Now hear
what he afterwards says.
what he afterwards says.
Edmund Burke
Hastings's
regulation, which put everything into the hands of
this wicked woman for her corrupt purposes, was,
that the office of chief-justice was trampled upon and
depraved, anid made use of to plunder the Company of money, which was appropriated to their own
uses, --and that thle person ostensibly holding this
? ? ? ? 'SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 249
office was forced to become the instrument in the
hands of this wicked woman and her two wicked
eunuchs. This, then, was the representation which
the chief-justice made to Mr. Hastings, as one of the
very first fruits of his new arrangement. I am now to
tell you what his next step was. This same Mr. Hastings, who had made the Nabob master of everything and placed everything at his disposal, who had maintained that the Nabob was not to act a secondary part and to be a mere instrument in the hands of the Company, who had, as you have seen, revived the Nabob, now puts him to death again. He pretends to be
shocked at these proceedings of the Nabob, and, not
being able to prevent their coming before the Council
of the Directors at home, he immediately took Sudder ul Huk Khan under his protection.
Now your Lordships see Mr. Hastings appearing
in his own character again, - exercising the power
he had pretended to abdicate, whilst the Nabob sinks
and subsides under him. He becomes the supporter
of Sudder ul Huk Khan, now that the infamy of the
treatment he received could no longer be concealed
from the Council. On the 1st of September, 1778,
the Governor informs the Nabob, "that it is highly expedient that Sudder ul Huk Khan should have
full control in all matters relative to his office, and
the sole appointment and dismission of the sudder
and mofussil officers; and that his seal and signature
should be authentic to all papers having relation to
the business intrusted to hlim: I therefore intimate
to you, that lie should appoint and dismiss all the
officers under him, and that your Excellency should
not interfere in ally one [way? ]. "
The Nabob, in a letter to the Governor, received the
? ? ? ? 250 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
3d of September, 1778, says, -- " Agreeably to your
pleasure, I have relinquished all concern with the
affairs of the foujdarry and adawlut, leaving the entire management in Sudder ul Huk Kha'n's hands. "
Here you see the Nabob again reduced to his former state of subordination. This chief-justiceship,
which was declared to be his inherent right, he is
obliged to submit to the control of Mr. Hastings,
and to declare that he will not interfere at all ill a
matter which Mr. Hastings had declared to be his incommunicable attribute. I do not say that Mr. Hastings interfered improperly. Certainly it was not fit that the highest court of justice in all Bengal should
be made the instrument of the rapacity of a set of
villains with a prostitute at their head: just as if
a gang of thieves in England, with their prostitutes
at their head, should seize the judge which ought to
punish them, and endeavor to make use of his name
in their iniquitous transactions. But your Lordships
will find that Mr. Hastings is here acting a merely
ostensible part, and that he has always a means of
defeating privately what he declares publicly to be
his intention. Your Lordships will see soon how
this ended. Mr. Hastings gets the Nabob to give up
all his authority over the chief-justice; but he says
not one word of Munny Begum, the person who had
the real authority in her hands, and who was not
forbidden to interfere with him. Mr. Hastings's order is dated the 1st September, 1778. On the 3d of
September, the Nabob is said to have relinquished all
concern with Sudder ul Huk Khan. In a letter received the 30th of September, (that is, about twentyseven days after the date of Mr. Hastings's order,) you will see how this pretended order was managed.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 251
Sudder ul Huk Klhan thus writes, in a letter received the 30th of September.
" Yatibar Ali Khan," (Munny Begum's chief eunuch,) " from the amount of salaries of the officers
of the adawlut and foujdarry, which before my arrival lie had received for two months from the sircar,
made disbursements according to his own pleasure.
Hte had before caused the sum of 7,400 rupees,
on account of the price of mine and my peshcar's
khelauts, to be carried to account, and now continually sends a mall to demand from me 4,300 and odd
rupees, as a balance of the price of khelauts, and constantly presses me to take it from the amount of the
salaries of the officers of the adawlut and foujdarry
and send it to him; and I shall be under the necessity of complying. I mention this for your information. "
My Lords, you see again how Mr. Hastings's pretended orders were obeyed. They were orders addressed to the Nabob, whom he knew to be nothing, and who could neither control or take the least share in the execution of them; but he leaves the
thing loose as to Munny Begum and her eunuchs,
who he knew could alone carry them into effect.
Your Lordships see that the first use made of the
restored authority of the Nabob was, under various
pretences, to leave the salaries of the officers of government unprovided for, to rob the public treasury,
and to give the Company's money to the eunuchs,
who were acting in the manner I have stated to
you.
Information of these proceedings reaches Calcutta;
a regular complaint from a person in the highest
? ? ? ? 252 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
situation in the government is made, and the Governor-General is obliged again to take up the matter;
and I shall now read to your Lordships a letter of the
10th of October, 1778, which contains a representationl so pointed and so very just of the fatal effects
which his interference in the administration of justice had produced as not to stand in need of any
comment from me. It speaks too plainly to require
any.
The Governor-General's Letter to the Nabob.
"At your Excellency's request I sent Sudder ul
Huk Kha11 to take on himl 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 youl
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
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- EIGHTH DAY. 253
interference so impeded the business as to throw the
whole country into a state of confusion, from whlich
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 ilterference therein, and leave them entirely to the management of Sudder ul Huk
Khan. This is absolutely necessary to restore the
country to a state of tranquillity; and if your Excellency has any plan to propose for the management of the affairs in future, be pleased to communicate it to
me, and every attention shall be paid to give your
Excellency satisfaction. "
My Lords, I think I have read enough to you for
our present purpose, - referring your Lordships for
fuller information to your Minutes, page 1086, which
I beg you to read with the greatest attention.
I must again beg your Lordships to remark, that,
though Mr. Hastings has the impudence still to pretend that he wishes for the restoration of order and justice in the country, yet, instead of writing to Munny Begum upon the business, whom he knew to be the very object complained of, and whose eunuchs are
expressly mentioned in the complaint, he writes to
the Nabob, whom he knew to be a pageant in his
own court and government, and whose name was
not even mentioned in this last complaint. Not one
word is said, even in this letter to the Nabob, of
Munny Begum or of her eunuchs. My Lords, wleii
you consider his tacit support of the authors of thl}
? ? ? ? 254 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
grievance, and his ostensible application for redress
to the man who he knew never authorized and could
not redress the grievance, you must conclude that
he meant to keep the country in the same state for
his own corrupt purposes. In this state the country in fact continued; Munny Begum and her eunuchs continued to administer and squander the Company's money, as well as the Nabob's; robberies
and murders continued to prevail throughout the
country. No appearance was left of order, law, or
justice, from one end of Bengal to the other.
The account of this state of things was received by
the Court of Directors with horror and indignation.
On the 27th of May, 1779, they write, as you will
find in page 1063 of your printed Minutes, a letter to
their government at Calcutta, condemning their proceedings and the removal of Mahomed Reza Khan,
and they order that Munny Begum shall be displaced,
and Mahomed Reza Khan restored again to the seat
of justice.
Mr. Francis, upon the arrival of these reiterated
orders, moved in Council for an obedience to them.
