209
ago, obtained a footing in that country, and ever
since has in a great degree retained its authority
there.
ago, obtained a footing in that country, and ever
since has in a great degree retained its authority
there.
Edmund Burke
?
194 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
verted, and that the country experienced the last and
most dreadful effects of anarchy. We have shown
you that no other security was left to any human being, but to intrench themselves in such forts as they could make, and that these forts, in one district only of the country, had increased in number to the amount of seven hundred. Your Lordships also
know, that, when the prisons and mud forts in which
Colonel IHannay kept his hostages confined were full,
he kept them in uncovered cages in the open air.
You know that all these farmers of revenue were
either English and military men, or natives under an
abject submission to them; you know that they had
the whole country in assignments, that the jaghlires
were all confiscated for their benefits; and you find
that the whole system had its origin at the time
when Mr. Hastings alone formed in effect the authority of the Supreme Council. The weakness of the Nabob, as Sir Eyre Coote tells you, could not have
been alone the cause of these evils, and that our influence over him, if not actually the cause of the utter ruin, desolation, and anarchy of that country, might
have been successfully exerted in preventing.
When your Lordships slhall proceed to judgment
upon these accumulated wrongs, arising out of the
usurped power of the prisoner at your bar, and redressed by him in no one instance whatever, let not
the usurpation itself of the Nabob's power be considered as a trivial matter. When any prince at the
head of a great country is entirely stripped of everything in his government, civil or military, by which
his rank may be distinguished or his virtues exercised, lie is in danger of becoming a mere animal,
and of abandoning himself wholly to sensual grati
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 195
fications. Feeling no personal interest in the institutions or in the general welfare of the country, he
suffers the former (and many wise and laudable institutions existed in the provinces of the Nabob, for
their good order and government) to fall into disuse,
and lie leaves the country itself to persons in inferior
situations, to be wasted and destroyed by them. You
find that in Oude, the very appearance of justice had
been banished out of it, and that every aumil exercised an arbitrary power over the lives and fortunes
of the people. My Lords, we have the proofs of all
these facts in our hands; they are in your Lordships'
minutes; and though we can state nothing stronger
than is stated in the papers themselves, yet we do not
so far forget our duty as not to point out to your
Lordships such observations as arise out of them.
To close the whole, your Lordships shall now hear
read an extract from a most curious and extraordinary letter, sent by him to the Court of Directors, preparatory to his return to England.
" My only remaining fear is, that the members of
the Council, seeing affairs through a different medium from that through which I view them, may be
disposed, if not to counteract the system which I
have formed, to withhold from it their countenance
and active support. While I myself remain, it will
be sufficient if they permit it to operate without interruption; and I almost hope, in the event of a new
admlinistration of your affairs which shall confine itself to the same forbearance, and manifest no symptoms of intended interference, the objects of my arrangements will be effectually attained; for I leave them in the charge of agents whose interests, ambi
? ? ? ? 196 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINMS.
tion, and every prospect of life are interwoven with
their success, and the hand of Heaven has visibly
blest the soil with every elementary source of progressive vegetation: but if a different policy shall be
adopted, if new agents are sent into the country and
armed with authority for the purpose of vengeance
or corruption, to no other will they be applied. If
new demands are raised on the Nabob Vizier, and
accounts overcharged on one side with a wide latitude taken on the other to swell his debt beyond the
means of payment, - if political dangers are portended, to ground on them the pleas of burdening his
country with unnecessary defences and enormous subsidies, - or if, even abstaining from direct encroachment on the Nabob's rights, your government shall show but a degree of personal kindness to the partisans of the late usurpation, or by any constructive
indication of partiality and disaffection furnish ground
for the expectation of an approaching change of system, I am sorry to say that all my labors will prove
abortive; for the slightest causes will be sufficient to
deject minds sore with the remembrance of past conflicts, and to elevate those whose only dependence is
placed in the renewal of the confusion which I have
labored with such zeal to eradicate, and will of course
debilitate the authority which can alone insure future success. I almost fear that this denunciation of
effects from causes so incompetent, as they will appear to those who have not had the experience which
I have had of the quick sensibility which influences
the habits of men placed in a state of polity so loose,
and subject to the continual variations of capricious and despotic authority, will be deemed overcharged, or perhaps void of foundation; nor, if they
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 197
should come to pass, will it be easy to trace them
with any positive evidence to their connection: yet
it is my duty to apprise you of what I apprehend,
on grounds which I deem of absolute certainty, may
come to pass; and I rely on your candor for a fair
interpretation of my intention. "
Here, my Lords, the prisoner at your bar has done
exactly what his bitterest accuser would do: he goes
through, head by head, every one of the measures
which he had himself pursued in the destruction of
the country; and he foretells, that, if any one of those
measures should again be pursued, or even if good
cause should be given to suspect they would be renewed, the country must fall into a state of inevitable destruction. This supersedes all observation. This
paper is a recapitulated, minute condemnation of every
step which he took in that country, and which steps
are every one of them upon your Lordships' minutes.
But, my Lords, we know very well the design of
these pretended apprehensions, and why he wished to
have that country left in the state he speaks of. He
had left a secret agent of his own to control that ostensible government, and to enable him, sitting in the place where he now sits, to continue to govern those
provinces in the way in which he now governs them.
[A murimur having arisen here, Mr. Burke proceeded. ]
If I am called upon to reword what I have just
said, I shall repeat my words, and show strong
grounds and reasons to indicate that he governs Oude
now as much as he ever did.
You see, my Lords, that the reform which he pretended to make in 1781 produced the calamities
? ? ? ? 198 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
which he states to have existed in 1784. We shall
now show that the reform which he pretended to
make in 1784 brought on the calamities which Lord
Cornwallis states in his evidence to have existed in
1787.
We will now read two letters from Lord Cornwallis: the first is dated the 16th November, 1787.
" I was received at Allahabad and'attended to
Lucknow by the Nabob and his ministers with every
mark of friendship and respect. I cannot, however,
express how much I was concerned, during my short
residence at his capital, and my progress through his
dominions, to be witness of the disordered state of
his finances and government, and of the desolate appearances of his country. The evils were too alarming to admit of palliation, and I thought it my duty to exhort him, in the most friendly manner, to endeavor to apply effectual remedies to them. He began with urging as apology, that, whilst he was not certain of the expense [extent? ] of our demands upon him, he had no real interest in being economical
in his expenses, and that, while we interfered in the
internal management of his affairs, his own authority
and that of his ministers were despised by his own
subjects. It would have been useless to discuss these
topics with him; but while I repeated my former
declarations of our being determined to give no
ground in future for similar complaints, he gave me
the strongest assurances of his being resolved to apply himself earnestly to the encouragement of agriculture, and to endeavor to revive the commerce of his countrv. "
The second is dated the 25th April, 1788.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 199
" Till I saw the Vizier's troops, I was not without
hope that upon an emergency he would have been
able to have furnished us with some useful cavalry;
but I have no reason to believe that he has any in
his service upon which it would be prudent to place
ally dependence; and I think it right to add, that
his country appears to be in so ruined a state, and
his finances ill so much disorder, that even in case of
war we ought not to depend upon any material support from him. "
My Lords, I have only to remark upon these letters, that, so far as they go, they prove the effects
of Mr. Hastings's reformation, from which he was
pleased to promise the Company such great things.
But when your Lordships know that he had left his
dependant and minister, Hyder Beg Khan, there,
whose character, as your Lordships will find by a
reference to your minutes h'lie has represented as
black as lhell, to be the real governor there, and to
carry on private correspolldence with him hlere, and
that lie had left Major Palmer, hlis private agent, for
a considerable time in that country to carry on hlis
affairs, your Lordsllips will easily see how it has
come to pass that the Vizier, such a manl as you have
heard him described to lbe, was not alone able to
restore prosperity to his country.
My Lords, you hlave now seen what was the situatioin of the country in Sujali Dowlah's tinme, prior to
Mr. Hastings's interferellnce with the government of
it, what it was during his government, and what situation it was in when Lord Corniwallis left it. Notihing now remains but to call your Lordships' attention to perhaps the most extraordillary part of these transactions. But before we proceed, we will beg leave
? ? ? ? 200 IMIPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
to go back and read to your Lordships the Nabob's
letter of the 24th February, 1780.
" I have received your letter, and understand the
contents. I cannot describe the solidity of your
friendship and brotherly affection which subsisted between you and my late father. From the friendship of the Company he received numberless advantages;
and I, notwithstanding I was left an orphan, from
your favor and that of tile Company was perfectly
at ease, being satisfied that everything would be
well, and that I should continue in the same security that I was during my father's lifetime, from your protection. I accordingly, from the day of' lis death,
have never omitted to cultivate your favor, and the
protection of the Company; and whatever was the
desire and directions of the Council at that time I
have ever since conformed to, and obeyed with readiness. Thanks be given to God that I have never as yet been backward in performing the will of the
English Company, of the Council, and of you, and
have always been from my heart ready to obey them,
and have never given you any trouble from my difficulties or wishes. This I have done simply frorm my own knowledge of your favor towards me, and from
my being certain that youl would learn the particulars
of my distresses and difficulties fiom other quarters,
and would then show your friendship and good-will
in whatever was for my advantage. But when the
knife had penetrated to the bone, and I was stlrrounded with such heavy distresses that I could no longer live inl expectations, I then wrote an account
of my difficulties. The answer whicll I have received
to it is such, that it has given inc inlexpressible grief
and affliction. I never llad the least idea or expec
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- SEVENTH DAY. 201
tation from you and the Council that you would ever
have given your orders in so afflicting a manner, in
which you never before wrote, and which I could not
have imagined. As I am resolved to obey your orders, and directions of the Council, without any delay,
as long as I live, I have, agreeably to those orders,
delivered up all my private papers to him [the Resident], that, when he shall have examined my receipts and expenses, he may take whatever remains. As I
know it to be my duty to satisfy you, the Company,
and Council, I have not failed to obey in any instance,
but requested of him that it might be done so as not
to distress me in my necessary expenses: there being
no other funds but those for the expenses of my mutsuddies, household expenses, and servants, &c. He demanded these in such a manner, that, being remediless, I was obliged to comply with what he required. He has accordingly stopped the pensions of my old
servants for thirty years, whether sepoys, mutsuddies, or household servants, and the expenses of my family and kitchen, together with the jaghires of my
grandmother, mother, and aunts, and of my brothers and dependants, which were for their support.
