UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 LETTER 
 
 , FRi>M 
 
 MAJOR SCOTT, 
 
 TO 
 
 PHILIP FRANCIS, E SQt 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for J, DEBRETT, oppofitc Burlington- 
 Houfe, Piccadilly. 
 
 1791.
 
 IDS 
 3 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 TN publifhing a fecond Edition of my 
 * Letter to Mr. Francis, I am happy in 
 having an opportunity of faying, that the 
 facts flated in the letter, have proved to the 
 fatisfa&ion of every candid man with whom 
 I have converfed upon it, that the aflertions 
 made by the Chairman of the Court of Di- 
 rectors in the Houfe, were ftri&ly and lite- 
 rally true* 
 
 That a Britifh governor fhould have added 
 rj. 
 
 two millions three hundred thoufand pounds 
 
 a year to the revenue of the empire ; that. 
 ^ a i the
 
 il PREFACE. 
 
 the King's Minifters and Parliament ihould 
 have approved, and his fucceffors mould 
 have followed his plans ; that the people 
 whom he governed for thirteen years mould 
 join almoft as one man in bearing teftimony 
 to his merits; that agriculture, population, 
 and commerce, mould have been in a pro- 
 greffive flate of improvement during his ad- 
 * miniftration ; that thefe facts mould be 
 proved by clear incontrovertible evidence, 
 entered upon the Journals of Parliament, 
 and moft unequivocally acknowledged by 
 the King's Minifters ; but that the fame Bri- 
 tifli governor mould remain four years im- 
 peached for the oppreflion, the ruin, and de- 
 ftruction in which he had involved the na- 
 tives of Bengal, and for the lofs and damage 
 which the revenues fuftained from his mea- 
 fures, are circumftances fo wonderful in 
 their nature, that an honeft man will in fu- 
 ture fcarcely look for juftice upon earth ; 
 for where mall it be fought, if it is not to 
 to be. .found under a coiifHtution which 
 
 boafts
 
 .PREFACE. Ill 
 
 boafts of fuch perfe&ion, and in a jurifpru- 
 dence of fuch purity, as are the conflitu- 
 tion and jurifprudence of Great Britain, 
 
 Upon the Impeachment of Mr. Haftings 
 much has been faid and written by men of 
 all defcriptions. With the queftion of law I 
 have never interfered ; but under that of dif- 
 tretion I can fay,that no gentleman can go into 
 a mixed company in this great city, without 
 hearing many a pious wim for the impeach- 
 ment being brought to a clofe, yet it ftill 
 " drags its flow length along," nor can any 
 man form an idea as to the number of 
 years which may be required to clofe the 
 profecution. 
 
 The American war was continued after 
 the capture of two of our armies had de- 
 ftroyed all hopes of fuccefs, 
 
 The Impeachment of Mr. Haftings is 
 continued after every man in the kingdom 
 
 fees,
 
 IT FREFAC2* 
 
 fees, that the great and material charges 
 againft him are totally falfe, and ground* 
 Icfs. 
 
 I mean no offence by this expreffion, and 
 I hope none will be taken, after I have ex- 
 plained myfelf. 
 
 Mr. Burke, that Proteus in politics, who 
 firft moved the impeachment, did it upon 
 a ground that was very fair, and very intelli- 
 gible. 
 
 Mr. Haflings was declared by Mr. Burke 
 to be the fcourge of the human race ; that 
 he had defolated provinces, broken the 
 faith of treaties, violated private rights, re^ 
 duced noble families to diftrefs, and, in 
 fhort, that he had brought every calamity 
 upon a miferable people which can be 
 comprehended under the expreffive words 
 in the articles, " oppreflion," " ruin," and 
 " deftrudion." 
 
 Thefe
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 Thefe acts were the ground work of the 
 impeachment ; for, faid Mr. Burke, " had he 
 *' improved the public revenues and made 
 " a numerous people happy, I mould not 
 " have inquired into the amount of his for- 
 " tune, nor mould I too ftrictly have fcru- 
 *' tinized his actions." 
 
 Now this I affirm in the face of the 
 whole world, and I fay that Mr. Pitt and 
 Mr. Dundas have again and again declared 
 the fact to be, that the natives of Bengal 
 were happier under the Britim adminiftra- 
 tion than at any former period, and they as 
 India Minifters have annually prefented ac r 
 counts, which prove the increafe of the pub- 
 lic revenue by the meafures of Mr. Raftings; 
 the ground, therefore, of Mr, Burke has 
 flipped from under him, the great and ma- 
 terial charges are totally falfe ; and without 
 detracting from the confequence of that ar- 
 ticle (the contracts) which the prefent 
 Houfe has in its wifdorn alone adopted, 
 
 if
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 if put in competition with thofe which 
 they have abandoned, it is a mere queftion,' 
 whether Mr. Haftings gave thirteen pence 
 for a common neceflary of life, which a 
 more economical man might have pur- 
 chafed for a fhilling. 
 
 The inconflftency in which the late par- 
 liament was involved, is indeed of a moft 
 fingular nature. 
 
 By voting twenty articles of impeach- 
 ment againft Mr. Haftings, comprehending 
 / in. them the ftrongeft condemnation of the 
 Jyftetn by which India was, and /J, held 
 and governed, they fully and completely 
 juftified every ftatement that Mr, Fox ever 
 gave, as a ground for his celebrated bill du- 
 ring its progrefs through the former Houfe 
 of Commons, and Mr. Fox might with 
 great truth fay, that he had fallen a facrifice 
 to low and pitiful intrigue, if the fame Par-r 
 lament which voted the twenty articles, 
 
 had
 
 PREFACE. Vli 
 
 had not alfo voted the refolutions moved 
 four years fucceffively by the India Minifter 
 Mr. Henry Dtmdas. Thefe refolutions vir-* 
 tually juftified all that Mr. Haftings had 
 done, and proclaimed to the world that Ben- 
 gal had not been plundered, opprefled, or 
 destroyed, nor the revenues diminifhed, du- 
 ring his admimjlrafion. /\ 
 
 In fhort, with fuch contradictory matter 
 before us, we ought in our clofets to reject 
 articles , votes, and oratory , and confine our- 
 felves to the amount of the refburces and 
 expences in Bengal during Mr. HafKngs's 
 administration, to the declarations of the 
 People of India, and to fuch unbiafled 
 evidence as the Managers themfelves have 
 produced in Weftminfter Hall. 
 
 By this mafs of indifputable^ undifputed 
 evidence, the following fa&s are eftablilhed:
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 I ft, That Mr. Haftings increafed the re^ 
 fources of Bengal above two millions three 
 hundred thoufand pounds during his admi- 
 niftration. 
 
 2dly, That the peace eftabliftiment fixed 
 for Bengal by Mr, Dundas was higher by 
 above one million fterling than the peace 
 eftablimment of Mr. Haftings. 
 
 ^dly, That the expences of the prefent 
 partial war, greatly exceed thofe of the laft 
 general war in India. 
 
 4thly, That the natives of India, of all 
 ranks, feds, and religions, have concurred 
 in exprefling their fenfe of the merits of 
 Mr. Haftings. 
 
 5thly, That Bengal increafed during his 
 adminiftration, and is ftill increafing in agrir 
 culture, population, and commerce, under 
 fyftem which he had formed, to which 
 
 His
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 tiis Majefty's Minifters annually enjoin the 
 clofeft adherence, but at the fame time, 
 annually join the profecutbrs of Mr. Haf- 
 tings in arraigning it before the High Court 
 of Juftice in Weftminfter Hall. 
 
 It has been obferved in fome of the oppo- 
 pofition papers, that I have paid many com- 
 pliments to Mr. Francis, but that I have 
 vented all my indignation (as they are 
 pleafed to term it) againft Mr. Pitt, and 
 Mr. Dundas* 
 
 I have certainly given Mr. Francis and 
 his colleagues credit for confiftency from 
 the moment this Impeachment commenced. 
 Yet I do not defpair of their following (with 
 fome exceptions) the example of Mr. Baf- 
 tard, who believing that Mr. Haftings had 
 defolated provinces and diminimed the pub- 
 lic refources, voted for his Impeachment : 
 but having received proofs that thefe charges 
 were falfe, altered his opinion, and had the 
 b 2 man-
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 manlinefs rather to confefs an error than to 
 perfifl in it. Mr. Francis and his friends 
 appear to me at the prefent moment to reje& -ik 
 as untrue, the moft incontrovertible evi- 
 dence, provided it clafhes with their favou- 
 rite notions ; I rejoice, therefore, that they 
 are not the judges of Mr. Haflings, and I 
 rejoice that their flatements have not made 
 the (lighted impreflion upon the minds of 
 the public. 
 
 But having faid thus much of the gentle- 
 man in oppofition, I muft fay, that it is im- 
 poffible upon any principle of juftice to ac- 
 count for the conduct of Mr. Pitt and Mr. 
 Dundas, to whom, as Minifters, a great and 
 important trufl has been delegated. 
 
 know, and they have repeatedly de- 
 clared, that Bengal was neither opprefled, 
 plundered, nor deftroyed by Mr. Raftings. 
 They voted once againft the charge in 
 toto, which contained thefe expreffions; 
 
 but
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 but being then left in a minority, they 
 never again agitated the matter, but gave 
 their vote and their influence for the charge 
 when it was finally pafled, though that 
 charge has really and truly faliifie e . ery 
 ftatement that they have given in fucceflive 
 years, of the profperous ftate of Bengal. 
 
 Again in the Benares article, which turned 
 in fat, upon a principle of taxation. Mr. 
 Pitt in the ftrongeft manner juftified the 
 principle, but without coming again to any 
 divifion,or ever after agitating that quefHon, 
 though he folemnly pledged himfelf to agi- 
 tate it, he fuffered Mr. Haftings to be im- 
 peached for calling his principle into practice, 
 in the hour of emergency. 
 
 And afterwards under the head of con- 
 tracts Mr. Pitt rejected the whole, except 
 two, (the bullock and opium contracts) af- 
 firming that two others for which Mr. Burke 
 contended, were not only free from blame, 
 
 but
 
 Til PREFACE. 
 
 but highly meritorious, and that by one, he 
 had in the moft fure and oeconomical a man- 
 ner, preferred a nation from periihing by 
 famine* 
 
 Now fuppofing Mr. Pitt had moved the 
 amendments as he propofed, and fuppofmg 
 his opinions had had that weight with the 
 Houfe, which for feven years they generally 
 have had, what a ikeleton of an Impeach- 
 ment it would have been, when compared to 
 what it is ! ! I conceive lefs than ten days 
 would have been fufficient for profecution, 
 defence, and judgment. 
 
 The nation would have faved at leafl forty 
 thoufand pounds, an individual would have 
 been fecured from an oppreffion of the firft 
 magnitude, and the Miniflers would not 
 have incurred the odium which foonef or 
 later muft attend the man, who on one day 
 pronounces thofe ads to be criminal, to 
 
 which.
 
 PREFACE. Xlil 
 
 which upon another he gives his warmed 
 approbation, 
 
 I well know that Mr. Pitt could not 
 command the late Parliament, and God for- 
 bid that fuch a power mould at any time 
 be in the hands of a Minifter, but he could 
 have performed his own folemn promife ; 
 he could have done what he did laft year 
 when he was left in a minority, in a bill 
 for regulating the Slave Trade. He could 
 have moved amendments upon the report, 
 and if he had fo done, I believe in my con- 
 fcience they would have been carried by a 
 great majority. 
 
 The preceding obiervations apply to the 
 flrfl feven articles only. Of the remaining 
 thirteen, having faid and written fo much, it 
 is merely for thepurppfe of bringing the fub- 
 jecl: completely before the public, I now re- 
 peat, that thefe articles were voted by the 
 Houfe three days before they were printed,. 
 
 of
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 of courfe they were not read ; they . affirm 
 a fyftem to be highly criminal, which Mr. 
 Henry Dundas, the India Minifter, ordered 
 to be invariably adhered to, to which in 
 three feveral letters to Bengal, he figned 
 his approbation, with his approbation alfo 
 of the principle on which it was formed, 
 after a full confederation, as he fays, in one 
 of the letters, of all the minutes and pro- 
 ceedings that had a relation to the fubject 
 
 An Englishman who does not look up 
 \yith refpeft to the Houfe of Commons, 
 muft be a bad fubjecl ; but an Englifhman 
 who fuppofes the Houfe of Commons not 
 to be as liable tp error as any other body of 
 men in the kingdom, muft fhut his eyes to 
 conviction. A debt of two hundred and fifty 
 millions contracted in one century, and four 
 fifths of it in half that period, taxes impofed 
 upon every article that can be called a luxury 
 or a neceflary of life, and an empire difmem- 
 bered, tell us but too plainly, that thofe
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 irieafures to which Parliament has given its 
 warmeft approbation, have turned out very 
 unfortunate indeed for the country ; and if 
 we are now able to exert ourielves and to 
 raife the aftoniming fum of feventeen mil- 
 lions within one year, it is more owing to 
 the vigour and genius of the people, than 
 to the wifdom of Miniflers, or of former 
 Parliaments* 
 
 There was a time when Mr. Burke would 
 have moft cordially agreed in this fentiment. 
 There was a time when he went farther 
 than / mean to go, when he faid * " the dif* 
 *' tempers of monarchy were the great fub- 
 " jec~ls of apprehenfion and redrefs in the lajl 
 " century ; in this, the dijlempers of Par Ha* 
 
 But Mr. Burke has been fo frightened by 
 the French Revolution, or Mr. Pitt has fb 
 
 * Page 56 of Mr. Burke's << Prefent Difcontents." 
 
 c com-
 
 XV PREFACE. 
 
 completely converted him, that he now fpeaks 
 highly of every part of a confritution,t whofe 
 " merits are confirmed by long experience 
 " and an lucre ajmg public ftrength and na- 
 " tional profperity." 
 
