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The Works Of The Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. IX. (of 12) written by Edmund Burke

E >> Edmund Burke >> The Works Of The Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. IX. (of 12)




"That, with whomsoever the Vizier should make war, Fyzoola Khan should
send _two or three thousand men, according to his ability_, to join the
forces of the Vizier.

"And that, if the Vizier should march in person, Fyzoola Khan should
himself accompany him _with his troops_."

III. That from the terms of the treaty above recited it doth plainly,
positively, and indisputably appear that the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, in
case of war, was not bound to furnish more than three thousand men under
any construction, unless the Vizier should march in person.

IV. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was not positively bound to furnish so
many as three thousand men, but an indefinite number, not more than
three and not less than two thousand; that of the precise number within
such limitations the ability of Fyzoola Khan, and not the discretion of
the Vizier, was to be the standard; and that such ability could only
mean that which was equitably consistent not only with the external
defence of his jaghire, but with the internal good management thereof,
both as to its police and revenue.

V. That, even in case the Vizier should march in person, it might be
reasonably doubted whether the personal service of the Nabob Fyzoola
Khan "with his troops" must be understood to be with _all_ his troops,
or only with the number before stipulated, not more than three and not
less than two thousand men; and that the latter is the interpretation
finally adopted by Warren Hastings aforesaid, and the Council of Bengal,
who, in a letter to the Court of Directors, dated April 5th, 1783,
represent the clauses of the treaty relative to the stipulated aid as
meaning simply that Fyzoola Khan "should send two or three thousand men
to join the Vizier's forces, or attend in person in case it should be
requisite."

VI. That from the aforesaid terms of the treaty it doth not specifically
appear of what the stipulated aid should consist, whether of horse or
foot, or in what proportion of both; but that it is the recorded
opinion, maturely formed by the said Hastings and his Council, in
January, 1783, that even "a single horseman included in the aid which
Fyzoola Khan might furnish would prove a literal compliance with the
stipulation."

VII. That, in the event of any doubt fairly arising from the terms of
the treaty, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, in consideration of his hereditary
right to the whole country, and the price by him actually paid for the
said treaty, was in equity entitled to the most favorable construction.

VIII. That, from the attestation of Colonel Champion aforesaid, the
government of Calcutta acquired the same right to interpose with the
Vizier for the protection of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan as they, the said
government, had before claimed from a similar attestation of Sir Robert
Barker to assist the Vizier in extirpating the whole nation of the said
Fyzoola Khan,--more especially as in the case of Sir Robert Barker it
was contrary to the remonstrances of the then administration, and the
furthest from the intentions of the said Barker himself, that his
attestation should involve the Company, but the attestation of Colonel
Champion was authorized by all the powers of the government, as a
"sanction" intended "to add validity" to the treaty; that they, the said
government, and in particular the said Warren Hastings, as the first
executive member of the same, were bound by the ties of natural justice
duly to exercise the aforesaid right, if need were; and that their duty
so to interfere was more particularly enforced by the spirit of the
censures passed both by the Directors and Proprietors in the Rohilla
war, and the satisfaction expressed by the Directors "in the honorable
end put to that war."


PART III.

GUARANTY OF THE TREATY OF LALL-DANG.

I. That during the life of the Vizier Sujah ul Dowlah, and for some time
after his death, under his son and successor, Asoph ul Dowlah, the Nabob
Fyzoola Khan did remain without disturbance or molestation; that he did
all the while imagine his treaty to be under the sanction of the
Company, from Colonel Champion's affixing his signature thereto as a
witness, "which signature, as he [Fyzoola Khan] supposed," (rendered the
Company the _arbitrators_) between the Vizier and himself, in case of
disputes; and that, being "a man of sense, but _extreme pusillanimity_,
a good farmer, fond of wealth, _not possessed of the passion of
ambition_," he did peaceably apply himself to "improve the state of his
country, and did, _by his own prudence and attention_, increase the
revenues thereof beyond the amount specified in Sujah ul Dowlah's
grant."