I had raised fifteen hundred horse and three battalions of sepoys to attend upon me; but, as I have
no resources to support them, I have been obliged
to remove the people stationed in the mahals, and to
send his people into the malhals, so that I have not
now one single servant about me. Sliould I mention
what further difficulties I have been reduced to, it
would lay me open to contempt. Although I hlave
willingly assented to this which brings such distress
on me, and have ill a manner altogethier ruined
myself, yet I failed not to do it for this reason, be
? ? ? ? 202 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
cause it was for your satisfaction, and that of the
Council; and I am patient, and even thankful, in
this condition; but I cannot imagine from what cause
you have conceived displeasure against me. From
the commencement of my administration, in every
circumstance, I received strength and security from
your favor, and that of the Council; and in every inlstance you and the Council have shown your friendthip and affection for me; but at present, that you have sent these orders, I am greatly perplexed. "
We will not trouble your Lordships with the remainder of the letter, which is all in the same style
of distress and affliction, and of the abject dependence
of a mall who considers himself as insulted, robbed,
and ruined in that state of dependence.
In addition to the evidence contained in this letter, your Lordships will be pleased to recollect the
Nabob's letter which we read to your Lordships yesterday, the humble and abject style of which you
will never forget. Oh, consider, my Lords, this instance of the fate of hulmanl greatness! You must
remember that there is not a trace anywhere, in anly
of the various trunks of Mr. IHastings, that he ever
condescended. so much as to give an answer to the
suppliant letters of that unhappy man. There was
no mode of indignity with which he did not treat his
family; there was no mode of indignity with which
he did not treat his person; there was no mode of
indignity with which he did not treat his minister,
Hyder Beg Khan, - this man whom he represents to
be the most infamous and scandalous of mankind, and
of whom he, nevertheless, at the same time declares,
that his only support with the Vizier was the support
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 203
which he, Warren Hastings, as representative of the
English government, gave him.
We will now read a paper which perhaps ought
not to have been received in evidence, but which we
were willing to enter in your minutes as evidence, in
order that everything should come before you. Your
Lordships have heard the Nabob speak of his misery,
distress, and oppression; but here he makes a complete defeasalnce, as it were, of the whole charge, a
direct disavowal of every one of the complaints, and
particularly that of having never received an answer
to these complaints. Oh, think, I say, my Lords, of
the degraded, miserable, and unhappy state to which
human nature may be reduced, when you hear this
unhappy man declare that all the charges which we
have made upon this subject relative to him, and
which are all either admitted by him or taken from
his own representation, are now stated by him in a paper before you to be all false, and that there is not a
word of the representation which he had made of Mr.
Hastings that has the least truth in it! Your Lordships will find this in that collection of various papers which ought to be preserved and put into every museum in Europe, as one of the most extraordinary
productions that was ever exhibited to the world.
Papers received the 8th of March, 1788, and translated pursuant to an Order of the Governor-General
in Council, dated the 27th of April, 1788, under the
Seal of his Excellency the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah,
Asoph Jah Bahadur, VTizier ul Momalik.
"' I have at this time learnt that the gentlemen in
power in England, upon the suspicion that Mr. Hastings, during his administration, acted contrary to the
? ? ? ? 204 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
rules of justice and impartiality, and, actuated by motives of avidity, was inimical towards men without
cause; that lie broke such engagements and treaties
as had been made between the Company and other
chiefs; that he extended the hand of oppression over
the properties of men, tore up the roots of security
and prosperity from the land, and rendered the ryots and subjects destitute by force and extortion
As this accusation, in fact, is destitute of uprightness
and void of truth, therefore, with a view to show the
truth in its true colors, I have written upon this
sheet with truth and sincerity, to serve as an evidence,
and to represent real facts, - to serve also as information and communication, that Mr. tHastings, from
the commencement of his administration until his
departure for England, whether during the lifetime
of the deceased Nabob, of blessed memory, Vizier
ul Moolk, Sujah ul Dowlah Bahadur, my father, or
during my government, did not at any time transact
contrary to justice any matter which took place from
the great friendship between me and the Company,
nor in any business depart from the path of truth
and uprightness, but cultivated friendship with integrity and sincerity, and in every respect engaged
himself in the duties of friendship with me, my ministers and confidants. I am at all times, and in every way, pleased with and thankful for his friendly manners and qualities; and my ministers and confidants, who have always, every one of them, been satisfied with his conduct, are forever grateful for his friendship and thankful for his virtues. As these
matters are real facts, and according to truth, I have
written these lines as an evidence, and transmit this
paper to England, through the government of Calcut
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 205
ta, for the information of the gentlemen of power and
rank in England. "
Observe, my Lords, the candor of the Commons.
We produce this evidence, which accuses us, as Mr.
Hastings does, of uttering everything that is false;
we choose to bring our shame before the world, and
to admit that this main, on whose belalf and on the
behalf of whose country we have accused Mr. Hastings, has declared that this accusation (namlely, this impeachment) is destitute of uprightness and without
truth. But, my Lords, this is not only a direct contradiction to all lie has ever said, to all that has been proved to you by us, but a direct contradiction to all
the representations of Mr. IHastings himself. Your
Lordships will hence see what credit is to be given to
these papers.
Your Lordships shall now hear what Hyder Beg
Khan says: that Hyder Beg Kha'l who stands recorded in your minutes as the worst of mankind;
who is represented as writing letters without the Nabob's consent, and in defiance of him; the man of whom Mr. Hastings says, that the Nabob is nothing
but a tool in his hands, and that the Nabob is and
ever must be a tool of somebody or other. Now, as
we have heard the tool speak, let us hear how the
workman employed to work with this tool speaks.
Extract from Hyder Beg Khdn's Letter to the Governor
and Council.
"It is at this time learnt by the Nabob Vizier, and
us, his ministers, that the gentlemen of power in England are displeased with Mr. Hastings, on the suspicion that during his administration in this country, rolll
? ? ? ? 206 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
motives of avidity, he committed oppressions contrary
to the rules of justice, took the properties of men by
deceit and force, injured the ryots and subjects, and
rendered the country destitute and ruined. As the
true and upright disposition of Mr. Hastings is in every respect free of this suspicion, we therefore with truth and sincerity declare by these lines, written according to fact, that Mr. Hastings, from the first of his appointment to the government of this country
until his departure for Europe, during his authority
in the management of the affairs of the country,
whether in the lifetime of the Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah Bahadur, deceased, or whether during the present reign, did not, in any matters which took place from
the great friendship between this government and the
Company, act in any wise upon motives of avidity,
and, not having, in any respect, other than justice
and propriety in intention, did not swerve from their
rules. He kept his Excellency the Vizier always
pleased and satisfied" (you will remember, my
Lords, the last expressions of his pleasure and satisfaction) " by his friendship and attention in every matter. He at all times showed favor and kindness
towards us, the ministers'of this government; and under his protection having enjoyed perfect happiness and comfort, we are from our hearts satisfied with
and grateful for his benevolence and goodness. "
Here, my Lords, you have the character which
Hyder Beg Khlan gives of Mr. Hastings, - of the
man who he knew had loaded him, as he had done,
with every kind of indignity, reproach, and outrage
with which a man can be loaded. Your Lordsluips
will see that this testimony repeats, almost word for
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 207
word, the testimony of the Vizier Nabob,- which
shows who the real writer is.
My Lords, it is said that there is no word in the
Persian language to express gratitude. With these
signal instances of gratitude before us, I think we
may venture to put one into their dictionary. Mr.
Hastings has said he has had the pleasure to find
from the people of India that gratitude which he has
not met with from his own countrymen, the House
of Commons. Certainly, if hle has done us services,
we have been ungrateful indeed; if he has committed enormous crimes, we are just. Of the miserable, dependent situation to which these people are reduced, that they are not ashamed to come forward
and deny everything they have given under their
own hand, --all these things show the portentous
nature of this government, they show the portentous
nature of that phalanx with which the House of
Commons is at present at war, the power of that
captain-general of every species of Indian iniquity,
which, under him, is embodied, arrayed, and paid,
from Leadenhall Street to the furthermost part of
India.
We have but one observation more to offer upon
this collection of razinamas, upon these miserable
testimonials given by these wretched people in contradiction to all their own previous representations,
-- directly in contradiction to those of Mr. Hastings
himself, -- directly in contradiction to those of Lord
Cornwallis, - directly in contradiction to truth itself.
It is this. Here is Mr. Hastings with his agents
canvassing the country, with all that minuteness
with which a county is canvassed at an election;
and yet in this whole book of razinamas not one
? ? ? ? 208 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
fact adduced by us is attempted to be disproved, not
one fact upon which Mr. Hastings's defence can be
founded is attempted to be proved. There is nothing
but bare vile panegyrics, directly belied by the state
of facts, directly belied by the persons themselves,
directly belied by Mr. Hastings at your bar, and by
all the whole course of the correspondence of the
country.
We here leave to your Lordships' judgment the
consideration of the elevated rank of the persons aggrieved and degraded to the lowest state of dependence and actual distress, -the consideration of the condition of the country gentlemen, who were obliged
to hide their heads, wherever they could, from the
plunderers and robbers established under his authority in every part of the country, and that of the
miserable common people, who have been obliged
to sell their children througlh want of food to feed
them, -- the consideration, I say, of the manner in
which this country, in the highest, in the middle,
and in the lowest classes of its inhabitants, nay, in
physical works of God, was desolated and destroyed
by this man.
