Hastings
places particular confidence, succeeds to the office of
Mahomed Reza Khan, and to the same control over
the Nabob's expenses.
places particular confidence, succeeds to the office of
Mahomed Reza Khan, and to the same control over
the Nabob's expenses.
Edmund Burke
Fowke, Mahomed
Reza Khan, and Mr. Bristow; that he had not the
? ? ? ? 200 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
smallest personal objection to them, and would willingly provide for them in any other line. Mr. Francis
in this treaty insisted on those very points which Mr.
Hastings declared he could never give up, and that
his conditions were the Company's orders, -- that
is, the restoration of the persons whom they had directed to be restored. The event of this negotiation
was, that Mr. Hastings at length submitted to Mr.
Francis, and that Mr. Fowke and Mahomed Reza
Khan were reinstated in their situations.
Your Committee observe on this part of the transaction of Mr. Hastings, that as long as the question
stood upon his obedience to his lawful superiors, so
long he considered the restoration of these persons as
a gross indignity, the submitting to which would destroy all his credit and influence in the country; but
when it was to accommodate his own occasions in a
treaty with a fellow-servant, all these difficulties instantly vanish, and he finds it perfectly consistent
with his dignity, credit, and influence, to do for Mr.
Francis what he had refused to the strict and reiterated injunctions of the Court of Directors. Tranquillity was, however, for a time restored by this nmeasure, though it did not continue long. In about three months an occasion occurred in which Mr. Francis
gave some opposition to a measure proposed by Mr.
Hastings, which brought on a duel, upon the mischievous effects of which your Committee have already made their observations.
The departure of Mr. Francis soon after for Europe opened a new scene, and gave rise to a third
revolution. Lest the arrangement with the servants
of the Company should have the least appearance of
being mistaken for obedience to their superiors, Mr.
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 201
Francis was little more than a month gone, when
Mr. Fowke was again recalled from Benares, and Mr.
Bristow soon after from Oude. In these measures
Mr. Hastings has combined the principles of disobedience which he had used in all the cases hitherto stated. In his Minute of Consultation on this recall
he refers to his former Minutes; and he adds, that he
has " a recent motive in the necessity of removing any
circumstance which may contribute to lessen his influenece ill the effect of any negotiations in which he may be engaged in the prosecution of his intended
visit to Lucknow. " He here reverts to his old plea
of preserving his influence; not content with this, as
in the case of Mahomed Reza Khan he had called in
the aid of the Nabob of Bengal, he here calls in the
aid of the Nabob of Oude, who, on reasons exactly
tallying with those given by Mr. Hastings, desires
that Mr. Bristow may be removed. The true weight
of these requisitions will appear, if not sufficiently apparent from the known situation of the parties, by the following extract of a letter from this Nabob of
Oude to his agent at Calcutta, desiring him to acquaint Mr. Hastings, that, "if it is proper, I will
write to the king [of Great Britain], and the vizier
[one of his Majesty's ministers], and the chief of the
Company, in such a manner as he shall direct, and in
the words that he shall order, that Mr. Bristow's views
may be thwarted there. " There is no doubt of the
entire cooperation of the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah
in all the designs of Mr. Hastings, and in thwarting
the views of any persons who place their reliance on
the authority of this kingdom.
As usual, the Court of Directors appear in their
proper order in the procession. After this third act
? ? ? ? 202 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
of disobedience with regard to the same person and
the same office, and after calling the proceedings unwarrantable, " in order to vindicate and uphold their
own authority, and thinking it a duty incumbent on
them to maintain the authority of the Court of Directors," they again order Mr. Bristow to be reinstated, and Mr. Middleton to be recalled: in this circle
the whole moves with great regularity.
The extraordinary operations of Mr. Hastings, that
soon after followed in every department which was
the subject of all these acts of disobedience, have
made them appear in a light peculiarly unpropitious
to his cause. It is but too probable, from his own accounts, that he meditated some strong measure, both
at Benares and at Oude, at the very time of the removal of those officers. He declares he knew that his
conduct in those places was such as to lie very open
to malicious representations; he must have been
sensible that he was open to such representations
from the beginning; he was therefore impelled by
every motive which ought to influence a man of
sense by no means to disturb the order which he had
last established.
Of this, however, he took no care; but he was not
so inattentive to the satisfaction of the sufferers, either in point of honor or of interest. This was most
strongly marked in the case of Mr. Fowke. His reparation to that gentleman, in point of honor, is as full
as possible. Mr. Hastings "declared, that he approved his character and his conduct in office, and
believed that he might depend upon his exact and literal obedience and fidelity in the execution'of the functions annexed to it. " Such is the character of the man whom Mr. Hastings a second time removed from
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 203
the office to which he told the Court of Directors, in
his letter of the 3rd of March, 1780, he had appointed him in conformity to their orders. On the 14th
of January, 1781, he again finds it an indispensable
obligation in him to exercise powers " inherent in the
constitution of his government. " On this principle
he claimed " the right of nominating the agent of his
own choice to the Residence of Benares; that it is
a representative situation: that, speaking for myself
alone, it may be sufficient to say, that Mr. Francis
Fowke is not my agent; that I cannot give him my
confidence; that, while he continues at Benares, he
stands as a screen between the Rajah and this government, instead of an instrument of control; that the
Rajah himself, and every chief in Hindostan, will regard it as the pledge and foundation of his independence. " Here Mr. Hastings has got back to his old
principles, where he takes post as on strong ground.
This he declares " to be his objection to Mr. Fowke,
and that it is insuperable. " The very line before this
paragraph he writes of this person, to whom he could
not give his confidence, that "he believed he might
depend upon his fidelity, and his exact and literal obedience. " Mr. Scott, who is authorized to defend Mr.
Hastings, supported the same principles before your
Committee by a comparison that avowedly reduces
the Court of Directors to the state of a party against
their servants. He declared, that, in his opinion, " it
would be just as absurd to deprive him of the power
of nominating his ambassador at Benares as it would
be to force on the ministry of this country an ambassador from the opposition. " Such is the opinion entertained in Bengal, and that but too effectually realized, of the relation between the principal servants of the Company and the Court of Directors.
? ? ? ? 204 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
So far the reparation, in point of honor, to Mr.
Fowke was complete. The reparation in point of
interest your Committee do not find to have been
equally satisfactory; but they do find it to be of the
most extraordinary nature, and of the most mischievous example. Mr. Fowke had been deprived of a place of rank and honor, -the place of a public Vackeel, or representative. The recompense provided for him is a succession to a contract. Mr. Hastings
moved, that, on the expiration of Colonel Morgan's
contract, he should be appointed agent to all the boats
employed for the military service of that establishment, with a commission of fifteen per cent on all disbursements in that office, - permitting Mr. Fowke, at the same time, to draw his allowance of an hundred
pounds a month, as Resident, until the expiration of
the contract, and for three months after.
Mr. Hastings is himself struck, as every one must
be, with so extraordinary a proceeding, the principle
of which, he observes, " is liable to one material objection. " That one is material indeed; for, no limit
being laid down for the expense in which the percentage is to arise, it is the direct interest of the person employed to make his department as expensive as possible. To this Mr. Hastings answers, that
" he is convinced by experience it will be better performed"; and yet he immediately after subjoins,
" This defect can only be corrected by the probity of
the person intrusted with so important a charge; and
I am willing to have it understood, as a proof of the
confidence I repose in Mr. PYowke, that I have proposed
his appointment, in opposition to a general principle,
to a trust so constituted. "
In the beginning of this very Minute of Consulta
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 205
tion, Mr. Hastings removes Mr. Fowke from the Residency of Benares because " he cannot give him his
confidence"; and yet, before the pen is out of his
hand, he violates one of the soundest general principles in the whole system of dealing, in order to give
a proof of the confidence he reposes in that gentleman. This apparent gross contradiction is to be reconciled but by one way, - which is, that confidence with Mr. Hastings comes and goes with his opposition to legal authority. Where that authority recommends any person, his confidence in him vanishes; but to show that it is the authority, and not the person, he opposes, when that is out of sight, there is no
rule so sacred which is not to be violated to manifest
his real esteem and perfect trust in the person whom
he has rejected. However, by overturning general
principles to compliment Mr. Fowke's integrity, he
does all in his power to corrupt it; at the same time
he establishes an example that must either subject
all future dealings to the same pernicious clause, or
which, being omitted, must become a strong implied
charge on the integrity of those who shall hereafter
be excluded from a trust so constituted.
