his mercy might have had some share in the said | supposed abuses, during the said residency, but criminal transaction. V. That the said Warren Hastings did (in the paper justifying the said surrender of the prince, put by himself under the protection of the East India company) assert, "that it was a fact, that the “Nabob Muzzattor Jung (the nabob of Farruck"abad) is equally urgent with the nabob vizier "for the removal of a resident," without producing, as he ought to have done, any document to prove his improbable assertion, namely, his assertion, that the oppressed prince did apply to his known enemy and oppressor, the nabob of Oude, (who, if he would, was not able to relieve him against the will of the English government,) rather than to that English government, which he must have conceived to be more impartial, to which he had made his former complaint, and which was alone able to relieve him. 66 VI. did give a pension of fifteen hundred pounds a year to the said late resident, as a compensation to him for an injury received, and did afterwards promote the resident, as a faithful servant of the company, (and nothing appears to shew him otherwise,) to a judicial office of high trust; thereby taking away all credit from any grounds asserted or insinuated by the said Hastings for delivering the said nabob of Farruckabad to the hand of a known enemy and oppressor, who had already, contrary to repeated treaties, deprived him of a large part of his territories. VII. That on the said Warren Hastings's representation of the transaction aforesaid to the court of directors, they did heavily and justly censure the said Warren Hastings for the same, and did convey their censure to him, recommending relief to the suffering prince, but without any order for sending a new resident; being, as it may be supposed, prevented from taking that step by the faith of the treaty made at Chunar. VIII. That all the oppressions foreseen by him the said Warren Hastings, when he made the article aforesaid in the treaty of Chunar, did actually happen; for immediately on the removal of the British resident, the country of Farruckabad was subjected to the discretion of a certain native manager of revenue, called Almas Ali Khân, who did impoverish and oppress the country, and insult the prince, and did deprive him of all subsistence from his own estates; taking from him even his gardens, and the tombs of his ancestors, and the funds for maintaining the same. IX. That the said Warren Hastings, in the said writing, did further convey an insinuation of an ambiguous, but, on any construction, of a suspicious and dangerous import; viz. " it is a fact, that Mr. Shee's (the resident's) authority over the territory of Farruckabad is in itself as much sub"versive of that (of the lawful rulers) as that of "the vizier's aumil (collector) ever was, and is "the more oppressive, as the power from whence "it is derived is greater." The said assertion proceeds upon a supposition of the illegality both of the nabob's and the company's government; all consideration of the title to authority being therefore on that supposition put out of the question, and the whole turning only upon the exercise of authority, the said Hastings's suggestion, that the oppression of government must be in proportion to its power, is the result of a false and dangerous principle, and such as it is criminal for any person That on complaint of those proceedings the said intrusted with the lives and fortunes of men to Hastings did, of his own authority, and without entertain, much more publickly to profess as a communicating with his council, direct the native rule of action, as the same hath a direct tendency collector aforesaid to be removed, and the territory to make the new and powerful government of this of Farruckabad to be left to the sole management kingdom in India dreadful to the natives, and of its natural prince. But in a short time the said odious to the world. But if the said Warren Hast- Hastings, pretending to receive many complaints ings did mean thereby indirectly to insinuate, that purporting, that the tribute to the nabob remained oppressions had been actually exercised under the wholly unpaid, and the agent to the prince of British authority, he was bound to enquire into these Farruckabad at the presidency, and afterwards oppressions, and to animadvert on the person chief manager to the prince aforesaid, having, as guilty of the same, if proof thereof could be had; the said Warren Hastings saith, "had the insoand the more, as the authority was given by him- "lence to propagate a report, that the interferself, and the person exercising it was by himself ence, to which his master owed the power he also named. And the said Warren Hastings did" then enjoyed, was purchased through him," he on another occasion assert, that "whether they the said Hastings did again (but, as before, with** were well or ill founded he never had an oppor- out the council) "withdraw his protection and "tunity to ascertain." But it is not true, that the "interference