So that the fact of
the gift of the money is ascertained by the question put by Mr.
the gift of the money is ascertained by the question put by Mr.
Edmund Burke
?
?
?
220 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
kind of policy which sought, by foreign aids, and the
diminution of the power of the Company, to raise his
own consequence, and to reestablish his authority.
He has never been charged with any instance of infidelity to the Nabob Mir Jaffier, the constant tenor
of whose politics, from his first accession to the nizamut till his death, corresponded in all points so exactly with the artifices which were detected in his minister that they may be as fairly ascribed to the one as to the other: their immediate object was beyond
question the aggrandizement of the former, though
the latter had ultimately an equal interest in their
success. The opinion which the Nabob himself entertained of the services and of the fidelity of Nundcomar evidently appeared in the distinguished marks
which he continued to show him of his favor and confidence to the latest hour of his life.
" His conduct in the succeeding administration appears not only to have been dictated by the same
principles, but, if we may be allowed to speak favorably of any measures which opposed the views of our
own government and aimed at the support of an adverse interest, surely it was not only not culpable,
but even praiseworthy. He endeavored, as appears
by the abstracts before us, to give consequence to his
master, and to pave the way to his independence, by
obtaining a firman from the king for his appointment to the subahship; and he opposed the promotion of Mahlomed Reza Khan, because he looked upon
it as a supersession of the rights and authority of the
Nabob. He is now an absolute dependant and sul)ject of the Company, on whose favor he must rest all
his hopes of filture advancement. "
The character here given of him is that of an excel
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 221
lent patriot, a character which all your Lordships, in
the several situations which you enjoy or to which you
may be called, will envy, - the character of a servant
who stuck to his master against all foreign encroachments, who stuck to him to the last hour of his life, and
had the dying testimony of his master to his services.
Could Sir John Clavering, could Colonel Monson,
could Mr. Francis know that this man, of whom Mr.
Hastings had given that exalted character upon the
records of the Company, was the basest and vilest, of
mankind? No, they ought to have esteemed him the
contrary: they knew him to be a man of rank, they
knew him to be a man perhaps of the first capacity
in the world, and they knew that Mr. Hastings had
given this honorable testimony of him on the records
of the Company but a very little time before; and
there was no reason why they should think or know,
as he expresses it, that he was the basest and vilest of
mankind. From the account, therefore, of Mr. Hastings himself, he was a person competent to accuse, a
witness fit to be heard; and that is all I contend for.
Mr. Hastings would not hear him, he would not suffer the charge he had produced to be examined into.
It has been shown to your Lordships that Mr.
Hastings employed Nundcomar to inquire into the
conduct and to be the principal manager of a prosecution against Mahomed Reza Khan. Will you suffer this man to qualify and disqualify witnesses and prosecutors agreeably to the purposes which his own
vengeance and corruption may dictate in one case,
and which the defence of those corruptions may dictate in another? Was Nundcomar a person fit to be
employed in the greatest and most sacred trusts in
the country, and yet not fit to be a witness to the
? ? ? ? 222 IMIPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
sums of money which he paid Mr. Hastings for those
trusts? Was Nundcomar a fit witness to be employed
and a fit person to be used in the prosecution of Mahomed Reza Khan, and yet not fit to be employed
against Mr. Hastings, who himself had employed him
in the very prosecution of Mahomed Reza Kh. an?
If Nundcomar was an enemy to Mr. Hastings, he
was an enemy to Mahomed Reza Khan; and Mr.
Hastings employed him, avowedly and professedly on
the records of the Company, on account of the very
qualification of that enmity. Was he a wretch, the
basest of mankind, when opposed to Mr. Hastings?
Was he not as much a wretch, and as much the basest of mankind, when Mr. Hastings employed him in
the prosecution of the first magistrate and Mahometan of the first descent in Asia? Mr. Hastings
shall not qualify and disqualify men at his pleasure;
he must accept them such as they are; and it is a
presumption of his guilt accompanying the charge,
(which I never will separate from it,) that he would
not suffer the man to be produced who made the accusation. And I therefore contend, that, as the accusation was so made, so witnessed, so detailed, so specific, so entered upon record, and so entered upon record in consequence of the inquiries ordered by the
Company, his refusal and rejection of inquiry into it
is a presumption of his guilt.
He is full of his idea of dignity. It is right for
every man to preserve his dignity. There is a dignity of station, which a man has in trust to preserve;
there is a dignity of personal character, which every
man by being made man is bound to preserve. But
you see Mr. Hastings's idea of dignity has no connection with integrity; it has no connection with
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 223
honest fame; it has no connection with the reputation which he is bound to preserve. What, my
Lords, did he owe nothing to the Company that had
appointed him? Did he owe nothing to the legislature, -did he owe nothing to your Lordships, and
to the House of Commons, who had appointed him?
Did he owe nothing to himself? to the country that
bore him? Did he owe nothing to the world, as to
its opinion, to which every public mall owes a reputation? What an example was here held out to the
Company's servants!
Mr. Hastings says,'" This may come into a court
of justice; it will come into a court of justice: I reserve my defence on the occasion till it comes into a
court of justice, and here I make no opposition to it. "
To this I answer, that the Company did not order
him so to reserve himself, but ordered him to be an
inquirer into those things. Is it a lesson to be taught
to the inferior servants of the Company, that, provided they can escape out of a court of justice by the
back-doors and sally-ports of the law, by artifice of
pleading, by those strict and rigorous rules of evidence which have been established for the protection
of innocence, but which by them might be turned to
the protection and support of guilt, that such an escape is enough for them? that an Old Bailey acquittal is enough to establish a fitness for trust? and if a man shall go acquitted out of such a court, because
the judges are bound to acquit him against the conviction of their own opinion, when every man in the
market-place knows that he is guilty, that lie is fit
for a trust? Is it a lesson to be held out to the servants of the Company, that, upon the first inquiry
which is made into corruption, and that in the high
? ? ? ? 224 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
est trust, by the persons authorized to inquire into it,
he uses all the powers of that trust to quash it, - vilifying his colleagues, vilifying his accuser, abusing everybody, but never denying the charge? His associates and colleagues, astonished at this conduct, so wholly unlike everything that had ever appeared
of innocence, request him to consider a little better.
They declare they are not his accusers; they tell him
they are not his judges; that they, under the orders
of the Company, are making an inquiry which he
ought to make. He declares he will not make it.
Being thus driven to the wall, he says, " Why do you
not form yourselves into a committee? I won't suffer
these proceedings to go on as long as I am present. "
Mr. Hastings plainly had in view, that, if the proceedings had been before a committee, there would have been a doubt of their authenticity, as not being
before a regular board; and he contended that there
could be no regular board without his own presence
in it: a poor, miserable scheme for eluding this inquiry; partly by saying that it was carried on when he was not present, and partly by denying the authority
of this board.
I will have nothing to do with the great question
that arose upon the Governor-General's resolution to
dissolve a board, whether the board have a right to
sit afterwards; it is enough that Mr. Hastings would
not suffer them, as a Council, to examine into what,
as a Council, they were bound to examine, into. He
absolutely declared the Council dissolved, when they
did not accept his committee, for which they had
many good reasons, as I shall show in reply, if necessary, and which he could have no one good reason for proposing; --he then declares the Council dis
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 225
solved. The Council, who did not think Mr. Hastings had a power to dissolve them while proceeding
in the discharge of their duty, went on as a Council.
They called in Nundcomar to support his charge: Mr.
Hastings withdrew. Nundcomar was asked what he
had to say further in support of his own evidence.
Upon which he produces a letter from Munny Begum, the dancing-girl that I have spoken of, in which
she gives him directions and instructions relative to
his conduct in every part of those bribes; by which
it appears that the corrupt agreement for her office
was made with Mr. Hastings through Nundcomar,
before he had quitted Calcutta. It points out the
execution of it, and the manner in which every part
of the sum was paid: one lac by herself in Calcutta;
one lac, which she ordered Nundcomar to borrow,
and which he did borrow; and a lac and a half which
were given to him, Mr. Hastings, besides this purchase money, under color of an entertainment. This
letter was produced, translated, examined, criticized,
proved to be sealed with the seal of the Begum, acknowledged to have no marks but those of authenticity upon it, and as such was entered upon the Company's records, confirming and supporting the
evidence of Nundcomar, part by part, and circumstance by circumstance. And I am to remark, that,
since this document, so delivered in, has never been
litigated or controverted in the truth of it, from that
day to this, by Mr. Hastings, so, if there was no
more testimony, here is enough, upon this business.
