further presumption of his guilt, and which will show the mischievous
consequences of it; and I trust your Lordships will not blame me for
going a little into it. Your Lordships know we charge that the
appointment of such a woman as Munny Begum to the guardianship of the
Nabob, to the superintendency of the civil justice of the country, and
to the representation of the whole government, was made for no other
purpose than that through this corrupt woman sixteen thousand pounds a
year, the whole tattered remains of the Nabob's grandeur, might be a
prey to Mr. Hastings: it could be for no other. Now your Lordships would
imagine, that, after this, knowing he was already grievously suspected,
he would have abstained from giving any further ground for suspicion by
a repetition of the same acts through the same person; as no other
reason could be furnished for such acts, done directly contrary to the
order of his superiors, but that he was actuated by the influence of
bribery. Your Lordships would imagine, that, when this Munny Begum was
removed upon a charge of corruption, Mr. Hastings would have left her
quiet in tranquil obscurity, and that he would no longer have attempted
to elevate her into a situation which furnished against himself so much
disgrace and obloquy to himself, and concerning which he stood charged
with a direct and positive act of bribery. Your Lordships well know,
that, upon the deposition of that great magistrate, Mahomed Reza Khân,
this woman was appointed to supply his place. The Governor-General and
Council (the majority of them being then Sir John Clavering, Colonel
Monson, and Mr. Francis) had made a provisional arrangement for the
time, until they should be authorized to fill up the place in a proper
manner. Soon after, there came from Europe a letter expressing the
satisfaction which the Court of Directors had received in the acquittal
of Mahomed Reza Khân, expressing a regard for his character, an high
opinion of his abilities, and a great disposition to make him some
recompense for his extreme sufferings; and accordingly they ordered
that he should be again employed. Having no exact ideas of the state of
employments in that country, they made a mistake in the specific
employment for which they named him; for, being a Mahometan, and the
head of the Mahometans in that country, he was named to an office which
must be held by a Gentoo. But the majority I have just named, who never
endeavored by any base and delusive means to fly from their duty, or not
to execute it at all, because they were desired to execute it in a way
in which they could not execute it, followed the spirit of the order;
and finding that Mahomed Reza Khân, before his imprisonment and trial,
had been in possession of another employment, they followed the spirit
of the instructions of the Directors and replaced him in that
employment: by which means there was an end put to the government of
Munny Begum, the country reverted to its natural state, and men of the
first rank in the country were placed in the first situations in it. The
seat of judicature was filled with wisdom, gravity, and learning, and
Munny Begum sunk into that situation into which a woman who had been
engaged in the practices that she had been engaged in naturally would
sink at her time of life. Mr. Hastings resisted this appointment. He
trifled with the Company's orders on account of the letter of them, and
endeavored to disobey the spirit of them. However, the majority overbore
him; they put Mahomed Reza Khân into his former situation; and as a
proof and seal to the honor and virtue of their character, there was not
a breath of suspicion that they had any corrupt motive for this conduct.
They were odious to many of the India House here; they were odious to
that corrupt influence which had begun and was going on to ruin India;
but in the face of all this odium, they gave the appointment to Mahomed
Reza Khân, because the act contained in itself its own justification.
Mr. Hastings made a violent protest against it, and resisted it to the
best of his power, always in favor of Munny Begum, as your Lordships
will see. Mr. Hastings sent this protest to the Directors; but the
Directors, as soon as the case came before them, acknowledged their
error, and praised the majority of the Council, Sir John Clavering,
Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis, for the wise and honorable part they
had taken upon the occasion, by obeying the spirit and not the
letter,--commended the act they had done,--confirmed Mahomed Reza Khân
in his place,--and to prevent that great man from being any longer the
sport of fortune, any longer the play of avarice between corrupt
governors and dancing-girls, they gave him the pledged faith of the
Company that he should remain in that office as long as his conduct
deserved their protection: it was a good and an honorable tenure. My
Lords, soon afterwards there happened two lamentable deaths,--first of
Colonel Monson, afterwards of General Clavering. Thus Mr. Hastings was
set loose: there was an inspection and a watch upon his conduct, and no
more. He was then just in the same situation in which he had stood in
1772. What does he do? Even just what he did in 1772. He deposes Mahomed
Reza Khân, notwithstanding the Company's orders, notwithstanding their
pledged faith; he turns him out, and makes a distribution of two lacs
and a half of rupees, the salary of that great magistrate, in the manner
I will now show your Lordships. He made an arrangement consisting of
three main parts: the first was with regard to the women, the next with
regard to the magistracy, the last with regard to the officers of state
of the household.
