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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 the said Warren Hastings has delivered his opinion, with many
arguments to support the same, in favor of long leases of the lands, in
preference to _annual_ settlements: that he has particularly declared,
"that the farmer who holds his farm for one year only, having no
interest in the next, takes what he can with the hand of rigor, which,
even in the execution of legal claims, is often equivalent to violence;
he is under the necessity of being rigid, and _even cruel_,--for what is
left in arrear after the expiration of his power is at best a doubtful
debt, if ever recoverable; he will be tempted to exceed the bounds of
right, and to augment his income by irregular exactions, and by racking
the tenants, for which pretences will not be wanting, where the farms
pass _annually_ from one hand to another; that the discouragements which
the tenants feel from being transferred every year to new landlords are
a great objection to such short leases; that they contribute to injure
the cultivation and dispeople the lands; that, on the contrary, from
long farms the farmer acquires a permanent interest in his lands; he
will, for his own sake, lay out money in assisting his tenants in
improving lands already cultivated, and in clearing and cultivating
waste lands."[14] That, nevertheless, the said Warren Hastings, having
left it to the discretion of the Committee of Revenue, appointed by him
in 1781, to fix the time for which the ensuing settlement should be
made, and the said Committee having declared, that, _with respect to the
period of the lease, in general, it appeared to the Committee that to
limit them to one year would be the best period_, he, the said Warren
Hastings, approved of that limitation, in manifest contradiction to all
his own arguments, professions, and declarations concerning the fatal
consequences of _annual_ leases of the lands; that in so doing the said
Warren Hastings did not hold himself bound or restrained by the orders
of the Court of Directors, but acted upon his own discretion; and that
he has, for partial and interested purposes, exercised that discretion
in particular instances against his own general settlement for one year,
by granting perpetual leases of farms and zemindaries to persons
specially favored by him, and particularly by granting a perpetual lease
of the zemindary of Baharbund to his servant Cantoo Baboo on very low
terms.

That in all the preceding transactions the said Warren Hastings did act
contrary to his duty as Governor of Fort William, contrary to the orders
of his employers, and contrary to his own declared sense of expediency,
consistency, and justice, and thereby did harass and afflict the
inhabitants of the provinces with perpetual changes in the system and
execution of the government placed over them, and with continued
innovations and exactions, against the rights of the said
inhabitants,--thereby destroying all security to private property, and
all confidence in the good faith, principles, and justice of the British
government. And that the said Warren Hastings, having substituted his
own instruments to be the managers and collectors of the public revenue,
in the manner hereinbefore mentioned, did act in manifest breach and
defiance of an act of the 13th of his present Majesty, by which _the
ordering and management and government of all the territorial revenues
in the kingdoms of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa_ were vested in the
Governor-General and Council, without any power of delegating the said
trust and duty to any other persons; and that, by such unlawful
delegation of the powers of the Council to a subordinate board appointed
by himself, he, the said Warren Hastings, did in effect unite and vest
in his own person the ordering, government, and management of all the
said territorial revenues; and that for the said illegal act he, the
said Warren Hastings, is solely answerable, the same having been
proposed and resolved in Council when the Governor-General and Council
consisted but of two persons present,--namely, the said Warren Hastings,
and the late Edward Wheler, Esquire, and when consequently the
Governor-General, by virtue of the casting voice, possessed the whole
power of the government. That, in all the changes and innovations
hereinbefore described, the pretence used by the said Warren Hastings to
recommend and justify the same to the Court of Directors has been, that
such changes and innovations would be attended with increase of revenue
or diminution of expense to the East India Company; that such pretence,
if true, would not have been a justification of such acts; but that such
pretence is false and groundless: that during the administration of the
said Warren Hastings the territorial revenues have declined; that the
charges of collecting the same have greatly increased; and that the said
Warren Hastings, by his neglect, mismanagement, and by a direct and
intended waste of the Company's property, is chargeable with and
answerable for all the said decline of revenue, and all the said
increase of expense.




XVI.--MISDEMEANORS IN OUDE.


