He is
declared
by Mr.
Edmund Burke
Major Calliaud
commanded the English forces under the government of Calcutta. Mr. Holwell was in the temporary possession of the Presidency. Mr. Vansittart
was hourly expected to supersede him. Mr. Warren
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 405
Hastings, a young gentleman about twenty-seven
years of age, was Resident for the Company at the
durbar, or court,' of Mir Jaffier, our new-created
Nabob of Bengal, allied to this country by the most
solemn treaties that can bind men; for which treaties he had paid, and was then paying, immense
sums of money. Mr. Warren Hastings was the
pledge in his hands for the honor of the British nation, and their fidelity to their engagements.
In this situation, Mr: Holwell, whom the terrible
example of the Black Hole at Calcutta had not
cured of ambition, thought an hour was not to be
lost in accomplishing a revolution and selling the
reigning Nabob.
My Lords, there was in the house of Mir Jaffier,
ill his court, and in his family, a man of an intriguing,. crafty, subtle, and at the same time bold, daring, desperate, bloody, and ferocious character, called Cossim Ali Kbhan. He' was the son-in-law of Mir
Jaffier; and he made no other use of this affinity
than to find some means to dethrone and to murder
him. This was the person in whose school of politics
Mr. Hastings made his first studies, and whose conduct he quotes as his example, and for whose friends,
agents, and favorites he has always shown a marked
predilection. This dangerous man was not long
without finding persons who observed his talents with
admiration, and who thought fit to employ him.
The Council at Calcutta was divided into two departments: one, the Council in general; the other a
Select Committee, which they had arranged for the
better carrying on their political affairs. But the Select Committee had no power of acting wholly without the Council at large, -- at least, finally and con
? ? ? ? 406 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
elusively. The Select Committee thought otherwise.
Between these litigant parties for power I shall not
determine on the merits, - thinking of nothing but
the use that was made of the power, to whomsoever
it belonged. This Secret Committee, then, without
communicating with the rest of the Council, formed
the plan for a second revolution. But the concurrence of Major Calliaud, who commanded the British
troops, was essential to the purpose, as it could not
be accomplished without force. Mr. Hastings's assistance was necessary, as it could not be accomplished without treachery.
These are the parties concerned in the intended
revolution. Mr. Holwell, who considered himself in
possession only of temporary power, was urged to precipitate the business; for if Mr. Vansittart should arrive before his plot could be finally put into executioni, he would have all the leading advantages of it, and Mr. Holwell would be considered only as a secondary instrument. But whilst Mr. Holwell, who
originally conceived this plot, urged forward the execution of it, in order that the chief share of the profits might fall to him, the Major, and possibly the
Resident, held back, till they might receive the sanction of the permanent governor, who was hourly expected, with whom one of them was connected, and
who was to carry with him the whole weight of the
authority of this kingdom. This difference produced
discussions. Holwell endeavored by his correspondence to stimulate Calliaud to this enterprise, which
without him could not be undertaken at all. But
Maj. or Calliaud had different views. He concurred
inwardly, as he tells us himself, in all the principles
of this intended revolution, in the propriety and ne
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 407
cessity of it. He only wished delay. But he gave
such powerful, solid, and satisfactory reasons, not
against the delay, but the very merits of the design
itself, exposing the injustice and the danger of it,
and the impossibility of mending by it their condition
in any respect, as must have damned it in the minds
of all rational men: at least it ought to have damned
it forever in his own. But you will see that IHolwell persevered in his plan, and that Major Calliaud
thought two things necessary: first, not wholly to
destroy the scheme, which he tells us he always approved, but to postpone the execution, -- and in the
mean time to delude the Nabob by the most strong,
direct, and sanguine assurances of friendship and
protection that it was possible to give to man.
Whilst the projected revolution stood suspended,whilst Mr. Holwell urged it forward, and Mr. Vansittart was expected every day to give it effect, - whilst Major Calliaud, with this design of ruining the. Nabob
lodged in his breast, suspended in execution, and
condemned in principle, kept the fairest face and the
most confidential interviews with that unfortunate
prince and his son, - as the operations of the campaign relaxed, the army drew near to Moorshedabad,
the capital, when a truly extraordinary scene happened, such I am sure the English annals before that
time had furnished no example of, nor will, I trust,
in ful-ure. I shall state it as one piece from beginning to end, reserving the events which intervened;
because, as I do not produce any part of this. series
for the gratification of historical curiosity, the contexture is necessary to demonstrate to your Lordships
the spirit of our Bengal politics, and the necessity of
some other sort of judicial inquiries than those which
? ? ? ? 408 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that government institute for themselves. The transaction so manifestly marks the character of the whole proceeding that I hope I shall not be blamed for
suspending for a moment the narrative of the steps
taken towards the revolution, that you may see the
whole of this episode together, -that by it you may
judge of the causes which led progressively to the
state in which the Company's affairs stood, when Mr.
Hastings was' sent for the express purpose of reforming it.
The business I am going to enter into is commonly
known by the name of the Story of the Three Seals.
It is to be found in the Appendix, No. 10, to the
First Report of the state and condition of the East
India Company, made in 1773. The word Report,
my Lords, is sometimes a little equivocal, and may
signify sometimes, not what is made known, but what
remains in obscurity: the detail and evidence of many
facts referred to in the Report being usually thrown
into the Appendix. Many people, and I among the
rest, (I take shame to myself for it,) may not have
ftully examined that Appendix. I was not a member
of either of the India committees of 1773. It is not,
indeed, till within this year that I have been thoroughly acquainted with that memorable history of the Three Seals.
The history is this. In the year 1760 the allies
were in the course of operations against the son
of the Mogul, now the present Mogul, who, as I
have already stated, had made an irruption into
the kingdom of Bahar, in order to reduce the lower
provinces to his obedience. The parties opposing
him were the Nabob of Bengal and the Company's
troops under Major Calliaud. It was whilst they
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 409
faced the common enemy as one body, this negotiation for the destruction of the Nabob of Bengal by
his faithful allies of the Company was going on
with diligence. At that time the Nabob's son, Meeran, a youth in the flower of his age, bold, vigorous,
active, full of the politics in which those who are
versed in usurpation are never wanting, commanded the army under his father, but was in reality the
efficient person in all things.
About the 15th of April, 1760, as I have it from Major Calliaud's letter of that date, the Nabob came into
his tent, and, with looks of the utmost embarrassment,
big with some design which swelled his bosom, something that was too large and burdensome to conceal,
and yet too critical to be told, appeared to be in a
state of great distraction. The Major, seeing him
ill this condition, kindly, gently, like a fast and sure
friend, employed (to use his own expression) some of
those assurances that tend to make men fully open their
hearts; and accordingly, fortified by his assurances,
and willing to disburden himself of the secret that
oppressed him, he opens his heart to the commanding officer of his new friends, allies, and protectors.
The Nabob, thus assured, did open himself, and informed Major Calliaud that he had just received a
message from the Prince, or his principal minister,
informing him that the Prince Royal, now the Mogul,
had an intention (as, indeed, he rationally miglht,
supposing that we were as well disposed to him as
we showed ourselves afterwards) to surrender him-l
self into the hands of him, the Nabob, but at the
same time wished, as a guaranty, that the commanderin-chief of the English forces should give him security for his life and his honor, when he should in
? ? ? ? 410 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that manner surrender himself to the Nabob. I do
not mean, my Lords, by surrendering, that it was
supposed he intended to surrender himself prisoner
of war, but as a sovereign dubious of the fidelity of
those about him would put himself into the hands
of his faithful subjects, of those who claimed to derive all their power, as both we and the Nabob did, under his authority. The Nabob stated to the English general, that without this English security the Prince would not deliver himself into his hands.
Here he confessed he found a difficulty. For the
giving this faith, if it were kept, would defeat his
ultimate view; which was, when the Prince had delivered himself into his hands, in plain terms to murder him. This grand act could not be accomplished without the English general. In the first
place, the Prince, without the English security, would
not deliver himself into the Nabob's hands; and afterwards, without the English concurrence, he could not be murdered. These were difficulties that pressed
upon the mind of the Nabob.
