No More Learning

Francis Fowke. By
your ancieiit and known constitution the Governor
? ? ? ? 234 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
has been ever held forth and understood to possess
the ostensible powers of government; all the correspondence with foreign princes is conducted in his
name; and every person resident with them for the
management of your political concerns is understood
to be more especially his representative, and of his
choice: and such ought to be the rule; for how
otherwise can they trust an agent nominated against
the will of his principal? When the state of this administration was such as seemed to admit of the appointment of Mr. Bristow to the Residency of Lucknow without much diminution of my own influence, I gladly seized the occasion to show my readiness to
submit to your commands; I proposed his nomination; he was nominated, and declared to be the agent
of my own choice. Even this effect of my caution is
defeated by your absolute command for his reappointment independen t of me, and with the supposition that 1
should be adverse to it. - I am now wholly deprived of
my official powers, both in the province of Oude, and
in the zemindary of Benares. "
IX. That, further to emancipate others and himself from due obedience to the Court of Directors, he
did, in the libel aforesaid, enhance his services, which,
without specification or proof, he did suppose in the
said libel to be important and valuable, by representing them as done under their displeasure, and doth
attribute his not having done more to their opposition,
as followeth. "It is now a complete period of eleven
years since I first received the first nominal charge
of your affairs; in the course of it I have invariably
had to conlteld, not with ordinary difficulties, but
such as most unnaturally arose from the opposition of
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 235
those very powers from which I primarily derived my
authority, and which were required for the support of it.
My exertions, though applied to an unvaried and consistent line of action, have been occasional and desultory; yet I please myself with the hope, that, in the allllals of your dominion, which shall be written after
tile extinction of recent prejudices, this term of its
administration will appear not the least conducive
to the interests of the Company, nor the least reflective of the honor of the British name: and allow me
to suggest the instructive reflection of what good might
haze been done, and what evil prevented, had due support been given to that administration which has performed such eminent and substantial services without it. "
And the said Hastings, further to render the authority of the said Court perfectly contemptible, doth,
in a strain of exultation for his having escaped out of
a measure in which by his guilt he had involved the
Company in a ruinous war, and out of which it had
escaped by a sacrifice of almnost all the territories before acquired (from that enemy which he had made)
either by war or former treaties, and by the abandonillg the Company's allies to their mercy, attribute the
said supposed services to his acting in such a mannler
as had on former occasions excited their displeasure,
in the following words. Pardon, Honorable Sirs,
this digressive exultation. I cannot suppress the
pride which I feel in this successful achievement of
a measure so fortunate for your interests and the national honor; for that pride is the source of my zeal,
so frequently exerted in your support, and never more
happily than in those instances in which I have departed from the prescribed and beaten path of action,
? ? ? ? 236 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
and assumed a responsibility which has too frequentil
drawn on me the most pointed effects of your displeasure. But however I may yield to my private feelings
in tlius enlarging on thle subject, my motive in introducing it was immediately connected with its context,
and was to contrast the actual state of your political
affairs, derived from a happier influence, with that which
might have attended an earlier dissolution of it": and
lie did value himself upon " the patience and temper
with which he had submitted to all the indignities
which have been heaped upon him" (meaning, by
the said Court of Directors) " in this long service";
and he did insolently attribute to an unusual strain
of zeal for their service, that he "persevered in the
VIOLENT MAINTENANCE OF HIS OFFICE. "
X. That, in order further to excite the spirit of
disobedience in the Company's servants to the lawful
authority set over them, he, the said Warren Hastings, did treat contemptuously and ironically the supposed disposition of the Company's servants to obey the orders of the Court of Directors, in the words
following. "The recall of Mr. Markham, who was
known to be the public agent of my own nomination
at Benares, and tlie'reappointment of AMr. Francis
Fowke by your order, contained in the same letter,
would place it [the restoration of Cheyt Sing] beyond
a doubt. This order has been obeyed; and whenever
you shall be pleased to order the restoration of Cheyt
Sing, I will venture to promise the same ready and exact submission in the other members of the Council. "
And he did, in the postscript of the said letter, and as
on recollection, endeavor to make a reparation of honor to his said colleagues, as if his expressions aforesaid
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 237
had arisen from animosity to them, as follows. "Upon a careful revisal of what I have written, I fear that
an expression which I have used, respecting the probable conduct of the board in the event of orders being
received for the restoration of Cheyt Sing, may be construed as intimating a sense of dissatisfaction applied
to transactions already past. - It is not my intention
to complain of any one. "
XI. That the said Hastings, in the acts of injury
aforesaid to the Rajah of Benares, did assume and arrogate to himself an illegal authority therein, and did
maintain that the acts done in consequence of that
measure were not revocable by any subsequent authority, in the following words. "If you should proceed to order the restoration of Cheyt Sing to the zemindary, from which, by the powers which I legally possessed, and conceive myself legally bound to assert against any subsequent authority to the contrary derived
from the same common source, he was dispossessed for
crimes of the greatest enormity, and your Council
shall resolve to execute the order, I will instantly give
up my station and the service. "
XII. That tile said Warren Hastings did attempt
to justify his publication of the said libellous letter to
and against the Court of Directors by asserting therein that these resolutions (meaning the resolutions
of the Court of Directors relative to the Rajah of Benares) " were either published or intended for publication ": evidently proving that he did take this unwarrantable course without any sufficient assurance
that the ground and motive by him assigned had any
existence.
? ? ? ? 238 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
XX. - MAHRATTA WAR AND PEACE.
I. THAT by an act passed in 1773 it was expressly
ordered and provided, " that it should not be lawful
for any President and Council of Madras, Bombay, or
Bencoolen, for the timie being, to make any orders
for commencing hostilities, or declaring or making
war, against any Indian princes or powers, or for negotiating or concluding any treaty of peace, or other
treaty, with ally such Indian princes or powers, without the consent and approbation of the GovernorGeneral and Council first had and obtained, except ill such cases of imminent necessity as would render it
dangerous to postpone such hostilities or treaties until the orders from the Governor-General and Council
might arrive. . " That, nevertheless, the President and
Council of Bombay did, in December, 1774, without
the consent and approbation of the Governor-General
and Council of Fort William, and in the midst of
profound peace, commence an unjust and unprovoked
war against the Mahratta government, did conclude
a treaty with a certain person, a fugitive from that
government, and proscribed by it, named Ragonaut
Row, or Ragoba, and did, under various base and
treacherous pretences, invade and conquer the island
of Salsette, belonging to the Mahratta government.
