We cannot discover that he
was subjected to any terms, or confined by any limitations.
was subjected to any terms, or confined by any limitations.
Edmund Burke
Their more essential interests, and those of the people, were involved in it;
it pervaded and poisoned the whole mass of their
internal government.
? ? ? ? :SPEECH IN REPLY. - FOURTH DAY. 411
Who. was the instrument employed in all this
double-dealing? Gobind Ram, the Vizier's diplomatic minister at Calcutta. Suspicions perpetually arise
in his mind whether he is not cheated and imposed
upon. He could never tell when he had Mr. Hastings fixed upon any point. He now finds him recommending Mr. Middleton, and then declaring that Mr. .
Middleton neglects the duty of his office, and gives
him, Gobind Ram, information that is fraudulent
and directly contrary to the truth. He is let into
various contradictory secrets, and becomes acquainted. with innumerable frauds, falsehoods, and prevarications. He knew that the whole pretended government of Oude was from beginning to end a deception; -that it was an imposture for the purpose of corruption and peculation. Such was the situation of the
Nabobs vakeel. The Nabob himself was really at a
loss to know who had and who had not the Governor's confidence; whether he was. acting in obedience
to the orders of the Court of Directors, or whether
their orders were not always to be disobeyed. He
thus writes to Gobind Ram, who was exactly in
the same uncertainty.
"As to the commands of Mr. Hastings which you
write on the subject of the distraction of the country
and the want of information from me, and his wishes,
that, as Mr. John Bristow has shown sincere wishes
and attachment to Mr. Hastings, I should write'for
him to send Mr. John Bristow, it would have been
proper and necessary for you privately to have understood what were Mr. Hastings's real intentions,
whether the choice of sending Mr. John Bristow was
his own desire, or whether it was in compliance with
Mr. Macpherson's, that I might then have written
? ? ? ? 412 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
conformably thereto. Writings are now sent to you
for both cases; having privately understood the wishes of Mr. Hastings, deliver whichever of the writings
he should order you; for I study Mr. Hastings's satisfaction; whoever is his friend is mine, and whoever is his enemy is mine. But in both these cases,
my wishes are the same; that having consented to
the paper of questions which Major Davy carried with
him, and having given me the authority of the country, whomever he may afterwards appoint, I am satisfied. I am now brought to great distress by these gentlemen, who ruin me; in case of consent, I am
contented with Majors Davy and Palmer. Hereafter,
whatever may be Mr. Hastings's desire, it is best. "
Here is a poor, miserable instrument, confessing
himself to be such, ruined by Mr. Hastings's public
agents, Mr. Middleton and Mr. Johnson; ruined by
his private agents, Major Davy and Major Palmer;
ruined equally by them'all; and at last declaring in
a tone of despair, " If you have a mind really to keep
Major Davy and Major Palmer here, why, I must
consent to it. Do what you please with me, I am
your creature; for God's sake, let me have a little
rest. "
Your Lordships shall next hear what account
Hyder Beg Ihan, the Vizier's prime-minister, gives
of the situation in which he and his master were
placed. . Extract of a Letter from Hyder Beg KIhdn, received
21st April, 1785.
"I hope that such orders and commands as relate
to the friendship between his Highness and the Company's governments and to your will may be sent
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- FOURTH DAY. 413
through Major Palmer, in your own private letters,
or in your letters to the Major, who is appointed
from you at the presence of his Highness, that, in
obedience to your orders, he may properly explain
your commands, and, whatever affair may be settled,
he may first secretly inform you of it, and afterwards
his Highness may, conformably thereto, write an answer, and I also may represent it. By this system, your pleasure will always be fully made known to his
Highness; and his Highness and we will execute
whatever may be your orders, without deviating a
hair's-breadth: and let not the representations of
interested persons be approved of, because his Highness makes no opposition to your will; and I, your servant, am ready in obedience and service, and I
make no excuses. "
Now, my Lords, was there ever such a discovery
made of the arcana of any public theatre? You see
here, behind the ostensible scenery, all the crooked
working of the machinery developed and laid open to
the world. You now see by what secret movement
the master of the mechanism has conducted the
great Indian opera, - an opera of fraud, deceptions,
and harlequin tricks. You have it all laid open
before you. The ostensible scene is drawn aside; it
has vanished from your sight. All the strutting signors, and all the soft signoras are gone; and instead of a brilliant spectacle of descending chariots, gods,
goddesses, sun, moon, and stars, you have nothing to
gaze on but sticks, wire, ropes, and machinery. You
find the appearance all false and fraudulent; and you
see the whole trick at once. All this, my Lords, we
owe to Major Scott's trunk, which, by admitting us
? ? ? ? 414 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
behind the scene, has enabled us to discover the real
state of Mr. HIastings's government in India. And
can your Lordships believe that all this mechanism of fraud, prevarication, and falsehood could have
been intended for any purpose but to forward that
robbery, corruption, and peculation by which Mr.
Hastings has destroyed one of the finest countries
upon earth? Is it necessary, after this, for me to
tell you that you are not to believe one word of the
correspondence stated by him to have been received
from India? This discovery goes to the whole matter of the whole government of the country. You
have seen what that government was, and by-andby you shall see the effects of it.
Your Lordships have now seen this trunk of Mr.
Scott's producing the effects of Aladdin's lamp, - of
which your Lordships may read in books much more
worthy of credit than Mr. Hastings's correspondence.
I have given all the credit of this precious discovery
to Mr. Scott's trunk; but, my Lords, I find that I
have to ask pardon for a mistake -in supposing the
letter of Hyder Beg Khan to be a part of Mr. Hastings's correspondence. - It comes from another quarter, not much less singular, and equally authentic and unimpeachable. But -though it is not from the
trunk, it smells of the trunk, it smells of the leather.
I was as proud of my imaginary discovery as Sancho
Panza was that one of his ancestors had discovered a
taste of iron in some wine, and another a taste of
leather in the same wine, and that afterwards there
was found in the cask a little key tied to a thong of
leather, which had given to the wine a taste of'both.
Now, whether this letter tasted of the leather of the
trunk or of the iron of Mr. Macpherson, I -confess I
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- FOURTH DAY. 415
was a little out in my suggestion and my taste. The
letter in question was written by Hyder Beg Khan,
after Mr. Hastings's departure, to Mr. Macpherson,
when he succeeded to the government. That gentleman thus got possession of a key to the trunk; and it appears to have been- his intentions to follow the
steps of his predecessor, to act exactly in the same
manner, and in the same manner to make the Nabob
the instrument of his own ruin. This letter was
written by the Nabob's minister to Sir John Macpherson, newly inaugurated into his government, and who might be supposed not to be acquainted with all
the best of Mr. Hastings's secrets, nor to have had all
the trunk correspondence put into his hands. However, here is a trunk extraordinary, and its contents are much in the manner of the other. The Nabob's
minister acquaints him with the whole secret of the
system. It is plain that the Nabob considered it as a
system not to be altered: that there was to be nothing true, nothing aboveboard, nothing open in the government of his affairs. When' you thus see that
there can be little doubt of the true nature of the
government, I am sure that hereafter, when we come
to consider the effects of that government, it will
clear up and bring home to the prisoner at your bar
all we shall have to say'upon this subject.