I. That the province of Oude and its dependencies were, before their
connection with and subordination to the Company, in a flourishing
condition with regard to culture, commerce, and population, and their
rulers and principal nobility maintained themselves in a state of
affluence and splendor; but very shortly after the period aforesaid, the
prosperity both of the country and its chiefs began sensibly and rapidly
to decline, insomuch that the revenue of the said province, which, on
the lowest estimation, had been found, in the commencement of the
British influence, at upwards of three millions sterling annually, (and
that ample revenue raised without detriment to the country,) did not in
the year 1779 exceed the sum of 1,500,000_l._, and in the subsequent
years did fall much short of that sum, although the rents were generally
advanced, and the country grievously oppressed in order to raise it.

II. That in the aforesaid year, 1779, the demands of the East India
Company on the Nabob of Oude are stated by Mr. Purling, their Resident
at the court of Oude, to amount to the sum of 1,360,000_l._ sterling and
upwards, leaving (upon the supposition that the whole revenue should
amount to the sum of 1,500,000_l._ sterling, to which it did not amount)
no more than 140,000_l._ sterling for the support of the dignity of the
household and family of the Nabob, and for the maintenance of his
government, as well as for the payment of the public debts due within
the province.

III. That by the treaty of Fyzabad a regular brigade of the Company's
troops, to be stationed in the dominions of the Nabob of Oude, was kept
up at the expense of the said Nabob; in addition to which a temporary
brigade of the same troops was added to his establishment, together with
several detached corps in the Company's service, and a great part of his
own native Troops were put under the command of British officers.

IV. That the expense of the Company's temporary brigade increased in the
same year (the year of 1779) upwards of 80,000_l._ sterling above the
estimate, and the expense of the country troops under British officers
in the same period increased upwards of 40,000_l._ sterling; and in
addition to the aforesaid ruinous expenses, a large civil establishment
was gradually, secretly, and without any authority from the Court of
Directors, or record in the books of the Council-General concerning the
same, formed for the Resident, and another under Mr. Wombwell, an agent
for the Company; as also several pensions and allowances, in the same
secret and clandestine manner, were charged on the revenues of the said
Nabob for the benefit of British subjects, besides large occasional
gifts to persons in the Company's service.

V. That in the month of November, 1779, the said Nabob did represent to
Mr. Purling, the Company's Resident aforesaid, the distressed state of
his revenues in the following terms. "During three years past, the
expense occasioned by the troops in brigade, and others commanded by
European officers, has much distressed the support of my household,
insomuch that the allowances made to the seraglio and children of the
deceased Nabob have been reduced to _one fourth_ of what it had been,
upon which they have subsisted in a very distressed manner for two years
past. The attendants, writers, and servants, &c., of my court, have
received no pay for two years past; and there is at present no part of
the country that can be allotted to the payment of my father's private
creditors, whose applications are daily pressing upon me. All these
difficulties I have for these three years past struggled through, and
found this consolation therein, that it was complying with the pleasure
of the Honorable Company, and in the hope that the Supreme Council would
make inquiry from impartial persons into my distressed situation; but I
am now forced to a representation. From the _great increase of expense_,
the revenues were necessarily farmed out _at a high rate;_ and
deficiencies followed yearly. The country and cultivation is abandoned;
and this year in particular, from the excessive drought, deductions of
many lacs" (stated by the Resident, in his letter to the board of the
13th of the month following, to amount to twenty-five lac, or
250,000_l._ sterling) "have been allowed the farmers, who were still
left unsatisfied. I have received but just sufficient to support my
absolute necessities, the revenues being deficient to the amount of
fifteen lac [150,000_l._ sterling], and for this reason many of the old
chieftains with their troops, and the useful attendants of the court,
were forced to leave it, and there is now only a few foot and horse for
the collection of my revenues; and should the zemindars be refractory,
there is not left a sufficient number to reduce them to obedience." And
the said Nabob did therefore pray that the assignments for the new
brigade, the corps of horse, and the other detached bodies of the
Company's troops might not be required from him: alleging, "that the
former was not only quite useless to his government, but, moreover, the
cause of much loss, both in the revenues and customs; and that the
detached bodies of troops under their European officers brought nothing
but confusion into the affairs of his government, and were entirely
their own masters."