altogether" on or about the month said Hastings did or could want such opportunity: of August 1782, and did signify his resolution the fact being, that the said Warren Hastings did through the resident Middleton, to the nabob never cause any enquiry to be made into any vizier. But the said Hastings asserts, that "the 66 66 66 consequence of this his own second dereliction | with the nabob in the treaty of Chunar; and "of the prince of Farruckabad was an aggravated against his strong remonstrances, urging his humi"renewal of the severities exercised against his liation from this measure, and the faith of the agreegovernment, and the re-appointment of a seza- ment, and against his own former declaration, that "wall, with powers delegated, or assumed, to the it concerned the reputation of our government to "utter extinction of the right of Muzuffer Jung, remove our participation in the oppressions, which "and actually depriving him of the means of he, the said Hastings, supposed the prince of Far"subsistence." And the said Hastings did re- ruckabad must undergo, did once more recomceive, on the 16th of February 1783, from the mend to the council a British resident at Farruckaprince aforesaid a bitter complaint of the same to bad, and the withdrawing the native sezawall; no the following tenour: course being left to the said Hastings to take, which was not a violation of some engagement, and a contradiction to some principle of justice and policy by him deliberately advanced, and entered on record. 66 66 66 "The miseries which have fallen upon my country, and the poverty and distress which have been heaped upon me by the re-appoint"ment of the sezawall, are such, that a relation "of them would, I am convinced, excite the strongest feelings of compassion in your breast. "But it is impossible to relate them; on one side, my country ruined, and uncultivated to a degree "of desolation, which exceeds all description, on "the other, my domestick concerns and con"nexions involved in such a state of distress and “horrour, that even the relations, the children, "and the wives of my father, are starving in "want of daily bread, and are on the point of flying voluntary exiles from their country, and from each other." 66 But although the said Hastings did, on the 16th of February, receive and admit the justice of the said complaint, and did not deny the urgent necessity of redress, the said letter containing the following sentence, "if there should be any delay in your acceptance of this proposal, my existence "and the existence of my family will become "difficult and doubtful:"-and although he did admit the interference to be the more urgently demanded," as the services of the English troops "have been added to enforce the authority of the "sezawall," and although he admits also, that even before that time similar complaints and applications had been made, yet he did withhold the said letter of complaint, a minute of which he asserts he had, at or about that time, prepared for the relief of the sufferer, from the board of council, and did not so much as propose any thing relative to the same for seven months after, viz. until the 6th of October 1783; the said letter and minute being, as he asserts," withheld, from causes not necessary to mention, from presentation." By which means the said country and prince did suffer a long continuance of unnecessary hardship, from which the said Hastings confessed it was his duty to relieve them, and that a British resident was necessary at Farruckabad "from a sense of submission to the implied orders of the "court of directors, in their letter of 1783, lately "received, added to the conviction I have LONG "SINCE entertained of the necessity of such an appointment for the preservation of our "national credit, and the means of rescuing an "ancient and respectable family from ruin.' 66 66 And the said Warren Hastings did at length perform what he thought had long since been necessary, and in contradiction to his engagements That Mr. Willes being appointed resident, and having arrived at Farruckabad on the 25th of February 1784, with instructions to enquire minutely into the state of the country and the ruling family, he, the said resident Willes, in obedience thereto, did fully explain to him, the governour-general, the said Warren Hastings, (he being then out of the company's provinces, at Lucknow, on a delegation, which respected this very country as part of the dependencies of Oude,) the situation of the province of Farruckabad; but the said Warren Hastings did not take or recommend any measure whatsoever for the relief thereof in consequence of the said representation; nor even communicate to the council general the said representation; and it was not until the 28th of June 1783, that is, sixteen months from the arrival of the resident at his station, that any thing was laid before the board relative to the regulation or relief of the distressed country aforesaid, and that, not from the said Warren Hastings, but from other members of the council; which purposed