Tlhe English commander heard this astonishing
proposition without any apparent emotion. Being
a man habituated to great affairs, versed in revolutions, and with a. mind fortified against extraordinary events, he heard it and answered it without showing
any signs of abhorrence or detestation, - at the same
time with a protestation that he would indeed serve
him, the Nabob, but it should be upon such terms
as honor and justice could support: informing him,
that an assurance for the Prince's safety could not
be given by him, until he had consulted Mr. Holwell,
who was Governor, and his superior.
This conversation passed in the morning. On that
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 411
very morning, and whilst the transaction was hot,
Major Calliaud writes to Mr. Holwell an. account of
it. In his letter he informs him that he made an
inquiry, without stating from whom, but that he did
inquire the probability of the Nabob's getting possession of the Prince from some persons, who assured
him that there was no probability of the Prince's intention to deliver himself to the Nabob on any terms.
Be that as it may, it is impossible not to remark that
the whole transaction of the morning of the 15th of
April was not very discouraging to the Nabob, -not
such as would induce him to consider this most detestable of all projects as a thing utterly unfeasible,
and as such to abandon it. The evening came on
without anything to alter his opinion. Major Calliaud that evening came to the Nabob's tent to arrange some matters relative to the approaching camlpaign. The business soon ended with regard to the campaign; but the proposal of the morning to Major
Calliaud, as might be expected to happen, was in
effect renewed. Indeed, the form was a little different; but the substantial part remained the same.
Your Lordships will see what these-alterations were.
In the evening scene the persons were more numerous. On the part of the Company, Major Calliaud, Mr. Lushington, Mr. Knox, and the ambassador
at the Nabob's court, Mr. Warren Hastings. On the
part of the Moorish government, the Nabob himself,
his son Meeran, a Persian secretary, and the Nabob's
head spy, an officer well known in that part of the
world, and of some rank. These were the persons
of the drama'in the evening scene. The Nabob and
his son did not wait for the Prince's committing himself to their faith, which, it seems, Major Calliaud
? ? ? ? 412 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
did not think likely to happen; so that one act of
treachery is saved: but another opened of as extraordinary a nature. Intent and eager on the execution, and the more certain, of their design, they accepted the plan of a wicked wretch, principal servant of the then prime-minister to the Mogul, or themselves suggested it to him. A person called Conery,
dewan or principal steward to Camgar Khan, a great
chief in the service of the Shalhzada, or Prince,
(now the Great Mogul, the sovereign under whom
the Company holds their charter,) had, it seems,
made a proposal to. the Nabob, that, if a considerable territory then held by his master was assured
to him, and a reward of a lac of rupees (ten or
twelve thousand pounds) secured to him, he would
for that consideration deliver the Prince, the eldest
son of the Mogul, alive into the hands of the Nabob;
or if that could not be effected, he engaged to murder him for the same reward. But as the assassin
could not rely on the Nabob. and his son for his reward for this meritorious action, and thought better
of English honor and fidelity in such delicate cases,
he required that Major Calliaud should set his seal
to the agreement. This proposition was made to an
English commander: what discourse happened upon it is uncertain. Mr. Hastings is stated by some
evidence to have acted as interpreter in this memorable congress. But Major Calliaud agreed to it
without any difficulty. Accordingly, an instrument
was drawn, an indenture tripartite prepared by the
Persian secretary, securing to the party the reward
of this infamous, perfidious, murderous act. First,
the Nabob put his own seal to the murder. The
Nabob's son, Meeran, affixed his seal. A third seal,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 413
the most important of all, was yet wanting. A pause
ensued: Major Calliaud's seal was not at hand;
but Mr. Lushington was sent near half a mile to
bring it. It was brought at length; and the instrument of blood and treachery was completely executed. Three seals were set to it.
This business of the three seals, by some means not
quite fully explained, but (as suspected by the parties)
by means of the information of Mr. Holwell, who soon
after came home, was conveyed to the ears of the
Court of Directors. The Court of Directors wrote
out, under date of the 7th of October, 1761, within a
little more than a year after this extraordinary transaction, to this effect: -- that, in conjunction with the
Nabob, Major Calliaud had signed a paper offering a
reward of a lac of rupees, or some such sum, to several black persons, for the assassination of the Shahzada, or Prince heir-apparent, - which paper was offered to the then Chief of Patna to sign, but which he refused on account of the infamy of the'measure.
As it appeared in the same light to them, the Directors, they ordered a strict inquiry into it. The India
Company, who here did their duty with apparent manliness and vigor, were resolved, however, to do it with
gentleness, and to proceed in a manner that could not
produce any serious mischief to the parties charged;
for they directed the commission of inquiry to the
very clan and set of people who, from a participation
in their common offences, stood in awe of one another, - in effect, to the parties in the transaction.
Without a prosecutor, without an impartial director
of the inquiry, they left it substantially to those persons to try one another for their common acts. .
Here I come upon the principle which I wish most
? ? ? ? 414 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
strongly to mark to your Lordships: I mean collusive trials and collusive acquittals. When this matter came to be examined, according to the orders of the
Court, which was on the 4th lof October, 1762, the
Council consisted of Peter Maguire, Warren Hastings,
and Hugh Watts. Mr. Hastings had by this time accomplished the business of Resident with the Nabob, and had taken the seat to which his seniority entitled
hiln in Council. Here a difficulty arose in limine.
Mr. Hastings was represented to have acted as interpreter in this business; he was therefore himself an object of the inquisition; he was doubtful as evidence;
lie was disqualified as a judge. It likewise appeared
that there might be some objection to others whose
evidence was wanting, but who were themselves concerned in the guilt. ' Mr. Lushington's evidence would be useful, but there were two circumstances
rather unlucky. First, he had put the seal to the instrument of murder; and, secondly, and what was most material, he had made an affidavit at Patna,
whilst the affair was green and recent, that he had
done so; and in the same affidavit had deposed that
Warren Hastings was interpreter in that transaction.
Here were difficulties both on him and Mr. Hastings.
The question was, how to get Mr. Hastings, the interpreter, out of his interpretation, and to put him upon the seat of judgment. It was effected, however, and
the manner in which it was effected was something
curious. Mr. Lushington, who by this time was got
completely over, himself tells you that in conferences
with Major Calliaud, and by arguments and reasons
by him delivered, he was persuaded to unsay his
swearing, and to declare that he believed that the
affidavit which he made at Patna, and while the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 415
transaction was recent or nearly recent, must be a
mistake: that he believed (what is amazing indeed for
any belief) that not Mr. Hastings, but he himself,
interpreted. Mr. Lushington completely loses his own
memory, and he accepts an offered, a given memory,
a memory supplied to him by a party in the transaction. By this operation all difficulties are removed: Mr. Hastings is at once put into the capacity of a
judge.
He is declared by Mr. Lushington not to have
been an interpreter in the transaction. After this,
Mr. Hastings is himself examined. Your Lordships
will look at the transaction at your leisure, and I
think you will consider it as a pattern for inquiries
of this kind. Mr. Hastings is examined: he does not
recollect. His memory also fails on a business in
which it is not easy to suppose a man could be doubtful, - whether he was present or not: he thinks he was not there, -for that, if he had been there, and
acted as interpreter, he could not have forgot it.
I think it is pretty nearly as I state it: if I have
fallen into any error or inaccuracy, it is easily rectified; for here is the state of the transaction given by the parties themselves. On this inaccurate memory
of Mr. Hastings, not venturing, however, to say positively that he was not the interpreter, or that he was not present, he is discharged from being an accomplice, - he is removed from the bar, and leaps upon the'seat of justice. The court thus. completed, Major
Calliaud comes manfully forward to make his defence.
Mr. Lushington is taken off his back in the manner
we have seen, and no one person remains but Captain Knox. Now, if Captain Knox was there and assenting, he is an accomplice too. Captain Knox
asserts, that, at the consultation about the murder, he
? ? ? ? 416 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
said it was a pity to cut off so fine a young fellow
in such a manner,- meaning that fine young fellow
the Prince, the descendant of Tamerlane, the present
reigning Mogul, from whom the Company derive their
present charter. The purpose to be served by this
declaratio. n, if it had ally purpose, was, that Captainl
Knox did not assent to the murder, and that therefore his evidence might be valid.