Your Lordships will remark that this charge consisted of two parts: two lacs that were given explicitly for the corrupt purchase of the office; and
one lac and a half given in reality for the same purVOL. X. 15
? ? ? ? 226 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
pose, but under the color of what is called an entertainment.
Now in the course of these proceedings it was
thought necessary that Mr. Hastings's banian, Cantoo
Baboo, (a name your Lordships will be well acquainted with, and who was the minister in this and all the
other transactions of Mr. Hastings,) should be called
before the board to explain some circumstances in
the proceedings. Mr. Hastings ordered his banian,
a native, not to attend the sovereign board appointed
by Parliament for the government of that country,
and directed to inquire into transactions of this nature. . He thus taught the natives not only to disobey
the orders of the Court of Directors, enforced by an
act of Parliament, but he taught his own servant to
disobey, and ordered him not to appear before the
board. Quarrels, duels, and other mischiefs arose.
In short, Mr. Hastings raised every power of heaven
and of hell upon this subject: but in vain: the inquiry went on.
Mr. Hastings does not meet Nundcomar: he was
afraid of him. But he was not negligent of his own
defence; for he flies to the Supreme Court of Justice.
He there prosecuted an inquiry against Nundcomar
for a conspiracy. Failing in that, he made other attempts, and disabled Nundcomar from appearing before the board by having him imprisoned, and thus utterly crippled that part of the prosecution against
him. But as guilt is never able thoroughly to escape,
it did so happen, that the Council, finding monstrous
deficiencies in the Begum's affairs, finding the Nabob's
allowance totally squandered, that the most sacred
pensions were left unpaid, that nothing but disorder
and confusion reigned in all his affairs, that the Na
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 227
bob's education was neglected, that he could scarcely
read or write, that there was scarcely any mark of a
man left in him except those which Nature had at
first' imprinted, -I say, all these abuses being produced in a body before them, they thought it necessary to send up to inquire into them; and a considerable
deficiency or embezzlement appearing in the Munny
Begum's account of the young Nabob's stipend, she
voluntarily declared, by a writing under her seal, that
she had given 15,0001. to Mr. Hastings for an entertainment.
Mr. Hastings, finding that the charge must come
fully against him, contrived a plan which your Lordships will see the effects of presently, and this was,
to confound this lac and an half, or 15,0001. , with the
two lacs given directly and specifically as a bribe, -
intending to avail himself of this finesse whenever
any payment was to be proved of the two lacs, which
he knew would be proved against him, and which he
never did deny; and accordingly your Lordships will
find some confusion in the proofs of the payment of
those sums. The receipt of two lacs is proved by
Nundcomar, proved with all the means of detection
which I have stated; the receipt of the lac and a half
is proved by Munny Begum's letter, the authenticity
of which was established, and never denied by Mr.
Hastings. In addition to these proofs, Rajah Gourdas, who had the management of the Nabob's treasury, verbally gave an account perfectly corresponding with that of Nundcomar and the Munny Begum's letter; and he afterwards gave in writing an attestation, which in every point agrees correctly with the
others. So that there are three witnesses upon this
business. And he shall not disqualify Rajah Gour
? ? ? ? 228 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
das, because, whatever character he thought fit to
give Nundcomar, he has given the best of characters
to Rajah Gourdas, who was employed by Mr. Hastings in occupations of trust, and therefore any objections to his competency cannot exist. Having got thus far, the only thing that remained was to examine the records of the public offices, and see whether
any trace of these transactions was to be found there.
These offices had been thrown into confusion in the
manner you will hear; but, upon strict inquiry, there
was a shomaster, or office paper, produced, from which
it appears that the officer of the treasury, having
brought to the Nabob an account of one lac and a
half which he said had been given to Mr. Hastings,
desired to know from him under what head of expense
it should be entered, and that he, the Nabob, desired
him to put it under the head of expenses for entertaining Mr. Hastings. If there had been a head of
entertainment established as a regular affair, the officer would never have gone to the Nabob and asked
under what name to enter it; but he found an irregular affair, and he did not know what head to put it
under. And from the whole of the proceedings it appears that three lacs and a half were paid: two lac
by way of bribe, one lac and a half under the color of
an entertainment. Mr. Hastings endeavors to invalidate the first obliquely, not directly, for he never directly denied it; and he partly admits the second, in hopes that all the proof of payment of the first charge
should be merged and confounded in the second.
And therefore your Lordships will see from the beginning of that business till it came into the hands of
Mr. Smith, his agent, then appearing in the name and
character of agent and solicitor to the Company, that
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 229
this was done to give some appearance and color to it
by a false representation, as your Lordships will see,
of every part of the transaction.
The proof, then, of the two lacs rests upon the evidence of Nundcomar, the letter of Munny Begum,
and the evidence of Rajah Gourdas. The evidence
of the lac and a half, by way of entertainment, was at
first the same; and afterwards begins a series of proofs
to which Mr. Hastings has himself helped us. For, in
the first place, he produces this office paper in support of his attempt to establish the confusion between the payment of the two lacs and of the lac and a half.
He did not himself deny that he received a lac and a
half, because with respect to that lac and a half he had
founded some principle of justification. Accordingly
this office paper asserts and proves this lac and a half
to have been given, in addition to the other proofs.
Then Munny Begum herself is inquired of. There is
a commission appointed to go up to her residence;
and the fact is proved to the satisfaction of Mr. Goring, the commissioner. The Begum had put a paper
of accounts, through her son, into his hands, which
shall be given at your Lordships' bar, in which she
expressly said that she gave Mr. Hastings a lac and a
half for entertainment. But Mr. Hastings objects to
Mr. Goring's evidence upon this occasion. He wanted to supersede Mr. Goring in the inquiry; and he accordingly appoints, with the consent of the Council, two creatures of his own to go and assist in that inquiry. The question which he directs these commissioners to put to Munny Begum is this: -" Was
the sum of money charged by you to be given to Mr.
Hastings given under an idea of entertainment customary, or upon what other ground, or for what other
? ? ? ? 230 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
reason? " He also desires the following questions
may be proposed to the Begum: -" Was any application made to you for the account which you have
delivered of three lacs and a half of rupees said to
have been paid to the Governor and Mr. Middleton?
or did you deliver the account of your own free will,
and unsolicited? " My Lords, you see that with regard to the whole three lacs and a half of rupees the
Begum had given an account which tended to confirm
the payment of them; but Mr. Hastings wanted to invalidate that account by supposing she gave it under
restraint. The second question is, -" In what manner was the application made to you, and by whom? "
But the principal question is this: - "On what account was the one lac and a half given to the Governor-General which you have laid to his account? Was it in consequence of any requisition from him,
or of any previous agreement, or of any established
usage? " When a man asks concerning a sum of
money, charged to be given to him by another person, on what account it was given, he does indirectly
admit that that money actually was paid, and wants
to derive a justification from the mode of the payment of it; and accordingly that inference was drawn
from the question so sent up, and it served as an
instruction to Munny Begum; and her answer was,
that it was given to him, as an ancient usage and
custom, for an entertainment.
So that the fact of
the gift of the money is ascertained by the question put by Mr. Hastings to her, and her answer.
And thus at last comes his accomplice in this business, and gives the fullest testimony to the lac and
a half.
I must beg leave, before I go further, to state the
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 231
circumstances of the several witnesses examined upon this business. They were of two kinds: voluntary
witnesses, and accomplices forced by inquiry and examination to discover their own guilt. Of the first
kind were Nundcomar and Rajah Gourdas: these
were the only two that can be said to be voluntary
in the business, and who gave their information without much fear, though the last unwillingly, and with
a full sense of the danger of doing it. The other
was the evidence of his accomplice, Munny Begum,
wrung from her by the force of truth, in which she
confessed that she gave the lac and a half, and justifies it upon the ground of its being a customary entertainment. Besides this, there is the evidence of Chittendur, who was one of Mr. Hastings's instruments, and one of the Begum's servants. He, being prepared to confound the two lacs with the one lac and
a half, says, upon his examination, that a lac and a
half was given; but upon examining into the particulars of it, he proves that the sum lie gave was two
lacs, and not a lac and a half: for he says that there
was a dispute about the other half lac; Nundcomar
demanded interest, which the Begum was unwilling
to allow, and consequently that half lac remained
unpaid. Now this half lac can be no part of the lac
and a half, which is admitted on all hands, and proved
by the whole body of concurrent testimony, to have
been given to Mr. Hastings in one lumping sum.
