“SWEAR!”
— His progress on that occasion was so whimsically sudden, when contrasted with the gravity of his employ, that an observer would be tempted to quote again from the same scene; —
“Ha! Old TRUEPENNY, can’st thou mole so fast i’ the ground?”
— Here however the Comparison ceased — for when Sir Elijah made his visit to Lucknow,
“to whet the almost blunted purpose”
of the Nabob, his language was wholly different from that of the Poet: — it would have been much against his purpose to have said:
“Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
“Against thy MOTHER aught!”
On the subject of those Affidavits, he would only make another single observation. — Sir Elijah Impey had denied all acquaintance with their contents, tho’ he had been actually accompanied to Buxar by Major Davy, who there translated them from the Persian, for the use of Mr. Hastings! — There was amongst them, an Affidavit taken in English, from a Native at Buxar, but which was first explained to the deponent by Major Davy in the presence of Sir Elijah Impey! — How far therefore the assertion of the Chief Justice was plausible, and how far this fact was consistent with that assertion, he should leave it to their Lordships to determine.
It was in some degree observable, that not one of the private letters of Mr. Hastings, had been produced at any time! — Even Middleton, when all confidence was broken between them, by the production of his private correspondence at Calcutta, either feeling for his own safety, or sunk under the fascinating influence of his master, did not dare to attempt a retaliation! — The letters of Middleton, however, were sufficient to prove the situation of the Nabob, when pressed to the measure of rescuing the Jaghire, in which he had been represented as acting wholly from himself. — He was there described as lost in sullen melancholy — with feelings agitated beyond expression, and with every mark of agonized sensibility. To such a degree was this apparent, that even Middleton was moved to interfere for a temporary respite, in which he might be more reconciled to the measure.
“I am fully of opinion, said he, that the despair of the Nabob must impel him to violence; I know also that the violence must be fatal to himself — but yet I think, that with his present feelings, he will disregard all consequences.”
— Mr. Johnson also, the Assistant Resident, wrote at the same time to Mr. Hastings to aver to him that the measure was dangerous, that it would require a total Reform of the Collection which could not be made without a Campaign! — This was British Justice, this was British Humanity! Mr. Hastings ensures to the Allies of the Company in the strongest terms their Prosperity and his Protection; — the former he secures by sending an army to plunder them of their wealth and to desolate their soil! — His Protection is fraught with a similar security; — like a Vulture with Talons infixed in the heart of his victim, he frights away the lesser Kites — and then calls the sacrifice — protection!
In all the Annals of human Tyranny or human suffering — in the accurate illustrations of a TACITUS, or the luminous Pages of a GIBBON, there did not occur such an instance of unexampled iniquity! — The victims of this oppression were confessedly destitute of all power to resist their oppressors; but that debility, which from other bosoms would have claimed some Compassion, with respect to the Mode of Suffering, here excited but the ingenuity of Torture! Even when every feeling of the Nabob was subdued, Nature made a lingering, feeble stand within his bosom; but even then that cold, unfeeling Spirit of Malignity, with whom his doom was fixed, returned with double Acrimony to its purpose, and compelled him to inflict on a parent that Destruction, of which, he was himself reserved but to be the last Victim! — To those who looked with an equal and impartial eye to the ends of Justice, and the interests of Humanity, it would appear, that since the day of the Original Sin, a scene so iniquitously cruel, or so fraudfully detestable, had never produced Resentment, or excited Compassion!
Yet when cruelty seemed to have reached its bounds, and guilt to have ascended to its climax, there was something in the character of Mr. Hastings, which seemed to transcend the latter, and overleap the former; — and of this kind was the letter to the Nabob, which was dispatched on this occasion. To rebuke Mr. Middleton for his Moderation, as was instantly done, was easily performed through the medium of a public and a private letter. — But to write to the Nabob in such a manner that the command might be conveyed, and yet the letter afterwards shewn to the world, was a task of more difficulty; but which it appeared by the event was admirably suited to the genius of Mr. Hastings. His letter was dated the Fifteenth of February 1782, though the Jaghires had been then actually seized — and it was in proof that it had been sent at a much earlier period. He there assured the Nabob of his coincidence with his wishes respecting the Resumption of the Jaghires — he declares that if he found any difficulty in the measure — he, Mr. Hastings, would go to his assistance in person, and lend his aid to punish those who opposed it —
“for that nothing could be more ardent than his friendship, or more eager than his zeal for his welfare.”