neglect of duty, joined to the preceding wilful delay of seven months in proposing the said relief originally, caused near two years' delay. And the said Warren Hastings is further culpable in not communicating to the council board the order, which he had of his own authority, and without any powers from them, given to the said resident Willes, and did thereby prevent them from taking such steps as might counteract the ill effects of the said order; which order purported, that the said Willes was not to interfere with the nabob of Farruckabad's government, for the regulation of which he was in effect appointed to the residency; declaring as follows: "I rely much on your moderation and good judg ment, which I hope will enable you to regulate your conduct towards the nabob and his servants "in such a manner, that without interfering in "the executive part of his government you may "render him essential service by your council and "advice." And this restriction the said Hastings did impose, which totally frustrated the purpose of the resident's mission, though he well knew, and had frequently stated, the extreme imbecility and weakness of the said nabob of Farruckabad, and his subjection to unworthy servants. And in the minute of consultation, upon which he founded the appointment, he did state the nabob of Farrucka 64 we would have proceeded to Calcutta for re"dress. The scarcity of grain this season is an "additional misfortune. With difficulty we support life. From your presence without the pro"vinces we expect relief. It is not the custom of "the company to deprive the zemindars and jag"hiredars of the means of subsistence. To your This being the situation of the person and fa relations, the state of the country and its capital, prevented from all relief by the said Warren Hastings, is described, in the following words, by the resident Willes : bad" as a weak and unexperienced young man, "who had abandoned himself entirely to the dis"cretion of his servants; and the restoration of his independence was followed by a total breach of the engagements he had promised to fulfil, "attended by pointed instances of contumacy and "disrespect. And in the said minute the said Hastings adds, (as before mentioned,) his principal" justice we look up." servant and manager had propagated a report, that the "interference, (namely his the said Hast-mily of the nabob of Farruckabad and his nearest "ings's interference,) to which his master owed "the power he then enjoyed, was purchased by "him," the principal servant aforesaid; yet he, the said Hastings, who had assigned on record the character of the said nabob, and the conduct of his servants, and the aforesaid report of his principal servant, so highly dishonourable to him the said Hastings, as reasons for taking away the independency of the nabob of Farruckabad, and the subjecting him to the oppression of the nabob of Oude's officer, Almar Ali, did again establish the pretended independence of the said prince of Farruckabad, and the real independence of his corrupt and perfidious servants, not against the nabob of Oude, but against a British resident appointed by himself, (" as a character eminently qualified "for such a charge,") for the correction of those evils, and for rendering the prince aforesaid an useful ally to the company, and restoring his dominions to order and plenty. That the said Hastings did not only disable the resident at Farruckabad by his said prohibitory letter, but did render his very remaining at all in that station perfectly precarious by a subsequent letter, rendering him liable to dismission by the vizier-thereby changing the tenure of the resident's office, and changing him from a minister of the company, dependent on the governour-general in council, to a dependent upon an unresponsible power; in this also acting without the council, and by his own usurped authority; and accordingly the resident did declare, in his letter of the 24th of April 1785, "that the situation of the "country was more distressful than when he (the "prince of Farruckabad) addressed himself for “ relief in 1783; and that he was sorry to say, "that his appointment at Farruckabad was of no "use." That though the old tribute could not be paid, owing to famine, and other causes, it was encreased by a new imposition, making the whole equal the entire gross produce of the revenue; that therefore there will not be " any thing for "the subsistence of the nabob and family." And the uncles of the said nabob of Farruckabad, the brethren of the late Ahmed Khân, (who had rendered important services to the company,) and their children, in a petition to the resident, represented, that soon after the succession of Mouzaffer Jung their misery commenced. The jaghires, (lands and estates,) on which they subsisted, "were disallowed. Our distress is great; we have "neither clothes nor food. Though we felt hurt "at the idea of explaining our situation, yet, "could we have found a mode of conveyance, 66 66 66 66 66 "Almas Ali has taken the pergunnah of Marara at a very