receive four times
as much as was stated by Mr. Hastings, on Mr. Markham's evidence, to have been necessary to support -him.
Your Lordships tread upon corruption everywhere.
Why was such a large revenue given to the young
Rajah to support his dignity, when, as they say, Cheyt
Sing did not spend above a lac and half in support
of his, - though it is known' he had great establishments to maintain, that he had erected considerable buildings adorned with fine gardens, and, according
to them, had made great preparations for war?
We must at length imagine that they knew the
country could bear the impost imposed upon it. I
ask, How, did they know this? We have proved to
you, by a paper presented here by Mr. Markham, that
the net amount of the collections was about 360,0001.
This is their own account, and was made up, as Mr.
Markham says, by one. of the clerks of Durbege Sing,
together with his Persian moonshee, (a very fine council to settle the revenues of the kingdom! ) i his pri
? ? ? ? 316 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
vate house. And with this account before them, they
have dared to impose upon the necks of that unhappy
people a tribute of 400,0001. , together with an income
for the Rajah of 60,0001. These sums the Naib,
Durbege Sing, was bound to furnish, and left to
get them as he could. Your Lordships will observe
that I speak of the net proceeds of the collections.
We have nothing to do with the gross amount. We
are speaking of what came to the public treasury,
which was no more than I have stated; and it was
out of the public treasury that these payments were
to be made, because there could be no other honest
way of getting the money.
But let us now come to the main point, which is
to ascertain what sums the country could really bear.
Mr. Hastings maintains (whether in the speech of his
counsel or otherwise I do not recollect) that the revenue of the country was 400,0001. , that it constantly paid that sum, and flourished under the payment.
In answer to this, I refer your Lordships, first, to Mr.
Markham's declaration, and the Wassil Baakee, which
is in page 1750 of the printed Minutes. I next refer your Lordships to Mr. Duncan's Reports, in page 2493. According to Mr. Duncan's public estimate
of the revenue of Benares, the net collections of the
very year we are speaking of, when Durbege Sing
had the management, and when Mr. Markham, his
Persian moonshee, and a clerk in his private house,
made their estimates without any documents, or with
whatever documents, or God only knows, for nothing
appears on the record of the transaction, --the collections yielded in that year but 340,0001. , that is, 20,0001. less than Mr. Markham's estimate. But take
it which. way you will, whether you take it at Mr.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 317
Markham's 360,0001. , or at Mr. Duncan's 340,0001. ,
your Lordships will see, that, after reserving 60,0001.
for his own private expenses, the RQjah could not realize a sum nearly equal to the tribute demanded.
Your Lordships have also in evidence before you
an account of the produce of the country for I believe
full five years after this period, from which it appears
that it never realized the forty lacs, or anything like
it, -- yielding only thirty-seven and thirty-nine lacs,
or thereabouts, which is 20,0001. short of Mr. Markham's estimate, and 160,0001. short of Mr. Hastings's.
On what data could the prisoner at your bar have
formed this estimate? Where were all the clerks and
mutsuddies, where were all the men of business in
Benares, who could have given him complete information upon the subject? We do not find the trace
of any of them; all our information is Mr. Markham's
moonshee, and some clerk of Durbege Sing's employed in Mr. Markham's private counting-house, in
estimating revenues'of a country.
The disposable revenue was still further reduced
by the jaghires which Mr. Hastings granted, but to
what amount does not appear. He mentions the increase in the revenue by the confiscation of the estates of the Baboos, who had been in rebellion. This he rates at six lacs. But we have inspected the accounts, we have examined them with that sedulous
attention which belongs to that branch of the legislature that has the care of the public revenues, and we
have not found one trace of this addition. Whether
these confiscations were ever actually made remains
doubtful; but if they were made, the application or
the receipt of the money they yielded does not appear in any account whatever. I leave your Lordships to judge of this.
