THE SPEECH OF R. B. SHERIDAN, ESQ . ON SUMMING UP THE SECOND CHARGE AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS, ESQ. BEFORE THE HIGH COURT OF PARLIAMENT, IN
WESTMINSTER-HALL,
TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 1788, AND THREE SUBSEQUENT DAYS.
LONDON:
SOLD BY J. DICRIE, NO. 120, OPPOSITE EXETER-'CHANGE, IN THE STRAND; AND BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN LONDON AND WESTMINSTER. M.DCC.LXXXVIII.
THE SPEECH OF R. B. SHERIDAN, ESQ. ON SUMMING UP THE SECOND CHARGE AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS, ESQ. BEFORE THE HIGH COURT OF PARLIAMENT, IN
WESTMINSTER-HALL,
TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1788.
THE general expectation from the Speech of Mr. Sheridan, on summing up the second Charge against Mr. Hastings, though exceeding all that has been recently witnessed on similar occasions, was fully apparent in the brilliancy and fullness of the Court this day. Before ten o'clock the Galleries for Peers' Tickets, and the Peeresses' Box were crouded to an overflow. In the seats for the Commons, so generally deserted, there appeared upwards of three hundred Members.—Those in fact who did not then see the Court, can scarcely form a judgment of the
spectacle.
—To enumerate those of distinction who were present, would be to enumerate all who are conspicuous for Rank, or claim celebrity from Talents.—That mind, however, must be insensible to excellence, on which the splendor of the scene could make a more than transient impression; the expectation was raised to an higher object; and could the faint sketches of the Memory communicate but a remote semblance of the reality, we would assert to absent Readers, with more Confidence, that no degree of expectation was dismissed ungratified.
The Court being seated, precisely at 12 o'clock, Mr.
Sheridan
arose.—It would be superfluous, he observed, for him to call the attention of their Lordships to the magnitude and importance of the subject before them; to advert to the parties who were engaged in the business; or to depict the situation of those multitudes who were ultimately to be affected. All this had already been done by the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Burke) who opened the Prosecution;—by him, who, alone, was equal to the task;—by him, to whom Mankind was indebted for the embodied stand, which was now made in defence of the general rights of Humanity.—Neither was it his intention to enter into any detail, which might be deemed foreign to the question immediately before the Court:—he would only indulge himself in a few words respecting some insinuations which had been thrown out against the persons concerned in this prosecution. It had been whispered, by whom he could not say, that there was something malicious, and something perhaps too violent in the manner in which it had been conducted. Speaking for himself, and as far as the heart of man could be known, for the other Managers appointed by the Commons, he would boldly assert, that they had acted solely from conviction;—not a conviction born in Error, and nursed by Prejudice; but a Conviction founded on deliberate and well grounded enquiry;—that they had proceeded, not as rejoicing in Punishment, but impeled by a sanguine hope of Remedy.—Personal malice! God forbid that they should indulge such a sensation against the unfortunate gentleman at the bar; but how, when they were to speak of Rapine, of Cruelty, and of Extortion, could such ideas be conveyed but in consonant language? There was undoubtedly a difference between Impeachment for capital Crimes, and those for Misdemeanours only. In proceedings on the mer, every latitude had been indulged by usage, every aggravation was employed, and every act of the Prisoner tortured into Criminality. No such privilege was claimed by the Managers on the present occasion; but yet it should be considered by those, whose Pity seemed to rise in proportion with the Guilt of its object;—that if such a mode of Proceeding was admissible in the former Case, where the life of the Prisoner was affected, it was still more justifiable on an Impeachment like the present; where the utmost Consequences of Guilt when proved, would be but a
splendid exclusion
of the Criminal from that Society which he had injured, or a
trifling deduction
from the spoils of a long-continued Extortion.
It had been observed, what was undoubtedly true, that no complaint, from the Natives of India, had been presented in the course of these proceedings. Those, however, who were first to make this observation, were fully convinced that meekness in suffering was there a part of the national Character, and that their terrors had been too deeply impressed, not to be long remembered. But though a Despair of British Justice had prevailed through that Peninsula;—though their subdued hearts could not even hope for relief—yet their Claims, on the Justice and Humanity of their Lordships were not thereby diminished, but recommended. He would not mention this Despair, without accompanying the observation by proof; he therefore read Extracts from two letters, the first, lately received from Lord
Cornwallis;
the second, enclosed from Capt. Kirkpatrick to his Lordship: from both which it appeared, that such was the prevailing sense through India, of the Injuries inflicted by the English, and of their repeated violations of every Compact, that it would be long indeed before their Confidence, in English Faith, or their reliance on English Justice, could again be restored.
To these complaints their Lordships were now to answer not by professions, but by facts;—not by remedial acts directed to the future, but by an exemplary punishment inflicted on past delinqency. It was incumbent on them to shew to the oppressed natives of India, and to future Governors and Judges, that there could be no authority so high, no office so sacred, as not to be subject to the paramount power of British Justice.—He did not, however, mean to say that the the Example should be made unless the Guilt was first fully proved; no, God forbid, that in this free and just land, legal proof and legal guilt should ever be separated.—Tho' the greater part of the Evidence on this occasion had been, with a few exceptions, wrung from the unrelenting accomplices of the Prisoner—from men who had partook of the spoils, and were involved in the Guilt; yet had he therefore no Indulgence to demand, nor had he to request that the Court should take that as evidence on this occasion which on any other they might deem themselves bound to refuse. He on the contrary, was now to bring forward to their Lordships a Mass of Evidence, as full, as strong, as competent, and as conclusive, as ever established the guilt of a Criminal, or ever brought conviction home to the breasts of conscientious Judges.—In the performance of this task, he observed, he should have the less difficulty, as their Lordships had attended to the whole, voluminous and complicated as it appeared, with a diligence which did honor to their feelings, and shewed their individual sense of the dignity of that high Tribunal, which they collectively formed.
The first part of this Evidence, to which he should call the attention of the Court, was the Defences delivered in by Mr. Hastings to the House of Commons, and to their Lordships.—On these, as being the voluntary admissions of the Prisoner, unextorted by any threat, and unbiassed by any persuasion, much stress had undoubtedly been laid. To a part of these, however, an objection had been made, the most extraordinary perhaps that had ever been advanced in a Court of Criminal Justice;—an objection which, when Mr. Hastings was well advised, as he undoubted was; when he was saved from his own
rash Guiance,
the Managers could scarcely have expected. This objection was, that a Part of the
first
defence in particular, not having been written by Mr. Hastings, but by some of his friends, that Gentleman was not bound by any admissions therein contained. Mr. Hastings, on appearing at the Bar of the House of Commons, had pleaded the haste in which he had written in palliation of his inaccuracies; he had even made a merit of doing that himself, which would be less dangerous, if he had committed it to another!—But now, said Mr. Sheridan, that he finds that there is something more than inaccuracy—something fraught with that actual danger which he had apprehended;—he reverts to that plea which he had abandoned, and declares that he had committed the trust to others!—He disclaims all his former merits, and avers that in making up his tale, he had not trusted solely to his own powers;—that he had put his
Memory
into
Commission,
and
parcelled
out his
Conscience
into different departments. The structure, it appeared, went on, whilst Mr. Hastings was content with overseeing and cheering his labourers.—Mr. Shore, said he, you will take care to make me appear a good
financier;
Major Scott, my
Judgment
is reposed in your hands;—Mr.
Middleton
my HUMANITY is yours!!!—The work being thus done,—Mr. Hastings surveyed it with a careless glance, and adopted it as his own. But now that its defects appear, the Child of his Adoption becomes the object of his aversion, his approbation ceases, and his language is totally changed.—The defence is in general made up of general denials of the Charges, intermixed with encomiums on his own conduct:—yet Mr. Hasting exclaims—
"Subject me to all the other evidence against me;—I know I can trust to their want of Recollection and their force of Attachment;—bare my bosom to every shaft of Enmity:—but save me from the
Perils
of my own
Panegyric!
"
—The
haste
in which these productions were written, was also alledged by Mr. Hastings as an apology for every error; but did it follow, that because a man wrote rapidly, he should also write falsely; or was it that the truth and candour of Mr. Hastings were so deeply buried in his bosom that long study alone could bring them upwards, whilst the natural falshood, floating on the surface, could be transferred with extemporaneous readiness to every topic, whether to be written or to be uttered!—These were the apologies offered for the variations, the admissions, and the inconsistency of Mr. Hastings' defences; but these it was to be hoped, for the sake of propriety and good sense, would never again be repeated.
Mr. Sheridan, on quitting this subject, entered into a very full and happy delineation of the situation of the Princesses of
Oude.
No perusal of the Turkish History, he observed, nor attention to the precepts of the Mahometan religion, could give their Lordships any idea of the manners of the women of high
casts
in Hindostan. Educated in a profound respect to the customs of their Persian ancestors, theo maintained a purer style of Preiudice, and a loftier degree of Superstition; dwelling perpetually within the precincts of their Zenanas, the Simplicity of their sentiments was equalled only by the Purity of their Conduct. In those innocent retreats, they were circumscribed, not immured; for such was the force of Prejudice, that Liberty would be looked on as a curse to those, to whom the common gaze of men, would be regarded as an unexpiable violation. However mistaken their ideas, they were placed there by the hand of Piety, and could not be disturbed, but by a sacrilege. They were as Relics on an Altar, which though deposited by Superstition, none but the impious would disturb.
In addition to those claims, Mr. Hastings himself had borne testimony to the Duty which Children owed to Parents in Hindostan. Yet the Bhow Begum, or mother of the reigning Nabob, had still stronger demands on the affection of her son.—In the year 1764, when
Sujah Dowlah,
after the Battle of Buxar, was driven from that territory by the English, which their politic Generosity afterwards restored; she bore her private treasures to his assistance, and was rewarded by the respectful attachment of his future life, with the devise of all his territories to her son.—She had also interfered in a quarrel between her son and her husband, and when the savage father was about to strike down his son with a sabre, at the expence of her blood, preserved that life which she gave.—There were pleas in her favor, which would have exacted the reverence of any man—
but one!
—But these pleas, the sex, the age, and character of the Begums;—and what was yet more, the death-bed recommendation of Sujah Dowlah, were all of no weight with Mr. Hastings.—This was therefore the object of the present charge;—that where he owed protection—he had been the severest oppressor;—that the weakness which should have claimed his aid, but excited his violence;—that he had subjected the son, thus to make him the ungracious instrument of his tyranny over the parent—and had first made him a
slave,
in order that he might become—a
monster!
The interference of Mr.