When Chittendur endeavors to confound it with the
lac and a half, he clearly establishes the fact that it
was a parcel of the two lacs, and thus bears evidence,
in attempting to prevaricate in favor of Mr. Hastings,
that one lac and a half was paid, which Mr. Hastings
is willing to allow; but when lie enters into the
? ? ? ? 232 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
particulars of it, he proves by the subdivision of the
payment, and by the non-payment of part of it, that
it accords with the two lacs, and not with the lac and
a half.
There are other circumstances in these accounts
highly auxiliary to this evidence. The lac and a half
was not only attested by Rajah Gourdas, by the Begum, by Chittendur, by the Begum again upon Mr.
Hastings's own question, indirectly admitted by Mr.
Hastings, proved by the orders for it to be written off
to expense, (such a body of proof as perhaps never
existed,) but there is one proof still remaining, namely, a paper, which was produced before the Committee, and which we shall produce to your Lordships. It is an authentic paper, delivered in favor of Mr.
Hastings by Major Scott, who acted at that time as
Mr. Hastings's agent, to a committee of the House
of Commons, and authenticated to come from Munny
Begum herself. All this body of evidence we mean
to produce; and we shall prove, first, that he received
the two lacs, - and, secondly, that he received one lac
and a half under the name of entertainment. With
regard to the lac and a half, Mr. Hastings is so far
from controverting it, even indirectly, that he is
obliged to establish it by testimonies produced by himself, in order to sink in that, if he can, the two lacs,
which he thinks he is not able to justify, but which lihe
fears will be proved against him. The lac and a half,
I do believe, he will not be advised to contest; but
whether he is or no, we shall load him with it, we
shall prove it beyond all doubt. But there are
other circumstances further auxiliary in this business, which, from the very attempts to conceal it,
prove beyond doubt the fraudulent and wicked na
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. FIRST DAY. 233
ture of the transaction. In the account given by the
Begum, a lac, which is for Mr. Hastings's entertainment, is entered in a suspicious neighborhood; for
there is there entered a lac of rupees paid for the
subahdarry sunnuds to the Mogul through the Rajah
Shitab Roy. Upon looking into the account, and comparing it with another paper produced, the first thing we find is, that this woman charges the sum paid to
be a sum due; and then she charges this one lac to
have been paid when the Mogul was in the hands of
the Mahrattas, when all communication with him was
stopped, and when Rajah Shitab Roy, who is supposed
to have paid it, was under confinement in the hands
of Mr. Hastings. Thus she endeavors to conceal the
lac of rupees paid to Mr. Hastings.
In order to make this transaction, which, though
not in itself intricate, is in some degree made so by
Mr. Hastings, clear to your Lordships, we pledge ourselves to give to your Lordships, what must be a great advantage to the culprit himself, a syllabus, the heads
of all this charge, and of the proofs themselves, with
their references, to show how far the proof goes to
the two lacs, and then to the one lac and a half singly. This we shall put in writing, that you may not depend upon the fugitive memory of a thing not so
well, perhaps, or powerfully expressed as it ought to
be, and in order to give every advantage to the defendant, and to give every facility to your Lordships' judgment: and this will, I believe, be thought a clear
and fair way of proceeding. Your Lordships will
then judge whether Mr. Hastings's conduct at the
time, his resisting an inquiry, preventing his servant
appearing as an evidence, discountenancing and discouraging his colleagues, raising every obstruction to
? ? ? ? 234 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the prosecution, dissolving the Council, preventing
evidence and destroying it as far as lay in his power by collateral means, be not also such presump.
tive proofs as give double force to all the positive
proof we produce against him.
The lac and a half, I know, he means to support
upon the custom of entertainment; and your Lordships will judge whether or not a man who was ordered and had covenanted never to take more than 4001. could take 16,0001. under color of an entertainment. That which he intends to produce as a
justification we charge, and your Lordships and the
world will think, to be the heaviest aggravation of his
crime. And after explaining to your Lordships the
circumstances under which this justification is made,
and leaving a just impression of them upon your
minds, I shall beg your Lordships' indulgence to finish this member of the business to-morrow.
It is stated and entered in the account, that an
entertainment was provided for Mr. Hastings at the
rate of 2001. a day. He stayed at Moorshedabad for
near three months; and thus you see that visits from
Mr. Hastings are pretty expensive things: it is at the
rate of 73,0001. a year for his entertainment. We
find that Mr. Middleton, an English gentleman who
was with him, received likewise (whether under the
same pretence I know not, and it does not signify)
another sum equal to it; and if these two gentlemen
had stayed in that country a year, their several allowances would have been 146,0001. out of the Nabob's
allowance of 160,0001. a year: they would have eat
up nearly the whole of it. And do you wonder, my
Lords, that such guests and such hosts are difficult to
be divided? Do you wonder that such visits, when
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 235
so well paid for and well provided for, were naturally
long? There is hardly a prince in Europe who would
give to another prince of Europe from his royal hospitality what was given upon this occasion to Mr. Hastings.
Let us now see what was Mr. Hastings's business
during this long protracted visit. First, he tells you
that he came there to reduce all the state and dignity
of the Nabob. He tells you that he felt no coinpunction in reducing that state; that the elephants, the menagerie, the stables, all went without mercy, and
consequently all the persons concerned in them were
dismissed also. When he came to the abolition of the
pensions, he says, -- " I proceeded with great pain,
from the reflection that I was the instrument in depriving whole families, all at once, of their bread, and reducing them to a state of penury: convinced of the
necessity of the measure, I endeavored to execute it
with great impartiality. " Here he states the work
he was employed in, when he took this two hundred
p)ounds a day for his own pay. " It was necessary to
begin with reforming the useless servants of the court,
and retrenching the idle parade of elephants, menageries, &c. , which loaded the civil list. This cost little regret in performing; but the Resident, who
took upon himself the chief share in this business,
acknowledges that he suffered considerably in his
feelings, when he came to touch on the pension list.
Some hundreds of persons of the ancient nobility of
the country, excluded, under our government, from
almost all employments, civil or military, had, ever
since the revolution, depended on the bounty of the
Nabob; and near ten lacs were bestowed that way.
It is not that the distribution was always made with
? ? ? ? 236 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
judgment or impartial, and much room was left for a
reform; but when the question was to cut off entirely
the greatest part, it could not fail to be accompanied
with circumstances of real distress. The Resident
declares, that, even with some of the highest rank,
he could not avoid discovering, under all the pride
of Eastern manners, the manifest marks of penury
and want. There was, however, no room left for hesitation: to confine the Nabob's expenses within the limited sum, it was necessary that pensions should
be set aside. "
Here, my Lords, is a mail sent to execute one of the
most dreadful offices that was ever executed by man,
- to cut off, as he says himself, with a bleeding heart,
the only remaining allowance made for hundreds of
the decayed nobility and gentry of a great kingdom,
driven by our government from the offices upon which
they existed. In this moment of an:iety and affliction,
when he says he felt pain and was cut to the heart to
do it, - at this very moment, when he was turning
over fourteen hundred of the ancient nobility and
gentry of this country to downright want of bread,
just at that moment, while he was doing this act, and
feeling this act in this manner, from the collected
morsels forced from the mouths of that indigent and
famished nobility he gorged his own ravenous maw
with an allowance of two hundred pounds a day for
his entertainment. As we see him in this business,
this man is unlike any other-: he is also never corrupt
but he is cruel; he never dines without creating a
famine; he does not take from the loose superfluity
of standing greatness, but falls upon the indigent,
the oppressed, and ruined; he takes to himself double
what would maintain them. His is unlike the gen
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 237
erous rapacity of the noble eagle, who preys upon a
living, struggling, reluctant, equal victim; his is like
that of the ravenous vulture, who falls upon the decayed, the sickly, the dying, and the dead, and only anticipates Nature in the destruction of its object.
His cruelty is beyond his corruption: but there is
something in his hypocrisy which is more terrible
than his cruelty; for, at the very time when with
double and unsparing hands he executes a proscription, and sweeps off the food of hundreds of the nobility and gentry of a great country, his eyes overflow with tears, and lie turns the precious balm that bleeds from wounded humanity, and is its best medicine, into fatal, rancorous, mortal poison to the human race.
You have seen, that, when he takes two hundred
pounds a day for his entertainment, he tells you that
in this very act he is starving fourteen hundred of the
ancient nobility and gentry. My Lords, you have the
blood of nobles, --if not, you have the blood of men
in your veins: you feel as nobles, you feel as men.