inadequate rent, and his aumils "have seized many adjacent villages; the pergunnahs of Cocutmow and Souje are constantly plundered by his people. The collection of the gauts near Futty Ghur has been seized by the "vizier's cutwal, and the zemindars in four pergunnahs are so refractory as to have forfeited "themselves in their gurries, and to refuse all pay"ments of revenue. This is the state of the per"gunnahs; and Farruckabad, which was once "the seat of great opulence and trade, is now "daily deserted by its inhabitants; its walls mouldering away, without police, without pro"tection; exposed to the depredations of a ban"ditti of two or three hundred robbers, who, "night after night, enter it for plunder, murder 66 ing all who oppose them. The ruin that has "overtaken this country, is not to be wondered "at, when it is considered, that there has been no stable government for many years. There "has been the nabob vizier's authority, his ministers, the residents at Lucknow, the sezawalls, "the camp authority, the nabob Muzuffer Jung's, "and that of twenty dewans or advisers. No au thority sufficiently predominant to establish any "regulations for the benefit of the country, whilst "each authority has been exerted, as opportunity "offered, for temporary purposes. 66 "Such being the present deplorable state of "Farruckabad and its districts, in the ensuing Iyear it will be in vain to look for revenue, if "some regulations equal to the exigency be not adopted. The whole country will be divided "between the neighbouring powerful aumils, the "refractory zemindars, and banditti of robbers; "and the Patans, who might be made useful sub"jects, will fly from the scene of anarchy. The "crisis appears now come, that either some plan "of government should be resolved on, so as to "form faithful subjects on the frontier, or the "country be given up to its fate; and if it be That the council at Calcutta, on the representation aforesaid made by the resident at Farruckabad, did propose and record a plan for the better government of the said country, but did delay the execution of the same, until the arrangements made by the said Hastings with the nabob vizier should be known; but the said Hastings, as far as in him lay, did entirely set aside any plan, that could be formed for that purpose upon the basis of a British resident at Farruckabad, by engaging with the said nabob vizier, that no British influence shall be employed within his dominions, and he has engaged to that prince not to abandon him to any other mode of relation; and he has informed the court of directors, that the territories of the nabob of Oude will be ruined, if residents are sent into them, observing, that "residents never will "be sent for any other purposes than those of vengeance and corruption." imbecility of the natural lord, and is free from his objection to a resident, is the only one, which the said Hastings never has executed, or even proposed to execute. That the said Hastings, by the agreements aforesaid, has left the company in such an alternative, that they can neither relieve the said prince of Farruckabad from oppression without a breach of the engagements entered into by him, the said Hastings, with the nabob vizier in the name of the company, nor suffer him to remain under the said oppression without violating all faith, and all the rules of justice with regard to him. And the said Hastings hath directly made or authorized no less than six revolutions in less than five years in the aforesaid harassed province; by which frequent and rapid changes of government, all of them made in contradiction to all his own declared motives and reasons for the several acts successively That the said Warren Hastings did declare to done and undone in this transaction, the distresses the court of directors, that in his opinion the mode of the country, and the disorders in its adminisof relief most effectual, and most lenient with re-tration, have been highly aggravated; and in the gard to Farruckabad, would be to nominate one of the family of the prince to superintend his affairs, and to secure the payments; but this plan, which appears to be most connected with the rights of the ruling family, whilst it provides against the 66 said irregular proceedings, and in the gross and complicated violations of faith with all parties, the said Hastings is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanours. VI. DESTRUCTION OF THE RAJAH OF SAHLONE. I. content, and violent commotions, in the district of Sablone, and other parts of the province of Oude, with great consequent effusion of blood, and interruption, if not total discontinuance, to the collection of the revenues in those parts, other than as the same was irregularly, and with great damage to the country, enforced by British troops. II. THAT the late nabob of Oude, Suja ul Dowla, did (on what reasons of policy, or pretences of justice, is unknown) dispossess a certain native person of distinction, or eminent rajah, residing in the country of Sahlone, "the lineal descendant "of