Delphi Complete Works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan

by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

  In addition to those claims, Mr. Hastings himself had borne testimony to the Duty which Children owed to Parents in Hindostan: yet the Bhow Begum, or mother of the reigning Nabob, had still stronger demands on the affection of her son. — In the year 1764, when Sujah Dowlah, after the battle of Buxar, was driven from that territory by the English — which their politic Generosity afterwards restored — she bore her private treasures to his assistance, and was rewarded by the respectful attachment of his future life, with the devise of all his territories to her son. she had also interfered in a quarrel between her son and her husband, and, when the savage father was about to strike down his son with a sabre, at the expence of her blood, preserved that life which she gave. — These were pleas in her favor, which would have exacted the reverence of any man — but one! But these pleas, the sex, the age, and character of the Begums; and what was yet more, the death-bed recommendation of Sujah Dowlah, were all of no weight with Mr. Hastings. This was therefore the object of the present charge; — that where he owed protection, he had been the severest oppressor; that the weakness which should have claimed his aid, but excited his violence; that he had subjected the son thus, to make him the ungracious instrument of his tyranny over the parent, and had first made him a slave, in order that he might become — a monster!

  The interference of Mr. Bristow in 1775, in the differences between the Begums and the Nabob, in consequence of the claims of the latter, was the next ground of Mr. SHERIDAN’S observations. — Mr. Bristow had then, in a conversation with the superior or elder Begum, thrown out an insinuation, that the treasures which she possessed were the treasures of the State, — and on this insinuation, so termed by Mr. Bristow himself, had Mr. Hastings founded all his arguments on that head, and on which he lately appeared to place so much reliance. — The Begums at that time gave up to the Asoph ul Dowla sums amounting to five hundred and fifty thousand pounds. — Of this a part was to be paid in goods, which as they consisted of arms, elephants, &c. the Nabob alledged to be his property, and refused to accept as payment. This occasioned a dispute which was referred to the Board of Calcutta. Mr. Hastings then vindicated the right of the Begums to all the goods in the Zenana, and brought over the majority of the Council to his opinion. The ideas then placed on record, he had since found it convenient to disown, as belonging not to him, but to the majority of the Council! — How these opinions could be transferred, it might be difficult for their Lordships, though well informed of the effects of Majorities and Minorities, to determine. As well might Mr. BURKE, on a future day deliver an encomium on that great and good man, Mr. Hastings! and if reminded of his share in the prosecution, alledge, that he was not accountable for so nefarious a proceeding; that his opinions when once delivered, were no longer his own; that at the time, he had constantly acted in a Minority.

  The claims, however, it was observable, of the Nabob, as to the treasure of the Begums, were at this time the only plea alledged for the seizure. These were always founded on a passage of that Koran which was perpetually quoted, but never proved. — Not a word was then mentioned of the strange rebellion which was afterwards conjured up, and of which the existence and the notoriety were equally a secret. — A disaffection which was at its height, at the very time when the Begums were dispensing their liberality to the Nabob, and exercising the greatest generosity to the English Officers in distress! — a disturbance, in short, without its parallel in history, which was raised by two Women, — carried on by two Eunuchs, — and finally suppressed by an Affidavit!

  Mr. Sheridan then adverted to the negotiations of Mr. Middleton with the Begums in 1778, when the discontents of the superior Begum would have induced her to leave the country, unless her authority was sanctioned, and her property secured by the Guarantee of the Company. — This Guarantee, the Council, or Mr. Hastings, had thought it necessary to deny, as knowing that if the agreements with the Elder Begum were proved, it would affix to Mr. Hastings the guilt of all the sufferings of the Women of the Khord Mahal, the revenues for whose support were secured by the same engagement. In treating this part of the subject, the principal difficulty arose from the uncertain evidence of Mr. Middleton, who though concerned in the negociation of four treaties, could not recollect affixing his signature to three out of that number. Mr. Sheridan proved, however, from the evidence even of Mr. Middleton, that a Treaty had been signed in October, 1778, wherein the rights of the Elder Begum were fully recognized; a provision secured for the Women and Children of the late Vizier in the Khord Mahal; and that those engagements had received the fullest sanction of Mr. Hastings. These facts were confirmed by the evidence of Mr. Purling, a gentleman, who, Mr. Sheridan said, had delivered himself fairly, and as having no foul secrets to conceal. He had transmitted copies of these engagements in 1780 to Mr. Hastings at Calcutta; the answer returned was, that in arranging the taxes on the other districts, he should pass over the Jaghires of the Begums. No notice was then taken of any impropriety in the transactions in 1778, nor any notice given of an intended revocation of those engagements.