? ? ? ? 318 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
But it may be said that Hastings might have been
in an error. If he was in an error, my Lords, his
error continued. an extraordinary length of time.
The error itself was also extraordinary in a man of
business: it was an error of account. If his confidential agent, Mr. Markham, had originally contributed to lead him into the error, he soon perceived
it. He soon informed Mr. Hastings that his expectations were erroneous, and that he had overrated the
country. What, then, are we to think of his persevering in this error? Mr. Hastings might have
formed extravagant and wild expectations, when he
was going up the country to plunder; for we allow
that avarice may often overcalculate the hoards that
it is going to rob. :If a thief is going to plunder a
banker's shop, his avarice, when running the risk of
his life, may lead him to imagine there is more money
in the shop than there really is. But w'hen this man
was in possession of the country, how came he not to
know and understand the condition of it better? In
fact, he was well acquainted with it; for he has declared it to be his opinion that forty lacs was an overrated calculation, and that the country could not continue to pay this tribute at the very time he was
imposing it. You have this admission in page 294
of the printed Minutes; but in the very face of it he
says, if the Rajah will exert himself, and continue
for some years the regular payment, he will then
grant him a remission. Thus the Rajah was told,
what he well knew, that he was overrated, but that
at some time or another he was to expect a remission.
And what, my Lords, was the condition upon which
he was to obtain this promised indulgence? The
punctual payment of that which Mr. Hastings de
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- THIRD DAY. 319
dlares he was not able to pay, - and which he could
not pay without ruining the country, betraying his
own honor and character, and acting directly contrary
to the duties of the station in which Mr. Hastings
had placed him. Thus this unfortunate man was
compelled to have recourse to the most rigorous exaction, that he might be enabled to satisfy the exorbitant demand which had been made upon him.
But let us suppose that the country was able to
afford the sum at which it was assessed, and that
nothing was required but vigor and activity in the Rajah. Did Mr. Hastings endeavor to make his strength
equal to the task imposed on him? No: the direct
contrary. In proportion as he augmented the burdens of this man, in just that proportion he took away
his strength and power of supporting these burdens.
There was not one of the external marks of honor
which attended the government of Cheyt Sing that
he did not take away from the new Rajah; and still,
when this new man came to his new authority, deprived of all external marks of consequence, and degraded in the opinion of his subjects, he was to extort from his people an additional revenue, payable to the Company, of fifteen lacs of rupees more than
was paid by the late Rajah in all the plenitude of
undivided authority. To increase this difficulty still
more, the father and guardian of this inexperienced
youth was a man who had no credit or reputation
in the country. This circumstance alone was a sufficient drawback from the weight of his authority; but
Mr. Hastings took care that he should be divested
of it altogether; for, as our charge states, he placed
him under the immediate direction of Mr. Markham, and consequently Mr. Markham was the gov
? ? ? ? 320 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ernor of the country. Could a man with a. reduced,
divided, contemptible authority venture to strike such
bold and hardy strokes as would be efficient without
being oppressive? Could he or any other man, thus
bound and shackled, execute such vigorous and energetic measures as were necessary to realize such
an enormous tribute as was imposed upon this unhappy country?
My Lords, I must now call your attention to another circumstance, not mentioned in the charge, but
connected with the appointment of the new Rajah,
and of his Naib, Durbege Sing, and demonstrative
of the unjust and cruel treatment to which they
were exposed. It appears from a letter produced
here by Mr. Markham, (upon which kind of correspondence I shall take the liberty to remark hereafter,) that the Rajah lived in perpetual apprehension of being removed, and that a person called Ussaun Sing was intended as his successor. Mr.
Markham, in one part of, his correspondence, tells
you that the Rajah did not intend to hold the government any longer. Why? Upon a point of right,
namely, that he did not possess it upon the same
advantageous terms as Cheyt Siug; but he tells you
in another letter, (and this is a much better key to
the whole transaction,) that he was in dread of that
Ussaun Sing whom I have just mentioned. This
man Mr. Hastings kept ready to terrify the Rajah;
and you will, in the course of these transactions,
see that there is not a man in India, of any consideration, against whom Mr. Hastings did not keep
a kind of pretender, to keep him in continual awe.