Having now done with the province of Oude, we
will proceed to the province of Bengal, and consider
what was the kind of government which lie exercised
there, and in what manner it affected the people that
were subjected to it.
Bengal, like every part of India subject to the
British empire, contains (as I have already had occasion to mention) three distinct classes of people,
forming three distinct social systems. The first is
the Mahometans, which, about seven hundred years
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY.
209
ago, obtained a footing in that country, and ever
since has in a great degree retained its authority
there. For the Mahometans had settled there long
before the foundation of the Bengal empire, which
was overturned by Tamerlane: so that this people,
who are represented sometimes loosely as strangers,
are people of ancient and considerable settlement in
that country; and though, like Mahometan settlers
in many other countries, they have fallen into decay,
yet, being continually recruited from various parts
of Tartary under the Mogul empire, and from various parts of Persia, they continue to be the leading
and most powerful people throughout the peninsula;
and so we found them there. These people, for the
most part, follow no trades or occupation, their religion and laws forbidding them in the strictest manner
to take usury or profit arising from money that is in
any way lent; they have, therefore, no other means
for their support but what arises from their adherence to and connection with the Mogul government
and its viceroys. They enjoy under them various
offices, civil and military, - various employments in
the courts of law, and stations in the army. Accordinlgly a prodigious number of people, almost all of
tlem persons of the most ancient and respectable
families in the country, are dependent upon and
clillg to the suballdars or viceroys of the several
proviinces. They, therefore, who oppress, plunder, and
destroy the subahdars, oppress, rob, and destroy an
immense mass of people. It is true that a supervening government, established upon another, always
reduces a certain portion of the dependants upon the
latter to want. You must distress, by the very nature of the circumstances of the case, a great numVOL. XII. 14
? ? ? ? 210 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ber of people; but then it is your business,,when, by
the superiority which you have acquired, however
you may have acquired it, (for I am not now considering whether you have acquired it by fraud or
force, or whether by a mixture of both,) when, I say,
you have acquired it, it is your business not to
oppress those people with new and additional difficulties, but rather to console them in the state to
which they are reduced, and to give them all the
assistance and protection in your power.
The next system is composed of the descendants
of the people who were found in the country by the
Mahometan invaders. The system before mentioned
comprehends the official interest, the judicial interest, the court interest, and the military interest.
This latter body includes almost the whole landed
interest, commercial interest, and moneyed interest
of the country. For the Hindoos not being forbidden by their laws or religious tenets, as laid down
in the Shaster, many of them became the principal
money-lenders and bankers; and thus the Hindoos
form the greatest part both of the landed and moneyed interest in that country.
The third and last system is formed of the English
interest; which in reality, whether it appears directly
or indirectly, is the governing interest of the whole
country, -- of its civil and military interest, of its
landed, moneyed, and revenue interest; and what
to us is the greatest concern of all, it is this system
which is responsible for the government of that country to the government of Great Britain. It is divided into two parts: one emanating from the Coinpany, and afterwards regulated by act of Parliament; the other a judicial body, sent out by and acting unll
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 211
der the authority of the crown itself. The persons
composing that interest are those whom we usually
call the servants of the Company. They enter into
that service, as your Lordsllips know, at an early
period of life, and they are promoted accordingly as
their merit or their interest may provide for them.
This body of men, with' respect to its number, is so
small as scarcely to deserve mentioning; but, from
certain circumstances, the government of the whole
country is fallen into their hands. Amongst these
circumstances, the most important and essential are
their having the public revenues and the public purse
entirely in their own hands, and their having an
army maintained by that purse, and disciplined in
the European manner.
Such was the state of that country when Mr. Hastings was appointed Governor in 1772. Your Lordships are now to decide upon the manner in which he has comported himself with regard to all these three
interests: first, whether he has made the ancient
Mahometan families as easy as he could; secondly,
whether he has made the Hindoo inhabitants, the
zemindars and their tenants, as secure in their property and as easy in their tenure as he could; and
lastly, whether he has made the English interest a
blessing to the country, and, whilst it provided moderate, safe, and proper emoluments to the persons that
were concerned in it, it kept them from oppression
and rapine, and a general waste and ravage of the
country: whether, in short, he made all these three
interests pursue that one object which all interests
and all governments ought to pursue, the advantage
and welfare of the people under them.
My Lords, in support of our charge against the
? ? ? ? 212 IMIPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
prisoner at your bar, that he acted in a manner directly the reverse of this, we have proved to you that
his first acts of oppression were directed against the
Mahometan government, - that government which
had been before, not only in name, but in effect, to
the very time of his appointment, the real government of the country. After the Company had acquired its right over it, some shadow still remained of the ancient government. An allowance was settled for the Nabob of Bengal, to support the dignity
of his court, which amounted to between four and
five hundred thousand pounds a year. In this was
comprehended the support of the whole mass of
nobility, - the soldiers, serving or retired, - all the
officers of the court, and all the women that were
dependent upon them, - the whole of the criminal
jurisdiction of the country, and a very considerable
part of the civil law and the civil government. These
establishments formied the constitutional basis of their
political government.
The Company never had (and it is a thing that
we can never too often repeat to your Lordships) -
the Company never had of right despotic power in
that country, to overturn any of these establishments.
The Mogul, who gave them their charters, could not
give them such a power,- he did not de facto give
them such a power; the government of this country
did not by act of Parliament, and the Company did
not and could not by their delegation, give him such
a power; the act by which he was appointed Governor did not give him such a power. If he exercised
it, he usurped it; and therefore, every step we take
in the examination of his conduct in Bengal, as in
every step we take upon the same subject everywhere
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 213
else, we look for the justification of his conduct to
laws,- the Law of Nations, the laws of this country,
and the laws of the country he was sent to govern.
The government of that country, by the ancient
constitution of the Mogul empire, besides the numberless individual checks and counter-checks in the inferior officers [offices? ], is divided into the viceroyal part and the subahdarry part. The viceroyal part
takes ill all criminal justice and political government.
MIr. Hastings found the country under a viceroy, governing according to law, acting by proper judges and
magistrates under him: he himself not being the judicial, but executive power of the country, - that which
sets the other in action, and does not supersede it or
supply its place. The other, the subahdarry power,
which was by the grant of the dewanny conferred
upon the Company, had under its care the revenues,
as much of the civil government as is concerned with
the revenues, and many other matters growing out
of it. These two offices are coordinate and dependent on each other. The Company, after contracting
to maintain the army out of it, got the whole revenue
into their power. The army being thus within their
power, the subabdar by degrees vanished into an
empty name.
When we thus undertook the government of the
country, conscious that we had undertaken a task
which 1 y any personal exertion of our own we were
unable to perform in any proper or rational way, the
Company appointed a native of the country, Mahomed
Reza Khaln, who stands upon the records of the Company, I venture to say, with such a character as no
mall perhaps ever did stand, to execute the duties
of both offices. Upon the expulsion of Cossim Ali
? ? ? ? 214 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Khan, the Nabob of Bengal, all his children were left
in a young, feeble, and unprotected state; and in that
state of things, Lord Clive, Mr. Sumner, who sits near
Mr. Hastings, and the rest of the Council, wisely
appointed MIahomed Reza Khan to fulfil the two offices of deputy-viceroy and deputy-dewan, for which he had immense allowances, and great jaghires and
revenues, I allow. He was a man of that dignity,
rank, and consideration, added to his knowledge of
law anld experience in business, that Lord Clive and
Mr. Sumner, who examined strictly his conduct at
that time, did not think that 112,0001. a year, the
amount of the emoluments which had been allowed
him, was a great deal too much; but at his own desire, and in order that these emoluments might be brought to stated and fixed sums, they reduced it to
90,0001. ,- an allowance which they thought was not
more than sufficient to preserve the state of so great
a magistrate, and a man of such rank, exercising
such great employments. The whole revenue of the
Company depended upon his talents and fidelity; and
you will find, that, on the day in which he surrendered the revenues into our hands, the dewanny, under his management, was a millioni more than it
produced on the day Mr. Hastings left it. For the
truth of this I refer your Lordships to a letter of the
Company sent to the Board of Control. This letter
is not in evidence before your Lordships, and what I
am stating is merely historical. But I state the
facts, and with the power of referring for their proof
to documents as authentic as if they were absolutely
in evidence before you. Assuming, therefore, that all
these facts may be verified by the records of the Company, I have now to state that this manl, by some
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - EVENTH DAY. 215
rumors true or false, was supposed to have misconducted himself ill a time of great calamity in that country. A great famine had about this time grievously afflicted the whole province of Bengal. - I must remark by the way, that these countries are liable to
this calamity; but it is greatly blessed by Nature with
resources which afford the means of speedy recovery, if their government does not counteract them. Nature, that inflicts the calamity, soon heals the
wound; it is ill ordinary seasons the most fertile
country, inhabited by the most industrious people,
and the most disposed to marriage and settlement,
probably, that exists in the whole world; so that
population and fertility are soon restored, and the
inhabitants quickly resume their former industrious
occupations.
During the agitation excited in the country by the
calamity I have just mentioned, Mahomed Reza Khaln,
through the intrigues of Rajali Nuldcomar, one of
his political rivals, and of some English faction that
supported him, was accused of b)eing one of the
causes of the famine. In answer to this charge, he
alleged, what was certainly a sufficient justification,
that he had acted under the direction of the Enlglish
board, to which his conduct throughout this business
was fully kllown. . The Comipaniy, however, sent an
order from England to have him tried; but though
he frequently supplicated the government at Calcutta that his trial should be proceeded in, in order that lhe might be either acquitted and discharged or condemned, Mr. Hastings kept him in prison two years, under pretence (as hie wrote word to the Directors)
that Mallomed Reza KhaLn himself was not very desirous to hasten the matter. In the mean time the
? ? ? ? 216 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Court of Directors, having removed him from his
great offices, authorized and commanded Mr. Hastings
(and here we come within the sphere of your minutes) to appoint a successor to Mahomed Reza Khaln,
fit to fulfil the duties of his station. Now I shall first
show your Lordshlips what sort of person the Court
of Directors described to him as most fit to fill the
office of Maallomed Reza Kllhn, what sort of person
he did appoint, and then we will trace out to you the
consequences of that appointment.