  But in June 1781, when General Clavering, and Colonel Monson, being no more, and Mr. Francis having returned to Europe, all the hoard and arrear of collected evil burst forth without restraint, and Mr. Hastings determined on his Journey to the Upper Provinces; — it was then that, without adverting to intermediate transactions, he met with the Nabob Asoph ul Dowlah, at Chunar, and received from him the mysterious present of 100,000l. — To form a proper idea of this transaction, it was only necessary to consider the respective situation of him who gave, and him who received, this present. — It was not given by the Nabob from the superflux of his wealth, nor in the abundance of his esteem for the man to whom it was given: it was, on the contrary, a prodigal bounty, drawn from a country depopulated, — no matter whether by natural causes, or by the grinding of Oppression. It was raised by an exaction, which took what Calamity had spared, and Rapine overlooked; — and pursued those angry dispensations of Providence, when a prophetic chastisement had been inflicted on a fated realm. — The secrecy which had marked this transaction, was not the smallest proof of its criminality. When Benaram Pundit had, a short time before, made a present to the Company of a lack of rupees, Mr. Hastings, in his own language, deemed it “worthy the praise of being recorded.” But in this instance, when ten times that sum was given, neither Mr. Middleton nor the Council were acquainted with the transaction, until Mr. Hastings, four months after, felt himself compelled to write an account to England, and the intelligence returned thus circuitously to his friends in India! — It was peculiarly observable in this transaction, how much the Distresses of the different parties were at variance. Mr. Hastings travels to the Nabob, to see, no doubt, and enquire into his Distresses, but immediately takes from him 130,000l. to be applied to the necessities of the distressed East-India Company. But, on farther deliberation, these considerations vanish: a third object arises, more worthy than either of the former, and the money is taken from the one, and demanded from the other, to be applied to the use of — the distressed Mr. Hastings.

  The money, it was alledged by Mr. Hastings, had been originally taken to discharge the Arrear of the Army. It had not been applied to that use, because it was received in bills on Gopal Dos, a rich Banker, of Benares, who was then kept a prisoner by Cheit Sing. — Major Scott being questioned on the subject, declared, that bills on Gopal Dos were as good as cash; for that, though the principal of the house was a prisoner, that circumstance made no difference whatsoever with the other partners. Thus Mr. Hastings was inconsistent with himself, by alledging an objection which should have prevented his taking the money, in the first instance, for the purpose he had stated; and Major Scott contradicting Mr. Hastings, removed the objection, and restored the business to its original footing. — But, through all those windings of mysterious Hypocrisy, and of artificial Concealment, it was easy to mark the sense of hidden Guilt. Mr. Hastings himself, being driven from every other hold, advanced the stale plea of Stat
e Necessity: but of this necessity he had brought no proof; it was a necessity which listened to whispers, for the purpose of crimination, and dealt in rumour to prove its own existence. — To a General leading the armies of Britain; to an Admiral bearing her thunders over the seas, — the plea of Necessity might be indulged, if the wants of those were to be supplied whose blood had been spilt in the service of their country; but then, like the imperial eagle descending from its nest, though it desolated the skirts of the rock, the Motive and the Conduct would be equally conspicuous. No concealment would then be necessary, and they would disdain the veil which covered the dark mean arts of busy Peculation.