What would you say to a cruel Mogul exactor, by
whom after having been driven from your estates, driven from the noble offices, civil and military, which
you hold, driven from your bishoprics, driven from
your places at court, driven from your offices as
judges, and, after having been reduced to a miserable flock of pensioners, your very pensions were at
last wrested from your mouths, and who, though at
the very time when those pensions were wrested from
you he declares them to have been the only bread of a
miserable decayed nobility, takes himself two hundred pounds a day for his entertainment, and continues it till it amounts to sixteen thousand pounds? I
? ? ? ? 238 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
do think, that, of all the corruptions which he has not
owned, but has not denied, or of those which he does
in effect own, and of which he brings forward the
evidence himself, the taking and claiming under color
of an entertainment is ten times the most nefarious.
I shall this day only further trouble your Lordships
to observe that he has never directly denied this transaction. I have tumbled over the records, I have
looked at every part, to see whether he denies it.
He did not deny it at the time, he did not deny it
to the Court of Directors: on the contrary, he did
in effect acknowledge it, when, without directly acknowledging it, he promised them a full and liberal
explanation of the whole transaction. He never did
give that explanation. Parliament took up the business; this matter was reported at the end of the
Eleventh Report; but though the House of Commons
had thus reported it, and made that public which before was upon the Company's records, he took no notice of it. Then another occasion arises: he comes before the House of Commons; he knows he is about
to be prosecuted for these very corruptions; he well
knows these charges exist against him; he makes his
defence (if he will allow it to be his defence); but,
though thus driven, he did not there deny it, because
he knew, that, if he had denied it, it could be proved
against him. I desire your Lordships will look at
that paper which we have given in evidence, and see
if you find a word of denial of it: there is much discourse, much folly, much insolence, but not one word
of denial. Then, at last, it came before this tribunal
against him. I desire to refer your Lordships to that
part of his defence to the article in which this bribe is
specifically charged: he does not deny it there; the
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON rHE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 239
only thing which looks like a denial is one sweeping clause inserted, (in order to put us upon the proof,) that all the charges are to be conceived as denied; but a specific denial to this specific charge in no stage of the business, from beginning to end, has he once made.
And therefore here I close that part of the charge which relates to the business of Nundcomar. Your Lordships will see such a body of presumptive proof and positive proof as never was given yet of any secret corrupt act of bribery; and there I leave it
with your Lordships' justice. I beg pardon for
having detained you so long; but your Lordships
will be so good as to observe that no business ever was covered with more folds of iniquitous artifice
than this which is now brought before you.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
ON
THE SIXTH ARTICLE OF CHARGE.
SECOND DAY: SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1789.
M Y LORDS, - When I last had the honor of addressing your Lordships, I endeavored to state
with as much perspicuity as the nature of an intricate affair would admit, and as largely as in so intricate anl affair was consistent with the brevity which I endeavored to preserve, the proofs which had been
adduced against Warren Hastings upon an inquiry
instituted by an order of the Court of Directors into the corruption and peculation of persons in authority in India. My Lords, I have endeavored to
show you by anterior presumptive proofs, drawn from
the nature and circumstances of the acts themselves
inferring guilt, that such actions and such conduct
could be referable only to one cause, namely, corruption; I endeavored to show you afterwards, my Lords,
what the specific nature and extent of the corruption
was, as far as it could be fully proved; and lastly,
the great satisfactory presumption which attended
the inquiry with regard, to Mr. Hastings, - namely,
that, contrary to law, contrary to his duty, contrary
to what is owed by innocence to itself, Mr. Hastings
resisted that inquiry, and employed all the power of
his office to prevent the exercise of it, either in himself or in others. These presumptions and these proofs
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -SECOND DAY. 241 will be brought before your Lordships, distinctly and in order, at the end of this opening.
The next point on which I thought it necessary to proceed was relative to the presumptions which his subsequent conduct gave with regard to his guilt: because, my Lords, his uniform tenor of conduct, such as must attend guilt, both in the act, at the time of the inquiry, and subsequent to it, will form such a body of satisfactory evidence as I believe the human mind is not made to resist.
My Lords, there is another reason why I choose to
enter into the presumptions drawn from his conduct
and the fact, taking his conduct in two parts, if it
may be so expressed, omission and commission, in order that your Lordships should more fully enter into the consequences of this system of bribery. But before I say anything upon that, I wish your Lordships
to be apprised, that the Commons, in bringing this
bribe of three lac and a half before your Lordships, do
not wish by any means to have it understood that this
it the whole of the bribe that was received by Mr.
Hastings in consequence of delivering up the whole
management of the government of the country to
that improper person whom he nominated for it. My
Lords, from the proofs that will be adduced before
you, there is great probability that he received very
nearly a hundred thousand pounds; there is positive proof of his receiving fifty; and wee have chosen only to charge him with that of which there is such an accumulated body of proof as to leave no1
doubt upon the minds of your Lordships. All this I
say, because we are perfectly apprised of the sentiments of the public upon this point: when they hear
of the enormity of Indian peculation, when they see
VOL. X. 16
? ? ? ? 242 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the acts done, and compare them with the bribes received, the acts seem so enormous and the bribes comparatively so small, that they can hardly be got to attribute them to that motive. What I mean to state
is this: that, from a collective view of the subject,
your Lordships will be able to judge that enormous
offences have been committed, and that the bribe
which we have given in proof is a specimen of the
nature and extent df those enormous bribes which extend to much greater sums than we are able to prove
before you in the manner your Lordships would like
and expect.
I have already remarked to your Lordships, that,
after this charge was brought and recorded before
the Council in spite of the resistance made by Mr.
Hastings, in which he employed all the power and
authority of his station, and the whole body of his partisans and associates in iniquity, dispersed through
every part of these provinces, - after he had taken
all these steps, finding himself pressed by the proof
and pressed by the presumption of his resistance to
the inquiry, he did think it necessary to make something like a defence. Accordingly he has made what
he calls a justification, which did not consist in the
denial of that fact, or any explanation of it. The
mode he took for his defence was abuse of his colleagues, abuse of the witnesses, and of every person
who in the execution of his duty was inquiring into the fact, and charging them with things which, if
true, were by no means sufficient to support him,
either in defending the acts themselves, or in the
criminal means he used to prevent inquiry into them.
His design was to mislead their minds, and to carry
them from the accusation and the proof of it. With
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -SECOND DAY. 243
respect to the passion, violence, and intemperate heat
with which he charged them, they were proceeding in
an orderly, regular manner; and if on any occasion
they seem to break out into warmth, it was in consequence of that resistance which he made to them, in what your Lordships, I believe, will agree with them
in thinking was one of the most important parts of
their functions. If they had been intemperate in their
conduct, if they had been violent, passionate, prejudiced against him, it afforded him only a better means of making his defence; because, though in a rational and judicious mind the intemperate conduct of the accuser certainly proves nothing with regard to the
truth or falsehood of his accusation, yet we do know
that the minds of men are so constituted that an improper mode of conducting a right thing does form some degree of prejudice against it. Mr. Hastings,
therefore, unable to defend himself upon principle, has
resorted as much as he possibly could to prejudice.
And at the same time that there is not one word of
denial, or the least attempt at a refutation of the
charge, he has loaded the records with all manner of
minutes, proceedings, and letters relative to everything
but the fact itself. The great aim of his policy, both
then, before, and ever since, has been to divert the
mind of the auditory, or the persons to whom he addressed himself, from the nature of his cause, to some collateral circumstance relative to it, -- a policy to
which he has always had recourse; but that trick,
the last resource of despairing guilt, I trust will now
completely fail him.
Mr. Hastings, however, began to be pretty sensible
that this way of proceeding had a very unpromising
and untoward look; for which reason he next declared
? ? ? ? 244 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that he reserved his defence for fear of a legal prose
cution, and that some time or other he would give a
large and liberal explanation to the Court of Directors,
to whom he was answerable for his conduct, of his
refusing to suffer the inquiry to proceed, of his omitting to give them satisfaction at the time, of his omitting to take any one natural step that an innocent man would have taken upon such an occasion. Under
this promise he has remained from that time to the
time you see him at your bar, and he has neither
denied, exculpated, explained, or apologized for his
conduct in any one single instance.
While he accuses the intemperance of his adversaries, he shows a degree of temperance in himself
which always attends guilt in despair: for struggling
guilt may be warm, but guilt that is desperate has
nothing to do but to submit to the consequences of it,
to bear the infamy annexed to its situation, and to try
to find some consolation in the effects of guilt with regard to private fortune for the scandal it brings them
into in public reputation. After the business had
ended in India, the causes why he should have given
the explanation grew stronger and stronger: for not
only the charges exhibited against him were weighty,
but the manner in which he was called upon to inquire
into them was such as would undoubtedly tend to stir
the mind of a man of character, to rouse him to some
consideration of himself, and to a sense of the necessity of his defence. He was goaded to make this
defence by the words I shall read to your Lordships
from Sir John Clavering.
kind of policy which sought, by foreign aids, and the
diminution of the power of the Company, to raise his
own consequence, and to reestablish his authority.