Mr. Hastings, notwithstanding he had before his eyes
all the horrible consequences that attended his new
arrangement, still resists that proposition. By his
casting voice in the Council he counter-orders the
orders of the Court of Directors, and sanctions a direct disobedience to their authority, by a resolution
that Mahomed Reza Khan should not be restored
to his employment, but that this Sudder ul Huk
Kha'n, who still continued in the condition already
described, should remain in the possession of his
office. I say nothing of Sudder ul IHuk Khan; he
seems to be very well disposed to do his duty, if
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 255
Mr. Hastings's arrangements had suffered him to do
it; and indeed, if Mahomed Reza Klian had been
reinstated, and no better supported by Mr. Hastings
than Sudder ul Huk Khan, he could probably have
kept the country in no better order, though, perhaps,
his name, and the authority and weight which still
adhered to him in some degree, might have had some
influence.
My Lords, you have seen his defiance of the Company; you have seen his defiance of all decency;
you see his open protection of prostitutes and robbers of every kind ravaging Bengal; you have seen
this defiance of the authority of the Court of Directors flatly, directly, and peremptorily persisted in
to the last. Order after order was reiterated, but his
disobedience arose with an elastic spring in proportion
to the pressure that was upon it.
My Lords, here there was a pause. The Directors
had been disobeyed; and you might suppose that
he would have been satisfied with this act of disobedience. My Lords, he was resolved to let the native governments of the country know that he despised the orders of the Court of Directors, and that, whenever he pretended to obey them, in reality he
was resolved upon the most actual disobedience. An
event now happened, the particulars of which we
are not to repeat here. Disputes, conducted, on Mr.
Francis's side, upon no other principle, that we can
discover, but a desire to obey the Company's orders,
and to execute his duty with fidelity and disinterestedness, had arisen between him and Mr. Hastings.
Mr. Francis, about the time we have been speaking
of, finding resistance was vain, reconciles himself
to him, --but on the most honorable terms as a
? ? ? ? 256 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
public man, namely, that he should continue to follow and obey the laws, and to respect the authority
of the Court of Directors. Upon this reconciliation,
it was agreed that Mahomed Reza Khall should be
restored to his office. For this purpose Mr. Hastings
enters a minute, and writes to the Nabob an ostensible letter. But your Lordships will here see an instance of what I said respecting a double current in all Mr. Hastings's proceedings. Even when he
obeys or pretends to obey the Company's orders,
there is always a private channel through which he
defeats them all.
Letter from M1r. Hastings to the Nabob Mobarek ul
bowlah, written the 10th of February, 1780.
"The Company, whose orders are peremptory,
have directed that Mahomed Reza Klihn shall be
restored to the offices he held in January, 1778. It
is my duty to represent this to your Excellency, and
to recommend your compliance with their request,
that Mahomed Reza Khtan may be invested with the
offices assigned to him under the nizamut by the
Company. "
Your Lordships see here that Mr. Hastings informs
the Nabob, that, having received peremptory orders
from the Company, he restores and replaces Mahomed
Reza Khan. Mahomed Reza Klhan, then, is in possession, - and ill possession by the best of all titles,
the orders of the Company. But you will also see
the manner in which lie evades his duty, and vilifies in the eyes of these miserable country powers
the authority of the Directors. He is prepared, as
usual, with a defeasance of his own act; and the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. --- EIGHTH DAY. 257
manner in which that defeasance came to our knowledge is this. We knew nothing of this private affair,
till Mr. Hastings, in his answer before the House of
Commons, finding it necessary to destroy the validity
of some of his own acts, brought forward Sir John
D'Oyly. He was brought forward before us, not
as a witness in his own person for the defence of
Mlr. Hastings, but as a narrator who had been employed by Mr. Hastings as a member of that Council which, as you have heard, drew up his defence. My Lords, you have already seen the public agency
of this business, you have heard read the public letter sent to the Nabob: there you see the ostensible
part of the transaction. Now hear the banian, Sir
John D'Oyly, give an account of his part in it, extracted from Mr. Hastings's defence before the House
of Commons.
"I was appointed Resident [at the Court of the
Nabob] on the resignation of Mr. Byam Martin,
in the month of January, 1780, and took charge
about the beginning of February of the same year.
The substance of the instructions I received was, to
endeavor, by every means in my power, to conciliate
the good opinion and regard of the Nabob and his
family, that I might be able to persuade him to
adopt effectual measures for the better regulation
of his expenses, which were understood to have
greatly exceeded his income; that I might prevent
his forming improper connections; or taking any
steps derogatory. to his rank, and by every means
in my power support his credit and dignity in the
eyes of the world; and with respect to the various
branches of his family, I was instructed to endeavor
VOL. XII. 17
? ? ? ? 258 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
to put a stop to the dissensions which had too frequently prevailed amongst them. The Nabob, on
his part, was recommended to pay the same attention to my advice as lie would have done to that
of the Governor-General in person. Some time, I
think, in the month of February of the same year,
I received a letter from Mr. Hastings, purporting
that the critical situation of affairs requiring the
union and utmost exertion of every member of the
government to give vigor to the acts necessary for
its relief; he had agreed to an accommodation with
Mr. Francis; but to effect this point he had been
under the necessity of making some painful sacrifices, and particularly that of the restoration of Mahomed Reza Khlan to the office of Naib Suball,
a measure which lie knew must be highly disagreeable to the Nabob, and which nothing but the
urgent necessity of the case should have led him
to acquiesce in; that he relied on me to state all
these circumstances in the most forcible manner to
the Nabob, and to urge his compliance, assuring him
that it sliould not continue longer than until the
next advices were received from the Court of Directors. "
Here Mr. Hastings himself lets us into the secrets
of his government. He writes an ostensible letter to
the Nabob, declaring that what he does is in conformity to the orders of the Company. He writes a private letter, in which he directs his agent to assure the
Nabob that what he had done was not in compliance
with the orders of the Company, but in consequence
of the arrangement he had made with Mr. Francis,
which arranigement he thought necessary for the sup
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 259
port of his own personal power. His design, in thus
explaining the transaction to the Nabob, was in order
to prevent the native powers from looking to any
other authority than his, and from having the least
hopes of redress of their complaints from the justice
of this country or from any legal power in it. He
therefore tells hirm that Mahomed Reza Khan was
replaced, not in obedience to the orders of the Company, but to gratify Mr. Francis. If he quarrels
with Mr. Francis, he makes that a reason for disobey[ng the orders of his masters; if he agrees with him, le informs the people concerned in the transaction,
privately, that he acts, not in consequence of the orders that he has received, but from other motives. But that is not all. He promises that he will take
the first opportunity to remove Mahomed Reza Khan
from his office again. Thus the country is to be replunged into the same distracted and ruined state in which it was before. And all this is laid open fully
and distinctly before you. You have it on the authority of Sir John D'Oyly. Sir John D'Oyly is a
person in the secret; and one man who is in the
secret is worth a thousand ostensible persons.
Mahomed Reza Khan, I must now tell you, was
accordingly reinstated in all his offices, and the Nabob was reduced to the situation, as Mr. Hastings upon another occasion describes it, of a mere cipher.
But mark what followed, - mark what this Sir John
D'Oyly is made to tell you, or what Mr. Hastings
tells you for him: for whether Sir John D'Oyly has
written this for Mr. Hastings, or Mr. Hastings for
Sir John D'Oyly, I do not know; because they seem,
as somebody said of two great friends, tbhat they had but
one will, one bed, and one hat between them. These
? ? ? ? 260 JMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
gentlemen who compose Mr. Hastings's Council have
but one style of writing among them; so that it is
impossible for you to determine by which of the masters of this Roman school any paper was written, whether by D'Oyly, by Shore, or by Hastings, or any
other of them. They have a style in common, a
kind of bank upon which they have a general credit;
and you cannot tell to whose account anything is to
be placed.