It is not foreign to the object of your Committee,
in this part of their observations, which relates to the
obedience to orders, to remark upon the manner in
which the orders of the Court of Directors with regard to this kind of dealing in contracts are observed.
These orders relate to contracts; and they contain
two standing regulations.
1st, That all contracts shall be publicly advertised,
and that the most reasonable proposals shall be accepted.
2ndly, That two contracts, those of provisions and
for carriage bullocks, shall be only annual.
? ? ? ? 206 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
These orders are undoubtedly some correctives to
the abuses which may arise in this very critical article of public dealing. But the House will remark, that, if the business usually carried on by contracts
can be converted at pleasure into agencies, like that
of Mr. Fowke, all these regulations perish of course,
and there is no direction whatsoever for restraining
the most prodigal and corrupt bargains for the public.
Your Committee have inquired into the observance
of these necessary regulations, and they find that
they have, like the rest, been entirely contemned,
and contemned with entire impunity. After the
period of Colonel Monson's death, and Mr. Hastings
and Mr. Barwell obtaining the lead in the Council, the
contracts were disposed of without at all advertising
for proposals. Those in 1777 were given for three
years; and the gentlemen in question growing by
habit and encouragement into more boldness, in
1779 the contracts were disposed of for five years:
and this they did at the eve of the expiration of their
own appointment to the government. This increase
in the length of the contracts, though contrary to
orders, might have admitted some excuse, if it had
been made, even in appearance, the means of lessening the expense. But the advantages allowed to the contractors, instead of being diminished, were enlarged, and in a manner far beyond the proportion of the enlargement of terms. Of this abuse and contempt of orders a judgment may be formed by the single contract for supplying the army with draught
and carriage bullocks. As it stood at the expiration
of the contract in 1779, the expense of that service
was about one thousand three hundred pounds a
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 207
month. By the new contract, given away in September of that year, the service was raised to the enormous'sum of near six thousand pounds a month. The monthly increase, therefore, being four thousand
seven hundred pounds, it constitutes a total increase
of charges for the Company, in the five years of the
contract, of no less a sum than two hundred and
thirty-five thousand pounds. Now, as the former
contract was, without doubt, sufficiently advantageous, a judgment may be formed of the extravagance of the present. The terms, indeed, pass the bounds of all allowance for negligence and ignorance
of office.
The case of Mr. Belli's contract for supplying provisions to the Fort is of the same description; and
what exceedingly increases the suspicion against this
profusion, in contracts made in direct violation of orders, is, that they are always found to be given in
favor of persons closely connected with Mr. Hastings
in his family, or even in his actual service.
The principles upon which Mr. Hastings and Mr.
Barwell justify this disobedience, if admitted, reduce
the Company's government, so far as it regards the
Supreme Council, to a mere patronage, -- to a mere
power of nominating persons to or removing them
from an authority which is not only despotic with
regard to those whotare subordinate to it, but in all
its acts entirely independent of the legal power which
is nominally superior. These are principles directly
leading to the destruction of the Company's government. A correspondent practice being established,
(as in this case of contracts, as well as others, it has
been,) the means are furnished of effectuating this
purpose: for the common superior, the Compal. y,
? ? ? ? 208 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
having no power to regulate or to support their own
appointments, nor to remove those whom they wish
to remove, nor to prevent the contracts from being
made use of against their interest, all the English in
Bengal must naturally look to the next in authority;
they must depend upon, follow, and attach themselves to him solely; and thus a party may be
formed of the whole system of civil and military servants for the support of the subordinate, and defiance
of the supreme power.
Your Committee being led to attend to the abuse
of contracts, which are given upon principles fatal
to the subordination of the service, and in defiance
of orders, revert to the disobedience of orders in the
case of Mahomed Reza Khan.
This transaction is of a piece with those that preceded it. On the 6th of July, 1781, Mr. Hastings
announced to the board the arrival of a messenger
and introduced a requisition from the young Nabob
Mobarek ul Dowlah, " that he might be permitted to
dispose of his own stipend, without being made to depend on the will of another. " In favor of this requisition Mr: Hastings urged various arguments: -- that the Nabob could no longer be deemed a minor; --
that he was twenty-six years of age, and father of
many children; -- that his understanding was much
improved of late by an attention to his education;that these circumstances gave him a claim to the
uncontrolled exercise of domestic authority; and it
might reasonably be supposed that he would pay a
greater regard to a just economy in his own family
than had been observed by those who were aliens to
it. For these reasons Mr. Hastings recommended to
the board that Mahomed Reza Khan should be im
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 209
mediately divested of the office of superintendent of
the Nabob's household, and that the Nabob Mobarek
ul Dowlah should be intrusted with the exclusive and entire receipts and disbursements of his stipend, and the
uncontrolled management and regulation of his household. Thus far your Committee are of opinion that
the conclusion corresponds with the premises; for,
supposing the fact to be established or admitted, that
the Nabob, in point of age, capacity, and judgment,
was qualified to act for himself, it seems reasonable
that the management of his domestic affairs should
not be withheld from him. On this part of the proceeding your Committee will only observe, that, if itwere strictly true that the Nabob's understanding had, been much improved of late by an attention to his
education, (which seems an extraordinary way of
describing the qualifications of a man of six-andtwenty, the father of many children,) the merit of
such improvement must be attributed to Mahomed
Reza Khan, who was the only person of rank and
character connected with him, or who could be supposed to have any influence over him. Mr. Hastings
himself reproaches the Nabob with raising mean men
to be his companions, and tells him plainly, that some
persons, both of bad character and base origin, had
found the means of insinuating themselves into his company and constant fellowship. In such society it is not
likely that either the Nabob's morals or his understanding could have been much improved; nor could
it be deemed prudent to leave him without any check
upon his conduct. Mr. Hastings's opinion on this
point may be collected from what he did, but by no
means from what he said, on the occasion.
The House will naturally expect to find that the
VOL. VIII. 14
? ? ? ? 210 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
Nabob's request was granted, and that the resolution
of the board was conformable to the terms of Mr.
Hastings's recommendation. Yet the fact is directly the reverse. Mr. Hastings, after advising that the
Nabob should be intrusted with the exclusive and entire
receipts and disbursements of his stipend, immediately
corrects that advice, being aware that so sudden and
unlimited a disposal of a large revenue might at first
encourage a spirit of dissipation in the Nabob,-and
reserves to himself a power of establishing, with the
Nabob's consent, such a plan for the regulation and
equal distribution of the Nabob's expenses as should
be adapted to the dissimilar appearances of preserving
his interests and his independence at the same time.
On the same complicated principles the subsequent
resolution of the board professes to allow the Nabob
the management of his stipend and expenses, - with
an hope, however, (which, considering the relative situation of the parties, could be nothing less than an
injunction,) that he would submit to such a plan as
should be agreed on between him and the GovernorGeneral.
The drift of these contradictions is sufficiently apparent. Mahomed Reza Khan was to be divested of
his office at all events, and the management of the
Nabob's stipend committed to other hands. To accomplish the first, the Nabob is said to be "' now arrived at that time of life when a man may be supposed capable, if ever, of managing his own concerns. " When this principle has answered the momentary
purpose for which it was produced, we find it immediately discarded, and an opposite resolution formed
on an opposite principle, viz. , that he shall not have
the management of his own concerns, in consideration
of his want of experience.
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 211
Mr. Hastings, on his arrival at Moorshedabad,
gives Mr. Wheler an account of his interview with
the Nabob, and of the Nabob's implicit submission to
his advice. The principal, if not the sole, object of
the whole operation appears from the result of it.
Sir John D'Oyly, a gentleman in whom Mr.
Hastings
places particular confidence, succeeds to the office of
Mahomed Reza Khan, and to the same control over
the Nabob's expenses. Into the hands of this gentleman the Nabob's stipend was to be immediately paid,
as every intermediate channel would be an unavoidable
cause of delay; and to his advice the Nabob was required to give the same attention as if it were given
by Mr. Hastings himself. One of the conditions prescribed to the Nabob was, that he should admit no
Englishman to his presence without previously consulting Sir John D'Oyly; and he must forbid any
person of that nation to be intruded without his introduction. On these arrangements it need only be observed, that a measure which sets out with professing to relieve the Nabob from a state of perpetual pupilage concludes with delivering not only his fortune, but his person, to the custody of a particular friend
of Mr. Hastings.
