The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke Volume VIII Part 18

That the East India Company, having on their part violated the engagements and renounced the conditions on which they received and have hitherto held and enjoyed the duanne of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa from the King Shah Allum, have thereby forfeited all right and t.i.tle to the said duanne arising from the said grant, and that it is free and open to the said King to resume such grant, and to transfer it to any other prince or state;--that, notwithstanding any distress or weakness to which he may be actually reduced, his lawful authority, as sovereign of the Mogul Empire, is still acknowledged in India, and that his grant of the duanne would sufficiently authorize and materially a.s.sist any prince or state that might attempt to dispossess the East India Company thereof, since it would convey a right which could not be disputed, and to which nothing but force could be opposed. Nor can these opinions be more strongly expressed than they have been lately by the said Warren Hastings himself, who, in a minute recorded the 1st of December, 1784, has declared, that, "fallen as the House of Timur is, it is yet the relic of the most ill.u.s.trious line of the Eastern world; that _its sovereignty is universally acknowledged_, though the substance of it no longer exists; and that the Company itself derives its const.i.tutional dominion from its ostensible bounty."

That the said Warren Hastings by this declaration has renounced and condemned the principle on which he avowedly acted towards the Mogul in the year 1773, when he denied that the sunnuds or grants of the Mogul, if they were in the hands of another nation, would avail them anything,--and when he declared "that the sword which gave us the dominion of Bengal must be the instrument of its preservation, and that, if it should ever cease to be ours, the next proprietor would derive his _right_ and possession from the same _natural charter_." That the said Warren Hastings, to answer any immediate purpose, adopts any principle of policy, however false or dangerous, without any regard to former declarations made, or to principles avowed on other occasions by himself; and particularly, that in his conduct to Shah Allum he first maintained that the grants of that prince were of no avail,--that we held the dominion of Bengal by the sword, which he has falsely declared the source of _right_, and the _natural charter_ of dominion,--whereas at a later period he has declared that the sovereignty of the family of Shah Allum is universally acknowledged, and that the Company itself derives its const.i.tutional dominion from their ostensible bounty.

III.--BENARES.

PART I.

RIGHTS AND t.i.tLES OF THE RAJAH OF BENARES.

I. That the territory of Benares is a fruitful, and has been, not long since, an orderly, well-cultivated, and improved province, of great extent; and its capital city, as Warren Hastings, Esquire, has informed the Court of Directors, in his letter of the 21st of November, 1781, "is highly revered by the natives of the Hindoo persuasion, so that many who have acquired independent fortunes retire to close their days in a place so eminently distinguished for its sanct.i.ty"; and he further acquaints the Directors, "that it may rather be considered as the seat of the Hindoo religion than as the capital of a province. But as its inhabitants are not composed of Hindoos only, the _former_ wealth which flowed into it from the offerings of pilgrims, as well as from the transactions of exchange, for which its central situation is adapted, has attracted numbers of Mahomedans, who still continue to reside in it with their families." And these circ.u.mstances of the city of Benares, which not only attracted the attention of all the different descriptions of men who inhabit Hindostan, but interested them warmly in whatever it might suffer, did in a peculiar manner require that the Governor-General and Council of Calcutta should conduct themselves with regard to its rulers and inhabitants, when it became dependent on the Company, on the most distinguished principles of good faith, equity, moderation, and mildness.

II. That the Rajah Bulwant Sing, late prince or Zemindar of the province aforesaid, was a great lord of the Mogul Empire, dependent on the same, through the Vizier of the Empire, the late Sujah ul Dowlah, Nabob of Oude; and the said Bulwant Sing, in the commencement of the English power, did attach himself to the cause of the English Company; and the Court of Directors of the said Company did acknowledge, in their letter of the 26th of May, 1768, that "Bulwant Sing's joining us at the time he did was of _signal service_, and the stipulation in his favor was what he was justly ent.i.tled to"; and they did commend "the care that had been taken [by the then Presidency] of those that had shown their attachment to them [the Company] during the war"; and they did finally express their hope and expectation in the words following: "The moderation and attention paid to those who have espoused our interests in this war will _restore_ our reputation in Hindostan, and that the Indian powers will be convinced _NO breach of treaty will ever have our sanction_."

III. That the Rajah Bulwant Sing died on the 23d of August, 1770, and his son, Cheyt Sing, succeeding to his rights and pretensions, the Presidency of Calcutta (John Cartier, Esquire, being then President) did instruct Captain Gabriel Harper to procure a confirmation of the succession to his son Cheyt Sing, "as it was of the utmost political import to the Company's affairs; and that the young man ought not to consider the price to be paid to satisfy _the Vizier's jealousy and avarice_." And they did further declare as follows: "The strong and inviolable attachment which subsisted betwixt the Company and the father makes us most readily interpose our good offices for the son." And the young Rajah aforesaid having agreed, under the mediation of Captain Harper, to pay near two hundred thousand pounds as a gift to the said Vizier, and to increase his tribute by near thirty thousand pounds annually, a deed of confirmation was pa.s.sed by the said Vizier to the said Rajah and his heirs, by which he became a purchaser, for valuable considerations, of his right and inheritance in the zemindary aforesaid.

