After various changes of party and changes of fortune, the loss which began in the
treachery
of the
civil service was, as I have before remarked, redeemed by military merit.
civil service was, as I have before remarked, redeemed by military merit.
Edmund Burke
He predicted the misfortunes that should befall them; and we chose a Satan to buffet them, and who did so buffet them, by
the murder of the principal'persons of the house, and
by robbing them of great sums of their wealth, that I
believe such a scene of nefarious tyranny, destroying
and cutting up the root of public credit in that country, was scarce ever known. In the mean time Cossin was extending his tyranny over all who were obnoxious to him; and the persons he first sought were those traitors who had been friends to the English.
Several of the principal of these he murdered. There
was in the province of Bahar a man named Ramarain; he had got the most positive assurances of English faith; but Mr. Macguire, a member of the Council, on the receipt of five thousand gold mohurs, or something more than 80001. sterling, delivered him
up to be first imprisoned, then tortured, then robbed
in consequence of the torture, and finally murdered,
by Cossim Ali Khan. In this way Cossiin Ali RKhan
acted, while our government looked on. I hardly
choose to mention to. you the fate of a certain native in consequence of a dispute with Mr. Mott, a
friend of Mr. Hastings, which is in the Company's
records, --records which are almost buried by their
own magnitude from the knowledge of this country. In a contest with this native for his house and
property, some scuffle having happened between the
parties, the one attempting to seize and the other
to defend, the latter made a complaint to the Nabob,
who was in an entire subjection at that time to the
English, and who ordered this unfortunate man, on
? ? ? ? 428 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
account' of this' very scuffle, arising from defending
his property, to be blown off from the mouth of a
cannon. In short, I am not able to tell youi Lordships of all the nefarious transactions of this man,
whom the intrigues of Mr. Holwell and Mr. Hastings
had set upon the throne of Bengal. But there is a
circumstance in this business that comes across here,
and will tend to show another grievance that vexed
that country, which vexed it long, and is one of the
causes of its chief disasters, and which, I fear, is not
so perfectly extirpated but that some part of its roots
may remain in the ground at this moment.
Commerce, which enriches every other country in
the world, was bringing Bengal to total ruin. The
Company,- in former times, when it had no sovereignty or power in -the country, had large privileges under their: dustuck, or permit: their goods passed,
without'paying duties, through the country. The
servants- of the Company made use of this dustuck
for their- own private trade, which, while it was
used with moderation, the native government winked
at' in some degree; but when it got wholly into private. hands, it was more like robbery than trade.
These traders appeared everywhere; they sold at
their own prices, and forced the people to sell to
them at their own prices. also. It appeared more
like an- army going to pillage the people, under
pretence' of commerce, than anything else. In vain
the people claimed the protection of their own country courts. This English army of traders in their march ravaged worse than a Tartarian conqueror.
The trade they carried on, and which more resembled robbery than commerce, anticipated the resources of the tyrallt,'anld threatened to leave him no mate
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 429
rials for imposition or confiscation. Thus this miserable country was torn to pieces by the horrible
rapaciousness of a double tyranny. This appeared
to be so strong a case, that a deputation was sent
to him at his new capital, Monghir, to form a treaty
for the purpose of giving some relief against this cruel, cursed, and oppressive trade, which was worse
even than the tyranny of the sovereign. This trade
Mr. Vansittart, the President about this time, that
is, in 1763, who succeeded to Mr. Holwell, and was
in close union of interests with the tyrant Cossim
Ali Khan, by a treaty known by the name of the
treaty of Monghir, agreed very much to suppress
and to confine within something like reasonable
bounds. There never was a doubt on the face of
that treaty, that it was a just, proper, fair transac --
tion. But as nobody iii Bengal did then believe
that rapine was ever forborne but in favor of bribery, the persons who lost every advantage by the
treaty of Monghir, when they thought they saw corrupt negotiation carrying away the prizes of unlawful commerce, and were likely to see their trade crippled by Cossim Ali Khan, fell into a most violent fury at this treaty; and as the treaty was made
without the concurrence of the rest of the Council,
the Company's servants grew divided: one part were
the advocates of the treaty, the other of the trade.
The latter were universally of opinion that the treaty was bought for a great sum of money. - The evidence we have on -our records of the sums of money that are stated to have been paid on this occasion
has never been investigated to the bottom; but we
have it on record, that a great sum (70,0001. ) was
paid to persons concerned in that negotiation. The
? ? ? ? 430 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
rest were exceedingly wroth to see themselves not
profiting by the negotiation, and losing the trade, or
likely to be excluded from it; and they were the
more so, because, as we have it upon our journals,
during all that time the trade of the negotiators was
not proscribed, but a purwannah was issued by Cossim Ali Khan, that the trade of his friends Mr.
Vansittart and Mr. Hastings should not be subject
to the general regulations. This filled the whole
settlement with ill blood; but inl the regulation itself
(I put the motive and the secret history out of the
case) undoubtedly Mr. Hastings and Mr. Vansittart
were on the right side. They had shown to a demonstration the mischief of this trade. However,
as the other party were strong, and did not readily
let go their hold of this great advantage, first, dissensions, murmurs, various kinds of complaints, and
ill blood arose. Cossim Ali was driven to the wall;
and having at the same time made what he thought
good preparations, a war broke out at last. And
how did it break out? This Cossim Ali Khan
signalized his first acts of hostility by an atrocity
committed against the faith of treaties, against the
rules of war, against every principle of honor. This
intended murderer of his father-in-law, whom MZr.
Hastings had assisted to raise to the throne of
Bengal, well knowing his character and his disposition, and well knowing what such a man was capable of doing, --this man massacred the English wherever he met them. There were two hundred,
or thereabouts, of the Company's servants, or their dependants, slaughtered at Patna with every circumstance of the most abominable cruelty. Their limbs were cut to pieces. The tyrant whom Mr. Hastings
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 431
set up cut and hacked the limbs of British subjects
in the most cruel and perfidious manner, threw them
into wells, and polluted the waters of the country
with British blood. Immediately war is declared.
against him in form. That war sets the whole
country in a blaze; and then other parties begin to
appear upon' the scene, whose transactions you will
find yourselves deeply concerned in hereafter.
As soon as war was declared against Cossim, it
was necessary to resolve to put up another Nabob,
and to have another revolution: and where do they
resort, but to the man whom, for his alleged tyranny,
for his incapacity, for the numberless iniquities he
was said to have committed, and for his total unfitness and disinclination to all the duties of government, they had dethroned? This very man they
take up again, to place on the throne from which
they had about two years before' removed him, and
for the effecting of which they had committed so many iniquities. Even this revolution was not made
without being paid for. According to the usual order of procession, in which the youngest walk first,
first comes the Company; and the Company had secured to it in perpetuity those provinces which Cossim Ali Khan had ceded, as it was thought, rather in the way of mortgage than anything else. Then, under the name of compensation for sufferings to the
people concerned in the trade, and in the name of
donation to an army and a. navy which had little to
do in this affair, they tax him --what sum do you
think? They tax that empty and undone treasury of
that miserable and undone country 500,0001. for a
private emolument to themselves, -- for the compensation for this iniquitous trade, - for the compensa
? ? ? ? 432 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
tion for abuses of which he was neither the author nor
the abettor, they tax this miserable prince 500,Q001.
That sum was given to individuals. Now comes the
Company at home, which, on hearing this news, was
all inflamed. The Directors were on fire. They were
shocked at it, and particularly at this donation to
the army and navy. They resolved they would give
it no countenance and support. ' In the mean time
the gentlemen did not trouble their heads uponl that
subject, but meant to exact and get their 500,0001.
as they could.