The first person that occurred to Mr. Hastings was Munny Begum; and he
gave her, not out of that part of the Nabob's allowance which was to
support the seraglio, but out of the allowance of this very magistrate,
just as if such a thing had been done here out of the salary of a Lord
Chancellor or a Lord Chief-Justice,--out of these two lacs and a half of
rupees, that is, about twenty-four or twenty-five thousand pounds a
year, he ordered an allowance to be made to Munny Begum of 72,000 rupees
per annum, or 7,200_l._ a year; for the Nabob's own mother, whom he
thrust, as usual, into a subordinate situation, he made an allowance of
3,000_l._; to the Sudder ul Huk Khân, which is, translated into English,
the Lord Chief-Justice, he allowed the same sum that he did to the
dancing-girl, (which was very liberal in him, and I am rather astonished
to find it,) namely, 7,200_l._ a year. And who do you think was the next
public officer he appointed? It was the Rajah Gourdas, the son of
Nundcomar, and whose testimony he has attempted both before and since
this occasion to weaken. To him, however, he gave an employment of
6,000_l._ a year, as if to make through the son some compensation to the
manes of the father. And in this manner he distributes, with a wild and
liberal profusion, between magistrates and dancing-girls, the whole
spoil of Mahomed Reza Khân, notwithstanding the Company's direct and
positive assurance given to him. Everything was done, at the same time,
to put, as it was before, into the hands of this dancing-girl the
miserable Nabob's whole family; and that the fund for corruption might
be large enough, he did not take the money for this dancing-girl out of
the Nabob's separate revenue, of which he and the dancing-girl had the
private disposal between them.
Now upon what pretence did he do all this? The Nabob had represented to
Mr. Hastings that he was now of age,--that he was an independent,
sovereign prince,--that, being independent and sovereign in his
situation, and being of full age, he had a right to manage his own
concerns himself; and therefore he desired to be admitted to that
management. And, indeed, my Lords, ostensibly, and supposing him to have
been this independent prince, and that the Company had no authority or
had never exercised any authority over him through Mr. Hastings, there
might be a good deal said in favor of this request. But what was the
real state of the case? The Nabob was a puppet in the hands of Mr.
Hastings and Munny Begum; and you will find, upon producing the
correspondence, that he confesses that she was the ultimate object and
end of this request.
I think this correspondence, wherein a son is made to petition, in his
own name, for the elevation of a dancing-girl, his step-mother, above
himself and everybody else, will appear to your Lordships such a
curiosity as, I believe, is not to be found in the state correspondence
of the whole world. The Nabob begins thus:--"The excellency of that
policy by which her Highness the Begum" (meaning Munny Begum) "(may her
shadow be far extended!) formerly, during the time of her
administration, transacted the affairs of the nizamut in the very best
and most advantageous manner, was, by means of the delusions of enemies
disguised under the appearance of friends, hidden from me. Having lately
seriously reflected on my own affairs, I am convinced that it was the
effect of maternal affection, was highly proper, and for my
interest,--and that, except the said Begum is again invested with the
administration, the regulation and prosperity of this family, which is
in fact her own, cannot be effected. For this cause, from the time of
her suspension until now, I have passed my time, and do so still, in
great trouble and uneasiness. As all affairs, and particularly the
happiness and prosperity of this family, depend on your pleasure, I now
trouble you, in hopes that you, likewise concurring in this point, will
be so kind as to write in fit and proper terms to her Highness the
Begum, that she will always, as formerly, employ her authority in the
administration of the nizamut and the affairs of this family."
