Volume VIII Part 13 (1/2)
On the 2d of May, 1775, Mr. James Grant, accountant to the Provincial Council of Moorshedabad, produced to the Governor-General and Council certain Persian papers which stated nine lacs of rupees (upwards of ninety thousand pounds sterling) received by Munny Begum, on her appointment to the management of the Nabob's household, over and above the balance due at that time, and not accounted for by her. These Grant had received from Nuned Roy, who had been a writer in the Begum's Treasury Office. Both Mr. Grant and Nuned Roy were called before the board, and examined respecting the authenticity of the papers. Among other circ.u.mstances tending to establish the credit of these papers, it appears that Mr. Grant offered to make oath that the chief eunuch of the Begum had come to him on purpose to prevail on him not to send the papers, and had declared _that the accounts were not to be disputed_.
On the 9th of May it was resolved by a majority of the board, against the opinion and solemn protest of the Governor-General, that a gentleman should be sent up to the city of Moorshedabad to demand of Munny Begum the accounts of the nizamut and household, from April, 1764, to the latest period to which they could be closed, and to divest the Begum of the office of guardian to the Nabob; and Mr. Charles Goring was appointed for this purpose.
The preceding facts are stated to the House, not as the foundation of an inquiry into the conduct of the Begum, but as they lead to and are therefore necessary to explain by what means a discovery was made of a sum of money given by her to Mr. Hastings.
Mr. Goring's first letter from the city, dated 17th May, 1775, mentions, among other particulars, the young Nabob's joy at being delivered out of the hands of Munny Begum, of the mean and indigent state of confinement in which he was kept by her, of the distress of his mother, and that he had told Mr. Goring that the ”Begum's eunuch had instructed the servants not to suffer him to learn anything by which he might make himself acquainted with business”: and he adds, ”Indeed, I believe there is great truth in it, as his Excellency seems to be ignorant of almost everything a man of his rank ought to know,--not from a want of understanding, but of being properly educated.”
On the 21st of May, Mr. Goring transmitted to the Governor-General and Council an account of sums given by the Begum under her seal, delivered to Mr. Goring by the Nabob in her apartments. The account is as follows.
Memorandum of Disburs.e.m.e.nts to English Gentlemen, from the Nabob's Sircar, in the Bengal Year 1179.
+--------------------+ |Seal of Munny Begum,| |Mother of the Nabob | |Nudjuf ul Dowlah, | |deceased. | +--------------------+
To the Governor, Mr. Hastings, for an entertainment 1,50,000
To Mr. Middleton, on account of an agreement entered into by Baboo Begum 1,50,000 -------- Rupees 3,00,000
When this paper was delivered, the Governor-General moved that Mr.
Goring might be asked _how he came by it_, and _on what account this partial selection was made by him_; also, that the Begum should be desired _to explain the sum laid to his charge_, and that he should ask _the Nabob or the Begum their reasons for delivering this separate account_.
The substance of the Governor's proposal was agreed to.
Mr. Goring's answer to this requisition of the board is as follows.
”In compliance with your orders to explain the delivery of the paper containing an account of three lacs of rupees, I am to inform you, it took its rise from a message sent me by the Begum, requesting I would interest myself with the Nabob to have Akbar Ali Khan released to her for a few hours, having something of importance to communicate to me, on which she wished to consult him. Thinking the service might be benefited by it, I accordingly desired the Nabob would be pleased to deliver him to my charge, engaging to return him the same night,--which I did. I heard no more till next day, when the Begum requested to see his Excellency and myself, desiring Akbar Ali might attend.
”On our first meeting, she entered into a long detail of her administration, endeavoring to represent it in the fairest light; at last she came to the point, and told me, my urgent and repeated remonstrances to her to be informed how the balance arose of which I was to inquire induced her from memory to say what she had herself given,--then mentioning the sum of a lac and a half to the Governor to feast him whilst he stayed there, and a lac and a half to Mr. Middleton by the hands of Baboo Begum. As I looked on this no more than a matter of conversation, I arose to depart, but was detained by the Begum's requesting the Nabob to come to her. A scene of weeping and complaint then began, which made me still more impatient to be gone, and I repeatedly sent to his Excellency for that purpose: he at last came out and delivered me the paper I sent you, declaring it was given him by the Begum to be delivered me.”
Munny Begum also wrote a letter to General Clavering, in which she directly a.s.serts the same. ”Mr. Goring has pressed me on the subject of the balances; in answer to which I informed him, that all the particulars, being on record, would in the course of the inquiry appear from the papers. He accordingly received from the Nabob Mobarek ul Dowlah a list of three lacs of rupees given to the Governor and Mr.
Middleton. I now send you inclosed a list of the dates when it was presented, and through whose means, which you will receive.”
The Governor-General then desired that the following questions might be proposed to the Begum by Mr. Martin, then Resident at the Durbar.
1st. Was any application made to you for the account which you have delivered, of three lacs of rupees said to have been paid to the Governor and Mr. Middleton, or did you deliver the account of your own free will, and unsolicited?
2d. In what manner was the application made to you, and by whom?
3d. On what account was the sum of one and half lacs given to the Governor-General, which you have laid to his account? Was it in consequence of any requisition from him, or of any previous agreement, or of any established usage?
The Governor-General objected strongly to Mr. Goring's being present when the questions were put to the Begum; but it was insisted on by the majority, and it was resolved accordingly, that he ought to be present.
The reasons on both sides will best appear by the copy of the debate, inserted in the Appendix.
The Begum's answer to the preceding questions, addressed to the Governor-General and Council, where it touched the substance, was as follows.
”The case is this. Mr. Goring, on his arrival here, _seized all the papers, and secured them under his seal; and all the mutsuddies [clerks or accountants] attended him, and explained to him all the particulars of them_. Mr. Goring inquired of me concerning the arrears due to the sepoys, &c., observing, that the nizamut and bhela money [Nabob's allowance] was received from the Company; from whence, then, could the balance arise? I made answer, that the sum was not adequate to the expenses. Mr. Goring then asked, What are those expenses which exceed the sum received from the Company? I replied, _All the particulars will be found in the papers_. The affair of the three lacs of rupees, _on account of entertainment for the Governor and Mr. Middleton_, has been, I am told, related to you by Rajah Gourdas; besides which there are many other expenses, which will appear from the papers. As the custom of entertainment is of long standing, and accordingly every Governor of Calcutta who came to Moorshedabad received a daily sum of two thousand rupees for entertainment, which, was in fact instead of provisions; and the lac and an half of rupees laid to Mr. Middleton's charge was _a present on account of an agreement entered into by the Bhow Begum_. I therefore affixed my seal to the account, and forwarded it to Mr. Goring by means of the Nabob.”
In this answer, the accounts given to Mr. Goring she a.s.serts to be genuine. They are explained, in all the particulars, by all the secretaries and clerks in office. They are secured under Mr. Goring's seal. To them she refers for everything; to them she refers for the three lacs of rupees given to Mr. Hastings and Mr. Middleton. It is impossible to combine together a clearer body of proof, composed of record of office and verbal testimony mutually supporting and ill.u.s.trating each other.
The House will observe that the receipt of the money is indirectly admitted by one of the Governor's own questions to Munny Begum.
If the money was not received, it would have been absurd to ask _on what account it was given_. Both the question and the answer relate to some established usage, the appeal to which might possibly be used to justify the acceptance of the money, if it was accepted, but would be superfluous, and no way applicable to the charge, if the money was never given.