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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 in a letter from the said Warren Hastings to the said Court of
Directors, dated the 22d of May, 1782, but not dispatched, as it might
and ought to have been, at that time, but detained and kept back by the
said Warren Hastings till the 16th of December following, he has
confessed the receipt of various other sums, amounting (with that which
he accepted from the Nabob of Oude) to nearly two hundred thousand
pounds, which sums he affirmed had been converted to the Company's
property through his means, but without discovering from whom or on what
account he received the same. That, instead of converting this money to
the Company's property, as he affirmed he had done, it appears that he
had lent the greater part of it to the Company upon bonds bearing
interest, which bonds were demanded and received by him, and, for aught
that yet appears, have never been given up or cancelled. That for
another considerable part of the above-mentioned sum he has taken credit
to himself, as for a deposit of his own property, and therefore
demandable by him out of the Company's treasury at his discretion. That
all sums so lent or deposited are not alienated from the person who
lends or deposits the same; consequently, that the declaration made by
the said Warren Hastings, that he had converted the whole of these sums
to the Company's property, was not true. Nor would such a transfer, if
it had really been made, have justified the said Warren Hastings in
originally receiving the money, which, being in the first instance
contrary to law, could not be rendered legal by any subsequent
disposition or application thereof; much less would it have justified
the said Warren Hastings in delaying to make a discovery of these
transactions to the Court of Directors until he had heard of the
inquiries then begun and proceeding in Parliament, in finally making a
discovery, such as it is, in terms the most intricate, obscure, and
contradictory. That, instead of that full and clear explanation of his
conduct which the Court of Directors demanded, and which the said Warren
Hastings was bound to give them, he has contented himself with telling
the said Directors, that, "if this matter was to be exposed to the view
of the public, his reasons for acting as he had done might furnish a
variety of conjectures to which it would be of little use to reply; that
he either chose to conceal the first receipts from public curiosity by
receiving bonds for the amount, or possibly acted without any studied
design which his memory could at that distance of time verify; and that
he _could_ have concealed them from their eye and that of the public
forever." That the discovery, as far as it goes, establishes the guilt
of the said Warren Hastings in taking money against law, but does not
warrant a conclusion that he has discovered _all_ that he may have
taken; that, on the contrary, such discovery, not being made in proper
time, and when made being imperfect, perplexed, and wholly
unsatisfactory, leads to a just and reasonable presumption that other
facts of the same nature have been concealed, since those which he has
confessed might have been forever, and that this partial confession was
either extorted from the said Warren Hastings by the dread of detection,
or made with a view of removing suspicion, and preventing any further
inquiry into his conduct.