Letter from the Court of Directors to the President and
Council at Fort William, dated 28th August, 1771.
" Though we have not a doubt but that, by the exertion of your abilities, and the care and assiduity of
our servants in the superintendency of thle revenues,
the collections will be conducted with more advantage
to the Companly and ease to the natives tlhai by means
of a naib dewan, we are fully sensible of the expediency of supporting some ostensible minister in the
Company's interest at the Nabob's court, to transact
the political affairs of the sircar, and interpose 1ctween the Company and tile subjects of any European power, in all cases wherein they may thwart our interest or encroach on our authority; and as
Mahomed Reza Khlan can no longer be considered by
us as one to whom such a power can be safely committed, we trust to your local knowledge the selection of some person well qualified for the affairs of government, and of whose attachment to the Coinpany you sliall be well assured: such person you will
recommend to the Nabob to succeed Mallomled Reza
as minister of the governmcent, anid guardian of the
Nabob's mnilnority; and w-e persuade ourselves that
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 217
the Nabob will pay such regard to your recommendation as to invest him with the necessary power and
authlority.
"As the advantages which the Company may
receive from the appointment of such minister will
depend on his readiness to promote our views and
advance our interest, we are willing to allow him
so liberal a gratification as may excite his zeal and
secure his attachment to the Company; we therefore
empower you to grant to the person whom you shall
think worthy of this trust an annual allowance not
exceeding three lacs of rupees, (thirty thousand
pounds,) which we consider not only as a munificent
reward for any services he shall render the Company, but sufficient to enable him to support his station
with suitable rank and dignity. And here we must
add, that, in the choice you shall make of a person
to be the active minister of the Nabob's government,
we hope and trust that you will show yourselves worthy of the confidence we have placed in you, by being
actuated therein by no other motives than those of
the public good and the safety and interest of the
Company. "
Here, my Lords, a person was to be named fit to
fill the office and supply the place of Mahomed Reza
Klhan, who was deputy-viceroy of Bengal, at the head
of the criminal justice of the country, and, in short,
at the head of the whole ostensible Mahometan government; lie was also to supply the place of Mahomed Reza Khan as naib dewan, from which Reza Khan was to be removed: for yout will observe, the
Directors always speak of a man fit to perform all the
duties of Mallomled Reza KIllaL; and amolngst these
? ? ? ? 218 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
he w-s to be as the guardian of the Nabob's person,
and the representative of his authority and govern
ment.
Mr. Hastings, having received these orders from the
Court of Directors, did -- what? He alleges in his
defence, that no positive commands were given him.
But a very sufficient description was given of the person who ought to succeed Mahomed Reza KIhan, in whom the Company had before recognized all the
necessary qualities; and they therefore desire him to
name a similar person. But what does Mr. Hastings
do in consequence of this authority? He names no
man at all. He searches into the seraglio of the
Nabob, and names a woman to be the viceroy of the
province, to be the head of the ostensible government,
to be the guardian of the Nabob's person, the conservator of his authority, and a proper representative of the remaining majesty of that government.
Well, my Lords, he searched the seraglio. When
you have to take into consideration the guardianship
of a person of great dignity, there are two circumstances to be attended to: one, a faithful and affectionate guardianship of his person; and the other, a strong
interest in his authority, and the means of exercising
that authority in a proper and competent manner.
Mr. Hastings, when he was looking for a woman ill
the seraglio, (for he could find women only there,)
must have found actually in authority there the
Nabob's own mother: certainly a person who by nature was most fit to be -his guardian; and there is
no manner of doubt of her being sufficiently competent to that duty. Here, then, was a legitimate wife
of the Nabob Jaffier Ali Kllan, a woman of rank and
distinction, fittest to take care of the person and in
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 219
terests, as far as a woman could take care of them, of
her own son. In this situation she had been placed
before, during the administration of Mahomed Reza
Khan, by the direct orders of the Governor, Sir John
Cartier. She had, I say, been put in possession of
that trust which it was natural and proper to give
to such. a woman. But what does Mr. Hastings do?
He deposes this woman. He strips her of her authority with which he found her invested under the sanction of the English government. He finds out
a woman in the seraglio, called Munny Begum, who
was bound to the Nabob by no tie whatever of natural affection. He makes this woman the guardian of the young Nabob's person. She had a son who had
been placed upon the musnud after the death of his
father, Sujah Dowlah, and had been appointed his
guardian. This young Nabob died soon afterwards,
and was succeeded by Ntujim ul Dowlah, another natural son of Sujah Dowlah. This prince being left without a mother, this woman was suffered to retain
the guardianship of the Nabob till his death. When
Mobarek ul Dowlah, a legitimate son of Sujah Dowlah, succeeded him, Sir John Cartier did what his duty was: he put the Nabob's own mother into the
place which she was naturally entitled to hold, the
guardianship of her own son, and displaced Munny
Begum. The whole of the arrangement by which
Munny Begum was appointed guardian of the two
preceding Nabobs stands in the Company's records
stigmatized as a transaction base, wicked, and corrupt.
We will read to your Lordships an extract from a
letter which has the signature of Mr. Sumner, the
gentleman who sits here by the side of Mr. Hastings,
and fiom which you will learn what the Company
? ? ? ? 220 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and the Council thought of the original nomination
of Munny Begum and of her son. You will find
that they considered her as a great agent and instrument of all the corruption there; and that this whole transaction, by which the bastard son of Munny Begum was brouglht forward to the prejudice of the legitimate son of the Nabob, was considered to be,
what it upon the very face of it speaks itself to be,
corrupt and scandalous.
Extract of a General Letter from the President and
Council at Calcutta, Bengal, to the Select Committee
of the Directors.
Paragraph 5. -" At Fort St. George we received
the first advices of the demise of Mir Jaffier, and of
Sujah Dowlah's defeat. It was there firmly imagined
that no definitive measures would be taken, either
with respect to a peace or filling the vacancy in the
nizamut, before our arrival, - as the' Lapwinlg' arrived in the month of January with your general
letter, and the appointment of a committee with
express powers to that purpose, for the successful
exertion of which the happiest occasion now offered.
However, a contrary resolution prevailed in the Council. The opportunity of acquiring immense fortunes was too inviting to be neglected, and the temptation
too powerful to be resisted. A treaty was hastily
drawn up by the board, --or rather, transcribed,
with few unimportant additions, from that concluded with Mir Jaffier, - and a deputation, consisting of Messrs. Johnstone, senior, Middleton, and Leycester,
appointed to raise the natural son of the deceased
Nabob to the subahdarry, in prejudice of the claim
of the grandson; and for this measure such reasons
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 221
assigned as ought to have dictated a diametrically opposite resolution. Meeran's son was a minor, which
circumstance alone would have naturally brought
the whole administration into our hands at a juncture when it became indispensably necessary we
should realize the shadow of power and influence,
which, having no solid foundation, was exposed to
the danger of being annihilated by the first stroke
of adverse fortune. But this inconsistence was not
regarded, nor was it material to the views for precipitating the treaty, which was pressed on the young
Nabob at the first interview, in so earnest and indelicate a manner as highly disgusted him and chagrined his ministers, while not a single rupee was stipulated for the Company, whose interests were sacrificed that their servants might revel in the spoils of
a treasury, before impoverished, but now totally exhausted.
" 6. This scene of corruption was first disclosed at
a visit the Nabob paid to Lord Clive and the gentlemen of the Committee a few days after our arrival.
He there delivered to his Lordship a letter filled with
bitter complaints of the insults and indignity he had
been exposed to, and the embezzlement of near twenty
lacs of rupees issued from his treasury for purposes
unknown during the late negotiations. So public
a complaint could not be disregarded, and it soon
produced an inquiry. We referred the letter to the
board. in expectation of obtaining a satisfactory account of the application of this money, and were
answered only by a warm remonstrance entered by
Mr. Leycester against that very Nabob in whose elevation he boasts of having been a principal agent.
" 7. Mahomed Reza Kh'an, the naib subah, was
? ? ? ? 222 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
then called upon to account for this large disbursement from the treasury; and he soon delivered to
the Committee the very extraordinary narrative entered in our Proceedings the 6th of June, wherein
he specifies the several names and sums, by whom
paid, and to whom, whether in cash, bills, or obligations. So precise, so accurate an account as this of
money for secret and venal services was never, we
believe, before this period, exhibited to the Honorable Court of Directors, at least never vouched by
undeniable testimony and authentic documents: by
Juggut Seet, who himself was obliged to contribute
largely to the sums demanded; by Muley Ram, who
was employed by Mr. Johnstone in all these pecuniary transactions; by the Nabob and Mahomed Reza
Khln, who were the heaviest sufferers; and, lastly,
by the confession of the gentlemen themselves whose
names are specified in the distribution list.
" 8. Juggut Seet expressly declared in his narrative, that the sum which he agreed to pay the deputation, amounting to 125,000 rupees, was extorted by menaces; and since the close of our inquiry, and
the opinions we delivered ill the Proceedings of the
21st of June, it fully appears that the presents from
tlie Nabob and Mahomed Reza Khan, exceeding the
immense sum of seventeen lacs, were not the voluntary offerings of gratitude, but contributions levied
on the weakness of the government, and violently
exacted from the dependent state and timid disposition of the minister. The charge, indeed, is denied
onl the one hand, as well as affirmed on the other.