Here was a third revolution, bought at this amazing sum, and this poor, miserable prince first. dragged
from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, then dragged back
from. Calcutta to AMoorshedabad, the sport of fortune
and the plaything of avarice. This poor man is again
set up, but is left with no authority: his troops limited, - his person, everything about him, in a manner subjugated, - a British Resident the master of his court: he is set up as a pageant on this throne,
with no other authority but what would be sufficient
to give a countenance to presents, gifts, and donations.
That authority was always left, when all the rest was
taken away. One would have thought that this revolution might have satisfied these gentlemen, and that
the money gained by it would have been sufficient.
No. The partisans of Cossim Ali wanted another
revolution. The partisans of the other side wished
to have something more done in the present. They
now began to think that to depose Cossim instantly,
and to sell him to another, was too much at one time,
- especially as Cossim Ali was a man of vigor and
resolution, carrying oin a fierce war against them.
But what do you think they did? They began to see,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 433
from the example of Cossim Ali, that the lieutenancy,
the ministry of the king, was a good thing to be sold,
and the sale of that might turn out as good a thing
as the sale of the prince.
For this office there were two rival candidates, persons of great consideration in Bengal: one, a principal Mahomedan, called Mahomed Reza Khan, a man
of high authority, great piety in his own religion,
great learning in the law, of the very first class of
Mahomedan nobility; but at the same time, on all
these accounts, he was abhorred and dreaded by the
Nabob, who necessarily feared that a man of Mahomed Reza Khan's description would be considered
as better entitled and fitter for his seat, as Nabob
of the provinces. To balance him, there was another
man, known by the name of the Great Rajah Nundcomar. This man was accounted the highest of his
caste, and held the same rank among the Gentoos
that Mahomed Reza Khan obtained among the Mahomedans. The prince on the throne had no jealousy of Nundcomar, because he knew, that, as a Gentoo, he could not aspire to the office of Subahdar. For that reason he was firmly attached to him; he
might depend completely on his services; he was his
against Mahomed Reza Khan, and against the whole
world. There was, however, a flaw in the Nabob's
title, which it was necessary should be hid. And perhaps it lay against Mahomed Reza Khan as well as
him. But it was a source of apprehension to the
Nabob, and contributed to make him wish to keep
all Mahomedan influence at a distance. For he was
a Syed, that is to say, a descendant of Mahomet, and
as such, though of the only acknowledged nobility
among Mussulmen, would be by that circumstance
VOL. IX. 28
? ? ? ? 434 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
excluded, by the known laws of the Mogul empire,
from being Subahdar in any of the Mogul provinces,
in case the revival of the constitution of that empire
should ever again take place.
An auction was now opened before the English
Council at Calcutta. Mahomed Reza Khhan bid largely; Nundcomar bid. largely. The circumstances of
these two rivals at the Nabob court were equally favorable to the pretensions of each. But the preponderating merits of Mahomed Reza Khan, arising from the subjection in which he was likely to keep the Nabob, and make him fitter for the purpose of continued
exactions, induced the Council to take his money,
which amounted to about 220,0001. Be the sum paid
what it may, it was certainly a large one; in consequence of which the Council attempted to invest Mahomed Reza Khan with the office of Naib Subah, or Deputy Viceroy. As to Nundcomar, they fell upon
him with a vengeful fury. He fought his battle as
well as he could; he opposed bribe to bribe, eagle to
eagle; but at length he was driven to the wall. Some
received his money, but did him no service in return;
others, more conscientious, refused to receive it; and
in this battle of bribes he was vanquished. A deputation was sent from Calcutta to the miserable Nabob,
to tear Nunldcomar, his only support, from his side,
and to put the object of all his terrors, Mallomed Reza
Khan, in his place.
Thus began a new division that split the Presidency into violent factions; but the faction which
adhered to Nundcomar was. undoubtedly the weakest.
That most miserable of men, Mir Jaffier Ali Khan,
clinging, as to the last pillar, to Nundcomar, trembling at Mahomed Reza Khalin, died in the struggle,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 435
a miserable victim to all the revolutions, to all the
successive changes and versatile politics at Calcutta.
Like all the rest of the great personages whom we
lhave degraded and brutalized by insult and oppression, he betook himself to the usual destructive resources of unprincipled misery, - sensuality, opium, and wine. His gigantic frame of constitution soon
gave way under the oppression of this relief, and he
died, leaving children and grandchildren by wives
and concubines. On the old Nabob's death, Mahomed Reza Khan was acknowledged Deputy Nabob,
the money paid, and this revolution completed.
Here, my Lords, opened a new source of plunder,
peculation, and bribery, which was not neglected.
Revolutions were no longer necessary; succession
supplied their places: and well the object agreed
with the policy. Rules of succession could not be
very well ascertained to an office like that of the
Nabob, which was hereditary only by the appointment of the Mogul. The issue by lawful wives would
naturally be preferred by those who meant the quiet
of the country. But a more doubtful title was preferred, as better adapted to the purposes of extortion and peculation. This miserable succession was sold, and the eldest of the issue of Munny Begum,
an harlot, brought in to pollute the harem of the
seraglio, of whom you will hear much hereafter, was
chosen. He soon succeeded to the grave. Another
son of the same prostitute succeeded to the same
unhappy throne, and followed to the same untimely
grave. Every succession was sold; and between venal successions and venal revolutions, in a very few
years seven princes and six sales were seen successively in Bengal. The last was a minor, the issue
? ? ? ? 436 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
of a legitimate wife, admitted to succeed because a
minor, and because there was none illegitimate left.
He was instantly stripped of the allowance of his progenitors, and reduced to a pension of 160,000 a year.
HIe still exists, and continued to the end of Mr.
Hastings's government to furnish constant sources
of bribery and plunder to him and his creatures.
The offspring of Munny Begum clinging, as his
father did, to Nundcomar, they tore Nundcomar
from his side, as they had done from the side of his
father, and carried him down as a sort of prisoner
to Calcutta; where, having had the weakness to become the first informer, he was made the first example. This person, pushed to the wall, and knowing that the man he had to deal with was desperate and cruel in his resentments, resolves on the first
blow, and enters before the Council a regular information in writing of bribery against Mr. Hastings.
In his preface to that charge lie excuses himself for
what is considered to be an act equally insane and
wicked,'and as the one inexpiable crime of an Indian, the discovery of the money he gives,- that
Mr. Hastings had declaredly determined on his ruin,
and to accomplish it' had newly associated himself
with one Mohun Persaud, a name I wish your Lordships to remember, a bitter enemy of his, an infamous person, whom Mr. Hastings knew to be such,
and as such had turned him out of. his house,- that
Mr. Hastings had lately recalled, and held frequent
communications with this Mohun Persaud, the subject of which he had no doubt was his ruin. In
the year 1775 he was hanged by those incorrupt Eiglish judges who were sent to India by Parliament to
protect the natives from oppression.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 437
Your Lordships will observe that this new sale
of the office of ministers succeeded to the sale of
that of nabobs. All these varied and successive sales
shdok the country to pieces. As if those miserable
exhausted provinces were to be cured of inanition
by phlebotomy, while Cossim Ali was racking it
above, the Company were drawing off all its nutrimlent below. A dreadful, an extensive, and most
chargeable war followed. Half the northern force
of India poured down like a torrent on Bengal, endangered our existence, and exhausted all our resources. The war was the fruit of Mr. Hastings's cabals. Its termination, as usual, was the result
of the military merit and the fortune of this nation. Cossimn Ali, after having been defeated by
the military genius and spirit of England, (for the
Adamses, Monroes, and others of that period, I believe, showed as much skill and bravery as any of
their predecessors,) in his flight swept aWay above
three millions in money, jewels, or effects, out of a
country which he had plundered- and exhausted by'
his unheard-of exactions. However, he fought his
way like a retiring lion, turning his face to his
pursuers. He still fought along his frontier. His
ability and his money drew to his cause the Suballdar of Oude, the famous Sujah ul Dowlah. The
MIogul entered into these wars, and penetrated into
the lower provinces on one side, whilst Bulwant
Sing, the Rajah of Benares, entered them on another.