Mr. Hastings, having thrown off completely the
authority of the Company, as you have seen, - having trampled upon those of their servants who had manifested any symptom of independence, or who
considered the orders of the Directors as a rule of
their'conduct, -- having brought every Englishman
under his yoke, and made them supple and fit instruments for all his designs, -- then gave it to be
? ? ? ? 416 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
understood that such alone were fit persons to be employed in important affairs of state. Consider, my Lords, the effect of this upon the whole service.
Not one man that appears to pay any regard to the
authority of the Directors is to expect that any regard will be paid to himself. So that this man not
only rebels himself, in his own person, against the
authority of the Company, but he makes all their
servants join him in this very rebellion. Think, my
Lords, of this state of things, -and I wish it never
to pass from your minds that I have called him the
captain-general of the whole host of actors in Indian
iniquity, under whom that host was arrayed, disciplined, and paid. This language which I used was
not, as fools have thought proper to call it, offensive
and abusive; it is in a proper criminatory tone, justified by the facts that I have stated to you, and in every step we take it is justified more and more. I
take it as a text upon which I mean to preach; I take
it as a text which I wish to have in your Lordships'
memory from the beginning to the end of this proceeding. He is not only guilty of iniquity himself, but is at the head of a system of iniquity and rebellion, and
will not suffer with impunity any one honest man
to exist in India, if he can help it. Every mark of
obedience to the legal authority of the Company is
by him condemned; and if there is anlly virtue remaining in India, as I think there is, it is not his
fault that it still exists there.
We have shown you the servile obedience of the
natives of the country; we have shown you the miserable situation to which a great prince, at least a person who was the other day a great prince, was
reduced by Mr. Hastings's system. We shall next
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FOURTH DAY. 417
show you that this prince, who, unfortunately for
himself, became a dependant on the Company, and
thereby subjected to the will of an arbitrary government, is made by him the instrument of his own degradation, the instrument of his'(the Governor's) falsehoods, the instrument of his peculations; and
that he had been subjected to all this degradation for
the purposes of the most odious tyranny, violence, and
corruption.
Mr. Hastings, having assumed the government to
himself, soon made Oude a private domain. . It had,
to be sure, a public name, but it was to all practical intents and purposes his park, or his warren, - a
place, as it were, for game, whence he drew out or
killed, at an earlier or later season, as he thought
fit, anything he liked, and brought it to his table according as it served his purpose. Before I proceed,
it will not be improper for me to remind your Lordships of the legitimate ends to which all controlling and superintending power ought to be directed. Whether a man acquires this power by law or by
usurpation, there are certain duties attached to his
station. Let us now see what these duties are.
The first is, to take care of that vital principle
of every state, its revenue. The next is, to preserve the magistracy and legal authorities in honor,
respect, and force. And the third, to preserve the
property, movable and immovable, of all the people
committed to his charge.
In regard to his first duty, the protection of the
revenue, your Lordships will find, that, from three
millions and upwards which I stated to be the revenue of Oude, and which Mr. Hastings, I believe, or
anybody for him, has never thought proper to deny,
VOL. XI. 27
? ? ? ? 418 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
it sunk under his management to about one million
four hundred and forty thousand pounds: and even
this, Mr. Middleton says, (as you may see in your
minutes,) was not completely realized. Thus, my
Lords, you see that one half of the whole revenue
of the country was lost after it came into Mr. Hastings's management. Well, but it may perhaps be
said this was owing to the Nabob's own imprudence.
No such thing, my Lords; it could not be so; for
the whole real administration and government of the
country was in the hands of Mr. Hastings's agents,
public or private.
To let you see how provident Mr. Hastings's management of it was, I shall produce to your Lordships one of the principal manoeuvres that he adopted for the improvement of the revenue, and for the happiness and prosperity of the country, the latter
of which will always go along, more or less, with the
first.
The Nabob, whose acts your Lordships have now
learned to appreciate as no other than the acts of
Mr. Hastings, writes to the Council to have a body
of British officers, for the purposes of improving the
discipline of his troops, collecting his revenues, and
repressing disorder and outrage among his subjects.
This proposal was ostensibly fair and proper; and
if I had been in the Council at that time, and the
Nabob had really and bond fide made such a request,
I should have said he had taken a very reasonable
and judicious step, and that the Company ought to
aid him in his design.
Among the officers sent to Oude, in consequence
of this requisition, was the well-known Colonel Hannay: a man whose name will be bitterly and long
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FOURTH DAY. 419.
remembered in India. This person, we understand,
had been recommended to Mr. Hastings by. Sir Elijah
Impey: and his appointment was the natural consequence of such patronage. I say the natural consequence, because Sir Elijah Impey appears on your minutes to have been Mr. Hastings's private agent
and negotiator in Oude. In that light, and in that
light only, I consider Colonel Hannay in this business. We cannot prove that he was not of Mr. Hastings's own nomination originally and primarily; but whether we take him in this way, or as recommended
by Sir Elijah Impey, or anybody else, Mr. Hastings
is equally responsible.
Colonel Hannay is sent up by Mr. Hastings, and
has the command of a brigade, of two regiments I
think, given to him. Thus far all is apparently fair
and easily understood. But in this country we find
everything in masquerade and disguise. We find
this man, instead of being an officer, farmed the
revenue of the country, as is proved by Colonel
Lumsden and other gentlemen, who were his subfarmers and his assistants. Here, my Lords, we
have a man who appeared to have been sent up the
country as a commander of troops, agreeably to the
Nabob's request, and who, upon our inquiry, we discover to have been farmer-general of the country!
We discover this with surprise; and I believe, till
our inquiries began, it was unknown in Europe. We
have, however, proved upon your Lordships' minutes,
by an evidence produced by Mr. Hastings himself,
that Colonel Hannay was actually farmer-general of
the countries of Baraitch and Goruckpore. We have
proved upon your minutes that Colonel Hannay was
the only person possessed of power in the country;
? ? ? ? 420 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that there was no magistrate in it, nor any administration of the law whatever. We have proved to your
Lordships that in his character of farmer-general
he availed himself of the influence derived from
commanding a battalion of soldiers. In short, we
have proved that the whole power, civil; military,
municipal, and financial, resided in him; and we
further refer your Lordships to Mr. Lumsden and
Mr. Halhed for the authority which he possessed
in that country. Your Lordships, I am sure, will
supply with your diligence what is defective in my
statement; I have therefore taken the liberty of indicating to you where you are to find the evidence
to which I refer. You will there, my Lords, find
this Colonel Hannay in a false character: he is ostensibly given to the Nabob as a commander of his
troops, while in reality he is forced upon that prince
as his farmer-general. He is invested with the whole
command of the country, while the sovereign is unable to control him, or- to prevent his extorting from
the people whatever he pleases.
If we are asked what the terms of his farm
were, we cannot discover that he farmed the country at any certain sum.
We cannot discover that he
was subjected to any terms, or confined by any limitations. Armed with arbitrary power, and exercising that power under a false title, his exactions from the poor natives were. only limited by his own pleasure. Under these circumstances, we are now to
ask what there was to prevent him from robbing and
ruining the people, and what security against his
robbing the exchequer of the person whose revenue
he farmed.
