to this institution. It is where the President says that the use of the
President would be to exert his best abilities, his greatest
application, his constant guard,--for what?--to prevent his dewan from
being guilty of bribery and being guilty of oppressions. So here is an
executive constitution in which the chief executive minister is to be in
such a situation and of such a disposition that the chief employment of
the presiding person in the Committee is to guard against him and to
prevent his doing mischief. Here is a man appointed, of the greatest
possible power, of the greatest possible wickedness, in a situation to
exert that power and wickedness for the destruction of the country, and
without doubt it would require the greatest ability and diligence in the
person at the head of that Council to prevent it. Such a constitution,
allowed and alleged by the persons themselves who composed it, was, I
believe, never heard of in the world.
Now that I have done with this part of the system of bribery, your
Lordships will permit me to follow Mr. Hastings to his last parting
scene. He parted with his power, he parted with his situation, he parted
with everything, but he never could part with Gunga Govind Sing. He was
on his voyage, he had embarked, he was upon the Ganges, he had quitted
his government; and his last dying sigh, his last parting voice, was
"Gunga Govind Sing!" It ran upon the banks of the Ganges, as another
plaintive voice ran upon the banks of another river (I forget whose);
his last accents were, "Gunga, Gunga Govind Sing!" It demonstrates the
power of friendship.
It is said by some idle, absurd moralists, that friendship is a thing
that cannot subsist between bad men; but I will show your Lordships the
direct contrary; and, after having shown you what Gunga Govind Sing was,
I shall bring before you Mr. Hastings's last act of friendship for him.
Not that I have quite shown you everything, but pretty well, I think,
respecting this man. There is a great deal concerning his character and
conduct that is laid by, and I do believe, that, whatever time I should
take up in expatiating upon these things, there would be "in the lowest
deep still a lower deep"; for there is not a day of the inquiry that
does not bring to light more and more of this evil against Mr. Hastings.
But before I open the papers relative to this act of Mr. Hastings's
friendship for Gunga Govind Sing, I must re-state some circumstances,
that your Lordships may understand thoroughly the nature of it. Your
Lordships may recollect, that, about the time of the succession of the
minor Rajah of Dinagepore, who was then but five or six years of age,
and when Mr. Hastings left Bengal eight or nine, Mr. Hastings had
received from that country a bribe of about 40,000_l._ There is a
fidelity even in bribery; there is a truth and observance even in
corruption; there is a justice, that, if money is to be paid for
protection, protection should be given. My Lords, Mr. Hastings received
this bribe through Gunga Govind Sing; then, at least, through Gunga
Govind Sing he ought to take care that that Rajah should not be
robbed,--that he should not be robbed, if Gunga Govind Sing could help
it,--that, above all, he should not be robbed by Gunga Govind Sing
himself. But your Lordships will find that the last act of Mr.
Hastings's life was to be an accomplice in the most cruel and perfidious
breach of faith, in the most iniquitous transaction, that I do believe
ever was held out to the indignation of the world with regard to private
persons. When he departed, on the 16th of February, 1785, when he was on
board, in the mouth of the Ganges, and preparing to visit his native
country, let us see what the last act of his life then was. Hear the
last tender accents of the dying swan upon the Ganges.
"The regret which I cannot but feel in relinquishing the service of my
honorable employers would be much embittered, were it accompanied by the
reflection that I have neglected the merits of a man who deserves no
less of them than of myself, Gunga Govind Sing, who from his earliest
youth had been employed in the collection of the revenues, and was about
eleven years ago selected for his superior talents to fill the office of
dewan to the Calcutta Committee. He has from that time, with a short
intermission, been the principal native agent in the collection of the
Company's revenues; and I can take upon myself to say that he has
performed the duties of his office with fidelity, diligence, and
ability. To myself he has given proofs of a constancy and attachment
which neither the fears nor expectations excited by the prevalence of a
different influence could shake,--and at a time, too, when these
qualities were so dangerous, that, far from finding them amongst the
generality of his countrymen, I did not invariably meet with them
amongst my own. With such a sense of his merits, it is natural that I
should feel a desire of rewarding him,--for justice, gratitude,
generosity, and even policy, demand it; and I resort to the board for
the means of performing so necessary a duty, in full confidence, that,
as those which I shall point out are neither incompatible with the
Company's interest nor prejudicial to the rights of others, they will
not be withheld from me. At the request, therefore, of Gunga Govind
Sing, I deliver the accompanying _durkhausts_, or petitions, for grants
of lands lying in different districts, the total _jumma_, or rent, of
which amount to Rupees 2,38,061. 12. 1."