The most desperate intention was cloathed in the mildest language — but the Nabob knew by sad experience the character with whom he had to deal, and therefore was not to be deceived; he saw the Dagger glistening in the hand which was treacherously extended, as if to his Assistance — and from that moment the last faint Ray of Nature expired in his Bosom. Mr. Middleton, from that time extended his Iron Sceptre without Resistance — the Jaghires were seized, every measure was carried, and the Nabob, his Feelings wounded, and his Dignity degraded, was no longer considered as an object of Regard. — Though these were circumstances exasperating to the human heart, which felt the smallest remains of sensibility, yet it was necessary, in idea, to review the whole from the time that this treachery was first conceived, to that when by a series of artifices the most execrable, it was brought to a completion. Mr. Hastings would there be seen standing aloof indeed, but not inactive in the war! He would be discovered reviewing his agents, rebuking at one time the pale conscience of Mr. Middleton, and at another relying on the stouter villainy of Hyder Beg Cawn. With all the calmness of veteran delinquency, his eye ranged through the busy prospect, piercing through the darkness of subordinate guilt, and arranging, with congenial adroitness the agents of his Crimes and the instruments of his Cruelty.
The feelings of the several parties at the time would be most properly judged of, by their respective correspondence. When the Bhow Begum, despairing of redress from the Nabob, addressed herself to Mr. Middleton, and reminded him of the Guarantee which he had signed, she was instantly promised that the amount of her Jaghire should be made good, though Mr. Middleton said he could not interfere with the sovereign decision of the Nabob respecting the lands. The deluded and unfortunate woman
“thanked God that Mr. Middleton was at hand for her relief;”
at the very instant when he was directing every effort to her destruction; — when he had actually written the orders which were to take the collection out of the hands of her agents! Even when the Begum was undeceived — when she found that British faith was no protection, when she found that she should leave the country, and prayed to the God of nations not to grant his peace to those who remained behind; — there was still no charge of rebellion, no re-crimination made to all her reproaches for the broken faith of the English. Even when stung to madness, she asked
“how long would be their reign;”
no mention of her disaffection was brought forward; the stress was therefore idle, which the counsel for the prisoner strove to lay on these expressions of an injured and enraged woman. — When at last irritated beyond bearing, she denounced INFAMY on the heads of her Oppressors, who was there who would not say that she spoke in a prophetic spirit, and that what she had then predicted had not, even to its last letter, been accomplished! But did Mr. Middleton even to this violence, retort any particle of accusation? No; he sent a jocose reply, stating that he had received su
ch a letter under her seal, but that from its Contents he could not suspect it to come from her, and begging therefore that she might endeavour to detect the Forgery! — Thus did he add to foul injuries, the vile aggravation of a brutal Jest; — like the Tigers that prowl over the Scene where his Ravages were committed, he shewed the savageness of his Nature, by grinning over his Prey, and fawning over the last Agonies of his unfortunate Victim.
Those letters were then enclosed to the Nabob, who no more than the rest, made any attempt to justify himself by imputing any criminality to the Begums. He only sighed a Hope, that his Conduct to his Parents had drawn no shame upon his head; and declared his intention to punish. — not any disaffection in the Begums — but some officious servants who had dared to ferment the misunderstanding between them and the Nabob. — A letter was finally sent to Mr. Hastings, about six days before the Seizure of the Treasure from the Begums, declaring their innocence, and referring the Governor General to Captain Gordon, whose life they had protected, and whose safety should have been their justification. That Enquiry was never made; it was looked on as unnecessary, — because the conviction of their innocence was too deeply impressed!