This letter, my Lords, was received upon the 23d of August; and your
Lordships may observe two things in it: first, that, some way or other,
this Nabob had been (as the fact was) made to express his desire of
being released from his subjection to the Munny Begum, but that now he
has got new lights, all the mists are gone, and he now finds that Munny
Begum is not only the fittest person to govern him, but the whole
country. This young man, whose incapacity is stated, and never denied,
by Mr. Hastings, and by Lord Cornwallis, and by all the rest of the
world who know him, begins to be charmed with the excellency of the
policy of Munny Begum. Such is his violent impatience, such the
impossibility of his existing an hour but under the government of Munny
Begum, that he writes again on the 25th of August, (he had really the
impatience of a lover,) and within five days afterwards writes
again,--so impatient, so anxious and jealous is this young man to be put
under the government of an old dancing-woman. He is afraid lest Mr.
Hastings should imagine that some sinister influence had prevailed upon
him in so natural and proper a request. He says, "Knowing it for my
interest and advantage that the administration of the affairs of the
nizamut should be restored to her Highness the Munny Begum, I have
already troubled you with my request, that, regarding my situation with
an eye of favor, you will approve of this measure. I am credibly
informed that some one of my enemies, from selfish views, has, for the
purpose of oversetting this measure, written you that the said Begum
procured from me by artifice the letter I wrote you on this subject.
This causes me the greatest astonishment. Please to consider, that
artifice and delusion are confined to cheats and impostors, and can
never proceed from a person of such exalted rank, who is the head and
patron of all the family of the deceased Nabob, my father,--and that to
be deluded, being a proof of weakness and folly, can have no relation to
me, except the inventor of this report considers me as void of
understanding, and has represented me to the gentlemen as a blockhead
and an idiot. God knows how harshly such expressions appear to me; but,
as the truth or falsehood has not yet been fully ascertained, I have
therefore suspended my demand of satisfaction. Should it be true, be so
kind as to inform me of it, that the person may be made to answer for
it."
My Lords, here is a very proper demand. The Nabob is astonished at the
suspicion, that such a woman as Munny Begum, whose trade in youth had
been delusion, should be capable of deluding anybody. Astonishing it
certainly was, that a woman who had been a deluder in youth should be
suspected to be the same in old age, and that he, a young man, should be
subject to her artifices. "They must suspect me to be a great
blockhead," he says, "if a man of my rank is to be deluded." There he
forgot that it is the unhappy privilege of great men to be cheated, to
be deluded, much more than other persons; but he thought it so
impossible in the case of Munny Begum, that he says, "Produce me the
traitor that could suppose it possible for me to be deluded, when I call
for this woman as the governor of the country. I demand satisfaction." I
rather wonder that Mr. Hastings did not inform him who it was that had
reported so gross and improbable a tale, and deliver him up to the fury
of the Nabob.
Mr. Hastings is absolutely besieged by him; for he receives another
letter upon the 3d of September. Here are four letters following one
another quick as post expresses with horns sounding before them. "Oh, I
die, I perish, I sink, if Munny Begum is not put into the government of
the country!--I therefore desire to have her put into the government of
the country, and that you will not keep me longer in this painful
suspense, but will be kindly pleased to write immediately to the Munny
Begum, that she take on herself the administration of the affairs of the
nizamut, which is, in fact, her own family, without the interference of
any other person whatever: by this you will give me complete
satisfaction." Here is a correspondence more like an amorous than a
state correspondence. What is this man so eager about, what in such a
rage about, that he cannot endure the smallest delay of the post with
common patience? Why, lest this old woman (who is not his mother, and
with whom he had no other tie of blood) should not be made mistress of
himself and the whole country! However, in a very few months afterwards
he himself is appointed by Mr. Hastings to the government; and you may
easily judge by the preceding letters who was to govern. It would be an
affront to your Lordships' judgment to attempt to prove who was to
govern, after he had desired to put the whole government of affairs into
the hands of Munny Begum.