II. That Warren Hastings, on the first advices
received in Bengal of the above transactions, did condemn the same in the strongest terms, -- declaring
that "the measures adopted by the Presidency of
Bombay had a tendency to a very extensive and indefinite scene of troubles, and that their conduct was
unseasonable, impolitic, unjust, and unauthorized. "
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 239
And the Governor-General and Council, in order to
put a stop to the said unjust hostilities, did appoint
an ambassador to the. Peshwa, or chief of the Mahratta. state, resident at Poonah; and the said ambassador
did, after a long negotiation, conclude a definitive
treaty of peace with the said Peshwa on terms highly
honorable and beneficial to the East India Company,
who by the said treaty obtained from the Mahrattas
a cession of considerable tracts of country, the Mahratta share of the city of Baroach, twelve lacs of rupees for the expenses of the said unjust war, and
particularly the island of Salsette, of which the Presidency of Bombay had possessed themselves by surprise and treachery. That, in return for these extraordinary concessions, the articles principally insisted on by:the Mahrattas, with a view to their own future tranquillity and internal quiet, were, that no
assistance should be given to any subject or servant of
the Peshwa that should cause disturbances or rebellion
in the Mahratta dominions, and particularly that the
English should not assist Ragonaut Row, to whom
the Mahrattas agreed to allow five lacs of rupees
a year, or a jaghire to that amount, and that he
should reside at Benares. That, nevertheless, the
Presidency of Bombay did receive and keep Ragonaut Row at Bombay, did furnish him with a considerable establishment, and continue to carry on
secret intrigues and negotiations with him, thereby
giving just ground of jealousy and distrust to the
Mabratta state. That the late Colonel John Upton,
by whom the treaty of Poorunder was negotiated and
concluded, did declare to the Governor-General and
Council," that, while Ragonaut Row resides at Bombay in expectation of being supported, the ministers
? ? ? ? 240 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
can place no confidence in the Council there, which
must now be productive of the greatest incoiveniencies,
and perhaps in the end of fatal consequences. " That
the said Warren Hastings, concurring with his Council, which then consisted of Sir John Clavering, Richard Barwell, and Philip Francis, Esquires, did, on the 18th of August, 1777, declare to the Presidency of
Bombay, that "he could see no reason to doubt that
the presence of Ragoba at Bombay would continue to
be an insuperable bar to the completion of the treaty
concluded with the Mahratta government; nor could
any sincere cordiality and good understanding be established with them, as long as he. should appear to
derive encouragement and support from the English. "
That Sir John Clavering died soon after, and that the
late Edward Whcler, Esquire, succeeded to a seat in
the Supreme Council. That on the 29th of January,
1778, the Governor-General and Council received a
letter from the Presidency of Bombay, dated 12th
December, 1777, in which they declared, " that they
had agreed to give encouragement to a party formed
in Ragoba's favor, and flattered themselves they
should meet with the hearty concurrence of the
Governor-General and Council_ in the measures they
might be obliged to pursue in consequence. " That
the party so described was said to. consist of four
principal persons in the Mahratta state, on whose
part some overtures had been made to Mr. William
Lewis, the Resident of Bombay at Poonah, for the
assistance of the Company to bring Ragoba to Poonah.
That the said Warren Hastings, immediately on the
receipt of the preceding advices, did propose and
carry it in Council, by means of his casting voice,
and against the remonstrances, arguments, and sol
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 241
emn protest of two members of the Supreme Council, that the sanction of that government should be
given to the plan which the President and Council
of Bombay had agreed to form with the Mahratta
government; and also that a supply of money (to the
amount of ten lacs of rupees) should be immediately
granted to the President and Council of Bombay for
the support of their engagements above mentioned; and
also that a military force should be sent to the Presidency of Bombay. That in defence of these resolutions the said Warren Hastings did falsely pretend and affirm, "that the resolution, of the Presidency of
Bombay was formed on such a case of imminent necessity as would have rendered it dangerous to postpone
the execution of it until the orders from the Governor-General anid Council might arrive; and that
the said Presidency of Bombay were warranted by the
treaty of Poorunder to join in a plan for conducting
Ragonaut Row to Poonah on the application of the
ruling part of the Mahratta state ": whereas the main
object of the said treaty on the part of the Mahrattas,
and to obtain which they made many important concessions to the India Company, was, that the English
should withdraw their forces, and give no assistance
to Ragoba, and that he should be excluded forever
from any share in their government, being a person
universally held in abhorrence in the Mahratta empire;
and if it had been true (instead of being, as it was.
notoriously false) that the ruling part of the administration of the Mahratta state solicited the return
of Ragonaut Row to Poonah, his return in that case
might have been effected by acts of their own, without the interposition of the English power, and with --
out our interference in their affairs. That it was the.
VOL. IX. 16
? ? ? ? 242 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
special duty of the said Warren Hastings, derived
from a special trust reposed in him and power committed to him by Parliament, to have restrained, as
by law he had authority to do, the subordinate Presidency of Bombay from entering into hostilities with
the Mahrattas, or from making engagements the manifest tendency of which was to enter into those hostilities, and to have put a stop to them, if any such had
been begun; that lie was bound by the duty of his
office to preserve the faith of the British government,
pledged in the treaty of Poorunder, inviolate and sacred, as well as by the special orders and instructions
of the East India Company to fix his attention to the
preservation of peace throughout India: all which importait duties the said Warren Hastings did wilfully
violate, in giving the sanction of the Governor-General
and Council to the dangerous, faithless, and ill-concerted projects of the President and Council of Bombay hereinbefore mentioned, from which the subsequent Malratta war, with all the expense, distress, and disgraces which have attended it, took their commencement; and that the said Warren Hastings,
therefore, is specially and principally answerable for
the said war, and for all the consequences thereof.
That in a letter dated the 20th of January, 1778, the
President and Council of Bombay informed the Governor-General and Council, that, in consequence of
later intelligence received from Poonah, they had immediately resolved that nothing further could be done,
unless Saccaram Baboo, the principal in the late treaty
(of Poorunder) joined in making a formal application
to them. That no such application was ever made by
that person. That the said Warren Hastings, finding
that all this pretended ground for engaging in an in
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 243
vasion of the Mahratta governmmnt had totally failed,
did then pretend to give credit to, and to be greatly
alarmed by, the suggestions of the President and
Council of Bombay, that the Mahrattas were negotiating with the French, and had agreed to give them the
port of Choul, on the Malabar coast, and -did affirm
that the French had obtained possession of that port.
That all these suggestions and assertions were false,
and, if they had been true, would have furnished no
just occasion for attacking either the Mahrattas or
the French, with both of whom the British nation
was then at peace. That the said Warren Hastings
did then propose and carry the following resolution
in Council, against the protest of two members thereof, that, "for the purpose of granting you [the Presidency of Bombay] the most effectual support in our power, we have resolved to assemble a strong military
force near Calpee, the commanding officer of which
is to be ordered to march by the most practicable
route to Bombay, or to such other place as future occurrences and your directions to him may render it
expedient"; and with respect to the steps said to be
taking by the French to obtain a settlement on the Malabar coast, the said Warren Hastings did declare to the
Presidency of Bombay, "that it was the opinion of
the Governor-General and Council that no time ought
to be lost in forming and carrying into execution such
measures as might most effectually tend to frustrate
such dangerous designs. " That the said Warren
Hastings, therefore, instead of fixing his attention to
the preservation of peace throughout India, as it w'as
his duty to have done, did continue to abet, encourage,
and support the dangerous projects of the Presiden,
cy of Bombay, and did thereby manifest a determined
? ? ? ? 244 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
intention to disturb the peace of India, by the unfortunate success of which intention, and by the continued efforts of the said Hastings, the greatest part of India has been for several years involved in a bloody
and calamitous war. That both the Court of Directors and Court of Proprietors did specially instruct
the said Warren Hastings, in all his measures,'" to
make the safety and prosperity of Bengal his principal object," and did heavily censure the said Warren
Hastings for having employed their troops at a great
distance from Bellgal in a war against the Rohillas,
which the House of Commons have pronounced to be
iniquitous,* and did on that occasion expressly declare,
" that they disapproved of all such distant expeditions
as might eventually carry their forces to any situation
too remote to admit of their speedy and safe return
to the protection of their own provinces, in case of
emergency. " t That the said Warren IIastings nevertheless ordered a detachment from the Bengal army
to cross the Jumna, and to proceed across the peninsula by a circuitous route through the diamond country of Bundelcund, and through the dominions of the Rajah of Berar, situated in the centre of Hindostanl, and did thereby strip the provinces subject to the
government of Fort William of a considerable part of
their established defence, and did thereby disobey the
general instructions and positive orders of the Court
of Directors, (given upon occasion of a crime of the
same nature committed by the said Hastings,) and
was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor.