The Council in recommending an attention to the Public, in preference to the Private letters, had remarked in particular, that one letter should not be taken as evidence, because it was evidently and abstractedly private, as it contained in one part, the anxieties of Mr. Middleton, for the illness of his son. — This was a singular argument indeed. The circumstance undoubtedly merited strict observation, though not in the view in which it was placed by the Counsel. — It went to shew that some at least of those concerned in these transactions, felt the force of those ties, which their efforts were directed to tear asunder. — that those who could ridicule the respective attachment of a MOTHER and a SON, who would prohibit the reverence of the Son to the Mother, who had given him life, — who could deny to maternal debility the protection which filial tenderness should afford: — were yet sensible of the straining of those chords, by which they were connected. — There was something in the present business, with all that was horrible to create aversion, — so vilely loathsome, as to excite Disgust; — if it were not a part of his duty it would be superfluous to speak of the sacredness of the ties which those aliens to feeling — those Apostates to Humanity had thus divided. — In such an Assembly, said Mr. Sheridan, as that before which I speak, there is not an eye but must look reproof to this conduct — not a heart but most anticipate its condemnation. — FILIAL PIETY! It is the primal bond of Society — it is the SACRAMENT of our EXISTENCE. It is almost an innate principle, which starts unbidden to our lip, which consults not our Memory, nor awaits our Reason. — It is a GRATITUDE implanted for a thousand wakeful cares — a thousand nameless solicitudes; for these attentions, which not being remembered, are the more entitled to our Gratitude, as having been exercised at a time when the dawning Reason could not observe, nor the infant Memory record. It is a sensation, twined in the heart’s inmost core, and coeval with our earliest sense of existence. — Those who violated this solemn covenant, must at the instant have stood convicted to themselves; — the slow-judging formalities of the law are superfluous — they are returned as GUILTY by the general verdict of mankind!”
The Jaghires being seized, Mr. Sheridan proceeded to observe, the Begums were left without the smallest share of that pecuniary compensation promised by Mr. Middleton; and as when tyranny and injustice take the field, they are always attended by their camp-followers, paltry pilfering, and petty insult — so in this instance, the goods taken from them were sold at a mock sale at inferior value. Even gold and jewels, to use the language of the Begums, instantly lost their value when it was known that they came from them! Their Ministers were therefore imprisoned to extort the deficiency which this fraud had occasioned; and those mean arts were employed to justify a continuance of cruelty; yet these again were little to the frauds of Mr. Hastings. After extorting upwards of 600,000l. he forbade Mr. Middleton to come to a conclusive settlement. — He knew that the Treasons of our Allies in India had their origin solely in the wants of the Company. He could not therefore say that the Begums were entirely innocent, until he had consulted the general Record of Crimes — in the Cash Account at Calcutta! — And this prudence of Mr. Hastings was fully justified by the event — for there was actually found a balance of Twenty-six lacks more, against the Begums, which 260,000l. worth of Treason, had never been dreamt of before.
“Talk not to us,”
said the Governor General, of their Guilt or Innocence, but as it suits the Company’s Credit! We will not try them by the Code of Justinian, nor the Institutes of Timur — we will not judge them either by the British Laws, or their local Customs! No! We will try them by the Multiplication Table, we will find them guilty by the Rule of Three, and we will condemn them according to the sapient and profound Institutes of — COCKER’s Arithmetic!
Proceeding next to state the distresses of the Begums in the Zenana, and of the women in the Khord Mahal, Mr. Sheridan remarked, that some observation was due to the remark made by Mr. Hastings in his Defence, where he declared—” that whatever were the distresses there, and whoever was the agent, the Measure was in his opinion reconcileable to Justice, Honor, and sound Policy. Major Scott — the incomparable Agent of Mr. Hastings had declared this passage to have been written by Mr. Hastings, with his own hand. — Then Mr. Middleton, it appeared, had avowed his share in those humane transactions, and blushingly retired. Mr. Hastings then cheered his drooping Spirits. —
“Whatever part of the load, said he, yours cannot bear, my unburdened character shall assume. I will crown your labours with my irresistible approbation — then we twin-warriors shall go forth — do you find Memory, and I’ll find Character — and assault, repulse, and contumely shall all be set at defiance!”
If I could not prove, continued Mr. Sheridan that those Acts of Mr. Middleton were in reality the Acts of Mr. Hastings, I should not trouble your Lordships by combating these Assertions; but as that part of his criminality can be incontestibly ascertained, — I shall undoubtedly appeal to the assembled Legislators of this Realm, and call on them to say, whether those Acts were justifiable on the score of Policy; — I shall appeal to all the august Presidents in the Courts of British Justice, and to all the learned Ornaments of the Profession to decide whether these Actions were reconcileable to Justice; — I shall appeal to a reverend Assemblage of Prelates feeling for the general interests of Humanity, and for the honor of the Religion to which they belong; let them determine in their own minds whether those Acts of Mr. Hastings, and Mr. Middleton, were such a Christian ought to perform, or a Man to avow!