In consequence of this grant, so by him purchased, the Rajah was solemnly invested with the government in the city of Benares, "amidst the acclamations of a numerous people, and to the great satisfaction of all parties." And the said Harper, in his letter of the 8th October, 1770, giving an account of the invest.i.ture aforesaid, did express himself in these words: "I will leave the young Rajah and others to acquaint you how I have conducted myself; only thus much let me say, that I have kept a strict eye not to diminish our national honor, disinterestedness, and justice, which I will conclude has had a greater effect in securing to the Company their vast possessions than even the force of arms, however formidable, could do." The President of Calcutta testified his approbation of the said Harper's conduct in the strongest terms, that is, in the following: "Your disinterestedness has been equally distinguishable as your abilities, and both do you the greatest honor."

IV. That the agreement between the Rajah and Nabob aforesaid continued on both sides without any violation, under the sanction and guaranty of the East India Company, for three years, when Warren Hastings, Esquire, being then President, did propose a further confirmation of the said grant, and did, on the 12th of October, 1773, obtain a delegation for himself to be the person to negotiate the same: it being his opinion, as expressed in his report of October 4th, 1773, that the Rajah was not only ent.i.tled to the inheritance of his zemindary by the grants through Captain Harper, but that the preceding treaty of Allahabad, though literally expressing no more than a security personal to Bulwant Sing, did, notwithstanding, in the true sense and import thereof, extend to his posterity; "and that it had been differently understood" (that is, not literally) "by the Company, and by this administration; and the Vizier had _before_ put it out of all dispute by the solemn act pa.s.sed in the Rajah's favor on his succession to the zemindary."

V. That the Council, in their instructions to the said Governor Hastings, did empower him "to _renew_, in behalf of the Rajah Cheyt Sing, the stipulation which was formerly made with the Vizier in consideration of his services in 1764"; and the government was accordingly settled on the Rajah and his posterity, or to his heirs, on the same footing on which it was granted to his said father, excepting the addition aforesaid to the tribute, with an express provision "that _no increase_ shall ever hereafter be demanded." And the grant and stipulation aforesaid was further confirmed by the said Sujah ul Dowlah, under the Company's guaranty, by the most solemn and awful form of oath known in the Mahomedan religion, inserted in the body of the deed or grant; and the said Warren Hastings, strongly impressed with the opinion of the propriety of protecting the Rajah, and of the injustice, malice, and avarice of the said Sujah Dowlah, and the known family enmity subsisting between him and the Rajah, did declare, in his report to the Council, as follows: "I am well convinced that the Rajah's inheritance, and perhaps his life, are no longer safe than while he enjoys the Company's protection, which is his due by the ties of justice and the obligations of public faith."

VI. That some time after the new confirmation aforesaid, that is to say, in the year 1774, the Governor-General and Council, which had been formed and the members thereof appointed by act of Parliament, did obtain the a.s.signment of the sovereignty paramount of the said government by treaty with the Nabob of Oude, by which, although the supreme dominion was changed, the terms and the conditions of the tenure of the Rajah of Benares remained; as the said Nabob of Oude could transfer to the East India Company no other or greater estate than he himself possessed in or over the said zemindary. But to obviate any misconstruction on the subject, the said Warren Hastings did propose to the board, that, whatever provision might in the said treaty be made for the interest of the Company, the same should be "without an encroachment on the just rights of the Rajah, or _the engagements actually subsisting with him_."

VII. That the said Warren Hastings, then having, or pretending to have, an extraordinary care of the interest of the Rajah of Benares, did, on his transfer of the sovereignty, propose a new grant, to be conveyed in new instruments to the said Rajah, conferring upon him further privileges, namely, the addition of the sovereign rights of the mint, and of the right of criminal justice of life and death. And he, the said Warren Hastings, as Governor-General, did himself propose the resolution for that purpose in Council, in the following words, with remarks explanatory of the principles upon which the grants aforesaid were made, namely:--

MINUTE.

VIII. "That the perpetual and _independent_ possession of the zemindary of Benares and its dependencies be _confirmed_ and guarantied to the Rajah Cheyt Sing and his heirs forever, _subject only to the annual payment of the revenues. .h.i.therto paid to the late Vizier_, amounting to Benares Sicca Rupees 23,71,656.12, to be disposed of as is expressed in the following article: _That no other demand be made on him either by the Nabob of Oude or this government; nor any kind of authority or jurisdiction be exercised by either within the districts a.s.signed him_."