You are told by the witnesses in the clearest man
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FOURTH DAY. 421
ner, (and, after what you have heard of the state of
Oude, you cannot doubt the fact,) that nobody, not
even the Nabob, dared to complain against him,that he was considered as a man authorized and supported by the power of the British government; and it is proved in the evidence before you that he vexed
and harassed the country to the utmost extent
which we have stated in our article of charge, and
which you would naturally expect from a man acting
under such false names with such real powers. We
have proved that from some of the principal zemindars in that country, who held farms let to. them for
twenty-seven thousand rupees a year, a rent of sixty thousand was demanded, and in some cases en-forced, --and that upon the refusal of one of them to comply with this demand, he was driven out of
the country.
Your Lordships will find in the evidence before
you that the inhabitants of the country were not only
harassed in their fortunes,; but'cruelly treated in their
persons. You have it upon Mr. Halhed's evidence,
and it is not attempted, that I know of, to be contradicted, that the people were confined in open cages,
exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, for pretended or real arrears'of. rent: it is indifferent which,
because I consider all confinement of the person to
support an arbitrary exaction to be an abomination
not to be tolerated. They have endeavored, indeed,
to weaken this evidence by an attempt to prove that
a man day and night in confinement in an open cage
suffers no inconvenience. And here I must beg
your Lordships to observe the extreme unwillingness
that appears in these witnesses. Their testimony is
drawn from them drop by drop, their answers to our
? ? ? ? 422 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
questions are never more than yes or no; but when
they are examined by the counsel on the other side,
it flows as freely as if drawn from a perennial spring:
and such a spring we have in Indian corruption.
Wo have, however, proved that in these cages the
renters were confined till they could be lodged in
the dungeons or mud forts. We have proved that
some of them were obliged to sell their children, that
-others fled the country, and that these practices were
carried to such an awful extent that Colonel iHannay
-was under the necessity of issuing orders against
the unnatural sale and flight which his rapacity had
occasioned.
The prisoner's counsel have attempted to prove:that this had been a common practice in that country. And though possibly some person as wicked
as Colonel Hannay might have been there before at:some time or other, no man ever sold his children
but under' the pressure of some cruel exaction. Nature calls out against it. The love that God has implanted in the heart of parents towards their children is: the first germ of that second conjunction which
He has ordered to subsist between them and the rest
of mankind. It is the first formation and first bond
of society. It is stronger than all laws; for it is the
law of Nature, which is the law of God. Never did
a man sell his children who was able to maintain
them. It is, therefore, not only a proof of his exactions, but a decisive proof that these exactions were
intolerable.
Next to the love of parents for their children, the
strongest instinct, both natural and moral, that exists
in man, is the love of his country: an instinct, indeed, which extends even to the brute creation. All
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FOURTH DAY. 423
creatures love their offspring; next to that they love. their homes: they have a fondness for the place
where they have been bred, for the habitations they
have dwelt in, for the stalls in which they have been
fed, the pastures they have bjrowsed in, and the wilds
in which they have roamed. We all know that the
natal soil has a sweetness in it beyond the harmony
of verse. This instinct, I say, that binds all creatures to their country, never becomes inert in us, nor
ever suffers us to want a memory of it. Those,
therefore, who seek to fly their country can only wish
to fly from oppression: and what other proof can you
want of this oppression, when, as a witness has told
you, Colonel iannay was obliged to put bars and
guards to confine the inhabitants within the country?
We have seen, therefore, Nature violated in its
strongest principles. We have seen unlimited and
arbitrary exaction avowed, on no pretence of any law,
rule, or any fixed mode by which these people were
to be dealt with. . All these facts have been proved
before your Lordships by costive and unwilling witnesses. In consequence of these violent and cruel
oppressions, a general rebellion breaks out in the
country, as was naturally to be expected. The inhabitants rise as if by common consent; every farmer, every proprietor of land, every mall who loved his family and his country, and had not fled for refuge, rose in rebellion, as they call it. My Lords,
they did rebel; it was a just rebellion. Insurrection
was there just and legal, inasmuch as Colonel Hannay, in defiance of the laws and rights of the people, exercised a clandestine, illegal authority, against which there call be no rebellion ill its proper sense.
As a rebellion, however, and as a rebellion of the
? ? ? ? :424 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
most unprovoked -kind, it was treated by Colonel. Hannay; and to one instance of the means taken
for suppressing it, as proved by evidence, befor6 your
Lordships, I will just beg leave to call your attention.
One- hundred and fifty of. the inhabitants had been
shut up in one of the mud forts I have mentioned.
The people of the country, in their rage, attacked the
fort, and demanded the prisoners; they called for
*their brothers, their fathers, their husbands, who
were confined there. It was attacked by the joint
assault of men and women. '. The man who conmmanded in the fort immediately cut off the heads of
eighteen of the principal prisoners, and tossed them
over the battlements to the assailants. There happened to be a prisoner in the fort, a mail loved
and respected in his country, and who, whether justly or unjustly, was honored and much esteemed by
all the people. "Give us our Rajah, Mustapha
Khan! " (that was the name of the man confined,)
cried out the assailants. We asked the witness at
your bar what he was confined for. He did not
know; but he said that Colonel Hallnay had confined
him, and added, that he was sentenced to death.
We desired to see the fetwah, or decree, of the judge
who sentenced him. No, - no such thing, nor any
evidence of its having ever existed, could be produced. We desired to know whether he could give
any account of the process, any account of the magistrate, any account of the accuser, any account of
the defence, -- in *short, whether he could give any
account whatever of this man's being condemned to
death. He could give no account of it, but the orders of Colonlel Hannay, who seems to have imprisoiled and condemned him by his own arbitrary will.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FOURTH DAY. 425
Upon the demand of Rajah Mustapha by the insurgents being made known to Colonel Hannay, he
sends an order to the commander of the fort, a man
already stained with the blood of all the people who
were murdered there, that, if he had not executed
Mustapha Khan, he should execute him immediately.
The man is staggered at the order, and refuses to
execute it, as not being directly addressed to him.
Colonel Hannay then sends a Captain Williams, who
has appeared here as an evidence at your bar, and
who, together with Captain Gordon and Major Macdonald, both witnesses also here, were all sub-farmers and actors under Colonel Hannay. This Captain Williams, I say, goes there, and, without asking one
of those questions which I put to the witness at your
bar, and desiring nothing but Colonel Hannay's
word, orders the man to be beheaded; and accordingly he was beheaded, agreeably. to the orders of
Colonel Hannay. Upon this, the rebellion blazed out
with tenfold fury, and the people declared they would
be revenged for the destruction of their zemindar.
Your Lordships have now seen this Mustapha
Khani imprisoned and sentenced to death by Colonel
Hannay, without judge and without accuser, without
any evidence, without thefetwah, or any sentence of
the law. This man is thus put to death by an arbitrary villain, by a more than cruel tyrant, Colonel
Hannay, the substitute of a ten thousand times more
cruel tyrant, Mr. Hastings.
In this situation was the country of Oude, under
Colonel Hannay, when he was removed from it.
The knowledge of his misconduct had before induced
the miserable Nabob to make an effort to get rid of
him; but Mr. Hastings had repressed that effort by
? ? ? ? 426 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
a civil reprimand,- telling him, indeed, at the same
time,'" I do not force you to receive him. " (Indeed,
the Nabob's situation had in it force enough. ) The
Nabob, I say, was forced to receive him; and again
he ravages and destroys that devoted country, till the
time of which I have been just speaking, when he
was driven out of it finally by the rebellion, and, its
you may imagine, departed like a leech full of blood.