The instructions given to the Nabob contain other passages that merit attention. In one place Mr.
Hastings tells him, "You have offered to give up the
sum of four lacs of rupees to be allowed the free use
of the remainder; but this we have refused. " In
another he says, that, " as many matters will occur
which cannot be so easily explained by letter as by conversation, I desire that you will on such occasions give
your orders to Sir John D'Oyly respecting such points
as you may desire to have imparted to me. " The
? ? ? ? 212 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
offer alluded to in the first passage does not appear
in the Nabob's letters, therefore must have been in
conversation, and declined by Mr. Hastings without
consulting his colleague. A refusal of it might have
been proper; but it supposes a degree of incapacity
in the Nabob not to be reconciled to the principles
on which Mahomed Reza Khan was removed from
the management of his affairs. Of the matters alluded to in the second, and which, it is said, could not be so easily explained by letters as in conversation, no explanation is given. Your Committee will therefore leave them, as Mr. Hastings has done, to the opinion
of the HIouse.
As soon as the Nabob's requisition was communicated to the board, it was moved and resolved that Mahomed Reza Khan should be divested of his office;
and the House have seen in what manner it was disposed of. The Nabob had stated various complaints against him:- that he had dismissed the old established servants of the Nizamut, and filled their places with his bwn dependants; - that he had regularly received the stipend of the Nizamut from the Company, yet had kept the Nabob involved in debt and distress,
and exposed to the clamors of his creditors, and sometimes even in want of a dinner. All these complaints were recorded at large in the proceedings of the
Council; but it does not appear that they were ever
communicated to Mahomed Reza Khan, or that he
was ever called upon, in any shape, to answer them.
This circumstance inclines your Committee to believe that all of these charges were groundless, -- especially as it appears on the face of the proceedings, that the chief of them were not well founded.
Mr. Hastings, in his letter to Mr. Wheler, urges the
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 213
absolute necessity of the monthly payment of the Nabob's stipend being regularly made, and says, that, to
relieve the Nabob's present wants, he had directed
the Resident to raise an immediate supply on the
credit of the Company, to be repaid from the first receipts. From hence your Committee conclude that
the monthly payments had not been regularly made,
and that whatever distresses the Nabob might have
suffered must have been owing to the Governor-General and Council, not to Mahomed Reza Khan, who,
for aught that appears to the contrary, paid away the
stipend as fast as he received it. Hld it been otherwise, that is, if Mahomed Reza Khan had reserved a
balance of the Nabob's money in his hands, he should,
and undoubtedly he would, have been called upon to
pay it in; and then there would have been no necessity for raising an immediate supply by other means.
The transaction, on the whole, speaks very sufficiently for itself. It is a gross instance of repeated
disobedience to repeated orders; and it is rendered
particularly offensive to the authority of the Court
of Directors by the frivolous and contradictory reasons assigned for it. But whether the Nabob's requisitioll was reasonable or not, the Governor-General and Council were precluded by a special instruction
from complying with it. The Directors, in their letter of the 14th of February, 1. 779, declare, that a
resolution of Council, (taken by Mr. Francis and
Mr. Wheler, in the absence of Mr. Barwell,) viz. ,
" that the Nabob's letter should be referred to them
for their decision, and that no resolution should be
taken in Bengal on his requisitions without their
special orders and instructions," was very proper. 'They prudently reserved to themselves the right of
? ? ? ? 214 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
deciding on such questions; but they reserved it
to no purpose. In England the authority is purely
formal. In Bengal the power is positive and real.
When they clash, their opposition serves only to degrade the authority that ought to predominate, and to
exalt the power that ought to be dependent.
Since the closing of the above Report, many material papers have arrived from India, and have been
laid before your Committee. That which they think
it most immediately necessary to annex to the Appendix to this Report is the resolution of the CouncilGeneral to allow to the members of the Board of Trade resident in Calcutta a charge of five per cent
on the sale in England of the investment formed upon their second plan, namely, that plan which had
been communicated to Lord Macartney. The investment on this plan is stated to be raised from 800,0001
to 1,000,0001. sterling.
It is on all accounts a very memorable transaction,
and tends to bring on a heavy burden, operating in
the nature of a tax laid by their own authority on
the goods of their masters in England. If such a
compensation to the Board of Trade was necessary
on account of their engagement to take no further
(that is to say, no unlawful) emolument, it implies
that the practice of making such unlawful emolument had formerly existed; and your Committee
think it very extraordinary that the first notice the
Company had received of such a practice should be
in taxing them for a compensation for a partial abolition of it, secured on the parole of honor of those very
persons who are supposed to have been guilty of this
unjustifiable conduct. Your Committee consider this
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 215
engagement, if kept, as only a partial abolition of the
implied corrupt practice: because no part of the compensation is given to the members of the Board of Trade who reside at the several factories, though
their means of abuse are without all comparison
greater; and if the corruption was supposed so extensive as to be bought off at that price where the means were fewer, the House will judge how far the
tax has purchased off the evil.
? ? ? ? ELEVENTH REPORT
OF THE
SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON
THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA.
WITH EXTRACTS FROM THE APPENDIL
NOVEMBER I8, I783.
? ? ? ? ELEVENTH REPORT
From the SELECT COMMITTEE appointed to take into consideration the state of the administration of justice in the
provinces of' Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and to report
the same, as it shall appear to them, to the House, with
their observations thereupon; and who were instructed
to consider how the British possessions in the East Indies may be held and governed with the greatest security
and advantage to this country, and by what means the
happiness of the native inhabitants may be best protected.
YOUR Committee, in the course of their inquiry
into the obedience yielded by the Company's
servants to the orders of the Court of Directors, (the
authority of which orders had been strengthened by
the Regulating Act of 1773,) could not overlook one
of the most essential objects of that act and of those
orders, namely, the taking of gifts and presents.
These pretended free gifts front the natives to the
Company's servants in power had never been authorized by law; they are contrary to the covenants formerly entered into by the President and Council; they are strictly forbidden by the act of Parliament,
and forbidden upon grounds of the most substantial
policy.
Before the Regulating Act of 1773, the allowances
made by the Company to the Presidents of Bengal
were abundantly sufficient to guaranty them against
? ? ? ? 220 ELEVENTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
anything like a necessity for giving into that pernicious practice. The act of Parliament which appointed a Governor-General in the place of a President, as it was extremely particular in enforcing the prollibition of those presents, so it was equally careful in
making an ample provision for supporting the dignity
of the office, in order to remove all excuse for a corrupt increase of its emoluments.
Although evidence on record, as well as verbal testimony, has appeared before your Committee of presents to a large amount having been received by Mr. Hastings and others before the year 1775, they were
not able to find distinct traces of that practice in him
or any one else for a few years.
The inquiries set on foot in Bengal, by order of the
Court of Directors, in 1775, with regard to all corrupt
practices, and the vigor with which they were for
some time pursued, might have given a temporary
check to the receipt of presents, or might have produced a more effectual concealment of them, and afterwards the calamities which befell almost all who were concerned in the first discoveries did probably
prevent any further complaint upon the subject; but
towards the close of the last session your Committee
have received much of new and alarming information
concerning that abuse.
The first traces appeared, though faintly and obscurely, in a letter to the Court of Directors from the
Governor-General, Mr. Hastings, written on the 29th
of November, 1780. * It has been stated in a former
Report of your Committee,t that on the 26th of June,
1780, Mr. IIastings being very earnest in the prose* Appendix B. No. 1.
t Vide Supplement to the Second Report, page 7.
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 221
cution of a particular operation in the Mahratta war,
in order to remove objections to that measure, which
were made on account of the expense of the contingencies, he offered to exonerate the Company from
that "' charge. " Continuing his Minute of Council,
he says, " That sum" (a sum of about 23,0001. ) " I
have already deposited, within a small amount, in
the hands of the sub-treasurer; and I beg that the
board will permit it to be accepted for that service. "
Here he offers in his own person; he deposits, or
pretends that he deposits, in his own person; and,
with the zeal of a man eager to pledge his private
fortune in support of his measures, he prays that his
offer may be accepted. Not the least hint that he
was delivering back to the Company money of their
own, which he had secreted from them. Indeed, no
man ever made it a request, much less earnestly entreated, " begged to be permitted," to pay to any persons, public or private, money that was their own. It appeared to your Committee that the money offered for that service, which was to forward the operations of a detachment under Colonel Camac in an expedition against one of the Mahratta chiefs, was
not accepted. And your Committee, having directed
search to be made for any sums of money paid into
the Treasury by Mr. Hastings for this service, found,
that, notwithstanding his assertion of having deposited "two lacs of rupees, or within a trifle of that
sum, in the hands of the sub-treasurer," no entry
whatsoever of that or any other payment by the Governor-General was made in the Treasury accounts at
or about that time. * This circumstance appeared
very striking to your Committee, as the non-appearAppendix B. No. 2.