VI. That it appears that the said Nabob was not bound by any treaty to
the maintenance, without his consent, _even of the old brigade_,--the
Court of Directors having, in their letter of the 15th December, 1775,
approved of keeping the same in his service, "_provided it was done with
the free consent of the Subah, and by no means without it_." And the
_new brigade_ and temporary corps were raised on the express condition,
that the expense thereof should be charged on the Nabob only "_for so
long a time as he should require the corps for his service_." And the
Court of Directors express to the Governor-General and Council their
sense of the said agreement in the following terms: "But if you intend
to exert your influence first to induce the Vizier to acquiesce in your
proposal, and afterwards _to compel him to keep the troops in his pay
during your pleasure, your intents are unjust; and a correspondent
conduct would reflect great dishonor on the Company_."

VII. That, in answer to the decent and humble representation aforesaid
of the Nabob of Oude, the allegations of which, so far as they relate to
the distressed state of the Nabob's finances, and his total inability to
discharge the demands made on him, were confirmed by the testimony of
the English Resident at Oude, and which the said Hastings did not deny
in the whole or in any part thereof, he, the said Warren Hastings, did,
on pretence of certain political dangers, declare the relief desired to
be "without hesitation _totally_ inadmissible," and did falsely and
maliciously insinuate, "that the _tone_ in which the demands of the
Nabob were asserted, and the season in which they were made, did give
cause for _the most alarming suspicions_." And the said Warren Hastings
did, in a letter to the Nabob aforesaid, written in haughty and insolent
language, and without taking any notice of the distresses of the said
Nabob, alleged and verified as before recited, "require and insist upon
your [the Nabob's] granting _tuncaws_ [assignments] for the full amount
of their [the Company's] demands upon you for the current year, and on
your reserving funds sufficient to answer them, _even should the
deficiencies of your revenues compel you to leave your own troops
unprovided for, or to disband a part of them to enable you to effect
it_."

VIII. That, in a letter written at the same time to the Resident,
Purling, and intended for his directions in enforcing on the Nabob the
unjust demands aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings hath asserted, in
direct contradiction to the treaties subsisting between the said Nabob
and the Company, "that he [the Nabob] stands engaged to our government
to maintain the English armies which at his own request have been formed
for the protection of his dominions, and _that it is our part, and not
his, to judge and determine in what manner and at what time these shall
be reduced and withdrawn_." And in a Minute of Consultation, when the
aforesaid measure was proposed by the said Hastings to the Supreme
Council, he did affirm and maintain that the troops aforesaid "had now
no _separate_ or distinct existence from ours, and may be properly said
to consist of our _whole_ military establishment, with the exception
only of our European infantry; and that they could not be withdrawn
without imposing on the Company _the additional burden of them_, or
disbanding nine battalions of disciplined sepoys and three regiments of
horse."

IX. That in the Minute of Consultation aforesaid, he, the said Warren
Hastings, hath further, in justification of the violent and arbitrary
proceedings aforesaid, asserted, "that the arrangement of measures
between the British government and their allies, the native powers of
India, must, in case of disagreement about the necessity thereof, _be
decided by the strongest_"; and hath thereby advanced a dangerous and
most indecently expressed position, subversive of the rights of allies,
and tending to breed war and confusion, instead of cordiality and
cooeperation amongst them, and to destroy all confidence of the princes
of India in the faith and justice of the English nation. And the said
Hastings, having further, in the minute aforesaid, presumed to threaten
to "bring to punishment, if my influence" (his, the said Hastings's,
influence) "can produce that effect, _those incendiaries_ who have
endeavored to make themselves the instruments of division between us,"
hath, as far as in him lay, obstructed the performance of one of the
most essential duties of a prince engaged in an unequal alliance with a
presiding state,--that of representing the grievances of his subjects to
that more powerful state by whose acts they suffer: leaving thereby the
governing power in total ignorance of the effects of its own measures,
and to the oppressed people no other choice than the alternative of an
unqualified submission, or a resistance productive of consequences more
fatal.