 The caufe of the protraction of the trial 
 of Mr. Haflings is now perfectly underftood. 
 The late Houfe put feven queftions upon 
 the firfl feven articles, and one upon the 
 laft thirteen. Yet in ftri& juftice as thefe 
 twenty articles contain above fourteen hun- 
 dred criminal allegations, there fhould have 
 been fourteen hundred feparate queftions. 
 If therefore the late Houfe had originally 
 proceeded with regularity, it muft have 
 abandoned all that this Houfe has given up, 
 and nine tenths at leaft of what it flill re- 
 tains. 
 
 As the late Parliament, like all others, 
 was compofed of gentlemen of enlightened 
 
 t Pa s e 8 5 of Mr. Burke's Reflexions. 
 
 minds y
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 minds, and as Mr. Burke tells us, that the 
 Managers are men remarkable for their good 
 nature ; an indifferent perfon muft be 
 ftruck with aftonifhment, at a perfeverance, 
 which fome may think borders upon malig- 
 nity. For the conduct of Mr. Fox, and 
 thofe with whom he is connected, one 
 may account by fnppofing them to be ac- 
 tuated by thofe paffions to which human 
 nature is fubjedr. The tempeft that raged 
 fb furioufly againft Mr. Fox in 1784, was 
 firfr, raifed by the friends of the Eaft India 
 Company, and Mr. HafUngs. 
 
 Mr. Fox early declared his hoftility, and 
 he has been an open and avowed enemy. 
 Had we then fallen, it had not been by an 
 ignoble wound, from the poniard of an a 
 faffin. 
 
 , The ufe that was made of the name and 
 
 character of Mr. Haftings at that period, 
 
 is perfectly well known to every man who 
 
 c 2 has
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 has beftowed a thought upon the politics of 
 Great Britain. I would not prefume to call 
 to the recollection of any man the honoura- 
 ble mention which Lord Thurlow then 
 made of Mr. Raftings, if the fafts which 
 have fince been proved in Weftminfter Hall 
 did not fully juftify his Lordfhip, for every 
 fentence that he uttered. I will not quote 
 the fentiments of Mr. George Hardinge, de^ 
 livered with great force at that time, becaufe 
 I read them in my place in the Houfe, upon 
 a former occafion. But the following paf- 
 fage from Mr. Rous's fpeech in the Houfe of 
 Lords, is fo exceedingly forcible and fo 
 ftriclly true, that I cannot forbear to inferc 
 it irj this place, 
 
 " The human character is not formed in 
 " retirement and from the ftudy of books ; 
 " it grows from the fcene in which man is 
 * defined to aft. For what the fcene to 
 " which I allude, has produced, I may re- 
 H fer your L,or.dfhips to what the fervants of 
 
 " the
 
 PREFACE. XIT 
 
 ** the Baft India Company have written on 
 " the fubjefts of war, of policy and of com- 
 " merce. I might refer to thofe great 
 *' names which have arifen in their fervice, 
 " who while Great Britain claims the fore- 
 " moil rank among nations, may difpute 
 *' the palm with the braveft and ableft of 
 *' her fons. I might refer to -the great and 
 " much injured man, ivho is the more im- 
 " mediate objeEt of our prefent attention, I 
 " mean Mr. Haftings : pofleffed of every 
 *' talent which can adorn and raife the fla- 
 ** tion which he fills, indefatigable induftry, 
 <c penetrating fagacity, fertility in refource, 
 ** but above all, that perfonal and political 
 '* magnanimity, which bears him undif- 
 *' mayed through every difficulty, and has 
 " enabled him not only to extricate us with- 
 " outlofs, from a ruinous and extenfive war, 
 " which in every other quarter of the globe 
 " has diminimed the territories of Great 
 *' Britain, but to fnatch the laurels from the 
 f ' brow of the enemy, and by the* victories 
 
 " in
 
 IX PREFACE. 
 
 " in the Eaft in a degree to redeem the 
 46 lofles, which, under a different conduct, 
 " this unhappy country fuftained in the 
 " Weft/* 
 
 Such was the character then given of 
 Mr. Haftings. Thofe who have fince feen 
 his nrmnefs and magnanimity, while ar- 
 raigned as a criminal for ats then pro- 
 nounced to be meritorious, can heft deter- 
 mine the truth of Mr. Rous's defcription. 
 
 I have declared in the moft public man- 
 ner, that during the critical period which 
 preceded the removal of Mr. Fox, I never 
 alked directly or indirectly for favour or 
 protection for Mr. Haftings, and whatever 
 promifes of fupport were given, came vo- 
 luntary, and unfolicited by me. But I muft 
 have been unfufFerably ftupid indeed, not to 
 have taken the precaution of infifting upon 
 juftice for. Mr. Haftings, had I fuppofed it 
 to be within poffibility, that in lefs than 
 
 three
 
 PREFACE. XXI 
 
 three years, from the date of Mr. Fox's re- 
 moval, the Minifter who came into power, 
 by oppofing what he then called and what 
 I yet call fallacious ftatements, mould by 
 his vote juftify every thing that Mr. Fox 
 had faid, while in his fpeeches he approved 
 and in his 'practice he adhered to the fyf- 
 terns formed by Mr. Railings. 
 
 I know the abilities of Mr. Fox too well 
 not to be aware of the length to which he 
 could pufli this argument in his own favour, 
 could he have fupported by evidence, the 
 articles which the late Houfe voted. Did I 
 in my confcience believe thofe articles to be 
 true, I would beg the forgivenefs of my 
 God, my Country, and my King, for the 
 fmall (hare which I formerly had in exci- 
 ting the people to oppofe their reprefenta- 
 tives. Will any man of common fenfe 
 believe that I would have declined on the 
 morning that Mr. Fox opened his India 
 fyilem, to meet Mr. Sheridan, then in the 
 
 zenith
 
 XXU *REFACEi 
 
 zenith of power, and his friends fupported 
 by a decided majority in both Houies, had 
 Mr. Haftings inftrucled me under any poffi- 
 ble circumftances, to bargain for his refig- 
 nation, or for his future fafety ? 
 
 But ta Mr. Haftings the confluences 
 have been moft ferious, as far as a trial 
 protracted to a length hitherto unknown, 
 and at an expence which to an individual 
 muft be ruin, fince even to the nation the 
 amount is of moment, can make them fe- 
 rious. 
 
 He was in the public lervice, filling the 
 firft and moft important office in the gift of 
 Great Britain, at the clofe of a very long 
 and calamitous war, when the King's Mi* 
 nifters were pleafed to prefent a fcheme for 
 the better government of India. 
 
 This fcheme they declared to be abfolutely 
 necdTary for the faivation of India, which 
 
 was
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 was then, as the authors of the fcheme faid, 
 on the brink of ruin, owing to the grofs 
 neglect, mifmanagement, and corruption of 
 Mr. Haftings. 
 
 Another great party oppofed with their 
 utmoft force this plan of Mr. Fox, and 
 they could not do it without placing Mr. 
 Haftings in the front of the battle. The 
 prefent Lord Chancellor, with a decifion 
 which marks his conduct upon all occafions, 
 declared it to be perfectly abfurd, to argue 
 the merits of a bill which was profefledly 
 grounded upon the fuppofed delinquencies 
 of Mr. Haftings, without entering fully into 
 his character and Conduct, which he did ac- 
 cordingly. The change followed, and Mr. 
 Pitt continued three months a Minifter, 
 with a majority of the Houfe of Commons 
 againft him. 
 
 By this proceeding, of which Mr. Haf- 
 
 tings could have no knowledge until it w?s 
 
 d con-
 
 XXIV PREFACE, 
 
 concluded, he unfortunately excited the 
 refentment of a very powerful party in this 
 kingdom, againft which he had nothing to 
 oppofe, fave a reliance upon the honour, the 
 honefty, and the gratitude of thofe who had 
 acquired power, in a great meafure, by the 
 inceffant activity of his friends. 
 
 Before the return of Mr. Haftings to Eng- 
 land, Mr. Dundas,, the original India ora- 
 cle in the Houfe of Commons^ had fo far 
 read his recantation, as to avow his fatisfac- 
 tion that a motion which he had himielf 
 made for the removal of Mr. Haftings had 
 been fuccefsfully reiifted, adding, that by 
 the refiftance, India had been faved. 
 
 On the return of Mr. Haftings, Mr. 
 Burke gave notice of his intentions to profe- 
 cute him, and accordingly in the next year 
 he prefented a body of charges, which 
 {rated every act that Mr. Haftings had done 
 in thirteen years, to be criminal. 
 
 The
 
 PREFACE., XXV 
 
 The charges were not couched in lan- 
 guage more abuiive, than Mr. Burke has 
 often applied to Mr. Pitt, to Mr. Dundas, 
 and to Mr. Haftings. 
 
 The trail factions df the firft year were to 
 reject the Rohilla war, and to vote that 
 fomething was impeachcable in the Benares 
 charge, Mr. Pitt expreflly confining him- 
 felf to one fingle point, namely, that an in- 
 tended fine for art actual offence, Was 
 higher than it ought to have been. 
 
 The next year the caufe Was refunded 
 with the celebrated Begum charge, when 
 there appeared a very material alteratidn in 
 the condud of Mr. Pitt: He no longer, as 
 in the firft year, talked of the eminent fer- 
 vices of Mr. Haftings, " that by exertions 
 " almoft beyond belief, he had prefer ved 
 ** an empire in a feafon of the utmoft dan- 
 " ger;" but with a table covered over with 
 proofs of the diftreffes of the Company, and 
 d a with
 
 XXVI PREFACE. 
 
 with proofs that by the acquifition of a 
 large fum in fpecie in 1782, thofe diftreffes 
 alone could have been removed, and India 
 preferved, he affirmed, that becaufe a fepa- 
 rate peace had been concluded with Madajee 
 Sindia, no neceffity could have exifted. In 
 the courfe of that year he fometimes voted 
 for, and fometimes, againft the charges, in 
 their firft ftage. 
 
 It being determined that in feven charge^ 
 there was fomething impeachable, a Com- 
 mittee was appointed to put that fomething 
 into a regular, legal form. This Committee 
 confifted of gentlemen from one fide of the 
 Houfe, who very naturally included every 
 criminal allegation originally in the charges. 
 Mr. Pitt was bound in honour, and upon 
 his own profefTed principles and declarations, 
 to move his amendments, and to exert his 
 whole force in carrying thofe amendments. 
 This was due in juftice to his own charac- 
 ter,, to his country, and to Mr. Haftings, 
 
 but
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 but he never did it, and the confequence y 
 was, as I obferved before, that Mr. Haftings 
 was arraigned as a criminal, for ats of 
 which Mr. Pitt had exprefled the warmeffc 
 approbation. 
 
 If itfhall be aiked, why did Mr. Pitt 
 thus change his mind ? I muft anfwer, I , 
 cannot tell but my belief is, that if Mr. 
 Pitt had mov^d his amendments, it would fo 
 have reduced the articles, that the prefent 
 Managers would have told him, " you and 
 " your friends may carry fuch articles as 
 " thefe are to the Lords we will not." 
 
 Of the progrefs of the trial I mall not fay 
 a word, but upon the eulogium pafled upon 
 Mr. Pitt's conflitutional conduct by Mr. 
 Burke a few evenings ago, I muft make a 
 few obfervations, 
 
 If the inconfiflency of Mr. Burke were 
 any longer worth a man's trouble to expofe, 
 
 God
 
 xxviii PREFACE. 
 
 God knows the field is ample enough. He 
 profefles to treat Mr. Pitt with refpecl: now, 
 and to have abandoned all his former acri- 
 mony, becaufe Mr. Pitt has dulcified and 
 neutralized him, by his late conduct in a 
 constitutional queftion, meaning the Im- 
 peachment of Mr. Haflings. 
 