But to proceed. -Sir John D'Oyly says there, that
the Nabob is reduced again to a cipher.
Now hear
what he afterwards says. "About the month of
June, 1781, Mr. Hastings, being then at Moorshedabad, communicated to me his intention of performing his promise to the Nabob, by restoring him to the
management of his own affairs," - that is to say, by
restoring Munny Begum again, and by turning out
Mahomed Reza Khan. Your Lordships see that he
communicated privately his intentions to Sir John
D'Oyly, without communicating one word of them to
his colleagues in the Supreme Council, and without
entering any minute in the records of the Council,
by which it could be known to the Directors.
Lastly, in order to show you in what manner the
Nabob was to be restored to his power, I refer your
Lordships to the order he gave to Sir John D'Oyly for
investigating the Nabob's accounts, and for drawing
up articles of instructions for the Nabob's conduct ill
the management of his affairs. . You will there see
clearly how he was restored: that is to say, that he
was taken ot. t of the hands of the first Mussulman in
that country, the man most capable of administering
justice, and whom the Company had expressly orde-ed to be invested with that authority, and to put
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 261
him into the hands of Sir John D'Oyly. Is Sir John
D'Oyly a Mussulman? Is Sir John D'Oyly fit to be
at the head of such a government? What was there
that any person could see about him, that entitled
him to or made him a fit person to be intrusted
with this power, in defiance of the Company's orders?
And yet Mahomed Reza Khan, who was to have the
management of the Nabob's affairs, was himself put
under the most complete and perfect subjection to
this Sir John D'Oyly. But, in fact, Munny Begum had the real influence in everything. Sir John
D'Oyly himself was only Mr. Hastings's instrument
there to preserve it, and between them they pillaged
the Nabob in the most shocking manner, and must
have done so to the knowledge of Mr. Hastings. A
letter written at this time by Mr. Hastings to the Nabob discovers the secret beyond all power of evasion. Instructions from the Governor-General to the Nabob
Mobarek ul Dowlah, respecting his Conduct in the
Management of his Affairs.
" 9th. These I make the conditions of the compliance which the Governor-General and Council have yielded to your late requisition. It is but just that
you should possess what is your acknowledged right;
but their intention would be defeated, and you would
be in a worse situation, if you were to be left a prey,
without a guide, until you have acquired experience,
(which, to the strength and goodness of your understanding, will be the work but of a short period,) to the rapacity, frauds, and artifices of mankind. You
have offered to give up the sum of four lacs of rupees
to be allowed the free use of the remainder of your
stipend. This we have refused, because it would be
? ? ? ? 262 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
contrary to justice. You should consider this as a
proof of the sincerity of the above arrangements
which have been recommended to you, and of their
expediency to your real interests; and your attention
to them will be a means of reconciling the Company
to the resolution which we have taken, and which will
be reported to them in a light very hurtful both to
you and to us, if an improper effect should attend it.
These I have ordered Sir John D'Oyly to read in your
presence, and to explain them to you, that no part of
them may escape your notice; and he has my positive
orders to remonstrate to you against every departure
from them. Upon all these occasions, I hope and
expect that you will give him a particular and cordial
attention, and regard what he shall say as if said by
myself; for I know him to be a person of the strictest honor and integrity. I have a perfect reliance on him; and you cannot have a more attached or more
disinterested counsellor. Although I desire to receive
your letters frequently, yet, as many matters will occur which cannot so easily be explained by letter as
by conversation, I desire that you will on such occasions give your orders to him respecting such points
as you may desire to have imparted to me; and I,
postponing every other concern, will give you an immediate and the most satisfactory reply concerning
them. "
My Lords, here is a man who is to administer his
own affairs, who has arrived at sufficient age to supersede the counsel and advice of the great Mahomietan doctors and the great nobility of the country, and lie is put under the most absolute guardianship
of Sir Jolin D'Oyly. But Mr. Hastings has given
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- EIGHTH DAY. 263
Sir John D'Oyly a great character. I cannot confirm
it, because I can confirm the character of none of Mr.
Hastings's instruments. They must stand forth here,
and defend their own character before you.
Your Lordships will now be pleased to advert to
another circumstance in this transaction. You see
here 40,0001. a year offered by this man for his
redemption. " I will give you," he says, " 40,0001. a
year to have the management of my own affairs. "
Good heavens! Here is a man, who, accordilng to Mr.
Hastings's assertion, had an indisputable right to the
management of his own affairs, but at the same time
was notoriously so little fit to have the management
of them as to be always under some corrupt tyranny
or other, offers 40,0001. a year out of his own revenues to be left his own master, and to be permitted to have the disposal of the remainder. Judge you of the
bribery, rapine, and peculation wlhich here stare you
in the face. Judge of the inature and character of that
government for the mainagement of which 40,0001. .
out of 160,0001. a year of its revenue, is offered by a
subordinate to the supreme authority of the country.
This offer shows that at this timne the Nabob had it
not himself. Who had it? Sir John D'Oyly; he is
brought forward as the person to whom is given the
management of the whole. Munny Begum had the
management before. But, whether it be an Englishmanl, a Mussulman,l a white man or a black man, a white woman or a black wvoman, it is all Warren
Hastin gs.
With respect to the four lacs of rupees, he gets
Sir John D'Oyly, in the narrative that he makes
before the House of Commons, positively to deny in
the strongest manner, and he says the Nabob would
? ? ? ? 264 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
give oath of it, that the Nabob never gave a commission to any one to make such an offer. That such an offer was made had been long published and long
in print, with the remarks such as I have made upon
it in the Ninth Report of the Select Committee; that
the Committee had so done was well known to Mr.
Hastings and Sir John D'Oyly; not one word on the
part of Mr. Hastings, not one word on the part of Sir
John D'Oyly was said to contradict it, until the appearance of the latter before the House of Commons. But, my Lords, there is something much more serious in this transaction. It is this, -- that the evidence produced by Mr. Hastings is the evidence of witnesses
who are mere phantoms; they are persons who could
not, under Mr. Hastings's government, eat a bit of
bread but upon his own terms, and they are brought
forward to give such evidence as may answer his purposes.
You would naturally have imagined, that, in the
House of Commons, where clouds of witnesses had
been before produced by the friends and agents of Mr.
Hastings, he would then have brought forward Sir
John to contradict this reported offer; but not a word
from Sir John D'Oyly. At last he is examined before
the Committee of Managers. He refuses to answer.
Why? Because his answers might criminate himself.
My Lords, every answer that most of them have been
required to make they are sensible they cannot make
without danger of criminating themselves, being all
involved in the crimes of the prisoner. He has corrupted and ruined the whole service; there is not one of them that dares appear and give a fair and full
answer in any case, as you have seen in Mr. Middleton, and many others at your bar. "I will not
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - EIGHTH DAY. 265
answer this question," they say, " because it tends to
criminate myself. " How comes it that the Company's
servants are not able to give evidence in the affairs of
Mr. Hastings, without its tending to criminate themselves?