X. That, all relief being denied to the Nabob, in the manner and on the
grounds aforesaid, the demands of the Company on the said Nabob in the
year following, that is to say, in the year 1780, did amount to the
enormous sum of 1,400,000_l._ sterling, and the distress of the province
did rapidly increase.

XI. That the Nabob, on the 24th of February of the same year, did again
write to the Governor-General, the said Warren Hastings, a letter, in
which he expressed his constant friendship to the Company, and his
submission and obedience to their orders, and asserting that he had not
troubled them with any of his difficulties, trusting they would learn
them from other quarters, and that he should be relieved by their
friendship. "But," he says, "when _the knife had penetrated to the
bone_, and I was surrounded with such heavy distresses that I could no
longer live in expectations, I then wrote an account of my difficulties.
The answer I have received to it is such that it has given me
inexpressible grief and affliction. I never had the least idea or
expectation from you and the Council that you would have given your
orders in _so afflicting a manner, in which you never before wrote, and
I could never have imagined_. I have delivered up all my _private_
papers to him [the Resident], that, after examining my receipts and
expenses, he may take whatever remains. That, as I know it to be my
duty to satisfy you [the Company and Council], I have not failed to obey
in any instance; but requested of him that it might be done so as not to
distress me in my _necessary_ expenses. There being no other funds but
those for the expenses of my _mutseddies_ [clerks and accountants],
household expenses, and servants, &c., he demanded these in such a
manner, that, being remediless, I was obliged to comply with what he
required. He has accordingly stopped _the pensions of my old servants
for thirty years, whether sepoys [soldiers], mutseddies [secretaries and
accountants], or household servants, and the expenses of my family and
kitchen, together with the jaghires of my grandmother, mother, and
aunts, and of my brothers and dependants, which were for their
support_."

XII. That, in answer to the letter aforesaid, the Resident received from
the said Warren Hastings and Council an order to persevere in the demand
to its fullest extent,--that is to say, to the amount of 1,400,000_l._
sterling.

XIII. That on the 15th of May the Nabob replied, complaining in an
humble and suppliant manner of his distressed situation: that he had at
first opposed the assigning to the use of the Company the estates of his
mother, of his grandmother, of one of his uncles, and of the sons of
another, but that, in obedience to the injunctions of the gentlemen of
the Council, it had been done, to the amount, on the whole, of
80,000_l._ sterling a year, or thereabouts; that whatever effects were
in the country, with even his table, his animals, and the salaries of
his servants, were granted in assignments; that, besides these, if they
were resolved again to compel him to give up the estates of his parents
and relations, which were granted them for their maintenance, they were
at the Company's disposal; saying, "If the Council have directed you to
attach them, do it: in the country no further sources remain. I have no
means; for I have not a subsistence.--How long shall I dwell upon my
misfortunes?"

XIV. That the truth of the said remonstrances was not disputed, nor the
_tone_ in which they were written complained of, the same being
submissive, and even abject, though the cause (his distresses) was by
the said Hastings, in a great degree, and in terms the most offensive,
attributed to the Nabob himself; but no relief was given, and the same
unwarrantable establishments, maintained at the same ruinous expense,
were kept up.

XV. That the said Warren Hastings, having considered as incendiaries
those who advised the remonstrances aforesaid, and, to prevent the same
in future, having denounced vengeance on those concerned therein, did,
for the purpose of keeping in his own power all representations of the
state of the court and country aforesaid, and to subject both the one
and the other to his own arbitrary will, and to draw to himself and to
his creatures the management of the Nabob's revenues, in defiance of the
orders of the Court of Directors, a second time recall Mr. Bristow, the
Company's Resident, from the court of Oude,--having once before recalled
him, as the said Directors express themselves, "without the shadow of a
charge being exhibited against him," and having, on the occasion and
time now stated, produced no specific charge against the said Resident;
and he, the said Hastings, did appoint Nathaniel Middleton, Esquire, to
succeed him,--it being his declared principle, that he must have a
person of _his own_ confidence in that situation.

