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)

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32

XLV. That the crime of the said Hastings, in his procedure aforesaid,
was further highly aggravated by his having received information of
several striking circumstances which strongly indicated the necessity of
a regular magistracy and a legal judicature, from the total failure of
justice, affecting not only the subjects at large, but even the reigning
family itself,--as also of the causes why no legal magistracy could
exist, and why the princes of the reigning family were not only exposed
to the attacks of assassins, but even to a want of the protection which
might be had from their servants and attendants, who were driven from
their masters for want of that maintenance which the princes, their
masters, could not procure even for themselves. And the circumstances
aforesaid were detailed to him, the said Hastings, by the Resident,
Bristow, in a letter from Lucknow, dated the 29th January, 1784, to the
Governor-General, the said Warren Hastings, and the Council of Bengal,
in the terms following.

"The frequent robberies and murders perpetrated in his Excellency's, the
Vizier's, dominions, have been _too often_ the subject of my
representations to your honorable board. From the total want of police,
hardly a day elapses but I am informed of some tragical event, whereof
the bare recital is shocking to humanity. About two months since, an
attempt was made to assassinate Rajah Ticket Roy, the acting minister's
confidential agent; but he happily escaped unhurt. Nabob Bahadur, _his
Highness's brother_, has not been so fortunate, as will appear from
translations of two of his letters to me, No. 1, which I have the honor
to inclose for your information. Although my feelings are sensibly hurt
and my compassion strongly excited by _the disgraceful and miserable
state of poverty to which his Excellency's brothers are reduced_, yet,
situated as I am, it is not in my power to interfere with effect. My
efforts on a former occasion failed of success, _and my interposition
now would only excite the resentment of the minister towards the unhappy
sufferers, in consequence of their application to me, from whom ALONE,
however, they hope for relief from their present distress_, which, their
near connection with the Vizier considered, is both shameful and
unprecedented. That no regular courts of justice have been established
in this country is particularly pointed at in my instructions, as the
most disreputable defect in his Highness's government; yet the minister
seems determined on abolishing even the shadow of so necessary an
institution. The office of Chief Justice, as held by Moulavy Morobine,
was ever nugatory, but now it is sunk into the lowest contempt. The
original establishment, inadequate as it was, is mouldering away, and
the officers now attached to it are literally starving, as no part of
their allowance has been paid for above six months past. He himself has
proposed to resign his appointment, being every way precluded from a
possibility of exercising the duties of it."

XLVI. That it appears by the said letter, and the papers therewith
transmitted, as well as other documents in the said correspondence,
that, in consequence of the distress brought upon the Nabob's finances,
certain of the princes, his brethren, the children of Sujah ul Dowlah,
the late sovereign of the country, were put upon pensions unsuitable to
their birth and rank, and by the mismanagement of the minister
aforesaid, (appointed by the said Warren Hastings,) for two years
together no considerable part of the said inadequate pension was paid;
and not being able to maintain the attendants necessary for their
protection in a city in which all magistracy and justice was abolished,
they were not only liable to suffer the greatest extremities of penury,
but their lives were exposed to the attempts of assassins: the condition
of one of the said princes, called the Nabob Bahadur, being by himself
strongly expressed in three letters to the said Resident Bristow,--the
first dated the 28th of December, 1783; the second, the 7th of January,
1784; and the third, the 15th of January, 1784,--which letters were
duly transmitted, in the dispatch of the 29th of the same month, to
Warren Hastings, Esquire, and are as follow.

"Your own servant carried you the account of what he himself was an
eye-witness to, after the affair of last night. These are the
particulars. About midnight my aunt received twelve wounds from a
ruffian, of which she died. I also received six successive stabs, which
alarmed the people of the house, who set up a shouting: whereupon the
assassin run off. Besides being _without food or the means of providing
any_, this misfortune has befallen me. _I am desirous of sending the
coffin to your door_. It is your duty, both for the sake of God and of
Christ, to execute justice, and to inquire what harm I have done to the
murderer sufficient to deserve assassination, or even injury. _You now
stand in the place of his Excellency the Vizier_. I request you will do
me justice. What more can I say?

"P.S. I am also desirous to show you my wounds."