Well, -- Sir John D'Oyly is in England, - why is
he not called now? I have not the honor of being
intimately acquainted with him, but lie is a mall
of a reputable and honorable family. Why is he not
called by Mr. Hastings to verify the assertion, and
why do they suffer this black record to stand before
your Lordships to be urged by us, and to press it
as we do against him? If he knows that Sir John
D'Oyly can acquit him of this part of our accusation,
he would certainly bring him as a witness to yohr
bar; but he knows he cannot. When, therefore, I
see upon your records that Sir John D'Oyly and Mr.
Hastings received such an offer for the redemption
of the Nabob's affairs out of their hands, I conclude,
first, that at the time of this offer the Nabob had not
the disposal of his own affairs, -and, secondly, that
those who had the disposal of them disposed of them
so corruptly and prodigally that he thought they
could hardly be redeemed at too high a price. What
explanation of this matter has been attempted?
There is no explanation given of it at all. It stands
clear, full, bare in all its nakedness before you.
They have not attempted to produce the least evidence against it. Therefore in that state I leave it with you; and I shall only add, that Mr. Hastings
continued to make Munny Begum the first object of
his attention, and that, though he could not entirely
remove Mahomed Reza Kha1n from the seat of justice, lie was made a cipher in it. All his other offices
? ? ? ? 266 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
were taken out of his hands and put into the hands
of Sir John D'Oyly, directly contrary to the orders
of the Company, which certainly implied the restitution of Mahomed Reza Khan to all the offices which
he had before held. He was stripped of everything
but a feeble administration of justice, which, I take
for grailted, could not, under the circumstances,
have been much better in his hands than it had been
in Sudder ul Huk Kha'n's.
Mr. Hastings's protection of this woman continued
to the last; and when he was going away, on the 3d
of November, 1783, he wrote a sentimental letter to
the Court of Directors in her praise. This letter was
transmitted without having been communicated to
the Council. You have heard of delicate affidavits;
here you have a sentimental official despatch: your
Lordships will find it in page 1092 and 1093 of your
printed Minutes. He writes in such a delicate, sentimental strain of this woman, that I will venture to
say you will not find in all the " Arcadia," in all the
novels and romances that ever were published, an instance of a greater, a more constant, and more ardent affection, defying time, ugliness, and old age, did ever
exist, than existed in Mr. Hastings towards this old
woman, Munny Begum. As cases of this kind, cases of gallantry abounding in sentimental expressions,
are rare in the Company's records, I recommend it
as a curiosity to your Lordships' reading, as well as a
proof of what is the great spring and movement of
all the prisoner's actions. On this occasion he thus
speaks of Munny Begum.
" She, too, became the victim of your policy,
and of the resentments which succeeded. Some
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- EIGHTH DAY. 267
thing, too, she owed of the source of her misfortunes
to the belief of the personal gratitude which she
might entertain for the public attention which I had
shown to her. Yet, exposed as she was to a treatment which a ruffian would have shuddered at committing, and which no recollection of past enmities shall compel me to believe, even for a moment, proceeded from any commission of authority, she still
maintained the decorum of her character; nor even
then, nor before, nor since that period, has the malice
of calumny ever dared to breathe on her reputation. "
-Delicate! sentimental! -" Pardon, honorable Sirs,
this freedom of expostulation. I must in honest truth
repeat, that your commands laid the first foundation
of her misfortunes; to your equity she has now recourse through me for their alleviation, that she may
pass the remainder of her life in a state which may
at least efface the remembrance of the years of her
affliction; and to your humanity she and an unseen
multitude of the most helpless of her sex cry for sub.
sistence. "
Moving and pathetic! -- I wish to recommend
every word of this letter to your Lordships' consideration, as a model and pattern of perfection. Observe his pity for a woman who had suffered such treatment from the servants of the Company (a parcel of ruffians! ) -treatment that a ruffian would be
ashamed of! Your Lordships have seen, in the evidence, what this ruffianism was. It was neither
more nor less than what was necessary in order to
get at the accounts, which she concealed, as his own
corrupt transactions. She was told, indeed, that she
must privately remove to another house whilst her
? ? ? ? 268 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
papers were examining. Mr. Hastings can never
forget this. He cannot believe that anybody dare
send such an order; and he calls upon you to consider the helplessness of their sex, and the affronts offered to women. For Heaven's sake, my Lords, recollect the manner
in which Mr. Hastings and his creatures treated the
Begums of Oude, and consider that this woman was
only threatened (for the threat was never attempted
to be executed) that she must, if she did not deliver up the accounts, probably be removed to another house, and leave the accounts behind her. This blot
can never be effaced; and for this he desires the Court of Directors to make her a large allowance to comfort her in her old age. In this situation Mr. Hastings leaves her. He leaves in the situation I have described the justice of the country. The only concern he has at parting is, that this woman may have a large allowance.
But I have yet to tell your Lordships, and it appears upon your printed Minutes, that this woman had a way of comforting herself: - for old ladies of
that description, who have passed their youth in
amusements, in dancing, and in gallantries, in their
old age are apt to take comfort in brandy. This
lady was a smuggler, and had influence enough to
avoid payment of the duty on spirits, in which article she is the largest dealer in the district, - as, indeed, she is in almost every species of trade. Thus your Lordships see that this sentimental lady, whom
Mr. Hastings recommends to the Directors, had ways
of comforting herself. She carried on, notwitstanding her dignity, a trade in spirits. Now a Mahometan of distinction never carries on any trade at all, --
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- EIGHTH DAY. 269
it is an unknown thing,- very few Mahometans of
any rank carry on any trade at all; but that a Mahometan should carry on a trade in spirits is a prodigy never heard of before; for a woman of quality,
for a woman of sentiment, to become a dealer in
spirits is, my Lords, a thing reserved for the sentimental age of Mr. Hastings; and I will venture to
say that no man or woman could attempt any such a
trade in India, without being dishonored, ruined in
character, and disgraced by it. But she appears not
only to have been a dealer in it, but, through the influence which Mr. Hastings gave her, to have monopolized the trade in brandy, and to have evaded the duties. This, then, is the state in which we leave the
two sentimental lovers, -- the one consoling herself
with brandy, the other wheedling and whining; and,
as Swift describes the progress of an intrigue in some
respects similar, which he calls " The Progress of
Love," whereas this is the Progress of Sentiment,
"They keep at Staines the Old Blue Boar,
Are cat and dog, and rogue and whore. "
Here they set up the sign of the Old Blue Boar.
Munny Begum monopolizes the trade in spirits; and
hence she and Mr. Hastings commence their sentimental correspondence. -And now, having done with
this progress of love, we return to the progress of
justice.
We have seen how Sudder ul Huk Khan, the chiefjustice of Mr. Hastings's own nomination, was treated. Now you shall see how justice was left to shift
for herself under Mahomed Reza Khan. In page
1280 of your Lordships' Minutes you will see the
progress of all these enormities, - of Munny Be
? ? ? ? 270 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
gum's dealing in spirits, of her engrossing the trade,
of her evading duties, - and, lastly, the extinction of
all order in that country, and the funeral of justice
itself. Mr. Shore's evidence respecting this state
of the country will admit of no doubt.
Mr. Shore's Remarks accompanying the Governor-General's Minutes of the 18th Miay, 1785.