It is stated in evidence upon your minutes that
this bloated leech went back to Calcutta; that he was
supposed, from a state of debt, (in which he was
known to have been when he left that city,) to have
returned from Oude with the handsome sum of 300,
0001. , of which 80,0001. was in gold mohurs. This
is declared to be the universal opinion in India, and
no man has ever contradicted it. Ten persons have
given evidence to that effect; not one has contradicted it, from that hour to this, that I ever heard of. The man is now no more. Whether his family have
the whole of the plunder or not, --what partnership
there' was in this business, --what shares, what dividends were made, and who got them, -- about all this public opinion varied, and we can with certainty
affirm nothing; but there ended the life and exploits
of Colonel Hannay, farmer-general, civil officer, and
military commander of Baraitch and Goruckpore.
But not so ended Mr. Hastings's proceedings.
Soon after the return of Colonel Hannay to
Calcutta, this miserable Nabob received intelligence,
which concurrent public fame supported, that Mr.
Hastings meant to send him up into the country again,
on a second expedition, probably with some such order as this: - "You have sucked blood enough for yourself, now try what you can do for your neigh
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. FOURTH DAY. 427
bors. " The Nabob was not likely to be misinformed.
His friend and agent, Gobind Ram, was at Calcutta,
and had constant access to all Mr. Hastings's people.
Mr. Hastings himself tells you what instructions
these vakeels always have to search into and discover all his transactions. This Gobind Ram, alarmed with strong apprehensions, and struck with horror at
the very idea of such an event, apprised his master
of his belief that Mr. Hastings meant to send Colonel
Hannay again into the country. Judge now, my
Lords, what Colonel Hannay must have been, from
the declaration which I will now read to you, extorted from that miserable slave, the Nabob, who thus addresses Mr. Hastings.
"My country and house belong to you; there is no:difference. I hope that you desire in your heart the good of my concerns. Colonel Hannay is inclined
to request your permission to be employed in the
affairs of this quarter. If by any means any matter
of this country dependent on me should be intrusted
to the Colonel, I swear by the Holy Prophet, that I
will not remain here, but will go from hence to you.
From your kindness let no concern dependent on
me be intrusted to the Colonel, and oblige me by a
speedy answer which may set my mind at ease. "
We: know very well that the prisoner at your bar
denied his having any intention to send him up.
We cannot prove them, but we' maintain that there
were grounds for the strongest suspicions that he
entertained such intentions. He cannot deny the
reality of this terror which existed in the minds of
the Nabob and his people, under the apprehension
that he was to be sent up, which plainly showed that
they at least considered there was ground enough for
? ? ? ? 428 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
charging him with that intention. What reason was
there to think that he should not be sent a third
time, who had been sent twice before? Certainly,
none; because every circumstance of Mr. Hastings's
proceedings was systematical, and perfectly well
known'at Oude.
But suppose it to have been a false report; it
shows all that the Managers wish to show, the
extremei terror which these creatures and tools of
Mr. Hastings struck into the people of that country.
His denial of any intention of again sending Colonel
Hannay' does not disprove either the justness of their
suspicions or the existence of the terror which his
very name excited.
My Lords, I shall now call your attention to a part
of the evidence which we have produced to prove the
terrible effects of Colonel Hannay's operations. Captain Edwards, an untainted man, who tells you that
he had passed through that country again and again,
describes it as bearing all the marks of savage desolation. Mr. Holt says it has fallen from its formerstate, -- that whole towns and villages were no longer peopled, and that the country carried evident marks
of famine. One would have thought that Colonel
Hannay's cruelty and depredations would have satiated Mr. Hastings. No: he finds another military collector, a Major Osborne, who, having suffered
in his preferment by the sentence of a court-martial,
whether justly or unjustly I neither know nor care,
was appointed to the command of a thousand men in
the provinces of Oude, but really to the administration of the revenues of the country. He administered them much in the sanme manner as Colonel Hannay had done. He, however, transmitted to the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FOURTH DAY. 429
government at Calcutta a partial representation of
the state. of the provinces, the substance of which
was, that the natives were exposed to every kind of
peculation, and that the country was in a horrible
state of confusion and disorder. This is upon the
Company's records; and although not produced inl
evidence, your Lordships may find it, for it has been
printed over and over again. This man went up to
tlie Vizier; in consequence of whose complaint, and
the renewed cries of the people, Mr. Hastings was
soon obliged to recall him.
But, my Lords, let us go from Major Osborne to
the rest of these military purveyors of revenue.
Your Lordships shall hear the Vizier's own account
of what he suffered from British officers, and into
what a state Mr. Hastings brought that country by
the agency of officers who, under the pretence of defending it, were invested with powers which enabled
them to commit most horrible abuses in the administration of the revenue, the collection of customs, and
the monopoly of the markets.
Copy of a Letter from the Nabob Vizier to the Governor- General.
"'All the officers stationed with the brigade at
Cawnpore, Futtyghur, Darunghur, and Furruckabad,
and other places, write purwannahs, and give positive
orders to the aumils of these places, respecting the
grain, &c. ; from which conduct the country will become depopulate. I am hopeful from your friendship that you will write to all these gentlemen not-to issue orders, &c. , to the aumils, and not to
send troops into the mahals of the sircar; and for
whatever quantity of grain, &c. , they may want, they
? ? ? ? 430 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
will inform me and the Resident, and we will write
it to the aumils, who shall cause it to be sent them
every month, and I will deduct the price of them
from the tuncaws: this will be agreeable both to me
and to the ryots. "
A Copy of a subsequent Letter from the Vizier to Rajah
Gobind Ram.
" I some time ago wrote you the particulars of the
conduct of the officers, and now write them again.
The officers and gentlemen- who are at Cawnpore,
and Futtyghur, and Darunghur, and other places, by
different means act very tyrannically and oppressively towards the aumils and ryots and inhabitants; and to whomsoever that requires a dustuck they
give it, with their own seal affixed, and send for the
aumils and punish them. -If they say anything,
the gentlemen make use of but two words: one,That is for the brigade; and the second, - That is
to administer justice. The particulars of it is this,
-- that the byparees will bring their grain from all
quarters, and sell for their livelihood. There is at
present no war to occasion a necessity for sending for
it. If none comes, whatever quantity will be necessary every month I will mention to the aumils, that they may bring it for sale: but there is no deficiency of grain. The gentlemen have established gunges for their own advantage, called Colonel Gunge, at
Darunghur, Futtyghur, &c. The collection of the
customs from all quarters they have stopped, and
collected them at their own gunges. Each gunge.
is rented out at 30,000-40,000 rupees, and their
collections paid to the gentlemen. They have established gunges where there never were any, and
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FOURTH DAY. 431
where they were, those they have abolished; 30,000 or
40,000 rupees is the sum they are rented at; the collections, to the amount of a lac of rupees, are stopped.
Major Briscoe, who is at Darunghur, has established
a gunge which rented out for 45,000 rupees, and has
stopped the ghauts round about the byparees; and
merchants coming from Cashmere, from Shalljehanabad, and bringing shawls and other goods and spices, &c. , from all quarters, he orders to his gunge,
and collects the duty from the aumils, gives them a
chit, and a guard, who conducts them about five
hundred coss: the former duties are not collected.