Your honorable board must therefore determine how
far the circumstance of extortion may aggravate the
crime of disobedience to your positive orders, -- the
? ? ? ?
verted, and that the country experienced the last and
most dreadful effects of anarchy. We have shown
you that no other security was left to any human being, but to intrench themselves in such forts as they could make, and that these forts, in one district only of the country, had increased in number to the amount of seven hundred. Your Lordships also
know, that, when the prisons and mud forts in which
Colonel IHannay kept his hostages confined were full,
he kept them in uncovered cages in the open air.
You know that all these farmers of revenue were
either English and military men, or natives under an
abject submission to them; you know that they had
the whole country in assignments, that the jaghlires
were all confiscated for their benefits; and you find
that the whole system had its origin at the time
when Mr. Hastings alone formed in effect the authority of the Supreme Council. The weakness of the Nabob, as Sir Eyre Coote tells you, could not have
been alone the cause of these evils, and that our influence over him, if not actually the cause of the utter ruin, desolation, and anarchy of that country, might
have been successfully exerted in preventing.
When your Lordships slhall proceed to judgment
upon these accumulated wrongs, arising out of the
usurped power of the prisoner at your bar, and redressed by him in no one instance whatever, let not
the usurpation itself of the Nabob's power be considered as a trivial matter. When any prince at the
head of a great country is entirely stripped of everything in his government, civil or military, by which
his rank may be distinguished or his virtues exercised, lie is in danger of becoming a mere animal,
and of abandoning himself wholly to sensual grati
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 195
fications. Feeling no personal interest in the institutions or in the general welfare of the country, he
suffers the former (and many wise and laudable institutions existed in the provinces of the Nabob, for
their good order and government) to fall into disuse,
and lie leaves the country itself to persons in inferior
situations, to be wasted and destroyed by them. You
find that in Oude, the very appearance of justice had
been banished out of it, and that every aumil exercised an arbitrary power over the lives and fortunes
of the people. My Lords, we have the proofs of all
these facts in our hands; they are in your Lordships'
minutes; and though we can state nothing stronger
than is stated in the papers themselves, yet we do not
so far forget our duty as not to point out to your
Lordships such observations as arise out of them.
To close the whole, your Lordships shall now hear
read an extract from a most curious and extraordinary letter, sent by him to the Court of Directors, preparatory to his return to England.
" My only remaining fear is, that the members of
the Council, seeing affairs through a different medium from that through which I view them, may be
disposed, if not to counteract the system which I
have formed, to withhold from it their countenance
and active support. While I myself remain, it will
be sufficient if they permit it to operate without interruption; and I almost hope, in the event of a new
admlinistration of your affairs which shall confine itself to the same forbearance, and manifest no symptoms of intended interference, the objects of my arrangements will be effectually attained; for I leave them in the charge of agents whose interests, ambi
? ? ? ? 196 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINMS.
tion, and every prospect of life are interwoven with
their success, and the hand of Heaven has visibly
blest the soil with every elementary source of progressive vegetation: but if a different policy shall be
adopted, if new agents are sent into the country and
armed with authority for the purpose of vengeance
or corruption, to no other will they be applied. If
new demands are raised on the Nabob Vizier, and
accounts overcharged on one side with a wide latitude taken on the other to swell his debt beyond the
means of payment, - if political dangers are portended, to ground on them the pleas of burdening his
country with unnecessary defences and enormous subsidies, - or if, even abstaining from direct encroachment on the Nabob's rights, your government shall show but a degree of personal kindness to the partisans of the late usurpation, or by any constructive
indication of partiality and disaffection furnish ground
for the expectation of an approaching change of system, I am sorry to say that all my labors will prove
abortive; for the slightest causes will be sufficient to
deject minds sore with the remembrance of past conflicts, and to elevate those whose only dependence is
placed in the renewal of the confusion which I have
labored with such zeal to eradicate, and will of course
debilitate the authority which can alone insure future success. I almost fear that this denunciation of
effects from causes so incompetent, as they will appear to those who have not had the experience which
I have had of the quick sensibility which influences
the habits of men placed in a state of polity so loose,
and subject to the continual variations of capricious and despotic authority, will be deemed overcharged, or perhaps void of foundation; nor, if they
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 197
should come to pass, will it be easy to trace them
with any positive evidence to their connection: yet
it is my duty to apprise you of what I apprehend,
on grounds which I deem of absolute certainty, may
come to pass; and I rely on your candor for a fair
interpretation of my intention. "
Here, my Lords, the prisoner at your bar has done
exactly what his bitterest accuser would do: he goes
through, head by head, every one of the measures
which he had himself pursued in the destruction of
the country; and he foretells, that, if any one of those
measures should again be pursued, or even if good
cause should be given to suspect they would be renewed, the country must fall into a state of inevitable destruction. This supersedes all observation. This
paper is a recapitulated, minute condemnation of every
step which he took in that country, and which steps
are every one of them upon your Lordships' minutes.
But, my Lords, we know very well the design of
these pretended apprehensions, and why he wished to
have that country left in the state he speaks of. He
had left a secret agent of his own to control that ostensible government, and to enable him, sitting in the place where he now sits, to continue to govern those
provinces in the way in which he now governs them.
[A murimur having arisen here, Mr. Burke proceeded. ]
If I am called upon to reword what I have just
said, I shall repeat my words, and show strong
grounds and reasons to indicate that he governs Oude
now as much as he ever did.
You see, my Lords, that the reform which he pretended to make in 1781 produced the calamities
? ? ? ? 198 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
which he states to have existed in 1784. We shall
now show that the reform which he pretended to
make in 1784 brought on the calamities which Lord
Cornwallis states in his evidence to have existed in
1787.
We will now read two letters from Lord Cornwallis: the first is dated the 16th November, 1787.
" I was received at Allahabad and'attended to
Lucknow by the Nabob and his ministers with every
mark of friendship and respect. I cannot, however,
express how much I was concerned, during my short
residence at his capital, and my progress through his
dominions, to be witness of the disordered state of
his finances and government, and of the desolate appearances of his country. The evils were too alarming to admit of palliation, and I thought it my duty to exhort him, in the most friendly manner, to endeavor to apply effectual remedies to them. He began with urging as apology, that, whilst he was not certain of the expense [extent? ] of our demands upon him, he had no real interest in being economical
in his expenses, and that, while we interfered in the
internal management of his affairs, his own authority
and that of his ministers were despised by his own
subjects. It would have been useless to discuss these
topics with him; but while I repeated my former
declarations of our being determined to give no
ground in future for similar complaints, he gave me
the strongest assurances of his being resolved to apply himself earnestly to the encouragement of agriculture, and to endeavor to revive the commerce of his countrv. "
The second is dated the 25th April, 1788.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 199
" Till I saw the Vizier's troops, I was not without
hope that upon an emergency he would have been
able to have furnished us with some useful cavalry;
but I have no reason to believe that he has any in
his service upon which it would be prudent to place
ally dependence; and I think it right to add, that
his country appears to be in so ruined a state, and
his finances ill so much disorder, that even in case of
war we ought not to depend upon any material support from him. "
My Lords, I have only to remark upon these letters, that, so far as they go, they prove the effects
of Mr. Hastings's reformation, from which he was
pleased to promise the Company such great things.
But when your Lordships know that he had left his
dependant and minister, Hyder Beg Khan, there,
whose character, as your Lordships will find by a
reference to your minutes h'lie has represented as
black as lhell, to be the real governor there, and to
carry on private correspolldence with him hlere, and
that lie had left Major Palmer, hlis private agent, for
a considerable time in that country to carry on hlis
affairs, your Lordsllips will easily see how it has
come to pass that the Vizier, such a manl as you have
heard him described to lbe, was not alone able to
restore prosperity to his country.
My Lords, you hlave now seen what was the situatioin of the country in Sujali Dowlah's tinme, prior to
Mr. Hastings's interferellnce with the government of
it, what it was during his government, and what situation it was in when Lord Corniwallis left it. Notihing now remains but to call your Lordships' attention to perhaps the most extraordillary part of these transactions. But before we proceed, we will beg leave
? ? ? ? 200 IMIPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
to go back and read to your Lordships the Nabob's
letter of the 24th February, 1780.
" I have received your letter, and understand the
contents. I cannot describe the solidity of your
friendship and brotherly affection which subsisted between you and my late father. From the friendship of the Company he received numberless advantages;
and I, notwithstanding I was left an orphan, from
your favor and that of tile Company was perfectly
at ease, being satisfied that everything would be
well, and that I should continue in the same security that I was during my father's lifetime, from your protection. I accordingly, from the day of' lis death,
have never omitted to cultivate your favor, and the
protection of the Company; and whatever was the
desire and directions of the Council at that time I
have ever since conformed to, and obeyed with readiness. Thanks be given to God that I have never as yet been backward in performing the will of the
English Company, of the Council, and of you, and
have always been from my heart ready to obey them,
and have never given you any trouble from my difficulties or wishes. This I have done simply frorm my own knowledge of your favor towards me, and from
my being certain that youl would learn the particulars
of my distresses and difficulties fiom other quarters,
and would then show your friendship and good-will
in whatever was for my advantage. But when the
knife had penetrated to the bone, and I was stlrrounded with such heavy distresses that I could no longer live inl expectations, I then wrote an account
of my difficulties. The answer whicll I have received
to it is such, that it has given inc inlexpressible grief
and affliction. I never llad the least idea or expec
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- SEVENTH DAY. 201
tation from you and the Council that you would ever
have given your orders in so afflicting a manner, in
which you never before wrote, and which I could not
have imagined. As I am resolved to obey your orders, and directions of the Council, without any delay,
as long as I live, I have, agreeably to those orders,
delivered up all my private papers to him [the Resident], that, when he shall have examined my receipts and expenses, he may take whatever remains. As I
know it to be my duty to satisfy you, the Company,
and Council, I have not failed to obey in any instance,
but requested of him that it might be done so as not
to distress me in my necessary expenses: there being
no other funds but those for the expenses of my mutsuddies, household expenses, and servants, &c. He demanded these in such a manner, that, being remediless, I was obliged to comply with what he required. He has accordingly stopped the pensions of my old
servants for thirty years, whether sepoys, mutsuddies, or household servants, and the expenses of my family and kitchen, together with the jaghires of my
grandmother, mother, and aunts, and of my brothers and dependants, which were for their support.
