CHAP. 1786. Mr. Fox. Mr. Pitt. Other members. Papers granted. 20th. Other papers demanded which had been adverted to, charge on him any criminality. These observations called up Mr. Fox, who exposed, with great vehemence, what he considered the inconsistency of the Lord Advocate; and alluded particularly to the extermination of the Rohillas, and taking from the Mogul the provinces secured by the treaty of Poorunder. Mr. Pitt treated as extraordinary the language used by Mr. Fox. He excused Mr. Hastings as to several of the points of charge intimated against him; extermination of the Rohillas was a mere word, unattended with any act; and, with respect to the breach of the treaty of Poorunder, by seizing the provinces of Corah and Allahabad, he observed, that after that transaction, Mr. Hastings had been named by act of Parliament, instead of President of the Council of Bengal, Governor-general of all the settlements. Öther members spoke in defence of Mr. Hastings and in justification of Mr. Dundas, particularly Mr. Rous, Mr. Vansittart, and Major Scott; while on the other side appeared Mr. Francis, and Lord North. The papers were granted without opposition; as were, on subsequent motions, several others, relating to presents and payments, and the correspondence with Mr. Hastings on the removal of Mr. John Bristow*; but when Mr. Burke proceeded to require copies of all other correspondence during the residence of Mr. Bristow in the province of Oude, with documents, answers, and proceedings, a disposition to resistance was shewn by Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas; a debate was prevented by the Speaker's illness, which occasioned an adjournment, and at the next meeting of the House the motion was withdrawn. Mr. Burke having demanded some other papers relative to transactions in Oude, Mr. Dundas made some opposition, and the debate which ensued before they were granted is chiefly remarkable for the obserdeclaration of vations of Mr. Pitt, who, having congratulated the Mr. Pitt's impartiality. p. 216. They were the subject of eight motions, for which, see Journals, vol. xli. House on the apparent moderation shewn by those who forwarded the prosecution, a temperance which would greatly conduce to accelerate the investigation, declared that he was neither a determined friend nor foe to Mr. Hastings, but resolved to support the principles of justice and equity. If crimes of enormity were proved beyond a doubt, the character of that House, the reputation of the British name, the honour and dignity of the human species, called aloud for punishment; but Mr. Hastings, notwithstanding assertions to the contrary, might be perfectly innocent; the assertions on either part must be sustained by incontestible evidence. CHAP. LXI. 1786. examine wit the bar. It would be, at this time, equally tedious and useless Mr. Burke to recapitulate the various motions for papers which proposes to were made, and, after animated discussions, rejected*. nesses at Mr. Burke, steadily pursuing his object, next proposed to call witnesses to the bar; but this was resisted, unless April 2. specific charges were first preferred, so that the House might judge whether the proposed evidence was, or was not, admissible or applicable. Yielding reluc- 4th, 12th, 26th, tantly to this objection, Mr. Burke produced twenty- and 27th. two articles of charge, extending to a great length, twenty-two and comprising a prodigious variety of matter†. Produces charges. It was moved, on the petition of Mr. Hastings Mr. Hastings that he should be allowed copies, and be heard in applies for his defence. To the latter part of the motion there copies of the was no opposition; but to the granting of copies, Sir * See debates on the 3rd, 6th, and 17th of March. Their heads are, 1, The Rohilla War; 2, Shah Allum; 3, Benares, which branches out into five divisions; 4, Princes of Oude; 5, Revolution in Farruckabad; 6, destruction of the Rajah of Salone; 7, Contracts; 8, Presents; 9, Resignation of his office; 10, 11, 12, Contracts of different kinds, particularly opium; 13, Appointment of Richard Joseph Sullivan to be resident at Delhi; 14, Treaty with and conduct toward the Rama of Gohud; 15, Mismanagement of the Revenues; 16, Misdemeanours in Oude; 17, Arresting and displacing Mahomed Reza Khan; 18, The Mogul delivered up to the Mahrattas; 19, a libel on the Court of Directors in his narrative of transactions at Benares; 20, Mahratta war and peace; 21, Concealing from the Council and from the Court of Directors his correspondence with native princes and country powers; and 22, Treatment of Fyzoola Khan, Vizier of Rampore. See the charges as thus presented, Journals, vol. xl. p. 483 to 537-to 595-612 to 623-627 to 629-648 to 654. Burke's Work's, 8vo. vol xi. p. 370 to the the end; and the whole twelfth volume, being five hundred and twenty-eight pages; see also the same matter in pamphlets, published respectively by Stockdale and Debrett. The twentysecond, or last charge, was not delivered until the fifth of May, after the defence of Mr. Hastings had been entered into. Journals, vol. xli. page 750 to 761. charges. CHAP. LXI. 1786. Application opposed. But acceded to. 1786. May 1st and 2nd. answer. Grey Cooper, Mr. Burke, and Mr. Fox, made strong objections, as being contrary to precedent. Mr. Fox observed, that they were not articulated charges, but merely general collections of accusatory facts, out of which the real charges were to be extracted. Mr. Pitt, on the other hand, maintained that it was necessary to give the required copy; for, without it, the party accused could not judge what to admit, what to deny, and what to justify; or, whether he might not demur altogether. The whole motion was granted; but when Mr. Burke, after presenting an article, moved that the Speaker should leave the chair, in order that the committee might proceed, it was insisted, and, after a long debate, carried, that Mr. Hastings should first be heard on the charges, as it was possible that he might convince the House that they were altogether unfounded or untenable. At the day appointed, Mr. Hastings appeared at the bar, and delivered, from written minutes, his anMr. Hastings's swer to the charges. He examined them separately, and reasoned upon the facts with great force, or denied them with much appearance of consistency*. Twenty witnesses were examined in support of the charges, an investigation which took up many days in two sessions of Parliamentt. Witnesses examined. 