The defence set up by Major Calliaud was to this
effect. He was apprehensive, he said, that the Nabob
was alarmed at the violent designs that were formed
against him by Mr. Holwell, and that therefore, to
quiet his mind, (to quiet it by a proposition compounded of murder and treason, - an odd kind of mind he had that was to be quieted by such means! )
- but to quiet his mind, and to show that the English were willing to go all lengths with him, to sell body and soul to him, he did put his seal to this
extraordinary agreement, he put his seal to this wonderful paper. He likewise stated, that he was of opinion at the time that nothing at all sinister could
happen from it, that no such murder was likely to
take place, whatever might be the intention of the
parties. In fact, he had very luckily said in a letter
of his, written a day after the setting the seal, "I
think nothing will come of this matter, but it is
no harm to try. " This experimental treache. ry, and
these essays of conditional murder, appeared to him
good enough to make a trial of; but at the same time
he was afraid nothing would come of it. In general,
the whole gest of his defence comes to one point, in
which he persists, - that, whatever the act might
be, his mind is clear: " My hands are guilty, but my
heart is free. " He conceived that it would be very
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 417
Improper, undoubtedly, to do such an act, if he suspected anything could happen from it: he, however,
let the thing out of his own hands; he put it into the
haIrds of others; he put the commission into the hands
of a murderer. The fact was not denied; it was fully
before these severe judges. The extenuation was the
purity of his heart, and the bad situation of the Company's affairs, - the perpetual plea, which your Lordships will hear of forever, and which if it will justify evil actions, they will take good: care that the most
nefarious of their deeds shall never want a sufficient
justification. But then he calls upon his life and, his
character to oppose to his seal; and though he has
declared that. Mr. Holwell had intended ill to the Nabob, and that he approved of those measures, and only
postponed them, yet he thought it necessary, he says,
to quiet the fears of the Nabob; and from this motive
he did an act abhorrent to his nature, and which, he
says, he expressed his abhorrence of the morning after he signed it: not that he did so; but if he had, I
believe it would only have made the thing so many
degrees worse. Your Lordships will observe, that, in
this conference, as stated by himself, these reasons
and apologies for it did not appear, nor did they appear in the letter, nor anywhere else, till next year,
when he came upon his. trial. Then it was immediately recollected that Mr. Holwell's designs were so
wicked they certainly must be known to the Nabob,
though he never mentioned them in the conference
of the morning or the evening of the 15th; yet such
was now the weight and prevalence of them upon the
Major's mind, that he calls upon Mr. Hastings to,
know whether the Nabob was not informed of these
designs of Mr. Holwell against him. Mr. Hastings's,
VOL. IX. 27
? ? ? ? 418 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
memory was not quite correct upon the occasion.
He does not recollect anything of the matter. He
certainly seems not to thlink that he ever mentioned
it to the Nabob, or the Nabob to him; but he does
recollect, he thinks, speaking something to some of
the Nabob's attendants upon it, and further this deponent sayeth not. On this state of things, namely,
the purity of intention, the necessities of the Company,
tle propriety of keeping the Nabob in perfect goodhumor and removing suspicions from his mind, which
suspicions lie had never expressed, they came to the
resolution I shall have the honor to read to you:
"That the representation, giveni in the said defence,
of the state of the affairs of the country at that time"
(that is, about the month of April, 1760) "is true
and just" (that is, the bad state of the country,
which we shall consider hereafter); "that, in such,circumstances, the Nabob's urgent account of his own,distresses, the Colollel's desire of making him easy," (for here is a recapitulation of the whole defence,)
" as the first thing necessary for the good of the service, and the suddenness of the thing proposed, might
deprive him for a moment of his recollection, and
-surprise him into a measure which, as to the measure itself, he could not approve. That such only
were the motives which did or could influence Colonel'Calliaud to assent to the proposal is fully evinced by
the deposition of Captain Knox and Mr. Lushington,
that his [Calliaud's] coniscience, at the time. never reproached him with a bad design. "
Your Lordships have heard of the testimony of a
person to his own conscience; but the testimony of another man to any ole's conscience - this is the first
time, I believe, it ever a p,peared in a judicial proceed
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 419
ing. It is natural to say, " My conscience acquits
me of it"; but they declare, that "his conscience
never reproached him with a bad design, -and therefore, upon the whole, they are satisfied that his intention was good, though he erred in the measure. " I beg leave to state one thing that escaped me:
that the Nabob, who was one of the parties to the
design, was, at the time of the inquiry, a sort of
prisoner or an exile at Calcutta; that his moonshee
was there, or might have been had; and that his spy
was likewise there; and that they, though parties to
this transaction, were never called to account for it
in any sense or in any degree, or to show how far it
was necessary to quiet the Nabob's mind.
The accomplices, by acquitting him upon their testinmony to his conscience, did their business nobly.
But the good Court of Directors, who were so easily
satisfied, so ready to condemn at the first proposition
and so ready afterwards to acquit, put the last finishing hand of a master to it. For the accomplices
acquit him of evil intentions and excuse his act.
The Court of Directors, disapproving indeed the
measure, but receiving the testimony of his conscience in justification of his conduct, and taking
up the whole ground, honorably acquit him, and
commend this action as an instance of heroic zeal
in their service.
The great end and purpose for which 1 produce
this to your Lordships is to show you the necessity
there is for other inquiries, other trials, other acquittals,of parties, than those made by a collusive clan
abroad, or by the Directors at home, who had required
the parties to inquire of themselves, and to take the
testimony of the judges at second-hand, as to the
? ? ? ? '420 IMPEACHMENT OF. WARREN HASTINGS.
conscience of the ~party accused, respecting acts which
neither they nor any man living can look upon but
with horror.
I have troubled your Lordships with the story of
the Three Seals, as a specimen of the then state of
the service, and the politics of the servants, civil and
military, in the horrid abuses which then- prevailed,
and which render at length the most rigorous reformation necessary. I close this episode to resume
the proceedings at the second revolution.
This affair of the three seals was, we have seen,
to quiet the fears of the Nabob. His fears it was
indeed necessary to quiet; for your Lordships will
see that the man whose fears were to be set asleep
by Major Calliaud's offering him, in a scheme for
murdering his sovereign, an odd sort of opiate,
made up of blood and treason, was now in a fair
way of being murdered himself by the machinations of him whose seal was set to his murderous
security of peace, and by those his accomplices, Holwell and Hastings: at least they resolved to put him
in a situation:in which his murder was in a manner
inevitable, as you will see in the sequel of the transaction. Now the plan proceeds. The parties continued in the camp; but there was another remora. To remove a nabob and to create a revolution is not
easy: houses are strong who have sons grown up with
vigor and fitness for the command of armies. They
are not easily overturned by removing the principal,
unless the secondary is got rid of: and if this remora
could be removed, everything was going on in a happy
way in the business. This plan, which now (that is,
about the month of July) began to get into great
ripeness and forwardness, Mr. Holwell urged forward,
Mr. Vansittart being hourly expected.
? ? ? ? SPEECH:IN OPENING. : -- SECOND DAY-. 421
I do not know whether I am going to state a thing,
though it is upon the records, which will not have too
theatrical an appearance for the grave state in which
we are. But here it is, -- the difficulty, the knot, and
the solution, as recorded by the parties themselves.
It was the object of this bold, desperate, designing
man, Cossim Ali KhAn, who aimed at everything,
and who scrupled not to do anything in attaining
what he aimed at,. to be appointed the lieutenant of
the Nabob Jaffier Ali, and thus to get possession of
his office during his lifetime under that name, with a
design of murdering him: for that office, according to
many usages of that country, totally supersedes the
authority of the first magistrate, renders him a cipher in his hand, gives the administration of his affairs and command of his troops to the lieutenant. It was
a part of his plan, that he was, after his appointment
to the lieutenancy, to be named to the succession of
the Nabob, who had several other children; but the
eldest son stood in the way.
