to them, and where is the cabooleat, he refers them to Gunga Govind
Sing. "Give us," say they, "an account of this balance that remains in
your hands." "I know," says he, "of no balance." "Why, is there not a
cabooleat?" "Where is it? What are the date and circumstances of it?
There is no such cabooleat existing." This is the case even where you
have the name of the person through whose hands the money passed. But
suppose the inquiry went to the payments of the Patna cabooleat. "Here,"
they say, "we find half the money due: out of forty thousand pounds
there is only twenty thousand received: give us some account of it." Who
is to give an account of it? Here there is no mention made of the name
of the person who had the cabooleat: whom can they call upon? Mr.
Hastings does not remember; Mr. Larkins does not tell; they can learn
nothing about it. If the Directors had a disposition, and were honest
enough to the Proprietors and the nation to inquire into it, there is
not a hint given, by either of those persons, who received the Nuddea,
who received the Patna, who received the Dinagepore peshcush.
But in what court can a suit be instituted, and against whom, for the
recovery of this balance of 40,000_l._ out of 95,000_l._? I wish your
Lordships to examine strictly this account,--to examine strictly every
part, both of the account itself, and Mr. Larkins's explanation: compare
them together, and divine, if you can, what remedy the Company could
have for their loss. Can your Lordships believe that this can be any
other than a systematical, deliberate fraud, grossly conducted? I will
not allow Mr. Hastings to be the man he represents himself to be: he was
supposed to be a man of parts; I will only suppose him to be a man of
mere common sense. Are these the accounts we should expect from such a
man? And yet he and Mr. Larkins are to be magnified to heaven for great
financiers; and this is to be called book-keeping! This is the Bengal
account saved so miraculously on the 22d of May.
Next comes the Persian account. You have heard of a present to which it
refers. It has been already stated, but it must be a good deal farther
explained. Mr. Larkins states that this account was taken from a paper,
of which three lines, and only three lines, were read to him by a
Persian moonshee; and it is not pretended that this was the whole of it.
The three lines read are as follows.
"From the Nabob" (meaning the Nabob
of Oude) "to the Governor-General,
six lac £60,000
From Hussein Reza Khân and Hyder Beg
Khân to ditto, three lac 30,000
And ditto to Mrs. Hastings, one lac 10,000."
Here, I say, are the three lines that were read by a Persian moonshee.
Is he a man you can call to account for these particulars? No: he is an
anonymous moonshee; his name is not so much as mentioned by Mr. Larkins,
nor hinted at by Mr. Hastings; and you find these sums, which Mr.
Hastings mentions as a sum in gross given to himself, are not so. They
were given by three persons: one, six lacs, was given by the Nabob to
the Governor; another, of three lacs more, by Hussein Reza Khân [and
Hyder Beg Khân?]; and a third, one lac, by both of them clubbing, as a
present to Mrs. Hastings. This is the first discovery that appears of
Mrs. Hastings having been concerned in receiving presents for the
Governor-General and others, in addition to Gunga Govind Sing, Cantoo
Baboo, and Mr. Croftes. Now, if this money was not received for the
Company, is it proper and right to take it from Mrs. Hastings? Is there
honor and justice in taking from a lady a gratuitous present made to
her? Yet Mr. Hastings says he has applied it all to the Company's
service. He has done ill, in suffering it to be received at all, if she
has not justly and properly received it. Whether, in fact, she ever
received this money at all, she not being upon the spot, as I can find,
at the time, (though, to be sure, a present might be sent her,) I
neither affirm nor deny, farther than that, as Mr. Larkins says, there
was a sum of 10,000_l._ from these ministers to Mrs. Hastings. Whether
she ever received any other money than this, I also neither affirm nor
deny. But in whatever manner Mrs. Hastings received this or any other
money, I must say, in this grave place in which I stand, that, if the
wives of Governors-General, the wives of Presidents of Council, the
wives of the principal officers of the India Company, through all the
various departments, can receive presents, there is an end of the
covenants, there is an end of the act of Parliament, there is an end to
every power of restraint. Let a man be but married, and if his wife may
take presents, that moment the acts of Parliament, the covenants, and
all the rest expire. There is something, too, in the manners of the East
that makes this a much more dangerous practice. The people of the East,
it is well known, have their zenanah, the apartment for their wives, as
a sanctuary which nobody can enter,--a kind of holy of holies, a
consecrated place, safe from the rage of war, safe from the fury of
tyranny. The rapacity of man has here its bounds: here you shall come,
and no farther. But if English ladies can go into these zenanahs and
there receive presents, the natives of Hindostan cannot be said to have
anything left of their own. Every one knows that in the wisest and best
time of the Commonwealth of Rome, towards the latter end of it, (I do
not mean the best time for morals, but the best for its knowledge how to
correct evil government, and to choose the proper means for it,) it was
an established rule, that no governor of a province should take his wife
along with him into his province,--wives not being subject to the laws
in the same manner as their husbands; and though I do not impute to any
one any criminality here, I should think myself guilty of a scandalous
dereliction of my duty, if I did not mention the fact to your Lordships.