To which minute he, the said Warren Hastings, did subjoin the following observation in writing, and recorded therewith in the Council books, that is to say: "_The Rajah of Benares, from the situation of his country, which is a frontier to the provinces of Oude and Bahar, may be made a serviceable ally to the Company, whenever their affairs shall require it. He has always been considered in this light both by the Company and the successive members of the late Council; but to insure his attachment to the Company, his interest must be connected with it, which cannot be better effected than by freeing him totally from the REMAINS of his present va.s.salage under the guaranty and protection of the Company, and at the same time guarding him against any apprehensions from this government, by thus pledging its faith that no encroachment shall ever be made on his rights by the Company._" And the said Warren Hastings, on the 5th of July, 1775, did himself propose, among other articles of the treaty relative to this object, one of the following tenor: "That, whilst the Rajah shall continue faithful to these engagements and punctual in his payments, and shall pay due obedience to the authority of this government, _no more demands_ shall be made upon him by the Honorable Company of ANY KIND, or, on any pretence whatsoever, shall any person be allowed to interfere with his authority, or to disturb the peace of his country." And the said article was by the other members of the Council a.s.sented to without debate.

IX. On transferring the Rajah's tribute from the Nabob to the Company, the stipulation with the Nabob was renewed on the proposition of the said Warren Hastings himself, and expressed in a yet more distinct manner, namely: "That no more demands shall be made upon him by the Honorable Company of any kind." And the said Warren Hastings, in justification of his proposal of giving the Rajah "a complete and uncontrolled authority over his zemindary," did enter on the Council book the following reasons for investing him with the same, strongly indicating the situation in which he must be left under any other circ.u.mstances, whether under the Nabob of Oude, or under the English, or under the double influence of both: "That the security of his person and possessions from the Company's protection may be rated equal to many lacs of rupees, _which, though saved to him, are no loss to the government on which he depends, being all articles of invisible expense_: in fees to the ministers and officers of the Nabob; in the charges of a double establishment of vackeels to both governments; in presents and charges of accommodation to the Nabob, during his residence at any place within the boundaries of his zemindary; in _the frauds, embezzlements, and oppressions exercised in the mint and cutwally_; besides the allowed profits of those officers, and the advantages which every man _in occasional power, or in the credit of it, might make of the Rajah's known weakness_, and the dread he stood in both of the displeasure of the Nabob _and the ill-will of individuals among the English, who were all considered, either in their present stations or connections, or the right of succession, as members of the state of Bengal_. It would be scarce possible to enumerate all the inconveniences to which the Rajah was liable _in his former situation_, or to estimate the precise effect which they produced on his revenue and on the gross amount of his expense; but it may be easily conceived that both were enormous, and of a nature the most likely to lessen the profits of government, instead of adding to them." And in justification of his proposal of giving the Rajah the symbols of sovereignty in the power of life and death, and in the coining of money, as pledges of his _independence_, he states the deplorable situation of princes reduced to dependence on the Vizier or the Company, and obliged to entertain an English Resident at their court, in the following words: "It is proposed to receive the payment of his [the Rajah's] rents at Patna, because that is the nearest provincial station, and because it would not frustrate _the intention of rendering the Rajah independent_. If a Resident was appointed to receive the money, as it became due, at Benares, _such a Resident_ would unavoidably acquire an influence over the Rajah, and over his country, _which would in effect render him the master of both_.

This consequence might not perhaps be brought completely to pa.s.s without _a struggle and many appeals to the Council_, which, in a government const.i.tuted like this, _cannot fail to terminate against the Rajah, and, by the construction to which his opposition to the agent would be liable, might eventually draw on him severe restrictions, and end in reducing him to the mean and depraved state of a mere zemindar_."

X. That, in order to satisfy the said Rajah of the intentions of the Company towards him, and of the true sense and construction of the grants to him, the said Rajah, to be made, the Governor-General (he, the said Warren Hastings) and Council did, on the 24th August, 1775, instruct Mr. Fowke, the Resident at the Rajah's court, in the following words: "It is proper to a.s.sure the Rajah, we do not mean to increase his tribute, but to require from him an exact sum; that, under the sovereignty of the Company, we are determined to leave him the free and uncontrolled management of the internal government of his country, and the collection and regulation of the revenues, so long as he adheres to the terms of his engagement; and will _never_ demand _any_ augmentation of the annual tribute which may be fixed."

XI. That the said Warren Hastings and the Council-General, not being satisfied with having instructed the Resident to make the representation aforesaid, to remove all suspicion that by the new grants any attempt should insidiously be made to change his former tenure, did resolve that a letter should be written by the Governor-General himself to the Rajah of Benares, to be delivered to Mr. Fowke, the Resident, together with his credentials; in which letter they declare "the board willing to continue the grant of the zemindary to him _in as full and ample a manner as he possessed it from former sovereigns_; and on his paying the annual tribute," &c;--and in explaining the reasons for granting to him the mint and criminal justice, they inform him that this is done in order "that he may possess an _uncontrolled and free authority_ in the regulation and government of his zemindary."

XII. That on the 26th February, 1776, the Board and Council did order that the proper instruments should be prepared for conveying to the Rajah aforesaid the government and criminal justice and mint of Benares, with its dependencies, "in the usual form, _expressing the conditions already resolved on in the several proceedings of the board_." And on the same day a letter was written to the Resident at Benares, signifying that they had ordered the proper instruments to be prepared, specifying the terms concerning the remittance of the Rajah's tribute to Calcutta, as well as "_the several other conditions which had been already agreed to_,--and that they should forward it to him, to be delivered to the Rajah." And on the 20th of March following, the board did again explain the terms of the said tribute, in a letter to the Court of Directors, and did add, "that a _sunnud_ [grant or patent] for his [Cheyt Sing's]

zemindary should be furnished him _on these and the conditions before agreed on_."