From the conduct at Cawnpore, Futtyghur, Furruck-.
it pervaded and poisoned the whole mass of their
internal government.
? ? ? ? :SPEECH IN REPLY. - FOURTH DAY. 411
Who. was the instrument employed in all this
double-dealing? Gobind Ram, the Vizier's diplomatic minister at Calcutta. Suspicions perpetually arise
in his mind whether he is not cheated and imposed
upon. He could never tell when he had Mr. Hastings fixed upon any point. He now finds him recommending Mr. Middleton, and then declaring that Mr. .
Middleton neglects the duty of his office, and gives
him, Gobind Ram, information that is fraudulent
and directly contrary to the truth. He is let into
various contradictory secrets, and becomes acquainted. with innumerable frauds, falsehoods, and prevarications. He knew that the whole pretended government of Oude was from beginning to end a deception; -that it was an imposture for the purpose of corruption and peculation. Such was the situation of the
Nabobs vakeel. The Nabob himself was really at a
loss to know who had and who had not the Governor's confidence; whether he was. acting in obedience
to the orders of the Court of Directors, or whether
their orders were not always to be disobeyed. He
thus writes to Gobind Ram, who was exactly in
the same uncertainty.
"As to the commands of Mr. Hastings which you
write on the subject of the distraction of the country
and the want of information from me, and his wishes,
that, as Mr. John Bristow has shown sincere wishes
and attachment to Mr. Hastings, I should write'for
him to send Mr. John Bristow, it would have been
proper and necessary for you privately to have understood what were Mr. Hastings's real intentions,
whether the choice of sending Mr. John Bristow was
his own desire, or whether it was in compliance with
Mr. Macpherson's, that I might then have written
? ? ? ? 412 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
conformably thereto. Writings are now sent to you
for both cases; having privately understood the wishes of Mr. Hastings, deliver whichever of the writings
he should order you; for I study Mr. Hastings's satisfaction; whoever is his friend is mine, and whoever is his enemy is mine. But in both these cases,
my wishes are the same; that having consented to
the paper of questions which Major Davy carried with
him, and having given me the authority of the country, whomever he may afterwards appoint, I am satisfied. I am now brought to great distress by these gentlemen, who ruin me; in case of consent, I am
contented with Majors Davy and Palmer. Hereafter,
whatever may be Mr. Hastings's desire, it is best. "
Here is a poor, miserable instrument, confessing
himself to be such, ruined by Mr. Hastings's public
agents, Mr. Middleton and Mr. Johnson; ruined by
his private agents, Major Davy and Major Palmer;
ruined equally by them'all; and at last declaring in
a tone of despair, " If you have a mind really to keep
Major Davy and Major Palmer here, why, I must
consent to it. Do what you please with me, I am
your creature; for God's sake, let me have a little
rest. "
Your Lordships shall next hear what account
Hyder Beg Ihan, the Vizier's prime-minister, gives
of the situation in which he and his master were
placed. . Extract of a Letter from Hyder Beg KIhdn, received
21st April, 1785.
"I hope that such orders and commands as relate
to the friendship between his Highness and the Company's governments and to your will may be sent
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- FOURTH DAY. 413
through Major Palmer, in your own private letters,
or in your letters to the Major, who is appointed
from you at the presence of his Highness, that, in
obedience to your orders, he may properly explain
your commands, and, whatever affair may be settled,
he may first secretly inform you of it, and afterwards
his Highness may, conformably thereto, write an answer, and I also may represent it. By this system, your pleasure will always be fully made known to his
Highness; and his Highness and we will execute
whatever may be your orders, without deviating a
hair's-breadth: and let not the representations of
interested persons be approved of, because his Highness makes no opposition to your will; and I, your servant, am ready in obedience and service, and I
make no excuses. "
Now, my Lords, was there ever such a discovery
made of the arcana of any public theatre? You see
here, behind the ostensible scenery, all the crooked
working of the machinery developed and laid open to
the world. You now see by what secret movement
the master of the mechanism has conducted the
great Indian opera, - an opera of fraud, deceptions,
and harlequin tricks. You have it all laid open
before you. The ostensible scene is drawn aside; it
has vanished from your sight. All the strutting signors, and all the soft signoras are gone; and instead of a brilliant spectacle of descending chariots, gods,
goddesses, sun, moon, and stars, you have nothing to
gaze on but sticks, wire, ropes, and machinery. You
find the appearance all false and fraudulent; and you
see the whole trick at once. All this, my Lords, we
owe to Major Scott's trunk, which, by admitting us
? ? ? ? 414 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
behind the scene, has enabled us to discover the real
state of Mr. HIastings's government in India. And
can your Lordships believe that all this mechanism of fraud, prevarication, and falsehood could have
been intended for any purpose but to forward that
robbery, corruption, and peculation by which Mr.
Hastings has destroyed one of the finest countries
upon earth? Is it necessary, after this, for me to
tell you that you are not to believe one word of the
correspondence stated by him to have been received
from India? This discovery goes to the whole matter of the whole government of the country. You
have seen what that government was, and by-andby you shall see the effects of it.
Your Lordships have now seen this trunk of Mr.
Scott's producing the effects of Aladdin's lamp, - of
which your Lordships may read in books much more
worthy of credit than Mr. Hastings's correspondence.
I have given all the credit of this precious discovery
to Mr. Scott's trunk; but, my Lords, I find that I
have to ask pardon for a mistake -in supposing the
letter of Hyder Beg Khan to be a part of Mr. Hastings's correspondence. - It comes from another quarter, not much less singular, and equally authentic and unimpeachable. But -though it is not from the
trunk, it smells of the trunk, it smells of the leather.
I was as proud of my imaginary discovery as Sancho
Panza was that one of his ancestors had discovered a
taste of iron in some wine, and another a taste of
leather in the same wine, and that afterwards there
was found in the cask a little key tied to a thong of
leather, which had given to the wine a taste of'both.
Now, whether this letter tasted of the leather of the
trunk or of the iron of Mr. Macpherson, I -confess I
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- FOURTH DAY. 415
was a little out in my suggestion and my taste. The
letter in question was written by Hyder Beg Khan,
after Mr. Hastings's departure, to Mr. Macpherson,
when he succeeded to the government. That gentleman thus got possession of a key to the trunk; and it appears to have been- his intentions to follow the
steps of his predecessor, to act exactly in the same
manner, and in the same manner to make the Nabob
the instrument of his own ruin. This letter was
written by the Nabob's minister to Sir John Macpherson, newly inaugurated into his government, and who might be supposed not to be acquainted with all
the best of Mr. Hastings's secrets, nor to have had all
the trunk correspondence put into his hands. However, here is a trunk extraordinary, and its contents are much in the manner of the other. The Nabob's
minister acquaints him with the whole secret of the
system. It is plain that the Nabob considered it as a
system not to be altered: that there was to be nothing true, nothing aboveboard, nothing open in the government of his affairs. When' you thus see that
there can be little doubt of the true nature of the
government, I am sure that hereafter, when we come
to consider the effects of that government, it will
clear up and bring home to the prisoner at your bar
all we shall have to say'upon this subject.