After various changes of party and changes of fortune, the loss which began in the treachery of the
civil service was, as I have before remarked, redeemed by military merit. Many examples of the
same sort have since been seen.
? ? ? ? 438 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Whilst these things were transacted in India, the
Court of Directors in London, hearing of so many
changes, hearing of such an incredible mass of perfidy
and venality, knowing that there was a general market made of the country and of the Company, that the flame of war spread from province to province,
that, in proportion as it spread, the fire glowed with
augmented fierceness, and that the rapacity which
originally gave rise to it was following it in all its
progress, -- the Company, my Lords, alarmed not only
for their acquisitions, but their existence, and finding
themselves sinking lower and lower by every victory
they obtained, thought it necessary at length to come
to some system and some settlement: After composing their differences with Lord Clive, they sent him out to that country about the year 1765, in order, by his
name, weight, authority, and vigor of mind, to give
some sort of form and stability to government, and to
rectify the innumerable abuses which prevailed there,
and particularly that great source of disorders, that
fundamental abuse, presents: for the bribes by which
all these revolutions were bought had not the name
of conditions, stipulations, or rewards; they even had
the free and gratuitous style of presents. The receivers contended that they were mere gratuities given for service done, or mere tokens of affection and
gratitude to the parties. They may give them what
names they please, and your Lordships will think of
them what you please; but they were the donations
of misery to power, the gifts of sufferers to the oppressors; and consequently, where they prevailed, they left no certain property or fixed situation to any
man in India, from the highest to the lowest.
The Court of Directors sent out orders to enlarge
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 439
the servants' covenants with new and severe clauses,
strongly prohibiting the practice of receiving presents.
Lord Clive himself had been a large receiver of them.
Yet, as it was in the moment of a revolution which
gave them all they possessed, the Company would
hear no more of it. They sent him out to reform:
whether they chose well or ill does not signify. I
think, upon the whole, they chose well; because his
name and authority could do much. They sent him
out to redress the grievances of that country, and it
was necessary he should be well armed for that service. They sent him out with such powers as no
servant of the Company ever held before. I would
not be understood here in my own character, much
less in the delegated character in which I stand, to
contend for any man in the totality of his conduct.
Perhaps ill some of his measures he was mistaken,
and in some of his acts reprehensible; but justice
obliges me to say, that the plan which he formed
and the course which he pursued were in general
great and well imagined, -- that he laid great foun'
dations, if they had been properly built upon. For,
ill the first place, he composed all the neighboring
countries torn to pieces by the wars of Cossim Ali,
and quieted the apprehensions raised by the opinion of the boundless ambition of England. He took
strong measures to put an end to a great many of the
abuses that prevailed in the country subject to the
Company. He then proceeded to the upper provinces, and formed a plan which, for a military man, has
great civil and political merit. He put a bound to
the aspiring spirit of the Company's servants; lie limited its conquests; he prescribed bounds to its ambition. "First" (says he)" quiet the minds of the
? ? ? ? 440 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
country; what you have obtained regulate; make it
known to. India that you resolve to acquire no more. "
On this solid plan he fixed every prince that wa:s
concerned inll the preceding wars, on the one side and
on the other, in an happy and easy settlement. He
restored Sujah ul Dowlab, who had been driven from
his dominions by the military arm of Great Britain,
to the rank of Vizier, and to the dominion of the territories of Oude. With a generosity that astonished all Asia, le reinstated this expelled enemy of his nation peaceably upon his throne. And this act
of politic generosity did more towards quieting the
minds of the people of Asia than all the terror, great
as-it was, of the English arms. At the same time,
Lord Clive, generous to all, took peculiar care of our
friends and allies. He took care of Bulwant Sillg,
the great Rajah of Benares, who had taken our part
in the war. He secured him from the revenge of
Sujah ul Dowlah. The Mogul had granted us the
superiority over Bulwant Sing. Lord. Clive reestablishld him in a secure, easy independency. He confirmed him, under the British guaranty, in the rich principality which he held.
The Mogul, the head of the Mussulman religion in
India, and of the Indian empire, a head honored and
esteemed even in its ruins, he procured to be recognized by all the persons that were connected with
his empire. . The rents that ought to be paid to the
Vizier of the Empire he gave to the Vizierate. Thus
our alliances were cemented, our enemies were reconciled, all Asia was conciliated by our settlement
with the king. To that unhappy fugitive king, driven from place to place, the sport of fortune, now an
emperor and now a prisoner, prayed for in every
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 441
mosque in which his authority was conspired against,
one day opposed by the coin struck in his name and
the other day sold for it, - to this descendant of Tamerlane he allotted, with a decent share of royal dignity, an honorable fixed residence, where he might be useful and could not be dangerous.
As to the Bengal provinces, he did not take for the
Company the viceroyalty, as Mr. Holwell would have
persuaded, almost forced, the Company to do; but,
to satisfy the prejudices of the Malihmedans, the
country was left in the hands nominally of the Subah, or viceroy, who was to administer the criminal
justice and the exterior forms of royalty. He obtained from the sovereign the dewanny. This is the
great act of the constitutional entrance of the Company into the body politic of India. It gave to the
settlement of'Bengal a fixed constitutional form,
with a legal title, acknowledged and recognized now
for the first time by all the natural powers of the
country, because it arose from the charter of the
undoubted sovereign. The dewanny, or high-stewardship, gave to the Company the collection and
management of the revenue; and in this modest
and civil character they appeared, not the oppressors,
but the protectors of the people. This scheme had.
all the real power, without any invidious appearance
of it; it gave them the revenue, without the parade
of sovereignty. On this double foundation the government was happily settled. The minds of the natives were quieted. The Company's territories and
views were circumscribed. The arm of force was
put out of sight. The imperial name covered everything. The power of the purse was in the hand of
the Company. The power of the sword was in effect
? ? ? ? 442 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
so, as they contracted for the maintenance of the
army. The Company had a revenue of a million and
a half. The Nabob had, indeed, fallen from any real
and effective power, yet the dignity of the court was
maintained. The prejudices and interests of the Mahomedans, and particularly of their nobility, who
had suffered more by this great revolution even
than the old inhabitants of the country, were consulted; for by this plan a revenue of 500,0001. was settled on the viceroyalty, which was thus enabled
to provide in some measure for those great families.
The Company likewise, by this plan, in order to enjoy
their revenues securely, and to avoid envy and murmur, put them into the hands of Mahomed Reza Khan, whom Lord Clive found in the management of affairs,
and did not displace; and he was now made deputysteward to the Company, as he had been before lieutenant-viceroy to the Nabob. A British Resident
at Moorshedabad was established as a control. The
Company exercised their power over the revenue in
the first instance through the natives, but the British
Resident was in reality the great mover.