That the said Warren Hastings, having taken the
measures hereinbefore described for supporting those
of the Presidency of Bombay, did, on the 23d of
* 28th May, 1782. t 15th Dec. , 1775.
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 245
March, 1778, "invest the said Presidency with authority to form a new alliance with'Ragoba, and to
engage with him in any scheme which they should
deem expedient and safe for retrieving his affairs. "
That the said Hastings was then in possession of a
letter from thle Court of Directors, dated the 4th of
July, 1777, containing a positive order to the Presidency of Bombay in the following words. "Though
that treaty" (meaning the treaty of Poorunder) "is
not, upon the whole, so agreeable to us as we could
wish, still we are resolved strictly to adhere to it on
our parts. You must therefore be particularly vigilant, while Ragoba is with you, to prevent him from forming any plan against what is called the ministerial party at Poonah; and we hereby positively order
you not to engage with him in any scheme whatever
in retrieving his affairs, without the consent of the
Governor-General and Council, or tile Court of Directors. " That the said Ragoba neither did or could
form any plan for his restoration but what was and
must be against the ministerial party at Poonah, who
held and exercised the regency of that state inl the infancy of the Peshwa; and that, supposing him to have formed any other scheme, in conjunction witll Bomn-.
bay, for retrieving his' affairs, the said Hastings, inl
giving a previous yeneral authority to the Presidency of Bombay to engage with Ragoba in. any scheme
for that purpose, without knowing what such scheme
might be, and thereby relinquishing and transferrilg
to the discretion of a subordinate government that
superintendence and control over all measures tending to create or provoke a war which the law had exclusively vested in the Governor-General and Council, was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor.
? ? ? ? 246 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
That the said Warren Hastings, having first declared
that the measures taken by him were for the support
of the engagements made by the Presidency of Bombay in favor of Ragoba, did afterwards, when it appeared that those negotiations were enti-ely laid aside, declare that his apprehension of the consequence of
a pretended intrigue between the Mahrattas and the
French was the sole motive of all the late measures taken
for the support of the Presidency of Bombay; but that
neither of the preceding declarations contained the
true motives~ and objects of the said Hastings, whose
real purpose, as it appeared soon after, was, to make
use of the superiority of the British power in India to
carry on offensive wars, and to pursue schemes of conquest,' impolitic and unjust in their design, ill-concerted in the execution, and which, as this House has resolved, have brought great calamities on India, and
enormous expenses on the East India Company.
That/ the said Warren Hastings, on the 22d of
June, 1778, made the following declaration in Counil'. "Much less can I agree, that, with such superior
advantages as we possess over every power which'can
oppose us, we should act merely on the defensive. On
the contrary, if it be really true that the British arms
arid influence have suffered so severe a check in the
Western world, it- is more incumbent on those who
are charged with the interests of Great Britain in the
East to exert themselves for the retrieval of the national
loss. We have the means in our power, and, if they
are not frustrated by our own dissensions, I trust that
the event of this expedition will yield every advantage
for the attainment of which it was undertalcen. " That,
in pursuance of the principles avowed in the preceding declaration, the said Warren Hastings, on the 9th
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 247
of July, 1778, did propose and carry it in Council,
that an embassy should be sent from Bengal to Moodajee Boosla, the Rajah of Berar, -- falsely asserting
that the said lRajah " was, by interest and inclination,
likely to join in an alliance with the British government, and suggesting that two advantages might be
offered to him as the inducements to it: first, the
support of his pretensions to the sovereign power"
(viz. , of the Mahratta empire);' second, the recovery of the captures made on his dominions by Nizam
Ali. " That the said Hastings, having already given
full authority to the Presidency of Bombay to engage
the British faith to Ragonaut Row to support him in
his pretensions to the government or to the regency
of the Mahratta empire, was guilty of a high crime
and misdemeanor in proposing to engage the same
British faith to support the pretensions of another
competitor for the same object; and that, in offering
to assist the Rajah of Berar to recover the captures
made on his dominions by the Nizam, the said. Hastings did endeavor, as far as depended on him, to engage the British nation in a most unjust and utterly unprovoked war against the said Nizam, between whom and the East India Company a treaty of peace
and friendship did then subsist, unviolated on his
part, - notwithstanding the said Hastings well knew
that it made part of the East India Company's fundamental. policy to support that prince against the Mahrattas, and to consider him as one of the few remaining
chiefs who were yet capable of coping with the Mahrattas, and that it was the Company's true interest to preserve a good understanding with him. That, by holding out such offers to the Rajah of Berar, the said Hastings professed to hope that the Rajah would art
? ? ? ? 248 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
dently catch at the objects presented to his ambition;
and although the said Hastings did about this time
lay it down as a maxim that there is always a greater
advantage in receiving solicitations than in making advances, he nevertheless declared to the said Rajah that
in the whole of his conduct he had departed from the
common line of policy, and had made advances where
others in his situation would have waited for solicitation.
