holding under a British authority; and this kind of authority he
supposes fully delegated to _him_,--though no such delegation appears in
any commission, instruction, or act of Parliament. At his _discretion_
he may demand of the substance of any zemindar, over and above his rent
or tribute, even, what he pleases, with a sovereign authority; and if he
does not yield an _implicit, unreserved_ obedience to all his commands,
he forfeits his lands, his life, and his property, at Mr. Hastings's
_discretion_. But, extravagant, and even frantic, as these positions
appear, they are less so than what I shall now read to you; for he
asserts, that, if any one should urge an exemption from more than a
stated payment, or should consider the deeds which passed between him
and the Board "as bearing _the quality and force_ of a treaty between
equal states," he says, "that such an opinion is itself criminal to the
state of which he is a subject; and that he was himself amenable to its
justice, if he gave _countenance_ to such a _belief_." Here is a new
species of crime invented, that of countenancing a belief,--but a belief
of what? A belief of that which the Court of Directors, Hastings's
masters, and a committee of this House, have decided as this prince's
indisputable right.
But supposing the Rajah of Benares to be a mere subject, and that
subject a criminal of the highest form; let us see what course was taken
by an upright English magistrate. Did he cite this culprit before his
tribunal? Did he make a charge? Did he produce witnesses? These are not
forms; they are parts of substantial and eternal justice. No, not a word
of all this. Mr. Hastings concludes him, _in his own mind_, to be
guilty: he makes this conclusion on reports, on hearsays, on
appearances, on rumors, on conjectures, on presumptions; and even these
never once hinted to the party, nor publicly to any human being, till
the whole business was done.
But the Governor tells you his motive for this extraordinary proceeding,
so contrary to every mode of justice towards either a prince or a
subject, fairly and without disguise; and he puts into your hands the
key of his whole conduct:--"I will suppose, for a moment, that I have
acted with unwarrantable rigor towards Cheit Sing, and even with
injustice.--Let my MOTIVE be consulted. I left Calcutta, impressed with
a belief that _extraordinary means_ were necessary, and those exerted
with a _steady hand_, to preserve the Company's _interests from sinking
under the accumulated weight which oppressed them_. I saw a _political
necessity_ for curbing the _overgrown_ power of a great member of their
dominion, and _for making it contribute to the relief of their pressing
exigencies_." This is plain speaking; after this, it is no wonder that
the Rajah's wealth and his offence, the necessities of the judge and the
opulence of the delinquent, are never separated, through the whole of
Mr. Hastings's apology. "The justice and _policy_ of exacting _a large
pecuniary mulct_." The resolution "_to draw from his guilt the means of
relief to the Company's distresses."_ His determination "to make him
_pay largely_ for his pardon, or to execute a severe vengeance for past
delinquency." That "as his _wealth was great_, and the _Company's
exigencies_ pressing, he thought it a measure of justice and policy to
exact from him a large pecuniary mulct _for their relief_."--"The sum"
(says Mr. Wheler, bearing evidence, at his desire, to his intentions)
"to which the Governor declared his resolution to extend his fine was
forty or fifty lacs, _that is, four or five hundred thousand pounds_;
and that, if he refused, he was to be removed from his zemindary
entirely; or by taking possession of his forts, to obtain, _out of the
treasure deposited in them_, the above sum for the Company."
Crimes so convenient, crimes so politic, crimes so necessary, crimes so
alleviating of distress, can never be wanting to those who use no
process, and who produce no proofs.
But there is another serious part (what is not so?) in this affair. Let
us suppose that the power for which Mr. Hastings contends, a power which
no sovereign ever did or ever can vest in any of his subjects, namely,
his own sovereign authority, to be conveyed by the act of Parliament to
any man or body of men whatsoever; it certainly was never given to Mr.