But I press it no further: here are the accounts, delivered in by Mr.
Larkins at Mr. Hastings's own requisition.
The three lines which were read out of a Persian paper are followed by a
long account of the several species in which this present was received,
and converted by exchange into one common standard. Now, as these three
lines of paper, which are said to have been read out of a Persian paper,
contain an account of bribes to the amount of 100,000_l._, and as it is
not even insinuated that this was the whole of the paper, but rather the
contrary indirectly implied, I shall leave it for your Lordships, in
your serious consideration, to judge what mines of bribery that paper
might contain. For why did not Mr. Larkins get the whole of that paper
read and translated? The moment any man stops in the midst of an
account, he is stopping in the midst of a fraud.
My Lords, I have one farther remark to make upon these accounts. The
cabooleats, or agreements for the payments of these bribes, amount, in
the three specified provinces, to 95,000_l._ Do you believe that these
provinces were thus particularly favored? Do you think that they were
chosen as a little demesne for Mr. Hastings? that they were the only
provinces honored with his protection, so far as to take bribes from
them? Do you perceive anything in their local situation that should
distinguish them from other provinces of Bengal? What is the reason why
Dinagepore, Patna, Nuddea, should have the post of honor assigned them?
What reason can be given for not taking bribes also from Burdwan, from
Bissunpore, in short, from all the sixty-eight collections which
comprise the revenues of Bengal, and for selecting only three? How came
he, I say, to be so wicked a servant, that, out of sixty-eight
divisions, he chose only three to supply the exigencies of the Company?
He did not do his duty in making this distinction, if he thought that
bribery was the best way of supplying the Company's treasury, and that
it formed the most useful and effectual resource for them,--which he has
declared over and over again. Was it right to lay the whole weight of
bribery, extortion, and oppression upon those three provinces, and
neglect the rest? No: you know, and must know, that he who extorts from
three provinces will extort from twenty, if there are twenty. You have a
standard, a measure of extortion, and that is all: _ex pede Herculem_:
guess from thence what was extorted from all Bengal. Do you believe he
could be so cruel to these provinces, so partial to the rest, as to
charge them with that load, with 95,000_l._, knowing the heavy
oppression they were sinking under, and leave all the rest untouched?
You will judge of what is concealed from us by what we have discovered
through various means that have occurred, in consequence both of the
guilty conscience of the person who confesses the fact with respect to
these provinces, and of the vigor, perseverance and sagacity of those
who have forced from him that discovery. It is not, therefore, for me to
say that the 100,000_l._ and 95,000_l._ only were taken. Where the
circumstances entitle me to go on, I must not be stopped, but at the
boundary where human nature has fixed a barrier.
You have now before you the true reason why he did not choose that this
affair should come before a court of justice. Rather than this exposure
should be made, he to-day would call for the mountains to cover him: he
would prefer an inquiry into the business of the three seals, into
anything foreign to the subject I am now discussing, in order to keep
you from the discovery of that gross bribery, that shameful peculation,
that abandoned prostitution and corruption, which he has practised with
indemnity and impunity to this day, from one end of India to the other.