Your Lordships recollect that Mr. Larkins was one of the bribe-agents of
Mr. Hastings,--one, I mean, of a corporation, but not corporate in their
acts. My Lords, Mr. Larkins has told you, he has told us, and he has
told the Court of Directors, that Mr. Hastings parted in a quarrel with
Gunga Govind Sing, because he had not faithfully kept his engagement
with regard to his bribe, and that, instead of 40,000_l._ from
Dinagepore, he had only paid him 30,000_l._ My Lords, that iniquitous
men will defraud one another I can conceive; but you will perceive by
Mr. Hastings's behavior at parting, that he either had in fact received
this money from Gunga Govind Sing, or in some way or other had abundant
reason to be satisfied,--that he totally forgot his anger upon this
occasion, and that at parting his last act was to ratify _grants of
lands_ (so described by Mr. Hastings) to Gunga Govind Sing. Your
Lordships will recollect the tender and forgiving temper of Mr.
Hastings. Whatever little bickerings there might have been between them
about their small money concerns, the purifying waters of the Ganges had
washed away all sins, enmities, and discontent. By some of those arts
which Gunga Govind Sing knows how to practise, (I mean conciliatory,
honest arts,) he had fairly wiped away all resentment out of Mr.
Hastings's mind; and he, who so long remembered the affront offered him
by Cheyt Sing, totally forgets Gunga Govind Sing's fraud of 10,000_l._,
and attempts to make others the instruments of giving him what he calls
his reward.
Mr. Hastings states, among Gunga Govind's merits, that he had, from the
time of its institution, and with a very short intermission, served the
office of dewan to the Calcutta Committee. That short intermission was
when he was turned out of office upon proof of peculation and
embezzlement of public money; but of this cause of the intermission in
the political life and political merits of Gunga Govind Sing Mr.
Hastings does not tell you.
Your Lordships shall now hear what opinion a member of the Provincial
Council at Calcutta, in which he had also served, had of him.
"Who is Gunga Govind Sing?" The answer is, "He was, when I left Bengal,
dewan to the Committee of Revenue.--What was his office and power during
Mr. Hastings's administration since 1780?--He was formerly dewan to the
Provincial Council stationed at Calcutta, of which I was a member. His
conduct then was licentious and unwarrantable, oppressive and
extortionary. He was stationed under us to be an humble and submissive
servant, and to be of use to us in the discharge of our duty. His
conduct was everything the reverse. We endeavored to correct the
mischiefs he was guilty of as much as possible. In one attempt to
release fifteen persons illegally confined by him, we were dismissed our
offices: a different pretence was held out for our dismission, but it
was only a pretence. Since his appointment as dewan to the present
Committee of Revenue, his line of conduct has only been a continuance of
what I have described, but upon a larger scale.--What was the general
opinion of the natives of the use he made of his power? He was looked up
to by the natives as the second person in the government, if not the
first. He was considered as the only channel for obtaining favor and
employment from the Governor. There is hardly a native family of rank or
credit within the three provinces whom he has not some time or other
distressed and afflicted; scarce a zemindary that he has not dismembered
and plundered.--Were you in a situation to know this to be true?--I
certainly was.--What was the general opinion, and your own, concerning
his wealth?--It is almost impossible to form a competent judgment, his
means of acquiring it have been so extensive. I had an account shown to
me, about July, 1785, stating his acquisitions at three hundred and
twenty lacs of rupees,--that is, 3,200,000_l._"
My Lords, I have only to add, that, from the best inquiries I have been
able to make, those who speak highest of his wealth are those who obtain
the greatest credit. The estimate of any man's wealth is uncertain; but
the enormity of his wealth is universally believed. Yet Mr. Hastings
seemed to act as if he needed a reward; and it is therefore necessary to
inquire what recommended him particularly to Mr. Hastings. Your
Lordships have seen that he was on the point of being dismissed for
misbehavior and oppression by that Calcutta Committee his services to
which Mr. Hastings gives as one proof of his constant and uniform good
behavior. "He had executed," he says, "the duties of his office with
fidelity, diligence, and ability." These are his public merits; but he
has private merits. "To myself," says he, "he has given proofs of
constancy and attachment."