This Ussaun Sing, whom Mr. Hastings brought up
with him to Benares, was dreaded by Cheyt Sing
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. THIRD DAY. 321
not less than by his successor. We find that lie
was at first nominated Naib or acting governor of
the country, but had never been put in actual possession of this high office, and Durbege Sing was
appointed to it. Although Ussaun Sing was thus
removed, he continued his pretensions, and constantly solicited the office. Thus the poor man
appointed by Mr.
Hastings, and actually in possession, was not only called upon to perform tasks beyond his strength, but was overawed by Mr. Markham, and terrified by Ussaun Sing, (the mortal enemy of the family,) who, like an accusing fiend, was continually at his post, and unceasingly reiterating his accusations. This Ussaun Sing was, as Mr.
Markham tells you, one of the causes of the Rajah's
continued dejection and despondency. But it does
not appear that any of these circumstances were ever
laid before the Council; the whole passed between
Mr. Hastings and Mr. Markham.
Mr. Hastings having by,his arbitrary will thus disposed of the revenue and of the landed property of
Benares, we will now trace his further proceedings
and their effects. He found the country most flourishing in agriculture and in trade; but not satisfied
with the experiment he had made upon the government, upon the revenues, upon the reigning family,
and upon all the landed property, he resolved to
make as bold and as novel an experiment upon the
commercial interests of the country. Accordingly
he entirely changed that part of the revenue system
which affects trade and commerce, the life and soul
of a state. Without any advice that we know of,
except Mr. Markham's, he sat down to change in
every point the whole commercial system of that
VOL. XI. 21
? ? ? ? 322 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
country; and he effected the change upon the same
arbitrary principles which he had before acted upon,
namely, his own arbitrary will. We are told, indeed,
that he consulted bankers and merchants;but when
your Lordships shall have learned what has hap*pened from this experiment, you will easily see
whether he did resort to proper sources of information or not. You will see that the mischief which
has happened has proceeded from the exercise of arbitrary power. Arbitrary power, my Lords, is always a miserable creature. When a man once adopts it as the principle of his actions, no one dares to tell
him a truth, no one dares to give him any information that is disagreeable to him; for all know that
their life and fortune depend upon his caprice. Thus
the man who lives in the exercise of arbitrary power
condemns himself to eternal ignorance. Of this the
prisoner at your bar affords us a striking example.
This man, without advice, without assistance, and
without resource, except in his own arbitrary power,
stupidly ignorant in himself, and puffed up with the
constant companion of ignorance, a blind presumption, alters the system of commercial imposts, and
thereby ruined the whole trade of the country, leaving no one part of it undestroyed.
Let me now call your Lordships' attention to his
assumption of power, without one word of communication with the Council at Calcutta, where the whole
of these trading regulations might and ought to have
been considered, and where they could have been deliberately examined and determined upon. By this
assumption the Council was placed in the situation
which I have before described: it must either confirm
his. acts,. or again undo everything which had been
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 323
done. He had provided not only against resistance,
but almost against anlly inquiry into his wild projects.
He had by his opium contracts put all vigilance
asleep, and by his bullock and other contracts he had
secured a variety of concealed interests, both abroad
and at home. He was sure of the ratification of his
acts by the Council, whenever he should please to inform them of-his measures; and to his secret influence he trusted for impunity in his career of tyranny and oppression.
In bringing before you his arbitrary mode of imposing duties, I beg to remind your Lordships, that, when
I examined Mr. Markham concerning the imposing
of a duty of five per cent instead of the former duty
of two, I asked him whether that five per cent was
not laid on in such a manner as utterly to extinguish
the trade, and whether it was not in effect and substance five times as much as had been paid before.