That the said unjust and dangerous projects did not
take effect, because the Rajah of Berar refused to join
or be concerned therein; yet so earnest was the said
Hastings for the execution of those projects, that in
a subsequent letter he daringly and treacherously
assured the Rajah, "that, if he had accepted of the
terms offered him by Colonel Goddard, and concluded a treaty with the government of Bengal upon them,
he should have held the obligation of it superior to
that of any engagement formed by the government
of Bombay, and should have thought it his duty to
maintain it, &c. , against every consideration even of
the most valuable interests and safety of the English possessions intrusted to his charge. " That all the offers of
the said Hastings were rejected with slight and contempt by the Rajall of Berar; but the same being,discovered, and generally known throughout India, did fill the chief of the princes and states of India
with a general suspicion and distrust of the ambitious
designs and treacherous principles of the British government, and with an universal hatred of the British
nation. That the said princes and states were thereby so thoroughly convinced of the necessity of uniting
amongst themselves to oppose a power which kept no
faith with any of them, and equally threatened them
all, that, renouncing all former enmities against each
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 249
other, they united in a common confederacy against
the English, viz. : the Peshwa, as representative of the
Mahratta state, and Moodajee Boosla, the Rajah of
Berar, that is, the principal Hindoo powers of India,
on one side; and Hyder Ali, and the Nizaml of the
Deccan, that is, the principal Mahomedan powers of
India, on the other: and that in consequence of this
confederacy Hyder Ali invaded, overran, and ruined
the Carnatic; and that Moodajee Boosla, instead of
ardently catching at the objects presented to his ambition
by the said Hastings, sent an army to the frontiers of
Bengal, - which army the said Warren Hastings was
at length forced to buy off with twenty-six lacs of rupees, or 300,0001. sterling, after a series of negotiations with the Mahratta chiefs who commanded that army, founded and conducted on principles so dishonorable to the British name and character, that the Secret Committee of the House of Commons, by whom the rest of the proceedings in that business were
reported to the House, have upon due consideration
thought it proper to leave out the letter of instructions to
Mr. Anderson, viz. , those given by the said Warren
Hastings to the representative of the British government, and concerning which the said committee have
reported in the following terms: "The schemes of
policy by which the Governor-General seems to have
dictated the instructions he gave to Mr. Anderson"
(the gentleman deputed) " will also appear in this
document, as well respecting the particular succession to the rauje, as also the mode of accommodating
the demand of chout, the establishment of which was
apparently the great aim of Moodajee's political manceuvres, while the Governor-General's wish to defeat it was avowedly more intent on the removal of a
? ? ? ? 250 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
nominal disgrace than on the anxiety or resolution to
be freed from an expensive, if anll unavoidable incumbrance. "
That, while the said Warren Hastings was endeavoring to persuade the Rajah of Berar to engage with
him in a scheme to place the said Rajah at the head
of the Mahratta empire, the Presidency of Bombay,
by virtue of the powers specially vested in them for
that purpose by the said Hastings, did really engage
with Ragonaut Row, the other competitor for the
same object, and sent a great part of their military
force, established for the defence of Bombay, on an
expedition with Ragonaut Row, to invade the dominions of the Peshwa, and to take Poonah, the capital
thereof; that this army, being surrounded and overpowered by the Mahrattas, was obliged to capitulate;
and then, through the moderation of the Mahrattas,
was permitted to return quietly, but very disyracefuZly,
to Bombay. That, supposing the said Warren Hastings could have been justified in abandoning the project of reinstating Ragonaut Row, which he at first authorized and promised to support, and in preferring
a scheme to place the Rajah of Berar at the head of
the Mahratta empire, he was bound by his duty, as
well as in justice to the Presidency of Bombay, to give
that Presidency timely notice of such his intention,
and to have restrained them positively from resuming their own project; that, on the contrary, the said
Warren tHastings did, on the 17th of August, 1778,
again authorize the said Presidency " to assist Ragoba
with a military force to conduct him to Poonah, and
to establish him in the regency there," and, so far
from communicating his change of plan to Bombay,
did keep it concealed from that Presidency, insomuch
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 251
that, even so late as the 19th of February, 1179,
William Hlornby, then Governor of Bombay, declared
in Council his total ignorance of the schemes of the
said Hastings in the following terms: "The schemes
of the Governor-General and Council with regard to
the Rajah of Berar. being yet unknown to us, it is impossible for us to found any measures on them; yet I cannot help now observing, that, if, as has been
conjectured, the gentlemen of that Presidency have
entertained thoughts of restoring, in his person, the
ancient Rajah government, the attempt seems likely to be attended with no small difficulty. " That, whereas the said Warren Hastings did repeatedly
affirm that it was his intention to support the plan
formed by the Presidency of Bombay in favor of
Ragoba, and did repeatedly authorize and encourage
them to pursue it, he did nevertheless, at the same
time, in his letters and declarations to the Peshwa,
to the Nizam, and to tlie Rajah of Berar, falsely and
perfidiously affirm, that it never was nor is designed by
the English chiefs to give support to Ragonaut Row, -
that he (Hastings) had no idea of supporting Ragonaut
Row, - and that the detachment he had sent to Bombay
was solely to awe the French, without the least design
to assist Ragonaut Row. That, supposing it to have
been the sole professed intention of the said Hastings,
in sending an army across India, to protect Bombay
against a French invasion, even that pretence was
false, and used only to cover the real design of the
said Hastilngs, viz. , to engage in projects of' war and
conlquest with the Rajah of Berar. That on the 11th
of October, 1778, he- informed the said Rajah " that
the detachment would soon arrive in his territories,
and depend on him [Moodajee Boosla] for its subse
? ? ? ? 252 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
quent operations"; that on the 7th of December,
1778, the said Hastings revoked the powers he had
before givenl* to the Presidency of Bombay over the
detachment, declaring that the event of Colonel Goddard's negotiation with the Rajah of Berar was likely
to cause a very speedy and essential change in the design
and operations of the detachment; and that on the 4th
of March, 1779, the said Hastings, immediately after
receiving advice of the defeat of the Bombay army
near Poonah, and when Bombay, if at any time, particularly required to be protected against a French
invasion, did declare in Council that he wishedfor the
return of the detachment to Berar, and dreaded to hear
of its proceeding to the Malabar coast: and therefore,
if the said Hastings did not think that Bombay was
in danger of being attacked by the French, he was
guilty of repeated falsehoods in affirming the contrary
for the purpose of covering a criminal design; or, if
he thought that Bombay was immediately threatened
with that danger, he then was guilty of treachery in
ordering an army necessary on that supposition to the
immediate defence of Bombay to halt in Berar, to depend on the Rajah of Berar for its subsequent opera-.
tions, or on the event of a negotiation with that prince,
which, as the said Hastings declared, was likely to
cause a very speedy and essential change in the design
and operations of the detachment; and finally, in declaring that he dreaded to hear of the said detachment's proceeding to the Jfialabar coast, whither he ought to have ordered it to proceed without delay,
if, as he has solemnly affirmed, it was true that he
had been told by the highest authority that a powerful
armament had been prepared in France, the first object
* On the 15th of November.
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 253
of which was an attack upon Bombay, and that he
knew with moral certainty that all the powers of the
adjacent continent were ready to join the invasion.
That through the whole of these transactions the
said Warren Hastings has been guilty of continued
falsehood, fraud, contradiction, and duplicity, highly
dishonorable to the character of the British nation;
that, in consequence of the unjust and ill-concerted
schemes of the said Hastings, the British arms, heretofore respected in India, have suffered repeated disgraces, and great calamities have been thereby brought upon India; and that the said Warren Hastings, as
well in exciting and promoting the late unprovoked
and unjustifiable war against the Mahrattas, as in the
conduct thereof, has been guilty of sundry high crimes
and misdemeanors.
That, by the definitive treaty of peace concluded
with the Mahrattas at Poorunder, on the 1st of March,
1776, the AMahrattas gave up all right and title to the
island of Salsette, unjustly taken from them by the
Presidency of Bombay; did also give up to the English Company forever all right and title to their entire shares of the city and purgunnah of Baroach; did
also give forever to the English Company a country
of three lacs of rupees revenue, near to Baroach; and
did also agree to pay to the Company twelve lacs of
rupees, in part of the expenses of the English army:
and that the terms of the said treaty were honorable
and advantageous to the India Company. *
That Warren Hastings, having broken the said
treaty, and forced the Mahrattas into another war by
a repeated invasion of their country, and having conducted that war in the manner hereinbefore described,
* Resolution of the House of Commons, 28th May, 1782.