But as things hastened to a crisis, this difficulty was
removed in the most extraordinary and providential
unheard-of manner, by the most extraordinary event
that, I believe, is recorded in history. Just in the
nick of time, in the moment of projection, on the 3d
of July, this Prince Meeran, in the flower of his age,
bold, active, enterprising, lying asleep in his tent, is
suddenly, without any one's knowing it, without any
alarm or menace in the heavens that ever was heard
of or mentioned, without any one whatever being
hurt or even alarmed in the camp, killed with a flash
of lightning. My Lords, thus was the Gordian knot
cut. This prince dies of a flash of lightning, and
Mr. Lushington (of whom you have heard) comes in
? ? ? ? 422 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the morning with his hair standing erect, comes
frightened into the presence of Major Calliaud, and,
with the utmost alarm, tells him of a circumstance
that was afterwards to give them so much pleasure.
The alarm was immediately communicated to the Major, who was seized with a fright; and fearing lest
the army should mutiny upon the death of their chief,
it was contrived, in a manner that I believe was most
difficult to contrive, that what might have excited a
general mutiny was concealed by the ability, the good
conduct, and dexterity of Major Calliaud for seven
days together, till he led the army out of the place
of danger. Thus a judgment fell upon one of the
(innocent) murderers in the scene of the Three Seals.
This man, who was probably guilty in his conscience
as well as in act, thus fell by that most lucky, providential, and most useful flash of lightning.
There were at that time, it seems, in Calcutta, a
wicked, skeptical set of people, who somehow or
other believed that human agency was concerned in
this elective flash, which came so very opportunely,
and which was a favor so thankfully acknowledged.
These wicked, ill-natured skeptics disseminated reports (which I am sure I do not mean to charge or
prove, leaving the effect of them to you) very dishonorable, I believe, to Cossim Ali Khan in the business, and to some Englishmen who were concerned. The difficulty of getting rid of Meeran being thus
removed, Mr. Vansittart comes upon the scene. I
verily believe he was a man of good intentions, and
rather debauched by that amazing flood of iniquity
which prevailed at that time, or hurried and carried
away with it. In a few days he sent for Major Calliaud. All his objections vanish inl an instant: like
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 423
that flash of lightnillg, everything is instant. The
Major agrees to perform his part. They send for
Cossim Ali AKhan and Mr. Hastings; they open a
treaty and conclude it with him, leaving the management of it to two persons, Mr. Holwell and another person, whoml we have heard of, anl Armenian, called
Coja Petruse, who afterwards played his part in another illustrious scene. By this Petruse and Mr. Ilolwell the matter is settled. The moment Mr.
Holwell is raised to be a Secretary of State, the revolution is accomplished. By it Cossim Ali Kh&n is
to have the lieutenancy at present, and the succession. Everything is put into his hands, and he is to makeo for it large concessions, which you will hear of
afterwards, to the Company. Cossim Ali IKh'hn proposed to Mr. Holwell, what would have been no bad supplement to the flash of lightning, the murder of
the Nabob; hut Mr. IHolwell was a man of too much
honor and conscience to suffer that. He instantly
flew out at it, and declared the whole business should
stop, unless the affair of the murder was given up.
Accordingly things were so settled. But if he gave
the Nabob over to an intended murderer, and delivered his person, treasure, and everything into his hands, Cossim Ali Kha'n might have had no great
reason to complain of being left to the execution of
his own projects in his own way. The treaty was
made, and amounted to this, -- that the Company
was to receive three great provinces: for here, as we
proceed, you will have an opportunity of observing,
with the progress of these plots, one thing which has
constantly and uniformly pervaded the whole of these
projects. and which the persons concerned in them
have avowed as a principle of their actions, --that
? ? ? ? 424 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
they were first to take care of the Company's interest,
then of their own; that is, first to secure to the Company an enormous bribe; and under the shadow of
that bribe to take all the little emoluments they could
to themselves. Three great, rich, southern provinces,
maritime, or nearly mlaritime, Burdwan, Midnapoor,
and Chittagong, were to be dissevered from the Subah and to be ceded to the Company. There were
other minor stipulations, which it is not necessary at
present to trouble you with, signed, sealed, and executed at Calcutta between these parties with the greatest possible secrecy. The lieutenancy and the succession were secured to Cossim Ali, and he was likewise to give somewhere about the sum of 200,0001. to the gentlemen who were concerned, as a reward for
serving him so effectually, and for serving their country so well. Accordingly, these stipulations, actual
or understood, (for they were eventually carried into
effect,) being settled, a commission of delegation, consisting chiefly of Mr. Vanlsittart and Major Calliaud,
was sent up to Moorshedabad: the new Governor
taking this opportunity of paying the usual visit of
respect to the Nabob, and in a manner which a new
Governor coming into place would do, with the detail of which it is not necessary to trouble you. Mr.
Hastings was at this time at the durbar; and having
everything prepared, and the ground smoothed, they
first endeavored to persuade the Nabob to deliver
over the power negotiated for into the hands of their
friend Cossim Ali Khall. But when the old man,
frightened out of his wits, asked, 1' What is it ho has
bid for me? " and added, " I will give half as much
again to save myself; pray let me know what my
price is,"- -he entreated in vain. They were true,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 425
firm, and faithful to their word and their engagement,
When he saw they were resolved that he should be
delivered into the hands of Cossirn Ali Khan, he at
once surrenders the whole to him. They instantly
grasp it. He throws himself into a boat, and will
not remain at home an hour, but hurries down to
Calcutta to leave his blood at our door, if we should
have a mind to take it. But the life of the Nabob
was too great a stake (partly as a security for the
good behavior of Cossim Ali Kha'n, and still more
for the future use that might be made of him) to
be thrown away, or left in the hands of a man who
would certainly murder him, and who was very angry at being refused the murder of his father-inlaw. The price of this second revolution was, according to their shares in it, (I believe I have it here,) somewhere about 200,0001. This little effusion to private interest settled the matter, and here
ended the second revolution in the country: effected,
indeed, without bloodshed, but with infinite treachery,
with infinite mischief, consequent to the dismemberment of the country, and which had nearly become
fatal to our concerns tliere, like everything else in
which Mr. Hastings had any share.
This prince, Cossim Ali Khan, the friend of Mr.
Hastings, knew that those who could give could take
away dominion. He had scarcely got upon the
throne, procured for him by our public spirit and his
own iniquities, than he began directly and instantly
to fortify himself, and to bend all his politics against
those who were or could be the donors of such fatal
gifts. : He began with the natives who were in their
interest, and cruelly put to death, under the eye of
Mr. Hastings and his clan, all those who, by their
? ? ? ? 426 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
moneyed wealth or landed consideration, could give
any effect to their dispositions in favor of those ambitious strangers. He removed from Moorshedabad
higher up into the country, to Monghir, in order to
be more out of our view. He kept his word pretty
well, but not altogether faithfully, with the gentlemen; and though he had no money, for his treasury
was empty, he gave obligations which are known by
the name of jeeps- (the Indian vocabulary will by
degrees become familiar to your Lordships, as we develop the modes and customs of the country). As
soon as he had done this, he began to rack and tear
the provinces that were left to him, to get as much
from them as should compensate him for the revenues of those great provinces he had lost; and accordingly he began a scene of extortion, horrible, nefarious, without precedent or example, upon almost all the landed interest of that country. I mention this,
because he is one of those persons whose governments
Mr. Hastings, in a paper called his Defence, delivered
in to the House of Commons, has produced as precedents and examples which he has thought fit to follow, and which he thought would justify him in the
conduct he has pursued. This Cossine Ali Khan,
after he had acted the tyrant on the landed interest, fell upon the moneyed interest. In that country
there was a person called Juggut Seit. There were
several of the family, who were bankers to such a
magnitude as was never heard of in the world. Receivers of the public revenue, their correspondence
extended all over Asia; and there are those who are
of opinion that' the house of Juggut Seit, including
all its branches, was not worth less than six or seven
millions sterling. This house became the prey of
? ?
commanded the English forces under the government of Calcutta. Mr. Holwell was in the temporary possession of the Presidency. Mr. Vansittart
was hourly expected to supersede him. Mr. Warren
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 405
Hastings, a young gentleman about twenty-seven
years of age, was Resident for the Company at the
durbar, or court,' of Mir Jaffier, our new-created
Nabob of Bengal, allied to this country by the most
solemn treaties that can bind men; for which treaties he had paid, and was then paying, immense
sums of money. Mr. Warren Hastings was the
pledge in his hands for the honor of the British nation, and their fidelity to their engagements.