Hastings. The powers given by the act of 1773 were formal and official;
they were given, not to the Governor-General, but to the major vote of
the board, as a board, on discussion amongst themselves, in their public
character and capacity; and their acts in that character and capacity
were to be ascertained by records and minutes of council. The despotic
acts exercised by Mr. Hastings were done merely in his _private_
character; and, if they had been moderate and just, would still be the
acts of an usurped authority, and without any one of the legal modes of
proceeding which could give him competence for the most trivial exertion
of power. There was no proposition or deliberation whatsoever in
council, no minute on record, by circulation or otherwise, to authorize
his proceedings; no delegation of power to impose a fine, or to take
any step to deprive the Rajah of Benares of his government, his
property, or his liberty. The minutes of consultation assign to his
journey a totally different object, duty, and destination. Mr. Wheler,
at his desire, tells us long after, that he had a confidential
conversation with him on various subjects, of which this was the
principal, in which Mr. Hastings notified to him his secret intentions;
"and that he _bespoke_ his support of the measures which he intended to
pursue towards him (the Rajah)." This confidential discourse, and
_bespeaking_ of support, could give him no power, in opposition to an
express act of Parliament, and the whole tenor of the orders of the
Court of Directors.
In what manner the powers thus usurped were employed is known to the
whole world. All the House knows that the design on the Rajah proved as
unfruitful as it was violent. The unhappy prince was expelled, and his
more unhappy country was enslaved and ruined; but not a rupee was
acquired. Instead of treasure to recruit the Company's finances, wasted
by their wanton wars and corrupt jobs, they were plunged into a new war,
which shook their power in India to its foundation, and, to use the
Governor's own happy simile, might have dissolved it like a magic
structure, if the talisman had been broken.
But the success is no part of my consideration, who should think just
the same of this business, if the spoil of one rajah had been fully
acquired, and faithfully applied to the destruction of twenty other
rajahs. Not only the arrest of the Rajah in his palace was unnecessary
and unwarrantable, and calculated to stir up any manly blood which
remained in his subjects, but the despotic style and the extreme
insolence of language and demeanor, used to a person of great condition
among the politest people in the world, was intolerable. Nothing
aggravates tyranny so much as contumely. _Quicquid superbia in
contumeliis_ was charged by a great man of antiquity, as a principal
head of offence against the Governor-General of that day. The unhappy
people were still more insulted. A relation, but an _enemy_ to the
family, a notorious robber and villain, called Ussaun Sing, kept as a
hawk in a mew, to fly upon this nation, was set up to govern there,
instead of a prince honored and beloved. But when the business of insult
was accomplished, the revenue was too serious a concern to be intrusted
to such hands. Another was set up in his place, as guardian to an
infant.
But here, Sir, mark the effect of all these _extraordinary_ means, of
all this policy and justice. The revenues, which had been hitherto paid
with such astonishing punctuality, fell into arrear. The new prince
guardian was deposed without ceremony,--and with as little, cast into
prison. The government of that once happy country has been in the utmost
confusion ever since such good order was taken about it. But, to
complete the contumely offered to this undone people, and to make them
feel their servitude in all its degradation and all its bitterness, the
government of their sacred city, the government of that Benares which
had been so respected by Persian and Tartar conquerors, though of the
Mussulman persuasion, that, even in the plenitude of their pride, power,
and bigotry, no magistrate of that sect entered the place, was now
delivered over by English hands to a Mahometan; and an Ali Ibrahim Khân
was introduced, under the Company's authority, with power of life and
death, into the sanctuary of the Gentoo religion. After this, the taking
off a slight payment, cheerfully made by pilgrims to a chief of their
own rites, was represented as a mighty benefit.
It remains only to show, through the conduct in this business, the
spirit of the Company's government, and the respect they pay towards
other prejudices, not less regarded in the East than those of religion:
I mean the reverence paid to the female sex in general, and particularly
to women of high rank and condition. During the general confusion of the
country of Ghazipoor, Panna, the mother of Cheit Sing, was lodged with
her train in a castle called Bidgé Gur, in which were likewise deposited
a large portion of the treasures of her son, or more probably her own.