Bristow
in 1775, in the differences between the Begums and the Nabob, in consequence of the claims of the latter, was the next ground of Mr. SHERIDAN's observations.—Mr. Bristow had then, in a conversation with the Superior or Elder Begum, thrown out an insinuation, that the treasures which she possessed were the Treasures of the State,—and on this insinuation, so termed by Mr. Bristow himself, had Mr. Hastings founded all his arguments on that head, and on which he lately appeared to place so much reliance.—The Begums at that time gave up to the
Asoph ul Dowla
sums amounting to Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds.—Of this a part was to be paid in goods, which as they consisted of arms, elephants, &c. the Nabob alledged to be his property, and refused to accept as payment. This occasioned a dispute which was referred to the Board of
Calcutta.
Mr. Hastings then vindicated the right of the Begums to all the goods in the Zenana, and brought over the Majority of the Council to his opinion. The ideas then placed on record, he had since found it convenient to disown, as belonging not to him but to the Majority of the Council!—How these opinions could be transferred, it might be difficult for their Lordships, though well informed of the effects of
Majorities
and
Minorities
to determine. As well might Mr. BURKE, on a future day deliver an Encomium on that
great
and
good
man, Mr.
Hastings!
and if reminded of his share in the prosecution, alledge, that he was not accountable for so
nefarious
a preceeding; that his opinions when once delivered, were no longer his own, that at the time, he had constantly acted in a
Minority!
The claims however, it was observable, of the Nabob, as to the Treasure of the Begums, were at this time the only plea alledged for the seizure. These were always founded on a passage of that
Koran
which was perpetually quoted but never proved.—Not a word was then mentioned of the strange Rebellion which was afterwards conjured up, and of which the
existence
and the
notoriety
were equally a secret!—A Disaffection which was at its height, at the very time, when the Begums were dispensing their liberality to the Nabob, and exercising the greatest generosity to the English Officers in distress!—a Disturbance, in short, without its parallel in History, which was raised by two
Women,
—carried on by two
Eunuchs,
—and finally suppressed by an
Affidavit!
Mr. Sheridan then adverted to the Negociations of Mr. Middleton with the Begums in 1778, when the discontents of the Superior Begum would have induced her to leave the Country, unless her authority was sanctioned and her property secured by the Guarantee of the Company.—This Guarantee the Counsel—or Mr. Hastings, had thought it necessary to deny, as knowing that if the agreements with the Elder Begum were proved, it would affix to Mr. Hastings the Guilt of all the sufferings of the Women of the Khord Mahal, the Revenues for whose support were secured by the same engagement. In treating this part of the subject, the principal difficulty arose from the
uncertain
evidence of Mr. Middleton, who tho' concerned in the negociation of
four
treaties, could not recollect affixing his signature to
three
out of that number. Mr. Sheridan proved however, from the Evidence even of Mr. Middleton, that a Treaty had been signed in October, 1778, wherein the rights of the Elder Begum were fully recognized; a Provision secured for the Women and Children of the late Vizier in the Khord Mahal; and that these engagements had received the fullest sanction of Mr. Hastings. These facts were confirmed by the Evidence of Mr. Purling, a Gentleman, who, Mr. Sheridan said, had delivered himself fairly and as having no
foul secrets
to conceal. He had transmitted Copies of these engagements in 1780 to Mr. Hastings at Calcutta; the answer returned was, that in arranging the Taxes on the other Districts, he should pass over the Jaghires of the Begums. No notice was then taken of any impropriety in the transactions in 1778, nor any notice given of an intended revocation of those engagements.
But in June 1781, when Gen. Clavering and Col. Monson, being no more, and Mr. Francis having returned to Europe, all the
hoard
and
arrear
of collected Evil burst forth without restraint, and Mr. Hastings determined on his Journey to the Upper Provinces;—it was then, that, without adverting to intermediate transactions, he met with the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah, at Chunar, and received from him the mysterious present of 100,000l. To form a proper idea of this transaction, it was only necessary to consider the respective situation of him who gave, and him who received this present. It was not given by the Nabob from the superflux of his wealth, nor in the abundance of his esteem for the man to whom it was given. It was on the contrary, a prodigal bounty, drawn from a country depopulated,—no matter whether by natural causes, or by the grinding of oppression. It was raised by an exaction, which took what Calamity had spared, and Rapine overlooked;—and pursued those angry dispensations of Providence, when a
prophetic
chastisement had been inflicted on a
fated
Realm.—The secrecy which had marked this transaction, was not the smallest proof of its criminality.—When
Benaram Pundit
had, a short time before, made a present to the Company of a lack of Rupees, Mr. Hastings, in his own language, deemed it
"worthy the praise of being recorded;"
But in this instance, when ten times that sum was given, neither Mr. Middleton nor the Council were acquainted with the transaction, until Mr. Hastings, four months after felt himself compelled to write an account to England, and the Intelligence returned thus circuitously to his friends in India! It was peculiarly observable in this transaction how much the
Distresses
of the different parties were at variance. Mr. Hastings travels to the Nabob, to see, no doubt, and enquire into his
Distresses,
but immediately takes for him 130,000l. to be applied to the necessities of the
distressed
East India Company; but on farther deliberation, these considerations vanish; a
third
object arises more worthy than either of the former, and the money is taken from the one, and demanded from the other to be applied to the use of—the
distressed
Mr. Hastings.
The Money, it was alledged by Mr. Hastings, had been originally taken to discharge the arrear of the Army. It had not been applied to that use, because it was received in Bills on Gopal Dos, a rich Banker, of Benares, who was then kept a prisoner by Cheit Sing.—Major Scott being questioned on the subject, declared that Bills on Gopal Dos were as good as Cash, for that though the Principal of the House was a Prisoner, that circumstance made no difference whatsoever with the other partners. Thus Mr. Hastings was inconsistent with himself, by alledging an objection which should have prevented his taking the Money in the first instance, for the purpose he had stated; and Major Scott contradicting Mr. Hastings, removed the objection, and restored the business to its original footing.—But through all those windings of mysterious Hypocrisy, and of artificial Concealment, it was easy to mark the sense of hidden Guilt. Mr. Hastings himself being driven from every other hold, advanced the state plea of
State Necessity.
But of this necessity he had brought no proof; it was a necessity which listened to whispers for the purpose of crimination, and dealt in rumour to prove its own existence.—To a General leading the Armies of Britain:—to an Admiral bearing her thunders over the seas, the plea of Necessity might be indulged, if the wants of those were to be supplied whose blood had been spilt in the service of their Country; but then like the imperial Eagle descending from its nest, though it desolated the skirts of the rock, the Motive and the Conduct would be equally conspicuous. No concealment would then be necessary, and they would disdain the veil which covered the dark, mean arts of busy Peculation.
On the Business of the Treaty of Chunar, which succeeded the acceptance of this bribe, Mr. Sheridan was equally perspicuous and equally severe. It was a proceeding, he observed, which, as it had its beginning in corruption, had its continuance in fraud, and its end in violence. The first proposition of the Nabob after his recent liberality, was, that the Army should be removed, and all the English recalled from his dominions. The Bribe which he had given was the obvious price of their removal. He felt the weight of their oppression;—he knew to speak his own language—"that when the English staid, they staid, to wing to watch the first
buddings
of its Prosperity, and to nip every every promise of future luxuriance.
To this demand Mr. Hastings had promised to accede, and to recal every Englishman from the Province; but by an evasion which Mr. Middleton disclosed with so much difficulty to their Lordships on the last day of his appearrnce, had shaken the Tree until nothing remained upon its
leafless
Branches, yet a new flight was on the ask for something." Though their Predecessors had exhausted the Revenue;—though they the promise was virtually recalled. No
Order
were afterwards given for the Establishment of Englishmen in the Province, but
Recommendations
of the same effect with Mr. Middleton, and the Vizier were sent, and the practice coninued.—In the agreement respecting the Resumption of the Jaghires, the Nabob had been duped by a similar deception. He had demanded and obtained leave to resume those of certain individuals: Mr. Hastings however defeated the permission by making the order general; knowng that there were some favourites of the Nabobs whom he could be by no means brought to dispossess.—Such was the Conduct of Mr. Hastings, not in the moment of cold or crafty Policy, but in the hour of Confidence and the effervescence of his gratitude for the savour he had just received. Soaring above every common feeling, he could deceive the Man to whose liberality he stood in debted—even his
Gratitude
was
perilous
—and a
danger
actually awaited on the return, which he was to make to an effusion of Generosity!
The transactions in which Sir
Elijah Impey
bore a share, and the tenor of his Evidence, were the next objects of Mr. Sheridan's Animadversion.—The late Chief Justice of Bengal, he remarked, had repeatedly stated, that Mr. Hastings left Calcutta, with
two
Resources in his view,—those of
Benares
and of
Oude.
It appeared, however, from every circumstances, that the latter resource was never in his contemplation, until the insurrections in Benares, terminating in the Capture of Bedjeygur had destroyed all his hopes in that Province. At that instant, the mind of Mr. Hastings, fertile in resources, fixed itself on the Treasures of the Begums, and Sir Elijah Impey was dispatched to collect materials for their crimination:
"But I have ever thought,"
said Mr. Sheridan,
"the selection of such a Personage, for such a purpose, one of the greatest aggravations of the guilt of Mr. Hastings."
—That he, the purity of whose Character should have influenced his conduct, even in his most domestic retirements;—that he, who, if consulting the Dignity of British Justice, should have remained as stationary as his Court in Calcutta;—that such a man should be called to travel 500 miles for the transaction of such a business, was a deviation without a plea, and a degradation without Example.—This, however, was in some degree, a Question to be abstracted for the consideration of those, who adorned and illumined the seats of Justice in Britain, and the purity of whose Character precluded the necessity of any further observations on so different a Conduct.
With respect to the manner in which Sir Elijah Impey had delivered his evidence, it required some observation, though made without imputing to that gentleman the smallest culpability. Sir Elijah had admitted, that in giving his evidence he had never answered without looking equally to the probability and the consequences of the fact in question. Sometimes he had even admitted circumstances of which he had no recollection beyond the mere probability that they had taken place. By consulting in this manner what was
probable,
and the contrary, he might certainly have corrected and his memory at times, and Mr. Sheridan said he would accept that mode of giving his testimony' provided that the inverse of the proposition might also have place, and that where a circumstance was
improbable,
a similar degree of Credit might be subtracted from the Testimony of the Witness.