XVI. That the said Warren Hastings, after he had refused all relief to
the distresses of the Nabob in the manner aforesaid, and had described
those who advised the representation of the grievances of Oude as
_incendiaries_, did himself, in a minute of the 21st May, 1781, describe
that province "as fallen into a state of great disorder and confusion,
and its resources in an extraordinary degree diminished,"--and did
state, that his presence in the said province was requested by the
Nabob, and that, unless some effectual measures were taken for his
relief, he [the Nabob] must be under the necessity of leaving his
country, and coming down to Calcutta, to represent the situation of his
government. And Mr. Wheler did declare that the Governor-General's
representation of the state of that province "was but too well founded,
and was convinced that it would require his utmost abilities and powers,
applied and exercised on the spot, to restore it to its former good
order and affluence."

XVII. That the said Warren Hastings, in consequence of the minute
aforesaid, did grant to himself, and did procure the consent of his only
colleague, Edward Wheler, Esquire, to a commission or delegation, with
powers "to assist the Nabob Vizier in forming such regulations as may
be necessary for the peace and good order of his government, the
improvement of his revenue, and the adjustment of the mutual concerns
subsisting between him and the Company." And in the said commission or
delegation he, the said Warren Hastings, did cause to be inserted
certain powers and provisions of a new and dangerous nature: that is to
say, reciting the business before mentioned, he did convey to himself
"such authority to enforce the same _as the Governor-General and Council
might or could exercise on occasions in which they could be warranted to
exercise the same_, and to form and conclude such several engagements or
treaties with the Nabob Vizier, the government of Berar, and with any
chiefs or powers of Hindostan, as _he_ should judge expedient and
necessary." Towards the conclusion of the act or instrument aforesaid
are the words following, viz.: "It is hereby declared, that all such
acts, and all such engagements or treaties aforesaid, shall be binding
on the Governor-General and Council in the same manner, _and as
effectually, as if they had been done and passed by the specific and
immediate concurrence and actual junction of the Governor-General and
Council, in council assembled_." And the said powers were, by the said
Warren Hastings, given by himself and the said Wheler, under the seal of
the Company, on the 3d July, 1781.

XVIII. That the said commission, delegating to him, the said Warren
Hastings, the whole functions of the Council, is destructive to the
constitution thereof, and is contrary to the Company's standing orders,
and is illegal.

XIX. That, in virtue of those powers, and the illegal delegation
aforesaid, the said Warren Hastings, after he had finished his business
at Benares, did procure a meeting with the Nabob of Oude at a place
called Chunar, upon the confines of the country of Benares, and did
there enter into a treaty, or pretended treaty, with the said Nabob; one
part of which the said Warren Hastings did pretend was drawn up from a
series of requisitions presented to him by the Nabob, but which
requisitions, or any copy thereof, or of any other material document
relative thereto, he did not at the time transmit to the
Presidency,--the said Warren Hastings informing Mr. Wheler, that the
Resident, Middleton, had taken the _authentic_ papers relative to this
transaction with him to Lucknow: and it does not appear that the said
Warren Hastings did ever reclaim the said papers, in order to record
them at the Presidency, to be transmitted to the Court of Directors, as
it was his duty to do.

XX. That the purport of certain articles of the said treaty, on the part
of the Company, was, that, in consideration of the Nabob's _inability_
(which inability the preamble of the treaty asserts to have been
"repeatedly and urgently represented") to support the expenses of the
temporary brigade, and of three regiments of cavalry, and also of the
British officers with their battalions, and of _other_ gentlemen who
were then paid by him, the several corps aforesaid, and the other
gentlemen, (with the exception of the Resident's office _then on the
Nabob's list_, and a regiment of sepoys for the Resident's guard,)
should, after a term of two and a half months, be no longer at his, the
Nabob's, charge: "the true meaning of this being, that no more troops
than one brigade, and the pay and allowances of a regiment of sepoys,"
(as aforesaid, to the Resident,) amounting in the whole to 342,000_l._ a
year, should be paid by the Nabob; and that _no officers, troops, or
others, should be put upon the Nabob's establishment_, exclusive of
those in the said treaty stipulated.