mands were made, fuch as a threat at one time, to march the English Company's forces into the province of Benares to compel payment, &c. &c. Mr. Fox ftated Mr. Haftings's defence of himself against thefe facts, and argued upon both the charge and the defence collectively and comparatively. He next fpoke of the requifition for all the cavalry which Cheit Sing could fpare; and obferved, that General Clavering had by a minute recommended it to the Rajah to keep up two thoufand. From whence he inferred that Cheit Sing was left at his difcretion to keep up as many as he chofe, and to fend that number only which he could fpare. Mr. Haltings, however, afterwards demanded, through his agent, (Mr. Markham) two thoufand, afterwards fifteen hundred, and, after that, he lowered the requifition to one thousand; but Cheit Sing fent word that he had but thirteen hundred, and offered only five hundred, declaring that he could fpare no more, but at the fame time fubftituted in lieu of the remainder five hundred matchlock men. Upon this, Mr. Haftings faid, in his defence, my patience was exhausted by fuch repeated acts of contumacy-an expreffion the abfurdity of which might be unanfwerably exemplified, by recapitulating the facts to which it applied. Mr. Haftings, after ftipulating that no more demand of any kind than the annual tribute fhould be made upon the Rajah, demanded first five lacks of rupees, which were paid, but with fome murmuring; he next demanded five lacks more, which were alfo paid, though with fome murmuring; he again demanded a third five lacks, and these again were paid. He then called for two thousand cavalry. Cheit Sing fent him word he had but thirteen hundred, and thofe diftributed through his territories; that he could fpare no more than 500, and thofe he fhould have. Would ever mortal have construed fuch conduct as this into contumacy but Mr. Haftings, who fays, "his patience was "exhaufted by fuch repeated acts of contumacy;" and adds, "that he determined to convert them into an advantage for "the Company's affairs." Against this monstrous determination, Mr. Fox remarked that he fhould appeal to the Committee, and ask whether they ever before heard of fuch an idea as punifhing men, not for the great end of all punishment, example; but-in order to convert it into an advantage for his employers! Mr. Fox next mentioned Mr. Haftings's determination to levy a fine of forty or fifty lacks of rupees upon Cheit Sing for the imputed contumacy, and his journey to Benares for that purpose. He fpoke of his conduct on his arrival in terms of reprobation, declaring that his language and procedure to the Rajah was rude and infolent in the extreme. Soon after his arrival, he caufed Cheit Sing to be put under an arreft in his own palace; an inftance of unparallelled indignity; for what would he have thought of any tributary Prince in Europe being arrefted in his palace by the order of the Sovereign paramount? Would not his authority be loft for ever? Mr. Fox condemned and denied the right of Mr. Haftings to levy any fine, and contended that there was no ground for fuch an unwarrantable ftretch of power, fince the conditions of the ftipulation had been all complied with, the Rajah having continued faithful to his engagements, and punctual in his payments, and having paid due obedience to the authority of the British Government. He ridiculed the three rights, to fine the subordinate Princes that Mr. Haftings had, in his defence, laid claim to. The firft of thefe was, he said, the right derived from Sujah ul Dowlah of fining, in cafe the Mint was abused; the fecond was that of impofing a fine for investing upon every new poffeffion of the zemindary. This was a miferable cavil, and a grofs perverfion of the word fine, fince nothing was more diftinct and different than the meaning of it in the two fenfes here mentioned; and the third right was ftill more extraordinary. In 1764, Bulwant Sing, father of Cheit Sing, departed from his loyalty, and joined Meer Jaffier and the English, against Sujah ul Dowlah, when the latter, as Mr. Haftings ftated in his defence, would probably bave fined him, had not the English protected him, and prevented it. How ridiculous! How truly laughable was the idea of what Soujah al Dowlah would probably have done, had not the English prevented him. Mr. Fox preffed also upon the Committee the declaration of Mr. Haftings, that, according to the inftitutes of Jengheez Khawn, or Tamerlane, the subject's rights are nothing, while the Sovereign's power is every thing, and urged the injuftice of fuch a defpotic maxim. He next tock notice of what he filed, the inordinate