In this situation, Mr: Holwell, whom the terrible
example of the Black Hole at Calcutta had not
cured of ambition, thought an hour was not to be
lost in accomplishing a revolution and selling the
reigning Nabob.
My Lords, there was in the house of Mir Jaffier,
ill his court, and in his family, a man of an intriguing,. crafty, subtle, and at the same time bold, daring, desperate, bloody, and ferocious character, called Cossim Ali Kbhan. He' was the son-in-law of Mir
Jaffier; and he made no other use of this affinity
than to find some means to dethrone and to murder
him. This was the person in whose school of politics
Mr. Hastings made his first studies, and whose conduct he quotes as his example, and for whose friends,
agents, and favorites he has always shown a marked
predilection. This dangerous man was not long
without finding persons who observed his talents with
admiration, and who thought fit to employ him.
The Council at Calcutta was divided into two departments: one, the Council in general; the other a
Select Committee, which they had arranged for the
better carrying on their political affairs. But the Select Committee had no power of acting wholly without the Council at large, -- at least, finally and con
? ? ? ? 406 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
elusively. The Select Committee thought otherwise.
Between these litigant parties for power I shall not
determine on the merits, - thinking of nothing but
the use that was made of the power, to whomsoever
it belonged. This Secret Committee, then, without
communicating with the rest of the Council, formed
the plan for a second revolution. But the concurrence of Major Calliaud, who commanded the British
troops, was essential to the purpose, as it could not
be accomplished without force. Mr. Hastings's assistance was necessary, as it could not be accomplished without treachery.
These are the parties concerned in the intended
revolution. Mr. Holwell, who considered himself in
possession only of temporary power, was urged to precipitate the business; for if Mr. Vansittart should arrive before his plot could be finally put into executioni, he would have all the leading advantages of it, and Mr. Holwell would be considered only as a secondary instrument. But whilst Mr. Holwell, who
originally conceived this plot, urged forward the execution of it, in order that the chief share of the profits might fall to him, the Major, and possibly the
Resident, held back, till they might receive the sanction of the permanent governor, who was hourly expected, with whom one of them was connected, and
who was to carry with him the whole weight of the
authority of this kingdom. This difference produced
discussions. Holwell endeavored by his correspondence to stimulate Calliaud to this enterprise, which
without him could not be undertaken at all. But
Maj. or Calliaud had different views. He concurred
inwardly, as he tells us himself, in all the principles
of this intended revolution, in the propriety and ne
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 407
cessity of it. He only wished delay. But he gave
such powerful, solid, and satisfactory reasons, not
against the delay, but the very merits of the design
itself, exposing the injustice and the danger of it,
and the impossibility of mending by it their condition
in any respect, as must have damned it in the minds
of all rational men: at least it ought to have damned
it forever in his own. But you will see that IHolwell persevered in his plan, and that Major Calliaud
thought two things necessary: first, not wholly to
destroy the scheme, which he tells us he always approved, but to postpone the execution, -- and in the
mean time to delude the Nabob by the most strong,
direct, and sanguine assurances of friendship and
protection that it was possible to give to man.
Whilst the projected revolution stood suspended,whilst Mr. Holwell urged it forward, and Mr. Vansittart was expected every day to give it effect, - whilst Major Calliaud, with this design of ruining the. Nabob
lodged in his breast, suspended in execution, and
condemned in principle, kept the fairest face and the
most confidential interviews with that unfortunate
prince and his son, - as the operations of the campaign relaxed, the army drew near to Moorshedabad,
the capital, when a truly extraordinary scene happened, such I am sure the English annals before that
time had furnished no example of, nor will, I trust,
in ful-ure. I shall state it as one piece from beginning to end, reserving the events which intervened;
because, as I do not produce any part of this. series
for the gratification of historical curiosity, the contexture is necessary to demonstrate to your Lordships
the spirit of our Bengal politics, and the necessity of
some other sort of judicial inquiries than those which
? ? ? ? 408 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that government institute for themselves. The transaction so manifestly marks the character of the whole proceeding that I hope I shall not be blamed for
suspending for a moment the narrative of the steps
taken towards the revolution, that you may see the
whole of this episode together, -that by it you may
judge of the causes which led progressively to the
state in which the Company's affairs stood, when Mr.
Hastings was' sent for the express purpose of reforming it.
The business I am going to enter into is commonly
known by the name of the Story of the Three Seals.
It is to be found in the Appendix, No. 10, to the
First Report of the state and condition of the East
India Company, made in 1773. The word Report,
my Lords, is sometimes a little equivocal, and may
signify sometimes, not what is made known, but what
remains in obscurity: the detail and evidence of many
facts referred to in the Report being usually thrown
into the Appendix. Many people, and I among the
rest, (I take shame to myself for it,) may not have
ftully examined that Appendix. I was not a member
of either of the India committees of 1773. It is not,
indeed, till within this year that I have been thoroughly acquainted with that memorable history of the Three Seals.
The history is this. In the year 1760 the allies
were in the course of operations against the son
of the Mogul, now the present Mogul, who, as I
have already stated, had made an irruption into
the kingdom of Bahar, in order to reduce the lower
provinces to his obedience. The parties opposing
him were the Nabob of Bengal and the Company's
troops under Major Calliaud. It was whilst they
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 409
faced the common enemy as one body, this negotiation for the destruction of the Nabob of Bengal by
his faithful allies of the Company was going on
with diligence. At that time the Nabob's son, Meeran, a youth in the flower of his age, bold, vigorous,
active, full of the politics in which those who are
versed in usurpation are never wanting, commanded the army under his father, but was in reality the
efficient person in all things.
About the 15th of April, 1760, as I have it from Major Calliaud's letter of that date, the Nabob came into
his tent, and, with looks of the utmost embarrassment,
big with some design which swelled his bosom, something that was too large and burdensome to conceal,
and yet too critical to be told, appeared to be in a
state of great distraction. The Major, seeing him
ill this condition, kindly, gently, like a fast and sure
friend, employed (to use his own expression) some of
those assurances that tend to make men fully open their
hearts; and accordingly, fortified by his assurances,
and willing to disburden himself of the secret that
oppressed him, he opens his heart to the commanding officer of his new friends, allies, and protectors.
The Nabob, thus assured, did open himself, and informed Major Calliaud that he had just received a
message from the Prince, or his principal minister,
informing him that the Prince Royal, now the Mogul,
had an intention (as, indeed, he rationally miglht,
supposing that we were as well disposed to him as
we showed ourselves afterwards) to surrender him-l
self into the hands of him, the Nabob, but at the
same time wished, as a guaranty, that the commanderin-chief of the English forces should give him security for his life and his honor, when he should in
? ? ? ? 410 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that manner surrender himself to the Nabob. I do
not mean, my Lords, by surrendering, that it was
supposed he intended to surrender himself prisoner
of war, but as a sovereign dubious of the fidelity of
those about him would put himself into the hands
of his faithful subjects, of those who claimed to derive all their power, as both we and the Nabob did, under his authority. The Nabob stated to the English general, that without this English security the Prince would not deliver himself into his hands.
Here he confessed he found a difficulty. For the
giving this faith, if it were kept, would defeat his
ultimate view; which was, when the Prince had delivered himself into his hands, in plain terms to murder him. This grand act could not be accomplished without the English general. In the first
place, the Prince, without the English security, would
not deliver himself into the Nabob's hands; and afterwards, without the English concurrence, he could not be murdered. These were difficulties that pressed
upon the mind of the Nabob.
