relating to the Begums. 419 CHAP. 8. on the subject of them remains, and shows, that in BOOK V. his breast they excited the highest resentment. He chose to consider them as not the letters of the Vizir; 1782. whom he represents as too void of character, to write any thing of himself. He called them the letters of the minister," who," says he, "by an abuse of his influence over the Nabob-he being, as he ever must be, in the hands of some person, a mere cipher in his hands-dared to make him assume a very unbecoming tone of refusal, reproach, and resentment, in opposition to measures recommended by me, and even to acts done by my authority." He persisted in ascribing guilt to the Begums, and said, "the severities which have been exercised toward them, were most justly merited, by the advantage which they took of the troubles in which I was personally involved last year, to create a rebellion in the Nabob's government; and to complete the ruin which they thought was impending on ours." "If it is the Nabob's desire to forget and forgive their past offences, I have no objection to his allowing them, in pension, the nominal amount of their jaghires; but if he shall ever offer to restore their jaghires to them, or to give them any property in land, after the warning which they have given him, by the dangerous abuse which they formerly made of his indulgence; you must remonstrate, in the 1 When it suited the Governor-General he could assign the disturbances in Oude to very different causes. In a Minute [Bengal Secret Consultations, 10th Dec. 1783; Extracts from Papers (in No. 2, vol. iv.) presented to the House of Commons, upon the 13th day of March, 1786, p. 7], he says, "The Zemindars in the provinces of Oude, and in the other dominions of the Nabob, Asoph ul Dowlah, have ever been either in a state of actual rebellion, or bordering upon it; even in the time of the Nabob Sujah úl Dowlah, they could only be restrained by a military force superior to that which they could oppose to it." The instigations, surely, of the Begums was not then wanted to account for the little ferment which took place in Oude, upon the occasion of the explosion in Benares. BOOK V. strongest terms, against it; you must not permit such CHAP. 8. an event to take place; until this government shall 1782. have received information of it, and shall have had time to interpose its influence for the prevention of it." On this and on various other occasions, where the Governor-General spoke of pensions with so much ease, he well knew, that in the circumstances and with the disposition of the government of the Vizir, a pension, unless to Englishmen whom he feared, little or nothing differed from a name. Nay more; if the payment had been sure, the nominal revenue was but a portion of the actual proceeds; and the Begums of course were to be robbed of all the rest. It was in fact from this robbery, namely the revenue which the Nabob could extract from the estates of the Begums, beyond the pensions he would bind himself to pay them, that the money was to come, by which the distress of Mr. Hastings was to be relieved. The period at last arrived for the review, by the Court of Directors, of the proceedings of their government in India relative to the Begums. In their letters of the 14th of February, 1783, "It no where," say the Directors," appears, from the papers at present in our possession, that the Begums excited any commotions previous to the imprisonment of Cheyte Sing, and only armed themselves in consequence of that transaction; and it is probable that such a conduct proceeded from motives of self-defence, under an apprehension, that they themselves might likewise be laid under unwarrantable contributions." The Court of Directors, in consequence, gave their commands, that if, upon inquiry, it should appear that the Princesses had not been guilty of the practices of which Mr. Hastings accused them, their estates should be restored; and an asylum offered them disregarded by Mr. Hastings. 421 CHAP. 8. within the Company's territory. In obedience to BOOK V. this injunction, it was moved by Mr. Stables, a member of the Supreme Council, that the inquiry should 1782. be instituted. The conduct pursued by the Governor-General is the next object of regard. He set himself in opposition to the inquiry; and, having a majority of the Council on his side, he prevented it. The reasons by which he supported his opposition were as follows. He asserted, "that the reasons of the Court of Directors, if transmitted with the orders for the inquiry, will prove, in effect, an order for collecting evidence to the justification and acquittal of the Begums, and not for the investigation of the truth of the charges which have been preferred against them." Here the insinuation is, that whenever, in India, the views of government are known, all evidence tendered will be sure to coincide with those views. The Governor-General ought to have reflected, that, if this be true, all the evidence which he produced against the Begums, Cheyte Sing, or any of the other parties, whom he pretended to punish under the colour of guilt, if in other respects less devoid of the essentials of proof than it really was, ought to be counted for nothing. Besides, it was neither necessary, nor did the author of the proposal require, that "the reasons" of the Court of Directors should be transmitted with the order for inquiry. Mr. Hastings in a further Minute asserted, that the inquiry would be fraught with "evils greater than any which exist in the consequences which have already taken place, and which time has almost obliterated." "If," said he, "I am rightly informed, the Nabob Vizir and the Begums are on terms of mutual good will. It would ill become this government to interpose its influence, by any act which might tend to revive their 1782. BOOK V. animosities, and a very slight occasion would be CHAP. 8. sufficient to effect it. They will instantly take fire on such a declaration, proclaim the judgment of the Court in their favour, demand a reparation of the acts, which they will construe wrongs, with such a sentence warranting that construction, and either accept the invitation (to reside under the protection of the Company), to the proclaimed scandal of the Nabob Vizir, which will not add to the credit of our govern ment, or remain in his dominions, but not under his authority, to add to his vexations and the disorders of the country, by continual intrigues and seditions. Enough already exists to affect his peace, and the quiet of his people. If we cannot heal, let us not inflame the wounds which have been inflicted." He added, "If the Begums think themselves aggrieved to such a degree as to justify them in an appeal to a foreign jurisdiction; to appeal to it against a man standing in the relation of son and grandson to them; to appeal to the justice of those who have been the abettors, and instruments of their imputed wrongs; let us at least permit them to be the judges of their own feelings, and prefer their complaints, before we offer to redress them. They will not need to be prompted. I hope I shall not depart from the simplicity of official language, in saying, the Majesty of Justice ought to be approached with solicitation, not descend to provoke or invite it, much less to debase itself by the suggestion of wrongs, and the promise of redress, with the denunciation of punishments, before trial, and even before accusation." If nothing remained to stain the reputation of Mr. Hastings, but the principles avowed in this singular pleading, his character, among the friends of justice, would be sufficiently determined. Although the commands of the Court of Direc relative to the Vizir. 423 tors, respecting reparation to the Begums, were BOOK V. strengthened by a formal application from the Vizir, CHAP. 8. "requesting" (such are the words of Mr. Hastings, 1782. introducing the subject to the Board) "that he might be permitted to restore, to his grandmother and other relations, the jaghires which were taken from them the beginning of last year," the authority of the Governor-General was sufficient to prevent, at the present time, the adoption of any measure in their favour.1 Notwithstanding the severities practised upon the family of the Vizir, and the usurpation of his authority by Mr. Middleton, who even issued warrants upon his own authority for the resumption of the jaghires, Mr. Middleton was dismissed for want of rigour in pressing the demands of the English government; and Mr. Bristow was appointed, under the implied as well as declared expectation, that he would supply what had been remiss in the conduct of his predecessor. Nor was this all. He was furnished with a set of instructions, from the hand of the Governor-General, bearing date the 23d of October, 1782. In these instructions, in which he was particularly referred to the injunctions which Mr. Middleton had previously received, four objects were principally pointed out to his attention; 1st, "To limit, and separate the personal disbursements of the Vizir from the public accounts;" 2dly, To reform the military establishment, reducing the troops to one uniform corps, and to the form, if possible, most useful to the Company, that of cavalry; controling even the appointment of officers, nay," peremptorily opposing it," as often as the Vizir should persist in a choice I See the Fourth article of Charge, and Mr. Hastings's Answer, with the Papers printed by the House of Commons in 1786. |