famine has swept away many thousands of the followers and sepoys'
families of the army, from Lord Macartney's neglect to send down grain
to the camp, though the roads are crowded with vessels: but his Lordship
has been too intent upon his own disgraceful schemes to attend to the
wants of the army. The negotiation with Tippoo, which he has set on foot
through the mediation of Monsieur Bussy, has employed all his thoughts,
and to the attainment of that object he will sacrifice the dearest
interests of the Company to gratify his malevolence against me, and for
his own private advantages. The endeavor to treat with Tippoo, through
the means of the French, must strike you, Gentlemen, as highly improper
and impolitic; but it must raise your utmost indignation to hear, that,
by intercepted letters from Bussy to Tippoo, as well as from their
respective vakeels, and from various accounts from Cuddalore, we have
every reason to conclude that his Lordship's secretary, Mr. Staunton,
when at Cuddalore, as his agent to settle the cessation of arms with the
French, was informed of all their operations and projects, and
_consequently that Lord Macartney has secretly connived at Monsieur
Bussy's recommendation to Tippoo to return into the Carnatic, as the
means of procuring the most advantageous terms, and furnishing Lord
Macartney with the plea of necessity for concluding a peace after his
own manner_: and what further confirms the truth of this fact is, that
repeated reports, as well as the alarms of the inhabitants to the
westward, leave us no reason to doubt that Tippoo is approaching
towards us. His Lordship has issued public orders that the garrison
store of rice, for which we are indebted to the exertions of the Bengal
government, should be immediately disposed of, and has strictly forbid
all private grain to be sold; by which act he effectually prohibits all
private importation of grain, and may eventually cause as horrid a
famine as that which we experienced at the close of last year from the
same shortsighted policy and destructive prohibitions of Lord Macartney.
But as he has the fabrication of the records in his own hands, he trusts
to those partial representations of his character and conduct, because
the signatures of those members of government whom he seldom consults
are affixed, as a public sanction; but you may form a just idea of their
correctness and propriety, when you are informed that his Lordship,
_upon my noticing the heavy disbursements made for secret service money,
ordered the sums to be struck off, and the accounts to be erased from
the cash-book of the Company_; and I think I cannot give you a better
proof of his management of my country and revenues than by calling your
attention to his conduct in the Ongole province, and by referring you to
his Lordship's administration of your own jaghire, from whence he has
brought to the public account the sum of twelve hundred pagodas for the
last year's revenue, yet blazons forth his vast merits and exertions,
and expects to receive the thanks of his Committee and Council.
I will beg leave to refer you to my minister, James Macpherson, Esq.,
for a more particular account of my sufferings and miseries, to whom I
have transmitted copies of all papers that passed with his Lordship.
I cannot conclude without calling your attention to _the situation of my
different creditors_, whose claims are the claims of justice, and whose
demands I am bound by honor and every moral obligation to discharge; it
is not, therefore, without great concern I have heard insinuations
tending to question the legality of their right to the payment of those
just debts: they proceeded from advances made by them openly and
honorably for the support of my own and the public affairs. But I hope
the tongue of calumny will never drown the voice of truth and justice;
and while that is heard, the wisdom of the English nation cannot fail to
accede to an effectual remedy for their distresses, by any arrangement
in which their claims may be duly considered and equitably provided for:
and for this purpose, my minister, _Mr. Macpherson, will readily
subscribe, in my name, to any agreement you may think proper to adopt,
founded on the same principles_ with either of the engagements I entered
into with the supreme government of Bengal for our mutual interest and
advantage.
I always pray for your happiness and prosperity.
* * * * *
6th September, and Postscript of 7th September, 1783. _Translation
of a Letter from the Nabob of Arcot to the Chairman and Directors
of the East India Company._ Received from Mr. James Macpherson,
14th January, 1784.