" Foujdarry jurisdiction. - Of the foujdarry jurisdiction nothing has yet been said.
regulation, which put everything into the hands of
this wicked woman for her corrupt purposes, was,
that the office of chief-justice was trampled upon and
depraved, anid made use of to plunder the Company of money, which was appropriated to their own
uses, --and that thle person ostensibly holding this
? ? ? ? 'SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 249
office was forced to become the instrument in the
hands of this wicked woman and her two wicked
eunuchs. This, then, was the representation which
the chief-justice made to Mr. Hastings, as one of the
very first fruits of his new arrangement. I am now to
tell you what his next step was. This same Mr. Hastings, who had made the Nabob master of everything and placed everything at his disposal, who had maintained that the Nabob was not to act a secondary part and to be a mere instrument in the hands of the Company, who had, as you have seen, revived the Nabob, now puts him to death again. He pretends to be
shocked at these proceedings of the Nabob, and, not
being able to prevent their coming before the Council
of the Directors at home, he immediately took Sudder ul Huk Khan under his protection.
Now your Lordships see Mr. Hastings appearing
in his own character again, - exercising the power
he had pretended to abdicate, whilst the Nabob sinks
and subsides under him. He becomes the supporter
of Sudder ul Huk Khan, now that the infamy of the
treatment he received could no longer be concealed
from the Council. On the 1st of September, 1778,
the Governor informs the Nabob, "that it is highly expedient that Sudder ul Huk Khan should have
full control in all matters relative to his office, and
the sole appointment and dismission of the sudder
and mofussil officers; and that his seal and signature
should be authentic to all papers having relation to
the business intrusted to hlim: I therefore intimate
to you, that lie should appoint and dismiss all the
officers under him, and that your Excellency should
not interfere in ally one [way? ]. "
The Nabob, in a letter to the Governor, received the
? ? ? ? 250 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
3d of September, 1778, says, -- " Agreeably to your
pleasure, I have relinquished all concern with the
affairs of the foujdarry and adawlut, leaving the entire management in Sudder ul Huk Kha'n's hands. "
Here you see the Nabob again reduced to his former state of subordination. This chief-justiceship,
which was declared to be his inherent right, he is
obliged to submit to the control of Mr. Hastings,
and to declare that he will not interfere at all ill a
matter which Mr. Hastings had declared to be his incommunicable attribute. I do not say that Mr. Hastings interfered improperly. Certainly it was not fit that the highest court of justice in all Bengal should
be made the instrument of the rapacity of a set of
villains with a prostitute at their head: just as if
a gang of thieves in England, with their prostitutes
at their head, should seize the judge which ought to
punish them, and endeavor to make use of his name
in their iniquitous transactions. But your Lordships
will find that Mr. Hastings is here acting a merely
ostensible part, and that he has always a means of
defeating privately what he declares publicly to be
his intention. Your Lordships will see soon how
this ended. Mr. Hastings gets the Nabob to give up
all his authority over the chief-justice; but he says
not one word of Munny Begum, the person who had
the real authority in her hands, and who was not
forbidden to interfere with him. Mr. Hastings's order is dated the 1st September, 1778. On the 3d of
September, the Nabob is said to have relinquished all
concern with Sudder ul Huk Khan. In a letter received the 30th of September, (that is, about twentyseven days after the date of Mr. Hastings's order,) you will see how this pretended order was managed.
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 251
Sudder ul Huk Klhan thus writes, in a letter received the 30th of September.
" Yatibar Ali Khan," (Munny Begum's chief eunuch,) " from the amount of salaries of the officers
of the adawlut and foujdarry, which before my arrival lie had received for two months from the sircar,
made disbursements according to his own pleasure.
Hte had before caused the sum of 7,400 rupees,
on account of the price of mine and my peshcar's
khelauts, to be carried to account, and now continually sends a mall to demand from me 4,300 and odd
rupees, as a balance of the price of khelauts, and constantly presses me to take it from the amount of the
salaries of the officers of the adawlut and foujdarry
and send it to him; and I shall be under the necessity of complying. I mention this for your information. "
My Lords, you see again how Mr. Hastings's pretended orders were obeyed. They were orders addressed to the Nabob, whom he knew to be nothing, and who could neither control or take the least share in the execution of them; but he leaves the
thing loose as to Munny Begum and her eunuchs,
who he knew could alone carry them into effect.
Your Lordships see that the first use made of the
restored authority of the Nabob was, under various
pretences, to leave the salaries of the officers of government unprovided for, to rob the public treasury,
and to give the Company's money to the eunuchs,
who were acting in the manner I have stated to
you.
Information of these proceedings reaches Calcutta;
a regular complaint from a person in the highest
? ? ? ? 252 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
situation in the government is made, and the Governor-General is obliged again to take up the matter;
and I shall now read to your Lordships a letter of the
10th of October, 1778, which contains a representationl so pointed and so very just of the fatal effects
which his interference in the administration of justice had produced as not to stand in need of any
comment from me. It speaks too plainly to require
any.
The Governor-General's Letter to the Nabob.
"At your Excellency's request I sent Sudder ul
Huk Kha11 to take on himl 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 youl
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
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- EIGHTH DAY. 253
interference so impeded the business as to throw the
whole country into a state of confusion, from whlich
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 ilterference therein, and leave them entirely to the management of Sudder ul Huk
Khan. This is absolutely necessary to restore the
country to a state of tranquillity; and if your Excellency has any plan to propose for the management of the affairs in future, be pleased to communicate it to
me, and every attention shall be paid to give your
Excellency satisfaction. "
My Lords, I think I have read enough to you for
our present purpose, - referring your Lordships for
fuller information to your Minutes, page 1086, which
I beg you to read with the greatest attention.
I must again beg your Lordships to remark, that,
though Mr. Hastings has the impudence still to pretend that he wishes for the restoration of order and justice in the country, yet, instead of writing to Munny Begum upon the business, whom he knew to be the very object complained of, and whose eunuchs are
expressly mentioned in the complaint, he writes to
the Nabob, whom he knew to be a pageant in his
own court and government, and whose name was
not even mentioned in this last complaint. Not one
word is said, even in this letter to the Nabob, of
Munny Begum or of her eunuchs. My Lords, wleii
you consider his tacit support of the authors of thl}
? ? ? ? 254 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
grievance, and his ostensible application for redress
to the man who he knew never authorized and could
not redress the grievance, you must conclude that
he meant to keep the country in the same state for
his own corrupt purposes. In this state the country in fact continued; Munny Begum and her eunuchs continued to administer and squander the Company's money, as well as the Nabob's; robberies
and murders continued to prevail throughout the
country. No appearance was left of order, law, or
justice, from one end of Bengal to the other.
The account of this state of things was received by
the Court of Directors with horror and indignation.
On the 27th of May, 1779, they write, as you will
find in page 1063 of your printed Minutes, a letter to
their government at Calcutta, condemning their proceedings and the removal of Mahomed Reza Khan,
and they order that Munny Begum shall be displaced,
and Mahomed Reza Khan restored again to the seat
of justice.
Mr. Francis, upon the arrival of these reiterated
orders, moved in Council for an obedience to them.