? ? ? ? 222 ELEVENTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
ance in the Company's books of the article in question must be owing to one or other of these four
causes: -- That the assertion of Mr. Hastings, of his
having paid in near two lacs of rupees at that time,
was not true; or that the sub-treasurer may receive
great sums in deposit without entering them in the
Company's Treasury accounts; or that the Treasury
books themselves are records not to be depended on;
or, lastly, that faithful copies of these books of accounts are not transmitted to Europe. The defect
of an entry corresponding with Mr. Hastings's declaration in Council can be attributed only to one of
these four causes, - of which the want of foundation
in his recorded assertion, though very blamable, is
the least alarming.
On the 29th of November following, Mr. Hastings
communicated to the Court of Directors some sort of
notice of this transaction. * In his letter of that date
he varies in no small degree the aspect under which
the business appeared in his Minute of Consultation
of the 26th of June. In his letter he says to the Directors, "The subject is now become obsolete; the
fair hopes which I had built upon the prosecution of
the Mahratta war have been blasted by the dreadful
calamities which have befallen your Presidency of
Fort St. George, and changed the object of our pursuit from the aggrandizement of your power to its preservation. " After thus confessing, or rather boasting, of his motives to the Mahratta war, he proceeds: "My present reason for reverting to my own conduct
on the occasion which I have mentioned" (namely,
his offering a sum of money for the Company's service) " is to obviate the false conclusions or purposed
* Vide Appendix B. No. 1.
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 223
misrepresentations which may be made of it, either as
an artifice of ostentation or the effect of corrupt influence, by assuring you that the money, by whatever
means it came into my possession, was not my own,
that I had myself no right to it, nor would or could
have received it but for the occasion which prompted me to avail myself of the accidental means which
were at that instant afforded me of accepting and
converting it to the property and use of the Company: and with this brief apology I shall dismiss the
subject. "
The apology is brief indeed, considering the nature
of the transaction; and what is more material than
its length or its shortness, it is in all points unsatisfactory. The matter becomes, if possible, more obscure by his explanation. Here was money received by Mr. Hastings, which, according to his own judgment, he had no right to receive; it was money
which, " but for the occasion that prompted him, he
could not have accepted "; it was money which came
into his, and from his into the Company's hands, by
ways and means undescribed, and from persons unnamed: yet, though apprehensive of false conclusions and purposed misrepresentations, he gives his employers no insight whatsoever into a matter which
of all others stood in the greatest need of a full and
clear elucidation.
Although he chooses to omit this essential point,
he expresses the most anxious solicitude to clear
himself of the charges that might be made against
him, of the artifices of ostentation, and of corrupt
influence. To discover, if possible, the ground for
apprehending such imputations, your Committee adverted to the circumstances in which he stood at the
? ? ? ? 224 ELEVENTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
time: they found that this letter was dispatched
about the time that Mr. Francis took his passage for
England; his fear of misrepresentation may therefore allude to something which passed in conversation between him and that gentleman at the time the offer was made.
It was not easy, on the mere face of his offer, to
give an ill turn to it. The act, as it stands on the
Minute, is not only disinterested, but generous and
public-spirited. If Mr. Hastings apprehended misrepresentation from Mr. Francis, or from any other person, your Committee conceive that he did not employ proper means for defeating the ill designs of his adversaries. On the contrary, the course he has taken
in his letter to the Court of Directors is calculated to
excite doubts and suspicions in minds the most favorably disposed to him. Some degree of ostentation is
not extremely blamable at a time when a man advances largely from his private fortune towards the public service. It is h-uman infirmity at the worst, and only detracts something from the lustre of an action
in itself meritorious. The kind of ostentation which
is criminal, and criminal only because it is fraudulent,
is where a person makes a show of giving when in
reality he does not give. This imposition is criminal
more or less according to the circumstances. But if
the money received to furnish such a pretended gift
is taken from any third person without right to take
it, a new guilt, and guilt of a much worse quality
and description, is incurred. The Governor-General,
in order to keep clear of ostentation, on the 29th of
November, 1780, declares, that the sum of money
which he offered on the 26th of the preceding June
as his own was not his own, and that he had no right
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 225
to it. Clearing himself of vanity, he convicts himself of deceit, and of injustice.
The other object of this brief apology was to clear
himself of corrupt influence. Of all ostentation he
stands completely acquitted in the month of November, however he might have been faulty in that respect in the month of June; but with regard to the other part of the apprehended charge, namely, corrupt
influence, he gives no satisfactory solution. A great
sum of money " not his own," - money to which " he
had no right," - money which came into his possession " by whatever means ":- if this be not money
obtained by corrupt influence, or by something worse,
that is, by violence or terror, it will be difficult to fix
upon circumstances which can furnish a presumption
of unjustifiable use of power and influence in the acquisition of profit. The last part of the apology,
that he had converted this money (" which he had no
right to receive") to the Company's use, so far as
your Committee can discover, does nowhere appear.
He speaks, in the Minute of the 26th of June, as
having then actually deposited it for the Company's
service; in the letter of November he says that he
converted it to the Company's property: but there is
no trace in the Company's books of its being ever
brought to their credit in the expenditure for anyspecific service, even if any such entry and expenditure could justify him in taking money which he had,, by his own confession, "no right to receive. "
The Directors appear to have been deceived by this
representation, and in their letter of January, 1782,*
consider the money as actually paid into their Treasury. Even under their error concerning the appli* Appendix B. No. 7.
VOL. VIII. 15
? ? ? ? 226 ELEVENTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
cation of the money, they appear rather alarmed
than satisfied with the brief apology of the GovernorGeneral. They consider the whole proceeding as extraordinary and mysterious. They, however, do not condemn it with any remarkable asperity; after admitting that he might be induced to a temporary
secrecy respecting the members of the board, from a
fear of their resisting the proposed application, or
any application of this money to the Company's use,
yet they write to the Governlor-General and Council as
follows: --" It does not appear to us that there could
be any real necessity for delaying to communicate to
us immediate information of the channel by which the
money came into Mr. Hastings's possession, with a
complete illustration of the cause or causes of so extraordinary an event. " And again: " The means
proposed of defraying the extra expenses are very
extraordinary; and the money, we conceive, must
have come into his hands by an unusual channel;
and when more complete information comes before
[rs, we shall give our sentiments fully on the transaction. " And speaking of this and other moneys under
a similar description, they say, " We shall suspend
our judgment, without approving it in the least degree, or proceeding to c. ensure our Governor-General
for this transaction. " The expectations entertained
by the Directors of a more complete explanation
were natural, and their expression tender and temperate. But the more complete information which
they naturally expected they never have to this day
received.
Mr. Hastings wrote two more letters to the Secret
Committee of the Court of Directors, ill which he mentions this transaction: the first dated (as he asserts,
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 227
and a Mr. Larkins swears) on the 22d of May,
1782; * the last, which accompanied it, so late as the
16th of December in the same year. t Though so
long an interval lay between the transaction of the
26th of June, 1780, and the middle of December,
1782, (upwards of two years,) no further satisfaction
is given. He has written, since the receipt of the
above letter of the Court of Directors, (which demanded, what they had a right to demand, a clear explanation of the particulars of this sum of money
which he had no right to receive,) without giving
them any further satisfaction. Instead of explanation or apology, he assumes a tone of complaint and reproach to the Directors: he lays before them a
kind of an account of presents received, to the
amount of upwards of 200,0001. ,- some at a considerable distance of time, and which had not been hitherto communicated to the Company.
In the letter which accompanied that very extraordinary account, which then for the first time appeared, he discovers no small solicitude to clear himself from
the imputation of having these discoveries drawn
from him by the terrors of the Parliamentary inquiries then on foot. To remove all suspicion of such
a motive for making these discoveries, Mr. Larkins
swears, in an affidavit made before Mr. Justice Hyde,
bearing even date with the letter which accompanies
the account, that is, of the 16th of December, 1782,
that this letter had been written by him on the 22d
of May, several months before it was dispatched. t
It appears that Mr.