  On the business of the Treaty of Chunar, which succeeded the acceptance of this bribe, Mr. Sheridan was equally perspicuous and equally severe. It was a proceeding, he observed, which, as it had its beginning in Corruption, had its continuance in Fraud, and its end in Violence. The first proposition of the Nabob after his recent liberality, was, that the army should be removed, and all the English recalled from his dominions. The Bribe which he had given was the obvious price of their removal. He felt the weight of their oppression — he knew, to speak his own language, “that, when the English staid, they staid to ask for something.” Though their predecessors had exhausted the revenue — though they had shaken the tree until nothing remained upon its leafless branches, yet a new flight was on the wing to watch the first buddings of its prosperity, and to nip every promise of future luxuriance.

  To this demand Mr. Hastings had promised to accede, and to recal every Englishman from the province; but by an evasion, which Mr. Middleton disclosed with so much difficulty to their Lordships, on the last day of his appearance, the promise was virtually recalled. No orders were afterwards given for the establishment of Englishmen in the province, but recommendations of the same effect, with Mr. Middleton and the Vizier, were sent, and the practice continued. — In the agreement respecting the Resumption of the Jaghires, the Nabob had been duped by a similar deception. He had demanded and obtained leave to resume those of certain individuals: Mr. Hastings, however, defeated the permission, by making the order general; knowing that there were some favourites of the Nabob whom he could be by no means brought to dispossess. — Such was the conduct of Mr. Hastings, not in the moment of cold or crafty policy, but in the hour of confidence, and the effervescence of his gratitude for the favour he had just received. Soaring above every common feeling, he could deceive the man to whose liberality he stood indebted — even his Gratitude was perilous — and a danger actually awaited on the return which he was to make to an effusion of generosity!

  The transactions in which Sir Elijah Impey bore a share, and the tenor of his evidence, were the next objects of Mr. Sheridan’s animadversion. — The late Chief Justice of Bengal, he remarked, had repeatedly stated, that Mr. Hastings left Calcutta with two Resources in his view, — those of Benares and of Oude. It appeared, however, from every circumstance, that the latter resource was never in his contemplation, until the insurrections in Benar terminating in the capture of Bedjeygur, had destroyed all his hopes in that province. At that instant the mind of Mr. Hastings, fertile in resources, fixed itself on the Treasures of the Begums, and Sir Elijah Impey was dispatched to collect materials for their crimination. “But I have ever thought,” said Mr. Sheridan, “the selection of such a personage, for such a purpose, one of the greatest aggravations of the guilt of Mr. Hastings.” — That he, the purity of whose character should have influenced his conduct, even in his most domestic retirements; that he, who, if consulting the dignity of British Justice, should have remained as stationary as his Court in Calcutta; — that such a man should be called to travel Five Hundred miles, for the transaction of such a business, was a deviation without a plea, and a degradation without example. — This, however, was in some degree a question to be abstracted for the consideration of those who adorned and illumined the seats of Justice in Britain, and the purity of whose character precluded the necessity of any further observations on so different a conduct.