That the said Warren Hastings, in a letter to the Court of Directors
dated 21st of February, 1784, has confessed his having _privately
received_ another sum of money, the amount of which he has not declared,
but which, from the application he says he has made of it, could not be
less than thirty-four thousand pounds sterling. That he has not informed
the Directors from whom he received this money, at what time, nor on
what account; but, on the contrary, has attempted to justify the receipt
of it, which was illegal, by the application of it, which was
unauthorized and unwarrantable, and which, if admitted as a reason for
receiving money _privately_, would constitute a precedent of the most
dangerous nature to the Company's service. That, in attempting to
justify the receipt and application of the said money, he has endeavored
to establish principles of conduct in a Governor which tend to subvert
all order and regularity in the conduct of public business, to
encourage and facilitate fraud and corruption in all offices of
pecuniary trust, and to defeat all inquiry into the misconduct of any
person in whom pecuniary trust is reposed.--That the said Warren
Hastings, in his letter above mentioned, has made a declaration to the
Court of Directors in the following terms: "Having had occasion to
disburse from my own cash many sums, which, though required to enable me
to execute the duties of my station, I have hitherto omitted to enter in
my public accounts, and my own fortune being unequal to so heavy a
charge, I have resolved to reimburse myself in a mode the most suitable
to the situation of your affairs, by charging the same in my Durbar
accounts of the present year, and crediting them by a sum _privately
received_, and appropriated to your service in the same manner with
other sums received on account of the Honorable Company, and already
carried to their account." That at the time of writing this letter the
said Warren Hastings had been in possession of the government of Fort
William about twelve years, with a clear salary, or avowed emoluments,
at no time less than twenty-five thousand pounds sterling a year,
exclusive of which all the principal expenses of his residence were paid
for by the Company. That, if the services mentioned by him were required
to enable him to execute the duties of his station, he ought not to have
omitted to enter them in his public accounts at the times when the
expenses were incurred. That, if it was true, as he affirms, that, when
he first engaged in these expenses, he had no intention to carry them to
the account of the Company, there was no subsequent change in his
situation which could justify his departing from that intention. That,
if his own fortune in the year 1784 was unequal to so heavy a charge,
the state of his fortune at any earlier period must have been still more
unequal to so heavy a charge. That the fact so asserted by the said
Warren Hastings leads directly to an inference palpably false and
absurd, viz., that, the longer a Governor-General holds that lucrative
office, the poorer he must become. That neither would the assertion, if
it were true, nor the inference, if it were admitted, justify the
conduct avowed by the said Warren Hastings in resolving to reimburse
himself out of the Company's property without their consent or
knowledge.--That the account transmitted in this letter is styled by
himself _an aggregate of a contingent account of twelve years_; that all
contingent accounts should be submitted to those who ought to have an
official control over them, at annual or other shorter periods, in order
that the expense already incurred may be checked and examined, and
similar expenses, if disapproved of, may be prohibited in time; that,
after a very long period is elapsed, all check and control over such
expenses is impracticable, and, if it were practicable in the present
instance, would be completely useless, since the said Warren Hastings,
without waiting for the consent of the Directors, did _resolve to
reimburse himself_. That the conduct of the said Warren Hastings, in
withholding these accounts for twelve years together, and then resolving
to reimburse himself without the consent of his employers, has been
fraudulent in the first instance, and in the second amounts to a denial
and mockery of the authority placed over him by law; and that he has
thereby set a dangerous example to his successors, and to every man in
trust or office under him.--That the mode in which he has reimbursed
himself is a crime of a much higher order, and greatly aggravates
whatever was already criminal in the other parts of this transaction.
That the said Warren Hastings, in declaring that he should reimburse
himself by crediting the Company by _a sum privately received_, has
acknowledged himself guilty of an illegal act in receiving money
_privately_. That he has suppressed or withheld every particular which
could throw any light on a conduct so suspicious in a Governor as the
_private_ receipt of money. That the general confession of the private
receipt of a large sum in gross, in which no circumstance of time,
place, occasion, or person, nor even the amount, is specified, tends to
cover or protect any act of the same nature (as far as a general
confession can protect such acts) which may be detected hereafter, and
which in fact may not make part of the gross sum so confessed, and that
it tends to perplex and defeat all inquiry into such practices.--That
the said Warren Hastings, in stating to the Directors that he has
resolved to reimburse himself in _a mode the most suitable to the
situation of their affairs_, viz., by receiving money privately against
law, has stated a presumption highly injurious to the integrity of the
said Directors, viz., that they will not object to, or even inquire
into, any extraordinary expenses incurred and charged by their Governors
in India, provided such expenses are reimbursed by money privately and
illegally received. That he has not explained what that situation of
their affairs was or could be to which so dangerous and corrupt a
principle was or might be applied.--That no evidence has been produced
to prove that it was true, nor any ground of argument stated to show
that it might be credible, that any native of India had voluntarily and
gratuitously given money privately to the said Warren Hastings, that is,
without some prospect of a benefit in return, or some dread of his
resentment, if he refused. That it is not a thing to be believed, that
any native would give large sums privately to a Governor, which he
refused to give or lend publicly to government, unless it were to derive
some adequate secret advantage from the favor, or to avoid some mischief
from the enmity of such Governor.--That the late confessions made by the
said Warren Hastings of money received against law are no proof that he
did not originally intend to appropriate the same to his own use, such
confessions having been made at a suspicious moment, when, and not
before, he was apprised of the inquiries commenced in the House of
Commons, and when a dread of the consequence of those inquiries might
act upon his mind. That such confessions, from the obscure, intricate,
and contradictory manner in which they are made, imply guilt in the said
Warren Hastings, as far as they go; that they do not furnish any color
of reason to conclude that he has confessed all the money which he may
have corruptly received; but that, on the contrary, they warrant a just
and reasonable presumption, that, in discovering some part of the bribes
he had received, he hoped to lull suspicion, and thereby conceal and
secure the rest.