 I will take but one of a hundred accufa- 
 fations which Mr. Burke has at times 
 brought againft Mr. Pitt. It is this; " that 
 " having pafled a corrupt aft : , he has carried it 
 " fo corruptly into effect, that the confolidated 
 " corruption of ages falls mort of it in enor- 
 * 6 mity that all the acls and monuments in 
 " the heroic times of Roman iniquity, does 
 * 6 not equal the gigantic corruption of this 
 ' 6 fingle act." Mr. Burke has at times applied 
 Coarfer epithets to other people, which proves 
 that he is not always matter of courtly Ian* 
 guage but in point of fubftance, of feri- 
 ous accufation, I defy any one man to pre- 
 fer a more weighty charge againfl another* 
 
 than
 
 PREFACE. XXIX 
 
 than Mr. Burke has here preferred againft 
 Mr. Pitt. But he is dulcified, neutralized, V 
 and I believe converted, becaufe Mr. Pitt 
 having in the laft Parliament voted for 
 twenty articles, thirteen of which he never 
 read, and of the remaining feven, difap- 
 proved all the moft material parts, has been 
 pleafed in the prefent Parliament to vote 
 that the Impeachment {till continues. Be- f 
 caufe Mr. Pitt has not been pleafed even 
 in this Parliament to difcriminate at all, or 
 to fay what parts of the articles accord with 
 his ideas, and what parts do not. My un- 
 derflanding is fo muddy, that I can perceive 
 nothing either fo conftitutional, or fo juft 
 in this conduct, as ought to induce an honeft 
 man to be dulcified and neutralized to Mr. 
 Pitt, provided that honefr, man had formerly 
 accufed him of ats of the mofl atrocious 
 jnicjuity. 
 
 TO
 
 T O 
 
 PHILIP FRANCIS, 
 
 Bromley, 6th March, 1791. \/ 
 
 S I R, 
 
 HP HE moderate, the temperate language 
 
 which you have lately ufed in fpeak- 
 
 ing of Mr. HafKngs, induces me to hope, v 
 
 that we fhall approach nearer to each other 
 
 in opinion hereafter, than we have done for 
 
 fome years. In this letter, I do aflure you, 
 
 I mean not to revive old animofities. It 
 
 were needlefs now to inquire into the mo- 
 
 B tives
 
 C * ] 
 
 tives that induced you to depart from that 
 honourable line, which you took in your 
 firft Parliamentary Speech, when you de- 
 clared, " that you bore no enmity to Mr. 
 " Haftings, and were convinced that he 
 " bore none to you, both of you being of 
 " tempers too warm to retain refentment; 
 " your conteft was at an end, and the hoftl- 
 " lities it produced expired with it ; and 
 " that Mr. Haftings, though in many 
 " points you had differed, was undoubtedly 
 " a man of uncommon abilities." 
 
 It were needlefs now to inquire how it 
 happened that the two great parties of the 
 late Houfe of Commons, differing as wide 
 as light is from darknefs, as to the real 
 points of criminality in Mr. Haftings's 
 conduct, yet jumped to the fame conclu- 
 fion, and joined in the vote of impeach- 
 ment. And whatever difference of opinion 
 there may be between me and the gentle- 
 men with whom you have acted, I muft 
 
 do
 
 C 3 ] 
 
 do you all the juftice to fay, that your 
 conduft has been marked by the ftrideft 
 confiftency, while the King's Minifters, 
 have, beyond all doubt, impeached Mr. 
 Haftings for thofe fyftems, to which they 
 have given their fulleft approbation. 
 
 It appears to me, that you entertain fome 
 doubt whether this aflertion, which I have 
 fo often made, is really founded in truth ; 
 it is to remove every doubt from your 
 mind, and to prove the juftice of Mr. Lufh- 
 ington's remarks, that I take the liberty of 
 troubling you with this letter. 
 
 The fubject has attracted much of the 
 attention of the public, and will, you 
 may be aflured, attract its attention ftill 
 more ; for I perfectly agree with you, that 
 if the prefent war mould be of any conti- 
 nuance, it can only be maintained by add- 
 ing frefh burthens to the heavy ones which 
 the people of England now labour under, 
 B 2 and
 
 C 4 ] 
 
 and that it will be another American war, 
 in point of expence. 
 
 I am fure I may iafely affirm, that in 
 no poffible point of view can this war be 
 attributed to Mr. Haftings ; nor can it be 
 attributed to him, that the finances of India 
 were in fo embarrafled a (late when it com- 
 menced, as to caufe ferious alarms in the 
 breaft of every man of refle&ion both at 
 home and abroad. 
 
 I agree perfectly with you alfo, that the 
 Company is dead and gone ; that is to lay, 
 the political power was placed by Parlia- 
 ment fo fully in the hands of the Board of 
 -Controul, by the bill of 1784, that the 
 Minifters alone are refponfible for eveiy 
 meafure adopted in India fince that period. 
 
 You well remember how much we dif- 
 fered in opinion in that year as to our future 
 profpeds in Bengal ; I ventured then to 
 
 predict,
 
 [ 5 ] 
 
 predict, that there would be an available 
 farplus in Bengal, of one hundred and fifty 
 lacks of rupees a year ; mofl people thought 
 me too fanguine, but I drew my concluiions 
 from the materials then tranfmitted by Mr. 
 HafHngs, and the truth has been, that the 
 available furplus was one fourth higher than 
 I eftimated it at, owing to two caufes; 
 that the revenues have been much more 
 productive, and the expences a little below 
 my eftimate. But this advantage has been 
 more than counterbalanced by the enor- 
 mous expences of the Carnatic and Bom- 
 bay ; whether neceffary or not, it is no part 
 of my bulinefs to inquire now, poffibly 
 with a view to the prefent war they were 
 not improper. 
 
 You muft agree with me, that Bengal is 
 in a moft flouriming fituation indeed, 
 fince after the aftonifhing drains of money 
 which it fuflained during the laft war, it 
 has been able to afford great aili {lance to the 
 
 Carnatic
 
 C 6 ] 
 
 Carnatic and to China, and to fend each 
 year an inveftment of nearly a million to 
 England. 
 
 The point then to confider is, to whom 
 is this flourishing fkuation of the country to 
 be attributed ? The Chairman of the Court 
 of Directors fays, to Mr. Haftings I fay 
 fb too. 
 
 You appear to doubt the fact, and in re- 
 ply to the appeal that was made to us both, I 
 will anfwer by a candid ftatement of fads, 
 which you, I am fure, will well underftand, 
 and which you, I think, cannot poffibly con- 
 tradict. 
 
 The aflertion of the Chairman was, that 
 Mr. Haftings had received the Government 
 of Bengal, when all its refoures were lit- 
 tle more than three millions fterling a year; 
 that they were improving during his admi- 
 niftratiori, and that when he refigned, they 
 
 were
 
 [ 7 3 
 
 were more than five, being an increafe of 
 above two millions fterling a year ; that the 
 country flourimed under Mr. Raftings, 
 and that Lord Cornwallis purfued the fame 
 iyftem. 
 
 Here, then, is an affertion of fact ; it muft 
 be true, or it muft be falfe ; I affirm it to 
 be ftri&ly true, and mail proceed to prove it 
 beyond all doubt, happy in addreffing my- 
 felf to a gentleman, who from local know- 
 ledge, and diftinguimed ability, can correct 
 me if I am wrong. 
 
 I mall firft begin by jftating our connec- 
 tions with the foreign Princes, and States of 
 Indoftan. 
 
 Mr. Haftings, as you know, has the cre- 
 dit of breaking that formidable confederacy, 
 which was formed in 1779 for the de- 
 flrudion of the Britim power in India. 
 
 Moodajee
 
 C 8 ] 
 
 Mocdajee Boofla, who was compelled 
 to take a part in it, he bought off for fix- 
 teen lacks of rupees, in April 1781, after 
 thirty thoufand Marattas had been inac- 
 tive for fbme months on the borders of Ben- 
 gal. A perfect cordiality has fubfifted be- 
 tween the two governments ever iince, and 
 Lord Cornwallis has now a Refident at the 
 Court of Berar, 
 
 The Nizam he alfb drew off from the 
 alii? nee, and converted him into a fincere 
 friend. 
 
 With Madajee Sindia he concluded a fe- 
 parate peace in October 1781, who then 
 undertook to mediate a general peace with 
 the Marattas, which was concluded in May 
 1782, and ratified in January 1783. 
 
 ** And here allow me to digrels a mo- 
 ment, in order to inform you, that the de- 
 lay in ratifying that peace was folely to 
 i be
 
 C 9 3 
 
 be imputed to the refolutions moved by Mr* 
 Dundas in April 1782; thefe arrived at 
 Poona in September, and the Marattas, na- 
 turally concluding that the power of Mr. 
 Haftings was at an end, declined to ratify 
 the peace, nor was it done until a gentle- 
 man whom I lent exprefs to India, arrived 
 with an account of Lord Rockingham's de- 
 ceafe, and the fuccefsful fupport which Mr. 
 Haftings received from the Eaft India Com- 
 pany. You and I have fince heard Mr. Dun- 
 das exprefs his fatisfa&ion at that refinance 
 to his own motion, and we have alfo heard 
 him declare, that India was faved by that 
 reiiftance. Every ftep which Mr. Dundas 
 took during the late war, was calculated to 
 weaken the Government in India ; he 
 wifely, now that he is a refponfible mi- 
 nifter, Strengthens it by every means in his 
 power. 
 
 The moft perfect good understanding has 
 
 continued between us and every branch of 
 
 C the
 
 [ 10 ] 
 
 the Maratta State, from the conclufion of* 
 the peace to this time. Mr. David Ander- 
 fbn was the firft Refident with Madajee 
 Sindia ; Mr. James Anderfoii the fecond ; 
 both the particular friends of Mr. Haf- 
 tings. 
 
 The Refident appointed by Earl Cornwal- 
 lis in 1 788, was Major William Palmer, who 
 ftill fills the fame office, though filled in the 
 articles of impeachment, the fee ret, confiden- 
 tial agent and bribe broker of Mr. Haflings. 
 
 The two treaties lately concluded with 
 the Marattas and the Nizam, of whicri 
 Parliament has fo highly approved, origi- 
 nate in Mr. Haftings. Both powers were 
 eager to conclude the fame alliance in 
 1783, and Mr. Fox urged as a reafon for 
 vvifhing to recal Mr. Haftings, when his bill 
 was before Parliament, that he had attempted 
 to unite all India in a new war againfl 
 Tippoo, with whom we were, in fad, then 
 ' at
 
 [ II ] 
 
 at war. Mr. Fox is therefore moft confif- 
 tent in all his India Politics ; but I fhould 
 be very glad to aik you, who poflefs induf- 
 try, ability, and judgement, in what particu- 
 lar, be it ever ib flight, does Lord Corn- 
 wallis, or the Board of Controul, deviate 
 from the fyftem of foreign alliances and 
 connections that Mr. Haftings eftablifhed ? 
 Moft afluredly in none; Mr. Fox may ^ 
 think the Board of Controul, Lord Corn- 
 wallis, Mr. Haftings, and Parliament, to- 
 tally wrong ; but this is certain, that the fyf- 
 tem Mr. Haftings fixed, minifters have fol- 
 lowed, and Parliament has approved. In my /\ 
 opinion we were better able to continue the 
 war in 1784, than we were to commence 
 it laft year, 
 
 Having gone through this part, I come 
 next to the Princes and Chiefs dependent 
 upon, or in alliance with Bengal, and I 
 (hall trace them by the map. The firft, 
 and who touches the Cachemerian Hills, 
 C 2 is
 
 is Fyzoola Cawn. I will not go into the 
 cauies of difpute between this Chief and 
 the Nabob of Oude, during the refidencies 
 of Mr. Briftow and Mr. Middleton ; but in 
 1783, thefe difputes were totally put an 
 end to, by an agreement entered into under 
 the mediation, rather than the agency of 
 Major William Palmer. That agreement 
 has been mod religioufly obferved ever 
 fince : the late Houfe difcovcred, what Fy- 
 zoola Cawn never could, that Mr. Haftings 
 had ufed this Chief extremely ill, for Fy- 
 zoola Cawn has correfponded \vith Mr. 
 Haftings fince his return to England ; and 
 in the letter he wrote to Sir John Mac- 
 pherfon, all he aiks is, that he will treat 
 him with the fame kindnefs Mr. Haftings 
 did. 
 
 The next is MuzufFer Jung, the Nabob 
 of Forruckabad, dependent alfo upon Oude. 
 Various means were tried to ferve this 
 Prince ; he conceived Mr. Haftings to have 
 
 adcd
 
 C 13 ] 
 
 a&ed with the beft intentions in the world 
 towards him, in appointing Refidents at 
 his own delire, and in withdrawing them 
 afterwards by his own delire. By the 4th r 
 Article of the Treaty of Chunar, all interfe- 
 rence was withdrawn, and after the late 
 Houfe had voted that article of the treaty to 
 be criminal, Lord CornivalHs confirmed it, 
 mnd the Board of Controul approved of 'what 
 his Lord/hip had done. MuzufFer Jung has 
 very lately exprefied his aftonifhment that 
 any man ihould conceive his friend and 
 protector Mr. Haftings had ever ufed him 
 ill. But we live in an age of difcovery moft 
 certainly ! 
 