Now, Munny Begum having obtained this salary, and being invested with
this authority, and made in effect the total and entire governor of the
country, as I have proved by the Nabob's letters, let us see the
consequences of it; and then I desire to know whether your Lordships can
believe that in all this haste, which, in fact, is Mr. Hastings's haste
and impatience, (for we shall prove that the Nabob never did or could
take a step but by his immediate orders and directions,)--whether your
Lordships can believe that Mr. Hastings would incur all the odium
attending such transactions, unless he had some corrupt consideration.
My Lords, very soon after these appointments were made, consisting of
Munny Begum at the head of the affairs, the Lord Chief-Justice under
her, and under her direction, and Rajah Gourdas as steward of the
household, the first thing we hear is, just what your Lordships expect
to hear upon such a case, that this unfortunate chief-justice, who was a
man undoubtedly of but a poor, low disposition, but, I believe, a
perfectly honest, perfectly well-intentioned man, found it absolutely
impossible for him to execute his office under the direction of Munny
Begum; and accordingly, in the month of September following, he sends a
complaint to Mr. Hastings, "that certain bad men had gained an
ascendency over the Nabob's temper, by whose instigation he acts." After
complaining of the slights he receives from the Nabob, he adds, "Thus
they cause the Nabob to treat me, sometimes with indignity, at others
with kindness, just as they think proper to advise him: their view is,
that, by compelling me to displeasure at such unworthy treatment, they
may force me either to relinquish my station, or to join with them, and
act by their advice, and appoint creatures of their recommendation to
the different offices, from which they might draw profit to themselves."
This is followed by another letter, in which he shows who those corrupt
men were that had gained the ascendency over the Nabob's
temper,--namely, the eunuchs of Munny Begum: one of them her direct
instrument in bribery with Mr. Hastings. What you would expect from such
a state of things accordingly happened. Everything in the course of
justice was confounded; all official responsibility destroyed; and
nothing but a scene of forgery, peculation, and knavery of every kind
and description prevailed through the country, and totally disturbed all
order and justice in it. He says, "The Begum's ministers, before my
arrival, with the advice of their counsellors, caused the Nabob to sign
a receipt, in consequence of which they received at two different times
near fifty thousand rupees, in the name of the officers of the Adawlut,
Foujdarry, &c., from the Company's circar; and having drawn up an
account-current in the manner they wished, they got the Nabob to sign
it, and then sent it to me." In the same letter he asserts "that these
people have the Nabob entirely in their power."
My Lords, you see here Mr. Hastings enabling the corrupt eunuchs of this
wicked old woman to draw upon the Company's treasury at their pleasure,
under forged papers of the Nabob, for just such moneys as they please,
under the name and pretence of giving it to the officers of justice, but
which they distribute among themselves as they think fit. This complaint
was soon followed by another, and they furnish, first, the strongest
presumptive proof of the corrupt motives of Mr. Hastings; and, secondly,
they show the horrible mischievous effects of his conduct upon the
country.
In consequence of the first complaint, Mr. Hastings directs this
independent Nabob not to concern himself any longer with the Foujdarry.
The Nabob, who had before declared that the superintendence of all the
offices belonged to him, and was to be executed by himself, or under his
orders, instantly obeys Mr. Hastings, and declares he will not interfere
in the business of the courts any more. Your Lordships will observe
further that the complaint is not against the Nabob, but against the
creatures and the menial servants of Munny Begum: and yet it is the
Nabob he forbids to interfere in this business; of the others he takes
no notice; and this is a strong proof of the corrupt dealings of Mr.
Hastings with this woman. When the whole country was fallen into
confusion under the administration of this woman, and under her corrupt
ministers, men base-born and employed in the basest offices, (the men of
the household train of the women of rank in that country are of that
description,) he writes to the Nabob again, and himself confesses the
mischiefs that had arisen from his corrupt arrangements.