At the head of the only account we have of these transactions stands
Dinagepore; and it now only remains for me to make some observations
upon Mr. Hastings's proceedings in that province. Its name, then, and
that money was taken from it, is all that appears; but from whom, by
what hands, by what means, under what pretence it was taken, he has not
told you, he has not told his employers. I believe, however, I can tell
from whom it was taken, and I believe it will appear to your Lordships
that it must have been taken from the unhappy Rajah of Dinagepore; and I
shall in a very few words state the circumstances attending, and the
service performed for it: from these you will be able to form a just
opinion concerning this bribe.
Dinagepore, a large province, was possessed by an ancient family, the
last of which, about the year 1184 of their era, the Rajah Bija Naut,
had no legitimate issue. When he was at the point of death, he wished to
exclude from the succession to the zemindary his half-brother, Cantoo
Naut, with whom he had lived upon ill terms for many years, by adopting
a son. Such an adoption, when a person has a half-brother, as he had, in
my poor judgment is not countenanced by the Gentoo laws. But Gunga
Govind Sing, who was placed, by the office he held, at the head of the
registry, where the records were kept by which the rules of succession
according to the custom of the country are ascertained, became master of
these Gentoo laws; and through his means Mr. Hastings decreed in favor
of the adoption. We find that immediately after this decree Gunga Govind
Sing received a cabooleat on Dinagepore for the sum of 40,000_l._, of
which it appears that he has actually exacted 30,000_l._, though he has
paid to Mr. Hastings only 20,000_l._ We find, before the young Rajah had
been in possession a year, his natural guardians and relations, on one
pretence or another, all turned out of their offices. The peshcush, or
fixed annual rent, payable to the Company for his zemindary, fell into
arrear, as might naturally be expected, from the Rajah's inability to
pay both his rent and this exorbitant bribe, extorted from a ruined
family. Instantly, under pretext of this arrearage, Gunga Govind Sing,
and the fictitious Committee which Mr. Hastings had made for his wicked
purposes, composed of Mr. Anderson, Mr. Shore, and Mr. Croftes, who were
but the tools, as they tell us themselves, of Gunga Govind Sing, gave
that monster of iniquity, Debi Sing, the government of this family. They
put this noble infant, this miserable Rajah, together with the
management of the provinces of Dinagepore and Rungpore, into his wicked
and abominable hands, where the ravages he committed excited what was
called a rebellion, that forced him to fly from the country, and into
which I do not wonder he should be desirous that a political and not a
juridical inquiry should be made. The savage barbarities which were
there perpetrated I have already, in the execution of my duty, brought
before this House and my country; and it will be seen, when we come to
the proof, whether what I have asserted was the effect either of a
deluded judgment or disordered imagination, and whether the facts I
state cannot be substantiated by authentic reports, and were none of my
invention, and, lastly, whether the means that were taken to discredit
them do not infinitely aggravate the guilt of the offenders. Mr.
Hastings wanted to fly from judicial inquiry; he wanted to put Debi Sing
anywhere but in a court of justice. A court of justice, where a direct
assertion is brought forward, and a direct proof applied to it, is an
element in which he cannot live for a moment. He would seek refuge
anywhere, even in the very sanctuary of his accusers, rather than abide
a trial with him in a court of justice. But the House of Commons was too
just not to send him to this tribunal, whose justice they cannot doubt,
whose penetration he cannot elude, and whose decision will justify those
managers whose characters he attempted to defame.
But this is not all. We find, that, after the cruel sale of this infant,
who was properly and directly under the guardianship of the Company,
(for the Company acts as steward and dewan of the province, which office
has the guardianship of minors,) after he had been robbed of 40,000_l._
by the hands of Gunga Govind Sing, and afterwards, under pretence of his
being in debt to the Company, delivered into the hands of that monster,
Debi Sing, Mr. Hastings, by way of anticipation of these charges, and in
answer to them, has thought proper to produce the certificate from this
unfortunate boy which I will now again read to you.