If ever this nation stood in a situation of glory
throughout Asia, it was in that moment. But, as I
have said, some material errors and mistakes were
committed. After the formation of this plan, Lord
Clive unfortunately did not stay long enough ini the
country to give consistency to the measures of reformation he had undertaken, but rapidly returned to Englan'd; and after his departure, the government
that continued had not vigor or authority to support
the settlement then made, and considerable abuses
began to prevail in every quarter. Another capital
period in our history here commences. Those who
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. SECOND DAY. 443
succeeded (though I believe one of them was one of
the honestest men that ever served the Company, I
mean Governor Verelst) had not weight enough to
poise the system of the service, and consequently many abuses and grievances again prevailed. Supervisors were appointed to every district, as a check on the native collectors, and to report every abuse as it
should arise. But they who were appointed to redress
grievances were themselves accused of being guilty
of them. However, the disorders were not of that
violent kind which preceded Mr. Hastings's departure, nor such as followed his return: no mercenary
wars, no mercenary revolutions, no extirpation of
nations, no violent convulsions in the revenue, no
subversion of ancient houses, no general sales of anlly
descriptions of men, -- none of these, but certainly
such grievances as made it necessary for the Company
to send out another commission in 1769, with instructions pointing out the chief abuses. It was composed
of Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Ford, and Mr. Scrafton. The
unfortunate end of that commission is known to all
the world; but I men. tion it in order to state that the
receipt of presents was considered as one of the
grievances which then prevailed in India, and that
the supervisors under that commission were ordered
upon no account whatever to take presents. Upon
the unfortunate catastrophe which happened, the
Company was preparing to send out another for the
rectification of these grievances, when Parliament
thought it necessary to supersede that commission, to
take the matter into their own hands, and to appoint
another commission in a Parliamentary way (of which
Mr. Hastings was one) for the better government of
that country. Mr. Hastin s, as I must mention to
? ? ? ? 414 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
your Lordships, soon after the deposition and restoration' of Jaffier Ali Khan, and before Lord Clive arrived, quitted for a while the scene. in which he
~had been so mischievously employed, and returned to
England to strengthen himself by those cabals which
again sent him out with new authority to pursue the
courses which were the natural sequel to his former
proceedings. He returned to India with great power, indeed, --first to a seat in Council at Fort St. George, and from thence to succeed to the Presidency
of Fort William. On him the Company placed their
chief reliance. Happy had it been for them, happy
for India and for England, if his conduct had been
such as to spare your Lordships and the Commons
the exhibition of this day!
When this government, with Mr. Hastings at the
head of it, was settled, Moorshedabad did still continie the seat of the native government, and of all the collections. Here the Company was not satisfied with
placing a Resident at the durbar, which was the first
step to our assuming the government in that country.
These steps must be traced by your Lordships; for I
should never have given you this trouble, if it was not
necessary to possess you clearly of the several progressive steps by which the Company's government came to be established and to supersede the native.
The next step was the appointment of supervisors in
every province, to oversee the native collector. The
third was to establish a general Council of Revenue
at ~Moorshedabad, to superintend the great steward,
Mahomed Reza Khan. In 1772 that Council by Mr.
Hastings was overturned, and the whole management
of the revenue brought to Calcutta. Mahomed Reza
Khan, by orders of the Company, was turned out of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 445
all his offices, and turned out for reasons and principles which your Lordships will hereafter see; and at last the dewanny was entirely taken out of the native
hands, and settled in the Supreme Council and Presidency itself in Calcutta; and so it remained until the year 1781, when Mr. Hastings made another revolution, took it out of the hands of the Supreme Council, in which the orders of the Company, an act of Parliament, and their own act had vested it, and put it into a subordinate council: that is, it was entirely vested
in himself.
Now your Lordships see the whole of the revolutions. I have stated them, I trust, with perspicuity,
- stated the grounds and principles upon which they
were made, - stated the abuses that grew upon them,
- and that every revolution produced its abuse. You
saw the native government vanish by degrees, until
it was reduced to a situation fit for nothing but to
become a private perquisite, as it has been, to Mr.
Hastings, and to be granted to whom he pleased.
The English government succeeded, at the head of
which Mr. Hastings was placed by an act of Parliament, having before held the office of President of the Council, --the express object of both these appointments being to redress grievances; and within these two periods of his power, as President and GovernorGeneral, were those crimes committed of which he now stands accused. All this history is merely by
way of illustration: his crimination begins from his
nomination to the Presidency; and we are to consider how he comported himself in that station, and in his office of Governor-General.
The first thing, in considering the merits or demer
? ? ? ? 446 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
its of any governor, is to have some test by which they
are to be tried. And here, my Lords, we conceive,
that, when a British governor is sent abroad, he is
sent to pursue the good of the people as much as possible in the spirit of the laws of this country, which
in all respects intend their conservation, their happiness, and their prosperity. This is the principle upon which Mr. Hastings was bound to govern, and upon which he is to account for his conduct here. His rule was, what a British governor, intrusted with the
power of this country, was bound to do or to forbear.
If he has performed and if he has abstained as he
ought, dismiss him honorably acquitted from your
bar; otherwise condemn him. He may resort tc
other principles and to other maxims; but this country will force him to be tried by its laws. The'law
of this country recognizes that well-known crime
called misconduct in office; it is a head of the law
of England, and, so far as inferior courts are competent to try it, may be tried in them. Here your
Lordships' competence is plenary: you are fully competent both to inquire into and to punish the offence.
And, first, I am to state to your Lordships, by
the direction of those whom I am bound to obey, the
principles on which Mr. Hastings declares he has conducted his government, - principles which he has
avowed, first in several letters written to the East
India Company, next in a paper of defence delivered
to the House of Commons explicitly, and more explii,tly in his defence before your Lordships. Nothing
in Mr. Hastings's proceedings is so curious as his
several defences; and nothing in the defences is so
singular as the principles upon which he proceeds.
Your Lordships will have to decide not only upon a
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 447
large, connected, systematic train of misdemeanors,
but an equally connected system of principles and
maxims of government, invented to justify those misdemeanors. He has brought them forward and
avowed them in the face of day. ' He has boldly and
insultingly thrown them in the face of the representatives of a free people, and we cannot pass them by
without adopting them. I am directed to protest
against those grounds and principles upon which he
frames his. defence; for, if those grounds are good
and valid, they carry off a great deal at least, if not
entirely, the foundation of our charge.
My Lords, we contend that Mr. Hastings, as a
British governor, ought to govern on British principles, not by British forms, - God forbid! - for if ever
there was a case in which the letter kills and the spirit gives life, it would be an attempt to introduce British forms and the substance of despotic principles together into any country. No! We call for that spirit of equity, that spirit of justice, that spirit of protection, that spirit of lenity, which ought to characterize
every British subject in power; and on these, and
these principles only, he will be tried.
But he has told your Lordships, in his defence,
that actions in Asia do not bear the same moral qualities which the same actions would bear in Europe.
My Lords, we positively deny that principle. I am
authorized and called upon to deny it. And having
stated at large what he means by saying that the
same actions have not the same qualities in Asia and
in Europe, we are to let your Lordships know that
these gentlemen have formed a plan of geographical
morality, by which the duties of men, in public and
in private situations, are not to be governed by their
? ? ? ? 448 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
relation to the great Governor of the Universe, or by
their relation to mankind, but by climates, degrees
of longitude, parallels, not of life, but of latitudes:
as if, when you have crossed the equinoctial, all the
virtues die, as they say some insects die when they
cross the line; as if there were a kind of baptism,
like that practised by seamen, by which they unbaptize themselves of all that they learned in Europe, and after which a new order and system of things commenced.
This geographical morality we do protest against;
Mr. Hastings shall not screen himself under it; and
on this point I hope and trust many words will not be
necessary to satisfy your Lordships. But we think it
necessary, in justification of ourselves, to declare that
the laws of morality are the same everywhere, and
that there is no action which would pass for an act
of extortion, of peculation, of bribery, and of oppression in England, that is not anl act of extortion, of peculation, of bribery, and oppression in Europe,
Asia, Africa, and all the world over. This I contend
for not in the technical forms of it, but I contend for
it in the substance.
Mr. Hastings comes before your Lordships not as a
British governor answering to a British tribunal, but
as a subahdar, as a bashaw of three tails. He says,
"I had an arbitrary power to exercise: I exercised it.
Slaves I found the people: slaves they are, -they
are so by their constitution; and if they are, I did
not make it for them. I was unfortunately bound to
exercise this arbitrary power, and accordingly I did
exercise it. It was disagreeable to me, but I did
exercise it; and no other power can be exercised in
that country. " This, if it be true, is a plea in bar.