XIII. That during the course of the transactions aforesaid in Council, and the various a.s.surances given to the Rajah and the Court of Directors, certain improper and fraudulent practices were used with regard to the symbols of invest.i.ture which ought to have been given, and the form of the deeds by which the said zemindary ought to have been granted. For it appears that the original deeds were signed by the board on the 4th September, 1775, and transmitted to Mr. Fowke, the Resident at the Rajah's court, and that on the 20th of November following the Court of Directors were acquainted by the said Warren Hastings and the Council that Rajah Cheyt Sing had been invested with the _sunnud_ (charters or patents) for his zemindary, and the _kellaut_, (or robes of invest.i.ture,) in all the proper forms; but on the 1st of October, 1775, the Rajah did complain to the Governor-General and Council, that the _kellaut_, (or robes,) with which he was to be invested according to their order, "_is not of the same kind_ as that which he received from the late Vizier on the like occasion." In consequence of the said complaint, the board did, in their letter to the Resident of the 11th of the same month, desire him "to make inquiry respecting the nature of the kellaut, and invest him with _one of the same sort_, on the part of this government, instead of that which they formerly described to him."

And it appears highly probable that the instruments which accompanied the said robes of invest.i.ture were made in a manner conformable to the orders and directions of the board, and the conditions by them agreed to; as the Rajah, who complained of the insufficiency of the robes, did make no complaint of the insufficiency of the instruments, or of any deviation in them from those he had formerly received from the Vizier.

_But a copy or duplicate of the said deeds or instruments were in some manner surrept.i.tiously disposed of, and withheld from the records of the Company, and never were transmitted to the Court of Directors._

XIV. That several months after the said settlement and invest.i.ture, namely, on the 15th of April, 1776, the Secretary informed the Court that he had prepared a _sunnud_, _cabbolut_, and _pottah_ (that is, a patent, an agreement, and a rent-roll) for Cheyt Sing's zemindary, and the board ordered the same to be executed; but the Resident, on receiving the same, did transmit the several objections made by the Rajah thereto, and particularly to a clause in the patent, made in direct contradiction to the engagements of the Council so solemnly and repeatedly given, by which clause the former patents _are declared to be null_. That, on the representation aforesaid, on the 29th July, the Secretary was ordered to prepare new and proper instruments, _omitting the clause declaring the former patents to be null_, and the said new patents were delivered to the Rajah; and the others, which he objected to, as well as those which had been delivered to him originally, were returned to the Presidency. But neither the first set of deeds, nor the fraudulent patent aforesaid, nor the new instruments made out on the complaint of the Rajah, omitting the exceptionable words, have been inserted in the records, although it was the particular duty of the said Warren Hastings that all transactions with the country powers should be faithfully entered, as well as to take care that all instruments transmitted to them on the faith of the Company should be honestly, candidly, and fairly executed, according to the true intent and meaning of the engagements entered into on the part of the Company,--giving by the said complicated, artificial, and fraudulent management, as well as by his said omitting to record the said material doc.u.ment, strong reason to presume that he did even then meditate to make some evil use of the deeds which he thus withheld from the Company, and which he did afterwards in reality make, when he found means and opportunity to effect his evil purpose.

PART II.

DESIGNS OF MR. HASTINGS TO RUIN THE RAJAH OF BENARES.

I. That the tribute transferred to the Company by the treaty with the Nabob of Oude, being 250,000_l._ a year sterling, and upwards, without any deductions whatsoever, was paid monthly, with such punctual exactness as had no parallel in the Company's dealings with any of the native princes or with any subject zemindar, being the only one who never was in arrears; and according to all appearance, a perfect harmony did prevail between the Supreme Council at Calcutta and the Rajah. But though the Rajah of Benares furnished no occasion of displeasure to the board, yet it since appears that the said Warren Hastings did, at some time in the year 1777, conceive displeasure against him. In that year, he, the said Warren Hastings, retracted his own act of resignation of his office, made to the Court of Directors through his agent, Mr. Macleane, and, calling in the aid of the military to support him in his authority, brought the divisions of the government, according to his own expression, "to an extremity bordering on civil violence." This extremity he attributes, in a narrative by him transmitted to the Court of Directors, and printed, not to his own fraud and prevarication, but to what he calls "an attempt to wrest from him his authority"; and in the said narrative he pretends that the Rajah of Benares had deputed an agent with an express commission to his opponent, Sir John Clavering. This fact, if it had been true, (which is not proved,) was in no sort criminal or offensive to the Company's government, but was at first sight nothing more than a proper mark of duty and respect to the supposed succession of office. Nor is it possible to conceive in what manner it could offend the said Hastings, if he did not imagine that the express commission to which in the said narrative he refers might relate to the discovery to Sir John Clavering of some practice which he might wish to conceal,--the said Clavering, whom he styles "_his opponent_," having been engaged, in obedience to the Company's express orders, in the discovery of sundry peculations and other evil practices charged upon the said Hastings. But although, at the time of the said pretended deputation, he dissembled his resentment, it appears to have rankled in his mind, and that he never forgave it, of whatever nature it might have been (the same never having been by him explained); and some years after, he recorded it in his justification of his oppressive conduct towards the Rajah, urging the same with great virulence and asperity, as a proof or presumption of his, the said Rajah's, disaffection to the Company's government; and by his subsequent acts, he seems from the first to have resolved, when opportunity should occur, on a severe revenge.