? ? ? ?
254 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
did, on the 1. 7th of May, 1782, by the agency of Mr.
David Anderson, conclude another treaty of perpetual
friendship and alliance with the Mahrattas, by which
the said Hastings agreed to deliver up to them all
the countries, places, cities, and forts, particularly the
island of Basseinj (taken from the Peshwa durilg th'e
war,) and to relinquish all claim to the country of
three lacs of rupees ceded to the Company by the
treaty of Poorunder; that the said Warren Hastings
did also at the said time, by a private and separate
agreement, deliver up to Mahdajee Sindia the whole
of the city of Baroach, --that is, not only the share
in the said city which the India Company acquired by
the treaty of Poorunder, but the other share thereof
which the India Company possessed for several years
before that treaty; and that among the reasons assigned by Mr. David Anderson for totally stripping
the Presidency of Bombay of all -their possessions on
the Malabar coast, he has declared, "' that, from the
general tenor of the rest of the treaty, the settlement
of Bombay would be in future put on such a footing
that it might well become a question whether the possession of an inconsiderable territory without forts would not be attended with more loss than advantage, as it must necessarily occasion considerable expense, must require troops for its defence, and
might probably in the end lead, as Sindia apprehended, to a renewal of war. "
That the said Warren Hastings, having in this. manner put an end to a war commenced by ]him
without provocation, and continued by him without
necessity, antC liaving for that purpose made so many
sacrifices to the Mahrattas in points of essential interest to the India Company, did consent and agree to
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 255
other articles utterly dishonorable to the British name
and character, having sacrificed or abandoned every
one of the native princes who by his solicitations and
promises had been engaged to take part with us in
the war, --and that he'did so without necessity:
since it appears that Sindia, the Mahratta chief who
concluded the treaty, in every part of his conduct manifested a hearty desire of establishing a peace with us;
and that this was the disposition of all the parties in
the Mahratta confederacy, who were only kept together by a general dread of their common enemy, the
English, and who only waited for a cessation of hostilities with us to return to their habitual and permanent
enmity against each other. That the Governor-General and Council, in their letter of 31st August, 1781,
made the following declaration to the Court of Directors. " The Mahrattas have demanded the sacrifice of
the person of Ragonaut Row, the surrender of the fort
and territories of Ahmedabad, and of the fortress of
Gualior, which are not ours to give, and which we could
not wrest from the proprietors without the greatest violation of public faith. No state of affairs, in our opinions, could warrant our acquiescence to such requisition; and we are morally certain, that, had we yielded to them, such a consciousness of the state of our affairs would have been implied as would have produced
an effect the very reverse from that for which it was
intended, by raising the presumption of the enemy to
exact yet more ignominious terms, or perhaps their
refusal to accept of any; nor, in our opinion, would
they have failed to excite in others the same belief,
and the consequent decision of all parties against us,
as the natural consequences of our decline. " That
the said Hastings himself, in his instructions to Mr.
? ? ? ? 256 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
David Anderson, after authorizing him to restore all
that we had conquered during the wari, expressly
" excepted Ahmedabad, and the territory conquered
for Futty Sing Gwicowar. " That, nevertheless, the
said Hastings, in the peace concluded by him, has
yielded to every one of the conditions reprobated in
the preceding declarations as ignominious and incompatible with public faith.
That the said Warren Hastings did abandon the
Ranna of Gohud in the manner already charged; and
that the said Ranna has not only lost the fort of
Gualior, but all his own country, and is himself a prisoner. That the said Hastings did not interpose to obtain any terms in favor of the Nabob of Bopaul, who was with great reason desirous of concealing from the
-Mahrattas the attachment he had borne to the English
government' the said Nabob having a just dread of
the danger of being exposed to the resentment of the
Mahrattas, and no dependence on the faith and protection of the English. That by the ninth article
of the treaty with Futty Sing it was stipulated, that,
when a negotiation for peace should take place, his
"interest should be primarily considered; and that
Mr. David Anderson, the minister and representative
of the Governor-General and Council, did declare to
Sindia, that it was indispensably incumbent on us
to support Futty Sing's rights: that, nevertheless,
every acquisition made for or by the said Futty Sing
during the war, particularly the fort and territories of
Ahmedabad, were given up by the said Hastings; that
Futty Sing was replaced under the subjection of the
Peshwa, (whose resentment he had provoked by taking part with us in the war,) and under an obligation
* Anderson's letter of 26th January, 1782.
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 257
to pay a tribute, not specified, to the Peshwa, and to
perform such services and to be subject to such obedience as had long been established and customary; and that, no limit being fixed to such tribute or services,
the said Futty Sing has been left wholly at the mercy
of the Mahrattas.
That, with respect to Ragoba, the said Hastings, in
his instructions to Mr. Anderson, dated 4th of November, 1781, contented himself with saying,'" We
cannot totally abandon the interests of Ragonaut
Row. Endeavor to obtain for him an adequate provision. " That Mr. Anderson declared to Mahdajee
Sindia, " that, as we had given Ragoba protection
as all independent prince, and not brought him into our settlement as a prisoner, we could not in
honor pretend to impose the smallest restraint on his
will, and he must be at liberty to go wherever he
pleased; that it must rest with Sindia himself to
prevail on him to reside in his country: all tha. t
we could do was to agree, after a reasonable time,
to withdraw our protection from him, and not to insist on the payment of the stipend to him, as Sindia
had proposed, unless on the condition of his residing in some part of Sindia's territories. "
That, notwithstanding all the preceding declarations, and in violation of the public faith repeatedly
pledged to Ragoba, he was totally abandoned by the
said Hastings in the treaty, no provision whatever
being made even for his subsistence, but on a condition to which he could not submit without the
certain loss of his liberty and probable hazard of
his life, namely, that he should voluntarily and of his
own accord repair to Sindia, and quietly reside with
* Anderson's letter of 24th February, 1782.
VOL. IX. 17
? ? ? ? 258 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
him. That such treacherous desertion of the said
Ragoba is not capable of being justified by any plea
of necessity: but that in fact no such necessity existed; since it appears that the Nizam, who of all the
contracting parties in the confederacy was personally most hostile to Ragoba, did himself propose that
Ragoba might have an option given him of residing
within the Company's territories.
That the plan of negotiating a peace with the
Mahrattas by application to Sindia, and through
his mediation, was earnestly recommended to the
said Hastings by the Presidency of Bombay so early
as in February, 1779, who stated clearly to him the
reasons why such application ought to be made to
Sindia in preference to any other of the Mabratta
chlliefs, and why it would probably be successful;
the truth and justice of which reasons were fully
evinced in the issue, when the said Hastings, after
incurring, by two years' delay, all the losses and
distresses of a calamitous war, did actually pursue
that very plan with much less effect or advantage
than might have been obtained at the time the
advice was given. That he neglected the advice
of the Presidency of Bombay, and retarded the
peace, as well as made its conditions worse, from
an obstinate attachment to his project of an alliance offensive and defensive with the Rajah of Berar, the object of which was rather a new war than a termination of the war then existing against the
Peshwa.