* * * * *

_From the same, 29th [7th?] January, 1784._

"You have been duly informed of all the circumstances relative both to
the murder of the innocent, and of my being wounded, as well by my
former letter, as by the messenger whom you sent to inquire into the
state of my health; and I have every reason to hope, from your known
kindness, that you will not be deficient in seeking out the assassin. _I
am at this moment overwhelmed in misfortune. Whilst the blood is flowing
from my wounds, neither I nor my children nor my servants have
wherewithal to procure subsistence_; nor have I it in my power either to
purchase remedies or to reward the physician: _it is for the sake of
God alone that he attends me_. Thus loaded with calamity upon calamity,
I am unable to support life; for I find no relief from any affliction
either day or night. Do you now stand in the place of my father; grant
me fresh life by speedy acts of benevolence.

"For these two last years his Excellency established a pension for me of
twenty thousand rupees; but I never received the full amount of it,
either last year or the year before. Should it, however, be paid me,
though inadequate to my desires, I shall still be enabled to support
myself. From the beginning of this year to the present time I have not
received a farthing, nor do I expect any; though, if you afford
protection to the oppressed, all my wishes will be accomplished. I was
desirous of waiting on you with my family, that you might be an
eye-witness to their condition; but I was advised not to stir out on
account of my wounds. What more can I say?"

* * * * *

_The following Extracts are made from the Third Letter from the same
Prince, dated January 15, 1784._

"The particulars of the late and unforeseen misfortune with which I have
been overwhelmed are not unknown unto you,--that the innocent blood of
my aunt, _the prop and ruler of my family_, was shed, and in the same
manner I, too, was wounded. Until now I feel the pain and affliction of
my wounds; _and no person has regarded my solicitations for redress,
sought after the assassin, and brought him to condign punishment,
yourself excepted_."--"In like manner as the Honorable Governor-General
has adopted my brother Saadut Ali Khan for his son and relieved him from
the vexation, affliction, and dependence of this place, would it be
extraordinary that you also should, in your bounty and favor, consent to
adopt me, who do not possess the necessaries of life, and permit me to
attend you to whatever part of the world you may travel, whereby I shall
at all times derive honor and advantage? Formerly us three brothers,
Saadut Ali, Mirza Jungly, and I, the poor and oppressed, were, in the
presence of our blessed father, whose soul rests in heaven, treated
alike. Now the ministers of this government put me upon a footing with
our younger brothers, who have lately left the zenanah, and whose
expenses are small. On this scale, which is in every respect
insufficient for my maintenance, they pay _the pitiful allowance only
when it is their pleasure to do it_. My situation has for years past
been increasing in wretchedness to a degree that _I am in want of daily
bread, and my servants and animals are dying of hunger. My distresses
are so great that I have not been able to pay a daum to the surgeons for
the cure of my wounds; and they, too, are discouraged from affording me
their assistance or furnishing me with medicines_. How, then, is it
possible for me to exist? Considering you as my patron, participating in
my afflictions, I have represented the circumstances concerning my
situation; and I hope, from your friendship, that you will honor me with
a favorable answer."

XLVII. The Resident, Bristow, did also receive a strong application from
three others of the brethren of the reigning sovereign, called Mirza
Hyder Ali, Mirza Ennayut Ali, and Mirza Syef Ali, representing their
very pitiable case, in a letter of the 9th of March, 1783, in which,
among other particulars, are contained the following.

"Our situation is not fit to be represented. _For two years we have not
received a hubba_ on account of our tuncaw [assignment on the revenue],
though the ministers have annually charged a lac of rupees, and never
paid us anything. _After all, we are the sons of Sujah ul Dowlah!_ It is
surprising, having such a friend as you, our situation is arrived at
that pass that we should be in distress for _dry bread and clothes_.
Whereas you have done many generous acts, be pleased so to show us your
favor, that by some means we may receive our allowances from the
Company's treasury, and not be obliged to depend upon and solicit others
for it."