I refer you, Gentlemen, to my inclosed duplicate, as well as to my
minister, Mr. Macpherson, for the particulars of my sufferings. There is
no word or action of mine that is not perverted; and though it was my
intention to have sent my son, Amir-ul-Omrah, who is well versed in my
affairs, to Bengal, to impress those gentlemen with a full sense of my
situation, yet I find myself obliged to lay it aside, from the
insinuations of the calumniating tongue of Lord Macartney, that takes
every license to traduce every action of my life and that of my son. I
am informed that Lord Macartney, at this late moment, intends to write a
letter: I am ignorant of the subject, but fully perceive, that, by
delaying to send it till the very eve of the dispatch, he means to
deprive me of all possibility of communicating my reply, and forwarding
it for the information of my friends in England. Conscious of the weak
ground on which he stands, he is obliged to have recourse to these
artifices to mislead the judgment, and support for a time his
unjustifiable measures by deceit and imposition. I wish only to meet and
combat his charges and allegations fairly and openly, and I have
repeatedly and urgently demanded to be furnished with copies of those
parts of his _fabricated_ records relative to myself; but as he well
knows I should refute his sophistry, I cannot be surprised at his
refusal, though I lament that it prevents you, Gentlemen, from a clear
investigation of his conduct towards me.
Inclosed you have a translation of an arzee from the Killidar of
Vellore. _I have thousands of the same kind_; but this, just now
received, will serve to give you some idea of the miseries brought upon
this my devoted country, and the wretched inhabitants that remain in it,
by the oppressive hand of Lord Macartney's management: nor will the
_embezzlements of collections_ thus obtained, when brought before you in
_proof_, appear less extraordinary,--which _shall certainly be done in
due time_.
_Translation of an Arzee, in the Persian Language, from
Uzzim-ul-Doen Cawn, the Killidar of Vellore, to the Nabob_, dated
1st September, 1783. Inclosed in the Nabob's Letter to the Court of
Directors, September, 1783.
I have repeatedly represented to your Highness the violences and
oppressions exercised by the present aumildar [collector of revenue], of
Lord Macartney's appointment, over the few remaining inhabitants of the
districts of Vellore, Amboor, Saulguda, &c.
The outrages and violences now committed are of that astonishing nature
as were never known or heard of during the administration of the Circar.
Hyder Naik, the cruellest of tyrants, used every kind of oppression in
the Circar countries; but even his measures were not like those now
pursued. Such of the inhabitants as had escaped the sword and pillage of
Hyder Naik, by taking refuge in the woods, and within the walls of
Vellore, &c., on the arrival of Lord Macartney's aumildar to Vellore,
and in consequence of his cowle of protection and support, most
cheerfully returned to the villages, set about the cultivation of the
lands, and with great pains rebuilt their cottages.--But now the
aumildar has imprisoned the wives and children of the inhabitants,
seized the few jewels that were on the bodies of the women, and then,
before the faces of their husbands, flogged them, in order to make them
produce other jewels and effects, which he said they had buried
somewhere under ground, and to make the inhabitants bring him money,
notwithstanding there was yet no cultivation in the country. Terrified
with the flagellations, some of them produced their jewels and
wearing-apparel of their women, to the amount of ten or fifteen pagodas,
which they had hidden; others, who declared they had none, the aumildar
flogged their women severely, tied cords around their breasts, and tore
the sucking children from their teats, and exposed them to the scorching
heat of the sun. Those children died, as did the wife of Ramsoamy, an
inhabitant of Bringpoor. Even this could not stir up compassion in the
breast of the aumildar. Some of the children that were somewhat large he
exposed to sale. In short, the violences of the aumildar are so
astonishing, that the people, on seeing the present situation, remember
the loss of Hyder with regret. With whomsoever the aumildar finds a
single measure of natchinee or rice, he takes it away from him, and
appropriates it to the expenses of the sibindy that he keeps up. No
revenues are collected from the countries, but from the effects of the
poor, wretched inhabitants. Those ryots [yeomen] who intended to return
to their habitations, hearing of those violences, have fled for refuge,
with their wives and children, into Hyder's country. Every day is
ushered in and closed with these violences and disturbances. I have no
power to do anything; and who will hear what I have to say? My business
is to inform your Highness, who are my master. The people bring their
complaints to me, and I tell them I will write to your Highness.[74]
_Translation of a Tellinga Letter from Veira Permaul, Head Dubash
to Lord Macartney, in his own Handwriting, to Rajah Ramchunda, the
Renter of Ongole._ Dated 25th of the Hindoo month Mausay, in the
year Plavanamal, corresponding to 5th March, 1782.
I present my respects to you, and am very well here, wishing to hear
frequently of your welfare.