"At your Excellency's request, I sent Sudder ul Huk Khân to take on him
the administration of the affairs of the Adawlut and Foujdarry, and
hoped by that means not only to have given satisfaction to your
Excellency, but that through his abilities and experience these affairs
would have been conducted in such manner as to have secured the peace of
the country and the happiness of the people; and it is with the greatest
concern I learn that this measure is so far from being attended with the
expected advantages, that the affairs both of the Foujdarry and Adawlut
are in the greatest confusion imaginable, and daily robberies and
murders are perpetrated throughout the country. This is evidently owing
to the want of a proper authority in the person appointed to superintend
them. I therefore addressed your Excellency on the importance and
delicacy of the affairs in question, and of the necessity of lodging
full power in the hands of the person chosen to administer them. In
reply to which your Excellency expressed sentiments coincident with
mine. Notwithstanding which, your dependants and people, actuated by
selfish and avaricious views, have by their interference so impeded the
business as to throw the whole country into a state of confusion, from
which nothing can retrieve it but an unlimited power lodged in the hands
of the superintendent. I therefore request that your Excellency will
give the strictest injunctions to all your dependants not to interfere
in any manner with any matter relative to the affairs of the Adawlut and
Foujdarry, and that you will yourself relinquish all interference
therein, and leave them entirely to the management of Sudder ul Huk
Khân. This is absolutely necessary to restore the country to a state of
tranquillity."
My Lords, what evidence do we produce to your Lordships of the
consequences of Mr. Hastings's corrupt measures? His own. He here gives
you the state into which the country was thrown by the criminal
interference of the wicked woman whom he had established in power,
totally superseding the regular judicial authority of the country, and
throwing everything into confusion. As usual, there is such irregularity
in his conduct, and his crimes are so multiplied, that all the
contrivances of ingenuity are unable to cover them. Now and then he
comes and betrays himself; and here he confesses you his own weakness,
and the effects of his own corruption: he had appointed Munny Begum to
this office of power, he dare not say a word to her upon her abuse of
it, but he lays the whole upon the Nabob. When the Chief-Justice
complains that these crimes were the consequence of Munny Begum's
interference, and were committed by her creatures, why did he not say to
the Nabob, "The Begum must not interfere; the Begum's eunuchs must not
interfere"? He dared not: because that woman had concealed all the
bribes but one from public notice to gratify him; she and Yatibar Ali
Khân, her minister, who had the principal share in this destruction of
justice and perversion of all the principal functions of government, had
it in their power to discover the whole. Mr. Hastings was obliged, in
consequence of that concealment, to support her and to support him.
Every evil principle was at work. He bought a mercenary silence to pay
the same back to them. It was a wicked silence, the concealment of their
common guilt. There was at once a corrupt gratitude operating mutually
by a corrupt influence on both, and a corrupt fear influencing the mind
of Mr. Hastings, which did not permit him to put an end to this scene of
disorder and confusion, bought at the expense of twenty-four thousand
pounds a year to the Company. You will hereafter see what use he makes
of the evidence of Yatibar Ali Khân, and of this woman, for concealing
their guilt.
Your Lordships will observe that the virtuous majority, whose reign was
but short, and two of whom died of grief and vexation under the
impediments which they met with from the corruptions and oppositions of
Mr. Hastings, (their indirect murderer,--for it is well known to the
world that their hearts were thus broken,) put their conduct out of all
suspicion. For they ordered an exact account to be kept by Mahomed Reza
Khân,--though, certainly, if any person in the country could be trusted,
he, upon his character, might; but they did not trust him, because they
knew the Company did not suffer them to trust any man: they ordered an
exact account to be kept by him of the Nabob's expenses, which finally
must be the Company's expenses; they ordered the account to be sent down
yearly, to be controlled, if necessary, whilst the means of control
existed.--What was Mr. Hastings's conduct? He did not give the persons
whom he appointed any order to produce any account, though their
character and circumstances were such as made an account ten thousand
times more necessary from them than from those from whom it had been in
former times by the Company strictly exacted. So that his not ordering
any account to be given of the money that was to be expended leaves no
doubt that the appointment of Munny Begum was in pursuance of his old
system of bribery, and that he maintained her in office, to the
subversion of public justice, for the purpose of robbing, and of
continuing in the practice of robbing, the country.