vanity and prefumption of Mr. Haftings, in faying, that if Cheit Sing was a great Prince, he, as his fovereign, was a great King. Suppofe, therefore, that the Emperor of Germany were to fend an Ambassador to the Elector of Hanover, or the Elector of Brandenburg, and he were to tell either of them, "if you are a great Elec"tor, I am a great Emperor," what could be conceived more pointedly abfurd! Mr. Fox now returned to his narrative of what had happened at Benares, and ftated all the facts of the treatment of the Rajah, fubfequent to his having been put under an arreft, to the maffacre of the Britifh, and the efcape of Cheit Sing. After having gone through the whole of the facts, he proceeded to take notice of the fourth and fifth articles of the charge, which, he faid, he should fpeak to fhortly, confidering them rather as matters of aggravation, fuperadded to the bad treatment of Cheit Sing, than than as charges of much importance themselves. He then ftated all the circumftances which took place at the caftle of Bidgigur, and of the inducements to plunder held out by Mr. Haftings to the foldiery, defcanting on the mischie vous confequences of fuch a practice, a docrine for which he declared that he had the authority of Mr. Haftings himself, who fome years before had written a declaration, that "the very idea of prize money fuggefted to his remembrance the "former diforders which arofe in their army from that fource, "and had almoft proved fatal to it. Of this circumstance you "must be sufficiently apprized, and of the neceffity for difcou"raging every expectation of this kind among the troops; it is to be avoided like paifon," &c. &c. Thus, Mr. Fox added, did it appear how very contradictorily Mr. Haftings had behaved in that refpect! And ftrange was the fort of affidavits and depofitions made for the purpose of imputing fufpicions of disloyalty and defigns to rebel, to Chei Sing. One of thefe from a perfon deeply interested in the ruin of the Rajah, Mr. Fox begged leave to read, to fhew the House that almoft all the allegations which it contained were on hear-fay evidence only. He ultimately came to the fourth and fifth articles, and ftated the appointment of Derbege Sing to act as reprefentative of the abdicated Rajah, and his being foon afterwards deprived of his office, and thrown into prifon, and the adminiftration of affairs given to Jagher Deo Seo who levied and collected the revenue with extraordinary feverity, to the great oppreffion of the natives. He alfo read the letter to the Council at Calcutta, from Mr. Haftings at Lucknow, which, he contended, was deemed fo difgraceful to the British Government; and he appealed to the common fenfe of the Committee, if it was to be wondered at that Jagher Deo Seo fhould be rigorous in his collection of the revenue, when it was confidered what an example Mr. Haftings had held out to him. Mr. Fox next appealed to the honour and juftice of the House, to decide by their vote of that evening, whether they chose to be confidered as the avengers of thofe oppreffed by Mr. Haftings, or his accomplices? There was, he declared, no alternative. They must either appear as the one or as the other. He recollected the language ufed in 1782, when that code of laws the refolutions were voted, and when it had been well faid, by an honourable and learned gentleman oppofite to him, that Mr. Haftings (carcely ever left the walls of Calcutta, that his fteps were not followed with the depofition of fome Prince, the defertion of fome ally, or the depopulation of fome country. How oddly then must have founded in his ears, the arguments in juftification of the Rohilla war, that had lately come from the bench on which the learned VOL, XX. gentleman 3 A gentleman fat, arguments which appeared to him, to be the voice of the Directors and Proprietors of old defending those fervants who had difobeyed their orders, and difgraced the British character by their rapine and injuftice, but had taken care to make the Company fharers in the fpoil, by remitting home the produce of their plunder in investments, fo as to enfure a good dividend to the Proprietors. There had been, he acknowledged, fomething like a colour for the vote to which the Cominittee had come refpecting the Rohilla war; the extreme diftance of the time at which it happened, the little information which the Houfe had of it till of late, the alledged important fervices of Mr. Haftings fince, (though he maintained that they were neither meritorious nor important) and other caufes and juftifications, but there were none fuch to be urged against voting on the prefent occafion. The facts were