The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke Volume IX Part 10

1st. That the said Hastings doth acknowledge therein, that he did, in a public instrument, solemnly recognize, "_as a breach of treaty_," and as such did subject to the consequent penalties, an act which he, the said Hastings, did at the same time think, and did immediately declare, to be "_no breach of treaty_"; and by so falsely and unjustly proceeding against a person under the Company's guaranty, the said Hastings, on his own confession, did himself break the faith of the said guaranty.

2d. That, in justifying this breach of the Company's faith, the said Hastings doth _wholly abandon his second peremptory demand for the three thousand horse_, and the protest consequent thereon; and the said Hastings doth thereby himself condemn the violence and injustice of the same.

3dly. That, in recurring to the original demand of five thousand horse as the ground of his justification, the said Hastings doth falsely a.s.sert "the engagement in the treaty to be _literally_ FIVE _thousand horse and foot_," whereas it is in fact for TWO _or_ THREE _thousand men_; and the said Hastings doth thereby wilfully attempt to deceive and mislead his employers, which is an high crime and misdemeanor in a servant of so great trust.

4thly. That, with a view to his further justification, the said Hastings doth advance a principle that "_a scrupulous attention to the literal expression_" of a guarantied treaty "_leaves_" to the person so observing the same "_but little claim to the exertions_" _of a guaranty on his behalf_; that such a principle is utterly subversive of all faith of guaranties, and is therefore highly criminal in the first executive member of a government that must necessarily stand in that mutual relation to many.

5thly. That the said Hastings doth profess his opinion of an article to which he gave an "_instant and unqualified a.s.sent_," that it was a measure "_by which neither the Vizier's nor the Company's interests would be promoted_," but from which, without some interposition, "_ill effects_" _must be expected_; and that the said Hastings doth thereby charge himself with a high breach of trust towards his employers.

6thly. That the said Hastings having thus confessed that consciously and wilfully (from what motives he hath not chosen to confess) he did give his formal sanction to a measure both of injustice and impolicy, he, the said Hastings, doth urge in his defence, that he did at the same time insert words "reserving the execution of the said agreement to an indefinite term," with an intent that it might in truth be never executed at all,--but that "our government might always interpose,"

without right, by means of an indirect and undue influence, to prevent the ill effects following from a collusive surrender of a clear and authorized right to interpose; and the said Hastings doth thereby declare himself to have introduced a principle of duplicity, deceit, and double-dealing into a public engagement, which ought in its essence to be clear, open, and explicit; that such a declaration tends to shake and overthrow the confidence of all in the most solemn instruments of any person so declaring, and is therefore an high crime and misdemeanor in the first executive member of government, by whom all treaties and other engagements of the state are princ.i.p.ally to be conducted.

V. That, by the explanatory minute aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings doth further, in the most direct manner, contradict his own a.s.sertions in the very letter which inclosed the said minute to his colleagues; for that one of the articles to which he there gave "_an instant and unqualified a.s.sent, as no less to our interest than to the Vizier's_" he doth here declare unequivocally to be _neither to our interests nor the Vizier's_; and the "_unqualified_ a.s.sent" given to the said article is now so _qualified_ as wholly to defeat itself. That by such irreconcilable contradictions the said Hastings doth incur the suspicion of much criminal misrepresentation in other like cases of unwitnessed conferences; and in the present instance (as far as it extends) the said Hastings doth prove himself to have given an account both of his actions and motives by his own confession untrue, for the purpose of deceiving his employers, which is an high crime and misdemeanor in a servant of so great trust.

VI. That the said third article of the treaty of Chunar, as it thus stands explained by the said Hastings himself, doth on the whole appear designed to hold the protection of the Company in suspense; that it acknowledges all right of interference to cease, but leaves it to our discretion to determine when it will suit our conveniency to give the Vizier the liberty of acting on the principles by us already admitted; that it is dexterously constructed to balance the desires of one man, rapacious and profuse, against the fears of another, described as "of extreme pusillanimity and wealthy," but that, whatever may have been the secret objects of the artifice and intrigue confessed to form its very essence, it must on the very face of it necessarily implicate the Company in a breach of faith, whichever might be the event, as they must equally break their faith either by withdrawing their guaranty unjustly or by continuing that guaranty in contradiction to this treaty of Chunar; that it thus tends to hold out to India, and to the whole world, that the public principle of the English government is a deliberate system of injustice joined with falsehood, of impolicy, of bad faith, and treachery; and that the said article is therefore in the highest degree derogatory to the honor, and injurious to the interests of this nation.