XLVIII. That one of the princes aforesaid, called the Mirza Jungly,
about the beginning of the year 1783, was obliged to fly from the
dominions of the Nabob of Oude, and to leave his country and
connections; and as the Resident, Bristow, writing from Lucknow, hath
observed, "he went to try his fortune at other courts, in preference to
starving at home, which might have been his fate, by all accounts, at
this place." And the said prince sought for succor at the court of one
of the neighboring Mahomedan princes; but conceiving some disgust at the
treatment he met with there, he departed from thence, and on the 8th of
February, 1783, arrived at the Mahratta camp, while David Anderson,
Esquire, was there in the character of Minister Plenipotentiary to the
Company, with a view, if his reception there should not prove answerable
to his wishes, to pass on to the southward. And the said Anderson,
probably considering this event as of very great importance to the honor
of the British government, as well as to its interest, on the one hand,
by exhibiting the son and brother of a sovereign prince, from whom the
Company had received many millions of money, a fugitive from his
country, and a wanderer for bread through the courts of India, and, on
the other, the consequences which might arise from the Mahrattas having
in their possession and under their influence a son of the late Nabob of
Oude, did without delay advise Warren Hastings, Esquire, of the event
aforesaid; and he did also write to Mr. Bristow, the Resident at the
court of the Nabob Vizier, several letters, of the 9th and 20th of
February, and of the 6th of March and 6th of April, 1783, in order that
some steps should be taken for his return and establishment in his own
country. And the said Anderson did inform the Resident, Bristow, in his
letter aforesaid, that, on the arrival of the fugitive prince, brother
of the reigning sovereign of Oude, at the Mahratta camp, he did cause
his tent to be pitched close to that of Mr. Anderson; but finding this
not agreeable to the Mahratta general, Sindia, he afterwards removed:
and that he showed a strong attachment to the English, and was inclined
to throw himself upon their generosity; that he was desirous of going to
Calcutta, and declared, that, if he, the said Anderson, "would give him
the smallest encouragement, he would quit all his followers, and come
alone, and would take up his residence under his protection." And the
said Anderson did declare, that he thought it "would be policy, and much
to the credit of our government, that some provision should be made for
Mirza Jungly in our territories."

XLIX. That the said Bristow did represent the aforesaid circumstances to
Hyder Beg Khan, minister to the Nabob of Oude, declaring it his
opinion, "that his Highness's brother's thus taking refuge with a
foreign prince is a reflection upon the Vizier, and it would be
advisable that an allowance should be granted to him upon the footing of
his brothers, that he might remain in the presence." But the Nabob was
induced to refuse to his brother any offer of any allowance beyond the
two hundred pounds per month, allowed, but not paid, to his other
brothers,--and which the said prince did observe to Mr. Anderson, "that
it was not only inadequate to his expenses, but infinitely less" (as the
truth was) "than what his Excellency has settled on many persons of
inferior rank, who have not so good a claim to his support; and that it
would not be sufficient to enable him to live at Lucknow, where all his
friends and relations were, and so many of his inferiors lived in a
state of affluence." In case, therefore, it could not be increased, he
requested leave to live in the Company's provinces, or at Calcutta; for
that in any of these situations "he could with less difficulty regulate
his expenses." And he did declare, that, if his request was granted to
him, he would immediately quit all his prospects with Sindia. To these
propositions he received a very discouraging answer from his brother's
minister, containing a positive and final refusal of any increase of
allowance, obtaining only the Nabob's permission to retire into the
Company's provinces. But Mr. Anderson did not think himself authorized
to take any steps for the prince's retreat into the said province
without Sindia's concurrence, who, he observed, would use every art to
detain him, and accordingly did offer him the command of a battalion of
infantry to be paid directly from his own treasury, and six thousand
pounds sterling a year for keeping up a corps of horse, and to settle
upon him a landed estate of four thousand pounds a year as a provision
for his wife and children: which honorable offers it appears he did
accept, and did and doth remain in the Mahratta service.