Mr. Hastings, having thrown off completely the
authority of the Company, as you have seen, - having trampled upon those of their servants who had manifested any symptom of independence, or who
considered the orders of the Directors as a rule of
their'conduct, -- having brought every Englishman
under his yoke, and made them supple and fit instruments for all his designs, -- then gave it to be
? ? ? ? 416 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
understood that such alone were fit persons to be employed in important affairs of state. Consider, my Lords, the effect of this upon the whole service.
Not one man that appears to pay any regard to the
authority of the Directors is to expect that any regard will be paid to himself. So that this man not
only rebels himself, in his own person, against the
authority of the Company, but he makes all their
servants join him in this very rebellion. Think, my
Lords, of this state of things, -and I wish it never
to pass from your minds that I have called him the
captain-general of the whole host of actors in Indian
iniquity, under whom that host was arrayed, disciplined, and paid. This language which I used was
not, as fools have thought proper to call it, offensive
and abusive; it is in a proper criminatory tone, justified by the facts that I have stated to you, and in every step we take it is justified more and more. I
take it as a text upon which I mean to preach; I take
it as a text which I wish to have in your Lordships'
memory from the beginning to the end of this proceeding. He is not only guilty of iniquity himself, but is at the head of a system of iniquity and rebellion, and
will not suffer with impunity any one honest man
to exist in India, if he can help it. Every mark of
obedience to the legal authority of the Company is
by him condemned; and if there is anlly virtue remaining in India, as I think there is, it is not his
fault that it still exists there.
We have shown you the servile obedience of the
natives of the country; we have shown you the miserable situation to which a great prince, at least a person who was the other day a great prince, was
reduced by Mr. Hastings's system. We shall next
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FOURTH DAY. 417
show you that this prince, who, unfortunately for
himself, became a dependant on the Company, and
thereby subjected to the will of an arbitrary government, is made by him the instrument of his own degradation, the instrument of his'(the Governor's) falsehoods, the instrument of his peculations; and
that he had been subjected to all this degradation for
the purposes of the most odious tyranny, violence, and
corruption.
Mr. Hastings, having assumed the government to
himself, soon made Oude a private domain. . It had,
to be sure, a public name, but it was to all practical intents and purposes his park, or his warren, - a
place, as it were, for game, whence he drew out or
killed, at an earlier or later season, as he thought
fit, anything he liked, and brought it to his table according as it served his purpose. Before I proceed,
it will not be improper for me to remind your Lordships of the legitimate ends to which all controlling and superintending power ought to be directed. Whether a man acquires this power by law or by
usurpation, there are certain duties attached to his
station. Let us now see what these duties are.
The first is, to take care of that vital principle
of every state, its revenue. The next is, to preserve the magistracy and legal authorities in honor,
respect, and force. And the third, to preserve the
property, movable and immovable, of all the people
committed to his charge.
In regard to his first duty, the protection of the
revenue, your Lordships will find, that, from three
millions and upwards which I stated to be the revenue of Oude, and which Mr. Hastings, I believe, or
anybody for him, has never thought proper to deny,
VOL. XI. 27
? ? ? ? 418 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
it sunk under his management to about one million
four hundred and forty thousand pounds: and even
this, Mr. Middleton says, (as you may see in your
minutes,) was not completely realized. Thus, my
Lords, you see that one half of the whole revenue
of the country was lost after it came into Mr. Hastings's management. Well, but it may perhaps be
said this was owing to the Nabob's own imprudence.
No such thing, my Lords; it could not be so; for
the whole real administration and government of the
country was in the hands of Mr. Hastings's agents,
public or private.
To let you see how provident Mr. Hastings's management of it was, I shall produce to your Lordships one of the principal manoeuvres that he adopted for the improvement of the revenue, and for the happiness and prosperity of the country, the latter
of which will always go along, more or less, with the
first.
The Nabob, whose acts your Lordships have now
learned to appreciate as no other than the acts of
Mr. Hastings, writes to the Council to have a body
of British officers, for the purposes of improving the
discipline of his troops, collecting his revenues, and
repressing disorder and outrage among his subjects.
This proposal was ostensibly fair and proper; and
if I had been in the Council at that time, and the
Nabob had really and bond fide made such a request,
I should have said he had taken a very reasonable
and judicious step, and that the Company ought to
aid him in his design.
Among the officers sent to Oude, in consequence
of this requisition, was the well-known Colonel Hannay: a man whose name will be bitterly and long
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FOURTH DAY. 419.
remembered in India. This person, we understand,
had been recommended to Mr. Hastings by. Sir Elijah
Impey: and his appointment was the natural consequence of such patronage. I say the natural consequence, because Sir Elijah Impey appears on your minutes to have been Mr. Hastings's private agent
and negotiator in Oude. In that light, and in that
light only, I consider Colonel Hannay in this business. We cannot prove that he was not of Mr. Hastings's own nomination originally and primarily; but whether we take him in this way, or as recommended
by Sir Elijah Impey, or anybody else, Mr. Hastings
is equally responsible.
Colonel Hannay is sent up by Mr. Hastings, and
has the command of a brigade, of two regiments I
think, given to him. Thus far all is apparently fair
and easily understood. But in this country we find
everything in masquerade and disguise. We find
this man, instead of being an officer, farmed the
revenue of the country, as is proved by Colonel
Lumsden and other gentlemen, who were his subfarmers and his assistants. Here, my Lords, we
have a man who appeared to have been sent up the
country as a commander of troops, agreeably to the
Nabob's request, and who, upon our inquiry, we discover to have been farmer-general of the country!
We discover this with surprise; and I believe, till
our inquiries began, it was unknown in Europe. We
have, however, proved upon your Lordships' minutes,
by an evidence produced by Mr. Hastings himself,
that Colonel Hannay was actually farmer-general of
the countries of Baraitch and Goruckpore. We have
proved upon your minutes that Colonel Hannay was
the only person possessed of power in the country;
? ? ? ? 420 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that there was no magistrate in it, nor any administration of the law whatever. We have proved to your
Lordships that in his character of farmer-general
he availed himself of the influence derived from
commanding a battalion of soldiers. In short, we
have proved that the whole power, civil; military,
municipal, and financial, resided in him; and we
further refer your Lordships to Mr. Lumsden and
Mr. Halhed for the authority which he possessed
in that country. Your Lordships, I am sure, will
supply with your diligence what is defective in my
statement; I have therefore taken the liberty of indicating to you where you are to find the evidence
to which I refer. You will there, my Lords, find
this Colonel Hannay in a false character: he is ostensibly given to the Nabob as a commander of his
troops, while in reality he is forced upon that prince
as his farmer-general. He is invested with the whole
command of the country, while the sovereign is unable to control him, or- to prevent his extorting from
the people whatever he pleases.
If we are asked what the terms of his farm
were, we cannot discover that he farmed the country at any certain sum.
We cannot discover that he
was subjected to any terms, or confined by any limitations. Armed with arbitrary power, and exercising that power under a false title, his exactions from the poor natives were. only limited by his own pleasure. Under these circumstances, we are now to
ask what there was to prevent him from robbing and
ruining the people, and what security against his
robbing the exchequer of the person whose revenue
he farmed.