Tlhe English commander heard this astonishing
proposition without any apparent emotion. Being
a man habituated to great affairs, versed in revolutions, and with a. mind fortified against extraordinary events, he heard it and answered it without showing
any signs of abhorrence or detestation, - at the same
time with a protestation that he would indeed serve
him, the Nabob, but it should be upon such terms
as honor and justice could support: informing him,
that an assurance for the Prince's safety could not
be given by him, until he had consulted Mr. Holwell,
who was Governor, and his superior.
This conversation passed in the morning. On that
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 411
very morning, and whilst the transaction was hot,
Major Calliaud writes to Mr. Holwell an. account of
it. In his letter he informs him that he made an
inquiry, without stating from whom, but that he did
inquire the probability of the Nabob's getting possession of the Prince from some persons, who assured
him that there was no probability of the Prince's intention to deliver himself to the Nabob on any terms.
Be that as it may, it is impossible not to remark that
the whole transaction of the morning of the 15th of
April was not very discouraging to the Nabob, -not
such as would induce him to consider this most detestable of all projects as a thing utterly unfeasible,
and as such to abandon it. The evening came on
without anything to alter his opinion. Major Calliaud that evening came to the Nabob's tent to arrange some matters relative to the approaching camlpaign. The business soon ended with regard to the campaign; but the proposal of the morning to Major
Calliaud, as might be expected to happen, was in
effect renewed. Indeed, the form was a little different; but the substantial part remained the same.
Your Lordships will see what these-alterations were.
In the evening scene the persons were more numerous. On the part of the Company, Major Calliaud, Mr. Lushington, Mr. Knox, and the ambassador
at the Nabob's court, Mr. Warren Hastings. On the
part of the Moorish government, the Nabob himself,
his son Meeran, a Persian secretary, and the Nabob's
head spy, an officer well known in that part of the
world, and of some rank. These were the persons
of the drama'in the evening scene. The Nabob and
his son did not wait for the Prince's committing himself to their faith, which, it seems, Major Calliaud
? ? ? ? 412 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
did not think likely to happen; so that one act of
treachery is saved: but another opened of as extraordinary a nature. Intent and eager on the execution, and the more certain, of their design, they accepted the plan of a wicked wretch, principal servant of the then prime-minister to the Mogul, or themselves suggested it to him. A person called Conery,
dewan or principal steward to Camgar Khan, a great
chief in the service of the Shalhzada, or Prince,
(now the Great Mogul, the sovereign under whom
the Company holds their charter,) had, it seems,
made a proposal to. the Nabob, that, if a considerable territory then held by his master was assured
to him, and a reward of a lac of rupees (ten or
twelve thousand pounds) secured to him, he would
for that consideration deliver the Prince, the eldest
son of the Mogul, alive into the hands of the Nabob;
or if that could not be effected, he engaged to murder him for the same reward. But as the assassin
could not rely on the Nabob. and his son for his reward for this meritorious action, and thought better
of English honor and fidelity in such delicate cases,
he required that Major Calliaud should set his seal
to the agreement. This proposition was made to an
English commander: what discourse happened upon it is uncertain. Mr. Hastings is stated by some
evidence to have acted as interpreter in this memorable congress. But Major Calliaud agreed to it
without any difficulty. Accordingly, an instrument
was drawn, an indenture tripartite prepared by the
Persian secretary, securing to the party the reward
of this infamous, perfidious, murderous act. First,
the Nabob put his own seal to the murder. The
Nabob's son, Meeran, affixed his seal. A third seal,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 413
the most important of all, was yet wanting. A pause
ensued: Major Calliaud's seal was not at hand;
but Mr. Lushington was sent near half a mile to
bring it. It was brought at length; and the instrument of blood and treachery was completely executed. Three seals were set to it.
This business of the three seals, by some means not
quite fully explained, but (as suspected by the parties)
by means of the information of Mr. Holwell, who soon
after came home, was conveyed to the ears of the
Court of Directors. The Court of Directors wrote
out, under date of the 7th of October, 1761, within a
little more than a year after this extraordinary transaction, to this effect: -- that, in conjunction with the
Nabob, Major Calliaud had signed a paper offering a
reward of a lac of rupees, or some such sum, to several black persons, for the assassination of the Shahzada, or Prince heir-apparent, - which paper was offered to the then Chief of Patna to sign, but which he refused on account of the infamy of the'measure.
As it appeared in the same light to them, the Directors, they ordered a strict inquiry into it. The India
Company, who here did their duty with apparent manliness and vigor, were resolved, however, to do it with
gentleness, and to proceed in a manner that could not
produce any serious mischief to the parties charged;
for they directed the commission of inquiry to the
very clan and set of people who, from a participation
in their common offences, stood in awe of one another, - in effect, to the parties in the transaction.
Without a prosecutor, without an impartial director
of the inquiry, they left it substantially to those persons to try one another for their common acts. .
Here I come upon the principle which I wish most
? ? ? ? 414 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
strongly to mark to your Lordships: I mean collusive trials and collusive acquittals. When this matter came to be examined, according to the orders of the
Court, which was on the 4th lof October, 1762, the
Council consisted of Peter Maguire, Warren Hastings,
and Hugh Watts. Mr. Hastings had by this time accomplished the business of Resident with the Nabob, and had taken the seat to which his seniority entitled
hiln in Council. Here a difficulty arose in limine.
Mr. Hastings was represented to have acted as interpreter in this business; he was therefore himself an object of the inquisition; he was doubtful as evidence;
lie was disqualified as a judge. It likewise appeared
that there might be some objection to others whose
evidence was wanting, but who were themselves concerned in the guilt. ' Mr. Lushington's evidence would be useful, but there were two circumstances
rather unlucky. First, he had put the seal to the instrument of murder; and, secondly, and what was most material, he had made an affidavit at Patna,
whilst the affair was green and recent, that he had
done so; and in the same affidavit had deposed that
Warren Hastings was interpreter in that transaction.
Here were difficulties both on him and Mr. Hastings.
The question was, how to get Mr. Hastings, the interpreter, out of his interpretation, and to put him upon the seat of judgment. It was effected, however, and
the manner in which it was effected was something
curious. Mr. Lushington, who by this time was got
completely over, himself tells you that in conferences
with Major Calliaud, and by arguments and reasons
by him delivered, he was persuaded to unsay his
swearing, and to declare that he believed that the
affidavit which he made at Patna, and while the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 415
transaction was recent or nearly recent, must be a
mistake: that he believed (what is amazing indeed for
any belief) that not Mr. Hastings, but he himself,
interpreted. Mr. Lushington completely loses his own
memory, and he accepts an offered, a given memory,
a memory supplied to him by a party in the transaction. By this operation all difficulties are removed: Mr. Hastings is at once put into the capacity of a
judge.
He is declared by Mr. Lushington not to have
been an interpreter in the transaction. After this,
Mr. Hastings is himself examined. Your Lordships
will look at the transaction at your leisure, and I
think you will consider it as a pattern for inquiries
of this kind. Mr. Hastings is examined: he does not
recollect. His memory also fails on a business in
which it is not easy to suppose a man could be doubtful, - whether he was present or not: he thinks he was not there, -for that, if he had been there, and
acted as interpreter, he could not have forgot it.
I think it is pretty nearly as I state it: if I have
fallen into any error or inaccuracy, it is easily rectified; for here is the state of the transaction given by the parties themselves. On this inaccurate memory
of Mr. Hastings, not venturing, however, to say positively that he was not the interpreter, or that he was not present, he is discharged from being an accomplice, - he is removed from the bar, and leaps upon the'seat of justice. The court thus. completed, Major
Calliaud comes manfully forward to make his defence.
Mr. Lushington is taken off his back in the manner
we have seen, and no one person remains but Captain Knox. Now, if Captain Knox was there and assenting, he is an accomplice too. Captain Knox
asserts, that, at the consultation about the murder, he
? ? ? ? 416 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
said it was a pity to cut off so fine a young fellow
in such a manner,- meaning that fine young fellow
the Prince, the descendant of Tamerlane, the present
reigning Mogul, from whom the Company derive their
present charter. The purpose to be served by this
declaratio. n, if it had ally purpose, was, that Captainl
Knox did not assent to the murder, and that therefore his evidence might be valid.