 Here then you find that the two Chiefs 
 dependent upon Oude, remain precifely as 
 they were fixed by Mr. Haftings. 
 
 ~Oude is a kingdom in which, as you 
 well know, we obtained a fort of influ- 
 ence that was never before heard of. The 
 
 aft,
 
 C 14 ] 
 
 a&, (though originating in the conne&roa 
 formed with Sujah Dowlah, by Mr. Haf- 
 tings) was yours, and the advantage moft 
 undoubtedly vvas obtained by a very flagrant 
 breach of an exlfting treaty. The Com- 
 pany drew from Oude between 1775 and 
 1784, above nine millions fterling. 
 
 In December 1783, Mr. Hafting? with- 
 drew every fpecies of interference from 
 Oude a meafure io which Mr. Dundas 
 Jigned bis approbation in April 1785, and 
 voted to impeach Mr. Hajiings for it in 
 May 1787 ; an inconfiftency which I dare 
 fay you will join with me in reprobating ; 
 though Mr. Burke, whofe life, as he tells 
 us, has been paffed in compromifes, may 
 not. 
 
 In April 1784, Mr. Haftings concluded 
 his arrangement with the Nabob of Qude, 
 and in September 1785, Mr. Dundas or- 
 dered, that itjbould b* invariably adhered to ; 
 
 But
 
 C 15 ] 
 
 But in May 1787, he Impeached Mr. Haf- Y 
 tings for that arrangement. 
 
 On Lord Cornwallis's arrival in Sept. 
 1786, the Nabob fent his Minuter Hyder 
 Beg Khan, to ftrengthen and confirm the 
 agreement that had been concluded with 
 Mr. Haftings. 
 
 His Lordfhip conceived ibme additional 
 battalions were neceflary in Oude, and the 
 Nabob confented to the meafure ; but in all 
 other points he adhered to the principles laid 
 down by Mr. Haftings, and approved by 
 the Company ; what he had done, being, as 
 he fays himfelf, with a view to ftrengthen 
 thole principles and to render them perma- 
 nent. 
 
 Mr. Dundas, in reply to this informa- 
 tion, tells Lord Cornwallis, that after an at- 
 tentive confideration, he approves the arrange- 
 ment, .
 
 C 16 ] 
 
 ment, and the principles on which It was 
 formed. 
 
 After this plain and unadorned flatement 
 of fa&s, you and the whole world muft 
 agree with me, that with refpeft to foreign 
 alliances, and to Princes and Chiefs depen* 
 dent upon the Government of Bengal, Lord 
 Cornwallis has moil rigidly adhered to the 
 fyftem eftablifhed by Mr. Haftings, and ap 
 proved by Mr. Dundas. 
 
 Under that iyftem the annual fubfidy of* 
 fifty lacks from Oude has been moft regu- 
 larly paid, and even ten lacks advanced by 
 Hyder Beg Khan, when Lord Cornwallis 
 was in want of money. You know that 
 this whole fyfiem is violently condemned 
 by the articles of impeachment ; and Mr. 
 Haftings is ftated to be in the highejft de- 
 gree criminal for adopting it ; but that does 
 not alter the fad. Let the difgrace of fuch 
 
 nota-
 
 T '7 ]. 
 
 notorious inconfiftency fall where it ought, 
 the fad muft be ft ill the fame. 
 
 I fhall now confider the ftate of our own 
 provinces beginning with Benares. 
 
 Whether the expulfion of Cheyt Sing 
 was morally right, is not a fubjecT: which 
 I (hall here enter upon, but I will prove to 
 you that it has been attended with great pe- 
 cuniary advantages to the Eaft India Com- 
 pany, that it has produced very beneficial 
 effects to the country, and that Lord Corn- 
 wallis purfues the fyftem which Mr. Haf* 
 tings eftablilhed. 
 
 This Zemindary was transferred to Us by 
 the Nabob of Oude in the year 1775, and 
 the rent paid by Cheyt Sing until 1781, 
 was 22 lacks of Rupees a year, with five 
 in addition as a fubfidy from 1778, when 
 the war in Europe commenced. 
 
 D From
 
 [ '8 ] 
 
 From 1781 until this time, we have re- 
 ceived an increafed rent of feventeen lacks a 
 year. The confufion which naturally at- 
 tends a revolt occafioned feme defalcation in 
 the two firft years rent, but even that was 
 not very confiderable ; and fmce that period 
 the balances have been very trifling, in 
 fome years no balance of any kind, and in 
 others an increafed rent. 
 
 The police of the city of Benares, as re- 
 gulated by Mr. Haftings, has attracted the 
 attention of all Indoftan. It has occafioned 
 a very great refort of Hindoos from every 
 part of the Decan to that holy city, and 
 Benares has been increafing in lize and po- 
 pulation from the day of Cheyt Sing's ex- 
 puliion until this time. Yet Mr. Burke 
 took upon him to aflert, and for a time ob- 
 tained credit for the affertion, that Mr. 
 Haftings, by appointing a Mahometan, chief 
 magiftrate in the firft Hindoo city in India, 
 had fhocked the feelings of every man in the 
 
 conn-
 
 [ 19 3 
 
 country. You know that this declaration is 
 totally falfe in fact : Ally Ibrahim Cawn, the 
 chief magiftrate, is univerfally efteemed one 
 of the mod virtuous Mahometans in India, 
 and he has been patronized and employed by 
 Earl Cornwallis, precifely in the fame man- 
 ner as he was by Mr. Haftings. It is a fact 
 of general notoriety that the city of Bena- 
 res was at no time in fo flourishing a ftate as 
 fince we aflumed a more direct controul in 
 its government. 
 
 There were many predictions, as I well 
 remember, as to the future fate of the pro- 
 vince. It was very roundly afferted, that 
 the increafed rent could not be paid, but 
 experience has proved that it can, nor do I 
 find any apprehenfion exprefled from any 
 quarter, of a failure hereafter. The pre- 
 fent Refident, Mr. Jonathan Duncan was, 
 as you well know, bred up under Mr. Haf- 
 tings, and employed particularly by him, in 
 all revenue bufmefs. The powers with 
 D 2 which
 
 C * ] 
 
 which Mr. Haftings veiled the Refidents of 
 Benares, Lord Cornwallis has not dimi- 
 , niftied, on the contrary, he has confiderably 
 ^ enlarged them, and the Rajah is ftill fur- 
 ther reduced, than he was in the time of 
 Mr. Haftings ; or in other words, as Mr. 
 Haftings made the prefent Rajah much 
 more dependent upon Bengal than Cheyt 
 Sing was, Lord Cornwallis acting upon the 
 fame principles, has made him now a mere 
 Bengal Zemindar. Will you point out to 
 me any one alteration in the fyftem efta- 
 blimed by Mr. Haftings for Benares ? ex- 
 cept that fort of change, which, by Mr. 
 Burke*s doctrine, muft be mifchievous and 
 criminal, namely, increafing the Britilh 
 power in the province, and trampling upon 
 the Rajah's privileges. In every part of 
 the province confiderable improvements 
 have been made, and a new city has lately 
 been erected near Mirzapore. 
 
 The
 
 C ] 
 
 The progreffive improvement in the pro- 
 tince, is undoubtedly owing to the expul- 
 fion of Cheyt Sing; but I am far from 
 thinking that we have a right to difpoflefs 
 men of the countries which belong to them, 
 becaufe we can govern them better, and 
 therefore his expulfion mufr. be juftified 
 upon other grounds. I think now as I al- 
 ways did, and as every man muft think, 
 who will allow his reafon to operate, that 
 if there is any crime in that Rajah's expul- 
 iion, it is not Mr. Haftings, nor Mr. Francis 
 who is the criminal, but his Majefty's Minif- 
 ters and the Court of Directors are deeply re- 
 iponfible ; and if I may take the fame liberty 
 with the late parliament on this fubject, as 
 my acquaintance Mr. George Rous has upon 
 another, (the Regency) I will fay that it 
 was in the higheft degree difgraceful to the 
 Houfe, to carry an article to the bar of the 
 Lords, containing within itfelf a great num- 
 ber of articles, I believe not lefs than thirty- 
 nine, 
 A
 
 t ] 
 
 nine, without having come to a fpecific 
 vote upon each of thofe articles. 
 
 By what criterion am I to judge of the 
 opinions entertained by the members of the 
 late Houfe ? Mr. Fox, in a very clear and 
 manly way, flated that we were bound by 
 folemn engagements not to demand* under 
 any circumftances, one rupee from Cheyt 
 Sing beyond his annual rent ; that it was 
 criminal in the firfl inftance to make the 
 demand, and highly criminal to punifh him, 
 for delaying to obey an illegal order. This 
 is perfectly clear to every man's comprehen- 
 iion, and could only be anfwered by a decla- 
 ration, that Mr. Haftings had affirmed in 
 the year in which he made the demand, that 
 he had a right by treaty to make it, that 
 the attention of the King's Minifter and the 
 Court of Directors, was. particularly called 
 to this fubjetl:, becaufe though you did not 
 pofitively deny the right, you had fome 
 doubts in your mind. By their filence for 
 
 three
 
 C *3 ] 
 
 three years, Mr. Haftings had every reafon 
 to believe they concurred with him in this 
 opinion, " that we were bound by no en- 
 " gagement to abftain from the right inhe- 
 " rent in every government, of calling upon 
 *' their fubjects for extraordinary aids in- 
 " times of emergency." 
 
 But Mr, Pitt defended the ad in the 
 fullefl manner, and aflerted that Cheyt Sing 
 was criminal for his difobedience, yet not 
 in fo great a degree as to juftify Mr. Haf- 
 tings for forming a determination in his 
 own mind, to impofe upon him a fine of 
 forty or fifty lacks of rupees. Britim juf- 
 tice is a term much ufed in the world, but I 
 will appeal to you, whether in the courfe of 
 your reading you have met with a tranfation 
 iimilar to this, in the annals of any nation 
 upon earth. God forbid that even the devil 
 fhould be impeached to all eternity ; yet his 
 crime is defined ; he is our common enemy, 
 and never happy but when leading us 
 
 aflray ;
 
 aftray ; but Mr. Haftings has had an eternal 
 impeachment, that is to fay, eternal as ap- 
 plied to the laft parliament, and for crimes 
 which that Parliament did not condefcend to 
 fpecify. Their fentiments I cannot poffibly 
 Collect from their votes, becaufe the vote was 
 not more than this, that in the Benares 
 charge divided into four parts, and again fub- 
 divided into five thoufand more, there was 
 a -fomething for which Mr. Haftings ought 
 to be impeached. That fomething, faicj 
 Mr. Fox, is every thing; it -is for originally 
 making a demand contrary to a treaty, for 
 perfevering three years in that demand, and 
 then for expelling the Prince, who did not 
 very willingly obey it. No, faid Mr. Pitt, 
 the fomething is nothing at all that you 
 have ftated. Mr. Haftings had as much 
 merit in making the demands he did, as 
 Cheyt Sing had demerit in daring to difobey 
 the orders he received ; but there mould be 
 a proportion between crimes and punim- 
 ment, and though the man was highly cri- 
 minal,
 
 C *5 3 
 
 minal, yet it was a crime, a high crime in 
 Mr. Haftings to propofe to levy fo enor- 
 mous a fine as forty or fifty lacks for his 
 delinquency. 
 
 You well know that Mr. Pitt folemnly 
 pledged himfelf to move an amendment 
 upon this article, by which the real fenfe 
 of the Houfe mufl have been collected ; 
 for fome reafbn bed known to himfelf, 
 he did not perform that pledge. Mr. Fox's 
 ideas were very naturally adopted by thofe 
 who framed the article, and the confe- 
 quence was that the late Houfe voted it 
 without either a debate or a divinon, and 
 Mr. Haftings was brought upon his trial 
 in the name of all the Commons of Great 
 Britain, for calling upon Cheyt Sing to con- 
 tribute his proportion to the expences of the 
 late war, though you, one of his council, 
 had aflented to the meafure, though it 
 was communicated to the Minifler and 
 to the Court of Directors, and the pro- 
 E priety
 
 priety of the aft never queftioned, until 
 Cheyt Sing's refinance had occafioned his 
 expulfion. 
 