"I, Radanaut, Zemindar of Purgunnah Havelly Punjera, commonly
called Dinagepore:--As it has been learnt by me, the mutsuddies,
and the respectable officers of my zemindary, that the ministers of
England are displeased with the late Governor, Warren Hastings,
Esquire, upon the suspicion that he oppressed us, took money from
us by deceit and force, and ruined the country; therefore we, upon
the strength of our religion, which we think it incumbent on and
necessary for us to abide by, following the rules laid down in
giving evidence, declare the particulars of the acts and deeds of
Warren Hastings, Esquire, full of circumspection and caution,
civility and justice, superior to the caution of the most learned,
and, by representing what is fact, wipe away the doubts that have
possessed the minds of the ministers of England: that Mr. Hastings
is possessed of fidelity and confidence, and yielding protection to
us; that he is clear of the contamination of mistrust and wrong,
and his mind is free of covetousness or avarice. During the time of
his administration, no one saw other conduct than that of
protection to the husbandmen, and justice; no inhabitant ever
experienced afflictions, no one ever felt oppression from him. Our
reputations have always been guarded from attacks by his prudence,
and our families have always been protected by his justice. He
never omitted the smallest instance of kindness towards us, but
healed the wounds of despair with the salve of consolation, by
means of his benevolent and kind behavior, never permitting one of
us to sink in the pit of despondence. He supported every one by his
goodness, overset the designs of evil-minded men by his authority,
tied the hands of oppression with the strong bandage of justice,
and by these means expanded the pleasing appearance of happiness
and joy over us. He reëstablished justice and impartiality. We
were, during his government, in the enjoyment of perfect happiness
and ease, and many of us are thankful and satisfied. As Mr.
Hastings was well acquainted with our manners and customs, he was
always desirous, in every respect, of doing whatever would preserve
our religious rites, and guard them against every kind of accident
and injury, and at all times protected us. Whatever we have
experienced from him, and whatever happened from him, we have
written without deceit or exaggeration."
My Lords, this Radanaut, zemindar of the purgunnah, who, as your
Lordships hear, bears evidence upon oath to all the great and good
qualities of the Governor, and particularly to his absolute freedom from
covetousness,--this person, to whom Mr. Hastings appeals, was, as the
Committee state, a boy between five and six years old at the time when
he was given into the hands of Debi Sing, and when Mr. Hastings left
Bengal, which was in 1786 [1785?], was between eleven and twelve years
old. This is the sort of testimony that Mr. Hastings produces, to prove
that he was clear from all sort of extortion, oppression, and
covetousness, in this very zemindary of Dinagepore. This boy, who is so
observant, who is so penetrating, who is so accurate in his knowledge of
the whole government of Mr. Hastings, was, I say, when he left his
government, at the utmost, but eleven years and a half old. Now to what
an extremity is this unhappy man at your bar driven, when, oppressed by
this accumulative load of corruption charged upon him, and seeing his
bribery, his prevarication, his fraudulent bonds brought before you, he
gives the testimony of this child, who for the greatest part of his time
lived three hundred miles from the seat of Mr. Hastings's government!
Consider the miserable situation of this poor, unfortunate boy, made to
swear, with all the solemnities of his religion, that Mr. Hastings was
never guilty in his province of any act of rapacity! Such are the
testimonies, which are there called _razinamas_, in favor of Mr.
Hastings, with which all India is said to sound. Do we attempt to
conceal them from your Lordships? No, we bring them forth, to show you
the wickedness of the man, who, after he has robbed innocence, after he
has divided the spoil between Gunga Govind Sing and himself, gets the
party robbed to perjure himself for his sake,--if such a creature is
capable of being guilty of perjury. We have another razinama sent from
Nuddea, by a person nearly under the same circumstances with Radanaut,
namely, Maha Rajah Dirauje Seo Chund Behadre, only made to differ in
some expressions from the former, that it might not appear to originate
from the same hand. These miserable razinamas he delivers to you as the
collected voice of the country, to show how ill-founded the impressions
are which committees of the House of Commons (for to them they allude, I
suppose) have taken concerning this man, during their inquiries into the
management of the affairs of the Company in India.