Five
times in the House of Commons, and
twice
in that Court, for instance, had Sir Elijah Impey▪ borne testimony, that a Rebellion was raging at Fyzabad, at the time of his Journey to Lucknow. Yet on the
eighth
examination, he had contradicted all the former, and declared, that what he meant was that the Rebellion
had
been raging, and the country was then in some degree restored to quiet.—The Reasons assigned for the former Errors were, that he had forgotten a letter received from Mr. Hastings, informing him that the Rebellion was quelled, and that he had also forgotten his own Proposition of travelling through Fyzabad to Lucknow. With respect to the letter, nothing could be said, as it was not in evidence; but the other observation would scarcely be admitted, when it was recollected that in the House of Commons, Sir Elijah Impey had declared that it was his proposal to travel through Fyzabad, which had originally brought
orth the Information that the way was obstructed by the Rebellion!—From this information Sir Elijah Impey had gone by the way of Illyabad,—but what was yet more singular, was, that on his return he would again have returned by the way of Fyzabad, if he had not been again informed of the danger;—so that had it not been for these friendly informations, the Chief Justice would have run plump into the very
focus
of the Rebellion!—There were two circumstances, however worthy of remark;—the
fi
st
was, that Sir
Elijah Impey
should, when charged with so dangerous a Commission as that of procuring Evidence, to prove that the
Begums
had meditated the Expulsion of their son from the Throne, and of the English from Bengal, should twice intend to pass through the City of their Residence; and that he, as he alledged, from mere motives of schoolboy curiosity should choose the
primrose
path—and wish, when engaged in such a business, to loiter in the way, and idle in the sun-shine.—The second circumstance worthy of observation, was, that if a conclusion could be made from a cloud of circumstances, the inference on this occasion would undoubtedly be, that Sir Elijah Impey was dissuaded by Mr. Hastings and Mr. Middleton from passing by the way of Fyzabad, as well knowing, that if, as a friend to Mr. Hastings, he were to approach the Begums, he would be convinced, by his reception, that nothing could be more foreign from the truth than the idea of their supposed disaffection—It was also observable, that Sir Elijah Impey, at Lucknow, taking evidence in the face of day in support of this Charge of Rebellion against the Begums, when conversing with the Nabob and his Minister, heard not a single word from either of a Rebellion, by which it was proposed to dethrone the Nabob, and to change the Government of his dominions!—And equally unaccountable it appeared, that Sir Elijah Impey, who had advised the taking of those affidavits for the safety of Mr. Hastings, had never read them at the time, for the purpose of seeing whether they were sufficient for the purpose, or the contrary!—After so long a reserve, however, and after declaring on oath that he thought it unnecessary, the next step taken by Sir Elijah Impey, was to read the affidavits, as however late, they might contribute something to his information. He had been led to this study, by his own allegation, from having been misled by Mr. SHERIDAN, one of the Managers on the part of the Commons, who by looking at a book which he held in his hand, had persuaded him to declare that a sworn interpreter was present on the receiving of those affidavits; that Major Davy was present for that purpose—and that whoever it was, he was perfectly satisfied with his conduct on the occasion; when it was actually in evidence that that no Interpreter whatsoever was present.—Now, said Mr. Sheridan, how I, by merely looking into a book, could
intimate
the presence of an Interpreter, could
inculcate
the assistance of Major Davy, and could also
look
the satisfaction conceived by Sir Elijah Impey, are questions which I believe that Gentleman alone is able to determine!
He should admit, however, he said, that Sir Elijah Impey had not strictly attended to for us on the occasion of taking those Affidavits; that he had merely directed the Bible to be given to the Whites, and the Koran to the Blacks, and had packed up in his Wallet the returns of both without any further enquiry; or that he had glanced over them in India, having previously cut off all communication between his
eye
and his
mind,
so that no consciousness was transferred from the former to the latter; and that he had read them in England, if possible with less information:—however strange these circumstances might be, he would admit them all;—he would even admit, that the Affidavits were legally and properly taken—and yet would prove, that those Affidavits were not sufficient to sustain any one point of Criminality against those who were the subjects of the present Charge.
After some brief observations on some parts of the Affidavits, particularly on those of a Native Officer, who, as Mr. Sheridan observed, gave a specimen of
Platoon firing
in his Evidence, by giving three Affidavits in one Day; he concluded with observing, tha
as it would tend very much to abbreviate the discussion of the present Charge, to enter more largely into the tendency of those Affidavits; he should therefore make a pause for the present, and take the liberty of calling the attention of their Lordships more particularly to this point on an ensuing Day.
Mr. Sheridan spoke for four hours and a half. Nothing could be more perfect than his delivery; but that, at some distant intervals, the excess of his feelings, occasioned him to be less distinctly heard than usual.—At half past four o'clock, the Court adjourned.
FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1788.
The Court being seated at half past twelve, after a short pause, Mr.
Sheridan
resumed his speech, by expressing his satisfaction, that in the interval of the Adjournment, the remaining part of the Evidence, &c. had been printed, and laid before their Lordships; as it was the wish of the Managers that every document should be before the Court at the time, for the purpose of determining with more accuracy, whether they had or had not borne out the Charges which they presented.
Recurring, then, to the Affidavits taken by Sir Elijah Impey at Lucknow, they formed, he observed, a material article in the Defence of Mr. Hastings; and on the decision of their Lordships respecting the weight of the allegations which they contained, a greater part of this question would finally depend.—With respect to one part of Charge made on the Begums—their having shewn an uniform spirit of hostility to the British Government, it had not only failed, but was absolutely abandoned by the Counsel for the Prisoner, as not being supported by a tittle of Evidence. In deciding on the other parts of this Charge, their having committed an overt act of Rebellion—their having inflamed the Jaghirdars,—and excited the Discontents in Oude, their Lordships were to consider the situation in which Mr. Hastings stood at the time when these Charges were made.—Having failed in his attempt at Benares, his mind was entirely directed to the Treasures of the Begums. He knew that such was the situation into which he had plunged the affairs of the Company, that he knew he could not address his
venal
Masters, unless some measure was found. He had therefore stood forward as an Accuser, where he was also to preside as a Judge;—and with much caution should that Judge be heard, who has apparently a profit on the conviction, and an interest in the condemnation of the party to be tried. He would not from this, infer however, that the charge was groundless;—but he would argue, that until fully proved, it should not meet with implicit credit.—It was obvious also that the attempt said to have been made by the Begums to dethrone the Nabob and extirpate the English, was in the highest degree improbable;—but he would not infer from thence, that it was impossible.—There is in human nature a perverse propensity to evil, which had sometimes caused the perpetration of bad acts without any obvious gratification resulting to the Perpetrator. All he should claim, therefore was, that the accusations brought by Mr. Hastings against the Begums, should undergo a candid examination, and that probable evidence, at least, should be brought to the support of charges in themselves improbable.
Mr. Hastings in his defence had complained, that his Prosecutor had attempted to blacken these affidavits as rash, irregular, and irrelevant; when they had been authenticated by the presence of Sir Elijah Impey, and as he also observed, being taken in an enquiry, directed solely to establish the guilt of
Cheit Sing,
they were merely an accessary evidence in the present case, and were therefore less liable to suspicion. The Reasoning in this last instance, Mr. Sheridan observed, would undoubtedly be good; but that the assertion that the enquiries were exclusively directed to the Crimination of Cheit Sing, had been proved an absolute falsehood; as they were really intended to justify what was afterwards to be done. With respect to the epithets bestowed on those Affidavits by his Hon. Friend, the truth would best appear, from a Review of their Contents.—Mr. Sheridan then proceeded to remark on the Affidavits severally, as far as they related to Charges against the Begums. Those of the
Jemmadars,
or native Subaltern Officers, contained nothing it appeared, but vague rumour and improbable surmise.—Hyder Beg Cawn, the Minister of the Nabob, though swearing both to Rumour and to Fact, could mention no particulars of an Insurrection which was to have dethroned his Sovereign. Nor was the Evidence of Col. Hannay and the other English Officers more conclusive: loud suspicions appeared to have been propagated at a time of general disturbance, and when the flames of War were raging in the neighbouring province of
Benares.
Mr. Middleton, though swearing after he had received his final orders from Mr. Hastings respecting the seizure of the Treasures, could only say—that he believed the Begums had given countenance to the rebels, and as he had heard, some aid.—The whole of the depositions, Mr. Sheridan observed, were so futile, that were they defended in an inferior Court of Justice, he was convinced that he should be forbidden to reply, and told that was combating with that, which was nothing!
With respect to the first part of the Charge, the
Rebellion
of the Begums, he had examined with all the painful research of an Antiquary, but could find no trace of any such transaction. No blow was struck—no march was made against the concealed Enemy; but the Rebellion, though commenced for a most unnatural purpose, was suffered to die a natural Death!—The Counsel had thought proper to dwell for a time, on the Nabob going to Fyzabad, on his return from Chunar, attended by a guard of 2000 men. Mr. Middleton being asked, whether these men were well-appointed, though on another occasion, he had declared himself no military man, caught in the instant at
gleam
of
martial memory,
and answered in the affirmative. The contrary, however, was proved by the evidence of Capt. Edwards, who attended the Nabob as his Aid-de-Camp, and also that those troops were actually mutinous for their pay, who were then taken to stop the progress of disaffection! Yet he would agree to all that the Counsel required;—he would suffer the whole 2000 men to enter full trot into the City of Fyzabad; for Capt. Edwards had fully proved, that it was merely the
usual guard
of the Nabob.—It would therefore have been disrespectful to have gone with less attendance; he could have no motive for going
incog,
unless he might have intended to make himself a perfect match for the insurrection which was also
incog.
or thought that a
rebellion,
without an
army,
would be most properly subdued by a
Prince
without a
Guard.
Another supposed proof of the disaffection of the Begums was brought, by alledging that 1000
Nudgics
had been raised at Fyzabad, and sent to the assistance of Cheit Sing, and this for no other reason than a detachment of the same number was in the list of the forces of that Rajah! This single circumstance was taken as a full and compleat evidence of the identity of those troops. It was no matter that the Officer second in command with Cheit Sing, had sworn that the detachment came from Lucknow, and not from Fyzabad.—This Mr. Hastings would have to be a trisling mistake, of one Capital for another!—The same Officer however had also deposed, that the troops were of a different description; those of Begum being swordsmen, and those in the service of the Rajah, match-lock men.—The inference to be made therefore, undoubtedly was, that the detachment did actually come from Lucknow; not sent perhaps by the Nabob, but by some of the Jaghirdars, his favorites, who had abundant power for that purpose, and whose aversion to the English had always been avowed.—The name of Sadib Ally, his half-brother, had been mentioned as being highly criminal in these transactions;—but to the question, why he was not punished, Sir Elijah Impey had given the best answer at that Bar;—by informing their Lordships that Sadib Ally was miserably poor? He had therefore found protection in his
poverty,
and safety in his
Insolvency.
Every common maxim of judging on such occasions, was certain to be overturned by Mr. Hastings;—it was generally supposed that the needy were the most daring, and that Necessity was the strongest
st
mulus
to Innovation. But the Governor General inverting this proposition, had laid it down as an axiom—that the actions of the poor were sufficiently punished by contempt—that the Guilt of an offender should increase in a precise
ratio
with his Wealth—and that in fine, where there was no
treasure,
there could undoubtedly be no
treason!