Your peasher Vancatroyloo has brought the Visseel Bakees, and delivered
them to me, as _also what you sent him for me to deliver to my master,
which I have done. My master at first refused to take it, because he is
unacquainted with your disposition_, or what kind of a person you are.
But after I made encomiums on your goodness and greatness of mind, and
took my oath to the same, and that _it would not become public_, but be
held as precious as our lives, _my master accepted it_. You may remain
satisfied that I will get the Ongole business settled in your name; I
will cause the jamaubundee to be settled agreeable to your desire. It
was formerly the Nabob's intention to give this business to you, as the
Governor knows full well, but did not at that time agree to it, which
you must be well acquainted with.
Your peasher Vancatroyloo is a very careful, good man; he is well
experienced in business; _he has bound me by an oath to keep all this
business secret, and that his own, yours, and my lives are responsible
for it_. I write this letter to you with the greatest reluctance, and I
signified the same to your peasher, and declared that I would not write
to you by any means. To this the peasher urged, that, _if I did not
write to his master, how could he know to whom he (the peasher)
delivered the money_, and what must his master think of it? Therefore I
write you this letter, and send it by my servant Ramanah, accompanied by
the peasher's servant, and it will come safe to your hands. After
perusal, you will send it back to me immediately: until I receive it, I
don't like to eat my victuals or take any sleep. Your peasher took his
oath, and urged me to write this for your satisfaction, and has engaged
to me that I shall have this letter returned to me in the space of
twelve days.
The present Governor is not like the former Governors: he is a very
great man in Europe; and all the great men of Europe are much obliged,
to him for his condescension in accepting the government of this place.
It is his custom, when he makes friendship with any one, to continue it
always; and if _he is at enmity with any one, he never will desist till
he has worked his destruction. He is now exceedingly displeased with
the Nabob, and you will understand by-and-by that the Nabob's business
cannot be carried on_; he (the Nabob) will have no power to do anything
in his own affairs: _you have, therefore, no room to fear him_; you may
remain with a contented mind. I desired the Governor to write you a
letter for your satisfaction: the Governor said he would do so, when the
business was settled. This letter you must peruse as soon as possible,
and send it back with all speed by the bearer, Ramadoo, accompanied by
three or four of your people, to the end that no accident may happen on
the road. These people must be ordered to march in the night only, and
to arrive here with the greatest dispatch. You sent ten mangoes for my
master and two for me, all of which I have delivered to my master,
thinking that ten was not sufficient to present him with. I write this
for your information, and salute you with ten thousand respects.
I, Muttu Kistnah, of Madras Patnam, dubash, declare that I
perfectly understand the Gentoo language, and do most solemnly
affirm that the foregoing is a true translation of the annexed
paper writing from the Gentoo language.
(Signed)
Muttu Kistnah.
FOOTNOTES:
[68] In this statement, the Ongole country, though it is included under
the head of gross revenue, has been let for a certain sum, exclusive of
charges. If the expenses specified in the Nabob's vassool accounts for
this district are added, the present gross revenue even would appear to
exceed the Nabob's; and as the country is only let for one year, there
may hereafter be an increase of its revenue.
[69] The Trichinopoly countries let for the above sum, exclusive of the
expenses of sibbendy and saderwared, amounting, by the Nabob's accounts,
to rupees 1,30,00 per annum, which are to be defrayed by the renter. And
the jaghires of Amir-ul-Omrah and the Begum are not included in the
present lease.
[70] For the ground of this "great reliance," see the papers in this
Appendix, No. 5; as also the Nabob's letters to the Court of Directors
in this Appendix, No. 10.
[71] For the full proof of this necessity, Lord Macartney's whole
correspondence on the subject may be referred to. Without the act here
condemned, not one of the acts commended in the preceding paragraph
could be performed. By referring to the Nabob's letters in this Appendix
it will be seen what sort of task a governor has on his hands, who is to
use, according to the direction of this letter, "acts of address,
civility, and conciliation," and to pay, upon _all_ occasions, _the
highest attention_, to persons who at the very time are falsely, and in
the grossest terms, accusing him of peculation, corruption, treason, and
every species of malversation in office. The recommendation, under
menaces of such behavior, and under such circumstances, conveys a lesson
the tendency of which cannot be misunderstood.