That the said Hastings did further embarrass and
retard the conclusion of a peace by employing different ministers at the courts of the several confedwrate powers, whom he severally empowered to
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 259
treat and negotiate a peace. That these ministers,
not acting in concert, not knowing the extent of
each other's commissions, and having no instructions to communicate their respective proceedings
to each other, did in effect counteract their several
negotiations. That this want of concert and of
simplicity, and the mystery and intricacy in the
mode of conducting the negotiation on our part,
was complained of by our ministers as embarrassing and disconcerting to us, while it was advantageous to the adverse party, who were thereby furnished with opportunity and pretence for delay, when it suited their purpose, and enabled to play
off one set of negotiators against another; that it
also created jealousy and distrust in the various
contending parties, with whom we were treating at
the same time, and to whom we were obliged to
make contradictory professions, while it betrayed
and exposed to them all our own eagerness and
impatience for peace, raising thereby the general
claims and pretensions of the enemy. That, while
Dalhousie Watherston, Esquire, was treating at
Poonah, and David Anderson, Esquire, in Sindia's
camp, with separate powers applied to the same object, the minister at Poonah informed the said Watherston, that he had received proposals for peace
from the Nabob of Arcot with the approbation of Sir
Eyre Coote; that he had returned other proposals
to the said Nabob of Arcot, who had assured him,
the minister, that those proposals would be acceded to,
and that Mr. Macpherson would set out for Bengal, after which orders should be immediately dispatched from
the Honorable the Governor- General and Council to the
effect he wished; that the said Nabob "l had prom
? ? ? ? 260 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
ised to obtain and forward to him the expected
orders from Bengal in fifteen days, and that he was
therefore every instant ill expectation of their arrival, and observed, that, when General Goddard proposed to send a confidential person to Poonah,
he conceived that those orders must have actually
reached him-": that therefore the treaty formally
concluded by David Anderson was in effect and
substance the same with that offered and in reality
concluded by the Nabob of Arcot, with the exception only of Salsette, which the Nabob of Arcot had agreed to restore to the Mahrattas.
That the intention of the said Warren Hastings,
in pressing for a peace with the Mahrattas on terms
so dishonorable and by measures so rash and illconcerted, was not to restore and establish a general peace throughout India, but to engage the India
Company in a new war against Hyder Ali, and
to make the Mahrattas parties therein. That the
eagerness and passion with which the said Hastings
pursued this object laid him open to the Mahrattas,
who depended thereon for obtaining whatever they
should demand from us. That, in order to carry
the point of an offensive alliance against Hyder Ali,
the said Hastings exposed the negotiation for peace
with the Mahrattas to many difficulties and delays.
That the Mahrattas were bound by a clear and recent engagement, which Hyder had never violated in any article, to make no peace with us which
should not include him; that they pleaded the sacred nature of this obligation in answer to all our requisitions on this head, while the said Hastings,
still importunate for his favorite point, suggested
to them various means of reconciling a substantial
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 261
breach of their engagement with a formal observance
of it, and taught them how they might at once be
parties in a peace with Hyder Ali and in an offensive alliance for immediate hostility against him. .
That these lessons of public duplicity and artifice,
and these devices of ostensible faith and real treachery, could have no effect but to degrade the national
character, and to inspire the Mahrattas themselves,
with whom we were in treaty, with a distrust in our
sincerity and good faith. That the object of this
fraudulent policy (viz. , the utter destruction of Hyder Ali, and a partition of his dominions) was neither wise in itself, or authorized by the orders and instructions of the Company to their servants; that
it was incompatible with the treaty of'peace, inl
which Hyder Ali was included, and contrary to the
repeated and best-understood injunctions of the Company,-being, in the first place, a bargain for a
new war, and, in the next, aiming at an extension
of our territory by conquest. That the best and
soundest political opinions on the relations of these
states have always represented our great security
against the power of the Mahrattas to depend on
its being balanced by that of Hyder Ali; and the
Mysore country is so placed as a barrier between
the Carnatic and the Mahrattas as to make it our
interest rather to strengthen and repair that barrier
than to level and destroy it. That the said treaty
of partition does express itself to be eventual with
regard to the making and keeping of peace; but
through the whole course of the said Hastings's proceeding he did endeavor to prevent any peace with
the Sultan or Nabob of Mysore, Tippoo Sahib, and
did for a long time endeavor to frustrate all the
? ? ? ? 262 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
methods which could have rendered the said treaty
of conquest and partition wholly unnecessary.
That the Mahrattas having taken no effectual step
to oblige Hyder Ali to make good the conditions for
which they had engaged in his behalf, and the war
continuing to be carried on in the Carnatic by Tippoo Sultan, soni and successor of Hyder Ali, the
Presidency of Fort St. George undertook, upon their
own authority, to open a negotiation with the said Tippoo: which measure, though indispensably necessary,
the said Hastings utterly disapproved and discountenanced, expressly denying that there was any ground
or motive for entering into any direct or separate
treaty with Tippoo, and not consenting to or authorizing any negotiation for such treaty, until after a
cessation of hostilities had been brought about with
him by the Presidency of Fort St. George, in August,
1773, and the ministers of Tippoo had been received
and treated with by that Presidency, and commissioners, in return, actually sent by the said Presidency to
the court of Poonah: which late and reluctant consent and authority were extorted from him, the said
Hastings, in consequence of the acknowledgment of
his agent at the court of Mahdajee Sindia, upon whom
the said Warren Hastings had depended for enforcing the clauses of the Mahratta treaty, of the precariousness of such dependence, and of the necessity of that direct and separate treaty with Tippoo, so long
and so lately reprobated by the said Warren Hastings,
notwithstanding the information and entreaties of the
Presidency of Fort St. George, as well as the known
distresses and critical situation of the Company's affairs. That, though the said Warren Hastings did at
length give instructions for negotiating and making
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 263
peace with Tippoo, expressly adding, that those instructions extended to all the points which occurred
to him or them as capable of being agitated or gained
upon the occasion, -though the said instructions were
sent after the said commissioners by the Presidency
of Fort St. George, with directions to obey them, -
though not only the said instructions were obeyed,
but advantages gained which did not occur to the
said Warren Hastings, - though the said peace
formed a contrast with the Mahratta peace, in neither ceding any territory possessed by the Company
before the war, or delivering up any dependant or ally
to the vengeance of his adversaries, but providing for
the restoration of all the countries that had been taken
from the Company and their allies, - though the Supreme Council of Calcutta, forming the legal government of Bengal in the absence of the said Warren Hastings, ratified the said treaty, - yet the said Warren Hastings, then absent from the seat of government, and out of the province of Bengal, and forming no legal or integral part of the government during
such absence, did, after such ratification, usurp the
power of acting as a part of such government (as if
actually sitting in Council with the other members of
the same) in the consideration and unqualified ceinsure of the terms of the said peace.