I had raised fifteen hundred horse and three battalions of sepoys to attend upon me; but, as I have
no resources to support them, I have been obliged
to remove the people stationed in the mahals, and to
send his people into the malhals, so that I have not
now one single servant about me. Sliould I mention
what further difficulties I have been reduced to, it
would lay me open to contempt. Although I hlave
willingly assented to this which brings such distress
on me, and have ill a manner altogethier ruined
myself, yet I failed not to do it for this reason, be
? ? ? ? 202 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
cause it was for your satisfaction, and that of the
Council; and I am patient, and even thankful, in
this condition; but I cannot imagine from what cause
you have conceived displeasure against me. From
the commencement of my administration, in every
circumstance, I received strength and security from
your favor, and that of the Council; and in every inlstance you and the Council have shown your friendthip and affection for me; but at present, that you have sent these orders, I am greatly perplexed. "
We will not trouble your Lordships with the remainder of the letter, which is all in the same style
of distress and affliction, and of the abject dependence
of a mall who considers himself as insulted, robbed,
and ruined in that state of dependence.
In addition to the evidence contained in this letter, your Lordships will be pleased to recollect the
Nabob's letter which we read to your Lordships yesterday, the humble and abject style of which you
will never forget. Oh, consider, my Lords, this instance of the fate of hulmanl greatness! You must
remember that there is not a trace anywhere, in anly
of the various trunks of Mr. IHastings, that he ever
condescended. so much as to give an answer to the
suppliant letters of that unhappy man. There was
no mode of indignity with which he did not treat his
family; there was no mode of indignity with which
he did not treat his person; there was no mode of
indignity with which he did not treat his minister,
Hyder Beg Khan, - this man whom he represents to
be the most infamous and scandalous of mankind, and
of whom he, nevertheless, at the same time declares,
that his only support with the Vizier was the support
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 203
which he, Warren Hastings, as representative of the
English government, gave him.
We will now read a paper which perhaps ought
not to have been received in evidence, but which we
were willing to enter in your minutes as evidence, in
order that everything should come before you. Your
Lordships have heard the Nabob speak of his misery,
distress, and oppression; but here he makes a complete defeasalnce, as it were, of the whole charge, a
direct disavowal of every one of the complaints, and
particularly that of having never received an answer
to these complaints. Oh, think, I say, my Lords, of
the degraded, miserable, and unhappy state to which
human nature may be reduced, when you hear this
unhappy man declare that all the charges which we
have made upon this subject relative to him, and
which are all either admitted by him or taken from
his own representation, are now stated by him in a paper before you to be all false, and that there is not a
word of the representation which he had made of Mr.
Hastings that has the least truth in it! Your Lordships will find this in that collection of various papers which ought to be preserved and put into every museum in Europe, as one of the most extraordinary
productions that was ever exhibited to the world.
Papers received the 8th of March, 1788, and translated pursuant to an Order of the Governor-General
in Council, dated the 27th of April, 1788, under the
Seal of his Excellency the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah,
Asoph Jah Bahadur, VTizier ul Momalik.
"' I have at this time learnt that the gentlemen in
power in England, upon the suspicion that Mr. Hastings, during his administration, acted contrary to the
? ? ? ? 204 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
rules of justice and impartiality, and, actuated by motives of avidity, was inimical towards men without
cause; that lie broke such engagements and treaties
as had been made between the Company and other
chiefs; that he extended the hand of oppression over
the properties of men, tore up the roots of security
and prosperity from the land, and rendered the ryots and subjects destitute by force and extortion
As this accusation, in fact, is destitute of uprightness
and void of truth, therefore, with a view to show the
truth in its true colors, I have written upon this
sheet with truth and sincerity, to serve as an evidence,
and to represent real facts, - to serve also as information and communication, that Mr. tHastings, from
the commencement of his administration until his
departure for England, whether during the lifetime
of the deceased Nabob, of blessed memory, Vizier
ul Moolk, Sujah ul Dowlah Bahadur, my father, or
during my government, did not at any time transact
contrary to justice any matter which took place from
the great friendship between me and the Company,
nor in any business depart from the path of truth
and uprightness, but cultivated friendship with integrity and sincerity, and in every respect engaged
himself in the duties of friendship with me, my ministers and confidants. I am at all times, and in every way, pleased with and thankful for his friendly manners and qualities; and my ministers and confidants, who have always, every one of them, been satisfied with his conduct, are forever grateful for his friendship and thankful for his virtues. As these
matters are real facts, and according to truth, I have
written these lines as an evidence, and transmit this
paper to England, through the government of Calcut
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 205
ta, for the information of the gentlemen of power and
rank in England. "
Observe, my Lords, the candor of the Commons.
We produce this evidence, which accuses us, as Mr.
Hastings does, of uttering everything that is false;
we choose to bring our shame before the world, and
to admit that this main, on whose belalf and on the
behalf of whose country we have accused Mr. Hastings, has declared that this accusation (namlely, this impeachment) is destitute of uprightness and without
truth. But, my Lords, this is not only a direct contradiction to all lie has ever said, to all that has been proved to you by us, but a direct contradiction to all
the representations of Mr. IHastings himself. Your
Lordships will hence see what credit is to be given to
these papers.
Your Lordships shall now hear what Hyder Beg
Khan says: that Hyder Beg Kha'l who stands recorded in your minutes as the worst of mankind;
who is represented as writing letters without the Nabob's consent, and in defiance of him; the man of whom Mr. Hastings says, that the Nabob is nothing
but a tool in his hands, and that the Nabob is and
ever must be a tool of somebody or other. Now, as
we have heard the tool speak, let us hear how the
workman employed to work with this tool speaks.
Extract from Hyder Beg Khdn's Letter to the Governor
and Council.
"It is at this time learnt by the Nabob Vizier, and
us, his ministers, that the gentlemen of power in England are displeased with Mr. Hastings, on the suspicion that during his administration in this country, rolll
? ? ? ? 206 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
motives of avidity, he committed oppressions contrary
to the rules of justice, took the properties of men by
deceit and force, injured the ryots and subjects, and
rendered the country destitute and ruined. As the
true and upright disposition of Mr. Hastings is in every respect free of this suspicion, we therefore with truth and sincerity declare by these lines, written according to fact, that Mr. Hastings, from the first of his appointment to the government of this country
until his departure for Europe, during his authority
in the management of the affairs of the country,
whether in the lifetime of the Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah Bahadur, deceased, or whether during the present reign, did not, in any matters which took place from
the great friendship between this government and the
Company, act in any wise upon motives of avidity,
and, not having, in any respect, other than justice
and propriety in intention, did not swerve from their
rules. He kept his Excellency the Vizier always
pleased and satisfied" (you will remember, my
Lords, the last expressions of his pleasure and satisfaction) " by his friendship and attention in every matter. He at all times showed favor and kindness
towards us, the ministers'of this government; and under his protection having enjoyed perfect happiness and comfort, we are from our hearts satisfied with
and grateful for his benevolence and goodness. "
Here, my Lords, you have the character which
Hyder Beg Khlan gives of Mr. Hastings, - of the
man who he knew had loaded him, as he had done,
with every kind of indignity, reproach, and outrage
with which a man can be loaded. Your Lordsluips
will see that this testimony repeats, almost word for
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - SEVENTH DAY. 207
word, the testimony of the Vizier Nabob,- which
shows who the real writer is.
My Lords, it is said that there is no word in the
Persian language to express gratitude. With these
signal instances of gratitude before us, I think we
may venture to put one into their dictionary. Mr.
Hastings has said he has had the pleasure to find
from the people of India that gratitude which he has
not met with from his own countrymen, the House
of Commons. Certainly, if hle has done us services,
we have been ungrateful indeed; if he has committed enormous crimes, we are just. Of the miserable, dependent situation to which these people are reduced, that they are not ashamed to come forward
and deny everything they have given under their
own hand, --all these things show the portentous
nature of this government, they show the portentous
nature of that phalanx with which the House of
Commons is at present at war, the power of that
captain-general of every species of Indian iniquity,
which, under him, is embodied, arrayed, and paid,
from Leadenhall Street to the furthermost part of
India.
We have but one observation more to offer upon
this collection of razinamas, upon these miserable
testimonials given by these wretched people in contradiction to all their own previous representations,
-- directly in contradiction to those of Mr. Hastings
himself, -- directly in contradiction to those of Lord
Cornwallis, - directly in contradiction to truth itself.
It is this. Here is Mr. Hastings with his agents
canvassing the country, with all that minuteness
with which a county is canvassed at an election;
and yet in this whole book of razinamas not one
? ? ? ? 208 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
fact adduced by us is attempted to be disproved, not
one fact upon which Mr. Hastings's defence can be
founded is attempted to be proved. There is nothing
but bare vile panegyrics, directly belied by the state
of facts, directly belied by the persons themselves,
directly belied by Mr. Hastings at your bar, and by
all the whole course of the correspondence of the
country.
We here leave to your Lordships' judgment the
consideration of the elevated rank of the persons aggrieved and degraded to the lowest state of dependence and actual distress, -the consideration of the condition of the country gentlemen, who were obliged
to hide their heads, wherever they could, from the
plunderers and robbers established under his authority in every part of the country, and that of the
miserable common people, who have been obliged
to sell their children througlh want of food to feed
them, -- the consideration, I say, of the manner in
which this country, in the highest, in the middle,
and in the lowest classes of its inhabitants, nay, in
physical works of God, was desolated and destroyed
by this man.