Now we, who have been used to look very diligently over the Company's
records, and to compare one part with another, ask what those services
were, which have so strongly recommended him to Mr. Hastings, and
induced him to speak so favorably of his public services. What those
services are does not appear; we have searched the records for them,
(and those records are very busy and loquacious,) about that period of
time during which Mr. Hastings was laboring under an eclipse, and near
the dragon's mouth, and all the drums of Bengal beating to free him from
this dangerous eclipse. During this time there is nothing publicly done,
there is nothing publicly said, by Gunga Govind Sing. There were, then,
some services of Gunga Govind Sing that lie undiscovered, which he takes
as proofs of attachment. What could they be? They were not public;
nobody knows anything of them; they must, by reference to the time, as
far as we can judge of them, be services of concealment: otherwise, in
the course of this business, it will be necessary, and Mr. Hastings will
find occasion, to show what those personal services of Gunga Govind
Sing to him were. _His_ services to Gunga Govind Sing were pretty
conspicuous: for, after he was turned out for peculation, Mr. Hastings
restored him to his office; and when he had imprisoned fifteen persons
illegally and oppressively, and when the Council were about to set them
at liberty, they were set at liberty themselves, they were dismissed
their offices. Your Lordships see, then, what his public services were.
His private services are unknown: they must be, as we conceive from
their being unknown, of a suspicious nature; and I do not go further
than suspicion, because I never heard, and I have not been without
attempts to make the discovery, what those services were that
recommended him to Mr. Hastings.
Having looked at his public services, which are well-known scenes of
wickedness, barbarity, and corruption, we next come to see what his
reward is. Your Lordships hear what reward he thought proper to secure
for himself; and I believe a man who has power like Gunga Govind Sing,
and a disposition like Gunga Govind Sing, can hardly want the means of
rewarding himself; and if every virtue rewards itself, and virtue is
said to be its own reward, the virtue of Gunga Govind Sing was in a good
way of seeking its own reward. Mr. Hastings, however, thought it was not
right that such a man should reward himself, but that it was necessary
for the honor and justice of government to find him a reward. Then the
next thing is, what that reward shall be. It is a grant of lands. Your
Lordships will observe, that Mr. Hastings declares some of these lands
to be unoccupied, others occupied, but not by the just owners. Now these
were the very lands of the Rajah of Dinagepore from whence he had taken
the bribe of 40,000_l._ My Lords, this was a monstrous thing. Mr.
Hastings had the audacity, as his parting act, when he was coming to
England, and ought to have expected (whatever he did expect) the
responsibility of this day,--he was, I say, shameless enough not only to
give this recommendation, but to perpetuate the mischiefs of his reign,
as he has done, to his successors: for he has really done so, by making
it impossible, almost, to know anything of the true state of that
country; and he has thereby made them much less responsible and criminal
than before in any ill acts they may have done since his time. But Mr.
Hastings not only recommends and backs the petition of Gunga Govind Sing
with his parting authority, which authority he made the people there
believe would be greater in England than it was in India, but he is an
evidence; he declares, that, "to his own knowledge, these lands are
vacant, and confessedly, therefore, by the laws of this as well as of
most other countries, in the absolute gift of government."
My Lords, as I said, Mr. Hastings becomes a witness, and I believe in
the course of the proceedings you will find a false witness, for Gunga
Govind Sing. "To my own knowledge," says he, "they are vacant." Why, I
cannot find that Mr. Hastings had ever been in Dinagepore; or if he had,
it must have been only as a passenger. He had not the supervision of the
district, in any other sense than with that kind of eagle eye which he
must have had over all Bengal, and which he had for no other purposes
than those for which eagles' eyes are commonly used. He becomes, you
see, a witness for Gunga Govind Sing, and orders to be given him, as a
recompense for all the iniquitous acts this man committed, the lands of
that very Rajah who through the hands of Gunga Govind Sing had given an
enormous bribe to Mr. Hastings. These lands were not without an
ownership, but were lands in the hands of the Rajah, and were to be
severed from the zemindary, and given to Gunga Govind Sing. The manner
of obtaining them is something so shocking, and contains such a number
of enormities completed in one act, that one can scarce imagine how such
a compound could exist.