He has never been charged with any instance of infidelity to the Nabob Mir Jaffier, the constant tenor
of whose politics, from his first accession to the nizamut till his death, corresponded in all points so exactly with the artifices which were detected in his minister that they may be as fairly ascribed to the one as to the other: their immediate object was beyond
question the aggrandizement of the former, though
the latter had ultimately an equal interest in their
success. The opinion which the Nabob himself entertained of the services and of the fidelity of Nundcomar evidently appeared in the distinguished marks
which he continued to show him of his favor and confidence to the latest hour of his life.
" His conduct in the succeeding administration appears not only to have been dictated by the same
principles, but, if we may be allowed to speak favorably of any measures which opposed the views of our
own government and aimed at the support of an adverse interest, surely it was not only not culpable,
but even praiseworthy. He endeavored, as appears
by the abstracts before us, to give consequence to his
master, and to pave the way to his independence, by
obtaining a firman from the king for his appointment to the subahship; and he opposed the promotion of Mahlomed Reza Khan, because he looked upon
it as a supersession of the rights and authority of the
Nabob. He is now an absolute dependant and sul)ject of the Company, on whose favor he must rest all
his hopes of filture advancement. "
The character here given of him is that of an excel
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 221
lent patriot, a character which all your Lordships, in
the several situations which you enjoy or to which you
may be called, will envy, - the character of a servant
who stuck to his master against all foreign encroachments, who stuck to him to the last hour of his life, and
had the dying testimony of his master to his services.
Could Sir John Clavering, could Colonel Monson,
could Mr. Francis know that this man, of whom Mr.
Hastings had given that exalted character upon the
records of the Company, was the basest and vilest, of
mankind? No, they ought to have esteemed him the
contrary: they knew him to be a man of rank, they
knew him to be a man perhaps of the first capacity
in the world, and they knew that Mr. Hastings had
given this honorable testimony of him on the records
of the Company but a very little time before; and
there was no reason why they should think or know,
as he expresses it, that he was the basest and vilest of
mankind. From the account, therefore, of Mr. Hastings himself, he was a person competent to accuse, a
witness fit to be heard; and that is all I contend for.
Mr. Hastings would not hear him, he would not suffer the charge he had produced to be examined into.
It has been shown to your Lordships that Mr.
Hastings employed Nundcomar to inquire into the
conduct and to be the principal manager of a prosecution against Mahomed Reza Khan. Will you suffer this man to qualify and disqualify witnesses and prosecutors agreeably to the purposes which his own
vengeance and corruption may dictate in one case,
and which the defence of those corruptions may dictate in another? Was Nundcomar a person fit to be
employed in the greatest and most sacred trusts in
the country, and yet not fit to be a witness to the
? ? ? ? 222 IMIPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
sums of money which he paid Mr. Hastings for those
trusts? Was Nundcomar a fit witness to be employed
and a fit person to be used in the prosecution of Mahomed Reza Khan, and yet not fit to be employed
against Mr. Hastings, who himself had employed him
in the very prosecution of Mahomed Reza Kh. an?
If Nundcomar was an enemy to Mr. Hastings, he
was an enemy to Mahomed Reza Khan; and Mr.
Hastings employed him, avowedly and professedly on
the records of the Company, on account of the very
qualification of that enmity. Was he a wretch, the
basest of mankind, when opposed to Mr. Hastings?
Was he not as much a wretch, and as much the basest of mankind, when Mr. Hastings employed him in
the prosecution of the first magistrate and Mahometan of the first descent in Asia? Mr. Hastings
shall not qualify and disqualify men at his pleasure;
he must accept them such as they are; and it is a
presumption of his guilt accompanying the charge,
(which I never will separate from it,) that he would
not suffer the man to be produced who made the accusation. And I therefore contend, that, as the accusation was so made, so witnessed, so detailed, so specific, so entered upon record, and so entered upon record in consequence of the inquiries ordered by the
Company, his refusal and rejection of inquiry into it
is a presumption of his guilt.
He is full of his idea of dignity. It is right for
every man to preserve his dignity. There is a dignity of station, which a man has in trust to preserve;
there is a dignity of personal character, which every
man by being made man is bound to preserve. But
you see Mr. Hastings's idea of dignity has no connection with integrity; it has no connection with
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 223
honest fame; it has no connection with the reputation which he is bound to preserve. What, my
Lords, did he owe nothing to the Company that had
appointed him? Did he owe nothing to the legislature, -did he owe nothing to your Lordships, and
to the House of Commons, who had appointed him?
Did he owe nothing to himself? to the country that
bore him? Did he owe nothing to the world, as to
its opinion, to which every public mall owes a reputation? What an example was here held out to the
Company's servants!
Mr. Hastings says,'" This may come into a court
of justice; it will come into a court of justice: I reserve my defence on the occasion till it comes into a
court of justice, and here I make no opposition to it. "
To this I answer, that the Company did not order
him so to reserve himself, but ordered him to be an
inquirer into those things. Is it a lesson to be taught
to the inferior servants of the Company, that, provided they can escape out of a court of justice by the
back-doors and sally-ports of the law, by artifice of
pleading, by those strict and rigorous rules of evidence which have been established for the protection
of innocence, but which by them might be turned to
the protection and support of guilt, that such an escape is enough for them? that an Old Bailey acquittal is enough to establish a fitness for trust? and if a man shall go acquitted out of such a court, because
the judges are bound to acquit him against the conviction of their own opinion, when every man in the
market-place knows that he is guilty, that lie is fit
for a trust? Is it a lesson to be held out to the servants of the Company, that, upon the first inquiry
which is made into corruption, and that in the high
? ? ? ? 224 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
est trust, by the persons authorized to inquire into it,
he uses all the powers of that trust to quash it, - vilifying his colleagues, vilifying his accuser, abusing everybody, but never denying the charge? His associates and colleagues, astonished at this conduct, so wholly unlike everything that had ever appeared
of innocence, request him to consider a little better.
They declare they are not his accusers; they tell him
they are not his judges; that they, under the orders
of the Company, are making an inquiry which he
ought to make. He declares he will not make it.
Being thus driven to the wall, he says, " Why do you
not form yourselves into a committee? I won't suffer
these proceedings to go on as long as I am present. "
Mr. Hastings plainly had in view, that, if the proceedings had been before a committee, there would have been a doubt of their authenticity, as not being
before a regular board; and he contended that there
could be no regular board without his own presence
in it: a poor, miserable scheme for eluding this inquiry; partly by saying that it was carried on when he was not present, and partly by denying the authority
of this board.
I will have nothing to do with the great question
that arose upon the Governor-General's resolution to
dissolve a board, whether the board have a right to
sit afterwards; it is enough that Mr. Hastings would
not suffer them, as a Council, to examine into what,
as a Council, they were bound to examine, into. He
absolutely declared the Council dissolved, when they
did not accept his committee, for which they had
many good reasons, as I shall show in reply, if necessary, and which he could have no one good reason for proposing; --he then declares the Council dis
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 225
solved. The Council, who did not think Mr. Hastings had a power to dissolve them while proceeding
in the discharge of their duty, went on as a Council.
They called in Nundcomar to support his charge: Mr.
Hastings withdrew. Nundcomar was asked what he
had to say further in support of his own evidence.
Upon which he produces a letter from Munny Begum, the dancing-girl that I have spoken of, in which
she gives him directions and instructions relative to
his conduct in every part of those bribes; by which
it appears that the corrupt agreement for her office
was made with Mr. Hastings through Nundcomar,
before he had quitted Calcutta. It points out the
execution of it, and the manner in which every part
of the sum was paid: one lac by herself in Calcutta;
one lac, which she ordered Nundcomar to borrow,
and which he did borrow; and a lac and a half which
were given to him, Mr. Hastings, besides this purchase money, under color of an entertainment. This
letter was produced, translated, examined, criticized,
proved to be sealed with the seal of the Begum, acknowledged to have no marks but those of authenticity upon it, and as such was entered upon the Company's records, confirming and supporting the
evidence of Nundcomar, part by part, and circumstance by circumstance. And I am to remark, that,
since this document, so delivered in, has never been
litigated or controverted in the truth of it, from that
day to this, by Mr. Hastings, so, if there was no
more testimony, here is enough, upon this business.
Your Lordships will remark that this charge consisted of two parts: two lacs that were given explicitly for the corrupt purchase of the office; and
one lac and a half given in reality for the same purVOL. X. 15
? ? ? ? 226 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
pose, but under the color of what is called an entertainment.