 I have been the more full upon the Benares 
 bufinefs, becaufe it was one in which you 
 had a very material concern. When the 
 
 / firft demand was made in 1778, you af- 
 fented to if, but exprefled fome doubts as 
 to the right. Thefe doubts drew from Mr. 
 Haftings a moil explicit declaration of his 
 fentiments. They were tranfmitted home, 
 but never cenfured either by the Minuter, 
 or by the Company. To the demand in the 
 
 V fecond year (1779) you alfo aflented, but 
 when Cheyt Sing refufed to pay, you ob- 
 v jected to troops being fent in order to com- 
 pel him. If the demand was right, it was 
 furely right to enforce obedience to it. 
 
 j In the third year (1780) you aflented to 
 
 the demand, and on an unexpe&ed delay 
 
 in the payment, after a folemn promife, 
 
 2 from
 
 from Cheyt Sing, that there fhould be no 
 delay, you affented to a motion for two 
 battalions being ordered to Benares, to en- 
 force the board's orders, and to a fine of 
 one lack being levied upon Cheyt Sing for 
 his difobedience. 
 
 When Sir Eyre Coote in Oft. 1780, pro- 
 pofed to call upon Cheyt Sing for cavalry, in 
 a moft critical and alarming moment, you 
 affented to that demand alfo, and foon after 
 you quitted India. For the fubfequent 
 meafures Mr. Haftings is folely refponfible ; 
 but up to this period, how you could have 
 been one of a committee that framed thefe 
 acts into criminal articles, how you could 
 have voted for them, has, I do affure you, at 
 all times {truck me with much aftonim- 
 ment. I will hope, and believe that the 
 bufinefs now appears to you in a very diffe- 
 rent light from what it did, and when 
 reafon takes her turn to reign, we may all 
 lament our indifcretions. 
 
 E 2 Having
 
 C *s 3 
 
 Having finimed with Benares, I now 
 proceed to Bengal, Bahar, and our part of 
 Orifla. The revenues of thefe opulent 
 kingdoms arife from land, fait, and opium. 
 The two laft fources of revenue were, as 
 you well know, created by Mr. Raftings 
 himfelf. It has always been your opinion, 
 that the monopoly of opium ought to be to- 
 tally aboli(hed, and fuch was once the opi- 
 nion of Mr. Dundas, which upon better 
 information he abandoned. The writer of 
 the pth Report of the Select Committee, 
 who profefles to be indebted to you for all 
 his knowledge, very ftrongly condemns this 
 monopoly. It was for many years in the 
 hands of the Company's Civil Servants at 
 Patna, as fair, and as public a perquifite of 
 office, as any of the fees received at the Ex- 
 chequer, or as any of thofe finecure places, 
 which Mr. Pitt fettles for life upon his 
 friends. 
 
 Mr.
 
 Mr. Haftings was the firfr. perfon who 
 conceived the idea of making the Baft In- 
 dia Company a participator in the profits of 
 this monopoly, and in 17/5, he took the J 
 whole for the public. I have read with 
 much attention your fentiments upon this 
 monopoly, and I perfectly agree with you, 
 that it is bad policy, if opium is to be pro- 
 cured by contract, to grant that contract 
 upon too low terms to any contractor. 
 Keeping this principle in view, the Board 
 granted the contract for two years to Mr. 
 Griffiths, at 190 rupees a chert. He being the / 
 loweft bidder of fourteen perions, native and 
 European, who offered to furnifh opium by 
 contract. It is a certain fact, that the Com- 
 pany's fervants at Patna, who as merchants 
 would buy a commodity on the heft terms 
 for themfelves, never purchafed it at fo low v 
 a price. In 1777 this contract was granted 
 i for three years to Mr. Mackenzie on pre- 
 cifely the fame terms that Mr. Griffith had j 
 held it, yourfelf and General Clavering 
 
 being
 
 [ 30 J 
 
 being parties to it ; for it was granted una- 
 mmoujly^ when unanimity was not ufual. 
 In 1780 it was again granted by the Board 
 unanimoujly to Mr. Mackenzie for one year 
 longer, on the fame terms, yourfelf and Mr. 
 Wheler being then a majority of the Board. 
 In 1 78 j it was granted for four years to Mr. 
 Stephen Sulivan on the fame terms; and 
 though I have no right to queftion any part 
 of your conduct, yet I do afliire you, no 
 circumftance ever ftruck me with more 
 aftonifhment than your joining in the vote 
 to impeach Mr. Haftings for a tranfaction in 
 which, if there was any thing wrong in it, 
 you yourfelf were partlceps crlmlnh ; for a 
 tranfa&ion in which the principle that you 
 kid down, and laid down well in 1775, 
 was rigidly adhered to. When Mr. Suli- 
 van's contract expired in 1785, it was again 
 publicly advertifed, Sir John Macpherfon, 
 the Governor General, obferving, that the 
 Directors had difapproved of Mr. Sulivan's 
 contract, although granted precifely upon 
 
 the
 
 [ 3" ] 
 
 the fame terms with that of all his prede* 
 ceflors. 
 
 I deteft a quibble, let it come from any 
 quarter. There was a claufe in Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie's contract, empowering the Com- 
 pany to annul it, . If they ftould difapprove of 
 the monopoly of the monopoly they did not 
 difapprove, and therefore that claufe was 
 omitted in all fubfequent opium contracts. 
 It is ftated in the pth Report, that this 
 omiffion was criminal, but the aflertion is 
 ridiculoufly falfe. The Directors on the 
 23d of December 1778, acquiefced (and 
 they would have been madmen if they had 
 not) in the continuance of this monopoly ; 
 but what they difapproved of was, that it 
 had not again been put up to auction, in 
 order that better terms for the Company 
 might, if poffible, have been procured. 
 This order arrived in December 1779, yet 
 the Board unawmoujly^ yourfelf a member, 
 granted Mr. Mackenzie the contract for one 
 
 year Ax
 
 C v 3 
 
 year longer, in May 1780. If difobedience 
 was criminal, it was at this moment ; and 
 therefore the renewal of Mr. Mackenzie's 
 contract is completely funk, both in the pth 
 Report, and in the Articles of Impeach- 
 ment. 
 
 Now let me alk you, what alteration is 
 there in the fyjlem eftabliihed by Mr. Haf- 
 tings ? Prior to his admlnijlratlon, opium 
 was a monopoly for the benefit of indivi- 
 duals ; be made it a monopoly for the ad- 
 vantage of the EaJl-India Company. To the 
 clofe of his admimftration it was granted by 
 contract on the terms fixed in 1775 ; lince 
 his reiignation it has again been put up to 
 auction, and now produces a greater advan- 
 tage to the Company : but the fyflem was 
 formed by Mr. Haftings, and to him is the 
 Company indebted/or ibis branch of public 
 revenue. 
 
 Salt
 
 Salt is atiQther very great and very ini-* 
 proving article of revenue, for which the 
 Company is indebted to Mr: HafHngs, and 
 to him alone. His plan, as you well know$ 
 was oppofed by Mr. Wheler, Mr. Barwellj 
 arid yourfelf, and when your acquiefcence 
 was at laft granted, the refponjiblllty re/led 
 with Mr. Ha/tings, with this declaration 
 from you, that the advantages to refult from 
 it were very uncertain, and would be Very 
 mconfderable. The condemnation of this 
 fcheme in the 9th Report of the Select 
 Committeej fhews the exceffive folly and 
 abfurdity, into which even a man of genius 
 will run, when writing of a country, and 
 upon a fubjecl: of which he can know no- 
 thing. The fyftem laid down by Mr. Haf- Y 
 tings is ftill adhered to. The fait is manu- 
 factured on the Company's account. The 
 revenue, which in his time was more than 
 fix hundred thoufand pounds a year, now 
 exceeds eight hundred thoufand; at the ^ 
 outfet of this plan, Mr. Haftings fixed the 
 F emo*
 
 [ 34 3 
 
 emoluments of the agents at 1 5 per cent, 
 and they all moft honorably m'ade fortunes, 
 from that allowance. Mr. Burke eagerly fei- 
 zed upon this circumftance as proper matter 
 for crimination ; but Mr. Pitt in this inftance 
 was juft, and he was generous. He ex- 
 prefied an earned wim that he might have 
 the good fortune to {hike out fo great an 
 additional revenue, and he would with plea- 
 fure give up 15 per cent, to thofe employed 
 in the collection of it. The fyftem conti- 
 nues to the prefent hour, and the per cen- 
 tage Mr. Haftings himfelf had lowered be- 
 fore he quitted the government. 
 
 The next and the great article of revenue 
 is that arifing from land. 
 
 On your arrival in Bengal, OS:. 1 774, the 
 revenues were collected through the me- 
 dium of Provincial Councils. The gentle- 
 men with whom you were aifociated formed 
 a decided majority againft Mr. Haftings ; 
 
 you
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
 you were fuppofed to enjoy the fulled confi- 
 dence of the Britifli Minifter, and Mr. Haf- 
 tings was an unprotected, unconne&ed in- 
 dividual. 
 
 The government of fuch a kingdom as 
 Bengal thus devolving upon three gentle- 
 men who were utter Grangers to the lan- 
 guage, manners, and cuftoms of the peo- 
 ple they governed, it is not furprifing that 
 Mr. Haftings conceived the mode of col- 
 lecting the revenues through the agency 
 of Provincial Councils, to be the beft that 
 could be adopted, and as fuch, he recom- 
 mended it to the Company. You thought 
 it by far the worfr, ; but it fb happened, 
 that in the violent difputes in England in 
 1776, the Whigs joined with the friends of 
 Mr. Haftings ; and Lord North and Mr. 
 John Robinfon were beat in their ftrong- 
 hold, the India Houfe. When Colonel 
 Monfon, and afterwards General Clavering 
 died, Lord North, from the avowed enemy, 
 F2 be-
 
 [ 36 ] 
 
 became fb far the fupporter of Mr. Halting?, 
 as to renew three feveral times, his commif- 
 flon as Governor General of Bengal, and 
 parliament confented to each renewal with- 
 out one diflenting voice. His Lordfhip's 
 motives he has publicly declared; " he con- 
 tinued Mr. Haftings, becaufe it was in a 
 " fealbn of war of great danger, difficulty, 
 *< and diftrefs, becaufe Mr. Haftings was a 
 *' man of firmnefs and ability, and becaufe 
 *< he pofleiTed the confidence of the Eaft 
 *' India Company." 
 
 Thus confirmed in office, Mr. Haflings, 
 after your departure, abolimed the Provin- 
 cial Councils and formed his own plan, a 
 plan however which he never did carry into 
 execution completely ; and therefore it is, I 
 aflert, that the fyftem which he did in facl 
 eftablifh, continues to the prefent moment ; 
 that fome fmall alteration has taken place in 
 the detail, I allow, but none in the fyjlem. 
 
 The
 
 [ 37 ] 
 
 The plan of Mr. Haftings was 
 fimilar to that of Lord Clive in this moft 
 material part, that except where it was ab- 
 folutely neceffary to be otherwife, the re- 
 venues fliould be entirely collected by the 
 natives. He therefore abolimed the Provin- 
 cial Councils, appointed a Committee of Re- v 
 venue in Calcutta, and propofed hereafter to 
 recal all the chiefs and collectors, but thofe 
 of the frontier flations. 
 
 But except in the abolition of the Provin- 
 cial Councils and the appointment of the 
 Committee of Revenue, the plan never was 
 carried into execution ; chiefs or collectors 
 were appointed to almoft every place at 
 which they are now Rationed. Of the ge- 
 neral plan of Mr. Haftings, or its fubfe- 
 quent modifications, the Directors neither diA 
 approved nor approved, unlefs as the latter 
 was implied in their appointment of Mr. y 
 Halhed to a feat in the Committee, and in 
 their acknowledgements of Mr. Haftings's 
 2 meri-
 
 C 38 3 
 
 meritorious exertions in providing fupplies 
 during the war. In the year 1786, nearly 
 two years after the inftitution of the Board 
 of Controul, this plan of 1781 was taken 
 \mder confideration, and a letter fuppofed to 
 have been written by Mr. Bough ton Roufe, 
 was fent to Bengal, granting certain powers 
 to the Governor General and Council which 
 hitherto had been withheld, and which au- 
 thorized a ten years fettlement. The fame 
 letter impowered the government to divide 
 the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Oriffa, 
 into colle&orfliips, and the number was in 
 Couiequence increafed from twenty-three to 
 thirty. The Committee of Revenue re- 
 mained, and was to be termed the Board of 
 Revenue in future, with a member of the 
 Council for their Prefident. It has been a 
 work of infinite labour and difficulty to col- 
 let materials for the ground work of the 
 ten years fettlement, which is not yet con- 
 cluded. It has been productive of much 
 difference of opinion amongft the members 
 
 of
 
 C 39 ] 
 
 of the Board, and even between Lord Corn- 
 wallis and Mr. Shore, as appears by docu- 
 ments which I conclude you have infpetted 
 as well as myfelf, for I believe there is a 
 waggon load of them at this moment in one 
 of the Committee rooms ; but unlefs we are 
 to be overiet by a quibble, 1 mould really be 
 glad to know any thing like a change that 
 has taken place in the fyjlem eftablifhed by v 
 Mr. Mailings. When Mr. Anderfon and 
 Mr. Shore made their fettlements, they did 
 it in every practicable inftance with Zemin- 
 dars, and their fucceflors have done the fame. 
 