L. That, during the whole course of this transaction, the said Warren
Hastings was duly advised thereof, first by a very early letter from the
said Anderson, and afterwards by the Resident, Bristow, who, on the 23d
of April, 1783, transmitted to him his whole correspondence with Mr.
Anderson. But what answer or instructions the said Warren Hastings did
give to Mr. Anderson does not appear, he not having recorded anything
upon that subject; but it appears that to the Resident, Bristow, who
required to be informed whether the reception of the fugitive prince
aforesaid in the Company's provinces would meet his approbation, he gave
no answer whatsoever: by which criminal neglect, or worse, with regard
to a brother of an ally of the Company, who showed a strong attachment
and preference to the English nation, and by suffering him, without any
known effort to prevent it, to attach himself to the cause and fortunes
of the Mahrattas, who, he, the said Hastings, well knew, did keep up
claims upon several parts of the dominions of Oude, and had with
difficulty been persuaded to include the Nabob in the treaty of peace,
he, having suffered him first to languish at home in poverty, and then
to fly abroad for subsistence, and afterwards taking no step and
countenancing no negotiations for his return from his dangerous place of
refuge, at the same time that several of his, the said Hastings's,
creatures had each of them allowances much more considerable than would
have sufficed for the satisfaction and comfort of him, the said fugitive
prince, was guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor.

LI. That the indigent condition before related of the other brothers of
the Nabob was also duly transmitted to the said Warren Hastings; but he
did never order or direct any steps whatsoever to be taken towards the
relief of the family of a reigning prince, who were daily in danger of
perishing by famine through the effect of his measures, and those of a
person whom he supported in power against the will and inclinations of
the said prince and his family.

LII. That the foregoing instances of the penury, distress, dispersion,
and exile of the reigning family, as well as the general disorder in all
the affairs of Oude, did strongly enforce the necessity of a proper use
of the British influence (the only real government then existing) in the
province aforesaid for a regulation of the economy of the Vizier's
court, as well as for the proper administration of the public concerns,
civil and military, which were in the greatest disorder; and the said
Warren Hastings was under obligation to provide for the same, and did
himself understand it to be his duty so to do, and that he was therein
warranted by the spirit of the treaty of Chunar, as well as by other
universal powers of control, and even of supersession, supposed by him
to exist in the relation between the British government and that of
Oude; and accordingly he did, in his instructions to the Resident
Middleton, to which he required his most implicit obedience, direct him
to an interference in and control upon all the affairs concerning the
revenues, the military arrangements, and all the other branches of the
Nabob's government.

LIII. That, upon his recall of the said Middleton, he, in his
instructions to the Resident Bristow, dated 23d of October, 1781
[1782?], did at large set forth the situation of the court and
government of Oude, the situation and character of the Nabob, of the
acting minister, and of the British Resident at that court, and did
plainly, distinctly, and without reserve, describe the extent of the
authority to be exercised by the last of these persons, as well as the
unqualified compliance to be expected from the two former. And he did
accordingly declare, that, "_from the nature of our connection with the
government of Oude_, and from the Nabob's incapacity, _a necessity will
forever exist_, while we have the claim of a subsidy upon the resources
of his country, of exercising an influence, and frequently substituting
it _ENTIRELY in the place of an avowed and constitutional authority, in
the administration of his [the Nabob's] government_"; and he did further
in the said instructions, namely, in instruction the fourth, direct the
said Resident in the words following: "I must have recourse to you for
the introduction of a _new_ system in that government; nor can I omit,
whilst I express my reliance on you for that purpose, to repeat the
sentiments which I expressed in the verbal instructions which I gave you
at your departure, _that there can be no medium in the relation between
the Resident and the minister, but either the Resident must be the slave
and vassal of the minister, or the minister at the absolute disposal of
the Resident_." And he, the said Hastings, did state, in the same
article of the instructions aforesaid, that, though the conduct of the
said Hyder Beg Khan had been highly reprehensible, and that he was much
displeased thereat, he would prefer him to any other, on account of his
ability and knowledge of business, with the following proviso,--"If he
would submit to hold his office on such conditions as I require. He
exists by his dependence on the influence of our government. It must be
advisable to try him by the mode of conciliation; at the same time that
in your _final conversation with him_ it will be necessary to declare to
him, _in the plainest terms_, the footing and condition on which he
shall be _permitted_ to retain his place, with the alternative of a
dismission, and a scrutiny into his conduct, if he refuses it. In the
first place, I will not receive from the Nabob, _as his_, letters
dictated by _the spirit of opposition_; but shall consider every such
attempt _as an insult on our government_. In the second place, I shall
expect that _nothing_ is done in his official character but with your
knowledge and participation."