PART VII.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE TREATY OF CHUNAR.

I. That, in consequence of the treaty of Chunar, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, did send official instructions respecting the various articles of the said treaty to the said Resident, Middleton; and that, in a postscript, the said Hastings did forbid the resumption of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's jaghire, "until circ.u.mstances may render it more expedient and easy to be attempted than the present more material pursuits of government make it appear": thereby intimating a positive limitation of the indefinite term in the explanatory minute above recited, and confining the suspension of the article to the pressure of the war.

II. That, soon after the date of the said instructions, and within two months of the signature of the treaty of Chunar, the said Hastings did cause Sir Elijah Impey, Knight, his Majesty's chief-justice at Fort William, to discredit the justice of the crown of Great Britain by making him the channel of unwarrantable communication, and did, through the said Sir Elijah, signify to the Resident, Middleton, his, the said Hastings's, "approbation of a _subsidy_ from Fyzoola Khan."

III. That the Resident, in answer, represents the proper equivalent for two thousand horse and one thousand foot (the forces offered to Mr.

Johnson by Fyzoola Khan) to be twelve lacs, or 120,000_l._ sterling and upwards, each year; which the said Resident supposes is considerably beyond what he, Fyzoola Khan, _will voluntarily pay_: "however, if it is your wish that the claim should be made, I am ready to take it up, and _you may he a.s.sured nothing in my power shall be left undone to carry it through_."

IV. That the reply of the said Hastings doth not appear; but that it does appear on record that "a negotiation" (Mr. Johnson's) "was begun for Fyzoola Khan's cavalry to act with General G.o.ddard, and, on his [Fyzoola Khan's] _evading_ it, _that a sum of money was demanded_."

V. That, in the months of February, March, and April, the Resident, Middleton, did repeatedly propose the resumption of Fyzoola Khan's jaghire, agreeably to the treaty of Chunar; and that, driven to extremity (as the said Hastings supposes) "by the public menaces and denunciations of the Resident and minister," Hyder Beg Khan, a creature of the said Hastings, and both the minister and Resident acting professedly on and under the treaty of Chunar, "the Nabob Fyzoola Khan made such preparations, and such a disposition of his family and wealth, as evidently manifested either an intended or an _expected rupture_."

VI. That on the 6th of May the said Hastings did send his confidential agent and friend, Major Palmer, on a private commission to Lucknow; and that the said Palmer was charged with secret instructions relative to Fyzoola Khan, but of what import cannot be ascertained, the said Hastings in his public instructions having inserted only the name of Fyzoola Khan, as a mere reference (according to the explanation of the said Hastings) to what he had verbally communicated to the said Palmer; and that the said Hastings was thereby guilty of a criminal concealment.

VII. That some time about the month of August an engagement happened between a body of Fyzoola Khan's cavalry and a part of the Vizier's army, in which the latter were beaten, and their guns taken; that the Resident, Middleton, did represent the same but as a slight and accidental affray; that it was acknowledged the troops of the Vizier were the aggressors; that it did appear to the board, and to the said Hastings himself, an affair of more considerable magnitude; and that they did make the concealment thereof an article of charge against the Resident, Middleton, though the said Resident did in truth acquaint them with the same, but in a cursory manner.

VIII. That, immediately after the said "fray" at Daranagur, the Vizier (who was "but a cipher in the hands" of the minister and the Resident, both of them directly appointed and supported by the said Hastings) did make of Fyzoola Khan a new demand, equally contrary to the true intent and meaning of the treaty as his former requisitions: which new demand was for the detachment in garrison at Daranagur to be cantoned as a stationary force at Lucknow, the capital of the Vizier; whereas he, the Vizier, had only a right to demand an occasional aid to join his army in the field or in garrison during a war. But the said new demand being _evaded_, or rather refused, agreeably to the fair construction of the treaty, by the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, the matter was for the present dropped.