? ? ? ?
the murder of the principal'persons of the house, and
by robbing them of great sums of their wealth, that I
believe such a scene of nefarious tyranny, destroying
and cutting up the root of public credit in that country, was scarce ever known. In the mean time Cossin was extending his tyranny over all who were obnoxious to him; and the persons he first sought were those traitors who had been friends to the English.
Several of the principal of these he murdered. There
was in the province of Bahar a man named Ramarain; he had got the most positive assurances of English faith; but Mr. Macguire, a member of the Council, on the receipt of five thousand gold mohurs, or something more than 80001. sterling, delivered him
up to be first imprisoned, then tortured, then robbed
in consequence of the torture, and finally murdered,
by Cossim Ali Khan. In this way Cossiin Ali RKhan
acted, while our government looked on. I hardly
choose to mention to. you the fate of a certain native in consequence of a dispute with Mr. Mott, a
friend of Mr. Hastings, which is in the Company's
records, --records which are almost buried by their
own magnitude from the knowledge of this country. In a contest with this native for his house and
property, some scuffle having happened between the
parties, the one attempting to seize and the other
to defend, the latter made a complaint to the Nabob,
who was in an entire subjection at that time to the
English, and who ordered this unfortunate man, on
? ? ? ? 428 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
account' of this' very scuffle, arising from defending
his property, to be blown off from the mouth of a
cannon. In short, I am not able to tell youi Lordships of all the nefarious transactions of this man,
whom the intrigues of Mr. Holwell and Mr. Hastings
had set upon the throne of Bengal. But there is a
circumstance in this business that comes across here,
and will tend to show another grievance that vexed
that country, which vexed it long, and is one of the
causes of its chief disasters, and which, I fear, is not
so perfectly extirpated but that some part of its roots
may remain in the ground at this moment.
Commerce, which enriches every other country in
the world, was bringing Bengal to total ruin. The
Company,- in former times, when it had no sovereignty or power in -the country, had large privileges under their: dustuck, or permit: their goods passed,
without'paying duties, through the country. The
servants- of the Company made use of this dustuck
for their- own private trade, which, while it was
used with moderation, the native government winked
at' in some degree; but when it got wholly into private. hands, it was more like robbery than trade.
These traders appeared everywhere; they sold at
their own prices, and forced the people to sell to
them at their own prices. also. It appeared more
like an- army going to pillage the people, under
pretence' of commerce, than anything else. In vain
the people claimed the protection of their own country courts. This English army of traders in their march ravaged worse than a Tartarian conqueror.
The trade they carried on, and which more resembled robbery than commerce, anticipated the resources of the tyrallt,'anld threatened to leave him no mate
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 429
rials for imposition or confiscation. Thus this miserable country was torn to pieces by the horrible
rapaciousness of a double tyranny. This appeared
to be so strong a case, that a deputation was sent
to him at his new capital, Monghir, to form a treaty
for the purpose of giving some relief against this cruel, cursed, and oppressive trade, which was worse
even than the tyranny of the sovereign. This trade
Mr. Vansittart, the President about this time, that
is, in 1763, who succeeded to Mr. Holwell, and was
in close union of interests with the tyrant Cossim
Ali Khan, by a treaty known by the name of the
treaty of Monghir, agreed very much to suppress
and to confine within something like reasonable
bounds. There never was a doubt on the face of
that treaty, that it was a just, proper, fair transac --
tion. But as nobody iii Bengal did then believe
that rapine was ever forborne but in favor of bribery, the persons who lost every advantage by the
treaty of Monghir, when they thought they saw corrupt negotiation carrying away the prizes of unlawful commerce, and were likely to see their trade crippled by Cossim Ali Khan, fell into a most violent fury at this treaty; and as the treaty was made
without the concurrence of the rest of the Council,
the Company's servants grew divided: one part were
the advocates of the treaty, the other of the trade.
The latter were universally of opinion that the treaty was bought for a great sum of money. - The evidence we have on -our records of the sums of money that are stated to have been paid on this occasion
has never been investigated to the bottom; but we
have it on record, that a great sum (70,0001. ) was
paid to persons concerned in that negotiation. The
? ? ? ? 430 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
rest were exceedingly wroth to see themselves not
profiting by the negotiation, and losing the trade, or
likely to be excluded from it; and they were the
more so, because, as we have it upon our journals,
during all that time the trade of the negotiators was
not proscribed, but a purwannah was issued by Cossim Ali Khan, that the trade of his friends Mr.
Vansittart and Mr. Hastings should not be subject
to the general regulations. This filled the whole
settlement with ill blood; but inl the regulation itself
(I put the motive and the secret history out of the
case) undoubtedly Mr. Hastings and Mr. Vansittart
were on the right side. They had shown to a demonstration the mischief of this trade. However,
as the other party were strong, and did not readily
let go their hold of this great advantage, first, dissensions, murmurs, various kinds of complaints, and
ill blood arose. Cossim Ali was driven to the wall;
and having at the same time made what he thought
good preparations, a war broke out at last. And
how did it break out? This Cossim Ali Khan
signalized his first acts of hostility by an atrocity
committed against the faith of treaties, against the
rules of war, against every principle of honor. This
intended murderer of his father-in-law, whom MZr.
Hastings had assisted to raise to the throne of
Bengal, well knowing his character and his disposition, and well knowing what such a man was capable of doing, --this man massacred the English wherever he met them. There were two hundred,
or thereabouts, of the Company's servants, or their dependants, slaughtered at Patna with every circumstance of the most abominable cruelty. Their limbs were cut to pieces. The tyrant whom Mr. Hastings
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 431
set up cut and hacked the limbs of British subjects
in the most cruel and perfidious manner, threw them
into wells, and polluted the waters of the country
with British blood. Immediately war is declared.
against him in form. That war sets the whole
country in a blaze; and then other parties begin to
appear upon' the scene, whose transactions you will
find yourselves deeply concerned in hereafter.
As soon as war was declared against Cossim, it
was necessary to resolve to put up another Nabob,
and to have another revolution: and where do they
resort, but to the man whom, for his alleged tyranny,
for his incapacity, for the numberless iniquities he
was said to have committed, and for his total unfitness and disinclination to all the duties of government, they had dethroned? This very man they
take up again, to place on the throne from which
they had about two years before' removed him, and
for the effecting of which they had committed so many iniquities. Even this revolution was not made
without being paid for. According to the usual order of procession, in which the youngest walk first,
first comes the Company; and the Company had secured to it in perpetuity those provinces which Cossim Ali Khan had ceded, as it was thought, rather in the way of mortgage than anything else. Then, under the name of compensation for sufferings to the
people concerned in the trade, and in the name of
donation to an army and a. navy which had little to
do in this affair, they tax him --what sum do you
think? They tax that empty and undone treasury of
that miserable and undone country 500,0001. for a
private emolument to themselves, -- for the compensation for this iniquitous trade, - for the compensa
? ? ? ? 432 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
tion for abuses of which he was neither the author nor
the abettor, they tax this miserable prince 500,Q001.
That sum was given to individuals. Now comes the
Company at home, which, on hearing this news, was
all inflamed. The Directors were on fire. They were
shocked at it, and particularly at this donation to
the army and navy. They resolved they would give
it no countenance and support. ' In the mean time
the gentlemen did not trouble their heads uponl that
subject, but meant to exact and get their 500,0001.
as they could.
Here was a third revolution, bought at this amazing sum, and this poor, miserable prince first. dragged
from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, then dragged back
from. Calcutta to AMoorshedabad, the sport of fortune
and the plaything of avarice. This poor man is again
set up, but is left with no authority: his troops limited, - his person, everything about him, in a manner subjugated, - a British Resident the master of his court: he is set up as a pageant on this throne,
with no other authority but what would be sufficient
to give a countenance to presents, gifts, and donations.