Mr. Sheridan next read the letter of the Begum to Mr. Hastings, complaining of the suspicions which had been so unjustly raised of her conduct; and referring to Capt. Gordon who could testify her innocence. He also read the letter of Capt. Gordon to the Begum, thanking her for her interference, and acknowledging that he owed his life to her bounty. It had been asked with an air of some triumph, why Capt. Gordon was not called to that Bar? He had answered then as now that he would not call on a man, who, in his affidavit, had suppressed all mention of this important transaction. He trusted, that if ever he saw him at that bar, he should witness a contrite zeal to do away the effects of that silence, and behold a penitential tear for the part he had then taken. He hoped, however, for the honor of human nature, that Capt. Gordon was then under a delusion—and that he was led on by Mr. Middleton, who was well informed of the business, to act a part o which he did not know the consequences. Every feeling of humanity recoiled from the Transaction taken in any other point of view. It was difficult to imagine that any man could say to a Benefactor,
"The breath that I now draw, next to heaven I owe to you;—my existence is an emanation from your bounty—I am indebted to you beyond all possibility of return, and therefore,—my GRATITUDE shall be your DESTRUCTION."
The original letters on this occasion from Colonel Hannay and Captain Gordon to the Begum, had been transmitted by her through Major Gilpin to Mr. Middleton, for the purpose of being shewn to Mr. Hastings; but the leaves were torn from Mr. Middleton's letter-book in the place where hey should have appeared. When examined on this subject, he said, that he had deposited Persian copies of those letters in the office at Lucknow, but that he did not bring translates with him to Calcutta—because he left Lucknow the very day after he had received the originals. This excuse, Mr. Sheridan said, he could boldly assert, was a
flat and decided perjury!
It could be proved, by corresponding dates, that Middleton had received those letters at least a month before he left Lucknow. He departed from that City on the 17th of October, but must have received those letters before the 20th of the preceding Month. He was therefore well aware of the purity of those, in whose oppression he was engaged; he knew that their attachment was fully proved, at the very time when they were charged with disaffection; but as their punishment was predetermined, he in concert with his Principal, found it necessary to suppress the testimonials of their Innocence.—This Mass of Fraud and Cruelty, covered as it had been by every art which the vile Agents could devise, was now bared to the View, by the aid of that Power who can give a
Giant's nerve
even to an
Infant Arm.
—The injured sufferers, with tears more powerful than Argument, and with sighs more impressive than Eloquence, supplicated their Lordships' Justice, and called for that retribution which should take place on the detested, but unrepenting Author of their wrongs!
The benevolent interference of the Begum, in favor of Capt. Gordon, had been assigned by Mr. Hastings in his Defence, to her intelligence of the successes of the English at that period.—That this allegation was founded in manifest falsehood, could very easily be proved.—The only success which the British forces at that time met with, was that of Col. Blair, on the 3d of September, but where he himself acknowledged that another victory, gained at such a loss, would be equal to a defeat.—The reports spread around the country, at the time, were of the most unfavorable cast—that Mr. Hastings had been slain at Benares, and that the English were every where routed:—These reports, it was to be remarked, were of infinitely more consequence to the present argument, than the facts which really occurred; but if any doubt remained on the mind of any man, it was only necessary to recur to a neverfailing evidence, in that of Mr. Hastings against himself.—In a letter to the Council, which was on record, Mr. Hastings acknowledged that from the 22d of August to the 22d of Sept. which included ofcourse the time of Captain Gordon's liberation, he had been confined in a situation of the utmost hazard; that his safety, during that time, was extremely precarious, and that the affairs of the English were generally thought to be unfavorable in the extreme! In his defence, however, these admissions were totally forgotten; there was also an observable inconsistency in what was there alledged: that Colonel Hannay had written to the Begum in the style of supplication—because, in the desperate situation of affairs, he knew of no other which he could adopt; and yet, in the same sentence it was averred, that the Begums had procured the release of Captain Gordon—from her knowledge of the prosperous advances of our army!—It appeared, therefore, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that those Princesses had demonstrated the firmness of their attachment to the English, not in the moment of success—not from the impulse of fear, nor from the prospect of future protection;—but at a time when the hoard of collected vengeance was about to burst over our heads; when the measure of
European
guilt in
India,
appeared to be completely filled, by the oppressions which had just then been exercised on the unfortunate Cheit Sing; and when Offended Heaven seemed to interfere, to change the meek disposition of the Natives, to awaken their Resentments, and to inspirit their Revenge!
The
second,
of the remaining parts of the Charge against the Begums, was their having enflamed the
Jaghirdars.
It was evident, however, even from the letters of Mr. Middleton himself, that no such aid was wanted to awaken resentments, which must unavoidably have arisen from the nature of the business.—There were many powerful Interests concerned;—the Jaghires, which were depending were of a vast amount, and as their owners by the Resumption would be reduced at once to poverty and distress, their own feelings were sufficient to produce every effect which had been described. It was idle, therefore, to ascribe to the Begums, without a shadow of proof, the inspiring of sentiments, which must have existed without their interference.
"I shall not waste the time of the Court, said Mr. Sheridan, on such a subject, but appeal to your Lordships individually, to determine whether on a proposal being made to confi
cate your several estates,—and the magnitude of the objects are not very unequal,—the interference of any two Ladies in this Kingdom would be at all necessary to awaken your Resentments, and to rouse you to opposition, &c."
The Discontents which prevailed in the Province of Oude, had been also and with similar justice attributed to these Princesses, and formed the
third
and last Article of Charge against them. But the Conduct of the Officers residing in that Province, the repeated complaints from the Natives, and the acknowledged rapacity of Col. Hannay left no difficulty in tracing those discontents to the source where they had originated. The Nabob himself was so well convinced of the tyranny of Col. Hannay, that on a proposition coming from Mr. Hastings, to send him back into the Province, the Nabob swore by
Mahomet,
"that if the Colonel was sent back, he would quit the Province, and come to reside with Mr. Hastings."
The Governor General some time after sent an apology for the suggestion, but it was then too late—Col. Hannay was dead—and the Province was desolate! If a Stranger just arrived, and ignorant of every former transaction were then to survey the once fertile plains of Oude, he would ask,—
"What savage
Invader
had waged such terrible Hostilities against the bounties of Heaven and the works of Man?"
What
Civil Fury,
or what
Religious Frenzy
had depopulated the scene, even to a Waste of Desolation? What pernicious
Monster,
sent by vindictive Heaven, had swept through its plains, and with pestiferous breath, blasted all it could not consume?—To these questions some native with a tearful eye, and subdued aspect, would have answered—
"that no War, no Dissentions, no Monster had produced those effects, which were all owing—to an
alliance
with the
Eglish!
—and that this
disastrous connection
had been fraught with more ills, than the most incenced enemy could desire, or a merciful Providence descend to inflict!"
That this representation was not exaggerated, would appear from the description of Maj. Naylor, who had succeeded Colonel Hannay, and who had previously saved him from the vengeance which the assembled
ryots,
of husbandmen, were about to take on their oppressor. The progress of extortion, it appeared, had not been uniform in that province:—it had absolutely increased as its resources failed, and as the labor of exaction became more difficult, the
price
of that encreased
labor
had been charged as an additionl tax on the wretched inhabitants!—At length, even in their meek bosoms, where
injury
never before begot
resentment,
nor
despair
aroused to
courage,
encreased oppression had its due effect. They assembled round their Oppressor, and had nearly made him their sacrifice. So deeply were they impressed with the sense of their wrongs, that they would not accept of even life from those who had rescued Col. Hannay! They presented themselves to the swords of the soldiery, and as they lay bleeding on the banks of their sacred stream, they comforted themselves with the ghastly hopes that their blood would not descend into the soil; but that it would ascend to the view of the GOD of NATURE, and there claim a retribution for their wrongs!—Of a people thus injured, and thus feeling, it was an audacious fallacy to attribute the conduct to any external impulse.—That GOD, whō gave them the
Form
of Man, implanted also the wish to vindicate the
Rights
of Man. Tho' simple in their manners, they were not so uninformed as not to know—that Power is in every State a trust reposed for the general good; and that the trust being once abused, should of course be instantly resumed.
Though the Innocence of the Begums, Mr. Sheridan continued, was thus proved beyond a possibility of doubt, it could not but be allowed that he argued fairly, if he did not immediately infer, from that proof, the guilt of Mr. Hastings. He would go so far as to admit, that Mr. Hastings might have been deluded by his Accomplices, and have been persuaded into a conviction of a criminality which did not exist; if that were proved, he would readily agree to acquit the Prisoner of the present Charge. But if, on the contrary, there appeared, in his subsequent conduct, uch a concealment, as denoted the fullest conciousness of guilt; if all his narrations of the business were marked with inconsistency and contradiction, that mind must be inaccessible to conviction, which could entertain a doubt of his criminality.—From the month of Sept. in which the seizure of the Treasures took place, until the January following, had Mr. Hastings wholly concealed the transaction from the Council at Calcutta! If any thing could be more singular than this concealment, it was the reasons by which it was afterwards attempted to be justified. Mr. Hasting's first pleaded a
want
of
leisure.
He was writing to the Council, at a time when he complained of an absolute inaction:—he found time to narrate some pretty Eastern tales, respecting the attachment of the Seapoys to their
cannon,
and their dressing them with flowers on particular occasions—but of a Rebellion which convulsed an Empire—of the seizure of the Treasures to such an amount, he could not find leisure to say one syllable until he had secured an Excuse for his Conduct in the Possession of the Money!—The second Excuse was, that all Communication was cut off with Fyzabad; and this was alledged at the time, when letters were passing daily between him and Mr. Middleton, and when Sir Elijah Impey had pronounced the Road to be as free from interruption, as that between London and Brentford.—The third Excuse was, that Mr. Middleton had taken with him on his departure from Chunar all the original papers which it was necessary for Mr. Hastings to consult!—That the original papers had not been removed, was evident, however, from Mr. Hastings sending a copy of the Treaty of Chunar to Mr. Middleton on the fourth day after the Resident's departure; though it appeared that it was after to be reinclosed at a proper time to Mr. Hastings, to be shewn to the Council. A Copy of the same had been shewn to the
Oriental
GROTIUS, Sir Elijah Impey, which he confessed his having read at the time when he declared his ignorance, of the guarantee granted to the Princesses of Oude! Looking to the absurdity of reasons, such as these assigned in Defence of a silence so criminal; Mr. Sheridan declared, that he would lay aside every other arguments—that he would not dwell on any other topic of guilt; if the Counsel for Mr. Hastings would but join issue on this point, and prove, to the satisfaction of the Court, that any of these excuses were in the smallest degree sufficient for the purpose for which they were assigned.