To whomsoever they belonged was indifferent: for, though no charge of
rebellion was made on this woman, (which was rather singular, as it
would have cost nothing,) they were resolved to secure her with her
fortune. The castle was besieged by Major Popham.
There was no great reason to apprehend that soldiers ill paid, that
soldiers who thought they had been defrauded of their plunder on former
services of the same kind, would not have been sufficiently attentive to
the spoil they were expressly come for; but the gallantry and generosity
of the profession was justly suspected, as being likely to set bounds to
military rapaciousness. The Company's first civil magistrate discovered
the greatest uneasiness lest the women should have anything preserved to
them. Terms tending to put some restraint on military violence were
granted. He writes a letter to Mr. Popham, referring to some letter
written before to the same effect, which I do not remember to have seen;
but it shows his anxiety on this subject. Hear himself:--"I think
_every_ demand she has made on you, except that of safety and respect to
her person, is unreasonable. If the reports brought to me are true, your
rejecting her offers, or _any negotiation,_ would soon obtain you the
fort upon your own terms. I apprehend she will attempt to _defraud the
captors of a considerable part of their booty, by being suffered to
retire without examination_. But this is your concern, not mine. I
should _be very sorry_ that your officers and soldiers lost _any_ part
of the reward to which they are so well entitled; but you must be the
best judge of the _promised_ indulgence to the Ranny: what you have
engaged for I will certainly ratify; but as to suffering the Ranny to
hold the purgunna of Hurlich, or any other zemindary, without being
subject to the authority of the zemindar, _or any lands whatsoever_, or
indeed making _any_ condition with her for a _provision_, I will _never
consent_."
Here your Governor stimulates a rapacious and licentious soldiery to the
personal search of women, lest these unhappy creatures should avail
themselves of the protection of their sex to secure any supply for their
necessities; and he positively orders that no stipulation should be made
for any provision for them. The widow and mother of a prince, well
informed of her miserable situation, and the cause of it, a woman of
this rank became a suppliant to the domestic servant of Mr. Hastings,
(they are his own words that I read,) "imploring his intercession that
she may be relieved _from the hardships and dangers of her present
situation_, and offering to surrender the fort, and the _treasure and
valuable effects_ contained in it, provided she can be assured _of
safety and protection to her person and honor_, and to that of her
family and attendants." He is so good as to consent to this, "provided
she surrenders everything of value, with the reserve _only_ of such
articles as _you_ shall think _necessary_ to her condition, or as you
_yourself_ shall be disposed to indulge her with.--But should she refuse
to execute the promise she has made, or delay it beyond the term of
twenty-four hours, it is _my positive_ injunction that you immediately
put a stop to any further intercourse or negotiation with her, and on no
pretext renew it. If she disappoints or _trifles_ with me, after I have
subjected _my duan_ to the disgrace of returning ineffectually, and of
course myself to discredit, I shall consider it as a _wanton_ affront
and indignity _which I can never forgive_; nor will I grant her _any_
conditions whatever, but leave her exposed _to those_ dangers which she
has chosen to risk, rather than trust to the clemency and generosity of
our government. I think she cannot be ignorant of these consequences,
and will not venture to incur them; and it is for this reason I place a
dependence on her offers, and have consented to send my duan to her."