 Since my arrival in Bengal in 1767, there 
 have been various changes in the mode of 
 collecting the landed revenue. From 1 767 to 
 1769, they were completely under the ma- 
 nagement of Mahomed Reza Cawn. Mr. 
 Verelft in 1 769 fetit fupervifors into feveral 
 diftri&s. Two Boards of Revenue were ap- 
 pointed in 1770, the one at Moorlhedabad r 
 the other at Patna. la 1772, the change 
 
 was
 
 r 40 i 
 
 was made by Mr. Haftings, which totally 
 reverted all former fyftems. He deprived 
 Mahomed Reza Cawn, (by orders from 
 home) of all power, and made Calcutta the 
 feat of government. From that moment 
 the ancient city of Moorfhedabad has been 
 nothing more than the refidence of a Nabob 
 and his family fubfifting upon penllons, and 
 Calcutta has increafed in lize and opulence 
 beyond any city in the world, in the fame 
 fpace of time. 
 
 In 17/3, the collegers were withdrawn 
 and fix Provincial Councils were appointed, 
 a fcheme profefledly temporary, but which 
 became of long continuance from your ar- 
 rival, and the unfortunate contentions that 
 followed. In 1781, thefe Councils were 
 recalled and a Committee of Revenue ap- 
 pointed, which is ftill continued. But in 
 point of fact, all thefe feveral changes were 
 merely modifications of the Jvfteni which 
 Mr. Ha/tings ejlablified in 1772, when he 
 
 formed
 
 C 4' ] 
 
 formed the Council of Calcutta into a 
 Council of Revenue, and removed all the 
 Revenue offices from Moormedabad to Cal- 
 cutta, under the immediate controul and fu- 
 perintendance of the Council. 
 
 I think it hardly poffible that you can 
 have feen the accounts of the annual col- 
 lections in the lafl twenty years, without 
 being {truck by the very remarkable equa- 
 lity in the feveral years collections. The 
 account is before Parliament, and has in- 
 deed been repeatedly publifhed ; but it may 
 be of fome ufe in the prefent moment to 
 bring it into one point of view in Current 
 Rupees ; all the revenue accounts are kept 
 in Siccas, but as Mr. Dundas has prefented 
 the accounts annually in his Budgets in 
 Current Rupees, I have reduced them to 
 that exchange, but without attending to 
 fractions, 
 
 G Years.
 
 Years. 
 
 1772-3 
 J773-4 
 I774-S 
 
 1776-7 
 
 1777-8 
 
 3778-9 
 
 1779-80 
 
 1780-1 
 
 1781-2 
 
 1782-3 
 
 [ 42 ] 
 
 Lacks of 
 
 Current 
 
 Rupees. 
 
 297 
 
 This year Collectors 
 were appointed. 
 
 294 - 
 
 
 295 
 
 
 296 
 
 
 291 
 
 Thefe eight years the 
 revenues were un- 
 
 286 
 
 der the Provincial 
 
 
 Councils. 
 
 290 
 
 
 288 
 
 
 282 
 
 
 3 01 , 
 
 
 2 99 
 
 
 
 Thefe fix years the 
 
 300 
 
 revenues were col- 
 
 33 
 
 lected under Mr. 
 Haftings's new fyf- 
 
 299 
 
 tem. 
 
 3 11 
 
 
 Q A Thefe three years they 
 2 9 8 | were collefted un- 
 
 i der the alteration 
 
 f in detail ordered by 
 308 the Board of Con- 
 
 *. troul. 
 
 1784-5 
 1785-6 
 1786-7 
 1787-8 
 1788-9 
 1789-90 
 
 Admitting that Parliament has not been 
 deceived by falfe accounts, I think it not 
 poflible for any gentleman to look into 
 thefe particulars, without remarking that 
 there could have been nothing oppreffive in 
 
 the
 
 C 43 ] 
 
 the plans adopted by Mr. Haftings, fmce 
 they have been attended by an increafe in 
 the land revenue, notwithftanding the vaft 
 drains to which Bengal has been fubject for 
 ib many years. 
 
 An attempt was certainly made, though 
 very unfuccefsfully, to overturn a part of 
 this account, by (hewing that the nett re- 
 ceipts into the Company's treafury, from 
 the land revenues, were not fo high fince 
 the abolition of the Provincial Councils as 
 before ; but Sir John Macpherfon had al- 
 ready replied to this aflertion, by mewing 
 that the additional expences incurred, were 
 in facl: the increafed charges of Govern- 
 ment ; they were firft reduced confiderably 
 in Bengal, and flill further reduced by or- 
 ders from England. 
 
 It was the policy of Lord Clive to keep 
 
 every Englimman as much as he could 
 
 G 2 from
 
 C 44 ] 
 
 from the interior of the government, and 
 to tranfaft bufinefs of every kind, through 
 the agency of Mahomed Reza Cawn. 
 This was his lafl and parting advice to Mr. 
 Verelft, and it was faithfully followed until 
 we began to be involved in very ferious dif- 
 ficulties. The Directors themfelves had the 
 boldnefs to break the charm ; they ordered 
 Mr. Haflings, on his acceffion to die Go- 
 vernment, to form a new plan for collecting 
 the revenues, and to bring Mahomed Reza 
 Cawn to a trial for his fuppofed delinquences. 
 Then it was, (in 1772) that the fyftem was 
 formed, and the revenue buiinefs grew fa- 
 miliar to the Company's fervants. 
 
 But the utmoft difference between the col- 
 lections in any two years in this long pe- 
 riod of eighteen years, is only two hundred 
 and thirty thoufand pounds ; in general the 
 difference is very inconfiderable, and al- 
 though there has been a confiderabk increafe 
 
 in
 
 C 45 1 
 
 m the land revenues, fince the abolition of 
 the Provincial Councils, it accounts for a 
 very fmall part indeed of the increafe of the 
 revenues of the Bengal Government, during 
 Mr. Hajllngss administration. 
 
 The total refources the year preceding his 
 adminiftration, were three crores and thir- 
 teen lacks ; they were the three lafl years of 
 his adminiftration, five crores and twenty- 
 five lacks upon the average, being an in- 
 creafe of above two millions three hundred 
 thoufand pounds, and they are ftill annu- 
 ally increasing. 
 
 The increafe proceeds from four fources, 
 for all of which the Company is fokh in- 
 debted to Mr. Hajlings. Viz. Opium Salt v 
 Benares, and Oude. 
 
 During the governments of Lord Clive, 
 Mr. Verelft, and Mr. Cartier, opium did 
 
 not
 
 C 46 ] 
 
 not produce a fingle rupee to the Company $ 
 Mr. Haftings firft made it an article of re- 
 venue. It produced in his administration $ 
 five hundred and fourteen thoufand and 
 nine pounds fterling, and may now be 
 fairly calculated, one year with another, at 
 one hundred and twenty thoufand pounds. 
 
 You know what infinite pains have been 
 taken to impofe upon the common fenfe of 
 mankind, and to detract from the merit due 
 to Mr. HafKngs, and to him alone, for crea- 
 ting this branch of the public revenue. It 
 is induftrioufly concealed from the public 
 that Mr. Sulivan had the contract for the 
 fame period, and upon precifely the fame 
 terms that Mr. Mackenzie had held it. We 
 are not told, as the truth is, that Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie got it on the fame terms alfo, as his 
 predeceffor, to whom it was given ; becaufe 
 he offered the loweii terms, of fourteen per- 
 fons, who propofed to contract for it ; but 
 
 it
 
 C 47 3 
 
 it is reprefented as a moft corrupt and abomi- 
 nable tranfaction, becaufe Mr. Sulivan chofe 
 in a few months to fell his contract to a gen- 
 tleman rather than to run any rifk, and becaufe 
 the gentleman to whom he fold it difpofed of 
 it to another. But the original tranfaction is 
 not by any manner changed by the act of 
 Mr. Sulivan. The merit and the crime, if 
 
 -^\ 
 
 there be any, ftands thus : To Mr. Raftings, 
 and to him exclufively, is the merit due, of 
 having created this branch of revenue. 
 
 To Mr. Haftings, General Clavering, 
 Colonel Monfon, Mr. Harwell, and your- 
 felf, the merit is due of having made this 
 revenue as productive as poffible in 1775, 
 by then giving the opium contract to the 
 lowefl bidder. To Mr. Haftings, General 
 Clavering, Mr. Barwell, and yourfelf, is the 
 demerit due, (if there be demerit in it) if 
 not again advertising for propofals in 1777, 
 
 when
 
 C 48 ] 
 
 when you granted the contract to Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie for three years, 
 
 To Mr. HafHngs, Mr. Wheler, and your- 
 felf, is the dement due, of having .renewed 
 this contract with Mr. Mackenzie for one 
 year, in May 1780, although there was 
 then before you an obfervation from the 
 Directors that you ought in 1777, to have 
 advertifed for propofals, and to have granted 
 the contract to the Joweft bidder. Here 
 then is the real point of criminality, and 
 were Mr. Burke to fpeak four days upon it, 
 out of the feven thai fa has contracted 'for , 
 he can make nothing more of it than J 
 have flated. If the tranfaction be a job, 
 I mould be very glad to compare it with 
 lome of thofe jobs, for which the people 
 of England are daily paying, though with- 
 out receiving the (mailed: benefit in return. 
 Were Mr. Pitt's efcrutore to be rummaged 
 as Mr. Haftings's has been, for you have all 
 his fecrets, I fancy the public would find
 
 CL49 1 
 
 that much had been granted, and nothing 
 by which they could benefit, received in re* 
 turn* 
 
 Salt, (ince our acquisition of Bengal, has 
 produced as follows : 
 
 Years. 
 
 . Sterling. 
 
 1765-6 
 
 
 
 1766-7 
 
 118,926 
 
 1767-8 
 
 144,218 
 
 1768-9 
 
 
 
 1769-70 
 
 16,907 
 
 I770-I 
 
 70,914 
 
 I77I-2 
 
 61,663 
 
 1772-3 
 
 45, 27 
 
 1 773-4 
 
 229,192 
 
 1 774-5 
 
 130,263 
 
 '7/5-6 
 
 lofs of i473 
 
 l /7 6 '7 
 
 139,012 
 
 1777-8 
 
 54,160 
 
 1778-9 
 
 63,697 
 
 1779-80 
 
 3 2 2 37 
 
 1780-1 
 
 8,427 
 
 H 1781-2
 
 C $ 1, 
 
 
 Years. 
 
 . Sterling. 
 
 
 1781-2 
 
 321,912- 
 
 
 
 1782-3 
 
 605,646 
 
 
 
 1783-4 
 
 603,076 
 
 q 
 
 
 
 Current 
 
 "a. 
 
 
 
 Rupees. 
 
 j/i 
 
 
 1784-5 
 
 62,52,948 
 
 "a> 
 
 bO 
 
 >.s 
 
 
 1785-6 
 
 48,39,000 
 
 1 
 
 
 1786-7 
 
 45,50,000 
 
 NM 
 
 
 1787-8 
 
 5 1 ,00,000 
 
 1 
 
 
 17^-9 
 
 82,35,000 
 
 
 
 1789-90 
 
 86,41,000^ 
 
 
 The 
 
 next additional 
 
 iburce of revenue is 
 
 from Benares, and it 
 
 has produced as fol- 
 
 ows : 
 
 
 
 
 Years. 
 
 Current 
 
 
 
 Rupees. 
 
 In 
 
 '775-6 
 
 7>97>57 8 
 
 
 1776-7 
 
 3 I 99>33 
 
 
 1777-8 
 
 26,32,705 
 
 
 1778-9 
 
 31,66,935 
 
 
 1779-80 
 
 35>44,9 2 5 
 
 
 1780-1 
 
 31,18,390 
 
 
 1781-2 
 
 22,31,426 
 
 1782-3
 
 [ 5' 3 
 
 Years. 
 1782-3 
 
 Current 
 Rupees. 
 
 37,75,081 
 
 1783-4 
 
 43,69,025 
 
 1784-5 
 
 44^4,535 
 
 17^5-6 
 
 37>47> 62 7 
 
 I 7 86- 7 
 
 43,12,650 
 
 1787-8 
 
 43> 6 7'5 2 4 
 
 1788-9 
 
 42,65,738 
 
 1789-90 
 
 46,84,450 
 
 Of the continuance of this revenue there 
 cannot be a doubt ; on the contrary, a con- 
 fiderable increafe may be expected from 
 fait petre and opium hereafter. 
 
 The refources drawn from Oude are as 
 follows : 
 
 In 
 
 Years. 
 