What was his answer? Why, that many plans:,
which, when considered in the closet, look specious
and plausible,. will not hold when they come to be
tried in practice, and that this plan was one of them.
The additional duties, said he, have never since been
exacted. But, my Lords, the very attempt to exact
them utterly ruined the trade of the country. They
were imposed upon a visionary theory, formed in his
own closet, and-the result was exactly what might
have been anticipated. Was it not an abominable
thing in Mr. Hastings to withhold from the Council
the means of ascertaining the real operation of his
taxes? He had no knowledge of trade himself; he
cannot keep an account; he has no memory. In fact,
we find him a man possessed of no one quality fit for
any kind of business whatever. We find him pursu
? ? ? ? 324 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ing his own visionary projects, without knowing anything of the nature or [of? ] the circumstances under which the trade of the country was carried on. These
projects might have looked very plausible: but when
you come to examine the actual state of the trade, it is
not merely a difference between five and two per cent,
but it becomes a different mode of estimating the
commodity, and it amounts to five times as much as
was paid before. We bring this as an exemplification of this cursed mode of arbitrary proceeding, and
to show you his total ignorance of the subject, and his
total indifference about the event of the measure he
was pursuing. When he began to perceive his blunders, he never took any means whatever to put the new regulations which these blunders had made necessary into execution, but he left all this mischievous project to rage in its full extent.
I have shown your Lordships how he managed the
private property of the country, how he managed the
government, and how he managed the trade. I am
now to call your Lordships' attention to some of the
consequences which have resulted from the instances of management, or rather gross mismanagement, which have been brought before you. Your Lordships will recollect that none of these violent and
arbitrary measures, either in. their conception or in
the progress of their execution, were officially made
known to the Council; and you will observe, as we
proved, that the same criminal concealment existed
with respect to the fatal consequences of these acts.
After the flight of Cheyt Sing, the revenues were
punctually paid by the Naib, Durbege Sing, month
-by month, kist by kist, until the month of July, and
then, as the country had suffered some distress, the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 325
Naib wished this kist, or instalment, to be thrown on
the next month. You will ask why he wished to
burden this month beyond thle rest. I reply, The
reason was obvious: the month of August is the last
of the year, and he would, at its expiration, have the
advantage of viewing the receipts of the whole year,
and ascertaining the claim of the country to the remission of a part of the annual tribute which Mr.
Hastings had promised, provided the instalments were
paid regularly. It was well known to everybody that
the country had suffered very considerably by the
revolt, and by a drought which prevailed that year.
The Rajah, therefore, expected to avail himself of
Mr. Hastings's flattering promise, and to save by the
delay the payment of one of the two kists. But mark
the course that was taken. The two kists were at
once demanded at the end of the year, and no remission of tribute was allowed. By the promise of
remission Mr. Hastings tacitly acknowledged that the
Rajah was overburdened; and he admits that the payment of the July kist was postponed at the Rajah's
own desire. He must have seen the Rajah's motive
for desiring delay, and he ought to have taken care
that this poor man should not be oppressed and ruined by this compliance with requests founded on
such motives.