This man, besides his office of dewan to the Calcutta Committee, which
gave him the whole management and power of the revenue, was, as I have
stated, at the head of all the registers in the kingdom, whose duty it
was to be a control upon him as dewan. As Mr. Hastings destroyed every
other constitutional settlement of the country, so the office which was
to be a check upon Gunga Govind Sing, namely, the register of the
country, had been superseded, and revived in another shape, and given to
the own son of this very man. God forbid that a son should not be under
a certain and reasonable subordination! But though in this country we
know a son may possibly be free from the control of his father, yet the
meanest slave is not in a more abject condition of slavery than a son is
in that country to his father; for it extends to the power of a Roman
parent. The office of register is to take care that a full and fair rent
is secured to government; and above all, it is his business to take care
of the body of laws, the _Rawaj-ul-Mulk_, or custom of the country, of
which he is the guardian as the head of the law. It was his business to
secure that fundamental law of the government, and fundamental law of
the country, that a zemindary cannot be split, or any portion of it
separated, without the consent of the government. This man betrayed his
trust, and did privately, contrary to the duty of his office, get this
minor Rajah, who was but an infant, who was but nine years old at the
time, to make over to him a part of his zemindary, to a large amount,
under color of a fraudulent and fictitious sale. By the laws of that
country, by the common laws of Nature, the act of this child was void.
The act was void as against the government, by giving a zemindary
without the consent of the government to the very man who ought to have
prevented such an act. He has the same sacred guardianship of minors
that the Chancellor of England has. This man got to himself those lands
by a fraudulent, and probably forged deed,--for that is charged too; but
whether it was forged or not, this miserable minor was obliged to give
the lands to him: he did not dare to quarrel with him upon such an
article; because he who would purchase could take. The next step was to
get one of his nearest relations to seem to give a consent; because
taking it of the minor was too gross. The relation, who could no more
consent by the law of that country than the law of this, gave apparently
his consent. And these were the very lands that Mr. Hastings speaks of
as "lands entirely at the disposal of government."
All this came before the Council. The moment Mr. Hastings was gone,
India seemed a little to respire; there was a vast, oppressive weight
taken off it, there was a mountain removed from its breast; and persons
did dare then, for the first time, to breathe their complaints. And
accordingly, this minor Rajah got some person kind enough to tell him
that he was a minor, that he could not part with his estate; and this,
with the other shocking and illegal parts of the process, was stated by
him to the Council, who had Mr. Hastings's recommendation of Gunga
Govind Sing before them. The Council, shocked to see a minor attempted
to be dispossessed in such a manner by him who was the natural guardian
of all minors, shocked at such an enormous, daring piece of iniquity,
began to inquire further, and to ask, "How came this his near relation
to consent?" He was apparently partner in the fraud. Partner in the
fraud he was, but not partner in the profit; for he was to do it without
getting anything for it: the wickedness was in him, and the profit in
Gunga Govind Sing. In consequence of this inquiry, the man comes down to
account for his conduct, and declares another atrocious iniquity, that
shows you the powers which Gunga Govind Sing possessed. "Gunga Govind
Sing," says he, "is master of the country; he had made a great festival
for the burial of his mother; all those of that caste ought to be
invited to the funeral festival; he would have disgraced me forever, if
I had not been invited to that funeral festival." These funeral
festivals, you should know, are great things in that country, and
celebrated in this manner, and, you may depend upon it, in a royal
manner by him, upon burying his mother: any person left out was marked,
despised, and disgraced. "But he had it in his power, and I was
threatened to be deprived of my caste by his register, who had the caste
in his absolute disposition." Says he, "I was under terror, I was under
duress, and I did it."