Mr. Hastings, notwithstanding he had before his eyes
all the horrible consequences that attended his new
arrangement, still resists that proposition. By his
casting voice in the Council he counter-orders the
orders of the Court of Directors, and sanctions a direct disobedience to their authority, by a resolution
that Mahomed Reza Khan should not be restored
to his employment, but that this Sudder ul Huk
Kha'n, who still continued in the condition already
described, should remain in the possession of his
office. I say nothing of Sudder ul IHuk Khan; he
seems to be very well disposed to do his duty, if
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 255
Mr. Hastings's arrangements had suffered him to do
it; and indeed, if Mahomed Reza Klian had been
reinstated, and no better supported by Mr. Hastings
than Sudder ul Huk Khan, he could probably have
kept the country in no better order, though, perhaps,
his name, and the authority and weight which still
adhered to him in some degree, might have had some
influence.
My Lords, you have seen his defiance of the Company; you have seen his defiance of all decency;
you see his open protection of prostitutes and robbers of every kind ravaging Bengal; you have seen
this defiance of the authority of the Court of Directors flatly, directly, and peremptorily persisted in
to the last. Order after order was reiterated, but his
disobedience arose with an elastic spring in proportion
to the pressure that was upon it.
My Lords, here there was a pause. The Directors
had been disobeyed; and you might suppose that
he would have been satisfied with this act of disobedience. My Lords, he was resolved to let the native governments of the country know that he despised the orders of the Court of Directors, and that, whenever he pretended to obey them, in reality he
was resolved upon the most actual disobedience. An
event now happened, the particulars of which we
are not to repeat here. Disputes, conducted, on Mr.
Francis's side, upon no other principle, that we can
discover, but a desire to obey the Company's orders,
and to execute his duty with fidelity and disinterestedness, had arisen between him and Mr. Hastings.
Mr. Francis, about the time we have been speaking
of, finding resistance was vain, reconciles himself
to him, --but on the most honorable terms as a
? ? ? ? 256 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
public man, namely, that he should continue to follow and obey the laws, and to respect the authority
of the Court of Directors. Upon this reconciliation,
it was agreed that Mahomed Reza Khall should be
restored to his office. For this purpose Mr. Hastings
enters a minute, and writes to the Nabob an ostensible letter. But your Lordships will here see an instance of what I said respecting a double current in all Mr. Hastings's proceedings. Even when he
obeys or pretends to obey the Company's orders,
there is always a private channel through which he
defeats them all.
Letter from M1r. Hastings to the Nabob Mobarek ul
bowlah, written the 10th of February, 1780.
"The Company, whose orders are peremptory,
have directed that Mahomed Reza Klihn shall be
restored to the offices he held in January, 1778. It
is my duty to represent this to your Excellency, and
to recommend your compliance with their request,
that Mahomed Reza Khtan may be invested with the
offices assigned to him under the nizamut by the
Company. "
Your Lordships see here that Mr. Hastings informs
the Nabob, that, having received peremptory orders
from the Company, he restores and replaces Mahomed
Reza Khan. Mahomed Reza Klhan, then, is in possession, - and ill possession by the best of all titles,
the orders of the Company. But you will also see
the manner in which lie evades his duty, and vilifies in the eyes of these miserable country powers
the authority of the Directors. He is prepared, as
usual, with a defeasance of his own act; and the
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. --- EIGHTH DAY. 257
manner in which that defeasance came to our knowledge is this. We knew nothing of this private affair,
till Mr. Hastings, in his answer before the House of
Commons, finding it necessary to destroy the validity
of some of his own acts, brought forward Sir John
D'Oyly. He was brought forward before us, not
as a witness in his own person for the defence of
Mlr. Hastings, but as a narrator who had been employed by Mr. Hastings as a member of that Council which, as you have heard, drew up his defence. My Lords, you have already seen the public agency
of this business, you have heard read the public letter sent to the Nabob: there you see the ostensible
part of the transaction. Now hear the banian, Sir
John D'Oyly, give an account of his part in it, extracted from Mr. Hastings's defence before the House
of Commons.
"I was appointed Resident [at the Court of the
Nabob] on the resignation of Mr. Byam Martin,
in the month of January, 1780, and took charge
about the beginning of February of the same year.
The substance of the instructions I received was, to
endeavor, by every means in my power, to conciliate
the good opinion and regard of the Nabob and his
family, that I might be able to persuade him to
adopt effectual measures for the better regulation
of his expenses, which were understood to have
greatly exceeded his income; that I might prevent
his forming improper connections; or taking any
steps derogatory. to his rank, and by every means
in my power support his credit and dignity in the
eyes of the world; and with respect to the various
branches of his family, I was instructed to endeavor
VOL. XII. 17
? ? ? ? 258 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
to put a stop to the dissensions which had too frequently prevailed amongst them. The Nabob, on
his part, was recommended to pay the same attention to my advice as lie would have done to that
of the Governor-General in person. Some time, I
think, in the month of February of the same year,
I received a letter from Mr. Hastings, purporting
that the critical situation of affairs requiring the
union and utmost exertion of every member of the
government to give vigor to the acts necessary for
its relief; he had agreed to an accommodation with
Mr. Francis; but to effect this point he had been
under the necessity of making some painful sacrifices, and particularly that of the restoration of Mahomed Reza Khlan to the office of Naib Suball,
a measure which lie knew must be highly disagreeable to the Nabob, and which nothing but the
urgent necessity of the case should have led him
to acquiesce in; that he relied on me to state all
these circumstances in the most forcible manner to
the Nabob, and to urge his compliance, assuring him
that it sliould not continue longer than until the
next advices were received from the Court of Directors. "
Here Mr. Hastings himself lets us into the secrets
of his government. He writes an ostensible letter to
the Nabob, declaring that what he does is in conformity to the orders of the Company. He writes a private letter, in which he directs his agent to assure the
Nabob that what he had done was not in compliance
with the orders of the Company, but in consequence
of the arrangement he had made with Mr. Francis,
which arranigement he thought necessary for the sup
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 259
port of his own personal power. His design, in thus
explaining the transaction to the Nabob, was in order
to prevent the native powers from looking to any
other authority than his, and from having the least
hopes of redress of their complaints from the justice
of this country or from any legal power in it. He
therefore tells hirm that Mahomed Reza Khan was
replaced, not in obedience to the orders of the Company, but to gratify Mr. Francis. If he quarrels
with Mr. Francis, he makes that a reason for disobey[ng the orders of his masters; if he agrees with him, le informs the people concerned in the transaction,
privately, that he acts, not in consequence of the orders that he has received, but from other motives. But that is not all. He promises that he will take
the first opportunity to remove Mahomed Reza Khan
from his office again. Thus the country is to be replunged into the same distracted and ruined state in which it was before. And all this is laid open fully
and distinctly before you. You have it on the authority of Sir John D'Oyly. Sir John D'Oyly is a
person in the secret; and one man who is in the
secret is worth a thousand ostensible persons.
Mahomed Reza Khan, I must now tell you, was
accordingly reinstated in all his offices, and the Nabob was reduced to the situation, as Mr. Hastings upon another occasion describes it, of a mere cipher.
But mark what followed, - mark what this Sir John
D'Oyly is made to tell you, or what Mr. Hastings
tells you for him: for whether Sir John D'Oyly has
written this for Mr. Hastings, or Mr. Hastings for
Sir John D'Oyly, I do not know; because they seem,
as somebody said of two great friends, tbhat they had but
one will, one bed, and one hat between them. These
? ? ? ? 260 JMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
gentlemen who compose Mr. Hastings's Council have
but one style of writing among them; so that it is
impossible for you to determine by which of the masters of this Roman school any paper was written, whether by D'Oyly, by Shore, or by Hastings, or any
other of them. They have a style in common, a
kind of bank upon which they have a general credit;
and you cannot tell to whose account anything is to
be placed.
