Delphi Complete Works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan

by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

  It had been a maxim once as much admitted in the practice of common life, as in the school of philosophy, that where Heaven was inclined to destroy the Vice, it began by debasing the Intellect. This idea was carried still farther by the Right Hon. Gentleman, Mr. Burke, who opened the prosecution, who declared that PRUDENCE and VICE were things absolutely incompatible; — that the vicious man being deprived of his best energies, and curtailed in his proportion of understanding, was left with such a short-sighted degree of penetration, as could not come under the denomination of PRUDENCE. — This sentiment did honor to the name of his Right Honorable Friend, if that name could now be mentioned with additional honor. — But it was still to be remembered, that there were other Characters beside a Caesar and a Cromwell, who acting on determinations inimical to Virtue, and hostile to the laws of Society, had proceeded, if not with prudence, yet with an all commanding sagacity, that was productive of similar effects. Those, however, were isolated Characters, which left the Vice that dared to follow either in a state of despondent Vassalage, or involved it in Destruction. Such was the present instance of failure, and such it was always to be trusted, would be that of every other, who regarded such characters with an Eye of Emulation. — Such was the perpetual Law of Nature, that VIRTUE, whether placed in a circle more contracted or enlarged, moved with sweet consent in its allotted orbit; — there was no dissonance to jar, no asperity to divide; — and that Harmony which made its Felicity, at the same time constituted its Protection. — Of VICE on the contrary the parts were disunited, and each in barbarous language clamoured for its pre-eminence.. — It was a scene where tho’ one domineering passion might have sway, the others still pressed forward with their dissonant claims, and in the moral world, Effects still awaiting on their Causes, the Discord of course ensured the Defeat.

  After dwelling for some time time on this topic, with a beauty which we find it impossible to describe, and with a sublimity which has rarely, if it ever had been equalled:

  Mr. SHERIDAN reverted again to the subject of the claims made on the Princesses of Oude. — Whether those were first made by the Nabob, or suggested to him by his Sovereign, Mr. Hastings tho’ the counsel had laboured much to prove the former appeared to him to carry very little difference. If the seizure was made as a confiscation and punishment for supposed guilt; then, if ever there was a crime which ought to pass

  “unwhipped of Justice,”

  it was that where a son must necessarily be made the instrument of an infliction, by which he broke his Covenant of Existence, and violated the Condition by which he held his rank in Society. If, on the contrary. it was meant as a Resumption, in consequence of a supposed right in the Nabob, then Mr. Hastings should have recollected the Guarantee of the Company granted to the Begums: unless it was meant to say, that Mr. Hastings acted in that, as in other instances, and assured them of his Protection, — until the very moment when it was wanted. — It was idle, however, to dwell on the conduct or free agency of a man, who, it was notorious, had no will of his own. What Mr. Middleton asserted at that Bar, would scarcely be put in competition with a series of established facts; by which it appeared, that the Nabob had submitted to every indignity, and yielded to every assumption. — It was an acknowledged fact, that he had even been brought to join in that paltry artifice which had been termed the subornation of letters. This practice was carried to such a length, that he in the end complained, in a manner rather ludicrous, that he was really tired of sending different Characters of Mr. Bristow, in pursuance of the directions sent to the Resident. — He had pronounced black white, and white black so often, that he really knew not what to say, and therefore begged that once for all, the friends of Mr. Hastings might be considered as his, and that their enemies might also be the same. — After this it was superfluous to argue that the Nabob could direct his view to so important an object as the seizing of the treasures, unless he had been impelled by Mr. Middleton, and authorised by Mr. Hastings!

  At half past four o’clock, Mr. SHERIDAN being apparently exhausted by so very animated a speech of four hours continuance, the Court adjourned.

  TUESDAY, JUNE 10.

  Mr. SHERIDAN resumed his speech at the very point where he had concluded on Friday last. He felt himself too highly honored, he said, by the attention which had been paid by their Lordships to think any repetition necessary. He had already proved to every unbiassed mind the vassallage in which the Nabob of Oude was kept by Mr. Hastings and his agents. He had proved that if ever the Nabob was independent; if ever he was suffered to act from the suggestions of his own mind, in this business of the Begums he acted under a strong and systematic compulsion. — He could also make it appear to their Lordships, that this dark and mysterious transaction had been conducted by three principals and three subordinates. The principals were Mr. Hastings, Sir Elijah Impey, and Mr. Middleton; the subordinates, Colonel Hannay, Hyder Beg Cawn, the ostensible Minister of the Nabob, and Ali Abram Cawn, another black agent in the business. By those, it would plainly appear, the whole business was transacted, that the mystery of the conduct could only be equalled by the iniquity of its conclusion.