2nd May 1786 to 30th March 1787. 1786. Mr. Burke charge. When these preliminaries had been gone through, Mr. Burke moved the first charge on the Rohilla war. moves the first He viewed the question as an appeal from British power to British justice. The matter must either be criminal, or a very false accusation: there was no medium; no alternative: the result must be, that Warren Hastings had been guilty of gross, enormous, and flagitious crimes, or, himself be a base, calumniatory, wicked, and malicious accuser. There were but three motives which were known to actuate men and excite them to turn accusers; ignorance, inadvertency, and passion. When he considered that Mr. Hastings had been fourteen years at the head of government in India, and not one complaint sent home against him, he trem * See Journals, v. xli. p. 668 to 733, and pamphlets by Stockdale and Debret. + See the evidence in a pamphlet by Stockdale, 1786. bled at the enormous power he had to contend with; for such silence could be ascribed to that alone, since it was not in human nature, situated as Mr. Hastings had been, to preserve conduct so pure, even-handed, and unimpeachable, as to afford no room for a single accusation. As to the charges themselves, excepting in some few points, the facts which they contained had been admitted by Mr. Hastings at their bar, in what he had called his defence, but which he had composed and delivered rather in the style of their master than that of the person they were accusing. He entered at length into the circumstances preceding, attending, and following the Rohilla war, and dwelt on it, as an undertaking to extirpate the whole nation for four hundred thousand pounds. 2nd. СНАР. LXI. 1786. The motion was supported by Mr. Powys, Lord Motion reNorth, Mr. Hardinge, and several other members, and, jected. on an adjourned debate, by Mr. Francis and Mr. Anstruther, and most powerfully by Mr. Fox. It was opposed by Lord Mulgrave, Mr. Burton, Mr. Grenville, and Mr. Dundas, and, on a division, rejected by a considerable majority*. Anticipating this decision by the course of the debate, Mr. Burke seems to have considered the impeachment as altogether lost; for he said that, if the motion were negatived, in justice to himself, and to leave behind him a record that neither motives of party nor private animosity had governed his conduct, he would move the several facts on which it was founded, as truisms, in separate resolutions, that they might remain on the Journals for his justification. Mr. Fox moves charge. the Benares A surprising change took place when Mr. Fox sub- 13th. mitted to the House the charge respecting the treatment of Cheyt Sing, and the consequent revolutions in Benares. Having detailed, and in glowing language animadverted on, these transactions, he said that Parliament must appear either avengers of the oppressed, or accomplices of the oppressor. Mr. Francis had enforced the charge, and Mr. * 119 to 67. CHAP. 1786. Speech of Mr. Pitt. Nicholls had professed his clear conviction of Mr. Hastings's innocence, when Mr. Pitt disclosed his sentiments. He could not but lament that his duty peremptorily over-ruled his inclination to absent himself entirely from the proceedings; for he felt the greatest difficulty and uneasiness in determining on judicial questions, the merits of which were so closely connected with Indian principles and habits, while his mind was under the insurmountable impression of sentiments and feelings imbibed and matured under the British constitution. He stated his general opinion on the condition of the Zemindars, the doctrine of subordinate principalities, and the necessary dependence to which they must be liable; and applied these observations to the particular state of Benares. The presents, as they were called, were like the benevolences which had formerly been paid to our own sovereigns in commutation for military service; and, in acquiring the territory, the Company became intitled to them, in the same manner as they had before been paid to the vizier. On the death of Sujah ul Dowlah, two modes of arrangement with his successor had been proposed by Mr. Hastings; but both overruled by Mr. Francis, and an arrangement ultimately effected with his son, Cheyt Sing, by which a certain annual sum was to be paid to the Company; but, although exempt from any increase of his jumma, or annual tribute, he was yet liable, according to his ability, to demands for the service of the Company on any pressing emergency. But the charge imputed to Mr. Hastings a design to ruin Cheyt Sing, so soon as, by the death of General Clavering and Colonel Monson, he had acquired a majority in the council. He desired the House to pause for a moment, and consider the full force of this insinuation. Could there be a more malignant charge brought against a man? Must not all who heard it necessarily conclude that the accuser intended to impress an opinion that this act was the effect of a wanton and deliberate malice, long bent on an act of cruelty and injustice, which was perpetrated on the very first opportunity? To have passed |