Having now done with the province of Oude, we
will proceed to the province of Bengal, and consider
what was the kind of government which lie exercised
there, and in what manner it affected the people that
were subjected to it.
Bengal, like every part of India subject to the
British empire, contains (as I have already had occasion to mention) three distinct classes of people,
forming three distinct social systems. The first is
the Mahometans, which, about seven hundred years
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY.
209
ago, obtained a footing in that country, and ever
since has in a great degree retained its authority
there. For the Mahometans had settled there long
before the foundation of the Bengal empire, which
was overturned by Tamerlane: so that this people,
who are represented sometimes loosely as strangers,
are people of ancient and considerable settlement in
that country; and though, like Mahometan settlers
in many other countries, they have fallen into decay,
yet, being continually recruited from various parts
of Tartary under the Mogul empire, and from various parts of Persia, they continue to be the leading
and most powerful people throughout the peninsula;
and so we found them there. These people, for the
most part, follow no trades or occupation, their religion and laws forbidding them in the strictest manner
to take usury or profit arising from money that is in
any way lent; they have, therefore, no other means
for their support but what arises from their adherence to and connection with the Mogul government
and its viceroys. They enjoy under them various
offices, civil and military, - various employments in
the courts of law, and stations in the army. Accordinlgly a prodigious number of people, almost all of
tlem persons of the most ancient and respectable
families in the country, are dependent upon and
clillg to the suballdars or viceroys of the several
proviinces. They, therefore, who oppress, plunder, and
destroy the subahdars, oppress, rob, and destroy an
immense mass of people. It is true that a supervening government, established upon another, always
reduces a certain portion of the dependants upon the
latter to want. You must distress, by the very nature of the circumstances of the case, a great numVOL. XII. 14
? ? ? ? 210 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
ber of people; but then it is your business,,when, by
the superiority which you have acquired, however
you may have acquired it, (for I am not now considering whether you have acquired it by fraud or
force, or whether by a mixture of both,) when, I say,
you have acquired it, it is your business not to
oppress those people with new and additional difficulties, but rather to console them in the state to
which they are reduced, and to give them all the
assistance and protection in your power.
The next system is composed of the descendants
of the people who were found in the country by the
Mahometan invaders. The system before mentioned
comprehends the official interest, the judicial interest, the court interest, and the military interest.
This latter body includes almost the whole landed
interest, commercial interest, and moneyed interest
of the country. For the Hindoos not being forbidden by their laws or religious tenets, as laid down
in the Shaster, many of them became the principal
money-lenders and bankers; and thus the Hindoos
form the greatest part both of the landed and moneyed interest in that country.
The third and last system is formed of the English
interest; which in reality, whether it appears directly
or indirectly, is the governing interest of the whole
country, -- of its civil and military interest, of its
landed, moneyed, and revenue interest; and what
to us is the greatest concern of all, it is this system
which is responsible for the government of that country to the government of Great Britain. It is divided into two parts: one emanating from the Coinpany, and afterwards regulated by act of Parliament; the other a judicial body, sent out by and acting unll
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 211
der the authority of the crown itself. The persons
composing that interest are those whom we usually
call the servants of the Company. They enter into
that service, as your Lordsllips know, at an early
period of life, and they are promoted accordingly as
their merit or their interest may provide for them.
This body of men, with' respect to its number, is so
small as scarcely to deserve mentioning; but, from
certain circumstances, the government of the whole
country is fallen into their hands. Amongst these
circumstances, the most important and essential are
their having the public revenues and the public purse
entirely in their own hands, and their having an
army maintained by that purse, and disciplined in
the European manner.
Such was the state of that country when Mr. Hastings was appointed Governor in 1772. Your Lordships are now to decide upon the manner in which he has comported himself with regard to all these three
interests: first, whether he has made the ancient
Mahometan families as easy as he could; secondly,
whether he has made the Hindoo inhabitants, the
zemindars and their tenants, as secure in their property and as easy in their tenure as he could; and
lastly, whether he has made the English interest a
blessing to the country, and, whilst it provided moderate, safe, and proper emoluments to the persons that
were concerned in it, it kept them from oppression
and rapine, and a general waste and ravage of the
country: whether, in short, he made all these three
interests pursue that one object which all interests
and all governments ought to pursue, the advantage
and welfare of the people under them.
My Lords, in support of our charge against the
? ? ? ? 212 IMIPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
prisoner at your bar, that he acted in a manner directly the reverse of this, we have proved to you that
his first acts of oppression were directed against the
Mahometan government, - that government which
had been before, not only in name, but in effect, to
the very time of his appointment, the real government of the country. After the Company had acquired its right over it, some shadow still remained of the ancient government. An allowance was settled for the Nabob of Bengal, to support the dignity
of his court, which amounted to between four and
five hundred thousand pounds a year. In this was
comprehended the support of the whole mass of
nobility, - the soldiers, serving or retired, - all the
officers of the court, and all the women that were
dependent upon them, - the whole of the criminal
jurisdiction of the country, and a very considerable
part of the civil law and the civil government. These
establishments formied the constitutional basis of their
political government.
The Company never had (and it is a thing that
we can never too often repeat to your Lordships) -
the Company never had of right despotic power in
that country, to overturn any of these establishments.
The Mogul, who gave them their charters, could not
give them such a power,- he did not de facto give
them such a power; the government of this country
did not by act of Parliament, and the Company did
not and could not by their delegation, give him such
a power; the act by which he was appointed Governor did not give him such a power. If he exercised
it, he usurped it; and therefore, every step we take
in the examination of his conduct in Bengal, as in
every step we take upon the same subject everywhere
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 213
else, we look for the justification of his conduct to
laws,- the Law of Nations, the laws of this country,
and the laws of the country he was sent to govern.
The government of that country, by the ancient
constitution of the Mogul empire, besides the numberless individual checks and counter-checks in the inferior officers [offices? ], is divided into the viceroyal part and the subahdarry part. The viceroyal part
takes ill all criminal justice and political government.
MIr. Hastings found the country under a viceroy, governing according to law, acting by proper judges and
magistrates under him: he himself not being the judicial, but executive power of the country, - that which
sets the other in action, and does not supersede it or
supply its place. The other, the subahdarry power,
which was by the grant of the dewanny conferred
upon the Company, had under its care the revenues,
as much of the civil government as is concerned with
the revenues, and many other matters growing out
of it. These two offices are coordinate and dependent on each other. The Company, after contracting
to maintain the army out of it, got the whole revenue
into their power. The army being thus within their
power, the subabdar by degrees vanished into an
empty name.
When we thus undertook the government of the
country, conscious that we had undertaken a task
which 1 y any personal exertion of our own we were
unable to perform in any proper or rational way, the
Company appointed a native of the country, Mahomed
Reza Khaln, who stands upon the records of the Company, I venture to say, with such a character as no
mall perhaps ever did stand, to execute the duties
of both offices. Upon the expulsion of Cossim Ali
? ? ? ? 214 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Khan, the Nabob of Bengal, all his children were left
in a young, feeble, and unprotected state; and in that
state of things, Lord Clive, Mr. Sumner, who sits near
Mr. Hastings, and the rest of the Council, wisely
appointed MIahomed Reza Khan to fulfil the two offices of deputy-viceroy and deputy-dewan, for which he had immense allowances, and great jaghires and
revenues, I allow. He was a man of that dignity,
rank, and consideration, added to his knowledge of
law anld experience in business, that Lord Clive and
Mr. Sumner, who examined strictly his conduct at
that time, did not think that 112,0001. a year, the
amount of the emoluments which had been allowed
him, was a great deal too much; but at his own desire, and in order that these emoluments might be brought to stated and fixed sums, they reduced it to
90,0001. ,- an allowance which they thought was not
more than sufficient to preserve the state of so great
a magistrate, and a man of such rank, exercising
such great employments. The whole revenue of the
Company depended upon his talents and fidelity; and
you will find, that, on the day in which he surrendered the revenues into our hands, the dewanny, under his management, was a millioni more than it
produced on the day Mr. Hastings left it. For the
truth of this I refer your Lordships to a letter of the
Company sent to the Board of Control. This letter
is not in evidence before your Lordships, and what I
am stating is merely historical. But I state the
facts, and with the power of referring for their proof
to documents as authentic as if they were absolutely
in evidence before you. Assuming, therefore, that all
these facts may be verified by the records of the Company, I have now to state that this manl, by some
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - EVENTH DAY. 215
rumors true or false, was supposed to have misconducted himself ill a time of great calamity in that country. A great famine had about this time grievously afflicted the whole province of Bengal. - I must remark by the way, that these countries are liable to
this calamity; but it is greatly blessed by Nature with
resources which afford the means of speedy recovery, if their government does not counteract them. Nature, that inflicts the calamity, soon heals the
wound; it is ill ordinary seasons the most fertile
country, inhabited by the most industrious people,
and the most disposed to marriage and settlement,
probably, that exists in the whole world; so that
population and fertility are soon restored, and the
inhabitants quickly resume their former industrious
occupations.
During the agitation excited in the country by the
calamity I have just mentioned, Mahomed Reza Khaln,
through the intrigues of Rajali Nuldcomar, one of
his political rivals, and of some English faction that
supported him, was accused of b)eing one of the
causes of the famine. In answer to this charge, he
alleged, what was certainly a sufficient justification,
that he had acted under the direction of the Enlglish
board, to which his conduct throughout this business
was fully kllown. . The Comipaniy, however, sent an
order from England to have him tried; but though
he frequently supplicated the government at Calcutta that his trial should be proceeded in, in order that lhe might be either acquitted and discharged or condemned, Mr. Hastings kept him in prison two years, under pretence (as hie wrote word to the Directors)
that Mallomed Reza KhaLn himself was not very desirous to hasten the matter. In the mean time the
? ? ? ? 216 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
Court of Directors, having removed him from his
great offices, authorized and commanded Mr. Hastings
(and here we come within the sphere of your minutes) to appoint a successor to Mahomed Reza Khaln,
fit to fulfil the duties of his station. Now I shall first
show your Lordshlips what sort of person the Court
of Directors described to him as most fit to fill the
office of Maallomed Reza Kllhn, what sort of person
he did appoint, and then we will trace out to you the
consequences of that appointment.