[72] The delicacy here recommended, in the _expressions_ concerning
conduct "with which the safety of our settlements is essentially
connected," is a lesson of the same nature with the former. Dangerous
designs, if truly such, ought to be expressed according to their nature
and qualities. And as for the _secrecy_ recommended concerning the
designs here alluded to, nothing can be more absurd; as they appear very
fully and directly in the papers published by the authority of the Court
of Directors in 1775, and may be easily discerned from the propositions
for the Bengal treaty, published in the Reports of the Committee of
Secrecy, and in the Reports of the Select Committee. The keeping of such
secrets too long has been one cause of the Carnatic war, and of the ruin
of our affairs in India.
[73] See Tellinga letter, at the end of this correspondence.
[74] The above-recited practices, or practices similar to them, have
prevailed in almost every part of the miserable countries on the coast
of Coromandel for near twenty years past. That they prevailed as
strongly and generally as they could prevail, under the administration
of the Nabob, there can be no question, notwithstanding the assertion in
the beginning of the above petition; nor will it ever be otherwise,
whilst affairs are conducted upon the principles which influence the
present system. Whether the particulars here asserted are true or false
neither the Court of Directors nor their ministry have thought proper to
inquire. If they are true, in order to bring them to affect Lord
Macartney, it ought to be proved that the complaint was made _to him,
and that he had refused redress_. Instead of this fair course, the
complaint is carried to the Court of Directors.--The above is one of the
documents transmitted by the Nabob, in proof of his charge of corruption
against Lord Macartney. If genuine, it is conclusive, at least against
Lord Macartney's principal agent and manager. If it be a forgery, (as in
all likelihood it is,) it is conclusive against the Nabob and his evil
counsellors, and folly demonstrates, if anything further were necessary
to demonstrate, the necessity of the clause in Mr. Fox's bill
prohibiting the residence of the native princes in the Company's
principal settlements,--which clause was, for obvious reasons, not
admitted into Mr. Pitt's. It shows, too, the absolute necessity of a
severe and exemplary punishment on certain of his English evil
counsellors and creditors, by whom such practices are carried on.
SUBSTANCE OF THE SPEECH
IN THE
DEBATE ON THE ARMY ESTIMATES
IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,
ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1790
COMPREHENDING
A DISCUSSION OF THE PRESENT SITUATION OF AFFAIRS IN FRANCE.
SPEECH.
Mr. Burke's speech on the report of the army estimates has not been
correctly stated in some of the public papers. It is of consequence to
him not to be misunderstood. The matter which incidentally came into
discussion is of the most serious importance. It is thought that the
heads and substance of the speech will answer the purpose sufficiently.
If, in making the abstract, through defect of memory in the person who
now gives it, any difference at all should be perceived from the speech
as it was spoken, it will not, the editor imagines, be found in anything
which may amount to a retraction of the opinions he then maintained, or
to any softening in the expressions in which they were conveyed.
Mr. Burke spoke a considerable time in answer to various arguments,
which had been insisted upon by Mr. Grenville and Mr. Pitt, for keeping
an increased peace establishment, and against an improper jealousy of
the ministers, in whom a full confidence, subject to responsibility,
ought to be placed, on account of their knowledge of the real situation
of affairs, the exact state of which it frequently happened that they
could not disclose without violating the constitutional and political
secrecy necessary to the well-being of their country.
Mr. Burke said in substance, That confidence might become a vice, and
jealousy a virtue, according to circumstances. That confidence, of all
public virtues, was the most dangerous, and jealousy in an House of
Commons, of all public vices, the most tolerable,--- especially where
the number and the charge of standing armies in time of peace was the
question.
That in the annual Mutiny Bill the annual army was declared to be for
the purpose of preserving the balance of power in Europe. The propriety
of its being larger or smaller depended, therefore, upon the true state
of that balance. If the increase of peace establishments demanded of
Parliament agreed with the manifest appearance of the balance,
confidence in ministers as to the particulars would be very proper. If
the increase was not at all supported by any such appearance, he thought
great jealousy might be, and ought to be, entertained on that subject.
That he did not find, on a review of all Europe, that, politically, we
stood in the smallest degree of danger from any one state or kingdom it
contained, nor that any other foreign powers than our own allies were
likely to obtain a considerable preponderance in the scale.