The dreadful secret hinted at by the merciful Governor in the latter
part of the letter is well understood in India, where those who suffer
corporeal indignities generally expiate the offences of others with
their own blood. However, in spite of all these, the temper of the
military did, some way or other, operate. They came to terms which have
never been transmitted. It appears that a fifteenth per cent of the
plunder was reserved to the captives, of which the unhappy mother of
the Prince of Benares was to have a share. This ancient matron, born to
better things [_A laugh from certain young gentlemen]_--I see no cause
for this mirth. A good author of antiquity reckons among the calamities
of his time "_nobilissimarum fæminarum exilia et fugas_." I say, Sir,
this ancient lady was compelled to quit her house, with three hundred
helpless women and a multitude of children in her train. But the lower
sort in the camp, it seems, could not be restrained. They did not forget
the good lessons of the Governor-General. They were unwilling "to be
defrauded of a considerable part of their booty by suffering them to
pass without examination."--They examined them, Sir, with a vengeance;
and the sacred protection of that awful character, Mr. Hastings's
_maître d'hôtel,_ could not secure them from insult and plunder. Here is
Popham's narrative of the affair:--
"The Ranny came out of the fort, with her family and dependants, the
tenth, at night, owing to which such attention was not paid to her as I
wished; and I am exceedingly sorry to inform you that _the
licentiousness of our followers was beyond the bounds of control; for,
notwithstanding all I could do, her people were plundered on the road of
most of the things which they brought out of the fort, by which means
one of the articles of surrender has been much infringed_. The distress
I have felt upon this occasion cannot be expressed, and can only be
allayed by a firm performance of the other articles of the treaty, which
I shall make it my business to enforce.--The suspicions which the
officers had of treachery, and the delay made to our getting possession,
had enraged them, as well as the troops, so much, that the treaty was at
first regarded as void; but this determination was soon succeeded by
pity and compassion for the unfortunate besieged."--After this comes, in
his due order, Mr. Hastings; who is full of sorrow and indignation, &c.,
&c., &c., according to the best and most authentic precedents
established upon such occasions.
The women being thus disposed of, that is, completely despoiled, and
pathetically lamented, Mr. Hastings at length recollected the great
object of his enterprise, which, during his zeal lest the officers and
soldiers should lose any part of their reward, he seems to have
forgot,--that is to say, "to draw from the Rajah's guilt the means of
relief to the Company's distresses." This was to be the stronghold of
his defence. This compassion to the Company, he knew by experience,
would sanctify a great deal of rigor towards the natives. But the
military had distresses of their own, which they considered first.
Neither Mr. Hastings's authority, nor his supplications, could prevail
on them to assign a shilling to the claim he made on the part of the
Company. They divided the booty amongst themselves. Driven from his
claim, he was reduced to petition for the spoil as a loan. But the
soldiers were too wise to venture as a loan what the borrower claimed as
a right. In defiance of all authority, they shared among themselves
about two hundred thousand pounds sterling, besides what had been taken
from the women.
In all this there is nothing wonderful. We may rest assured, that, when
the maxims of any government establish among its resources extraordinary
means, and those exerted with a strong hand, that strong hand will
provide those extraordinary means for _itself_. Whether the soldiers had
reason or not, (perhaps much might be said for them,) certain it is,
the military discipline of India was ruined from that moment; and the
same rage for plunder, the same contempt of subordination, which blasted
all the hopes of extraordinary means from your strong hand at Benares,
have very lately lost you an army in Mysore. This is visible enough from
the accounts in the last gazette.
There is no doubt but that the country and city of Benares, now brought
into the same order, will very soon exhibit, if it does not already
display, the same appearance with those countries and cities which are
under better subjection. A great master, Mr. Hastings, has himself been
at the pains of drawing a picture of one of these countries: I mean the
province and city of Furruckabad. There is no reason to question his
knowledge of the facts; and his authority (on this point at least) is
above all exception, as well for the state of the country as for the
cause. In his minute of consultation, Mr. Hastings describes forcibly
the consequences which arise from the degradation into which we have
sunk the native government. "The total want (says he) of all order,
regularity, or authority, in his (the Nabob of Furruckabad's)
government, and to which, among other obvious causes, it may no doubt be
owing that the country of Furruckabad is become _almost an entire waste,
without cultivation or inhabitants_,--that the capital, which but a very
short time ago was distinguished as one of the most populous and opulent
commercial cities in Hindostan, at present exhibits nothing but _scenes
of the most wretched poverty, desolation, and misery_,--and that the
_Nabob himself_, though in the possession of a tract of country which,
with only common care, is notoriously capable of yielding an annual
revenue of between thirty and forty lacs, (three or four hundred
thousand pounds,) with _no military establishment_ to maintain, scarcely
commands _the means of a bare subsistence_."