all of them undeniable, and they were atrocious, and they were important; fo much fo, that upon the vote of that night, would, in his mind, the fate of Bengal depend. Happy was it for them that they could plead ignorance of Eaft-India affairs for fo long a period. It was the beft falvo for their honours, and could be advanced with confidence as an argument, that the individual fervants of the Company alone had been guilty of all the enormities which had difgraced and difgufted Hindoftan, but that they had neither participated in the guilt, nor approved of the principle upon which it had been carried on. The facts had, how, been brought before them, and that in fo able, fo clear, comprehenfive and intelligible a point of view, that they had no longer their former plea to fly to for an excufe. They must do fomething, and they might rejoice that the happy hour was arrived when they enjoyed the power of rendering the diftinction manifeft to all the world, between the enormities committed by individuals, and the fenfe of a British Houfe of Commons, as to the fyftem under which the enormities have been committed. From their approaching vote, France and all Europe would learn what the fyftem of government was which they chofe to be be carried on in India, and it would be proved whether they determined upon fufficient proof of this guilt, to reprobate oppreffion and punish the oppreffor. He would never be the advocate of defpotism, but he had often heard it argued, that the happiness of a people was fecure, where the defpot's mind was virtuous. He never had heard it contended, that the moft defpotic had à right to use his power for the mifery of thofe under him, and not for their happiness. He thanked his right honourable friend, therefore, for having brought the charges forward. In one fhape or other, they must have been fubjected to difcuffion; and let the Houfe in general decide as they thought proper, proper, what had paffed, would prove that there were Englifhmen who did not avow thofe principles, which had originated in the corrupt heart of a moft corrupt individual, but that they fet their faces against them, and execrated the conduct, which had been marked with the moft grofs oppreffion, inhumanity and injuftice. Nor was it in his mind, Mr. Fox faid, enough that the Houfe fhould content itself with the punishment of an oppreffor. He heartily wifhed, therefore, that all which had been taken from individuals could be restored; but, as that neceffarily could not be proceeded upon just at prefent, he fhould, till an opportunity offered, content himfelf with fingling out an offender for justice. On this occafion, the Houfe muft appear either as the avengers of the oppreffed, or the accomplices of their oppreffor, but he hoped that they would not confefs themfelves the accomplices of Mr. Haftings, but would affume the nobler character. In conclufion, Mr. Fox moved, "that "the Cominittee were of opinion, that having examined the "third charge, and heard evidence thereupon, there was "matter of impeachment against Warren Haftings, Efq. con"tained in it." Mr. Francis remarked, that Mr. Haftings, in the very Mr. Fran beginning of his defence upon that article, had endeavoured cis. to fhift the blame from himfelf and to caft it altogether upon him, as the only furvivor of his opponents in council. In order to clear himself from this imputation, he begged the attention of the Committee for a few minutes, not doubting but that he fhould be able to exculpate himself to their fatisfaction, though it was to be remembered, that the proving him to be criminal, would not acquit Mr. Haftings.-Having faid this, Mr. Francis proceeded to prove, by reference to a variety of minutes, that he had uniformly oppofed the making any fuch demand upon Cheit Sing as had been made, from a difbelief that the right to make it exifted under the particular circumftances of the cafe.--Mr. Franeis read feveral different papers in fupport of his argument, and quoted the folemn invocation made by Mr. Haftings to the God of truth, in the exordium of his narrative of the affair of Cheit Sing, accompanied with a declaration, that he had confcientiously ftated every tranfaction. After fuch an appeal, Mr. Francis faid, he would not impute a wilful intention to omit any thing to Mr. Haftings. Indeed how could he, as he could not look into his heart; but he could affure the Houfe that Mr. Haftings had omitted to state, that he received a prefent of two lacks of rupees, (or * The reader will please to confult the quarto edition of Mr. Hafings's narrative of the infurrection at Benares, printed for Debrett. 3A 2 20,0001.) |