That authority was always left, when all the rest was
taken away. One would have thought that this revolution might have satisfied these gentlemen, and that
the money gained by it would have been sufficient.
No. The partisans of Cossim Ali wanted another
revolution. The partisans of the other side wished
to have something more done in the present. They
now began to think that to depose Cossim instantly,
and to sell him to another, was too much at one time,
- especially as Cossim Ali was a man of vigor and
resolution, carrying oin a fierce war against them.
But what do you think they did? They began to see,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 433
from the example of Cossim Ali, that the lieutenancy,
the ministry of the king, was a good thing to be sold,
and the sale of that might turn out as good a thing
as the sale of the prince.
For this office there were two rival candidates, persons of great consideration in Bengal: one, a principal Mahomedan, called Mahomed Reza Khan, a man
of high authority, great piety in his own religion,
great learning in the law, of the very first class of
Mahomedan nobility; but at the same time, on all
these accounts, he was abhorred and dreaded by the
Nabob, who necessarily feared that a man of Mahomed Reza Khan's description would be considered
as better entitled and fitter for his seat, as Nabob
of the provinces. To balance him, there was another
man, known by the name of the Great Rajah Nundcomar. This man was accounted the highest of his
caste, and held the same rank among the Gentoos
that Mahomed Reza Khan obtained among the Mahomedans. The prince on the throne had no jealousy of Nundcomar, because he knew, that, as a Gentoo, he could not aspire to the office of Subahdar. For that reason he was firmly attached to him; he
might depend completely on his services; he was his
against Mahomed Reza Khan, and against the whole
world. There was, however, a flaw in the Nabob's
title, which it was necessary should be hid. And perhaps it lay against Mahomed Reza Khan as well as
him. But it was a source of apprehension to the
Nabob, and contributed to make him wish to keep
all Mahomedan influence at a distance. For he was
a Syed, that is to say, a descendant of Mahomet, and
as such, though of the only acknowledged nobility
among Mussulmen, would be by that circumstance
VOL. IX. 28
? ? ? ? 434 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
excluded, by the known laws of the Mogul empire,
from being Subahdar in any of the Mogul provinces,
in case the revival of the constitution of that empire
should ever again take place.
An auction was now opened before the English
Council at Calcutta. Mahomed Reza Khhan bid largely; Nundcomar bid. largely. The circumstances of
these two rivals at the Nabob court were equally favorable to the pretensions of each. But the preponderating merits of Mahomed Reza Khan, arising from the subjection in which he was likely to keep the Nabob, and make him fitter for the purpose of continued
exactions, induced the Council to take his money,
which amounted to about 220,0001. Be the sum paid
what it may, it was certainly a large one; in consequence of which the Council attempted to invest Mahomed Reza Khan with the office of Naib Subah, or Deputy Viceroy. As to Nundcomar, they fell upon
him with a vengeful fury. He fought his battle as
well as he could; he opposed bribe to bribe, eagle to
eagle; but at length he was driven to the wall. Some
received his money, but did him no service in return;
others, more conscientious, refused to receive it; and
in this battle of bribes he was vanquished. A deputation was sent from Calcutta to the miserable Nabob,
to tear Nunldcomar, his only support, from his side,
and to put the object of all his terrors, Mallomed Reza
Khan, in his place.
Thus began a new division that split the Presidency into violent factions; but the faction which
adhered to Nundcomar was. undoubtedly the weakest.
That most miserable of men, Mir Jaffier Ali Khan,
clinging, as to the last pillar, to Nundcomar, trembling at Mahomed Reza Khalin, died in the struggle,
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 435
a miserable victim to all the revolutions, to all the
successive changes and versatile politics at Calcutta.
Like all the rest of the great personages whom we
lhave degraded and brutalized by insult and oppression, he betook himself to the usual destructive resources of unprincipled misery, - sensuality, opium, and wine. His gigantic frame of constitution soon
gave way under the oppression of this relief, and he
died, leaving children and grandchildren by wives
and concubines. On the old Nabob's death, Mahomed Reza Khan was acknowledged Deputy Nabob,
the money paid, and this revolution completed.
Here, my Lords, opened a new source of plunder,
peculation, and bribery, which was not neglected.
Revolutions were no longer necessary; succession
supplied their places: and well the object agreed
with the policy. Rules of succession could not be
very well ascertained to an office like that of the
Nabob, which was hereditary only by the appointment of the Mogul. The issue by lawful wives would
naturally be preferred by those who meant the quiet
of the country. But a more doubtful title was preferred, as better adapted to the purposes of extortion and peculation. This miserable succession was sold, and the eldest of the issue of Munny Begum,
an harlot, brought in to pollute the harem of the
seraglio, of whom you will hear much hereafter, was
chosen. He soon succeeded to the grave. Another
son of the same prostitute succeeded to the same
unhappy throne, and followed to the same untimely
grave. Every succession was sold; and between venal successions and venal revolutions, in a very few
years seven princes and six sales were seen successively in Bengal. The last was a minor, the issue
? ? ? ? 436 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
of a legitimate wife, admitted to succeed because a
minor, and because there was none illegitimate left.
He was instantly stripped of the allowance of his progenitors, and reduced to a pension of 160,000 a year.
HIe still exists, and continued to the end of Mr.
Hastings's government to furnish constant sources
of bribery and plunder to him and his creatures.
The offspring of Munny Begum clinging, as his
father did, to Nundcomar, they tore Nundcomar
from his side, as they had done from the side of his
father, and carried him down as a sort of prisoner
to Calcutta; where, having had the weakness to become the first informer, he was made the first example. This person, pushed to the wall, and knowing that the man he had to deal with was desperate and cruel in his resentments, resolves on the first
blow, and enters before the Council a regular information in writing of bribery against Mr. Hastings.
In his preface to that charge lie excuses himself for
what is considered to be an act equally insane and
wicked,'and as the one inexpiable crime of an Indian, the discovery of the money he gives,- that
Mr. Hastings had declaredly determined on his ruin,
and to accomplish it' had newly associated himself
with one Mohun Persaud, a name I wish your Lordships to remember, a bitter enemy of his, an infamous person, whom Mr. Hastings knew to be such,
and as such had turned him out of. his house,- that
Mr. Hastings had lately recalled, and held frequent
communications with this Mohun Persaud, the subject of which he had no doubt was his ruin. In
the year 1775 he was hanged by those incorrupt Eiglish judges who were sent to India by Parliament to
protect the natives from oppression.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 437
Your Lordships will observe that this new sale
of the office of ministers succeeded to the sale of
that of nabobs. All these varied and successive sales
shdok the country to pieces. As if those miserable
exhausted provinces were to be cured of inanition
by phlebotomy, while Cossim Ali was racking it
above, the Company were drawing off all its nutrimlent below. A dreadful, an extensive, and most
chargeable war followed. Half the northern force
of India poured down like a torrent on Bengal, endangered our existence, and exhausted all our resources. The war was the fruit of Mr. Hastings's cabals. Its termination, as usual, was the result
of the military merit and the fortune of this nation. Cossimn Ali, after having been defeated by
the military genius and spirit of England, (for the
Adamses, Monroes, and others of that period, I believe, showed as much skill and bravery as any of
their predecessors,) in his flight swept aWay above
three millions in money, jewels, or effects, out of a
country which he had plundered- and exhausted by'
his unheard-of exactions. However, he fought his
way like a retiring lion, turning his face to his
pursuers. He still fought along his frontier. His
ability and his money drew to his cause the Suballdar of Oude, the famous Sujah ul Dowlah. The
MIogul entered into these wars, and penetrated into
the lower provinces on one side, whilst Bulwant
Sing, the Rajah of Benares, entered them on another.