That the Nabob of Arcot, with whom the said Hastings did keep up an unwarrantable clandestine correspondence, without any communication with the Presidency of Madras, wrote a letter of complaint,
dated the 27tlh of March, 1784, against the Presidency of that place, without any communication
thereof to the said Presidency, the said complaint
being addressed to the said Warren Hastings, the
? ? ? ? . 264 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
substance of which complaint was, that he, the Nabob, had not been made a party to the late treaty;
and although his interest had been sufficiently pro,
vided for in the said treaty, the said Warren Hast.
ings did sign a declaration, on the 23d of May, at
Lucknow, forming the -basis of a new article, and
making a new party to the treaty, after it had been
by all parties (the Supreme Council of Calcutta included) completed and ratified, and did transmit
the said new stipulation to the Presidency at Calcutta, solely for the purposes and at the instigation
of the Nabob of Arcot; and the said declaration was
made without any previous communication with the
Presidency aforesaid, and in consequence thereof
orders were sent by the Council at Calcutta to the
Presidency of Fort St. George, under the severest
threats in case qf disobedience: which orders, whatever were their purport, would, as an undue assumption of alid participation in the government, from
which he was absent, become a high misdemeanor;
but, being to. the purport of opening the said treaty
after its solemn ratification, and proposing a new
clause and a new party to the same, was also an aggravation of such misdemeanor, as it tended to convey to the Indian powers an idea of the unsteadiness of the councils and determinations of the British government, and to take away all reliance on its. engagements, and as, above all, it exposed the affairs of
the nation and the Company to the hazard of seeing
renewed all the calamities of war, from whence by
the conclusion of the treaty they had emerged, and
upon a pretence so weak as that of proposing the Nabob of Arcot to be a party to the same, - though he
had not been made a party by the. said Warren Hast
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 265
ings in the Mahratta treaty, which professed to be for
the relief of the Carnatic, - though he was not a
party to the former treaty with Ryder, also relative
to the Carnatic, -- though it was not certain, if the
treaty were once opened, and that even Tippoo should
then consent to that Nabob's being a party, whether
he, the said Nabob, would agree to the clauses of the
same, and consequently whether the said treaty, once
opened, could afterwards be concluded: an uncertainty of which he, the said Hastings, should have learned to be aware, having already once been disappointed by the said Nabob's refusing to accede to a treaty which he, the said Warren Hastings, made for
him with the Dutch, about a year before.
That the said Warren Hastings, - having broken a
solemn and honorable treaty of peace by an unjust
and unprovoked war, - having neglected to conclude
that war when he might have done it without loss of
honor to the nation, - having plotted and contrived,
as far as depended on. him, to engage the India Company in another war as soon as the former should be concluded, - and having at last put an end to a most
unjust war against the Mahrattas by a most ignominious peace with them, in which he sacrificed objects essential to the interests, and submitted to conditions
utterly incompatible with the honor of this nation,
and with his own declared sense of the dishonorable
nature of those conditions,- and having endeavored
to open anew the treaty concluded with Tippoo Sultan through the means of the Presidency of Fort
St. George, upon principles of justice and honor, and.
which established peace in India, and thereby exposing the British possessions there to the renewal of the dangers and calamities of war, --has by these
? ? ? ? 266 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
several acts been guilty of sundry highlcrimes and
misdemeanors.
XXI. - CORRESPONDENCE.
THAT, by an act of the 13t! l year of his present
Majesty, intituled, "An act for establishing certain
regulations for the better management of the affairs
of the East India Company, as well ill India as in Europe," "the Governor-General and Council are required and directed to pay due obedience to all such orders as they shall receive from the Court of Directors of the said United Company, and to correspond
from time to time, and constantly and diligently
transmit to the said Court all exact particular of all
advices or intelligence and of all transactions and
matters whatsoever that shall come to their knowledge, relating to the government, commerce, revenues, or interest of the said United Company. "' That, ill consequence of the above-recited act, the
Court of Directors, in their general instructions of
the 29th March, 1774, to the Governor-General and
Council, did direct, "that the correspondence with
the princes or country powers ill India should be
carried on through the Governor-General only; but
that a11 letters to be sent by him should be first approved in Council; and that he should lay before the
Council, at their next meeting, all letters received by
him in the course of such correspondence, for their
information. "
And the Governor-General and Council were therein further ordered, "that, in transacting the business
of their department, they should enter with the utmost perspicuity and exactness all their proceedings
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 267
whatsoever, and all dissents, if such should at any
time be made by any member of their board, together
with all letters sent or received in- the course of their
correspondence; and that broken sets of such proceedings, to the latest period possible, be transmitted
to them [the Court of Directors], a complete set at
the end of every year, and a duplicate by the next
conveyance. "
That, in defiance of the said orders, and in breach
of the above-recited act of Parliament, the said Warren Hastings has, in sundry instances, concealed
from his Council the correspondence carried on between him and the princes or country powers in India, and neglected to communicate the advices and intelligence he from time to time received from the
British Residents at the different courts in India to
the other members of the government, and, without
their knowledge, counsel, or participation, has dispatched orders on matters of the utmost consequence
to the interests of the Company.
That, moreover, the said Warren Hastings, for the
purpose of covering his own improper and dangerous
practices from his employers, has withheld from the
Court of Directors, upon sundry occasions, copies of
the proceedings had, and the correspondence carried
on by him in his official capacity as Governor-General, whereby the Court of Directors have been kept in
ignorance of matters which it highly imported them
to know, and the affairs of the Company have been
exposed to much inconvenience and injury.
That, in all such concealments and acts done or
ordered without the consent and authority of the Supreme Council, the said Warren Hastings has been
guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
? ? ? ? 268 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
XXII. - FYZOOLA KHAN.
PART I.
RIGHTS OF FYZOOLA RHAN, ETC. , BEFORE THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG.
I. THAT the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, who now holds
of the Vizier the territory of Rampoor, Shahabad, and
certain other districts dependent thereon, in the country of the Rohillas, is the second son of a prince renowned in the history of Hindostan under the name of Ali Mohammed Khan, some time sovereign of all
that part of Rohilcund which is particularly distinguished by the appellation of the Kuttcehr.
II. That, after the death of Ali Mohammed aforesaid, as Fyzoola Khan, together with his elder brother,
was then a prisoner of war at a place called Herat,
"' the Rohilla chiefs took possession of the ancient estates" of the captive princes; and the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was from necessity compelled. to waive his *hereditary rights for the inconsiderable districts of
Rampoor and Shahabad, then estimated to produce
from six to eight lacs of annual revenue.
III. That in 1774, on the invasion of Rohilcund by
the united armies of the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and
the Company, the Nabob Fyzoola K:han, "with some
of his people, was present at the decisive battle of St.
George," where lHafiz Rhamet, the great leader of the
Rohillas, and many others of their principal chiefs
were slain; but, escaping from the slaughter, Fyzoola
Khllan " made his retreat good towards the mountains,
with all his treasure. " He there collected the scat
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 269
tered remains of his countrymen; and as he was the
eldest surviving son of Ali Mohammed Khan, as, too,
the most powerful obstacle to his pretensions was now
removed by the death of Hafiz, he seems at length to
have been generally acknowledged by his natural subjects the undoubted heir of his father's authority.