Amidst the other artifices of concealment, was a letter from Col. Hannay, dated Oct. 17, 1781, which Mr. Sheridan proved beyond dispute, could not have been written at the time, but was fabricated at a subsequent period, as it contained a mention of facts, which could by no possibility have been known to Col. Hannay, at the time when it was pretended to have been written.—Whatever else could be done for the purpose of concealment, was done in that mixture of canting and mystery, of rhapsody, and enigma—
"Mr. Hastings' Narrative of his journey to Benares."
—He there set out with a solemn appeal to heaven for the truth of his averments, and a declaration of the same purport to Mr. Wheeler: the faith, however, thus pledged, was broken both to God and man, for it was already in evidence, that no single transaction had occurred as it was there stated!
The question would undoubtedly occur to every person who had attended to these proceedings—
"Why Mr. Hastings had used all these efforts to veil the whole of this business in mystery?
—It was not strictly incumbent on him to answer the question, yet he would reply, that Mr. Hastings had obviously a
bloody
reason for the concealment.—He had looked to the natural effect of strong injuries on the human mind; as in the case of Cheit Sing, he thought that oppression must beget resistance; and the efforts which might be made by the Begums in their own Defence, tho' really the
effect,
he was determined to represent as the
cause
of his proceedings.—Even when disappointed in those aims by the natural meekness and submission of those with whom he was to act; he could not abandon the idea,—and accordingly, in his letter to the Directors, of Jan. 5, 1782, had represented the subsequent disturbances in Oude, as the positive cause of the violent measures which he had adopted—
two months
before those disturbances had existence!—He there congratulates his masters on the seizure of those treasures, which, by the Law of
Mahomet,
he assures them were the property of Asophul Dowla; thus the perturbed spirit of the
Mahometan
law, according to Mr. Hastings' idea, still hovered round those treasures, and envied them to every possessor, until it at length saw them safely lodged within the
sanctuary
of the British Treasury!—In the same spirit of piety, Mr. Hastings had assured the House of Commons, that the inhabitants of Asia believed that some unseen power interfered, and conducted all his pursuits to their destined end.—That Providence, however, which thus conducted the efforts of Mr. Hastings, was not the Providence to which others profess themselves indebted; which interferes in the cause of virtue, and insensibly leads guilt towards its punishment; it was not in fine that Providence.
"Whose works are goodness, and whose ways are right."
The unseen power which protected Mr. Hastings, operated by leading others into criminality, which as far as it respected the Governor General, was highly fortunate in its effects.—If the Rajah Nundcomar brings a charge against Mr. Hastings; Providence so orders it, that the Rajah has committed a
Forgery
some years before, which, with some
friendly assistance,
proves a sufficient reason to remove out of the way so troublesome an acquaintance.—If the Company's Affairs are deranged through the want of Money, Providence ordains it so that the Begums, though
unconsciously,
fall into a Rebellion, and give Mr. Hastings an opportunity of seizing on their Treasures! Thus the successes of Mr. Hastings depended not on any positive merit in himself; it was to the
inspired
FELONIES, the
heaven-born
CRIMES, and the
providential
TREASONS of others that he was indebted for each success, and for the whole tenor of his Prosperity!
It must undoubtedly bear a strange appearance that a man of reputed Ability should, even when acting wrongly, have had recourse to so many bungling artifices, and spread so thin a veil over his deceptions. But those who testified any surprize at this circumstance, must have attended but little to the demeanor of Mr. Hastings. Through the whole course of his conduct, he seemed to have adhered to one General Rule—to keep as clear as possible off the fact which he was to related—Observing this maxim, his only study was to lay a foundation as
fanciful
and as ornamented as possible; then by a superadded mass of fallacies, the superstructure was soon complete, tho' by some radical defect it never failed to tumble on his own head;—Rising from those ruins, however, he was soon found rearing a similar edifice, but with a like effect.—Delighting in difficulties, he disdained the plain and secure foundation of Truth; he loved, on the contrary, to
build
on a
precipice,
and to
encamp
on a
mine.
—Inured to falls, he felt not the danger, and frequent defeats had given him a hardihood, without impressing a sense of the disgrace.
It had been a maxim once as much admitted in the practice of common life, as in the school of philosophy, that where Heaven was inclined to to destroy the Vice, it began by debasing the Intellect. This idea was carried still farther by the Right Hon. Gentleman, Mr. Burke, who opened the prosecution, who declared that PRUDENCE and VICE were things absolutely incompatible;—that the vicious man being deprived of his best energies, and curtailed in his proportion of understanding, was left with such a short-sighted degree of penetration, as could not come under the denomination of PRUDENCE.—This sentiment did honor to the name of his Right Honorable Friend, if that name could now be mentioned with additional honor.—But it was still to be remembered, that there were other Characters beside a
Caesar
and a
Cromwell,
who acting on determinations inimical to Virtue, and hostile to the laws of Society, had proceeded, if not with
prudence,
yet with an allcommanding
sagacity,
that was productive of similar effects. Those, however, were isolated Characters, which left the Vice that dared to follow either in a state of despondent Vassalage, or involved it in Destruction. Such was the present instance of failure, and such it was always to be trusted, would be that of every other, who regarded such characters with an Eye of Emulation.—Such was the perpetual Law of Nature, that VIRTUE, whether placed in a circle more contracted or enlarged, moved with sweet consent in its allotted orbit;—there was no dissonance to jar, no asperity to divide;—and that Harmony which made its Felicity, at the same time constituted its Protection.—Of VICE on the contrary the parts were disunited, and each in barbarous language clamoured for its pre-eminence..—It was a scene where tho' one domineering passion might have sway, the others still pressed forward with their dissonant claims, and in the
moral world,
Effects still awaiting on their Causes, the Discord of course ensured the Defeat.
After dwelling for some time time on this topic, with a beauty which we find it impossible to describe, and with a sublimity which has rarely, if it ever had been equalled:
Mr. SHERIDAN reverted again to the subject of the claims made on the Princesses of Oude.—Whether those were first made by the Nabob, or suggested to him by his Sovereign, Mr. Hastings tho' the counsel had laboured much to prove the former appeared to him to carry very little difference. If the seizure was made as a
confiscation
and punishment for supposed guilt; then, if ever there was a crime which ought to pass
"unwhipped of Justice,"
it was that where a son must necessarily be made the instrument of an infliction, by which he broke his Covenant of Existence, and violated the Condition by which he held his rank in Society. If, on the contrary. it was meant as a
Resumption,
in consequence of a supposed right in the Nabob, then Mr. Hastings should have recollected the Guarantee of the Company granted to the Begums: unless it was meant to say, that Mr. Hastings acted in that, as in other instances, and assured them of his Protection,—until the very moment when it was wanted.—It was idle, however, to dwell on the conduct or free agency of a man, who, it was notorious, had no will of his own. What Mr. Middleton asserted at that Bar, would scarcely be put in competition with a series of established facts; by which it appeared, that the Nabob had submitted to every indignity, and yielded to every assumption.—It was an acknowleged fact, that he had even been brought to join in that paltry artifice which had been termed the subornation of letters. This practice was carried to such a length, that he in the end complained, in a manner rather ludicrous, that he was really tired of sending different Characters of Mr. Bristow, in pursuanc of the directions sent to the Resident.—He had pronounced black white, and white black so often, that he really knew not what to say, and therefore begged that once for all, the friends of Mr. Hastings might be considered as his, and that their enemies might also be the same.—After this it was superfluous to argue that the Nabob could direct his view to so important an object as the seizing of the treasures, unless he had been impelled by Mr. Middleton, and authorised by Mr. Hastings!
At half past four o'clock, Mr. SHERIDAN being apparently exhausted by so very animated a speech of four hours continuance, the Court adjourned.
TUESDAY, JUNE 10.
Mr. SHERIDAN resumed his speech at the very point where he had concluded on Friday last. He felt himself too highly honored, he said, by the attention which had been paid by their Lordships to think any repetition necessary. He had already proved to every unbiassed mind the vassallage in which the Nabob of
Oude
was kept by Mr. Hastings and his agents. He had proved that if ever the Nabob was independent; if ever he was suffered to act from the suggestions of his own mind, in this business of the
Begums
he acted under a strong and systematic compulsion.—He could also make it appear to their Lordships, that this dark and mysterious transaction had been conducted by three principals and three subordinates. The principals were Mr. Hastings, Sir Elijah Impey, and Mr. Middleton; the subordinates, Colonel Hannay, Hyder Beg Cawn, the ostensible Minister of the Nabob, and Ali Abram Cawn, another black agent in the business. By those, it would plainly appear, the whole business was transacted, that the mystery of the conduct could only be equalled by the iniquity of its conclusion.
Before he proceeded however to the main business of the Charge, he found it necessary to remark on two particular circumstances overlooked in his former comments on the evidence.—The first of these was the pretended ignorance of Sir Elijah Impey, respecting the substance of the Affidavits.—He had declared that he had no conversation on the subject with Mr. Hastings, because he had left Chunar on the day following their delivery;—this however would not be looked on as a valid excuse, when it was known that Mr. Hastings and Sir Elijah Impey left that place together, and travelled in company with each other!—And what was yet more strange, he pleaded ignorance of the contents of those Affidavits, tho' in six days after he was found at Buxar, administering an oath to Major Davy, with respect to the fidelity of his official translation of the Affidavits from the Persian language!—The second circumstance which called for notice, was the suppression of the Evidence of Hoolus Roy, the most active Agent through the whole of these transactions.—His affidavit was taken with the rest;—from his situation, it must have contained strong matter either to criminate, or prove the innocence of the Begums—but by some strange accident, this strong Affidavit was—by some means, suppressed!
Mr. SHERIDAN then adverted at some length to the contradictory accounts given by Mr. Hastings, of the violence used towards the Begums, particularly with respect to the seizure of their Jaghires. That which was undoubtedly an attrocious violence and unjustifiable fraud, was at one time inflicted as a punishment for their contumacy;—at another, the justice of the measure was so far a matter of doubt, that even Mr. Hastings professed his readiness to stipulate and to ensure to the Princesses a proper equivalent for those Jaghires. The contradictions, however, were not confined to this circumstance; the Nabob it appeared from the correspondence, marked as it was by that
knavish, half-confidence
which was incident to such transactions, had offered to submit to the seizure of the treasures, merely as an
alternative
less dangerous than the resumption of the Jaghires. Much ingenuity was employed to make this appear as the suggestion of the Nabob, though it was clearly apparent that it was the proposition of Mr. Hastings. An equal ingenuity appeared in Mr. Hastings's mode of
accepting
an
alternative,
which was, when one concession was proffered in lieu of another—to seize on both!—The conduct of the Governor General was also illustrated in a part of his Defence, where he admitted that there were private reasons for his conduct towards the Begums—but which
"wanting the authenticity of according evidence,"
he did not chuse at present to bring forward. There was even in this statement a Modesty very unusual with Mr. Hastings.—He who in every other instance advanced Assertions in the room of Proof—in the present, would not state any thing which wanted the validity of recorded Evidence.—There was, however, sufficient to shew, that in addition to the allowed rapacity of Mr. Hastings, there was not wanting the additional incentive of personal malice!