That the Court of Directors, when the former accounts of these
transactions came before them, did show an evident disposition not to
censure the said Warren Hastings, but to give the most favorable
construction to his conduct; that, nevertheless, they found themselves
obliged "to confess that the statement of those transactions appeared to
them in many parts so _unintelligible_, that they felt themselves under
the necessity of calling on the Governor-General for an explanation,
agreeably to his promise voluntarily made to them." That their letter,
containing this requisition, was received in Bengal in the month of
August, 1784, and that the said Warren Hastings did not embark for
England until the 2d of February, 1785, but made no reply to that letter
before his departure, owing, as he has since said, _to a variety of
other more important occupations_. That, under pretence of such
occupations, he neglected to transmit to the Court of Directors a copy
of a paper which, he says, contained the _only_ account he ever kept of
the transaction. That such a paper, or a copy of it, might have been
transmitted without interrupting other important occupations, if any
could be more important than that of giving a clear and satisfactory
answer to the requisition of the Directors. That since his arrival in
England he has written a letter to the chairman of that court,
professedly in answer to their letter above mentioned, but in fact
giving no explanation or satisfaction whatsoever on the points which
they had declared to be unintelligible. That the terms of his letter are
ambiguous and obscure, such as a guilty man might have recourse to in
order to cover his guilt, but such as no innocent man, from whom nothing
was required but to clear his innocence by giving plain answers to plain
questions, could possibly have made use of. That in his letter of the
11th of July, 1785, he says, "that he has been kindly apprised that the
information required as above _was yet expected from him_: that the
submission which his respect would have enjoined him to pay to the
command imposed on him _was lost to his recollection_, perhaps from the
stronger impression which the first and distant perusal of it had left
on his mind that it was rather intended as a reprehension for something
which had given offence in his report of the original transaction than
as expressive of any want of a further elucidation of it."[2]

That the said Warren Hastings, in affecting to doubt whether the
information expressly required of him by his employers was expected or
not, has endeavored to justify a criminal delay and evasion in giving
it. That, considering the importance of the subject, and the recent date
of the command, it is not possible _that it could be lost to his
recollection_; much less is it possible that he could have understood
the specific demand of an answer to specific questions to be intended
only as a reprehension for a former offence, viz., the offence of
withholding from the Directors that very explanation which he ought to
have given in the first instance. That the said Warren Hastings, in his
answer to the said questions, cautiously avoids affirming or denying
anything in clear, positive terms, and professes to recollect nothing
with absolute certainty. That he has not, even now, informed the
Directors of the name of any one person from whom any part of the money
in question was received, nor what was the motive of any one person for
giving the same. That he has, indeed, declared, that his motive for
lending to the Company, or depositing in their treasury in his own name,
money which he has in other places declared to be their property, was to
avoid ostentation, and that _lending_ the money was _the least liable
to reflection_; yet, when he has stated these and other conjectural
motives for his own conduct, he declares _he will not affirm, though he
is firmly persuaded, that those were his sentiments on the occasion_.
That of one thing only the said Warren Hastings declares he is
_certain_, viz., "that it was his design originally to have _concealed_
the receipt of all the sums, except the second, even from the knowledge
of the Court of Directors, but that, when fortune threw a sum in his way
of a magnitude _which could not be concealed_, and the peculiar delicacy
of his situation at the time in which he received it made him more
circumspect of appearances, he _chose_ to apprise his employers of it."
That the said Warren Hastings informs the Directors, that he had
indorsed the bonds taken by him for money belonging to the Company, and
lent by him to the Company, _in order to guard against their becoming a
claim on the Company, as part of his estate, in the event of his death_;
but he has not affirmed, nor does it anywhere appear, that he has
surrendered the said bonds, as he ought to have done. That the said
Warren Hastings, in affirming that he had not time to answer the
questions put to him by the Directors, while he was in Bengal,--in not
bringing with him to England the documents necessary to enable him to
answer those questions, or in pretending that he has not brought
them,--in referring the Directors back again to Bengal for those
documents, and for any further information on a subject on which he has
given them no information,--and particularly in referring them back to a
person in Bengal for a paper which he says contained the _only_ account
he ever kept of the transaction, while he himself professes to doubt
whether that paper _be still in being_, whether _it be in the hands_ of
that person, or whether that person _can recollect anything distinctly
concerning it_,--has been guilty of gross evasions, and of palpable
prevarication and deceit, as well as of contumacy and disobedience to
the lawful orders of the Court of Directors, and thereby confirmed all
the former evidence of his having constantly used the influence of his
station for the most scandalous, illegal, and corrupt purposes.