II. That in the year 1777, and in the beginning of the year 1778, being
"alarmed at the young Vizier's resumption of a number of jaghires
granted by his father to different persons, and the injustice and
oppression of his conduct in general," and having now learned (from whom
does not appear, but probably from some person supposed of competent
authority) that Colonel Champion formerly witnessed the treaty as a
private person, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did make frequent and urgent
solicitations to Nathaniel Middleton, Esquire, then Resident at Oude,
and to Warren Hastings aforesaid, then Governor-General of Bengal, "for
a renovation of his [the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's] treaty with the late
Vizier, and the guaranty of the Company," or for a "separate agreement
with the Company for his defence": considering them, the Company, as
"the only power in which he had confidence, and to which he could look
up for protection."

III. That the said Resident Middleton, and the said Governor-General
Hastings, did not, as they were in duty bound to do, endeavor to allay
the apprehensions of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan by assuring him of his
safety under the sanction of Colonel Champion's attestation aforesaid,
but by their criminal neglect, if not by positive expressions, (as there
is just ground from their subsequent language and conduct to believe,)
they, the said Middleton and the said Hastings, did at least keep alive
and confirm (whoever may have originally suggested) the said
apprehension; and that such neglect alone was the more highly culpable
in the said Hastings, inasmuch as he, the said Hastings, in conjunction
with other members of the Select Committee of the then Presidency of
Bengal, did, on the 17th of September, 1774, write to Colonel Champion
aforesaid, publicly authorizing him, the said Colonel Champion, to join
his _sanction_ to the accommodations agreed on between the Vizier Sujah
ul Dowlah and the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, _to add to their validity_,--and
on the 6th of October following did again write to the said Colonel
Champion, more explicitly, to join his sanction, "either by attesting
the treaty, or _acting as guaranty_ on the part of the Company for the
performance of it": both which letters, though they did not arrive until
after the actual signature of the said Colonel Champion, do yet
incontrovertibly mark the solemn intention of the said Committee (of
which the said Hastings was President) that the sanction of Colonel
Champion's attestation should be regarded as a public, not a private,
sanction; and it was more peculiarly incumbent on such persons, who had
been members of the said Committee, so to regard the same.

IV. That the said Warren Hastings was further guilty of much criminal
concealment for the space of "twelve months," inasmuch as he did not lay
before the board the frequent and urgent solicitations which he, the
said Hastings, was continually receiving from the Nabob Fyzoola Khan,
until the 9th of March, 1778; on which day the said Hastings did
communicate to the Council a public letter of the aforesaid Middleton,
Resident at Oude, acquainting the board that he, the said Middleton,
taking occasion from a late application of Fyzoola Khan for the
Company's guaranty, had deputed Mr. Daniel Octavus Barwell (Assistant
Resident at Benares, but then on a visit to the Resident Middleton at
Lucknow) to proceed with a special commission to Rampoor, there to
inquire on the spot into the truth of certain reports circulated to the
prejudice of Fyzoola Khan, which reports, however, the said Middleton
did afterwards confess himself to have "_always_" _thought_ "_in the
highest degree improbable_."

That the said Resident Middleton did "request to know whether, on proof
of Fyzoola Khan's innocence, the honorable board would be pleased to
grant him [the Resident] permission to comply with his [Fyzoola Khan's]
request of the Company's guarantying his treaty with the Vizier." And
the said Middleton, in excuse for having irregularly "availed himself of
the abilities of Mr. Daniel Barwell," who belonged to another station,
and for deputing him with the aforesaid commission to Rampoor without
the previous knowledge of the board, did urge the plea "_of immediate
necessity_"; and that such plea, if the necessity really existed, was a
strong charge and accusation against the said Warren Hastings, from
whose criminal neglect and concealment the urgency of such necessity did
arise.

V. That the Governor-General, Warren Hastings aforesaid, did immediately
move, "that the board approve the deputation of Mr. Daniel Barwell, and
that the Resident [Middleton] be authorized to offer the Company's
guaranty for the observance of the treaty subsisting between the Vizier
and Fyzoola Khan, provided it meets with the Vizier's concurrence"; and
that the Governor-General's proposition was resolved in the affirmative:
the usual majority of Council then consisting of Richard Barwell,
Esquire, a near relation of Daniel Octavus Barwell aforesaid, and the
Governor-General, Warren Hastings, who, in case of an equality, had the
casting voice.