After various changes of party and changes of fortune, the loss which began in the treachery of the
civil service was, as I have before remarked, redeemed by military merit. Many examples of the
same sort have since been seen.
? ? ? ? 438 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Whilst these things were transacted in India, the
Court of Directors in London, hearing of so many
changes, hearing of such an incredible mass of perfidy
and venality, knowing that there was a general market made of the country and of the Company, that the flame of war spread from province to province,
that, in proportion as it spread, the fire glowed with
augmented fierceness, and that the rapacity which
originally gave rise to it was following it in all its
progress, -- the Company, my Lords, alarmed not only
for their acquisitions, but their existence, and finding
themselves sinking lower and lower by every victory
they obtained, thought it necessary at length to come
to some system and some settlement: After composing their differences with Lord Clive, they sent him out to that country about the year 1765, in order, by his
name, weight, authority, and vigor of mind, to give
some sort of form and stability to government, and to
rectify the innumerable abuses which prevailed there,
and particularly that great source of disorders, that
fundamental abuse, presents: for the bribes by which
all these revolutions were bought had not the name
of conditions, stipulations, or rewards; they even had
the free and gratuitous style of presents. The receivers contended that they were mere gratuities given for service done, or mere tokens of affection and
gratitude to the parties. They may give them what
names they please, and your Lordships will think of
them what you please; but they were the donations
of misery to power, the gifts of sufferers to the oppressors; and consequently, where they prevailed, they left no certain property or fixed situation to any
man in India, from the highest to the lowest.
The Court of Directors sent out orders to enlarge
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 439
the servants' covenants with new and severe clauses,
strongly prohibiting the practice of receiving presents.
Lord Clive himself had been a large receiver of them.
Yet, as it was in the moment of a revolution which
gave them all they possessed, the Company would
hear no more of it. They sent him out to reform:
whether they chose well or ill does not signify. I
think, upon the whole, they chose well; because his
name and authority could do much. They sent him
out to redress the grievances of that country, and it
was necessary he should be well armed for that service. They sent him out with such powers as no
servant of the Company ever held before. I would
not be understood here in my own character, much
less in the delegated character in which I stand, to
contend for any man in the totality of his conduct.
Perhaps ill some of his measures he was mistaken,
and in some of his acts reprehensible; but justice
obliges me to say, that the plan which he formed
and the course which he pursued were in general
great and well imagined, -- that he laid great foun'
dations, if they had been properly built upon. For,
ill the first place, he composed all the neighboring
countries torn to pieces by the wars of Cossim Ali,
and quieted the apprehensions raised by the opinion of the boundless ambition of England. He took
strong measures to put an end to a great many of the
abuses that prevailed in the country subject to the
Company. He then proceeded to the upper provinces, and formed a plan which, for a military man, has
great civil and political merit. He put a bound to
the aspiring spirit of the Company's servants; lie limited its conquests; he prescribed bounds to its ambition. "First" (says he)" quiet the minds of the
? ? ? ? 440 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
country; what you have obtained regulate; make it
known to. India that you resolve to acquire no more. "
On this solid plan he fixed every prince that wa:s
concerned inll the preceding wars, on the one side and
on the other, in an happy and easy settlement. He
restored Sujah ul Dowlab, who had been driven from
his dominions by the military arm of Great Britain,
to the rank of Vizier, and to the dominion of the territories of Oude. With a generosity that astonished all Asia, le reinstated this expelled enemy of his nation peaceably upon his throne. And this act
of politic generosity did more towards quieting the
minds of the people of Asia than all the terror, great
as-it was, of the English arms. At the same time,
Lord Clive, generous to all, took peculiar care of our
friends and allies. He took care of Bulwant Sillg,
the great Rajah of Benares, who had taken our part
in the war. He secured him from the revenge of
Sujah ul Dowlah. The Mogul had granted us the
superiority over Bulwant Sing. Lord. Clive reestablishld him in a secure, easy independency. He confirmed him, under the British guaranty, in the rich principality which he held.
The Mogul, the head of the Mussulman religion in
India, and of the Indian empire, a head honored and
esteemed even in its ruins, he procured to be recognized by all the persons that were connected with
his empire. . The rents that ought to be paid to the
Vizier of the Empire he gave to the Vizierate. Thus
our alliances were cemented, our enemies were reconciled, all Asia was conciliated by our settlement
with the king. To that unhappy fugitive king, driven from place to place, the sport of fortune, now an
emperor and now a prisoner, prayed for in every
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 441
mosque in which his authority was conspired against,
one day opposed by the coin struck in his name and
the other day sold for it, - to this descendant of Tamerlane he allotted, with a decent share of royal dignity, an honorable fixed residence, where he might be useful and could not be dangerous.
As to the Bengal provinces, he did not take for the
Company the viceroyalty, as Mr. Holwell would have
persuaded, almost forced, the Company to do; but,
to satisfy the prejudices of the Malihmedans, the
country was left in the hands nominally of the Subah, or viceroy, who was to administer the criminal
justice and the exterior forms of royalty. He obtained from the sovereign the dewanny. This is the
great act of the constitutional entrance of the Company into the body politic of India. It gave to the
settlement of'Bengal a fixed constitutional form,
with a legal title, acknowledged and recognized now
for the first time by all the natural powers of the
country, because it arose from the charter of the
undoubted sovereign. The dewanny, or high-stewardship, gave to the Company the collection and
management of the revenue; and in this modest
and civil character they appeared, not the oppressors,
but the protectors of the people. This scheme had.
all the real power, without any invidious appearance
of it; it gave them the revenue, without the parade
of sovereignty. On this double foundation the government was happily settled. The minds of the natives were quieted. The Company's territories and
views were circumscribed. The arm of force was
put out of sight. The imperial name covered everything. The power of the purse was in the hand of
the Company. The power of the sword was in effect
? ? ? ? 442 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
so, as they contracted for the maintenance of the
army. The Company had a revenue of a million and
a half. The Nabob had, indeed, fallen from any real
and effective power, yet the dignity of the court was
maintained. The prejudices and interests of the Mahomedans, and particularly of their nobility, who
had suffered more by this great revolution even
than the old inhabitants of the country, were consulted; for by this plan a revenue of 500,0001. was settled on the viceroyalty, which was thus enabled
to provide in some measure for those great families.
The Company likewise, by this plan, in order to enjoy
their revenues securely, and to avoid envy and murmur, put them into the hands of Mahomed Reza Khan, whom Lord Clive found in the management of affairs,
and did not displace; and he was now made deputysteward to the Company, as he had been before lieutenant-viceroy to the Nabob. A British Resident
at Moorshedabad was established as a control. The
Company exercised their power over the revenue in
the first instance through the natives, but the British
Resident was in reality the great mover.