II. That, having obtained, in his casting vote, a majority in Council on the death of Sir John Clavering and Mr. Monson, he did suddenly, and without any previous general communication with the members of the board, by a Minute of Consultation of the 9th of July, 1778, make an extraordinary demand, namely: "That the Rajah of Benares should _consent_ to the establishment of three regular battalions of sepoys, _to be raised and maintained at his own expense_"; and the said expense was estimated at between fifty and sixty thousand pounds sterling.

III. That the said requisition did suppose the _consent_ of the Rajah,--the very word being inserted in the body of his, the said Warren Hastings's, minute; and the same was agreed to, though with some doubts on the parts of two of his colleagues, Mr. Francis and Mr. Wheler, concerning the right of making the same, even worded as it was. But Mr.

Francis and Mr. Wheler, soon after, finding that the Rajah was much alarmed by this departure from the treaty, the requisition aforesaid was strenuously opposed by them. The said Hastings did, notwithstanding this opposition, persevere, and by his casting vote alone did carry the said unjust and oppressive demand. The Rajah submitted, after some murmuring and remonstrance, to pay the sum required,--but on the express condition (as has been frequently a.s.serted by him to the said Warren Hastings without any contradiction) that the exaction should continue _but for one year, and should not be drawn into precedent_. He also requested that the extraordinary demand should be paid along with the instalments of his monthly tribute: but although the said Warren Hastings did not so much as pretend that the instant payment was at all necessary, and though he was urged by his before-mentioned colleagues to moderate his proceedings, he did insist upon immediate payment of the whole; and did deliver his demand in proud and insulting language, wholly unfit for a governor of a civilized nation to use towards eminent persons in alliance with and in honorable and free dependence upon its government; and did support the same with arguments full of unwarrantable pa.s.sion, and with references to reports affecting merely his own personal power and consideration, which reports were not proved, nor attempted to be proved, and, if proved, furnishing reasons insufficient for his purpose, and indecent in any public proceedings.

That the said Hastings did cause the said sums of money to be rigorously exacted, although no such regular battalions as he pretended to establish, as a color for his demand on the Rajah, were then raised, or any steps taken towards raising them; and when the said Rajah pleaded his inability to pay the whole sum at once, he, the said Hastings, persevering in his said outrageous and violent demeanor, did order the Resident to wait on the Rajah forthwith, and "demand of him in person, and by writing, the full payment in specie to be made to him within five days of such demand, and to declare to him, in the name of this government, that his evading or neglecting to accomplish the payment thereof within that s.p.a.ce of time should be deemed _equivalent to an absolute refusal_; and in case of non-compliance with this [the Resident's] demand, _we peremptorily enjoin you to refrain from all further intercourse with him_": the said Hastings appearing by all his proceedings to be more disposed to bring on a quarrel with the Prince of Benares, than to provide money for any public service.

IV. That the said demand was complied with, and the whole thereof paid on the 10th of October that year. And the said Rajah did write to the said Hastings a letter, in order to mitigate and mollify him, declaring to the said Hastings that his sole reliance was on him, "and that in every instance he depended on his faith, religion, promises, and actions." But he, the said Warren Hastings, as if the being reminded of his faith and promises were an incentive to him to violate the same, although he had agreed that his demand should not be drawn into precedent, and the payment of the fifty thousand pounds aforesaid should continue only for one year, did, the very day after he had received the letter aforesaid, renew a demand of the same nature and on the same pretence, this year even less plausible than the former, of three battalions _to be_ raised. The said Rajah, on being informed of this requisition, did remind the said Warren Hastings that he engaged in the last year that but one payment should be made, and that he should not be called upon in future, and, pleading inability to discharge the new demand, declared himself in the following words to the said Warren Hastings: "I am therefore hopeful you will be kindly pleased to excuse me the five lacs now demanded, and that nothing may be demanded of me beyond the amount expressed in the pottah."

V. That on the day after the receipt of this letter, that is, on the 28th August, 1779, he, the said Warren Hastings, made a reply to the said letter; and without any remark whatsoever on the allegation of the Rajah, stating to him his engagement, that he, the said Rajah, should not be called upon in future, he says, "I now repeat my demand, that you do, on the receipt of this, without evasion or delay, pay the five lac of rupees into the hands of Mr. Thomas Graham, who has orders to receive it from you, and, in case of your refusal, to summon the two battalions of sepoys under the command of Major Camac to Benares, that measures may be taken to oblige you to a compliance; and in this case, the whole expense of the corps, from the time of its march, will fall on you."