 Current 
 
 
 Rupees. 
 
 1774-5-6 
 
 i>355 l86 
 
 1776-7 
 
 30,13,683 
 
 1777-8 
 
 1,04,36,966 
 
 1778-9 
 
 85^54.290 
 
 1779-80 
 
 67,74,206 
 
 H 2 1780-1
 
 C 5* 
 
 3 
 
 Years. 
 
 Current 
 Rupees. 
 
 1780-1 
 
 75,77,948 
 
 1781-* 
 
 1,37,96,228 
 
 1782-3 
 
 80,66,867 
 
 1783-4 
 
 83,89,357 
 
 1784-5 
 
 84,14,000 
 
 1785-6 
 
 37,50,000 
 
 1786-7 
 
 40,O2,OOO 
 
 1787-8 
 
 52,03,603 
 
 1788-9 
 
 5 2 >53 I 45 
 
 1789-90 
 
 5339>73 
 
 You will fcarcely deny Mr, Haftings the 
 merit of ftriking out thefe additional fources 
 of levenue, fmce he has been impeached 
 for them all, the fait excepted, and that 
 was made criminal by Mr. Burke, though 
 to accommodate Mr. Pitt he withdrew the 
 charge, 
 
 As my calculations are taken from the 
 
 documents before Parliament, fome branches 
 
 2 of
 
 t 53 ] 
 
 of the refources are calculated in Englifh 
 money, and others in current rupees. 
 
 In juftification of my friend Mr, Lufh- 
 ington, I will .bring the whole into one 
 point of view. 
 
 The opium, fait, increafe of land re- 
 venue, Oude and. Benares, produced during 
 the administration of Mr. Haftings, addi- 
 tional funds to the amount of above four- 
 teen millions fterling. 
 
 This is one way of proving the fuccefs 
 of Mr. Flattings' s meafures ; and if you try 
 it another way, you will find that the total 
 refources of his government the year he 
 quitted it, were two millions three hun- 
 dred thoufand pounds more than they were 
 the year preceding his acceffion to it ; and 
 what muft carry conviction to the mind of 
 a rational man that there is no deception, is 
 this circumftance, that thefe refources have 
 
 been
 
 [ 54 ] 
 
 I been increafed to the amount of nearly three 
 hundred thoufand pounds fince Mr. Haf- 
 tings's refignation, owing principally to the 
 additional quantity of fait manufactured ; an 
 irrefragable proof of the increafmg popula- 
 
 . tion and profperity of the country. 
 
 You undertook the arduous talk of pro- 
 ving, that the meafures of Mr. Haftings 
 had been attended " with great lofs and da- 
 " mage to the Eaft-India Company, and 
 " with vexation, oppreffion, and deitruc* 
 " tion, to the natives of Bengal." 
 
 Mr. Pitt defended Mr. Haftings. He 
 mofl pofitively and folemnly denied, that 
 the revenues had declined under his adminif- 
 tration, and he affirmed that they were 
 then in a moft promifing ftate; but Mr. 
 Pitt, Mr. Dundas, Mr. Grenville, and Lord 
 Mul grave, the four members of the Board 
 of Controul, were left in a minority. You 
 had the honour of beating the Minifter by 
 
 a ma-
 
 C w ] 
 
 a majority of fixteen in a Committee of the 
 whole Houfe, and they then abandoned the 
 revenues to your difcretion. To you I im- 
 pute no blame for maintaining your opinion, 
 if it is fincerely your opinion, though I 
 wonder how a man of common fenfe can 
 retain it, in oppofition to the moft pofitive 
 evidence but the India Minifter is deeply 
 refponfible indeed, for not oppofing in every 
 poflible ftage, an article of Impeachment 
 which moft pointedly falfifies every repre- 
 fentation that he has ever given of the pail 
 and prefent ftate of India. 
 
 In this article you took the lead, in others 
 you merely gave your affiftance, but in this 
 I imagine you will agree with me, that the 
 articles are in all their moft material parts, a 
 direct attack upon the fyftem by which India 
 is now governed, and that Mr. Haftings has 
 been brought to the bar of a Court of Ju- 
 tice to anfwer for thofe exertions by which 
 he faved India, and for the adoption of mea- 
 
 fures
 
 C 56 ] 
 
 fures xvhich have received the fullefl appro- 
 bation of his Majefty's Minifters, and of Par- 
 liament. 
 
 All parties in the Houfe have concurred 
 in fpeaking highly of Earl Cornwallis. To 
 fpeak more in his praifc than he merits, I 
 hold to be impoffible ; but how it is poflible 
 to approve generally of Earl Cornwallis's 
 meafures, and to condemn in the lump thofe 
 of Mr. Haftings, is to me the greateft of 
 all abfurdities. 
 
 ^That the lyftems, both foreign and do- 
 meftic, which Mr. Haftings formed, Earl 
 Cornwallis has continued, I have proved 
 beyond the pofFibility of contradiction. His 
 favourable opinion of Mr. Haftings is per- 
 fectly well known to many very refpeclable 
 men in England. His Lordihip mult have 
 read the proceedings in the trial of Mr. 
 Haftings, and the Articles of Impeachment ; 
 he muft know that Mr. Burke has publicly 
 
 declared.
 
 C 57 ] 
 
 declared, " that Mr. Haftings was hated and 
 " detefted throughout Indoflan, and that 
 " Bengal felt herfelf relieved from a weight* 
 " under which (he had long groaned, when 
 " he refigned the government." The fame 
 fentiments, though in other words, are 
 to be found in the Articles. Lord Corn- 
 wallis has himfelf been the channel of con- 
 veyance for the moft complete refutation that 
 could poffibly be given to thefe general 
 aflertions. His Lordmip in Council tranf* 
 mitted to the Court of Directors, teftimo- 
 nials from natives of all ranks, and religions, 
 in favour of Mr. Haftings. Were thefe 
 fraudulently obtained ? The character of 
 Earl Cornwallis is of itfelf a full anfwer to 
 fuch a queftion. Would he participate in 
 fo foul an impofition ? Mr. Shore and Mr. 
 Anderfon, and many other gentlemen, have 
 told you in Weftminfter Hall, that the 
 natives thought very highly of Mr. Haftings, 
 and their own atteflations in his favour, put 
 the fact beyond all doubt. 
 
 I The
 
 [ 58 J 
 
 The Impeachment of Mr. Haftings has 
 brought about unions more wonderful than 
 that of the lion and the lamb, of Prince 
 Cantemir. Could you have fuppofed a few 
 years ago that your friend, Mr. Burke, 
 would have thought himfclf perfectly Jecurc 
 when feated between perfons, " whofe gi- 
 " gantic corruption was not to be equalled 
 " by all the acls and monuments in the 
 " records of peculation, the confolidated 
 " corruption of ages, or amongft the pat- 
 " terns of exemplary plunder in the heroic 
 " times of Roman iniquity ?" How mufl 
 the imputed fins of Mr. Raftings link, in 
 comparifon with the aftual crimes of Mr. 
 Pitt and Mr. Dundas, if Mr. Burke has not 
 grofsly libelled them ; yet have we lately 
 heard him fpeak even kindly of thefe minif- 
 ters. Does your friend mean to confefs 
 that he accufed them of corruption in 1785 
 without a caule ? or does he argue thus ? 
 " My life has been a life of compromifes ; I 
 " think of minifters-asdefpicablyas I always 
 
 did,
 
 [ 59 ] 
 
 <c did, but I am in want of their affiftance 
 " now, and I mufl compromife in order to 
 " procure it." 
 
 However you may appear to the world, 
 yet you muft have fome moments of ferious 
 refle&ion as well as other men ; and I defy 
 you to reconcile any part of Mr. Burke' s 
 conduct, in the courfe of this Impeachment, 
 tojuftice, or to common fen fe. There only 
 wanted his union with two men whom he 
 he has defcribed as the laft, and moft defpi- 
 cable of the human race, to wind up his 
 political character. Is it poffible for man to 
 commit a more enormous crime than Mr. 
 Burke has charged upon Mr. Pitt and Mr. 
 Dundas ? To rob a Prince in alliance with 
 the Britim nation, whofe country was de- 
 folated by war, under the pretence of ma- 
 king him pay debts that he never contracted, 
 and to do this for no public good, but in 
 order to repay a rapacious, and corrupt body 
 of men, for the expences they incurred in 
 I 2 pro-
 
 r 6 -j 
 
 procuring feats in Parliament, is a crime of 
 fo atrocious a nature, that were every thing 
 true, of which he has accufed Mr. Haftings, 
 he muft be a virtuous man, when com- 
 pared with Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas. 
 
 Allow me before I conclude to {hew 
 you how difficult it is to diftinguifh right 
 from wrong in politics, and to prove that 
 a&s which are highly criminal in Mr. Haf- 
 tings, are laudable in the greateft poflible 
 degree in others. 
 
 Lord Macartney, when he took charge 
 of the Government of Madras, reprefented, 
 in a letter to Mr. Haftings, the diftrefles of 
 Fort St. George ; and amongft other fub- 
 jets mentioned the arrears then due from 
 the Rajah of Tanjore. Mr. Haftings, in 
 reply to this letter, makes the following 
 obfervation :
 
 [ 6. ] 
 
 On the Ganges, z6thJuJy, i^Sr; 
 " The late Prefident and Select Commit- 
 " tee informed us that the Rajah had fe- 
 ' futed to contribute a {lore of grain for the 
 " fubfiftence of the army, for which the 
 " Prefident had written a letter to him, ex- 
 " preffive of his difpleafure. This is a lan- 
 ** guage fo remote from my conception of 
 " the actual and abfolute rights of your go- 
 " vernment, while it is charged with the 
 *' entire defence of the State of which the 
 " Rajah is a member, and of his depen- 
 " dance, that I can fcarce offer an opinion 
 *' which mall not appear extravagant in the 
 " comparifon. In a word, I think it im- 
 66 proper, at fuch a time, to leave the Rajah 
 " an option to withhold a grain of his {tare, 
 " or a rupee of his trezfury, from the Jervice 
 " of the general State, and moft heartily 
 " advife, that while that fervice, in the 
 " prefent defperate condition of it, lajls, the 
 " whole (with the fingle refervation of his 
 " own perfonal fubfiftence) be taken out of 
 
 " his
 
 [ 62 ] 
 
 " his hands, in better trufl for fat public ufe. 
 " Thefe are my public, not private fenti- 
 " ments, and your Lordfhip is welcome to 
 " avail yourfelf of them, in any manner 
 *' you pleafe. Moft heartily do I wim, 
 *' they may be conformable to your own." 
 
 On the 28th of Auguft, 1782, in the 
 moft critical moment of the war, when it 
 was known that France was making her 
 great effort to ruin us in India, the Court of 
 Directors, Sir Henry Fletcher being the 
 Chairman, fent the following reprimand to 
 Mr. Haflings. Mr. Burke had previoufly 
 mentioned the matter in Parliament. 
 
 " The fentiments contained in the pre- 
 *' ceding extract, are fo diametrically op- 
 *' pofite to thofe which *we entertain re* 
 '* fpecling the rights of the Rajah of^anjore^ 
 *' and the other Powers connected with the 
 " Company, and are fo repugnant to every 
 " idea of jujlice and moderation, and the 
 ^ " agree.-
 
 C 6 3 ] 
 
 " agreements fubjifiing between us and the 
 " Rajah, that we cannot but exprefs our 
 " extreme furprize thereat. We hope and 
 " truft, that they have made no impreflion. 
 " upon the minds of the Governor and 
 " Council of Fort St. George, that may 
 " prove derogatory to the rights of the Rajah. 
 " We have written a letter to his Excel- 
 " lency by this difpatch, a copy whereof 
 " is inclofed for your notice, wherein we 
 *' have affured him of our unalterable deter- 
 " mination tofupport and protect him in the 
 " management of his own territories, accor- 
 " ding to the agreements fubfiiling between 
 " the Nabob of Arcot, the Rajah, and the 
 " Company, and to guarantee to him and his 
 "family, the quiet poffejfion of his country, 
 " We have, therefore, given directions to 
 " our fervants at Madras to govern them- 
 *' felves, in all their tr an factions with the 
 " Rajah, agreeable to thefe determinations" 
 
 Such
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
 Such was the return which Mr. Haflings's 
 zeal in the public fervice then met with 
 precifely the fame clrcumjlance has lately oc- 
 curred. 
 
 The Rajah of Tanjore has again fallen in 
 arrear ; and although a very recent treaty, 
 concluded by Sir Archibald Campbell, pre- 
 fcribes in exprefs terms the meafures which 
 Jhall be taken, when the Rajah Jh all fall m 
 arrear in his payments, the Government of 
 Madras, not thinking that mode efficient for 
 realizing the refources of the country, fets 
 afide the treaty without fcruple, and takes 
 the whole country into their own hands, 
 thereby adopting, in its fulleft extent, the 
 doctrine laid down by Mr. Haftings in the 
 laft war, and fo ftrongly reprobated by the 
 Court of Directors. 
 
