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 asserted 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 passion, 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 space 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 passionate
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 asserts 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 document 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 substitute for the remainder, five
hundred _burkundasses_ [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 fictitious 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 instituted 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
circumstances 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
participation 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.