IX. That in the letter in which the Resident, Middleton, did mention "what he calls the fray" aforesaid, the said Middleton did again apply for the resumption of the jaghire of Rampoor; and that, the objections against the measure being now removed, (by the separate peace with Sindia,) he desired to know if the board "would give a.s.surances of their support to the Vizier, in case, _which_" (says the Resident) "_I think very probable, his_ [the Vizier's] _own strength should be found unequal to the undertaking_."

X. That, although the said Warren Hastings did make the foregoing application a new charge against the Resident, Middleton, yet the said Hastings did only criminate the said Middleton for a proposal tending "at such a crisis to increase the number of our enemies," and did in no degree, either in his articles of charge or in his accompanying minutes, express any disapprobation whatever of the principle; that, in truth, the whole proceedings of the said Resident were the natural result of the treaty of Chunar; that the said proceedings were from time to time communicated to the said Hastings; that, as he nowhere charges any disobedience of orders on Mr. Middleton with respect to Fyzoola Khan, it may be justly inferred that the said Hastings did not interfere to check the proceedings of the said Middleton on that subject; and that by such criminal neglect the said Hastings did make the guilt of the said Middleton, whatever it might be, his own.

PART VIII.

PECUNIARY COMMUTATION OF THE STIPULATED AID.

I. That on the charges and for the misdemeanors above specified, together with divers other accusations, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, in September, 1782, did remove the aforesaid Middleton from his office of Resident at Oude, and did appoint thereto John Bristow, Esquire, whom he had twice before, without cause, recalled from the same; and that about the same time the said Hastings did believe the mind of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan to be so irritated, in consequence of the above-recited conduct of the late Resident, Middleton, and of his, the said Hastings's, own criminal neglect, that he, the said Hastings, found it necessary to write to Fyzoola Khan, a.s.suring him "of the favorable disposition of the government toward him, while he shall not have forfeited it by any improper conduct"; but that the said a.s.surances of the Governor-General did not tend, as soon after appeared, to raise much confidence in the Nabob, over whom a public instrument of the same Hastings was still holding the terrors of a deprivation of his jaghire, and an exile "among his other faithless brethren across the Ganges."

II. That, on the subject of Fyzoola Khan, the said Hastings, in his instructions to the new Resident, Bristow, did leave him to be guided by his own discretion; but he adds, "Be careful to prevent the Vizier's affairs from being involved with new difficulties, while he has already so many to oppress him": thereby plainly hinting at some more decisive measures, whenever the Vizier should be less oppressed with difficulties.

III. That the Resident, Bristow, after acquainting the Governor-General with his intentions, did under the said instructions renew the aforesaid claim for a sum of money, but with much caution and circ.u.mspection, distantly sounding Allif Khan, the _vakeel_ (or envoy) of Fyzoola Khan at the court of the Vizier; that "Allif Khan wrote to his master on the subject, and in answer he was directed not to agree to the granting of any pecuniary aid."

IV. That the Resident, Bristow, did then openly depute Major Palmer aforesaid, with the concurrence of the Vizier, and the approbation of the Governor-General, to the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, at Rampoor; and that the said Palmer was to "endeavor to convince the Nabob that _all doubts of his attachment to the Vizier are ceased, and whatever claims may be made on him are founded upon the basis of his interest and advantage and a plan of establishing his right to the possession of his jaghire_."

That the sudden ceasing of the said doubts, without any inquiry of the slightest kind, doth warrant a strong presumption of the Resident's conviction that they never really existed, but were artfully feigned, as a pretence for some harsh interposition; and that the indecent mockery of establishing, as a matter of favor, for a pecuniary consideration, rights which were never impeached but by the treaty of Chunar, (an instrument recorded by Warren Hastings himself to be founded on falsehood and injustice,) doth powerfully prove the true purpose and object of all the duplicity, deceit, and double-dealing with which that treaty was projected and executed.