The defence set up by Major Calliaud was to this
effect. He was apprehensive, he said, that the Nabob
was alarmed at the violent designs that were formed
against him by Mr. Holwell, and that therefore, to
quiet his mind, (to quiet it by a proposition compounded of murder and treason, - an odd kind of mind he had that was to be quieted by such means! )
- but to quiet his mind, and to show that the English were willing to go all lengths with him, to sell body and soul to him, he did put his seal to this
extraordinary agreement, he put his seal to this wonderful paper. He likewise stated, that he was of opinion at the time that nothing at all sinister could
happen from it, that no such murder was likely to
take place, whatever might be the intention of the
parties. In fact, he had very luckily said in a letter
of his, written a day after the setting the seal, "I
think nothing will come of this matter, but it is
no harm to try. " This experimental treache. ry, and
these essays of conditional murder, appeared to him
good enough to make a trial of; but at the same time
he was afraid nothing would come of it. In general,
the whole gest of his defence comes to one point, in
which he persists, - that, whatever the act might
be, his mind is clear: " My hands are guilty, but my
heart is free. " He conceived that it would be very
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 417
Improper, undoubtedly, to do such an act, if he suspected anything could happen from it: he, however,
let the thing out of his own hands; he put it into the
haIrds of others; he put the commission into the hands
of a murderer. The fact was not denied; it was fully
before these severe judges. The extenuation was the
purity of his heart, and the bad situation of the Company's affairs, - the perpetual plea, which your Lordships will hear of forever, and which if it will justify evil actions, they will take good: care that the most
nefarious of their deeds shall never want a sufficient
justification. But then he calls upon his life and, his
character to oppose to his seal; and though he has
declared that. Mr. Holwell had intended ill to the Nabob, and that he approved of those measures, and only
postponed them, yet he thought it necessary, he says,
to quiet the fears of the Nabob; and from this motive
he did an act abhorrent to his nature, and which, he
says, he expressed his abhorrence of the morning after he signed it: not that he did so; but if he had, I
believe it would only have made the thing so many
degrees worse. Your Lordships will observe, that, in
this conference, as stated by himself, these reasons
and apologies for it did not appear, nor did they appear in the letter, nor anywhere else, till next year,
when he came upon his. trial. Then it was immediately recollected that Mr. Holwell's designs were so
wicked they certainly must be known to the Nabob,
though he never mentioned them in the conference
of the morning or the evening of the 15th; yet such
was now the weight and prevalence of them upon the
Major's mind, that he calls upon Mr. Hastings to,
know whether the Nabob was not informed of these
designs of Mr. Holwell against him. Mr. Hastings's,
VOL. IX. 27
? ? ? ? 418 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
memory was not quite correct upon the occasion.
He does not recollect anything of the matter. He
certainly seems not to thlink that he ever mentioned
it to the Nabob, or the Nabob to him; but he does
recollect, he thinks, speaking something to some of
the Nabob's attendants upon it, and further this deponent sayeth not. On this state of things, namely,
the purity of intention, the necessities of the Company,
tle propriety of keeping the Nabob in perfect goodhumor and removing suspicions from his mind, which
suspicions lie had never expressed, they came to the
resolution I shall have the honor to read to you:
"That the representation, giveni in the said defence,
of the state of the affairs of the country at that time"
(that is, about the month of April, 1760) "is true
and just" (that is, the bad state of the country,
which we shall consider hereafter); "that, in such,circumstances, the Nabob's urgent account of his own,distresses, the Colollel's desire of making him easy," (for here is a recapitulation of the whole defence,)
" as the first thing necessary for the good of the service, and the suddenness of the thing proposed, might
deprive him for a moment of his recollection, and
-surprise him into a measure which, as to the measure itself, he could not approve. That such only
were the motives which did or could influence Colonel'Calliaud to assent to the proposal is fully evinced by
the deposition of Captain Knox and Mr. Lushington,
that his [Calliaud's] coniscience, at the time. never reproached him with a bad design. "
Your Lordships have heard of the testimony of a
person to his own conscience; but the testimony of another man to any ole's conscience - this is the first
time, I believe, it ever a p,peared in a judicial proceed
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 419
ing. It is natural to say, " My conscience acquits
me of it"; but they declare, that "his conscience
never reproached him with a bad design, -and therefore, upon the whole, they are satisfied that his intention was good, though he erred in the measure. " I beg leave to state one thing that escaped me:
that the Nabob, who was one of the parties to the
design, was, at the time of the inquiry, a sort of
prisoner or an exile at Calcutta; that his moonshee
was there, or might have been had; and that his spy
was likewise there; and that they, though parties to
this transaction, were never called to account for it
in any sense or in any degree, or to show how far it
was necessary to quiet the Nabob's mind.
The accomplices, by acquitting him upon their testinmony to his conscience, did their business nobly.
But the good Court of Directors, who were so easily
satisfied, so ready to condemn at the first proposition
and so ready afterwards to acquit, put the last finishing hand of a master to it. For the accomplices
acquit him of evil intentions and excuse his act.
The Court of Directors, disapproving indeed the
measure, but receiving the testimony of his conscience in justification of his conduct, and taking
up the whole ground, honorably acquit him, and
commend this action as an instance of heroic zeal
in their service.
The great end and purpose for which 1 produce
this to your Lordships is to show you the necessity
there is for other inquiries, other trials, other acquittals,of parties, than those made by a collusive clan
abroad, or by the Directors at home, who had required
the parties to inquire of themselves, and to take the
testimony of the judges at second-hand, as to the
? ? ? ? '420 IMPEACHMENT OF. WARREN HASTINGS.
conscience of the ~party accused, respecting acts which
neither they nor any man living can look upon but
with horror.
I have troubled your Lordships with the story of
the Three Seals, as a specimen of the then state of
the service, and the politics of the servants, civil and
military, in the horrid abuses which then- prevailed,
and which render at length the most rigorous reformation necessary. I close this episode to resume
the proceedings at the second revolution.
This affair of the three seals was, we have seen,
to quiet the fears of the Nabob. His fears it was
indeed necessary to quiet; for your Lordships will
see that the man whose fears were to be set asleep
by Major Calliaud's offering him, in a scheme for
murdering his sovereign, an odd sort of opiate,
made up of blood and treason, was now in a fair
way of being murdered himself by the machinations of him whose seal was set to his murderous
security of peace, and by those his accomplices, Holwell and Hastings: at least they resolved to put him
in a situation:in which his murder was in a manner
inevitable, as you will see in the sequel of the transaction. Now the plan proceeds. The parties continued in the camp; but there was another remora. To remove a nabob and to create a revolution is not
easy: houses are strong who have sons grown up with
vigor and fitness for the command of armies. They
are not easily overturned by removing the principal,
unless the secondary is got rid of: and if this remora
could be removed, everything was going on in a happy
way in the business. This plan, which now (that is,
about the month of July) began to get into great
ripeness and forwardness, Mr. Holwell urged forward,
Mr. Vansittart being hourly expected.
? ? ? ? SPEECH:IN OPENING. : -- SECOND DAY-. 421
I do not know whether I am going to state a thing,
though it is upon the records, which will not have too
theatrical an appearance for the grave state in which
we are. But here it is, -- the difficulty, the knot, and
the solution, as recorded by the parties themselves.
It was the object of this bold, desperate, designing
man, Cossim Ali KhAn, who aimed at everything,
and who scrupled not to do anything in attaining
what he aimed at,. to be appointed the lieutenant of
the Nabob Jaffier Ali, and thus to get possession of
his office during his lifetime under that name, with a
design of murdering him: for that office, according to
many usages of that country, totally supersedes the
authority of the first magistrate, renders him a cipher in his hand, gives the administration of his affairs and command of his troops to the lieutenant. It was
a part of his plan, that he was, after his appointment
to the lieutenancy, to be named to the succession of
the Nabob, who had several other children; but the
eldest son stood in the way.