Letter from the Court of Directors to the President and
Council at Fort William, dated 28th August, 1771.
" Though we have not a doubt but that, by the exertion of your abilities, and the care and assiduity of
our servants in the superintendency of thle revenues,
the collections will be conducted with more advantage
to the Companly and ease to the natives tlhai by means
of a naib dewan, we are fully sensible of the expediency of supporting some ostensible minister in the
Company's interest at the Nabob's court, to transact
the political affairs of the sircar, and interpose 1ctween the Company and tile subjects of any European power, in all cases wherein they may thwart our interest or encroach on our authority; and as
Mahomed Reza Khlan can no longer be considered by
us as one to whom such a power can be safely committed, we trust to your local knowledge the selection of some person well qualified for the affairs of government, and of whose attachment to the Coinpany you sliall be well assured: such person you will
recommend to the Nabob to succeed Mallomled Reza
as minister of the governmcent, anid guardian of the
Nabob's mnilnority; and w-e persuade ourselves that
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 217
the Nabob will pay such regard to your recommendation as to invest him with the necessary power and
authlority.
"As the advantages which the Company may
receive from the appointment of such minister will
depend on his readiness to promote our views and
advance our interest, we are willing to allow him
so liberal a gratification as may excite his zeal and
secure his attachment to the Company; we therefore
empower you to grant to the person whom you shall
think worthy of this trust an annual allowance not
exceeding three lacs of rupees, (thirty thousand
pounds,) which we consider not only as a munificent
reward for any services he shall render the Company, but sufficient to enable him to support his station
with suitable rank and dignity. And here we must
add, that, in the choice you shall make of a person
to be the active minister of the Nabob's government,
we hope and trust that you will show yourselves worthy of the confidence we have placed in you, by being
actuated therein by no other motives than those of
the public good and the safety and interest of the
Company. "
Here, my Lords, a person was to be named fit to
fill the office and supply the place of Mahomed Reza
Klhan, who was deputy-viceroy of Bengal, at the head
of the criminal justice of the country, and, in short,
at the head of the whole ostensible Mahometan government; lie was also to supply the place of Mahomed Reza Khan as naib dewan, from which Reza Khan was to be removed: for yout will observe, the
Directors always speak of a man fit to perform all the
duties of Mallomled Reza KIllaL; and amolngst these
? ? ? ? 218 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
he w-s to be as the guardian of the Nabob's person,
and the representative of his authority and govern
ment.
Mr. Hastings, having received these orders from the
Court of Directors, did -- what? He alleges in his
defence, that no positive commands were given him.
But a very sufficient description was given of the person who ought to succeed Mahomed Reza KIhan, in whom the Company had before recognized all the
necessary qualities; and they therefore desire him to
name a similar person. But what does Mr. Hastings
do in consequence of this authority? He names no
man at all. He searches into the seraglio of the
Nabob, and names a woman to be the viceroy of the
province, to be the head of the ostensible government,
to be the guardian of the Nabob's person, the conservator of his authority, and a proper representative of the remaining majesty of that government.
Well, my Lords, he searched the seraglio. When
you have to take into consideration the guardianship
of a person of great dignity, there are two circumstances to be attended to: one, a faithful and affectionate guardianship of his person; and the other, a strong
interest in his authority, and the means of exercising
that authority in a proper and competent manner.
Mr. Hastings, when he was looking for a woman ill
the seraglio, (for he could find women only there,)
must have found actually in authority there the
Nabob's own mother: certainly a person who by nature was most fit to be -his guardian; and there is
no manner of doubt of her being sufficiently competent to that duty. Here, then, was a legitimate wife
of the Nabob Jaffier Ali Kllan, a woman of rank and
distinction, fittest to take care of the person and in
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 219
terests, as far as a woman could take care of them, of
her own son. In this situation she had been placed
before, during the administration of Mahomed Reza
Khan, by the direct orders of the Governor, Sir John
Cartier. She had, I say, been put in possession of
that trust which it was natural and proper to give
to such. a woman. But what does Mr. Hastings do?
He deposes this woman. He strips her of her authority with which he found her invested under the sanction of the English government. He finds out
a woman in the seraglio, called Munny Begum, who
was bound to the Nabob by no tie whatever of natural affection. He makes this woman the guardian of the young Nabob's person. She had a son who had
been placed upon the musnud after the death of his
father, Sujah Dowlah, and had been appointed his
guardian. This young Nabob died soon afterwards,
and was succeeded by Ntujim ul Dowlah, another natural son of Sujah Dowlah. This prince being left without a mother, this woman was suffered to retain
the guardianship of the Nabob till his death. When
Mobarek ul Dowlah, a legitimate son of Sujah Dowlah, succeeded him, Sir John Cartier did what his duty was: he put the Nabob's own mother into the
place which she was naturally entitled to hold, the
guardianship of her own son, and displaced Munny
Begum. The whole of the arrangement by which
Munny Begum was appointed guardian of the two
preceding Nabobs stands in the Company's records
stigmatized as a transaction base, wicked, and corrupt.
We will read to your Lordships an extract from a
letter which has the signature of Mr. Sumner, the
gentleman who sits here by the side of Mr. Hastings,
and fiom which you will learn what the Company
? ? ? ? 220 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
and the Council thought of the original nomination
of Munny Begum and of her son. You will find
that they considered her as a great agent and instrument of all the corruption there; and that this whole transaction, by which the bastard son of Munny Begum was brouglht forward to the prejudice of the legitimate son of the Nabob, was considered to be,
what it upon the very face of it speaks itself to be,
corrupt and scandalous.
Extract of a General Letter from the President and
Council at Calcutta, Bengal, to the Select Committee
of the Directors.
Paragraph 5. -" At Fort St. George we received
the first advices of the demise of Mir Jaffier, and of
Sujah Dowlah's defeat. It was there firmly imagined
that no definitive measures would be taken, either
with respect to a peace or filling the vacancy in the
nizamut, before our arrival, - as the' Lapwinlg' arrived in the month of January with your general
letter, and the appointment of a committee with
express powers to that purpose, for the successful
exertion of which the happiest occasion now offered.
However, a contrary resolution prevailed in the Council. The opportunity of acquiring immense fortunes was too inviting to be neglected, and the temptation
too powerful to be resisted. A treaty was hastily
drawn up by the board, --or rather, transcribed,
with few unimportant additions, from that concluded with Mir Jaffier, - and a deputation, consisting of Messrs. Johnstone, senior, Middleton, and Leycester,
appointed to raise the natural son of the deceased
Nabob to the subahdarry, in prejudice of the claim
of the grandson; and for this measure such reasons
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -SEVENTH DAY. 221
assigned as ought to have dictated a diametrically opposite resolution. Meeran's son was a minor, which
circumstance alone would have naturally brought
the whole administration into our hands at a juncture when it became indispensably necessary we
should realize the shadow of power and influence,
which, having no solid foundation, was exposed to
the danger of being annihilated by the first stroke
of adverse fortune. But this inconsistence was not
regarded, nor was it material to the views for precipitating the treaty, which was pressed on the young
Nabob at the first interview, in so earnest and indelicate a manner as highly disgusted him and chagrined his ministers, while not a single rupee was stipulated for the Company, whose interests were sacrificed that their servants might revel in the spoils of
a treasury, before impoverished, but now totally exhausted.
" 6. This scene of corruption was first disclosed at
a visit the Nabob paid to Lord Clive and the gentlemen of the Committee a few days after our arrival.
He there delivered to his Lordship a letter filled with
bitter complaints of the insults and indignity he had
been exposed to, and the embezzlement of near twenty
lacs of rupees issued from his treasury for purposes
unknown during the late negotiations. So public
a complaint could not be disregarded, and it soon
produced an inquiry. We referred the letter to the
board. in expectation of obtaining a satisfactory account of the application of this money, and were
answered only by a warm remonstrance entered by
Mr. Leycester against that very Nabob in whose elevation he boasts of having been a principal agent.
" 7. Mahomed Reza Kh'an, the naib subah, was
? ? ? ? 222 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
then called upon to account for this large disbursement from the treasury; and he soon delivered to
the Committee the very extraordinary narrative entered in our Proceedings the 6th of June, wherein
he specifies the several names and sums, by whom
paid, and to whom, whether in cash, bills, or obligations. So precise, so accurate an account as this of
money for secret and venal services was never, we
believe, before this period, exhibited to the Honorable Court of Directors, at least never vouched by
undeniable testimony and authentic documents: by
Juggut Seet, who himself was obliged to contribute
largely to the sums demanded; by Muley Ram, who
was employed by Mr. Johnstone in all these pecuniary transactions; by the Nabob and Mahomed Reza
Khln, who were the heaviest sufferers; and, lastly,
by the confession of the gentlemen themselves whose
names are specified in the distribution list.
" 8. Juggut Seet expressly declared in his narrative, that the sum which he agreed to pay the deputation, amounting to 125,000 rupees, was extorted by menaces; and since the close of our inquiry, and
the opinions we delivered ill the Proceedings of the
21st of June, it fully appears that the presents from
tlie Nabob and Mahomed Reza Khan, exceeding the
immense sum of seventeen lacs, were not the voluntary offerings of gratitude, but contributions levied
on the weakness of the government, and violently
exacted from the dependent state and timid disposition of the minister. The charge, indeed, is denied
onl the one hand, as well as affirmed on the other.
Your honorable board must therefore determine how
far the circumstance of extortion may aggravate the
crime of disobedience to your positive orders, -- the
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