The Conduct of Mr. Middleton was the next subject of Discussion.—His scruples with respect to the seizure of Jaghires, satisfied at first with
"a hint,"
but afterwards requiring
"a more formal sanction;"
the difference between his public and private letters, and his offers to change the tenor of the former at the will of the Governor-General; all underwent a severe animadversion. These observations involved of course a very complicated detail, which, though necessary to the ends of justice, could, if pursued by us, afford but little gratification.
At half past two o'clock, when Mr. ADAM was reading some letters of Mr. Middleton and Major Naylor, Mr. Sheridan felt such an increasing indisposition as compelled him to retire; and shortly after Mr. Fox informed their Lordships,
"that the Hon. Manager who had taken up the present charge, felt himself totally unable to proceed in such a manner as to do justice to the cause in which he was engaged."
The Court immediately arose and adjourned.
FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1788.
THE Court, notwithstanding the recent disappointment occasioned by the illness of Mr. SHERIDAN, was this day as full as ever.—At Twelve o'Clock, the LORD CHANCELLOR, and the Mover of the present Charge, appeared in their respective places, and both, we are happy to say, in a state of recovered health:—of the former, we could only judge by his appearance—Mr. SHERIDAN afforded other grounds to form our opinion—an animation which gave force to his sublimity—and an energy which spread itself through his hearers.—His conclusion of this day formed a climax of such excellence, as cannot be described,—and which, when fainter impressions are faded and forgotten, will cause his hearers to be envied.
Mr. SHERIDAN began, by apologizing for the interruption which his Indisposition had caused on the former day. He assured their Lordships, in the strongest terms, that nothing but the Importance of the Cause, to which he felt himself totally unable to do Justice, could have made him trespass on that Indulgence, which, on other occasions, he had so amply experienced.
He had then concluded, with submitting to their Lordships, the whole of the correspondence, as far as it could be obtained, between the principals and agents, in the nefarious plot carried on against the Nabob Vizier, and the Begums of Oude. These letters were worthy the most abstracted attention of their Lordships, as containing not only a narrative of that foul and unmanly conspiracy, but also a detail of the motives and ends for which it was formed, and an exposition of the trick, the quibble, the prevarication, and the untruth with which it was then acted, and now attempted to be defended!—The Question would undoubtedly suggest itself, why the Correspondence was ever produced by the parties against whom it was now adduced in evidence, and who had so much reason to distrust the Propriety of their own Conduct?—To this the answer was, that it was owing to a mutual and
providential
resentment which had broken out between the Parties, which was generally the Case between Persons concerned in such transactions. Mr. Middleton was incensed, and felt as a galling triumph the confidence reposed by the Governor-General in other Agents.—Mr. Hastings was offended by the
tardy wariness
which marked the Conduct of Middleton; by the various remonstrances by the Agent—though as knowing the Man, to whom they were addressed, they were all grounded on motives of Policy, not of Humanity; and of Expediency, which left Justice entirely out of the Question; but the great ostensible ground of Quarrel was, that Middleton had dared to spend
two days
in Negotiation—tho' that delay had prevented the general Massacre of upwards of
two thousand persons!
—The real cause, however, of this difference was a firm belief on the part of Mr. Hastings, that Mr. Middleton had inverted their different situations, and kept the
Lion's Share
of plunder to himself. There were undoubtedly some circumstances to justify this suspicion. At the time when Mr. Hastings had first complained; the Nabob's Treasury was empty, and his troops so mutinous for their pay, as even to threaten his Life; yet in this moment of
Gratitude
and
Opulence,
Middleton intimated the Nabob's Desire to make Mr. Hastings a present of 100,000l. That facrifice, however, not being deemed sufficient, Mr. Middleton was recalled, and Major Palmer was sent in his room, with instructions to tell the Nabob that such a donation was
not
to be attempted; the Prince, however, with an unfortunate want of recollection, said that
"no such offer had ever been in his mind."
—Thus, it had always been considered as the heightening of a favor bestowed that the receiver should not know from what quarter it came; but it was reserved for Mr. Middleton to improve on this by such a
delieate
refinement,
that the person giving should be totally ignorant of the favor he conferred!
But notwithstanding these little differences and suspicions, Mr. Hastings and Mr. Middleton, on the return of the latter to Calcutta in October; 1782, continued to live in the same style of
friendly collusion,
and
fraudulent familiarity
as ever. But when Mr. Bristow, not answering the purposes of Mr. Hastings, was accused on the
snborned
letters, procured from the Nabob, one of which pronounced him to be blackest Character in existence, whilst another,
of the same date,
spoke of him as a very honest fellow; Mr. Hastings thought it might appear particular, and therefore, after their late intimacy of six months, accuses Mr. Middleton also before the Board at Calcutta. It was then that in the rash eagerness, which distinguished his pursuit of every object, Mr. Hastings had incautiously, but happily for the present purposes of Justice, brough forth those secret letters. It mattered not what were the views which induced Mr. Hastings to bring to bring that Charge; whether he had drawn up the Accusation, or obliged Middleton with his
aid
in framing a
Defence:
the whole had ended in a repartee, and a poetical Quotation from the Governor General. The only circumstance material to the purposes of humanity, was the production of instruments, by which those who had violated every principle of Justice and Benevolence, were to see their Guilt explained, and, it was to be hoped, to experience that Punishment which they deserved.
To those
private
letters it was that their Lordships were to look for whatever elucidation of the subject could be drawn from the parties concerned; written in the moments of confidence, they declared the real motive and object of each measure; the
public
letters were only to be regarded as proofs of Guilt, whenever they established a contradiction. The Counsel for the Prisoner had chosen, as the safest ground, to rely on the public letters, written for the concealment of fraud and purpose of deception. They had, for instance, particularly dwelt on a public letter from Mr. Middleton, dated in December, 1781, which intimated some particulars of supposed contumacy in the Begums, with a view to countenance the transactions which shortly after took place, and particularly the resumption of the Jaghires. But this letter both Sir Elijah Impey and Mr. Middleton had admitted, in their examination at that bar, to be totally false; though, if it were in every point true, the apprehension of resistance to a measure could not by any means be made a ground for the enforcement of that measure in the first instance. The Counsel seemed displeased with Mr. Middleton for the answer, and therefore repeated the question. The witness, however, did not readily fall into their humour; for he declared, that he did not recollect a particle of the letter; and though
Memory
was undoubtedly not the
forte
of Mr. Middleton, he was not, perhaps, entirely faulty on this occasion, as the letter was certainly of a
later
fabrication, and perhaps not from his hand. This letter, however, was also in direct contradiction to every one of the Defences set up by Mr. Hastings.—Another public letter, which had been equally dwelt on, spoke of the
"determination of the Nabob,"
to resume the Jaghires. It had appeared in evidence, that the Nabob could by no threats be compelled to yield to their measures—that it was not until Mr. Middleton had actually issued his own
Perwannas
for the Collection of the Rents, that the Nabob, rather than be brought to the utmost state of degradation, agreed to let the measure be brought forward on his own act! The Resistance of the Begums to that measure was noticed in the same letter, as an instance of
female levity
—as if their defence of the property assigned for their subsistence was to be made a reproach;—or that they deserved a reproof for
female lightness,
by entertaining a
feminine
objection—to their being
starved!
This resistance to the measure, which was expected, and the consoling slaughter on which Mr. Hastings relied, were looked to in all those letters as a justification of the measure itself. There was not the smallest mention of the
anterior
rebellion, which by prudent
after-thought
had been so greatly magnified. There was not a syllable of those dangerous machinations which were to have dethroned the Nabob;—of those sanguinary artifices by which the English were to have been extirpated.—Not a particle concerning those practices was mentioned in any of Middleton's letters to Hastings, or in the still more confidential communication which he maintained with Sir Elijah Impey: Though after the latter, his letters were continually posting, even when the Chief Justice was travelling round the country in search of affidavits. When on the 28th of November, he was busies at Lucknow, on that honourable business, and when three days after he was found at Chunar, at the distance of 200 miles, prompting his instruments, and like
Hamlet's
Ghost exclaiming—
"SWEAR!"
—His progress on that occasion was so whimsically sudden, when contrasted with the gravity of his employ, that an observer would be tempted to quote again from the same scene;—
"
Ha! Old
TRUEPENNY,
can'st thou mole so fast i' the ground?
"
—Here however the Comparison ceased—for when Sir Elijah made his visit to Lucknow,
"
to whet the almost blunted purpose
"
of the Nabob, his language was wholly different from that of the Poet:—it would have been much against his purpose to have said:
"Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
"Against thy MOTHER aught!"
On the subject of those Affidavits, he would only make another single observation.—Sir Elijah Impey had denied all acquaintance with their contents, tho' he had been actually accompanied to Buxar by Major Davy, who there translated them from the Persian, for the use of Mr. Hastings!—There was amongst them, an Affidavit taken in English, from a Native at Buxar, but which was first explained to the deponent by Major Davy in the presence of Sir Elijah Impey!—How far therefore the assertion of the Chief Justice was plausible, and how far this fact was consistent with that assertion, he should leave it to their Lordships to determine.
It was in some degree observable, that not one of the private letters of Mr. Hastings, had been produced at any time!—Even Middleton, when all confidence was broken between them, by the production of his private correspondence at Calcutta, either feeling for his own safety, or sunk under the fascinating influence of his master, did not dare to attempt a retaliation!—The letters of Middleton, however, were sufficient to prove the situation of the Nabob, when pressed to the measure of rescuing the Jaghire, in which he had been represented as acting wholly from himself.—He was there described as lost in sullen melancholy—with feelings agitated beyond expression, and with every mark of agonized sensibility. To such a degree was this apparent, that even Middleton was moved to interfere for a temporary respite, in which he might be more reconciled to the measure.
"I am fully of opinion, said he, that the despair of the Nabob must impel him to violence; I know also that the violence must be fatal to himself—but yet I think, that with his present feelings, he will disregard all consequences."
—Mr. Johnson also, the Assistant Resident, wrote at the same time to Mr. Hastings to aver to him that the measure was dangerous, that it would require a total Reform of the Collection which could not be made without a
Campaign!