He then proceeded to relate the circumstances of the Imprisonment of Bahar Ally Cawn, and Jewar Ally Cawn, the Minister of the Nabob, on the grounds above stated: With them was confined, that Arch-rebel Sumpshier Cawn, by whom every act of hostility, that had taken place against the English, was stated to have been committed. — No enquiry, however, was made concerning his Treason, though many been held respecting the Treasure of the others. He was not so far noticed as to be deprived of his food; nor was he even complimented with fetters! and yet when he is on a future day to be informed of the Michiefs he was now stated to have done, he must think that on being forgotten, he had a very providential escape! — The others were, on the contrary, taken from their milder Prison at Fyzabad; and when threats could effect nothing, transferred by the meek humanity of Mr. Middleton to the Fortress of Chunargur. There, where the British Flag was flying, they were doomed to deeper dungeons, heavier chains, and severer punishments. Three where that Flag was displayed, which was wont to cheat the depressed, and to dilate the subdued heart of misery — these venerable, but unfortunate men, were fated to encounter something lower than PERDITION, and something blacker than DESPAIR! It appeared from the evidence of Mr. Holt and others, that they were both cruelly flogged, tho’ one was above seventy years of age, to extort a Confession of the bu
ried Wealth of the Begums! — Being charged with a Disaffection; they proclaimed their innocence; —
“tell us where are the remaining Treasures, was the reply — it is only a treachery to your immediate Sovereigns: — and you will then be fit associates for the representatives of British Faith and British Justice in India!”
—
“Oh! FAITH, Oh JUSTICE! exclaimed Mr. Sheridan, I conjure you by your sacred names to depart for a moment from this Place, though it be your peculiar Residence; nor hear your Names profaned, by such a sacrilegious Combination, as that which I am now compelled to repeat!”
It might have been hoped, for the honor of the human heart, that the Begums had been themselves exempted from a share in these sufferings, and that they had been wounded only through the sides of their Ministers. — The reverse of this, however, was the fact. — Their Palace was surrounded by a guard, which was withdrawn by Major Gilpin, to avoid the growing resentments of the people, and replaced by Mr. Middleton, thro’ his fears from that
“dreadful responsibility”
which was imposed on him by Mr. Hastings. — The Women of the Khord Mahal, who had not been involved in the Begum’s supposed crimes; who had raised no sub-rebellion of their own, and who it had been proved, lived in a distinct dwelling, were causelessly involved in the same punishment; their Residence surrounded with guards, they were driven to despair by famine, and when they poured forth in sad procession, were driven back by the soldiery, and beaten with Bludgeons to the scene of Madness, which they had quitted. Those were acts, Mr. Sheridan observed, which, when told, needed no Comment; he should not offer a single syllable to awaken their Lordship’s feelings; but leave it to the facts which had been proved, to make their own impressions.
The argument now reverted solely to this point, whether Mr. Hastings was to be answerable for the crimes committed by his agents? It had been fully proved that Mr. Middleton had signed the treaty with the superior Begum in October, 1778. He had acknowledged signing some others of other dates, but could not recollect his authority. These treaties had been fully recognized by Mr. Hastings, as was fully proved by the evidence of Mr. Purling, in the year 1780. In that of Oct. 1778, the Jaghire was secured, which was allotted for the support of the women in the Khord Mahal: on the first idea of resuming those Jaghires a provision should have been secured to these unfortunate women, and in this respect Mr. Hastings was clearly guilty of a Crime, by his Omission of making such provision. But still he pleaded, that he was not accountable for the Cruelties which had been exercised. This was the Plea which TYRANNY aided by its prime minister, Treachery, was always sure to set up. Mr. Middleton had attempted to strengthen this plea, by endeavouring to claim the whole Infamy of those transactions, and to monopolize the Guilt! He dared even to aver that he had been condemned by Mr. Hastings for the ignominious part he had acted; — he dared to avow this, because Mr. Hastings was on his Trial, and he thought he should never be tried; — but in the face of the Court, and before he left the Bar, he was compelled to confess that it was for the lenience, not the severity of his Proceedings that he had been reproved by Mr. Hastings.
Delphi Complete Works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan Page 79