the most powerful Hindoo family in that part "of Hindostan," of his patrimonial estate; and conferred the same, or part of the same, on his (the nabob's) mother, as a jaghire [or estate] for That Mr. Lumsdaine, the officer employed to the term of her life and the mother of the na- reduce those disordered parts of the province to bob, in order to quiet the country, and to satisfy, submission, after several advantages gained over in some measure, the principal and other inhabi- the rajah and his adherents, and expelling him tants, did allow and pay a certain pension to the from the country, did represent the utter impossisaid rajah; which pension, on the general confis- bility of bringing it to a permanent settlement cation of jaghires, (made at the instigation of the" merely by forcible methods; as in any of his said Warren Hastings,) and by the letting the lands so confiscated to farmers at rack-rents, was discontinued, and refused to be paid; and the discontinuance of the said pension, 66 on account "of the personal respect borne to the rajah, (as "connexions with him are sought for, and thought "to confer honour,)" did cause an universal dis 66 66 (the rajah's) incursions it would not be necessary to bring even a force with him, as the ze"mindars [landed proprietors and freeholders] "are much attached to the rajah, whom they con"sider as their hereditary prince, and never fail "to assist him; and that his rebellion against government is not looked on as a crime:" and Bristow to the said Warren Hastings, who did wilfully and criminally omit to order any relief to the said rajah in conformity to the general sense and wishes of the inhabitants; a compliance with whose so reasonable an expectation his duty in restoring the tranquillity of the country, and in retrieving the honour of the English government, did absolutely require. But, instead of making such provision, a price was set upon his head; and several bodies of British troops being employed to pursue him, after many skirmishes and much bloodshed, and mutual waste of the country, the said rajah, honoured and respected by the natives, was hunted down, and at length killed Mr. Lumsdaine declared it " as his clear opinion, VII. CONTRACTS. THAT the court of directors of the East India company had laid down the following fundamental rules for the conduct of such of the company's business in Bengal as could be performed by contract; and had repeatedly and strictly ordered the governour and council of Fort William to observe those rules; viz. that all contracts should be publickly advertised, and the most reasonable proposals accepted; that the contracts of provisions, and for furnishing draught and carriagebullocks for the army, should be annual; and that they should not fail to advertise for and receive proposals for those contracts every year. quence, by which the company became involved "in loss or damage, they should certainly hold "the majority of the council responsible for such "loss or damage, and proceed against them ac 66 That the said Warren Hastings, in direct disobedience to the said positive orders, and, as the directors themselves say, by a most deliberate cordingly."-That the said Warren Hastings, in breach of his duty, did, in September 1777, acdefiance of orders, which, the directors say, were cept of proposals offered by Ernest Alexander plain and unequivocal, did, in January 1777, reJohnson for providing draught and carriage-bul-ceive from George Templer a proposal, essentially locks, and for victualling the Europeans, without advertising for proposals, as he was expressly commanded to do, and extended the contract for three years, which was positively ordered to be annual: and, notwithstanding that extension of the period, which ought at least to have been compensated by some advantage to the company in the conditions, did conclude the said contract upon terms less advantageous than the preceding contract, and therefore not on the lowest terms procurable :—that the said Warren Hastings, in defiance of the judgment and lawful orders of his superiours, which in this case left him no option, declared that he disapproved of publishing for proposals, and that the contract was reduced too low already: thereby avowing himself the advocate of the contractor, different from the advertisement published by the governour-general and council for receiving proposals for feeding the company's elephants, and did accept thereof, not only without having recourse to the proper means for ascertaining whether the said proposal was the lowest that would be offered, but with another actually before the board, nearly 30 per cent. lower than that made by the said George Templer, to whom the said Warren Hastings granted a contract, in the terms proposed by the said Templer, for three years, and did afterwards extend the same to five years, with new and distinct conditions accepted by the said Warren Hastings, without advertising for fresh proposals, by which the company were very considerable losers :-on all which the court of directors de |