—This was
British
Justice, this was
British
Humanity! Mr.
Hastings
ensures to the Allies of the Company in the strongest terms their Prosperity and his Protection;—the former he secures by sending an army to plunder them of their wealth and to desolate their soil!—His Protection is fraught with a similar security;—like a
Vulture
with Talons infixed in the heart of his victim, he frights away the lesser
Kites
—and then calls the
sacrifice—protection!
In all the Annals of human Tyranny or human suffering—in the accurate illustrations of a TACITUS, or the luminous Pages of a GIBBON, there did not occur such an instance of unexampled iniquity!—The victims of this oppression were confessedly destitute of all power to resist their oppressors; but that debility, which from other bosoms would have claimed some Compassion, with respect to the Mode of Suffering, here excited but the ingenuity of Torture! Even when every feeling of the Nabob was subdued, Nature made a lingering, feeble stand within his bosom; but even then that cold, unfeeling Spirit of Malignity, with whom his doom was fixed, returned with double Acrimony to its purpose, and compelled him to inflict on a parent that Destruction, of which, he was himself reserved but to be the last Victim!—To those who looked with an equal and impartial eye to the ends of Justice, and the interests of Humanity, it would appear, that since the day of the
Original Sin,
a scene so iniquitously cruel, or so fraudfully detestable, had never produced Resentment, or excited Compassion!
Yet when cruelty seemed to have reached its bounds, and guilt to have ascended to its climax, there was something in the character of Mr. Hastings, which seemed to transcend the latter, and overleap the former;—and of this kind was the letter to the Nabob, which was dispatched on this occasion. To rebuke Mr. Middleton for his Moderation, as was instantly done, was easily performed through the medium of a public and a private letter.—But to write to the Nabob in such a manner that the command might be conveyed, and yet the letter afterwards shewn to the world, was a task of more difficulty; but which it appeared by the event was admirably suited to the genius of Mr. Hastings. His letter was dated the Fifteenth of February 1782, though the Jaghires had been then actually seized—and it was in proof that it had been sent at a much earlier period. He there assured the Nabob of his coincidence with his wishes respecting the Resumption of the Jaghires—he declares that if he found any difficulty in the measure—he, Mr. Hastings, would go to his
assistance
in person, and lend his aid to
punish
those who
opposed
it—
"for that nothing could be more ardent than his friendship, or more eager than his zeal for his welfare."
The most desperate intention was cloathed in the mildest language—but the Nabob knew by sad experience the character with whom he had to deal, and therefore was not to be deceived; he saw the
Dagger
glistening in the hand which was treacherously extended, as if to his Assistance—and from that moment the last faint Ray of Nature expired in his Bosom. Mr. Middleton, from that time extended his Iron Sceptre without Resistance—the Jaghires were seized, every measure was carried, and the Nabob, his Feelings wounded, and his Dignity degraded, was no longer considered as an object of Regard.—Though these were circumstances exasperating to the human heart, which felt the smallest remains of sensibility, yet it was necessary, in idea, to review the whole from the time that this treachery was first conceived, to that when by a series of artifices the most execrable, it was brought to a completion. Mr. Hastings would there be seen standing aloof indeed, but not inactive in the war! He would be discovered reviewing his agents, rebuking at one time the pale conscience of Mr. Middleton, and at another relying on the stouter villainy of Hyder Beg Cawn. With all the calmness of veteran delinquency, his eye ranged through the busy prospect, piercing through the darkness of subordinate guilt, and arranging, with congenial adroitness the agents of his Crimes and the instruments of his Cruelty.
The feelings of the several parties at the time would be most properly judged of, by their respective correspondence. When the Bhow Begum, despairing of redress from the Nabob, addressed herself to Mr. Middleton, and reminded him of the Guarantee which he had signed, she was instantly promised that the amount of her Jaghire should be made good, though Mr. Middleton said he could not interfere with the
sovereign
decision of the Nabob respecting the lands. The deluded and unfortunate woman
"thanked God that Mr. Middleton was at hand for her relief;"
at the very instant when he was directing every effort to her destruction;—when he had actually written the orders which were to take the collection out of the hands of her agents! Even when the Begum was undeceived—when she found that British faith was no protection, when she found that she should leave the country, and prayed to the God of nations not to grant his peace to those who remained behind;—there was still no charge of
rebellion,
no re-crimination made to all her reproaches for the broken faith of the Enlish. Even when stung to madness, she asked
"how long would be their reign;"
no mention of her disaffection was brought forward; the stress was therefore idle, which the counsel for the prisoner strove to lay on these expressions of an injured and enraged woman.—When at last irritated beyond bearing, she denounced INFAMY on the heads of her Oppressors, who was there who would not say that she spoke in a
prophetic
spirit, and that what she had then predicted had not, even to its last letter, been accomplished! But did Mr. Middleton even to this violence, retort any particle of accusation? No; he sent a
jocose
reply, stating that he had received such a letter under her seal, but that from its Contents he could not suspect it to come from her, and begging therefore that she might endeavour to detect the
Forgery!
—Thus did he add to foul injuries, the vile aggravation of a
brutal Jest;
—like the Tigers that prowl over the Scene where his Ravages were committed, he shewed the savageness of his Nature, by grinning over his Prey, and fawning over the last Agonies of his unfortunate Victim.
Those letters were then enclosed to the Nabob, who no more than the rest, made any attempt to justify himself by imputing any criminality to the Begums. He only sighed a Hope, that his Conduct to his Farents had drawn no shame upon his head; and declaredhis intention to punish.—not any disaffection in the
Begums
—but some officious servants who had dared to ferment the misunderstanding between them and the Nabob.—A letter was finally sent to Mr. Hastings, about six days before the Seizure of the Treasure from the Begums, declaring their innocence, and referring the Governor General to Captain Gordon, whose life they had protected, and whose safety should have been their justification. That Enquiry was never made; it was looked on as unnecessary,—because the conviction of their innocence was too deeply impressed!
The Council in recommending an attention to the Public, in preference to the Privae letters, had remarked in particular, that one letter should not be taken as evidence, because it was evidently and abstractedly private, as it contained in one part, the anxieties of Mr. Middleton, for the illness of his son.—This was a singular argument indeed. The circumstance undoubtedly merited strict observation, though not in the view in which it was placed by the Counsel.—It went to shew that some at least of those concerned in these transactions, felt the force of those ties, which their efforts were directed to tear asunder.—that those who could ridicule the respective attachment of a MOTHER and a SON, who would prohibit the reverence of the Son to the Mother, who had given him life,—who could deny to
maternal debility
the protection which
filial tenderness
should afford:—were yet sensible of the
straining
of those
chords,
by which they were connected.—There was something in the present business, with all that was horrible to create
aversion,
—so vilely loathsome, as to excite
Disgust;
—if it were not a part of his duty it would be superfluous to speak of the sacredness of the ties which those aliens to feeling—those Apostates to Humanity had thus divided.—In such an Assembly, said Mr. Sheridan, as that before which I speak, there is not an eye but must look reproof to this conduct—not a heart but most anticipate its condemnation.—FILIAL PIETY! It is the primal bond of Society—it is the SACRAMENT of our EXISTENCE. It is almost an
innate
principle, which starts unbidden to our lip, which consults not our Memory, nor awaits our Reason.—It is a GRATITUDE implanted for a thousand wakeful cares—a thousand nameless solicitudes; for these attentions, which not being remembered, are the more entitled to our Gratitude, as having been exercised at a time when the dawning Reason could not observe, nor the in
ant Memory record. It is a sensation, twined in the heart's inmost core, and coeval with our earliest sense of existence.—Those who violated this solemn covenant, must at the instant have stood convicted to themselves;—the slow-judging formalities of the law are superfluous—they are returned as GUILTY by the general verdict of mankind!"
The Jaghires being seized, Mr. Sheridan proceeded to observe, the
Begums
were left without the smallest share of that pecuniary compensation promised by Mr. Middleton; and as when tyranny and
injustice
take the field, they are always attended by their
camp-followers,
paltry pilfering, and petty insult—so in this instance, the goods taken from them were sold at a mock sale at inferior value. Even gold and jewels, to use the language of the Begums, instantly lost their value when it was known that they came from them! Their Ministers were therefore imprisoned to extort the deficiency which this fraud had occasioned; and those mean arts were employed to justify a continuance of cruelty; yet these again were little to the frauds of Mr. Hastings. After extorting upwards of 600,000l. he forbade Mr. Middleton to come to a
conclusive settlement.
—He knew that the
Treasons
of our Allies in India had their origin solely in the wants of the Company. He could not therefore say that the Begums were entirely innocent, until he had consulted the general
Record
of
Crimes
—in the
Cash Account
at Calcutta!—And this
prudence
of Mr. Hastings was fully justified by the event—for there was actually found a balance of
Twenty-six lacks
more, against the Begums, which 260,000l. worth of Treason, had never been dreamt of before.
"Talk not to us,"
said the Governor General, of their Guilt or Innocence, but as it suits the Company's
Credit!
We will not try them by the Code of
Justinian,
nor the Institutes of
Timur
—we will not judge them either by the British Laws, or their local Customs! No! We will try them by the
Multiplication Table,
we will find them guilty by the
Rule of Three,
and we will condemn them according to the sapient and profound Institutes of—COCKER's
Arithmetic!
Proceeding next to state the distresses of the Begums in the Zenana, and of the women in the Khord Mahal, Mr. Sheridan remarked, that some observation was due to the remark made by Mr. Hastings in his Defence, where he declared—" that whatever were the distresses there, and whoever was the agent, the Measure was in his opinion reconcileable to Justice, Honor, and sound Policy. Major Scott—
the incomparable Agent
of Mr. Hastings had declared this passage to have been written by Mr. Hastings, with his own hand.—Then Mr. Middleton, it appeared, had avowed his share in those humane transactions, and blushingly retired. Mr. Hastings then cheered his drooping Spirits.—
"Whatever part of the load, said he, yours cannot bear, my
unburdened
character shall assume. I will crown your labours with my irresistible approbation—then we
twin-warriors
shall go forth—do you find
Memory,
and I'll find
Character
—and assault, repulse, and contumely shall all be set at defiance!"
If I could not prove, continued Mr. Sheridan that those Acts of Mr. Middleton were in reality the Acts of Mr. Hastings, I should not trouble your Lordships by combating these Assertions; but as that part of his criminality can be incontestibly ascertained,—I shall undoubtedly appeal to the assembled Legislators of this Realm, and call on them to say, whether those Acts were justifiable on the score of
Policy;
—I shall appeal to all the august Presidents in the Courts of British Justice, and to all the learned Ornaments of the Profession to decide whether these Actions were reconcileable to
Justice;
—I shall appeal to a reverend Assemblage of Prelates feeling for the general interests of Humanity, and for the honor of the Religion to which they belong; let them determine in their own minds whether those Acts of Mr. Hastings, and Mr. Middleton, were such a
Christian
ought to perform, or a
Man
to avow!