This is a true and unexaggerated picture, not only of Furruckabad, but
of at least three fourths of the country which we possess, or rather lay
waste, in India. Now, Sir, the House will be desirous to know for what
purpose this picture was drawn. It was for a purpose, I will not say
laudable, but necessary: that of taking the unfortunate prince and his
country out of the hands of a sequestrator sent thither by the Nabob of
Oude, the mortal enemy of the prince thus ruined, and to protect him by
means of a British resident, who might carry his complaints to the
superior resident at Oude, or transmit them to Calcutta. But mark how
the reformer persisted in his reformation. The effect of the measure was
better than was probably expected. The prince began to be at ease; the
country began to recover; and the revenue began to be collected. These
were alarming circumstances. Mr. Hastings not only recalled the
resident, but he entered into a formal stipulation with the Nabob of
Oude never to send an English subject again to Furruckabad; and thus the
country, described as you have heard by Mr. Hastings, is given up
forever to the very persons to whom he had attributed its ruin,--that
is, to the sezawals or sequestrators of the Nabob of Oude.
Such was the issue of the first attempt to relieve the distresses of the
dependent provinces. I shall close what I have to say on the condition
of the northern dependencies with the effect of the last of these
attempts. You will recollect, Sir, the account I have not long ago
stated to you, as given by Mr. Hastings, of the ruined condition of the
destroyer of others, the Nabob of Oude, and of the recall, in
consequence, of Hannay, Middleton, and Johnson. When the first little
sudden gust of passion against these gentlemen was spent, the sentiments
of old friendship began to revive. Some healing conferences were held
between them and the superior government. Mr. Hannay was permitted to
return to Oude; but death prevented the further advantages intended for
him, and the future benefits proposed for the country by the provident
cars of the Council-General.
One of these gentlemen was accused of the grossest peculations; two of
them by Mr. Hastings himself, of what he considered as very gross
offences. The Court of Directors were informed, by the Governor-General
and Council, that a severe inquiry would be instituted against the two
survivors; and they requested that court to suspend its judgment, and to
wait the event of their proceedings. A mock inquiry has been instituted,
by which the parties could not be said to be either acquitted or
condemned. By means of the bland and conciliatory dispositions of the
charter-governors, and proper private explanations, the public inquiry
has in effect died away; the supposed peculators and destroyers of Oude
repose in all security in the bosoms of their accusers; whilst others
succeed to them to be instructed by their example.
It is only to complete the view I proposed of the conduct of the Company
with regard to the dependent provinces, that I shall say _any_ thing at
all of the Carnatic, which is the scene, if possible, of greater
disorder than the northern provinces. Perhaps it were better to say of
this centre and metropolis of abuse, whence all the rest in India and in
England diverge, from whence they are fed and methodized, what was said
of Carthage,--"_De Carthagine satius est silere quam parum dicere_."
This country, in all its denominations, is about 46,000 square miles.
It may be affirmed universally, that not one person of substance or
property, landed, commercial, or moneyed, excepting two or three
bankers, who are necessary deposits and distributors of the general
spoil, is left in all that region. In that country, the moisture, the
bounty of Heaven, is given but at a certain season. Before the era of
our influence, the industry of man carefully husbanded that gift of God.
The Gentoos preserved, with a provident and religious care, the precious
deposit of the periodical rain in reservoirs, many of them works of
royal grandeur; and from these, as occasion demanded, they fructified
the whole country. To maintain these reservoirs, and to keep up an
annual advance to the cultivators for seed and cattle, formed a
principal object of the piety and policy of the priests and rulers of
the Gentoo religion.