VI. That, on receiving from Mr. Daniel Barwell full and early assurance
of Fyzoola Khan's "having preserved every article of his treaty
inviolate," the Resident, Middleton, applied for the Vizier's
concurrence, which was readily obtained,--the Vizier, however,
"_premising_, that he gave his consent, taking it for granted, that, on
Fyzoola Khan's receiving the treaty and _khelaut_ [or robe of honor], he
was to make him a return of the complimentary presents usually offered
on such occasions, and _of such an amount as should be a manifestation
of Fyzoola Khan's due sense of his friendship, and suitable to his
Excellency's rank to receive_"; and that the Resident, Middleton, "did
make himself in some measure responsible for the said presents being
obtained," and did write to Mr. Daniel Barwell accordingly.

VII. That, agreeably to the resolution of Council hereinbefore recited,
the solicited guaranty, under the seal of the Resident, Middleton, thus
duly authorized on behalf of the Company, was transmitted, together with
the renewed treaty, to Mr. Daniel Barwell aforesaid at Rampoor, and that
they were both by him, the said Barwell, presented to the Nabob Fyzoola
Khan, with a solemnity not often paralleled, "in the presence of the
greatest part of the Nabob's subjects, who were assembled, that the
ceremony might create a full belief in the breasts of all his people
that the Company would protect him as long as he strictly adhered to the
_letter_ of his treaty."

VIII. That, in the conclusion of the said ceremony, the Nabob Fyzoola
Khan did deliver to the said Barwell, for the use of the Vizier, a
_nuzzer_ (or present) of elephants, horses, &c., and did add thereto a
lac of rupees, or 10,000_l._ and upwards: which sum the said Barwell,
"not being authorized to accept any pecuniary consideration, did at
first refuse; but upon Fyzoola Khan's urging, that on such occasions it
was the invariable custom of Hindostan, and _that it must on the present
be expected, as it had been formerly the case_," (but when does not
appear,) he, the said Barwell, did accept the said lac in the name of
the Vizier, our ally, "in whose wealth" (as Warren Hastings on another
occasion observed) "we should participate," and on whom we at that time
had an accumulating demand.

IX. That, over and above the lac of rupees thus presented to the Vizier,
the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did likewise offer one other lac of rupees, or
upwards of 10,000_l._ more, for the Company, "as some acknowledgment of
the obligation he received; that, although such acknowledgment was not
pretended to be the invariable custom of Hindostan on such occasions,
however it might on the present be expected," Mr. Daniel Barwell
aforesaid (knowing, probably, the disposition and views of the then
actual government at Calcutta) did not, _even at first_, decline the
said offer, but, as he was not empowered to accept it, did immediately
propose taking a bond for the amount, until the pleasure of the board
should be known.

That the offer was accordingly communicated by the said Barwell to the
Resident, Middleton, to be by him, the Resident, referred to the board,
and that it was so referred; that, in reply to the said reference of the
Resident, Middleton, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, did move and
carry a vote of Council, "authorizing Mr. Middleton to accept the offer
made by Fyzoola Khan to the Company of one lac of rupees," without
assigning any reason whatever in support of the said motion,
notwithstanding it was objected by a member of the board, "that, if the
measure was right, it became us to adopt it without such a
consideration," and that "our accepting of the lac of rupees as a
recompense for our interposition is beneath the dignity of this
government [of Calcutta], and will discredit us in the eyes of the
Indian powers."

That the acceptance of the said sum, in this circumstance, was beneath
the dignity of the said government, and did tend so to discredit us; and
that the motion of the said Hastings for such acceptance was therefore
highly derogatory to the honor of this nation.

X. That the aforesaid member of the Council did further disapprove
altogether of the guaranty, "as unnecessary"; and that another member of
Council, Richard Barwell, Esquire, the near relation of Daniel Octavus
Barwell, hereinbefore named, did declare, (but after the said guaranty
had taken place,) that "this government [of Calcutta] was in fact
engaged by Colonel Champion's signature being to the treaty with Fyzoola
Khan." That the said unnecessary guaranty did not only subject to an
heavy expense a prince whom we were bound to protect, but did further
produce in his mind the following obvious and natural conclusion,
namely, "_that the signature of any person, in whatever public capacity
he at present appears, will not be valid and of effect, as soon as some
other shall fill his station_": a conclusion, however, immediately
tending to the total discredit of all powers delegated from the board to
any individual servant of the Company, and consequently to clog,
perplex, and embarrass in future all transactions carried on at a
distance from the seat of government, and to disturb the security of
all persons possessing instruments already so ratified,--yet the only
conclusion left to Fyzoola Khan which did not involve some affront
either to the private honor of the Company's servants or to the public
honor of the Company itself; and that the suspicions which originated
from the said idea in the breast of Fyzoola Khan to the prejudice of the
Resident Middleton's authority did compel the Governor-General, Warren
Hastings, to obviate the bad effects of his first motion for the
guaranty by a second motion, namely, "That a letter be written to
Fyzoola Khan from myself, _confirming the obligations of the Company as
guaranties_ to the treaty formed between him and the Vizier,--which will
be equivalent in its effect, though not in form, to an engagement sent
him with the Company's seal affixed to it."