Now in the course of these proceedings it was
thought necessary that Mr. Hastings's banian, Cantoo
Baboo, (a name your Lordships will be well acquainted with, and who was the minister in this and all the
other transactions of Mr. Hastings,) should be called
before the board to explain some circumstances in
the proceedings. Mr. Hastings ordered his banian,
a native, not to attend the sovereign board appointed
by Parliament for the government of that country,
and directed to inquire into transactions of this nature. . He thus taught the natives not only to disobey
the orders of the Court of Directors, enforced by an
act of Parliament, but he taught his own servant to
disobey, and ordered him not to appear before the
board. Quarrels, duels, and other mischiefs arose.
In short, Mr. Hastings raised every power of heaven
and of hell upon this subject: but in vain: the inquiry went on.
Mr. Hastings does not meet Nundcomar: he was
afraid of him. But he was not negligent of his own
defence; for he flies to the Supreme Court of Justice.
He there prosecuted an inquiry against Nundcomar
for a conspiracy. Failing in that, he made other attempts, and disabled Nundcomar from appearing before the board by having him imprisoned, and thus utterly crippled that part of the prosecution against
him. But as guilt is never able thoroughly to escape,
it did so happen, that the Council, finding monstrous
deficiencies in the Begum's affairs, finding the Nabob's
allowance totally squandered, that the most sacred
pensions were left unpaid, that nothing but disorder
and confusion reigned in all his affairs, that the Na
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 227
bob's education was neglected, that he could scarcely
read or write, that there was scarcely any mark of a
man left in him except those which Nature had at
first' imprinted, -I say, all these abuses being produced in a body before them, they thought it necessary to send up to inquire into them; and a considerable
deficiency or embezzlement appearing in the Munny
Begum's account of the young Nabob's stipend, she
voluntarily declared, by a writing under her seal, that
she had given 15,0001. to Mr. Hastings for an entertainment.
Mr. Hastings, finding that the charge must come
fully against him, contrived a plan which your Lordships will see the effects of presently, and this was,
to confound this lac and an half, or 15,0001. , with the
two lacs given directly and specifically as a bribe, -
intending to avail himself of this finesse whenever
any payment was to be proved of the two lacs, which
he knew would be proved against him, and which he
never did deny; and accordingly your Lordships will
find some confusion in the proofs of the payment of
those sums. The receipt of two lacs is proved by
Nundcomar, proved with all the means of detection
which I have stated; the receipt of the lac and a half
is proved by Munny Begum's letter, the authenticity
of which was established, and never denied by Mr.
Hastings. In addition to these proofs, Rajah Gourdas, who had the management of the Nabob's treasury, verbally gave an account perfectly corresponding with that of Nundcomar and the Munny Begum's letter; and he afterwards gave in writing an attestation, which in every point agrees correctly with the
others. So that there are three witnesses upon this
business. And he shall not disqualify Rajah Gour
? ? ? ? 228 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
das, because, whatever character he thought fit to
give Nundcomar, he has given the best of characters
to Rajah Gourdas, who was employed by Mr. Hastings in occupations of trust, and therefore any objections to his competency cannot exist. Having got thus far, the only thing that remained was to examine the records of the public offices, and see whether
any trace of these transactions was to be found there.
These offices had been thrown into confusion in the
manner you will hear; but, upon strict inquiry, there
was a shomaster, or office paper, produced, from which
it appears that the officer of the treasury, having
brought to the Nabob an account of one lac and a
half which he said had been given to Mr. Hastings,
desired to know from him under what head of expense
it should be entered, and that he, the Nabob, desired
him to put it under the head of expenses for entertaining Mr. Hastings. If there had been a head of
entertainment established as a regular affair, the officer would never have gone to the Nabob and asked
under what name to enter it; but he found an irregular affair, and he did not know what head to put it
under. And from the whole of the proceedings it appears that three lacs and a half were paid: two lac
by way of bribe, one lac and a half under the color of
an entertainment. Mr. Hastings endeavors to invalidate the first obliquely, not directly, for he never directly denied it; and he partly admits the second, in hopes that all the proof of payment of the first charge
should be merged and confounded in the second.
And therefore your Lordships will see from the beginning of that business till it came into the hands of
Mr. Smith, his agent, then appearing in the name and
character of agent and solicitor to the Company, that
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -FIRST DAY. 229
this was done to give some appearance and color to it
by a false representation, as your Lordships will see,
of every part of the transaction.
The proof, then, of the two lacs rests upon the evidence of Nundcomar, the letter of Munny Begum,
and the evidence of Rajah Gourdas. The evidence
of the lac and a half, by way of entertainment, was at
first the same; and afterwards begins a series of proofs
to which Mr. Hastings has himself helped us. For, in
the first place, he produces this office paper in support of his attempt to establish the confusion between the payment of the two lacs and of the lac and a half.
He did not himself deny that he received a lac and a
half, because with respect to that lac and a half he had
founded some principle of justification. Accordingly
this office paper asserts and proves this lac and a half
to have been given, in addition to the other proofs.
Then Munny Begum herself is inquired of. There is
a commission appointed to go up to her residence;
and the fact is proved to the satisfaction of Mr. Goring, the commissioner. The Begum had put a paper
of accounts, through her son, into his hands, which
shall be given at your Lordships' bar, in which she
expressly said that she gave Mr. Hastings a lac and a
half for entertainment. But Mr. Hastings objects to
Mr. Goring's evidence upon this occasion. He wanted to supersede Mr. Goring in the inquiry; and he accordingly appoints, with the consent of the Council, two creatures of his own to go and assist in that inquiry. The question which he directs these commissioners to put to Munny Begum is this: -" Was
the sum of money charged by you to be given to Mr.
Hastings given under an idea of entertainment customary, or upon what other ground, or for what other
? ? ? ? 230 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
reason? " He also desires the following questions
may be proposed to the Begum: -" Was any application made to you for the account which you have
delivered of three lacs and a half of rupees said to
have been paid to the Governor and Mr. Middleton?
or did you deliver the account of your own free will,
and unsolicited? " My Lords, you see that with regard to the whole three lacs and a half of rupees the
Begum had given an account which tended to confirm
the payment of them; but Mr. Hastings wanted to invalidate that account by supposing she gave it under
restraint. The second question is, -" In what manner was the application made to you, and by whom? "
But the principal question is this: - "On what account was the one lac and a half given to the Governor-General which you have laid to his account? Was it in consequence of any requisition from him,
or of any previous agreement, or of any established
usage? " When a man asks concerning a sum of
money, charged to be given to him by another person, on what account it was given, he does indirectly
admit that that money actually was paid, and wants
to derive a justification from the mode of the payment of it; and accordingly that inference was drawn
from the question so sent up, and it served as an
instruction to Munny Begum; and her answer was,
that it was given to him, as an ancient usage and
custom, for an entertainment.
So that the fact of
the gift of the money is ascertained by the question put by Mr. Hastings to her, and her answer.
And thus at last comes his accomplice in this business, and gives the fullest testimony to the lac and
a half.
I must beg leave, before I go further, to state the
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 231
circumstances of the several witnesses examined upon this business. They were of two kinds: voluntary
witnesses, and accomplices forced by inquiry and examination to discover their own guilt. Of the first
kind were Nundcomar and Rajah Gourdas: these
were the only two that can be said to be voluntary
in the business, and who gave their information without much fear, though the last unwillingly, and with
a full sense of the danger of doing it. The other
was the evidence of his accomplice, Munny Begum,
wrung from her by the force of truth, in which she
confessed that she gave the lac and a half, and justifies it upon the ground of its being a customary entertainment. Besides this, there is the evidence of Chittendur, who was one of Mr. Hastings's instruments, and one of the Begum's servants. He, being prepared to confound the two lacs with the one lac and
a half, says, upon his examination, that a lac and a
half was given; but upon examining into the particulars of it, he proves that the sum lie gave was two
lacs, and not a lac and a half: for he says that there
was a dispute about the other half lac; Nundcomar
demanded interest, which the Begum was unwilling
to allow, and consequently that half lac remained
unpaid. Now this half lac can be no part of the lac
and a half, which is admitted on all hands, and proved
by the whole body of concurrent testimony, to have
been given to Mr. Hastings in one lumping sum.
When Chittendur endeavors to confound it with the
lac and a half, he clearly establishes the fact that it
was a parcel of the two lacs, and thus bears evidence,
in attempting to prevaricate in favor of Mr. Hastings,
that one lac and a half was paid, which Mr. Hastings
is willing to allow; but when lie enters into the
? ? ? ? 232 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
particulars of it, he proves by the subdivision of the
payment, and by the non-payment of part of it, that
it accords with the two lacs, and not with the lac and
a half.