  Before he proceeded however to the main business of the Charge, he found it necessary to remark on two particular circumstances overlooked in his former comments on the evidence. — The first of these was the pretended ignorance of Sir Elijah Impey, respecting the substance of the Affidavits. — He had declared that he had no conversation on the subject with Mr. Hastings, because he had left Chunar on the day following their delivery; — this however would not be looked on as a valid excuse, when it was known that Mr. Hastings and Sir Elijah Impey left that place together, and travelled in company with each other! — And what was yet more strange, he pleaded ignorance of the contents of those Affidavits, tho’ in six days after he was found at Buxar, administering an oath to Major Davy, with respect to the fidelity of his official translation of the Affidavits from the Persian language! — The second circumstance which called for notice, was the suppression of the Evidence of Hoolus Roy, the most active Agent through the whole of these transactions. — His affidavit was taken with the rest; — from his situation, it must have contained strong matter either to criminate, or prove the innocence of the Begums — but by some strange accident, this strong Affidavit was — by some means, suppressed!

  Mr. SHERIDAN then adverted at some length to the contradictory accounts given by Mr. Hastings, of the violence used towards the Begums, particularly with respect to the seizure of their Jaghires. That which was undoubtedly an atrocious violence and unjustifiable fraud, was at one time inflicted as a punishment for their contumacy; — at another, the justice of the measure was so far a matter of doubt, that even Mr. Hastings professed his readiness to stipulate and to ensure to the Princesses a proper equivalent for those Jaghires. The contradictions, however, were not confined to this circumstance; the Nabob it appeared from the correspondence, marked as it was by that knavish, half-confidence which was incident to such transactions, had offered to submit to the seizure of the treasures, merely as an alternative less dangerous than the resumption of the Jaghires. Much ingenuity was employed to make this appear as the suggestion of the Nabob, though it was clearly apparent that it was the proposition of Mr. Hastings. An equal ingenuity appeared in Mr. Hastings’s mode of accepting an alternative, which was, when one concession was proffered in lieu of another — to seize on both! — The conduct of the Governor General was also illustrated in a part of his Defence, where he admitted that there were private reasons for his conduct towards the Begums — but which

  “wanting the authenticity of according evidence,”

  he did not chuse at present to bring forward. There was even in this statement a Modesty very unusual with Mr. Hastings. — He who in every other instance advanced Assertions in the room of Proof — in the present, would not state any thing which wanted the validity of recorded Evidence. — There was, however, sufficient to shew, that in addition to the allowed rapacity of
Mr. Hastings, there was not wanting the additional incentive of personal malice!

  The Conduct of Mr. Middleton was the next subject of Discussion. — His scruples with respect to the seizure of Jaghires, satisfied at first with

  “a hint,”

  but afterwards requiring

  “a more formal sanction;”

  the difference between his public and private letters, and his offers to change the tenor of the former at the will of the Governor-General; all underwent a severe animadversion. These observations involved of course a very complicated detail, which, though necessary to the ends of justice, could, if pursued by us, afford but little gratification.

  At half past two o’clock, when Mr. ADAM was reading some letters of Mr. Middleton and Major Naylor, Mr. Sheridan felt such an increasing indisposition as compelled him to retire; and shortly after Mr. Fox informed their Lordships,

  “that the Hon. Manager who had taken up the present charge, felt himself totally unable to proceed in such a manner as to do justice to the cause in which he was engaged.”

  The Court immediately arose and adjourned.

  FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1788.

  THE Court, notwithstanding the recent disappointment occasioned by the illness of Mr. SHERIDAN, was this day as full as ever. — At Twelve o’clock, the LORD CHANCELLOR, and the Mover of the present Charge, appeared in their respective places, and both, we are happy to say, in a state of recovered health: — of the former, we could only judge by his appearance — Mr. SHERIDAN afforded other grounds to form our opinion — an animation which gave force to his sublimity — and an energy which spread itself through his hearers. — His conclusion of this day formed a climax of such excellence, as cannot be described, — and which, when fainter impressions are faded and forgotten, will cause his hearers to be envied.

  Mr. SHERIDAN began, by apologizing for the interruption which his Indisposition had caused on the former day. He assured their Lordships, in the strongest terms, that nothing but the Importance of the Cause, to which he felt himself totally unable to do Justice, could have made him trespass on that Indulgence, which, on other occasions, he had so amply experienced.

  He had then concluded, with submitting to their Lordships, the whole of the correspondence, as far as it could be obtained, between the principals and agents, in the nefarious plot carried on against the Nabob Vizier, and the Begums of Oude. These letters were worthy the most abstracted attention of their Lordships, as containing not only a narrative of that foul and unmanly conspiracy, but also a detail of the motives and ends for which it was formed, and an exposition of the trick, the quibble, the prevarication, and the untruth with which it was then acted, and now attempted to be defended! — The Question would undoubtedly suggest itself, why the Correspondence was ever produced by the parties against whom it was now adduced in evidence, and who had so much reason to distrust the Propriety of their own Conduct? — To this the answer was, that it was owing to a mutual and providential resentment which had broken out between the Parties, which was generally the Case between Persons concerned in such transactions. Mr. Middleton was incensed, and felt as a galling triumph the confidence reposed by the Governor-General in other Agents. — Mr. Hastings was offended by the tardy wariness which marked the Conduct of Middleton; by the various remonstrances by the Agent — though as knowing the Man, to whom they were addressed, they were all grounded on motives of Policy, not of Humanity; and of Expediency, which left Justice entirely out of the Question; but the great ostensible ground of Quarrel was, that Middleton had dared to spend two days in Negotiation — tho’ that delay had prevented the general Massacre of upwards of two thousand persons! — The real cause, however, of this difference was a firm belief on the part of Mr. Hastings, that Mr. Middleton had inverted their different situations, and kept the Lion’s Share of plunder to himself. There were undoubtedly some circumstances to justify this suspicion. At the time when Mr. Hastings had first complained; the Nabob’s Treasury was empty, and his troops so mutinous for their pay, as even to threaten his Life; yet in this moment of Gratitude and Opulence, Middleton intimated the Nabob’s Desire to make Mr. Hastings a present of 100,000l. That sacrifice, however, not being deemed sufficient, Mr. Middleton was recalled, and Major Palmer was sent in his room, with instructions to tell the Nabob that such a donation was not to be attempted; the Prince, however, with an unfortunate want of recollection, said that