V. That the said Palmer was instructed by the Resident, Bristow, with the subsequent approbation of the Governor-General, "to obtain from Fyzoola Khan _an annual tribute_"; to which the Resident adds,--"_If you can procure from him, over and above this, a peshcush_ [or fine] _of at least five lacs_, it would be rendering an essential service to the Vizier, and add to _the confidence his Excellency would hereafter repose in the attachment of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan_." And that the said Governor-General, Hastings, did give the following extraordinary ground of calculation, as the basis of the said Palmer's negotiation for the annual tribute aforesaid.

"_It was certainly understood_, at the time the treaty was concluded, (of which this stipulation was a part,) that it applied _solely to cavalry_: as the Nabob Vizier, possessing the service of our forces, could not possibly require infantry, and least of all such infantry as Fyzoola Khan could furnish; and _a single horseman included in the aid which Fyzoola Khan might furnish would prove a literal compliance with the said stipulation_. The number, therefore, of horse implied by it ought at least to be ascertained: _we will suppose five thousand_, and, allowing the exigency for their attendance to exist only in the proportion of _one year in five_, reduce the demand to one thousand for the computation of the subsidy, which, at the rate of _fifty rupees_ per man, will amount to fifty thousand _per mensem_. This may serve for the basis of this article in the negotiation upon it."

VI. That the said Warren Hastings doth then continue to instruct the said Palmer in the alternative of a refusal from Fyzoola Khan. "If Fyzoola Khan shall refuse to treat for a subsidy, and claim the benefit of his original agreement in its literal expression, _he possesses a right which we cannot dispute_, and it will in that case remain only to fix the precise number of horse which he shall furnish, which ought at least to exceed twenty-five hundred."

VII. That, in the above-recited instruction, the said Warren Hastings doth insinuate (for he doth not directly a.s.sert),--

1st. That we are ent.i.tled by treaty to five thousand troops, which he says were undoubtedly intended to be all cavalry.

2d. That the said Hastings doth then admit that a single horseman, included in the aid furnished by Fyzoola Khan, would prove a literal compliance.

3d. That the said Hastings doth next resort again to the supposition of our right to the whole five thousand cavalry.

4th. That the said Hastings doth afterwards think, in the event of an explanation of the treaty, and a settlement of the proportion of cavalry, instead of a pecuniary commutation, it will be all we can demand that the number should _at least exceed twenty-five hundred_.

5th. That the said Hastings doth, in calculating the supposed time of their service, a.s.sume an arbitrary estimate of one year of war to four of peace; which (however moderate the calculation may appear on the average of the said Hastings's own government) doth involve a principle in a considerable degree repugnant to the system of perfect peace inculcated in the standing orders of the Company.

6th. That, in estimating the pay of the cavalry to be commuted, the said Hastings doth fix the pay of each man at fifty rupees a month; which on five thousand troops, all cavalry, (as the said Hastings supposes the treaty of Lall-Dang to have meant,) would amount to an expense of thirty lacs a year, or between 300,000_l._ or 400,000_l._ And this expense, strictly resulting (according to the calculations of the said Hastings) from the intention of Sujah ul Dowlah's grant to Fyzoola Khan, was designed to be supported out of a jaghire valued at fifteen lacs only, or something more than 150,000_l._ of yearly revenue, just half the amount of the expense to be incurred in consideration of the said jaghire.

And that a basis of negotiation so inconsistent, so arbitrary, and so unjust is contrary to that uprightness and integrity which should mark the transactions of a great state, and is highly derogatory to the honor of this nation.

VIII. That, notwithstanding the seeming moderation and justice of the said Hastings in admitting the clear and undoubted right of Fyzoola Khan to insist on his treaty, the head of instruction immediately succeeding doth afford just reason for a violent presumption that such apparent lenity was but policy, to give a color to his conduct: he, the said Hastings, in the very next paragraph, bringing forth a new engine of oppression, as follows.