That France had hitherto been our first object in all considerations
concerning the balance of power. The presence or absence of France
totally varied every sort of speculation relative to that balance.
That France is at this time, in a political light, to be considered as
expunged out of the system of Europe. Whether she could ever appear in
it again, as a leading power, was not easy to determine; but at present
be considered France as not politically existing; and most assuredly it
would take up much time to restore her to her former active existence:
_Gallos quoque in bellis floruisse audivimus_ might possibly be the
language of the rising generation. He did not mean to deny that it was
our duty to keep our eye on that nation, and to regulate our preparation
by the symptoms of her recovery.
That it was to her _strength_, not to her _form of government_, which we
were to attend; because republics, as well as monarchies, were
susceptible of ambition, jealousy, and anger, the usual causes of war.
But if, while France continued in this swoon, we should go on increasing
our expenses, we should certainly make ourselves less a match for her
when it became our concern to arm.
It was said, that, as she had speedily fallen, she might speedily rise
again. He doubted this. That the fall from an height was with an
accelerated velocity; but to lift a weight up to that height again was
difficult, and opposed by the laws of physical and political
gravitation.
In a political view, France was low indeed. She had lost everything,
even to her name.
Jacet ingens littore truncus,
Avolsumque humeris _caput_, et sine _nomine_ corpus.[75]
He was astonished at it; he was alarmed at it; he trembled at the
uncertainty of all human greatness.
Since the House had been prorogued in the summer much work was done in
France. The French had shown themselves the ablest architects of ruin
that had hitherto existed in the world. In that very short space of time
they had completely pulled down to the ground their monarchy, their
church, their nobility, their law, their revenue, their army, their
navy, their commerce, their arts, and their manufactures. They had done
their business for us as rivals in a way in which twenty Ramillies or
Blenheims could never have done it. Were we absolute conquerors, and
France to lie prostrate at our feet, we should be ashamed to send a
commission to settle their affairs which could impose so hard a law upon
the French, and so destructive of all their consequence as a nation, as
that they had imposed upon themselves.
France, by the mere circumstance of its vicinity, had been, and in a
degree always must be, an object of our vigilance, either with regard to
her actual power or to her influence and example. As to the former he
had spoken; as to the latter (her example) he should say a few words:
for by this example our friendship and our intercourse with that nation
had once been, and might again become, more dangerous to us than their
worst hostility.
In the last century, Louis the Fourteenth had established a greater and
better disciplined military force than ever had been before seen in
Europe, and with it a perfect despotism. Though that despotism was
proudly arrayed in manners, gallantry, splendor, magnificence, and even
covered over with the imposing robes of science, literature, and arts,
it was, in government, nothing better than a painted and gilded
tyranny,--in religion, a hard, stern intolerance, the fit companion and
auxiliary to the despotic tyranny which prevailed in its government. The
same character of despotism insinuated itself into every court of
Europe,--the same spirit of disproportioned magnificence,--the same love
of standing armies, above the ability of the people. In particular, our
then sovereigns, King Charles and King James, fell in love with the
government of their neighbor, so flattering to the pride of kings. A
similarity of sentiments brought on connections equally dangerous to the
interests and liberties of their country. It were well that the
infection had gone no farther than the throne. The admiration of a
government flourishing and successful, unchecked in its operations, and
seeming, therefore, to compass its objects more speedily and
effectually, gained something upon all ranks of people. The good
patriots of that day, however, struggled against it. They sought nothing
more anxiously than to break off all communication with France, and to
beget a total alienation from its councils and its example,--which, by
the animosity prevalent between the abettors of their religious system
and the assertors of ours, was in some degree effected.
This day the evil is totally changed in France: but there is an evil
there. The disease is altered; but the vicinity of the two countries
remains, and must remain; and the natural mental habits of mankind are
such, that the present distemper of France is far more likely to be
contagious than the old one: for it is not quite easy to spread a
passion for servitude among the people; but in all evils of the opposite
kind our natural inclinations are flattered. In the case of despotism,
there is the _fœdum crimen servitutis_: in the last, the _falsa SPECIES
libertatis_; and accordingly, as the historian says, _pronis auribus
accipitur_.