VI. That the said Rajah did a second and third time represent to the said Warren Hastings that he had broke his promise, and the said Hastings did in no manner deny the same, but did, in contempt thereof, as well as of the original treaty between the Company and the Rajah, order two battalions of troops to march into his territories, and in a manner the most harsh, insulting, and despotic, as if to provoke that prince to some act of resistance, did compel him to the payment of the said second unjust demand; and did extort also the sum of two thousand pounds, on pretence of the charge of the troops employed to coerce him.

VII. That the third year, that is to say, in the year 1780, the same demand was, with the same menaces, renewed, and did, as before, produce several humble remonstrances and submissive complaints, which the said Hastings did always treat as crimes and offences of the highest order; and although in the regular subsidy or tribute, which was monthly payable by treaty, fifty days of grace were allowed on each payment, and after the expiration of the said fifty days one quarter par cent only was provided as a penalty, he, the said Warren Hastings, on some short delay of payment of his third arbitrary and illegal demand, did presume of his own authority to impose a fine or mulct of ten thousand pounds on the said Rajah; and though it does not appear whether or no the same was actually levied, the said threat was soon after followed by an order from the said Hastings for the march of troops into the country of Benares, as in the preceding year.

VIII. That, these violent and insulting measures failing to provoke the Rajah, and he having paid up the whole demand, the said Warren Hastings, being resolved to drive him to extremities, did make on the said Rajah a sudden demand, over and above the ordinary tribute or subsidy of 260,000_l._ per annum, and over and above the 50,000_l._ extraordinary, to provide a body of cavalry for the service of the Bengal government.

IX. The demand, as expressed in the Minute of Consultation, and in the public instructions of the board to the Resident to make the requisition, is "for such part of the cavalry entertained in his service as he can spare"; and the demand is in this and in no other manner described by the Governor-General and Council in their letter to the Court of Directors. But in a Narrative of the said Warren Hastings's, addressed to Edward Wheler, Esquire, it appears, that, upon the Rajah's making difficulties, according to the representation of the said Hastings, relative to the said requisition, the correspondence concerning which the said Hastings hath fraudulently suppressed, he, the said Hastings, instead of adhering to the requisition of such cavalry _as the Rajah could spare_, and which was all that by the order of Council he was authorized to make, did, of his own private and arbitrary authority, in some letter which he hath suppressed, instruct the Resident, Markham, to make a peremptory demand for two thousand cavalry, which he well knew to be more than the Rajah's finances could support, estimating the provision for the same at 96,000_l._ a year at the lowest, though the expense of the same would probably have been much more: which extravagant demand the said Hastings could only have made in hopes of provoking the Rajah to some imprudent measure or pa.s.sionate remonstrance. And this arbitrary demand of cavalry was made, and peremptorily insisted on, although in the original treaty with the said Rajah it was left entirely optional whether or not he should keep up any cavalry at all, and in the Minute of Consultation it was expressly mentioned to be thus optional, and that for whatsoever cavalry he, the said Rajah, should furnish, he should be paid fifteen rupees per month for each private, and so in proportion for officers: yet the demand aforesaid was made without any offer whatsoever of providing the said payment according to treaty.

X. That the said Hastings did soon after, but upon what grounds does not appear by any Minute of Council, or from any correspondence contained in his Narrative, reduce the demand to fifteen hundred, and afterwards to one thousand: by which he showed himself to be sensible of the extravagance of his first requisition.

XI. That, in consequence of these requisitions, as he a.s.serts in his Narrative aforesaid, the Rajah "did offer two hundred and fifty horse, but sent none." But the said Hastings doth not accompany his said Narrative with any voucher or doc.u.ment whatever; and therefore the account given by the Rajah, and delivered to the said Warren Hastings himself, inserted by the said Warren Hastings himself in his Narrative, and in no part thereof attempted to be impeached, is more worthy of credit: that is to say,--

"With respect to the horse, you desired me in your letter to inform you of what number I could afford to station with you. I sent you a particular account of all that were in my service, amounting to one thousand three hundred horse, of which several were stationed at distant places; but I received no answer to this. Mr. Markham delivered me an order to prepare a thousand horse. In compliance with your wishes I collected five hundred horse, and a subst.i.tute for the remainder, five hundred _burkunda.s.ses_ [matchlock-men], of which I sent you information; and I told Mr. Markham that they were ready to go to whatever place they should be sent. No answer, however, came from you on this head, and I remained astonished at the cause of it. Repeatedly I asked Mr. Markham about an answer to my letter about the horse; but he told me that he did not know the reason of no answer having been sent. I remained astonished."

XII. That the said Hastings is guilty of an high offence in not giving an answer to letters of such importance, and in concealing the said letters from the Court of Directors, as well as much of his correspondence with the Residents,--and more particularly in not directing to what place the cavalry and matchlock-men aforesaid should be sent, when the Rajah had declared they were ready to go to whatever service should be destined for them, and afterwards in maliciously accusing the Rajah for not having sent the same.