Reza Khan, and Mr. Bristow; that he had not the
? ? ? ? 200 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
smallest personal objection to them, and would willingly provide for them in any other line. Mr. Francis
in this treaty insisted on those very points which Mr.
Hastings declared he could never give up, and that
his conditions were the Company's orders, -- that
is, the restoration of the persons whom they had directed to be restored. The event of this negotiation
was, that Mr. Hastings at length submitted to Mr.
Francis, and that Mr. Fowke and Mahomed Reza
Khan were reinstated in their situations.
Your Committee observe on this part of the transaction of Mr. Hastings, that as long as the question
stood upon his obedience to his lawful superiors, so
long he considered the restoration of these persons as
a gross indignity, the submitting to which would destroy all his credit and influence in the country; but
when it was to accommodate his own occasions in a
treaty with a fellow-servant, all these difficulties instantly vanish, and he finds it perfectly consistent
with his dignity, credit, and influence, to do for Mr.
Francis what he had refused to the strict and reiterated injunctions of the Court of Directors. Tranquillity was, however, for a time restored by this nmeasure, though it did not continue long. In about three months an occasion occurred in which Mr. Francis
gave some opposition to a measure proposed by Mr.
Hastings, which brought on a duel, upon the mischievous effects of which your Committee have already made their observations.
The departure of Mr. Francis soon after for Europe opened a new scene, and gave rise to a third
revolution. Lest the arrangement with the servants
of the Company should have the least appearance of
being mistaken for obedience to their superiors, Mr.
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 201
Francis was little more than a month gone, when
Mr. Fowke was again recalled from Benares, and Mr.
Bristow soon after from Oude. In these measures
Mr. Hastings has combined the principles of disobedience which he had used in all the cases hitherto stated. In his Minute of Consultation on this recall
he refers to his former Minutes; and he adds, that he
has " a recent motive in the necessity of removing any
circumstance which may contribute to lessen his influenece ill the effect of any negotiations in which he may be engaged in the prosecution of his intended
visit to Lucknow. " He here reverts to his old plea
of preserving his influence; not content with this, as
in the case of Mahomed Reza Khan he had called in
the aid of the Nabob of Bengal, he here calls in the
aid of the Nabob of Oude, who, on reasons exactly
tallying with those given by Mr. Hastings, desires
that Mr. Bristow may be removed. The true weight
of these requisitions will appear, if not sufficiently apparent from the known situation of the parties, by the following extract of a letter from this Nabob of
Oude to his agent at Calcutta, desiring him to acquaint Mr. Hastings, that, "if it is proper, I will
write to the king [of Great Britain], and the vizier
[one of his Majesty's ministers], and the chief of the
Company, in such a manner as he shall direct, and in
the words that he shall order, that Mr. Bristow's views
may be thwarted there. " There is no doubt of the
entire cooperation of the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah
in all the designs of Mr. Hastings, and in thwarting
the views of any persons who place their reliance on
the authority of this kingdom.
As usual, the Court of Directors appear in their
proper order in the procession. After this third act
? ? ? ? 202 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
of disobedience with regard to the same person and
the same office, and after calling the proceedings unwarrantable, " in order to vindicate and uphold their
own authority, and thinking it a duty incumbent on
them to maintain the authority of the Court of Directors," they again order Mr. Bristow to be reinstated, and Mr. Middleton to be recalled: in this circle
the whole moves with great regularity.
The extraordinary operations of Mr. Hastings, that
soon after followed in every department which was
the subject of all these acts of disobedience, have
made them appear in a light peculiarly unpropitious
to his cause. It is but too probable, from his own accounts, that he meditated some strong measure, both
at Benares and at Oude, at the very time of the removal of those officers. He declares he knew that his
conduct in those places was such as to lie very open
to malicious representations; he must have been
sensible that he was open to such representations
from the beginning; he was therefore impelled by
every motive which ought to influence a man of
sense by no means to disturb the order which he had
last established.
Of this, however, he took no care; but he was not
so inattentive to the satisfaction of the sufferers, either in point of honor or of interest. This was most
strongly marked in the case of Mr. Fowke. His reparation to that gentleman, in point of honor, is as full
as possible. Mr. Hastings "declared, that he approved his character and his conduct in office, and
believed that he might depend upon his exact and literal obedience and fidelity in the execution'of the functions annexed to it. " Such is the character of the man whom Mr. Hastings a second time removed from
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 203
the office to which he told the Court of Directors, in
his letter of the 3rd of March, 1780, he had appointed him in conformity to their orders. On the 14th
of January, 1781, he again finds it an indispensable
obligation in him to exercise powers " inherent in the
constitution of his government. " On this principle
he claimed " the right of nominating the agent of his
own choice to the Residence of Benares; that it is
a representative situation: that, speaking for myself
alone, it may be sufficient to say, that Mr. Francis
Fowke is not my agent; that I cannot give him my
confidence; that, while he continues at Benares, he
stands as a screen between the Rajah and this government, instead of an instrument of control; that the
Rajah himself, and every chief in Hindostan, will regard it as the pledge and foundation of his independence. " Here Mr. Hastings has got back to his old
principles, where he takes post as on strong ground.
This he declares " to be his objection to Mr. Fowke,
and that it is insuperable. " The very line before this
paragraph he writes of this person, to whom he could
not give his confidence, that "he believed he might
depend upon his fidelity, and his exact and literal obedience. " Mr. Scott, who is authorized to defend Mr.
Hastings, supported the same principles before your
Committee by a comparison that avowedly reduces
the Court of Directors to the state of a party against
their servants. He declared, that, in his opinion, " it
would be just as absurd to deprive him of the power
of nominating his ambassador at Benares as it would
be to force on the ministry of this country an ambassador from the opposition. " Such is the opinion entertained in Bengal, and that but too effectually realized, of the relation between the principal servants of the Company and the Court of Directors.
? ? ? ? 204 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
So far the reparation, in point of honor, to Mr.
Fowke was complete. The reparation in point of
interest your Committee do not find to have been
equally satisfactory; but they do find it to be of the
most extraordinary nature, and of the most mischievous example. Mr. Fowke had been deprived of a place of rank and honor, -the place of a public Vackeel, or representative. The recompense provided for him is a succession to a contract. Mr. Hastings
moved, that, on the expiration of Colonel Morgan's
contract, he should be appointed agent to all the boats
employed for the military service of that establishment, with a commission of fifteen per cent on all disbursements in that office, - permitting Mr. Fowke, at the same time, to draw his allowance of an hundred
pounds a month, as Resident, until the expiration of
the contract, and for three months after.
Mr. Hastings is himself struck, as every one must
be, with so extraordinary a proceeding, the principle
of which, he observes, " is liable to one material objection. " That one is material indeed; for, no limit
being laid down for the expense in which the percentage is to arise, it is the direct interest of the person employed to make his department as expensive as possible. To this Mr. Hastings answers, that
" he is convinced by experience it will be better performed"; and yet he immediately after subjoins,
" This defect can only be corrected by the probity of
the person intrusted with so important a charge; and
I am willing to have it understood, as a proof of the
confidence I repose in Mr. PYowke, that I have proposed
his appointment, in opposition to a general principle,
to a trust so constituted. "
In the beginning of this very Minute of Consulta
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 205
tion, Mr. Hastings removes Mr. Fowke from the Residency of Benares because " he cannot give him his
confidence"; and yet, before the pen is out of his
hand, he violates one of the soundest general principles in the whole system of dealing, in order to give
a proof of the confidence he reposes in that gentleman. This apparent gross contradiction is to be reconciled but by one way, - which is, that confidence with Mr. Hastings comes and goes with his opposition to legal authority. Where that authority recommends any person, his confidence in him vanishes; but to show that it is the authority, and not the person, he opposes, when that is out of sight, there is no
rule so sacred which is not to be violated to manifest
his real esteem and perfect trust in the person whom
he has rejected. However, by overturning general
principles to compliment Mr. Fowke's integrity, he
does all in his power to corrupt it; at the same time
he establishes an example that must either subject
all future dealings to the same pernicious clause, or
which, being omitted, must become a strong implied
charge on the integrity of those who shall hereafter
be excluded from a trust so constituted.