You are told by the witnesses in the clearest man
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FOURTH DAY. 421
ner, (and, after what you have heard of the state of
Oude, you cannot doubt the fact,) that nobody, not
even the Nabob, dared to complain against him,that he was considered as a man authorized and supported by the power of the British government; and it is proved in the evidence before you that he vexed
and harassed the country to the utmost extent
which we have stated in our article of charge, and
which you would naturally expect from a man acting
under such false names with such real powers. We
have proved that from some of the principal zemindars in that country, who held farms let to. them for
twenty-seven thousand rupees a year, a rent of sixty thousand was demanded, and in some cases en-forced, --and that upon the refusal of one of them to comply with this demand, he was driven out of
the country.
Your Lordships will find in the evidence before
you that the inhabitants of the country were not only
harassed in their fortunes,; but'cruelly treated in their
persons. You have it upon Mr. Halhed's evidence,
and it is not attempted, that I know of, to be contradicted, that the people were confined in open cages,
exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, for pretended or real arrears'of. rent: it is indifferent which,
because I consider all confinement of the person to
support an arbitrary exaction to be an abomination
not to be tolerated. They have endeavored, indeed,
to weaken this evidence by an attempt to prove that
a man day and night in confinement in an open cage
suffers no inconvenience. And here I must beg
your Lordships to observe the extreme unwillingness
that appears in these witnesses. Their testimony is
drawn from them drop by drop, their answers to our
? ? ? ? 422 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
questions are never more than yes or no; but when
they are examined by the counsel on the other side,
it flows as freely as if drawn from a perennial spring:
and such a spring we have in Indian corruption.
Wo have, however, proved that in these cages the
renters were confined till they could be lodged in
the dungeons or mud forts. We have proved that
some of them were obliged to sell their children, that
-others fled the country, and that these practices were
carried to such an awful extent that Colonel iHannay
-was under the necessity of issuing orders against
the unnatural sale and flight which his rapacity had
occasioned.
The prisoner's counsel have attempted to prove:that this had been a common practice in that country. And though possibly some person as wicked
as Colonel Hannay might have been there before at:some time or other, no man ever sold his children
but under' the pressure of some cruel exaction. Nature calls out against it. The love that God has implanted in the heart of parents towards their children is: the first germ of that second conjunction which
He has ordered to subsist between them and the rest
of mankind. It is the first formation and first bond
of society. It is stronger than all laws; for it is the
law of Nature, which is the law of God. Never did
a man sell his children who was able to maintain
them. It is, therefore, not only a proof of his exactions, but a decisive proof that these exactions were
intolerable.
Next to the love of parents for their children, the
strongest instinct, both natural and moral, that exists
in man, is the love of his country: an instinct, indeed, which extends even to the brute creation. All
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FOURTH DAY. 423
creatures love their offspring; next to that they love. their homes: they have a fondness for the place
where they have been bred, for the habitations they
have dwelt in, for the stalls in which they have been
fed, the pastures they have bjrowsed in, and the wilds
in which they have roamed. We all know that the
natal soil has a sweetness in it beyond the harmony
of verse. This instinct, I say, that binds all creatures to their country, never becomes inert in us, nor
ever suffers us to want a memory of it. Those,
therefore, who seek to fly their country can only wish
to fly from oppression: and what other proof can you
want of this oppression, when, as a witness has told
you, Colonel iannay was obliged to put bars and
guards to confine the inhabitants within the country?
We have seen, therefore, Nature violated in its
strongest principles. We have seen unlimited and
arbitrary exaction avowed, on no pretence of any law,
rule, or any fixed mode by which these people were
to be dealt with. . All these facts have been proved
before your Lordships by costive and unwilling witnesses. In consequence of these violent and cruel
oppressions, a general rebellion breaks out in the
country, as was naturally to be expected. The inhabitants rise as if by common consent; every farmer, every proprietor of land, every mall who loved his family and his country, and had not fled for refuge, rose in rebellion, as they call it. My Lords,
they did rebel; it was a just rebellion. Insurrection
was there just and legal, inasmuch as Colonel Hannay, in defiance of the laws and rights of the people, exercised a clandestine, illegal authority, against which there call be no rebellion ill its proper sense.
As a rebellion, however, and as a rebellion of the
? ? ? ? :424 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
most unprovoked -kind, it was treated by Colonel. Hannay; and to one instance of the means taken
for suppressing it, as proved by evidence, befor6 your
Lordships, I will just beg leave to call your attention.
One- hundred and fifty of. the inhabitants had been
shut up in one of the mud forts I have mentioned.
The people of the country, in their rage, attacked the
fort, and demanded the prisoners; they called for
*their brothers, their fathers, their husbands, who
were confined there. It was attacked by the joint
assault of men and women. '. The man who conmmanded in the fort immediately cut off the heads of
eighteen of the principal prisoners, and tossed them
over the battlements to the assailants. There happened to be a prisoner in the fort, a mail loved
and respected in his country, and who, whether justly or unjustly, was honored and much esteemed by
all the people. "Give us our Rajah, Mustapha
Khan! " (that was the name of the man confined,)
cried out the assailants. We asked the witness at
your bar what he was confined for. He did not
know; but he said that Colonel Hallnay had confined
him, and added, that he was sentenced to death.
We desired to see the fetwah, or decree, of the judge
who sentenced him. No, - no such thing, nor any
evidence of its having ever existed, could be produced. We desired to know whether he could give
any account of the process, any account of the magistrate, any account of the accuser, any account of
the defence, -- in *short, whether he could give any
account whatever of this man's being condemned to
death. He could give no account of it, but the orders of Colonlel Hannay, who seems to have imprisoiled and condemned him by his own arbitrary will.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - FOURTH DAY. 425
Upon the demand of Rajah Mustapha by the insurgents being made known to Colonel Hannay, he
sends an order to the commander of the fort, a man
already stained with the blood of all the people who
were murdered there, that, if he had not executed
Mustapha Khan, he should execute him immediately.
The man is staggered at the order, and refuses to
execute it, as not being directly addressed to him.
Colonel Hannay then sends a Captain Williams, who
has appeared here as an evidence at your bar, and
who, together with Captain Gordon and Major Macdonald, both witnesses also here, were all sub-farmers and actors under Colonel Hannay. This Captain Williams, I say, goes there, and, without asking one
of those questions which I put to the witness at your
bar, and desiring nothing but Colonel Hannay's
word, orders the man to be beheaded; and accordingly he was beheaded, agreeably. to the orders of
Colonel Hannay. Upon this, the rebellion blazed out
with tenfold fury, and the people declared they would
be revenged for the destruction of their zemindar.
Your Lordships have now seen this Mustapha
Khani imprisoned and sentenced to death by Colonel
Hannay, without judge and without accuser, without
any evidence, without thefetwah, or any sentence of
the law. This man is thus put to death by an arbitrary villain, by a more than cruel tyrant, Colonel
Hannay, the substitute of a ten thousand times more
cruel tyrant, Mr. Hastings.
In this situation was the country of Oude, under
Colonel Hannay, when he was removed from it.
The knowledge of his misconduct had before induced
the miserable Nabob to make an effort to get rid of
him; but Mr. Hastings had repressed that effort by
? ? ? ? 426 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
a civil reprimand,- telling him, indeed, at the same
time,'" I do not force you to receive him. " (Indeed,
the Nabob's situation had in it force enough. ) The
Nabob, I say, was forced to receive him; and again
he ravages and destroys that devoted country, till the
time of which I have been just speaking, when he
was driven out of it finally by the rebellion, and, its
you may imagine, departed like a leech full of blood.