So passed the year 1781. No complaints of arrears
in Durbege Sing's payments appear on record before
the month of April, 1782; and I wish your Lordships
seriously to advert to the circumstances attending
the evidence respecting these arrears, which has been
produced for the first time by the prisoner in his defence here at your bar. This evidence does not appear in the Company's records; it does not appear
? ? ? ? 326 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
in the book of the Benares correspondence; it does
not appear in any documents to which the Commons
could have access; it was unknown to the Directors,
unknown to the Council, unknown to the Residents,
Mr. Markham's successors, at Benares, unknown to
the searching and inquisitive eye of the Commons of
Great Britain. This important evidence was drawn
out of Mr. Markham's pocket, in the presence of your
Lordships. It consists of a private correspondence
which he carried on with Mr. Hastings, unknown to
the Council, after Durbege Sing had been appointed
Naib, after the new government had been established,
after Mr. Hastings had quitted that province, and
had apparently wholly abandoned it, and when there
was no reason whatever why the correspondence
should not be public. This private correspondence
of Mr. Markham's, now produced for the first time,
is full of the bitterest complaints against Durbege
Sing. These clandestine complaints, these underhand means of accomplishing the ruin of a man, without the knowledge of his true and proper judges, we produce to your Lordships as a heavy aggravation of
our charge, and as a proof of a wicked conspiracy to
destroy the man. For if there was any danger of his
falling into arrears when the heavy accumulated kists
came upon him, the Council ought to have known
that danger; they ought to have known every particular of these complaints: for Mr. Hastings had then
carried into effect his own plans.
I ought to have particularly marked for your Lord
ships' attention this second era of clandestine correspondence between Mr. Hastings and Mr. Markham.
It commenced after Mr. Hastings had quitted Bexnares, and had nothing to do with it but as Gov
? ? ? ? 'SPEECH IN REPLY. . - THIRD DAY. 327
ernor-General: even after his extraordinary, and, as
we contend, illegal, power had completely expired,
the same clandestine correspondence was carried on.
He apparently considered Benares as his private
property; and just as a man acts with his private
steward about his private estate, so he acted with the
Resident at Benares. He receives from him and
answers letters containing a series of complaints
against Durbege Sing, which began in April and continued to the month of November, without making any public communication of them. -. He never laid
one word of this correspondence before the Council
until the 29th of November, and he had then completely settled the fate of this Durbege Sing.
This clandestine correspondence we charge against
him as an act of rebellion; for he was bound to lay
before the Council the whole of his correspondence
relative to the revenue and all the other affairs of the
country. We charge it not only as rebellion against
the orders of the Company and the laws of the land,
but as a wicked plot to destroy this man, by depriving him of any opportunity of defending himself before the Council, his lawful judges. I wish to
impress it strongly on your Lordships' minds, that
neither the complaints of Mr. Markham nor the exculpations of Durbege Sing were ever made known till Mr. Markham was examined in this hall.
The first intimation afforded the Council of what
had been going on at Benares from April, 1782, at
which time, Mr. Markham says, the complaints against
Durbege Sing had risen to serious importance, was in
a letter dated the 27th of November following. This
letter was sent to the Council from Nia Serai, in the
Ganges, where Mr. Hastings had retired for the bene.
? ? ? ? 328 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
fit of the air. During the whole time he was in Calcutta, it does not appear upon the records that he had
ever held any communication with the Council upon
the subject. The letter is in the printed Minutes,
page 298, and is as follows.
"' The Governor-General. -- I desire. the Secretary
to lay the accompanying letters from Mr. Markham
before the board, and request that orders may be immediately sent to him concerning the subjects contained in them. It may be necessary to inform the board, that, on repeated information from Mr. Markham, which indeed was confirmed to me beyond a
doubt by other channels, and by private assurances
which I could trust, that the affairs of that province
were likely to fall into the greatest confusion from
the misconduct of Baboo Durbege Sing. whom I had
appointed the Naib, fearing the dangerous consequences of a delay, and being at too great a distance
to consult the members of the board, who I knew
could repose that confidence in my local knowledge
as to admit of this occasional exercise of my own separate authority, I wrote to Mr. Markham the letter to
which he alludes, dated the 29th of September last, of
which I now lay before the board a copy. The first
of the accompanying letters from Mr. Markham arrived at a time when a severe return of my late illness obliged me, by the advice of my physicians, to leave Calcutta for the benefit of the country air, and
prevented me from bringing it earlier before the
notice of the board. "
I have to remark upon this part of the letter, that
he claims for himself an exercise of his own authority.