It is not foreign to the object of your Committee,
in this part of their observations, which relates to the
obedience to orders, to remark upon the manner in
which the orders of the Court of Directors with regard to this kind of dealing in contracts are observed.
These orders relate to contracts; and they contain
two standing regulations.
1st, That all contracts shall be publicly advertised,
and that the most reasonable proposals shall be accepted.
2ndly, That two contracts, those of provisions and
for carriage bullocks, shall be only annual.
? ? ? ? 206 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
These orders are undoubtedly some correctives to
the abuses which may arise in this very critical article of public dealing. But the House will remark, that, if the business usually carried on by contracts
can be converted at pleasure into agencies, like that
of Mr. Fowke, all these regulations perish of course,
and there is no direction whatsoever for restraining
the most prodigal and corrupt bargains for the public.
Your Committee have inquired into the observance
of these necessary regulations, and they find that
they have, like the rest, been entirely contemned,
and contemned with entire impunity. After the
period of Colonel Monson's death, and Mr. Hastings
and Mr. Barwell obtaining the lead in the Council, the
contracts were disposed of without at all advertising
for proposals. Those in 1777 were given for three
years; and the gentlemen in question growing by
habit and encouragement into more boldness, in
1779 the contracts were disposed of for five years:
and this they did at the eve of the expiration of their
own appointment to the government. This increase
in the length of the contracts, though contrary to
orders, might have admitted some excuse, if it had
been made, even in appearance, the means of lessening the expense. But the advantages allowed to the contractors, instead of being diminished, were enlarged, and in a manner far beyond the proportion of the enlargement of terms. Of this abuse and contempt of orders a judgment may be formed by the single contract for supplying the army with draught
and carriage bullocks. As it stood at the expiration
of the contract in 1779, the expense of that service
was about one thousand three hundred pounds a
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 207
month. By the new contract, given away in September of that year, the service was raised to the enormous'sum of near six thousand pounds a month. The monthly increase, therefore, being four thousand
seven hundred pounds, it constitutes a total increase
of charges for the Company, in the five years of the
contract, of no less a sum than two hundred and
thirty-five thousand pounds. Now, as the former
contract was, without doubt, sufficiently advantageous, a judgment may be formed of the extravagance of the present. The terms, indeed, pass the bounds of all allowance for negligence and ignorance
of office.
The case of Mr. Belli's contract for supplying provisions to the Fort is of the same description; and
what exceedingly increases the suspicion against this
profusion, in contracts made in direct violation of orders, is, that they are always found to be given in
favor of persons closely connected with Mr. Hastings
in his family, or even in his actual service.
The principles upon which Mr. Hastings and Mr.
Barwell justify this disobedience, if admitted, reduce
the Company's government, so far as it regards the
Supreme Council, to a mere patronage, -- to a mere
power of nominating persons to or removing them
from an authority which is not only despotic with
regard to those whotare subordinate to it, but in all
its acts entirely independent of the legal power which
is nominally superior. These are principles directly
leading to the destruction of the Company's government. A correspondent practice being established,
(as in this case of contracts, as well as others, it has
been,) the means are furnished of effectuating this
purpose: for the common superior, the Compal. y,
? ? ? ? 208 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
having no power to regulate or to support their own
appointments, nor to remove those whom they wish
to remove, nor to prevent the contracts from being
made use of against their interest, all the English in
Bengal must naturally look to the next in authority;
they must depend upon, follow, and attach themselves to him solely; and thus a party may be
formed of the whole system of civil and military servants for the support of the subordinate, and defiance
of the supreme power.
Your Committee being led to attend to the abuse
of contracts, which are given upon principles fatal
to the subordination of the service, and in defiance
of orders, revert to the disobedience of orders in the
case of Mahomed Reza Khan.
This transaction is of a piece with those that preceded it. On the 6th of July, 1781, Mr. Hastings
announced to the board the arrival of a messenger
and introduced a requisition from the young Nabob
Mobarek ul Dowlah, " that he might be permitted to
dispose of his own stipend, without being made to depend on the will of another. " In favor of this requisition Mr: Hastings urged various arguments: -- that the Nabob could no longer be deemed a minor; --
that he was twenty-six years of age, and father of
many children; -- that his understanding was much
improved of late by an attention to his education;that these circumstances gave him a claim to the
uncontrolled exercise of domestic authority; and it
might reasonably be supposed that he would pay a
greater regard to a just economy in his own family
than had been observed by those who were aliens to
it. For these reasons Mr. Hastings recommended to
the board that Mahomed Reza Khan should be im
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 209
mediately divested of the office of superintendent of
the Nabob's household, and that the Nabob Mobarek
ul Dowlah should be intrusted with the exclusive and entire receipts and disbursements of his stipend, and the
uncontrolled management and regulation of his household. Thus far your Committee are of opinion that
the conclusion corresponds with the premises; for,
supposing the fact to be established or admitted, that
the Nabob, in point of age, capacity, and judgment,
was qualified to act for himself, it seems reasonable
that the management of his domestic affairs should
not be withheld from him. On this part of the proceeding your Committee will only observe, that, if itwere strictly true that the Nabob's understanding had, been much improved of late by an attention to his
education, (which seems an extraordinary way of
describing the qualifications of a man of six-andtwenty, the father of many children,) the merit of
such improvement must be attributed to Mahomed
Reza Khan, who was the only person of rank and
character connected with him, or who could be supposed to have any influence over him. Mr. Hastings
himself reproaches the Nabob with raising mean men
to be his companions, and tells him plainly, that some
persons, both of bad character and base origin, had
found the means of insinuating themselves into his company and constant fellowship. In such society it is not
likely that either the Nabob's morals or his understanding could have been much improved; nor could
it be deemed prudent to leave him without any check
upon his conduct. Mr. Hastings's opinion on this
point may be collected from what he did, but by no
means from what he said, on the occasion.
The House will naturally expect to find that the
VOL. VIII. 14
? ? ? ? 210 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
Nabob's request was granted, and that the resolution
of the board was conformable to the terms of Mr.
Hastings's recommendation. Yet the fact is directly the reverse. Mr. Hastings, after advising that the
Nabob should be intrusted with the exclusive and entire
receipts and disbursements of his stipend, immediately
corrects that advice, being aware that so sudden and
unlimited a disposal of a large revenue might at first
encourage a spirit of dissipation in the Nabob,-and
reserves to himself a power of establishing, with the
Nabob's consent, such a plan for the regulation and
equal distribution of the Nabob's expenses as should
be adapted to the dissimilar appearances of preserving
his interests and his independence at the same time.
On the same complicated principles the subsequent
resolution of the board professes to allow the Nabob
the management of his stipend and expenses, - with
an hope, however, (which, considering the relative situation of the parties, could be nothing less than an
injunction,) that he would submit to such a plan as
should be agreed on between him and the GovernorGeneral.
The drift of these contradictions is sufficiently apparent. Mahomed Reza Khan was to be divested of
his office at all events, and the management of the
Nabob's stipend committed to other hands. To accomplish the first, the Nabob is said to be "' now arrived at that time of life when a man may be supposed capable, if ever, of managing his own concerns. " When this principle has answered the momentary
purpose for which it was produced, we find it immediately discarded, and an opposite resolution formed
on an opposite principle, viz. , that he shall not have
the management of his own concerns, in consideration
of his want of experience.
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 211
Mr. Hastings, on his arrival at Moorshedabad,
gives Mr. Wheler an account of his interview with
the Nabob, and of the Nabob's implicit submission to
his advice. The principal, if not the sole, object of
the whole operation appears from the result of it.
Sir John D'Oyly, a gentleman in whom Mr.
Hastings
places particular confidence, succeeds to the office of
Mahomed Reza Khan, and to the same control over
the Nabob's expenses. Into the hands of this gentleman the Nabob's stipend was to be immediately paid,
as every intermediate channel would be an unavoidable
cause of delay; and to his advice the Nabob was required to give the same attention as if it were given
by Mr. Hastings himself. One of the conditions prescribed to the Nabob was, that he should admit no
Englishman to his presence without previously consulting Sir John D'Oyly; and he must forbid any
person of that nation to be intruded without his introduction. On these arrangements it need only be observed, that a measure which sets out with professing to relieve the Nabob from a state of perpetual pupilage concludes with delivering not only his fortune, but his person, to the custody of a particular friend
of Mr. Hastings.
The instructions given to the Nabob contain other passages that merit attention. In one place Mr.