It is stated in evidence upon your minutes that
this bloated leech went back to Calcutta; that he was
supposed, from a state of debt, (in which he was
known to have been when he left that city,) to have
returned from Oude with the handsome sum of 300,
0001. , of which 80,0001. was in gold mohurs. This
is declared to be the universal opinion in India, and
no man has ever contradicted it. Ten persons have
given evidence to that effect; not one has contradicted it, from that hour to this, that I ever heard of. The man is now no more. Whether his family have
the whole of the plunder or not, --what partnership
there' was in this business, --what shares, what dividends were made, and who got them, -- about all this public opinion varied, and we can with certainty
affirm nothing; but there ended the life and exploits
of Colonel Hannay, farmer-general, civil officer, and
military commander of Baraitch and Goruckpore.
But not so ended Mr. Hastings's proceedings.
Soon after the return of Colonel Hannay to
Calcutta, this miserable Nabob received intelligence,
which concurrent public fame supported, that Mr.
Hastings meant to send him up into the country again,
on a second expedition, probably with some such order as this: - "You have sucked blood enough for yourself, now try what you can do for your neigh
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. FOURTH DAY. 427
bors. " The Nabob was not likely to be misinformed.
His friend and agent, Gobind Ram, was at Calcutta,
and had constant access to all Mr. Hastings's people.
Mr. Hastings himself tells you what instructions
these vakeels always have to search into and discover all his transactions. This Gobind Ram, alarmed with strong apprehensions, and struck with horror at
the very idea of such an event, apprised his master
of his belief that Mr. Hastings meant to send Colonel
Hannay again into the country. Judge now, my
Lords, what Colonel Hannay must have been, from
the declaration which I will now read to you, extorted from that miserable slave, the Nabob, who thus addresses Mr. Hastings.
"My country and house belong to you; there is no:difference. I hope that you desire in your heart the good of my concerns. Colonel Hannay is inclined
to request your permission to be employed in the
affairs of this quarter. If by any means any matter
of this country dependent on me should be intrusted
to the Colonel, I swear by the Holy Prophet, that I
will not remain here, but will go from hence to you.
From your kindness let no concern dependent on
me be intrusted to the Colonel, and oblige me by a
speedy answer which may set my mind at ease. "
We: know very well that the prisoner at your bar
denied his having any intention to send him up.
We cannot prove them, but we' maintain that there
were grounds for the strongest suspicions that he
entertained such intentions. He cannot deny the
reality of this terror which existed in the minds of
the Nabob and his people, under the apprehension
that he was to be sent up, which plainly showed that
they at least considered there was ground enough for
? ? ? ? 428 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
charging him with that intention. What reason was
there to think that he should not be sent a third
time, who had been sent twice before? Certainly,
none; because every circumstance of Mr. Hastings's
proceedings was systematical, and perfectly well
known'at Oude.
But suppose it to have been a false report; it
shows all that the Managers wish to show, the
extremei terror which these creatures and tools of
Mr. Hastings struck into the people of that country.
His denial of any intention of again sending Colonel
Hannay' does not disprove either the justness of their
suspicions or the existence of the terror which his
very name excited.
My Lords, I shall now call your attention to a part
of the evidence which we have produced to prove the
terrible effects of Colonel Hannay's operations. Captain Edwards, an untainted man, who tells you that
he had passed through that country again and again,
describes it as bearing all the marks of savage desolation. Mr. Holt says it has fallen from its formerstate, -- that whole towns and villages were no longer peopled, and that the country carried evident marks
of famine. One would have thought that Colonel
Hannay's cruelty and depredations would have satiated Mr. Hastings. No: he finds another military collector, a Major Osborne, who, having suffered
in his preferment by the sentence of a court-martial,
whether justly or unjustly I neither know nor care,
was appointed to the command of a thousand men in
the provinces of Oude, but really to the administration of the revenues of the country. He administered them much in the sanme manner as Colonel Hannay had done. He, however, transmitted to the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FOURTH DAY. 429
government at Calcutta a partial representation of
the state. of the provinces, the substance of which
was, that the natives were exposed to every kind of
peculation, and that the country was in a horrible
state of confusion and disorder. This is upon the
Company's records; and although not produced inl
evidence, your Lordships may find it, for it has been
printed over and over again. This man went up to
tlie Vizier; in consequence of whose complaint, and
the renewed cries of the people, Mr. Hastings was
soon obliged to recall him.
But, my Lords, let us go from Major Osborne to
the rest of these military purveyors of revenue.
Your Lordships shall hear the Vizier's own account
of what he suffered from British officers, and into
what a state Mr. Hastings brought that country by
the agency of officers who, under the pretence of defending it, were invested with powers which enabled
them to commit most horrible abuses in the administration of the revenue, the collection of customs, and
the monopoly of the markets.
Copy of a Letter from the Nabob Vizier to the Governor- General.
"'All the officers stationed with the brigade at
Cawnpore, Futtyghur, Darunghur, and Furruckabad,
and other places, write purwannahs, and give positive
orders to the aumils of these places, respecting the
grain, &c. ; from which conduct the country will become depopulate. I am hopeful from your friendship that you will write to all these gentlemen not-to issue orders, &c. , to the aumils, and not to
send troops into the mahals of the sircar; and for
whatever quantity of grain, &c. , they may want, they
? ? ? ? 430 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
will inform me and the Resident, and we will write
it to the aumils, who shall cause it to be sent them
every month, and I will deduct the price of them
from the tuncaws: this will be agreeable both to me
and to the ryots. "
A Copy of a subsequent Letter from the Vizier to Rajah
Gobind Ram.
" I some time ago wrote you the particulars of the
conduct of the officers, and now write them again.
The officers and gentlemen- who are at Cawnpore,
and Futtyghur, and Darunghur, and other places, by
different means act very tyrannically and oppressively towards the aumils and ryots and inhabitants; and to whomsoever that requires a dustuck they
give it, with their own seal affixed, and send for the
aumils and punish them. -If they say anything,
the gentlemen make use of but two words: one,That is for the brigade; and the second, - That is
to administer justice. The particulars of it is this,
-- that the byparees will bring their grain from all
quarters, and sell for their livelihood. There is at
present no war to occasion a necessity for sending for
it. If none comes, whatever quantity will be necessary every month I will mention to the aumils, that they may bring it for sale: but there is no deficiency of grain. The gentlemen have established gunges for their own advantage, called Colonel Gunge, at
Darunghur, Futtyghur, &c. The collection of the
customs from all quarters they have stopped, and
collected them at their own gunges. Each gunge.
is rented out at 30,000-40,000 rupees, and their
collections paid to the gentlemen. They have established gunges where there never were any, and
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -FOURTH DAY. 431
where they were, those they have abolished; 30,000 or
40,000 rupees is the sum they are rented at; the collections, to the amount of a lac of rupees, are stopped.
Major Briscoe, who is at Darunghur, has established
a gunge which rented out for 45,000 rupees, and has
stopped the ghauts round about the byparees; and
merchants coming from Cashmere, from Shalljehanabad, and bringing shawls and other goods and spices, &c. , from all quarters, he orders to his gunge,
and collects the duty from the aumils, gives them a
chit, and a guard, who conducts them about five
hundred coss: the former duties are not collected.
From the conduct at Cawnpore, Futtyghur, Furruck-.