  With respect to the manner in which Sir Elijah Impey had delivered his evidence, it required some observation, though made without imputing to that gentleman the smallest culpability. Sir Elijah had admitted, that in giving his evidence he had never answered without looking equally to the probability, and the consequences of the fact in question. Sometimes he had even admitted circumstances of which he had no recollection beyond the mere probability that they had taken place. By consulting in this manner what was probable, and the contrary, he might certainly have corrected his memory at times, and Mr. Sheridan said he would accept that mode of giving his testimony, provided that the inverse of the proposition might also have place, and that where a circumstance was improbable, a similar degree of credit might be subtracted from the testimony of the witness. Five times in the House of Commons, and twice in that Court, for instance, had Sir Elijah Impey borne testimony, that a rebellion was raging at Fyzabad, at the time of his journey to Lucknow. Yet on the eighth examination, he had contradicted all the former, and declared, that what he meant was that the rebellion had been raging, and the country was then in some degree restored to quiet. — The reasons assigned for the former errors were, that he had forgotten a letter received from Mr. Hastings, informing him that the rebellion was quelled, and that he had also forgotten his own proposition of travelling through Fyzabad to Lucknow. With respect to the letter, nothing could be said, as it was not in evidence; but the other observation would scarcely be admitted, when it was recollected that in the House of Commons Sir Elijah Impey had declared that it was his proposal to travel through Fyzabad, which had originally brought forth the information that the way was obstructed by the rebellion! — From this information Sir Elijah Impey had gone by the way of Illyabad, — but what was yet more singular, was, that on his return he would again have returned by the way of Fyzabad, if he had not been again informed of the danger; — so that had it not been for these friendly informations, the Chief Justice would have run plump into the very focus of the rebellion! — There were two circumstances, however, worthy of remark; — the first was, that Sir Elijah Impey should, when charged with so dangerous a commission as that of procuring evidence, to prove that the Begums had meditated the expulsion of their son from the Throne, and of the English from Bengal, should twice intend to pass through the city of their residence; and that he, as he alledged, from mere motives of schoolboy curiosity, should choose the primrose path — and with, when engaged in such a business, to loiter in the way, and idle in the sun-shine. — The second circumstance worthy of observation, was, that if a conclusion could be made from a cloud of circumstances, the inference on this occasion would undoubtedly be, that Sir Elijah Impey was dissuaded by Mr. Hastings, and Mr. Middleton from passing by the way of Fyzabad, as well knowing, that if, as a friend to Mr. Hastings, he were to approach the Begums, he would be convinced by his reception, that nothing could be more foreign from the truth than the idea of their supposed disaffection. — It was also observable, that Sir Elijah Impey, at Lucknow, taking evidence in the face of day in support of this charge of rebellion against the Begums, when conversing with the Nabob and his Minister, heard not a single word from either of a rebellion, by which it was proposed to dethrone the Nabob, and to change the Government of his dominions! — And equally unaccountable it appeared that Sir Elijah Impey, who had advised the taking of those affidavits for the safety of Mr. Hastings, had never read them at the time, for the purpose of seeing whether they were sufficient for the purpose, or the contrary! — After so long a reserve, however, and after declaring on oath that he thought it unnecessary, the next step taken by Sir Elijah Impey, was to read the affidavits, as, however late, they might contribute something to his information. He had been led to this study by his own allegation, from having been misted by Mr. SHERIDAN, one of the managers on the part of the Commons, who by looking at a book which he held in his hand, had persuaded him to declare that a sworn interpreter was present on the re
ceiving of those-affidavits; that Major Davy was present for that purpose — and that whoever it was, he was perfectly satisfied with his conduct on the occasion; when it was actually in evidence that no interpreter whatsoever was present. — Now, said Mr. Sheridan, how I, by merely looking into a book, could intimate the presence of an interpreter, could inculcate the assistance of Major Davy, and could also look the satisfaction conceived by Sir Elijah Impey, are questions which I believe that Gentleman alone is able to determine!

  He should admit, however, he said, that Sir Elijah Impey had not strictly attended to forms on the occasion of taking those affidavits; that he had merely directed the bible to be given to the Whites, and the Koran to the Blacks, and had packed up in his wallet the returns of both without any further enquiry; or that he had glanced over them in India, having previously cut off all communication between his eye and his mind, so that no consciousness was transferred from the former to the latter; and that he had read them in England, if possible, with less information: — however strange these circumstances might be, he would admit them all; — he would even admit, that the affidavits were legally and properly taken — and yet would prove that those affidavits were not sufficient to sustain any one point of criminality against those who were the subjects of the present Charge.

  [Adjourned to Friday.]

  Mr. SHERIDAN’s SPEECH CONTINUED.

  FRIDAY, JUNE THE 6th.