But to proceed. -Sir John D'Oyly says there, that
the Nabob is reduced again to a cipher.
Now hear
what he afterwards says. "About the month of
June, 1781, Mr. Hastings, being then at Moorshedabad, communicated to me his intention of performing his promise to the Nabob, by restoring him to the
management of his own affairs," - that is to say, by
restoring Munny Begum again, and by turning out
Mahomed Reza Khan. Your Lordships see that he
communicated privately his intentions to Sir John
D'Oyly, without communicating one word of them to
his colleagues in the Supreme Council, and without
entering any minute in the records of the Council,
by which it could be known to the Directors.
Lastly, in order to show you in what manner the
Nabob was to be restored to his power, I refer your
Lordships to the order he gave to Sir John D'Oyly for
investigating the Nabob's accounts, and for drawing
up articles of instructions for the Nabob's conduct ill
the management of his affairs. . You will there see
clearly how he was restored: that is to say, that he
was taken ot. t of the hands of the first Mussulman in
that country, the man most capable of administering
justice, and whom the Company had expressly orde-ed to be invested with that authority, and to put
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -EIGHTH DAY. 261
him into the hands of Sir John D'Oyly. Is Sir John
D'Oyly a Mussulman? Is Sir John D'Oyly fit to be
at the head of such a government? What was there
that any person could see about him, that entitled
him to or made him a fit person to be intrusted
with this power, in defiance of the Company's orders?
And yet Mahomed Reza Khan, who was to have the
management of the Nabob's affairs, was himself put
under the most complete and perfect subjection to
this Sir John D'Oyly. But, in fact, Munny Begum had the real influence in everything. Sir John
D'Oyly himself was only Mr. Hastings's instrument
there to preserve it, and between them they pillaged
the Nabob in the most shocking manner, and must
have done so to the knowledge of Mr. Hastings. A
letter written at this time by Mr. Hastings to the Nabob discovers the secret beyond all power of evasion. Instructions from the Governor-General to the Nabob
Mobarek ul Dowlah, respecting his Conduct in the
Management of his Affairs.
" 9th. These I make the conditions of the compliance which the Governor-General and Council have yielded to your late requisition. It is but just that
you should possess what is your acknowledged right;
but their intention would be defeated, and you would
be in a worse situation, if you were to be left a prey,
without a guide, until you have acquired experience,
(which, to the strength and goodness of your understanding, will be the work but of a short period,) to the rapacity, frauds, and artifices of mankind. You
have offered to give up the sum of four lacs of rupees
to be allowed the free use of the remainder of your
stipend. This we have refused, because it would be
? ? ? ? 262 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
contrary to justice. You should consider this as a
proof of the sincerity of the above arrangements
which have been recommended to you, and of their
expediency to your real interests; and your attention
to them will be a means of reconciling the Company
to the resolution which we have taken, and which will
be reported to them in a light very hurtful both to
you and to us, if an improper effect should attend it.
These I have ordered Sir John D'Oyly to read in your
presence, and to explain them to you, that no part of
them may escape your notice; and he has my positive
orders to remonstrate to you against every departure
from them. Upon all these occasions, I hope and
expect that you will give him a particular and cordial
attention, and regard what he shall say as if said by
myself; for I know him to be a person of the strictest honor and integrity. I have a perfect reliance on him; and you cannot have a more attached or more
disinterested counsellor. Although I desire to receive
your letters frequently, yet, as many matters will occur which cannot so easily be explained by letter as
by conversation, I desire that you will on such occasions give your orders to him respecting such points
as you may desire to have imparted to me; and I,
postponing every other concern, will give you an immediate and the most satisfactory reply concerning
them. "
My Lords, here is a man who is to administer his
own affairs, who has arrived at sufficient age to supersede the counsel and advice of the great Mahomietan doctors and the great nobility of the country, and lie is put under the most absolute guardianship
of Sir Jolin D'Oyly. But Mr. Hastings has given
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- EIGHTH DAY. 263
Sir John D'Oyly a great character. I cannot confirm
it, because I can confirm the character of none of Mr.
Hastings's instruments. They must stand forth here,
and defend their own character before you.
Your Lordships will now be pleased to advert to
another circumstance in this transaction. You see
here 40,0001. a year offered by this man for his
redemption. " I will give you," he says, " 40,0001. a
year to have the management of my own affairs. "
Good heavens! Here is a man, who, accordilng to Mr.
Hastings's assertion, had an indisputable right to the
management of his own affairs, but at the same time
was notoriously so little fit to have the management
of them as to be always under some corrupt tyranny
or other, offers 40,0001. a year out of his own revenues to be left his own master, and to be permitted to have the disposal of the remainder. Judge you of the
bribery, rapine, and peculation wlhich here stare you
in the face. Judge of the inature and character of that
government for the mainagement of which 40,0001. .
out of 160,0001. a year of its revenue, is offered by a
subordinate to the supreme authority of the country.
This offer shows that at this timne the Nabob had it
not himself. Who had it? Sir John D'Oyly; he is
brought forward as the person to whom is given the
management of the whole. Munny Begum had the
management before. But, whether it be an Englishmanl, a Mussulman,l a white man or a black man, a white woman or a black wvoman, it is all Warren
Hastin gs.
With respect to the four lacs of rupees, he gets
Sir John D'Oyly, in the narrative that he makes
before the House of Commons, positively to deny in
the strongest manner, and he says the Nabob would
? ? ? ? 264 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
give oath of it, that the Nabob never gave a commission to any one to make such an offer. That such an offer was made had been long published and long
in print, with the remarks such as I have made upon
it in the Ninth Report of the Select Committee; that
the Committee had so done was well known to Mr.
Hastings and Sir John D'Oyly; not one word on the
part of Mr. Hastings, not one word on the part of Sir
John D'Oyly was said to contradict it, until the appearance of the latter before the House of Commons. But, my Lords, there is something much more serious in this transaction. It is this, -- that the evidence produced by Mr. Hastings is the evidence of witnesses
who are mere phantoms; they are persons who could
not, under Mr. Hastings's government, eat a bit of
bread but upon his own terms, and they are brought
forward to give such evidence as may answer his purposes.
You would naturally have imagined, that, in the
House of Commons, where clouds of witnesses had
been before produced by the friends and agents of Mr.
Hastings, he would then have brought forward Sir
John to contradict this reported offer; but not a word
from Sir John D'Oyly. At last he is examined before
the Committee of Managers. He refuses to answer.
Why? Because his answers might criminate himself.
My Lords, every answer that most of them have been
required to make they are sensible they cannot make
without danger of criminating themselves, being all
involved in the crimes of the prisoner. He has corrupted and ruined the whole service; there is not one of them that dares appear and give a fair and full
answer in any case, as you have seen in Mr. Middleton, and many others at your bar. "I will not
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. - EIGHTH DAY. 265
answer this question," they say, " because it tends to
criminate myself. " How comes it that the Company's
servants are not able to give evidence in the affairs of
Mr. Hastings, without its tending to criminate themselves?