Before I quit this subject, I have only to give you the opinion of Sir
Elijah Impey, a name consecrated to respect forever, (your Lordships
know him in this House as well as I do,) respecting these petitions and
certificates of good behavior.
* * * * *
"From the reasons and sentiments that they contain," &c.[9]
* * * * *
The moment an Englishman appears, as this gentleman does, in the
province of Dinagepore, to collect certificates for Mr. Hastings, it is
a command for them, the people, to say what he pleases.
And here, my Lords, I would wish to say something of the miserable
situation of the people of that country; but it is not in my commission,
and I must be silent, and shall only request your Lordships to observe
how this crime of bribery grows in its magnitude. First, the bribe is
taken, through Gunga Govind Sing, from this infant, for his succession
to the zemindary. Next follows the removal from their offices, and
consequent ruin, of all his nearest natural relations. Then the delivery
of the province to Debi Sing, upon the pretence of the arrears due to
the Company, with all the subsequent horrors committed under the
management of that atrocious villain. And lastly, the gross subornation
of perjury, in making this wretched minor, under twelve years of age,
bear testimony upon oath to the good qualities of Mr. Hastings and of
his government,--this minor, I say, who lived three hundred miles from
the seat of his government, and who, if he knew anything at all of his
own affairs, must have known that Mr. Hastings was the cause of all his
sufferings.
* * * * *
My Lords, I have now gone through the whole of what I have in charge. I
have laid before you the covenants by which the Company have thought fit
to guard against the avarice and rapacity of their Governors. I have
shown that they positively forbid the taking of all sorts of bribes and
presents; and I have stated the means adopted by them for preventing the
evasion of their orders, by directing, in all money transactions, the
publicity of them. I have farther shown, that, in order to remove every
temptation to a breach of their orders, the next step was the framing a
legal fiction, by which presents and money, under whatever pretence
taken, were made the legal property of the Company, in order to enable
them to recover them out of any rapacious hands that might violate the
new act of Parliament. I have also stated this act of Parliament. I have
stated Mr. Hastings's sense of it. I have stated the violation of it by
his taking bribes from all quarters. I have stated the fraudulent bonds
by which he claimed a security for money as his own which belonged to
the Company. I have stated the series of frauds, prevarications,
concealments, and all that mystery of iniquity, which I waded through
with pain to myself, I am sure, and with infinite pain, I fear, to your
Lordships. I have shown your Lordships that his evasions of the clear
words of his covenant and the clear words of an act of Parliament were
such as did not arise from an erroneous judgment, but from a corrupt
intention; and I believe you will find that his attempt to evade the law
aggravates infinitely his guilt in breaking it. In all this I have only
_opened_ to you the package of this business; I have opened it to
ventilate it, and give air to it; I have opened it, that a quarantine
might be performed,--that the sweet air of heaven, which is polluted by
the poison it contains, might be let loose upon it, and that it may be
aired and ventilated before your Lordships touch it. Those who follow me
will endeavor to explain to your Lordships what Mr. Hastings has
endeavored to involve in mystery, by bringing proof after proof that
every bribe that was here concealed was taken with corrupt purposes and
followed with the most pernicious consequences. These are things which
will be brought to you in proof. I have only regarded the system of
bribery; I have endeavored to show that it is a system of mystery and
concealment, and consequently a system of fraud.
You now see some of the means by which fortunes have been made by
certain persons in India; you see the confederacies they have formed
with one another for their mutual concealment and mutual support; you
will see how they reply to their own deceitful inquiries by fraudulent
answers; you will see that Cheltenham calls upon Calcutta, as one deep
calls upon another, and that the call which is made for explanation is
answered in mystery; in short, you will see the very constitution of
their minds here developed.