He had now no delegation, and therefore no claim to
separate authority. He was only a member of the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -THIRD DAY. 329
board, obliged to do everything according to the decision of the majority, and yet he speaks of his own separate authority; and after complimenting himself,
he requests its confirmation. The complaints of Mr.
Markham had been increasing, growing, and multiplying upon him, from the month of April preceding, and he had never given the least intimation of it to
the board until he wrote this letter. This was at so
late a period that he then says, " The time won't wait
for a remedy; I am obliged to use my own separate
authority "; although he had had abundant time for
laying the whole matter before the Council.
He next goes on to say, -"' It had, indeed, been my
intention, but for the same cause, to have requested
the instructions of the board for the conduct of Mr.
Markham in the difficulties which he had to encounter immediately after the date of my letter to him, and to have recommended the substance of it for an
order to the board. " He seems to have promised Mr.
Markham, that, if the violent act which Mr. Markham
proposed, and which he, MIt. Hastings, ordered, was
carried into execution, an authority should be procured from the board. He, however, did not get Mr. Markham such an authority. Why? Because he
was resolved, as he has told you, to act by his own
separate authority; and because, as he has likewise
told you, that he disobeys the orders of the Court of
Directors, and defies the laws of his country, as a signal of his authority.
Now what does he recommend to the board? That
it will be pleased to confirm the appointment which
Mr. Markham made in obedience to his individual
orders, as well as the directions which he had given
him to exact from Baboo Durbege Sing with the ut
? ? ? ? 330 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
most rigor every rupee of the collections, and either
to confine' him at Benares or send him to Chunar and
imprison him there until the whole of his arrears
were paid up. Here, then, my Lords, you have,
what plainly appears in every act of Mr. Hastings, a
feeling of resentment for some personal injury. " I
feel myself," says he, " and may be allowed on such
an occasion to acknowledge it, personally hurt at the
ingratitude of this man, and the discredit which his
ill conduct has thrown on my appointment of him.
The Rajah himself, scarcely arrived at the verge of
manhood, was in understanding but little advanced
beyond the term of childhood; and it had been the
policy of Cheyt Sing to keep him equally secluded
from the world and from business. " This is the character Mr. Hastings gives of a man whom he appointed to govern the country. He goes on to say of Durbege
Sing, -" As he was allowed a jaghire of a very liberal amount, to enable him to maintain a state and consequence suitable both to the relation in which he
stood to the Rajah and the high office which had been
assigned to him, and sufficient also to free him from
the temptation of little and mean peculations, it is
therefore my opinion, and I recommend, that Mr.
Markham be ordered to divest him of his jaghire, and
reunite it to the malguzaree, or the land paying its
revenue through the Rajah to the Company. The
opposition made by the' Rajah and the old Ranny,
both equally incapable of judging for themselves, do
certainly originate from some secret influence which
ought to be checked by a decided and peremptory
declaration of the authority of the board, and a denunciation of their displeasure at their presumption.
If: they can be induced to yield the appearance of a
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - THIRD DAY. 331
cheerful acquiescence in the new arrangement, and to
adopt it as a measure formed with their participation,
it would be better than that it should be done by a. declared act of compulsion; but at all events it ought
to be done. " My Lords, it had been already done:
the Naib was dismissed; he was imprisoned; his jaghire was confiscated: all these things were done by
Mr. Hastings's orders. He had resolved to take the
whole-upon himself; he had acted upon that resolution before he addressed this letter to the board.
Thus, my Lords,: was this unhappy man punished
without any previous trial, or any charges, except
the complaints of Mr. Markham, and some other private information which Mr. Hastings said he had received. Before the poor object of these:complaints could make up his accounts, before a single step was
taken, judicially or officially, to convict him of any
crime, he was sent to prison, and his private estates
confiscated.
My Lords, the Commons of Great Britain claim
from you, that no man shall be imprisoned till a regular charge is made against him, and the accused
fairly heard in his defence.