Hastings tells him, "You have offered to give up the
sum of four lacs of rupees to be allowed the free use
of the remainder; but this we have refused. " In
another he says, that, " as many matters will occur
which cannot be so easily explained by letter as by conversation, I desire that you will on such occasions give
your orders to Sir John D'Oyly respecting such points
as you may desire to have imparted to me. " The
? ? ? ? 212 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
offer alluded to in the first passage does not appear
in the Nabob's letters, therefore must have been in
conversation, and declined by Mr. Hastings without
consulting his colleague. A refusal of it might have
been proper; but it supposes a degree of incapacity
in the Nabob not to be reconciled to the principles
on which Mahomed Reza Khan was removed from
the management of his affairs. Of the matters alluded to in the second, and which, it is said, could not be so easily explained by letters as in conversation, no explanation is given. Your Committee will therefore leave them, as Mr. Hastings has done, to the opinion
of the HIouse.
As soon as the Nabob's requisition was communicated to the board, it was moved and resolved that Mahomed Reza Khan should be divested of his office;
and the House have seen in what manner it was disposed of. The Nabob had stated various complaints against him:- that he had dismissed the old established servants of the Nizamut, and filled their places with his bwn dependants; - that he had regularly received the stipend of the Nizamut from the Company, yet had kept the Nabob involved in debt and distress,
and exposed to the clamors of his creditors, and sometimes even in want of a dinner. All these complaints were recorded at large in the proceedings of the
Council; but it does not appear that they were ever
communicated to Mahomed Reza Khan, or that he
was ever called upon, in any shape, to answer them.
This circumstance inclines your Committee to believe that all of these charges were groundless, -- especially as it appears on the face of the proceedings, that the chief of them were not well founded.
Mr. Hastings, in his letter to Mr. Wheler, urges the
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 213
absolute necessity of the monthly payment of the Nabob's stipend being regularly made, and says, that, to
relieve the Nabob's present wants, he had directed
the Resident to raise an immediate supply on the
credit of the Company, to be repaid from the first receipts. From hence your Committee conclude that
the monthly payments had not been regularly made,
and that whatever distresses the Nabob might have
suffered must have been owing to the Governor-General and Council, not to Mahomed Reza Khan, who,
for aught that appears to the contrary, paid away the
stipend as fast as he received it. Hld it been otherwise, that is, if Mahomed Reza Khan had reserved a
balance of the Nabob's money in his hands, he should,
and undoubtedly he would, have been called upon to
pay it in; and then there would have been no necessity for raising an immediate supply by other means.
The transaction, on the whole, speaks very sufficiently for itself. It is a gross instance of repeated
disobedience to repeated orders; and it is rendered
particularly offensive to the authority of the Court
of Directors by the frivolous and contradictory reasons assigned for it. But whether the Nabob's requisitioll was reasonable or not, the Governor-General and Council were precluded by a special instruction
from complying with it. The Directors, in their letter of the 14th of February, 1. 779, declare, that a
resolution of Council, (taken by Mr. Francis and
Mr. Wheler, in the absence of Mr. Barwell,) viz. ,
" that the Nabob's letter should be referred to them
for their decision, and that no resolution should be
taken in Bengal on his requisitions without their
special orders and instructions," was very proper. 'They prudently reserved to themselves the right of
? ? ? ? 214 NINTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
deciding on such questions; but they reserved it
to no purpose. In England the authority is purely
formal. In Bengal the power is positive and real.
When they clash, their opposition serves only to degrade the authority that ought to predominate, and to
exalt the power that ought to be dependent.
Since the closing of the above Report, many material papers have arrived from India, and have been
laid before your Committee. That which they think
it most immediately necessary to annex to the Appendix to this Report is the resolution of the CouncilGeneral to allow to the members of the Board of Trade resident in Calcutta a charge of five per cent
on the sale in England of the investment formed upon their second plan, namely, that plan which had
been communicated to Lord Macartney. The investment on this plan is stated to be raised from 800,0001
to 1,000,0001. sterling.
It is on all accounts a very memorable transaction,
and tends to bring on a heavy burden, operating in
the nature of a tax laid by their own authority on
the goods of their masters in England. If such a
compensation to the Board of Trade was necessary
on account of their engagement to take no further
(that is to say, no unlawful) emolument, it implies
that the practice of making such unlawful emolument had formerly existed; and your Committee
think it very extraordinary that the first notice the
Company had received of such a practice should be
in taxing them for a compensation for a partial abolition of it, secured on the parole of honor of those very
persons who are supposed to have been guilty of this
unjustifiable conduct. Your Committee consider this
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 215
engagement, if kept, as only a partial abolition of the
implied corrupt practice: because no part of the compensation is given to the members of the Board of Trade who reside at the several factories, though
their means of abuse are without all comparison
greater; and if the corruption was supposed so extensive as to be bought off at that price where the means were fewer, the House will judge how far the
tax has purchased off the evil.
? ? ? ? ELEVENTH REPORT
OF THE
SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON
THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA.
WITH EXTRACTS FROM THE APPENDIL
NOVEMBER I8, I783.
? ? ? ? ELEVENTH REPORT
From the SELECT COMMITTEE appointed to take into consideration the state of the administration of justice in the
provinces of' Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and to report
the same, as it shall appear to them, to the House, with
their observations thereupon; and who were instructed
to consider how the British possessions in the East Indies may be held and governed with the greatest security
and advantage to this country, and by what means the
happiness of the native inhabitants may be best protected.
YOUR Committee, in the course of their inquiry
into the obedience yielded by the Company's
servants to the orders of the Court of Directors, (the
authority of which orders had been strengthened by
the Regulating Act of 1773,) could not overlook one
of the most essential objects of that act and of those
orders, namely, the taking of gifts and presents.
These pretended free gifts front the natives to the
Company's servants in power had never been authorized by law; they are contrary to the covenants formerly entered into by the President and Council; they are strictly forbidden by the act of Parliament,
and forbidden upon grounds of the most substantial
policy.
Before the Regulating Act of 1773, the allowances
made by the Company to the Presidents of Bengal
were abundantly sufficient to guaranty them against
? ? ? ? 220 ELEVENTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
anything like a necessity for giving into that pernicious practice. The act of Parliament which appointed a Governor-General in the place of a President, as it was extremely particular in enforcing the prollibition of those presents, so it was equally careful in
making an ample provision for supporting the dignity
of the office, in order to remove all excuse for a corrupt increase of its emoluments.
Although evidence on record, as well as verbal testimony, has appeared before your Committee of presents to a large amount having been received by Mr. Hastings and others before the year 1775, they were
not able to find distinct traces of that practice in him
or any one else for a few years.
The inquiries set on foot in Bengal, by order of the
Court of Directors, in 1775, with regard to all corrupt
practices, and the vigor with which they were for
some time pursued, might have given a temporary
check to the receipt of presents, or might have produced a more effectual concealment of them, and afterwards the calamities which befell almost all who were concerned in the first discoveries did probably
prevent any further complaint upon the subject; but
towards the close of the last session your Committee
have received much of new and alarming information
concerning that abuse.
The first traces appeared, though faintly and obscurely, in a letter to the Court of Directors from the
Governor-General, Mr. Hastings, written on the 29th
of November, 1780. * It has been stated in a former
Report of your Committee,t that on the 26th of June,
1780, Mr. IIastings being very earnest in the prose* Appendix B. No. 1.
t Vide Supplement to the Second Report, page 7.
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 221
cution of a particular operation in the Mahratta war,
in order to remove objections to that measure, which
were made on account of the expense of the contingencies, he offered to exonerate the Company from
that "' charge. " Continuing his Minute of Council,
he says, " That sum" (a sum of about 23,0001. ) " I
have already deposited, within a small amount, in
the hands of the sub-treasurer; and I beg that the
board will permit it to be accepted for that service. "
Here he offers in his own person; he deposits, or
pretends that he deposits, in his own person; and,
with the zeal of a man eager to pledge his private
fortune in support of his measures, he prays that his
offer may be accepted. Not the least hint that he
was delivering back to the Company money of their
own, which he had secreted from them. Indeed, no
man ever made it a request, much less earnestly entreated, " begged to be permitted," to pay to any persons, public or private, money that was their own. It appeared to your Committee that the money offered for that service, which was to forward the operations of a detachment under Colonel Camac in an expedition against one of the Mahratta chiefs, was
not accepted. And your Committee, having directed
search to be made for any sums of money paid into
the Treasury by Mr. Hastings for this service, found,
that, notwithstanding his assertion of having deposited "two lacs of rupees, or within a trifle of that
sum, in the hands of the sub-treasurer," no entry
whatsoever of that or any other payment by the Governor-General was made in the Treasury accounts at
or about that time. * This circumstance appeared
very striking to your Committee, as the non-appearAppendix B. No. 2.