XIII. That, on the 3d of February, 1781, a new demand for the support of the three fict.i.tious battalions of sepoys aforesaid was made by the said Warren Hastings; but whilst the Rajah was paying by instalments the said arbitrary demand, the said Rajah was alarmed with some intelligence of secret projects on foot for his ruin, and, being well apprised of the malicious and revengeful temper of the said Hastings, in order to pacify him, if possible, offered to redeem himself by a large ransom, to the amount of two hundred thousand pounds sterling, to be paid for the use of the Company. And it appears that the said alarm was far from groundless; for Major Palmer, one of the secret and confidential agents of the said Hastings, hath sworn, on the 4th of December, 1781, at the desire of the said Warren Hastings, before Sir Elijah Impey, to the following effect, that is to say: "That the said Warren Hastings had told him, the said Palmer, that he, the said Hastings, had rejected the offer of two hundred thousand pounds made by the Rajah of Benares for the public service, and that he was resolved _to convert the faults committed by the Rajah into a public benefit_, and would exact the sum of five hundred thousand pounds, as a punishment for his breach of engagements with the government of Bengal, and acts of misconduct in his zemindary; and if the Rajah should absolutely refuse the demand, that he would deprive him of his zemindary, or transfer the sovereignty thereof to the Nabob of Oude."

XIV. And Mr. Anderson, in his declaration from Sindia's camp, of the 4th of January, 1782, did also, at the desire of Mr. Hastings, depose (though not on oath) concerning a conversation between him and the said Hastings (but mentioning neither the time nor place where the same was held); in which conversation, after reciting the allegations of the said Hastings relative to several particulars of the delay and backwardness of the Rajah in paying the aforesaid extra demand, and his resolution to exact from the Rajah "a considerable sum of money to the relief of the Company's exigencies," he proceeds in the following words: "That, if he [the Rajah] consented, you [the said Warren Hastings] were desirous of _establishing his possessions on the most permanent and eligible footing_; but if he refused, you had it in your power to _raise a large sum_ for the Company by accepting an offer which had been made for his districts by the Vizier." And the said Anderson, in the declaration aforesaid, made at the request of the said Hastings, and addressed to him, expressed himself as follows: "That you told me you had communicated our designs to Mr. Wheler [his only remaining colleague]; and I believe, but I do not positively recollect, you said he concurred in them." But no trace of any such communication or concurrence did, at the time referred to, or at any time ever after, appear on the Consultations, as it ought to have done; and the said Hastings is criminal for having omitted to enter and record the proceeding. That the said Wheler did also declare, but a considerable time after the date of the conversations aforesaid, that, "on the eve of the Governor-General's departure, the said Hastings had told him that the Rajah's offences (not stating what offences, he having paid up all the demands, ordinary and extraordinary) _were declared_ to require early punishment; and as _his wealth was great, and the Company's exigencies pressing_, it was thought a measure of policy and of justice to exact from him a large pecuniary mulct for their relief. The sum to which the Governor declared his resolution to extend the fine was forty _or_ fifty lacs; his ability to pay it was stated as a fact that could not admit of a doubt; and the two alternatives on which the Governor declared himself to have resolved were, to the best of my recollection, either a removal from his zemindary entirely, or, by taking immediate possession of all his forts, to obtain out of the treasure deposited in them the above sum for the Company."

XV. That in the declaration of the said Wheler the time of the conversation aforesaid is stated to be on the eve of the Governor's departure, and then said to be confidential; nor is it said or insinuated that he knew or ever heard thereof at a more early period, though it appears by Major Palmer's affidavit that the design of taking, not four _or_ five, but absolutely five, hundred thousand pounds from the Rajah, was communicated to him as early as the month of June. And it does not appear by the declarations of the said Wheler he did ever casually or officially approve of the measure; which long concealment and late communication, time not being allowed to his colleague to consider the nature and consequences of such a project, or to advise any precaution concerning the same, is a high misdemeanor.

XVI. That the said Hastings, having formed a resolution to execute one of the three violent and arbitrary resolutions aforesaid,--namely, to sell the Company's sovereignty over Benares to the Nabob of Oude, or to dispossess the Rajah of his territories, or to seize upon his forts, and to plunder them of the treasure therein contained, to the amount of four or five hundred thousand pounds,--did reject the offer of two hundred thousand pounds, tendered by the said Rajah for his redemption from the injuries which he had discovered that the said Hastings had clandestinely meditated against him, although the sum aforesaid would have been a considerable and seasonable acquisition at that time: the said Hastings being determined, at a critical period, to risk the existence of the British empire, rather than fail in the gratification of his revenge against the said Rajah.

XVII. That the first of his three inst.i.tuted projects, namely, the depriving the Rajah of his territories, was by himself considered as a measure likely to be productive of much odium to the British government: he having declared, whatever opinions he might entertain of its justice, "that it would have an appearance of _severity_, and might furnish grounds _unfavorable to the credit of our government, and to his own reputation_, from the natural influence which every _act of rigor_, exercised in the persons of men in _elevated situations_, is apt to impress on those who are too remote from the scene of action to judge, by any evidence of the facts themselves, of their motives or propriety."