IX.--RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICE OF GOVERNOR-GENERAL.


That Warren Hastings having by his agent, Lauchlan Macleane, Esquire, on
the 10th day of October, in the year 1776, "signified to the Court of
Directors his desire to resign his office of Governor-General of Bengal,
and requested their nomination of a successor to the vacancy which would
be thereby occasioned in the Supreme Council," the Court of Directors
did thereupon desire the said Lauchlan Macleane "to inform them of the
authority under which he acted in a point of such very great
importance"; and the said Lauchlan Macleane "signifying thereupon his
readiness to give the court every possible satisfaction on that subject,
but the powers with which he was intrusted by the papers in his custody
being mixed with other matters of a nature extremely confidential, he
would submit the same to the inspection of any three of the members of
the court," the said Court of Directors empowered the Chairman, Deputy
Chairman, and Richard Becher, Esquire, to inspect the authorities,
powers, and directions with which Mr. Macleane was furnished by Mr.
Hastings to make the propositions contained in his letter of the 10th
October, 1776, and to report their opinion thereon. And the said
committee did accordingly, on the 23d of the said month, report, "that,
having conferred with Mr. Macleane on the subject of his letter
presented to the court the 11th instant, they found, that, from the
purport of Mr. Hastings's instructions, contained in a paper in his own
handwriting given to Mr. Macleane, and produced by him to them, Mr.
Hastings declared he would not continue in the government of Bengal,
unless certain conditions therein specified could be obtained, of which
they saw no probability; and Mr. George Vansittart had declared to them,
that he was present when these instructions were given to Mr. Macleane,
and when Mr. Hastings empowered Mr. Macleane to declare his resignation
to the said court; that Mr. Stewart had likewise confirmed to them, that
Mr. Hastings declared to him, that he had given directions to the above
purpose by Mr. Macleane."

And the Court of Directors, having received from the said report due
satisfaction respecting the authority vested in the said Lauchlan
Macleane to propose the said resignation of the office of
Governor-General of Bengal, did unanimously resolve to accept the same,
and did also, under powers vested in the said court by the act of the
13th year of his present Majesty, "nominate and appoint Edward Wheler,
Esquire, to succeed to the office in the Council of Fort William in
Bengal which will become vacant by the said resignation, if such
nomination shall be approved by his Majesty": which nomination and
appointment was afterwards in due form approved and confirmed by his
Majesty.

That the Court of Directors did, by a postscript to their general
letter, dated 25th October, 1776, acquaint the Governor-General and
Council at Calcutta of their acceptance of the said resignation, of
their appointment of Edward Wheler, Esquire, to fill the said vacancy,
and of his Majesty's approbation of the said appointment, together with
the grounds of their said proceedings; and did transmit to the said
Governor-General and Council copies of the said instruments of
appointment and confirmation.