? ? ? ? 222 ELEVENTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
ance in the Company's books of the article in question must be owing to one or other of these four
causes: -- That the assertion of Mr. Hastings, of his
having paid in near two lacs of rupees at that time,
was not true; or that the sub-treasurer may receive
great sums in deposit without entering them in the
Company's Treasury accounts; or that the Treasury
books themselves are records not to be depended on;
or, lastly, that faithful copies of these books of accounts are not transmitted to Europe. The defect
of an entry corresponding with Mr. Hastings's declaration in Council can be attributed only to one of
these four causes, - of which the want of foundation
in his recorded assertion, though very blamable, is
the least alarming.
On the 29th of November following, Mr. Hastings
communicated to the Court of Directors some sort of
notice of this transaction. * In his letter of that date
he varies in no small degree the aspect under which
the business appeared in his Minute of Consultation
of the 26th of June. In his letter he says to the Directors, "The subject is now become obsolete; the
fair hopes which I had built upon the prosecution of
the Mahratta war have been blasted by the dreadful
calamities which have befallen your Presidency of
Fort St. George, and changed the object of our pursuit from the aggrandizement of your power to its preservation. " After thus confessing, or rather boasting, of his motives to the Mahratta war, he proceeds: "My present reason for reverting to my own conduct
on the occasion which I have mentioned" (namely,
his offering a sum of money for the Company's service) " is to obviate the false conclusions or purposed
* Vide Appendix B. No. 1.
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 223
misrepresentations which may be made of it, either as
an artifice of ostentation or the effect of corrupt influence, by assuring you that the money, by whatever
means it came into my possession, was not my own,
that I had myself no right to it, nor would or could
have received it but for the occasion which prompted me to avail myself of the accidental means which
were at that instant afforded me of accepting and
converting it to the property and use of the Company: and with this brief apology I shall dismiss the
subject. "
The apology is brief indeed, considering the nature
of the transaction; and what is more material than
its length or its shortness, it is in all points unsatisfactory. The matter becomes, if possible, more obscure by his explanation. Here was money received by Mr. Hastings, which, according to his own judgment, he had no right to receive; it was money
which, " but for the occasion that prompted him, he
could not have accepted "; it was money which came
into his, and from his into the Company's hands, by
ways and means undescribed, and from persons unnamed: yet, though apprehensive of false conclusions and purposed misrepresentations, he gives his employers no insight whatsoever into a matter which
of all others stood in the greatest need of a full and
clear elucidation.
Although he chooses to omit this essential point,
he expresses the most anxious solicitude to clear
himself of the charges that might be made against
him, of the artifices of ostentation, and of corrupt
influence. To discover, if possible, the ground for
apprehending such imputations, your Committee adverted to the circumstances in which he stood at the
? ? ? ? 224 ELEVENTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
time: they found that this letter was dispatched
about the time that Mr. Francis took his passage for
England; his fear of misrepresentation may therefore allude to something which passed in conversation between him and that gentleman at the time the offer was made.
It was not easy, on the mere face of his offer, to
give an ill turn to it. The act, as it stands on the
Minute, is not only disinterested, but generous and
public-spirited. If Mr. Hastings apprehended misrepresentation from Mr. Francis, or from any other person, your Committee conceive that he did not employ proper means for defeating the ill designs of his adversaries. On the contrary, the course he has taken
in his letter to the Court of Directors is calculated to
excite doubts and suspicions in minds the most favorably disposed to him. Some degree of ostentation is
not extremely blamable at a time when a man advances largely from his private fortune towards the public service. It is h-uman infirmity at the worst, and only detracts something from the lustre of an action
in itself meritorious. The kind of ostentation which
is criminal, and criminal only because it is fraudulent,
is where a person makes a show of giving when in
reality he does not give. This imposition is criminal
more or less according to the circumstances. But if
the money received to furnish such a pretended gift
is taken from any third person without right to take
it, a new guilt, and guilt of a much worse quality
and description, is incurred. The Governor-General,
in order to keep clear of ostentation, on the 29th of
November, 1780, declares, that the sum of money
which he offered on the 26th of the preceding June
as his own was not his own, and that he had no right
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 225
to it. Clearing himself of vanity, he convicts himself of deceit, and of injustice.
The other object of this brief apology was to clear
himself of corrupt influence. Of all ostentation he
stands completely acquitted in the month of November, however he might have been faulty in that respect in the month of June; but with regard to the other part of the apprehended charge, namely, corrupt
influence, he gives no satisfactory solution. A great
sum of money " not his own," - money to which " he
had no right," - money which came into his possession " by whatever means ":- if this be not money
obtained by corrupt influence, or by something worse,
that is, by violence or terror, it will be difficult to fix
upon circumstances which can furnish a presumption
of unjustifiable use of power and influence in the acquisition of profit. The last part of the apology,
that he had converted this money (" which he had no
right to receive") to the Company's use, so far as
your Committee can discover, does nowhere appear.
He speaks, in the Minute of the 26th of June, as
having then actually deposited it for the Company's
service; in the letter of November he says that he
converted it to the Company's property: but there is
no trace in the Company's books of its being ever
brought to their credit in the expenditure for anyspecific service, even if any such entry and expenditure could justify him in taking money which he had,, by his own confession, "no right to receive. "
The Directors appear to have been deceived by this
representation, and in their letter of January, 1782,*
consider the money as actually paid into their Treasury. Even under their error concerning the appli* Appendix B. No. 7.
VOL. VIII. 15
? ? ? ? 226 ELEVENTH REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE
cation of the money, they appear rather alarmed
than satisfied with the brief apology of the GovernorGeneral. They consider the whole proceeding as extraordinary and mysterious. They, however, do not condemn it with any remarkable asperity; after admitting that he might be induced to a temporary
secrecy respecting the members of the board, from a
fear of their resisting the proposed application, or
any application of this money to the Company's use,
yet they write to the Governlor-General and Council as
follows: --" It does not appear to us that there could
be any real necessity for delaying to communicate to
us immediate information of the channel by which the
money came into Mr. Hastings's possession, with a
complete illustration of the cause or causes of so extraordinary an event. " And again: " The means
proposed of defraying the extra expenses are very
extraordinary; and the money, we conceive, must
have come into his hands by an unusual channel;
and when more complete information comes before
[rs, we shall give our sentiments fully on the transaction. " And speaking of this and other moneys under
a similar description, they say, " We shall suspend
our judgment, without approving it in the least degree, or proceeding to c. ensure our Governor-General
for this transaction. " The expectations entertained
by the Directors of a more complete explanation
were natural, and their expression tender and temperate. But the more complete information which
they naturally expected they never have to this day
received.
Mr. Hastings wrote two more letters to the Secret
Committee of the Court of Directors, ill which he mentions this transaction: the first dated (as he asserts,
? ? ? ? ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 227
and a Mr. Larkins swears) on the 22d of May,
1782; * the last, which accompanied it, so late as the
16th of December in the same year. t Though so
long an interval lay between the transaction of the
26th of June, 1780, and the middle of December,
1782, (upwards of two years,) no further satisfaction
is given. He has written, since the receipt of the
above letter of the Court of Directors, (which demanded, what they had a right to demand, a clear explanation of the particulars of this sum of money
which he had no right to receive,) without giving
them any further satisfaction. Instead of explanation or apology, he assumes a tone of complaint and reproach to the Directors: he lays before them a
kind of an account of presents received, to the
amount of upwards of 200,0001. ,- some at a considerable distance of time, and which had not been hitherto communicated to the Company.
In the letter which accompanied that very extraordinary account, which then for the first time appeared, he discovers no small solicitude to clear himself from
the imputation of having these discoveries drawn
from him by the terrors of the Parliamentary inquiries then on foot. To remove all suspicion of such
a motive for making these discoveries, Mr. Larkins
swears, in an affidavit made before Mr. Justice Hyde,
bearing even date with the letter which accompanies
the account, that is, of the 16th of December, 1782,
that this letter had been written by him on the 22d
of May, several months before it was dispatched. t
It appears that Mr.
