Volume XII Part 6 (1/2)
You see, my Lords, the Directors had received every one of his false impressions. They had conceived an idea, that, after the rebellion of Cheyt Sing, (but not before, upon his own showing,) the Begums had shown a disposition to arm. They here a.s.sume a false fact, which Mr. Hastings stated in his representation of the business to them. They a.s.sume a variety of other false facts: they a.s.sume that the amount of the jaghires of the Begums were to be paid them in regular pensions; whereas they were totally confiscated, without any compensation at all. And yet, upon Mr. Hastings's own showing, they found the transaction to be so dishonorable to the British government, that they desire him to make inquiry into it, and give redress accordingly.
Here, then, is another order of the Company, another call upon Mr.
Hastings to examine to the bottom of this affair. The Directors, after giving him credit for that enormous ma.s.s of falsehoods which we have proved him to have stated in his Narrative, found themselves so utterly dissatisfied, that they gave this conditional order to restore the Begums to their jaghires. Your Lords.h.i.+ps will find it in evidence upon your minutes, that he contumaciously disobeyed this order,--that he would not consent to the propositions of the Council for inquiring into the conduct of these injured women, but stifled every attempt that was made by others to do them justice. And yet he here has the effrontery to propose that your Lords.h.i.+ps should inquire into the business at your bar,--that you should investigate a matter here which he refused to inquire into on the spot, though expressly ordered by his masters so to do.
I will now read to your Lords.h.i.+ps a short extract from his own narrative of his own proceedings. It begins with reciting part of a note entered by Mr. Macpherson in the Consultations of the Council, at the time when the orders of the Court of Directors which I have just alluded to were taken into consideration.
”What the Court of Directors seem to have most at heart are, first, that the engagement of the second article of the Benares treaty should be faithfully fulfilled,--and, secondly, to guard against the future misconduct of the Vizier, if he should be disposed to oppress the Begums; that we should therefore ascertain whether the amount of the jaghires of the Begums is regularly paid to them through the Company's Resident, and give them notice that no future demands shall be made upon them. This the Governor-General might, I think, do in a letter that would make the Begums sensible of their past misconduct, yet inform them of the lenity and gracious intentions of the Company, in ordering them an asylum in Bengal, in case of future distress.”
In consequence of the foregoing opinion from Mr. Macpherson, the following minute was delivered by the Governor-General.
”I should gladly acquiesce in the motion made by Mr. Macpherson, if I thought it possible to frame a letter to the Begums in any terms which should at the same time convey the intimation proposed by it and not defeat the purpose of it, or be productive of evils greater than any which exist in consequence of the proceedings which have already taken place, and which time has almost obliterated. The orders of the Court of Directors are conditional; they require nothing, but in the event of discoveries made subsequent to the advices which were before you on the 14th February last, in alleviation of the former conduct of the Begums.
Nothing has since appeared in relation to them, but their refusal, or rather that of one, to fulfil her engagements for the payment of the remainder of the sum exacted from her by the Nabob Vizier in the beginning of last year. Whatever obedience may be due to the clear ascertained spirit of the orders of the Court of Directors, this obligation cannot extend to points to which neither the letter nor evident spirit of their orders apply. If I am rightly informed, the Nabob Vizier 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 animosities: and a very slight occasion would be sufficient to effect it. It will be to little purpose to tell them that their conduct has, in our estimation of it, been very wrong, and at the same time to announce to them the orders of our superiors, which more than indicate the reverse. They will instantly take fire on such a declaration, proclaim the judgment of the Company in their favor, demand a reparation of the acts which they will construe wrongs with such a sentence warranting that construction,--and either accept the invitation, to the proclaimed scandal of the Vizier, which will not add to the credit of our government, 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.
”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, that 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 punishment before trial, and even before accusation.”
My Lords, if, since the beginning of the world, such a paper as this was ever before written by a person standing in the relation of a servant to his master, I shall allow that every word we have said to your Lords.h.i.+ps upon this occasion to mark his guilt ought to be expunged from your minutes and from our charges.
Before I proceed to make any observations upon this act of open rebellion against his superiors, I must beg your Lords.h.i.+ps to remark the cruelty of purpose, the hostile feeling, towards these injured women, which were displayed in this daring defiance. Your Lords.h.i.+ps will find that he never is a rebel to one party without being a tyrant to some others; that _rebel_ and _tyrant_ are correlative terms, when applied to him, and that they constantly go together.
It is suggested by the Directors, that the Nabob is the persecutor, the oppressor, and that Mr. Hastings is the person who is to redress the wrong. But here they have mistaken the matter totally. For we have proved to your Lords.h.i.+ps that Mr. Hastings was the princ.i.p.al in the persecution, and that the Nabob was only an instrument. ”If I am rightly informed,” he says, ”the Nabob 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 animosities: and a very slight occasion would be sufficient to effect it.” What animosities had they towards each other? None that we know of. Mr. Hastings gets the Nabob to rob his mother; and then he supposes, contrary to truth, contrary to fact, contrary to everything your Lords.h.i.+ps have heard, that the Nabob would fall into a fury, if his mother was to obtain any redress,--and that, if the least inquiry into this business was made, it would create a flame in the Nabob's mind, on account of the active, energetic, spirited part he had taken in these transactions.