He then proceeded to relate the circumstances of the Imprisonment of Bahar Ally Cawn, and Jewar Ally Cawn, the Minister of the Nabob, on the grounds above stated: With them was confined, that
Arch-rebel
Sumpshier Cawn, by whom every act of hostility, that had taken place against the English, was stated to have been committed.—No enquiry, however, was made concerning his
Treason,
though many been held respecting the
Treasure
of the others. He was not so far noticed as to be deprived of his
food;
nor was he even complimented with
fetters!
and yet when he is on a future day to be informed of the Michiefs he was now stated to have done, he must think that on being forgotten, he had a very
providential escape!
—The others were, on the contrary, taken from their milder Prison at Fyzabad; and when threats could effect nothing, transferred by the meek humanity of Mr. Middleton to the Fortress of Chunargur. There, where the British Flag was flying, they were doomed to deeper dungeons, heavier chains, and severer punishments. Three where that Flag was displayed, which was wont to chear the depressed, and to dilate the subdued heart of misery—these venerable, but unfortunate men, were fated to encounter something
lower
than PERDITION, and something
blacker
than DESPAIR! It appeared from the evidence of Mr.
Holt
and others, that they were both cruelly flogged, tho' one was above seventy years of age, to extort a Confession of the buried Wealth of the Begums!—Being charged with a Disaffection; they proclaimed their innocence;—
"tell us where are the remaining Treasures, was the reply—it is only a treachery to your immediate Sovereigns:—and you will then be fit associates for the representatives of British Faith and British Justice in India!"
—
"Oh! FAITH, Oh JUSTICE! exclaimed Mr. Sheridan, I conjure you by your sacred names to depart for a moment from this Place, though it be your peculiar Residence; nor hear your Names profaned, by such a sacrilegious Combination, as that which I am now compelled to repeat!"
It might have been hoped, for the honor of the human heart, that the Begums had been themselves exempted from a share in these sufferings, and that they had been wounded only through the sides of their Ministers.—The reverse of this, however, was the fact.—Their Palace was surrounded by a guard, which was withdrawn by Major Gilpin, to avoid the growing resentments of the people, and replaced by Mr. Middleton, thro' his fears from that
"dreadful responsibility"
which was imposed on him by Mr. Hastings.—The Women of the Khord Mahal, who had not been involved in the Begum's supposed crimes; who had raised no
sub-rebellion
of their own, and who it had been proved, lived in a distinct dwelling, were causelessly involved in the same punishment; their Residence surrounded with guards, they were driven to despair by famine, and when they poured forth in sad procession, were driven back by the soldiery, and beaten with
Bludgeons
to the scene of Madness, which they had quitted. Those were acts, Mr. Sheridan observed, which, when told, needed no Comment; he should not offer a single syllable to awaken their Lordship's feelings; but leave it to the facts which had been proved, to make their own impressions.
The argument now reverted solely to this point, whether Mr. Hastings was to be answerable for the crimes committed by his agents? It had been fully proved that Mr. Middleton had signed the treaty with the superior Begum in October, 1778. He had acknowledged signing some others of other dates, but could not
recollect
his authority. These treaties had been fully recognized by Mr. Hastings, as was fully proved by the evidence of Mr. Purling, in the year 1780. In that of Oct. 1778, the Jaghire was secured, which was allotted for the support of the women in the Khord Mahal: on the first idea of resuming those Jaghires a provision should have been secured to these unfortunate women, and in this respect Mr. Hastings was clearly guilty of a Crime, by his
Omission
of making such provision. But still he pleaded, that he was not accountable for the Cruelties which had been exercised. This was the Plea which TYRANNY aided by its
prime minister,
Treachery, was always sure to set up. Mr. Middleton had attempted to strengthen this plea, by endeavouring to claim the whole Infamy of those transactions, and to
monopolize
the Guilt! He dared even to aver that he had been condemned by Mr. Hastings for the ignominious part he had acted;—he dared to avow this, because Mr. Hastings was on his Trial, and he thought he should never be tried;—but in the face of the Court, and before he left the Bar, he was compelled to confess that it was for the
lenience,
not the
severity
of his Proceedings that he had been reproved by Mr. Hastings.
It would not, he trusted, be argued, that because Mr. Hastings had not marked every passing shade of guilt, and because he had only given the bold outline of Cruelty, that he was therefore to be acquitted.—It was laid down by the law of England—that law which was the perfection of Reason,—that a Person ordering an Act to be done by his Agent, was answerable for that act with all his consequences. Middleton had been appointed in 1777, the avowed and private Agent—the
secondself
of Mr. Hastings. The Governor General had ordered the measure: Middleton declared that it could not have been effected by milder means. If he never saw, nor heard afterwards of the consequences of the measure, he was answerable therefore for every pang that was inflicted, and for all the blood that was shed. But he had heard, and that instantly of the whole. He had written to arraign Middleton of forbearance and of neglect!—He commanded them to work upon their hopes and fears, and to leave no means untried, until—to speak their own language, but which would be better suited to the
Banditti
of a
Cavern
—
"they obtained possession of the secret hoards of the old Ladies."
—He would not allow even of a delay of two days to smooth the compelled approaches of a SON to his MOTHER, on such an occasion!—His orders were peremptory;—and if a massacre did not take place, it was the merit of accident—and not of Mr. Hastings.—After this would it be said, that the prisoner was ignorant of the acts, or not culpable for their consequences? It was true, he had not enjoined in so many words the
Guards,
the
Famine,
and the
Bludgeons:
he had not weighed the
fetters,
nor numbered the
lashes
to be inflicted on his victims. But yet he was equally guilty as if he had borne an active and personal share in each transaction. It was, as if he had commanded that the
heart
should be torn from the bosom, and yet had enjoined that no
blood
should follow. He was in the same degree accountable to the
Law,
to his
Country,
to his
Conscience
and to his GOD!
Mr. Hastings had endeavoured also to get rid of a part of his Guilt, by observing that he was but
one
of the Supreme Council, and that all the rest had sanctioned those transactions with their approbation. If Mr. Hastings could prove, however, that others participated in the Guilt, it would not tend to diminish his own Criminality. But the fact was, that the Council had in nothing erred so much as in a criminal Credulity given to the declarations of the Governor General. They knew not a word of those transactions until they were finally concluded.—It was not until the January following, that they saw the Mass of Falshood which had been published under the title of
"Mr. Hastings' Narrative."
They had been then unaccountably duped into the suffering a Letter to pass, dated the 29th of November, intended to deceive the Directors into a belief, that they had received intelligence at that time, which was not the fact.—These Observations, Mr. Sheridan said, were not meant to cast any obloquy on the Council;—they had undoubtedly been deceived, and the deceit practised on them by making them sign the Narrative, was of itself a strong accusation of Mr. Hastings, and a decided proof of his own Consciousness of Guilt. When tired of corporal Infliction, his Tyranny was gratified by insulting the understanding. Other Tyrants, tho' born to greatness, such as a NERO, or CALIGULA, might have been roused, it had been supposed, by reflection, and awakened into contrition;—but here was an instance which spurned at Theory, and baffled supposition; a man born to a state at least of equality; inured to calculation and brought up in habits of reflection;—and yet proving in the end that Monster in Nature, a
deliberate and reasoning Tyrant!
The Board of Directors received those advices which Mr. Hasting's thought proper to transmit, but though unfurnished with any other materials to form their judgment, they expressed very strongly their doubts, and as properly ordered an Enquiry into the circumstances of the alledged Disaffection of of the Begums; pronouncing it at the same time a Debt which was due to the Honor and Justice of the British Nation.—This enquiry however on the Directions reaching India, Mr. Hastings thought it absolutely necessary to elude.—He stated to the Council, that it being merely stated that
"IF on enquiry, certain facts appeared,"
no enquiry was thereby directly enjoined!—
"It would revive (he said) those animosities that subsisted between the Begums and the Vizier, which had then subsided;—if the former were inclined to appeal to a foreign jurisdiction, they were the best judges of their own feeling, and should be left to make their own complaint."
—All this, however, was nothing to the magnificent paragraph which concluded this Minute, and to which Mr. Sheridan also requested the attention of the Court.—
"Beside, said Mr. Hastings, I hope it will not be a departure from official language to say—that the MAJESTY of JUSTICE ought not to be approached without solicitation: she ought not to descend to enflame or provoke, but to with-ho'd her judgment, until she is called on to determine!"
What was still more astonishing, was that Sir John Macpherson, who had before opposed Mr. Hastings, was caught by this
bold bombastic quibble,
and rejoined in the same words,
"that the MAJESTY of JUSTICE, ought not to be approached, without solicitation!"
"But my Lords, continued Mr. Sheridan, I rely on the Judgment of your Lordships for a very different opinion. I hear you already call on me to turn from the ill-shaped
Pagod,
—from the monstrous Idol, which this bold Man at your Bar, has thus set up, and to which he has dared to give the appellation of JUSTICE;—I hear you command me to turn from the
debased Caricature,
to contemplate the figure of JUSTICE, where she sits in her more dignified form, and her more august Tribunal,—HERE;—to a
Justice
commanding, yet not rigorous; efficient, yet not sanguinary:—to a Justice, active and regardful, yet without without restlessness or suspicion;—to a JUSTICE, whose loveliest attribute appears in stooping to raise the oppressed, and to bind up the wounds of the afflicted.—To that JUSTICE I now make my confident appeal,—in a Cause the most important to the interests of Humanity that has been ever brought to a decision,—in a cause, where, though the injuries were widely extended, the joyous and reverberant murmurs of redress, would reach to a circle still more enlarged.—I will not therefore adjure your Lordships to dismiss every thing like party motives on this occasion, as I well know that so perverse a bias cannot possibly intrude on your decision—But I will conjure you, by the dignity of your several characters: I will conjure you by the august solemnity of this high tribunal; I will conjure by that sacred tie of
houor
to which you will appeal, when laying your hands on your bosoms you give the important judgment—to weigh well the Evidence which we have submitted to you. Let not Quibbles on words do away the force of Fact—
Let but the Truth appear, and our Cause is gained.
—MY LORDS—I HAVE DONE."
When Mr. Sheridan had concluded the admiration of his Auditors was too great for
silent
approbation. It unanimously burst forth in a tumult of applause, which the recollection of the scene as instantly suppressed.—It was a tribute of
Feeling
to GENIUS, such as Form could not constrain, no inferior Consideration subdue.
The Court immediately rose, and adjourned to the
first
TUESDAY, in the next Session of Parliament.
FINIS.