And the second attempt, the sum of money which he aimed at by attacking the fortresses of the Rajah, and plundering them of the treasure supposed to be there secured, besides the obvious uncertainty of acquiring what was thus sought, would be liable to the same imputations with the former. And with regard to the third project, namely, the sale of the Company's sovereignty to the Nabob of Oude, and his having actually received proposals for the same, it was an high offence to the Company, as presuming, without their authority or consent, to put up to sale their sovereign rights, and particularly to put them up to sale to that very person against whom the independence of the said province had been declared by the Governor-General and Council to be necessary, as a barrier for the security of the other provinces, in case of a future rupture with him.[59] It was an heinous injury to the said Rajah to attempt to change his relation without his consent, especially on account of the person to whom he was to be made over for money, by reason of the known enmity subsisting between his family and that of the Nabob, who was to be the purchaser; and it was a grievous outrage on the innocent inhabitants of the zemindary of Benares to propose putting them under a person long before described by himself to the Court of Directors "to want the qualities of the head and heart requisite for his station"; and a letter from the British Resident at Oude, transmitted to the said Court, represents him "to have wholly lost, by his _oppressions_, the confidence and affections of his own subjects"; and whose distresses, and the known disorders in his government, he, the said Hastings, did attribute solely to his own bad conduct and evil character; admitting also, in a letter written to Edward Wheler, Esquire, and transmitted to the Court of Directors, "that many circ.u.mstances did favor suspicion of his [the said Nabob's] fidelity to the English interest, the Nabob being surrounded by men base in their characters and improvident in their understandings, his favorites, and his companions of his looser hours. These had every cause to dread the effect of my influence on theirs; and both these, and the relations of the family, whose views of consequence and power were intercepted by our partic.i.p.ation in the administration of his affairs, entertained a mortal hatred to our nation, and openly avowed it." And the said Hastings was well aware, that, in case the Nabob, by him described in the manner aforesaid, on making such purchase, should continue to observe the terms of his father's original covenants and engagements with the Rajah, and should pay the Company the only tribute which he could lawfully exact from the said Rajah, it was impossible that he could, for the mere naked and unprofitable rights of a sovereignty paramount, afford to offer so great a sum as the Rajah did offer to the said Hastings for his redemption from oppression; such an acquisition to the Nabob (while he kept his faith) could not possibly be of any advantage whatever to him; and that therefore, if a great sum was to be paid by the Nabob of Oude, it must be for the purpose of oppression and violation of public faith, to be perpetrated in the person of the said Nabob, to an extent and in a manner which the said Hastings was then apprehensive he could not justify to the Court of Directors as his own personal act.

PART III.

EXPULSION OF THE RAJAH OF BENARES.

I. That the said Warren Hastings, being resolved on the ruin of the Rajah aforesaid, as a preliminary step thereto, did, against the express orders of the Court of Directors, remove Francis Fowke, Esquire, the Company's Resident at the city of Benares, without any complaint or pretence of complaint whatsoever, but merely on his own declaration that he must have as a Resident at Benares a person of his own special and personal nomination and confidence, and not a man of the Company's nomination,--and in the place of the said Francis Fowke, thus illegally divested of his office, did appoint thereto another servant of the Company of his own choice.

II. That, soon after he had removed the Company's Resident, he prepared for a journey to the upper provinces, and particularly to Benares, in order to execute the wicked and perfidious designs by him before meditated and contrived: and although he did communicate his purpose privately to such persons as he thought fit to intrust therewith, he did not enter anything on the Consultations to that purpose, or record the principles, real or pretended, on which he had resolved to act, nor did he state any guilt in the Rajah which he intended to punish, or charge him, the said Rajah, with entertaining any hostile intentions, the effects of which were to be prevented by any strong measure; but, on the contrary, he did industriously conceal his real designs from the Court of Directors, and did fallaciously enter on the Consultations a minute declaratory of purposes wholly different therefrom, and which supposed nothing more than an amicable adjustment, founded on the treaties between the Company and the Rajah, investing himself by his said minute with "full power and authority to form _such_ arrangements _with_ the Rajah of Benares for the _better_ government and management of his zemindary, and to perform such acts for the improvement of the interest which the Company possesses in it, as he shall think _fit and consonant to the mutual engagements subsisting between the Company and the Rajah_"; and for this and other purposes he did invest himself with the whole power of the Council, giving to himself an authority as if his acts had been the acts of the Council itself: which, though a power of a dangerous, unwarrantable, and illegal extent, yet does plainly imply the following limits, namely, that the acts done should be _arranged with_ the Rajah, that is, _with his consent_; and, secondly, that they should be consonant to the actual engagements between the parties; and nothing appears in the minute conferring the said power, which did express or imply any authority for depriving the Rajah of his government, or selling the sovereignty thereof to his hereditary enemy, or for the plunder of his fort-treasures.