"To demand the surrender of all the ryots [or peasants] of the Nabob Vizier's dominions to whom Fyzoola has given protection and service, _or an annual tribute in compensation for the loss sustained by the Nabob Vizier in his revenue thus transferred to Fyzoola Khan_.

"You have stated the increase of his jaghire, occasioned by this act, at the moderate sum of fifteen lacs. _The tribute ought at least to be one third of that amount_.

"We conceive that Fyzoola Khan himself may be disposed to yield to the preceding demand, on the additional condition of being allowed to hold his lands in _ultumgaw_ [or an inheritable tenure] instead of his present tenure by _jaghire_ [or a tenure for life]. This we think the Vizier can have no objection to grant, and we recommend it; _but for this a fine, or peshcush, ought to be immediately paid, in the customary proportion of the jumma, estimated at thirty lacs_."

IX. That the Resident, Bristow, (to whom the letter containing Major Palmer's instructions is addressed,) nowhere attributes the increase of Fyzoola Khan's revenues to this protection of the fugitive ryots, subjects of the Vizier; that the said Warren Hastings was, therefore, not warranted to make that a pretext of such a peremptory demand. That, as an inducement to make Fyzoola Khan agree to the said demand, it is offered to settle his lands upon a tenure which would secure them to his children; but that settlement is to bring with it a new demand of a fine of thirty lacs, or 300,000_l._ and upwards; that the principles of the said demand are violent and despotic, and the inducement to acquiescence deceitful and insidious; and that both the demand and the inducement are derogatory to the honor of this nation.

X. That Major Palmer aforesaid proceeded under these instructions to Rampoor, where his journey "_to extort a sum of money_" was previously known from Allif Khan, vakeel of Fyzoola Khan at the Vizier's court; and that, notwithstanding the a.s.surances of the friendly disposition of government given by the said Hastings, (as is herein related,) the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did express the most serious and desponding apprehensions, both by letter and through his vakeel, to the Resident, Bristow, who represents them to Major Palmer in the following manner.

"The Nabob Fyzoola Khan complains of the distresses he has this year suffered from the drought. The whole collections have, with great management, amounted to about twelve lacs of rupees, from which sum he has to support his troops, his family, and several relations and dependants of the late Rohilla chiefs. _He says, it clearly appears to be intended to deprive him of his country, as the high demand you have made of him is inadmissible._ Should he have a.s.sented to it, it would be impossible to perform the conditions, and then his reputation would be injured by a breach of agreement. _Allif Khan further represents, that it is his master's intention, in case the demand should not be relinquished by you, first to proceed to Lucknow, where he proposes having an interview with the Vizier and the Resident; if he should not be able to obtain his own terms for a future possession of his jaghire, he will set off for Calcutta in order to pray for justice from the Honorable the Governor-General._ He observes, it is the custom of the Honorable Company, when they deprive a chief of his country, to grant him some allowance. This he expects from Mr. Hastings's bounty; _but if he should be disappointed, he will certainly set off upon a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, and renounce the cares of the world_.--_He directs his vakeel to ascertain whether the English intend to deprive him of his country_; for if they do, he is ready to surrender it, upon receiving an order from the Resident."

XI. That, after much negotiation, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, "being fully sensible that an engagement to furnish military aid, _however clearly the conditions might be stated, must be a source of perpetual misunderstanding and inconveniencies_," did at length agree with Major Palmer to give fifteen lacs, or 150,000_l._ and upwards, by four instalments, that he might be exempted from all future claims of military service; that the said Palmer represents it to be his belief, "_that no person, not known to possess your_ [the said Hastings's]

_confidence and support in the degree that I am supposed to do_, would have obtained nearly so good terms"; but from what motive "terms so good" were granted, and how the confidence and support of the said Hastings did truly operate on the mind of Fyzoola Khan, doth appear to be better explained by another pa.s.sage in the same letter, where the said Palmer congratulates himself on _the satisfaction which he gave to Fyzoola Khan_ in the conduct of this negotiation, as he spent a month in order to effect "by argument and persuasion _what he could have obtained in an hour by threats and compulsions_."

PART IX.