If ever this nation stood in a situation of glory
throughout Asia, it was in that moment. But, as I
have said, some material errors and mistakes were
committed. After the formation of this plan, Lord
Clive unfortunately did not stay long enough ini the
country to give consistency to the measures of reformation he had undertaken, but rapidly returned to Englan'd; and after his departure, the government
that continued had not vigor or authority to support
the settlement then made, and considerable abuses
began to prevail in every quarter. Another capital
period in our history here commences. Those who
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. SECOND DAY. 443
succeeded (though I believe one of them was one of
the honestest men that ever served the Company, I
mean Governor Verelst) had not weight enough to
poise the system of the service, and consequently many abuses and grievances again prevailed. Supervisors were appointed to every district, as a check on the native collectors, and to report every abuse as it
should arise. But they who were appointed to redress
grievances were themselves accused of being guilty
of them. However, the disorders were not of that
violent kind which preceded Mr. Hastings's departure, nor such as followed his return: no mercenary
wars, no mercenary revolutions, no extirpation of
nations, no violent convulsions in the revenue, no
subversion of ancient houses, no general sales of anlly
descriptions of men, -- none of these, but certainly
such grievances as made it necessary for the Company
to send out another commission in 1769, with instructions pointing out the chief abuses. It was composed
of Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Ford, and Mr. Scrafton. The
unfortunate end of that commission is known to all
the world; but I men. tion it in order to state that the
receipt of presents was considered as one of the
grievances which then prevailed in India, and that
the supervisors under that commission were ordered
upon no account whatever to take presents. Upon
the unfortunate catastrophe which happened, the
Company was preparing to send out another for the
rectification of these grievances, when Parliament
thought it necessary to supersede that commission, to
take the matter into their own hands, and to appoint
another commission in a Parliamentary way (of which
Mr. Hastings was one) for the better government of
that country. Mr. Hastin s, as I must mention to
? ? ? ? 414 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
your Lordships, soon after the deposition and restoration' of Jaffier Ali Khan, and before Lord Clive arrived, quitted for a while the scene. in which he
~had been so mischievously employed, and returned to
England to strengthen himself by those cabals which
again sent him out with new authority to pursue the
courses which were the natural sequel to his former
proceedings. He returned to India with great power, indeed, --first to a seat in Council at Fort St. George, and from thence to succeed to the Presidency
of Fort William. On him the Company placed their
chief reliance. Happy had it been for them, happy
for India and for England, if his conduct had been
such as to spare your Lordships and the Commons
the exhibition of this day!
When this government, with Mr. Hastings at the
head of it, was settled, Moorshedabad did still continie the seat of the native government, and of all the collections. Here the Company was not satisfied with
placing a Resident at the durbar, which was the first
step to our assuming the government in that country.
These steps must be traced by your Lordships; for I
should never have given you this trouble, if it was not
necessary to possess you clearly of the several progressive steps by which the Company's government came to be established and to supersede the native.
The next step was the appointment of supervisors in
every province, to oversee the native collector. The
third was to establish a general Council of Revenue
at ~Moorshedabad, to superintend the great steward,
Mahomed Reza Khan. In 1772 that Council by Mr.
Hastings was overturned, and the whole management
of the revenue brought to Calcutta. Mahomed Reza
Khan, by orders of the Company, was turned out of
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. -SECOND DAY. 445
all his offices, and turned out for reasons and principles which your Lordships will hereafter see; and at last the dewanny was entirely taken out of the native
hands, and settled in the Supreme Council and Presidency itself in Calcutta; and so it remained until the year 1781, when Mr. Hastings made another revolution, took it out of the hands of the Supreme Council, in which the orders of the Company, an act of Parliament, and their own act had vested it, and put it into a subordinate council: that is, it was entirely vested
in himself.
Now your Lordships see the whole of the revolutions. I have stated them, I trust, with perspicuity,
- stated the grounds and principles upon which they
were made, - stated the abuses that grew upon them,
- and that every revolution produced its abuse. You
saw the native government vanish by degrees, until
it was reduced to a situation fit for nothing but to
become a private perquisite, as it has been, to Mr.
Hastings, and to be granted to whom he pleased.
The English government succeeded, at the head of
which Mr. Hastings was placed by an act of Parliament, having before held the office of President of the Council, --the express object of both these appointments being to redress grievances; and within these two periods of his power, as President and GovernorGeneral, were those crimes committed of which he now stands accused. All this history is merely by
way of illustration: his crimination begins from his
nomination to the Presidency; and we are to consider how he comported himself in that station, and in his office of Governor-General.
The first thing, in considering the merits or demer
? ? ? ? 446 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
its of any governor, is to have some test by which they
are to be tried. And here, my Lords, we conceive,
that, when a British governor is sent abroad, he is
sent to pursue the good of the people as much as possible in the spirit of the laws of this country, which
in all respects intend their conservation, their happiness, and their prosperity. This is the principle upon which Mr. Hastings was bound to govern, and upon which he is to account for his conduct here. His rule was, what a British governor, intrusted with the
power of this country, was bound to do or to forbear.
If he has performed and if he has abstained as he
ought, dismiss him honorably acquitted from your
bar; otherwise condemn him. He may resort tc
other principles and to other maxims; but this country will force him to be tried by its laws. The'law
of this country recognizes that well-known crime
called misconduct in office; it is a head of the law
of England, and, so far as inferior courts are competent to try it, may be tried in them. Here your
Lordships' competence is plenary: you are fully competent both to inquire into and to punish the offence.
And, first, I am to state to your Lordships, by
the direction of those whom I am bound to obey, the
principles on which Mr. Hastings declares he has conducted his government, - principles which he has
avowed, first in several letters written to the East
India Company, next in a paper of defence delivered
to the House of Commons explicitly, and more explii,tly in his defence before your Lordships. Nothing
in Mr. Hastings's proceedings is so curious as his
several defences; and nothing in the defences is so
singular as the principles upon which he proceeds.
Your Lordships will have to decide not only upon a
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN OPENING. - SECOND DAY. 447
large, connected, systematic train of misdemeanors,
but an equally connected system of principles and
maxims of government, invented to justify those misdemeanors. He has brought them forward and
avowed them in the face of day. ' He has boldly and
insultingly thrown them in the face of the representatives of a free people, and we cannot pass them by
without adopting them. I am directed to protest
against those grounds and principles upon which he
frames his. defence; for, if those grounds are good
and valid, they carry off a great deal at least, if not
entirely, the foundation of our charge.
My Lords, we contend that Mr. Hastings, as a
British governor, ought to govern on British principles, not by British forms, - God forbid! - for if ever
there was a case in which the letter kills and the spirit gives life, it would be an attempt to introduce British forms and the substance of despotic principles together into any country. No! We call for that spirit of equity, that spirit of justice, that spirit of protection, that spirit of lenity, which ought to characterize
every British subject in power; and on these, and
these principles only, he will be tried.
But he has told your Lordships, in his defence,
that actions in Asia do not bear the same moral qualities which the same actions would bear in Europe.
My Lords, we positively deny that principle. I am
authorized and called upon to deny it. And having
stated at large what he means by saying that the
same actions have not the same qualities in Asia and
in Europe, we are to let your Lordships know that
these gentlemen have formed a plan of geographical
morality, by which the duties of men, in public and
in private situations, are not to be governed by their
? ? ? ? 448 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
relation to the great Governor of the Universe, or by
their relation to mankind, but by climates, degrees
of longitude, parallels, not of life, but of latitudes:
as if, when you have crossed the equinoctial, all the
virtues die, as they say some insects die when they
cross the line; as if there were a kind of baptism,
like that practised by seamen, by which they unbaptize themselves of all that they learned in Europe, and after which a new order and system of things commenced.
This geographical morality we do protest against;
Mr. Hastings shall not screen himself under it; and
on this point I hope and trust many words will not be
necessary to satisfy your Lordships. But we think it
necessary, in justification of ourselves, to declare that
the laws of morality are the same everywhere, and
that there is no action which would pass for an act
of extortion, of peculation, of bribery, and of oppression in England, that is not anl act of extortion, of peculation, of bribery, and oppression in Europe,
Asia, Africa, and all the world over. This I contend
for not in the technical forms of it, but I contend for
it in the substance.
Mr. Hastings comes before your Lordships not as a
British governor answering to a British tribunal, but
as a subahdar, as a bashaw of three tails. He says,
"I had an arbitrary power to exercise: I exercised it.
Slaves I found the people: slaves they are, -they
are so by their constitution; and if they are, I did
not make it for them. I was unfortunately bound to
exercise this arbitrary power, and accordingly I did
exercise it. It was disagreeable to me, but I did
exercise it; and no other power can be exercised in
that country. " This, if it be true, is a plea in bar.
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