Well, -- Sir John D'Oyly is in England, - why is
he not called now? I have not the honor of being
intimately acquainted with him, but lie is a mall
of a reputable and honorable family. Why is he not
called by Mr. Hastings to verify the assertion, and
why do they suffer this black record to stand before
your Lordships to be urged by us, and to press it
as we do against him? If he knows that Sir John
D'Oyly can acquit him of this part of our accusation,
he would certainly bring him as a witness to yohr
bar; but he knows he cannot. When, therefore, I
see upon your records that Sir John D'Oyly and Mr.
Hastings received such an offer for the redemption
of the Nabob's affairs out of their hands, I conclude,
first, that at the time of this offer the Nabob had not
the disposal of his own affairs, -and, secondly, that
those who had the disposal of them disposed of them
so corruptly and prodigally that he thought they
could hardly be redeemed at too high a price. What
explanation of this matter has been attempted?
There is no explanation given of it at all. It stands
clear, full, bare in all its nakedness before you.
They have not attempted to produce the least evidence against it. Therefore in that state I leave it with you; and I shall only add, that Mr. Hastings
continued to make Munny Begum the first object of
his attention, and that, though he could not entirely
remove Mahomed Reza Kha1n from the seat of justice, lie was made a cipher in it. All his other offices
? ? ? ? 266 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
were taken out of his hands and put into the hands
of Sir John D'Oyly, directly contrary to the orders
of the Company, which certainly implied the restitution of Mahomed Reza Khan to all the offices which
he had before held. He was stripped of everything
but a feeble administration of justice, which, I take
for grailted, could not, under the circumstances,
have been much better in his hands than it had been
in Sudder ul Huk Kha'n's.
Mr. Hastings's protection of this woman continued
to the last; and when he was going away, on the 3d
of November, 1783, he wrote a sentimental letter to
the Court of Directors in her praise. This letter was
transmitted without having been communicated to
the Council. You have heard of delicate affidavits;
here you have a sentimental official despatch: your
Lordships will find it in page 1092 and 1093 of your
printed Minutes. He writes in such a delicate, sentimental strain of this woman, that I will venture to
say you will not find in all the " Arcadia," in all the
novels and romances that ever were published, an instance of a greater, a more constant, and more ardent affection, defying time, ugliness, and old age, did ever
exist, than existed in Mr. Hastings towards this old
woman, Munny Begum. As cases of this kind, cases of gallantry abounding in sentimental expressions,
are rare in the Company's records, I recommend it
as a curiosity to your Lordships' reading, as well as a
proof of what is the great spring and movement of
all the prisoner's actions. On this occasion he thus
speaks of Munny Begum.
" She, too, became the victim of your policy,
and of the resentments which succeeded. Some
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- EIGHTH DAY. 267
thing, too, she owed of the source of her misfortunes
to the belief of the personal gratitude which she
might entertain for the public attention which I had
shown to her. Yet, exposed as she was to a treatment which a ruffian would have shuddered at committing, and which no recollection of past enmities shall compel me to believe, even for a moment, proceeded from any commission of authority, she still
maintained the decorum of her character; nor even
then, nor before, nor since that period, has the malice
of calumny ever dared to breathe on her reputation. "
-Delicate! sentimental! -" Pardon, honorable Sirs,
this freedom of expostulation. I must in honest truth
repeat, that your commands laid the first foundation
of her misfortunes; to your equity she has now recourse through me for their alleviation, that she may
pass the remainder of her life in a state which may
at least efface the remembrance of the years of her
affliction; and to your humanity she and an unseen
multitude of the most helpless of her sex cry for sub.
sistence. "
Moving and pathetic! -- I wish to recommend
every word of this letter to your Lordships' consideration, as a model and pattern of perfection. Observe his pity for a woman who had suffered such treatment from the servants of the Company (a parcel of ruffians! ) -treatment that a ruffian would be
ashamed of! Your Lordships have seen, in the evidence, what this ruffianism was. It was neither
more nor less than what was necessary in order to
get at the accounts, which she concealed, as his own
corrupt transactions. She was told, indeed, that she
must privately remove to another house whilst her
? ? ? ? 268 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
papers were examining. Mr. Hastings can never
forget this. He cannot believe that anybody dare
send such an order; and he calls upon you to consider the helplessness of their sex, and the affronts offered to women. For Heaven's sake, my Lords, recollect the manner
in which Mr. Hastings and his creatures treated the
Begums of Oude, and consider that this woman was
only threatened (for the threat was never attempted
to be executed) that she must, if she did not deliver up the accounts, probably be removed to another house, and leave the accounts behind her. This blot
can never be effaced; and for this he desires the Court of Directors to make her a large allowance to comfort her in her old age. In this situation Mr. Hastings leaves her. He leaves in the situation I have described the justice of the country. The only concern he has at parting is, that this woman may have a large allowance.
But I have yet to tell your Lordships, and it appears upon your printed Minutes, that this woman had a way of comforting herself: - for old ladies of
that description, who have passed their youth in
amusements, in dancing, and in gallantries, in their
old age are apt to take comfort in brandy. This
lady was a smuggler, and had influence enough to
avoid payment of the duty on spirits, in which article she is the largest dealer in the district, - as, indeed, she is in almost every species of trade. Thus your Lordships see that this sentimental lady, whom
Mr. Hastings recommends to the Directors, had ways
of comforting herself. She carried on, notwitstanding her dignity, a trade in spirits. Now a Mahometan of distinction never carries on any trade at all, --
? ? ? ? SPEECH IN REPLY. -- EIGHTH DAY. 269
it is an unknown thing,- very few Mahometans of
any rank carry on any trade at all; but that a Mahometan should carry on a trade in spirits is a prodigy never heard of before; for a woman of quality,
for a woman of sentiment, to become a dealer in
spirits is, my Lords, a thing reserved for the sentimental age of Mr. Hastings; and I will venture to
say that no man or woman could attempt any such a
trade in India, without being dishonored, ruined in
character, and disgraced by it. But she appears not
only to have been a dealer in it, but, through the influence which Mr. Hastings gave her, to have monopolized the trade in brandy, and to have evaded the duties. This, then, is the state in which we leave the
two sentimental lovers, -- the one consoling herself
with brandy, the other wheedling and whining; and,
as Swift describes the progress of an intrigue in some
respects similar, which he calls " The Progress of
Love," whereas this is the Progress of Sentiment,
"They keep at Staines the Old Blue Boar,
Are cat and dog, and rogue and whore. "
Here they set up the sign of the Old Blue Boar.
Munny Begum monopolizes the trade in spirits; and
hence she and Mr. Hastings commence their sentimental correspondence. -And now, having done with
this progress of love, we return to the progress of
justice.
We have seen how Sudder ul Huk Khan, the chiefjustice of Mr. Hastings's own nomination, was treated. Now you shall see how justice was left to shift
for herself under Mahomed Reza Khan. In page
1280 of your Lordships' Minutes you will see the
progress of all these enormities, - of Munny Be
? ? ? ? 270 IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.
gum's dealing in spirits, of her engrossing the trade,
of her evading duties, - and, lastly, the extinction of
all order in that country, and the funeral of justice
itself. Mr. Shore's evidence respecting this state
of the country will admit of no doubt.
Mr. Shore's Remarks accompanying the Governor-General's Minutes of the 18th Miay, 1785.
" Foujdarry jurisdiction. - Of the foujdarry jurisdiction nothing has yet been said.