”Therefore,” says he, ”oh, for G.o.d's sake, soothe the matter! It is a green wound; don't uncover it; do nothing to irritate. It will be to little purpose to tell them that their conduct has in our estimation of it been very wrong, and at the same time announce to them the orders of our superiors, which more than indicate the reverse.” Now, my Lords, to what does all this amount? ”First,” says he, ”I will not do them justice,--I will not enter upon an inquiry into their wrongs.” Why?
”Because they charge us with having inflicted them.” Then, surely, for that reason, you ought to commence an inquiry. ”No,” says he, ”that would be telling them that our superiors suspect we are in the wrong.”
But when his superiors more than indicated suspicions, was he not bound tenfold to make that inquiry, for his honor and for their satisfaction, which they direct him to make? No, he will not do it, ”because,” says he, ”the Begums would either accept the offer of an asylum in the Company's territories, to the proclaimed scandal of the Vizier, which would not add to the credit of our government, or they would 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.”
You see, my Lords, this man is constantly thrusting this peaceable Nabob before him; goading and pus.h.i.+ng him on, as if with a bayonet behind, to the commission of everything that is base and dishonorable. You have him here declaring that he will not satisfy the Directors, his masters, in their inquiries about those acts, for fear of the Nabob's taking umbrage, and getting into a flame with his mother,--and for fear the mother, supported by the opinion of the Directors, should be induced to resent her wrongs. What, I say, does all this amount to? It amounts to this:--”The Begums accuse me of doing them injustice; the Directors indicate a suspicion that they have been injured; therefore I will not inquire into the matter.” Why? ”Because it may raise disturbances.” But what disturbance could it raise? The mother is disarmed, and could not hurt the Nabob. All her landed estates he knew were confiscated; he knew all her money was in his own possession; he knew she had not the means, if she had been disposed, to create intrigues and cabals;--what disturbance, then, could be created by his sending a letter to know what she had to say upon the subject of her wrongs?
”_If_” says he, ”_the Begums think themselves aggrieved._” Observe, my Lords, that the inst.i.tution of an inquiry is no measure of the Begums; it is an order of the Court of Directors, made by them upon his own representation of his own case, and upon nothing else. The Begums did not dare to murmur; they did not dare to ask for redress, G.o.d knows the poor creatures were, at or about the time, his prisoners,--robbed,--stripped of everything,--without hope and without resource. But the Directors, doing their duty upon that occasion, did condemn him upon his own false representations contained in that bundle of affidavits upon which his counsel now contend that your Lords.h.i.+ps should acquit him.--”But,” says he, ”are they to _appeal to a foreign jurisdiction_?” When these women were to be robbed, we were not foreigners to them; on the contrary, we adjudged them guilty of rebellion. We sent an English chief-justice to collect materials of accusation against them. We sent English officers to take their money.
The whole was an English transaction. When wrong is to be done, we have then an interest in the country to justify our acting in it; but when the question is of redressing wrongs, when the question is of doing justice, when the question is of inquiry, when the question is of hearing complaints, then it is a foreign jurisdiction. You are to suffer Mr. Hastings--to make it foreign, or to make it domestic, just as it answers his purposes.--But they are ”_to appeal against a man standing in the relation of son and grandson to them, and to appeal to the justice of those who have been the abettors and instruments of their imputed wrongs_.” Why, my Lords, if he allows that he is the abettor of, and the instrument to which the Directors impute these wrongs, why, I ask, does he, with those charges lying upon him, object to all inquiry in the manner you have seen?
But the Company's Governor is, it seems, all at once transformed into a great sovereign;--”_the majesty of justice ought to be approached with solicitation_.” Here, my Lords, he forgets at once the Court of Directors, he forgets the laws of England, he forgets the act of Parliament, he forgets that any obedience is due to his superiors. The Begums were to approach him by the orders of the Court of Directors; he sets at nought these orders, and a.s.serts that he must be approached with solicitations.
”_Time_,” says he, ”_has obliterated their sufferings._” Oh, what a balm of oblivion time spreads over the wrongs, wounds, and afflictions of others, in the mind of the person who inflicts those wrongs and oppressions! The oppressor soon forgets. This robbery took place in 17[81]; it was in the year 1783 when he a.s.serted that the waters of Lethe had been poured over all their wrongs and oppressions. Your Lords.h.i.+ps will mark this insulting language, when he says that both the order of the Directors and the application of the Begums for redress must be _solicitations to him_.
[Here Mr. Burke was interrupted by Mr. Hastings, who said, ”My Lords, there was no order. I find a man's patience may be exhausted. I hear so many falsehoods, that I must declare there was no order of the Court of Directors. Forgive me, my Lords. He may say what he pleases; I will not again controvert it. But there is no order; if there is, read it.” Mr. Burke then proceeded.]
Judge you, my Lords, what the insolence, audacity, and cruelty of this man must have been, from his want of patience in his present situation, and when he dares to hold this language here. Your Lords.h.i.+ps will reckon with him for it, or the world will reckon with you.
[Mr. Hastings here again interrupted Mr. Burke, and said, ”There was no order for inquiry.”]
_Mr. Burke._--Your Lords.h.i.+ps have heard the letter read,--I mean the letter from the Directors, which I read just now. You will judge whether it is an order or not. I did hope within these two days to put an end to this business; but when your Lords.h.i.+ps hear us charged with direct falsehood at your bar, when you hear this wicked wretch who is before you--
[_From a Lord._--Order! order! order!]
_Mr. Burke._--Order, my Lords, we call for, in the name of the Commons!