Gunga Govind Sing was fortified by the opinion, that the Governor,
though departed, virtually resided in that country. God grant that his
power may be extirpated out of it now! I doubt it; but, most assuredly,
it was residing in its plenitude when he departed from thence; and there
was not a man in India who was not of opinion, either that he was
actually to return to govern India again, or that his power is such in
England as that he might govern it here. And such were the hopes of
those who had intentions against the estates of others. Gunga Govind
Sing, therefore, being pressed to the wall by this declaration of the
Rajah's relation, when he could say nothing against it, when it was
clear and manifest, and there were only impudent barefaced denials, and
asseverations against facts which carried truth with themselves, did not
in his answer pretend to say that a zemindary might be parted without
the consent of the government, that a minor might be deprived of it,
that the next relation had a power of disposing of it. He did indeed
say, but nobody believed him, that he had used no force upon this
relation; but as every one knew the act would be void, he was driven to
Mr. Hastings's great refuge,--he was driven to say, "The government in
this country has arbitrary power; the power of government is everything,
the right of the subject nothing; they have at all times separated
zemindaries from their lawful proprietors. Give me what Mr. Hastings has
constantly given to other people without any right, or shadow or
semblance of right at all." God knows, it is well that I walk with my
authority in my hand; for there are such crimes, such portentous,
incredible crimes, to be brought before your Lordships, that it would
hardly be believed, were it not that I am constantly, as I hope I shall
constantly be, guarded with evidence, and that the strongest that can
be, even the evidence of the parties themselves.
"From your inquiry," Gunga Govind Sing says to the Council, "every
circumstance will appear in its true colors. With respect to the
alienation of parts of zemindaries, the extent and consequence of the
great zemindars depend in a great measure on the favor and countenance
of the ruling powers. By what means did this zemindar of Dinagepore get
possession of Purgunnah Buttassim after the death of Rycobad Chowdry in
1158, of Purgunnah Coolygong after the death of Sahebrance Chowderanne
in the same year, notwithstanding his heirs existed, and of Purgunnah
Suntoe, &c., during the lifetime of Sumboonant, the zemindar, in 1167,
all without right, title, or pecuniary consideration? This has been the
case with many purgunnahs in his zemindary, and indeed exists in many
other zemindaries besides since the Company's accession. Ramkissen, in
1172, got possession of Nurrulloor, the zemindary of Mahomed Ali. The
purgunnah of Ichanguipore, &c., was in three divisions in 1173. The
petition of Govind Deo Sheopersaud was made over to the son of Bousser
Chowdry, possessor of the third share. Purgunnah Baharbund belonged to
the zemindary of Ranny Bhowanny, and in 1180 was made over to Lucknaut
Nundy. All these changes took place in the lifetime of the rightful
possessors, without right, title, or purchase."
Your Lordships have not heard before of Lucknaut Nundy. He was the son
of a person of whom your Lordships have heard before, called Cantoo
Baboo, the banian of Mr. Hastings. Mr. Hastings has proved in abundance
of other cases that a grant to father and son is the same thing. The
fathers generally take out grants in the names of their sons: and the
Ranny Bhowanny, possessing the zemindary of Radshi, an old lady of the
first rank and family in India, was stripped of part of her zemindary,
and it was given to Lucknaut Nundy, the son of Mr. Hastings's banian;
and then (you see the consequence of good examples) comes Gunga Govind
Sing, and says, "I am as good a man as he; there is a zemindary given;
then do as much for Gunga Govind Sing as you have done for Cantoo
Baboo." Here is an argument drawn from the practice of Mr. Hastings. And
this shows your Lordships the necessity of suppressing such iniquities
by punishing the author of them. You will punish Mr. Hastings, and no
man will hereafter dare to rob minors, no man will hereafter dare to rob
widows, to give to the vilest of mankind, their own base instruments for
their own nefarious purposes, the lands of others, without right, title,
or purchase.
My Lords, I will not after this state to you the false representation of
the value of these lands which this man gave in to government. He
represented it to be much less than it was, when he desired the grant of
them,--as shall be stated, when it comes before your Lordships, at the
proper time. But at present I am only touching upon principles, and
bringing examples so far as they illustrate principles, and to show how
precedents spread.