IV. That, "regarding the sacred sincerity and
friendship of the English, whose goodness and celebrity is everywhere known, who dispossess no one," the
Nabob Fyzoola Khan made early overtures for peace
to Colonel Alexander Champion, commander-in-chief
of the Company's forces in Bengal: that he did propose to the said Colonel Alexander Champion, in
three letters, received on the 14th, 24th, and 27th of
May, to put himself under the protection either of
the Company, or of the Vizier, through the mediation
and with the guaranty of the Company; and that he
did offer, " whatever was conferred upon him, to pay
as much without damage or deficiency as any other
person would agree to do ": stating; at the same time,
his condition and pretensions hereinbefore recited as
facts " evident as the sun "; and appealing, in a forcible and awful manner, to the generosity and magnanimity of this nation, " by whose means he hoped in God that he should receive justice "; and as " the person who designed the war was no more," as " in that
he was himself guiltless," and as " he had never acted in such a manner as for the Vizier to have taken
hatred to his heart against him, that he might be
reinstated in his ancient possessions, the country of
his father. "
V. That on the last of the three dates above men
? ? ? ? 270 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
tioned, that is to say, on the 27th of May, the Nabob
Fyzoola Khan did also send to the commander-inchief a vakeel, or ambassador, who was authorized
on the part of him, the Nabob Fyzoola Khain, his
master, to make a specific offer of three propositions; and that by one of the said propositions " an
annual increase of near 400,0001. would have accrued to the revenues of our ally, and the immediate acquisition of above 300,0001. to the Company, for their influence in effecting an accommodation
perfectly consistent with their engagements to the
Vizier," and strictly consonant to the demands of
justice.
VI. That, so great was the confidence of the
Nabob Fyzoola Khan in the just, humane, and liberal feelings of Englishmen, as to "lull him into
an inactivity" of the most essential detriment to
his interests: since, "in the hopes which he entertained from the interposition of our government,"
he declined the invitation of the Mogul to join the
arms of his Majesty and the Mahrattas, "refused
any connection with the Seiks," and did even neglect to take the obvious precaution of crossing the
Ganges, as he had originally intended, while the
river was yet fordable, -- a movement that would
have enabled him certainly to baffle, all pursuit, and
probably "to keep the Vizier in a state of disquietude for the remainder of his life. "
VII. That the commander-in-chief, Colonel Alexander Champion aforesaid, "'thought nothing could
be more honorable to this nation than the support
of so exalted a character; and whilst it could be
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 271
done on terms so advantageous, supposed it very
unlikely that the vakeel's proposition should be received with indifference"; that he did accordingly
refer it to the administration through Warren Hastings, Esquire, then Governor of Fort William and
President of Bengal; and he did at the same time
inclose to the said Warren Hastings a letter from
the Nabob Fyzoola Khan to the said Hastings,which letter does not appear, but must be supposed
to have been of the same tenor with those before
cited to the commander-in-chief, - of which also
copies were sent to the said Hastings by the commander-in-chief; and he, the commander-ill-chief
aforesaid, after urging to the said Hastings sundry
good and cogent arguments of policy and prudence
in favor of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, did conclude
by " wishing for nothing so much as for the adoption of some measure that might strike all the powers of the East with admiration of our justice, in contrast to the conduct of the Vizier. "
VIII. That, in answer to such laudable wish of
the said commander-in-chief, the President, Warren
Hastings, preferring his own prohibited plans of
extended dominion to the, mild, equitable, and wise
policy inculcated in the standing orders of his superiors, and now enforced by the recommendation
of the commander-in-chief, did instruct and " desire" him, the said commander-in-chief, "instead
of soliciting the Vizier to relinquish his conquest
to Fyzoola Khan, to discourage it as much as was
in his power"; although the said Hastings did not
once express, or even intimate, any doubt whatever
of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's innocence as to the
? ? ? ? 272 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
origin of the war, or of his hereditary right to the
territories which he claimed, but to the said pleas
of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, as well as to the arguments both of policy and justice advanced by the
commander-in-chief, he, the said Hastings, did solely
oppose certain speculative objects of imagined expediency, summing up his decided rejection of the
proposals made by the Nabob Fyzoola Khan in the
following remarkable words. " With respect to Fyzoola Khan, he appears not to merit our consideration.
The petty sovereign of a country estimated at six or
eight lacs ought not for a moment to prove an impediment to any of our measures, or to affect the consistency of our conduct. " IX. That, in the aforesaid violent and arbitrary
position, the said Warren Hastings did avow it to
be a public principle of his government, that no
right, however manifest, and no innocence, however
unimpeached, could entitle the weak to our protection against others, or save them from our own
active endeavors for their oppression, and even extirpation, should they interfere with our notions of
political expediency; and that such a principle is
highly derogatory to the justice and honor of the
English name, and fundamentally injurious to our
interests, inasmuch as it hath an immediate tendency to excite distrust, jealousy, fear, and hatred
against us among all the subordinate potentates of
Hindostan.
X. That, in prosecution of the said despotic
principle, the President, Warren Hastings aforesaid,
did persist to obstruct, as far as in him lay, every
? ? ? ? AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 273
advance towards an accommodation between the
Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola
Khan; and particularly on the 16th of September,
only eight days after the said Hastings, in conjunction with the other members of the Select Committee
of Bengal, had publicly testified his satisfaction in
the prospect of an accommodation,. and had hoped
that " his Excellency [the Vizier] would be disposed
to conciliate the affections [of the Rohillas] to his
government by acceding to lenient terms," he, the
said Hastings, did nevertheless write, and without
the consent or knowledge'of his colleagues did privately dispatch, a certain answer to a letter of the;
commander-in-chief, in which answer the said Hastings did express other contradictory hopes, namely,
that the commander-in-chief had resolved on prosecuting the war to a final issue, -" because " (as the
said Hastings explains himself) "it appears very
plainly that Fyzoola KIhan and his adherents lay
at your mercy, because I apprehend much inconveniency from delays, and because I am morally certain that no good will be gained by negotiating":
thereby artfully suggesting his wishes of what might
be, in his hopes of what had been, resolved; and
plainly, though indirectly, instigating the commander-in-chief to much effusion of blood in an immediate attack on the Rohillas, posted as they were "in
a very strong situation," and " combating for all. "
XI. That the said Hastings, in the answer aforesaid, did further endeavor to inflame the commanderin-chief against the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, by representing the said Nabob "as highly presuming, insolent, and evasive"; and knowing the distrust which VOL. IX. 18
? ? ? ? 274 ARTICLES OF CHARGE
the Nabob Fyzoola Khan entertained of the VAizier,
the said Hastings did " expressly desire it should be
left wholly to the Vizier to treat with the enemy by
his own agents and in his own manner," - though he,
the said Hastings, " by no means wished the Vizier
to lose time by seeking an accommodation, since it
would be more. effectual, more decisive, and more
consistent with his dignity, indeed with his honor, which
he has already pledged, to abide by his first offers, to
dictate the conditions of peace, and to admit only
an acceptance without reservation, or a clear refusal,
from his adversary": thereby affecting to hold up,
ill opposition to a. nd in exclusion of the substantial
claims of justice, certain ideal obligations of dignity
and honor, - that is to say, the gratification of pride,. and the observance of an arrogant determination once,declared.