LIV. That the said Hastings having described, in the manner aforesaid,
the relative situation of the Resident and the minister, he did state
also the relative situation of the said minister and his master, the
Nabob, declaring, "that the minister did hold _without control_ the
unparticipated and entire administration, with all the powers annexed to
that government,--_the Nabob being, as he ever must be in the hands of
some person, a mere cipher in his_" (the minister's). And having thus
stated the subordination of the minister to the Resident, and the
subordination of the Nabob to the minister, he did naturally declare,
"that the first share of the responsibility would rest upon the said
Resident" And he did further declare, "that the other conditions did
follow distinctly in their places, because he did _consider the Resident
as responsible for them_."

LV. That, for the direction of the Resident in the exercise of so
critical a trust, wherein all the true and substantial powers of
government were in an inverted relation and proportion to the official
and ostensible authorities, and in which the said Hastings did suppose
the necessity constantly existing for exercising an influence, and
frequently for substituting _entirely_ the British authority "in the
place of the avowed and constitutional government," he, the said
Hastings, did properly leave to the Resident a discretionary power for
his deviation from any part of his instructions,--interposing a caution
for his security and direction, that, as much as he could, he would
leave the subject free for his, the said Hastings's, correction of it,
and would instantly inform him or the board, according to the degree of
its importance, with his reasons for it.

LVI. That, besides the institution of the courts of justice, as before
recited, four other principal objects in the reformation of the affairs
of Oude were expressly recommended to the Residents Middleton and
Bristow, and must be understood to be the conditions upon which the said
Hastings must have meant to have it understood that the acting minister
of Oude was to hold his employment: namely, the limitation of the
Nabob's personal expenses; the reduction of the Nabob's troops in
number, and the change in arrangement; the appointment of proper
collectors for the revenues; and the appointment of proper officers for
all parts of the executive administration.

LVII. That the first object, namely, that of the limitation of the
Nabob's personal expenses, and separating them from the public
establishments, he, the said Hastings, did state as the first and
fundamental part of his regulation, and that upon which all the others
would depend,--and did declare, "that, in order to prevent the Vizier's
alliance from being a clog instead of an aid to the Company, _the most
essential_ part is to _limit_ and _separate_ his personal disbursements
from the public accounts: _they must not exceed_ what he has received in
any of the last three years." And as to the public treasury and
disbursements, he, the said Hastings, did, in the said instructions,
wholly withdraw them from the personal management or interference of the
Nabob, and did expressly order and direct "that they should be under the
_sole_ management of the ministers, with the Resident's concurrence."
And on the appointment of the Resident Bristow, in October, 1782, he,
the said Hastings, did order and direct him in every point of the
instructions to Middleton not revoked or qualified by his then
instructions, to which he did require his, the said Resident Bristow's,
"most attentive and literal obedience."

LVIII. That the said Resident Bristow did, in consequence of the renewal
to him of the said instructions as aforesaid, endeavor to limit and put
in order the Nabob's expenses; but he was in that particular traversed
and counteracted, and in the end wholly defeated, by the minister, Hyder
Beg Khan. And though the obstructions aforesaid, agreeably to the
instructions given to Middleton, and to him, the said Bristow, were
represented to the said Warren Hastings by the Resident aforesaid, yet
the said Warren Hastings did give no kind of support to the said
Resident, or take any steps towards enabling him, the said Resident, to
effectuate the said necessary limitation and distribution of expenses,
by himself, the said Hastings, ordered and prescribed; nor, if he
disapproved the proceedings of the said Resident, did he give him any
instruction for the forbearance of the same, or for the exerting his
duty in any other mode; nor did he call for any illustration from him of
anything doubtful in his correspondence, nor state to him any complaint
made privately of his conduct, in order to receive thereon an
explanation; but he did leave him to pursue at his discretion the
extensive powers before described, to effect the reformation which he
was directed to accomplish, under the responsibility denounced to him as
aforesaid, if he should fail therein, as he was supposed to be
substantially invested with all the powers of government.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32