There are other circumstances in these accounts
highly auxiliary to this evidence. The lac and a half
was not only attested by Rajah Gourdas, by the Begum, by Chittendur, by the Begum again upon Mr.
Hastings's own question, indirectly admitted by Mr.
Hastings, proved by the orders for it to be written off
to expense, (such a body of proof as perhaps never
existed,) but there is one proof still remaining, namely, a paper, which was produced before the Committee, and which we shall produce to your Lordships. It is an authentic paper, delivered in favor of Mr.
Hastings by Major Scott, who acted at that time as
Mr. Hastings's agent, to a committee of the House
of Commons, and authenticated to come from Munny
Begum herself. All this body of evidence we mean
to produce; and we shall prove, first, that he received
the two lacs, - and, secondly, that he received one lac
and a half under the name of entertainment. With
regard to the lac and a half, Mr. Hastings is so far
from controverting it, even indirectly, that he is
obliged to establish it by testimonies produced by himself, in order to sink in that, if he can, the two lacs,
which he thinks he is not able to justify, but which lihe
fears will be proved against him. The lac and a half,
I do believe, he will not be advised to contest; but
whether he is or no, we shall load him with it, we
shall prove it beyond all doubt. But there are
other circumstances further auxiliary in this business, which, from the very attempts to conceal it,
prove beyond doubt the fraudulent and wicked na
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. FIRST DAY. 233
ture of the transaction. In the account given by the
Begum, a lac, which is for Mr. Hastings's entertainment, is entered in a suspicious neighborhood; for
there is there entered a lac of rupees paid for the
subahdarry sunnuds to the Mogul through the Rajah
Shitab Roy. Upon looking into the account, and comparing it with another paper produced, the first thing we find is, that this woman charges the sum paid to
be a sum due; and then she charges this one lac to
have been paid when the Mogul was in the hands of
the Mahrattas, when all communication with him was
stopped, and when Rajah Shitab Roy, who is supposed
to have paid it, was under confinement in the hands
of Mr. Hastings. Thus she endeavors to conceal the
lac of rupees paid to Mr. Hastings.
In order to make this transaction, which, though
not in itself intricate, is in some degree made so by
Mr. Hastings, clear to your Lordships, we pledge ourselves to give to your Lordships, what must be a great advantage to the culprit himself, a syllabus, the heads
of all this charge, and of the proofs themselves, with
their references, to show how far the proof goes to
the two lacs, and then to the one lac and a half singly. This we shall put in writing, that you may not depend upon the fugitive memory of a thing not so
well, perhaps, or powerfully expressed as it ought to
be, and in order to give every advantage to the defendant, and to give every facility to your Lordships' judgment: and this will, I believe, be thought a clear
and fair way of proceeding. Your Lordships will
then judge whether Mr. Hastings's conduct at the
time, his resisting an inquiry, preventing his servant
appearing as an evidence, discountenancing and discouraging his colleagues, raising every obstruction to
? ? ? ? 234 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the prosecution, dissolving the Council, preventing
evidence and destroying it as far as lay in his power by collateral means, be not also such presump.
tive proofs as give double force to all the positive
proof we produce against him.
The lac and a half, I know, he means to support
upon the custom of entertainment; and your Lordships will judge whether or not a man who was ordered and had covenanted never to take more than 4001. could take 16,0001. under color of an entertainment. That which he intends to produce as a
justification we charge, and your Lordships and the
world will think, to be the heaviest aggravation of his
crime. And after explaining to your Lordships the
circumstances under which this justification is made,
and leaving a just impression of them upon your
minds, I shall beg your Lordships' indulgence to finish this member of the business to-morrow.
It is stated and entered in the account, that an
entertainment was provided for Mr. Hastings at the
rate of 2001. a day. He stayed at Moorshedabad for
near three months; and thus you see that visits from
Mr. Hastings are pretty expensive things: it is at the
rate of 73,0001. a year for his entertainment. We
find that Mr. Middleton, an English gentleman who
was with him, received likewise (whether under the
same pretence I know not, and it does not signify)
another sum equal to it; and if these two gentlemen
had stayed in that country a year, their several allowances would have been 146,0001. out of the Nabob's
allowance of 160,0001. a year: they would have eat
up nearly the whole of it. And do you wonder, my
Lords, that such guests and such hosts are difficult to
be divided? Do you wonder that such visits, when
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 235
so well paid for and well provided for, were naturally
long? There is hardly a prince in Europe who would
give to another prince of Europe from his royal hospitality what was given upon this occasion to Mr. Hastings.
Let us now see what was Mr. Hastings's business
during this long protracted visit. First, he tells you
that he came there to reduce all the state and dignity
of the Nabob. He tells you that he felt no coinpunction in reducing that state; that the elephants, the menagerie, the stables, all went without mercy, and
consequently all the persons concerned in them were
dismissed also. When he came to the abolition of the
pensions, he says, -- " I proceeded with great pain,
from the reflection that I was the instrument in depriving whole families, all at once, of their bread, and reducing them to a state of penury: convinced of the
necessity of the measure, I endeavored to execute it
with great impartiality. " Here he states the work
he was employed in, when he took this two hundred
p)ounds a day for his own pay. " It was necessary to
begin with reforming the useless servants of the court,
and retrenching the idle parade of elephants, menageries, &c. , which loaded the civil list. This cost little regret in performing; but the Resident, who
took upon himself the chief share in this business,
acknowledges that he suffered considerably in his
feelings, when he came to touch on the pension list.
Some hundreds of persons of the ancient nobility of
the country, excluded, under our government, from
almost all employments, civil or military, had, ever
since the revolution, depended on the bounty of the
Nabob; and near ten lacs were bestowed that way.
It is not that the distribution was always made with
? ? ? ? 236 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
judgment or impartial, and much room was left for a
reform; but when the question was to cut off entirely
the greatest part, it could not fail to be accompanied
with circumstances of real distress. The Resident
declares, that, even with some of the highest rank,
he could not avoid discovering, under all the pride
of Eastern manners, the manifest marks of penury
and want. There was, however, no room left for hesitation: to confine the Nabob's expenses within the limited sum, it was necessary that pensions should
be set aside. "
Here, my Lords, is a mail sent to execute one of the
most dreadful offices that was ever executed by man,
- to cut off, as he says himself, with a bleeding heart,
the only remaining allowance made for hundreds of
the decayed nobility and gentry of a great kingdom,
driven by our government from the offices upon which
they existed. In this moment of an:iety and affliction,
when he says he felt pain and was cut to the heart to
do it, - at this very moment, when he was turning
over fourteen hundred of the ancient nobility and
gentry of this country to downright want of bread,
just at that moment, while he was doing this act, and
feeling this act in this manner, from the collected
morsels forced from the mouths of that indigent and
famished nobility he gorged his own ravenous maw
with an allowance of two hundred pounds a day for
his entertainment. As we see him in this business,
this man is unlike any other-: he is also never corrupt
but he is cruel; he never dines without creating a
famine; he does not take from the loose superfluity
of standing greatness, but falls upon the indigent,
the oppressed, and ruined; he takes to himself double
what would maintain them. His is unlike the gen
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 237
erous rapacity of the noble eagle, who preys upon a
living, struggling, reluctant, equal victim; his is like
that of the ravenous vulture, who falls upon the decayed, the sickly, the dying, and the dead, and only anticipates Nature in the destruction of its object.
His cruelty is beyond his corruption: but there is
something in his hypocrisy which is more terrible
than his cruelty; for, at the very time when with
double and unsparing hands he executes a proscription, and sweeps off the food of hundreds of the nobility and gentry of a great country, his eyes overflow with tears, and lie turns the precious balm that bleeds from wounded humanity, and is its best medicine, into fatal, rancorous, mortal poison to the human race.
You have seen, that, when he takes two hundred
pounds a day for his entertainment, he tells you that
in this very act he is starving fourteen hundred of the
ancient nobility and gentry. My Lords, you have the
blood of nobles, --if not, you have the blood of men
in your veins: you feel as nobles, you feel as men.
What would you say to a cruel Mogul exactor, by
whom after having been driven from your estates, driven from the noble offices, civil and military, which
you hold, driven from your bishoprics, driven from
your places at court, driven from your offices as
judges, and, after having been reduced to a miserable flock of pensioners, your very pensions were at
last wrested from your mouths, and who, though at
the very time when those pensions were wrested from
you he declares them to have been the only bread of a
miserable decayed nobility, takes himself two hundred pounds a day for his entertainment, and continues it till it amounts to sixteen thousand pounds? I
? ? ? ? 238 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
do think, that, of all the corruptions which he has not
owned, but has not denied, or of those which he does
in effect own, and of which he brings forward the
evidence himself, the taking and claiming under color
of an entertainment is ten times the most nefarious.