 This is one extraordinary contradiction ; 
 allow me to bring a few more to your view. 
 
 Mr.
 
 Mr. Haftings is impeached for the kfs 
 and damage which he has brought upon the 
 Eaft India Company. 
 
 He increafed their refources above two 
 millions three hundred thoufand pounds a year ; 
 during his adminiftration. 
 
 He is impeached for having vexed, op- 
 prejfed, and dejlroyed the natives of Bengal. 
 
 The people of all ranks and religions de- 
 clare the aflertion to befalfe ; and it is pro- 
 ved by undoubted evidence, by gentlemen 
 of whofe honour and integrity both of us 
 are fully convinced, that the natives are 
 happier under our adminiftration than ever 
 they were before ; and that under the mild 
 influence of the Britim Government, agri- 
 culture, population, and commerce, have 
 very considerably increafed. 
 
 K He
 
 [ 66 ]" 
 
 He is impeached for a wanton wafte of 
 the public money for private purpofes. 
 
 Mr. Dundas's peace eflablifhment in Ben- 
 gal was higher, by above one million Sterling, 
 than the peace eflablifhment of 1777-8, 
 when Mr. Haftings and yourlelf were at 
 Bengal. 
 
 The expences of the prefent war, though 
 againft one enemy 9 are fo much higher than 
 thofe of the laft, where all India and the 
 great powers of Europe were united againft 
 us, that it can only be maintained by the 
 tranfmiffion of treafure from England, and 
 by laying frejh burthens upon this ex- 
 haufted country* 
 
 He is impeached for the means he took 
 tofurnijhfuppliesfor carrying on the war, 
 
 To thofe who think Mr. Haftings vio- 
 lated the law, in accepting prefents for the 
 2 Conv
 
 C <7 D 
 
 Company's ufe, or in withdrawing the gua- 
 rantee from the Begum without full proof 
 of her delinquency; I anfwer, he had no 
 other means Lord North was not dilpofed 
 to {end htm five hundred thoufand pounds in 
 fpecie, nor as many pence, when his Lord- 
 fhip heard of the invasion of the Carnatic by 
 Hyder ; nor to encourage him to exert him- 
 felf by a vote of parliamentary approbation. 
 On the contrary, Mr. Haflings had every 
 poffible fpecies of counteraction at home to 
 ftruggle againft. Let me afk thofe who dif- 
 approve of the guarantee of the Begum having 
 been withdrawn ; Is the meafure as ftrong, 
 by many degrees, as that lately adopted in 
 India ? One of the contracting parties vio- 
 lates a folema treaty, becaufe it fuppoies, 
 that the exprefs provilion made by that 
 treaty for an emergency that has occurred^ 
 will not be efficient ; or in other words, 
 unlefs they take the entire management of 
 of the Carnatic and Tanjore, they may fail 
 in their refources for the war. 
 
 K 2 I have
 
 C 6 ] 
 
 I have now gone through the great lead- 
 ing points relative to the Government of 
 India I defy any candid man to confider 
 the' fubjeft truly without being {truck with 
 aftoniftiment at the monftrous inconfifteiicy 
 of the King's Mtnifters : the obfervation 
 cannot in this fenfe apply to you, I allow. 
 
 You have certainly been confiftent. You 
 and your friends have maintained that Mr. 
 Haftings has defolated provinces, has over- 
 turned ancient eftablimments, has violated 
 private property ; and that therefore it was 
 right to impeach him. 
 
 The Miniilers have done the reverfe of 
 all this ; they have faid that he has preferved 
 an empire in a feafon of the utmoft danger, 
 difficulty and diflrefs ; that he has improved 
 the refources, and that nothing he did in the 
 management of the revenues of Bengal, was 
 worthy reprehenfion ; yet, when you left 
 them in a minority in a Committee of the 
 
 whole
 
 [ 69 ] 
 
 whole Houfe, they permitted you to do and 
 fay what you pleafed, though in manifeft, 
 direff, and pofithe contradiftlon to their own 
 Budget. Your friends have faid, that it was 
 in the higheft degree criminal to demand 
 under any circumftances a rupee beyond his 
 annual rent from Cheyt Sing, a Zemindar 
 of the Company, and have therefore very 
 corre&ly argued, that for every fubfequent 
 meafure taken in fupport of a demand ori- 
 ginally unjuft, Mr. Haft ings is fully refpon- 
 fible. 
 
 The Minifter defended and proved the 
 juftice of the demand, and the criminality of 
 the man who delayed to comply with it, but 
 he conceived an intended puni/hment never 
 communicated, to exceed an aftual offence. 
 Yet he very calmly and without farther he- 
 fitation allowed your friends to prefent their 
 accufation as they chofe to draw it out, 
 though in direct oppoiition to the Minifter's 
 avowed fentiments, 
 
 In
 
 C 7 ] 
 
 In a word, the Impeachment of Mr. Haf- 
 tings taken in this point of view, muft 
 ftrike you in the manner it does every 
 rational man, as the moft monftrous 
 abfurdity that ever difgraced a civilized 
 country. 
 
 But it was undertaken to retrieve the cha- 
 racter of Great Britain in India, fay the 
 friends of Mr. Pitt How, or in what way ? 
 Has any inclination been fhewn by any one 
 man connected with Minifters, to give up 
 one fingle advantage that Mr. Haftings pro- 
 cured for the nation ? Does any one think 
 of placing in the Zenana of the Begum, the 
 fixty lacks of rupees that were taken from 
 her eunuchs ? or of giving the Nabob 
 Vifier credit for the ten lacks of rupees 
 which were prefented by him to Mr. Haf- 
 tings, and by Mr. Haftings to the Company ? 
 Is there an idea of reftoring Cheyt Sing ? 
 On the contrary, has not Mr. Pitt put his 
 pame to a letter to Bengal, in which it is 
 
 faid,
 
 C 7' 1 
 
 faid, that no idea of his reftoration ever 'Was 
 entertained? Does not Mr. Dundas plume 
 himfelf, year after year, upon the flourifh- 
 ing ftate of the revenue ? Has he ever en- 
 couraged your idea of reducing the Jumma ? 
 Is he not obliged to approve, in the hour of 
 prefent diftrefs, of a mofl unequivocal 
 breach of treaty ? 
 
 Let any one Gentleman read the curious 
 refolutions moved by Mr. Dundas in 1782, 
 that code of laws for India, and then let 
 him confider what attention has been paid 
 to the principles there laid down With a 
 furplus revenue of more than two millions 
 fterling in Bengal, would you not fuppofe, 
 that the Minuter who avowed it to be a 
 breach of treaty to withhold the payment 
 of the Mogul's tribute, would order it to 
 be punctually difcharged hereafter, the mo- 
 ment the purfe of Bengal was open to 
 him? 
 
 Mr.
 
 [ 7* 3 
 
 Mr. Fox undoubtedly proceeded upon a 
 very different plan. His bills profefled to 
 remedy all that Mr. Burke ftated to be op- 
 prefuon in India, and all that his articles 
 have fince defcribed as aft? of oppreflion. 
 Under his claufes he muft have aboliftied the 
 monopolies of fait and opium ; he muft have 
 reflored Cheyt Sing; he muft have paid to 
 the Mogul his arrears of tribute, and conti- 
 nued an annual payment of twenty-fix lacks 
 to the prefent hour. Many millions fter- 
 ling would have been required to carry the 
 proviiions of his bill into effect. 
 
 Fiat jujlitid ruat ccelum. 
 
 But Parliament by its annual votes has 
 in efFed ftamped the iseafures of Mr. Haf- 
 tings with their fulleft approbation, while 
 it permits him to remain impeached through 
 life, for adopting them ; a truth your friends 
 are fully as fenfible of as I am, though in 
 
 this
 
 [ 73 3 
 
 this moment of compromife they will not 
 fo readily acknowledge it. 
 
 I have made this letter much longer than 
 I originally intended, but before I conclude 
 it, allow me to mention a very curious cir- 
 cumftance, which I only difcovered yefter- 
 day. 
 
 The Impeachment of Mr. Haftings turn- 
 ed a good deal upon Mr. Sheridan's famous 
 fpeech in the Begum charge; it received 
 your warmeft and moft a&ive fupport. 
 
 As far as I had feen upon the records, you 
 had upon all occafions taken the part of the 
 Nabob again/I the Begum, when in Bengal ; 
 and, in particular, you declared me ought not 
 to be permitted to leave the dominions, and 
 to carry with her the tmmenfe treafures faid 
 to be in her poffejfion, without her fovereign's 
 confent, although thpfe treafures were at 
 L that
 
 C 74 ] 
 
 that time guaranteed to her by the Com- 
 pany. 
 
 In July, 1779, Sir Eyre Coote propofed, 
 that the donation granted to the army by the 
 late Sujah Dowlah, in I774> fhould be de- 
 manded from the prefent Nabob. The 
 Board difcufled this fubjeft on the pth of 
 Auguft, 1779. You contended, that the 
 Begum ought to pay this money, becaufe all the 
 treafures of Sujah Dowlah came Into her pof- 
 fej/lon ; that this 'was a fair demand upon thofe 
 treafures, being promifed by Sujah Dowlah in 
 his life-time ; and even if he had bequeathed 
 the Begum all his treafures, they muft by 
 every law have been charged with the debts 
 he owed : to this Mr. Barwell objected, be- 
 caufe we had guaranteed to the Begum all 
 the treafures which might be in her pofleflion 
 on the 1 6th of November, 1775, in con- 
 fequencc of what me then gave up (fifty 
 lacks.) To this you make the following 
 
 reply,
 
 C 75 ] 
 
 reply, which is fo great a curiofity, confi- 
 dering the part you have acted, that I mall 
 give it at length, not invidioufly, I aflure 
 you, but in the humble hope, that on better 
 confederation you will feel concern for the 
 violences into which you have been led by 
 others : 
 
 Mr. FRANCIS. " I beg it may be un- 
 " derftood that I do not acquiefce in any 
 " part of the preceding Minutes, that re* 
 il fpedt the circumftances of the Begum and 
 <e her Jon, though it would lead me too far 
 " to enter into a refutation of it at this time. 
 " On one fat I beg leave only to obferve, 
 " that the Agreement, alluded to by Mr. 
 " Harwell, was for thirty lacks only, of 
 " which I am almoft certain from memory, 
 " that no more than two-thirds were paid-, 
 ** but be this as it may, the donation mo- 
 *' ney, as I underftand it, is due, not from 
 ** the prefent Nabob, but from the perfon 
 ^ \ " who.
 
 [ 76 ] 
 
 " who inherited or got pojjejfion of the per- 
 " Jonal property of the late Vijier ; confe- 
 " quently the demand, if made on the 
 " Begum, is not on account of the prefent 
 " Nabob ; nor 'would it be any violation of 
 66 the Agreement above-mentioned, fuppojing 
 " that Agreement to have been faithfully ex- 
 ." ecutedon her part" 
 
 If this dorine be true, what becomes of 
 your charge ? For it mufr, apply, and fo it 
 ought, to all the money Sujah J)owlah owed 
 when he died. The prefent Nabob fuc- 
 ceeded to an empty treafury ; but he was 
 indebted fixty lacks to the Company, and to 
 his army double that fum. His troops were 
 in general nine months in arrears when 
 Sujah Dowlah died : fo that, in fact, ad- 
 mitting the Begum has become poffefled of 
 the treafures by gift or by will, which you 
 know was not the cafe, (he mould have 
 given up one hundred and ninety lacks of 
 
 rupees ;
 
 I 77 D 
 
 rupees ; whereas, fuppofing her to have paid 
 the full fum of twenty-fix lacks, and thirty 
 lacks in 1775? which I believe, with you, 
 fhe never did pay, and that the fixty lacks 
 taken from her eunuchs in 1782 are added, 
 there is frill a very coniiderable balance, 
 upon your mode of reckoning, due from 
 her to her fon. 
 
 With this anecdote, which is of a 
 lar kind indeed, I mail clofe my letter, 
 arTuring you, however you may look upon 
 any thing which comes from me, as 
 coming from Mr. Haftings, that he has 
 never feen a line of this letter, nor, in- 
 deed, have I feen him fince I began to ; 
 write it. I did conceive it to be a jufHce 
 due from me to Mr. Lumington, to prove 
 by authentic documents^ that he was fully 
 justified in aflerting what he did in the 
 Houfe ; and I did think that from a fair and 
 candid review of paft and prefent tranfac- 
 
 tions,
 
 C 78 3 
 
 tions in In^lia, you and I might agree in 
 lamenting the inconfiflency of our country- 
 men, 
 
 J have the honour to be, 
 SIR, 
 
 Your moft obedient, 
 Humble fervant, 
 
 JOHN SCOTT, 
 
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