That the said dispatches from the Court of Directors were received at
Calcutta, and were read in Council on the 19th day of June, in the year
1777; and that Warren Hastings, Esquire, having taken no steps to yield
the government to his successor, General Clavering, and having observed
a profound silence on the subject of the said dispatches, he, the said
General Clavering, did, on the next day, being the 20th of June, by a
letter addressed to the said Warren Hastings, require him to surrender
the keys of Fort William, and of the Company's treasuries; but the said
Warren Hastings did positively refuse to comply with the said
requisition, "denying that his office was vacated, and declaring his
resolution to assert and maintain his authority by every legal means."

That the said General Clavering, conceiving that the office of
Governor-General was vacated by the arrival of the said dispatches,
which acquainted the Council-General of the resignation of the said
Warren Hastings and the appointment of the said Edward Wheler, Esquire,
and that he, the said General Clavering, had in consequence thereof
legally succeeded, under the provisions of the act of the 13th year of
his present Majesty's reign, to the said office of Governor-General,
become vacant in the manner aforesaid, did, in virtue thereof, issue in
his own name summonses to Richard Barwell, Esquire, and Philip Francis,
Esquire, members of the Council, to attend the same, and in the presence
of the said Philip Francis, Esquire, who obeyed the said summons, did
take the oaths as Governor-General, and did sit and preside in Council
as Governor-General, and prepared several acts and resolutions in the
said capacity of Governor-General, and did, amongst other things,
prepare a proclamation to be made of his said succession to the
government, and of its commencing from the date of the said
proclamation, but did not carry any of the acts or resolutions so
prepared into execution.

The said Warren Hastings did, notwithstanding thereof, and in pursuance
of his resolution to assert and maintain his authority, illegally and
unjustifiably summon the Council to meet in another department, and did
sit and preside therein, apart from the said General Clavering and his
Council, and, in conjunction with Richard Barwell, Esquire, who
concurred therein, issued sundry orders and did sundry acts of
government belonging to the office of Governor-General, and, amongst
others, did order several letters to be written in the name of the
Governor-General and Council, and did subscribe the same, to the
commandant of the garrison of Fort William, and to the commanding
officer at Barrackpore, and to the commanding officers at the other
stations, and also to the provincial councils and collectors in the
provinces, enjoining them severally "to obey no orders excepting such as
should be signed by the said Warren Hastings, or a majority of his
Council."

That the said Warren Hastings did, by the said proceedings, which were
contrary both to law and to good faith, constitute a double government,
thereby destroying and annihilating all government whatever; and, by his
said orders to the military officers, did prepare for open resistance by
arms, exposing thereby the settlement, and all the inhabitants, subjects
of or dependent on the British government, whether native or European,
not only to political distractions, but to the horrors of civil war; and
did, by exposing the divisions and weakness of the supreme government,
and thereby loosening the obedience of the provinces, shake the whole
foundation of British authority, and imminently endanger the existence
of the British nation in India.

That the said evils were averted only by the moderation of the said
General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, in consenting to a
reference, and submitting to the decision of the judges of the Supreme
Court of Judicature, although they entertained no doubts themselves on
the legality of their proceedings and the validity of General
Clavering's instant right to the chair, and although they were not in
any way bound by law to consult the said judges, who had no legal or
judicial authority therein in virtue of their offices or as a court of
justice, but were consulted, and interposed their advice, only as
individuals, by the voluntary reference of the parties in the said
dispute. And the said Warren Hastings, by his declaration, entered in
Minutes of Council, "that it was his determination to abide by the
opinion of the judges," and by the measures he had previously taken as
aforesaid to enforce the same by arms, did risk all the dangerous
consequences above mentioned: which must have taken place, if the said
General Clavering and Philip Francis, Esquire, had not been more tender
of the public interests, and less tenacious of their own rights, and had
persisted in their claim, as they were by law entitled to do, the
extra-judicial interposition of the judges notwithstanding; and from
which claim they receded only from their desire to preserve the peace of
the settlement, and to prevent the mischiefs which the illegal
resistance of the said Warren Hastings would otherwise infallibly have
occasioned.