I shall this day only further trouble your Lordships
to observe that he has never directly denied this transaction. I have tumbled over the records, I have
looked at every part, to see whether he denies it.
He did not deny it at the time, he did not deny it
to the Court of Directors: on the contrary, he did
in effect acknowledge it, when, without directly acknowledging it, he promised them a full and liberal
explanation of the whole transaction. He never did
give that explanation. Parliament took up the business; this matter was reported at the end of the
Eleventh Report; but though the House of Commons
had thus reported it, and made that public which before was upon the Company's records, he took no notice of it. Then another occasion arises: he comes before the House of Commons; he knows he is about
to be prosecuted for these very corruptions; he well
knows these charges exist against him; he makes his
defence (if he will allow it to be his defence); but,
though thus driven, he did not there deny it, because
he knew, that, if he had denied it, it could be proved
against him. I desire your Lordships will look at
that paper which we have given in evidence, and see
if you find a word of denial of it: there is much discourse, much folly, much insolence, but not one word
of denial. Then, at last, it came before this tribunal
against him. I desire to refer your Lordships to that
part of his defence to the article in which this bribe is
specifically charged: he does not deny it there; the
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON rHE SIXTH ARTICLE. - FIRST DAY. 239
only thing which looks like a denial is one sweeping clause inserted, (in order to put us upon the proof,) that all the charges are to be conceived as denied; but a specific denial to this specific charge in no stage of the business, from beginning to end, has he once made.
And therefore here I close that part of the charge which relates to the business of Nundcomar. Your Lordships will see such a body of presumptive proof and positive proof as never was given yet of any secret corrupt act of bribery; and there I leave it
with your Lordships' justice. I beg pardon for
having detained you so long; but your Lordships
will be so good as to observe that no business ever was covered with more folds of iniquitous artifice
than this which is now brought before you.
? ? ? ? SPEECH
ON
THE SIXTH ARTICLE OF CHARGE.
SECOND DAY: SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1789.
M Y LORDS, - When I last had the honor of addressing your Lordships, I endeavored to state
with as much perspicuity as the nature of an intricate affair would admit, and as largely as in so intricate anl affair was consistent with the brevity which I endeavored to preserve, the proofs which had been
adduced against Warren Hastings upon an inquiry
instituted by an order of the Court of Directors into the corruption and peculation of persons in authority in India. My Lords, I have endeavored to
show you by anterior presumptive proofs, drawn from
the nature and circumstances of the acts themselves
inferring guilt, that such actions and such conduct
could be referable only to one cause, namely, corruption; I endeavored to show you afterwards, my Lords,
what the specific nature and extent of the corruption
was, as far as it could be fully proved; and lastly,
the great satisfactory presumption which attended
the inquiry with regard, to Mr. Hastings, - namely,
that, contrary to law, contrary to his duty, contrary
to what is owed by innocence to itself, Mr. Hastings
resisted that inquiry, and employed all the power of
his office to prevent the exercise of it, either in himself or in others. These presumptions and these proofs
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -SECOND DAY. 241 will be brought before your Lordships, distinctly and in order, at the end of this opening.
The next point on which I thought it necessary to proceed was relative to the presumptions which his subsequent conduct gave with regard to his guilt: because, my Lords, his uniform tenor of conduct, such as must attend guilt, both in the act, at the time of the inquiry, and subsequent to it, will form such a body of satisfactory evidence as I believe the human mind is not made to resist.
My Lords, there is another reason why I choose to
enter into the presumptions drawn from his conduct
and the fact, taking his conduct in two parts, if it
may be so expressed, omission and commission, in order that your Lordships should more fully enter into the consequences of this system of bribery. But before I say anything upon that, I wish your Lordships
to be apprised, that the Commons, in bringing this
bribe of three lac and a half before your Lordships, do
not wish by any means to have it understood that this
it the whole of the bribe that was received by Mr.
Hastings in consequence of delivering up the whole
management of the government of the country to
that improper person whom he nominated for it. My
Lords, from the proofs that will be adduced before
you, there is great probability that he received very
nearly a hundred thousand pounds; there is positive proof of his receiving fifty; and wee have chosen only to charge him with that of which there is such an accumulated body of proof as to leave no1
doubt upon the minds of your Lordships. All this I
say, because we are perfectly apprised of the sentiments of the public upon this point: when they hear
of the enormity of Indian peculation, when they see
VOL. X. 16
? ? ? ? 242 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
the acts done, and compare them with the bribes received, the acts seem so enormous and the bribes comparatively so small, that they can hardly be got to attribute them to that motive. What I mean to state
is this: that, from a collective view of the subject,
your Lordships will be able to judge that enormous
offences have been committed, and that the bribe
which we have given in proof is a specimen of the
nature and extent df those enormous bribes which extend to much greater sums than we are able to prove
before you in the manner your Lordships would like
and expect.
I have already remarked to your Lordships, that,
after this charge was brought and recorded before
the Council in spite of the resistance made by Mr.
Hastings, in which he employed all the power and
authority of his station, and the whole body of his partisans and associates in iniquity, dispersed through
every part of these provinces, - after he had taken
all these steps, finding himself pressed by the proof
and pressed by the presumption of his resistance to
the inquiry, he did think it necessary to make something like a defence. Accordingly he has made what
he calls a justification, which did not consist in the
denial of that fact, or any explanation of it. The
mode he took for his defence was abuse of his colleagues, abuse of the witnesses, and of every person
who in the execution of his duty was inquiring into the fact, and charging them with things which, if
true, were by no means sufficient to support him,
either in defending the acts themselves, or in the
criminal means he used to prevent inquiry into them.
His design was to mislead their minds, and to carry
them from the accusation and the proof of it. With
? ? ? ? SPEECH ON THE SIXTH ARTICLE. -SECOND DAY. 243
respect to the passion, violence, and intemperate heat
with which he charged them, they were proceeding in
an orderly, regular manner; and if on any occasion
they seem to break out into warmth, it was in consequence of that resistance which he made to them, in what your Lordships, I believe, will agree with them
in thinking was one of the most important parts of
their functions. If they had been intemperate in their
conduct, if they had been violent, passionate, prejudiced against him, it afforded him only a better means of making his defence; because, though in a rational and judicious mind the intemperate conduct of the accuser certainly proves nothing with regard to the
truth or falsehood of his accusation, yet we do know
that the minds of men are so constituted that an improper mode of conducting a right thing does form some degree of prejudice against it. Mr. Hastings,
therefore, unable to defend himself upon principle, has
resorted as much as he possibly could to prejudice.
And at the same time that there is not one word of
denial, or the least attempt at a refutation of the
charge, he has loaded the records with all manner of
minutes, proceedings, and letters relative to everything
but the fact itself. The great aim of his policy, both
then, before, and ever since, has been to divert the
mind of the auditory, or the persons to whom he addressed himself, from the nature of his cause, to some collateral circumstance relative to it, -- a policy to
which he has always had recourse; but that trick,
the last resource of despairing guilt, I trust will now
completely fail him.
Mr. Hastings, however, began to be pretty sensible
that this way of proceeding had a very unpromising
and untoward look; for which reason he next declared
? ? ? ? 244 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
that he reserved his defence for fear of a legal prose
cution, and that some time or other he would give a
large and liberal explanation to the Court of Directors,
to whom he was answerable for his conduct, of his
refusing to suffer the inquiry to proceed, of his omitting to give them satisfaction at the time, of his omitting to take any one natural step that an innocent man would have taken upon such an occasion. Under
this promise he has remained from that time to the
time you see him at your bar, and he has neither
denied, exculpated, explained, or apologized for his
conduct in any one single instance.
While he accuses the intemperance of his adversaries, he shows a degree of temperance in himself
which always attends guilt in despair: for struggling
guilt may be warm, but guilt that is desperate has
nothing to do but to submit to the consequences of it,
to bear the infamy annexed to its situation, and to try
to find some consolation in the effects of guilt with regard to private fortune for the scandal it brings them
into in public reputation. After the business had
ended in India, the causes why he should have given
the explanation grew stronger and stronger: for not
only the charges exhibited against him were weighty,
but the manner in which he was called upon to inquire
into them was such as would undoubtedly tend to stir
the mind of a man of character, to rouse him to some
consideration of himself, and to a sense of the necessity of his defence. He was goaded to make this
defence by the words I shall read to your Lordships
from Sir John Clavering.