XII.[23] That, whether the guaranty aforesaid was or was not necessary,
whether it created a new obligation or but more fully recognized an
obligation previously existing, the Governor-General, Warren Hastings,
by the said guaranty, did, in the most explicit manner, pledge and
commit the public faith of the Company and the nation; and that by the
subsequent letter of the said Hastings (which he at his own motion
wrote, confirming to Fyzoola Khan the aforesaid guaranty) the said
Hastings did again pledge and commit the public faith of the Company and
the nation, in a manner (as the said Hastings himself remarked)
"equivalent to an engagement with the Company's seal affixed to it," and
more particularly binding the said Hastings personally to exact a due
observance of the guarantied treaty, especially to protect the Nabob
Fyzoola Khan against any arbitrary construction or unwarranted
requisition of the Vizier.


PART IV.

THANKS OF THE BOARD TO FYZOOLA KHAN.

I. That, soon after the completion of the guaranty, in the same year,
1778, intelligence was received in India of a war between England and
France; that, on the first intimation thereof, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan,
"being indirectly sounded," did show much "promptness to render the
Company any assistance within the bounds of his finances and ability";
and that by the suggestion of the Resident, Middleton, hereinbefore
named, he, the Nabob Fyzoola Khan, in a letter to the Governor-General
and Council, did make a voluntary "offer to maintain two thousand
cavalry (all he had) for our service," "though he was under no
obligation to furnish the Company with a single man."

II. That the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did even "anticipate the wishes of the
board"; and that, "on an application made to him by Lieutenant-Colonel
Muir," the Nabob Fyzoola Khan did, "without hesitation or delay,"
furnish him, the said Muir, with five hundred of his best cavalry.

That the said conduct of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan was communicated by the
Company's servants both to each other and to their employers, with
expressions of "pleasure" and "particular satisfaction," as an event
"even surpassing their expectations"; that the Governor-General, Warren
Hastings, was officially requested to convoy "the thanks of the board";
and that, not satisfied with the bare discharge of his duty under the
said request, he, the said Hastings, did, on the 8th of January, 1779,
write to Fyzoola, "that, _in his own name_," as well as "that of the
board, he [the said Hastings] returned him the _warmest_ thanks for this
instance of his faithful attachment to the Company and the English
nation."

IV.[24] That by the strong expressions above recited the said Warren
Hastings did deliberately and emphatically add his own particular
confirmation to the general testimony of the Nabob Fyzoola Khan's
meritorious fidelity, and of his consequent claim on the generosity, no
less than the justice, of the British government.


PART V.

DEMAND OF FIVE THOUSAND HORSE.

I. That, notwithstanding his own private honor thus deeply engaged,
notwithstanding the public justice and generosity of the Company and the
nation thus solemnly committed, disregarding the plain import and
positive terms of the guarantied treaty, the Governor-General, Warren
Hastings aforesaid, in November, 1780, while a body of Fyzoola Khan's
cavalry, voluntarily granted, were still serving under a British
officer, did recommend to the Vizier "to require from Fyzoola Khan the
quota of troops stipulated by treaty to be furnished by the latter for
his [the Vizier's] service, being FIVE THOUSAND HORSE," though, as the
Vizier did not march in person, he was not, under any construction of
the treaty, entitled by stipulation to more than "_two or three thousand
troops_," horse and foot, "according to the ability of Fyzoola Khan";
and that, whereas the said Warren Hastings would have been guilty of
very criminal perfidy, if he had simply neglected to interfere as a
guaranty against a demand thus plainly contrary to the faith of treaty,
so he aggravated the guilt of his perfidy in the most atrocious degree
by being himself the first mover and instigator of that injustice, which
he was bound by so many ties on himself, the Company, and the nation,
not only not to promote, but, by every exertion of authority, influence,
and power, to control, to divert, or to resist.