  “no such offer had ever been in his mind.”

  — Thus, it had always been considered as the heightening of a favor bestowed that the receiver should not know from what quarter it came; but it was reserved for Mr. Middleton to improve on this by such a delieaterefinement, that the person giving should be totally ignorant of the favor he conferred!

  But notwithstanding these little differences and suspicions, Mr. Hastings and Mr. Middleton, on the return of the latter to Calcutta in October; 1782, continued to live in the same style of friendly collusion, and fraudulent familiarity as ever. But when Mr. Bristow, not answering the purposes of Mr. Hastings, was accused on the snborned letters, procured from the Nabob, one of which pronounced him to be blackest Character in existence, whilst another, of the same date, spoke of him as a very honest fellow; Mr. Hastings thought it might appear particular, and therefore, after their late intimacy of six months, accuses Mr. Middleton also before the Board at Calcutta. It was then that in the rash eagerness, which distinguished his pursuit of every object, Mr. Hastings had incautiously, but happily for the present purposes of Justice, brought forth those secret letters. It mattered not what were the views which induced Mr. Hastings to bring to bring that Charge; whether he had drawn up the Accusation, or obliged Middleton with his aid in framing a Defence: the whole had ended in a repartee, and a poetical Quotation from the Governor General. The only circumstance material to the purposes of humanity, was the production of instruments, by which those who had violated every principle of Justice and Benevolence, were to see their Guilt explained, and, it was to be hoped, to experience that Punishment which they deserved.

  To those private letters it was that their Lordships were to look for whatever elucidation of the subject could be drawn from the parties concerned; written in the moments of confidence, they declared the real motive and object of each measure; the public letters were only to be regarded as proofs of Guilt, whenever they established a contradiction. The Counsel for the Prisoner had chosen, as the safest ground, to rely on the public letters, written for the concealment of fraud and purpose of deception. They had, for instance, particularly dwelt on a public letter from Mr. Middleton, dated in December, 1781, which intimated some particulars of supposed contumacy in the Begums, with a view to countenance the transactions which shortly after took place, and particularly the resumption of the Jaghires. But this letter both Sir Elijah Impey and Mr. Middleton had admitted, in their examination at that bar, to be totally false; though, if it were in every point true, the apprehension of resistance to a measure could not by any means be made a ground for the enforcement of that measure in the first instance. The Counsel seemed displeased with Mr. Middleton for the answer, and therefore repeated the question. The witness, however, did not readily fall into their humour; for he declared, that he did not recollect a particle of the letter; and though Memory was undoubtedly not the forte of Mr. Middleton, he was not, perhaps, entirely faulty on this occasion, as the letter was certainly of a later fabrication, and perhaps not from his hand. This letter, however, was also in direct contradiction to every one of the Defences set up by Mr. Hastings. — Another public letter, which had been equally dwelt on, spoke of the

  “determination of the Nabob,”

  to resume the Jaghires. It had appeared in evidence, that the Nabob could by no threats be compelled to yield to their measures — that it was not until Mr. Middleton had actually issued his own Perwannas for the Collection of the Rents, that the Nabob, rather than be brought to the utmost state of degradation, agreed to let the measure be brought forward on
his own act! The Resistance of the Begums to that measure was noticed in the same letter, as an instance of female levity — as if their defence of the property assigned for their subsistence was to be made a reproach; — or that they deserved a reproof for female lightness, by entertaining a feminine objection — to their being starved!

  This resistance to the measure, which was expected, and the consoling slaughter on which Mr. Hastings relied, were looked to in all those letters as a justification of the measure itself. There was not the smallest mention of the anterior rebellion, which by prudent after-thought had been so greatly magnified. There was not a syllable of those dangerous machinations which were to have dethroned the Nabob; — of those sanguinary artifices by which the English were to have been extirpated. — Not a particle concerning those practices was mentioned in any of Middleton’s letters to Hastings, or in the still more confidential communication which he maintained with Sir Elijah Impey: Though after the latter, his letters were continually posting, even when the Chief Justice was travelling round the country in search of affidavits. When on the 28th of November, he was busies at Lucknow, on that honourable business, and when three days after he was found at Chunar, at the distance of 200 miles, prompting his instruments, and like Hamlet’s Ghost exclaiming —