But as things hastened to a crisis, this difficulty was
removed in the most extraordinary and providential
unheard-of manner, by the most extraordinary event
that, I believe, is recorded in history. Just in the
nick of time, in the moment of projection, on the 3d
of July, this Prince Meeran, in the flower of his age,
bold, active, enterprising, lying asleep in his tent, is
suddenly, without any one's knowing it, without any
alarm or menace in the heavens that ever was heard
of or mentioned, without any one whatever being
hurt or even alarmed in the camp, killed with a flash
of lightning. My Lords, thus was the Gordian knot
cut. This prince dies of a flash of lightning, and
Mr. Lushington (of whom you have heard) comes in
? ? ? ? 422 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the morning with his hair standing erect, comes
frightened into the presence of Major Calliaud, and,
with the utmost alarm, tells him of a circumstance
that was afterwards to give them so much pleasure.
The alarm was immediately communicated to the Major, who was seized with a fright; and fearing lest
the army should mutiny upon the death of their chief,
it was contrived, in a manner that I believe was most
difficult to contrive, that what might have excited a
general mutiny was concealed by the ability, the good
conduct, and dexterity of Major Calliaud for seven
days together, till he led the army out of the place
of danger. Thus a judgment fell upon one of the
(innocent) murderers in the scene of the Three Seals.
This man, who was probably guilty in his conscience
as well as in act, thus fell by that most lucky, providential, and most useful flash of lightning.
There were at that time, it seems, in Calcutta, a
wicked, skeptical set of people, who somehow or
other believed that human agency was concerned in
this elective flash, which came so very opportunely,
and which was a favor so thankfully acknowledged.
These wicked, ill-natured skeptics disseminated reports (which I am sure I do not mean to charge or
prove, leaving the effect of them to you) very dishonorable, I believe, to Cossim Ali Khan in the business, and to some Englishmen who were concerned. The difficulty of getting rid of Meeran being thus
removed, Mr. Vansittart comes upon the scene. I
verily believe he was a man of good intentions, and
rather debauched by that amazing flood of iniquity
which prevailed at that time, or hurried and carried
away with it. In a few days he sent for Major Calliaud. All his objections vanish inl an instant: like
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 423
that flash of lightnillg, everything is instant. The
Major agrees to perform his part. They send for
Cossim Ali AKhan and Mr. Hastings; they open a
treaty and conclude it with him, leaving the management of it to two persons, Mr. Holwell and another person, whoml we have heard of, anl Armenian, called
Coja Petruse, who afterwards played his part in another illustrious scene. By this Petruse and Mr. Ilolwell the matter is settled. The moment Mr.
Holwell is raised to be a Secretary of State, the revolution is accomplished. By it Cossim Ali Kh&n is
to have the lieutenancy at present, and the succession. Everything is put into his hands, and he is to makeo for it large concessions, which you will hear of
afterwards, to the Company. Cossim Ali IKh'hn proposed to Mr. Holwell, what would have been no bad supplement to the flash of lightning, the murder of
the Nabob; hut Mr. IHolwell was a man of too much
honor and conscience to suffer that. He instantly
flew out at it, and declared the whole business should
stop, unless the affair of the murder was given up.
Accordingly things were so settled. But if he gave
the Nabob over to an intended murderer, and delivered his person, treasure, and everything into his hands, Cossim Ali Kha'n might have had no great
reason to complain of being left to the execution of
his own projects in his own way. The treaty was
made, and amounted to this, -- that the Company
was to receive three great provinces: for here, as we
proceed, you will have an opportunity of observing,
with the progress of these plots, one thing which has
constantly and uniformly pervaded the whole of these
projects. and which the persons concerned in them
have avowed as a principle of their actions, --that
? ? ? ? 424 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
they were first to take care of the Company's interest,
then of their own; that is, first to secure to the Company an enormous bribe; and under the shadow of
that bribe to take all the little emoluments they could
to themselves. Three great, rich, southern provinces,
maritime, or nearly mlaritime, Burdwan, Midnapoor,
and Chittagong, were to be dissevered from the Subah and to be ceded to the Company. There were
other minor stipulations, which it is not necessary at
present to trouble you with, signed, sealed, and executed at Calcutta between these parties with the greatest possible secrecy. The lieutenancy and the succession were secured to Cossim Ali, and he was likewise to give somewhere about the sum of 200,0001. to the gentlemen who were concerned, as a reward for
serving him so effectually, and for serving their country so well. Accordingly, these stipulations, actual
or understood, (for they were eventually carried into
effect,) being settled, a commission of delegation, consisting chiefly of Mr. Vanlsittart and Major Calliaud,
was sent up to Moorshedabad: the new Governor
taking this opportunity of paying the usual visit of
respect to the Nabob, and in a manner which a new
Governor coming into place would do, with the detail of which it is not necessary to trouble you. Mr.
Hastings was at this time at the durbar; and having
everything prepared, and the ground smoothed, they
first endeavored to persuade the Nabob to deliver
over the power negotiated for into the hands of their
friend Cossim Ali Khall. But when the old man,
frightened out of his wits, asked, 1' What is it ho has
bid for me? " and added, " I will give half as much
again to save myself; pray let me know what my
price is,"- -he entreated in vain. They were true,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 425
firm, and faithful to their word and their engagement,
When he saw they were resolved that he should be
delivered into the hands of Cossirn Ali Khan, he at
once surrenders the whole to him. They instantly
grasp it. He throws himself into a boat, and will
not remain at home an hour, but hurries down to
Calcutta to leave his blood at our door, if we should
have a mind to take it. But the life of the Nabob
was too great a stake (partly as a security for the
good behavior of Cossim Ali Kha'n, and still more
for the future use that might be made of him) to
be thrown away, or left in the hands of a man who
would certainly murder him, and who was very angry at being refused the murder of his father-inlaw. The price of this second revolution was, according to their shares in it, (I believe I have it here,) somewhere about 200,0001. This little effusion to private interest settled the matter, and here
ended the second revolution in the country: effected,
indeed, without bloodshed, but with infinite treachery,
with infinite mischief, consequent to the dismemberment of the country, and which had nearly become
fatal to our concerns tliere, like everything else in
which Mr. Hastings had any share.
This prince, Cossim Ali Khan, the friend of Mr.
Hastings, knew that those who could give could take
away dominion. He had scarcely got upon the
throne, procured for him by our public spirit and his
own iniquities, than he began directly and instantly
to fortify himself, and to bend all his politics against
those who were or could be the donors of such fatal
gifts. : He began with the natives who were in their
interest, and cruelly put to death, under the eye of
Mr. Hastings and his clan, all those who, by their
? ? ? ? 426 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
moneyed wealth or landed consideration, could give
any effect to their dispositions in favor of those ambitious strangers. He removed from Moorshedabad
higher up into the country, to Monghir, in order to
be more out of our view. He kept his word pretty
well, but not altogether faithfully, with the gentlemen; and though he had no money, for his treasury
was empty, he gave obligations which are known by
the name of jeeps- (the Indian vocabulary will by
degrees become familiar to your Lordships, as we develop the modes and customs of the country). As
soon as he had done this, he began to rack and tear
the provinces that were left to him, to get as much
from them as should compensate him for the revenues of those great provinces he had lost; and accordingly he began a scene of extortion, horrible, nefarious, without precedent or example, upon almost all the landed interest of that country. I mention this,
because he is one of those persons whose governments
Mr. Hastings, in a paper called his Defence, delivered
in to the House of Commons, has produced as precedents and examples which he has thought fit to follow, and which he thought would justify him in the
conduct he has pursued. This Cossine Ali Khan,
after he had acted the tyrant on the landed interest, fell upon the moneyed interest. In that country
there was a person called Juggut Seit. There were
several of the family, who were bankers to such a
magnitude as was never heard of in the world. Receivers of the public revenue, their correspondence
extended all over Asia; and there are those who are
of opinion that' the house of Juggut Seit, including
all its branches, was not worth less than six or seven
millions sterling. This house became the prey of
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