II. That the answer of Fyzoola Khan to the Vizier did represent, with
many expressions of deference, duty, and allegiance, that the whole
force allowed him was but "five thousand men," and that "these consisted
of two thousand horse and three thousand foot; which," he adds, "in
consequence of our intimate connection, are equally yours and the
Company's": though he does subsequently intimate, that "the three
thousand foot are for the management of the concerns of his jaghire, and
without them the collections can never be made in time."

That, on the communication of the said answer to the Governor-General,
Warren Hastings, he, the said Hastings, (who, as the Council now
consisted only of himself and Edward Wheler, Esquire, "united in his own
person all the powers of government,") was not induced to relax from his
unjust purpose, but did proceed with new violence to record, that "the
Nabob Fyzoola Khan _had evaded the performance of his part of the
treaty_ between the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah and him, to which the
Honorable Company were guaranties, and upon which he was lately summoned
to furnish the stipulated number of troops, which he is obliged to
furnish on the condition by which he holds the jaghire granted to him."

That, by the vague and indefinite term of evasion, the said Warren
Hastings did introduce a loose and arbitrary principle of interpreting
formal engagements, which ought to be regarded, more especially by
guaranties, ill a sense the most literally scrupulous and precise.

That he charged with such evasion a moderate, humble, and submissive
representation on a point which would have warranted a peremptory
refusal and a positive remonstrance; and that in consequence of the said
imputed evasion he indicated a disposition to attach such a forfeiture
as in justice could only have followed from a gross breach of
treaty,--though the said Hastings did not then pretend any actual
infringement even of the least among the conditions to which, in the
name of the Company, he, the said Hastings, was the executive guaranty.

III. That, however "the number of troops stipulated by treaty may have
been understood," at the period of the original demand, "to be five
thousand horse," yet the said Warren Hastings, at the time when he
recorded the supposed evasion of Fyzoola Khan's answer to the said
demand, could not be unacquainted with the express words of the
stipulation, as a letter of the Vizier, inserted in the same
Consultation, refers the Governor-General to inclosed copies "of all
engagements entered into by the late Vizier and by himself [the
reigning Vizier] with Fyzoola Khan," and that the treaty itself,
therefore, was at the very moment before the said Warren Hastings: which
treaty (as the said Hastings observed with respect to another treaty, in
the case of another person) "most assuredly does not contain a syllable
to justify his conduct; but, by the unexampled latitude which he assumes
in his constructions, he may, if he pleases, extort this or any other
meaning from any part of it."[25]

IV. That the Vizier himself appears by no means to have been persuaded
of his own right to five thousand horse under the treaty,--since, in his
correspondence on the subject, he, the Vizier, nowhere mentions the
treaty as the ground of his demand, except where he is recapitulating to
the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, the substance of his, the said
Hastings's, own letters; on the contrary, the Vizier hints his
apprehensions lest Fyzoola Khan should appeal to the treaty against the
demand, as a breach thereof,--in which case, he, the Vizier, informs the
said Hastings of the projected reply. "Should Fyzoola Khan" (says the
Vizier) "mention anything of the tenor of the treaty, _the first breach
of it has been committed by him_, in keeping up more men than allowed of
by the treaty: _I have accordingly sent a person to settle that point
also_. In case he should mention to me anything respecting the treaty, I
will then reproach him with having kept up too many troops, and will
oblige him to send the five thousand horse": thereby clearly intimating,
that, as a remonstrance against the demand as a breach of treaty could
only be answered by charging a prior breach of treaty on Fyzoola Khan,
so by annulling the whole treaty to reduce the question to a mere
question of force, and thus "oblige Fyzoola Khan to send the five
thousand horse": "for," (continues the Vizier,) "if, when the Company's
affairs, on which my honor depends, require it, Fyzoola Khan will not
lend his assistance, _what_ USE _is there to continue the country to
him_?"

That the Vizier actually did make his application to Fyzoola Khan for
the five thousand horse, not as for an aid to which he had a just claim,
but as for something over and above the obligations of the treaty,
something "that would give increase to their friendship and satisfaction
to the Nabob Governor," (meaning the said Hastings,) whose directions he
represents as the motive "of his call for the five thousand horse to be
employed," not in his, the Vizier's, "but in the Company's service."